History TakeAThirdOption / WesternAnimation

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "Keystone Motel", [[RedOniBlueOni Ruby and Sapphire]] argue over how to deal with Pearl: they can't just ''forgive'' Pearl's actions, because they hurt [[spoiler:Garnet]] so deeply. But equally, they can't ignore the problem (because doing so hurts ''[[TrueCompanions everyone else]]''). Eventually they reach a compromise (signified by [[spoiler:the two fusing back into Garnet]]): they'll stop giving Pearl the silent treatment, but they won't accept her apology yet.

* In ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'', Mother Gothel is about to forcefully take Rapunzel away, but Rapunzel promises she'll go with Mother Gothel willingly if she can use her hair to heal a fatally injured Flynn first. Flynn quickly takes a third option by ''cutting Rapunzel's hair before she can heal him'', allowing Rapunzel her freedom while denying Mother Gothel from her source of eternal youth ''and'' denying himself a chance to be healed from his mortal injury. He dies, but then the SwissArmyTears kick in and he's revived.

* Spoilery example from ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'': [[spoiler:The Beast tells Wirt that he can choose between watching Greg turn into an edelwood tree and effectively die, or spend the rest of his life tromping around dark wood turning other edelwood trees into oil for the lantern, which will supposedly contain Greg's soul. Wirt instead opts to just grab an axe, cut Greg loose, pick him up and ''run like hell''.]]

* Spoilery example from ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'': [[spoiler:The Beast tells Wirt that he can choose between watching Greg turn into an edelwood tree and effectively die, or spend the rest of his life tromping around dark wood turning other edelwood trees into oil for the lantern, which will supposedly contain Greg's soul. Wirt instead opts to just grab an axe, cut Greg loose, pick him up and ''run like hell''.]]

** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 The Cutie Remark Part 2]]" presents Twilight with a problem. Her attempts to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong have been futile due to [[InSpiteOfANail Starlight Glimmer stopping her at every turn]]. Thus Twilight either stops trying to stop Starlight and let the future go to hell or keep going in an endless TimeLoop war. Instead, Twilight grabs Starlight and brings her to one of their possible futures, [[BadFuture a barren wasteland]]. It sets off Starlight's VillainousBreakdown, allowing Twilight to talk her down.

* ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' has a meta example: Tiana is the first African-American Disney princess, so how do they go about portraying the prince? They couldn't make him white, since that would be telling African-American boys that they will never be good enough to be princes. They couldn't make him African-American either, since that would reinforce the stereotype that only African-Americans can fall in love with and marry other African-Americans.[[note]]There were some people who were behind this idea, pointing to [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama the first African-American couple in the White House]].[[/note]] Disney's solution: make him Middle Eastern, leading to the creation of Prince Naveen of Maldonia.

* ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' has a meta example: Tiana is the first African-American Disney princess, so how do they go about portraying the prince? They couldn't make him white, since that would be telling African-American boys that they will never be good enough to be princes. They couldn't make him African-American either, since that would reinforce the stereotype that only African-Americans can fall in love with and marry other African-American Americans.[[note]]There were some people who were behind this idea, pointing to [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama the first African-American couple in the White House]].[[/note]] Disney's solution: make him Middle Eastern, leading to the creation of Prince Naveen of Maldonia.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "Keystone Motel", [[RedOniBlueOni Ruby and Sapphire]] argue over how to deal with Pearl: they can't just ''forgive'' Pearl's actions, because they hurt [[spoiler:Garnet]] so deeply. But equally, they can't ignore the problem (because doing so hurts ''[[TrueCompanions everyone else]]''). Eventually they reach a compromise (signified by [[spoiler:the two fusing back into Garnet]]): they'll stop giving Pearl the silent treatment, but they won't accept her apology yet.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PennZeroPartTimeHero'' episode "I'm Still Super!", Rippen subjects Penn to a SadisticChoice where he can only save either Boone or Sashi from getting killed by an overly-complicated death trap. Professor Evil Professor, deciding that Rippen has [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]], tells Penn that both of his friends will go free if he destroys Rippen instead.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PennZeroPartTimeHero'' episode "I'm Still Super!", Rippen subjects Penn to a SadisticChoice where he can only save either Boone or Sashi from getting killed by an elaborate death trap. Professor Evil Professor, deciding that Rippen has [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]], tells Penn that if he [[spoiler:destroys Rippen instead]] both of his friends will go free.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "The Krabby Khronicle", [=SpongeBob=] is forced to write humiliating lies about his friends in Mr. Krabs' new newspaper enterprise. His problems are 1) He is being ostracized by his friends, since his lies have ruined their reputations, and 2) Mr. Krabs is threatening to blackmail him if he stops, since the paper is bringing him tons of money. [=SpongeBob=]'s solution? He publishes an article about Mr. Krabs overworking him, which makes his customers angry with him and take all their money back.

* The first ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' [[MadeForTVMovie movie]] has the [[BigBad scammer aliens]] give the heroes and [[LaResistance their fleet of ships]] the option to either surrender unconditionally, or be destroyed. So Bender shoots a DoomsdayDevice at them.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PennZeroPartTimeHero'' episode "I'm Still Super!", Rippen subjects Penn to a SadisticChoice where he can only save either Boone or Sashi from getting killed by an elaborate death trap. Professor Evil Professor, deciding that Rippen has [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]], offers Penn that if he destroys Rippen both of his friends will go free, and tries to use his mind control medallion to make him comply.

** In "The Maze", Finn, Jake, and four Hot Dog knights enter the maze to find a wish-granter at the end of it. Along the way, two of the four hot dog knights die, and Jake pushes his stretching ability to the absolute limits with fatal results. At the end, Finn and two of the knight make it to the end. The first knight wishes for a box, the second wishes to "blow up" (he meant grow bigger, but the guardian was very much a LiteralGenie) And Finn's stuck between getting what they entered wanting to wish for (A two-headed, psychic war elephant) or wishing the hot dog knights and Jake back to life. After some thinking, Finn wishes for the elephant and makes ''it'' wish for Jake and the knights to come back to life. Then they mount up on the elephant and fly out of the maze while the guardian screams at them for "cheating".

-->'''Kang''': Go ahead, ''throw your vote away!''

* In the original ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats'', there was something like this in the second part of "The Anointment of Lion-O". Outracing Cheetarah the standard way was impossible, and he knew it, but he was allowed to take a shortcut, and seeing as she couldn't run as ''long'' as he could, doing so gave him a better chance. The downside? It was far more dangerous. Still, he took that option and won.

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'': while running a poll for Assistant Litter Commissioner that the options are Johnny and Carl, a guy answers "I like pie!". The papers publish: Carl 99%, Pie 1%, Johnny 0%. And the pie is later brought to a debate!
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "The Krabby Khronicle", [=SpongeBob=] is forced to write humiliating lies about his friends in Mr. Krabs' new newspaper enterprise. His problems are 1) He is being ostracized by his friends, since his lies have ruined their reputations, and 2) Mr. Krabs is threatening to blackmail him if he stops, since the paper is bringing him tons of money. [=SpongeBob=]'s solution? He publishes an article about Mr. Krabs overworking him, which makes his customers angry with him and take all their money back.

* In a ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode, Starfire's pet worm is [[LetHimChoose torn in a decision]] between his father and Starfire, who raised him with love. Rather than joining either, he takes a third option, and explodes.

** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E23PonyvilleConfidential Ponyville Confidential]]": The Cutie Mark Crusaders have become pariahs when everypony finds out that they were the ones damaging their reputations with lies in ''The Foal Free Press' under the pseudonym Gabby Gums. They feel guilty about it and want to stop writing slander, but editor [[AlphaBitch Diamond Tiara]] doesn't want them to, since said slander is bringing in lots of money for her, and threatens to publish an embarrassing picture of them in the paper if they dare to. Seeing that both choices will leave them social outcasts, they come up with a solution: [[spoiler: issuing a public apology to everypony for the damage they caused.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats 2011}}''. there comes an episode where [[TheHero Lion-O]] has to get a copy of [[TheBigGuy Panthro]] out of a wrestling ring. After many failed attempts at doing so, he remembers [[IForgotICouldFly he is the king]] and Panthro is his [[FourStarBadass General.]] He then orders him to leave the ring.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'': In "The Krabby Khronicle", [=SpongeBob=] is forced to write humiliating lies about his friends in Mr. Krabs' new newspaper enterprise. His problems are 1) He is being ostracized by his friends, since his lies have ruined their reputations, and 2) Mr. Krabs is threatening to blackmail him if he stops, since the paper is bringing him tons of money. [=SpongeBob=] solution? He publishes an article about Mr. Krabs overworking him, which makes his customers angry with him and take all their money back.

* The ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Another Way" is all about this trope, with every conversation ending with Finn shouting "My way!" When a tree stump (don't ask) tells him that he can only take the "smell bad forever" path or the "hair falls out forever" path, he kicks the signpost down and charges through the thorny bushes between the paths.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants'': In "The Krabby Khronicle", [=SpongeBob=] is forced to write humiliating lies about his friends in Mr. Krabs' new newspaper enterprise. His problems are 1) He is being ostracized by his friends, since his lies have ruined their reputations, and 2) Mr. Krabs is threatening to blackmail him if he stops, since the paper is bringing him tons of money. [=SpongeBob=] solution? He publishes an article about Mr. Krabs overworking him, which makes his customers angry with him and take all their money back.

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'': while running a poll for Assistant Litter Commissioner that the options are Johnny and Carl, a guy answers "I like pie!". The papers publish: Carl 99%, Pie 1%, Johnny 0%. And the pie is later brought to a debate!

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011''. there comes an episode where [[TheHero Lion-O]] has to get a copy of [[TheBigGuy Panthro]] out of a wrestling ring. After many failed attempts at doing so, he remembers [[IForgotICouldFly he is the king]] and Panthro is his [[FourStarBadass General.]] He then orders him to leave the ring.

** In the sequel series ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', this is how the LoveTriangle of [[BettyAndVeronica Mako having to choose between Korra or Asami is ultimately resolved]], with [[spoiler:Korra and Asami walking off into the sunset together.]] The "third option" nature of this is hilariously portrayed [[http://media.tumblr.com/2006345c36171bc4db66cd5a70c70ef5/tumblr_inline_nguf1jYlwG1qm2zzr.jpg here]].

** In the sequel series ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', this is how the LoveTriangle is ultimately resolved, with [[spoiler:Korra and Asami walking off into the sunset together.]] The "third option" nature of this is hilariously portrayed [[http://media.tumblr.com/2006345c36171bc4db66cd5a70c70ef5/tumblr_inline_nguf1jYlwG1qm2zzr.jpg here]].