History DarthWiki / FallenCreator

*** I'm [[{{InuYasha}} sensing]] a [[{{MermaidSaga}} pattern]] here...someday in the near future Rumiko Takahashi will open her closet door and discover a glassy-eyed Stephanie Meyer [[{{PerfectBlue}} drooling and trying on her wardrobe.]]

* Data East, creators of Karnov and the very first true fighting game, Karate Champ. Although they were able to survive up until 2003, they've still fallen a long way. Karnov's Revenge is almost universally referred to as a "Street Fighter 2" ripoff, yet nobody recognizes that the aforementioned Street Fighter 2 (and debatably every fighting game ever made) owes its existence to Data Easts's own Karate Champ. Capcom actually ''sued'' Data East over the game. To make matters worse, Capcom would go on to take a few moves from the game and use them in later Street Fighter games. Most notably is that one of Mizoguchi's special moves from Karnov's Revenge was turned into Ken's Shinryuken in the Street Fighter series. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. One of the longest running pioneers in gaming is remembered for "ripping off" the very game they inspired, and all that remains are appearances of the Fighter's History characters in spin off games by SNK. Very sad.

* JohnKricfalusi was regarded as influential in animation, with ''RenAndStimpy'' being his breakout work. Unfortunately, his ego was quite... [[SmallNameBigEgo inflated]]. He got fired from {{Nickelodeon}} because of his ego and late work, and his show was handed to another studio only to crash after season 5. When he got the chance to do the show again, he was given ProtectionFromEditors, which means any content he wanted could be on it... and the show bombed; since then, he's been regarded as not being up to the same stride. Nowadays, he currently posts on his blog about his influences, as well as his studies on animation and tutorials for fans wanting to learn how to do animation. And while he dosen't have much of anything kind to say about modern animation or modern stuff in general, he has his reasons for doing so ([[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch for the most part, anyways]]).
* Earl Duvall was one of two directors - the other being Friz Freleng - that helped get the Warner Bros. cartoon studio up and running, after the company that they had originally been contracting their cartoon production to defected to MGM instead. He directed some pretty decent cartoons and was given the honor of directing the studio's first color cartoon. These days however, Freleng is widely regarded as one of the Godfathers of animation, while Duvall's name is just a footnote in animation history books, and the reason for this is that Duvall one day decided it'd be a great idea to get extremely drunk and demand that his pay packet be doubled. Needless to say, it wasn't - Duvall was instantly fired and never worked in the animation industry again.

** Michael Cimino went from ''The Deer Hunter'', the Best Picture Oscar winner of 1978, to ''Heaven's Gate'' just two years later. Its failure was so catastrophic that, as noted at GenreTurningPoint, it ruined United Artists as a stand-alone studio. He hasn't worked much since.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Mitsuo Fukuda and his wife Chiaki Morosawa, in their early days, had immense success. Fukuda helped start the [[BraveSeries Yuusha franchise]] and the two of them forming a director-writer one-two punch for ''FutureGPXCyberFormula'', ''GEARFighterDendoh'', and ''MobileSuitGundamSEED'', they found incredible success; enough to actually have other shows begin to copy their style. And then Morosawa developed brain cancer and nonetheless stayed the head writer for ''MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', which [[{{Understatement}} was a bit of a bomb.]] Although Destiny still sold well in Japan, between never-confirmed-rumors of Fukuda's hatred of America because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Morosawa's hatred of [[NaomiShindo Cagalli's voice actress]], Morosawa's cancer treatment, and [[FranchiseZombie the relative stagnancy of Gundam SEED at this point]] it's highly unlikely they'll be working again any time soon, and even ''less'' likely they'll earn the esteem they had in the past.
[[/folder]]

* Mitsuo Fukuda and his wife Chiaki Morosawa, in their early days, had immense success. Fukuda helped start the {{Yuusha}} franchise, and the two of them forming a director-writer one-two punch for ''FutureGPXCyberFormula'', ''GEARFighterDendoh'', and ''MobileSuitGundamSEED'', they found incredible success; enough to actually have other shows begin to copy their style. And then Morosawa developed brain cancer and nonetheless stayed the head writer for ''MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', which [[{{Understatement}} was a bit of a bomb.]] Although Destiny still sold well in Japan, between never-confirmed-rumors of Fukuda's hatred of America because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Morosawa's hatred of [[NaomiShindo Cagalli's voice actress]], Morosawa's cancer treatment, and [[FranchiseZombie the relative stagnancy of Gundam SEED at this point]] it's highly unlikely they'll be working again any time soon, and even ''less'' likely they'll earn the esteem they had in the past.

* Mitsuo Fukuda and his wife Chiaki Morosawa, in their early days, had immense success. Between Fukuda helping start the Yuusha franchise, and the two of them forming a director-writer one-two punch for ''FutureGPXCyberFormula'', ''GEARFighterDendoh'', and ''MobileSuitGundamSEED'', they found incredible success; enough to actually have other shows begin to copy their style. And then Morosawa developed brain cancer and nonetheless stayed the head writer for ''MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', which [[{{Understatement}} was a bit of a bomb.]] Although Destiny still sold well in Japan, between never-confirmed-rumors of Fukuda's hatred of America because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Morosawa's hatred of [[NaomiShindo Cagalli's voice actress]], Morosawa's cancer treatment, and [[FranchiseZombie the relative stagnancy of Gundam SEED at this point]] it's highly unlikely they'll be working again any time soon, and even ''less'' likely they'll earn the esteem they had in the past.

* Mitsuo Fukuda and his wife Chiaki Morosawa, in their early days, had immense success. Between Fukuda helping start the Yuusha franchise, and the two of them forming a director-writer one-two punch for ''FutureGPXCyberFormula'', ''GEARFighterDendoh'', and ''MobileSuitGundamSEED'', they found incredible success; enough to actually have other shows begin to copy their style. And then Morosawa developed brain cancer and nonetheless stayed the head writer for ''MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', which [[{{Understatement}} was a bit of a bomb.]] Although Destiny still sold well in Japan, between never-confirmed-rumors of Fukuda's hatred of America because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Cagali's alleged {{Chickification}} due to Morosawa's hatred of [[NaomiShindo her voice actress]], Morosawa's cancer treatment, and [[FranchiseZombie the relative stagnancy of Gundam SEED at this point]] it's highly unlikely they'll be working again any time soon, and even ''less'' likely they'll earn the esteem they had in the past.

* Mitsuo Fukuda and his wife Chiaki Morosawa, in their early days, had immense success. Between Fukuda helping start the Yuusha franchise, and the two of them forming a director-writer one-two punch for ''FutureGPXCyberFormula'', ''GEARFighterDendoh'', and ''MobileSuitGundamSEED'', they found incredible success; enough to actually have other shows begin to copy their style. And then Morosawa developed brain cancer and nonetheless stayed the head writer for MobileGundamSEEDDestiny, which [[{{Understatement}} was a bit of a bomb.]] Although Destiny still sold well in Japan, between Naomi Shindoh effectively swearing of working with them (or even anyone in ''Bandai''), Morosawa's cancer treatment, and [[FranchiseZombie the relative stagnancy of Gundam SEED at this point]] it's highly unlikely they'll be working again any time soon, and even ''less'' likely they'll earn the esteem they had in the past.

* Mitsuo Fukuda and his wife Chiaki Morosawa, in their early days, had immense success. Between Fukuda helping start the Yuusha franchise, and the two of them forming a director-writer one-two punch for Cyber Formula, GearFighterDendoh, and GundamSEED, they found incredible success; enough to actually have other shows begin to copy their style. And then Morosawa developed brain cancer and nonetheless stayed the head writer for GundamSEEDDestiny, which [[YouShoulKnowThisAlready was a bit of a bomb.]] Although Destiny still sold well in Japan, between Naomi Shindoh effectively swearing of working with them (or even anyone in ''Bandai''), Morosawa's cancer treatment, and [[FranchiseZombie the relative stagnancy of Gundam SEED at this point]] it's highly unlikely they'll be working again any time soon, and even ''less'' likely they'll earn the esteem they had in the past.

* IvanReitman used to be a well-respected Hollywood director that first broke out into fame by directing ''Meat Balls'' and is best known for being the man behind ''{{Ghostbusters}}'', as well as several successful comedies like ''{{Stripes}}'', ''Twins,'' ''Kindergarten Cop'', and ''Dave''. However, after many huge flops following the release of ''Dave'', his cred dropped considerably, to the point where even the critics began to openly dread his screen credit. His most recent directorial effort, ''My Super Ex-Girlfriend'', had a critic in ''Newsday'' asking "... why was it made? ... And, most important, why is there 10 bucks missing from my pocket?"

* Another writer-director who took a fall was Blake Edwards. He established himself in the late 1950s/early '60s with ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', ''Days of Wine and Roses'', ''ThePinkPanther'' series, etc. He hit rough waters later (the biggest flop of his being ''Darling Lili''), but the Pink Panther series revival in 1975 brought him back around, and his non-Panther films (especially ''"10"'' and ''Victor/Victoria'') were well-received too. Then PeterSellers, who played Inspector Clouseau in the Panthers, died -- and Edwards made ''Trail of...'' using [[Main/ClipShow outtakes and flashbacks of Sellers]], and ''Curse of...'' using a ReplacementScrappy. Critics were appalled, Edwards and United Artists were sued by Sellers' widow over ''Trail'', and both were box-office underachievers. Edwards made a lot of movies over the next ten years, but to diminishing returns, to the point that ''[[MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'' once made a joke where a "brainwashing" machine says "Blake Edwards makes a really good film..." He did receive an Honorary Oscar in 2004, though.

** Even a little before ''Tropic Thunder'', he started taking a few good roles (He got some critical love for ''{{Valkyrie}}''), and went more moderate on the Scientology angle.

* As a teenage idol, BritneySpears used to be known for her sexy schoolgirl look and sexier music that led her to international superstardom. As an adult, her musical success has been eclipsed by the [[CreatorBreakdown breakdown of her mental health and personal life]]. Most notable were her surprise late-night Vegas marriage to a childhood friend, the subsequent annulment 56 hours later, her equally sudden marriage to one of her stage dancers, her ''even more equally'' sudden decision to divorce said second husband, several failed trips through rehab, shaving her head and attacking nearby paparazzi with her [[ParasolOfPain umbrella]], losing custody of her children over her behavior and her drug abuse, an {{MTV}} Video Music Awards performance in which she appeared terrified, [[HollywoodPudgy supposedly out of shape]], and unable to perform, and eventually being legally declared a conservatee of the state and placed under the care of her father and her attorney. Yet despite all this, her albums can still sell well, if nowhere near as well as in her hey-day.
** "Even more equally"?

* One of the more tragic examples -- GunpeiYokoi was a creative genius at {{Nintendo}} that was making successes even before ShigeruMiyamoto became the public face of the company. On top of being the inventor of the d-pad that all gaming controllers use to this day, he created the [[GameAndWatch Game & Watch]] series that broke Nintendo into home video games, and later replicated this with the Game Boy. Serving as a producer, he also oversaw the creation of ''{{Metroid}}'', ''KidIcarus'', ''FireEmblem'', and ''DrMario''. Then he made the Virtual Boy. The high-profile disaster of a system was discontinued within a year, by which time he had become persona non grata at Nintendo. Nintendo was notoriously cruel to the poor guy, too. After the Virtual Boy debacle, they made him man the booth at a trade show, which in Japanese corporate culture is considered entry-level work, and thus a severe insult to someone of Yokoi's stature. He eventually resigned and began development on the Japan-only handheld system, the [=WonderSwan=], which did go on to be a reasonable challenger to the Game Boy's domination in Japan. But sadly he didn't live to see it as he died suddenly in a traffic [[Yakuza "]][[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident accident]]" in 1997. After his death, Nintendo paid tribute to him and still recognize him to this day as an important figure in the company's history... and are kind enough to his departed soul to just forget the Virtual Boy ever happened.

* One of the more tragic examples -- GunpeiYokoi was a creative genius at {{Nintendo}} that was making successes even before ShigeruMiyamoto became the public face of the company. On top of being the inventor of the d-pad that all gaming controllers use to this day, he created the [[GameAndWatch Game & Watch]] series that broke Nintendo into home video games, and later replicated this with the Game Boy. Serving as a producer, he also oversaw the creation of ''{{Metroid}}'', ''KidIcarus'', ''FireEmblem'', and ''DrMario''. Then he made the Virtual Boy. The high-profile disaster of a system was discontinued within a year, by which time he had become persona non grata at Nintendo. Nintendo was notoriously cruel to the poor guy, too. After the Virtual Boy debacle, they made him man the booth at a trade show, which in Japanese corporate culture is considered entry-level work, and thus a severe insult to someone of Yokoi's stature. He eventually resigned and began development on the Japan-only handheld system, the [=WonderSwan=], which did go on to be a reasonable challenger to the Game Boy's domination in Japan. But sadly he didn't live to see it as he died suddenly in a traffic accident in 1997. After his death, Nintendo paid tribute to him and still recognize him to this day as an important figure in the company's history... and are kind enough to his departed soul to just forget the Virtual Boy ever happened.

* Miley Cyrus. When ''HannahMontana'' first debuted she could do no wrong. People even over-looked the fact that she was Billy Rae Cyrus' daughter. Many believed she had tons of potential. Then came the infamous Vanity Fair pictures. Suddenly the MediaWatchdogs turned on her. She was labeled a "slut" and created a HateDom. It didn't help that she began dating a 20 year old man. The Hannah Montana movie did ok due to it's fanbase, but critics panned it. Then came the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxUr2ggLlhI Pole Dancing incident]]. Some argued that it was for balance, but it was obvious to others she was trying to get attention. That incident cemented her as an AttentionWhore. She keeps getting work, but not many have any respect for her.

* [[{{Sega}} Sonic Team]], Yuji Naka in particular. SonicTheHedgehog used to be a worldwide icon and the only real challenge to [[SuperMarioBros Mario]]'s domination of {{platform game}}s. The SegaGenesis entries in the series are still considered great games. [[PolygonCeiling Then Sonic went 3D]]. For most fans and critics, most of the 3D Sonic games have a bad camera, broken controls, and [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters too many characters]], and Sonic Team has lost its old glory to them. It also doesn't help that they can't seem to resist putting a weird gimmick into the gameplay. [[hottip:*:Some reviewers believe that ''SonicUnleashed'' would've been the return to form Sonic needed if it weren't for the Werehog gameplay.]] Whether or not their reputation will improve with ''{[Sonic the Hedgehog 4}}'' and ''SonicColors'' is up in the air.

* [[{{Sega}} Sonic Team]], Yuji Naka in particular. SonicTheHedgehog used to be a worldwide icon and the only real challenge to [[SuperMarioBros Mario]]'s domination of {{platform game}}s. The SegaGenesis entries in the series are still considered great games. [[PolygonCeiling Then Sonic went 3D]]. For most fans and critics, most of the 3D Sonic games have a bad camera, broken controls, and [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters too many characters]], and Sonic Team has lost its old glory to them. It also doesn't help that they can't seem to resist putting a weird gimmick into the gameplay. Some reviewers believe that ''SonicUnleashed'' would've been the return to form Sonic needed if it weren't for the Werehog gameplay. There's also the fact that none of the original members are still ''with'' the team.

* [[TheWoobie Poor]] DonBluth. He began his career as an animator at WaltDisney Animation. Disgusted with the wretched state of the company after the death of Walt Disney, he and a group of other animators departed to form their own studio with the intent of creating quality animated films that celebrated the golden age of Disney animation. Throughout TheEighties, his studio became distinguished for its amazing films (like ''TheSecretOfNIMH'' and ''AnAmericanTail''), as well as the groundbreaking ''DragonsLair'' arcade game. Then TheEighties ended and Bluth fizzled out right after ''AllDogsGoToHeaven''. He opened TheNineties with ''RockADoodle'', a notorious flop, and then declared bankruptcy. His next three films were released by a distributor, and met with progressively worse results. He also had to compete both with ''himself'', because he did not maintain sequel rights over his older works (such as ''TheLandBeforeTime'' and ''AnAmericanTail'' sequels), and with his old boss Disney, who had recovered its former glory and started an animation Renaissance (and ironically, many of the "new blood" of animators trained under Bluth had moved to Disney when Bluth moved his operations to Ireland). RogerEbert's review of ''Rock-A-Doodle'' noted the irony. After a brief return to form with ''{{Anastasia}}'' (well, he made money anyway), he followed it up with the disastrous ''{{Titan AE}}'', which bankrupted Fox Animation. An attempt to revive ''Dragon's Lair'' also flopped. Bluth has never really recovered his success, though he occasionally surfaces to do small efforts and still has plans for a ''Dragon's Lair'' film.

* Being still independent almost 20 years after its foundation is no small feat, but Team 17, the studio that was one of the top {{Amiga}} developers, has spent the last decade churning out ''{{Worms}}'' games and a few ''{{Lemmings}}'' ports. Finally, in 2009, they released something different... unfortunately, it was the ''very'' [[SoBadItsHorrible aptly-titled]] ''LeisureSuitLarry: Box Office Bust''.

* Bill Roper was praised as the genius behind ''{{Diablo}}'' and ''Diablo 2'', he quit Blizzard due to what many suspected was a conflict about the direction of ''Diablo 3'', taking most of the Diablo staff with him. He founded Flagship Studios and went to work on ''HellgateLondon'', a game that was expected to be so successful that things like separate executables for single player and multiplayer (to prevent hacking), a comic, a series of statues with a price tag approaching four figures and a whole separate free game (Mythos) created ''just to test the network infrastructure'' seemed appropriate. The actual game was rushed out the door after a very long development cycle and was a massive flop due to underdeveloped content and an insane amount of bugs. And the company went bankrupt.

* Manfred Trenz was responsible for many beloved Commodore64 classics such as the ''{{Turrican}}'' series, ''Great Giana Sisters'' and ''Katakis''. After the commercial death of the C64, he formed his own studio, Denaris Entertainement Software which then procededed to makes many [[SarcasmMode medium-changing masterpieces]] such as ''Crazy Frog Racers''. He's apparently working on a sequel to ''Katakis'', but it is stuck in DevelopmentHell.

*** I'm [[{{InuYasha}} sensing]] a [[{{MermaidSaga}} pattern]] here...someday in the near future RumikoTakahashi will open her closet door and discover a glassy-eyed Stephanie Meyer [[{{PerfectBlue}} drooling and trying on her wardrobe.]]

* Mythic Entertainment was once a force in the field of MMORPGS thanks to ''DarkAgeOfCamelot''; it was even given back its name by EA (who had renamed it EA Mythic upon purchase in 2006) prior to the release of their supposed next big thing and [[WorldOfWarcraft WoW-killer]], ''WarhammerOnline''. Unfortunately, the good launch of the game couldn't cover its rushed release and, [[ItGotWorse worse]], new contents often added new problems while old ones were never fixed properly; many argue if there ever was a precise direction in the project from the start. The number of players quickly dropped, Mythic's CEO resigned, and the company has been reduced to a division of Bioware, with much of WO's staff diverted to ''[[KnightsOfTheOldRepublic The Old Republic]]''. WO is still there, but only a few servers are still active, two or three Game Directors have been alternated in a few months, and recently Realm VS Realm, which should be one if its strong points, [[WallBanger has been reduced to just 24 players for every side due to bad engine performance]].

-->-- Harvey Dent, ''TheDarkKnight''