History Main / RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap

* When first introduced in the teaser for ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog'', to say that fans took poorly to Sonic's design in the film would be an {{Understatement}}. Between his UncannyValley appearance, human teeth, and oddly-shaped face, the studio was forced to delay the film and redesign Sonic to be closer to the games. Needless to say, nobody ever would have expected that ''Film/ChipNDaleRescueRangers2022'' would have turned [[spoiler:"Ugly Sonic", that very same design made even uglier with bulging eyes and a noticeable gut]] into an EnsembleDarkHorse by [[spoiler:having the guy make fun of his failings and be shown to be just as heroic as his original counterpart.]]

* WebOriginal/VesterAndFriends: Ike was derided for his vanilla personality and overly calm demeanour. Come 2023, his new personality involving his [[HairTriggerTemper angry mannner]] and his BerserkButton involving touching his [[TrademarkFavoriteFood chicken wings]] made him a joy to watch by fans.

** White Yoshi was also maligned for his irritating idiotic nature and his chemistry with others being zip. Once Crash befriended him and gained {{Cuckoosnarker}} behaviour , fans found really hilarious for his dry wit and the fact that he wasn’t as stupid as before.

* WebVideo/VesterAndFriends: Ike was derided for his vanilla personality and overly calm demeanour. Come 2023, his new personality involving his [[HairTriggerTemper angry mannner]] and his BerserkButton involving touching his [[TrademarkFavoriteFood chicken wings]] made him a joy to watch by fans.

* WebVideo\VesterAndFriends: Ike was derided for his vanilla personality and overly calm demeanour. Come 2023, his new personality involving his [[HairTriggerTemper angry mannner] and his BerserkButton involving touching his [[TrademarkFavoriteFood chicken wings]] made him a joy to watch by fans.

* Marigold from ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' . During her first appearances, she was [[AcceptableTargets your stereotypical otaku/ gamer nerd]]: far less attractive than any other character, a virgin, ridiculously slobby, a stereotypical YaoiFanGirl with bad skin and NoSocialSkills. The first story arc she was used in involved her lusting after a guy who wanted another girl (one of the main characters) instead and was written in such a clumsy way that implied [[UnfortunateImplications otaku/geek-girls are untouchable]]. Lately, she's become a lot more likable (and less offensive), with her appearance being updated ( [[ArtEvolution or to be more accurate, "completely changed"]]), quickly getting over her crush after she learns it wasn't viable and being less mopey and self-obsessed than most of other main characters.

* Creator/ProZD: In-universe in [[https://youtu.be/4ikGvLUbOuU "trying to convince your friend a character gets better later"]]. Benji-kun starts off as a DirtyCoward who continuously [[BringMyBrownPants soils himself in fright]] and evolves into a confident character who sticks by his friends. The new viewer is annoyed by the early Benji-kun and declares that he "fuckin' sucks", while the one who has already seen the show insists that he gets better.

* An in-story example of this can be found in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', where one of the marks of Roy's CharacterDevelopment is how his feelings change about the SpoonyBard Elan: originally, he thinks of him as an annoying, worthless member of the party, but eventually, he considers him a true friend (at least to the "will rescue him from a gang of bandits" level). It helps that Elan himself learns to make himself more useful. In the Empire of Blood storyline, Elan has become the main character, with everyone else taking a backseat. (True to the strip's usual meta attitude, the arc villain strives to make Elan the main character, myth arc be damned.)

** The ''VideoGame/Lego Star Wars'' video games adapting the prequel trilogy achieved the seemingly impossible feat of redeeming Jar-Jar Binks... he was suddenly a worthwhile member of the team, with useful skills, actual combat ability and perhaps most importantly, zero lines of dialogue.

* In ''Fanfic/MemoriesOfInfinitesPast'' a ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' puesdocanon fanfic, Infinite's character and backstory has much more depth than how he was in the game. Some Sonic fans dislike the villain due to how his origin story and motive in Sonic Forces is portrayed as a [[EvilisPetty petty and weak villain.]] However, in the fanfic, Infinite's story, character, and motives are portrayed in a more relatable, sympathetic, and makes his infamous meltdown after being defeated by Shadow the Hedgehog a lot more understandable. One of Infinite's reasons why he's so obsessed with strength is due to his [[DarkandTroubledPast childhood.]] His mother, Ellie the Jackal, died from [[DeathbyChildbirth childbirth]] and his father, Axel the Jackal, [[MaternalDeathBlameTheChild hates and blames him because of it.]] Axel [[AbusiveParents mistreats and mentally abuses]] Infinite, calling him "Weak, Pathetic, and Worthless". Infinite eventually runs away and becomes a member of the Jackal Squad soon after. Infinite embarks on a quest to prove himself worthy of becoming The Ultimate Mercenary so he can become a strong and well-respected individual. In this story, Infinite is portrayed as a more interesting character and the plot itself is ''very'' well-received by the readers.

In a way, this is the opposite of CanonDiscontinuity, which excludes the character from the {{canon}} entirely. Compare EnsembleDarkhorse (which is the best case scenario for TheScrappy when they're redeemed) and BadassDecay. Contrast AuthorsSavingThrow, which is an attempt to HandWave away the offending element, rather than fix it outright. See GrowingTheBeard in case you feel this way about the show itself. Might overlap with AlasPoorScrappy, ReimaginingTheArtifact, or especially ADayInTheLimelight. Closely related to CharacterPerceptionEvolution.

A few series can even do this intentionally, and have an otherwise unlikable SmugSnake [[DynamicCharacter evolve into]] a more human, three-dimensional character. Cases that weren’t planned out from the start are trickier to write, usually requiring the writers to pay attention to why the character is hated in the first place. Failing to do this will often just result in CharacterShilling, and backfire stupendously. Of course, this assumes that fans hate the character for fundamentally rational reasons. If the character [[IrrationalHatred is hated arbitrarily]], or for [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass not fitting an archetype they were never intended to fit]], then this trope becomes much harder to successfully [[InvokedTrope invoke]].

* ''Fanfic/TheHillOfSwords'', a ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'' fanfic by Gabriel Blessing which does this ''in spades'' for [[{{Tsundere}} Louise]]. It has been observed by some that the vast majority of reasons for Louise's Scrappy-hood can be traced back to a combination of her low self-esteem and having an idiot of a love interest who can't stop pushing her {{Berserk Button}}s and damaging her self-image further still. Gabe's response was to replace Saito with someone who would dodge said {{Berserk Button}}s and help Louise [[IneptMage get her magic working]], namely [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Shirou Emiya]]. The result sees Louise getting massive amounts of CharacterDevelopment and turning into an admirable young lady with Shirou's help. The story worked so well that it [[FandomSpecificPlot sparked the creation of an onslaught of fanfics following similar variations on the "Replace Saito with (Insert Competent Character Here)" premise]].

* ''Literature/TheSongOfAchilles'': It's a pretty popular opinion among readers of ''Literature/TheIliad'' that Achilles is the least sympathetic character in the story, with his hubris costing the lives of many. This retelling of the story paints in a more sympathetic light, though not really sparing from some of his worse traits, but by being told from the eyes of his lover, Patroclus, who sees the genuine best in him. The story also spends a lot of time focusing on him before the war of Troy, giving him more characterization and a budding romance with Patroclus, as well as focusing on his heartwrenching final days after his pride costs him the life of his lover.

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' book ''Misfit Monsters Redeemed'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin attempts to do this]] for [[{{Reconstruction}} ten of the corniest monsters]] in [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]] history (Including the infamous [[OurMonstersAreWeird flumph]], no less.) by turning their ridiculous characteristics upside-down. The aforementioned flumphs are instead benevolent {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, lava children become [[CreepyChild child-like monsters]] rather than child-headed, the adherer's sticky bandage-like skin is instead ethereal webbing from horrible experiments by the [[GiantSpider phase spiders]], and the Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing's lure-growth is the puppeteered corpse of a previous meal. To put it simply, Paizo succeeded.

* The Necrons in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' were criticized for the StoryBreakerPower technology, boring play style, and lack of unique characterization. After the newest Necron codex, their technology was tweaked and they were given a distinctly different motivation along with a variety of different viable strategies.
** Not everyone would [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks agree with that]]. Many people did like the scary EldritchAbomination and EnigmaticMinion aspects of their lore and flipped out when these were removed. The general consensus of the [[FanNickname Oldcrons vs. Newcrons]] debate seems to be "Newcron game mechanics and units are better, but Oldcron lore and their general theme is better". The Forgeworld Imperial Armour release: Fall of Orpheus helped as well, by demonstrating that it was quite possible to keep many of the enigmatic horror elements that made the Oldcron fans loved, while still keeping with the new fluff.

A few series can even do this intentionally, and have an otherwise unlikable SmugSnake [[DynamicCharacter evolve into]] a more human, three-dimensional character.

* The ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' fanfic ''FanFic/{{Game Theory|LyricalNanoha}}'' does this for first-season villain [[AbusiveParents Precia Testarossa]] by giving her a small but significant competence boost. And that competence boost is realizing [[PragmaticVillainy that there are better ways to control your]] DarkMagicalGirl than by [[WhipItGood whipping her]]. The end result is that while this Precia is [[ManipulativeBastard still kind of a bitch]], she is also a sympathetic AntiVillain and an extremely competent [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] - a portrayal the reader can empathize with [[RootingForTheEmpire and even support]].

* The ''Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch'' novel ''The Missing'' features Dr Pulaski from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' season 2. It first of all acknowledges that Pulaski is a Scrappy, and what she thinks is a no-nonsense attitude is actually unnecessarily abrasive, with Dr Crusher (who was [=DS9=]'s CMO at the time) absolutely livid about what she'd heard regarding Pulaski's treatment of Data. It then explains ''why'' she's so confrontational, and that quite often she's ''right'' to be confrontational, she just needs to learn when she isn't. By the end of the book, it actually seems a bit of a shame that what appears to be a PoorlyDisguisedPilot for a novel series about Pulaski leading a medical mission never went anywhere.

* The ''Literature/StarTrekTheNextGenerationRelaunch'' novel ''The Missing'' features Dr Pulaski from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' season 2. It first of all acknowledges that Pulaski is a Scrappy, and what she thinks is a no-nonsense attitude is actually unnecessarily abrasive, with Dr Crusher (who was [=DS9=]'s CMO at the time) absolutely livid about what she'd heard regarding Pulaski's treatment of Data. It then explains ''why'' she's so confrontational, and that quite often she's ''right'' to be confrontational, she just needs to learn when she isn't. By the end of the book, it actually seems a bit of a shame that what appears to be a PoorlyDisguisedPilot for a novel series about Pulaski leading a medical mission never went anywhere.

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