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The medal doesn't say "Most Famous Ascended Extra", but maybe it ought to.
"The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra."
—Jimmy Johnson
A minor character who is given a greatly expanded role in a new adaptation of a story, or in the Expanded Universe. It is usually safer to do this with an otherwise obscure character without much depth, since the likelihood of creating plot contradictions is lower. On the other hand, the character may or may not be allowed to have a huge effect on the plot depending on how much the writer is trying to follow source material. Can lead to some bizarre incongruities in planning (e.g. Overtook The Manga, Restricted Expanded Universe). Sometimes the minor character becomes an Ascended Extra just so the writers can immediately turn them into a Sacrificial Lion.
This naturally occurs as a series goes on for long periods of time and useful for filler, technically not requiring you invent someone whole cloth. Be warned however that this character might be more liked by the fandom than the writers, who may have no compunction with getting rid of them when convenient.
This also happens somewhat regularly in Fan Fiction. Stories about a minor character who is given his own subplot (or prequel, sequel, or AU) seem to be 'training wheels' for writers who don't quite trust themselves with original fiction yet and are re-using the setting, but basically making up new characters.
Compare the Breakout Character, where a supporting character gains a fandom that rivals or exceeds the main characters and thus becomes more prominent in canon. Compare also the Ensemble Darkhorse where in a similar fashion, a small side character will be readjusted in the course of the same show to gain a more central role in the plot. See Moriarty Effect specifically for when a would-be one-shot villain ascends to Big Bad status, either through Ascended Extra or Breakout Character. A One Scene Wonder is not an Ascended Extra, at least officially; fanfic, on the other hand...
See Mauve Shirt for when a member of the Redshirt Army gets his own name and minor characterization, but still doesn't become more then a minor supporting character in any way. For the villain equivalent, see Mook Promotion. The inverse of this trope is Demoted To Extra.
Compare Red Herring Shirt, only the ascension is intended from the beginning.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
- Given that the entire series is heavily character-centric, Bleach is quite possibly the Most Triumphant Example of this trope; nearly everyone initially appears as supporting characters (Isshin going from comic relief-ridden Bumbling Dad to the most likely candidate for the series' Big Good) or typical background extras (Ishida first appearing as part of the crowd at Don Kanonji's show and Harribel's introduction as among the twenty Arrancar that were present when Ulquiorra gave his report on Ichigo's power level to the Big Bad), only to gain a much more prominent role several dozen, or even hundred chapters/episodes later on. Even those that seem as insignificant as the foddergami (less than half of the lieutenants) are likely to, or already have gotten more screen time and depth over the course of the series. This in mind, it's no wonder the Shinigami captains and lieutenants of the Gotei 13 became the Spotlight Stealing Squad. However, the major flaw of this is that, in order to better-develop the Shinigami, practically the entire Five Man Band has either been shifted Out Of Focus or suffered disconcerting degrees of Demoted To Extra status, and that's without taking the Karakura High School classmates into consideration.
- In the manga, Sailor Moon's later primary villains never lasted very long. When the TV adaptation introduced its Monster Of The Week filler, they were given quirkier personalities and increased screen time due to fan popularity more than plot relevance. This lead to notable runs where less than half of the current baddie roster make up the majority of episodes.
- The fourth season has an especially odd example. The Amazon Trio (three goofy bishounen) stuck around long enough that fans not familiar with the manga might have thought they were the season's primary villains, even though they would be replaced by the more appropriate Amazoness Quartet.
- Jadeite, the first villain the girls ever face, was rather non-descript, but latched onto by fanfic writers because he didn't explicitly die; a Monster Of The Week called Thetis is often adopted with him as she has much more personality to work with than the other monsters (and has a notable crush on Jadeite).
- Another noticeable example is the first season's Nephrite, whose goal was to locate the Silver Crystal. While he was quickly and unceremoniously killed off in the manga, in the anime, Usagi/Serena's friend Naru/Molly kept interfering in his progress, and through continued interaction, he fell for her, and pulled a last-minute Heel Face Turn to save her at the cost of his own life.
- In the third season of Full Metal Panic, the assassin twin sisters Yu Fan and Yu Lan had a much expanded role than they had in the novel on which the show was based. In said novel, they were male and died rather quickly. Perhaps their tendency to hold each other naked had something to do with this change.
- Sumomo on Keroro Gunsou was, in the manga, a character from a one-shot side story loosely connected to the main comic. In the anime, she was remade into an alien Idol Singer who was taking an impromptu vacation on Earth in her first appearance, and eventually became a recurring character.
- Interestingly, the show seems aware of this, as some characters only appear between long stretches of episodes, prompting the narrator to cheerfully jog the viewer's memory.
- Madame Taki in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch. In the manga, she's a nondescript fortune teller from Lucia's palace who only appears twice, and one of those times was in a flashback detailing why Lucia was raised as a Sleeping Beauty. In the anime, she's a weird fortune teller who came to the surface with Lucia, Nikora and Hippo, and she's also Nikora's "guardian creature", like Hippo to Lucia.
- Miho Nosaka only appeared in one chapter of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga, but was made a main character in the Toei anime version (the lost "first" season). Her personality was drastically altered, too; in the manga, she was a gentle, bookish girl, but in the anime she is self-centered, manipulative and a a Kawaiiko.
- In the Toei series, Jounouchi's Ill Girl sister Shizuka only appeared in one episode. The second series gives her a more extended role and two Moments Of Awesome.
- Remember Tetsu Ushio, that bully who was Dark Yugi's first victim? He's back as a policeman in a supporting role in 5Ds, and even gets to act heroic.
- Kazuhiko Amagasaki from Tenchi Muyo only showed up in a brief scene of episode 1, but managed to gain enough popularity to get a bigger role in Tenchi In Tokyo.
- Lust's role in the first Fullmetal Alchemist anime was greatly expanded, and given much more depth than her manga counterpart. In the first anime, she wants to be human because she feels something is missing, and she is one of the three Homonculi portrayed with great sympathy (Greed and Wrath are the others). Also, Shou Tucker, a minor villain who was wasted in fairly short order in the manga, but becomes a Chimera in the first anime and returns to cause trouble a few more times. The other Chimeras from Devil's Nest also had greatly expanded roles in the anime.
- Rose and Sheska both count as this in the first anime too. Rose became important to the story near the end and Sheska basically became a second heroine next to Winry.
- Chie Harada was simply one of Those Two Girls in Mai-HiME, and a close friend who provided emotional and moral support to the protagonist, but didn't have much plot importance. Her Mai-Otome counterpart, Chie Hallard, is a high-profile supporting character, even getting pictured on a DVD cover with Aoi, That Other One Girl.
- Not to mention Arika and Nina, the two main characters of Mai-Otome were practically nonexistant in Mai-Hi ME. They had no lines and minimal screen time - Arika only as a cameo in the finale, Nina as simply a Living Prop in Mai's classroom. Only Nina had a name, and it was in Japanese, only revealed in one of the Omake that briefly lists the names of everyone in Mai's class.
- In one of the Naruto video games, the ANBU organization, specifically members Towa, Komachi and Yugao Uzuki, were given major roles in the storyline. Also, Kakashi wearing an ANBU uniform is playable in the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games.
- As if Iruka wasn't already enough of an Ensemble Darkhorse, the Abridged Series gets him into a rivalry with Kakashi.
- A filler episode of the anime turns Mizuki (a very minor villain who appeared in the first episode of the series) into that arc's Big Bad (and in fact had him working for the regular Big Bad).
- Matsuri, formerly a nameless Fan Girl of Gaara's in Part II, appears in the last of the Part 1 filler arcs as the first student to accept him as her teacher, and who gets kidnapped by the villains of the arc to lure him out. She also gets some lines of dialogue in the anime version of the Gaara arc.
- And proceeded to get her very own entry into the official databook under that name.
- Chiriku, one of Asuma's old friends and one of the 12 Guardian Ninjas, gets more of a role in the Temple of Fire arc.
- Tenten also counts. While in the manga, she has two off-screen battles- one of which she loses and one of which she wins... against herself and makes minor contributions to a group battle, in the anime filler arcs, she gets a few battles where she does significantly better and even has her off-screen battles shown from start to finish.
- Kaworu from Neon Genesis Evangelion. It sometimes takes fans a bit of time to realize that outside of the movies, he only appeared in one episode, and had the approximate screentime of Jet Alone (remember JA? We didn't think so.) That said, he was important to the plot, but most of the character attributes were retconned since they couldn't actually be displayed in what little screentime he had.
- In the franchise, Mana Kirishima counts as well, being one of the very few non-canon characters to appear in more than one spin-off (debuts in Girlfriend of Steel, then manages to get into Shinji Ikari Instrumentality Project).
- Shin, Kenshiro's first notable adversary in Fist of the North Star, was killed off rather quickly in the original manga after playing out his role to serve as exposition on Kenshiro's background and motivation, since the future of the serial was still uncertain at the time. In the TV series, Shin's story arc was extended beyond the events of the original manga, with Shin getting much greater development. One episode gives his own moment of glory when he singlehandedly thwarts a rebellion within his own subordinates, displaying a bit of his martial art skills before confronting Kenshiro.
- Franz in Gankutsuou. In The Count Of Monte Cristo he's a minor character who receives exposition in one short section of the story and serves as an easily overcome roadblock to the Official Couple. In the anime he becomes integral to the two main characters relationship.
- Code Geass's Nina Einstein is arguably a rather uncommon case on how this isn't always a good thing. At first she seemed to be nothing more than a quiet shy little Meganekko whom is just one of Milly's little friends. However due to her knowledge in science (among other things) her role gradually gets considerably larger. But the bad news is that this is when her reputation of being "an evil insane racist" was starting to grow as well. (Granted the show tries to redeem her later on in R2, but lets just say not everyone was willing to forgive her.) Though in a way people probably would've liked her more right from the start if she was just one of Milly's little friends and pretty much stayed that way.
- In a way Lelouch and Nunally's mother Marianne is like this as well; in the beginning she seemed to be a token "Kind Mother whose only purpose is to have died in a flashback just so main characters can have a sad backstory". However later on in R2 let's just say that wasn't quite the case, and it appears that she is just as bad as her dear hubby Charles. Granted it was all a part of their rather convoluted plan for peace that reminded people about a certain other plan lets just say. Not to mention on how the only reason why Lelouch and Nunally were living their lives like they were before the whole story started is that it was all a part of Charles and Marianne's plan. So in short as for later on R2 Marianne went from one of the better mothers in the show to quite possibly the worst mother ever.
- While some characters were Demoted To Extra's for "Lelouch of The Rebellion" (manga), some such as Euphemia were given far bigger parts.
- Jeremiah Gottwald also got an expanded role in R2 after some Executive Meddling. Apparently, Jeremiah gained such a fanbase in the first season, that the producer rewrote the script to include him in R2 instead of killing him off. It was awesome.
- In One Piece, Michael and Hoichael, two delinquents in Water 7, are once suspected as being responsible for the assassination attempt on Water 7, and later try to mug Zoro, only to get beaten up and forced to lead him back to the rest of the crew. In the Post-Enies Lobby arc, they appear in a filler episode as part of a makeshift family consisting of a woman and her "children," who are not blood-related, and Zoro helps defeat the collectors after they hire Mikazaki of the Crescent Moon (another Ascended Extra, a pirate with a 38 million bounty who got Worfed by the Galley-La company).
- Digimon Tamers had a few of these. Bridge Bunny Riley/Reika became an Ascended Extra later on in the series, although that might have been because she was dating the not-bad-guy of the series (Yamaki). Takato's friends Jeri, Kazu, and Kenta also become this trope when all three of them become Sixth Rangers.
- Sae's sister Chika is arguably important in the Hidamari Sketch anime, but you won't be able to find her in manga— she is only referenced to and not given a name there.
- Nanoha Takamachi completely overshadowed Triangle Heart, to an extent that some/most fans don't even know she WAS an extra back then. Ascended indeed.
- Renko Kamishakujii and Koyuki Asagiri, while they both had minor roles in the first Kujibiki Unbalance "series" (it's tough to tell with only three episodes), they were major characters in the TV series version. In contrast, Komaki and Izumi, once major characters, were reduced to side roles.
- Ouran High School Host Club's Houshakuji Renge was introduced early on with her own chapter, and then she faded to the background. She does still make occasional cameo appearances, though. Bisco Hatori-sensei had mentioned Renge was intended to be a recurring character, but for whatever reason it never happened. Her role in the anime is expanded quite a bit as an As You Know, Genre Savvy Fan Girl, and she does a few of the tasks Tamaki had initially done in the manga (such as helping Nekozawa with his photophobia). Bisco-sensei was happy to see Renge given more screentime in the anime, even if her appearances became less frequent toward the finale.
- Misty and Brock of the Pokémon anime would qualify as this as in the games the show was based on they merely appeared as the first two Gym Leaders. And arguably Max, there wasn't any actual character by his name but his design is similar to one of the trainer classes.
Comic Books
- X-Men has quite a few characters whose role is expanded in adaptations:
- Bolivar Trask, creator of the Sentinels. In the comicverse, he dies in the three-parter that introduces them, in a Heroic Sacrifice once they get out of control. His son and his nephew also tried their hand at it, but also didn't stick around. Despite X-Men's love of Back From The Dead, Bolivar's never been seen again. Elsewhere? In the 1990s animated series, he's a Recurrer you can expect to see in many a Sentinel story, on the run from his own creations. In X-Men Evolution, he's arrested after the initial (unauthorized in this version) Sentinel incident, but kept around by SHIELD to design more once Apocalypse comes onto the scene. Had the series continued past the Apocalypse arc, we'd no doubt have seen a lot more of him and his wayward Humongous Mecha children. The movieverse introduces him in the third movie: definitely a Chekhovs Gunman should there be an X4. He's got an expanded, recurring role in Ultimate Marvel as well.
- He finally came back from the dead in the main Marvel Universe in X-Force v3 #6. FORTY-THREE years after he died. Perhaps not a record, but getting up there...
- Berzerker of the Morlocks (yeah, with a Z). Comics: seen in one issue. Sympathetic but completely nuts. His friend Scaleface is killed by the cops because of Cyclops destroying their cover (he figured it'd make 'em stand down and hadn't counted on the cops shooting first and asking questions later) so he goes, well, berserk and dies when he's knocked into water during the ensuing battle (frying him with his own electrical powers). In X-Men Evolution, though, he's an ex-Morlock and one of the newer students, with the show for three seasons. Temperamental but not Ax Crazy.
- Scaleface herself. In the 1990s series and Evo, her power to turn into a big nasty lizard really gets to shine. Though she doesn't see an increase in screentime, her role goes from "dies so Berzerker can go even more nuts" to "Morlocks' resident bruiser." Berzerker wasn't even in the 1990s series.
- Karl Ruprect Kroenen from Hellboy. In the comics, he appeared briefly in Seed of Destruction, then figured in a minor subplot of Wake the Devil, at the end of which he died. In The Movie, he had as much screen time as the main villain, Rasputin, and his death was pretty ambiguous.
- Oroku Saki, aka The Shredder, was originally a one-time villain. However, he grew popular with the comic's readers. The rest is history.
- Sunstorm of Transformers. In the Transformers Generation 1 show, before the Decepticon roster grew enough to fill large battles with known characters, repaints of Starscream were often used when Megatron needed more Mooks. One of these repaints, seen very briefly in the premiere, was bright yellow. The comic books flesh out this blink-and-you-miss it extra into a radioactive berserker, and he's still getting toys and other appearances, and is homaged in Transformers Animated (the kiss-up Starscream clone has his coloration.)
- Many, many Transformers have a role that's much larger than that of previous holders of the name. For example, Red Alert was a background character in a few episodes of G1, and his one A Day In The Limelight episode had him go insane due to damage. Transformers Armada and Transformers Cybertron make him The Medic and a central character. Also, Overhaul was previously a Redshirt in the Dreamwave Comics series: his first panel involved him getting a hole blasted through him.
- This happens to at least two characters in the film adaptation of Three Hundred; Stelios turns from a teenage Spartan who is ridiculed by the others when he tires out to an adult, battle-hardened soldier who exemplifies the Spartan image, and the Captain's son is given a name (Astinos) and takes Stelios's place as the eager young Spartan.
Film
- So many characters in Star Wars that it would be impossible to list them all. For example, watch the cantina scene from the original film; every last patron has at least a name and a bit of backstory. Some actually get their own story in the anthology book "Tales From The Cantina"; several who hadn't been named ended up on the Star Wars Databank, where fans were allowed to come up with their own backstories and names, then vote on which ones were the best. After that, though, they tend to never come up again - the Star Wars Expanded Universe is infamous for this and a few characters do recur, but honestly, most characters in the EU were either named and had a line or two or are entirely original creations who were never on screen. Even fan favorites like Boba Fett and Wedge Antilles, moving on to their own novels and appearing again and again, were minor non-mains who still had lines and plot significance.
- Remember that nameless red droid with a bad motivator from Episode 4? This trope was mocked in the non-canon comic Skippy the Jedi Droid, where he was a Force-Sensitive droid who used to work for Jabba. He self-destructed on purpose because he could see the future and knew that R2 needed to go with Luke, or even Skippy's Parody Sue skills couldn't stop Reality from Ensuing badly.
- Ask any hardcore Star Wars fan about the silver protocol droid Threepio meets in Cloud City just before he gets blasted. Go ahead. We'll wait.
- E-3PO
 .
- A good example of the difference ascension makes: This is a normal Imperial Guard◊. And here's Kir Kanos◊, who wasn't in the films but has a comics plotline of his own, in what could be a case of the job producing an Ascended Extra.
- Every character that ever appeared in the films has at least a name. Watch A New Hope. Red 6 (the fat guy in Luke's wing when they attacked the Death Star)? Jek Porkins. The Stormtrooper who found 3P0's ankle ring? Davin Felth. Remember the Endor strike team?
- Several characters from Death Star.
- The Meganulon (Giant dragonfly-like monsters) from Rodan were only minor characters in the film. Later, they would become the major villains in Godzilla vs Megaguirus.
- In the Narnia book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a fox appears for approximately one page whose main hobbies include hosting dinner parties and Innocently Bystanding. In the movie version, he gets to show off his pedigree a bit more, and is upgraded to the Sacrificial Lion, though he got better.
- Playing with this Trope, Guy Fleegman in Galaxy Quest was just another Red Shirt who got killed in the original series. But after going on a real space adventure with the crew gets his own starring role in the new Galaxy Quest series.
- Snow White And The Three Stooges gave Prince Charming an actual major role. Unfortunately it was at the expense of the title characters.
- In The Crow, there's that one little girl whom Eric helps that has a name similar to his dead fiancee's, yeah that one... Well, she gets a name change (Sarah), a big role in the film (basically the bestest buddy of Shelly and Eric), and her mom's involvement with Funboy is upped. From there, she becomes the love interest in the sequel and once again is in the series.
- Dizzy Flores from Starship Troopers combines this with Gender Flip. In the novel Dizzy is a man, and pretty much all you're told about him is that he died. In the movie adaptation he's a she, and she's one of the major characters as well as a love interest for the main character.
- Both the Worm Guys and Frank the Pug in Men In Black were one-off jokes in the first movie, but had expanded roles in the second movie and the series.
- In Spider-Man 3, Elizabeth Banks, Ted Raimi, and Bruce Campbell all receive billing after their smaller roles in the previous films led to slightly bigger ones in the third.
- Every doll besides 9 and 5 in the film 9. In the original short film, the remaining seven dolls did appear, but only for a few seconds at the end of the film. The feature film takes all of them and gives them larger roles and actual personalities (as well as complete character make-overs).
- Micheal Jai White, who played a small part as an unnamed soldier in the first Universal Soldier, later played the Big Bad in Universal Soldier: The Return.
- Danny Trejo's character from the Spy Kids movies, Machete, is set to star in an action film called...Machete. It's a lot less innocent than your average family film.
- "Happy" Hogan, Tony Stark's bodyguard played by director Jon Favreau, has considerably more lines in the second movie; in addition, he gets to beat down a guard, ram Ivan with his car, and has Black Widow (aka Scarlett Johannsen) put him in a headlock with her legs.
Folk Lore
- In his first appearance in the Robin Hood ballads, Guy Of Guisborne is a bounty hunter in horsehide armour who Robin beheads. Modern retellings have promoted the character being The Dragon to the Sheriff of Nottingham (or sometimes the Big Bad himself) because he was was one of the few villains from the ballads to be given a name.
- Well, it probably helps that the "Ballad of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbourne" features him holding his own against Robin in a two-hour long swordfight. "These yemen together they fought, Two howres of a summer's day. Yett neither Sir Guy nor Robin Hood, Them fettled to flye away." Also that Robin is wounded and prays, before making one more leap and killing Guy with an "awkward" move. Guy fared far better than most of Robin's opponents from the Ballads. It might be among the earliest Robin ballads, because there was a theatrical play based on it c. 1475.
Literature
- Captain Hastings is promoted to full-fledged sidekick in the Poirot series. Though he was originally thought up as a Watson figure, he doesn't even appear in most of the novels.
- However, the novels he does appear in make it clear that he's meant to be a Watson type character, and he appears in enough to make his mark, so this progression is at least justified.
- Hastings was introduced in "The Mysterious Affairs at Styles" (1920) to be a Watson-like figure and played that part in several Poirot short stories of the 1920s. Christie later wrote further "early cases" of Poirot set in this period and featuring Hastings. In "The Murder on the Links" (1923), Hastings gains a love interest in the person of Dulcie Duveen, a music-hall actress, singer, and acrobat. (Which he nicknames "Cinderella" or "Cinders".) By the end of the novel they marry and move together to Argentina. Christie later used the excuse of Hastings visiting Poirot in Great Britain to involve him in further cases. The only novels actually using said device were "The Big Four" (1927), "Peril at End House" (1932), "Lord Edgware Dies" (1933), "The A.B.C Murders" (1936) and "Dumb Witness" (1937). Poirot stories or novels set in the 1940s or later, generally do not feature nor mention Hastings. The one exception is "Curtain: Poirot's Last Case" (1975), which was actually written in World War II. There Hastings is featured as an elderly widower, bitter that his children have aged to adulthood and are living their lives far away from their father. He survives Poirot's suicide and gains a second wife in the person of Elizabeth Cole.
- Arwen barely appears in the story proper to The Lord Of The Rings, but she has a major role in the Backstory. The films used material from the appendices, which explained her role, to make her a prominent player in the three films.
- Gee, now why would they do something like that?
- Gothmog in Return of the King. One mention in the novel (it's never even specified what race he is) becomes a memorable turn in the film with Gothmog as a severly deformed but competent orc general.
- It's actually most often assumed the novel's Gothmog, Lieutenant of Morgul is the second-most important Nazgul - although there are (Name's The Same-invoking) mentions in The Silmarillion of a prior Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs in the First Age of Middle Earth; but I think if the later one was also a Balrog this might have, you know, come up in conversation around Minas Tirith... (Almost a self-Shout Out, in fact: a likely example of Tolkien recycling a name he'd already created in the 'ancient histories' - not expecting these to ever be published, he occasionally reused a name from them in LOTR e.g. Denethor, Gothmog.)
- Max the Dog in the animated version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and Cindy Lou Who in The Film Of The Book.
- The trope image is of the cricket from Pinocchio. In the original story, he was a nameless cricket who was squashed by the title character early on and appeared later as a ghost. In the Disney version, he was given the name Jiminy Cricket and promoted to narrator. Not only did he practically steal the movie away from its title character, but he's gone on to host/narrate other Disney films, short subjects, and even theme park shows. He's also a notable character in several of the Kingdom Hearts videogames.
- Emily Bennett in the American Girl books originally appeared in one book, for two weeks of a story (the Molly franchise) that details almost a year and a half. Since she got her own doll, she's been retconned into more of the story. The Film Of The Book does it even more.
- A Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz by Jorge Luis Borges is about a secondary character from the epic poem Martin Fierro.
- Every character in the film Shrek that wasn't made up for that adaptation is an Ascended Extra, given that it was originally a picture book. This includes Shrek himself, the dragon, Donkey, Lord Farquaad (from the Knight — their specific roles are different, but the parallels are obvious), and Fiona (from the Ugly Princess).
- Bosie in Cold Mountain was barely described in the book. He's arguably the most entertaining thing about the movie, becoming a sardonic, acrobatic, sharp-shooting Evil Albino prone to nosebleeds.
- Meet The Robinsons is also adapted from a children's picture book, but oddly, only really does this for Mr. and Mrs. Robinson and Louis. In the book, the former two were rather flat characters with little relevance to the strange goings-on the book focused on... and Louis was an extreme example of The Ishmael, being a first-person narrator lacking even a name. Most of the other characters are only minorly expanded, or new to this version.
- Dune: most adaptations expand the character of Princess Irulan in a Completely Missing The Point way. In the original book, the joke is that she's the author of all the chapter-starting quotes about Muad'Dib, yet only appears right at the end as the Emperor's daughter who Paul marries out of political convenience (and another character remarks that, with such a loveless marriage, she'll have plenty of time for writing...). Which is obviously undermined when the character appears early on, especially in the 2000 miniseries where she meets Paul early in the story and they even seem to have feelings for each other.
- In James And The Giant Peach, the rhinoceros that kills James' parents is only mentioned at the very beginning in the book. The Movie, however, gave it a severe upgrade into a major antagonist: it's more of a demonic, lightning-spewing manifestation of James' fears than an actual rhino.
- 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...
- According to the foreword to the omnibus edition of the books, Marvin from The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy was intended as a one-scene joke in the original radio play until series producer Geoffrey Perkins talked Adams into developing him further.
- Discworld has numerous Ascended Extras, from Detritus, who started out as a Splatter (like a Bouncer, but he used more force) who didn't even get a line in Guards! Guards! and eventually worked his way up to being a Seargant in the City Watch, to Ponder Stibbons, who started out as an inconsequential student at Unseen University and managed to become a senior faculty and later the Archchancellor's right hand man (and by virtue of being the only one of this select group that ever does any actual work, de facto ruler of the University).
- But Discworld's Most Triumphant Example is probably Death. He first showed up in The Colour Of Magic as a one-off gag, and has since become one of the most major characters in the series, with at least a cameo in every book but one and several stories that star him.
- Captain Leopold was created as a supporting character in an Al Darlan story; he went on to become Edward D. Hoch's primary series character.
Live Action TV
- Star Trek had several, but this is by far the Most Triumphant Example: The pilot of Star Trek The Next Generation featured an unnamed Irish curly-haired conn officer played by Colm Meaney. That character would re-appear on a regular basis in subsequent episodes as a gold-shirted (the 24th-century equivalent of Red Shirt) transporter operator. That operator eventually got a name and rank, Chief Miles O'Brien, and ended up becoming a semi-regular character with a wife & family who interacted regularly with the main cast. When it came time to create a Spinoff of TNG, O'Brien went even further to become a main character in Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Miles O'Brien is the embodiment of a character working up from the Red Shirt Army to donning fullblown Plot Armor.
- Khan was featured in only one episode of the original TV series, but became the most famous antagonist of the film series when he reappeared in Star Trek II The Wrath Of Khan (probably at least as much for his titular Memetic Mutation than anything else).
- Damar from Star Trek Deep Space Nine ascends from the role of basically a henchman to that of national hero for Cardassia in the final episode.
- Many bit characters from the Star Trek shows have become major players in the tie-in novels, even starring in some of the book-only spinoff series. Star Trek New Frontier made regulars out of one- or two-shot Next Generation characters Shelby, Selar, and Lefler. Starfleet Corps Of Engineers features guest engineers like Sonya Gomez, Duffy, and Stevens. A major character in the Star Trek Deep Space Nine Relaunch novels (Vedek Yevir) is based on an extra who appeared in one scene and was only seen from behind. Star Trek Ex Machina, a sequel to Star Trek The Motion Picture, bases most of its supporting crew characters on faces (and alien masks) in the crowd from a crew-assembly scene in that film.
- A major player in the novels of various Star Trek incarnations is Leonard James Akaar - seen as an infant in one episode in The Original Series, but of course an adult by the time of the TOS movies. Lately, he's commander-in-chief of Starfleet.
- An averted example is Star Trek Voyager's Tom Paris, who was originally supposed to be the same character as Nick Locarno, a one-off character from Next Generation. Because Locarno never repents for his actions in his only episode, and because the producers would have to pay royalties to the writers, the character was given a new background and name, but kept the same personality and actor.
- Rodney McKay, who after a couple one-shot appearances on Stargate SG-1, became one of the main characters in Stargate Atlantis.
- McKay is kind of a backwards case. The original Casting Call asked for someone with similar qualities to the McKay character. David Hewlett auditioned and nailed the part, at which point the producers just turned the character into McKay since it didn't make much sense for David Hewlett to be playing a similar but distinct character.
- Major Lorne appeared in a single episode of SG-1. Starting from season 2 of Atlantis he became their Colonel Makepeace.
- Parodied in a Ferrell-era sketch on Saturday Night Live with NBC making an adaptation of the New Testament. As they don't have time for a script, they just ad-lib (something that Will Ferrell, playing Jesus, doesn't feel comfortable doing). When the actors can't decide how their characters should know each other, they just say they have a mutual friend named Barry. By the end of the sketch, Barry gets an "actor" (one of the boom-mike guys), Jesus betrays Barry, and (the film now taking place in a college dorm) Barry kills the Devil.
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Harmony was originally one of Cordelia's cronies who was in the second half of the pilot and got bitten by a vampire at the end of Season 3. She shows up again in Season 4 as Spike's vampire girlfriend. She later showed up in the Buffy spin-off, Angel, eventually promoted to main character.
- She also holds the distinction of being the only character (and actor) to be part of the Buffyverse for its entire television run, appearing in both the original pilot and the last episode of Angel.
- Same actor, but the series establishes that a vampire is a demon using the body, not the same person who died, so she's not the same character.
- The series established that through dialogue, but in practice has always been kind of iffy about it. Buffyverse vampires have all the memories of their human body (and no additional ones) so tend to think of themselves as the same people - certainly Harmony does.
- Faith could fit there as well not only having avoided death by suicide due to fans positive response to the character but also turned out to play a major role in the season 3 arc and recurring character in both Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. Ironically, she went from being a short lived Slayer to technically the longest living "official" Slayer (from the main traditional Slayer's line).
- Danny Strong was credited as an unnamed extra on "Buffy" for quite some time before even "obtaining" the name "Jonathan".
- Gonzo first appeared in the Jim Henson and Ed Sullivan Christmas Special The Great Santa Claus switch in a small role as a creature living in the villain's cigar box named Snarl. The puppet was repurposed for usage on the Muppet Show and the rest is history.
- Elmo was originally a nameless background character, but after Kevin Clash took over the role, he became a more regular character, and eventually received a recurring 15-20 minute sketch.
- The eponymous family on Family Matters was that of Harriette Winslow, a minor character from Perfect Strangers.
- It's not widely known, but Steve Urkel was originally supposed to be a one-shot character. For anyone even remotely familiar with Family Matters, one can understand how this is a major example of this trope.
- ...That's not widely known? It seems like any time the Internet mentions Steve Urkel, the story of how he was only supposed to be a one-off character is thrown in.
- Thanks to The Next Iron Chef, Michael Symon, initially a challenger on Iron Chef America , ascended to a position of Iron Chef. In season two, Jose Garces, who had defeated Iron Chef Bobby Flay, joined him.
- By the finale of Battlestar Galactica, it seems half of the surviving cast were initially one-off characters. Let's see, Helo, Racetrack, Hotdog, Ishay, Hoshi, Seelix, and Anders were initially background or minimally recurring characters, but end up with fairly major roles.
- In Doctor Who, the character of Wilfred Mott was initially a brief 2-minute cameo for Bernard Cribbins in the 2007 Christmas special. However, due to the death of the actor playing Donna's father, the character later returned as her grandfather in the 2008 series. His role has continued to be increased to the extent that he was promoted to main companion status for the Christmas and New Year's specials, and caused the Doctor's regeneration. Not bad for what was intended as a Hey Its That Guy moment.
- Donna herself is this. Originally, she was created as a one-off for "The Runaway Bride". For the 2008 series, Russell T Davies had come up with a new companion called Penny, inspired by Catherine Tate's chemistry with David Tennant - then the production team discovered that Catherine had had a wonderful time filming "The Runaway Bride", and was willing to come back as the companion for the 2008 series, so Penny was replaced by Donna.
- Toshiko of Torchwood was seen ever-so-briefly in season one of the new Doctor Who first. As an extra, she was a doctor. As a full time Torchwood character, she was explained to have been impersonating a doctor because the actual doctor (fellow Torchwood member Owen Harper) had been too hung over to work.
- Jack Harkness may be an example of this, considering that he went from a small role in the later half of the first series to becoming a fairly important character in the series, receiving his own spin-off, and quite possibly being the Face of Boe.
- An extreme explain of this is Mrs Miggins from Blackadder. In the second series she was an unseen character mentioned two or three times as a throwaway joke. She became a regular character in the third series.
- Red Dwarf has various examples. Kryten was a one-episode character who wouldn't have been included originally as one of the writers wanted to avoid robotic characters. He returned in Series III as a main character (although played by a different actor).
- Brittany from Glee. Heather Morris was a back-up dancer for Beyonce's "Single Ladies" live performances and was initially hired to teach the choreography to the cast. They gave her the role, intended to be just a recurring background dancer, without even an acting audition. It turned out that she had great comic timing, and after a gradual increase in lines over season one, she was promoted to the regular cast by season two.
- In the Sookie Stackhouse novels, the character of Mary Ann originally named Callisto pretty much just showed up at a party, made a few comments and was never seen again. On True Blood, the show based on the books, she was the Big Bad of season two.
- Similarly, Lafayette Reynolds has been a pretty prominent supporting character since the show began, but appeared only briefly in book one before being killed off at the beginning of book two.
Theater
- Several minor characters in Shakespeare's Macbeth seem to barely qualify to have names until very late into the play.
- Mercutio in Romeo And Juliet. In Shakespeare's source, The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet, he makes one appearance, and only gets mentioned at all because he happens to be sitting next to Juliet at the feast. Shakespeare makes him Romeo's best friend, the only person who can maintain connections with both the Capulets and the Montegues, a Trickster and a Deadpan Snarker.
- Will Parker is one half of the Beta Couple in the musical Oklahoma!. He wasn't really a character in Green Grow The Lilacs (the straight play Oklahoma! was derived from), which mentioned him once.
- Tom Stoppard did this in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. The two most minor characters in Hamlet become the focus of the whole story, and Hamlet becomes just a bit part.
- Neil Simon's first play, Come Blow Your Horn, briefly mentions an offstage character named Felix Ungar. Felix, of course, later became half of the eponymous duo in Simon's The Odd Couple and its film and TV adaptations.
- In the stage musical of Beauty And The Beast, the feather duster and the wardrobe are given bigger roles, more developed personalities, and names, Babette and Madame de la Grande Bouche, respectively.
Video Games
- The excellent fan remake of King's Quest II does this with several NPCs. Perhaps the best is Valanice, who was rewritten from her original flat, MacGuffin-esque Distressed Damsel portrayal to a character more in line with what's seen in her later appearances in the series, who — although a prisoner — is hardly a helpless shrinking violet. Similarily, the vampire (originally Dracula; Caldaur in the remake) is turned into a sympathic character with personality, depth and motives, who will end up aiding the hero if you help him in return. Seeing as his original role was to hang out in his castle until the hero showed up to kill him for no apparent reason (other than needing the key he had), this was a definite improvement.
- In the original versions of the series, Rosella was given her own adventure to star in after appearing briefly in the previous game as the Distressed Damsel, and later on she co-starred alongside Valanice as the heroes of King's Quest VII. Princess Cassima, meanwhile, was introduced near the end of King's Quest V and was later ascended to being a major character in King's Quest VI.
- World Of Warcraft does this constantly. Literally every pre-WoW bit of Warcraft material had a lot of lore that may or may not have appeared on screen, and may have had little if any effect on the plot, that end up becoming major characters in a later game or when Blizzard needs material for an expansion pack or raid dungeon. In the most extreme example, Sargeras went from a generic bit-part monster to THE Big Bad of the entire universe (albeit a BigBad who's long dead).
- This has also happened in response to the players falling in love with random NPC's. For example, Hemet Nesingwary was once a minor quest-giver put in as a Shout Out to Ernest Hemingway. Players either liked or hated him so much that in the first expansion he was moved to Outland and given more quests, and in the second there is an entire faction devoted to fighting him, a third of an area taken over by his crazed former compatriots, as well as yet another group of quests from Nesingwary's hunting party.
- High Overlord Saurfang, pre-expansion, served no purpose in the game or the story except to put Nefarian's severed head on a stick and look like a total Bad Ass. He's since become one of the most prominent NPCs in the game.
- And the Alliance equivalent of Saurfang, Bolvar Fordragon, started out as a stand-in for the disappeared King Varian Wrynn and earned some major cool points for fighting off Onyxia's entire elite guard. When Varian came back, Bolvar played a major role in the Dragonblight campaign, pulled a Big Damn Heroes for you, and died during the Forsaken betrayal at the Wrath Gate.
- Once upon a time, there was a game called Triangle Heart 3 Sweet Songs Forever. This game had a Token Loli who had little role to the plot aside from being the adorable little sister of the main character Kyouya. This little sister would later get a mini-scenario of her own in the game's fandisc where she becomes a Magical Girl, and said mini-scenario would eventually get turned into a full-fledge anime. The name of the little sister and her show? Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, who ascended so much, she displaced the entire series she originated from.
- In Sam And Max Hit the Road, the protagonists may optionally enter the convenience store near their office (which has no bearing on the plot or any puzzles) and save its owner, Bosco, from an armed robber. The interior of the store is never seen and Bosco is never seen nor heard. When the sequel was canceled and Telltale Games was formed as a result, due to his not-legally-a-character status, Bosco was the only character from Hit the Road (besides an appearance of the Human Enigma on a poster, due to an appearance, also on a poster, in the original Sam and Max comic book series) who could legally feature in their new episodic Sam and Max series. Indeed, he became a major recurring character, with appearances in all but one episode and a backstory that is revealed and resolved in Season 2.
- While he may seem like one of many other characters the player can pick to go with them in Maniac Mansion, Bernard arguably fits this trope, becoming the hero of Day of the Tentacle, which suggests that the canonical trio includes him.
- After being Demoted to Extra in the original version of Tsukihime, Satsuki Yumizuka (Sacchin to fans) has been confirmed to have regained her own route in the upcoming Tsukihime remake. Isn't it great, Sacchin?
- While an important character, Archer of Fate Stay Night has little actual relevance to the Fate route that the anime is based off of. However, he's such a popular/interesting character that his importance and screen time are rather increased. They mostly drag in bits of information from the UBW path and fully animate the battle with Berserker, which was only alluded to in the game itself.
- In the first Mega Man Star Force, Damion Wolfe and his FM-ian, Wolf, are just Bonus Bosses you can challenge anytime you want. In the third game they were promoted to secondary characters, helping our heroes in an occasion or two. In the anime he was also promoted, but to a "villain" (well, he softens up later).
- Mega Man Battle Network has Tory Froid, who is nothing more than a generic, nameless NPC but was upgraded to one of Lan's friends for Mega Man NT Warrior and given a unique design. IceMan is his Navi in the anime but is his father's Navi in the game.
- The weapon salesmen from the first Spectrobes game gets redesigned in the second with his own sprite, cutscene, and name. it's Dave, of all things.
- Despite immense unpopularity in America, Tingle from The Legend Of Zelda saw his role increase consistently from his original debut in Majora's Mask to the point he's already the star of two games with a third one on the way. But unless you live in Europe or Japan, don't count on ever playing them without importing.
- The Capcom Vs Whatever series ascended many minor characters from both Capcom and the rival companies:
- For example, Shuma-Gorath, a minor and obscure Doctor Strange villain, is better known as a powerful but unorthodox fighter in the Marvel Vs Capcom games, having made the cut over Doctor Strange himself. "CHAOS DIMENSION!"
- Saki Omokane, from a very-obscure Japan-only quiz game from Capcom, gets first an assist role on the first Marvel Vs Capcom, and then becomes a full-fledged fighter on Tatsunoko Vs Capcom.
- Eagle and Maki, two long-forgotten Street Fighter and Final Fight characters, ended up appearing in Capcom Vs SNK 2 as playable fighters, and they, along with Yun from Street Fighter III, got ported over to the GBA release of Street Fighter Alpha 3 as unlockable characters. The PSP version keeps them, as well as Ingrid, a Mary Sue from Capcom Fighting Evolution.
- This also applies to others like Dan Hibiki (who started off as a throw-away character in one piece of artwork) and Sakura (who was originally a Joke Character and got her own manga).
- The Unreal universe has a lot of this. First are Malcolm, Brock and Lauren, who were simple skins a player could choose on the first Unreal Tournament. Then, Unreal Tournament 2003 showed that Malcolm was the winner of the Tournament, with Brock and Lauren as part of his team. Since that moment, Malcolm is considered the face of the Unreal series. Unreal Championship II: The Liandri Conflict also ascended Gorge and Arclite, (and later, many others, through a patch) from the same game, giving Gorge a Bad Ass status.
- After only one showing in one mission set, for an addon to Wing Commander II, Jason "Bear" Bondarevski goes on to become a major character in the non-novelization Wing Commander novels, as do, to a lesser extent, several minor characters seen elsewhere in the games, like Janet "Sparks" McCullough and Kevin Tolwyn.
- The first Half-Life has about half a dozen "skins" for all of the scientist models, all of whom exist solely to provide exposition, open certain doors and/or die horribly and thereby show the player how not to die horribly. Two of these skins were later used as the basis for two of the main characters of Half-Life 2, which has led to interesting arguments about which of the scientists is the "real" one (Eli is explicitly stated to be the first one to talk to Gordon after the Resonance Cascade; Kliener is generally considered to be the only scientist seen wielding a weapon, appearing at the end of the "Lambda Core" level). Barney, a character similarly based on model skins, this time of the security guards (of which there was only one originally) is more of a Mauve Shirt however.
- Barney has become more of a Blue Shirt, considering you played him all through Blue Shift.
- In Dark Fall: The Journal, Nigel is basically someone you have to rescue. In the spinoff game, The Lost Crown, he is the main character.
- Before the final boss of King Of Fighters '94, a blonde woman escorts your team to Rugal's chamber. After a number of victories in King Of Fighters '95, a brunette woman informs the unseen Rugal of your team's progress. These two otherwise unremarkable secretaries would go on to become playable characters in King Of Fighters '96 under the names Mature and Vice, complete with relevance to the Orochi storyline. And even though they were both killed at the end of the game, they still proved popular enough to return in full-cast compilation games and intercompany crossovers, and may even be rejoining the canon cast in recent games.
- Tseng of Final Fantasy VII. In the original game, he is the leader of the Turks, but you never fought him, and he only appears for a short while. Come Crisis Core, he becomes Zack's Turk partner, and could fight alongside him in a DMW sequence.
- Johnny Sasaski from the Metal Gear Solid series.
- The Touhou character Marisa Kirisame began life as just another boss in Story of Eastern Wonderland, then went on to become one of the two main characters alongside Reimu and one of the most influential characters in the series.
- In the Total War series, when an army goes into a difficult battle without a general to lead it, and comes out victorious, the army's captain (up to that point a non-entity) can ascend to General status and become a valued member of your royal family (and a powerful unit in his own right).
- In the Ys series, Dogi the Wallcrusher was at first a minor character who busts Adol out of jail at one point in the first game and disappears until the end of the second game. However, his bravado and infamous wallcrushing skill instantly turned him into a fan favorite and Dogi became the constant companion of Adol who follows Adol in his later adventures, always busting wall at one point to save Adol in each game. Most recently in Ys Seven, he is a playable character.
Western Animation
- Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law gives expanded roles to several Birdman villains, including Mentok, Reducto, Birdgirl (who started off brainwashed) and X. All had originally appeared in only one episode each.
- Daria was a minor background character on Beavis And Butthead. She's mostly just seen in the classroom and we never meet her family (though her surname
Morgendoerfer Morgendorffer is established and surprisingly remembered by the writers, even if the spelling isn't). The episodes where she speaks can be counted on one hand and even then, no episode revolved around her. Her interaction with the boys was mostly just her snarking at their stupidity and Beavis using his nickname for her, "Diarrhea," before she writes them off as morons and walks off.
- The "Two-Tone Town" episode of Tiny Toon Adventures reintroduced a trio of obscure Merrie Melodies characters from the black-and-white 1930s shorts: Foxy and Roxy (obvious Mickey and Minnie Mouse ripoffs) and Goopy Geer (who would be an obvious Goofy ripoff if he didn't predate Goofy). They were modernized and given more distinct personalities for their Tiny Toons appearance; most viewers were probably unaware that they were actual characters from the black-and-white era and not just Retraux imitations like the subsequent Warner siblings.
- In the original U.S. Acres comic strip, Orson's nasty brothers only briefly appeared in the first three weeks, and they didn't have names then. Garfield And Friends turned them into recurring villains and gave them the names Mort, Gort and Wart.
- In 1932, E.C. Segar created a character named "Bluto the Terrible" to serve as Popeye's adversary for a single storyline in the Thimble Theatre strip. After the story ended, Segar discarded the character and never used him again... but when Popeye was adapted to animation a year later, Bluto became the series' main villain.
- Rumor has it Segar created Bluto at the request of Fleischer Studios so that they'd have a recurring villain to use in the cartoons. And evidently, when creating him, Segar decided he may as well do a story with the character.
- Popeye himself is perhaps the greatest example of this, actually. The comic strips he starred in began with chronicaling the adventures of the Oyl family. Popeye was going to be a one arc gag, but became so popular that he ascended to the MAIN CHARACTER OF THE FRANCHISE.
- Woody Woodpecker's girlfriend Winnie Woodpecker was only shown in one classic Woody Woodpecker cartoon called Real Gone Woody (And in a very one-dimensional role, I might add), but she was mainly shown in comic books as a recurring character. It wasn't until later in The New Woody Woodpecker Show that she became an active member of the series, with a personality similar in silliness to Woody, though showing a more developed sense of dignity.
- Ixis Naugus was poised to team up with Snively after Sonic The Hedgehog and friends defeated Robotnik, but he (and the show) got Screwed By The Network (and the Power Rangers). He did get a much more expanded role in the comic based on the show, although whether that's a good thing or not is debatable.
- Subverted in the animated version of WITCH. Those only familiar with the series may or may not be aware that in the original comics, Elyon was a major character from the beginning. However, the series deliberately portrays her as a seemingly minor character who gradually "ascends" to being a major character (at which point the show starts seemingly becoming more about her, but that's just me...).
- Quite a few of the extras from An American Tail: Fievel Goes West went on to become recurring characters in ''Fievel's American Tails''.
- Speaking of which, Tanya got quite a bigger role in Fievel Goes West when compared to the original, where she only has a couple of lines and could easily be cut from the story.
- Jules and Verne, Doc Brown's kids in Back To The Future The Animated Series, likely qualify for this, since their only appearance in the original films is a brief, non-speaking appearance at the end of the third film.
- Gil Gunderson get his own starring episode on the "The Simpsons".
- South Park: Butters started off as a Living Prop before being increasingly used as a supporting character in seasons 3-5 and eventually becoming a main character. Around the same time Kenny was more or less Demoted To Extra, though it's hard to say if Butters' rise is the cause or effect of that.
- Some one-shot villains on Wordgirl might qualify. For example, Ms. Question, a villain previously seen as a student of the Coach, (another villain), has recently had two episodes where she was the main villain (after gaining the power to confuse people), as has smooth-talking game show host Seymour Orlando Smooth, who had previously only appeared in one episode. In fact, the only Wordgirl villain who hasn't returned at least once is the Masked Meat Marauder (although he's probably enjoying his time in that other city with lots of butcher shops and no superhero girls or monkey sidekicks).
- Noelle Sussman on As Told By Ginger ascended from extra in "And She Was Gone"... and was demoted back to extra after "Wicked Game".
- Filburt the turtle was a initially a minor recurring character in Rockos Modern Life who served as a nerdy employee for various jobs. He would go on to become one of Rocko's friends and have larger roles later on in the cartoon.
- 21 and 24 from The Venutre Brothers were minor characters early on in the first season, but became a bit more important as the season went on, and then starting with season 2 they were part of the main cast. Same could probably be said of the Monarch who went from a recurring character to getting equal screen time to the Venture family.
- One could also make the case for Stacy Hirano of Phineas And Ferb. In the early episodes, she appeared only frequently (usually from Candace calling her on the phone). As the series progressed, she's appeared much more, and has actually played a role in the plot of some episodes ("Put that Putter Away", "Elementary my Dear Stacy", "Phineas & Ferb-busters","the Lemonade Stand"). In fact, it's almost rare to see a current episode where she doesn't appear, even if it's only for a scene or two.
- The Archmage was introduced in a flashback of an episode of Gargoyles and was originally intended as nothing more- but series creator Greg Weisman fell in love with David Warner's remarkably sinister turn voicing the character, so he was later brought back and much of the series was tied into his master plan.
Web Comics
- Kaitlyn of Precocious was referred to by Chrispy as the central character of another strip. That other strip (Copper Road) was eventually made.
Web Original
- There is plenty of fanfiction (and other fan-made works) out there that take pride in giving characters who only had a small amount of screentime in their respective source material substantially larger roles. This has been considered to be one of the potential better aspects of fanfiction.
- One example is Evangelion R, in which Maya Ibuki goes from a Bridge Bunny to a major character.
- 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 having at least five times more cutscenes than I. M. Meen.
- 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
- Similarly, Drew Pickles has become the icon of the Barney Bunch, thanks to an Alternate Character Interpretation Played For Laughs (specifically, a closet semi-Straight Gay).
- In Darwins 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.
- In the sprite comic Ansem Retort, Red XIII was initially a member of the replacement cast while the main cast went missing. Thanks to some manipulation by Darth Maul, he became evil enough to fit in with the main cast. His ascension was complete when the rest of the cast picked him over Marluxia to come along on a trip to Hawaii.
- And in the newest season, Marluxia is actually trying to reverse his demotion to extra. This is why he won't let Sora be taken hostage: he gets more screen time this way.
- There is a Youtube user called WTL Network (http://www.youtube.com/user/WTLNetwork), who makes You Tube Poops of Thomas The Tank Engine. A lot of his poops involve apperances from the one-shot character of the Fat Controller's Butler (originally a One Scene Wonder) into a fully blown charcter of being the Fat Controller's lover!
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