World Of Jerkass / Western Animation

"All this time, I thought that was just a slogan to attract small businesses... But now I know it's the truth!"

The meanest places in Western Animation.

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A-L

• The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius: With some exceptions (such as Jimmy's parents, Carl, Sheen, and Brittany), the residents of Retroville are fairly unpleasant and obnoxious, especially where Jimmy is concerned. Even Jimmy himself isn't immune to this, being an Insufferable Genius who frequently causes issues due to his lack of initiative.
• This trope is out in full force in Allen Gregory. The only character who isn't a jerk is Jeremy, so much so that he's practically a doormat to his boyfriend and adopted son.
• The Amazing World of Gumball takes place in a Crapsaccharine World where mostly everyone is either irritable, petty, hapless, idiotic, or all of the above simultaneously.
• American Dad! portrays its main cast as selfish, psychotic jerks who routinely commit crimes (including murder). The only exception is Jeff, Hayley's boyfriend and later husband, who is frequently considered the Black Sheep (mainly by Stan).
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force portrays nearly everyone as an annoying asshole. Even Only Sane Man Frylock and Kindhearted Simpleton Meatwad have more than their fair share of moments where they picked up the Jerkass Ball.
• Archer is a crude parody of James Bond and spy stories, with a dysfunctional cast made up of hedonistic, self-centered jerkasses.
• Beavis and Butt-Head: With some exceptions (such as Stewart, Mr. Van Driessen, Tom Anderson, and Cassandra), every single character is either unpleasant, insane, or both. Beavis and Butt-Head themselves frequently cause mayhem with their outlandish behavior and don't give a damn as long as they're engaged in anything interesting.
• BoJack Horseman: The titular BoJack is a narcissistic, hedonistic prick whose attempts to improve himself for the better often end up in relapses in one way or another. His environment isn't much better, with everyone else being unpleasant or dysfunctional in their own right. The consequences do often catch up with one another (especially for BoJack himself), deconstructing this trope altogether.
• Like many other animated black comedies (pun not intended), The Boondocks features a prominent cast full of jerks.
  • Of the main protagonists, Robert Freeman (a womanizing, cranky old geezer who frequently beats his own grandsons) and Riley Freeman (a juvenile delinquent who enjoys causing trouble and mischief) stand out the most, though it's more downplayed with Huey Freeman (who's simply a sarcastic, grumpy, apathetic pessimist most of the time).
  • Other recurring jerkass characters include Uncle Ruckus (a racist black man who hates other black people), Colonel Stinkmeaner (an elderly bully who messes with other people just for his own entertainment), A Pimp Named Slickback (a pimp who often beats his prostitutes), and pretty much the whole Wuncler family and their allies (who are all rich, greedy assholes that aren't above killing people over a few bucks). And of course, there are plenty of one-time antagonists who show up, either violent thugs or at least unpleasant people.
• Brickleberry has the entire cast being either sociopathic, hedonistic, moronic, or a combination of the above. Even Ethel, the Only Sane Woman, isn't without her Jerkass Ball moments.
• CatDog: Nearburg is full of this, ranging from Winslow (a Sidekick Creature Nuisance who loves to make fun of the duo, especially Cat), to the Greaser Dogs (a trio of bullies that beat them up, especially Cat), to Rancid Rabbit (a smug Corrupt Corporate Executive) and almost everywhere in-between. Even the titular duo aren't immune to this, with Cat being a greedy Jerk with a Heart of Gold and Dog (despite being the nicest character on the show) being an inconsiderate and Lethally Stupid Idiot Houdini.
• Courage the Cowardly Dog: With the exception of Courage and Muriel (and some minor characters), the show has little to no sympathetic characters. Justified since it is a horror-comedy show.
• The Cramp Twins: Just about everyone in the show is a severely prolapsed asshole. Not even Lucien is immune.
• The Cuphead Show!: Almost more than half of the residents of Inkwell Isles are massive jerks who are either selfish, unfriendly, untrusting, irritable, immature, rude, or just overall uncaring. Not even Cuphead and Mugman are immune to this due to the former being a reckless Idiot Hero who treats his brother very badly and the latter being a Nervous Wreck to the highest level possible to the point of getting worked up all the time.
• Castlevania (2017): When a town punishes and burns a woman for practicing medicine and a demon calls a jackass "bishop" out for Hiding Behind Religion and declares God's had enough and abandons him, you know it's a bad place to live.
• Danny Phantom: A significant portion of Amity Park is made up of bigoted, ungrateful jerks who are persistent in hunting Danny despite saving their lives from several ghosts and are unconcerned with his troubles. Even the primary trio — including Danny himself — grabs the Jerkass Ball every now and then.
• Dan Vs. centers on Dan, a Psychopathic Manchild who enacts revenge on anyone who happens to wrong him. Coincidentally, most of the people he enacts revenge on actually turn out worse than him.
• The Drawn Together gang, an irreverent parody of classic cartoons, constantly commits crimes like murder, assault, rape, etc.
• In the world of Duckman, the number of genuinely nice people who won't sell your organs to the highest bidder can probably be counted on one hand. It's no wonder the titular character is such a miserable prick.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy is like this, with the kids being cruel to both the Eds and each other at near-random, characters holding the Jerkass Ball every episode or so, and the adults being either completely apathetic and petty or (in the case of Eddy's brother in the movie) much, much worse than the other characters.
• The Fairly OddParents!: The general case of Dimmsdale is that adults are useless, most of the kids are jerks to the main protagonist Timmy Turner, and even Timmy himself can be just as much of a jerk as the rest, especially in Seasons 4 and 5, and the final season. Heck, in one episode, the "Welcome to Dimmsdale" sign was vandalized to say "Meanest Town on Earth" instead of "Nicest Town on Earth".
• Family Guy: The main characters are huge jerks to each other and get away with it, especially to the daughter Meg, and even she isn't without her moments. Even the dog Brian and the baby Stewie aren't exceptions to the general level of Jerkassery in this world, with the former being an egotistical Know-Nothing Know-It-All and the latter being a psychopathic Enfant Terrible.
• Downplayed with Futurama. A large majority of the cast ranges from being extremely self-centered to straight-up evil like Bender, with the most consistently nice main characters being Fry and Zoidberg, though even they definitely have their own moments. But their worst actions are often miniscule compared to those of characters such as Mom or Richard Nixon's head.
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy has everyone being a jerkass with the main cast itself comprised of the Grim Reaper and two self-centered children living in a universe populated by supernatural entities with horrible, malicious intent.
• Horrid Henry, although toned down from the books, is nonetheless adherent to this trope. The titular character is Exactly What It Says on the Tin and most of the other characters aren't really much better; Henry has Abusive Parents, a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing for a brother, peers that loathe him (especially Moody Margaret, and excluding the ironically-named Rude Ralph), and a Sadist Teacher.
• Invader Zim is a darkly hilarious Black Comedy featuring a short-tempered, Ax-Crazy Villain Protagonist, a Hero Antagonist who can be pretty arrogant despite his good intentions, a teacher who makes no secret of her loathing of her students, classmates who relentlessly bully both of them, and Apathetic Citizens. Said Hero Antagonist also has a little sister that beats him up for minor infractions.
• Johnny Test portrays nearly everyone as either an insufferable douchebag or a complete moron. Even the titular character himself isn't immune to this, being a self-absorbed Narcissist who frequently causes more harm than good with his thoughtless decisions.
• Kaeloo: The majority of Smileyland's residents are either jerkasses or morally gray, and even the few nice people who live there sometimes carry the Jerkass Ball.
• Kid vs. Kat: With the exception of Coop himself, Dennis, and Fiona, everyone seems insufferable or idiotic in one way or another. Even Coop's own family isn't immune to this; his sister is a manipulative Spoiled Brat, while his father always caves to her demands and often punishes Coop for no good reason.
• Krapopolis is set in Ancient Greece, where everyone in the titular city is a total prick to each other and includes self-centered Jerkass Gods.

M-Z

• Moral Orel is another Deconstruction. The people in Moralton, Statesota are self-righteous, callous jerkasses who are more than eager to vent their personal issues on one another. However, as the series progresses, it becomes increasingly obvious how terrible the conditions in this setting truly are. The only consistently virtuous characters are Orel himself and Stephanie.
• Mr. Pickles is a gruesome Black Comedy consisting of callous sociopaths and destructive morons, with the titular character being an Ax-Crazy Spree Killer. The only consistently virtuous character is Tommy, Mr. Pickles' owner and Morality Pet, though even he has his share of Jerkass Ball moments.
• My Life as a Teenage Robot: Tremorton isn't exactly the kindest place for someone like our heroine, Jenny Wakeman. No matter how many times she saves them, most people fear or outright hate her just for being a robot and treat her like dirt, especially at her school. Her own mother constantly berates her and treats her as just another of her creations rather than her daughter most of the time (though she ends up softening a bit towards the end). Jenny has a few friends, but they can turn on her as well, at times. The only one who unconditionally supports her is Sheldon, but even then, he can be quite creepy and stalker-ish to her. Not even Jenny herself is exempt from the occasional Jerkass Ball.
• The Owl House: Almost everyone on the Boiling Isles has shades of Social-Darwinist behavior. The entire world seems to operate on the principles of conformism and Might Makes Right, where power is the deciding factor in who rules and altruism or even fairness seem virtually nonexistent. Boscha and her Girl Posse are surprised when Luz decides to take the fall for one of her friends, and much of Amity's crush on Luz seems to derive from the fact that she's consistently nice even when she doesn't need to be. However, the episode "Elsewhere and Elsewhen" seems to indicate that this is a result of Emperor Belos' rise to power and his implementation of the coven system, as when Luz and Lilith travel to the 1600s, the residents come off as much friendlier and more helpful than in the modern day.
• Paradise PD: With the exception of Kevin, everyone in Paradise seems to be incredibly selfish or mentally unstable; most of them are also outright cruel and sadistic. Randall himself puts profit over principle for the Paradise PD since he only pursues cases that come with pay.
• Pet Alien: Most of the cast (particularly Swanky, Flip, Melba, and Clinton) are jerks who go out of their way to be mean to each other for the sake of comedy. The only consistently nice characters are Tommy and Dinko, and even then, Tommy has held the Jerkass Ball a couple times while Dinko often makes things worse by accident.
• The Powerpuff Girls: The people of Citiesville are portrayed as apathetic, mean-spirited jerks. There wasn't a single person in Citiesville who was nice or remotely sympathetic towards the girls or the Professor. They were forced to live in a poorly-maintained apartment, then they got laughed at by the kids at their new school and stared down by a nasty teacher. They were also forbidden from using their powers after they accidentally destroyed their bridge to stop a robbery. To add to it, the "Town of Citiesville" is a complete reverse of the "City of Townsville".
• The Ren & Stimpy Show has an entire cast made up of complete psychopaths with a Lack of Empathy. The only exception is Stimpy, who, despite his stupidity and carelessness, almost always has the best of intentions and is more level-headed than Ren.
• Rick and Morty: The world is rather heavily populated by jerkasses. To summarize on a faction-by-faction basis:
  • The titular Rick is an amoral, hedonistic scientist who goes on deadly adventures and has been known to cause chaos and mass death. His daughter Beth is a heavily deficient parental figure who almost aborted her daughter Summer, blaming her for not being able to chase her dreams. Beth's now ex-husband, Jerry, is a frequent coward who has attempted to use other people's pity. Morty, who starts out as a mild-mannered Butt-Monkey with various kinks, develops some serious rage issues after being put through many of Rick's escapades. And then there's his older sister, Summer, who sometimes treats him like crap.
  • The Galactic Federation is an intergalactic organization primarily made up of the Gromflomites. It spans most of the known universe, occupying numerous planets, and is known for its ridiculous bureaucratic and sometimes tyrannical practices, which Rick is opposed to and has committed acts of terror in his fight against them. His issues are brought to light in the season 3 premiere (as well as the GF website that started in the interim), as the now occupied Earth is turned into a Police State, human rights and ways of life are trampled on by the Gromflomites, who have replaced all food and currency with pills, subjected various people without consent to experiments, and replaced the Earth calendar with their own, among other arbitrary changes. While Rick has ended up casually murdering many GF soldiers and operatives, few felt bad for the federation when he ignited its collapse by voiding its unit of currency.
  • And in yet another corner, we have the Council of Ricks, an interdimensional collective of Ricks and Mortys that formed their own government. Naturally, Rick C-137 criticizes them for being extremely un-Rick because of this, and he's right, as they've been presented as Fascist, but Inefficient.
• Rocko's Modern Life: While there are exceptions (such as Dr. Hutchison, Filburt, and Rocko himself), O-Town has plenty of this nonetheless. Fantastic Racism is rampant (such as a customer at the supermarket who goes on a rant about how sea mammals are ruining the country) and many characters pummel Rocko at the smallest inconvenience. Rocko has a Bad Boss who treats him and the customers like shit, a neighbor who is revealed in one episode to have secret plans of killing him, and even his best friend (Heffer) frequently takes advantage of his generosity. Even nice characters like Filburt aren't immune, as one episode has him almost sell out Rocko to be eaten by a rare species of bald eagle so he can steal the eagle's wigs.
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964): With some exceptions (such as Clarice and Yukon Cornelius), everyone treats Rudolph like crap because of his red nose, even Santa Claus. The elves similarly treat Hermey with disdain for wanting to be a dentist.
• Santa Inc. has an entirely bigoted cast comprised of bumbling males and hyper-aggressive females.
• The Simpsons: The people in Springfield are jerkasses who are totally eager to intimidate or beat the very daylights out of anyone who stands in their way, to the point they even advertise themselves as the "meanest town in America" (with billboards and everything). Even the titular family isn't immune to this, with a selfish, drunken Manchild of a father, a devilish delinquent of a son, a mother and daughter who can be self-righteous despite being sensible, and a baby who occasionally exhibits Troubling Unchildlike Behavior.
• Smiling Friends: Every character we see who doesn't work for the titular service is, appropriately enough, either unpleasant, miserable, or a bully. It seems logical that Smiling Faces would be necessary.
• Solar Opposites: The setting is already overpopulated with jerks in every corner:
  • To start, most of the human characters are shown to be very rude and unkind to the Shlorpian family and each other.
  • The city the family lives in apparently allows public torture and humiliation and even the kids do mean stuff like throw urine at an alien for no reason.
  • The wall too is littered with jerks and sadists who kill each other and are in the wall because they angered Yumulack in various ways.
  • The Shlorpians, on the other hand, vary greatly in jerkishness, with Yumulack being the most egregious offender. Korvo is also somewhat arrogant and antisocial, with a pessimistic view of the earth. While Terry and Jesse are shown to be the nicest of the Shlorpian family, they too have moments where they hold the Jerkass Ball. Plus, when the Shlorpian family is not engaging in mischievous antics that ravage people, they are shown to be jerks to each other.
  • The episode "The Rays That Turn People Into Various Things" reveals that without the Solar Opposites, the town would be free to be as jerkish as possible. The worst part is that they know they're jerks and just don't care.
• South Park is a Black Comedy, subsequently a Sadist Show, and has an entire cast full of obnoxious jerks, with the main characters being Good Is Not Nice at best and sociopathic Enfant Terrible at worst. Any of the few Nice Guys either become Butt Monkeys to the rest of the cast or pick up the Jerkass Ball every once in a while.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: The residents of Bikini Bottom regularly act like jerkasses to one another and are even prone to mob mentality, particularly in the later seasons. Not even SpongeBob himself is immune to this. The only people who are nicer are his parents and Grandma SquarePants.
• Squidbillies: The primary characters are portrayed as immoral criminals who regularly commit horrific deeds. Rusty is the closest thing this program has to a moral character, but even he has his share of Jerkass Ball moments.
• Stressed Eric gives us a 40-year-old British middle-class single father named Eric who, as the title implies, gets stressed out by everything. The whole point of the show is to be as mean-spirited to him as possible:
  • His ex-wife still calls him up for selfish demands.
  • His next-door neighbors are better than him in every way and gloat about it at every opportunity.
  • His housekeeper is useless.
  • His co-worker doesn't give a damn.
  • His boss constantly screams at him.
  • If, at any point, things are looking up for Eric, something will happen to make everything go wrong again.
  • The only people who treated Eric with any respect during the whole run of the show are his handicapped son and heavily allergic daughter.
• Teen Titans Go! takes place in a setting where every single character is a selfish dick, and the heroes aren't just as bad as the villains — they're worse, to the point that even the villains will usually call them out. Starfire, in fact, is the only member of the Titans to genuinely be nice, and even she has her Jerkass Ball moments.
• Tom and Jerry: The majority of the characters are cruel, unpleasant, and extremely violent, even in the absence of any consequences for their acts.
• Total Drama takes Jerkassery up to the point that even the nice characters Took a Level in Jerkass. Oddly enough, some of the characters are immune to this trope thanks to being Static Characters.
• Velma: With the exception of Norville and his dad, everyone else is a jerk to some degree. Many of the characters exhibit signs of intolerance toward one another. Fred is an affluent, pampered imbecile who only recalls women based on how gorgeous they are; Velma is bitter and critical and uses self-referential humor to justify her own conduct; and Daphne is the cruel popular girl.

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