Impoverished Patrician / Western Animation

• Batman Beyond:
  • It was never definitively established in the series, but DVD commentaries and behind-the-scenes featurettes revealed that Bruce Wayne had lost the majority of his vast fortune in the years between the original series and the current show. He survives on the returns of his stock holdings in Wayne-Powers, and he could sell his shares for a considerable fortune, but he would never do such a thing because he would lose what little control he still had in his family's company. Though after returning to controlling the company he seems to have regained the fortune.
  • In "King's Ransom", it is revealed that other than his exquisite art collection, the CEO Paxton Powers has very little in the way of liquid assets. Most of his wealth are tied up in investments and he survives on company perks.
• Count Duckula: Has a teleporting castle and a noble title, but is thoroughly strapped for cash. Presumably his evil prior versions just stole whatever money they needed from their hapless victims, but the current Vegetarian Vampire incumbent doesn't prey on people and must resort to various hare-brained schemes to make money.
• DuckTales (1987): Implied to be the case with the unworldly Grand Khiske of Macaroon, in "A Drain on the Economy". The windows in his palace are boarded up, and the whole building is in a state of disrepair.
• Family Guy: In Peterotica, Carter Pewtweschmidt financially backs the publication of Peter’s erotic novels. When a distracted driver crashes while listening to an audio version, Carter is sued as publisher and all his wealth is seized. He ends up living with the Griffins and is shown to be completely lost without his money (can't dress himself and isn’t familiar with how public transportation works).
• Hey Arnold! has one episode where Rhonda's family's stocks suddenly fall and her family is forced to sell everything and move into Arnold's boarding house. It doesn't last, though.
• King of the Hill: Bill Dauterive and his one remaining relative are the last surviving members of a formerly prosperous, wealthy and influential Louisiana family^note his family name is apparently actually "d'Hauterive", suggesting they may have been related to French aristocracy. They had originated senators and statesmen, but Bill is now a military barber and the object of mockery amongst his friends. When Bill discovered the potential wealth that could come from the selling of their family's traditional barbecue sauce his cousin vetoed the idea, considering the idea of them selling off their name abhorrent, even though the name itself is worthless. His family in Louisiana fits the trope better than Bill himself does, though they still seem to have enough wealth to live in idleness. By "Blood and Sauce" it is revealed Bill's cousin Gilbert sold the family estate to be turned into a catfish farm or water park, in order to publish a magazine. Gilbert also informs Bill that the rest of their family either died, were infertile, institutionalized or were impostors.
• The Penguin:
  • In The Batman, the Penguin's family, the Cobblepots, used to be rich, but they blew off all their money. The Penguin tries to regain his wealth by committing bird-themed crimes. This was even mentioned in the Batman: Arkham Series. The Cobblepots were originally quite wealthy, to the point where between them, they and the Waynes pretty much bankrolled the construction of most of Gotham in the 19th Century. They fell into decline because they insisted on competing with the Waynes directly, resulting in their new businesses failing because they were in areas they didn't know how to run properly while the Waynes did, and their old businesses failing because they were being neglected in favor of the poorly run new businesses. Penguin refused to acknowledge his own family's role in their decline and chose to blame it all on the Waynes.
• Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero: In "Trading Faces", it's revealed that Larry's manor is Old Man Middleburg's ancestor home and the latter was forced to sell it because of financial troubles.
• Rugrats: In the episode "The Case of the Missing Rugrat", Tommy is mistaken for a foundling and taken in by the Pendragon sisters, a pair of dotty old ladies who live in a crumbling mansion with no one around for company but each other and their butler Max. After the sisters boast about making Tommy heir to "the Pendragon millions", Max dryly informs Tommy "The millions part is somewhat exaggerated; I haven't been paid in years."
• Samurai Jack: Jack was the imperial crown prince of Japan until Aku broke free, kidnapped Jack's father (the Emperor), destroyed their kingdom, and eventually sent Jack into the far future. With his home long gone, Jack is not only an impoverished, would-be emperor without an empire; but he is also a Rōnin, a samurai without a master.
• Steven Universe: Sapphires are rare aristocratic gems in the Homeworld hierarchy and have poofy Princess Classic dresses as their Shapeshifter Default Form to reflect this. However, neither of the named Sapphires in series have been members of the aristocracy for thousands of years/ever - Garnet's Sapphire due to running away with one of her Ruby guards, and Padparadscha due to being born with a defect that let her predict the past.
• Talespin: This is the Reset Button to Baloo's position as Baron von Bruinwald in the episode "The Balooest of the Bluebloods"; his castle gets reposessed to pay for his ancestors' back-taxes, and while he still technically retains the title, it's never mentioned again.
• The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat had Filler Villain Billion Dollar Bill become impoverished as a result of Felix winning a gamble against him and Felix being unlucky to him (black cat curse), with him becoming the titular cat's butler at the end of the two-part episode. Of course, because Status Quo Is God in this show, Felix owning Bill's former casino didn't last long, and offscreen Billion Dollar Bill may have returned to normal.

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