Ascended Extra / Web Original

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• Dr. Robotnik (in his Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog incarnation) has gone on to become one of the most popular YouTube Poop characters, spawning hundreds of videos. This also happens with other characters from other sources, though Large Ham villains seem to get this the most.
  • I. M. Meen stars in about 4 minutes of cutscenes and is somehow nearly as big as the CD-I Zelda games, despite them having at least five times more cutscenes than I. M. Meen does.
  • Another notable Ascended Extra in the YouTube Poop universe is Morshu the Shopkeeper, who is one of the most used characters despite having only two lines in the entire game of Link: The Faces of Evil.
• Pretty much the entirety of the cast of Arenas, which in the Quake and Doom universes were just selectable characters for the players.
• In Darwin's Soldiers, Dr. Zanasiu's assistant originally didn't even have a name, and was planned to get killed off rather quickly. He didn't, however, and after earning a name (Zachary) he soon became one of the most important characters in the series.
• DSBT InsaniT: Robo merely made a last-minute cameo in episode 1, then became a full-fledged character.
• The Dups would otherwise be totally forgotten if not for the fact that it featured Jacob Lenard's Mugman in his first ever appearance anywhere. In The Dups, Mugman only appears in one episode as a one-shot character; didn't stop him from getting his own dedicated series later.
• Entirely Presenting You: Minor side characters like Lawrence and Harrian come back in unexpected, and sometimes devastating, ways.
• Fallout Is Dragons is a streamed podcast of a tabletop role-playing group. As would be expected, a significant portion of the cast are NPCs the players took an unexpected interest in and adopted.
• Fizzy's Lunch Lab: The Robo-Fizz 2000 only appears in one episode of the show, but he ended up becoming a main character in the game "Escape From Greasy World".
• FreezeFlame:
  • King K. Rool is perhaps the biggest case. He was originally a minor character in Carl and Bowser's Koopalings, and his only noteworthy role was running the local Gas Station. Later on, he becomes one of Bowser's closest buddies and was often featured in scenes focusing on Bowser's friend circle. After the Donkey Kong Island series had aired, K. Rool was subsequently retired from both of the previous shows to be a regular character in the newest one. At first, he was nothing but a Mean Boss who served as the quote-unquote "Big Bad" of the series. Not long after, K. Rool's role as the antagonist was dropped and moved to Krusha instead, but that didn't mean K. Rool ceased in prominence, as later episodes expanded his role and background, turning him one of the most sympathetic characters in the process.
  • Kylie was just a background character during her first few appearances; she didn't even have any lines in her debut. She gradually becomes more prominent from the fourth episode of the series onwards and became the fourth most reoccurring female character, behind Grace, Talia, and Roxanne.
  • Travis first appeared in "Bowser's Bodyguard" as a barman who apparently already knew Wendy via Instagoomba. Later in the episode, he saved Bowser's life and has been a series mainstay since then. By Season 6, he officially becomes a main character and Sixth Ranger to the Koopalings, with several episodes afterward focusing on a Love Triangle between him, Wendy, and Camilla.
• In The Gungan Council, LiSah Mao and Deagan Hunt were introduced as NPC's but are now their own player characters.
• Legatum:
  • Mallwyn from Help Not Wanted was only a one-shot character who appeared in a single scene during one of the four goblins' contracts. He becomes a recurring character in the sequel, acting as the goblins' primary source of transportation and aiding them during their investigation of the drako conspiracy.
  • Gilennes and Angus Lowcryx only appear in a brief scene in The Green Wanderer before disappearing. They reappear in Help Not Wanted 2 as primary antagonists and get more development as parts of their backstory and drako history are revealed.
  • King Chorn Torgash only shows up in a few flashback scenes in The Green Wanderer. He returns again in The Road to Hell... as a main character and the Big Bad for the story as a whole.
• Madness Combat: In Depredation two Red Shirts briefly appear to give Hank a sword before they get crushed under a building. In Aggregation, they show up again as main characters Sanford and Deimos. Several shorts that served as Interquels between Depredation and Inundation would show how they ended up where they were in the series.
• Tim from the youtube horror series Marble Hornets is a huge example. He begins the series as merely one of many extra characters who are actors for the "Marble Hornets" independent film being made within the series' own universe. Others include Brian, Sarah, and Seth, and none of these are given much development. Tim only speaks a few random lines in the first few entries, such as Entry #12, and does not stand out, excepting the protagonist Jay's interviewing him of what he knows. However, he becomes even more important in the second series of entries when we find out that He is The Masked Man who has been stalking Jay (presumably under possession by The Operator/The Slenderman). He continues to become a more prominent character in the series, eventually becoming somewhat of a sidekick to protagonist Jay. By the end of the series, following Jay's death at the hands of The Hooded Man, Tim takes over his role as the series' protagonist
• One example is Neon Genesis Evangelion R, in which Maya Ibuki goes from a Bridge Bunny to a major character.
• Protectors of the Plot Continuum:
  • While most characters from The Original Series ended up permanently retired, particularly insane, dead, or in upper administration, Agent Lux will show up — and molest — nearly every spin-off.
  • Some agents, after appearing as background characters in other works, also get their own missions or entire spinoffs.
• Similarly, Drew Pickles from Rugrats has become the icon of the Barney Bunch, thanks to an Alternate Character Interpretation Played for Laughs (specifically, a closet semi-Straight Gay).
• RWBY:
  • Velvet was introduced in Volume 1 as a one-off to showcase the setting's Fantastic Racism against Faunus, when Cardin is depicted painfully tugging on her rabbit ears. Her plight instantly endeared her to fans; as they were creating a minor team for the show, they slotted her into that group to give her a larger role. Although her role remained minor in the show, she still got a solo fight like the main characters, and her team became the spin-off stars of an expanded universe novel and its sequel.
  • Neo was introduced in season 2 to be a one off henchwoman to Roman and was never meant to appear again after her fight with Yang. However, her design and powers made her so popular that she stayed around to become a member of the main cast and one of the show's main villains.
• SuperMarioLogan:
  • Bowser Junior once appeared in an episode of Mario and Luigi's Stupid and Dumb Adventures. He later appeared in the "Bowser Juice" infomercial. He then appeared in "Bowser Junior's Macaroni" and is now a main character, to the point of taking over Mario's position.
  • Joseph and Cody went from appearing exclusively in the Bowser Junior's Summer School story arc to appearing in most of Junior's late 2014 and 2015 appearances to appearing in every single one of Junior's 2016 appearances (excluding "Bowser Junior's Cookies!" and "Bowser's Goldfish").
  • The Brooklyn Guy made his debut in a 2011 SML short, and was Put on a Bus the following video. He then returned in part 5 of Bowser Junior's Summer School, and is now a recurring character with over 30 different jobs.
  • After going through a Chuck Cunningham Syndrome period following his debut, Jeffy reappeared in "Bowser Junior's Game Night 3", and has started to ascend to recurring character position, very much like the Brooklyn Guy did.
• Happens all too often in Survival of the Fittest, when characters thought only to be minor characters manage to survive to the end thanks to sheer luck, or simply becoming well-noticed. Two examples:
  • Lulu Altaire was originally just a member of a four-person posse including Anna Kateridge, Amanda Redder, and (regrettably) Liam Black. Three in-game days later, the death of everyone else she'd met, Lulu becomes one of the final characters alive on the island. She ultimately places second overall in the season, after losing the final battle with J.R. Rizzolo.
  • Aston Bennett was originally only a supporting member of another rag-tag group of misfits. Then, after the group is unceremoniously split up when one of the members turns on the group and is accidentally killed, and the boy she may have had a crush on is murdered right in front of her, she steps up to the plate and sets off on a revenge quest against his killer.
• Welcome to Night Vale: Intern Chad was an NVCR Intern that everyone assumed died after being sent to investigate a store that was allegedly a front for the world government in a very early episode. In the September Monologues, the Faceless Old Woman's segment revolved around him summoning some kind of Eldritch Abomination that frightens the Faceless Old Woman out of his home (though it wasn't made clear at the time that it was indeed the same Chad). And it later turns out that he is the Big Bad of Year Four, being behind the Strangers and somehow wrapping Maureen into his plans.
• Starting to be a regular thing in the Whateley Universe. One of the campus jokes, the kid with the spirit of the squirrel, got a role in the Phase novels, and then her own story. Side character and campus nuisance Greasy is getting a Christmas special. Big Bad Don Sebastiano got a point-of-view story, and has gotten more screen time. And on and on...
• In Within the Wires, Season 1's Narrator of the Institute's Relaxation Cassettes, in passing asides about her life, talks about a favorite, underappreciated artist whose work she owns. This painter, Roimata Mangakāhia, is the principal narrator of Season 2, where she analyzes the works of her own favorite artist in museum audio guides.
• There is a Youtube user called WTLNetwork who makes YouTube Poops of Thomas & Friends. A lot of his poops involve the one-shot character of the Fat Controller's Butler (originally a One-Scene Wonder) as a full-blown character and the Fat Controller's lover!

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