History HonorBeforeReason / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': ** Applejack is prone to this.

* Played with in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''. ComicBook/BaronZemo agrees to help the heroes, but only if they promise to let him go. He demands this promise to be made by ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, as he knows he's the only one in the group who will not turn back on his word. Unfortunately for Zemo, [[spoiler:the current Captain is secretly a Skrull in disguise, and he has no qualms about lying]].

* '' WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':

** Taken to ridiculous extremes in an episode in which ComicBook/{{MODOK}} creates a robot clone of Iron Man. This robot is such a perfect copy that it refuses to attack the real Iron Man when his back is turned, because "Iron Man would never attack someone in the back". This causes conflict with his orders to kill Iron Man, so the robot gets destroyed.

** Hank adamantly refuses to see a doctor whenever he isn't feeling well because he thinks it's a either a sign of weakness or makes him lazy, because if he admits that he's sick, then that means he won't be able to go to work. In the first season, he refused to see a doctor about his constipation, or discuss it with anyone else, because he's too squeamish to discuss it despite the fact that he hadn't had a bowel movement in days. In another episode, he throws his back out and still refuses to see a doctor and still goes about his normal routine, even though his back hurts so much he could barely stand. When he does finally get goaded into seeing a doctor, the only two options he suggests are to get workman's compensation and bedrest or to take painkillers for the nerve pain so he can go on working. Hank rejects the idea of workman's comp since he views it's only for pregnant women or lazy government leeches who can't be bothered to do their jobs. He is also is offended at the idea of painkillers, which he sees as little better than taking crack cocaine. When the doctor first diagnosed his narrow urethra, he laid out a whole host of options meant to help Hank and Peggy conceive. Hank quickly shot down all of them out of discomfort or disagreement. Thus, the fact that they were never able to conceive the bigger family they wanted is entirely his fault. Over a decade later when he and Peggy were very much ready for more children he did relent and make attempts to increase his sperm count, but eventually gave up for a wide variety of reasons.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Applejack.
** Particularly in the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E4ApplebuckSeason Applebuck Season]]", in which she promises to do a few too many things while ''also'' harvesting her family's entire apple orchard by herself. It takes most of the episode, severe sleep deprivation and overwork, and accidentally causing several disasters to finally convince her that maybe she should admit she's overextended herself and ask for some help.
** She does it again in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup The Last Roundup]]" when her failure to win a contest whose prize she had promised to donate to Ponyville leads her to ''run away from home and go out West'' intending to work off the debt. She's too ashamed to face her friends and family, despite the fact that nobody ''else'' actually blames her for losing the contest.

** This trope often applies to Lisa. Typically, someone will try and convince her to lie, cheat, or at least conceal the truth, because it's to everyone's advantage. In fact, the story will often go out of its way to assure us that everyone is better off with the lie. This usually leads to Lisa having a moral crisis before she decides to tell the truth after all (usually in an overly dramatic fashion). But of course, there's always another twist at this point.
*** In a surprisingly rare case, it's averted in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E16LisaTheIconoclast Lisa the Iconoclast]]" when she ultimately decides not to ruin the town's image of their founder, Jedediah Springfield, by revealing that he was actually a ruthless pirate, because doing so would destroy the hopes and dreams of countless generations of citizens past, present and future that have been built on that lie.

** Another is when Omi doesn't look up the secret to destroying all evil.... because he promised not to. And actually it's worse than that, because he DOES break the promise and looks it up... but now to feebly try to keep the now BROKEN promise he refuses to USE the secret. Sure, things work out in the better in the end, but it's still horrific use of this trope since as far as Omi was concerned, he was playing it painfully straight. [[spoiler:Though it turns out the secret was really the secret to destroy all good. Chase gives up that little tidbit. Omi then uses Chase's own words against him.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' episode "Partner's Complaint", Jodie and Daria pretend to apply for a business loan as part of a school project. The first banker they talk to is condescending and racist as he rejects them. With the second banker, Jodie immediately drops the name of her father, a well-known and successful entrepreneur, and she and Daria have no trouble going forward. Afterwards, Daria is uncomfortable with this manoeuvre since they didn't succeed on their own merits. Jodie points out that they were merely using the resources at hand to overcome a disadvantage that also had nothing to do with their abilities, namely prejudice against their age, their gender, and Jodie's race.

** In "Stop, Look, and Ed", Edd ''[[LawfulStupid publicly announces the kids that he called their parents to let them know they broke the rules]]''. That would have been less of a problem had Edd just simply remained anonymous instead of letting them know that he was responsible for putting everything back in order.
** In "It Came From Outer Ed", he is the one who encourages Ed to implement a scam of his own, thinking he would come up with something unique. Needless to say, not only does it cause trouble with the kids, the Ed's don't even get a single cent out of it, which prompts Eddy to rightfully call Edd out for encouraging Ed's behavior against his better judgment.
** In "For the Ed, by the Ed", Edd votes for Plank against Eddy, not getting the fact that since Eddy would lose the election anyway, it wasn't a need for Edd to vote against his friend.
** In "Mission Ed-Possible", Edd was all the willing to hand-deliver his friends' report cards to their parents. While Eddy arguably deserved it for slacking off on his schoolwork, Edd failed to realize that Ed is far too dim to function in class and needs counseling, yet he's blinded by authority to know that Ed's parents will be no help.
** In "Between a Rock and an Ed Place", Edd suggests to Eddy that while Jonny's party wasn't exciting in the slightest, he should still stick around so Jonny could make his wish so the Eds would leave sooner. Jonny's wish? The party never ends, leaving Edd and Eddy forced to stay at the party while Ed and Jonny continue enjoying themselves. Eddy even calls Edd out on it.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Brian Goes Back To College", Brian goes on a guilt trip after Stewie convinces him to cheat on a test and pass. After some internal conflict, Brian decides not to cheat on his final exam and he fails, but at least he feels good for being honest. The Griffins all say he should have cheated, and Quagmire mocks him for this [[CallBack later on]] in his devastating TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
-->'''Chris:''' I HATE YOU!!!
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' movie ''Into the Wild Green Yonder'', the last Encycolopod tries (albeit reluctantly) to preserve the genetic material of the recently deceased last Dark One. The Encyclopod preserves extinct species by carrying recreations of them on its back using genetic material. The Dark Ones have been trying to exterminate the Encyclopods ever since the two species existed. [[spoiler:If the Dark One's remains hadn't been completely destroyed before the Encyclopod could reach them]], the Encyclopod's honor would have forced it to carry its own mortal enemy on its back.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'':
** In the episode "The Gathering", Goliath decides to have himself and his clan help their enemy, David Xanatos, stop the godlike Oberon from abducting his child on pure principle, considering they owe the billionaire absolutely nothing. Although it's obviously a difficult and dangerous task, Goliath is instrumental to making Oberon compromise to allow the child to stay. Subverted, since as a result, Xanatos then feels he [[IOweYouMyLife owes the clan big time]], which leads him to inviting them back to the castle to live safely after they are exposed to the public. Likewise Owen's participation in that battle, since he knew [[spoiler:Oberon would not be happy he was missing the Gathering]].
** During his first appearance Macbeth is trying to capture the gargoyles, but he chooses to calmly wait until sundown to fight them rather than just moving their statues in the middle of the day. In a later episode he refuses to let Demona smash them, again citing it as dishonorable.
** Goliath himself occasionally falls into this trope as well. It's best seen in his relationship with Angela, his biological daughter. Angela desperately wants to be closer to him and [[WellDoneSonGuy win his praise]], but Goliath refuses. In "Mark of the Panther," we find out why: Goliath explains that among gargoyles, "hatchlings" are raised by the whole clan, and any sort of preferential treatment toward any one child would be an insult...despite the fact that Angela is literally the ''only'' hatchling currently in the mortal world with them, and that the "clan" consists of five gargoyles, three of whom are about Angela's age. Thankfully, Elisa's mother Diane helps Goliath see the error of his ways by pointing out that every child needs special attention from their parents sometimes, and the episode ends with Goliath thanking Angela for her quick thinking in defeating the MonsterOfTheWeek: [[SoProudOfYou "I am proud of you...]] [[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious my daughter."]]

* '' [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'':

---> '''[[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs Actor Zuko]]''': HONOOORR!!

*** Aang is unwilling to outright kill Firelord Ozai, despite everyone, including his past lives, telling him it's the only way. When he looks to the previous Air Nomad Avatar, Yangchen, for back up because of their shared religious beliefs in pacifism, she tells him that his duty is to the world not to himself. [[spoiler:Plot twist: [[TakeAThirdOption Lion turtle.]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''
** During the Justice Lords arc, it's pointed out that the Lords are every bit as smart, strong, fast, and skilled as the League, except that they're willing to KILL. Superman insists that he won't cross that line, to which Batman replies they'll have to cross SOME kind of line. So they end up getting [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork Lex Luthor's]] help.
** Franchise/WonderWoman is banished by her mother from [[LadyLand Themyscira]] for bringing men to the island and breaking the law. If she hadn't worked with the HostageForMcGuffin scenario, the Amazons would [[TakenForGranite remain in stone]]. If she hadn't received help from her teammates, Hades could have taken over. Franchise/TheFlash points out this is ridiculous since she risked her life to save everyone. When the Gods have her return in "The Balance", she says she should leave after completing the task. Hippolyta asks her to stay and when she points out her exile, her mother explains that the Gods will have to deal with her if they have a problem with that. One wonders why she didn't say this the first time other than to have a BittersweetEnding.

** [[DarkActionGirl Shego's]] brother [[GoodisDumb Hego]] is this in the ep where it's revealed she used to be a hero. For example: His letting the enemy strike first and revealing their presence became too much for his sister, and became one of the many reasons, if not '''THE''' reason for her FaceHeelTurn.
---> '''Shego''': (Annoyed) Why do you think I left?!

** Particularly in the episode "Applebuck Season", where she promises to do a few too many things while ''also'' harvesting her family's entire apple orchard by herself. It takes most of the episode, severe sleep deprivation and overwork, and accidentally causing several disasters to finally convince her that maybe she should admit she's overextended herself and ask for some help.
** She does it again in "The Last Roundup," where her failure to win a contest whose prize she had promised to donate to Ponyville led her to ''run away from home and go out West'' intending to work off the debt. She was too ashamed to face her friends and family, despite the fact that nobody ''else'' actually blamed her for losing the contest.
* In "[[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb Phineas and Ferb]]'s Quantum Boogaloo", when Doofenshmirtz took over the Tri-State Area in the BadFuture, he got everyone (including the O.W.C.A.) to swear obedience to him. All he had to do to stop whatever plans they had to dethrone him was reminding them of the oath.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' has Blossom do this on several occasions, with it being constantly [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]]. Justified since she's a kindergartner, and as such has a much more black and white view on things than an adult;

* ZigZaggingTrope in ''WesternAnimation/{{ReBoot}}''. Enzo/[[spoiler:Now Matrix]] has returned home to Mainframe, all grown up, big, strong and gunning for Megabyte, both literally and figuratively. When confronted by Enzo's gun, Megabyte taunts him into fighting like a "real sprite". Enzo puts away his gun...but then proceeds to send Megabyte flying with a punch hard enough to dent his chest, ''before'' Megabyte has a chance to prepare. And he then proceeds to do it ''again'' while Megabyte is still recovering from the first attack. When Megabyte inevitably cheats, he takes him on with a spear, then at the end of the fight, spares Megabyte... despite Megabyte enslaving the population of Mainframe, torturing his friends, and killing countless binomes. Funny, as this is what Bob would do, [[spoiler:and what Matrix himself would detest to]]; sparing and containg enemies, and not to kill them.

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' insists on defending others from evil, even when it means passing up a chance to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong return to the past]] and undo the original ''cause'' of the evil.
** The Guardian of the time portal from Season 3's "Jack and the Traveling Creatures" says that only TheChosenOne can defeat him and use the portal. Despite that Jack wielded the one weapon that could destroy Aku, the Guardian and the portal itself refused to let him enter until he proved himself worthy. Come Season 5, both he and his portal were destroyed long before the supposed chosen one could arrive, and Jack had lost his sword and became a broken man.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Lisa turning down a fortune after finding out what Mr. Burns had turned the recycling company he and Lisa had started into. The good she could've done with twelve million...
-->'''Homer, in a hospital bed after 4 simultaneous heart attacks:''' It's okay, sweetie. But we really could've used that 12,000 dollars.\\
'''Lisa''': Actually, Dad, 10% of 120 million dollars ''isn't'' 12,000, it's...\\
''*Smash cut to hospital corridor*''\\

** The worst part about this particular scenario is that since Lisa didn't take the money, Mr. Burns gets the money, and he probably wouldn't do anything good with it.
** This trope often applies to Lisa. Typically, someone will try and convince her to lie, cheat, or at least conceal the truth, because it's to everyone's advantage. In fact, the story will often go out of its way to assure us that everyone is better off with the lie. This usually leads to Lisa having a moral crisis before she decides to tell the truth after all (usually in an overly dramatic fashion). But of course, there's always another twist at this point.
*** In one episode, the town tricks Lisa. She had cheated on a test (no, really) and her ill-gotten A got the school in a position to be granted government funds. When Comptroller Atkins showed up at a public conference to deliver the check, Lisa confessed and Comptroller Atkins decided due to her honesty to let them keep the money anyway. After she leaves, it's revealed to the viewers that, knowing Lisa would have confessed, the entire town had an imposter disguised as Comptroller Atkins to lure Lisa away and, when the real Comptroller Atkins showed up, they used a false Lisa to trick him.
*** On one occasion, Lisa is offered a free ride at the college of her choice if she loses the spelling bee so a cute kid with a lisp can win. Lisa struggles with this, then snaps and tells the entire audience about the fix before immediately misspelling the word she was given. If she'd just tried her best without making a dramatic announcement about it, she'd have lost honestly and still gotten a free education.
*** Though in a surprisingly rare case it's averted in "Lisa the Iconoclast", where she ultimately decides not to ruin the town's image of their founder, Jedediah Springfield, by revealing that he was actually a ruthless pirate, because doing so would destroy the hopes and dreams of countless generations of citizens past, present and future that have been built on that lie.
*** In one occasion, Bart faked being kidnapped (because he went to a rap concert that he was forbidden to go to and things got complicated), which eventually led to Milhouse's deadbeat father Kirk getting arrested and thrown in jail by mistake. Lisa is the '''only''' person that wants to find out the truth (because everybody benefited from it, including her father and Chief Wiggum -- and even Kirk, who is such a StrawLoser that he sees living behind bars as a marked improvement) and when she decides to investigate on her own the only person willing to help her is Principal Skinner (who made it perfectly clear that he is helping her only because he wants to make Bart suffer).
*** In "All's Fair In Oven War", Lisa calls out Marge for [[BrokenPedestal sabotaging other food entries in a baking contest]] and tells her to tell the truth... despite the fact that [[DoubleStandard she herself witnessed how all of the other contestants were]] [[AffablyEvil blatantly trying to sabotage her mother's food throught the whole contest beforehand]] [[EvilIsPetty because they found it a threat to their meals]] (even to the point of making her cry and forcing her to start cooking from the start all over again and almost getting disqualified for running out of time). Yes, Marge crossed the line, but the contestants [[LaserGuidedKarma had it coming for the way they treated her]].

** In "Much Apu About Nothing", due to anti-immigrant fever hitting Springfield, Apu buys a fake passport and suppresses his Indian heritage to maintain the ruse, even putting on a phony American accent. However, he quickly feels ashamed for rejecting his heritage, and tears up his passport, not wanting to remain in America if it means living a lie.
---> '''Apu''': I cannot deny my roots, and I cannot keep up this charade. I only did it because I love this land where I have the freedom to say and to think and to charge whatever I want. I want to stay, but as the real me not as some yahoo from Green Bay.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Brian Goes Back To College", Brian goes on a guilt trip after Stewie convinces him to cheat on a test and pass. After some internal conflict, Brian decides not to cheat on his final exam and he fails, but at least he feels good for being honest. The Griffins all say he should have cheated.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' has gained a heavy case of this in later seasons. While usually hard working and loyal, he will very quickly disobey an order or ignore duties if he believes someone else is remotely unhappy or needs help. He is usually reprimanded for this, though the Fat Controller occasionally lets it slide if it truly is for the better rather than just causing confusion and delay. Other engines occasionally have bouts of this too.

* The Comicbook/DoomPatrol in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' are made of this trope; so much so that they come across as arrogant when they refuse to let the title characters join them on a potential suicide mission. This trope is also subverted in that the Teen Titans end up undoing all the {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s the Doom Patrol made offscreen.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'': It's made very clear that the alien court would let the Justice League free if offered a small bribe. Meg'an, Connor, and Icon nevertheless go to exhausting lengths to get an acquittal without needing to pay a bribe, just because they don't want to subvert the justice system.

* ''WesterAnimation/YoungJustice'': It's made very clear that the alien court would let the Justice League free if offered a small bribe. Meg'an, Connor, and Icon nevertheless go to exhausting lengths to get an acquittal without needing to pay a bribe, just because they don't want to subvert the justice system.

* ''WesternAnimation/IronMan'':
** Played straight and then subverted during one episode. Tony Stark agrees to get an artifact from a booby-trapped tomb if Madame Masque will release his kidnapped workers. She releases Julia Carpenter (ComicBook/SpiderWoman) who will send the Iron Man armor but keeps the other workers captive. Julia says that she will send down the armor "and a lot more", but Tony stops her because [[IGaveMyWord he has given his word]]. The trope is subverted almost immediately afterward. Once, Iron Man has entered the tomb, Julia convinces Jim Rhodes (ComicBook/WarMachine) to attack Madame Masque and her minions anyway, arguing that the only chance the hostages have is if they attack their captors off guard.

* ZigZaggingTrope in ''WesternAnimation/{{ReBoot}}''. Enzo/[[spoiler:Now Matrix]] has returned home to Mainframe, all grown up, big, strong and gunning for Megabyte, both literally and figuratively. When confronted by Enzo's gun, Megabyte taunts him into fighting like a "real sprite". Enzo puts away his gun...but then proceeds to send Megabyte flying with a punch hard enough to dent his chest, ''before'' Megabyte has a chance to prepare. And he then proceeds to do it ''again'' while Megabyte is still recovering from the first attack. When Megabyte inevitably cheats, he takes him on with a spear, then at the end of the fight, spares Megabyte... despite Megabyte enslaving the population of Mainframe, torturing his friends, and killing countless binomes. Funny, as this is what Bob would do; to spare and to contain, and not to kill.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''

** Justified since she's a kindergartner, and as such has a much more black and white view on things than an adult.
* ZigZaggingTrope in ''WesternAnimation/{{ReBoot}}''. Enzo has returned home to Mainframe, all grown up, big, strong and gunning for Megabyte, both literally and figuratively. When confronted by Enzo's gun, Megabyte taunts him into fighting like a "real sprite". Enzo puts away his gun...but then proceeds to send Megabyte flying with a punch hard enough to dent his chest, ''before'' Megabyte has a chance to prepare. And he then proceeds to do it ''again'' while Megabyte is still recovering from the first attack. When Megabyte inevitably cheats, he takes him on with a spear, then at the end of the fight, spares Megabyte... despite Megabyte enslaving the population of Mainframe, torturing his friends, and killing countless binomes.

*** At the end of season 1, when he, Sokka, and Katara get to Northern Water Tribe so he and Katara can learn waterbending from a master, they find out that they don't teach women to fight. Women waterbenders have to be [[StayInTheKitchen healers]] there. Katara wants to learn to fight but Master Pakku won't teach her. Aang says if Katara doesn't get to learn, he won't either. Even though he's running out of time to learn the elements and they still have to find him earth and fire teachers. Katara tells him that he needs to learn to save the world and there's nowhere else he can go to learn and he eventually acquiesces. She later gets to learn to fight, however.

*** In [[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAvatarDay the season two episode "Avatar Day"]], Aang insists on undergoing an unfair trial by the Avatar-hating Chin Village for something that he did in a past life at least two hundred years previously. He’s so sure that Avatar Kyoshi shared his pacifistic beliefs (which she didn’t) that he wants to stay to defend her honor. Katara and Sokka both try to tell him that no one in the world outside the village cares and they should just move on.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' has gained a heavy case of this in later seasons. While usually hard working and loyal, he will very quickly disobey an order or ignore duties if he believes someone else is remotely unhappy or needs help. He is usually reprimanded for this, though the Fat Controller occasionally lets it slide if it truly is for the better rather than just causing confusion and delay. Other engines occasionally have bouts of this too.

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Bob in undoubtedly a good cook, but a poor businessman. He seems to think his food should be more than enough to have a successful restaurant, but dismisses other things. When an old friend invests in the restaurant by adding a tiki motif, or when a historian wants to put a plaque to reveal the restaurant is where a notorious gangster was killed, Bob immediately rejects them because they're not what he wants people to come for. Ths is in spite of him bemoaning how broke he and his family is.

** You have to be dead in order to be infected, but still there was at most ''20 people out of 2000'' left alive and going crazy.
*** You don't have to be dead for the marker to drive you batshit insane though.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Roboroach}}'':On the day Rubin gained his Roboroach powers, he vowed never to use them for personal gain. While admirable, he sticks to those guns so thoroughly, that he and Reg are living in poverty.