History Main / VanillaProtagonist

* ''AkameGaKiru'': When compared to his morally ambiguous teammates, Tatsumi is very much a typical shonen hero(exhibiting potential, naivete, a sense of redemption, etc). As the plot progresses, the series becomes more about the various motivations of the Night Raid as well as the Jaeagers

* Ryuko Matoi of ''Anime/KillLaKill'' is plenty interesting herself, but the real meat of the show are her relationships with the various supporting characters, plenty of which are more...''out there'' than she is.

* ''Franchise/MortalKombat''; InAWorld with energy-wielding ninjas, {{Physical God}}s, fantastic creatures, {{Cyborg}}s, et all, the most anyone seems to remember about Liu Kang, TheProtagonist of the series, is that he's [[FanNickname the Turkey Boy]].

* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'': TheProtagonist, Yugi is the only duelist without a quirk. He's not the blue-eyed dragon guy, the bug guy, dino guy or even the gambling card guy. His own alter ego has his "age old pharoah" thing going for him.

* ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' features Piper Chapman, a 30-something white yuppie from a privileged background who has her life turned upside down when she is sentenced to jail over a crime she committed 10 years ago. However, her past background is fairly bland and uninteresting when compared to those of the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters loads and loads of other quirky inmates]] that she meets in prison. The writers seem to have picked up on the fans' preferences in Season 2 as they increasingly put Piper OutOfFocus in favor of further development for the supporting cast memebers.

* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'': TheProtagonist, Yugi is the only duelist without a quirk. He's not the bug guy or the dino guy or the gambling card guy. His own alter ego has his "age old pharoah" thing going for him.

** Early years carried over from the fairy tale source material where the protagonist ventures into the unknown and encounters the supernatural. That was their true draw, not a engaging protagonist.

** ''Disney/SleepingBeauty'': The creators of the film weren't all that interested in the beauty herself, hence why the movie spends so much time with the magical and bickering trio of fairies.

* ''VideoGame/{{Blazblue}}'s'' protagonist, Ragna the Bloodedge is a pretty clear cut example of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but has a pretty down to earth personality otherwise. This is especially noticeable when most of the cast are filled with sociopaths, {{Large Ham}}s, and {{Yandere}}s. As such, Ragna plays the StraightMan DeadpanSnarker to almost everyone he interacts with.

** ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'''s spotlight is split between the royal sisters, Anna and Elsa. The former is focused on helping the later, who is generating ice palaces and [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome singing an awesome song]] and struggling with intense fear and social isolation. Since Elsa is the {{Deuteragonist}}, one could say Anna is the vanilla that makes her story taste better.

Since these characters need to be relatively flat by their own merit, they may be unpopular with the fan base but that does not make them this trope. It makes them TheScrappy. TropesAreTools and having a lead who is a flat or static character isn't necessarily a bad thing if done well. In in video games, for example, it can give a player freedom to shape their character, or to think outside the box. ''This trope is not for complaining about protagonists one may dislike.''

* ''Manga/DanshiKoukouseiNoNichijou''. Tadakuni is a inversion. He's a plain GenericGuy with no backstory and he has less relationships with other characters than his two friends Hidenori and Yoshitake. Tadakuni's suffers from being OutOfFocus ,with basically no presence in some episodes and many chapters. His status is often lampshaded. However, Tadakuni is one of the most popular characters in the series and he's much more popular than Hidenori and Yoshitake. He's OutOfFocus after the ''first volume'' and episode 5, making him somewhat like an EnsembleDarkHorse.

* 'Film/KingdomOfHeaven'': Balian, the humble blacksmith, finds himself crusading with [[BadassGrandpa Godfrey]], [[AngelUnaware The Hospitaller]], [[HandicappedBadass King Baldwin]], [[EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench Sibylla]], [[LargeHam Tiberius]] and [[WarriorPoet Saladin]].

* MickeyMouse became a pretty iconic case for the ''DisneyClassicShorts''. Mickey started off a more mischievous scrappy protagonist, though as new additions such as DonaldDuck, {{Goofy}} and {{Pluto}} were introduced and took over the more abrasive roles, Mickey ended up toned down into TheEveryman to foil them and by the forties was DemotedToExtra. Modern works have tried to give Mickey star power again, with varying degrees of success.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' Frodo Baggins's position in the Fellowship is "the NonActionGuy carrying the ring" and so the contrast with the epic heroes he's traveling with is all the greater. This was a deliberate choice by Tolkein to demonstrate the humble virtues of the Hobbit; the vanilla character can save the world too. To further this point, Sam is one of the very few canon characters to not give into the Ring's temptation. Considering the RousingSpeech he gives to Frodo, [[OneOfUs he might be a troper]].

* SonicTheHedgehog served as this in early installments of his own series. While having slightly better stats than the other characters, his move set is more limited compared to Tails and Knuckles, usually limiting him to the games' primary path. This tends to be zigzagged in later games, since new exclusive moves such as the homing attack and light dash gave him his own edge in gameplay. As story and character were established, his personality was usually kept more simplistic than the others (if still often charismatic), relying less on specific back stories or roles than the others.

* Ryuko Matoi of ''Anime/KillLaKill'' is plenty interesting herself, but the real meat of the show are her relationships with the various supporting characters, plenty of which are more ''Out there'' than she is.

* Sasahara in ''{{Genshiken}}'' is pretty passive as an otaku. Unlike the rest in the club, he's lacking an overriding passion for any one thing, and serves as the entry point for the non-otaku/closet otaku readers. In later issues, some characterisation sauce is swirled in when his sister is introduced; his annoyance at her shallowness is the first negative emotion he shows.

* ''StarWars'': Luke Skywalker is a FarmBoy on his TheHerosJourney. He's traveling with a mystic war veteran, a LoveableRogue smuggler, and two droid comedians. On the other side is an adversary that not only [[LukeIAmYourFather thickens Luke's mythical qualities]] but the movies he recieves transform the seriers into ''[[FallenHero his]]'' hero's journey...

* ''Anime/SonicX'': Sonic is fazed into the background as the role of TheAce, with AudienceSurrogate Chris Thorndyke played more as the show's lead. Thus, the more colorful side cast he encounters are the main draw.

Compare LeadYouCanRelateTo where The Protagonist is modeled after the target audience to better engage them in the story. Here, the Protagonist is blander than the rest of cast so that they do not distract from the cast. Also compare AudienceSurrogate, where the plot focuses on a character without any personality at all. In this trope, the colorful sidecast is the main attraction. Third, compare StraightMan who is normally TheStoic to better interact with the PluckyComicRelief and not necessarily a protagonist at all.


Not to be confused with DesignatedHero, which is a character who the story plays up as being heroic, but comes off as being distinctly unheroic. Compare the PinballProtagonist, which may result if this trope is done poorly; the poor sap is simply dragged around the plot by the stronger and more developed characters around him. Contrast EnsembleDarkhorse, who is a colorful but minor character.