History TearJerker / WreckItRalph

* The heartbroken look on Ralph's face, the moment he realizes he and Vanellope's plights are similar. "By yourself? ...With all this garbage around you?"
** Also, when Vanellope explains that she likes to use discarded candy wrappers as blankets "like a little homeless lady." She ''is'' a little homeless girl. Kid, usually the point is to ''not'' be okay with being homeless!

** Even worse when you realize they're making fun of her the same way a bully makes fun of someone with a physical or mental disability.

** Worse, it avoids the cliche of having [[spoiler:Vanellope speed off in a rage when she things Ralph is just selling her out for his medal. He forces her to stay where she is until he tells her exactly why he's doing this and only destroys her cart as a last resort when she still won't listen to him. And the look on his face shows how much he ''hates'' doing what he believes he has to do.]]
** Oh, but [[SarcasmMode it gets better]]: this all immediately follows [[spoiler:Vanellope giving Ralph a medal she made herself out of a cookie with the words "You're my hero" written on the back in icing. He may be trying to keep her safe, but he's also hurting the one person who saw him as more than a villain. It makes her heartbroken sob of "You really are a bad guy" even more gut-wrenching.]]

* [[spoiler: Ralph's near-HeroicSacrifice by divebombing head first into mentos, planning to be boiled alive in Diet Cola Hot Springs, all while stating the Bad Guy Creed and looking at Vanellope's message of "You're my Hero" as he whispers the last line.]]

** What about the moment that leads to this decision of his? The [[spoiler:Cy-Bug revived Turbo grabs Ralph and flies with him up in the air, grabs his head and yanks it in the direction of where Vanellope is along with Felix and Calhoun, and proceeds to tell him ''[[ForcedToWatch to watch]]'' while Vanellope gets ''eaten'' by the Cy-Bugs.]]
** To wit, at this point [[spoiler: all the Sugar Rushers have been evacuated. Only Van, Felix, and Calhoun are there to witness his act and it's debatable how much longer Felix and Calhoun could stay in/near the threshold of the plug. Meaning that his sacrifice would not be known to anyone but a handful. And he doesn't care. A far cry from the start of the movie where he ''wanted'' that public recognition.]]

*** Look at Ralph's face when he finds he can't bring Vanellope through the exit. It is eating him up inside something awful at the prospect of leaving her behind, even as she entreats him to.

** Notably, Calhoun and Felix both gradually back into the portal as they helplessly hold Vanellope's hands to prevent her from running toward Ralph. They lose grip of her as soon as they are through the portal.
*** AlternativeCharacterInterpretation makes this detail bad in a different way: Not only are they holding her back, but they're trying to comfort her, a little girl that they barely know. They might not even realize she's a glitch until they make it through the barrier and she doesn't. Imagine being two good-hearted people, especially a chivalrous goof like Felix, and being stuck in that situation.
** Just an ImagineSpot of [[spoiler: poor Vanellope begging and pleading for someone to help her as the world disappears is terrible. ''No one'' should have to go through that.]]

*** It is FridgeBrilliance, but perhaps in a different way. King Candy probably did try to persuade her not to race at some point, with the same story he told Ralph about it being for her own good, but, as Candy told Ralph, she would not listen. Why? Because racing is in her code, that is, in her ''soul''. She knows that racing may kill her, but she is ''willing'' to die to do it. That's why Ralph's willingness to sacrifice his own life at the end is so important to his character development: he finally has something that ''he'' is willing to die for.

** The line also feels like Gene is rubbing in how poorly the Nicelanders treat Ralph while still foisting all of the blame for the situation onto him, ignoring how the whole mess could have been avoided if they hadn't treated Ralph like dirt all that time for no good reason.
*** Alternatively, Gene ''does'' know that it's all largely his fault. But after being mean to Ralph for so long, it's just ''easier'' for him to pin the blame on the "bad guy" than to [[NeverMyFault blame himself.]]

** Take a real close look at [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/d430c3254a6978df28a89a3966c94db8/tumblr_mnc9pmNU5f1rv08z0o1_1280.jpg these]] [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/ea07396adbdadc39852bc6265b2a791e/tumblr_mnc9pmNU5f1rv08z0o2_r1_1280.jpg two]] screenshots. For just a second as he falls, Ralph opens his eyes to [[spoiler:look at the medal one last time- it is almost the last thing he ever sees.]] And then he closes his eyes again and he ''smiles.'' He just smiles. Cue more tears.

*** Ralph says, "but it's actually fine." It seems more like a living condition a guy with his brawn can handle.
*** It's more like he's such a humble and good-natured guy that he really just doesn't like to complain. His speech at the Badanon meeting is so reserved and restrained when, considering what he's been putting up with for '''thirty years''', he has EVERY right to be thoroughly pissed off. He's such a NiceGuy that he doesn't even like to complain about sleeping under a pile of bricks. And that's just sad.

** Vanellope even says, "Everyone says I'm a mistake." With that, she turns from simply an annoying brat to a lost little girl in a world that despises her for simply existing and desperately needs help to become the PluckyGirl we now know she can be.

*** The part where she wraps herself up in discarded candy wrappers, smiling all the while, shows how alone and defenseless she really was. Ralph pretty much picks up on it instantly and probably feels like a jackass at that point. Sure he's shunned in his game, but at the most the Nicelanders just avoid him and he at least has the ability to leave. [[spoiler: What's more, at the time, he didn't know Vanellope was a crucial part of the game too and figured as a minor character, nothing would be lost if she did leave.]] Vanellope is in a world where the inhabitants treat her like a Class-A criminal and will actually harm her.

*** And according to the game trailer, ''Sugar Rush'' came out in 1997. Assuming the movie takes place in 2012, that means Vanellope has been living this way for '''''fifteen years'''''. Ouch.
** And unlike the other three protagonists, she has ''no one''. Felix is a well-respected "good guy" among his game, Calhoun has her soldiers to keep company, and Ralph has other "bad guys". But Vanellope can't go out of her game to befriend others. Meaning she is forced to be in the same world as her tormentors.

** It might even be worse than that: Unless this actually takes place in flashback in a cutscene in the game, ''it's just a memory the game developers programmed into the character''.
*** And if it ''does'' take place in a cutscene, then she has to relive her fiance's death ''every time someone plays the game''.

*** It is, however, a bit lessened by the fact that she immediately pulls out a Minigun and starts attacking.
*** Not quite lessened when you see the pain in her eyes. It may have come off as a little funny ''and'' tragic in the movie, but ''her eyes''. At no other point do we see her that frightened.

*** She's seen firing a [[GatlingGood minigun]] in that scene so it's possible that [[spoiler: she's already killed him]]. It's a TearJerker either way.
* Ralph tries to get into his game's 30th anniversary party, but gets a door slammed in his face. In fact, him not being invited at all to the celebration of a game ''where he is one of the main characters'' is unbelievably stupid and disgusting. [[SarcasmMode Good job, Nicelanders.]] What's worse is that it's Felix's party, [[ExtremeDoormat so Felix, afraid of being shunned by the NiceLanders for inviting Ralph to the party, caved into the others into not inviting Ralph]].

* Ralph's game has an [[AttractMode automatic intro which appears when the game isn't played]]. It shows how his home is destroyed to make place for the Niceland Appartment. If anything happening on screen is the characters playing roles, this means that Ralph has to relive his backstory over and over.
** It does since after that very scene, we cut to inside the game and there's a brief shot of one of the bulldozers pushing away some bricks.

*** This was after Felix [[TraumaButton accidentally set her off by calling her]] [[InnocentlyInsensitive a "dynamite gal"]]. He was trying to be kind...but being called by her betrothed's AffectionateNickname for her made her FreakOut.

* [[spoiler: Ralph's near-HeroicSacrifice by divebombing head first into mentos, planning to be boiled alive in Diet Cola Hot Springs, all while stating the Bad Guy Creed and looking at Vanellope's message of "You're my Hero" as he whispers, "There's no one I'd rather be than me."]]

-->I don't know... maybe I wouldn't be feeling this way if things were different after work. But... it is what it is, you know. Felix and the Nicelanders go hang out in their homes... which he's just fixed and everyone, you know... They go to their homes, I go to mine, which just so happens to be... a dump. And when I say a dump, I don't mean, like, a shabby place. I mean, an actual dump, where the garbage goes... and a bunch of bricks and... smashed building parts; that's... that's what I call home. I guess I can't bellyache too much; I've got my bricks, I've got my stump... It looks uncomfortable, it's actually fine. I-I'm good. But, if I'm really honest with myself... I see Felix up there, getting patted on the back, people giving him pie and thanking him and so happy to see him all the time... Sometimes I think "''Man''... It sure must be nice, being the good guy."

* Save some tissues for the very final note of the film, after Ralph has finished describing how things have improved for him and his friends. He's found happiness at last, but where does it come from? What does he consider the best thing about his new life? [[spoiler:The moment when, lifted up at the end of each game, he can see across the room outside to where kids are playing ''Sugar Rush''. His voice when he describes how "I can see Vanellope racing... the kid's a natural... and the players love her... just like I knew they would..." is so full of pure love and pride and happiness, and the delivery sounds so natural, like he's just thinking aloud, feeling it more than saying it. He went on this dangerous quest searching for a better life for himself, and although, when you think about it, things haven't improved ''that much'' for ''him'', he knows things will be ''so much better'' for the little girl he cares about, and that's all he needs to be happy -- knowing that his friend is safe and happy now. Oh, I'm tearing up just thinking about it! It sounds just like a father who had a hard life glad that his daughter will have a better life than he did. He no longer cares about fame and popularity and having cheering fans who want to give him rewards; he's happy just to have made a difference in one person's life.]]

** What really clinches it is [[spoiler:Ralph looking at the medal Vanellope made for him while he falls. Take note that his fist was faltering as he fell even as he recited his Bad-Anon Mantra. His whole body language was expressing the terrible fear he was attempting to suppress with the mantra. It was him looking at the medal that gave him the strength to recite the rest of the mantra resolutely and hold himself with determination. Cue the tears.

** What really clinches it is [[spoiler:Ralph looking at the medal Vanellope made for him while he falls]]. Cue the tears.

* The ostracizing of one character is just a matter of who the game developers choose as a villain.
* The entirety of Ralph's speech at the Bad Anon meeting. He just sounds so miserable and exhausted, as anyone in his position would be.

*** The ''agonizing'' way Vanellope cries [[spoiler: as she's ForcedToWatch Ralph wreck her car]]. Creator/SarahSilverman genuinely (and jarringly) sounds like a poor little girl who's heart is breaking over the thing she loves the most. [[HeCanReallyAct Holy shit, can she act!]]

* [[spoiler: Ralph, after hearing King Candy's explanation (which later proves to be a deception) about the danger Vanellope could possibly bring to herself with her glitch status, decides to destroy the very car he and Vanellope bonded over. Worse, he's not doing this because he made the selfish choice of choosing his medal, he is immensely worried of the worst case scenario for Vanellope. The devastated cries of Vanellope over the object that would finally make her dream come true is heartwrenching. We don't blame her when she cries, "you really are a bad guy."]]
** What's worse is that the scene actually averts a common cliche and is played out differently than how it is in most films, and most GenreSavvy watchers would think. [[spoiler:Vanellope doesn't rush off in a rage before he's done explaining his SadisticChoice, Ralph holds her still and makes ''sure'' she gets all of the details of it. It's only when she ends up not believing him that he finally moves to his last resort and destroys her cart. And when he does so, you can tell, you can tell just by the look on his face, that he ''hates'' what he's doing.]].
** Even worse, this happens just after [[spoiler:Vanellope gives Ralph a medal that she made herself. Sure, it was made from a heart-shaped cookie, but on the back of it were the words "You're my hero." Ralph isn't just choosing to crush Vanellope's dreams in order to keep her safe; he's doing this to the one person who saw him as something other than a villain.]]
*** Right after [[spoiler: Vanellope gives Ralph the medal]], he tries to let her down gently, playing it off like it's no big deal. She assumes he's joking and lightly tells him to knock it off. When he grows more and more frustrated, finally breaking the news to her in more blunt language, there is a brief moment where she glitches and stands up perfectly straight, quite clearly in complete shock. Her next words are little more than confused mumblings - the first time we see her rendered completely speechless - as she realises Ralph is actually serious. Ralph's words cut right through her snark and you realise that [[WhamLine they've hit her with all the force of a brick to the face.]]
** If you're not focused on Ralph's desolate form, you're noticing [[spoiler: Vanellope glitching off the tree and falling to a miserable heap on the ground. She could only remove herself through emotional distress that devastated her.]]
*** King Candy's words effectively twist the knife and pour salt in the wound.
-->'''King Candy:''' I know it's tough, but heroes have to make the tough choices, don't they?
** Of course, now we know that King Candy[[spoiler:/Turbo was goading him on to advance his plan]], making this worse.
** Again, her cries [[spoiler:as Ralph destroys the car]] are absolutely ''agonizing,'' because it doesn't sound like a voice actor playing her role. It genuinely (and jarringly) sounds like a poor little girl's heart breaking over the one thing that was gonna help improve her life.
*** And note that her voice actor is '''[[Creator/SarahSilverman SARAH SILVERMAN]]'''. SheReallyCanAct, indeed.

* A Meta TearJerker: Disney got Buckner and Garcia[[hottip:*:The guys who did ''Music/PacManFever'', helping with the {{Retraux}} feel of the Fix-It Felix Jr. game]] to record a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl2uM_KX_9g theme song]] for the movie. Gary Garcia [[AuthorExistenceFailure didn't live to see the song finalized or the movie released]]. Jerry Buckner kept the song in their name as a duo anyway, in tribute to his fallen friend.

* A Meta TearJerker: Disney got Buckner and Garcia[[hottip:*:The guys who did Pac Man Fever, helping with the {{Retraux}} feel of the Fix-It Felix Jr. game]] to record a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl2uM_KX_9g theme song]] for the movie. Gary Garcia [[AuthorExistenceFailure didn't live to see the song finalized or the movie released]]. Jerry Buckner kept the song in their name as a duo anyway, in tribute to his fallen friend.

* A Meta TearJerker: Disney got Buckner and Garcia[[hottip:*:The guys who did Pac Man Fever, helping with the {{Retraux}} feel of the Fix-It Felix Jr. game]] to record a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HthczxPTRM theme song]] for the movie. Gary Garcia [[AuthorExistenceFailure didn't live to see the song finalized or the movie released]]. Jerry Buckner kept the song in their name as a duo anyway, in tribute to his fallen friend.

*** YMMV on the round of applause part, as she was also willing to risk the wellbeing of all the characters in Sugar Rush in order to race, but this tidbit makes her all the more tragic. But considering the way she's been treated by them for years, it's not surprising that she would not be too concerned what would happen to them.

* YMMV on this one, but the scene near the end where Vanellope, [[spoiler:who has regained her status as the game's princess, makes all the other racers who tormented her earlier break down in tears after decreeing that they be executed]] seems to come off as a bit cruel and mean-spirited. Sure, [[spoiler:she revealed that she was just joking about it moments later, and, to be fair, the other racers KINDA deserved it]], but you can't help but [[spoiler:feel sorry for them as they bawl their eyes out.]] Hell, after all the other stuff already mentioned on this page, you might even cry along with them.

* Imagine for a moment that Vanellope hadn't saved Ralph and he had died in the cola volcano. All the Bad-Anon members would ever know of what happened would be that despite their attempts to help him, Ralph went Turbo and ended up getting himself killed. They would probably feel somewhat guilty that they weren't able to help him with his problems when he came to them for help coping with his life. They would never know that the bad guy creed they taught him gave him the courage to save an entire game world and comforted him as he fell to his doom. They would never know how much their support helped him in the most important moment of his life.

*** Right after [[spoiler: Vanellope gives Ralph the medal]], he tries to let her down gently, playing it off like it's no big deal. She assumes he's joking and lightly tells him to knock it off. When he grows more and more frustrated, finally breaking the news to her in more blunt language, there is a brief moment where she glitches and stands up perfectly straight, quite clearly in complete shock. Her next words are little more than a confused mumble - the first time we see her rendered completely speechless - as she realises Ralph is actually serious. Ralph's words cut right through her snark and you realise that [[WhamLine they've hit her with all the force of a brick to the face.]]

** [[spoiler:The room was filled with colorful imagery and the words "You have been a bad girl." on the walls. 10/1 if King Candy/Turbo had managed to find her sooner that would have probably been her new home until the game was inevitably unplugged.]]

** During it, we get a glimpse of how the inner world of ''Fix-It Felix Jr.'' looks. All the Nicelanders go inside the front apartment entrance to relax after another hard day of work and are greeted by Felix at the door. Ralph picks himself up, covered in mud, and walks past them... right in time for the last tenant to rush in frightened, and for Gene to give him an angry glance before shutting the door behind him. ''[[FridgeLogic This has been happening in that game every single day for 30 years at least!]]''

* Seeing that Q*bert and his crew are now homeless and starving, as a result of their game being unplugged. Ralph giving them cherries is makes it more tearjerking

Creator/RogerEbert once stated that VideoGames were not art to him.[[note]][[http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/07/okay_kids_play_on_my_lawn.html He did eventually back away from this opinion.]][[/note]] Nevermind the gamers' community's InternetBackdraft, ''this'' is what will make anyone with that idea change his or her mind. Because, just as ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' did with toys, ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' will do with VideoGames: showing the heart that lies within such things.

-->''"You really are the bad guy..."''