History Main / ATasteOfDefeat

** And on Emperor Velo in Adventure Mode in ''CrashNitroKart''. [[VillainousBreakdown He takes it even worse...]]

* At the start of the first ''PaperMario'' Bowser (once again) attacks Peach's castle. The Princess sets Mario on him, boasting he has always kicked Bowser's ass. Cue Bowser pulling out his newly stolen Star Rod and finally defeating Mario in a HopelessBossFight.

** Technically Mario was given a canonical defeat long before in ''[[Franchise/DonkeyKong Donkey Kong Junior]]'', where he acted as the villain.

You have a character. They may be TheHero or TheRival, or maybe just a competitor for a mundane sport you've just heard of. Either way though, they are very good at what they do, so much that they pretty much never fail, or are even remotely challenged by it. They can in most simplistic terms be considered a "winner".

Except today. Maybe it's just [[NotMyLuckyDay Not Their Lucky Day]] or they've done something antagonistic to cost them their KarmicProtection, but for once in their usually glimmering life they've ended up the loser of the situation.

How they take their humbling can vary greatly. Some have been on the winning end so long that a single loss is completely alien to them. They may [[HeroicBSOD break]][[VillainousBreakdown down]], [[SoreLoser throw a tantrum]] or [[GracefulLoser just accept the humility and learn from their mistake]]. Whoever put them off their high horse will likely also be in their eye for quite a while, either as a [[DefeatEqualsFriendship respected rival]] or a despised sabotager of their legacy.

If a heroic case it sometimes happens because TheBadGuyWins or TeamRocketWins, though not always (one side doesn't neccessarily have to win for another to lose). In some of such cases, it may be a sign [[NotSoHarmlessVillain the villain]] [[KnightOfCerebus means business]].

Very often connected to DefeatingTheUndefeatable if their winning streak is lampshaded in universe.

See also BrokenStreak and NotSoInvincibleAfterAll. Compare with TheWorfEffect where a supposedly strong character has more defeats than victory, ThrowTheDogABone and TeamRocketWins when a usually luckless or incompetent character finally gets a victorious moment, and ALessonInDefeat in which this trope is deliberately invoked to make a point.

* Very common in the ''MetalFightBeyblade'' anime series. The most intense example would be the defeat of the pompous prodigy Julian Konzern by main character Gingka. It gets much worse for Julian, suffering an even more pathetic loss, and defecting to the bad guys with little success, before things get better.

See also BrokenStreak and NotSoInvincibleAfterAll. Compare with TheWorfEffect where a supposedly strong character has more defeats than victory, or ThrowTheDogABone and TeamRocketWins when a usually luckless or incompetent character finally gets a victorious moment.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban,'' Gryffindor goes up against Hufflepuff in Quidditch, and Harry and Cedric are both racing to catch the GoldenSnitch. At that very moment a huge pack of [[EmotionEater Dementors]]--which affect Harry worse than most people--come onto the pitch, making Harry faint and fall off his broom. When he wakes up in the Hospital Wing he's devastated, since this was the first time he had ever failed to win the game for his team.

* Issue #175 of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' has Eggman invade Knothole and blast it to smithereens and capture all the Freedom Fighters. What's more, due to creating a mech (the Egg Beater) built to resist Sonic's speed, he delivers a most sound verbal and physical beatdown to the hedgehog, with Sonic only able to make a small dent at his full power. Granted the victory is short lived and next to everything is reversed back (if not bettered) for the heroes by all of one issue, but still Eggman made his mark on Sonic.

* Played with in the ''HeyArnold'' episode "Steely Phil" when Grandpa Phil goes up against an arrogant Chinese Checkers champion (the one that he lost against back around 20 years ago in the finals). Being caught in the same trap in the current match, Phil uses the one other move he could have performed, resulting in a draw. (now co-) champion reacts however, you'd think he truly had lost.

** Similarly SpeedyGonzales, who was even more infallible than Bugs. At least three cartoons ended on a particularly sour note for him however (''Mucho Locos'', ''Chilli Con Corny'' and ''Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island'').

** Deliberately initiated in another episode. After Vince becomes conceited about his victory streak in sports games, the rest of the gang dare him to lose. He does so, and acts ''even more smug'' about it.

** Arguably the rare instances Twilight Sparkle is bested in terms of magical power, which is often implied to be among the most powerful in Equestria and usually only suffers the occasional failure due to her PowerIncontinence. Her CurbstompBattle against Trixie in "Magic Duel" possibly being the best example.

* Played with in the ''HeyArnold'' episode "Steely Phil" when Granpa goes up against an arrogant Chinese Checkers champion. He finally makes a move that ends the match on a stalemate. The way the (now co-) champion reacts however, you'd think he truly had lost.

* In ''DeathNote'' this happens to Light Yagami quite a few times and especially at the end. Normally, even while being arrogant Light can come out on top, but there are quite a few times that he loses and proceeds to freak out.

* In the ''{{Firefly}}'' episode "Shindig", the noble scion Atherton Wing challenges Malcolm Reynolds to a duel after Reynolds punches him (for making a disrespectful remark about Inara), and Wing is considered a master swordsman with many kills under his belt. He is rather arrogant about it in the way he toys with Malcolm initially in the duel, but is quite humbled when Malcolm (who has never fought with swords before) exploits a distraction and gains the upper hand--and moreso when Malcolm refuses to "finish him off" as is customary.

* A plot point exclusive to the AnimatedAdaptation of ''CardcaptorSakura''. While Sakura always succeeded in capturing the Clow Cards in the original manga, a stipulation is added in the anime where Syaoran Li can earn the cards himself if he put the most effort into weakening them. Granted this becomes less significant as Sakura has increasing difficulty resenting Syaoran as a rival, at some later points even happily giving him a card as a token of friendship or gratitude for an earlier act.

* In ''HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban,'' Gryffindor goes up against Hufflepuff in Quidditch, and Harry and Cedric are both racing to catch the GoldenSnitch. At that very moment a huge pack of [[EmotionEater Dementors]]--which affect Harry worse than most people--come onto the pitch, making Harry faint and fall off his broom. When he wakes up in the Hospital Wing he's devastated, since this was the first time he had ever failed to win the game for his team.

* You inflict this on Nitrus Oxide by beating him in Adventure Mode in ''CrashTeamRacing''.

** And on Emperor Velo in Adventure Mode in ''Crash Nitro Kart''. [[VillainousBreakdown He takes it even worse...]]

* Any time Chad loses in ''MegamanEXE''. May be combined with TheWorfEffect.

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* Anytime DonaldDuck finally one ups LuckyBastard Gladstone Gander. This was also the plot point of a ''DuckTales'' episode, where Magica De Spell uses magic to invert his good luck. WordOfGod even noted the importance of this trope and keeping it rare, knowing there's only so many times they can do the "lucky guy runs out of luck" plot to proper effect.

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* The Red Baron was eventually shot down after an extended fight despite his famous winning streak. He died from injuries sustained in the crash.

** Technically Mario was given a canonical defeat long before in ''[[DonkeyKong Donkey Kong Junior]]'', where he acted as the villain.

* Ash Ketchum of ''{{Pokemon}}'' has a very good winning streak in battles and is the saviour of almost every crisis, especially in later seasons. Every now and then however, he suffers a crippling loss, screws up a mission or even suffers a rare beatdown by [[TeamRocketWins Team Rocket]].

** Yugi's first defeat in ''Anime/YuGiOh'' was against Kaiba (albeit because Kaiba threatened to commit suicide if Yugi beat him). It caused Yugi to fear Yami, who either called Kaiba's bluff or didn't care. ''YuGiOhAbridged'' had fun with this.

* The latter half of ''TomAndJerry'' usually ended each short outwitting Tom. On occasion however, Jerry's luck run out. At least a dozen shorts ended with Tom getting the last laugh while many others ended in a bitter stalemate. These almost always happened when Jerry initiated the feud or got too spiteful in his retaliation.

* Rainbow Dash is completely dumbfounded by Applejack beating her in a sport in the "Fall Weather Friends" episode of ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. The taste of defeat is also pretty bitter.

* An episode of ''AmericanDad'' involves Steve being rejected from a football team after Stan becomes coach. For revenge, he and Roger try to cause his team to lose. After they succeed, Stan attempts suicide in humiliation, being completely unused to the concept of losing a basic sport.

* The Red Baron was eventually shot down after an extended fight despite his famous winning streak. He died from injuries sustained in the crash.

* In the fourth season of ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'', Yami Yugi loses to one of the mid-bosses after a philosophical debate about the merits of attempting to win at any cost.
** Yugi's first defeat in YuGiOh was against Kaiba (albeit because Kaiba threatened to commit suicide if Yugi beat him). It caused Yugi to fear Yami, who either called Kaiba's bluff or didn't care. YuGiOhAbridged had fun with this.

* This happened to Vince in ''{{Recess}}'' after one of the Ashleys outclassed him in kickball. Losing all his self confidence, things only worsen to the point he can't even make a basic kick anymore, until his friends coax him into kicking a (supposedly) modified ball to bring back his self esteem and competence.

Examples:

** Yugi's first defeat in YuGiOh was against Kaiba (albeit because Kaiba threatened to commit suicide if Yugi beat him). YuGiOhAbridged had fun with this.

See also NotSoInvincibleAfterAll. Compare with TheWorfEffect where a supposedly strong character has more defeats than victory, or ThrowTheDogABone and TeamRocketWins when a usually luckless or incompetent character finally gets a victorious moment.