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See [[The Exile]] and [[Reassigned to Antarctica]] for when this is more directly a sentence of banishment.
 
{{examples|Examples:}}
 
== Anime & Manga ==
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* Hiei from ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' mysteriously disappears after the first few episodes in the Sensui arc, using the excuse that he doesn't care whether or not the human world is destroyed. He turns up several episodes to test Yusuke's strength. He goes on a temporary bus again when the team enters Sensui's hideout and battle Gamemaster. Hiei notes, "I know as much of games as I do hugs or puppies and care for them even less" and falls asleep. He remains like this for several episodes.
** A much more straight example would be Kuwabara in the final arc. While the other main characters travel to the demon realm he stays behind to focus on his studies and is only seen at the beginning and the end of the arc.
* Misty in ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]'' left the show five years in and has been stuck preventing her sisters from messing up the Cerulean Gym ever since. She was followed by May, who in turn was followed by Dawn, with both getting four years before joining Misty on the bus. If an interview with the anime director is anything to go by, this will be the fate for every female main character who travels with Ash in the series every time a new generation of Pokémon comes out. Misty's departure has not been welcomed by fans, who claim that ''Pokémon'' has been [[Ruined FOREVER|Ruined]] [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|Forever]].
** Brock was also briefly put on a bus earlier in the show's run. Unfortunately, [[Replacement Scrappy|Tracey was generally poorly received]] so he was quickly put on a bus himself (though remaining a minor character in Ash's hometown) and Brock remained as a main character in the show for 11 years before he was put back on the bus.
** Brock was temporarily put on a bus so many times that his abrupt return was a running gag at every opportunity. His reappearances even go from awesome to laughable: During Hoenn he makes a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment when the cast is attacked by wild Pokémon (which would be completely unexpected if not for [[Spoiler Opening|his presence in the opening]]). The next time, when Ash and his group leave for the Battle Frontier, the narrator is about to close up the episode, but is [[Crowning Moment of Funny|promptly interrupted by Brock showing up to tag along.]]. Then in Diamond & Pearl, Brock just gets off a truck on the side of the road where Ash happens to be.
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** It happened to {{spoiler|her ''[[Mai-Otome]]'' counterpart}}, as well. She disappears after the midway point of the series to run off with her {{spoiler|newfound lover}}, only to return for the final showdown.
** Mai's friends Chie and Aoi leave the school after it shuts down, and are thus absent for the climax.
* The military structure of the [[Heroes -R -Us|Space-Time Administration Bureau]] in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' makes this easy. Don't need someone for now? Just ship them off to a post that the current arc isn't focusing on. Need them back? Either reassign them to the main characters' branch or have their department help out on the current crisis.
* Happens quite a few times in ''[[Jo JosJo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure]]''.
** The most blatant example would be Fugo leaving Giorno's group in the middle of Part 5 (because he thought their mission was suicide) and never gets mentioned again. (The real life reason being that Araki made his Stand [[Superpower Lottery|too cheap to write good fights for]].)
** Joseph after leaving Morioh at the end of Part 4 is never so much as mentioned again. Now, seeing as he was about 80, it's safe to assume he's dead, but it's still pretty odd that it's never been brought up for a main character.
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** Whitney Fordman is [[Put On a Bus]] at the end of Season 1. They then {{spoiler|[[Dropped a Bridge On Him]]}} in Season Two...
** Perry White made his exit on an actual bus at the end of the one episode in which he appeared.
** [[CreatorsCreator's Pet|Lana Lang]] was [[Put On a Bus]] at the end of season seven. [[And the Fandom Rejoiced]].
* Rimmer went off to become the next "Ace Rimmer"(What A Guy!)in series seven of ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]''. The Rimmer seen in series eight is a clone created via nanotechnology, and the original Rimmer was never heard from again.
** The ship's AI, Holly, was put out of service by a flood before ''Back to Earth''.
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** Rita Repulsa was imprisoned by Lord Zedd back into the space dumpster at his debut episode. She crashlanded on Earth in the two-part episode "The White Light" but got sent back into space by the Rangers in the end. The three-part episode "The Wedding" marked her definitive return for the remainder of the [[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]] series.
** Rita's fater, Master Vile, appeared in the series and stayed for a handful of episodes and, after getting tired of being defeated, returned to the Galaxy [[MI 5]], where "evil always wins".
* In ''[[Power Rangers ZEO]]'', Rita, Zedd, Baboo, Squat, Finster and the Tenga Warriors sought refuge at Master Vile's place to escape Mondo's forces. They, [[What Happened to The Mouse?|except for Baboo and Squat]], eventually came back to rescue Rito and Goldar and fight back.
** The Rangers seemingly destroyed Mondo in "Mondo's Last Stand", but Queen Machina told her son Sprocket that Mondo had survived a similar defeat before, thus [[Foreshadowing]] his return. Near the end of the Zeo series, he ''did'' return. Fearing Mondo's wrath, Prince Gasket and Princess Archerina fled and were never seen again. It's unknown if Zordon's sacrifice at the end of [[Power Rangers in Space]] destroyed or purified them and, ever since an episode of [[Power Rangers Wild Force]] established the Machine Empire left survivors, if it even affected them at all.
** The last episode, the Royal House of Gadgetry was tricked into accepting an exploding gift from Lord Zedd and ended up and (barely alive) pieces. They returned in [[Power Rangers in Space]].
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** Though since then Isaiah Washington ran off rather than marry Cristina Yang, Brooke Smith's newly lesbian character vanished the day after getting her first girl/girl orgasm from Callie O'Malley, then at the end of season five {{spoiler|TR Knight is hit by a bus because he complained too much about not getting enough screen time}}.
* The first time Katey Sagal (the actress who played Peggy Bundy) became pregnant during her time on ''[[Married With Children]]'', the producers worked it into the storyline, only to have to backtrack when Segal tragically suffered a miscarriage by {{spoiler|making the entire season six storyline of Peg and Marcy being pregnant a dream. And on a dream episode, no less, where Al is a private eye out to clear his name when he's accused of murder}}. When Segal became pregnant again later in the show's run, the writers didn't go back to the "Peg is pregnant" well again, and, instead, wrote off Segal's frequent absences from the show as a storyline where Peg is traveling the world to get her parents back together after her father walks out on her.
** David Garrison, who played Marcy's first husband, Steve, left the show in the fourth season to return to stage acting. On the show, Steve was written off as having left Marcy so he could work as a forest ranger in Yosemite National Park (though, as a favor to the writers, Steve has returned on a few occasions: on the season six episode where Steve is on the run from the FBI for stealing a rare bird's egg, on a later episode where Al can't find his car after it's been through the car wash, and a [[Poorly -Disguised Pilot]] where Steve is the dean of Trumaine University [the college Bud was enrolled in from seasons seven to ten] and Marcy protests against two [[Dumbass DJ|DumbassDJs]])
*** When Peggy read a pirate story, she incorporated several characters from the series into the tale. David Garrison played Rubio the Cruel and was credited as Steve Rhodes.
* This happens to Foreman, Cameron and Chase in the 3rd season finale of ''[[House (TV)|House]]''. Foreman later returns in season 4, while Cameron and Chase [[Commuting On a Bus|make cameo appearances.]] Interestingly enough, Amber ''is'' put on a bus in the 4th season finale, although this probably doesn't qualify for tolerably obvious reasons...
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* In ''[[The Wire]]'''s fourth and fifth season, several characters who were assumed to have been put on a bus reappear. Nick Sobotka (who was last seen in season two peering out at the Baltimore docks before going into witness protection) reappears as a belligerent protestor at a news conference at the docks in the fifth season, and is subsequently arrested. The Greek (who left the country in season two) reappears at the end of season four, and makes a couple sporadic appearances afterwards. Judge Phelan returns for the final episode after being gone for two seasons, and Steve Earle takes two seasons off before returning in season four as Bubbles' AA sponsor, Weyland. In a much straighter version of this trope, Brother Mouzone disappears after helping Omar successfully assassinate {{spoiler|Stringer Bell}}.
** Played straight when Omar *is* put on a bus to New York at the end of the first season while he waits for Bawlmer to cool off a bit.
* In ''[[BlakesBlake's Seven (TV)|Blakes Seven]]'' {{spoiler|the entire cast is scattered after having to bail out of their ship in the opening episode of Season 3 after a massive space battle involving thousands of ships. Most of the regular cast reunite, apart from Blake and Jenna. The characters spend much of the next two years trying to find Blake, but Jenna gets forgotten about. When Blake does return in the series finale, he says Jenna is dead. However, in the closing moments of the show he reveals that all of his actions in the finale were a morass of deception and lies to see if his old crewmembers were still loyal to his ideals and test their reactions, so the fate of Jenna is very much left up in the air. If she was still alive, that makes her the sole regular castmember of the show not to be killed off (with the possible exception of ORAC, who vanishes before the final scene).}}
** There was some ambiguity about all the deaths except that of Blake himself (the actor requested that it be clear that Blake be decisively killed), making it something of a [[Bolivian Army Ending]]
*** Specifically, fanon has it that {{spoiler|Vila}} avoided getting killed by faking it, as his actor falls the wrong way.
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** Sheriff Roscoe was also [[Put On a Bus]] (back to the Police Academy) for a few episodes in season 2 due to James Best having his own dispute with producers. Ironically, one of the two men who replaced him at the time was the actual [[The Other Darrin|Other Darrin]], Dick Sargeant.
* ''[[All in The Family]]'': Henry Jefferson was devised as a sort of "placeholder" character to stand in for George Jefferson until actor Sherman Helmsley (who had been offered the role of George but [[Absentee Actor|wasn't available]] due to his commitment to the Broadway show ''Purlie'') finally became available in season 4. Once that happened, Henry "moved upstate" and was never heard from again, either on ''All in the Family'' or the spinoff ''[[The Jeffersons]]''.
* On ''[[MashM*A*S*H (TV)|Mash]]'', Henry, Trapper, Frank, and Radar were all discharged and Put On A Plane back to the states. In Henry's case, [[Bus Crash|the plane crashed]].
* Junito from ''[[NoahsNoah's Arc]]'', who was put on a bus at the end of season 1, but returned later.
* On ''[[Spooks]]'', Zoe Reynolds is exiled to Chile. At the beginning of the next serious, a brief mention is made of Sam Buxton "being sedated" after the death of her love interest, {{spoiler|Danny}}, and never reappears in the series. In the fifth season, Ruth is Put On A Boat when she's implicated in a murder.
* When actress Lynda Day George was pregnant during Season 7 of ''[[Mission Impossible]]'', her character was said to be working "deep cover" in Europe. A character played by Barbara Anderson filled in for several episodes.
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* Dr. Crusher from ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' pulls an offscreen stint at Starfleet Academy for Season 2, [[Replacement Scrappy|Dr. Pullaski]] filled her position during that time.
** Riker's headstrong double Thomas from "Second Chances" was put on a bus, later to emerge in an episode of Deep Space Nine as <s>evil</s> a rebel, only to be once again placed on a bus.
** [[CreatorsCreator's Pet|Wesley Crusher]] took a [[Long Bus Trip]] in Season 7, [[And the Fandom Rejoiced]]. Although, considering the bus was only used to let him [[Ascend to A Higher Plane of Existence]], it was more like just the latest step in his [[Mary Sue]] journey.
* Speaking of Season Two Replacements, in [[Knight Rider]], Bonnie was replaced by April. Bonnie came back in Season 3.
* Several episodes in the final season of ''[[Lizzie Mcguire]]'' had Miranda "visiting family in Mexico". The same excuse was used to justify her absence in [[The Movie]].
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* Charlie in ''[[Privileged]]'' who left in the penultimate episode of Season 1. There was talk of him returning in Season 2, but since the show was cancelled that never got to happen.
* Catalina in ''[[Space Cases]]'' is put on a space ship, where she avoids certain doom by being put in a parallel dimension. This was so the actress that played her could work on another show. However, it was implied that she might come back, if the show hadn't been [[The Firefly Effect|cancelled soon thereafter]].
* Subverted in ''[[Thirty30 Rock (TV)|Thirty Rock]]'' when Kenneth broke his promise to his mother that New York would not change him and decided to move back home to Georgia, but returned a few minutes later because he missed the train.
** Also subverted with the writing out of Josh's character: he claims to have gotten on a bus.
** Jack's wife Avery gets taken hostage by Kim Jong-Il (and later Kim Jong-Un) in North Korea, which excused Elizabeth Banks for other projects. For a while, she's not even mentioned, but then Jack spends a lot of time the next season trying to get her back. She returns in the final episodes of the season, only for them to divorce in the finale.
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* Tennenbaum in ''[[Bio Shock]] 2''
** However in the DLC "Minerva's Den, she makes a return, explaining her absents in the second game as her working to get the Thinker out of Rapture.
* In ''[[Mitsumete Knight (Video Game)|Mitsumete Knight R : Daibouken Hen]]'', all characters of the original ''Mitsumete Knight'' game save for [[The Hero|Sophia]], [[Emotionless Girl|Rai]][[Ensemble Darkhorse|zze]], [[Huge Schoolgirl|Leslie]], [[Bokukko|Hanna]], [[Rich Bitch|Linda]], and {{spoiler|[[Monster Clown|Carneau]]}} are reduced to mere cameos. Which is really baffling in [[EverythingsEverything's Better With Princesses|Priscilla]] and [[Mysterious Waif|Anne]]'s cases, as both were poster girls in the original game [[Demoted to Extra|and vital characters for its plot]], as well as being well-liked by the fandom.
* Angela Cross from the ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' series. She only appears in ''[[Ratchet and Clank Going Commando|Going Commando]]'' and is briefly mentioned on a radio broadcast in ''[[Ratchet and Clank Future A Crack In Time|A Crack In Time]]''. As the only female Lombax in the series, some fans (particularly this one) have wondered why she was written out, especially considering the series' recent focus on Ratchet trying to find out what happened to the rest of his race.
* Drachma, Gilder, and Enrique in [[Skies of Arcadia]]. The Valuan Generals also get [[Put On a Bus]].
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* ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'' has done this with several of its supporting characters over time. Candice and her family were once nearly as important to the strip as Kevin and Kell themselves, but eventually she was outsourced to New Zealand and hasn't been heard from since. The Ursuls, of whom Marjorie was Kell's best friend for the early years of the strip, moved to Florida and new best friend Aby moved into their house -- they've also not been seen since. Lindesfarne's best friend Tammy Tussock and her husband Ray moved to a lighthouse, and while they were important to one more storyline after the move, they have been MIA since. Then again, longtime readers of Bill Holbrook's two syndicated strips should be well aware of his tendency to rotate the cast - both of those strips have managed almost a complete cast turnover, including their main characters.
* Done to every character at the end of ''[[Boy Meets Boy]]'', to make room for two side characters who got their own spinoff in ''[[Friendly Hostility]]''.
* In ''[[Eight 8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'', Dragoon was teleported to the Moon and has not been seen since.
** He comes back in The Epilogue.
* In ''[[Questionable Content]]'', it looked like this was going to happen to Steve. Turns out, he's back. However, the side characters Dave and Meena caught that bus. Also, Sarah, Ellen, Amir, and Natasha. Looks like Raven is on that bus too.
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* Tigatron and Airazor went off to scout the extent of the Vok's damage to the planet at the start of the second series of ''[[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' to make room for the Fuzors. When they returned, they ended up being abducted by the Vok, and would not return until partway through series 3.
* Buster Baxter on ''[[Arthur (Animation)|Arthur]]'' went on a year long trip around the world with his dad whom he doesn't spend much time with since he and his mom are divorced, he returns in the season opener.
* The villain of ''[[An American Tail]]: Fievel Goes West'', Cat R. Waul, is defeated by being put on a train. He comes back for the [[Recycled: theThe Series|television series]].
* Chef in ''[[South Park (Animation)|South Park]]'' had a bridge dropped on him after his voice actor left, but the ending allowed for the possibility of a return (now impossible due to his real life death) by making him "Darth Chef."
* Triana Orpheus from ''[[The Venture Brothers (Animation)|The Venture Brothers]]'' left the Venture Compound in order to study magic with her mother.
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