"They Wasted A Perfectly Good Character" Cleanup

At YMMV.The Murder Of Sonic The Hedgehog the three examples

All three are of the "would be cool if, but never happened nor was planned to" category.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

Maybe the second is salvageable if tweaked, though I agree that the other two aren't examples.

YMMV.The Super Mario Bros Movie spoilers ahead, for They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:

• Peach's romantic relationship with Mario is underexplored in the movie, especially compared to games such as Super Mario Odyssey, which this film borrows a significant plot point from. Like in the original games, especially Super Mario Odyssey, and other media like [1], Bowser harbors romantic feelings to Princess Peach due to, as explained by him in this movie, getting rejected by her only making him want her more. However, unlike the games and other media, this incarnation of Mario has just meet Peach instead of being a very close friend and longtime Love Interest and after getting to know her, doesn't show any particularly significant romantical feelings for her. He gets some Ship Tease here and there but nothing nowhere near the aforementioned game where he is willing and travelled the world just to stop Bowser from stealing Peach away from him, compared to the movie where he mainly seeks assistance from her to rescue his brother and when the forced marriage happens here he's mainly thinking about saving his brother and the kingdom, leaving any possible romantic relationship up in the air.

I'm unsure if this is a wasted plot element or just a different direction the movie took. Yes, there are scenes that imply Mario may have a crush on Peach, or at least other characters like Donkey Kong and Toad joke about them "flirting," but it isn't really set up that Mario and Peach actively want anything more than friendship, so it didn't feel like a "waste" to me. It's also a plot point that Bowser is a Crazy Jealous Guy towards Mario because he thinks Peach is attracted to him. So I don't think the romantic relationship is a "wasted plot" so much as something they chose to downplay. For contrast, the other two entries are things that are explicitly set up and then either never truly resolved or abandoned for most of the movie (though the Luigi entry is better covered under the Character equivalent).

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

That sounds like "this should be like the game" to me, which to me also falls in the same boat as "this should have happened instead" misuse.

Found these on YMMV.The Legend Of Heroes Trails From Zero And Trails To Azure which I’m both very unsure of.

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • In retrospect, Arianrhod's role in Azure is strange. She's not connected to or concerned with the actions of the Crois family or Crossbell's affairs, and is far more invested in the Erebonia half of Ouroboros' Phantasmal Blaze Plan. Despite this, she's one of the key Society presences in Crossbell, along with her Stahlritter, and as a result, she arguably gets a much more climactic and dramatic boss fight here than she does in the later Cold Steel games, where she's far more relevant. This has the double effect of reducing her to this trope there as well, as she appears in Cold Steel 3 with little buildup unless you've played Azure. Some fans would rather Falcom had saved her debut for the Erebonia arc, and had a different Enforcer or Anguis take her role here. (Especially given Sigmund and Arios already filled the role of "insurmountable foe for the SSS")
  • Many fans find Dieter a much more compelling and interesting antagonist than his daughter Mariabell and would rather he have been Azure's sole Big Bad.

She/Her | Currently cleaning N/A

Cut as not complaining about lack of screentime.

YMMV.My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic S 9 E 25 The Ending Of The End Part 2:

• The big epic grand finale and no one thought to call in Sunset Shimmer and the Equestria Girls to help? Especially disappointing as the Equestria Girls series never got a finale of its own.

Characters do not appear or get alluded to in this episode so misuse. The only reason I'm not zapping it is that Sunset does cameo in the next episode "The Last Problem" which aired alongside this one. So does airing as part of a block mean they are connected? Or does "The Last Problem" being separate from "The Ending of the End" disqualify?

Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught on Jul 22nd 2023 at 10:14:32 AM

I would say it's still misuse. Maybe Sunset's pony form would count for the whole series though?

Edited by mightymewtron on Aug 3rd 2023 at 1:54:12 PM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

Found an example for Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? seems to be complaining how the character does not end up how the troper wanted rather than about exposure (as they're the title character and they definitely are not a victim of the Spotlight-Stealing Squad).

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The twist that Masato's mother Mamako is the overpowered one instead of him could have been more interesting, as mothers aren't often main characters in anything and are typically relegated to being side characters. However, Mamako herself is largely a ditz who's completely clueless about anything unrelated to being a housewife, and she's often used as a vehicle for Fanservice.

Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.

Cut as more complaining about how they're handled as opposed to underused characters.

I found this on YMMV.Spider Man Trilogy:

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Mary Jane is viewed as this throughout the trilogy for some people due to her never being able to escape the Damsel in Distress label.

Does this really count?

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread

No as it is about lack of sceentime not handling. She's a main character so exempt.

From TheScrappy.Pokemon:

• Tobias stands out amongst the hatedom of those who defeated Ash in the Pokémon League for the sheer Diabolus ex Machina of using a Darkrai and Latios, without an explanation of how he caught a Mythical and Legendary Pokémon. While Ash's other League rivals got plenty of interaction and focus, Tobias only had a few mentions and cameos of buildup, disappears after winning, and hasn't been heard from since. Thus, he never got the buildup or Rule of Cool that would make him having such rare Pokémon feel legitimate, and seemingly only exists as a Writer Cop Out. (…) Tobias has almost none, with the ones who do think that A.) [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter he's a great concept executed poorly]] or B.) Ash beating his Darkrai and Latios while still taking the League loss is a good thing(…)

The Wasted pothole is misuse as written, but could be made valid as the issue is his not getting the screentime to have the buildup and explanation that was supposed to make him a worthy enough opponent to justify his win. My question is if Scrappy is not mutually exclusive with Wasted as opposite complaints?

I removed this from YMMV.RWBY Ice Queendom

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Even though this is somewhat understandable due to this being a Compressed Adaptation, as previously stated, the series also unfairly wasted the inclusion of famous villains such as Adam Taurus and Roman Torchwick, with the latter’s battle with Sun, Blake, and Penny even cut off from the series and glossed over as something that happened offscreen. Jacques got some attention as opposed to his role in the cartoon, but he is still not quite as relevant as the dream version “Big Nicholas” or Nightmare Weiss. Adam only appears twice, in the first episode and as a hallucination of Blake before she turned into Nightmare Blake, but that is it, and Roman only appears in his Establishing Character Moment, but that’s it. Neither two had the chance to meet each other as the cartoon only alluded to, nor had the chance to truly shine and become better than how they were both treated in the cartoon, which is a shame because they would have considerably made this anime even more epic due to both of their fan bases and badass reputations.

The reason for this is that the anime was telling a completely different story that was taking place inside the mind of one of the main characters. It wasn't retelling the original story, and it was never going to involve characters outside the show's main eight characters. Even the teacher focus was on a brand new teacher created specifically for this storyline, removing several of the canon teachers and reducing the role of even the Big Good (who only had a limited role to play in this story).

As a result, these other main show characters never had the potential to be wasted because they were never relevant. The only nod to the main show made was a very glossed over recap of the main show to set the scene for anime fans who may not be familiar with the original show with some notable changes to what happened in the main show in order for the new story to be able to happen.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Dec 28th 2023 at 4:04:37 PM

If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.

Clone High

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Topher Bus, despite the revival featuring him as part of the new cast, the revival could have done more to explore him trying to distance himself from his clonefather and could have featured him in more major plotlines. Instead the show barely features him in the revival with him being more of a secondary character and only briefly appearing as an antagonist to Abe.
  • Unlike the original series, the clones outside of the main cast both old and new are barely as prominent in the revival, mostly making silent cameos and receive very little screentime and don't display any characterization or interactions with each other or with the main characters, losing any potential historical jokes like in the original. It also doesn't help that many of the names of the second - generation clones are only known through Word of God or The Clone High wiki.

The first example is solid (though they say "the revival" more than they need to, lol), but the second example feels general. There's some clones who were Demoted to Extra, but there are historical jokes employed with the extras as well. Without specific examples it's hard to tell what's valid.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

Note: Haven't seen S3 yet

I'm a little conflicted on the first example since IMO Topher gets a good amount of screen time for a side character. It's just that a lot of his screen time was developing his "cringey edgelord" side instead of distancing himself from his namesake.

The second is just too general and ignores that there were a lot of barely-used side characters in S1 as well.

I think the confusion partly stems from Topher being an Ascended Extra, but I do think the "distancing self from Columbus" angle being disregarded might count for something.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

What about the "cringy edgelord" part though?

Absolute Rainbow

That part was demonstrated pretty clearly. The whole "cancelled" angle was dropped after like the first episode, but it kind of comes back in season three with the "bleacher creatures" subplot.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

YMMV.Chainsaw Man:

• Despite the initial hype for Nayuta in Part 2, she ended up suffering from this trope especially compared to her previous self Makima, as most of her appearances lacked any sort of lasting impact on the plot and characters and for a long time didn't do much to develop her as a character either. Despite being the Control Devil, she doesn't play as central of a role in the story as many hoped. With that being said, the chapters focused on Nayuta at the end of the Chainsaw Man Church arc were welcomed by many as much-needed moments of development and humanization for her character.

I think it's premature to say anything on the matter while the story is still ongoing.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

I think that entry was added because it seems like Nayuta died offscreen. I'd be down to wait until it was clear that she's been offed, though.

Oissu!

Saw that around well before Nayuata's possible death. I don't really agree with the criticisms, they weren't the most central to the plot, but they were hardly irrelevant. Not to mention, the example literally says they get more focus, and its not clear if that focus was A Death in the Limelight.

Also, another entry, that is think is clear misuse, but it was added really recently, and I don't want to edit war so I'm going to bring it up here first.

• The two big returning Part 1 antagonists are woefully underutilized in Part 2. Samurai Sword only makes a singular appearance, killing the Justice Devil-enhanced head of the Chainsaw Man Church, and his line about there being "no justice with Chainsaw Man" is never elaborated or expanded on; thus, we don't get much a glimpse into his mental state and psyche after being brainwashed and subsequently freed from Makima's control. Quanxi fares slightly better, making a few appearances where she helps Denji and his allies, but still only plays a very cursory role and barely has any lines.

Bit premature to say they were wasted, using language like "only" or "never" since part two is ongoing, it hasn't even been ten whole chapters since we last saw them, and while both were given somewhat uncertain fates, there no real indication they've been killed off.

Edited by Malginel on Feb 14th 2024 at 3:35:53 AM

On DuckTales (2017), this entry was added in a commented out state:

The characters in question were characters that the writers intended to be major characters in one episode at most, and weren't meant to be recurring characters with lots of screentime.

In addition to the entries reading more like a single troper's complaints, the person who added it explicitly mentioned in the edit reasons that they know their entries run afoul of the site's Zero-Context Example rule, and are hoping someone else will fix the entries for them.

Edited by dragonfire5000 on Mar 2nd 2024 at 7:36:25 AM

Hello, I am this person, and I had asked on the Ducktales discussion if someone can help me with providing information why they think these three are wasted characters. Because then, Sir Malachi also was one-shot character, and yet he counts as wasted character.

(Btw, I am new troper here and this my first post on this discussion).

That's not how this site works. If you can't write proper entries, you can't expect people to fix badly written entries for you.

---

Regarding those entries, I've removed them for violating the Zero-Context Example rule and because they were added as commented out entries that the original writer wants other people to fix for them.

Edited by dragonfire5000 on Mar 3rd 2024 at 7:56:31 AM

Ok then. I will think about how to present them better and only then I will re-add them. What do you think of my idea?

Edited by Filip04 on Mar 3rd 2024 at 4:58:51 PM

• TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter.The Simpsons: Mr. Bergstrom could've been the one teacher who cared about Lisa's education. However, as a substitute teacher constantly on-call by other schools, he had to leave, while Ms. Hoover would remain as Lisa's teacher and respond to her zest for learning with apathy.

Does this really count? The entire third act of the episode revolves around Lisa coming to terms with the fact that, as a substitute teacher, Mr. Bergstrom won't always be there to teach her and is leaving soon. It's an integral part of the story and isn't really a case of him being wasted, more just written out as a One-Shot Character.

The things in my dreams wish they could chase me!