Warning: Spoilers Off applies to Moments pages.
Series with their own pages
Carl
- It's pretty telling that Adults Are Useless in this show when five out of the main eight characters have either neglectful or Abusive Parents, or both:
- Dry Bones might come off as a selfish dick who does nothing but tell lies to everyone around him, but it is quickly revealed why he does this: his home life is absolutely terrible: he lives in poverty, only being slightly better off than Boo is, but unlike Boo, whose parents love him, Dry Bones has to deal with a verbally and emotionally abusive father and grandfather on a daily basis, both of whom do nothing but put him down and crush his spirits no matter what he does. Dry Bones' father has expressed many times that he would not care if Dry Bones were to suddenly disappear from his life, and has openly embraced the idea of Dry Bones dying. To top it all off, Dry Bones lost his mother in the fire that permanently left him and his family without skin. It soon becomes clear why Dry Bones lies about his own life, but is very blunt when it comes to criticising other people; for him it's better to point out flaws in others so that he doesn't have to feel about his own flaws. The lies he tells about his father in particular are heart-wrenching in the sense that it's a coping mechanism, as otherwise he would have to admit to himself that his father will never love him.
- Talia's parents, especially her father, are strict Control Freaks who believe they have the right to dictate everything in Talia's life, and always disapprove of any decision she takes on her own. Because of this, Talia has been very insecure of herself for most of her life, as well as growing resentful of her parents. Her father is shown to be the more strict and restrictive of the two, and his actions to arrange her life go from things such as giving her bedtime despite her being a teenager, forcing her to get a job at Goomburger with Dedede of all people as her boss, to outright sending her to an all-girls school, away from her friends and family, just because he caught her drinking wine with Dry Bones in the basement. Talia's father fails to see that his controlling behaviour towards her is one of the main reasons why she has grown resentful of him and her mother, and outright thinks that all the abuse he puts Talia through is good parenting.
- A small but noteworthy event in the show regarding Talia's parents comes in the remastered version of the episode "Carl's Sisters", where they essentially forbid her from having fun during her own birthday and just expect her to do schoolwork, even if she has already finished it all. It's also rather sad that neither of them wish her a happy birthday, with her father just telling her and her friends to behave themselves. It goes on to show what little they think of Talia's own happiness.
- Talia herself has yelled at her parents that she hates the way they treat her, and that all she wants is to be able to live the way she wants, not the way they want. Not that they got the memo, unfortunately.Talia: Maybe if you weren't pestering me all the time I wouldn't feel the need to hide things from you!! Let me live my life how I want, god!!
- In Toad Town Grammar, Carl begins to miss Blooper after he goes to Toad Town Grammar, thus not having enough time to hang out with him and the others due to his new Toad friends having an intense hatred for the koopas.
- Special mention goes to the scene where Carl sends Blooper a message asking him if he wants to hang out the next day, but Blooper doesn't even get to open it thanks to Toadette.
Peter: Who was that, Blooper?
Toadette: Better not be one of those Koopas from your old school!
Blooper: (Oh, it's nobody...)- Later, Carl ends up looking at a photo of himself and his friends when they were younger.
- In Logan’s New Place, Calvin was really happy at first to have his own son, Logan, moving out of the own into an apartment, but when he is about to go watch the game, he sees Linda hanging with Cathrine and Kristen, he tells his wife if he will see if Logan gets to watch the game with Logan before realizing Logan moved. As he walks by then sees the room that Logan used to be in which gave him a saddened sigh as he misses his son.
- At the Ending, Calvin visits Logan at his new apartment as his stepson, Carl, gave him the address as he wanted to share a beer with his son, this ending will remind you of the ending to “Field of Dreams” for an obvious reason.
Donkey Kong Island
- Diddy and Dixie's whole relationship is full of these. Diddy develops a crush on her, but whenever he tries to approach her or ask her out, there's always something that prevents him from doing so, whether that'd be Amazingly Embarrassing Parents, Krusha being entitled to have Dixie due to their failed fling and getting in his way, or just his friends picking on him for his crush on her. When it seems that something is finally going to happen between them, Dixie turns him down, leaving him heartbroken. Thankfully, Diddy meets a girl named Kitty shortly afterwards, whom he starts a relationship with. In a rather brutal twist of the knife however, Dixie reveals to DK that she had slowly developed feelings for Diddy and would have liked to ask him out, but that she was afraid that it would ruin their friendship and decided to stay quiet. She soon regrets it when Diddy and Kitty start dating, because she can see that, unlike her previous fling with Krusha, Kitty is a joy to be around and that her affection for Diddy is genuine. Dixie mentions how Diddy was one of the few boys who didn't treat her like a trophy or who weren't complete jerks, and therefore seeing him with Kitty hurts her, but at the same time she doesn't want to selfishly ruin their relationship. Diddy and Dixie switched roles during the course of the series, and it's sadder than it initially sounds.
Wars of Frozen Flames
- Cynder Von Bohnenrotte, the imposing, cruel and malicious queen consort, is actually a very lonely and miserable woman deep down. She is stuck in a loveless marriage to a Manchild of a king, is looked down upon by her subjects for being from the Bohnenkraut Kingdom, and was often blamed for failing to give birth to an heir, when it's stated that it's not that she had trouble getting pregnant, but that John VI always refused to have sex with her because he thinks that "girls are gross". It is shown that she used to be a nicer person when she was younger, but the years spent with John eventually drove her bitter and cynical. Cynder is also implied to have been constantly neglected and lied to by her father growing up, as she refers to him as a "bloody joke" and he told her that she would be marrying a strong, fearsome warrior, only for her to be disenchanted when she met John and he threw a tantrum because she wasn't blonde. It's stated that throughout their marriage, John always ignored her and, more often than not, she had to act more as a mother than a wife to him. Her dissatisfaction with John eventually led to her trying to look for the love he never gave her in other men. She settled on Sigmund's son Blayne Phoenix, and began a romantic relationship with him. However, it's shown that Blayne didn't care about Cynder as much as she cared about him, and that he only seduced her so that his father Sigmund would avoid punishment for deserting his troops and become King's Claw over Lord Richard. As soon as Sigmund is imprisoned by Richard for his crimes, Blayne fleeds the kingdom and abandons Cynder, seemingly confirming that he never once cared about her as a person and was only using her. Cynder's constant desire for power and cruelty are are essentially a result of how much she has had to suffer during her life.
