Knowing when to fold 'em in Western Animation.
- The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo episode "Coast-to-Ghost" focused on the gang having to recapture a vampire ghost named Rankor. At the end of the episode, Rankor is at risk of being destroyed by sunlight until Scrappy and Flim-Flam offer to save him by returning him to the Chest of Demons. Rankor accepts the offer, making him the only ghost in the series to return to the Chest of Demons willingly.
- Avengers Assemble: In "Under Siege", the Avengers are mopping the floor with the Masters of Evil. Hawkeye has Screaming Mimi and Moonstone at arrow-point and suggests they surrender. Mimi immediately throws her hands up in surrender, much to Moonstone's disgust.
- Discussed in Arthur's Spelling Bee episode when the class genius is studying for the competition.Brain: A-N-T-I-D— Uhhhh...
Brain's dad: What word are you struggling with, son?
Brain: 'Antidisestablishmentarianism'. I can never remember if it has five 'i's or six.
Dad: Why don't you just skip down to 'antidote'. - Avatar: The Last Airbender does this a lot:
- The Gaang convince La Résistance after Omashu fell that living to fight another day would be better, and they help get the civilians out of the town.
- Omashu itself fell so quickly because its King Bumi surrendered immediately, figuring they were in no position to accomplish anything by fighting back. He even willingly remained in a prison he could break out of until he thought the time was right. When that moment comes ("An eclipse. That'll do it. ") he sure as hell seized upon it.
- When the invasion during the eclipse fails, the troops decide that Aang and his friends should flee with Appa, while the rest of them surrender instead of fighting a battle that has become impossible to win.
- Same goes for the Firelord himself, who knows that an invasion is planned and that he and his guards will be severely weakened during the eclipse. So he decides to not be in his throne room. And not in his secret bunker either. Instead he hides in a second secret bunker and sits the whole thing out.
- When Aang comes to the conclusion that he won't be able to fully master his abilities before the day of the comet, he decides to let the enemies use their trump card and sit it out. But it turns out he doesn't have the luxury.
- In Batman Beyond, Jerk Jock Nelson is bullying Willy Watt. When Terry steps up to defend him (Nelson has witnessed Terry kicking the asses of a Jokerz gang), Nelson considers it for a moment and backs down.
- Beast Wars: After Tigerhawk neutralizes the Predacon defenses and prepares to level their base via meteoric landing, Megatron gives the one order he never thought he would have to give:Megatron: ...Abandon base!
- Ben 10: Ultimate Alien: in the episode Video Games, Kevin is on the verge of making a possibly sexist statement in front of Gwen. The moment he sees her expression as she asks him to finish the sentence, he stops dead on his tracks and withdraws the statement.Kevin: Look Gwen, you have to treat a car like you treat a woman.
[Beat]
Gwen: [raises an eyebrow] Go on.
Kevin: ... No. I sense I've made a mistake of some kind. - Castle: When Prince Davith's tunnel burning plan fails and he learns that reinforcements from King Edward are coming in, he knows he's screwed if he presses on, and so orders his troops to fall back.
- Codename: Kids Next Door: Numbah 5 in “Operation: M.A.U.R.I.C.E.”. Her spirit is broken upon seeing the former KND operative she admired siding with her sister Cree and the teenagers in their plan to fire a chicken pox cannon upon a large group of kids so that the teens can have 3 weeks of solitude to themselves. note Numbah 5 is so broken by this that she just gives up and laments on how unfair it is for a kid to be the best operative to the KND only for them to turn into the very enemy they fought against for so long.Numbuh 5: I... I... I give up.
Cree: Say again?
Numbah 5 : I give up. What's the point? My sister's a teen, the greatest Kids Next Door I ever knew is a teen, and I'll be a teen soon enough. I mean just look at me; I’m practically a teen now! I can’t keep fighting it. I just… I give up! - In the Ed, Edd n Eddy episode "Little Ed Blue", Sarah yells at Ed (as usual) for kicking her at their house along with everybody. However, when he, in an uncharacteristic bad mood, yells back at her, she fearfully backs away and complies to his demand of her and everyone to leave, knowing better than to provoke her much stronger older brother.
- In the five-part G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero story where Serpentor was created, Sergeant Slaughter — as in, the One-Man Army Blood Knight of the Joes — knows enough to surrender when surrounded, exhausted, and outnumbered, although he does warn them that while Cobra's "in the lead", they're "going into extra innings, you can count on it". (And his words are very prophetic; he throws a big Spanner in the Works a few scenes later.)
- Hey Arnold! plays this card a few times:
- "Phoebe Takes the Fall" has Helga making Phoebe throw the qualifier for a citywide academic bowl so she can get a chance to one-up her much-accomplished sister for once. After long and hard studying, mostly with Phoebe, she has a nightmare where Arnold confronts her during the quiz to ask her why she's competing instead of Phoebe. She lampshades the dream before dismissing it... but ends up feeling guilty for nipping Phoebe's chances in the bud and has Phoebe compete anyway. Despite being training-free, Phoebe wins, and on the very same question Helga's sister had missed, too.
- When in a non-stop contest against his wife, Coach Jack states he first got to date his now wife by forfeiting the game and letting her win. He later does this at the end of the episode and they get back together. It repairs their relationship, but his wife still calls him out on letting her win and demands a proper rematch, which he accepts.
- Used occasionally in the Jumanji: The Animated Series. In one instance, the main characters met a man who was trapped in the game and couldn't escape until he accepted the fact that he was stuck there forever ("Try as you might to escape your fate/You'll never pass through the gateless gate"). Once he gave up on getting free, he was freed. The kids once got a similar clue ("There's one way out, the price you know/Save yourselves and let it go"), which they solved when they chose not to obey it.
- In the Justice League episode "Hereafter", Livewire suggests calling off the attempt to draw Superman into a trap when it becomes apparent that he's not the only hero they have to worry about. It's too late for that, though.
- In The Lion Guard, the Villain of the Week will often give up when facing too much opposition from the Lion Guard, saying no prey is worth that much effort, even if they acted like a Super-Persistent Predator earlier in the episode.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- In "The Crystal Empire", Twilight Sparkle is explicitly ordered by Princess Celestia to save the day herself this time without relying on any of her friends, as part of her training. She holds to the restriction for a while.... but once she's caught by an enemy trap and it becomes obvious that she can't free herself in time to stop the villain, she immediately has Spike pick up where she left off. Celestia praises her later for recognizing the severity of the situation and the need to adapt.
- "To Where and Back Again", the Season 6 finale, has one for Queen Chrysalis when she emerges from the rubble of her destroyed Power Nullifier throne ready to kick pony tail — only to realize that she is alone against the Mane Six, all known alicorns, the Spirit of Chaos, one of the most powerful unicorns in all off Equestria, the newly appointed changeling king and the entirety of her former army. Rather than fight what would have been a very short and very one-sided Curb-Stomp Battle, she vows revenge and flees into the wilderness.
- The New Adventures of He-Man: In "The New Wizard in Town", the evil wizard Ramlin has the ability to drain magic from others into himself. Skeletor, who has heard of him and realizes Ramlin is a Man of Kryptonite to him, refuses to fight him and runs away. He-Man eventually finds out that Ramlin can only drain magic when he is being attacked, and he can't hold on to magic for very long, so if you refuse to attack him, he'll be rendered powerless.
- The New Adventures of Superman: In "The Warlock's Revenge", the Warlock wants to borrow his sister's magical ruby to use its powers to exact revenge on Superman but she refuses because she's sure that the Warlock will fail again and Superman will destroy the ruby. The Warlock just takes the ruby by force and it leads to Superman eventually proving her right.
- Samurai Jack:
- In "The Princess and the Bounty Hunters", when the trap Princess Mira designs fails, she's the last survivor among the villains, she's hurt, and Jack is unharmed. She considers continuing the battle... but then decides against it and drops her weapon, realizing she can't win. Unlike the others, she lives.
- In "The Tale of X-9", X-9 says that this is why he survived longer than the other X-units, seeing as the Emotion Chip inside him gave him a sense of self-preservation that let him run when he knew he was in danger. As he explains it, "The other X-units, they didn't care. I cared."
- Cartman of South Park seems to be at the center of this one a lot:
- In "Scott Tenorman Must Die", Cartman gets conned into buying pubic hair from a 9th grader for $10, and when he tries to get his money back gets conned again for an additional $6 and change. When he's ranting to his friends about his next scheme for revenge, Kyle tries to warn him that he's outgunned by a smarter kid and to just cut his losses. Cartman doesn't listen, and things go very wrong very quickly for Scott.Kyle: Just let it go, dude. You only had sixteen dollars and twelve cents. Count your losses and move on. He's smarter than you.
- When Jimmy comes up with the "fish sticks" joke, he is depressed that Cartman is claiming he and Jimmy worked together on it when, naturally, Jimmy came up with everything. Kyle is urging him to stand up to Cartman and demand full credit, while Craig urges Jimmy to just take it in stride and be grateful that a narcissistic psychopath like Cartman is even willing to share the credit. Kyle's outraged by this because it's not right, but Craig points out that Jimmy will never win that one and should just be thankful Cartman didn't steal all the credit.Craig: Just give him half. I like you, Jimmy, but you're not gonna win this. Consider yourself lucky he's only asking for half.
Kyle: Craig! If Cartman didn't do anything, he doesn't deserve any of the credit!
Craig: Yep. And if I had wheels, I'd be a wagon. - This one also pops up when Cartman pretends to be "Erica", so he can abuse state transgender laws to use the women's bathroom. Principal Victoria knows he is faking it and intends to fight back while Mr. Garrison, who is aware of just how utterly tumultuous of a topic it is, advises her to back down and give Cartman what he wants since winning would be a Pyrrhic Victory at best with how much backlash and controversy it would generate for the school.Mr. Garrison: Trust me! You don't want this hot potato! Just let him use the girl's room!
Principal Victoria: But this isn't a hurting, confused child we're talking about! This is Eric Cartman!
Mr. Garrison: Nobody else is gonna know that. You'd better just give him what he wants!
Principal Victoria: So Eric Cartman just has us in some kind of bathroom checkmate?
Mr. Garrison: Actually... it's more like a royal flush.
- In "Scott Tenorman Must Die", Cartman gets conned into buying pubic hair from a 9th grader for $10, and when he tries to get his money back gets conned again for an additional $6 and change. When he's ranting to his friends about his next scheme for revenge, Kyle tries to warn him that he's outgunned by a smarter kid and to just cut his losses. Cartman doesn't listen, and things go very wrong very quickly for Scott.
- SuperKitties: Zsa-Zsa's squad of budgies seem to know when to call it quits when the titular superheroes get the upper paw.
- Star Wars Resistance: In "No Escape, Part II", upon realizing that they're losing control of the Colossus, Agent Tierny and Commander Pyre decide to leave and call in reinforcements to destroy the station, rather than try and take it back.
- The Steven Universe episode "Space Race" is based around this. Steven and his dad build a "spaceship" together (really a soapbox racer), and his dad warns Steven that he shouldn't be afraid to get out of dodge if something's going wrong. Sure enough, the soapbox racer crashes but Steven is spared injury by jumping clear. Later, Pearl gets it into her head to build an actual, functioning spaceship out of scrap and takes Steven on its maiden voyage. Pearl is desperate to return to space after centuries of being stuck on Earth to the point of refusing to bail out even as the spaceship disintegrates around them both, and it takes Steven's pleading to convince her to eject mere seconds before the ship explodes.Steven: Pearl! I know you miss space and I know you worked hard, but sometimes, you just gotta know when to bail.
- Zsa-Zsa's squad of budgies from SuperKitties always surrenders when the titular superheroes have the upper paw, even when their boss doesn't.
- In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) episode "Notes From the Underground (Part 1)" Leonardo orders a retreat from the clearly more powerful monsters. Raphael really doesn't like running from a fight, so Leonardo tells him it's a "tactical retreat". Raphael looks at his foes for a brief second and says, "Tactical retreat, I Can Live With That..." before following the others.
- Teen Titans (2003): During Dr. Light's first scuffle with the Titans, Raven pulls him into her cloak and shows him something that absolutely traumatizes him. During his second encounter, he surrenders immediately after Raven puts on a scary face.Raven: Remember me?
Dr. Light: [to the other Titans] I'd like to go to jail now, please. - Transformers: Prime gives us Silas, head of the terrorist organization M.E.C.H. He's made no secret his desire to obtain Cybertronian tech for his own ends. However, if it looks as if the tide of battle is turning against him, he has no problem ordering a strategic withdrawal, happy to use what information he's gleaned for the next encounter. It's notable that Optimus Prime compares him to Megatron.
- Winx Club: A textbook example of the dissonance between going down fighting and Knowing When To Fold Them: Timmy is threatening the Trix (pillaging a Codex from Red Fountain) with his weapon... until he realizes that the Trix are much more powerful than he is, and decides that he's better off figuring out a way to defeat them later. Tecna sees this and calls him a coward for not fighting. However, 4K simply discards this issue and replaces it with an anti-violence spell. Video.
