Defrosting Ice Queen / Western Animation

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• Adventure Time:
  • Marceline the Vampire Queen starts out as a hedonistic Jerkass who pretty much doesn't give a hoot one way or the other about anyone else, so long as no one's trying to stop her from doing her thing, but after Finn showed her a good time by battling to the "Holy cow I actually felt that," she decided she liked the little spud after all. Every time she appears in an episode, she softens up a little more, and now Finn considers her one of his closest friends, and even Jake, who is apparently massively vampire-phobic, warmed up to her.
  • The Ice King actively averts the trope (and not just because he's a literal Ice King); initially he was portrayed as a malicious, sociopathic princess-kidnapper. As we gained some more insight into who he is, we actually find out that he's the way he is because he's lonely, and even kind of a dorkish weenie deep down, but has no idea how to deal with either of those things. But since the crown renders him entirely incapable of acknowledging his own faults, he's pretty much locked out of actual character development for any kind of defrosting.
• The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 has a literal, non-romantic example. King Windbag of Ice Land was formerly a bully, pushing his servant around and threatening him with his wand. Hip and Hop turn him and Luigi into dogs and in their quest to become human again are caught by a dogcatcher. With Luigi's guidance, the king learns how to cooperate with the other trapped dogs and they escape. Coming back to Ice Land as a human, he apologizes to his servant and throws him a feast in his honor.
• Adder from The Animals of Farthing Wood. While she is initially a sarcastic, insensitive, rude and unsociable snake, over time, it is shown that she is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold at heart. Her infatuation and concern for her Sinuous mate makes Adder more openly affectionate and friendly with others.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Toph Beifong takes a while to warm up to any of the heroes, and has to adjust to the cooperation expected in a group of equals. She never gets any less sarcastic or self-reliant, but she learns to trust and confide more. Somewhere along the line she develops a crush on Sokka (despite knowing he's already got a girlfriend), who up to that point had been the most frequent target of her snarking and pranks. Marking her as a true, old-school Tsundere, he continues to be the most frequent target of her snarking and pranks, while she keeps her affection totally secret. She shows similar affection toward Zuko toward the finale, indicating that Sokka isn't that unique a case for Toph (though her crush on Zuko most likely ends after spending "the worst field trip ever" with him).
    • In the sequel series The Legend of Korra Toph's older daughter, Lin Bei Fong, also has some issues with accepting people as friends and allies. She really starts defrosting after reconnecting with her sister, Suyin, in Book 3 and resolving their many issues with each other.
  • Zuko too, of the Jerkass variety. He has a soft, dorky center that he only shows when he's around Mai and/or Team Avatar.
  • Mai likewise can get pretty mushy around Zuko, despite being the Emotionless Girl anywhere else.
• Blackarachnia in Transformers: Beast Wars pulls this off perfectly — she starts off being confused that Silverbolt is unwilling to hurt her for being female, then moves on to exploiting his 'weakness', before finally accepting it.
• Ben Tennyson becomes a non-romantic example in Ben 10: Omniverse; when assigned a new alien Skilled, but Naive partner named Rook, he is initially unwilling to accept him and would rather work alone; as the story goes on, however, he befriends him. He actually lampshades it in the form of Rath in "It Was Them".
• This gradually happens with Sissi from Code Lyoko, in spite of the Reset Button complicating it. In the last episode of the series, she even becomes an official friend of the protagonists.
• In the first season (especially the first episode) of Drawn Together, it looks like Princess Clara will go this way. Ultimately, however, they end up taking her in the other direction.
• Happens twice in The Fairly OddParents!. In "Snow Bound" Timmy gets Locked in a Freezer with Vicky, and the two become friends...until the end of the episode, where Vicky reverts to normal. Then, In the "Wishology" trilogy, both Vicky and Trixie express sadness after Timmy's heroic sacrifice, indicating they're beginning to see him in a new light. This only results in another Reset Button, this time in the form of Laser-Guided Amnesia
• Futurama: In the original series, Leela is depicted as being incredibly lonely due to being abandoned and raised in an orphanarium. She is somewhat self-loathing and has set high standards for what she wants in a man. This causes her to date men who may have some societal importance, but who treat her very poorly. Starting with the Comedy Central series, she starts dating main character and all-around Nice Guy Fry, and becomes notably happier for it.
• Gravity Falls: After the events of "Northwest Mansion Mystery", it seems as though Pacifica Northwest might be heading down this path after Dipper helped her learn to defy her parents and break the rules.
• Even though she has few lines in Justice League, the female Dr. Light fits this. Her reaction to Amanda Waller's announcement that Ace will soon die of an aneurysm? "Problem solved, then." Waller, no slouch in the Ice Queen department herself, quickly disabuses her of this notion.
• June from KaBlam! was usually a bit of a Jerkass, but in Season 4, it's noted that she's stopped teasing Henry and is a much nicer person than she used to be.
• Mr. Cat from Kaeloo. In the earlier seasons he mostly acted cold and cruel towards Kaeloo, Stumpy, and Quack-Quack and would only show kindness to them in extreme circumstances to prove that he really did love them deep down. As the series progresses, he slowly becomes more comfortable with openly expressing that he cares about them and doing acts of kindness for them. This is heavily lampshaded in the fifth season, where the others tell Mr. Cat that they think he's become a nice person, causing him to worry about losing his Jerkass Façade.
• Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Wolf starts out as extremely cold and hostile to Kipo, but starts to warm up to her over time.
• The Legend of Korra: At the beginning of Season 4, Mako is annoyed and irritated with Prince Wu and can not wait until the Prince would returns to Ba Sing Se. However, throughout the season he grows closer and more sympathetic to Prince Wu when he sees his positive traits, like how he can freely accept criticism, is genuinely grateful to Mako for his help, and sees him become a more thoughtful and mature person. The ending of the last episode shows that Mako is proud of Prince Wu and it is implied that Mako and Korra are warming up to him and becoming friends with him.
• "TheLoudHouse" has two examples: Lori Loud, who used to be a mere bully to her younger sisters before she became a more friendlier person as the series progressed, and Lola, a bratty pageant girl who shows more signs of kindness in the later seasons as well.
• Kiva from Megas XLR shows signs of this. In the pilot, she's barely able to hold back her contempt of both Coop, Jamie and most of our "modern" society, deeming it "primitive" and even calling Jamie a "Monkey-thing". But by the end of the show's run, she's accepted the company of her hosts, develops a taste for convenience-store slushies, and even ditches her military uniform in one episode to attend a rock concert with the boys.
• Nora Wakeman from My Life as a Teenage Robot was once very strict about Jenny’s lifestyle and only let her leave the house to save the planet, until Jenny met Brad & Tuck and since then she’s gotten a little less strict and allowed her to have contact with humans.
• A non-romantic example in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Twilight Sparkle starts out insisting that she has no interest in friendship, as her entire life is consumed with her studies and her duties to the Princess. The plot of the two-part pilot is all about her discovery that only by making friends can she unleash the full power of her magic and save the world.
• Amity Blight from The Owl House starts out seeming like a typical "mean girl" with a clique of fellow mean-girl friends who bullies Luz out of jealousy, before slowly revealing herself as someone with dorky hobbies, a secret kinder side, and a lot of pressure on her to succeed any way she can, which means being ruthless to others. After befriending Luz and the rest — and reconciling with Willow — she's nicer and more honest with herself, but still can act very standoffish and surly at times... because she's struggling with having a giant crush on Luz. When the two finally admit their mutual feelings and get together as a couple, she proves that deep down she's the "awesome girlfriend" she wants to be: sweet, kind, supportive and understanding. Compare the girl at the beginning of the first season and the middle of the second, and you'll get two very different Amity Blights.
• Flynne from Puffin Rock. She is a red fox with a moody, and lonely personality and demeanor. Flynne is also feared by all the animals on Puffin Rock, she doesn't like anyone breaking into her den. But gradually Flynne starts to warm up to the others, she will help Oona and Baba if need be, even if she is not interested.
• Mitchell Peterson from Ready Jet Go!. He starts out a cold, loner detective who acts like he hates Jet, Sean, Sydney, and Mindy. However, the episode "Detective Mindy" shows that he does have a nice side. He is completely defrosted in "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace", where it is revealed that he is a Shrinking Violet that hides behind the cold apprearance and jerk behaviour. He defrosts completely when he joins the other kids' pageant and they assure him that he is always welcome in their group.
• Rick and Morty: While still a snarky Mad Scientist, Rick Sanchez has slowly mellowed out over the course of the series, and the Season 2 finale even has him making a speech about opening up to people for the first time. Even when the frost comes back after everything goes to hell, he turns himself into the Galactic Federation so his family can live on Earth in peace. Averted when it turns out he only turned himself in so he could topple the Galactic Federation (changes in plan also allowing him to kill the Council of Ricks) and get Beth to divorce Jerry for crossing him.
• Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town: Kris Kringle gives a toy to Ice Wizard Winter Warlock, who has a friendlier disposition and even gives the reindeer some magic feed to help Santa escape the Burgermeister's dungeon.
• Cheerleader Liz Allan from The Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series shows signs of doing this; she is kind and encouraging to Peter, but immediately turns into the Alpha Bitch around the Jerk Jock Flash... and she looks like she regrets the quasi Face–Heel Turn. By mid-season, she's pretty much completely defrosted, having broken up with Flash and directly expressed interest in Peter. Of course, given this huge amount of Character Development, when compared with her mainstream comics counterpart, Peter actually comes off as something of an unintentional Jerkass when he breaks up with her to be with Gwen. She attempts to cover the whole thing up by making a huge scene and implying she is doing the dumping in front of a crowd, but then later is seen hiding behind a corner, crying her eyes out, showing that she genuinely did have feelings for Peter.
• Steven Universe: At first, White Diamond attempts to berate Steven, his friends and the other Diamonds by saying Pink brings out the worst in others by encouraging their deficiencies. She turns the other Gems into zombified puppets, and extracts Steven's gem from his navel. After Steven re-unites his body and gem, she throws a childish tantrum, accusing Pink of acting like a child, which prompts Steven to say that he is a child (with a contrastingly pure and innocent maturity), which permeates her with a blushing pink light, which restores the Gems to their natural colors. After she is shown to not be as flawless as she thought she was, Steven tells her that she can make a change for the better by letting everyone on Homeworld, including White Diamond, be themselves.
• Lance in Sym-Bionic Titan is initially a lot more quiet, reserved and focused more on getting his job done (to the point of harming citizens who didn't do anything wrong). Gradually, he warms up to Ilana and Octus as family and develops his own recreational hobbies on earth.
• Raven in Teen Titans gradually warms up to her True Companions. It culminates in the fourth season, where she's all but shed every emotional barrier that she'd ever thrown up between herself and the other Titans by the end of the battle with Trigon.
• ThunderCats (2011) with standoffish, gruff Old Soldier Panthro. When he and his Thundercats meet the genial Ro-Bear Berbils, a race of Cute Machine teddy bears, Panthro immediately announces that he doesn't trust anything this adorable. He is deeply flustered when they heap praise and affection on him after he uses his Genius Bruiser talents to repair and save the life of Ro-Bear Bill. When the Berbils show thanks for his help by replacing the engine of his Thundertank, Panthro bursts into Manly Tears.
• Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race has Emma who was completely focused on winning and treated her sister in a condescending manner at the start of the season. By the end she's fallen in love and softened considerably, especially to her sister.
• In the first episode of T.U.F.F. Puppy, Kitty Katswell wasn't too keen on working with Dudley, mostly due to the fact that he got in the way of her capturing Snaptrap. However, afterwards, she grew to be his closest friend.
• W.I.T.C.H.:
  • Cornelia Hale is a pretty good example, starting out as rather hostile even to her own friends, she softens up a bit once she hooks up with Badass Normal Caleb in the second season. The original comic version of Cornelia wasn't quite as bad. The comic version of Cornelia had a lot of traits too; but in a more The Spock way than her Valley Girl persona in the show.
  • Orube, however, really is a good example of this in the comics, beginning as a rather typical emotionless warrior woman-type and ending up being an older sister of sorts to the main characters, and falling in love with resident Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain Cedric.
• Emma Frost in Wolverine and the X-Men (2009). In the beginning, she is unflinchingly rude to most of the mansion's inhabitants; she even reads their minds before formal introductions can take place. She's pretty much what you would expect if you know anything about the comics. By the time the midpoint of the series rolls around, she's practically a different character. So much that even Wolverine, who never trusted her in the first place, is shocked by her betrayal. Even then, said betrayal doesn't last. Neither does Emma, sadly.
• Zak Storm: While not exactly being cold, Cece did start out the show very no-nonsense. However, over the course of the show, she learned to be less stiff all the time and to also have fun from time to time.

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