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Tear Jerker / Aqua Teen Hunger Force

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As insane, vulgar, and otherwise bizarre as Aqua Teen Hunger Force could get? There's plenty of times when it can make you cry.
  • Shake's death in "Muscles". In a rare moment of compassion, both Frylock and Meatwad are equally distraught at what happened to Shake. This is likely due to Shake not being a total Jerkass in the episode and as such is genuinely sympathetic.
  • "Aqua Teen Dream", a small tribute to the series written for the penultimate episode, and performed by Patti Smith.
  • In the penultimate episode itself, we have the deaths of Master Shake and Frylock. While Frylock's death was sad already, Shake's demise is just as heartbreaking; to top it off, just as he's being eaten by the giant clams in a Heroic Sacrifice for Meatwad, he shouts "AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE FOREVER!" He may have been an asshole, but he truly cared about being part of the team.
  • "I'll Be Home This Christmas", especially for those who can relate to it.
  • "Party All the Time" can hit pretty hard. Frylock ends up developing skin cancer. Shake, Meatwad, and even Carl are heartbroken over this, with Shake comforting Meatwad as he worries of the possibility of Frylock dying.
  • The deaths of Terrance and Mr. Sparkles.
  • Jubilee. Dear God. She's stuck in a porno ring by Knapsacky, with her not wanting any involvement with it. She ends up crying on the set near the lake, with Knapsacky pretty much making it clear he cares more about the profit than her.
    • Even Carl admits to being unsettled by some of their racier videos like Jubilee eating dogfood while Knapsacky whispers "sweet nothings" into her ear. If you've upset Carl, then you've really gone over the line.
  • “Larry Miller Hair System” sees Carl witnessing a alternate, more happier version of himself if he had hair. Carl isn’t pleased with this, and gives his alternate self advice that completely ruins his life. Hair!Carl loses his job, his wife and kids leave him, and then he shaves his hair to look like the real Carl. In total despair, Hair!Carl kills himself with a shotgun. The worst part is that Carl isn’t bothered by what he did.
  • You can't help but feel bad for the Zeebles in "Storage Zeebles"; Carl buys a storage unit hoping to find some Nazi antiques in it, and instead discovers a Sugar Bowl of an alternate dimension. So what does Carl do? Take advantage of the Zeebles' kindness, pillage all their resources and bulldoze everything else. Carl even goes as far as to steal their sun, which screws out of the ceiling like a giant lightbulb. Even when their king is outright begging Carl to stop, he makes it overwhelmingly clear that he doesn't give two shits if they all starve and die, dooming an entire world's inhabitants out of sheer, apathetic greed. Which all makes seeing Carl get his balls ripped off by the Night Wolf all the more satisfying.
  • Tabitha getting taken into the woods to be killed by the number 100 in the hundredth episode, you can even hear her crying as she pleads for mercy.
  • Shake may have deserved it for being an asshole, but you will feel for him when Freda dumps him for Carl. He becomes so depressed, that he pathetically tries to win her back.
  • In the penultimate episode, Meatwad grows up—he gets married, starts a family, has a steady job and stable life. Once his kids are old enough, he takes his family to the old Aqua Teen house. The Shake-shaped doorway has been covered up and the house repainted, Carl's pool has been removed for some time (and Meatwad doesn't remember his name), and from the glimpse we get inside the house it's completely different than in the series. Nobody's home when Meatwad knocks, leaving him to drive away with his family—he's not sad, the music doesn't turn dramatic, and all in all the episode ends on a rather downplayed, bitterweet note. The real Tear Jerker comes from the Truth in Television of it all—sometimes, despite all the fun and wild adventures you might have in your youth, you settle down and drift apart from your old friends and life. And sometimes, all that's left are fun memories to hang onto. After thirteen seasons, it can be a hard thing for an audience to see.
    • And it turns out Willie Nelson was there the whole time and just missed Meatwad.
    • On the bright side, at least the gang comes back in the real finale.
  • For the movie, Shake gets sick of Meatwad's goofy nonsequitors and proceeds to pull out a shotgun and blast him in the face. He doesn't just go "ow" and spend the rest of the scene with a hole in him, or become multiple smaller Meatwads like in "Multiple Meat." He just dies. Everyone is aghast, even Shake himself, who clearly expected him to just take it like a champ and be intimidated into silence.
    Shake: (genuinely confused) "What... What happened?!"
    • Forutnately Meatwad is brought back to life by the magic drumming skills of Neil Peart.

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