They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Difference between revisions

Often happens when a single- or few-episode character is introduced. They show great promise, with an interesting background or interaction with the main character(s), and could have led to a compelling plot or new dynamic if made a permanent fixture, or at ''least'' a recurring character -- butcharacter—but were underdeveloped and then discarded.

* [[Black Butler]]: Despite an [[Loads and Loads of Characters|impressive cast]], most characters who aren't Sebastian or Ciel become dead weight pretty quickly. Not to say that many aren't [[Flat Character|Flat]], but many others showed serious promise before being unceremoniously [[Killed Off for Real|killed]] or [[Put on a Bus|forgotten]]. {{spoiler|It's especially problematic when two such characters ''are the season's [[Big Bad|Big Bads]]s''.}}

* [[Cute Mute]] and [[Body Surf|Body Surfer]]er Jericho of the ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]''. After being stuck on a floppy as a [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] ghost for a couple years he was finally revived and restored to his old self and with a new body... only to be shoved into limbo about ten issues later where he would turn up a in couple years [[Heel Face Revolving Door|evil again due to multiple evil personalities from his power of possession (and also possibly from being 'dead')]] and {{spoiler|ultimately suffer [[Eye Scream]]}}. What makes this even more of a waste was that during Jericho’s short time as a newly revived hero, he had hardly any interaction with any of his old friends (especially best friend/almost love interest Raven who resurrected him but insteas their relationship seemed [[Derailing Love Interests|forgotten]]) or a decent reunion with his father Deathstroke the Terminator, or really anything about the character was explored besides "mute son of Deathstroke". Now, the mute part has been taken away, thus [[DC Comics]] having one less hero with a physical disability. Besides some sweet bonding moments with his half-sister Ravager, Jericho was mostly stuck in the background and underused until he was thrown in to the mediocre and forgettable stories DCU: Decisions and the Titans/Teen Titans/Vigilante crossover Deathtrap. However, as of Blackest Night {{spoiler|Jericho seemed to have recovered from both insanity and [[Eye Scream]]... for now.}}

* In general, both Marvel and DC Comics have countless characters who may have had intriguing concepts or personalities, but after their first appearances or the cancellation of their series, they're rarely seen again. When they do appear, they're usually killed as throwaway [[C-List Fodder]] or serve as second-rate [[Mooks]], in the case of many supervillains. Sadly, these characters might have had a lot of creative potential, but more often than not fans and writers alike ignore them in favour of long-established characters and [[Expy|Expys]]s of these long-standing characters.

** From the first prequel movie we have Darth Maul. He was dark, energetic, had strange markings and gave ''two'' Jedi an even fight, managing to kill the more experienced of the two. He got two or three lines<ref> many ''droids'' got more lines than he did</ref> in the entire movie, no characterization except for a brief mention of wanting revenge on the Jedi and then got killed because he apparently couldn't believe that Obi-wan could make that jump. It's a slight consolation that Star Wars: The Clone Wars spent a few episodes on his origin and gave him another chance.

* ''[[Angel]]'': The fifth season [[Big Bad|Big Bads]]s, The Circle of Black Thorns, are introduced and killed off in just two episodes.

* Djaq from ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' was a [[Sweet Polly Oliver]] who played the [[Gender Flip|Gender Flipped]]ped role of the Saracen, brought from Jerusalem to England as a slave. She disguises herself as a boy, takes her twin brother's persona, and decides to join Robin and his outlaws as [[The Medic]]. The potential here was breathtaking - not only could it been a great [[Fish Out of Water]] story, but Djaq effortlessly took the place as [[The Heart]] of the group, had an intriguing dynamic with all her fellow outlaws (including a [[Love Triangle]] that was vastly more interesting than [[Romantic Plot Tumor|Robin, Marian and Guy forever whinging at each other]]) and an endearing superiority complex that was completely at odds with the actress's tiny stature. She almost instantly become the show's [[Ensemble Darkhorse]], only for the writers to completely ignore her, throw her into an [[Strangled by the Red String|abrupt relationship]] with Will Scarlett, write her out of the show, and [[Replacement Scrappy|replace her]] with a [[Jerkass Sue]] who was [[Creator's Pet|hated by all and sundry]], but who got twice as much screentime in one season than Djaq did in two.

* [[Code Name|Dark Hunter Ancient]] of ''[[Bionicle]]''. [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot/Toys|See here]] as to why. Other Dark Hunters might also count, such as Guardian, who only ever appeared in ''one scene'' before being killed by the [[Big Bad]] [[For the Evulz]], even though they had an [[All There in the Manual|in-depth backstory written for him]]. [[Toyless Toyline Character|Toyless Toyline Characters]]s are prone to this.

* The majority of ''[[Touhou]]'' characters ([[Loads and Loads of Characters|and there are a lot]]) still manage to be interesting despite their brief appearance, and even ones with multiple appearances have large chunks of their personality and past underutilised or just unexplored. [[Small Name, Big Ego|Mima]], [[Hot as Hell|Shinki]], [[Person of Mass Destruction|Flandre]], [[Kitsune|Ran]], [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|Mokou]], [[Don't Fear the Reaper|Komachi]], [[Gadgeteer Genius|Nitori]], [[Jerkass Woobie|Parsee]], and [[Cute Ghost Girl|Minamitsu]] are merely a small list of the characters fans became enamored with and speculate about constantly despite their small roles. Indeed this is part of the reason for the truly gargantuan [[Doujin]] community that arose around the games, fans exploring every aspect they can imagine, and even the fighting [[Gaiden Game|Gaiden Games]]s and [[Expanded Universe]] manga (given input from ZUN but mostly made by other people) take the opportunity to expand upon the characters in more detail and attention.

* Kevin from ''[[Family Guy]]'' was generally liked by the fandom, mostly as a love interest for [[The Chew Toy|Meg]]. He was hardly ever seen, though--andthough—and then suddenly, out of nowhere, his father [[Angst? What Angst?|casually mentions]] that he [[Bus Crash|died in Iraq]]. As far the fans knew, he hadn't even been ''in'' Iraq. Of course, this was really an intentionally flippant way to explain away his affliction with [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]].