Shoo Out the New Guy: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

A character is introduced into a show with a lot of fanfare, and almost at once moves up to main character status (if not necessarily the credits). He/she will often form a close relationship with the existing main characters, and may even have a prior history with a main character, even if this has [[Remember the New Guy?|never been mentioned before]]. Sometimes the character is a result of [[Executive Meddling]].

 

Compare with [[Aborted Arc]] and [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]]. Contrast with [[The Artifact]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* In the Orange Islands saga of the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime, after Brock was replaced because [http://pokebeach.com/2008/07/second-pokemon-interview-with-masamitsu-hidaka-many-interesting-points the producers thought that people would be put off by his eyes] and partially due to a poll of popularity where Brock ranked the lowest (and contrary to popular belief, 4KidsEntertainment had absolutely nothing to do with Brock's removal, as the decision was made long before 4Kids started dubbing ''Pokémon''), they replaced him with a more Western-looking character, Tracey Sketchit. It didn't quite work, and many fans were put off by Tracey. Those in charge realized that the Western audience didn't mind Brock's eyes at all, so they chucked Tracey at Professor Oak's place and brought Brock back from presumably being dumped by Ivy in time for the Johto saga. Tracey still makes appearances from time to time when Ash and friends visit Pallet Town, but for the most part he's been retired from the cast.

 

== Film ==

 

== Literature ==

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Somewhat [[Hilarious in Hindsight|prophetically]], in 1973 a character named Poochie debuted in ''[[Peanuts]]''. She was a little girl who used to live in the neighborhood, who supposedly was the first to refer to Charlie Brown by his full name and who almost adopted Snoopy before choosing another dog. After appearing in a few Sunday strips, she disappeared without a trace.

** There was also Charlotte Braun, who appeared in a dozen strips in the 1950's before evaporating. She had [[No Indoor Voice|a loud voice]] and ... that's about it. Originally she was to be a female foil for Charlie Brown, but was no more interesting in the role than Lucy was. There's a hilarious [http://www.cagle.com/hogan/webextras13/charlotte/home.html response letter] that Schulz wrote to a fan who didn't like the character, featuring Charlotte with an axe in her head.

 

 

** Nash's nickname of "Big Poochie" actually [[Older Than They Think|dates back to]] late-90s WCW, where he was [[Running the Asylum|Head Booker]] and essentially forcing ''Nitro'' to revolve around himself, with increasingly absurd segments that seemed to be aired purely for the amusement of Nash himself.

* This is actually fairly common in wrestling. Whenever a wrestler debuts and is immediately hated by the fans, promotions will usually either retool him with a different gimmick, or [[Put on a Bus|put him on a bus.]] An example would be Beaver Cleavage, who was heavily hyped by the WWE prior to his debut and lasted all of a week before becoming Chaz.

** A more recent example was Kizarny. The gimmick was that he was apparently a carnival/circus performer so he always spoke in Carny. Carny is a form of [[Pig Latin]] commonly used by carnival folks ([[Captain Obvious|duh]]) and wrestlers, where you put "iz" before the first (or maybe all) vowels of a word. This, of course, made nearly everything the guy said unintelligible and the character was dropped before he could even debut save for one match against MVP.

** ECW and WCW tag team Public Enemy was brought into the WWF as a favor to there-for-a-cup-of-coffee-himself booker Terry Taylor in 1999. They managed to irritate both the fans and wrestlers in short order, and found their way out of the company after being legitimately beaten up during a match.

* The most infamous example though, is The Gobbledy Gooker. He had all of one match before he was never mentioned again, save for a gimmick battle royale at Wrestlemania X-7.

 

 

** His return in ''[[Sonic Generations]]'' was met with ire, until people actually fought him. Cue everyone liking him again.

 

 

* Parodied in [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_188.php this] ''[[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures|DMFA]]'' strip. The character lasts two half-sized panels and some anguished screaming in the third. Didn't even get to finish introducing himself.

* The second ''[[Electric Wonderland]]'' comic ended with the introduction of Shroomy's boyfriend, a slacker named Parker. He did not appear in the following story for reasons unknown, although Shroomy still expresssed hope later that he would return. He finally did so in the sixth comic, written 11 months after his disappearance, but only to ask Shroomy for $50. As a result, Aerynn advised Shroomy to break up with Parker and find a more dependable boyfriend. By the time the next comic came out, Parker was officially no longer a member of the ''Nettropolis Free Press'' staff, and he wasn't even included in a set of character bios written in July 2010.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** That and they might as well fulfill her [[Meaningful Name|prophetic name]]. She may have always been planned to be a [[Stealth Pun|substitute teacher]] while Mr. Garrison took some [[Character Development]].

** In his first appearance, Towelie appears to be a parody of this trope. He appears out of absolutely nowhere, the boys react just enough to get him to wander off periodically, and the episode features a fake commercial for Towelie merchandise (including, just in case, "I hate Towelie" T-shirts).

* ''[[The Smurfs]]'' cartoon show averts this trope by the fact that most of the Smurfs are basically [[Faceless Masses]], identical to each other. A character can be brought in, given prominence for a while, and then be easily written out with no problem and without anybody really missing them.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Scrappy Index]]

[[Category:Characters and Casting]]