Due to the nature of Total Drama, this tends to be a common fan reaction toward characters who are voted off too early, way before they could get any real development.
- Eva is introduced with a lot of potential for Character Development in that she had joined the show to work on her Hair-Trigger Temper and learn how to work with others so that she could actually become a leader in her daily life. However, when she's elected to return, she completely forgets about this goal in favor of attempting to enact revenge on Bridgette. After Island, she's never brought back into the competition and only plays a minor role as the angry reporter of World Tour's first Aftermath, becoming Out of Focus once more as soon as the show starts to focus on the feud between Bridgette/Geoff and Blaineley.
- Ezekiel. Initially intended as an early boot who fans wouldn't miss, he gained somewhat of a fanbase that saw him as The Woobie and wanted to see him be given a chance for redemption in another season. After missing out on Action, the writers brought him back for World Tour, where he was shown to be much more determined to make something of himself... only to be eliminated first yet again, at which point he was reduced to a Running Gag and eventually had his entire characterisation thrown out in favour of a one-dimensional Gollum reference.
- Tyler is set up as Lindsay's Love Interest, only to be thrown out seven episodes in without ever getting the chance to be properly developed. Come World Tour, his relationship with Lindsay goes from his most prominent characteristic to just another one of many of an extremely fleshed-out Lovable Jock as he pretty much unwittingly becomes a Bumbling Sidekick to Alejandro, even seeming to gain an Odd Friendship with him... only for him to be thrown out two episodes after Duncan's much-reviled return, with the aforementioned inheriting his and Noah's respective alliance and distrust of the Arch-Villain.
- Like Tyler, Bridgette and Trent were characters whose most notable role in Island was being the love interest to another character, but they were still loved by many viewers for having very likeable personalities and many enjoyable interactions with the others. But whereas Tyler ultimately grew out of his Satellite status by the end of World Tour, Bridgette and Trent never really did, despite having enough worthwhile characterization, interesting dynamics with others, and fans to have the potential for getting Character Focus. However, both characters were given very little to do outside of their romantic relationships, as Trent falls completely Out of Focus after his breakup with Gwen early in Action while Bridgette is eliminated extremely early twice in a row to host the Aftermath with Geoff (with World Tour especially sticking out, given that it was her first season competing without him), leaving them sadly underdeveloped and underutilized when compared to most of the other mergers in Island.
- Sierra is introduced as a superfan, with websites and blogs on the contestants from the past two seasons (which she's seen many times). She could have been a very effective member of her team with this knowledge, but it's quickly overlooked in favour of her crushing on Cody and becomes her primary characterisation in World Tour and All-Stars, when her superfan status would have made her the one of biggest assets on the island.
- Team Victory in World Tour consists of beloved characters with interesting plotlines to explore, but all of them are eliminated less than halfway into the season for the sole purpose of elevating Alejandro's villainy, which also led to them being derailed in various waysnote .
- Trent and Geoff were the most heavily-requested contestants to have return to the competition during World Tour's time on air due to being fan favourites in the first season whom many wanted to see given redemption after their very disappointing performances in Action. Trent in particular was seen by many as a missed opportunity to include in World Tour due to his established music skills complementing well with the season's singing element and his former relationship with Gwen potentially impacting the way the Love Triangle between her, Duncan, and Courtney could have played out.
- This video
perfectly summarizes the wasted potential caused by underutilizing Noah's plot relevance throughout the series. - B, Brick, Dawn and Anne Maria from Revenge of the Island deserve special mention, since they only appeared in one season, are booted fairly early, two of them being due to Scott's scheming, and are among the most popular members of the cast due to having arguably more interesting traits than those who got further in the competition. Brick and Anne Maria were considered for All-Stars, but rejected in favor of Sam and Gwen respectively.
- All-Stars was the perfect opportunity to develop Sam's character, given that he had the least amount of screen time of any of the other contestants. Instead he suffered a cruel, teasing, and Idiot Ball holding elimination on the fourth episode, and never did anything of significance in his short time on this season.
- Most of Mike's personalities were arguably more interesting characters than him, namely Mal, Vito, and Manitoba Smith, who could have easily been their own characters. Due to the All Stars finale erasing Mike's alters from existence, they never got the chance to be properly developed.
- On the topic of Mike and his alternate personalities, most people agree that he had all the potential of being a good depiction of a person with MPD/DID. As seen here here, Mike’s alternate personalities had many characteristics of real life alter jobs and functions. Vito, for example, had the characteristics of an Introject while Mal had the characteristics of a Persecutor.
- On the topic of Mike and his alternate personalities, most people agree that he had all the potential of being a good depiction of a person with MPD/DID. As seen here here
- There are a fair few who thought Amy could've easily been a meaner, crueler Heather. Yet she only lasted for 3 episodes before being eliminated, while mostly being a Satellite Character for Samey and only served as a plot device for her Character Development.
- Many people wish that Sammy would have lasted longer than 5 episodes due to her arguably having the most potential for Character Development out of her generation’s cast. As a Moe Shrinking Violet character who was incredibly kind, she was extremely easy to root for. She even had Amy as a clear Arch-Enemy for plenty of conflict, but even if Amy were still an early elimination, Sammy still could have spent the rest of the season growing more confident and leaving her sister’s shadow during her time away from her. Her heartwarming friendship with Jasmine could have also extended to Jasmine’s other friends, Shawn and Sky, and they could have made a great team. Sadly she was eliminated before any of this could happen.
- Beardo of all characters actually had more potential than he was letting on. In his audition tape, it’s revealed that he’s a shy guy, and that he wants to compete on Total Drama since he sees it as a chance to meet new people. This is much more interesting than “guy that makes Wacky Sound Effects.” Since he was the first to be eliminated, this side of Beardo was never shown.
- Dave is one of the biggest Scrappys in the show not because his overall character is bad, but rather, that it’s used incorrectly. Pahkitew Island is notorious for having a cast that is weirder than previous seasons, and there weren’t enough sane men to help balance things out. The first episode of the series shows that Dave was meant to fill in that role, especially since his label is “The Normal Guy.” However, this gets quickly abandoned once Dave develops an unhealthy obsession with Sky. For the rest of the series, he becomes even crazier than most of the other characters, since he acts like a whiny brat when Sky gently tells him that a relationship between the two of them wouldn’t work.
- With Chase being an early out in Season 2 of the 2023 series, this was the perfect opportunity to have Emma, who was shown to be obsessed with Chase to an unhealthy degree, develop more. Without her ex to focus on, she could focus more on the other contestants, such as repairing her friendship with Bowie or making new friendships with other characters. Instead, she spends episode 3 pretty much unimportant to the storyline and then gets eliminated in episode 4, pretty much leaving her right where she started in the series.
- Nichelle is notable for having an incredibly beloved character design that made her popular before the seasons aired, only to end up being eliminated third and fifth between the two seasons, respectively. She even started to show Character Development in Season 2 by training hard after her failures in Season 1, only to get duped into quitting before even making the merge in the second season, making her character development ultimately go nowhere.
- Although she lasts longer than Nichelle in Season 2, Axel is another character who was loved for her design only to be an early boot in Season 1, and then mainly just became Ripper's girlfriend in Season 2 rather than getting to develop as an individual.
- The second season of the 2023 series features a guest appearance from Owen... whose design is unchanged despite the confirmation that this series happened 16 years in real-time since the original. Despite being literally twice his age, Owen looks the exact same as he did as a teenager, disappointing fans who were hoping for canon adult designs. It becomes even more jarring when, only a few episodes later, MacArthur has a guest appearance with an updated design, making it all the more of a waste Owen wasn't also redesigned to show his age.
Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race:
- The LARPers were this to some. Quite a few were hoping that bringing Leonard back would allow him to have some development. But outside of having a slightly more fleshed out backstory, he's pretty much exactly the same as during his time on Pahkitew Island and once again serves to only be an early-out, while Tammy had no characterization other than being his partner/female clone.
- The Tennis Rivals. While the characters eliminated right before and after them were bland, one-note pairs without much to go on, the Friendly Rivalry of these Cool Old Guy Vitriolic Best Buds was never allowed to develop. Plus, they managed to go from last place to fourth in the first challenge, which showed they might have been good competitors.
- The Geniuses. Mary didn't do much of anything, but Ellody was seen having friendly interactions with both Geoff and Laurie, which might have afforded her some character development. She also placed high in challenges until her elimination.
- Tom and Jen, who are an Author Avatar team of the show's creators, were eliminated in favor of the Daters. Some fans believe they had potential for more storylines, and keeping them over the Daters would've broken the cliché 'couple argues and gets back together just in time to be eliminated' plot line. Additionally, Laurie and Miles, two other competitors who were named after some of the show's writers, were just eliminated before them, leading viewers to believe one Author Avatar team would go early while the other team would last a while longer.
- The Rockers, after half the season was spent developing their Hidden Depths, and them both growing on the fandom (Spud less so and later than Rock, but still), were abruptly thrown out in an completely unprecedented double elimination right as Spud really began to be an active part of the plot.
Even despite the reduced cast size and change of formula in Total DramaRama, there are still characters in the series who are seen by fans as being wasted.
- Bridgette yet again. The Character Exaggeration of her teenage self's already incredibly sweet nature makes her one of the most beloved of the kids with viewers (especially since her teenage self has a good-sized fanbase that wants her to get more focus), but she has the least appearances of all the main characters and is mostly just used as a Butt-Monkey whenever she gets spotlight.
- Cody is well-liked by viewers for his innocent and adorable nature in this show (it helps his teenage self's adorkable traits give him a lot of fans), but early on, he is only used as the show's punching bag (a role that better suits unused characters like Ezekiel or Tyler) and never got A Day in the Limelight until the 2nd season, making him extremely undeveloped when compared to the other main characters.
- "Gum and Gummer" features cameos by kid versions of Trent, Katie, and DJ. They have no lines and serve no purpose other than to appear in a flashback that essentially rehashes the infamous balloon scene from the finale of All-Stars. Even those who correctly assumed that their appearances would amount to nothing more than obvious clickbait figured that at the very least they'd be treated with a bit more respect since much like half the cast for this series they haven't been seen in about seven years.
