Yank the Dog's Chain: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Sokka:''' Well Aang, because when I'm being pursued by people who want to kill me, I'd rather throw them off by walking through a dense forest than ''fly through an empty sky on a giant freaking bison!''

'''Katara:''' That may make sense, but since you're trying to be the leader, I'm guessing this is gonna fail horribly.

 

Hooray! The [[Butt Monkey]] has finally had [[Throw the Dog a Bone|something go right]] for once in their unhappy life! And with [[Snicket Warning Label|twenty minutes to spare]], we're sure to see [[Too Happy to Live|their new joyful existence play out for the rest of the episode]]... [[Tempting Fate|right?]]

Despite how obvious they can be, there are spoilers below, so '''BEWARE SPOILERS.'''

 

== Advertising ==

* All the [[Trix]] Rabbit wants is some Trix. [[Cereal Vice Reward|The kids will never let him have any]], because [[Catch Phrase|"Trix are for kids"]] (and because [[Kids Are Cruel]]).

** All this said, there were at least two instances where the Trix Rabbit ''did'' get to have some - both of which happened when the company let kids vote on it, [[wikipedia:Trix Rabbit#Marketing and advertising|and the answer was a resounding "yes"]].

 

* ''[[Trigun]]'': This happens to Vash the Stampede all the bloody time. The cause of this can easily be traced back to the [[Big Bad]] constantly holding onto the chain. ''[[Break the Cutie|Hard.]]''

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''.

** Even poor Roberto, Johan's worshipper and probably the character we least symphathize with, is {{spoiler|totally snubbed at the end of the series on his deathbed when Johan denies him the right to see the [[After the End|Scenery for a Doomsday]] that he's so looked forward to}}.

* In ''[[Ode to Kirihito]]'', Kirihito and Reira finally appear to be on way to Japan having escaped numerous gut-wrenching hardships along the way. There's even another Japanese guy on the plane, {{spoiler|who promptly decides that the bandages Kirihito wears are to hide the fact that he's an Israeli spy, and he calls Arab fundamentalists to sell Kirihito off. Except he isn't. The Arabs decide to kill everyone there for wasting their time, and they're only "saved" because ''another'' extremist group starts attacking the first one. "Saved", as in, now they get to wander around a desert in the middle of nowhere meeting, among other things, a baby that's starving to death}}.

* ''[[Bleach]]'' loves doing this, [[Break the Cutie|especially to poor Orihime]]. Want to fight? Cue dramatic determination followed by the destruction of your attack abilities! Want to get some training? Not a chance, without your attack powers you're useless! You've trained anyways, so now you want to help fight? {{spoiler|Sorry, but if you don't [[Sadistic Choice|surrender and defect to the enemy, your friends will all die horrible deaths]]! But look, Ichigo's beaten Grimmjow and now all of you can go back... NOT! Guess what? You were kidnapped solely to lure your friends and allies into coming to rescue you so that your home would be left unprotected! And look who's there with his laser-blasting finger pressed against your chest while he scoffs over your speech about [[What Is This Thing You Call Love?|your heart!]] Oh, hey, seems like you've been rescued again... or the two lurking behind you could be readying for an attack. But look, [[Big Damn Heroes|Ishida joins the fray]], and you two are going up to help Ichigo, [[Oblivious to Love|who you just so happen to be in love with]]. Well, what do you know? [[The Dragon|Ulquiorra]] was waiting for you to show up so that he could blast a hole in his chest! And Ishida? He lost a hand. Wait, Ichigo's back... as a nearly mindless [[The Heartless|Hollow]] with the only goal being to protect you. Plus he just stabbed Ishida because he interfered in mutilating Ulquoirra's corpse, which made him view him as an obstacle in protecting you.}}

** And we mustn't forget that poor Ishida is as much of a [[Butt Monkey]] as Orihime is. Hey, you're a Quincy, which is cool, right? Nope! Because [[Mad Scientist|Mayuri Kurotsuchi the maniac scientist]] killed off most of your clan, including your grandpa! But at least there's this girl you like, right? Wrong! She's in love with [[Chaste Hero|Ichigo]] who doesn't even know she likes him! Oh man, you have to fight that scientist dude, so you pull your ultimate technique which {{spoiler|makes you lose all your powers!}} But don't worry, daddy is here to help, except that he has to {{spoiler|shoot you eighteen millimeters from your heart.}} Worked up the courage to tell that girl you like her yet? Oh, wait! She {{spoiler|just got kidnapped!}} So, just follow the hero blindly into a place you have absolutely no knowledge about! GASP! Another [[Mad Scientist]] has shown up, and you're about to die! Oh, it's okay, because {{spoiler|you get rescued by your worst nemesis, the scientist!}} Not to mention that the method he uses to heal his daughter [[Nausea Fuel|will scar you for life]]. Look out, some weirdo creature is attacking Orihime! You try to save her, except {{spoiler|your arm gets cut off!}} So yeah, poor Ishida doesn't have it that easy either.

 

 

* {{spoiler|Black Adam's}} entire storyline in ''[[52]]'' is one long, tragic, and incredibly cruel example of chain yanking.

* In ''[[The Killing Joke]]'', [[Batman]] pleads with the Joker to reconsider the death course the two of them are on, making a genuine offer of help... and there's a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|panel]], about a panel and a half, where it looks almost like the Joker will accept. The Joker even turns the concept into a joke that has even Batman laughing.

* [[Spider-Man]] has a big support cast, and people keep getting killed. Sometimes the writers decide to bring them back. This never works. Possibly the biggest example is when his ''parents'' turned out to be alive again; they'd been killed when he was a baby. They turned out to be robots. Supporting cast coming back from the dead has only "stuck" twice: when the Aunt May who died turned out to have been an ''[[Voodoo Shark|actress]]'', and when Mary Jane, who had been [[Dork Age|killed in a plane accident]] because [[Superheroes Stay Single|having a wife restricted Spidey]], was not dead after all. (Cross your fingers for history repeating itself soon, folks.)

** And then [[One More Day]] happened, because [[Joe Quesada]] didn't like the changes that had been made to Spidey since the Silver Age and PARTICULARLY not his marriage to Mary Jane, resulting in probably the most infamous [[Cosmic Retcon]] of recent years. God damn it.

* Sometimes, the pirates in ''[[Asterix]]'' think they can actually take down the ship they see. Or Can They? Nope! ''They'' are on board. It can be Phoenician, Egyptian, or Roman, but it's all the same.

* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' had a recent one to boot, {{spoiler|with Princess Sally being roboticized not long after Sonic had fixed a [[Cosmic Reboot]] and prevented her from being killed.}}

* ''[[Oscar Wilde|Wilde]]'': Oscar has it pretty rough in the last 20 minutes or so, what with being imprisoned for 2 years of hard labor just for being gay (because homosexuality was actually ''illegal'' in England back then). Then his wife Constance comes to see him and, guess what? Not only does she ''not'' want a divorce even after he's cheated on her with ''men'' (and lots of them), but [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|she'll let him see his kids again!]] A happy ending for when he gets out of prison! Right? '''No.''' His sentence ends and he learns that {{spoiler|Constance is dead, which not only takes away her, but any hope Oscar has of seeing his two boys again.}}

* In ''[[I Am Legend|The Last Man on Earth]]'', Robert finds a dog and is overjoyed at the sight of another living creature. He practically fawns over it, tends its wounds, comforts it when it's frightened, and tells it about the happy times they'll share together. Immediately afterwards [[Tear Jerker|he learns it's infected and is forced to drive a stake through it]]. [[Laughing Mad|He breaks]].

* ''[[Psycho Beach Party]]'': The murderer has been caught, {{spoiler|Chicklet's [[Split Personality]] has been cured}}, romantic stories are all tied off happily, all of that is now behind them as the all live hap-oh god. {{spoiler|It was all a dream as Chicklet is in a mental hospital getting realistically horrifying shock therapy}}... Happy?

 

== Literature ==

* Happens ''hard'' to Mike Noonan in ''[[Bag of Bones]]''. His wife dies unexpectedly, taking their unborn baby with her, leaving him alone and broken, unable even to work. Eventually, he discovers that returning to their summer home in western Maine holds the key to turning his life around, one way or another. Immediately, he meets the young, beautiful Mattie Devore and her daughter, Kyra. Thanks to them, he finally finds purpose in his life. He starts writing again. Mattie even reciprocates his unspoken feelings for her. Romance and redemption are all but certain. {{spoiler|Then, Mattie is murdered right in front of him, the ghosts in his house come to life and try to kill Kyra, Mike gives up on writing forever, and the book ends with him still alone and engaged in a bitter battle to obtain custody of Kyra.}}

** Her sister Sansa, after being held captive and abused for a year, is finally going to be taken away by some friendly people to marry a great guy... {{spoiler|Then her captors find out and force her to marry one of them instead, a terribly ugly dwarf. He's actually a decent person, but Sansa isn't mature enough to appreciate his good points.}} And now it's apparently in the process of happening ''again''. Stupid [[Stockholm Syndrome]] [[Genre Blindness]].

* The title character in Charlotte Bronte's ''[[Jane Eyre]]'' finally gets to the altar with her employer/true love Rochester when it is revealed that Rochester is already married to a mad woman he's got locked in the attic, and the wedding is canceled.

* In Charlotte Bronte's claustrophobic ''Villette'', the perpetually unhappy heroine Lucy has fallen in love with and become engaged to fellow-teacher M. Paul, only it is revealed ambiguously in the last few pages that Paul {{spoiler|probably died in a shipwreck before they could be married}}.

* The discovery of a later will at the end of ''[[Bleak House]]'' leads us to believe that Richard and Ada will live [[Happily Ever After]]. Unfortunately, it turns out that [[Shaggy Dog Story|the entire inheritance has gone into paying for the long-running court case]]. Although Richard is at last free of his obsession with winning the case, it is only so that he can {{spoiler|[[Dying as Yourself|die as himself.]] Overworked and ill, he is killed by [[Death by Despair|the shock of losing the estate.]]}}

* This trope becomes common with the Baudelaires in Lemony Snicket's ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' series. There are times in the series where it appears Violet, Klaus and Sunny are going to catch a break,`but then Lemony Snicket crushes all your hopes.

* Pretty much the B-plot of every Travis McGee novel, with the exception of the books where it's the A-plot.

* Happens repeatedly to the protagonist of ''Master of the Five Magics'' by [[Lyndon Hardy]]: each time he risks it all to learn of a new kind of magic, a rival swoops in and gloms all the profits, leaving him with nothing but a clue to the next style of magic-use.

* The whole point of a story by Jerome K. Jerome "In Remembrance of John Ingerfield and of Anne, his Wife".

* Everything will be going well by the end of an [[Aubrey-Maturin]] book only for everything to be mediocre ''at best'' by the start of the next.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' is a show with this trope as its entire point.

** Afterward, {{spoiler|Dualla's chain has been yanked enough and [[Driven to Suicide|she shoots herself]]}}.

** At the end of season 2, the fleet finds a habitable planet and, under the leadership of {{spoiler|President Gaius Baltar, settle on the newly-named New Caprica.}} Skip forward a year and, although there are some hiccups, things appear to be running fairly smoothly - more importantly, {{spoiler|there haven't been any Cylon attacks in that past year}}. Then...{{spoiler|yep, here come the Cylons. Since the fleet has been reduced to patrolling in orbit, they can't fight off the Cylon ships and Baltar is forced to surrender.}}

** Note that the entire ''[[Married... with Children]]'' series is basically one long chain-yanking session.

*** ''Married with Children''? Chain-yanking session? [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]?

* In one episode of ''[[Nowhere Man]]'', Tom Veil recuperates on a woman's farm and they fall in love. On the verge of abandoning his search to regain his old life, he gets another lead. He hesitates, then takes the lead. She leaves; [[Status Quo Is God|he goes back on the road]].

** Another, a [[Christmas Special|Christmas episode]], had Veil reunited with his family, learning that it was all a mistake and the authorities had been looking for him to testify against the people in the photo at the centre of his drama. It was all an elaborate plot, of course.

** In the show's final episode, B.J. receives discharge papers, though they are quickly rescinded. Col. Potter is informed of this, but doesn't say anything - hoping B.J. will be stateside before anyone finds out. Unfortunately, B.J. makes it as far as Guam before he's yanked back to the 4077th. (However, he does ultimately get to go home - along with everybody else - when the war ends shortly thereafter.)

* The utterly miserable second half of [[The Sarah Jane Adventures|"The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith"]]. In the the thirty-three years since she left the Doctor, she never found anyone, until now. Even the first half of the story is bittersweet, as it feels too good to be true if her track record is any indication of what's to come; you can tell they're [[Star-Crossed Lovers|star-crossed]]. This doesn't make the ending any less tragic.

* Rimmer, [[Chew Toy]] of the ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' universe, is simply ''not allowed'' to be happy. On the rare occasions he's thrown a bone it usually gets stuck in his throat.

** A particularly cruel example: in the episode "Timeslides", a bit of minor fiddling with time restores Rimmer to life. In his joy he starts running around, touching things, eating things—and accidentally eats an explosive-filled cheese sandwich intended for Adolph Hitler, which [[Made of Explodium|explodes]].

* One episode of ''[[Smallville]]'' had Clark finally tell Lana his secret and propose to her at the same time. That was the teaser! She accepts the proposal, Jonathan Kent wins the state senate seat, beating Lex Luthor and everything seems perfect up til the 30 minute mark when {{spoiler|Lana is killed in a car accident caused by Lex trying to get Clark's secret out of her. Clark gets Jor-El to rewind time, ignoring his warning that the universe would find someone else to die if he saves Lana. Clark doesn't tell Lana his secret, Jonathan still wins the senate seat but ends up dying of a heart attack.}}

* Several episodes of ''[[The Fugitive (TV series)|The Fugitive]]'' have Dr. Kimble seemingly on the verge of being exonerated, but it always turns out to be a trap or something that otherwise falls apart...until the [[Grand Finale]], of course.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[Paranoia]]'' reminds Friend Gamemaster to let the players score some temporary victories along the way to their inevitable hosing.

* ''[[Ravenloft]]'': the Dark Powers deliberately go out of their way to inflict this on those who have done unpleasant enough things to qualify as Darklords. As Lord Soth demonstrates, the way to get them to cut it out is simply to stop caring.

** After continously teasing you about being adopted (yet another [[Call Back]]), GLaDOS promises a surprise in which you're going to "meet two people you haven't seen in a long, long time." Of course, it's a lie. Then later in that same test chamber, she promises to put them on the phone, but instead puts on a fake "prerecorded message" in which they claim not to love you. Yes, GLaDOS, we get the point. You don't like Chell. [[Sarcasm Mode|Thank you for being so discreet about it]].

** The last one is more noticeable for being subverted [[Hypocritical Humor]]. Later in the game, she contradicts {{spoiler|Wheatley}} when he tries to pull the same "adopted fatty" insults on Chell, creating an "awwwwwww" moment, but promptly yanks the rug out when she whispers to you, "For the record, you ARE adopted, [[And That's Terrible]]."

 

 

== Web Original ==

* Any time it looks like [[Homestar Runner|Coach Z]] might be catching a break, something needs to get in his way.

'''Homestar:''' What? [[Big No|No, no-ho-ho!]] No, no, no. No, Coach Z, no. [[Overly Long Gag|No.]] No, you can't. }}

* In a slightly less sympathetic use of the trope, [[The Nostalgia Chick]] puts on some mood music when [[Todd in the Shadows]] finally agrees to sleep with her out of boredom. The "mood music" turns out to be "Reproduction" from ''[[Grease]] II'', and he runs off, much to her anger.

* At the end of the Kamikaze Kate arc in ''[[Misfile]]'' [[Our Angels Are Different|Rumisiel]] has successfully exorcised a very scary ghost and saved (at least) one soul from damnation and proven himself a [[Badass]]. Ash is ecstatic, this means he can get back to heaven and fix things. Except... heaven is full of [[Jerkass]]ess (and Rumi is such a screw up) that just one deed like that isn't even going to close to evening the score, so [[Status Quo Is God|nothing changes]].

** Later, Rumi gets the news that Heaven is willing to give him a hearing about letting him back into heaven. The catch? The next available hearing is in {{spoiler|73 years. Ash doesn't take it well.}}

{{quote|'''Germany:''' Oh brothers, with Russia off my back, I have a chance of winning this war!

'''Newspaper Headline:''' United States Declares War On Germany.

 

== Western Animation ==

** Specifically, Mr. Burns sees a documentary about how Grimes went through a hard life and had recently earned a diploma in nuclear physics. Impressed, he tells Mr. Smithers to find him so he can make him his executive vice president. By the time Smithers returns with Grimes, however, Burns had seen a heroic dog on TV and now wants to make ''him'' executive vice president.

{{quote|'''Smithers:''' In the meantime, here's Frank Grimes.

*** Then again, Jeremy seems to be as mellow and kind to Candace when she's disheveled with branches in her hair as any other time. Candace ''fears'' being humiliated in front of him, but he's so much of a legitimately [[Nice Guy]] that it may be impossible. You could say Jeremy is the personification of [[Throw the Dog a Bone]].

** Happens at the end of "My Fair Goalie" to Football X-7 creator Professor Ross Efrop, who was forced into hiding when it was discovered his name was a palindrome, as the British at the time were very anti-palindrome. He is about to come back out when he's still shunned for his name being a palindrome.

* The ''[[Invader Zim]]'' episode "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom" has Dib finally achieve everything he wanted, including respect and acclaim, after being [[Touched by Vorlons]], only for it all to be a fantasy created by Zim's [[Lotus Eater Machine]].

** To get back at him for throwing a muffin in his face, no less...

** Or in the episode "Peter's Daughter", where Peter vows to treat Meg better if she wakes up from a coma, which she's in because he made her go into the kitchen to save his beer when the house flooded. Meg gets a sweet, affectionate, (over-)protective father, as well as a boyfriend, because she starts dating a med student who was there when she woke up. Then Peter accidentally ruins her relationship ... then she finds out she's pregnant ... But then Michael (her boyfriend) proposes to her, saying he loves her and wants to be there for her. [[Shotgun Wedding|Ignoring the fact that her dad was there with a rifle]]. So Meg's going to get married ... {{spoiler|except on the day of the wedding, she realizes she isn't pregnant, and isn't sure she can go through with it. Her mother tells her to do what she thinks is right, ("Thanks, Mom. I love you." "I, uh, you too.") and Meg tells Michael the truth when she gets to the altar, prompting him to run out of the church.}}

* This is pretty much standard for the [[Black and Nerdy|nerdy]] [[Butt Monkey]] Tucker from ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. He usually ends up getting the short end of the stick either through his numerous failures to pick up girls or constantly getting the most emotional/physical abuse due to his comic relief character setting. The best shown is "King Tuck" where he [[Dork Horse Candidate|runs for school president]] in order to get some respect from others—including his friends. After Danny and Sam gets [[An Aesop]] that they should listen to Tucker once in a while, they promptly, ''in seconds'', ignores and walks off when Tucker's rambles about his interests. Worse, for no reason other then to play up his [[Butt Monkey]] status, the writer gets two popular girls to chase after him with intent to do some bodily harm. Poor guy can't catch a break.

** Also in "You May Already Be A KaBlammer!", he's upset over the fact that no one finds him funny, so June tells him that she'll be his sidekick as long as he's hers.

** And since he's famous for falling in love, only to be rejected, he gets his happy ending in episode 29, which was the so-called "last episode" (they ended up making a lot more, and some didn't get to air due to the cancellation), when a girl gives him a kiss: June.

{{quote|'''Edd:''' I'm touched! That you would interrupt a cliché plot ending for my sake!}}

* After being tortured, mutilated, and reduced to a [[Brain In a Jar]] throughout the first three seasons of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' (2003), Baxter Stockman finally regains a whole, human body in the episode "Insane in the Membrane". Unfortunately, it's not long before Stockman's new body begins breaking down, and the doctor begins losing limbs. Worse still, he begins losing the one thing he'd managed to keep throughout his tribulations: his mind.

* Near the end of season 2 of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': The [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] who ran the Earth Kingdom's secret police has been arrested! The real leader has promised them support against the Fire Nation! Sokka's finally seeing his dad after two years, and his girlfriend's in town! Toph's mom wants to reconcile with her! Aang is going to train to master the Avatar state!... Wait, there's still two episodes left. And as soon as Sokka says "[[Tempting Fate|Everything's gonna be perfect, now and forever]]," you know something's gonna happen. Sure enough, before ''this'' episode is even out: the secret police are still loyal to the man they "arrested"; Toph was tricked and captured by bounty hunters hired to drag her home; and it's not Sokka's girlfriend that's in town, it's [[The Dragon]] in disguise—and the king, not knowing better, welcomes her with open arms. And in those next two episodes, [[It Got Worse]].

* ''[[Kim Possible]]'''s [[Unlucky Everydude|Ron Stoppable]] never seemed to come out on top in the first three seasons. At the most extreme levels of yankage he somehow managed to get all of his 99 million dollars he got from Bueno Nacho stolen by [[Idiot Ball|keeping it all]] [[Took a Level In Dumbass|in his pants]], leaving him with nothing [[Fridge Logic|(though most can't figure out what happened with the continued royalties after that payment)]]. [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Drakken]] also has his leash [[Kick the Dog|yanked]] a few times more than comfortable.

 

== Real Life ==

** They also wanted to see the end of death and misery. Well, the Spanish flu and the Great Depression got in the way of that...

** Speaking of WWI-Mustard gas. It might splash undetected as a liquid onto a soldier's skin or clothes and then when they went down into the trenches where it was warmer the liquid would heat up into a corrosive gas. So just when you think you're safe, you've escaped the fighting with your life you discover you and all your buddies are gonna die...

** In a similar case was the Philippines in the 1970s it was one of the fastest growing economies in Asia second only to Japan, then when the Marcos administration took over it all spiraled downward.

* In 1917, the working class of Russia overthrew the corrupt government of the tsar and the nobles and replaced their rule with that of a working class government, with [[Vladimir Lenin]] chosen as the leader. 1924, Lenin died by illness and the new leader who took over was named [[Joseph Stalin]]...

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Cynicism Tropes]]

[[Category:Tropey the Wonder Dog]]

[[Category:Plot Twist]]

[[Category:Unexpected Reactions to This Index]]

[[Category:Finagle's Law]]