Wolverine Publicity/Western Animation

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Examples of Wolverine Publicity in Western Animation include:

• A devious example here. Apparently somebody got the idea that they can more easily sell Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog if they put Robotnik from the much more popular SatAM cartoon on the cover. Very cagey.
• Wolverine's super teaming-up abilities were lampshaded in a recent episode of The Superhero Squad Show.

Wolverine: Just you and me, huh HERBIE? Okay, let's see... (Pulls out a huge list) Reptil, X-23, Dr. Doom, Firestar. Ah, here we go! HERBIE, Wolverine team up #640. HERBIE: bzzt Wolverine and the Easter Bunny? Wolverine: Yeah, that was a hairy one.

• • "Too Many Wolverines" featured the clones present in the episode as an excuse for wolverine publicity.
  • Cartoon Network uses different symbols to represent its shows. For Pokemon, it uses a Pokeball. For Hot Wheels, it uses the Hot Wheels logo. For The Superhero Squad Show? A profile of Iron Man's face.
• During the early seasons of The Simpsons, Bart Simpson constantly took front and center in publicity materials, even if the upcoming episode focused on someone else. Some of the more gratuitous examples include TV Guide's advertisements for "Old Money" and "Lisa's Substitute".
  • As a whole, The Simpsons franchise is this for Fox. They will be included wherever Fox is trying to promote themselves and gain an audience.
  • On the audio commentary for the episode "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", then showrunners Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstien discuss FOX's marketing for the episode, which featured a picture in TV Guide of Bart taking a peek under a doll's skirt.
• Each episode of The Marvel Action Hour consists of one story featuring the Fantastic Four and one featuring Iron Man, but Netflix lists streaming episodes of the show under, Iron Man: The Complete Animated Series.
• Disney XD's updated opening of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes showcases Iron Man, The Mighty Thor, Incredible Hulk, and Captain America (comics), but not the half of the team that consists of superheroes who don't have movies released before 2012. Also, Nick Fury narrates, even though he doesn't have direct ties to the Avengers in the first season.
  • Plus Fury doesn't even show up in any of the episodes he narrates.
  • Another Egregious example involves a DVD titled, "Iron Man Unleashed". In actuality, three of the included episodes showcase other Avengers' Character Development, and the other three feature the heroes working together to save the world from Kang the Conqueror. (Iron Man seems to have become The Smart Guy for most of that arc, except for a few times when he blasts Kang with his repulsors.)
  • Australia got a season 1 Blu-Ray with a case depicting all eight Avengers. However, it also shows Nick Fury and Black Widow standing alongside them. Black Widow only appears in six episodes of the first season, though she is rather important.
• Speaking of Iron Man, for a while, we had him in no less than four series at once: Iron Man: Armored Adventures, The Superhero Squad Show, Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes, and Marvel Anime: Iron Man. Ol' shellhead gets around these days.
• Should Bloom from Winx Club count? She has tons and tons of merchandise, and most of the damn franchise revolves around her to the point where it gets insanely annoying and turns some fans off the show. Gee, if the Trix or some of the lady villains are more popular, why continue using Bloom?!
  • Maybe because she's the main character?
• Firefly from My Little Pony was on everything in the first Generation. Her only appearance in the cartoons was the pilot where she was the Spotlight-Stealing Squad and protagonist, but she appeared on the most merchandise for sure.
  • Pinkie Pie seems to appear on most of the promotional material for My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic. Even moreso then Twilight Sparkle. Mostly because of her bubbly personality. And she's pink.
    • She was also quite popular in G3. She went from a cute background pony with a lisp to being the leader of the generation within a few years, appearing on most merchandise and even being on toothpaste (her G4 counterpart has replaced her on the toothpaste now).
  • Rainbow Dash, an Expy of Firefly, seems to be inheriting this trope from her as well. She's on most of the official t-shirts and was the center of the hype leading up to "Cutie Mark Chronicles", a popular episode expanding on the main cast's backstories. However, she did turn out to be vital to all of them.
  • A slight example but Cheerilee in G4. She was popular in late G3, being a Core 7 member, so Hasbro forced her into G4. She has a few stock artworks and several toys, despite not even being named in-series or talking for most of the first season. She's since popped up several times in the second season and even had an episode revolving around her.
• Duck Dodgers: A Movie Within a Show example, actually. Though Duck Dodgers had the lead role in a movie, Bugs Bunny was announced as the star. It was lampshaded when Cadet explained to Dodgers that it was to attract a larger audience.
• Looney Tunes: During the intro sequence of Daffy Duck's Quackbusters, they've called more attention to Bugs' presence than Daffy's.
  • Which is, of course, the point.
• Brian and Stewie are starting to become this for Family Guy: if a story has a B plot with these two and the main plot with somebody else, the promos will focus on the Brian and Stewie (sometimes only Stewie) plot. "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" and "Stew-roids" were the most Egregious examples.

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