Riches to Rags in Western Animation
- Amphibia: King Andrias ends off the series sentenced to farmwork presumably for the rest of his days as penance for his sins over the course of his life serving the Core. All things considered, he actually seems to be much more at peace in this state.
- As Told by Ginger: The Grand Finale features the Griplings losing their fortune when Mr. Gripling is arrested for insider trading.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- The Southern Water Tribe, Katara and Sokka included, suffered this in the backstory, courtesy of the Fire Nation. In "The Puppetmaster", it is revealed that the Southern Water Tribe used to be a thriving metropolis, on par with its northern counterpart, with people living in a city of igloos. After the Fire Nation attacked, it took and locked away all Waterbenders it could find, dealing a significant setback on the tribe's morale. A century following the invasion, the tribe's main settlement is nothing more than a couple of tents and an igloo located on a small corner of the shore. The only inhabitants are women, kids, and a single male teenager who provides the tribe's last line of defense. After the war ends, its fortunes begin to reverse; by the events of The Legend of Korra, it is back as a metropolis again.
- In Season 2, Zuko and Iroh turn from members of the Fire Nation's royal family to fugitives who live from town to town. Sure, before then, they were disgraced, but finances were not a problem and they still maintained a Fire Nation ship alongside its entourage. Afterwards, they travel on foot.
- The Fire Lords Ozai and Azula become this trope after the series finale. Ozai goes from "Phoenix Lord" and ruthless overlord to non-bending has-been locked away in prison and likely to spend the rest of his days there. Azula, on the other hand, is a straight-up Fallen Princess. She begins a princess who lived a luxurious lifestyle when not in combat, having what she thought was "friends" and a competent, calculating brain that could topple a nation; but by series' end, she's lost her friends, her mind, and even her former title and she's been cut off from her former title and wealth.
- Batman: The Animated Series:
- Cameron Kaiser's already bankrupted himself with his new casino. When his fraud attempt is exposed and he's arrested, Summer Gleason even describes him as an "ex-billionaire". He's probably also facing massive lawsuits from his creditors and all the casino patrons he endangered by trying to manipulate the Joker.
- As Roland Dagget's crimes start to put holes in his wealth due to the court fees, he eventually runs his fortune dry as a result of his actions. The good publicity he had even went down the gutter when his crimes were exposed.
- The Boondocks: "Bitches to Rags" is all about Thugnificent going through this after several unwise moves on his part sink his singing career. This in turn leads to the loss of his wealth to debt collectors. Unlike most examples, he never regains his fortune and is forced to take a minimum wage job to survive. He doesn't really seem too broken up about it, though. This is possibly because his "Rags" origin was so bad ("Rags to Bitches" revealed that his hometown was so poor that a lot of people went around naked because they couldn't afford both food and clothes, and so crime ridden that the police outright left, and fenced off the town, forcing everyone to fend for themselves), that even minimum wage in a normal suburb is still pretty good.
- While never as wealthy as this trope usually invokes, the Freemans suffer from this during Season 4. It's never really gone into detail how this happened, though implied that the main problem was Robert spending too much on dates and other indulgences for himself. He refuses to give up his suburban home, and even laments that money is the only comparative social advantage he'd ever had, so once that's gone, he has nothing.
- Doug: One episode features Bebe losing her fortune.
- Frisky Dingo: Zander Crews in the opening episodes of the second season — he's gone from the head of a company with billions of dollars to living in a refrigerator box. At least until he remembers to regain the check from Killface.
- Gravity Falls:
- The events of Weirdmageddon have Pacifica Northwest separated from her family for an extended time, forcing her to fight with Stan and the others who make it to the Mystery Shack. By the time Dipper and Mabel meet her again, she's a literal Princess in Rags (she's wearing a potato sack).
- The Northwest family in general ends up losing most of their fortune due to a bad investment that Pacifica's dad made during the Weirdmageddon—it's a downplayed example, because they're still fairly wealthy in the end (just not nearly as wealthy as they were before). Pacifica and her parents were forced to sell their mansion home to stay afloat—ironically, McGucket, the town's local hobo, is the one to buy their house due to regaining his smarts and selling his technology.
- In The Harper House, the Harpers used to live in a gated community but had to move to the poor side of town after Debbie lost her job.
- Hey Arnold!:
- The episode "Rhonda Goes Broke". One of the strongest examples of Status Quo Is God in the series.
- The Jungle Movie. As it's implied to take place in the 2010s, cellphones have become so much more mainstream and affordable that Big Bob's Beepers (the beeper emporium that Helga's dad owned and operated) has gone under, forcing Helga and her family to give up their house and move into the store itself. Helga and her best friend, Phoebe, both lampshade this.
- Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures: Miles Duntcheck at the end of "The Haunted Sonata" once it's revealed his famous ancestor stole the sonata that gave their family Royalties Heir status. It's mentioned the loss of the fortune drove him insane.
- The Legend of Vox Machina: Percy de Rolo grew up as a nobleman, second in line to inherit the Lordship of Whitestone. However, the Briarwoods staged a coup when Percy was 18 years old, murdered all of the de Rolos save for Percy and his sister Cassandra, and brutally tortured them for weeks before Percy managed to escape. A flashback from shortly after his escape shows him stealing a tarp to use as a blanket, reluctantly eating a moldy chunk of bread, and sleeping on the ground in a dirty alley.
- Popeye: An Al Brodax cartoon has Wimpy go through this. He inherits a fortune and wagers it all against Popeye in a boxing match. Wimpy is assured to win his wager since he's the referee. But after seeing Popeye get KO'd (through his own machinations), Wimpy doesn't have the heart to count his old pal out, so he gives Popeye some spinach, Popeye knocks out his opponent, and Wimpy loses his fortune.
- The Powerpuff Girls (2016): "Poorbucks" has this happen to Princess Morbucks when a bad investment tanks her family's stock and she's forced to stay with the girls while her father "lays low". She regains it at the end by stealing Blossom's lemonade recipe and turning it into a franchise. Though at the least showed she did have some good in her by calling off her attack on the girls once she got her money back and keeping the present Blossom made for her.
- Sabrina: The Animated Series: The episode "Stone Broke" has this happen to Gem Stone after her parents make a bad investment.
- The Simpsons:
- "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?": When Homer visits his Long Lost Brother Herb, who is the head of a Detroit car company, Homer ruins Herb by designing a terrible car. A later episode has him regain his fortune (with the help of an investment from Homer). In another episode, when Homer and Marge decided to seek tutors in case they don't live long enough to see all their children reach adulthood, it's revealed Herb went broke again.
- In one of the episodes with Herb, the inventor of New Coke is living on the street with the homeless.
- Another of Herb's homeless friends is a formerly wealthy man who ran unlicensed Disney massage parlors. Turns out the Disney Corporation wasn't crazy about that.Bum: I told 'em "Hey, I'm reasonable, I'll put Mickeys pants back on!". Pfft, some people you just can't reason with...
- "The Old Man and the Lisa": Mr. Burns loses his entire wealth, his power plant and his mansion in a series of bad investments — which he could have avoided if his accountants weren't too scared of him to contradict him — and has to build back his fortune from scratch, starting with collecting cans.Kent Brockman: Excuse me, Mr. Burns, now that you're completely ruined, how do you feel?
Burns: Excellent. I'm on my way back to the top! I've turned these cans into can-dos!
Brockman: Well, you smell terrible — good luck to you, sir. - Brenda of the Lifetime TV movie "From Homemaker to Homeless"; A wealthy housewife is left destitute when her husband dies unexpectedly, and since he didn't have life insurance, she lost everything and ended up on the street. She later went to Harvard Medical School — as a cadaver.
- Krusty the Clown is a multimillionaire celebrity, but lawsuits, multiple alimonies, gambling losses, drug use, and ridiculously expensive tastes leave him in continual danger of becoming this. The Krusty Burger 1984 Olympics Sweepstakes (which caused him to personally lose 44 $Million due to the Soviet boycott) probably didn't help.
- Rainier Wolfcastle lost so much money with three divorces (in three months) he's forced to hold a Garage Sale at his Big Fancy House.Rainier: Do you need any help rooting through the tattered remains of my life?Homer: Nah, I'm good!
- Lurleen Lumpkin, the country singer originally introduced in Colonel Homer, was a massive success, but due to her unresolved father issues and Homer's rejection, she ends up owing 12 $Million in taxes by the time Papa Dont Leech takes place. Despite having dropped out of public life for quite some time, most of the town starts to look for her mainly for this trope, which is lampshaded by Kent Brockman.Kent: The entire city is searching for her! Not for any reward, but for the pleasure of destroying someone they once admired!
- Drederick Tatum, boxing prodigy and heavyweight champion, has dealt with several career slumps despite his talent, thanks to his troubles with the law and frequent jail time.Tatum: I'm sorry, I can't help myself! Punch and grope, punch and grope, it's all I was taught!
- The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat: The episode "Bet a Billion Bill" featured a gambler named Billy. He was wealthy and lucky until a black cat (Felix) crossed his path. In "Viva Lost Wages", Billy stole Felix's magic bag and used it as a charm to regain his fortune. Once Felix recovered the bag, it didn't take long before Billy returned to the poorhouse.
