Secret Tests of Character in Western Animation TV.
- Adventure Time: Finn is told to kill several evil monsters to prove that he's a real hero; he does it easily. Then he is told to slay a perfectly normal ant. After ascertaining that the ant is not, in fact, evil (but not good, either; it's
neutral), Finn loudly refuses and attacks his tester instead. - American Dad!: Parodied in "Bullocks to Stan". Avery Bullock (Stan's boss at the CIA) has been sleeping with Stan's daughter and forcing Stan to go along with it by bribing him with a possible promotion. Eventually the pair break up, Bullock begins insulting Hayley and Stan beats the crap out of Bullock. To keep Stan from killing him, Bullock tries to pass off everything he did as a test to see if Stan would stand up for himself and his daughter. He's clearly making it all up, but is just persuasive enough that Stan lets him go.Bullock: You see, before promoting you, I had to be certain that you would stand up for Hayley, for if you couldn't stand up for your daughter, how could you stand up for your country? ...or something like that.
Stan: So none of this was real?
Bullock: No sir!
Stan: But... you're really hurt.
Bullock: Ha ha ha! It would appear that way, but no. [spits out one of his teeth] Props will be wanting this back! - Late into the second season of Amphibia, the three girls who got teleported are tested on their personality relating to the Calamity Gem they represent in order to power them up at each of the three respective temples. Marcy is tested on her wit and intelligence, and gives up the Flipwart game for the sake of Anne and the Plantars when she realizes that it's unwinnable. Anne is tested on her compassion by Valeriana to the point of confessing her bad deeds and learning from her mistakes. Sasha is tested on her strength by using her mental energy within to persevere herself and defend Anne and Marcy. Out of the three, Anne only gets her gem charged halfway, as she asks Valeriana to send her back when she thinks that the Plantars and Marcy are in danger when really, they're watching harmless cat videos with Marcy's phone at max volume. This allows her to retain her connection with her gem, granting her a Super Mode so she can fight King Andrias.
- Invoked in Archie's Weird Mysteries. In one episode, Archie is fussing over his car, Betsy, even using the money that he was going to spend on a date with Veronica for some fuzzy dice...which happen to be enchanted. When the proprietor of the shop where Archie gets said dice from, Dr. Beaumont, keeps reminding Archie about that date, he decides to make Archie learn the lesson by turning Betsy into Christine but not before hanging a lampshade to the audience.Dr. Beaumont: I always hate it when they go for the hard lessons.
- There are two examples in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- In "The King of Omashu", when Aang, Katara, and Sokka arrive at Omashu, they're captured by the King, who forces Aang to go through three trials. While all have simple solutions at first, turns out they all have more than what they seem. The King is testing Aang's ability to think outside the box and see things from a new perspective.
- The first test is for Aang to retrieve a key suspended in the middle of a powerful, cascading waterfall. It's too powerful to climb and get through brute force, needing Aang to knock off a stalagmite and throw it through to hook it.
- The second test has Aang go retrieve the king's beloved pet Flopsie. Aang is sent into a courtyard and begins chasing after a harmless bunny, and gets chased around by a huge rampaging Goat-Gorilla. Aang quickly realizes the beast is Flopsie, who's quite affectionate once Aang stops running away from him.
- The third test is actually a subversion. Aang is brought before the King standing among a group of large, muscular men holding dangerous weapons. Aang's told he must win combat against any one of them of his own choosing. But since the King stands among them, Aang points to him... and the King (who until now looked like a withered old man) says "wrong choice", removes his robes and stands up straight, revealing he's the strongest of all. The test was a double-bluff.
- While not an intended test, Piandao accepts Sokka in "Sokka's Master" because he's the first student to come to him who admitted that he was not worthy, and thus proved that he was open enough to learn. He later rewards him with a White Lotus Pai Sho piece for admitting that he lied and was not a Fire Nation Colonist (which Piandao had figured out long ago, due to Aang's presence and Sokka's name). It's stated on the DVD Commentary that everything Piandao did was some kind of test.
- In "The King of Omashu", when Aang, Katara, and Sokka arrive at Omashu, they're captured by the King, who forces Aang to go through three trials. While all have simple solutions at first, turns out they all have more than what they seem. The King is testing Aang's ability to think outside the box and see things from a new perspective.
- In the Ewoks Season 2 episode "The Tragic Flute", Latara desires a golden flute after having seen that King Elbo from the underwater awarded Kneesaa with two golden anklets. Her friends, rushing to save her are captured and King Elbo sends her to a room full of precious items asking her to bring back what's most valuable. Eventually, she comes across her old flute, realises that this was a test of her morals and her friends are set free.
- The Fairly OddParents!: This is The Reveal in the episode "It's a Wishful Life". It turns out that the images Jorgen showed Timmy of how much better everyone would be if he never existed were false, and the whole thing was a test on Jorgen's part to make Timmy be more grateful for what he has, rather than having an It's All About Me attitude.
- Parodied in an episode of Family Guy, in which Peter refuses to take an ordinary looking college exam, only to learn that refusing to take the test was the test.
- The entire backbone of imaginary friends in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is to test the kid who brought them to life to learn a valuable life lesson and become better. Bloo's jerkassery is meant to teach Mac not to be like Bloo who gets himself too many times in trouble, Eduardo's scary appearance is meant to protect his kid from bullies until he himself started to fear them which led to her growing a backbone and defend him instead (which led to her becoming a police woman), Wilt meanwhile was created to be a basketball partner for his kid who went on to become a famous basketball player (despite Will losing an arm and getting an eye damaged), etc.
- Green Lantern: The Animated Series: It's implied that Mogo put Saint Walker through one. After asking Mogo where the promised savior of the galaxy is, Mogo instructs Saint Walker to climb a mountain, seemingly implying that the savior is there. When Saint Walker fails to find the supposed savior on the mountain top, he thinks that Mogo is telling him that there is no savior or hope and that the galaxy is doomed. Saint Walker refuses to believe this and reaffirms his hope by insisting that he himself will fight the Red Lanterns if necessary. After this, Mogo deems Saint Walker worthy of becoming the first Blue Lantern, indicating that he is the savior Mogo was talking about.
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983): In one episode, He-Man and Company had to look for an antidote to save Man-At-Arms and the only one with the needed knowledge was a dragon named Granamyr. Granamyr, who believes that Humans Are Bastards, only agreed on the condition that they destroy an old tree (the stated reason being that Granamyr doesn't like NOT being the oldest living being and the tree was the only one older than him) and threatened to banish our heroes to a realm of demons if they fail. Upon learning about the tree and all living beings that depend on it for sustenance, they decided not to kill the tree. Granamyr then revealed that it was a test of character.
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021): Prince Keldor had kidnapped Prince Adam and demanded the power of Grayskull for himself to usurp his brother Randor as king of Eternos. Eldress, the guardian of Castle Grayskull and its power, offered Keldor a choice between a sword and a scepter as a means to harness the power. Keldor dismissed the sword as the tool of a soldier, a servant to the power, and chose the scepter as the symbol of a ruler. When he tried to take the power, his selfishness instead exposed him to the power of Havoc, rotting away his left arm and threatening to kill him over time. When Keldor attacked Eldress in retaliation, young Adam took the sword to protect her, proving he had the heart of a true champion and would eventually gain the power of Grayskull and become He-Man.
- Hot Wheels: AcceleRacers: he Racing Realms are revealed to be a long series of this, designed to create "the perfect driver" with each track teaching a different kind of skill. The point of the final race is not to be first, but instead to make it through all previous tracks on your own without using the Accele-Chargers.
- In Jimmy Two-Shoes, Lucius sets up a game show that citizens of Miseryville unknowingly compete on where they have to keep their promise to stay on a single spot. Unlike most tests, Lucius wants to prove that no one is really good enough to do it, even staking his entire fortune on it. Which means it's trouble when the contestant is Jimmy.
- The Justice League Unlimited episode "Patriot Act" sees Shining Knight recount a time King Arthur asked him to slaughter a village, which Knight refused. When General Eiling sneers that Knight was a horrible soldier for not doing so, Knight retorted that Arthur thanked him, revealing that the "order" was in fact a test.
- In an episode of The Land Before Time, Littlefoot is tested on his ability to one day become the leader of a herd. One test involves retrieving a red leaf from a small island in the middle of a lava pit. After much deliberating, Littlefoot finally concedes that he can't find any safe way across. He is then informed that that was the test and that the point of leading a herd is to put their safety first.
- In Miraculous Ladybug, to find worthy candidates for the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses, Master Fu pretends to be infirm and in jeopardy to see who comes to his aid. Naturally, Marinette and Adrien, the main characters, pass with flying colors.
- My Little Pony:
- My Little Pony 'n Friends: In "Would-Be Dragonslayer", the flipped-over turtle Alonzo comes across and helps turns out be a disguised wizard who set the situation up as a secret test of Alonzo's determination, to see whether he's willing to stick it out and not give up even when faced with difficult odds.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- In "The Crystal Empire", Princess Celestia tells Twilight Sparkle that she alone has to save the Crystal Empire in order to prove that she is ready for the next level of her studies. Twilight is forced to have Spike save the empire instead after getting caught in a trap, but passes the test anyway because she put the needs of others before her own need to succeed. Celestia would have had difficulty actually planning this all — though it would not be her first Gambit Roulette — but all we really know about the test is that the end result was this, and Celestia's wording was kind of specific.
- In "The Mane Attraction", pop star Coloratura gives her manager, Svengallop, the task of cancelling a contest she was having with the schoolponies. Coloratura actually loves children, and wanted to see if Svengallop really had her best interests at heart. Not only does Svengallop gleefully cancel the contest, but also orders a spa treatment for himself and threatens to pull Coloratura from the charity concert if he didn't get it. He's Caught on Tape, and Coloratura fires him.
- The main story arc of Season 4 centers on this, though it's never told who in the heck set up the challenge in the first place. In the season premiere, the Mane Six comes across a mysterious chest sealed with six locks. Later, each of the ponies gets an episode all about her particular element and the challenges associated with it; for example, Rarity, who wields the Element of Generosity, must choose between winning a fashion design contest or going to apologize to her friends for mistreating them, while Pinkie Pie, the holder of the Element of Laughter, has to decide whether or not winning a party-planning contest is worth hurting a friend's feelings. Inevitably, each of the Six chooses to honor their element even if it means making a personal sacrifice, and as a reward for making the right decision, they're granted small, seemingly mundane items which give off a rainbow shimmer. When these six items are placed on the chest, they transform into the keys needed to unlock it and free the incredible Rainbow Power inside, granting them the ability to defeat Tirek and undo his massive destruction.
- This was generally the reason behind Celestia sending Twilight to make friends in the first episode. She knew Nightmare Moon was returning and simply told her "You simply must stop reading those dusty old books!" and nothing more, because Twilight had the power to defeat her, but she can't unleash it without help from the friends she made and letting true friendship into her heart.
- It's revealed in the Grand Finale that Discord disguised himself as Grogar and freed Equestria's greatest villains so he can test Twilight on her confidence before her coronation as ruler of Equestria. But it causes more harm than good, and the heroes are not happy about it.
- The Real Ghostbusters has one in the episode "Night Game". Winston has found himself in the crossfire of a battle between the forces of good and evil... which happens to take the form of a baseball game (It Makes Sense in Context). The other three come in to save him, but can't, because he's already in the game and there's no room for more players. All they can do is sit and let the game continue — the stakes are for Winston's soul. If good loses, he becomes the slave of evil. If Ray, Peter, and Egon try to involve themselves, it will be considered cheating, and, as the Umpire says, "evil cheats". Winston reveals in the end that they were playing for Peter's soul. Peter is understandably scared, since he and the others considered interfering with the game.
- Recess:
- The gang finds an unmarked envelope with a $100 dollar bill in it and despite believing its a fortune due to their youth, TJ insists they find out who it belongs to. After going all over the town, they figure the only person who would lose that much money and not care would be the richest guy in town. They go to his mansion and give it to the butler, who slams the door in their faces. On the way back, the millionaire comes down on a jetpack and explains that he left those notes around town all the time and the kids were the first ones to bring it back to him. As a reward for this, he gives their families free tickets to his amusement park and lets them all take turns riding with him on his jetpack.
- Parodied in another episode where Gus becomes a temporary playground king. He has to solve a dispute between two girls over a doll. Gus takes some inspiration from King Solomon and orders the doll to be cut in half — intending to give it to the girl who protested. But his advisors then tell him that he gave the doll to the wrong girl.
- Rocket Power: In "Rocket Rescue", Tito falls off the pier while filling a bucket with sea water. Otto calls out for help, and Twister and Sam, two junior lifeguards in training, immediately spring into action. After untangling Tito and bringing him back to shore with their surfboard, Lieutenant Tice Ryan reveals that Tito was a lifeguard himself and he'd sometimes surprise new recruits with a pop quiz like the one Twister and Sam had just passed.
- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
- In the second season, Big Bad Hordak is giving one of these to Catra. Hordak is a practitioner of Pragmatic Villainy, usually willing to overlook a few flaws or missteps if it helps the Horde's causes. However, to make sure Catra is capable and trustworthy, he asks Catra what's happened after things go pear-shaped for the Horde. Hordak already knows the answer, but wants to see if Catra will tell him the truth or lie to save her own skin. Catra accidentally allowed Shadow Weaver to escape, despite knowing that Shadow Weaver is a Magnificent Bastard who relentlessly manipulates people. Rather than admit fault, Catra lies and says Shadow Weaver has been banished to Beast Island, causing Catra to fail Hordak's test. Hordak is not happy about it.
- In Season 4, conflicted over her role in the Horde, Token Good Teammate Scorpia delivers one to Catra by pretending to botch a simple task. Her supposed best friend's enraged reaction convinces Scorpia that she has no reason to remain with the Horde and defects to the Rebellion.
- She-Ra: Princess of Power: One of Hordak's plans goes terribly wrong, and he and She-Ra wind up trapped in another dimension. The Being that lives there tells them they have to pass a series of tests to be allowed access to the door and key to get home. After most of the episode, they're finally within sight of the door area.
- As they approach the door, She-Ra notices a small, scared, fox-like animal stuck on a high ledge. Hordak complains as she starts climbing, saying they need to be searching for the key to open the door. She-Ra ignores him and brings the kit back to ground level. It disappears, leaving behind the crystal in its forehead -which splits in three. One to open the door out of the dimension, one key each for Hordak and She-Ra -the Being's not stupid.
- Hordak has been musing on the idea of trapping She-Ra in the dimension. One of the most powerful champions of the Rebellion, potentially gone forever? What's not to like? In the effort to keep her in the dimension by stealing her crystal, he loses his down a crack in the stone floor. But She-Ra refuses to leave without him, causing the Being to commend her on her mercy. Although there's the far more practical issue that the replacement Horde Prime sends might actually be competent.
- Sofia the First: In "The Princess Test", Fauna disguises herself as Royal Prep's librarian, and asks each princess in turn for help, just before the Princess Test begins. Sofia is the only one willing to put off the test and help, which earns her full marks for displaying a Princess' most important trait: Kindness. Not only this, but the test is rigged with a number of pitfalls specifically designed to test Sofia's resolution to continue helping Fauna; in each instance, she passes. While most of the students get silver stars, Sofia passes with the highest score possible and gets a big gold trophy.
- Sonic Boom has a morally inverted example in "Mister Eggman": Eggman goes back to school to complete his doctorate in Evil Villainy, and ends up being the only one in the class to pass the final exam... because he was the only one who cheated (breaking into the school to steal the answer sheet) rather than taking it normally.
- The Simpsons: In "The Great Simpsina", Lisa learns magic from an experienced magician. Eventually, she finds a book that reveals how one of his greatest tricks is done, a trick she hadn't even been told how to do. She briefly considers looking in the book, but then decides against it. The magician then reveals that it was a test to see if he can trust her with knowing how to do the trick.
- South Park: The end of "Pinewood Derby" reveals that the whole plot of the episode was just one big test of character to decide whether or not to let Earth into the Galactic Federation after they discovered warp travel (Randy enhanced Stan's Pinewood Derby car with a supermagnet from the Large Hadron Collider). Earth fails and is barred from the rest of the universe. As Randy says at the end of the episode: "Well, that sucks!"
- Star Trek: Lower Decks:
- In "Much Ado About Boimler", Mariner's friend, Captain Amina Ramsey, has come from her command of the USS Oakland to see if Mariner is good enough to get promoted to her crew. Mariner, wary that her best friend from the Academy might be testing her for such a promotion, intentionally underperforms to sabotage that attempt. However, when the mission turns risky and lives are on the line, Mariner quickly becomes the hyper-competent officer that she could be, which leads to Ramsey questioning why Mariner is even in Starfleet.
- In "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place", Captain Freeman and Admiral Vassery arrive in Ferenginar in order to try and recruit the planet into Starfleet. However, Grand Nagus Rom and his wife/First Clerk Leeta give him the runaround as the former acts like a Manchild while the latter keeps adding ridiculous stipulations for joining in, which Vassery agrees to with growing defeat and disdain. Ultimately, Freeman decides to agree to all of that and add in a 1 billion gold-pressed latinum signing bonus contingent on Ferenginar signing up a planet. Rom happily agrees and gloats that they made a big mistake, but Freeman tells them to Read the Fine Print: the planet they need to recruit is Qo'nos, the Klingon Homeworld, an Impossible Task. As it turns out, they needed to know if Starfleet isn't just an organization filled with "suckers and rubes" and that they understand their commerce-based culture by being swindled like a Ferengi. Rom agrees to sign the original document and begin the process for Ferenginar to join the Federation.
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil: In "The Bogbeast of Boggabah", after Star's failed attempt to alert her mother Queen Moon to some recently discovered family secrets, her father King River decides she needs to blow off steam, and drags her along on a Johansen family tradition: a hunting expedition for the eponymous Bogbeast. The preparations for the hunt involve a lot of tedious, detail-oriented rituals that drive Star up the wall, and she eventually loses her patience and charges into the dead of night trying to chase what she thinks is the Bogbeast. After she gets stuck in a muddy bog, Star eventually learns the whole exercise was a Snipe Hunt designed to teach how her impulsiveness and eagerness for action, a trait that apparently runs in her father's side of the family, can be a drawback.
- Star Wars Rebels:
- "Spark of Rebellion": Kanan lets Ezra steal his Jedi holocron to see if he can open it, which only a Force-user can do.
- "Path of the Jedi":
- Kanan instructs Ezra to use the Force to find a Jedi temple. After Ezra locates the temple on Lothal, Kanan reveals that he had already looked up its location in the holocron. The actual purpose of Ezra's test was to make sure he was meant to go there, rather than to one further away.
- Much like in the Clone Wars example above, Ezra is put through a test of his intentions and the strength his fears hold over his actions at the Lothal Jedi temple, and is rewarded with a kyber crystal when he passes.
- "Shroud of Darkness": Returning to the Lothal Jedi temple, Kanan is forced to fight several Temple Guards, the leader of whom claims that Ezra's dangerous because he's drawn to the Dark Side, and he has to be eliminated before he falls. Kanan tries to fight to protect him, but ultimately realizes the only way he can do that is by training Ezra the best he can. The reward for passing the test? The lead guard knights Kanan, to his considerable surprise.
- "The Antilles Extraction": Sabine, infiltrating an Imperial pilot academy to locate and extract some dissenting cadets, poses as another pilot with doubts about the Empire to Wedge Antilles to confirm that he's serious about defecting.
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars: In "The Gathering", six Jedi younglings are put through this in order to claim their lightsaber crystals, each one having to overcome a character flaw to do so.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): The turtles, who have been kidnapped along with four other people, are subjected to one of these by their kidnappers, the Ninja Tribunal. The Tribunal states that the kidnappees must fight each other to the death, and that only those who survive would become the Tribunal's students. The kidnappees refuse, attacking the Tribunal instead and therefore passing the test.
- Testament: The Bible in Animation: In "Abraham", God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son to see if he'd obey Him. He stops Abraham before he actually has to go through with it.
- ThunderCats (2011): After Lion-O dies and the rest of the Thundercats are captured by Mumm-ra, he's saved by the spirit stone and is told that he has to undergo four trials to prove that he's worthy of being brought back to life. He fails the last one and is told that he cannot return to life, but that the stone can return his soul to his body until sunrise. After the sun rises, however, he will die and his soul will be stuck forever in limbo. Lion-O, of course, chooses to return to life temporarily in order to save the Thundercats. After he rescues the Thundercats and is prepared to die, Jaga appears and tells him that his willingness to sacrifice himself for his people was the last test and he's earned his life back permanently.
- Wander over Yonder: In "The Box", Wander and Sylvia are tasked with delivering a package to someone named Glenn and Wander can't help but obsess whatever is in the box they have to deliver, and is tempted to peek inside it. When he resists long enough and the box is delivered, it turns out the delivery was set up by the Lords of Illumination to test Wander on his resistance which he passed, and the box has nothing in it. But Wander still thinks there's something in the box and keeps guessing what's in it, so a furious Sylvia pesters the Lords to put some things in it so he can finally stop obsessing.
- Winx Club: Professor Wizgiz pulls one of these on all the students by saying there will be a pop quiz the next day, and letting them all find envelopes which appear to contain the answers. In reality, the envelopes contain dust puffs, which let him easily see who was honest enough not to open them.
- Young Justice (2010): In "Depths", Black Manta sends his son Aqualad to lead a mission to sabotage a rocket launch. They fail to stop the launch, but the rocket inexplicably explodes in low orbit anyway. Aqualad reports back to his father that their success was a mere fluke, but Black Manta tells his son that he smuggled a bomb aboard the rocket days ago, the real test was to see if Aqualad would take credit for a victory that was not his own to determine his character in the face of failure (if he had succeeded in destroying the rocket, Black Manta simply would have continued with more assignments until he failed).
