History Main / LongBusTrip

* Tariq Bhartti of ''{{KateModern}}'' left abruptly for India and never returned.

* Amazo in ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' teleports himself away from Earth in the middle of a battle, after seeing the monster of the week absorb his attack and become more powerful for it. Though the foe is defeated mere minutes later, Amazo never returns.

* An episode of ''ThomasTheTankEngine'' introduced a character named "Derek The Diesel" who suffered from "teething troubles" . At the end of the episode he was sent off to have the "troubles" repaired, but aside from a cameo (from the back) during a music video in the special "Calling All Engines" he has not been seen since.

** Maybe an even more ridiculous one would be Ash's Primeape, which was PutOnABus less than five episodes after Ash caught it, left in the care of somebody who promised to turn it into "a true champion". It was never seen again... in the dub. In the original dialog, there was no line of him returning for the Pokémon. Yet, the openings ''Spurt!'' (the final opening of ''Advance Generation) and ''Yajirushi ni Natte!'' (the second opening of ''Best Wishes'') still count Primeape and Squirtle as Pokémon who still are in his ownership.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash promised that he'd come back for Pidgeot when he returned. Sixteen seasons later (including 5 returns to Kanto), he still hasn't come back for it.
** Maybe an even more ridiculous one would be Ash's Primeape, which was PutOnABus less than five episodes after Ash caught it, left in the care of somebody who promised to turn it into "a true champion." It was never seen again... in the dub. In the original dialog there was no line of him returning for the Pokémon.

* This is the case of [[spoiler:Asuna]] in ''MahouSenseiNegima''. [[spoiler:As a result of the events of the Magic World, Asuna's fate was to sleep in the Gravekeeper's Palace for a century.]]

* The character Gin from one of the earliest arcs in OnePiece stated that he wanted to see the main characters again on the Grand Line. Over 500 chapters, [[spoiler: half of the Grand Line, and a two year time skip]] later and he still has yet to be mentioned again. And this is in a series where the author seemingly never forgets about characters. Of course, the series is not over yet, but each passing arc (and dramatic increase in the power of the villains) makes it more and more difficult to imagine his return. Though ''One Piece'' is definitively not a CantCatchUp type of series, since there have been examples of characters who were weak or even outright noncombatants reappearing after long absences as legitimate badasses, no one has ever done so after ''that'' long.
** Well he WAS suffering from Don Krieg's [=MH5=] poison at the time... [[FridgeHorror and coughed up blood]] [[BusCrash before he left..]]

* ''ShiningTimeStation'' wrote out Ringo Starr's Mr. Conductor by having him accompany Santa Claus to the North Pole. A relative, also called Mr. Conductor (and bearing a resemblance to Creator/GeorgeCarlin) took his place, and the original Mr. Conductor was never seen or heard from again afterward.

* On ''{{Series/Parks and Recreation}}'', Mark Brendanawicz left his government job to return to the private sector at the end of season 2. This was originally intended to turn him into a DropInCharacter, but instead he simply dropped out of the show entirely (actor Paul Schneider wanted to return to movies.) Even though Mark should still live in Pawnee, a relatively small town, he is never seen, heard from or even ''mentioned'' again... to the point that in a season 5 episode when Ann, whom he dated for most of season 2, clears out boxes full of ex-boyfriends' stuff from her house, there's ''no box for Mark''.

* This was done to Brooke Smith's character Erica Hahn on ''GreysAnatomy'' for no apparent reason whatsoever: they spent several episodes building up her relationship with Callie, including an excellent scene where she tearfully declares that Callie "[[ComingOutStory is glasses]]," only to randomly fire her because the writers stopped liking their own story. Erica and Callie get in a fight about the Izzie LVAD-cutting debacle and about how Callie "[[NoBisexuals can't be]] ''[[NoBisexuals kind of]]'' [[NoBisexuals a lesbian]]," and she walked off into the parking lot...''forever.'' She was then more or less replaced with perky LipstickLesbian Arizona Robbins. Further proof of Shonda Rhimes' ridiculous and fickle casting habits.

* Sergeant Scott of MidsomerMurders was mentioned as having called in sick in one episode. That was the last mention of him. Especially jarring since both his predecessor ''and'' his successor was phased out simply by having them promoted and therefore moved to a different position in the police force.

* In ''{{Coupling}}'' (the original British version) Jeff disappears between series 3 and 4 as a result of his actor not wanting to return. His absence is explained by a hilarious one sided phone conversation with Steve "No, Jeff, the name of the island is pronounced Les-BOSS..... well that was fairly over-optimistic of you really wasn't it?". By the end of the show, Jeff is still "trapped" on Lesbos as a result of not being able get a passport... or something; WordOfGod has it that he ultimately decided to live there.

* When ''MamasFamily'' transitioned from NBC to CBS, and the actors for the two characters were no longer available, Buzz and Sonja were said to have gone off to college...and were never heard from again. Not even at Christmas.

** [[{{Vaporware}} Halflife itself]] has been on rather long bus ride for nearly a decade that has no sign of ending soon, so pretty much all of the above examples are moot, regardless.

** The last above would also apply to the Kanto Gym Leaders, as Ash does travel to the cities where Sabrina and Koga hold court in the ''Battle Frontier'' season to fight in the facilities of the eponymous organization. This actually makes those two Gym Leaders, as well as Misty's sisters (as Misty left them at the Cerulean City limits) an inversion, as it would've been easy for Ash to visit them but he didn't.

* The character Gin from one of the earliest arcs in OnePiece stated that he wanted to see the main characters again on the Grand Line. Over 500 chapters, [[spoiler: half of the Grand Line, and a two year time skip]] later and he still has yet to be mentioned again. And this is in a series where the author seemingly never forgets about characters. Of course, the series is not over yet, but each passing arc (and dramatic increase in the power of the villains) makes it more and more difficult to imagine his return.
** Well he WAS suffering from Don Krieg's MH5 poison at the time... [[FridgeHorror and coughed up blood]] [[BusCrash before he left..]]
* In the ''Manga/InuYasha'' manga, Kouga appears more and more often, even joining the heroes' team for a while, until Naraku finally takes his Shikon shards, then he's gone and never appears again. Even Houjou, Kagome's other HopelessSuitor, gets an appearance in the final volume.

** Maybe an even more ridiculous one would be Ash's Primeape, which was PutOnABus less than five episodes after Ash caught it, left in the care of somebody who promised to turn it into "a true champion." It was never seen again.

** As New Who progresses more characters come back from a long Bus Trip (not counting the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse). Series 1 had the Autons after 34 years, Series 3 had the Macra after 40 years, and Series 7 had the Great Intelligence after 44 years. The Zygons will be returning in the 50th after 38 years.

* Dr. Andrew, a DeliveryGuy [=OC=] who helps the Mistress deliver [[spoiler: [[UntoUsASonAndDaughterAreBorn mixed-gender twins]]]] in Chapter 13 of the ''{{Superjail}}'' fanfic [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8803490/1/Extended-Stay Extended Stay]], appears in this chapter only to never be seen again for the rest of the fanfic. The only thing that hints at his return is when he tells the new parents to call him back in when they're ready for him.

A LongBusTrip is when a character is PutOnABus in such a way that arranging a return would be simple, but then the character never actually comes back. This is most striking when the audience only learns of it retroactively, especially when the character was intended or hinted to be returning. It may also occur as the result of a series being LeftHanging.

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* In ''[[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]]'', Ash promised that he'd come back for Pidgeot when he returned. Sixteen seasons later (including 5 returns to Kanto), he still hasn't come back for it.

[[folder:{{Comics}}]]
* Two sets of ''ComicBook/XMen'' dove into what was essentially Hell to rescue their version of seven year old Illyana Rasputin from a demonic wizard named Belasco. One set got her out safely but were trapped themselves (the lucky ones died), the other set escaped but their Illyana spent seven years stuck there as Belasco's student while getting her soul sacrificed piece by piece before she overthrew him and returned to earth a heartbeat after Kitty lost her grip. A few years later, after Illyana's apparent HeroicSacrifice, her eldritch armor was torn open to find a seven year old and wholly uncorrupted version of her. It was over twenty years before the X-writers were permitted to account for what was obvious to most readers at the time... it could ''easily'' have been the other Illyana.
** Let's face it: for the X-Men, death is essentially being PutOnTheBus.
* The title character of the newspaper comic ''RobotmanAndMonty'' was written out of the strip, at the request of the comic's syndicate (tired of fielding complaints from readers confusing the absurdist humor strip with the [[TastesLikeDiabetes much more kid-friendly "Robotman & Friends"]] toys and books). It would be easy to bring Robotman back (he's alive and well in space), but that's unlikely.
* Elscol, a guerrilla leader who joined [[ComicBook/XWingSeries Rogue Squadron]] in the first arc of the comics, quit at the end of the arc following that. She knew that what she was doing was making a difference, but she knew any other good pilot could do as well, and she chafed under orders. She left without malice towards the squadron, hinting that she would try and talk Sixtus Quinn into joining the Rebel Alliance. But although plenty of other allies showed up again during the series, including a commando leader from that same issue, Elscol and Sixtus didn't. Not until the novels, anyway.

[[folder:FanFic]]
* A pretty common way for the unwanted part of a LoveTriangle to be removed from the competition without going straight to DieForOurShip.
* Dr. Andrew, a DeliveryGuy [=OC=] who helps the Mistress deliver [[spoiler: [[UntoUsASonAndDaughterAreBorn mixed-gender twins]]]] in Chapter 13 of the ''{{Superjail}}'' fanfic [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8803490/1/Extended-Stay Extended Stay]], appears in this chapter only to never be seen again for the rest of the fanfic. The only thing that hints at his return is when he tells the new parents to call him back in when they're ready for him.

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
* In John Bunyan's ''Literature/PilgrimsProgress'', Christian (or Pilgrim, depending on which version you're reading) has to fight the beast Apollyon. When he's defeated, Apollyon swears vengeance on Christian, but aside from a couple of name-drops, Apollyon is never mentioned again.

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* On the series ''{{Series/Becker}},'' the character "Reggie" (Terry Farrell) was put on a LongBusTrip when Farrell was booted from the series under suspicious circumstances (she has told interviewers that it came as a complete shock to her and that she is unsure of exactly why it happened, although she reportedly led a strike among the show's cast). Farrell was even fired before the episode was filmed, and thus never even ''appeared'' on the episode where she was placed on the long bus trip, but was dismissed in a rather unflattering way where Farrell herself vanished but Reggie's continued presence was inferred (i.e. it was simply ''related'' that she slept with Becker, and it made her realize that she needed a change ''immediately''). This was all done in a ''very'' implausibly slipshod way, obviously trumped up at the last minute: i.e. it was inferred that Reggie was popping in and out without Farrel ever being on-camera during the entire epsisode, and finally Reggie said good-bye to the cast in a phone-call that was ''dictated'' to them all by a complete stranger (don't ask-- I ''said'' it was implausibly slipshod).
* ''PowerRangers:'' What became of Trini and Zack after that trip to Switzerland is unknown, and is especially mysterious since Jason came back for ''Zeo'' and two guest appearances after.
** A better example would be Rocky: he didn't even leave Angel Grove, he just stopped hanging with the Rangers.
*** Per WordOfGod, they tried to get Steve Cardenas to come back for "[[MilestoneCelebration Forever Red]]", but he didn't respond in time -- and even if he had, Rocky would have just been Tommy's butler, rather than being given the unused-in-America ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger'' costume as fans believed.

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* Two sets of ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' dove into what was essentially Hell to rescue their version of seven year old Illyana Rasputin from a demonic wizard named Belasco. One set got her out safely but were trapped themselves (the lucky ones died), the other set escaped but their Illyana spent seven years stuck there as Belasco's student while getting her soul sacrificed piece by piece before she overthrew him and returned to earth a heartbeat after Kitty lost her grip. A few years later, after Illyana's apparent HeroicSacrifice, her eldritch armor was torn open to find a seven year old and wholly uncorrupted version of her. It was over twenty years before the X-writers were permitted to account for what was obvious to most readers at the time... it could ''easily'' have been the other Illyana.

* Elscol, a guerrilla leader who joined [[Literature/XWingSeries Rogue Squadron]] in the first arc of the comics, quit at the end of the arc following that. She knew that what she was doing was making a difference, but she knew any other good pilot could do as well, and she chafed under orders. She left without malice towards the squadron, hinting that she would try and talk Sixtus Quinn into joining the Rebel Alliance. But although plenty of other allies showed up again during the series, including a commando leader from that same issue, Elscol and Sixtus didn't. Not until the novels, anyway.

* Elscol, a guerrilla leader who joined [[XWingSeries Rogue Squadron]] in the first arc of the comics, quit at the end of the arc following that. She knew that what she was doing was making a difference, but she knew any other good pilot could do as well, and she chafed under orders. She left without malice towards the squadron, hinting that she would try and talk Sixtus Quinn into joining the Rebel Alliance. But although plenty of other allies showed up again during the series, including a commando leader from that same issue, Elscol and Sixtus didn't. Not until the novels, anyway.

* Eddie from RoverDangerfield. He didn't move out to the farm with Rover in the end so his fate is unknown.

* Sergeant Scott of MidsomerMurders was mentioned as having called in sick in one episode. That was the last mention of him.

** Out of all the characters who appeared in the other notorious ObviousBeta game ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Sonic '06,]]'' only one major character, Silver The Hedgehog, has made further appearances due to the game becoming an instant OldShame and near-FranchiseKiller and retconing itself and the other characters [[Retgone in it out of existence]] due to the backlash against it; Silver's backstory was changed significantly for his other appearances. Several Iblis fire enemies did return for ''Sonic Generations''.

** Also Shade, who hasn't been referenced at all since [[VideoGame/SonicChronicles her debut]]. This one is more justifiable in that ''Chronicles'' is [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canon]], supposedly the furthest event in the series chronologically speaking, was not received well by fans for being another ObviousBeta game finished to contract requirements (though it got a better critical reception at the time), and earned the makers of the game and comic book publisher Archie a DEFCON-2 to DEFCON-1 backlash from former writer Ken Penders, who accused them of [[TheyCopiedItSoItSucks copying his Sonic character Julie-Su for Shade]]; this backlash and Archie's failure to deal with it properly led to a [[ScrewedByTheLawyers messy legal battle that forced them to reboot their comic without Penders's characters]] and effectively killed off any ideas of a sequel.

** Also Shade, who hasn't been referenced at all since [[VideoGame/SonicChronicles her debut]]. This one is more justifiable in that ''Chronicles'' is both [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canon]] and supposedly the furthest event in the series chronologically speaking.

* Brian's cousin, Jasper, and Jasper's boyfriend, Ricardo, has been subjected to this trope in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. Jasper appeared twice in a CutawayGag and then twice more in two episodes; the first one made Jasper and Ricardo a OneSceneWonder and their next appearance several seasons later sets up the plot over gay marriage in Quahog. The duo has not been seen or talked about since then.
** Jasper is seen talking to Brian on Skype in "Brian's Play.

* At the end of the third Literature/ArtemisFowl book, Holly Short tells Juliet Butler before she's mind-wiped that the bodyguarding business is too cold for her and she really should consider other employment. The epilogue says Juliet has quit and is trying out to become a professional wrestler, though Artemis hopes she'll fail and come back, and she's never seen again, though she's mentioned a few times in passing as her brother is still a fairly major character.
** Averted by book seven, in which Juliet comes back in full force. As a professional wrestler.