History Main / HumbleBeginnings

* The (mercifully) [[ShortRunners short-lived]] {{sitcom}} ''Series/{{Cavemen}}'', based on the "So easy a caveman can do it" series of ''Advertising/{{Geico}} insurance commercials''. In this case, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Good]].

These may be considered a SpiritualSuccessor, SurprisinglyImprovedSequel, AdaptationExpansion, or MorePopularSpinoff, and cause AdaptationDisplacement or SequelDisplacement, depending on what you consider a sequel, successor, adaptation, and original. A lot of people tend to assume that ItWillNeverCatchOn.

* WikiMagic.
* MemeticMutation.

* The genesis for ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' came one night when Dan Povenmire was at a restaurant and drew a triangle-headed boy and decided to build a show around him. It was sixteen years before the show actually got picked up. The show's villain, now known as Dr. Doofenschmirtz, first appeared in an ad for Middlefield Cheese, an Ohio Amish cheese company in 2004.

* Before becoming the FlagshipFranchise that [[CashCowFranchise earned millions of dollars]] for Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}, ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' started life as Bob the Sponge in a pamphlet comic made by Steven Hillenburg called ''The Intertidal Zone'' for children visiting the Orange County Marine Institute where he worked at. About a decade later, he revamped the concept to make a pitch for Nickelodeon, and the rest was history.

* The ''Franchise/LoveLive'' series began as a massive failure when the first single, "Bokura no LIVE, Kimi to no LIFE", sold a whole 434 copies on release, with most sales done by the voice actresses and their relatives to show support.

Works where the original was some gag idly doodled on cocktail napkins, and the "{{sequel}}" was a [[BigBudgetBeefUp multi-million dollar]] UsefulNotes/{{Hollywood}} project.

[[caption-width-right:350:The original incarnation of what is now [[CashCowFranchise a multi-billion-dollar multimedia franchise juggernaut]].]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' is an arguable case. Classic series? Duct tape sets, wardrobes from a thrift shop, special effects on par with a college film, and not enough money for proper explosions. But then the Americans got a hold of it for the TV Movie and decide to go with a budget and production values similar to what Americans were used to in their TV sci-fi. And when the new series kicked in, they continued with the higher-end budget and production.

* "Get Happy" began as a short vamp that Harold Arlen improvised while substituting for Fletcher Henderson as rehearsal pianist on the 1929 Broadway musical flop ''Great Day!''. The chorus director, Will Marion Cook, told Arlen to turn it into a popular song, and it indeed became the BreakthroughHit of his songwriting career.

* ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} started out as an unnamed recurring character drawn on the whiteboard of Scott Adams' cubicle while working as an engineer at Pacific Bell.

* ''Toys/{{Uglydolls}}'' started with David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim, two university students, separated from each other due to Sun-Min's student visa expiring and her having to move back to Korea before a franchise could start. David wrote her a letter of support with a drawing of the character that would become Wage on it, and she sewed a doll of him as a gift in return. Through an incident that made it seem like they were pitching a toy, more dolls were sewn, more characters were added, and the toyline was born.

* The fan-character JustForFun/{{Bowsette}} came from a simple {{webcomic|s}} {{parody}}ing the mechanics and events of ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games, as most Website/DeviantArt comics do. Somehow, this one depiction of Bowser as a HotterAndSexier Peach lookalike with CuteMonsterGirl MorphicResonance ''really'' caught on with fans, inspiring oodles of FanArt all over the world. Bowsette's UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese name "Kuppa-Hime" (Princess Koopa) became a top-trending tag on Website/{{Pixiv}}, with ''7,000 drawings in less than a month, compared to Bowser (3,000) and Peach (5,000) since the site's beginning''. Even professional {{manga}} artists (such as the mangaka behind ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'', ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'', and ''Manga/PopTeamEpic'', just to name a few) have drawn Bowsette fan-art, Wiki/TheOtherWiki [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowsette has an article on her]], and less savvy fans regularly mistake Bowsette for an official ''Mario'' character.

These may be considered a SpiritualSuccessor, SurprisinglyImprovedSequel, AdaptationExpansion or MorePopularSpinoff, and cause AdaptationDisplacement or SequelDisplacement, depending on what you consider a sequel, successor, adaptation, and original. A lot of people tend to assume that ItWillNeverCatchOn.

* ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} started out as a unnamed recurring character drawn on the whiteboard of Scott Adams' cubicle while working as an engineer at Pacific Bell.

* Perhaps most famously, Creator/{{Nintendo}} started as a card company in the 19th century before moving on to toys and novelties before they moved to the VideoGames that made them a international name.

* ''VideoGame/GarrysMod'', the ten dollar commercial version 10 of which has made Garry effectively a millionaire, was originally a quick hack to the leaked ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' source code to allow arbitrary rope creation posted on the Website/SomethingAwful Forums.

* ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' started as a FanGame of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' with original characters that took inspiration from the frantic and over the top action games by ''Creator/{{Treasure}}''. When the team realized how much work was being put into the original characters and unique mechanics, they decided to remake the project as its own IP that was a celebration of the ''UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis'' library with a Sonic-influenced art style that became a successful franchise in its own right with [[VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2 a sequel]], widely praised as a unique series that does what ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' did for 8 bit games that FP did for Creator/{{Sega}} platformers.

* ''WebComic/AxeCop'' is written by a six year old, but drawn by a professional.

* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' started out at around 1985 when Creator/ChrisSanders drew a picture of a grotesque alien creature for a failed children's book pitch. He kept the creature, called "Stitch", in his mind as he worked on several [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney animated films]] during the Disney Renaissance for years up to the mid-90s when Creator/{{Disney}}, who was looking to produce an animated film with a smaller budget than their big blockbusters, approached him to come up with a pitch for a new original film. After some tweaking to the story and character design, Sanders got to use his character for an animated film that would become Disney animation's one combined critical and commercial saving grace during their low period in the first half of the 2000s, even spawning [[Franchise/LiloAndStitch a successful franchise]] shortly there after.

* The (mercifully) [[ShortRunners short-lived]] {{sitcom}} ''Series/{{Cavemen}}'', based on the "So easy a caveman can do it" series of ''Advertising/{{Geico}} insurance commercials''. In this case, TropesAreNotGood.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', originally a crudely-drawn series of shorts on ''Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow'', has gone on for [[LongRunners more than 20 seasons]] and has spawned a merchandising empire, several {{video games}}, a [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie movie]] and [[Ride/TheSimpsonsRide ride]]. The characters themselves were knocked out in the waiting room where Creator/MattGroening was going to meet with executives. Originally, he was going to pitch a show based upon his comic ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell'', but he realized at the last minute that he might lose the rights to his own characters, so he quickly sketched a NuclearFamily based upon his own family.

* ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' started as a FanGame of ''VidoeGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' with original characters that took inspiration from the frantic and over the top action games by ''Creator/{{Treasure}}''. When the team realized how much work was being put into the original characters and unique mechanics, they decided to remake the project as its own IP that was a celebration of the ''UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis'' library with a Sonic-influenced art style that became a successful franchise in its own right with [[VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2 a sequel]], widely praised as a unique series that does what ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' did for 8 bit games that FP did for Creator/{{Sega}} platformers.

* ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' started as a FanGame of ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' with original characters that took inspiration from the frantic and over the top action games by ''Creator/{{Treasure}}''. When the team realized how much work was being put into the original characters and unique mechanics, they decided to remake the project as its own IP that was a celebration of the ''UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis'' library with a Sonic-influenced art style that became a successful franchise in its own right with [[VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2 a sequel]], widely praised as a unique series that does what ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' did for 8 bit games that FP did for Creator/{{Sega}} platformers.

* ''VideoGame/LineRider'', a Flash toy with nothing more than drawing a line for a sled to ride on, which now has its own video game ''series'' and ''social networking website''.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Music ]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Web Animation ]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' was a one-off trailer a bunch of drunk college friends put together inspired by early ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' {{Machinima}} and their obsession with a new game they were playing called ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved''. When some fans on the very early internet liked it, demand grew for a proper series, which they eventually started in 2003 using rough capture footage from their consoles filming the popular multi-player game of capture the flag. What started as a nonsensical sitcom with Halo characters swearing and [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] the video game logic eventually grew into a surprisingly complex and ever-growing plot with dozens of developed characters, semi-professional and professional actors, custom CGI animated sequences, an indie rock band to perform the background music, and interconnected epic of war, betrayal, the ethics and morality of artificial intelligence, and comrades in battle while maintaining the witty humor and hilarious banter between Halo characters.

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Other ]]

These may be considered a SpiritualSuccessor, SurprisinglyImprovedSequel, AdaptationExpansion or MorePopularSpinoff, and cause AdaptationDisplacement or SequelDisplacement, depending on what you consider a sequel, successor, adaptation, and original.

* The (mercifully) short-lived sitcom ''Series/{{Cavemen}}'', based on the "So easy a caveman can do it" series of ''Advertising/{{Geico}} insurance commercials''.

* Perhaps most famously, Creator/{{Nintendo}} started as a card company in the 19th century before moving on to toys and novelties before they moved to the Video Games that made them a international name.

* The game that preceded ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', ''Narbacular Drop'', was a school project at {{DigiPen}}.

* ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' started as a fan game of ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' with original characters that took inspiration from the frantic and over the top action games by ''Creator/{{Treasure}}''. When the team realized how much work was being put into the original characters and unique mechanics, they decided to remake the project as its own IP that was a celebration of the ''UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis'' library with a Sonic-influenced art style that became a successful franchise in its own right with [[VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2 a sequel]], widely praised as a unique series that does what ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' did for 8 bit games that FP did for Creator/{{Sega}} platformers.

* The ''Webcomic/NuzlockeComics'' originally started out as the sketchings of a SelfImposedChallenge on a ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon]]'' run. It utilised [[http://www.nuzlocke.com/pokemonhardmode.php?p=1 stick figures with a storyline that didn't really deviate from the original game]] for the first season, but, come [[VideoGame/PokemonFireRedAndLeafGreen the next]] [[http://www.nuzlocke.com/pokemonhardmode.php?p=15 season,]] there's [[ArtEvolution a noticeable improvement in the artwork and formatting]], the storyline becomes much more substantial, and the Pokémon themselves were much better characterised. The challenge itself has also become extremely popular among others, inspiring many other Nuzlocke comics, prose and further creative pursuits in turn.

* The first ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strips were doodles from Randall Munroe's notebooks.

* Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone's first short [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxZ0X9fMQZ4 "Jesus Vs. Frosty"]] was done as a ''student film''. Their second short was made on a budget for a Fox network executive... so he could use it as ''a video Christmas card to send to his friends''. After months of underground circulation via bootleg tapes and the Internet, Creator/ComedyCentral decided to hire them to expand this into ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''.

Works where the original was some gag idly doodled on cocktail napkins, and the "sequel" was a multi-million dollar Hollywood project.

* That's very much how ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' became associated with "Duel Monsters", which originally was only one of many games in the manga ("Yu Gi Oh" means "King of Games"). Then {{Defictionalization}} of said card game steadily happened, creating a globally known franchise worth billions of dollars in the process.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': A sci-fi comic strip repeatedly pitched by two kids from Cleveland.

* The (mercifully) short-lived sitcom ''Series/{{Cavemen}}'', based on the "So easy a caveman can do it" series of ''Geico insurance commercials''.

* ''Webcomic/GarfieldMinusGarfield'', which started as a riff of a MemeticMutation of ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} (inspired in a thread on the Truth and Beauty Bombs forum about the Garfield Randomizer), and eventually got ''its own published book by the syndicate, with a commentary essay by Jim Davis''.

* ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' started as a fan game of ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' with original characters that took inspiration from the frantic and over the top action games by ''Creator/{{Treasure}}''. When the team realized how much work was being put into the original characters and unique mechanics, they decided to remake the project as its own IP that was a celebration of the ''UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis'' library with a Sonic-influenced art style that became a successful franchise in its own right with [[VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2 a sequel]], widely praised as a unique series that does what ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' did for the 8 bit games that FP did for Sega platformers.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', which now has its own professional video game series and cameos ranging from songs in ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' to an EasterEgg cartoon ''in a Macromedia program'', started as a children's book made in a college afternoon and put together at ''Kinko's.'' [[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Original_Book Watch it here.]]
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' was a one-off trailer a bunch of drunk college friends put together inspired by early ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' Machinima and their obsession with a new game they were playing called ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved''. When some fans on the very early internet liked it, demand grew for a proper series, which they eventually started in 2003 using rough capture footage from their consoles filming the popular multi-player game of capture the flag. What started as a nonsensical sitcom with Halo characters swearing and [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] the video game logic eventually grew into a surprisingly complex and ever-growing plot with dozens of developed characters, semi-professional and professional actors, custom CGI animated sequences, an indie rock band to perform the background music, and interconnected epic of war, betrayal, the ethics and morality of artificial intelligence, and comrades in battle while maintaining the witty humor and hilarious banter between Halo characters.

* ''[[{{Webcomic/Morphe}} morphE]]'' began as a weekly World of Darkness game between the four creators. The game spanned for two and a half years and spawned the plot of the comic. The weekly game itself was spawned from a one-shot test game the lead creator ran with a larger pool of friends. There was no intent to expand the one-shot to a full campaign, nor to adapt the outcome. The story just kept growing.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', originally a crudely-drawn series of shorts on ''Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow'', has gone on for [[LongRunners more than 20 seasons]] and has spawned a merchandising empire, several video games, a [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie movie]] and ride. The characters themselves were knocked out in the waiting room where Creator/MattGroening was going to meet with executives. Originally, he was going to pitch a show based upon his comic ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell'', but he realised at the last minute that he might lose the rights to his own characters, so he quickly sketched a family based upon his own family.

* The genesis for ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' came one night when Dan Povenmire was at a restaurant and drew a triangle-headed boy and decided to build a show around him. It was sixteen years before the show actually got picked up. The show's villain first appeared in an ad for Middlefield Cheese, an Ohio Amish cheese company in 2004.
* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' was originally just a short on ''WesternAnimation/LiquidTelevision''. Likewise ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux''. ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'' appeared on the show's SpiritualSuccessor ''WesternAnimation/CartoonSushi''.

* Website/{{IMDb}} started as a list of actresses with pretty eyes.

* Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie began developing the UNIX operating system on the PDP-7, an underpowered minicomputer. Before development moved to the PDP-11 and added text-processing applications that made Bell Labs take more than an experimental interest in UNIX, it was little more than a set of utility programs supporting a port of ''Space Travel'', a game Thompson had originally written for a more powerful mainframe while working on MULTICS.

* The games ''VideoGame/CounterStrike'' and ''DayOfDefeat'', which were both ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' mods whose small dev teams were bought out by Valve, split into commercial packages, and followed with "Source" versions with a much-improved engine.

* The game that preceded ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', ''Narbacular Drop'', was a school project at DigiPen.

* Creator/{{Rare}}'s Mr. Pants made his first appearance on their website's Survey page as a hastily doodled placeholder character. He eventually starred in his own GameBoyAdvance game.

* The initial development idea for ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' came during the development of bots for ''VideoGame/{{Counter-Strike}}'', where the developers found themselves having more fun by arming a legion of bots with only knives and then fighting them off like a zombie horde.