Characters who were meant to be the next big thing but fell off?
- Thread starter DragonSJG
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He's no Mario, but Sonic is still huge with the kids to this day
If we're going to bring Anime into this then my first thought always goes to:
The Manga had a good run, but Shueisha and Toei were so transparently trying to push Toriko as their next big pillar to stand alongside One Piece and Naruto during it's height. The anime eventually petered out to the point where it's English dub got canned like halfway through and that rarely happened in the 2010s. Especially given how much series like MHA, Promised Neverland, Demon Slayer and JJK all came out after and just outperformed it but domestically and internationally.
The Manga had a good run, but Shueisha and Toei were so transparently trying to push Toriko as their next big pillar to stand alongside One Piece and Naruto during it's height. The anime eventually petered out to the point where it's English dub got canned like halfway through and that rarely happened in the 2010s. Especially given how much series like MHA, Promised Neverland, Demon Slayer and JJK all came out after and just outperformed it but domestically and internationally.
Toriko still hurts.
It was my favorite manga, but the it clearly got canceled during the Giant Shell arc.
It had its usual great pacing, and then suddenly the next chapter cancels the tournament and starts a wild break neck sprint to finish off the series in the next 60 chapters.
We got, at best, a cliff notes version of what was actually supposed to happen.
It boggles my mind that a manga that was delivering such epic chapters every week was that unpopular.
Not to mention the absolute insult that was the anime's ending.
Universal's Dark Universe
This is one I wanted for it to succeed. I really like the idea of a cinematic universe full of classic monsters.
ok, I stand corrected. I always heard that pressure was put on him by readers to put the focus back on Goku.This is false. Toriyama's stated reason for Goku returning as the hero has nothing to do with the fans.
Possible Ending #7: Majin Boo - Kanzenshuu
www.kanzenshuu.com
Interviewer: And then the Cell arc ended. Did you think that everyone felt you would put Gohan into the leading role?
Akira Toriyama: I intended to put Gohan into the leading role. It didn't work out. I felt that compared to Goku, he was ultimately not suited for the part.
I don't get the not suitable part. He probably means he preferred and felt more comfortable writing Goku which is understandable I guess.
and this is true lol
I feel like Sarada from Boruto has gone nowhere and faded far into the background of the series as it has gone on.
If anything I feel like Blaziken is the "next Charizard," it got a Mega Evolution in XY before the rest of the Hoenn starters, and is still one of the most popular starters to this day, Fire types or otherwise.
I guess though by polling Greninja is the most popular non-Kanto starter, but that was also probably helped by Smash.
You mean Henry Jones III?
Indiana Jones Jr.
They named the dog Indiana.
If we're going to bring Anime into this then my first thought always goes to:
The Manga had a good run, but Shueisha and Toei were so transparently trying to push Toriko as their next big pillar to stand alongside One Piece and Naruto during it's height. The anime eventually petered out to the point where it's English dub got canned like halfway through and that rarely happened in the 2010s. Especially given how much series like MHA, Promised Neverland, Demon Slayer and JJK all came out after and just outperformed it but domestically and internationally.
IIRC, Bleach was rapidly declining in popularity at the time.
Toriko flopping was a self-inflicted wound by Toei
The manga has a ton of gore and over-the-top violence, and Toei decided to sanitize the shit out of it while also giving the series crap production values and animating Toriko's signature moves to resemble glowy Dragon Ball ki blasts, even though that's not what it was supposed to be like.
They even forced a needless OC into the series who served no purpose. It was a mess.
The manga has a ton of gore and over-the-top violence, and Toei decided to sanitize the shit out of it while also giving the series crap production values and animating Toriko's signature moves to resemble glowy Dragon Ball ki blasts, even though that's not what it was supposed to be like.
They even forced a needless OC into the series who served no purpose. It was a mess.
The way I look at it, it's the conflict between an Active vs Reactive protagonist. The active protagonist is someone who is an ongoing goal and actually initiates a lot of what happens in the plot. The reactive protagonist is someone who is comparatively more passive and reacts to circumstances causing the plot to happen.
Gohan falls into the latter category, and that can be a hard character to write a long-form story for. Hell Gohan's biggest moment that the fandom loves during the Cell Saga all came about because Goku made him fight Cell. So yeah, I can imagine that Toriyama found himself frustrated writing Gohan as the lead character because he's not exactly the type to move the plot forward.
I'm glad Toriko flopped on account of the author being a pedophile, and that's all I'll say on that.
It's interesting too as you read/watch the Buu arc, and it feels like it had too many cooks in the kitchen meddling with it - as was the confirmed case with the Cell arc, as both his ex-editor and current editor kept criticizing the direction the story took, which is why it changed villains so many times - but by Toriyama's account, his editor during Buu was very hands off. I think that combined with general fatigue of writing a weekly manga for a decade accounts for everything the Buu arc is, for better or worse.
I don't know by what metric Sonic *isn't* a big thing, popularity wise.
This is who I came here to post.
The lead up to Halo 5 was so good. So good. And then the game came out and, well it was a thing.
From a fan reaction standpoint I think this applies to all of the Boruto characters. From my perspective at least it seems like the series tends to get most of it's attention when Naruto and Sasuke are prominent.
In ASOIAF, it felt like George R.R. Martin wanted to turn Darkstar into a bigger character. Readers laughed at him when he said, "Men call me Darkstar, and I am of the night." That was pretty much the end of that.
Imagine being me, loving the prequels (my first Star Wars movie), only to have the internet tell you how bad they are :(
I've talked about this before but personally I feel like the attempt to pass the mantle to Gohan was kind of a mixed bag for a lot of reasons, so while I sympathize with his diehard fans, I don't mind where things ended up.
That said, if I was Toriyama - and boy "if I was Toriyama" would lead into so many other different scenarios, but that's another topic - I would pen a movie where Gohan gets to be the unquestioned hero and saves the day, to throw said diehard fans a bone. Sort of like Bojack I guess, but with a story personally crafted around Gohan and a scenario where Goku/Vegeta can't overcome the problem by themselves.
That said, if I was Toriyama - and boy "if I was Toriyama" would lead into so many other different scenarios, but that's another topic - I would pen a movie where Gohan gets to be the unquestioned hero and saves the day, to throw said diehard fans a bone. Sort of like Bojack I guess, but with a story personally crafted around Gohan and a scenario where Goku/Vegeta can't overcome the problem by themselves.
I've read all the books and I don't even remember a Darkstar lol
I think this one was mostly down to Avengers blowing up. He couldn't do both MI and MCU at the same time due to scheduling reasons and had to drop one of them, and he chose to drop MI.
I remember hearing, at the time, that Renner was supposed to take the baton from Cruise in the MI films. That lasted about half a movie.
If it makes you feel better a lot of the same people also don't seem to wash their hands after they go to the bathroom so maybe don't take their opinions on anything too seriously!
I always looked at it as Cruise deciding he needed MI after all. Renner was supposed to be the new star of the Bourne series too, IIRC.
The 8 and 16 bit era is riddled with corpses of wannabe-mascots that never succeeded.
Alex Kidd, Kid Chameleon, Earthworm Jim (though arguably this was one of the most successful, less successful, mascots), Aero the Acrobat, Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel, Zool, Dinamite Heady, James Pond... to name a few.
Edit: How could I forget the Cheetahmen!
Alex Kidd, Kid Chameleon, Earthworm Jim (though arguably this was one of the most successful, less successful, mascots), Aero the Acrobat, Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel, Zool, Dinamite Heady, James Pond... to name a few.
Edit: How could I forget the Cheetahmen!
Shujinko
Taven
Cassie Cage
All tried to replace Liu Kang as the main hero of Mortal Kombat.
They all failed.
Taven
Cassie Cage
All tried to replace Liu Kang as the main hero of Mortal Kombat.
They all failed.
He's the jobber that tried to kill Myrcella when the group they were in were captured by Areo Hotah and he ended up chopping off her ear and cutting her face.
Tom Cruise's The Mummy. I guess. Frankly still don't know what they were trying to do there.
The Rennersaince begins again with Hawkeye (and him) getting great reviews.
Really? Must've been a US thing. Over here he was literally just a character that got pushed somewhat hard as being a video game mascot (7 Up wasn't a huge soda brand here at the time, and still isn't, really) before being forgotten.
Don't think Dynamite Headdy was mascot chasing, just an odd-ball Treasure game published by a company that... already had one of the world's most popular mascots?
Alex Kidd may have been seen as trying to chase Mario, but it was actually SEGA flipping assets from a Master System Dragon Ball game that I assume licensing fell through.
Should also add Rocket Knight Adventure to your list despite the fact that it is better than every game on your list (combined).
Divergent was supposed to be the next big YA movie franchise following Hunger Games, but wasn't, right?