History WhatMeasureIsAMook / WesternAnimation

** Averted mostly by Jack himself. He never attacks anyone unless they attack him first or do something evil, [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman be they human, robot, alien, etc.]] While he does slaughter Aku's minions without remorse, he's at least consistent in that he'd gladly kill Aku himself, should he get a chance. (It does help that the majority of Aku's minions are robots.)

* Lampshaded, parodied, and subverted with almost sadistic glee in any scene in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' involving Brock Sampson and the Monarch's minions.

** Rule "Autobots and theirs allies doesn't kill humans" doesn't work on MECH's grunts. Only in their first appearence Autobots kills a few of them without even blinking. However, the rule does work on Silas, their boss. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] or even [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] later, when [[spoiler: [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Silas was crushed by his own Nemesis Prime]] and nobody shed a tear about his probable death]].

** Rule " Autobots and theirs allies doesn't kill humans" doesn't work on MECH's grunts. Only in their first appearence Autobots kills a few of them without even blinking. However, the rule does work on Silas, their boss. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] or even [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] later, when [[spoiler: [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Silas was crushed by his own Nemesis Prime]] and nobody shed a tear about his probable death]].

* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "The Boring Identity". When the CIA raid a Doug & Busters after receiving intel that the real Osama bin Laden had been working there as a manager, they brutally kill the innocent workers who are just doing their jobs, but they take Osama alive.
** In another episode, Stan is tricked into robbing a museum by his father, and a scene in which he viciously beats an elderly security guard has excerpts of a conversation between the guard and his family (who want him to retire) playing over it.

** Demonstrated in "The Princess and the Bounty Hunters." Jack easily and ruthlessly kills five of the six bounty hunters who attacked him in seconds, and hurts the sixth. But when she slowly gets back up and considers making a hopeless second attempt on him, he simply stands and waits for her to make the first move. When she decides not to and simply drops to her knees in despair, he's content to leave her alone and be on his way, even though it'd take even less time and effort to kill her too.

** It's finally wholly subverted in the final season when he's attacked by the [[EliteMooks Daughters of Aku]]. Albeit not without an offer for them to retreat without harm he nevertheless cuts them down without even a shred of regret. However it's only because he was expecting them to be ''robots'' like all of Aku's other minions. When he sees human blood dripping from their corpses [[HeroicBSOD he does]] ''[[HeroicBSOD not]]'' [[HeroicBSOD take it well]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack''
** Inverted with great style in the 50th episode, "Tale of X9". X9 is a retired assassin droid who, thanks to an experimental emotion chip, has [[PetTheDog fallen in love with a puppy]]. Aku kidnaps the puppy and forces X9 to go after one last mark -- Jack. The episode is completely from X9's point-of-view, with Jack only making an appearance right at the end. You know X9 is doomed, but you root for him none-the-less. This has got to be the only time you feel sorry Jack won a battle. It is arguably one of the saddest episodes in the entire series.
** Averted mostly by Jack himself. He never attacks anyone unless they attack him first or do something evil, [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman be they human, robot, alien, etc.]] While he does slaughter Aku's minions without remorse, he's at least consistent in that he'd gladly kill Aku himself, should he get a chance. (It does help that the majority of Aku's minions are robots.)
** It's finally wholly subverted in the final season when he's attacked by the [[EliteMooks Daughters of Aku]]. Albeit not without an offer for them to retreat without harm he nevertheless cuts them down without even a shred of regret. However it's only because he was expecting them to be ''robots'' like all of Aku's other minions. When he sees human blood dripping from their corpses [[HeroicBSOD he does]] ''[[HeroicBSOD not]]'' [[HeroicBSOD take it well]].
* In ''Franchise/Ben10'', the trope is most obvious with the Forever Knights. Because they wear [[FacelessGoons face-concealing armour]], it's okay for them to be left in a CollapsingLair or caught in a nuclear explosion. This is only the most obvious instance.
* Lampshaded, parodied, and subverted with almost sadistic glee in any scene in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' involving Brock Sampson and the Monarch's minions.
** In one episode, Brock suffers a major crisis of conscience after killing a minion he knew he could have spared without him ever being a problem again. And he's especially unnerved after Dr. Venture brings said minion back to life.
** In "The Lepidopterists," ThoseTwoGuys (Henchmen 21 and 24) are given yet another important mission because they've survived so long (for henchmen) that the Monarch appreciates their special mix of "invulnerable" and "expendable." They're paired with a third henchman, who they relentlessly mock as a RedShirt.
** A big subplot in the season four premiere involved one of the minions trying to find some way to bring his friend back to life, first by trying to get him cloned by Dr. Venture, and then tried to get the Necromancer to use magic. [[spoiler:Dr. Venture refuses the payment (a comic book), because he deems it worthless (it wasn't, but by the end of the episode, it was). And it turns out the Necromancer can't actually do necromancy. Despite trying to raise the eponymous brothers in season 2's premiere and admitting he's done "hundreds" of them. David Blaine and UsefulNotes/EvelKnievel for example. As was Ronald Reagan until he bounced a check.]]
** Although with Orpheus, that may have to do with [[spoiler:those bodies being whole, whereas Henchman 24 was blown to several pieces from a blast of plastic explosives.]]

** In the season 2 episode,”In the Presence of Mine Enemies”, Slip-Stream was forced into a ''very'' one-sided EnemyMine situation with a female Cobra Strato-Viper, after both crashed in the wilderness and ended up in an abandoned COBRA base, one which had actually been ''evacuated'' because one of Dr. Mindbender's failed experiments - a huge, slug-like monster - was lurking inside. The Viper was certain for most of the episode that her comrades would come to send aid, but all that eventually came were a bunch of Battle Android Troopers who didn't help her at all (which the beast tore through quickly) and eventually, a message from Mindbender himself confirmed the worst - she wasn't considered important enough to rescue. Fortunately, the Joes were more willing to rescue Slip-Stream, and got both of them out. When Lifeline asked him if he had brought a prisoner, the Viper slowly tore the COBRA insignia off her uniform, and Slip-Stream responded, "[[HeelFaceTurn No, I think this one's a recruit]].”

* Involuntarily inverted in the first two seasons of ''{{WesternAnimation/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}'' (2003): thanks to standards and practices, defeated mooks were invariably shown as being merely knocked out, despite the fact that the turtles theoretically had no problem killing in self defense and tried several times to kill the Shredder. (And by "tried", we mean "decapitated him".)

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': For all that Aang struggled with the morality of killing Ozai, he never gave much thought to the soldiers he [[BlowYouAway blasted]] off the mountaintop in "The Northern Air Temple" or all the engineers and technicians drowned in slurry in "The Drill". Or the crews of the ships drowned when he fused with the Ocean Spirit (although it can be argued that the Ocean Spirit, with no apparent qualms against killing, was the one in control). Or even the crew of the massive blimp Ozai was flying, who were presumably all killed when Aang blasted it out of the air into a giant forest of stone pillars. Even if they lived somehow, it would be because they got lucky, not because Aang's actions were in any way safe for them.
** Also, while the finale was spent with Aang figuring out a way to not have to kill Ozai, during the battle Sokka figured out a plan that completely destroyed the Fire Lord's fleet of airship, killing about 300 soldiers offscreen. Although Sokka's team was [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy himself]], [[BloodKnight Toph]] and [[LadyOfWar Suki]], none of whom had ever expressed the slightest qualms about killing (Sokka even made fun of Aang for it earlier in the finale).
* Megatron's Decepticons in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' are--save for a few lieutenants--seemingly nameless, faceless Vehicons (unlike most characters on the show, they have Cylon-like unemotive faces). The Autobots kill them by the dozen in each episode, and Starscream once demonstrates a Doomsday Device on a hapless Vehicon. But...later on we see them talking, interacting, and some even expressing doubts about the current leadership, demonstrating that they are living, thinking beings. Yet, on average, about 10 of them die in every episode at the hands of our "heroes", often in very brutal ways (disemboweling, decapitation) which is allowed to be shown on a kid's show because, a) it's Hasbro's own network and b) "Hey, they are robots". And all this often by the very same Optimus Prime that proposes that Starscream actually join the Autobots, and for a long time, does not want to kill the Megatron, who essentially destroyed Cybertron and turned it into a desolate world crawling with cyber-zombies, because they used to be friends...
* Utterly averted in the 2011 ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|2011}}'' show. The lizards, while being ancient enemies of the thundercats, are revealed in the first episode already to have a very good and valid reason for attacking Thundera - the cats have occupied the most fertile lands in the desert and are denying other races the food and water needed for survival. Despite the lizards remaining the main antagonists throughout the first 13 episodes, many lizards have been depicted as individuals, despite most of them remaining nameless. The best example are the two lizard prisoners whom Lion-O saves from a lynching mob in the first episode--at the end of the second episode, the same lizard repays his kindness by helping him escape from prison.
** Panthro is very much an equal opportunity guy in his handling of the trope--his own arch-enemy gets the same treatment as any nameless mook. Whenever he encounters Grune, he doesn't even want to talk to the guy who used to be his friend before his betrayal--he just wants to kill him, same as any other enemy. (And, he is not afraid to make any sacrifices to get the job done).
* Used lightly in ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'', in that while the heroes never actually kill Zordrak's Urpney mooks, they are somewhat apathetic to them being essentially [[MinionWithAnFInEvil unwilling slaves]] who get [[YouHaveFailedMe horribly executed in dozens for dissapointing Zordrak]], and sometimes have little against using greyer methods such as HeelFaceBrainwashing to do away with them. In the pilot Rufus and Amberley actually use [[TakenForGranite petrified Urpneys]] as human shields against the Frazznats. Their treatment of Sgt Blob's team in comparison usually involves more harmless punishments such as intimidation or {{Humiliation Conga}}s, though even this can actually lead to them looking like the more vindictive side, given [[TheDragAlong Frizz and Nug]] tend to [[JustFollowingOrders find antagonising Noops to be tedious and scary]] rather than ''fun''. It is worth noting that in just about every other circumstance, the Land of Dreams is little short of a SugarBowl.

* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "The Boring Identity". When the CIA raid a Doug & Busters after receiving intel that the real Osama bin Laden had been working there as a manager, they brutally kill the innocent workers who are just doing their jobs, but they take Osama alive.
** In another episode, Stan is tricked into robbing a museum by his father, and a scene in which he viciously beats an elderly security guard has excerpts of a conversation between the guard and his family (who want him to retire) playing over it.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheModifyers'': Either [[BigBadWannabe Vain]] has another henchman somewhere (besides [[HyperCompetentSidekick Lacey]]), or he figures he can just find a new one, because he doesn't care what happens [[ButtMonkey to Rat]] and [[ComedicSociopathy freely abuses him]] [[PlayedForLaughs for shits and giggles.]] At one point, he was even going to feed Rat to his pet[[note]]a giant mutated fish[[/note]] [[YouHaveFailedMe for failing him.]]
* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}''. Lana mows down tons of mooks on purpose, but berates Cyril whenever he ''accidentally'' kills a mook who happens to be important to the mission at hand. In the third season finale, Archer also berates Cyril after one of his LeeroyJenkins moments [[spoiler:results in the death of a black astronaut]] - "That's like killing a unicorn!"
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', the Avengers are about to send Kang, his ship, and crew back to their own time (which will destroy them since their timeline no longer exists) but stop when Wasp tells them it will make Princess Ravona (who none of them have met) die. Never mind that they already sent hundreds of smaller ships back, and we saw that each ship was manned by one of Kang's men.
* The ''Star Wars'' StockParodies episodes of ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' gives us scenes of Gary the Stormtrooper, a nice guy and a family man who, though he enjoys some of the perks of it, is just working a job. Emperor Palpatine gets annoyed that the character focus is distracting from the story leading up to his very important death.
--> '''Palpatine:''' ''Who the hell is this guy?''

* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus'': In an aversion of his usual BadBoss tendencies and [[ItsAllAboutME self-centered worldview,]] it turns out that Zim individually named and actually cares about each of his new MechaMooks. When [[spoiler: [[PapaWolf Professor]] [[OneManArmy Membrane]]]] obliterates them during the climax, Zim is horrified, dropping to his knees and calling out for them.
-->'''Zim:''' Spencer! Devon! Maria!
-->''(a piece of debris flies into his hands)''
-->'''Zim:''' '''LAWRENCE! [[BigNo NOOOOOO!]]'''

* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus'': In an aversion of his usual BadBoss tendencies and selfishness, it turns out that Zim individually named and actually cares about each of his new MechaMooks. When [[spoiler: [[PapaWolf Professor]] [[OneManArmy Membrane]]]] obliterates them during the climax, Zim is horrified, dropping to his knees and calling out for them.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': For all that Aang struggled with the morality of killing Ozai, he never gave much thought to the soldiers he [[BlowYouAway blasted]] off the mountaintop in "The Northern Air Temple" or all the engineers and technicians drowned in slurry in "The Drill". Or the crews of the ships drowned when he fused with the Ocean Spirit (although it can be argued that the Ocean Spirit, with no apparent qualms against kiling, was the one in control). Or even the crew of the massive blimp Ozai was flying, who were presumably all killed when Aang blasted it out of the air into a giant forest of stone pillars. Even if they lived somehow, it would be because they got lucky, not because Aang's actions were in any way safe for them.

* In the 2018 reboot of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', the first four seasons humanize the named antagonists in the Etherian Horde, and the protagonists save Horde and former Horde characters several times. For example, Bow and Glimmer are shocked when they learn details about Adora's upbringing in the Etherian Horde. Frosta says outright that she still sees Etherian Horde soldiers as people. However, none of the protagonists seem perturbed by the horrific plight of [[spoiler:Horde Prime's clone-slaves, who are produced en masse, mind-controlled, and used as canon fodder, livestock, and vessels by their progenitor. The protagonists are horrified when Horde Prime subjects many Etherians to a similar plight (chipping), but they never extend their empathy to the clones.]]

-->'''Zim:''' '''LAWRENCE!''' [[BigNo ''''NOOOOOO!''']]

-->'''Zim:''' '''LAWRENCE!''' [[BigNo '''NOOOOOO!'']]