Underused Characters

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valentin p

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Every show has one. A character that, despite being interesting and fun and cool, gets tragically neglected by the shows producer. What do you believe are some of the worst crimes?
 
I can think of a few:

Mr. Terrific (Justice League Unlimited)- He was great DC comics character: a super genius who invents his own tech and one of THE smartest human beings in the DCU, yet his most prominent role was the JLU's last season, when he took over as the dispatcher for the Watchtower after J'onn J'onzz left to live among the humans. It's a pity that Mr. Terrific never got his own spotlight episode. Speaking of JLU...

Fire (Justice League Unlimited)- Her only semi major role was in the episode "I Am Legion". Fire only got 1 other speaking appearance ("Grudge Match"), and her flirtation with Flash was never brought up again. So why did we never get a Fire & Ice episode?

Peg (Goof Troop)- Peg was a potentially interesting character, but alas, on the show, she was usually relegated to being Wilma Flintstone to Pete's Fred. There was only 1 Goof Troop episode where Peg got a semi-stand out role in the 1st half, but by act 2, it was back to business as usual with Goofy & Pete.

Slappy Squirrel- (Animaniacs) another funny character deserving of more praise than she has ever received. Finally, a female cartoon character who could potentially rub elbows with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. I always thought that Slappy should have gotten the A! spinoff series instead of Pinky and the Brain.

Not a cartoon, but cartoon related:

Louisa Roberts (Out of Jimmy's Head)- OOJH wasn't a thinking man's anything, nonetheless, Jimmy's astronaut mother was my favorite character on the show after Yancy the alien sister. Mrs. Roberts only appeared in about 1 episode out of 4, but the best episodes were typically the ones in which she appeared. It's a pity that the writers chose not to make her character a regular. Mrs. Roberts should have been on the show full time; her multi-talented competence could have provided a perfect counteblance to her husband's goofiness and silliness, and the idea of a mom who's a 9 to 5 astronaut had potential was a good idea that was barely tapped. The OOJH writers didn't know a good thing when they had it.
 
My favorite characters are often the underused ones, as it happens.

Some examples:

The Beast (both X-Men cartoon series, particularly the 90's Fox show)-to many people (including most producers) the X-Men franchise is essentially 'Wolverine and His Friends', but I've always been a fan of Henry McCoy. He's a genius in the body of a big blue gorilla; what's not to like?

I remember initially being stoked that Beast was going to be included in the Fox cartoon show, but alas, Beast rarely (if ever) got a chance to shine on the show. Hank has always been known for being one of the wittiest heroes in the Marvel universe, but on TV he didn't do much more than quote some poets and authors. It would've been cool to see Beast and Iceman hook up and done some shtick in the episode "Cold Comfort", but it was not to be. It didn't help that Beast spent much of the show's first season behind bars.

Beast never even carved a major swath in the live-action movieverse, but given how badly some of the other characters were treated, that might be a good thing.

Moltar (the Space Ghost: Coast to Coast franchise)-Moltar didn't hog the limelight like Space Ghost and Zorak did (though I enjoyed both characters), but I always found his understatements funny. I would have rather seen him on Cartoon Planet instead of Brak; but then, if he had been there, the 2 shows would've been virtually indistinguishable.

Yin (Yin Yang Yo!)-the truly sad thing about my having to put her on this list is because originally, YYY was made to focus on both Yin and Yang in tandem. But now that Toon Disney is on the verge of mutating into Disney XD, the bigwigs behind it have began tageting boys specifically, and so now Yin has begun taking a backseat to Yang, rather than things being equal like before. It's a pity, since Yin has always been my favorite character in the series and I enjoyed the balance a lot more.

Sarah Dubois (The Boondocks)-some of you knew I couldn't make it through a thread like this without mentioning Sarah. I'd really like to see more of Sarah, and not just because I enjoy looking at her. I get that The Boondocks is primarily a black show, and I have no problem with that, but I personally think Sarah has the potential to be a decent counterbalance to her husband Tom's square demeanor--I envision the 2 of them as an interracial Dharma and Greg--so it's a pity that she's such an underused element on the show. Sarah could be so much more than just "the white lady Tom married".
 
Radical Edward (Cowboy Bebop): I understand that Cowboy Bebop was only 26 episodes, and I know that the last couple had to focus on Spike/Julia/Vicious. But why create a character with so much potential if you're only going to use her in three episodes? "Jammin' With Edward", "Mushroom Samba", and "Hard Luck Woman" remain some of my favorite Bebop episodes, but I think there was a lot more they could have done with that character; we barely ever see her interact with Spike.


CAR (The Replacements): Such a nice idea....yet only one episode actually focuses on this character. He was funny, too.
 
General Skarr when he came to Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. He was my favorite character in Evil con Carne, and I was hoping he would appear more frequently, however he didn't.
 
Ron (Kim Possible) I hated how the show didn't expose Ron's monkey powers. They could've used it more instead of just a couple of times. Also, I didn't like the fact that he lost his "sidekick" status in the last episode when he activates his full monkey powers.
 
Some characters became underused because of the arrival of other characters later in the series.

Pip (South Park): He was the punching bag of Cartman and all in the beginning of the series, but that role is now occuped by Butters

Sophia Tutu (The Raccoons): She was a main character in the beginning of the series and loved Cedric while Cyril Sneer isn't enchanced of that idea mainly because Sophia was friends with the Raccoons. When Bentley Raccoon and later in the series, his sister Lisa join the cast, we got no words about what happened to Sophia Tutu since.

Veronica (Fairly Oddparents): We got a glimpse of character development about her in the episode "Information Stupor highway" since then there no much further character development.

Friar Tuck (Rocket Robin Hood): Was very used in the seasons 1-2 but during the psychedelic season 3 episodes supervised by Ralph Bakshi, he became a sort of secondairy character behind Little John and Will Scarlet as Rocket Robin Hood's companions.

Banta (Grendizer/Goldorak/Goldrake): a sort of counterpart of Boss from the Mazinger Z series. Tried to get the nerves of Actarus(Duke Fleed) but instead get the nerves of Alcor (Koji Kabuto)
 
Oracle Twins (American Dragon: Jake Long) - I was disappointed that they were used less in season 2. They were two fun characters that I liked.

Monkey Fist (Kim Possible) - You could make the case for every villain besides Drakken and Shego. But Monkey Fist especially.
 
Marilyn Piquel (Bonkers), She was as a potentially interesting character, but alas, was a little underused, she deserved better screen time (and a spinoff show of her own)

Cindy McPhearson (Boondocks), she appeared in a couple episodes but was a character in the comic strip
 
I disagree. Monkey Fist appeared in numerous episodes and even had a story arc that was tied in with Ron?s development. The villain from ?Kim Possible? that I believe was underused was Frugal Lucre; he only appeared in one episode in the first three seasons and his ?return? in the fourth season was underwhelming at best. His plan in the first season was genius and he proved to be quite capable even without henchmen and so forth, yet the fourth season reduced him to little more than a Dr. Drakken fanboy.
 
Maybe because they are... Brazalian (:D ) and that may of been a problem to work around. Besides can't say I could tolerate Fire that much if Maria Canals was going to use her annoying Pauliana (Danny Phantom) voice for the character. Maria's more natural voice is really the only voice she should use IMHO.

Okay I got a few to point out as well:

Kenny (South Park): Despite being used a lot more in the inital seasons (Besides just the "oh my god we killed Kenny" running gag) Kenny was phased out a lot after his revival, since along with Timmy he was what Matt and Trey called "prop character". You know since he couldn't talk (or you couldn't even hear him properly) they couldn't think of much to do with him thus him mainly being there in most episodes and only occasionally doing something. Thinking about it after his revival he only had two episodes to himself "Best Friends Forever" (where he only actually did something in the beginning and ending) and "Major Boobage". They seem to be using him slightly more but just like how Pip got edged out due to Butters, a lot of time Butters edges out Kenny as well which is kind of sad.

Toph (Avatar The Last Airbender): Rewatching part of "Sozin's Comet" part one made me realize they never bothered even finishing her story. Any drama she had with her parents is kind of never adressed specficially at all while everyone else has far more completed character cycles. Besides some snappy lines and action she only had a few moments of Season 3 even actually showing off her character (and even then it was usually a shared spotlight like in "The Runaway") which kind of annoyed me.

Huey Freeman (The Boondocks): If we're talking about Boondocks characters in this thread, why not talk about the one of the main stars? Yeah Cindy and Sarah barley get used but they're also side characters. Despite getting focus in Season one Huey barley had any in season two which quickly became the "Grandad Sitcom" show where most of the focus went to Grandad, Tom and even Ruckus then to Huey. The lack of Huey in season two is actually what makes it a weaker season since he does have a good amount of appeal then just the knows better character which is for the most part what he became besides a couple of select eps.
 
Bunnie Rabbot (Sonic SatAM) -- I really believe the cartoon dropped the ball with her. Easily had the best backstory of the supporting cast, I'm surprised they never really give her an episode on her own. Looking back, it's a real shame that they left her on the sidelines, especially in the 2nd season, while the useless Antonie got so much of the screen time.

Sango (Inuyasha) -- The show as whole is the very definition of untapped potential, and Sango is the character that personifies this. She's supposed to be one of the best demon-slayers around and has an amazing set of weaponery, but we never really see her fight after her first few episodes. Once Inuyasha learns the Wind Scar, she's pushed to the back, serving as narrator for the action and the butt of Miroku's leachery
 
Agreed with this one. Even though Sally Acorn is still my favorite Sonic character, Bunnie is sadly overlooked most of the time.

I'm kind of on the fence regarding Sophia Tutu from The Raccoons. She got edged out because she was pretty one-dimensional, and besides I think Lisa is se-- I mean, um, a more interesting character. Still, they should've dropped Sophia graciously, or at least found a way to work her in somehow when the series got deeper in the later seasons (although she still appeared in the opening sequence).

Wow, for someone who's only seen 3 episodes of The Raccoons I know a lot about the series.
 
I remembered one:

Marcie (Peanuts): In addition to being the closest Schultz ever came to being risque, Marcie was a funn character with an interesting personality. I remember her and Peppermint Patty starred in a few strips where they were golf caddys, buth other than that you rarely see this character.
 
How was she risqu?? I don't think she was underused; to me it seems like she was in every third strip from the 1970s onward, and almost every other strip in the 1990s. Of course, by then Charles was getting senile and trying to squeeze the word "zamboni" in every which way...
 
I think that Radical Raven is referring to Marcie's implied lesbian relationship with Peppermint Patty (the whole "sir" thing), which of course is not actually true, but has nonetheless been a frequently recurring joke implied by comedians.
 
I think if any Peanuts character is underused, it's Schroder (sp?). Peanuts has a somewhat large cast, so it's kind of understandable that some characters take weeks to show up again, but I haven't seen the li'l piano player show up in quite some time.
 
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