History TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / WesternAnimation

* [[EvilOverlord King Sombra]], out of all the main antagonists, if not every single antagonist in the show,(or even every character period) is the only one who has had no opportunity to experience any character focus, despite being highly competent and frighteningly dangerous. With little interaction with the mane cast, barely any dialogue, very little screen time [[spoiler:and being KilledOffForReal]], he was written as more of a mindless beast than an actual villain. There was evidence to suggest he was going to be the show's first recurring villain, until the [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW official comic]] used Queen Chrysalis to fill that position. This was somewhat mitigated with him not only getting the longest BadFuture scenario in the Season 5 Finale, but also being played as one ''hell'' of a scary villain as opposed to the AdvancingWallOfDoom characterization he got in his first appearance.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Between the vast and colorful supporting cast and the sheer size of the fandom, there are plenty of characters whose fans consider them underutilized. A few examples out of many:
** Almost ''everything'' about Princess Luna (sister of [[BigGood Princess Celestia]], [[TheSacredDarkness rules the night]], [[FaceHeelTurn became a]] {{Mad God}}dess because of loneliness and [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy]], [[SealedEvilInACan sealed in the moon]] [[AndIMustScream for a thousand years]]) could be the basis for numerous stories, but after Twilight and company purged her of evil and she reconciled with Celestia, she wasn't even ''mentioned'' again for the entire first season. Since then she's had ADayInTheLimelight and a few cameos, but they only succeeded in introducing and hinting at more traits that could be explored. It's no mystery that she is '''the''' most popular EnsembleDarkHorse of the fandom.
*** Luna's villain persona Nightmare Moon had everything a villain needed: a cool design, a clear motive, and even ''henchmen''. Unfortunately, bringing her back would completely undo the CharacterDevelopment that Luna has since gone through. Season 4 got around this problem by featuring a return from Nightmare Moon... in the form of a [[DreamingOfThingsGoneBy flashback]] Twilight gets of the night she was banished to the moon.
** [[EvilOverlord King Sombra]], out of all the main antagonists, if not every single antagonist in the show,(or even every character period) is the only one who has had no opportunity to experience any character focus, despite being highly competent and frighteningly dangerous. With little interaction with the mane cast, barely any dialogue, very little screen time [[spoiler:and being KilledOffForReal]], he was written as more of a mindless beast than an actual villain. There was evidence to suggest he was going to be the show's first recurring villain, until the [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW official comic]] used Queen Chrysalis to fill that position. This was somewhat mitigated with him not only getting the longest BadFuture scenario in the Season 5 Finale, but also being played as one ''hell'' of a scary villain as opposed to the AdvancingWallOfDoom characterization he got in his first appearance.
** Celestia, although she appears in numerous episodes, never receives any character focus like Luna and exists mostly to provide exposition. What hints do exist as to her past and personality - especially the ones that might indicate she's TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask - are tantalising enough to make her a prime target for fanfiction writers, but they're only hints and near nothing is really known about her. Celestia fans are quite irked that she seldom gets to do ''anything'', that when she does she gets soundly [[CurbStompBattle stomped to the curb]] so the Mane 6 can save the day instead, that she's not had a ''single'' focus episode (where Luna and Cadance have had several each), and that she had next to no screentime in the Season 5 Premiere and Finale.
** Peewee, a baby phoenix who Spike appeared to adopt at the end of the episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E21DragonQuest "Dragon Quest"]]. This had a lot of potential: it gave Spike a pet like the rest of the Mane Cast, not to mention a friend who'd live as long as him. The next time he's even mentioned since his introduction? Finding out he's been PutOnABus ''offscreen!'' [[WeHardlyKnewYe Makes you wonder why they even bothered introducing the character.]]
** Queen Chrysalis spent the vast majority of her screentime [[spoiler:impersonating Cadence]], even during her VillainSong, so her true from is only seen for about ten minutes and leaves no opportunity to explore her motives or personality, or even what changelings actually are, ultimately ending up [[spoiler:suffering a DisneyVillainDeath]]. She gets a much bigger role in [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW the IDW comics]], however although they're official they are not from the same writers as the show and it's doubtful they're part of regular continuity.
** Spike the dragon. He's shown time and time again to have some quite amazing abilites, like swimming in lava and fire breath that can melt locks or [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome stadium-sized pieces of ice]], HiddenDepths, and a rather mysterious backstory, but in the episodes where he even makes an appearance he's either thrust into the background or a source of ComicRelief.
** Babs Seed who was inducted as the fourth Cutie Mark Crusader at the end of ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E4OneBadApple One Bad Apple]]'', opening up a flood of possibilities for her to crusade either in Ponyville or her hometown of Manehattan. Her next appearance later in the season briefly mentions her new life in Manehattan and making friends with two other blank flanked foals. After that, she was PutOnABus until early on in the fifth season where it was revealed (off-screen, no less) that she got her cutie mark.
** Shining Armor was introduced as captain of Canterlot's Royal Guard and a CoolBigBro to Twilight Sparkle. One would expect him to be a capable fighter and to provide strong emotional support to Twilight, but in his appearances he [[TheWorfEffect gets beaten easily by the current villain]] and has little role beyond "Cadence's husband" (and even ''then'', he and Queen Chrysalis got more screentime as a couple than he and Cadance), if he isn't just treated like a background character.
** [[BrokenBase Roughly half the fans]] feel this way about Starlight Glimmer. In her first appearance was a surprisingly dark and frightening villain with abiguous motives, behavior modelled after real life cult leaders, a town modelled after a [[https://derpiboo.ru/865888 concentration camp]], and a VillainSong modelled after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII [[https://derpiboo.ru/864687 propaganda music]] (all of this was intentional). Her second appearance has all of that cast aside and forgotten about, instead giving her a [[EvilIsPetty very petty]] motive, and a very abrupt [[EasilyForgiven redemption by the entire cast]].
** Silver Spoon has gotten little characterization beyond being Diamond Tiara's BetaBitch for the bulk of five seasons and [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal dropping her like a sack of rocks once she starts treating her the same way she treated everyone else.]] Quite a few fans are wondering what she's like when Diamond Tiara isn't around.

* So, so, ''so'' many of the background villains from ''WesternAnimation/TheTick''. They all had hilariously over-the-top cartoonish appearances, abilities, and quirks, but most of them didn't even get ''named'' let alone to do anything else.
* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': A few of the villains like Lilliput or Bugmaster with interesting powers only made one or two appearances.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' wasted ''three'' perfectly good characters -- Launchpad's loving family; Ripcord, Birdie and Loopy [=McQuack=] are very well liked and fondly remembered despite only appearing once in the episode "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E12TopDuck Top Duck]]" (with Ripcord and Loopy getting a non-speaking cameo in "Til Nephews Do Us Part"). Fans requested they make another appearance but all they got was a cameo in the ''WesternAnimation/DarkWingDuck'' episode "[[Recap/DarkwingDuckS1E57UFFoe U.F. Foe]]."
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Adrena Lynn would have been a great villain and a great {{Foil}} for Kim, both of them perform stunts but Kim does it for helping people and genuinely does her own stunts while Adrena does it for fame and a fraud who faked her stunts. So she was only a one-shot villain because she wasn't as popular as the other recurring villains.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'':
** One episode had a cross dressing character known as Carolyn/Jamie. In the episode he became close friends with Peggy, and as Jamie even got along well with Hank and the rest of the gang. After he taught Peggy about how it's okay to be different he was never seen again to the dismay of many fans.
** Bobby's girlfriend Debby, introduced at the end of "I'm With Cupid", after Bobby had finally gotten over Connie he meets her and finds out they share a similar sense of humor and introduces her to his parents who approve. The ending implies we will see more of her in future episodes but she is never seen or mentioned again.
* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'': Chimera. Her introduction showed quite some promise, but then she got saddled with a GuessWhoImMarrying plot, which went in a completely predictable direction... that is, except for a couple things that viewers totally expected to happen: the plot taking a trip to her school, Stella having to make a truce with her, and Stella having a decent final battle with her. Though considering she and her mother turned Stella's own father against her...and nearly murdered him at one point...many fans would also feel that she was too far gone to be redeemed.
* ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' introduced a potential love interest for Reggie, in an ep that shows her being afraid to show her real sports skills. Total episode count? ''Two'', with his only other episode centering around Reggie feeling offended that she wasn't invited to play rugby like her fellow friends. At least with Breezy (who was similarly introduced for Reggie's dad and got the same episode count), she had the excuse of being a traveling saleswoman...
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'':
** Bubble Bass could have been a good SitcomArchNemesis to [=SpongeBob=], but he has not made an appearance since the ''first season''.
** Ditto with Kevin C. Cucumber, who could have been a very good EvilCounterpart for [=SpongeBob=] if given the chance. However, he has only appeared in one episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''
** [[LonelyRichKid Remy Buxaplenty]] is an example of a character saved from the waste heap. Remy (and his fairy godparent) made such an impression on the fans in one appearance that they clamored for more, and they eventually got another episode. However, Remy then stopped appearing after his fourth episode while [[MyMasterRightOrWrong his godparent still got to make more appearances without him]].
** Remember that [[HiddenDepths Trixie Tang]] is actually a tomboy scared of alienating her 'friends' if she behaved anyway that she wasn't expected to? And even ''before'' that, in her first appearance, she showed that [[PetTheDog she was nice deep down]], rather than just a spoiled {{Jerkass}}? The writers sure don't...
** Ms. Sunshine AKA Ms. Doombringer, ironic since in her only episode she vowed to Timmy that she will return someday, but as Crocker said "But not someday soon.".

** [[CanadaEh Ezekiel]] was the first contestant voted off in season one and was left out of season two, but got quite a sizable fan base anyway, perhaps especially due to the extremely popular ''Fanfic/TotalDramaComebackSeries''. There was a whole mini-mystery about whether or not he would be in season three, and when it turned out he ''was,'' fans got really excited... and then he got voted off first ''again''. And then, just so his fans ''really'' understood [[TakeThat how much the show's writers hated them]], he devolved into an {{expy}} of [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gollum]] for no logical reason, and got to "come back" as a RunningGag before falling into a volcano in the finale. Needless to say, many of his fans have been crying this trope.
** Eva hasn't had much screen time either. She may not be the best character, but she deserves more screen time. (Ezekiel has been in the competition more than her. EZEKIEL!) A good example of how Eva's character was wasted was through the World Tour Aftermaths. After appearing as the angry reporter in the first Aftermath, she quickly became OutOfFocus as the show focused on the feud between Bridgette/Geoff and Blaineley.

** Noah was brought back here thanks to being an EnsembleDarkhorse who fans felt was voted off too early in the main series'.
** [[spoiler:the Tennis Rivals. While the characters eliminated right before and after them were bland, one-note pairs without much to go on, the FriendlyRivalry of these CoolOldGuy VitriolicBestBuds was never allowed to develop.]]

** Despite lasting almost all of the season, [[spoiler: Kitty of the Sisters team was vastly overshadowed by Emma. Only getting real time to shine once Owen and Noah had been eliminated.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has a lot of one-shot characters that are quite popular because of their role and/or personality and could have had many more stories about them, such as [[BitchInSheepsClothing Jessica Lovejoy]], [[TheRival Allison Taylor]], Alex Whitney, [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie Colin]], and pretty much every guest spot child character.
** Hank Scorpio is an AffablyEvil [[Film/JamesBond Bond villain]] parody with some of the best lines in the series' history, and one of the few people who is genuinely nice and supportive to Homer. Unfortunately someone trying to TakeOverTheWorld doesn't work so well in ''The Simpsons'', and he's never been mentioned again. (Though his popularity did mean the villain of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'' was a blatant {{Expy}} of him, complete with [[Creator/AlbertBrooks the same voice actor]].)
** Samantha Stanky could have been a {{Love Interest|s}} for [[ThrowTheDogABone Milhouse]] (and end Milhouse's embarrassing attempts to win Lisa over) and a second best friend for Bart. Sadly, Samantha's [[OverprotectiveDad prudish father]] sent her to an all-girl convent school, where she is locked away from the outside world, and hasn't been seen or referenced since.
** Herb Powell, Homer's long-lost half-brother, only appeared in two episodes and was never heard from again after regaining his wealth and reconciling with Homer. Given the ''huge'' amount of stories that have come from the Simpson's extended family this is disappointing.
** Mr. Bergstrom was an excellent contrast to the rest of Springfield's teachers, who actually cared about his students' education and got them interested in school. Him being a possible mentor to Lisa alone had potential, but he only appeared in one episode.
** Ruth Powers and her daughter Laura were introduced in season 4 as the Simpsons' new neighbors. Laura acted as Bart's crush and become something of an older sister to him at the end of her first appearance. In the next season, Ruth had her own episode where she became good friends with Marge and went on an adventure with her. Despite being interesting neighbors for the Simpsons, aside from a few cameos, Ruth only made an appearance a decade later.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' underwent a {{Retool}} in its second season to increase focus on the [[ComicBook/IronMan Big]] [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Three]] [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Avengers]], at the expense of Avengers who had yet to receive [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse solo movies]] at the time. Since TheVision had only recently joined the team before this retool took place, a fan might only need one hand to count the number of episodes in which he does something important.

** Marceline sometimes goes half a season without appearing at all, and even in her ADayInTheLimelight episodes she ''still'' gets shafted for screentime. The worst example is definitely "They Went to the Nightosphere"/"Daddy's Little Monster", a two-part episode set in Marceline's original home and appears to focus on the issues between Marceline and her father... only for the vast majority of the episode being Finn and Jake's wacky adventures with demons and her father getting more screentime than her, with Marceline barely appearing. She finally gets her decent ADayInTheLimelight saga with the "Stakes" miniseries though.

** Memnock and Zenblock, despite being main characters got this treatment. Some fans thought that they should have been the main characters of the show instead of the Noobs and they didn't get a proper day in the limelight episode and they often got shoehorned into boring subplots. Not much has been revealed about their past either.

** Marceline sometimes goes half a season without appearing at all, and even in her ADayInTheLimelight episodes she ''still'' gets shafted for screentime. The worst example is definitely "They Went to the Nightosphere"/"Daddy's Little Monster", a two-part episode set in Marceline's original home and appears to focus on the issues between Marceline and her father... only for the vast majority of the episode being Finn and Jake's wacky adventures with demons and her father getting more screentime than her, with Marceline barely appearing.

* Raf from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' is an example. Introduced as a computer prodigy able to actually make Soundwave take notice and the ability to understand Bumblebee, he had a few good episodes and characterization in season 1. He was even the catalyst for a RoaringRampageOfRevenge by Optimus Prime. But while fellow human Jack went on to become an honorary Prime and Miko all but joined the Wreckers, Raf faded into the background, relegated to only getting screen time so he could work with the computers.

* ''WesternAnimation/EverAfterHigh'' features a ''very'' large cast of characters (as it's a Merch-based line), which leads to this a lot. Of particular note with many fans is Cerise Hood- the Daughter of Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf. The fact that her father's identity is a secret is a major plot point for her character, and she has many interesting attributes to the fans (such as her physical skills, her and Daring slowly respecting each other, and her more introverted nature -- a contrast to the show's more charismatic cast)... but she's a third-tier character at best, and almost never shows up anymore.

* It's sister show, ''AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' was also prone to this. There were numerous entertaining characters throughout the series, most of them lucky to appear more than once or even outside a cameo:

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''

* ''WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' underwent a {{Retool}} in its second season to increase focus on the [[ComicBook/IronMan Big]] [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Three]] [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Avengers]], at the expense of Avengers who had yet to receive [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse solo movies]] at the time. Since TheVision had only recently joined the team before this retool took place, a fan might only need one hand to count the number of episodes in which he does something important.

** Several new characters are introduced only to be seemingly forgotten and thrown aside so the more major players could get attention. Rocket was a late addition to season 1, but barely got to be seen with the team before the timeskip, which had she and ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} promoted to the Justice League and barely around. The Tim Drake version of ComicBook/{{Robin}} was also underused in ''Invasion'', barely getting much characterization despite the potential of his introduction. WonderGirl had similar lack of development, which led to fans being confused when she decided to date Robin in the series finale.

** Robotnik's earlier henchbots from the pilot episode are perhaps one of the most incredulous examples of the trope. Despite SEGA Of America finding many of their gimmicks and designs worthy to place in ''DrRobotniksMeanBeanMachine'', the majority did not appear outside a very brief cameo. The show frequently utilised other interesting new robots, or even adapted some from the games, Very few of them made recurring appearances.

** [[EvilOverlord King Sombra]], out of all the main antagonists, if not every single antagonist in the show,(or even every character period) is the only one who has had no opportunity to experience any character focus, despite being highly competent and frighteningly dangerous. With little interaction with the mane cast, barely any dialogue, very little screen time [[spoiler:and being KilledOffForReal]], he was written as more of a mindless beast than an actual villain. There was evidence to suggest he was going to be the show's first recurring villain, until the [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW official comic]] used Queen Chrysalis to fill that position.
** Celestia, although she appears in numerous episodes, never receives any character focus like Luna and exists mostly to provide exposition. What hints do exist as to her past and personality - especially the ones that might indicate she's TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask - are tantalising enough to make her a prime target for fanfiction writers, but they're only hints and near nothing is really known about her.

** Shining Armor was introduced as captain of Canterlot's Royal Guard and a CoolBigBro to Twilight Sparkle. One would expect him to be a capable fighter and to provide strong emotional support to Twilight, but in his appearances he [[TheWorfEffect gets beaten easily by the current villain]] and has little role beyond "Cadence's husband", if he isn't just treated like a background character.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Adrena Lynn would have been a great villain, but she was only a one-shot villain because she wasn't as popular as the other recurring villains.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales'' had Logan Barrington who was the deciding factor in the girls' argument on whether or not to allow boys into their club. Logan could have gone on more adventures with the girls or made other key contributions to the group. However, after he gets inducted by the end of his featured episode, he never makes another appearance.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsTales'' had Logan Barrington who was the deciding factor in the girls' argument on whether or not to allow boys into their club. Logan could have gone on more adventures with the girls but after he gets inducted by the end of his featured episode, he never makes another appearance.