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Yank the Dog's Chain: Difference between revisions
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Despite how obvious they can be, there are spoilers below, so '''BEWARE SPOILERS.'''
{{tropelist}}
== Advertising ==
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** Shinji... poor, poor Shinji. Specific example: That kind, charming young boy without any debilitating emotional trauma who actually cares for you? {{spoiler|He's actually an Angel, and you have to kill him}}. Sorry. As well as mid-series, where he begins to get some confidence, it seems that he has some chance to reconcile with his dad, and he feels in general a bit more like the hero of a giant robot series -- needless to say, it doesn't last.
** Lest we forget about Asuka. She wakes up from a [[Convenient Coma]] in the movie and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|brings the awesome]] by going into combat within 5 minutes of getting out. She wipes out a whole army, so they send in these 9 [[Fan Nickname|Har]][[Eldritch Abomination|pies]]. She only has 3 and a half minutes of battery power and a progressive knife against a nearly impossible to break AT Field, They have no pilots (so they can't be incapacitated as easily) and a copy of the best weapon in the series. Asuka wins before she runs out of time. But the result is [[Nausea Fuel|really awful]]. She gets [[Eye Scream|speared through the eye]], her guts ripped open, and ''eaten alive'' while the poor girl is desperately trying to fight back. Then, it looks like it's going to get better as she is [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|STILL ALIVE]] despite having endured all of this. She reaches for the berserker mode button to reactivate the Eva and go back to kicking ass... but then they slice off her arm and [[Impaled With Extreme Prejudice|impale her repeatedly]] until she dies.
* ''[[Code Geass]]'' did this close to the end of the first season: Euphemia manages to talk Lelouch out of his plan to {{spoiler|start a revolt by making it look like she killed him}}, and for [[Hope Spot|a few seconds]] it looks like there's going to be peace... {{spoiler|and then Lelouch [[Power Incontinence|loses control of his Geass at the worst possible moment]] and accidentally orders Euphemia to start massacring Japanese people. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Which she does.]]}} Oops.
* [[The Woobie|Lithuania]] of ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' has this happen to him often, often due to being a [[Horrible Judge of Character]] and also just being downright unlucky in everything.
** [[Naive Everygirl|Ukraine]]'s ''entire existence'' seems to be a long line of these.
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* In Chapter 16 of ''[[Uzumaki]],'' rescue ships arrive to rescue the protagonists. [http://www.onemanga.com/Uzumaki/16/26/ Guess what happens next. Go ahead. Guess.]
* In the [[Flash Back]] episode 24 of ''[[XXX Holic]]'', then twelve year old Watanuki makes a friend who can also see spirits. Of course, we know that in the pilot he was friendless and ghost besieged for most of his teen years, so his happiness becomes heartbreaking since we know it can't end well. The friend is ultimately lost to paranormal circumstances in something of a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. It's ultimately a [[Happy Ending]] because it finishes with his birthday being attended by his four new friends in the cherry grove he met his young friend.
* ''[[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.
** Poor [[Worf Effect|Chad]] also receives this during the Hueco Mundo Arc, as he managed to win a fight against a named opponent by effectively showcasing his new powers. Chad has enough resolve to feel that he will be successful in Hueco Mundo... [[Curb Stomp Battle|until Nnoitra showed up.]] That scene is another strong example that Chad is a Main Event jobber namely on how he can handle nameless [[Mooks]] and secondary named opponents but anytime he comes up against a remotely prominent opponent, well... let's just say he was on the floor for quite a while after that scene. In fact the GameFAQs Adult Swim Anime board once summed up the scene like this.
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* Tsunade, from ''[[Naruto]]'', almost always loses when she makes a bet, but when she wins, she takes it as a sign that something bad is going to happen. She gets on a winning streak while gambling shortly before she sees Orochimaru again, wins the lottery around the time Gaara is kidnapped, and after Jiraiya suggests that she bet all she has {{spoiler|that he won't make it back}}, on the assumption that she wouldn't win, {{spoiler|he gets killed by Pain}}.
* ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]''. Raise your hand if you were rooting for [[Team Rocket Wins|James to beat Ash]] in the Hoenn Pokeringer competition. {{spoiler|Poor guy got it yanked by a totally unforeseeable [[Eleventh Hour Superpower]], too.}}
** Speaking of Ash, you'd think the writers would give him a good run in a league conference for once, now that [[The Rival|Paul]] was repaid his own jerkhood by the Chimchar (now Infernape) he dumped. As much heat as [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys|Smogon]] gets for their behavior, they deserve to feel vindicated after {{spoiler|Ash is put up against Takuto, who paves the poor kid 6-2 with a Darkrai and a Latios, the latter of which was a double-knockout alongside Pikachu}}. Fans are screaming [[Diabolus Ex Machina]], and for good reasons -- [[They Just Didn't Care|are the writers even trying anymore?]]
* Joey/Jou from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' makes a sudden comeback against Yami Malik in their Dark Duel in the Battle City Finals when he pulls out Gilford the Lightning and has him on the ropes. Yami Malik manages to hold out once again, but apparently has nothing else up his sleeve, with nothing left on the field or his hand, so our hero is in the clear, finally about to be the hero for once and save the damsel, Mai, from her [[Mind Rape|fate]], right? Things seem to be looking that way, as the following turn, Yami Malik draws Monster Reborn, with nothing powerful on its own in his grave to stand up to Gilford, including Ra at this point, since that would require a tribute summon to get any ATK points. So he's basically reviving a [[Memetic Mutation|giant flaming chicken]] with no attack points, except that it turns out that it has an [[Eleventh Hour Superpower]] that destroys Gilford and, in this very situation, shocks the controller of said monster into death, and... [[Oh Crap]]. Sure enough, things go as predicted, except that as the smoke clears, our hero is [[Not Quite Dead]], and is good to make another move, with Yami Malik's Ra leaving the field. All he needs is a monster with enough attack to finish Yami Malik off, and he draws Gearfried, summons it, and is just about to declare an attack until...he collapses and as such is disqualified.
* For another ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' example (this one from season zero), Jonouchi enters a game show to win a million yen so he can pay off his father's debts. In traditional ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' style, the host of the game show is a [[Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat|Cheating Bastard]], and rigs the game so Jonouchi can't possibly win. Yugi helps out by [[Mind Rape|Mind Raping]] the host, allowing Jonouchi to win the money. Of course, {{spoiler|the check ends up being no good anyways}}.
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' has a particularly [[Mood Whiplash|Mood Whiplashy]] example: right after the [[Time Skip]], we learn that {{spoiler|Simon proposed to Nia, and we see her accept via phone}}. Right after we see this, {{spoiler|her Anti-Spiral nature takes over and forces her into a [[Face Heel Turn]].}} Ouch.
** Then {{spoiler|the Anti-Spirals attack, threatening to eliminate the human race}}, and none other than {{spoiler|Rossiu, Simon's [[Number Two]] in the new government}} goes all [[Well
** {{spoiler|The Anti-Spirals refer to this trope as "Ultimate Despair," and their goal is to do this to all Spiral Races.}} [[Averted Trope|It doesn't quite work.]]
* Almost the simplest one of the anime examples, ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga)|Hayate the Combat Butler]]'''s title character, {{spoiler|meets up with the girl that he's (apparently) loved for the last ten years. You save her from the ''honored spirit'' inhabiting her body. She tells you she loves you too. Things are going to be happy now. No. She leaves you as you tell her you have to return to your master and you're left with the impression that you won't see her again.}}
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*** Through most of the episode, Al demonstrated a startling amount of [[Genre Savvy|Genre Savviness]] by [[Lampshading]] this- stating that the "Bundy Curse" insures that every bit of good luck will bring a greater amount of bad luck the moment that he admits that he had said streak of good luck. (The curse also means that he has to be a shoe salesman.) (And has foot odor.)
** 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?]]?
** The two absolute worst ones that come to mind, are when Kelly goes through a [[Training From Hell]] montage to train her memory to remember things for her appearance on a sports trivia show, but for each thing she remembers one thing spills out. You just know SOMETHING will happen to make her lose a fact. When she asks how the final round works, it removes the factoid for "What man once scored four touchdowns in a single game at Polk High" (Al's crowning achievement in life). Even the audience felt that one! The second worst has to be the series finale, which ended up looking a lot like ''Ranma'' minus the martial arts and form changing.
* 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]].
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* On ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'', Locke finally found purpose in the end of season 4, after spending the entire series in a constant battle with faith. Shortly after, {{spoiler|He started traveling through time, which he could only stop by leaving the island, and dying. But when he does die, we don't feel much because the episode showing it happen has already revealed that the character comes back to life. What made it really cruel was that he never came back to life at all, and instead was just an [[Unwitting Pawn]]}}.
* ''[[Chuck]]''. Every time the poor boy meets someone, it somehow gets yanked away. It can't help having his 'ex' around all the time.
* The first season of ''[[
** Another early episode has Trapper thinking he'll get to go home due to a stomach ulcer, and even getting a farewell party, before being told by HQ that he'll have to stay in Korea and be operated on there.
*** Trapper gets put through the wringer again in "Kim", deciding to adopt a seemingly-orphaned Korean boy with his wife back in the States, then having to rescue the kid after he wanders into a minefield...''then'' having to watch as the kid's mother turns up and whisks him away.
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** In B.J.'s intro episode, Hawkeye races to an airport to try and say goodbye to Trapper, who was discharged while Hawkeye was away on leave and couldn't stay any longer. Naturally, despite his best efforts, Hawkeye misses him by minutes.
** 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
* [[This Is Sparta|Ronnie]]. [[This Is Sparta|from]]. ''[[Eastenders]]''. Every single time it looks like she's going to have a happy ending, the producers cruelly snatch it away from her practically going "Neener neener!", be it a potential reconcilement with Danielle being ruined by [[Shaggy Dog Story|Danielle getting ran over and killed instantly]] or her being caught out when she goes to mad lengths to get a child again. It looks as if recently she's finally having an honest to god child again and all's well... but in true Soap fashion (As revealed in television magazine spoilers), said baby stops breathing and may have suffered cot death barely a day after being born, pushing Ronnie way past her [[Despair Event Horizon|limit]]. That is if she hasn't already been punted over it before now.
* Rimmer, [[Chew Toy]] of the ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|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.
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* At least one victim in ''[[Criminal Minds (TV)|Criminal Minds]]''. The unsub tells her over an intercom that if she can find her way out of the vast complex he's dropped her in by sunset, she gets to live. She gets literally within ''sight'' of the open door to freedom, but the sun is setting and the door slams in her face before she can get out. {{spoiler|Of course, the team save her anyway, but still.}}
* In Season 1 of ''[[Spartacus]]'', Dominus finally keeps his promise to find the title character's wife only to {{spoiler|deliver her moments from death.}}
* In ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'', after a season and a half of pining and one weird [[Laser
** And of course, once Jack and Ianto are really getting adorable, and we get to see some of Ianto's personal life... {{spoiler|he dies, too.}}
*** ''Torchwood'' LOVES this trope. A few episodes into ''[[Torchwood Miracle Day (TV)|Miracle Day]]'' Dr. Juarez decides to officially join up with Team Torchwood. It even looks like Rex might start to take their relationship a little more seriously... {{spoiler|so at the end of the episode she gets shot. Twice. And burned alive. IN FRONT OF REX.}}
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* ''[[Drow Tales]]'' had a side story where [[Butt Monkey|Syphille]] met someone who respected her and tried to help her cope with and improve her life (albeit by drugging everyone), but you know it's going to end badly because [[Butt Monkey|nothing ever works for her. Ever]]. She went back to her life of brutal beatings and rape.
* Subverted in ''[[Pv P]]'' when couch loafer Robbie wins the lottery - and ''never loses the money''. He even hires people to make sure he doesn't go broke.
* ''[[
** Done far, far earlier when he briefly became the overlord of hell, with all the power and cowering minions the title provides, only to be shoved back into his former body before he could destroy it.
* 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|Jerkassess]] (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]].
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** There are basically only three different episodes of ''Samurai Jack'': "Aku sends a new mercenary to stop Jack", "Jack frees innocents from the grip of Aku" and "Jack almost finds a portal but loses it to Aku who was disguised in an obvious costume." Once you've seen those, you've seen the whole series and you can walk away to stop getting your chain yanked. That said, the "filler" episodes like the one he goes "down the rabbit hole" and "learns to jump good" are a lot of fun, perhaps because in those he's not constrained to fail tragically.
*** Subverted in one episode, in which Jack appears to, yet again, suffer defeat when attempting to access an appropriate time portal, only for the episode to end showing an older Jack on the other side of the portal, and the implicit assertion by the portal's guardian that he will, eventually, pass through.
* Squidward from ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]''. Sure he's [[Small Name, Big Ego|an egomaniac]] and a jerk, but [[Butt Monkey|you kinda feel sorry for him after a while]].
** In "Bubble Stand" he briefly learns how to play the clarinet well after using SpongeBob's technique to blow a giant bubble... until his house gets sucked inside said giant bubble, and it loudly pops, apparently destroying his clarinet skills.
** In "Squilliam Returns" he briefly impresses Squilliam when Spongebob disguises the Krusty Krab as a fancy restaurant... until SpongeBob goes crazy due to Squidward's earlier [[Exact Words]] on forgetting everything that isn't about fine dining, including his name, and destroys everything.
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** 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.
* Epically subverted in the ''[[Ed, Edd n Eddy]]'' episode "Fistfuls of Ed". After being falsely accused of being a bully and subsequently ostracized by the entire school, and then [[No Holds Barred Beatdown|beaten to a pulp]] by [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Jimmy]]. Things are finally looking up for Edd, but then we smash suddenly in to a typical episode ending where the [[Abhorrent Admirer|Kanker Sisters]] pop out of the woodwork to set in with their usual "[[Rape Is Love|treatment]]" of the already pathetically tired and beaten-down Double Dee. Eddy, who has as usual been the main source of conflict in the episode, watches in disgust before giving the Kanker Sisters the most singularly awesome chew-out they ever get in the series. As they slink away in terror, he breaks up the lingering awkwardness by giving everyone hotdogs. Double Dee even Lampshades this trope.
{{quote| '''Edd:''' I'm touched! That you would interrupt a cliché plot ending for my sake!}}
* After being tortured, mutilated, and reduced to a [[
** It gets worse for him in "Good Genes, Part 1." Bishop effectively brings him [[Back From the Dead]] in a pseudo-body to continue their work. Stockman laments this development because he thought that he had finally found peace following his previous appearance.
* Near the end of season 2 of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|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]].
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[[Category:Unexpected Reactions to This Index]]
[[Category:Yank The Dogs Chain]]
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