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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|'''[[Wolverine]]:''' Stay on topic, bub! This movie's about ''me''!
'''[[Watchmen (comics)|Rorschach]]:''' Weren't ''all'' the ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'' movies about you?
|''[[I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}1n3VSw1XBOo Wolverine and Watchmen]''}}
In short, when the author gets so [[Character Focus|incredibly fixated on a single character, family or group]] that he or she forgets that they have [[Loads and Loads of Characters|an incredibly diverse and powerful cast]], many of whom are more interesting than the focus character (or at least that's what everyone will think when they're not getting screen-time). A handful of characters might have [[Story Arc
If left unchecked, expect fans to complain how [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot]], let [[Overshadowed by Awesome|the less fantastic characters]] [[Can't Catch Up|fall behind]], never did anything with [[Hufflepuff House]], [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and]] [[Jossed]] everyone's [[Shipping|ships]].
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This trope is closely related to the [[Creator's Pet]] and the [[Replacement Scrappy]]. The main difference is that the SSS is not necessarily hated (at least, not at first), in fact, they may be one of the most popular characters, but they get too much attention, and eventually fans get tired of the overexposure. Compare [[Wolverine Publicity]], and contrast [[Out of Focus]]. If the fanbase agrees (or the marketing team does, at any rate), may lead to a [[Spotlight-Stealing Title]].
In [[Fan Fiction]] circles, [[Mary Sue
A friendly reminder that [[Tropes Are Not Bad]] - there are times where the viewers actually ''like'' the spotlight hog!
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* [[Creator's Pet|Chris Thorndyke]] in ''[[Sonic X]]'', the human [[Tagalong Kid]], gets [[Human-Focused Adaptation|more screen time]] than even the ''title character'', [[Sonic the Hedgehog]].
* In ''[[Sherlock Hound]]'', Professor Moriarty gets a hell of a lot more screen time than the title character. His inclusion in every episode except the first means that other villains from classic [[Sherlock Holmes]] stories (such as the villain of ''The Speckled Band''), [[Demoted to Extra|never see the light of day in the episode based on their story]]. Possibly, Kyosuke Mikuriya took a lot of influence from his predecessor [[Hayao Miyazaki
* [[Awesomeness By Analysis|Shikamaru]] in ''[[Naruto]]'' has this treatment for the Hidan arc, which he is basically the main character of for a significant portion. Of all Naruto's other classmates, he is the only one that has received honest, in-depth character development and frequent appearances after the timeskip, to the point that he is practically a main character now. It has also been also lampshaded at one omake of the anime, with some characters mentioning that the series should have been renamed "Shikamaru" during said arc. That said, Shikamaru is a very popular character, so most fans don't really mind.
** [[Broken Base|A number of them]] ''do'', however, mind how Sasuke (or really, Uchiha members in general) have been hogging the beefy material in the second half of ''Shippuden''. Although granted this is partly to keep [[Rival Turned Evil|Sasuke]] on constant equal footing with [[The Chosen One|Naruto]], so there's a slight bit of justification there.
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* Many people believed this to be the case with Toshiro Hitsugaya from ''[[Bleach]]'', who managed to achieve the rank as the most popular character of the series and later got to star in his own movie. On the other hand, maybe Kubo's just responding to his [[Ensemble Darkhorse|popularity with the fans]].
** Of course, The ''whole'' Gotei 13 qualify, as they've essentially stolen the spotlight from Ichigo's [[Nakama]], who are lucky to make an appearance in any of the fillers or movies.
** Special mentioning, and by far and large the best example within this series has to be given to [[The Man Behind the Man|Sosuke]] [[Xanatos Roulette|Aizen]]. Justified by a bit, since he's the [[Big Bad]], but he's been so interwoven into the plot, that he's allegedly {{spoiler|created the [[Eldritch Abomination|Hogyoku]] ''before'' ''[[Big Good|URAHARA]]'' as a prototype}}, arranged and orchestrated [[The Hero|Ichigo Kurosaki]]'s development (i.e. his biggest fights and the power-ups he needed to win said fights, and that he even became a Shinigami in the first place by {{spoiler|assigning [[The Lancer|Rukia]] to the real world}}) to work into his favor, and instigated practically every event within the series, aside from the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Quincy]] [[Shoot the Dog|genocide]], as well as the one to blame for the problems and conditions nearly every other character has in the series, all the way up to indirectly killing off [[The Lancer|Rukia Kuchiki]]'s [[The Ace|mentor]] and [[Yamato Nadeshiko|idol]] by having them fight a Hollow he experimented on, screwing up and breaking apart [[Break the Cutie|Momo Hinamori]]'s mental state, assassinating the Soul Society's feudal government, perfecting the [[Elite Mook|Arrancar]] to serve as his army, personally enlisting several [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Espada]] to work for him through added charisma (i.e. [[Lonely
* Normally, when the plot thickens, [[Red Headed Heroine]] Lina gets the most focus, shifting away from Gourry, Zelgadis, and Amelia. However, when the third anime season rolled around (''[[Slayers]] Try''), [[Holier Than Thou|Filia]] becomes the [[Guest Star Party Member]], and because the plot revolves around the dragon race (which she and the [[Big Bad]] of the season are a part of), the four main characters are not given as much foucs.. The fifth episode is about Filia ranting and being subjugated to a trial, along with antics from [[Exclusively Evil|Xellos]]-given that she serves the gods and he serves the demons of that world, the sexual tension between them is the main [[Running Gag]].
* The [[Alternate Universe]] series, ''[[Tenchi Muyo!|Tenchi Universe]]'', is known for its emphasis on Ryoko, as evidenced in the opening credits, which starts with a silhouette of her and ends with a zoom-in on her face.
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** It became obvious after a while that Ash's Grotle-Torterra became the [[Jobber|fall guy]] for his team to make Infernape seem even more impressive. This gets ''especially'' jarring when we reach Volkner, the Electric-type Gym Leader. [[Dishing Out Dirt|Gliscor]] at least [[Put on a Bus|had an excuse for being absent]] (training), but Torterra not defeating a single Pokémon in a Gym where he has a type advantage (he's both part [[Green Thumb|Grass]] ''and'' part [[Dishing Out Dirt|Ground]]) is [[Sincerity Mode|just sad]]. As nice and impressive as Infernape's [[Character Arc]] was, it really should've been ''Pikachu'', not Torterra, who was hit with [[The Worf Effect]] in that Gym Battle...
** Ash's Oshawott. He appears in almost every episode, and has had heaps of development, to the point where Ash's other Pokémon get almost none. It doesn't help that he looks a bit like Piplup.
** Pikachu is a weird case altogether. Originally, the ''main'' Pokémon was going to be Clefairy. In [[Pocket Monsters (manga)|one manga]], the protagonist has both Clefairy and Pikachu. In [[Pokémon Special|another manga]], the protagonist's ''main'' Pokémon was a Poliwhirl. But then Red (the trainer) caught a [[Badass]] [[Anti-Hero]] Pikachu, who quickly turned into the series' [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]. A few chapters later, Red had ([[Badass Decay|a now nicely-behaved]]) Pikachu [[Breakout Character|as his most used Pokémon who would later have his own saga]]; let's not forget his own game and place for over 10 years in the anime. In few words, Pikachu is a
*** Pikachus are almost certain to appear in every manga. In ''[[Pokémon Golden Boys]]'' a Pikachu comes in from the sky and helps Gold beat Falkner's ''Articuno''; he catches said Pikachu and it's a commonly used Pokemon of his. Satoshi in ''[[Pokémon Zensho]]'' has a Pikachu who eventually evolves into a Raichu. There's a Pikachu main character in ''[[Magical Pokémon Journey]]''. A chapter of ''[[How I Became a Pokémon Card]]'' involves a boy getting a Pikachu for his birthday, complaining about how it was "cute" instead of "cool", before he learned that such things don't matter. ''Get Da Ze'' involves a Pikachu protagonist.
** Ash's Charizard is an interesting case, as he ''was'' something at least ''close to'' a
* At certain points, ''[[Guyver]]'' becomes "Aptom featuring those Guyver people". It's really annoying that ''he'' is the one {{spoiler|that takes out the Hyper-Zoanoid Five (except for Zxtole), considering that they were amongst the few enemies that could actually give Sho a good fight.}}
* As a result of being [[Merchandise-Driven]], ''[[Transformers]]'' suffers from this quite a bit. Whenever new toys are released, their characters are going to push older characters into the background. In particular, the end of series 2 of [[The Original Series]] featured very few characters who weren't Combiners, and after [[The Movie]], the Combiners themselves were relegated to playing second fiddle to Rodimus' [[Five-Man Band]] and the reformatted Decepticons. Later on, they themselves were driven out to allow the Headmasters to take centre stage; unfortunately, all the other characters became mush less competent soon after the Headmasters were introduced. ''[[Transformers Super God Masterforce]]'' at least had the sense to introduce the Pretenders in a [[Continuity Reboot]].
* Kamina from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' was something of a spoof of
** Lampshaded in an [[Omake]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20120419021237/http://manga.bleachexile.com/tengen-toppa-gurren-lagann-chapter-4-page-35.html in the manga.]
* Sakaki gets a disproportionate amount of focus in ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'' compared to the other characters, but that's probably because her [[Shrinking Violet]]-ness means she's either the focus or gets ignored.
* In ''[[Berserk]]'', [[Big Bad]] [[Bishonen]] Griffith and co. have taken up about two volumes worth of material. About two volumes coe out yearlt.
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** And the same goes for Saki from ''[[Pretty Cure Splash Star]]'', being an [[Expy]] of Nagisa even on ''this''. She's not as bad as the original, but it's clear the writers favored her more than Honoka [[Expy]] Mai.
** Thankfully, for the time they did ''[[Heartcatch Precure]]'', another series with just two girls, they learned the lesson and [[Averted Trope|didn't do this]]. Well, Tsubomi ''did'' get more [[Character Focus]] than Erika, but to such a small degree it didn't matter.
** Only to do this ''again'' with Hibiki in ''[[Suite Precure]]'', to the point that, on a Kanade-centric episode, ''Hibiki'' gets an [[Mid-Season Upgrade|Early-Season Upgrade]] while Kanade gets '''nothing at all'''. Kanade finally gets said upgrade ''three'' episodes after. And that's just the beginning: After Ellen [[Heel Face Turn|joins]], Hibiki starts getting far, far more screentime and lines, with Kanade and Ellen, and Ako once she joins, mostly tagging along. It even manages to get worse: By the time the last quarter of the show rolls by, Hibiki is the one coming with all the smart plans despite being an [[Idiot Hero
** Note it's always the tomboy of the [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]] duo, and that ''Hearcatch'' was the only one to not do that kind of pair, both girls were rather girly. Hmm.
* At the time Sasaki Kojiro's first story arc was finished it compromised more than 1/3rd of the entirety of ''[[Vagabond]]'' releases.
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* ''[[Medaka Box]]'': Kumagawa Misogi has been consistently tied to the plot since his debut, and at some points even overshadows Medaka and Zenkichi.
* Slight case in Vento Aureo, the fifth part of ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]''. Despite being this part's Jojo (well, Giogio), Giorno seems to be less primary protagonist than deuteragonist in the story in general, compared to the intended deuteragonist, Bruno Buccellatti.
* ''[[Mai-HiME (manga)|Mai-HiME]]'': A lot of people who've read the manga (mainly those who've watched the more popular, [[
== Comic Books ==
* [[
* In the old ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comic, a core set of Joes eventually emerged from the literal dozens of team members. While this is to be expected, Snake Eyes takes the cake here. Not only is he a character that is utterly flat and lifeless when not part of an ensemble (so he's naturally on the cover of most issues and his backstory is the most expounded upon of any Joe), the ''freaking series was renamed "GI Joe, STARRING SNAKE EYES"'', for over an entire year.
* In more recent ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' comics, Emma Frost seems to be stealing much attention away from women who have been in the book much longer because they've been removed in different ways.
** [[Wolverine]] falls into this to large degrees (often lampshaded in various fan works). This is part of the reason the trope [[Wolverine Publicity]] is named after him, since he's given a spotlight even when he's barely there.
** Various writers developed a new found interest in Cyclops being the leading man of the X-Men in the mid-2000's, with this pretty culminating in him being the primary focus of 2009's big X-Men event, [[Messiah Complex]]. Since then, a lot of comics have focused heavily on Cyclops.
* Former ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' head writer Ken Penders has a tendency to shift the focus of the comic from the main Freedom Fighters to Knuckles and the other echidnas on the [[Floating Continent|Floating Island]].
** And on a more consistent basis, there is usually Princess Sally Acorn, leader of the Freedom Fighter and Sonic's best friend and on-off love interest.
* In 1994, [[Marvel Comics]], as part of their short-lived [[Disney]] line (which is [[Hilarious in Hindsight]] now that Disney owns them), published a comic book based on [[The Disney Afternoon]]. Its content proved to be more like ''[[Darkwing Duck (animation)|Darkwing Duck]] and a Few Other Disney Afternoon Shows''; in the entire ten-issue run of the comic, it only ran three ''[[Goof Troop]]'' stories, two ''[[Tale Spin]]'' stories, two ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' stories, and barely anything for ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' and ''[[Bonkers]]''.
* Tyler Marlowe has become the [[Breakout Character]] of ''[[PS238]]''. Initially introduced in issue 3 as a sort of [[This Loser Is You]] character - the only unpowered kid in a school for superhuman "metaprodigies" - he has come to dominate the series to the extent that there are more issues with him as the main character than those in which he isn't. Meanwhile, many of the original major characters are hardly even mentioned, and at least one has been shipped off to another school; he hasn't been [[Put on a Bus]], because he still appears occasionally, but he's pretty much deteriorated into a non-stop [[Wangst]] source.
** To fans who started with the "Student Handbook," ''the entire student population''. The first volume seemed like the comic would the story of a group of former super-heroes with shadowed pasts trying to maintain and administrate a school where all the students have superpowers. Then, it turned out to be a series about child superheroes running amok, with occasional lip service to the idea the faculty actually did anything.
▲== Fan Fiction ==
* In ''[[Bart the General]]'', which, despite the title, appears to be mainly about how Omarn deals with Marge having an affair, Barton dominates the second part of the last episode and the third episode, which is longer than episodes 1, 2 and 4 combined.
* In ''[[Fuck the Jesus Beam]]'', O.B.A.M.A. takes over the plot from his debut in the third chapter as the [[Big Bad]], despite Lordguckles having been set up as the main antagonist in the second chapter, and proceeds to have two chapters devoted almost exclusively to him (Including the now-deleted "CHAPTER RAGE"). Kaminic {{spoiler|gets [[Brainwashed]]}} and hardly does anything until {{spoiler|releasing himself from O.B.A.M.A.'s control}} in "CHAPTER NEO JESUS".
* ''[[Total Drama Comeback Series]]'' lampshades the tendency of Duncan and Owen to approach this in canon, while simultaneously making [[Author Avatar|Ezekiel,]] [[Author Appeal|Bridgette, and Izzy]] this within the actual fic.
* Aziraphale and Crowley are this for the ''[[Good Omens]]'' fandom. While they ''are'' in a substantial portion of the book, they are there mostly to initiate the birth mixup and then provide commentary on whatever the humans are actually out there doing. There are many more characters with more relevancy to the plot (after the birth setup), and there are also many memorable teams of characters
* ''[[A Hero (fan work)|A Hero]]'' is supposed to be a ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''/''[[Doctor Who]]'' crossover. Reading it, however, one can't help but notice how prominent the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' side of the story has become in comparison to the ''PMMM'' side. ''Especially'' in the case of Dalek Sec, who the author has admitted steals every scene he's in.
* In ''[[Decks Fall,
* Tends to happen in any facfic, as the author will often put their favorite character(s) to the forefront, at times leaving the main character in the background or not even in the story at all.
== Film ==
* The third ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' [[X-Men (film)|movie]] was more of a [[Wolverine]] movie guest-starring the X-Men
** [[
{{quote|'''"Once again, you think it's all about you."'''}}
* In the second ''[[Underworld (film)|Underworld]]'' movie, the premise is "[[Fur Against Fang|Vampires vs. Werewolves"]]. The first has Lucian, perhaps the most interesting, charismatic, and likable character, while the second ''Underworld'' movie had about three scenes with werewolves, none of whom speak. Vampires and [[Hybrid Monster|super-vampires]] take up most of the screen time.
* Going by the trailers, the reverse is happening with ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' (the [[Fur Against Fang]] premise doesn't kick in till the second movie, too).
* [[Discussed Trope]] by the filmmakers of ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' in the case of [[Johnny Depp]], who took what was [[What Could Have Been|intended to be a secondary character]], went wild in the wardrobe department (without [[Executive Meddling|Disney's permission]]) and pulled focus on every opportunity. Will was originally supposed to be an [[Errol Flynn]]-esque romantic hero with Jack Sparrow as the [[Loveable Rogue]], [[Big Brother Mentor]] [[Sidekick]] instead of the [[Straight Man]] to Depp's [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] [[Anti-Hero]]. In hindsight, of course, Depp was marketed as the star of the film.
** On that note, ''[[Alice in Wonderland (2010 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' might as well have been called ''The Mad Hatter of Wonderland'' with all the advertising it had.
* Alice in ''[[Resident Evil (film)|Resident Evil]]'' movies - nobody else can do anything even remotely important or even act like competent person, only she can.
* ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]'': "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
** Well, that movie was always intended to be a multi-character piece. Still, you wouldn't have expected [[Mandy Patinkin]] to upstage ''[[Andre the Giant]]''.
* ''[[The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers]]'' pulled the rare triple feat of playing this trope straight, ''subverting it'', AND ''averting it'' throughout the film. [[Iron Man]] received the most screen time, since the Marvel films around his character got the best reviews, fan reception, and revenue. Ironically enough, [[The Incredible Hulk]] received the least amount of screen time, with the film of his character being the least popular, yet the Hulk stole the show in nearly every scene he was in. Overall, when compared to the X-Men movies, ''The Avengers'' never sidelined any of the superhero characters for an extended period of time. This may partly explain the film's success, among other reasons.
== Literature ==
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* Tasslehoff becomes rather close to becoming one in the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' Trilogies of the War of the Lance and The Twins.
* In some books of Robert Jordan's ''[[Wheel of Time]]'', unimportant characters like Galina can get more page time than the [[Chosen One|hero]], Rand; due to the [[Loads and Loads of Characters|large cast]] and the [[Long Running Book Series|length of the series]], every main character has books in which they barely appear.
* [[Terry Pratchett]] has stated this as an explicit problem of writing the [[Discworld]] at times - it's difficult to write a story set in Ankh-Morpork without the Guard getting involved, at which point it is inevitably a Guard story, regardless of the former plot outline. In fact, this trope was the primary reason for the creation of the protagonist character Moist von Lipwig (of ''[[
** ''[[
* Season 3 of ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'' very nearly turns into The Liquidon and Cindy Show. And as for the painful breakup when Cindy
* Take a look at the ''[[Honor Harrington]]''s Crowning Moment Of Awesome listing, and you'd be forgiven for thinking the series was entirely about Victor Cachat rather than, you know, Honor Harrington.
* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: As the series goes on, more attention becomes devoted to Jack Emery, Harry Wong, Bert Navarro, Ted Robinson, and Joe Espinosa (not to mention a few other characters). Some reviewers noticed this and complained that this series is about the Sisterhood, not the Brotherhood! This may have been the product of [[Designated Protagonist Syndrome]]. [[Your Mileage May Vary]].
▲== Live Action TV ==
* So prevalent on ''[[Glee]]'', it's actually becoming a recurring plot point (along with repeated lampshadings). Series 1 had the focus remain almost solely on [[Official Couple|Rachel and Finn]]. They were designated female and male lead both in the Glee club (despite the fact that Cory Monteith is arguably one of the weakest singers and dancers in the cast) and on the show itself, with almost every important plotline revolving around them in some way and even getting major subplots in the rest of the cast's [[A Day in the Limelight]] episodes. Season 2 reduced Rachel and Finn's screentime and spread more focus to other characters, like Brittany and Santana (who got promoted to regulars) and Mike (who had more lines in six episodes of S2 than in the whole S1), but then turned the spotlight on [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Kurt]] and his much-discussed homophobic bullying storyline, and, later, Blaine. In fact, it's Kurt lampshading this in Original Song which leads to the couple's [[Relationship Upgrade]].
** Actually, Kurt's a pretty odd example, in that he never really got ''that'' much screentime, even in Season 2 - in his entire ten episode stint at Dalton Academy, he sung ''one song'' solo and was lucky to get two or three scenes an episode - but that which he did get was particularly memorable, thanks to his monopoly on the [[Alliteration|season's serious storylines.]] Let's face it, if you have an episode which consists of 42 minutes of good
** Blaine, with the Dalton Warblers, could be a better example, he sang more songs in a few episodes than some regulars did all show.
** As of Season 3, the show has become less about the group (and [[Out of Focus|Will]]) and more about [[Official Couple|Finn/Rachel]] and [[Beta Couple|Kurt/Blaine.]]
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' - Spike, most obviously in the seventh season.
* In general, ''[[Power Rangers]]'' tends to have [[The Hero|Red Rangers]] and [[Sixth Ranger
** ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]'' is referred to as 'Power Rangers Mys-Nick Force,' or simply The Nick Show. He's [[The Hero]] [[Because Destiny Says So]], and the others are just along for the ride. By the final arc, the scenes at the beginning of some episodes with one of the mentor types training the team were now scenes of Nick alone being taught something as he's reminded how uber-important he is so he's gotta stay sharp, and the others not even being around to watch. The mentors apparently don't bother with the others anymore. You knew you hit rock bottom when the last episode has Nick handily beating up a bad guy general while the others watch, and finally saying "Do you guys want in on this?" Yes, it's made ''explicit'' that he can do it all on his own but graciously lets the others pretend to matter out of charity.
** Tommy Oliver, known to many as the Green Ranger, deserves special mention. This guy practically defines spotlight stealing. Originally, ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' was about five teens "with attitudes" who were thrust into a battle against an evil witch that they weren't prepared for. Later on, cue the appearance of the evil Green Ranger and his badass Dragonzord. Tommy became so popular that even when they ran out of Sentai footage for the Green Ranger, the producers simply had to bring him back later on because of how so many kids wanted it. After a long run as the Green Ranger, Tommy came back as the White Ranger, with Zordon ''immediately'' declaring him the new leader of the team (with Jason just smiling away in the background)<ref>Although this was more likely the result of [[Real Life Writes the Plot]].</ref> and Tommy subsequently going into full-blow Sue mode. For all intents and purposes, the show turned into "Tommy Oliver and his Amazing Friends" from Mighty Morphin' to [[Power Rangers Zeo|Zeo]] and some of [[Power Rangers Turbo|Turbo]].
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* Sam manages to do this in a show with a [[Power Trio]] and only two other major characters. ''[[iCarly]]'' has been accused of going from a show about 3 young teens making a webshow and having fun, to a show about how much of a [[Jerkass]] can Sam be and get away with it this week.
* Big One from ''[[JAKQ Dengekitai]]''. He comes right the fuck out of nowhere, becomes the leader of the team, shoves them all (leader included) to the side, and is the focus of everything and absolutely perfect... and then becomes one of the series' mascot once JAKQ is included in the [[Super Sentai]]. [[Tropes Are Not Bad|This was, however, intentional and welcomed by the fans]] since before Big One appeared, the series was suffering in ratings, and his arrival did let the show run for some more episodes.
* ''[[Kamen Rider Den-O]]'' the series itself is a SSS in relation to its fellow ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' series. While most ''KR'' shows simply get one season and one movie, ''Den-O'' has a grand total of either five or seven movies depending on how you count it.<ref>The fifth and most recent was a trilogy of three short movies, each focusing on a different hero</ref>
** ''Den-O'' contains an example of this trope itself with the Taros, especially Momotaros. As time goes on, original protagonist Ryotaro gets shoved further and further into the background while the zany antics of the Taros get more and more focus. To some extent, this might be because Takeru Satoh (Ryotaro) left the franchise after the supposed [[Grand Finale]], meaning the character received an [[The Other Darrin|Other Darrin]] who lacks Satoh's acting talent and charisma.
* The entire fourth season of ''[[Star Trek:
** ''[[Star Trek]]'' falls into this a lot, most frequently with the "Nonhuman who gradually learns to be human" type of character. Specifics:
*** First, of course, would be Spock and the rest of the [[
*** Next would be Data from [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|TNG]], who has much more of his backstory explored than the others, including an [[Evil Twin]] and encounters with his creator. One look at the [[Star Trek: The Next Generation/Heartwarming|Heartwarming]] page shows how many episodes focus on Data.
**** [[Creator's Pet|Wesley]] also had this from time to time.
*** [[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]] is split between The Doctor and Seven, especially as a pair. They approach the same "Learn to be human" angle from different sides, and their interactions together inevitably stole the episode because of it.
** And the first half of the seventh season of ''[[Star Trek:
*** To say nothing of [[Wolverine Publicity|Worf]] in season 4.
* [[Word of God]] says it that Ben became this in ''[[Lost]]''.
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** [[Up to Eleven|Kenji steals the spotlight even when other characters have]] [[A Day in the Limelight]]. It was lampshaded when Kenji traveled through time to the past when Fudou fought Jamanga alone. [[Medium Awareness|Somehow, Fuudo realizes the show title:]]
{{quote|'''Fudou:''': ''Madan Senki Ryukendo? Why not Madan Senki Ryuguno?''
'''Kenji:''': ''Sorry Fudou. I am [[The Protagonist]]''
* Kung Lao from ''[[Mortal Kombat:
* A lot of episodes of ''[[Big Wolf on Campus]]'' focused mainly on [[Perky Goth|Merton Dingle]] despite the fact that the show is told from the POV of [[Our Werewolves Are Different|heroic werewolf, Tommy Dawkins]].
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' Sylar was supposed to die after the first season, and was brought back due to being [[Ensemble Darkhorse|massively]] [[Draco in Leather Pants|popular]]. Ever since then, the plot has bent over backwards to accommodate him. This was especially prevalent during the third season.
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* Col. Sheppard and Rodney McKay of ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'': They usually filled the roles of [[Action Hero]] and [[Smart Guy]] [[Lancer]], just like O'neil and Daniel Jackson on [[Stargate SG-1]], but Atlantis seemed to spend much less time on the other members of the team.
** Granted that Sheppard is the lead, but take for example, the episode "The Seed," where he robs Ronon of a chance in the spotlight ''twice''. First Ronon volunteers to test a risky antidote, but Sheppard cuts in to take it himself. Then when Ronon goes to save Keller, he messes up ''just'' as Sheppard wakes up so he can go and save the day.
** A stronger case can made for Rodney McKay
* During the first three seasons of ''[[Charmed]]'', every episode was centered around "Superwitch" Prue. She fought and vanquished all of the demons, brewed a lot of the potions, and was involved in every plot, with Phoebe providing the romantic subplot and Piper throwing out the occasional funny one liner. This was especially glaring in one season 3 episode that featured Piper's wedding...and that quickly got demoted to a subplot when Prue's astral body went crazy.
** {{spoiler|After Prue's death}}, Piper grew into the role of Superwitch, brewing most of the potions and vanquishing most of the demons. She also was wrapped up in the plots, what with her struggling marriage with Leo and trying to protect her two children. During Season 8, only a few episodes of the season were not completely devoted to either Piper or [[The Scrappy|Billie.]]
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** ''Samoa'' might as well have been called "The Russell Hantz Show" given how much they worked his ramblings into ''every single episode'' and the viewers can probably think "... who're these guys in the purple? And who's that 'Mick' person they keep dragging along...?". This isn't just a complaint about somebody who doesn't like him complaining that he's being shown so much - they literally showed almost ''nothing'' of Galu pre-merge, and post-merge, kept all of them except whoever was going to be eliminated next and Shambo almost perpetually [[Out of Focus]]. Brett and Kelly got this the worst; there were several people wondering why Russell wanted Kelly gone so bad because she was [[Informed Ability|supposedly a big threat]] despite having less time than ''Brett'' did. (And Brett admittedly had gotten so far by keeping his mouth shut.)
*** His reign of terror continued into ''Heroes vs. Villains'', where people jokingly said "Whoa, they actually had ''AMANDA'' on the show?" or "I didn't know Jerri was back, too!". However they at ''least'' let us get to ''see'' the other tribe in ''Heroes Vs. Villains''.
** Russell was easily the worst, but other spotlight stealers were Richard of ''Borneo'', Rupert of ''Pearl Islands'', Stephenie of ''Palau'' and ''Guatemala'', Boston Rob in ''Marquesas'', ''All Stars'', ''Heroes vs. Villains'', and ''Redemption Island'' and Coach of ''Tocantins'', but he was [[Rescued
** Two of Survivor's most famous Weslies returned in ''Redemption Island'', beginning to resume their reign of terror over the other poor 16 other contestants... however thankfully we didn't get Russell Hantz shoved down our throats ''for the third time'' since he was eliminated second overall - meaning that production was actually ''forced'' to show the other people on Zapatera! However Ometepe wasn't so lucky as they didn't turn on Rob at all - the result? You'll probably be wondering who this "Grant" person who single-handedly won several challenges is and who these "Natalie", "Ashley", and "Andrea" girls are unless Phillip (The other producer's pet of the tribe) is talking to them. Rob is even finding himself nominated for just about ''every single'' "Player of the Week" award, even when it was clear he's just kicked back and is relaxing until the merge. As much of a relief as it is to actually get to know these other players voted out pre-merge thanks to seeing them compete in a Redemption Island Duel, do you think we'll get to see the rest of Ometepe at all? As long as Rob's around... probably not. (If they're smart they'll either drag him to the final five and then evict him when there's no chance he can play the idol...)
*** As it turns out, Rob managed to win because the other cast members were [[Too Dumb to Live]]. And were essentially just extras on the Rob show - however, Rob didn't get all the screentime. Approximately 98% of the screentime this season was given to either Rob, Matt, or Phillip. About 80% of that screentime was divided between Rob and Phillip, with most of it going to Rob. The fandom wasn't rejoicing because he finally won - the fandom was rejoicing because maybe he'll '''''FINALLY GO AWAY'''''.
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** ''Haku Yowane'' has fallen into this trope! She's actually one of the "Voyakiloids", "failure" variants which are supposed to represent songs made with the program that sound terrible. Initially, she was like that. However, as the backlash against Miku's popularity grew, Haku, as the anti-Miku (think Wario/Mario), became more popular as well. (That she looked like a goddess in most of her renderings certainly didn't hurt.) And then some composers decided that if she was really going to steal Miku's thunder, she needed better-sounding songs. It all snowballed from there and Haku has done everything from ride a motorcycle through a tricky course backwards to play a keyboard flawlessly one-fingered to shoot down a plane with a single bullet.
** Really, it's all six of the Cyrpton Vocaloids over the 30-something others.
* [[
* [[The Doors]] and [[No Doubt]] are just two examples of bands of very talented musicians [[Face of the Band|frequently overshadowed by their flamboyant lead singers.]]
* Yes, Virginia, there really were Jacksons not named [[Michael Jackson]] and [[Janet Jackson]]. And it probably says something about them that Michael had to die before they got their own reality TV show.
* [[The Bangles]] started off having three lead singers (Susanna and the Petterson sisters) and the first albums are relatively balanced in that department. However, as Sue started to gain media coverage, most of the singles (i.e. videos, i.e. hits, i.e. opening/closing live numbers and encores) had her on lead. For their reunion album, she sings more than the others.
* [[The Eagles]] began as a quartet where lead vocals were relatively split (although Glenn Frey had a bit more input). Slowly, as Don Henley became the main lyricist and a fan favourite, he became, statistically, the band's most frequent lead singer.
* During [[The Eighties]], [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]] morphed into [[Face of the Band|The Phil Collins Band]], to the point where radio DJs would introduce Genesis songs as "another one from [[Phil Collins]]". A one-man
** Contrast this with the earlier, progressive rock era, where [[Peter Gabriel]] and his [[Impossibly Cool Clothes|flamboyant costumes, masks and makeup]] were the focal point of their image and marketing, to the point where his leaving the band led to early death knells in the press. It didn't help that the other members were media-shy and that Gabriel was the mouthpiece for the band until 1975. Gabriel's legend loomed large until Collins became an unexpected solo success in 1981.
* Did you know that [[Marilyn Manson]] is the name of an entire band? Their name was originally Marylin Manson and the Spooky Kids, but over time the lead singer stole more and more of the spotlight and became the only face of the band, to the point that they shortened the band's name to just his stage name.
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== Professional Wrestling ==
* This tends to happen in [[Professional Wrestling]] pretty much any time a wrestler gains any degree of power over the writing of the show. For example, in [[WCW]] from 1998 to 1999, the show centered so heavily on [[Kevin Nash]] that he gained the [[Fan Nickname]] "[[Shoo Out the New Guy|Big Poochie]]" after the character from ''[[The Simpsons]]'' [[Show Within a Show]], ''Itchy And Scratchy'' (specifically from a bit where Homer suggests that, when Poochie's not around, all of the other characters should say things like, "Where's Poochie?"). See also [[Triple H]] on [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]]'s ''Raw'' brand from 2002 to 2005, [[Jeff Jarrett]] in [[TNA]] from its founding in 2002 to the end of 2006, and recently, [[Kurt Angle]] and his then-wife, Karen, also in TNA since 2006. If the latter three are any indication, they eventually do get it out of their system
* As a group, the Main Event Mafia in particular, [[Kurt Angle]] specifically. Worst of all, it's basically a rehash of the nWo storyline from [[WCW]], complete with [[Shoo Out the New Guy|Big Poochie]].
* [[WCW]]'s [[New World Order]]; they became so overpushed in 1996-1999 (thanks to the creative control wielded by [[Hulk Hogan]], [[Kevin Nash]] and [[Scott Hall]], as well as the overindulgence of Eric Bischoff) that it drove the entire storyline into the ground. The main problem was that, despite being the bad guys, they ''[[Generic Doomsday Villain|never, ever lost]]''.
* In the really old school, see: [[Hulk Hogan]] in the WWF and WCW, and Dusty Rhodes in Jim Crockett Promotions/NWA. Ironically, Pro Wrestling NOAH could use more of this instead of the booker-wrestler ''de''valuing himself to get over a young guy... who then fails to get over due to weak early title defenses, drops the belt to an "old guard" guy and promptly drops back to midcard hell
* And [[Hulk Hogan]]'s now doing it again to [[TNA]]—again.
* [[Defied Trope]]: [[Vince McMahon]] came out to take credit for the actions of [[Wade Barrett]] and [[The Nexus]], much like how his daughter [[Stephanie McMahon]] had arisen as the mastermind behind the ECW revival in 2001. Barrett and his men proceeded to ''beat Vince senseless'' in response. (We guess that'll teach him not to ride other heels' coattails, especially since he's retired from wrestling now.)
* For a long stretch between 2007 and 2009, almost every main event at every PPV was some combination of [[Randy Orton]], [[Triple H]], and [[John Cena]]. Since [[Triple H]] was injured, and Cena was busy with the Nexus, it became Orton and [[Sheamus]] more often than not.
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* [[Triple H]] in 2011 since he became COO, which could be summed up as this: We went from the "Summer of [[CM Punk|Punk]]" to the "Autumn of HHH."
** Though the focus on The Game eventually died down after October, when he was ousted as the Raw General Manager and replaced with John Laurinaitis. Trips would then be injured by [[Kevin Nash]] and actually didn't show up until December to exact his revenge.
== Sports ==▼
* 49.5% of all baseball-related news will be about the New York Yankees. 49.5% will be about the Boston Red Sox. The other teams are evenly divided among the remaining 1%.▼
** In Chicago, there's the Cubs and that Black Sox Scandal team on the South Side.▼
* In Ireland, GAA news is divided 60% Dublin Gaelic football, 30% Cork hurling, 10% the rest. Neither is the best team, but they have the highest populations and can thus boost newspaper sales more.▼
* Notre Dame's football team last won a national championship when Reagan was president, yet they have enough clout that they're the only ''team'' (as opposed to conference) to have an exclusive deal with a major television network.▼
* ''[[Hockey Night in Canada]]'', due to various licensing agreements with teams and broadcast agreements, was widely seen as "The Toronto Maple Leafs Show" with the occasional spinoff "The Montreal Canadiens and Someone Else". This problem eased significantly when the show went to a two-game format, the later game finally allowing the western Canadian teams to get regular national airtime.▼
** It's STILL the "Toronto Maple Leafs Show", not just on Hockey Night but on every Canadian-produced sports show/channel, because essentially all of Canada's media is located in Toronto and they [[Creator's Pet|hammer that fact in every single moment they can.]]▼
* In the Philippines, most news about the NCAA/UAAP will involve men's basketball. I heard there were other sports, but...▼
* Coverage of football dominates sports news in the UK both in newspapers and on TV, even during the off season when no games are actually being played (transfer news makes up the difference). Only the Olympics and the Ashes stand a reasonable chance of displacing football off the back pages, and then only during the summer and if England/GBR are doing well.▼
* Brett Favre. He's undoubtedly one of the best quarterbacks to play the game, but the amount of media attention he receives in what is ostensibly a team sport borders on the insane. In 2009, he returned to Green Bay (his old team) to play as the QB of the Minnesota Vikings (their hated rival). Fox dedicated a camera to watch him for the entire game and fans could watch a webcast of that view exclusively. Even though he wasn't on the field for half the game!▼
** During one of Favre's retirements, ESPN interrupted Sportcenter for ''live coverage'' of him getting off a plane en route to a press conference.▼
* After Favre's (final) retirement, the media fixated on Tim Tebow in the same way. Before his first snap as a pro, the coverage was all about his future with the Denver Broncos. It got to the point where, during the 2011 season, pre-season starting QB Kyle Orton was eventually released by the Denver Broncos to allow Tebow to take over at quarterback -- not necessarily because Tebow was better, but ''because the fans stole Orton's spotlight for Tebow''.▼
* Mention to someone not from the UK that you're from anywhere in the vicinity of Manchester and you'll get something along the lines of 'Oh, so you're a Manchester United fan?'. Tell them you're a Manchester City fan, who play in the same league and locally have almost the same level of support (different areas of the city), and they used look at you blankly. That's changed a bit in the 2010s, after the Abu Dhabi oil barons replaced the sacked former Thai prime minister as owner at Man City.▼
** Made all the more ironic by the fact that Manchester is pretty much evenly divided between the two, while a great deal of United's fanbase is made up of out-of-town bandwagon-jumpers.▼
* [[Bishonen|Sidney Crosby]] and [[Vodka Drunkenski|Alex Ovechkin]] interchangeably serve as the NHL's Brett Favre.▼
* In India, cricket manages to be an SSS to not only any and every other sport, but even billion-dollar corruption issues and state elections!▼
* Spain suffers from pretty much the same football obsession the UK does, except Real Madrid and Barcelona seem to be the only teams existing in the whole country.▼
** Tell anybody that you live in Madrid. Despite the fact that there are ''5'' First and Second Division teams based on that Community and 3 on the city itself, you'll rarely find anybody who doesn't assume you support Real.▼
* Brazil has a football obsession in [[Serious Business|religious levels]] - though the Olympics and [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|volleyball]] also get some love. And nationwide press basically just pays attention to the big 4 of both Rio and São Paulo (being the biggest two cities/states ''and'' the headquarters of the big media companies helps the other states being treated as a [[Flyover Country]]), getting even worse if one of those 8 hires a big name player or wins a major championship.▼
* In the 2010-2011 NBA season, the Miami Heat got to near [[Creator's Pet]] levels of coverage after Lebron James and Chris Bosh joined the team. Fortunately, the hoopla over the Heat was greatly reduced the following season, mainly because there were more intriguing stories to talk about (i.e., the lockout, the Knicks' extremely erratic season with coach shake ups and Jeremy Lin, injuries galore, Dwight Howard's will-he-or-won't-he stay in Orlando).▼
* National soccer news in the Netherlands has a tendency to become "AFC Ajax and some other teams". Granted, AFC Ajax is the most successful team in the league, but it irks people when "their" team wins the league and then it's still about how Ajax didn't win it.▼
* With the return of the Winnipeg Jets to the NHL, the focus from all Canadian sports outlets seems to have shifted to the team formerly known as the Atlanta Thrashers.▼
* The quarterback position in American football and the pitcher position in baseball are ''especially'' prone to this and will always get a greater share of the credit or blame than they deserve. The goalkeeper position in hockey and soccer/football are often this trope as well.▼
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Warhammer
** White Dwarf does that with ''every'' new release. The Stompa, a single ''model'', got 1 1/2 issues devoted to it.
*** White Dwarf has an annoying tendency to overhype every single new release, but nowadays it seems like the entire magazine is either about Dark Eldar, Blood Angels, or Skaven.
** TSOALR reports this has been [https://web.archive.org/web/20130718234113/http://tsoalr.com/?p=1120 recently reversed.]
** Several ''armies'' have some sub-factions that qualify for this trope. Especially the Ultramarines for the Space Marines. Just look at the latest Space Marine codex, in which the majority of chapters get one named special unit each, specifically in the HQ slot. The Ultramarines get about six. And that's only scratching the surface of the codex, since it has several sections devoted to ''only'' the Ultramarines, 90% of the artwork in the codex is of the ultramarines, and as if that is not enough, there are just as many Ultramarines miniatures on displayed in the codex as all the other chapters ''combined'', if not more. Indeed, many fans did not like this at all due to the fact that their favorite chapters being pushed aside in favor of a chapter only some people are fans of. Matt Ward, the writer of the codex, even admitted himself that he was a die-hard fan for the Ultramarines, and sincerely apologised for this. At least one should be thankful that several other chapters have their own separate codixes, so they don't get pushed aside in favor of another chapter, but ''geez''!
*** [[It Got Worse]]. He has taken to writing every Space Marine codex since then and small notes have been taken. Such as the Grey Knights being cut down from 3,000 to 1,000 marines making up their chapter and suddenly becoming codex adherent. Making this statement in an interview didn't help cheer up many Blood Angels players either: "Indeed, it was Guilliman who would have the greatest lasting effect upon the now leaderless Blood Angels. Through the Codex Astartes - that great treatise on the restructuring and ordering of the Space Marines - Guilliman's legacy would reshape the Blood Angels Legion into the Chapters that defend the Imperium to this day."
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** [http://cdn2.spong.com/pack/s/o/soulblade7457/_-Soul-Blade-PlayStation-_.jpg From the look of the box art of SoulBlade], you wouldn't really think much of the blond haired guy right? Well, that guy is Siegfried Schtauffen, who has effectively become the main character since [[Soul Calibur]] 1 despite not owning the titular sword until IV. He's the only character to own both Soul Edge and Soul Calibur at different points in the series becoming BOTH the [[Big Bad]] and [[The Hero]]. You can even see how important he became overtime by comparing his [http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091210083736/soulcalibur/images/0/0a/Soul_Edge_-_Siegfried.jpg original concept art] and his [http://images.wikia.com/soulcalibur/images/e/ed/Siegfried-schtauffen-in-soul-calibur-4.jpg artwork in IV]. Of course, this ended up making him a [[Tropes Are Tools|likable character]].
** To be more specific: the original ''Soul Edge'' had no central protagonist, but Sophitia and Siegfried are arguably the most prominent because the former destroys one half of Soul Edge, while the latter becomes the [[Big Bad]] under its power. ''Soul Calibur'' had Xianghua as its protagonist, as per [[Word of God]] (she originally wielded the holy sword before Siegfried did). ''II'' once again had no protagonist because of the [[Alternate Universe]] style storyline, but Siegfried, as Nightmare, is starting to steal the spotlight. By ''III'', he's the full-blown protagonist.
* ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' does this, a lot. However, they change up the characters, and the old focuses become peripheral. Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami's intense rivalry was the main focus of
** '''{{'}}94.''' The ''big'' story for that one was the dream matchup between Fatal Fury Team (Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, Joe Higahsi) and Art of Fighting Team (Ryo Sakazaki, Robert Garcia, Takuma Sakazaki), made very clear by title sequence and every victory comment each member delivers to the other team. Today, not only do most ''KOF'' players probably not even know what games they're from, Takuma has completely vanished, Andy has been reduced to an occasional bit player, and Joe and Robert are tenuously clinging to trusty sidekick status.
* The ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' franchise spends a great deal of the storyline focus on rivals Scorpion and Sub-Zero. But, as they're the headliners for the games, they're the ones who got the most attention; many of the characters seemed to be designed solely as one-off characters (like Stryker), or that the others underwent ridiculous plot changes to try and make them viable again (Raiden becoming evil, Liu Kang dying, etc.).
** Sub-Zero and the Lin Kuei in general are a Spotlight Stealing Squad all their own, what with the Lin Kuei trying to kill Sub-Zero in MK 3 with three killer cyborg ninjas (one of whom was once his old friend Smoke), Noob Saibot turning out to be the elder (evil) Sub-Zero [[Back
** Sub-Zero got a platformer named ''[[Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero]]'', in which Scorpion appears as an antagonist and most of the other characters were those that debuted in MK4.
* Zero of ''[[Mega Man X]]'' started stealing the spotlight in ''X4'' then completely took over the plot in ''X5'' and ''X6''. Keiji Inafune, the creator of the series, actually wanted to end the main series at X5 primarily so he could get to work on the new [[Mega Man Zero]] series. ([[Executive Meddling]] prevailed, with [[Franchise Zombie|questionable results.]]) Once Inafune moved on, [[The Scrappy|Axl]] actually stole the spotlight from the other two characters in X7, and to a lesser degree in X8.
* While the Subspace Emissary mode of ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]. Brawl'' makes an effort to balance the screen time between most of the non-unlockable characters, it becomes apparent that the biggest movers of the action are Kirby, Meta Knight, and Dedede. All are characters from the ''[[Kirby]]'' series, which was created by Masahiro Sakurai, who designed ''SSBB''.
* ''[[Tales of Destiny]] 2''. The focus was so fixed on Kyle and Reala that there's no special arc to develop other characters like Loni, Nanaly, Harold and Judas (even though he was {{spoiler|Leon Magnus, the prequel's [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]}}), making them, especially Loni and Nanaly, look almost like [[Flat Character
** Ironically, ''Tales of Eternia'', which was called ''Tales of Destiny II'' in North America also suffers from this, since Chat and Max play little more than support characters and are in fact borderline optional since their abilities come from sidequests.
*** Also in Tales of Eternia, Rassius appears to be important {{spoiler|and important enough for everyone to mourn his death and treat it as a major plot point.}} despite that the story put so much emphasis on him and Farah when he was in the party.
* Karol in ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'' can be seen as a spotlight stealing character since he gets quite a bit of scenes showing him change from a cowardly little boy who got kicked out of every guild he tried to join to a strong hearted warrior.
** Especially since {{spoiler|Raven secretly being Schwann}} was treated as relatively minor story twist.
* Dan Smith, one of the ''seven'' multiple personalities of the ''[[Killer7]]'' gets an entire chapter devoted to his character's backstory and is more often than not the selected persona during the animated [[Cutscene
* ''[[Namco X Capcom]]'' was originally conceived with just the [[Namco Bandai]] characters; [[Capcom]] was brought into the picture later, and it shows. They did a good job integrating the Capcom characters into the plot, but most of the important plot points are still from the Namco side of things; the Capcom characters are just sort of... there.
* ''[[Silhouette Mirage]]'' revolves around a war between the [[Red Oni, Blue Oni|strength-based Silhouettes and the intelligence-based Mirages]]. In practice, though, the Silhouettes are pretty much background flavor in the plot. There are [[Mooks]] of both attributes, along with neutral-attribute [[Humongous Mecha]]... piloted by Mirages. There are Mirage bosses, and there are Silhouette bosses... who mostly work ''for'' the Mirages, if they aren't just [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|random]]. And the dual-attribute Guardian Angel bosses who menace you throughout the game? Yep, they're Mirage creations.
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* In ''[[Twinbee]]'', the spotlight spends more time on Pastel.
* In the ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'' sub-series of ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'', [[Super Robot Wars Compact 2|Kyosuke Nanbu]], and to a lesser extent, his girlfriend Excellen Browning. The first Original Generation game's almost considered ''[[Super Robot Wars Alpha]]'', with extra originals and no other series characters, but other than those who appeared in Alpha ([[Super Robot Wars 2|Masaki Andoh]] included), Kyosuke's included and he becomes one of the main protagonists. He certainly isn't meant to be the main character of the first game (since the second half of his story enters [[Canon Discontinuity]]), but the sequel promotes him to full-blown protagonist in a more ridiculous manner, by having his and Excellen's ''[[Super Robot Wars Compact 2]]''/''[[Video Game Remake|Impact]]'' story taking center stage, while conceiving [[Evil Twin]] [[Super Robot Wars Original Generation|Beowulf]], with links him to the ''[[Super Robot Wars Advance]]'' plot ''indirectly'', as it makes Kyo [[The Rival]] to [[Super Robot Wars Advance|Axel Almer]], even though Axel's appropriate rival is supposedly [[Super Robot Wars Advance|Lamia Loveless]] (did we mention Compact 2/Impact plot's the only plot thus far that makes his relationship with Excellen very vital to the story?) Not spotlight stealing enough?
** Additionally, Kyosuke owes much of the spotlight to [[Wolverine Publicity]]: excluding ''[[Super Robot Wars Gaiden|Masou Kishin]]''-centric titles, any Original Generation-based game (including its [[Gaiden Game
* In the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series, the original characters are this in comparasion to the Disney/Final Fantasy ones. The original intention of the franchise was a crossover between Disney and Square, but now any cameo appearances from existing properties are completely overshadowed by the likes of the Organization or Keyblade Masters.
** Most noteworthy is [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] Axel, whose popularity led to [[Breakout Character|his role increasing]], his [[Saved by the Fans|death postponed]] till toward the end of ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'' instead of in the prologue as originally planned, and even coming [[Back
** Roxas is a big one too, first appearing in ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'' as the star of the [[Prolonged Prologue]], then becoming the star of his own [[Gaiden Game]] ''358/2 Days'', the [[Final Boss]] of ''Coded'', and [[Expy|completely cloned]] as one of the three main characters of ''Birth By Sleep'', Ventus.
* ''[[Darkstalkers]]''. Was at first about Demitri Maximoff; after the first game, Morrigan Aensland clearly becomes the focus even when you add in an anti-Christ in the last game. It's so bad that most people know who Morrigan is, but [[Every One Remembers the Stripper|have no freakin' clue on what game she's really from]].
** [[Capcom]] probably doesn't have any qualms about this,
*** Quite telling in ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]''. The three ''Darkstalkers'' characters in that game are [[Horny Devils|Morrigan]], [[Catgirl|Felicia]], and [[Cute Ghost Girl|Hsien-Ko]].
*** This is even [[Lampshade Hanging|mocked]] ([[Medium Awareness|to nearly Fourth Wall-breaking proportions]]) in ''[[Cross Edge]]'' (where Morrigan, Felicia, Demitri, Lilith, and Jedah make an appearance). [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJN8q6ydIuQ In one particular part of the postgame segments], after defeating {{spoiler|a revived Jedah and teaming up with him}}, the Darkstalkers engage in a lengthy discussion of how Demitri originally ''was'' the main character, until [[Breakout Character|Morrigan's popularity usurped his title of protagonist]]. Lilith expresses surprise at this, believing that Morrigan was ''always'' the heroine of the story, but in the end, she doesn't quite care, as she--[[Split At Birth|being a part of Morrigan herself]]
* Who doesn't do this to their [[The Sims|Sim]] families. All of the sudden, you remember there's a whole freakin' neighborhood. It's rather... odd.
* The ''[[.hack]]'' games are notorious about this. The first four games had about two dozen of characters, but only about 6 were any important. And of those 6, most lost importance as soon as their roles in the main plot were done - most notably, Balmung. As soon as he joins the main party, he becomes nothing but a tool.
** And ''G.U.'' isn't all that better. While most of the characters do contribute for the plot somewhat, by the end of ''Redemption'' most of them are, again, mere tools. This applies even for Atoli, who was a major character in the previous two games (heck, ''Reminisce'' is pretty much all about her) only to get a single plot-relevant moment... at the ending.
* ''[[SaGa]]'' does this quite a bit, especially when you pick your cast. (It is a rather underappreciated hybrid of western and eastern [[RPG
* The pros in ''[[Backyard Sports]]''. The advertising REVOLVES around them rather than the neighborhood kids. From their first appearance onwards, they are easily the best players in the game, leaving the kids, who have much worse stats, unnecessary to beat the game. Well, except [[Memetic Badass]] Pablo, but that's a tradition.
** In fact, ''Backyard Skateboarding'' is written from the perspective of Andy McDonald (the only pro player in the game), despite the fact that there are ''eleven'' other playable characters, six of whom are available from the start just like McDonald.
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* Etna, [[The Lancer]] from ''[[Disgaea]]'', has gotten more and more focus over the years, being made into a main character in Disgaea 2, featured predominantly in spinoff titles such as ''[[Cross Edge]]'', [[Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?]] and it's sequel, and [[Trinity Universe (video game)|Trinity Universe]], and Etna Mode (which is essentially a "What if [[Demoted to Extra|Laharl had never reawakened]]") in the updated rerelease of the first Disgaea. However, with Disgaea 3's Raspberyl Mode and Disgaea 4, it appears that Etna has been ditched in favor of Flonne, {{spoiler|especially considering that's she's an Archangel now.}} And as for Laharl?. The only subsequent game to give him an important role is [[Disgaea Infinite]].
** Some of the games [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] this by having Laharl complain about it, with frequent references to things like [[Medium Awareness|"main character"]].
* Shadow from the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series, who has had the most plot focus of any character for a while. He managed to star in [[Shadow the Hedgehog|his own game]] in the main series (wheras Tails' [[A Day in the Limelight]] games, like ''[[Tails Adventure]]'', were handheld-only [[Gaiden Game
* In ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star FOX]]'', Krystal became this for a while.
** To elaborate, Krystal became the sole focus in Star Fox Command with a suprising amount of the story revolving around her feelings towards Fox. She manages to be the focus of 5 out of the 9 endings, more than any other character in the game. Many people tend to forget the main plot involves saving the Lylat System from the Angulars.
* Much of the [[The Scrappy|flak]] directed towards the Soda Poppers in Telltale's ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' games was because they were overly focused upon throughout the first season, at the expense of other side characters. As a result, the second season was filled with anti-Poppers [[Fan Service]], leading them to get [[Killed Off for Real]].
* In ''[[Guild Wars]] Factions'' the story was pretty much centered on Mhenlo and Togo, rather overshadowing the players. During cutscenes, all the players could hope for was to stand in the background and cheer while one of these was doing the talking. And more than one mission was an [[Escort Mission]] where you needed to get one or both of these to the end of the level so they could do the important stuff. Nightfall and to a lesser extend Eye of the North solved that problem by centering the cutscenes on the players and their (much more useful) NPC helpers. Unfortunately, the announcements of [[Guild Wars]] 2's story give a worrying amount of attention to an NPC group of heroes called Destiny's Edge, which the player will need to put back together to fight the [[Big Bad]]. We can only hope the players won't be reduced to cheerleading squad again.
* The second half of ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]'' might as well be called "[[More Hero Than Thou|Sveta Upstages Everybody]]". However, ''[[Golden Sun]]'' games are notorious for [[Flat Character
* [[Cowboy Cop|Garrus Vakarian]] and [[Wrench Wench|Tali'Zorah]] of ''[[Mass Effect]]'' could count as this from a fandom perspective, as they seem to be the only two supporting characters everyone seems to remember and/or know (mostly for their devoted fanbases) from the series. However, this is also a case of [[Tropes Are Not Bad]], as the two didn't get much development or story involvement in the first game outside of their introductions (and were essentially walking codexes for C-Sec and the quarian race respectively afterward) and their SSS traits within the fandom helped make them full party members in the sequel (as opposed to the cameos of the Virmire Survivor, Wrex and Liara).
** They ''definitely'' are
* ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Vincent and Zack, are by far the faces of the game due to their prominence in its expanded universe. The other party members of the original game aside are reduced to cameos, if they appear at all. Zack is a particularly interesting case as he was a minor side-chararacter in ''VII'', but got [[Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII|his own spin-off game]] and appeared in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]''.
* Princess Ashelia "Ashe" B'nargin Dalmasca from ''[[Final Fantasy XII]].'' Granted, the narrator tells you outright this is ''her'' story, but the titular [[The Hero|Vaan]] is demoted to [[Comic Relief]].
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* Raiden stole the spotlight in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'', you played as him for 3/4ths of the game, and Snake was his assistant throughout the whole mission. And now he's getting his own hack-and-slash spin-off title focused entirely on him, ''[[Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance]]''.
* Most of ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'''s plot focused on Rosalina than on Mario, Peach, and Bowser. Although this is largely both justified and not really a bad thing, since it was her debut game and the development she got made her quite popular. In fact, her near-exclusion from [[Super Mario Galaxy 2|the sequel]] was one of the few problems that was really commonly held about it.
== Web Animation ==
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* ''[[Achewood]]'' used to focus on Teodor, Philipp, Cornelius and Lyle living in the Onstad house, with a fairly large and diverse supporting cast. Now the strip focuses mostly on Roast Beef and to a lesser extent Ray.
* ''[[Cheer]]'' may have a four-girl main cast, but Alex and Lita have been focused on so much that the other two (Jo and Sam) [[Out of Focus|fall by the wayside]].
* ''[[Concession]]'' has managed to shift the focus more towards characters who had little to do with the movie theatre and more with about Joel's ambitions and college life rather than stupid customers and the stuff at the concession stand...admittedly Immelmann knew of this, and has actually put an arc that takes place at the concession stand back in, while still putting emphasis on Joel's revenge scheme as well. He also admits that most characters won't get arcs, and even made fun of it a few time. (It even says so in the "About" section to show you how aware of the
* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', Vriska Serket is an intentional example. She's not one of the initial trolls introduced, but she quickly gains more panel time than all the others and becomes the most important to the plot. It's actually part of her personality to force herself into the story; she even thinks she's the one who is going to kill the [[Big Bad]].
** The trolls in general. The series is about four kids playing a game. Then a few trolls pop up and start having conversations with the kids in Act 4. The first half of Act 5 is solely about the troll's group and the narrative keeps going back to them even after that.
* ''N Fans The Series'', a comic that actually played the [[Self Insert]] cast rather well was rather ''notorious'' for having a
** Team Lalala was literally standing ''in the exact same place'' for about a ''year'', while the plot fixated on Webster Swenson and Pchan, with occasional sidestories about tech support or the other teams. At least half the cast was [[Put on a Bus]].
* Ellen and Nanase of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' can veer here pretty often. They get most of the more eventful plots, and while other characters [[Demoted to Extra|tend to slide to the background]] during given storylines the two of them have played a major role in every multi-chapter story to date, arguably the central role in everything but the original Sister. Even then, its climax and falling act revolved around the two of them. The most [[Egregious]] case is Painted Black, which centered around Elliot being kidnapped and Grace's backstory coming out and they ''still'' likely got over half the screen time.
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* ''[[Looking for Group]]''. Richard tends to steal the show whenever he is on panel, even if it's just one small line. The authors have claimed they could rename the comic "Richard Kills Stuff" and double the readerbase.
* Intentionally averted with Hannelore and Marigold in ''[[Questionable Content]]''. Jeph once noted that he has to work very hard to not turn the comic into "Bad Things Happen to Hanners and Marigold Daily".
* Trike Girl from [[Sinfest]] starting around September
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** In addition to that, almost every episode that didn't have him as the main character had him in a subplot, two of the movies had his name in the title (''Bender's Big Score'' had more to do with Fry and Leela), and the two that didn't had very long subplots involving him.
*** Amy and Hermes are easily the most underused characters in the series. Season 6 tries to correct this by having one Hermes episode and two (!) Amy episodes. The catch? Both the Hermes and one of Amy's eps are centered on Bender.
* June would do this in ''[[
* The Disney adaption of ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' places heavy spotlight on Tigger, and later Roo (both only minor characters in the original novels) with [[Out of Focus|Pooh occasionally acting as a mere side character]], both characters have even gained their own starring full length features. Granted since both characters were [[Ensemble Darkhorse
* In ''[[Sonic Sat AM]]'', Princess Sally leaned more and more into centre stage to the point only she and Sonic seemed to have involvement in the majority of missions. Antoine was also prominent comic relief, even gaining four half-sized episodes devoted to his slapstick role.
* Randy Marsh of ''[[South Park]]'' became this as time went on. Cartman is as well, although that has been so since day one (the first episode was entitled "Cartman Gets An Anal Probe".)
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** The latest episode (21) was entirely devoted to Bulkhead/Miko.
* Plucky, Hamton, and [[The Scrappy|Elmyra]] from ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]''. They got tons of episodes and screentime, but much more popular characters like [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Fifi LaFume]] got barely any.
* Batman has the tendency to do this in the [[DC Universe Original Animated Movies]] in which he is a supporting character. The worst offenders would probably be [[Justice League: Crisis
** He steals the line itself. His name is in 5. He's also in all the Justice League movies, bringing the Bat up to eight movies.
* ''[[The Dreamstone]]'' was initially designed with Rufus as the main protagonist, with early concept work using the Urpneys as more minor comic relief. In the pilot episode, the Urpneys are upgraded greatly and given individual personalities and spotlight, however Rufus is still played as the main hero and gets the majority of genuine [[Character Development]]. Following this he is diluted into a [[Hero Antagonist]] and the Urpneys act as the [[Villain Protagonist
* ''[[My Little Pony]] N Friends'' episodes switched protagonists every few episodes, but it still had a few members who appeared often. Among them were Fizzy, Lickety Split, Surprise, Gusty, and Wind Whistler. In a [[Merchandise-Driven]] series with 100+ characters this is reasonably apparent.
** Rarity has been getting a fair share of episodes in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''.
** The Cutie Mark Crusaders are a more fitting example(s), so far getting more episodes than the Mane Six in Season 2 while getting supporting roles & the occasional cameo in others.
** The Apple family are getting more focus since Season 2 with at least one episode focusing on each of the four, as well as one for all four of them.
* The second season of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' introduced Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck, a clear [[Expy]] for the absent [[Donald Duck]], who would go on to either star or co-star in almost every episode of the second season, causing many other previously prominent characters such as Launchpad McQuack and even to some extent Huey, Dewey and Louie to be moved [[Out of Focus]]. Only Scrooge himself remained as prominent as ever.
** Unlike many examples of this trope, though, Fenton is fairly popular with the fanbase, possibly thanks to his dual status as [[Butt Monkey]] and [[Superhero]].
* ''[[The Lion King]]'' movies have Timon & Pumbaa add the comic relief to them and are considered the most popular characters in the series. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Simba on ''[[House of Mouse]]''
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* Comedian [[Jeff Dunham]] allows Achmed the Dead Terrorist to be the focus of almost all of his shows. The Christmas Special may as well have been called the "Achmed the Dead Terrorist show, guest starring Jeff Dunham & Other personalities".
** His most recent special expands Achmed's role [[Up to Eleven|even further]] (both solo and with his half-dead long-lost son.) He takes up roughly 60% of the show, forcing Peanut and Jose Jalapeno-on-a-stick to be introduced ''at the same time'' to make room. To be fair, however, he had did this before Achmed managed to suck up most of the show - partly because their interactions earned enough laughs, and because Jose Jalapeno-on-a-stick is ''very'' easy to operate anyways, same with Peanut. IF anything, the puppets like Melvin and Sweet Daddy D managed to suffer this the most; even Bubba because in a 2010 performance, the ''audience'' knew his routine better than ''Jeff'' did.
* Even in death, [[Michael Jackson]] managed to be a one-man
** Bonus points for being the top story overshadowing the military coup in Honduras
** Hell, he was an SSS to the ''Iranian election protests''.
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** Or [[Albert Einstein]].
* For game generations in total there's always at least one console that overshadows the others. The [[Atari 2600]], [[NES]], [[SNES]], [[PlayStation]], [[PlayStation 2]], [[Wii]]...
▲* 49.5% of all baseball-related news will be about the New York Yankees. 49.5% will be about the Boston Red Sox. The other teams are evenly divided among the remaining 1%.
▲** In Chicago, there's the Cubs and that Black Sox Scandal team on the South Side.
** In Canada, it's mostly the Blue Jays with a bit of everybody else. (Assuming, of course, it's that thin period in the summer time when there's no hockey to talk about; see the "Hockey Night in Canada" example.)
▲* In Ireland, GAA news is divided 60% Dublin Gaelic football, 30% Cork hurling, 10% the rest. Neither is the best team, but they have the highest populations and can thus boost newspaper sales more.
▲* Notre Dame's football team last won a national championship when Reagan was president, yet they have enough clout that they're the only ''team'' (as opposed to conference) to have an exclusive deal with a major television network.
▲* ''[[Hockey Night in Canada]]'', due to various licensing agreements with teams and broadcast agreements, was widely seen as "The Toronto Maple Leafs Show" with the occasional spinoff "The Montreal Canadiens and Someone Else". This problem eased significantly when the show went to a two-game format, the later game finally allowing the western Canadian teams to get regular national airtime.
▲** It's STILL the "Toronto Maple Leafs Show", not just on Hockey Night but on every Canadian-produced sports show/channel, because essentially all of Canada's media is located in Toronto and they [[Creator's Pet|hammer that fact in every single moment they can.]]
▲*** With the return of the Winnipeg Jets to the NHL, the focus from all Canadian sports outlets
▲* In the Philippines, most news about the NCAA/UAAP will involve men's basketball. I heard there were other sports, but...
▲* Coverage of football dominates sports news in the UK both in newspapers and on TV, even during the off season when no games are actually being played (transfer news makes up the difference). Only the Olympics and the Ashes stand a reasonable chance of displacing football off the back pages, and then only during the summer and if England/GBR are doing well.
▲* Brett Favre. He's undoubtedly one of the best quarterbacks to play the game, but the amount of media attention he receives in what is ostensibly a team sport borders on the insane. In 2009, he returned to Green Bay (his old team) to play as the QB of the Minnesota Vikings (their hated rival). Fox dedicated a camera to watch him for the entire game and fans could watch a webcast of that view exclusively. Even though he wasn't on the field for half the game!
▲** During one of Favre's retirements, ESPN interrupted Sportcenter for ''live coverage'' of him getting off a plane en route to a press conference.
▲* After Favre's (final) retirement, the media fixated on Tim Tebow in the same way. Before his first snap as a pro, the coverage was all about his future with the Denver Broncos. It got to the point where, during the 2011 season, pre-season starting QB Kyle Orton was eventually released by the Denver Broncos to allow Tebow to take over at
▲* Mention to someone not from the UK that you're from anywhere in the vicinity of Manchester and you'll get something along the lines of 'Oh, so you're a Manchester United fan?'. Tell them you're a Manchester City fan, who play in the same league and locally have almost the same level of support (different areas of the city), and they used look at you blankly. That's changed a bit in the 2010s, after the Abu Dhabi oil barons replaced the sacked former Thai prime minister as owner at Man City.
▲** Made all the more ironic by the fact that Manchester is pretty much evenly divided between the two, while a great deal of United's fanbase is made up of out-of-town bandwagon-jumpers.
▲* [[Bishonen|Sidney Crosby]] and [[Vodka Drunkenski|Alex Ovechkin]] interchangeably serve as the NHL's Brett Favre.
▲* In India, cricket manages to be an SSS to not only any and every other sport, but even billion-dollar corruption issues and state elections!
▲* Spain suffers from pretty much the same football obsession the UK does, except Real Madrid and Barcelona seem to be the only teams existing in the whole country.
▲** Tell anybody that you live in Madrid. Despite the fact that there are ''5'' First and Second Division teams based on that Community and 3 on the city itself, you'll rarely find anybody who doesn't assume you support Real.
▲* Brazil has a football obsession in [[Serious Business|religious levels]] - though the Olympics and [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|volleyball]] also get some love. And nationwide press basically just pays attention to the big 4 of both Rio and São Paulo (being the biggest two cities/states ''and'' the headquarters of the big media companies helps the other states being treated as a [[Flyover Country]]), getting even worse if one of those 8 hires a big name player or wins a major championship.
▲* In the 2010-2011 NBA season, the Miami Heat got to near [[Creator's Pet]] levels of coverage after Lebron James and Chris Bosh joined the team. Fortunately, the hoopla over the Heat was greatly reduced the following season, mainly because there were more intriguing stories to talk about (i.e., the lockout, the Knicks' extremely erratic season with coach shake ups and Jeremy Lin, injuries galore, Dwight Howard's will-he-or-won't-he stay in Orlando).
▲* National soccer news in the Netherlands has a tendency to become "AFC Ajax and some other teams". Granted, AFC Ajax is the most successful team in the league, but it irks people when "their" team wins the league and then it's still about how Ajax didn't win it.
▲* The quarterback position in American football and the pitcher position in baseball are ''especially'' prone to this and will always get a greater share of the credit or blame than they deserve. The goalkeeper position in hockey and soccer/football are often this trope as well.
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