Throw the Dog a Bone: Difference between revisions

[[File:cbwy 2062.gif|link=Peanuts|frame| Charlie Brown's finest hour.]]

 

 

So they've been [[The Chew Toy|constantly injured]], the [[Butt Monkey|butt of every joke and misfortune]], and it seems [[Cosmic Plaything|the universe itself just likes screwing with him]]. So what's happening now? Huh... he's happy?

 

Compare [[Karmic Jackpot]], [[Earn Your Happy Ending]].

{{examples}}

* The [[Trix]] rabbit is occasionally given a chance to actually ''try'' the cereal depending on the outcome of a poll. People vote for him to get it ''every time'', and by now you would think the company would get that people [[The Woobie|really feel sorry for the guy]] and hate those [[Cereal Vice Reward|greedy kids]].

** They probably do and know that sympathy for the rabbit makes people remember the commericals more.

* A priceless [[Super Bowl Special|Super Bowl]] Coke commercial where Macy Balloons of [[Family Guy|Stewie]] and [[Underdog (animation)|Underdog]] are fighting (aka bumping into each other) in order to get that balloon of a Coke bottle. Eventually, the bottle starts to float away. Both characters turn and see a round shape on the horizon. It's [[Peanuts|CHARLIE]] [[The Woobie|BROWN]], who then wins the prize. Watch it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiMf5cCDy1I here].

 

* In both versions of [[Trigun]], [[Determinator|Vash]] finally gets [[Big Bad|Knives]] to cut the crap after a ''very long time.''

* Viral of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' is a victim of [[The Worf Effect]] instead of [[The Chew Toy]], but the effect is still the same when, after a constant string of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Dai-Gurren Brigade, he {{spoiler|pilots Gurren-Lagann with Simon}} and destroys an entire army ''by the sheer awesomeness of his presence''.

* ''[[Code Geass]]'' had Jeremiah Gottwald, who lost his rank, dignity, and honor after being Geassed by Lelouch, then was crippled trying to redeem himself while fighting against Lelouch, and then {{spoiler|was resurrected as a super-strong bulletproof cyborg, ''[[Heel Face Turn|willingly joined Lelouch]]'', became his dignified retainer, and might even have a romantic involvement with another of Lelouch's retainers, the beautiful [[Ninja Maid]] Sayoko.}} And in the end... {{spoiler|Not only he survives and plays quite the role in the final battle, but he's given a nice and quiet life in the countryside (orange farm included) and an adoptive daughter of sorts in Anya.}}

* For the first part of ''[[Macademi Wasshoi]]'', Metallis was the designated [[Chew Toy]]. Then he falls in love with Suzuka and, even if he has to find a way to be around her that won't [[Anti-Magic|sap him of his power]], nothing really bad comes his way again. Whatever the universe had against him is transferred to his former sidekick, George.

* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', Shinji spends the whole series thinking of himself as worthless and unworthy of defending the Earth, largely due to his nasty relationship with his father his whole life. The final two episodes are one huge [[Mind Screw]] where he retreats inside his mind after being forced to kill his new <s>[[Ho Yay|boy]]</s>friend, and slowly comes to realize his relationship with his father is not his fault at all, and he does deserve to be happy. He then finds himself in a pastoral landscape where everyone, including his father, congratulates him on his epiphany. At least, that's one way to interpret what the hell's going on in those episodes.

** {{spoiler|Then ''End of Evangelion'' yanks it, horrendously.}}

**** Not within the show but [[Super Robot Wars|the Alpha series]] threw him a very big one, complete with a BFS. Helps that he's got [[Super Robot]] [[Hot-Blooded|pilots]] to model after.

** A less-mind-screwy example for Shinji came in the series, where he lead an assault that stopped a particularly-large angel from destroying Tokyo-3 and NERV. Upon reading the report, and learning how Shinji was by-and-large the person responsible for the day's rescue, Gendo tells him "Good work, Shinji." It's very brief, and done by "Sound Only" video screen, but means the world to a [["Well Done, Son" Guy]].

** Until {{spoiler|the third movie - but in reuniting with Madoka, Homura may have driven Madoka away from her.}}

 

* At the end of ''[[Asterix]] and The Cauldron'', the eponymous (money-filled) cauldron falls off a cliff onto the pirates' ship. The panel even has a caption reading "And for once, the pirates are happy!" (though Asterix and Obelix DID kick their asses as usual earlier in the book, albeit unjustly).

** Is there any trope about such karmic reparations? An overlooked detail is the fact that they decided to go back to sea due to that very beating...

* In Volume 5 of ''[[Empowered]]'' Emp (kidnapped along with a bunch of the Superhomies' celebrity doubles) [[Bound and Gagged|wriggles out of her restraints]], dons her [[Clothes Make the Superman|super suit]] (which she'd wrapped around her waist) and tells off the double who insulted her earlier. Then for once, just once, she actually ''smiles'' in anticipation because the mooks have no idea what's coming.

* The tract Stinky from ''[[Jack Chick]]'' has a mild example: The [[Punch Clock Villain|title demon]] after failing his task, is seen happily slacking and relaxing at the end while his master is being punished by his boss, [[Satan]]. What makes this special is that all previous tracts ended with all the bad guys, without exception, being thrown to Hell or punished for their failure.

* In ''[[Garfield]]'', Jon is finally now dating Liz the veterinarian, after crushing on her without success for, what? Thirty years?

* Because of [[Spider-Man]]'s status as one the first [[Chew Toys]] of the [[Marvel Universe]], occasionally writers will throw him a bone here and there. Such as [[Stan Lee]] giving him a motorcycle, introducing him to Mary Jane, and generally making his life better after Stan's fellow plotter [[Steve Ditko]] quit Marvel.

* After watching over and over again as Kid-Loki tries to remember [[The Mighty Thor|his brother]]—and after that have the memories but no one else does, and watch everyone call Tanarus his brother to his face while Loki's clearly getting angrier and more distraught, Loki manages to recover Mjolnir and gain his first ally in the search for his brother. Who is this ally? ''' {{spoiler|The [[Silver Surfer]].}}'''

 

* Ragetti of ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' was given the honor of {{spoiler|releasing the goddess Calypso from her human form, in the hopes she would help the pirates defeat the [[Big Bad|East India Trading Company]]. The final requirement for her release was that someone had to say "Calypso, I release you from your human bonds" as if they were saying it to a lover. [[Large Ham|Barbossa]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|tried, very dramatically, and failed.]] Then Ragetti, surprisingly, stepped up and said it correctly.}}

* [[Trailer Park Boys|Corey and Trevor]] play this role in ''[[The Movie|Trailer Park Boys: The Movie]]''. When they're arrested along with Ricky for robbing a movie theater, they become the most popular guys in prison by yanking down the pants of the [[Jerkass]] head prison guard after he loses a ball hockey tournament between the guards and the inmates.

* In ''[[Godzilla vs. Destoroyah]]'', the [[Red Shirt|Japanese]] [[Butt Monkey|military]] uses their weapons to [[Disney Villain Death|give death to]] [[Complete Monster|Destoroyah]] before the [[Tear Jerker|ending]].

 

* After ''The Last Continent'', [[Discworld|Rincewind]] returns to Unseen University to a position as Egregious Professor Of Cruel and Unusual Geography and lives a life as quiet and uneventful as he can manage. It doesn't completely work (talking himself onto a space flight in ''The Last Hero'', for instance), but his days as a [[Cosmic Plaything]] seem to be over. Unless Pratchett writes another Rincewind book.

** ''The Science of Discworld'' trilogy makes it clear that Rincewind is still being called on by the faculty to go on missions.

* ''[[In Death]]'': Eve and Roarke certainly got this by meeting each other at the very beginning of the series. ''Interlude In Death'' even has Eve putting a [[Lampshade Hanging]] on this trope, with regards to their relationship.

 

 

* In the final season of ''[[The Wire]]'', {{spoiler|Bubbles finally sobers up and starts on the trail to a proper life}}, making him probably the only [[Woobie]] in the entire series to get a [[Happy Ending]].

* [[Butt Monkey|Xander]] of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' actually helped save the day in "The Zeppo", albeit he [[The Greatest Story Never Told|didn't tell anyone]].

** Finally, during the Christmas special, after the Misfits' community service is over and done with, Simon ends up living {{spoiler|Superhoody's underground lair}} and spends his days trying to become a proper superhero.

 

** If the mediocre IG became a powerhouse, one can only hope they never do get around to that Dark Eldar thing they keep promising.

*** Model-wise, Dark Eldars have pretty much have one of the best ranges now, being the only army to have their entire range overhauled, and having one of Games Workshop's best sculptors working on them. Your Milage May Vary on how they actually look, but they are indeed more detailed than any other range (since their range is one of the few to have a new basic trooper plastic sprue done for them with the new plastic moulding technology, alot of details will be retained).

 

* Johnny Sasaki of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' finally gets some luck in ''Guns of the Patriots''. {{spoiler|He gets cured of his bowel problems, stars in his own [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], and then marries his commanding officer/long-time crush Meryl in the ending of the game.}}

* After all the abuse he suffers through in ''[[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice]]'', Almaz ends up getting what he wants. {{spoiler|He marries Sapphire in the post credits epilogue of the normal ending.}}

** In [[Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'', {{spoiler|Bowser saves the Mushroom Kingdom from the Dark Star and Fawful, only to end up getting beat up by the Mario Brothers once again after challenging them. After the credits, while he's recovering from the injuries, he gets a present from Peach and the Mario Bros. It's a Mario 64-like cake with his face.}}

* ''[[Xenosaga]]'', Allen ends up with his crush, Shion; and the person she cares about more than him has to leave until some [[Reincarnation]] in the future.

** The gag ending for Lambda-11 looks like this when she gets a pet insect and makes friends with [[Fun Personified|Makoto]] {{spoiler|but this turns into a [[Yank the Dog's Chain]] when Kokonoe unknowingly throws the unfortunate creature away and erases L-11's memory of the diversion (made even worse by the fact that had she known Lambda wasn't an [[Empty Shell]] she may well have been much nicer (or as nice as she is to Tager).}}

* Steiner, [[Knight in Shining Armor|Knight In, er, Cheap and Rusty Armor]], [[The Big Guy]] (and also [[The Lancer]]) spends a good portion of ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' as the [[Butt Monkey]] to [[The Hero|Zidane]] as well as a [[Chew Toy]]...BUT! He also manages to {{spoiler|hook up with his long-time rival [[Lady of War|Beatrix]] in the end (it turned out that ''she'' had a crush on him, and then it might actually be mutual).}} Still feel sorry for the guy?

* In the sequel to [[Prinny]], [[Recurring Extra]] Asagi finally gets a starring role in the extra content of the game. It's called Asagi Wars, where her main opponents are- of course -alternate versions of herself.

 

* "Phoenix Rising" is so far the only story arc in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' that ends with Oasis in a healthy emotional state. While she ''does'' leave behind the friends she made in Podunkton to [[Walking the Earth|Walk The Earth]], she's at least on good terms with them and seems to have gotten some peace of mind. Beats the hell out of her previous appearances, which all ended with her either [[Left for Dead]] or locked up in an insane asylum.

** {{spoiler|However it's recently been revealed that after she left all her friends bar the old martial artist have been kidnapped and locked up by hereti corp, the source of all her problems}}.

* In ''[[Ansem Retort]]'', Riku spends the whole strip being [[The Chew Toy]] to a degree that makes you feel the [[Emo Teen]] qualities are [[Justified Trope|justified.]] Then Yuffie comes along. There are exactly two official couples (Zexion/anything female does not count) and he's now one of them. Enjoy your bone, doggie.

* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', Tavros is almost certainly the greatest [[Woobie]] in a whole species of woobies: he was cripped by [[Killer Game Master]] Vriska [[For the Evulz]], rendering him in a wheelchair on a planet that includes mandatory tests of physical ability as a requirement to merely ''survive'' to reach ''childhood'', and is mocked cruelly by Vriska afterwards by shooting down his attempts at self-confidence and creating for him a house ''[[Crosses the Line Twice|full of stairs]]''. And then Kanaya intervenes, persuading her to do something nice, and she alchemizes a rocket chair for him to realize his dream of flying. D'awww.

 

* ''[[Erikas New Perfume|Erika's New Perfume]]'' sees the eponymous character, after various failures at related concepts, learn to tie her shoes. The author even admits this is the happiest he's ever seen her.

* In ''[[Happy Tree Friends]]'', Cuddles (the character who has died the most) and Giggles (the runner-up) are in a relationship. Episodes showing this, however, end with both of them dying horribly...except for one. The recent episode "I Nub You" had them as a counterpoint to the romance between Handy and the newly-handless Petunia. (Cuddles pushes Giggles on a swing: Handy finds doing the same tricky, so they just ride a see-saw; Cuddles and Giggles hold hands: Handy and Petunia tie their bandages together, and so on) Although Petunia and Handy, as the stars of the episode, die horribly, Cuddles and Giggles get to live. I thought it was [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|rather sweet]].

* Santa Christ wiping ''[[The Star Wars Holiday Special]]'' from [[The Nostalgia Critic]]'s mind. Seeing as how the Critic was pretty much made to be abused... we guess [[Even Evil Has Standards|even Doug and Rob have limits.]]

** The ending of his "Commercials Special" is more obvious. After being nearly completely broken, he gets his confidence back through [[The Cast Showoff|a song]].

 

* The above quote comes from the series finale of ''[[Transformers]]: [[Beast Wars]]'', where Waspinator, [[The Chew Toy]] [[Cosmic Plaything|of Fate]], is left on earth after leaving the Predacons where he becomes the leader of a village of Protohumans. It's obviously more significant if you [[Fanon Discontinuity|ignore]] ''Beast Machines'', though he wasn't nearly [[The Chew Toy]] there that he was in ''Beast Wars'', as he spent most of the time sharing a body with Thrust, and was one of the only three characters to survive the entirety of both series.

** Waspinator was originally scheduled to die, but because he was popular, one of the writers convinced the executives to let him change it to him surviving the [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|bridge-dropping]] that killed Scorponok and Terrorsaur by the [[Contrived Coincidence]] of falling into a CR Chamber instead of a pit of lava.

** A Christmas episode has Chicken Boo posing as... [[Mall Santa|oh, try to guess]]. When his disguise fails, he escapes the usual torrent of abuse when rescued by the real Santa Claus, who says he deserves a happy ending just this once.

** A half-literal example in the [[Crossover]] episode featuring [[Tiny Toon Adventures|Elmyra]] - after spending the whole episode tormenting the Warners, they have the perfect idea - introduce Elmyra to Mindy. When Mindy wanders off into danger as she usually does, poor Buttons [[Badly-Battered Babysitter|prepares for his usual routine]], but the Warners stop him - as Elmyra takes all the abuse Buttons usually does. Buttons obviously can't thank the Warners enough.

* In the "Peter's Daughter" episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'', Peter treats Meg kindly after she goes into a coma.

** A more recent episode features Meg getting her chance to abuse everyone else on the show for once, and the episode ends with Brian revealing that he wrote a nice article about her for Teen People magazine, describing her as being far sweeter and kinder than the typical American girl.

*** Charlie Brown does get at least one victory in the comics. During the last part of its run, he helps Rerun by defeating a bully in a game of marbles.

*** Another time was when Lucy was berating Charlie Brown at her psychology booth for wasting his life he spent the morning cleaning his closet shelf. To prove her point, she asked Linus what he was doing that morning. When he said he just watched TV, Lucy was humiliated seeing her argument explode in her face while Charlie made the most of this great turn of events with a smug "My closet shelf is real clean!"

* ''[[Camp Lazlo]]'': Lumpus has a mad crush on Jane Doe, but his efforts to get her to realize that always backfire hilariously. Jane frequently misinterprets his motives, leading her to see him as A) a friend, or B) a jerk. [[Failure Is the Only Option|Failure]] is Lumpus' only option, as Jane gets together with and even ''marries'' everyone except Lumpus. The second-to-last episode focuses on the two, and is called {{spoiler|Wedding Bell Blues}}. [[Happily Married|Guess]] [[Official Couple|what]] [[Happily Married|happens]] at the end?

** Of course, the last episode then [[Yank the Dog's Chain|yanks it away from him]] and {{spoiler|he ends up in jail.}}

** Also, the episode where Bill temporarily adopts a soldier's dog, Buddy. Most of the episode revolves around Hank realizing (to his dismay) that the animal that he adopted is a {{spoiler|cat}}, but Bill and Buddy spend the entire episode happy. And then, at the end of the episode, he gets a salute from the entire crew of the aircraft carrier that Buddy's owner works on as he returns Buddy, and gets a ride home on a fighter jet.

* In the original storyboards of the ''[[Adventure Time]]'' episode "Too Young," the writers threw Lemongrab- who was punched in the stomach and pushed onto the floor by the protagonists- a bone, by having him take a rice cake (he really likes bland foods) out of his pocket and eat it, and actually enjoy himself for once- much to te puzzlement of his pranksters. Averted in the final cut of the episode, as the scene ends with Lemongrab slumped over on the ground crying, and the pranksters running away happily.

* After being a [[Butt Monkey]] for nearly ten seasons, Kirk Van Houten (Milhouse's dad from [[The Simpsons]]) finally caught a break in a recent season when he married Luanne again and moved back to his old home, and essentially, recovering his good old life.

** This happens occasionally for Grandpa Simpson, who is usually ignored by his family. This usually happens with Bart helping him do something cool, like trying steal the Hellfish treasure, running away to Branson, MO, or escaping the nursing home.

** Excepting that he's happy the girlfriend (Mai) is dating him, and she's still with him at the end.

*** One could also assume that Zuko's ''real'' bone is after the ending, where he's the ruler of the Fire Nation, heralded as one of the heroes of the world at the same level as Aang, finally got to show his sister she wasn't so much better than him as she first thought and married to Mai. Life dosen't get much better than that.

** In retrospect: the [[Butt Monkey|Cabbage Guy]]. After years of having his cabbage cart smashed every time he appears on screen, he becomes founder of one of the most successful businesses in the world. {{spoiler|His successor unfortunately inherits his bad luck when he gets framed for supplying the Equalists. "Not my Cabbage Corps!"}}

* Happens frequently with [[Butt Monkey]] [[Alpha Bitch]] Sissi on ''[[Code Lyoko]]'', particularly in the series finale.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Happiness Tropes]]

[[Category:Tropey the Wonder Dog]]