Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / DevelopmentGag

Go To

1%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1614134420002160200
2%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest an image.
3%%
4In the development of a show, movie, game, TV series or whatever, everything from characters, settings, stages, etc., changes rapidly. Characters become other characters, different plots fuse and split or are destroyed. Eventually, you get the finished product, but the developers aren't going to forget the past. In this case, the designers might put in a little thing or two that alludes back to something that happened in development, so they can all have a good laugh about it.
5
6An inside joke to the greatest measure, as unless the viewer/player has been given a beta that includes what the joke is about (or the creators explain it), they're probably never going to know what the joke is about, or even that it's a joke at all. Can be anything from a previous character design to a joke about one of the developers, but you'll probably never know.
7
8See CallBack for references to things that actually appear in the plot, and ProductionThrowback for development on prior works. Contrast MythologyGag for references to things that ''did'' happen in alternate adaptations. When the backstory behind these gags are explained, that's an example of WhatCouldHaveBeen, given by WordOfGod. A cameo from TheOtherMarty would be this.
9----
10!!Examples:
11[[foldercontrol]]
12
13[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
14* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': In concept art, Denji was shown to have gone through iterations where he had black hair instead of blonde. Miri Sugo looks like Denji with a similar tuff of messy hair but colored black, and several schoolgirls who see him observe that he looks a bit like Denji.
15* The English dub of ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' has the voice Creator/TravisWillingham used for Mustang's "[[ChewingTheScenery I love dogs!]]" line, which is based on the voice he used when trying out as ''[[LargeHam Major Armstrong]]''; he even refers to the voice as "Armstang."
16* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
17** The series introduced a character named Sabu, who possesses a giant axe and has a giant raccoon dog named Ponta for a pet. Both of these things are references to a character named Kintaro, who also possessed a giant axe and a giant raccoon dog named ''Pochi'', who was replaced by Zabuza and Haku as the main villain of the Land of Waves arc.
18** It also has a few references to the [[Manga/Naruto1997 series pilot]]:
19*** In one chapter the titular character's failed attempt to control his SuperpoweredEvilSide results in him turning into a small, shrimpy-looking fox version of himself, a reference to the pilot where Naruto actually ''is'' a fox whose true form looked very similar.
20*** In the first chapter, Mizuki tells Naruto that the secret everyone has been keeping from him is that he ''is'' the Nine-Tailed Fox. Mizuki's bending the truth here (that Naruto has the fox sealed within him), but it's also a reference to the pilot, in which after the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked and was killed at the cost of eight of the chief's friends' lives, the chief (who resembles the Third Hokage, who resumed office after the Fourth's death sealing the fox) took in the baby Naruto out of pity. Interestingly enough, Mizuki's plan to trick Naruto into stealing the scroll and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killing him after he's done]] has some resemblance to the BigBad of the pilot, who frames Naruto for theft and murder and, after he thinks his [[TheDragon accomplice]] has killed Naruto, [[EvilGloating gloats]] that people will think Naruto fled and is the real suspect.
21* Kotsuzuka, the creepy kid from ''Manga/YuGiOh'', has a skull-shaped face that was originally going to used for Yami Yugi.
22* Creator/YoshiyukiTomino has a habit of taking ideas from earlier drafts of his work and finding other ways to work them in:
23** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam,'' [[TheEmpire Zeon]] has two HumongousMecha competing to be their next-gen war machine, the [[http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/msgundam/ms-14a.htm Gelgoog]] and the [[http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/msgundam/yms-15.htm Gyan.]] In Tomino's original proposal, the Gelgoog was named "Gyan," while the Gyan was named "Bakuji."
24** Tomino's original idea for the Zeong, the "final boss" mecha of the original show, involved it being able to [[DetachmentCombat split its body into several remote controlled pieces;]] this concept later popped up in ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' as a unique property of the Turn X, that show's "final boss." On top of this, ''VideoGame/SDGundamGGeneration'' eventually introduced an OriginalGeneration variant of the Zeong which matched Tomino's original idea.
25* [=S1E13=] of ''Literature/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon''[='=] AnimatedAdaptation is titled ''Familia Myth''. While as a WebSerialNovel, the series is already titled ''Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?'', Fujino Omori submitted it under the title ''Familia Myth''.
26* In ''Manga/SailorMoon'', Minako/Sailor Venus is intended to work as Princess Serenity's BodyDouble, and they even have similar looks (and disguise powers). Usagi/Sailor Moon/Princess Serenity is an {{Expy}} of Minako, who first debuted in ''Manga/CodenameSailorV'' a year before her.
27* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': In episode 12-B of the English dub, Kululu accidentally calls Giroro "Giro" -- which was his name in the preliminary dub (of that same episode no less)
28* ''Manga/DragonBall'':
29** ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' was originally going to have Android 19 and Android 20 be the androids from the future. When they appear, they are instead mistaken for the androids from the future.
30** In a way, Goten's [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dragonballaffanon/images/6/6b/GotenBase.png design]] from ''[[Anime/DragonBallGT GT]]'' resembles that of [[https://www.reddit.com/r/dbz/comments/7cpjtv/toriyamas_alternate_designs_for_buu_saga_gohan/ a unused design for]] what Gohan would've looked like during DBZ's [[Recap/DragonBallZMajinBuuArc Buu arc]].
31** Creator/AkiraToriyama's original design of Beerus's planet for ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' had an Eiffel Tower-like structure at the center instead of a giant tree. This design would be used in the ''Manga/DragonBallSuper'' manga for the home of Arak, Universe 5's God of Destruction.
32* Silver from ''Manga/FairyTail'' was planned to be [[spoiler:Deliora using the corpse of Gray's father as a vessel]]. When an editor pointed out a glaring PlotHole in the scenario, however, it was changed to a story Silver made up, with Silver making a suitable OhCrap face the moment his bluff is called.
33* ''Anime/PowerpuffGirlsZ'' has one episode that featured a remake of the Mojo Jojo battle from the original (unreleased on DVD to this day) Tokyo Anime Fair pilot from 2005. One of the girls even [[LampshadeHanging wonders if Mojo's robot looks familiar]].
34* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
35** The series has a few references to ''Romance Dawn'', a one-shot manga that would serve as a basis for ''One Piece''.
36*** Right out of the gate Romance Dawn is used as the title for the first story arc, Chapters 1 and 601, and Volumes 1 and 61.
37*** The opening "We Go!" has the lyric "break of romance dawn".
38** Before their fight, the zombie Ryuma calls Zoro's [[DualWielding Santoryuu]] a "circus act", referring to how in early development for Zoro, he was to be a member of [[CircusOfFear Buggy's crew]].
39* "Radical" Edward was originally designed as a boy hacker during the development of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' before being changed to a girl late in development. Ed's original boy design appears in the fifth episode stealing an adult magazine.
40* ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': Bumbling spy Daybreak resembles an early character design for ace spy Twilight, which makes it appropriate that Daybreak is Twilight's {{foil}}.
41[[/folder]]
42
43[[folder:Asian Animation]]
44* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': The [[WhatCouldHaveBeen original idea]] was for [=BoBoiBoy's=] SignatureHeadgear to be a HatOfPower with 3 eyes, but [[https://youtu.be/sfyh2ztjdRk?t=143 the idea was rejected as impractical]] and also too scary. The 3 eyed cap would make a return in the ''[=BoBoiBoy Galaxy=]'' episode "Copy and Paste" as uncanny EvilKnockoff clones of him would bear caps with 3 bugged-out eyes.
45* ''Animation/{{Mechamato}}'': One of the earlier concepts also features a boy and his red robot friend in a [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mechamato_from_2014_and_2015.jpg poster titled Ola Amato]]. The scrapped duo can be seen in background illustrations several times, such as on a poster in Amato's garage as well as in Deep's comic book.
46* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': Paddi has the main spotlight in a number of seasons and story arcs, such as ''Paddi the Amazing Chef'' and ''Against the Dark Force''. This is likely a throwback to how Paddi was meant to be the main character of the show as a whole in its early developmental stages.
47[[/folder]]
48
49[[folder:Card Games]]
50* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has loads of these. WordOfGod says that they use intentionally absurd names in an attempt to defy the trope for the most part, but they can get quite creative when it comes to sneaking subtle in-jokes into the final names. Amongst the notable ones are Telim'Tor, whose name is an anagram of his playtest/development name, Mr Toilet; and Sol Grail, whose name is an anagram of Gorillas, which were the playtest/development race for every creature in Alliances.
51** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83161 Maro]] was submitted to the development file for Mirage with its creator's username ([=MaRo=] for Mark Rosewater) for the database instead of a placeholder name. No-one noticed the mistake until the Creative department had already commissioned the art, so it stayed.
52** The enchantment card Pemmin's Aura, (which gives a creature the same laundry list of abilities boasted by the infamous Morphling), is an anagram for its development name, I Am Superman.This is a reference to the REM song of the same name:
53--->I am, I am superman
54--->And I can do anything...
55** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2457 Hyalopterous Lemure]] combined this with a CallBack nearly a decade in the making. A lemure is an obscure type of angry ghost. A Lemur is an adorable type of primate. As you can see from the art, the artist was not aware of the former - though they perfectly understood "Hyalopterous" (having glassy or transparent wings). Flash forward years later, and someone has the same problem in the FlavorText of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=viscid+lemures Viscid Lemures]]
56---> "Lemurs? Is that all? Finally, something harmless…"
57----> —Norin the Wary
58[[/folder]]
59
60[[folder:Comic Books]]
61* Not exactly a joke, but ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'' later introduced a character called Bulletproof who used Invincible's initial name and costume. In-story, the costume was even developed for Invincible but rejected.
62* In the final storyline of Creator/DCComics' ''ComicBook/{{Hourman}}'' title (the one about the "diamond generation intelligent machine colony from the 853rd century, DNA-programmed with Miraclo gene biosoftware") he was confronted with a further-future version of himself, who was much better at both being a hero and being a person than him ([[spoiler:it turned out to be Amazo]]). The design for the future Hourman was identical to an early design seen in the ''Hourman'' sketchbook given away with ''Wizard'' when the title began.
63* Creator/MarvelComics has had several references to a character named 'Coal Tiger', which was one of several names that Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby were bandying back and forth as a possible name for the character who in mainstream continuity in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse became ComicBook/BlackPanther. These include:
64** The Black Panther's son in the ''ComicBook/MarvelComics2'' alternate future.
65** An alternate universe version of T'Challa himself, who appeared in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' Vol. 1 #355 as part of a storyline about the Gatherers, a group of former Avengers from different universes. This version had a costume based on Jack Kirby's original design for the character, which previously had only appeared on a pin-up.
66** A Coal Tiger is mentioned in ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' Vol. 1 #389 as an opponent of the Zambian villainess Impala.
67** In ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'' Vol. 3 #60, the Coal Tigers are mentioned as being a rank in the Panther Cult.
68* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': The working name for the Dinobot Swoop was Divebomb. ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel UK'' comics said that was his name back in Cybertron. Some time later, when Hasbro coincidentally made a Decepticon named Divebomb as part of the Predacons, the comics explained that Swoop lost his name to him after a defeat.
69* The ''Anime/TransformersArmada'' and ''Anime/TransformersEnergon'' comics by Dreamwave featured a minor Autobot RedShirt named Dropshot, whose design was based on an unreleased G1 Triple Changer toy.
70* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
71** The title of the ''Reign of the Supermen'' part of ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' is a reference to ''Reign Of The Superman'' which featured the first Superman character Siegel and Shuster developed.
72** ''Comicbook/SupermanRedSon'' ends with the reveal that [[spoiler: Kal-L did not come from an alien planet, but from Earth in the far future]]. This was one of many proposed origins for Superman when Seigel and Shuster were trying to sell the concept in the early thirties.
73* The ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' comic strip "Fire and Brimstone" featured a war between the Daleks and spider-like Daleks from an alternate universe. The spider-Daleks look very similar to the controversial Dalek designs from one version of ''Last of the Time Lords'', the unmade ''Series/DoctorWho'' reboot movie that was floating around in TheNineties.
74* The ''ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan'' comics have a couple of examples:
75** The section of the Eleventh Doctor Year Two series that returns to the setting of the cancelled TV story "Shada" includes many metafictional in-jokes about the story's unfinished nature and ambiguous canonicity.
76** In the Ninth Doctor story "Doctormania", the fake "Doctor Who" has a companion called Penny, who shares a name with a never-was companion who Creator/RussellTDavies conceived for Series Four in case Catherine Tate was unable to commit to a regular role as Donna.
77** In the classic Doctor teasers for ''ComicBook/DoctorWhoSupremacyOfTheCybermen'', the Cybermen threatening the Fourth Doctor depart from the conceit that each Doctor is attacked by "his" Cybermen by being apparently based on [[https://cybermantra.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/dark-dimensiom-clip.jpg?w=950 the version]] designed for the unmade 30th anniversary special "The Dark Dimension" (a Fourth-centric story about the Doctor's timeline being rewritten). The War Doctor - since there obviously isn't a "War Doctor Era" Cyberman design - faces Cybermen based on [[https://cybermantra.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/cyb3.jpg an early concept]] for the "Age of Steel" versions.
78* ''[[ComicBook/TheMultiversity Pax Americana #1]]'' is basically ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' as originally intended--that is, with Creator/CharltonComics characters instead of [[CaptainErsatz ersatzes]]. One exception is Thunderbolt, the model for Ozymandias, but not owned by DC. President Harley is something of an {{expy}} for both.
79* In the ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHologramsIDW'' series from IDW, Jetta is given a RaceLift and made into a young black woman. This is a nod to fact that originally, Jetta was going to be black in the [[WesternAnimation/{{Jem}} animated series]] before ExecutiveMeddling caused her to become a white Englishwoman instead.
80* Harper Row plays a major role in Cassandra Cain's return during ''ComicBook/BatmanAndRobinEternal''. At the start of the ''ComicBook/New52'', Harper was created as a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute replacement for Cass]] after ScottSnyder was denied permission to use her in his ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' run.
81* Zauriel was introduced in Creator/GrantMorrison's ''ComicBook/JLA1997'' run, with Morrison originally intending to make him the new Comicbook/{{Hawkman}} after the previous iterations of the character had been declared too much of a ContinuitySnarl. While this didn't happen, there have been several nods to the original intention for the character, such as Comicbook/{{Aquaman}} mistaking Zauriel for Hawkman during their first encounter, or Zauriel later guest-starring in the ''[[Comicbook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA]]'' arc that reintroduced Hawkman and claiming he thought Hawkgirl was an angel like him.
82* IDW's ''ComicBook/BackToTheFuture'':
83** Doc Brown's prototype flux capacitor is called a temporal field capacitor, which was the original name of the flux capacitor in early script drafts of the first ''Film/BackToTheFuture1''.
84** In the miniseries ''Biff to the Future'', the alternate timeline Doc makes his time machine out of a refrigerator. This is a reference to an early script of the first film that was nixed for fear kids would try to re-enact it and get trapped in fridges.
85* In an early ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'' story in ''Strange Tales'', a generic character is called "Frau Lieber". Writer Creator/StanLee was born Stanley Lieber; he had assumed a PenName specifically for writing comics [[note]]and short prose stories included with comicbooks[[/note]] and ended up sticking with it.
86* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': In the development for the first game, Sonic had a blonde, [[InterspeciesRomance human girlfriend]] named "Madonna" who acted as DamselInDistress. The Archie comic later retooled her into the G.U.N. agent Madonna Garnet.
87* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'':
88** Tangle the Lemur's design and powers were based on the original concept for Sonic that became ''VideoGame/{{Ristar}}'', a rabbit who grabbed and threw things with his ears. Similarly, a statue that Cubot owns, Cyber Singer Mika, is based on the same rabbit design while also taking inspiration from Music/HatsuneMiku.
89** Street signs in Issue 17 shows the Chaotix's office is located at the intersection of Oshima Street and Naka Drive, named after Naoto Oshima and Yuji Naka, two of Sonic's creators.
90** Surge the Tenrec and Kit the Fennec’s model sheets, as well as their ConceptArt designs, can be seen among the notes in Starline’s lab in Issue #55.
91* In a ''Franchise/TheFlash 80 Page Giant'' story with the conceit that the DCU version of Creator/MarkMillar is quizzing Wally West for story ideas, Wally mentions the comics used to make up names for heroes with secret identities, only to have to change them when so many went public. Millar replies that the only one they're really embarrassed about is calling [[Comicbook/GreenLantern John Stewart]] "Jefferson Washington". In fact, Stewart was very nearly named "Lincoln Washington" by Julius Schwartz.
92* Dark Beast's armored costume from ''Comicbook/UncannyXMen2013'' is an unused design David Finch came up with for Creator/BrianMichaelBendis' ''Comicbook/NewAvengers'' (possibly intended for Ronin).
93* In ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes2020'', Ferro Lad in this continuity is shown to be Black. When Jim Shooter created [[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes the original Ferro Lad]] in the Silver Age, he wasn't allowed to make the character African American because DC didn't want to lost distribution in the South.
94* It's not exactly a joke, but in ''ComicBook/DarkNightsDeathMetal The Last 52: War of the Multiverses'', one of the {{Evil Twin}}s making up the Batman Who Laughs' army is a psychotic SerialKiller version of [[spoiler:Wally West]] dual-wielding handguns, and who [[spoiler:murdered the patients at Sanctuary on purpose]]. This is widely rumored[=/=]suspected to have been DC's original plan for ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' until massive fan outrage forced them to change course at the last minute. In what is also a pretty pointed TakeThat to the series, the alternate [[spoiler:Wally]] is unceremoniously killed by [[spoiler:Roy Harper]], who then assures the real [[spoiler:Wally]] that he could never have been that.
95** Similarly, in a later issue, Barry Allen fights an alternate [[spoiler:Wally]] riding the Mobius Chair and wielding [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Dr Manhattan]] powers, representing the cancelled "5G" reboot (which was going to feature [[spoiler:Wally]] trying to rewrite the timeline), which Barry explicitly calls a "bad idea".
96* ''ComicBook/BlackLightning'': The original pitch for DC Comics' first black superhero was going to be "The Black Bomber", a white racist who has a SuperpoweredAlterEgo in the form of a superpowered black man. Writer Tony Isabella, who had been tapped to write this, found the pitch ''ridiculously'' racist, and so offered instead Black Lightning. In the 2000s ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', ComicBook/{{Vixen}} finds herself trapped in an altered reality where heroes have been reinvented in ridiculous ways, and among them Mari meets Black Lightning's reinvented self: Brown Bomber, a casually racist white guy who turns into a stereotypical black man. Mari (a black woman) is very understandably unamused.
97* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': During the concept phase Marston was considering naming his superhero woman Suprema before going with Wonder Woman. Later he had her fight the leader of an overzealous space police force named Suprema.
98* Bishop of the ''Comicbook/XMen'' was originally intended to be Filipino, but was changed to be Black instead. The 2021 ''ComicBook/MarvelsVoices: Identity'' one-shot pays homage to this in a story where he teams up with the Filipina heroine Wave, and immediately professes to be a huge fan of hers.
99* In the first pages of ''Comicbook/FlashpointBeyond'', Batman has broken into one of Rip Hunter's old bases, with the usual Rip Hunter Chalkboard of Foreshadowing. The first thing on it is "5G" scored out, with "Averted" written next to it, referring to a proposed reboot that got replaced by ''Death Metal''.
100* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': Creator/NeilGaiman wrote a scene for issue #6 set in Arkham Asylum and featuring a cameo by the Joker playing a lethal April Fool's Day prank on the guards, but was told by DC editorial that he couldn't use the Joker because the issue would be published alongside a ''Batman'' storyline in which the Joker is missing, presumed dead. Gaiman rewrote the scene with the Scarecrow, and added a line of dialogue in which the Scarecrow remarks that April Fool's Day isn't the same without the Joker around, and that he's doing his best to fill the gap.
101* The initial concept art of Comicbook/SpiderMan's black costume featured a red spider emblem instead of the more familiar white one that was eventually used. The original design appears in the 2024 ''Weapon X-Men'' mini-series, where it's worn by an alternate reality version of Comicbook/MilesMorales.
102[[/folder]]
103
104[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
105* The commentary for ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' tells a story about how there used to be a mystic named Zoltan (who used to speak in the [[ThirdPersonPerson third-person]]) along for the ride. At one point everybody sounds off after falling down a hole. For the longest time he was still there shouting "Zoltan is okay!" even after his character had been written out of the script.
106* Near the end of ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', while the enchanted furniture are fighting off the villagers, a music box can be seen among said furniture. That music box was originally going to be Belle's sidekick.
107* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'', when Merida announces that she and her mother have decided to end the tradition of the princess marrying one of the lord's sons; the first of them to enthusiastically agree and say he didn't want to marry her anyway was originally intended to be her LoveInterest before the writers realised that undermined the story.
108* ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'': The character Tug, a hulking, dark-furred bear voiced by the late Creator/MichaelClarkeDuncan, was in fact, based on an early version of the character Koda (whom in the movie is a young bear cub voiced by Jeremy Suarez), where he was originally going to be portrayed as an adult bear named Grizz, and was even going to be voiced by Duncan much like Tug in the final movie, before he was made younger than Kenai to make it easier for Kenai to learn his lesson from being turned into a bear.
109* At one point in ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs''' development, Flint was trying to get into the Science League, headed by Vance [=LaFleur=]. You can still see a poster for the League in his room and lab.
110* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'', the Minions were originally going to be human. The guards at PX-Labs in [[WesternAnimation/DespicableMe2 the sequel]] are based on the original concept.
111* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', there is at least one reference to a small, mystical guide to the Emperor, despite the fact that he was written out of the plot: he appears as a candle-holder during the poisoning scene.
112* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'':
113** Part of "For the First Time in Forever" uses the tune from Anna's unused song "More Than Just a Spare".
114** Some of Elsa's [[SupermodelStrut more flamboyant movements]] during "Let It Go" date back to when it was a sassy VillainSong. It ends up making her look confident, so it works well despite the change in tone.
115** The start of "Making Today a Perfect Day For You" from "WesternAnimation/FrozenFever" reuses the tune of the unused song "Life's Too Short", that was replaced with "For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)" in the final film.
116** "Life's Too Short" itself uses elements of an earlier song, from an even earlier incarnation where Elsa was the villain, named "Cool With Me". The two songs are different in topic and tone, however they both share a theme of Elsa telling Anna about how she loves her powers and later the two arguing, though in "Cool With Me" Anna is (rightfully) upset about Elsa kidnapping her from her own wedding and disapproving of her sister while in "Life's Too Short" they get into an argument when Elsa thinks Anna wants to make her conceal herself again.
117--->'''''Cool With Me:'''''\
118'''Elsa''': We've been falling out for way too long. So let's forget [[NeverMyFault I'm right and forget you're wrong]]. Okay! Let's try forgiving, we could learn to live in harmony.\
119'''''Life's Too Short:'''''\
120'''Elsa''': We've been falling out for way too long.\
121'''Anna''': So let's forget who's right--\
122'''Elsa''': And forget who's wrong.\
123'''Both''': Okay!\
124'''Elsa''': Why don't you stay? There's room for family in my court.
125* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'': Sulley calling Celia "Celia-Welia" (in response to her saying "Sulley-Wulley") isn't just a throwaway [[AffectionateNickname pet name]]; during the movie's development, Celia was a two-headed monster, with the other head being named Welia.
126* Near the very beginning of ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'', [[BigBad Madame Medusa]] can actually be seen driving a large red sports car to New York City Airport, not unlike the one driven by [[WesternAnimation/OneHundredandOneDalmatians Cruella DeVil.]] Originally, the villain of ''The Rescuers'' was actually indeed going to be Cruella [=DeVil=]! So in fact, that car doesn't just ''look'' like Cruella's, that car ''is'' Cruella's.
127* ''WesternAnimation/{{Robots}}'' has several. The robot with the jet pack seen waiting in line on Big Weld's TV show is an early design for Rodney, and Jack Hammer, the owner of the hardware store Rodney and his friends visit was originally a director from an early treatment. Scenes from early test footage with the director character appear as photos on Aunt Fanny's home.
128* One of the drawings during the end credits of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' shows Rapunzel and Flynn consulting a fortune-telling monkey, in reference to a deleted scene in which Rapunzel and Flynn escape some guards with the help of a gypsy and her pet monkey.
129* ''Franchise/ToyStory'':
130** In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', there is a bumper sticker on Andy Davis' drawer labelled "Newt Xing", a reference to [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the cancelled Pixar film]] ''Newt''.
131** Many ideas from the first ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'' made it into [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory2 the second]]. Originally the first movie was going to open on a clip from the TV cartoon the Buzz Lightyear toy was from, which got reworked as the video game opening for the sequel.
132** The idea for [[spoiler:having a villainous teddy bear]], as seen in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', actually predates the ''Toy Story'' franchise itself, to a proposed Christmas special based on ''[[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts Tin Toy]]''
133* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': Vanellope was originally designed with a grayish-green skin tone to make her look more "glitchy", but was instead given a human skin tone. In the film proper, an image of her face with green skin appears on the "No Glitches" sign on the kart bakery's door.
134* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'', an early draft in which Nick was the protagonist had him at one point working for a restaurant in the rodent district called Chez Cheez. This plot point, along with [[WhatCouldHaveBeen a great many others]], got dropped during a massive rewrite. Nonetheless, a billboard advertising for this restaurant appears in the final movie, as a background element in the scene where Judy chases Weaselton through that district.
135* When Buddy is showing off his homemade rocket boots to Mr. Incredible in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'', he smugly asks Mr. Incredible "Can ''you'' fly?". An early idea for the film had Mr. Incredible as the only member of the Parr family that couldn't fly (and being a bit self-conscious about it).
136* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing2019'' has several examples:
137** This rendition of the "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" sequence ends with Simba and Nala cuddling on a large rock in a forested cliffside region, similar to the end of an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZskNUleZaM early version]] of the same scene from the 1994 production.
138** Several CallBack examples from scrapped characters include:
139*** The bat-eared fox is a callback to [[https://lionking.fandom.com/wiki/Bhati Bhati]], a unused character from early drafts of the original film who was one of Simba and Nala's childhood friends.
140*** The aardvark is a callback to [[https://lionking.fandom.com/wiki/Daabi Daabi]], another unused character from early drafts of the original film who was also one of Simba and Nala's childhood friends.
141** At the end of the film when Simba is reuniting with his friends and family after the battle, the rain causes the mane on Simba’s crown to be matted down and more closely resemble a scrapped hairdo his animated counterpart [[https://youtu.be/ajd16gEk6dY originally sported]].
142** Simba seated in-between his father's forelimbs as he learns about the kings of the past (as opposed to being on his back as in the [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/63/0a/97/630a978f2d413de84cbe3f160ea9a9ad.jpg original]]) a position reminiscent of a [[https://lionking.fandom.com/wiki/The_Lion_in_the_Moon?file=TLITM5.png similar scene]] between Simba and Sarabi from early in the development of the original film.
143* In ''WesternAnimation/SherlockGnomes'', the name on the moving van that moves the gnomes to London is Sherrinford Movers. Sherrinford Bell was Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's originally proposed name for Sherlock Holmes.
144* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'':
145** In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'', a deleted scene (storyboarded but not animated) revealed that Sandy was planned to make a cameo appearance on the surface world as a real squirrel. Come this film, and Sandy dons the appearance of a real squirrel in her superhero form.
146** Burgerbeard's food cart is called the Barnacle Burger, which was an early name for the Krabby Patty.
147** Squidward inking himself when he's nervous was originally going to be a regular gag on [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants the show]], but they could never find a way to do it properly until now.
148* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Mei tries to get the partygoers at Tyler's house to do what she implies is a dance move called "stir the porridge" which is a reference to a deleted scene where Ming gets Mei to do that as part of an exercise routine to calm her down.
149[[/folder]]
150
151[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
152* At the Kentucky Derby In ''Film/TheHustler1961'', the race announcer lists some of the horses racing. One of them is named "Stroke of Luck", a proposed alternate title for the film.
153* ''Film/Cinderella2015'': The scene with the stag was based on a deleted scene from [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} the original film]], although originally the stag was friends with the prince and never actually in any danger. Another planned sequence would have involved the prince disguising himself as a gypsy...and Kit also seems to enjoy disguises.
154* ''Film/Godzilla2014'': The way Godzilla [[spoiler:kills the female MUTO is the same way he killed the Gryphon in the script of ''Script/Godzilla1994'']]. In the same vein, Godzilla is awakened to specifically fight two kaiju endangering the Earth -- and one is winged.
155* ''Film/BladeRunner2049'' ''opens'' with one. The commentary for the DVD of the original Film/BladeRunner describes an early concept of opening the movie with a steaming pot on a stove, followed by a large farmer in overalls entering the kitchen, where the Blade Runner is sitting there, waiting for him. The scene would've ended with the Blade Runner killing said farmer, who was of course a Replicant. The actual scene of the sequel has some notable differences from the original "stove top" opening concept, but the visuals make it all a giant EasterEgg for anyone who really knows their "Blade Runner" trivia.
156* In ''Film/ShredderOrpheus'' Orpheus starting his first band in 1986 references the 28-minute pilot of the film, which was filmed in 1986.
157* ''Film/SpiderMan2'': The film has a couple of playful jabs at Tobey Maguire's back problems, which nearly forced him to drop out. This includes the "I'm back, I'm back! ...My back, my back!" scene, and a FreezeFrameBonus Bugle headline claiming link between back pain and brain shrinkage. That headline is actually a lot more mean-spirited than it seems: Maguire's back problems were a point of contention on set, and it was generally assumed by most of the production staff that he was using his condition to avoid showing up on the set or working on days that he didn't feel like it (regardless of whether or not that was true). At one point, they even threatened to fire and replace him.
158* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
159** Most blatant would be Rey, an obvious nod to when Lucas contemplated making his original protagonist, in Luke's role, female. (Rey is her own character, but the parallels to Luke's are numerous and blatant, even in their clothes.)
160** A lot of names from the early, unused drafts of ''Franchise/StarWars'' continue to pop up in newer works. "Starkiller", Luke's original surname, [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Starkiller_(disambiguation) shows up a lot,]] and Mace Windu's name can be traced back to "Mace Windy" from the first treatment.
161** Similarly, the planet "Utapau", which was originally a blue planet with many moons mentioned in the first draft of "The Star Wars", then became the preliminary name for Tatooine, then the preliminary name for Naboo, and finally appeared in Episode III as a green planet with many moons and dotted with sinkholes.
162** Other names that can be traced back to previous drafts, where they were used in different contexts, include "Valorum", "Sith", "Clieg" (Cliegg), "Whitsun" (Whitesun), "Bail", "Antilles", "Ogana" (Organa), "Dai Noga" (Dianoga), "Grande Mouff Tarkin" (Grand Moff Tarkin)... even "Annikin" (Anakin).
163** There's an odd example of what seems to be a genuine inside joke in the original movie's first draft. George Lucas's earliest concept for ''Star Wars'' back in 1971 centred around two main characters: the Jedi-Bendu master Mace Windy and his apprentice Chuiee "C.J." Thape – but this was quickly abandoned. However, in the first draft there's an extended sequence in the middle where there's an attack run on the Death Star (ultimately unsuccessful, in which all the hero fighter pilots are killed). None of the film's main characters appear in this sequence, which instead focuses on two pilots with the callsigns "Pilot Leader" and "Devil Two" – whose real names are given in dialogue as "Mace" and "Chewie" respectively.
164** One draft of the script for ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' featured the ''Millennium Falcon'' being lost with all hands at Endor. Han alludes to this in the final version:
165---> '''Leia:''' Hey, you awake?\
166'''Han:''' ''(gazing at the ''Falcon'')'' Yeah, I just got a funny feeling. Like I'm not going to see her again.
167** "Revenge of the Sith" was presumably named after the working title for Episode VI, "Revenge" of the Jedi.
168** An early code name for Star Wars, "Blue Harvest," also appears frequently in the Expanded Universe.
169** The design of the ''Tantive IV'', Leia's spaceship in ''Film/ANewHope'', is taken from a rejected early design for the ''Millenium Falcon''.
170** Rey's speeder, featured prominently in advertising for ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', looks so uncannily like a ''[[http://img.lum.dolimg.com/v1/images/x968_teaserpubstillsdenoised3_16int_95c47825.jpeg?region=119%2C0%2C1165%2C654&width=768 fudge popsicle]]'' that the resemblance couldn't possibly have been unintentional. Considering the film's RevisitingTheRoots approach to the original trilogy, this was likely a reference to Lucas' original inspiration for the ''Millennium Falcon''--which, according to WordOfGod, was inspired by a half-eaten hamburger with an olive next to it.
171** In the 1974 rough draft of "The Star Wars", the Starkillers (later "Skywalkers") were said to hail from the planet "Aquilae", and the movie began with them returning to their home planet to defend it from the Empire. Ponda Baba ("Walrus Man"), the tusked alien who accosts Luke at the Mos Eisley cantina, was later revealed to be an "Aqualish", one of several species hailing from the planet Ando.
172** In one early draft of "The Star Wars", Princess Leia's mother, Queen Breha of Aquilae,[[note]]Not Alderaan; in earlier drafts, Alderaan was the capital of the Empire.[[/note]] was a major supporting character, and a key plot point involved her abdicating the throne to Leia. In the final version of the series, of course, Leia's mother was Padmé Amidala, who [[MissingMom died in the prequels]]--but Queen Breha of Alderaan (Bail Organa's wife) was eventually established as her ''step''mother.
173** "The Star Wars" was originally going to have a young up-and-coming Jedi named "Annikin Starkiller" ''[sic]'' as its protagonist from the beginning, and "General Luke Skywalker" was supposed to be the leader of the Rebellion. Lucas eventually decided to merge the two characters for simplicity's sake, making Luke the protagonist of the series instead, but made "Anakin Skywalker" Luke's father as a reference to the earlier version of the character.
174** The BattleAmongstTheFlames on the [[LethalLavaLand volcanic planet]] of Mustafar at the very end of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' is a reference to [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the originally planned ending]] of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', which was sketched out in Ralph [=McQuarrie=]'s ConceptArt but never brought to life. Before Lucas decided to set the FinalBattle between Luke and Vader on a second Death Star, he wanted to end the Original Trilogy with an epic face-off at Emperor Palpatine's private SupervillainLair, located next to a giant lake of lava on the (then-unnamed) Imperial capital world. [=McQuarrie=] wasn't involved in the prequels, having retired in the 1990's, but some shots on Mustafar are recreated almost entirely from his drawings.
175** Rey's outfit for the majority of ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' was confirmed to be inspired by Luke in ''Film/ANewHope'', but it seems the filmmakers took inspiration from early concept art from the period in which Lucas played with the idea of making Luke a girl. [[spoiler:Fitting, since Rey takes up Luke's role of TheHero]].
176** Early concept art of R2-D2 shows him [[http://www.fandango.com/movie-news/trivia-the-ball-droid-in-star-wars-the-force-awakens-is-based-on-r2-d2-concept-art-748653 rolling on a ball bearing]], much like BB-8 from ''The Force Awakens''.
177** Lucas originally wanted the climactic FinalBattle in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' to take place on Chewbacca's home planet Kashyyyk, but had to scrap the idea because it would have required too many expensive Wookiee costumes for his extras. As a more affordable alternative, he came up with a climactic battle on a ''different'' planet inhabited by much smaller forest-dwelling aliens--whose costumes would be much cheaper to manufacture. As a reference to the fact that they were originally Wookiees, Lucas switched the two syllables in "Wookiee" ("WOK-EE") and called the new aliens "Ewoks" ("EE-WOK"). Kashyyyk would later appear in the infamous ''Film/StarWarsHolidaySpecial'' and in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', acting as the location of a battle in the latter.
178* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' had Batman undergo a costume change in order to be able to fight faster and turn his head. This was done because Christian Bale had his fill of the Batsuit in [[Film/BatmanBegins the first installment]], and wanted a more comfortable design.
179* In ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', Hudson teases Vasquez by saying "When they said 'Alien', she thought they said 'Illegal Alien' and signed up." Vasquez' actress actually did make that mistake, and showed up to the auditions dressed as a migrant worker.
180** In a cross-continuity example, the decision to cast Creator/LanceHenriksen as [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Bishop]] may have been [[CastingGag intended as a nod to him being]] Creator/JamesCameron's first choice for the role of the T-800 in ''Film/TheTerminator''.
181* In ''Film/AlienCovenant'', the Neomorph's design is based on the Beluga alien design that was going to appear in an earlier draft of ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'', ''Alien: Engineers''.
182* In the [[Film/TheFlintstones film adaptation]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', Fred is accidentally referred to as Mr. Flagstone. The original name for the show was The Flagstones.
183* ''Film/TheKingOfFighters2010'': [[spoiler:Saisyu Kusanagi ends up suffering DeathByAdaptation]] -- just like how he was intended to die in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters94'', before it was decided at the last minute for him to be the PreFinalBoss of [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters95 its sequel]], allowing him to survive [[DemotedToExtra on the sidelines]].
184* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
185** This example might actually be an urban legend: The [[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(XCV_330) Enterprise XCV-330]], first seen in the recreation room in ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'', is often claimed to be based upon a rejected design by Matt Jefferies for the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries NCC-1701]]. But [[http://trekplace.com/article13.html there is evidence]] that Jefferies actually might have designed it at some time after the end of TOS, for another Roddenberry-project which never did come into fruition.
186** Scotty mentions in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' that he has trouble understanding the Klingon language; in real life Creator/JamesDoohan devised the earliest spoken Klingon for ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'', which was expanded into a full-blown {{Conlang}} in the following movies.
187** Possibly related: the "Jefferies tubes" that Star Trek characters crawl around in to whenever they need to get into the real guts of their ships may be a nod to his last name and role in ship design for the series.
188** Until very late in production, John Harrison in ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' was called John Ericssen, a name that the character who became Khan had in early drafts of "Space Seed". This was changed, because it was feared that too many Trekkers ''knew'' that, and it would give the game away.
189* The ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' films have famously gone through a lot of work before getting to what we saw in theatres. For example, an early version of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' was set predominantly in a haunted castle, which is referenced with Brunwald castle (in which Henry Jones Sr is held captive) and an early title for ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' was ''Indiana Jones and the Saucermen from Mars'' - Indy dismisses the crystal skulls as belonging to "Saucermen from Mars" when he is interrogated by Irina in the tent.
190** The films started out of Creator/StevenSpielberg's interest in making a Franchise/JamesBond film, but being turned down by then-executive producer Albert R. Broccoli. In the opening of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', Indy's origins as a Bond {{expy}} are depicted as he's dressed similarly to Creator/SeanConnery's Bond in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}''. And then, in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', Sean Connery himself played Indy's father Henry Sr., because both Spielberg and Creator/GeorgeLucas thought the only man who could play Indy's father was James Bond. Thus, making Bond, in every sense of the word, ''the'' father of Indiana Jones.
191* In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', Biff is listening to Perry Como's "Papa Loves Mambo" on the radio while driving to the dance. WordOfGod explained in the DVD commentary that they almost used "Papa Loves Mambo" in Part I for the MisterSandmanSequence, but ended up using "[[TropeNamer Mr. Sandman]]" instead. They stuck the Perry Como song into Part II as their way of referencing this little inside joke.
192* ''Film/PrideAndPrejudice2005'' has an unusual one. It's not a ''movie development gag'' but a ''book development gag''. Early in the movie, Elizabeth is seen reading a book titled "First Impressions." "First Impressions" was the original title Jane Austen gave "Pride and Prejudice." Also, when the pages of the book are shown, it's revealed that Elizabeth is reading the last chapter of "Pride and Prejudice" with the characters' names changed.
193* ''Film/IAmLegend'' includes a development gag to another movie - a giant poster in Times Square has a ''ComicBook/SupermanBatman'' logo. Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman was hired to write a Batman vs Superman film before it fell through.
194* Creator/StevenSpielberg had hired [[StopMotion go-motion]] expert Phil Tippett to do the ''Film/JurassicPark'' dinosaurs. Then [[Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic ILM]] did an awesome demo of computer-generated dinos. The exchange when Spielberg showed Tippett said demo ("You're out of a job", "Don't you mean extinct?") became a dialogue in the movie.
195* "[[ComicBookAdaptation Tales From Year Zero]]" is FULL of references to earlier versions of the script for ''Film/PacificRim'' before Guillermo Del Toro became involved with the project; for example, the comic's main character Naomi Sokolov was the film's deuteragonist, traveling the world to find out the reasons behind the {{Kaiju}}, and the simulated death of Yancy Beckett by Kaiju tongue was how he actually died.
196** There's a scene in ''Film/PacificRim'' where Gypsy Danger punches through an office building. The shot includes a closeup of a desk with a Newton's Cradle that gets bumped by the fist. This was a miniature shot, and on the desk's cubicle wall is a piece of paper. The paper is actually a shrunk down ILM shot sheet that shows how far behind their shooting schedule they were at that point.[[note]]That shot ended up putting them further behind because the hydraulic piston that plowed through the miniature got stuck halfway through on the first take. It appropriately damaged everything in its path, which had to hastily be repaired and/or the damage hidden (some of it by digitally compositing parts of the first shot - specifically the ceiling) so they could do a 2nd take.[[/note]]
197* ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'' has one scene where Las Vegas gets attacked by a Muto. Las Vegas was going to be the primary setting of ''Godzilla 3D to the Max'', the IMAX 3D short film project that was gradually repurposed into this feature-length film.
198* In ''Film/{{Looper}}'', when Young Joe tells Old Seth he's saving his earnings to go to France when he's older, Old Seth tells him that as a person from the future he should go to China instead, mirroring the way scenes originally intended to be set in France were changed to China when the film's Chinese distributor was able to secure funding and permission to shoot in and around Shanghai.
199* In ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014'', Vernon misinterprets April's description of the turtles, asking if they're aliens. April points out how stupid that idea sounds. This was exactly how the fans reacted during very early development when a leaked script (that wasn't even real) had the turtles be aliens.
200* ''Film/AFaceInTheCrowd'' ends with Lonesome Rhodes standing on his penthouse balcony as if about to jump to his death, still pleading for Marcia not to leave him. Mel says, "I don't figure him for a suicide." This line obviously came from a comment on a draft script which did end with Lonesome's suicide.
201* ''Film/{{Predators}}'' has an extraterrestrial who employs the original design for the Film/{{Predator}} himself (before the producers felt it didn't work and hired Creator/StanWinston to design the eventual mandibled beast).
202* ''Film/AddamsFamilyValues'' adds a CanonForeigner baby boy named Pubert to the titular family. None of the main characters were given first names until the comic strip was adapted into [[Series/TheAddamsFamily a tv show]], and creator Creator/CharlesAddams' original proposed name for Pugsley was Pubert, which was deemed too risque at the time.
203* A sort of meta example since it wasn't mentioned in the film, but supplementary material reveals that ''Film/JurassicWorld'''s titular park opened in 2005 and its plot takes place ten years after. The film itself was originally meant to be released in 2005, but was trapped in DevelopmentHell and ended up setting up for a 2015 release date.
204* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
205** When the [[Film/XMen1 first film]] was released, it helped start a tradition that characters normally clad in colorful spandex costumes [[MovieSuperheroesWearBlack instead opt for more practical black outfits]]. As such, it's lampshaded when Wolverine asks if they go outside in the suits when Cyclops activates the X-Jet for the final battle: "What would you prefer? Yellow spandex?"
206** Film/{{Deadpool|2016}} describes Professor X as a "bald, Heaven's Gate-looking motherfucker," but then later asks whether the Professor is "[[Creator/JamesMcAvoy McAvoy]] or [[Creator/PatrickStewart Stewart]]?" The former showed up for ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' with his head shaved, but the producers wanted the young Charles Xavier to have hair, so [=McAvoy=] had to wear extensions during much of that movie's filming.
207* The 2017 ''Film/{{Power Rangers|2017}}'' reboot movie attracted a bit of controversy for two {{Race Lift}}s among the main cast: Billy Cranston (the Blue Ranger), Caucasian in the series, is here played by African-American actor R.J. Cyler, while Trini Kwan (the Yellow Ranger), Asian in the series, is played by Hispanic singer-actress Becky Gomez. If you know your ''Power Rangers'' history, though, you might recognize both of those casting choices as subtle nods to the originally planned version of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''. According to WordOfGod, the African-American Walter Jones (Zack Taylor) was originally going to play the Blue Ranger instead of the Black Ranger, and the Yellow Ranger [[TheOtherMarty was played by Hispanic actress Audri Dubois in the unaired pilot]] before the Vietnamese-American Thuy Trang (Trini) was brought in to replace her.
208* In ''Film/Tremors2Aftershocks'' it's revealed that the franchise's signature monsters, the Graboids, are Precambrian in origin and may be the oldest life forms on the planet. This causes Earl to quip "I always thought they were from outer space." This is a reference to a scrapped scene from the first movie which would have revealed that the worms were indeed extraterrestrials, but was never filmed.
209** Another scene has Burt use a miniature remote control tank to trick a Graboid into swallowing an explosive. This is a reference to a sequence from the original script which saw Burt using a full-sized tank, but this was scrapped when the film was reduced to a direct-to-video production with a much smaller budget.
210* The [[TheStinger post-credits scene]] in ''Film/AntMan1'' features [[spoiler: Hank Pym offering his daughter Hope the chance to [[LegacyCharacter follow in her mother's footsteps]] and become ComicBook/TheWasp]]. As soon as Hope sees [[spoiler: the newly-built Wasp costume]], she smiles knowingly and says "It's about damn time". This is a subtle nod to the fact that [[spoiler: the Wasp was originally supposed to debut in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', three years before ''Ant-Man'' came out]].
211* At the end of ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017'', Belle asks the Beast if he could grow a beard. This was actually a cut line from the [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast animated version]].
212* A deleted subplot from ''Film/TheMatrix'' reveals that Morpheus has previously believed five other people to be The One, all of whom died after attempting to fight the Agents. In ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'', [[spoiler:the Architect explains that there have been five previous versions of the Matrix before the current one, each with its own version of the One, meaning that Neo again has five predecessors.]]
213* In ''Film/Dune2021'', Reverend Mother Mohiam is played by Creator/CharlotteRampling, who was Creator/AlejandroJodorowsky's first choice for the role of Lady Jessica in the infamously bizarre film adaptation of ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' that [[Film/JodorowskysDune he tried to make in the 1970s]]. The film's first trailer also features a cover of Music/PinkFloyd's "Eclipse", possibly as a nod to the fact that Jodorowsky wanted Pink Floyd to do the soundtrack for the same movie.
214* In the source novel of ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', Red is called that because he is a red-haired Irishman. In the film he's [[RaceLift played]] by Creator/MorganFreeman. Nevertheless, when asked about the name he sarcastically replies "Maybe because I'm Irish", and leaves it at that.
215* Similarly, Rochefort is an eerily pale white man in the source novel of ''Film/TheNinthGate'', but in the film he's a black man with his hair dyed platinum blonde. In one scene, Corso jokingly refers to Rochefort as "the albino".
216[[/folder]]
217
218[[folder:Literature]]
219* The ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' character Jenny Elf is based on a real life reader, who was given the choice of being an elf or an ogre in the books. The ogre she ''could'' have been later showed up, jealous at having missed her shot at becoming a main character.
220** The Good Magician Humfrey, a cranky old man with the talent of having all the answers (and no patience for those without them), and his wife[=/=]CloudcuckoolandersMinder the Gorgon were based initially on the husband and wife team at the helm of Del Rey books, Lester and Judy Lynn del Rey. After Judy Lynn's passing and Anthony leaving Del Rey for another publisher, they disappeared from the books for a time. Later they returned, with Anthony seeming to adopt Humfrey as an AuthorAvatar for another cranky old man who had to be periodically prodded into sending the next batch of adventurers out into the land of Xanth.
221* A sort of sequel-by-other-hands/{{fanon}} development gag: In his biography of Literature/SherlockHolmes, William S. Baring-Gould speculated that if, as stated by Creator/ArthurConanDoyle, the Holmes family were county squires, Sherlock and Mycroft must have an older brother, or else Mycroft would be the squire and would therefore be maintaining the estate up in Yorkshire. The development gag is that Baring-Gould named this brother "Sherrinford"; Doyle originally called Holmes "Sherrinford Hope".
222* In ''Literature/TheTruth'', there's a brief mention of the dwarfs mixing up ink for the printing engine from an old well beneath the building. It's a little detail that doesn't mean anything ... unless you know that the earliest plotline Creator/TerryPratchett came up with for a "newspapers on the Literature/{{Discworld}}" novel was "what if it's printed with ink that has accidentally been mixed with water from the Well of Truth?"
223* ''Literature/StarTrekMyriadUniverses''
224** In the novella ''Seeds of Dissent'', set in a universe where Khan Noonien Singh won the Eugenics Wars, and the human cast of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' are all descendants of his followers, Julian Bashir is the captain of the starship ''Defiance''. The ship's doctor is Constantin Amoros, who shares a bloodline with Bashir, and therefore has a similar appearance. Early [=DS9=] planning documents called Dr Bashir "Dr Julian Amoros".
225** In the novella ''A Less Perfect Union'', the communications officer on Pike's ''Enterprise'' is Lieutenant Penda [[spoiler: who turns out to be a cover identity for Starfleet Intelligence Agent Nyota Uhura]]. "Penda" was an early {{Fanon}} proposal for Uhura's first name, before the fandom decided on "Nyota".
226* In Creator/StephenBaxter's official sequel to ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'', ''The Time Ships'', the Time Traveller's younger self is named (or nicknamed) "Moses" and a Morlock from an alternate future is called Nebogipfel. In Wells's first time travel story, "The Chronic Argonauts", the traveller is named Dr Moses Nebogipfel.
227* According to Creator/JRRTolkien's introduction to the poetry collection ''The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book'', the poem "Errantry" must have been written by Bilbo early in his life, before he knew much about Elves (since the "Elvish" names are invented and it has no connection to Middle-Earth's "real" Elvish traditions) and the meter formed the basis for his later epic poem about the Elvish legend of Eärendil, as seen in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. It also suggests Bilbo must have been quite proud of the meter, which was his own invention. In the real world, "Errantry" was first published in ''The Oxford Magazine'' in 1933, and was not intended to be part of Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium until he used the meter (which he invented) for "Eärendillinwë".
228* In the comments to [[http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/interlude-13%C2%BD-donation-bonus/#comment-3340 an Arc 13 Interlude chapter]] of ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', a chapter in which Imp (a teammate of the protagonist) uses her PerceptionFilter superpower to spy upon the Slaughterhouse Nine (a band of supervillain {{Serial Killer}}s), the author mentions Imp's inspiration: [[spoiler:a member of the earliest draft of the Slaughterhouse Nine called "Nice Guy"]] whose power was to be [[TheNondescript the guy you would never suspect]], fading into the background until he could cut your throat without your even considering him a suspect. Which makes it hilarious in [[http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/sting-26-1/ the first chapter of Arc 26]] when [[spoiler:a resurrected ex-member of the Slaughterhouse Nine called "Nice Guy"]] starts using his power on the heroes (and {{Anti Villain}}s) to divert suspicion from himself in preparation to killing them, and Imp takes him out with the BondOneLiner "My schtick."
229* ''Literature/LukeSkywalkerAndTheShadowsOfMindor'' features an in-universe biopic/DocumentaryOfLies called "Luke Skywalker and the Jedi's Revenge" as a minor plot point. The joke, of course, being that the working title of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' was "Revenge of the Jedi".
230* ''Literature/MarcysJournalAGuideToAmphibia'': It's shown that Marcy can play violin, which was depicted in [[http://static.wikia.nocookie.net/amphibiapedia/images/6/6c/20200816_153048.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20200819095332 concept art]] but never implemented on [[WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}} the show]] itself.
231[[/folder]]
232
233[[folder:Live Action TV]]
234* When Joel Surnow first got the idea for ''Series/TwentyFour'', all he really knew was that he wanted it to take place within a 24-hour timespan. His first idea was to do a show about planning for a wedding, and all of the crazy hijinks that happen in the 24 hours before it. Fittingly, the first part of Day 2 is about a family getting ready for a wedding.
235* In ''Series/CriminalMinds'', Jason Gideon's name was originally Jason Donovan. This is the name of the author of a book Gideon finds in an [=UnSub's=] apartment in one episode.
236* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': On the normal show, Monica and Chandler fall in love and are HappilyMarried for years. All sounds normal, though Monica mentions she once had a crush on [[TheCasanova Joey]]. In the original plan, Monica and ''Joey'' were the show's OfficialCouple.
237* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
238** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E1Robot Robot]]" contains a scene where the recently regenerated Doctor is happy to see his new nose, regarding it as an improvement. Creator/TerranceDicks added this in as a friendly jab at Creator/JonPertwee, who was hugely sensitive about his big nose and refused to be shot from certain angles because of it.
239** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E6TheSeedsOfDoom The Seeds of Doom]]", a character is confused by the Fourth Doctor's appearance, saying he'd expected someone older. This is a reference to how Creator/RobertHolmes' original concept for the Fourth Doctor had been an elderly eccentric, but they'd ended up casting an actor who was younger than any of the previous Doctors had been (a controversial decision in the fandom at the time).
240** Creator/TomBaker alters a line in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E5TheRobotsOfDeath The Robots of Death]]" to refer to [[UncannyValley robophobia]] as "Grimwade's Syndrome", referencing Peter Grimwade, a production assistant who tended to always end up working on robot stories.
241** The Gallifreyan writing (inside hexagons) seen in the new series resembles the strange abstract hexagonal design made by Susan, the Doctor's grand-daughter, in an un-aired pilot for ''Series/DoctorWho''.
242** This is how AliensInCardiff came to be, starting in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E3TheUnquietDead The Unquiet Dead]]". Since BBC Wales films there, it's treated as a borderline PlaceWorseThanDeath in-universe, with everyone astonished that anything interesting happens there. "I saw the fall of Troy! World War Five! Now I'm gonna die in a dungeon... in ''Cardiff''."
243** The Doctor's scoffing "You've been watching too much TV" when Martha asks if the Master is his secret brother in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums The Sound of Drums]]" is funnier when you know that this concept had been considered ever since the era of the first Master, Roger Delgado, in which the Third Doctor’s final story was planned to be a showdown with the Master that revealed the two Time Lords to be either brothers or two aspects of the same character. [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim Then Delgado died.]] This was also referenced in the Master’s final words in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E5PlanetOfFire Planet of Fire]], and controversial early plans for what became [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie The TV Movie]] would have included this identity for the Master as a plot element in a full ContinuityReboot.
244** In the new series, the season 4 premier "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E1PartnersInCrime Partners in Crime]]" featured a character named Penny Carter. Penny Carter was the name of the original companion for Season 4. However, Creator/CatherineTate, who had previously appeared as Donna Noble in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride The Runaway Bride]]", had such a great time, she asked if she could come back. So, Penny was written out and Donna was written in.
245** The Doctor correcting Donna's pronunciation of "Sontaran" in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E5ThePoisonSky The Poison Sky]]". The way Donna pronounces it, with the emphasis on the "Son", is the way the director of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior the first Sontaran story]], Alan Bromly, thought it should be pronounced. Kevin Lindsay, who played Linx, won that argument on the grounds that "I'm ''from'' the bloody planet!"
246** Lady Christina, the single-story companion-substitute in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E15PlanetOfTheDead Planet of the Dead]]", is very similar to what has been publicly stated as the concept of the companion who would have replaced Ace had the original show had a twenty-seventh season.
247** "[[Recap/DoctorWho2012CSTheSnowmen The Snowmen]]" borrows heavily from two shitcanned Tom Baker-era scripts - "The Doctor Retires", a Creator/DouglasAdams concept about the Doctor going into retirement and ending up [[ChronicHeroSyndrome dragged back out again]], and "The Gaslight Murders", which featured the Doctor teaming up with a plucky Victorian Cockney girl companion (an early concept for Leela) to solve alien murders.
248** [[Recap/DoctorWho2012CSTheSnowmen Clara's]] headstone in 1892 states that she was born on 23 November 1866 and that she died on 24 December 1892, meaning she not only shares the same birthday (though not the year) as ''Doctor Who'' itself but that she was also 26 years old when she died -- the exact same age as ''Doctor Who'' was when it was cancelled in 1989.
249** Continuing this, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E7TheRingsOfAkhaten Clara's mother died]] March 5, 2005 -- the same day that the new series premiered.
250** Victorian Clara uses the name "Miss Montague" when working as a governess. One of the early ideas for the new companion was a Victorian governess named Beryl Montague.
251* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
252** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''
253*** The two-part episode "The Menagerie" features extensive footage of the (at that time yet) unaired first pilot "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E0TheCage The Cage]]". Apart from Creator/LeonardNimoy as Spock, the cast was completely different, and also the design of the sets and the uniforms differed somewhat. "The Cage"-footage cleverly was used as {{Flashback}} to an earlier point in Spock's career. The episode also established that Christopher Pike, the Captain of the ''Enterprise'' in said unaired pilot, was actually Kirk's predecessor; this detail would even go on to influence ''Film/StarTrek2009'', which portrayed Pike as Kirk's mentor.
254*** At the end of "The Apple", Kirk jokes about Spock's resemblance to classic images of Satan, which was a concern raised by network executives early in the show's development (to the point where at least one promotional image concealed Spock's pointed ears).
255** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''
256*** The ability for the ship to split apart into the saucer section and stardrive section was an intended feature of the original Enterprise, mentioned in one episode but never realized on screen. The Enterprise-D was shown doing a saucer separation in the first episode largely to show off the budget.
257*** The ship wrecks featured episodes "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds The Best of Both Worlds]]: Part II" and "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E7Unification1}} Unification, Part 1]]" [[http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/wolf359.htm have been well documented by fans]]. It turns out that some of them are actually study models for the ''Excelsior'' from ''[[Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock Star Trek III]]''.
258*** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E10Parallels}} Parallels]]", Riker is shown to have been the ''Enterprise'''s captain since "The Best of Both Worlds" in at least two alternate universes, which was the producers' plan when it was unclear if Creator/PatrickStewart would renew his contract after season 3.
259** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': When Creator/GeneRoddenberry was trying to sell the original series, he used the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation Drake Equation]] as part of the pitch. But he didn't actually know the Drake Equation, so he made one up and relied on network execs knowing less than he did. In the ''Voyager'' episode "Future's End", a 20th century astronomer searching for extraterrestrial life has ''both'' versions on the wall of her office.
260* Some of the ideas from the original pilot for ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' that were scrapped made it into the show. The most notable example is the character Ted Sprague, who was based on an Islamic terrorist featured in the original pilot.
261* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': An important character in Eko's flashback episode is named Emeka. Emeka was originally Eko's name during casting of the role, and numerous magazines reported it as his name when the actor was cast. It was changed to Eko shortly before filming began.
262* In the ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode "The Betrayal", we get a flashback to Jerry and Kramer's first meeting, where the former calls the latter "Kessler" before being corrected. Kessler was the character's original name in the pilot episode.
263* At an early point in its development, ''Series/KamenRider'' was going to be called "Crossfire" and star a crime-fighting wrestler. The CrisisCrossover GrandFinale of ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'' paid tribute to this by introducing a MetaOrigin for the entire franchise: an object called the Cross of Fire, which is the literal embodiment of the powers all Kamen Riders possess.
264** Similarly, the helmets worn by the SPIRIT soldiers in ''Manga/KamenRiderSpirits'' are based off unused concept art for ''Crossfire''.
265* In ''Series/TheNanny'' episode "The Butler, the Husband, the Wife and Her Mother", Fran Fine criticizes Maxwell Sheffield for wearing bright yellow rain boots with his suit, saying "Normally, you're so GQ. Now, you're the Gorton's Fisherman?". Charles Shaughnessy, who played Maxwell, had shown up to his original audition wearing those same exact boots.
266* ''Series/OnceUponATime'':
267** A cross-media gag, the episode with Merida in a starring role in both storylines is called "The Bear and the Bow", the WorkingTitle for ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}''.
268** In the Season One episode "Snow Fall", Emma inquires as to what Mary Margaret is doing out so late and Mary Margaret answers "I'm a teacher, not a nun. I was on a date." Mary Margaret was a nun in the original pilot script before being changed to a schoolteacher during production.
269* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'':
270** Two of the show's working titles, "Whither Canada?" and "Owl Stretching Time", were reused as episode titles.
271** "Gwen Dibley's Flying Circus" was another working title, which was rejected because Gwen Dibley was the name of a real person; the Pythons liked the name, though, and they used it in some sketches.
272* In ''Series/LukeCage2016'', someone calls Claire Temple "night nurse" at one point. Claire is a CompositeCharacter based on the eponymous character from the ''ComicBook/LukeCageHeroForHire'' comics and Linda Carter, one of the main characters from obscure 70s series ''Night Nurse''. The people behind the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' Netflix shows were originally going to use Linda, but had to fall back on Claire to avoid a possible conflict with a future movie.
273* In ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'', the title hero's first enemy Bemular derives his name from Bemlar, the prototype character who would eventually be developed into Ultraman. Similarly, the avian kaiju Hydra is physically based on the same Bemlar prototype.
274** Another foe of Ultraman, the yeti-like Woo, is named after the title character of the original pitch by Creator/EijiTsuburaya thhat would later be waysided by the ''Franchise/UltraSeries''. However, the original ''Woo'' concept would later be resurrected and retooled slightly as ''Series/BioPlanetWoO'' in 2006.
275* ''Series/TheDarkCrystalAgeOfResistance'': skekGra's facial markings are based on those from a Skeksis concept design.
276* In ''Series/RedDwarf: The Promised Land'', Rimmer spends a chunk of the story in "low power" mode, which turns him monochrome. This was intended to be the series' standard visual effect to indicate a hologram, but in 1988 they couldn't get it to work on-budget.
277* In ''Series/TheMandalorian'' Chapter 9, the bartender Taanti -- who'd later reappear in other ''Franchise/StarWars'' productions -- uses a Weequay headsculpt originally molded for Greef Karga, before Creator/JonFavreau decided to make Greef a human instead.
278* In ''Series/TheSopranos'', Carmella's mother (and Tony's mother-in-law) Mary [=DeAngelis=] is played by actress Creator/SuzanneShepherd, who previously appeared in ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'' as Karen Hill's mother (and Henry Hill's mother-in-law). The role of Carmella was originally written for Creator/LorraineBracco, who played Karen Hill in ''Goodfellas''--and the role of Tony was originally offered to Creator/RayLiotta, who played Henry.
279* After the second season of ''Series/GoodOmens2019'' was announced, Creator/NeilGaiman began responding to questions sent to his Tumblr about the season's plot with "Wait and See". Around the time this was going on he was working on the script for the fifth episode "The Ball" and decided to include a nod to the running gag.
280-->'''Crowley:''' What are you planning?\
281'''Aziraphale:''' Wait and see!\
282'''Crowley:''' "Wait and see"? Do you have any idea how ''irritating'' that is?
283[[/folder]]
284
285[[folder:Pinball]]
286* ''Pinball/ElviraAndThePartyMonsters'' has a set of broken bones decorating the slingshot bumpers and inlane rails; this is in reference to a motorcycle accident designer Creator/DennisNordman had during the game's development.
287* Similarly, one of Skull's lines in ''Pinball/NoFearDangerousSports'' references a motorbike accident designer Creator/SteveRitchie had, where he lost part of his finger. Ouch.
288[[/folder]]
289
290[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
291* Sometimes a pro wrestler will do subtle references back to previous gimmicks and characters they've had in the past, including all the way back to before they began with a company. For one example, former [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] wrestler Gunner wrestles in tights that have a [[http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/253526_10150214885791026_31695961025_7356635_773883_n.jpg broken glass theme.]] This seems a little out of place, unless you know that he wrestled on the indy circuit for years as Phill ''Shatter.''
292* Similar to the TNA example above, former Wrestling/{{WWE}} wrestler Wrestling/{{Ryback}}'s name likely won't make a lot of sense to those who don't know about him wrestling in the independents as Ryan "The Silverback" Reeves.
293* Probably the biggest example of this is Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin's finishing move being called the "Stone Cold Stunner". He was known for years as "Stunning" Steve Austin in Wrestling/{{WCW}}.
294** Likewise, Wrestling/TripleH's finisher is the "Pedigree", a CallBack to his former gimmick as a blueblooded snob.
295* Major feuds that occurred in developmental can reappear on the main roster, especially if both wrestlers turn out to be major stars. Wrestling/JohnCena and Wrestling/RandyOrton, and [[Wrestling/JonMoxley Dean Ambrose]] and Wrestling/SethRollins are two notable cases. In even more added irony, they would switch "roles" on the main roster. Initially, the former for both rivalries were the heels in developmental; on the main roster, they're the faces.
296[[/folder]]
297
298[[folder:Radio]]
299* In ''Radio/CabinPressure'', Captain Martin Crieff makes a living driving a van for his company Icarus Removals when he's not flying for MJN Air. The original name for MJN Air was meant to be [[IcarusAllusion Icarus Airlines]], but as the character of Carolyn (the airline's owner) got fleshed out more he soon realised that she would never be daft enough to give it such a name. It was given to Martin's delivery company as a development gag.
300* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho''
301** In the drama ''Mistfall'', a sequel to the TV serial "Full Circle" by the same writer, there is an evolved female Marshman named Fem. Fem was actually in an early draft of "Full Circle" before being replaced by an unnamed "Marshchild".
302** In the drama ''The Five Companions'', a POVSequel to the 20th anniversary special "The Five Doctors", the Fifth Doctor tells Ian Chesterton that he'd meant to visit him recently but hadn't managed it. The serial "Mawdryn Undead", from the 20th anniversary season had originally been intended to feature Ian, but the actor was unavailable.
303[[/folder]]
304
305[[folder:Sports]]
306* During the construction of the Colorado Rockies' stadium, the workers discovered several dinosaur fossils, including a fully intact triceratops skull. This led to the team selecting a triceratops (Dinger) as their mascot.
307[[/folder]]
308
309[[folder:Theatre]]
310* Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/HenryIV Parts 1 and 2'' and ''Theatre/TheMerryWivesOfWindsor'' all have gags playing off the fact that Falstaff was originally called Sir John Oldcastle, until the descendents of the real Oldcastle objected. In ''Part 1'' Prince Hal calls him "My old lad of the castle"; in ''Part 2'' he's given a detail of Oldcastle's career (he was page to Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk) and the Epilogue has the SuspiciouslySpecificDenial "Falstaff may die of a sweat ... for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man"; and in ''Merry Wives'', when disguised as Herne, he seems to give his identity away by crying "Oh! Oh! Oh!" when burned (the joke being that he's crying "O!" for Oldcastle).
311* The original set of ''Theatre/SpringAwakening'' includes a chalk board showing a list of songs in the show, and includes a couple references to places where songs were cut (for example, the name of the former act two opener "There Once Was a Pirate", can be seen written faintly above the name of its replacement.)
312* The musical and film ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors'' contains a VillainSong sung by the DepravedDentist Orin Scrivello. As composer Music/AlanMenken explains in a documentary about his life and music, his father and many of the other men in his family are dentists -- something which he also began to study for but gave up in order to pursue music instead. No doubt he and Howard Ashman, the lyricist, had fun writing the dentist's song!
313* The last scene of ''Theatre/FunnyGirl'' has Fanny saying to Nicky at one point, "You should've heard the rest of the speech--I've been rehearsing it for weeks!" It's surely not a coincidence that this was the most rewritten scene in the show, and that Music/BarbraStreisand and Sydney Chaplin were rehearsing the final version less than an hour before it opened in New York.
314* In ''Theatre/{{Follies}}'', Carlotta's "I'm Still Here," a replacement for the CutSong "Can That Boy Fox-Trot," is preceded by dialogue about a song of hers that got cut out of the (Weissmann) Follies.
315[[/folder]]
316
317[[folder:Theme Parks]]
318* When ExecutiveMeddling caused the deletion of an ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'' sequence in the [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks California Adventure]] nighttime show ''Ride/WorldOfColor'', a brief appearance by the Cheshire Cat and Alice was placed into the finale.
319* [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal Parks & Resorts]]:
320** The construction of the ''[[Franchise/JurassicPark Velocicoaster]]'' at Islands of Adventure saw an amusing tangent when an osprey decided to build its nest on top of the ride track, defying several attempts to get it to move away and becoming a celebrity among fans tracking the ride's progress. Universal was eventually able to safely encourage the osprey to move its nest to another location, and it was honored with an appearance on the ride's pre-show, where it appears on a video as one of the "[[StealthPun raptors]]" that [=InGen=] is researching.
321** In the queue for ''Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge'' at the Hollywood version of ''Ride/SuperNintendoWorld'', you can spot several blueprints for Bowser's contraptions labelled as being for "Project Number MK-526". "Project 526" was the codename for ''Super Nintendo World'' at Hollywood while it was under construction.
322[[/folder]]
323
324[[folder:Toys]]
325* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'':
326** A very early rejected mask design for Toa Pohatu was later used for another Toa of the Stone element, Toa Onewa.
327** The mask of Makuta Mutran was originally to be called Artidax, the Mask of Mutation, until the writer realized that the Mutran set came with a Mask of Silence. The Mask of Mutation was later given to another Makuta, Miserix, and Artidax became the name of the island he had been imprisoned on.
328* ''Toys/SuperThings'': The heroic Kazoom Kid Astro Turbo originally was conceptualized with the name "Galaxy Brain". This scrapped name would be later used for a different Kazoom Kid, albeit a villainous one.
329[[/folder]]
330
331[[folder:Video Games]]
332* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': At Noctis City, the ROM shop features a device to view [[InsideAComputerSystem virtual simulated areas]], one of them, Phantasy Nightclub, features a "Thirty-seven 37" sign, the WorkingTitle for the game when it was in development.
333* The description for the Bracket Key active item in ''VideoGame/EnterTheGungeon'' states that it is "A remnant from when the Gungeon was being built", and that "Gungeon architects would use these artifacts to quickly make their way through Gundead infested chambers." This refers to how, in creating the game, the right bracket key was used for automatically clearing all enemies in a room to grease the wheels of game development.
334%%(ZCE)* This was the original EasterEgg in computer games, as is recounted very neatly in that page.
335%%(ZCE)* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has a few jokes along this line, including the infamous Egg Hunter badge.
336%%(ZCE)* ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit 2'' is full of these. Many of the secret areas have signs that have jokes and messages to the development/design team on them, which completely fly over the head of the average player.
337* ''[[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords]]'': Atton Rand has unlockable dialogue that plays during their first encounter referencing how he was last minute addition to the game. The dialogue only plays if there's been a dark side and light side playthrough.
338* Coach from ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' complains that he wants armor sometimes when he sees a Riot Infected, a zombie [[HeavilyArmoredMook clad in riot security gear]]. This was a reference to Coach's early designs that had him wear football gear as makeshift armor. Hilariously, some mods can dress up Coach in said armor, whether it's the original design's football gear or even police riot armor.
339* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': Noah shares his name with 'Project Noah', the WorkingTitle of ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''.
340* Creator/{{Blizzard|Entertainment}} games are loaded with these. One of the most memorable is a bit of audio attached to a character in ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}''; when ''Starcraft'''s alpha was first shown to the public people accused it of just being "''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' [[RecycledInSpace in space]]". Clicking on the character Artanis [[StopPokingMe repeatedly]] will eventually produce a series of exasperated [[BreakingTheFourthWall defences of the game's design]]:
341--> "This is not ''Warcraft'' In Space!" "It's much more sophisticated." "I know it's not 3-D!"
342** ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has:
343*** The [[http://www.wowpedia.org/Nova_Shrine Nova Shrine]]: A memorial to the [[{{Vaporware}} not-yet-officially-canceled]] ''Starcraft: Ghost'' spinoff game.
344*** In ''Mists of Pandaria'' there's a ghost NPC in the Valley of the Four Winds who gives the player a low-quality woodcutting axe. The description mentions that it has "+15 Woodcrafting" etched into the handle, referencing a planned profession that was scrapped because its uses were too limited.
345** ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' has a rarely spawning dungeon called DevelopmentHell, with zombies named after the game development crew.
346* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' has a few in every game that involves a Konquest mode, and all appearances of characters like Rain who owe their existence to jokes between developers are essentially Development Gags.
347** Way back in the early stages of the first ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1992'', Sub-Zero's {{code name}} was originally "Tundra." Come ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'', it's revealed that the title of the younger Sub-Zero [[LegacyCharacter that took his fallen brother's place]] starting in ''[=MK2=]'' was Tundra before he took up the mantle of Sub-Zero to honor his brother.
348** And of course, Ermac, after the oft-misunderstood abbreviation that the first game's debug menu used for "'''Er'''ror '''Mac'''ro."
349** And of course [=MoKap=], the guy in the motion capture suit that some of the fighters were drawn over, and Meat, the bloody musculature under many of the polygons.
350* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha 3'':
351** One of Guile's winquotes is "No handcuffs? Fighting isn't what it used to be!" which is a reference to a glitch Guile had in the original ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' that "handcuffed" (froze/attached) him to the opponent. This also counts as a MythologyGag, as the glitch was rather famous and widely known about among fans, and is considered a part of one of the older games despite its glitchy status.
352** Cody has several winquotes that refer back to his being a CanonImmigrant from another Capcom series, ''VideoGame/FinalFight'', including saying how good it is to have more than two moves and saying he'll take on "man, beast, or car", a nod to the first ''FF'''s infamous bonus stage.
353** Birdie has a quote explaining that he was pale "before" because he was sick; this refers to the fact that the character was Caucasian in the original ''VideoGame/StreetFighterI'' and was {{Race Lift}}ed into being black in ''Alpha'' and onwards.
354* In the Rusty Bucket Bay level of ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'', there is a picture of the original pink-furred brunette version of Berri from the aborted ''VideoGame/TwelveTalesConker64'' (who did appear as a damsel in distress in ''Conker's Pocket Tales''). This EasterEgg only appears in the original N64 version; it's a picture of Conker in the [[UpdatedRerelease XBLA version]].
355** In ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'', Captain Blackeye, a character who was supposed to be the main antagonist in the early development of ''Banjo-Kazooie'' appears in a bar, drunkenly ranting about how a bear stole all his glory and how he "Had a dream", a reference to what the game was originally called.
356** Portraits of Blackeye also appeared in ''Banjo-Kazooie's'' Mad Monster Mansion.
357* In the library level of ''VideoGame/{{Metro 2033}}'' one of your squad mates pulls a book off the shelf and exclaims something along the lines of "Ahh, something familiar; ''Literature/RoadsidePicnic''." ''Roadside Picnic'' is the novel that inspired the ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' series, which many of the ''Metro'' devs also worked on. It doubles as well in that anyone who's played ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' is likely the find ''Metro'''s atmosphere very familiar, though the gameplay of the two games is quite different.
358* When the developers of ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'' created the sprite for the main character, he wasn't yet named, so they just called him "guy". Sprite files were called "brushes", so his file was called the "guy brush". They eventually decided they liked the name, and so Guybrush Threepwood was born.
359** The game also references its game engine, ''Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion'', with the in-game SCUMM Bar (which after the engine technology changed for the fourth game to Lua, was renamed after a hostile takeover by the game's antagonist to the "Lua Bar").
360** The entire script of the first game could be considered a development gag; Ron Gilbert's original concept called for a more serious tone, but what with the way production works, Creator/TimSchafer and Dave Grossman found themselves with empty dialog slots in a game that needed testing, so they added their own silly placeholders. Gilbert thought these were so hilarious that he decided to completely overhaul the tone of the game and make it a comedy instead.
361* The main character of the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' games was referred to behind the scenes as "Bluehair," a reference to the distinctive (apparent) color of his hair. When the series moved to full-motion video, making an official name necessary, he was given the last name "Blair."
362* Jade's name in ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'' is a reference to more than just her obvious favorite color; in fact, she had it before she wore green ''anything'' (besides lipstick). It's a reference to the JADE Engine, the engine the game (and later, the 3-D ''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' games) was built in.
363* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'':
364** During the ending, the original playable character of the game can be briefly seen in the background.
365** Near the start of the game, Coach Oleander incorrectly guesses that the protagonist's name starts with a D, referencing the original protagonist d'Artagnan.
366* ''VideoGame/Psychonauts2'':
367** Inside the Psychoisolation Chamber, Terryl attempts to unsuccessfully guess Raz's name. The closest she gets is "d'Artagnan", the scrapped protagonist of the first game.
368** Oleander grouses about how the mecha he was going to build was scrapped due to the Psychonauts cutting his budget. As [[https://www.doublefine.com/news/5-cool-things-from-the-art-book this]] news post from Double Fine explains, he ''was'' going to have a mech but it was scrapped because of out-of-universe budget cuts. (That, and because when the third act was reworked it became unnecessary.)
369* The original playable character for ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}'' is available for viewing, if only you ask for it.
370* Lewton in ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'' mentions that he was going to be an assassin, but it didn't work out. The early idea for the game was the further adventures of Teppic from ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'', an assassin.
371* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
372** The first game also has glowing letters reading "COPE" in the Spring Yard Zone, which is the acronym for one of the graphics processing routines used by the developers. If you go up high in Act 1 you can also see "UP ON CPU", whose meaning is less clear but may just be praise for the Mega Drive's capabilities.
373** Before settling on a name for the blue hedgehog, the developers referred to him as "Mr. ハリネズミ" ("[[ADogNamedDog Mr. Hedgehog]]"), but due to a [[BlindIdiotTranslation misreading of the katakana]][[note]]the Japanese word for "hedgehog" (ハリネズミ) is a compound of "needle" (ハリ) and "mouse" (ネズミ)[[/note]], word spread among the public that his original name was "Mr. Needlemouse" instead. While erroneous, the rumor still stuck. The name was brought back for the publicity of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4: Episode 1'': Prior to the reveal of the game's real name, it was referred to by its code name ''Project Needlemouse''. And the Sega blog, poking fun at the prior games' huge casts, jokingly suggested that "Sonic's new friend Mr. Needlemouse" might be a playable character in the game.
374** One of the proposed designs for a Creator/{{Sega}} mascot was apparently supposed to be a caricature of UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt. As the creators also liked that character, they turned him into Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik.
375** Sonic's standing pose in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' is an unused standing pose from ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1''.
376** One of the pinball boards in ''Sonic Adventure''[='s=] Casinopolis is based on ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams''; Sonic had his own gameplay mode in ''Christmas [=NiGHTS=]'', which was his first playable appearance in 3D, three years before ''Adventure''.
377** At the beginning of the animated trailer for ''VideoGame/SonicMania'', a sketched Sonic initially appears with rabbit ears before they are erased and replaced with his more familiar spines. One of the earliest ideas pitched for Sega's new mascot entering the 1990s was a rabbit character, who could use his extendable ears to grab objects. The rabbit character eventually became the basis for VideoGame/{{Ristar}}.
378** ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' has a few examples:
379*** The Deadly Six Edition features bosses from ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams''. ''VideoGame/SonicXTreme'' was going to feature bosses designed with the ''[=NiGHTS=]'' engine, which could be one of the few intentional references to ''X-Treme''[='=]s development.
380*** Sonic knocks billiard balls into their holes as he rolls around whilst entombed inside a giant snowball in Frozen Factory. Believe it or not, [[https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Sonic_Saturn there was a billiards mini-game in one of the many scrapped Sonic games from the mid-1990's, where Sonic had to act as the cue ball]].
381* In ''VideoGame/VivaPinata'', Miss Petula has a goldfish piñata in her hat, which was originally going to be obtainable, but had to be cut because the developers couldn't figure out how fully-aquatic pi­ñatas would work.
382* In the beta version of ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'', shooting a particular object in HubLevel opened the path to an EasterEgg ([[spoiler:[[VideoGame/CommanderKeen the DopeFish]]]]) located in the same level selection room. In the released version, the easter egg was moved to an actual level, and shooting the object in the start level displays an optional hint about its location.
383* ''VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame'' mentions that one of the names for Slimer is "Onionhead" in his Tobin's Spirit Guide entry, and he's actually referred to by this name once in dialogue. This was his production name, and it had been dropped from {{Canon}} media until now, because it was tied to a similarly dropped character trait of his smelling terrible -- it was found to be too hard to convey in film.
384* [[NoDeathRun Acing]] ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'''s final level, [[spoiler: [[CollectorOfTheStrange The Collector]]]], unlocks a costume based on [[http://littlebigplanet.wikia.com/wiki/Yellowhead Yellowhead]], the game's protagonist [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQLDNmllbiU in its beta ''Craftworld'' form.]]
385* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'', the concept art for main characters [[http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww54/anticiti/REAVERDRZEDCOMMANDERSTEELE.jpg Roland, Mordecai, and Lilith]] make their way into the game as [[http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww54/anticiti/Dr_zed.png Dr. Zed,]] [[http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww54/anticiti/800px-Reaver.jpg Reaver,]] and [[http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww54/anticiti/550px-Commandant_Steele.png Commandant Steele,]] respectively.
386* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', you can see a rather [[http://combineoverwiki.net/images/b/bb/Cremator_head_jar_BME.jpg strange object in a jar]] at Black Mesa East, which Eli states that they "still don't know what it does". It's actually the head of a [[http://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Cremator Cremator]], a janitor-like enemy that was cut.
387** During the pod ride in the Citadel, among the Striders and Gunships you see are the [[http://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Crab_Synth Crab]] and [[http://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Mortar_Synth Mortar]] Synths, two enemies that were cut from the final game.
388* In the Beta version of ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', the protagonist had red eyes and a blue outfit. When the finished game was ported to [=WiiWare=], an EasterEgg was added where [[HolidayMode if you play the game on Halloween]], the character's sprite is replaced with a zombified version--with red eyes and a blue outfit.
389* During the ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' War in Kryta arc, Confessor Isaiah, the leader of the White Mantle (named after Isaiah Cartwright, the former leader of the skill balance team) has a skill called "Isaiah's Balance," which causes the next skill used by its target(s) to cost 25 energy and recharge in 90 seconds, reflecting an infamous skill nerf.
390* Creator/{{Telltale|Games}}'s ''VideoGame/BackToTheFutureTheGame'' includes a development gag relating to the third movie. Marty is told by a descendant of Marshall Strickland (whom he met in 1885) that the Marshall had been shot in the back by Buford Tannen. Marty states that he doesn't remember that occurrence; the scene was filmed for the third movie, but ultimately deleted.
391* ''VideoGame/BioShock'':
392** In the UpdatedRerelease of ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', one of the DLC Challenge Rooms, "A Shocking Turn of Events", has you rescue a Little Sister from a malfunctioning Ferris Wheel, which was a deleted set piece from the base game's Fort Frolic.
393** The ''VideoGame/{{BioShock 2}}'' ARG "Something In The Sea" featured a character that visited Rapture then managed to return to the United States. The man then wrote a story about his experiences and submitted it to a science fiction magazine only for the editor to completely mangle the story into unrecognizability. One of the changes was turning the Little Sisters into chipmunk-like creatures, a reference to early concept art which rendered them as such.
394** At the end of ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', [[spoiler:Booker meets several alternate versions of Elizabeth. One of them uses the model first shown to players before she was redesigned. This early model can now been seen in the Clash in the Clouds DLC, along with a very early Handyman design that appeared in very early screenshots and the E3 2010 demo]].
395** An Enemy in the Burial at Sea DLC named Frost Splicer [[spoiler:was an incomplete enemy of the Shock Jockey-Vigor Junkie left in game files, It was repurposed for this DLC for an in-universe drink named Old Man Winter that the enemy is addicted to, that Booker and Elizabeth must fight]].
396* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
397** While designing ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', Capcom created a big white block as a simple polygon to test the game's hit detection. By the time had come for the game to go gold, the block was further defined into the protagonist of the minigame "The Tofu Survivor". ''Resident Evil 3'', built in the same engine, also has Tofu DummiedOut, while ''The Darkside Chronicles'' contains another minigame where the player runs around blasting hulks of tofu as a ShoutOut.
398** One of the DLC costumes for Claire in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'' is a red-and-white riding suit based on Elza Walker, a character from an early prototype of ''[=RE2=]'' commonly referred to as "Resident Evil 1.5". While Elza would be scrapped, many aspects of her would be used for Claire, such as her backstory as a university student and motorcycle enthusiast, and her scenario prominently featuring Sherry Birkin as a supporting character.
399* In ''VideoGame/TimeShift'', the "Alpha Suit" worn by the main antagonist (established as the prototype of the "Beta Suit" worn by the protagonist) is based on the design of the protagonist's suit in the early steampunk-inspired version of the game (which was then massively overhauled).
400* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
401** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', talking to Shale reveals she used to be 10 ft tall (like other golems) until her owner took a ''chisel'' to her and carved her down to her current size because she couldn't fit through doors. This is the exact same reason why the developers had to shrink down her original model since early playtesting saw her frequently get stuck.
402** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', at one point [[spoiler:Hawke]] mentions that they feared the Chantry was planning an Exalted March against Kirkwall, but it ultimately didn't happen. This was the premise of a planned but cancelled "Exalted March" expansion pack for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', and much of the plot for said expansion pack wound up in ''Inquisition'' anyway.
403** The name of the continent where the game is set itself is a DevelopmentGag: "Thedas" was an internal shorthand for "'''The''' '''D'''ragon '''A'''ge '''S'''etting" that ended up sticking.
404* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
405** An old artwork for Poliwhirl/Poliwrath shows it wearing a crown; in Generation II, the crown-like King's Rock gives Poliwhirl access to the alternate evolution Politoed.
406** Gastrodon's ''Platinum'' Pokédex entry mentioning it previously having a rocky, sturdy shell comes from its beta sprite.
407** Pokédex entries mention that Umbreon can sweat poison when agitated. This is because it was originally a Poison-type, not a Dark-type.
408** Ledyba being the "5-star Pokémon" comes from an earlier design that had 5 stars on its back instead of 5 spots.
409** Certain generic Trainers in Japanese versions of ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' are named after the staff members.
410* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', two mooks will discuss a rumor that Harley Quinn used to be a man. Rocksteady motion-captured Quinn with a male actor, and even posted a fake reveal of this to tease fans.
411* Some of the many voiceovers introduced by the Perpetual Training Initiative DLC in ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' are from an AlternateUniverse Cave Johnson who got his consciousness transferred to a computer, only to later start musing about the metaphysical implications of this and asking "What if injecting my consciousness into a computer robbed me of an eternal reward?". This is a reference to a [[http://kotaku.com/5015122/more-details-on-portal-2s-bad-guy very early version of the script]] where Johnson was going to be the BigBad.
412* In the final version of ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', at the end of the ''Wasteland Survival Guide'' questline, your character can sarcastically ask Moira Brown if, with you having done virtually all the legwork and research for the ''Guide'', Moira wants you to find a publisher, too. She cheerfully replies that won't be necessary. Guess what you had to do in one prerelease version of the questline.
413* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'':
414** One of the most iconic enemies, the Creeper, was originally meant to be a model for the pig. The values for the height and width of the torso were accidentally transposed, resulting in a vertical body with a head at the top and four stubby legs at the bottom. A proper pig was made afterward, and the botched model colored green and made into the exploding fellow we all know and love.
415** The Nether Update brought two development gags:
416*** The Piglins, the inhabitants of the Nether, are based on the old concept of Pigmen, the [=NPCs=] that were supposed to be the inhabitants of the villages, before they were ultimately replaced with the Villagers. Zombie Pigmen, mobs that are also based on that concept, were later {{retcon}}nected as part of the same species under the name of Zombified Piglins.
417*** The Crying Obsidian was a planned block in the beta days of Minecraft that would act as a way of setting a respawn point. This block would be later discarded in favor of beds, which would take their function in the final release. Fan suggestions about crying obsidian returning as a way to respawn in the Nether (since you can't use beds as a respawn point outside of the Overworld due the fact that they [[spoiler: explode]] if you try to use them, [[spoiler: with high chances of killing you in the process]]) not only lead to the return of this block, but it also lead the creation of the Respawn Anchor, a block made out of crying obsidian that allows players to set their spawn point in The Nether.
418** ''VideoGame/MinecraftStoryMode'': The Order of the Stone is actually an old subtitle for what would become Minecraft, with the full title being "Minecraft: Order of the Stone".
419* In ''VideoGame/KillingFloor'', one of the pinned-up newspapers reads "SUSPECTED CULT" and shows a picture of the clots from the original mod.
420* When you enter the modern or the future era in ''[[VideoGame/{{Civilization}} Civilization 4]]'', you get an image of a digital clock with a brand "Soren" showing the time 5:23. This refers to Soren Johnson, one of the game's main developers, whose birthday is on May 23rd.
421* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'':
422** ''VideoGame/KirbyMassAttack'' takes place on the Popopo islands. Kirby's original name was Popopo.
423** The {{Superboss}} of ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' is [[spoiler:'''Morpho Knight''', who, aside from its CoolSword, is actually a character that was originally designed for the cancelled Kirby Gamecube game]].
424* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' began life as an early version of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', which would have starred a superhuman protagonist named Tony Redgrave. After the game [[DivorcedInstallment became its own thing]] instead of an entry in the ''Resident Evil'' series, the character's name was changed to Dante. However, as a nod to the original concept, the phrase "For Tony Redgrave" is engraved on Dante's guns. Both the first ''Devil May Cry'' novel by Shin-Ya Goikeda and the [[Anime/DevilMayCryTheAnimatedSeries anime]] later expanded on this by explaining that Tony Redgrave was an alias Dante used in the past. As an additional nod, ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'' primarily takes place in a city named Red Grave.
425* For ''[[VideoGame/BitTrip BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien]]'', protagonist [=CommanderVideo=] (who was a {{minimalis|m}}t {{retraux}} [[http://www.commandervideo.com/images/COMMANDERVIDEO.jpg figure]] in the main ''BIT.TRIP'' series) was originally going to be [[http://www.runner2.com/storage/Commander.jpg redesigned]] by [[http://www.glitchritual.com/ Ty Dunitz]]. When problems came up trying to get the character model to work, the planned redesign was changed to [[http://www.runner2.com/storage/cv.png this]]. Dunitz's design still managed to make it into the game as the unlockable character [=CaptainVideo=].
426* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' has Paris, the final [=SpotPass=] character who proclaims himself to be [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Ike's]] descendant and wields his trademark Ragnell.]] His name is [[spoiler:what Ike had for a code name during early development of ''Path of Radiance'']]. The English language localizations [[LostInTranslation lose this]] by renaming him Priam, though this sets up a different case of ShoutOutThemeNaming, as [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar Priam, King of Troy, had a son named Paris]].
427* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
428** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', among the character Jack's many tattoos are images of several punkish-looking women. While the official art book claims they're former members of gangs she was in that were murdered, behind the scenes, they're [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VzQDCWicqsM/S2yQ0dfBBnI/AAAAAAAAANM/usM-gqmQMDE/s1600-h/ME2_MattRhodes_SubjectZero_01.jpg concept art sketches]] [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VzQDCWicqsM/S2yQ09pODkI/AAAAAAAAANU/3cmB4efNIB8/s1600-h/ME2_MattRhodes_SubjectZero_02.jpg from when Jack was being designed]].
429** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', after the Grissom Academy mission and meeting Kahlee Sanders, James Vega mentions that his estranged father's last name was Sanders but that he's not related to Kahlee. Originally, James' last name ''was'' going to be Sanders, but it was changed to Vega because Kahlee Sanders had already existed since ''Literature/MassEffectRevelation''.
430* ''VideoGame/BrokenAge'' has Curtis the lumberjack as a character who is afraid of trees (they keep screaming at him). He was originally nothing more than a test of the art-style of the game and later a place-holder to see how the game was to be controlled and played. He was dubbed the "hipster lumberjack" by the devs and became so popular with the community that they demanded he be in the game when it was revealed he wasn't.
431* Early versions of the TC_Inferno map for ''[[Videogame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Living Legends]]'' had an odd runway for the {{Space Plane}}s, where the vehicle factory was off to the side of the runway, with a concrete wall on the other side, requiring players to taxi onto the runway then turn before taking off. Most of the [[UsefulNotes/BetaTest Alpha Testers]] would simply [[TooDumbToLive mash the afterburner key the instant they got into the plane and then plow into the concrete wall at 400kph]]. The level designer then replaced the hint screens in the spawnroom with his own hints, saying things like "DO NOT TAXI INTO WALL" or "DO NOT FLY INTO LAVA", depicting planes plowing into the wall or landing in lava, though the screens sadly didn't make it into the final release and were instead highlighted in a HilariousOuttakes thread.
432* Many of [[DittoFighter Double's]] attacks in ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'' use assets or conceptualisations from other characters' movesets that were abandoned during development.
433** One of Ms. Fortune's alternate palettes is the colour scheme of her original character design.
434* ''VideoGame/StarFoxZero'' for the Platform/WiiU brings back the "transforming vehicles" aspect that was originally planned for the cancelled ''VideoGame/StarFox2'' nearly 20 years prior. This fact was even acknowledged by Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto during the game's debut at E3 2015.
435* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', there are several hints in the game files, particularly the order of character portraits, that suggest [[MagnificentBastard Alex]] was supposed to be the final party member instead of [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Piers]]. This culminates in a small chat when the party meets up with Alex after Piers joins the party, where Alex makes a subtle remark about "being replaced."
436* In ''VideoGame/{{Bombshell}}'', the fact that Shelly "Bombshell" Harrison is stated to hate bubblegum and sunglasses gains additional meaning if you know that the game was originally supposed to star VideoGame/DukeNukem, who is associated with both those things.
437* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'':
438** Nitrus Brio is based on concept art for Neo Cortex.
439** The model for the Lab Assistant enemies in the first game was listed in the original game's code as obj_ass ("ass" being short for "assistant"). After the developers realized this, they thought it was funny and decided to give them even more profane model names in the next game's code, like obj_asshole and obj_motherfucker.
440** Similarly, Crash's model is consistently listed as obj_willy, as opposed to obj_crash. This is in reference to Crash's prototype name, Willy the Wombat.
441* While localising ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'', XSEED ran into a series of bizarre glitches, one of which included random bits of text suddenly changing size. An example given in [[http://xseedgames.tumblr.com/post/126706403020/the-legend-of-heroes-trails-in-the-sky-second a pre-release dev blog]] showed Estelle describing Olivier as "a total weirdo, but his gun skills are legit", with the word "legit" blown up to roughly twice its original size. The blogger commented that, given that this was [[CloudCuckoolander Olivier]], in a just world the word "weirdo" would be the one getting emphasis. Lo and behold, in the final version of the game in that very text box, the giant text remains, but this time it's "total weirdo" that's blown up instead (with Olivier immediately commenting on the strange emphasis afterwards).
442* In ''VideoGame/CarriesOrderUp'', one of [[AndYourRewardIsClothes the unlockable palettes]] is "Classic", a pale green dress worn by Carrie in a comic drawn by the developer.
443* On April Fool's Day, the developers of ''VideoGame/AviaryAttorney'' [[http://aviaryattorney.tumblr.com/post/115212440614/please-understand "announced"]] that they were going to produce a game called ''Axolotl Accountancy'' instead. In the game, one character tells you the following:
444--> '''Judge Maxime:''' When I awoke, I had a mild case of amnesia. I thought I was an axolotl accountant!
445* Poppy's passive ability in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' is named Iron Ambassador, a reference to her character title before her total rework in late 2015.
446** Sion's joke when near his ally Urgot refers to how Sion also went a total redesign:
447-->''So, uh, Urgot, we can't hang out anymore. I'm cool now.''
448** One of Janna's jokes makes fun of her old voice prior to her update.
449* In ''Knight-Tyme'', one of the first games released for the 128k Platform/ZXSpectrum, the ship's computer is called Derby IV. "Derby" was the development codename for the 128k Spectrum itself.
450* ''VideoGame/TransformersDevastation'' has Shockwave perform a DoppelgangerAttack in his boss fight. The [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers original series]]' production bible described him as having the ability to duplicate himself, but it never made it into the show proper.
451* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'':
452** The earliest known footage of the game, revealed in a forum post released in February 2014 (over two years before the game's release), includes [[https://tcrf.net/images/1/1a/Undertale-startroomearly.png a screenshot]] where the [[HelloInsertNameHere name of the fallen child]] is conspicuously shown as "Chara." What most would assume is [[GenericName a placeholder name (an abbreviation for "Character")]] is in fact the ''only'' hint creator Creator/TobyFox ever gave of the [[spoiler:significance of the name Chara, which is the CanonName of the fallen child - the ''original'' fallen child who was taken in by Toriel and Asgore years ago.]] In fact, without this added bit of context, [[spoiler:most players would assume that they're naming the PlayerCharacter on the naming screen, who is instead later revealed to be named Frisk.]]
453** The same forum post contains a few humorous misdirections about the story of ''Undertale'', such as that [[AWolfInSheepsClothing Flowey]] will "help you many times along your journey" and that the game is about using ThePowerOfLove to save the world. That second part becomes [[spoiler:either HilariousInHindsight or HarsherInHindsight after you learn that LOVE, in the world of ''Undertale'', [[FunWithAcronyms does not refer to love]] but rather to KillingIntent, and is in fact used to ''[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy]]'' the world in one ending.]] Similarly, [[spoiler:Flowey [[ExactWords really does help you throughout your journey]] -- but only if you're pursuing the Genocide route.]]
454** In the artbook, Toby revealed that Lesser Dog's extending neck was inspired by Creator/TemmieChang's original design sketch for it, which had a "weirdly long and puffy neck". Toby, finding this amusing, kept editing the drawing to make the neck even longer and sending it back to Temmie, insisting that it was important concept art that he needed her opinion on, and from there it ended up making its way into the game proper.
455* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
456** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'':
457*** Mantis's face is heavily mutilated but with no explanation. This is a hangover from an earlier concept for his backstory where he'd received extensive surgery to give him his powers.
458*** Meryl's outfit has a subtly ninja-like theme, with a massive knife strapped to her leg and hand guards, which was supposed to be part of her fighting style in combat sequences where Snake would co-operate with her. The idea of co-operating with Meryl is all but cut from the eventual game.
459** ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'' was originally meant to feature Oldboy and Chinaman, two extra bosses as members of Dead Cell. They hung around long enough that a boss arena was built for Chinaman (the area later used for Vamp's boss fight). Oldboy and Chinaman appear briefly in the flashback artwork showing the dissolution of Dead Cell, both shown dying -- with Vamp, the character who inherited many of Chinaman's powers, holding him in his arms. Oldboy's concept was later recycled in part for The End in ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 3|SnakeEater}}''.
460** When Hideo Kojima asked Yoji Shinkawa to create a handsome, appealing character to serve as Raiden, Yoji Shinkawa (as a joke) submitted a design for a creepy spider-like character who moved about on dislocated limbs and 'likes to lick bird doodoo'. The joke design eventually resurfaced as The Fear in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater''. Note, also, that bird droppings are prominently featured on the Strut A Roof (the introductory stage in which Raiden's face is revealed to the player for the first time).
461** The motif in ''[=MGS3=]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots MGS4]]'' with ([[LegacyCharacter a]]) Snake appearing at The Boss's/[[GenerationXerox Big Boss]]'s grave is based partially on an unused scene concept for the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', where Snake would have visited Big Boss's restored remains. The civilian outfit designed for the scene [[RefittedForSequel was used as the basis for]] Snake's civilian outfit in ''4''.
462** Raiden's MissionControl in ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance Revengeance]]'', Doktor, Courtney and Boris, are based on Doc, Max and Quinn, who had been created to be Raiden's contacts in ''[=MSG2=]''. All had been cut with most of their significant actions [[CompositeCharacter composited into the Colonel, Rosemary and Emma]].
463** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' ending with a cover of "''Here's To You''", a song about two Italian immigrants to American wrongly executed for a crime they didn't commit, actually ties into the original ending where Snake and Otacon would be executed as terrorists by the authorities.
464* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
465** Shadow and Setzer in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' are based on ideas that Creator/TetsuyaNomura had for Jobs for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' -- a Gambler, and a variant on the Ninja accompanied by a dog. Setzer's design is also based on the unused ''V'' concept of "Eva Schweriz," a glamorous lady gambler and airship pilot, who was eventually adapted into {{Bifauxnen}} pirate Faris Schweriz due to difficulty fitting her character into the setting.
466** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' and ''Compilation'':
467*** Zack was based on a rejected early design for Cloud -- which fits, as certain characters treat Cloud as a replacement for Zack, and Cloud himself has troubles separating his own identity from the others. Angeal from ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' is based on a different rejected early design for Cloud.
468*** Notice that Yuffie's outfit is similar to Cloud's, with the ribbed polo neck and the shoulder guard? That's a hangover from her original concept of being a SOLDIER 2nd Class.
469*** Aerith and Sephiroth were originally intended to have a much closer connection -- first as siblings, then as former lovers. Nothing of this remains in the story besides some striking similarities in character design - hairstyles, silhouettes, and wrist bands. (It perhaps ends up giving the impression that Cloud [[HasAType has a bit of a Type]].)
470*** Genesis's design in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' contains elements from early Sephiroth art, such as the use of the conventional SOLDIER top underneath the longcoat. His InkSuitActor factor is a reference to a ComicBookFantasyCasting controversy in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' where the hero's face ended up being so similar to Music/{{Gackt}} that it breached likeness laws.
471*** The original game intended to be ''Final Fantasy VII'', the one set in New York and featuring a detective, was scrapped when ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' required help in development. Cloud and Barret were designed as GoldfishPoopGang characters on this game, but seemed striking enough to the team that a new project was launched using them as main characters.
472*** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Barret complains he doesn't know how to use Materia. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', Cloud sneers that Barret doesn't know how to use Materia and Barret insists ''of course he knows''.
473*** The original plan for ''Final Fantasy VII'', before game mechanics were finalised, was going to use a Job system similar to that of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', where Cloud's Job class was a dual Mystic Knight/Berserker. The eventual version of the game did virtually nothing to differentiate player characters other than LimitBreak moves and stats. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', Cloud is finally turned into a Berserker, with his gimmick being a "Punisher Mode" which allows him to do overpowering damage, shrug off blows and put himself into Berserk status for even more boosted damage, at the cost of his manoeuvrability.
474*** In early drafts for ''VII'', Barrett was the SacrificialLion who would be murdered by Sephiroth instead of [[ItWasHisSled Aerith]]. In ''Remake'', [[spoiler:Barrett ''does'' get killed by Sephiroth, only for [[TimePolice the Arbiters of Fate]] to intervene and revive him. Not coincidentally, this is roughly the point where its made clear the game is ''not'' actually a remake, but a StealthSequel of sorts.]]
475** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'':
476*** ''XV'' was first announced as a spinoff called ''Final Fantasy Versus XIII'' in 2006. It was rebranded as a main series entry in 2013 and finally released in late 2016, ten years after it was announced. 13 is still treated as an ArcNumber of sorts, there are some oblique references to ''XIII''[='s=] mythology, and [[spoiler:Noctis ends up entering a stasis of sorts for ten years]] before the game's final chapter.
477*** The "SAF" motif on the boats of the Imperials is an injoke reference to the placeholder name "[[JustForFun/OneMarioLimit General Safay Roth]]", an early version of the character who became Ardyn. Supposedly the logo is 'to honour the great generals of the past'.
478* Quite a few Platform/NintendoGameCube titles have dolphins in them due to the fact the [=GameCube=]'s code name was "Dolphin." A well-known yet subtle example is ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', which takes place on Isle '''[[BilingualBonus Delfino]]'''; true to [[GratuitousItalian its name]], the island resembles a dolphin.
479* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
480** [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 The Pridelands]] and Disney Castle were intended to be included in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' but were held back until [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII the sequel]] due to time and troubles implementing four-legged characters.
481** An early concept for the first game had Chernobog as the source of all Heartless and the final boss fight. After his defeat, Kingdom Hearts would appear as "Ave Maria" played, in an imitation of the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence from ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}''. Technical limitations led to this sequence being scrapped for the original release, but a simpler Chernobog fight was added to the international version. ''Birth By Sleep'' would later borrow some elements of the originally planned sequence for the Keyblade Graveyard final battles.
482** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' features elements from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVersusXIII'', the project that eventually became ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' after being SavedFromDevelopmentHell, as a parody [[ShowWithinAShow Game Within A Game]] called ''Verum Rex''. [[spoiler: The ''Verum Rex'' setting also appears in the secret ending.]]
483* In ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsBattleForBikiniBottom'', Patrick's Dream consists of a black void with him under a spotlight, and he just gives you a Golden Spatula when you talk to him with no strings attached. While this is a MythologyGag to the show, it is also a reference to the original plan for Patrick's Dream: A LevelAte that is DummiedOut in some versions of the game. The final version of the level can be seen as SelfDeprecation on the developer's part for not completing the level.
484* In ''[[VideoGame/Persona2 Persona 2: Innocent Sin]]'', Principal Hanya's unique attack is named "Dark Young Legend", which was one of the suggested subtitles for the game itself.
485* In the PSP title ''VideoGame/MedievilResurrection'', [[ExpositionFairy Al-Zalam]] and the [[MacGuffin Anubis Stone]] are both elements that [[WhatCouldHaveBeen would have originally featured in the never-made PS2 game]] ''Medieval 3: Fate's Arrow''. The minigame "Arrow o' Fate" is also named after the cancelled title.
486* Karmic Transformer 9 from ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' trades in Amaterasu's cel-shaded appearance for a realistically lit and rendered wolf, a nod to how the game's original concept video had ''the entire game'' being rendered realistically.
487* When ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' was still being planned for the Nintendo 64, one of its playable characters was Joseph de Molay, a Templar Knight. His chapter ended up being scrapped in the final product, but when you find Roberto Bianchi's chapter page, you're given a short scene of Pious threatening a knight who can see his true form as a liche; he's merely credited as "Defeated Knight", but this was actually a repurposed Joseph.
488* Sheik's redesign in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' is based on a design made during the development of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', which is why it matches the art style of said game.
489* In the ''VideoGame/{{Vexx}}'', all of the titular character's animation files refer to him as Jinx, which was his original name during development.
490* ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'':
491** An NPC living in the heroine’s hometown mentions that the events of the prequel happened two years ago, then adds "has it really only been two years? It feels more like six", referencing the sequel’s lengthy development time.
492** In the same house, another NPC says, “Are you finally setting off on your next big adventure? That's terrific! It seems to have been delayed quite a few times by now...” poking fun at the game’s numerous setbacks and trips through DevelopmentHell.
493* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'':
494** The player has the option to ask the CoolOldLady Lena if she wants to join them and Kim in solving the murder case, saying she seems 'quirky enough' to be a main character. Lena politely declines, referring to the fact that she is in a wheelchair, and she is afraid it would too much of a hassle to help her get around. This is [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall some very pointed meta-commentary]] on the fact that Lena was indeed at some point in development tested as a potential third party member but her wheelchair proved to be too incompatible with the level design to work.
495** Your player character's precinct has a WalkingDisasterArea BuddyCopShow partnership consisting of DumbMuscle Mack "The Torso" Torson and the feeble but calculating Chester [=McLaine=], who serve as ThoseTwoGuys in conversations with the Precinct/visions via the Esprit de Corps skill. Seems a little like a SimilarSquad to your player character's NobleMaleRoguishMale partnership with Kim Kitsuragi? The game that became ''Disco Elysium'' was once intended to be a buddy cop RPG called ''Torson and [=McLaine=]'', but the characters changed hugely in development.
496** You can give the game's working title, ''No Truce With The Furies'', as a TitleDrop when naming the nightclub.
497** Those blue and yellow stripes behind the main character's portrait? Those are taken from the original pattern of his necktie, back when Harry would be running around in body armour over his signature mustard disco flares.
498* ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'' underwent a lot of changes over the course of development, including a complete rewrite of the overall story. Some aspects from early versions of the game have been alluded to in both the completed game and [[VideoGame/Destiny2 the sequel]]:
499** In the original treatment, Rasputin was an [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Exo]] being used as an avatar by an ancient [[DeusEstMachina Warmind]], not the Warmind itself. While this was obviously changed, the original idea has been given a few nods; Rasputin and the Exos are eventually revealed to have both been created by the Clovis Bray MegaCorp, and Rasputin himself claims to have taken part in the creation of Exos. The ''Warmind'' storyline in the second game is also a reworking of Rasputin's original story, involving the player having to save him from the Hive. As of the Beyond Light expansion, the last remaining copy of Rasputin after his destruction at the hands of the Darkness now resides inside an Exo body, bringing back the original idea.
500** The first drafts of the story had a LovableRogue Awoken named Crow helping the player on their adventures. The character was written out, but instead of being scrapped completely, his various elements were diffused amongst other characters; Cayde-6 got his personality and overall role in the plot, his character model was reused for Uldren Sov, and the Reef's intelligence network is called the Crows. For bonus points, [[spoiler:when Cayde dies in the ''Forsaken'' storyline, he's killed by ''Uldren'', making the whole sequence akin to Crow killing the guy who stole his gimmick. Even better, following his resurrection via a Ghost post-''Forsaken'', Uldren has become a Guardian in his own right with no memory of his past and a radically different personality, proving to be a loyal and friendly ally to the player. The name he uses? Take a guess.]]
501** There was originally a fourth playable race in the form of CatFolk called Tiger Men, which got cut because Bungie felt they didn't really fit the setting. The concept is given occasional joking references in-game, most notably with a [[HalloweenEpisode Festival of the Lost]] mask that Lord Shaxx wears every year.
502* The protagonist of ''Star Wars: VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'' goes by the codename "Starkiller" -- a fanwink to the working name for Luke Skywalker.
503* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'': Ortega's new sprite / design in the remakes, which originated in the North American NES localization of ''III'', rather than the Famicom original.
504* In ''VideoGame/{{Anbennar}}'''s original Dwarovar release, a dwarven hold was left with the placeholder name of [=Anbennar4313=]. It was ultimately named Vûrdriz-Ândriz, which translates to 4313 in dwarvish.
505* Stratos and Delilah (a.k.a. Team Slacker) from ''VideoGame/BugFables'' are based on the main characters of the previous RPG concept by Moonsprout Games, albeit heavily redesigned to fit the game's aesthetic.[[note]]Namely, they had their species altered: Stratos went from a lizard to Hercules beetle, while Delilah went from jellyfish to mosquito.[[/note]]
506* When you are dealt the Twisted Canyon card in ''VideoGame/HandOfFate'', the Dealer may note that the card was in the deck from the beginning. Twisted Canyon was the first card created during development of the game.
507* In ''VideoGame/PowerBomberman'', Warooi's ability is pushing the other players, which is based on DummiedOut [[https://tcrf.net/Super_Bomberman_5#Unused_Warooi_Actions animations]] found within the code of ''VideoGame/SuperBomberman 5''.
508* At various points in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', you meet Luigi who is (allegedly) [[HeroOfAnotherStory off on his own heroic adventure]] and always accompanied by a recognizable creature as a party member... until you meet Screamy. Not even Goombella can figure out who or what he is, and remarks she's never seen anyone like that before. A dip into the game's code shows Screamy's design was the original design for the Smorgs, as his sprite is labelled "moa" while the Smorg sprites are labelled "new_moa".
509* ''VideoGame/Hitman3'': The Envy escalation missions from the "Seven Deadly Sins" pack has you compete with an AI assassin in who can kill the most targets. The game mode takes cues from ''VideoGame/Hitman2'''s Ghost Mode, an experimental [=PvP=] game mode where players race to kill the most targets, though here your opponent is a glorified NPC rather than another player you couldn't directly interact with. Ghost Mode was in PerpetualBeta until IOI shut down its servers shortly before ''Hitman 3'' launched.
510* It is ''very'' difficult to see, but [[EvilKnockoff Nightmare Zero]] in ''VideoGame/MegaManX6'' has a different ArmCannon than the actual Zero, having one that is thinner, rounder, and lacking the gray metal band that wraps around the real Zero's cannon. The design comes from Zero's arm cannon in the prototype version of ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'', playing off the idea that Nightmare Zero is a FlawedPrototype rather than the real deal.
511* One of the endings of ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice'' has Laharl falsely claim to be Mao's father, with Etna and Flonne arguing about which one of them gets to play the role of the mother. This is a reference to an early concept for Mao, where he actually was Laharl and Flonne's son.
512* ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'' was originally envisioned as a game based on the myth of Theseus, and would have had the player exploring the labyrinth of Crete seeking to slay the Minotaur. This early concept, known as ''Minos'', was ultimately scrapped as the developers felt Theseus came off as too generic a protagonist, but he and the Minotaur still made it into the final game as the DualBoss of Elysium.
513* ''VideoGame/CounterfeitMonkey'': Some tools that you can either see as prototypes or are mentioned in the game's backstory, like the diminutive affixer and depluralizer, were planned to be usable in the game at one point. However, they were cut due to [[Creator/EmilyShort the game's author]] finding them too restrictive or not very fun to use.
514* ''VideoGame/PajamaSam'': Sam's original design was known as Pumpkin Head Boy, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and gets referenced in two games. In ''VideoGame/PajamaSamInNoNeedToHideWhenItsDarkOutside'', Sam can read a book in the library with a short story about Pumpkin Head Boy with some RealitySubtext about how Pumpkin Head Boy's lawyers told him he was too seasonal. In ''VideoGame/PajamaSam3YouAreWhatYouEatFromYourHeadToYourFeet'', entering the observatory requires Sam putting a pumpkin on his head to get past a pair of guards.
515* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' has the ocarina warp song "Bolero of Fire", a subtle nod to Music/MauriceRavel's "Boléro", which was planned to be the opening theme of the original ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' before Nintendo found out that it was still under copyright.
516* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' had thought dialogue for enemies who are only encountered ''before'' you recruit Mallow and gain his Psyche ability that lets you read them, which as a result goes unused. The remake references the Terrapin's unused "Yo! What's going on?" by describing them in the bestiary as being nearly blind because of their helmets.
517[[/folder]]
518
519[[folder:Web Animation]]
520* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'':
521** Pom Pom's dog, Trivia Time, and Homeschool Winner were both characters that were created for but never quite materialized; this didn't keep subtle references to Homeschool Winner from cropping up in a few toons, and Trivia Time is officially Pom Pom's pet cookie jar.
522** In the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "unused emails", Strong Bad injures himself and moans "I think I broke my clavicus... majorus." This was a joke taken from an unfinished cartoon "Tis True, Pom Pom, Tis True".
523* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'' '''thrives''' on this trope! Watching the Special Info Episode will make many of these gags easier to understand.
524* In ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'', one episode has Washington unsuccessfully trying to get information out of Carolina in the past. This was true of Miles Luna while writing the episode, not knowing how to solve it. The season's showrunner Jason Weight then chimed in [[StatingTheSimpleSolution "why doesn't he just ask her in the future where they are friends?"]], leading Miles to [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot realize he missed this simple solution]]. And so the actual episode has [[DumbassHasAPoint the really stupid Agent Iowa asking that question]] at Wash, and once going to future Carolina works, he yells a [[RageBreakingPoint more enraged version]] of the "Goddammit!" that was Miles' original reaction.
525* In ''WebAnimation/{{Autodale}}'', the coat used by the Friendly Shadow is a symbol of his servitude to Hive. Human characters remark that he looks friendlier without it, the propaganda stories about him released by Hive always depict him wearing it, and [[spoiler:at the end of the episode, Hive uses "Give him the coat" as a DeadlyEuphemism]]. In the behind the scenes video, David (the creator) explains that he was unhappy with the Shadow's design until he ditched the duster.
526[[/folder]]
527
528[[folder:Web Comics]]
529* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''
530** The first published book, ''Dungeon Crawlin' Fools'', has author's commentary in it. The commentary discusses that the party's leader, Roy Greenhilt, was originally supposed to be a SquishyWizard and occupy TheSmartGuy role. The author decided that it wouldn't work out to have him be both that and the OnlySaneMan, so Roy became a fighter and the [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness sesquipedalian]] Vaarsuvius was introduced. This makes the strips in which we learn that Roy's father is bitterly disappointed in him for not becoming a wizard doubly funny.
531** Rich Burlew's commentary for ''No Cure for the Paladin Blues'' reveals that Roy's misadventure with the Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity was originally going to be him intentionally donning it to secretly engage in "girl talk" with Miko Miyazaki and learn more about her, only to discover later that he couldn't remove the belt. This eventually got scrapped because while writing Miko, he decided that her personality wasn't very compatible with the idea of "girl talk". In the comic, he only puts it on as an emergency disguise to help save Elan's life. When Haley finds out, she mocks him and one of her jokes is that this was him trying to impress Miko.
532* ''Webcomic/PoisonIvyGulch'': In an April 2021 story arc, Ace visits another town called Pig Iron Peak. This town name was a WorkingTitle for Poison Ivy Gulch.
533* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': Some concept art exists of an unused MagicalGirl character with red hair and a top hat, whom the author has stated would have essentially been a magical girl PhantomThief. In the end, she never made it into the story, both because she didn't fit the tone of the finished comic and because her role was deemed too similar to an existing character in ''Webcomic/KiwiBlitz''. However, observant readers might notice that [[https://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/chapter-3-page-13 a certain page in Chapter 3]] shows the cut character on a wanted poster.
534[[/folder]]
535
536[[folder:Web Games]]
537* Franchise/{{LEGO}} ''Backlot'' has a ContinuityCameo of [[Toys/{{Bionicle}} Takua]] drinking coffee and [[AnimatedActors reading the script for]] a ''BIONICLE'' movie. The script reveals his name is George, which was the early working name used for Takua in the ''Mata Nui Online Game''.
538[[/folder]]
539
540[[folder:Web Original]]
541* In the current version of the webnovel ''Literature/{{John Dies at the End}}'', the protagonists are heading to a final showdown without really knowing what to expect, and the narrator is armed with a chainsaw. At one point, he wonders whether he could have gotten caught in his situation with a dumber weapon. This is a nod to the earliest version of the story, wherein the narrator is in the same situation, but armed with a sword.
542[[/folder]]
543
544[[folder:Web Video]]
545* NewMedia web shows like ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' often have the characters, who are played by guys who are usually all friends, make jokes about the actors playing them and, occasionally, about events that happened during the making of the show. Most times, these references are either explained or funny enough that it doesn't matter.
546[[/folder]]
547
548[[folder:Western Animation]]
549* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': In the third season opener "The New Normal", Anne's father mistakenly refers to the realm of Amphibia as "Amphibiland", which was the show's working title.
550* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
551** Avatar Roku takes Aang on a spiritual journey, in which Aang learns about Roku's life, and about how strong friendships can transcend spirit and time, but anyone is capable of evil or good. After the revelation, Toph makes a point of asking Aang whether he thinks that friendships can truly transcend lifetimes. It's a thought-provoking philosophical question, but it was also intended as a reference to the fact that some of Toph's early development designs, where she was originally a large man, were recycled for Roku's Earthbending teacher.
552** Katara and Sokka's mother's name is Kya, which was Katara's name in the pilot. Taking it one step further, after the creators found out they couldn't use the name Kya, they were going to name her Kanna, which became the name of their grandmother. In the sequel series ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', [[DeadGuyJunior Katara and Aang's daughter]] ends up with the name Kya as well.
553** Also from the original pilot, Zuko was going to have a pet messenger hawk who would be something of an EvilCounterpart to Momo. Then Sokka got one in season three.
554** The first season finale has the Water Tribe using an ancient and [[SpikesOfVillainy super-pointy]] Fire Navy uniform for infiltration purposes that is based on the Fire Nation designs from the pilot.
555** The poster for "[[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs The Ember Island Players]]" is based on the cover for the Book 1 DVD, with the poster and play also referencing said cover putting Zuko's scar on the wrong side of his face. The play also depicted Toph as a man, once against referencing the character's early development.
556* A recurrent character in the ''Franchise/MickeyMouse'' franchise is Mickey's rival, Mortimer Mouse. Disney had first considered calling Mickey "Mortimer". Some works also portray him as having a nephew named "Morty".
557* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "There's No Disgrace Like Home", Bart mistakenly gets called "Brat" by Mr. Burns. Creator/MattGroening picked the name "Bart" because it was an anagram of "brat", which he found fitting for his AuthorAvatar.
558** One of the earliest ideas Creator/MattGroening had for ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' was to have Homer moonlighting as Krusty the Clown (notice that the two characters have near-identical proportions and similar designs), the irony being that, while Bart was dismissive of his father, he idolized Krusty, unaware that he ''was'' his father. The episode "Homie the Clown", which has Homer becoming a Krusty doppelgänger, is this concept coming full circle.
559** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E10PokeyMom Pokey Mom]]" Homer asks what happened to Bart's blue shirt, to which Bart replies that he doesn't have a blue shirt. While Bart doesn't wear a blue shirt on the show, a lot of merchandise, ranging from toys to comics, has featured him wearing a blue shirt instead of the orange one he usually wears in the show. [[PopCultureUrbanLegends Fan speculation]] over the years concluded that this was deliberately done in order to differentiate genuine ''Simpsons'' merchandise from counterfeits, though this has yet to be actually confirmed.
560* ''WesternAnimation/FriskyDingo'': the title itself is one of these, referring to an insult Killface would have taunted the Xtacles with as they were originally called Whiskey Tango Six in early incarnations.
561* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' has the titular character riding a motorcycle, a vehicle Hartman wanted him to ride during early developments of the show (back when Danny was a normal teen hunting ghosts).
562* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', Rodimus Prime's briefly appearing team of Autobots consist of ''Animated'' versions of Transformers characters that the members of the main cast were originally supposed to be based on (Hot Shot who became Bumblebee, Red Alert who was replaced by Ratchet, and Rodimus himself who was renamed Sentinel Prime at the request of Hasbro).
563* Quite a few examples from the ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' series:
564** All of the interns from the first three seasons are recycled from the concept designs for DJ, Cody, Katie, and Tyler.
565** In ''Revenge of the Island'', one member of the second generation cast, B, is also recycled from DJ's concept design.
566** [=LeShawna=] had two concept designs. The second one was recycled into her cousin, Leshaniqua, who shows up in "One Flu Over the Cuckoos".
567** The Queen Bee's eyes, body shape and outfit are recycled from Eva's concept design, while her name, "Heather", was originally given to the loner who would eventually become [[{{Goth}} Gwen]]. Also, Heather's alliance with Lindsay is a throwback to how the former's BigBad role in ''Island'' was originally played by the latter.
568** In ''Island'', Gwen forms a platonic friendship with Geoff. In the show's pre-production stages, they were love interests.
569** In ''Action'', Gwen and Trent are split up and forced to form opposing teams against each other. In the show's pre-production stages, there seemed to be an actual enmity between the two.
570** Courtney's eyes and freckles are recycled from Bridgette's concept design, while Noah shares a few visual similarities with Ezekiel's concept design.
571** In the Aftermath episodes, the silhouettes of several concept designs can be seen in the audience.
572** In ''Action'', Sadie's concept design is recycled into a paparazzi cutout and, later, into Justin's ex-girlfriend.
573** In ''Ridonculous Race'', the twins Jay and Mickey are recycled from Cameron's concept design.
574** Zoey's final design is recycled from Dakota's concept design, while the hairstyle of Staci's final design is similar to that of Zoey's concept design.
575* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': In Operations "Pool" and "Caramel", we see Numbuh 5 wearing glasses (in the "Pool" case, an alternate universe version thereof), in contrast to her regular appearance. This is a reference to her wearing glasses in the pilot (at one point, the CN website for the show even mentioned that she wears glasses).
576* In ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', there are several pictures around the Heinous Manor of [[{{Satan}} Lucius]] in his concept art's outfit as opposed to his ordinary one. In another episode, Jimmy wears a bowtie, which was part of his concept suit.
577* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' has the WhatIf episode "Goodbye and Good Riddance" end with cousins Ben and Gwen becoming classmates. This is a reference to them being best friends and classmates when the show was early in development, with their relationship changing to cousins later on, due to Gwen needing a better reason to be traveling with Ben and Grandpa Max during the summer.
578* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
579** In a flashback we get to see Twilight Sparkle's parents. Her mother bears a more than passing resemblance to Lauren Faust's original design for Twilight herself, back when she was meant to be the same character as Twilight (no last name) from the first-gen series.
580** One of the photos of Fluttershy pinned to the wall of Photo Finish's studio in "Green Isn't Your Color" is essentially Lauren Faust's concept art of earlier-generation pony Posey, except with wings and an altered cutie mark.
581** In "Family Appreciation Day" we get a flashback featuring a young Granny Smith, who looks just like an alternate version of Applejack that Creator/LaurenFaust drew for the series' pitch bible.
582** In "The Last Roundup", one of the pictures the other characters use while trying to find Applejack is based off a different concept sketch of her.
583** Applejack's little sister was originally named "Apple Butter". This name was likely the inspiration for the name of Applejack's ''mother'' in "The Perfect Pear", Pear Butter.
584** Also from Lauren's concept sketches, one of the rejected names for Fluttershy was "Meadowbrook". Series 7 would later use the name "Mage Meadowbrook" for Fluttershy's PrecursorHero.
585* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' shows Leela's maternal grandmother, [[spoiler: a mutant with a normal arm and a tentacle]] - which the developers originally planned to give to Leela's ''mother'', [[spoiler:who instead has two tentacle arms.]]
586** A flashback in "Crimes of the Hot" depicts Farnsworth building the prototype for all robots seen in the show. The prototype has antennae on the sides of its head resembling those in Bender's early concept art.
587* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' had one episode where the Professor dreams he hadn't [[FreakLabAccident accidentally added Chemical X]] when creating the girls, resulting in the "Run of the Mill Girls", who had no superpowers nor the Girls' [[TheNoseless unusual]] [[FingerlessHands features.]] The designs used were heavily based on unused redesigns that Craig made early in the show's development, in response to test audiences who had a very negative response to the characters.
588* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'', there was a rather [[{{Squick}} gross one]]: evidently, Beetlejuice's fingers are red because of a sexual drawing one of the animators did.
589* The protagonist of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'' was originally pitched as a newspaper delivery boy named Buddy. Once the Season Two ''VideoGame/{{Paperboy}}'' episode came around, the design was re-used for the character Julio.
590* The Justice League's public liaison, Catherine Cobert, was originally slated to appear in the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice''. She got as far as having a character design and a voice actress record her dialogue before she was axed for time considerations, but she survived in two small ways: first, hers is the voice of the Justice League's computer-- it's her voice announcing "Recognized: Robin B-Zero-One," etc. Second, her character design was given blonde hair and repurposed as reporter Cat Grant. She eventually made an appearance in the first episode of ''season two,'' with a new character design, the same voice actress, and... talking to Cat Grant.
591* ''WesternAnimation/SonicUnderground'' could be considered one big development gag, as the idea of ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' as the guitarist in his own rock band originated from one of many scrapped ideas from the character's early development.
592* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992'' featured a turtle named Clarence, who was first devised for [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 the movie]] as King Triton's advisor before being replaced by Sebastian.
593* In ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', Inferno was originally conceived as a new body for Megatron. The show made him a distinct character, but the scrapped idea was referenced in one of the early Season 2 episode, where Megatron in his actual new body collides with Inferno mid-air, and they briefly end up switching heads. Inferno is amused, Megatron not so much.
594* A ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode features Robert April, the first captain of the ''Enterprise''. The name was indeed one of the options Creator/GeneRoddenberry considered for the TOS captain, before he settled for Pike (and eventually Kirk). Canonically, he was the captain of the Enterprise before Pike and he is represented in the Star Trek Encyclopedia with an image of Roddenberry himself wearing a uniform.
595* Russell Ferguson from ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'' originally had a first name of Winston, which would become the surname of a one-shot character in the episode "In the Loop" who frequently got on Russell's nerves.
596* The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' episode "The Super Batman of Planet X!" featured a robotic butler named Alpha-Red, a play on Batman's BattleButler Alfred. This is a nod to an {{Animesque}} Batman show that Creator/BruceTimm had pitched after ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', which would have featured an A.I. Butler named Alpha-Red.
597* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'':
598** Lincoln's stuffed rabbit, Bun-Bun, is based on his original design from Creator/ChrisSavino's initial draft of the show, wherein the Louds were FunnyAnimal rabbits.
599** A more full-fledged reference to the draft serves as the premise of "White Hare", wherein Lincoln dreams about his family being rabbits. Lincoln's counterpart Warren looks identical to his original design and has 25 sisters, another major element from the draft before it was condensed to just 10.
600** Carol Pingrey's appearance (especially the original one she had when she first appeared in "Picture Perfect") was likely based off of one of Leni's prototype designs.
601** Billy, the baby that Lincoln and Clyde mistake for Lily in "Two Boys and a Baby", is actually Lily's prototype design.
602** Luna's distinctly canine behavior in "Study Muffin" is a gag based on the fact that she's named after one of Savino's two dachshunds.
603** "Lynn-er Takes All" has a scene where Lynn tries to "compete" with Lola by brushing her teeth very quickly, which results in Lynn losing one of her teeth. Aside from this being a change from the scene's storyboard depicting Lynn's gums bleeding, it's also a reference to Lynn's early design, which featured a missing tooth.
604* Wanda's name in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' was originally "Venus", however they opted for a PunnyName instead. [[ThemeNaming All fairies]] were meant to have space related names. Cosmo is the only major fairy that kept the original theme. Wanda's middle name is "Venus" as a reference to her original name.
605* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
606** In "Squeaky Boots", Mr. Krabs says, "Spongeboy, me Bob!". Spongeboy was an early idea for the main character's name.
607** In "The Big Bad Bubble Bass", Squidward's painting is the exact same as an unused earlier design of ''Bold and Brash'', his painting from "Artist Unknown".
608* ''WesternAnimation/{{Unikitty}}'',
609** The minor antagonist Master Fear has a teardrop shape for a head, reusing a scrapped design for main antagonist Master Frown, albeit with different eyes.
610** In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MikDxaQvdig music video]] for Music/GarfunkelAndOates' "Everything Is Awesome (Tween Dream Remix)", Creator/KateMicucci is represented by Dr. Fox, whom she voices on the show, while Creator/RikiLindhome is represented by a bunny, who is based on a scrapped design of Dr. Fox.
611* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
612** The characterization of Quentin Trembley, "America's silliest president" in "Irrational Treasure", is based on ''Teddy Roosevelt: You So Crazy'', a {{Mockumentary}} created by Alex Hirsch for 24-Hour Toons.
613** Mabel's crush on "the guy from the ten-dollar bill" in "The Love God" is a gag left over from the internal test pilot.
614* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': Stumpy's ''name'' is this. In the original concept for the show, he was supposed to have stumps instead of hands.
615* ''WesternAnimation/TheProblemSolverz'' references its Creator/AdultSwim pilot ''WesternAnimation/NeonKnome'' in some episodes. Kevin, the magic cup, can be seen in Horace's room, and the pictures on the wall are screenshots from the pilot. Roba also has a collection of Narrator dolls, and the giant Rollerblade appears in a few backgrounds. In "Hamburger Cavez", Roba unrolls his long sleeping bag the same way he did in ''Neon Knome''.
616* In the [[DistantFinale series finale]] of ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'', [[spoiler:she shows all of her friends the book she's written about her life. The picture of her on the book is the original character design from the unaired pilot.]]
617* In ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' Season 4, the large room in Sector 5 that houses the ''Skidbladnir'' is called "Garage Skid" by Odd. This is a reference to ''Garage Kids'', a short film by the creators of the show that was a test pilot for the series.
618* In ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'', Velma's mother is wearing an unused Alex Toth design for Velma's outfit in the original ''Scooby Doo'' cartoon.
619* The opening episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Real Ghostbusters}}'' 6th season ''Janine, You've Changed'' {{lampshades}} the fact that from season 3 onwards Janine's visual design and voice changes several times.
620* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': Catra's positioning as Adora's main foe doubles as this and MythologyGag: it calls back to the development of [[WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower the 1985 show]], where Catra was initially planned to be ''the'' main antagonist of the series before it was decided to integrate more elements from the ''Masters of the Universe'' toyline.
621* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' has several examples;
622** "The Mystery": The yearbook pictures for Alan and Tina both use their designs from the early reel.
623** According to an early production image, the fingerprint robber was going to study in Gumball's class. He was aged, but in "The Gi" he is shown in a flashback with his early kid design.
624** The class photo in "The Curse" that gets impaled by pencils has everyone but Darwin and Gumball as they were in the early reel.
625** "The Fridge": Nicole puts war paint on her face during the paintball game. The way she does it covers her whiskers, making them look longer, and thus more like they did in her character model before it was redesigned for the second season.
626** "The Skull": When Clayton shapeshifts into Banana Joe's form, he looks like Joe's first season character model instead of his current one.
627** "The Bumpkin": Gumball tries to escape school by [[SeesawCatapult sitting on one side of the seesaw while Hector stomps on the other]], the same thing he and Darwin did to try and escape from the school in the early reel.
628** "The Storm": Masami's crush on Alan is funnier when you realize that they ''were'' a couple in the pitch pilot.
629** "The Tape": The group shot where Gumball almost [[TitleDrop says the show's name]] is very similar to the end of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7uDvSITrlY one of the series's trailers]], except that was in front of the Watterson house and everyone managed to say it. In "The Compilation" there is also a similar scene, with several characters singing in front of the Wattersons' house.
630** "The Void": Darwin's CGI design from the pitch pilot can be seen floating around, as can a rejected design for the Watterson house.
631* A planned but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen ultimately unproduced]] episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' would had Boba Fett completing [[CharacterDevelopment his growth]] into the galaxy's greatest bounty hunter by defeating Cad Bane in a MexicanStandoff. In one of the SequelSeries, ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch The Bad Batch]]'', Cad Bane reappears and gets in a Mexican Standoff with Hunter that almost shot-for-shot matches the originally planned one from ''Clone Wars''... [[spoiler:except this time, ''[[TheBadGuyWins Bane wins]]''.]]
632* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'':
633** Darth Vader's helmet design is reminiscent of Ralph [=McQuarrie=]'s original concept, which featured a brow that made him look very sinister.
634** The outfit worn by the young Princess Leia is taken from unused ConceptArt [=McQuarrie=] did of Leia for ''A New Hope''.
635** Fifth Brother's design was taken directly from an unused piece of ConceptArt that was drawn for ''The Force Awakens''.
636** The Lasat term for the Force, "The Ashla", was the proper name for the Light Side of the Force that George Lucas created for early script drafts. The Dark Side on the other hand was referred to as the Bogan, which the Bendu brings in Season 3.
637** The Bendu is based on the original concept for Yoda, back when the character was going to be a gigantic creature instead of the little green dude everyone knows and loves. His name also comes from the "Jedi-Bendu", Lucas' original name for the Jedi.
638** During one scene, Zeb [[PaperThinDisguise poses as a "Hairless Wookiee"]] in order to infiltrate an Imperial compound. Zeb's species, the Lasats, are based on early ConceptArt for Wookiees.
639** In "Breaking Ranks", Kanan and Hera go after an Imperial kyber shipment, mention of which goes all the way back to a May 1975 synopsis of an early draft of ''Film/ANewHope''. Its first actual appearance was as the MacGuffin in ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye'', now referred to as "kyber crystal").
640* ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' has a few examples of this:
641** In "Dude, Where's My Eggman?", our good doctor runs into a criminal walrus that looks very similar, and the two quickly form an egocentric friendship comparing themselves to each other. A walrus was one of the last designs among Eggman's original ConceptArt.
642** In "Cabin Fever", Sonic and company partake in a sandcastle building contest. One draft of a very early internal document called the "Sonic Bible", which was created at Sega of America during the production of the original game, mentions that competing in sandcastle building contests is one of Sonic's past times.
643* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has several examples, a few of which doubles as an OrphanedReference:
644** When Pearl regains her physical form in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E16StevenTheSwordFighter "Steven the Sword Fighter"]], [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pearloriginal_2103.jpg a silhouette]] resembling [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/originalpearlfromthepilot_2585.jpg her original design from the pilot]] can be seen.
645** [[http://artemispanthar.tumblr.com/post/112989039892 Greg's illustration]] of Lapis Lazuli in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E46TheMessage "The Message"]] is reminiscent of her early character design.
646** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pSurtUXamM The video of the extended version]] of the show's theme song opens up with Steven, as a little boy, playing the first part of it on the ukulele. The whole segment is lifted from a similar scene in the pilot, where Steven performed the song as a preteen, right down to the Gems clapping along to the song. Amethyst's outfit during this segment (identical to her first outfit, but with a long-sleeved, off-shoulder top and no extra patches on her legs) is a reference to her design in the pilot.
647** In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS4E6LastOneOutOfBeachCity "Last One Out of Beach City"]]:
648*** Pearl tries to be cool by wearing jeans and a jacket, referencing [[http://laurenzuke.tumblr.com/post/95968753889 a drawing the episode's storyboard artist]] made a few years earlier that inspired the "Bad Pearl" meme.
649*** Pearl driving a car is a reference to a scrapped concept of the show, where the Crystal Gems [[AliensAmongUs would hang out among humans incognito]], and Pearl drove them around.
650** In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS4E15TheNewCrystalGems "The New Crystal Gems"]], Peridot and Lapis impersonate Garnet and Amethyst, referencing how their voice actors Shelby Rabara (Peridot) and Jennifer Paz (Lapis) originally auditioned for those roles.
651** Although Connie's mother is [[UnnamedParent unnamed in the show]], the name used by the crew is "Priyanka", a name from an episode idea that can be considered a very early prototype for [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E7BubbleBuddies "Bubble Buddies"]], Connie's debut episode.%%from page 21 of the artbook
652* The "BMO" episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTimeDistantLands'' has a scene where a character in the background is watching a show featuring a small child riding a flying tiger. This is a reference to ''Rumble Jaw'', a fictional show about a girl with a huge fist and her tiger companion that the production crew created in order to hide the existence of the miniseries from those who weren't involved with the project.
653* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'':
654** An early development animation reel has one scene in the montage depict Luz leaning towards a sleeping prince like she was about to [[DudeShesLikeInAComa kiss him]], only to slap him awake instead. This gag is recycled for the scene where Luz finds the unconscious Golden Guard in "Hunting Palismen". Similarly, the gag where Luz and Willow get their hands stuck together with abomination goo during their first meeting in "I Was a Teenage Abomination" was also taken from the same reel, only there it was a result of their hands actually fusing together due to Willow's (or "Paulina" as she was known at the time) PowerIncontinence.
655** Luz's older teenage design from the earliest stages of development is referenced regularly: [[spoiler:Vee]] is shown picking out pilot Luz's striped shirt from the closet in "Yesterday's Lie", in addition to briefly wielding the red baseball bat Luz was to use a her signature weapon; "Thanks to Them" has Luz wear the same striped shirt, a red beanie, and a jacket; and Luz's outfit in the time-skipped WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue also sees the character wearing a striped shirt and jacket, with a photo in the background showing that she and [[spoiler:Vee]] joined a baseball or softball team at one point.
656** In "Edge of the World", [[spoiler:one of the Titan Trappers has the same yellow and black eyes of King's beta design.]]
657** Lilith was originally supposed to be the principal of Hexside, something which gets referenced in the DistantFinale with [[spoiler:her sister Eda being the headmaster of the new University of Wild Magic.]]
658* In the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'':
659** The three Loliland beings the crew meet (Frivola-Kranus, Quadravi-Kranus, and Weird Mushroom Guy) were actually prototype designs for Pops before JG settled on his current one.
660** Towards the end, Pops is thrown into 'The Naive Man From Lolliland' - one of the two student films made by J.G. Quintel, whose protagonist was a proto-Pops.
661** Mordecai wishes he could reincarnate as a dolphin after Pops makes his sacrifice to throw Anti-Pops into the sun, which references his prototype origins in J.G. Quintel's '2 in the AM PM'.
662* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'': When pitching the storyline for Book 2 and discussing what made Tulip and her literal MirrorSelf M.T. differ as protagonists, one of the show's writers gave the odd example of "Tulip would clean up her room, [[NonSequitur while M.T. would kick a toad]]." The statement and the studio executives' bewildered response to it amused the rest of the writing staff so much that they decided they had to write an episode using it as the premise, which became "[[Recap/InfinityTrainS2E4TheToadCar The Toad Car]]".
663* ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'': In "Legends of Mr. Gar", Darrell is caught vandalizing the sign at the plaza so that it reads "Lakewood Plaza Turbo SMELLS BAD", which was his EvilPlan in the original ''Lakewood Plaza Turbo'' pilot short.
664* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVeggieTalesShow'', Khalil has two sets of arms rather than one set as in previous ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' works. This is a nod to how some of his prototype designs for ''WesternAnimation/JonahAVeggieTalesMovie'' had two sets of arms.
665* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Two of the final episodes of the show's original run, "Doof 101" and ''WesternAnimation/TheOWCAFiles'', involve a trio of talking bug characters. They were originally planned to be in the series from the beginning, with them even being featured on the pitch bible and given concept art.
666* ''WesternAnimation/ThePatrickStarShow'': In "Bummer Jobs", Patrick is seen [[CantTieHisTie struggling to tie a tie]] while dressing up like his dad, accidentally suffocating himself with it. Patrick's pitch bible design originally had him wearing an overly tight blue tie around his neck, but this was changed to giving him a shirt instead.
667[[/folder]]

Top