Breaking Old Trends

Ghostface: Let's play a game.
Gale: You know you're like the tenth guy to try this, right? It never works out for the dipshit in the mask.
Ghostface: Maybe so. But there's never been one like me. I'm something different.

— Scream VI

When the creators of a work decide to reinvigorate it by rethinking some of the more long-standing elements in it and changing some of them to make it seem fresh again. This is something usually done to prevent stalling and, in the case of Once Original, Now Common, try to get the people invested in your work now that the novelty wore off.

Common overhauling sources include:

• If the main characters usually spend a book hanging around a City of Adventure, perhaps the reader picks up a new installment that has them suddenly Walking the Earth in search of action.
• If someone's favourite video game series has been getting more and more linear, they may discover the next entry to be a Wide-Open Sandbox.
• If someone's favourite show has a penchant for ending each season in the same way, then catch off guard viewers by a Meta Twist.

While the presence of this trope can just as often be a one-time thing to surprise the audience, it can also lead to the new idea becoming a mainstay element of the series in its own right, resulting in the old trend it was breaking becoming an example of Early-Installment Weirdness that could end up being revisited further down the line. If it ends up becoming a permanent fixture rather late into the series' lifespan, it can become a case of Later-Installment Weirdness.

As with everything else in life, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but at the end of the day, the creators are trying something new (be it major or minor) while also trying to maintain what made their work well-liked to begin with. Because of its nature of breaking established, unspoken rules within a work, though, this trope should only apply to works within their third installments or further. After all, the creators are still trying to figure what the formula actually is when making the second entry.

Compare Retool, Genre Shift and Franchise Codifier. Contrast Strictly Formula. See also Formula-Breaking Episode, where usual formula is dropped for a certain installment.

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Examples:

• Fire Emblem Heroes
• Miraculous Ladybug
• Total Drama

Anime & Manga

• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: The covers of the first seven volumes have two characters for each cover (with Kusuri's dual forms counting as two). Volume 8 breaks the trend by having every girlfriend at the time (up to Naddy) dressed in the outfits they wore as Idol Singers.
• Danganronpa:
  • Killer Killer ^note Which is a Stealth Sequel is the first installment to have its protagonist murder the focus culprits. It's also the first to feature adult characters almost exclusively, up to and including the main characters.
  • Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School breaks quite a few trends:
    • The plot of Side: Future focuses on the first killing game intended to take place over a few hours rather than several weeks. There is also no trial or execution system, and the game is much more similar to Werewolf (1997) or Town of Salem.
    • Monokuma's never physically present for the game, only communicating through video footage.
    • The Mastermind dies fairly early into the game, with the game essentially being crafted to run without him. The Final Boss winds up being his protege. For that matter, not only is he the first male Mastermind, he's also the only one to not have Despair as his primary motive.
    • Only two new characters survive the Final Killing game, both being their arc's respective "Naegis" (Ryouta for Side: Despair, Munakata for Side: Future).
    • Chiaki's death is the only execution that wasn't the result of a trial.
    • None of the new Power Trios stay together by the start of Side: Future. It is also the first installment to have an entire trio die during a killing game.
• Digimon Adventure: (2020) broke one of Digimon's oldest trends: They didn't kill Leomon like most series do.
• Jewelpet:
  • Jewelpet Happiness does not introduce any new Jewelpets.
  • Jewelpet: Magical Change is so far the only season to not implement the main mascot trio. It also has no major villains.
• Macross Delta: Freyja breaks several traditions in the main cast:
  • The franchise's typical Love Triangle usually has an older and younger Love Interest, the older of which typically wins. Not so in Delta; Freyja and Hayate end up being the Official Couple, and the other Love Interest, Mirage, doesn't wise up to her feelings in time to pursue him or isn't interested in him in that way, depending on the continuity being followed.
  • After Absolute Live, barring Sara whose fate is unknown, Freyja is the only known Love Interest to also end her story by dying, after Zero deliberately doesn't expound on Sara's fate and Frontier has Sheryl be spared death by Ranka moving her infection somewhere nonlethal.
  • She is also the first Love Interest to be entirely non-human in the Love Triangle as a full Windermerean; most of her predecessors are either fully human or only partly of non-human descent.
• Miki Usami's works has some examples:
  • Mahotsukai no Monogatari -kioku- and Namae no Nai Oto are the first two stories to feature an adult main protagonist (Nata and Sakuraba Lindonia are respectively 19 and 18), in contrast to many of her stories who often feature young or teenage girls and boys as the main protagonists.
  • Flower Girl in Dystopia is the first of her mangas to take place After the End, a stark contrast to many of her previous works that often take place in present time, albeit with the Mundane Fantastic flair.
  • Rain's Head breaks some of her creator traditions. Unlike many previous protagonists in Usami's stories who are often alive at the end of the story, Rain's Head is the first to have the main protagonist die at the end, specifically dying from a terminal illness, with her life before death being the centre of the story's focus.
• Monster Musume: Out of all the girls, Lala does the least fanservice, doesn't have a nickname for Kimihito, and doesn't try to pursue him because she's fine with the fact that she'll have him forever once he dies.
• Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury has a number of breaks from the previous entries:
  • This is the first series to have the main protagonist be a girl. While many Gundam entries had main female characters, they were secondary to the main male lead. This the first time the protagonist is a girl and even the first posters show Suletta Mercury by herself save the Gundam Aerial.
  • It also breaks the trends of the main villain having some last minute prototype by having the lead Gundam, the Aerial, being the suit of the Big Bad, whereas the protagonist gets to pilot a dangerous prototype machine in the final battle.
• One Piece Film: Red: Uta, the Big Bad of the film, was deliberately designed as a young woman to contrast with the previous movies' antagonists who were older men.
• Pokémon: The Series, for all its tendencies to patterns, is not above breaking them from time to time.
  • The first four Pokémon movies each had an opening theme sequence which used a remix of the then current opening theme from the show. The fifth movie broke this trend by having the opening be another remix of "Mezasei Pokemon Master" instead of the fifth opening "Ready Go". The following movie (#6) broke the trend further by having no opening theme song at all, and since then the opening themes have been more sporadic with the movies.
  • Due to Hoenn bringing an end to the "original" series, this region is where you start to notice the first notable breaks to certain trends.
    • After wearing the same outfit for the Kanto, Orange Islands, and Johto arcs, Ash has a new outfit. It would be the default trend to switch up Ash's clothes for every new series.
    • In both Kanto and Johto, Ash caught the three regional starters. Starting with Hoenn, the starters were divided between him and his companions, and Ash wouldn't end up obtaining all three again until Unova.
    • May is the first companion to be given her own separate Myth Arc with consistent focus, with her Contest arc alternating alongside Ash's badge quest and Battle Frontier trek.
    • Hoenn is the first series where the core cast is made up of more than three people by adding a Tagalong Kid.
    • This is the first region where Ash only starts off with just Pikachu instead of bringing over his current team from previous arcs, as in the Orange Island and Johto arcs. Starting with the Unova arc, it would be the standard procedure from then on once a new generation of Pokémon is launched.^note For the Sinnoh arc, Ash only meant to take just Pikachu, but the Aipom he caught near the end of the Battle Frontier arc left Oak's lab to join Ash on the Sinnoh journey.
    • When it comes to Ash's regional birds, a lot of people felt that Pidgeotto and Noctowl weren't given much to do. Swellow on the other hand went on to being one of the biggest contributors to his Pokémon team.
    • In Japan, the series would actually begin to change titles for each generation starting with Hoenn, after being just known as Pocket Monsters for the Kanto, Orange Islands, and Johto arcs.
  • Streaks that were broken in Sinnoh.
    • Ash finally catches a pseudo legendary Pokémon, or at least a member of its line.
    • Sinnoh was also the first series where another Pokémon shared the spotlight with Ash's Pikachu as the series mascot. This being Dawn's Piplup, who spent almost all of his time outside of his Pokéball.
    • Similarly, Piplup's promotion to mascot status reflects his trainer's status as deuteragonist, as Dawn was the first companion to receive near equal focus to Ash (to the point where in the Japanese openings, her name is mentioned alongside Ash's in the opening summary). The only other companion to be treated with so much importance is Goh, who was introduced over a decade later.
    • This saga is noticeably more story-driven than the previous ones, with more Call-Backs and ongoing plot threads that build up throughout the series.
    • At first, the English dub movie openings used extended versions of the most recently released anime season theme song that came out before each movie. Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai on the other hand didn't reuse the English dub's Diamond and Pearl theme from Season 10, but instead used a brand new theme called We Will Be Heroes.
    • The English dub opening for DP: Battle Dimension (Season 11) actually breaks two trends. It's the first English opening to include opening credits, and its theme song, We Will Be Heroes, wasn't a newly introduced seasonal theme, but was instead a remix of the opening theme from the Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai film that aired beforehand.
    • Sinnoh is the first region where Ash participates in a Full Battle outside of the Pokémon League, which he has against Paul at Lake Acuity.
    • Previously, the Pokémon League Conference were held in locations that existed in the game. For the Kanto and Hoenn Leagues, they were in the locations where the player fought the Elite Four and the Champion. For Johto, it was held on Mt. Silver, where the Superboss battle against Red was. For Sinnoh however, it was an anime original location and nowhere near where the Elite Four and Champion were fought in the games. In fact, future league tournaments never took place where the final battles of the game's main storyline took place.
    • This is also the first arc that Ash permanently regained a Pokémon after sending it away instead of returning temporarily, his Gliscor.
    • Previous arc conclusions had Ash learn of another region and deciding to go there following his return to Pallet Town. The Sinnoh arc was the first arc to not mention anything of the next generation of games, with Ash just returning to Pallet Town.
  • The Unova arc broke some notable trends. In particular:
    • Ever since their introduction in the second episode of Kanto, it was a given to have the Team Rocket trio make an appearance in every episode, even if it's just a small 30-second cameo. This trend is finally broken in the sixteenth Unova episode where they don't make any appearances whatsoever.
    • In addition, Unova plays Team Rocket as jarringly more competent arc villains who often put up a much better fight against Ash and co and frequently evade their "blasting off" Running Gag, as well as letting Giovanni and the rest of the organization have involvement. While their breakaway from comic relief naturally doesn't last, the trio dabble with being Not So Harmless Villains more often following this.
    • Since Kanto Ash either had Misty or Brock traveling alongside him, with Johto being the only other region he had both. Unova was the first region where neither of them were among his companions.
    • The Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys of Unova have new looks compared to the ones in previous regions. Future regions will have their own distinct looks for both of them as well. Furthermore, Joys in Unova don't have Chanseys assisting them, but Audino, with later regions having a different assistant Pokémon from then on.
    • With every League tournament Ash either improved or stayed on par in terms of performance. However, in the Unova League, he ended up Best of 8, vs. Best of 4 in Sinnoh.
    • Unova is the only region where Ash never has a proper 6-on-6 Full Battle. His Unova League battle against Cameron was intended to be one, but thanks to Cameron's absentmindedness, he accidentally handicaps himself by only bringing five Pokémon instead.
    • Unova was the first region where Ash doesn't encounter the regional villain team until after completing the league, where they got a short arc dedicated to them.
    • Usually there's a few breather episodes between major arcs/series. However, after finishing the Unova League and taking care of Team Plasma, there is a twenty episode long filler arc about Ash getting home from Unova and setting up his journey to Kalos.
  • Kalos broke several streaks.
    • First region where Ash doesn't catch the Grass-type starter. He doesn't even catch a Grass-type at all in Kalos.
    • The previous example actually breaks another trend where Ash had some sort of variation of the Fire/Water/Grass trio throughout the previous five generations. The lack of catching a Grass-type in Kalos finally broke this tradition.
    • Serena is the first companion to express confirmed romantic interest in Ash (instead of simply speculation based on inconclusive evidence) as well as to ever meet him prior to the series. She was also the first companion to ever kiss him, albeit offscreen due to TV Guidelines.
    • In Japan, kissing mouth-to-mouth is seen as an extraordinarily intimate act.
    • First evolution of a Water-type starter, as well as a Water-type Pokémon finally evolving ever since way back in Kanto when Krabby evolved.
    • First generation where Ash doesn't cross-dress.
    • Talonflame did not learn Flamethrower like all the rest of his Fire-types. It only learns Flame Charge.
    • First region where all of Ash's Pokémon (save for Pikachu, of course) fully evolve.
    • First region where Ash does not reunite with an old companion from the previous region's journey. Cilan did appear, but it was in a post-epilogue episode meaning he only met Clemont and Bonnie.
    • Kalos also broke a trend involving the villains, namely that they didn't target either one of the initial cover legendaries, but rather the third Legendary Pokémon connected to them.
    • The trainer who beat Ash at the League, Alain, also broke some trends. He became the first (and, as it would turn out, only) rival Ash never beat in a battle and first rival who was not introduced during the League to beat Ash.
  • Alola also broke several streaks.
    • Alola changed up the overall series formula where instead of being an ongoing adventure around the region, it's now more of a Slice of Life series where Ash goes to school. He still has adventures all over the region, but he only goes there as part of a school field trip. Ash still does take on a variant of the game's Island Challenge, but only faces off against the Island Kahunas.
    • The core cast that adventures around the region was usually made up of 3 or 4 human characters. Alola is the first series that goes beyond that by having up to 6 characters that the show focuses on, these being Ash, Lillie, Kiawe, Mallow, Lana, and Sophocles.
    • Because of the stationary school setting in Melemele Island, Alola is the first region where Ash's friends aren't "traveling companions" in the traditional sense. As a result, it's the first series where his friends don't appear in every episode after their debut.
    • After six regions, Alola is the first where Ash doesn't catch the regional bird Pokémon, or a Water-type Pokémon.
    • Ash's Fire-type Torracat doesn't learn Flamethrower. It learns Fire Blast instead.
    • Ash's outfit is different from all previous versions: shorter pants, no jacket/sweatshirt, and no fingerless gloves.
    • This is the first region where the main cast are given Mythical Pokémon. Ash caught a Meltan, and at one point had a temporary Poipole in his party. In addition, Mallow is seen caring for a Shaymin.
    • With a few notable exceptions, such as the main cast using some of the special Kurt balls in the original series, the creators of the Alola series finally take advantage of the fact that there are a variety of Poké Balls that the cast can use apart from the basic red-and-white ones. Some examples include Jessie catching Mimikyu with a Luxury Ball, Gladion using an Ultra Ball, Premier Ball, Heal Ball and Dusk Ball for his Lycanroc, Silvally, Umbreon, and Zoroark respectively, and Lana catching Eevee (Sandy) with a Dive Ball.
    • The Alola League breaks multiple trends that have been prevalent across all previous regional tournaments. Previously, the only important characters of note that enter are Ash and his rivals, with the standard 3-on-3 battles gradually building to full 6-on-6 as the tournament progresses. Here, all of Ash's companions, Team Rocket, Team Skull, and a Pokémon Professor (Samson Oak) also participate, with a gradual shift from 1-on-1 at the start and 3-on-3 at the end.
    • The biggest shake-up of all: Ash finally wins the league and becomes regional champion, not to mention the first of that region, breaking his 22-year losing streak contested only by the anime-original Orange League sandwiched between the Kanto and Johto Leagues.
    • There are no guest appearance of any of Ash's companions from the immediate predecessor series, unlike before, though the long retired Brock and Misty from the original series do make a couple return appearances to continue shaking things up. Also not appearing are Early-Bird Cameo of Pokémon from the next generation of games in either the TV series or any of the movies released during the time.
  • The anime series that debuted alongside Pokémon Sword and Shield has already broken a few trends.
    • In Japan, it'll be referred as just Pocket Monsters instead of having a series subtitle.
    • Similarly, the English title is Pokémon Journeys: The Series instead of sharing the names of the recent games, which it had done since the 4th generation games Diamond and Pearl.
    • Tied to the series being subtitled as Journeys versus Sword and Shield, the plot has Ash traveling on all of the known Pokémon world, not just the Galar region, as a research assistant instead of getting involved with the Galar Pokémon League. Although he does later get involved in something called the World Coronation Series in order to challenge Leon from Sword and Shield. In any case, the lack of a storyline that purely focuses on Galar meant that the series does not goes out of its way to feature everything from Galar before the next generation of the franchise begins. For instance, only five of Galar's Gym Leaders were featured in Journeys proper.
    • The primary supporting cast is made of Canon Foreigners instead of adaptations of existing game characters.
    • Ash's traveling companions have a least consisted of one guy and one girl. Here only Goh accompanies him on his travels, being the first male companion to share the spotlight with him. While Chloe fits the role as the token girl of the supporting cast, said role is less prominent compared to previous series.
    • Ash first captures for the series aren't any of the Generation VIII additions to the Pokédex, but rather Pokémon from previous generations.
    • Related to Ash's first capture, the Dragonite he catches breaks several traditions. 1) Breaks the tradition of the first catch in the new series being the regional bird, a Bug-type, or a starter Pokémon. 2) First capture of a Pokémon in their final stage since Noctowl all the way back in Johto. 3) First time Ash catches a Pokémon that one of his companions (Iris) also owns. 4) First catch of a past generation Pokémon since Gligar all the way back in Sinnoh.
    • Related to Ash's second capture, the Gengar he catches turned out to have been abandoned by its previous trainer, which breaks the tradition of Ash's abandoned Pokémon catches all being Fire-type starters (Charmander, Chimchar, and Tepig).
    • Similar to Ash, Team Rocket doesn't get any Pokémon from Galar to train personally. Instead, they primarily use the Rocket Prize Master, a gacha machine loaded with Team Rocket-loyal Pokémon, so the Pokémon they use in their plans are randomized for each episode they appear in. It wouldn't be around the second season of the series that they would catch a Galar Pokémon, namely the recurring Morpeko.
    • Voice acting wise, the English dub often used actors based mainly in New York. Here, some Los Angeles-based voice actors are thrown into the mix, such as Zeno Robinson and Cherami Leigh, due to the production of the dub being moved from NY to LA.
    • The Journey Starts Today is the first English dub opening that doesn't use "Pokémon" as a word in the song lyrics.
    • Outside of specials and Pokémon Chronicles, the 32nd episode of Pokémon Journeys is the first ever episode of the main anime series to not feature Ash and his Pikachu in any capacity.
    • Ash catches his very first fossil Pokémon, a Dracovish.
    • Ash doesn't obtain any of the Galar starters. Goh does instead.
    • Ash never caught a Fire-type Pokémon. In fact, this is the only series that he only caught one of the Grass/Fire/Water-type trio, the previously mentioned Dracovish.
    • In Japan, the current story always ends prior to the release of a new generation of games. Journeys is the first series to not end its current Story Arc, with several more episodes airing past the launch of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, with the new anime series featuring elements from those games only debuting in April 2023, five months after the game's launch.
  • Pokémon Horizons: The Series is set to break the biggest trend yet after 25 years: It will focus on on a new set of characters other than Ash and Pikachu (who will instead have their own miniseries meant to act as their Grand Finale), and the main cast is completely Canon Foreigners. As for how this series also breaks trends from previous series...
    • Has a female protagonist as the lead character alongside the male protagonist.
    • Introduces its Champion character (Nemona) far earlier than they've been in previous series.
    • Has a group of adults that consistently receive major focus and travel with the kids, and are far more involved in the plot than even Cynthia and Kukui ever were. In fact, it is one of these adults who own the series' Pikachu rather then the child protagonists.
    • The initial plot is far more on the adventuring aspects of the Pokémon journey, rather then self-improvement via battling others. Both protagonists lack some form of To Be a Master / competitive goal that involves battling powerful trainers. Liko is just a schoolgirl caught up in events centered around her pendant, and Roy wants to battle Pokémon mentioned in legends.
    • The series has downplayed catching when it was a major part of all prior series. Ash usually captured a Pokémon or two by the tenth episode, but as of the twelth episode, Liko's only Pokémon was gifted to her, and Roy's willingly joined him without battle. It wouldn't be until the fourteenth episode that Roy would catch a Wattrel, and later on Liko caught a Hatenna.
  • Trends that the numerous movies for the Pokémon anime broke:
    • The first nine movies were basically stand-alone stories that have no connection to each other whatsoever. That changed up a bit by the time of the Diamond & Pearl series where the next 3 films, Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai, Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior, and Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life form a Story Arc trilogy.
    • The first nineteen movies are essentially big screen adventures of Ash and his friends, depending on the season the movie debuted in. The 20th movie isn't a movie for the Sun and Moon seasons, but instead an Alternate Continuity version of the series starting from the first ever episode, namely it due to being a Milestone Celebration. The following movie would stay in that continuity and the movie after that was a 3D CG remake of Pokémon: The First Movie.
• Pretty Cure:
  • Yes! Pretty Cure 5 switched from the original two-girl team of the previous Pretty Cure seasons to a a Sentai-styled Five Girl Band, along with each member being capable of a Finishing Move, rather than requiring both Cures to be together to finish off the Monster of the Week. After later installments adopted this as standard procedure, Maho Girls Pretty Cure! would break the new trend by returning to the two-Cure format. In addition, it is also the first series to have a female Big Bad in Despariah, except this is later subverted when her male secretary Kawarino turns out to be the real villain.
  • If male characters are seen with anything resembling Cure powers, the boys themselves are responsible for their creation and it only lasts one episode.^note Haranishi did a stand-up routine where he pretends to transform into Cure Gorilla. Sebastian made an artificial commune to turn into the superhero-like Cure Sebastian, which broke by the end of its introductory episode. Kenji Ban has the Author Avatar Cure Fire in his manga, who is only focused on in the episode that introduces it. In HuGtto! Pretty Cure, the main heroines themselves imbue Henri with the power of a Cure, and while he powers down and stays out of the fight for most episodes afterwards, the results stick: when everyone is gifted Cure powers in the finale, Henri turns back into Cure Infini.
  • Maho Girls Pretty Cure! is the first season since Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star where "Pretty Cure" isn't part of the transformation phrase (which had been introduced in Yes! Pretty Cure 5 and used in every other season until then). This continued for a number of seasons until Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure brought it back.
  • Each season's team of villains had at least one member who reformed by the end of the series. This trend was broken by Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure, where absolutely none of the Byogens reform and all of them are dead by the end of the series.
  • Every main Cure from Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star onwards has been a Pink Heroine. Cure Summer of Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure breaks the trend by having white as her main colour, although there is some pink in her outfit.
  • On the subject of Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure, every season's final episode since Maho Girls Pretty Cure! had the next season's main Cure appear at some point in the episode. While Yui, the next main Cure of Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure, does show up, she does not transform into Cure Precious and only appears in The Stinger. On the same manner as the latter series, Sora, the next Cure from Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure doesn't transform into Cure Sky at all.
  • All of the Cures in Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure mark a first for the franchise. Cure Sky is the first lead Cure to have blue for her theme color (with the exceptions of Cure Black and Cure Summer, all previous lead Cures have been Pink Heroines) and is the first lead Cure to not be from Earth. Cure Prism is the first Cure to be a Half-Human Hybrid, as she's one-fourth Skylandian. Cure Wing is the first male Cure to be a full-fledged member of the team. Finally, Cure Butterfly is both the first pink-themed Cure to not be the leader of her team and, at 18, is the first adult Cure to be part of the main team. There's also our Sixth Ranger, Cure Majesty, who is the first Cure to transform while still a baby.
  • Pretty Cure All Stars F has a major shakeup in regards to its shiny new Darker and Edgier structure... For starters, The Bad Guy Wins at the start, as opposed to them having a Near-Villain Victory at best towards the end, and every Pretty Cure are confirmed dead (though thankfully, this doesn't stick). Second, unlike previous Canon Foreigners or Original Generation Cures, Cure Supreme is unambiguously evil (at first), and is the Big Bad responsible for causing the movie to happen, making her the first truly evil Cure to not be an Evil Knockoff or be Brainwashed and Crazy.
• Most Time Bokan series share the same kind of situations, but the fifth series, Yattodetaman, changed around multiple things:
  • First, for the first time the main character actually transforms into the titular hero while becoming stronger and braver than usual, rather than just donning different clothes and a mask like the other Time Bokan main characters did.
  • Second, it's the first time there is a single hero: while there's a female main character, she doesn't transform when fighting the bad guys.
  • Speaking about the bad guys, the two male members of the Terrible Trio look completely different than the usual: Julie has a smaller nose, lacks a moustache and stands more upright compared to Boyacky and all his expies, while Alain, instead of being a short hunch with broad shoulders with a five o' clock shade like Tonzura and his derivatives, is a tall, fat guy with a prominent beard.
  • As a last difference, instead of a bunch of different Funny Animal mechas, Yattodetaman has a single Humongous Mecha. This change was kept around in the subsequent series Ippatsuman, only to come back with the old style in Itadakiman.
• Related to the above, Yatterman Night is the first direct sequel to a previous Time Bokan series, as well as the first to have a Terrible Trio be a heroic Power Trio. This is also the first series to not have a trio serve as recurring villains, instead opting for a singular entity and his robot army.
• Waccha PriMagi! broke many trends that any previous Pretty Series had. First off, the openings are sung entirely by one singer, lacks seasonal episodes^note Normally, each season of Pretty series often lasts for a year in-universe with some episodes based of Japanese holidays, but this series is more plot-driven and seems to only last a few months., and the second arcade of the series, Waccha PriMagi Studio, don't have its anime to coincide with it.^note The other arcade without tie-in anime in the series, Pretty Rhythm Mini Skirt, was released before Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream lineup and anime does.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Yu Gi Oh ARCV is the first Yu-Gi-Oh! series to not have the character that the main character defeats in the first episode^note Kaiba, Cronos/Crowler, Ushio/Trudge, and Shark respectively become a rival, anti-hero or frenemy to the main character. Instead, Strong/Sledgehammer more or less vanishes from the series, minus a few cameos.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS breaks a lot of trends followed by the previous Yu-Gi-Oh series.
    • For one, the series runs on pure science and doesn't have any mysticism the series is known for. Yusaku started out as a revenge-driven loner instead of a protagonist that believes in The Power of Friendship, doesn't use a single ace monster to win, and his aces Firewall Dragon and Decode Talker break the pattern of Dragon or Warrior type aces.
    • There are two Duel types used in the show: Master Duels, which operate by the normal Duel rules, and Speed Duels, which are a modified version of the Speed Duel rules from Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, except deck sizes stay the same. They also retain the Skill system from that game. Speed Duels are done on D-Boards similar to Riding Duels on D-Wheels.
    • In the dub, this was the first series to NOT have any vocals in the opening song whatsoever. In the original Duel Monsters, it was mostly instrumental with some lyrics of "Your Move" or Yugi saying "It's Time to D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel". GX through Arc-V had dub original opening songs that differed from the original Japanese version. VRAINS' dub OP is a full instrumental song.
    • It's also the first Yu-Gi-Oh! series to not have the main character defeat a strong opponent in the first duel and then lose in their next duel due to a technicality.^note Yugi losing to Pegasus because the timer ran out before Summoned Skull could attack Illusionist Face Mage, Judai/Jaden being unable to finish off Manjoume/Chazz because they were caught as soon as the former drew Monster Reborn, Yusei losing to Jack in a flashback because he didn't have any Spell or Trap Cards in his deck, Yuma losing to Takashi/Caswell because he couldn't find his Number Cards, and Yuya losing to Yuzu/Zuzu because he couldn't figure out Pendulum Summoning.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS:
    • SEVENS is the first series to not have the characters duel using the Master Duel, with the duels instead being exclusively done with the newly introduced Rush Duel format.
    • It's also the first series to introduce a new summoning method that can be summoned from the Main Deck instead of the Extra Deck.
• The Luminous Witches series breaks the standards set by the World Witches franchise:
  • It features the first animated protagonist who is not of Fusoan descent ^note While Ginny isn't the first non-Fusoan protagonist in the franchise, being preceded by Wilma Bishop and Fernandia Malvezzi before her, she's the first in an animated World Witches series to be so. and is a non-combatant to boot.
  • It's the only series in the franchise to utilize Familiars in the story.
  • The titular squad's members are all non-combatants and are instead idol singers to boost morale. What's more, with the exception of Aira and Gracie, the real-life people each member is based on are all women instead of men. And again, with Aira being the sole exception once more, their real-life counterparts were all singers and/or celebrities instead of military men as per series tradition.
  • It's the only animated World Witches series to feature the main cast as the opening and ending singers instead of Yoko Ishida.^note  Though Ishida would still make an appearance in the show as Captain Ishida.

Films — Animation

• Disney Animated Canon:
  • Bambi was the first animated Disney movie that is not truly a musical film, instead having songs as part of the feature.
  • The Black Cauldron was the first to not be a musical at all.
  • Dinosaur was the first CGI Disney movie, which became the standard style of animation for all films from Wreck-It Ralph and onward. It was also the first to not be based on another work.
• How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is the first installment in the series to not have the Book Ends of starting with "This is Berk" as the first words spoken in the beginning and have it again near the end in a monologue about Berk, and also the first movie to not end with the words "our dragons".
• The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part marks LEGO's fourth theatrical movie, and the first one to lack a father/son conflict, or a redemption arc for the main villain.
• My Little Pony:
  • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls:
    • The human Twilight in the first two Equestria Girls films is predominantly the pony Princess Twilight traveling from Equestria to investigate the human world for some kind of threat. Beginning with the third film, Friendship Games, she's replaced by her own counterpart from the human world. It also begins the shift towards the villains or threat being the result of someone from the human world tampering with magic leaking from Equestria, rather than the Big Bad being from Equestria themselves.
    • The Big Bad of Forgotten Friendship is the first to not be transformed into a monster by the magic they wield, with all subsequent villains following suit.
    • Spring Breakdown is the first in the series to have a magic-related conflict, with No Antagonist actively driving it.
  • My Little Pony: A New Generation:
    • While there have been important male characters in the franchise before (such as perennial sidekick Spike the Dragon and an antagonist named Tirek, both of whom have appeared in multiple MLP generations), Hitch Trailblazer is the first male pony to be a main character.
    • In the past, the only known ponies who have become alicorns were those who completed high-level magic, and had only been unicorns or pegasi. Here, Sunny is an earth pony who never had any genuine experience with any kind of magic until she herself becomes an alicorn at the movie's ending for the act of returning the Magic of Friendship and thus magic itself back to Equestria.
    • In Friendship is Magic, pony villains are almost invariably either alicorns or unicorns made dangerous by their magical powers; the one exception is a pegasus. G5's first villain is an earth pony backed up by technology and an angry mob.
    • The Generation 5 subseries that A New Generation is a part of isn't its own continuity like the previous generations of My Little Pony, but a Distant Sequel to Generation 4.
• Pixar has several examples:
  • 2011 Cars 2 was the first non-Toy Story sequel the studio produced. On a related note, the previous year's release of Toy Story 3 broke a decade-long trend of the studio producing solely original films.
  • Brave: Merida is the first Disney Princess to not have a love interest.
  • Cars 3:
    • Unlike the first two, this exchange is absent.
      Old character: If there's anything you need, just let me know.
      Main character: I sure appreciate that. Thank you. [Beat] Actually, there is one thing... [Gilligan Cut to the request, usually a Brick Joke from earlier, being fulfilled]
    • Same with this:
      Lightning: You know who you're talking to, this is Lightning McQueen. I can handle anything. [Gilligan Cut to the random request he's asked to do]
  • Normally one of the curiosities that this animation studio uses to distinguish their films from Disney Animated Canon is them not making musicals, but then they made Coco, the first to be such, though as a Music Story rather than a full-on, randomly-bursting-into-song musical.
  • Soul is the first Pixar movie to not have John Ratzenberger in a voice role (his likeness does appear as a background character, though), and Luca is the first Pixar film where neither his voice nor likeness show up at all.
  • Turning Red is the first Pixar film to be solely directed by a woman.
  • Lightyear is the first theatrical Toy Story film to not be scored by Randy Newman, with Michael Giacchino taking scoring duties instead. Granted, this one is more an alternate universe spinoff.
  • Another distinguishing aspect from Disney is that Pixar usually keeps the romance on the side or just not have any romance at all. Elemental (2023), however, is their first feature to be a full-on romance movie.

Films — Live-Action

• DC Extended Universe:
  • Man of Steel takes quite few divergences from the typical Superman story such as having Superman's debut occur at the same time as an alien invasion and Lois knowing Superman's true identity from the start.
  • While most adaptations of Wonder Woman have her leaving Themyscira in modern times or during World War II, Diana's debut in man's world occurs during World War I.
  • Justice League has the Justice League form after Superman's death during his battle with Doomsday.
• James Bond:
  • While Goldfinger was an Interim Villain before, all the other villains up until 1971's Diamonds Are Forever were SPECTRE itself or part of it. Live and Let Die started the "villain of the day" trend, though mostly because Eon Productions were Screwed by the Lawyers and couldn't use SPECTRE anymore until 2013.
  • Licence to Kill: Bond goes rogue this time around, he doesn't go on a mission that's assigned to him by MI6, who actually try to stop him. It's instead a very personal revenge affair.
  • Quantum of Solace was a Sequel / Immediate Sequel to Casino Royale, when most of the previous movies (save for, disputably, From Russia with Love and Diamonds Are Forever) were Standalone Episodes.
  • Furthermore the Daniel Craig era has a stronger sense of continuity overall, akin to a Myth Arc. Not to mention that the last Craig era film was written as a proper Grand Finale to the era.
  • No Time to Die:
    • A main Bond Girl, Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), returning from the previous film, Spectre. Another Bond Girl did return before, Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson) from Dr. No to From Russia with Love back in The '60s, but that was a minor role. Also, Bond fathers a child with her and thus becomes an Action Dad and Papa Wolf.
    • The same film has Bond being replaced as 007, which never happened before. For the most part of the film, Bond is not a "Double-Oh-Seven" anymore and he even briefly works for the CIA.
    • The film also averts Hide Your Children, with an endangered young Madeleine in a flashback and her daughter Mathilde, who's been fathered by Bond.
    • Bond dies, and so does Felix Leiter.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe examples:
  • The first two Phases lasted for 6 films. Phase 3 on the other hand went on for 11 films.
  • Phase 4 then broke the trend of major installments of the setting being just movies as it started to include shows from Disney+.
  • In Iron Man, Tony Stark basically goes "screw it" at the end, and reveals to the world on live television that he is Iron Man. This was viewed as such a game-changer at the time since what was considered the norm was superheroes never revealing their real identity.
  • In Captain America: Civil War, Zemo becomes the first main villain since Loki from the Thor movies to not be killed off at the end of the film. Civil War is also the first film where the villain's overall plan doesn't outright fail in the end. Zemo set out to break up the Avengers, and was able to accomplish that.
  • In Black Panther (2018), Killmonger becomes the first villain where the hero, Black Panther, accepts that a portion of the villain's plan is the truth, which is that it's not in the nation of Wakanda's best interests to continue hiding from the rest of the world, and keeping all the best technology to themselves. By the end of the film, Black Panther officially reveals the truth about Wakanda to the world.
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home is the first film in the Spider-Man: Home Trilogy where it's main villain wasn't created or motivated because of Tony Stark's actions in previous movies.
• Descendants 3 is the only film in the franchise that doesn't end with someone saying, "You didn't think this was the end of the story, did you?", because this it is the last installment in the franchise and indeed, the end of the story.
• Mission: Impossible Film Series
  • The 6th film, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, is the first that has the main villain of the previous film (Solomon Lane) make a return for a second film.
  • Fallout was also the first film that doesn't swap in a new one time director. Christopher McQuarrie directed the 5th and 6th films, and is hired to eventually direct the upcoming 7th and 8th films.
• The The Fast and the Furious franchise starts off as a film series that show off car racing for its first 3 movies. By the 4th film onward, the franchise transforms itself into heist films that involve the use of cars.
• The MonsterVerse breaks quite a few trends set up by the Godzilla and King Kong franchises.
  • The series marks the first time where Godzilla has been unambiguously portrayed as a hero for the entire franchise.
  • Kong: Skull Island has Kong fight a group of aircraft (attack helicopters as opposed to biplanes due to the Setting Update) and outright win.
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) is the first time since his debut where King Ghidorah is the Big Bad of the story.
  • Similarly, Godzilla vs. Kong sees Mechagodzilla returning to being a villain in this story.
  • Godilla King Of The Monsters 2019 is also the first time in the series where humanity aids Godzilla on a large scale, with the Argo, multiple air wings, and several warships assisting him in the Final Battle against Ghidorah.
  • Godzilla vs. Kong breaks up an internal trend by having Godzilla return to being villainous although for understandable reasons.
  • A major one in Godzilla vs. Kong: for the first time in roughly eighty years, Kong gets a happy ending, as while Godzilla effectively exiles Kong from the Earth's surface, Kong returns to his ancestral home of Hollow Earth, where he becomes its new king.
• Star Wars:
  • Revenge of the Sith was the first Star Wars film to be rated PG-13 instead of PG. All subsequent films would carry this rating.
  • Rogue One
    • Rogue One is the first film in the franchise to not feature an Opening Scroll.
    • It is also the first to not feature any lightsaber duels, though a lightsaber is used in combat at the end when the Rebels encounter Darth Vader.
    • The famous and recurring "Wilhelm Scream" has been officially retired from use in the film series, since it's now considered an overused and cliché sound effect to use, and it has been replaced with a new (as yet unidentified) recurring stock scream in The Rise of Skywalker.
    • Subverted with "I have a bad feeling about this." Rogue One looks like it shuts down the gag by having K-2S0 try to say it, only to be told to shut up. The Last Jedi then plays coy by having it be said by BB-8 without any subtitles, meaning you wouldn't even know it's said unless you heard the Word of God about it. Just to drive it home, Solo straight up inverts the joke, having Han say that he has a really good feeling about his current situation. And then The Rise of Skywalker brings the gag back in all its glory, just so Lando will have finally gotten the chance to say it.
  • Solo
    • Solo is the first film in the franchise to not feature R2-D2 or C-3PO as characters. Up until then, they were the only two characters who had appeared in every Star Wars film^note  In the original six films, that list included Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, but that trend was broken in the Sequel Trilogy, where they only appear as voice-only cameos from the afterlife since they're both dead, and even that didn't happen in The Last Jedi.(even getting cameos in Rogue One)
    • While Rogue One had no saber-to-saber combat, Solo takes it further, with lightsabers not used in combat at all, though a lightsaber does make an appearance, with Maul igniting his saber near the end of the film to intimidate Qi'ra.

Live-Action TV

• American Horror Story: Hotel:
  • This is the very first season without both Jessica Lange and Frances Conroy, the latter of which could not return due to a prior commitment.
  • This is the first season where Sarah Paulson's character is killed. She previously survived all four seasons. Though, this is also downplayed. Paulson plays two characters this season. One was killed before the series started, and one survives. So, she's still never been killed during the series.
  • Despite the casting of Lady Gaga, there's no musical number in this season.
• American Horror Story: Cult doesn't include series mainstay Lily Rabe for the first time.
• American Horror Story: 1984 is the first season without series mainstays Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson.
• Britain's Got Talent: 2016 was the first year that David used his golden buzzer on a performance where none of the judges buzzed the act. This was also true of the acts who received his Golden Buzzer in subsequent seasons.
• Burn Notice spent six seasons with a familiar pattern; Michael and company face an overriding arc for the season which they make incremental progress on during each episode while most of the episode is spent dealing with a Villain of the Week criminal or whatever. The final season dumped this pattern, became much Darker and Edgier, and focused almost entirely on a single long arc of Michael working for the CIA. There were some occasional side issues to deal with, but they were generally quite brief and quickly resolved.
• Doctor Who:
  • For over 54 years, the Doctor was traditionally cast as a man. However, the casting of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor heralded the first female incarnation of the character.^*Well, ignoring The Curse of Fatal Death.
  • The Fourteenth Doctor is the first incarnation of the Doctor to be played by an actor who played a previous incarnation.
  • With the casting of Ncuti Gatwa, the Fifteenth Doctor is the first main black incarnation of the Doctor.^*Colin Salmon and Jo Martin both played black incarnations of the Doctor - although Salmon was only confirmed as the Doctor by Word of God - but Gatwa is the first to take on the character in the lead role.
  • Michelle Gomez plays Missy, the Master's first female incarnation, following 33 years of male incarnations.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe series:
  • TV shows produced by Marvel Studios generally don't start featuring the MCU's post-credit sequences until towards the end of the series. Ms. Marvel, on the other hand, features one in its very first episode.
  • The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special marks the first MCU installment to have no major villains, instead being about the Guardians’ attempt to give Peter “Star-Lord” Quill a happy Christmas.
• Super Sentai:
  • Uchu Sentai Kyuranger was the first series where members of the core rangers were nonhumans portrayed by guys in suits. Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger followed that up with having all but one of the Zenkaigers portrayed this way.
  • Similarly, Avataro Sentai Donbrothers had two rangers that were portrayed with nonhuman proportions in CGI when they transformed. Additionally, Donbrothers featured the first male pink ranger in live action^note Power Rangers would beat Super Sentai to the punch with Daniel O'Halloran, a male Pink Ranger in the Boom Studios comic.
• Power Rangers:
  • Power Rangers Zeo: As part of the Retool after three seasons of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, the franchise would swap in new powers and suits instead of retaining the ones from Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger.
  • Power Rangers Lost Galaxy was the first series to abandon the Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World angle the previous seasons used, something that would return for Power Rangers: Dino Thunder, disappear again and reappear starting with Power Rangers Megaforce. Lost Galaxy was also the first series to have all new characters taking up Ranger duties instead of bringing holdovers from previous seasons. Lost Galaxy also noticeably lacks a Big Good.
  • Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue is the first season in which the Rangers do not have secret identities. It is also the first season in which the villains are not extraterrestrial and the first season in which the Rangers' technology is man-made instead of being of alien origin.
  • Power Rangers Ninja Storm is the first season to start out with three Rangers rather than five and the first to have the Sixth Ranger be a regular cast member from the very beginning rather than joining much later. It is also the first season to have a female Blue Ranger and a core male Yellow Ranger, and to not enforce the Two Girls to a Team when the original Super Sentai series source material only had one female Ranger in the cast. In fact, future adaptations from Super Sentai wouldn't swap a male Ranger with a female one until Dino Fury.
  • Power Rangers RPM is the first season to take place in a separate continuity from the main series. It is also the first and thus far only season to have most of Earth conquered by the Big Bad. It's also the only one where the Black and Green Ranger both get more focus than the Red and especially the Blue.
  • Power Rangers Dino Charge is the first season not to have a Yellow Ranger (if you don't count the Gold Ranger, that is).
  • Power Rangers Beast Morphers is notably the first season to be adapted from a sentai that had previously been skipped over.
  • Power Rangers Dino Fury is the first season to have a female Green Ranger who also becomes the first openly gay Ranger on the show.
  • Power Rangers Cosmic Fury is the first season to use American-original suits (disregarding the Ninja outfits from Mighty Morphin' Season 3). It is also the first season with a full-time female Red Ranger (Lauren from Samurai was an 11th-Hour Ranger) as well as the first Orange Ranger.
• Odd Squad: Season 3 broke quite a few trends thanks to its retooling of the show.
  • It is the only season to not have the main setting be an underground Headquarters. Instead, the van is used as the primary setting, with a bullpen similar to those seen in the past two seasons.
  • Only season to have a roster of five main characters instead of four.
  • Beginning with this season, Cold Opens are no longer seen at the beginning of episodes. The van is usually shown flying through the sky instead, or the agents are shown at a unique location.
  • Only season to not have Toronto as the setting. Since it's a Mobile Unit, the agents travel to various locations across the world instead.
  • On Omar's insistence in "Running on Empty", the group is split up into alternating pairs, which would become a mainstay for the rest of the series. While past seasons focused on Olive and Otto or Olympia and Otis and not solely on Oprah, Oscar or Oona, this season is unique in that Opal, Omar, Oswald and Orla (and later on, Osmerelda Kim) have a four-way partnership.
  • "Odd Together Now" is the first and only finale to not feature a Group Hug at the end, nor does it feature anyone leaving Odd Squad (and by extension, the show) entirely.

Newspaper Comics

• Garfield: Jon Arbuckle is portrayed as an Abhorrent Admirer to Liz the veterinarian in her first appearance in June 1979 and for most of the subsequent 27 years. In July 2006, they start to date, and she makes much more frequent appearances from then on.

Tabletop Games

• Azul: Queen's Garden heavily modifies the previous games' Drafting Mechanic, and introduces much more complicated pattern matching thanks to its hexagonal tiles with combinations of colours and symbols.

Video Games

• Assassin's Creed:
  • Assassin's Creed: Unity has the first player character in the main console series not to be an ancestor of Desmond Miles. He is also the first since Altair to have only one Hidden Blade, and isn't a Walking Armory.
  • Assassin's Creed Origins is the first game where a Hidden Blade assassination from stealth isn't a guaranteed One-Hit Kill, and it significantly shakes up the combat system, taking a lot of cues from Dark Souls-style RPGs.
• Civilization:
  • Civ V:
    • The Viking civilization did not make a return in this installment. instead being split into Denmark and Sweden.
    • The game marked the first time Hammurabi was not the leader of Babylon, Mao Zedong was not the leader of China, Tokugawa Ieyasu was not the leader of Japan, and Julius Caesar was not the leader of Rome.
  • Civ VI:
    • Starting in Civ III, each game got two major expansion packs. While this game did have two traditional expansions, it also had two additional DLC passes, one of which acted more like a traditional expansion while the other added in various leaders.
    • The marked the first time leaders who could be played in two different civilizations were added in the form of Eleanor Of Aquitaine (England/France) and Kublai Khan (China/Mongolia).
    • Normally, Elizabeth I and Alexander the Great are the leaders of the English and Greek civilizations and are thus present at launch. In this game, the former was absent up until the Leader Pass (roughly five years after the game's launch), while the latter was added in a standalone DLC not as a Greek leader but instead as the leader of his own Macedonian civilization.
    • Similar to the Viking example above, the Celtic civilization was also absent and was instead replaced by Scotland and later Gaul.
    • The perennial Carthaginian civilization was also absent, being instead replaced by their Phoenician progenitors.
    • The game marked the first time William of Orange was not the leader of the Netherlands.
    • Throughout its appearances in the series, the Persian civilization solely represented The Achaemenid Empire. With the addition of Nader Shah in the Leader Pass, it marked the first time that post-Achaemenid history was touched on in this civilization.
• Dariusburst has a small example: previous mainline titles in the series usually assigns male pilots to the red Silver Hawk while female ones are assigned to the blue Silver Hawk. Dariusburst is the first game in the series to invert this tradition, with Ti2, a female AI in the form of a young android girl as the pilot of the red Silver Hawk and the male pilot Riga Pratica as the pilot of the blue Silver Hawk.
• Devil May Cry:
  • Devil May Cry 4:
    • Dante only has one leading lady in each of the first three games (Trish in DMC1, Lucia in DMC2, Lady in DMC3). This game broke the trend by having both Trish and Lady working with him in the Devil May Cry business from now on.
    • In the first three games, the Shotgun doesn't have a unique name and must be obtained as an unlockable weapon somewhere in the stages. In this game, Dante has a shotgun named "Coyote-A" as one of his starting ranged weapons alongside Ebony & Ivory.
  • DmC: Devil May Cry no longer relies on the Metroidvania-esque level design that's present in the past games of the series. Save for the cutscene transitions, the stages are now seamless, unlike the past games where you had to go through or interact with doors and gates when moving to the next area. As a result, the map and mini-map features are no longer present. The next game released, Devil May Cry 5, followed what DmC did in this aspect, thus the metroidvania elements became a relic of the past.
  • Devil May Cry 5:
    • DMC1 has 23 missions in total, but it became an Early-Installment Weirdness because the sequels from DMC2 to DmC consistently have no more than 20 missions each. DMC5 plays with that number a bit. While there are missions numbered from 1 to 20, the game actually has 21 missions in total because the Prologue chapter is counted separately from Mission 1.
    • In the classic continuity, Dante's gauntlet-based Devil Arms (Ifrit, Beowulf and Gilgamesh) consistently had similar movesets derived from Ifrit; the next weapon expands the older one's moves but doesn't radically change them. All three also have the straightforward "hold button to deal more damage" variant of Charged Attacks as their main gimmick. In this game, Dante's new gauntlet-and-greave Devil Arm, Balrog, retains only a few of the recurring classic moves. And instead of reusing the same charged attack variant shared by the three aforementioned Devil Arms, Balrog's combos have an entirely different mechanic for powering up. Balrog's attacks also differ depending on Dante's stance, in contrast to those weapons not having any stance system.
• Dragon Age: Inquisition has been a departure from many traditions established by the previous two and a half installments of the Dragon Age series, such as a Wide-Open Sandbox replacing previous tightly-scripted levels, a complete removal of healing magic, and the artsy blood red-saturated covers being ditched for a green-dominated palette.
• Final Fantasy VII Remake is the first Final Fantasy game since the original NES release of Final Fantasy where no character named Cid appears or is even mentioned. The Cid of Final Fantasy VII, Cid Highwind, wasn't introduced in the original story until after the part of the game the remake covers.
• Fire Emblem Heroes usually features a protagonist on the app icon, but Book VII is the first time since Book I that the antagonist of the story, Gullveig, is the icon, rather than the protagonist Seiðr. This is actually a huge tell that Seiðr and Gullveig are the same person.
• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance features Ike, the first protagonist in the series who is not some form of royalty.
• Five Nights at Freddy's:
  • In Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, rather than hiding in one room and fending off hostile animatronics until 6 A.M. for all five nights, the player has to do night-specific tasks to progress, rather than waiting out a clock. At least, not until Night 5's fake ending... In addition, Bonnie is only Funtime Freddy's handpuppet, Chica is nowhere to be found, and the animatronics are almost entirely brand new.
  • Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator drastically changes the usual formula, with 50% of the game being a Lighter and Softer tycoon simulator based on creating your own pizzeria (and avoiding lawsuits), with the other half being untimed and task-based like Sister Location. A cautious player can even avoid dealing with animatronics altogether (though this does mean losing out on the Golden Ending).
  • Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach broke several. Firstly forgoing a Silent Protagonist who works at the game's location over several nights for a talkative child who's trapped in the building for one night. Second the game introduces a friendly animatronic in Glamrock Freddy and a human antagonist in Vanessa the security guard and her Serial Killer alter ego Vanny. Finally it's an Actionized Sequel where the player has free roam of the entire building instead of being restricted to one location (or being restricted to several set paths like Sister Location).
• F-Zero 99:
  • Unlike previous 99 games on the Nintendo Switch (like Tetris 99 and Pac-Man 99), which are largely single-player games with added-in online multiplayer interference mechanics to make them work as competitive online multiplayer battle royales, F-Zero 99 takes a game that is already built around battling opponents on the same field and simply cranks up the insanity by making it multiplayer and adding way more players to race simultaneously.
  • Unlike the other 99 games, where all matches continue until there is one player remaining, races in F-Zero 99 strictly last for four laps, with final standings being decided at the end of the last lap (or in the last race, in the case of Prixs).
  • This game was not developed by Arika, who made all previous 99 online battle royale games.
• For the Gears of War franchise, the first 4 games follow a completely linear storyline that keeps the player moving along the same path the whole way through. Gears of War 5 changes this up as the first game in the series to play around with open landscapes that can be explored to complete Side Quests.
• Before the release of Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, all of the mainline Guilty Gear installments' Final Bosses have been women. -STRIVE- bucks the trend by pitting you up against a male opponent at the end of Arcade Mode.
• Half-Life: Alyx is the first Half-Life game where the Player Character is fully voiced, rather than a Heroic Mime.
• Halo:
  • Halo 3: ODST is a Gaiden Game that takes place during the events of Halo 2 and features an ODST team fighting to repel the Covenant invasion of New Mombasa. It is told in Anachronic Order as the center character navigates a Hub Level with random enemy patrols, while discovering clues of what his squad was up to while they were scattered. On finding a clue, a traditional linear level would load in as the player takes control of a different squad member.
  • Halo 5: Guardians features a split narrative where each story has a four-man Spartan team, and in campaign co-op guests can jump in as one of the supporting characters, with different HUD styles and standard loadouts. This is a significant change as while campaign co-op was a common feature before, the story was intended to facilitate a One-Man Army and having friends join is a side perk rather than the feature. This change meant the entire game was designed with four players in mind, with levels spread out significantly and team tactics encouraged.
  • Halo Infinite takes a page from the first game where the entire story takes place in or around a single Halo ring. Unlike the first game, Infinite has an eye towards a Wide-Open Sandbox so the player can achieve objectives, rescue stranded allies and upgrade their arsenal as they progress from one mission to the other. While the linear story still has a number of self-contained levels, the exploration aspect of the games was expanded a hundred-fold.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild combines this with Revisiting the Roots. The game features a lot of aspects that used to be Early-Installment Weirdness, such as it being an open-world game with RPG Elements, as well as completely new elements, like equippable weapons and armor, the ability to jump and climb, and fully voiced cutscenes. Even Link's classic green tunic and pointy cap is no longer his default outfit, relegated to unlockable status instead. Promotional artwork would also show Link with his blue Champion's tunic as well.
  • Cadence of Hyrule is the first game in the franchise, Spin-Off or otherwise, to be produced by a Western studio. ^note The CD-i games are not considered to be official entries. The gameplay is no less unusual, as it features the rhythm-based roguelike design of the developer's previous game, Crypt Of The Necrodancer.
• Most of the champions in Legends of Runeterra, the series mascots of League of Legends, are all characters that debuted in the game that kickstarted the franchise. Then in 2022 for the "Worldwalker" expansion, the game introduces its first champion to debut in LoR, Norra, a character pre-established in League's lore but who's never been a playable character.
• Like a Dragon:
  • Being a Soft Reboot, Yakuza: Like a Dragon makes significant changes to the series. Chief among these changes is the Genre Shift from Wide-Open Sandbox with Beat 'em Up elements to an Eastern RPG that takes inspiration from (and even name-drops) Dragon Quest, with the developers stating this JRPG gameplay style would be the norm for the main series going forward^note Spinoffs, such as Lost Judgment and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, would retain the classic action-RPG style of gameplay. In addition, Kamurocho takes a backseat as the main setting, with the majority of the game taking place in a new location: Ijincho, Yokohama. Furthermore, it is the first main-series game since the series' debut to feature an English dub.
  • Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is the first non-samurai or crossover game in the entire series in which the classic setting of Kamurocho is not visited.^note That's a total of 10 games across 16 years. That list expands to 11 if you count The Kaito Files as its own thing, 13 if you include the two Kiwami remakes and the original games as separate entities, and 16 if you also count the spin-off game Dead Souls and the Black Panther duology.
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is the first game in the series where Nick Fury is not an unlockable character.
• Mega Man:
  • Mega Man 7 broke away from the prior games in the series in various ways. First, it did away with the villain misdirection that the previous three games had, presenting Dr. Wily as the Big Bad from the very beginning and having only one endgame fortress. Speaking of the endgame fortress, each of its stages has a different BGM theme. Next, it uses elements from the Game Boy subseries, splitting the eight Robot Masters into two groups of four with a small stage in between, as well as incorporating an item shop. Finally, before you play the main Robot Master stages, you have to play through a short introductory stage setting up the storyline, a feature originally introduced in Mega Man X. These changes were retained for Mega Man 8 as well.
  • While the first four Game Boy games largely recycled Robot Masters from the NES games, Mega Man V features a completely original set of bosses, all named after planets of the Solar System instead of "___ Man". It also replaces the traditional Charge Shot with the Mega Arm, a boomeranging Rocket Punch. On a series-wide scale, it's also one of the very few games where Dr. Wily isn't the Final Boss.
  • Mega Man Zero 4 replaces the Shield Boomerang and Rod weapons with the Z-Knuckle and only has one permanent Cyber Elf rather than multiple single-use ones.
  • Mega Man Star Force 3 is the only game in the Mega Man Battle Network timeline where the Final Boss is the Big Bad himself rather than his monster. He's also the only Big Bad in the timeline to die.
  • When swapping weapons in Mega Man 11, Mega Man changes his model rather than his palette.
• Metroid Dread breaks several trends the series is known for:
  • Most Metroid games have Samus start from her gunship and occasionally return to save and restore her health and missiles as the game continues. This game inverts this, with Samus ending up deep underground, separated from her ship after the direct elevator back to the surface is destroyed, and her primary goal throughout the game is to find a way back to the surface and return to her gunship. She only manages to return during the ending Escape Sequence, after the acquisition of the Hyper Beam and the collapsing infrastructure allows her to blast a path back to her gunship in time to escape the exploding planet.
  • The Morph Ball and Bombs are usually found pretty early, giving the player a lot more places to explore. In Dread, the two items are found quite a bit later, which means many narrow spaces and items placed behind them will be inaccessible for a while. However, the new slide move, available from the very start, acts as a kind of limited Morph Ball, so it's not quite as restrictive as the late acquisitions would be in any other Metroid game.
  • Players who beat a Metroid game fast enough usually get to see Samus outside of her suit in a variety of ending sequences, with the exception of Metroid Prime where only her helmet was removed. Dread bucks the trend by not doing either of those: the game only has one ending sequence and not a single inch of her suit is removed during it.
  • The Chozo are always a story background element as Benevolent Precursors and don't make any actual appearances unless you count the Chozo Ghost enemies in Metroid Prime. Dread has actual live Chozo that Samus can meet and they are an integral part of the story, with one serving as the Big Bad and the others being his minions.
  • In the 2D games, Samus would usually get the Hi-Jump Boots, which allows her to jump a lot higher. Dread uses the Spin Boost instead, which acts as a Double Jump similar to the Space Jump Boots in Metroid Prime.
• Mortal Kombat:
  • Mortal Kombat 3 would be the first game without Johnny Cage nor the Ninjas (most notably Series Mascot Scorpion, with Sub-Zero gaining instead a full human form), something later rectified for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy. For that matter, the installment would be the first one with a Dream Match Game.
  • Mortal Kombat 4 made the Video Game 3D Leap, introduced weapons (a feature later retained for the rest of the Midway timeline), and removed all finishers that aren't Fatalities.
  • Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance reduced the Fatality count to one per character, with some characters not even getting that. It also introduced a Combo Breaker system, a feature that was retained in all posterior games. And it was the first mainline game where Midway Stopped Numbering Sequels.
  • Mortal Kombat: Deception introduced mid-match finishers, a Mini-Game in the form of Chess Kombat (with Armageddon later introducing Motor Kombat), a RPG-style story mode (later continued by the spinoff Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and Armageddon), and the Hara-Kiri.
  • Mortal Kombat: Armageddon was the first MK game that implemented Torch the Franchise and Run with ain in-story explanation, with Mortal Kombat 11 following suit.
  • Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe was the game that introduced what would be NetherRealm Studios's character-chapter-based story mode, a feature found in every other Mortal Kombat game following this one as well as the Injustice series. And it was the first time that a mainline^note This game is still considered as Mortal Kombat 8 despite being a spinoff. MK game crossed over with another universe, with all later games featuring Guest Fighters as Downloadable Content.
  • Mortal Kombat 9 introduced the three-tier super bar that allowed characters to perform EX Special Attacks, Combo Breakers and X-Ray Moves. With the exception of 11, which implemented a different system, this is the template for all posterior MK games. It also introduced a "Challenge" tower with different tasks for the characters.
  • Mortal Kombat X introduced the Variation system which allows the same character to perform different moves depending on the chosen variation. This feature later appeared in both Injustice 2 and Mortal Kombat 11 in more customizable forms, with the Kameo system in Mortal Kombat 1 being a more streamlined form.
  • Mortal Kombat 11 ditched the three-tier Super Bar system for a two-bar (offense/defense) and a breakaway system. It wasn't well-received, so MK1 reverted it to the three-bar system. It also introduced (after previously testing the feature in Injustice 2) duo-based chapters for the Story Mode and contained a post-release story mode (Aftermath) that tied several loose ends before torching the timeline and running by way of Liu Kang resetting the timeline.
  • Mortal Kombat 1 reverted the breakaway system and the offense/defense system to the three-tier system and added a Kameo system where players select a main character and a Kameo character that allows different moveset variations. It also made big changes to individual characters as a result of Liu Kang's New Era.
• Onechanbara: The then new sequels, Z ~ Kagura ~ and Z2: Chaos, broke the trend by no longer being marketed as budget games. Kagura started a new trend of having levels be more designed like those in Devil May Cry and Bayonetta. A new ranking system became standard staring with this game. Losing the Dynasty Warriors inspired aspect of past titles. The game introduced two new playable characters, Kagura and Saaya (who are a pair of half-vampire half-sisters), taking the lead roles. Co-op was dropped. The monster roster was no longer mostly made up of zombies, but now contained vampires, werewolves, demons, and many more in a diversified roster. Chaos would take this even further by allowing up to four playable characters, allowing the player to switch between on the fly. Aya and Saki, the mainstays of the older titles, came back as playable characters, teaming up with Kagura and Saaya. In addition, Chaos saw the introduction of Dare Drive and Xatic Mode to Vampiric and Baneful Sisters respectively. Acting as a Devil Trigger, replacing the Berserk Mode from past entries.
• Pokémon:
  • Generation III (Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire):
    • The first generation to introduce more than one pseudo-legendary — Salamence and Metagross.
    • Team Rocket is not the villainous organization in the game. Instead Team Magma and Team Aqua are the region's villains. From this point on, a new region meant a specific villain team operation within it. Also they would have heavier plot significance within the game, targeting the one of the cover legendaries for their goals.
    • This is the first time that Elite Four has a distinct Battle Theme Music of their own instead of sharing a theme.^note They used the Normal Trainer battle theme in Red/Blue/Yellow and the Johto Gym Leader battle theme in Gold/Silver/Crystal.
    • This is the first generation where the main rivals, Brendan/May and Wally, were Friendly Rivals instead of Jerkasses like Blue and Silver. This would become the norm going forward, with the exceptions of Bede and to a lesser extent Gladion.
  • Generation IV (Pokémon Diamond and Pearl): Cynthia is the first female Champion of a region.
  • Generation V (Pokémon Black and White):
    • Professor Juniper is the first female Pokémon professor.
    • Most games have the final battle with the villainous team occur at some point around the 7th or 8th Gym, and Pokémon League Champion as the Final Boss. Generation V's Pokémon Black and White, however, has Team Plasma interrupt the Pokémon League challenge before you get to fight the Champion, resulting in their leader being the Final Boss and the League Champion being a post-game Optional Boss.
    • Technical Machines are now being infinite use rather than single-use items. This would remain the case for all future games, including remakes. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl would make TMs single-use again, but multiple copies can be obtained for all of them. Scarlet and Violet also makes TMs single use, but gives the ability to craft as many additional copies as you want using Legaue Points and items dropped from Wild Pokémon.
    • The Unova Elite Four are the first Elite Four that can be battled in any order the player wants, rather than the player being forced to battle them in a specific order.
    • The Unova region is the first main series region not to be a counterpart of a region of Japan, being based on New York City instead.^note The first region to not be based on Japan in the franchise is Orre from Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. It's also the only region to have a Dub Name Change, being known as Isshu in the Japanese version.
    • Traditionally, after the first two games of a generation were released, an Updated Re-release in the form of a singular separate game is made to act as the "definitive" version. However, this generation got direct sequels instead, and since then, following generations lacked a traditional third version: Generation VI chose to remake Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire rather than follow up its main pair of games, Generation VII's third version came in the form of another pair of games instead, and Generations VIII and IX went the route of a downloadable Expansion Pack for its mainline titles.
    • In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, the box legendary can't be caught during the main story, but instead, can only be captured during the postgame.
  • Generation VI (Pokémon X and Y):
    • The Gen VI games not getting any third game or sequel, as previously mentioned, makes it the only generation pre-Sword and Shield where a third Legendary Pokémon related to the main duo (often seen as a postgame Optional Boss in the initial games) doesn't headline said title with a major role (and often a new form or two).^note The first two generations don't count, due to not having headlining Legendaries at all, while Gen VIII would forgo a third version in favor of DLC expansions. Emerald had Rayquaza, Platinum had Giratina, Black 2/White 2 had Kyurem, and Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon had Necrozma. Zygarde did receive a major role in the XYZ season of the anime and a minor appearance in Sun/Moon, however.
    • Gen VI marked the first time the amount of Pokemon added in a generation did not exceed 100.
    • Kalos lacks the “Surprisingly Creepy Moment dungeon” that had become a tradition of other regions. The closest we get are the Scary House, which is an intentionally-underwhelming self-parody of the concept, and the actually creepy ghost room in Lumiose City which is only a single room.
  • Generation VII (Pokémon Sun and Moon):
    • Gym Battles were replaced with the Island Challenge Trials and Grand Trials. In addition, Hidden Machines have been replaced with the Ride Pager, with future installments also replacing HMs with similar mechanics.
    • Sun and Moon introduced Legendary Pokémon capable of evolution, while Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! introduced Mythical Pokémon that can do so as well.
    • Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were the first games to add completely new Pokémon mid-generation.
    • The role of the villain team shifted in this generation in contrast to Gens III to VI, with Team Skull playing second fiddle and being just muscle to Lusamine and the Aether Foundation. Then you have Team Yell in Generation VIII merely being just Loony Fans to one of The Rival characters, while having no association to the Big Bad Chairman Rose. The role of the cover legendaries also shifted to being sought out/awakened by the player character to thwart the plans of the villains.
    • In previous generations, the Pokémon League is an existing institution. However in this generation, the League is newly created during the story, meaning there is no previous Champion to challenge for the title, making the player character the first Champion in the region ever.
  • Generation VIII (Pokémon Sword and Shield, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and Pokémon Legends: Arceus):
    • The Fossil Pokémon of the Galar Region are the first fossils to not be part Rock-type.
    • Rookidee is the very first early-game bird to be pure Flying-type, unlike the previous early-game birds which started out Normal/Flying.
    • Piers is the very first Dark-type Gym Leader.
    • Raihan is the first Gym Leader since Liza and Tate to have a Double Battle format for his challenge, and his Gym has a second specialization on top of Dragon — weather manipulation.
    • The Galar League is the first league to lack the Elite Four group of Trainers to face before taking on the Champion, instead having an anime-style League Conference known as the Champion's Cup.
    • In the postgame, Bede becomes the first male Fairy-type Gym Leader.
    • Instead of a traditional Updated Re-release, the games were the first to use Downloadable Content expansions that added new areas and Pokémon to the base game.
    • The Isle of Armor expansion brings us the move Poltergeist, which is the very first Ghost-type move to not have 100% base accuracy or be an Always Accurate Attack.
    • The Crown Tundra gives us Calyrex, the first Pokémon capable of having two Abilities simultaneously when mounted upon one of two horse Pokémon.
    • Eternatus is the first Pokémon to have a form and moves that absolutely cannot be used by the player in any legitimate capacity, making it feel more like an actual boss battle than previous plot-relevant Legendary Pokémon did. It's also the first Legendary Pokémon to be a Poison-type.
    • Most infamously, Sword and Shield are the first mainline games where only certain Pokémon from previous generations can be brought in, instead of the entire National Dex up to that point.
    • Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the remakes of Diamond and Pearl, are the first games to be considered a part of the main series and to not be developed by Game Freak. They are also the first remakes to not redesign the human cast.
    • Pokémon Legends: Arceus is the first main game where it is neither part of a version, a remake, or a sequel. Instead it is a game with only one version that has its own storyline. It is also the first game to have a different battle system, have the playable character be attacked by Pokémon directly, have starters that originated in more than one Generation, and have other ways to make it easier to catch Pokémon aside from battling them. The setting also isn't analogous to Real Life Present Day, and instead based on a previous era of human history.
  • Generation IX (Pokémon Scarlet and Violet)
    • The announcement trailer for Scarlet and Violet is the first time that a region's starter Pokémon had their designs revealed without their names, with those being announced afterwards separately on social media. It is also the first time since Pokémon Black and White that the starters were revealed with only their 2D artwork, as opposed to their in-game models.
    • This is the first time that the protagonists have different colors of starting outfits depending on what version you play. The outfit worn in Scarlet is vibrant and orange-ish, while the Violet outfit is darker and purplish. These are also the first games in the series where the protagonists have the same outfit model regardless of gender.
    • Professors Sada and Turo aren't named after plants like the professors from previous games, instead having names related to "past" and "future". This is also the first game where the local professor the player associates with is different between the two versions. Additionally, it turns out their usual role of providing new starter Pokémon and introducing the player character to the world has been given to Director Clavell instead, who does have a plant-themed name.
    • Though the first two generations had some degree of nonlinearity at certain points in their storylines, this is the first to allow gyms to be done in any order. Also, rather than being a position only held by one character, Champion in this game is instead a rank awarded to anyone who pass a test known as the Champion Assessment.
    • While the Player Character dealing with the region's evil team has always been placed alongside the gym challenge (which is called Victory Road in this generation) in the main storyline, this is the first generation where it's a core story in its own right with the ★ Starfall Street ★ storyline shown in the Treasure trailer. In addition, the Path of Legends storyline takes cues from Pokémon Legends: Arceus' storyline, but is now juxtaposed alongside the main gym challenge as well.
    • In addition to the paths being treated as separately important storylines, this is also the first mainline Pokémon game to have the battle against the Elite Four and Champion not be the final major event in your game, and the Pokemon League being your final location. Instead, it's only one of the three paths you must play through, and all three paths have to be completed before you can unlock the true final story and boss "The Way Home" á la Sonic Adventure 2.
    • In most mainline Pokémon games, your region's Professor and their laboratory are typically among the first locations you end up visiting to start your journey, and oftentimes are un-related to the bigger conflicts that come along later in the story. In here, your region's professor's laboratory is one of the last levels in the game, with said professor being a major source of conflict that drives the story in the background.
    • Earlier generations introduced party Pokémon following their trainer in the overworld, but the "Let's Go!" feature of these games is the first that allows them to fight wild Pokémon in auto battles with little to no input from the trainer.
    • This is the first odd-numbered generation to introduce evolutions of old Pokemon, something usually only done in even-numbered generations. ^note Hoenn’s Wynaut and Azurill were pre-evolutions
    • This is the first generation where NPC trainers won't challenge you to battles as soon as they spot you. Instead, you have to walk up and challenge them. NPCs will also have icons appear over their head when you get close, so unlike previous generations, you can tell in advance which ones will challenge you to a battle and which ones only want to talk.
    • The Paldean dex breaks several trends of formulaic Pokémon families that had been expected staples of each generation: the new Pikachu clone Pawmi is not a solo one-stage Pokémon (it has three stages), there isn't a typical three-stage "regional Bug" family (but there are a few two-stage families), and no typical three-stage "regional bird" family. Even the two-stage Normal-type rodent isn't placed early in the dex or found very early in the map.
    • There is no longer a Day Care or other dedicated location to leave Pokémon to breed and produce Eggs; instead, they are produced by compatible Pokémon in the active party during picnics.
    • Previous generations always had a Big Bad to serve as Climax Boss for each installment. In Scarlet and Violet, there is No Antagonist. While Team Star does oppose the player, it turns out that they were Good All Along and only formed their team to combat the bullying problem at the academy., The True Final Boss Turo/Sada are incredibly benevolent and assist the player and only have to face them because they can't fight their programing and are forced to fight the player.
    • While Larry isn't the first Gym Leader to be both a Gym Leader and an Elite Four ^note that honour goes to [[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Wallace , he is the first to use two different types depending on his role (Normal-type as a Gym Leader, Flying-type as an Elite Four). He is also the first gym leader to have ascended in his own game, as Lance and Wallace became champions after their respective games champions left the role wide open.
    • Both waves of Downloadable Content break long-standing norms:
    • The Teal Mask sees you journey to the Kitakami region, a completely new land far removed from your current region. Pokémon Gold and Silver is the only game that did something similar, and in that case the Kanto and Johto regions are practically neighboring regions.
    • If a Pokémon is introduced midway through the generation, it is either a Legendary Pokémon, a Mythical, part of a Pseudo Legendary group such as Ultra Beasts and Paradox Pokémon, or part of an evolution of a previously established line. The Teal Mask introduces the Poltchageist family as a normal Pokémon with no relation to any other line that can be caught in the wilds of Kitakami.
    • The Indigo Disk breaks a tradition that has remained unbroken since the series began: It introduces a second Elite Four, as players can take on four elite Trainers from Blueberry Academy, each of which specializes in one type of Pokémon.
• Puyo Puyo:
  • In each era of the series, there is a trio consisting of a girl with a name starting with "A", a female rival whose name starts with "R", and a boy character whose name starts with "S". Puyo Puyo 7 introduced Risukuma, who is male unlike Ringo Ando.
  • The A-R-S pattern is broken again in Puyo Puyo!! Quest, which has a female S character named Seo.
• Shin Megami Tensei:
  • Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne: The game introduces a fully 3D third person camera (though a classic style first-person mode can be unlocked), none of the potential story routes the player can choose follows the classic Order, Chaos, and Neutral conflict, and (prior to later editions including Dante and Raidou), the Demi-Fiend is the only "human" character in the party. It is also the first game in the franchise to implement the Press Turn system that later games would iterate on.
  • Shin Megami Tensei V: Your main friends at the beginning of the game are Ichiro and Yuzuru. Ichiro, much like prior Chaos Heroes, resembles a Japanese Delinquent, is quick to get himself into trouble to fight monsters, and gets an extremely demonic-looking partner. Yuzuru, like most Law Heroes, is extremely sophisticated in appearance and behavior, as well as summoning a demon of the Holy Race. They're the Law and Chaos Heroes, respectively.
  • Devil Survivor: Members of the Law alignment are typically calm, collected, or even emotionless people who either occupy positions of authority or act on behalf of some higher power. Keisuke Takagi, however, is an otherwise normal kid with a lot of pent-up anger at the world's injustices. The minute the demon Yama offers him the power to act on that anger by becoming judge, jury, and executioner of criminals in the lockdown, Keisuke takes it without even the slightest hesitation.
  • Persona 5 Royal has the first Final Boss in the mainline Persona series to not be a god born or reached from the collective unconscious, but a human with an unusually powerful Persona.
  • Unlike the previous two games, Persona 5 does not have Social Links for the party- the Fool Social Link developed over most of the game, and the Judgment Link in the endgame. Instead, the Fool Social Link is for Igor and the Judgment Link is for Sae, and the two cap out in reverse order; Judgment if you avoid the bad ending and Fool shortly before the final boss of the original game.
• Splatoon 3 breaks quite a few established trends with Deep Cut, the game's newest idol group. Not only is their third member (Big Man) a male, he's also the first idol to not be an Inkling or Octoling. Lacking a pink/green color scheme like the idol groups before them, they also are a trio instead of a duo. Lastly, they play an antagonistic role in Hero Mode, whereas Off the Hook and the Squid Sisters acted as your friendly Mission Control.
• Street Fighter 6 differs in several ways from its predecessors:
  • From a narrative standpoint, 6 is the first game to be set after Street Fighter III, after the last few games were set up as Interquels set between Street Fighter II and III.
  • Along the lines of the advancement in the series' narrative, the returning characters from previous games, such as Ryu and Chun-Li, sport completely new appearances. Ryu, for example, grows a beard and replaces his gi top with a kasaya robe, while Chun-Li sets aside her white ox horn hair decorations and spiked bracelets, and exchanges her blue qipao with an elegant blue-and-white cheongsam. Their original outfits are available for use in Fighting Ground mode, though.
  • The returning characters all have brand new theme songs as well, after the previous games used remixes of their themes from II.
  • After III tried to set up Alex as a new main protagonist, 6 is the first game to sideline Ryu and Ken from the hero's roles, with Luke Sullivan and Jamie Siu taking center stage as the starring fighters. Ryu is still heavily promoted, but he's now Out of Focus in the story.
  • After the previous games in the series (spin-offs aside) used Roman numerals in their titles, Street Fighter 6 is the first to use an Arabic numeral. The Roman numeral for 6, however, has still been worked into the game's logo: simply turn the stylized 6 a quarter of the way clockways to see it.
  • Whereas IV and V used stylized art styles inspired by Japanese calligraphy and clay models (respectively), 6 uses more realistic character designs, courtesy of the RE Engine.
• Super Smash Bros.:
  • Snake is quite infamously the very first character to come from a third-party company in the SSB roster, as well as the first character from a primarily M-rated franchise, making his debut in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
  • In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Mewtwo was not only the first veteran to be cut from the roster and return via DLC, but it also was the first DLC fighter who was previously a trophy in the base game. Lucas would have the exact same treatment later.
  • Smash 4 would give Master Hand its own distinct Battle Theme Music, as opposed to sharing Final Destination's stage theme.
  • The Piranha Plant is the first playable fighter to be based off an ordinary mook rather than a specific character or a collectible monster, making a surprise appearance as a bonus DLC character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
  • Ultimate's DLC also has Banjo and Kazooie, who are the first fighters to come from a series created and owned by a non-Japanese developer. Even more significantly, they're also the first fighters to be owned by one of Nintendo's direct competitors in the console market, eventually paving the way for Steve.
  • Min Min, yet another Ultimate DLC fighter, is the first time a franchise's first combatant representative wasn't a mascot character for their home series, as well as the first DLC fighter who started off as a Spirit, eventually paving the way for fellow Spirits Pyra and Mythra.
  • Steve is the first fighter to be an indie character, when taking into account Minecraft's origin as an indie game.
  • Sephiroth is the first playable third-party and DLC character to be a villain, eventually paving the way for Kazuya Mishima^note Unlike Sephiroth, Kazuya started out as a hero in the original game, but a Villain Protagonist in the later games.. His addition also marks the first time a third-party franchise has two playable representatives that have completely distinct movesets and playstyles instead of one of them being a Moveset Clone.
  • Kazuya Mishima is the first fighter to neither have a victory theme nor have the Smash announcer declare his victory. The announcer from Tekken 7 does this instead.
  • Sora, the very last DLC fighter of Ultimate, is the first fighter who is owned by a company that isn't predominantly a gaming company (Disney) and the first fighter who originated from the PlayStation 2 who isn't just a costume like the Dragon Quest VIII Hero. He's also the first fighter from a Square Enix-produced game to keep his English voice actor, and is thus the first fighter to have a Celebrity Voice Actor.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Super Mario 3D World is the first mainline game where Peach appears but isn't kidnapped at any point since Super Mario Bros. 2. The Sprixie Princesses take her role as the Damsels in Distress.
  • Super Mario Odyssey does away with the concept of Video-Game Lives, a staple of Mario platformers since Donkey Kong. Losing a life instead results in the loss of 10 coins.
  • In various Mario RPGs where there is a brand new villain, Bowser is either overshadowed or forced to team up with Mario. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team was the first Mario RPG to have Bowser team up with the new villain. Not only that, Bowser usurped the villain spot in the endgame.
  • Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam is the first game in the Mario & Luigi series to not have characters original to the game. This is especially notable on the villain side, where it is just Bowser and Paper Bowser teaming up, and all the bosses and enemies are all brought over from the mainline platformers, in both normal and Paper variants.
  • Mario Party: The Top 100: Not counting Mario Party Advance (which actually reduced the usual cast of playable characters to only 4), this is the first game since Mario Party 2 that doesn't introduce any new playable characters. The game also eschews board gameplay almost completely, in favor of showcasing minigames in various other modes.
  • All of the Big Bads of the Paper Mario series went after the Mario Bros., Bowser and his minions or Princess Peach. Olly of Paper Mario: The Origami King, however, is out to get all of the Toads. Origami King is also the first Mario RPG where Bowser is never fought at any point.
• Tomb Raider (2013) broke several long running trends that the franchise was known for. Instead of being an experienced adventurer archeologist who has no issues in killing people, this version of Lara is a student with little to no experience with combat or adventuring and freaks out when she makes her first human kill. While the old Lara was full of wit and charm, Lara in the new timeline is somewhat meek and completely out of her element until she gets used to the dangers thrown her way. While Lara is always seen with her signature dual pistols, the Lara in the 2013 version doesn't dual wield guns until the very end of the game. Lara's design in the 2013 game also has her looking more realistic and has smaller breasts in comparison to her traditional style which had her looking more cartoony with exaggerated features.
• Total War: Warhammer Trilogy:
  • Norsca is the first race to not be in from the 8th Edition, being the first Ascended Extra faction.
  • Cylostra Direfin is the first Canon Foreigner Legendary Lord (not counting Sarthorael the Everwatcher, who is not playable on the campaign).
  • The Hunter and the Beast is the first cross-game Lord Pack, as it pits the Empire from the first game against the Lizardmen from the second game.
  • The Twisted and the Twilight is the first Lord Pack to feature a race that was previously added in a Race Pack, in this case being the Wood Elves.
  • The first two games each had four races with two Legendary Lords each. The third game went a step further with six races (technically seven if the Daemons of Chaos are counted) and nine Legendary Lords. In addition, the races it added were not in 8th Edition and did not have Army Books of their own: Kislev was a secondary nation only playable as a supplement to the Empire, Cathay never had any playable representation at all (being a case of Unseen No More), and the Monogod factions (Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle, and Slaanesh) are split off from the main Daemons of Chaos faction (though this follows the modern tabletop precedent of giving the Chaos Gods their own dedicated Army Books).
  • The Champions of Chaos DLC is the first "Race Pack" to focus on expanding existing an existing race rather than introducing an entirely new one (being basically an upgunned Lord Pack). In this case, it expanded the Warriors of Chaos and Monogod factions with missing Marked Mortal units.
• Unreal series:
  • During the early games, the Rocket Launcher had two firemodes that launched either up-to-six rockets (in spread or spiral formation) or grenades. This trend was broken in Unreal II: The Awakening with the Hydra Rocket Launcher, which can launch either one big rocket, or the rocket itself splitting mid-path into up to four subrockets, each dealing less damage. But it wasn't until Unreal Championship and Unreal Tournament 2003 that the Rocket Launcher would find its definitive design, with the main fire shooting a rocket and the alternate fire shooting up to three rockets in spread or spiral formation.
  • The XMP expansion for Unreal II would introduce vehicles, big maps with focused objectives and player classes with their own loadouts to the series. Vehicles would also appear in Unreal Tournament 2004 and Unreal Tournament III, these games also feature a gamemode with big maps and focused objectives (Onslaught and Warfare, respectively), and Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict's proto-Hero Shooter style of gameplay would feature player classes with their own (both individual and race-based) loadouts.
  • Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Championship extended the player's moveset by adding Wall Jump, dodge-jump, Double Jump, combo-jumps (i.e. Wall-Dodge-Jump) and polishing the Lift Jump (with certain maps having shortcuts or rewards for those who managed to pull them at the right spot). Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict would extend even more these movesets with chimney jumps and the third-person exclusive Jump Attack.
  • Unreal Tournament 2003 was the first Tournament/Championship entry where Facing Worlds wasn't set in an asteroid floating in the middle of space, something that was later explored in Unreal Tournament III.
  • Unreal Championship is the first Tournament/Championship installment without versions of Facing Worlds and Deck and the first without a Redeemer.
• WarioWare:
  • Unlike the previous games, Game & Wario is more focused on traditional mini games that use the Wii U's gamepad instead of microgames, which are demoted to one of several mini games ("Gamer") instead.
  • WarioWare Gold is the first game to break the franchise's trend of having No Antagonist by featuring a Big Bad in the form of Wario Deluxe. It is also the first game to ditch the Voice Grunting from previous games in favor of full voice acting.
  • WarioWare: Get It Together! is the first game in the franchise to have the cast be playable characters as opposed to being non-playable hosts, with the player having to play as them to complete microgames unlike in past games, where they are directly completed by the player. Also unlike in previous games, the character stories lack an epilogue cutscene.
  • WarioWare: Move It! is the first game set outside Diamond City.
• The Xenoblade Chronicles series, and Xenogears and Xenosaga before them, heavily featured religious symbolism and themes, with a heavy influence of Gnosticism. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 takes place in an entirely secular society and its world's people have no concept of gods or religion at all, to the point where the English dub uses Future Slang to avoid religious swears. This extends all the way through the game, as the antagonistic faction and Big Bad are not gods or divine beings, but personifications of humanity's fear of the future and desire for the status quo.

Visual Novels

• Ace Attorney:
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations:
    • The first case in the game doesn't have the player control Phoenix, but Mia in a Flashback Episode.
    • In the previous two games, only the first case purely takes place in the courtroom with no investigation. Here, the third game's fourth case is also purely in the courtroom.
  • Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney:
    • The first case in the game is the first opening case where you face a witness who is neither law enforcement, the defendant, nor the culprit. Olga Orly is set up to be the obvious Starter Villain like Frank Sahwit, Richard Wellington, and Dahlia Hawthorne before her, but then the game pulls a fast one on you by fingering your own mentor as the true murderer.
    • Klavier Gavin is the first rival prosecutor that wasn't completely antagonistic towards the protagonists, having instead a friendly rivalry with them. If anything, it was inverted: Apollo is the one who possesses an irrational dislike of Klavier but mostly of his music.
  • Case 2 of The Great Ace Attorney is the first time in the series that a case only lasts a single day, but has no trial (usually, one-day cases consist entirely of a trial with no investigation), with the culprit instead being found during the investigation (even the Ace Attorney Investigations spinoffs featured segments equivalent to Cross-Examinations, which The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band lacks.)
• Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony:
  • This is the first main series game to not have an Ultimate Lucky Student in the main cast.
  • This is also the first game where Megumi Ogata doesn't play a newly-introduced character in the original Japanese.
  • Unlike Hifumi Yamada or Teruteru Hanamura, Ryoma Hoshi, the student with a Non-Standard Character Design this time around, isn't a pervert and has a much more serious personality that either of them.
  • Unlike Leon Kuwata and Teruteru Hanamura, the culprit of Chapter 1 is prepared to be executed. And unlike Mondo Owada and Peko Pekoyama, the culprit of Chapter 2 tries their hardest to escape execution.
  • Like Aoi and Akane before her, Angie is a sexy dark-skinned girl with a name beginning with A. Unlike Aoi and Akane, Angie doesn't survive the Killing Game. Second of all, both Aoi and Akane's talents were sports-related (the Ultimate Swimmer and the Ultimate Gymnast respectively), whereas Angie is the Ultimate Artist. On top of that, Akane and Aoi form a deep relationship with the big guy of the group, while Angie doesn’t have nearly as much of a close relationship with Gonta.
  • Tenko, unlike the previous Stalker with a Crush characters (Toko and Kazuichi), doesn't survive the killing game. She's also the first of these characters to actually establish a friendship with the character she has a crush on, albeit posthumously.
  • Rantaro, the Ultimate ??? after Kyoko and Hajime, dies. To add insult to injury, he dies first.
  • The Big Guy dies in Chapter 4, but as the culprit, not as the victim (though Sakura was both a victim and a culprit due to her comitting suicide and Gonta might as well be considered a victim himself while the true killer escaped the punishment on a technicality). Additionally, Gonta doesn’t engage in athletics as much as Sakura and Nekomaru.
  • In the main series, this game is the first one to allow you to play as a female protagonist. This is also the first main installment where the player character has a known talent (rather than a gifted title or Ultimate ???), and actually feels secure of it. The character that takes her place, however, is male and is just as insecure of his talents as Makoto and Hajime were.
  • In the previous two games Kiyotaka and Hiyoko respectively lose someone close to them, there is a build up to them getting Character Development, only for both of them to be unceremoniously killed in the very next chapter. In this game Himiko loses someone whom she was close with, but not only does she not get killed in the next chapter, she survives the Killing Game and gets to have her Character Development.
  • This game is also the first game in the franchise's history where not only does the player character die, but they are also the culprit! However it turns out they were actually successfully framed by the mastermind, who tricked them into believeing that they murdered someone. Which means that this is the first game of the franchise where a character successfully gets away with murder in a class trial.
  • This game is the only game to have more than three playable characters, even if it's temporary.
  • This is the first mainline game where the mastermind is one of the students you know from the start. In the first game, the mastermind was actually hidden and only revealed herself in the last chapter. In the second game, a co-mastermind was the protagonist's alter ego, but only physically appeared in Chapter 0 and during his nightmare sequence in the finale.
  • This is the first game to lack a person labelled as the traitor. Tsumugi is the mastermind while K1-B0, unknowingly, works as a sort of her cameraman and the audience's surrogate, though.
  • This is the only game where no explosion that knocks out the Butt-Monkey happens in the penultimate chapter.
• Fangames get on it too. For instance, Danganronpa Another:
  • Teruya Otori, the Ambiguously Brown member of the cast, is a boy. There is nobody with a Non-Standard Character Design either.
  • The Big Guy dies one chapter early, in Chapter 3.
  • The Chapter 3 culprit not only has a somewhat reasonable motive, but is also remorseful for their deeds.
• As for its own sequel, Super Danganronpa Another 2:
  • The mastermind's identity is openly revealed at the end of the prologue. The Driving Question throughout the Killing Game is instead "Who are his 4 accomplices?"
  • 3 people die in Chapter 3. Instead of there being 2 victims and 1 killer, it is distributed as 1 victim and 2 killers.
  • Chapter 4's culprit is executed for breaking school regulations. The victim killed himself beforehand.
  • Chapter 5 ends with a successful Frame-Up and mass execution.
• Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 4th Heart breaks its trend with the studious love interest. In the previous games, they had varying shades of blue or green hair and wore glasses. Iku Honda breaks this by not wearing glasses and having blond hair.

Web Original

• Chorocojo used the male trainer during his Pokemon Black 2 LP, as opposed to the female trainer he was using in his previous LP's. However, by this point he was tired of doing female characters, viciously lampshading it the last two times beforehand, but during Pokestar Studios filming he used the female trainer.
• Each season of Dice Funk (except Season 1) tends to follow a trend of the party going on several missions with an episode or two of downtime to follow individual character plots, before an endgame where various developing plotlines come to a head. Season 6 broke this trend by having the party's boss give them paid time off and they're left to their own devices for a long time before being called back for one more job where the effects of their actions are seen while they are on the job.
• The Hobo Bros' "Hobo Theater" videos originally had Kevin read a list of words relating to the video's theme, with Luke having to work each word into the story. However, this eventually led to Kevin saying phrases, or even full sentences, instead of single words, and they seem to have abandoned the idea of using single words despite doing it for many videos.
• Madness Combat: Despite gradually getting Darker and Edgier, the first seven entries (not counting the interquels, which came later) follow the same formula. The later entries change it up.
  • Inundation is the first Madness entry in the main series where Hank is not the protagonist, with his old rival Jesus taking that role instead. It is also the first (and so far only) entry since Cheshyre started doing the music in Avenger that does not feature his music at all.
  • Aggregation is the first entry in the series with two co-leads, Sanford and Deimos, instead of one single protagonist.
  • Expurgation is the first time in the main series where the primary setting is not Nevada, in this case, it mostly takes place in the Auditor's Hell.
• The Unlucky Tug:
  • "The COMPLETE History of Cranky the Crane" is the first episode of Sodor's Finest about a character who isn't a steam engine, and the first one where CGI wins.
  • Usually in his Thomas merchandise collection videos, he shows off characters in numerical/introduction order. In the Capsule Plarail video, he decides to switch things up and shows them in alphabetical order instead.

Western Animation

• In Archer, the running gag of shouting "Phrasing" after a line of dialog that could be taken the wrong way was broken in Season Five, when after a long string of lines that would provoke the gag were said without anyone saying "Phrasing," it was lampshaded and the gag is now wondering out loud if their Phrasing gag was still a thing.
• Big City Greens has several instances for its third season:
  • It is the first season to not be 30 episodes long as it is ten episodes less.
  • It's the first season to have a more serialized plot that shows the Greens moving back to the country.
  • It's the first season to have more than two double-length episodes (one for the premiere, one marking the midseason, and one for the finale).
  • It's the first season to not introduce any new major or minor antagonists.
• The Loud House:
  • "House Music" is the first episode where Lincoln does not speak to the viewer.
  • After being The Faceless throughout Season 1, Lynn Sr. and Rita were displayed fully unobscured from the Season 2 onward, although a few early episodes from that season still kept the obstruction.
  • Lincoln is present for every episode of the first two seasons since the show was originally centered on him; after the series expanded to have the sisters take up the spotlight frequently, "Roadie to Nowhere" (which focuses on Luna) is the first episode where Lincoln appeared but did not speak, while "Net Gains" (which focuses on Lynn) is the first where Lincoln does not appear at all.
  • "The Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos" is the first double-length episode where Lincoln did not speak to the viewer (although Ronnie Anne does in the final scene), and the first where not all the sisters are present.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • Starting in Season 2, presenting the Aesop was no longer a Once per Episode ordeal. In Season 4, it went from being presented in a "Dear Princess Celestia" format to a diary format, with that being abandoned by Season 5 in favor of the characters simply discussing the episode's moral with each other.
  • The Season 5 premiere is the first two-parter to not feature Princess Celestia in either part, and the first time Part 2 does not feature a musical number.
  • The Season 6 finale breaks the tradition of a musical number being featured in the finale two-parter.
  • The Season 7 premiere "Celestial Advice" is the only season premiere to not be a two-part episode.
  • After the trend of a Musical Episode appearing Once a Season began Season 3, these were ceased out by the final three seasons.
• Sofia the First broke many trends over the course of its 6 year run:
  • The specials:
    • The first 3 specials (Once Upon A Princess, The Floating Palace, The Curse Of Princess Ivy) were all 48-50 minutes long. The remaining 3 specials (Elena And The Secret Of Avalor, The Mystic Isles, Forever Royal) were all 66 minutes.
    • The royal family and court were always together in some way for the first 3 specials. Elena And The Secret Of Avalor sees Baileywick and Cedric absent, while the only main character besides Sofia to appear in The Mystic Isles is Amber .
    • The first 4 specials premiered on the Sunday before Thanksgiving in primetime. The last 2 specials, both in season 4, premiered on Saturday mornings in summer.
  • During Sofia's more intense moments, one of the Disney Princesses would come to help her out. During "The Mystic Isles: Olaf And The Take Of Miss Nettle", it's instead Olaf who helps her out. Also, the whole practice of someone being summoned to help Sofia was abandoned after season 3. Both were broken in the series finale when the princesses help Sofia during the climax, albeit in a silent cameo.
  • "Royal Dragon" is Crackle's first focus that doesn't involve her dynamic with either Clover and/or Vivian.
  • While the first three seasons have largely self contained episodes with some light continuity sprinkled in, the fourth season tells more of an overarching story, and even the more self contained episodes call back to elements from many seasons ago.
• South Park
  • The show would famously kill off Kenny Once an Episode for the first five seasons. Then Kenny got Killed Off for Real for one season before reviving him. Since then, Kenny has only been killed occasionally, usually with a huge lampshade hung on it.
  • Season 10 was the first one where Kenny didn't die,^note Not counting Season 6, since he was dead during most of the season, and Rob Schneider was killed while Kenny's soul was inside him. though his character in "Make Love, Not Warcraft" was killed multiple times.
  • Season 10 was the last one to feature Chef, as he would be killed off in its premiere episode, following Isaac Hayes' departure. Since Hayes was already gone by the time the episode was produced, Chef's voice was comprised of using sound clips from previous episodes.
  • Season 24 was the first one to contain hour-long episodes.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • "Ugh" (aka "SpongeBob B.C.") is the first double-length episode where Sandy and Plankton were absent.
  • "Have You Seen This Snail?" is the first double-length episode to not include a Framing Device hosted by Patchy the Pirate.
  • Patchy the Pirate is known for wanting to meet SpongeBob in person, but always ends up failing due to the Status Quo and Rule of Funny. And then, at the end of the special "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout" in Season 12, Patchy (or at least his head) and SpongeBob meet in person and interact for the first time in the show's history.
  • "SpongeBob's Road to Christmas" is the first Christmas episode where Sandy does not appear.
  • SpongeBob appears in every episode of the series in some form; even the Fairy Tale Episodes have characters who are clearly meant to resemble him. While some episodes like "Lockdown for Love" and "Shell Games" give him minimal roles, he still appears in them. The episode "BassWard" from season 14 would end up being the first one where neither SpongeBob nor any alternate versions of him show up, nor is he even mentioned.
• Winx Club:
  • The fifth season finale, "The End of Tritannus" marked the first finale where no kisses were involved. This also carried onto the seventh and eighth season finales.
  • The eighth season is the first since the third with no involvement from singer Elisa Rosselli, having left to work on Club 57.

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