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]]''.

* 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}}.

* In Chapter 16 of ''[[Uzumaki]],'' rescue ships arrive to rescue the protagonists. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090326055435/http://www.onemanga.com/Uzumaki/16/26/ Guess what happens next. Go ahead. Guess.]

* ''[[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.}}

** 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]].

* Marcus Clarke's ''For the Term of His Natural Life.'' The entire book consists of nothing but [[From Bad to Worse]] and [[Yank the Dog's Chain]] and is the most relentlessly depressing book ever. Even at the end of the book, where something finally goes right, {{spoiler|not seconds later he and his love interest both drown at sea}}.

* 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}}.

== 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.}}

** 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.

 

 

** 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]]...

 

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