False Reassurance / Western Animation

False Reassurances in Western Animation.

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• In the pilot episode of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, after Ickis accidentally leaves his monster manual behind, the Gromble asks if he knows what will happen if he doesn't retrieve it. Ickis worriedly asks if Gromble will torture him, to which the Gromble tells him no...that's Snorch's job.
• In The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Awkwardness", Tobias assures Gumball and Hot Dog Guy that he wasn't taking embarrassing pictures of them before adding that he was recording them instead.
• Amphibia: In "Hop Luck", after Anne and the Plantars fail at acquiring the ingredients to make a pizza for the annual potluck, they decide to just make one of Hop Pop's recipes with a tomato thrown in. Mayor Toadstool tastes the dish and says that it's the best one the Plantars have ever brought, making it sound like he'll give them 1st place... only to clarify that while it's better than previous attempts, it's still not good, so they get last place again.
• Archer: In "Skorpio", when Lana is sent alone on a dangerous mission, her boyfriend Cyril is worried sick about her.
  Cyril: But why hasn't she called? I mean, what if she's in danger, or...?
  Archer: Cyril, come on! Worst case scenario, her cover got blown and Skorpio's raping her senseless before he chops her battered corpse into fish food.
  Cyril: Oh my God!
  Cheryl: How could you say that?
  Archer: What? I said worst case!
• In the Back at the Barnyard episode "Otis Season", Otis and Pip are disguised as moose and being hunted by Snotty Boy. The other animals come to rescue them in a giant wooden moose, and when Snotty Boy believes it will eat him, Bessie tells him through the moose's loudspeaker "I wouldn't dream of eating you...raw!" before the moose breathes fire out of its nose.
• In one of the episodes featuring Pit Boss, the Biker Mice from Mars tell Lawrence Limburger they won't destroy Limburger Plaza that time. A guy Limburger framed in that episode uses his truck to drag the tower to the pit.
• Captain Sturdy: The Originals had this happen at the end of the short when Captain Sturdy worried about the outcome of his retired foe Dr. Destructo being assaulted by his sidekick Ultra Boy and his old teammates the Originals due to a misunderstanding. Dr. Destructo appears to take his injuries in stride and take solace in the fact that the beating has made him realize that his retirement life is boring, but he replies to Captain Sturdy's commending of his positive outlook by gloating that he's going to return to crime and concentrate his efforts on destroying Captain Sturdy and every other superhero.
• Danny Phantom: In the episode "Reality Trip," Freakshow kidnaps Danny's, Tucker's, and Sam's parents to force them to bring him the Reality Gems. When they do, he still traps them all on a roller-coaster Death Course, after reminding Danny that the deal was, "If you want to see your parents alive again...", which he just did.
• In Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, when the gang retrieve an emerald that they need to appease a jewel-eating mule, Lion hears a rumbling sound and asks if there's a boulder about to chase them. Scarecrow tells him that there's not; it's a giant pearl.
• In The Fairly OddParents! episode "The Big Scoop", when Chester rings AJ's doorbell, the automated security system assumes he's a girl scout and prepares to shoot him with a laser. When Chester confirms his identity the laser recedes, only for an even bigger laser that AJ's parents installed specifically for Chester to appear.
  Chester: (To AJ, stunned) But your parents love me.
• In the Futurama movie "Into the Wild Green Yonder", when Fry infiltrates Leo Wong's construction by becoming a security guard.
  Leo Wong: You really think you can stand up to those "eco-freakos"?
  Fry: Sir, with me around, they'll be the least of your worries.
• Garfield and Friends:
  • Roy spent an episode with The Buddy Bears where they dropped sixteen-ton safes on him whenever he did something different from the group. At the end of that episode, Roy got them to agree into not throwing him one sixteen-ton safe. They dropped two. In a later episode, when he's around them again, they assure him that they do not have any sixteen-ton safes. Instead, when they inevitably drop a safe on him, it's twenty-seven tons. And before that, they threw other stuff.
  • In another episode, Garfield promises Nermal he won't mail him to Abu Dhabi anymore. He then puts him in a box labeled "To North Pole" and sets it outside. In yet another episode, Jon mail ordered something and told Garfield not to bother the mailman. Garfield was planning to bother the garbageman.
• Early in Green Lantern: The Animated Series, our heroes drop a captured Red Lantern off at a prison colony where the warden boasts of their rehabilitation program, claiming that "nearly 100% of our former guests never return to a life of crime". Of course, it's easier to build that kind of record when the former prisoners are the ones you have eaten.
• In a Jackie Chan Adventures episode, Jade promises with a "Scout's honor" that she won't follow him. When out of earshot, she remarks she is not a Scout.
• Justice League Unlimited: In the episode "The Doomsday Sanction", Amanda Waller demotes Professor Milo. To get revenge, he attempts to bargain with Doomsday with the knowledge that Waller fabricated his desire to kill Superman. Doomsday replies that, if Milo lets him go, he "will solve both our problems". Milo releases Doomsday, who promptly kills him and then goes after Superman.
  Doomsday: Your problem's solved.
• The Kids from Room 402:
  • Jesse's failed attempt to cheat in an eye exam backfires, forcing him to wear glasses. When he has enough of the troubles brought to him by wearing glasses he never needed, he confesses and is expecting Miss Graves to punish him. When she says it isn't up to her, he is relieved until she points out his mother will punish him.
  • Polly is standing in for Mr. Besser and finds out a teacher isn't technically qualified for the job. When she begs Polly not to tell Mr. Besser, Polly says there is no need to bother him. Polly fires the teacher by herself.
• In one episode of King of the Hill, Hank is trying to blow the whistle on a local beer company, and the president threatens to sue him.
  President: I'm not a litigious man, Mr. Hill. That's what I have lawyers for. Now get out before I throw you out.
  Hank: Are you threatening me?
  President: I'm not a violent man, Mr. Hill. That's what I have security guards for.
• The Loud House: In "Teacher's Union", Lincoln and Clyde confess to meddling in Coach Packowski's love life and inadvertently causing a disastrous date with Mrs. Johnson, and they ask him if he's going to punish them for it.
  Coach: Aw, kids, I'm not gonna punish you.
  (Lincoln and Clyde sigh with relief)
  Coach: I'm gonna TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!
• Milo Murphy's Law: When Zack and Milo end up in Coyote Woods, Zack starts freaking out because he's terrified of coyotes. Milo assures him that the woods are actually named after Peter Coyote, who gave the land to the city... as a wolf preserve.
  Zack: (flatly) You get how that's not better, right?
• The Perils of Penelope Pitstop: Sneekly tells Penelope that, wherever the Hooded Claw is, he'll also be.
• On Robot Chicken, Dr. Phil has a Trust-Building Blunder with a criminal. As the criminal falls back into his arms, he says, "I won't harm you..." After a Beat, he adds "but they will" before throwing him to a bunch of cops, who proceed to beat the guy down.
• In a Rocky and Bullwinkle story, Rocky and Bullwinkle are caught in the middle of a hillbilly feud and are brought before one group's leader, a disguised Boris.
  Rocky: You mean you're gonna stand us up against a wall outside and blast us?
  Boris: Of course not.
  Rocky: No?
  Boris: I stand you against wall inside and blast you.
  Bullwinkle: Well, that's more like it!
• Rugrats: Josh, the new kid in town, has the babies lie in the sand while he prepares to launch himself from the swings. Tommy is afraid he's going to try to jump over them, but Josh assures them he isn't. He says he is going to jump on them. Luckily, Angelica (of all people!) stops him before he can do so.
• The Simpsons:
  • Parodied in "Treehouse of Horror V" story "Nightmare Cafeteria", in which Principal Skinner tries to do this, but goes a bit too far with it:
    Principal Skinner: I've got a gut feeling Uter's around here somewhere. (chuckles softly) In fact, isn't there a little Uter in all of us? (chuckles loudly) In fact, you could say that we ate Uter, and he's in our stomachs right now! (laughs) ...wait, scratch that one.
  • In "Treehouse of Horror IX" tale, "Hell Toupée", Snake is sent to the electric chair for smoking inside the Kwik-E-Mart (it was part of a "three-strikes" offense stipulation; he previously burned down an orphanage and blew up a bus full of nuns ^note "That was totally in self-defense"). After Snake's body has been burned, Homer buys Snake's hair and has it transplanted to his scalp to solve his baldness. What he didn't realize was that Snake's soul was still inside the hair, and once it was transplanted to Homer's head, the soul gained access to Homer's brain and overrode his personality, forcing Homer to take revenge on all the witnesses who got Snake sentenced to death — including Bart. Homer, finding the murdered bodies of Apu and Moe and not realizing that Snake was behind the killings (and, more to the point, that he himself was now Snake), promises to protect Bart by boarding up the door to his room.
    Homer: There, now nobody can get in. [Snake takes over his mind] Or out.
  • In "Lisa On Ice", where Lisa's panicked vision of the future sees her condemned to 'a lifetime of horror on Monster Island' by a judge who reassures her: 'Don't worry, it's just a name.' Cut to Lisa and a number of other prisoners being chased by fire-breathing monsters; one of her fellow captives explains: 'What he meant is that Monster Island is actually a peninsula."
  • Likewise, in "Lisa the Vegetarian", there is Troy McClure's "Meat and You - Partners in Freedom", which features this little gem:
    Troy: Come on, Jimmy! Let's take a peek at the killing floor.
    Jimmy: (gasp)
    Troy: Don't let the name throw you, Jimmy. It's not really a floor, it's more of a steel grating that allows material to sluice through so it can be collected and exported.
  • Goes right over Homer's head when the kids see him drunk(er than usual) in "The War of the Simpsons":
    Homer: I admit it. I didn't know when to say "when." I'm sorry it happened and I just hope you didn't lose a lot of respect for me.
    Bart: Dad, I have as much respect for you as I ever did or ever will.
  • In "The Father, The Son and The Holy Guest Star", when Bart gets sent to Catholic School and runs afoul of a tough nun.
    Sister Thomasina: In the old days, we'd use a ruler to deal with incorrigibles like you!
    Bart: Thanks for the history lesson, sis.
    Sister Thomasina: These days, we use a yardstick!
    (pulls out a yardstick and raps his knuckles)
    Bart: I'll show you. I'll move 33 inches away.
    Sister Thomasina: A yard's thirty-six! (whacks him again)
  • In "Lisa the Beauty Queen", Lisa has her hair restyled for a pageant. The stylist uses an acetylene torch.
    Lisa: Is this dangerous?
    Stylist: Don't worry. I am well protected. [puts on goggles]
  • In "The Call of the Simpsons", when Cowboy Bob says that Homer couldn't buy anything better than the rickety RV he was selling, he didn't mean it in a nice way.
  • In "The Old Man And The Lisa", Mr. Burns and Smithers visit the Simpson household, where the latter is surprised to see Homer not at work. Homer mentions that the new manager, Lenny, sent him home over some mistake that Homer made, and is implied to be as scary as his predecessor. This is Smithers' response:
    Smithers: Well, Lenny's reign of terror is over. Mr. Burns bought back the plant this morning.
• South Park:
  • When Butters is scared of ghosts, his dad reassures him that there's no such thing — and besides, he has much bigger things to worry about, like the new super-AIDS. "Just one teaspoon of super-AIDS in your butt and you're dead in three years!"
    Butters' Dad: So now do you feel better? Ghosts don't exist and there's nothing to be afraid of. Except the super-AIDS.
  • In "Fishsticks", Kanye West tells Carlos Mencia he isn't going to hurt him. He pays people to do that for him.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • In "Just One Bite", when Squidward is eating all of the Krabby Patties out of the Krusty Krab's vault:
    SpongeBob: Squidward, you can't eat all those patties at one time! (cuts to inside the vault) Squidward!
    Squidward: (incredulous) What's gonna happen? Am I gonna blow up?
    SpongeBob: No, worse; it'll go right to your thighs!
    (zooms out to show that Squidward's thighs have indeed grown to comically massive size)
    Squidward: My thighs?
    SpongeBob: And then you'll blow up.
    (Squidward explodes)
  • In "Krusty Love", Mr. Krabs is given a bill of $100 after treating Mrs. Puff to a fancy dinner. When he says that it can't be correct, the waiter tells him that he's right; his real bill was $100,000.
  • In "Krusty Towers", after quitting his job at the titular hotel, Squidward checks in and takes advantage of Mr. Krabs' policy that they'll submit to any request no matter how absurd. One of his requests is for a Krabby Patty topped with cheese, toenails, and nose hair, and that Mr. Krabs eat it. SpongeBob whispers to Mr. Krabs that it's not really a Krabby Patty with the stated ingredients, so Mr. Krabs eats it... and finds that it just has the toenails and nose hair because SpongeBob ran out of cheese after using it to cover the walls of Patrick's room.
• Superman: The Animated Series: In "The Way of All Flesh", when Corben mentioned that he couldn't feel anything in his Metallo body, the doctors said there were adjustments to be made. They just didn't say that they were his.
• Chris McLean of the Total Drama series loves this trope, often using it to explain the challenges. The cast eventually wises up to this... somewhat.
  Chris: Your challenge begins with a dive off beautiful Wherever-we-are Falls into the lagoon far below.
  Noah: Which is full of what, sharks?
  Chris: Nope. (contestants sigh in relief) Electric eels and sharks!
• Turbo F.A.S.T.:
  • When Turbo first defeats Hardcase, the latter extends his hand to Turbo, saying that no one ever calls him a Sore Loser, before adding that it's because no one who's ever beaten him has lived to tell about it, as he was prepared to have his minions destroy the city.
  • When Chet denies Burn's accusation that he assembled her birthday party in 5 minutes, White Shadow tells her that it was actually 7.

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