Demoted to Extra: Difference between revisions

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.

 

 

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.

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* 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.

* ''[[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.

** Depending on how you look at it, most of the cast except Yusei could fall under this trope in the 3rd season.

* There's a character in ''[[Jubei-chan]]'' who not only gets this treatment in J2 but lampshades it. Everybody from ''[[Jubei-chan]]'' get this except the main character's father.

* ''[[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''.

* ''[[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.

== Literature ==

* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'':

* 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]].

 

== Puppet Shows ==

 

== Theatre ==

 

== 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.

*** [[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.

* 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...

** 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 ==

* 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 to troping wikis. This trope was originally named "Isn't It Sad" on [[TV Tropes]], [http://www.lurkmore.com/wiki/Tsukihime after the meme in question.] With that wiki's shift to less esoteric titles, Sacchin was—you guessed it—demoted in importance once again. She was demoted ''again''; for a while, she was still the page's image, but she was later replaced. Really, the only reason this page isn't a [[Self-Demonstrating Article]] is because [[Irony|putting it on the appropriate index would make it]] an [[Ascended Extra]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Real Life Writes the Plot]]

[[Category:Cast Filler Tropes]]

[[Category:Characters and Casting]]