Contest Winner Cameo: Difference between revisions

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Sometimes, either to promote a product and generate interest in it, or maybe to maintain interest in it, or maybe just for the hell of it, a company will hold a contest in which the winner will get to make a brief appearance in a future work by that company. Sometimes this contest takes the form of a charity auction.

The contest winner's cameo could turn out to be anything from a simple appearance in the background, to playing a role in an important scene in the story. Or, depending on the tone, [[Death by Cameo|to be horribly killed]].

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* [[Gainax]] once ran a contest for fans of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' to design a new Angel. While the winner's Angel design was not included in an episode, Gainax ''did'' produce [[media:Diemay.jpg|official artwork]] of an Evangelion facing off against it.

* ''Microman'' ran a contest after the toyline's revival in 2000 to design a character, the winner being [http://www.microforever.com/shakunetsu.htm Shakunetsu] who actually went from being an exclusive figure to having two later mass releases and a starring role in a couple of the manga.

* The [[Fun with Acronyms|GuAIZ]] and [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Lightning Striker Pack]] of ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' are fan-submitted designs.

** The Elegolea from ''[[Crossbone Gundam]]'' was submitted by an amateur designer. That designer was Kanetake Ebikawa, who would go on to design mecha for ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'', ''[[Vandread]]'', ''[[Soukou no Strain]]'' and, of course, ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]''.

* The classmates in the ''[[Prince of Tennis]]'' manga were named by reader submission.

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* The ''Rallis the Star Bird'' card featured in one episode of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' was a fan design.

* A pretty regular feature of [[Kongoh Bancho]]: some of the fan-designed Banchos get to be prominent antagonists (three members of [[Five-Bad Band|The Five Dark Vows]], most notably), while others only turn up to get [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb stomped]] [[Worf Effect|by even tougher villains]].

* The upcoming anime short film (29 mins) ''Mai no Mahō to Katei no Hi'' is the winning story from a contest to create an anime to promote the Toyama Prefectural Family Day (or 'Katei no Hi') (the third Sunday in each month). The contest winner Moeko Shimizu was in fourth grade when she won the contest in 2005.

* Makoto Hanamatsuura, who appears in a bonus chapter of the ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' manga, was a real person who won a 2 million yen bid at a charity auction benefiting the victims of the Kobe Earthquake in 1995. No word on whether he was happy with his "Tubby Mask" scene.

== Comic Books ==

* Erik Larsen's comic ''[[The Savage Dragon]]'' featured a contest where the winner would appear in a future issue of the comic. The winner (James Quentin Manning, if you must know) had a two-panel appearance, the second of which composed of his feet as Dragon knocked him the fuck out. To be fair, contest announcement was bluntly honest about this, to the point of showing the two panels pre-storyboarded.

** James wasn't really a fan of the comic, he just entered because ''his'' friend had entered.

** A variation appeared in an early issue, where fans were asked to design villains, and the winner's character would fight Dragon in an upcoming issue. The winning character was a mutant dockworker who went by Jimbo da Mighty Lobster.

* ''[[Ultimate Marvel]] Team-Up'' once had a contest winner [[No Fourth Wall|brag about getting a cameo]]... and then get [[Stripped to the Bone|instantly fried down to a skeleton]] by a Skrull [[Death Ray]] in the very next panel.

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** This includes [[The Movie]].

* In the ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' comic "Masks," charity auction winner Pete Hottelet (covertly renamed Commander [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Telettoh Telettoh]) appears, real-world glasses and all.

* Not personal cameos, but the next best thing: The setup of the second ''[[Comic Cook/Dial H For Hero|Dial H For Hero]]'' series was that all the (one-shot) superhero forms (and the villains as well) used were all provided by comics fans, who got credit for each. One of them was invented by Harlan Ellison- yes, THAT [[Harlan Ellison]]!

== Fan Works ==

* ''Neo Yi,'' of [[Chess Piece]], had a couple of contests, the winners of which would have their OCs featured. Said OCs only appeared in one page and got two or three lines, but still.

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== Literature ==

* [[David Weber]] has a standing offer to name a character after whoever is the first to catch and point out a typographical error in a published ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' book. Most such characters are minor ones who die in their first appearance, so this process is known in the fandom as "winning a [[Red Shirt]]". Sometimes, the character is not immediately killed off, and thus this is known as "winning a pink handkerchief".

* Andy Mangels, who frequently writes for the Pocket Books Star Trek series, has been known to feature names of real people in his books. Sometimes the names are featured because of a high bid in a charity fundraiser, and other times as a thank-you for doing something helpful.

* The ''[[Thursday Next]]'' series had a competition to ask Thursday any three questions after the ''Eyre Affair'' (book 1). A fan of her work appeared in book 2, at the behest of a public relations agent, and asks three questions, none of which gets answered (she's rather busy at the time), but their presence provides a [[Eureka Moment]] for her. Separate contests were held in the United States and Britain, and the name of the fan and the questions asked were different in both editions.

* Just as much of a "cameo" as Kick-Ass's real name above is, the ''[[Animorphs]]'' character Erek King was named after a fan. He made several more appearances as the Animorphs' "inside man" after #10, when he was introduced, and was a crucial part of the [[Batman Gambit]] {{spoiler|that won the war. After that, his disgust with Jake's methods led him to bleed the power from the weapons; their inability to attack led to Rachel's death.}}

* ''[[Discworld]]'' novels often include characters named after (and perhaps slightly based on) winners of charity auctions. Once they exist, they may appear in later books. Known examples include:

** Marco Soto in ''[[Discworld/Thief of Time|Thief of Time]]'' and ''[[Discworld/Night Watch|Night Watch]]''.

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* Robert Asprin's ''[[Myth Adventures|Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections]]'' features a Pervect cabbie who at one point casually mentions bidding for a cameo in a book at an art auction, before adding that [[No Fourth Wall|if he hadn't won, Skeeve would be talking to someone else]].

* in the mid-to-late 1990s, Michael Stackpole auctioned off a cameo appearance in his ''[[BattleTech]]'' novels at the ''[[Gen Con]]'' charity auction, a few of whom became minor recurring characters.

* ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' started doing this in later books. [[Loads and Loads of Characters|Not that the story needed any more characters.]]

== Live Action TV ==

* ''[[Punky Brewster]]'' had a contest where kids could suggest a story to be made into an episode. The winner got to appear in the episode that got based on his story, about Punky having to learn CPR so she can later apply it on her friend Cherie to save her life.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': The kid who plays Creet in "[[Doctor Who~~/NS~~/Recap/S3 E11 Utopia|Utopia]]" was the winner of a ''[[Blue Peter]]'' contest to appear in an episode. {{spoiler|He gets turned into a Toclafane offscreen.}}

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': The kid who plays Creet in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/NS/S3/E11 Utopia|Utopia]]" was the winner of a ''[[Blue Peter]]'' contest to appear in an episode. {{spoiler|He gets turned into a Toclafane offscreen.}}

* Two ''[[Babylon 5]]'' fans won a contest to get characters in an episode named after them. Unfortunately, the episode was "ExoGenesis", widely considered one of the show's worst.

** The serial murderer being hunted in the Psi Corps episode "The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father" was also named after the winner of a charity auction at a convention. Amusingly, the winner's name was Jonathan Harris, so most viewers thought it was a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Lost in Space]], a previous series starring Billy Mumy, who plays Lennier on ''[[Babylon 5]]''.

** Dr. Lillian Hobbes made a very large charitable donation to have a recurring character named after her.

** Not a competition winner, as such, but the mineral ''Quantium 40'' (vital in Jumpgate construction, was named following a poll held by JMS among members of the old [[GE Ni E]] boards.

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' and ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' have done this for several seasons now on Sci Fi. The contest winner has a walk-on cameo appearance in one episode of each show. One winner was the wife of the Ori religious zealot in the Season 9 premiere three-parter.

** The DVD Commentaries for the episode usually reveal the identity of the winner. In "Lost City", it's the woman who enters the Oval Office and shakes Hayes' hand after his meeting with Weird. Later, in "Camelot", director Martin Wood specifically made the contest winner John Noble's wife so "she wouldn't get cut," seeming to imply that other contest winners have had their scenes cut.

* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Star Trek Voyager]]'' had a contest tied in with the release of their new game [[Colon Cancer|Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force]] The winners cameoed during the academy scene in the final episode.

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* ''[[Family Matters]]'' held a contest for young Urkel impersonators. The best four impersonators appeared in an episode where Carl dreams that Laura and Steve got married and had children (with another on the way). Some of the runner-up entries were shown as the credits rolled in the same episode.

* ''[[Good Eats]]'' host Alton Brown participated in a Food Network kitchen makeover giveaway. The winner of his design, Nic Sims of Michigan, was also treated to a guest spot as a government agent on the episode "Churn, Baby Churn II".

** Also, the live 10th Anniversary special ''Good Eats Turns Ten'' held a contest for "superfans" of the series to create videos in order to appear as contestants on the [[Game Show]] portion of the special.

* Back when ''Remember WENN'' was [[AMC]]'s only original programming, they ran a contest to win a walk-on role in the following season. AMC ended up futzing with the contest (apparently editing out a scene that was supposed to answer a question), and cancelling the show, thus precluding the prize altogether. [http://www.post-gazette.com/magazine/19980929owen3.asp This article mentions (among others) the walk-on contest.]

** A similar offer for ''[[Mad Men]]'' went by without any problems.

* ''[[Myth Busters]]'' takes the first however many people to respond who fit their requirements when they need a really big crowd for something, though not all of them will appear in the episode.

* One of the prizes for winning ''[[Who Wants to Be a Superhero]]'' was a cameo appearance on a Sci-Fi Original Movie.

* German TV Quiz ''Wer hat's gesehen?'' (''Who watched it?'') has the top price of winning a cameo on a ''Tatort'' (German police procedural) of the candidate's choice.

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== Magazines ==

* The [[LEGO]] company had a little comic in ''Disney Adventures'' magazine involving a hero transported to a Lego-themed world and having to fight evil. Seriously. The comic had a contest in which the winner would appear in the comic, and he later did, helping out the hero at a crucial moment.

** ''Disney Adventures'' also featured a short comic in which the magazine's writers and editors fought against a team of four villains designed by readers for a contest.

*** And once they did a Design-a-superhero contest, with the winner having a short comic in the magazine.

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* In ''[[Turok (series)|Turok 2: Seeds Of Evil]]'', entering "Juan's Code" placed the face of Juan- a contest winner- on the health icons.

* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' [http://www.dra-mata.com/images/og2/gather_katina.jpg Katina Tarask]. She actually makes her debut in a SRW [[Trading Card Game]] as a former sniper, piloting a hideous [[Humongous Mecha|mecha]] codenamed the ''[[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|"White Devil"]]''.

* Konami held contests for various versions of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'' and ''[[Video Game Remake|The Twin Snakes]]'' where the (numerous) winners would have mooks named after them. For ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater]]'', they held a camouflage designing contest, with winning designs appearing in the game.

* Konami held contests for various versions of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'' and ''[[Video Game Remake|The Twin Snakes]]'' where the (numerous) winners would have mooks named after them. For ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'', they held a camouflage designing contest, with winning designs appearing in the game.

** From the same company, during the popularity peak of the ''[[Tokimeki Memorial]]'' series, Konami organized the "Tokimeki Teens" marketing program. In there, they selected one idol among a bunch of candidates, and this idol would get [[As Himself|her fictionalized version of herself]] in the ''Drama Series'' games of the series, as well as being able to produce various songs. The winner of this contest was Mie Kuribayashi. Let's just say she quickly fell back in the shadows after the ''Drama Series'' were done.

* Several [[NPC|NPCs]] in ''[[Fable II]]'' are named for people that won lots at the [[Penny Arcade]] [[Childs Play]] charity auction.

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* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] 2'' has Nikko, a pazaak player who appears on Onderon during the course of the game. His appearance was based off the likeness of a contest winner named Paul Keeler, who also won a trip to the [[Lucas Arts]] studios in the deal.

* ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]]'': Lizink's Wig of Foppery, {{spoiler|which Bailiff Killick Hardtack is compelled to wear after losing his case against Guybrush}} in Chapter 4, is named after the [http://www.telltalegames.com/community/blogs/id-498 screen name of Liz Johnston], [http://pc.ign.com/articles/102/1027699p1.html a native of British Columbia], [[Canada, Eh?]], and Telltale Games' winner of the "How Has Guybrush Wronged You Competition" in the "Game Designer for a Day" contest ([http://www.telltalegames.com/community/blogs/id-474 which started on July 14, 2009, a week after the release of Chapter 1]); her winning line, "He dug up my perfectly good X!", appears in Hardtack's accusation against Guybrush. Not only that, but her name also appears on the list of "Designer for a Day Finalists" in the end credits of Chapter 4.

* Irrational Games ''[[~~Bio Shock~~ Infinite]]'' held a contest to get a fan's name in the game. The winner was a fellow named Payton Lane Easter who is now the proud owner of a [http://irrationalgames.com/files/2011/05/paytonlaneeaster_finalasset.jpg robot horse company].

* Irrational Games ''[[BioShock Infinite]]'' held a contest to get a fan's name in the game. The winner was a fellow named Payton Lane Easter who is now the proud owner of a [http://irrationalgames.com/files/2011/05/paytonlaneeaster_finalasset.jpg robot horse company].

* The winner of a contest at E3 2009, Charlie Malone, was made into a patient in ''[[Trauma Center|Trauma Team]]''.

* Felix the Fish, the mascot of Big Fish Games, was concealed in one of the [[Hidden Object Game]] scenes of ''[[Mystery Case Files]]: Ravenhearst.'' Finding and clicking on him opened a screen which enabled the player to enter a contest, the winner of whom got to have his or her likeness included in a later MCF game. (Humorously, the contest ended in March 2007 - but they never removed the contest from the game. This means that if you buy the game even now, Felix is in there and clicking on him will still bring up that screen.)

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== Webcomics ==

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' occasionally features characters based on fans who contribute to the fandom in some extraordinary way, usually as background characters during Halloween Party strips, or as minor characters who get killed off in some messy fashion.

* ''[http://www.electric-manga.com/ Kagerou]'' has a contest to be killed on panel. The winner (and explanation) can be seen [http://www.electric-manga.com/41/12.html here].

* Every year, ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' auctions off an appearance in their comics for charity. The first time got amusingly [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/02/06/ meta].

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** In the first episode of [[Penny Arcade Adventures]], there is a listing in the credits with the title: "That guy who paid us a lot of money to be in the game."

** Most of the auctions have been won by a guy named Wil Shipley, who writes software for Macs, or to put it another way, [http://www.penny-arcade.com/docs/7-2-07b.jpg gets HAND jobs from STEVE Jobs].

* ''[[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures]]'' pretty much got it's start this way...

* Toward the end of ''[[Its Walky]]'', many of the die-hard message board fans were made into members of the army, and were, naturally, horribly killed.

* [[The Cyantian Chronicles]]: There's several instances, but the most notable is the fan scripted bonus comic at the end of Akaelae # 5. Although, The Scripting Game only let me cameo as the writer. It didn't get a character included.

* Connecticon '07 auctioned off a guest spot in ''[[Something Positive]]''. Randy [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp07302007.shtml put the winner in] and hung perhaps the [[Lampshade Hanging|world's biggest lampshade]] on the practice.

* ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'' has had a number of these.

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* ''[[Celebrity Deathmatch]]'' did this twice. The first time, the contest winner had his spleen ripped out by John Tesh after he requested it, feeling that it would be an honor. The second time, the contest winner's soul was sold to the Devil by the hosts in exchange for the Backstreet Boys and * NSYNC, who fans had requested to fight each other (both having been killed in previous matches -- the Backstreet Boys by the Beastie Boys, and * NSYNC by Kiss).

* ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'' had a contest sponsored by Burger King for the role of Carl in their live action episode.

* An episode of ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' featured a brief cameo from a contest winner. He stood out because the design of his character's face had a lot more detail than the rest and, after he did his bit ("check to make sure the way is clear" or something) he popped up for a split second to give the audience a thumbs-up.

* ''[[Total Drama Island]]'' did this in the season finale, with the winner of an online contest being used as a test subject for part of their final [[Death Course]]. Of course, they just ''had'' to make the winner get to fall into a gorge, and it is inferred he was eaten by sharks.

* In the ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]'' episode "A Visit To Anthony's" the boy Anthony was a winner of a contest to appear on the show.