History Main / CharacterizationMarchesOn

* Gibby of Nick's ''ICarly" started off as a Ralph Wiggum like character. But as time went on he's become an important character as he is an unofficial member of the webshow and he saved the gang from the crazy girl in the "iPsycho" special along with his little brother.

** Major Monogram. In early chapters, he was far more competent and authoritative.

** Also Renji who, in his first appearance, showed no consideration for Rukia at all and taunted Ichigo with the fact that she would be executed when they got back to Soul Society (as apparently transferring your powers to a human is a capital offence). Later on he's visiting Rukia in her cell to comfort her, flashbacks reveal they're practically childhood friends (and he possibly [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend has feelings for her]]) and he reacts with disbelieving shock when Byakuya tells him Rukia will be executed (as apparently execution for merely transferring your powers to a human is bizarrely harsh).

** More glaringly, in the pilot, Agent Tobias Fornell of the FBI doesn't recognize Gibbs as he enters Air Force One, to the point of being surprised when he learns 'those agents' were NCIS and not the local coroner. Later episodes establish that not only are Gibbs and Fornell old friends, Gibbs warned Fornell not to marry one of his ex-wives.

*** When Rom was first introduced, he was a completely unremarkable Ferengi with no outstanding (let alone endearing) qualities. If the early episodes didn't actually tell you it was Rom, you'd never know it was supposed to be the same character.

** Hartnell's Doctor also was very adverse to interfering with history, even if lives were at stake. Recent incarnations have slightly softened up this rule.

*** Admittedly, the plant itself, even without Homer's incompetence, is terribly run and itself would be closed down if Burns ever ran into [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules someone he couldn't bribe]].

** From seasons 1-4, Eric Cartman was a whiny spoiled brat with a high scratchy voice who begged his mother into getting whatever he wanted and picked on Kyle mainly because he didn't celebrate Christmas, but the others got along with him for the most part, and he had many catchphrases. But from season 5 and onwards he is more intelligent, conniving, manipulative, and psychopathic, his voice is lower and deeper, he rarely whines or cries, the other boys hate him and rarely generally get along, and he doesn't say any of his catchphrases anymore.

* Before StarWarsRevengeOfTheSith premiered, General Grievous made first appearance ever one year earlier in the Genndy Tartakovsky produced ''StarWarsCloneWars'' animated series. It is a very different characterization than what would end up in the live action movie. Grievous in the animated series is a scary, unstoppable killing machine that singlehandedly defeats a number of Jedi. In the movie, Grievous is less formidable adversary and who runs when he is knows he cannot defeat an opponent. This characterization has continued into the CGI ''StarWarsTheCloneWars''.

* In the original shorts, AeonFlux, was portrayed as a [[AxCrazy violently insane]] BloodKnight who was as [[PsychoForHire sadistic]] as she was [[GeneralFailure incompetant]] and who tended to die a lot. In the series proper, she was portrayed as being [[TheStoic cold]], [[GuileHero calculating]] and generally good at her job. She also died less often.
* In the first episode of {{Archer}}, a flashback shows that Archer once wanted to do something sexual that creeped out Cheryl. The same Cheryl who, as of episode 5, is established as a NightmareFetishist who literally orgasms at the thought of being ''murdered''.
* The early pilot episodes of ''TheFairlyOddparents'' had Cosmo as a fairy of normal unintellegence, and both he and Wanda were a bit spacey. (They described themselves as "two halves on one idiot!") In the actual series, Cosmo becomes a RalphWiggum ManChild, while Wanda is the [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]] who seems to hold everyone else in contempt and always calls Cosmo out for being an idiot. This, of course, went through serious {{Flanderization}} over time.

* In ''TransformersArmada,'' Tidal Wave initially speaks normally. Near the end of Armada and throughout Energon, we get the speech pattern we're used to (nigh-monosyllabic FirstPersonPerson with plenty of PokeSpeak.)

* The first episode of ''EdEddNEddy'' had [[TVGenius Double Dee]] staring at [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling Sarah]] with hearts in his eyes, while Sarah treats him with disdain. This is extremly weird now, when it's established that Sarah has a [[ClingyJealousGirl rather annoying crush]] on Double Dee, to which he reacts with horror.

* For the first year or so of ''SomethingPositive,'' Davan is portrayed as being completely hopless with women. He's shown being rejected by women multiple times, and the few relationships he has had have been with women who were either mentally unstable or who spontaneously decided to cheat on him (and in one instance, both). This changed due to a bit of outside interference: according to WordOfGod (in a YouTube post), Milholland had the idea of Davan meeting a really cool girl in the bar he frequented, then having her be creeped out by his getting involved in an altercation. A friend suggested that instead of going for the thousandth downer, that he cut Davan a break and let him be happy for once. His going for this idea and starting a romantic plotline for Davan probably killed the whole "women hate Davan" gag; since then, Davan has been involved with a handful of reasonably stable women, including some friends-with-benefits closet-action. Davan still references the ''idea'' that he only attracts crazy women, but then nobody in the comic seems entirely sane.

* Non-work safe comic ''SexyLosers''. In particular, early "Madame X" strips featured a couple of friends who mainly existed to bounce exposition off of...[[http://sexylosers.com/006.html at first]]. Later strips saw the characters earning the FanNicknames [[VitriolicBestBuds Abusive Friend]] and [[ClusterFBomb Swearing Friend]], based on strips like [[http://sexylosers.com/043.html this]]. As the author put it, "But you said nothing happened last time," practically sounds like a doctoral thesis coming from a character known for lines like "Your fuck is shit, dickass."

* In ''QuestionableContent'', Hannelore was first introduced when [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=515 Marten was so drunk he went in the wrong bathroom]], and she ''tried to pick him up''. Later, her OCD [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1315 was seriously played up]]. Eventually, she explains her earlier behavior by saying that she ?was on some pretty powerful anti-anxiety meds? and ?wasn't myself?.

** Jesse also suffered from a milder form of this. In early episodes,once or twice,he was shown enjoying sports on TV or playing something simple with the others(one episode had him betting on a basketball game with Joey). This is the same Jesse who would later have an entire episode dedicated to his inability to play Basketball.

**To be fair, he was a Shinigami, so he wasn't ''pure evil''. The real WallBanger comes from Ishida rubbing off his hate for him torturing his grandfather, being reduced to a "Don't misunderstand me" line, which means "You're actually my friend/ally" in anime. SoYeah...

* In his first few appearances (''The Colour Of Magic'', ''Sourcery'') [[{{Discworld}} The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork]] was portrayed as an obese Bond Villain parody. However, by ''Guards! Guards!'', he magically transforms into the ''thin'', enigmatic, [[ManipulativeBastard supremely manipulative]] MagnificentBastard that we know today. (And no, it's not a different Patrician. WordOfGod states that it's the same guy, just written by an author who hadn't figured out what he wanted to do with the character yet.) The BBC television adaptation of ''The Colour of Magic'' and ''The Light Fantastic'' rectifies this by casting Jeremy Irons as the Patrician as seen in the later books, complete with the tiny little dog mentioned in some of those novels.

*Speaking of {{Disney}}, Scrooge [=McDuck=]. In the his earlier appearances, CarlBarks depicted Scrooge as quite an immoral individual-there was the infamous robber baron flashback in "Voodoo Hoodoo", and in "The Magic Hourglass", another early Scrooge story, Scrooge sics a bad of hired thugs on Donald and is willing to leave his nephews to die of thirst in the desert to attain his goals. When Barks began to use Scrooge as a hero in his own right, he began depicting Scrooge as a greedy, tightfisted old miser, but one who [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules followed his own code of honor.]] This is the depiction most fans remember, and the one that shows up in DuckTales and the works of DonRosa.

***I disagree. Watch for subtle things in the first season, you'll notice he was always kind of an asshat, but more of a deadpan snarker. It was when he started getting power that he changed.

* For the first year or so of ''SomethingPositive,'' Davan is portrayed as being completely hopless with women. He's shown being rejected by women multiple times, and the few relationships he has had have been with women who were either mentally unstable or who spontaneously decided to cheat on him (and in one instance, both). This changed due to a bit of outside interference: according to WordOfGod (in a YouTube post), Milholland had the idea of Davan meeting a really cool girl in the bar he frequented, then having her be creeped out by his getting involved in an altercation. A friend suggested that instead of going for the thousandth downer, that he cut Davan a break and let him be happy for once. This probably killed the whole "women hate Davan" gag; since then, Davan has been involved with a handful of reasonably stable women, including some friends-with-benefits closet-action. Davan still references the ''idea'' that he only attracts crazy women, but then nobody in the comic seems entirely sane.

* For the first year or so of ''SomethingPositive,'' Davan is portrayed as being completely hopless with women. He's shown being rejected by women multiple times, and the few relationships he has had have been with women who were either mentally unstable or who spontaneously decided to cheat on him (and in one instance, both). Yet latter comics reverse this, turning him almost into a borderline KavorkaMan; on more than one occasion, women have agreed to have sex with him after only a single conversation, and one recent storyline has Candy from ''GirlsWithSlingshots'' practicaly throwing herself at him despite having only known him for less than a minute. Moreover, all of his post-[[ClingyJealousGirl Eva]] relationships have been healthy and relatively stable, and all have ended on good terms due to outside circumstances not brought on by Davan.
**He's still ''described'' (and self-described) as woman-repellant (he sees Candy's reaction as evidence she's insane), but it's somewhere between NeverLiveItDown and an InformedFlaw.
***Also, the most common version of the current self-loathing is that he seems only able to attarct "crazy" women. This is most likely because the ''entire cast'' of SomethingPositive is crazy.