History Main / UnexpectedCharacter

* [[UnexpectedCharacter/AnimatedFilms Films -- Animated]]

* The first season of ''Animation/FlowerAngel'' features a pair of {{crossover}} episodes that are both focused on a certain character becoming a fairy after entering the ''Flower Angel'' world and being attracted to a piano-playing boy. Xia An'an mistakes that character for the fairy she has to capture. Who is that character? ''Music/{{Vocaloid}}'''s own Music/HatsuneMiku, of all people. Besides those being the only two episodes where a character that isn't owned by Taomee (the company that makes ''Flower Angel'') appears, Taomee got the permission of ''Vocaloid'' company Crypton to use Miku, despite the show being created in China where copyright infringement is second nature to everyone, in a show that was already a [[TheMockbuster mockbuster]] of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' to an extent to begin with.

* The first season of ''Animation/FlowerAngel'' features a pair of {{crossover}} episodes that are both focused on a certain character becoming a fairy after entering the ''Flower Angel'' world and being attracted to a piano-playing boy. Xia An'an mistakes that character for the fairy she has to capture. Who is that character? ''Music/{{Vocaloid}}'''s own Music/HatsuneMiku, of all people. Besides those being the only two episodes where a character that isn't owned by Taomee (the company that makes ''Flower Angel'') appears, Taomee got the permission of ''Vocaloid'' company Crypton to use Miku, despite the show being created in China where copyright infringement is second nature to everyone, in a show that was already a [[TheMockbuster mockbuster]] of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' to begin with.

* The first season of ''Animation/FlowerAngel'' features a pair of {{crossover}} episodes that are both focused on a certain character becoming a fairy after entering the ''Flower Angel'' world and being attracted to a piano-playing boy. Xia An'an mistakes that character for the fairy she has to capture. Who is that character? ''Music/{{Vocaloid}}'''s own Music/HatsuneMiku, of all people. Besides being the only two episodes where a character that isn't owned by Taomee (the company that makes ''Flower Angel'') appears, Taomee got the permission of ''Vocaloid'' company Crypton to use Miku, despite the show being created in China where copyright infringement is second nature to everyone, in a show that was already a [[TheMockbuster mockbuster]] of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' to begin with.

* The first season of ''Animation/FlowerAngel'' features a pair of {{crossover}} episodes that are both focused on a certain character becoming a fairy after entering the ''Flower Angel'' world and being attracted to a piano-playing boy. Xia An'an mistakes that character for the fairy she has to capture. Who is that character? ''Music/{{Vocaloid}}'''s own Music/HatsuneMiku, of all people.

** Who would have thought that '''any''' characters from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' would ever step into ''Death Battle''? Yet, there have been four so far: [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicRainbowDash Rainbow Dash]], [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicPinkiePie Pinkie Pie]], [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicTwilightSparkle Princess Twilight Sparkle]], and [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicDiscord Discord]] who respectively fought [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Starscream]], ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'', ComicBook/{{Raven}}, and [[Characters/GravityFallsBillCipher Bill Cipher]].

* {{Invoked}} in Thorgi's "Build That Roster" series of videos. Where he would normally pick a number of familiar faces for a hypothetical fighting game, but leave at least one character be the token "weird pick". For example, [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Mutagen Man]] in a hypothetical ''VIdeoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTournamentFighters'' sequel, Creator/ElviraMistressOfTheDark in a roster for a game based around horror films, or even AbandonedMascot [[VideoGame/Blinx Blinx the Time Sweeper]] for an Xbox equivalent to ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''.

* {{Invoked}} in Thorgi's "Build That Roster" series of videos. Where he would normally pick a number of familiar faces for a hypothetical fighting game, but leave at least one character be the token "weird pick". For example, [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Mutagen Man]] in a hypothetical ''VIdeoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTournamentFighters'' sequel, or Creator/ElviraMistressOfTheDark in a roster for a game based around horror films.

* {{Invoked}} in Thorgi's "Build That Roster" series of videos. Where he would normally pick a number of familiar faces for a hypothetical fighting game, but leave at least one character be the token "weird pick". For example, [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Mutagen Man]] in a hypothetical ''[[VIdeoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTournamentFighters]]'' sequel, or Creator/ElviraMistressOfTheDark in a roster for a game based around horror films.

* The first season of ''Animation/FlowerFairy'' features a pair of {{crossover}} episodes that are both focused on a certain character becoming a fairy after entering the ''Flower Fairy'' world and being attracted to a piano-playing boy. Xia An'an mistakes that character for the fairy she has to capture. Who is that character? ''Music/{{Vocaloid}}'''s own Music/HatsuneMiku, of all people.

* For the better part of a decade, ''nobody'' expected to see Wrestling/CMPunk [[CrossingTheBurntBridge in a WWE ring again]]. That is, until ''[[Wrestling/SurvivorSeries Survivor Series (2023)]]'' when "[[Music/LivingColour Cult of Personality]]" hit at the end of the show, causing the Chicago crowd to come ''completely unglued''. [[CueTheFlyingPigs Everybody knew this too]], declared by Wrestling/TripleH himself as a "[[https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/1728631658054836491 Mighty cold day in hell]]".

*** Speaking of the Marvel G1 Comic, while Rodimus Prime was sort of expected in ''Kingdom'' (seeing as the subline also commemorates the 35th anniversary of [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie the original G1 movie]], and if he did not he would have instead appeared in the concurrently running [[Toys/TransformersStudioSeries Studio Series 84]] line instead), his toy does have a surprising inclusion: The Sword of Primus from ''Regeneration One''.

* Speaking of Yang, the spin-off ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'' offered one that also serves as a case of TrollingCreator. With the reveal of an episode called "Evil Interview", fans got hopeful about what villain would debut there. Turned out to be [[spoiler:Cardin Winchester]], a really minor and unpopular antagonist who hadn't appeared in two volumes of the main show - and as proven by the episode, [[EvilerThanThou is thoroughly outclassed in the evil department]] by the actual villains of ''RWBY''. [[https://twitter.com/GilbyRanger/status/959904148660596742 Even his voice actor]] stated he was surprised with the character's return.

** ''Almost nobody'' was expecting '''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes Veronica]]''' to get a figurine in this line, moreso than Lilina, as while she is also popular, she was a ''Heroes'' OriginalCharacter that never appeared in any mainline game at the time, Book VI just ended by that point, and her Legendary variant, the one her figurine is based on, wouldn't become playable until two days later.

** Many people were surprised to see two statuettes get announced on the same day, as individual statuettes have always been announced on their own. While one of the statuettes being [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade Roy]] is more or less expected, the fact that he's paired with a statuette of his childhood friend '''Lilina''' is not what a lot of people were expecting. While Lilina herself is fairly popular, what makes her this is that she is not considered a lord/avatar character in the game she appeared in and doesn't have much importance in its plot compared to Roy, not to mention that she first appeared in [[NoExportForYou a game that never saw an international release]].

** Similarly, a later [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_2KEvnwKDQ music video]] shone the spotlight on Disney Channel's various villains. Similarly to the above-mentioned video, we get appearances from [[WesternAnimation/KimPossible Shego, Dr. Drakken]], [[WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong the Huntsman]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} David Xanatos]], [[WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers Fat Cat]], [[WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian Dark Lord Chuckles]], and so on. Those aren't the only surprises, though-- [[WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder Killbot 86]] makes an appearance despite being a very minor villain in his home series.

** Similarly, a later [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_2KEvnwKDQ music video]] shone the spotlight on Disney Channel's various villains. Similarly to the above-mentioned video, we get appearances from [[WesternAnimation/KimPossible Shego]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} David Xanatos]]-- the latter being, again, Disney Afternoon's only representative in the video. Those aren't the only surprises, though-- [[WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder Killbot 86]] makes an appearance despite being a very minor villain in his home series.

* Music/QueensOfTheStoneAge had [[Music/TheStrokes Julian Casablancas]] guest on ''Era Vulgaris'' and [[Music/EltonJohn Elton FREAKING John]] [[WTHCastingAgency of all people]] appear on another album.

** Who would have thought that '''any''' characters from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' would ever step into ''Death Battle''? Yet, there have been three so far: [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicRainbowDash Rainbow Dash]], [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicPinkiePie Pinkie Pie]], and [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicTwilightSparkle Princess Twilight Sparkle]] who respectively fought [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Starscream]], ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'', and ComicBook/{{Raven}}. [[spoiler:And Twilight was the sole loser from the group.]]

** In the main continuity, Miss America is one of the less prominent ComicBook/FreedomFightersDCComics, but she gets a secondary role here, while her better known teammates like Black Condor, Phantom Lady, and the Ray only get cameos.

** The first ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' representative was Toph rather than Aang (who appeared second). Zuko and [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLegendOfKorra Korra]] also appeared later.

** After ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' finally ended, it was inevitable that the franchise be featured on the show. The title character will be the first to appear, right? Wrong, it was Gaara (Naruto himself was the second, though). Six other unexpected Naruto representatives include Jiraiya, Sasuke Uchiha, Might Guy, Kakashi Hatake, Rock Lee, and Madara Uchiha.

** While the IP is indeed a Disney/Pixar one, WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} Land at first seemed like an odd choice to be one of the focal points of Disney California Adventure's 2012 overhaul, given that the most recent ''Cars'' film, ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars 2}}'', had been critically panned, and that the original ''Cars'' film is generally seen as one of Creator/{{Pixar}}'s weaker movies.[[note]]Though when considering just how popular the movies are with children, and the billions made from the merchandise, it's kind of justified.[[/note]] Nonetheless, Cars Land was a [[SpotlightStealingSquad massive success]], and the E-ticket ride, ''Radiator Springs Racers'', regularly has one of the longest lines in either Disneyland or DCA (at time of writing, 4 PM on a Thursday in March, ''6'' years after the ride opened, it currently has a 120 minute long line).