History AbortedArc / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'': At the end of the second season, it's implied that Ben's Omnitrix resets, giving him 10 new aliens, stating he "doesn't recognize any of these guys" and switches into Lodestar, an alien never seen before. However, in the third season, he has the same exact aliens from the first two seasons. He wouldn't switch into Lodestar until episode 5, claiming he has no memory of him.

** Starting with Season 4 the Tree of Harmony was introduced and increasingly built up, becoming more important to the plot and even gaining a sentient form. The last we see of this form is in ''Uprooted'' when the Young Six building a treehouse at its location revives it ([[ItMakesSenseInContext roll with it]]) and it tells them their actions have made it more powerful than before. With that it promptly vanishes from the storyline save for the Treehouse appearing as a backdrop in a couple more scenes, and plays no more role whatsoever in the story. Even the Young Six's BigDamnHeroes moment in the SeriesFinale has nothing to do with the tree or its sentient spirit, and there's no mention of it in the DistantFinale either.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The season one finale features [[TheHero Aang]] traveling to the spirit world meeting the potent character Koh the Face Stealer, who ominously says "We'll meet again," as Aang leaves. They never met again in the series, not even in the second season of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' which [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse dealt with nothing but spirits]]. That said, this was touched upon in ''VideoGame/EscapeFromTheSpiritWorld'', a Flash game that takes place between seasons 2 and 3, where they do meet again, and Koh is more than a little eager to pay Aang back for escaping the last time they met. The comic book ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch'' does feature Koh more prominently, though he is never actually seen in the story.

** The return of [[FutureMeScaresMe Danny's evil older self]], which was heavily hinted at at the end of his sole appearance, with Marmel openly stating that he did have plans for more episodes starring the villain, including the character serving as the FinalBoss of the series. This will however be averted with the upcoming release of the 2023 graphic novel, ''Danny Phantom: A Glitch In Time'', which actually involves the return of Dark Danny.

** The return of [[FutureMeScaresMe Danny's evil older self]], which was heavily hinted at at the end of his sole appearance, with Marmel openly stating that he did have plans for more episodes starring the villain, including the character serving as the FinalBoss of the series. This will however be averted with the upcoming release of the 2023 graphic novel ''Danny Phantom: A Glitch In Time'', which actually involves the return of Dark Danny.

** The return of [[FutureMeScaresMe Danny's evil older self]], which was heavily hinted at at the end of his sole appearance, with Marmel openly stating that he did have plans for more episodes starring the villain, including the character serving as the FinalBoss of the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': At the end 9f the episode "Boyz Crazy", Dipper ends up upsetting Wendy by asking her out when she's left heartbroken after dumping Robbie... but they appear to be on good terms again in the episodes that followed. It's never shown or explained how Dipper made amends with her.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravitFalls'': At the end 9f the episode "Boyz Crazy", Dipper ends up upsetting Wendy by asking her out when she's left heartbroken after dumping Robbie... but they appear to be on good terms again in the episodes that followed. It's never shown or explained how Dipper made amends with her.

** In the first two seasons of the show, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were shown to have very explicit budding talents, with Applebloom being particularly adept at construction, Sweetie Belle having a fantastic singing voice, and Scootaloo being a great choreographer, and it was implied that those were going to be the special talents that led them to getting their cutie marks. By the time Season 5 rolled around, those talents had been almost entirely forgotten about in favor of the three of them discovering they had a shared talent in helping others realize their cutie marks.[[note]]Sweetie Belle's eventual cutie mark does appear to reference this - while it shares its overall design with the other two Crusaders', each also contains a unique nested pair of symbols; Sweetie Belle's contains a musical note inside a star. Applebloom and Scootaloo's other talents, however, remain forgotten.[[/note]]

** In the first two seasons of the show, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were shown to have very explicit budding talents, with Applebloom being particularly adept at construction, Sweetie Belle having a fantastic singing voice, and Scootaloo being a great choreographer, and it was implied that those were going to be the special talents that led them to getting their cutie marks. By the time Season 5 rolled around, those talents had been almost entirely forgotten about in favor of the three of them discovering they had a shared talent in helping others realize their cutie marks.

** Starting with Season 4 the Tree of Harmony was introduced and increasingly built up, becoming more important to the plot and even gaining a sentient form. The last we see of this form is in ''Uprooted'' when the Young Six building a treehouse at its location revives it ([[ItMakesSenseInContext roll with it]]) and it tells them their actions have made it more powerful than before. With that it promptly vanishes from the storyline save for the Treehouse appearing as a backdrop in a couple more scenes, and plays no more roll whatsoever in the story. Even the Young Six's BigDamnHeroes moment in the SeriesFinale has nothing to do with the tree or its sentient spirit, and there's no mention of it in the DistantFinale either.

** Following [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim the offscreen death of Bart's teacher Edna Krabappel]] in Season 25, Season 29's "Left Behind" saw the show's first attempt to replace her...with her husband Ned Flanders, who takes over Bart's class after his mall store, the Leftorium, goes bankrupt. Ned's new role only comes up in one subsequent episode (Season 30's "Crystal Blue-Haired Persuasion") before Season 33's "My Octopus and a Teacher" introduces new character Raychelle Peyton as the new teacher of the class, with no explanation as to where Ned went. The following season's "The Many Saints of Springfield" finally explains what became of him ([[ContinuityNod as in a previous episode in which he held a job at the school]], he was fired for mentioning Jesus in class), with plenty of LeaningOnTheFourthWall:

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Krusty the Clown was originally intended to be Homer Simpson in disguise in order to set up a story where Bart finds out that the clown he loves and idolises so much is actually his father (whom he doesn't get along with). This is why Krusty the Clown has Homer Simpson's exact body shape. However, this was dropped when the writers realised that Krusty would no longer work as a character once the twist were revealed to the audience. Instead, Krusty became just another Simpsons character and was used to satirise children's entertainers who pretend to be nice when in character but are actually [[NiceCharacterMeanActor depressed, trashy and corrupt behind the scenes]].

** The two-parter "Little Girl Lost" ended with Clark planning to introduce Jimmy to Kara, hinting at the start of a possible romance as Jimmy had been at Supergirl's side when she investigated Intergang. However, Jimmy ended up crushing on another girl in his next major role and he and Supergirl never interacted again.
** "Legacy" was originally intended as the introduction to a story arc about Superman regaining the world's trust after being [[BrainwashedAndCrazy used as a pawn by Darkseid]]. Instead, the two-part episode became the SeriesFinale, and a variation of the theme was used in the Cadmus arc of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''.

* In the StoryArc of Season 20 of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', nostalgia-powered sentient fruit called Member Berries are threatening a conspiracy that Randy Marsh eventually finds out about and teams up with Presidential nominee Mr. Garrison to stop. Unfortunately, the conclusion to this arc relied on [[FailedFutureForecast the presumption that Hillary Clinton would win the current election]]. [[RealLifeWritesThePlot When Donald Trump, whom Garrison was serving as a proxy for, won instead]], the plot is abruptly stopped by Garrison and Randy brainwashed by the Member Berries. The Member Berries then get to stay in the White House and [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse nothing is done about them in the end.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': Steve's budding relationship with Akiko was abruptly dropped after they officially became a couple in "Spelling Bee My Baby", with Akiko [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome vanishing from the series]] afterwards and leaving Steve single once again.
** Season 9 began a long arc of Jeff getting sent into space by Roger when a ship came to get him. We finally got to see some of Roger's people and learned that he had been in a relationship with the ships leader. While Jeff eventually made it back to Earth, Roger's species, their leader, and his home planet haven't been seen or mentioned since.

* Season 9 began a long arc of Jeff getting sent into space by Roger when a ship came to get him. We finally got to see some of Roger's people and learned that he had been in a relationship with the ships leader. While Jeff eventually made it back to Earth, Roger's species, their leader, and his home planet haven't been seen or mentioned since.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'':
** ''Action'' has Justin as the main antagonist, DJ's illegal alliance with Chef Hatchet, and Harold's one-sided friendship and attraction with Heather (which actually started as early as the post-''Island'' special). By the season's halfway point, all three of these subplots are abandoned entirely, with the first example as a result of the studio realizing too late how ineffective Justin was in this role and leading to Courtney being his hastily-chosen replacement in order to avoid rewrites (although the second is justified by DJ voluntarily quitting the game due to the alliance eating away at his conscience). Alejandro, a character that debuted in the following season, ''World Tour'', is essentially what the writers had wanted with Justin.
** Lindsay's CharacterDevelopment in ''Action'' into a more competent competitor was suddenly aborted at the very end of the season and never revisited afterwards.
** ''Action'' features a friendship forming between Heather and Leshawna after being at each other's throats for the entirety of the first season, only for this to abruptly disintegrate in ''World Tour'' and the two inexplicably returning to being bitter enemies. Similarly, Owen being brought back into the game by Chris to be TheMole in ''Action'' is completely forgotten in ''World Tour'', with Owen still maintaining his popularity and good reputation with his castmates.
** Gwen's friendships with both Bridgette and Leshawna in ''Island'' were forgotten by the end of ''Action'', as she started interacting more with Courtney (whose friendship with Bridgette was also forgotten after ''Island'') and Duncan while Bridgette (who fell completely OutOfFocus) became more and more defined by her relationship with Geoff and Leshawna by her on-and-off romance with Harold. The same applies with numerous other friendships from the first season. Duncan's friendship with Geoff and DJ was ignored after the first season, as the latter two fell OutOfFocus (with Geoff becoming increasingly defined by his relationship with Bridgette) and Duncan started to interact more with Gwen and Courtney in the immensely controversial LoveTriangle. Similarly, Owen's friendships with Cody and Trent were abandoned for an OddFriendship with Noah as Trent fell OutOfFocus after his breakup with Gwen and Cody became increasingly defined by his status as part of a love triangle with Gwen and Sierra in ''World Tour''.
** Courtney and Gwen's newfound friendship and the increased focus on several of the early losers from ''Island'' were abandoned mid-season in ''World Tour'' as Duncan returned to the game and started a LoveTriangle with Gwen and Courtney, leading to Noah and Tyler getting booted out of the team (Cody however remained due to his status as the object of Sierra's affections).
** Owen and Izzy's romantic subplot came to an abrupt halt about halfway into ''World Tour'' due to the same order of ExecutiveMeddling that broke up Gwen/Trent and Duncan/Courtney. What makes this case stand out compared to the other two breakups was that Izzy was NotHerself when the breakup occurred, leaving it ambiguous as to whether she and Owen ever made up after she was restored to normal (whereas Trent and Gwen became AmicableExes and Duncan and Courtney became fierce enemies due to Duncan cheating on her with Gwen).
** ''Revenge of the Island'' includes the short-lived love triangle between Zoey, Mike, and Anne Maria and the rivalry between Brick and Jo, both abruptly halted in the episode "A Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste" when Brick is eliminated and Anne Maria quits the game.
** The first half ''All-Stars'' is one long pastiche of aborted arcs, from Lindsay's short-lived participation to Jo and Lightning's continued rivalry, the Gwen and Duncan romance, Duncan's personal crisis and his conflict with Mike/Mal, Cameron's efforts to save Mike from Mal, Courtney and Gwen's friendship yet again, the Scott and Courtney romance, Sierra competing without Cody, Jo and Heather's attempted alliance with Gwen, Alejandro flirting with Gwen, etc.
** The second half of the season ''Pahkitew Island'' has Jasmine's friendship with Samey (due to the latter being eliminated and then completely forgotten afterwards) and Samey trying to be her own person (dropped because [[spoiler: she tricks Amy into being eliminated in her place leaving her to pretend to be her for two episodes before being actually eliminated]]).
** In the spin-off ''[[WesternAnimation/TotalDramaPresentsTheRidonculousRace The Ridonculous Race]]'', several teams that fell victims to the Ice Dancers' cheating, namely Crimson, Ennui, Emma and Kitty, wished that the BigBad duo would get their karma in a bad way. However, when they do get eliminated in the finale, they get no kind of punishment ([[AntiClimaxBoss or any kind of proper sendoff for that matter]]) besides being forced to watch their rivals compete against each other.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMen'':
** "The Unstoppable Juggernaut" ends with Comicbook/{{Colossus}} declining an offer to join the team and saying that he intends to travel the country to find [[ComicBook/{{Magik}} Illyana]], his missing little sister. The next time Colossus shows up, he's still in New York, and Illyana is safely in Russia with their parents. There's no further mention of her supposed disappearance, and nothing to indicate she's ever even ''been'' to America.
** In the second episode of the "Beyond Good and Evil" arc, Comicbook/{{Apocalypse}} is able to keep Comicbook/{{Magneto}} in line by promising to resurrect his dead wife. This is never brought up again, and a later episode of the same storyline instead offers a completely different explanation for why Magneto chose to work for Apocalypse.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Krusty the Clown was originally intended to be Homer Simpson in disguise in order to set up a story where Bart finds out that the clown he loves and idolises so much is actually his father (whom he doesn't get along with). This is why Krusty the Clown has Homer Simpson's exact body shape. However, this was dropped when the writers realised that Krusty would no longer work as a character once the twist were revealed to the audience. Instead, Krusty became just another Simpsons character and was used to satirise children's entertainers who pretend to be nice when in character are but are actually [[NiceCharacterMeanActor depressed, trashy and corrupt behind the scenes]].