What were some actual attempts from shows or movies where characters were shoe-horned in for a desperate ply at ratings or appealing to the youth?
I still think Shadow the Hedgehog takes the cake.
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Real life "Poochie the Dog" characters in media?
- Thread starter PeakPointMatrix
- Start date
What were some actual attempts from shows or movies where characters were shoe-horned in for a desperate ply at ratings or appealing to the youth?
I still think Shadow the Hedgehog takes the cake.
I'm gonna come in with a scorching hot take here and say Gohan in Dragon Ball
Goku grew up, so there needed to be a new kid character for the children to latch on to. Gohan sheds this when the Buu Saga comes around and he's finally allowed to develop a personality though.
Goku grew up, so there needed to be a new kid character for the children to latch on to. Gohan sheds this when the Buu Saga comes around and he's finally allowed to develop a personality though.
Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager
Plot twist: she had the most interesting character arc on the show.
Plot twist: she had the most interesting character arc on the show.
I'd say The Doctor had a more interesting arc, but Seven is a pretty damn close 2nd. And yeah, despite being thrown onto the show for sex appeal she ends up being a legitimately great contribution.Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager
Plot twist: she had the most interesting character arc on the show.
I still think Shadow the Hedgehog takes the cake.
Dude never even got the dignity of dying on the way back to his home planet. And you wouldn't even know it unless you were really bad at the final boss of his eponymous game -- despite the sheer amount of effort necessary to even reach that point
It's an awful take because Gohan is the complete opposite of his fatherI'm gonna come in with a scorching hot take here and say Gohan in Dragon Ball
Goku grew up, so there needed to be a new kid character for the children to latch on to. Gohan sheds this when the Buu Saga comes around and he's finally allowed to develop a personality though.
As I understand it, the network execs were insistent that Columbo should have a partner despite not really having anything for a partner to do because of the show's formula. So the first one the creators gave him was some tryhard idiot rookie cop who Columbo basically just tries to ignore the whole time.
Then they gave him an actual Poochy the Dog, by way of Dog, Columbo's dog. He exists solely for Columbo to tell him to stay in the car.
Then they gave him an actual Poochy the Dog, by way of Dog, Columbo's dog. He exists solely for Columbo to tell him to stay in the car.
😒
That said I wish the guy all the best in his recovery and all.
DBZ Gohan is fine. Goten on the other hand is just dumb.I'm gonna come in with a scorching hot take here and say Gohan in Dragon Ball
Goku grew up, so there needed to be a new kid character for the children to latch on to. Gohan sheds this when the Buu Saga comes around and he's finally allowed to develop a personality though.
I say this while admitting that Gotenks is the best, most creative fighter in the series
That said I wish the guy all the best in his recovery and all.
Yes, absolutely. (To both hoping he recovers well, and that he was WWE's Poochie)
Preface: I post in the Sexualized Women topic and I'm a hardcore feminist. But Seven of Nine is a great addition, and...a bit of needed sex-appeal since this fucker sucks up both literal and metaphoric boners to a black hole of his own making.
The Office:
How to waste a good actress
This guy was put in to be a bit of a "zero" ....and it worked.
What's interesting is that there are also a bunch of these cynical audience chasing characters that work for one reason or another. Chekov from the original Star Trek was added in to appeal more to younger people, but I don't think he really got a big blowback, or at least I'm just not aware of it. Elaine from Seinfeld was demanded by the network because they wanted to have a woman with a significant presence on the show, but Julia Louis-Dreyfus pushed Larry to give her good material and so she ended up being weighted similarly to the rest of the cast.
Nikki and Paulo from Lost showed up out of nowhere in the third season as part of the main cast and everyone pretended they had been there the whole time. Fans hated them so much that they killed them off halfway through the third season
Kai Leng from Mass Effect. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck that guy.
Gohan is a good contrast to the typical Saiyan personality. A supremely talented fighter who doesn't actually like to fight is interesting.I'm gonna come in with a scorching hot take here and say Gohan in Dragon Ball
Goku grew up, so there needed to be a new kid character for the children to latch on to. Gohan sheds this when the Buu Saga comes around and he's finally allowed to develop a personality though.
Most recently, on Steven Universe:
Sunstone, Steven and Garnet's fusion, was a fourth-wall breaking doofus with suction cups instead of weapons--it felt like a bit of a wink, since she was spouting nonstop after-school-special quotes and ultimately got swiped away without much of a fight. Made me laugh and definitely gave me Poochy vibes.
Human Target season 2 is the Poochie season.
Replaced majestic intro song with some rock bullshit
Introduced a boss turned love interest that wasn't needed or mattered.
There was some other stuff but those were the top 2 I can think of off the top of my head. It was such a good fun show in season one.
Replaced majestic intro song with some rock bullshit
Introduced a boss turned love interest that wasn't needed or mattered.
There was some other stuff but those were the top 2 I can think of off the top of my head. It was such a good fun show in season one.
Dawn from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There's an entire season based on her retcon, and it worked incredibly well. Michelle Trachtenberg did a great job of just fitting into the show as if she'd always been there.
This guy (Warren Keffer) on Babylon 5
I say this guy because he is totally forgettable and I had to look up his name. The executives forced J. Michael Straczynski to add in a young, exciting ace fighter pilot in an attempt to spice up the show and add action. The first season was admittedly bad but this character is just a distraction as Babylon 5 found its footing as a show in Season 2. He is not terribly, but extraneous and any side plot involving him will inevitably have no lasting impact. JMS threw him in episodes as they demanded basically until the execs got off his back, then promptly killed the character off in a way that at least makes something of the death, though ultimately he is never mentioned again.
I say this guy because he is totally forgettable and I had to look up his name. The executives forced J. Michael Straczynski to add in a young, exciting ace fighter pilot in an attempt to spice up the show and add action. The first season was admittedly bad but this character is just a distraction as Babylon 5 found its footing as a show in Season 2. He is not terribly, but extraneous and any side plot involving him will inevitably have no lasting impact. JMS threw him in episodes as they demanded basically until the execs got off his back, then promptly killed the character off in a way that at least makes something of the death, though ultimately he is never mentioned again.
I'm gonna come in with a scorching hot take here and say Gohan in Dragon Ball
Goku grew up, so there needed to be a new kid character for the children to latch on to. Gohan sheds this when the Buu Saga comes around and he's finally allowed to develop a personality though.
Gohan doesn't feel forced at all and served as a nice contrast to Goku. I would have even preferred for him to become the lead character before they chickened out. It's Goten that fits this description most accurately if anything, that one I definitely agree with
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Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII basically became this. In FFXIII-2, everybody's always asking where Lightning is. And then in XIII-3, she gets the ability to time travel. And yet she's always just as annoying and unpleasant as ever.
What were some actual attempts from shows or movies where characters were shoe-horned in for a desperate ply at ratings or appealing to the youth?
I still think Shadow the Hedgehog takes the cake.
Does Shadow really count? He's actually liked by Sonic fans to the point where he's the most popular character besides Sonic. A better example would be a character like Zavok, who has been continually pushed in new games since Lost World in what's presumably an attempt to capture the Mario audience despite being pretty universally reviled.
No contest. Jaco.
Gets added to Super because Toriyama was writing the Galactic Patrolman manga at the time, has a prior never-before-mentioned relationship with Bulma and her sister that you never see, gets treated like he's always been there by most of the Z team, and repeatedly get subplots and cut-aways to show just how wacky and fun he is!
He is more Poochy than Poochy. In fact, I propose we rename the trope to "who is the Jaco?" of a series.
Gets added to Super because Toriyama was writing the Galactic Patrolman manga at the time, has a prior never-before-mentioned relationship with Bulma and her sister that you never see, gets treated like he's always been there by most of the Z team, and repeatedly get subplots and cut-aways to show just how wacky and fun he is!
He is more Poochy than Poochy. In fact, I propose we rename the trope to "who is the Jaco?" of a series.
That so doesn't count. She basically filled in for Jessie and Kelly.
I'm gonna come in with a scorching hot take here and say Gohan in Dragon Ball
Goku grew up, so there needed to be a new kid character for the children to latch on to. Gohan sheds this when the Buu Saga comes around and he's finally allowed to develop a personality though.
I genuinely don't get how you could see Gohan as a Poochie.
I'm still mad they jobbed him out after the Cell Saga just because they wanted psychopath Goku back as the strongest boy.
Shadow isn't a Poochie character beyond the most superficial similarities-- he stuck around and is the most popular character in the series besides Sonic himself.
I still think Shadow the Hedgehog takes the cake.
Shadow's an actually pretty terrible example, the whole point is some desperate attempt. When Shadow created, sonic was fine.. and shadow was really popular and that's it.
Being edgy or whatever isn't what makes you poochie, its being desperate and trying to appeal to people with a sheer lack of creativy is that... and if there's one thing i can call sa2... its creative . That games story makes no sense.
So yeah... how did you decide this criteria
He doesn't but memes.
Infinite would genuinely be a perfect example
And he's litterally a dog, or a jackal rather
I love the shadow fasthog take but apparently Sonic fans are so lame they think Shadow is cool and not extremely dumb and lame. No surprise there I guess.