Line #40 CreatorsPet/WesternAnimation


1	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/SouthPark https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_20230303_133255_samsung_internet.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[SpotlightStealingSquad 'E turk er show!]]]]
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8	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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17	%%Do not add Mako from the Legend Of Korra. He does not fulfill the criteria. There has been discussion on him on the YMMV page on the show and he does not qualify.
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20	* ''Franchise/Ben10''
21	** [[ThoseTwoGuys Blukic and Driba]] from ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' have been stated several times by the writers to be part of their favourite characters; they were given appearances in a large part of the episodes, played a role in ''two'' season finales, there was one episode focused on them which was stated to be the team's favorite (and another one similar has aired later), and lead designer Derrick Wyatt admitted he wouldn't mind them having their own spin-off show. To many fans, they are just another PluckyComicRelief duo in a show already full of them, with the additional bonuses of being [[TooDumbToLive dumb enough to constantly make idiotic decisions]], [[TheLoad putting everyone in danger in the process]], often ending up as a DiabolusExMachina, and showing signs of FantasticRacism against one of the other alien species on the Omnitrix.
22	** While [[LovableRogue Argit]] wasn't ''that'' hated in [[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce his earlier episodes in the franchise]], ''Omniverse'' writers loved him and started using him more... while making his roguish actions go [[KickTheDog a bit]] [[MoralEventHorizon too far]] for some fans (most infamously when he [[spoiler:willingly betrayed LaResistance to [[AliensAreBastards the Incurseans]]]]), and yet making him [[KarmaHoudini constantly get away scot-free, if not with a better situation than before]] (in the future episode, it's revealed ''[[spoiler:he will get elected president of Earth]]''). Some fans started to find him less funny and more obnoxious as a result.
23	** Ma Vreedle and the Incurseans also got some accusations of being this. Derrick Wyatt contributed to create both, and both were introduced in ''Alien Force'' and ''Ultimate Alien'' as minor, mostly comedic villains. Once Wyatt took over, the Incurseans suddenly [[AscendedExtra received an entire arc of their own]], making them the first major baddies in the whole franchise to not be [[KnightOfCerebus Knights of Cerebus]], while Ma Vreedle made ''[[ArchEnemy Vilgax]]'' cry. To add insult to injury, Vilgax got DemotedToExtra, with his first episode being a filler in the Incursean story arc.
24	** The [[WesternAnimation/Ben102016 reboot]] version of Kevin Levin is a bit of a mixed bag amongst fans. He was initially liked for his new dynamic and powers with Ben and the gang, but then he tended to overstay his welcome thanks to his [[ExecutiveMeddling merchandise skyrocketing.]] Now, [[SpotlightStealingSquad he’s a pest who shows up constantly]], even with stories that would be no different with his absense. It seems that Kevin worked best in small doses. He also becomes the player two character in ''Ben 10: Power Trip'', a licensed open-world video game for the reboot.
25	* ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes'' has Sergio, who is an actual pet, the pet parrot of the titular family. Despite the fact that a majority of the show's fanbase hates him for being a tremendous {{Jerkass}} who causes conflict in nearly every episode, he gets shoehorned into the series so often that characters like Carlitos and Lalo have become [[OutOfFocus underutilized]] compared to him. He's also made guest appearances in episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' where Lori attends Fairway University, such as "Don't You Fore-Get About Me" and "Crash Course", adding little, if anything to their plots.
26	* ''WesternAnimation/CraigOfTheCreek'' has Jessica, Craig's little sister. She is clearly a favorite of the writers, Jessica is more focused than any other supporting character on the show and everyone InUniverse loves or praises her for the most meaningless things she does, as well as being included in various subplots that have nothing to do with her. However, several viewers can't stand her and see her as nothing more than an annoying kid who has no growth other than to complicate the plot of her focus episodes while [[{{Deuteragonist}} Kelsey and J.P.]] are pushed to the side, with Craig TookALevelInJerkass to make her look better. It also doesn't help that more [[EnsembleDarkhorse interesting members of the Williams Family or Kids of the Creek]] are overshadowed to give Jessica more focus. She even got her own {{Spinoff}} series when the main one ended.
27	* Midway through season 2, and especially into season 3, ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' became ''The Captain Hero Show''. Almost every episode focuses on him or features him heavily, to the point that fans of other characters became sick to death of him. By season 3, even many fans of Captain Hero agreed with fans of other characters and felt he was far too overused. The writers admitted that they liked to give him stories, with their justification being that the guy is TheDitz and [[HeroicComedicSociopath has no morals or sense of restraint]] so they could make him do anything at all (an important factor in a show where 95% of the jokes are CringeComedy) and it would never be out of character for him.
28	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Chloe Carmichael was introduced in [[LongRunners season 10]] and was meant to be the second lead character alongside [[TheHero Timmy]]. However, she was unanimously hated amongst the fandom for being a pointless addition to an already bloated cast, with many people demanding that she get completely removed like [[TheScrappy Sparky.]] Despite this, throughout the entirety of season 10, Chloe would continue being a major focus of the show, sometimes even overshadowing Timmy himself. The show was [[SeasonalRot/TheFairlyOddParents already on its last legs]] even before her introduction, so considering that season 10 was the show’s last season, it’s clear that Chloe’s introduction was the final nail in the coffin.
29	** Before her, however, [[BumblingDad Timmy's Dad]] and [[SadistTeacher Mr. Crocker]] slowly began to take over the show in the later seasons, ''especially'' during seasons 9 and 10, which led to fans growing more and more sick of them. They even became the main characters of an episode from season 9 at one point! [[note]]Timmy's Dad appears in 37 out of Season 9's 43 episodes and 29 out of Season 10's 37 episodes (63 appearances), and Crocker appeared in 31 Season 9 episodes and 30 Season 10 episodes (61 appearances).[[/note]] It only got worse for Crocker when "Chip Off The Old Crock!" introduced his nephew Kevin Crocker, who is literally just a smaller version of him.
30	* Tribore from ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'' has become this for some. He's supposed to be the wacky CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass character but some find him too annoying (his lisp in particular) and unfunny who appears too often. This was taken a step further in season 2 where he joins the main cast, making the already large team of characters even ''bigger''. The fact that he keeps coming back and has almost ''nothing'' bad ever happen to him has made people see him like this.
31	* Cubert from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' turned into a parody. [[IntendedAudienceReaction He was actually created to be one of these]], apparently in direct reference to the former {{Trope Namer\|s}}, (that being [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Wesley]]) and he was originally intended to be a sort of [[TheAce Ace]] character, except he would still be hated and mistreated by the other characters. Only the last part became true. In his debut episode, the rest of the cast takes an instant dislike to him and manage to get in a few good insults. It helps that the writers were more in tune than others in their profession. Originally, Cubert was supposed to be the character who {{lampshade\|Hanging}}d all the ludicrous aspects of the series, which he does in his debut episode. However, the writers realized how annoying this was and transformed him into a standard BrattyHalfPint TVGenius, only using him in a couple of episodes thereafter. He is also downgraded from a genius to an insufferable brat who thinks he's smarter than he is, while still acting like an actual twelve-year-old.
32	* ''WesternAnimation/GravedaleHigh'': Frankentyke got the majority of episode focus and screen time in an effort to make him the next [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson]], but he isn't very popular with the fans.
33	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': Despite her status among the fandom as TheScrappy since her introduction, Pretty has continued to receive more screen time than any other secondary character. During her time as an AlphaBitch she would often be a KarmaHoudini, and after her HeelFaceTurn she became universally adored by the other characters in-universe and good at everything she does, leading the other characters to constantly praise her all the time.
34	* ''WesternAnimation/KampKoral'': Nobby and Narlene, but especially the latter, are two trickster narwhals who live in the woods behind camp. They're disliked for how often show up out of nowhere to mess stuff up, and often [[KarmaHoudini get away with it entirely]]. Most of their actions go beyond innocent fun and lean into creepy or flat-out disgusting (shoving a sea urchin into [=SpongeBob's=] pants, pretending to flash her breasts at a group of children, selling an addictive GRatedDrug to kids). A ''lot'' of her scenes are also heavy in foot close-ups and gross-out, with the widely-hated "The Taste of Defeat" dedicating an entire sequence to [[spoiler:Narlene putting her foot in soup, shaving toenails into it, and then serving it to kids]]. Narlene also tends to hijack episodes that otherwise have nothing to do with her, such as "Hats Off to Space" and "Regi-Hilled". She also gets two spotlight episodes on the [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants main series]], too. And yes, other characters ''do'' regularly talk about how great Narlene and Nobby are.
35	-->'''[=SpongeBob=]''': Those narwhals are simply [[{{Pun}} nar-velous]]!
36	-->'''Sandy''': Those two rascals never stop amazing me!
37	* ''WesternAnimation/KevinSpencer'': The crew (most likely Greg Lawrence) seemed to love Percy, given how, beginning somewhere around season four, he largely took the main focus of any given episode, including Percy getting to meet Old Barfy ("Ad Beer Add"), Percy meeting his illegitimate son ("Legitimate Claims"), Percy buying a time machine ("That Guy Who Liked Pie"), Percy getting his dick shredded off by a paper shredded ("Blow Job"), Percy running for president ("The Buck Stops Here"), etc., while Kevin (the show's namesake) Anastasia (his wife) and most, if not all of, the supporting cast were either DemotedToExtra or only existed to serve as plot devices. Notably, the intro for the last season is centered around Percy being a alcoholic loser, while Kevin and Anastasia are only given a mention via a single passing lyric.
38	-->''Alas, his wife is just a big, fat whore / And his son is rotten to the core...''
39	* Flip from ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse''. Despite the fact that many fans hate him for his disgusting and annoying habits and his [[JerkAss personality]] in general, he's gets a lot of screentime and episodes focusing on him to the point where some fans have jokingly decided to call ''The Loud House'' "The Flip Show".
40	* There were (and still are) so many restrictions imposed on Disney writers when dealing with WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse due to him being the studio icon that any other character in any given Mickey cartoon, as a side effect, got carte blanche to steal the spotlight. Hence how characters such as WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck came to grow in popularity. The strange irony is that this happened because ''Mickey was the Creator's Pet'' of Mr. Disney, not the other characters.
41	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Robotboy}}'': Gus is hated by many fans for his annoying, greedy {{Jerkass}} behaviour, ToiletHumour, and his tendency [[TheLoad to make things worse]], yet [[SpotlightStealingSquad he gets the most focus of any character]] who isn't named Robotboy or Tommy.
42	* The concept of the Creator's Pet was parodied in ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken''. It was done in a sketch featuring the producers of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' discussing how to make the fans love Wesley Crusher, after the fandom has paid for a billboard threatening to ass rape Creator/WilWheaton to death. So they decide to include a character so annoying, it would make Wesley look better by comparison. When one writer suggests they try to make Wesley a better character, he gets thrown out of the room. The resulting episode has an annoying GreatGazoo rip-off called "Snirkles", who proceeds to bother Wesley by playing a "space banjo song" and then disappearing. The fans then change the billboard to say "Kill Wesley. Keep Snirkles." Wil Wheaton, after seeing the sketch, tweeted that he would've loved to voice Wesley if they asked him to.
43	* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' has an InUniverse example. While working on the "Wacky Delly" cartoon for Rachel (formerly Ralph) Bighead, Filbert becomes very protective of The Cheese, the character he created/[[DescendedCreator voiced]].
44	-->'''Cheese:''' I am The Cheese! I am the best character on the show! I am better than both The Salami and The Bologna combined!
45	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' have an InUniverse example in the form of Poochie. His voice actor, Homer, is obsessed with putting Poochie everywhere and having the other characters [[CharacterShilling talk him up constantly]], but the audience (and seemingly everyone else on the planet) ''despises'' him for his TotallyRadical behavior, reliance on dated and irrelevant catchphrases, and disrupting ''Itchy and Scratchy''[='=]s plots [[SpotlightStealingSquad at the expense of the titular duo]], and the show starts hemorrhaging ratings as a result. To save the show, Meyers has Poochie [[PutOnABus hastily written out]] with no explanation and then [[BusCrash killed off offscreen]], to which the [[TakeThatScrappy entire audience responds with cheers.]]
46	* ''WesternAnimation/SmilingFriends'' parodies this trope ''hard''. The episode "Shrimp's Odyssey" starts by introducing [[RememberTheNewGuy the fifth Smiling Friend, Smormu]], and urging AudienceParticipation to see if he stays or not. The poll is stacked in favor of Smormu staying, since the answer for wanting him is just "SMORMU" while the answer denying him was the much longer "NO I REALLY REALLY REALLY DON'T WANT SMORMU", meaning more people are likely to vote for than against Smormu. The results were just barely in favor of Smormu staying as a result. They also had an [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem Electoral College]] involved, which voted against Smormu, but was overridden by the supposed Popular Vote. At the end of the episode, he arrives to cheer Pip up with a dance, much to his confusion and Charlie's annoyance, and then [[spoiler:gets [[DroppedABridgeOnHim brutally killed offscreen]] after the credits]].
47	-->"IT'S SMORMU! [[BlatantLies YOU VOTED AND WE LISTENED!]] THIS CANNOT BE UNDONE! SMORMU IS HERE TO STAY!"
48	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark:'' As the series progressed, Randy became more and more of a ManChild and a SpotlightStealingSquad; the fanbase was [[BaseBreakingCharacter split]] about this at first, but as time went on his number of supporters dwindled. Season 23 was where it got particularly bad. By this point, he had moved the family out to the Tegridy Farms marijuana plantation, and for the first half of the season, "Randy tries to sell weed" was an A- or B-plot in ''every single episode''. The best that one can say is that he usually didn't get any CharacterShilling, as his family in particular openly hate him... but even then, episodes like "Christmas Snow" focus on how much people love his weed and demand more plotlines around it, to the frustrated screams of the viewers. While early Randy-centric plots showed that he cared about his family (often he got involved in the story because Stan was in trouble), at some point he [[ItsAllAboutMe stopped caring about anyone but himself]]. Unlike Cartman, who can be a [[ManipulativeBastard clever]] VillainProtagonist and pays for his actions about half of the time, Randy usually succeeds [[KarmaHoudini with no consequences]] because other characters just pick up the IdiotBall.
49	* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' has Princess Pony Head, Star's [[SpoiledBrat spoiled]], ValleyGirl best friend, who outright tries to kill Marco in her first appearance. What's odd is that she does start to slowly grow into a nicer character over the first few seasons, only for her CharacterDevelopment to [[AesopAmnesia suddenly snap back]], leaving a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] diva who never learns a lesson. To the show's credit, around this point even Star starts to voice annoyance with her flaws, and we learn that the rest of her family consider her the BlackSheep.
50	* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'': Philip had several episodes to himself, especially compared to other new characters, who often faded into the background after a few episodes.
51	* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'': Somebody at Warner Bros. really liked Elmyra Duff (some say it was Creator/StevenSpielberg himself) since she [[SpotlightStealingSquad took up a lot of screentime]], to the point they tried to get a spinoff series off the ground with [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot two pilot episodes]] about her and her family. That wasn't enough, though. She went on to make cameo appearances, as well as a guest-star appearance, in ''TTA'''s sister show, ''{{WesternAnimation/Animaniacs}}''. Even ''that'' wasn't enough. The spinoff series of ''Animaniacs'', ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', received a [[{{Transplant}} unneeded]] [[WesternAnimation/PinkyElmyraAndTheBrain revamp]] after its third season, where the duo have become Elmyra's pets. Retrospective reactions toward her were vocal enough that she was originally intended to be AdaptedOut of the ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonsLooniversity'' reboot ([[AlasPoorScrappy though many started to feel it wouldn't be right to leave her out thus leading her returning to Looniversity after all]]), and she was given a TakeThat in ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'', the first episode of which [[CanonDiscontinuity retconned]] ''[[CanonDiscontinuity PE&tB]]'' [[CanonDiscontinuity out of existence]].
52	* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'':
53	** Owen in the first two seasons. The writers and voice actors of the show often wrote glowingly of him (Christian Potenza is quoted as having a man-crush on him), yet he is considered a BaseBreakingCharacter due to his constant ToiletHumor, CharacterShilling (such as [[PerkyGoth Gwen]] calling him sane even when he does exceedingly odd or stupid things, and the rest of the cast talking about how awesome he was during his elimination in the 2nd season, despite the fact that he cost the team the challenge and spent the entire episode trying to eat two of his teammates), and CharacterFocus (such as extended dream sequences of him naked and frolicking on mountains made of cheese). His face was even used as the icon for the first season on at least Cartoon Network. However, this decreased as the series went on, the second season giving him a lesser role and the third season giving Owen ''much'' less praise from the other contestants, and he received some decent character development with his friendship with [[DeadpanSnarker Noah]] and his breakup with [[AxCrazy Izzy]]. The writers must have noticed the backlash, as Owen does not appear in seasons 4 and 5, save for minor cameos.
54	** Mike and Zoey, especially once ''All-Stars'' aired. Both characters get way more screen time than the rest of the cast on both seasons, even overshadowing the likes of Duncan, Gwen and Courtney on the latter, just to show off their relationship, without having much character development overall.
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58	%%* Starlight Glimmer from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has been deemed not to qualify per [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1341554362019735300&page=30 the Clean-Up thread]]. Do not add back without thread permission.
59	%%Do not add Mako from the Legend Of Korra. He does not fulfill the criteria. There has been discussion on him on the YMMV page on the show ''and'' on the Trope Repair Shop thread and he does not qualify.
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Context CreatorsPet / WesternAnimation