History HiddenDepths / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': The Mayor of Townsville isn't particularly known for his intelligence but he has occasionally shown signs of it:
** When a guy who collects powerpuff merchandise abducts the girls, the Mayor summons the whole population of Townsville under the belief that the kidnapper will be the only person who doesn't show up and his plan works.
** When the girls take advantage of the Professor's sleepwalking to get free toys, the Mayor is in the plan to trick them into seeing how wrong they are. He says that a good politician must be able to lie.
** When the girls need to solve the riddle "Where is boiling and freezing at the same time?", the Mayor is the one who figures out it was about coordinates.

** In both "Scary-Oke" and "Into The Bunker", [[Characters/GravityFallsMabelPines Mabel Pines]]‘s sweaters light up and in the former, play music. Because she hand knits all of the sweaters seen on the show, Mabel also seems to possess skills in electrical wiring, sound machinery and safely installing them in knitted garments.

** ''Journal 3'' shows that [[Characters/GravityFallsDipperPines Dipper Pines]] is a rather talented artist. Which is a trait he shares with [[spoiler: Ford.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers''

* ''WesternAnimation/HamsterAndGretel'': Lauren, who is thrilled to be the super villainess The Destructress and it was implied that she was a mean girl before she got powers, shows a surprising caring side when she takes a job as a babysitter to support herself and her brother because she can’t make money off of crime. While she had a practical reason for being nice because she needed the job as a babysitter, she showed a genuine interest in being a good babysitter and ensuring they were happy under her care, showing a kind side that was not seen before and caring for children.

* Many characters from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''. The Ice King has a lot of cool hobbies and is actually fairly intelligent and easy-going, when princesses aren't involved. In fact, newer episodes show him as being capable of surviving on a desert island without even using his magic.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': Silco is introduced as the BigBad menace to Vi and Powder's childhood. His [[TheUnfettered willingness to do anything in the pursuit of power]] leads to the death of the rest of their family. But despite his genuinely monstrous nature,[[spoiler: he is still capable of compassion and empathy, sparing Powder's life and taking her under his wing after seeing how similar the two are in how they were both betrayed and abandoned by an elder sibling they had trusted. And after the TimeSkip, he shows genuine care for her and is understanding of her childhood trauma still affecting her.]]

** Ben is frequently depicted as some combination of dumb and cocky, with how much of which he is varying from season and series to season and series. However, it's hinted at a few points that a lot of his cockiness is a coping mechanism (which is eventually confirmed in ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien The Forge of Creation]]'') and even at his dumbest he is pretty cunning at on the fly strategies and knows more about his aliens than he often lets on. His alternate self Ben 23 is similarly so, though more so after improving after meeting Ben Prime and getting a wake-up call.

** Vilgax the BigBad actually does value the safety and well-being of his home planet more than it might be obvious at first glance.

** The main character himself at first seems like the typical UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist of the average animated {{Sitcom}}. Fat, alcoholic, abusive. But as the series progresses more sides are shown to him, including crippling depression, surprising intelligence and insightfulness, and very occasional moments of deep caring.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'''s Quagmire is usually easy going but is incredibly competitive, promiscuous [[BlatantLies but never sleeps with married women]], does volunteer work for the homeless (to pick up women), didn't know that TheInternetIsForPorn, comes from a family with a proud military heritage, is an improv comedy enthusiast, and is the only one who genuinely likes Meg.

** In both "Scary-Oke" and "Into The Bunker", Mabel’s sweaters light up and in the former, play music. Because she hand knits all of the sweaters seen on the show, Mabel also seems to possess skills in electrical wiring, sound machinery and safely installing them in knitted garments.
** ''Journal 3'' shows that Dipper is a rather talented artist. Which is a trait he shares with [[spoiler: Ford.]]

** Cartman is hinted to have depths that are overshadowed by his ComedicSociopathy. One such trait, shown subtly but repeatedly, is that Cartman is a very gifted photographer. He is seen in "Christian Rock Hard", "Cartman Sucks", and "Imaginationland" to have prodigious skill behind a camera. He is an excellent negotiator and strategist and is seen at least twice speaking flawless Spanish and ''passable'' German. He also honestly likes cats and harbors them when South Park bans cats (long story). And he regularly writes his own songs and is not half-bad with a violin.

* Pearl from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' first appears to be a prim and proper variant of MyBelovedSmother with good skill with a spear. Later, hidden depths are revealed, such as her crippling insecurity and devotion to Steven's late mother, Rose Quartz.
** Amethyst starts off as the comic relief, but we soon learn she has deep-seated issues with her self image, much like Pearl.
** [[TheBrute Jasper]], despite being "the ultimate [[FantasticCasteSystem Quartz]] warrior," has a chip on her shoulder because she was created on Earth; most of the others who came from here turned out malformed or incompetent in some way. She also has a burning hatred for [[RebelLeader Rose Quartz]], since she freed Jasper's home planet from the empire [[spoiler:and apparently killed her leader, [[PosthumousCharacter Pink Diamond]]]].
** Garnet starts off as TheStoic, unflappable, ComicallySerious [[TheLeader leader]]. Later episodes show that, not only does she feel emotions just like the others, but also that she's under a lot of stress [[BeneathTheMask to act stoicly]] so she can be the calm, levelheaded leader even though she was just as traumatized by the loss of Rose as the other gems were. We also see that she tends to panic when things don't go the way she predicts they will, or when she can't come up with a good enough plan.

* Many characters from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''. The Ice King has a lot of cool hobbies and is actually fairly intelligent and easy-going, when princesses aren't involved. In fact, recent episodes show him as being capable of surviving on a desert island without even using his magic.

* WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman at first seems like the typical UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist of the average animated {{Sitcom}}. Fat, alcoholic, abusive. But as the series progresses more sides are shown to him, including crippling depression, surprising intelligence and insightfulness, and very occasional moments of deep caring.

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'': Zoidberg's doctorate is in [[NotThatKindOfDoctor Art History]]. Since he's employed as a medical doctor, it doesn't come up much. And later, in "The Tip of the Zoidberg", it's established he's actually a very good doctor - but only when it comes to ''aliens'', which is utterly useless on a crew where he's the only alien. Not to mention that his PerpetualPoverty stems from his deep friendship with the Professor because they are TrueCompanions.

* ''WesternAnimation/VillainousCartoonNetwork''
** Black Hat sometimes plays mini-golf to relax himself, along with reading the newspaper in his spare time. Notably, this was shown in a GilliganCut when Flug thinks that Black Hat will commit some atrocity.
*** Also it's implied that he's a genius inventor and GadgeteerGenius himself and made many atrocious devices only by himself and before Flug even existed.
*** He can play organ very well. And WordOfGod says he can play guitar very well too.
** Dr. Flug appears to have some understanding of emotional states and self-esteem if his words to an imprisoned Miss Heed about how she needs to love herself first before seeking a romantic partner are anything to go by.
** Demencia
*** While she is a crazy fangirl, videos like ''Demencia wuz here'' and ''Guide for an Evil Conquest'' show her to be as efficient as she is [[{{Pun}} demented]] when it comes to evil activities, like stealing or killing heroes. It would explain why Black Hat keeps her around despite her annoying him so much. So scarily effective is she at combat in fact, that in ''"The Dreadful Dawn"'', where as Dr. Flug believed they'd need a special [[UpToEleven 30+ step]] plan in order to defeat the sun-powered FlyingBrick hero Sunblast, Demencia scoffs at needing something as complex as his plan, and confidently proclaims that all they need to do is beat him up, and that she could do it by herself. This being [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Demencia]], this just sounds like the suicidal boasting of a crazy person. But when Sunblast arrives, and she charges in with zero-planning beyond just getting into a slugging match with the hero, ''she actually has him on the ropes.'' Sunblast's disheveled and worn look, while Demencia looks barely bothered implies that if Flug hadn't been insistent on sticking to the plan, and the resulting botched tranq shot that followed, ''she would've made due on her claims, and beaten him singlehandedly.'' Flug learns from his mistake and lets Demencia go to town on Sunblast the second time they meet up by lying that Sunblast ships Black Hat and Penumbra.
*** In one of the Orientation videos, a viewer asks a complicated question that requires Flug to do some extremely convoluted math to answer. He busts out a calculator, Demencia takes out a piece of paper and a pencil, and they both start working at the same time. It takes a good deal of time to do, with the calculator tape winding all the way around Flug's head by the time he's finished, he and finally announces his extremely long answer. [[SmarterThanYouLook But if you look over to Demencia, she's smugly holding up her paper with the exact same answer on it, which she figured out just as quickly and using only mental math.]]
-->''(Q:"How many hatbots would I need to control the galaxy?")''\\
''Dr. Flug's answer: Approximately 1.4 billion, 747 million, 56556e+22''\\
''Demncia's answer: 1,474,750,655,56e+22''\\
''5.0.5's answer: 2.''[[note]]Which he was also correct with, if the galaxy is the size of a key-chain, according to Flug.[[/note]]
*** According to ''Satellite Secrets'', she's learning French.
** Bulldozer flashbacks show he was an ElegantClassicalMusician and can (or at least ''could'') play harp very well.
** Black Hot
*** He cares a lot about Black Hat's opinion on him and the only thing he truly wants is [[WellDoneSonGuy the approval of Black Hat]].
*** Despite his [[EvilIsHammy hamminess]] and TestosteronePoisoning, he's very [[GeniusBruiser smart]] and [[WickedCultured cultural]] (for example, he's business savvy and knows a lot about painting and architecture).

** Black Hat sometimes plays mini-golf to relax himself, along with reading the newspaper in his spare time.

** Cartman is hinted to have depths that are overshadowed by his ComedicSociopathy. One such trait, shown subtly but repeatedly, is that Cartman is a very gifted photographer. He is seen in "Christian Rock Hard", "Cartman Sucks", and "Imaginationland" to have prodigious skill behind a camera. He is an excellent negotiator and strategist and is seen at least twice speaking flawless Spanish. He also honestly likes cats and harbors them when South Park bans cats (long story). And he's not half-bad with a violin.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Villainous}}''

* Randy Marsh is a gifter guitar player.