History TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / WesternAnimation

** Every minor kid has his own fandom, even though many of them are only meant to be one-off characters. The show has a good number of ADayInTheLimelight episodes, but unfortunately, we all just have to accept that [[AntiChrist Damien]] isn't coming back anytime soon (outside of background cameos as an animator's joke).

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil:'' A [[AllThereInTheManual a tie-in book]] introduces us to Seth, Toffee's boss who was actually behind his revolt and the death of [[LadyOfWar Moon]]'s mother. Pretty much every fan who knew about him thought that he was going to show up as the true BigBad of the series, but he's never even mentioned in the show. Interestingly, after the show ended, producer Dominic Bisignano and creator Daron Nefcy gave contradictory information on the character--the former said that he's alive and might appear if the show got a fifth season, but Nefcy said that he was [[PosthumousCharacter already dead]] by the events of the series.

* ‘’WesternAnimation/HighGuardianSpice’’: What people who don’t care for the show think of [[EnsembleDarkHorse Slime Boy and Parnelle.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'':

* [[WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}} Amphibia]]
** 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 {{Fish Out Of Water}} 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 {{Final Boss}}, 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 {{Mad Scientist}} 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?”

** Bradley Nicholson played an important role in the first handful of episodes as a GrumpyBear {{Foil}} to Milo (with an implied crush on his friend Melissa), but was virtually DemotedToExtra from there as the secondary plot involving time travel became more central, while KnightTemplar school crossing guard Elliot Decker began to fill his narrative purpose as a SitcomArchNemesis. Even [[spoiler:[[ItMakesSenseInContext having his arm turned into a plant]] as of the Season 2 premiere]] didn't do much to pull his character out of irrelevance. Despite this, he remains an EnsembleDarkhorse.

** 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' biggest [[IdiotPlot idiot plots]], and in the season 3 finale, [[spoiler:''Chloé'' was the one who teamed up with Hawk Moth, with Lila nowhere to be seen.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil:'' Toffee was a KnightOfCerebus who served as BigBad for about a season and a half, but some fans would have liked him to be the main villain of the whole show. Also unusual: while his actually appearances alternate between having his motives be mysterious or simply a case of {{Revenge}}, WordOfGod and [[AllThereInTheManual a tie-in book]] hint at him as a WellIntentionedExtremist fighting for [[FantasticRacism the rights to monsters]], something never hinted in the show proper.
** The same tie-in book also introduces us to Seth, Toffee's boss who was actually behind his revolt and the death of [[LadyOfWar Moon]]'s mother. Pretty much every fan who knew about him thought that he was going to show up as the true BigBad of the series, but he's never even mentioned in the show. Interestingly, after the show ended, producer Dominic Bisignano and creator Daron Nefcy gave contradictory information on the character--the former said that he's alive and might appear if the show got a fifth season, but Nefcy said that he was [[PosthumousCharacter already dead]] by the events of the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' has Nazz, who has the distinction of being the only girl on the show who isn't depicted as being psychotic in some way and she's TheHeart of the cul-de-sac all the boys (except [[AmbiguouslyGay Jimmy]] and Rolf) have a crush on. Unfortunately, throughout the show's run, very little is done with Nazz, she only has three episodes about her (''Plank'' has more storylines) and until later seasons she was a relatively FlatCharacter. Later seasons turned her into a bit of a DumbBlonde and TheCheerleader, but she remained quite unremarkable in a cast of wacky, memorable characters. The Movie seems to address this by giving Nazz a prominent subplot with Kevin, a last name (the only other character besides the Kankers to get one, in fact) and she TookALevelInBadass, but overall a lot more could have been done with her character besides being the OnlySaneMan of the cul-de-sac kids.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' is profound at this due to it's MerchandiseDriven drive to introduce LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. Almost every season introduces two or three new engines that get a spotlight episode each...and then are forgotten about, usually appearing in a handful of background cameos at best. This tends to be zigzagged in its treatment of the cast from the original ''Literature/TheRailwaySeries'' novels (underutilizing major characters such as Daisy but giving more roles to minor characters such as Bertie, Harold and Diesel).

* ''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]].
** Likewise, very few writers were aware that Veronica, the BetaBitch and the ButtMonkey of the popular kids, actually had a crush on Timmy Turner. It was only brought up in two episodes, and that's it. Some fans thought that Veronica could've been like a nicer counterpart to Trixie, and if her crush on Timmy was explored further, she could've potentially become Timmy's ThirdOptionLoveInterest.
** 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.".
** Francis is the only main antagonist who never got an episode revolving around him to explain his bullying, and the fact that he appeared less in the later seasons definitely doesn't help this case.
** Some see Gary, Timmy's imaginary friend, as utterly wasted potential for a villain. This is a guy who came from Timmy's psyche and likewise knew how he would think which could've provided some challenge for him. Heck "Escape From Unwish Island" was a good example of this, but said episode likewise just gave him an uninteresting send-off where he pretty much gets what he wants.
** The two other godkids that Timmy went to reform school with, [[ActionGirl Molly]] and [[NervousWreck Dwight]], have interesting personalities that bounce of each other and of Timmy pretty well. With them potentially becoming a PowerTrio, they could learn from each other to become more and more independent. The fact that their fairies are also shown to have dynamics unique from Timmy's dynamic with Cosmo & Wanda could also be used as material for new episodes. Instead, they disappear from the show, never to be heard from again.

** 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' biggest [[IdiotPlot idiot plots]], and in the season 3 finale, [[spoiler:''Chloé'' was the one who teamed up with Hawk Moth (throwing away all of her previous CharacterDevelopment in the process - [[note]]although that could likely change by season 4, considering her character will be looked into more[[/note]]), with Lila nowhere to be seen.]]
** Marlena, Prince Ali, and Mireille all have yet to receive any ADayIntheLimelight episode. Alec and Sabine were also underutilized until Season 4 where they finally got focus episodes in "Wishmaker" and "Qilin" respectively

** Many characters such as Sabine, Marlena, Prince Ali, and Mireille all have yet to receive any ADayIntheLimelight episodes, [[spoiler:although this could too change by seasons 4 and 5]].

!!Individual examples:

[[folder:Individual Examples]]

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** Many characters such as Sabine, Marlena, Prince Ali, Mireille, and Alec all have to receive any ADayIntheLimelight episodes, [[spoiler:although this could too change by seasons 4 and 5]].

* Speaking of which, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' is guilty of this due to a combination of ExecutiveMeddling and [[FranchiseOriginalSin the same bad habits they had in the original series on a tighter schedule and less quality writers to mitigate those problems]]: