Basic Trope: A story element or character that is no longer important to the plot, but it's still there.
- Straight: After secondary character Alice gains superpowers and defeats Evulz, she loses them and becomes just another character, but the authors still keep her around.
- Justified:
- During her character arc, Alice started a relationship with the Deuteragonist, Bob, so the authors kept her around for the romance subplot she could provide.
- The mystical prophecy in episode three is going to turn out to be about Alice's kids, Charles and Daisy, and she needs to stick around long enough to have them.
- Inverted: Alice dies when she still has a lot of plot potential.
- Subverted: We all think Alice has lost her powers and become useless- but then she regains them and turns into The Big Bad, making her relevant again.
- Double Subverted: ...except she turns good again with minimal effort, is nothing more than a Villain of the Week, and quickly goes back to doing nothing.
- Parodied: Alice went from being the biggest badass on the squad to a lazy bum who sits around watching TV and eating Cheetos all day. Everyone thinks it's fine because she saved them at one point.
- Averted: Alice retains her relevance throughout the series.
- Enforced: Alice became a favorite during her run as an important character, and now producers are worried that the fans will be angry if they kill or otherwise remove her, so they keep her around even though she's lost her relevance until the fans find a new favorite.
- Played for Laughs: Now that Alice is done saving the world, she assists in all the menial tasks no one wants to do, such as unclogging the HQ toilets, picking up after the Super-Cat, and testing the bombs.
- Played for Drama: Alice tearfully confesses to Bob that she feels useless now, and she can never compare to what she used to be.
- Exaggerated: Alice was the main character along with the one who saved the world, and now she's barely on screen at all except for a few passing appearances.
- Downplayed: Alice still has some minor relevance to the plot.
- Lampshaded: "Why isn't Alice dead yet? She's done saving the world, so she's really not important at all anymore."
