Needs Help: Breakout Character

I noticed three issues:

1) This is dependent on popularity - which is actually said when mentioning Ascended Extra.(and a pothole in the first paragraph actually mentions Ensemble Dark Horse, an ymmv item.)

2) The mention of Ascended Extra explicitly says that the only difference between both is the popularity of the character.

3) Some characters listed started as main characters.

I thought of two possible solutions: merge this with Ascended Extra or, after a clean-up, give an ymmv banner to Breakout Character.

Opinions?

edited 3rd Dec '17 4:06:16 PM by MagBas

This would work well as, basically, a YMMV version of Ascended Extra. Where AE is about an increase in appearances, this would be about an increase in popularity.

Let's look at the two most obvious examples here: Urkel and the Fonz. They increased in both appearances and popularity, so they would be both Ascended Extras and Breakout Characters.

Breakout Character should not be YMMV since, while a response to YMMV, is itself something objectively quantifiable, a character getting more screentime in later works.

If anything, Breakout Character could be Trivia, since it's a behind the scenes trope applying to production that requires Word of God. Breakout Villain may be the same.

Sunset Shimmer is a character who's not an Ascended Extra (as the first films Big Bad, she's too major to be an extra), but she is a Breakout Character (her role was expand in response to her popularity to the point of replacing the original main character). So there is a difference in the tropes.

Here's the trope distinction:

• Ascended Extra: Minor character who gets and expanded role; not necessarily due to popularity.
• Breakout Character: Gets and expanded role due to popularity; not necessarily a minor character.

Revising the pages of Ascended Extra and Breakout Character to better reflect this and cleaning up misuse does seem called for. Making Breakout Character Trivia would help make cleanup easier.

It's not YMMV, since while it might depend on an Audience Reaction (the popularity of the character), there's still an objective response by the creators to make the character more prominent. It doesn't even have to be a popular character; it's enough if the creators believe that.

I don't think calling it a "behind the scenes" trope is accurate if it clearly affects what's on display for the audience in the scenes.

I suggest redefining this with a strict set of criteria.

I'm a bit confused as to where the idea of redefining the trope is coming from. Can you please offer a wick check so that we can determine what would be an appropriate definition (or to determine whether the current definition is working)?

There's over 2600 wicks.

I would be interested in seeing how often this trope is used in reference to an Ensemble Dark Horse or Broken Base, or how often it's accidentally put on a YMMV/ page. (I just looked through some wicks from YMMV/ pages and was surprised to find that.)

edited 6th Dec '17 8:29:40 PM by WaterBlap

{{3}}: At least, the first paragraph says " minor character" and the second paragraph says "one-note C-character".

edited 8th Dec '17 6:34:12 AM by MagBas

I'm also finding there's some debate as to whether or not the Breakout Character needs to be a 'main character' (with attendant problems of what 'main character' means in a show). There's a knock-on problem to Breakout Villain as well, in terms of what a 'main character' is and whether or not it applies.

So I definitely think the trope description needs to be more tightly worded and the fluff removed from it.

edited 16th Dec '17 5:45:19 PM by Wyldchyld

This isn't YMMV.

I think Breakout Character should be a trivia or something for Character page. Isn't it essentially an official reaction towards Ensemble Dark Horse, i.e. the makers acknowledging the popularity?

Shouldn't Ascended Extra and Demoted to Extra apply strictly to sequels and adaptations? The latter once got a cleanup (at least for the Western Animation page) because a lot of the examples were about a character who gets less and less screentime in later seasons of the same show and only kept the examples where the character becomes less important in either sequels or adaptations, and due to being its polar opposite trope, I believe the same applies to Ascended Extra, too.

Clock is set.

Clock expired; closing.