"Oh, no. You made Whitney cry. It's OK. She'll stop soon. She always cries when she loses."
— Lass Bridget talking to the Player Character, Pokémon Gold and Silver
It's a familiar song to all parents: their kid is playing a game with others. When the child loses, he/she runs up to them inelegantly blubbering about how they lost.
Defeat is never a good feeling for anyone to have, and for those who are unaccustomed to disappointment and failure, crying seems to be their default option for dealing with it. Along with raging out and Percussive Therapy. Tears of defeat often come when someone loses a challenge, a game, and even a battle. They can also spring forth when the person fails a mission or their assignment (even a school assignment).
A trademark of the Sore Loser. Often occurs with a Villainous Breakdown, during which "This Cannot Be!" is expected to be blurted out. Another stock phrase that can be uttered with Tears of Defeat is "I failed!" Differs from Tears of Surrender in that ToS deals with giving up while ToD involves losing and failing (though both can overlap). It is quite common for a spoiled kid or a Manchild (sometimes even a Psychopathic Manchild) to take this move. It's also sympathetic when the person in question cries after (or while) being beaten, or if they are defeated by a bad guy.
May also double with Berserker Tears if the character is particularly furious about losing. If a character does this a lot, they're probably Prone to Tears. However, this can actually be portrayed sympathetically if a character has self-esteem issues or fears disappointing someone. The character might also try to keep their tears in (though they'll often fail). Compare Face Death with Despair, though both tropes can overlap when it involves a Duel to the Death that's been lost. Compare Thin-Skinned Bully. The trope may come in conjunction with Villains Want Mercy.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Ace Attorney (2016): Yanni Yogi starts crying as he confesses to murdering Robert Hammond, the man who ruined his life and indirectly drove his fiance to suicide.
- Bleach: After having her Soul Chain pierced by Uryu Ishida, Cirucci Sanderwicci starts crying as she lies on the floor. Considering what defeat means to an Arrancar, Uryu sees this as a Fate Worse than Death.
- Chihayafuru: A series that takes the traditional game of Karuta and treats it as Serious Business, there are several instances of the players being driven to tears in defeat.
- After Mizusawa's first trip to Nationals, the members of the team are soundly defeated by their opposition, with Chihaya meeting Shinobu Wakamiya, the current Queen of Kurata, and losing badly to her. The whole of the team is crestfallen and crying. Nishida, who witnessed Taichi's defeat, cries for him, telling him he knows how it feels to be beaten so badly.
- During their second trip to the Nationals, Misuzawa encounter a team of foreigners who have a real zeal for the game, but are handily defeated. The foreign team is crying at their defeat, until they see Mizusawa's team writing a message saying they wanted to play them again, appreciating their enthusiasm for the game and their pure spirit.
- During the team matches, Rion, of Fujisaki High, loses to Chihaya. This is especially vexing to Rion, as her grandmother was the reader for the game, usually an advantage for her. Rion's coach pulls her aside, telling her that her loss to Chihaya was no shame, even as Rion is crying at her defeat. The coach tells her to learn humility from the defeat and allow it to strengthen her.
- In Cipher Academy, Tayu engages in a code battle with Iroha, which leaves Iroha utterly drained. She firmly asserts her superiority over him, highlighting his lack of skill. He barely manages to tie with Tayu based on a technicality, but he clearly sees himself as defeated. Once she leaves, he breaks into tears, frustrated by the humiliation.
- Death Note: This is one possible interpretation of Light bursting into tears after being exposed as Kira, shot full of bullets, and fleeing the warehouse, assuming they weren't actually Tears of Remorse.
- Dragon Ball Z has a Played for Drama example during Vegeta's Final Speech just before his first death at the hands of Frieza. After an intense battle where Vegeta uses everything he's got but can barely even scratch the alien Evil Overlord in his Final Form, he cries during his dramatic speech to Goku as he recalls all of the horrors inflicted on him by Frieza...killing his father, exterminating his race, blowing up his home planet... The tears serve to reinforce his plea that Goku destroy Frieza and harbor no ideas of sparing him.
- In Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree, Godrick the Grafted's boss fight is presented as a sculpture competition. When Godrick loses, he lapses into Inelegant Blubbering and quits being a Demigod, giving his Great Rune to the Tarnished.
- Fairy Tail: After losing her tournament match of the Grand Magic Games against Flare, Lucy ends up breaking down on the ground and cries over her loss. Even after Natsu tries to cheer her up, her loss still hits her hard to the point where she's shown crying while alone in the shower.
- Flint the Time Detective: In the episode "Muscle", after the protagonists defeat Muscle-Con, he runs away crying, and they have to chase after him. They find him back in his regular form and help him get his mojo back.
- Haikyuu!!: Devastated by their loss to Aoba Johsai, Karasuno's coach treats them to a meal, and they all quietly begin to cry as they eat.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers: In the "America's cleaning of the storage" storyline, the flashbacks to the Revolutionary War feature the last battle between America and England, which the latter loses. England launches into a desperate last attack but is ultimately brought to tears and is unable to shoot America.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Phantom Blood: Dio cries legitimate tears after Jonathan beats him to a near pulp, the first time Jonathan has bested him.
- Steel Ball Run: Despite Johnny and Gyro's efforts to secure the corpse part during their fight with the Eleven Riders, Johnny realizes that have to surrender the corpse part due to Sugar Mountain's curse, emitting tears as he is forced to give it away regretting the loss, though Gyro tells him they'll simply move on to obtain the next part.
- Kaguya-sama: Love Is War: Kaguya feigns good sportsmanship after Shirogane beats her at the end of first semester exams, but the narration notes that she's so frustrated over losing that she's on the verge of crying Tears of Blood and is internally throwing a temper tantrum. The same line about tears comes up again during the second semester exams when Ishigami fails to score in the top 50 despite Kaguya helping him study, but this time it's not being Played for Laughs.
- My Hero Academia: During the Tournament Arc, after her narrow loss to Bakugo, Uraraka manages to hold it together until her parents phone her to offer their commiserations, at which point she bursts into tears.
- Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: In Episode 6 of Season 2, after The Newgen Angels are beaten by the group, they're shown with tears in their eyes over losing.
- Pretty Cure:
- Smile PreCure!:
- Subverted in episode 2; Akane trains under a bridge after she loses a volleyball match, and Miyuki thinks she's crying. As it turns out, she was just sweating from her workout.
- Played more sympathetically at the end of episode 18. After all the girls have trained hard for the big relay race, Nao ends up tripping and being in dead last. She starts to tear up and apologize because she's afraid she has disappointed the others, but they all give her a huge hug and let her know she did her best.
- Subverted in Episode 48. The Cures have finally defeated Joker, so he wails loudly...only to then start laughing as he sacrifices himself to Pierrot.
- Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure: At the end of episode 10, Hikaru is shown Trying Not to Cry after she and the rest of the Cures have been defeated in battle by the Notraiders.
- Smile PreCure!:
- Happens quite frequently in Pokémon the Series:
- Pokémon the Series: Black & White:
- When Bianca loses to Cameron during the League championship in "Mission: Defeat Your Rival!", she bursts into Ocular Gushers.
- In "Meowth's Scrafty Tactics!", a Scrafty has a battle with Ash. After Tepig knocks Scrafty out with a Flame Charge, the latter starts to weep (both from humiliation and from losing his nest to a Mandibuzz).
- Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl: In "Dawn's Early Night", after Dawn loses the appeals round in a contest, she runs off in tears before letting out a Skyward Scream on the balcony.
- Pokémon: The Original Series:
- Downplayed in "Friend and Foe Alike". When Ash is beaten by Ritchie in the League, he briefly tears up, but manages to keep himself composed enough to congratulate him (though he does end up in a Heroic BSoD afterwards).
- Inverted; Gary's legion of fangirls all bawl Ocular Gushers when they witness Gary going down in a battle. Misty quips that if she cried every time Ash lost, she'd be "waterlogged".
- Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire:
- There's a variation of this in "Balance of Power". Norman doesn't mind losing to Ash but Max is devastated to see his father, whom he's always held in high regard, go down like this. He steals Ash's new badge and locks himself in the greenhouse, ugly-crying about the whole ordeal. Norman manages to snap him out of it by telling him that losing is part of being a gym leader.
- Both times with May. The first occurred when she lost to Drew in 'Win, Lose, or Drew', as she was still gaining her footing as a Pokemon Coordinator. But her loss to Solidad at the Kanto Grand Festival in 'Channeling the Battle Zone' is arguably the most heartbreaking example. For all her companionship to Solidad prior to her match against her, her loss came after she rose so high up, not to mention after beating her archrival Drew. While May still congratulated Solidad and was congratulated by Ash, Brock, and Max when she met up them, this loss still left May in a bawling fit.
- Pokémon the Series: XY:
- In "A Showcase Debut", Serena loses her first big Pokémon Showcase after Fennekin ends up tripping over her own ribbon. Though she seems to take it well, the next morning, she breaks down in Inelegant Blubbering.
- In "The Cave of Mirrors", the mirror counterpart of Ash is quite Prone to Tears, and he wails when the mirror version of Serena defeats him in a battle. Later, he cries again when Team Rocket defeats his Pokémon.
- In "Master Class is in Session!", when Nini loses to Jessie at the first round of the Master Class Showcase, she holds her head down to hide the tears going down her face. In that same episode, Miette tears up as well, but she still decides to be a Graceful Loser and congratulates Serena for her victory.
- In "Performing a Pathway to the Future!", when it is announced that Shauna will not make it to the finals of the showcase, she cries a little bit, but still chooses to be happy for Serena's success.
- Pokémon the Series: Black & White:
- Slam Dunk: After Shohoku is beaten by Kainan, Sakuragi weeps in frustration, especially because they'd come so tantalizingly close to victory and it was his blunder in the heat of the action (he'd mistaken Kainan's center for his own captain Akagi due to similar heights and builds) that cost them the win. Akagi himself offers him words of comfort, understanding that accidents happen in the chaos of a match.
- Umamusume: Star Blossom; unlike a lot of the other Umamusume spinoffs, umas do not take their losses very well as moments of crying or Trying Not to Cry are frequent after big races. Sakura Laurel is visibly devastated and covering her eyes to save face in front of her trainer following her loss to Snow in Hazard (denying her a shot at the Satsuki Sho), and her one-time rival Sugar Nation collapses sobbing into her sisters' arms after she comes in second to Laurel in their face-off.
Art
- The Fallen Angel: The most iconic element in the composition is Lucifer's tearful gaze. Cabanel puts special emphasis on them — at center stage and framed by Lucifer's arms — to illustrate Lucifer's crushing defeat in Divine Conflict against God, which means that he's now forbidden from setting foot in heaven. He's mourning and ashamed.
Comic Books
- Asterix: In Asterix and the Cauldron, Asterix has just lost a swordfight with Chief Whosemoralsareelastix (right after finding out that he'd tricked the heroes into paying his own taxes for him). The Chief smugly raises his sword over his head, declaring that he and Asterix are now going to "settle their account", but, before he can bring down his sword, the cliff he's standing on crumbles below his feet, making him fall. Chief Whosemoralsareelastix keeps a grip on the cliff-face to stop himself from falling to his death, but the cauldron of sestercii is not so lucky. Being a greedy little man with a Money Fetish, instead of being grateful for his own narrow survival, the Chief stays clinging to the cliff, helplessly sobbing about how his money is no good to anyone now.
- My Little Pony: Friends Forever: In Issue #12, Twilight Sparkle tries to help Pinkie Pie overcome her addiction to a treat called PheNOMNOMenons, which only comes to Ponyville once a year. After she is unable to keep Pinkie under control, Twilight decides to try the tasty dessert to see why Pinkie finds it so appealing. Cue a montage of the two ponies wolfing down a load of PheNOMNOMenons. After getting a stomachache, Twilight bursts into tears and bemoans "the agony of defeat" over failing to help Pinkie Pie.
- The Powerpuff Girls: In one DC comic, Princess Morbucks the Bratty Half-Pint ends up in tears after she loses to the Powerpuff Girls in an action-packed badminton match.
Fan Works
- KidatHeart5's
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction The Bonds of Family sees Princess Skyla become convinced that her younger sister Flurry Heart will turn evil. She is then tricked into drinking corrupted spring water that turns her into a shadow alicorn. In a desperate bid to return her sister to normal, Flurry uses the Gem of Harmony on her. However, it sends the older one to the moon instead and shatters as a result of their broken bond. After Flurry runs away in shame, Princess Luna decides to go to the moon to talk Skyla out of her nefarious goal. Skyla — now Nightmare Sky — refuses to change her mind and even calls Luna a traitor for siding with Flurry Heart. Luna, heartbroken that she couldn't save her granddaughter, bursts into tears as soon as she returns to the Crystal Empire.
- Dungeon Keeper Ami: From "Nero's Spell (Part 2)": Ami cries because she's about to die, because it means she'd fail her friends and everyone else who depends on her for protection:
Hot tears stung in her eyes as she beheld the huge creature that would be the end of her, bringing its clawed forelimb down to smash through the steel lid above.
Films — Animated
- Disney:
- 101 Dalmatians: At the climax of the film, Cruella de Vil and her henchmen give the Dalmatians chase via different vehicles. Just after Cruella rams her beat-up car against the back of the moving van the dogs are on, the Baduns accidentally drive into her, and the three of them plummet into the gorge below. With the dogs now clear for escape, Cruella berates her henchmen before bursting into tears in defeat.
- Lilo & Stitch (2002): Agent Pleakley is sent to Earth with Jumba Jookiba to capture Jumba's experiment Stitch (known to them as "626"), but they are either cautious because of the presence of humans or constantly failing at every turn. After a few days have passed, the Grand Councilwoman loses patience and fires them for their "incompetence." While Pleakley bursts into tears, Jumba is ecstatic at the chance to "do it [his] way" without restrictions or stealth.
- Make Mine Music: In Casey at the Bat, Casey bursts into Inelegant Blubbering when his overconfidence (read: deliberately missing the first two baseballs so that he'd hit the last one and look cool, only to end up missing that one as well) ends up costing him his victory in the baseball game.
- Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers: When the Beagle Boys kidnap Princess Minnie (and Lady Daisy) and leave the three musketeers in the mud, Mickey wonders how they're going to protect the princess now. Donald then suggests that they've failed their mission, to which Goofy responds to such a thought with Inelegant Blubbering. Thankfully, Mickey refuses to lose hope, and he and his pals rush off to save the princess (and her lady-in-waiting).
- The Rescuers: After Penny retrieves the Devil's Eye Diamond for Madame Medusa, the Rescue Aid mice and the swamp critters band together to help Penny escape her captors. As the diamond had been stuffed inside Penny's teddy bear, Medusa gives chase before the critters strand her on her sunken boathouse. As Penny and the critters ride away on her swampmobile, Medusa sobs over losing her precious diamond.
- Robin Hood: Prince John is prone to losing his cool over every slight by Robin Hood. One of his more notable examples comes in the beginning of the movie after Robin and Little John rob him while disguised as gypsies. Prince John orders his guards to give chase, but since Little John took the liberty of unscrewing the gold hubcaps from the carriage wheels, the force of the wheels coming off throws the prince and his aide Sir Hiss from the royal coach. He then pounds the mud in a tearful tantrum.
- The Sword in the Stone: Madame Mim and Merlin have a contest to see who can transform the best. Merlin ultimately beats Mim by turning into a sentient germ that gives her a Polka-Dot Disease. She doesn't take her defeat very well and sobs/coughs before being confined to her bed.
- Wreck-It Ralph: During the Random Roster Race, Vanellope's bully Taffyta taunts her with "I told you, you're just an accident waiting to happen!" A few seconds later, Vanellope accidentally uses her glitching ability to teleport her go-kart in front of Taffyta and her cronies Rancis and Candlehead just before a huge gap in the racing track. This startles the three of them so badly that their karts go flying off the track and into a huge pile of frosted cupcakes. When Taffyta re-emerges, she starts to cry loudly.
- Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution: In the opening, after Ash defeats a pirate in battle, the pirate falls to his knees and weepsnote .
- My Little Pony: Equestria Girls 1: After Twilight and the human versions of the Mane Six knock out Sunset Shimmer with the Elements of Harmony, Sunset crawls out of a pit with Tears of Remorse streaming down her face.
- Toy Story 2: Downplayed, since Stinky Pete the Prospector can't shed tears due to being a toy. After being defeated by Andy's toys, Stinky Pete ends up stuffed into the backpack of a girl who loves to draw and paint on her toys. He can only sob, mourning both the loss of his dream to be displayed in a toy museum and what he considers the grim fate of being doodled on.
Films — Live-Action
- Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves: Guy of Gisbourne receives a mission from his cousin the Sheriff of Nottingham to apprehend Robin Hood and his Merry Men. When he fails, he returns to the Sheriff and breaks down. The Sheriff initially seems to understand...until he stabs Guy in cold blood.
Literature
- The Butter Battle Book: The protagonist Yook officer and a Zook named VanItch engage in an arms race throughout the book, often with VanItch outdoing the Yook's new weapons. After one such instance, the Yook officer reports back to the Chief Yookeroo in tears.
Yook: "I have failed, sir," I sobbed as I made my report.
- Harry Potter:
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: When the Goblet chooses the champion for Beauxbatons School, the girls who are not chosen burst into tears.
- Journey to the West: Sun Wukong is prone to this whenever he faces a powerful enemy he can't defeat or believes that his master has died. Notable cases include his encounters with Red Boy, the One-Horned Great King, Great King Yellow Brows, the Hundred-Eyed Demon, the Three Kings of Lion Camel Cave, and the King of the Southern Mountains.
- Oliver Button Is a Sissy: When Oliver loses the talent show, he tries to hold back his tears.
- Origami Yoda: In "The Strange Case of Origami Yoda", Mike has a tendency to break down in tears whenever he loses a baseball game. He insists that there's a difference between "boo-hoo tears" (tears of sadness) and "mad tears".
- Pig the Pug: In "Pig the Winner", Pig is said to bawl and have a tantrum every time he loses a game. The illustration shows him wailing after he loses at chess to Trevor until the latter tells him he won just to quiet him down.
Live-Action TV
- Power Rangers S.P.D.: In "Shadow Part 1", the Rangers defeat Debugger, a giant monster Mora created, and Debugger starts weeping when he’s arrested. Emperor Gruumm watches and throws a fit, yelling that evil monsters don’t cry. Mora says that Debugger is sensitive.
- Sesame Street: In the "Crying Game" skit, whoever cries the most wins the contest. After Sonny Friendly is declared the winner, all the other contestants bawl when they're told that there are no consolation prizes.
Video Games
- Ace Attorney:
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All: The culprit of "Turnabout Big Top" cries when they are found to be the culprit, shortly before confessing to their crime.
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations: In "Bridge to the Turnabout", tears trickle down the culprit's face when their crime and their involvement in it are discovered.
- In the Arm Champs game Arm Champs II, characters Chang, Goliath, and Shibayama break down in tears if the player defeats them. Watch it here.
- Bubble Hero 3 ends with you facing a Humongous Mecha who, upon defeat, lets out Ocular Gushers.
- In Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck, when Chuck Jr. loses all of his health, he starts crying and throwing a tantrum, after which, he calms down and can continue where he left off at the cost of one life, unless he loses all of his lives and has to start again from the beginning at the cost of a continue. Junior's crying and tantrums upon defeat are justified considering that he is a six-month-old baby.
- Crash Bandicoot:
- Crash: Mind Over Mutant: After the mutated Dr. Cortex got defeated by Crash, he breaks down into tears while destroying his ship before changing back to normal.
- Crash Team Racing: Several characters (mainly villainous ones) cry on the podium if they don't win the race, such as Cortex and N. Tropy.
- Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled: Various characters look angry or disappointed if they aren't in first place on the podium, but several of them outright cry, such as Cortex, Komodo Joe, and Rilla Roo. Komodo Joe even has Ocular Gushers.
- Cuphead:
- When the protagonists defeat Baroness Von Bon Bon, she breaks down in Ocular Gushers, complete with a Volumetric Mouth. Whippet Creampup, the sentient castle, also pounds his fists on the ground while crying alongside his master.
- The Devil starts crying after the player beats him up enough to push him into his final phase.
- Daley Thompsons Supertest: When Daley loses he's seen sobbing while his rival, Hyper Bill, poses on the victor's podium.
- Donkey Kong Country:
- In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, if Dixie Kong gets hurt, she cries before the player loses a life. She also does this in the following game, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!.
- Donkey Kong Country 3 also introduces Kiddy Kong, Dixie's baby cousin. When he gets hurt, he bawls loudly before the player loses a life, though this is justified considering his young age.
- Fight Fever: When Golrio, a large indigenous Brazilian character, is defeated, he kneels on the ground and begins to cry, tears falling from his eyes like rain.
- In the Necrohol of Nabudis in Final Fantasy XII, the player/s must battle a creature called The Fury. After it is defeated, it weeps these as it collapses on the ground.
- Freedom Planet: When Milla and/or Carol run out of lives, the "Continue?" screen shows them crying. Milla is even shown in a Troubled Fetal Position as she weeps.
- Head Panic: The Oni boss is crying as he drops off-screen as part of his defeat animation.
- Kirby:
- In the series in general, the defeat animation of Whispy Woods and his relatives will have a teardrop hanging one of his eyes.
- In Kirby's Dream Land, King Dedede stares ahead blankly with tears streaming down his face when you beat the game on Extra Mode, humiliated by his defeat.
- Kirby's Blowout Blast: The defeat animation for King Dedede's Revenge when you beat him in the Secret Path has tears streaming down his face, much like the Kirby's Dream Land example mentioned above.
- LEGO Stunt Rally: Glacia cries into one of the wheels of her Ice Monster after losing her boss race.
- Lost Ruins: The weakest and final phase of Rosie's boss fight has her with Ocular Gushers.
- Moshi Monsters:
- Sometimes if you get a bad score at the Puzzle Palace, your monster will either tear up a little or bawl loudly.
- In the instructions for the licensed card game "Moshi Monsters Mash-Up", two monsters are seen playing the game. The loser bursts into Ocular Gushers and demands a rematch.
- Pokémon:
- In Pokémon Gold and Silver, Whitney, the gym leader in Goldenrod City, will burst into tears after losing to the player and accuse them of being a child, saying that they shouldn't take Pokémon battles so seriously. One of the trainers comments that Whitney always gets upset when she loses and recommends giving her time to calm down. This becomes a character trait she grows out of in the remakes, where she maintains her composure after losing rematches with the player.
- Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon: When the player beats Hau for the position of the League Champion, Hau brushes a few tears off his face, but he continues to smile.
- Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: When Poppy is defeated by the player in battle, she bursts into tears, though she calms down rather quickly. Justified, as she is a young child.
- PriPara: After SoLaMi Smile beats NonSugar, Non appears to take the loss well...until she starts crying. Not long after, Chili and Pepper cry with her.
- Punch-Out!!: In the Wii game, Bear Hugger (in his Title Defense getup) is seen crying in the defeated opponents' gallery after Mac has beaten him up in the ring.
- Sega Ninja: In a moment crossing over with Beauty Is Never Tarnished, Princess Kurumi is sitting down and crying whenever she lose a life before respawning. If the player's out of lives, she just keeps crying as the Game Over screen appears.
- Sonic Adventure 2: The losing Chao will cry when they lose a round of Chao Karate.
- In the obscure SNES game Street Combat (a repackaging of a Ranma ½ Fighting Game), the main character fights opponents such as G.I. Jim and ninja-esque Lita. When G.I. Jim is defeated, his losing animation shows him shedding tears that pool on the ground. Likewise, when Lita loses, she sits on the ground and cries Ocular Gushers.
- In Super Catboy, the defeat animations of the Rottweiler, Mole, and Bull bosses see them sitting down and letting out Ocular Gushers.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- Mario Golf: Anyone who gets a Double Bogey will often throw a tantrum or at least not take it well, and various characters outright cry over this, including Toadette, Mario, Bowser Jr., and Luigi.
- Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: Bowser Junior bawls and slams his fist against a steering wheel whenever he gets anything below first place in a race.
- Mario Kart Wii: Various characters cry when they lose kart races, including all the babies, Toad, Toadette, and Diddy Kong.
- Mario Sports Mix: Luigi, Donkey Kong, and Waluigi all break down in tears if they lose a match, with DK even slamming his fist on the ground as he does so.
- Mario Strikers: Quite a few characters bawl and throw a tantrum whenever they lose a soccer match in Charged. In Battle League, however, the only characters to cry upon losing are Luigi, Yoshi (who even has Ocular Gushers), and Daisy.
- Mario Super Sluggers: Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Bowser Junior are seen crying whenever they lose a baseball game. King K. Rool also does this as well, sobbing and clutching his head in frustration if he loses a minigame.
- Mario Tennis: Many characters react this way to losing a match throughout the series, such as Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Peach, Toad, Peach, and Daisy.
- Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins: When Mario beats Wario in a boss battle, Wario shrinks, starts crying, and then runs away while sticking his tongue out.
- Super Paper Mario: When Francis is beaten in his boss battle, he bursts into tears and runs away, yelling, “Mercy!”
- Downplayed in the Super Smash Bros. series, with the Ice Climbers rubbing their (assumingly tearing up) eyes if they lose a match.
- Skylanders: Hijinx cries with her face in her hands when she's defeated in battle.
- Street Fighter II: After losing a fight, some of the characters (such as Chun-Li) will have tears in their eyes in addition to bruises.
- The Wonderful 101: The "Continue?" screen shows the ghosts of the main characters crying over their dead bodies until an option is selected.
Websites
- The Art of Manliness: Defied in "When is It Okay for a Man to Cry?". It is said that crying when your favorite sports team loses is very pathetic.
Western Animation
- The Amazing Spiez!: In "Operation: Killer Condos", the Villain of the Week, Sharky Houseman, cries when the spies defeat him.
- Animaniacs (2020): In "Gold Meddlers", Nils Niedhart bawls Ocular Gushers to the point of leaving a puddle of tears on the ground after losing his medal to the Warners.
- Arthur: In "Team Trouble", Arthur reads Francine's comic about herself competing against him and Buster that the Geek Olympics. After she won all the games, Arthur and Buster started crying because they lost to her.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: In the finale, Azula breaks down into tears after Katara defeats her.
- Drawn Together: In "Clara's Dirty Little Secret", the housemates hold a The Bachelor-style reality show to find someone who can love Clara enough to lift the curse on her privates. A couple of contestants are eliminated and are shown crying in the backseat of the car as they're being taken away.
- KaBlam!: In one Life with Loopy skit, Mother Nature bawls Ocular Gushers that cause rain for the rest of the summer after losing to Loopy in a bowling match. Loopy even calls her out for being a bad loser.
- Looney Tunes: Elmer Fudd occasionally has a tantrum after Bugs outwits him one too many times.
- The Loud House: In the episode "Driving Ambition", Lori ends up in tears when her name is last on the scoreboard due to how bad she is at golf.
- My Big, Big Friend: This is invoked at one point in "Holding It In". Since Yuri's tears will cause the water park's water to run again, Matt points out that losing a race might get his waterworks going. Yuri ends up shrugging it off, though.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Invoked by King Sombra in "The Crystal Empire - Part 2". While trying to find the Crystal Heart, Twilight Sparkle unlocks a door barring her way and unknowingly steps into an illusion of Canterlot Castle. She is then confronted by Princess Celestia, who tells Twilight that she has failed in her mission. Upon seeing the stained glass window depicting Sombra succeeding in taking back the Crystal Empire, she collapses into tears. She only snaps out of the illusion when Spike calls out to her.
- Peppa Pig:
- In one episode, the Zebra twins, George, Richard, and Edmond wail Ocular Gushers every time they lose at party games.
- In "Garden Games", George wails Ocular Gushers whenever he isn't good at the games Suzy and Peppa choose.
- The Powerpuff Girls:
- The Powerpuff Girls (1998):
- Towards the end of "Stuck Up, Up and Away", Princess has tears going down her face after the girls take turns attacking her (she even has the shame of being saved from falling from a very high distance by Blossom).
- During a flashback in "Reeking Havoc", the Professor is shown sobbing hysterically into his pillow, screaming, "WHY MEEEEE?!?!" after a crushing loss in a chili cook-off that apparently resulted in a hazmat team taping his house up. Later, this is downplayed when he's forced to give up his trophy after it's revealed that the Girls spiked his chili with Chemical X, as he's shown tearing up a little, but not crying nearly as hard as before.
- In "The City of Frownsville", Lou Gubrious makes the entire city bawl with the effects of his Miser-Ray. However, Bubbles doesn't start crying until Lounote declares himself the new winner of the Happiest Citizen in Townsville award before taking her trophy.
- The Powerpuff Girls (2016):
- In "Super Sweet 6", Princess is most indignant after the Girls thwart her attempt to launch them into the sun. She tries to spray them with a huge bottle of icing, but she sprays herself instead and then starts crying.
- The Powerpuff Girls (1998):
- Recess: In the episode "The Beauty Contest", whenever the Ashleys are eliminated from the Talent Competition, they hug each other, crying.
- Samurai Jack: In "The Princess and the Bounty Hunters", after her associates are defeated by Jack in a Curb-Stomp Battle, Mira realizes she is unable to stand a chance against him, and sheds a Single Tear before falling to her knees.
- The Simpsons: In "Bart Gets an F", Bart tries to buckle down on his studies so he won't repeat the fourth grade. However, he keeps getting distracted and forgetting all the facts he needs for his next history exam. When he takes the exam, he gets yet another F. He then bursts into tears as he tells Mrs. Krabappel that he tried really hard this time.
- South Park: In "Breast Cancer Show Ever", Cartman and Wendy get into a scheduled fight. Wendy easily beats the crap out of Cartman, and he ends up in Inelegant Blubbering over the fact that he was beaten by a girl.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: In "A Day Without Tears", after Squidward loses a bet with SpongeBob, he has to stay over at his house for the night and ends up wailing as SpongeBob tries to comfort him.
- The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!: At the end of "Two Plumbers and a Baby", King Koopa charges at Mario and Luigi when they're trying to reverse the flow of the literal Fountain of Youth. They trip him and he is sent flying into the fountain, which turns him into a baby. He swears revenge on them and then storms off crying like the baby he is.
- Wacky Races: In "Race Rally to Raleigh", Dick Dastardly grumbles and then throws a tantrum while sobbing after he comes so close to winning yet another race.
- Wander Over Yonder: In the credits animatic of "The Little Guy", Hater's ugly-crying when everyone falsely believes Westley is dead. When Peepers tries to comfort him, Hater then clarifies that he's just unhappy that he failed to thwart Wander and Sylvia again.