History CrapsackWorld / WesternAnimation

** The world has many attractions to it, but at base it's a stereotypical American trailer park expanded to world size: nearly everyone is annoyed and annoying, credulous, stupid, bigoted, and rude; vital human organs are removed from unwilling donators on the city streets, at least moderately-intelligent animals, including humans, dolphins, and whales are killed for food or fuel; it is implied that there will be no qualms about synthesizing a needed oil in the cells of gene-spliced third-world orphans who would then presumably be violently harvested. The Earth's most looked-up-to figure is a [[AGodAmI megalomaniacal]], [[AbsoluteXenophobe genocidal]] (of both aliens and his own troops), [[{{Jerkass}} jerk]] who [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking is also]] pretty [[LousyLoversAreLosers lousy in bed]]. And UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, or at least his head, rules over the whole shebang, his tyranny (as before) limited only by his incompetence and self-hatred. Even SantaClaus is a postal invincible psycho who has turned Xmas into a night of terror and despair, where the populace huddle in military-grade bunkers and hope to survive his brutal rampage. ''Now'' do you want your flying car?

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': The titular town is the archetypal comedic example of this trope, being full of racism, violence, [[{{Jerkass}} jerks]], idiots, murder, et cetera.
** It also has the deadliest diseases in the world. As any long-time fan of ''South Park'' knows, in the eponymous town, the more common diseases like the cold and flu don't exist. When a character gets sick, it's '''''always''''', and we ''do'' mean '''''always''''' with one of those terminal life-threatening diseases that land you in the hospital. Without NegativeContinuity, the place would be heading into "Life After People" territory. In the early seasons, going to Hell's Pass Hospital for a non-life threatening condition, e.g. for a [[Series/{{Seinfeld}} tonsillectomy or a hernia operation]], would indeed have killed you because the hospital staff are incredibly inept.
** Turns out Mormonism is the only faith that's actually true, and only Mormons go to Heaven and that no matter what anyone does in their life, they'll go to Hell for pagan worship. Gandhi is in the same place as ''Hitler''. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. [[AHellOfATime All the condos are great and there is a luau every Saturday]], and Heaven is portrayed as so boring that only Mormons would enjoy it anyway. However, this eventually becomes subverted when God is forced to start letting in non-Mormons because Heaven doesn't have the manpower numbers of Hell.
** Two words: [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist Eric Cartman]]. Any world with him in it ''has'' to suck.
** Initially, [[KnightTemplarParent Kyle's mom]] could also make any place she was in a hellhole, what with [[DisproportionateRetribution declaring war with Canada over a]] [[ShowWithinAShow movie]]. While she has gotten better over time, the rest of the parents' lack of common sense makes living in South Park hell.

* ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' has the alternate dimension, as shown in "Rearview Mirror, Mirror".

* The animated series of ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}'', more so than the film, depicts the game world as a brutal place to live, in which Alan can barely survive. Unlike many of the other examples on this page, Jumanji is not a dystopian and human Crapsack World, but a terrifying,[[EverythingTryingToKillYou monster-filled]] jungle. It's DarkestAfrica on steroids.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' features this pretty heavily. All of the primary characters are neatly defined by their failures, and the same goes for most secondaries. There will be no AffectionateParody; cameos are more along the lines of a drug-crazed Johnny Quest, a world-dominating Creator/WaltDisney {{expy}}, or the Fantastic Four where Mr. Fantastic ''isn't'' the most useless one. The ''only'' good character besides the [[TooDumbToLive Venture Brothers]] themselves in the whole show is a necromancer who doesn't care a whit about messing with the powers of beyond and black magics.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': The titular Town is the archetypal comedic example of this trope, being full of racism, violence, [[{{Jerkass}} jerks]], idiots, murder, et cetera.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': The town of Dimmsdale is composed of [[{{Jerkass}} insufferable jerks]], [[AxCrazy psychotic maniacs]], [[TooDumbToLive complete idiots]], and [[ButtMonkey miserable losers]]. It is also prone to havoc (usually due to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Timmy's irresponsible wishes]]) and run by a CorruptCorporateExecutive specializing in [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext milk propaganda]].

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': As shown in episode "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS7E5Unmortricken Unmortricken]]", the infinity outside of the Central Finite Curve is a hellscape of shattered planets, [[EldritchAbomination horrifying monsters]], and countless people discovering portal technology and the [[TeleFrag risks of using them]].

** New New York is pretty well off, though, when compared to the hellhole of 31st century Los Angeles. The latter would not look out of place in a ''Film/MadMax'' film, and they don't even seem to have the luxury of flying cars.

* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'':
** Earth, where humans are generally stupid, ignorant, and repulsive and the world they live in is polluted and unclean. The episode "Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom" featured creatures from another almost hell-like dimension crossing over under the impression that the other side is a perfect world that they can ruin, but they are so repulsed by their first impressions that they immediately retreat back into their own world. The Irkens, the other main civilization featured, are a cheerfully xenocidal species that decide rank by the individual's ''height'' and whose main form of entertainment is the extermination of entire planets while eating nachos and curly fries. The main characters -- being somewhat more intelligent than most of the others -- nevertheless only seem able to cope by being delusional (Zim), apathetic (Gaz) or ridiculously persistent (Dib).
** The episode "Door to Door" plays with this idea well, as Zim shows a cretinous family what will happen if they don't buy his candy -- the Crapsack World will become even ''worse''. And the future he shows them is, in actuality, the fate Zim has in mind for Earth when he ''succeeds.''

* The setting of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' [[CrapsaccharineWorld looks bright and cheerful while being messed up]]. It is a city full of [[AxCrazy Ax Crazies]], [[TheSociopath sociopaths]], perverts, [[{{Jerkass}} jerks]], [[TooDumbToLive morons]], greedy maniacs and NauseaFuel, not to mention the two main characters of the show: Ren is a clear mentally unstable guy, and Stimpy is a {{Manchild}} who -- though in spite of sometimes acting like an idiot -- is clearly more normal than his friend. There is also George Liquor, an egocentric, abusive, AxCrazy sociopath who is capable of the most extreme things to be the best one.
%%** ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon'' manages to make the already messed up setting even ''more messed up'', especially with "Ren Seeks Help".

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** The titular town of South Park is the archetypal comedic example of this trope, being full of racism, violence, [[{{Jerkass}} jerks]], idiots, murder, et cetera.

** Don't turn your back on appliances either. Your boombox could turn into Soundwave or one of his minions...

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'': Highland, Texas. The adults are either mean-spirited and ill-tempered or peaceful yet clueless, the kids and the teenagers following suit are similarly stupid and/or violent, and the whole town looks like the extension of a junkyard. The OnlySaneMan is Daria Morgendorffer, a [[TheSnarkKnight cynical]] DeadpanSnarker, which pretty much says it all.

* During the intro of ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'', Bubbie expresses the desire for Flapjack to stay in Stormalong Harbour, as she believes it safer than the many strange areas that surround it. However, this turns out to be incorrect, as many of the titular misadventures and dangers actually happen on the docks as it's a grim, dystopian place plagued by violence, dinginess, poverty, the plague, corrupt officials and jerks who can be riled up to a mob at an alarming rate. The fact that the whole universe [[WorldGoneMad is surreal and makes no sense plot-wise, fitting like a glove with all the characters' perception]], makes it both worse and better than it would otherwise be. To be fair, that's a fairly realistic depiction of 17th-century piracy and ADVENTURE! only in a blend of modern time.

* ''CrapsackWorld/EdEddNEddy''

* ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob2021'': Where to begin? The world is secretly run by six societies on behest of a council of shadowy elites. One is [[EvilInc an amoral company]] that is planning out WorldWarIII, keeping governments from doing anything about climate change, and has turned democracy into a sham. Another society is the race of human-hating [[LizardFolk Reptoids]], consisting of various politicians and celebrities, who are planning on conquering the world through the aforementioned allowance of climate change. TheIlluminati is another society, also made up of politicians and celebrities, who engage in dark mystical rites. The Catholic Church [[CorruptChurch is yet another society]] that is willing to build a fake Hell to scare the populace into going to church again. In the hollow center of the Earth are a race of psychic mushrooms who want to overthrow humanity. [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Cthulhu]] exists. Behind the rampant comedy, this is a bleak setting indeed.

** The episode "Door to Door" plays with this idea well, as Zim shows a cretinous family what will happen if they don't buy his candy -- the Crapsack World will become even ''worse''.
*** And the future he shows them is, in actuality, the fate Zim has in mind for Earth when he ''succeeds.''

* Clamburg in ''WesternAnimation/MakingFiends'' (pictured above). It's overrun by a kid in elementary school with the power to [[MakerOfMonsters create monsters]], almost all the shops are closed down, and the inhabitants can't find any joy whatsoever. At one point, it was deemed unlivable, and most residents were forced to leave.

* ''CrapsackWorld/TheFairlyOddParents''

* ''CrapsackWorld/TotalDrama''

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'':
** Gotham City is almost as bad as its comic counterpart. In most other action shows of its time, there were space monsters and futuristic skyscrapers. Gotham was the only kids' show setting you had to walk the streets of while worrying about getting mugged and/or shot.

* ''WesternAnimation/ParadisePD'': The ironically-named Paradise is this, being a town consisting of PoliceBrutality, sex crimes, drug trafficking, destruction of public property, monster invasions, unethical testing, obesity epidemics, etc. The only person with a good moral compass is Kevin Crawford, a LethallyStupid young adult who is also the residential ChewToy.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyB'': The city of San Francisco is depicted as a shithole that has a [[SuckySchool corrupt and underfunded school system]] and is populated by sadistic bullies, apathetic jerks, and complete idiots. [[TheChewToy Bessie herself]] tends to fall victim to this the most, [[ThePollyanna although this never breaks her chipper attitude]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ParadisePD'': The ironically-named town of Paradise, where PoliceBrutality, sex crimes, drug trafficking, vandalism of public property, monster invasions, unethical testing, obesity epidemics, etc. are all too common. Only Kevin Crawford, a LethallyStupid young adult who also serves as the neighborhood ChewToy, has a strong moral sense.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': The town of Dimmsdale is composed of [[{{Jerkass}} insufferable jerks]], [[AxCrazy psychotic maniacs]], [[TooDumbToLive complete idiots]], and [[ButtMonkey miserable losers]]. It is also prone to havoc (usually due to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Timmy's irresponsible wishes]]) and run by a CorruptCorporateExecutive specializing in [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext milk propaganda]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': The town of Langley Falls, Virginia is inhabited by jerks, psychopaths, idiots, drug cartels, and a good deal of sex crimes. The mere fact that [[AliensAreBastards Roger]] is residing here says it all.

* ''WesternAnimation/ParadisePD'': The ironically-named Paradise is this, being a town consisting of PoliceBrutality, sex crimes, drug trafficking, destruction of public property, monster invasions, unethical experimentations, obesity epidemics, etc. The only person with a good moral compass is Kevin Crawford, a LethallyStupid young adult who is also the residential ChewToy.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': Langley Falls, Virginia is comprised of jerks, psychopaths, idiots, widespread drug cartels, and a frequency of sex crimes and all other sorts of mayhem. And the fact [[AliensAreBastards Roger]] is in this world '''really''' says it all.