History WhamEpisode / WebAnimation

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': Season 6 ''Reconstruction'' is the storyline that transforms the show from a lighthearted comedy into something different, with a serious storyline and over-arching metaplot, revamping the audience's entire understanding of the earlier seasons. Episode 16 brings all this information out into the open as Washington's full intentions become clear and the reason why he's taking the actions he is. While still very comedic, Season 6 transforms the show into a very different animal to the one it used to be. [[spoiler:It also transforms the audience's understanding of certain characters in the show, and their true natures -- something even the affected character doesn't know until Wash reveals the truth to him and the audience at the same time.]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': ''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. 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 her remaining power. Confirmed in livestream interviews with the creators that the Maidens were invented between the end of Volume 2 and the beginning of Volume 3, resulting in the original plot needing to be rewritten and no foreshadowing for them having occurred. [[spoiler:The Maidens turn out to be the key to everything that is happening in the plot, having been created by Ozpin, who is the old man of the fairy tale and who possessed this magical power as part of a curse bestowed upon him by the gods for failing to have defeated Salem thousands of years ago.]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': Season 6 ''Reconstruction'' is the storyline that transforms the show from a lighthearted comedy into something different, with a serious storyline and over-arching metaplot, revamping the audience's entire understanding of the earlier seasons. Episode 16 brings all this information out into the open as Washington's full intentions become clear and the reason why he's taking the actions he is. [[spoiler:It also transforms the audience's understanding of certain characters in the show, and their true natures -- something even the affected character doesn't know until Wash reveals the truth to him and the audience at the same time.]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': ''Reconstruction'' is the storyline that transforms the show from a lighthearted comedy into something different, with a serious storyline and over-arching metaplot, revamping the audience's entire understanding of the earlier seasons. Episode 16 brings all this information out into the open as Washington's full intentions become clear and the reason why he's taking the actions he is. [[spoiler:It also transforms the audience's understanding of certain characters in the show, and their true natures -- something even the affected character doesn't know until Wash reveals the truth to him and the audience at the same time.]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' fans have come to expect this from every episode 10 per season.
** ''Reconstruction'' -- Episode 16. Then, Episode 19.
** Earlier then that, episode 12. [[spoiler:The Teams aren't real soldiers. It was all an elaborate training simulation run by Project Freelancer, and the cast are random nobodies who have the lowest test scores in the military, and were unknowingly placed in the program to act as CannonFodder for Freelancers to practice on.]]
*** That one was [[{{Foreshadowing}} Foreshadowed]] in the original series, so a lot of the fans who are [[WildMassGuessing fond of speculation]] just cried "IKnewIt!"
** Recreation had a more lighthearted mood than the seriousness of Reconstruction but the finale had a major WHAM moment [[spoiler: Washington is now working with the Meta, and he shoots both Donut and Lopez and takes Simmons prisoner.]]
** And of course there's always Revelations episode 9 [[spoiler: where Tex returns after two and a half seasons]], and 18 [[spoiler: Tex shoots Church]], 19 [[spoiler: Tex gets stabbed in the fucking face by the Meta]], and 20 [[spoiler: Wash joins the blues and Epsilon decides to go looking for Tex within the storage unit, knowingly trapping himself within.]]
** Then there's the latest installment, where ''yet again'' the season finale (this time, for season 9) turns out to be a WhamEpisode with the surprising appearance of [[spoiler:Agent Carolina, previously implied to be dead.]]
** Episode 10 of seasons 8 and 9 have both been this trope in-universe, both times introducing Tex to the characters, and then Tex proceeds to beat up some fraction of the characters, making it a double wham episode.
*** Season 10 both follows and subverts this pattern -- sure, Tex beats up everyone, but it ends on a distinctly [[TearJerker sour note]].
** 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.]]
** The final two episodes of Season 11. [[spoiler:After getting involved in the civil war on the planet the crashed on, the side the Reds and Blues are fighting for starts getting overwhelmed. They decide to retreat--but Donut, Sarge and Wash get shot. Felix forces the remaining Reds and Blues to leave them behind, but Wash wakes up and then orders Freckles to seal the tunnel they were using to escape, trapping him on the battlefield. At the end, Grif, Simmons, Tucker and Caboose are the only ones left at the rebel base, it's implied that Donut, Wash, and Sarge have been captured, nobody knows where Doc is, and it turns out that ''Carolina'' might be commanding [[BigBad Locus]].]]
** Season 12, episode 8. [[spoiler:Tucker, Grif, Simmons, and Caboose mount a rescue operation for Wash, Sarge, Donut, and Lopez, sneak into the federal base and get to the detention center door... only for the door to open revealing their friends perfectly unharmed and thinking that ''they'' were the ones who needed rescuing.]]
** And then two episodes later in Season 12, episode 10, [[spoiler: it's revealed that Felix and Locus have been on the same side all along, and they've been working together to cause the deaths of everyone on Chorus. The Reds and Blues were helping with that all along and never suspected a thing. Also, Carolina and Epsilon return, as has become tradition for the tenth episode of a season.]]
** 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...]]
** Season 13 significantly raises the stakes. Between [[spoiler: Sharkface overtaking Carolina in battle, the discovery of yet another sword key, the Chairman being in possession of Maine's COMPLETE suit of armor and reveal that he's been making many 'alterations' to it, Doyle taking himself and a massive chunk of Control's forces out in the Armonia nuclear explosion, and the revelation of the Purge tower and its ability to kill every living being on Chorus if activated,]] nearly every week has viewers clawing for answers.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
** ''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. 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 her remaining power. Confirmed in livestream interviews with the creators that the Maidens were invented between the end of Volume 2 and the beginning of Volume 3, resulting in the original plot needing to be rewritten and no foreshadowing for them having occurred. [[spoiler:The Maidens turn out to be the key to everything that is happening in the plot, having been created by Ozpin, who is the old man of the fairy tale and who possessed this magical power as part of a curse bestowed upon him by the gods for failing to have defeated Salem thousands of years ago.]]
** ''The Lost Fable''. If the incorporation of in-universe fairy tales into ''Fall'' was a wham, it's hard to think what onomatopoeia would be appropriate for the role they take in this one. At least two of the other three fairy tales Pyrrha mentioned in ''Fall'' play a role[[note]]Salem likely is "The Girl in the Tower," and "The Two Brothers," as told elsewhere by Qrow, is a creation myth that appears to be literally true except in a few details[[/note]]. While Salem had already been revealed to [[WasOnceAMan have once been human]] in the previous episode, this one reveals she was in fact from an entirely different incarnation of humanity, magically gifted and lacking [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]], wiped out by the gods - who make their first direct appearance in this episode - due to Salem's own desperation to resurrect her then-lover Ozpin (real name [[Literature/LandOfOz Ozma]]), for which she was given the IronicHell of immortality. The gods leave after this incarnation's extinction, and their departure is shown to have shattered the moon and given Remnant its name. Ozma/Ozpin's claim to have been cursed for failing to stop Salem was an outright lie; rather, he took his "curse" willingly, tempted by the prospect of reuniting with Salem, having been sent as a counterbalance to her after her corruption by a BlackMagic suicide attempt to escape her own curse. Ozma and Salem were again lovers in humanity's second incarnation until he realized how corrupted she was, and they had four daughters, who died prepubescent, but had magic and resembled the Maidens. A later incarnation of Ozma had two more children with a seemingly ordinary blue-eyed woman, and these children's eyes were [[MagicalEye silver]]. Finally, the true importance of the relics is revealed: bringing them together will mean the last judgment, which Ozma does not believe can be in humanity's favor as long as Salem lives, and a messenger of the gods has told him he can't kill her.

** ''The Lost Fable''. If the incorporation of in-universe fairy tales into ''Fall'' was a wham, it's hard to think what onomatopoeia would be appropriate for the role they take in this one. At least two of the other three fairy tales Pyrrha mentioned in ''Fall'' play a role[[note]]Salem likely is "The Girl in the Tower," and "The Two Brothers," as told elsewhere by Qrow, is a creation myth that appears to be literally true except in a few details[[/note]]. While Salem had already been revealed to [[WasOnceAMan have once been human]] in the previous episode, this one reveals she was in fact from an entirely different incarnation of humanity, magically gifted and lacking [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]], wiped out by the gods - who make their first direct appearance in this episode - due to Salem's own desperation to resurrect her then-lover Ozpin (real name [[Literature/LandOfOz Ozma]]), for which she was given the IronicHell of immortality. The gods leave after this incarnation's extinction, and their departure is shown to have shattered the moon and given Remnant its name. Ozma/Ozpin's claim to have been cursed for failing to stop Salem was an outright lie; rather, he took his "curse" willingly, tempted by the prospect of reuniting with Salem, having been sent as a counterbalance to her after her corruption by a BlackMagic suicide attempt to escape her own curse. Ozma and Salem were again lovers in humanity's second incarnation until he realized how corrupted she was, and they had four daughters, who died prepubescent, but had magic and resembled the Maidens. A later incarnation of Ozma had two more children with a seemingly ordinary blue-eyed woman, and these children's eyes were [[MagicalEye silver]]. Finally, the true importance of the relics is revealed: bringing them together will mean the last judgment, which Ozma does not believe can be in humanity's favor as long as Salem lives, and a messenger of the gods has told him he can't kill her.]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': ''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. 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 her remaining power. Confirmed in livestream interviews with the creators that the Maidens were invented between the end of Volume 2 and the beginning of Volume 3, resulting in the original plot needing to be rewritten and no foreshadowing for them having occurred. [[spoiler:The Maidens turn out to be the key to everything that is happening in the plot, having been created by Ozpin, who is the old man of the fairy tale and who possessed this magical power as part of a curse bestowed upon him by the gods for failing to have defeated Salem thousands of years ago.]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
** ''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. 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 her remaining power. Confirmed in livestream interviews with the creators that the Maidens were invented between the end of Volume 2 and the beginning of Volume 3, resulting in the original plot needing to be rewritten and no foreshadowing for them having occurred. [[spoiler:The Maidens turn out to be the key to everything that is happening in the plot, having been created by Ozpin, who is the old man of the fairy tale and who possessed this magical power as part of a curse bestowed upon him by the gods for failing to have defeated Salem thousands of years ago.]]
** ''The Lost Fable''. If the incorporation of in-universe fairy tales into ''Fall'' was a wham, it's hard to think what onomatopoeia would be appropriate for the role they take in this one. At least two of the other three fairy tales Pyrrha mentioned in ''Fall'' play a role[[note]]Salem likely is "The Girl in the Tower," and "The Two Brothers," as told elsewhere by Qrow, is a creation myth that appears to be literally true except in a few details[[/note]]. While Salem had already been revealed to [[WasOnceAMan have once been human]] in the previous episode, this one reveals she was in fact from an entirely different incarnation of humanity, magically gifted and lacking [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]], wiped out by the gods - who make their first direct appearance in this episode - due to Salem's own desperation to resurrect her then-lover Ozpin (real name [[Literature/LandOfOz Ozma]]), for which she was given the IronicHell of immortality. The gods leave after this incarnation's extinction, and their departure is shown to have shattered the moon and given Remnant its name. Ozma/Ozpin's claim to have been cursed for failing to stop Salem was an outright lie; rather, he took his "curse" willingly, tempted by the prospect of reuniting with Salem, having been sent as a counterbalance to her after her corruption by a BlackMagic suicide attempt to escape her own curse. Ozma and Salem were again lovers in humanity's second incarnation until he realized how corrupted she was, and they had four daughters, who died prepubescent, but had magic and resembled the Maidens. A later incarnation of Ozma had two more children with a seemingly ordinary blue-eyed woman, and these children's eyes were [[MagicalEye silver]]. Finally, the true importance of the relics is revealed: bringing them together will mean the last judgment, which Ozma does not believe can be in humanity's favor as long as Salem lives, and a messenger of the gods has told him he can't kill her.

** ''The Lost Fable''. If the incorporation of in-universe fairy tales into ''Fall'' was a wham, it's hard to think what onomatopoeia would be appropriate for the role they take in this one. At least two of the other three fairy tales Pyrrha mentioned in ''Fall'' play a role[[note]]Salem likely is "The Girl in the Tower," and "The Two Brothers," as told elsewhere by Qrow, is a creation myth that appears to be literally true except in a few details[[/note]]. While Salem had already been revealed to [[WasOnceAMan have once been human]] in the previous episode, this one reveals she was in fact from an entirely different incarnation of humanity, magically gifted and lacking [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]], wiped out by the gods - who make their first direct appearance in this episode - due to Salem's own desperation to resurrect her then-lover Ozpin (real name [[Literature/LandOfOz Ozma]]), for which she was given the IronicHell of immortality. The gods leave after this incarnation's extinction, and their departure is shown to have shattered the moon and given Remnant its name. Ozma/Ozpin's claim to have been cursed for failing to stop Salem was an outright lie; rather, he took his "curse" willingly, tempted by the prospect of reuniting with Salem, having been sent as a counterbalance to her after her corruption by a BlackMagic suicide attempt to escape her own curse. Ozma and Salem were again lovers in humanity's second incarnation until he realized how corrupted she was, and they had four daughters, who died prepubescent, but had magic and resembled the Maidens. A later incarnation of Ozma had two more children with a seemingly ordinary blue-eyed woman, and these children's eyes were [[MagicalEye silver]]. Finally, the true importance of the relics is revealed: bringing them together will mean the last judgment, which Ozma does not believe can be in humanity's favor as long as Salem lives, but a messenger of the gods has told him he can't kill her.

** ''The Lost Fable''. If the incorporation of in-universe fairy tales into ''Fall'' was a wham, it's hard to think what onomatopoeia would be appropriate for this one. At least two of the other three fairy tales Pyrrha mentioned in ''Fall'' play a role[[note]]Salem likely is "The Girl in the Tower," and "The Two Brothers," as told elsewhere by Qrow, is a creation myth that appears to be entirely accurate.[[/note]]. While Salem had already been revealed to [[WasOnceAMan have once been human]] in the previous episode, this one reveals she was in fact from an entirely different incarnation of humanity, magically gifted, wiped out by the gods - who make their first direct appearance in this episode - due to Salem's own desperation to resurrect Ozpin (real name [[Literature/LandOfOz Ozma]]), who was then her lover. The gods leave after this incarnation's extinction, and their departure is shown to have shattered the moon and given Remnant its name. It's established as well that, for whatever reason, the [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]] did not exist until humanity's second incarnation. Ozma/Ozpin's claim to have been cursed for failing to destroy Salem was an outright lie; rather, he took his "curse" willingly, tempted by the prospect of reuniting with Salem, having been sent as a counterbalance after her corruption by a BlackMagic suicide attempt to escape the gods' IronicHell of immortality for her attempts to resurrect him. Ozma and Salem were again lovers in humanity's second incarnation until he realized how corrupted she was, and they had four daughters, who died prepubescent, but had magic and resembled the Maidens. A later incarnation of Ozma had two more children with a seemingly ordinary blue-eyed woman, and these children's eyes were [[MagicalEye silver]]. Finally, the true importance of the relics is revealed: bringing them together will mean the last judgment, which Ozma does not believe can be in humanity's favor as long as Salem lives, and a messenger of the gods has told him he can't kill her.

** ''The Lost Fable''. If the incorporation of in-universe fairy tales into ''Fall'' was a wham, it's hard to think what onomatopoeia would be appropriate for this one. At least two of the other three fairy tales Pyrrha mentioned in ''Fall'' play a role[[note]]Salem likely is "The Girl in the Tower," and "The Two Brothers," as told elsewhere by Qrow, is a creation myth that appears to be entirely accurate.[[/note]]. Not only was Salem once human (as revealed in the last line of the previous episode), she was from an entirely different incarnation of humanity, magically gifted, wiped out by the gods - who make their first direct appearance in this episode - due to Salem's own desperation to resurrect Ozpin (real name [[Literature/LandOfOz Ozma]]), who was then her lover. The departure of the gods is shown to have shattered the moon and given Remnant its name. It's established as well that, for whatever reason, the [[LittleBitBeastly faunus]] did not exist until humanity's second incarnation. Ozma/Ozpin's claim to have been cursed for failing to destroy Salem was an outright lie; rather, he took his "curse" willingly, tempted by the prospect of reuniting with Salem, having been sent as a counterbalance after her corruption by a BlackMagic suicide attempt to escape the gods' IronicHell of immortality for her attempts to resurrect him. Ozma and Salem were again lovers in humanity's second incarnation until he realized how corrupted she was, and they had four daughters, who died prepubescent, but had magic and resembled the Maidens. A later incarnation of Ozma has two more children with a seemingly ordinary blue-eyed woman, and these children's eyes are silver. Finally, the true importance of the relics is revealed: bringing them together will mean the last judgment, which Ozma does not believe can be in humanity's favor as long as Salem lives, and a messenger of the gods has told him he can't kill her.

** ''The Lost Fable''. If the incorporation of in-universe fairy tales into ''Fall'' was a wham, it's hard to think what onomatopoeia would be appropriate for this one. At least two of the other three fairy tales Pyrrha mentioned in ''Fall'' play a role[[note]]Salem likely is "The Girl in the Tower," and "The Two Brothers," as told elsewhere by Qrow, is a creation myth that appears to be entirely accurate.[[/note]]. Not only was Salem once human (as revealed in the last line of the previous episode), she was from an entirely different incarnation of humanity, magically gifted, wiped out by the gods - who make their first direct appearance in this episode - due to Salem's own desperation to resurrect Ozpin (real name [[Literature/LandOfOz Ozma]]), who was then her lover. The departure of the gods is shown to have shattered the moon and given Remnant its name. It's established as well that, for whatever reason, the faunus did not exist until humanity's second incarnation. Ozma/Ozpin's claim to have been cursed for failing to destroy Salem was an outright lie; rather, he took his "curse" willingly, tempted by the prospect of reuniting with Salem, having been sent as a counterbalance after her corruption by a BlackMagic suicide attempt to escape the gods' IronicHell of immortality for her attempts to resurrect him. Ozma and Salem were again lovers in humanity's second incarnation until he realized how corrupted she was, and they had four daughters, who died prepubescent, but had magic and resembled the Maidens. Finally, the true importance of the relics is revealed: bringing them together will mean the last judgment, which Ozma does not believe can be in humanity's favor as long as Salem lives, and a messenger of the gods has told him he can't kill her.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': ''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. 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 her remaining power. Confirmed in livestream interviews with the creators that the Maidens were invented between the end of Volume 2 and the beginning of Volume 3, resulting in the original plot needing to be rewritten and no foreshadowing for them having occurred. [[spoiler:The Maidens turn out to be the key to everything that is happening in the plot, having been created by Ozpin, who is the old man of the fairy tale and who possessed this magical power as part of a curse bestowed upon him by the gods for failing to have defeated Salem thousands of years ago.]]

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
** ''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.]]
** ''Vault of the Spring Maiden''. [[spoiler:Weiss is mortally wounded by Cinder, and Jaune finally unlocks his Semblance to transfer his Aura into her to heal her. Hazel's motivations are revealed to the audience as a personal vendetta against Ozpin, as his sister died in training to be a Huntress at Beacon. Finally, Vernal is killed by Cinder and we learn that ''she'' is not the Spring Maiden - '''Raven is'''.]]

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': In the episode ''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.]]

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
** ''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.]]

** Episode 31. [[spoiler: Jenna Darabond reveals that she's been playing everyone for saps for the last two seasons.]]
** Episode 58. [[spoiler: Mackenzie has Jenna Darabond arrested and reveals ''she'' set everything up to have Cameron Van Buren break up Jenna's family by ''blowing up Brittnay's car'' so Brittnay would punch Jenna in the face and they'd have to go to a parent-teacher conference. The football team wins the game, Brittnay has decided she's DONE with Mackenzie, and TANYA BERKOWITZ STABS JENNA DARABOND TO DEATH for burning down the Atchison Mall.]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' fans have come to expect this from every episode 10 per season.
** ''Reconstruction'' -- Episode 16. Then, Episode 19.
** Earlier then that, episode 12. [[spoiler:The Teams aren't real soldiers. It was all an elaborate training simulation run by Project Freelancer, and the cast are random nobodies who have the lowest test scores in the military, and were unknowingly placed in the program to act as CannonFodder for Freelancers to practice on.]]
*** That one was [[{{Foreshadowing}} Foreshadowed]] in the original series, so a lot of the fans who are [[WildMassGuessing fond of speculation]] just cried "IKnewIt!"
** Recreation had a more lighthearted mood than the seriousness of Reconstruction but the finale had a major WHAM moment [[spoiler: Washington is now working with the Meta, and he shoots both Donut and Lopez and takes Simmons prisoner.]]
** And of course there's always Revelations episode 9 [[spoiler: where Tex returns after two and a half seasons]], and 18 [[spoiler: Tex shoots Church]], 19 [[spoiler: Tex gets stabbed in the fucking face by the Meta]], and 20 [[spoiler: Wash joins the blues and Epsilon decides to go looking for Tex within the storage unit, knowingly trapping himself within.]]
** Then there's the latest installment, where ''yet again'' the season finale (this time, for season 9) turns out to be a WhamEpisode with the surprising appearance of [[spoiler:Agent Carolina, previously implied to be dead.]]
** Episode 10 of seasons 8 and 9 have both been this trope in-universe, both times introducing Tex to the characters, and then Tex proceeds to beat up some fraction of the characters, making it a double wham episode.
*** Season 10 both follows and subverts this pattern -- sure, Tex beats up everyone, but it ends on a distinctly [[TearJerker sour note]].
** 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.]]
** The final two episodes of Season 11. [[spoiler:After getting involved in the civil war on the planet the crashed on, the side the Reds and Blues are fighting for starts getting overwhelmed. They decide to retreat--but Donut, Sarge and Wash get shot. Felix forces the remaining Reds and Blues to leave them behind, but Wash wakes up and then orders Freckles to seal the tunnel they were using to escape, trapping him on the battlefield. At the end, Grif, Simmons, Tucker and Caboose are the only ones left at the rebel base, it's implied that Donut, Wash, and Sarge have been captured, nobody knows where Doc is, and it turns out that ''Carolina'' might be commanding [[BigBad Locus]].]]
** Season 12, episode 8. [[spoiler:Tucker, Grif, Simmons, and Caboose mount a rescue operation for Wash, Sarge, Donut, and Lopez, sneak into the federal base and get to the detention center door... only for the door to open revealing their friends perfectly unharmed and thinking that ''they'' were the ones who needed rescuing.]]
** And then two episodes later in Season 12, episode 10, [[spoiler: it's revealed that Felix and Locus have been on the same side all along, and they've been working together to cause the deaths of everyone on Chorus. The Reds and Blues were helping with that all along and never suspected a thing. Also, Carolina and Epsilon return, as has become tradition for the tenth episode of a season.]]
** 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...]]
** Season 13 significantly raises the stakes. Between [[spoiler: Sharkface overtaking Carolina in battle, the discovery of yet another sword key, the Chairman being in possession of Maine's COMPLETE suit of armor and reveal that he's been making many 'alterations' to it, Doyle taking himself and a massive chunk of Control's forces out in the Armonia nuclear explosion, and the revelation of the Purge tower and its ability to kill every living being on Chorus if activated,]] nearly every week has viewers clawing for answers.
* The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' crossover series ''WebAnimation/FinalFightingFantasy'' really starts to kick the plot into gear around chapter six, Epic. But emotionally, some would say the WhamEpisode is chapter three, Gaiden, which was a considerable boost in storytelling style from the first two.

* ''WebAnimation/TheLebrons'' has an episode called "Big Game", in which Kid [=LeBron=] loses in a big basketball game because there's seconds left for it.

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
** ''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.]]
* ''[[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''.
* 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, apparently curing himself]]. Too bad the show's NegativeContinuity meant this change didn't stick.

** ''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. To top it off, Yang is framed into assaulting Mercury: the images of her seemingly knee-capping him in a spiteful and unprovoked attack are broadcast across the world and lead to massive outcry against the Kingdoms and the Huntsmen. This of course plays right into Cinder's hands.]]

** ''Heroes and Monsters'': [[spoiler: Torchwick is killed by the Grimm, Adam subjects Blake to a CurbStompBattle and cuts off Yang's arm when she tries to intervene and Cinder kills the Fall Maiden and claims the other half of her powers.]]
** ''End of the Beginning'': [[spoiler: Ozpin is missing and presumed dead, Pyrrha is definitely dead, incinerated by Cinder right in front of Ruby, and Ruby is revealed to have inherited an extremely rare power, capable of slaying Grimm with a look alone, which she demonstrates by defeating a giant Grimm Dragon and driving off Cinder. However, despite this, Beacon has fallen, the trust between the Kingdoms has become shaky, and Team RWBY has been seaprated with Yang emotionally broken, Weiss dragged back to Atlas by her father, Blake disappeared to parts unknown, and Ruby and the remnants of Team JNPR have set out for Haven to pursue the villains, with Qrow watching over them from afar. Finally, the female narrator of the series is revealed to be the BigBad and Cinder's boss.]]

* ''WebAnimation/TheMostPopularGirlsInSchool'': Episode 31. [[spoiler: Jenna Darabond reveals that she's been playing everyone for saps for the last two seasons.]]

** The final two episodes of Season 11. [[spoiler:After getting involved in the civil war on the planet the crashed on, the side the Reds and Blues are fighting for starts getting overwhelmed. They decide to retreat--but Donut, Sarge and Wash get shot. Felix forces the remaining Reds and Blues to leave them behind, but Wash wakes up and then orders Freckles to seal the tunnel they were using to escape, trapping him on the battlefield. At the end, Grif, Simmons, Tucker and Caboose are the only ones left at the rebel base, it's implied that Donut, Wash, and Sarge have been captured, nobody knows where Doc is, and it turns out that ''Carolina'' might be commanding[[BigBad Locus.]]]]

** Episode 58. [[spoiler: Mackenzie has Jenna Darabond arrested and reveals ''she'' set everything up to have Cameron Van Buren break up Jenna's family by ''blowing up Brittnay's car'' so Brittnay would punch Jenna in the face and they'd have to go to a parent teacher conference. The football team wins the game, Brittnay has decided she's "done" with Mackenzie, and TANYA BERKOWITZ STABS JENNA DARABOND TO DEATH for burning down the Atchison Mall.]]

* ''BrokenSaints'': Chapter 22 Act 2. On top of being freaky as hell, it is also the point where all obscurity is thrown aside, and the conflict is finally given a clear focus.

** The final two episodes of Season 11. [[spoiler:After getting involved in the civil war on the planet the crashed on, the side the Reds and Blues are fighting for starts getting overwhelmed. They decide to retreat--but Donut, Sarge and Wash get shot. Felix forces the remaining Reds and Blues to leave them behind, but Wash wakes up and then orders Freckles to seal the tunnel they were using to escape, trapping him on the battlefield. At the end, Grif, Simmons, Tucker and Caboose are the only ones left at the rebel base, it's implied that Donut, Wash, and Sarge have been captured, nobody knows where Doc is, and it turns out that ''Felix'' is working with [[BigBad Locus.]]]]

** The final two episodes of Season 11. [[spoiler:After getting involved in the civil war on the planet the crashed on, the side the Reds and Blues are fighting for starts getting overwhelmed. They decide to retreat--but Donut, Sarge and Wash get shot. Felix forces the remaining Reds and Blues to leave them behind, but Wash wakes up and then orders Freckles to seal the tunnel they were using to escape, trapping him on the battlefield. At the end, Grif, Simmons, Tucker and Caboose are the only ones left at the rebel base, it's implied that Donut, Wash, and Sarge have been captured, nobody knows where Doc is, and it turns out that ''Carolina'' is commanding [[BigBad Locus.]]]]

** [[spoiler: Episode 58. Mackenzie has Jenna Darabond arrested and reveals ''she'' set everything up to have Cameron Van Buren break up Jenna's family by ''blowing up Brittnay's car'' so Brittnay would punch Jenna in the face and they'd have to go to a parent teacher conference. The football team wins the game, Brittnay has decided she's "done" with Mackenzie, and TANYA BERKOWITZ STABS JENNA DARABOND TO DEATH for burning down the Atchison Mall.]]