Oblivious Guilt Slinging / Western Animation

Oblivious Guilt Slinging in Western Animation.

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• Amphibia:
  • In "Contagi-Anne", Anne fakes being sick in order to get out of working outside in a torrential rainstorm. The other Plantars get sick for real, forcing Anne to care for them, and then rush them to a far-off healing spring when their sickness seemingly becomes lethal. All the while, the Plantars thank Anne for going to all that trouble while she herself is sick, with Sprig noting at one point how the work would have gone much faster if she'd been there. Eventually Anne can't take it any more and confesses, but the Plantars point out that it was a good thing she hadn't gone out with them or they all would have gotten sick, with no-one to look after them.
  • In "Plantar's Last Stand", with the Plantars faced with eviction, Anne suggests that Hop Pop abandon his "honesty first" policy and start selling placebo medicines to make money. He agrees, but soon takes it too far and begins selling "medicines" made of literal garbage. He thinks nothing of this until Sadie Croaker, his oldest and most loyal customer, insists on buying a jar and then proposes a toast.
    Sadie: To Hop Pop and the Plantars, the most honest folks in the business.
    Anne: [winces and clutches her chest] Oof, even I felt that one.
    [cue Hop Pop's Heel Realization]
• Apple & Onion: In "Burger's Trampoline", Burger thanks Apple and Onion for coming to his house to hang out with him rather than to use his trampoline like their other friends, unaware that the duo actually also came to use his trampoline and just tricked him into leaving the house with a phony spa coupon. Sure enough, the two feel so guilty that they are unable to have fun on the trampoline.
  Burger: You know something? You guys are the only people who came to actually hang out with me. Not like my other so-called friends! All they ever did was use me for my trampoline! Not you, though. You two were the best. (Apple and Onion stop waving) I'll see you soon. Mi casa is su casa.
• In one episode of Arthur, Arthur's dad scores him a backstage pass to a concert, because he's catering for the band. He tells Arthur he can invite his friends, but Arthur's Imagine Spot about the band taking him luging suffers a Fantasy Twist when he imagines a dozen kids showing up, so he says he doesn't think they'd want to go. The next day Buster tells him that he's going to see if his reporter mom can get them backstage, and Binky offers him a spare ticket closer to the stage. He invites everyone.
• In Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "Bato of the Water Tribe", Aang learns of the location of Sokka and Katara's father, and keeps it secret. This plagues him through most of the episode as he is praised for being honest and true. Their reaction... they did not take it well.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold: In the episode "The Rise of the Blue Beetle!", Batman and Jaime Reyes, the third Blue Beetle, accidentally travel to a planet outside of the Milky Way Galaxy and meet the Gibbles, who believe Jaime is their old hero who has returned to protect them from Kanjar-Ro. Batman's idea is for Jaime to go along with the ruse to give the Gibble people hope, but Jaime starts panicking and begs Batman to come up with another idea, only for a Gibble child to come up to Jaime and give him a drawing to thank him for "returning", which gets Jaime to go along with the plan (albeit reluctantly).
• In the DuckTales (1987) episode "Luck O' The Ducks", Webby tells Far Daric he's a very fine friend soon after he and the other leprechauns built a trap for Scrooge.
• The Fairly OddParents!: Angry that his parents (seemingly) forgot his birthday because of Chip Skylark's concert, Timmy wishes for the worst possible (non-lethal) thing to happen to him. When this turns out to be being Bound and Gagged by Vicky, Timmy feels terrible.
  Timmy: I'm really sorry about all this, Chip.
  Chip: Oh, that's all right, little pal. It's not like you wished for this to happen.
• Family Guy:
  • In "Brian Goes Back to College", Brian feels guilty over having earned a high grade on a test by cheating, and is about to confess to his professor, only to change his mind when the professor tells Brian his performance on the test has lifted him out of his suicidal depression.
  • In "Road to the North Pole", Brian gets into deep trouble with Quagmire when he mistakes his cancer-ridden niece for a little bald boy while he and Stewie are waiting to meet Santa at the mall. A little later, when Stewie demands that Brian take him to the North Pole so he can kill Santa, Brian refuses to until he gets some startling news related to his blunder.
    Brian: Look, Stewie, I know you're disappointed that you didn't get to see Santa, but I-I'm not driving you to the North Pole!
    Lois: (hanging up) Everyone, Quagmire's niece is in the ICU. Now, I think we should go down there to support him.
    Brian: (startled) W-What?
    Lois: Yeah, apparently, something happened at the mall and she took a turn for the worse. They don't know how much time she has left. Quagmire just called, h-he's really upset. I-It doesn't sound like he wants us there for some reason, b-but we should go anyway.
    Brian: (beat) All right, let's go to the North Pole.
• Generator Rex: In "Lockdown", Rex remarks to Noah, his sole friend from the outside world, that he's the only part of his life not controlled by Providence. Noah, who is actually being paid by Providence to be Rex's friend and keep tabs on him, naturally feels a bit guilty.
• Harley Quinn: Harley and Ivy drunkenly hook up at Ivy's bachelorette party. Twice. Right before Ivy is due to marry Kite Man. When Ivy decides she still wants to go through with the wedding, Harley gets herself arrested, partially out of depression for being rejected, and partially out of a desire to not mess things up for Ivy any further. Her friends arrive to break her out, not knowing about the affair.

  King Shark: So, did you get the paperless post reminder? Ivy's wedding is on!
  Clayface: And the bride still wants you to come!

• House of Mouse:
  • In one episode, one person has to be fired when the club (seemingly) goes over its budget, and that person has to be the most irresponsible employee. Goofy naturally fits that role, but since he's a good friend nonetheless, especially when he tells his friends he loves them and enjoys working at the club, Mickey and the others (except Donald) can't find it in their hearts to fire him.
  • In the short "Mickey's Mistake", Mickey finds an envelope full of money and uses it to buy Minnie a new bow. When he does, Minnie tells him that she lost an envelope full of money that she intended to donate to an orphanage, then expresses hope that someone as noble and kind-hearted as Mickey would find it and turn it in. Mick soon looks like he's going to throw up.
• King of the Hill:
  • In one episode, Dale begins spending a lot of time with another exterminator who everyone else can tell is attracted to him. Nancy tries to put her foot down and stop Dale from seeing her, and Dale fires back that he never raised a fuss about Nancy going off for long periods with John Redcorn - not realizing that until recently, Nancy had been having a years-long affair with Redcorn.
  • In an earlier episode "Revenge of the Lutefisk", a new female minister Reverend Stroup arrives in the Hills' conservative community, leaving everyone skeptical. She holds a potluck to break the ice, and Bobby eats the entire dish she had prepared. When people notice the tray is missing, he panics and throws it in the trash and when it's discovered she's heartbroken that someone would seemingly throw it away without trying any. Peggy and Hank talk about how awful it is on the drive home, with Stroup throwing even more guilt in the next day's sermon. Bobby, wracked with guilt and intestinal distress, ends up blowing up the bathroom — figuratively and literally, as he didn't properly extinguish the matches he tried to use to hide the smell and ends up burning down the church. His Grumpy Old Man grandpa Cotton gets arrested as it was his matchbook, and Bobby panics even more and tries to skip town but his "grandma" Didi lays out the final straw by telling him that Cotton said he wished their son would be like him, resulting in Conscience Makes You Go Back.
• In one episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Stitch deliberately lets one of the experiments, "Mr. Stenchy", be captured when he begins taking up Lilo's attention. Afterwards, Lilo laments on how losing Mr. Stenchy means that she'll be unable to bring him to a tea party held by the snobbish girls to be accepted as their friend. Nani points out that these girls probably wouldn't make good friends anyway; Stitch, on the other hand, is someone Lilo can depend on. Every affirmation made of how Stitch would never do anything to hurt Lilo sends the creature sinking further and further into his chair. He tries to atone for it by dressing up as Mr. Stenchy for the girls' tea party, though it doesn't exactly work out. At bedtime, he becomes even guiltier when Lilo says how loyal of a friend he is to her and believes that Stitch tried very hard to protect Mr. Stenchy.
• The Loud House: In "Gown And Out", Lola pretends to be sick to get out of having to compete in a pageant she knows she will lose. Lori, who is chaperoning her during the pageant, begins to dote on Lola and buys her expensive gifts, believing that she is disappointed about not being able to compete in the pageant, making Lola feel more and more guilty until she admits the truth.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: In "One Bad Apple", the Cutie Mark Crusaders booby-trap their float so bully Babs Seed can steal it from them and get humiliated. After the float leaves, Applejack comes to congratulate them for "giving" her the float, since she had been having bully problems in Manehattan and needed to feel happy in Ponyville. The CMC, realizing that Babs was being a bully so she wouldn't be bullied, and that they're becoming bullies themselves, rush off to save her.
• Subverted in The Owl House when Eda is talking about how reckless whoever damaged Willow's memories had been while Amity looks guilty, but then points straight at her and negates the "oblivious" part.
  Eda: Oh right, it was you.
• The Simpsons:
  • In "Team Homer", while the rest of Homer's bowling team are pressuring him to get rid of Mr. Burns, Burns buys them all bowling shirts and tells them they're the only friends he's ever had. Subverted when Homer quickly recovers and tries to punt Mr. Burns off the team anyway, only for the others to interrupt him out of guilt.
  • In "Last Tap Dance in Springfield", Lisa tries to tell her parents that she wants to quit only for them to continuously praise her dancing.
    Homer: Now, honey, what were you trying to say before we kept interrupting with our loving proudness?
    Marge: Yes, our tiny tapper, what was it you were going to say after "I wanted to be a dancer, but..."?
  • Played straight again in "Steal This Episode". Homer starts pirating movies and hosting a movie night, but Marge starts feeling guilty and mails a check to a Hollywood producer paying for the ticket she didn't buy and confessing what Homer did. This leads to the FBI arresting Homer, and as he's being taken away, he starts ranting about how he's going to hunt down whoever did this to him, and tells Marge what a good wife she is. Homer manages to escape, and the family hides out in a Swedish consulate. However, the FBI finds them again and Homer turns himself in once Marge confesses.
    Marge: Lisa, tell your brother that stealing is wrong, no matter what!
    Lisa: I don't know. It wasn't like Dad was stealing for himself. He created a wonderful experience for the whole town. I just can't imagine anyone turning him in.
    Marge: (takes Maggie's pacifier and rapidly sucks on it)
  • That happened to Marge before in "Burns, Baby Burns", in which she makes Homer go outside and bring Larry back to Mr. Burns despite it being broad daylight with cops everywhere. Once the inevitable happens, Kent Brockman derides that the decision as "idiocy", causing Marge to groan in embarrassment.
  • In "Homer the Father", Bart tries to get on Homer's good side in an effort to steal nuclear secrets from the power plant and give them to Chinese spies in exchange for a dirt bike. The next morning, Homer surprises Bart with the same kind of bike as thanks for being a good son, which makes Bart realize he committed treason for nothing and try to steal the secrets back.
    Bart: Why in the world would you get me this?
    Homer: Because you've been such a great kid lately and I wanted to show you I appreciate it.
    Bart: [nervous] Oh. That's... great. Huh, I wouldn't trade it for all the tea in... China?
• Subverted in the South Park episode South Park S 8 E 2 Up The Down Steroid, here Jimmy delivers a long and heartfelt speech deriding steroid users as pussies... with three athletes famous for using steroids are standing behind him and grinning vacuously into the distance even as the camera focuses on them, clearly not feeling guilty in the slightest.
• Invoked in The Spectacular Spider-Man, "Final Curtain": Harry pretends to do this to keep Gwen from breaking up with him, but he's not actually oblivious at all.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • "Fools in April": Squidward, trying to apologize to SpongeBob for his nasty prank, asks Patrick where SpongeBob is, and Patrick's response winds up making Squidward feel even more guilty.
    Squidward: Where's SpongeBob?
    Patrick: He's in the house. He's impressed. ^note  He actually means "depressed".
    Squidward: With what?
    Patrick: I dunno, but it must've been pretty good to make him cry like that.
    [Squidward shivers with even more guilt, then sprints over to SpongeBob's house]
  • "Dying For Pie": As SpongeBob and Squidward are watching the sunset.
    SpongeBob: You know, if I were to die right now in some sort of fiery explosion due to the carelessness of a friend, well...that'd just be okay.
    Squidward: [tears up]
  • "No Free Rides": Mrs. Puff, fed up of SpongeBob's incompetent driving, decides to take "the easy way out" by giving him an extremely easy extra credit question and then passing him without even reading his answer. She's already feeling guilty about the potential consequences when SpongeBob's parents show up at her house to thank her in person for all the "support" she gave him:
    Mr. SquarePants: We were beginning to think SpongeBob would never pass his exams! But you never gave up on him! You never quit! You never took the "easy way out"!
    [Mrs. Puff awkwardly tugs at her collar]
• Star Trek: Lower Decks: In "Envoys", after Lieutenant Commander Billups praises Ensign Rutherford's work and tells him that he's an invaluable member of the Engineering department, Rutherford feels that much more guilty for requesting a transfer.
  Billups: Rutherford, great work on the EPS grid. I wish I had more engineers like you. My life would be a lot simpler.
  Rutherford: Uh, thanks. Uh, can we talk for a second?
  Billups: Just for a second? Don't tease me. Come on, man, you're my number-one-with-a-bullet-systems guy. I got time for you in spades.
  Rutherford: Um... (chuckles nervously)
• Teen Titans (2003): In "Betrayal", the same night Terra is given the word to deactivate the Titans' security and let Slade's army of robots in for an all out onslaught against the Titans, the Titans comment on what a great friend Terra is and how valuable she is to the team, and how good friends like her don't come along every day. She obviously feels guilty, even insisting they don't have to be grateful since she's just doing her job (as a Titan). She betrays them anyways.
• Young Justice (2010):
  • "Satisfaction": Paula Crock thanks Wally for providing emotional support as she comes to terms with Artemis' "death". Wally's guilt over maintaining the ruse in front of Artemis' grieving mother is written all over his face. In the same episode, the rest of the Team goes on and on about how Kaldur is going to pay for Artemis's "death". They're rather confused when Nightwing mysteriously vanishes, unable to cope with the guilt.
  • "Before the Dawn": Miss Martian does take the above revenge, learning the truth in the process. She realises she's actually Mind Raped an undercover teammate and is filled with guilt, while her teammates praise her for taking down the traitor who killed Artemis.

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