Throw the Dog a Bone: Difference between revisions

* 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]].

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** 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).

** 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?

* 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]].

 

 

** 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.

** 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.