History SpotlightStealingSquad / WesternAnimation

* The ''Franchise/LiloAndStitch'' franchise is very hyper-fixated on ''the latter title protagonist himself''. Stitch is so popular a character that since 2008, Creator/{{Disney}} has released several spin-offs that focus more on him and reduce Lilo Pelekai's appearances, with the ''Anime/{{Stitch}}'' anime having her appear in only a third-season episode [[spoiler:as an adult]], ''Animation/StitchAndAi'' only having her appear in brief flashbacks (with Stitch not even remembering who she is), and ''Manga/StitchAndTheSamurai'' outright removing her altogether (since it takes place centuries before her time). The franchise's merchandising front has such little character variety--especially for a beloved franchise that's all about ''[[NoOneGetsLeftBehind ʻohana]]'' with its quirky yet charming characters--that it's gotten to the point that in 2021, Disney has quietly rebranded the franchise to just his name, driving the point home that Stitch ''is'' the franchise, no ifs, ands, or buts.

* By the creator's own admission, ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' began sidelining much of the show's supporting cast in favor of Timmy's Dad and Denzel Crocker starting in Season 7, as he and the writers found those two the most enjoyable to write for. Previous mainstays like Timmy's friends Chester and A.J., his love interests Tootie and Trixie Tang, and even his babysitter Vicky, who served as the show's most frequent antagonist, were phased out to the point that Vicky only makes two appearances (one of which being a cameo) in the show's tenth and final season[[note]]Compare that to the fifth season, where she makes ''15 appearances in total''.[[/note]] (and everyone else makes non-speaking cameos ''at best''). Meanwhile, by that last season, Timmy's Dad and/or Crocker would come to have significant roles in every episode, with the latter even getting a sidekick in the form of a nephew.

** Doug from Season 19-22 has been shoehorned in a majority of episodes during that time period of the show.

* By the creator's own admission, ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' began sidelining much of the show's supporting cast in favor of Timmy's Dad and Denzel Crocker starting in Season 7, as he and the writers found those two the most enjoyable to write for. Previous mainstays like Timmy's friends Chester and A.J., his love interests Tootie and Trixie Tang, and even his babysitter Vicky, who served as the show's most frequent antagonist, were phased out to the point that Vicky only makes two appearances (one of which being a cameo) in the show's tenth and final season[[note]]Compare that to the fifth season, where she has ''15 appearances in total''.[[/note]] (and everyone else makes non-speaking cameos ''at best''). Meanwhile, by that last season, Timmy's Dad and/or Crocker would come to have significant roles in every episode, with the latter even getting a sidekick in the form of a nephew.

* By the creator's own admission, ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' began sidelining much of the show's supporting cast in favor of Timmy's Dad and Denzel Crocker starting in Season 7, as he and the writers found those two the most enjoyable to write for. Previous mainstays like Timmy's friends Chester and A.J., his love interests Tootie and Trixie Tang, and even his babysitter Vicky, who served as the show's most frequent antagonist, were phased out to the point that Vicky only makes two appearances (one of which being a cameo) in the show's tenth and final season[[note]]compare that to the fifth season, where she has ''15 appearances in total''.[[/note]] (and everyone else makes non-speaking cameos ''at best''). Meanwhile, by that last season, Timmy's Dad and/or Crocker would come to have significant roles in every episode, with the latter even getting a sidekick in the form of a nephew.

* By the creator's own admission, ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' began sidelining much of the show's supporting cast in favor of Timmy's Dad and Denzel Crocker starting in Season 7, as he and the writers found those two the most enjoyable to write for. Previous mainstays like Timmy's friends Chester and A.J., his love interests Tootie and Trixie Tang, and even his babysitter Vicky, who served as the show's most frequent antagonist, were phased out to the point that Vicky only makes two appearances (one of which being a cameo) in the show's tenth and final season[[note]]compare that to the fifth season, where she has 5 antagonist roles and 15 appearances in total.[[/note]] (and everyone else makes non-speaking cameos ''at best''). Meanwhile, by that last season, Timmy's Dad and/or Crocker would come to have significant roles in every episode, with the latter even getting a sidekick in the form of a nephew.

* By the creator's own admission, ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' began sidelining much of the show's supporting cast in favor of Timmy's Dad and Denzel Crocker starting in Season 7, as he and the writers found those two the most enjoyable to write for. Previous mainstays like Timmy's friends Chester and A.J., his love interests Tootie and Trixie Tang, and even his babysitter Vicky, who served as the show's most frequent antagonist, were phased out to the point that Vicky only makes two appearances (one of which being a cameo) in the show's tenth and final season[[note]]for instance, she has five antagonist roles (and 15 appearances in total) in the fifth season as opposed to ''only one'' antagonist role (and ''2'' appearances in total) in the tenth season.[[/note]] (and everyone else makes non-speaking cameos ''at best''). Meanwhile, by that last season, Timmy's Dad and/or Crocker would come to have significant roles in every episode, with the latter even getting a sidekick in the form of a nephew.

* By the creator's own admission, ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' began sidelining much of the show's supporting cast in favor of Timmy's Dad and Denzel Crocker starting in Season 7, as he and the writers found those two the most enjoyable to write for. Previous mainstays like Timmy's friends Chester and A.J., his love interests Tootie and Trixie Tang, and even his babysitter Vicky, who served as the show's most frequent antagonist, were phased out to the point that Vicky only makes two appearances (one of which being a cameo) in the show's tenth and final season[[note]]for instance, she has five antagonist roles in the fifth season as opposed to ''only one'' in the tenth season.[[/note]] (and everyone else makes non-speaking cameos ''at best''). Meanwhile, by that last season, Timmy's Dad and/or Crocker would come to have significant roles in every episode, with the latter even getting a sidekick in the form of a nephew.

* By the creator's own admission, ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' began sidelining much of the show's supporting cast in favor of Timmy's Dad and Denzel Crocker starting in Season 7, as he and the writers found those two the most enjoyable to write for. Previous mainstays like Timmy's friends Chester and A.J., his love interests Tootie and Trixie Tang, and even his babysitter Vicky, who served as the show's most frequent antagonist, were phased out to the point that Vicky only makes two appearances in the show's tenth and final season[[note]]for instance, she has five antagonist roles in the fifth season as opposed to ''only one'' in the tenth season.[[/note]] (and everyone else makes non-speaking cameos ''at best''). Meanwhile, by that last season, Timmy's Dad and/or Crocker would come to have significant roles in every episode, with the latter even getting a sidekick in the form of a nephew.

* By the creator's own admission, ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' began sidelining much of the show's supporting cast in favor of Timmy's Dad and Denzel Crocker starting in Season 7, as he and the writers found those two the most enjoyable to write for. Previous mainstays like Timmy's friends Chester and A.J., his love interests Tootie and Trixie Tang, and even his babysitter Vicky, who served as the show's most frequent antagonist, were phased out to the point that Vicky only makes two appearances in the show's tenth and final season[[note]]For instance, she has five antagonist roles in the fifth season as opposed to ''only one'' in the tenth season.[[/note]] (and everyone else makes non-speaking cameos ''at best''). Meanwhile, by that last season, Timmy's Dad and/or Crocker would come to have significant roles in every episode, with the latter even getting a sidekick in the form of a nephew.

* By the creator's own admission, ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' began sidelining much of the show's supporting cast in favor of Timmy's Dad and Denzel Crocker starting in Season 7, as he and the writers found those two the most enjoyable to write for. Previous mainstays like Timmy's friends Chester and A.J., his love interests Tootie and Trixie Tang, and even his babysitter Vicky, who served as the show's most frequent antagonist, were phased out to the point that Vicky only makes two appearances in the show's tenth and final season (and everyone else makes non-speaking cameos ''at best''). Meanwhile, by that last season, Timmy's Dad and/or Crocker would come to have significant roles in every episode, with the latter even getting a sidekick in the form of a nephew.

** Squidward is also an example. From the start, he has appeared in more episodes than Patrick and many episodes from the post-movie seasons tend to give him more episodes where he's the butt-monkey and even in minor appearances, he would get at least one line. In the post-sequel era, he even started usurping SpongeBob in appearances, to the point where Squidward gets an entire episode focusing on him and Bubble Bass with SpongeBob not being seen or mentioned at all.

* The ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' shorts after [[UsefulNotes/LooneyTunesInTheSixties 1964]] (and until 1968) had WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck and WesternAnimation/SpeedyGonzales stealing the spotlight, with some appearances of WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner on the side. The only other classic characters to appear during this era were WesternAnimation/PorkyPig, WesternAnimation/{{Sylvester|TheCatAndTweetyBird}}, Granny, and oddly enough, Witch Hazel and the Goofy Gophers (Mac and Tosh), most of which only made one or two appearances (Sylvester, who made five appearances, was the only exception). Yes, WesternAnimation/BugsBunny shockingly [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome made no appearances during this era]] (his final cartoon, "WesternAnimation/FalseHare", was also the final cartoon until [=DePatie-Freleng=] Enterprises took over, with the exception a one-shot cartoon called "WesternAnimation/SenorellaAndTheGlassHuarache").

** ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaRama'' continues the tradition, despite not being a reality show with eliminations and having a reduced cast size. Chef has roles in every single episode due to being the kids' teacher in this series, but most episodes focus on Duncan, Owen, Izzy, or Beth (with the first two already known for being major Spotlight Stealers in the main series).

* In theory, the ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' are meant to share the role of main character together. In ''practice'', a lot of stories have [[TheLeader Leonardo]] as the protagonist, which tends to come at the other three's expense. The [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012 2012 series]] is especially bad at this, to the point it can come off as the writers having a favorite: Leo gets to learn techniques the others don't, is the only one to regularly take on [[BigBad the Shredder]] solo, his and Raph's [[TeethClenchedTeamwork oft-fraught relationship]] is a major element of the show, and there are ''several'' episodes wherein his brothers are taken out by the MonsterOfTheWeek so Leo can save everyone on his own.

* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'': Acme Looniversity actually has a Spotlight Stealing class (taught by notorious AttentionWhore WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck). Plucky, Buster, Babs, Hamton, and Elmyra must have done especially well, considering how much focus they got. Elmyra would later be shoehorned into ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' as well as ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''; in the latter, she's called into a group counseling session with the Warner siblings. They con her into following Mindy. Yes, ''that'' Mindy. Buttons gets a day off.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'' might as well be called "The Mr. Cat Show". Pretty much everything revolves around what he's doing, and he is focused on even more than the show's protagonist, Kaeloo.