History Main / TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter

** ''TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter/Ducktales2017''

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* The Furious Five in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1''. Wonderful character design, awesome powers, voiced by the likes of Creator/LucyLiu and Creator/JackieChan, each with the potential for intriguing backstories -- but for such an imaginative, talented group of characters, they seem remarkably underutilized. However, they're given a bit more to do in the sequel (particularly Tigress) and are also fleshed out a bit more in supplementary material like the ''Secrets of the Furious Five'' special and the ''Legends of Awesomeness'' series.
* Many who didn't like ''WesternAnimation/SharkTale'' have dubbed Lenny the film's only likable character, due to his being a NiceGuy and [[TheWoobie genuinely pretty sympathetic]] (it helps that Creator/JackBlack actually does a decent job as the voice as opposed to just acting like himself into a microphone like the rest of the cast did) and have stated that he should've been the protagonist.
* Brutus of ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH'' has a scary introduction where he menaces Mrs. Brisby with an electrified spear, but that's his only appearance in the film. He's apparently in the scene where the rats are moving Mrs. Brisby's house as Justin shouts for him, but he's not on-screen. A scene of him actually getting to ''use'' his badass electro-pike (against Dragon, perhaps?) would have been nice.
* Zee from ''WesternAnimation/MonsterHouse''. At first she's a nasty (though darkly humorous) subversion of the sweet and kind babysitter, but there are a few moments here and there that suggest she's not altogether bad and there's even some build-up as to her involvement in the titular Monster House (at one point she offers to go and see what DJ is so afraid of). Given the emphasis put on her in the film's first half, many viewers expected her to turn up again in a ChekhovsGunman capacity, but ...[[TheUntwist nope]]. Instead [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse she disappears halfway through the film]] and only reappears for a tiny scene during the closing credits.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'': The [[OpposingSportsTeam Shadowbolts]] weren't given much screen time -- surprising since they're the focus of the toyline (along with the protagonists, of course), were among the first things leaked and/or formally revealed about the film, and promotional materials (such as posts by the official ''My Little Pony'' facebook page and the official Equestria Girls website) pushed parallels between them and the Humane Six and gave interesting character traits [[InformedAttribute that are, for the most part, unexplored in the film proper]].
* ''Franchise/HowToTrainYourDragon'':
** Valka in the second movie is shown to be an incredible character with a connection to dragons, a sympathetic backstory, and a ''very'' spooky design aesthetic that is great to look at. But then she gets pushed to the sidelines for the sake of Hiccup's character development, and in a situation where you'd think she'd do great, she ends up being pushed down almost immediately. WordOfGod says that she was originally conceived as the BigBad, which does explain it somewhat. She also has little presence in the third film.
** Following his ambiguous fate at the end of [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2 the second film]], Drago Bludvist was originally intended to return for the third instalment, but [[AbortedArc this was ultimately scrapped]] and Drago is completely absent from the film [[note]][[FreezeFrameBonus his Bewilderbeast is shown living in the Hidden World]], but Drago himself does not appear at all, [[KilledOffForReal confirming him to dead]][[/note]]. Grimmel casually mentions how Drago's defeat was made public among other warlords, but Drago's ultimate fate is not further elaborated on.
** [[spoiler:The Night Furies. They were teased at various points but the third film reveals that with the exception of Toothless they all have been killed. We will never see Toothless interact with another Night Fury and we know almost nothing about the species.]]
** Grimmel's Deathgrippers in the third movie. Drugged into compliance, they're both natural predators and the embodiment of everything ugly about humankind's treatment of dragons. They're given very little attention and [[spoiler:Toothless unceremoniously electrocutes them in the climax, and they fall to the ocean never to be seen again.]]
** The Warlords serve as Drago Bludvist's successors and are implied to have been in conflict with Hiccup and Berk for a year as of the third film. These characters could have been an intimidating threat even without Grimmel, and the fact that at least one of them is from outside the Barbaric Archipelago could have been used to show how the rest of the world views Berk and its peace with the dragons. Instead they are relegated to [[BigBadWannabe minor joke villains]] while Grimmel serves as the BigBad, and [[spoiler:they are sidelined during the climax with their final fates left ambiguous.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'':
** Manolo's cousins, the Adelita Twins who fought during the revolution and are also the only badass Sanchezes to not be Bull Fighters. Only got two scenes.
** Joaquin's dad is talked about a lot but never makes an appearance which leads to all sorts of Fanon.
* Finnick from ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' starts off as a cutesy sidekick to Nick, who is apparently a baby fox that wants to grow up to be an elephant...only for the audience to find out later on he's actually a [[OlderThanTheyLook grown-up]] fennec fox that has a cynical, aggressive, tough as nails personality and a [[VocalDissonance deep voice]]. However, despite the fact that he makes his personality very well known, he only gets three lines and is in the movie for less than 5 minutes, to the point where he's pretty much the only character in the movie who's nowhere to be found in the DancePartyEnding (which is also kind of weird considering he can be seen on many of the promotional materials for the movie, to the point where he has his [[AscendedExtra own toy commercial]]).
** However, the directors have acknowledged his popularity, and have gone on record saying that if a sequel is made, he will have a bigger role.
* Most of the characters in ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretLifeOfPets'' appear to be in the movie just for audience appeal, and ended up largely superfluous to the plot. Among the protagonists, Chloe and Tiberius only contributed briefly to Max's rescue, while Buddy, Mel, Norman, and Sweetpea could've stayed home for all the difference they made.
* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', lots of effort is devoted early on to establishing a huge herd of interesting supporting cast members, who then spend the rest of the movie tripping over each other for screen time to the point where it feels like all of them got shortchanged. If the proposed TV series had materialized, they would have each finally gotten a chance to shine.
* ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'': Of all characters from [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 the first film]], [[spoiler:Prince Hans could qualify for this since it was said he was going to be making a return and have a potential HeelFaceTurn before the writers [[AbortedArc scrapped the idea entirely]]. He only gets brief mentions.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph''[=/=]''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'': Many fans of the cute little racers in the game Sugar Rush wish they had more screen time (aside from Vanellope and the adult King Candy/Turbo, both of which play major roles) and some wish the racers had their own film or TV show. One Sugar Rush racer (in this case Rancis Fluggerbutter) did get his own tie-in book, and a subplot about the racers with Fix-It Felix, Jr. and Sergeant Calhoun as their parents was planned for “Ralph Breaks the Internet” during the storyboards, but was cut from the final version and only showed a few scenes in the beginning and end. Still, fans are disappointed about the limited screen time for the Sugar Rush racers. Some fans make fanfics about them, and some are even annoyed that the racers have full bios that the “Wreck-It Ralph” movies wasted. Yet the lead trio of racers (Taffyta Muttonfudge, Rancis Fluggerbutter and Candlehead) get a few small scenes of screen time, which a few are annoyed about.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Jin gets very little focus and presence with the exception of the scene where he talks with Mei before the ritual. Some people felt he could have had a bigger role in the story.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'':
** This was bound to happen for the one that acts as Bowser's hostage that needs to be saved, and Luigi was no exception. After how well the Brooklyn opening does at getting you invested in the brotherly chemistry between Mario and Luigi, the two of them end up separated during the warp to the new world. As a result, the chemistry is lost, and Luigi's time is mostly just spent on him being OutOfFocus as Bowser's hostage; leaving him no opportunity to shine like Mario. There's a small attempt at setting up a character arc for him regarding his nature as a CowardlyLion, but the movie's short runtime means this gets reduced to 2-3 lines and a brief flashback to his childhood. [[spoiler:At the very least, Luigi does get to be a key player in the FinalBattle, on top of [[LaserGuidedKarma getting some well-earned revenge on his captors]] once he toughens up.]]
** For all the emphasis put on Toad being a member of the TokenTrio along with Mario and Peach, he actually gets very little to do during most of the movie. He ''is'' the first person Mario meets in the Mushroom Kingdom and gladly brings him to the princess once he learns of Luigi's situation, but once Mario and Peach meet, the only further contributions Toad makes to the plot are [[spoiler:being tortured by Kamek to coerce Peach into marrying Bowser (and even there, it's made clear that this would work with ''any'' of the Toads in the kingdom, not just this one specifically) and sneaking an Ice Flower into her wedding bouquet for her]]. Notably, during the ''entire'' second act where the TokenTrio travels to the Kong Kingdom -- from the time they leave to when [[spoiler:Peach and Toad return after losing Mario and the Kong Army]] -- Toad could have been completely removed from the group with absolutely zero effect on the story whatsoever.
** The Goombas. For the most iconic enemies in the ''Mario'' series, they barely appear at all in the movie and are effectively replaced by the Koopas as the lowly {{mooks}} of Bowser's army.
[[/folder]]

** TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter/{{Animorphs}}

This character is brilliant. They might serve any role in the story, but no matter what trope they fall under, whether it be single trope or many, they all have one thing in common: you love them with a passion, but the writer doesn't. At least not to the same extent. For whatever reason, the work has gifted the audience with what you think is a fantastic new addition to the cast, but they just never seem to get the screentime you think they deserve. That [[ADayInTheLimelight Day in the Limelight]] isn't forthcoming, nor are any more hints about their mysterious past getting dropped. You never get to hear their snarky remarks on a situation that just calls for it, and after five pages of teasing they get PutOnABus to Nowhereville or get a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim bridge dropped on them]].

** Presumably; this was what the producer thought about Kristen and Roscoe. Before he canceled the original ''Sims Big Brother 7'', the two were brought back as the guest star players. Both were evicted second and didn't have a chance to develop (That and SRN admits that he had almost ''no'' creativity while working on ''Sims Big Brother 4'' anyways and [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny it shows]].) However when the viewers chose the cast of ''All stars'', Roscoe sadly didn't make the cut (He ''did'' have several amusing moments; though, more than can be said for Kristen) but Kristen was one of two people from season 4 that made it in - the other was Johnny. Kristen wasn't even a ''producer's choice''!

** ''TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter/Ducktales2017''

** ''TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter/{{Lost}}'

* The Furious Five in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. Wonderful character design, awesome powers, voiced by the likes of Creator/LucyLiu and Creator/JackieChan, each with the potential for intriguing backstories -- but for such an imaginative, talented group of characters, they seem remarkably underutilized. However, they're given a bit more to do in the sequel (particularly Tigress) and are also fleshed out a bit more in supplementary material like the ''Secrets of the Furious Five'' special and the ''Legends of Awesomeness'' series.

** ''TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter/{{Lost}}''

** ''TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter/{{Velma}}''