Demoted to Extra: Difference between revisions
→Literature: Replaced redirects
m (update links) |
(→Literature: Replaced redirects) |
||
| (35 intermediate revisions by 13 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:demoted-to-
{{quote|''[[Lampshade Hanging|"Remember when we used to do stuff? You know, be out there with them and help?"]]''
|'''Bulma'''|''[[Dragon Ball Abridged]]''}}
We have a member of the supporting cast. They're important to the plot. Although, like any other minor character, they fall [[Out of Focus]] at times. Then comes the sequel, or the adaptation, or [[The Movie]], and... hey, where'd they go? They weren't completely written out, but they just weren't good enough to keep what importance they had in the original. The character's fanbase will complain, and everyone else may just accept it as the status quo. It's sad.
This always, always,
Opposite of the [[Ascended Extra]]; instead of a background or one-off character becoming a key member of the supporting cast, a key member of the supporting cast becomes a background or one-off character. Also contrast [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]]; there may not be anyone in particular that takes these characters' screentime, and the presence of a Spotlight Stealing Squad doesn't mean no one else is plot-important anymore. In works when [[Anyone Can Die]], characters fated to die frequently end up demoted to extra before their deaths.
Line 17 ⟶ 18:
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Berserk]]'', The Count and Rosine, in Manga they both have their own story arcs while in the first Anime they only show up in one episode.
* Caren, Coco and Noel in ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]''. The second arc of the manga shuffles them [[Out of Focus]], but they still maintain some importance and form a [[West Coast Team]] of [[Lovely Angels]]. The anime, though, shafts every single one of them. Noel doesn't even get [[A Day in the Limelight]] in the mountain of filler; Caren, a key figure in the first season, becomes completely useless in the second; and everything to do with Coco is cut from the plot. One episode actually reveals that Coco, Noel and Caren can't even fight off a member of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] and are now comic relief.
* All of the original main characters from the ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' manga were demoted to extras in the short-lived sequel, ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]] a la mode'', when [[Replacement Scrappy|manga-original]] [[Black Hole Sue|Shirayuki]] [[Creator's Pet|Berii]] was made the new main character. Although it is said this was due to [[Executive Meddling]], and the other Mew Mews were supposed to play a more important role, but Mia Ikumi was told not to include them very much, as she was restricted to two volumes.
Line 25:
** Usagi's original group of friends were replaced by the other sailor soldiers, although one of Naru's "final" episodes lampshades this. More inexplicable is the complete disappearance of any side characters over the course of the show. One source of occasional drama is the alleged inability of the girls to have either normal friends or boyfriends, despite them meeting dozens of [[Victim of the Week|Victims of the Week]] who they apparently become chums with.
** To a lesser degree, Sailor Venus, who had [[Codename: Sailor V|her own title]] before it was decided to make an ensemble team. Sure, she's still around, but "one of many" instead of the main character. Made worse in the anime, where she's [[The Chick]] rather than [[The Lancer]] like she was in the manga, and in the [[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon|live action series]], where she rarely fights with the others at all due to becoming partially an [[Expy]] of Uranus and Neptune.
** The Amazoness Quartet are much more important characters in the manga than the anime. Not only were they the main secondary villains of their arc, but they're among the few villains in the manga to be
* ''[[Mai-Otome]]''
** Mai , though hinted at early in the anime series, doesn't appear in person ''at all'' until the very last arc. However, this is an [[Alternate Continuity]] to ''[[
** Her younger brother Takumi {{spoiler|and his bodyguard/girlfriend Akira}} are reduced to a two-episode arc in the middle of the series.
** Yuuichi, the male main character from ''[[
** Shizuru has a significantly reduced role in the ''[[Mai-HiME (manga)|Mai-HiME]]'' manga, as the subplot of her feelings for Natsuki is largely unexplored, and she isn't even a Hime. As a result, she does not {{spoiler|turn [[Psycho Lesbian]] and kill people}}. That was probably to make up for the anime forgetting about how [[Executive Meddling|that was supposed to be a SUBplot]].
* Poor Misawa Daichi in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]''. In the first season he was one of the main character's closest friends and rivals. In the second season he was slowly ignored, and was [[Put on a Bus]] half way through. In the third season he turned up again to provide [[Expospeak]], only to disappear again for a good part of the second arc, and appeared once to provide more [[Expospeak]], then to finally disappear for good. He wasn't even ''mentioned'' in the fourth season, and was one of the few characters from the very beginning to not get any sort of closure. Being Demoted To Extra is actually cited as the reason for his [[Face Heel Turn]] in season 2.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]''
** Jack Atlas was the main antagonist in the first season, once best friend and then arch rival of the protagonist, object of all his thoughts, a formidable opponent. Long story short: he was pretty badass. Neither did their conflict ever get solved, nor did he stay this important to the plot for long. He was taken off the beaten track via his new love interest Carly Nagisa, who occupied his sole attention throughout the whole second season. And in the third season, his only purpose seems to be used as a [[Plucky Comic Relief]] every now and then, together with and practically glued to the side of the main characters ''other'' BFF Crow, if he appears at all, holding no special importance to the plot whatsoever anymore, not to mention his former badassness.
** Aki in the first season was a formidable, destructive, and ominous [[Yandere]] [[Dark Magical Girl]], who established herself as one of the strongest females in the series, and a prominent rival for Yusei. Aki [[Badass Decay|by the third season]] is more or less a [[Living Prop]] who, every ten or so episodes, gets on a bike to look nice in leather and, once in a blue moon, [[Jobber|beat]] or [[The Worf Effect|lose]] to a minor character.
Line 41:
* Those who start reading ''[[Akumetsu]]'' for the first time might think that Shinna is the main character. [[Decoy Protagonist|That only lasts for a couple chapters]] before the spotlight shifts to the title character.
* In the ''[[X 1999]]'' movie, Shiyu Kusanagi not only had his [[Gentle Giant]] and [[Friend to All Living Things]] persona stripped away to make him an explicit villain, but his relationship with Yuzuriha was left out, despite being probably ''the key'' aspect of his character, and to top it off, he was [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|killed in a very mean-spirited manner]] by ''[[Et Tu, Brute?|his own ally]]'' after only a few minutes of screen time. It could be justified as being necessary for the short length of the movie, but for fans of the character it was just ''painful''.
* Poor Yuuno. Once the partner to the title character of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', his status rapidly degrades with each passing season thanks to the growing [[
** Chrono suffers a similar fate thanks to his Y chromosone, but manages to stave off irrelevance until ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|StrikerS]]'' due to playing a pretty major role in ''A's''.
** Really, even the female characters aren't immune to this, as a natural consequence of [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], and the series shifting in tone from a [[Seinen]] [[Magical Girl]] Show to a Space Military Show (with Magical Girls)
Line 55:
** In ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'', Bianca is one of the main character's friendly rivals and makes frequent appearances. In the anime, she does show up fairly often but never really rises above the level of supporting cast. She's at least luckier than Cheren, who doesn't appear at all.
* Nozomi from ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' was a main character [[Title Drop|and the reason that the show's called Elfen Lied.]] However, she was written out of the anime. Towards the end of the manga, she becomes a [[Cute Mute]] due to injury, further pushing her out of the plot and turning her into background filler when she even appears at all. Arguably a good candidate for [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]].
* The ''[[Pretty Cure]]'' franchise loves [[Sixth Ranger
** While not as bad as the above example, Honoka/Cure White also suffers from this. Supposedly co-stars with Nagisa/Cure Black. Actually appears half as much as her and has less episodes and scenes focused on her, plus she has no lover (Well, there's Kiriya, but he only appears a bit in the first season and [[Everything Fades|vanishes into light]] at the end. Fuji P. is around ALL the time both seasons), has almost no friends, and her family rarely appears. The exact opposite happens for Nagisa. The second season only made things worse, for [[Sixth Ranger|Hikari]] stole most of Honoka's screentime while Nagisa held a firm grip on most of hers, leaving poor Honoka with even less importance. And yet she's the more popular of the two. Go figure.
** In the first [[Non-Serial Movie]], Nagisa ''[[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|does everything]]'': She befriends the prince who oddly looks like [[Love Interest|Fuji P]]., he gives her the [[Chekhov's Gun|trinket that saves the day later]], she has a scene where she risks her life to save one of the [[Ridiculously Cute Critter
** And then there's the [[Nintendo DS]] [[Crossover]] game, where both Honoka AND Kaoru and Michiru get
** Now thanks to the wonders of [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], ''[[Pretty Cure All Stars]] New Stage'' ends up giving this to anyone pre-''[[Fresh Pretty Cure]]'', meaning 11 heroines show up, but don't have any real purpose beyond "pounding the [[Big Bad]]'s head in in the end".
* Team Kurenai and Team Guy in ''[[Naruto]]'' [[Time Skip|post-skip]]. Team Guy did very little in the Gaara arc (though Guy himself at least got to do something), Team Kurenai's role in the Hunt for Uchiha arc came down to helping hunt down two people who both escaped quite easily. Team Asuma has mostly avoided this. Shikamaru became an [[Ascended Extra]] during the Immortals Arc and has maintained his status as an important character. Team Asuma then received development during the Fourth Ninja War with Choji this time getting the spotlight. Ino also got to shine as their battles showed how [[Badass]] the three are together.
** Might Gai is an exception to the rule. His fights with Kisame make him almost as much of a [[Sixth Ranger]] as Shikamaru Nara.
** Even Sai has suffered from this. When introduced in the 2nd arc of Part 2 of the manga, he was one of the most important characters with plenty of time spent on [[Character Development]] and hinting at his backstory. He goes on to make minimal appearances for the rest of the series, with little to no further character development.
* In the first season of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00|Gundam 00]]'' Allelujah Haptism gets significantly less focus than the rest of the meisters. He has some focus in a couple of episodes early on and his [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], but he gets sidelined for the rest of the time and actually isn't even present for a very significant battle and bonding scene. The second season manages to start off even worse for him, he has two scenes (each five seconds long) and a single word of speech in the first two episodes. By the end of the series while Lyle, Setsuna, and Tieria all get important plotlines Alle is on grunt duty blowing up overglorified missiles. This is heaviest emphasized by Episode 13 of the second season. All the Meisters get badass moments of awesome, including Setsuna whipping an Innovator's ass in style, Tieria placing a giant hole in the side of a space cannon, and Lyle sniping it down. Allejulah? He's stuck in Arios with it attached to Ptolemy. His ONLY PURPOSE was to say "Trans-Am" and provide Trans-Am to Ptolemy. Arios is a glorified battery.
Line 69:
** The anime, while not being that much better with Tsumugi, prefers doing this to Ritsu instead, pushing her off to the side whenever it can. As an example, there's an episode with a scene taken from the manga where Azusa asks Tsumugi for help. The anime added scenes of Azusa asking for Yui and Mio's help as well, but Ritsu and just Ritsu was neglected. However, she instead got a scene of ''the other girls'' visiting her house. It seems Ritsu can't get the focus unless all the other girls are around.
* Scar's cohorts were cut out of [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|the 2003 anime version]] of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]''. Dr. Marcoh and Yoki both were killed off rather unceremoniously rather than join him in his quest, though the producers probably didn't realize what it was they were doing at the time of the adaption. Alternatively, they did know, but were bound by the original author 's request to alter the anime's plot significantly from the manga's to avoid spoiling the latter.
** The relevance of Roy's [[True Companions|friends]] was also downplayed, with the guys demoted from competent secondary characters (for example Vato Falman has excellent memory allowing him to remember dates about everything) to incompetent [[Mauve Shirt
** In the manga, Selim Bradley {{spoiler|turns out to be the homunculus Pride}}. In the 2003 anime, he only has a few scenes before he {{spoiler|gets killed by his own father- who took his role as the homunculus Pride- in a [[Moral Event Horizon]] crossing}}. Then again, this is partly due to the author not wanting later twists being spoiled.
** In the 2003 anime, Sheska got a rather significant amount of screen time and was a full-blown supporting character. In the manga, Sheska is barely in it after her introduction, with the exception of a few cameos.
** Also, in the manga, Marta, one of Greed's companions, is killed with the rest of Greed's allies in the Devil's Nest. In the 2003 anime, Marta had a somewhat significant role in the latter half of the anime, even traveling with the Elrics for a few episodes.
** An unpleasant example is Alex Armstrong in the 2003 anime, who did very little of true importance and during the final events, [[Reassigned to Antarctica|he's reassigned to work somewhere up north and only makes a brief cameo afterward.]]
* Tetsuo Ishimaru from ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' often goes unnoticed even by his teammates. This was actually his strength; his opponents often failed to notice him, letting him gain big yards and score the occasional touchdown (which sadly, happened unceremoniously every time he managed). Poor Ishimaru....
* Sylphiel Nels Lahda appears in the first two ''[[Slayers]]'' seasons. She is absent from the third (and they even tease the viewer about it by giving her an eyecatch). She does appear in the final couple of episodes of the fourth, but has only a cameo in the beginning of the fifth (and is part of the penultimate eyecatch).
* The short lived OAV series ''[[Dragon Half]]'' parodies this. The second episode (also the last- it was that short lived) introduces a character named Dug Finn, who [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|comes out of nowhere]] to fight his way through the [[Inevitable Tournament]]. Confronting the heroine Mink in the finals, he rants to her about how he will kill her for daring to oppose his father, Azatodeth, only to find that Mink has no idea what he's talking about and doesn't remember doing that. Confused, Dug Finn calls a time-out to [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|check his VHS copy of the first OAV]], and is infuriated to find out that [[Executive Meddling|the producers cut out all his scenes]].
** This is exactly what
* This trope can be applied to any character of the entire ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' franchise that isn't Goku or Vegeta, and to a lesser extent Pan in ''[[Dragon Ball GT|GT]]''.
** One of the worst cases being Lunch, who acted as the secondary heroine of the series (next to Bulma) for a time. At the beginning of the Saiyan saga (the first saga of ''Z''), her absence was [[Hand Wave|HandWaved]], and she was never mentioned again. She was planned to make one final appearance near the end of the series, but this never came to fruition, as by that point the artist had ''forgotten what she looked like''. At least she appeared on the anime.
Line 87:
** On a more meta sort of way, this also happens to the last big [[Tournament Arc]], the 23rd Tenka'ichi Budoukai, when it comes to videogames, as it's rarely included and most of the games that cover it are relatively obscure, do so by demoting [[Big Bad|Piccolo]] to a [[Warmup Boss]], or both. Generally, this happens because games either cover "Kid Goku" or "Z (And maybe GT)", and this arc just so happens to be in the middle of both things. Specially bad is ''Attack of the Saiyans'', which despite being focused on the "23rd tourney to Vegeta fight" part, glosses over most of the tournament to the point there's only ONE fight, and not a hard one.
* In ''[[Bakugan|Bakugan: New Vestroia]]'', Dan, Marucho and Shun are all back as regulars, but Runo and Julie only appear in the first episode and Alice doesn't even get that much. (Seriously, the ''girls'' got phased out? What the hell type of show is this?!)
* Happened to every human character, and most of the shinigami in ''[[Bleach]].'' That includes Ichigo and Rukia, despite their official status as ''main characters,'' Ichigo went over 50 chapters without even being seen, and Rukia's gone almost 100 without a single line of dialogue. It's even worse in the anime, with ever non-shinigami, sometimes with the exception of Ichigo, having next to no role in anime original stories (with the sole exception of the Bount arc), they're hardly even featured in the merchandise. Ishida, Orihime, and Chad got [[Brother Chuck
** Part of the problem is that none of the hero characters have ever been killed off, or went away in ''Bleach'', so every single shinigami has to go through the motions before the actual characters in the story get any screen time, if they get it at all. Chad hasn't been seen in so long, he might as well have been killed, but NOBODY DIES IN BLEACH, so that'll never happen.
*** Heavily adverted in the new arc, where Shinigami seem to be getting killed off left and right.
* Tsukiyo Ooba from ''[[Sketchbook]]'' only gets a few lines of dialogue in the anime. Sure, she is an irregular cast member in the manga as well, but at least there she gets some of the funniest moments. Hopefully a second season will set this injustice straight.
* This happened to Takayanagi as the ''[[Tenjou Tenge]]'' series wore on; he went from being a core Juken member strong enough to school lead character Souichiro with one punch to an occasional appearance here and there, either for comic relief or to be pointedly ignored by Aya in her point of Souichiro. Sad indeed.
* ''[[After War Gundam X|Gundam X]]'' is a rare example of a '''series''' being
** ''[[After War Gundam X|Gundam X]]'' is also the only Gundam series not to have a Master Grade model of even one single suit from it (''V Gundam'' used to be this way too, but it's getting one soon).
* In the ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' manga, Yusuke's mother Atsuko was present for much of the early story and attended the Dark Tournament, but gradually faded away. In the anime, virtually all of her appearances after the Yukina arc were cut out, and she was removed from later versions of the opening.
Line 103:
* In the second half of ''[[Death Note]]'', Misa loses much of her importance when, in order to fool the investigation team when they move to put her and Light under surveillance, she gives up her Death Note and her memories of it a second time. The SPK and Mello sometimes investigate her, but she shows up less often and does nothing of importance. Light's mother and sister faded from the plot after {{spoiler|Soichiro's death}}, and so did Ryuk, although he showed up at the end to {{spoiler|write Light's name in the Death Note}}.
** Sayu actually appears one final and brief time in the manga, in chapter 97 or so. She's shown in a panel at a coming-of-age ceremony, no longer {{spoiler|confined to a wheelchair from trauma}} but still slowly recovering, per [[Word of God]]. The anime cut that bit out when it came time to adapt that chapter.
* The ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'' porn video, ''[[Parallel Porn Titles|Clonnad]]'' doesn't have Fuuko at all, despite being one of Clannad's five main heroines and the other 4 being there. Before you argue how she's similar to a loli and thus it's to be expected: Other movies by TMA had lolis when they were main characters ([[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni|Rika and Satoko]], [[Fate/stay night|Ilya]], [[Code Geass|Nunnally]] and so on. Nunnally even had a porn scene. She wasn't crippled, don't worry.) so this isn't a issue, at least for TMA. Second, these movies are 90% a crappy live-action version of the original anime and 10% porn so she could have appeared only on said 90%. And third, Kotomi and Tomoyo are also main heroines but didn't have porn scenes despite appearing (And [[All There in the Manual|they're actually the bustiest heroines, even]]!), making Fuuko's non-appearance even more bizarre and strange. And yes, that means only Nagisa and Kyou got porn scenes. And they're [[Character Focus|the heroines with the most screentime on the anime]] (With good reason, mind). [[There Are No Coincidences|Surely this isn't a coincidence]]...
* The ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' anime hasn't quite ended yet, but a lot of fans are wondering if Poland is ''ever'' going to get more than a three-second cameo, especially considering that his partner Lithuania has actually gotten a fair amount of screen time and arguably more minor characters like Belarus and Liechtenstein have received sizeable roles in at least two episodes so far. Spain and Sweden also suffer from this to some extent, with the characters they're seen the most frequently within the webcomic (Romano and Finland, respectively) being somewhat luckier than them.
** Ah, but our prayers have been answered! Poland practically gets his own episode later, removing him from the abandonment list. [[Valley Girl|Like, that's so hot!]]
** Unfortunately, Korea gets
* In the ''[[To
** Mikan even lampshades this ''[[To Love Ru Darkness]]'', stating that she feels that she is becoming less important because Momo is taking away most of the things she used to do. However, she does get fairly good screentime so it's not a "true" example. A better example would be ''Lala'', the main heroine of the series, that has yet to get an episode truly about herself in ''Darkness'', the closest being one she shared with her sisters, but her sisters already get far more screentime anyway!
* All the main characters from ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'', except Takeru and Hikari, were demoted in ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]''. Taichi's giving his signature googles to Daisuke was almost symbolic of that transition. From there, the older kids became the younger ones' mentors and had occasional supporting roles. But their influence on the story was limited; in fact, they were hardly able to travel to the Digital World without the new Chosen Kids' help.
Line 113:
* Oh, [[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni|Keiichi]]. You may be a [[Decoy Protagonist|very]] [[The Lancer|important]] character, giving {{spoiler|Rika}} hope. But unfortunately, you're also [[The One Guy]], so don't expect to show up in the official merchandise much. He ''does'' get a couple small figures, but all of the girls get at least one normal sized one.
** And don't even get me started on ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]''. [[Big Brother Mentor|George]] didn't even show up on the cover of ''his own [[Image Song|Character CD]]'', while Beatrice (who he shared the CD with and is, admittedly, probably more important) got the whole cover to herself. Meanwhile [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|the Stakes of Purgatory]] got a CD of their own, while Battler, the ''[[The Hero|main character]]'' only got one "image song" on a different CD. One that's not even performed by his [[Daisuke Ono|seiyuu]]. And the parents, my God ''the parents''...
* Loads of characters get demoted to extras in the ''[[Future GPX Cyber Formula]]'' series, starting from Johji Otomo, who can rarely be seen or heard after Hayato gets his Super Asurada 01 until the last four episodes, and eventually he [[Put on a Bus|retires from the Cyber GPX for good.]] The ''SIN'' OVA have many characters get demoted, especially [[The Ace|Randoll]], thanks to Hayato and Kaga's [[Super Mode
** This also happens in-series during the second half of the TV series when [[Tall, Dark and Snarky|Naoki Shinjyo]] is demoted after his boss [[Rich Bitch|Kyoko]] made a secondary team of Aoi Formula, Aoi ZIP Formula and made Bleed Kaga as the new team's driver. Kyoko herself gets demoted to vice president when Aoi Formula and Aoi ZIP Formula are merged into one team and the team chooses [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Kyoshiro Nagumo]] as the new president and Shinjyo was subsequently fired from the team. Needless to say, both of them are less than happy about the news.
* ''[[
** She actually gets more screen time than any other character besides Touma, she just doesn't get any action scene so many people fail to notice since that is all they pay attention to. May be part of the reason why [[Action Girl]] Mikoto is so popular.
** Index ''does'' get quite a few action scenes, just not big fights. And Mikoto doesn't get that much action anyway (In her spin-off, maybe, but in the parent series she rarely goes beyond beating [[
* After ''[[Weiss Kreuz]] Gluhen,'' Omi and Youji demote themselves by {{spoiler|taking over Kritiker and getting married after developing amnesia}}, leaving Aya and Ken to become the backbone of a new assassin team in England while they only appear in flashbacks. Frustratingly, looked about to change, what with Youji being called by his real name in a cameo and Omi keeping tabs on Aya and Ken's actions, but the series was [[Cut Short]].
* Kaorin from ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'', despite numerous attempts to avert this, falls to the wayside, despite being introduced before many of the major players.
Line 134:
* Reading ''[[Justice Society of America]]'' can be a bit jarring if you're a fan of ''[[Sandman Mystery Theatre]]''. After the Golden Age Sandman spent years as the hero of his own cult classic series, he's reduced to a mere scene-filler in JSA.
* Some ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' editors have been quoted saying "Spider-Man has a supporting cast?". This is because most supporting cast members are either lost in limbo or have been killed off.
* Happens with ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'', even the main characters, as well as with other teams.
** But it also happens with newer members (such as Marrow) who almost always turned out to be only temporarily popular or big-time.
*** The junior classes have it the worst. Out of the members who aren't [[Killed Off for Real]], generally one out of each generation will get much of any face time if they aren't Wolverine's sidekick. New X-men fans refer to this is 'becoming wallpaper'. Currently, Husk from Generation X and Pixie (who ironically [[Ascended Extra|started as wallpaper]]) from New X-men are filling their respective generation's 'slot'.
** This tends to be [[Cyclic Trope|cyclical]], particularly in the X-books. Jamie Madrox, for instance, started off as a background character with little personality, became an [[Ascended Extra]] in Peter David's first ''X-Factor'' run, then spent a couple years [[Not Quite Dead]] and about a decade as a bit player until David got the opportunity to have him ''lead'' the new X-Factor. The New Warriors (the ones who got blown up right before ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'') ''started out'' as an attempt to ascend a bunch of nobodies and has-beens, with the whole team dropping [[Out of Focus]] several times.
** A lot of human allies to the X-teams disappear when their creator leaves the books. Peter Corbeau got several particularly awesome scenes in Chris Claremont's early days, now, he doesn't even get an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
Line 142:
* It also happens a lot to the ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes]]'', given the [[Loads and Loads of Characters|sheer number of characters]], frequent [[Retcon|RetCons]] and all-out [[Multiple Choice Past|continuity reboots]], generally [[Continuity Snarl|convoluted continuity]], and the fact that the team has been in existence since the '50s, giving fans plenty of opportunity to start [[Running the Asylum]]. The most notable victim is probably Dyrk Magz aka Magno, who spent all of ten issues as a member of the Legion before getting summarily depowered, was given just enough development to be interesting, and then mostly got relegated to the background before the ''Legion Worlds'' miniseries finally managed to abandon the character in a way that gave him no resolution but also left him in a position from which it would be hard to bring him back into play. And then the Legion's continuity was rebooted entirely a few years later anyhow.
* Also tends to happen to the Doom Patrol. Often Lampshaded at the end of their newest guest appearance in some other hero team's series.
* Comics have their own name for this trope: [[Comic Book Limbo]]. So many characters and whole teams end up
* Rotor Walrus in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', both ''[[Sonic Sat AM|SatAM]]'' and [[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Archie Comics]] versions, have been hit hard with this; in both versions, he started out as a strong fixture in the Freedom Fighters, then got kicked into this position after a certain point (Season 2 in SatAM, issue #125 in the [[Archie Comics]]); in fact, in the comics, his jacked-up importance and [[Word of Gay]] relationship in the "Mobius: 25 Years Later" storyline was meant by previous head writer Ken Penders as a way of moving him out of extra status and giving him a much-needed jolt of [[Character Development]]. Sadly, when current head writer Ian Flynn took over, he was beaten back down to this spot ''violently'', in both the main comic and the "M:25YL" storyline.
** A group of characters called "The Substitute Freedom Fighters" that faded out of relevance soon after their introduction. Currently, they were brought back as councilors on the royal council. One of them, Hamlin, was angry enough about his treatment that he joined the council out of spite for the Freedom Fighters.
Line 153:
* This happens in ''[[Sin City]]'', mostly because different stories have different protagonists. For instance, Marv was the main character in the first story and a supporting character in the second. Aside from two one-shots, he was never the main character for any stories after that. Later stories have him showing up as an extra in the background (often if the scene takes place at Kadie's Bar) with one or two lines. [[Word of God]] states that he will be the focal point in future tales.
* In the later years of the feature, Toni Turner, best friend to ''[[Millie the Model]]'', seldom appeared, her role largely supplanted by "Millie's Redheaded Rival," the nastier and more colorful Chili Storm.
* [[Legacy Character|The third]] [[The Flash|Flash]], Wally West, was hit with this pretty hard. He started out as the original Kid Flash, before replacing Barry Allen as the Flash (And becoming the [[Trope Codifier]] for [[Sidekick Graduations Stick]]) following ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]''; even being used as the Flash over Barry in ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]''. After that, Wally remained the main character in the Flash series until ''[[Infinite Crisis]]'', when Bart Allen briefly took over the role for a year before Wally returned, at which point Wally took the series over again. Until ''[[Final Crisis]]'' brought Barry Allen [[Back
Line 160:
* In ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'', [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|Kim Pine]] is a background [[Deadpan Snarker]] instead of Scott's best friend. Her [[Betty and Veronica|Betty duties]] are reassigned to [[Stalker with a Crush|Knives]].
* Hakan and the alcoholics in ''[[Let the Right One In]]'' have significantly reduced roles in the film adaptation. They are removed entirely from the American version.
* Cyclops in ''[[X-Men: The
** By the third, it's easier to name who isn't a case of this, due to the growth of the [[Executive Meddling|writers' obsession]] with [[Wolverine]] as the franchise went on. In all fairness, they were just following [[Canon Sue|the comic's example]].
** It also doesn't help that they had to [[Ascended Extra|focus on]] background X-Men from the previous movies while introducing new ones. This resulted in Cyclops, Rogue, and Prof X being removed from the climax altogether. And considering Jean was on Magneto's side at the time, the ending battle only had three classic movie X-Men (one of which had been a bit of a sidekick up until then).
Line 167:
* Ann Lewis from ''[[RoboCop]] 3''. Her actress, Nancy Allen, was reportedly [[Genre Savvy]] enough to notice how ''[[RoboCop]]'' was becoming a [[Cash Cow Franchise]], and thus wouldn't sign on until they promised to [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome|kill her character off.]]
* The character of Pete, the largely silent and essentially background droog in ''[[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|A Clockwork Orange]]'', played quite a pivotal role in the last chapter of Anthony Burgess' original novel. However, since [[A Clockwork Orange (film)|Kubrick's]] [[Compressed Adaptation|adaptation]] was based on a version of the book with the final chapter excised, Pete's role was rendered largely inconsequential.
* All secondary characters in Tom Clany's novels that are produced into films. ALL OF THEM!
** Dan Murray, who played a large role in Clear and Present Danger and all Jack Ryan Sr. books after that, is {{spoiler|Killed in the Colomiban Cartel attack on the FBI Director, when in the book, he wasn't even there!}}
* ''[[Star Wars]]'':
** Jar Jar Binks. Clearly set up as a Chewbacca for the prequels. Given only a cursory nod in the sequel and silently allowed to attend his dear friend's funeral in ''Episode III''. No doubt resulting from [[The Scrappy|the extreme distaste much of the audience had for him]].
** In the original cut of ''[[A New Hope]]'', Biggs Darklighter ([https://web.archive.org/web/20120725120851/http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/2/20/Biggs.jpg this] X-wing pilot) had a much more prominent role. He's actually Luke's best friend from Tatooine who left to join the Imperial Navy, but the scenes where we learn this were deleted. In one scene, Luke meets him while on shore leave and he confesses that he's defecting to the Rebellion. In another, he and Luke get an emotional reunion before the attack on the Death Star, which makes his death in the battle a lot more tragic. The special edition restored his reunion scene with Luke, but left out the early scenes where we learn who he is.
* The ''[[Star Trek]]'' films. Saavik, who was a major character in ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|The Wrath of Khan]]'' and ''[[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock|The Search for Spock]]'', made a brief appearance in only one scene in ''[[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home|The Voyage Home]]'', and then was never seen again.
* In ''[[Serenity]]'' the characters of Book and Inara are set up as not living on the ship anymore. Shepherd Book is an odd example as he's only in two scenes in the entire movie ({{spoiler|the second of which [[Killed Off for Real|kills him off]]}}), less than any of the other main characters from the series. However, they're both [[One-Scene Wonder|really good scenes]] that play a major part in shaping [[The Hero|Mal's]] own story arc as well as shedding some light on the film's villain, so despite his limited screentime he ends up being one of the more important characters.
* The Kevin Myers character suffers from this in the third ''[[American Pie]]'' film, commensurate with the rise of [[Breakout Character]] Stifler.
* Rico and Oliver were reduced to a few lines at the beginning of the ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' movie.
* The ''[[Resident Evil (film)|Resident Evil]]'' movies, based loosely off of the video game series of the same name, end up doing this to most canon characters in favor of [[God Mode Sue|their own]]. At best, they end up as sidekicks (Jill Valentine is still a semi-main character in ''[[Resident Evil: Apocalypse|Resident Evil Apocalypse]]'') and at worst, they're truly reduced to extras ([[Badass Normal
* LAPD officer Sergeant Al Powell is a big part of ''[[Die Hard]]'', but none of the other films take place in Los Angeles. The second film offers him a gratuitous cameo, and the rest leave him out all together. Possibly justified in that Al had a family and was working the beat again by the second movie, so he wouldn't have been able to join John for more adventures.
* Bagheera in Disney's ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]'' had a big role. In the sequel "The Jungle Book 2" he falls in the trope
Line 183:
** {{spoiler|At least Arcee's first movie appearance was in Revenge}}. Ironhide and the other Autobots from the first movie, except for Bumblebee and Optimus, of course, share something of a total of 10 lines between the lot of them. Meanwhile, these [[One-Scene Wonder|memorable characters]] were replaced with [[The Scrappy|the Twins]].
* ''[[The Last Airbender]]'' naturally has this by virtue of trying to condense twenty episodes into two hours. However, it's especially noticeable with Momo, who, while admittedly a comic relief lemur, shows up just long enough to be introduced then does absolutely nothing but appear in the background of scenes for the rest of the movie. You seriously will forget he was in it at all. There's also Avatar Roku, who was a major player in the Avatar's quest in the show. In the movie, with the exception of a brief mention, he's completely removed and his mentor role to Aang is handled by a dragon...for some reason.
* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' live action trilogy, perhaps the biggest casualty of this was Éomer, who was built up to be almost a [[Sixth Ranger]] to the trio of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli in the book of ''The Two Towers''. He was offscreen for much of ''The Two Towers'' movie as his role was merged with a minor commander who leads [[The Cavalry]] rescue at the fortress of Helm's Deep. Conversely, his sister Éowyn takes the almost-Sixth Ranger role since she also goes to Helm's Deep instead of leading civilians to another fortress. Their uncle King Théoden also takes his memorable lines and moments in ''The Two Towers'' and ''The Return of the King''.
* In the Rankin/Bass animated version of ''[[The Lord of the Rings|The Return of the King]]'', Legolas and Gimli are reduced to background characters who have a few non speaking cameos, while Saruman doesn't appear at all.
* ''[[Harry Potter]]''
** Percy Weasley. He wasn't all that big a player in the books, usually being involved in the side-plots, but his estrangement from his family was a poignant reminder of what Dumbledore always said about Voldemort's gift for dividing loyalties.
** Up until ''Deathly Hallows'', Charlie was mentioned a couple of times in the first film and Bill wasn't mentioned in the films at all. Bill and Charlie's only actual appearances in the first six films were in the photo of the Weasley family in Egypt, which was onscreen for about a second.
** Tonks and Lupin only appear in one scene in ''Half-Blood Prince'' despite having a sub-plot in the book.
* In an in-universe example, this happens to a character in ''[[Mrs. Doubtfire]]''. Early in the movie, Mr. Sprinkles is the star of a children's show. At the end of the movie, he's replaced by Mrs. Doubtfire and is demoted to Mr. Mailman, a minor character.
* Randy becomes this in ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]] 2'', before [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|having a bridge dropped on him]] halfway through the film. Conversely, Cotton becomes an [[Ascended Extra]] in ''2'', only to be bridge-dropped at the beginning of ''3''.
Line 195:
* Elizabeth March aka Beth, the [[Ill Girl]] and [[Dead Little Sister]], in [[The Film of the Book]] ''[[Little Women]]'', played by Claire Danes.
* ''[[Finding Nemo]]'': Remember that pelican Gerald that {{spoiler|swallows Marlin and Dory}}? Initially in production he and Nigel were originally going to be [[Those Two Guys]], Nigel being the neat freak of the two, Gerald being scruffy and sloppy. In the finished film, Gerald's final screen time is less than a minute.
== Literature ==
* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'':
** In the books and movies, Ginny Weasley in ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (novel)|Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' and ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (novel)|Goblet of Fire]]''. Gradually reverted in the later books, though.
** Colin Creevey had a moderate supporting role in the fourth and fifth books and then vanished entirely until ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (novel)|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'', when in only one or two lines it is explained that he {{spoiler|was killed by Death Eaters when Hogwarts was attacked. As a muggle-born (much less a sixth year), he wasn't even supposed to be there, but the author [[Hand Wave|Handwaved]] this by saying that he broke into the school to fight.}}
* Happened to most of the characters from the first series of ''[[Warrior Cats]]''. Characters like Sandstorm, Mistyfoot, Cloudtail and Graystripe (who was also [[Put on a Bus]] for ''three books'') don't make many appearances from the second series onward. Firestar still has a noteworthy presence as Clan leader, but he still isn't as important as the main characters. The second series characters were a bit better about this (except for Tawnypelt, whose purpose in the plot seems to be one of the few cats in ShadowClan who isn't a jerk, and to give birth to relatively important characters, and Stormfur, who has been [[Put on a Bus]] ''twice''), especially with Leafpool, who is still an important character after the end of the second series.
* In ''[[Avalon: Web of Magic]]'', [[The One Guy]] Zach appeared as a major character in the third book, at the end of which he seemed to be an important addition to the team. In books four to eleven, he's lucky if he gets a scene or two, or even a few lines of dialogue. However, the author says that he'll have a bigger role in the sequel trilogy, ''Shadow Warrior'', so he may just be [[Out of Focus]].
Line 223 ⟶ 222:
** Frank Lapidus was also Demoted To Extra. He was a pretty major character during Season 4 and most of 5, but when Season 6 came around he seemed to have gotten lost in the shuffle and became an extra body and frequent cheesy [[One-Liner]]. Pretty ironic considering Jeff Fahey wasn't promoted to the main cast until Season 6.
** Made worse by the fact that we never really knew who Lapidus really was or where he came from, as he was one of the few main characters to never get his own flashback episode. The one flashback he did get was in an episode that he shared with several others, and all it did was explain how he got onto the freighter that came to the island.
* Steven Hill was originally the main star of ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'', but partway through the first season (after his returning to his roots of Orthodox Judaism meant that he refused to work after sundown on Fridays) he was downgraded to only appearing in a couple scenes per episode.
* During the final season of ''[[The Bob Newhart Show]]'', there are several episodes where Newhart himself has only one scene, which is not shared with any other characters (allowing him to perform one of his trademark one-sided telephone conversations).
* Done by necessity with some characters from ''[[Last of the Summer Wine]]'' due to the actors' age catching up with them.
Line 229 ⟶ 228:
* This started happening to Kimberly in season three of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]].'' Notably, she didn't even appear in the season premiere (AKA the [[Poorly-Disguised Pilot]] for ''[[Kamen Rider|Saban's Masked Rider]]''), and had her powers drained halfway through after being captured by Kat Hillard. Since [[Amy Jo Johnson]] actually told Saban she was going to quit beforehand, instead of clumsy camera tricks and an abrupt [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]], half the season was spent slowly easing her character out of the Pink Ranger position and setting up her successor.
** After Skull was Demoted To Extra in ''Lost Galaxy'', the writers apparently had trouble coming up with material for Bulk on his own. He only appears in a few episodes despite being in the opening credits.
* In the seventh season of ''[[Red Dwarf]]'', Arnold Rimmer only appeared in person in two episodes, then was relegated to flashbacks, dream sequences
* On ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', Doctors Cameron and Chase were fired from the title character's team at the end of Season 3. In Season 4 they were shown to have taken new jobs at the hospital, while House recruited a new team.
** Season 6 has a lot of demotions: Cameron becomes a long-distance extra, while Chase found his way back into the cast.
Line 242 ⟶ 241:
** ''[[Stargate SG-1]]: Continuum'' opens with an over-the-shoulder shot of Pentagon liaison Major Davis walking down the corridors of Stargate Command. He was a fairly major recurring character in the earlier seasons of the TV series, so you might expect him to have at least one scene, but nope, the camera quickly cuts to the main characters, and all you see of Davis in the movie is the back of his head for several seconds. The director did this as a joke, according to the DVD commentary.
** Teal'c is the only member of the original SG-1 to not appear in ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' so far.
** Meanwhile, of all the characters who survived the original movie, Feretti is the one the writers forget exists. In fact, despite ''dying'' in the first regular episode of SG-1, Kawalsky makes ''far'' more appearances than Feretti (Kawalsky gets [[Time Travel]], [[Alternate Timeline
** * On ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' Weir and Ford did this before being dropped entirely Weir's actress could not return to do any more episodes (despite the writers having plans for a longer arc involving her), so they pulled (another) [[The Other Darrin]] on her (the character's 2nd time) before having her [[Put on a Bus]]. Ford just wasn't very interesting to them, so despite bringing him back several times he was eventually dropped.
* ''[[Family Matters]]'': The character of Judy Winslow, especially in Season 3 until she was [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|eliminated without explanation]] completely in Season 4; she usually appeared only in scenes involving the entire family or to move a plot along. To a lesser extent, this also happened with Rachel Crawford (Thelma Hopkins, who was involved with other projects), despite making several bit appearances from Season 6 onward.
* ''[[Step by Step]]'': The character of Brendan Lambert, the youngest son of family patriarch Frank Lambert, was given fewer plots and lines before [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|being eliminated completely]] by the sixth season. To a lesser extent, this was also the case with Mark (the nerdy middle son of Carol Foster), although Mark would continue to appear sporactically until the series ended, usually given one-liners or in family scenes whereby his absence would be conspicuous. These reduced appearances were perhaps in part due to the shift in focus on the female siblings, especially one-time tomboy Al (after Christine Lakin grew in desirability as she became an adult); while many of the remaining stories were 5-year-old Lily (who was born in 1995 and was age-advanced to create "little girl" stories).
* When ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|Mash]]'' made it to the little screen, several characters from the movie had this happen to them (when they weren't eliminated entirely): Spearchucker, Ugly John, and Lieutenant Dish were all reduced to second-tier status, and all were gone from the show well before the end of the first season. The character of Spearchucker was supposedly written out for greater historical accuracy, as the writers claimed there was no record of African-American surgeons serving in Korea. (There were, in fact, black doctors in Korea, and Spearchucker was based on an African-American doctor Richard Hornberger heard about at the 8055.)
* In ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'', Basshaa is the only character to not get a specific arc, and never gets a Fever attack when Kiva upgrades to Emperor form. In the next series, ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'', Basshaa gets his ass blown away ''effortlessly'' in each
* ''[[Happy Days]]'':
** [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|Chuck Cunningham]], Richie's rarely seen older brother in the first two seasons. Chuck, usually seen only in transition scenes where basketball was the discussion, was eventually eliminated altogether. (At the same time, the character of The Fonz grew in popularity, and many of the storylines began focusing on him.)
** Poor Potsie is the ultimate. Initially one of the major characters as Richie's pal, he stuck around when Richie & Ralph left the series. Some weak storylines had him as a "pledge" to Howard's Men's Club, but he ultimately vanished by the last season. He's one of the only cast members not to be there for the finale!
** Also poor Lori-Beth, who is a minor recurring character who later becomes Richie's steady girl. When Richie left, she stuck around, getting married to him over the phone, and giving birth to Richie's son when he was away. Eventually, she just stopped appearing entirely unless it was a special occasion, having little way to play off the others.
* Leoben, in the last half season of ''[[Battlestar Galactica
** He does get a larger role in ''The Plan,'' the feature length episode produced after the main series had finished. It was, however, set before the end of season 2, so quite what happened to Leoben (and the other Twos) is never addressed.
* Once Yutaka Ishinabe, Roksaburo Michiba, and Koumei Nakamura retired from their positions as [[Iron Chef
* {{spoiler|Micah}} in Season 3 of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''. He goes from being a series regular to only appearing in a few episodes of Season 3 after his storyline was dumped from most of the show.
** Since ''Heroes'' has [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], every single series has demoted at least one of them to extra so far. And completely written out a couple of others.
** The Haitian in particular suffered badly from this. Never a prominent character, by the final season most of his appearances were reduced to a single scene every few episodes. On at least one occasion he didn't even get a line - rather, he simply stood in the background to imply that the good guys would use his power in some way (not that they ever actually showed it happening).
* Kim Bauer after Season 3 of ''[[24]]'', although as she was [[The Scrappy]] in the first three seasons most fans didn't seem to mind.
* Much of the main cast from the first 4 seasons of ''[[The West Wing]]'' were
* Kay Howard on ''[[Series/Homicide|Homicide]]'' after her promotion to Sergeant, especially in Season 5 where she does nothing until the season finale, after which she's [[Put on a Bus]]. To a lesser extent, Munch from Season 4-on and Bayliss for most of Season 7.
* Jack McCoy on ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'' after getting promoted to DA. Interestingly, this was at Sam Waterston's
* In the first half of the first season of ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'' Eliot Stabler's four children were regular characters, however after that they became infrequent recurrers showing up about once season. Two of his daughters have not even been seen since the seventh season and between that and the first they had about 3 appearances each. This oldest son (who is the twin of one of the daughters) has remained showing up about once a year and later had a [[Day in The Limelight]], and his middle daughter had a subplot about her being a bipolar thieving drug addict.
** The entire rest of the supporting cast on SVU has fallen victim to this. Most noticeably are Munch, Fin, and Huang, who used to get entire subplots in every episode and now don't even appear in half of them. Cragen might have a scene or two, and Liz might have a line per episode. Nowhere ''near'' the screentime of Stabler, Benson, and the ADA (Alex, Casey, or whoever the rotating one may be).
* Carrie Ingalls on [[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House On The Prairie]], who went from a major character in the first four seasons, to walking scenery during the next four. She was lucky to get a line once an episode... then once a month... then once a season.
* In ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' both Much and Allan-a-Dale, who were hugely important characters in seasons one and two, ended up being lucky if they got three lines each in season three. They were shunted aside in favor of [[Canon Foreigner|Kate]].
* The original version of ''[[Survivors (TV series)|Survivors]]'' did this with several characters as the focus of the show shifted from season to season. Jenny in particular started out as one of the principal characters, faded away almost completely, then came back to star in the third and final season.
* On ''[[Community]]'' John Oliver's character, Prof. Ian Duncan was initially featured in early promotional material as the main professor character in the show, but after a handful of episodes has essentially disappeared, with Senor Chang (Ken Jeong) essentially taking his place. Oliver did return in the first season finale, and took over as replacement anthropology professor in the next season. Despite being featured more than he was in the first season, he only turns up in a handful of Season 2 episodes.
Line 272 ⟶ 271:
** Jimmy McNulty from [[The Wire]] in season four, going from being the defacto star in the first three seasons. The actor playing McNulty wanted some time off to do film and theater and spend time with his family, this was explained in series by him deciding to leave the Major Crimes Unit after his adversary was killed before he could take him down, becoming a patrolman and mending his ways while he was at it. He got off the bus in season five, though.
** In the fifth season of HBO's , many of the supporting (and even major) characters from the previous seasons appear during several episodes of the series, largely as a reminder that life in Baltimore keeps on going, even when the major plot arcs end. {{spoiler|Roland Prezbylewski, the other three main child characters from season four, Cutty Wise, Nick Sobotka, Major Colvin}} and several others show up in different scenes. More notably, however, various characters who were glimpsed in previous seasons also return, including {{spoiler|Clay Davis' limo driver, several dock workers (who are now homeless) and former members of Avon Barksdale's gang who were prominent in the first and second seasons}}.
** Similarly, since the fourth season dealt with the school system, this inevitably led to less focus being spent on the actual police force; which was the forte of Jimmy McNulty (arguably the show's main character). He's even absent for an episode.
* Since Season 4 of ''[[iCarly]]'' started, Freddie's mom Mrs. Benson, has been used sparingly. It's possible that Gibby being promoted to the main cast is the reason for this.
* During the first season of ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]],'' Scott Scanlon is David Silvers' best friend. As David becomes accepted by Brandon and Brenda's friends, Scott is pushed into the background since he doesn't fit in with that group. He eventually develops a liking for country music and accidentally kills himself in front of David while playing with his father's gun in a second-season episode.
* Happened to a lot of characters on ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'', because the show has [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] (and they can only focus on so many of them). The most notable example would probably have to be Toby Issacs. He was a major character in the first 2 seasons. Come season 3, he became more of a background character and his screen time was significantly reduced (only getting a total of two major story lines from seasons 3-7 while it seemed like some characters would have a new story line every other episode). He was even removed from the opening credits during his final 2 seasons, before being [[Put on a Bus]] for good in season 8.
* With the second [[Retool]] of ''[[3-2-1 Contact]]'' in 1986, the seasons 2-4 cast was relegated to a few cameo appearances.
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'': Two of the most-seen recurring villains in the first season, the [[Space Pirates|Raiders]] and the [[Fantastic Racism|Home Guard]]. The Raiders' lack of presence is due to a number of major defeats they suffered {{spoiler|in the same episode where [[The Reveal|the Shadows are seen for the first time]]}}, though they begin to appear again later on. The Home Guard get one mention in season 2 before not being seen or referred to again.
** To a lesser degree, Lou Welch, one of the low-ranking security guards on the station, gradually disappears in season 2 as [[Ascended Extra|Zack Allen]] begins to get more and more screen time.
* ''[[Space: 1999]]'': In season 2, Sandra Benes went from being one of the senior staff to barely having any lines when she appeared. That is, if she was even supposed to be the same character. Oddly, she was called Sahn during season 2. Her original role seemed to be given to another Asian characeter named Yasko.
* Especially in Season One, ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' had a habit of taking the names of reasonably significant Arthurian characters, like Pellinore, and giving them to random knights, [[Redshirt Army|who were then killed]].
** In series four, [[Canon Foreigner|Gaius]] is given virtually nothing to do except be [[Mr. Exposition]]. True, that was always his role, but he was also given several character-centric episodes in the past. This was not necessarily a bad thing, as the introduction of the knights of the Round Table at the end of series three meant that the show was juggling [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], and one of the themes of the season was passing on the torch to the younger generation.
Line 289 ⟶ 288:
* Keyboardist Ian Stewart was an original member of [[The Rolling Stones]], but when they began recording in 1963 their manager, Andrew "Loog" Oldham, had him officially demoted to road manager, mainly because his straitlaced, short-haired look didn't fit the image Oldham was trying to cultivate for the band. Because the band still liked him, Stewart did continue to appear on the Stones' recordings, though, and occasionally performed with them on stage until his death. He by any meaningful measure was a full member of the band, so his demotion really only was relevant in promotional material.
* [[Blues]] helped to create [[Rock and Roll]] and yet never sees much in the way of thanks or tribute from any of the sub-genres that sprouted from its existence. Blues, [[Humble Hero|being characteristically not particularly glory-seeking]] is probably okay with this.
** A lot of early [[Rock and Roll]] and classic rock hits, especially from the British Invasion, were covers of old Blues songs. The similarities are so close, Sam Phillips famously said "[[Rock and Roll]] is just the Blues sped up."
* [[I Am the Band|Roger Waters]]-I mean [[Pink Floyd]] did this to Richard Wright, as he was no longer a member of the band durring [[The Wall]] but still played on that album. Their next album, ''The Final Cut'', lacked him altogether. David Gilmour brought him back, but still as an extra on the first Waters-less album ''A Momentary Lapse of Reason''. Then ''The Division Bell'' (the final album of the band) credited Wright as a band member again.
** Before that, the band did this to Syd Barrett. He only appears on a few tracks on their second album.
* Alan Myers was the drummer for [[Devo]] up until the mid-eighties, after they recorded ''Shout''. By that point Devo had made him somewhat obsolete on record, relying increasingly on drum machines rather than acoustic drums, so Myers left essentially out of creative boredom.
Line 299 ⟶ 298:
* This happened to a number of ''[[Peanuts]]'' characters: Shermy, Patty, Violet, Freida, Pig-Pen. For example, in the 1980's and 1990's, Patty (not to be confused with the more prominent ''Peppermint'' Patty) appeared in a total of ''three'' comic strips. [[Word of God]] said Patty and Violet got the shaft because Lucy worked better as a female bully character, so it would be too redundant to have all three of them featured prominently.
** In the latter half of the 1990s this had happened to nearly the ''entire cast''. By the end of the strip's run, [[Out of Focus|the focus had boiled down to four major story lines]]: the misadventures of [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|Rerun]] (with Snoopy or Lucy acting as the [[Straight Man]] depending on the plot), the day-to-day life of Snoopy's desert-dwelling brother [[Ascended Extra|Spike]], the travels of Snoopy's other brothers [[Those Two Guys|Andy and Olaf]], and Charlie Brown and Franklin (who had essentially replaced Linus) talking about life while leaning on a brick wall. Charlie Brown's sister Sally would [[A Day in the Limelight|occasionally get her own Sunday strip]], but the other characters (particularly Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, and the already-mentioned Linus) rarely appeared.
* ''On The Fastrack'' used to star Bob Shirt, but compared to the other characters, he was boring. For many years now, he has appeared almost exclusively in
* After the attacks on New York and the Pentagon, ''Boondocks'' became less of a life comedy strip and commented more on world news. It takes few to commentate so the strip neglected everyone except Huey, Riley, Granddad, Tom and Caesar. Eventually a few characters were brought back though, Jazmin was mad that Huey wasn't worried about her while she was gone.
* The London ''Evening Standard'' used to run a cartoon called ''Clive'' about a boy of 17-18 and his various escapades. However, the strip began focusing less on him and more on his ten-year-old sister Augusta, until he was such a minor character that the strip was renamed ''Augusta''. It was recognisably the same strip, especially since it still had all the [[Running Gag
* This happens all the time in [[Newspaper Comics]] - the long running American strip ''Nancy'' was initially based around the title character's aunt Fritzi (the original title was ''Fritzi Ritz'').
* This eventually happened to Cutter John in ''[[Bloom County]]''. Though he didn't disappear like the scores of other characters [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|who were dropped]] from the comic, his role was dramatically reduced by the strip's end ([[Word of God]] being that wheelchairs are difficult to draw within the confines of a comic strip panel).
* ''[[Luann]]'' was initially a comic largely about the titular character and her classmates and family. Once [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|Brad]], her brother, started becoming more and more important to the strip, gaining his ''own'' storylines, most of the teenage cast was downgraded significantly. Even Luann's best friends Bernice and Delta rarely appear, to say nothing of poor Knute and Crystal, themselves [[Satellite Character
** They seem to have moved into a pattern: Brad and Luann alternate focus each week. Luann's storylines tend to alternate between using her parents and using her friends. Every other month we usually get a week focusing on Gunther and Knute.
* Once upon a time, back in 1919, there was a comic called "Take Barney Google f'rinstance". The titular character was a diminutive gambler with a gigantic angry wife. The wife was written out, and Barney got himself a horse named Spark plug, and the strip was renamed "Barney Google and Spark Plug". In 1934, Barney found himself deep in the Appalachians, where he met a hill-billy named "Snuffy Smith". And the strip was renamed, again, "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith". Here Barney would live for 20 years, until he left in 1954... But the comic stayed with Snuffy, and Barney became a rare guest in the comic carrying his name, his last two appearances being in 1997 and 2012.
Line 313 ⟶ 312:
* This also happens to some wrestlers towards the end of their careers. They get older and/or less interesting, but still have enough respect from the company that they aren't flat out fired. Instead they slide down the card to mainly work on the opening matches and put the new guys over. Tito Santana and Val Venis are two of the best examples of this. At his high point Venis was an upper midcarder who actually tested the main event waters by feuding with [[Mick Foley]], but he spent the last 4 years of his career in WWE working opening matches, working Heat, and rarely winning.
* This happens to ''many'' women's wrestlers, especially after their Playboy pictorials come out and everybody's already seen them naked. Torrie Wilson suffered a very painful decline from "Top Tier" star to "Still on TV Every week" star to "In a stable" star to "maybe shows up on TV every once in a while" star. Candice Michelle and Maria Kanellis have similarly been released. Non-pictorial-related Divas include Victoria, who went from top-tier Women's Champion to a jobber to new girls before quitting. Molly Holly had all but vanished by the time she requested her release.
* Both played straight and inverted by The Acolytes. Ron "Faarooq" Simmons was the first African-American WCW World Heavyweight Champion and had one of the longest single reigns of the title (at 150 days). In the WWF, he became famous for leading the stable "The Nation of Domination," which was also responsible for jump starting the careers of [[Mark Henry]], D'Lo Brown, and most famously, [[Dwayne Johnson|The Rock]]. After the Nation disbanded, he found success in the Acolytes (later the Acolytes Protection Agency) with [[John Bradshaw Layfield]], who had several failed singles pushes beforehand. After the APA split up, JBL became a world champion with the Intercontinental, United States, and WWE Championships, while at the same time Simmons was reduced to making short cameos watching backstage promos and saying "Damn!"
* Happen to many WCW wrestlers who joined up with the WWF/WWE following falling of the WCW. Save for [[Rey Mysterio, Jr.|Rey Mysterio]], and to a lesser degree [[Booker T]], none of them managed to find much success in the WWE. In fact, [[Booker T]] himself also happens to be a pretty egregious example since he went from being one of the top wrestlers near the end of WCW, to not receiving a decent push in the WWE for about 5 years.
== Puppet Shows ==
* After the untimely deaths of [[Jim Henson]] and Richard Hunt, most of the [[Muppets]] they once played were handed down to new performers, starting with ''[[A Muppet Christmas Carol]]''. However, Henson's Rowlf and Dr. Teeth and Hunt's Janice and Scooter, all formerly major characters with sizable roles in previous Muppet productions, would be reduced to non-speaking background appearances or [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|not appear at all]].
== Theatre ==
Line 335 ⟶ 334:
* [[Donkey Kong]] was a main playable character in ''[[Mario Party]]'' until the fifth installment, since which he became a [[Mini Game]] sponsor. And in ''Mario Party DS'', he was just a statue adorning the third board (enchanted to be such according to the Story Mode). A Koopa Kid was a playable character for a couple games as well.
* The Arbiter from [[Halo 2]] going into [[Halo 3]] gets moved from an intriguing character to a one-line-wonder with the intelligence of a slug. Notwisthstanding that your co-op partner plays as him, meaning for such players the Arbiter is the Chief's ertswhile ally and baddass-in-arms.
* ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]'' had comparatively very little of Sonic himself. Also counts as [[Artifact Title]] and [[Supporting Protagonist]]. One [[Penny Arcade]] strip brings this up.
{{quote|'''Gabe:''' Hey, I think you gave me Tails and Knuckles' Shitty, Stupid Adventure by mistake. I only got to play as Sonic, like four times.}}
* Strategy RPGs with [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] such as ''[[Tactics Ogre]]'' or ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'' do this, and they have reason for it. Due to some of them having [[Final Death]], the story is purposely written so that they could have been killed off at any point in the story after recruitment, whereas the characters whose death will result in a game over (namely the player character) will remain in the story at all times.
Line 343 ⟶ 342:
* ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' demotes the protagonist of the previous arc for the following arc. Kyo's importance to the plot during the Orochi saga was downgraded to make room for K' in the NESTS saga and then K' himself moved down to make way for Ash Crimson in the Tales of Ash arc. After being demoted the character continues to add to the story (Kyo was used as a base for a series of clones in the NESTS arc and K' got to fight Mukai in ''2003'') but it's the current main character who gets the spotlight and wraps up the saga.
* The American Sports Team from ''[[King of Fighters|The King of Fighters '94]]'', only returned as playable characters in one game and that was ''KOF '98''. Their other appearances in the series were mostly just background and ending cameos.
* Every character in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' who isn't Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, or Eggman had this happen to them. Lately even some of these characters are being pushed to the background. Knuckles and Shadow were not even in ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]''. The two and Amy also didn't even appear in ''[[Sonic Colors]]''.<ref>At least, not in the [[Wii]] version, anyway.</ref>
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]] OG Gaiden'' hammers this trope to one of Duminuss' Homunculi, Laliar, [[The One Guy|the only male]]. In his origin game (''[[Super Robot Wars Reversal|SRW R]]''), at least he gets to get involved in the grand schemes along with his siblings, joining some factions to screw them up. But in ''OG Gaiden''... Tis gets to deal with the Wendigo and G Thunder Gate, Despinis gets to guard a [[Brainwashed]] Lamia, {{spoiler|and later ends up surviving, unlike in the original series}}... and Laliar? He's relegated into just contacting Tis and Despinis from afar in case they're about to screw up, and doesn't do much in the grander scheme (obviously, he had a bigger role in his original game). Makes this editor wonder if Duminuss prefers an [[
** A similar case can be seen with the [[Bridge Bunnies]]. Early in ''OG 1'', Rio becomes a pilot and stays that way until the end of ''OG 2''. After {{spoiler|Daitetsu's death}}, Eita and Tetsuya end up taking charge and commanding the Kurogane to the best of their abilities. And poor Eun, best friend to the Hiryu Kai's captain Lefina? She is just there to give bits of information every so often, lacking even the hint of a [[Day in The Limelight]].
* In ''[[Fire Emblem]]'', most characters cease to have dialogue by the first 1-3 chapters after you've recruited them. Although slightly subverted by the revolutionary character development advent of ''Support Conversations'' in the majority of later games (including almost every game released in English, save for a single oddity and a sequel), as well as the base conversations of FE 9 and FE 10 (which incidentally served the character development purposes in FE 10).
* A variation in ''[[Super Robot Wars]] W'', where material (characters, missions, etc) for ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED|Gundam SEED]]'' are fairly scarce. Aside from a skirmish against Mwu La Flaga, a later mission where you get to play as him, and a couple of cameos, SEED's events and stories don't even appear until halfway through the game, and even then, are mostly passed over in favor of it's spinoff manga ''[[Gundam SEED Astray]]''. A particularly glaring example being the Artemis Base battle. When the Zaft forces show up, the ''Archangel'' actually ''leaves'' as soon as it exits the base, leaving the ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico|Nadesico B]]'' and the Junk Guild and [[Original Generation]] crew to deal with them.
* In ''[[Super Robot Wars K]]'', [[Mazinger Z]] gets zero plot aside from some involvement of [[Big Bad|Dr. Hell]] in the [[Opening Scroll]], and [[Great Mazinger]] doesn't even show up despite both Mazins being always together. Probably [[Justified]] in that Mazinger and co. have been on a bajillion games already. Then again, it's the same game that gave [[Zoids|a war story anime with 50 episodes]] only 6 levels of plot, but [[Kotetsu Jeeg|a 13 episode one where half are Monster-of-the-Week format]] got 8, so maybe it's just the story wasn't K's best point (Japanese reviewers agree with this).
* [[Nippon Ichi]] has a variation of its own: In ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'', the game offered a fight against Asagi, the protagonist of their next planned game as a [[Bonus Boss]]. Unfortunately, the game got scrapped. Instead of trying again, they've left poor Asagi wandering from game to game, bemoaning her bad luck, and occasionally [[Hostile Show Takeover|trying to take over the game from the main characters]].
Line 361 ⟶ 360:
** [[Dirge of Cerberus]] fixed this for many characters, while Cloud and Tifa were given nary more then a cameo, Barret unfortunately was grouped with them. Red XIII meanwhile was by far the least shown named character in both installments and can barely even be called an Extra at all by now.
* Eddy Gordo from ''[[Tekken]]'' became an extra costume for Christie in Tekken 4. It's a shame because this meant that the storyline he had in Tekken 3 was cut off far too soon in favour of one which also included Christie. Many people complained and so he returned as a separate character in Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection, and later in Tekken 6.
* ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' winds up doing this to the so-called "hero" Vaan and his girlfriend Penelo a quarter of the way through the game once the other party members join and steal the plot. You'll hear nary a peep out of them for many hours until the end of the end, where they only finally get a starring role again in the epilogue.
** [[Word of God]] is Basch was supposed to be the main character, which makes more sense considering the vast majority of game events revolve around him.
* Prior to the release of the game, {{spoiler|Jihl Nabaat}} was given quite a bit of attention for an Extra from the ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' trailers and information released on them. Just when you think {{spoiler|she would play a major part in the game and fight you, she gets killed off in a rather unceremonious fashion by Galenth Dysley before she has the chance to do so. Talk about getting taken out like some punk.}}
** ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' was also originally meant to have seven party members, but implementation problems led to [[Dead Little Sister|Serah]] being reduced to an NPC. This led to [[The Hero|Lightning]] becoming a more serious character which then led to [[Sixth Ranger|Fang]] [[Gender Flip|becoming a woman]].
** In the sequal, the entire original cast suffers from this, but especially Sazh. While the others make either physical appearences (Hope, Snow, Lightning) or are significant to the backstory {{spoiler|(Fang and Vannile)}} Sazh is only reffernced a few times in passing, last being seen flying an airship and disappearing mysteriously. (Though one of Snow's temporal messages implies he say him floating around in the [[Time Travel|Historia Crux...]])
* Namine and Axel were major characters in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories]]'', but their roles were greatly reduced in ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'' (probably because, once Roxas was gone and Sora's memories were restored, Namine didn't have much else she could possibly do except remerge with Kairi, and Axel was ''supposed'' to die in the Prologue as a tutorial boss, but he was [[Saved by the Fans]] and his role extension had to be small or it would clash with what was already plotted out).
** After ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'', Donald and Goofy, who were consistent main characters alongside Sora, have been put more and more [[Out of Focus]], amounting to cameos in ''Birth by Sleep'', unlockable multiplayer mode characters in ''358/2 Days'', [[Guest Star Party Member
* Odin gets this pretty bad in ''[[Odin Sphere]]'', despite being the ''title character''! Despite making a decent role in everyone's storyline (except Cornelius', where he essentially just cameos early on), and all of the truly massive amounts of storyline hyping he gets, Odin gets {{spoiler|knocked off rather easily at the end of the game, where he gets overwhelmed by the undead and killed by a Halja.}}
* Poor, poor [[Rayman]]. Originally the star of his self titled franchise, he has slowly been getting shoved to the sides by those damned Rabbids. This hijacking has gotten to the point where the latest announced game is a Katamari-like game starring the Rabbids. Rayman is nowhere to be found, even in the title.
** Luckily he got back in the spotlight in ''Rayman Origins''.
* Several characters in the ''[[Samurai Shodown]]'' series, including Earthquake, Wan-Fu, Genan, Sieger, Jubei and Cham Cham (although a few of them returned as playable characters in later games, and Jubei was included in certain ports of ''Samurai Shodown III'').
* This happens ''mid-game'' for everybody but the main protagonist of ''[[Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume]]''. Characters are given compelling, interesting motivations and backstories, but the minute they decide to join the party as anything other than guest characters, the only time they say a word or even show up outside of battles is [[Explosive Overclocking|when you decide to sacrifice them to your Plume]].
* About half the cast of playable characters in ''[[Star Ocean]]: [[Star Ocean 3|Till The End of Time]]'' falls into this. Nel, Albel, and Mirage are fairly important characters in disk 1, then in disk 2 fade into obscurity. Adray, Peppita and Roger do this as well, though they never had a particularly major hand in the plot to begin with (Roger being the only 100% optional character). Since you are only allowed to bring along two characters out of Nel, Albel, Roger, and Peppita, the game has to fit their dialogue in rather awkwardly, and the other characters rarely if ever acknowledge their presence. Mirage is perhaps the most painful example, however - she doesn't even get this courtesy, since she was added in a version after the original released in Japan, and as such essentially gets no dialogue at all after she joins the party!
* This fate eventually befalls most of the secondary playable characters in ''[[Xenogears]]'', but a notable example involves the NPC Hammer. During the Kislev story arc, Hammer is almost omni-present. His network of black-market goods, information, and mechanical skill are vital in eventually helping the main character escape imprisonment. After the escape, Hammer virtually disappears for twenty-odd game hours, only re-appearing near the end of the Solaris arc. [[Genre Savvy|He understands]] that he has been
* ''[[Xenosaga]]'' has MOMO Mizrahi, a little Realian girl. In the first two games she was one of the most important characters because her father/creator Joachim placed the "Y-Data" (which included coordinates to a planet that EVERYBODY wanted to get to) inside her mind. One of the main points of the first game is to get MOMO to a research facility where this data can be analyzed, and in the second game that actually occurs. She also serves as a foil and love interest for Junior (she was modeled after his old romantic interest, Sakura, who happened to be Joachim's biological daughter, effectively making MOMO her sister). And...then the third game comes, and she has very few lines and one or maybe two scenes that actually give her any real attention. It's as if she lost any real importance once they got the Y-Data out of her and just stayed on as a playable character because people were used to her being around.
* Many of the PC-98 era characters in the ''[[Touhou]]'' series. [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|Where'd you go, Mima?]]
* Isn't it sad, [[Guilty Gear|Justice]]? After the first game, sure its understandable you're dead, but you barely had any lasting impact beyond {{spoiler|possibly being Dizzy's mother}}. Even this wiki has forgotten it was YOU who was the first to use the Gamma Ray move in a ''GG'' game. Also, Kliff Undersn, who after ''GG1'', story-wise, dies offscreen with barely any mention why or how. When they do appear they're probably only added due to fan demand and are usually removed due to balance issues.
* Victor Sullivan in ''[[Uncharted]] 2: Among Thieves'', who was a major character in the first game but only accompanies you for two chapters of the second before deciding he wants out. In "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception," Sullivan becomes a main character once again, only for the main female leads of 2, Elena and Chloe, to be demoted to extras.
* Ogres suffered this in the ''[[Warcraft]]'' series. In ''Warcraft II'' they were the most important part of the Horde next to orcs and the only non-orcs who led orc clans and there were several important ogre-mage characters. In ''Warcraft III'' they were no longer part of the Horde, and now had the small role of neutral mercenaries and hostile creeps. They were also inexplicably weaker compared to the [[Elite Mooks|powerful units]] they were in ''Warcraft II'' and resorted to using clubs rather than [[Good Old Fisticuffs]]. In the expansion pack a [[Nonhuman Humanoid Hybrid|half ogre]] was introduced, and an ogre/goblin [[Hero Unit]] was introduced. Most importantly they rejoined the Horde in the story hinting at a greater role in future games. But then, in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' the ogres' home is destroyed by [[
** Happened to the Blood Elf race - except for Kael'thas - in the ''Frozen Throne'' expansion of Warcraft 3. The "human" campaign largely on the plight of Kael'thas and his Blood Elf remnants... for about two and a half missions. Then they grew [[Out of Focus]] as the story importance shifted to Illidan and his Naga (the fact that the Blood Elf forces were completely irrelevant compared to the much stronger Naga didn't help). By the middle of the Undead campaign, the Blood Elves were out-and-out [[Mook
** While trolls in general seem to be the go-to race for evil mooks, troll heroes tend to either vanish into obscurity or be [[Driven to Villainy]]. And the playable Darkspear tribe—a late (and somewhat rushed) addition to the baseline game to begin with—have been largely sidelined.
** The draenei have pulled up even with trolls in that regard. While they did get quite a bit of focus in the beginning of the Burning Crusade, they were overshadowed by the blood elves after the Black Temple. Like the trolls, they didn't do much of anything in WOTLK. And finally, in Cataclysm, they're the only race to not get a new class—despite rogue, druid, and (if you stretch a point) even warlock being at least theoretically possible. At least they make up a decent percentage of the Earthen Ring faction...but seeing as shamanism is canonically a tiny and new splinter of their culture, that's not saying much.
** Gnomes, considering their lore, have quite the potential for sad or bittersweet storylines. Instead, they're almost strictly comic relief.
Line 387 ⟶ 386:
* Many playable characters from the first [[Baldur's Gate]] game make cameo appearances as NPCs in the sequel.
* Luis from [[Resident Evil 4]] isn't playable in mercenary mode, despite the fact that he showed himself to be capable of using a gun in story mode and a total [[Badass Spaniard]], yet Hunk, who has no bearing in the main story, appears.
* [[
* The [[Super Mario Bros.]] series and spinoffs has a few. Look at [[Mario & Luigi|Fawful,]] who went from [[The Dragon]] to minor NPC... right back to [[Big Bad]] by the next game. Or [[Super Mario Land|Tatanga,]] who went from [[Big Bad]], to boss, to vanishing off the face of the planet. King Boo went from [[Big Bad]] to standard boss after [[Luigi's Mansion|Luigis Mansion]], the Koopalings ended up in fairly mediocre roles after Yoshi's Safari up [[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]] and Professor E Gadd went from important character, to minor NPC, to [[Put on a Bus]].
** And [[Super Mario Galaxy|Rosalina.]] Despite helping Mario save both Peach and the entire Mushroom Galaxy from Bowser in ''Super Mario Galaxy'', as well as being a playable character in the ''[[Mario Kart]]'' games, in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'', she actually does not appear until ''after'' Bowser is defeated at the end of the game.
* Tawna, the title character's original girlfriend from the ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]'' series, only made a few returns appearances following her role as [[Damsel in Distress|damsel-in-distress]] in the first game. The game designers decide to explain away her absence in the second game by stating in the ([[Missing Episode|now-defunct]]) official website that Tawna left Crash for Pinstripe Potoroo.
Line 398 ⟶ 397:
** Pang De. He debuts in DW5, and was quite the welcome addition. In DW6, he was turned into a generic officer as [[Word of God]] thinks he's not unique enough, and his weapon and personality got transferred to Zhang Liao, but then again lots of characters were cut. In DW7, most of the cut characters return... and still no Pang De in sight. [[The Bus Came Back|Although Pang De made it back for the Xtreme Legends expansion]], making the only one not yet cured from this trope being Zuo Ci.
* Lilia, the heroe's love interest in ''[[Ys]] II'', was reduced to a minor supporting character in ''[[Ys]] IV'', and [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|completely forgotten]] afterward.
* [[Pokémon|Mewtwo]] was a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros.|Super Smash Bros: Melee]]'', but in ''Brawl'', he's now only just a trophy.
** Which is really what happened to him in the games and anime series. Especially since Lucario was currently given [[Wolverine Publicity]] at the time.
* Pat Sprigs (AKA Gemini Spark), from [[Mega Man Star Force]], is a major character in the first game, to being an optional boss in the second, to only having a few references in battle cards in the third game.
Line 407 ⟶ 406:
* Motaro is the only character from ''[[Mortal Kombat]] 3'' who is not a fighter in ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]''. {{spoiler|[[Plotline Death|He is killed by Raiden in a cut-scene and later appears as a dead body]].}}
* A common complaint about ''[[Golden Sun|Golden Sun: The Lost Age]]'' was that this happened to everyone but Isaac, Felix and Kraden once the two parties met up. The sequel, ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]'', attempted to fix this, but that ended up causing [[Mandatory Line|another problem]].
* [[Wrench Wench|Keira]] in ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'': [[Love Interest]] and fixer of [[Broken Bridge
* Luciana Rune Artwaltz is ''very'' important in [[Yggdra Union]] (although she appears under [[Tag-Team Twins|her sister]]'s name for most of her appearances), but does almost nothing in its prequel, [[Blaze Union]], instead shifting the focus onto the aforementioned twin sister Aegina. Then again, you can't do all that much on an injured leg. Aegina herself falls out of the spotlight in two of the three [[Multiple Endings]] - but in the third one, Luciana dies.
* The Grey Wardens in [[Dragon Age II]]. While some of the fandom complained, this was actually justified. With the Blight defeated in the first game and the Darkspawn driven back into the Deep Roads, what exactly was there left for the Grey Wardens to actually ''do?''
Line 413 ⟶ 412:
** Made worse by the fact that it's no longer possible to read character bios in the game. In order to learn what the rest of the characters have been up to since the 17 year time skip, you'll have to view them on the game's website.
* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'': Bastila and Carth, the two main romance options and the most plot-relevant party members in the first game, become this in the second. Carth is only seen during cutscenes and a brief meeting with the Exile near the end of the game. The only time Bastila appears in person is a cameo near the end of the game, provided the player makes the PC from the first game a Light Side male. Otherwise she only appears as a vision in Ludo Kressh's tomb and if the first game's PC is Dark Side, as a hologram of a Sith holocron in the abandoned Sith Academy.
* ''[[Kinnikuman: Muscle Fight]]''
** Specialman is turned into an assist character for Canadianman. He also gets victimized in Strong the Budou's intro and is used against Sunshine's foe in his Hell's Combination super attack.
** Mari Nikaido, Bimbimba, Natsuko, and Nachiguron aren't playable characters. However, they can be seen in cameos in certain stages. Bimbimba makes a cameo if Kinnikuman Super Phoenix earns a perfect victory.
** The other Goku'aku Choujin are reduced to assist attacks in Dirty Baron's moveset.
== Visual Novels ==
* Satsuki Yumizuka a.k.a. "Sacchin" from ''[[Tsukihime]]''. She quickly disappears on each route of the game despite being set up as another possible heroine, and in some branches {{spoiler|she is quickly and cruelly dispatched by Shiki Tohno after becoming a vampire and declaring her admiration for him in a truly [[Tear Jerker]] moment}}. The anime lets her {{spoiler|survive unvampirized in the [[Muggle]] sidelines}}, but other than that it didn't treat her much better; the manga, more of the same.
* Assassin, Shinji and Zouken in ''[[Fate/hollow ataraxia]]'' get much smaller roles than they did in ''[[Fate/stay night]].'' Well, Assassin had a small role anyway. The latter two probably get smaller roles because the game as a whole is lighter in tone and they were two of the darkest characters.
**In the long term, they have been this for the ''Fate/'' franchise. At least Assasin got it better when he became an unlockable playable character in ''Fate/Grand Order'', but by then he has but fallen off the road (and his ''F/GO'' incarnation is basically cannon fodder). Shinji, on the other side, has been promoted to the franchise [[Butt Monkey]], as seen by his role in ''[[Fate Extra|Fate/Extra]]''.
* Good luck finding a decent Shiori figure from ''[[Kanon]]''. At least [[Kyoto Animation]] did her arc justice, and her falling out of the public eye might be because she doesn't have a "seven years ago" connection and is just a normal [[Ill Girl]]. In the 2002 anime, she, Makoto and Mai all fell victim to this, having their arcs squished into one episode each [[All There in the Manual|with key portions removed]].
* Similarly, Kano and Minagi in ''[[AIR]]''. Everything from merchandise to posters to, well, the backstory of the game makes it clear that this is Misuzu's story. Therefore, their routes are just there so the game can't be accused of having no
* From the original ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'' game we have Yukine, who, much like poor Sacchin, was originally planned to be one of the main heroines.
** And in ''After Story'', anyone whose last name isn't Okazaki or Furukawa gets shafted in terms of the spotlight halfway.
** Also Kappei. He was a pretty important character in the original visual novel, but never appears in the anime, EVER.
== Web Comics ==
* Dr. Lorna hasn't had more than the (very) occasional reference in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' for years, despite being {{spoiler|Riff's mom}} and still living in the same town by all accounts. She's essentially been [[Put on a Bus]], having {{spoiler|disowned Riff}} and fired Gwynn and Zoe, leaving her with no connections to the cast (and satirizing Dr. Laura no longer being in style).
* Stephan used to be a much bigger part of ''[[Ozy and Millie]]''. The cartoonist explains that he was created to represent the overly confident geeks of the dotcom era; when the dotcom bubble burst, there simply wasn't as much of a place for Stephan.
* Happens to several characters in ''[[Something
* It's happened a few times in ''[[Real Life Comics]]''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131127133109/http://www.reallifecomics.com/characters/ Officially], this list includes Danny, Crystal, and the first Liz. However, anyone but Pal and Alan Extra under the Supporting Characters section get precious little panel exposure. In fact, it doesn't appear that Debbie or Cliff have appeared in the comic for years.
** This is actually lampshaded in [http://www.reallifecomics.com/archive/100604.html this strip] where it's questioned if anyone remembers Ben at all
* Mr. Birdbeak from ''[[Tragic Deaths]]''. In the first three comics that that Petalklunk made, he was the main focus, but now he's only made one appearance after it switched focus to the war between Petalklunk and Mr. Bignose.
Line 436 ⟶ 438:
* By season four of ''[[Ansem Retort]]'', Marluxia is demoted so much he's left behind with [[Star Wars|Darth Maul]] while the rest of the cast members take Red XIII with them to Hawaii. This is one of the reasons he's so keen on fighting Xemnas in season six: he gets more screen time that way.
** He seems to be re-ascending in the current season: he's one of four people traveling through time to stop Xemnas. (Apparently, Axel and Zex need him to drink the time-traveling gay drinks. [[Captain Obvious|Because he's gay.]] [[It Makes Sense in Context]].)
* The ''title character'' of the notorious ''[[Sonichu]]'' series has hardly appeared at all after issue #1.
* Ralph and Bimbo, the original main characters of ''[[Exploitation Now]]''.
* In ''[http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com Jayden and Crusader]'' the character Hannah has often slipped into the background and mostly only exists to give Smic another character to bounce ideas off of, a roll that could be accomplished by a lamppost.
Line 445 ⟶ 447:
* In ''[[Least I Could Do]]'', Rayne's best friend John was given a rather strong demotion as writers switched over, being replaced with a long lost best friend. He began to see a resurgence in later times, though. Supposedly, this is because he was based on the writer's real best friend, who he had a falling out with.
* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', this happens to several characters after they get killed. They then recognize that this is happening, and one makes it their mission to become relevant again (dragging a friend along for the ride whether he wants to get back into the spotlight or not).
== Web Original ==
Line 452 ⟶ 453:
* Thanks to having [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], this happens frequently in the ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' world. Inexplicably, Pom Pom (one of the original main characters) did not appear in the season finale of Strong Bad's game, despite Pom Pom being in every other episode up to that point. In fact, Pom Pom used to be one of the three main characters along with Homestar and Strong Bad, although now, his appearances are rare, and the annual Christmas/Halloween cartoons are the only times he'll be seen consistently.
** The Poopsmith's demotion is, if possible, even more evident than Pom Pom's, as the Halloween cartoons just might be the only time he's seen ''at all'' anymore (evidently a result of the two characters being [[The Voiceless|silent]] and [[The Unintelligible|bubbly-voiced]]). Still, he didn't do too bad considering he was an [[Ascended Extra]] to begin with.
** Like Pom Pom, Homsar also didn't appear in the finale for Strong Bad's
* Kit-chan's ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' [http://www.youtube.com/user/FMAVidsummaries#p/c/2487281DE1784051 abridged series] parodies this with Alphonse's lines being cut mid-sentence in order to support Ed's status as the main character.
* LordKat, one of the more well known and prolific contributors to [[That Guy With The Glasses]] fell into this in the second anniversary special ''[[Kickassia]]'', due to [[Reality Subtext]]: he sprained an ankle during filming.
** Handsome Tom also had this happen to him, relegated mostly to posing as Kickassia's flagpole. This was lampshaded in one of the "making of" videos, where Doug passes out the script and apologizes to Tom for having him be "an object". Tom takes it pretty well, pointing out that objects are useful. The other contributors have also said that Tom's okay being in the background becuase he doesn't think he's an especially good actor and is there mostly to have fun.
Line 461 ⟶ 462:
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]''
** [[Flash]] had no lines in the first season because of voice actor Michael Rosenbaum's commitments on ''[[Smallville]]'' (though you may not notice simply on the basis that the cast is ''[[Loads and Loads of Characters|frickin' huge]])''. He came roaring back for the second and third seasons though (in particular the [[Season Finale]] of the second season), and even [[Lampshade Hanging|complained to a fellow Leaguer about not getting any respect despite being one of the original seven]].
** The Big 7 arguably suffers in the last season. Despite being the main characters, they only appear in less than half of the final thirteen episodes, with some episodes ("Patriot Act," "Grudge Match" and "Alive!") focusing on recurring characters instead.
Line 468 ⟶ 469:
* Luanne on ''[[King of the Hill]]'' was in nearly all the episodes for the first three seasons. When she moved into her own house midway through the fourth season she was quietly changed to a recurring character, often not appearing for weeks unless the episode was specifically focused on her. Later on in the series she was upgraded again and became a semi-regular, appearing in about half the episodes.
* [[Disney]] related material
** Mickey Mouse, amazingly enough. While still Disney's mascot, he rarely appears in cartoons nowadays other than holiday and anniversary one-shot specials, his only important role being in the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' franchise.
** Several [[The Lion King|Lion King]] spin-offs have Simba suffering from this, in favour of Timon and Pumbaa, such as in the aminated series, in which Simba only appeared a couple of times, and the third Lion King movie which is all about Timon and Pumbaa stealing scenes from the first movie. This was eventually lampshaded in an episode of ''[[House of Mouse]]'', when Timon and Pumbaa are introduced by Mickey Mouse, Simba moans "[[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|Those guys always get all the attention!]]"▼
** Also happened to Donald in ''[[DuckTales (1987)|DuckTales]]'', the series focusing on Scrooge McDuck, Hewey, Dewey, and Louie, with Donald joining the Navy and only appearing as a [[Recurring Character]]. He does, however, appear far more often in [[DuckTales (2017)|the relaunch.]]
** The entire cast of ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', including the titular character, suffered this fate as the later merchandise based on the film now focus on [[Disney Princess|Jasmine.]] Considering that The Disney Princess line of merchandising is quite profitable and has become in an odd way, it's OWN spinoff from the various Disney films that each princess comes from, this may not be the case with Jasmine--or perhaps, the fate of any character associated with a Disney Princess.▼
▲** Several [[The Lion King|Lion King]] spin-offs have Simba suffering from this, in favour of Timon and Pumbaa, such as in the
▲** The entire cast of ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', including the titular character, suffered this fate as the later merchandise based on the film now focus on [[Disney Princess|Jasmine.]] Considering that The Disney Princess line of merchandising is quite profitable and has become in an odd way, it's OWN spinoff from the various Disney films that each princess comes from, this may not be the case with
** And Flounder from [[The Little Mermaid|''The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea'']], where he is also now portrayed as a father to several baby fish.
** Almost the whole cast, including Lightning McQueen, gets this treatment in [[Cars]] 2 while Tow Mater takes over as the main character.
** Iridessa of the ''[[Disney Fairies]]'' franchise gets very little merchandise at all, and barely appears in group promo shots. It might be because she's a stuck-up [[Rules Lawyer]], but it's probably because she's a [[Token Minority]]. Hey, at least she's better off than Vidia and Rani.
** If your only exposure to the franchise is the coloring books, you probably don't know that there's a male fairy. According to the web game, he's a "sparrow man" despite obviously being a fairy and grouped as such before. He still gets no attention.
** Goofy's son, Max from ''[[Goof Troop]]'' appears to be focused more on than Goofy in most of Goofy's latest apperances, particularly in the 90s. While Goofy and Max get equal attention in ''[[Goof Troop]]'', both [[A Goofy Movie|"Goofy" movies]] and both Christmas movies, "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas" and "Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas", appear to be all about Max.
Line 484 ⟶ 487:
** Chef was showing up less and less (after being more or less the fourth most important character on the show) before he was killed off.
** Pip, one of the most vocal and visible of the kids at South Park Elementary at the show's start, and got a whole episode to himself, got pushed away into the background as the show progressed, and has now vanished completely. Then he [[Back for the Dead|returned]] to [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|have a mecha's foot dropped on him.]]
** Cartman's mom was the parent that was seen the most often. Due to her serving Eric's every whim and being a total whore, [[
** Kyle's parents have gradually dropped out of sight, as well. Sheila was a major antagonist/WellIntentionedExtremist in the early years, including the movie, and she's all but disappeared in the later seasons.
** Stan's sister Shelley was extablished to be a sociopath who beat up her brother in often over-the-top ways, but now she's become a generic sister character, with her original personality showing once in a blue moon (see "Over Logging"). Later in "Broadway Bro Down", Shelley was given a subplot that attempted to show a softer side to her.
Line 492 ⟶ 495:
** ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' isn't innocent on this by a long shot. It introduced [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], one set after another, [[Merchandise-Driven|to sell toys]], and some had more staying power than others. Many characters' roles went by this formula: 1: [[Remember the New Guy?|Show up one day without comment]]. 2: Have [[A Day in the Limelight|one really good episode of focus]] later. 3: Be occasionally seen in the background or fights. 4: [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|Disappear mysteriously]].
** As an example, Jazz, who was a major character in the first two seasons of G1, had a supporting role in [[Transformers: The Movie|the movie]], but when Scatman Crothers died shortly afterwards, Jazz's later appearances were non-speaking cameos.
** And speaking of the movie, several characters had this happen to them. Bluestreak, Sunstreaker, Huffer, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Bombshell appear in cameos with no lines, Shockwave appears in two scenes and is implied to die, Shrapnel and Kickback are reduced to [[Butt Monkey
* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]''
** Sandy Cheeks, a major character, only has a few lines in [[The Movie]], and no importance to the plot, and rarely appears in the later seasons, to the point where she is forgotten. They even forgot her ''name'' in one episode (she was called "Sandy Squirrel" in a later episode).
** Larry the Lobster got some decent roles early on, but seems to have been forgotten as a character in later seasons.
** A lot of recurring characters from the show seem to have been abandoned most of the time due to the unhealthy amount of focus with [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|Mr. Krabs and Plankton]]. Such as Sandy, Gary, Mrs. Puff, Pearl, Larry, The Flying Dutchman, Karen, and Patchy the Pirate.
* In ''[[Hey Arnold!]]''s [[The Movie|movie]], Phoebe Hyerdahl only gets one line, and the only memorable thing she does in it is run into some newsguy's camera. (For that matter, none of the minor recurring characters, except [[Stalker with a Crush|Brainy]], get any credit.) The movie that Craig ''didn't'' get to make supposedly would have re-dressed the balance. According to [https://web.archive.org/web/20130620190040/http://heyarnold.wikia.com/wiki/The_Jungle_Movie this Wikia article], the [[Out of Focus|much-ignored]] Nadine would have finally gotten some screentime in it.
* Pongo and Perdita, the main characters of the ''[[One Hundred and One Dalmatians]]'' movie, are secondary characters in the TV series. The episode "The Making Of..." [[
* Lots of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' characters, especially those from the show's first two seasons. For instance, in Season 1, Lewis was regularly seen with Bart and Milhouse, and was explicitly said to be Bart's 2nd best friend. He was quickly demoted to background character, and even those appearances are getting rarer.
** [[Lampshade Hanging]] in the episode "Das Bus":
Line 505 ⟶ 508:
'''Bart:''' Well, whatever. Just tell Wendell I said bye. }}
** And another was hung in "Homer to the Max";
{{quote|'''Homer:''' I don't understand what happened. Why did they change [[Name's the Same|Homer Simpson]]'s character from cool to stupid?
'''Lisa:''' The first episode was just a [[Pilot]], Dad. [[Executive Meddling|Producers fiddle with shows all the time!]] They change characters, [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|drop others]], and push some into the background.
(Mr. Largo and the Capital City Goofball walk by in the Simpsons' background window as Lisa says this.) }}
** Perhaps the most notable is Phil Hartman's characters, Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz; [[The Character Died with Him|after he was murdered, these characters were retired out of respect]], and although they sometimes appear in scene backgrounds, no longer have lines.
** For similar reasons, Lunchlady Doris stopped appearing after the death of her VA, Doris Grau. This lasted about a decade, until someone noticed [[Tress MacNeille]] does a rather good impression.
** Marge's mother has also largely vanished. This is a matter of the stress on Julie Kavner's voice; whenever Mrs. Bouvier appears, so do Selma and Patty, and Kavner's voice takes a beating.
** Bill and Marty (Springfield's resident DJs) have also slowly disappeared (they stopped appearing after season 15's "Fraudcast News", only to return for season 18's "The Boys of Bummer", and then vanished again)
** Guest characters voiced by celebrities sometimes stick around as mute extras. This especially common for classmates of Bart and Lisa like Alex (voiced by Lisa Kudrow), Allison (voiced by Winona Ryder) and Jessica Lovejoy (voiced by Meryl Streep.)
* The Riddler rarely appeared much in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', but what episodes he did get were quite excellent and put a refreshing spin on the character. When the sequel series ''The New Batman Adventures'' rolled over, however, ol' Eddie got the shaft, despite getting an entirely new character design more faithful to Frank Gorshin's take on the character. You know that things are bad when the new Riddler's biggest role was in a ''Superman'' episode.
** Paul Dini admitted in the "Art of..." book that they didn't use the Riddler often because his gimmick of using riddles was pretty hard to pull off in an action cartoon such as theirs. On the other hand, he had some truly spectacular moments in ''[[The Batman Adventures]]'' comic, set in the same universe.
* Terrance and Mac's mom had very few appearances in the fifth and sixth season of ''[[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends]]''. Goo had very little screen time in the later seasons too.
* Connie (a.k.a. Kahn Jr.) from ''[[King of the Hill]]'' was a fairly important character early on and a love interest for Bobby, however they broke up in the sixth season, but she still had major roles from time to time, but starting with season 9, her role was greatly diminished and wasn't seen very often. In several later episodes where her parents were the main focus, she was nowhere to be seen, and when she ''did'' show up, her role was very
** What made this really odd is that Lauren Tom voiced both Connie and her mother Minh, so it wouldn't have been much of a hassle to toss Connie into a scene with her parents.
* One might forget that the Griffins ''[[Family Guy]]'' even have a daughter, with as little screen-time as Meg gets these days. This is even parodied in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' specials, where she's in a couple of seconds of the special, tops, and as a giant space worm.
Line 525 ⟶ 528:
* Hayley from ''[[American Dad]]'', particularly from Season 3 on. Compare her screen time with Francine's, Steve's, or Roger's. Arguably because the show switched from politics driven to character/story emphasis, and her personality wasn't much developed other than as the [[Strawman Political|strawman liberal]].
** Also, some say Klaus has had very little screentime or lines in later years, but he still appears about the same, and has about the same number of lines he always has had (albeit both have always been very brief). One could argue he was, and always has been an extra.
* ''[[The Fairly
** Timmy Turner's best friends, Chester and A.J. In the beginning, both of the boys were major characters; including early episodes that centered on Timmy's friendship with these two, but they now appear very sporadically, often in non speaking roles. A.J. seems to have suffered the worst from this trope.
** It's most evident with Veronica, Trixie's "best friend", after season five.
Line 533 ⟶ 536:
* Every character in the ''[[X-Men (animation)|X-Men]]'' animated series had this happen to them. [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|With the obvious]] [[Wolverine|exception...]]
* Many major characters from the show ''[[Recess]]'' appear in the movie version...but most of them appear very briefly, with absolutely no lines. Notably, TJ's arch-rival Lawson shows up for two seconds and gives a mere thumbs up with no dialogue, but he's listed as a speaking role in the credits. Erik Von Detten's OTHER character, Captain Brad (who appeared in one episode of the show) has numerous lines. Some major recurring characters, like Cornchip Girl, don't show up at all.
** In ''Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade'', Miss Grotke only has two lines in the entire movie. Justified, as the main kids were in the fifth grade and weren't in her class anymore.
* Tony Toponi and Bridget get demoted to background characters with a couple blink-and-you-miss-it cameos in ''[[An American Tail]]: Fievel Goes West'' after having played a pretty large role in the first film.
* In ''[[Total Drama Action]]'', the second season of ''[[Total Drama Island]]'', Ezekiel, Eva, Noah, Katie, Tyler, Cody and Sadie were reduced to this (though arguably Ezekiel was barely more than an extra to begin with.)
Line 557 ⟶ 560:
== Real Life ==
* After the [[Virtual Boy]] flopped, Gunpei Yokoi (though it wasn't actually his fault; the suits at Nintendo rushed it out a year before production was to be completed) was given what amounted to a desk job and had no real power. He would later leave Nintendo entirely.
* After a company merger with AOL, Ted Turner was [[Kicked Upstairs|given a figurehead desk job]] with no real power in the company's decision making.
Line 563 ⟶ 565:
* Pluto. But it got its own spin off, ''Solar System: The Dwarf Planets Saga''
* This even happens to some countries in the course of history. Spain and Portugal used to be major world colonial empires - not so much nowadays. And Germany and Japan used to be major world military powers in the first half of the 20th century, while nowadays they just follow their [[Overshadowed by Awesome|much more powerful allies]]. (Though we used to think that they would conquer the world [[Japan Takes Over the World|by buying it.]])
** Even the Dutch used to be a world power. ''Sic transit gloria mundi''. And thinking of that, [[The Roman Empire|Rome]] isn't much on the world stage these days.
*** [[The Roman Empire]], not so much. [[The Holy Roman Empire]] still wields a disproportionate amount of power, however.
** Iran is regarded as the first world empire. Throughout the history, it conquered most of the known world. It kept its power even after the Arab conquest, and up until the 18th century, it played an important role in world affairs. But now? Just a third-world theocratic despot.
** Ottoman Empire, it
* Most of the world's remaining monarchies are now constitutional monarchies within a parliamentary system. In such cases, the real power resides in the Parliament (and in the person of the Prime Minister.) The monarch's position becomes largely, and often entirely, ceremonial. Even in cases where the constitutional monarch has considerable residual or theoretical power (e.g., [[The House of Windsor|Great Britain]]), the power is seldom ''exercised''.
* Happened to dinosaurs: for a hundred millions years, they were the dominant animals on land. Now that mammals and humans in particular have taken over, what remains of them? Birds...
** Reptiles, as a whole, exemplify this trope even if they still play a big role in our ecosystem. Long ago, they ruled the Earth for more than 185 million years during the Mesozoic Era (compare the Cenozoic Era, which is barely a third in length) and were ''very'' diverse in their respective area. Some scientists believe that if the K-T extinction event never happened, the smaller theropods might have achieved an intelligence similar to ''humans''.
* Your parents. When you're a kid, they are the most important people in your life. However, as you get older and have a spouse, children, friends, co-workers, employers, and the like, your parents eventually become secondary or even tertiary people in your life (and some don't take this too well.)
** Although to a certain extent, this might just be cultural. There are many cultures where even after the child grows up and gets married, his or her parents remain very much a big part of their lives (and are culturally expected to remain so), ''especially'' when they live close by.
* The 25 models on ''[[Deal or No Deal]]'' were the main attraction of the game show, but when the show became syndicated and the prize money was reduced, all but 2 of the models were replaced with contestants hoping their number would be picked so they can play the game, and if not, the contestants would open the cases during the game. The two models used in this version were for only spinning the wheel to see who can play and removing cases that were picked.
== Meta ==
* When a character-named trope has its name changed here or on [[TV Tropes]], it can end up demoting that character from star to being just another example. For instance, Spike<ref>No, not [[Cowboy Bebop|that Spike]]. Or [[Going Postal (Discworld)|that Spike]]. Or [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|that Spike]], either.</ref> is now just one more instance of [[Badass Decay]] instead of being the defining instance of "Spikeification".
* Satsuki from [[Tsukihime]] is the center of [[Memetic Mutation|the meme]] "Isn't it Sad, Sacchin". What makes Satsuki's lucklessness worth a section here, is that it even extends
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Real Life Writes the Plot]]
[[Category:Cast Filler Tropes]]
[[Category:Characters and Casting]]
▲[[Category:Demoted to Extra]]
| |||