History ShooOutTheClowns / WesternAnimation

** And during the climax of " Pigmalion" when Luanne is aggressively pursued by an insane Trip Larsen, Hank and Bobby aren't present, also Bill, Dale, and Boomhauer are completely absent.

** In the episode "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted", both Perry the Platypus and Dr. Doofenschmirtz are completely absent... [[spoiler:until they show up at the climax for a DeusExMachina, where Perry shows up fighting Doof while at the same time saving the boys and Candace from the [[BigBad Sergeant]]]], where it was later revealed to [[AllJustADream all be Candace's dream]], which was [[DreamWithinADream inside of Perry's dream]] out of fear of having his cover blown.

* The infamous ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode [[VerySpecialEpisode "Screams of Silence:]] [[DarkerAndEdgier The Story Of Brenda Q"]], Peter and Joe get knocked unconscious by the episode's BigBad before the climax with Quagmire. Not to mention Stewie and Brian barely getting any screentime (they each get one line).
* This is done to Sgt Blob's team in pilot episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'', who are defeated and disappear from the conflict shortly before Pildit's DisneyDeath and Rufus' showdown with [[BigBad Zordrak]], not appearing until the conflict is over (though other similarly clownish Urpneys appear during the climax). This is something of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, since the Urpneys would act as {{Villain Protagonist}}s for the rest of the series onwards (though it is repeated in a couple of rare instances Zordrak once again takes part in a scheme).
* ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'' has [[spoiler: Deathstroke]] shut down the comic relief Batcomputer right before the climatic battle in the season finale.

** Hooty is completely absent from "Young Blood, Old Souls", the extremely tense and dramatic season one finale, where [[spoiler:Eda learns that Lilith cursed her, Belos reveals that he had no plans for curing Eda and Luz being forced to destroy the portal back to the human world.]]
** Similarly, Hooty barely shows up at all during the course the three season 3 specials [[spoiler:due to getting turned into a puppet by the Collector shortly after they're freed.]] All in all, he has a grand total of five lines across the entire season, only one of which is more than two words long.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' has a literal example in "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown" as Star Butterfly accidentally sucks the ghost of the titular clown into a black hole before the episode's dramatic finale, where she herself almost gets sucked in and [[spoiler: Marco, Janna, and Jackie rescuing her allows Ludo to escape with the spellbook]], laying the groundwork for the "Battle for Mewni" story arc in the following season.
** In "Storm the Castle", Ludo gets eaten by a monster (he gets better) and Buff Frog is nowhere to be seen when Star confronts [[spoiler: Toffee]] and has to [[spoiler: destroy her wand in exchange for him sparing Marco's life]].
** "Starcrushed" has [[spoiler: Toffee]] stealing the souls of most of the [[ImmortalImmaturity Magic High Commission]] and [[spoiler: one of the other members making a HeroicSacrifice and being KilledOffForReal]], leading up to the DownerBeginning of Season 3.
** Said beginning of season 3 is a series of episodes that make up the "Battle for Mewni" arc. Just before Star returns to the castle to confront Ludo, he sends River up into the sky, and he doesn't come back down again until after the final fight with [[spoiler: Toffee]].
** "Skooled" has Miss Heinous return to St. Olga's school with Gemini and a [[FromASingleCell fully-healed]] Rasticore in order to [[spoiler:learn more about her past as Meteora]]. After finding out that [[spoiler:she is the rightful Queen of Mewni]], Rasticore is reluctant to join her on her new quest, and she [[spoiler: removes Gemini's [[RoboticReveal robotic]] heart (which kills him), and uses it as a bomb to reduce Rasticore back to an arm]], removing both him and Gemini from the plot as it takes a darker turn.
** In the two-part season 3 finale, while Star goes off to [[spoiler:look for Moon in the Realm of Magic]], Marco assembles a team consisting of himself, Kelly, Jorby, Ponyhead, Tom, Heckapoo, Talon Raventalon and his dragon cycle, and Nachos (Marco's dragon cycle), to hold hold off [[spoiler: Meteora]] until Star's return. [[spoiler: Meteora]] steals the souls of all of them until Tom and Marco are left, and they have a serious conversation before [[spoiler: Marco ends up as a victim]].
*** Earlier, Star has [[AmbiguouslyEvil Ecl]][[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} ipsa]] locked away for inadvertently causing Moon to [[spoiler: lose half her soul and flee to the Realm of Magic]]. However, this trope is zig-zagged when she shows up during the climax, having somehow escaped, and [[spoiler: takes the wand and uses it to defeat Meteora easily]], all while being [[BewareTheSillyOnes completely serious]].

** In the Season 6 finale, "To Where and Back Again", Pinkie along with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor, Princess Luna, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Flurry Heart, Fluttershy, Rarity, Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence get kidnapped by Queen Chrysalis and replaced with Changeling duplicates. After Starlight Glimmer, Thorax, Trixie and Discord rescue them from the evil ruler, things get more lighthearted. Pinkie Pie, in particular, does not have any lines in Part 2.