Line #26 Main/LesserStar


1	->''"The glee club's been ignoring Tina all year long. Actually, she kinda got ignored last year too. Actually, Tina's sorta been ignored the whole time and she's been in the New Directions since, like, forever."''
2	-->-- The ''Series/{{Glee}}'' narrator on Tina
3
4	A character that receives equal billing but is incidental to the point of irrelevance. Commonly found within RealLife within musical fields, particularly rock bands; the rhythm section (i.e. bass, drums, sometimes rhythm guitar) is the foundation upon which everything is built, so while many drummers or bassists may not be prolific songwriters or singers, many singers and guitarists acknowledge that the sound would be nothing without them.
5
6	The opposite of this, where a character makes an equal (or at least necessary) contribution, but remains obscure or overlooked, is StuckInTheirShadow.
7	Compare and contrast with AndStarring, BreakupBreakout, IAmTheBand, MyFriendsAndZoidberg, and ThePeteBest.
8
9	Does not relate to stars in the cosmic sense, like Red Dwarves.
10
11	'''[[Administrivia/InUniverseExamplesOnly In-Universe examples only, please]].''' It is almost always controversial to list any real-life musician here.
12
13	----
14	!!Examples:
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16	[[foldercontrol]]
17
18	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
19	* Tenchi of ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' gets a bit of this. He's the title character, but the show is really all about the girls; Tenchi himself is primarily relevant as a MacGuffin for them to fight over. Of course, one translation of the title is "No Need For Tenchi". How much of this he has depends on the series, and how far through the series one progresses. In the main OAV series, for example, he ends up [[spoiler:being revealed as the reason all known universes were created, not to mention more powerful than the beings responsible for their creation, though [[AmnesiacGod he has no memory of any of this]]]].
20	* ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya:'' Despite being Second in command of the SOS-Dan, Itsuki Koizumi is the least developed of the five. As far as purpose goes, Yuki usually gives out most of the 'facts', explaining what's going on, whereas Itsuki usually mused on ideas and philosophy. As the story went on, Itsuki had said about all of value he could say, so only Yuki was left to offer any real exposition. As far as what they bring to individual adventures, Yuki is the most useful as a RealityWarper, Mikuru herself is almost completely useless, but her adult self is the driving force of several plots (almost always those involving time travel), and Itsuki... uh... knows rich people.
21	* Sakura Haruno from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' was introduced as the third member of the PowerTrio, but her plotlines were rarely tied to the main conflict and they diminish in frequency over time. It didn't help that her entire reason for being included in the story was so that it would ''have'' a PowerTrio instead of just TheHero and TheRival.
22	* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Ichigo's TrueCompanions became way less prominent as the series started putting more focus on the Soul Society captains and squads.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Comic Books]]
26	* There were issues of ''Comicbook/CableAndDeadpool'' in which Comicbook/{{Cable}}'s entire role was basically to appear at the beginning and give ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} a mission. And a stretch of issues about Deadpool trying to find Cable in different dimensions. Eventually, they literally crossed Cable's name off the cover and replaced it with the name of a random guest star. Some of it was merely due to [[ExecutiveMeddling editorial mandate]] that allowed Cable to be busy, missing, or even killed off in the ComicBook/XMen titles, leaving the writers of the book he was nominally headlining little recourse but to work around him, but even when Cable was available it often seemed like they were more interested in writing a Deadpool book that Cable was shoehorned into by, you guessed it, [[ExecutiveMeddling editorial mandate]]. This despite the fact that Cable had been a major player in the X-titles for quite some time, and Deadpool had originally just been a member of his RoguesGallery.
27	* Similarly, in most ''ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer'' stories, the former has a much smaller role than the latter, with some even having him barely show up at all (''The Time Trap'' for example only has him appear on panel in the very last page visiting Mortimer in the hospital). And to add insult to injury, ''SOS Meteors'', one of the few albums where Blake arguably has a bigger role than Mortimer is inexplicably subtitled ''Mortimer in Paris'' and Blake does not appear on the cover.
28	* ''Comicbook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage'': Leonardo was the leader, nerdy Donatello was Peter Laird's favorite turtle, hot-headed Raphael was Kevin Eastman's favorite... and Michelangelo ended up being the least-featured and least-developed of the Turtles, often irrelevant for plot progression or fight ability. Once [[Westernanimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 the first cartoon]] played up Mikey's fun-loving and carefree tendencies, it resulted in the show's overall BreakoutCharacter.
29	* ''Robin Dubois'' is a Franco-Belgian parody of Myth/RobinHood. While the series is named after him, Robin isn't the main character, the Sheriff of Nottingham is. Here, he is named Fritz Alwill and [[CosmicPlayThing is the constant victim of the series' gags]].
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
33	* [[JerkAss Rat]] claims he is going to do this to [[TheWoobie Pig]] in one edition of the comic strip ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine''. In commentary in his treasuries, author Stephen Pastis asserts that he was the first person to have used the word "Garfunkel" as a verb, referring to the second member of Music/SimonAndGarfunkel who was the former namesake of this trope. (He was wrong, incidentally; Simon himself did it first on one of their tracks.)
34	* In ''[[Comicstrip/SnuffySmith Barney Google & Snuffy Smith]]'', this was true of Barney Google for many years. Until recently, his most recent appearance was in 2012; his second most recent appearance was in 1997. Some newspapers have removed his name from the strip for this reason. His appearances have been far more recent since circa 2017, however.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
38	%%* Turner of ''Film/TurnerAndHooch''.
39	* In ''Film/MusicAndLyrics'', the lead character was part of an '80s pop duo named [=PoP=]! heavily based off Music/{{Wham}}, with him playing the Andrew Ridgeley role.
40	* Fanny in ''Film/FannyAndAlexander''. Alexander is the POV character, and Fanny has little to do -- in fact, she has hardly any dialogue.
41	* Despite his importance in the "prime" (that is, [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original]]) continuity, Dr. Leonard H. [=McCoy=] (a.k.a.: "Bones") has ended up becoming this in the Creator/JJAbrams ''Film/{{Star Trek\|2009}}'' movies with his role in the PowerTrio being played by Uhura.[[note]]Mainly so she and Spock could be made into an "item", [[PromotedToLoveInterest something that never happened originally]].[[/note]]
42	* In ''Film/SchoolOfRock'' Katie the bass player has minimal lines and is OutOfFocus for most of the film. She's the only player to not get a solo in the end credits.
43	* ''Film/TheRunaways'' features a band member called Robin - who gets hardly any lines or focus. This is because her real-life counterpart Jackie Fox refused to let her life story be adapted. Sandy West also becomes OutOfFocus from the middle of the second act.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
47	%%* Travis Mayweather on ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. Since TNG, Trek has always had a problem with its CastCalculus. Tradition requires that there always be a PowerTrio to mirror Kirk/Spock/Bones. Tradition ''also'' requires there always be a helmsman, a security chief, a fanservice character, an engineer, a doctor and ship's counselor on the show. Mayweather represents this contradiction at its apogee.
48	* Parodied on ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' with the superhero duo Angel Summoner & BMX Bandit. Angel Summoner is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, while BMX Bandit [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway is good at riding a BMX]].
49	%%* Greg of ''Series/DharmaAndGreg''.
50	* The plot of one ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' episode involves one member of a writing partnership killing off the other - because he threatened to expose the fact that his partner did not do any of the actual writing.
51	* Sometimes happens in ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' and ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' where the SixthRanger will be introduced to be as powerful as, or even more powerful, than the hero; but after his introductory arc tends to be [[DeusExitMachina increasingly sidelined]]. This is known in the fandom as "Sixth Ranger Syndrome." Also, sometimes, the Red Ranger is given so much plot focus, {{Mid Season Upgrade}}s, and screentime that you get a ''Franchise/KamenRider'' series that has five other characters standing around just because it's a habit. ''Rangers'' has an ''s,'' and ''sentai'' means "squad" or "task force," but in ''[[Series/PowerRangersMysticForce Mystic Force]]'' and ''[[Series/PowerRangersSamurai Samurai]][=/=][[Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger Shinkenger]],'' it's as if nobody told that to the PowersThatBe and ''everyone'' gets Sixth Ranger Syndrome, getting the spotlight in an early {{Filler}} episode or two but never being relevant again.
52	* Lampshaded in one episode of ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'', which at one point essentially summarizes each Ranger's role in the team. Scott is TheLeader, Dillon is the "[[BrokenBird brooding bad boy]]", Ziggy is [[PluckyComicRelief the clown]], Summer is [[TheSmurfettePrinciple the girl]], and Flynn... is [[BraveScot Scottish]].
53	* Greta on the TV version of ''How to Marry a Millionaire''. When Lori Nelson complained about this, it essentially led to the fall of the series... and [[Series/IDreamOfJeannie the rise]] of Creator/BarbaraEden, another cast member on the show.
54	* ''Series/TheBrothersGarcia'' plays this for drama when Carlos and Lorena try to join a band. Carlos is the understudy for the drummer, while Lorenna only gets to sing back-up.
55	* In ''{{Series/Riverdale}}'' within Josie and the Pussycats, Josie is the face of the band, Valerie is a love interest for Archie and Mel...well she occasionally gets a line.
56	* In the TV version of ''Series/CountArthurStrong'', the title character's backstory is that he was half of a double act, Baker & Strong -- and although he's in denial about it, the way other characters treat him makes it clear he was the lesser star of the partnership. [[note]]The TV show is an AlternateContinuity to the radio/stage versions, so this doesn't apply to those.[[/note]]
57	[[/folder]]
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59	[[folder:Pinballs]]
60	* In Creator/SegaPinball's ''Pinball/SpaceJam,'' UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan is [[SpotlightStealingSquad prominently featured on the game,]] turning his movie co-star WesternAnimation/BugsBunny into the Lesser Star as a result.
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63	[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
64	* Hulk Hogan was often paired with much less popular wrestlers, whether to give them a push or just to have them get mauled by some heel flavor of the month in order to have the Hulkster come and avenge them. Whenever he was paired with a more recognizable wrestler of (relatively) comparable popularity, it was usually to set up a heel turn and the next big main event.
65	* ''Diva Dirt'' published an [[http://www.diva-dirt.com/64719/diva-couture-wrestlings-female-trios-every-group-has-a-michelle-williams/ article about this]] drawing comparisons to Music/MichelleWilliams of Music/DestinysChild. Examples include:
66	** Vince's Devils - [[Wrestling/LisaMarieVaron Victoria]] in comparison to Wrestling/TorrieWilson and Wrestling/CandiceMichelle. Despite being easily the best wrestler of them, the other two were very over {{Ms Fanservice}}s. Notably when the break-up happened, the feud was between Torrie and Candice - while Victoria's alliance with them quietly disappeared.
67	** Pretty Mean Sisters - Ryan Shamrock to Wrestling/{{Jacqueline}} and Wrestling/TerriRunnels. While Jacqueline was a brilliant wrestler and multiple champion, and Terri one of the most recognisable managers, Ryan never lasted long enough to do anything much.
68	** Wrestling/TheBeautifulPeople - Lacey Von Erich to Wrestling/VelvetSky and Wrestling/MadisonRayne. While Madison and Velvet were good enough in the ring or at least charismatic enough to be a presence, Lacey was obviously very green and didn't last long in TNA.
69	* The 2015 Divas Revolution storyline featured three trios fighting for dominance in the women's division. Each group had one Lesser Star:
70	** Team PCB had Wrestling/{{Paige}}. Wrestling/{{Charlotte}} was the star of the team and the eventual champion, while Wrestling/BeckyLynch was a very over fan-favourite and MoralityPet. Paige took all the losses and eventually got fed up with being outshined, turning on the group.
71	** Team Bella had Brie Bella. With Nikki Bella being the current reigning Divas' Champion, she was the clear leader. Wrestling/AliciaFox meanwhile was presented as a WildCard who joined the team out of {{Genre Savvy}}ness. Brie rarely won and served to take pins for her sister's challengers.
72	** Team BAD had Wrestling/TaminaSnuka. Wrestling/SashaBanks was undefeated and the clear star, while Wrestling/{{Naomi\|Wrestler}} had been pushed as a title contender and got the odd win. Tamina was merely there to fulfill TheWorfEffect and would rarely get wins herself.
73	* Wrestling/LayCool initially presented Wrestling/{{Layla}} this way. Wrestling/MichelleMcCool was the Women's Champion, while Layla was her BetaBitch. And when the team had Vickie Guerrero with them - she had some status as the Official Consultant of Smackdown. Then Layla won the Women's Championship, and so overcame this.
74	* In Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}, Rorschach was the Lesser Star to Wrestling in the tag team The Conundrum. The team ended with Jigsaw turning face and Rorschach allying himself with Jigsaw's enemy Wrestling/LarrySweeney. Rorschach would eventually disappear uneventfully while Jigsaw became a CHIKARA mainstay for most of the 2000s.
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77	[[folder:Video Games]]
78	* Despite the name, the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games rarely give the two brothers equal billing. In games when Luigi is as important as Mario, both characters are mentioned by name in the title (e.g. The ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series). And you have all the characters in-game who refer to poor Luigi as "that green mustache guy", somewhat verifying the trope in-universe. ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'' references this, having Luigi be a huge wimp who gets knocked out in his first minute onscreen in the campaign. Many of his attacks look dorkier than his brother's, his entrance cry is a depressed "Let's a-go...", [[VideoGame/MetalGear Snake's codec on him]] has [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty the false Colonel]] mock him for being stuck in Mario's shadow, and his Final Smash is claimed in its trophy to be formed from his dark desire to be greater than his brother. However, Nintendo chose to avert this in 2013, dubbing it "Advertising/TheYearOfLuigi" and giving him [[VideoGame/LuigisMansionDarkMoon several]] [[VideoGame/NewSuperLuigiU new]] [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam games]]... only for his trophy in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS]]'' to claim that all that attention only made him ''shyer''.
79	* Same with Bob (blun/by) (the blue bubble dragon) from ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble'' who has not been in as many games and ports as his brother Bub (the green bubble dragon) had. Coincidence?
80	* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' played with this trope in an interesting way: while in the early series Ratchet is undoubtedly the main character and Clank the sidekick, at the start the third game ''Clank'' is famous galaxy-wide for his "Secret Agent Clank" holovid series while ''Ratchet'' (who plays his hapless valet) has faded into obscurity. Since then, they've been getting progressively more equal billing, with Clank getting more substantial solo gameplay portions as well as his own spinoff game... based on the aforementioned secret agent persona.
81	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
82	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' was supposed to be made so that all 12 ([[SecretCharacter not counting the other two]]) playable characters could get some chance to be in the narrative spotlight and, thus, having no real protagonist. In spite of that, you can easily point the most relevant ones to the plot, them being Terra (The events of the game and most of its first half are greatly centered on her), Celes (set up as a character in the first act and [[SpotlightStealingSquad completely taking over the spotlight at the beginning of the second act]]), Locke (gets consistent character development throughout the game) and debatably Edgar (he gets his fair share of importance in both halves). Interestingly, all these characters are naturally capable of wielding the Lightbringer, the [[InfinityPlusOneSword best weapon in the game]] bar none.
83	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' with regards to the YRP - when it comes to performing in the Songstress dressphere. Yuna and Rikku excitedly do it, and Yuna especially is a huge celebrity as a result. Paine meanwhile dislikes being a Songstress and never uses it in the plot. She'll even complain if you put her as a Songstress in battle. This is partly justified due to Paine's DarkAndTroubledPast - and she defrosts over the course of the game.
84	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': Starring Vaan, Penelo, Ashe, Balthier, Basch, and Fran with equal billing as main characters. The story is really about Ashe, Balthier, Basch, and Fran. Vaan is a FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator that's relevant in relation to the other 4. This leaves Penelo in the dust with nothing to bring to the table in the plot. She does get some level of importance as Larsa's friend but it doesn't come into the story much.
85	* Teddy in ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' is branded as one of the main characters, can be named manually before the game begins, but only joins the party briefly, very late in the game. [[spoiler:Eventually, he gets injured and sits out for the rest of the adventure, leaving Ninten, Lloyd, and Ana to battle Giygas... or in this game, [[InconsistentDub Giegue]].]]
86	* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
87	** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' has Alm and Celica getting relatively equal billing and both receive their own stories, but Alm's story is far more closely connected to the game's larger plot. In the original game, he was also able to promote and had multiple personalized weapons, which Celica didn't get.
88	** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' seems to consider Lyn, Eliwood, and Hector to be of equal importance, tagging them all as Lords [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou (and therefore their death causes a game over)]] and giving them special promotions and classes. In practice, though, Eliwood ends up being the actual main character of the story, getting the most character focus, having his father and ImpliedLoveInterest be major players, and making most of the important decisions even on other routes. Hector is a pretty major player for most of the main story, but even his own route ends up being mostly about Eliwood but from Hector's perspective. Lyn is the main character during the tutorial chapters (which deal with a brief, mostly self-contained conflict a year before the actual main plot), but after that point, her relevance falls off ''hard'', to the point that her role in most cutscenes is essentially [[MandatoryLine just to respond to whatever Eliwood and Hector are saying]]. She's also the only one of the three who never gets a true legendary weapon (with her equivalent being essentially pulled from nowhere and being much worse statwise). Ironically, within the fanbase, this order is mostly reversed, with Lyn being more popular than Hector and Hector being more popular than Eliwood.
89	[[/folder]]
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91	[[folder:Western Animation]]
92	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
93	** Parodied, of course, in episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E2LisasRival Lisa's Rival]]". Lisa takes solace in that there's nothing wrong being the second-best at anything, and she then imagines a future in which she, [[Music/SimonAndGarfunkel Art Garfunkel]], Jim Messina, and John Oates play their #2 song "Born To Runner-Up" in a concert sponsored by Avis (the #2 car rental company). They get booed off the stage, and she wakes up {{lampshad\|eHanging}}ing the FridgeLogic of why people would show up to their concert just to boo them.
94	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E5SideshowBobRoberts Sideshow Bob Roberts]]", Bart and Lisa invoke this in their plan to get Sideshow Bob to confess to rigging the mayoral election, by accusing him of playing second-fiddle to [[Creator/RushLimbaugh Limbaugh]] {{expy}} Birch Barlow.
95	--->'''Lisa:''' You were just Barlow's lackey!\
96	'''Bart:''' You were [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Ronnie]] to his Nancy!\
97	'''Lisa:''' [[Music/SonnyAndCher Sonny to his Cher]]!\
98	'''Bart:''' [[Music/RingoStarr Ringo]] to his rest of Music/TheBeatles!
99	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'':
100	** [[NobodyLovesTheBassist The bassist]] Murderface is definitely considered a main character and major player in the band Dethklok. However, numerous episodes have shown that 1) he sucks at playing bass, 2) all the bass parts are written by lead guitarist Skwisgaar, 3) the bass parts are usually mixed to near-inaudible levels on the albums, if 4) Murderface is even allowed to play on the record at all. Murderface is shown in an episode to contribute to the band with ''dickish behavior''. In the absence of his negativity, Dethklok loses its brutal edge. When Murderface records solo singing parts for "Planet Piss", producer Dick Knubler (who describes him as "almost part of Dethklok") can be seen actively brickwalling the sound montage to drown out his voice.
101	** Similarly, rhythm guitarist Toki Wartooth also has no input into the band's creative process. His parts on the album are written AND performed by Skwisgaar. Toki's function in the band is to keep Skwisgaar on his toes and ensure that he maintains the practice regimen he needs to stay better than Toki.
102	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
103	** The show occasionally makes jokes about being this to ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', such as in "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS17E16YouCantHandleTheBooth You Can't Handle the Booth]]", where Lois expresses annoyance at Fox's hold music being the theme song to ''The Simpsons''. And ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' has joked about being this to ''Family Guy''.
104	** The episode "The Big Bang Theory", when Stewie's time machine whisks him and Brian out of the space-time continuum, he releases the machine's energy and as it turns out ''created the universe''. When Brian attempts to get some of the credit from Stewie, he tells Brian that he's the "Art Garfunkel" of the universe.
105	* WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck is often this to WesternAnimation/BugsBunny in the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' shorts, particularly in ''WesternAnimation/ShowBizBugs'', where Bugs gets all the cheers, much to Daffy's dismay.
106	* Dale Armatre from ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel''. When his band, The Crucifolk, break up, its other two members (who happen to be married) leave him out to dry and reduced to doing middle school plays.
107	%%* Rocky of ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle''.
108	* ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries'' features an alternate reality where Sabrina, Hilda, Zelda, and Chloe are a successful GirlGroup called the Flavour Babes. Sabrina is the face of the band as the singer, Hilda is the drummer and Zelda is the guitarist. Chloe, meanwhile, plays the French horn. Sabrina taunts her about this, and Chloe resents the lack of attention she gets. And of course, she's the only member of the band not to be in the Spellman family.
109	[[/folder]]
110	----

Context Main / LesserStar