History Main / TraumaButtonEnding

This trope is a stock comedic ending. After a whole episode of wacky shenanigans, a character sees some innocuous object that reminds them of today's harrowing misadventure and promptly has an unusually negative reaction. Its severity can vary, from an expression of distaste and exasperation ("No thanks, after today's horrific incident I don't want to see another codfish ball as long as I live") to [[BerserkButton full-blown homicidal rage]], or a panic attack where the character flees screaming a BigNo into the distance.

A subtrope of TraumaButton. Compare ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere, HereWeGoAgain, and WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain. If the events of the episode were AllJustADream, and they respond with anger, it's overlapping with MadAtADream. For further laughs, the trauma button will be treated like an AbsurdPhobia.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'': In "[[Recap/TheRealGhostbustersS3E12TheGrundel The Grundel]]", the titular MonsterOfTheWeek lures a boy, Alec, into its clutches by offering him the opportunity to do anything he wants, free of parental control. After being freed, Alec asks the Ghostbusters if he can work the siren while they're driving home. Ray says that as far as they're concerned, he can do anything he wants. Shaking his head, Alec says he's heard that before (though he's quite happy to play with Ecto-1).

* Happens in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BenAndHollysLittleKingdom'', "Queen Thistle's Day Off", Queen Thistle goes to visit her sister for the day, and the rest of the family has to take care of [[TricksterTwins Daisy and Poppy]]. However, the two toddlers get into a lot of trouble and cast spells on everyone who tries to calm them down. When Queen Thistle comes home and sees what's happened, she fixes all the spells the twins did. Then the family tells her that it was actually fun, and they'd manage the twins perfectly if Queen Thistle ever went away again.

* Happens in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BenAndHollysLittleKingdom'', "Queen Thistle's Day Off", Queen Thistle goes to visit her sister for the day, and the rest of the family has to take care of [[TricksterTwins Daisy and Poppy]]. However, the two toddlers get into a lot of trouble and cast spells on everyone who tries to calm them down. When Queen Thistle comes home and sees what's happened and fixes all the spells the twins did. Then the family tells her that it was actually fun, and they'd manage the twins perfectly if Queen Thistle ever went away again.

** In "Superman's Super-Magic Show!", Superman has to deal with Lex Luthor, Mr. Mxyztplk, and the Prankster using lifelike proxies of people for their schemes. Once the villains have been taken care of, Lois Lane approaches Supes with an idea for a ''Daily Planet'' contest- finding exact doubles of people like Superman, the mayor, and so forth. Superman's response is an emphatic, "No-no! I've had all the double trouble I want for the rest of my life!"

* ''Literature/CuriousGeorge'': Downplayed for the one with the chocolate factory. George is given chocolate at the end after having already eaten a lot of chocolate at the factory. However, he doesn't imply that he's sick or doesn't like chocolate anymore-- he's just not hungry.

* The ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' episode "Multi Tails" has this, not for the episode's focal character (Tails), but for Sticks- frustrated by one of his clones answering "Why?" to everything she says, she ultimately attacks the fully restored Tails for asking "Why?" for an innocuous reason- why Eggman is mildly upset with him (the Tails clones ate all Eggman's pudding).

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': In "Speed Demon", the girls burst out of school on the first day of summer vacation, and they fly so fast that they [[AccidentalTimeTravel create a wormhole and end up in a]] BadFuture where [[SatanicArchetype HIM]] has taken over the world and Townsville as [[GoshDarnItToHeck "gone to heck"]]. After they get back to their own time via a second speed-wormhole, the traumatized girls ask the Professor to cancel their planned vacation to the Bahamas.

* Occurs quite a few times in ''ComicBook/DisneyMouseAndDuckComics'':

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

This trope is a stock comedic ending. After a whole episode of wacky shenanigans, a character sees some innocuous object which reminds them of today's harrowing misadventure, and promptly has an unusually negative reaction. Its severity can vary, from an expression of distaste and exasperation ("No thanks, after today's horrific incident I don't want to see another codfish ball as long as I live") to [[BerserkButton full-blown homicidal rage]], or a panic attack where the character flees screaming a BigNo into the distance.

StatusQuoIsGod ensures that by the next episode the character has already gotten over their debilitating case of PTSD (or at least change of preferences) and will mention it no more.

A subtrope of TraumaButton. Compare ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere, HereWeGoAgain and WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain. If the events of the episode were AllJustADream, and they respond with anger, it's overlapping with MadAtADream. For further laughs, the trauma button will be treated like an AbsurdPhobia.

* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': In one episode, [[BirthdayEpisode it's Paddi's birthday]]; coincidentally, it also happens to be Wolnine's birthday as well. Her husband Wolffy bakes her a gigantic cake and kidnaps and traps Paddi inside of it, but Paddi manages to escape [[EatingSolvesEverything by eating his way out]]. By the time he's reunited with his friends at his party, he's much too full to eat his own birthday cake, and bursts into tears while complaining about his stomachache.

** The "Niagara Falls" routine (also made famous by ''Film/TheThreeStooges''), in which two men meet (one is implied to be a wanderer) and in casual conversation Costello's character triggers Abbott's (the wanderer) BerserkButton ('''"NIAGARA FALLS!"'''), and he brutalizes Costello's character while reminiscing the time that he hunted down a man that stole his girlfriend to that location. Variations of the routine have Costello's character either reflexively wincing when someone else comes along and says the name after the wanderer leaves, being pummeled by the wanderer because of said button-pressing ([[SelectiveEnforcement but the newcomer stays safe]]), repeating the wanderer's irate rambling (and pummeling) to the newcomer, or discovering the hard way that the bitter rival the wanderer keeps reminiscing developed the same BerserkButton from those events and getting pummeled ''again''.

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': In one story, Archie is called by the department store he works at during summer vacation and is assigned to work at the swimsuit department. At first, he is overjoyed at the opportunity to ogle girls in swimsuits, but his sales techniques work too well, and the customers start to fight over the swimsuits he recommends. By the end of his shift, he's sick of bikinis and swimsuits and is ready to go to bed. However, his female friends, who had gone to the beach, decide to drop by and visit in their swimsuits (because they felt sorry for him at missing the beach eye candy, not knowing about the department he's working at). The story ends with him rushing up to his room screaming, while his mother and female friends looks on, completely perplexed.

** ''[[http://coa.inducks.org/s.php?c=H+89025 Drie Konigen]]'' has Donald chased by ''The March of the Three Kings'', wherever he goes, to the point of IncessantMusicMadness. It ends with Daisy forcing him sing it at an event.
** One story has Donald experiencing nervous breakdown and is advised by the therapist to take model building to relax. He does so, and becomes so obsessed with his new hobby that it drives Daisy up the wall. She snaps and gets taken to the therapist (the same one Donald went to), who gives her a similar advice. The story ends with Daisy chasing down the therapist with a lamp stand, screaming that she's had enough of miniature models.

** In "Superman's Super-Magic Show!", Superman has to deal with Lex Luthor, Mr. Mxyztplk and the Prankster using lifelike proxies of people for their schemes. Once the villains have been taken care of, Lois Lane approaches Supes with an idea for a ''Daily Planet'' contest- finding exact doubles of people like Superman, the mayor, and so forth. Superman's response is an emphatic, "No-no! I've had all the double trouble I want for the rest of my life!"

** Following Pedro's 31st century ordeal as a robot slave on the Ruby Moon of Doom, he returns home to find a red sphere floating a short walk away from his house. He screams that the Ruby Moon of Doom has found him in another time period, then faints from the shock. [[spoiler:At the end, the strip reveals the sphere as merely a child's balloon.]]
** In one storyline, [[spoiler:Pedro's evil twin, Ordep]] had been posing as Pedro's butler, serving him [[TrademarkFavoriteFood alfalfa milkshakes]] to keep him off guard while he ruined Pedro's life. When Pedro finally escapes at the end, he says he never wants to see another one for the rest of his life, and runs screaming away when one of his friends comes by with a milkshake glass full of green liquid.[[spoiler:It was actually a clover frappe.]]

* In one episode of ''Series/TheUnit'', Jonas goes home after a successful assault on a hijacked airliner, and promptly shoots a couple holes in his bathroom mirror when he mistakes his own reflection out of the corner of his eye for a hijacker who had hidden behind a seat during the mission.

* One story in the official magazine for ''VideoGame/MoshiMonsters'' involves Furi eating too much cake at a party. At the end, Missy Kix offers him some cake, but he says he's "off cake" due to still feeling sick.

* The Whitestone arc of ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' (a very dark adventure involving vampires, necromancy, demonic possession and a boatload of trauma for the party {{Gunslinger}}, Percy) ends with a winter festival and a children's entertainer inviting Percy to take part in his show. Percy happily agrees, but [[BewareTheNiceOnes Keyleth]] panics, grabs the magician by the collar, pulls him close and threatens death if he does ''anything'' to hurt her friend any further. The scene manages to be funny, scary, sad and heartwarming, all at once.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In one of [[Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow the Tracey Ullman shorts]], Bart eats all the but one cookie from the cookie jar and has an AcidRefluxNightmare. After he wakes up, Homer tries to make him feel better by offering him the last cookie. Cue the scream.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}:'': Anne and Sprig spend the latter half of “Sprig’s Birthday” in a runaway hot air balloon shaped like a MonsterClown. At the end, after managing to escape, they decide to leave as soon as possible so they never have to look at the horrifying image of the deflated clown balloon again. Sprig admits that he sees it every time he closes his eyes.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Film/JumanjiTheNextLevel'': Fridge's character in the game [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseinContext explodes upon eating cake]], something that sticks with him long after they finish the game, as he refuses to eat a slice of chocolate cake even in the real world.

* ''ComicStrip/TheWackyAdventuresOfPedro''

This trope is a stock comedic ending. After a whole episode of wacky shenanigans, a character sees some innocuous object which reminds them of today's harrowing misadventure, and promptly has an unusually negative reaction. Its severity can vary, from an expression of distaste and exasperation ("No thanks, after today's horrific incident I don't want to see another codfish ball as long as I live") to [[BerserkButton full-blown homicidal rage]], or a panic attack where the character flees screaming into the distance.

* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': In one episode, [[BirthdayEpisode it's Paddi's birthday]]; coincidentally, it also happens to be Wolnine's birthday as well. Her husband Wolffy bakes her a gigantic cake and kidnaps and traps Paddi inside of it, but Paddi manages to escape by eating his way out. By the time he's reunited with his friends at his party, he's much too full to eat his own birthday cake, and bursts into tears while complaining about his stomachache.

A subtrope of TraumaButton. Compare ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere, HereWeGoAgain and WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain. If the events of the episode were AllJustADream, and they respond with anger, it's overlapping with MadAtADream. For further laughs, the trauma button will be an AbsurdPhobia.

A subtrope of TraumaButton. Compare ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere, HereWeGoAgain and WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain. If the events of the episode were AllJustADream, and they respond with anger, it's overlapping with MadAtADream.

[[folder:AnimeAndManga]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' has an episode in which [[BrattyHalfPint Angelica]] decides to eat some of a freshly baked cake despite her mother explicitly telling her not to. Contrary to the usual course of events, things culminate with her winning a contest and inheriting a candy company. She becomes emancipated and enjoys her wealth. Ultimately the stress of running a company gets to her. Unsurprisingly, it's AllJustADream; she wanders into the kitchen to find that her mother made a cake that looks ''exactly'' like the one she'd eaten without permission. Her mother offers her a slice, only for her to run away screaming, "[[BigNo NOOOOO!!!]]".

* The Whitestone arc of ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' (a very dark adventure involving vampires, necromancy, demonic possession and a boatload of trauma for the party {{Gunslinger}}, Percy) ends with a winter festival and a children's entertainer inviting Percy to take part in his show. Percy happily agrees, but [[BewareTheNiceOnes Keyleth]] panics, grabs the magician by the collar, pulls him close and threatens death if he does ''anything'' to hurt her friend any further.