The Bus Came Back: Difference between revisions

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A major character gets [[Put on a Bus]]. In many cases, we never see them again, except for that one episode where they come back and work with the remaining main characters one more time. This trope is about that episode.

This generally works in one of two ways. Either we get to find out what they've been up to, and then they go back to whatever it was, or it's used as a way to advance their plot or character development even though they're no longer on the ~~show--in~~ which case the episode generally ends by putting them on a different, less accessible, bus.

This generally works in one of two ways. Either we get to find out what they've been up to, and then they go back to whatever it was, or it's used as a way to advance their plot or character development even though they're no longer on the show—in which case the episode generally ends by putting them on a different, less accessible, bus.

Compare [[Back for the Dead]], which is the subtrope where the character dies at the end of the return episode; [[Commuting on a Bus]], where a former major character turns into a ''recurring'' guest character; and [[Back for the Finale]], where a character returns expressly for a show's final episode. If, on the other hand, a character ''never'' comes back even though it'd be easy for the character to return for at least one episode, then it's a [[Long Bus Trip]].

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== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': Kouji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi and nearly all ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' characters were [[Put on a Bus]] at the end of the series. Several of them returned at the end of ''''[[Great Mazinger]]'', though: Kouji, Sayaka and Prof. Yumi. When ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]'' started, though, Kouji was the only character of both series was not [[Put on a Bus]]. [[The Bus Came Back]] for Boss for two episodes, and it was supposed to come back for Sayaka as well, but [[Executive Meddling]] prevented it.

* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': Kouji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi and nearly all ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' characters were [[Put on a Bus]] at the end of the series. Several of them returned at the end of ''''[[Great Mazinger]]'', though: Kouji, Sayaka and Prof. Yumi. When ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]'' started, though, Kouji was the only character of both series was not [[Put on a Bus]]. The Bus Came Back for Boss for two episodes, and it was supposed to come back for Sayaka as well, but [[Executive Meddling]] prevented it.

* ''[[Pokémon]]'':

** The ''Pokemon Chronicles'' special episodes were largely about this, showing the adventures of characters that the show had left behind.

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== Video Game ==

* Raelag, one of the main characters in ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] V'', disappears in the first expansion ''Hammers of Fate'' ~~-- except~~ for one mission in the final campaign, after which he is immediately put on a ''different'' bus which, this time, he doesn't return from.

* Raelag, one of the main characters in ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] V'', disappears in the first expansion ''Hammers of Fate''—except for one mission in the final campaign, after which he is immediately put on a ''different'' bus which, this time, he doesn't return from.

* ''[[Sam and Max]]'':

** Bluster Blaster, who left to Vegas with Bosco between seasons 2 and 3, returns in the fourth episode to deliver a note about how Bosco is stuck in Vegas paying off a debt.