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Jerkass Has a Point in Western Animation.


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  • Aladdin: The Series: Iago is the Token Evil Teammate among the protagonists, not to mention rude and annoying. However, in one episode he vehemently opposes helping or trusting Caliph Kapok, simply because he's known to be a wizard. (Agrabah's experiences with wizards were unpleasant to say the least.) While such a suspicion at first seems like unfair stereotyping, Iago has a valid point here, because Kapok is as evil as any other wizard they've known. Aladdin himself, when asked by Iago to name any non-villanous wizards they've met, is stumped.
  • American Dad!: While Stan Smith may be a jerkass, he does bring up a lot of valid points.
    • The episode "Less Money Mo' Problems," depicts Stan as being in the wrong for considering Hayley and Jeff freeloaders for living with him and Francine instead of being out on their own. While the episode had some valid points about how hard it is to make a living on just minimum wage, Stan was actually justified for getting frustrated with them; what with Jeff waking him up in the middle of the night to watch Bones, going to the bathroom while Stan was still in the shower, and pouring out an entire bottle of syrup onto his pancakes after Stan asked him to pass it.
    • In "Old Stan in the Mountain," Stan is depicted as wrong for going behind his elderly coworker's back and stealing an assignment to demonstrate a new Urban Assault Vehicle. While, yes, it was kind of a dick move, Stan points out that the coworker who was supposed to demo it was clearly exhibiting signs of senility, citing how just the other day he mistook a sponge for a Hot Pocket.
      Stan: You microwaved it for thirty seconds, flipped it over, and then microwaved it for another thirty seconds. You had a lot of opportunities to see that it wasn't food.
    • Generally, though most episodes usually depict Stan as in the wrong, he does make some legitimate points, even if he goes about them the wrong way, such as Roger being a lazy Fat Slob who acts like he's better than everyone around him ("Weiner of Our Discontent"), and being irritated that Francine's adoptive parents drop in uninvited and completely take over his house ("Big Trouble in Little Langley").
    • In "Hamerican Dad", he adamantly refuses to let Roger join his ham club, well aware that Roger will end up making it all about him. After Francine browbeats him into sponsoring Roger for membership, Roger ends up doing exactly that.
  • Amphibia has several episodes where Polly ends up becoming the voice of reason. One notable episode is "Dating Season" where everyone else is so fixated on getting Sprig and Ivy together for their own selfish reasons. It gets to a point where she blows up and rants how Anne’s over-reliance on her dating magazines and Hop Pop and Felicia only caring about the financial benefits are the reason why the Love Doves captured them.
  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Master Shake is a complete and total bastard to a sociopathic degree, but he often brings up good points.
    • In "Super Sirloin", Meatwad sends all the food in the house off to a rapper named Sir Loin to feed starving children. This includes a duck à l'orange that Shake was going to eat, and he is not thrilled about that discovery, since that duck cost "higher than Meatwad can count". And for once, Frylock agrees with Shake.
      Frylock: Charity is one thing, but this has gotten way out of hand. I mean, we don't have anything to eat now!
    • In "Total Re-Carl," after destroying Carl's body and reducing him to just a head, Frylock tries to provide Carl with several replacement bodies. One of his last attempts is an indestructible Mini-Mecha armed to the teeth with advanced weaponry. Shake immediately points out that activating him is not a good idea, considering that an enraged Carl attempted to strangle Frylock with his last body. Frylock quickly settles on giving Carl a much simpler new body (a remote-controlled truck).
      Frylock: I give you the ultimate in military hardware, complete with laser cannon, indestructible titanium exoskeleton and motion-activated plasma pulse rifles.
      Shake: And you're gonna plug him in?!
      Frylock: You're right. Damn, what the hell was I thinking?
  • Archer's cast consists of jerks. Smart jerks who will point out the flaws of something. For example, when Cheryl explains to Pam that her brother is planning on having her thrown into a mental hospital to get her half of their inheritance, Pam says that this might not be such a bad idea, as Cheryl is mentally unstable and endangers everyone around her constantly.
    • Another time comes in "Jeu Monégasque" when it is revealed that Malory stole her employees' 401(k)s to pay for what is (seemingly) another sex tape that someone is blackmailing her with. When Archer (who did not know that the money came from the 401(k)s) loses the money in a casino, Lana and Ray are furious with him, both for jeopardizing the mission and for losing their retirement money. They back off, however, when Archer points out that Malory was the one who stole their money, and that all he did was foolishly lose it.
    • Sterling Archer, of all people, calls out his team for using him as an excuse to be their worst selves. Archer always had a strained relationship with his co-workers because he's an annoying douchebag on his best days and a complete a-hole on his worse days, with him constantly bullying and belittling them. Even the closest ones he has to friends have a hard time tolerating him at times. He was also a toxic influence on them. So when Archer was shot and put in a coma for three years, he found that his co-workers have become successful without him when he woke up. And it is implied that they are content without him in their lives, with them leaving him to his own devices for three months and trying to keep him from going on important missions with them. With Archer back and acting like an obnoxious, antagonistic, and impulsive Manchild, the rest of the characters start reverting to their self-destructive and dysfunctional selves. However, Archer himself did not do much to corrupt them. He just made a few comments that started fights. And while Archer causes Cyril to lose his confidence, he didn't do much but make some mean comments and sabotage his diet; but despite spending three years being a successful spy, it doesn't take much prodding from Archer to make him break down. This all comes to a head in the 11th season finale, where Lana angrily tells Archer despite him just saving the world, that she wishes he stayed in a coma and admits that she was OK with the Earth being destroyed if he was gone with it. Archer just asks if she ever considered that they like having him around so they have an excuse to be their worse selves, leaving Lana and the team with no words.
      Archer: Hey everyone! Why are you bitching?
      Lana: Hey! You’re the one who made all our lives worse by not being in a coma!
      Archer: (visibly hurt) Hmm, true. Cyril’s a wuss, Pam’s gone full horn-monster, Gilette’s probably binging again, and Lana, you’ve been a bitch to Sandra for, like, no reason. But let me just call up 7.5 billion of my closest friends to get their opinions. Oh, hey, guess what! They’re totally fine with it because they’re alive! And how many times did you guys save the world while I was in a coma?
      Everyone: (dead silence)
      Archer: I’LL TAKE YOUR SILENCE TO MEAN ZERO TIMES!
      Lana: Honestly, at this point, I’d wipe out the entire Earth if you went with it.
      Archer: Did you people ever consider that you need me around because you want the excuse to be your worst selves?
      Lana: Oh, shit!
  • Every so often on Arthur, D.W. will make a good point sometimes, but Arthur is too arrogant to listen to her.
  • In As Told by Ginger, selfish and hypocritical she may be, but Dodie was right to point out how inconsiderate Ginger was being by inviting Darren to the County Fair without consulting her and Macie, since it was their tradition to go together, so she retaliates by inviting Courtney, who ends up being the only person to have fun that day.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • In Season 1, Admiral Zhao is the resident Jerkass and Hate Sink character. However, in Episode 3 (his debut episode no less) he raised some very good points about the Deuteragonist Zuko's undying (and completely undeserved) loyalty to his father the Fire Lord. He says it in a way that's obviously meant to hurt Zuko, but it doesn't make what he says any less true.
      Zhao: ...your own father doesn't even want you.
      Zuko: You're wrong! Once I deliver the Avatar to my father, he will welcome me home with honor! And restore my rightful place on the throne.
      Zhao: If your father really wanted you home, he would've let you return by now, Avatar or no Avatar. But in his eyes you are a failure and a disgrace to the Fire Nation.
      Zuko: That's not true!
      Zhao: You have the scar to prove it.
    • The episode "The Deserter" has Jeong-Jeong, a Fire Nation Defector from Decadence who initially staunchly refuses to teach Aang firebending, and is generally unwilling to hear him out until Avatar Roku himself argues for Aang's case. It's made clear that he's projecting his massive self-loathing issues onto the entire discipline, and his teaching methods are strict and slow to the point that it seems as if he's trying to make Aang quit. But as the episode goes on, it becomes clear that Jeong-Jeong's stonewalling attitude is the correct one; Aang really isn't ready to learn firebending, and Jeong-Jeong has very good reason to believe that fire is not a toy.
    • In "The Old Masters" Aang, desperate to find a way out of killing Ozai, summons four of the previous avatars for advice. None of them tell him what he wants to hear, but are no less wrong for it.
      • Roku warns that Aang's waffling over what to do with Ozai runs the risk of the conflict starting up again later, citing the catastrophic fallout his own failure to decisively stop Sozin.
      • Kyoshi stands out even compared to the others. She refuses to split hairs over her responsibility for Chin's death, and warns Aang that there will be no peace if Ozai is not brought to justice.
      • Kuruk is the most downplayed of the four, but he still warns Aang of the danger he is heading for if he doesn't take an active role in deciding Ozai's fate.
      • Yangchen argues that the Avatar's duty supersedes all else and implicitly accuses Aang of being selfish by prioritizing his own spiritual needs over the world's wellbeing.
  • In Batman: The Animated Series, in episode "POV", Internal Affairs Detective Hackle despite being a Jerkass had a good reason to be suspicious of Harvey since he went to the warehouse early without backup and gave an apparent flimsy reason. He also isn't wrong when he points out that three cops are telling two different stories between them means someone has to be lying.
  • Big City Greens: In "Bleeped", Cricket overhears Gramma shouting the word "blort", which is considered a "cuss word" in this show's universe. Given that he's always wanted to hear one, he ends up spreading it to the other choir students except Tilly. Bill tries to get Cricket to stop, but he refuses, given that he can't control what he says and says whatever he wants. It is to the point Bill realizes Cricket is right and no one can control what he says except himself; thus, he allows his son to cuss when he wants, but gives him an Armor-Piercing Response that he has to decide if that's the kind of person he chooses to be. This is what causes Cricket to finally stop cussing, and finishes the concert the way it should.
  • Bob's Burgers:
    • Mr. Dinkler, the Thomas Edison-obsessed substitute science teacher in "Topsy", is undeniably unpleasant and nasty. However, him banning volcano models from the Science Fair because of how unoriginal and effortless they are is somewhat valid, especially since Louise was explicitly attempting to use the same one she constructed the previous year in order to not do any work for the science fair.
    • In general, Jimmy Pesto is an asshole and the food he serves is so bad that calling it substandard would be a compliment. However, unlike Bob, he shows far more competency in running a restaurant and points out how Bob puts too much effort on making good food over proper décor, advertising and interaction with customers. Unfortunately, he doesn't do it to give Bob constructive criticism or being helpful, he does it out of being spiteful, further making Bob unwilling to change his ways.
    • In "Are You There Bob? It's Me, Birthday", as Linda and the kids are trying to arrange a surprise birthday party for Bob, Jimmy points out that not everybody likes surprise parties because they involve coming home to a hidden houseful of people who jump out and scream at you. This makes Linda realize she's planning the surprise party for herself instead of Bob, since he's not a huge fan of parties, so she arranges a peaceful and relaxing evening for Bob instead and gifts him the bacon weight he wanted.
    • Phillip Frond is easily the most disliked and inept member of the Wagstaff faculty. It's also clear he doesn't care about the kids he helps at all, he's far more interested in using them or going with hairbrained schemes to make himself look better than the unstable manchild. That being said, he does have a rightful reason to single out Louise Belcher, given how openly disrespectful and disruptive she is with everyone.
  • Bojack Horseman:
    • Sebastian St. Claire is a raging narcissist that works in war-torn Cordovia doing charity work. While his efforts and works in the country are clearly for his glory and honor, he makes some solid points that a book written about him will encourage people to donate money to his foundation, which helps the country. His emotional detachment from the situation ensures that despite the horrors that come his way, he is always functional. This is in stark contrast to Diane, who bonds with a small child that is killed in a hospital bombing. She isn't able to emotionally handle it, and goes home shortly afterwards. When Diane calls him out for his attitude, he counters that grieving over the dead won't help them or the living, and only building new facilities for them will.
    • Bojack may be a bitter misanthrope, but he often brings up very valid points:
      • In Season 4, he points out to Hollyhock that Miles just using her, because a guy like him is surrounded by drop-dead gorgeous supermodels, which she isn't.
      • He argues against automatically treating soldiers as if they are heroes when they're just as fallible as everyone else in "Bojack Hates the Troops."
  • In The Boondocks, it's not unheard of for Uncle Ruckus (a decent man at heart but a real asshole) or A Pimp Named Slickback (just an asshole) to dispense genuinely good advice. To specify, the former is correct that Riley is a rude troublemaker, and the latter turns out to be right where his "ho" Cristal is only using Robert for selfish purposes.
  • The Buzz on Maggie: While Aldrin is typically a smug Big Brother Bully towards Maggie, there are a few episodes where his behavior is justified, considering how much of a self-absorbed, spoiled brat his little sister can be. In particular, "Le Termite" has Aldrin lay the groundwork for Maggie's Zany Scheme that episode to be exposed, and when questioned about it later on, he explains that he works hard at his Burger Fool job and earned their family's praise, whereas she was attempting to trick everyone solely in hopes of undermining him and receiving even greater praise. In general, while he is definitely a jerk a lot of the time, he's also right that Maggie is brilliant enough that she could likely find success in life if she'd stop trying to find shortcuts in life and just focus on working hard; the aforementioned episode even had him apologize for his skepticism when he believed she'd actually gotten a better job than him by doing just that.
  • Castlevania (2017):
    • Trevor, surly Jerk with a Heart of Gold that he is, has several instances:
      • When talking to both the Elder Speaker and the corrupt priest, Trevor vocally points out that the Corrupt Church are the ones to blame most of all for the bloodshed of Dracula's army that's befalling Wallachia: it was the Church who ungratefully excommunicated Trevor's family despite everything they'd done for humanity and the Church's disgusting asses, and in doing so made humanity vulnerable, and moreso it was the Church who entirely provoked Dracula's omnicidal rampage in the first place when they persecuted and wrongfully murdered Dracula's human wife.
      • Sypha points out that Trevor doesn't always have to respond to Alucard's jabs, but Trevor is right that Alucard is really trying to provoke him and that Alucard's jabs at Trevor's family (the rest of whom are currently dead by the way) are not funny.
      • In the Season 3 premiere, Sypha disapproves of Trevor selling teeth from the Night Creature they've killed, but Trevor retorts that they need the money for food and shelter. Trevor also refuses to give his full name, which considering his family's rep is not an unwise move.
    • Likewise, the Good Is Not Nice Alucard has a few:
      • He comes off as a jerk when listing Trevor's multiple flaws, but he's not exactly wrong about them.
      • His jabs at the Belmont family are not funny, but his mild disgust at the Belmonts' old underground base is understandable given that it's basically a trophy room of the killing of his own kind, with vampire skulls including the skull of a vampire child on display.
    • Calling Dracula a Jerkass for this particular action is a bit of a stretch since the nature of his company makes it Kick The Son Of A Bitch at worst. He states to his War Council's faces that the reason he trusts Hector and Isaac, a pair of human Forgemasters, more than any one of the generals among his own kind with the war effort to Kill All Humans, is because the Forgemasters joined Dracula out of genuine loyalty whilst the vampire lords only came for blood and carnage.
    • Godbrand, a vampiric Viking and member of Dracula's war council distinguished for having a very foul demeanor, raises a valid concern with Dracula: vampires need human blood to survive, so if Dracula exterminates all of the humans, won't the vampires starve? Dracula sidesteps the question by stating he has reserves of blood and farm animals that can be used as rations, but when Godbrand presses the issue, Dracula simply shuts him down. As it turns out, Dracula didn't plan for this eventuality because he had no intention of actually living beyond the end of his genocidal campaign: as Alucard later puts it, his war against humanity is essentially "history's longest suicide note".
    • Zamfir's insistence on storing the ruined town's holy water instead of giving it to the populace as something to drink makes sense considering that it's an ammunition against Night Creature and vampire attacks in the event they attack the Underground Court, which said craeatures do.
  • Clarence: Intellectual brainiac Jeff Randell had every right to keep Clarence from eating his fries in "Fun Dungeon Face Off", since he didn't want to catch germs or whatever Clarence has.
  • Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers: While Chip can overreact when he loses his patience, especially with Dale, many times he's not exactly wrong, either. For example in "Adventures in Squirrel Sitting," Tammy's (a squirrel teenager with no experience of any kind) Precocious Crush on Chip often put her and her sister in harms' way, directly interfered with the team's attempts to solve the case at several points and in fact does nearly get the Rangers killed. In the end, Tammy does admit to him having a point.
  • Codename: Kids Next Door:
    • The much hated Teenagers get to call out the KND when they simply assume that their reunion at "The Point" has ulterior motives, without having actual proof... and it turns out that they just wanted to go to a rollerskating ring and have fun. Their night out is ruined, and they're pissed at the kids for a good reason.
    • Numbuh 363 is always a self-centered and cocky tyke, and takes it up to eleven in the series finale Operation Interviews when his somewhat strict and no-nonsense sister Numbuh 362 reassigns the Cake Missions to him and his Sector, mockingly pointing out that they have never once gotten the cake back in one piece and it's time that a real Sector started handling the big missions. Rude as he was to Sector V, his criticisms are legit. Sector V hasn't ever once gotten the cake, and it makes perfect sense for he, as the operative who currently as the highest mission success rate in the KND, be put in charge of all future cake missions instead of the inept Sector V. He even lives up to his title, obtaining the most amount of items in the Scavenger Hunt for the cake, outsmarting Sector V on multiple occasions.
  • Corner Gas Animated: Oscar may be short-tempered, rude and often exaggerating, but he did successfully run the gas station for 40 years and was right to say Brent letting the underground tanks run completely empty for two full days was irresponsible.
  • Darkwing Duck: In "In Like Blunt", Derek Blunt continually criticizes Darkwing's theatrical and gadget-heavy approach to crime-fighting. As irksome as he makes himself, even Launchpad suggested he might have a point after Darkwing lost control of a foilage-clearing gadget, coming close to killing Launchpad and Blunt with the spinning blades. Ultimately, Darkwing and Blunt both have to admit that each of them has a point.
  • Dexter's Laboratory: Yohnny the Janitor hates Dexter so much for making a mess every day in school that he traps him in the school and terrorizes him in a Die Hard parody... but then you realize that he has a point. Dexter experiments with all kinds of dangerous chemicals in the classroom and leaves them lying around when he goes home for the day, which Yohnny has to clean himself, adding unneeded hours of overtime. Also, remember that Dexter is an elementary school student. He's leaving all kinds of poisonous and highly volatile substances in a mess that a janitor like Yohnny wouldn't have any formal training to remove. Yohnny has no idea what these chemicals are so he may accidentally mix the wrong substances. He went too far, but when it comes to Dexter... can you really blame him? On the flip side, however, Dexter makes it clear from his perspective that he was unaware about doing any of the things above, so when he accuses Yohnny of being crazy with what he's been putting him through, he actually has a point of his own because he doesn't even know why Yohnny's doing it. At the very least, Yohnny would be more justified in his actions (than he already is) if he had bothered to tell Dexter what this was all about. He briefly does, but after Dexter replies with a genuinely confused "What?", he simply taunts him by opening the exit door instead of explaining himself further. Missing an opportunity to make Dexter actually learn his lesson.
  • One episode of Dilbert has the titular character die long enough to see the afterlife, which is apparently just a cubicle in a glowing void. Later, when Dilbert refuses to do something on moral principal, said boss points out how there is no moral opposition to doing it as there's no divine reward or punishment at the end of your life. Dilbert despises this... but admits he can't explain why it's wrong.
    Dilbert: I'm not going to lie for this company! It's morally indefensible!
    Boss: You've seen your afterlife, Dilbert. No penalty. No rewards. It's time you loosened up and started harming other people.
    Dilbert: That is so wrong... although I don't know why.
  • Most of the cast of Drawn Together engage in fairly consistent Jerkass behavior, so most examples wouldn't be all that noticeable. That said, Toot and Captain Hero actually end up becoming ashamed of themselves when, in response to Xandir asking them to roleplay as his parents, they respond to his coming out as gay by saying "Uh, DUUHHH!" and laughing at his expense, resulting in him telling them off and going to his room. While they do apologize and promise to take it more seriously, their initial reaction wasn't far off the mark- Xandir's parents do react that way when he actually does come out to them at the end of the episode.
  • The Dragon Prince: Even those who don't like him sometimes agree with Lord Viren, though this is shown most clearly in the books.
    • No matter how much Amaya doubted Viren's intentions, she agreed with his argument that she was most needed at the Breach to protect it from the elves.
    • After the fight against the Magma Titan, Sarai was understandably angry at Viren for suggesting leaving the wounded in Xadia, given that her sister Amaya was one of the wounded. But she still thought that he had the right idea.
    • Aanya saw right through Viren's manipulations at the Pentarchy, but even she privately agreed with him when he called King Ahling a "coward."
  • Eric in Dungeons & Dragons (1983) was set up as The Complainer Is Always Wrong, but if you're listening carefully, he's the only one in the party perfectly willing to call out Dungeonmaster over those dirty tricks and half-truths that get the party in trouble, and the only one to tell Hank that Honor Before Reason may be a bad idea. Certain members of the writing staff have pointed out this was intentional; they didn't agree with this trope at all, and later episodes were more explicit about his pessimism being the right call (even if the moral guardians meant they still had to ignore him).
  • Family Guy:
    • While Carter Pewterschmidt personifies the Evil Old Folks and Rich Bastard tropes, his loathing for his son-in-law Peter is amply justified. Peter is not only a Fat Idiot, but also a full-blown Psychopathic Manchild who's repeatedly shown to be a danger to himself and everyone in the vicinity, responsible for multiple serious injuries, fatalities and millions of dollars in property damage. He's also not a good father as well to his kids, especially Meg.
    • In "Coma Guy", Peter's newfound obsession with the Van Halen song "Panama" causes him to get in a car crash so bad that he falls into a coma and is later temporarily left braindead. The good news? Peter incredibly awakens none the worse for wear. The bad news? It's just seconds after Lois gave him up for dead and pulled the plug on him. Peter is understandably livid about Lois' decision and initially refuses to forgive her since she did it without his knowledge or consent. But while she isn't exactly a model housewife, it's not a decision she made lightly and she easily justifies it; for her entire married life, Lois has had to put up with a Manchild of a husband who scored so low on an intelligence test that he was diagnosed as intellectually disabled and who does whatever idiotic thing pops into his head, consequences and his own safety be damned. That Peter hasn't gotten himself killed yet is nothing short of a miracle, and Lois has spent so long living in fear of it happening that when she thought it finally did, she couldn't help but be relieved that she didn't need to worry anymore. It was a horrible thing to consider doing and Lois says she instantly regretted it, but the fact of the matter is that Peter's breathtaking stupidity and carelessness prepared her for losing him a long time ago.
  • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends:
    • While Mr. Herriman can be very strict on Bloo, it does carry some understandably given how Bloo tend to causes a lot of trouble around the house.
    • In "Dinner is Swerved", Duchess chides Bloo on his stupidity for using her phone to make a call not to call Frankie for directions, but to instead call the pizza delivery guy for 12 extra extra large pepperoni with extra sauce and extra cheese pizzas for delivery to Foster's and brings up him not planning ahead on how he'll get his pizzas if he doesn't know his way back downstairs.
    • "Partying is Such Sweet Soiree":
      • The noise from the party interrupts Duchess' sleep, and Duchess plans to rat Bloo out and get him expelled from Foster's because Bloo threw the party after Madame Foster warned him not to. Even Mac had to side with Duchess in this situation.
      • When Mr. Herriman later returns back to the house and chews Bloo out for throwing a wild party while Madame Foster was away when she forbade it, Bloo points out to Mr. Herriman that he'll get in trouble when Madame Foster returns as well because he promised "no wild parties would happen under his watch". While it was Bloo's fault Mr. Herriman left the house without his supervision in the first place, Bloo was still right about Mr. Herriman failing to do his job by having let himself be tricked by the old "running refrigerator" prank call and being absent from the house for the majority of the episode while the party was going down. Herriman nearly faints in shock when he realizes Bloo is right.
    • In "Eddie Monster" and "Destination: Imagination", as mean as Bloo was for calling Eduardo a 'big scaredy baby', it's not wrong assessment if given that even the smallest inanimate things like a whisbee freak Eduardo out, thinking it's going to eat him and did warrant the insult by Bloo for ruining their game. It's also quite telling that Mac, Coco, and Wilt were awkwardly quiet when Eduardo tries to get them to back him up showing that they secretly agree with Bloo, but don't want to hurt Eduardo's feelings.
    • While he did deceive Bloo in "The Sweet Stench of Success", Kip Snip is correct in pointing out that Bloo got himself into the mess.
    Bloo: But I didn't wanna be adopted.
    Kip: [imitating Bloo] But I didn't wanna be adopted— well, you shouldn't have gone on television saying that you did! You ASKED for this!
    • In "Imposter's Home for um...Make 'Em Up Pals", Goofball's kid's parents end up proving Frankie's point about Goofball to Herriman when they put on fake noses and Bloo honestly believes they're imaginary friends. Though Herriman himself doesn't fall for it, hinting he knew Goofball really wasn't wearing a disguise.
    • In "One False Movie", Bloo had a point to call Mac out for having a lack of faith in Bloo's cut of the home movie, especially since Mac jumped quick to conclusions that the new cut got him in trouble without the full details.
    • "Crime After Crime":
      • While Mr. Herriman had no right to punish everyone in the house to hide his addiction to carrots, he is correct and had every to right punish Eduardo, because he was technically stalking and spying on Mr. Herriman.
      • Even though Bloo did break many rules in the house, when confronted by Eduardo who felt upset he was sent to his room without supper, Bloo is right when he tells Eduardo he shouldn't be that mad because dinner is something less than edible.
  • In the "Bend Her" episode of Futurama, after Bender Bending Rodriguez has a sex change, the female crewmates accuse of him of being a bad representation of their gender and dating a celebrity robot just for the sake of indulgence. When "she" questions whether they've really never done the same thing, they can barely muster up a denial.
    Leela: That is so unbelievably manipulative.
    Coilette: Come on! You never went on a date with a guy just 'cause you were hungry?
    Leela: Well I, uh, I thought I might like him on a full stomach.
    • In "I Dated a Robot," Leela similarly finds herself reluctantly agreeing with Bender that Fry's relationship with a robot is a terrible idea.
      Leela: But Fry's our friend, Bender.
      Bender: Aw geez! Will ya stifle there, meatbag?
      Leela: You stifle, Bender!
      Zoidberg: Hooray! Finally, you're standing up to him!
      Leela: Although he is completely right.
  • In Gargoyles, during a flashback, Demona talks behind Hudson's back that the Wyvern clan need a new leader due to Hudson's advanced age. Hudson acknowledges that she has a point and gives the reins of leadership to Goliath while Hudson stays on as a mentor.
  • In the Garfield TV special, Garfield on the Town, Garfield's grandfather bluntly telling him to go home was undoubtedly harsh, but it's not hard to see where he's coming from. The family's restaurant took serious damage and some of their family members got injured in the fight against the Claws to protect Garfield — a fight Garfield didn't participate in. Besides, as Garfield's mother points out, he's just not cut out for their lifestyle and wouldn't enjoy it.
  • Goof Troop:
  • In The Great North, Season 1 "Curl Interrupted Adventure", Judy refuses to put Delmar in because he's super old. She mainly does it out of arrogance because she wants to win and she thinks he's holding them back, but when Beef overrules Judy and has Delmar throw, he gets carried away by the stone and breaks his hip.
  • Invincible (2021): Atom Eve's father is absolutely correct that no hero, no matter how powerful, can survive, let alone be effective, without a support network and people to watch their backs. However, when this wisdom comes in the middle of a borderline parodically misogynistic rant about how he only allowed her to be a superhero because she was doing it alongside her (significantly less powerful) boyfriend, and that she should "stop being a bitch" and forgive said boyfriend for cheating on her because "men have needs"... yeah, it's gonna be ignored.
  • Justice League
    • The entire Cadmus story arc centered on Cadmus' attempts to thwart the worst-case scenario of the league taking over the world like their Justice Lord counterparts. Amanda Waller points out that the League has a Kill Sat, they have made some questionable decisions in the past, and there has been at least one reality they know of where the League overthrew the government (albeit to keep Luthor from wiping out all life on Earth out of sheer spite). Normal people don't have a way to defend themselves against a group of super-powerful beings if it ever came down to it. In "Question Authority", Green Arrow lampshades the whole thing by saying that if the League ever decided to cross the line and become the Lords, there's nothing that the rest of the world could do to stop it. Green Arrow and the league's more grounded heroes were meant in part to keep the heavy hitters honest but they only served as the overall conscience against them Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, not an actual Restraining Bolt if they were to truly abandon their principles and attack the government.
    • In the "Knight of Shadows" Two-Parter, Etrigan is relentlessly unpleasant and critical of the Justice League's actions. He's also suspicious of the Martian Manhunter due to the illusion he was promised by Morgaine. Nevertheless, he's proven right when J'onn is manipulated into giving up the stone to Morgaine. Only near the end does he snap out of it.
    • "Injustice For All" has a villain-on-villain example where, after capturing Batman, The Joker keeps pestering Lex Luthor to "trust someone who knows" and just kill Batman while Lex, who doesn't particularly want The Joker around in the first place, just blows him off. Of course Batman, being Batman, spends the entire time being a thorn in the team's side, causing infighting and hindering their progress, and ultimately reveals he could have escaped any time he wanted in the first place.
    • Whenever Superman acts seriously antagonistic towards someone who isn't actively attempting to kill him or his friends, chances are that he's completely right that they're planning something... but he just can't prove it until the trap is sprung. In Twilight, he's all for leaving Darkseid to Brainiac's mercy, but is overruled by his teammates who point out that they can't take the chance of Brainiac with Darkseid's technology, and it later turns out that Darkseid made a deal with Brainiac to lure in the Justice League. In Clash, he gets into a fight with Captain Marvel over whether Lex had truly reformed. While it turns out that Lex's project in that episode was legit, in the season finale he proves he really is the same old evil Lex.
  • Kaeloo: When Kaeloo tries to tell fairy tales as bedtime stories to Stumpy and Quack Quack in Episode 122, Mr. Cat interrupts each story, takes over the narration, and makes it more realistic (like having Cinderella call CPS, for example). When Kaeloo gets mad at him for "ruining" the stories, he points out that the original versions of the fairy tales would not help Stumpy and Quack Quack learn how to deal with real life problems.
  • King of the Hill:
    • In "Dia-BILL-ic Shock", when Bill has a spike in blood sugar and is warned by his doctor that he's at risk of developing diabetes, he goes to another doctor who, despite being a smug, verbally abusive prick, is pretty spot-on in identifying the problem and guessing both what will happen if Bill doesn't curb his unhealthy lifestyle and that he most likely won't.
      Dr. Weissman: Did you go to any other doctors?
      Bill: Yes.
      Dr. Weissman: Did they tell you to diet and exercise?
      Bill: Uh-huh.
      Dr. Weissman: Did you do it?
      Bill: *whines*
    • The plot of "Cotton's Plot" focuses on this entirely. Peggy, whose muscles have atrophied from being in a full body cast after a skydiving accident, ultimately ends up getting drilled by Cotton in order to walk again. He takes every advantage of this to treat her as miserably as possible for his own amusement while hollering at her like a Drill Sergeant. The kicker? It works: He knows exactly how to push her buttons and, quite literally, drives her forward via her hatred of him. He ultimately makes her climb a steep hill at a cemetery by offering to let her dance on his grave if she makes it (which she does by crawling).
    • In "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Alamo", Hank butts heads with another man over a less-than-flattering play about the Alamo where the Texans involved in the battle are portrayed as a bunch of drunken cowards. The other man explains the logic behind his views, such as citing Sam Houston's troubled life and documented alcoholism and pointing out that the only people who know exactly what happened at the Alamo are long dead, so all they have to go off of is historical records. In the end, Hank is dissuaded from smashing up the stage when he realizes that it's wrong to censor someone else just because you don't like their message, but he insists on giving a speech to relate the bare facts of the battle before the play begins.
    • In one episode, John Redcorn comments to Nancy that he feels he really can't trust Dale to raise Joseph, his illegitimate son with her. The episode portrays John Redcorn as in the wrong, given that he's an adulterer who is basically letting an ignorant man do all the hard work of raising Joseph for him... But it's an accusation that isn't entirely without merit. Dale is not only a hardcore Conspiracy Theorist, but also certifiably insane. He may love his wife and who he thinks is his son, but he frequently puts Nancy through all manner of problems by getting sucked into his latest delusion, and his love for Joseph sees him unpredictably flip-flopping between spoiling him rotten and setting an incredibly bad example for him. Honestly, Dale is one of the most realistic examples of someone who really shouldn't be raising a child.
    • Hank's Cranky Neighbor Kahn is an arrogant racist who takes pride in annoying Hank as much as possible, but after Luanne's boyfriend Buckley dies, he's the only person who treats the affair with the respect it deserves in "Death of a Propane Salesman", having apparently befriended him offscreen (initially with the intent of annoying Hank further) and giving a moving speech at his funeral. Later, he's the one who chews out Luanne for becoming a Soapbox Sadie to use suffering in the world as an excuse to not mourn his death, berating her "strange Sinéad O'Connor act''. She then angrily storms off, only for it to finally hit her that Buckley's gone and break down crying.
  • Mertle Edmonds from Lilo & Stitch acts like an unsympathetic brat. Her dislike for Lilo for her odd behavior, however, does serve good points. However petty they can be, Lilo's strangeness is looked down upon by the majority of the public, and often times Lilo invades her personal space, as Mertle simply wants nothing to do with her.
  • Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Pete is indeed a big stink, but due to the show focusing on a preschool audience, he may tend to be helpful nowadays. Best exemplified in "Goofy Baby" when he comes upon Mickey and the gang when Goofy started crying right after they fed him and they don't know what they did wrong, and Pete simply points out they didn't burp him yet.
  • In Miraculous Ladybug, Lila Rossi might be a Hate Sink and trying to manipulate Gabriel, but she's spot on that his overprotective nature is just making Adrien feel isolated and he needs friends his age.
    • Her belief of being Surrounded by Idiots is also somewhat spot-on, considering how easily she dupes everyone in her class except Marinette and Adrien. The issue is that she believes she is justified in taking advantage of them because of this.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
    • "Boast Busters": Having heard that Trixie defeated an Ursa Major on her own, Snips and Snails venture out into the Everfree Forest and bring one to Ponyville. When they show Trixie, she rightly chides them for doing so.
      Trixie: Are you out of your little pony minds!?
    • When Trixie comes back for some Amplifier Artifact Brainwashed and Crazy revenge, she points out that she wants payback because her entire career was destroyed, she's a laughing stock, she's effectively homeless now due to the events of "Boast Busters", and that Ponyville residents have been bullying her and even vandalizing her wagon ever since. She goes way too far, and targets Twilight Sparkle for all the wrong reasons, but she's absolutely right about the repercussions of that episode being needlessly and unfairly harsh given all she really did wrong was tell some lies and act like a jerk on stage, which Twilight's friends actually agree with.
    • In "The Cutie Pox", Diamond Tiara probably only calls Apple Bloom out on her cutie marks which were caused by Cutie Pox being fake in order to take her down a peg when a second one appears, since she hates anypony taking the spotlight away from her. Still, she's 100% right, and even the teacher Cheerilee shares her skepticism.
    • Fluttershy gets one herself in "Putting Your Hoof Down" when she talks about how Pinkie Pie and Rarity want "Pushover Fluttershy" back. Yeah, she was being mean about it, but it's been shown plenty of times before and since in which her friends will take advantage of her kindness. But really, Pinkie and Rarity were HAPPY that Fluttershy was finally standing up for herself. They only tried to put a stop to it when they saw Fluttershy had become needlessly vindictive and aggressive.
    • Queen Chrysalis wasn't wrong when she points out how Twilight Sparkle thought that something was wrong with Princess Cadance who was actually Chrysalis herself in disguise, and that the cast was so focused on their wedding planning, they failed to realize that Twilight was right the whole time. It was at that point when the others have a Jerkass Realization and Applejack apologized to Twilight on the behalf of everypony. She also points out how infantile and unbefitting Pinkie Pie's planned party activities are for a royal wedding. One can't help but agree with her.
      Chrysalis: It's funny, really. Twilight here was suspicious about my behavior all along. Too bad the rest of you were too caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were correct.
      Applejack: Sorry, Twi. We should have listened to you.
    • In "Inspiration Manifestation", while the puppeteer could have been nicer about his criticism towards the puppet theater Rarity built, ample stage space and mobility are far more important for a traveling puppeteer than how shiny it looks.
    • This is Discord's "thing" since he did a very vague Heel–Face Turn. He's still a jerk, but his insults tend to ring true, and he's the first to lavish sarcastic "approval" on less than noble actions.
      Spike: Come on, Twilight! Discord may be reformed but he's not that reformed! He's just trying to get under your skin!
      Twilight: Well, it's working!!!
    • In "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies", Seabreeze constantly acts abrasively, putting the other breezies down... but he is entirely correct in that their shortsighted behavior is at risk of getting them all stranded away from their home, in an environment that's practically a deathtrap for their kind.
    • In "Once Upon a Zeppelin," Iron Will's not wrong when he points out that Twilight's parents could have avoided all of their family's collective headaches if they had bothered to Read the Fine Print for his airship cruise offer. Twilight's parents acknowledge that they made a mistake because they were so eager to go on the cruise. So much so that, when Iron Will makes the ultimatum of "either do what the contract asks of you or don't take the cruise", Twilight's only recourse to free her family from the contract and still get the cruise is to offer a better contract (for Iron Will) where she does all the princess work.
    • Pharynx in "To Change A Changeling" is repeatedly disregarded because he preferred the Changelings' days under Queen Chrysalis' rule and is an utter ass-candle to the rest of the hive for no longer forcibly sucking out other species' love for sustenence, making them universally dislike him. However, all his arguments about how the hive is now weak and how their kind still needs an army to protect themselves from outside threats that can't be diplomatically reasoned with are entirely correct. It ends in a compromise where Pharynx learns to lighten up and not be such an asshole, while the rest of the hive accepts that, yes, they do still need warriors and fighters to keep themselves safe even though they're no longer invading other kingdoms.
    • Happens twice in "A Horse Shoe-In":
      • At one point, Trixie gets into an argument with Grandpa Gruff over his apathy towards Gallus's development at the School of Friendship, with Trixie accusing him of being an unfit guardian and not caring about Gallus. This is lampshaded by Starlight being glad Trixie stood up for Gallus (and tacitly agreeing with what she said) but at the same time takes issue with how Trixie did it (mainly, she was worried about a potential vice-headmare getting into arguments with parents/guardians).
      • After Trixie summons the flash bees, Starlight blows up at Trixie about how her performance during the interview process wasn't even acceptable, let alone exceptional. She even calls Trixie incompetent and tells her that there's no way she'd ever be vice-headmare. While it is harsh, Trixie admits that Starlight was absolutely right when Starlight visits Trixie in her wagon to apologize for the blow-up.
  • In episode 7 of The Owl House, Amity Blight rebuffs Luz’s attempts to make friends since every time they meet Amity ends up humiliated and is proven right when she later stumbles onto Luz unknowingly having broken into her secret den with Amity's older siblings and allegedly stealing her diary, although later Amity realizes that Luz never intended to embarrass her.
  • The Patrick Star Show: In "Stuntin'", GrandPat is just trying to hog Patrick's attention for himself while acting as his Obvious Stunt Double, and he gets upset when Patrick wants to do his own stunts. However, he has a point that there can't be two stunt doubles each trying to do each other's stunts. Squidina even agrees and comes up with a way to settle it
  • Candace Flynn from Phineas and Ferb seems to embody this trope. While she is hard on her titular brothers, her anger often comes from their inventions, which tend to be dangerous and/or reckless.
  • The Proud Family:
    • Suga Mama isn't certainly a pleasant person, especially with how she can treat her family at times, but she usually comments on how she doesn't like Dijonay because of how two-faced she tends to be and how Penny shouldn't be friends with her. Considering the number of times Dijonay has ditched Penny and sold her out, Suga Mama is definitely not wrong.
    • The Gross Sisters are a gang of thugs who love to steal money from others. However, in one episode, they didn't want to hang out with Penny who then decided to be a "bad girl" and do things that not even they would do. As Nubia pointed out, Penny, at that point, had been considered a straight-un criminal.
    • While Oscar can be obnoxious, he was also right to be angry with Penny in the episode "Hip-Hop Helicopter" for wearing skimpy clothes on television because they were too revealing for a middle school girl to be wearing; and Trudy even agrees with him.
  • Ready Jet Go!:
    • In "Lone Star", Western!Sean is a cranky shopkeeper who dislikes Lone Star's ideas because they actually could hurt the economy of Boxwood Territory. Western!Sean claims that if people are looking up at the stars all night, they will be tired in the morning and won't be able to cut down trees or dig for gold.
    • In "That's One Gigantic Pumpkin, Jet Propulsion!", Mindy and Lillian keep insisting that Halloween is magical, while Mitchell repeatedly refutes their claims. Yes, he was rather blunt about it, but he did have a point that the stuff that they said were real like demonic spiders, ghosts, and witches are fake.
  • Benson from Regular Show seems to embody this trope. While he is hard on Mordecai and Rigby, his anger often comes from their slacker attitudes and desire to be cool, which tend to screw things up or prolong the time it takes to complete menial tasks.
  • Rick and Morty uses this trope a lot with Rick Sanchez. For instance, Rick angrily reads Jerry the riot act in "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", as when Jerry correctly accuses Rick of taking his family, Rick retorts that Jerry's the one who got Beth knocked up at seventeen and tells him that he uses pity to make people feel sorry for him and thus easier to manipulate, which nearly drives Jerry to tears. Later, Rick advises Jerry to be more honest with himself in the end of the episode, which is how Jerry manages to get back his family in the season finale.
    • Jerry Smith himself takes this when questioning Tammy's marriage approval to Birdperson despite the age-gap. Despite being snubbed, he turns out to be correct as the marriage was a sham and a trap for all of Rick's friends, and even Rick's family narrowly escape because they were suspicious.
    • Deconstructed and reconstructed in "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender":
      Rick: Thank you, I appreciate it, Morty. I knew you were sucking the Kool-Aid out of the Vindicator's dick, so the fact that I was right must be pretty hard to admit.
      Morty: Yeah, it is. You know why Rick? Because when you're an asshole, it doesn't matter how right you are, nobody wants to give you the satisfaction!
      Rick: I know, everyone wants people they like to be right. That's why popular people are fucking dumb.
  • She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
  • The Simpsons
    • Played to the hilt in the episode "Homer's Enemy". Frank Grimes, a one-time character, gets introduced as a new worker at the nuclear plant. He's had an extremely rough life, and works very hard for everything that he has (to include a second night job to make ends meet). He becomes increasingly agitated, eventually enraged, at Homer's buffoonery, incompetence, and laziness. Grimes goes to increasingly hostile lengths to prove Homer's ineptitude throughout the episode, rounding him out as a bit of a jerkass. Albeit one with a strong point that everyone watching can relate to. At one point he point-blank told Homer "If you lived in any other country in the world, you'd have starved to death long ago." At which, Bart even responds "He's got you there, dad." Even Marge tells Homer that he ought to be more professional in his work ethic.
    • In a similar vein, Marge's sisters Patty and Selma Bouvier are openly hostile toward Homer, largely because they feel that Marge can do better. While Homer is a loving father and husband, he's also (as mentioned above) lazy, buffoonish, and prone to doing incredibly stupid things with the family's finances and well-being, which prove that Patty and Selma's argument does hold water. Marge herself comes to agree with them in the movie.
    • In Hurricane Neddy, when Ned Flanders has his mental break and starts insulting the townspeople, most (but not all) of what he said was merited. He tells Marge that her family is “out of control” (to which the previous eight seasons have been a testament to that); He mentions Lisa’s tendency of butting in and busybody behavior (even if she was rightfully sticking up for Bart in that scenario); mocks what a useless cop Chief Wiggum is; insults Krusty the Clown as an unfunny hack (even future episodes have made this a plot point); Moe even agrees with him that he’s an “ugly, hate-filled man”; and while calling Homer “the worst human being I’ve ever met” may seem harsh, Homer has savagely insulted, bullied, and taken advantage of Ned for the better part of their time as neighbors. The only people who didn’t deserve it were Lenny (whom Ned admits that he doesn’t know him, but insults him anyway) and arguably Bart (as telling a child that they’ll grow up to be a bum based on childhood mischief is still a rotten thing to say).
    • In "White Christmas Blues", Lisa buys the family gifts with a purpose such as radish seeds for Homer so he can lose weight and a book for Bart so he can learn something. Later, when she finds Bart Simpson burning the book she got him she is outraged at him destroying her gift. Bart counters by saying it's his gift that she gave him so he's free to do with it as he pleases. Aside from that, he points out she knew he wouldn't like the book and rather than getting the family gifts they'd actually like as is custom, she just got them stuff that would boost her ego and make her feel good about herself for buying them. Lisa realizes he's right and buys him an ebook with apps he can enjoy.
    • After Homer Simpson dragged home a trampoline that injured half the kids in the neighborhood (and getting rid of it gets the family car trashed by Jimbo and the other bullies) Homer gets a passive aggressive silent treatment by Marge who kept telling him that the trampoline was a bad idea. However, Homer points out that yeah, the trampoline was a bad idea but at least he's willing to try new things and if he listened to Marge's nagging, he'd never do anything other than work and go to church. The next day, Marge asks the kids if they also think she just nags all the time, and they reluctantly agree that she does (the viewer is shown flashbacks to Marge's moralizing from past episodes). Marge isn't really able to come up with a counter-argument and decides to spend some time at her sisters.
      • "Homer the Heretic" has this happening when Homer decides to stop going to church. Most of the arguments he makes are pretty reasonable, to the point that even God agrees (not observing the traditions doesn't make him a bad person, Reverend Lovejoy's sermons are too miserable and boring to affirm his faith, and God is everywhere and there are many forms of faith, so he's free to find it in his own way). However, while his reasoning is good, Homer's actual motivation for not going to church is just that he's lazy and he wants a free Sunday to lounge on the couch and eat fatty foods.
      • In "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation," a severely-impaired Homer confesses to a cab driver that he sometimes wishes he'd never gotten married or had kids because of the dreams he had to give up in order to support his family. The whole conversation is filmed for a hidden camera show and aired on TV. The rest of the family is furious and pick Homer up from work the next day to take him to what he assumes is a punishment of some kind, only to park at a rock-and-roll fantasy camp. They've paid for a week there out of the family vacation fund, realizing he really does make a lot of sacrifices for them and they've never thanked him.
      Marge: We had a family meeting and decided that even though what you said about us was incredibly thoughtless and hurtful, you had a point.
    • In "Fear of Flying", Marge remembers herself as a kid. She used to like The Monkees, and another girl traumatized her by pointing that they did not sing their own songs, or played their own instruments. She reacted with a Big "NO!" back then, and her therapist pointed that kids can be very cruel. But adult Marge pointed that the kid was right about those things she said about the Monkees.
    • Mr. Burns of all people gets this in "Mobile Homer" when he's rightfully disgusted at the employees of the plant for being unable to co-operate with one another and evacuate the building in a timely manner during a fire drill. Considering how serious working at a nuclear plant is, that's something employees need to know for the sake of their own safety and others and Burns organizing a teamwork retreat in order to better the employees is arguably one of the most sensible decisions he's made as a boss.
  • In "Pay Happiness Forward" from Shelldon Shelldon and Herman both try to warn Connie that Mr. Kraken has commandeered her "pass it along" so that it is no longer really about helping people but rather about his own profit. They're absolutely right, however, she pays them no attention because both of them were complete jerks to her before, openly dismissive of her project and even laughing at her about it.
  • Smiling Friends: While he's usually a lazy jackass, Charlie's advice is generally more practical than Pim's on the few occasions that he does actually try to do his job. He points out that Desmond is already suicidal and basically a lost cause; that Shrimp should move on from Shrimpina and focus on getting his life together; and that they should focus on their assignment in the Enchanted Forest and not get sidetracked by questing. Unfortunately, his advice is rarely heeded, and on the occasions that he is able to act on it, he proves to be just as out of his depth as Pim is.
  • South Park
    • In this series, Jerkass Eric Cartman gets this quite a few times throughout the series, when his twisted worldview is occasionally proven true. Usually Played for Laughs like most everything else in the series.
      • Cartman accidentally stumbled onto a real terrorist plot while accusing the new Middle-Eastern kid (who had nothing to do with it) of being a terrorist.
      Cartman: Me being a bigot stopped a nuclear bomb from going off, yes or no?!
      Kyle: The-that's not the right way to look at it, I-
      Cartman: Yes or no, Kyle?!
      Kyle: No! Not... not like what you're saying!
      • In "Cartoon Wars, Part 1", an episode of Family Guy is set to depict the Muslim prophet Muhammad uncensored, resulting in several terrorist threats. Kyle tries to defend the Family Guy writers for standing up for free speech, while Cartman uncharacteristically points out that people can get hurt. Cartman even asks Kyle "If ten people die because Family Guy just had to have its little joke, will you still think it's funny? What if a hundred people died? Will it be funny then, Kyle?" This leads to Kyle conceding the point, teaming up with Cartman to get the episode pulled. It's ultimately subverted when Cartman later reveals that he doesn't care about people getting hurt; he's just exploiting the controversy in order to get Family Guy cancelled, due to a personal dislike of his humor being compared to the show. This turns Kyle's stance around, saying that letting things be censored because of these kind of threats allows terrorism to work.
      • Cartman gets another good one in "Bass to Mouth." The school faculty consult him to help curb suicide attempts by students who crapped their pants, but balk at his plan to keep kids from being singled out by making everyone crap their pants with laxative-spiked pizza. Cartman then asks "Well, if you have a better idea, then why am I here?" One beat later, Mr. Mackey is on the phone, arranging a school Pizza Day.
    • Stephen and Linda are insanely strict parents to Butters, grounding him for things he didn't do. But sometimes, he does do things that warrant punishment, such as in "Freak Strike" or "Franchise Prequel".
  • The Spectacular Spider-Man:
    • In one episode, Peter, under the influence of the symbiote, acts uncharacteristically abrasive to his friends. A speech from Flash Thompson causes Peter to realize what a jerk he's been and cast off the symbiote.
      Peter: OK, if Flash Thompson is making sense, something must be seriously wrong.
    • Of course, symbiote-influenced Peter makes a good point during an angry rant directed at his friends; he does have a big hospital bill to pay.
    • Overlaps a bit with Jerkass Woobie, but Eddie Brock's increasing antagonism towards Peter stem from a combination of his own issues as well as legitimate gripes towards Peter. In a few cases, he actually points out a few cases of Peter's recklessness (taking photos of the Lizard).
    • Harry Osborn and Mark Allan are both more Jerkass Woobies than full out jerks, but they give Peter rather reasonable points (granted, they weren't acting like jerks at the time.)
      • Mark calls out Peter in regards to how he has been with his sister Liz. Mark and Liz acknowledge Peter's necessary devotion to his job, but Mark senses Peter hasn't been the best boyfriend (Pete still having feelings for Gwen) and says she deserves better than that.
      • In the following episode, where Peter strives to be a better boyfriend to Liz, he learns of Mark's gambling addiction. Turns out Harry overheard it and uses his prior experience with the Super Serum to say that Mark won't be ready for anyone to help him until he is ready to help himself. Peter agrees with Harry but tells himself that he needs to try to reason with Mark for Liz's sake.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants
    • In "Born Again Krabs," after the Flying Dutchman (the Bikini Bottom version of Satan) is ready to drag Mr. Krabs to Davy Jones' Locker for being greedy, SpongeBob sticks up for his boss and wagers his own soul that Krabs is really generous. The Dutchman then offers Krabs a handful of pocket change in exchange for SpongeBob's soul, which Krabs accepts without hesitation. Krabs gloats over the money, while the Dutchman departs with the sponge. Squidward Tentacles, who hates SpongeBob with a passion, is absolutely disgusted with Krabs and angrily chews him out for selling SpongeBob out after he stuck up for him, flat-out telling Krabs that he should be ashamed of himself. Krabs realizes Squidward is right and immediately repents.
      Squidward: Mr. Krabs, I can't believe I'm saying this, but how could you trade SpongeBob for sixty-two cents?!
      Mr. Krabs: ...You think I could've gotten more?
      Squidward: He stuck up for you, and you sold him out. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!
      • In the post-movie seasons, Squidward's hatred of SpongeBob and Patrick has become far more justified, considering the fact that the two often barge into his home uninvited, and their antics often cause him physical injury. Even Mrs. Puff agreed with him when Squidward complained about SpongeBob being the bane of his existence.
      • On another level, Squidward's attitude towards the Krusty Krab and its management is far more realistic than SpongeBob's, especially since, among other things, Mr. Krabs is very much a Bad Boss who regularly mistreats and underpays his employees.
      • In "Jellyfish Jam", Squidward is right when he tells SpongeBob that a jellyfish is a wild animal and not a pet. He gets proven right at the climax of the episode
      • In "Night Light", Squidward was right to tell SpongeBob that there are no "creepy creatures of the dark" and all this darkness phobia was just in his imagination.
      • In "Squid Baby", Squidward was awfully disturbed by SpongeBob and Patrick suddenly acting like babies while playing with the former's old baby toys, and insists they act their age, just seconds before undergoing Head-Go-Boom-Boom-itis. Also, Mr. Krabs, despite not caring about Squidward's condition at work, was right to tell SpongeBob not to change his diaper in front of everyone at the ordering counter as it's too disturbing for the customers, and sends him to the kitchen to change it there so he has privacy.
    • In "Walking Small," when Sheldon Plankton's attempts to use SpongeBob as an Unwitting Pawn to clear Goo Lagoon of beachgoers for his new "Mega Bucket" backfire due to SpongeBob's passiveness, Plankton angrily chews SpongeBob out, remarking that he's just like stairs and always lets people "step all over him." Despite the fact that he was just manipulating SpongeBob, he's right in that Sponge is an Extreme Doormat.
    • One episode has Plankton declare that he's giving up his pursuit of the Krabby Patty formula and converting the Chum Bucket into a knick-knack store called the Chumporium. Mr. Krabs doesn't buy it and, after his initial attempts to goad Plankton fail, he snaps and smashes up the Chumporium with a baseball bat while ranting about how obvious Plankton's charade is. Krabs eventually backs off, apologizes for his behaviour, and befriends the reformed Plankton... but of course, since Status Quo Is God, it turns out Plankton really wasn't reformed and was just tricking Krabs into letting his guard down. So while Krabs spent the first half of the episode being a total jerk, he was also completely correct about the Chumporium's true nature.
    • In "The Abrasive Side" while the abrasive side Gary orders for SpongeBob ends up taking over his life, he does make a point when saying no to Sandy and Mr. Krabs; the former asked SpongeBob to be a test subject without notifying him beforehand, while the latter tried to give SpongeBob a late shift that would have lasted seventeen hours, with the addition of not paying him overtime.
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks: In "Much Ado About Boimler", Lieutenant Durga looks down on Mariner from minute one and is very acid in her criticisms of her, but considering Mariner's history of insubordination, her repeated mistakes and poor behavior during their time together, and still being an Ensign while her former classmate has already made Captain, it's hard to blame her.
  • Steven Universe:
    • In the episode "We Need To Talk", Pearl lashes out at Greg, claiming Rose's love for him is 'just a phase.' While an incredibly cruel and racist note  remark, it is true that Rose at the time didn't consider him her equal — something Greg eventually realizes.
    • In "It Could've Been Great" Peridot reveals what Homeworld's original plans for Earth were: the Earth would have been used as a Gem breeding ground until all the life was sucked out of it, and then it would've been hollowed out and set up as a Gem colony. Peridot is flabbergasted that the Crystal Gems would fight to stop it, and insensitively but correctly points out that Rose's efforts to save the Earth ultimately doomed it anyway on a longer time scale, since the current threat, the planet-sized Cluster gem incubating underground, wouldn't have happened if the colony had proceeded as planned. The Crystal Gems are violently angry with her for insulting Rose's mission, but unfortunately, she's absolutely right. The planet would've been killed during colonization, but the Cluster is only there because Rose invalidated the colonization.
      • Peridot gets one in hindsight, when she asks Pearl who her owner is and comments that she looks fancy, Pearl retorts that she doesn't have an owner and that she's her own Pearl. Peridot turns out to be right when it turns out that Pearl was Pink Diamond's — and Pink Diamond is Rose Quartz. So Pearl has still been carrying out the will of her old master well beyond her death and was madly in love with her, making her even more devoted to her master than any other Pearl on the shown combined.
    • White Diamond is actually pretty spot on in declaring Pink Diamond to be emotionally immature and childish. note  In fact, most of her assessments of the flaws of others are brutally accurate. The irony is that she can't recognize those same flaws in herself.
    • In Future, while Jasper is just as prickly as she was back in the original series, her "Reason You Suck" Speech for Steven in "Little Homeschool" is dead on about a lot of Steven's personal foibles, like believing everyone needs his help and will accept it without question, that he's never really been able to beat her without outside help, and he arguably needs help more than anybody else in the series does. Steven only agrees with her that they haven't fought one on one.
      • This is proven even further after "Little Graduation" and "Prickly Pair", which shows that Steven struggling with everything around him changing, leaving him Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life. She's actually completely accurate in that he's the only one that needs help anymore.
      • While her advice in "Fragments" is obviously not healthy, she does raise a good point. Steven does need to learn how to control his pink form and new powers before he does something irrevocably terrible.
  • Storm Hawks: After the Raptors destroy the Condor, Stork embarks on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against their leader Repton for the rest of the episode. When Stork has finally cornered Repton, the latter points out that the Condor is a ship as opposed to a person, and can be rebuilt, which ends up snapping Stork out of it.
  • TaleSpin: Rebecca Cunningham has taken ownership of Baloo's cargo business and sea plane from under him, but only because he keeps missing his payments. As such, she offers them back to him, but only if he can make enough of a profit. Her temperament throughout the show is also often due to Baloo's shirking and bad attitude. As abrasive as she can be towards Baloo, she just wants him to do an honest job most of the time.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987): Near the beginning of the first episode, Vernon yells at April about the recklessness of her plan to expose the thieves. She soon gets chased and cornered by armed thugs, and she would have been killed if she hadn't happened upon the lair of the Ninja Turtles.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012):
    • In "Karai's Vendetta," when Donnie is fully prepared to abandon their mission to blow up the Kraang's water-poisoning underwater laboratory to save April from Karai, Raph quickly points out that if they do so, the Kraang will poison everyone in New York, including April.
    • At the beginning of Season 2, April's father is mutated into a bat. April angrily blames the turtles for this and cuts contact with them. While her response is extreme, it actually was the turtles' fault (they knocked several canisters of mutagen all over New York while fighting the Kraang).
  • Teen Titans (2003)
    • Beast Boy, while being affected with the Jerkass Ball in "The Beast Within", also brings up the salient point that he's often disrespected, especially by Raven.
    • When Starfire and Raven switch bodies, Starfire, fed up with Raven's snarking at her for her inability to fly with Raven's powers, calls her out on her constant negativity. Raven then fires back by saying that unlike Starfire, she doesn't have the luxury of being emotionally open, and that Starfire knows nothing about her. Starfire concedes Raven's point, asking Raven to help her understand, and the two emerge from the incident as closer friends.
    • Raven also takes the longest to fully trust Terra, but her point — that Terra must learn to control her highly dangerous powers — is fairly sound. Raven's distrust is even more well-founded than she realized, as Terra is The Mole for Slade.
      • Terra gets a turn during her fight with Raven in "Aftershock pt. One" when she mockingly asks Raven if the real reason Raven didn't like her wasn't because she didn't trust her, but because she was jealous that the team liked Terra better than her. Judging by Raven's furious reaction, it seems like Terra might not have been far off the mark.
  • Theodore Tugboat
    • In the episode, "Theodore in the Middle", George puts in an official complaint about Emily being late for the morning work meeting, starting a feud between the two tugboats that lasts for the rest of the episode. While George was most likely motivated by his own pride, Emily's lateness was delaying the morning work meeting and causing problems for the visiting ships who need the tugboats' help.
    • Guysborough is an ill-tempered garbage barge who is rude to everyone he meets, often calling them "Rotten". However, he is responsible for keeping the Big Harbor clean and free of garbage. In "Guysborough's Garbage", when the tugboats tell Canso, a visiting ship, that they're lucky to have a clean harbor, Guysborough overhears and points out to Jasper the Junk Dock that without him, the garbage will pile up. Just to prove his point, he refuses to clean up the garbage when he feels unappreciated by Theodore and his friends.
  • Thomas & Friends:
    • In "Edward, Gordon, and Henry/Henry to the Rescue", Gordon breaks down near Henry's Tunnel, and Sir Topham Hatt sends Edward to move the Express coaches, since he is the only engine available (not counting Henry, who had been bricked in his tunnel for refusing to come out during a rainstorm, but now longs to be let out again). Gordon tells Sir Topham Hatt that Edward won't be much help, since he's too small to push the Express on his own. Sure enough, Edward tries his hardest, but is unable to move the heavy coaches by himself, proving Gordon's point. Gordon then asks Sir Topham Hatt why Henry can't pull the train, giving Sir Topham Hatt the idea to let Henry out of the tunnel to help Edward.
    • Cranky is a harbor crane who lives up to his name, as he is rude to the engines who work at Brendam Docks, even Salty, the diesel who helps him load and unload cargo. However, in "Diesel's Ghostly Christmas", he is struggling to load a tree onto a flatbed, but the tree is so big and heavy that he has a hard time getting it under control. Salty wants to help him, but is unable to since his fuel line is frozen and he has to wait for his crew to fix it. When Devious Diesel arrives, Cranky orders him to push the flatbed underneath him, but Diesel refuses, saying he has enough jobs to do without helping him and Salty with theirs. By the time Salty's fuel line is unfrozen, Cranky is unable to hold the tree any longer and it falls, landing on Salty. Cranky then tells Diesel off, saying it wouldn't have happened if he had bothered to help him with the flatbed.
    • In "The Railcar and The Coaches", Daisy the Diesel Railcar substitutes for Thomas on his branch line while Thomas has to work at the quarry. During her tenure, Daisy is rude to Annie and Clarabel, Thomas' coaches, calling them lumpy, bumpy, and old. She also tells them that as a diesel railcar, she can go wherever she wants whenever she wants, whereas they can't move by themselves and have to wait for an engine to pull them. The coaches are offended by what Daisy says about them, but do realize she's right about it.
  • An early episode of Total Drama Action has Heather point out how inefficient her team is and give an alternate plan. Gwen responds with simply, "If you say it, then we're not doing it." even though it's a good idea.
    • At the merge in the same season, Duncan asks Courtney for help in getting rid of Leshawna. Courtney asks why she would want to help him. Duncan then tells Courtney that she has immunity, ergo not being able to be voted off at the moment. He also adds that sooner or later, the other girls would want her gone if she were to lose the next challenge. Courtney was about to say something to Duncan, but stops when she realizes that he is right.
  • Totally Spies!: In the episode "The Anti-Social Network", Mandy discovers that a mysterious source has created a social network called Mandybook in her honor. She's thrilled, especially when she gets over 100,000 followers within the first hour. But things quickly go downhill when her followers literally start to follow her, and not in a good way. It's revealed the person behind this was a old classmate named Telly Hardwire, who created Mandybook in an attempt to create an army to kill Mandy, after she refused his Internet friend request back in their school days at Beverly Hills High. When Mandy learns this, she's disgusted, calls him pathetic, and says he should just get over it. Mandy is a snobby and mean person, but she's right that he wants revenge over a petty reason. What makes it worse is that it's implied that Telly and Mandy never met face-to-face before this episode, meaning that the only thing she ever did to him was say no to his Internet friend request. Then Telly reveals that he plans to get revenge on everyone who rejects his friend requests, showing that Mandy is right that he's truly a petty and pathetic person.
  • Transformers:
    • Beast Wars:
      • An interesting two-way interaction occurs between Dinobot and Rattrap in Season 2. When Dinobot's loyalty was challenged due to some of his questionable actions, Rattrap, up to that point, had been of the opinion that. "Oh sure, he's a slag-spoutin' saurian, but at least you know where he stands." After he walks away, Dinobot admits that snarky Rattrap has a point, too, that he had crossed the line. He then resolves to correct his mistake, no matter what it takes.
      • While he may have only been bitter at not being immediately followed as leader in Optimus's absence in Chain of Command, Dinobot is absolutely right that the Maximals relying on a vote, with no tie-breaking mechanism, rather than having a contingency plan — or, y'know, an established chain of command — already in place is ridiculous.
    • In Transformers: Animated:
      • Porter C. Powell is a slimy Corrupt Corporate Executive who is utterly in the wrong for throwing a small child onto the street and telling her that because she has no birth certificate she may not be her father's daughter. However, he was right that was Sari too young and inexperienced to be put in charge of her father's corporation in his absence.
      • One odd, retroactive example comes from Powell's first appearance. There was no indication that he was a bad guy at the time and his decision to cut off Prometheus Black's funding was presented as entirely reasonable, since Black had not only failed to deliver a workable product but also gotten himself in legal hot water. Even when the audience learned just how much of a self-serving sleazebag Powell was, him dropping Black comes off as a Kick The Son Of A Bitch moment at worst, since Black was never a sympathetic character to begin with.
      • Although Ratchet and Captain Fanzone are treated as grouchy curmudgeons, their frequent complaints about how both Autobots and humanity are quick to become reliant on and abuse technology they don't understand are proven true more often than not.
  • Trollhunters: Merlin, of King Arthur fame, is fairly single-minded and overly blunt about his goal of slaying Morgana (Le Fae), but she is also the one with the power to give the series' big bad, Gunmar, the ability to take over the world. This leads to an exchange with Jim the Trollhunter.
    Jim: You're kind of a jerk, you know that?
    Merlin: Yes, but that doesn't stop me from being right!
  • Dermott of all people gives Dean some actually very good advice about meeting women in an episode of The Venture Brothers Needless to say, it's immediately lampshaded:
    Dermott: Well, talk to her then. You don't have to nail her; just see what happens. Man, way to be uptight!
    Hank: Wait... did you just give good advice?
    Dean: I gotta go check the temperature in Hell.
    Dermott: You can both blow me.
    • Doctor Venture usually plays the Morally Ambiguous Doctorate, but even he gets his rare moments to shine.
      Orpheus: It is awful that you would do this to your boys!
      Venture: Please, you do this kind of crap every day.
      Orpheus: That's different.
      Venture: Why, because you call it by a different name? Church? Lab. Soul? Synapses. Purgatory? Computer. Get over yourself.
  • Red Arrow is a suspicious jerk towards Artemis in Young Justice (2010). Although Artemis probably isn't The Mole, Roy's lack of trust in her unfortunately does have some merit, since she is keeping secrets about her past from the team. Reaches a head in "Insecurity" when Roy's mistrust pushes Artemis to endanger the mission by trying to lead the rest of the team away from the targets just to have a chance to prove herself. This backfires immensely when the mission goes south and her deception is exposed. The same went for his suspicions of Superboy and Miss Martian. While not The Mole like he suspected, they, along with Artemis had information they were hiding from the rest of the team.
    • Also, while he's kind of an asshole to his old teammates in Season 2 as he desperately hunts for the real Roy Harper, he is dismissive towards Wally in particular, asking why he's even present, which does hold some merit considering that Wally basically gave up being a superhero because...he wanted to focus on college and being Artemis's boyfriend. This really seems like a waste of talent, especially given Wally wanted to be Flash's sidekick so much that he deliberately recreated a very dangerous experiment of his, just so he could have superpowers too and Artemis is still doing hero work despite being in the exact same situation and she doesn't even have powers like he does.

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