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A Day In The Limelight / Western Animation

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Episodes of Western Animation television series that put the spotlight on secondary characters.

In General:

  • 1980s cartoons that had heavy merchandise and toy lines behind them (G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., The Transformers) did this all the time, devoting episodes here and there to otherwise minor or gimmicky characters. Obviously, kids won't buy an action figure for a character who never does anything on the show except stand in the background.
    • The G.I. Joe example is parodied in a Robot Chicken episode - angry that he's left out of all of the missions because his white costume is too noticeable in a jungle environment, Snowjob is called up by the "President of Switzerland" to help flush out some yeti in the Swiss Alps. After a transport montage include ski-sleds, dog sleds, and tobogganing, it turns out the yeti claim was a hoax for the normal G.I. Joes to throw snowballs at and mock Snowjob (they apologise to him and give him a job after all- shoveling snow from around the base afterwards).

By Series:

  • 101 Dalmatians: The Series: Two-Tone got her share of the limelight in "Love `em and Flea `em". In most episodes, she has one or two lines.
  • In Time Warp Trio The girls (Freddi, Jodie, and Samantha) get their own episodes in Lewis and Clark...and Jodie, Freddi, and Samantha as well as The High and the Flighty episodes where the none of the original trio (Fred, Joe, and Sam) appear in.
  • Happened a lot in Adventure Time during the second half of its run, to the point where a majority of seasons six and seven fall under this trope and Lower-Deck Episode. The show is quite fond of having secondary and tertiary characters that would otherwise be Plucky Comic Relief getting their chance to shine. For example, there's Tree Trunks ("Tree Trunks", "The Apple Thief", "Dream of Love"), Lumpy Space Princess ("The Monster", "Gotcha!"), BMO ("BMO Noire"), Magic Man ("Sons of Mars"), and the Earl of Lemongrab ("You Made Me!"). Even Jake's tail has its own episode ("Sad Face"). Some of these can double as Wham Episodes, such as "I Remember You" focusing on Marceline and Ice King's history together. And some episodes are just the writers throwing random characters together to see what happens, with episodes like "Mystery Dungeon" starring the odd combination of Ice King, Tree Trunks, Shelby, Earl of Lemongrab, and NEPTR.
    • "Thank You" is the first major example of the show doing this, taking the Snow Golem, who pretty much only appeared in one or two background shots, and telling a story about it going to the Fire Kingdom to return a lost Fire Wolf cub to its family.
  • Essentially every other episode of The Amazing World of Gumball focused on the many background characters and their interactions with Gumball and Darwin rather than Gumball's family.
    • The episodes "The World" and "The Extras" were literally this trope, as both episodes gave screentime to the people and living objects of Elmore while Gumball and Darwin have mere speaking cameos.
    • In "The Singing", they both don't appear at all, instead focusing on many citizens of Elmore.
  • Most American Dad! episodes either focus on Stan or at the very least feature him prominently. Two major exceptions are "The One That Got Away", whose plot focuses exclusively on Roger, with the rest of the family getting only a token B story. They don't even get that in "Escape from Pearl Bailey"; the plot is driven entirely by Steve, while the rest of the family has a grand total of two lines in the entire episode.
  • Arthur primarily revolves around seven core child characters (Arthur, D.W., Buster, Francine, Muffy, the Brain, and Binky), but a couple of episodes a season are dedicated to lower deck characters (like Sue Ellen, Prunella, Fern, George, and the Tibbles) and later seasons would have episodes where Kate and Pal talk to each other. However, special efforts have been made to give attention to more obscure characters in later seasons. Examples include D.W.'s best friend Emily, Tough Customers Rattles and Molly, and Jenna and Maria, two girls in Mr. Ratburn's class who were mostly Living Props (in particular Maria hadn't spoken before season nineteen).
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
      • "Zuko Alone" showed what Zuko, (who by that point, he wasn't quite an antagonist anymore) did and thought about when he wasn't, well, antagonizing.
      • "Appa's Lost Days" explained where Appa had been and who he met along the way since his four-week disappearance following his kidnapping.
      • "Sokka's Master" depicted Plucky Comic Relief character Sokka taking a level in badass through sword training.
      • "The Beach" explored the dynamics between Zuko, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee and what makes them tick cleverly disguised as a Beach Episode.
      • "The Boiling Rock" sets up the friendship of Sokka and Zuko and has them breaking in and out of the Fire Nation's most secure prison. It's all kinds of badass.
      • The third quarter of season 3 had one episode for each character sharing this trope with Zuko. Toph even lampshades this in the finale, noting that she hasn't had her own "life-changing field trip" with him.
      • "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" consists of six short tales focusing on one character (or two, in one tale) each, including the tales of Toph and Katara, Iroh and of Momo.
      • Mai gets her own short comic in the limelight called Rebound.
    • This continues in The Legend of Korra episode "The Sting", which is all about Mako investigating bombings at the Southern Water Tribe cultural center. Korra, last seen being eaten by a dark spirit, shows up for a few seconds at the very end.
  • Though Batman: The Brave and the Bold is a Limelight Series in general, teaming Batman up with various other heroes, the episode "Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure!" stands out for focusing almost entirely on AQUAMAN as he works with various other heroes (and goes sightseeing with his family). There's also a Villain Episode starring The Joker.
  • The Beatles: John is the only Beatle appearing in the episode "If I Fell". George and Ringo only appear in "Devil In Her Heart" and figure prominently in "Hold Me Tight".
  • Beware the Batman: The episode "Choices" follows Barbara Gordon as she juggles with her double life as Oracle, switching between saving Batman and Katana from Killer Croc, while attending a date with a popular boy from her school.
  • Bluey: The episode 'Bingo' is dedicated to the younger dog in question, complete with a variation on the title sequence where Bingo is the last family member called out.
    • "Army" centers on two of Bluey's schoolmates, Jack and Rusty, with Bluey only making brief, non-speaking appearances in the background.
    • "Space" focuses on Rusty, Mackenzie, and Jack.
    • "Stories" focuses on Indy and Winton.
    • "Pass the Parcel" is focused on Pat trying to get the kids to play pass the parcel his way.
    • "Wild Girls" focuses on Coco, Indy and Chloe.
    • "Turtleboy" and "Slide" are the only two episodes so far to have Bluey being entirely absent. "Turtleboy" centers on Bingo and Dougie, and "Slide" centers on Bingo and Lila.
  • The Bob's Burgers episode "The Amazing Rudy" focuses on Regular-Sized Rudy, with the Belchers being secondary characters in the episode.
  • The 1980s Care Bears has so many bears, they often get left out of episodes, but sometimes one gets a special episode.
    • Bedtime Bear is often just a Running Gag who's always asleep. In "Bedtime for Care-a-lot", the villains dump sleeping dust on all the bears, except Bedtime Bear, who was already taking a nap. So it's up to Bedtime Bear to save everyone.
    • Birthday Bear tends to be a forgotten background character, because no one is having a birthday. In "Birthday Bear's Blues", someone does have a birthday, so Birthday Bear takes the limelight.
    • Wish Bear was almost completely a minor character in the show, but managed to get a starring role in "The Cloud of Uncaring" which saw her attempting to rescue a young boy from No-Heart.
    • Proud Heart Cat is mostly seen and not heard in the Nelvana series, but gets her first (and only) speaking appearance in "Home Sweet Homeless" when she receives a fountain (unknowingly from No Heart) which floods the Care Bear Cousins out of their home.
  • In Chowder, Gazpacho was given his own episode toward the end of the series' run. Chowder and Mung only appear briefly in the beginning.
  • Codename: Kids Next Door:
    • "T.R.A.I.N.I.N.G." focused on Numbuh 2's younger brother, Tommy, going through training at the KND Arctic base, without the regulars appearing at all. In fact, the only other character who had appeared in a previous episode was the villain, Father.
      • Tommy also has "G.R.A.D.U.A.T.E.S." where all of the titular characters have been turned into animals with some locked up by Father and "D.U.C.K.Y." where Numbuh 2 is the only titular character to appear and only appears at the beginning.
    • "F.L.U.S.H". focuses on the Toiletnator and Sector V doesn't show up until the last minute. In it, he tries to convince the other villains that he's not a total screw up and ends up screwing up their plan by accident after mistaking them for Sector V.
    • "L.U.N.C.H." focused on Lizzie and her efforts to get Numbuh 1 to spend his lunch break with her.
    • "C.A.K.E.D.-F.I.V.E." had Numbuh 86 share the spotlight with Sector V, where she has to escape from the Delightful Children's birthday cake/space station while dealing with her feels for Numbuh 19th Century, an operative from 1800s who is nearly as sexist as she is.
    • "I.T" mostly focused on Numbuh 362's struggles with her job as Surpeme Leader, with Numbuh 1 being the only member of Sector V that plays a huge role in the episode.
  • Cow and Chicken:
    • "Factory Follies", which featured the Red Guy as a cruel factory owner who holds a birthday party for himself - and no one shows up. (The end reveals that he tied up Cow and Chicken so he could have his own short.)
    • Flem and Earl got their own episode, entitled "Lost at Sea", featuring them reminiscing while seemingly in the middle of the ocean, though it turns out that they were in their bathtub and were suffering from "steam-induced amnesia".
    • Even Cow's toys Manure the Bear, Piles the Beaver and Crabs the Warthog got an episode for themselves, entitled, well, "Cow's Toys". The story featured them escaping Cow and Chicken's home in search of their original owner, Maiden Hong Kong.
  • Danny Phantom:
    • The episode "Girls' Night Out" had the A-plot focused on the main female cast fighting the show's main female villains. Meanwhile, the B-plot has main character Danny is out-of-town on a fishing trip with his dad, though they have some minor problems with one of Danny's other foe.
    • The Box Ghost also gets one when he takes control of Pandora's Box in one episode.
  • Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: "Zilly's a Dilly" had the squadron scaredy cat Zilly hypnotized into being brave. He's too brave, and his devil-may-care approach proves more hazardous to the squadron than when he's chicken.
  • DC Animated Universe:
  • Dexter's Laboratory:
    • "Paper Route Bout" stars Dee Dee, and Dexter doesn't appear.
    • Their parents would also get episodes like this entitled, appropriately enough A Dad Cartoon and A Mom Cartoon. They also get similar treatment in episodes like "Dad is Disturbed" and "World's Greatest Mom".
    • In a real-life example, a kid named Tyler Samuel Lee won a contest that aired an episode he wrote, entitled "Dexter and Computress Get Mandark".
    • Mandark gets an episode like this in "Sun, Surf, and Science", in which he competes in a surfing contest to impress Dee Dee, using science to create his own surfboard and to sabotage the contest with mines and robotic sharks. Dexter, incidentally, does not appear in this episode at all.
      • Mandark would later get a whole set of episodes focusing on him, like "A Mandark Cartoon" or "A Boy Named Sue".
  • Doc McStuffins:
    • "Diagnosis Not Even Close-Is" centers on the four main toy characters as Stuffy and Hallie were trying to diagnose Robot Ray's Zoom-Arounds while Doc was busy outside playing with Emmie and Rudi.
    • "Kirby and the King" centers on Sir Kirby and The Wicked King".
    • "Runaway Love" centers on Donny and Lambie.
    • "On Call Ball" has Lambie trying to win the dance contest at The Wicked King's Ball of Brilliance while Doc was back at the Toy Hospital helping a toy patient, but Stuffy ended up getting injured.
  • DuckTales (2017): Fenton/Gizmoduck had more spotlight episodes than any other supporting character, possibly owing to the star power of his voice actor Lin-Manuel Miranda. Lena DeSpell also had a few episodes where she was central, and last but not least was the Darkwing Duck two-parter that many were hoping would lead to a spin-off.
  • The Ed, Edd n Eddy episode "See No Ed" focuses heavily on Kevin. While Kevin is a frequent antagonist or secondary character in almost half of the show, this episode in particular follows him the entire time and doesn't show the protagonists until the last two minutes.
  • Though the center of the show and the plot itself is supposed to be all about Kuzco in The Emperor's New School, season 2 focused on several secondary characters like Guaca, Yatta, Bucky the Squirrel... even Kronk's shoulder angels gets one.
  • The Fairly OddParents! had a couple of these.
    • "The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker" focused heavily on Timmy's fairy-obsessed teacher and explains how he became the way he is. As Crocker became more prominent in later seasons, he got an increasing amount of episodes centered on him, such as "Crock Talk", "Crock Blocked", "Turning Into Turner", "Crockin' the House", and "Married to the Mom".
    • Shortly after "The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker", "The Big Scoop!" revisited the first season episode "A Wish Too Far!", but from Chester and AJ's perspective.
    • "Planet Poof" not only focuses on Poof, but gives a lot of screen time to Mark Chang's parents, who are usually just Bit Characters.
    • Timmy's dad's Sitcom Arch-Nemesis, Dinkleberg, usually gets only one or two scenes in an episode. He gets focus episodes in "Operation Dinkleberg", where Timmy's dad spies on him to expose that he really is a bad person (turns out he isn't; he just pretended to be evil to make Timmy's dad feel good about himself.) and "Dinklescouts", where he becomes the leader of Timmy's scout troop.
    • Timmy's mom plays major roles in "Food Fight", "Viral Vidiots", "Manic Mom-Day", "Mother Nature", and "Momnipresent". In comparison, Timmy's dad gets many focus episodes.
  • The Felix the Cat (Joe Oriolo) episode "Vavoom Learns How To Fish" is largely centered on recurring bit-player Vavoom (a little impish kid with a very loud voice), as Felix spends the bulk of the episode stuck trying to keep the dam leak from getting worse while Vavoom tries (and fails) to seek help.
  • Futurama gives it to a lot of characters:
  • Lampshaded in Garfield and Friends with the character of Floyd the mouse; every appearance had him ask why he didn't appear on the show more often.
  • Gargoyles:
    • One episode focused on Vinnie Grigori, a very minor character who had appeared in several episodes as a generic security guard. The titular Gargoyles unintentionally disrupted his life and lost him several jobs, and the Limelight episode was about his quest for vengeance. He ultimately succeeds, and actually creams Goliath with a specially designed, shoulder-mounted pie cannon.
    • Each member of the clan gets to star in at least one episode (the "trio" each make a mortal enemy during their episodes; Hudson and Bronx make new friends during theirs).
    • The Goliath Chronicles made sure to focus at least one episode on a specific character in the clan and even some of their rogues gallery; Broadway and Bronx even make it into their episodes' titles.
  • The Ghost and Molly McGee has a few episodes where Molly gets involved with certain townspeople, often from her trying to help them.
    • While there are several episodes centered around Libby, the one that stands out the most is "Friend-Off", which takes place after she's found out about Scratch and involves the two of them being made to take part in a scavenger hunt by Molly in an attempt to make them get along.
    • There's also several episodes dedicated to other members of Molly's family. Sharon has "Mama's Gotta Hustle" and "Faint of Art", Pete has "Ice Princess" and "Twin Trouble", and Darryl has "No Good Deed" and "Double, Double, Darryl and Trouble".
    • The Ghost Council get some more focus (as well as being named onscreen for the first time) in the Season 2 Premiere "The New (Para)Normal".
  • Goof Troop, aside from giving Goofy, Max, Pete, and PJ almost equal attention has the supporting characters Peg and Pistol as the center of attention in a small selection of episodes each.
    • "Window Pains" is about Peg moonlighting as a window washer.
    • "Goofin' Up the Social Ladder" is about Peg trying to get into high society.
    • "Peg o' the Jungle", while also focusing on Pete, is about Peg becoming a jungle queen after Pete forgets their anniversary.
    • "Hot Air" is about Pistol wanting to fly planes.
    • "Three Ring Bind" is about Pistol freeing and housing animals from a circus.
    • "Pistolgeist", while also focusing on PJ, is about Pistol making a Not-So-Imaginary Friend when the other kids refuse to play with her.
  • The Gravity Falls episode "Northwest Mansion Mystery" focuses on Pacifica Northwest's Hidden Depths and Character Development from Alpha Bitch to Lovable Alpha Bitch, Action Survivor and White Sheep for a family. She's the Deuteragonist for the most part of the episode and becomes the protagonist at the end, when Dipper is incapacitated by the ghost.
    • The episode "Soos and the Real Girl" revolves around Soos' experience with a yandere AI and meeting his girlfriend, with the episode opening with Mabel asking the others if they wonder what Soos does in his free time.
  • Both Filmation versions of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983) and She-Ra: Princess of Power were fond for doing these for both heroes and villains alike. It probably helped with the fact that they knew they couldn't rely on too much continuity when the episodes were aired out of order for syndication.
  • This is one of the reasons why Hey Arnold! is so fondly remembered - because it has multiple occasions in which side characters have the focus on them. While the main characters do appear, oftentimes they are playing more of a supporting role. Harold, Stinky, Oskar, Phoebe, and more often receive at least one episode. Several more were planned (Such as one focusing primarily on Nadine and allegedly Sheena) but this never came forth.
  • Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: The Talent Suckers; Harmony; and Ami's and Yumi's cats each got these.
  • Invincible (2021): "This Missive, This Machination!", the third episode of season 2, is more episodic than the rest of the series and focuses on Allen, the Alien as well as Robot and Monster Girl from the Guardians Of The Globe and Debbie, the protagonist's mother instead of the titular hero.
  • Johnny Bravo: Little Suzy got her own episode, "The Great Bunny Book Ban", in which a Moral Guardian bans a book she likes from the library and she tries to change his mind. Johnny isn't a main character in the episode, only appearing for a few seconds at most.
  • In The Jungle Bunch, Al and Bob had a couple of episodes to themselves.
  • Kaeloo: Season 5 has one episode dedicated to each of Stumpy's seven little sisters.
  • Kim Possible:
    • Sidekick Ron Stoppable gets many episodes focusing on him while leaving Kim as a background character. One example of this is the episode where Ron goes to a Japanese Ninjutsu school where he meets a cute girl, learns Kung Fu, learns Mystical Monkey Kung Fu, and battles with the villain of the episode, being heroic and stuff.
    • The villains often get a few episodes to shine in as well. In fact Drakken and Shego, the two most well known villains on the show arguably end up the real heroes of the series finale as they're the ones who supply the means to thwart the alien invasion.
    • Besides the one mostly featuring Rufus with Camille Leon's dog, "Mother's Day" is closest to this trope, as Ron stays at home while Kim's mother goes on a mission with her.
    • Another episode that sidelines Kim and gives Wade and Ron a chance to show how effective they are without her is the half-episode "Overdue." While Kim is stuck in library detention due to an overdue library book, Ron runs from villain hideout to villain hideout while accompanied by Wade using a remote operated robot to find the overdue book since Ron doesn't remember where he lost it. In the process, they stop several villain plots before they can get started.
  • King of the Hill has "Peggy Makes the Big Leagues". Peggy begins substitute teaching at high school and ends up failing the star football player, who under the "No Pass No Play" rule gets suspended from the team. Everyone else (even regular Straight Man Hank) throws a fit and does their best to go around Peggy just so the team can get to state. In this episode she's completely in the right and sticks to her morals in the face of overwhelming peer pressure.
    • Like The Simpsons, King of the Hill 's status as a long runner enabled it to spotlight most of its supporting cast. Kahn, Buck, Nancy and Cotton got fairly regular focus episodes, and even minor characters like John Redcorn and Enrique occasionally featured in their own shows.
  • Looney Tunes: Yosemite Sam had "Honey's Money". It is the only Sam cartoon that doesn't feature any other major Looney Tunes characters, putting the focus entirely on him.
  • The Looney Tunes Show: While Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck as well as their circle of friends are the clear main focus of the series, two episodes - "Point, Laser Point" and "Riduculus Journey" - are focused on Sylvester and Tweety.
  • On Madeline, Chloe gets one in "Madeline and the Old Violin". It turns out that she has talent when it comes to the violin.
  • The Mask: There are episodes that focuses on The Mask entirely which shows what he does, his positive traits such as being friendly to children, going to the future, accidentally getting signed in the army, getting his lucky feather back then showing himself to be smart and clever by disguising himself as Dr Neuman and controlling himself the whole time in a room full of his enemies despite his wild nature and wackiness.
  • Metalocalypse has several — "Go Forth and Die" (Nathan), "Rehabklok" (Pickles), "Fatherklok" (Skwisgaar), "Dethdad" (Toki), "Birthdayface" (Murderface), and also the episodes focusing on Doctor Rockzo.
  • The 2013 Mickey Mouse shorts have given Minnie Mouse five shorts where she is the main protagonist:
    • "Eau de Minnie", where she uses too much perfume while getting ready for a date with Mickey (who only makes a brief cameo near the end of the short)
    • "Clogged", where she tries everything she can to save a dying flower (Mickey is nowhere to be seen in this one)
    • "Doggone Biscuits", where she overfeeds Mickey's pet dog Pluto with dog biscuits and has to find a way to make him return to his normal shape (Mickey only makes a minor appearance)
    • "Sock Burglar", where she tries to solve the mystery behind everyone's stolen socks (with Mickey only making a minor appearance again)
    • "No Reservations", where she, Daisy and Clarabelle attempt to get into a rooftop restaurant (once again, Mickey is nowhere to be seen)
    • Oddly enough, "The Birthday Song" puts the focus on Minnie attempting to collect the scattered music notes, yet it is still labeled as a Mickey Mouse cartoon. (Likely due to it being set during his birthday)
  • Miraculous Ladybug:
    • Adrien, aka Cat Noir, is supposedly the Deuteragonist to Marinette's/Ladybug's protagonist, but he has at least two episodes per season where he's the main focus ("Simon Says" and "Santa Claws" in season 1, "Gorizilla" and "Frozer" in season 2. Season 3 surprisingly gives us 6 Adrien focused episodes: "Weredad", "Oni-Chan", "Desperada", "Party Crasher", "Cat Blanc" and "Félix").
    • Both Alya and Nino get their moments, when they receive their Miraculous and become Rena Rouge and Carapace, respectively.
    • Chloé, surprisingly. She has a three episodes arc where she have to deal with her own faults, her abusive mom and goes from From Zero to Hero when she becomes Queen Bee, the fifth miraculous hero. It's basically her transition from Alpha Bitch to Lovable Alpha Bitch. And then back again in the third season.
    • The aforementioned "Party Crasher" is dedicated to Marinette's male classmates, and pretty much to almost every male character of the show, at Adrien's surprise party.
    • The hero's Kwamis, Tikki and Plagg, get more focus and some scenes together in "Sandboy" and "Kwamibuster."
    • For the villains, Hawk Moth/ Gabriel has "The Collector" and Mayura/Nathalie has "Ladybug".
    • In general, an episode will usually focus either on the character who gets Akumatized (especially if it's a member of the class or a previously-established character), or on their friends or family members. The same goes for when a character gets to use a Miraculous.
  • Molly of Denali: "Lights, Camera, Patak!" is a spotlight episode for Mr. Patak, focusing on his camera shyness as he tries to film a video.
  • While the first season mostly focused on the title character, Moral Orel does this for most episodes in the second season, and a little bit in the third. Notable examples are "Satan" for Coach Stopframe, "Courtship" for Doughy, "Offensiveness" for Ms. Censordoll, "Be Fruitful and Multiply" for Reverend Putty, etc. A notable third season would be the episode "Alone", one of the darkest which focuses a bit more on Ms Sculptham, Nurse Bendy and Censordoll; the former two were considered more one-dimensional before this episode. Creator Dino Stamatopoulos at one point wanted the show to be called "Moralton".
  • Motorcity does this pretty much every other episode.
    • Chuck has "Blond Thunder", "Fearless" and "Rise of the Fantasy Vans".
    • Julie has "Off the Rack", "Like Father, Like Daughter" and "Julie and the Amazons".
    • Dutch has "Going Dutch" and "Reunion".
    • Texas has "Texas-ify It" and "Threat Level: Texas!"
    • Although the main character, "Vendetta" still focuses on Mike Chilton's backstory.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic tends to put a lot of focus on its ever expanding cast of secondary and tertiary characters, helped a great deal by their popularity with the Periphery Demographic:
    • Spike has one or two episodes per season where he plays a central role as opposed to the Mane Six's primary male foil.
    • Princess Luna, after being absent from the first season following its two-part pilot, made her grand return with Season 2's "Luna Eclipsed", which deals with her facing the fallout of her actions as Nightmare Moon in the pilot. She had another starring role in Season 5's "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?"
    • The Cutie Mark Crusaders, who their own share of spotlight episodes as a group, started getting more chances to shine individually in Season 2, with episodes such as "The Cutie Pox" and "Family Appreciation Day" for Apple Bloom, and "Sisterhooves Social" for Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo, meanwhile, wouldn't get her own episode until Season 3's "Sleepless in Ponyville".
    • Big Macintosh, who is used sparingly due to his penchant for terse dialogue, gets a few episodes of his own with "Hearts and Hooves Day" (shared with fellow secondary character Cheerilee), "Brotherhooves Social", and "Where the Apple Lies". Notably, he tends to have much more dialogue and Character Development here than in most of his appearances.
    • "Family Appreciation Day" helped significantly flesh out Granny Smith, a character used in mostly comedic scenes during certain episodes, cementing her status as a major supporting character.
    • "Just for Sidekicks" is a Lower-Deck Episode where Spike has to look after all of the Mane Six's pets.
    • Following his Heel–Face Turn in Season 3, Discord starts making semi-regular appearances in the show, even being the main protagonist in "Make New Friends but Keep Discord" and "Dungeons & Discords".
    • Season 5's "Tanks for the Memories" revisits Rainbow Dash's relationship with her pet tortoise, Tank, who hadn't received focus since his debut in Season 2's "May the Best Pet Win".
    • The 100th episode "Slice of Life" hinges around the wedding of Cranky and Matilda, two one-shot characters from "A Friend in Deed", but its true focus is virtually every single prominent background character that has appeared in the show, fully canonizing several names and personalities that were established by the fanbase, which range from: the klutzy, wall-eyed pegasus Derpy Hooves;note  Dr. Hooves, a walking Shout-Out to Doctor Who; the recurring duo of Lyra and Bon Bon; musicians DJ Pon-3 (a.k.a. Vinyl Scratch) and Octavia, receiving an Odd Couple scenario despite only receiving a few seconds of screentime from two completely different episodes; and Steven Magnet, the sea serpent from the pilot, whose name notably comes from a faulty YouTube caption.
    • Three of the show's less prominent background characters—Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts—show up in a very brief role in one of the pilot's earliest scenes as Twilight's old pals from Canterlot before they're promptly forgotten about...at least until Season 5's "Amending Fences", which not only revisits the trio's role from the pilot, but also revolves around another character who only received a fleeting mention in that very same scene.
    • Starlight Glimmer gets her fair share of episodes in Season 6 after her Heel–Face Turn, being the main protagonist of both the two-part season premiere and finale.
    • The Season 6 finale "To Where and Back Again" lampshades this trope when Starlight, Trixie, Thorax and Discord (notably three reformed villains plus one Defector from Decadence) assemble to save the Mane Cast, with Discord commenting, "Well, isn't this quite the combination of secondary characters?"
  • OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes:
    • "Everybody Likes Rad?" focuses on K.O.'s co-worker Radicles, and how he handles becoming famous thanks to a viral video.
    • "Lad & Logic" revolves around K.O. learning the backstory of Mr. Logic, the robot barber who works in the Plaza. It turns out he was one of Lord Boxman's first inventions, but he underwent a Heel–Face Turn when he came to the conclusion that it was better to create than destroy.
    • "RMS & Brandon's First Episode", as the name implies, revolves around Brandon and A Real Magic Skeleton, whose friendship undergoes some tension when RMS decides he wants to leave the frame store and find a new job.
    • Season 2 gives Enid her own five-episode arc where she attends P.O.I.N.T. Prep, an elite school for students interested in joining P.O.I.N.T., and sees her reconnect with her ex-best friend Elodie and solve a mystery behind the corruption of the school. K.O. and Rad still appear in most of these episodes, but Enid is very clearly the main character of them.
  • The Owl House:
  • The Patrick Star Show:
  • Peanuts:
    • What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown! centers around an Acid Reflux Nightmare that Snoopy has, and is almost entirely about him. Charlie Brown only appears at the very beginning and end of the special, and none of the other regular characters are seen.
    • The feature film Snoopy, Come Home is also one of these, to an extent.
    • It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown stars Snoopy's brother, Spike. Despite the title, Charlie Brown (and Snoopy) only appear in a very brief intro.
  • The Penguins of Madagascar could be considered a show in the limelight, since its primary characters are the title penguins (Kowalski, Private, Rico, Skipper) and the lemurs (King Julien, Maurice, and Mort), all of whom were only secondary characters in the Madagascar films.
  • The Pepper Ann episode "Girl Power" mostly focuses on Pepper Ann's sister Moose, with Pepper Ann only getting a few lines.
  • Pet Alien:
    • Flip gets the most focus in "Beast Who Stole my Heart" and "The Day Flip Stood Still".
    • "Attack of the Werescruffy" and "A Pirate and his Dog" both focus extensively on Scruffy, who is otherwise a background character.
    • "Island of Doom" focuses primarily on Swanky being trapped on an island, with Tommy and the other aliens playing secondary roles.
    • "Night of the Norwegian Boy" focuses on Granville DeSpray and his efforts to win over Melba. Tommy doesn't play a major role until about halfway through the episode, while Dinko remains minor throughout.
  • Phineas and Ferb:
    • "Isabella and the Temple of Sap" is devoted to Isabella and the Fireside Girls obtaining an ingredient for the title character's Project of the Day (as seen in the episode "Bubble Boys").
    • "Vanessassary Roughness" focuses on Doofenshmirtz's daughter Vanessa trying to obtain a rare chemical to impress him. Said episode could also count as one for Ferb, who, despite being a main character, is usually overshadowed by his brother for some reason. Phineas just lays in a vibrating chair for this episode while Ferb runs around helping Vanessa.
    • "Nerdy Dancing" is centered around Jeremy trying to impress Candace, in a reversal to many other episodes.
    • "Not Phineas and Ferb" focuses on Irving, Buford, and Baljeet. Phineas and Ferb is apparently fond of this trope.
    • "Ferb TV" is this is for every supporting character, combining it with Show Within a Show. Phineas and Ferb only appear at the very start and very end.
    • Even Paul the Delivery Guy, who had never before been seen in any episode before, gets his own episode, "Delivery of Destiny".
    • Some episodes in later seasons tend to give Doof and Perry more screen time while pushing Phineas and the gang to the background, namely "Road to Danville", "Sidetracked", "Live and Let Drive" and "Doof 101".
  • Pocoyo: If well every character has their own focus on various episodes, the official YouTube account has compilations of every character called "packs". There are packs for Elly, Pato, Fred, and one focused on Nina as "The Adventures of Pocoyo and Nina".
  • The Punky Brewster Animated Adaptation allows a couple of her co-stars to bask in the limelight. "Any Wish Way You Can" has Margaux misusing the three wishes she accidentally got from Glomer, and "Allen Who?" has Allen and the It's a Wonderful Plot narrative. Allen was also the center of "Switchin' Places" (he and Glomer exchange bodies) and "The Quartersize Quarterback" (Glomer gives Allen the abilities of a pro football player which lands him a tryout with the Chicago Bears).
  • Ready Jet Go!:
    • "Commander Cressida Begins" mostly revolves around Sydney and Mindy. Jet and Sean do appear, but they have non-speaking cameos.
    • "Fact Or Fiction?" gives Lillian the most focus thus far.
    • Sunspot is the focus of "Sunspot's Sunspot".
  • Recess: The main six got their own episodes centering around them. Aside from that, most of the other major characters got their own episodes centering around them, such as The Ashleys, Miss Grotke, and King Bob, and one episode that centers on Gordy, who's a background character (who's famous for not liking T.J. for no reason, as well as asking Miss Grotke about sex.)
  • The Ren & Stimpy Show
    • "Powdered Toastman" was an episode focusing on the titular superhero, where he saves the Pope from Muddy Mudskipper, gives Ren and Stimpy free Powdered Toast, and takes over for the President when he gets injured. A sequel episode was later made, "Powdered Toastman vs. Waffle Woman", which didn't feature Ren and Stimpy at all.
    • "A Hard Day's Luck" does not feature Ren and Stimpy at all, instead focusing on Haggis McHaggis.
    • "Feud for Sale" focuses on a salesman character, who had previously appeared in several episodes, trying to dupe semi-recurring characters Abner and Ewalt.
  • The Robin Hood: Mischief in Sherwood episode "Invisible Gold" mostly focuses on Marian and Scarlett while what Robin, John and Tuck are doing is relegated to a subplot.
  • Later episodes of Rocko's Modern Life occasionally gave focus to other characters while giving Rocko himself a minor role (sometimes, only a cameo).
    • This is particularly common in episodes focusing on the Bigheads; notably, "Frog's Best Friend" and "Magic Meatball"- both Bighead-centric episodes- are the only episodes in which Rocko doesn't appear at all.
    • Three episodes ("Dirty Dog", "Down the Hatch", and "The Fatlands") relegate Rocko to a supporting role in favor of Bloaty and Squirmy, two parasites who live on/inside of Spunky.
    • There are other episodes that make Rocko a bit player in favor of Heffer, such as "Uniform Behavior", "Belch of Destiny", and "An Elk for Heffer" (especially the latter, in which Rocko has only three lines).
  • Samurai Jack has a two-parter episode where Jack loses his memory. The Scotsman, Jack's closest ally, has the spotlight in this episode as he tries to find out why Jack lost his memory in the first place.
    • The fifth season has an episode where Jack has disappeared and his new ally, Ashi, searches for him while meeting various characters whom he'd helped in the past.
  • On Scooby-Doo, Velma gets to shine in four instances: in the Pup episode "The Computer Walks Among Us" (Velma is suspended from school when her computer is up on theft charges—the gang tries to clear her), the animated movie "Where's My Mummy?" (in Egypt helping to restore the Sphinx and incurs Cleopatra's curse), the live-action film "Curse of the Lake Monster" (Velma's body is taken over by the spirit of a witch), and the animated feature Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy (she inherits her uncle's laboratory and continues her uncle's experiment of creating a monster). More recently, a made-for-DVD movie centering on Daphne and Velma was released. And in 2021, Velma got her own standalone series on HBO Max.
  • She-Ra: Princess of Power: While each of the main heroes got episodes centered around them, special mention goes to Loo-Kee. Typically only appearing at the end of episodes to deliver the morals, he still got two episodes, one for each season, dedicated to him "Loo-Kee Lends a Hand" and "Loo-Kee's Sweetie."
  • She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
    • "Light Spinner" almost exclusively focuses on the origins of Shadow Weaver and her connection to Micah, Glimmer's father.
    • "Reunion" has the A-plot centered on Bow's home life and family.
    • Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio, the three Horde rookies who made up the rest of Adora and Catra's squad, get the focus in the B-plot of "Protocol", as they're trapped in a Horde vehicle during an acid storm.
  • The Simpsons:
    • The episode "22 Short Films About Springfield" gave a ton of minor characters vignettes of their own. Professor Frink is late, and can only manage to belt out his planned theme song ("Professor Frink, Professor Frink, he makes you laugh, he makes you think...").
      • Moe is a particularly strong example of this, featured in episodes such as "Flaming Moe's", "The Homer They Fall", "Pygmoelian", "Homer the Moe", "Moe Baby Blues", and "Mommie Beerest". And that's just a sampling.
      • Apu gets focus episodes like "Much Apu About Nothing", "Eight Misbehavin'", "I'm with Cupid", and "The Sweetest Apu".
      • Ned Flanders gets focus episodes like "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass", "Home Away from Homer", "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed", "Left Behind", and "A Serious Flanders".
    • Cletus's wife, Brandine, got a focus episode in season 33 called "Pretty Whittle Liar".
  • South Park
    • The first one was "Terrance and Phillip in: 'Not Without My Anus'" set up as a special episode of recurring Show Within a Show Terrance and Phillip.
    • After this is "Chickenlover" (the episode that introduces "Respect ma Authorota") which focuses on Officer Barbrady.
    • "Butters' Very Own Episode" is kind of an odd example, because while Butters had been a minor character until then, this episode seems to have been intended to set him up as the official fourth friend in the sixth season, and he's remained one of the most important characters since.
    • Pip gets "Pip" (also called "Great Expectations"), which is basically an adaptation of Great Expectations, played surprisingly straight until just before the third act.
    • Bebe, Wendy's best friend and a relatively minor character when compared to other kids, gets her own episode in the season 6 episode Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society, in which she starts to develop breasts and attracts a lot of unwanted attention from her male classmates.
    • The Goth Kids get half of "The Ungroundable" (the other subplot belonging to Butters), and then all of "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers", which focuses entirely on them and their sworn enemies, the Vampire Kids. This episode is notable for giving them their own version of the theme song and finally revealing all of their names.
    • "Lice Capades" is about Clyde and the lice who live in his hair. In a way making him the protagonist kind of serves as a Red Herring to the ending, since all the other kids have lice too. Clyde has also been a major character in "Reverse Cowgirl" in which his mother dying due to his tendency of not putting the toilet seat down after he has finished kicks off the plot.
    • Craig is a major character in the two-part "Pandemic" story, especially in the second episode. His new personality as a Deadpan Snarker was immediately popular with fans.
    • There's also "A Million Little Fibers", which focuses on Towelie promoting his memoirs on The Oprah Winfrey Show. No other regular characters appear. Towelie also gets a major subplot in "Crippled Summer."
    • Bradley Biggle isn't the protagonist of the "Coon and Friends Trilogy", but it's the first time that he's ever been even slightly important, and he has a major role to play in the end when he turns out to be an actual superhero.
    • There are many episodes staring Jimmy and Timmy (usually with the word cripple in the title) lately they normally feature their unknown rivals Nathan and Mimzy.
    • Season 19 in particular gave a lot of minor characters focus as it went on. "Naughty Ninjas" gives the B-plot to Officer Barbrady (turning him into The Woobie in the process), and in the last three episodes he, Jimmy, Mr. Garrison and Principal Victoria are all major players, while Nathan is a significant villain.
    • Season 23 gives us "Turd Burglars" and its A plot focusing on the adult women of South Park, mainly the mothers. This lampshaded by Sheila when she declares that the women of South Park should be treated the same as men.
    • Another Season 23 episode is "Basic Cable", which focuses on resident diabetic Butt-Monkey Scott Malkinson.
  • Spliced is primarily about Peri and Entree, but many episodes feature the supporting cast in starring roles. These are typically labelled as "A ____ Cartoon".
    • Princess Pony Apehands is actually the first character to receive them, these being "No Play for Princess" and "Fairly Odd Princesses". She quickly fell Out of Focus afterwards however.
    • Mister Smarty Smarts gets "Outsmartered" and "Come to the Dork Side". Additionally, two episodes labelled as "A Mister Smarty Smarts Cartoon" actually focus primarily on his henchmutant Octocat, these being "Octocataclysm" and "Of Masters and Minions".
    • Two-Legs Joe is the star in "Two-Arms Joe", "Stompabout", "There Will Be Stomp", and "Same Difference" (although he shares the last one with Smarty Smarts). Additionally, "One-Joe Wingus", while labelled as "A Two-Legs Joe Cartoon", is focused on Lord Wingus Eternum, the bird on his rump.
    • Patricia is the main character of "Honorary Freak", "Marzipan Meadows and the Kingdom of Adventure", and "Living Hellp".
    • Fuzzy Snuggums has "Fuzzy's Great Journey" and "Sgt. Snuggums"
    • Additionally, there are episodes that use the "A Peri & Entree Cartoon" label all regular episodes use, but are actually primarily focused on more minor secondary characters. The first is "Cube Whacked", which is focused on Compuhorse, and the second is "My Fair Sharkbunny", which puts the Wunny Sharbit in the spotlight (even giving it the ability to speak just for the episode, thanks to a Translator Collar).
  • SpongeBob SquarePants
    • "Plankton's Army" is focused exclusively on Plankton, with SpongeBob disappearing for about 95% and doesn't reappear until the final scene.
      • "New Leaf" has Mr. Krabs and Plankton as the primary focus, and SpongeBob is completely absent throughout the second half of the episode.
    • "Mall Girl Pearl" centers exclusively on Pearl the whale, with SpongeBob appearing only in three small cameos that have no effect on the main plot of the episode.
    • "My Leg!" revolves around Fred, a fan-favorite Recurring Extra whose Running Gag is getting his legs injured. SpongeBob decides to protect Fred's legs from all sorts of harm and misfortune, even if it means throwing himself into the line of fire.
    • "Swamp Mates" has recurring antagonist Bubble Bass as its main character (alongside Patrick), showing Bubble Bass and Patrick taking a surreal journey into a swamp to find one of Bubble Bass's missing action figures.
    • "Slappy Daze" focuses on Slappy, an incredibly minor character who's more important on The Patrick Star Show. SpongeBob and Gary are the only main characters to appear, and their scene is around five seconds.
    • As early as Season 1, you have episodes like "SB-129" and "Squeaky Boots" where supporting characters (Squidward in "SB-129", Mr. Krabs in "Squeaky Boots") are the main focus of the episode and Spongebob is in more of a supporting role. In "SB-129" in particular, Spongebob himself (as opposed to his futuristic descendant and prehistoric ancestor) only appears in the very beginning and very end of the episode.
    • The infamous "A Pal For Gary" is definitely Gary's episode, with SpongeBob acting as a Decoy Protagonist.
    • "Growth Spout" focuses on Mr. Krabs. SpongeBob doesn't appear until the final two scenes of the episode.
    • "The Ghost of Plankton" focuses completely on Plankton, with SpongeBob not appearing until the last few minutes.
    • "Rise and Shine", "The Executive Treatment", "The Goofy Newbie", "Patrick's Coupon", "Shell Games", and "No Pictures Please" have the spotlight primarily on Patrick.
    • "Lockdown for Love" revolves around Karen, Plankton, and Patrick, whereas SpongeBob himself only appears on-screen for five seconds and can only be heard panting/breathing while jogging.
    • Season 14's "BassWard" revolves entirely around Squidward and Bubble Bass being forced to tolerate each other while on a train. Notably, this is the first episode in which neither SpongeBob nor a counterpart to him appear at all.
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks: "Where Pleasant Fountains Lie": Billups, the Cerritos's chief engineer, is one of the focal characters of the B-plot after being the least focused-one member of the vessel's senior staff for a season and a half.
  • Steven Universe:
    • Just about each of the Muggle characters has had a spotlight episode where Steven helps them with some problem; "Rising Tides, Crashing Skies" is particularly notable, since it's framed as Ronaldo's documentary of the weird things that happen in Beach City.
    • There are also three flashback episodes focusing on Steven's parents, Greg and Rose, plus a fourth where Steven's a baby and we see the Gems trying to deal with him (which is really them trying to deal with Rose being gone now).
    • "Log Date 7 15 2" focuses entirely on Peridot, showing her misadventures while working with the Gems.
    • "The New Crystal Gems" focuses on what Connie, Peridot, and Lapis Lazuli were doing during the events of the previous story arc, in which Steven and the Gems had to travel into space to rescue Greg from Blue Diamond.
  • Stoppit and Tidyup: Every episode is like this. The eponymous characters had friends that each took a turn serving a major role in an episode. The only character who didn't get an episode dedicated to them is Not Now, who is I Said No's pet.
  • Super Mario Bros. (DiC): All three cartoons have an episode starring Luigi. One of them ("Life's Ruff") doesn't even have Mario or any other main characters besides Hip and Hop Koopa appear.
  • TaleSpin episode "Flight School Confidential" is revolved largely around Kit venturing to Thembria, with Baloo only getting a brief role in the opening and closing scenes. A couple of episodes also focus primarily on Rebecca and Molly's relationship.
  • Tangled: The Series
    • "In Like Flynn" gives a significant amount of focus to Rapunzel's father, King Frederic, as he escalates a prank war with a fellow monarch.
    • "The Way of the Willow" gives Rapunzel's mother, Queen Arianna, the spotlight for her birthday.
    • "There's Something About Hook Foot" gives the spotlight to Hook Foot who falls in love with a mermaid.
    • "Pascal's Dragon" gives Pascal and Nigel major roles. Pascal finds and adopts a baby dragon whilst Nigel tries to have the creature captured for fear that its parents will attack the kingdom.
    • "Islands Apart" gives the Captain of the Guard the limelight as he comes to terms with his daughter, Cassandra, and her betrayal.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The 2003 series had an episode entitled "Hun on the Run", centering around Shredder's minion Hun. Although the Turtles also appear, Hun is the main focus of the episode, giving hints as to his background.
    • Each of the Turtles got at least one of these:
      • Season 1's "The Unconvincing Turtle Titant" focuses on Mikey teaming up with Silver Sentry, his superhero idol.
      • From the same season, "The King" has Donatello meet an artist, whose drawings come to life.
      • "Lone Raph and Cub" focuses on Raph, who meets a boy, whose mother was kidnapped by mobsters.
      • In the Ultimate Drako Party Scattering arc, the first four episodes focus on a specific turtle and their adventure in the world they are sent to.
    • Season 5's Legend of the Five Dragons for the Ninja Tribunal and Tengu Shredder. The turtles noticeably have only a couple of minutes worth of screen time.
    • In Back to the Sewers, "The Incredible Shrinking Sterling" focuses on the character named Sterling, along with the toddler turtles.
    • Season 3's "Worlds Collide" part 2 focused on April, Casey, and Splinter trying to rescue the turtles who are being held captive by Bishop.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) has the Season 3 episode "Casey Jones vs. The Underworld", which focuses more on Casey's rivalry with Hun than any of the turtles, as if to make up for Casey always being left out of important missions.
  • Teen Titans (2003):
    • "Lightspeed" combines this with a Villain Episode, focusing on Kid Flash (hero) and the Hive Five (villains). Also "For Real", which concerns Titans East.
    • One could also count "Titans East", which focuses on that team and Cyborg while the other main Titans barely appear.
  • Speaking of the H.I.V.E. Five, one Teen Titans Go! episode, appropriately titled "The H.I.V.E. Five", has the titular villain group having a day off trying to forget our five heroes, to no luck.
  • Tiny Toon Adventures had "Sepulveda Boulevard", a full episode detective noir-esque story centering around Montana Max, Plucky Duck, and Elmyra Duff. It was the only episode of the show that did not have Buster Bunny or Babs Bunny in any capacity (there's a picture of Babs on a billboard, but that's it).
  • Tom and Jerry: The short Mouse in Manhattan focused on Jerry having an adventure by himself in New York City, with Tom only appearing at the very end of the short.
  • Wander over Yonder has the episode "The Party Animal", where minor villain Emperor Awesome gets to be the antagonist instead of Lord Hater as usual.
  • What If…? (2021): The nature of the show means that certain characters from the MCU, who would have otherwise never received much focus, have episodes centered around them
    • What If... The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?: - A murder mystery style episode centered around Nick Fury investigating the murders of the original Avengers
    • What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?: - Focuses on Killmonger in a timeline where he prevents the events of Iron Man from happening, and plays both Wakanda and the American military for his own agenda
    • What If... Ultron Won?: - Focuses on the Watcher himself, as he fights Ultron to prevent him from purging all life from the multiverse
    • What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?: - Focuses on Nebula, as she joins the Nova Corps and investigates the murder of Yondu
    • What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?: - Focuses on Happy Hogan, as he tries to prevent Justin Hammer from getting his hands on Hulk blood in an episode that serves as a homage to Die Hard
    • What If... Hela Found the Ten Rings?: - Focuses on Hela, as she is banished to Earth and stripped of her powers. Over the course of the episode, she learns the importance of mercy, and undergoes Adaptational Heroism
  • What It's Like Being Alone often got up to this sort of thing over its mercifully short run, and, if "Sammy's Episode" was anything to go by, was well aware of it.
  • Disney's Winnie the Pooh series does this a lot with some of the cast. The Tigger Movie and Piglet's Big Movie are full length theatrical features focused mainly around one particular character or the cast's relationship with them. Short film A Day For Eeyore and feature-length film Springtime with Roo also revolves around originally minor characters while The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh gives nearly every supporting character at least two or three episodes to themselves.
  • Winx Club:
    • There's an episode where Stella participates in a beauty pageant, and another where Tecna is strongly suspicious of Professor Avalon.
    • The most notable non-Bloom-centric episode was "The Show Must Go On", which focuses on Musa putting on a concert at Red Fountain against her father's wishes. It's especially notable since Bloom and Flora (and in the original, Tecna) were all Demoted To Extras. (It could also be considered A Day In The Limelight for Stormy, as the rest of the time, the Trix's plans revolve around Icy and Darcy, but here she gets to fight Musa by herself.)
    • Season 3 episode 20 focuses on the pixies, especially Digit, fighting the Trix.
  • Although most of the episodes of W.I.T.C.H. focus on one of the five main girls, at least one episode per season revolves around Matt, Caleb, and Blunk as well.
  • Work It Out Wombats!: "The Treeborhood Parranda" revolves around Sammy and Louisa, and all of the wombats take a backseat.
  • Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: "I Am Madam President" is driven by Yadina's ambition to become the first female President of the United States. Interestingly, this is also the show's first Extra-Long Episode.

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