History Main / PutOnABusToHell

* The ending to [[Videogame/{{Portal2}} Portal 2]]. [[spoiler:Given that Wheatley has become the villain, he needed a punishment when he was finally defeated. However, killing him off was too much, but a simple slap and detach from the mainframe was too little, hence the final version of the ending, where he is blasted off into space.]]

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* The ending to [[Videogame/Portal2 Portal 2]]. [[spoiler:Given that Wheatley has become the villain, he needed a punishment when he was finally defeated. However, killing him off was too much, but a simple slap and detach from the mainframe was too little, hence the final version of the ending, where he is blasted off into space.]]

The most common form is for them to suffer rapid CharacterDerailment, often over the course of a single episode. Maybe they're too busy holding onto the IdiotBall to prevent a beloved character getting hurt, or perhaps they even [[MoralEventHorizon did something irredeemably awful themselves]]. Whatever the circumstances, by the end of the episode they have no choice but to leave town forever to preserve what tattered shreds of dignity they have left and save their friends from the worthless wreck of a human they've become.

* Paul Bearer, manager of the Undertaker, was last seen on television being buried alive in concrete. The next week it was announced that he was only "gravely injured", probably to blunt the fact that WWE had pretty much shown a {{kayfabe}} murder on live television. Of course [[SevenYearRule seven years later he was back]].

* [[spoiler: Cyndi]] from PennyAndAggie [[spoiler: is committed to a psychiatric hospital]] at the end of the "Missing Person" arc.

*** Actually, WordOfGod (if DC is to be believed) was that the Zoo Crew's fate was supposed to spur fans into demanding their return. [[FlatWhat What.]]

** Interestingly, Lorne from the spinoff ''{{Angel}}'' has something akin to this happen, in a case of TropesAreNotBad. His growing discomfort with the gang's EnemyMine situation, and feeling out of place as the resident comic relief guy in an increasingly dark series, is cemented in the finale. He helps out with Angel's plan to take out the worst bad guys ever, but after his part -- shooting resident AmoralAttorney[=/=]ArchEnemy Lindsey in the back after they fight off a bunch of demon {{Mook}}s. Lorne makes it quite clear that he's finished with their vigilante shtick, and that this is the last thing -- and personal MoralEventHorizon -- he's going to do with them.

* CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew seemed safe as long as they were in ComicBookLimbo. Unfortunately, when they were brought back in the mid 2000's, their AnimalSuperheroes world had to become darker to reflect the DarkerAndEdgier mainstream DC Universe. As a result, Little Cheese was [[DroppedABridgeOnHim murdered]], and then came the ''Captain Carrot And the Final Ark'' mini-series. Their world had become uninhabitable, so Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew, and the other anthropormorphic animal superheroes arranged for an ark to take them to the Justa Lotta Animals' world, Earth C-Minus. However, because of a mishap, not only did they end up in the 'main' DC universe Earth, but they were also turned into non-anthropomorphic animals who could not communicate with {{Superman}} and the JusticeLeague. The mini-series ends with them stuck this way, and the DC heroes not knowing why this ship appeared filled with animals.

** Of course, [[YourMileageMayVary your opinion of that]] depends on how much you like his mother-in-law, a character who seems to be intended to be the show's [[TeamMom mother figure]], but more often comes across as a ControlFreak with a [[GodModeSue messiah complex]]. Many fans were cheering that a character finally [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome called her out on her behaviour]] without apologising a couple of scenes later. (And, since he didn't know that she was losing the baby or even that she'd tripped when he walked away from her, he can be forgiven that one.)

* The character Smiley from the comic strip ''{{Baldo}}''. She was originally Baldo's {{tomboy}}ish next door neighbor, and later became his girlfriend. WordOfGod was that the relationship wasn't interesting to write, so the characters broke up but decided to [[BetterAsFriends stay friends]]. A couple of months later, Smiley had some offscreen CharacterDerailment within the span of three days, culminating in an EvilMakeover to become, essentially, [[TheLibby a Libby]]. Despite a claim from the author that she ''might'' return, Smiley hasn't been seen or mentioned in the comic since 2006.

* When Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) was written out of X-Men, apparently the JossWhedon didn't want to kill her, since DeathIsCheap and someone would end up bringing her back anyway. So they made a giant space bullet get fired at earth, with the only way to save everyone (because ReedRichardsIsUseless apparently) is to have Kitty phase inside the bullet so she can phase it through the planet, saving everyone but leaving her trapped inside, hurtling through space forever...

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bus_hell_4413.jpg]] [[caption-width:350: [[ComicallyMissingThePoint No, not Neasden!]] [[AnythingButThat Anywhere but that!]]]] So an actor's walked out of the show, leaving you and the other writers in a bit of a sticky spot. You don't want to [[McLeaned kill their character off]], but you're still feeling pretty malicious, and just having them PutOnABus isn't nasty enough. The solution is to Put Them On A Bus To Hell - write them out in a way so mean-spirited that it's clear to all and sundry that you're doing it out of spite.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bus_hell_4413.jpg [[caption-width:350: [[ComicallyMissingThePoint No, not Neasden!]] [[AnythingButThat Anywhere but that!]]]] So an actor's walked out of the show, leaving you and the other writers in a bit of a sticky spot. You don't want to [[McLeaned kill their character off]], but you're still feeling pretty malicious, and just having them PutOnABus isn't nasty enough. The solution is to Put Them On A Bus To Hell - write them out in a way so mean-spirited that it's clear to all and sundry that you're doing it out of spite.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bus_hell_4413.jpg [[caption-width:350: [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking No, not Neasden! Anywhere but that!]]]] So an actor's walked out of the show, leaving you and the other writers in a bit of a sticky spot. You don't want to [[McLeaned kill their character off]], but you're still feeling pretty malicious, and just having them PutOnABus isn't nasty enough. The solution is to Put Them On A Bus To Hell - write them out in a way so mean-spirited that it's clear to all and sundry that you're doing it out of spite.

* ''SouthPark''. Chef. [[ChurchOfHappyology Super Adventure Club]]. For those who don't watch the show, IsaacHayes, Chef's voice actor, left the show after a stroke, and a statement was issued (not by him or anyone in any legal position to speak for him) that it was in response to the show's treatment of religion, immediately after an episode mocking Scientology (Hayes was a Scientologist). In response, his character was given a final episode using audio pulled from previous episodes. It was written so as to be the ultimate in CharacterDerailment, turning him into a (brainwashed) pedophile. He is then given a RasputinianDeath... and his corpse is turned into child-molesting cyborg, in a scene that was obviously intended to resemble [[StarWars Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader]]. Indeed, it could almost be mistaken for a parody of the trope, it's so thorough.

* ''SouthPark''. Chef. [[ChurchOfHappyology Super Adventure Club]]. For those who don't watch the show, IsaacHayes, Chef's voice actor, left the show after a stroke, and a statement was issued (not by him or anyone in any legal position to speak for him) that it was in response to the show's treatment of religion, immediately after an episode mocking Scientology (Hayes was a Scientologist). In response, his character was given a final episode using audio pulled from previous episodes. It was written so as to be the ultimate in CharacterDerailment, turning him into a (brainwashed) pedophile. He is then given a RasputinianDeath... and his corpse is turned into child-molesting cyborg, in a scene that was obviously intended to resemble [[StarWars Annakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader]]. Indeed, it could almost be mistaken for a parody of the trope, it's so thorough.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bus_hell_4413.jpg [[caption-width:350: No, not Neasden! Anywhere but that!]] So an actor's walked out of the show, leaving you and the other writers in a bit of a sticky spot. You don't want to [[McLeaned kill their character off]], but you're still feeling pretty malicious, and just having them PutOnABus isn't nasty enough. The solution is to Put Them On A Bus To Hell - write them out in a way so mean-spirited that it's clear to all and sundry that you're doing it out of spite.

* Miya from ''{{Mai-Otome}}'' disappeared completely from the show following her implication in Arika's AttemptedRape situation halfway through the series, while also confessing to other Arika-related incidents (in one of the situations, she was completely innocent) before being led out of Garderobe by school administrators. None of the other characters see or hear anything from her again, nor is she ever ''[[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome mentioned by name]]'' after the incident.

* When Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) was written out of X-Men, apparently the writers didn't want to kill her, since DeathIsCheap and someone would end up bringing her back anyway. So they made a giant space bullet get fired at earth, with the only way to save everyone (because ReedRichardsIsUseless apparently) is to have Kitty phase inside the bullet so she can phase it through the planet, saving everyone but leaving her trapped inside, hurtling through space forever...
** ... Or not, since TheBusCameBack and Magneto used his magnetism to slow the bullet down, bring it to earth, and split it open so she could go back home. Why he didn't do that in the first place is apparently not something they thought to bring up at the time.