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{{trope}}
[[File:Bug Martini 2019-01-18 excerpt - invoked Clueless Aesop.jpg|frame|link=Bug Martini|The moral for today: Invoked tropes get used on All The Tropes!]]
{{quote|'''Bob''': Hmm, there's a lesson in all this.
'''Eglamore''': Okay. Let's hear it.
'''Bob''': Never let sixty angry kids use a herd of laser cows to take over your house.
|''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]''}}
{{quote|'''Yugi''': It's time for the big message...We've learned that Card Games are the answer to all life's problems. And the only thing I know for certain in this world is that there's a strange man living inside my head who tells me to do things.
'''[[Super
|''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]''}}
[[An Aesop]] is, increasingly, one of the most [[Subverted Trope
There are several common ways to do this:
Line 15 ⟶ 17:
* Non sequitur morals, which get sillier and sillier.
* Backward morals, where the characters learn the exact opposite of what you'd expect them to.
* Morals that, although apropos and completely true, are
* A [[Captain Obvious Aesop]] played for laughs.
* [[Aesop Ju Jitsu]], in which characters use a generous dose of [[Lampshade Hanging]] to discuss what the moral is that they were supposed to learn. After going through several possibilities they end up concluding that they either learned something ridiculous or they didn't learn anything at all.
* A [[Broken Aesop]] that ''immediately'' [[Lampshade Hanging|has a lampshade hung on its own brokenness]]. Sometimes, this can lead to [[Aesop Ju Jitsu]] (as above), or a character pointing out that the ''opposite'' of the
When adding examples, bear in mind that just because a work is [[Satire, Parody, Pastiche|a spoof]] and has [[An Aesop]], it's not necessarily a
See also [[Broken Aesop]].
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Anime and Manga ==
* At the end of one of the chapters of the ''[[Touhou]]'' manga, Strange and Bright Nature Deity, Aya tells the three fairies (while facing the reader)
* Speedy Cerviche of ''[[Samurai Pizza Cats]]'' offered up a great [[Spoof Aesop]] after a battle: "Whoever said 'Violence never solved anything' wasn't a Pizza Cat!"▼
{{quote|When nothing is happening, you make something happen. That is how a journalist works.}}
* In ''[[Bobobo Bobobobo]]'', the eponymous character spends a great deal of the fight against Halekulani (a money-obsessed villain) trying to convince him that friendship and normal life is more important than money. At the end, he starts saying what the most important thing in the world really is, and ''just'' as he knocks out Halekulani, admits that it's money, after all.▼
▲* Speedy Cerviche of ''[[Samurai Pizza Cats]]'' offered up a great
* ''[[Gintama (Manga)|Gintama]]'' combines this with [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]]; each anime episode/manga chapter is usually something like "Stress can lead to baldness, but if you try not to be stressed then that will make you stressed, so there's nothing we can do."▼
▲* In ''[[Bobobo-Bo
▲* ''[[
* One episode of ''[[Pretty Sammy|Magical Project S]]'' opens with Sasami and Ginji driving off a cliffside road into the ocean and getting stranded on an island because the latter fell asleep at the wheel. When Ginji explains to Sasami what happened (in an intentionally labored way), they then enthusiastically jump up in excitement, having learned ''nothing'' as they continue their summer vacation.
* The ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' episode "Toys in the Attic" consists of each member of the Bebop's crew (well, except Ein, who is a dog) delivering an Aesop. Ed's aesop [[Word Salad|would probably count]] ("[[Too Smart for Strangers|If you see a stranger]], [[Subverted Trope|follow him]]"), but Spike's aesop is the primary culprit. The aesop is {{spoiler|don't leave food in your fridge}}, put in the context of {{spoiler|[[It Came From the Fridge|the contents of one of the ship's refrigerators having evolved into a horrible poisonous blob monster that attacks the crew.]]}} It avoids becoming a [[Space Whale Aesop]] because it's clear the writers weren't treating the subject matter seriously at all.
* It may or may not be intentional, but much of the first-season [[Gag Dub]] of ''[[Duel Masters]]'' implies that in order to win at card games, you gotta have [[Anime Hair|great hair]].
* ''[[Ninin ga Shinobuden]]'' had "Don't waste food" at the end of episode eleven, which up until that point had ''nothing'' to do with the subject and consisted of an (extraordinary inaccurate) retelling of the "Crane Wife" folk tale. Then in the last 2 minutes, everybody falls asleep and Onsokumaru starts sticking oranges on people's faces, only to get chewed out by Kaede's mom. The ninjas comment "Thats the first moral we've had since the show began."
* In the ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' novel side story "Cinderella Panic!", it parodies the original fairy tale and gives a sort of backwards moral. Granted, the moral it gave ''was'' quite a bit more realistic than the original fairy tale's moral - "Don't always just rely on trying to find a "Prince Charming" who will bring you out of a bad situation, instead use your own strength and find a way out."
** Cinderella takes the lesson to heart and sells the other glass slipper for ludicrous profit to a would-be princess, before leaving the kingdom forever (together with the fairy godmother) to become a traveling merchant.
* The English dub of ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'' had "Recycle and don't pollute the ocean, or the creatures that live in it will eat you alive."
** A later episode has "Feel good about your body. Unless you're ugly."
* ''[[Sonic X]]'', or at least the English dub, gives up this gem:
* Any Aesop from ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' had many incredibly stupid aesops delivered at their [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle|"Sailor Says"]] segments at the end in the English dub, which are mocked in this way in ''[[Sailor Moon Abridged]]''.
== Comic Books ==
* An issue of ''[[Marvel Adventures]]: [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]]'' involved the group being turned against each other by the Hate-Monger, who was actually trying to help them by giving them a common enemy: himself, in order to improve their teamwork. After pointing out how stupid this plan was ("We ''already'' have common enemies!"), we get this exchange from Spider-Man and Storm:
{{quote|
'''Storm:''' That's ''not'' the lesson. }}
* The Slave Labor Graphics [[Hsu and Chan]] comics, tend to lampshade this at the end of the stories. A comic on the author's website, ''The Mummy's Tooth'', continues this tradition when Chan notes how the morals of their adventures are getting vaguer and vaguer. Hsu replies by saying that he likes to think that their inherent strength of virtue compensates for that. Immediately after this, one of their <s>friends</s> employees uses a skeleton he looted from a museum garbage can as a ventriloquist dummy to say [[Looney Tunes|"That's all folks!"]]
** Another example from the issue ''Evening of Destruction''
{{quote|
'''Hsu:''' Oh... probably. }}
* ''[[Nextwave]]'', [[Affectionate Parody|in its typical style]], brings us the aesop that "no good can come of a robot in a bra" in issue #6.
* While not necessarily the "lessons" of the cast's misadventures, the infoscrolls present at the bottom of nearly every page of ''The Intimates'' tend to skew this way, especially the "Teen Tips". "Teen Relationship Tip: Have sex early so you can get better at it sooner." "Teen Behavioral Tip: When frustrated by life, feel free to act out your aggressions." "Teen Empowerment Tips: Embrace feelings of insecurity, ambivalence, frustration, anxiety, and confusion." Those are all just in the first two issues.
* ''Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance'' has this little gem: "Heroes die. Fame lives forever."
* ''[http://yonwords.livejournal.com/4728.html Crack Shots]'' [[Star Wars
▲== Fanfiction ==
{{quote|
▲* [http://yonwords.livejournal.com/4728.html Crack Shots] [[Star Wars (Franchise)/Fanfic Recs|by yonwords]] is a story Wes Janson is telling to the [[X Wing Series|Wraiths]], after which he tells them that he just gave them valuable insight about their commander. They think he picked the story to illustrate that Wedge Antilles has survivor's guilt and holds himself aloof from people he thinks will die on him.
▲{{quote| Wes shook his head. "No, I told that story so you'd all know better than to try to out-drink Wedge. It's a mistake I've watched countless people make." He paused and gave them one of his most serious looks. He was a little out of practice but doubted they'd notice. "[[Never Gets Drunk|Even the most mild-mannered Corellian holds his liquor better than the rest of us.]] Remember that."}}
== Film ==
* ''The [[Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'' reads like a morality play, saying essentially that hedonism and a queer lifestyle will get you kidnapped and/or killed by aliens.
{{quote|
'''Dr. Scott''': You saw what became of Eddie; society must be protected. }}
** The typical audience response at this point is "Fuck society!"
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*** "Better not, you'll get a social disease!"
**** Not if society has [[But We Used a Condom|protection]]!
* In ''[[XXX]]'', Xander Cage steals the car of an anti-free speech senator named Dick. He then drives the car off a bridge and base jumps from the car. On the way down, he delivers the line "And the moral of the story is 'Don't be a dick, Dick!'"
* In ''[[Love Actually]]'', jaded rock star Billy Mack appears on what seems to be a live talk show for teenagers, promoting his new album. After defacing a poster of a rival band - which prompts the hosts to inform him that there are kids watching - he looks deeply into the camera and intones:
{{quote|
''The hosts of the television show smile in relief''
'''Billy Mack:''' Become a pop star, and they give them to you for free! }}
== Jokes ==
* There are multiple Spoof Aesop warnings against the evils of alcohol:
** "Uncle Bob was a Green Beret in Vietnam and his helicopter got hit. He had to crash land in enemy territory and all he had was a bottle of whiskey, a machine gun and a machete. He drank the whiskey on the way down so it wouldn't break and then he landed right in the middle of 100 enemy troops. He killed seventy of them with the machine gun until he ran out of bullets, then he killed twenty more with the machete till the blade broke and then he killed the last ten with his bare hands." So what's the moral of the story? Don't mess with my uncle when he's been drinking.
** An instructor teaches a lesson about the evils of liquor by setting up an experiment that involved a glass of water, a glass of whiskey, and two worms. The worm dropped into the water squirms about unharmed, the worm in the whiskey glass writhes in pain, quickly sinks to the bottom and dies. So what lesson can we derive from this experiment? Little Johnny wisely responded, "Drink whiskey and you won't get worms!"
== Literature ==
* [[Douglas Adams]] did this masterfully in ''[[The
* [[Jane Austen]] loved this trope:
** At the end of ''[[
{{quote|
** ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'': What's the secret of living [[Happily Ever After]]? Breaking promises, telling secrets, and being deliberately contrary. The [[Official Couple]] [[Lampshade Hanging|point this out]] when they realize they ultimately got engaged because Elizabeth demanded her aunt reveal something Mr. Darcy asked her to keep secret and Lady Catherine added the [[Forbidden Fruit]] appeal.
{{quote|
'''Darcy''': You need not distress yourself. The moral will be perfectly fair. Lady Catherine's unjustifiable endeavours to separate us were the means of removing all my doubts. }}
** ''
* Hilaire Belloc's book of poems ''Cautionary Tales'', written in 1907, parodies the little stories with morals that the Victorians loved to tell their children, in which dire consequences would befall any child who broke the slightest rule. The poems include ''Matilda, Who Told Lies, And Was Burned To Death'' (a retelling of The Boy Who Cried Wolf), and ''Jim, Who Ran Away From His Nurse, And Was Eaten By A Lion''.
** And, of course, Algernon who played with a Loaded Gun and upon missing his Sister was Reprimanded by his Father.
* [[Lewis Carroll]] threw a bunch into a single chapter of ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'', in which the Duchess responds to every piece of news with a moral, ranging from statements which are sensible but irrelevant to complete nonsense.
* ''Borgel'' by [[Daniel Pinkwater]] contains several folk tales which contain
** In the last page of [[Daniel Pinkwater]]'s ''Young Adult Novel'', several Wild Dada Ducks ask what the story's moral is, and one of them answers that it doesn't have a moral -- "it is a Dada story."
* This from ''[[
* [[Older Than Print]]: ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'': What valuable lesson in chivalry and virtue does Sir Gawain learn after failing his [[Secret Test of Character]]? "Never trust women."
* [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s humorous short story "Never Bet The Devil Your Head": [[Exactly What It Says
* In Jonathan Stroud's ''[[The Bartimaeus Trilogy]]'', one footnote goes off on a tangent about how after being [[Genie in
* Too many James Thurber stories to count.
* A footnote in Terry Pratchett's novel ''<s>Faust</s>Eric'' explains, "Interestingly enough, the gods of the [[Discworld|Disc]] have never bothered much about judging the souls of the dead, and so people only go to hell if they believe, in their deepest heart, that they deserve to go. Which they won't do if they don't know about it.
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': In the fourth-season episode "Beer Bad," after a cursed batch of beer turns Buffy into a neanderthal, Xander steers us into a
{{quote|
'''Buffy''': Foamy!
'''Xander''': Good. Just so that's clear. }}
** There was a ''real'' [[Aesop]] to this episode, too (namely, "Beer Bad"), so that the show could apply for funding from the National Office of Drug Control Policy. Though most fans dislike "Beer Bad" for its extreme [[
** An episode of ''[[Angel]]'' starts out this way, although there was a hidden moral. Cordelia has been impregnated by the monster of the week, and was surprised when her teammates helped her out:
{{quote|
'''Cordelia''': Men are evil? No, wait, I knew that. Sex is bad?
'''Angel''': We ''all'' knew that.
'''Cordelia''': Okay, fine. I learned that I have two people I can count on absolutely in my life. And ''that's'' new. }}
* In ''[[
* ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel
* As was mentioned in [[Berserk Button]], the [[Aesop]] of ''[[The King of Queens]]'' episode "Bun Dummy" is "Save the bun hairstyle for when you're an old lady, and if you're bold enough to wear it as a young lady, don't [[What Do You Mean
* The Bernadette Peters episode of ''[[The Muppet Show]]'', Sam the Eagle started reading the famous story of "The Ant and the Grasshopper". However, when winter came in the story, Sam was shocked to learn that {{spoiler|the grasshopper drove his sports car to Florida, and the ant got stepped on.}}
* From a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20130923191141/http://snltranscripts.jt.org/96/96rtwilight.phtml parody] of the classic "Eye of the Beholder" segment of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' (on the season 23 episode hosted by Pamela Anderson {named Pamela Lee at the time}) comes this demolition of [[Rod Serling|Rod Serling's]] usual closing narration:
{{quote|
** Another one from a [https://web.archive.org/web/20130923191257/http://snltranscripts.jt.org/99/99mfunhouse.phtml TV Funhouse] segment starring Tracy Morgan (later of ''[[
{{quote|
* Even with its "No hugging, no learning" motto, an episode of ''[[Seinfeld]]'' does have a Spoof Aesop. In the episode "The Summer of George", George's plan to fulfill his personal goals during that summer (which he declared "The Summer of George", hence the title) go terribly awry. The Spoof Aesop here would seem to be "Never name a season after yourself; it will only end in tragedy".
* The ''[[Baywatch]]'' spoof ''[[Son of the Beach]]'' ended each episode with a
* On ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', Dr. Bashir attempts to get [[Token Evil Teammate]] Garak to stop lying by telling him the story of the boy who cried wolf. Garak thinks about it for a minute, then hilariously concludes that the ''real'' moral of the story is "Never tell the same lie twice."
* The entire basis of ''[[Strangers
** "You never really lose your parents, unless of course they die. And then they're gone forever, and nothing can bring them back."
* [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] did these on his Saturday morning show, prompted by the E/I proposals.
** The fact that he literally learned the same lesson at least 7 times was made fun of in the DVD commentary. He never actually learned the lesson, either.
* From ''[[Top Gear]]: After the "$1,000 American Car" special, where they travel to the Southeastern United States and purchase a car for no more than $1,000 US in order to complete a few challenges (and after nearly crashing into a river due to bad brakes, [[Deep South|getting chased out of a gas station by an angry mob for having such slogans as "Man Love Rules!" and "NASCAR sucks!"]], and witnessing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina which inspires them to donate their vehicles to local families), they learn a valuable moral lesson: "Don't go to America!"
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* [[Dinosaurs]] once ended a [[Very Special Episode]] on drugs with one of the characters addressing the audience, telling them that drugs were the leading cause of crappy anti-drug episodes of your favorite TV shows. To paraphrase the end of it, "Put an end to PSA's, don't do drugs."
* The ''[[Father Ted]]'' episode 'The Old Grey Whistle Theft' centres around the events that transpire when [[The Ditz|Dougal]] falls in with a bad influence. [[Status Quo Is God|After everything is resolved]], Ted and Dougal discuss what had happened:
{{quote|
'''Dougal:''' Oh, you're right there, Ted.
'''Ted:''' So, have you learned something from your experience?
'''Dougal:''' ...No. }}
* ''[[The State]]'' did a series of spoof Spring Break Safety promos for MTV - one started out seeming to be about the dangers of excessive drinking, but turned out to have the backwards moral that you should drink whiskey instead of beer because you'll get drunk faster and won't get a hangover. Others had more non sequitir messages, like "raw pork chops that you find lying on the beach are perfectly safe to eat, but you should trim the fat first, make sure there aren't any crabs on it, and check for cartons of chocolate milk washing up onshore too", and "Don't get gangrene". That last one also seemed to be a parody of the kind of [[Clueless Aesop]] that's too vague to be useful: there was no discussion of what causes gangrene or what should be done if you do get it, just constant reiteration that it is a serious, potentially life-threatening infection and you should try to avoid it.
* Every episode of ''
* On ''[[That '70s Show]]'', Michael Kelso and Jackie Burkhart are a good-looking but dim and very shallow teen couple. In the episode "Hyde Moves In", Jackie catches a cold, which slightly hinders her looks, but when Kelso sees her, he screams in horror. He later comes back to apologize, and tells that he learned a lesson: "Just because you look bad now, that, that doesn't mean you're gonna look bad forever! [...] I realized that this whole mess, that's just a temporary thing. But physical beauty, that lasts forever!" Jackie is touched.
** Another episode, "Streaking" from the first season contained one. Donna doesn't want to go with her parents to a presidential rally for [[Gerald Ford]] because she's embarassed because she and her parents would be wearing jumpsuits to make them look like an American flag. When Kitty talks with her about it, it results in this exchange.
{{quote|
DONNA: "No, my dad's gonna make me wear this really queer jumpsuit. I don't know if I can do it. It's just too embarrassing."
KITTY: "You know Donna, my grandmother came from Sweden, and she had this thick thick accent and it embarrassed me to no end. Well, I asked her not to come to my high-school graduation 'cause I didn't want my friends to hear her talk. And she didn't come. Sixteen years later, she got the gout and died. You see?"
DONNA: "No."
KITTY: "All families are embarrassing. And if they're not embarrassing, then they're dead." }}
* In the ''[[Better Off Ted]]'' episode "The Long and Winding High Road", Linda and Veronica come up with one way of cheating to make sure their project beats out its competitor from the other division, while Ted comes up with a completely different way; the combination of the two of them ends up being worse for the project than if they'd just done nothing.
{{quote|
'''Veronica''': Actually, I think the lesson here is, when we're on the low road, we really need to coordinate better. }}
* ''[[
{{quote|
* One episode of ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'', following various fake dismemberments, has the moral that you shouldn't use a one-armed man to scare someone. This aesop comes into the ridiculously over-specific category, although for the show it's actually good advice.
* ''[[
* [[Blossom]] has a [[Show Within a Show]] example. One episode has Blossom, Joey and Six showing the short movies they made for a school project. According to their teacher, "it's an automatic A as long as it teaches a lesson". Joey's movie is a [[So Bad
{{quote|
'''Joey:''' See? Even you got it! }}
* ''[[Castle]]'' gives us this gem, when his daughter considers trying out for cheerleading.
{{quote|
* The closing songs of the second series of [[
{{quote|
Be not a borrower or a lender
And if your finances do fail
Be sure your banker's not a bender. }}
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' did it twice: after the duplicator incident, Calvin tried to say what lesson they'd learned, but decided "OK, we didn't learn any big lesson." ("Live and don't learn, that's us," quipped Hobbes.) The "moral" of the encounter with Calvin's 'Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons' was the extremely valid and helpful "Snow Goons are bad news." As Calvin noted: "I like [[Fantastic Aesop|maxims that don't encourage behavior modification]]." Another Spoof Aesop appears at the end of the strip where Calvin gets sent to bed after spending all Sunday getting his chores done, following Hobbes's advice that it would give them more time to goof off:
{{quote|
'''Hobbes''' ''(with subtle sarcasm)'': Never put the low priorities first. }}
* [http://www.angryflower.com/wheels.gif This] ''Bob the Angry Flower'' comic featuring wheelchair basketball.
* In ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'', we're treated to this exchange:
{{quote|
'''Rat''': No. He said I was bad.
'''Zebra''': Well, now that you know your actions have consequences, what kind of things are you going to avoid from now on?
'''Rat''': Death. }}
** The morals Rat gives for his "Angry Bob" stories tend to be absolute non sequiturs. And they're not nearly as bad as the ones in his "Danny Donkey" stories...
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== Radio ==
* Every episode of [[The BBC]] World Service's ''Reduced Shakespeare Radio Show'' ended with Austin Tichner asking the other two members of the [[Reduced Shakespeare Company]] what they'd learned. In a couple of episodes it was vaguely relevant to the events of the episode, but at no point was immediately useful, or anything to do with [[Shakespeare]].
{{quote|
'''Reed''': I learned you can't hug a child with nuclear arms.
'''Austin''': And I learned never to ask Reed and Adam what they learned today. }}
* A sketch on a ''[[Monty Python]]'' record parodying fairy tales ends with [[Diabolus Ex Machina|a character being run over by a bus]] on his return from his quest to buy a packet of cigarettes for the King, with the end moral proving to be "Smoking is bad for your health."
* The Catchup Advisory Council "commercials" on ''[[A Prairie Home Companion]]'' inevitably make "eat more ketchup" not merely the logical end of a sales pitch, but a full-on
Line 202 ⟶ 206:
* [[Zeroth Law of Trope Examples|Shakespeare]]
** ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' ends with a song that teases a moral, but merely ends with ''A long while ago/The world was begun/But that's all one/Our play is done.''
** ''[[Othello]]'' is adapted from an Italian story in which Desdemona delivers a [[Writer
* The ending of [[PDQ Bach]]'s ''Oedipus Tex'':
{{quote|
Don't [[Parental Incest|love your mother]], pardner, [[But You Screw One Goat!|save it for your horse]].
I guarantee you will be filled with great remorse
If you give your mom the love you should be saving for your horse! }}
* (Could also be a case of [[Space Whale Aesop]]) There is a 16th century French farce which goes as follows: An alchemist arrives to a village and proclaims that he can remelt old men and make them young again. The old crones of the village convince their husbands to try the [[Applied Phlebotinum|alchemist's foundry]]. They come out of it [[Fountain of Youth|rejuvenated]]... and immediately dump their wrinkled wives and start chasing young girls. The moral of the play? "God save you from the idea to remelt your husbands".
Line 214 ⟶ 218:
== Video Games ==
* From ''[[
{{quote|
** Which is actually a rather useful [[Aesop]], all things considered.
*** Actually all of them are rather useful. Especially the third one.
* In ''[[Earthworm Jim (
{{quote|
* Some of Otacon's misinterpreted proverbs in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'', such as how the concept of original sin means Snake has to take no responsibility for stealing and killing, and how the lack of profit in the fashion industry for pre-ripped jeans shows that no-one should subvert the natural order of things.
* In ''[[
{{quote|
'''Razputin''': Yes I have. That shooting things is fun and useful! }}
** Spoofed in the same level after Raz defeats the grotesque Mega-Censor.
{{quote|
'''Sasha Nein''': No. Here's your merit badge. [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again|Let us never speak of this again.]] }}
* At the end of ''[[The Secret of Monkey Island]]'', you get to choose one of three spoof Aesops for Guybrush to say:
{{quote|
'''Elaine:''' That sounds like something my husband would say.
'''Guybrush:''' Yikes!
'''2. It's not the size of the ship...'''
'''Elaine:''' Yes, I've heard that one.
'''3. Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game.'''
'''Elaine:''' A what?
'''Guybrush:''' I don't know, I'm not sure why I said that. }}
** ''[[Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge]]'' has another one, after Guybrush is tasked to find the answer to the riddle "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, what color is the tree?". After finally finding an answer ("all of them") we get this exchange:
{{quote|
'''Guybrush:''' That philosophy isn't worth my time.
'''Herman:''' I'm very impressed! It takes most people years to reach this point. [[When You Snatch the Pebble|You have learned all that you can from me. Go forth into the world with confidence.]] }}
* The recent [[Nintendo Week]] had this: "Video games are fun! [[Anti
* A trailer for [[Portal (
* In [[Kingdom of Loathing]], low-quality booze gives one very few adventures, and some even does Stench/ Sleaze damage, and takes one forever to get drunk off of. Only go for the good stuff.
* When you complete all of [[Brutal Legend]]'s Overslaughter side-quests, the Hunter leaves with: "Whenever you kill something, a part of you dies. A tiny, pathetic little part of you that you didn't need anyway." (paraphrased)
* It's more than likely that [[Mortal Kombat|Jade]] is kidding when she gives [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgt4xMTsqrc this advice]. At least, it's probably best to assume that she is...
== Webcomics ==
* [http://xninjared.deviantart.com/art/Lysistrata-Gambit-152865735 This Comic] has an Aesop about the [[Lysistrata Gambit]] SO over-the-top, it just CAN'T be taken seriously...
* ''[[
** Several times, Black Mage has learned a valuable [[Aesop]] - such as that a path of violence and hatred will only cause himself suffering, or that use of evil spells will alienate White Mage from him - but they just can't stick to his teflon soul and one knife-worthy comment from Fighter and he's all but forgotten they ever existed.
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' has several.
** The story "Cannibals Anonymous" is about Aylee overcoming her addiction to eating humans. After she's "cured", she goes [[Actual Pacifist]] on Torg just when he and Riff are being held by cannibals who intend to eat them and she's the only one who could save them. Torg decides to announce that he was wrong to force Aylee to be someone she wasn't, and to make it up, he'd like her to eat all the [[
{{quote|
'''Aylee''': And I've learned that true friendship is worth more than eating even the tastiest human.
'''Torg''': I've learned that I need to appreciate you more. I've been taking your friendship for granted when I should have listened with my heart.
'''Riff''': And I learned it's OK to eat people if they're the bad guys. }}
{{quote|
{{quote|
* From ''[[The Wotch]]'' ( http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2007-04-23 ) "Now Jennie, what did we learn again?" "That it's never okay to drop bowling balls on people's heads unless they are evil wizards hurting your friends."
* From ''[[Stickman and Cube]]'': "Don't think too much or you'll disappear into nothingness. Especially if you're a cube."
** From the same comic: [https://web.archive.org/web/20100526130615/http://www.drunkduck.com/Stickman_and_Cube/index.php?p=256280 "Never invade Stickman and Cube, or the author will drop an infinity-tonne weight on you."]
* ''[[
* In ''[[
** Also one presented in [[The Rant]] for [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=224 this strip]:
{{quote|
* ''[[
** [https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/2014-11-14 Well now!] Is it possible that Susan has learned a valuable lesson about accepting herself? It's possible she didn't, and also remembers in which magical body alteration Nanase expressed interest on the previous page.
* ''Commissioned'' teaches us an important lesson about donuts and arm pimples here: [http://www.commissionedcomic.com/strips/2008/index.php?date=2008-10-15\]{{Dead link}}.
* [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0612.html This] [[Order of the Stick]] strip. "See what we learned today, Mr. Scruffy. Solve a mans problems with violence, help him for a day. '''Teach''' a man to solve his problems with violence, you help him for the rest of his life."
** The strip in question is entitled: "Technically, the 'Fish' Version is a Subset of This One."
Line 277 ⟶ 282:
** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0686.html This] strip. Roy's lesson learned after jumping on an undead dragon and then falling to his death from it? {{spoiler|"I learned to do it where the ground is softer."}}
* When Keira Knightley shows Rayne of [[Least I Could Do]] his future, [http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20070103 this] is the lesson he says he learns.
* There's a fine line between this and [[Family
** Second most obvious.
{{quote|
* [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/skinhorse/series.php?view=archive&chapter=36113 This arc] of [[Skin Horse]] ends with the team discussing what they learned on the mission. The first two are reasonable Aesops, though your typical Saturday morning cartoon show might have used "power" instead of "violence" for Unity's. Tip, however, learned that "sex is even better if you get the woman's name first!", prompting newcomer Nick to say "I learned not to let the [[Wholesome Crossdresser|lady-dude]] tell us his lesson".
* [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1890#comic This] ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' spoofs the [[Broken Aesop]] of the ugly duckling (he was laughed at when he was ugly, but now he's beautiful so it was bad) by replacing "beautiful" with "knows how to program".
* ''[[
* One ''[[
* Sandra from ''[[
* [http://nedroid.com/2009/07/the-seven-trials-more-like-the-seven-stupid-trials-am-i-right-folks/ The Seven Trials], by [[Nedroid]].
* [[
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20121202053245/http://mind-numbinglyboringwebcomic.smackjeeves.com/comics/1437975/scissors/ Don't rip hotdogs (or people, the Aesop is not entirely clear) out of fridges and then open them with scissors.]"
== Web Original ==
* In episode 100 of [[Red vs. Blue]], Church gives a speech which is halfway between an Aesop and an angry rant about everyone around him.
{{quote|
'''Church''': You know, Caboose? I used to not care. I just went along with orders and hoped that everything would work out for me. But, after all that's happened, you know what I've learned? It's not about hating the guy on the other side because someone told you to. I mean, you should hate someone because they're an asshole or a pervert or a snob. Or they're lazy or arrogant or an idiot or a know-it-all. Those are reasons to dislike somebody. You don't hate a person because someone told you to. You have to learn to despise people on a personal level. Not because they're Red or because they're Blue, but because you know them... and you see them every single day... and you can't stand them because they're a complete and total fucking douchebag.
'''Caboose''': ... I meant why are we up here in the sun when we could be standing down there in the shade?
'''Church''': Oh! ... Yeah, okay. Let's go stand in the shade. }}
* [[That Guy With
{{quote|
'''[[
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140704174418/http://www.accursedfarms.com/Video.php?Video_ID=9 Civil Protection] would like to remind you that we're kind of fucked, so you'd better hope aliens from outer space conquer us and massacre four fifths of our population.
** "Hell, we almost had it coming!"
* From [[
* At the end of ''[[Spatula Madness]]'' (from the creator of ''[[Charlie the Unicorn]]''), after a series of [[Random Events Plot|bizarre adventures]], Edward says:
{{quote|
* A gem from [[Yu-Gi-Oh!:
{{quote|
'''Worm''' *Belch* }}
* From a [http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/tooth.asp Snopes] article:
{{quote|
* An [[SMBC Theater]] sketch rewrote the ending of [[
{{quote|
'' *everyone cheers* ''
'''Joshua''' Or to be player one. See, if you go first you take the middle square. Yeah, I guess that's the lesson. Go first, and hope your opponent messes up the first move." }}
* Seanbaby said this about ''River City Ransom'': "Kids, if there's one thing you take away from River City Ransom, may it be that violence is the answer to your problems. If you beat a gang member hard enough, he will become an honor student. And if you beat an honor student hard enough, he will give you his lunch money. And the final moral is: it's all about good grades and trips to the mall."
* The ''[[Tipping Forties]]'' like to end each episode with each player sharing what they've 'learned' from that day's [[Let's Play]].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140705191606/http://www.cracked.com/article/187_6-people-who-got-away-with-living-implausible-lie/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=new+article&wa_ibsrc=fanpage This Cracked list about impersonators] points out that at least two of them were able to achieve fame, fortune and very little punishment after dropping out of school and pretending to be someone else. #1 died of diabetes, so the writer decides that that's the moral: impersonate someone, and you get diabetes.
* ''[[
{{quote|
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
{{quote|
''Finn'': NEVER! }}
** In one episode, Finn tries to make everyone happy by fixing all their problems for them, but discovers it's impossible, because there's too many problems to fix and solving one always means making a different one worse. Then Jake asks, "What do YOU want, Finn?" and of course the viewer expects Finn to have an aesop and realize that he can't please everybody all the time. There's a pause, then Finn proceeds to fix everyone's problems and make everyone happy anyway.
* In ''[[
▲** In one episode, Finn tries to make everyone happy by fixing all their problems for them, but discovers it's impossible, because there's too many problems to fix and solving one always means making a different one worse. Then Jake asks, "What do YOU want, Finn?" and of course the viewer expects Finn to have an aesop and realize that he can't please everybody all the time. There's a pause, then Finn proceeds to fix everyone's problems and make everyone happy anyway.
* In ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]'', at the end of the episode "Siren Says," the main characters try to figure out an [[Aesop]] but can't. For instance, they start out thinking that it's that [[Stock Aesops|old chestnut]] "don't be prejudiced for the beautiful and against the less attractive"...except that lesson would be [[Broken Aesop|rather inappropriate]] since the beautiful girl was innocent, and the less attractive girl was [[Horny Devils|the evil Siren]] that was framing the beautiful one. Jake briefly considers that agreeing to date the less attractive girl in the first place would have prevented her from attacking him in the first place...but then he'd be dating a clingy, psychotic Siren who could go off at any minute.▼
▲* In ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'', Stan's realization of his dream, becoming his boss Avery Bullock's [[Number Two]], results in his unreasonably imposing on, and neglecting, Francine. Every time she tells him he must finally say "no" to Bullock, Stan immediately breaks his promise. When he finally "gets" the "stand up for yourself" [[Aesop]], it's at the worst possible moment, when Bullock is shot and tells him to call for help. Stan ignores him and walks away even after Francine assures him it's okay to say "yes" this one time.
▲* In ''[[American Dragon Jake Long]]'', at the end of the episode "Siren Says," the main characters try to figure out an [[Aesop]] but can't. For instance, they start out thinking that it's that [[Stock Aesops|old chestnut]] "don't be prejudiced for the beautiful and against the less attractive"...except that lesson would be [[Broken Aesop|rather inappropriate]] since the beautiful girl was innocent, and the less attractive girl was [[Horny Devils|the evil Siren]] that was framing the beautiful one. Jake briefly considers that agreeing to date the less attractive girl in the first place would have prevented her from attacking him in the first place...but then he'd be dating a clingy, psychotic Siren who could go off at any minute.
** They eventually decide the lesson is {{spoiler|don't trust children's paper fortunetelling toys, and always wait an hour after eating before going swimming.}}
* Many episodes of ''[[
** Lessons "we should learn" from the Wheel of Morality include "Never ask what hot dogs are made of," "If you don't have something nice to say, you're probably at the Ice Capades," and "If at first you don't succeed, blame it on your parents."
** An example ''not'' coming from the Wheel of Morality bits came from the show's ''[[Power Rangers]]'' parody "Super Strong Warner Siblings", with Yakko, Wakko, and Dot as pseudo-Power Rangers fighting off bug monsters and the like. At the end of the short, the Warners show up to deliver the moral of the story...
{{quote|
* One episode of ''[[
{{quote|
▲'''Frylock:''' Oh, it is...but we **** ing need it! }}
** ATHF also gave us:
{{quote|
* ''[[
** Of course, this event is suitably skewered during "The Ember Island Players" which primarily consists of a comedic fanfic-esque take on the Gaang's adventures
{{quote|
'''Actor!Katara:''' * sniff* Because it gave me * sniff* so much HOPE! }}
** "The Fortuneteller" would have probably had the actual Aesop of [[Screw Destiny]]/don't rely heavily on another person, but as one the villagers pointed out, all of Aunt Wu's predictions ''did'' come true.
** "The Cave of Two Lovers" features a group of pseudo-hippies who repeatedly tell Sokka that he needs to focus less on the destination and more on the journey, and other such platitudes. At the end of the episode, the leader, Chong, delivers an Aesop-style summation and tells Sokka he hopes he's learned something. Sokka is no more impressed than he was at the start of the episode.
{{quote|
Sokka: Really? We let huge ferocious beasts lead our way. }}
* ''[[
** Brak's spoof Aesops don't hold a candle to his father's:
{{quote|
* ''[[Clone High]]'' ends several episodes with these.
{{quote|
* [[Lampshade
* ''[[Drawn Together]]'' has a number of these. An example is at the end of the Indian casino episode, where Captain Hero preaches the moral of the story; that it was wrong for him to let innocent people die so he could make some money. Instead he preaches that although white people slaughtered the Indians and took their land, they shouldn't be allowed to have casinos because casinos bring out the worst in weak minded white people. He concludes his speech by yelling, "U.S.A.!" repeatedly while the crowd cheers along in a spoof of the film ''Rocky IV''.
** Another one is when Clara learns that it's bad to keep your roommate sick by force feeding him an entire bottle of drain cleaner... because then if the sink gets clogged, you'll have no way to unclog it.
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' did the fourth variety at least once:
{{quote|
'''Peter''': Nope! }}
** "I think the lesson here is, it really doesn’t matter where you’re from, as long as we’re all the same religion."
**
{{quote|
'''Brian:''' I failed. ''[Griffins react in shock]'' Yes, I failed. But the important thing is that I finished what I started and I didn't cheat.
'''Lois:''' ''[pause]'' Well, you should have cheated. ''[Griffins mutter to each other in agreement]''
'''Brian:''' But I finished what I started and that's all that matters, right?
'''Lois:''' ''[Another pause]'' No.
'''Peter:''' Yeah, what are you, out of your mind? ''[Griffins mutter to each other again in agreement]''
'''Chris:''' ''[to Brian]'' I hate you! ''[runs away in shame]'' }}
** In ''[[Family Guy]]'' the Spoof Aesop is the rule, not the exception. It's hard to think of a single aesop that wasn't treated like a spoof by the writers.
** Another episode had Stewie finish a time reversal device just as Peter learned a valuable lesson about not taking Lois for granted, thus eradicating the whole ordeal from existence. It takes him a near-death experience to relearn that one.
** One episode went so far as to have Lois, Stewie, and Meg make politically incorrect outbursts followed by a
** [[Space Whale Aesop|"Premarital sex turns straight people gay, and gays into Mexicans. We all go down a notch."]]
* ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'':
** In the episode "Once Upon A Time Warp", Roy is convinced that he should pay Wade the $5 owed him by a rocket that homes in on the pilot's debtors. When the rocket disappears, Roy takes the money back, but then Orson finds his book of prehistoric monsters:
{{quote|
'''Roy:''' Yeah. You don't repay money you owe, [[Space Whale Aesop|a dinosaur squishes your head]].
'''Orson:''' That's pretty much it. }}
** In one episode, Jon, Garfield and Odie go to Doc Boy's farm. Doc is proud of running an efficient operation, and to Garfield's horror he has no TV, because he thinks that would make things inefficient. While he's away, Garfield signs the farm up for cable. Now at this point the most likely moral would be "Doc learns that, in moderation, TV is okay" (or possibly "Garfield learns it's wrong to sign other people up for things they'll be expected to pay for without asking them"). Instead, this being [[Mark Evanier]], we get "Doc Boy learns watching TV does indeed make farm animals lazy and inefficient, but that's okay because you can win Big Cash Prizes, and not ''need'' to work."
* In ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
{{quote|
'''Billy:''' So you're saying I should beat them up?
'''Inner Frat Boy:''' Billy, fighting outside of a hockey rink is wrong. But I'm imaginary, so do what you gotta do. }}
* Also, "Don't be afraid of failure. It's what keeps families together!"
Line 385 ⟶ 387:
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' has done this occasionally:
** ''Kimitation Nation''
{{quote|
'''Drakken''' [reluctantly]: No clones.
'''Shego''': Get in the car. }}
** ''Return To Wannaweep''
{{quote|
'''Kim''': Well, maybe we learned that... oh, I don't know.
'''Bonnie''': I didn't learn anything.
'''Ron''': That's it! Looking at you two, it's so clear!
'''Kim and Bonnie''': What is so clear?
'''Ron''': If you two had set aside your differences earlier, one of you could have won that Spirit Stick. That's the lesson here!
'''Bonnie''': How about, "Cheer camp stinks"?
'''Kim''': Yeah, agreed.
'''Ron''': Works for me. }}
** And, of course, ''Grande Size Me'', which has the [[Space Whale Aesop]] "A healthy diet prevents you from [[Incredible Hulk|hulking out]] as a huge monster", but the moral Ron [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle|tells us at the end]] is "Don't fall into weird chemicals that will mutate your DNA."
* On most episodes of ''[[Moral Orel]]'', Orel is given a
** Note that Orel became addicted to crack based on Clay's advice in the first place. The poor kid just can't win.
* In one episode of ''[[My Life
{{quote|
* In a ''Ned's Newt'' episode, Ned (a kid) and his Newt build a gigantic corporation by acquisitions and then let it collapse in on itself when they tire of it. As Ned enters his house:
{{quote|
'''Ned:''' I sure have Dad. Never buy a company on leveraged credit. }}
** Something of a subversion of the trope as the moral is actually sound for a lot of people, just not 8 year old kids and the target audience of their cartoons.
*** So 8 year old kids ''should'' buy companies on everaged credit?
**** Well, they'd do less damage than a lot of the adults.
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' frequently makes use of spoof Aesops. One memorable instance occurs at the conclusion of an episode where Lisa has persuaded [[Bill Clinton]] to issue an executive order overturning the results of an elementary school band competition;
{{quote|
'''Marge''': That's a pretty lousy lesson.
'''Clinton''': Well, [[Take That|I'm a pretty lousy president]]. }}
** "The Old Man and the Lisa" had a particularly disturbing twist on the traditional [[Green Aesop]]. Lisa spends the episode teaching Mr. Burns about recycling and conservation. Burns takes the lesson to heart ... so he kills all of Springfield's marine life to create a meat slurry "made out of 100% recycled animals."
** Homer Simpson, when trying to give advice to his children, is an endless source of these.
{{quote|
'''Homer''': If something's hard to do, it's probably not worth doing!
'''Homer''': I hope you learned your lesson, Lisa. Never help anyone.
'''Homer''': (To Marge) Trying is the first step toward failure. }}
** "Homer Bad Man" has the classic fourth type:
{{quote|
'''Homer''': Marge, my friend...I haven't learned a thing. }}
** The comic collection The Simpsons Royale has two pages of this, including "Just do it. If that doesn't do it, undo it.", "The love you take is equal to the love you make, plus postage and handling fees.", "Tomorrow is the day after the first day of the rest of your life.", "Playing Solitaire is its own punishment.", "Don't follow advice you get from comic books.", and "Stalk your bliss."
Line 426 ⟶ 428:
** The Toilet Paper episode ends with Cartman setting up the moral, but only manages to say, "Sometimes you..." before Kyle interrupts and claims that he learned nothing.
** In "The Snuke," Cartman randomly decides to interrogate an innocent Arab family like terrorists, and tells Kyle to research them. Kyle then finds actual terrorists planning an attack and prevents the attack. Kyle points out to Cartman that his fear of Arab-Americans as terrorists was misplaced. Cartman then points out that if he weren't a racist, Kyle wouldn't have discovered the real terrorist plot so "Bigotry and intolerance saved the day!"
** In the South Park episode where Stan and Cartman break a dam and the ensuing Hurricane Katrina inspired chaos leads the town to blame it all on various things, from global warming, to terrorists to Crab people. At the end of the episode Stan has had enough and states "I broke the dam!" Everyone takes this metaphorically though, in that they ''all'' broke the dam, and all begin repeating [[I Am Spartacus|"I broke the dam!"]] to Stan's annoyance.
* Done in every episode of the short-lived cartoon ''Spacecats''. In an unfortunate [[Irony]], the first such lesson was [[Logic Bomb|"Don't watch cartoons. They will rot your brain."]] The cartoon aired on NBC the year the network decided to replace its Saturday morning cartoon lineup with an expanded morning news show.
* In the [[Trapped in TV Land]] episode of ''[[Teen Titans (
{{quote|
'''Starfire:''' But, we were only victorious because Beast Boy watches too much the television.
'''Raven:''' So, I guess there really is no lesson.
'''Cyborg:''' Yep, it was all completely meaningless.
'''Everyone:''' {{[[["Everybody Laughs" Ending]] forced laughter}}]
'''SFX:''' {{[[[Laugh Track]] canned laughter}}] }}
** "The moral of this story? Never make a deal with an interdimensional [[Our Demons Are Different|demon]] without a little protection." Something we should all take to heart.
* A classic example from ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'':
{{quote|
** This is only one episode, mind you; The Tick delivering Spoof Aesops are a [[Once an Episode]] part of ''[[The Tick (animation)]]''. In fact, [[Depending
* The direct-to-video ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' special ''How I Spent My Summer Vacation'' featured the following [[Credits Gag]]:
{{quote|
1) Enjoy Your Vacation
2) Relish Your Youth
3) Don't Pick Up Chainsaw-Wielding Hitchhikers
4) Feature Length Movies [[Lampshade Hanging|Should Not Have]] [[Four Lines, All Waiting|18 Different Plots]]. }}
* The ''[[
{{quote|
'''Little Dog:''' Nothing. What did you learn?
'''Big Dog:''' I learned I like to shake. ''(shakes his whole body)'' <ref>A [[Running Gag]] in the episode, after the dogs misinterpreted a command to "shake"</ref
'''Little Dog:''' Yeah! ''(begins shaking too)'' }}
* Examples of the non-sequitur(or [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]) moral can be found in every episode of Aesop and Son, one of the recurring cartoons on ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]''. In each story, Aesop would illustrate a standard proverb with a fable, and his son would reply with an alternate, punnish moral based on the events of the story, such as "A chain is as strong as its weakest ''mink''", or "''Absinth'' makes the heart grow fonder."
* Some episodes of ''[[Alejo Y Valentina]]'' [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle|end]] with Gregory spouting one of these.
* ''[[
* In the ''[[
* ''[[Duckman]]'': The Longest Weekend.
{{quote|
* In the ''[[Batman:
* In an episode of ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
{{quote|
** Of course, she does follow it up with a real Aesop, about how hardwork is better than cheating and taking short-cuts. She also says that she ''might'' have learned that her friends are always there for her, but that "the truth is, [she] knew that already, too".
* In one episode of ''[[
* ''[[Brandy and Mr. Whiskers]]'': At the end of one episode, they were asked 'What did you Learn today?' Unable to think of anything to say to fill the twenty-five seconds left of the episode, (and to keep Mr. Whiskers from dancing) the pair decides to say everything that they ''didn't'' learn. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
{{quote|
* ''[[Plasticine Crow]]'' starts with an attempt to tell [[Lost Aesop|that old fable about the crow and the fox]] - and [[Shaggy Frog Story|eventually]] arrives to the triumphantly sung morale "which will understand not only an adult, but even a baby!" (and indeed, demonstrated via everything being made of plasticine): "don't stand, don't jump, don't sing, don't dance where construction goes on or a weight hangs".
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:An Aesop]]
[[Category:Parody Tropes]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Trope]]
|