Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Awful Name
, started by Lightflame on Jan 3rd 2012 at 11:15:07 PM
Is there a subtrope of this when they could have easily used a plot point to write out said character, chose not to, and then the character inexplicably disappears? My prime example for this would be Mandy from the West Wing, where there was a whole plotline at the end of season one that could have easily gotten her fired, but instead the president forgave her and her disappearance remains a mystery.
I notice Geoffrey of Monmouth mentioned as a character in Merlin. Never watched it, but I do know him as a real-life person. He's actually a 12th century historian whose rather sloppy attempts to document the Germanic invasions of Britain in the 6th century form the earliest known version of the Arthur legend. In effect, Arthur was his invention.
This is not the first time I've seen an author retconned into their own story. In Time after Time and some episodes of Lois and Clark, H.G.Wells is depicted as an actual time time traveller. There are probably more examples. Does this Trope have a name? If ot, it should.
"The Real Life explanation is that Spearchucker was dropped when the writers were informed that there was no record of any African-American doctors serving in the Korean War. "
This strikes me as implausible. TV writers often (almost always, actually) play fast and loose with real life in order to tell the story the way they want. In particular, racial minorities depicted in historical dramas always get more fairness and respect then they ever got in the period depicted. Recall the Native Americans on Doctor Quinn and Daniel Boone.
What about Voltron's My brother the Robeast? Frankly, they took out the part where Romelle's older brother was killed. But, they didn't have him in the infamous 7-ZARK-7 esq season 2!
In a recent episode of Supernatural, Sarah Blake was seen and killed, so she really can't be counted as being this trope, I don't think.
Sorry I am new to Tropes but upon reading the Men in Black part of the Chuck Cunningham page, the disappearances of L and Zed were explained.
It is mentioned in MIB 2 that L wanted to go back to working in the morgue and as for Z. He appears in MIB 2 and his memorial takes place in Men In Black 3 where he had died off screen.
Hide / Show Replies
Yeah, it's not an example. This trope is if they're treated as if they never existed in the first place, so feel free to take that out.
We ought to make "Mandyville" a redirect to this page; I've seen it used multiple times outside of West Wing fandom, and I, at least, tend to think of it before I think of the actual trope name.
Hide / Show Replies
The last scene of home movies includes the adopted baby. The only evidence of her ever being removed or forgotten is the cited cut dialog. The dialog being cut because it wasn't consistent with established facts of the series. The claim that she was returned to her birth family is never backed up. This entry should be removed entirely.
Stick of the Fallen
Removed example:
- Eyeshield 21 was hit hard with this in its last chapter. Taki and Komosubi were the most noticeable, but there was also Marco, Kisaragi, Yamabushi, Heracles, Achilles, Harao, and Kakei. Admittedly, it's somewhat understandable given the series' humongous cast of secondary character, but it was still rather unfair given that far more minor characters, like Karin and Onihei, got a spot in the final chapter. When the final volume was later published side notes were given about where the other characters ended up, though there was still quite a chunk of relevant characters missing.
This is pretty much someone complaining about how their favourite minor characters didn't appear in the last chapter.
"Oh great! Let's pile up all the useless cats and hope a tree falls on them!"
Hey... not sure if this is the place to do it, but I think we should revert/rename this trope to the much shorter "Brother Chucked", which I feel is far more elegant in its simplicity: "Brother Chuck" is no less clear than "Chuck Cunningham" about who it's describing. "Brother Chucked" implies that "The same thing happened to this character that happened to Brother Chuck", while the term "Chucked" means "thrown away, discarded" - exactly what happened to Chuck Cunningham.
Also, several tropers already pothole the phrase "Brother Chucked" to this page because it's more fun to read and type "(character) got Brother Chucked" than "(character) suffers from Chuck Cunningham Syndrome"
Edited by Scow20 Hide / Show Replies
I was also thinking this needs a new title, it was rather hard to find.
Personally, I suggest the term "A-bridged" to make it semi-related to "Dropped a bridge on him," while having a title pun for what happens to things that are no longer relevant or topical to a story in revisionism, such as when a character is no longer needed in a story, and the writers no longer care enough about him to give him an exit.
Also, if any Bleach fans care to chronicle how many characters in that series suffer from being "A-Bridged" or "Being Chucked," that would be very helpful. I'm halfway through rewatching the series to date, and my list is at about 5 to 10, depending on how actually relevant they are.
I agree on that. While wit isn't always a good reason for change, Brother Chuck does sound catchier and is easier to do variations of. Naturally, your milage may vary of course.
Cloudflier
While the current picture is a great example, perhaps we could have double the hilarity with a poster of two characters that went missing long in the past that got a recent lampshade hanging in game. Missing since 1993: Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Squirrel. Of course, it's mearly a suggestion, as change in pictures is always nice every once in a while, but change isn't always necessary.
Does anyone think this topic should be split in two different tropes? After all for shows that involve the 'adult' world like hospitals, the military, police and other organizations, the disappearence, and lack of on-air explanation, could be hand waved by a transfer or a casualty - something that's sad, but no too wierd for a police precinct, hospital or psudeo-millitary starship.
A lack of explanation for children missing from the house, and the family members' lack of curiosity about it would be much wierder!
Hide / Show Replies
I tend to agree. Many examples seem to be about some recurring character who may or may not be mentioned again, but there is no need for him or her to return in the series (but they can always do so later without stretching belief). E.g. the CSI coroner - there can be a reshuffle, there are probably other coroners within a unit, at least during other shifts. While it may be odd when you always meet the same guy for three years in a given profession, it's really different from a kid living in a house never been seen or mentioned again, especially in situations where it should be (everyone goes on holidays together, that kind of stuff).
Removed teh following from Avatar The Last Airbender
- What about Jinn? Or Song? Or Lee? So many. Sure, mostly minor characters, but thats how Jet and Suki started out.
as all three are one-shot characters anyway, and none of those characters mysteriously disappear. You could argue Put on a Bus (even though they don't go anywhere) but I think they're too minor to count there too.
Song was actively left behind. She is still in the same house, Zuko and Iroh left, she's not a combatant or a resistance member, so there's no reason for her to show up again.
Same thing goes with Lee (assuming they meant the earth nation kid Zuko teaches to fight and not one of the myriad of other Lees). Zuko shows up, bonds with the kid, saves him from the only threat we saw to him (the jerk army guys) gets rejected by him after revealing his true nature, and Zuko leaves. The kid is still at home, still not ready to fight, and still not trusting Zuko, so again there's no reason for him to show up again.
The only one who has any argument would be Song the girl who Zuko dates in Bah Sing Se, since they don't actually leave the city, but again, there's no mystery. She shows up, flirts, goes on a date with Zuko, Zuko panics and ends the date telling her this was all a mistake. No further episodes focus on Zuko's personal life until they get moved up to the richer part of town, and it's pretty implied that Song isn't going to show up again after that kind of rejection.
I don't understand this example. Explain?
- An example from a cook book, of all places; Specifically, the Star Trek cookbook. There's a recipe for coconut cream pie ('Tuwaly Pie'), where they ask you to make twice the amount of batter you need, and do a lot of work on both halves. After you've really worked hard on half, it just vanishes from the recipe. You don't do anything with it, and it's never referenced again in the book.
I didn't write the example, but:
CCS is when someone disappears without mention partway through a show's run. It sounds like that example is saying that there's a recipe in that book that has you make two batches of batter, set one aside (presumably for later use) and finish the recipe without ever mentioning what to do with the batter that was set aside. In other words, half the batter disappears without mention partway through the recipe.
Edited by LoserTakesAll
It says that Jigglypuff is one of the sufferers of Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, but... I remember an episode of Pokemon where she (and the rest of the cast) ran into either a singular or a group of Wismur. Since Wismur is immune to sound-based attacks (Soundproof, an ability in the games), Jigglypuff fell in love with the Wismur and decided to stay with them, singing for them whenever she wanted to without them falling asleep.
So... That means that she isn't a sufferer of CCS, right? She left the show with a happy ending and still lives somewhere in Hoenn with the Wismur. She didn't just dissapear without explanation.
Hide / Show Replies
Wait, where did you get that
a) Jigglypuff was a girl b) They fell in love c) Jigglypuff decided to stay with them
Read this in a fanfic or something?
Moo.
Took out the Deadpool example as Outlaw shows up again in the Marvel U several times in a couple of different stories as recently as the Suicide Kings mini and mentions Alex Hayden (and I think Sandi, as she was dating Alex). Bob shows back up in the most recent Deadpool run.
Added Rita and Runt of "Animaniacs" fame to this page, though with a bit of uncertainty - they characters themselves stopped appearing in the show after a certain point (with no explanation - but then, this IS Animaniacs), but continued to show up in the opening credits (prompting many fans, during the show's original run, to believe that new Rita and Runt segments were still on the way). They did eventually return for the DTV movie "Wakko's Wish", though that was less a continuation of the series than a separate entry existing in its own world. Either way, I believe that that "Missing" milk carton gag was a definite lampshading of this particular trope. I'll leave it there and see what others think.
Edited by jjlattefiend
Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Rename
, started by HappyMan on Sep 11th 2010 at 2:42:38 PM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman