History Main / DemotedToExtra

* While not big players in the opening arc of ''ComicBook/SupermanBatman'' ''ComicBook/PublicEnemies'', [[Characters/SupermanLoisLane Lois Lane]], [[Characters/TeenTitansStarfire Starfire]], and [[Characters/TheOutsidersDCComics Katana]] did have lines. In its animated adaptation ''WesternAnimation/SupermanBatmanPublicEnemies'', they do appear, but don't speak, with Lois Lane only appearing in the end. It's especially notable in Katana's case since in the comic, she was allied with Superman, Batman, and Characters/PowerGirl.

* ''TabletopGame/ApocalypseWorld'' and most [=RPGs=] UsefulNotes/PoweredByTheApocalypse allow for {{Player Character}}s to be [[RolePlayingEndgame retired at the end of their story arcs]] by turning them into [[NonPlayerCharacter Non-Player Characters]] with the benefit of PlotArmor.
* ''TabletopGame/BladesInTheDark'' and most other UsefulNotes/ForgedInTheDark [=RPGs=] allow players to [[RolePlayingEndgame retire their characters]] to [=NPCs=] with PlotArmor, as well as forcing them into retirement if they accumulate [[SanityMeter too much trauma]].

** Prince Eric has a recurring role in [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992 the TV series]], is a supporting character in [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea the second film]], and makes no appearance in [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning the prequel]].

** Max the Sheepdog has minor roles in ''Return to the Sea'' and TV series. He makes no appearance in ''The Little Mermaid III: Ariel's Beginning'', though considering Eric doesn't appear either, he had no reason to.

* And what is probably the most famous example in comic strips, the strip ''Thimble Theatre'' began in 1919 as a strip about the character Harold "Ham" Gravy and his girlfriend playing characters in slice of life stories. The theatrical aspect was dropped, and the girlfriend's diminutive brother became an AscendedExtra as the strip shifted into an adventure comedy series, rendering Ham Gravy into a sidekick role. And then in 1929, they needed to hire a sailor. And thus ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} was born. Not only was he a BreakoutCharacter that became the lead and soon got the girl (Olive Oyl), he became a cultural icon with a hugely popular series of theatrical shorts, TV series and even a movie. Olive's brother, Castor Oyl, was demoted back to supporting player (and literally makes only one unvoiced cameo appearance in the shorts), while Ham Gravy was exiled from the strip entirely, disappearing for about '''80 years'''. And when he finally did return, he became a total ButtMonkey villain.

* Most of the cast of ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', including the titular character, suffered this fate as the later merchandise based on the film now focus on Jasmine. Special mention goes to Rajah the tiger, likely due to how difficult it would be to animate his stripes, especially since the sequels and TV series were all animated with a lower budget.

%%Needs more context about how big their roles used to be.* Iridessa of the ''Franchise/DisneyFairies'' franchise gets very little merchandise at all, and barely appears in group promo shots. It might be because she's a stuck-up RulesLawyer, but it's probably because she's a TokenMinority. Hey, at least she's better off than Vidia and Rani. Although Vidia's [[AscendedExtra certainly better off than she used to be]], as more and more of the doll lines include her.

* [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch Lilo Pelekai]] in any material outside the ''Franchise/LiloAndStitch'' movies and ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries''. Stitch is the regular moneymaker, while Lilo hardly, barely, or never gets a mention. Even ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' omitted her from their movie-themed level (though to be fair, that was a prequel), she only gets a cameo in the ''Anime/{{Stitch}}'' anime showing that she now has a similar-looking daughter of her own, and is only shown in flashbacks in the Chinese animated series ''Animation/StitchAndAi''. Even worse, the men behind ''Lilo & Stitch: The Series'' do not wish for the franchise to continue with Lilo because "[her] story is done",[[note]]They did give her [[WesternAnimation/LeroyAndStitch a finale]], and they want to keep it that way.[[/note]] that they do not want to "ruin" fans' memories of the now-adult Creator/DaveighChase as the voice of Lilo, and that they find the idea of a series set in the older life of a once-young character (akin to shows like ''Series/FullerHouse'', ''Series/GirlMeetsWorld'', and ''Series/RavensHome'') to be "cliché". Nevertheless, Lilo was finally brought back as a lead in the children's book series ''Agent Stitch'', which began in 2022, although her presence in contemporary marketing remains woefully limited.

** Zazu, who had been a major character in the first movie, becomes a minor character in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'' and has a few cameo appearances in the film. He also has two brief speaking cameo appearances in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf'' and has a brief non-speaking background appearance at the end.
** Several ''[[Franchise/TheLionKing Lion King]]'' spin-offs have Simba, the protagonist of the first movie, undergoing this, in favor of Timon and Pumbaa, such as in [[WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa the animated series]], in which Simba only appeared a couple of times, and [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf the third Lion King movie]] which is all about Timon and Pumbaa stealing scenes from the first movie. This was eventually lampshaded in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'', when Timon and Pumbaa are introduced by Mickey Mouse, Simba moans "[[SpotlightStealingSquad Those guys always get all the attention!]]"

** In contrast to the first movie, Flounder and King Triton barely appear in the sequel, with the former now also portrayed as a father to several baby fish.
** Max the Sheepdog has minor roles in the sequel and TV series. He makes no appearance in the prequel.
** The little mermaid's sisters in original ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'' story appear several times and even help her. In the Disney film, they only briefly appear (though they're given more screen time in the prequel film, cartoon series, books, and comics).

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017'', The Cutie Mark Crusaders, who had speaking roles in the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic TV series]], were silent. Although, Apple Bloom was credited as she could briefly be heard in the pony choir during the song "We Got This Together". Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were not credited at all.

** In [[WesternAnimation/PocahontasIIJourneyToANewWorld the sequel]], former {{Deuteragonist}} John Smith of all people suffers from this. He appears in the first scene of the movie, then doesn't get any more real screen time until very late. Justified in that he was presumed dead for most of the movie as a plot point, is revealed to be a cloaked figure in the middle of the film, and resumed an important role towards the end.
** A few other previously major characters suffered this worse, namely Chief Powhattan, Nakoma, and Grandmother Willow, as they only appeared in the beginning before Pocahontas left for England. In fact, Grandmother Willow only appears in one scene in the entire movie for about a minute.

* Aaron, Moses's compatriot and aide in the Exodus, becomes less relevant to the story in ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'' and does not personally support Moses until after the plagues have been unleashed; conversely, Tzipporah becomes an AscendedExtra. She instead of Aaron is with Moses in the staffs-to-snakes scene.

* Malin Berggren used to be the lead vocalist of Music/AceOfBase for the first two studio albums, then got more and more into the background [[note]]This is to be understood quite literally in this case regarding the covers of the studio albums ''Flowers'' and ''Da Capo'' and the respective singles thereof.[[/note]] and her sister Jenny had to fill the void, and eventually quit the band (and her sister a few years later as well).

* This happened to Dusty and Frank of Music/ZZTop on ''Eliminator'': despite them being credited on the album sleeve, Dusty's bass being replaced by keyboards[[note]]"Thug" and its keyboard slap bass that sounds like it escaped from the ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' theme being the more obvious one[[/note]] and Frank by drum machines. For all intents and purposes, ''Eliminator'' is a Billy solo album (excepting Dusty's lead vocals on "I Got The Six" and "Bad Girl") with contributions by pre-production engineer Linden Hudson, who contributed drum machine programming and keyboard sequencing, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliminator_(album) and was alleged to have co-written most of the material, to the point that the band got into a legal conflict that was settled with him being granted the copyright to "Thug"]]. Hudson had also showed Billy some research he'd done previously that most popular rock songs used the tempo of 120 beats per minute, which influenced Billy to write most of the album's songs at that tempo. And when the combination of blues guitar and incongruously synthesised backing tracks sent the album to diamond status, the formula was repeated on ''Afterburner'' and ''Recycler'', and even led to the infamous [[TheNotRemix rereleases of the band's past albums that replaced Frank's drums with drum machines]]. While the band continued using electronic loops and synth elements, Dusty's bass and Frank's actual drums returned to prominence starting with ''Antenna'' and ''Rhythmeen''.

** Libo, who once appeared frequently in the ''Dino Attack RPG'', has barely been seen or mentioned, especially following the idealist-realist debate. He was finally revealed to have had a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Bridge Dropped on Him]] (literally).

** Dee. Shortly after 3Dee's introduction, she would usually only say anything whenever Cupid was involved or during introductions and would tend to sleep the rest of the time. And then [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians Rachel Elizabeth Dare]] appeared, which pushed Dee's speaking appearances back down into "pretty much nil" territory. You just can't win, can you?

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}'', many of the Core Races from ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' (and Fantasy [=RPGs=] in general) are no longer Core, although they did get into the main rulebook (just pushed to the back). Except for [[HumansAreSpecial Humans, of course]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1: The Musical'', R.C. Car, who played an important role, even later in the film, only makes an appearance in one scene, unlike the film. Of course, before Woody can use R.C., Buzz notices the remote control to R.C. that Woody has, and then, Woody accidentally makes the lamp fall, which causes Buzz to fall out of the window. After this scene, R.C. is not seen again, thus causing a plot change later on, where [[spoiler: instead of Woody going back to get R.C. and Woody failing to use the match, but directs the sun's light to the fuse of the rocket that Buzz is attached to, Buzz tells Woody to grab onto him and prepare for liftoff, while one of the mutant toys uses the match to light the fuse, and both Woody and Buzz sing "To infinity and beyond!" and then fly off into the sky]].

* Thanks to having a large cast, this happens frequently in the ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' world. Inexplicably, Pom Pom (one of the original main characters) did not appear in the season finale of Strong Bad's game, despite Pom Pom being in every other episode up to that point. In fact, Pom Pom used to be one of the three main characters along with Homestar and Strong Bad, although now, his appearances are rare, and the annual Christmas/Halloween cartoons are the only times he'll be seen consistently.
** The Poopsmith's demotion is, if possible, even more evident than Pom Pom's, as the Halloween cartoons just might be the only time he's seen ''at all'' anymore (evidently a result of the two characters being [[TheVoiceless silent]] and [[TheUnintelligible bubbly-voiced]]). Still, he didn't do too bad considering he was an AscendedExtra to begin with.
** Like Pom Pom, Homsar also didn't appear in the finale for Strong Bad's game--but he, like the Poopsmith, started out as an AscendedExtra (from a Strong Bad E-mail, no less!) and even then he was often relegated to clickable {{Easter Egg}}s.

** The Van Buren sisters are pretty much put aside for most of the second season to focus on the feud between the cheer squads.

* Due to the large cast of ''WebAnimation/VideoGameChampionshipWrestling'', there are some characters that basically only show up in Royal Rumbles or Tag Team matches. A good example is Bowser, who went from being the one who finally overthrew Ganondorf's "1000 Years of Darkness" reign as champion to being an afterthought for a while. Other aren't even that lucky and get PutOnABus.

%%Needs more context about how this compares to its previous role.** And the Platform/AppleII, too, with the release of the Apple III... except that machine was a CriticalFailure due to quality control issues. For the next decade or so, the Apple ][ was effectively a RecurringExtra in the Apple product line, until Mac sales took off.
%%Needs more context about how this compares to his previous role.* After the Platform/VirtualBoy flopped, Gunpei Yokoi was given what amounted to a desk job and had no real power. Unusually for this trope, he actually meant to leave with the Virtual Boy being his swan's song for Nintendo. He stuck around so that it wouldn't look like he was ''fired'' over the device, though it led to some oft-repeated theories about him being KickedUpstairs.
* {{Pluto|IsExpendable}} used to be included pretty much every time the planets of the solar system came up. It got its own spin off, ''Solar System: The Dwarf Planets Saga''. Much earlier, Ceres became the newest member of ''the Solar System'', but, an influx of other similar characters (Pallas, Juno, Vesta) led for them all to be dropped. Ceres, luckily, got a role in ''the Dwarf Planets Saga'' alongside Pluto, and holds a special honour of being the only Dwarf Planet in the Solar System that isn't beyond the orbit of Neptune.

** Next to the British Empire, the largest empire ever was the Mongol Empire. UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan conquered more land than anyone in history. The last of it dissolved in 1687. Nowadays, Mongolia is nowhere near a world power, and even set a record for the least densely populated country on Earth.

*** You also "grow out of" forums/other social media services and go from spending an entire weekend on somewhere to forgetting it exists or simply, only posting rarely...Both going from extremes of frequency to infrequent or nothing.

** Also happens when you have a fight/fall out with a friend or just stop getting messages/calls from someone. Moving away is another example...

* Most of the cast of ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', including the titular character, suffered this fate as the later merchandise based on the film now focus on Jasmine.

** For those of you who haven't noticed, the only puppet characters remaining from as early as the first season are Grover, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, Oscar and Kermit. In fact, even Kermit's role has been reduced incredibly compared to the early days, almost to where he doesn't appear much at all. (This is at least partly now because [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope Disney owns the rights to the classic Muppets]]; they can use old Kermit scenes, but to make new ones, they have to get Disney's permission to use the character first first.) Interestingly, back in the second season, there were plans to phase Kermit out, as a commercial character, in favour of Sesame-exclusive characters like Herbert Birdsfoot. (Who? Exactly.)

** For those of you who haven't noticed, the only puppet characters remaining from as early as the first season are Grover, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, Oscar and Kermit. In fact, even Kermit's role have been reduced incredibly compared to the early days, almost to where they don't appear much at all. (This is at least partly now because [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope Disney Owns This Frog]]; they can use old Kermit scenes but new ones are more complicated.) Interestingly, back in the second season, there were plans to phase Kermit out, as a commercial character, in favour of Sesame-exclusive characters like Herbert Birdsfoot. (Who? Exactly.)

** Bagheera in the sequel. Though he's one of the most important characters in both [[Literature/TheJungleBook Kipling's book]] and in the original movie, in the sequel he's barely involved in the plot and [[TheChewToy only shows up to get beat up a lot.]]
** Hathi has one scene in the sequel when he was a major supporting character in the original.

* While not big players in the opening arc of ''ComicBook/SupermanBatman'' ''ComicBook/PublicEnemies'', [[Characters/SupermanLoisLane Lois Lane]], [[Characters/TeenTitansStarfire Starfire]], and [[Characters/BatmanAndTheOutsiders Katana]] did have lines. In its animated adaptation ''WesternAnimation/SupermanBatmanPublicEnemies'', they do appear, but don't speak, with Lois Lane only appearing in the end. It's especially notable in Katana's case since in the comic, she was allied with Superman, Batman, and Characters/PowerGirl.

* This happened more and more to Alex Lifeson of {{Music/Rush}} as the 80s progressed, his guitars taking a back seat to Geddy Lee's synths. Starting around ''Music/RollTheBones'', he's come back to the forefront.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* Apple has done this to its [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh Mac]] products with the success of the iPhone and iPad.
%%Needs more context about how this compares to its previous role.** And the UsefulNotes/AppleII, too, with the release of the Apple III... except that machine was a CriticalFailure due to quality control issues. For the next decade or so, the Apple ][ was effectively a RecurringExtra in the Apple product line, until Mac sales took off.
%%Needs more context about how this compares to his previous role.* After the UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy flopped, Gunpei Yokoi was given what amounted to a desk job and had no real power. Unusually for this trope, he actually meant to leave with the Virtual Boy being his swan's song for Nintendo. He stuck around so that it wouldn't look like he was ''fired'' over the device, though it led to some oft-repeated theories about him being KickedUpstairs.

%%Needs more context about what MS-DOS was before.* UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows did this to MS-DOS with the release of Windows 95, with DOS being transformed into a glorified bootloader until Windows XP did away with it completely at the consumer level.

%%Needs more context about how his previous role compares.** Hathi has one scene in the sequel.

** Prince Eric has a recurring role in [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992 the TV series]], is a supporting character in [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea the second film]], and makes no appearance in [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIII the prequel]].

* Several characters in ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie2TheSecondPart''. Unikitty, Benny and Metalbeard are now tertiary characters at best, President Business appears just at the beginning and end (though it's kind of justified by him [[spoiler:being based on Finn's father, who doesn't appear at all this time]]), but Vitruvius and Bad Cop have it even worse: both have been reduced to silent cameos that last a couple of seconds.

* Blast the Hedgehog, who's rarely seen, much less talks, since the 4th episode of ''LetsPlay/TacoMan'' The Game Master.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'', Ganke Lee, Miles's roommate and SecretKeeper in [[ComicBook/MilesMorales the comics]] is still his roommate, but spends most of the film ignoring Miles via HeadphonesEqualIsolation, and doesn't have a voice actor even when he ''does'' react to the plot.

* In the original comic version of ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'', a reformed [[ComicBook/TwoFace Harvey Dent/Two-Face]] was a key player in the arc. [[WesternAnimation/BatmanHush The animated version]] sees Two-Face in a montage of Batman and Catwoman working together and that's it.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTheTitanic In Search of The Titanic]]'':

* Master Shifu, who had a major role in the first movie, in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2''. He gets a couple of brief scenes at the start, then sends Po and the Five on their way while he remains in the Valley of Peace [[spoiler:until the very end when he does a BigDamnHeroes bit]]. Justified in that his character arc was mostly done with by the end of the [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda first movie]] and ''someone'' had to watch the Jade Palace. Thankfully averted with the Furious Five, who appear much more this time around, and all of them actively help Po out throughout the film.

* Talia al Ghul is the BigBad of ''Batman and Son'' in the comics, but her movie role in ''WesternAnimation/SonOfBatman'' is quite smaller. Much of her original role is given to ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} in the film.

* While not big players in the opening arc of ''ComicBook/SupermanBatman'' ''ComicBook/PublicEnemies'', ComicBook/LoisLane, ComicBook/{{Starfire}}, and ComicBook/{{Katana}} did have lines. In its animated adaptation ''WesternAnimation/SupermanBatmanPublicEnemies'', they do appear, but don't speak, with Lois Lane only appearing in the end. It's especially notable in Katana's case since in the comic, she was allied with Superman, Batman, and ComicBook/PowerGirl.

** Dr. Nefario, a supporting character in the first ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'' movie, is limited to just a couple of non-speaking cameos in ''Ride/DespicableMeMinionMayhem''.

* In Ride/PiratesOfTheCaribbean, Barbossa - the main villain of the first movie and a recurring character through the following four - is given a single appearance, where he leads the ''Wicked Wench'' on an attack against Puerto Dorado. Likewise, Davy Jones, villain of the second and third movies, is given a single mist screen that he eventually has to share with Blackbeard, villain of the fourth movie. Somewhat justified in that it's focusing on a new adventure and not one of Jack Sparrow's previous ones.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'', Ganke Lee, Miles's roommate and SecretKeeper in [[ComicBook/MilesMorales the comics]] is still his roommate, but spends most of the film ignoring Miles via HeadphonesEqualIsolation, and doesn't have a voice actor even when he ''does'' react to the plot.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'': Peter B. Parker was the {{Deuteragonist}} of the first movie and played a key role as Miles' [[MentorArchetype mentor]]. In the sequel, he doesn't show up until the start of the third act. Though for what it's worth there are a ''lot'' of characters in this one, and Peter still does have an impactful conversation with Miles in the climax.
* The FinaleMovie of ''WesternAnimation/TeachersPet'' reduces the roles of all of Spot/Scott and Leonard's classmates with the exception of Ian Wazselewski (who turns out later to be the nephew of the film's villain Dr. Ivan Krank), to the extent that they only have one or two lines of dialogue and vanish from the plot after the school year ends.
* ''Justice League: The New Frontier'', the animated film adaptation of ''ComicBook/DCTheNewFrontier'', reduces the roles of several characters from the original comic to brief cameos or mentions, the most notable examples being the Justice Society (who are only briefly shown in the title sequence and mentioned by Superman), the Losers (who have their story from the beginning of the first issue omitted and are only shown briefly in a montage of imagery later in the film) and Thomas Kalmaku (who appears for a split-second as opposed to calling out Hal Jordan for calling him "Pieface").

* ''Almost'' every US President ever after their term. In office, they're the most well known person in America but once their term is up, they sink to the background except for a few public appearances here and there. The biggest exception was UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft, who after leaving office was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, an extremely powerful position in its own right. UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter never had another major government post, but he did do a lot of humanitarian work which is often considered to be more important and beneficial for the world than his mediocre presidency; he even won a Nobel Peace Prize for it. UsefulNotes/BarackObama also seems to be avoiding this route, as he's active on social media and has started producing various media for Creator/{{Netflix}}, including a well-received nature documentary.

* Zero-G was one of the first ever Music/{{VOCALOID}}'s, and yet he gets the ''least'' amount of recognition (and fanart).

* Christopher Robin was originally the star of the ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' books; in the poetry books he appears often and has several poems dedicated to him (as opposed to Pooh, who only appears in one poem in ''When We Were Very Young'' and only appears occasionally in ''Now We Are Six''), and while he was moved OutOfFocus for the Pooh stories he remained a central character. In the first Disney featurettes he was also a major character, but in later productions he got smaller and smaller roles, quite often being left out entirely.
** This ''is'' sort of explained in ''WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' (and elaborated upon in ''WesternAnimation/PoohsGrandAdventure''): He's started school. While the Disney version doesn't seem to be attending boarding school the way his book counterpart is implied to be, it's still reasonable to presume that he isn't around as much because he's busy with schoolwork.
** The out of universe reason is that Christopher Robin was a real person, and he had never been fond of the way he was portrayed in his father's books, even when he was a child. Up until his death, the real Christopher Robin was very picky about his portrayal in Disney's animated works.

** Peter B. Parker was the {{Deuteragonist}} of the first movie and played a key role as Miles' [[MentorArchetype mentor]]. In the sequel, ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'', he doesn't show up until the start of the third act. Though for what it's worth there are a ''lot'' of characters in this one, and Peter still does have an impactful conversation with Miles in the climax.

* The comic strip originally called ''Robotman'' shifted focus to the original titular character's creator, ComicStrip/{{Monty}}, and was eventually renamed for him. Robotman himself was written out entirely in favor of a diminutive alien named Mr. Pi, who himself was demoted to extra when Monty's time traveling distant descendent showed up with his own robot sidekick, Dave, who is a SuspicuouslySimilarSubstitute for the strip's original title character.