History DownerEnding / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Loss" has a Definite downer Ending. [[spoiler:Razer]], who seems to be overcoming the [[spoiler:death of his wife]] and ready to start a life with [[spoiler:Aya]], can only watch as [[spoiler:Aya get blasted by the Anti-Monitor's anti-matter WaveMotionGun]] after she [[spoiler: pushes him out of it's path]]. He's then forced to [[spoiler: watch her die in his arms]] as he tearfully begs her to [[spoiler:live, and that he loves her.]] Fixed after Aya turns up alive (in a Man-hunter body) in "Cold Fury" only to bond with Anti-Monitor's body at the end and continue what he started after Razer reconsiders what he said.

* ''WesternAnimation/GrizzyAndTheLemmings'': ''Every'' episode ends with the situation turning out bad for the titular characters, with neither side getting what they wanted in the first place. However, the said endings are ''always'' PlayedForLaugh.

* Most episodes of ''WesternAnimation/GrizzyAndTheLemmings'' has things end badly for both titular characters.

** "Plankton's Regular" has [[YankTheDogsChain Plankton lose his only customer ever]] and "Cephalopod Lodge" has Squidward [[MoralEventHorizon permanently kicked out of the lodge]].

** "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy", one of the most infamous episodes, has Sandy [[ButtMonkey suffering indignities]] after Plankton steals her pelt. After she defeats Plankton, she gets arrested by the police for indecent exposure because the Bikini Bottomites [[HumiliationConga laughed at her nudity rather than helped her find her stolen fur]].
** "A Pal For Gary" ends with [=SpongeBob=] scolding Gary for sending away his "pal" (oblivious the creature tried to eat him), and bringing Gary to work so he's not lonely, thus not giving him his intended alone time which he enjoyed at the start of the episode.

** "The Butterfly" ends with Gumball and Darwin innocently looking out the window of their classroom and noticing that the butterfly that flew off has come back, [[FailedASpotCheck completely missing]] the tornado that's about to hit the school.

** "The Apprentice" ends with Mr. Fitzgerald losing the golf game and the hospital contract and Gumball being taken on an ambulance by paramedics.
** "The Neighbor" ends with the Wattersons' neighbor Harry Gedges (under the pseudonym Gary Hedges) upset about his house blowing up and telling Gumball and Darwin that they should never talk to him again.
** The GrandFinale "The Inquisition" ended with [[spoiler: Rob attempting to warn everyone about [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall their world coming to an end]] only for Tina to beat him unconscious in the middle of his MotiveRant. When he comes to in the middle of the night, [[EldritchLocation the Void]] opens up and starts consuming the world, taking Rob first.]] Cue FreezeFrameEnding, roll credits, the end. Subverted, as this ended up being a SequelHook for TheMovie.

** "The Kids" ends with Gumball and Darwin coming to terms with the fact that they're growing up and realizing that [[NotGrowingUpSucks it would actually be pretty awful if they didn't.]] Then they find out that they're one of a small percentage of people who never age.

** "The Joy" ends with every one in the school still infected by the Joy virus, and Miss Simian, the only person who knows how to cure it, is taken down by the Joy zombies before she can. She tries to say it on video right before getting infected, but doesn't know the name of the song and doesn't have the vocal range to sing it.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollz}}'' episode "The Day the Magic Died" ends with the BFFL and their boyfriends discover that the magic in Trollzopolis had faded and all hope is lost.[[note]]Fortunately, hope is regained in the [[DownerBeginning Downer Begined]] later episode "Bringing Back the Magic".[[/note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TRONUprising'': [[DoomedByCanonWe already knew that Beck's crusade does next to nothing]] against Clu's regime, but after "Scars", the whole series became a parade of Downer Endings. The series itself ends with Clu finally having enough of the nascent rebellion going on in Argon City and the rumors that Tron is still alive, sending an entire fleet of Recognizers, tanks, lightjets, and System Guards to level the whole sector.

STAR

* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse'' surprisingly gets one in his early short, "The Barnyard Dance". Minnie would much rather dance with Pete because he's a much better dancer, so Mickey stuffs a balloon down the back of his pants in order to be lighter on his feet. It works until his secret is exposed. The cartoon ends with Minnie leaving Mickey to resume dancing with Pete, and Mickey is left in tears.
* Some episodes of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' end with this trope:

* ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'': [[DoomedByCanon We already knew, going in,]] [[DoomedMoralVictor that Beck's crusade does next to nothing against Clu's regime]] because The Grid in ''Film/TronLegacy'' is a full-blown CrapsackWorld, but after "Scars", [[CerebusSyndrome the whole series became a parade of]] {{Downer Ending}}s. The series itself ends with Clu finally having enough of the nascent rebellion going on in Argon City and the rumors that Tron is still alive, [[BolivianArmyEnding sending an entire fleet of Recognizers, tanks, lightjets, and System Guards]] [[NukeEm to level the whole sector]].






WIN
* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'':
** The second half of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' gets many of these too. Let's see: Mirta, the first (and only) friendly witch (who's also half-fairy) gets turned into a pumpkin when she was trying to help Bloom, speaking of which, she later finds that her boyfriend is a prince and is in an arranged marriage with another girl. After finding this, depressed, she returns to Earth, where the Trix steal her powers, becoming much more powerful. With her new powers, the Trix then proceed to take over Cloudtower, summon an infernal army to conquer the world. However, things got better for every good character.
** Episode 8 has Darcy successfully seducing Riven and walking away without any punishment. Stella outright says "We lost this one."
** Also, a Season 3 episode ends with Tecna apparently [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing herself]] to save Layla's homeworld. However, [[DisneyDeath she wasn't really dead.]]
** In episode 24 of season 4, Nabu dies after using up all of his energy to close the shadow abyss, and the power that could've revived him is stolen by Ogron, who wastes it on a flower. Layla ends up leaving the Winx to join the fairy Nebula's army in order to avenge Nabu's death, despite her friends (Bloom especially) trying to tell her that that is not what Nabu would've wanted.



SYM

SUPER
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}'', of all shows, had a Downer Ending in the episode "Mr. Grumpy-Pants" where a little girl with cancer ends up in Superjail. The inmates proceed to mistake her disease as her name ("San-ser") and throw her a party, oblivious to the fact that her organs are gradually failing and she's hemorrhaging blood from her mouth during it. She proceeds to wind up strangled by [[ItMakesSenseInContext the Warden's murderous inner child]], and during the bloodbath between the inmates, winds up crushed by all the falling gifts for her party. The episode ends with the inmates and Alice mourning her death.
** The ending of "Time-Police 1" was downbeat itself, with Alice, Jailbot, and Jared forced to leave the jail due to the Warden's absence, and realizing that they'd have to try to make it out in the real world.
** "The Trouble with Triples" ends in a rather disturbing manner, with the Twins forcibly taken from the jail and subjected to MindRape by their father, with their discomfort and complaints increasing from it being "boring" to wanting to die. Up until the SnapBack anyway.
* The ending to the episode "Strawberry's Big Journey" from ''WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake'' subverts this. Strawberry Shortcake and her friends fail to reach their objective: seeing a flower that blooms only once a decade, but don't feel all that bad, since they had fun on the way.
* ''WesternAnimation/SummerMemories'':
** "Truth or Dare" ends with Jason being forced to give up his pursuit of a major breakthrough in his aspiring music career when he admits to Ronnie that he would be unhappy to transfer to a new school to follow this path and thus lose his friends, despite the fact none of his friends share his interest in music and he does not share their interest in soccer. The final scene of the episode is the two sitting silently at the back of Jason's mom's car, clearly unconfident about their futures.
** "A Summer's Hike" does not see Jason and Tim successfully reconcile, worsening the SiblingRivalry between them.
** "Soccer is Life" ends with Jason and Ronnie having their first major fight, several straining their friendship.
** "Splitting Pairs" sees Jason and Ronnie get separated again, and this time seemingly for good, as a result of their parents becoming concerned that they are regressing to their destructive childhood phases (caused by Ronnie's frustrations with his girlfriend Winter leaving).
** "Heat Wave" ends with Jason alienating everybody on the last day of summer with his song about how much everybody irritates him (and not getting to finish the song to unveil its full context). Tellingly, this is the first episode not to end with the EveryEpisodeEnding, instead showing Jason standing forlornly in front of the fridge, unready for the new school year.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' Some early episodes can count as this, such as:
** For example: if the engine is the main character of an episode and suffers from LaserGuidedKarma for their haughty or irresponsible behavior (i.e, James in "[[Recap/ThomasAndFriendsS1E23DirtyObjects Dirty Objects/James In A Mess]]" and Gordon in "[[Recap/ThomasAndFriendsS1E24OffTheRails Off The Rails/Gordon Takes A Dip]]"), often ending with the character sadly learning their hard lesson. However, the episodes are part of arcs, and will then be resolved and given a happy ending in their continuation.
** One episode that stands out the most is "[[Recap/ThomasAndFriendsS1E3TheSadStoryOfHenry The Sad Story Of Henry/Come Out, Henry!]]", Henry the Green Engine was afraid of the rain and has refused to come out of the tunnel, And everyone tried to get Henry out of the tunnel, And nothing worked. Eventually, Sir Topham Hatt gave up and punished Henry by having the construction workers taking away the rails from Henry and build a brick wall so that he couldn't get out of the tunnel anymore (or that no one can bump into him for the American version.) Now Henry is very sad because he believes that no one will ever see his green paint with red stripes again. Very sad.
** In "[[Recap/ThomasAndFriendsS2E13DirtyWork Dirty Work/Diesel's Devious Deed]]", which doubles as TheBadGuyWins, Diesel told lies to the troublesome trucks that Duck made cruel names about Gordon, Henry, and James. The three big engines found out about the trucks' teasing and turn on Duck. The Fat Controller seemed suspicious of Diesel, but it appeared as if he was against Duck as well. As a result, Duck is sent to Edward's station as a "punishment" while Diesel smirks triumphantly of his plan. In reality, though, The Fat Controller was wise to Diesel's game, and was actually giving him room and time to cause his own downfall which, according to ''Literature/TheRailwaySeries'' version, involved telling lies about Henry.
** In "[[Recap/ThomasAndFriendsS2E18ThomasComesToBreakfast Thomas Comes to Breakfast]]". Thomas burst into someone's house where a family was going to have breakfast. The mother got angry at Thomas for [[SkewedPriorities ruining their breakfast]] so she slammed the door. And the plaster fell everywhere, including Thomas. Despite Donald and Douglas pulling Thomas back on the track, The Fat Controller lectured to Thomas that he got into a lot of trouble. And now, that the Diesels will have to do the work for Thomas. The last shot of the episode is completed with [[TheFreelanceShameSquad Percy and Toby laughing at Thomas.]] It's made a bit worse because although Thomas boasted he could drive himself without a crew, it was actually a careless cleaner who had meddled with his controls while Thomas was under steam, yet Thomas gets all the heat and the cleaner is never called out. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne36bH4PHPs This episode of ''NWR Tales'' by [=NWR1991=] directly calls out this glaring plothole]].
** In "[[Recap/ThomasAndFriendsS2E11PercyTakesThePlunge Percy Takes The Plunge]]", after letting his curiosity get the best of him, Percy gets pushed into off the ledge of a peer by backstabbing trucks, half plunged into the sea. Similarly, he gets scolded by The Fat Controller and left there until high tide, finally lifted out in a sorry state. To rub salt into the wound, he is sent to the Works by a very amused Henry (who he laughed at earlier).
** "[[Recap/ThomasAndFriendsS20E13TheRailcarAndTheCoaches The Railcar and the Coaches]]" ends with Diesel getting the last laugh on Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel when situations force him to take over the branch line for a while.
* Season one of ''WesternAnimation/TitanMaximum'' ends with Gibbs succeeding at frying Mercury and killing billions of old people. The episode was titled "[[MeaningfulName One Billion Dead Grandparents]]" after all. In the DVDCommentary, writer Matt Senreich actually invokes the trope - "Downer Ending right there. Downer Ending."
* ''WesternAnimation/ToadPatrol'''s episode "The Sacrifice" ends with [[spoiler: Earth Star turning into a toadstool indefinitely, and Beauty Stem breaking down into tears over it.]]

* ''[[WesternAnimation/BeastWars Transformers Beast Wars]]'' ended in a bittersweet finale. Though the Maximals had defeated and captured Megatron, they suffered heavy casualties as well. The first Dinobot sacrificed himself earlier on to prevent Megatron from destroying the proto-humans. Depth Charge killed himself and Rampage in a final attempt to stop Megatron from raising the Nemesis (he didn't succeed, though he did get closure with his long-time nemesis Rampage). Tigatron and Airazor came back as one being, Tigerhawk, only to be gunned down by Megatron aboard the Nemesis in a last-ditch effort to stall Megatron. The Transmetal II Dinobot [[HeelFaceTurn finally turned good]] only to die just a few seconds later after refusing to save himself from the exploding warship. Heroes aside, fans have also expressed sadness with the deaths of the Predacons as well, including Rampage, Inferno, and Tarantulas. If we're counting Transmutate, both Dinobots as separate characters, and Tigatron, Airazor, and Tigerhawk as separate as well, then Beast Wars ended with a death toll of 14 characters out of 22. That's more than half the entire cast.
** The opening to ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' makes this an even bigger downer ending. Not only did it turn out that they lost the beast wars, they inadvertently gave Megatron the power to conquer all of cybertron, and enacting a genocide. Of the surviving few Maximals left, two of them were kidnapped and transformed into Megatron's new generals, while the rest were robbed of their transformations and memories.
** ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' had numerous episodes end with the bad guys having victories, or simply leaving everyone down and out.
** The episode "Transmutate" had the eponymous character die trying to stop its friends from killing each other, with both [[KnightInShiningArmor Silverbolt]] and [[AxCrazy Rampage]] mourning its death.
** The episode "The Probe", a Maximal probe travels to Earth. The Maximals try to get a signal to it, but Megatron destroys their tower, denying them their chance to get home.

* ''ComicBook/WhenTheWindBlows'': The main characters survive a nuclear bombing, but are obviously dying of radiation poisoning. They remain in denial with complete faith that help will arrive and save them. Even in the end they have a semi-optimistic tone, but have clearly given up as they crawl into their paper bags and into their shelter to die. Then again Raymond Briggs (the original author of the book the film's based on) never did like happy endings that much. He just writes what he thinks seems natural for the situation, I mean take a look at The Snowman at the end!

D

E

F

G

H

L

M

PHI
* The ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Candace Gets Busted" ends with... [[SpoilerTitle Do we really need to say it]]?

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': the episode "Face the Music" ends with [[spoiler: Star indirectly outing Moon for keeping the fact that Ludo stole Glossaryck and the royal spellbook hidden from the whole kingdom, then also indirectly admitting her crush on Marco.]] The following episode "Starcrushed" ends with [[spoiler: Toffee's return [[DemonicPossession in Ludo's body]] and Star and Moon being forced to flee to Mewni.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse'' surprisingly gets one in his early short, "The Barnyard Dance". Minnie would much rather dance with Pete because he's a much better dancer, so Mickey stuffs a balloon down the back of his pants in order to be lighter on his feet. It works until his secret is exposed. The cartoon ends with Minnie leaving Mickey to resume dancing with Pete, and Mickey is left in tears.
* Some episodes of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' end with this trope:
** "The Zillo Beast Strikes Back": The Republic is forced to use lethal gas on the Zillo Beast, killing the creature to save Coruscant, and it was the last of its kind. Though it may also qualify as a BittersweetEnding, considering they saved Coruscant from destruction. Ends on something of an unresolved cliffhanger after Palpatine's intentions to clone the beast are revealed.
** "Heroes on Both Sides": The peace attempt ends in failure as the suicide bomber droids destroy the power generator on Coruscant, convincing pretty much every senator to defeat Padme's peace with the Separatists bill (they can't make peace, because it's DoomedByCanon).
** '"Massacre": For Asajj Ventress, at least. The Nightsisters get massacred by Grievous's forces, leaving Ventress alone with an uncertain future. [[spoiler: She takes to bounty hunting]].
** "The Lawless": Mandalore is caught in a civil war once again, [[spoiler: the ''Twilight'' gets destroyed, Obi-Wan's rescue mission fails, Satine's dream of a peaceful Mandalore is dead, Satine herself has been murdered by Darth Maul to psychologically torment Obi-Wan, and Savage Opress is killed by Darth Sidious while Darth Maul gets tortured.]] Only consolation is that Obi-Wan gets away with his life.
** "To Catch A Jedi": Ahsoka's been framed for both murder and terrorism, she's been captured by the authorities after being spotted with very damning evidence and is set to be put on trial. This is followed by the next episode having a BittersweetEnding, which also technically qualifies as a Downer Ending.
** "The Wrong Jedi" is also both a Downer Ending and BittersweetEnding. [[spoiler: Even though Ahsoka gets her name cleared, her earlier trial by the Jedi scars her to the point of declining their offer for her to return, and she leaves the order, never to be seen again (at least until ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', set 14 years later)]].
** "Conspiracy": Order 66 has accidentally been triggered in Tup, and the Kaminoans are prepared to kill him so they can dissect him and keep the truth from the Jedi. Fives tries to save Tup [[spoiler: by removing his inhibitor chip, but Tup dies anyway and Fives is placed under arrest for allegedly killing him and attempting to kill Nala Se.]]
** "Orders": This one is also a case of DoomedByCanon. [[spoiler:Fives has learned the truth about Order 66 and the Sith conspiracy, but he's been framed for attempted murder. He is killed before he can relay the truth, which he fails to do because Nala Se drugged him earlier. In the end, what happened to him and Tup is covered up with a claim of parasitic infection, Order 66 remains undiscovered by the Jedi Order, and [[KarmaHoudini Nala Se gets off scot-free]].]]
** "Crisis at the Heart": [[spoiler: Rush Clovis gets framed as a Separatist supporter, war comes to Scipio, Clovis dies, he gets scapegoated for the corruption in the Banking Clan when he was trying to end it and return it to a neutral system, and now control of the Banking Clan ends up in the hands of Palpatine.]]
** [[ForegoneConclusion The whole series itself ends on one of these]]. Anakin betrays the Republic, and [[ThePurge Order 66]] is set in motion. The Clones, [[BrainwashedAndCrazy through no fault of their own]], attack Ahsoka Tano. While she managed to free Rex from the inhibitor chip's control, the pair barely manage to escape the ship alive. [[FromBadToWorse To make things worse, the ship they were formerly on crashes]] (due to Darth Maul's interference), [[EverybodysDeadDave killing everyone they incapacitated aboard]]. [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS7E12VictoryAndDeath One of the last scenes of the last episode]] is Ahsoka and Rex burying the fallen clones (at least the ones whose bodies they could find), and she drops her lightsaber [[FakingTheDead so to sell the illusion she's dead to anyone who comes looking]]. The final scene [[TimeSkip an unknown amount of time later]] shows Darth Vader holding his former Padawan's lightsaber. Unlike other [[Franchise/StarWars Star Wars media,]] it ends on a completely hopeless note. There's no scene of [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith Leia being taken to her new home on Alderaan, or Luke to Tatooine]], or even the Rebel alliance starting, just two people facing an uncertain future. The very final shot focuses on the helmet of a Clone Trooper, broken, forgotten and half-buried in snow, emphasizing their tragic use as expendable, brainwashed pawns in a [[WarIsHell completely pointless war]] that was [[FalseFlagOperation only started to sate one man's lust for greater power]], destroying the very Republic they were led to believe they were protecting.
* ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'': [[DoomedByCanon We already knew, going in,]] [[DoomedMoralVictor that Beck's crusade does next to nothing against Clu's regime]] because The Grid in ''Film/TronLegacy'' is a full-blown CrapsackWorld, but after "Scars", [[CerebusSyndrome the whole series became a parade of]] {{Downer Ending}}s. The series itself ends with Clu finally having enough of the nascent rebellion going on in Argon City and the rumors that Tron is still alive, [[BolivianArmyEnding sending an entire fleet of Recognizers, tanks, lightjets, and System Guards]] [[NukeEm to level the whole sector]].

SI
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Homer's Enemy" famously ends with Frank Grimes failing to expose Homer for the fraud he is, losing his sanity and [[HighVoltageDeath electrocuting himself.]] Worse, everyone laughs with Homer at his funeral. Oddly enough, [[InvertedTrope this is only a downer for him and a happy one for everyone else.]]


REN

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' has several Downer Endings that are undone by NegativeContinuity and PlayedForLaughs, but there are some more tragic endings:
** The very first use of this, "Hall Monitor", has [=SpongeBob=] realize he was the maniac going loose in Bikini Bottom, and Mrs. Puff chastizes him, but she gets arrested when she confesses it was her fault he did it. To make matters worse, she demands [=SpongeBob=] see her after class...six months from now.
** "Plankton's Regular" has [[YankTheDogsChain Plankton lose his only customer ever]] and "Cephalopod Lodge" has Squidward [[MoralEventHorizon permanently kicked out of the lodge]].
** "Squid On Strike" ends with [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward's skeletons still working at a dilapidated Krusty Krab when, centuries ago, after [=SpongeBob=] actually destroyed the building (he "dismantled the establishment") because Squidward filled his head with the idea of a strike and Mr. Krabs made them work ''[[NotHyperbole forever]]'' to pay for the damages.
** "Good Neighbors" ends with Squidward's house going on a rampage due to a security accident, and Squiward is forced to work to pay off the damages done to the town every weekend for the rest of his life, although it doesn't affect [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick as they don't seem to care.
** "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy", one of the most infamous episodes, has Sandy [[ButtMonkey suffering indignities]] after Plankton steals her pelt. After she defeats Plankton, she gets arrested by the police for indecent exposure because the Bikini Bottomites [[HumiliationConga laughed at her nudity rather than helped her find her stolen fur]].
** "A Pal For Gary" ends with [=SpongeBob=] scolding Gary for sending away his "pal" (oblivious the creature tried to eat him), and bringing Gary to work so he's not lonely, thus not giving him his intended alone time which he enjoyed at the start of the episode.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlkprv-Upco The 2005 educational short "The Endless Summer"]] is ''not'' played for laughs; as it ends with everyone except [=SpongeBob=] having left Bikini Bottom due to the effects of global warming.
** "Married to Money" ends with Mr. Krabs heartbroken after finding that his fiancé, [[MoneyFetish a talking wad of money]], was just a robot controlled by Plankton in another bid for the Krabby Patty formula.
* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'':
** The second half of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' gets many of these too. Let's see: Mirta, the first (and only) friendly witch (who's also half-fairy) gets turned into a pumpkin when she was trying to help Bloom, speaking of which, she later finds that her boyfriend is a prince and is in an arranged marriage with another girl. After finding this, depressed, she returns to Earth, where the Trix steal her powers, becoming much more powerful. With her new powers, the Trix then proceed to take over Cloudtower, summon an infernal army to conquer the world. However, things got better for every good character.
** Episode 8 has Darcy successfully seducing Riven and walking away without any punishment. Stella outright says "We lost this one."
** Also, a Season 3 episode ends with Tecna apparently [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing herself]] to save Layla's homeworld. However, [[DisneyDeath she wasn't really dead.]]
** In episode 24 of season 4, Nabu dies after using up all of his energy to close the shadow abyss, and the power that could've revived him is stolen by Ogron, who wastes it on a flower. Layla ends up leaving the Winx to join the fairy Nebula's army in order to avenge Nabu's death, despite her friends (Bloom especially) trying to tell her that that is not what Nabu would've wanted.

POWER
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'':
** The episode "Twisted Sister" has a horrible Downer Ending. The girls create a new sister named Bunny. Despite her infantile mind and hulking, Quasimodo-like physique, she learns to be a hero, saves the day, and then just randomly... explodes, probably due to them missing ingredients when they made her. [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Even]] ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness the narrator]]'' [[ManlyTears is in tears]] as the episode ends, complete with [[DarkReprise a very melancholy version of the background music for the end shot]]. What a MindScrew for any kid watching it. Some odd parallels between ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen'' can be found here as well. And of course, that's the episode that finally won the show a [[OscarBait damn Emmy.]]
** Also, "A Very Special Blossom" also has a downer ending as well. The episode ends with Blossom going to jail for stealing the golf club bag. In the end title, the narrator said that the day was saved, thanks to Bubbles and Buttercup. And we see Blossom behind bars. (That was a little deceptive; her actual sentence was community service.)
** ''Fallen Arches'' has Blossom decide to deal with a trio of elderly villains by bringing back their old arch enemies to deal with them, on the grounds that they must "Respect their elders". The episode ends with [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome both parties badly injured simply from exerting themselves too much, and all others involved agreeing that the Powerpuff Girls should've just dealt with the situation themselves]]. To top it off, the usual closing shot instead features [[WhatTheHellHero Bubbles and Buttercup glaring angrily down at poor Blossom]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero for causing all this to happen.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'''s season 4 finale ends with Margaret admitting that she loves Mordecai, but then shows him the letter of acceptance to her dream school. Believing she may never have another chance like this again, she [[DidNotGetTheGirl declines Mordecai's offer to be his girl]] and runs out the door sobbing.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'':
** [[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E6RickPotionNumber9 "Rick Potion #9"]] ends with the entire human race being converted in [[BodyHorror Cronenbergs]]. Rick cuts his losses and moves with Morty to another parallel reality where they cured the planet but died in a lab accident moments later, [[KillAndReplace seemlessly taking over their lives]]. Meanwhile Beth, Jerry and Summer are [[FateWorseThanDeath left the only living people in a brutal post-apocalyptic world]].
** [[Recap/RickAndMortyS2E3AutoEroticAssimilation "Auto Erotic Assimilation"]]. Rick runs into an old lover of his, an alien hive mind named Unity. It ends when Summer convinces Unity that Rick is a bad influence on her, causing her to leave him and Rick to attempt (and fail) to commit suicide.
** [[Recap/RickAndMortyS2E10TheWeddingSquanchers "The Wedding Squanchers"]] is this for Season 2. [[ChekhovsGunman Tammy turns out to be an undercover agent for the Galactic Federation]] and was using her wedding to Birdperson to capture Rick and his friends. The Smiths escape but Birdperson and Squanchy are killed, and Rick has a HeelRealization and surrenders to the Federation to ensure his family can have a normal life on an alien-occupied Earth, but only Jerry (who always hated Rick and was the only person to stand from benefitting from the Federation) is happy about any of this.
** [[Recap/RickAndMortyS4E2TheOldManAndTheSeat "The Old Man and the Seat"]] has a surprise downer ending. Rick visits his new friend Tony, the guy who was using Rick's special private toilet without his permission ([[{{Tsundere}} whom Rick refuses to admit was his friend]]) [[spoiler:only to find out that Tony was killed in a mountaineering accident after quitting his job to live a happier life - [[NiceJobBreakingItHero because Rick told him to]]. The episode ends with Rick sitting alone forlon on the toilet, dejectedly watching the message he left for Tony which consists of dozens of holographic Ricks standing around the toilet mocking him with a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech scathing speech]] about being lonely and nobody wanting to be around him, [[NotSoDifferentRemark a speech which ends up applying to Rick perfectly after everything that had happened]].]]
--->'''[[spoiler:Hologram ]]Rick''': [[spoiler:There he is! There's our guy! Congrats, Tony! Have fun with your stupid toilet that you get to use all by yourself now. Enjoy [[LonelyAtTheTop using it all by yourself]] while you sit there and think about how nobody wants to be around you and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero how you ruined it for yourself]] because [[{{Jerkass}} you're a huge piece of shit]]. Look at you sitting there, King Shit on his throne of loneliness. Enjoy this toilet with a thousand of me screaming every time you take a shit! All hail His Majesty, the saddest piece of garbage in the entire cosmos! Long live the big bad doo-doo daddy! May his reign last a thousand years!]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'' episode "A Family Crisis" ends with [[spoiler:Octus, part of the main trio, dead. Lance angrily blows up a Mutraddi base in response, not that it helps them]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'':
** The short, "Out of Odor" from the episode, "Viewer Mail Day" ends this way. Elmyra has her mindset on having Fifi as her pet but first has to get rid of her stink. After a mean use of trickery and a brief chase, Elmyra finally captures poor Fifi. This one was lampshaded by Fifi herself. [[note]]There is, however, a popular fan theory that "Out of Odor" might be a prequel to the episode "Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow", which also shows Fifi as one of Elmyra's pets and she is rescued by Buster.[[/note]]
---> '''Fifi:''' "This ending stinks!"
** The short, "One Beer" from the episode, "Elephant Issues" ends with Buster, Plucky, and Hamton driving off a cliff and getting killed as their car crashes into a graveyard. This is lampshaded by Buster at the end of the episode. The episode actually got pulled from syndication because of it!
---> '''Buster:''' "So, do we get to do a funny episode tomorrow?"
** "Who Bopped Bugs Bunny?"- Sappy Stanley the Elephant, a has-been cartoon star jealous of Bugs' [[{{Expy}} Schloscar Award]] kidnaps him from an award show in Paris and even manages to frame Daffy for the crime. Buster and Babs manage to rescue Bugs and put Stanley in jail and the episode ends with the three of them flying back to Acme Acres. Happy ending, right? [[spoiler:[[SomethingWeForgot Except Daffy's still in jail, as are Plucky and Hamton, who got arrested trying to break the older duck out.]]]]
---> '''Daffy:''' This ending is despicable!* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'':
** The short, "Out of Odor" from the episode, "Viewer Mail Day" ends this way. Elmyra has her mindset on having Fifi as her pet but first has to get rid of her stink. After a mean use of trickery and a brief chase, Elmyra finally captures poor Fifi. This one was lampshaded by Fifi herself. [[note]]There is, however, a popular fan theory that "Out of Odor" might be a prequel to the episode "Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow", which also shows Fifi as one of Elmyra's pets and she is rescued by Buster.[[/note]]
---> '''Fifi:''' "This ending stinks!"
** The short, "One Beer" from the episode, "Elephant Issues" ends with Buster, Plucky, and Hamton driving off a cliff and getting killed as their car crashes into a graveyard. This is lampshaded by Buster at the end of the episode. The episode actually got pulled from syndication because of it!
---> '''Buster:''' "So, do we get to do a funny episode tomorrow?"
** "Who Bopped Bugs Bunny?"- Sappy Stanley the Elephant, a has-been cartoon star jealous of Bugs' [[{{Expy}} Schloscar Award]] kidnaps him from an award show in Paris and even manages to frame Daffy for the crime. Buster and Babs manage to rescue Bugs and put Stanley in jail and the episode ends with the three of them flying back to Acme Acres. Happy ending, right? [[spoiler:[[SomethingWeForgot Except Daffy's still in jail, as are Plucky and Hamton, who got arrested trying to break the older duck out.]]]]
---> '''Daffy:''' This ending is despicable!
** In "Two-Tone Town", Buster and Babs help obscure Warner Bros. stars Foxy, Roxy, Goopy Geer, and Big Bee get parts on an upcoming television show when they are down on their luck. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the new show replaces ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' in its time slot, thus canceling it and forcing Buster and Babs to get jobs at ''[[Series/TheHollywoodSquares Toonywood Squares]]''. This example also counts as a Main/BrickJoke because Buster was worried this would happen to him and Babs at the beginning of the episode.]]
** The short that parodies ''Literature/CaseyAtTheBat'', "Buster at the Bat", subverts the original ending with Buster making the homerun. When Sylvester calls this out, saying it wasn't part of the story, Buster replies "You expecting me to strike out? I'm the star of this show!"
** In "Two-Tone Town", Buster and Babs help obscure Warner Bros. stars Foxy, Roxy, Goopy Geer, and Big Bee get parts on an upcoming television show when they are down on their luck. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the new show replaces ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' in its time slot, thus canceling it and forcing Buster and Babs to get jobs at ''[[Series/TheHollywoodSquares Toonywood Squares]]''. This example also counts as a Main/BrickJoke because Buster was worried this would happen to him and Babs at the beginning of the episode.]]
** The short that parodies ''Literature/CaseyAtTheBat'', "Buster at the Bat", subverts the original ending with Buster making the homerun. When Sylvester calls this out, saying it wasn't part of the story, Buster replies "You expecting me to strike out? I'm the star of this show!"
* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'', surprisingly, has a few of them:
** Would you believe there was an episode, "WesternAnimation/BlueCatBlues," that ended with them both sitting on a train track [[DrivenToSuicide waiting to commit suicide by train?]] And just as it irises out, you hear the sound of a train whistle? Chilling.
** There's also "WesternAnimation/TheTwoMouseketeers", where the final scene is Jerry and Nibbles walking down the street. There is a drum roll and the silhouette of a guillotine dropping--on Tom's head. Nibbles replies "Pauvre, pauvre pussycat" (poor, poor pussycat) and "C'est la guerre" (that's war).
** Tot Watchers, the final Hanna-Barbera episode before MGM shuts down, has both Tom and Jerry wrongly arrested for seemingly getting the baby kidnapped...right before the baby came to them. Though it's possible that they were released after this.



PINK
* Quite a few ''WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther'' shorts. Some of the most memorable:
** Pink enters a shrine and emerges cursed to morph into different animals every few seconds.
** While trying to kill a fly, he is swallowed alive by a vacuum cleaner, which then sucks up the entire scenery and finally ''itself''.
** After spending an entire episode cleaning up a polluted city as punishment for littering, a TickertapeParade is thrown in his honor - after which [[AllForNothing he is forced to clean up the city]] ''[[AllForNothing again]]''.
* The British animated film ''Literature/ThePlagueDogs'' is depressing throughout, with the story being based around two dogs who escape from an animal testing lab and try to survive in the Lake District. However, even by the standards of the rest of the film, the ending can still be considered a downer. The film ends with the two dogs being hunted by the Army, who believe that they are carrying the bubonic plague. The dogs are cornered at the beach, and try to swim to an island that doesn't really exist. It is implied that they drown.
* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' just loved these after getting DarkerAndEdgier. Let's begin, shall we?:
** ''Web World Wars'' ends with Bob [[spoiler:exiled in the web and Megabyte in position to take over]].
** ''Game Over'' ends with Enzo [[spoiler: '''[[EyeScream losing an eye]]''' and the game resulting in everyone thinking he's dead]].
** ''System Crash'' ends with Phong explaining that despite their hard work, Mainframe is still doomed.
** Then comes the cliffhanger in season 4, where [[spoiler:Megabyte has taken over the Principal office]].
* The penultimate episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRaccoons'', "[[Recap/TheRaccoonsS5E12TheOneThatGotAway The One That Got Away!]]" is a rare episode of the series with a sad ending. Bert, Cedric, and Bentley plan to catch a catfish named Old Tom at a secret fishing spot, but one night, Milton Midas pays the Pigs to dump toxic waste into the lake. After learning about this, the main characters get him arrested for his crimes. The Pigs are tasked with cleaning up the lake, but the damage is already done as Old Tom is dead and the lake might not be restored to its former glory. Everyone reminisces about all the fond memories they had of the lake except for Bentley, who never had the chance to make any.

LIL
* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'':
** Pretty much any episode that ends with the featured Experiment being captured by Gantu, meaning Lilo and Stitch have failed their mission to find a one true place for them. One major example is "[[Recap/LiloAndStitchTheSeriesS1E30Angel Angel]]". Stitch falls in love with an experiment (who basically looks like a pink, female version of Stitch), but Lilo has suspicion towards her because her siren-like song reverts any of the experiments that have been converted for good back to their destructive states. Luckily, Stitch and 625 were immune because they were made ''after'' Angel. In the end, [[LoveRedeems Stitch makes Angel see the error of her ways]], but sadly, she was captured by Gantu. However, this was due to [[ExecutiveMeddling the executives disliking the idea of Angel]], much to the dismay and anger of the fans. [[EarnYourHappyEnding It gets fixed]] in the [[GrandFinale series finale]], "Snafu".

HE
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold!'' had a few:
** "Arnold Betrays Iggy" ends with Arnold, finally fed up with the HumiliationConga Iggy put him through, angrily ending his friendship with him for forcing him to wear bunny pajamas, while Iggy desperately pleads for forgiveness. "Helga and the Nanny" ends with Helga's home life [[StatusQuoIsGod back to its regular dysfunctional state]]. Both episodes were actually paired together.
** "New Bully on the Block" ends with the kids badly beaten up by Wolfgang and Ludwig after losing their field to them. [[TheBadGuyWins Technically a good ending for those two]] [[VitriolicBestBuds since they ended up bonding with each other.]]
** This was supposed to happen to an in-universe production in "Eugene, Eugene!": the titular play's ending was rewritten by the PrimaDonnaDirector so that it ends with the hero, played by Eugene, [[DidNotGetTheGirl losing his love interest to the villain]] [[DroppedABridgeOnHim and dying from getting hit by a trolley]] as the villain, played by a reluctant Arnold, sings a VillainSong about how NiceGuysFinishLast. However, Arnold and Eugene defy the director and restore the play's original happy ending.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' - "Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker": Not quite a YouCantFightFate as it would've happened without him going back in time, but Timmy goes back in time to try to stop his teacher from becoming madly obsessed with fairy godparents; he successfully stops it from happening the way it did originally (it was apparently Cosmo's fault), but then, thanks to Present Day Cosmo, ends up making it happen anyway. And he can't go back to fix what happened because Jorgen and his 70s counterpart have banned him from going back to March 15, 1972 forever.
* The ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' episode "Now With More Flava" ends with Henry and June losing their jobs as the hosts of the show and they end up as security guards, which was their biggest concern in the episode. To make things worse, it was also the last episode of the series.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'', of all places, for an animated sci-fi/comedy has a really overly-dramatic Downer Ending in "Mist Opportunities". Jenny meets up with her friend Misty, whose ways of fighting evil aren't what Jenny cottons to. In the end, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Jenny and Misty fight, and Misty beats the ever-living crap out of Jenny, and apparently defeating her.]] And rather than finishing off the robot girl, Misty gives her a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "reason you suck speech"]] and leaves her, scrapped in a partially-destroyed Tremorton.

JOH
* How about every episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo''.
** This includes the series finale. Johnny gets famous after Shaquille O'Neal believes him to be a GoodLuckCharm around whenever he plays. Unfortunately, Johnny leaves Shaq to use the bathroom when it really matters, and Shaq actually does good without him, leading him to the realization that Johnny didn't really create luck, and Johnny goes to drown his loss with Creator/SethGreen and [[WesternAnimation/TheHuckleberryHoundShow Huckleberry Hound]].
** The Valentine's Day special. After all the disappointments and beatdowns he's suffered, Johnny FINALLY found a girl that was not only hot, but WILLING to be his date, only to then reveal to him that since she's a secret agent, they can't be together. So she mindwipes him and he ends up forgetting about her and going back to being alone and looking for a girlfriend that will never come.
* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
** ''[[WesternAnimation/PigsIsPigs1937 Pigs is Pigs]]'': Piggy Hamhock turns out to have only been dreaming that he suffered a horrible death by exploding from overeating. He hears his mother call him down to breakfast... and grins at the camera before running downstairs to aggressively glut himself. This shows the protagonist learned nothing from his horrible nightmare and is incapable of change. This is also the last short to star the character.
** "What's Opera, Doc," Elmer Fudd has "killed the wabbit," and the dead WesternAnimation/BugsBunny gets up so he can do a bit of LampshadeHanging: "What did you expect in an opera, a happy ending?" It's true: most famous operas have {{Downer Ending}}s.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'': Season 8 ends with Garmadon conquering Ninjago City, with only Lloyd and Nya left to fight back, and Kai, Jay, Zane, Cole, and Wu stranded in the Realm of Oni and Dragons, and they are belived to be dead by Lloyd and Nya.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Opal}}'': Claire is still stuck in her horrendous life, with her only comfort being an imaginary world based off a billboard across her bedroom window. The final shot has her in a TroubledFetalPosition, imagining her fake family once again as her real family relentlessly bangs on the door, trying to get her out, while the final shot zooms back out of her head and the house, confirming that Claire is fantasizing, she's living a horrible life, and that the billboard really is the only thing across the street.
* ''WesternAnimation/PerfectHairForever'': Gerald seems to go insane with trying to get Brenda from Young Man. After Sherman eats the Hamburger Necklace that could have possibly worked somehow, he resorts to assassinating him. The result isn't shown, but at some point after that, Coiffio's box army comes back into play and overruns the Tunaminium. In short, Young Man loses his life, Brenda loses her fiance, and Gerald loses his mind and doesn't get his perfect hair.

GA
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'':
** "King Nermal" ends with Garfield and Odie stuck in full-body casts for the next few months and Nermal getting to stay at Jon's house even longer so he can continue tormenting Garfield and Odie.
** "Everything's Relative" ends with every attempt at getting rid of Jon's unpleasant Aunt Ivy falling flat, plus Ivy's twin sister joining her to double the pain.
** "Not So Sweet Sound of Music" has Garfield's efforts to get rid of Jon's accordion winding up for nothing when Jon replaces his damaged accordion with bagpipes, which Garfield finds even more annoying.
** "Cat Nap" ends with Silent Jack having robbed the Arbuckle household and made a clean getaway while Garfield, Odie and Squeak had mistaken Jon for Silent Jack.
* The first season (and possibly the series) of ''WesternAnimation/GaryAndHisDemons'' ended with Gary finally finding [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne the new Chosen One to replace him after searching for decades]], and trying to pass the torch by driving him up to a cliff to watch the sunset and giving him his sword and some wine. [[spoiler:His replacement then falls off the cliff in a drunken stupor, ending up quadriplegic and comatose. Gary's boss then tells him that he'll have to keep working for another 15 years while they wait for a new Chosen One, and he breaks down crying in the hallway.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'':
** "The Ghost" ends not only with the search for Frida's book amounting to nothing more than a wild goose chase, but Hilda, David, and Frida's friendship becoming severely strained, if not outright severed.
** "The Beast of Cauldron Island" ends with Hilda getting grounded because of her habitual lying to her mother about her adventures.
* The last episode of ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'' ends with Brendan accidentally dropping his beloved video camera out of the window of a car and watching it get run over and smashed by another car, after he had given up on his dream of being a filmmaker because he believed that his movies shouldn't be watched, despite producing impressive material for an 8-year old with a cheap camcorder. What saves it from being a true downer is that he moves on from it very quickly, though, and, watching everything he'd filmed in the past, realizes he had the most fun making them rather than seeing how they turned out.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoops}}'' ends with Ben and Matty getting a flat tire on the way to Henderson Prep. Ben realized that he gave away his spare tire and his tire repair materials to Matty's former teammates before leaving. The show ends with Ben rambling on ''Film/LittleManTate''. Because of the show's cancellation in December 2020, it is never known if Matty and Ben made it to Henderson in one piece.
* ''WesternAnimation/HowToCatchACold'': The short ends with the man still sick and lying in bed, with the possibility of him catching a more serious illness still up in the air. The live-action version, at least, had more of a BittersweetEnding, with Jeff still sick but slightly better.
* Some episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' have bittersweet or outright sad endings. "[=KJEM=]" ends with The Misfits getting arrested for being a part of an illegal radio broadcast, despite the fact they were tricked and thought it was a legit broadcast.
* The ending of the sobering Italian animated short film, ''WesternAnimation/LifeInATin''. It's somewhat mitigated that chronicling the life of a person will obviously end in their demise, but still, in the main character's single-minded dedication to his job, he fails to enjoy life while holding on to the last shreds of his childlike wonder before finally succumbing to the stress of work.
* A rare PreschoolShow example: ''WesternAnimation/LittleBear'' episode "Little Bear's SweetTooth" has the title character getting a stomach ache after eating too much dessert during the Harvest Day picnic. He is also unable to participate in the pie eating contest. After his parents tuck him to bed for the night, he hallucinates the moon as pumpkin pie and tells his 'sweet tooth', "No thanks, maybe tomorrow."
* The ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLastKidsOnEarth Last Kids on Earth]]'' episode, ''Stay on Target'' show Jack screwing up his mission to supply food for him and the team and everyone is peeved for his delay.
* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' had quite a few episodes end on a low note, but managed to actually subvert this trope for the GrandFinale. Clay completely ruins his marriage and his affair with the coach, and his life is left in shambles, and even with Orel's upbeat happiness, he hates Clay. While Clay is a {{Jerkass}}, it's implied that Orel's life is pretty messed up too as his idealism is shattered. However, the subversion is that fast forward many years, and Orel grows up to raise a functional family.
* The ''{{WesternAnimation/Motorcity}}'' episode "Vega" [[spoiler:ends with Mike having been captured by Kane, with his execution being planned. Motorcity is now in shambles due to [=KaneCo=] bots running amok without the Burners able to help]].
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** "Swarm of the Century" ends with the Mane Six finding that Ponyville was destroyed by the Parasprites.
** "Just For Sidekicks" ends with Spike having lost all his earnings from his arduous time babysitting the cast's pets.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** In the episode "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire", Loretta has an affair with Quagmire. The episode ends with the couple getting into an argument and deciding to divorce. It even gets a lampshade hanging by Peter and Lois with Peter outright ''refusing'' to accept such a downbeat ending. Even sadder is the fact that Cleveland Jr. has been negatively affected by the split. It's part of the reason why he now looks and acts differently in ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''.
** An even sadder episode is "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)", in which Brian breaks up with his girlfriend Jillian, and when he wants to make amends, she's already now dating Mayor West. They tried to soften this during the credits, to little effect.
** "The D in Apartment 23" has Brian [[GetOut kicked out]] [[EtTuBrute by the Griffins]] after being ostracized by all of Quahog for a mean-spirited tweet.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': many of its Emmy-nominated episodes, plus:
** "Parasites Lost", in which Fry was influenced by worms to be much more intelligent and much stronger, when he blew into a hologram-creating instrument that apparently takes massive amounts of effort to play correctly and performs an elaborate and romantic image for Leela. After he decides that he'll get rid of the worms to see if it's really him or the worms that Leela had started taking to during the episode, he tries to play it again, only being able to create the image of the Frankenstein monster roaring. After Leela leaves, he sits alone, realizing that he's come up short in his romantic pursuit again.
** "Time Keeps on Slipping": Fry forced to blow up the star pattern he had meticulously created for Leela, which would apparently have been enough of a romantic gesture for Leela to finally return his affections if she had seen it. She coincidentally ''didn't'' see it because she was trying to cheer up Fry. Also in that episode, Bender's dream is to become a Harlem Globetrotter. He fails to achieve this goal even though the rest of the crew are declared honorary Globetrotters just because they were in the right place at the right time. During the end credits, we hear Bender sadly whistling the Harlem Globetrotters' theme song.
** "Jurassic Bark": Fry decides at the last minute not to resurrect his fossilized dog, Seymour Asses, reasoning that it had lived a full and happy life and Tampering In God's Domain was not wise. A final montage reveals that, in fact, Seymour had spent the rest of its life pining for its lost master. The {{Retcon}} in the first movie attempts to cancel this out, but we all saw what really happened.
** In "Bender's Big Score" Fry goes back in time, meaning that Seymour did manage to be with him. And what's more, in 2012 (the year when he was supposed to die), Bender tracks down Fry, who is living in his old Pizzeria. He fires a laser at the building and it collapses and Seymour looks at it just in time for the fire and dust to instantly fossilize him. This was a bit of a {{Retcon}}, due to most fans finding the original ending ''soul crushingly'' depressing.

* The ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' episode "Public Enemies" ends with [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner Walker]] essentially ''winning'', having managed to turn almost the entire town of Amity Park against Danny (including ''Jack and Maddie'' now viewing him as a threat to be destroyed) and labeling him as the main cause of ghost attacks. Sure, Walker gets sucked back into the [[PhantomZone Ghost Zone]] at the end, but it's only because Wulf [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificed his own newfound freedom to do so]].

* Those of us who didn't think it was protected by the RuleOfFunny thought the ending to ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'' fell under this: it looks like something's gone right for Lumpus, when it turns out he's just some looney who has the real Scoutmaster, an aged version of Heffer from ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', locked up in a closet and is dragged off to a looney bin. A person actually complained to the creator that it was a low note for a finale, so he told her that Jane bailed Lumpus out and they lived HappilyEverAfter in Acorn Flats... but still...
* The final two-parter of the short-lived series ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'' is probably the most upsetting use of a downer ending as the entire main cast with the exception of Principal Scudworth are frozen in a meat locker just as Abe Lincoln realizes his feelings for Joan of Arc only to discover she has just slept with J.F.K. the show ends with a ToBeContinued...
* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' had plenty of these:
** In "Let's Save The World, You Jerk", Dexter and Mandark fail to stop an asteroid from destroying the world due to their [[TeethClenchedTeamwork refusal to work together]]. The two fail to notice this, still bickering inside their mechs in outer space. Thankfully, [[NegativeContinuity that doesn't mean much here]].
** The ending of "The Way of Dee Dee" is pretty sad as well, with Dee Dee's attempt to get Dexter to enjoy himself ending with Dexter wrecking his own lab, and Dee Dee apologizing to him for trying to change him and running to her room in tears. It's one of the few that is ''not'' PlayedForLaughs.
** "The Big Cheese": After passing up studying for a French test all day, Dexter attempts to use sleep hypnosis by listening to a tape to learn it. Unfortunately, [[RepetitiveAudioGlitch it skips and repeats]] the words "omelette du fromage" over and over, and as a result, Dexter can only say those words. Initially, this ends up bringing him tons of fame, but when he returns home since he can't say the password needed to access his lab, it not only locks him out but proceeds to self-destruct. The episode ends with Dexter crying while Dee Dee [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown laughs at him]] for only being able to say "omelette du fromage."
** "The Koos is Loose" is a wacky and fun episode that ends with Dexter wishing away Dee Dee's very real imaginary friend, telling him to go and never come back, a command he wholly accepts. Dee Dee runs out of the laboratory in tears, and even Dexter [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone immediately regrets his wish to the point where he hugs Koosy and sobs into his chest]]. The episode ends with Koosy's fading laughter in the black.
** "Dexter Detention" has Dexter succeeding in breaking out of {{detention|episode}} along with several other classmates... but then he's last seen breaking rocks at gunpoint after accidentally [[OutOfTheFryingPan breaking into a prison]].
** "The Old Switcharooms" has Dee Dee and Dexter [[YouAreGrounded being sent to]] ''[[GoToYourRoom each other's]]'' [[GoToYourRoom rooms]] as punishment for bumping into their father during an argument and making him drop his bowling trophy, causing it to break. Dexter knows [[LethallyStupid Dee Dee]] [[WhatDoesThisButtonDo will try to enter his lab and destroy it like she always does]], and in making a stealth suit to investigate unnoticed after previously trying to walk out the door, [[PayEvilUntoEvil he destroys her bedroom in the process]]. [[spoiler:He later finds out she was asleep the entire time and hasn't even entered the lab.]] When the grounding is over and Dad had finished fixing his trophy, he and Dee Dee find the damage Dexter did to her bedroom, at which point Dexter is banished to the doghouse. Dexter doesn't seem to worry about the dog entering his lab and destroying it, but he was wrong!
** "[[Recap/DextersLaboratoryS2EP38 LABretto]]", due to being in a style of an {{opera}} ends with Dexter bemoaning the fact that he'll never be truly free of Dee Dee and her habit of ruining his experiments.
-->'''Dexter:''' ''I'm stuck/for my life!/I'm stuck/and I'll be stuck/forever/with...my...sister...DEEEEEEE DEEEEEEE!''
* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' often ends with either the Eds humiliated or captured by the Kanker Sisters, and they're often funny endings, since it is a funny show. But only very few endings actually qualifies for a Downer Ending:
** The ending to "If It Smells Like An Ed". The first act had the Eds being accused of ruining Friendship Day (Ed stealing Sarah's paintbrush, Edd wiping Plank's mouth off and Eddy piercing the Heart of Friendship with a hockey stick), and tried to [[ClearMyName clear their names]]. Unfortunately, Act II has the Eds accused of [[BoundAndGagged bounding and gagging]] Jonny when actually, they found him this way. The kids refused to believe the Eds and chased them into the woods. The Eds hid in a shed, only to run into The Kanker Sisters. [[SadisticChoice The cowardly three are then trapped between the kids, who are practically wishing for the Eds to die, and the Kankers, who demand the Eds to make out with them]]. The Eds prefered to have fruit pelted at them by the kids. It was then revealed that [[TheDogWasTheMastermind Jimmy, of all people, set them up]]. His motive? [[ChekhovsGun The wedgie]] (and subsequent humiliation) given to him earlier that day by Eddy. He then has the Kankers take the Eds away. The blow is softened somewhat after Jimmy slips on a Karma-placed banana peel, but still...
** The episode "Take This Ed and Shove It" also qualifies in a way -- Eddy had just woken up from the RipVanWinkle and declares, "[[GrowingUpSucks I don't ever wanna grow up!]]" Cue Eddy waking up again, back as an old man. He soon realizes that he fell asleep reminiscing about his childhood with his friends. The episode ends with him wishing he was still a kid. ''And this was [[SeriesFauxnale the original series finale]].''
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'': In the early episode "The Tycoon", the perfect storm of events results in Fred filling in the role of [[IdenticalStranger an identical millionaire]] who is fed up with the business life and left his company. While Fred quickly grows weary of the business life, the millionaire wanders Bedrock and ends up bumping into Wilma, Barney, and Betty (who they mistake for Fred) and treats them like dirt every time they meet. Eventually, both Fred and the millionaire flee back to their respective lives, but Fred returns home to find his wife and neighbors incredibly furious with him for what appears to him to be no apparent reason and threatening to sever ties with him entirely. The episode ends with the three of them still screaming angrily at a confused and upset Fred who doesn't know what's wrong.
* ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Loss" has a Definite downer Ending. [[spoiler:Razer]], who seems to be overcoming the [[spoiler:death of his wife]] and ready to start a life with [[spoiler:Aya]], can only watch as [[spoiler:Aya get blasted by the Anti-Monitor's anti-matter WaveMotionGun]] after she [[spoiler: pushes him out of it's path]]. He's then forced to [[spoiler: watch her die in his arms]] as he tearfully begs her to [[spoiler:live, and that he loves her.]] Fixed after Aya turns up alive (in a Man-hunter body) in "Cold Fury" only to bond with Anti-Monitor's body at the end and continue what he started after Razer reconsiders what he said.
* Most episodes of ''WesternAnimation/GrizzyAndTheLemmings'' has things end badly for both titular characters.

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'':
** The ShowWithinAShow ''Horsin' Around'' ends with the Horse dying from a broken heart and his adopted children being broken up and fostered elsewhere. As Bojack later remarks, "we might've gone too dark on that series finale".
** Episode 11, appropriately, titled "Downer Ending", has Bojack and friends trying to figure out an ending for the memoir he just typed up in a drug fueled haze. Bojack decides to write about when he gets too old, he'll just keep swimming out into a lake until he gets too tired and drowns. Todd warns him that it's a serious downer ending.
** The 11th episode of Season 2 continues in the vein, with Bojack utterly destroying his relationship with [[OldFlame his old friend Charlotte]] by trying to (seemingly) [[WhatTheHellHero sleep with her 17 year old daughter, Penny.]]
** In the penultimate episode of season 3 has both Bojack and Sarah Lynn go on a drug bender, which results in both of them realizing more about themselves than they did sober; they go to a planetarium, where after Bojack ponders their experience in the universe, [[spoiler: Sarah Lynn dies in his arms from a drug overdose.]] Season 6 then reveals that [[spoiler: she was actually just barely alive at that time. She ends up actually dying in the hospital [[MurderByInaction due to Bojack spending 17 minutes before calling the ambulance trying to establish an alibi for it]].]]
** Season 4, however, bucks the trend of downer penultimate episodes, and the following season finale ends on a much more optimistic note.
** However, Season 5's penultimate episode returns to the trend of unhappy endings, as Bojack [[spoiler:breaks up with his girlfriend after [[ItMakesSenseInContext strangling her to near-death while tripping out on drugs]]]], and the fallout from this event further damages his friendship with Diane.
* ''WesternAnimation/BraveStarr'':
** One would think "The Price" is your typical 80's DrugsAreBad episode. It ends with a boy ''dying'' from a drug overdose.
** In "Fallen Idol", Bravestarr discovers that his former mentor and hero Jingles Morgan [[BrokenPedestal is now a wanted man]] - wanted for ''murder''. Worse, the guy is completely unrepentant, and upon his arrest, and Bravestarr attempts to understand why only for Morgan to pauses and show how far he is down the MoralEventHorizon by saying "I never asked to be your 'hero'".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCupheadShow'':
** PlayedForLaughs at the end of "[[Recap/TheCupheadShowS1E6GhostsAintReal Ghosts Ain't Real]]": After going through a hair-raising night at the cemetary, Cuphead and Mugman escape back to the safety of their home, but by then they are such a mess that Elder Kettle mistakes them for zombies and attacks them with his cane.
** The end of "[[Recap/TheCupheadShowS1E12InCharmsWay In Charm's Way]]" is played a lot more seriously, with Cuphead and Mugman ending up in genuine trouble: [[spoiler:The boys break into a cookie factory with Ms. Chalice, but the police quickly arrive. Ms. Chalice ultimately ends up abandoning the two, and Cuphead and Mugman take the fall for the break-in and get arrested. The episode ends with them still in jail with no resolution other than a ToBeContinued screen.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' has "Whoo Gives a Hoot?" The Planeteers attempt to stop Looten Plunder with a court injunction against clear-cutting an old-growth forest where an endangered species of owl lives. They fail and the episode ends on that note, with Plunder taunting them to try and stop him again.
* The third season-ending of ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'' is a doozy:
** Trevor and Sypha manage to prevent the Lindhelm priory's plot to resurrect Dracula, but the entire village has become a ghost town, the citizenry having been sacrificed. Worse still, the town's Judge, who seemed to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who gave his life protecting the village, is revealed to be a SerialKiller. The entire experience leaves Sypha, a WideEyedIdealist when the season began, [[TookALevelInCynic jaded and disillusioned]].
** Alucard had been seduced by his two protoges, Sumi and Taka, who took advantage of his loneliness to try and kill him in a misguided attempt to NeverBeHurtAgain. Alucard is forced to kill them in self-defense and has his own faith in humanity shattered, driving him further into isolation as he places their corpses on spikes outside his doors as a warning to stay away, "[...][[TurnOutLikeHisFather just like dead old dad]]".
** Hector, similarly, had been seduced by Lenore, who took advantage of his naivete to place a cursed ring on him, binding him to her will and forcing him to comply with her every request, lest he suffer extreme pain. And what does she intend to do with him as her thrall? Force him to build an army to help Carmilla conquer the countryside, and also [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil use him as a sex slave]].
** Elsewhere, Isaac is amassing a giant army of night creatures, and now has access to a magic mirror that will let him invade from anywhere in the world...
* The series ''WesternAnimation/DeltaState'' ends on a definitive low note. After the heroes manage to recover their lost memories, vanquish the BigBad once and for all and avert the apocalypse, Luna, who has the power of precognition, sees an alternate ending to a vision of the future she had repeatedly over the course of the series: in the original ending, the world is destroyed; in her new vision, she foresees that her and her friends will eventually be possessed by rifters, the bad guys.
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'':
** The first season ends on one. While the rift is closed and the Titans aren't able to escape, Earth is pulled into Final Space, the ''Galaxy One'' is destroyed, and the entire main cast is left dead, dying, or [[FateWorseThanDeath worse]].
** Season 3 somehow manages to one-up the bleak ending of the first season. [[spoiler:Ash betrays the Team Squad and frees Invictus from its prison; Gary loses Mooncake, whose [[UncertainDoom final fate is unknown]][[note]]albeit, series creator Creator/OlanRogers [[WordOfGod later confirmed that he survived]][[/note]]; AVA, Fox, Clarence, Kevin Van Newton, and Bolo are all KilledOffForReal; and Earth is destroyed for good. The finale ends with the surviving heroes watching in horror and defeat as Invictus escapes from Final Space in its true form, now free to conquer every timeline. And worst of all, since the show was officially cancelled [[ScrewedByTheNetwork due to external corporate factors,]] this is the ''very last'' we're seeing of these characters... At least until Warner Bros. Discovery allowed Olan to make a graphic novel to end the series.]]
* Averted in the Walter Lantz cartoon ''The Flying Turtle.'' Herman the turtle wants to learn how to fly, so he gets an eagle to take him up almost to the edge of outer space. When he finally tries to fly he falls all the way to Earth and dies in the process. [[spoiler:However he ends up in turtle heaven, able to fly and happy as a clam.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/FollowTheSun'': Nearly every customer and food item is dead or dying by the time the intermission has ended.
%%* The ending of ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqD90wP-wf0 Foofle's Train Ride (1959)]]'' could be seen as a downer.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Disney]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:FOX]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
** "Ricky Spanish [-(''[[RunningGag Ricky Spanish...]]'')-]" ends with Steve failing to redeem Roger's Ricky Spanish persona, getting framed for the heist Ricky committed and sent to prison. Stan and Francine bail Steve out, but the damage is already done; Steve TookALevelInCynic and now hates Ricky as much as everyone else does. Even worse, the jar with the caterpillar Steve was raising falls into the water. The caterpillar becomes a butterfly as the jar drifts out to sea, but it dies soon after realizing it's trapped in the jar, [[RuleOfSymbolism reflecting the death of Steve's innocence and naivete]]. The sad voiceover by Creator/WernerHerzog doesn't help.
** "Hot Water" ends with an evil hot tub (voiced by Cee-Lo Green) killing Principal Lewis and the hot tub salesmen, and swallowing Francine whole. Stan tries to save her but the hot tub kicks his ass and sends him flying through the roof. He suddenly realizes how to kill it but immediately dies of internal bleeding, and the episode ends with Cee-Lo Green himself telling the audience that Stan is dead and that the show's over. This was originally going to be the series finale if the show hadn't been renewed.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nickelodeon]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'':
** "Hello Stranger": a subversion of the VisitByDivorcedDad trope.
** In "Driven to Extremes", Ginger stands up to her [[SadistTeacher cruel substitute teacher]] Mrs. Grimley, and the episode ends with Ginger in detention. What's worse is that [[KarmaHoudini Mrs. Grimley gets no comeuppance for ruling the class with an iron hand]]. The subplot with Brandon Higsby entering the pet show doesn't end well either - he loses and gets booed by the entire audience because Mr. Licorice refuses to perform.
** In "No Hope for Courtney", Ms. Gordon dies and Carl starts to cry at the news of this. Originally, Ms. Gordon was going to come out of retirement, but the voice actor DiedDuringProduction so it was rewritten that her character died as well. Since Ms. Gordon died and also her actor, you might say it's a TheCharacterDiedWithHim.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** "Zuko Alone". Zuko offers to help out a small farm family by rebuilding their barn and protecting them from corrupt, dishonorable soldiers. He teaches the little boy to wield a sword and never give up without a fight. Meanwhile, [[{{Flashback}} Zuko remembers]] how back at home the only person who cared for him was [[MissingMom Ursa]]. It seems almost as if Zuko will find some acceptance in his new life as a refugee. But when his fight with the soldiers reveals who he is, he gets run out of town by everyone for being the Fire Nation prince. [[JerkassWoobie Poor Zuko]].
** In "The Library", the Gaang may have found out crucial info about the Fire Nation, but this is little consolation for the fact that they are in the middle of the desert with no supplies, no transportation, and no way to find the kidnapped Appa. Not to mention, Professor Zei stays in the library and it's confirmed in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' that he died there.
** "City of Walls and Secrets" also qualifies as this with Jet being arrested and brainwashed, Joo-Dee being replaced and the revelation of Ba Sing Se really being a dystopic and corrupt city where the Earth King is merely a puppet.
** "Appa's Lost Days" has Appa endure all kinds of hardship, yet he survives and makes it all the way to Ba Sing Se where Aang is, and just as the audience is gearing up for the happy ending... he's captured again and dragged down into the earth, leaving only a single footprint to show he was ever there.
** The season two finale "[[WhamEpisode The Crossroads of Destiny]]" ends with TheHero being struck down during his TransformationSequence, leaving him horribly wounded and believed dead; the heroes barely escape as the Earth Kingdom falls to [[TheEmpire the Fire Nation]], which now rules the world almost uncontested; [[AntiVillain Prince Zuko]] has regained his place in the royal family as he tried to all along but at the cost of betraying his beloved uncle, and is left wondering if it was worth it.
** "The Puppet Master", which ended with Hama succeeding in forcing Katara to use the technique she swore she'd never use.
** "The Day of Black Sun Part 2: The Eclipse", where most of the invasion force is captured, and Aang must retreat with only a few allies. The only thing that came out of it was Zuko's HeelFaceTurn, but to them it seemed like a full ShaggyDogStory.
** The [[ShowWithinAShow play of their adventures]] in "The Ember Island Players" ended in Aang's death and the Firelord's victory, because it was shown in the Fire Nation, where that was the ending everyone pretty much wanted - and the only one the government approved, most likely. The government declared [[AGodAmI him a god]] the very next episode.
** SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
*** "And The Winner is...." [[spoiler: Amon. Full scale terrorist attack leads to plenty of innocent civilians electrocuted or de-bent, with the surrounding harbour bombed, judging from the fires. None of the Equalists are captured. The best you can say is "at least Korra wasn't killed".]]
*** "When Extremes Meet". Republic City has undergone martial law, resulting in the imprisonment of hundreds of innocents, including Mako, Bolin and Asami. Korra goes to confront Tarrlok for using such horrible laws, nearly ''kills'' him, but then is [[spoiler: blood-bent despite it not being a full moon, kidnapped and taken out of the city.]]
*** "Turning the Tides". [[spoiler: Republic City is overtaken by the Equalists despite the efforts of Korra. Tenzin and his family are driven from their home after his wife gives birth. Lin Bei Fong has her bending taken away by Amon, though she gets it back in "Endgame".]]
*** "Darkness Falls". [[spoiler:Unalaq succeeds in fusing with Vaatu and becomes the Avatar universe's version of the AntiChrist. During the battle with Korra, he separates her from Raava and destroys Raava. To make it worse, he enters the physical world and wrecks havoc.]]
*** "Enter the Void." Zaheer gains the ultimate airbending technique of flight and takes Korra to the lair of the Red Lotus.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Warner Bros. Animation/Cartoon Network/Adult Swim]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has this happen more often than it should:
** Most prominently in "I Remember You", which simply ends with the character in tears and features one of the most cruel and brutally honest examples of SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome ever, and "''The Lich''" (notably, a season finale), which ends with the heroes discovering that they just did exactly what the BigBad wanted them to.
** The ending of "Frost & Fire" certainly qualifies. In the end, Finn writes fake letters to Flame Princess and Ice King to have them fight, because when they fought earlier it caused Finn to have wet dreams about it, and it's also very important as well because the Cosmic Owl is in it as well. After he completes his dream, he reveals the truth to Flame Princess and Ice King. Flame Princess is so hurt and depressed she dumps him. Then in the next episode, "Too Old", Finn went back to attempting to win Princess Bubblegum's heart one last time, and realized Flame Princess was the one for him, but Jake ominously stated she might have moved on. The arc was concluded with the episode "Earth & Water", where Flame Princess once and for all officially dumped Finn. And she made it very clear in "The Red Throne" that she no longer loves Finn because he was still acting like a dick trying to win her back.
** "The Eyes": "I'm... still not happy."
** "Bad Timing", where LSP accidentally transports her boyfriend Johnny's molecules to another dimension where he can see her but she can't see him. Devastated by what she's done, she convinces Bubblegum to erase her memories but reverts to her old jerky self when she follows through with it.
** "Escape from the Citadel" is pretty bad. Finn has finally found one of his actual parents, meaning he's not the last human anymore, but his father wants nothing to do with him and tries to get away. Finn's grass sword attaches to the ship Finn's father is on, but the grass sword, and Finn's entire arm, get pulled off, and his father escapes. The only good thing to happen is that the Lich was transformed into a humanoid child form, who eventually becomes a completely separate person from him.
** The WholeEpisodeFlashback "Evergreen" ends with Gunther instructed into putting on the [[ArtifactOfDoom crown]] by Urgence Evergreen, who tells him to use it to destroy the comet that will wipe out all life on the planet. However, the crown instead grants Gunther's deepest wish, to be like his master. This results in him transforming into a mangled copy of Evergreen who can only yell "Gunther, no!" over and over. The comet hits Earth and wipes out the dinosaurs... and when we see the present day, we learn a second comet is on its way towards Ooo.
** "Three Buckets". Finn is forced to destroy Fern (who wanted to KillAndReplace him) and ends up deeply regretting it.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'':
** "The Lesson" ends with Gumball and Darwin escaping from the school's prison-like detention. Principal Brown then points out that, since they're escaping from ''school'', they're just going to have to keep coming back anyway.
** "The Kids" ends with Gumball and Darwin coming to terms with the fact that they're growing up and realizing that [[NotGrowingUpSucks it would actually be pretty awful if they didn't.]] Then they find out that they're one of a small percentage of people who never age.
** "The Joy" ends with every one in the school still infected by the Joy virus, and Miss Simian, the only person who knows how to cure it, is taken down by the Joy zombies before she can. She tries to say it on video right before getting infected, but doesn't know the name of the song and doesn't have the vocal range to sing it.
** "The Butterfly" ends with Gumball and Darwin innocently looking out the window of their classroom and noticing that the butterfly that flew off has come back, [[FailedASpotCheck completely missing]] the tornado that's about to hit the school.
** "The Nobody" has an amnesiac Rob searching for a purpose in life. In the end, since "all the good personalities are taken", he decides to take on a ''bad'' personality and become Elmore's resident villain. It's at this point that he remembers who he really is and vows to become Gumball and Darwin's ArchEnemy as revenge for ignoring him while he was trapped in the void in "The Void"... then Gumball and Darwin shrug it off and walk home, much to his dismay.
** "The Outside" ends with Richard's father, Frankie (who was assumed by Anais to have been in prison which explains his extended absence in his son's life and concluding they need to make their home into a prison for him) revealing to the Wattersons that he was never in prison, though he ''was'' sentenced to three days and has been on the run ever since. When Richard forgives him for also trying to scam them for free rent and food in their home and offers him to stay with the Wattersons for as long as he wants, Frankie begins to consider... and remembers everything the Wattersons put him through because of the aforementioned assumption and rejects the invite. Then Frankie gets arrested for real when the Donut Cop overhears his confession and accepts prison over the family, [[YankTheDogsChain leaving Richard behind once again.]]
** "The Apprentice" ends with Mr. Fitzgerald losing the golf game and the hospital contract and Gumball being taken on an ambulance by paramedics.
** "The Neighbor" ends with the Wattersons' neighbor Harry Gedges (under the pseudonym Gary Hedges) upset about his house blowing up and telling Gumball and Darwin that they should never talk to him again.
** The GrandFinale "The Inquisition" ended with [[spoiler: Rob attempting to warn everyone about [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall their world coming to an end]] only for Tina to beat him unconscious in the middle of his MotiveRant. When he comes to in the middle of the night, [[EldritchLocation the Void]] opens up and starts consuming the world, taking Rob first.]] Cue FreezeFrameEnding, roll credits, the end. Subverted, as this ended up being a SequelHook for TheMovie.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'':
** The short musical number [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN6ef0ED9aI "The Ballad of Magellan"]], justified, seeing as the three siblings are singing about the final voyage of Ferdinand Magellan (which he didn't survive either in-universe or out).
** "Mighty Wakko at the Bat", another parody of ''Casey at the Bat'', makes the same subversion as the ''Tiny Toons'' example above, though it's Wakko sliding home, not getting the homerun.
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': Subverted with the finale. Despite Master Shake and Frylock [[KilledOffForReal dead]] and [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse Carl's disappearance]], Meatwad sheds the ManChild image, and [[EarnYourHappyEnding gets a job which he is competent at, strikes up a romance resulting in having children and showing them his old house and then taking them out to dinner]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' episode "Simple" has Ben answering an alien girl's request to come to her planet and end the war going on between the blue people and the red people. By the end of the episode, Ben gets both sides mad at him for accidentally destroying the statue of a person they respect. To add insult to injury, the little girl who asked Ben to stop the war decides that she hates Ben even more than the war. Downplayed in that the girl finds a treasure chest full of riches Kevin left behind.
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'':
** "Duped" ends with Julie, Kevin, and Gwen all mad at Ben for splitting himself into 3 separate Ben's to do three separate things at once and caused them all major problems due to their different attitudes. Julie and Gwen storm off in anger with Kevin calling Ben out for being "so insensitive" before following them in disappointment, leaving Ben alone to repent for what he did.
** "Revenge of the Swarm" ends with Elena killing herself to stop the Hive Queen... only to reveal that they are still active. What a SenselessSacrifice.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'' episode "Red Strikes Back" - the duo once again encounter Red Riding Hood, she blissfully ignores her grandma's cries for help as she's yet again devoured by the wolf, and encounters the witch from Hansel and Gretel who notices her and the dogs munching on her house; she takes Red inside and forces her to eat a ton of food. Once she grows wise to the witch's plan to eat her, she kicks her and attempts to escape, but the witch uses her powers to trap her in a cage; she then imprisons her and the dogs and summons food for the dogs to feed Red. Two years pass and Red is very obese; the witch turns into a frog and eats her, after which she then informs the dogs that she's still hungry. The dogs try to persuade her not to eat them and they tell her that they just want some cheese; she summons some easy cheese and sprays it on them and she shadow engulfs them and we hear chomping and gulping sounds. In the ending title card, it shows them and Red inside her stomach surrounded by the digestive acids.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'' had a couple of BittersweetEnding episodes that veered plenty bitter. The ''pilot episode'' "Phoenix", for one. TheHero Zachary Foxx is gunned down and paralyzed, only to be [[WeCanRebuildHim fitted with experimental cyberware]], the BigBad is loose in the galaxy and has a few dozen humans hostage after a successful attack on a League Planet. The privateer still has Zach's wife. The only good parts are that the kids escaped (though Mandell's original pilot had them captured as well), and that [=BETA=] authorized the Ranger team to strike back.
* The animated short ''WesternAnimation/{{Alma}}'' ends with Alma becoming trapped inside the body of a doll, alongside many other children who have met the same fate, and [[HereWeGoAgain another doll appearing in the storefront to lure in the toy shop’s next victim.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'' ends with the Warners acknowledging that with no word of another season, [[EndOfSeriesAwareness there is a good chance their renewed show has come to an end]]. [[ShootTheShaggyDog The fact that a giant meteor is about to pretty much kill everyone does not help matters at all.]]
* All three acts of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'' end on pretty major downers for most of the characters involved:
** Act 1: While the Piltover side of the plot ends on a rather upbeat note with the creation of [[{{Magitek}} Hextech]], it's completely undermined by the absolute downer note that the Zaun side of the plot ends on. The plan to rescue Vander goes terribly wrong, resulting in the deaths of Mylo, Claggor, ''and'' Vander, for which Vi initially blames Powder for [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone before she realizes what she's doing]] and leaves to cool off. Before she can get back to Powder, however, [[BigBad Silco]] finds Powder and decides to take her in, while Vi is drugged and taken away by Marcus to be hauled off to jail.
** Act 2: Jayce is forced to betray his mentor and has [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Heimerdinger]] forcefully removed from his role on the Council, Marcus has the bridge between Piltover and Zaun barricaded, causing tensions between the two cities to rise, and while Vi and Powder/Jinx finally reunite, it's cut short when an attack from the Firelights results in the Hextech gemstone being stolen and Vi and Caitlyn being kidnapped, leaving Powder alone once again.
** Act 3: Season 1 as a whole ends on what can only be described as a complete downer. Powder embraces her Jinx identity entirely and ultimately cuts ties with Vi, the Hextech gemstone is never retrieved, and while Jayce, Mel, and Viktor are successful in convincing the rest of the Council to move towards finding a peaceful solution to the Piltover-Zaun conflict, it's completely undermined when Jinx fires a rocket powered by the Hextech gemstone into the Council's chambers. Also, a brief showing of Singed's lab shows that he's begun experimenting on a body that suspiciously resembles Vander's, with the implication that Singed has begun the process of creating Warwick. The only somewhat positive notes of the ending are that Silco has been defeated (though this is mitigated by the implication that [[TheDragon Sevika]] will be taking his place), Ekko and Heimerdinger have begun a partnership, and the knowledge that [[SavedByCanon Jayce and Viktor are guaranteed to survive the rocket explosion]].
* ''WesternAnimation/ArcherDreamland'': While the entire story takes place in Archer's head, that doesn't make it any less of a bummer. [[spoiler: Lana dies as do Kreiger's robot dogs, Poovey's (the Dreamland version of Pam) Chinese sister-wives all leave [[AmbiguousGender her/him]], [[KarmicHodini Mother gets off scot-free, Cyril is still in debt to Trexler but otherwise gets away with everything he did]], no one gets the money, and despite saving her life, Charlotte completly rejects Zirk's love. The only real positives are that Woodhouse's murderer is dead and the Chinese women were save from a life of sex slavery. By the end Archer is completely beaten down both emotionally and physically (his body being covered in marks and having not slept in days), just wanting to move on with his life]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'':
** The episode "Nerves of Steal". Buster is grounded for a month after revealing to the owner of the drugstore that he stole a Cybertoy. Arthur also receives punishment for trying to help cover up the theft when Buster confessed to him, and even though he's implied to receive less punishment given he wasn't culprit, his parents still sternly tell him how disappointed they are in him for not coming clean.
** "Francine's Split Decision" ends with Francine being forced to wash her father's garbage truck, (among other chores) as punishment for missing part of her cousin's bar mitzvah.
** Happens in-universe in the movie "The Squirrels", featured in the episode of the same name, where [[TheBadGuyWins aggressive squirrels take over the world]]. (The episode itself is an aversion.)

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Disney/FOX]]
The list for Disney starts here:
* Several of the shorts in ''[[WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse Mickey Mouse Works]]'' qualify as such:
** "Minnie Visits Daisy": After spending most of the short attempting and failing to get Daisy's attention so that she can deliver her apple pie to her, Minnie finally [[spoiler:breaks down and drives her car through Daisy's house in an attempt to just throw the pie at her and get it over with, only to immediately get arrested and sent to prison before she can do so. The short ends with Minnie angrily slamming the pie in Daisy's face during a prison visit.]]
** "How to Wash Dishes": Goofy, tired of the humdrum demeaning existence his dishwasher job provides him with, [[BaitAndSwitch decides to go on vacation on the narrator's suggestion]]. Unfortunately, he overcharges the credit card the narrator provides him with, resulting in him being forced to work off his debt...[[BookEnds as a dishwasher at the restaurant he got overcharged at]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' episode, [[Recap/LiloAndStitchTheSeriesS1E30Angel "Angel"]]. Stitch falls in love with an experiment (who basically looks like a pink, female version of Stitch), but Lilo has suspicion towards her because her siren-like song reverts any of the experiments that have been converted for good back to their destructive states. Luckily, Stitch and 625 were immune because they were made ''after'' Angel. In the end, [[LoveRedeems Stitch makes Angel see the error of her ways]], but sadly, she was captured by Gantu. However, this was due to [[ExecutiveMeddling the executives disliking the idea of Angel]], much to the dismay and anger of the fans. [[EarnYourHappyEnding It gets fixed]] in the [[GrandFinale series finale]], "Snafu".
** Pretty much ''any'' episode that ends with the featured Experiment being captured by Gantu, meaning Lilo and Stitch have failed their mission to find a one true place for them. All this is fixed in "Snafu".

** "Orders": This one is also a case of DoomedByCanon. [[spoiler: Fives has learned the truth about Order 66 and the Sith conspiracy, but he's been framed for attempted murder. He is killed before he can relay the truth, which he fails to do because Nala Se drugged him earlier. In the end, what happened to him and Tup is covered up with a claim of parasitic infection, Order 66 remains undiscovered by the Jedi Order, and [[KarmaHoudini Nala Se gets off scot-free]].]]

* The ending of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode "Omega Kids". The entire school except for the workers and T.J.'s gang is sick after eating tuna fish tacos. At first, the gang really likes being the only ones there, but it all spirals downhill after Ms. Grotke says they should catch up on some work. To prevent them from doing work, the gang pretends they are sick, but the fake sickness they have turns out to be so severe that they can't be sent home. The episode ends with them trapped in a plastic dome with several people in hazmat suits barricading the school.
** "Me No Know" on the part of Vince. The premise of this episode is that Vince feels like he's being left out of the loop after all the other kids and even teachers in school seem to have gone to see (and referencing jokes from) an in-universe ScrewballComedy called ''Nitwits 3''. Vince asks his parents if he can go see it, but his parents don't approve of the movie and forbid him from seeing it. Desperate to look cool again and make the same jokes as everyone else, he sneaks into the movie anyway. [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin He gets caught by his parents as he leaves the theater]] and gets grounded from watching TV for a week. But hey, Vince still got to see ''Nitwits 3'' so now he understands all the references the kids were making at school and can share jokes from it with them! Unfortunately for Vince, by next Monday, everyone has moved on from ''Nitwits 3'' ("''Nitwits 3'' is last week's news!") and are all about a new TV show called ''Moron Patrol'', which Vince could have seen had he not sneaked off to see ''Nitwits 3'' and gotten grounded from watching TV. Thus Vince sits at his desk despondently as the rest of the class tosses ''Moron Patrol'' quotes back and forth.
--->'''Everyone but Vince''': CAPTAIN DUMBBELL!! (''laughter'')\\
'''Vince''': Captain Dumbbell...that's what they should call me.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': There's no greater downer ending for the series than the end of "[[Recap/DuckTales2017S1E22TheLastCrashOfTheSunchaser Last Crash of the Sunchaser]]". After a season's worth of chasing, the triplets find out what REALLY happened to their mother, and in their pain, they lash out at Scrooge, along with almost all the rest of Scrooge's extended family. After returning to the mansion, EVERYONE in his life leaves Scrooge for his words. He sits down to brood, but also to mourn how he tried to find Della, but [[PoorCommunicationKills couldn't be patient enough to tell them the full truth]].
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future" looked on track for a bad enough ending: Dipper accepts Ford's offer to stay with him after summer, without Mabel. Mabel overhears this after an already awful day, and unable to imagine growing up without her twin, runs away into the woods. But them Blendin Blandin approaches her and offers her a way to freeze time and keep summer going forever, which she accepts. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Blendin is being controlled by '''Bill Cipher''', resulting in possibly the [[NightmareFuel darkest ending]] [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt in animation]] '''''ever''''']].
** "Dreamscaperers" initially ends on a high note, with Dipper, Mabel and Soos saving Stan’s mind and his safe combination from Bill Cipher and Gideon and Dipper on better terms with Stan…[[spoiler: until Gideon returns, blows up the safe with dynamite and steals the deed to the Mystery Shack.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': the episode "Face the Music" ends with [[spoiler: Star indirectly outing Moon for keeping the fact that Ludo stole Glossaryck and the royal spellbook hidden from the whole kingdom, then also indirectly admitting her crush on Marco.]] The following episode "Starcrushed" ends with [[spoiler: Toffee's return [[DemonicPossession in Ludo's body]] and Star and Moon being forced to flee to Mewni.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'':
** The first season finale [[Recap/AmericanDragonJakeLongS01E21TheHunted "The Hunted"]] ends with Rose having learned Jake's true identity and spares his life. At first, it seems as though Jake has a new ally in his love interest. But out of the blue, he learned from Principal Derceto that she's transferred to a new school, thus a picture of her and Jake was left.
** The episode [[Recap/AmericanDragonJakeLongS02E18TheLoveCruise "The Love Cruise"]] also applies to this. Rose breaks up with Jake (at least for the time being), breaking both his heart and her own. In the final scene, Cupid returns to Gramps' shop to find Jake depressed and gives him [[HeartbreakAndIceCream chocolates and heartbreak "butter-butter" ice cream.]] Once he leaves, Gramps rushes in and says to Jake there is a griffin rampaging in the city. So Jake "dragons up" and flies outside as the episode ends with a close-up of a picture of Rose.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'':
** The [[WhamEpisode season two finale]], "True Colors", ends on one of the grimmest and most uncertain notes of the entire show. To recap: [[spoiler:Sasha and Grime betray Anne and the others, take the Calamity Box away, and start a toad rebellion in Newtopia by overthrowing King Andrias. But then Sasha and Grime discover that Andrias is not only ''not'' the jolly (if morally ambiguous) ReasonableAuthorityFigure that he presents himself as, but he intends to use the Calamity Box to conquer the multiverse. Sasha and Grime desperately try to stop Anne and the others from stopping the rebellion and freeing Andrias, but they cannot convince them that Andrias is the bigger threat, so the rebellion is thwarted and Andrias is freed. Things go downhill from there with Andrias [[MotiveRant declaring his intentions for the Calamity Box to the others]], Anne and Sasha discovering that Marcy knew what the Calamity Box was capable of the whole time (but hid her knowledge of it from them) and orchestrated ''everything'' that lead to them ending up in Amphibia because she didn't want to be separated from them when her family moved away from Anne's hometown, and finally Anne gets sent back to Earth (''with'' the Plantars) without Sasha (who held Andrias off long enough buy enough time for Anne and the Plantars to escape) and Marcy (who tries to assist them in doing so and gets ''[[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stabbed]]'' by Andrias for her troubles). Anne may ''finally'' be back in her homeworld...but she's gone back without Sasha and Marcy (the latter of whom Anne believes to now be dead), the Plantars are now stuck in her world with no apparent way to return them home, and Andrias aims to make Earth one of his first targets solely to spite the girls for interfering with his plans.]] In short, the heroes are (at least for the time being) ''majorly screwed'', and season three being a case of CerebusSyndrome on at least ''some'' level is practically a certainty.
** "Olivia & Yunan" is already one of the [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest]] episodes of the series (let alone of Season 3), but the icing on the cake is that it ends on a [[NightmareFuel terrifying]] CliffHanger wherein [[spoiler:Olivia and Yunan's attempt to rescue Marcy from Andrias fails and they are helpless to prevent [[GreaterScopeVillain the Core]] from [[DemonicPossession taking a terrified Marcy as their host]].]] Tellingly, it's one of the few episodes of the show to end on SilentCredits.
* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse'' surprisingly gets one in his early short, "The Barnyard Dance". Minnie would much rather dance with Pete because he's a much better dancer, so Mickey stuffs a balloon down the back of his pants in order to be lighter on his feet. It works until his secret is exposed. The cartoon ends with Minnie leaving Mickey to resume dancing with Pete, and Mickey is left in tears.
The list for Fox starts here:
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Homer's Enemy" famously ends with Frank Grimes failing to expose Homer for the fraud he is, losing his sanity and [[HighVoltageDeath electrocuting himself.]] Worse, everyone laughs with Homer at his funeral. Oddly enough, [[InvertedTrope this is only a downer for him and a happy one for everyone else.]]

** "Time Keeps on Slipping": Fry forced to blow up the star pattern he had meticulously created for Leela, which would apparently have been enough of a romantic gesture for Leela to finally return his affections if she had seen it. She coincidentally ''didn't'' see it because she was trying to cheer up Fry.
*** Also in that episode, Bender's dream is to become a Harlem Globetrotter. He fails to achieve this goal even though the rest of the crew are declared honorary Globetrotters just because they were in the right place at the right time. During the end credits, we hear Bender sadly whistling the Harlem Globetrotters' theme song.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** In the episode "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire", Loretta has an affair with Quagmire. The episode ends with the couple getting into an argument and deciding to divorce. It even gets a lampshade hanging by Peter and Lois with Peter outright ''refusing'' to accept such a downbeat ending. Even sadder is the fact that Cleveland Jr. has been negatively affected by the split. It's part of the reason why he now looks and acts differently in ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''.
** An even sadder episode is "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)", in which Brian breaks up with his girlfriend Jillian, and when he wants to make amends, she's already now dating Mayor West. They tried to soften this during the credits, to little effect.
** "The D in Apartment 23" has Brian [[GetOut kicked out]] [[EtTuBrute by the Griffins]] after being ostracized by all of Quahog for a mean-spirited tweet.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
** "Ricky Spanish [-(''[[RunningGag Ricky Spanish...]]'')-]" ends with Steve failing to redeem Roger's Ricky Spanish persona, getting framed for the heist Ricky committed and sent to prison. Stan and Francine bail Steve out, but the damage is already done; Steve TookALevelInCynic and now hates Ricky as much as everyone else does. Even worse, the jar with the caterpillar Steve was raising falls into the water. The caterpillar becomes a butterfly as the jar drifts out to sea, but it dies soon after realizing it's trapped in the jar, [[RuleOfSymbolism reflecting the death of Steve's innocence and naivete]]. The sad voiceover by Creator/WernerHerzog doesn't help.
** "Hot Water" ends with an evil hot tub (voiced by Cee-Lo Green) killing Principal Lewis and the hot tub salesmen, and swallowing Francine whole. Stan tries to save her but the hot tub kicks his ass and sends him flying through the roof. He suddenly realizes how to kill it but immediately dies of internal bleeding, and the episode ends with Cee-Lo Green himself telling the audience that Stan is dead and that the show's over. This was originally going to be the series finale if the show hadn't been renewed.

** "Arnold Betrays Iggy" ends with Arnold, finally fed up with the HumiliationConga Iggy put him through, angrily ending his friendship with him for forcing him to wear bunny pajamas, while Iggy desperately pleads for forgiveness.
** "Helga and the Nanny" ends with Helga's home life [[StatusQuoIsGod back to its regular dysfunctional state]].
*** Compounding the two above examples is that "Helga and the Nanny" and "Arnold Betrays Iggy" were actually paired together.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' - "Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker": Not quite a YouCantFightFate as it would've happened without him going back in time, but Timmy goes back in time to try to stop his teacher from becoming madly obsessed with fairy godparents; he successfully stops it from happening the way it did originally (it was apparently Cosmo's fault), but then, thanks to Present Day Cosmo, ends up making it happen anyway. And he can't go back to fix what happened because Jorgen and his 70s counterpart have banned him from going back to March 15, 1972 forever.
* ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'':
** "Hello Stranger": a subversion of the VisitByDivorcedDad trope.
** In "Driven to Extremes", Ginger stands up to her [[SadistTeacher cruel substitute teacher]] Mrs. Grimley, and the episode ends with Ginger in detention. What's worse is that [[KarmaHoudini Mrs. Grimley gets no comeuppance for ruling the class with an iron hand]]. The subplot with Brandon Higsby entering the pet show doesn't end well either - he loses and gets booed by the entire audience because Mr. Licorice refuses to perform.
** In "No Hope for Courtney", Ms. Gordon dies and Carl starts to cry at the news of this. Originally, Ms. Gordon was going to come out of retirement, but the voice actor DiedDuringProduction so it was rewritten that her character died as well. Since Ms. Gordon died and also her actor, you might say it's a TheCharacterDiedWithHim.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'', of all places, for an animated sci-fi/comedy has a really overly-dramatic Downer Ending in "Mist Opportunities". Jenny meets up with her friend Misty, whose ways of fighting evil aren't what Jenny cottons to. In the end, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Jenny and Misty fight, and Misty beats the ever-living crap out of Jenny, and apparently defeating her.]] And rather than finishing off the robot girl, Misty gives her a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "reason you suck speech"]] and leaves her, scrapped in a partially-destroyed Tremorton.

* The ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' episode "Public Enemies" ends with [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner Walker]] essentially ''winning'', having managed to turn almost the entire town of Amity Park against Danny (including ''Jack and Maddie'' now viewing him as a threat to be destroyed) and labeling him as the main cause of ghost attacks. Sure, Walker gets sucked back into the [[PhantomZone Ghost Zone]] at the end, but it's only because Wulf [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificed his own newfound freedom to do so]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' episode "Now With More Flava" ends with Henry and June losing their jobs as the hosts of the show and they end up as security guards, which was their biggest concern in the episode. To make things worse, it was also the last episode of the series.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'': In "Magical Golden Singing Cheeses", Ren and Stimpy are medieval peasants who need the titular cheeses to stave off hunger. When they each take a bite, however, the cheeses turn into princesses made of milk curds who they're then forced to wed. As the narrator points out, since the duo was never able to eat the cheeses, they ended up starving to death offscreen not long after.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'':
** Season 8 ends with Garmadon conquering Ninjago City, with only Lloyd and Nya left to fight back, and Kai, Jay, Zane, Cole, and Wu stranded in the Realm of Oni and Dragons, and they are beleived to be dead by Lloyd and Nya.

** The short, "Out of Odor" from the episode, "Viewer Mail Day" ends this way. Elmyra has her mindset on having Fifi as her pet but first has to get rid of her stink. After a mean use of trickery and a brief chase, Elmyra finally captures poor Fifi. This one was lampshaded by Fifi herself.

*** There is, however, a popular fan theory that "Out of Odor" might be a prequel to the episode "Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow", which also shows Fifi as one of Elmyra's pets and she is rescued by Buster.
** The short, "One Beer" from the episode, "Elephant Issues" ends with Buster, Plucky, and Hamton driving off a cliff and getting killed as their car crashes into a graveyard. This is lampshaded by Buster at the end of the episode.
---> '''Buster''': "So, do we get to do a funny episode tomorrow?"
*** The episode actually got pulled from syndication because of it!

--->'''Daffy:''' This ending is despicable!

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', there was the short musical number [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN6ef0ED9aI "The Ballad of Magellan"]], justified, seeing as the three siblings are singing about the final voyage of Ferdinand Magellan (which he didn't survive either in-universe or out).
** "Mighty Wakko at the Bat", another parody of ''Casey at the Bat'', makes the same subversion as the ''Tiny Toons'' example above, though it's Wakko sliding home, not getting the homerun.
* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
** ''[[WesternAnimation/PigsIsPigs1937 Pigs is Pigs]]'': Piggy Hamhock turns out to have only been dreaming that he suffered a horrible death by exploding from overeating. He hears his mother call him down to breakfast... and grins at the camera before running downstairs to aggressively glut himself. This shows the protagonist learned nothing from his horrible nightmare and is incapable of change. This is also the last short to star the character.
** "What's Opera, Doc," Elmer Fudd has "killed the wabbit," and the dead WesternAnimation/BugsBunny gets up so he can do a bit of LampshadeHanging: "What did you expect in an opera, a happy ending?" It's true: most famous operas have {{Downer Ending}}s.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'':
** The episode "Twisted Sister" has a horrible Downer Ending. The girls create a new sister named Bunny. Despite her infantile mind and hulking, Quasimodo-like physique, she learns to be a hero, saves the day, and then just randomly... explodes, probably due to them missing ingredients when they made her. [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Even]] ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness the narrator]]'' [[ManlyTears is in tears]] as the episode ends, complete with [[DarkReprise a very melancholy version of the background music for the end shot]]. What a MindScrew for any kid watching it. Some odd parallels between ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen'' can be found here as well. And of course, that's the episode that finally won the show a [[OscarBait damn Emmy.]]
** Also, "A Very Special Blossom" also has a downer ending as well. The episode ends with Blossom going to jail for stealing the golf club bag. In the end title, the narrator said that the day was saved, thanks to Bubbles and Buttercup. And we see Blossom behind bars. (That was a little deceptive; her actual sentence was community service.)
** ''Fallen Arches'' has Blossom decide to deal with a trio of elderly villains by bringing back their old arch enemies to deal with them, on the grounds that they must "Respect their elders". The episode ends with [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome both parties badly injured simply from exerting themselves too much, and all others involved agreeing that the Powerpuff Girls should've just dealt with the situation themselves]]. To top it off, the usual closing shot instead features [[WhatTheHellHero Bubbles and Buttercup glaring angrily down at poor Blossom]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero for causing all this to happen.]]
* Those of us who didn't think it was protected by the RuleOfFunny thought the ending to ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'' fell under this: it looks like something's gone right for Lumpus, when it turns out he's just some looney who has the real Scoutmaster, an aged version of Heffer from ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', locked up in a closet and is dragged off to a looney bin. A person actually complained to the creator that it was a low note for a finale, so he told her that Jane bailed Lumpus out and they lived HappilyEverAfter in Acorn Flats... but still...
* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' often ends with either the Eds humiliated or captured by the Kanker Sisters, and they're often funny endings, since it is a funny show. But only very few endings actually qualifies for a Downer Ending:
** The ending to "If It Smells Like An Ed". The first act had the Eds being accused of ruining Friendship Day (Ed stealing Sarah's paintbrush, Edd wiping Plank's mouth off and Eddy piercing the Heart of Friendship with a hockey stick), and tried to [[ClearMyName clear their names]]. Unfortunately, Act II has the Eds accused of [[BoundAndGagged bounding and gagging]] Jonny when actually, they found him this way. The kids refused to believe the Eds and chased them into the woods. The Eds hid in a shed, only to run into The Kanker Sisters. [[SadisticChoice The cowardly three are then trapped between the kids, who are practically wishing for the Eds to die, and the Kankers, who demand the Eds to make out with them]]. The Eds prefered to have fruit pelted at them by the kids. It was then revealed that [[TheDogWasTheMastermind Jimmy, of all people, set them up]]. His motive? [[ChekhovsGun The wedgie]] (and subsequent humiliation) given to him earlier that day by Eddy. He then has the Kankers take the Eds away. The blow is softened somewhat after Jimmy slips on a Karma-placed banana peel, but still...
** The episode "Take This Ed and Shove It" also qualifies in a way -- Eddy had just woken up from the RipVanWinkle and declares, "[[GrowingUpSucks I don't ever wanna grow up!]]" Cue Eddy waking up again, back as an old man. He soon realizes that he fell asleep reminiscing about his childhood with his friends. The episode ends with him wishing he was still a kid. ''And this was [[SeriesFauxnale the original series finale]].''
* The final two-parter of the short-lived series ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'' is probably the most upsetting use of a downer ending as the entire main cast with the exception of Principal Scudworth are frozen in a meat locker just as Abe Lincoln realizes his feelings for Joan of Arc only to discover she has just slept with J.F.K. the show ends with a ToBeContinued...

* The ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' episode "Simple" has Ben answering an alien girl's request to come to her planet and end the war going on between the blue people and the red people. By the end of the episode, Ben gets both sides mad at him for accidentally destroying the statue of a person they respect. To add insult to injury, the little girl who asked Ben to stop the war decides that she hates Ben even more than the war. Downplayed in that the girl finds a treasure chest full of riches Kevin left behind.
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'':
** "Duped" ends with Julie, Kevin, and Gwen all mad at Ben for splitting himself into 3 separate Ben's to do three separate things at once and caused them all major problems due to their different attitudes. Julie and Gwen storm off in anger with Kevin calling Ben out for being "so insensitive" before following them in disappointment, leaving Ben alone to repent for what he did.
** "Revenge of the Swarm" ends with Elena killing herself to stop the Hive Queen... only to reveal that they are still active. What a SenselessSacrifice.
* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'':
** Episode 26. The Freak of Crystal Cove turns out to be Fred's dad, the Mayor, who we now learn ''isn't'' Fred's dad at all and was trying to find the supposed treasure of Crystal Cove. Fred had proposed marriage to Daphne, but that's now in indefinite abeyance as he's out to find his real parents and who he really is. Velma is now on everyone's sh*t list for not coming clean about Angel Dynamite's real identity (original Mystery Inc. member Cassidy Williams), Shaggy is getting sent to military school, and Scooby is being sent to a farm. Original Mystery Inc. mascot Professor Pericles has made off with both segments of the Planispheric Disc (telling the whereabouts of the treasure), and the episode--and season--ends with Scooby vowing to hunt down Pericles and reunite the gang.
** [[spoiler: The season 2 premiere is as much a downer as the season 1 finale. The gang--save for Daphne--has reunited at Crystal Cove's beckoning because of a creature called Crybaby Clown. Fred's trap to capture him fails because Daphne, who now has a new boyfriend, was not at the position he called for. Fred's confidence is shattered as Crystal Cove is left in Crybaby Clown's destructive wake, and Velma assesses that the city will hate them even more.]]
** Then there's [[spoiler:episode 37. Cassidy forms an uneasy alliance with the gang to trace the origins of Germanic robots that tried to kill her earlier in the episode. They (along with 1967 H-B stars Tom, Tubb, Scooby the seal and their Moby Dick submarine) find their way to an underwater city that was the original Crystal Cove settlement. The show's villain, previous Mystery Inc. mascot Professor Pericles, is the culprit and before escaping he sets off detonation charges. Cassidy stays behind so the rest can escape in the sub, but a shattered diving helmet is all they find and the official word from producer Tony Cervone is that Cassidy did not survive. The episode ends with the gang mourning Cassidy.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'''s season 4 finale ends with Margaret admitting that she loves Mordecai, but then shows him the letter of acceptance to her dream school. Believing she may never have another chance like this again, she [[DidNotGetTheGirl declines Mordecai's offer to be his girl]] and runs out the door sobbing.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has this happen more often than it should:
** Most prominently in "I Remember You", which simply ends with the character in tears and features one of the most cruel and brutally honest examples of SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome ever, and "''The Lich''" (notably, a season finale), which ends with the heroes discovering that they just did exactly what the BigBad wanted them to.
** The ending of "Frost & Fire" certainly qualifies. In the end, Finn writes fake letters to Flame Princess and Ice King to have them fight, because when they fought earlier it caused Finn to have wet dreams about it, and it's also very important as well because the Cosmic Owl is in it as well. After he completes his dream, he reveals the truth to Flame Princess and Ice King. Flame Princess is so hurt and depressed she dumps him. Then in the next episode, "Too Old", Finn went back to attempting to win Princess Bubblegum's heart one last time, and realized Flame Princess was the one for him, but Jake ominously stated she might have moved on. The arc was concluded with the episode "Earth & Water", where Flame Princess once and for all officially dumped Finn. And she made it very clear in "The Red Throne" that she no longer loves Finn because he was still acting like a dick trying to win her back.
** "The Eyes": "I'm... still not happy."
** "Bad Timing", where LSP accidentally transports her boyfriend Johnny's molecules to another dimension where he can see her but she can't see him. Devastated by what she's done, she convinces Bubblegum to erase her memories but reverts to her old jerky self when she follows through with it.
** "Escape from the Citadel" is pretty bad. Finn has finally found one of his actual parents, meaning he's not the last human anymore, but his father wants nothing to do with him and tries to get away. Finn's grass sword attaches to the ship Finn's father is on, but the grass sword, and Finn's entire arm, get pulled off, and his father escapes. The only good thing to happen is that the Lich was transformed into a humanoid child form, who eventually becomes a completely separate person from him.
** The WholeEpisodeFlashback "Evergreen" ends with Gunther instructed into putting on the [[ArtifactOfDoom crown]] by Urgence Evergreen, who tells him to use it to destroy the comet that will wipe out all life on the planet. However, the crown instead grants Gunther's deepest wish, to be like his master. This results in him transforming into a mangled copy of Evergreen who can only yell "Gunther, no!" over and over. The comet hits Earth and wipes out the dinosaurs... and when we see the present day, we learn a second comet is on its way towards Ooo.
** "Three Buckets". Finn is forced to destroy Fern (who wanted to KillAndReplace him) and ends up deeply regretting it.
* How about every episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo''. What sucks is that the series finale is included. Johnny gets famous after Shaquille O'Neal believes him to be a GoodLuckCharm around whenever he plays. Unfortunately, Johnny leaves Shaq to use the bathroom when it really matters, and Shaq actually does good without him, leading him to the realization that Johnny didn't really create luck, and Johnny goes to drown his loss with Creator/SethGreen and [[WesternAnimation/TheHuckleberryHoundShow Huckleberry Hound]].
** Even worse, though, has to be the Valentine's Day special. After all the disappointments and beatdowns he's suffered, Johnny FINALLY found a girl that was not only hot, but WILLING to be his date, only to then reveal to him that since she's a secret agent, they can't be together. So she mindwipes him and he ends up forgetting about her and going back to being alone and looking for a girlfriend that will never come.
* ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Loss" has a Definite downer Ending. [[spoiler:Razer]], who seems to be overcoming the [[spoiler:death of his wife]] and ready to start a life with [[spoiler:Aya]], can only watch as [[spoiler:Aya get blasted by the Anti-Monitor's anti-matter WaveMotionGun]] after she [[spoiler: pushes him out of it's path]]. He's then forced to [[spoiler: watch her die in his arms]] as he tearfully begs her to [[spoiler:live, and that he loves her.]] Fixed after Aya turns up alive (in a Man-hunter body) in "Cold Fury" only to bond with Anti-Monitor's body at the end and continue what he started after Razer reconsiders what he said.
* The ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'' episode "A Family Crisis" ends with [[spoiler:Octus, part of the main trio, dead. Lance angrily blows up a Mutraddi base in response, not that it helps them]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'':
** "The Lesson" ends with Gumball and Darwin escaping from the school's prison-like detention. Principal Brown then points out that, since they're escaping from ''school'', they're just going to have to keep coming back anyway.
** "The Kids" ends with Gumball and Darwin coming to terms with the fact that they're growing up and realizing that [[NotGrowingUpSucks it would actually be pretty awful if they didn't.]] Then they find out that they're one of a small percentage of people who never age.
** "The Joy" ends with every one in the school still infected by the Joy virus, and Miss Simian, the only person who knows how to cure it, is taken down by the Joy zombies before she can. She tries to say it on video right before getting infected, but doesn't know the name of the song and doesn't have the vocal range to sing it.
** "The Butterfly" ends with Gumball and Darwin innocently looking out the window of their classroom and noticing that the butterfly that flew off has come back, [[FailedASpotCheck completely missing]] the tornado that's about to hit the school.
** "The Nobody" has an amnesiac Rob searching for a purpose in life. In the end, since "all the good personalities are taken", he decides to take on a ''bad'' personality and become Elmore's resident villain. It's at this point that he remembers who he really is and vows to become Gumball and Darwin's ArchEnemy as revenge for ignoring him while he was trapped in the void in "The Void"... then Gumball and Darwin shrug it off and walk home, much to his dismay.
** "The Outside" ends with Richard's father, Frankie (who was assumed by Anais to have been in prison which explains his extended absence in his son's life and concluding they need to make their home into a prison for him) revealing to the Wattersons that he was never in prison, though he ''was'' sentenced to three days and has been on the run ever since. When Richard forgives him for also trying to scam them for free rent and food in their home and offers him to stay with the Wattersons for as long as he wants, Frankie begins to consider... and remembers everything the Wattersons put him through because of the aforementioned assumption and rejects the invite. Then Frankie gets arrested for real when the Donut Cop overhears his confession and accepts prison over the family, [[YankTheDogsChain leaving Richard behind once again.]]
** "The Apprentice" ends with Mr. Fitzgerald losing the golf game and the hospital contract and Gumball being taken on an ambulance by paramedics.
** "The Neighbor" ends with the Wattersons' neighbor Harry Gedges (under the pseudonym Gary Hedges) upset about his house blowing up and telling Gumball and Darwin that they should never talk to him again.
** The GrandFinale "The Inquisition" ended with [[spoiler: Rob attempting to warn everyone about [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall their world coming to an end]] only for Tina to beat him unconscious in the middle of his MotiveRant. When he comes to in the middle of the night, [[EldritchLocation the Void]] opens up and starts consuming the world, taking Rob first.]] Cue FreezeFrameEnding, roll credits, the end. Subverted, as this ended up being a SequelHook for TheMovie.
* The ''Screwy Squirrel'' cartoon "Lonesome Lenny" entails a big {{Manchild}} of a dog who pines for companionship, so his owner buys him Screwy. [[AndCallHimGeorge Lenny is unaware of his own strength as his last companion is a now deceased little mouse]], and at the end of the cartoon, Screwy meets the same fate. Screwy lampshades and subverts this at the same time with a sign that reads "Sad ending, isn't it?" (Word is that Screwy Squirrel lasted only four cartoons because his abrasive nature alienated him from audiences, so Tex Avery killed him off here.)
** Similarly, "WesternAnimation/BattyBaseball" had a running gag of a baseball catcher constantly creeping up in front of the batter and catching the pitch as the batter swings. The next-to-last scene has a zoom-in of the batter as he swings followed by the ghastly sound of breaking. The scene goes dark as the announcer intones "And now, a moment of silence" with the catcher ascending to Heaven with the "Sad ending, isn't it?" sign.
* Most episodes of ''Grizzy & the Lemmings'' has things end badly for both titular characters.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'': In the early episode "The Tycoon", the perfect storm of events results in Fred filling in the role of [[IdenticalStranger an identical millionaire]] who is fed up with the business life and left his company. While Fred quickly grows weary of the business life, the millionaire wanders Bedrock and ends up bumping into Wilma, Barney, and Betty (who they mistake for Fred) and treats them like dirt every time they meet. Eventually, both Fred and the millionaire flee back to their respective lives, but Fred returns home to find his wife and neighbors incredibly furious with him for what appears to him to be no apparent reason and threatening to sever ties with him entirely. The episode ends with the three of them still screaming angrily at a confused and upset Fred who doesn't know what's wrong.
* The finale of ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' ("The Last One Forever And Ever (For Real This Time) (We ?#@!! Mean It)") [[spoiler:had Frylock dying because the power in his jewel was giving out. Shake finds himself in a similar situation and accompanies the only person capable of going into space to retrieve a replacement jewel from the giant mother clam in which it is entombed--Meatwad. He succeeds, but Shake is gobbled up by minion clams (he's allergic to shellfish) and by time Meatwad returns, Frylock dies as Meatwad forgot to bring the jewel with him. Meatwad gets married and has two kids; he takes the family to the house where he lived with his Aqua Teen mates, but with nobody there any longer (even Carl), he sadly packs the family in the car and leaves.]]
** [[spoiler:Well, actually there was another episode after this one, giving the series a less sad note to end on.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'':
** [[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E6RickPotionNumber9 "Rick Potion #9"]] ends with the entire human race being converted in [[BodyHorror Cronenbergs]]. Rick cuts his losses and moves with Morty to another parallel reality where they cured the planet but died in a lab accident moments later, [[KillAndReplace seemlessly taking over their lives]]. Meanwhile Beth, Jerry and Summer are [[FateWorseThanDeath left the only living people in a brutal post-apocalyptic world]].
** [[Recap/RickAndMortyS2E3AutoEroticAssimilation "Auto Erotic Assimilation"]]. Rick runs into an old lover of his, an alien hive mind named Unity. It ends when Summer convinces Unity that Rick is a bad influence on her, causing her to leave him and Rick to attempt (and fail) to commit suicide.
** [[Recap/RickAndMortyS2E10TheWeddingSquanchers "The Wedding Squanchers"]] is this for Season 2. [[ChekhovsGunman Tammy turns out to be an undercover agent for the Galactic Federation]] and was using her wedding to Birdperson to capture Rick and his friends. The Smiths escape but Birdperson and Squanchy are killed, and Rick has a HeelRealization and surrenders to the Federation to ensure his family can have a normal life on an alien-occupied Earth, but only Jerry (who always hated Rick and was the only person to stand from benefitting from the Federation) is happy about any of this.
** [[Recap/RickAndMortyS4E2TheOldManAndTheSeat "The Old Man and the Seat"]] has a surprise downer ending. Rick visits his new friend Tony, the guy who was using Rick's special private toilet without his permission ([[{{Tsundere}} whom Rick refuses to admit was his friend]]) [[spoiler:only to find out that Tony was killed in a mountaineering accident after quitting his job to live a happier life - [[NiceJobBreakingItHero because Rick told him to]]. The episode ends with Rick sitting alone forlon on the toilet, dejectedly watching the message he left for Tony which consists of dozens of holographic Ricks standing around the toilet mocking him with a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech scathing speech]] about being lonely and nobody wanting to be around him, [[NotSoDifferentRemark a speech which ends up applying to Rick perfectly after everything that had happened]].]]
-->'''[[spoiler:Holo!]]Rick''': [[spoiler:There he is! There's our guy! Congrats, Tony! Have fun with your stupid toilet that you get to use all by yourself now. Enjoy [[LonelyAtTheTop using it all by yourself]] while you sit there and think about how nobody wants to be around you and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero how you ruined it for yourself]] because [[{{Jerkass}} you're a huge piece of shit]]. Look at you sitting there, King Shit on his throne of loneliness. Enjoy this toilet with a thousand of me screaming every time you take a shit! All hail His Majesty, the saddest piece of garbage in the entire cosmos! Long live the big bad doo-doo daddy! May his reign last a thousand years!]]
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/SheepInTheBigCity'' episode "Going off the Sheep End". Sheep is finally captured by the military all while he's freakishly huge and his love interest won't even give him a kiss. 'The End' label is shown after... and the LemonyNarrator ''complains'' about how that was a super Downer Ending for the series, and [[RevisedEnding so they showed a new ending where Sheep manages to cheat out such an end and get a much better one.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Opal}}'': Claire is still stuck in her horrendous life, with her only comfort being an imaginary world based off a billboard across her bedroom window. The final shot has her in a TroubledFetalPosition, imagining her fake family once again as her real family relentlessly bangs on the door, trying to get her out, while the final shot zooms back out of her head and the house, confirming that Claire is fantasizing, she's living a horrible life, and that the billboard really is the only thing across the street.
* ''WesternAnimation/PerfectHairForever'': Gerald seems to go insane with trying to get Brenda from Young Man. After Sherman eats the Hamburger Necklace that could have possibly worked somehow, he resorts to assassinating him. The result isn't shown, but at some point after that, Coiffio's box army comes back into play and overruns the Tunaminium. In short, Young Man loses his life, Brenda loses her fiance, and Gerald loses his mind and doesn't get his perfect hair.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' is more or less composed of nothing ''but'' these, except for the season finales. The villain always tends to be one step ahead of the heroes and with each step closer to achieving their plans, all the heroes tend to get is motivation to do better next time... and they're lucky to even achieve ''that!'' The heroes are on the losing side of the war for just about every episode.
* The [[WesternAnimation/TheLastKidsOnEarth Last Kids on Earth]] episode, ''Stay on Target'' show Jack screwing up his mission to supply food for him and the team and everyone is peeved for his delay.

* At the end of the ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama World Tour'' finale, Heather throws [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext a pineapple into the volcano, causing it to erupt]], almost kill everyone in a huge meteor shower, and leave Alejandro brutally injured and stuffed into a robotic suit - all on top of the fact that the prize money is destroyed by the volcano. Subverted in that everyone is revealed to be alive and well in the following season, & Alejandro is eventually released from the robot.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/BeastWars Transformers Beast Wars]]'' ended in a bittersweet finale. Though the Maximals had defeated and captured Megatron, they suffered heavy casualties as well. The first Dinobot sacrificed himself earlier on to prevent Megatron from destroying the proto-humans. Depth Charge killed himself and Rampage in a final attempt to stop Megatron from raising the Nemesis (he didn't succeed, though he did get closure with his long-time nemesis Rampage). Tigatron and Airazor came back as one being, Tigerhawk, only to be gunned down by Megatron aboard the Nemesis in a last-ditch effort to stall Megatron. The Transmetal II Dinobot [[HeelFaceTurn finally turned good]] only to die just a few seconds later after refusing to save himself from the exploding warship. Heroes aside, fans have also expressed sadness with the deaths of the Predacons as well, including Rampage, Inferno, and Tarantulas. If we're counting Transmutate, both Dinobots as separate characters, and Tigatron, Airazor, and Tigerhawk as separate as well, then Beast Wars ended with a death toll of 14 characters out of 22. That's more than half the entire cast.
** The opening to ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' makes this an even bigger downer ending. Not only did it turn out that they lost the beast wars, they inadvertently gave Megatron the power to conquer all of cybertron, and enacting a genocide. Of the surviving few Maximals left, two of them were kidnapped and transformed into Megatron's new generals, while the rest were robbed of their transformations and memories.
** ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' had numerous episodes end with the bad guys having victories, or simply leaving everyone down and out.
** The episode "Transmutate" had the eponymous character die trying to stop its friends from killing each other, with both [[KnightInShiningArmor Silverbolt]] and [[AxCrazy Rampage]] mourning its death.
** The episode "The Probe", a Maximal probe travels to Earth. The Maximals try to get a signal to it, but Megatron destroys their tower, denying them their chance to get home.
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' episode, "The Golden Lagoon", Beachcomber discovers a quiet, peaceful, Bambi-esque clearing filled with wildlife. A closer look reveals a lake of liquid "electrum," a gold and silver compound with the [[AppliedPhlebotinum oddly useful effect]] of making Transformers apparently invulnerable. He attempts to keep it to himself but the Decepticons find it anyway and proceed to let all hell break loose. Eventually, the Autobots win out but it doesn't happen without the place being gutted by the ensuing chaos. At the end, all Beachcomber can do is look dejected at the ruined landscape and utter "Yeah... we won."
** The second season of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' ends with Optimus being forced to destroy a relic that could restore Cybertron, only for the Decepticons to establish a new base, right outside the Autobots base, forcing the Autobots to scatter to the winds, while Optimus remains behind to destroy the ground bridge, only for the Decepticons to use a new superweapon to level the base. The last shot of the season? Optimus' sparking arm sticking out of the remains of the Autobot base.
* Averted in the Walter Lantz cartoon ''The Flying Turtle.'' Herman the turtle wants to learn how to fly, so he gets an eagle to take him up almost to the edge of outer space. When he finally tries to fly he falls all the way to Earth and dies in the process. [[spoiler: However he ends up in turtle heaven, able to fly and happy as a clam.]]

* The last episode of ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'' ends with Brendan accidentally dropping his beloved video camera out of the window of a car and watching it get run over and smashed by another car, after he had given up on his dream of being a filmmaker because he believed that his movies shouldn't be watched, despite producing impressive material for an 8-year old with a cheap camcorder. What saves it from being a true downer is that he moves on from it very quickly, though, and, watching everything he'd filmed in the past, realizes he had the most fun making them rather than seeing how they turned out.

-->'''Cartman:''' And they all lived happily ever after... except for Kyle, who died of AIDS 2 weeks later.
-->'''Kyle:''' Goddamnit, Cartman!

** "Lice Capades" had a downer ending for both the lice and the kids. ALL of the kids were revealed to have lice, including the girls, and the louse hero lost his loved ones.
*** The louse hero does manage to save his baby and find refuge in a new home [[spoiler:in Angelina Jolie's pubic hair]] where, it's implied, they can live happily without fear, so this one might be upgraded to BittersweetEnding on that front.

* The British animated film ''Literature/ThePlagueDogs'' is depressing throughout, with the story being based around two dogs who escape from an animal testing lab and try to survive in the Lake District. However, even by the standards of the rest of the film, the ending can still be considered a downer. The film ends with the two dogs being hunted by the Army, who believe that they are carrying the bubonic plague. The dogs are cornered at the beach, and try to swim to an island that doesn't really exist. It is implied that they drown.
** The book's ending is quite nice, though. Read it, it'll cheer you up.
** It's been suggested that the "island" in question actually is death. Because really, life's been [[FateWorseThanDeath so painfully cruel]] to Rowf and Snitter that death could only be a blessing.

* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' had quite a few episodes end on a low note, but managed to actually subvert this trope for the GrandFinale. Clay completely ruins his marriage and his affair with the coach, and his life is left in shambles, and even with Orel's upbeat happiness, he hates Clay. While Clay is a {{Jerkass}}, it's implied that Orel's life is pretty messed up too as his idealism is shattered. However, the subversion is that fast forward many years, and Orel grows up to raise a functional family.
* The ending of ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqD90wP-wf0 Foofle's Train Ride (1959)]]'' could be seen as a downer.
* The series ''WesternAnimation/DeltaState'' ends on a definitive low note. After the heroes manage to recover their lost memories, vanquish the BigBad once and for all and avert the apocalypse, Luna, who has the power of precognition, sees an alternate ending to a vision of the future she had repeatedly over the course of the series: in the original ending, the world is destroyed; in her new vision, she foresees that her and her friends will eventually be possessed by rifters, the bad guys.
* The ending to the episode ''Strawberry's Big Journey'' from ''WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake'' subverts this. Strawberry Shortcake and her friends fail to reach their objective: seeing a flower that blooms only once a decade, but don't feel all that bad, since they had fun on the way.
* Season one of ''WesternAnimation/TitanMaximum'' ends with Gibbs succeeding at frying Mercury and killing billions of old people. The episode was titled "[[MeaningfulName One Billion Dead Grandparents]]" after all. In the DVDCommentary, writer Matt Senreich actually invokes the trope - "Downer Ending right there. Downer Ending."

*** A similar case occurred in "[[Recap/ThomasAndFriendsS2E11PercyTakesThePlunge Percy Takes The Plunge]]". After letting his curiosity get the best of him, Percy gets pushed into off the ledge of a peer by backstabbing trucks, half plunged into the sea. Similarly, he gets scolded by The Fat Controller and left there until high tide, finally lifted out in a sorry state. To rub salt into the wound, he is sent to the Works by a very amused Henry (who he laughed at earlier).

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'' had a couple of BittersweetEnding episodes that veered plenty bitter. The ''pilot episode'' "Phoenix", for one. TheHero Zachary Foxx is gunned down and paralyzed, only to be [[WeCanRebuildHim fitted with experimental cyberware]], the BigBad is loose in the galaxy and has a few dozen humans hostage after a successful attack on a League Planet. The privateer still has Zach's wife. The only good parts are that the kids escaped (though Mandell's original pilot had them captured as well), and that [=BETA=] authorized the Ranger team to strike back.
* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' just loved these after getting DarkerAndEdgier. Let's begin, shall we?:
** ''Web World Wars'' ends with Bob [[spoiler:exiled in the web and Megabyte in position to take over]].
** ''Game Over'' ends with Enzo [[spoiler: '''[[EyeScream losing an eye]]''' and the game resulting in everyone thinking he's dead]].
** ''System Crash'' ends with Phong explaining that despite their hard work, Mainframe is still doomed.
** Then comes the cliffhanger in season 4, where [[spoiler:Megabyte has taken over the Principal office]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'' episode "Red Strikes Back" - the duo once again encounter Red Riding Hood, she blissfully ignores her grandma's cries for help as she's yet again devoured by the wolf, and encounters the witch from Hansel and Gretel who notices her and the dogs munching on her house; she takes Red inside and forces her to eat a ton of food. Once she grows wise to the witch's plan to eat her, she kicks her and attempts to escape, but the witch uses her powers to trap her in a cage; she then imprisons her and the dogs and summons food for the dogs to feed Red. Two years pass and Red is very obese; the witch turns into a frog and eats her, after which she then informs the dogs that she's still hungry. The dogs try to persuade her not to eat them and they tell her that they just want some cheese; she summons some easy cheese and sprays it on them and she shadow engulfs them and we hear chomping and gulping sounds. In the ending title card, it shows them and Red inside her stomach surrounded by the digestive acids.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** "Swarm of the Century" ends with the Mane Six finding that Ponyville was destroyed by the Parasprites.
** "Just For Sidekicks" ends with Spike having lost all his earnings from his arduous time babysitting the cast's pets.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'':
** The episode "Nerves of Steal". Buster is grounded for a month after revealing to the owner of the drugstore that he stole a Cybertoy. Arthur also receives punishment for trying to help cover up the theft when Buster confessed to him, and even though he's implied to receive less punishment given he wasn't culprit, his parents still sternly tell him how disappointed they are in him for not coming clean.
** "Francine's Split Decision" ends with Francine being forced to wash her father's garbage truck, (among other chores) as punishment for missing part of her cousin's bar mitzvah.
** Happens in-universe in the movie "The Squirrels", featured in the episode of the same name, where [[TheBadGuyWins aggressive squirrels take over the world]]. (The episode itself is an aversion.)
* The ''{{WesternAnimation/Motorcity}}'' episode "Vega" [[spoiler:ends with Mike having been captured by Kane, with his execution being planned. Motorcity is now in shambles due to [=KaneCo=] bots running amok without the Burners able to help]].
* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' has "Whoo Gives a Hoot?" The Planeteers attempt to stop Looten Plunder with a court injunction against clear-cutting an old-growth forest where an endangered species of owl lives. They fail and the episode ends on that note, with Plunder taunting them to try and stop him again.
* ''WesternAnimation/BraveStarr'':
** One would think "The Price" is your typical 80's DrugsAreBad episode. It ends with a boy ''dying'' from a drug overdose.
** That wasn't the only one. In "Fallen Idol". Bravestarr discovers that his former mentor and hero Jingles Morgan [[BrokenPedestal is now a wanted man]] - wanted for ''murder''. Worse, the guy is completely unrepentant, and upon his arrest, and Bravestarr attempts to understand why only for Morgan to pauses and show how far he is down the MoralEventHorizon by saying "I never asked to be your 'hero'".
* Quite a few ''WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther'' shorts. Some of the most memorable:
** Pink enters a shrine and emerges cursed to morph into different animals every few seconds.
** While trying to kill a fly, he is swallowed alive by a vacuum cleaner, which then sucks up the entire scenery and finally ''itself''.
** After spending an entire episode cleaning up a polluted city as punishment for littering, a TickertapeParade is thrown in his honor - after which [[AllForNothing he is forced to clean up the city]] ''[[AllForNothing again]]''.
* ''WesternAnimation/ToadPatrol'''s episode "The Sacrifice" ends with [[spoiler: Earth Star turning into a toadstool indefinitely, and Beauty Stem breaking down into tears over it.]]

* Some episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' have bittersweet or outright sad endings. "[=KJEM=]" ends with The Misfits getting arrested for being a part of an illegal radio broadcast, despite the fact they were tricked and thought it was a legit broadcast.
* The final episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheWorldOfDavidTheGnome''. [[spoiler: David and Lisa [[TearJerker both die]]. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] as their fox, Swift makes friends with a glasses-wearing David look-alike named Christopher and his vixen friend, Agnes shortly after watching David and Lisa go]].
* The first season (and possibly the series) of ''WesternAnimation/GaryAndHisDemons'' ended with Gary finally finding [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne the new Chosen One to replace him after searching for decades]], and trying to pass the torch by driving him up to a cliff to watch the sunset and giving him his sword and some wine. [[spoiler:His replacement then falls off the cliff in a drunken stupor, ending up quadriplegic and comatose. Gary's boss then tells him that he'll have to keep working for another 15 years while they wait for a new Chosen One, and he breaks down crying in the hallway.]]
** Interestingly enough, there was a later episode with [[RecycledScript the same plot]], only done with a [[PrinceAndPauper king]] that ended on a much happier note, possibly an example of AuthorsSavingThrow.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollz}}'' episode "The Day the Magic Died" ends with the BFFL and their boyfriends discover that the magic in Trollzopolis had faded and all hope is lost.[[note]]Fortunately, hope is regained in the [[DownerBeginning Downer Begined]] later episode "Bringing Back the Magic".[[/note]]
* The third season-ending of ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'' is a doozy:
** Trevor and Sypha manage to prevent the Lindhelm priory's plot to resurrect Dracula, but the entire village has become a ghost town, the citizenry having been sacrificed. Worse still, the town's Judge, who seemed to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who gave his life protecting the village, is revealed to be a SerialKiller. The entire experience leaves Sypha, a WideEyedIdealist when the season began, [[TookALevelInCynic jaded and disillusioned]].
** Alucard had been seduced by his two protoges, Sumi and Taka, who took advantage of his loneliness to try and kill him in a misguided attempt to NeverBeHurtAgain. Alucard is forced to kill them in self-defense and has his own faith in humanity shattered, driving him further into isolation as he places their corpses on spikes outside his doors as a warning to stay away, "[...][[TurnOutLikeHisFather just like dead old dad]]".
** Hector, similarly, had been seduced by Lenore, who took advantage of his naivete to place a cursed ring on him, binding him to her will and forcing him to comply with her every request, lest he suffer extreme pain. And what does she intend to do with him as her thrall? Force him to build an army to help Carmilla conquer the countryside, and also [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil use him as a sex slave]].
** Elsewhere, Isaac is amassing a giant army of night creatures, and now has access to a magic mirror that will let him invade from anywhere in the world...
* A rare PreschoolShow example: ''WesternAnimation/LittleBear'' episode "Little Bear's SweetTooth" has the title character getting a stomach ache after eating too much dessert during the Harvest Day picnic. He is also unable to participate in the pie eating contest. After his parents tuck him to bed for the night, he hallucinates the moon as pumpkin pie and tells his 'sweet tooth', "No thanks, maybe tomorrow."
* ''WesternAnimation/HowToCatchACold'': The short ends with the man still sick and lying in bed, with the possibility of him catching a more serious illness still up in the air. The live-action version, at least, had more of a BittersweetEnding, with Jeff still sick but slightly better.
* ''WesternAnimation/ArcherDreamland'': While the entire story takes place in Archer's head, that doesn't make it any less of a bummer. [[spoiler: Lana dies as do Kreiger's robot dogs, Poovey's (the Dreamland version of Pam) Chinese sister-wives all leave [[AmbiguousGender her/him]], [[KarmicHodini Mother gets off scot-free, Cyril is still in debt to Trexler but otherwise gets away with everything he did]], no one gets the money, and despite saving her life, Charlotte completly rejects Zirk's love. The only real positives are that Woodhouse's murderer is dead and the Chinese women were save from a life of sex slavery. By the end Archer is completely beaten down both emotionally and physically (his body being covered in marks and having not slept in days), just wanting to move on with his life]].
* ''WesternAnimation/FollowTheSun'': Nearly every customer and food item is dead or dying by the time the intermission has ended.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'':
** "King Nermal" ends with Garfield and Odie stuck in full-body casts for the next few months and Nermal getting to stay at Jon's house even longer so he can continue tormenting Garfield and Odie.
** "Everything's Relative" ends with every attempt at getting rid of Jon's unpleasant Aunt Ivy falling flat, plus Ivy's twin sister joining her to double the pain.
** "Not So Sweet Sound of Music" has Garfield's efforts to get rid of Jon's accordion winding up for nothing when Jon replaces his damaged accordion with bagpipes, which Garfield finds even more annoying.
** "Cat Nap" ends with Silent Jack having robbed the Arbuckle household and made a clean getaway while Garfield, Odie and Squeak had mistaken Jon for Silent Jack.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'':
** "The Ghost" ends not only with the search for Frida's book amounting to nothing more than a wild goose chase, but Hilda, David, and Frida's friendship becoming severely strained, if not outright severed.
** "The Beast of Cauldron Island" ends with Hilda getting grounded because of her habitual lying to her mother about her adventures.
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'':
** The first season ends on one. While the rift is closed and the Titans aren't able to escape, Earth is pulled into Final Space, the ''Galaxy One'' is destroyed, and the entire main cast is left dead, dying, or [[FateWorseThanDeath worse]].
** Season 3 somehow manages to one-up the bleak ending of the first season. [[spoiler:Ash betrays the Team Squad and frees Invictus from its prison; Gary loses Mooncake, whose [[UncertainDoom final fate is unknown]][[note]]albeit, series creator Creator/OlanRogers [[WordOfGod later confirmed that he survived]][[/note]]; AVA, Fox, Clarence, Kevin Van Newton, and Bolo are all KilledOffForReal; and Earth is destroyed for good. The finale ends with the surviving heroes watching in horror and defeat as Invictus escapes from Final Space in its true form, now free to conquer every timeline. And worst of all, since the show was officially cancelled [[ScrewedByTheNetwork due to external corporate factors,]] this is the ''very last'' we're seeing of these characters... At least until Warner Bros. Discovery allowed Olan to make a graphic novel to end the series.]]
* The penultimate episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRaccoons'', "[[Recap/TheRaccoonsS5E12TheOneThatGotAway The One That Got Away!]]" is a rare episode of the series with a sad ending. Bert, Cedric, and Bentley plan to catch a catfish named Old Tom at a secret fishing spot, but one night, Milton Midas pays the Pigs to dump toxic waste into the lake. After learning about this, the main characters get him arrested for his crimes. The Pigs are tasked with cleaning up the lake, but the damage is already done as Old Tom is dead and the lake might not be restored to its former glory. Everyone reminisces about all the fond memories they had of the lake except for Bentley, who never had the chance to make any.
* ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'' ends with the Warners acknowledging that with no word of another season, [[EndOfSeriesAwareness there is a good chance their renewed show has come to an end]]. [[ShootTheShaggyDog The fact that a giant meteor is about to pretty much kill everyone does not help matters at all.]]
* The animated short ''WesternAnimation/{{Alma}}'' ends with Alma becoming trapped inside the body of a doll, alongside many other children who have met the same fate, and [[HereWeGoAgain another doll appearing in the storefront to lure in the toy shop’s next victim.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCupheadShow'':
** PlayedForLaughs at the end of "[[Recap/TheCupheadShowS1E6GhostsAintReal Ghosts Ain't Real]]": After going through a hair-raising night at the cemetary, Cuphead and Mugman escape back to the safety of their home, but by then they are such a mess that Elder Kettle mistakes them for zombies and attacks them with his cane.
** The end of "[[Recap/TheCupheadShowS1E12InCharmsWay In Charm's Way]]" is played a lot more seriously, with Cuphead and Mugman ending up in genuine trouble: [[spoiler:The boys break into a cookie factory with Ms. Chalice, but the police quickly arrive. Ms. Chalice ultimately ends up abandoning the two, and Cuphead and Mugman take the fall for the break-in and get arrested. The episode ends with them still in jail with no resolution other than a ToBeContinued screen.]]
* The ending of the sobering Italian animated short film, ''WesternAnimation/LifeInATin''. It's somewhat mitigated that chronicling the life of a person will obviously end in their demise, but still, in the main character's single-minded dedication to his job, he fails to enjoy life while holding on to the last shreds of his childlike wonder before finally succumbing to the stress of work.
* All three acts of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'' end on pretty major downers for most of the characters involved:
** Act 1: While the Piltover side of the plot ends on a rather upbeat note with the creation of [[{{Magitek}} Hextech]], it's completely undermined by the absolute downer note that the Zaun side of the plot ends on. The plan to rescue Vander goes terribly wrong, resulting in the deaths of Mylo, Claggor, ''and'' Vander, for which Vi initially blames Powder for [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone before she realizes what she's doing]] and leaves to cool off. Before she can get back to Powder, however, [[BigBad Silco]] finds Powder and decides to take her in, while Vi is drugged and taken away by Marcus to be hauled off to jail.
** Act 2: Jayce is forced to betray his mentor and has [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Heimerdinger]] forcefully removed from his role on the Council, Marcus has the bridge between Piltover and Zaun barricaded, causing tensions between the two cities to rise, and while Vi and Powder/Jinx finally reunite, it's cut short when an attack from the Firelights results in the Hextech gemstone being stolen and Vi and Caitlyn being kidnapped, leaving Powder alone once again.
** Act 3: Season 1 as a whole ends on what can only be described as a complete downer. Powder embraces her Jinx identity entirely and ultimately cuts ties with Vi, the Hextech gemstone is never retrieved, and while Jayce, Mel, and Viktor are successful in convincing the rest of the Council to move towards finding a peaceful solution to the Piltover-Zaun conflict, it's completely undermined when Jinx fires a rocket powered by the Hextech gemstone into the Council's chambers. Also, a brief showing of Singed's lab shows that he's begun experimenting on a body that suspiciously resembles Vander's, with the implication that Singed has begun the process of creating Warwick. The only somewhat positive notes of the ending are that Silco has been defeated (though this is mitigated by the implication that [[TheDragon Sevika]] will be taking his place), Ekko and Heimerdinger have begun a partnership, and the knowledge that [[SavedByCanon Jayce and Viktor are guaranteed to survive the rocket explosion]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SummerMemories'':
** "Truth or Dare" ends with Jason being forced to give up his pursuit of a major breakthrough in his aspiring music career when he admits to Ronnie that he would be unhappy to transfer to a new school to follow this path and thus lose his friends, despite the fact none of his friends share his interest in music and he does not share their interest in soccer. The final scene of the episode is the two sitting silently at the back of Jason's mom's car, clearly unconfident about their futures.
** "A Summer's Hike" does not see Jason and Tim successfully reconcile, worsening the SiblingRivalry between them.
** "Soccer is Life" ends with Jason and Ronnie having their first major fight, several straining their friendship.
** "Splitting Pairs" sees Jason and Ronnie get separated again, and this time seemingly for good, as a result of their parents becoming concerned that they are regressing to their destructive childhood phases (caused by Ronnie's frustrations with his girlfriend Winter leaving).
** "Heat Wave" ends with Jason alienating everybody on the last day of summer with his song about how much everybody irritates him (and not getting to finish the song to unveil its full context). Tellingly, this is the first episode not to end with the EveryEpisodeEnding, instead showing Jason standing forlornly in front of the fridge, unready for the new school year.

[[folder:Nickelodeon]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** "Zuko Alone". Zuko offers to help out a small farm family by rebuilding their barn and protecting them from corrupt, dishonorable soldiers. He teaches the little boy to wield a sword and never give up without a fight. Meanwhile, [[{{Flashback}} Zuko remembers]] how back at home the only person who cared for him was [[MissingMom Ursa]]. It seems almost as if Zuko will find some acceptance in his new life as a refugee. But when his fight with the soldiers reveals who he is, he gets run out of town by everyone for being the Fire Nation prince. [[JerkassWoobie Poor Zuko]].
** In "The Library", the Gaang may have found out crucial info about the Fire Nation, but this is little consolation for the fact that they are in the middle of the desert with no supplies, no transportation, and no way to find the kidnapped Appa. Not to mention, Professor Zei stays in the library and it's confirmed in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' that he died there.
** "City of Walls and Secrets" also qualifies as this with Jet being arrested and brainwashed, Joo-Dee being replaced and the revelation of Ba Sing Se really being a dystopic and corrupt city where the Earth King is merely a puppet.
** "Appa's Lost Days" has Appa endure all kinds of hardship, yet he survives and makes it all the way to Ba Sing Se where Aang is, and just as the audience is gearing up for the happy ending... he's captured again and dragged down into the earth, leaving only a single footprint to show he was ever there.
** The season two finale "[[WhamEpisode The Crossroads of Destiny]]" ends with TheHero being struck down during his TransformationSequence, leaving him horribly wounded and believed dead; the heroes barely escape as the Earth Kingdom falls to [[TheEmpire the Fire Nation]], which now rules the world almost uncontested; [[AntiVillain Prince Zuko]] has regained his place in the royal family as he tried to all along but at the cost of betraying his beloved uncle, and is left wondering if it was worth it.
** "The Puppet Master", which ended with Hama succeeding in forcing Katara to use the technique she swore she'd never use.
** "The Day of Black Sun Part 2: The Eclipse", where most of the invasion force is captured, and Aang must retreat with only a few allies. The only thing that came out of it was Zuko's HeelFaceTurn, but to them it seemed like a full ShaggyDogStory.
** The [[ShowWithinAShow play of their adventures]] in "The Ember Island Players" ended in Aang's death and the Firelord's victory, because it was shown in the Fire Nation, where that was the ending everyone pretty much wanted - and the only one the government approved, most likely. The government declared [[AGodAmI him a god]] the very next episode.
** SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
*** "And The Winner is...." [[spoiler: Amon. Full scale terrorist attack leads to plenty of innocent civilians electrocuted or de-bent, with the surrounding harbour bombed, judging from the fires. None of the Equalists are captured. The best you can say is "at least Korra wasn't killed".]]
*** "When Extremes Meet". Republic City has undergone martial law, resulting in the imprisonment of hundreds of innocents, including Mako, Bolin and Asami. Korra goes to confront Tarrlok for using such horrible laws, nearly ''kills'' him, but then is [[spoiler: blood-bent despite it not being a full moon, kidnapped and taken out of the city.]]
*** "Turning the Tides". [[spoiler: Republic City is overtaken by the Equalists despite the efforts of Korra. Tenzin and his family are driven from their home after his wife gives birth. Lin Bei Fong has her bending taken away by Amon, though she gets it back in "Endgame".]]
*** "Darkness Falls". [[spoiler:Unalaq succeeds in fusing with Vaatu and becomes the Avatar universe's version of the AntiChrist. During the battle with Korra, he separates her from Raava and destroys Raava. To make it worse, he enters the physical world and wrecks havoc.]]
*** "Enter the Void." Zaheer gains the ultimate airbending technique of flight and takes Korra to the lair of the Red Lotus.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold!'' had a few:
** "Arnold Betrays Iggy" ends with Arnold, finally fed up with the HumiliationConga Iggy put him through, angrily ending his friendship with him for forcing him to wear bunny pajamas, while Iggy desperately pleads for forgiveness.
** "Helga and the Nanny" ends with Helga's home life [[StatusQuoIsGod back to its regular dysfunctional state]].
*** Compounding the two above examples is that "Helga and the Nanny" and "Arnold Betrays Iggy" were actually paired together.
** "New Bully on the Block" ends with the kids badly beaten up by Wolfgang and Ludwig after losing their field to them. [[TheBadGuyWins Technically a good ending for those two]] [[VitriolicBestBuds since they ended up bonding with each other.]]
** This was supposed to happen to an in-universe production in "Eugene, Eugene!": the titular play's ending was rewritten by the PrimaDonnaDirector so that it ends with the hero, played by Eugene, [[DidNotGetTheGirl losing his love interest to the villain]] [[DroppedABridgeOnHim and dying from getting hit by a trolley]] as the villain, played by a reluctant Arnold, sings a VillainSong about how NiceGuysFinishLast. However, Arnold and Eugene defy the director and restore the play's original happy ending.
* ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' had a few:
** "Power Play": In the final seconds of a roller hockey game where the winner gets to play NHL stars, Twister's game tying shot at the end is disallowed.
** "The Big Air Dare" ends with Otto [[InjuredLimbEpisode breaking his leg]] during a snowboarding match with Reggie on a forbidden slope, and the kids sans Otto being forced to shovel snow as punishment (which Reggie herself says it's cruel), and their faces are plastered on the "Wall of Shame". [[EarnYourHappyEnding Luckily, "Otto's Big Break" is part 2 of the episodes shown, and it ends with a happy ending despite Otto's leg still being broken.]]
** Also, the ending of "Kayaks Amok" where the kids were forced to clean up the Shore Shack for a month as punishment for going too far out to sea.
** Two episodes that air together regularly, "Shark Bait" (the kids driving off tourists with a phony shark scare) and "A Shot in the Park" (Twister sneaking into a closed exhibit in a water park and loses his camera as a result, not knowing [[NiceJobBreakingItHero his mistake was]] CaughtOnTape).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' - "Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker": Not quite a YouCantFightFate as it would've happened without him going back in time, but Timmy goes back in time to try to stop his teacher from becoming madly obsessed with fairy godparents; he successfully stops it from happening the way it did originally (it was apparently Cosmo's fault), but then, thanks to Present Day Cosmo, ends up making it happen anyway. And he can't go back to fix what happened because Jorgen and his 70s counterpart have banned him from going back to March 15, 1972 forever.
* ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'':
** "Hello Stranger": a subversion of the VisitByDivorcedDad trope.
** In "Driven to Extremes", Ginger stands up to her [[SadistTeacher cruel substitute teacher]] Mrs. Grimley, and the episode ends with Ginger in detention. What's worse is that [[KarmaHoudini Mrs. Grimley gets no comeuppance for ruling the class with an iron hand]]. The subplot with Brandon Higsby entering the pet show doesn't end well either - he loses and gets booed by the entire audience because Mr. Licorice refuses to perform.
** In "No Hope for Courtney", Ms. Gordon dies and Carl starts to cry at the news of this. Originally, Ms. Gordon was going to come out of retirement, but the voice actor DiedDuringProduction so it was rewritten that her character died as well. Since Ms. Gordon died and also her actor, you might say it's a TheCharacterDiedWithHim.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'', of all places, for an animated sci-fi/comedy has a really overly-dramatic Downer Ending in "Mist Opportunities". Jenny meets up with her friend Misty, whose ways of fighting evil aren't what Jenny cottons to. In the end, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Jenny and Misty fight, and Misty beats the ever-living crap out of Jenny, and apparently defeating her.]] And rather than finishing off the robot girl, Misty gives her a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "reason you suck speech"]] and leaves her, scrapped in a partially-destroyed Tremorton.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' has several Downer Endings that are undone by NegativeContinuity and PlayedForLaughs, but there are some more tragic endings:
** The very first use of this, "Hall Monitor", has [=SpongeBob=] realize he was the maniac going loose in Bikini Bottom, and Mrs. Puff chastizes him, but she gets arrested when she confesses it was her fault he did it. To make matters worse, she demands [=SpongeBob=] see her after class...six months from now.
** "Plankton's Regular" has [[YankTheDogsChain Plankton lose his only customer ever]] and "Cephalopod Lodge" has Squidward [[MoralEventHorizon permanently kicked out of the lodge]].
** "Squid On Strike" ends with [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward's skeletons still working at a dilapidated Krusty Krab when, centuries ago, after [=SpongeBob=] actually destroyed the building (he "dismantled the establishment") because Squidward filled his head with the idea of a strike and Mr. Krabs made them work ''[[NotHyperbole forever]]'' to pay for the damages.
** "Good Neighbors" ends with Squidward's house going on a rampage due to a security accident, and Squiward is forced to work to pay off the damages done to the town every weekend for the rest of his life, although it doesn't affect [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick as they don't seem to care.
** "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy", one of the most infamous episodes, has Sandy [[ButtMonkey suffering indignities]] after Plankton steals her pelt. After she defeats Plankton, she gets arrested by the police for indecent exposure because the Bikini Bottomites [[HumiliationConga laughed at her nudity rather than helped her find her stolen fur]].
** "A Pal For Gary" ends with [=SpongeBob=] scolding Gary for sending away his "pal" (oblivious the creature tried to eat him), and bringing Gary to work so he's not lonely, thus not giving him his intended alone time which he enjoyed at the start of the episode.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlkprv-Upco The 2005 educational short "The Endless Summer"]] is ''not'' played for laughs; as it ends with everyone except [=SpongeBob=] having left Bikini Bottom due to the effects of global warming.
** "Married to Money" ends with Mr. Krabs heartbroken after finding that his fiancé, [[MoneyFetish a talking wad of money]], was just a robot controlled by Plankton in another bid for the Krabby Patty formula.
* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'':
** The second half of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' gets many of these too. Let's see: Mirta, the first (and only) friendly witch (who's also half-fairy) gets turned into a pumpkin when she was trying to help Bloom, speaking of which, she later finds that her boyfriend is a prince and is in an arranged marriage with another girl. After finding this, depressed, she returns to Earth, where the Trix steal her powers, becoming much more powerful. With her new powers, the Trix then proceed to take over Cloudtower, summon an infernal army to conquer the world. However, things got better for every good character.
** Episode 8 has Darcy successfully seducing Riven and walking away without any punishment. Stella outright says "We lost this one."
** Also, a Season 3 episode ends with Tecna apparently [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing herself]] to save Layla's homeworld. However, [[DisneyDeath she wasn't really dead.]]
** In episode 24 of season 4, Nabu dies after using up all of his energy to close the shadow abyss, and the power that could've revived him is stolen by Ogron, who wastes it on a flower. Layla ends up leaving the Winx to join the fairy Nebula's army in order to avenge Nabu's death, despite her friends (Bloom especially) trying to tell her that that is not what Nabu would've wanted.
* The ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' episode "Public Enemies" ends with [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner Walker]] essentially ''winning'', having managed to turn almost the entire town of Amity Park against Danny (including ''Jack and Maddie'' now viewing him as a threat to be destroyed) and labeling him as the main cause of ghost attacks. Sure, Walker gets sucked back into the [[PhantomZone Ghost Zone]] at the end, but it's only because Wulf [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificed his own newfound freedom to do so]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' episode "Now With More Flava" ends with Henry and June losing their jobs as the hosts of the show and they end up as security guards, which was their biggest concern in the episode. To make things worse, it was also the last episode of the series.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'': In "Magical Golden Singing Cheeses", Ren and Stimpy are medieval peasants who need the titular cheeses to stave off hunger. When they each take a bite, however, the cheeses turn into princesses made of milk curds who they're then forced to wed. As the narrator points out, since the duo was never able to eat the cheeses, they ended up starving to death offscreen not long after.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Disney/FOX]]
The list for Disney starts here:
* Several of the shorts in ''[[WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse Mickey Mouse Works]]'' qualify as such:
** "Minnie Visits Daisy": After spending most of the short attempting and failing to get Daisy's attention so that she can deliver her apple pie to her, Minnie finally [[spoiler:breaks down and drives her car through Daisy's house in an attempt to just throw the pie at her and get it over with, only to immediately get arrested and sent to prison before she can do so. The short ends with Minnie angrily slamming the pie in Daisy's face during a prison visit.]]
** "How to Wash Dishes": Goofy, tired of the humdrum demeaning existence his dishwasher job provides him with, [[BaitAndSwitch decides to go on vacation on the narrator's suggestion]]. Unfortunately, he overcharges the credit card the narrator provides him with, resulting in him being forced to work off his debt...[[BookEnds as a dishwasher at the restaurant he got overcharged at]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' episode, [[Recap/LiloAndStitchTheSeriesS1E30Angel "Angel"]]. Stitch falls in love with an experiment (who basically looks like a pink, female version of Stitch), but Lilo has suspicion towards her because her siren-like song reverts any of the experiments that have been converted for good back to their destructive states. Luckily, Stitch and 625 were immune because they were made ''after'' Angel. In the end, [[LoveRedeems Stitch makes Angel see the error of her ways]], but sadly, she was captured by Gantu. However, this was due to [[ExecutiveMeddling the executives disliking the idea of Angel]], much to the dismay and anger of the fans. [[EarnYourHappyEnding It gets fixed]] in the [[GrandFinale series finale]], "Snafu".
** Pretty much ''any'' episode that ends with the featured Experiment being captured by Gantu, meaning Lilo and Stitch have failed their mission to find a one true place for them. All this is fixed in "Snafu".
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'':
** The ''Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles'' episode "Genesis Undone": With the clones suffering from a genetic defect that will cause them to become stone permanently, they and the Manhattan Clan reluctantly seek the aid of [[MadScientist Dr. Sevarius]]. However, Sevarius uses the Manhattan Clan's DNA not to save the clones, but to give life to his own new, improved clone, whom he refers to as his son. Some fighting later and Goliath turns Sevarius' 'son' to stone, leaving the doctor desperately pining for the one thing he had ever cared about. Meanwhile, the clones have already been permanently petrified, and there is apparently no way to reverse the process.
** The episode "Metamorphosis" has Elisa's brother Derek infected with a drug that turns him into a mutant Gargoyle as part of a Dr. Sevarius experiment that supposedly not even Xanatos approved. Then Sevarius, the only one who could reverse the process, gets killed, and Derek blames Elisa and the Manhattan Clan for everything. It's then revealed that Xanatos set up everything to turn Derek into the mutant, including faking Sevarius' death. Of all the corrupt and morally questionable things Xanatos did over the series, this may be the only one that was truly EVIL. The episode ends with Elisa sobbing amongst the Manhattan Clan. Meanwhile, Brooklyn is smitten by the one female Mutate, Maggie, but at the end, has to accept that she utterly rejects him, the first of numerous times his heart will be broken before he finally meets Katana in his Timedance.
* The ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Candace Gets Busted" ends with... [[SpoilerTitle Do we really need to say it]]?
** The episode "Mommy Can You Hear Me?" ends with Candace failing to bust her brothers as usual, injuring her leg further and presumably missing the Tiny Cowboy concert the next night, and Phineas and Ferb unsuccessful at wishing Sergei the astronaut a happy birthday, with no way to reach him. In TheStinger however, an alien that looks like Ferb does get the message through.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'', a lot of episodes had pretty depressing endings. Such as when the songs available for downloading on the Internet wind up making a man's CD store close down, and it ends with him sobbing while closing up for good. Or when Suga Mama finds out the man she was going to marry had Alzheimer's and was taken away from her.
* Some episodes of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' end with this trope:
** "The Zillo Beast Strikes Back": The Republic is forced to use lethal gas on the Zillo Beast, killing the creature to save Coruscant, and it was the last of its kind. Though it may also qualify as a BittersweetEnding, considering they saved Coruscant from destruction. Ends on something of an unresolved cliffhanger after Palpatine's intentions to clone the beast are revealed.
** "Heroes on Both Sides": The peace attempt ends in failure as the suicide bomber droids destroy the power generator on Coruscant, convincing pretty much every senator to defeat Padme's peace with the Separatists bill (they can't make peace, because it's DoomedByCanon).
** '"Massacre": For Asajj Ventress, at least. The Nightsisters get massacred by Grievous's forces, leaving Ventress alone with an uncertain future. [[spoiler: She takes to bounty hunting]].
** "The Lawless": Mandalore is caught in a civil war once again, [[spoiler: the ''Twilight'' gets destroyed, Obi-Wan's rescue mission fails, Satine's dream of a peaceful Mandalore is dead, Satine herself has been murdered by Darth Maul to psychologically torment Obi-Wan, and Savage Opress is killed by Darth Sidious while Darth Maul gets tortured.]] Only consolation is that Obi-Wan gets away with his life.
** "To Catch A Jedi": Ahsoka's been framed for both murder and terrorism, she's been captured by the authorities after being spotted with very damning evidence and is set to be put on trial. This is followed by the next episode having a BittersweetEnding, which also technically qualifies as a Downer Ending.
** "The Wrong Jedi" is also both a Downer Ending and BittersweetEnding. [[spoiler: Even though Ahsoka gets her name cleared, her earlier trial by the Jedi scars her to the point of declining their offer for her to return, and she leaves the order, never to be seen again (at least until ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', set 14 years later)]].
** "Conspiracy": Order 66 has accidentally been triggered in Tup, and the Kaminoans are prepared to kill him so they can dissect him and keep the truth from the Jedi. Fives tries to save Tup [[spoiler: by removing his inhibitor chip, but Tup dies anyway and Fives is placed under arrest for allegedly killing him and attempting to kill Nala Se.]]
** "Orders": This one is also a case of DoomedByCanon. [[spoiler: Fives has learned the truth about Order 66 and the Sith conspiracy, but he's been framed for attempted murder. He is killed before he can relay the truth, which he fails to do because Nala Se drugged him earlier. In the end, what happened to him and Tup is covered up with a claim of parasitic infection, Order 66 remains undiscovered by the Jedi Order, and [[KarmaHoudini Nala Se gets off scot-free]].]]
** "Crisis at the Heart": [[spoiler: Rush Clovis gets framed as a Separatist supporter, war comes to Scipio, Clovis dies, he gets scapegoated for the corruption in the Banking Clan when he was trying to end it and return it to a neutral system, and now control of the Banking Clan ends up in the hands of Palpatine.]]
** [[ForegoneConclusion The whole series itself ends on one of these]]. Anakin betrays the Republic, and [[ThePurge Order 66]] is set in motion. The Clones, [[BrainwashedAndCrazy through no fault of their own]], attack Ahsoka Tano. While she managed to free Rex from the inhibitor chip's control, the pair barely manage to escape the ship alive. [[FromBadToWorse To make things worse, the ship they were formerly on crashes]] (due to Darth Maul's interference), [[EverybodysDeadDave killing everyone they incapacitated aboard]]. [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS7E12VictoryAndDeath One of the last scenes of the last episode]] is Ahsoka and Rex burying the fallen clones (at least the ones whose bodies they could find), and she drops her lightsaber [[FakingTheDead so to sell the illusion she's dead to anyone who comes looking]]. The final scene [[TimeSkip an unknown amount of time later]] shows Darth Vader holding his former Padawan's lightsaber. Unlike other [[Franchise/StarWars Star Wars media,]] it ends on a completely hopeless note. There's no scene of [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith Leia being taken to her new home on Alderaan, or Luke to Tatooine]], or even the Rebel alliance starting, just two people facing an uncertain future. The very final shot focuses on the helmet of a Clone Trooper, broken, forgotten and half-buried in snow, emphasizing their tragic use as expendable, brainwashed pawns in a [[WarIsHell completely pointless war]] that was [[FalseFlagOperation only started to sate one man's lust for greater power]], destroying the very Republic they were led to believe they were protecting.
* The ending of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode "Omega Kids". The entire school except for the workers and T.J.'s gang is sick after eating tuna fish tacos. At first, the gang really likes being the only ones there, but it all spirals downhill after Ms. Grotke says they should catch up on some work. To prevent them from doing work, the gang pretends they are sick, but the fake sickness they have turns out to be so severe that they can't be sent home. The episode ends with them trapped in a plastic dome with several people in hazmat suits barricading the school.
** "Me No Know" on the part of Vince. The premise of this episode is that Vince feels like he's being left out of the loop after all the other kids and even teachers in school seem to have gone to see (and referencing jokes from) an in-universe ScrewballComedy called ''Nitwits 3''. Vince asks his parents if he can go see it, but his parents don't approve of the movie and forbid him from seeing it. Desperate to look cool again and make the same jokes as everyone else, he sneaks into the movie anyway. [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin He gets caught by his parents as he leaves the theater]] and gets grounded from watching TV for a week. But hey, Vince still got to see ''Nitwits 3'' so now he understands all the references the kids were making at school and can share jokes from it with them! Unfortunately for Vince, by next Monday, everyone has moved on from ''Nitwits 3'' ("''Nitwits 3'' is last week's news!") and are all about a new TV show called ''Moron Patrol'', which Vince could have seen had he not sneaked off to see ''Nitwits 3'' and gotten grounded from watching TV. Thus Vince sits at his desk despondently as the rest of the class tosses ''Moron Patrol'' quotes back and forth.
--->'''Everyone but Vince''': CAPTAIN DUMBBELL!! (''laughter'')\\
'''Vince''': Captain Dumbbell...that's what they should call me.
* ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'': [[DoomedByCanon We already knew, going in,]] [[DoomedMoralVictor that Beck's crusade does next to nothing against Clu's regime]] because The Grid in ''Film/TronLegacy'' is a full-blown CrapsackWorld, but after "Scars", [[CerebusSyndrome the whole series became a parade of]] {{Downer Ending}}s. The series itself ends with Clu finally having enough of the nascent rebellion going on in Argon City and the rumors that Tron is still alive, [[BolivianArmyEnding sending an entire fleet of Recognizers, tanks, lightjets, and System Guards]] [[NukeEm to level the whole sector]].
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': There's no greater downer ending for the series than the end of "[[Recap/DuckTales2017S1E22TheLastCrashOfTheSunchaser Last Crash of the Sunchaser]]". After a season's worth of chasing, the triplets find out what REALLY happened to their mother, and in their pain, they lash out at Scrooge, along with almost all the rest of Scrooge's extended family. After returning to the mansion, EVERYONE in his life leaves Scrooge for his words. He sits down to brood, but also to mourn how he tried to find Della, but [[PoorCommunicationKills couldn't be patient enough to tell them the full truth]].
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future" looked on track for a bad enough ending: Dipper accepts Ford's offer to stay with him after summer, without Mabel. Mabel overhears this after an already awful day, and unable to imagine growing up without her twin, runs away into the woods. But them Blendin Blandin approaches her and offers her a way to freeze time and keep summer going forever, which she accepts. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Blendin is being controlled by '''Bill Cipher''', resulting in possibly the [[NightmareFuel darkest ending]] [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt in animation]] '''''ever''''']].
** "Dreamscaperers" initially ends on a high note, with Dipper, Mabel and Soos saving Stan’s mind and his safe combination from Bill Cipher and Gideon and Dipper on better terms with Stan…[[spoiler: until Gideon returns, blows up the safe with dynamite and steals the deed to the Mystery Shack.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': the episode "Face the Music" ends with [[spoiler: Star indirectly outing Moon for keeping the fact that Ludo stole Glossaryck and the royal spellbook hidden from the whole kingdom, then also indirectly admitting her crush on Marco.]] The following episode "Starcrushed" ends with [[spoiler: Toffee's return [[DemonicPossession in Ludo's body]] and Star and Moon being forced to flee to Mewni.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'':
** The first season finale [[Recap/AmericanDragonJakeLongS01E21TheHunted "The Hunted"]] ends with Rose having learned Jake's true identity and spares his life. At first, it seems as though Jake has a new ally in his love interest. But out of the blue, he learned from Principal Derceto that she's transferred to a new school, thus a picture of her and Jake was left.
** The episode [[Recap/AmericanDragonJakeLongS02E18TheLoveCruise "The Love Cruise"]] also applies to this. Rose breaks up with Jake (at least for the time being), breaking both his heart and her own. In the final scene, Cupid returns to Gramps' shop to find Jake depressed and gives him [[HeartbreakAndIceCream chocolates and heartbreak "butter-butter" ice cream.]] Once he leaves, Gramps rushes in and says to Jake there is a griffin rampaging in the city. So Jake "dragons up" and flies outside as the episode ends with a close-up of a picture of Rose.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'':
** The [[WhamEpisode season two finale]], "True Colors", ends on one of the grimmest and most uncertain notes of the entire show. To recap: [[spoiler:Sasha and Grime betray Anne and the others, take the Calamity Box away, and start a toad rebellion in Newtopia by overthrowing King Andrias. But then Sasha and Grime discover that Andrias is not only ''not'' the jolly (if morally ambiguous) ReasonableAuthorityFigure that he presents himself as, but he intends to use the Calamity Box to conquer the multiverse. Sasha and Grime desperately try to stop Anne and the others from stopping the rebellion and freeing Andrias, but they cannot convince them that Andrias is the bigger threat, so the rebellion is thwarted and Andrias is freed. Things go downhill from there with Andrias [[MotiveRant declaring his intentions for the Calamity Box to the others]], Anne and Sasha discovering that Marcy knew what the Calamity Box was capable of the whole time (but hid her knowledge of it from them) and orchestrated ''everything'' that lead to them ending up in Amphibia because she didn't want to be separated from them when her family moved away from Anne's hometown, and finally Anne gets sent back to Earth (''with'' the Plantars) without Sasha (who held Andrias off long enough buy enough time for Anne and the Plantars to escape) and Marcy (who tries to assist them in doing so and gets ''[[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stabbed]]'' by Andrias for her troubles). Anne may ''finally'' be back in her homeworld...but she's gone back without Sasha and Marcy (the latter of whom Anne believes to now be dead), the Plantars are now stuck in her world with no apparent way to return them home, and Andrias aims to make Earth one of his first targets solely to spite the girls for interfering with his plans.]] In short, the heroes are (at least for the time being) ''majorly screwed'', and season three being a case of CerebusSyndrome on at least ''some'' level is practically a certainty.
** "Olivia & Yunan" is already one of the [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest]] episodes of the series (let alone of Season 3), but the icing on the cake is that it ends on a [[NightmareFuel terrifying]] CliffHanger wherein [[spoiler:Olivia and Yunan's attempt to rescue Marcy from Andrias fails and they are helpless to prevent [[GreaterScopeVillain the Core]] from [[DemonicPossession taking a terrified Marcy as their host]].]] Tellingly, it's one of the few episodes of the show to end on SilentCredits.
* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse'' surprisingly gets one in his early short, "The Barnyard Dance". Minnie would much rather dance with Pete because he's a much better dancer, so Mickey stuffs a balloon down the back of his pants in order to be lighter on his feet. It works until his secret is exposed. The cartoon ends with Minnie leaving Mickey to resume dancing with Pete, and Mickey is left in tears.
The list for Fox starts here:
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Homer's Enemy" famously ends with Frank Grimes failing to expose Homer for the fraud he is, losing his sanity and [[HighVoltageDeath electrocuting himself.]] Worse, everyone laughs with Homer at his funeral. Oddly enough, [[InvertedTrope this is only a downer for him and a happy one for everyone else.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': many of its Emmy-nominated episodes, plus:
** "Parasites Lost", in which Fry was influenced by worms to be much more intelligent and much stronger, when he blew into a hologram-creating instrument that apparently takes massive amounts of effort to play correctly and performs an elaborate and romantic image for Leela. After he decides that he'll get rid of the worms to see if it's really him or the worms that Leela had started taking to during the episode, he tries to play it again, only being able to create the image of the Frankenstein monster roaring. After Leela leaves, he sits alone, realizing that he's come up short in his romantic pursuit again.
** "Time Keeps on Slipping": Fry forced to blow up the star pattern he had meticulously created for Leela, which would apparently have been enough of a romantic gesture for Leela to finally return his affections if she had seen it. She coincidentally ''didn't'' see it because she was trying to cheer up Fry.
*** Also in that episode, Bender's dream is to become a Harlem Globetrotter. He fails to achieve this goal even though the rest of the crew are declared honorary Globetrotters just because they were in the right place at the right time. During the end credits, we hear Bender sadly whistling the Harlem Globetrotters' theme song.
** "Jurassic Bark": Fry decides at the last minute not to resurrect his fossilized dog, Seymour Asses, reasoning that it had lived a full and happy life and Tampering In God's Domain was not wise. A final montage reveals that, in fact, Seymour had spent the rest of its life pining for its lost master. The {{Retcon}} in the first movie attempts to cancel this out, but we all saw what really happened.
** In "Bender's Big Score" Fry goes back in time, meaning that Seymour did manage to be with him. And what's more, in 2012 (the year when he was supposed to die), Bender tracks down Fry, who is living in his old Pizzeria. He fires a laser at the building and it collapses and Seymour looks at it just in time for the fire and dust to instantly fossilize him. This was a bit of a {{Retcon}}, due to most fans finding the original ending ''soul crushingly'' depressing.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** In the episode "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire", Loretta has an affair with Quagmire. The episode ends with the couple getting into an argument and deciding to divorce. It even gets a lampshade hanging by Peter and Lois with Peter outright ''refusing'' to accept such a downbeat ending. Even sadder is the fact that Cleveland Jr. has been negatively affected by the split. It's part of the reason why he now looks and acts differently in ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''.
** An even sadder episode is "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)", in which Brian breaks up with his girlfriend Jillian, and when he wants to make amends, she's already now dating Mayor West. They tried to soften this during the credits, to little effect.
** "The D in Apartment 23" has Brian [[GetOut kicked out]] [[EtTuBrute by the Griffins]] after being ostracized by all of Quahog for a mean-spirited tweet.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
** "Ricky Spanish [-(''[[RunningGag Ricky Spanish...]]'')-]" ends with Steve failing to redeem Roger's Ricky Spanish persona, getting framed for the heist Ricky committed and sent to prison. Stan and Francine bail Steve out, but the damage is already done; Steve TookALevelInCynic and now hates Ricky as much as everyone else does. Even worse, the jar with the caterpillar Steve was raising falls into the water. The caterpillar becomes a butterfly as the jar drifts out to sea, but it dies soon after realizing it's trapped in the jar, [[RuleOfSymbolism reflecting the death of Steve's innocence and naivete]]. The sad voiceover by Creator/WernerHerzog doesn't help.
** "Hot Water" ends with an evil hot tub (voiced by Cee-Lo Green) killing Principal Lewis and the hot tub salesmen, and swallowing Francine whole. Stan tries to save her but the hot tub kicks his ass and sends him flying through the roof. He suddenly realizes how to kill it but immediately dies of internal bleeding, and the episode ends with Cee-Lo Green himself telling the audience that Stan is dead and that the show's over. This was originally going to be the series finale if the show hadn't been renewed.
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** "Truth or Dare" ends with Jason being forced to give up his pursuit of a major breakthrough in his aspiring music career when he admits to Ronnie that he would be unhappy to transfer to a new school to follow this path and thus lose his friends, despite the fact none of his friends share his interest in music and he does not share their interest in soccer. The final scene of the episode is the two sitting silently at the back of Linda's car, clearly unconfident about their futures.
** "A Summer's Hike" does not see Jason and Tim successfully reconcile, worsening the rift between them and leading into the episodes "That Ain't the Way I See It" and "Purple Rock Flower", which explore Tim's FaceHeelTurn.
** "Soccer is Life" ends with Jason and Ronnie having their first major fight, and the two do not reconcile until the end of the following episode, "Jason Finds his Groove".
** "Splitting Pairs" sees Jason and Ronnie get separated again, and this time seemingly for good, as a result of their parents becoming concerned that they are regressing to their destructive childhood phases (caused by Ronnie's frustrations with his girlfriend Winter leaving). And while [[BigBad Snake]] is ecstatic to see his plan come to fruition, Tim finds himself dissatisfied with their success and realizing BeingEvilSucks.
** "Heat Wave" ends with Jason alienating everybody on the last day of summer with his song about how much everybody irritates him (and not getting to finish the song to unveil its full context). Tellingly, this is the first episode not to end with the EveryEpisodeEnding, instead showing Jason standing forlornly in front of the fridge, unready for the new school year. And unlike with "Soccer is Life", this Downer Ending is not resolved until the very end of the series.

* The ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Candace Gets Busted" ends with... [[SpoilerTitle Do I really need to say it]]?