History TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / WesternAnimation

* Given all the [[ShoutOut shoutouts]] to ''WesternAnimation/TheDisneyAfternoon'' that were made in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' and the reimaging of several of the characters from said shows, it's rather unfortunate that the cast from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'' never got anything more than a cameo in one episode, with their MacGuffin having more story significance. Yes, they were established to have existed years ago, but it's not like time travel isn't canon in the series. And though the show usually [[TheOtherDarrin recasts the voices]] at least [[Creator/CoreyBurton two]] [[Creator/JimCummings of]] the actors from the original series [[note]] While Paul Winchell did voice Zummi for most of the show's run, Cummings replaced him during the last two seasons after he had a stroke, as he did for Tigger on ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh.'' [[/note]] worked on the show, so all in all, it seems like a wasted opportunity.

** Koh the Face-Stealer, a fascinatingly creepy spirit who looks like a giant centipede and can steal the faces of victims to wear as his own. With tantalizing hints that he has dealt with the Avatar in the past and will do so again in the future, he never reappeared in the show again. With Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' titled "Spirits", there was some hope that he'd show up for at least a cameo, but no dice, and even when the end of Season 2 had the portals to the spirit world permanently open, allowing spirits to travel freely into the human realm, he doesn't appear.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug:''
** About the one thing the fandom can agree on when it comes to [[BaseBreakingCharacter Lila Rossi]] is that she's been fairly underutilized. In her first couple appearances, all signs pointed to her taking Chloé's place as the resident AlphaBitch (especially given that it looked like Chloé was going to have a HeelFaceTurn at the time), and [[spoiler:the fact that she willingly allied herself with [[BigBad Hawk Moth]]]] opened up some interesting story opportunities. Instead, she was pretty much only used as a walking plot device in order to facilitate some of the series' most contentious plots, and in the season 3 finale, [[spoiler:''Chloé'' was the one who teamed up with Hawk Moth, with Lila nowhere to be seen.]]
** Zoé Lee, Chloé's half sister, intrigued several fans with her existence alone -- however, the writers seem to have no plans for developing her character beyond "the anti-Chloé", contributing heavily to the [[BaseBreakingCharacter contentious reception]] she's gotten.
** "Penalteam" introduces no less than ''four'' new heroes, with the drawback that no individual screentime or development is given to any of them, making it unclear why they were chosen as heroes beyond "we had yet to use these Miraculouses and these are Marinette's only classmates that haven't received one yet".
** There are numerous minor characters that fans wish would get an ADayInTheLimelight/akumatization episode, such as Mireille and Marlena.

** Viktor's assistant Sky appears to be a somewhat important character, even appearing in Viktor's flashback. [[spoiler: However, she is killed rather unceremoniously only to fuel Viktor's angst. Fans feel like she should have been developed as a character in her own right.]]

** Maybe the ultimate example would be Vinny, [[spoiler: the new ReplacementGoldfish dog the Griffins adopted after Brian's sudden death]]. The event bringing him onto the show was erased from history with only one episode between that and his introduction.

** Orgalorg [[spoiler: is the true form of Gunther, an EldritchAbomination from outer space that has been around since before the Big Bang. The episode of his namesake sets him up as one of the most dangerous and powerful villains in the show, and his AffablyEvil personality provides a humorous contrast to said power. He could've been an interesting new BigBad, but he is quickly dealt with and is back to Gunther by the end of the episode he appears in. There are a few scattered references to Gunther being Orgalorg every now and then, but it's never truly touched upon again.]]

** BadassNormal Suki. Despite proving herself to be strong and a perfect match for Sokka then joining the Team in Book 3, she stays OutOfFocus as the second half of the season is more about [[spoiler: Zuko trying to gain the trust of his former enemies]]. It seems like the writers forgot about her since she's never alluded once in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' (beyond the briefest of appearances in a still image that accompanied Tenzin's introductory narration in the first episode).

*** Book 4 then gives her somehow more to do in using Future Industries to repair Republic City, deal with her estranged father and [[spoiler: her romantic feelings for Korra]] yet less screentime to focus on any of that as Mako babysitting [[RoyalBrat Prince Wu]] gets more screentime ''and'' [[SpotlightStealingSquad Varrick's]] [[spoiler: sudden HeelFaceTurn]] who's not even part of the main cast yet gets more screentime than ''half'' the main team despite the fact that Asami's also personally recruited to design a weapon to counter [[BigBad Kuvira's]] Spirit Energy-powered one. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking She doesn't even get a new outfit like the rest of the team!]]
** And lastly, in ''Turf Wars'', not only is there the same problem with Future Industries, but also the fact that she spends ''two-thirds'' of the trilogy holding the DistressBall with the first being to reveal to her friends that [[spoiler: she and Korra are a [[OfficialCouple couple]]]] and the second because its the cliffhanger to ThreeActStructure.

** Tula/Aquagirl and Marie Logan each appeared in ''one'' episode in Season One before [[spoiler:being revealed to have died]] during the TimeSkip prior to ''Invasion''. Even in the tie-in game ''VideoGame/YoungJusticeLegacy'' that shows [[spoiler: the circumstances of Tula's death]], she stays the entire game in the cave doing nothing but monitoring the team and giving expositions [[spoiler:before getting abducted by Klarion at the end and then she does a HeroicSacrifice to seal Tiamat]].
** The entire Injustice League. Despite a lineup featuring the original supervillain, a guy with all Captain Marvel's powers, a guy with all Doctor Fate's powers, and ComicBook/TheJoker, they appear in all of one episode, lose, and with the exception of Count Vertigo, a later cameo by Wotan, [[spoiler: and Ultra-Humanite joining [[LegionOfDoom The Light]] in season 3, complete with a CreatorCameo by Creator/GregWeisman]], never show up again. Most of them wouldn't be out of place in the Light's leadership [[spoiler: as proven with Ultra-Humanite]], but nonetheless, most of them don't even get lines, with most of their dialogue [[PopularityPower going to the Joker]].

** Scruffy is one of the employees of Planet Express, who are the main characters of the show but he didn't have as much screen time as his coworkers and has an extremely vague backstory. Even his own coworkers forget that he exists frequently. There were plans for him to get an OriginsEpisode in the final season, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen but they were scrapped]].
** Lrrr, the ruler of Omicron Persei 8 is also an example as he does have a fan following and his voice actor, Maurice Lamarche won an Emmy award for his voicing of Lrrr. However, he only appears in one to two episodes per season, and it always either focuses on him invading Earth for ridiculous reasons or focuses on him attempting to repair the cracks in his marriage with his wife, Ndnd.
** Jrrr, who is Lrrr's son also got a huge amount of this treatment as well. He appears as a newborn in a season 2 episode and played an important role in it but he was PutOnABus until the last season episode "T: The Terrestrial" where he reappears as a pre teen who tries to steer away from his father's violent ways but his relationship with his mother Ndnd is shown to be vague and flat.

** 8 1/2 President Quentin Trembley could've shared a role with [[spoiler: Ford as the BigGood but only appeared in the GrandFinale as a cameo in the credits.]]

** Dr. Screwball Jones. The EvilCounterpart to Wander who is a WellIntentionedExtremist about spreading happiness throughout the galaxy, and nearly managed to succeed. Come "The Battle Royale," however, he ends up [[spoiler: losing to Wander in a CurbStompBattle, then losing off-screen to Lord Dominator before "My Fair Hatey"]] and doesn't even get to sing again in the latter. Justified as the creators mentioned that they had trouble getting Weird Al in to record more lines for Screwball, as Weird Al was very busy at that time, and [[http://i.imgur.com/tXA5DZF.png the staff underestimated his popularity]].

** Mina Loveberry is an interesting case, since the problem isn’t that she was underutilized, but rather, that she was used at the wrong place at the wrong time. [[spoiler: She ends up being the final villain of the show,]] which many fans can agree doesn’t work for the kind of character that she is. Mina is nothing more than a PsychopathicManchild who’s [[VanHelsingHateCrimes obsessed with destroying monsters in any way that she can]]. She would have worked much better as a recurring villain akin to Ludo, with her potentially even [[spoiler: teaming up with Star to defeat a different BigBad for the finale.]]
** After [[spoiler: Toffee’s defeat]] at the beginning of Season 3, Ludo starts to become OutOfFocus, appearing in very few episodes from that point on. This made [[spoiler: his redemption]] feel very forced and poorly thought out, especially since it introduces Ludo’s brother, Dennis, who is a genuinely interesting and likable character that many fans would have loved to see more of.

** Season 2 introduces Frobo, a robot who is particularly close to Polly. Despite being accepted into the Plantar family, he really doesn’t do much throughout the entire series and probably could have been written out entirely. Being a FishOutOfWater just like Anne, there could have been some dynamics between him and Wartwood. Since he’s also a robot, there could have also been some interesting dynamics between him and [[spoiler: Andrias’s army.]]
** Despite being the FinalBoss, there are still some who feel like [[spoiler: The Core]] could have made for a better villain. [[spoiler: They really only start to have relevance in the final few episodes, and their backstory isn’t really fleshed out. How did they come to be? Who is part of it besides Aldrich? What is their ultimate goal in [[GalacticConquerer taking over the universe]]?]] The world may never know.
** The episode “If You Give a Frog a Cookie” introduces Dr. Frakes, a MadScientist who figured out how to [[InterdimensionalTravelDevice create a portal that leads to other worlds]] and wishes to learn more about alien life, [[spoiler: which includes dissecting them.]] It could have been very easy for her to enter Amphibia completely on her own. What would have happened if she ended up on an “alien planet?”
** Percy and Braddock are the only toads who stayed loyal to Grime and Sasha after [[spoiler: Toad Tower was destroyed and Grime lost his position of power.]] They are seen accompanying them for most of Season 2, but after [[spoiler: Sasha forces them to go on a deadly mission even after they told her that they didn’t want to, they end up leaving them]], and they aren’t seen for the rest of the series aside from a cameo. What happened to them after [[spoiler: Sasha and Grime learn from their mistakes and Sasha ends up becoming someone worth following?]]
* WesternAnimation/HighGuardianSpice: What people who don’t care for the show think of [[EnsembleDarkHorse Slime Boy and Parnelle.]]

** Orgalorg [[spoiler: is the true form of Gunther, an EldritchAbominaton from outer space that has been around since before the Big Bang. The episode of his namesake sets him up as one of the most dangerous and powerful villains in the show, and his AffablyEvil personality provides a humorous contrast to said power. He could've been an interesting new BigBad, but he is quickly dealt with and is back to Gunther by the end of the episode he appears in. There are a few scattered references to Gunther being Orgalorg every now and then, but it's never truly touched upon again.]]