This is used with deliberate irony, either a hero or a villain, to reprimand someone for doing something wrong, which is usually unintended, and they see the awful consequences of such. Typically, the person who did the wrong thing will be met with a phrase like "I hope you're happy/satisfied/proud of yourself," or "Thanks for nothing!" It is often used to warn that any victory they have will be a Pyrrhic one, that the villain's actions, though extreme, were well-intentioned (or maybe not-so-well-intentioned) and that his defeat will have even worse repercussions. It may or may not actually turn out to be the case. Usually, however, the problem that resulted can be fixed and probably will.
It is usually another way of asking "Was It Really Worth It?". It is also related to I Warned You and What the Hell, Hero?. Also compare Backhanded Apology. It could also cause the recipient of the well-wishing to say, "My God, What Have I Done?"... or simply reply with a Blunt "Yes" if they are really that callous and unrepentant.
One variant is wishing someone luck when the real hope is that the person fails in whatever they're trying to accomplish. It often shows up in a form of Trash Talk where the challenger is invited to try and beat someone who is confident in being unbeatable.
Not to be confused with making a sarcastic wish at a Wishing Well. For that, see Rhetorical Request Blunder and Be Careful What You Wish For.
Examples:
- In the January 8, 1989 strip of Garfield, the titular cat, having been put on a diet by his master Jon Arbuckle, goes to bed and has a dream about Jon regretting putting Garfield on a diet. In the dream, Garfield is reduced to a skeleton and blames Jon for it:
Skeleton Garfield: Well, I hope you're happy, Jon. Look what this diet has done to me.
Jon: You know, Garfield, I think you've lost too much weight.
Skeleton Garfield: That's an understatement.
- Monsters, Inc., when Waternoose's plan to save the company (and thus all of Monstropolis) by enslaving children for their screams is exposed for all to see, he is arrested for what is considered a crime, but he does not go quietly; he gives Sulley a well-wishing of this kind as he is led out:
Waternoose: I hope you're happy, Sullivan. You've destroyed this company! Monsters Incorporated is dead! Where will everyone get their scream now?! The energy crisis will only get worse — because of YOU!!
- In The Sword in the Stone, Arthur/Wart becomes Kay's squire, but Merlin, disappointed with the boy's decision to choose war games over education, chastises the boy for wearing "a fine monkey suit for polishing boots" and culminates his rant with a sarcastic commendation:
"And I thought you were going to amount to something. I thought you had a few brains! Great future, ha! A stooge for that big lunk, Kay. Congratulations, boy!"
- In Attack of the Clones, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi's reaction to Anakin and Padmé getting caught:
Obi-Wan: I was beginning to wonder if you'd got my message.
Anakin: I retransmitted it, just as you requested, Master. Then we decided to come and rescue you.
Obi-Wan: (looking at his chains) Good job. - In the climax of A Few Good Men, Col. Jessup finds he is being charged with Santiago's death, and then after he lunges, screaming, at Kaffee ("YOU FUCKED WITH THE WRONG MARINE!"), he continues with as much restraint he can muster...
- In Star Trek (2009), Spock is all set to join the Vulcan Science Academy until the headmaster congratulates him for overcoming the disadvantage of having a human mother. This prompts Spock, a huge Momma's Boy, to reject the VSA in favor of Starfleet, and he makes his Tranquil Fury clear with a very sarcastic farewell.
Spock: Thank you, ministers, for your consideration. Live long and prosper.
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit:
- When Jessica Rabbit learns that Eddie Valiant took some patty-cake pictures that somehow lead to Marvin Acme's murder, she slaps him in the face and says, "I hope you're proud of yourself and those pictures you took."
- As Roger tries to explain to Eddie that he is being framed for murder, Eddie, who wants nothing to do with this, decides to call the cops on Roger, who responds in this manner...
Roger: (sadly) Go ahead, call the cops. I come here for help, and what do you do? You turn me in. So don't feel guilty about me. So long... and thanks for nothing!
(He goes out the nearest door)
Eddie: That's the closet!
- Parley P. Pratt's humorous short story Joe Smith and the Devil ends with Joseph Smith and Satan sarcastically toasting one another.
"Here to his Satanic Majesty; may he be driven form the earth and forced to put to sea in a stone canoe with an iron paddle, and may the canoe sink, and a shark swallow the canoe and its royal freight and an alligator swallow the shark and may the alligator be bound in the northwest corner of hell, the door be locked, key lost, and a blind man hunting for it."
- In one episode of Barney Miller, a prostitute who works in a sexy supper club accuses Wojo of harassing her and spying on her, which ultimately leads to her being let go. Naturally, she blames him.
Prostitute: I hope you're satisfied, you clown!
Wojo: What did I do?
Prostitute: I got canned! They threw me out of the club! And it was a damn good job, too. - Two moments in The Honeymooners, and both directed at Ralph by Alice, when he does something that involves trying to avoid his dreaded mother-in-law which ultimately backfires on him in such a way that relationships with others are threatened.
- In one episode, when he learns that "Mother" is coming to visit, he naturally assumes it's his mother-in-law and becomes so determined to avoid her that he decides to move in with the Nortons for the duration. When Trixie learns what's going on, she asks him to go back down, and even Ed agrees, saying that his mother-in-law is even worse than Ralph's, leading to a rift between Ed and Trixie that results in the latter going to spend the night with Alice. The next morning, when Ralph returns to his apartment to get his bus uniform, Alice wastes no time calling him out on his behavior. Ironically, it turns out that it wasn't Alice's mother coming after all, but rather Ralph's mother.
Alice: I certainly hope that you are satisfied, Ralph Kramden. I hope you're very pleased with yourself, now that you have the Nortons fighting, too.
Ralph: I have the Nortons fighting? I should be satisfied? This wasn't my fault, Alice, this wasn't my fault. Your mother started this whole thing by coming here for a visit. She's the culprit! - The second episode has a member of the Raccoon Lodge, Stanley leaving the lodge to marry Alice's sister, Agnes, and move in with her parents. Ralph, of course, is not happy about the prospect of a lodge brother having to live with his hated mother-in-law and asks that after the wedding, he demand he not move in with Agnes' parents and that he wear the pants in the family. Needless to say, it causes a rift between them, with Agnes moving in with the Kramdens, while everyone tries to figure out what caused the whole thing, since Stanley is usually The Quiet One. Eventually, Agnes and Stanley make up when the latter comes clean about himself, saying that Ralph put him up to it. Of course, everyone is ready to ream Ralph out over what he did when he comes home from work that day, ending with Alice telling him: "Well, Ralph, I hope you're satisfied."
- In one episode, when he learns that "Mother" is coming to visit, he naturally assumes it's his mother-in-law and becomes so determined to avoid her that he decides to move in with the Nortons for the duration. When Trixie learns what's going on, she asks him to go back down, and even Ed agrees, saying that his mother-in-law is even worse than Ralph's, leading to a rift between Ed and Trixie that results in the latter going to spend the night with Alice. The next morning, when Ralph returns to his apartment to get his bus uniform, Alice wastes no time calling him out on his behavior. Ironically, it turns out that it wasn't Alice's mother coming after all, but rather Ralph's mother.
- "My Demons" by Fight The Fury is a rant directed at someone who's hurt the narrator a lot, and it has these lines:
I hope you're happy wherever you are
'Cause you're the reason I'm afraid of the dark - "Amish Paradise" by "Weird Al" Yankovic:
A local boy kicked me in the butt last week
I just smiled at him and I turned the other cheek
I really don't care, in fact I wish him well
'cause I'll be laughing my head off when he's burning in hell!
- In Bill Cosby's routine on a dentist appointment, at the moment where the dentist puts a sucking device in his mouth, sucking out his bottom lip, apparently, so that it's in his lap and he slurs his words, he is advised to rinse, even though he can't really because of his bottom lip, which leads to this sarcastic well-wishing when the water runs down his front:
Cosby!Patient: (slurring) I hope that you are satisfied. I hope that you are satisfied! I put the water in my mouth. I told you I can't rinse. Because I have no bottom lip, the water is all down in my lap! I hope that you are satisfied!
Cosby!Dentist: Rinse again.
Cosby!Patient: (slurring) You've gotta be kidding me!
- In Hamilton, Angelica's What the Hell, Hero? to Hamilton concludes with "God, I hope you're satisfied!", a nod to her song "Satisfied". The Cut Song "Congratulations" is dripping with this as well, with Angelica sarcastically commenting that Hamilton's redefined his legacy by writing the Reynolds Pamphlet.
- Wicked: At the beginning of "Defying Gravity", Elphaba and Glinda are furious at each other, and this exchange goes down:
Glinda: I hope you're happy! I hope you're happy now! I hope you're happy how you hurt your cause forever. I hope you think you're clever!
Elphaba: I hope you're happy! I hope you're happy, too! I hope you're proud how you would grovel in submission, to feed your own ambition.
Both: So, while I can't imagine how, I hope you're happy right now.
- In Devil May Cry 5, Nero's possible line for the "Exploder" move (where he jams his Overture mech hand into the enemy's body, then detaches it, and then it explodes seconds later) has him saying "Happy birthday! Now make a wish!"
- In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, this comes up when Link succeeds in stealing something from the store. Thus, for the rest of the game, Link (or whatever the player names him) is renamed "THIEF".
Text: Guess what? You got it for free. Are you proud of yourself?
- Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: In the extended play of "Strong Badia the Free", this is Strong Bad's response to Coach Z creeping over Marzipan.
Strong Bad: The war's over, Coach Z. You can go back home now.
Coach Z: Yeah, I should go back to that musty gym. Instead of out here in a nice garden... behind Marzipan's house... where I can watch her... always...
Strong Bad: Congratulations, Coach! I just spent the last few hours carrying my brother's internal organs in a jar, and you still managed to top that on the creepy scale.
- In the 300th episode of his series Atop the Fourth Wall, Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug talks about one of Frank Miller's most infamous works, Holy Terror. It is a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Linkara. When the Fixer begins torturing a terrorist, Linkara puts the book aside, takes off his glasses, and talks about his personal philosophy and why Camelot is his favorite film of all, because it encouraged his philosophy of goodness, decency, compassion and not always resorting to violence. And then he explains why he brings this up, because he hates Holy Terror more than any other comic book he's reviewed on the show, because it encourages the exact opposite philosophy. It teaches that you should be paranoid, violent, brutal and intolerant of those who are different. This is perhaps the greatest "The Reason You Suck" Speech he has ever given, and it is truly awesome to watch. In the process, Linkara points out Miller's little "Aesop" in the book, to give into your own fear and paranoia when confronted by terrorism, is pretty much the exact definition of what terrorism is. In conclusion...
Linkara: Frank... you must be so proud.
- Epic Rap Battles of History: Karl Marx sarcastically congratulates Henry Ford while in the middle of listing every one of the man's personal, professional, and moral failures.
So congrats, your legacy's in ashes
Remembered as the fascist-sympathizing cause of climate change and car crashes! - Freshy Kanal:
- MrBeast sardonically congratulates Seong Gi-hun for winning the Deadly Game at the cost of all his friends.
You're accomplished 'cause you fought the opposition and became the best
But the consequences that you got to live with is you paved their deaths all to pay your debts
I applaud you, Gi-hun! - Nagito Komaeda commends Dream for achieving widespread fame and success... after an entire verse taking the latter to task for his cheating, alleged use of racial slurs, and refusal to get involved in conflicts that should concern him, as well as the fact that the fame he worked so hard for won't last forever anyway.
- Bruce Banner sarcastically praises Victor Frankenstein for all the deaths his experiments caused.
I know that's harsh, but, hey, I see your experiment as an absolute win!
Left enough of your family's corpses behind to give your undead pal some new skin!
- MrBeast sardonically congratulates Seong Gi-hun for winning the Deadly Game at the cost of all his friends.
- Classic Disney Shorts:
- In Pluto's Judgement Day, Mickey Mouse, having physically separated Pluto and a kitten from fighting, admonishes his dog for being a bully, adding, "I suppose you're proud of yourself!"
- The climax of the Donald Duck cartoon Grand Canyonscope has Donald, Ranger Woodlore and a mountain lion all destroying and filling in the Grand Canyon, resulting in a reaming-out of this kind by the Ranger.
Ranger Woodlore: (to Donald and the lion, sternly) Well, I hope you're satisfied. You two have, in a matter of minutes, messed up what had took Mother Nature millions of years to create. The national park rule book states, and I quote: "When a natural object is marred or defaced, it must be restored to its original state." (holds up some shovels) So... (tosses them the shovels) START DIGGING!
- In DuckTales (2017), Scrooge chases his family away (again) after the boys learn about the Spear of Selene and blame Scrooge for Della's disappearance. Mrs. Beakley decides to take her vacation days at the same time, dropping one of these lines to him as she and Webby leave.
Mrs. Beakley: Well, you've successfully pushed away your family and everyone else who cared about you away, again. I hope you're happy.
- In one episode of Garfield and Friends, Jon buys a new (hideous-looking) sportcoat to wear on a date with Liz, but Garfield develops an allergic reaction to something. The cat accompanies Jon on the date (to the movies), but he lets out such a huge sneeze in the theater that is causes a major uproar, Liz walking out on Jon, and Jon (sans coat) and Garfield being thrown out of the theater. Jon blames Garfield for this.
Jon: Well, now you've done it, Garfield! Ruined everything! I'll probably never see Liz again! I hope you're happy!
Garfield: (breathing normally) I am — my sneeze is gone!- It turns out, however, that it was the sportcoat that made Garfield sneeze.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- In "Look Before You Sleep", Twilight Sparkle interrupts yet another argument between Rarity and Applejack, telling them "I hope you're happy, both of you! You've ruined my very first slumber party!"
- In "Rarity Takes Manehattan", a hysterical Rarity tells her friends "Congratu-pony-lations!" when she thinks they'd rather go see Hinny of the Hills than help her make new outfits for the fashion show.
- Ninjago: This exchange in the Season 4 episode "The Forgotten Element", combined with Badass Boast when Garmadon tells Lloyd to go save the other ninja from Chen while he gears up to fight Clouse:
Garmadon: Go, son! Leave Clouse to me!
Lloyd: Good luck!
Clouse: Your father doesn't believe in luck!
Lloyd: I know. I wasn't talking to him. - Regular Show: The episode "Over The Top" has Mordecai giving Skips this line after the latter accidentally kills Rigby for pranking him in arm wrestling:
Mordecai: You couldn't let it go? Well, I hope you got what you wanted. (walks out of the room with Benson and Pops)
- The Simpsons: In the episode "Bart vs. Thanksgiving", this happens when Bart gets grounded for throwing Lisa's Thanksgiving centerpiece in the fireplace.
Marge: I hope you're happy, Bart. You've ruined Thanksgiving!
- Two examples from SpongeBob SquarePants:
- In "Band Geeks", after the last day of band rehearsals ends in a big fight, Squidward gives them a piece of his mind.
Squidward: Well, you did it. You took my one chance at happiness... and crushed it. Crushed it into little, tiny, bite-sized pieces! I really had expected better of you people. I guess I'm a loser for that too! Don't bother showing up tomorrow. I'll just tell them you all... died in a marching accident. So thanks! (sobs) Thanks for nothing!
Patrick: You're welcome. - "The Camping Episode" shows a subversion: When both SpongeBob and Patrick invite Squidward to join them camping in their front yard, he rebuffs him to which the former replies, "Okay. Have fun inside!" While he likely didn't mean anything by it, Squidward angrily mistook his remark as being flip and insisted on joining them.
- In "Band Geeks", after the last day of band rehearsals ends in a big fight, Squidward gives them a piece of his mind.
- Star Trek: Lower Decks: "Live long and prosper" is again featured as an insult. First by Mariner, with a rather flippantly delivered salute, and then by actual Vulcan T'Lyn when she is reassigned to Starfleet after saving her Vulcan ship in a battle because she was seen as too emotional.
- A common saying in the Southern USA is "Bless your heart". Whether it is a sincere blessing, a statement of pity, or an expression of disgust depends on context. It's usually the latter, though.