Act in haste, repent in leisure.
— Old saying
People will often say or do things that they regret later. But sometimes they don't have to wait. Sometimes the regret is instant. This can involve situations between other characters, or it can involve personal choices made for one's own self that did not work out well.
In situations involving others, in the heat of the moment words were said in anger, often a Devastating Remark, or an action was taken with irrevocable consequences. No matter how much it is regretted, it cannot be unsaid or undone.
The audience will be shown right away that the person who said or did something in the heat of the moment is fully aware, and regretful, that they crossed a line, but that doesn't matter. Because they said something or did something that gravely hurt another person. Typically not physically (though that's possible), but mentally and emotionally. Can follow a Moment of Weakness.
Sometimes the two parties will eventually reconcile on their own. Sometimes they will require a Third-Party Peacekeeper to help smooth things over. And sometimes the rift is permanent, no matter how apologetic and remorseful the person who crossed the line feels. Sometimes a Heartfelt Apology and/or Meaningful Gift will help repair the rift. Other times, these attempts might be viewed by the offended party as cheap manipulation, even if they're not intended that way. In some cases it can lead to a Heel or Jerkass Realization. It'll often result in a Rejected Apology while the wound is still fresh.
In some situations it may overlap Exact Eavesdropping. If what's regretted is injuring someone, it overlaps Accidental Injury Guilt.
In situations involving the character's own personal choices, it could be that they made a hasty decision, or at the very least did not think one out clearly. For instance, running from danger they could come to a split in the path, and in a split second chose one direction, only to immediately discover that it either led to a dead end, or worse, an area with even greater danger. Of course, with a personal decision, it need not be a matter of life and death, just a choice one decides immediately was the wrong one.
Many a Tragic Hero will often have Instant Regret after making that one fatal Tragic Mistake that dooms them.
This could be a single episode, or it could be a whole story arc, depending on the work.
It can overlap with Dude, Not Funny! if a joke comes off as inappropriate or offensive.
See also My God, What Have I Done?. May overlap A Tragedy of Impulsiveness.
Super-Trope of Mid-Suicide Regret.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Blade of the Immortal: In the past, Rin's grandfather Takayuki and Anotsu's grandfather Saburo were competitors at the same dojo. Despite Takayuki's clearly inferior skill in kenjutsu compared to Saburo, when he was offered the license by the master out of both nepotism and spite towards Saburo's lower-class background, he impulsively accepted it and did nothing to stop Saburo from being cast out, a decision that haunted his life and spelled doom for his family fifty years down the line.
Asano: And my father regretted his lack of strength until the day he died.
- Delicious in Dungeon: Marcille tries to find a way to pull out a Mandrake root that doesn't involve having a dog pull it out and ultimately dying to the mandrake scream like she was taught in mage school. She tries using a wild Big Bat instead. The mandrake root screams at the big bat, which causes it to go flying right towards her while the root is still screaming. She thinks to herself that life is full of choices, and having a Big Bat pull out a mandrake root was a really stupid idea.
- How Do We Relationship?': When Saeko gets into a relationship with Yuria, Saeko is in college and Yuria is working while training to be a hairdresser, which is an expensive and stressful process. Saeko, who's in her third year of college, considers getting a head start on her job search to support Yuria, but Yuria is uncomfortable with feeling indebted to Saeko. Saeko explains that she doesn't have any higher ambitions than wanting to help the woman she loves, and Yuria replies that "It's not about what I accept or don't. It's about how awful it makes me feel." Yuria immediately regrets saying this, and the two somewhat patch things up before parting ways, but the issue of Yuria not wanting to be indebted to Saeko is why Yuria ultimately breaks up with Saeko.
- KonoSuba: Played for laughs when Kazuma and Megumin are visiting the Crimson Demon Village, and the village guards interview them while they're investigating mysterious explosions in the nearby forest. Naturally Megumin is on the top of their list of suspects, and Kazuma teasingly asks if she'd somehow snuck out the night before. An irate Megumin blurts out "how could you ask that when we spent the whole night together?!" before clapping her hands over her mouth in embarrassed horror. Everyone present looks to the lie-detector bell, but it remains silent. Everything a desperate Megumin says simply makes things worse (the bell rings when she insists, "Nothing happened!" and "We only kissed! Once!" note ), but the guards are convinced of her innocence. Despite this, Megumin wails as she explains to Kazuma the guards are the biggest gossips in the village, and by the time they get home the rumours would probably claim she was pregnant with his child or something.
- One Piece: During the Water 7 arc, the crew get informed that Merry has taken too much damage to her keel that she won't sail any further and is unfixable, meaning the Straw Hats need a new ship. Ussopp gets this information late due to being laid up after being attacked by the local gang. Once Luffy tells him, this sparks an argument between Luffy and him with Ussopp claiming that Luffy was "abandoning" Merry after she was deemed useless. Obviously Luffy doesn't feel this way and just trying to put up a brave front but the two boys get so heated that Luffy yells that if Ussopp doesn't like the way he captains, he can leave. Sanji tries to step in and stop Luffy from completing the sentence and Luffy, realizing this, instantly regrets it and tries to apologize. Alas the damage is done, Ussopp knew what he was going to say and decides take him on his offer. Usopp's decisions is largely influenced by his feelings of inadequacy for being unable to protect the crew's money earlier that day, and it's certainly not helped by how Luffy harshly but honestly pointed out that Usopp's amateurish carpentry skills weren't good enough to keep the Merry going.
- In The Summer You Were There, during flashbacks, Shizuku wanted to help her classmate Ruri, who was falling behind due to being frequently absent, but Shizuku's bluntness and short temper resulted in her making tactless remarks that eventually escalated to outright verbal abuse. This culminated in Shizuku getting annoyed with Ruri for taking too long to carry curry to the cafeteria, and lightly shoving Ruri on the back, causing Ruri to fall over and spill the curry. The moment Ruri begins to fall, Shizuku has a My God, What Have I Done? expression on her face. Unfortunately, Ruri's best friend Seri witnessed this incident, slapped Shizuku and denounced her as a bully, resulting in Shizuku's reputation being ruined and her becoming a depressed social outcast for years.
- Tenchi Muyo!:
- In the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki episode "I Love Tenchi", Ryo-Ohki runs into Tenchi's room just as Tenchi yells out "I hate you!" at Ryoko for unwittingly destroying his mother's old kimono. Ryo-Ohki mews in confusion, causing Tenchi to realize he unwittingly yelled at Ryo-Ohki and she runs out, leading Tenchi to try to find the cabbit to apologize.note
- In the movie Daughter of Darkness, Ryoko spends most of the movie rightfully suspicious of Mayuka, who claims she's Tenchi's daughter, though it comes off as her being jealous. Ultimately, Ryoko has had enough when Mayuka tries to feed Tenchi and demands answers. When Tenchi tries to break them apart, Ryoko's attempts to try and get through to him end up leading to him unwittingly slapping her. Tenchi's horrified by what he did and tries to apologize, but the heartbroken Ryoko teleports away.
Comic Books
- Asterix: In Asterix and the Roman Agent, Asterix and Obelix have an argument, after Obelix unknowingly ruined Asterix's attempt to prove to a suspicious Vitalstatistix that he isn't friends with the Roman Convolvulus, by eating all the boars during their meal. Obelix leaves Asterix's house by saying "Ave Asterix" and starts grumbling only to become instantly remorseful and run back into Asterix's house where he and an equally remorseful Asterix apologize to each other, before making up with a drink.
- Iron Man: When FBI agent Neil Stretch threatens to arrest Pepper Potts and the hospitalized Happy Hogan unless Pepper agrees to cooperate with him, Pepper agrees to work with him. Pepper provides Stretch with the code he needs to activate a failsafe which deactivates the Iron Man armor. She regrets giving Stretch the code the minute she gives it to him, as she tells a comatose Happy.
Fan Works
- In the Classic Disney Shorts fanfic Disaster Date
, Kylie reaches her Rage Breaking Point and rants at Goofy after their date goes awry. She quickly regrets it once she's done, but then Goofy runs away crying.
- This exchange between Goku and Meta Cooler in Dragon Ball Z Abridged while the latter chokes the former:
Goku: Is that...all you've...got?
Cooler: As a matter of fact...
[Cooler's arm swells and he chokes Goku even harder]
Goku: Augh, regret! Regret! - Everyday Craziness in Pontypandy: In "Valentine's Daze", while Gabby is complaining about being set up with undesired dates on Valentine's Day, she mistakenly lets slip the real reason she doesn't like any of those boys; she's a lesbian. The second it leaves her mouth, her face falls and she attempts to backtrack.
- Fate/Zero Paradox:
- In the sequel Fate/Stay Night: Paradoxical Blade Works, Rin and Lancer X get into a pretty nasty argument about their differences in priorities for the Holy Grail War, along with Rin’s subconscious bias against Ruby on account of what she believes happened to her father and the previous Lancer X, Jade. As they get more heated because Caster X is using a spell to amp up negative emotions between those present, Rin finally lashes out after Ruby brings up her need to prove herself in the eyes of her lineage and her father, and furiously declares that Ruby is only emulating her dead mother. Seconds after she says it, Rin immediately recognizes that she crossed a line with how unnecessarily spiteful she was, but Ruby is too hurt to speak with her for some time and Rin’s pride and temper prevents her from fully acknowledging fault and apologizing in full for it.
- Inter Nos:
- Zigzagged. Shizuru, furious that Takeda had mistaken Natsuki for a slave and attempted to buy her, storms out of the room after Natsuki had interrupted the fight between them. She asks Natsuki if she heard what had been said of her, but Natsuki denies it. In a fit of frustration, Shizuru kisses Natsuki, startling the younger woman. Shizuru immediately feels she's crossed a line, and decides she's little better than Takeda. She even entertains that she might be worse, because she feels she took advantage of Natsuki while claiming to be her friend. She runs out into the snow and starts beating her fists bloody against an ice covered tree. Fortunately, Natsuki finds her and brings her back to their shared room, where she binds Shizuru's hands, telling her "Don't do that again." Shizuru thinks she means the kiss, until Natsuki clarifies, as Shizuru's bodyguard she doesn't want her to ever run off alone again. The two have a Relationship Upgrade at that point.
- After Natsuki lost her left leg in combat, she is recuperating at the port city of Argus, when Shizuru checks in on her. Shizuru tells Natsuki she plans to leave her in the Argus. Natsuki, feeling like she's being treated like an invalid, balks. Shizuru, is adamant, while Natsuki insists she can still look after herself. Shizuru remarks, "And see what has come of it!" Natsuki immediately slaps her for the remark, causing both of them to have immediate regret, Shizuru for realizing that she's caging her lover, and Natsuki for striking Shizuru. Shizuru takes the hand that slapped her and holds it, apologizing, and allowing Natsuki to remain at the base camp on the Himean side of the border instead of Argus, while Natsuki gently kisses Shizuru's hand and cradles it against her own face to apologize for losing her temper.
- Kaleidoscopic Katamari: Partway through The Star of Damocles, Marcy confronts Dipp about his ill-considered plan to pass himself off as the 'real' heir to the Great Cosmos. He snaps back that unlike him, she and her twin Lalala aren't 'really' royalty since their non-noble mother divorced their abusive father. She cuts him off with an Indignant Slap, and he's left tasting acid and already regretting his impulsive response before she kicks him out of her house.
- In the The Loud House fanfic Lincoln's First Birthday, Luna punches a baby Lincoln in the cheek for getting frosting on her toys. She gasps in horror at what she's just done right after this and Lincoln bursts into tears.
- Loves Melodies: In the second chapter, Kousei and Kaori are both arguing about the former being too difficult in helping the later in recovery after her surgery. It culminates in Kousei threatening to play another solo instead of playing with Kaori. Kaori gives a grim look, which makes Kousei realize he went too far and apologizes. Luckily, Kaori's next reaction is more playful as she snatches Kousei's glasses and makes him chase her.
- In the Sonic the Hedgehog fanfic My Porpoise in Life, two-year-old Oceana chews her baby sister Vivian out for supposedly getting them lost and then pushes her. Vivian scrapes her elbow and Oceana gasps in shock at what she's just done. She then makes up for it by wrapping the ribbons securing her pigtails around Vivian's elbow.
- In the Yo Kai Watch fanfic Puppylove Problems, Roxy reaches her Rage Breaking Point with Puppylove when she's had enough of his mischief and tells him off for causing trouble all day. Right after she's done, she sees that she's driven him to tears and apologizes for having been hard on him.
Films — Animation
- Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation: In the heat of the moment, Cricket lashes out to Bill that he doesn't like him during their fight, which happens after Bill said he didn't like Cricket's idea. Suddenly, when the wire and the ship collides, Cricket ultimately realized in horror what he just said to Bill as he looks around the destruction and begins to realize Big City about to crush by a meteor is his fault.
- A subtle look after Cricket accused of him not liking him just because he doesn't like his ideas which led to him saying his heartbreaking Wham Line, Bill instantly feels bad for unintentionally making his son think he never liked him.
- Cars 1: After Lightning finds out Doc is actually his old idol, the Hudson Hornet, they have an argument, leading to Lightning pushing the wrong button and realizing it a few seconds too late.
Lightning: How could a car like you quit at the top of your game?
Doc: ...You think I quit?
Lightning: Right... your big wreck in '54. - Hercules (1997): When Philoctetes tries to warn Hercules about Megara working for Hades, Hercules doesn't believe him. This leads to an argument that ends with Hercules hitting Philoctetes in the heat of the moment, only to react in horror and guilt as he sees him fly into a pile of training equipment.
- How to Train Your Dragon (2010): Stoick, angry at Hiccup for keeping the secret of the Dragon's nest from him and for his involvement with Toothless, tells Hiccup in a moment of anger that he's not his son. However, when he turns to walk away, the look on his face makes it very clear he regretted those words as soon as he spoke them.
- The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part: After Emmet destroys Queen Watevra's wedding altar and pushes away Lucy under the false assumption that she's been brainwashed by the Systarians as she tries to stop him, he quickly becomes horrified to see that doing so has only brought Armamageddon closer instead of stopping it entirely like he thought, and he tries to help Lucy evacuate before Rex Dangervest forcibly takes him away from her.
- The Little Mermaid (1989): After King Triton finds out Ariel's in love with a human, he is so enraged that he destroys her grotto with his trident to make a point to her that everything related to humans is forbidden. As soon as Ariel starts to weep for her lost treasures, his stern expression softens into one of regret, before he swims away.
- My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games: When Sunset Shimmer discovers that Human!Twilight Sparkle had been inadvertently siphoning off Equestrian magic throughout the film, compounded with the former’s growing frustration with being unable to keep Equestrian magic from interfering with the titular school event, she ends up going ballistic on Twilight for letting her curiosity with Equestrian magic put everyone’s lives at risk. But after Twilight tearfully apologizes for her actions and runs away, Sunset immediately expresses regret for hurting her feelings.
- My Little Pony: The Movie (1986): When Baby Lickety Split improvises her own dance moves during a dance number and ends up derailing it, Buttons and the other baby ponies scold her for it. After she runs away in tears and Spike runs after her, they look back at them in regret.
- My Little Pony: The Movie (2017): When an attempt to get the Pearl of Transformation ends with a panicked and frustrated Twilight Sparkle getting caught up in its defenses just as the other Mane Five had gotten Queen Nova's permission, Twilight and Pinkie Pie have an argument over the former's actions. At the height of the argument, Twilight shouts that "Well, maybe I would've been better off without FRIENDS LIKE YOU!". It's quite clear that Twilight's stress at having the fate of Equestria on her (supposed) shoulders has finally taken its toll on her and the Mane Five leave her so they can cool off... and things get worse.
- Shrek the Third: During their takeover of Far Far Away, Prince Charming and his goons confront the fairytale friends, demanding to know where Shrek and Fiona went. Gingy briefly loses his mind out of fear and starts singing "On the Good Ship Lollipop," while Pinocchio responds to Charming's interrogation by speaking in Confusing Multiple Negatives to avoid giving their location away with his growing nose. One of the Three Little Pigs cracks under the pressure and blurts out, "Enough! Shrek went off to bring back the next heir!" He claps his hooves over his mouth, but the damage is already done.
- Up: Carl whacks a construction worker named Steve in the forehead with his cane for damaging his mailbox. When Steve falls to the ground and his forehead bleeds after the fact, Carl feels awful for it judging by his facial expression and he retreats to the inside of his house.
- Wreck-It Ralph: Ralph is angry that he was the only person who wasn't invited to the Nicelanders' 30th anniversary party. Felix invites him in, but Gene keeps insisting he doesn't belong there because he is "just the bad guy who wrecks the building." When he says it too many times, Ralph angrily shouts, "No, I'm not!" and smashes the cake, splattering everyone with pink frosting. He regrets it and leaves the party, with a new resolve to win a gold medal like Felix so everyone will stop seeing him as just a bad guy.
Films — Live-Action
- Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy: Ron jumps in a bear enclosure at the zoo to rescue Veronica. Immediately after doing that, he realizes that just left them both surrounded by 3 bears, and he exclaims, "I immediately regret this decision!".
- Ghostbusters (1984): After Gozer has been defeated and her devil dogs roasted by the explosion, Ray remarks that it smells like "barbecued dog hair". He instantly apologizes to Peter, realising that said dogs had been innocent humans only minutes earlier. Fortunately, those humans prove to be alive and well moments later.
- The Godfather: During the climax of the gang war, with tensions at their highest, Sonny Corleone lashes out at his adopted brother Tom Hagen during an argument, saying that if Tom had been a "wartime consigliere", like Vito's former Sicilian consigliere Genco Abbandando, and thus taking a shot at Tom's non-Sicilian heritage, he wouldn't be having these problems. Though he immediately regrets his words when he sees that Tom is deeply hurt, and apologizes saying that he didn't mean it.
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: After Thorin expressed his impatience and frustration about Bilbo, viewing him as The Load after saving him from falling from a cliff and saying that Bibo doesn’t belong with the dwarves, a hurt Bilbo decides to leave the company and go back to Rivendell. Bofur tries to convince him to change his mind, saying that he knows that Bilbo is missing his home and that it's hard for him, to which an angry Bilbo lashes out that no, he doesn’t know, that "they (the dwarves) don't belong anywhere". Bilbo immediately regrets his words and takes them back, knowing how the dwarves lost their home, though Bofur, despite being hurt by Bilbo's words, wishes Bilbo the best of luck.
- Kate & Leopold: Kate shouts at Stuart that she wasted the best years of her life on him; he shoots back, "That was your best?" and judging by his reaction, he instantly realizes that that one was over the line.
- Pay It Forward: Trevor chews out his mother Arlene for her alcoholism and she slaps him in a fit of rage. She stands there in shock for a second before running off to ease her shame with some beer.
- Rocketman (2019): In their conversation just before the "Pinball Wizard" concert, Elton, fueled by very fresh trauma and drugs, blows up at Bernie for simply offering him advice and support. He goes on a tirade that amounts to him saying Bernie isn't a "real friend", screaming at him for a suggestion that didn't land well, and then telling him to "just write the fucking lyrics". Elton storms away to do the show...only to immediately turn around, grab Bernie's hand, and tell him he's sorry. Bernie is quick to forgive with a simple "I know", but remains transparently concerned about his friend as the concert begins and remembers this conversation for years to come. Sadly, until his introspection at rehab, this is also the last time Elton's shown to genuinely regret the things he says to Bernie, as his anger only continues to escalate.
- X-Men: First Class: When Magneto has the American and Russian navies at his mercy and is about to kill them all with their own redirected nuclear missiles, Charles pleads with him saying that the people on the boats are "good men who are Just Following Orders". Then immediately realizes he just said that to a Holocaust survivor.
Literature
- In the kids' book The Day Leo Said, "I Hate You", a boy named Leo and his mother are in a bit of a bad mood with each other, which culminates in them arguing. The argument ends with Leo yelling that he hates being bossed around by her and then yelling, "And in fact, I... hate... YOU!" However, it's said that he immediately regretted saying, "I hate you" and wanted to shove the words back into his mouth.
- The Famous Five:
- In Five Go To Smuggler's Top, Julian suspects that Mr Lenoir has had a hand in the disappearance of Sooty and Uncle Quentin. When Mr Lenoir says he will call the police, Julian blurts out "I wouldn't have thought you would go to the police, you have too many secrets to hide!". In the following stunned silence, Julian could have kicked himself for saying this, but couldn't unsay it now.
- In Five on a Hike Together, Dick accidentally says "us" instead of "me" when faced with an angry man, and could have bitten his tongue out; as he has given away that somebody (Anne) is with him.
- The Lord of the Rings: Sam, talking with Faramir about Boromir reveals that the 'hidden heirloom' of Frodo's is the Enemy's Ring. He immediately turns white and cries out, "Save me! There I go again! Whenever you open your big mouth you put your foot in it the Gaffer used to say to me, and right enough. O dear, O dear!"
- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!: When Maria Campbell's rare Light Magic manifested, it started rumors in her home village that her mother had had an affair with a noble, since most magic was contained to noble bloodlines. Worse, Maria's father believed those rumors, and left his wife and daughter. Miss Campbell briefly thought that all of her problems would be gone if she just gave Maria to an orphanage, but she immediately regretted thinking it, knowing it was unfair to blame Maria for what happened. However, her own guilt caused her to withdraw from her daughter, and the two didn't interact much afterward until Catarina Claes visited and helped heal the rift between them.
- Warrior Cats: In the graphic novel "The Last Warrior", two pet cats ask Graystripe if he used to eat bones. While the real answer is no, he decides to mess with them by replying, "Yes, I ate bones, especially the bones of soft, lazy kittypets like you two!" and they run off hissing, to which he guiltily thinks, "That wasn't as fun as I thought it would be."
Live-Action TV
- Arrested Development: In "¡Amigos!", Tobias makes a rather tasteless joke about Michael's dead wife. A moment later, he realizes what he just said and sheepishly apologizes as he leaves the room.
Tobias: And secondofly, I know you're the big marriage expert– oh, I'm sorry, I forgot! Your wife is dead!
[Beat]
Tobias: ...I'm sorry. That was one hundred percent inappropriate, and I do apologize profusely– I'm– oh... - Frasier: Played for Laughs; in "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz", Girl of the Week Fay and her mother, Helen, begin arguing when Helen finds out that Frasier isn't Jewish and was only pretending for her sake. In a parody of Jews Love to Argue, things escalate fast and suddenly Fay is saying she hates her mother...only to instantly burst into tears alongside her. They patch things up in a matter of seconds and calmly leave for the airport afterwards. Minutes later, Frasier and Martin start fighting and go through the exact same hatred and tear phases, only for them it doesn't work very well, and they're frustrated that they're still crying in regret when the women had been hugging by then.
- Red Dwarf: Kryten is especially good at this trope. He often makes a remark to one of his crewmates, only to immediately regret what he has said and beg their forgiveness.
Kryten: Oh, how can I forget it, sir? I compared your mother to a foolish, aged, blubbery fish! I said she was a simple-minded, scaly old piscine! I intimated she was an ugly, lungless marine animal with galloping senility! A putrid amphibious gill-breather with... with less brains than a mollusc!
- Malcolm in the Middle: Played for Laughs in the episode "Poker." Hal who's still reeling from a loss to Abe, Stevie's dad, in a game of cards, yells at Stevie for annoying Malcolm. When Abe shows up, Hal admits to scolding Stevie and immediately apologized, though the audience doesn't see that. Eventually the argument turns personal, and they agree on a poker game rematch, to which Hal, a White man, tells Abe, a Black man, "I will OWN you!" Hal obviously meant it as in "I will win and brag about it," but after realizing That Came Out Wrong, he tries to apologize and Abe growls "just get the cards!"
- Even worse, that "I will own you" came after an entire episode of venting his frustration in ways that made it sound like Hal was accusing Abe and his all-Black poker buddies of being racist because he was the only White man. He was actually accusing them of classism because he was the only blue-collar worker there.
- Once Upon a Time (2011): Even on his better days, Dark One Rumpelstiltskin was hardly a saint, but he crossed a personal line for himself. When given the chance to live a normal life in a world without magic with his son Baelfire, he was unwilling to give up his power, even for his child's sake, and impulsively let him fall into the portal leading to Earth. Rumpelstiltskin immediately regretted what he had done and kept looking for ways to reunite with Baelfire, who considers his father to be Beyond Redemption. It takes a long while for anything to get better between them.
- Scrubs: Ted is served an extra hot tea, but Cabbage forgot to add a cardboard sleeve. Because Ted doesn't want people to pay attention if he were to make a scene, he just grabs the tea and walks away, only for him to instantly regret that his cup of tea is burning his hand, causing him to drop it and then dip his hand into another person's icy drink. All of his lines are in his inner monologue while he keeps a poker face the entire scene.
Video Games
- The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit: At the end of the game, a drunk Charles, angry on overhearing Chris's conversation with Claire, tells him that he sees Emily every time he looks at him and that if it weren't for Chris, Emily wouldn't have taken the car on the day she lost her life, essentially blaming him for her death. He instantly realizes what he has said and says that he didn't mean it, but an inconsolable Chris runs away to his treehouse.
Charles: Aw, hey, Chris, look, hey, I didn't mean that, buddy...
Chris: Yes... Yes, you did! - Dota 2: One of the chat wheel lines available to use for all players is "►I immediately regret my decision".
- Persona 5, Midway through June, Makoto asks Sae, her older sister and legal guardian what their late father would think of the vigilantes known as the Phantom Thieves. Sae, who is suffering from stress due to her need to get ahead in a male-dominated field while supporting Makoto, claims that Makoto can only think about such idealistic things because she's under Sae's care, expresses her bitterness over her father's death forcing Sae into her current position and calling Makoto "useless" to her. Sae regrets what she said, but the damage has been done, and Makoto being called "useless" the following day causes her to take desperate action to prove herself, with disastrous results(albeit with also unexpected benefits).
Visual Novels
- Kana: Little Sister: Taka used to have a crush on his classmate Yumi, and wrote her a love letter when they were in fifth grade. Unfortunately, their classmates found the letter and teased him relentlessly about it, while Yumi simply watched and smiled. She had intended for it to be an apologetic smile, but from Taka's point of view she was mocking him note . She seems to have realised that she made a mistake in not getting her friends to stop or saying anything to him immediately, and by the time she tries to apologise for it the next day (even bringing along a couple of tickets to an amusement park so she could ask him out on a date) his crush has turned into a virulent hate that lasts all the way from middle school until they graduate high school. When they happen to meet in university, she finally manages to get Taka to hear her out and tell him she's had a crush on him ever since they were younger, and bitterly regrets not stopping her friends on that fateful day.
Web Animation
- Mystery Skulls Animated: Lewis immediately goes from vindictive to regretfully horrified when he drops Arthur off a cliff, in a reversal of the circumstances that led to Lewis becoming a revenant ghost. His realization of what he's just done is so crushing that his heart locket immediately shatters and turns grey.
- Red vs. Blue: In Change of Plans, Epsilon-Church loses his patience with the Blood Gulch crew's resistance in following Carolina's orders to be used as Cannon Fodder and yells that every one of them has been a constant headache on a daily basis he has to deal with. This serves as the final straw for his friends as they leave Epsilon-Church and Carolina, and he recognizes he went too far in his rant but is unable to get their forgiveness.
- RWBY: In "The Perils of Paper Houses", when Weiss, Blake and Yang go to comfort Jaune after the Paper Pushers end up Ascending, causing Ruby to deliver quite the vicious "The Reason You Suck" Speech to everyone for ignoring her pain and agony while solving their own woes. Jaune, in turn, gets furious and accuses Ruby of playing the It's All About Me card and accusing her of them being stuck in the Ever After and Neo's attack on the Paper Pushers' village. Jaune quickly realizes he made a humongous mistake, but Ruby's had enough and bails on them.
Webcomics
- Born To Be Alive: After learning that Judy is now dating a female fox named Shay, Nick grabs Judy and shakes her, insisting that she's just lying to herself. Shay tries to pull him off her, and Nick then shoves her to the ground, causing her to bang her shoulder. He instantly tries to apologize, but Judy drags him out by his tie and slams the door in his face.
- Harpy Gee:
- At the end of Chapter 3, Humphrey gets into an argument about how reckless Harpy's actions are against the plant monster Urtica the two managed to beat and ends up hurting her feelings. He quickly notes what he said and tries to backtrack, but Harpy runs off before he can apologize. This isn't helped with Baird, who rarely talks, expresses his disappointment with how Humphrey handled things. Humphrey ends up stressing over this through the following chapter and trying to figure out how to to make amends with Harpy.
- In Chapter 5, Humphrey's twin sister, Halesia, comes to visit Podunkello and she instantly takes a dislike to Harpy since Humphrey and she are shown getting close to each other. During a birthday dinner for both siblings, Halesia eventually get so jealous at their relationship that she blows up and insults Harpy and her elf heritage. Opal tries to step in and defend Harpy, but Halesia pulls a petty trick with her magic via revealing that Opal's hair is not a natural pink, but a blonde which Opal isn't fond of. To say the least, everyone at the dinner is appalled by her behavior. Halesia realizes she went too far and tries to apologize to Opal, but Opal is too miffed at her to accept it and tells her off.
- I Will Survive: Judy and Nick are arguing over whether or not the former should terminate her pregnancy. Nick accuses her of not having a problem with killing the child for the sake of her job and she slaps him hard enough to knock him to the floor. Immediately after this, she tries to apologize, but Nick is having none of this and dumps her.
Web Original
- On the Reddit group Am I The Asshole (abbreviated as AITA), a woman spoke of marriage troubles. Specifically, her husband often tried to invite her into his "man cave" until one day she was annoyed enough to tell him off and complain his hobbies were childish. She immediately regretted her words, but the damage was done. The reason she was desperately looking for advice was because her husband had become cold to her ever since, and had even off-handedly commented he no longer blamed his father for divorcing his mother when he was a kid.
Western Animation
- Arcane: In "The Base Violence Necessary for Change," Powder accidentally kills almost her entire adoptive family with a monkey bomb explosion. Her older sister Vi, who has always been patient and loving until now, finally snaps. She hits Powder and yells at her that "you're a jinx!" She regrets it immediately and leaves the scene to calm down, but Powder thinks Vi is abandoning her and is left behind in the rain, sobbing and begging her to come back. Only a few minutes later, Marcus kidnaps Vi and Silco takes Powder away, separating the sisters for many years and leaving Powder to believe Vi never intended to come back for her.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: In "The Beach", Azula makes Ty Lee cry by saying that the boys who are chasing after her are doing it because she's an easy picking, she doesn't provide any challenge, only to become remorseful and take it back, admitting to Ty Lee that she was jealous because she doesn't succeed at attracting boys like she does. Later when Zuko mocks Ty Lee and calls her a circus freak, Azula laughs only to become immediately remorseful when she sees Ty Lee crying in response, though she hides it when Ty Lee looks at her.
- Batman: The Animated Series: In "Joker's Favor", Charlie Collins is having a bad day. He had a miserable day at work. He's going home to meatloaf. And the cops and Batman just blew by him on the highway. Tired of being pushed around, he decides to give a motorist who cut him off without signaling a piece of his mind. He begins to curse the other motorist out... only for the other driver to roll down his window and reveal that it's The Joker. Charlie suddenly finds himself at a loss for words, and tries to lose his new acquaintance, to no avail.
- Centaurworld: In the Grand Finale "The Last Lullaby", Horse desperately tries to warn Rider that the General is the one who started the war. But Rider refuses to believe her and in response tells Horse, who has been her best friend for a long time, that she is "just a horse". This response ended up bringing Horse to tears and causes her to walk away, which causes Rider to realize in horror what she just said and tries to take it back as Horse walks away.
- Green Eggs and Ham (2019): In the episode "There", when Guy-Am-I is upset at Sam-I-Am for hiding information from him, the former tells the latter that he doesn't fit anywhere, not even his own mother. This causes Sam to cry, which makes Guy realize he took things too far.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: In "Trade Ya!", the Mane Six goes to the annual Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange and Rainbow Dash wants to get a first-edition Daring Do book from a pony, who says she’d trade it for a pet Orthros. After Rainbow Dash gets the Orthros, the other pony changes her mind because of how unruly it is. After Fluttershy shows herself to be a skilled animal trainer, the pony says she’ll agree to the trade if Fluttershy comes with her to Manehattan to help train the Orthros, which would take a long time. Rainbow Dash agrees to the deal (because she wasn’t paying attention) and Fluttershy agrees to make Rainbow Dash happy, but after Rainbow Dash sees Fluttershy leaving with the other pony, she’s horrified as she realizes what she’s done, and she cancels the trade to get Fluttershy back.
- The Owl House: During their duel in "Agony of a Witch", the penultimate episode of Season 1, Eda and Lilith get a bit too personal in their back and forth, and when Eda flat-out states that she's better than Lilith (which, to be fair, is completely accurate in terms of power, work ethic, and independent thinking), Lilith finally snaps and screams "Then why were you so easy to curse?!". She immediately covers her mouth in shock, and then tries to explain herself, but Eda (who had passed her Rage Breaking Point before the duel even began) interrupts and turns the duel into even more of a Curb-Stomp Battle. Season 2 makes this even Harsher in Hindsight, as it's revealed that Eda's curse first manifested right after she forfeited a duel with Lilith, and completely ruined her life afterwards, crippling her father, ruining her most stable romantic relationship and her relationship with her mother, and generally endangering anyone she got close to.
- Rick and Morty: In "Rixty Minutes", Summer is frustrated because she's not finding very many timelines to see her alternate self. Beth tries to explain that her and Jerry being able to achieve their dreams may have resulted in them never meeting to give birth to Summer, and immediately regrets her words before she has a chance to pause to correct herself.
Beth: Well, you should select a different timeline, I mean, if your father and I achieved our dreams, there's a chance you weren't even born That Came Out Wrong, that came out very wrong.
- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: In Season 4 Episode 8 ("Boys' Night Out"), a tight argument between Adora and Glimmer leads to the latter angrily shouting that if Adora had been better, her mother wouldn't have had to sacrifice herself. Adora is so shocked that she nearly cries and Glimmer immediately tries to apologize but is interrupted by Mermista dragging the two off to save the others.
- The Simpsons:
- The B-plot of "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can" ends with Homer obtaining the last Ribwich in existence, for which an Italian man offers him the "lease-a" to his car. This reminds Homer of the A-plot — Lisa taking part in a spelling bee — and he agrees to the trade, speeding off in the man's car towards the spelling bee. The Italian man, meanwhile, eats the Ribwich and promptly complains that he has buyers' remorse.
- "The Squirt And The Whale" opens with the Simpsons visiting an energy convention and agreeing to purchase a wind turbine in the hope of getting free electricity. When the salesman assures him he won't regret the purchase, Homer replies that he's regretting it already.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: In "Born Again Krabs", the Flying Dutchman bets SpongeBob that Mr. Krabs is so greedy he'd sell SpongeBob's soul for a couple of bucks, and SpongeBob takes the bet. The Dutchman then offers Krabs all the money in his pocket (62 cents) in exchange for SpongeBob, and Krabs takes the trade. After the Dutchman leaves with SpongeBob, Squidward condemns Mr. Krabs for his despicable deed and Krabs is horrified and ashamed upon realizing what he's done to his loyal employee. Luckily, the Dutchman immediately brings SpongeBob back because he talks too much.
- Teen Titans (2003): Robin realizes as soon as he says of Starfire that She Is Not My Girlfriend that he had inadvertently hurt her feelings, and tries to clarify the statement, but finds he's only making it worse.
- We Bare Bears: In the pilot, several kids push Panda around. Grizzly then claws one of them in the back, causing him to fall to the ground and cry. Grizzly instantly regrets it and tries to apologize.