History Main / PutOnABusToHell

** Homer voiced the character "Poochie" in one episode of the animated cartoon within the animated cartoon, "The Itchy and Scratchy Show." Poochie proved so unpopular that in the next episode, the animation stops in its tracks as Poochie (not voiced by Homer) says he had to return to his "home planet", his departure simply involving sliding his animation cel up and off the screen. A screen appears with a message drawn in marker reading "Note: Poochie died on his way back to his home planet." Immediately afterwards, Krusty the Clown puts the final nail in the coffin by cheerfully declaring Poochie dead. However, this hasn't stopped Poochie from making an I&S cameo later on during Scratchie's funeral.

Compare DroppedABridgeOnHim. Contrast BusCrash. More literal cases go under DraggedOffToHell. Not related to the [[Music/SoulCoughing bus that's gonna take you back to Beelzebub]].

* Several villains from the movies and major story arcs of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' get disposed of this way, either getting them sent to jail ([[Anime/PokemonHeroes Annie, Oakley]], [[Anime/PokemonZoroarkMasterOfIllusions Grings Kodai]]), have ambiguous fates but have their ambitions completely ruined ([[Anime/{{Pokemon2000}} Lawrence III]], [[Anime/Pokemon4Ever Iron Mask Marauder]]), or in Cyrus' case, trapped in another dimension.

* Creator/IDWPublishing's ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** During ''Comicbook/TheTransformersIDW'' segment of the {{Massive Multiplayer|Crossover}} CrossThrough ''Infestation'', Kup was infected with a zombie virus, mind-controlled, and ultimately transported to another undead dimension. Subverted however, as TheBusCameBack in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersDarkCybertron''.
** In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise'', Omega Supreme was badly damaged by a bomb [[spoiler: shortly before the return of Megatron]]. He was mentioned as still alive a couple of times (presumably so that he could return if [[MerchandiseDriven Hasbro ever released a new Omega Supreme toy]]) but he never recovered and died giving Bumblebee the information he had on [[PlanetEater Unicron]].

* The worlds in ''VideoGame/RaymanLegends'' all end with your character punching The Magician and his clones far into outer space, landing into the craters of a planetoid populated by devils that proceed to poke and prod them.

* The last we see of Zhao in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' he [[spoiler: was dragged into the sea by an angry ocean spirit.]] The next time we see him [[spoiler:is in the second season finale of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' in which we find out that he has been trapped in "The Fog of Lost Souls", a sort of prison in the Spirit World where its prisoners are infected by a spirit in the form of a massive fog that distorts your mind and drives you insane. Keep in mind that you don't age in the Spirit World, [[FateWorseThanDeath which means that Zhao, having lost every last shred of his sanity, is doomed to wander the fog for all eternity.]]]]

** Almost literally in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E12MargeVsTheMonorail Marge vs. the Monorail]]," where one-shot villain Lyle Lanley - after defrauding Springfield out of $3 million to build a defective, "bridge-to-nowhere" monorail – leaves town on a plane that he thinks will take him to Tahiti to live it up. Except the plane is really bound (under the guise of an "unscheduled stop") to North Haverbrook. Why does that horrify the conman? Because one of Lanley's scam monorails was built in North Haverbrook, the end result caused death and destruction, and the people can't wait for him to come back so they can kill him... which is implied to happen when the plane does make its stop (as he is never seen again).

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
** The Ruby Squad was last seen in "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS4E11AdventuresInLightDistortion Adventures in Light Distortion]]", hurtling endlessly through space after Steven opened the airlock on the moon base in "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS3E23BackToTheMoon Back to the Moon]]". Since Gems don't need air, heat, or food, it could take thousands of years before any of them land on a planet or are found, and that's assuming their gemstones don't get shattered by space debris. [[spoiler:Later, one of the Ruby Squad members (Navy) falls to Earth and steals back the starship they took to Earth. A different member (Eyeball) later shows up on Homeworld, so it's possible that Navy also rescued the other Rubies.]]
--->'''Eyeball Ruby:''' ''[to Steven]'' But ''you'' opened the airlock in the [[SpaceBase moon base]]. ''You'' sent us flying into space with no hope of ever returning!
** "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E2TheTrial The Trial]]" ends with Blue Zircon getting carried away in her defense and recklessly accusing one of the Diamonds of shattering Pink Diamond. She immediately tries to backpedal but is smashed by Yellow Diamond, poofing her, before Yellow also electrocutes and poofs Yellow Zircon in a fit of rage. [[spoiler:Even worse, Blue Zircon's logic wasn't bad and the conclusion was close to the truth, but she started from the faulty premise that Pink Diamond was really dead.]] Both have a cameo in the movie showing they were eventually released unharmed.
** Discussed by Steven at the beginning of the "Stranded" special when he and Connie are about to visit [[spoiler:Lars, who as far as they know is still trapped on Homeworld]]. Steven expresses worry about his friend, since the last time he saw him he was trapped underground with a bunch of Off-Color Gems. However, when they visit him through Lion's mane this is subverted: [[spoiler:In the weeks since Steven last saw Lars, he and the Off-Colors have stolen the ship of a high-ranking Gem from Homeworld and are now making their way toward Earth.]]
* The last time we see Blurr in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' he's been compressed into a cube and dropped down a garbage chute. However, he was [[AllThereInTheManual apparently saved by Cliffjumper]], but the Autobots have no clue on how to reconstruct him.
* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'':
** [[spoiler:Soundwave]] ends the series trapped forever in a pocket dimension with no hope of escaping. He couldn't be killed so the best option the heroes had against him was to transport him into another world with no other life forms. [[spoiler: [[WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise2015 Then,]] [[TheBusCameBack he escaped]].]]
** [[spoiler:Soundwave]] is responsible for inflicting this on another character, [[spoiler:Airachnid]], who ends up trapped on the Moon. While she does have her conquering army with her, since she was also infected with the combined synthetic energon - dark energon mix that turns Cybertronians into vampires, she also has to consume them to survive.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Happens in-universe to Joey's TV persona, Drake Remoray, after he inadvertently pissed off the writers of the show. He is written to succumb to a rare medical condition for which ''himself'' was the only doctor who could provide treatment.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', [[spoiler:Soundwave]] ends the series trapped forever in a pocket dimension with no hope of escaping. He couldn't be killed so the best option the heroes had against him was to transport him into another world with no other life forms. [[spoiler: [[WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise2015 Then,]] [[TheBusCameBack he escaped]].]]

** Almost literally in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E12MargeVsTheMonorail Marge vs. the Monorail]]," where one-shot character Lyle Lanley - after defrauding Springfield out of $3 million to build a defective, "bridge-to-nowhere" monorail – leaves town on a plane where he thinks will be to Tahiti to live it up. Except the plane is really bound (under the guise of an "unscheduled stop") to North Haverbrook. Why is that a big thing? Because earlier, one of Lanley's monorails was built in North Haverbrook, and the end result caused death and destruction, and the people can't wait for him to come back so they can kill him... which is implied to happen when the plane does make its stop (as he is never seen again).

* Similarly, in ''Series/{{Zoey 101}}'', Alexa Nikolas quit the show because of a feud between her and Jamie Lynn Spears. Alexa's character, Nicole, was an intensely boy-crazy, insecure kid who hated unfamiliar situations -- and Zoey says in the third season premiere that Nicole has been shipped to an all-girls boarding school. In a previous episode, Nicole had broken down sobbing when she thought she'd have to transfer to another school. Ouch. The writers know how to punch.

* During Creator/IDWPublishing's {{Massive Multiplayer|Crossover}} {{Crossthrough}} ''Infestation'', Kup of ''Comicbook/TheTransformersIDW'' was infected with a zombie virus, mind-controlled, and ultimately transported to another undead dimension. Subverted however, as TheBusCameBack.
* In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise'', Omega Supreme was badly damaged by a bomb [[spoiler: shortly before the return of Megatron]]. He was mentioned as still alive a couple of times (presumably so that he could return if [[MerchandiseDriven Hasbro ever released a new Omega Supreme toy]]) but he never recovered and died giving Bumblebee the information he had on [[PlanetEater Unicron]].

[[caption-width-right:350:[[PlaceWorseThanDeath No, not Neasden!]] [[AnythingButThat Anywhere but that!]][[labelnote:Explanation]] Neasden is part of UsefulNotes/{{London}} and is commonly mocked in ''Magazine/PrivateEye'' as a PlaceWorseThanDeath.[[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[PlaceWorseThanDeath No, not Neasden!]] [[AnythingButThat Anywhere but that!]][[labelnote:Explanation]]Neasden is part of UsefulNotes/{{London}} and is commonly mocked in ''Magazine/PrivateEye'' as a PlaceWorseThanDeath.[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[PlaceWorseThanDeath No, not Neasden!]] [[AnythingButThat Anywhere but that!]]]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', [[spoiler:Soundwave]] ends the series trapped forever in a pocket dimension with no hope of escaping. He couldn't be killed so the best option the heroes had against him was to transport him into another world with no other life forms. [[spoiler: [[WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise2015 then,]] [[TheBusCameBack he escaped]].]]

* In ''series/LesFillesDACote'', core character Magalie was written out of the show after her actress walked out on the series. To explain her dissappearance she is portrayed as a despicable sneak thief with personality issues who robs the gym and goes on the run.

* A very popular FandomSpecificPlot in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' stories is to have Mineta Minoru expelled by Aizawa at the Quirk Apprehension Test or for his [[LovableSexManiac perverted antics]].

** One-shot characters Lurleen Lumpkin and Mindy Simmons (both of whom attempted to entice Homer into an affair): the former made several cameos where she appeared to be down on her luck, while the latter apparently "hit the bottle pretty hard" and lost her job. Lurleen eventually [[TheBusCameBack got a follow-up episode]] where the Simpsons help to get her life back on track and Marge [[{{Yandere}} kinda-sorta}}]] buries the hatchet with her. Mindy, meanwhile, still appears in background shots at the plant, but whether this is her benefiting from GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity or just the animators getting lazy has never been addressed.

** One-shot characters Lurleen Lumpkin and Mindy Simmons (both of whom attempted to entice Homer into an affair): the former made several cameos where she appeared to be down on her luck, while the latter apparently "hit the bottle pretty hard" and lost her job. Lurleen eventually [[TheBusCameBack got a follow-up episode]] where the Simpsons help to get her life back on track and Marge [[[{{Yandere}} kinda-sorta}}] buries the hatchet with her. Mindy, meanwhile, still appears in background shots at the plant, but whether this is her benefiting from GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity or just the animators getting lazy has never been addressed.

** One-shot characters Lurleen Lumpkin and Mindy Simmons (both of whom attempted to entice Homer into an affair): the former made several cameos where she appeared to be down on her luck before getting a follow-up episode, while the latter apparently "hit the bottle pretty hard" and lost her job.

* Hilariously inverted in the ending of the ''WebVideo/PuffinForest'' Malikar storyline. [[BigBad Malikar]] is an immortal who is reborn every time he gets killed and was performing a ritual that would have destroyed the world. The players had spent the campaign searching for a weapon that could permanently kill him. The players confronted him with the weapon and disrupted the ritual, but ended up just barely losing the final fight by a single dice roll. This resulted in the most of the players characters and Malikar getting randomly scattered into the various outer planes. Through sheer luck of the dice, all of the player character ended in planes on the good side of the great wheel. When Ben rolled the dice to decide where Malikar ended up, he burst out laughing because he got sent to [[spoiler:Mount Celestia, the plane of LawfulGood and equivalent of Heaven, where he is immediately arrested and imprisoned, removing him as a threat for a long time.]]

* The last we see of Zhao in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' he [[spoiler: was dragged into the sea by an angry ocean spirit.]] The next time we see him [[spoiler:is in the second season finale of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' in which we find out that he has been trapped in "The Fog of Lost Souls", a sort of prison in the Spirit World where its prisoners are infected by a spirit in the form of a massive fog that distorts your mind and drives you insane. Keep in mind that you don't age in the Spirit Word, [[FateWorseThanDeath which means that Zhao, having lost every last shred of his sanity, is doomed to wander the fog for all eternity.]]]]

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** Almost literally in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E12MargeVsTheMonorail Marge vs. the Monorail]]," where one-shot character Lyle Landley - after defrauding Springfield out of $3 million to build a defective, "bridge-to-nowhere" monorail – leaves town on a plane where he thinks will be to Tahiti to live it up. Except the plane is really bound (under the guise of an "unscheduled stop") to North Havenbrook. Why is that a big thing? Because earlier, one of Landley's monorails was built in North Havenbrook, and the end result caused death and destruction, and the people can't wait for him to come back so they can kill him ... which is implied to happen when the plane does make its stop (as he is never seen again).

** Homer voiced the character "Poochie" in one episode of the animated cartoon within the animated cartoon, "The Itchy and Scratchy Show." Poochie proved so unpopular that in the next episode, the animation stops in its tracks as Poochie (not voiced by Homer) says he had to return to his "home planet", his departure simply involving sliding his animation cel up and off the screen. Bloody letters across the screen read, "Note: Poochie died on his way back to his home planet." Immediately afterwards, Krusty the Clown puts the final nail in the coffin by cheerfully declaring Poochie dead. However, this hasn't stopped Poochie from making an I&S cameo later on during Scratchie's funeral.

** ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration''. Dan Woods, who had been commuting between L.A. and Toronto, wanted to leave the show because his productions for SpeedChannel were taking off; Principal Raditch spoke to Rick three times in the two days before the shooting, entirely clueless as to how deeply troubled Rick was, and was ReassignedToAntarctica not long after.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Oz was written out by a StoryArc which ends with him acting amazingly stupid, breaking Willow's heart, and killing (a villain, but this is a show where ThouShaltNotKill, usually). His encore episode later on is barely any kinder.
** Riley was similarly written out, with his alienation from the group turning to mind-melting stupidity that nearly gets him killed, and quitting when Buffy can't forgive him. Again, he gets an encore episode where he's portrayed more nicely, if blandly.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Happens in-universe to Joey's TV persona, Drake Remoray, after he inadvertently pissed off the writers of the show. He is written to succumb to a rare medical condition which ''himself'' was the only doctor who could provide treatment.