History EnsembleDarkHorse / WebOriginal

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':

** The character of Mouse Protector, a hero who deliberately acts like a campy Silver Age goofball to embarrass villains who lose to her, is only ''slightly'' more developed than Chubster, but you'd never know it by the number of fanfics that portray her as a very prominent character, usually depicted as a full-blown {{Cloudcuckoolander}} and absolutely CrazyAwesome. Some fans really took to the idea of such a silly and [[LargeHam hammy]] character existing in the CrapsackWorld of Earth Bet, and wanted to run with it, in-spite (or probably ''because'') her [[FateWorseThanDeath canon]] [[BodyHorror fate]] [[MercyKill was so]] abysmally dark.

** The character of Mouse Protector, a hero who deliberately acts like a campy Silver Age goofball to embarrass villains who lose to her, is only ''slightly'' more developed than Chubster, but you'd never know it by the number of fanfics that portray her as a very prominent character, usually depicted as a full-blown {{Cloudcuckoolander}} and absolutely CrazyAwesome.

* Originally just a mention in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', Aquerna has become this trope. She's one of the least powerful students at [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]], and became popular enough that one of the {{Canon}} authors is now writing Aquerna stories too.
* The Queen of Rogues and Robbers was originally supposed to be a one-shot villain in ''Literature/TheQuestportChronicles'', but has been brought back every year due to her popularity.

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', a character appears once, in the midst of a crisis, a fat superhero who is named only in passing as ''Chubster'', as the casualties are tallied. He remains unconscious throughout his appearance; the protagonist tries her hand at CPR, fails, and she abandons him to die. Despite his unglamorous nature (or because of it?) and lack of dialogue or action, he is repeatedly referred to in the site's comments section, appears or gets a mention in numerous pieces of fanfiction, and is part of several in-jokes among fans.

* [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ellen-baker-new-horizon Ellen Baker]] became an overnight sensation on Pixiv and Twitter, an especially impressive feat considering she originated from a ''textbook''. Her internet presence first went viral when a Japanese user tweeted pages from his brother's 2016-19 edition of New Horizon (a long-running English language textbook series for junior high classrooms) and commented on its surprisingly animesque illustrations and attractive character designs, most particularly of its blonde English tutor. Being a dorky GorgeousGaijin, {{moe}} [[HotTeacher teacher]], Ellen Baker proceeded to lead an explosion of fanart and [[RuleThirtyFour R34]] images, and many overseas fans professed a desire for similar characters on their own textbooks. Even the original artist took notice, appreciating Ellen's newfound popularity but worrying that her purpose as an instructor would be derailed.
* ''Literature/TheRuinsOfAnAmericanPartySystem'' gives us [[RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman FBI Special Agent Richard Nixon]]. His plot, of leading the fight against religious extremist terrorists and political corruption, is by far one of the most popular in the timeline.
* [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/new-guy New Guy,]] from [[https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1693001-new-guy this]] webcomic has garnered a large collection of fans, painting him as an AllLovingHero and a symbol of positivity and empathy. Most people saw him as far more sympathetic than the [[DesignatedHero protagonist]].

** [[CuteMonsterGirl SCP-811]], a swamp-dwelling female humanoid who has become incredibly popular with the online fandom, likely because of her [[MakeThemRot creepy]] [[PoisonousPerson abilities]], an [[WildChild oddly]] [[UglyCute endearing]] and [[TomboyWithAGirlyStreak unique]] [[NonMaliciousMonster personality]] and a backstory that makes her [[TragicMonster genuinely sympathetic]].

*** [[CuteMonsterGirl SCP-811]], a swamp-dwelling female humanoid who has become incredibly popular with the online fandom, likely because of her [[MakeThemRot creepy]] [[PoisonousPerson abilities]], an [[WildChild oddly]] [[UglyCute endearing]] and [[TomboyWithAGirlyStreak unique]] [[NonMaliciousMonster personality]] and a backstory that makes her [[TragicMonster genuinely sympathetic]].

* [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ellen-baker-new-horizon Ellen Baker]] became an overnight sensation on Pixiv and Twitter, an especially impressive feat considering she originated from a ''textbook''. Her internet presence first went viral when a Japanese user tweeted pages from his brother's 2016-19 edition of New Horizon (a long-running English language textbook series for junior high classrooms) and commented on its surprisingly animesque illustrations and attractive character designs, most particularly of its blonde English tutor. Being an {{adorkable}}, GorgeousGaijin, {{moe}} [[HotTeacher teacher]], Ellen Baker proceeded to lead an explosion of fanart and [[RuleThirtyFour R34]] images, and many overseas fans professed a desire for similar characters on their own textbooks. Even the original artist took notice, appreciating Ellen's newfound popularity but worrying that her purpose as an instructor would be derailed.

* [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/new-guy New Guy,]] from [[https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1693001-new-guy this]] webcomic has garnered a large collection of fans, painting him as an AllLovingHero and a symbol of positivity and empathy. Most people saw him as far more sympathetic than the [[DesignatedHero protagonist.]] The artist was [[CreatorBacklash less than]] [[https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1693001-new-guy pleased.]]

* [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/new-guy New Guy,]] from [[https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1693001-new-guy this]] webcomic has garnered a large collection of fans, painting him as an AllLovingHero and a symbol of positivity and empathy. Most people saw him as far more sympathetic than the [[DesignatedHero protagonist.]] The artist was [[CreatorBacklash less than pleased.]]

!!Web originals with their own pages
[[index]]
* ''EnsembleDarkhorse/AitorMolinaVs''
* ''EnsembleDarkhorse/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory''
[[/index]]
----
* From Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses:
** ''WebVideo/ThatDudeInTheSuede'': The curtains, every time fanmail appears, there is always one on the end dedicated to the curtains. Unfortunately, Suede didn't take then with him after he moved (they were his parents', but still...).
** ''WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment'': Doctor Insano.
** ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick'': Nella! It really says something that all videos she's in get dozens of comments about on how awesome she is and how she should have her own show. And the Chick seems to be listening - Nella now shows up in almost every episode.
** ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'': Linkara. One of many contributors who joined the site in late 2008, and plucked from almost complete obscurity, he quickly rose to become one of the site's biggest draws in only a few short months. Part of this was his unique niche (he is one of two ComicBook reviewers on the site), part of it was his consistent schedule (and at first, he posted ''more'' than one video a week, because he had a backlog of video reviews from before he joined the site), and part of it was his ColbertBump from [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]], who became a frequent collaborator. As early as January/February 2009, there was talk of him headlining a "comics and animation" section of the site called "Four Color Fantasy" (later renamed "Inked Reality"), but in fact he's so popular he's ''still'' listed separately, as an individual, on the site, a distinction shared only by Doug, Lindsay, Brad and Noah.
** ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'':
*** Devil Boner got immense popularity just from appearing for a few minutes in one review. After ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'', ADayInTheLimelight episode where he ends up ripping into meninists, he's getting called "best original character in the reboot".
*** Benny, Hyper's stoic RealMenWearPink assassin. Doug has teased Malcolm that, like Devil Boner got popularity from the EstrogenBrigade, people love the character because he looks good in a suit.
** ''WebVideo/AwesomeVideoGames'':
*** Dad is very big with the show's fandom, to the point where they requested he get an episode all to himself. [[ADayInTheLimelight He eventually did get one with a larger focus on him]], where he transformed the show into "Computer Entertainment Related Programming" to review Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf (misspelled as Creator/JackNicholson Golf in the episode title and the episode itself) on the NES.
*** Similarly, Deacon (Dad's actor) has become inordinately popular for a guy who sits in the background and says relatively little, probably thanks in part to some residual Dad-ness.
** Their only pop music reviewer, WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows, to a small degree.
* Creator/TeamFourStar:
** [=Takahata101=] ended up getting a lot of attention thanks in part to his portrayal of Nappa. Creator/LittleKuriboh would even lampshade his popularity by mentioning one of the best way to have a abridged series is having takahata provide a voice in the show.
** Nappa from ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' has easily become one of the series most popular characters, to the point where he had been making occasional appearances as a ghost despite having been completely forgotten in the original work after his death. The Abridged version of the Abridged series lampshades this by giving Nappa the line "I am hilarious and you will quote everything I say!"
* Creator/TeamStarKid, the group responsible for ''Theatre/AVeryPotterMusical'' and ''Theatre/MeAndMyDick'', has Jim Povolo. Despite getting a lot of the bit parts, he manages to steal ''every single scene he's in''.
* WebVideo/ObscurusLupa often does impressions of characters from the films she reviews. However, while reviewing the ''Film/{{Subspecies}}'' movies, her [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Radu]] impression took on a life of its own, and fans fell in love with her portrayal of him as a dopey, down-on-his-luck guy who's obsessed with boobs. He now has his own SpinOff, ''Radu Reviews'', and has been upgraded from just being a voice to having Lupa dress up as him, complete with [[LooksLikeOrlok giant Orlok hands]].
* There is a fine [[spoiler:''literal'']] example of this in ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'': Bad Horse, who gets only a couple of songs and a brief cameo at the end. Nonetheless, he's become quite popular in the fandom. "Bad Horse, Bad Horse! He rides across the nation, the Thoroughbred of Sin!" [[http://whiteknightproductions.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/the-bad-horse-facts Bad Horse's iron hoofs are made from Tony Stark's skin.]]
* ''WebVideo/LoadingReadyRun'':
** In the fandom, Andrew Cownden is extremely popular despite not being a member of the core Loading Ready Run crew. The reasons for this are most likely his acting ability, the infrequency with which he appears, and his awesome accent.
** During ''WebVideo/DesertBusForHope'', Roscoe the duck takes the dark horse title. It just wouldn't be the same without him.

* ''WebVideo/TheIrateGamer'' has one in the form of the Wise Sage, even some of the fans who snark and insult the show say he's a redeeming quality, in part probably because he acts slightly better than Bores, another reason why fans probably like him is the fact [[https://www.youtube.com/user/eallen001 the person]] who acts as the Sage doesn't defend Bores as much these days. Interestingly enough, the Sage doesn't appear after the Aladdin review, possibly implying that Bores is either not using him again, or [[SmallNameBigEgo the Sage was grabbing too much attention that he thinks is his]]. He finally reappeared for a brief cameo in his ''Cool Spot'' review, but he didn't get any lines. Chris has seemed to figure out his Darkhorse status and now he's shoehorning in Wise Sage appearances hoping it will make his videos "look better".
* ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'':
** Rosa Fiametta seems to be one of the most liked characters for v4 so far, alongside being a LauncherOfAThousandShips. As well Orn "Dutchy" Ayers, a [[BiTheWay free-loving]], [[NerdsAreSexy comic-reading]], [[FunnyForeigner foreign]] [[TenderTears very sensitive]], Icelandic immigrant, who was held in high regard by many of the handlers ''before he even appeared for real''.
** Jared Clayton of [=SOTF-TV=] is also pretty popular, considering that he isn't even a contestant, just a mentor and has had all of one line (not even onscreen!) in the actual game. This is probably due to the in-character twitter the staff maintains for him, featuring [[DeadpanSnarker snark]] galore.
** Mr. Kwong, a teacher in v4. It's very unusual for a non-student to get much attention (either in or out of character), but you'd be hard pressed to find a handler that doesn't like him.
* Con, from ''LetsPlay/KilplixNFriends'', to the point where he has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6zpb_HMSjk his very own video]].
* WebVideo/TheHappyVideoGameNerd's basic shtick is showcasing retro gaming's [[EnsembleDarkhorse ensemble darkhorses]].
* Creator/StuartAshen:
** The Godmonster of Indian Flats is more well known from these videos than the movie where he's the titular character.
** And of course, we have the Excellent Darkhorse himself, Chef Excellence.
* The ''Podcast/MetamorCity'' podcast has Artax, originally created as an [[MrExposition expository engine]] to explain some of the more complex bits of the world's magic in universe, the fans have often cited him as a favorite character over several of the main characters.
* Cal Chuchesta of ''WebVideo/TheNeedleDrop''.
* Papa Burch, from ''WebVideo/HeyAshWhatchaPlayin'', constantly puts his kids down (especially [[ButtMonkey his son, Anthony]]), walked out on family therapy in favor of Fuddruckers, [[DeaderThanDead killed a zombified man]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking for disrupting his reading]], drove off the possessive spirit of his daughter at gunpoint, and vaguely resembles [[VideoGame/MetalGear Big Boss]].

* The Engineer from Radio/TrueCapitalist Radio. Many of the trolls who call into the show wish that he would host more than Ghost. Some of the trolls have gained popularity after the show's renaming to True Capitalist Radio. The Internet Buttstalker, Tub Guy, Ghetto Capitalist, Horny the Clown and the Ban All Bronies guy/Btown also are popular trolls.

* Grass Man from Creator/HarryPartridge Bo-Starr and the Champions of Galastrom appears to be a massive fan-favorite.
* ''WebVideo/LooneyTunesIntroBloopers'':
** L&H Michael has quite the fanbase.
** [[ThoseTwoGuys Jimmy and Hank]] are also quite popular among the fandom.
* Due to the nature of the show, a case could be made that anyone besides TheNarrator Cecil (and maybe his eventual boyfriend, Carlos the Scientist) from ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'' as this. However, the stand-out by far is Tamika Flynn, the brave twelve-year year old girl who led all of Night Vale's children through the dreaded summer reading program, wears a librarian's severed hand as a necklace, and has formed a militia army of children to fight against Strexcorp.
-->'''Cecil:''' If station management is listening, I, of course, hope we find Tamika Flynn and bring her home safely. ''I hope she finds you first, that is.''

* Grant Kirkhope on ''WebVideo/GameGrumps''. He appeared as a special guest for a grand total of ''one'' episode (though said episode ''was'' roughly equivalent in length to about six to seven regular episodes), yet he's often considered an honorary Grump by the fans and often appears in fan art. It helps that he seemed to have an innate sense of the show's sense of humor and meshed incredibly well with Arin and Jon.

* Tom in ''WebVideo/TheCartoonShow''. Aside from the JustThereForGodzilla aspect of him being played by Creator/DougWalker, he also has a lot more scenes than the other side characters, mostly because Doug is the only good actor and the others aren't so bothered.
* [[WebVideo/MatthewSantoro Matt Santoro]]'s clones [[TheBigGuy Big Shine]] and [[TheCasanova Lorrenzo]] have few appearances, to the point when Matt outright stopped using them as characters, but are popular with the fandom.
* [=Radiant_Oblivion=] is, by far, the most popular contestant in ''WebVideo/KawaiiVinnysMinecraftSurvivor'' with other favourites including Stripytails777, Timon93 and Papius.
* Ryan Haywood had been with Creator/AchievementHunter for several years before very rapidly gaining popularity with the fanbase. Some attribute the sudden rise to the development of his [[TheSociopath "Mad King"]] persona, which both the other Hunters and the fans seem to relish encouraging.
* ''Podcast/RandomAssault'': Mela Firefly. In a poll on the show's Facebook page for which guest hosts fans want to see again, she was the highest-voted.
* Rolmex is almost considered the best part of El Rincón de LonkPlays for being an inefficient villain and appearing in every episode with a different role and plan.
* If someone who isn’t Aitor Molina or Ganchito appears in [=AMVs=], people will ask for them to return.
* ''Digimon Abridged'':
** Sora has the best lines from the show like "obey your salad".
** Tentomon for being voiced by the Professor from Cutrerama.
%%* ''LetsPlay/VenturianTale"": Billy Acachalla. That is all.
* ''WebVideo/TheBenHeckShow'' has Felix, TheSmartGuy in Ben's workshop.

* ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'' used to have Black Yoshi and Mama Luigi.
** Now one character that actually uses popularity these days is ''Jeffy''. In fact, his page on [[TheWikiRule the SML Wiki]] is at #1 of most popular pages on the wiki, surpassing other character articles such as Mario and Bowser Junior. He is even regarded as the CreatorsFavorite!
* From ''Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG'':
** Trouble's popularity was what [[BreakoutCharacter got him promoted from what should have been a one-shot character to one of Rex's best friends]]. It is also noteworthy to mention that, during his long-term absence, there was quite a bit of demand for his return.
** Dust, the ultimate MagnificentBastard with a complex personality and unique motives, quickly became one of the RPG's most popular characters. In fact, he is often hailed as the best-written character in the whole RPG.
** Montoya, who served as a {{Foil}} to the [[TheScrappy rather unlikeable]] Trigger, proved to be much more popular than his partner by acting much more human, which earned him the audience's sympathy.
* In ''Podcast/TheScathingAtheist'' Podcast, the crew had a regular segment reviewing terrible religious films, where they brought on their friend Eli Bosnick as a guest. Eli's improvised insults towards the characters and the writing brought such high demand from the fans that they made an entirely separate podcast, God Awful Movies. They spread a crowdfunding campaign on Patreon to fund the show and met their goal in two days.

* From ''WebOriginal/JonTron'', you have [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant The Great Bootleg]], which is widely considered by fans to be one of the funniest and [[NightmareFuel most horrifying]] characters in the show despite [[OneSceneWonder only appearing once in the Disney Bootleg episode for about 30 seconds]]. What a memorable 30 seconds those were, though; the thing seems to be the lovechild of Creator/HRGiger and ''WebOriginal/DontHugMeImScared'', and it combines CreepyMonotone, an OminousVisualGlitch, and [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily disturbingly realistic teeth and gums]] to add to the hilariously creepy vibe it gives off as it [[NauseaFuel pukes up a game disk while in agonizing pain]]. It even has [[https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Great_Bootleg a page on the Villains Wiki]]!

* If a [=YouTuber=] showcases their pet at any point, odds are that the pet will quickly become more popular than the original [=YouTuber=], with the odds increasing the more often the pet is shown. Examples include [[WebAnimation/JaidenAnimations Jaiden's pet bird Ari]] (who actually beat her in a popularity poll she did), and rSlash's pet dog Yugo.

* If a Youtuber showcases their pet at any point, odds are that the pet will quickly become more popular than the original Youtuber, with the odds increasing the more often the pet is shown. Examples include [[WebAnimation/JaidenAnimations Jaiden's pet bird Ari]] (who actually beat her in a popularity poll she did), and rSlash's pet dog Yugo.