Karma Houdini

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Karma Houdini

An infamous example of a Karma Houdini, which these types end up being a cliché for other Cartoon Network characters who do horrible things and get away with it without getting caught.

Gender:	Anyone
Type:	Insufferable Houdini
Species:	Trope
Status:	Very Used
Media of origin:	Too many to count

A Karma Houdini (also known as an Unwilling Weed Reaper) is a character who repeatedly commits wrongdoings and somehow gets away with little-to-no comeuppance or karma. They are the polar opposite of Butt-Monkeys. No matter how bad they do or deserve it, karma just seems to forget about them and instead punish the innocent butt-monkeys.

Notable Karma Houdinis

Bishop/Lucas Bishop: During the entirety of the Marvel Comics storyline, Messiah Wars, Bishop (as a result of his character derailment) made Nathan Summers/Cable’s life miserable by trying to murder his daughter, Hope Summers during infancy. However, his ways are idiotic and he ended up injuring and killing MANY PEOPLE in the process and consistently stalked and harassed Cable and his newborn daughter. However, he received absolutely no punishment for his endeavors. To make matters worse, Cable and Hope (who is now a teenager) forgave Bishop for his erratic behavior when he apologized, this behavior should not be forgiven and he should’ve been arrested for all the crimes he committed, yet, he got off scot-free.
Angelina Ballerina: Similar to the previous character above. She frequently throws meltdowns but doesn’t get scolded by her parents and usually gets scot-free for this.
Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Susie, Kimi & Dil (Rugrats; While they are still likable, in almost every episode, they cry, scream and get upset over the slightest things and sometimes for no reason and they always get rewarded and spoiled by their parents and barely suffer punishments for their horrible behavior and actions. There are some episodes where they get away with their horrible behavior and actions in some episodes where they're unlikable too.)
Elmo (Sesame Street; in some episodes, Elmo will get upset about not having his way and is rewarded for his behavior, especially when he sees Zoe become obsessed with a rock named Rocco. However, despite being a little kid, Elmo is generally nice, considerate, and inquisitive otherwise.)
Manny Heffley (Diary of a Wimpy Kid; Almost never gets punished for his misbehavior. For example, in Cabin Fever, he shut the power off in every room in the house except his and left his family to die just because no one ever taught him to tie his shoes. And he didn't get punished!)
Frank Heffley (Diary of a Wimpy Kid; At one point, he bought some things to gain his own money from his house without his wife's permission.)
Norman Price (Fireman Sam: whenever he is the cause of the emergency in any episode he is in, he is always let off with a warning and never gets properly punished.)
Dukey (2005, seasons 4-6) (Johnny Test: Although he is supposed to be the role model of Johnny Test, he is responsible for putting Johnny into a handful of situations, and not once is he blamed (except occasionally by Johnny's sisters))
Hugh Test (2005, seasons 4-6, 2021) (Johnny Test: It is implied that he hates Johnny. In "99 Deeds of Johnny Test", he threatened to send him to the military academy if he got one more detention and was upset that his permanent record was cleared. And in "Spotless Johnny", he threatened to take away his pants for a week. Not only will that get Johnny in trouble for public nudity but it will also get Hugh arrested because he's the responsible one.)
Fanboy and Chum Chum (they always irritate and harass Kyle and Lenny every time they encounter them, and usually don't get consequences for it.)
Kirby (1995 and 2006) (He bullies many characters from his series like Waddle Dee, Waddle Doo, and even King Dedede, but he never gets any consequences at all for what he does. This may be justified since he is the protagonist of the game, but still.)
Four (BFB 1-29; They nearly always behave like an absolute asshole towards the other contestants (and their co-host X) by screeching at them, killing them, insulting them, and usually get scot-free for their actions.)
Bufo (Wolfoo: Bufo sometimes gets away with his bad behavior, but sometimes, he gets what he deserves at times thankfully.)
Jerry (Tom and Jerry [Gene Deitch era]): In each short, he never gets punished. Instead, he wins in every episode of the Gene Deitch-era and the Filmation era, and with the minor exception of Calypso Cat, he never gets his comeuppance.
Dee Dee (Dexter's Laboratory): Granted the main premise of the show is based on her messing up Dexter's stuff, but she never seems to get any comeuppance for some of her more intentional destruction of his work. To be fair, there are episodes where karma does catch up to her, such as when Dexter makes the test subject for a motion-control belt or when he sleeps underneath her bed and his loud snores scare her so much she can't sleep, but it's not enough to remove her karma houdini status.
SpongeBob SquarePants (seasons 6 & 7 only):
Patrick Star (seasons 6-8 only) (SpongeBob SquarePants): Is this of the Idiot-Houdini category?
Mr. Krabs (SpongeBob SquarePants: especially in later seasons of the series. Most infamously in One Course Meal, where he led Plankton to attempt suicide by letting himself be roadkill after he tormented Plankton by wearing a Pearl costume, and then Mr. Krabs laughs when SpongeBob tells him this.)
Incidentals (SpongeBob SquarePants: They are infamous for being complete and utter jerks to anyone around them and for nagging, but rarely get punished for their actions.)
Trevor Troublemeyer (Sidekick: He's noted for being a horrible friend towards Eric Needles and comes off as a jerk who refuses to take responsibility for his actions, and just frames them all on Eric.)
Kevin (Ed, Edd n Eddy: Though to be fair, it is justified why he torments Eddy, and he does receive a punishment sometimes. Besides, he’s only really a karma houdini when he’s at his worst.)
Mish, Mash and Mush (Taffy: They sometimes be known as terrible friends to Taffy, in the episode "Hero Worship" they stupidly believe that Taffy pretending to be tortured by Bentley to impress his nephew Bradley was real and blackmailed Taffy into trying to fight back Bentley to have a golden League of Raccoon card. When Taffy manages to fool Bradley again by LITERALLY SLAPPING HIMSELF WITH BENTLEY'S PAW, They fall for it too and shred his card, however when Bentley gives Taffy the key to the caviar cupboard, they don't even apologize or get any comeuppance for their mistake, they just give let him back into the League of Raccoon all because they wanted some caviar in the cupboard, which makes them both Karma Houdinis and Idiot Houdinis.
Big Tex Arkana (Buddy Thunderstruck: Due to his greedy and villainous nature, he was shown to be running a pawnshop with thieves and underpaid employees that hard work for any wage in earlier segments of the show which caused him to be doing crimes with them, most notably in the infamous episode, "Get the Hock Out" where he hires Buddy and Darnell (despite them having no money) just to scam other Greasepit citizens into their stuff that they got from his pawnshop. All the crimes that he and his employees did will lead to them being arrested by Sheriff Cannonball or losing more money from his pawnshop dealing with lawsuits and thousand dollar fines from Thunderstruck Trucking and other people who either got their stuff broken or stolen by his employees, despite this, Big Tex somehow redeemed himself in "The Sneezing Fits of Death" (though he did go on a trip without knowing that his son was left at home in Babysitters Yo).)
Megan Parker (Drake & Josh: Her abundant practical jokes and pranks more often than not get Drake and Josh into trouble and she never gets punished for any of them, leaving Drake and Josh alone to be given the blame while Megan almost always gets off scot-free.)
Lynn Loud Jr. (The Loud House: Constantly bullies her brother Lincoln by using him as a sports dummy or someone to blame for her wrongdoings and usually nicknames him "Stinkoln". The most infamous example comes from "No Such Luck", where she not only gets the family to believe Lincoln is "bad luck" over a fumbled softball game, but allows them to disown him because of it, and gives a very half-hearted apology for what she put her brother through, and even threatens to beat Lincoln up with a baseball bat if he didn't come to her game. She bullies the other sisters occasionally, though it's generally not as extreme compared to what she does to Lincoln.)
Sergio (The Casagrandes: He normally causes trouble by stealing stuff, destroying things, antagonizing people, invading privacy, pulling pranks, insulting others, or bullying Bobby. He was at his worst in “This Bird Has Flown”, where he uses the family's feelings and Bobby's outburst to his advantage by flying away from the Casagrandes' apartment building.)
Bendy (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Framed Bloo, Coco, Eduardo, and Wilt for doing pranks around the home and tricked both Mr. Herrman and Frankie into believing him. He then pulls a nasty grin at them whenever Mr. Herrman and Frankie have their backs turned. In the end, Bloo got punished by being forced to clean up the gum under the couch while Bendy got off scot-free. He ended up being so hated that he never appeared in another Foster's episode again except for his signature being shown briefly in the final episode Goodbye to Bloo.)
Goofball McGee: (He treated Frankie like his own personal servant, messed up her chores and pinned the blame on her, and exposed her disguise and made Mr. Herriman punish her and took her place at a concert she wanted to go and boasted about it to her, and when it was revealed that he is an imaginary friend, this somehow excuses all of his actions and he gets off scot-free.)
Bowser (SuperMarioLogan: He gets little to no comeuppance for torturing Chef Pee Pee.)
Tobias (Pokémon: He never got any comeuppance for his actions after he defeated Ash and won the Sinnoh Conference by using only legendary and mythical Pokémon, which are supposed to be banned outside of the Elite Four and Champion rounds.)
Jebedissa Bravo (Johnny Bravo: She scared Johnny and the mystery gang away as the Ghostly Gardener because he doesn't like Johnny because she thinks he's an embarrassment to the Bravo family. Instead of lashing her for her actions, the Mystery Gang apologizes to her for ruining her plans and decides to tie Johnny around a tree, which not also makes her a Karma Houdini, but also the Mystery Gang, except possibly Shaggy when Jebedissa starts flirting with him.)
Mr. Goodman (SuperMarioLogan: Except for "The Bet!", he never gets any comeuppance with torturing Mario with house payments, and most episodes feature him winning.)
Rosalina (SuperMarioLogan: Except for "Mr. Goodman's Revenge!", she never gets any comeuppance for abusing Mario, and lets Jeffy torture Mario as well as dehumanizing and also abusing Jeffy herself. She even cheats on Mario, becomes a hypocrite over Mario hanging out with other girls, and purposely tries to get Mario to cheat on her just to have him suffer. She was also revealed to be a selfish goldigger and a prostitute which makes her worse than Nancy and Goodman and is responsible for assisting the Alien with destroying planets which counts killing off billions of lives.)
Randy Betancourt (Big Nate; Constantly bullies other students at his school but rarely gets caught.)
Gus and Combo (Ryan's World: Despite this, they do apologize for their actions, thankfully.)
Kaname Asagiri (Magical Girl Site: He was captured by Detective Kichiro Misumi, instead of being taken to custody after he killed Nijimi.)
Sarina Shizukume (Magical Girl Site: She was slit to the throat by Yatsumura instead of putting down the box cutter, while Sarina was trying to scar Aya for revenge in killing her friends.)
Jiro Asagiri (Magical Girl Site: He loses lifespan from using Nijimi's panties to the point of focusing on keeping Kaname studying while stopping site admin, Juni from attacking the family)
Jade West (Victorious: She couldn't play Steamboat Suzy, but she was never punished for causing Tori to pass out from blood loss.)
Swiper the Fox (Dora the Explorer; except for the Christmas special, he doesn’t get punished for his actions, even though Dora and Boots try to stop him.)
Chilly Willy (Woody Woodpecker: Chilly almost always wins at the end of his episodes (even more than Woody Woodpecker), even in episodes where he doesn't deserve to win for stealing food and also be a jerk to Smedley. In The New Woody Woodpecker Show he always wins in every episode. His 2018 version is much worse as a sadistic psychopath who tortures even Woody Woodpecker and acts more like a villain than a hero.)
Kat (Kid vs. Kat: constantly bullies and frames Coop Burtonburger and often gets away with it scot-free. He's only a Karma Houdini when he doesn't (barely) get comeuppance because sometimes he does.)
Jonathan Joestar's Bullies (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood: gets off scot-free and receives no punishment from bullying Erina Joestar.)
Francine Rhenquist (a minor recurring character who only made one major appearance in The Simpsons episode "Bye Bye Nerdie": Throughout the entire episode, she constantly bullies Lisa and bunch of other "nerds" and she seemingly received no punishment at all for it, even at the end of the episode where she beats up every scientist in the convention.)
Pencilmate (Pencilmation; He almost always gets off with his idiotic actions.)
Lofty (a one-time character who made his only appearance in The Smurfs in an episode, "A Loss of Smurf" [He's not to be confused with the character from Bob the Builder]: although he served as a saboteur to a character, he is the one who tricked Vanity into taking a bog bath that turned him into a Wartmonger, and since Lofty never appeared throughout the rest of the episode, he never received any comeuppance for his actions, which would have been either the other Smurfs confronting him or receiving karma of any form.)
Jeffy (SuperMarioLogan: While he can get his comeuppance sometimes, he mostly tortures his father and Rosalina lets him get away with it time after time.)
Carter Blake (Heavy Rain: Aside from getting suspended if he kills Ethan Mars and being haunted by Norman's ghost if Norman Jayden is dead, Blake always gets away with being aggressive towards suspects and he never gets punished for his police brutality.)
Scott Shelby (Heavy Rain: If none of the main characters reach the warehouse and/or fail to save Shaun Mars and if Lauren Winter dies too, Scott Shelby will get away with all of his crimes of being the Origami Killer.)
Roy Earle (L.A. Noire: He is utterly loathsome given his bigoted views, his status as a dirty cop and unpleasant personality in general, but is never punished for his corrupt crimes. Also the fact that he sells out Phelps and gets away with it only twists the knife even further.)
Chris McLean (Total Drama: While he did get sufficient karma in the first four seasons--even getting arrested for hosting Revenge of the Island on a toxic waste dump, Chris gets little to no punishment at the end of All-Stars and Pahkitew Island. This is ironic because Chris was supposed to be on parole for the events of season four. The worst thing Chris did was reveal Shawn's confessions and Sky's audition tape to their respective helpers Jasmine and Dave. This was the move that Chris does not get any punishment for, considering this was the last episode of the original Total Drama series before the show went into spin-offs and Chris was semi-retired.)
Pizza Rat (We Bare Bears: The Movie: He ratted out the Bear's location to Agent Trout and his troops in a selfish act to get more social media followers and is never seen again for the remainder of the movie and gets off scot-free.)
Gerald Broflovski (South Park (season 20): his actions caused the entire conflict of the season, he became an online troll known as SkankHunt42 and targeted women and little girls and bully them to commit suicide, which causes the girls at South Park elementary to become hostile towards the boys, and corrupted Butters into becoming a misogynist and rallies other boy students to join him to protest against the girls, and framed his sons Kyle and Ike to his wife Shiela that they're SkankHunt42, and gets off scot-free at the end of the season.)
D'Vorah (Mortal Kombat: She is always betraying someone to gain more power and kills off fan-favorite characters like Baraka, Mileena, and even Scorpion (one of the most iconic characters of the franchise and mascot) and she is never seen again for the rest of MK11's story mode.)
Rob (The Amazing World of Gumball: Unjustifiable moment where he framed the duo and didn’t get punished for it.)
Sugar (Total Drama: Pahkitew Island): While she did get somewhat of a comeuppance at her elimination, most of time, she never gets any comeuppance for doing things she does like bullying Ella, and almost killed Sky after she (Sugar) pushed her (Sky) off of a really high mountain, she neither got any comeuppance for that either.)
Amy (Total Drama: Pahkitew Island): Like Sugar, she did get comeuppance at her elimination, but most of the time, she gets away with bullying Sammy and is never called out by the other contestants (except for Jasmine).
Nassur the Hamas Teddy Bear (Tomorrow's Pioneers: Being the only costume-based character who (sadly) survived throughout season 4.)
Nina Einstein (Code Geass R2:) Though she did atone for her actions and she did get captured by Lelouch, she doesn't get any severe consequence for creating F.L.E.I.J.A. which killed millions of Japanese people.)
Mario (Vs. Wario Comics; commits animal abuse and never got any comeuppance whatsoever.)
Pencilmiss (Pencilmation; never gets punished for bullying Pencilmate.)
Jibril (No Game No Life: Zero: Has killed Schwi and showed no remorse for it.)
Irene Alvarez vda. Mangayao (Sahaya: Has abused her stepdaughter Sahaya & her mother Manisan multiple times up to the point she almost tried to kill Manisan by ramming her with her car. She even framed the two for kidnapping her husband Harold when he decided to run away with them & even blamed them for Harold's death when her ally, Salida, shot him for protecting the two)
Saucy Chicken (ToonMarty: She has abused Chef and at one point made everyone hate Marty and got off Scot-Free.)
Dilweed & Fungus (Numb Chucks: They never get called out (except for Buford and Hooves) when they cause all hell to break loose)
Luc Maxwell (Looped: He never learns from his mistakes and always gets away with it.)
ANY Happy Tree Friends Villain (Happy Tree Friends: Despite Lumpy and Fliqpy sometimes getting punished, Splendid, The Ants, and Mr. Pickles hardly ever get punished.)
Wither Skeleton (Monster School) (He cheats on challenges, and never gets disqualified.)
Aoi Asahina (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc): While she's normally a likable character, chapter 4 has her at her absolute worst. After she finds that her best friend Sakura Ogami committed suicide and believes that it was due to the other students' treatment of her due to a false note written by Monokuma, Aoi completely refuses to accept the fact that Sakura chose to end her own life and tries to get her and the other students executed by framing herself as Sakura's killer in the trial. In the end, the other students throw all the blame onto Monokuma and forgive Aoi immediately, not holding her accountable for the actions that she chose to commit in the slightest. Thankfully, Aoi realizes the error of her ways after the truth is revealed. But then anime comes along and manages to make her even less sympathetic by having her scream at the other students that they deserve to burn in Hell, and yet somehow, we're still supposed to feel sorry for her!)
Junko Enoshima (Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School) (She lured Chiaki Nanami into a maze filled with booby traps, tortured her to death, forced the rest of Class 77-B to watch to turn them into Ultimate Despairs, and didn’t even get punished by anyone for it. Although she is defeated by mh:greatcharacters:Makoto Naegi, Hajime Hinata, and the other surviving students in Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair)
Mugman (The Cuphead Show!) (Although a half-likable character most of the time, he doesn't get punished for causing Cuphead to lose his soul)
Mask Salesman (Naruto) (Throws a mask at Naruto, and yells at him. He doesn't receive a punishment for doing that, even though it's technically child abuse).
Tsumugi Shirogane (Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony) (She killed Rantaro Amami and framed Kaede Akamatsu for it, resulting in Kaede Akamatsu getting wrongfully executed, and Tsumugi Shirogane getting off scot-free for it until the 6th Class Trial. But like Junko before her, this doesn't last long, as she's defeated in said trial by Shuichi Saihara, Maki Harukawa, Himiko Yumeno, and K1-B0)
Tenko Chabashira (Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony) (No matter how awful her behavior gets, her classmates rarely (if ever) even try to call her out for it. Despite everything she said, and did, during her Free Time Events, no one even tried to point it out and everyone simply let her continue her terrible behavior towards the males.)
Lizzie Devine (Codename: Kids Next Door) (Her first appearance has her attempt to brainwash Nigel, only to be later forgiven by the rest of Sector V. And she often acts hostile and stalkerish towards him, and never gets punished for any of it.)
Fanny Fulbright (Codename: Kids Next Door) (She's a huge boy-hater, hypocritical, blames others for her own mistakes, and even willingly decommissioned Sector V after describing what would happen in way too much detail, but the most she ever gets for all of it is being chewed out for an apt failure and her bouts of stupidity, or personally humiliated for a comedy gag.)
Chad Amani (Chad) (He breaks two of Ried's possessions throughout the first season, sabotages Peter and Denise's romance, and serves no comeuppance whatsoever.)
Peppa Pig (she almost always gets away with being nasty to others and receives little to no consequences at all for her actions)
Pink Diamond (Steven Universe) (She started a war between her people, traumatized her sisters by faking her death despite knowing all too well how they'd react, abused her power over Pearl by forcing her to bottle up her emotions, bubbled Bismuth away in Lion's mane and lied to the other Crystal Gems about what happened to her, is responsible for too many other horrible things for them all to be listed here. And what does she get for all of that? A peaceful life on Earth with Greg and the other gems where she's praised as a hero!)
Jake Spidermonkey (My Gym Partner's a Monkey) (He regularly treats Adam like garbage, but rarely, if ever, gets his comeuppances.)
Iona Hikawa (Happiness Charge Pretty Cure!) She regularly treats Hime terribly and never listens to her side of the story about opening Axia and inadvertently releasing all the evil forces into the world, even blaming her for getting her sister captured. Hime was trying all she could to restore her kingdom while Iona was refusing to cooperate with the other cures and was never called out for any of it. The only comeuppances she gets is when she gets her ass kicked by Phantom, which made her realize that it was her fault, not Hime's, that her sister was captured. Although unlike most examples, she does realize the error of her ways and makes amends with Hime.
Akane Tendo (Ranma 1/2) (She often assaults and beats up Ranma, sometimes for the pettiest of reasons, and never faces any repercussions for her actions. But to her credit, she sometimes does have a good reason to be angry at Ranma since he isn't always completely innocent either.)
Sunny (Strange Magic) (He felt so entitled to Dawn that he tried to use a love potion on Dawn despite not knowing if she really reciprocated and only deciding to do it because maybe she wouldn't. And on top of that, he promised to take care of the potion only to screw everything up at the ball, and still got off scot-free and end up with Dawn in the end.)
Mr. and Mrs. Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb) (They treated their son Heinz like absolute dirt and never faced any consequences for any of it.)
Foxy Loxy and Goosey Loosey (Chicken Little) (She and most of the other characters treated Chicken Little horribly throughout the film all because he thought that the sky was falling, and her redemption at the end felt rushed and forced.)
Judge Peckinpah (The Angry Birds Movie) (He hypocritically sentenced Red to anger management classes when he too has anger issues, made the others sitting at the court laugh at Red when he said something insensitive about him, never showed the slightest bit of suspicion towards the pigs even when they destroyed Red's house. He barely even treats Red like a citizen and still gets forgiven too easily for his actions by the end. But to his credit, he is another example who realizes they were wrong and redeems themselves by the end as well.)
Lu (Mike, Lu & Og) (She's almost always treating everyone around her like trash, mistreats her pet turtle Lancelot, and sees herself as above everyone around her. Yet she rarely, if ever, gets called out for any of it.)
Golly Gopher (Re-Animated) (He's manipulative, egotistical, and only shows concern for his reputation and never the slightest for anyone around him, and never faces any consequences for his behavior.)
Craig Yoshida (Re-Animated) (Despite being labeled as Jimmy's "friend", he spends the entire movie berating, pushing around, and taking advantage of him. And yet, the movie tries to portray Jimmy in the wrong for finally standing up for himself and treats Jimmy reconciling with Craig as a "happy ending".)
Titan (Space Chimps) (He doesn't receive any punishment for letting Zartog take over the space center where the three scientists at besides being called out by the chimps and Kilowatt for his actions in the sequel)
Vendetta (Making Fiends) (She constantly does cruel and spiteful things such as making monsters, or fiends, through baking, and even terrorizes the town she lives in. But this could be explained by the fact that she's a villain protagonist)
Princess Peach (SMG4) (She doesn't get any comeuppance for kicking Mario out of the castle in "Mario Joins the Circus", she has tried to murder Mario multiple times, and was ungrateful that Mario gave King Bert his crown back in "If Mario Was in Fall Guys" because she cared more about getting a new crown for herself.)
Morgan Patrick (Andi Mack): She is a criminal, as her mother allows her to do whatever she wants, and even when she does bad things, her mother denies any acknowledgment of it, making it one of the reasons she gets away unpunished.
Kyosuke Kiriya (Kamen Rider Hibiki): He's an annoying, obnoxious, overly competitive, and mean-spirited jerk, looks down on others for little to no reason, and yet never seems to get any kind of punishment for his actions (in fact, he still got to become an Oni despite his terrible behavior in the show).
Sam Manson (Danny Phantom): She isn't a bad character but she occasionally can be considered as a karma houdini.
Paulina Sanchez (Danny Phantom): She is mean-spirited, vain, stylish, and insensitive and usually thinks she is above anyone below her social status. But she still never gets punished for her actions, nor does she realize the errors of her ways.
Dash Baxter (Danny Phantom): He is a very selfish, cruel, and mean-spirited bully, and unlike other bullies like him in another cartoon (Francis from The Fairly OddParents for example), he almost always gets away scot-free with his actions toward Danny and his friends.
Karma Akabane (Assassination Classroom): He's a name troper after a Karma Houdini for example he bullies Nagisa, but he's still a well-written character.
Katsuki Bakugo (My Hero Academia): When he used to bully Deku is never got punished for it even when he told him to commit suicide for not having a quirk.
Khannie the Panda (The Wacky World of Tex Avery; receives no comeuppance and goes unpunished with torturing Genghis)
Niles (SMG4): Got to go to heaven, despite destroying multiple universes and killing innocent people. same goes for SMG0.)
Nico (Cinta Kura-Kura): He does not get any comeuppance for torturing or framing Adam and doesn't even apologize to him, unlike his owner Nani.
Eliot Kid (Eliot Kid): He constantly gets away with his actions most of the time due to his imagination, but he sometimes does get his comeuppance, though he never learns from them.)
FeeBee (Unikitty!) (She never gets punished for being a jerk to people who take her flowers.)
Zoe MacPherson (Baby Blues; She bullies and tattles on her younger brother Hammie a lot and gets little-to-no punishment from her ignorant parents.
Lighter (Object Overload; The number of times he does get punished for his cruel actions can be counted on one hand.)
Wallet (Object Terror; He constantly abuses everyone around him much like Lighter and Four, but he rarely gets punished for his actions.)
Martin and Roland (The Transformers): doesn't get punished for their actions, especially with torturing Elise at the end of this episode.
Wolfoo (Wolfoo: Treats everyone badly and hardly ever gets his comeuppance whatsoever.)
Mrs. Lawson (Dhar Mann Videos): Abuses her son Jay and creates terrible scenarios to teach her son a lesson, and she gets away with it.
L and O (Alphabet lore; They have been peer-pressuring N since he met F when they were lowercase, they humiliated the latter by forcing him to spell the word "Frick", making the other letters cast him out, and despite being the main reason of F's rampage, they always get away with it, rather than being killed by F. Not to mention, L is the worst between the two, as he kept treating N harshly in his uppercase form, although the three belong to the same superhero crew.)
Miss Frankie (Solar Opposites): In “The Apple Pencil Pro", she mutated a pig named Peter, tortured him, and tricked him into falsely accusing the Solar Opposites because Yumulack and Jesse gave her wolverine-style claws to get out of a history test. She got the entire alien family arrested and tortured both in prison and in public and she gets off scot-free. Nobody ever finds out that she is the true culprit. Which even made her look like a saint to Foster's Home Bendy.
The Coachman (Pinocchio): He was never punished for his actions in the film, and he was never seen ever again afterward and gets off scot-free.
Jacky the Hedgehog (Cosy Corner): He's an extremely obscure character. Even though he did a lot of bad things in Cosy Corner, he was never punished for it (except in episode 43 where he was punished by Nina). He was not punished especially for bullying Stella and Victor. In some episodes, he even fought with his devoted friend - Nina. He's only been punished once, he's treated like someone of higher rank, and he's unkind in almost all episodes (especially in his main cameos), which means he's karma houdini.
Stanley Livingston (Tennessee Tuxedo): Always punishes Tennessee Tuxedo and Chumley whenever they mess with something that belongs to him and never gets punished for mistreating Tennessee and Chumley.
Xena and Xavier (Odd Squad): While there were a few times that they got consequences, they got away with their use of abusive authoritarian tactics most of the time. Most notably in "Odds and Ends", where they committed several crimes enough for them to get fired from Odd Squad.
Chet (Micah's Super Vlog): Despite getting some exposure to some of his punishments, he tends to get away with bullying others, most notably Micah, and is somehow able to go to school and continuing those mean actions when he just could've been suspended, expelled or sent to juvenile detention.
Hanz (Micah's Super Vlog): Similar to Chet, he gets punishments but gets away with putting others down in almost all of his appearances.
PB & J (Micah's Super Vlog): Other than being yelled at by Dennis for the unauthorized game show they've made in "Fruit of The Spirit; Self-Control", they don't get punished for putting others down like Hanz along with their unauthorized game shows and at one point; fraud in "The Big Fail", since they made a scoop about Micah's lie instead of asking him if it happened or not.
Peter Griffin (Family Guy season 8-present): He always commits so many evil and wrongful acts and always gets away with them.
Miki Kawai (A Silent Voice): She was one of the culprits who was involved in bullying Shōko, acts like she never did anything wrong, played the victim, and puts all the blame on Shōya. Even worse, the infamous bridge scene, where she turns everyone against Shoya, exposes his crimes which causes Shoya to snap and badmouth her along with Naoka, Miyako, and Tomohiro. Other than getting called out by Shōya, Naoka, and even Satoshi for her negative personality, she receives no comeuppance for her actions. Though she did at least beg for Shōya's forgiveness for her actions once he was discharged from the hospital, it's safe to assume that she still didn't learn her lesson, as she doesn't apologize to anyone else other than Shōya for her selfish actions, not even to Shōko, who deserves it more.
Naoka Ueno (A Silent Voice): Though she is aware of her actions and does desire to change herself, she constantly makes flaws and doesn't get punished for the following; bullies Shōya in elementary school since he bullied Shōko when she went along with it in the first place as well as mocking Shōya for being friends with Shōko and calling him an "idiot", after she "apologized" to him, bullying Shōko in elementary school and infamously in the hospital scene where she assaulted her and her elderly mother for no good reason, in which she just gets reprimanded by Miyoko (in the manga only) Yuzuru and Miyako (movie only), as well as getting forced back by hospital staff in the manga for her to just get sent home scot-free without being arrested for her crimes and not allowing anyone except for Shōya's family, hospital staff and herself to visit him while he is in a coma.
Kazuki Shimada (A Silent Voice): Is never properly punished for being the ringleader in giving unlawful punishments to Shōya (which isn't necessary to begin with), especially when he beaten him up to the point where he could've died.
Mr. Takeuchi (A Silent Voice): Is the one who is fully responsible for the unjustifiable bullying that Shōya and Shōko suffered, as he never teaches his students to not bully, which caused this line of events in the first place and what should've led to him being fired for his negligence. It also doesn't help that he has discouraged Satoshi from being a teacher, even after he apologized to him for giving a justified splash of water.
Alicia Florence (Aria/Aqua): Similar to Miki Kawai, she tends to smile when Akari or one of her other friends gets treated poorly without any sort of consequence whatsoever, even going to the level of being obnoxious by overusing her "my my/ara ara" line in the worst ways possible. The difference is that Miki is a selfish person who only cares about looking good despite her obvious flaws, Alicia on the other hand is a sweet person who's sappy enough to be generic.
Aika S. Granzchesta (Aria/Aqua): Similar to Big Tex Arkana, she not only gets away with moments of usual annoyance, but she also gets away with crimes; whether that would be abusing President Aria (which would be animal abuse since he's a cat), disturbing the peace or committing physical abuse against Akari.
Akatsuki Izumo (Aria/Aqua): Just gets away with pulling Akari's hair and calling her "Pigtails" or "Sideburns" (momiko) as an outright joke he slaps at her 24/7. He's not a complete houdini, as he does get punished sometimes by his big brother and when he gets called "Ponytail" by Aika. However, this isn't saying much.
Pillow (BFB-present) (Battle for Dream Island): Much like the infamous PG, she gets away from being reprimanded for the misery she gives to others, such as her ableist statement on Teardrop when she says that Teardrop doesn't care for anyone when she waves her arms.
Org (God Rocks!): Similar to Chet, he does have exposure to a few of his punishments, however, he is never arrested for the crimes he commits as well as being reprimanded for being rude to the other characters.
Little Man (Junior's Giants): Similar to Manny Heffley, he is a young child who is a baby mind you, that commits dangerous actions to the family (even some that are illegal) almost without punishment for the most part, when he should've been in juvenile detention despite his young age.
Rocky (Battle for Dream Island): Almost doesn't get any consequences for his irritating and infamous barfing habits.
Mr. Bean: Unlike the majority of characters in this list, he isn't malicious when it comes to using this trope, as this is usually accidental due to the pieces of media he appears in feeling pretty contrived and falling short of being well-written, not to mention that it is played for comedy and is harmless compared to shows such as the infamously notorious Family Guy series. At times, he does get punished for his wrongdoings, whether unintentional or not.
Any character from Homestar Runner: Similar to Mr. Bean, it does make sense for it to happen as most or all of the cartoons they appear intend to look pretty uninteresting as they are contrived and fall short of a proper story, though again it's irritating at times like the bits that focus on Strong Sad of all characters getting constantly mistreated.
Skyler White (Breaking Bad): Ever since the end of Season 2, Skyler became a horrible wife and mother and got away with it. Though she had the right to get mad at Walt for his illegal actions, she made his life worse when she cheated on him and falsely accused him of killing Hank, etc. In the episode "Ozymandias", she tries to kill a defenseless Walt with a knife and doesn't receive any punishment after doing so.
Rats (Dr. Dolittle): They are extremely rude to the other animals, especially Dr. Dollitle. Most infamously, they tortured and harassed a tiger to the point where they drove the tiger into suicide by jumping off a balcony. Even worse, they never get any real punishment for it.
Gene Meh (The Emoji Movie) He caused the main problem in the movie but he never faces any comeuppance because "He was the hero".
The Parasite (Scorn): Comes out of nowhere and fuses itself with the protagonist. Throughout the game, it would begin attacking the protagonist disgustingly and disturbingly. Even after it was removed, it would come back and fuse with the protagonist again this time transforming themselves into an immobile lump of flesh.
Rito Yūki (To Love-ru): Despite being a punching bag, he is a known worse example of a Karma Houdini. He torments and abuses Ren just because he was an old friend to Lala, while also being a jerk on Lala which makes him a self-centered idiot and ignores the potential consequences and never gets a proper punishment for his crimes by his harem or his family.
Sumu (The Lion Guard): He never faces consequences after poisoning Simba, nor is he even punished by The Lion Guard for not appearing in the confrontation against Scar and his army.

Why This Trope Is A "Karma Houdini"

Basically, this trope serves as hateful character development. Where the many characters you feel and express hatred or just, dislike for several loathsome and irredeemable traits and behaviors, always tend to get off scot-free from being the brunt of anything disastrous, stressful, anxiety-inducing, or even lethal misfortunes they caused towards many people, and deserve what's coming to them. Far more than what the butt-monkeys go through daily, as there are many of which, are even caused thanks to THESE guys ruining their lives and making them miserable with any ounce of thought or care!
- The worst examples where this trope is tied into, include the "Blackmail" or "Roommate Drama" tropes in cartoons or TV shows; the former being where the innocent characters get blackmailed by characters who in the episode, did nothing to warrant the torture but the blackmailer gets a kick out of their suffering. As for the latter, the roommate dramas would involve having a roommate live in someone's house and treat their lifestyles like crap when they did nothing but provide shelter, as the innocent characters eventually stand up to the roommate and kick them for their mistreatment. In which, the blackmailers and the bad roommates both tend to be the Karma Houdinis of the story.
The fact they always get away from retribution, can ruin the reputation and likeability of characters who commit horrible crimes and excessively avoid the punishments that they deserve to receive. More often than not. they never, if ever, learn from their wrongdoings, and continue to do what's wrong unless somebody calls them out for it.
Normally and logically, it's more often frustrating, egregious, tiresome, and aggravating than funny to watch the most sinful of characters at best or otherwise unlikable characters at worst get other innocent characters wrongfully punished for actions that they didn't cause at all, and these houdinis usually watch and treat their suffering like it's a prize for them to "deserve" any of it at all when in reality, they may have not have warranted any of it. All of which tends to make these houdinis easy to hate and despise, especially if some of these guys are insufferable idiots.
Avoiding karma daily, can also cause characters to become unintentionally unsympathetic, and make the viewer feel nothing but contempt for them and their despicable misdeeds (ex. Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Miki Kawai and Naoka Ueno being the most infamous examples).
It is usually shocking, appalling, or rather disturbing to see these Karma Houdinis escaping their punishments, or even proper punishments as they continue making the same crimes and mistakes they already have been doing, which often gets so bad that you or anyone with the right mind would feel like having the urge and incentive to punish and reprimand them yourselves.
Some Karma Houdinis could potentially degrade the quality of the media they originate from. Since most people hate seeing horrible people get away with their crimes.

Redeeming Qualities

There are certain Karma Houdinis in fiction, that at the very least, do get and receive their rightful comeuppances and retributions for being excessively mean-spirited, evil, sadistic, manipulative, condescending, bossy, and rude towards many other characters that did nothing inherently wrong. Four, Evelyn Claythorne, and even Strong Bad at times are prime examples of this.
Just because a character always gets off scot-free, doesn't necessarily mean we're meant to like them; sometimes this trope fits very well for villains and antagonists as characters that exist for the characters (and sometimes the audience) to despise and root against them for their misdeeds, schemes, and cruelty.
As frustrating as the usage of this very trope tends to be, it doesn't necessarily make the story badly written unless the story or episodes' writing feels forced, contrived, or even short-sighted depending on how the writing of said story fell short, etc.

Gallery

Must be nice, getting away with your misdeeds.
A notable example of a Karma Houdini taken to the extreme.
Another notable example of a Karma Houdini, except for the fact that he tells off people for stupid reasons.

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