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What Happened To The Mouse is a minor character or plot line disappearing without explanation; Chuck Cunningham Syndrome is the same concept, but with a major character
^ I understand that, my main concern is whether or not those two tropes allow the character to come back, or it must be that the character remains gone.
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If they are absent for an unexplained reason for a period of time and then appear again later as if nothing happened, it may fit better as Out of Focus
I think a character who is the subject of What Happened to the Mouse? or Chuck Cunningham Syndrome can come back, but it will have to be after a long, unexplained absence, such as a whole season.
A character who's Out of Focus doesn't actually disappear from the show. They may not appear for a while, but it's implicit that they're still there in the background, or away on a trip or something (though that may be Put on a Bus if they're away for a long time). The other tropes actually require the characters to be written out of the work.
Edited by GnomeTitan
Okay, these two are kind of similar to Put on a Bus and I just wanted some clarification on a point differentiating them. Mainly, is the character/thing allowed to return or is it required for these tropes that the character/thing be gone permanently?
I just thought I'd ask since Put On A Bus requires the character's disappearance to have an explanation while the other two don't.