History Main / TheGenericGuy

* Prior to the Women's Evolution, the WWE Women's Division (then known as the [[Wrestling/WWEDivasEra WWE Divas]]) consisted mainly of cookie-cutter former models such as [[Wrestling/KellyKelly Kelly Kelly]], [[Wrestling/EveTorres Eve]], [[Wrestling/CandiceMichelle Candice Michelle]] Wrestling/{{Maryse}} and [[Wrestling/MariaKanellis Maria]], among others ([[Wrestling/BethPhoenix Beth Phoenix]] and [[Wrestling/AJLee A.J. Lee]] were notable exceptions to the rule). These days, the WWE Women's Division has women of all shapes, and sizes and have very distinct characters.

* A majority of the Pokémon team members from ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' tend to fall into this role when there isn't much going on for them rather than the one goal they're around for (Ash's Pokémon only stick around for battles, for example). If the Pokémon is in its early stages of evolution, they tend to have more proactive roles to fool around (for the sake of marketing merchandise). If said Pokémon gets to evolve all the way to the end, their apparent natures become so serious and stiff in some places that their appearances in the wild outside battles take a huge nosedive (drawing their larger designs is more taxing than their smaller forms in a weekly anime format), getting almost secluded to just battles. Even the Pokémon that are more popular than the rest don't catch a break and suffer from becoming generic battle bots with little personality.

'''Shawn:''' Nondescript? I've never heard that term used to describe a woman unless she was [[SuspectIsHatless a robbery suspect]].

* Prior to the Women's Evolution, the WWE Women's Division (then known as the WWE Divas) consisted mainly of cookie-cutter former models such as [[Wrestling/KellyKelly Kelly Kelly]], [[Wrestling/EveTorres Eve]], [[Wrestling/CandiceMichelle Candice Michelle]] Wrestling/{{Maryse}} and [[Wrestling/MariaKanellis Maria]], among others ([[Wrestling/BethPhoenix Beth Phoenix]] and [[Wrestling/AJLee A.J. Lee]] were notable exceptions to the rule). These days, the WWE Women's Division has women of all shapes, and sizes and have very distinct characters.

* The pre-generated characters that ship with {{UsefulNotes/RPG Maker}} are by necessity this, a generic amalgamation of JRPG character designs (influenced by the popular game and anime trends of each iteration) and statlines that can in theory be slotted into anyone's free-to-play or commercial RPG (though the use of these "RTP" characters is usually considered a cardinal sin of the scene).

* Poor, poor [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Donna Troy]]. Back when the ComicBook/TeenTitans was just a club for JLA sidekicks, she got to be the GirlyGirl - perhaps not an impressive slot, but at least it was a slot. Once the Wolfman-Perez relaunch rolled around, though, pretty much everyone on the roster left her in the dust - newcomers ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}, ComicBook/{{Starfire}}, and ComicBook/{{Raven}} were all outcasts with appropriately angsty backstories, fellow old-guarders Robin (soon to be known as ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}) and Kid Flash struggled with the trials of growing up (as both [[SidekickGraduationsStick superheroes]] and [[ComingOfAgeStory civilians]]), and even Beast Boy had some SadClown LonelyRichKid issues going on. In contrast, Donna had no real neuroses, [[Franchise/WonderWoman her mentor]] hailed from a society of immortal warrior-women, and she didn't even have a SecretIdentity to worry about. To add insult to injury, even Donna's FlyingBrick powerset was rendered redundant by Starfire, who could do all that ''and'' dish out {{Hand Blast}}s to boot.\\
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This, to some extent, might explain why the character has become such an infamous ContinuitySnarl - without many flaws or even general character traits to latch onto, writers looking to give Donna ADayInTheLimelight usually turn to exploring her ''existence'' rather than her character, hence her bazillion-and-one different origins.

* Series/{{Cheers}} many of the recurring barflies of Cheers fall under this category, except Al and Paul.

* "Series/{{Cheers}}" many of the recurring barflies of Cheers fall under this category, except Al and Paul.

* Mr. Normal from the video in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Not Normal". The plot follows [=SpongeBob=] attempting to be everything like this man, which [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome leaves everyone he knows unsettled as he loses his unique characteristics]]. [[spoiler:After Normal-fied [=SpongeBob=] points out what makes Squidward not normal, the octopus becomes his own version of Mr. Normal by the end of the episode.]]

* ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'' has Larry, one of the Gym Leaders. His entire gimmick is that he's basically what would happen if an [[{{Salaryman}} office worker]] from our world was plucked out and placed int the Pokemon universe. This has made him one of the most popular characters in the series because of how much he stands out for ''not'' standing out.

** Riley has been accused of this. Compared to Buffy's other bad-boy love interests (Angel, Spike, and Parker), at the core Riley's just a normal, squeaky-clean, church-going guy from the midwestern US. This is one of the factors in the fandom's dislike of him; he's just not as interesting as the other characters.

--> '''Nami''': [[CatchPhrase Don't call me normal!]]

'''Shawn:''' Nondescript? I've never heard that term used to describe a woman unless she was a robbery suspect.

* ''VideoGame/LiveALive'': Out of all the chapter bosses, [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Ou Di Wan Lee]] is definitely this. His appearance fits in with the timeline he appears in and has no outstanding or monstrous attributes. While his battle sprite hints at him being TheGiant, this may be a case of giving bosses larger than average sprites as his overworld sprite and official art depicts him as being tall but not outlandishly so. All in all, Ou Di Wan Lee can be best described as just an ordinary guy in comparison to the other bosses.

* Balder from ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor''. He's also a son of Odin, like Thor, and therefore able to rule Asgard when Thor isn't for any plot-contrived-reason. Of course, his half brothers are: A) THOR who's TheHero, a LargeHam, and a BoisterousBruiser, b) God-of-War Tyr who plays the HandicappedBadass with only one hand and now serves the queen of the dead, and C) their stepbrother Loki, who gets EvilIsSexy, DracoInLeatherPants, is a MagnificentBastard and is the most developed character outside of Thor himself. Poor guy didn't have a chance.

* Emmet Brickowski from ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'', who is lampooned for his genericness and the fact that he is a mundane looking LEGO minifig with normal hair and a hard hat. Ultimately subverted when [[TookALevelInBadass the whole movie is played to develop him into a legitimate hero]], and there are movie tie-in LEGO products featuring him.

* Toothy from ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'' doesn't have much stand-out traits compared to the shows' background characters, with his biggest trait being his [[ChildishToothGap large gapped-teeth]] and [[YouthfulFreckles freckles]]. This corelates with his Everyman status, which the creators often expliot.