The Reveal / Western Animation

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• Adventure Time has a page for it. The biggest one so far is generally agreed to be Lady's revelation that she's pregnant.
• American Dad! loves spoofing this. One example, from "The Phantom of the Telethon":
  Stan: Give it up, Roger!
  Roger: I'm not Roger, I'm the Phantom!
  (Stan pulls off his mask and gasps.)
  Stan: Roger!
  Roger: Well, yeah, I... what?
• Three in Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • First one: Zuko and Azula's maternal great-grandfather is Avatar Roku.
  • Second one: Azula for once, wasn't lying about something important. Ozai was going to kill Zuko to get the throne. However, their mother intervened and killed her father-in-law, somehow making the death look natural, and was banished because of it.
  • Third one: the reason why Katara and Sokka's mother was killed was she claimed she was the last Waterbender of the South Pole, thus protecting her daughter.
  • The comics are no slouch in this department. In The Search, at the end of the first novel, it is revealed that Zuko is not Ozai's son, but in fact Ikem's. But then Ursa reveals in the third that everything in that letter was a lie meant to mislead Ozai. Zuko really is his son.
• In the Futurama movie Bender's Big Score, the reveal is that Lars is Fry's time paradox duplicate.
• Gargoyles:
  • The episode "Future Tense" ends with the revelation that the Bad Future seen in the episode was an illusion created by Puck to trick Goliath into giving him the Phoenix Gate. He knew that Oberon was about to call the Children back to Avalon, so he wanted to get his hands on something valuable that he could use to trade for his continued freedom on Earth. To get it, he tried to convince Goliath that the worst possible future had come to pass, hoping that he would be scared into using the Phoenix Gate to travel back in time to reverse it.
  • And in the "Avalon" story arc, there's the revelation that the gargoyle hatchlings saved from Castle Wyvern are still alive, as are the humans that raised them.
  • "The Gathering" story arc has a two-fold one, where it turns out that Titania is Fox's biological mother, and Owen Burnett is actually Puck disguised as a human.
• Gravity Falls:
  • The biggest mystery was who wrote the strange journal that Dipper found in the woods (and the other two journals preceding it). In the Season 2 midseason finale "Not What He Seems", we find out it's Grunkle Stan's twin brother, who had only been vaguely hinted about through background clues.
  • The reveal of Bill Cipher in Season 1's penultimate episode, "Dreamscaperers". A dream demon with "big plans" who before had only been seen as a Freeze-Frame Bonus in the title screen and backgrounds.
• Hilda: For the whole series Hilda was the only human with a blue hair. The Grand Finale reveals that’s because she’s not fully human, but a one-quarter fairy hybrid from her mother’s side of the family.
• The Hollow: The setting the kids are in is a video game on a game show called The Hollow.
• The Justice League episode "Epilogue" contains a belated one for Batman Beyond, revealing that Terry McGinnis is Bruce Wayne's biological son, thanks to Amanda Waller subjecting his father to an experiment that secretly overwrote his reproductive DNA. Apparently, this was all part of a plan to create a successor to Batman by duplicating the circumstances that led to his birth; they even hired Andrea Beaumont to kill Terry's parents in front of him, though she got cold feet, and Warren McGinnis' later death was a coincidence.
• Big City Greens begins using this since it underwent Cerebus Rollercoaster syndrome:
  • Bill is the one responsible for letting out the animals in "Blood Moon" because he couldn't face letting the kids go trick-or-treating without him.
  • Gloria is not from Big City; she's from a suburban neighborhood out of town.
  • Phoenix ran away from the Greens' house because she caught the scent of their mother Nancy, who just got out of jail.
  • Bill and Nancy are divorced.
  • Bill himself is responsible for Big City being built around the Greens' house.
  • The reason Nancy was liberating cows from a dairy factory only to be put in jail for it was that the factory was threatening the farm.
• Kaeloo: In the penultimate episode of the fifth season, we learn that Mr. Cat's first name is Hector.
• In Kim Possible: So The Drama, Eric is a synthodrone sent by Drakken to distract Kim from thwarting his plan to Take Over the World.
• The Loud House: "Not A Loud" reveals Lynn Sr. and Rita were driven to the hospital the day of Lincoln's birth by none other than the President and First Lady. However, his birth book is left blank because the two were heading to a top secret safe house in Royal Woods which no one is to know about, thus the parents had to swear they wouldn't tell anyone else about it.
• In the Mr. Bean: The Animated Series episode "Double Trouble" it's revealed Bean is part of a race of identical aliens.
• My Adventures with Superman
  • "You Will Believe a Man Can Lie"
    • In Episode 2, Slade interrogated Livewire about her knowledge of (among other things) something called Zero Day and Nemesis Omega. Nemesis Omega is revealed here to be Superman himself, while Zero Day is implied to be the day alien tech (possibly including Superman's ship) fell to Earth.
    • Though it was heavily implied in previous episodes, Clark remarking on the familiarity of the alien tech used by past villains appears to confirm that the tech is related to Krypton in some way.
  • "Zero Day (Part 2)"
    • In Episode 4, Superman seemed to recognize the General from somewhere, remembering him as a young soldier looking up in fear, but he couldn't recall how he knows him and why he was afraid. Here, we learn that Krypton had actually attacked Earth and wiped out an entire platoon assigned to investigate their presence, before suddenly disappearing. Clark also learns something that goes against nearly every adaptation up to this point: that he was actually sent to Earth to be a weapon that would one day finish the job.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • Near the end of Season 1, we get an Origins Episode which shows how the mane characters got their cutie marks in various situations; it is revealed Rainbow Dash's first Sonic Rainboom from when she obtained her cutie mark is responsible for the other mares obtaining their cutie marks as well, as hearing the explosion and seeing its rainbow allowed them to discover their destinies.
  • The 2-part second season finale, specifically the point where Cadence, who at this point has seemed to grow from a sweet, kindly foalsitter to a grade-A Alpha Bitch, is an evil fake in disguise.
  • Midway through Season 5, the bossy Alpha Bitch Diamond Tiara is revealed to be such because she was raised to be that way by her mother, Spoiled Rich, who only cares about her social standings and insists everypony sees her that way.
  • Cozy Glow, the seemingly innocent newbie who enrolls at the School of Friendship, turns out to be the Arc Villain of Season 8 in the finale.
  • Grogar, the most powerful villain who united the Mane Six's past enemies, turns out to be Discord in disguise in the Grand Finale, having brought them together to test Twilight to see if she's brave enough to become the new ruler of Equestria.
  • On a minor note, Season 2 reveals Granny Smith and her famous zap apple trees were responsible for the founding of Ponyville.
• Operation: Z.E.R.O. has several, all within the same period of time; Numbuh 1's Bumbling Dad Monty Uno is in fact the fabled Numbuh 0, who founded the current Kids Next Door organization. Father, the series' Big Bad, is Monty's brother, Benedict Uno, Numbuh 1's uncle (Also making Grandfather, the special's Big Bad, Numbuh 1's grandfather). The Delightful Children From Down the Lane are Brainwashed and Crazy KND operatives, Sector Z, who were permanently 'delightfulized' by Father.
• Rick and Morty: More and more big ones as the series goes on.
  • Season 1's "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind": Evil Rick was actually being controlled by Evil Morty—the true mastermind of the duo's plans and actions—all along.
  • Season 2's "The Wedding Squanchers": Rick, BirdPerson, and Squanchy are all considered terrorists by the Galactic Federation for opposing it in the past. Furthermore, BirdPerson's fiancée/new wife, Tammy, was actually a spy for the Federation all along.
  • Season 3's "The Ricklantis Mix-up": The newly-elected president of the Citadel of Ricks, President Morty, is really Evil Morty.
  • Season 4's "Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri": Rick did indeed clone his daughter Beth back in Season 3's "The ABCs of Beth", and one version of her went to space to go on adventures while the other stayed on Earth with her family. However, in an example of The Unreveal, nobody, not even Rick, knows which of the two Beths is the original and which is the clone, since Rick made it impossible to know.
  • Season 5's "Rickternal Friendshine of the Rickless Mort": Rick has been in love with his best friend, Bird Person, since their days of fighting in the rebellion together. Also, Bird Person/Phoenix Person and Tammy had a daughter together, who is now contained in a Galactic Federation prison.
  • Season 5's "Rickmurai Jack" has numerous big ones:
    • Rick actually played a major role in the formation of the Citadel of Ricks, even though he ditched it pretty early on. The leaders of the Citadel, possibly including Main Rick, created the "Central Finite Curve", which separates the dimensions where Rick is the smartest man in the universe from the rest of the multiverse. Evil Morty's plan is to break through the Central Finite Curve and escape from the Ricks' influence, at the expense of the lives of countless other Ricks and Mortys of the Citadel. He succeeds.
    • Furthermore, the Citadel is also responsible for 1) manipulating countless versions of Beth and Jerry into getting together so they'll eventually give birth to Morty, and then 2) cloning these many versions of Morty across the multiverse, essentially giving themselves an endless Morty-market of disposable slaves who can be sent to Ricks across the multiverse who need them and easily replaced when killed.
    • We finally see Rick's full backstory. His wife Diane and child daughter Beth were indeed killed by a bomb by "Rick Prime", almost exactly as shown in "The Rickshank Redemption". Rick spent decades afterwards hunting down and killing countless Ricks to try to avenge his family, but none of them were the man he was looking for. His failure eventually drove him to become a bitter, depressed alcoholic, and he and the other Ricks formed the Citadel as a truce so they'd stop trying to kill each other. Rick eventually came to Morty's dimension and settled down with that version of the Smith family, and he and Morty have been together ever since.
  • Season 6's "Solaricks": Rick Prime, the Rick who killed Main Rick's original Diane and Beth, is from the same universe as Main Morty. I.e. he's Morty's original Rick. Main Rick originally came to Morty's dimension in the hope that Rick Prime would come back someday, but ended up settling down there and bonding with Morty.
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated has a ton, relating to the show's overarching story arc about "The Curse of Crystal Cove".
  • The biggest one, set up in the very first episode, is Mr. E's true identity. As revealed late in Season 1, he's really Ricky Owens.
  • Fred's true parentage. Fred Jones Sr. took him away from his real parents when he was a baby. His real parents are Brad Chiles and Judy Reeves.
  • Angel Dynamite's true identity. She's really Cassidy Williams.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
  • Adora isn't the first She-Ra. There have been many.
  • That Hordak isn't a local to Etheria is hinted at several times, but it's toward the end of Season 2 we learn he isn't actually there on purpose. He's trapped.
  • Hordak is a clone of Horde Prime, and is trying to impress him by conquering Etheria. "Destiny, Part 2" strongly implies that he is a Rogue Drone with free will.
  • Mara wasn't insane. She hid Etheria in Despondos to protect the universe from the Heart of Etheria superweapon.
  • The First Ones were not benevolent colonists. They were a genocidal empire that sought to destroy "impure" life in the galaxy.
• Sofia the First:
  • Aunt Tilly knows about the Amulet of Avalor, because she was the bearer before Sofia.
  • Princess Elena has been trapped inside the Amulet for 41 years; all the blessings and curses Sofia experienced were tests to see if she was the princess who can free her.
  • Elena was the one giving Sofia all those blessings and curses; once she's free, now the bearer is in control of what powers they get.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil:
  • Star Butterfly was born on Stump Day, but she doesn't celebrate it that day as it will anger the Stump. In other words, it wasn't really her birthday when she received the wand.
  • Ms. Heinous' real name is Meteora Butterfly, and is Eclipsa's daughter.
  • Meteora would've been the next queen of Mewni, but King Shastacan refused to have a monster rule the throne, so she was swapped with a peasant girl who will later become Festiva the Fun. As a result, all later Butterfly members (Star and Moon included) were illegitimate.
  • Festiva was from a race known as Pie Folk, and Star and Moon are part of them.
• Star Wars Rebels: "Fire Across the Galaxy" reveals that the mysterious ally to the Rebels, Fulcrum, is actually Ahsoka Tano.
• Star Wars Resistance: In the Season 1 finale, the heroes discover that the Colossus is actually a hyperdrive-equipped Space Station. This revelation leads to a change in their plans, as they escape the First Order by launching the Colossus into space.
• Steven Universe:
  • "Ocean Gem" has several reveals about the Gems: The Crystal Gems are not the last of their kind. All the monsters the Gems have been fighting are corrupted Gems themselves. And the biggest one: Gems are from space.
  • "On the Run" explains why the Crystal Gems are so scared of Gems coming back to Earth: Gemkind as a whole are parasitic invaders, and attempted to construct "kindergartens" to suck the life force out of the Earth in order to make more Gems. Amethyst is revealed to have been made in this manner, and not unexpectedly has quite a bit of baggage about it.
  • We finally get the truth of what actually happened to Pink Diamond in "A Single Pale Rose": Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond the whole time, and Pearl, who turns out to be Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond's Pearl, disguised herself as Rose so the two of them could fake Pink Diamond's assassination. By extension, this also means that Steven is the reincarnation of Pink Diamond herself.
  • "Change Your Mind" finally reveals what happens if Steven is separated from his Gem: the gem forms a new Hard Light body in Steven's image. The human half is left very emaciated and weak without it, and implicitly would die if the two were kept apart long enough.
    • Also answered is a running theme over the last two seasons: is Steven really Rose/Pink in a new form? He gets his answer alongside White Diamond when she pries out his gem and it reforms not into Pink Diamond or Rose Quartz, but into a pink-hued version of himself. He's more than just Rose Quartz's Reincarnation... he is Steven Universe and always has been.
• Tangled: The Series:
  • The Season 1 finale reveals the black rocks sprouted when King Frederic removed the Sundrop Flower from the ground.
  • King Edmund of the Dark Kingdom is Eugene's father.
  • Cassandra is Gothel's biological daughter.
  • The reason why Rapunzel's hair grew back when she found the black rocks wasn't mentioned until the final season; Zhan Tiri reveals when she touched the rocks, part of the Moonstone's power went into her hair to make her indestructible and protected on her journey.
• Voltron: Legendary Defender:
  • When Pidge turned out to actually be a girl named Katie.
  • In Season 2, Keith finding out he's part Galra.
  • Allura finding out Haggar is Altean.
  • The revelation that Zarkon was the original Black Paladin.
  • When we find out that Haggar is the corrupted ghost of the younger Zarkon's wife Honerva, and, by extension, the mother of Lotor.
  • The cliffhanger reveal of Keith finding out Krolia is his mother.
• The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald, despite being a whimsical, lighthearted series of romps through McDonaldland, has a pretty big one for its first video (which was somewhat Darker and Edgier than the other videos). The scary mansion is just smoke, mirrors, and holograms coordinated by a kid named Franklin, who's more or less lured Ronald's group into a big puzzle video game.
• Winx Club has hundreds of reveals, given its seasonal overarching arcs.
  • Mike and Vanessa are not Bloom's parents; they found her protected from a fire and adopted her. She is also not from Earth.
  • Bloom is the last remaining heir of the kingdom of Domino, and its princess. Daphne is her sister.
  • Bloom's biological parents are King Oritel and Queen Marion of Domino.
  • Evil Sorcerer Valtor has a connection with Bloom, because he has the Dragon Flame, too.
  • Years ago, Bloom's birth parents, along with Faragonda, were part of an organization called the Company of Light. They fought against the Trix's ancestors, the Ancestral Witches, but Oritel and Marion didn't have the best of luck and eventually disappeared, presumably for good.
  • Bloom's Enchantix is incomplete, because she didn't earn it the traditional way through sacrifice but by pure force of will.
  • Bloom's biological parents are alive and imprisoned in the then unknown dimension called Obsidian. Marion was absorbed into Oritel's sword when he got pulled into Obsidian by the Ancestral Witches, and was petrified not long after.
  • Destroying Mandragora and the Obsidian Circle didn't destroy the Ancestral Witches; this instead freed their spirits, and are now looking for new hosts to possess.
  • Turns out there are multiple higher fairy forms besides Enchantix; the next level after that is Believix, which is the only power strong enough to fight the Wizards of the Black Circle.
  • Roxy is the last fairy on Earth.
  • The White Circle is a key to Tir Nan Og.
  • Morgana, Nebula, and all the Earth Fairies have been imprisoned on Tir Nan Og for so long that they've grown vengeful against the Wizards of the Black Circle and all of Earth.
  • Morgana is Roxy's mother, and all memories of her have been erased from the mind of her human father Klaus.
  • Daphne was the last fairy to earn Sirenix, and by then, the Ancestral Witches put a curse on her power. When she used it, it turned against her and turned her into a spirit without a body.
  • Selina was Bloom's childhood friend.
  • Bloom didn't actually destroy Valtor when she used her fairy dust to extinguish his fire.
  • The Trix are not actually sisters. Icy's only actual sister is Sapphire, who was turned into a fox cub by a shaman witch, and they were Princesses of the kingdom of Dyamond. Icy became the witch she is today to avenge her sister's curse.

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