Characterization Marches On/Web Original

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Examples of Characterization Marches On in Web Original works include:

  • In the first episode of Friendship Is Witchcraft, Celestia seems to honestly like Twilight Sparkle, even if they're not as close as in canon, and actually solicits a friendship lesson from her. In later episodes, Celestia is shown to consider Twilight Sparkle obnoxious at best and creepy at worst, and to resent the letters she receives unasked -- she simply made the mistake of finding it endearing when Twilight wrote her letters about her lessons when she was a filly.
  • In his early videos, Gronkh tended to put things much more bluntly and was much less talkative than he is now; all in all, his in-show personality wasn't developed yet.
  • In The Gungan Council, commonly happens due to changing tastes and styles of writers, especially if a character has been written for a long time.
  • Eddie Cohen of The Insane Quest started off as more of an apathetic Emo Teen who would only do the bare minimum to contribute to his team's goals. As time went on, however, he was flanderized into a cowardly, inept Butt Monkey who was friendlier towards the other members of Smoosh and mostly avoided obstacles out of fear rather than laziness.
  • Fans of The Nostalgia Critic may be surprised to see that in the character's first ever appearance, he is commenting on the first live-action Transformers movie in a style closer to that of Doug Walker's other character, Chester A. Bum. Over the course of the next few reviews, The Nostalgia Critic pretty much became the cynic most viewers are familiar with, and the 'hyper' style was given to Chester A. Bum. This was lampshaded when Doug briefly resumed the prior characterization when reviewing Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen, and Chester A. Bum walked in at the end and asked "Did he just steal my act?"
    • In a much more character-based example, and even confirmed by Doug in the Cartoon All-Stars commentary, he was much more manlier and much less pathetic/woobiefied back in the earlier reviews. For example, when he screamed back then, he sounded scary and angry. When he screams now, it's more like he's seriously getting freaked out. And there's a lot more crying involved.
    • The Nostalgia Chick seems to have gone through stages. First she was pretty much just a female version of The Nostalgia Critic, with the slightly-milder yelling and the funny "WTF" reaction shots. Then she was a dry, girly Only Sane Woman with a couple moments of being Not So Above It All. It wasn't until "Top Ten Disturbing and Inescapable Christmas Songs" that she started to develop the kinda scary, gold-hearted Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Broken Bird persona that we all know and love.
      • Her reviewing style also has gradually morphed from being a straight-through synopsis that pokes fun at various Fridge Logic (like the Critic's reviews) and become more of general study of the review subject's themes, characters, plot (and plot holes) and so on. Even in reviews like Grease or Mulan, she takes time from the synopsis to analyze various details.
  • The PONY.MOV series' take on Rarity changed - voice-wise and appearance-wise - drastically between APPLE.MOV and DRESS.MOV, from excited teenager to obese sweatshop runner.
  • In very early episodes of Red vs. Blue, it's pretty clear that most of the personalities haven't really been defined yet, especially on the Red side. Flanderization sets in quickly as they find clearer, more defined roles in the overall cast dynamic, and by season two the characterization has pretty much gelled - from then on, most major change falls under Character Development.
  • Survival of the Fittest
    • The original characterisation of Sean O'Cann was as an abusive and rude Jerk Jock, somehow he managed to wind up as slightly brusque and somewhat sarcastic. The difference is such that without the name you wouldn't be able to tell it was the same character.
    • From the same version, Lyn Burbank was initially a cold, calculating psychopath ready to die as long as she could take down as many people as she could. It only took a small handful of threads before she changed dramatically: becoming bitter, more emotional and prone to breakdowns, her intended murderous rampage becoming focused on Frost instead, the narrative focusing more on the more woobie-ish parts of her character, and the revelation that she was in fact terrified of dying. Her original self was hand waved away in the end with the explanation that she was just trying (and ultimately failing) to play the part she thought she was expected to play.
    • In version 4, we have Aileen Borden, who in her early pre-game posts started out as a shy Emo Teen. As her characterization was more fleshed out, though, she changed radically. By the time v4 actually rolled around, her originally intended personality became more clear as a sarcastic Knight in Sour Armor, and ultimately became a Foil to Aaron Hughes in-game. Her handler has said that the reason why was simply because it was taking a while to really get her characterization down.
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