Great minds think alike, even after failure.
"Curse you, Perry the Platypus!"
— Heinz Doofenshmirtz almost Once per Episode, Phineas and Ferb
Once again, the main villain's plan has been foiled, so there's only one thing he can do: scream in frustration.
This is not a Skyward Scream or a Say My Name, and definitely not a Big "NO!", although it can sometimes assume this form. What makes this scream different is that the villain screams the EXACT SAME line each and every time, and he does it at least once in nearly EVERY episode. It's basically a line that signifies a miniature Villainous Breakdown. If this scream is directed to the protagonist, it will often focus on wishing ill will on them.
Compare We Will Meet Again, which is not necessarily spoken in every appearance. See also You Meddling Kids.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Yuko in The Demon Girl Next Door and her "Don't think this means you've won!" after a "defeat". Other characters like Momo and Lilith will occasionally borrow it when they themselves suffer a "defeat".
- Pokémon: The Series: Most of Team Rocket's defeats end with them launched into the sky, where they say "Look's like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" and "We're blasting off again!" in the English dub, and "This feels bad!" in the original Japanese version.
- Teasing Master Takagi-san: "Darn you, Takagi-san!", said by protagonist Nishikata when the titular Takagi-san manages to get one over on him.
- Dragon Half: Iron Butt Monkey Damaramu says one every time he screws up (which is at least once an appearance). Depending on the translation, it gets rendered as "Damaramu shall regret this", "Damaramy regrets everything", or "Damaramu has made the blunder of a lifetime".
Asian Animation
- In later episodes of Happy Heroes, Big M. has a tendency to say "Darn it, we failed again!" whenever the Supermen foil his attempts to Take Over the World or defeat his Monster of the Week.
- Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: Whenever Wolffy fails to capture the goats, he says "I'll be back!" or a variant of it.
Comic Books
- Tintin: "Caramba! Encore raté!" (Caramba! Missed again!) pronounced by different and unrelated villains from the Fictional Country of San Theodoros in The Broken Ear.
- In Asterix, the defeated and bruised Roman Mooks usually declare "'Join the army,' they said" after the Gauls win.
- Most of the Lucky Luke stories featuring the Dalton Brothers end up with them Working on the Chain Gang saying this:
Joe: I hate Lucky Luke! I hate Lucky Luke!!
William and Jack: Calm down, Joe! / Joe, calm down!
Averell: When do we eat? - Shazam!'s archenemy Doctor Sivana could be the Trope Codifier, if not the Ur-Example, due to his catchphrase "Curses! Foiled again" being around since his introduction.
Eastern European Animation
- Nu, Pogodi!: The Wolf's "Nu Pogodi!" ("Just you wait!"), uttered whenever the Hare escapes his clutches.
Films — Live-Action
- At the end of virtually every Fu Manchu movie, the titular Doctor declares "The world shall hear from me again!" after being defeated.
- The Princess Bride: Vizzini always says "Inconceivable!" whenever something doesn't go his way. It eventually gets lampshaded.
Vizzini: He didn't fall?! INCONCEIVABLE!Inigo: You Keep Using That Word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
- Star Wars: General Grievous' "Impossibool!"
Live-Action TV
- Narutaki's "Onore, Dekeido!" ("Curse you, Decade!") in internet video tie-ins to Kamen Rider Decade. It's an Ascended Meme, as in the actual series he only ever said it once.
- MacGyver (1985): Murdoc's trademark MACGYVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
- In the 1988 French Sketch Comedy Palace one recurring bit is about one client of the hotel complaining about something wrong, but each time the manager gives him a crazy yet satisfying explanation, and the client to say "I will get him someday. I will!" This catchphrase is however most known nowadays for its use in MAAF bank advertisments.
- Rita Repulsa from the first Power Rangers series would always complain about a headache upon the Rangers bringing down her latest Monster of the Week. This also applies to her Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger counterpart, Bandora, though she did it less frequently.
- In Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, Prince Warz Gill would always shout "Curse them!" when the Gokaiger foil The Empire's latest plot, usually while hitting one of his Gormin Mooks.
Video Games
- Kid Icarus had Pit cry "I'm finished!" whenever you got a Game Over. He also occasionally says it when knocked out in Super Smash Bros..
- Mario Party 2: Whenever Bowser is defeated on most of the boards in this game, he'll always say "I'll remember this!". Birdo borrows this in the GBA Updated Re-release of Super Mario Bros. 2.
- Professor Layton: Don Paolo's "Laytooooon! You'll pay for this someday!"
- Samurai Warriors: A defeated character in the various Story modes will be shown leaving the battlefield muttering one of these. The tone depends from character to character, including grace, anger and sometimes even admiration or sarcasm. Sister series Dynasty Warriors also uses this.
- There's a Running Gag among fans that strategist characters like Zhuge Liang or Sima Yi often claim that their defeats are merely part of a greater plan.
- Vigilante 8: Every character (good and bad) has one, which they say upon losing a level (if chosen by the player). In the sequel, Second Offense, this is upped to three per character. Some examples:
Chassey Blue: Oh no! I think I broke a nail.
Sheila: Oops! Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
Loki: Mayday! Mayday! I'm going down!
Dave: Lights! [cough] I see lights in the sky!
Houston 3: [robotic] You may hurt the machine, [human] but you're just making the woman mad!
Team F.A.S.T: Motorcycle? What the hell were we thinking?
Garbage Man: I shall return... on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Astronaut Bob O: What do you expect? This thing's made of (chirp) foil! - Cryptosporidium of Destroy All Humans! would say "Curse you, pathetic humans!" if you ever failed a mission objective.
- Whenever Allen O'Neil is defeated in Metal Slug, he'll always say, "See You in Hell!"
- Star Fox's Andrew Oikonny cries for his Uncle Andross whenever he gets shot down.
Web Comics
- In Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic, Lewie the Lich yells "Curses!" at every sudden setback. He was originally pointing out the "curses" he is now suffering under as a result of thoroughly failing his goddess.
Western Animation
- Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: Dr. Robotnik's "I hate that Hedgehooog!" This gets used as a Mythology Gag in the other Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) cartoon, where a more competent and evil Robotnik screams this as his last words.
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Played with in one episode, where Black Mask uses the classic "Curses, foiled again(?)" not as a defiant shout, but as a sheepish This Is Gonna Suck line as Batman prepares to punch his lights out.
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: Emperor Zurg's "Curse you, Buzz Lightyear!"
- Captain Planet and the Planeteers: The end credits always have Looten Plunder yelling "You'll pay for this, Captain Planet!" Downplayed in that he only said this line in his first appearance, and didn’t say it whenever he lost.
- Dave the Barbarian: Dave's archenemy Chuckles the Silly Piggy always says "Curse you, Dave the Barbarian!". A lot of bad guys on the list seem to say this.
- Dora the Explorer:
- Swiper the fox
tries to steal an item that Dora needs in her quest. Dora has to say "Swiper, no swiping!" three times (along with the audience, of course) to catch Swiper. When Swiper is caught he says "Oh man!"
- The Rain Cloud's "I'll be back!". However, it's changed to "I won't be back!" at the end, after the Cloud gets annoyed enough and decides to leave for good.
- Swiper the fox
- Gadget Boy & Heather: Spydera's "I'll get you yet, Gadget Boy!". She also says it at the end of the opening credits.
- Inspector Gadget: Dr. Claw's "I'll get you next time, Gadget! Next time!"
- Jackie Chan Adventures: The Demon Lords all shout a Big "NO!" when once again banished to the demon realm.
- Kim Possible: Dr. Drakken's "Kim Possible, you think you're all that! But you're not!"
- Mighty Max: Skullmaster's "Curse you, Capbearer!"
- Phineas and Ferb: Dr. Doofenshmirtz's "Curse you, Perry the Platypus!"
- Apparently all the evil geniuses in the series do this. When we see another’s plan go up in smoke, she utters, "Curse you, Pinky the Chihuahua!"
- It's not even limited to the United States. In Canada, COWCA Agent Lyla Lolliberry's nemesis Professor Bannister says, "Jinx you, Lyla Lolliberry!"
- Pinky and the Brain:
Brain: Come, Pinky, we must prepare for tomorrow night.
Pinky: Gee, Brain, what are we gonna do tomorrow night?
Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky! Try to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!
Song: They're Pinky, they're Pinky and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain...! - The Powerpuff Girls (1998): Mojo Jojo's "CURSES!"
- Scooby-Doo has a unique Share Phrase spoken by nearly every Villain of the Week: "I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for You Meddling Kids!" and variants thereof.
- Samurai Jack: Aku discussed this trope with Jack once, although Aku doesn't personally get off of his throne often enough to really make use of it. In an effort to avoid this trope, the two of them agree to a duel-to-the-death to end their struggle decisively for once. But of course, when Jack gets the upper hand and makes his final attack, Aku's prediction from the beginning of the episode comes 100% true, and things get back to formula.note
Aku: You'll swing your sword, I'll fly away, and probably say something like, "I'll be back, samurai!" and then I'll flutter over the horizon and we won't see each other for about a week. And then we'll do the same thing all over again.
- The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!: King Koopa's "He who koops and runs away lives to koop another day!"
- ThunderCats (1985): Mumm-Ra's "There will be another time! Evil shall prevail! Muahahahahaha!"
- Wacky Races: Dick Dastardly's "Drat, drat and double DRAT!", which stayed on in the spin-off Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines.
- The Perils of Penelope Pitstop: You'd be hard-pressed to find a failure to which The Hooded Claw doesn't say "Blast!"
- The Transformers: Megatron's "Decepticons, RETREAT!".
- Viva Piñata: Professor Pester usually says "I have no regrets!" in many episodes. Sometimes, on some certain episodes, he'll say "But victory was mine!" instead.
