History Main / MemeticBystander

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'' had a recurring bystander with a beard. He first appeared in season 5 as one of Stannis' soldiers, then he's seen as part of the Stark army starting with season 6. The fact he's just normal soldier who nevertheless survives a blizzard, a battle massively lopsided against his side, and well as a zombie apocalypse and remains a leal servant of the Starks has endeared him to the fandom. In a comanion documentary for season 8, the extra playing him gives him a name; Aberdolf Strongbeard.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'': The Merchant is oddly popular in fanart, because for no real adequately-explained reason, he TalksLikeAPirate in the English dub.

* Occurs so often in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fandom that they could form their own independent cast, usually to midbosses with unique sprites but no dialogue. Daiyousei, Koakuma (not even having names originally [[AscendedFanon until ZUN caught on]]), Lily White, Momiji, Shizuha, Kisume, Youki (only mentioned in Youmu's profile), and [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters many, many others]].

** Before him, there was [[WhoWearsShortShorts the shorts kid.]] He gets a DistaffCounterpart in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', a Lass who talks about the comfort of dresses. There's even another Youngster in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' who mentions his shorts, possibly as a reference to the original shorts kid.

* There is a pony [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials in the first My Little Pony special]] who caught fans eyes precisely because [[ToylessToylineCharacter she has no toy]]. She caused a lot of speculation and discussion but is generally considered to be a figurine-only pony named "Firstborn".
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has an [[EnsembleDarkhorse/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic unbelievable amount of these]]:
** The page image: in the first episode, a bluish grey, [[FishEyes cock-eyed]] pony can be seen for a few seconds on the background, and she immediately became a fan favorite, with an enormous amount of art and fanfic about her and a whole fan-crafted personality. Dubbed "Derpy Hooves", she reached AscendedMeme status with several cameos, a full speaking part, some official toys (including a large Comic Con-exclusive one and a standard brushable in a "Fan Favorites" set), and a prominent role in [[LowerDeckEpisode the 100th episode]], which is almost nothing but AscendedFanon.
** A brown pony with hair resembling [[Series/DoctorWho the Tenth Doctor]] and an hourglass cutie mark was swiftly branded Doctor Whooves. Cue hundreds of crossovers. This intensified when other Earth stallion ponies appeared in the background with hourglass cutie marks, seemingly representing [[TheNthDoctor some of the previous incarnations of the Doctor]]. He also got canonized in a trading card, which includes a "{{timey|WimeyBall}}-wimey" reference. He also has appeared in licensed merchandise and as a small Hasbro-made figure, where he has a unique mold [[note]]which is ''very'' unusual, given that they rarely make new molds for the "blind bag" style figures, and if they do it's normally for more important characters or ones with unusual body types, ''and'' they already had another "Earth Pony stallion" mold by that point[[/note]] and is actually referred to as Doctor Whooves on the packaging. He also holds the distinction of having had a speaking role before the 100th episode, but with an American accent, which was ''officially retconned'' for the MilestoneCelebration, where he gets the correct English accent and a completely new characterization (though due to copyrights, he's a screwball inventor who believes in time travel a la [[Film/BackToTheFuture Doc Brown]], rather than a Time Lord).
** Lyra (the go-to pony for a FunnyBackgroundEvent) and Bon Bon (who is often seen with her, and made her own fame with having a very different voice each time she gets an incidental line) are about equal in popularity, and loop on each other's popularity by being romantically paired together [[FanPreferredPairing more consistently]] than ''any'' other pairing. They too have a role in the 100th episode, and a few official toys. The final season has them proposing to each other and then get married [[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent in the background]].
** Octavia, a cello-playing pony from "The Best Night Ever" with an incredible resemblance to Pinkie Pie's sister, got fan popularity far beyond most of the other musicians that have appeared, finally getting voiced in the 100th episode.
** A white DJ pony with purple glasses and a blue/cyan mane who appears for all of ''six seconds'' in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E14SuitedForSuccess "Suited For Success"]] gained a lot of popularity, dubbed Vinyl Scratch/DJ PON-3, appearing in fanfics, fan art and tons of fan music. She got some more cameos, official toys from Hasbro including a standard brushable one as part of a "Fan Favorites" set, and appears alongside Octavia in the 100th episode.
** A white pegasus pony with [[NonstandardCharacterDesign huge muscles, very tiny wings]] and NoIndoorVoice that fans dubbed "Snowflake" first appeared in the "Hurricane Fluttershy" episode. He showed up again later as one of the recruits in "Wonderbolts Academy" before finally getting a canon name (Bulk Biceps) and a major speaking role as part of Dash's relay team in "Rainbow Falls".
--> '''''"YEAH!!!"'''''

* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'': In ''Xrd'', there's a fat grey-haired sheriff in the background of the Neo New York stage as its only background character, who's watching the fight while eating a bag of infinite burgers. Fans took a liking to him and dubbed him "Burger Sheriff". Newcomer Goldlewis Dickinson in ''-STRIVE-'' was commonly believed to be the Burger Sheriff, but WordOfGod comfirmed he's actually his younger brother.

** Lyra (the go-to pony for a FunnyBackgroundEvent) and Bon Bon (who is often seen with her, and made her own fame with having a very different voice each time she gets an incidental line) are about equal in popularity, and loop on each other's popularity by being romantically paired together [[FanPreferredPairing more consistently]] than ''any'' other pairing. They too have a role in the 100th episode, and a few official toys.

* ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' has Masaru Gojou, midfielder for Teikoku, who has never gotten a single line, never even referred to by name (the only reason his name is even known is because the games [[CastOfSnowflakes have individual data for each and every one of the 1000+ characters, including a name and short bio]]), looks like he's in his 30s despite being a high schooler, and [[https://i.imgur.com/ImlJzID.png his face seems to be permanently frozen in one facial expression]] best described as "you might wanna draw your curtains." He won a popularity contest thanks to the meddling of [=2ch=]; it's a long story really. The creators noticed this and gave him an appearance in the GO movie (the only member from Teikoku sans the ones who joined Inazuma Japan to appear in GO at all) and a cameo in VideoGame/DanballSenki.

* In ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', as Rossiu [[spoiler:announces Simon's execution]], a man can be seen in the crowd giving a BicepPolishingGesture. However, due to cultural differences the Western audience interpreted it as the man giving an "up-yours" gesture (it helps that the man had a BadassMustache as well). Dubbed Bruce Ironstaunch, this man became a vent for viewers' hatred toward [[TheScrappy Rossiu]].

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'' had a recurring bystander with a BadassBeard. He first appeared in season 5 as one of Stannis' soldiers, then he's seen as part of the Stark army starting with season 6. The fact he's just normal soldier who nevertheless survives a blizzard, a battle massively lopsided against his side, and well as a zombie apocalypse and remains a leal servant of the Starks has endeared him to the fandom. In a comanion documentary for season 8, the extra playing him gives him a name; Aberdolf Strongbeard.

** In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', during the evacuation of Cloud City, you can see a guy in an orange jumpsuit carrying what looks like an ice cream maker. Since then, he's been dubbed "Ice Cream Maker Guy" and has attracted a huge fanbase, to the point where, when the ExpandedUniverse stated that he was actually carrying a computer memory core, people cried TheyChangedItNowItSucks. He even got an official action figure! His name is Willrow Hood, by the way.

* ''Series/HarryHillsTVBurp'' loved singling out minor characters and extras who would otherwise get little attention. Perhaps the most notable example was when he made note of the two blonde pink nurses on ''Series/{{Casualty}}''--the short one who does "lengths" (walking toward or away from a camera pointed down a long corridor) in the scenes and the taller one who does "widths" (generally seen walking across shots in the background). This led to amused commentary online and on other shows about the fact that ''Casualty'' was indeed doing this.

** [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Poorfag Poor-chan,]] a girl in the protagonists' class taking notes in a notebook. This was only picked up because everyone else in this particularly fancy school was using laptops. After many threads on Website/FourChan, she became an incredibly [[ThePollyanna optimistic young girl]] despite [[BreakTheCutie her horrendous living circumstances.]] She is somewhat [[TheDitz ditzy]] and takes [[ButtMonkey whatever the world throws at her]] with good grace.
** [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/File:Clip_Girl.jpg Clip Girl,]] another random student that some fans picked up on because she was looking at Homura. Fans decided that Clip Girl [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer had a crush]].
** "Failure", a boy who sits in the seat right before Madoka's, [[http://wiki.puella-magi.net/File:Failurefag_gonna_fail.png who is seen leaning on his desk in apparent despair.]]

** The entire Devaronian race was based on a single guy in a devil costume, who appeared in two shots.

** In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', during the evacuation of Cloud City, you can see a guy in an orange jumpsuit carrying what looks like an ice cream maker. Since then, he's been dubbed "Ice Cream Maker Guy" and has attracted a huge fanbase, to the point where, when the ExpandedUniverse stated that he was actually carrying a computer memory core, people cried TheyChangedItNowItSucks. He even got an official action figure!
* "Propeller Guy" from ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}''. During the climactic scene when the stern of the ship is pulled out of the water, one CGI character falls and smacks off the exposed propeller with a loud CLANG. He gets a lot of sympathy for this.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Morn from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' is a regular at Quark's bar and is seen in the background in almost every episode in which the location is featured. He's played by the same man throughout the series, though he's not visible beneath the costume. The mask includes a jointed mouth so that the character can speak if necessary, but he never gets any lines. He eventually began getting acknowledgement within the show, as characters would supply all sorts of {{Informed Attribute}}s about him, including the fact that he's a big talker. Morn eventually gets an entire episode devoted to him, but he still manages to stay off camera for most of it, does very little while on camera, and is even prevented from speaking when he attempts to do so.

* ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' [[CastOfSnowflakes does not believe in]] FacelessMasses, and these background extras tend to reappear later with actual personalities. Floyd Fitznewski, Heywood J. Lookathat, Ms. Hatbrim, and Herb Gardner all first appeared as background extras in crowd shots. The strip's [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/CharAll.html character page]] even lists "Random Woman From Crowd Scene on Aug. 14, 2007: The only figure in that scene who has never reappeared."

* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'': In ''Xrd'', there's a fat grey-haired sheriff in the background of the Neo New York stage as its only background character, who's watching the fight while eating a bag of infinite burgers. Fans took a liking to him and dubbed him "Burger Sheriff". Newcomer Goldlewis Dickinson in ''-STRIVE-'' was commonly believed to be the Burger Sheriff, but WordOfGod comfirmed he's actually his younger brother.

* ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'': a Parademon who apparently didn't attend the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy manages to stop ''the Flash'' mid-race with a cannon shot in the FinalBattle. Cue "Employee of the Month", "Give this man a raise!" and similar things.

* ''{{WebAnimation/RWBY}}'': The Shopkeeper/Noodle Stand Guy, who makes sporadic appearances in the first 3 volumes only to have his day ruined by a member of the main cast .

* If you pick up a comic book, you might notice two recurring characters in the form of a ginger man with glasses and a goatee and his stockier, black-haired friend. They’re usually cops, but they’ve also be seen as everything from civilians, party-goers and common crooks), and are always seen together. The kicker? They’re found in Marvel, DC ''and'' Transformers comics, completely transcending companies, writers, and artists. No one knows where they come from or who created them. They are known to fans simply as the "Mystery Hipster Cops".

[[caption-width-right:350:[[AscendedMeme And now she's an official character!]]]]

** In episode one a bluish grey, [[FishEyes cock-eyed]] pony can be seen for a few seconds on the background, and she immediately became a fan favorite, with an enormous amount of art and fanfic about her and a whole fan-crafted personality. She reached AscendedMeme status with several cameos, a full speaking part, some official toys (including a large Comic Con-exclusive one and a standard brushable in a "Fan Favorites" set), and a prominent role in [[LowerDeckEpisode the 100th episode]], which is almost nothing but AscendedFanon.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal exploits such incidental characters, such as Howondaland Smith, Alice Band, Miss Smith-Rhodes, Madame Deux-Epées, and many others.