Wham! Episode/Western Animation

"Fred:."
 * The second season finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Ba Sing Se is taken over, and Aang is killed in the wake of Azula's plan. As intense as that was, the surprise that made it a real wham was Zuko's Face Heel Turn.
 * Also, when Azula's "friends" Ty Lee and Mai
 * "Lake Laogai" also counts. Not only does, but
 * Sequel series The Legend of Korra is no slouch either. "And The Winner Is" features an, beginning the war between Amon's followers and benders. "The Aftermath" goes even further by revealing that
 * And now we have "When Extremes Meet" as the third Wham Episode in a row. First,  THEN  Finally,   Oh, and.
 * These were the bread and butter of Transformers: Beast Wars, especially in the second and, to a lesser extent, third seasons. Not to mention The Transformers: The Movie, which killed off a lot of characters, in particular Optimus Prime. Sure, it was to sell toys, but that's still pretty gutsy for an 80s cartoon.
 * The finale of Transformers Animated's second season definitely counts, seeing as it confirmed two long-running fan theories, namely that, and that
 * Following up on this, the three part opening movie for the third season was pretty much a wham episode, not giving us much time to recover from the previous episode as it promptly addressed almost every single problem of the finale, and managed to raise even more questions. It was also significantly darker than most of the series had been so far, namely with a more in-depth look at the unethical methods of the High Command and
 * After this, the whole series' Wham quotient increases dramatically. The series became noticeably Darker and Edgier and started featuring onscreen character deaths rather than the ambiguous approach used in earlier seasons, along with some rather disturbing material (see: Wasp).
 * Predacons Rising. "Wasp forgive Bumble-bot...
 * Let us not forget Transformers Cybertron's 25th episode. Starscream has over the previous two episodes successfully betrayed Megatron, trapping him, and released an army of ancient Decepticons, forcing the Autobots to retreat to Velocitron to draw him and his forces away from Earth. As they make the retreat, Starscream comes with most of his troops to seize the Omega Lock and Cyber Planet Keys. Optimus blows away all the generics. In desperation Starscream attacks the Autobot army single-handed, until only Optimus and Leobreaker are left. They use Savage Claw Mode and knock out the badly battered Starscream, but he recovers mid-fall and forces Optimus to abandon retrieval of the Lock and Keys by firing a missile at the Autobots' human allies. While Optimus breaks off to intercept it, Starscream grabs the Lock and Keys and escapes. Damn.
 * But Cybertron wasn't done yet, oh no. The episode right after had Hot Shot, Scattershot, and Red Alert brought to the brink of death (fortunately, they upgraded in the following episode, but still.) And then there was episode 47, "Guardian", featuring Vector Prime's heart-breaking Heroic Sacrifice. Arguably episode 46, "Showdown", as well.
 * While we're on the subject of the Unicron Trilogy, Transformers Armada's Cramp certainly qualifies. After half a show's worth of playing in the Heel Face Revolving Door
 * In Transformers Prime, "Partners" has, but the true Wham Episode in the series is in "One Shall Rise - Part 1":.
 * "One Shall Rise - Part 3":
 * "Crossfire":
 * The second season finale in ReBoot, which kicked off its first real Story Arc with a bang. The finale was set around an invasion by the web and an Enemy Mine situation. But all within the last few moments it ended up with Bob, who is in every regard the most important person on the show, being betrayed by Megabyte and exiled to the web, leaving the Bratty Half-Pint as the designated hero to stop Megabyte. Compounded by the agony of the third season being stuck for so long in Development Hell.
 * Used again early in season 3. Remember that new guy keeping Mainframe safe? Well we can kiss him goodbye too.
 * Sacrifice and a lot of the My Two Bobs arc are pretty whammy themselves.
 * Frisky Dingo does these quite a lot. The second season plotline of Xander and Killface running for President took a sudden turn when someone finally pointed out that, since Xander's only 32 and Killface isn't a U.S. citizen, neither of them can actually get elected President. In a rage, Killface cripples Xander, kills his cute animal mascot, and vows to finally destroy the world like he said he would in Season 1.
 * "Homecoming" in American Dragon: Jake Long.
 * Justice League episode "A Better World" starts off looking like a Batman Cold Open with Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman fighting their way past Mooks to stop a Big Bad. It's Lex Luthor. No surprise there. But Lex taunts Superman about Supe's complicity in Lex's crimes because Supe always holds the Hero Ball like he's got crazy glue on his palms. Then come the 'whams': (1) Superman murders Lex Luthor; (2) he's glad he did it; (3) the camera pans out the window to reveal that Superman just killed the President of the United States; (4) then the JLA takes over the entire planet! Thank heaven it was an alternate reality. Until they figured out how to come to our world and do the exact same thing.
 * The 3-part episode ending season 2, "Starcrossed", turns out to be a Wham! Episode too. Hawkgirl is The Mole for the Thanagarian Empire, and always has been. She helps them take over the planet.
 * Let's not forget the Justice League Unlimited episodes that dealt with the Cadmus Arc. About half of seasons one and two to be exact.
 * Culminating in the episode "Question Authority" which had six Wham moments topping each other!
 * The arc had one more Wham to go; in the last few moments of "Panic In The Sky", we discover that the true Man Behind the Man isn't Luthor, but actually
 * Dragon Booster's plot changed significantly when Armaggedon showed up in talking amulet form, promising power for Moordryd, the antagonist, which led to him becoming the Shadow Booster and ultimately rebelling against his father. This had far more impact than Mortis revealing that he is Connor, Artha and Lance's dad, and not as dead as they thought. The lack of impact for the latter event was because the fandom had assumed that for months.
 * Likewise, The Venture Brothers ended its first season on a traditional episode. But, it turns out this Adult Swim show doesn't make use of Negative Continuity, and in the first episode of season two, we find out that the titular brothers are still dead and that the Monarch's still in jail.
 * Then there's Brock suddenly up and quitting as he couldn't take the weirdness anymore at the end of Season 3. That episode also included the death of 24 and the obliteration of all of Hank and Dean's spare clones.
 * The season four premiere makes it even Wamier--Sgt. Hatred is the new Venture bodyguard, HELPeR is now THE WALKING EYE!, Hunter was The Mole in the Blackhearts organization and brings Brock into SPHINX, which is now operating on the side of good, and the Brothers' looks have changed for the first time ever--Hank grows his hair out and starts donning Brock's old jacket, while Dean now has a wispy little mustache.
 * The season 04 finale "Operation P.R.O.M": General Treister retires and leaves Colonel Gathers in charge of OSI. Molotov Cocktease was the rookie SPHINX agent seen in the background of previous episodes. She steals Monstroso back from them, claiming that he is her lover. When Brock corners her in a stolen limo on the edge of a cliff, he threatens to let Monstroso fall to his death. Molotov knocks Brock off of the hood of the limo willingly and the car falls and explodes with them both inside.
 * The first season finale of Teen Titans puts the every previous Story Arc episode in a whole new context when Slade reveals that all the villainous plans he set up were just tests of Robin's skill, who he wants to serve as his new apprentice. And is willing to kill all of Robin's friends to make it happen.
 * "Birthmark" from Season Four has Slade coming back from dead, and revealing that Raven is going to end the world.
 * Then there's the fourth season finale, where Raven voluntarily brings the world to an end. Seeing that Slade is a charred skeleton beneath his mask was just gravy.
 * The Danny Phantom Season Two finale, "Kindred Spirits". For two seasons Vlad has mustered all his energy and strength to make Danny his son. Then we find out in "KS" that he had prepared a back-up plan to complete a perfect clone of him as a substitute (incidentally, that's also why Vlad gave Valerie her first ghost hunting suit) on the off-shot that the real Danny never will come to his side. Shit happens and one Villainous Breakdown later, Vlad changes his mind about the boy; that little bastard is DEAD MEAT.
 * The season one episode "Public Enemies" also falls under this, as it rather drastically changed the status quo. Before, ghosts were not widely recognized or even known, and so Danny Phantom flew (no pun intended) under the radar. All of a sudden, ghosts become a recognized enemy across the entire city that need to be fought against, and not only that, but Danny Phantom becomes the number one enemy after being framed for kidnapping the mayor! And all orchestrated spectacularly by Walker, whose bastardry will never again be understated.
 * Your Mileage May Vary but the Season 1 finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars not only introduced an original character, Cad Bane, who immediately comes across as a Badass and unlike most villains thus far succeeds in his mission, nearly wiping out a room full of Senates and an unarmed Skywalker in the process but fueled the launch of Season 2 which in two episodes is already Darker and Edgier than almost everything the first season had to offer.
 * Also worth noting is various episodes in the series achieved this status by totally reversing the "kiddie" status some of the earlier episodes gave the show. It is likely different for every viewer, but most agree that "Rookies" was the one that paved way for the more mature episodes to come later in the series.
 * The villains that paved the way for Cad Bane in the Ryloth Trilogy weren't too stupid either, but they each had a fundamental weakness the commander of the blockade did not expect Anakin's suicide run because of his pride, the droid in Innocents of Ryloth did not perceive the Twi'leks themselves as threats until they were ripping him apart, and Emir Tambor stalled long enough for Mace Windu to capture him because of his greed. Unlike these villains Cad Bane's only weakness seems to be that nobody else is as Badass as he is.
 * The 4-part Umbara arc in season 4 is one of these (especially since it started right after the Lighter and Softer episodes focused on the Droids), in particular the episode Carnage of Krell.
 * Code Lyoko has one in the Season 2 finale, where Aelita's memory is drained, and XANA escapes the confines of Lyoko. Followed by Franz returning Aelita's memory, which almost totally deletes him.
 * Then there's the Season 3 finale, which has William becoming The Dragon for XANA.
 * So far, Metalocalypse has three: the season one finale, where Dethklok's concert is attacked, the season two finale, where they get attacked again, with the result that their home is burning to the ground and their manager is dying from his injuries, and the season three premiere, where the manager reveals that he had faked his death.
 * Make that four, with the season 03 finale "Doublebookedklok." Let's count the whams, shall we? Offdensen witnessed Selatcia's Mind Rape of General Crozier in the season 02 finale and may have been affected by it somehow, particularly in relation to Selatcia. The Tribunal are highly suspicious of Offdensen and suspect he has knowledge of their mysterious Falconback Project. And finally, Offdensen is keeping Edgar Jomfru tucked away in Mordhaus and is possibly using him in order to spy on or make plans for the Falconback Project.
 * In "Dye! Dye! My Darling", the season 4 finale of Daria, tensions between Daria, her best friend Jane and Jane's boyfriend Tom came to a boiling point. The scene where Tom and Daria agree that they can't stab Jane in the back then immediately spontaneously kiss in his car was enough to induce Spit Takes in the audience (a lot of whom declared the series Ruined FOREVER as a result). The episode and thus the season ended with Jane and Tom splitting up, Daria and Jane agreeing they could still be friends but needed to spend some time apart from each other, and with Daria's phone ringing and her answering it to hear "Daria? It's Tom..."
 * In Iron Man: Armored Adventures, the first season finale is this trope incarnate pretty much from start to finish. Everything that could've gone wrong has done so by the end of it.
 * Episode 35 of The Secret Saturdays, "And Your Enemies Closer". Argost turns out to be a Cryptid himself, the Yeti that killed Drew and Doyle's parents, kidnaps Zak, kills Zak's Mirror Universe counterpart by using the Flute of Gilgamesh to steal his Kur powers; which leaves him with the power to raise a army of Cryptids. Naturally, the Holy Shit Quotient was through the roof.
 * What, the big reveal that Zak was Kur in the previous season finale didn't come as a big shock too?
 * YMMV; this troper saw it coming after watching one episode.
 * Total Drama Action's episode "Top Dog" qualifies. While we all knew that Duncan and Beth would be the final two, nobody expected both Courtney and Owen's elimination, nor the breakup of Duncan and Courtney due to the former voting out the latter.
 * That was nothing compared to Total Drama World Tour's finale. Basically . While the last part was most likely a joke, this was a pretty dark finale for a show that's usually known for using Rule of Funny to the extreme.
 * The tiebreaker challenge in that same episode also qualifies as
 * Before that was I See London, combined with Genre Shift. First, we saw what happens if you're left in a cargo hold for too long without civilization. Then we find out Noah's Obfuscating Stupidity, the biggest fan-favorite getting voted out due to it. Finally, there's Duncan's return and the  kiss, which completed the shift.
 * The episodes "200" and "201" of South Park were major examples. Cartman discovers the DNA tests to determine who his father was were tampered with, then finds out that his father was Jack Tenorman, whom Cartman had, much earlier in the series, killed along with his wife and made into chili to get back at his son Scott for stealing $16.12 from him. So he had killed his OWN father, made his half brother a cannibal, and Cartman is still more upset about being related to gingers than any of the other events.
 * You're Getting Old is another example. The last few episodes have been typical South Park humor, but then this episode comes along. It seems all fun and games, they're going to get better by the end of the episode.. It doesn't..
 * That's not even the worst of it... Kyle and Cartman are becoming friends!
 * Long before all of that, "Scott Tenorman Must Die". It's pretty much his sled by now, but when the episode aired the aforementioned murder of Scott's parents was a major turning point in Cartman's characterization, as he went from being a naughty, immature, and somewhat idiotic 8-year old kid, to being a sadistic, monstrous, manipulative psychopath.
 * The Season 5 episode "Kenny Dies", in which Kenny is dying from a disease, and rather than his death being played for laughs like normally, it's played for drama. And his death was permanent this time, a majority of Season 6 was about the boys coping with Kenny's death and trying to bring him back.
 * Spider-Man: The Animated Series "Turning Point." The Green Goblin learns Spider-Man's true identity and proceeds to wreak havoc on his life. Mary Jane is supposedly killed in the ensuing bridge battle. The viewers know that she survived, but she fell through a time-dilation accelerator portal - leaving her lost in a void and quite a Tear Jerker for poor Peter's reactions.
 * Followed up down the line by Mary Jane, quite some time after her mysterious return from this, was revealed to have Hydro-Man's powers. As your mouth is still hanging open from that, we find out why - she's a clone made by Miles Warren, and adding the (also a clone) Hydro Man's power to turn to water and put himself back together helped keep her stable. Unfortunately, it's not perfect, and she does die when her body eventually degenerated, with Peter just as helpless to do anything about it as before.
 * The series finale of The Spectacular Spider-Man reveals that Norman Osborn was the only Green Goblin, even during season one - he'd framed Harry for his crimes and the Norman we saw when "Harry" was elsewhere as the Goblin was in fact the Chameleon. What about the time Harry had the injury the Goblin had sustained? Norman broke his own son's leg. Oh, and you know how in most continuities, Norman is driven nuts or given a Split Personality by his strength enhancers? Well, not so in this one. Harry's overdose made him the perfect patsy, but Norman, using a much more controlled release, was one hundred percent himself, and did all of this with an unaltered mind. Dude.
 * "Helga on the Couch" from Hey Arnold!. Helga gets sent to a child psychologist, where the truth comes out about why she acts the way she does...it involves inattentive parents, and a sister whose standards she'd never be able to reach in her parents' eyes.
 * Family Guy had "And Then There Were Fewer". TV anchorwoman Diane Simmons is being replaced by a younger woman (she just turned 40) and at the same time stood up by her new love interest James Woods...so she concocts an elaborate scheme to kill James and frame co-anchor Tom Tucker for the murder. When things don't quite go just as planned, James and semi-regular cast member Mrs. Goldman are Killed Off for Real, as well as Jillian's husband seen only once before, Quagmire's current girlfriend, and James' second girlfriend. Then Diane almost kills Lois after Lois figures things out, and is turn killed by Stewie (who claims to be the only one who can kill Lois). Tom meanwhile is successfully framed and sent to prison.
 * Well, by the next episode Tom's out of prison and James Woods has been brought back from the dead, but all the other changes so far seem to have stuck.
 * It's not the only Family Guy episode to be a Wham Episode. It's simply titled "Brian and Stewie". The Cold Opening and lack of cutaway gags is a giveaway that something is going to go down. Basically it's about Brian and Stewie locked in a bank vault over a weekend. It had the usual Family Guy antics, including Brian eating Stewie's poop, Stewie drunkenly piercing his ear, and a gun from Brian's safety deposit box ricocheting around the room. It eventually dies down and we're wondering what's about to happen next, then Stewie asks why Brian has a gun. He tells him that it's in case he ever decided to commit suicide as he cannot find a purpose in life, the alcohol meant to be his last drink. Stewie is horrified and admits that Brian is his best friend, and sometimes making another person happy is enough.
 * "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q." a Darker and Edgier Very Special Episode that dealt with Domestic Abuse in a straight and serious way. Here, Quagmire tries to help his sister overcome domestic abuse and rub out her abusive boyfriend in a confrontation that takes a turn for the worse.
 * Of all shows from of all studios, Filmation's 1987 cartoon Bravestarr has a Wham Episode dealing with drug abuse, but it refuses to do with it what Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue did--sugarcoat it. The episode "The Price" deals with a kid who is turned onto a topical controlled substance called Spin. The perps are caught but the tag is tainted: The boy is found in his treehouse, dead of a Spin overdose. The episode ends with the boy's mother in agonized hysteria, with the final "pro-social message" scene showing Bravestarr laying a wreath at the boy's grave.
 * Sym-Bionic Titan: "A Family Crisis".
 * Before that, "The Fortress of Deception".
 * Episode 26 of Scooby Doo Mystery Inc What happens is . Fred then says this line when this all unravels.
 * Episode 26 of Scooby Doo Mystery Inc What happens is . Fred then says this line when this all unravels.


 * The Black Cauldron is actually this to the Disney Animated Canon.
 * The same can be said for their adaptation of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. It dealt with some VERY adult themes (to the point where I'm surprised it got a G rating) and it ended with the protagonist not getting the girl. (though things were still happy for him)
 * Episode 12, "Homefront", of Young Justice could be considered this. It has several revelations. Artemis finally in school, two Batgirls popping up, Robin showing up in school and heavily implying that he's figured out Artemis' secrets...
 * And then there's Episode 25, "Usual Suspects." Holy crap. Aster re-dis'd, Robin.
 * "Happy New Year", the first episode of Season 2. Three words:
 * "Alienated":
 * "Depths":
 * Episode 23, "The Devourer", of Monster Allergy has many revelations. Jeremy is placed under Magnacat's mind control after he is caught spying on the meeting between the Gorkas and Dark Phantoms; under his influence, he sabotaged Zick's teleskates that teleports him in Magnacat's hideout instead of Bibbur-Si to warn Timothy of the evil alliance. Zick has lost his powers including his ability to see monsters because his Dom energy is absorbed by the Dom Devourer, but the bright side is Elena, his best friend who can't see monsters, can finally see monsters. Hurray!
 * Huntik Secrets and Seekers would have one:
 * The Easter special episode of Davey and Goliath where Davey's grandmother dies.
 * The season 2 finale and the season 3 premiere of X-Men: Evolution. For the first two seasons, the show was mostly light, at least when compared to other superhero cartoons. But starting with the end of season 2, the mutants are finally exposed to the world (when before they were hiding themselves) and the show starts going into Darker and Edgier storylines with themes about discrimination, along with the X-Men starting to face larger threats.
 * Kung Fu Panda 2. Unlike the first film, characters die and are actually confirmed dead, unlike any of the possible "deaths" of the first film. Not only that, the threat they face is greater, and we start to learn about a young Po's tragic past.
 * In the Dreamworks Animation studio, How To Train Your Dragon was this. The movie was more serious, and a bit Darker and Edgier than their previous films. Hell, the main character loses a foot in the final battle!
 * In ThunderCats (2011) "Between Brothers."
 * The 26th (and final) episode of Season One of Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes, "A Day Unlike Any Other" concludes with the Avengers saving Asgard and, by extension, the world from Loki. However...
 * The Adventure Time episode "Holly Jolly Secrets" hit with nice bit of wham. Near episodes end, we find out through a series of videotapes
 * Also of note is that in those videotapes,
 * "In Your Footsteps" seems like a pretty regular episode, nothing that would really set it apart from others besides perhaps one moment of heartwarming. And then at the very end of the episode,
 * "Mortal Folly" was also a Wham Episode. It was the first appearance of The Lich- the first truly horrifying villian who had no quirky characteristics whatsoever. There was very little comic relief.
 * In the third season of Archer, the former Woobie, Barry, is now a cyborg, and plots an elaborate revenge against Sterling Archer. It's all pretty funny, until Barry cruelly murders the man who may or may not be Sterling's father, right after they were reunited, and disposes of the body so he'll never be able to do a DNA test and know for sure.
 * The Christmas Episode (And Series Finale) of Nickelodeon's Doug, "Doug's Christmas Story", was very different from the show's usual Sweet Dreams Fuel. It starts when Porkchop bites Beebe's leg to get her away from thin ice, but he's blamed for attacking her and is sent to the pound, where if he's not proven innocent, will be put to sleep.
 * The Recess episode "The Biggest Trouble Ever", which is about the gang accidentally breaking a statue of the town's founder, are branded criminals and are nearly transferred to six seperate schools.
 * Codename: Kids Next Door had Operation G.R.O.W.U.P., the 1st season finale which set the stage for the show's eventual Cerebus Syndrome.
 * The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes has "Who Can You Trust?" Nick Fury learns that one of the Avengers is really a Skrull. The viewers have known which Avenger the Skrull replaced since the first season ended, so the shock value derives more from seeing the Avengers' dependability give way to paranoia, which even drives three heroes into quitting the team. By the time the episode ends, the Avengers consist of half as many heroes as in the first season, and Captain America takes the leadership position Iron Man renounced. Finally, the viewers learn that the queen of the Skrulls has made her way to Earth, disguised as.
 * Moral Orel season 2 finale, Nature. Clay takes Orel into a forest for hunting where his behavior suddenly gets tensed of getting drunk, berating him, shooting him in the leg, and refusing to heal his leg. This results in season 3 being changed from light to dark.
 * El Manana, Gorillaz' music video in which Moe Noodle . Also the Plastic Beach interviews which show Murdoc to now be mentally and physically abusing 2D quite horribly.
 * April 1, 2012. Adult Swim was expected to, as always, show The Room on April Fools day. They did not.


 * Back to