History WhamEpisode / WebAnimation

** ''Fall'': Remnant's history of fairy tales are discussed, and it's revealed that some of them are actually true stories that were deliberately disguised as fairy tales to protect humanity from panic and chaos. Certain fairy tales therefore reveal that the history and religion that hold civilisation together are completely wrong, and those that know the truth are either engaged in a question to obtain unimaginable power or to prevent the abuse of unimaginable power. Humanity has absolutely no idea what the real threat to their existence is. [[spoiler:There are four Maidens who represent the four Seasons. They were gifted with incredible, magical power by an old man who possessed incredible, magical power of his own. Cinder has attacked the Fall Maiden and stolen half her power. The Fall Maiden's protectors want Pyrrha to inherit the Maiden's remaining power.]]

** ''Battle of Beacon'': The stakes continue to get higher and higher. [[spoiler: Torchwick manages to take control of the Atlesian Knights with Cinder's computer virus and turns them against the civilians and hunters. Ironwood is seemingly killed and Mercury is recording the chaos as "proof" of Atlas betraying the other kingdoms. As if that wasn't enough a Grimm Dragon that can SPAWN MORE GRIMM is released.]]
** ''Heroes and Monsters'': By now the series seems to want to show that things can always get much worse. [[spoiler:Adam confronts Blake and shows that not only is he creepy, but he's also very twisted. He stabs her in order to bait Yang into attacking him head on. The attempt ends with Yang losing an arm. Elsewhere we see Ruby barely holding on against Roman and Neo. Quick thinking and Roman's unexpected death due to a Grimm are the only things that keep her alive. Meanwhile below Beacon we see that Jaune and Pyrrha have unwittingly led Cinder to Amber. This results in the death of the Fall Maiden and leads to Cinder gaining her powers.]]
** ''End of the Beginning'': [[spoiler:Pyrrha finally has her first kiss with Jaune knowing she likely won't be coming back from the battle she's about to run off to. Ultimately she dies at Cinder's hands. Ruby manages to reach them just in time to witness the death blow and then proceeds to unleash an unknown power. By the end Beacon has fallen, Ozpin is missing and Team RWBY is broken up. Weiss was forced to return home by her father, Blake has run off again (most likely to try to keep Adam away from her friends) and Yang is a broken shell of her former self. Before the episode ends the narrator from the very first episode makes a return only for the voiceover to reveal her as the true villain of the series. Her conversation with Ozpin at the start leads directly into her monologue in this episode, essentially revealing Volumes 1-3 to be one giant "how we got here" moment (hence the episode title).]]

** ''Fall''. Remnant's history of fairy tales are discussed, and it's revealed that some of them are actually true stories that were deliberately disguised as fairy tales to protect humanity from panic and chaos. Certain fairy tales therefore reveal that the history and religion that hold civilisation together are completely wrong, and those that know the truth are either engaged in a question to obtain unimaginable power or to prevent the abuse of unimaginable power. Humanity has absolutely no idea what the real threat to their existence is. [[spoiler:There are four Maidens who represent the four Seasons. They were gifted with incredible, magical power by an old man who possessed incredible, magical power of his own. Cinder has attacked the Fall Maiden and stolen half her power. The Fall Maiden's protectors want Pyrrha to inherit the Maiden's remaining power.]]
** ''[=PvP=]''. Cinder finally takes her plotting public, causing chaos right across the four kingdoms, but most especially in Amity Colosseum and Vale, confirming the entire story is going in a new, much darker direction. [[spoiler:Penny is graphically torn apart in the arena revealing to the whole world that she is a robot. Cinder then hijacks the global broadcast to ruin the reputations of Ozpin, Ironwood, all four academies, the Atlas army, and the concept of Hunters. She suggests the people need an entirely new leaderships and method of protecting themselves. Her speech ends with the Grimm invading Vale and Amity Colosseum, aided by Roman and Neo, and the White Fang bringing the Grimm inside the city by airship.]]

** ''Heroes and Monsters''. [[spoiler: Roman is eaten alive, Blake is injured, Yang loses an arm, Ironwood is revealed to be part robot, Pyrrha finally attempts to merge with Amber, who is killed by Cinder who absorbs the rest of her power, while Ozpin ends the episode with a YouShallNotPass moment.]] Oh, and we now know what Velvet can do.
** Volume 3's finale, ''End of the Beginning'', is possibly ''the'' WhamEpisode of the entire series, setting up one hell of a SequelHook [[spoiler: Pyrrha shares her LastKiss with Jaune before going to confront Cinder on her own. Ruby and Weiss attempt to help her but are too late, and Ruby can only watch in horror as Cinder murders Pyrrha right before her eyes. The resulting emotional outburst triggers some strange power within Ruby that completely overwhelms both the Grimm Dragon and Cinder. Beacon is left in ruins. Ozpin is nowhere to be found. Team RWBY is pretty much broken up, Yang has lost her will to fight, Weiss's father takes her back to Atlas, a country that is on the brink of war following the accusation that it is responsible for the Grimm Invasion in Vale, and Blake runs away out of guilt of what happened to Yang. Ruby joins up with the rest of Team JNPR to pursuit Cinder and co. into Haven, and the face of the true BigBad is finally revealed. NothingIsTheSameAnymore]].

** The finale, ''End of the Beginning'', is possibly ''the'' WhamEpisode of the entire series, setting up one hell of a SequelHook [[spoiler: Pyrrha shares her LastKiss with Jaune before going to confront Cinder on her own. Ruby and Weiss attempt to help her but are too late, and Ruby can only watch as Cinder murders Pyrrha right before her eyes. The resulting emotional outburst triggers some strange power within Ruby that completely overwhelms both the Grimm Dragon and Cinder. Beacon is left in ruins. Ozpin is nowhere to be found. Team RWBY is pretty much broken up, Yang has lost her will to fight, Weiss's father takes her back to Atlas, a country that is on the brink of war following the accusation that it is responsible for the Grimm Invasion in Vale, and Blake runs away out of guilt of what happened to Yang. Ruby joins up with the rest of Team JNPR to pursuit Cinder and co. into Haven, and the face of the true BigBad is finally revealed. NothingIsTheSameAnymore]].

** The second half of Season 3 in general features one wham moment after another in quick succession. Highlights (up to Episode 11) include [[spoiler:Ironwood's troops being taken over by Torchwick, Adam and Blake confronting each other, Pyrrha making her decision to take Amber's powers, Velvet's weapon finally being revealed, Adam stabbing Blake and slicing off one of Yang's arms when she attacks him in retaliation, Amber being shot with an arrow from Cinder right as Pyrrha is about to gain her power, and Cinder taking all of the fall Maiden's powers for herself with Ozpin ready to stand against her.]]

** ''[=PvP=]''. Cinder finally takes her plotting public, causing chaos right across the four kingdoms, but most especially in Amity Colosseum and Vale, confirming the entire story is going in a new, much darker direction. [[spoiler:Penny is graphically torn apart in the arena revealing to the whole world that she is a robot. Cinder then hijacks the global broadcast to ruin the reputations of Ozpin, Ironwood, all four academies, the Atlas army, and the concept of huntsmen. She suggests the people need an entirely new leaderships and method of protecting themselves. Her speech ends with the Grimm invading Vale and Amity Colosseum, aided by Roman and Neo, and the White Fang bringing the Grimm inside the city by airship.]]

** ''[=PvP=]''. Cinder finally takes her plotting public, causing chaos right across the four kingdoms, but most especially in Amity Colosseum and Vale, confirming the entire story is going in a new, much darker direction. [[spoiler:Penny is graphically torn apart in the arena revealing to the whole world that she is a robot. Cinder then hijacks the global broadcast to ruin the reputations of Ozpin, Ironwood, all four academies, the Atlas army and the concept of huntsmen and suggest the people need an entirely new leaderships and method of protecting themselves. He speech ends with the Grimm invading Vale and Amity Colosseum, aided by Roman and Neo, and the White Fang bringing the Grimm inside the city by airship.]]

** "The Stray": Weiss and Blake have a nearly episode-long shouting match regarding the [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]], and Blake reveals that she is a Faunus and used to be in the [[WesternTerrorists White Fang]].
** "No Brakes": In a sequence of individual duels taking place on a speeding train, Weiss is defeated handily by a chainsaw-wielding EliteMook, and Neo defeats Yang easily and almost kills her. RWBY fail to stop the train from smashing through the city's perimeter wall and hordes of Grimm break through the city and begin attacking people.
** ''Fall''. [[spoiler:There are four maidens who each represent one of the seasons and all possess incredible power - not only is Pyrrha in line to inherit the powers of one, but Cinder has attacked one and stolen some of her power. Also, Yang wins her fight with Mercury but is presumably tricked into breaking his leg and is arrested.]]
*** [[spoiler:The reaction to said event sends a emotional ripple strong enough to make the [[OhCrap Goliaths stir.]]]]
** ''[=PvP=]'' has [[spoiler: the first major onscreen character death]], and also involves [[spoiler: a massive Grimm attack overwhelming Vale's defenses, Torchwick escaping from prison then taking over an Atlas warship and blasting two other ships out of the sky, the White Fang attacking in force, and doing so side by side with the normally indiscriminately genocidal Grimm.]]

* In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', episode 18 radically alters the scene of events. First off, [[spoiler:the Inquisitors who have been menacing (more like annoying) the heroes for the last 14 episodes are gone, sent to the Warp.]] This would seem like a good change, until we learn that [[spoiler:Fulgrim and Abaddon are setting up another Black Crusade, apparently caused by Magnus' disappearance. And ''those'' two ''are'' going to be menacing.]]

* The "Double Whammy" two-parter from ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'' subverts this. Flippy decides to get therapy for his SplitPersonality, which eventually leads to [[spoiler: an all-out episode-wide battle between his good and evil self, ending with good Flippy killing his evil counterpart, apparantly curing himself]]. Too bad the show's NegativeContinuity meant this change didn't stick.
* In ''WebVideo/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', episode 18 radically alters the scene of events. First off, [[spoiler:the Inquisitors who have been menacing (more like annoying) the heroes for the last 14 episodes are gone, sent to the Warp.]] This would seem like a good change, until we learn that [[spoiler:Fulgrim and Abaddon are setting up another Black Crusade, apparently caused by Magnus' disappearance. And ''those'' two ''are'' going to be menacing.]]

** "No Brakes": The heroes fail to stop the bad guys from crashing a train through the subway wall. As a result, the Grimm swarm from the hole and overrun the city.

** Season 13 significantly raises the stakes. Between [[spoiler: Sharkface overtaking Carolina in battle, Doyle taking out himself and a massive chunk of Control's forces in the Armonia explosion, and the revelation of the Purge tower]] nearly every week has fans on edge.

** Episodes 18 and 19 are once again hugely important. [[spoiler: The team outwits Locus and Felix, revealing their scheme to the entire population of Chorus. Then it's revealed that Locus and Felix are being commanded by the Chairman, and that he has the Meta's helmet...

* The "Double Whammy" two-parter from ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'' subverts this. Flippy decides to get therapy for his SplitPersonality, which eventually leads to [[spoiler: an all-out episode-wide battle between his good and evil self, ending with good Flippy killing his evil counterpart, apparantly curing himself]]. Too bad the show's NegativeContinuity meant this change didn't stick.

* ''[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/595411 Toon Train]]'' seems at first to be a simple collection of humorous and bizarre short animations, which have several re-occurring elements. But if you watch it at midnight (or change your system clock), you get an EasterEgg where a detective is called to his office in the middle of the night, and you have three minutes to examine some evidence regarding the "Fitzgeraldson case" (the main menu states that the character Buttglove's real name is Lance Fitzgeraldson, but this seems like pointless trivia at first). The evidence reveals that Lance was actually a professional boxer who had his career ruined after he was defeated by a newcomer (symbolized by the cow that appears several times). Lance then joined the Navy, and ended up finding the love of his life (symbolized by the sea lion in "Seal") and having a child. The challenges of fatherhood took a toll on Lance's performance in the Navy, and this resulted in the ship he was on colliding with a mine and being destroyed. Lance's wife died, but he survived and took care of his son, while slipping into insanity. His son later gave him tickets to the circus, where he was murdered with a hammer (which also appears several times in the collab). After being apprehended, Lance claimed that "the radio made him do it", and a psychiatric analysis revealed that he heard messages in song lyrics commanding him to kill his son. Try finding the shorts funny after ''that''.

** ''I Killed Pom Pom'', Homestar mistakes a deflated inflatable pumpkin for a dead Pom Pom and attempts to cover up his "murder". Strong Bad uses this as a chance to mess with Homestar and get some [[ItMakesSenseInContext free pastries]]. This is all good fun until [[spoiler:Strong Bad decides to mess with Homestar by having Pom Pom pretend to "rise from the dead" and freak out Homestar. Instead of freaking out, Homestar decides to "fight murder with murder" and use a piece of Strong Bad's costume to kill Pom Pom for real.]]

** ''A Decemberween Mackerel'', [[spoiler:'''Homsar dies''']].

** The latter half of season 10 is pretty much just one wham right after another, but the final episode is enough to rival the end of Recreation: [[spoiler:Agent Carolina is the Director and Alison's daughter, Church leaves the Blood Gulch Gang to WalkTheEarth with Carolina, and the Director closes the Freelancer Saga by killing himself]].

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', there is episode 15, "The Stray." Weiss and Blake have a nearly episode-long shouting match regarding the [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]], and Blake reveals that she is a Faunus and used to be in the [[WesternTerrorists White Fang]].

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', there is episode 15, "The Stray." Weiss and Blake have a nearly episode-long shouting match regarding the [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]], and Blake reveals that she is a Faunus and used to be in the [[WesternTerrorists White Fang]].

* ''RedVsBlue'' fans have come to expect this from every episode 10 per season.