Ensemble Darkhorse/Western Animation: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Ensemble Darkhorse/My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''

* ''[[Ensemble Darkhorse/Transformers|Transformers]]''

 

* ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' has a fairly big history of this. Their first big star after Buddy and Beans The Cat was a minor character in a series of shorts about a group of grade school animals, but his role as the stuttering, somewhat unlucky [[Straight Man]] role proved popular with fans and [[Porky Pig]] soon became their premiere character. After a few years, a cartoon featured Porky going on a ducking hunting trip, running into all sorts of wacky mishaps, one of which was an off kilter duck that only appeared in two scenes (and the credits), put his loony, unconventional antics proved so popular that soon that [[Daffy Duck|"Daffy" Duck]] got his own cartoons and became their next star, until the process repeated itself yet again with their now premiere character, [[Bugs Bunny]].

*** The fact that he was voiced by the same actor who played the enigmatic Weyoun on ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'' didn't hurt, either.

** [[The Flash]] was the Ensemble Darkhorse of the original series. In fact, his lack of presence in the first season of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' was one of the main reasons fans bashed it.

*** Lack of Flash is so noticeable that it was identified as the reason why the alternate universe Justice League turned into the tyrannical Justice Lords.

** Subverted with [[Captain Atom]], who appeared in the first episode along with other soon-to-be-popular characters, but never managed to achieve popularity. Still, he was able to fight [[Superman]] one-on-one and almost thrash the big man, in spite of being a supporting character.

* Chernabog and his sequence, ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Ca_edg6RE Night on Bald Mountain]'', from ''[[Fantasia (Disney)|Fantasia]]''. Everyone remembers the [[Awesome Music (Disney)|beautiful pieces of music]] from the whole thing, but this was the one that stuck to everyone's memory. Pretty much everyone that ever watched this was in fear and awe of Chernabog, the sequence is regarded as a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] and as [[Nightmare Fuel]] that caused the Slavic Satan to haunt many's memories to this day, and it should come as no surprise that, of all the things from ''Fantasia'' to put into ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', they chose Chernabog.

** Slappy Squirrel.

** [[Ms. Fanservice|Minerva Mink]].

*** Considering Scrooge started as nothing more than a caricature of thrift in a propaganda cartoon during [[World War II]], thats one heck of an escalation.

*** He didn't. He started out as a Dickensian miser in a christmas story in 1947. However, most of Donald's relatives and other Disney characters fit this trope. His nephews: started in a Sunday page in 1937 and a cartoon in 1938. Both end with them leaving their uncle. Goofy: started out as a theatre-goer with a goofy laugh called Dippy Dawg in 1932. Gladstone Gander: Donald's (not yet lucky) cousin coming in winter 1947/1948. Gyro Gearloose: started his career with a half-page cameo in a story. And so the list goes on.

* [[Woody Woodpecker]] originally debuted as the villain of the Andy Panda cartoon short ''Knock Knock'' in an attempt to deliberately invoke this trope-[[Walter Lantz]] and his cartoon studio were hitting hard times after the series [[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit]] ran out of gas, and Andy Panda wasn't the new hit star they needed badly to rejuvenate the ailing studio. Unsurprisingly, [[Breakout Character|Woody became an instant hit upon debut]] and went on to immediately star in his own smash hit series of short subjects.

* Despite appearing in only five episodes, Cheese from ''[[Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends]]'' is one of the most well-liked characters, dominating most of the merchandise of the show. This is likely because the target audience is young, and Cheese is [[The Ditz]]. Cheese does mostly what was the most fun/wacky when we were five years old... unlike Ralph who only display pure idiocy but not high-octane playfulness. Which is why Cheese is the ensemble darkhorse.

* Brooklyn, Goliath's rawboned, beak-faced, [[Wangst|Wangsty]] young [[The Lancer|second-in-command]] on ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]]''.

* Jinx has a pretty big fan-following in ''[[Teen Titans (Animation)|Teen Titans]]'' despite only appearing in 5 out the show's 65 episodes.

** Argent. Despite only appearing for a short amount in two episodes, and subsequently being a very little developed character, there's a large amount of fanart for her, and several fanart groups on [[Deviant ART]].

** There's also Kid Flash, who also only appeared in two episodes. Probably helps that he and Jinx became an [[Official Couple]].

{{quote| [[Running Gag|My cabbages!]]}}

** '''The Boulder'''.

** Harley Quinn was introduced as a goofy bit-player, but hit it off so well with both the writers and the audience that she became a regular and a [[Canon Immigrant]].

** The series was also responsible for the rise in the the popularity of villains like the Mad Hatter, Clayface, and Mr. Freeze, who until then were practically obscure to people who weren't into the comics. Special mention to Mr. Freeze's case, as his [[Backstory]] in the animated show was so well-written that was adapted into the comic book series and turned him in another memorable villain of Batman.

** And quite possibly Dark Laser. Initially, he was a one off villain. Then he made an appearance in the fifth season as a continuity nod, but by the sixth season, he'd become a semi-regular, even having a major part in the season finale.

** What, [[Fountain of Memes|Timmy's Dad]] isn't mentioned? [[Memetic Mutation|DINKLEBERG...!]]

** And even he fails to live up to the standards of DOCTOR ROCKSO! [[Monster Clown|THE ROCK AND ROLL CLOWN]]! [[Memetic Mutation|HE DOES COCAINE]]! {{spoiler|Seriously dude, a lot of cocaine.}}

* The [[Deadpan Snarker]] computer with a [[The Mean Brit|British accent]] from ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]''.

** Katz is another example. His popularity may be the reason he appears more often than other villain on the show.

** King Ramses' is quite popular despite the fact that many find his episode to be the scariest. In fact, the reason as to why most people assume he is scary is possibly an excuse to make him seem more popular.

* Star from ''[[Balto (Animation)|Balto]]'' is quite popular with the fans of the movie. "Circles are a good thing!"

* Wolfie from ''[[Casper Scare School]]''.

** In the episode ''It's About Time!'' there's a kid who helps Candace sneak back into the museum after being thrown out for yelling. He only appeared in that one episode, and he probably doesn't even have a name, but he was such an interesting character that some fans want him brought back. Also, he [[Delinquents|stole]] a complete fossilized pterodactyl skeleton from the museum.

* [[Mean Brit|Kyle]] from ''[[Fanboy and Chum Chum]]'', to the extent that several fans cite him as the only reason they watch the show at all.

** [[Canon Immigrant]] [[X-23]] was so popular that she was brought into the comics after only two real appearances and a cameo in the finale, with a million fanfics dealing with her life - some very depressing, some comic, some just to be paired off with characters she never even interacted with, and most of the time she just becomes a [[Mary Sue]]. {{spoiler|She is also a playable character in ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Video Game)|Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]''}}.

** The show has a notable exception among the franchise, [[Wolverine]] ''isn't'' the most popular character on the heroes side. There actually isn't just ''one'' in particular. The show was so well written than almost anyone could function as the [[Ensemble Darkhorse]], and if you look at the fandom that's pretty much what happened, but special mention on the good guys side should go to Nightcrawler. This is about as close and any adaptation got to his orignal playful, charming, character from the comics.

** And of course, the ''evil'' fairy, Maleficent, the ''villain'' of the movie, is also the most popular, well remembered character.

* Despite the frequently horrifying content, the Peadofinder General in ''[[Monkey Dust]]'' is particularly popular. Something about the big hat and green skin...

** Ultron first appeared in episode 5 as an innocent prison guard. As the first season progressed, he gradually enterted the foreground while obtaining the knowledge that would turn him into the [[Killer Robot]] Marvel fans know and love. He finally turned against the Avengers in episodes 22 and 23, performing such feats as possessing Iron Man's armor, seemingly killing {{spoiler|Thor}}, and using stolen nuclear missile codes to try and wipe out all "flawed" life on Earth. Even though the Avengers defeated him in only two episodes, an unofficial [http://www.medinnus.com/AEMH/poll.html poll] deemed him the most popular villain by a longshot.

** Doctor Doom won fans over even ''before'' his first episode premiered. His actual feats didn't disappoint either; he overcame six Avengers and the entire Fantastic Four in a battle, and found a Skrull among them even before ''they'' could. The end of the episode creates the impression that he'll come back, though not when or how frequently.

* Maximus IQ from ''[[Atomic Betty]]'' : Despite him being a villain, people see him as a main character as well.

* Appearing ''once'' in a series with [[Quarter Hour Short]] episodes, [[Distaff Counterpart|Ultraprison's Mistress]] is surprisingly popular among the ''[[Superjail (Animation)|Superjail]]'' fandom.

** Albedo, a Galvan who turned into a [[Palette Swap]] of Ben, is popular among the fandom, despite lack of appearances.

* ''[[Megas XLR]]''. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37lf4n6lxX0 The REGIS Mark V is the ultimate fighting machine! Unstoppable! Merciless! Glorious! No one is safe from the REGIS!]

* ''[[Fillmore]]'' had a red-herring character in one episode named TQ in one episode; a [[The Stoic|stoic]], [[Deadpan Snarker]] Zen student. Apparently, he really caught on with fangirls.

* Carl from ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Animation)|Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]''.

* Out of all the many characters that were introduced when the ''[[Aladdin (Disney)|Aladdin]]'' series started, the big fan-favorite was definitely Mozenrath, the young, snarky [[Magnificent Bastard]] with a [[Power At a Price|tragic]] [[The Reveal|secret]], in a world otherwise full of [[Laughably Evil]], [[Smug Snake]] and one-shot [[Eldritch Abomination]] villains.

* Wacky Weasel, a one-shot villain from ''[[Bonkers (Animation)|Bonkers]]'' actually has a good ammount of fanart and screenshots on the internet.

* Morph from ''[[X-Men (Animation)|X-Men]]'' was a supposed to [[Killed Off for Real|killed]] while [[Sacrificial Lamb|saving Wolverine from an ambush]] at the end of the series' opening two-part episode. But due to the unexpected popularity of the character he returned, and later had several episodes centering on him.

* From ''[[Jem]]'' we have Stormer in the Misfits. Her popularity is fueled by her being the [[Token Good Teammate]] of the Misfits, albeit she is capable of having a nasty attitude from time to time. She's the overall creative force behind her band but she never gets credit for it, and usually winds up helping (secretly) the Holograms when she absolutely feels she needs to. Stormer has also been the only Misfit to be offered a place in the Holograms, but she turned it down because she felt the Misfits needed her more. [[Word of God]] has it Stormer's first loyalty is always going to be the Misfits regardless, which really only makes her more likeable; she sticks by her friends.

* In ''[[Sym Bionic Titan]]'' just about every minor character fits this trope. Notable examples include:

** Tashy 497, a lovable squishy space squid who showed up in a single episode with the same name. Apparently, he was so adorable the fandom kept him, and now he has his own fanart, almost as much as anyone else, including the main cast. He often will make a cameo in other artworks, but never in series, {{spoiler|because it ended and he died before the episode was over. Worst. [[Mood Whiplash]]. Ever.}} 20 minutes screentime.