History DemotedToExtra / WesternAnimation

** The Big 7 arguably suffers in the last season. Despite being the main characters, they only appear in less than half of the final thirteen episodes, with some episodes ("Patriot Act," "Grudge Match" and "Alive!") focusing on recurring characters instead.

** Bo Peep in the ''Film/ToyStory'' series. In the first film, she gets several scenes that develop her relationship with Woody and is present throughout the story, along with scenes where she is the main focus as she wonders why he and Buzz have gone. In the second film, she is still present, but only for the first 20 minutes, then takes up the (offscreen) job of managing the other toys until Woody, Buzz and the rest of the crew return at the end of the film. In ''Toy Story 3'', she is only present (sans voice) in Andy's home movie, and soon afterwards is said to have been sold at a garage sale.

* In the comics of the same name that ''SupermanBatmanPublicEnemies'' is based on, Lois Lane, Katana, and Starfire spoke, whereas their counterparts in its AnimatedAdaptation didn't.

* Rarity in season three of ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. Introduced as one of the main characters, someone watching in season three would probably not know this, as she is the only main character without a focus episode (even SPIKE got two to himself). Some have argued that she was becoming DemotedToExtra since season two.

* Rarity in Season three of ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. Introduced as one of the [[IncrediblyLamePun "mane six"]] characters, someone watching in season three would probably not know this, as she has only one or two episodes where she has any relevance. (And even then...she isn't the focus). Some have argued that she was becoming DemotedToExtra since season two.

** Pip, one of the most vocal and visible of the kids at South Park Elementary at the show's start, and got a whole episode to himself, got pushed away into the background as the show progressed, and has now vanished completely. Then he [[BackForTheDead returned]] to [[DroppedABridgeOnHim have a mecha's foot dropped on him.]]

** And oddly, Max too. Despite knowing Terry's identity and being the closest thing he had to a sidekick, she's ''completely'' absent in both ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker Return of the Joker]]'' and the FullyAbsorbedFinale "Epilogue".

* In the comics of the same name that ''SupermanBatmanPublicEnemies'' is based on, Lois Lane, Katana, and Starfire spoke, whereas their counterparts didn't.

--->'''Bart''': I guess this is the end, Wendell.\\
'''Lewis''': He's Wendell! (points to Wendell) I'm Lewis!\\

** Perhaps the most notable is PhilHartman's characters, Troy [=McClure=] and Lionel Hutz; [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim after he was murdered, these characters were retired out of respect]], and although they sometimes appear in scene backgrounds, no longer have lines.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'': Hank Pym went from one of the core team members in the first season to a minor character that only appeared in about 3-4 episodes of the second.

** Summer Gleeson appeared in a pretty large number of episodes in the first two seasons, as well as the ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm Mask of the Phantasm]]'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanAndMisterFreezeSubZero SubZero]]'' movies. When the show was {{retool}}ed as ''The New Batman Adventures'' for its final season, she made only two appearances, once of which was a non-speaking cameo.

** Goofy's son, Max from ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' appears to be focused more on than Goofy in most of Goofy's latest appearances, particularly in the 90s. While Goofy and Max get equal attention in ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'', both [[AGoofyMovie "Goofy" movies]] and both Christmas movies, "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas" and "Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas", appear to be all about Max.

* ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited''
** {{Flash}} had no lines in the first season because of voice actor Michael Rosenbaum's commitments on ''{{Smallville}}'' (though you may not notice simply on the basis that the cast is ''[[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters frickin' huge]])''. He came roaring back for the second and third seasons though (in particular the SeasonFinale of the second season), and even [[LampshadeHanging complained to a fellow Leaguer about not getting any respect despite being one of the original seven]].

* The entire [[JusticeLeagueOfAmerica Justice League]] could be considered this in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', since the series focuses on the sidekicks of the team. Creator/CartoonNetwork even touted the show this way in early promos, counting on the audience's familiar with the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' cartoon to cause shock when the protagonists were revealed to be the children.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', the character [[TheHunter Valerie]] frequently appeared in Season One and Two, playing as the series' main AntiHero, then seemingly disappeared in Season Three until the second-to-last episode, then later made a small, speechless cameo in the GrandFinale. And her [[AbortedArc story arc]] ''wasn't even completed yet''!
* XMenEvolution has Spyke, a major character in seasons one and two; season three, he up and joins the Morlocks. Gets an episode here or there, but he's mostly gone.

* {{Disney}} related material
** Several [[TheLionKing Lion King]] spin-offs have Simba suffering from this, in favour of Timon and Pumbaa, such as in the aminated series, in which Simba only appeared a couple of times, and the third Lion King movie which is all about Timon and Pumbaa stealing scenes from the first movie. This was eventually lampshaded in an episode of ''HouseOfMouse'', when Timon and Pumbaa are introduced by Mickey Mouse, Simba moans "[[SpotlightStealingSquad Those guys always get all the attention!]]"
** The entire cast of ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'', including the titular character, suffered this fate as the later merchandise based on the film now focus on [[DisneyPrincess Jasmine.]] Considering that The Disney Princess line of merchandising is quite profitable and has become in an odd way, it's OWN spinoff from the various Disney films that each princess comes from, this may not be the case with Jasmine--or perhaps, the fate of any character associated with a Disney Princess.

** Iridessa of the ''DisneyFairies'' franchise gets very little merchandise at all, and barely appears in group promo shots. It might be because she's a stuck-up RulesLawyer, but it's probably because she's a TokenMinority. Hey, at least she's better off than Vidia and Rani.

** Goofy's son, Max from ''GoofTroop'' appears to be focused more on than Goofy in most of Goofy's latest apperances, particularly in the 90s. While Goofy and Max get equal attention in ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'', both [[AGoofyMovie "Goofy" movies]] and both Christmas movies, "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas" and "Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas", appear to be all about Max.
** Lilo in any material outside the ''LiloAndStitch'' movies and TV Series. Stitch is the regular money maker while she hardly, barely or never gets a mention. Even the ''KingdomHearts'' game ''BirthBySleep'' omitted her from their movie themed level (though to be fair that was a prequel) and she only gets a cameo in the anime, {{Stitch}} showing ShesAllGrownUp and now has a similar looking daughter of her own.
** Esmeralda in [[Disney/TheHunchbackofNotreDame ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame II'']].
** MinnieMouse started out as [[MickeyMouse Mickey's]] co-star for most of the black and white shorts, but she started to appear less and less once [[DonaldDuck Donald]] began appearing in Mickey shorts and he, {{Goofy}} and [[PlutoThePup Pluto]] got more screentime. Once Donald, Goofy and Pluto each got their own series of shorts, even Mickey himself became the victim of this.
* In the original series of ''FiremanSam'', Trevor Evans the bus driver was a regular, prolific character who sometimes helped Sam by acting as a part time firefighter. In the newer series he's lucky if he gets a short appearance with a single line of dialogue.

** Kyle's parents have gradually dropped out of sight, as well. Sheila was a major antagonist/WellIntentionedExtremist in the early years, including the movie, and she's all but disappeared in the later seasons.
** Stan's sister Shelley was extablished to be a sociopath who beat up her brother in often over-the-top ways, but now she's become a generic sister character, with her original personality showing once in a blue moon (see "Over Logging"). Later in "Broadway Bro Down", Shelley was given a subplot that attempted to show a softer side to her.
* In ''TheBoondocks'', Michael Caesar, who moves to the neighborhood shortly into the comic strip and is Huey's best friend (and, at times, the StraightMan to him), is completely absent from the television series. Huey gets this treatment in the middle of the second season, since his purpose is to [[AuthorAvatar express the creator's opinion]] on the situation at hand and remind us that the show is satirical in nature, this [[MisaimedFandom causes problems]]. They were planning on bringing him into the third season, but couldn't find the right voice actress.

* ''{{Transformers}}'' is somewhat the reverse of many other examples on this page, in that a number of characters appear ''only'' in the toyline. That said, there's plenty of straight examples... Half the cast of ''Cybertron'', for example. How long did it take for Evac to stop doing anything? Four episodes?
** ''TransformersGeneration1'' isn't innocent on this by a long shot. It introduced LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, one set after another, [[MerchandiseDriven to sell toys]], and some had more staying power than others. Many characters' roles went by this formula: 1: [[RememberTheNewGuy Show up one day without comment]]. 2: Have [[ADayInTheLimelight one really good episode of focus]] later. 3: Be occasionally seen in the background or fights. 4: [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Disappear mysteriously]].
** As an example, Jazz, who was a major character in the first two seasons of G1, had a supporting role in [[TransformersTheMovie the movie]], but when Scatman Crothers died shortly afterwards, Jazz's later appearances were non-speaking cameos.

* ''SpongeBobSquarePants''

* In ''HeyArnold''s [[TheMovie movie]], Phoebe Hyerdahl only gets one line, and the only memorable thing she does in it is run into some newsguy's camera. (For that matter, none of the minor recurring characters, except [[StalkerWithACrush Brainy]], get any credit.) The movie that Craig ''didn't'' get to make supposedly would have re-dressed the balance. According to [[http://heyarnold.wikia.com/wiki/The_Jungle_Movie this Wikia article]], the [[OutOfFocus much-ignored]] Nadine would have finally gotten some screentime in it.
* Pongo and Perdita, the main characters of the ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' movie, are secondary characters in the TV series. The episode "The Making Of..." {{Lampshades}} this by having them remark that they but were told that Disney "decided to go for a younger look". "But we're not bitter," Perdita remarks, [[HypocriticalHumor immediately before tearing a rip on a promotional poster]].

** Perhaps the most notable is Phil Hartman's characters, Troy [=McClure=] and Lionel Hutz; [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim after he was murdered, these characters were retired out of respect]], and although they sometimes appear in scene backgrounds, no longer have lines.
** For similar reasons, Lunchlady Doris stopped appearing after the death of her VA, Doris Grau. This lasted about a decade, until someone noticed TressMacNeille does a rather good impression.

** Bill and Marty (Springfield's resident DJs) have also slowly disappeared (they stopped appearing after season 15's "Fraudcast News", only to return for season 18's "The Boys of Bummer", and then vanished again)
** Guest characters voiced by celebrities sometimes stick around as mute extras. This especially common for classmates of Bart and Lisa like Alex (voiced by Lisa Kudrow), Allison (voiced by Winona Ryder) and Jessica Lovejoy (voiced by Meryl Streep.)

** Paul Dini admitted in the "Art of..." book that they didn't use the Riddler often because his gimmick of using riddles was pretty hard to pull off in an action cartoon such as theirs. On the other hand, he had some truly spectacular moments in ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' comic, set in the same universe.
** Summer Gleeson appeared in a pretty large number of episodes in the first two seasons, as well as the ''[[BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm Mask of the Phantasm]]'' and ''[[BatmanAndMisterFreezeSubZero SubZero]]'' movies. When the show was [[ReTool retooled]] as ''The New Batman Adventures'' for its final season, she made only two appearances, once of which was a non-speaking cameo.
* Terrance and Mac's mom had very few appearances in the fifth and sixth season of ''FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends''. Goo had very little screen time in the later seasons too.

* One might forget that the Griffins ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' even have a daughter, with as little screen-time as Meg gets these days. This is even parodied in the ''StarWars'' specials, where she's in a couple of seconds of the special, tops, and as a giant space worm.

--->'''Meg:''' Come on, don't I ever get any lines in these things?

* Hayley from ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', particularly from Season 3 on. Compare her screen time with Francine's, Steve's, or Roger's. Arguably because the show switched from politics driven to character/story emphasis, and her personality wasn't much developed other than as the [[StrawmanPolitical strawman liberal]].

** This happens to Chester, A.J., and Vicky in [[AFairlyOddMovieGrowUpTimmyTurner the live-action film]] where they just have brief scenes that, except for Chester and A.J. helping Timmy make it into the villain's lair, leave little impact on the plot. Even worse, [[EditedForSyndication their scenes are cut from the reruns of the film]].

* Many major characters from the show ''{{Recess}}'' appear in the movie version...but most of them appear very briefly, with absolutely no lines. Notably, TJ's arch-rival Lawson shows up for two seconds and gives a mere thumbs up with no dialogue, but he's listed as a speaking role in the credits. Erik Von Detten's OTHER character, Captain Brad (who appeared in one episode of the show) has numerous lines. Some major recurring characters, like Cornchip Girl, don't show up at all.

* Tony Toponi and Bridget get demoted to background characters with a couple blink-and-you-miss-it cameos in ''AnAmericanTail: Fievel Goes West'' after having played a pretty large role in the first film.
* In ''TotalDramaAction'', the second season of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaIsland'', Ezekiel, Eva, Noah, Katie, Tyler, Cody and Sadie were reduced to this (though arguably Ezekiel was barely more than an extra to begin with.)
** In ''TotalDramaWorldTour'', four of those characters (Ezekiel, Noah, Tyler, and Cody) came back, but Geoff, Trent, Justin, and Beth, the previous season's runner up, were demoted in their place. And then of course Eva, Katie, and Sadie were not saved from this status.
* While Tails was pretty prominent in the Sonic 2 game and and ''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'', on the other Sonic TV series ''Series/SonicTheHedgehog'' he was reduced to a minor status. However, he did gradually get some more screen-time and the odd episode that gave him focus (particularly towards the end), but for the most part, several of the invented characters for the show were more in the "supporting cast" category than Tails was.
** Bunnie and Rotor are also fairly minor characters in the second season, with [[SpotlightStealingSquad Sally and Antoine]] played as Sonic's more prominant allies.
* In the [[Comicbook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage original Mirage Ninja Turtles]] comics, vigilante Casey Jones is a good friend of the turtles and one of the most prominent members of their supporting cast. In the [[TMNT1987 original cartoon]], well, if you remember him at all it's as that loon who showed up in a few episodes wanting to break things.
* In Season 5 of the second ''[[TMNT2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon, Casey and April really fell into this, largely a result of the season's sharply reduced episode count; it did not help that half those episodes were spent outside New York. They grew even less prominent in the ''Fast Forward'' ReTool, since they did not accompany the turtles into the year 2105, and could only appear as cameos or in flashbacks. ''Back to the Sewer'' reversed the trend, however, giving them a season-long arc in which they prepared to get married.

* Dana Tan in the second and third seasons of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', with the introduction of [[SpotlightStealingSquad Max]]. Went from being Terry's main "normal person" confidante and having a scene in almost every episode to mostly being a background presence who got tossed a few lines every now and then, except for the one episode where she got to be a DistressedDamsel. Notably, she was (and remained) the [[OfficialCouple Official]] ''LoveInterest.''
** And oddly, Max too. Despite knowing Terry's identity and being the closest thing he had to a sidekick, she's ''completely'' absent in both ''Return of the Joker'' and the post-series finale ''Epilogue''.

* The short lived ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' character Beans the Cat was demoted when the spotlight shifted to his stuttering sidekick Porky Pig, and Beans and the rest of his co-stars soon [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome faded into oblivion]].
** And before Daffy Duck became his sidekick Porky's best friend was a goat named Gabby who appeared in four cartoons, and he also had a girlfriend Petunia who also vanished after a couple of years (although she remained prominent in the comic books).
** PorkyPig himself started to slowly drift from the spotlight. By the fifties his solo series was ended, with him working near solely as a sidekick for more abrasive characters such as Daffy, and by the sixties he disappeared with the exception of a couple of shorts. He appears more frequently in modern projects, if still mostly as a supporting character only.
* In ''TheClevelandShow'', the daughter Roberta was demoted to this a little into the first season, having very little screen time and less dialog. She is also currently the only member of Cleavland's new family that hasn't met the Griffins. However this was mainly due to her voice actress on maternity leave.

* Happens to Storm, of all people, in WesternAnimation/{{Wolverine And The X-Men}}. While a major character in the comics, one of the most recognizable members of the X-Men, and being in the main cast of nearly all the previous animated adaptations, here she's reduced to a background character who does little, says little, and has no effect on the plot.

* Happens to Tombstone after Green Goblin arc of season 1 and up until episode "Gangland" from TheSpectacularSpiderMan. In the first episode of the series he sends Enforcers to destroy Spider-Man and is set up as New York's most powerful crime lord. He becomes the BigBad during episodes 4-6, ordering Norman Osborn to create supervillains to distract Spider-Man and is set up as one of Spidey's arch-enemies. He also plays a big role in Green Goblin arc (7-9), fighting against Green Goblin and [[EnemyMine teaming up with Spider-Man]] to stop him. However after that, he becomes secondary character and in Symbiote arc he only appears briefly in beginning of episodes 12 and 13 and only accepting job offers and nothing more. Thus, Symbiote/Venom replaces him as BigBad of Season 1. In first half of season 2 ( Master Planner and Venom arcs) he doesn't even appear and is only mentioned in "First Steps". In Gang War arc, while he is set up as one of crime lords fighting control over New York, he doesn't appear in Accomplices and appears in the beginning of "Probable Cause". However in "Gangland" he returns as one of big bads and fights against Doc Ock, Silvermane And Spidey. In final episodes he doesn't get mentioned at all.

* While the Urpneys still get a lot of SympatheticPOV in the pilot for ''TheDreamstone'', Rufus is spotlighted as the obvious main protagonist and gets the most CharacterDevelopment. The majority of later episodes place the Urpneys as {{Villain Protagonist}}s with Rufus and the other heroes usually getting far less screentime and focus than them. Even their boss [[BigBad Zordrak]] is demoted, rarely appearing other than to chew out his minions for failure at the beginning and end of each episode (and sometimes not even that).
* ''TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'': Hank Pym went from one of the core team members in the first season to a minor character that only appeared in about 3-4 episodes of the second.
* In the little seen ''WesternAnimation/RaymanTheAnimatedSeries'' Razorbeard, the BigBad of ''[[{{Rayman2}} Rayman 2: The Great Escape]]'', appears in a single episode as a lackey of that series' BigBad, Rigatoni.
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** And Flounder from [[Disney/TheLittleMermaid ''The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea'']], where he is also now portrayed as a father to several baby fish.

** Almost the whole cast, including Lightning [=McQueen=], gets this treatment in {{Cars}} 2 while Tow Mater takes over as the main character.

* When the ''WinxClub'' SpinOff ''[=PopPixie=]'' was announced, one of the major concerns about the series was the apparent disappearance of Digit (Tecna's pixie). She didn't appear in any official art at all, and the first that anyone saw of her... was when she appeared in the opening titles. It remains to be seen how significant Digit will be. (The other bonded pixies? All present and accounted for.)
** While we're dealing with ''WinxClub'', and related to the Avatar figures example above: Under Mattel, Tecna and Musa were never represented as much as their fellow Winx in the doll lines. Some lines even omitted Tecna altogether, but their biggest sin was when they released the Singsational line... and released Musa (the ''musical'' fairy) behind the others. (Also, the only doll they ever released outside of the main fairies was one of Sky.) Italian licensee Giochi Preziosi, and later Rainbow Toys, appear to have been a bit better with equal representation in the doll lines, at least with the fairies (they even made dolls of the Trix).

* Happens to Storm, of all people, in WolverineAndTheXMen. While a major character in the comics, one of the most recognizable members of the X-Men, and being in the main cast of nearly all the previous animated adaptations, here she's reduced to a background character who does little, says little, and has no effect on the plot.