History EnsembleDarkHorse / WebOriginal

** [[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 [[TheSpoonyOne 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.

* The ''SCPFoundation'' has [[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]].

** Despite being TheScrappy in the video games, Waluigi is - '''[[color:purple: [[HostileShowTakeover WALUIGI TIME]]. Waluigi is funniest character in the comic. [[ThirdPersonPerson Waluigi]] makes everything better, and - [[KilledMidSentence GACK!]]]]''' Ahem. Waluigi is an even bigger Darkhorse, as he debuted in a series of [[DadaComic Dada comics]] Matthew made for AprilFoolsDay. In fact, Waluigi's become so popular thanks to BitF, his canon counterpart's gone from Scrappy to BaseBreaker status.

* Rosa Fiametta seems to be one of the most liked characters for ''SurvivalOfTheFittest v4'' so far, alongside being a MemeticMolester[=/=]MemeticSexGod and 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''.

** Jake English became one ''very'' quickly, and his popularity borders on MemeticBadass / MemeticSexGod at times. It probably helped that his debut finally gave some resolution to who the hell Jade's penpal was anyway. Although he would later go on to become something of a small BaseBreaker after he gets into the game.

** [[ThoseTwoGuys Sun Wukong and Neptune]] have become rather popular for PluckyComicRelief.
** A lot of fans were attracted to [[EnigmaticMinion Neopolitan]] for her intriguing character design, despite only appearing briefly to rescue Roman and [[TheVoiceless not utterly a single line]]. When she [[CurbStompBattle effortlessly thrashed]] Yang in "No Brakes", her popularity ''skyrocketed''.
** Coco's actions in the Volume 2 finale [[note]]That is, kicking a Beowolf in the balls and then demolishing a number of high-level Grimm (including Nevermores and Deathstalkers; if you may remember, RWBY and JNPR working together managed to beat one of each after an arduous battle) with a minigun[[/note]] earned her quite a few fans.

*** [[FurryFandom Nepeta]] is another good example. Despite being very popular among the fandom, and appearing in a ton of fanart, she's probably the least important of the trolls. All she's done that's of any significance is being Aradia's server player, having someone to fill the "Leo" slot of the troll's zodiac motif, and asking Rose to talk to Jaspersprite. The latter of those three leads to [[spoiler:Rose leaving Jaspersprite seemingly for good]], but that's still a relatively minor event.

* Midoribom AKA Racer from ''BombermanLandParody'' is quite popular despite only appearing in that one comic in the entire Bomberman fandom. He is featured the most though

* Fail-Druid and Rob from CtrlAltDel, despite the fact that they're supposed to be annoying, are the most beloved characters in the series.

* Branch, from ''HomeOnTheStrange''. [[http://www.homeonthestrange.com/view.php?ID=97 This is how she started out]] - as a person [[TheScrappy even the other characters couldn't stand]]. A more unlikely EnsembleDarkHorse has never been seen, but [[http://www.homeonthestrange.com/view.php?ID=101 exactly one sentence]] of CharacterDevelopment made her TheWoobie and a fan favorite.

* ''TheWotch'':

* Zexion from ''AnsemRetort'' is a prime example of this trope. Originally planned to be the straight man to Axel, he gradually became more of the {{jerkass}}, and his popularity grew with it. By Season 2, his gradual descent into being a jackass had become a free fall. His popularity grew to the point that Season 3 focused entirely on him, he's featured in the intro image to the website, and is arguably the most popular character in the entire series.

* ''QuestionableContent'':

* Doctor Hot from ''CheckerboardNightmare''. The author rolled with it and expanded his role, to further fan approval, but that didn't mean he had to like it. As his cast page describes him:

* ''IrregularWebcomic'':

* ''DominicDeegan'':

* Katherine from ''WapsiSquare'', a fairly minor supporting character, developed a fanbase rivaling most others, prior to the [[CerebusSyndrome major shift in subject and tone]]. Fan demand led to her being one of the few supporting characters who were carried over after the change; although her role remains minor.

* Dr. Lee, from ''SkinHorse'' by Shaenon Garrity and Jeffrey Channing. She was in one series, as the {{Meganekko}} [[HotScientist repressed]] MadScientist and one of the antagonists, but she is still being requested by fans, and drawn in fan art,
* Regina from ''DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'' appeared for a single panel in a flashback, then got an almost-blank [[http://web.archive.org/web/20060518005135/http://www.missmab.com/Cast/regina.php cast page]] a few years later. Her resultant fan following was... mind-boggling. Readers' minds were boggled right back when she finally [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_963.php appeared out of nowhere]] in 2009.

*** These troll's [[FamousAncestor ancestors]] are also pretty popular, considering how eleven of them only had the sum total of two comparatively small arcs covering them, and a very quick recap given later into Act 6. The twelfth? [[spoiler:In a possible nod to this, she's the biggest villain in Act 6 bar Lord English himself.]] These people probably have more fan works devoted to them than the guardians of the main characters, who are, putting it simply, the human equivillent in their role of the GeodesicCast. Heck, on [[TheWikiRule the wiki]], their page is the second top right behind the one on trolls in general.

* ''ProblemSleuth'': [[Characters/HomestuckTheMidnightCrew the Midnight Crew]] debuted and appear exclusively in several donation commands, "[waging] merciless, donation-funded warfare against the protagonists in a non-canonical but nonetheless grand plotline.". They later became a fundamental part of the plot of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', both as themselves and as alternate universe counterparts. Such was their popularity that Hussie briefly gave serious consideration to doing a Midnight Crew adventure instead of ''Homestuck''.

* Lolrus from ''WhatDoYouDo'' is incredibly popular for something that only appears like 7 times out of over 700 panels.
* ''{{Erfworld}}'' has several, some of which the authors delight in putting in, even as background characters. Most notable is [[FanNickname "Scarlett"]], the unnamed redheaded Unaroyal warlord who has since her first few appearances [[spoiler:been decrypted and joined Gobwin Knob]] and continued to appear frequently. Also, Vurp, the [[LastOfHisKind last surviving Hobgobwin]] after Chapter One, and to a lesser extent Sizemore, the most underused Caster.

* Ples Tibenoch of ''HannaIsNotABoysName'' already had a massive fanbase ''before he was even introduced into the comic'', all based on a few doodles and lone illustrations from the author.

* ''FarOutThere'' has Bridget and Alphonse. The pair of [[http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1027273/page-27-that-tingling-sensation-youre-experiencing-is-culture-shock/ mute, superpowered zombie children]] were only introduced to be the sidekicks of a secondary character, but they've since become the most popular creations in the comic.
* ''LastRes0rt'' has Sedja the Efreet, a character that [[GenieInABottle lives in a bottle]] around Addy's neck. Despite only having a few pages where she's even seen in the comic, let alone in action... [[RuleOfCool well, who wouldn't like a character you shoot out of a gun?]]

* LookingForGroup has Richard, who is without a doubt the most popular character in the whole story.
* Corasyn from NothingComesNaturally. An adorable little magenta WeaselMascot with odd, robotic speech patterns.

* Tempest of DomainTnemrot gained a large following on [[http://www.tnemrot.com/?p=251 her first page]] and when the story's focus switched to the main characters, there were complaints she didn't get more screen time.
* PennyArcade has Tycho's niece Anne, also known as Annarchy. While almost all cameo characters in Penny Arcade gain massive fan followings overnight, Anne deserves special mention, since when a poll was held to determine which minor character should get their own guest strip over ComicCon, Anne won by a huge margin.

* Roast Beef, Ray and (to a lesser extent) Pat from ''{{Achewood}}'' were originally part of "The Dirtiest Guys in Town," a group of nondescript cats who hung out together in early arcs. Ray and Roast Beef later became the main characters of the strip and Pat a notable supporting character.

* Velvet Scarlatina showed up in ''one'' scene in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' and had two words of dialogue, then showed up briefly in another, with no dialogue, intended only to show the prejudice some humans had toward faunus, with no further plans for her. She's now in the main titles of Volume 2 with her (yet un-introduced) teammates and was the subject of a popular contest to design her combat costume.
** From [[http://agrissas.tumblr.com/post/69590441030/the-rwby-s1-fandom-survey-results this survey]], it is found that A) Sun Wukong is the most popular tertiary character by a landslide vote, B) Sun Wukong's Shotgun Nunchaku Staff is the most popular weapon on the show, surpassing even Crescent Rose, C) Sun Wukong has the fandom's second favourite fighting style behind Yang's, and D) he is considered the most attractive male character, edging out Jaune and Lie Ren. Not bad for a minor character, eh?

* Cal Chuchesta of TheNeedleDrop

** Some of the [[CreepyChild child SCP items]], such as [[BlackEyesOfEvil SCP-134]] and [[RoseHairedSweetie SCP-040]], are also quite popular, likely due to being CreepyCute.

* Tiffany from ''WebComic/{{Precocious}}'' has this spot decidedly locked down.
** Although Yvette, the shy grey cat who appears every now and then is also becoming popular.

** Much like Calmasis, an [[spoiler: unknown dead troll]] suddenly garnered tons of fanart before speaking even a single line. Granted, [[spoiler: Aranea]] has since interacted with a good portion of the main cast, [[spoiler: and she was directly involved in setting up the events that led to the troll's session.]]

* The ''SCPFoundation'' has [[CuteMonsterGirl SCP-811]], a swamp dwelling female humanoid with [[MakeThemRot creepy]] [[PoisonousPerson abilities]], an [[WildChild oddly]] [[UglyCute endearing]] and [[TomboyWithAGirlyStreak unique]] [[NonMaliciousMonster personality]] and a backstory that makes her [[TragicMonster genuinely sympathetic]].