History RealAfterAll / WesternAnimation

** In one episode, a bunch of wacky new characters ("Ghost in a Jar," "Reverse Giraffe," etc.) are introduced in RememberTheNewGuy fashion. Eventually, the Smiths discover that they are actually all alien parasites who can implant false memories, and start shooting them all to make them reveal their true forms. However, one new character ("Mr. Poopybutthole") doesn't turn back, showing that he actually was a close friend of the family.

* In ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' episode "Luck of the Irish", Gadget encounters a pair of [=MAD=] agents that short and dressed in green, in the disguise of leprechauns. Later on, when Penny is stuck in a hole without her backpack to help her escape, when it mysteriously falls down to her. After the [=MAD=] agents are captured and Dr. Claw's plan is foiled, Penny is still left wondering how her backpack was knocked down to her. The audience is then shown a trio of real leprechauns hiding nearby.

* ''WesternAnimation/FreakyStories'' has a segment where a ghost hunter was called to investigate when a family preparing to move was experiencing a haunting in their house. In the end, it's revealed that the son was responsible (he didn't want to leave the neighborhood and did it to stop his parents from selling the house). As the ghost hunter was leaving, he complimented the son for his tactics despite being an amateur, especially the family picture with blood dripping from their necks, citing that as the mark of a true haunted house, only for the son to reply "What bleeding portrait?". The ghost hunter promptly hightails it.

* ''WesternAnimation/FreakyStories'' has a segment where a ghost hunter was called to investigate a house experiencing a haunting, the ending reveals that everything had been done by the son, except for the family picture with blood dripping from their necks. The ghost hunter promptly hightails it.

** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS10E6Manbearpig ManBearPig]]", UsefulNotes/AlGore is depicted as being an idiot for believing in the title monster. In the later "[[Recap/SouthParkImaginationland Imaginationland]]" episodes, Manbearpig is depicted as an evil resident, showing that he is imaginary. In "[[Recap/SouthParkS22E6TimeToGetCereal Time to Get Cereal]]", he finally appears in the real world causing havoc.

--->''"[[VoiceOfTheLegion Ohh]], [[AffablyEvil what about cranberry?]]"''

** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS5E14BlackenedSpongeMermaidManVsSpongeBob Blackened Sponge]]", the character "Jack M. Crazyfish", who [=SpongeBob=] dreams about, and uses as a cover for his black eye, turns out actually exist.

* ''WesternAnimation/AaahhRealMonsters'': One episode had the ThreeAmigos trapped in a severely haunted house, the rub being that while monsters exist, ''ghosts'' do not (this is repeatedly stated by [[strike:Hermione]] Oblina). It turned out that the house was the bunker/battle ground for a soldier monster who caused all of the strange happenings--except one. [[spoiler:All four monsters [[ImpactSilhouette quickly leave]], and the house resumes ''all'' of its disturbing behavior.]]

** The episode "Fionna and Cake and Fionna" double-subverts this. Ice King's GenderBentAlternateUniverse character Fionna apparently turns out to be real when she arrives to visit him and has a video tape of one of her adventures as "proof". However, it turns out she was actually a rabbit woman who learned about Fionna and Cake when she caught some radio waves transmitting one of their adventures on her television, and she was scamming Ice King to try and find more "tapes" of Fionna and Cake, whom she believes must be from some old tv show. But then when Ice King goes to sleep that night, a strange red light starts beaming Fionna and Cake's adventures into his head, implying both his brain and the rabbit woman's television actually caught inter-dimensional images of the ''real'' Fionna and Cake's adventures.

* The ''WesternAnimation/AceVentura: Pet Detective'' AnimatedAdaptation, episode about "G.C." used the "helpful person was dead all along" variant.

--->"[[VoiceOfTheLegion Ohh,]] [[AffablyEvil what about cranberry?]]"

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "Quackpack!", Donald Duck accidentally traps the main cast in a stereotypical 90s sitcom set after making a wish for a "normal family" that was overheard by a genie that had been trapped in the lamp since 1990. Donald at first refuses to wish everything back to normal until Goofy, who had suddenly appeared as a result of his wish, has a heart-to-heart with Donald, convincing him to undo the wish and poofing everyone back where they started. To everyone's surprise, Goofy is still there with them, as the genie didn't create him, but instead teleported him to their location because (in his own words), "magic has nothing over the power of a big-name guest star".

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "The Fat Guy Strangler" featured a particularly crude version of this. Lois discovers that she has a younger brother named Patrick who's been in an asylum for decades. She brings him home and he seems fairly well-adjusted...except for the fact that he has an [[ImaginaryFriend Imaginary Wife]]. Brian and Stewie have a field day with this, taking a cucumber and placing it on the couch (supposedly where the "wife" is sitting), joking that they're putting it inside "her" vagina to pickle. [[BrickJoke Later in the episode]], Lois is looking for Patrick when she notices something and calls out "Who left this pickle on the couch?" Stewie and Brian hear her and express utter delight.
* In ''WesternAnimation/FairlyOddParents'' episode "Crocker of Gold", Cosmo kept spouting about a being called [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} the Great Potato]]. Towards the climax of the episode where Timmy and the fairies [[ItsALongStory were in danger of being boiled by angry leprechauns]], Cosmo claimed that the Great Potato would save them, to which Wanda snapped at him and told him there was no such thing as the Great Potato. At that moment, the Great Potato shows up to save them, [[TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight much to Wanda and Timmy's shock]].

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', while searching for Nibbler in the sewers, the Planet Express crew discovers a tribe of mutants defending themselves from "El Chupanibre", a creature that has been stealing their [[SewerGator crocodiles]]. Knowing that Nibbler likes to eat crocodiles, the crew thinks that he's the one the mutants are referring to and offer to help catch him. Upon finding Nibbler, Bender presents the mutants their "El Chupanibre"...only for the mutants to tell him that El Chupanibre is actually the giant monster [[RightBehindMe standing right behind him]].

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E16DontFearTheRoofer Don't Fear the Roofer]]", Homer makes friends with a roofer called Ray Magini, but when asked to prove the man's existence, he can't - because he fails to appear whenever Homer is sure he will. The fact that [[SignificantAnagram "Ray Magini" is an anagram of "imaginary"]] definitely does not help his case. Homer is sent for psychological treatment (electroshock)... and right after the treatment is done, Ray appears in front of everyone, proving Homer was right.

** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS10E6Manbearpig Manbearpig]]", UsefulNotes/AlGore is depicted as being an idiot for believing in the title monster. In the later "Imaginationland" episodes, Manbearpig is depicted as an evil resident, showing that he is imaginary. In "Time To Get Cereal", he finally appears in the real world causing havoc.

** In the very first episode, "Help Wanted", [=SpongeBob=] wants to become a fry cook at the Krusty Krab, which Mr. Krabs considers him unfit for due to his clumsiness and naivete. With Squidward's help, Krabs sends him on a SnipeHunt to find a seemingly nonexistent "hydrodynamic spatula with port and starboard attachments" ("And don't forget the turbo drive!"). It turns out said spatula actually does exist, and [=SpongeBob=] found the last one in stock at the Barg'N Mart, much to the shock of both Squidward and Mr. Krabs. It was also helpful because they had to attend to a sea of hungry anchovies that moment.
** In "Christmas Who?", after Squidward dresses as Santa and gives away all his stuff as gifts to the entire town, the real Santa comes and thanks him.
** In "Blackened Sponge", the character "Jack M. Crazyfish", who [=SpongeBob=] dreams about, and uses as a cover for his black eye, turns out actually exist.
** In "Yeti Krabs", Mr. Krabs tries to scare Squidward and [=SpongeBob=] into working harder by making up a story about a Yeti Krab who tracks down and eats lazy workers, along with anyone in the vicinity. When a real Yeti Krab coincidentally shows up after Mr. Krabs leaves, [=SpongeBob=] is terrified and runs around doing busywork to placate it, while Squidward, who never believed Mr. Krabs' story in the first place, simply assumes it's him in a costume. The Yeti Krab, who's merely hungry and was attracted to the Krusty Krab by the smell of food, eventually does try to eat all three of them out of desperation, but [=SpongeBob=] figures out the problem and wins it over with some fresh Krabby Patties.
** In "One Krab's Trash", Mr. Krabs makes up a story about how the soda drink hat he sold to [=SpongeBob=] is cursed to scare it off of him as he found out it's worth a lot of money. He claims it belonged to someone named [[SesquipedalianSmith Smitty WarbenJagerManJensen.]] It turns out the story he made up on the spot is true.
** In "Bubble Buddy", [=SpongeBob=] creates the title character and the episode treats him as a CompanionCube. In the end however, he turns out to really be animate.
** In "Scaredy Pants", it's implied the townsfolk believed the Flying Dutchman to be just a myth until he personally lays siege to the Krusty Krab.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' episode "Beach Blanket Brain", during a trip to the beach for Brain's latest plan to TakeOverTheWorld, Pinky goes on about wanting to meet sea chimps, which he read about in comics, much to Brain's consertation. At the end of the episode, when the pair is leaving, Pinky, who didn't see any sea chimps, figures that Brain was right. Brain then hesitantly tells him that when he went underwater while surfing, some''thing'' helped him get back to shore.

* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'': In one "{{Fractured Fairy Tale}}s" take on "Snow White", upon being told by her MagicMirror that the Snow White was the fairiest, the Queen continously went to the seven dwarves' cottage to give her a poison apple, only for the dwarves to talk her into a deal each time under the assumption it would help her become the fairest. Turns out the whole thing was a con by the dwarves in order to swindle the Queen out of everything she owned, with the mirror even being operated by one of the dwarves inside it. At the end of the cartoon, however, a portly woman arrived at their cottage, revealing that ''she'' was Snow White, much to the surprise of the lead dwarf, followed by delight as the dwarves had "[[HereWeGoAgain another pigeon]]".

** There's also the Backson from the [[WesternAnimation/WinnieThePooh2011 2011 film]], who is assumed by the characters to be a mischievous troublemaking monster responsible for "kidnapping" Christopher Robin (he was actually attending school at that time, and the letter he wrote misspelled "back soon"); they even sing [[TheVillainSucksSong a song describing how unpleasant the alleged creature is]] and make a trap for it to fall into. At the end of the movie, the Backson comes out of the woods at night, proving once and for all to the viewers that, yes, he ''does'' exists. However, he turns out to be actually benign, harmless and helpful, picking up the scattered items leading to the trap and eventually falling in.

* ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'': In the original books and all Disney iterations until the late '80s, Heffalumps and Woozles were just figments of Pooh and the gang's imaginations. Even their very names were implied to be just Tigger's [[TheMalaproper malapropism]] of "elephants" and "weasels." But starting with ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' and continuing with ''WesternAnimation/PoohsHeffalumpMovie'', Heffalumps and Woozles are portrayed as very real, usually as bumbling antagonists but sometimes as unexpectedly friendly.

* ''WesternAnimation/RollingWithTheRonks'': "Humongorilla" has Mormagnon lie about there being a gigantic gorilla solely to take advantage of the Ronks' superstitions and manipulate them into giving him fruit, but it later turns out the Humongorilla actually exists.

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': After ten long years of [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane flirting with the idea that]] [[CompanionCube Plank]] may be more than just an ordinary piece of wood, WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow wraps up the mystery by ''[[NotSoImaginaryFriend confirming]]'' that Plank is indeed sapient and capable of moving around and interacting with his environment independently of Jonny (Plank ends up ''driving a bus'' around town).