History AndIMustScream / WesternAnimation

** After his DealWithTheDevil in "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E4SockOpera Sock Opera]]", Dipper is forced to watch his own body be controlled by a demon, and no one can see or hear the real him.

* In an episode of the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes2006'', the wizard Mordru is wrapped in a metal cocoon and sunken to the middle of the planet. Pretty harsh when you consider his eyes were still moving as he was buried, and the planet probably has a molten core... so either he is buried alive or melted. Pretty harsh for a team that works with the police and United Planets.
* During the final battle in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheMask'', the Mask takes off a device that trapped him in a GroundhogDayLoop, resets it so the loop lasts a few seconds, and slaps it on Amelia Chronos, the villain who'd put it on him. He then drops a grandfather clock on her face, which (from her perspective) repeats over and over and over... The next time Amelia Chronos shows up, she angrily informs the Mask that, subjectively, it took ''one thousand years'' before she finally got out of the loop.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/HotWheelsBattleForce5 Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5]]'': [[spoiler: This ends up being the final fate of Krytus. When the Red and Blue Sentient collectives are restored in the finale of “Fused”, Krytus discovers that, for all their differences, the two sides now have something in common: they’ve grown completely tired of warring against each other. And as a consequence, they’re ''extremely'' pissed at Krytus’ antics. Sage then appears and delivers final judgment on her evil twin, sentencing him to exile, frozen forever on a remote ice moon. The series epilogue “Full Revolution” reveals that all of Krytus’ followers were sentenced to the same fate.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'': [[spoiler: Justin Hammer inflicts this on Mr. Fix after he’s defeated for the first time as Titanium Man. Using a nanovirus, which he’d implanted in Fix beforehand to force him to become Hammer’s lackey, Justin kills Mr. Fix. Right after his physical body dies however, Hammer has his consciousness installed onto a microchip that he then installs in his supercomputer. This causes Fix to be “reborn” as an AI in Justin’s computer, allowing Justin to use Fix as his slave forever, all while Fix is conscious and trapped as, what he later calls, “a digital freak”. Unfortunately for Hammer, Mr. Fix, even trapped as an AI, wasn't nearly as helpless as he thought he’d be. Fighting his programming, Mr. Fix covertly orchestrates Hammer’s eventual downfall by revealing his criminal activities to the world.]]

** Any candy people doused with Gumbald's dumb-dumb juice will be turned into docile, dumb candy people who seemingly don't remember their past lives like Chicle, Lolly and Gumbald for over 800 years. During [[GrandFinale "Come Along With Me"]] when Princess Bubblegum is in a nightmare where she and her uncle Gumbald swap places and see what the other experienced, she tries to help Gumbald after he becomes stressed over trying to keep the Candy Kingdom from falling apart. When she attempts to do so however, she was forced to behave dumb and cried at the realization that everyone under the juice's affects were fully aware and unable to do anything about their situation.

*** Then there's Grant Walker in "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE19DeepFreeze Deep Freeze]]", a [[MrAltDisney Walt Disney-esque]] billionaire who, in addition to building a "perfect" society on an island of his creation, convinces Mr. Freeze to give him the same mutations as Freeze himself, allowing him to live forever. However, after Batman convinces Freeze to stop Walker from freezing the rest of the world, Walker ends up trapped in a block of ice, lost at sea, ''completely aware of everything around him, yet unable to free himself or even move for the rest of his immortal life''. As is to be expected, the last we ever see or hear of him is his anguished scream of horror, a scream that no one else can hear. A ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' comic follows up on his story by showing that he manages to get out ('cause icebergs do melt, ya know?) [[GoMadFromTheIsolation after several years of imprisonment drove him stark raving mad]] and tries returning to Gotham to get revenge upon Freeze after finding out that Freeze's condition has destroyed most of his body and the same thing will happen to him eventually. He's captured and imprisoned after Freeze almost kills him. However, these comics are generally considered to be non-canon to the DCAU, meaning he's probably still in there.

** [[https://youtu.be/CII_Q2aXa-k Another gag]] in the episode ''Back to the Pilot'', one pair of time traveling Stewie and Brian’s appear on the lawn and for whatever reason are confined to life inside barber poles and because they won’t stop spinning they end up puking inside them.

** [[https://youtu.be/CII_Q2aXa-k Another gag]] in the episode “Back to the Pilot“, one pair of time traveling Stewie and Brian’s appear on the lawn and for whatever reason are confined to life inside barber poles and because they won’t stop spinning they end up puking inside them.

** [[https://youtu.be/CII_Q2aXa-k Another gag]] in the episode “Back to the Pilot, one pair of time traveling Stewie and Brian’s appear on the lawn and for whatever reason are confined to life inside barber poles and because they won’t stop spinning they end up puking inside them.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GrizzlyTalesForGruesomeKids'', Episode 12 of Season 1, "Sweets", Thomas Ratchet is a misbehaving child that gets dipped in papier-mache that paralyzes his body where only his eyes can move, turning him into a shop window dummy so he can't ever misbehave again.

** Likewise, Shendu's seven siblings have spent centuries trapped in a PrisonDimension where there's only rocks floating amidst a void, and they're pretty desperate to escape permanently.
** The Monkey King, unlike his puppet-fied minions, appears to remain aware in his inanimate, sealed puppet form.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', the Ice King's [[LossOfIdentity situation]] is stated to be this when he [[spoiler: temporarily returns to his old self]] in [[WhamEpisode "Betty"]], to the point that he outright states he would rather [[DyingAsYourself die as himself]] than go back to that.

*** Then there's Grant Walker in "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE19DeepFreeze Deep Freeze]]", a [[MrAltDisney Walt Disney-esque]] billionaire who, in addition to building a "perfect" society on an island of his creation, convinces Mr. Freeze to give him the same mutations as Freeze himself, allowing him to live forever. However, after Batman convinces Freeze to stop Walker from freezing the rest of the world, Walker ends up trapped in a block of ice, lost at sea, ''completely aware of everything around him, yet unable to free himself or even move for the rest of his immortal life''. As is to be expected, the last we ever see or hear of him is his anguished scream of horror, a scream that no one else can hear. A ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' comic follows up on his story by showing that he manages to get out (cause icebergs do melt ya know?) [[GoMadFromTheIsolation after several years of imprisonment drove him stark raving mad]] and tries returning to Gotham to get revenge upon Freeze after finding out that Freeze's condition has destroyed most of his body and the same thing will happen to him eventually. He's captured and imprisoned after Freeze almost kills him. However, these comics are generally considered to be non-canon to the DCAU, meaning he's probably still in there.

* In most adaptations, the Joker's signature venom kills people. However, to keep the body-count down, animated adaptions like ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', Joker venom "merely" paralyzes people with a huge grin, or leaves them unable to stop laughing. More than one fan has observed that this is far, far more disturbing. As Alfred put it in the first episode of the latter series,
-->'''Alfred:''' Aside from the ghastly grimace, [he's] fit as a fiddle. The poor soul simply seems to be a prisoner in his own body.
** Fortunately, Batman is able to find a cure by the end -- this time.
** In "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE29EternalYouth Eternal Youth]]", Poison Ivy does this to a bunch of rich industrialists ([[TargetedToHurtTheHero alongside Alfred and his girlfriend]]) she blames for the destruction of the earth's various plant species, and natural habitats. She lures them to a resort and spa, floods their bodies with a mutagen by tricking them into eating food and water loaded with it, and eventually they turn into human trees. Fortunately Batman is able to save everybody.
** Then there's Grant Walker in "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE19DeepFreeze Deep Freeze]]", a [[MrAltDisney Walt Disney-esque]] billionaire who, in addition to building a "perfect" society on an island of his creation, convinces Mr. Freeze to give him the same mutations as Freeze himself, allowing him to live forever. However, after Batman convinces Freeze to stop Walker from freezing the rest of the world, Walker ends up trapped in a block of ice, lost at sea, COMPLETELY AWARE OF EVERYTHING AROUND HIM, YET UNABLE TO FREE HIMSELF OR EVEN MOVE FOR THE REST OF HIS IMMORTAL LIFE. As is to be expected, the last we ever see or hear of him is his anguished scream of horror, a scream that no one else can hear.
*** In ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' he managed to get out (cause icebergs do melt ya know?) [[GoMadFromTheIsolation after several years of imprisonment drove him stark raving mad]], and tried returning to Gotham to get revenge upon Freeze after finding out that Freeze's condition had destroyed most of his body and the same thing would happen to him eventually. He was captured and imprisoned after Freeze almost killed him. However, these comics are generally considered to be non-canon to the DCAU, meaning he's probably still in there.
** In "Showdown", this is the ultimate fate of BigBad Arkady Duvall; most of the episode takes place in the Old West, following bounty hunter ComicBook/JonahHex and his pursuit of Duvall, who is ultimately sentenced to 50 years of hard labor for his crimes. In present day, Batman discovers that the man who'd been kidnapped by Ra's Al Ghul is in fact Duvall, in reality Ra's son, and now reduced to an ancient, senile husk. Having bathed in the Lazarus Pit as a young man, Duvall gained an extended life span, [[AgeWithoutYouth but not youth to go with it]], and his prison sentence shattered his mind, as any normal man would simply have died of age or exhaustion long before finishing it. As a result, Duvall spent the better part of a century mentally broken and constantly getting older and sicker without dying, and it took Ra's until modern day to find out what happened to him and find him again.

* ''The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury'' has the eponymous hero go up against a madwoman who "collects" criminals and keeps them awake but practically frozen in artistic poses as part of a grotesque, living gallery. She created a type of stasis that slows their bodies down to a crawl but lets their minds be fully functional. It takes them a day and some excruciating pain to even blink their eyes.

* Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse:

*** In "Sneak Peek", [[{{Paparazzi}} TV personality Ian Peek]]'s [[IntangibleMan intangibility]] device finds the effect spreads to his body without the device being engaged. In the end, his PhlebotinumBreakdown winds up causing him to phase through Batman's hands, through the floor, and into the Earth. The ''best'' case scenario is that the lack of RequiredSecondaryPowers will mean incineration by the mantle, or death by suffocation, starvation, dehydration, or at least old age. If not, he's permanently phased into the core of the earth. ''Forever''.
*** Another villain, Inque, can shapeshift by turning into liquid and reforming. In "Disappearing Inque", Aaron Herbst, a guard at her prison who had a crush on her, is sweet-talked into helping her, but wants powers like hers in exchange. [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves She gives him an incomplete version of the formula, leaving him an immobile half-liquid blob]]. ''His'' guard is seen talking to him just as he once did with Inque, hinting that history may repeat itself, but that's unrealistic: he can't move, and doesn't know enough about the formula to instruct her on how to fully Inque-ify him were she to agree.
*** Inque herself was on the receiving end prior to that episode. After being frozen by Terry and Bruce at the end of "Black Out", she was placed in Gotham Cryogenics. As it turns out, she was fully conscious the whole time, and did ''not'' appreciate the several months Herbst spent talking to her about his sad, empty life and petty troubles.
*** In "Earth Mover", Tony Maychek fused with the Earth itself, for ''years''. His episode centered on his anger at his unjust fate and wanting to see his daughter again. Thankfully, it gets better for him, since he found a way to control the Earth itself, then found release when he was finally killed in a cave-in.
*** In "The Winning Edge", it's revealed that Bane's body has withered away after years of Venom use, and he now lives in a nursing home under 24-hour life support, ironically staying alive only through the continuous infusion of more Venom. His personal physician, having acquired the formula for Venom from Bane, produced a dermal patch version called "slappers" which he sells on the black market, and while fighting Terry, [[PhlebotinumOverdose he accidentally falls into a crate full of slappers and suffers a serious overdose]], [[LaserGuidedKarma leaving him in a vegetative state like Bane]].
** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
*** The show is usually nicer to its villains than ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', but makes an exception for Mordred: Morgaine Le Fay's spell gave him eternal youth and life, but he's stuck as a child. When tricked into making himself an adult (thus causing him to disappear, as he'd cast a spell that teleported all adults to another dimension) it turns out that by breaking the youth spell, "all he has is eternal life." He's 1500 or so years old and counting, showing every bit of it, and is now essentially immobile in a chair at his (still-youthful) mother's home. And it's only going to get worse.
** At the end of the ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Action Figures", the android Metallo is left encased in lava underneath a volcano. His InnerMonologue reveals that he is unable to see or hear anything (in addition to the loss of taste, touch, and smell from being a robot in the first place). To keep himself sane, he gives us this chilling thought:
--->I am Metallo, I am Metallo, I am Metallo...
*** ...but he gets lucky and is rescued by a criminal organization. He angrily describes his experience to Superman in the next episode where he appears, “Heavy Metal”, the experience obviously having driven him insane and sending him on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge:
---->'''Metallo:''' Do you remember how you left me Superman? Buried in rock? I couldn’t move! I couldn’t see! I couldn’t hear! But I could think. And all I thought about how I was going to make you pay!

* The famous "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E19RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell that Ends Well]]" episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' has Bender falling off the back of the Planet Express ship as it was returning to the present, causing him to be buried under the New Mexican ground for 1000 years until the crew picked him up. [[AngstWhatAngst He was enjoying it until Planet Express found him again]].
** Bender seems to be programmed to not be bothered by this sort of thing. Besides the "Roswell That Ends Well" example, in the "Bender's Big Score" movie, Bender is perfectly happy to spend a total of millions, possibly billions of years hiding in a cavern with only his own time duplicates for company. A holiday WhatIf episode also had him buried underground for 500 million years and coming out completely unaffected.

* Played for (dark) laughs in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', when Stan drugs and traps a lost tourist as an exhibit in the Halloween episode "Little Gift Shop of Horrors" when [[DisproportionateRetribution the tourist refuses to buy anything from the Mystery Shack gift shop]].
** In "Northwest Mansion Mystery", the people at the mansion's party are [[TakenForGranite turned into wood]] by the MonsterOfTheWeek; in particular, Dipper gets frozen ''mid-scream'', knowing what was happening to him. Even after the effects are reversed, he takes in a large gasp of air.
** After his DealWithTheDevil in "Sock Opera" Dipper is forced to watch his own body be controlled by a demon, and no one can see or hear the real him.
** Another BlackComedy moment in "The Deep End" shows a little boy trapped in a pool grate having to watch all the other kids have fun in the pool while he remains stuck. The end of the episode shows how he has been in there for over a year.
** And then, there's "Weirdmageddon 2", in which [[spoiler:Bill Cipher turns the inhabitants of Gravity Falls to stone and then assembles their contorted bodies into a "massive throne of frozen human agony".]] "Don't worry! They're not conscious any more. Probably." [[spoiler:Yes they are.]]
** In "Weirdmageddon 3," the non-Pines members of [[TheChosenMany the Zodiac]] are transformed into six tapestries hanging on Bill Cipher's wall. All six are shown screaming in agony while on the tapestries, suggesting they're fully conscious while trapped.

* In an episode of the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', the wizard Mordru is wrapped in a metal cocoon and sunken to the middle of the planet. Pretty harsh when you consider his eyes were still moving as he was buried, and the planet probably has a molten core... so either he is buried alive or melted. Pretty harsh for a team that works with the police and United Planets.

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle) experiences a taste of this. Not only was he told that [[spoiler:in the future, he would betray the human race for The Reach]], he eventually succumbs into this prophecy despite his desperate attempts to avoid his fate. Jaime falls [[spoiler:under control of the Reach]] and as a result, he was trapped in his own mind for ''months'', unable to control is body and could only sit back and watch in horror as [[spoiler:The Reach pretended to be him, deceived his family, and betrayed his team]].

** Scott, the main antagonist from Season 4 gets a similar fate. He is paralyzed by Fang and is put in a trauma chair that only let's him communicate via flashing lights for yes or no. What makes it worse is that the rest of the players laugh at him and he can't do anything about it.
** Both of them get better for Season 5. While Alejandro is freed from his suit after it lands in the ocean and short-circuits, thus exploding and freeing him, Scott is somehow better on his own. No official exploitation is given for his recovery.

* Franchise/{{DCAU}}:

** Bart's fate at the end of the Treehouse of Horror XXXI segment "Toy Gory", Bart is [[spoiler: brutally killed by being '''hollowed out''' by the toys he unwittingly abused and had his ''vital organs replaced by toy mechanics''.]] And yes, he is ''still alive and his soul is presumably still in his body.''

** Another episode features Squidward trapped in a cement cocoon.

* Episode 4 of ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'' focuses on an alternate Doctor Strange who lost his girlfriend Christine Palmer instead of the use of his hands. All the same events of ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'' happen, but afterwards, Strange begins experimenting with the Time Stone, hoping to save Christine, [[InSpiteOfANail but every attempt sadly results in her dying another way]]. As the Ancient One explains to Strange, Christine's death is an "Absolute Point", a pivotal moment in time that shapes a person's destiny, meaning it ''must'' happen and therefore can't be altered because doing so would cause a RealityBreakingParadox. Strange, however, spends centuries gaining enough power to change Christine's fate while ignoring every warning he's given that doing so is a very bad idea and that she isn't worth it. Indeed, once he finally undoes her death, it triggers the paradox he was explicitly told would happen: With Christine alive, [[GrandfatherParadox Strange no longer had any reason to pursue the mystic arts and become Sorcerer Supreme, and thus would never be able to save Christine in the first place]]. The resulting TimeCrash erases his entire universe from existence, [[AllForNothing and Christine along with it]]. The ''only'' thing left is a tiny crystal bubble, inside of which is the now-immortal Strange, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone who realized the consequences far too late]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and is all alone with the knowledge that it's all his fault]]. ''Forever.''

* Episode 4 of ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'' focuses on an alternate Doctor Strange who lost his girlfriend Christine Palmer instead of the use of his hands. All the same events of ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'' happen, but afterwards, he begins experimenting with time travel, hoping to save Christine, [[InSpiteOfANail but every attempt sadly results in her dying another way]]. As the Ancient One explains to Strange, Christine's death is an "Absolute Point", a pivotal moment in time that shapes a person's destiny, meaning it ''must'' happen and is impossible to alter because doing so would cause a paradox. Strange, however, refuses to listen to every warning he's given that changing Christine's fate is a very bad idea and that she isn't worth it, and he spends centuries gaining enough power to do it. Once he finally does, it triggers the paradox he was explicitly told would happen: With Christine alive, [[GrandfatherParadox Strange no longer had any reason to pursue the mystic arts and become Sorcerer Supreme, and thus would never be able to save Christine in the first place]]. The resulting TimeCrash erases his entire universe from existence, [[AllForNothing and Christine along with it]]. The ''only'' thing left is a tiny crystal bubble, inside of which is the now-immortal Strange, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone who realized the consequences far too late]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and is all alone with the knowledge that it's all his fault]]. ''Forever.''

*** A later episode confirms Discord, when encased in stone, is able to observe the world around him, which is probably why he was placed in the middle of an empty garden where nothing important happens.

** ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse Omniverse]]'': [[spoiler:The ultimate fate of Maltruant, as he is trapped in a StableTimeLoop where he is doomed to failure and being destroyed for all eternity]].

** ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse Omniverse]]'': [[spoiler:The ultimate fate of Maltruant as he is trapped in a StableTimeLoop where he is doomed to failure and being destroyed for all eternity]].

** ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ultimate Alien Ultimate Alien]]'': In the episode "Night of the Living Nightmare", Albedo gets a Cassiopean Dream-eater stuck on his head because he slipped on the spilled smoothie that Ben knocked over in the beginning of that episode. As if having a skull-faced alien jellyfish attached to his head wasn't bad enough, the Dream-eater traps him in a never-ending nightmare so it can feed on the chemicals his fear-addled brain produces. Said nightmare consists of an invincible Ben mercilessly beating him down. He gets better thanks to Galvan medicine, though.

* Paradox in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' found himself trapped in the event horizon of his time tunnel for hundreds of thousands of years, unable to escape or die. The only way out he found was to use all that time to figure out space-time as a whole and map it so thoroughly he could just walk out, turned into a TimeMaster from sheer study of it.
-->'''Paradox:''' I went mad, of course. But I got [[BoredWithInsanity bored with that after a while]], and went sane. ''Very'' sane.
* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' "Night of the Living Nightmare" Albedo gets a Cassiopean Dream-eater stuck on his head because he slipped on the spilled smoothie that Ben knocked over in the beginning of that episode. As if having a skull-faced alien jellyfish attached to his head wasn't bad enough, the Dream-eater traps him in a never-ending nightmare so it can feed on the chemicals his fear-addled brain produces. Said nightmare consists of an invincible Ben mercilessly beating him down. He gets better thanks to Galvan medicine, though.