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{{trope}}
[[File:demoted-to-extra_x-men11_5024.jpg|link=X-Men (Film)|right|Over the course of three films, Cyclops moves to the back (while [[Wolverine Publicity|Wolverine]] [[
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This always, always, '''always''' happens to [[The Chick]] and/or [[The One Guy]] when [[The Smurfette Principle]] put them in their roles; if not in the story, definitely in the merchandise.
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 [[
This trope is for characters who become unimportant to the story, but are still seen or mentioned occasionally; for characters who disappear completely from the story as if they had never existed, see [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]].
Compare [[Shoo Out the Clowns]], [[Sir Not Appearing in This Trailer]], [[Not As You Know Them]], [[The Artifact]], [[Out of Focus]], [[What Happened to The Mouse?]], [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]], and [[Commuting On a Bus]]. Contrast [[Ascended Extra]], [[Breakout Character]] and [[Ensemble Darkhorse]].
There were more examples to this trope, but we [[Self
{{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]] [[
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]''
** 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.
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* Shuro, a recurring secondary character in the ''[[Ayashi no Ceres]]'' manga who has a few moments of plot-importance, shows up in all of one episode of the anime before {{spoiler|getting killed off}}.
* 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 [[Improbably Female Cast]]. It's telling that he's completely absent from the opening of the [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha As|second series]], and that [[The Film of the Series|the film adaptation of the first series]] excises his role in the plot. Sufficed to say, Yuuno fans were pleasantly surprised when he not only became a playable character in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha As Portable|The Gears Of Destiny]]'', but [[Took a Level In Badass]] in the process.
** 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''.
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** In ''[[Pokémon Black and White (Video Game)|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|Sixth Rangers]]... unless they're Michiru and Kaoru, the [[Dark Magical Girl]] twins from ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star (Anime)|Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star]]'', who share the dubious title of [[Sir Not Appearing in This Trailer|Dame Not Appearing In This Trailer]]. If having no merchandise whatsoever despite being on a [[Merchandise
** 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 ''[[
** And then there's the [[Nintendo DS]] [[Crossover]] game, where both Honoka AND Kaoru and Michiru get [[Demoted to Extra]]! Well, fine, Kaoru and Michiru have it MUCH worse, since they ''don't even appear'' (again). Honoka does appear but she's the ONLY ONE out of the 11 PCs who [[And Now for Someone Completely Different|never gets to be the main character of a chapter]]. Yes, even her [[Expy]] Mai and [[Sixth Ranger|Sixth Rangers]] Hikari and Kurumi get to star in one chapter, and Kurumi stars in TWO. The game's about ''[[Yes Pretty Cure 5]]'' with the older series tacked in so this is not a surprise, but still.
** 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".
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** 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 (Anime)|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.
** His case is even sorrier if one considers his [[Super
** Anyone remember who kissed Setsuna? Is that ... Gundam? Also, who used to be his archenemy from his homeland? And... Does Marina have anything to do with the plot in the long run?
* Tsumugi is a rather unfortunate victim of this in the manga of ''[[K-On]]''; she originally had a few lines per situation or the occasional two-cents to throw in, she's essentially become furniture now that the girls are in college (despite her being the reason they all chose that school!).
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** 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 [[Demoted to Extra]] as well as been hinted to be erased from the manga altogether. It doesn't make his fans happy.
* In the ''[[To Love Ru]]'' anime, [[The Ojou|Saki]] and [[Gender Bender|Ren&Run]] gain plenty of screentime, and [[Hello Nurse|Miss Mikado]] goes from being the regular with less appearances to [[Ascended Extra|have a lot of 'em]]... yet it seems they managed this by stealing off all of [[Token Mini
** 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.
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** And don't even get me started on ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)|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 (Anime)|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|Super Modes]], with them [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomping]] their opponents left, right and center.
** 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.
* ''[[To Aru Majutsu no Index (Anime)|To Aru Majutsu no Index]]'''s titular character, Index, gets shunted off to the side pretty quick. She does have a bigger role in the last arc of the anime, but still! You'd think she'd have more screentime throughout the rest, given the series name.
** 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.
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* ''[[Ojamajo Doremi]]'' does this to Momoko, who is a key character in her introductory season, but by the next one is shafted in favor of [[Plot Relevant Age Up|magically grown-up Hana-chan]] and becomes merely window-dressing.
* In the ''[[Tokko]]'' manga, Itto and Mayu become the main characters in their own dedicated arc, but in the anime they only make a few cameo appearences, and their arc is rewritten with them removed from it and are replaced by Ranmaru.
* As ''[[Ah! My Goddess (Manga)|Ah My Goddess]]'' goes on, the importance of Keichii's non-supernatural acquaintances gradually decreases.
* Maximillian Jenius from the original [[Macross]] series (Max Sterling in [[Robotech]]). After the Force of Arms episode, he and Mirya only made sporadic appearances, usually non speaking. And even in Viva Mirya, the love triangle buisness between Rick and Lisa still took up more screen time than was given to Max or Mirya. Neither Max nor Mirya appear in Prelude to Shadow Chronicles but Admiral Hunter is said to have summoned Max to the SDF-3.
* In ''[[Persona 4 (Anime)|Persona 4: The Animation]]'', Igor - he has one or two lines an episode. This is because Igor's seiyuu passed away prior to the anime's production, and rather than recast the role the producers decided to only use archived dialogue from the game itself.
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** 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).
** The difference between the movie version and the comics version is that with so many X-Books, comic Wolverine's role can increase without anyone else's role decreasing (with plenty of [[Lampshade Hanging]] on how he can be everywhere at once.) In the movies, we go from Wolvie getting a lot of focus in X1 to most of the focus in X2 to "you're Wolverine or you're a [[One
** {{spoiler|Wolverine himself gets this in ''First Class''. And he still manages to be a [[One
* Ann Lewis from ''[[Robo Cop]] 3''. Her actress, Nancy Allen, was reportedly [[Genre Savvy]] enough to notice how ''[[Robo Cop]]'' 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 (Literature)|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.
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** In the original cut of ''[[A New Hope]]'', Biggs Darklighter ([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 (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' films. Saavik, who was a major character in ''[[Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan (Film)|The Wrath of Khan]]'' and ''[[Star Trek III the Search For Spock (Film)|The Search for Spock]]'', made a brief appearance in only one scene in ''[[Star Trek IV the Voyage Home (Film)|The Voyage Home]]'', and then was never seen again.
* In ''[[Serenity (Film)|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
* 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.
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* Lois Lane in ''[[Superman III]]'' shows up in the beginning, says she's going to Bermuda and disappears for most of the movie while Supes hooks up with Lana Lang, turns evil from Kryptonite, splits in half and fights himself, fights a supercomputer and flies around carrying Richard Pryor! Then she comes back before the movie's over as if nothing happened! This was largely because Margot Kidder played hard to get with them after the director of the first film was fired from the franchise. It's a testament to how iconic the Superman mythos is in general, and Lois Lane in particular, that it [[McLeaned|wasn't worse]]
* ''[[Transformers (Film)|Transformers]]: Revenge of the Fallen'': {{spoiler|1=In which Arcee [http://www.agonybooth.com/movies/Transformers__Revenge_of_the_Fallen_2009.aspx?Page=6 gets blown up real good]. This after much expectation that she would actually do something of note.}}
** {{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
* ''[[The Last Airbender (Film)|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''.
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* In an in-universe example, this happens to a character in ''[[Mrs. Doubtfire (Film)|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''.
* Done purposefully by the filmmakers and fandom of the ''[[Film/Police Story|Police Story]]''/''[[Film/Supercop|Supercop]]'' movies (combinations of [[Sequel First]] and [[Market
* The fate of Hefty Smurf in ''[[The Smurfs (Film)|The Smurfs]]'', who went from being one of the main characters in the comic books and the [[The Smurfs|cartoon show]] to showing up only in a few scenes, replaced by Gutsy Smurf as [[The Big Guy]] because he wasn't macho (or [[Brave Scot|Scottish]]) enough.
* Elizabeth March aka Beth, the [[Ill Girl]] and [[Dead Little Sister]], in [[The Film of the Book]] ''[[Little Women]]'', played by Claire Danes.
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* This happens to Ged in the ''[[Earthsea]]'' books. He's the main character first three books (being the eponymous Wizard of Earthsea), but after he {{spoiler|loses his power}} at the end of ''The Farthest Shore'', he becomes a peripheral figure in ''Tehanu'' and ''The Other Wind'', having given way to Tenar and Tehanu.
* In the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], this happened to Tahiri Veila for a while. During the latter part of the [[New Jedi Order]], her arc was given a great deal of prominence and she was built up as a main character, but was barely an extra in the final book, and was a peripheral character during the [[Dark Nest Trilogy]] and the first half of [[Legacy of the Force]]. Then LOTF ''finally'' brought her back midway through.
* In James Gurney's ''[[Dinotopia]]'', the first book centered around Arthur Denison and his teenaged son Will. When they split up towards the end, the narrative followed Will on his quest to become a skybax rider. The second book, ''The World Beneath'', dropped the epistolary frame and went with [[Two Lines, No Waiting]], showing what both did. The third, ''Journey to Chandra'', has father and son meet in the beginning and briefly in the middle, but otherwise Will is a bit part. Orianna, a crucial character in the second book and hinted to be Arthur's [[Love Interest]], has the briefest cameo in the third.
* In the [[The Heroes of Olympus]], the [[Sequel Series]] to [[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]], all the main characters from the original have been demoted to either cameos or [[Put On a Bus]] entirely. The only possible exceptions are Annabeth, who's [[Out of Focus]] as soon as the new trio leave on their quest, and Thalia, {{spoiler|whose brother is the new lead}}.
* Shan in ''[[Chronicles of Magravandias (Literature)|Chronicles of Magravandias]]'' goes from being the viewpoint character of the second book to a barely important secondary character in the third. Secondary but still vital character Merlan [[Put On a Bus|disappears from the third book]] [[The Bus Came Back|until the end]].
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* After Don Knotts' departure from ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'' as a regular, his character of Barney Fife was brought back as a guest for at least one episode in each of the remaining seasons.
* Though still listed as a main cast member, ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'''s Desmond was commuting on a bus to make brief appearances in a few episodes in the fifth season. Still listed as a main cast member (on the episodes, not in the press releases) in season six... he showed up in the first episode, but didn't show up again until the second half of the season.
** 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
** 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.
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* Done by necessity with some characters from ''[[Last of the Summer Wine]]'' due to the actors' age catching up with them.
* Very prevalent in the weird final season of ''[[Welcome Back Kotter]]''. Mr. Kotter only makes fleeting appearances, due to actor Gabe Kaplan not being very happy with the show. No one acted as though it were at all unusual that Mr. Kotter hardly seemed to be around any more. In fact, Gabe Kaplan still got top billing. At least Barbarino, who was also absent that season because John Travolta was doing movies, was explained away as having dropped out of school. To preserve some semblance of familiarity, the previously stay-at-home Mrs. Kotter became the Sweathogs' new adult supervisor in her role as the school secretary, or something.
* 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
** 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 (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'', Arnold Rimmer only appeared in person in two episodes, then was relegated to flashbacks, dream sequences and--in one memorable case--a theme park ride based on his own diaries. The actor playing him, Chris Barrie, had decided to leave the show and had a very limited schedule, so he agreed to appear in a handful of episodes (and sequences that could be filmed out of order, such as ADR or flashbacks).
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** Speaking of Angel, his last season on ''[[Seriees/Buffy The Vampire Slayer|Buffy The Vampire Slayer]]'' had very reduced screen time (though being in hell is quite a commute).
** This also happened to Giles in the last two seasons of ''Buffy''.
* ''[[
** The 100th episode lamp shades this with the new actor Danny having replaced Josh on the show-within-a-show as the "other guy", no explanation for Josh's complete departure is given, and everybody keeps forgetting Danny wasn't the "other guy" that was with them from the beginning (even Danny starts to mix himself and Josh up under the effects of the gas leak).
** Josh actually reappears briefly before that, when he throws a fit over how he's been neglected and ignored and quits - then later, auditions for his own old job back and loses to Danny. Danny ends up befalling the same fate anyway.
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* ''[[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 ''[[
* 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 fight--in the second, he doesn't even get a single shot off!
* ''[[Happy Days]]'':
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** 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 ''[[
* During the first season of ''[[Beverly Hills 90210|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.
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* ''[[Babylon 5 (TV)|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)|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.
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* 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 [[
* ''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 ensembles -- the only exception being him [[Lampshade Hanging|complaining about his reduced role at Fastrack]]. Another Bill Holbrook comic, ''[[Safe Havens]]'', used to star Matt Havens. He hasn't appeared ''at all'' in the last decade.
* 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.
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* 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 [[
** 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.
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== Toys ==
* ''[[Bionicle]]'' has many examples, even after its [[Merchandise
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* 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 ''[[War Craft]]'' 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 [[Colour
** 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|Mooks]] with the exception of [[The Dragon|Kael'thas]] himself.
** 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.
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** [[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.
* In ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', the character [[The Hunter|Valerie]] frequently appeared in Season One and Two, playing as the series' main [[Anti
* [[X Men Evolution]] has Spyke, a major character in seasons one and two; season three, he up and joins the Morlocks. Gets an episode here or there, but he's mostly gone.
* 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
** 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 "[[
** The entire cast of ''[[Aladdin (Disney)|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.
** And Flounder from [[The Little Mermaid (Disney)|''The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea'']], where he is also now portrayed as a father to several baby fish.
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* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' goes out of its way to have a balanced roster of male to female characters, but the action figures of the series, are only of the male characters (even minor or nameless male characters get action figures ahead of the lead females). They eventually announced a figure for Katara in the second line, but then the whole line was cancelled and they haven't made any since.
* ''[[Transformers]]'' is somewhat the reverse of many other examples on this page, in that a number of characters appear ''only'' in the toyline. That said, there's plenty of straight examples... Half the cast of ''Cybertron'', for example. How long did it take for Evac to stop doing anything? Four episodes?
** ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' isn't innocent on this by a long shot. It introduced [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], one set after another, [[Merchandise
** 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|Butt Monkeys]] and then rebuilt, Mixmaster, Scavenger and Long Haul do not speak, Blitzwing gets one scene for himself, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Brawn, Prowl, Ratchet and Windcharger {{spoiler|[[Dropped a Bridge On Him|are killed off]]}} and Sludge, despite being a major character, has no lines. In fact, Spike and the three major Autobots who survive the movie (Bumblebee, Jazz, and Cliffjumper) have more minor roles. Perceptor and the four other Dinobots (Snarl mysteriously receiving this treatment) are the only pre-movie characters to do much of anything in the post-Autobot City scenes. Even Optimus Prime is only around for the first half of the movie. Plus, some characters don't appear in the movie at all, leaving their fates uncertain.
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** 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 [[
* 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 [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..." [[Lampshades]] this by having them remark that they but were told that Disney "decided to go for a younger look". "But we're not bitter," Perdita remarks, [[Hypocritical Humor|immediately before tearing a rip on a promotional poster]].
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'''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 [[
'''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.<br />
(Mr. Largo and the Capital City Goofball walk by in the Simpsons' background window as Lisa says this.) }}
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** This happens to Chester, A.J., and Vicky in [[A Fairly Odd Movie Grow Up Timmy Turner|the live-action film]] where they just have brief scenes that, except for Chester and A.J. helping Timmy make it into the villain's lair, leave little impact on the plot. Even worse, [[Edited for Syndication|their scenes are cut from the reruns of the film]].
** Vicky in general, despite being heavily featured on the theme song, appears as the antagonist less often nowadays compared to the Anti Fairies, Dark Lazer, and especially Mr. Crocker.
* Every character in the ''[[X-Men (Animation)|X-Men]]'' animated series had this happen to them. [[
* 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.
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* In Season 5 of the second ''[[TMNT 2003|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon, Casey and April really fell into this, largely a result of the season's sharply reduced episode count; it did not help that half those episodes were spent outside New York. They grew even less prominent in the ''Fast Forward'' [[Retool]], since they did not accompany the turtles into the year 2105, and could only appear as cameos or in flashbacks. ''Back to the Sewer'' reversed the trend, however, giving them a season-long arc in which they prepared to get married.
* In early episodes of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]],'' Django was supposed to be one of the main members of the title characters' group of friends. He got one episode ("Oil on Candace") sort of centered around him, but by season two he's only shown up in a few background shots.
* When the ''[[Winx Club]]'' [[Spin
** While we're dealing with ''[[Winx Club]]'', and related to the Avatar figures example above: Under Mattel, Tecna and Musa were never represented as much as their fellow Winx in the doll lines. Some lines even omitted Tecna altogether, but their biggest sin was when they released the Singsational line... and released Musa (the ''musical'' fairy) behind the others. (Also, the only doll they ever released outside of the main fairies was one of Sky.) Italian licensee Giochi Preziosi, and later Rainbow Toys, appear to have been a bit better with equal representation in the doll lines, at least with the fairies (they even made dolls of the Trix).
* Dana Tan in the second and third seasons of ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', with the introduction of [[
** And oddly, Max too. Despite knowing Terry's identity and being the closest thing he had to a sidekick, she's ''completely'' absent in both ''Return of the Joker'' and the post-series finale ''Epilogue''.
** Terry's family, Matt and Mary McGinnis, while not as prominent as Dana, also had less and less screentime as the series continued.
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== Meta ==
* When a character-named trope has its name changed here on [[TV Tropes]], it can end up demoting that character from star to being just another example. For instance, Spike 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 ''here,'' on TV Tropes. This trope was originally named "Isn't It Sad", [http://www.lurkmore.com/wiki/Tsukihime after the meme in question.] With the wiki's shift to less esoteric titles, Sacchin was--you guessed it--demoted in importance once again. She has since been demoted ''again''; for a while, she was still the page's image, but she's since been replaced. Really, the only reason this page isn't a [[Self
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Characters and Casting]]
[[Category:Demoted To Extra]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
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