History Main / LivingProp

*** Special mention goes to [=DogPoo=] Petuski. While he's been in the show since the start and is still around as of Season 25, he has had only '''two''' speaking roles. Both Cartman and himself [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] his living prop status in one of the two episodes he speaks in.

These kinds of recurring characters don't actually have any involvement with the plot except as {{Padding}}, and their only purpose is to create a certain sense of stability (after all, you wouldn't expect the bartender to be a different person every single time you visit the same bar, unless they all happen to have GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity) or to fill seats that would reasonably always be occupied by the same people (your classmates will remain the same throughout the school year.)

They have very few spoken lines, if any at all -- it's usually along the lines of "Hot or iced?" or "All systems ready, Captain". If this is noticeable or stretching realism they are GhostExtras. Most of the time they just stand there in the background, as if they are a permanent part of the scenery that might as well be a living prop. Sometimes, however, they will be subject to LampshadeHanging about their dedication to their one job, and if this trend continues, they may even transform into a proper RecurringCharacter, sometimes with their own subplot. Compare and contrast UnknownCharacter, for a character with plot relevance who was never shown.

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** Wendell Borton--the pale and queasy kid in Bart's class--rarely has lines, much less an impact on the plot (though this may more be a case of DemotedToExtra, as they had a few lines early on). The example is also {{lampshade|Hanging}}d at one point when even he can't remember which kid is which.

They might also have been a ChekhovsGunman the entire time. Or even [[TheDogWasTheMastermind something more]].

* In ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', due to its massive cast, some characters inevitably end up with this role whose sole purposes were to avoid creating the impressions of an OddlySmallOrganization. A good example would be the group of officers in the Yang Fleet who were always present in its high level strategic meetings but rarely (if ever) raise any comments.

* Partially averted in ''Series/DegrassiJuniorHigh'' and ''Series/DegrassiHigh'', unlike most other school-based series: while the focus remained on the leads, participation in the plots and subplots rotated through many of the background characters. The rest of the time, however, they become this trope. ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'', however, shifted toward having [[LotsAndLotsOfCharacters as large a cast as possible]], with everyone else in the bustling school firmly planted in this trope.

* In ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', due to its [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters massive cast]], some characters inevitably end up with this role whose sole purposes were to avoid creating the impressions of an OddlySmallOrganization. A good example would be the group of officers in the Yang Fleet who were always present in its high level strategic meetings but rarely (if ever) raise any comments.

* Jeff, Louie's assistant on ''Series/{{Taxi}}'', the only black character on the show. Creator/NickAtNite once chronicled his rise from just lurking in the background, to getting a couple of lines here and there, to having the occasional subplot and a single episode in the limelight.

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* Several people from ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', like the blond guy with spiky hair and Ned from Buenos Nachos. Or the girl with a blue shirt that appears like everywhere anytime. In the ''GrandFinale'' she even appeared twice in the same screen, thus making Fanon speculate that she has a twin sister. One background character who fit the stereotype of a butch lesbian was seen standing with another random extra, deemed her girlfriend "[[WebComic/{{Shortpacked}} Leslie Bean]]."

** Maggie Simpson appears in almost every episode of the show but a lot of the time she acts as this. However, she still manages to maintain her own personality and has the occasional DayInTheLimelight or at least a case of her having more of an impact on the plot. Other times, she can act as a source of a quick joke or FunnyBackgroundEvent. She's a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed example on the whole.]]

** Some one-shot characters like Allison Taylor and Jessica Lovejoy that, after their introduction, can be later seen as a background character in many episodes revolving around the Springfield children. Jessica also appears in the new opening sequence, playing the flute in the school's music class.

* On ''WesternAnimation/MakingFiends'', Charlotte and Vendetta's classmates include Marvin, [[TheWoobie Marion]], [[EmoTeen Maggie]], [[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe Malachi]], and three other kids that they don't interact with. The first one is Mort, a dark blue boy with glasses, who is seen very often, but doesn't do anything. According to his Nick bio, he's extremely friendly and gives out nonsensical advice. He also has an irrational fear of soda, but a strange and tragic love of soda cans. The second kid is a pink unnamed girl with clips in her hair that is often seen screaming and waving her arms, and the last one is a blue boy with a baseball cap.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Video Game]]

* Downplayed in ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends''. Every resident who isn't in the main cast is a living prop, yet the creators of the show take the time to name them all, even going so far as to write a small paragraph about a dozen or so of them in the season 1 DVD.

[[quoteright:290:[[Series/WelcomeBackKotter https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Clipboard01.jpg]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:290:See the blonde in the back? She's a living prop.]]-]

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', there are a lot of kids in Madoka's class, but most of them don't even have lines except for indistinct background chatter. One of them, however, is nicknamed [[FanNickname "Poorfag"]] for being seen without a laptop in a scene where everyone in the class had their laptops out, and has an entire book's worth of {{Fanon}} about her.

** Walter Harriman. Originally [[FanNickname nicknamed]] "Chevron Guy" because his only role in the series was to announce EngagingChevrons, he got a proper name and some involvement in the plot in later seasons.

* Several people from ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', like the blond guy with spiky hair and Ned from Buenos Nachos. Or the girl with a blue shirt that appears like everywhere anytime. In the ''GrandFinale'' she even appeared twice in the same screen, thus making Fanon speculate that she has a twin sister. One background character who fit the stereotype of a butch lesbian earned the FanNickname "Alex Sapphic." Eventually she was seen standing with another random extra, deemed her girlfriend "[[WebComic/{{Shortpacked}} Leslie Bean]]."

* ''Manga/{{Working}}'' has Maya Matsumoto. She is seen doing her work and appears in the OP, but has no interaction with anybody from the main cast. She's suspiciously absent during staff meetings and doesn't even seem to talk to her direct superior. That's some job independence there for a waitress, but it seems like there had to be at least ''one'' person who actually focuses on the main business. Then in the final episode we learn she [[spoiler:is obsessed with being "normal", thus goes out of her way to avoid all the abnormal people she works with]]. There is also some kitchen staff which never gets any mention.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'' has one of these in the Soviet campaign: a certain bald-headed man who hangs out in the background of a lot of their cutscenes doing nothing of importance other than whispering into Stalin's ear once or twice, until the very end of the campaign: [[spoiler:Nadia poisons Stalin with his assistance, announcing that [[VideoGame/CommandConquerTiberianDawn the Brotherhood of Nod]] will someday become strong enough to stand as a separate entity, and you will lead the Soviet Union in their stead until that day, "for the foreseeable future"... and then the bald man shoots her as well, revealing himself to be the Brotherhood's true leader, Kane, with nothing more than the statement that "Comrade Chairman, [[IAmTheNoun I am the future]]".]]

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' has a collection of doctors that regularly appear on screen but (mostly) do not talk. For example, Colonel Doctor (called that because he looks like the Colonel Sanders), Dr. Beardface ([[ItIsPronouncedTroPay It's Be-ARD-fa-SAY, dammit!]]), Dr. Mickhead, and Snoop Dogg Intern.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'' has one of these in the Soviet campaign: a certain bald-headed man who hangs out in the background of a lot of their cutscenes doing nothing of importance until the very end of the campaign, [[spoiler:when he poisons everyone except the player character before revealing himself as their new boss... Kane.]]

* ''Series/DadsArmy'': the seven main characters make up only about a third of the troop. The rest are just props. One of them, Private Sponge, gets a few lines and ends up being the ColonelMakepeace of the series.

** Maggie Simpson appears in every episode of the show but a lot of the time she acts as this. However, she still manages to maintain her own personality and has the occasional DayInTheLimelight or at least a case of her having more of an impact on the plot. Other times, she can act as a source of a quick joke or FunnyBackgroundEvent. She's a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed example on the whole.]]

** Maggie Simpson has been this in most of her appearances in the series.

* ''Series/{{Reba}}'': Van and Cheyenne's daughter Elizabeth was more or less this. While she was a baby throughout much of the show,
even in later seasons when she grew up a little, she never received any plots focusing on her (unlike Henry, Brock and Barbra Jean's son). She only speaks one time in the entire series and even then it's just one brief line.

* Walter Harriman in ''Series/StargateSG1''. Originally [[FanNickname nicknamed]] "Chevron Guy" because his only role in the series was to announce EngagingChevrons, he got a proper name and some involvement in the plot in later seasons.

** For other examples of former Living Props later going on to play a bigger role, see Jonathan in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''...

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheNewAnimatedSeries'' (the short-lived CGI MTV series), the budgetary limitations forced the animators to reuse certain character models as extras over and over again, sometimes in very different context. Lampshaded in the DVD extras.