History TheArtifact / WesternAnimation

** As of the Season 4 episode "Castle Mane-ia", the friendship letters have been replaced by {{diar|y}}ies. The journal itself becomes an artifact when Spike still hold it in the opening of season 5 despite being absent after it fullfilled its role in season 4 finale.

** The Noops in particular suffered for a lengthy amount of time. Originally Rufus (and to a degree Amberley) were the main protagonists, however it soon became blatant that every other heroic member was stronger and more competent than them, thus reducing them to TheLoad for a lot of the series. The later episodes rectified this somewhat by placing the others OutOfFocus, isolating the two and thus putting them into more situations they had to handle things on their own.

** Newer seasons, due to change in writing team, seeming to making some attempts to reverse these examples, with more accuracies to the original stories, and the return of old concepts and characters. Some leeway is still made in favor of new additions however.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Katara's OpeningNarration remains the same through the series. Her statement "And although [Aang's] airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone." was true early on, it no longer makes sense as of Book 3 where [[TookALevelInBadass Aang is clearly stronger and masters all four elements]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Katara's opening narration remains the same through the series. Her statement "And although [Aang's] airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone." was true early on, it no longer makes sense as of Book 3 where [[TookALevelInBadass Aang is clearly stronger]].

** The show's ''entire premise'' fell under this trope, since politics were almost completely abandoned, and Stan hardly outs himself as a conservative nor displays hate for liberals anymore. This change in focus has also made Steve and Roger much bigger [[{{Foil}} foils]] to Stan now, while Hayley and her political activism have gotten much less screentime.

** The show's ''entire premise'' fell under this trope, since politics were almost completely abandoned, and Stan hardly outs himself as a conservative nor displays hate for liberals anymore. This change in focus has also made Steve and (Roger) much bigger [[{{Foil}} foils]] to Stan now, while Hayley and her political activism have gotten much less screentime.

** The show's ''entire premise'' fell under this trope, since politics were almost completely abandoned, and Stan hardly outs himself as a conservative nor displays hate for liberals anymore. This change in focus has also made Steve (and Roger) a more prominent foil to Stan now, while Hayley and her political activism have mostly been fallen by the wayside.

** The show's ''entire premise'' fell under this trope, since politics were almost completely abandoned, and Stan hardly outs himself as a conservative nor displays hate for liberals anymore.

* TheMovie of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' introduced the engine Lady as a sort of MacguffinGirl keeping the magical bond between the Engines' world and the real world alive, but this magical bond is not only never mentioned in any other version, but Shining Time Station and the Messrs. Conductor have since been phased out entirely. Nevertheless, Lady continued to appear in a few stories released shortly after the film, despite having lost the one thing that made her special and interesting. She disappeared after she'd appeared in enough stories to justify the toys to kids who didn't see the movie.

* In the ''Creator/{{Disney}} Sing Along Songs'' VHS series, Professor Owl from the AdventuresInMusicDuology was originally the host, with Jiminy Cricket and Professor Ludwig Von Drake occasionally taking over. In later entries, Professor Owl only appears to say "And now is your host, [Jiminy Cricket / Professor Ludwig Von Drake]!", and [[TheOtherDarrin in a completely different voice from the intro and earlier videos]], at that. The most likely reason is that the between-song segments were composed entirely of StockFootage of old cartoons, and Cricket and Von Drake -- particularly the latter, who by the end was the only one hosting -- had a good deal more material to draw from.
* Hack and Slash in ''ReBoot'' fell into this during season 3. While the series got DarkerAndEdgier, they didn't. For the most part they were ignored unless some comic relief was needed.

** Phineas' character design could be seen as an artifact. Originally, he was going to have a more sarcastic personality. He's made up of triangles, which are generally reserved for tougher, edgier, or meaner characters. But when his personality was made nicer, his pointy character design remained.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Fry's backstory as [[FishOutOfTemporalWater a 20th century human transplanted into the 31st century via cryogenic freezing]] almost became an afterthought in later episodes. If you got into the series at a later point, you'd scarcely think that Fry wasn't from the 30th century.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', Starfire's distinctive speech patterns are this trope. She talks slowly and [[SpockSpeak properly]], but misuses slang and figurative speech. The obvious implication is that she's an alien not used to speaking English, but as the show goes on, we meet other aliens--including other Tameraneans--who converse just fine. It simply became a quirk of Starfire's character.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', Starfire's distinctive speech patterns are this trope. She talks slowly and [[SpockSpeak very properly]], but misuses slang and figurative speech. The obvious implication is that she's an alien not used to speaking English, but as the show goes on, we meet other aliens who don't have this problem. Mind you, It's a minor plot point when we meet her villainous sister Blackfire, who speaks normally, showing that she's more socially adept and has been on Earth longer. But since then, we've met other alien characters--including other Tameraneans--who converse just fine. It has simply become a quirk of Starfire's character.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', Starfire's distinctive speech patterns are this trope. She talks slowly and [[SpockSpeack very properly]], but misuses slang and figurative speech. The obvious implication is that she's an alien not used to speaking English, but as the show goes on, we meet other aliens who don't have this problem. Mind you, It's a minor plot point when we meet her villainous sister Blackfire, who speaks normally, showing that she's more socially adept and has been on Earth longer. But since then, we've met other alien characters--including other Tameraneans--who converse just fine. It has simply become a quirk of Starfire's character.

* The family cars in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' have remained generic family sedans/station wagon-type cars from the 1980s/early 1990s. The family TV, at least, was finally upgraded to a modern flat screen a few years ago.

** As of the Season 4 episode "Castle Mane-ia", the friendship letters have been replaced by {{diar|y}}ies.

** Unexpectedly, the disproportionate in-universe hate towards her has shoved her through TheWoobie Wall for many members of the audience; giving her an actual purpose in the show. It also makes the scene in the the episode "Dial Meg for Murder" where she beats Peter after being in prison a few months a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

** Lampshaded by Klaus and Hayley in the final seconds of the episode "Ricky Spanish". Klaus pops up on the screen out of nowhere exclaiming, "Ha! I made it into the episode! Pay me, bitches!" Then Hayley pops up saying, "Ha! Me too!" Otherwise, both characters are entirely absent from the episode.
** In some later episodes, Klaus' lack of purpose is lampshaded through Klaus bemoaning his situation, or the other characters making fun of him. One particularly cruel example is "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls", where the rest of the family is fighting for their lives against Santa Claus and his elves with machine guns and hatchets, and Francine mentions "What's his name?" during a conversation with Hayley; it then cuts to Klaus floating in his bowl with no background noise, and he dispassionately says "My name is Klaus Heissler." Klaus wasn't seen again the entire episode, before or since that scene.

** Also, arguably, the [[TeamPet animal companions]] Naga and Pabu, whose significance and screen time dropped steadily over the seasons. By book 4, they had nothing to do and barely even appeared. Understandable, given the breakneck pacing with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters all fighting for limited screen time. But even as far back as season 1, some fans felt they didn't add anything to the show and were only there so that ''The Legend of Korra'' would have counterparts to [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Appa and Momo]] from the original series.

* Classic animation example: MickeyMouse's ears. No matter how he turns his head, [[CheatedAngle they stay in the same position, in direct violation of the rules of perspective]]. This is a relic of the time Mickey was created, when designs were simple and crude, but as the animators improved their drawing skills and the style became more elaborate, Mickey's design began to look archaic by comparison. His immense popularity made a complete redesign impossible, so only small, judicious changes were made over time. There was a time in the early 1940s when the ears were altered to look more like real mouse ears, as well as giving them dimension, but that change was short-lived and the round ears returned. Nowadays it's accepted as a crucial element in Mickey's design (even [[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouseClubhouse CG]] [[VideoGame/EpicMickey versions]] of the character have special adjustments to keep the ears the same from every angle), and is even [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] on occasion.
** Except ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''. His ears don't adjust with the angle, ever, so we actually see the sides of his ears. The 3D ending to the original ''ChainOfMemories'' Reverse/Rebirth mode also didn't do this.
*** In ''KingdomHearts'', however, we virtually ''only'' see Mickey from the side, and his ears are in their odd position. During an early cutscene, Minnie Mouse turns around and her ears adjust their position; possibly an [[ShoutOut intentional]] nod to this.
* The family cars in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' have remained generic family sedans/station wagon type cars from the 80s/early 90s. The family TV at least was finally upgraded to a modern flat screen a few years ago.

** Certain aspects of the show avert ComicBookTime, like Homer being a teen in the 70s and Skinner's war efforts, despite them being increasingly impossible.

*** And nobody called him by his name so the audience didn't get the joke that it was Kenny until he died.

** Also {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in "Lice Capades," Where [[TheConscience Kyle]], [[StraightMan Stan]], and [[JerkAss Cartman]] point out to each other that they're doing exactly what they would do if they had head lice, and Cartman adds, "And this is exactly what Kenny would do: stand here and say nothing."

** In some later episodes, Klaus' lack of purpose is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d through Klaus bemoaning his situation, or the other characters making fun of him. One particularly cruel example is "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls", where the rest of the family is fighting for their lives against Santa Claus and his elves with machine guns and hatchets, and Francine mentions "What's his name?" during a conversation with Hayley; it then cuts to Klaus floating in his bowl with no background noise, and he dispassionately says "My name is Klaus Heissler." Klaus wasn't seen again the entire episode, before or since that scene.
** The show's ''entire premise'' fell under this trope, since politics were almost completely abandoned, and Stan hardly outs himself as a conservative nor display hate for liberals anymore.
* This actually happened to Optimus Prime of all characters during the final season of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers''. They'd brought him back because of Fan Backlash over his removal so they couldn't very well have him leave again. But because of the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters that had to be written in [[MerchandiseDriven due to the toyline]] all older characters such as Blaster and Perceptor had been written off in favor of the new characters with gimmicks (such as being a Head or Target Master or part of a combination team) except for Prime. As a result he looks notably out of place with his 80s era Mack Truck form and lack of gimmicky weapons when surrounded by futuristic cars and jets and all the Masters. Notably, in the Japanese continuity which splits off right after he's brought back to life, he's killed off again almost immediately, replaced by a series of newer, more visually and technologically impressive leaders.

* In the ''{{Disney}} Sing Along Songs'' VHS series, Professor Owl from the AdventuresInMusicDuology was originally the host, with Jiminy Cricket and Professor Ludwig Von Drake occasionally taking over. In later entries, Professor Owl only appears to say "And now is your host, [Jiminy Cricket / Professor Ludwig Von Drake]!", and [[TheOtherDarrin in a completely different voice from the intro and earlier videos]], at that. The most likely reason is that the between-song segments were composed entirely of StockFootage of old cartoons, and Cricket and Von Drake -- particularly the latter, who by the end was the only one hosting -- had a good deal more material to draw from.

* ''[[TotalDramaIsland Total Drama]]'' started with twenty-two contestants in the first season, but while the second and third still had most of the cast competing, a few characters were stuck watching from the sidelines. With such a large main cast, some pairs of characters were NotSoDifferent from one another, which made a few like [[HairTriggerTemper Eva]], [[TheDividual Katie and Sadie]] redundant as [[TeamMom Cour]][[{{Tsundere}} tney]], [[DumbBlonde Lindsay]] and [[{{Geek}} Beth]] respectively took on their defining traits. The three only competed in the first season as a result, and have been OutOfFocus ever since.

** Sort of subtly {{lampshaded}} in ''PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension''--Phineas is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhdaOH9CpIQ&feature=related singing]] part of the show's theme song, but gets distracted before he can finish the line "driving our sister insane" (around 1:15). He doesn't try to drive her insane or even seem to realize that he's doing it, so it wouldn't make any sense for him to say that.
* TheMovie of ''ThomasTheTankEngine'' introduced the engine Lady as a sort of MacguffinGirl keeping the magical bond between the Engines' world and the real world alive, but this magical bond is not only never mentioned in any other version, but Shining Time Station and the Messrs. Conductor have since been phased out entirely. Nevertheless, Lady continued to appear in a few stories released shortly after the film, despite having lost the one thing that made her special and interesting. She disappeared after she'd appeared in enough stories to justify the toys to kids who didn't see the movie.

** In addition, the original episodes, and [[TheRailwaySeries the novels they are based on]], placed most of the engines onto different lines and work regimes. Now, the engines just seem to work freely anywhere around Sodor, making some of them superfluous. This was likely done so as to make main characters such as Thomas more flexible and easier to write into different situations.

* Zordrak was created as the sinister BigBad of ''TheDreamstone'', in early episodes, while mostly staying in his lair, he devised many of the plans for his mooks, the Urpneys, and on a handful of occasions played part in the task at hand, making him a palpable KnightOfCerebus. As the show began to revolve more and more around the Urpneys' slapstick however, Zordrak's part in the show became smaller and more superfluous, usually appearing as little more than [[BadBoss a source of abuse for his mooks]] while they plotted and acted out everything themselves. The heroes themselves even became trivial additions at times due to the Urpneys being such luckless imbeciles they could play out and fail at a scheme completely by themselves (though they were pushed back into spotlight a little in the final seasons).

* Early episodes of ''KingOfTheHill'' feature other neighbors besides the usual cast, notably a woman with glasses and long dark hair (voiced by Kathy Najimy) and several housewives who occasionally hang out with Peggy. After the first two seasons, these characters occasionally appear as extras but are rarely voiced.
* TheTomAndJerryShow of 2014 uses the classic gasp, gulp, and screaming sound effects for the duo even though they stick out like a sour thumb compared to the more modern noises of the show.
* Creator/CartoonNetwork's action-animation block {{Toonami}} has one in the form of a quote: "''We won't be intimidated by criminal threats!''", a line taken from the [[SupermanTheatricalCartoons theatrical Superman cartoons]], which aired via the Cartoon Roulette. While the Superman cartoons (as well as the Cartoon Roulette itself and [[TheHerculoids the]] [[SpaceGhost other]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Birdman}} shows]] it presented) left the block in 2000 and never came back, the sound bite for the line itself was still used in various promos. Even the revived Toonami on AdultSwim still uses it in promos.
** Toonami itself is a bit of an artifact nowadays. With the easy access of online streaming and DVD's, Toonami's old gimmick of bringing anime to America is a bygone relic.
* The 2011 reboot of ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' has the boys and Stewart still rocking the same t-shirts they did in the 90s. While it's still reasonable that teenage metalheads would be rocking Metallica and AC/DC shirts in modern times, being iconic acts, one wonders how many teenage boys nowadays would wear a t-shirt by the nearly-forgotten hair metal band Winger (hell, Winger was almost an artifact when the original B&B show started airing in the 90s).
* [[InUniverse In-universe]] example in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. A recurring theme of the show is asking whether or not the Avatar itself is an artifact of the world. The [[BigBad Big Bads]] certainly think so, and each has tried in their own way to create a world where the Avatar no longer exists. [[spoiler: With the new Air Nation taking the role of international peacekeepers, adopting the Avatar's role while Korra is out of commission, it seems they [[VillainHasAPoint may have had a point]] after all...]]

* WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck's signature "WOO HOO WOO HOO" laugh is this. He was originally an insane {{Cloudcuckoolander}} comparable to WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker. He soon became the more levelheaded JerkAss he's known as, with few screwball elements, but kept his manical laughter.

* A few characters, but particularly Rotor and Bunnie in ''SonicSatam''. The show originally consisted of a FiveManBand who got fairly even spotlight in Season One. Rotor was originally an {{Adorkable}} DitzyGenius who provided tech support, however as both Sally's intellect and Antoine's clumsiness got Flanderized, his role became more superfluous, only having odd moments of importance. Bunnie meanwhile was originally a supporting powerhouse, though after Dulcy was introduced and episodes focused more heavily on Sonic and Sally's brawn and brains dynamic, she was demoted to a fairly unimportant role, rarely even using her cyborg powers.