...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Unexpected Character
- 588 statements
- 107 feature instances
- 104 referencing feature instances
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Normally when time comes for a sequel or adaptation of a franchise, you can have a pretty good idea of who to expect in the returning cast. The Hero, The Lancer, the Ensemble Dark Horse, no one is surprised by their return. However, creators may want to shake things up and include less obvious characters. They could be a One-Scene Wonder, someone who had succumbed to Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, simply a Living Prop, a Joke Character, or even someone from outside the franchise. In video games, particularly Mascot Fighters, Kart Racers, and other Massive Multiplayer Crossovers, this can also include characters from games that were obscure or never left their home country, or games whose genre puts them outside that game's purview. Ironically common examples of the latter two include characters from a nonviolent game (or with a nonviolent role in the game) appearing as combatants, or a pilot/driver stepping out of their machine and showing they're just as competent on foot, if not moreso. Audience members have this type of reaction to most Guest Fighters, by nature of coming from separate works and franchises. Sometimes these character choices are praised, bringing in a previously unknown character to recent audiences, but other times the choice can be seen as a gimmick to increase sales. In video games, these characters are also sometimes accused of "stealing" a character slot, especially if a more important or popular character is missing from the game. Very often, it can increase interest if not sales in the unexpected addition, which is actually pretty sound business sense. The trope most closely tied to the Unexpected Character reaction is the Genre Refugee, a character that is from a genre that is completely different from the genre of the show. Genre Refugees need not be pre-existing characters, however, and may not shock an audience depending on what the show builds to before the Refugee shows up. Still, if a show is strongly formulaic fantasy series, seeing The Count of Monte Cristo show up will always be a shock. See also Hero of Another Story. Remember, Examples Are Not Recent. |
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Dropped link to AllThereInTheManual: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to BigBad: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to CHIKARA: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to Coldplay: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to CreatorCouple: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to DeanAmbrose: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to DefLeppard: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to Drake: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to JayZ: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to MadScientist: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to NineInchNails: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to Paramore: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to QueensOfTheStoneAge: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to TaylorSwift: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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Unexpected Character | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
Unexpected Character / int_100eaa09 | type |
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While Carnage isn't the most popular Spider-Man villain, he still has a decent fanbase. His opponent, on the other hand, was Lucy from Elfen Lied, an obscure manga/anime that is rather niche to begin with. | |
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Carnage (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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It's safe to say that, before the leaks, no one expected Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen to appear in DC Rebirth. A later Rebirth era event, Justice League vs. Suicide Squad, has this to a lesser extent. While nowhere near as unexpected as Manhattan, the appearance of Legion villain Emerald Empress was rather unexpected, given that she is not one prone to being the problem of 20/21st century heroes in their home eras. |
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Watchmen (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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Trinity War: Nobody expected the Crime Syndicate from Earth-3 to show up as the series' ultimate villains. | |
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Trinity War (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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Age of Ultron, a Red Skies Crossover, migrates Angela, a Neil Gaiman exclusive character, who was previously part of the Spawn supporting cast, into the Marvel Universe. | |
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Age of Ultron (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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Clarice, a one-off character from the 1952 Chip 'n Dale cartoon Two Chips and a Miss, is a rare meetable character, partially due to her popularity in Japan. | |
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Chip 'n Dale | hasFeature |
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Unexpected Character / int_15c6ea92 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
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Wonder Woman (1987): During the "Witch and the Warrior" Circe's villain team contained several long retired villains and heroes, including Penny Dreadful (who'd been acting as a government agent and whose switch back to villainy was never explained), Moonbow (a former casual hero who'd quit to have a normal life), and Vicki Grant (former Dial H for Hero user, now with a Villain Dial). | |
Unexpected Character / int_15c6ea92 | featureApplicability |
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Wonder Woman (1987) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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Unexpected Character | |
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Fans of Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) were taken off-guard learning that Breezie the Hedgehog, a character from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, was going to make her debut in issue #268, which began an adaptation of Sonic the Fighters. The appearance of Dummied Out character Honey the Cat in the same storyline? Not so much. | |
Unexpected Character / int_1858fe06 | featureApplicability |
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Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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Unexpected Character / int_1afbf6c5 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
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One very surprising release was a character named Heatwave in the "Hero Mashers Line." Heatwave shares a name with a Transformers: Rescue Bots character who was on shelves at the time, so the Hero Masher instead being directly based on an obscure, Collector's Club-only character was completely unexpected. In this case, it was highly likely that said Heatwave got confused with the more recognizable one. | |
Unexpected Character / int_1afbf6c5 | featureApplicability |
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Unexpected Character / int_1afbf6c5 | featureConfidence |
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Transformers: Rescue Bots | hasFeature |
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DEATH BATTLE! occasionally brings in little known and unexpected characters to fight for their lives. Sometimes a series protagonist isn't its first representative on this show. Akuma, not Ryu, was the first Street Fighter character to appear. Before Mario first appeared on the show, Goomba, Koopa, and Yoshi did. Vegeta first appeared before Goku. Shadow first appeared an episode before Sonic did. Dr. Wily appeared before any main character of the Mega Man franchise. In regards to One Piece, Luffy has only appeared in a cameo so far, but Roronoa Zoro, Portgas D. Ace, and Vinsmoke Sanji have all fought. So far, only Ace has lost. Two of the more notable examples being Bucky O'Hare, coming from a fairly obscure comic and cartoon series from the 70's/90's and took on Fox McCloud, and Yang Xiao Long, who is from a web animation series running from 2013 which is growing in popularity but still fairly small and she took on Tifa Lockhart. Yang defeated her more popular opponent. Bucky wasn't so fortunate. Who would have thought that any characters from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic would ever step into Death Battle? Yet, there have been four so far: Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Discord who respectively fought Starscream, Deadpool, Raven, and Bill Cipher. Nine Mortal Kombat characters have appeared on the show. Seven of them are among the most iconic characters in the franchise: Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonya Blade, Raiden, Shao Khan, Johnny Cage, and Shang Tsung. The other two, however? The eighth was Sindel, who is not quite as recognizable as the aforementioned characters but still well-known overall. The ninth was the relatively obscure Sektor. While Carnage isn't the most popular Spider-Man villain, he still has a decent fanbase. His opponent, on the other hand, was Lucy from Elfen Lied, an obscure manga/anime that is rather niche to begin with. Though Ultron was requested to appear in the series, most fans expected him to be pitted against Brainiac rather than Sigma. It's also Hilarious in Hindsight after the two joined forces as a Big Bad Duumvirate and merged in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite - in fact, Ultron-Sigma's existence itself was cited as a reason why Ultron vs. Sigma grew in popularity over time. Mob and Tatsumaki pit two lesser-known characters against each other. While One Punch Man was bound to get on the show at one point, it caught many off guard that the first character featured wasn’t Saitama or even Genos (although Genos was the second from the series and Saitama appeared later as well). However, few people expected Mob Psycho 100 to ever be featured on the show at all. On the OPM side, Tatsumaki is the only winner so far. After Naruto finally ended, it was inevitable that the franchise be featured on the show. The title character will be the first to appear, right? Wrong, it was Gaara (Naruto himself was the second, though). Seven other unexpected Naruto representatives include Jiraiya, Sasuke Uchiha, Might Guy, Kakashi Hatake, Rock Lee, Madara Uchiha, and Obito Uchiha. The first Avatar: The Last Airbender representative was Toph rather than Aang (who appeared second). Zuko and Korra also appeared later. You'd think the eponymous Sailor Moon would be its first character to appear here, but no! It's Sailor Galaxia, the series' True Final Boss. Yoda and King Mickey were these due to the unlikely odds of having either in the show. For the former, Ben Singer mentioned that he disliked Yoda's fighting style in the prequels and couldn't deal with focusing on it to make an episode. For the latter, it's because Disney is notorious for suing people over the use of Mickey Mouse. As such, having both characters fight each other in the debut battle of Season 8 surprised everyone who thought it could never happen. Po showing up to take on Iron Fist caught many fans off guard as, while as the match up was popular, an animated film character had never been used on the show prior to that point and many assumed that if one did appear, then it would be a Disney character first. Downplayed, since she was the most popular opponent for who she was fighting, but many fans were caught off guard at seeing Zatanna show up on the show, since she is not as popular or well known a hero as many of the other DC heroes who had been brought on the show. Spongebob Squarepants was quite the surprise to be put on the show, especially since he's a kid-friendly cartoon character. Just as surprising was his opponent, Aquaman — not a composite version, but specifically his Super Friends incarnation. The first Chainsaw Man representative was Makima rather than Denji. |
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Unexpected Character / int_1cf9029e | featureApplicability |
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DEATH BATTLE! (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
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Unexpected Character / int_1f758f80 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_1f758f80 | comment |
My Little Pony/Transformers: Friendship in Disguise!: Almost all of the Decepticons who appear as major antagonists in the first mini-series are G1 staples (Starscream, the Constructicons, Shockwave, Soundwave, the Insecticons, and of course, Megatron), so it's quite a surprise to see Misfire at all, let alone as the main antagonist of issue 3's second story. He even brought the Rainmakers with him! The Insecticons are the main threat of "Strength in Numbers". That includes the toyline-exclusive Insecticons— Venom, Barrage, Chop Shop and Ransack. On the Autobot side of things, while staples like Grimlock, Arcee or even the most recent Windblade are expected, no one would have guessed Gauge, a character original to the 2019 IDW continuity, as one the main characters to one of the stories. She even manages to take on Shockwave along Pinkie Pie. The Magic of Cybertron has plenty more surprises in store. In the first story of issue 1 alone, we get fan-favorite Transformers: Prime Decepticon Breakdown, Airachnid from the same show, the Cyberverse iterations of both Shadow Striker and Slipstream, and minor characters ranging from Spinister, Skytread and Fracas to Mindwipe and Skullcruncher! Not to be outdone, the MLP cast gets a case of this in "A Real Mother" through Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty, Scootaloo's aunts, who were One-Shot Characters in the cartoon but get A Day in the Limelight fighting Killmaster (who himself is a case of this, as this is his first appearance outside of the IDW 2005 continuity, where he was first introduced) with Arcee and Greenlight. "One-Trick Pony" brings in Wildwheel, a Decepticon introduced in the Cyberverse continuity family (and exclusive to it until now). Then the story tops itself with two more surprise characters— Quickstrike and Skids. Skids is the less unexpected of the two— while he only showed up in two episodes of the G1 cartoon, he's still a G1 character so he's at least understandable. Quickstrike, however, is a Beast Wars character (and not even a particularly popular one). "The Beauty of Cybertron" brings in a true fan-favorite bot in all his good-looking glitz and glamour... Knockout! |
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My Little Pony/Transformers: Friendship in Disguise! (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_1f758f80 | |
Unexpected Character / int_20907ed | type |
Unexpected Character | |
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At every issue of Ultimate FF. But the last one takes the cake: Miles Morhames? The Ultimate Spider-Ham? | |
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Ultimate FF (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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In the Fire Emblem Figure line of collectable figurines, while lord characters getting figurines in that line isn't all that surprising, there has been an instance where a curveball has not only been thrown once, but twice in a row: Many people were surprised to see two statuettes get announced on the same day, as individual statuettes had always been announced on their own. While one of the statuettes being Roy was more or less expected, the fact that he's paired with a statuette of his childhood friend Lilina was not what a lot of people were expecting. While Lilina herself is fairly popular, what makes her this is that she is not considered a lord/avatar character in the game she appeared in and doesn't have much importance in its plot compared to Roy, not to mention that she first appeared in a game that never saw an international release. Almost nobody was expecting Veronica to get a figurine in this line, moreso than Lilina, as while she is also popular, she was a Heroes-exclusive character that never appeared in any mainline game at the time, Book VI just ended by that point, and her Legendary variant, the one her figurine is based on, wouldn't become playable until two days later. |
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Fire Emblem (Franchise) | hasFeature |
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Given the popularity of NECA's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) collector action figure line, it's bound to occasionally include figures that surprise most fans. Mondo Gecko's announcement as an Ultimate figure in Summer 2020 was no shocker, since he's a fan favorite, but nobody anticipated that he would also come with Kerma, a minor character that's had no relevance in the franchise since he initially appeared in the 4 "Planet of the Turtleoids" episodes. On February 2021, Scrag was revealed as a lootcrate-exclusive figure. Besides him being a minor villain that didn't return after season 1 of the show, his announcement was all the more glaring compared to lootcrate announcements for other parts of the TMNT franchise being fan favorites (such as the Tournament Fighters version of Armaggon). On February 2022, Zach and Smash were unveiled. While Zach does have some degree of fondness among the fanbase, Smash is a little-known one-shot villain, not to mention that one goon from his Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang would also be coming with a Rock Soldier in a 2-pack. On World Turtle Day in May 2022, a 4-pack with pre-mutated human versions of Baxter Stockman, Hamato Yoshi, Bebop and Rocksteady was revealed. This was a pretty big surprise, but a welcome one. On June 2022, the next character to receive the Ultimate figure treatment was revealed to be REX-1, who previously was a Toyless Toyline Character during the show's initial airing. While not totally unexpected, he was a pleasant surprise for fans who wanted him to get a little more love. |
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) | hasFeature |
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Unexpected Character | |
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Lots of unexpected characters pop up in the Omen of the Stars finale The Last Hope, such as Redtail, Raggedstar and Mosskit. But almost nobody was expecting Brambleberry's cameo appearance at the beginning where she is one of the first cats to ever successfully give Jayfeather a lecture. | |
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Warrior Cats: Omen of the Stars | hasFeature |
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Unexpected Character / int_30a5ebfd | comment |
After Naruto finally ended, it was inevitable that the franchise be featured on the show. The title character will be the first to appear, right? Wrong, it was Gaara (Naruto himself was the second, though). Seven other unexpected Naruto representatives include Jiraiya, Sasuke Uchiha, Might Guy, Kakashi Hatake, Rock Lee, Madara Uchiha, and Obito Uchiha. | |
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Naruto (Manga) | hasFeature |
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Unexpected Character | |
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GaMetal has remixed some pretty weird songs, for example, there's a medley of tunes from Bionic Commando and, even stranger, the Final Boss theme from McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure of all things. Fittingly, the latter one was done as an April Fools' Day special, but it is a real song. | |
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GaMetal (Music) | hasFeature |
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Unexpected Character | |
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Villainous (Ravensburger): Who expected the Horned King, the villain from a movie Disney tries hard to pretend never happened, to get included in a game like this? Madame Masque. Every other character in Marvel Villainous thus far save M.O.D.O.K. (who has his own TV series on Hulu) had appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Madame Masque, conversely, has made almost no major non-comics appearances outside of Iron Man cartoons, so her inclusion is rather surprising. |
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Villainous (Ravensburger) (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
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Unexpected Character / int_35f1d3fb | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_35f1d3fb | comment |
G.I. Joe: G.I. Joe (2016) stars such heroes as Roadblock, Scarlett, Snake Eyes...and Skywarp. Yes, a villain from an entirely different franchise. It Makes Sense in Context; during Revolution, the team rescued him from a government holding facility, and he's working with them until they can restore his teleportation powers. Late in the run of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel), the Joe team's Ninja Force encountered a group of Red Ninjas with a mysterious leader. A few issues later, the leader was revealed to be Firefly. This was supposed to be a surprise as the character was supposed to be dead at the time, but it was kind of ruined by the fact that Hasbro had just introduced a new action figure of the character. |
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Unexpected Character / int_35f1d3fb | featureApplicability |
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G.I. Joe (Franchise) | hasFeature |
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Unexpected Character / int_3b8b374 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_3b8b374 | comment |
One such example is Just Dance, in which Top 40 tunes by artists such as Katy Perry, One Direction and Nicki Minaj co-exist alongside the likes of the Tetris theme, the William Tell Overture, and the Hatsune Miku cover of Ievan Polkka. | |
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Just Dance (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Unexpected Character / int_3bc91429 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_3bc91429 | comment |
Doctor Who Magazine: It's safe to say that nobody expected the Delgado Master to turn up as the final villain in the Twelfth Doctor's "Seventies Earth vacation" arc, let alone get killed off at the end of it. | |
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Doctor Who Magazine (Magazine) | hasFeature |
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Reign of the Supermen: Superman, ironically, is this. The story was about four mysterious figures claiming to be Superman returned from the dead except, not really and yet, when the Cyborg Superman turned out to be the villain of the piece, the real Superman emerged from the Fortress without his powers and saved the day. | |
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Unexpected Character / int_3ef1def5 | featureConfidence |
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The Death of Superman (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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Unexpected Character / int_41a975e1 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_41a975e1 | comment |
The Golden Age: In canon, Bob Daley/Fatman is a Bumbling Sidekick who failed to impress fans and was quietly retired, but he gets to be a nuanced main character here. Great Defender (a vitamin-enhanced Flying Brick, minus the flying part, whose series ended in 1944 and who doesn't even have a Wikipedia page) appears noticeably in three panels and even gets a line. Captain Triumph has rarely appeared since the Golden Age of Superheroes except to be an Affectionate Parody, but he is a main character and is treated very seriously. Lots of Silver Age heroes appear in the fourth issue and most only cameo in one panel, but Flying Brick Captain Comet gets the kind of role that would normally be reserved for Superman. In the main continuity, Miss America is one of the less prominent Freedom Fighters, but she gets a secondary role here, while her better known teammates like Black Condor, Phantom Lady, and the Ray only get cameos. Dan the Dyna-Mite is an obscure sidekick to an obscure hero, but he enters the spotlight after being chosen to have his powers enhanced and become The Face of the movement Tex Thompson is building, as well as the victim of a body snatching that lets the villains use those new powers. In a story where very few supervillains appear, Injustice Society members Harlequin, Gambler, Psycho Pirate, and Fiddler appear in the background of one panel featuring gathered heroes (presumably, they accepted Thompson's amnesty offer like Tigress and Sportsmaster). |
|
Unexpected Character / int_41a975e1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_41a975e1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Golden Age (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_41a975e1 | |
Unexpected Character / int_41b0198a | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_41b0198a | comment |
The Dresden Files: The 17th book, Battle Ground, features appearances from nearly every significant major and minor character from throughout the series... and then about a third of the way through chooses to introduce Drakul, King of the Black Court, something that no one was expecting since up until this point he'd only been mentioned a few times but never seen. | |
Unexpected Character / int_41b0198a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_41b0198a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Dresden Files | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_41b0198a | |
Unexpected Character / int_42ffb88e | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_42ffb88e | comment |
The first SCP Connor has to deal with? Fernand the Cannibal. Quite a few SCP fans were pleased with this, as many would have expected them to start with the more well-known skips. | |
Unexpected Character / int_42ffb88e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_42ffb88e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SCP Foundation (Website) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_42ffb88e | |
Unexpected Character / int_4afc2089 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_4afc2089 | comment |
A Cheetos commercial back in the late 90s features Chester Cheetah in a Cheetos factory about to dive in a huge vat of the snack food, before a director yells cut, revealing this is all just a set, and they bring in Chester's stunt double, who is just someone wearing a cheap Chester Cheetah costume. After the dive into the vat, the stunt double pulls off the mask, revealing himself to be none other than Daffy Duck! | |
Unexpected Character / int_4afc2089 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_4afc2089 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Daffy Duck | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_4afc2089 | |
Unexpected Character / int_4df35b3b | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_4df35b3b | comment |
A later Rebirth era event, Justice League vs. Suicide Squad, has this to a lesser extent. While nowhere near as unexpected as Manhattan, the appearance of Legion villain Emerald Empress was rather unexpected, given that she is not one prone to being the problem of 20/21st century heroes in their home eras. | |
Unexpected Character / int_4df35b3b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_4df35b3b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Justice League vs. Suicide Squad (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_4df35b3b | |
Unexpected Character / int_502f86a8 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_502f86a8 | comment |
Gotham Academy: Nobody would have expected one of the villains of the Annual to be a time-travelling Derek "Blight" Powers from the Batman Beyond potential future. | |
Unexpected Character / int_502f86a8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_502f86a8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Gotham Academy (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_502f86a8 | |
Unexpected Character / int_52dd4a4c | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_52dd4a4c | comment |
Ultimate Marvel At every issue of Ultimate FF. But the last one takes the cake: Miles Morhames? The Ultimate Spider-Ham? In the later third of Ultimate Power, a mishap causes the original Squadron Supreme to show up. Who would have expected the fight between Wolverine and Hulk to be interrupted by Ultimate She-Hulk? |
|
Unexpected Character / int_52dd4a4c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_52dd4a4c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Ultimate Marvel (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_52dd4a4c | |
Unexpected Character / int_5498bfdd | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_5498bfdd | comment |
Suburban Knights: That Dude in the Suede, for being away on a mission for two years prior to filming this, and secondly because he denied being in it in the first place. In universe, everyone's surprised when The Cinema Snob chooses to cosplay Indiana Jones, considering that he's not exactly who one thinks of when the topic is "fantasy". Snob justifies it by saying that surviving a nuclear explosion in a fridge counts as fantasy. Likewise, they're surprised that the very tall Handsome Tom chose the very short Willow. |
|
Unexpected Character / int_5498bfdd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_5498bfdd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Suburban Knights (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_5498bfdd | |
Unexpected Character / int_574e0011 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_574e0011 | comment |
Intense Wrestling Inc was the only promotion operating in Macaela Mercedes's hometown of Cincinnati Ohio. It announced ahead of time that IWI would be booking talent from Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. So when she made her debut near the end of 2002 and was matched against La Tigresa, a wrestler she knew nothing about besides being from Puerto Rico, she was caught off guard. Even if they had mentioned wrestlers from Puerto Rico, Tigresa wouldn't have been on most people's radar stateside, given women's wrestling had virtually vanished from the island following her arrest four years prior for a smuggling case that was expected to keep her behind bars for decades. | |
Unexpected Character / int_574e0011 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_574e0011 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Jillian Hall (Wrestling) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_574e0011 | |
Unexpected Character / int_58ca57a | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_58ca57a | comment |
Dark Nights: Metal brings Dream of the Endless back into the main DC continuity. | |
Unexpected Character / int_58ca57a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_58ca57a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dark Nights: Metal (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_58ca57a | |
Unexpected Character / int_5ae0bec6 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_5ae0bec6 | comment |
WWE's annual Royal Rumble pretty much always features Unexpected Characters in various forms. You're pretty much guaranteed to see one or two returning Legends making a one-off appearance (e.g. Honky Tonk Man in 2000, Diesel\Kevin Nash in 2011 and 2014, Diamond Dallas Page in 2015, Jeff Jarrett in 2019), there are bound to be one or two main roster wrestlers making an unannounced return (e.g. John Cena in 2008, Edge in 2010), and every now and then there are entrants who are unexpected because they generally don't compete against the main male roster (e.g. Beth Phoenix in 2010, El Torito in 2014, Nia Jax in 2019). Retired or semi-retired wrestlers serving as ringside commentators for the Rumble are sometimes unexpectedly entered into the match, usually resulting in their returning to the announce booth once they're eliminated (e.g. Jerry Lawler in 1996 and 2012, Michael Cole in 2012, JBL in 2014). One of the most unexpected (and bemoaned) characters in Rumble history was Drew Carey in the 2001 match. However, arguably the two most shocking (or at the very least, surreal) entries, despite the countless rumors, reports, and, in the case of the former, even a statement from the Impact Wrestling website all but outright telling us it would happen, were the debut of AJ Styles at the 2016 Royal Rumble in Orlando and the return of Edge after a seemingly Career-Ending Injury at the 2020 Royal Rumble in Houston. | |
Unexpected Character / int_5ae0bec6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_5ae0bec6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
WWE (Wrestling) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_5ae0bec6 | |
Unexpected Character / int_5c783167 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_5c783167 | comment |
Captain Triumph has rarely appeared since the Golden Age of Superheroes except to be an Affectionate Parody, but he is a main character and is treated very seriously. | |
Unexpected Character / int_5c783167 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_5c783167 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Affectionate Parody | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_5c783167 | |
Unexpected Character / int_5f76cba1 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_5f76cba1 | comment |
The New 52 revival of Justice League International has Godiva, a very minor DC superheroine mostly remembered for being in the Global Guardians, a really minor DC superteam. | |
Unexpected Character / int_5f76cba1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_5f76cba1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
New 52 (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_5f76cba1 | |
Unexpected Character / int_63935537 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_63935537 | comment |
Though it's hardly a surprise these days, the original readers of Walter Scott's Ivanhoe would not have been expecting an appearance from Robin Hood, who spends the first half of the book under an assumed name (back then, "Locksley" would not have been immediately recognizable as one of his aliases). | |
Unexpected Character / int_63935537 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_63935537 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Ivanhoe | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_63935537 | |
Unexpected Character / int_63e72a51 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_63e72a51 | comment |
2000 AD prog 2183 ended with a teaser of Judge Anderson announcing "You'll never guess who's coming to prog 2184!" She was right; nobody expected Ichabod Azrael to appear in next week's Judge Dredd story. And he wasn't even the only unexpected character; was anybody expecting Shako the polar bear to show up later? | |
Unexpected Character / int_63e72a51 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_63e72a51 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
2000 AD (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_63e72a51 | |
Unexpected Character / int_640d9be1 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_640d9be1 | comment |
Many people were surprised to see two statuettes get announced on the same day, as individual statuettes had always been announced on their own. While one of the statuettes being Roy was more or less expected, the fact that he's paired with a statuette of his childhood friend Lilina was not what a lot of people were expecting. While Lilina herself is fairly popular, what makes her this is that she is not considered a lord/avatar character in the game she appeared in and doesn't have much importance in its plot compared to Roy, not to mention that she first appeared in a game that never saw an international release. | |
Unexpected Character / int_640d9be1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_640d9be1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_640d9be1 | |
Unexpected Character / int_65e80f63 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_65e80f63 | comment |
On "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions podcast for the WWE Network, just about nobody expected that he would be able to land Chris Jericho as a guest. This marked the first time that a wrestler actively signed to All Elite Wrestling has appeared on a WWE productnote barring that one time Britt Baker was spotted in the audience of NXT. Even WWE were fully aware of how crazy it felt; it was first teased on April Fools' Day, before being announced on April 2, 2021 as if to say "yes, it's real". | |
Unexpected Character / int_65e80f63 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_65e80f63 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin (Wrestling) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_65e80f63 | |
Unexpected Character / int_6885a1e3 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_6885a1e3 | comment |
Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away Volume 1: Aliens: The last story in the collection, "The Crimson Corsair and the Lost Treasure of Count Dooku", has the treasure turn out to be Kix, the medic from the 501st Legion in The Clone Wars, who was cryo-frozen after finding out about Order 66 and was being taken to be interrogated by Count Dooku when the ship carrying him was attacked and crash-landed on a remote world. No one in or out of universe was expecting that. | |
Unexpected Character / int_6885a1e3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_6885a1e3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away Volume 1: Aliens | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_6885a1e3 | |
Unexpected Character / int_69392c59 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_69392c59 | comment |
In universe, everyone's surprised when The Cinema Snob chooses to cosplay Indiana Jones, considering that he's not exactly who one thinks of when the topic is "fantasy". Snob justifies it by saying that surviving a nuclear explosion in a fridge counts as fantasy. Likewise, they're surprised that the very tall Handsome Tom chose the very short Willow. | |
Unexpected Character / int_69392c59 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_69392c59 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Cinema Snob (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_69392c59 | |
Unexpected Character / int_698fc57b | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_698fc57b | comment |
Amazons Attack!: At the end it is revealed that the plot was orchestrated by Granny Goodness, a character who had almost no previous connection to Wondy. | |
Unexpected Character / int_698fc57b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_698fc57b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Amazons Attack! (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_698fc57b | |
Unexpected Character / int_699c1e80 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_699c1e80 | comment |
Who would have expected the fight between Wolverine and Hulk to be interrupted by Ultimate She-Hulk? | |
Unexpected Character / int_699c1e80 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_699c1e80 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
She-Hulk (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_699c1e80 | |
Unexpected Character / int_69d15cc0 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_69d15cc0 | comment |
Madame Masque. Every other character in Marvel Villainous thus far save M.O.D.O.K. (who has his own TV series on Hulu) had appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Madame Masque, conversely, has made almost no major non-comics appearances outside of Iron Man cartoons, so her inclusion is rather surprising. | |
Unexpected Character / int_69d15cc0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_69d15cc0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Marvel Cinematic Universe (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_69d15cc0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_6a8aff51 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_6a8aff51 | comment |
The Stormlight Archive, book 2, Words of Radiance: While having humans travel from Shardworld to Shardworld is a known event, having Nightblood, the Talking Weapon from Warbreaker do so is quite another thing. | |
Unexpected Character / int_6a8aff51 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_6a8aff51 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Stormlight Archive | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_6a8aff51 | |
Unexpected Character / int_6b85085e | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_6b85085e | comment |
Nine Mortal Kombat characters have appeared on the show. Seven of them are among the most iconic characters in the franchise: Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonya Blade, Raiden, Shao Khan, Johnny Cage, and Shang Tsung. The other two, however? The eighth was Sindel, who is not quite as recognizable as the aforementioned characters but still well-known overall. The ninth was the relatively obscure Sektor. | |
Unexpected Character / int_6b85085e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_6b85085e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Mortal Kombat (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_6b85085e | |
Unexpected Character / int_6c4c57ec | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_6c4c57ec | comment |
Confinement: The first SCP Connor has to deal with? Fernand the Cannibal. Quite a few SCP fans were pleased with this, as many would have expected them to start with the more well-known skips. Just about every SCP featured prominently in the series so far is one of the more obscure ones, be they the main focus or just in the background. Episode 2 even features the extremely obscure SCP-2427-3, who doesn't even have an image depicting it. Not so much a character but a location: in Episode 6 Connor goes up against SCP-3008: A Perfectly Normal, Regular Old IKEA. |
|
Unexpected Character / int_6c4c57ec | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_6c4c57ec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Confinement (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_6c4c57ec | |
Unexpected Character / int_6d31710b | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_6d31710b | comment |
For the better part of a decade, nobody expected to see CM Punk in a WWE ring again. That is, until Survivor Series (2023) when "Cult of Personality" hit at the end of the show, causing the Chicago crowd to come completely unglued. Everybody knew this too, declared by Triple H himself as a "Mighty cold day in hell". | |
Unexpected Character / int_6d31710b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_6d31710b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
CM Punk (Wrestling) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_6d31710b | |
Unexpected Character / int_72262aee | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_72262aee | comment |
The first Avatar: The Last Airbender representative was Toph rather than Aang (who appeared second). Zuko and Korra also appeared later. | |
Unexpected Character / int_72262aee | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_72262aee | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Avatar: The Last Airbender | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_72262aee | |
Unexpected Character / int_7558ef22 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_7558ef22 | comment |
While the IP is indeed a Disney/Pixar one, Cars Land at first seemed like an odd choice to be one of the focal points of Disney California Adventure's 2012 overhaul, given that the most recent Cars film, Cars 2, had been critically panned, and that the original Cars film is generally seen as one of Pixar's weaker movies.note Though when considering just how popular the movies are with children, and the billions made from the merchandise, it's kind of justified. Nonetheless, Cars Land was a massive success, and the E-ticket ride, Radiator Springs Racers, regularly has one of the longest lines in either Disneyland or DCA (at time of writing, 4 PM on a Thursday in March, 6 years after the ride opened, it currently has a 120 minute long line). | |
Unexpected Character / int_7558ef22 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_7558ef22 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Cars (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_7558ef22 | |
Unexpected Character / int_762df2bc | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_762df2bc | comment |
Po showing up to take on Iron Fist caught many fans off guard as, while as the match up was popular, an animated film character had never been used on the show prior to that point and many assumed that if one did appear, then it would be a Disney character first. | |
Unexpected Character / int_762df2bc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_762df2bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
KungFuPanda | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_762df2bc | |
Unexpected Character / int_79f95346 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_79f95346 | comment |
Double Duck is mostly a spy series set in the Disney Ducks Comic Universe, and much more serious than the older PIA stories. So it was a genuine surprise when, in "Enemies as Usual", the mysterious benefactor that had started funding the Agency at the end of "Reboot" was revealed to be John Davison Rockerduck. | |
Unexpected Character / int_79f95346 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_79f95346 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Double Duck (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_79f95346 | |
Unexpected Character / int_7a8e5c7e | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_7a8e5c7e | comment |
Rodimus Prime was sort of expected in Kingdom (seeing as the subline also commemorates the 35th anniversary of the original G1 movie, and if he did not he would have instead appeared in the concurrently running Studio Series 84 line instead), his toy does have a surprising inclusion: The Sword of Primus from Regeneration One. | |
Unexpected Character / int_7a8e5c7e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_7a8e5c7e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Transformers: The Movie | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_7a8e5c7e | |
Unexpected Character / int_7c4dba1d | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_7c4dba1d | comment |
Crescent City: Many readers were surprised by the protagonists meeting up with the Inner Circle at the end of House of Sky and Breath. While Sarah J. Maas has previously made references to her other series in her works, and Rhysand and Feyre had cameo appearances in Kingdom of Ash (Aelin likewise had a tiny cameo in the corresponding scene in A Court of Silver Flames), this was the first time there had been such a major crossover between the casts of two of Maas' series, with their interactions indicating this isn't just going to be a mere cameo. | |
Unexpected Character / int_7c4dba1d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_7c4dba1d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Crescent City | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_7c4dba1d | |
Unexpected Character / int_7f20564b | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_7f20564b | comment |
Sabaton: Yarnhub's story video for "Christmas Truce" has a couple shots of a German soldier with a toothbrush mustache, clearly meant to be Adolf Hitler, trying to tattle on the truce to the generals before being hit in the head with a stray soccer ball, then grumpily observing the proceedings from the sidelines. | |
Unexpected Character / int_7f20564b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_7f20564b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Sabaton (Music) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_7f20564b | |
Unexpected Character / int_81202666 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_81202666 | comment |
The first Chainsaw Man representative was Makima rather than Denji. | |
Unexpected Character / int_81202666 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_81202666 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Chainsaw Man (Manga) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_81202666 | |
Unexpected Character / int_85a5a3b9 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_85a5a3b9 | comment |
"The Beauty of Cybertron" brings in a true fan-favorite bot in all his good-looking glitz and glamour... Knockout! | |
Unexpected Character / int_85a5a3b9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_85a5a3b9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Transformers: Prime | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_85a5a3b9 | |
Unexpected Character / int_89a21f03 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_89a21f03 | comment |
Ahsoka: The book has seven sections with grey pages. In one of them, Obi-Wan Kenobi makes a surprise appearance meditating on Tatooine. Another shows Anakin Skywalker just before he first met Ahsoka. | |
Unexpected Character / int_89a21f03 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_89a21f03 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Star Wars: Ahsoka | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_89a21f03 | |
Unexpected Character / int_90c73dda | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_90c73dda | comment |
Used towards the end of the Animorphs series. Arbron and Loren, two minor characters who hadn't been seen in years and had little reason to return again, both made surprise reappearances. Weirder still, while Arbron's fate was neatly tied up in the epilogue, Loren wasn't addressed at all, making her a weird case of this character type meeting What Happened to the Mouse? | |
Unexpected Character / int_90c73dda | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_90c73dda | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Animorphs | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_90c73dda | |
Unexpected Character / int_946d937a | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_946d937a | comment |
Sensational Wonder Woman: Man's World Momager ends with the woman who's been following Wonder Woman revealed to be none other than Myndi Mayer, who hasn't been in any comic since her suicide back in the 1980s. | |
Unexpected Character / int_946d937a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_946d937a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Sensational Wonder Woman (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_946d937a | |
Unexpected Character / int_952d2e68 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_952d2e68 | comment |
A colouring book and mini doll release for the American Girls Collection in 2020 included Kirsten, a character who had been archived 11 years prior, so the target 8-12 age range wasn't likely to know she even existed unless they were active in the fandom or had seen her books in the library. Fans started to speculate as to whether she was coming back — and whether she'd get an all-new collection like Samantha or be screwed over like the last two returning archived historicals, who were limited to one new outfit (and in one case, a set of underwear) on rerelease and became shelfwarmers. | |
Unexpected Character / int_952d2e68 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_952d2e68 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
American Girls Collection | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_952d2e68 | |
Unexpected Character / int_959e314b | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_959e314b | comment |
Almost nobody was expecting Veronica to get a figurine in this line, moreso than Lilina, as while she is also popular, she was a Heroes-exclusive character that never appeared in any mainline game at the time, Book VI just ended by that point, and her Legendary variant, the one her figurine is based on, wouldn't become playable until two days later. | |
Unexpected Character / int_959e314b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_959e314b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Fire Emblem Heroes (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_959e314b | |
Unexpected Character / int_98dceee5 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_98dceee5 | comment |
G.I. Joe (2016) stars such heroes as Roadblock, Scarlett, Snake Eyes...and Skywarp. Yes, a villain from an entirely different franchise. It Makes Sense in Context; during Revolution, the team rescued him from a government holding facility, and he's working with them until they can restore his teleportation powers. | |
Unexpected Character / int_98dceee5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_98dceee5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
G.I. Joe (2016) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_98dceee5 | |
Unexpected Character / int_996edf24 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_996edf24 | comment |
Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman (1987): During the "Witch and the Warrior" Circe's villain team contained several long retired villains and heroes, including Penny Dreadful (who'd been acting as a government agent and whose switch back to villainy was never explained), Moonbow (a former casual hero who'd quit to have a normal life), and Vicki Grant (former Dial H for Hero user, now with a Villain Dial). Sensational Wonder Woman: Man's World Momager ends with the woman who's been following Wonder Woman revealed to be none other than Myndi Mayer, who hasn't been in any comic since her suicide back in the 1980s. Amazons Attack!: At the end it is revealed that the plot was orchestrated by Granny Goodness, a character who had almost no previous connection to Wondy. |
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Unexpected Character / int_996edf24 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_996edf24 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Wonder Woman (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_996edf24 | |
Unexpected Character / int_9a586718 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_9a586718 | comment |
Avengers Undercover managed to shock Runaways fans with the sudden resurrection of Alex Wilder. | |
Unexpected Character / int_9a586718 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_9a586718 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Avengers Undercover (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_9a586718 | |
Unexpected Character / int_9bb6c910 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_9bb6c910 | comment |
Though Ultron was requested to appear in the series, most fans expected him to be pitted against Brainiac rather than Sigma. It's also Hilarious in Hindsight after the two joined forces as a Big Bad Duumvirate and merged in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite - in fact, Ultron-Sigma's existence itself was cited as a reason why Ultron vs. Sigma grew in popularity over time. | |
Unexpected Character / int_9bb6c910 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_9bb6c910 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Ultron | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_9bb6c910 | |
Unexpected Character / int_9d47a2a2 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_9d47a2a2 | comment |
In A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin has a tendency to take minor or antagonistic characters and make them point-of-view characters in later books. | |
Unexpected Character / int_9d47a2a2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_9d47a2a2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
A Song of Ice and Fire | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_9d47a2a2 | |
Unexpected Character / int_9e8e9ba3 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_9e8e9ba3 | comment |
Gaunt's Ghosts likes to reintroduce minor characters or ones that have otherwise been Put on a Bus to play major roles much later. Sanian reappears in Sabbat Martyr, Sturnn reappears in Traitor General, and Agun Soric reappears in Only In Death. It also works in reverse for the author's other books set earlier in the timeline. Heldane and Lilith have minor roles in Eisenhorn and Ravenor respectively, both before they've achieved the rank of Inquisitor. | |
Unexpected Character / int_9e8e9ba3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_9e8e9ba3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Gaunt's Ghosts | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_9e8e9ba3 | |
Unexpected Character / int_a090fcfc | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_a090fcfc | comment |
Two of the more notable examples being Bucky O'Hare, coming from a fairly obscure comic and cartoon series from the 70's/90's and took on Fox McCloud, and Yang Xiao Long, who is from a web animation series running from 2013 which is growing in popularity but still fairly small and she took on Tifa Lockhart. Yang defeated her more popular opponent. Bucky wasn't so fortunate. | |
Unexpected Character / int_a090fcfc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_a090fcfc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars! (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_a090fcfc | |
Unexpected Character / int_a892109f | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_a892109f | comment |
The Whoniverse book Time Lord Fairy Tales pulls this off twice by springing a surprise character on the reader well after a story is underway and the protagonists' plight has been established; moreover, they go on to play supporting roles in the action, albeit important ones. In "Helena and the Beast", it's the Twelfth Doctor; in "The Grief Collector", it's the Tenth. Also, while many familiar Whoniverse villains turn up in these Twice Told Tales, the presence of the Nimon, from one of the classic series' campiest serials in "Jack and the Wormhole" will likely surprise those who don't remember their televised appearance and recognize the new story's similar setup. | |
Unexpected Character / int_a892109f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_a892109f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Whoniverse (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_a892109f | |
Unexpected Character / int_ad7fc754 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_ad7fc754 | comment |
The Lost Dimension: Nobody was expecting Jenny, the Doctor's Opposite-Sex Clone from "The Doctor's Daughter", to play a major role in the series, her first appearance in any medium since her solitary TV episode a full decade before. | |
Unexpected Character / int_ad7fc754 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_ad7fc754 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_ad7fc754 | |
Unexpected Character / int_aea43d14 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_aea43d14 | comment |
Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man: Worlds Unite managed to surprise fans by revealing not only Sticks the Badger of Sonic Boom and Mega Man X, but also a number of various SEGA and Capcom video game franchises. One of them being Street Fighter, which has been licensed to UDON for over a decade. | |
Unexpected Character / int_aea43d14 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_aea43d14 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man: Worlds Unite (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_aea43d14 | |
Unexpected Character / int_b08200f3 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_b08200f3 | comment |
Less a "character" and more an "unexpected homage" but Rollbar's robot mode in the Transformers: Age of Extinction is very clearly based on X-Brawn from Transformers: Robots in Disguise, a character who has had no representation of any sort for over a decade (unless one counts other versions of Brawn). | |
Unexpected Character / int_b08200f3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_b08200f3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Transformers: Age of Extinction | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_b08200f3 | |
Unexpected Character / int_b0fc9724 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_b0fc9724 | comment |
For some appearances in 1994 (including on Saturday Night Live) Tom Petty's drummer was Dave Grohl, previously of Nirvana. Since that time Grohl has collaborated with many musicians from Petty's generation but at the time it must have been an unexpected lineup. | |
Unexpected Character / int_b0fc9724 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_b0fc9724 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Saturday Night Live | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_b0fc9724 | |
Unexpected Character / int_b40c60f6 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_b40c60f6 | comment |
Late in the run of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel), the Joe team's Ninja Force encountered a group of Red Ninjas with a mysterious leader. A few issues later, the leader was revealed to be Firefly. This was supposed to be a surprise as the character was supposed to be dead at the time, but it was kind of ruined by the fact that Hasbro had just introduced a new action figure of the character. | |
Unexpected Character / int_b40c60f6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_b40c60f6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_b40c60f6 | |
Unexpected Character / int_b4967d43 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_b4967d43 | comment |
Around the end of August to the beginning of September in 2021, Great Eastern Entertainment announced some new plushies for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise...including Whisper the Wolf, Mephiles the Dark, and Emerl. While all three are popular characters, the former comes from the comic series by IDW Publishing (When SEGA usually ignores the comics in terms of merchandising), while the latter two only had a major role in one game each. | |
Unexpected Character / int_b4967d43 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_b4967d43 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Sonic the Hedgehog (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_b4967d43 | |
Unexpected Character / int_b544dcf6 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_b544dcf6 | comment |
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Shattered Grid boasted featuring every Power Ranger series. Having Power Rangers Hyper Force was a big surprise when it was announced during a session. What surprised a lot of people was when Power Rangers Beast Morphers ended up showing up, especially since the series hadn't been announced when it started! | |
Unexpected Character / int_b544dcf6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_b544dcf6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Shattered Grid (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_b544dcf6 | |
Unexpected Character / int_b96af87b | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_b96af87b | comment |
Pathfinder: Worldscape is a Massive Multiplayer Crossover event featuring several properties licensed by Dynamite Entertainment, yet two Public Domain Characters with no relation to these properties play a big part in the story: Fantomah and Thun'Da, both of which are extremely obscure comic book characters from the 40s and 50s respectively that few people have even heard of, let alone expect to be featured in a event like this. | |
Unexpected Character / int_b96af87b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_b96af87b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Pathfinder: Worldscape (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_b96af87b | |
Unexpected Character / int_ba0aa66a | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_ba0aa66a | comment |
The first season of Flower Angel features a pair of crossover episodes that are both focused on a certain character becoming a fairy after entering the Flower Angel world and being attracted to a piano-playing boy. Xia An'an mistakes that character for the fairy she has to capture. Who is that character? Vocaloid's own Hatsune Miku, of all people. Besides crossovers generally being alien to Flower Angel, Taomee (the company that makes Flower Angel) got the permission of Vocaloid company Crypton to use Miku, despite the show being created in China where copyright infringement is second nature to everyone, in a show that was already a mockbuster of Cardcaptor Sakura to an extent to begin with. | |
Unexpected Character / int_ba0aa66a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_ba0aa66a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Flower Angel (Animation) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_ba0aa66a | |
Unexpected Character / int_bfd1a7b7 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_bfd1a7b7 | comment |
February 22, 2016, as Stephanie McMahon prepares to accept an award given to her by her father, none other than her brother comes out to thunderous applause. Easily one of the best pops of the year. | |
Unexpected Character / int_bfd1a7b7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_bfd1a7b7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Stephanie McMahon (Wrestling) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_bfd1a7b7 | |
Unexpected Character / int_c22905b5 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_c22905b5 | comment |
Red Robin: The Wild Huntsman, a former Global Guardians member who'd been in limbo and was last seen disappearing into the mists of time, shows up working with security at a museum in Germany. His presence even surprises Tim. | |
Unexpected Character / int_c22905b5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_c22905b5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Red Robin (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_c22905b5 | |
Unexpected Character / int_c4282b71 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_c4282b71 | comment |
Who would have thought that any characters from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic would ever step into Death Battle? Yet, there have been four so far: Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Discord who respectively fought Starscream, Deadpool, Raven, and Bill Cipher. | |
Unexpected Character / int_c4282b71 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_c4282b71 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_c4282b71 | |
Unexpected Character / int_c48af607 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_c48af607 | comment |
In the main continuity, Miss America is one of the less prominent Freedom Fighters, but she gets a secondary role here, while her better known teammates like Black Condor, Phantom Lady, and the Ray only get cameos. | |
Unexpected Character / int_c48af607 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_c48af607 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Freedom Fighters (DC Comics) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_c48af607 | |
Unexpected Character / int_c4fb1ce8 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_c4fb1ce8 | comment |
That Dude in the Suede, for being away on a mission for two years prior to filming this, and secondly because he denied being in it in the first place. | |
Unexpected Character / int_c4fb1ce8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_c4fb1ce8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
That Dude in the Suede (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_c4fb1ce8 | |
Unexpected Character / int_c51cbdab | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_c51cbdab | comment |
Lex Luger made his WCW return in 1995 this way, appearing on the debut episode of WCW Monday Nitro unannounced. The shock from the audience was genuine: very few people realized that his WWF contract had lapsed the night prior after competing in a house show. | |
Unexpected Character / int_c51cbdab | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_c51cbdab | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Lex Luger (Wrestling) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_c51cbdab | |
Unexpected Character / int_c75ae76b | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_c75ae76b | comment |
The early days of Disney’s Hollywood Studios featured characters like Dick Tracy, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the Power Rangersnote Disney did own the rights to the Power Rangers franchise in the 2000s following their purchase of Saban. However, they sold off the property in 2010. The rights are currently owned by Hasbro.. There were also attractions based around Who Wants to be a Millionaire and American Idolnote Keep in mind that Disney didn't own the rights to the series at that time. American Idol was rebooted for ABC not long before the aforementioned 21st Century Fox purchase.. | |
Unexpected Character / int_c75ae76b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_c75ae76b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dick Tracy (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_c75ae76b | |
Unexpected Character / int_cac1f314 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_cac1f314 | comment |
For the Summer Game Fest livestream on June 22, 2020, they had ALF as a special guest. | |
Unexpected Character / int_cac1f314 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_cac1f314 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
ALF | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_cac1f314 | |
Unexpected Character / int_cf69b21e | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_cf69b21e | comment |
No one expected Kingdom, the third part of the trilogy, to feature the Maximals and Predacons, especially since characters from the Beast Era have rarely interacted with the Autobots and Decepticons despite both occurring in the same continuity family. This would mark the first proper crossover between the two eras, as the subline does commemorate the show's 25th anniversary. | |
Unexpected Character / int_cf69b21e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_cf69b21e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Beast Wars | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_cf69b21e | |
Unexpected Character / int_d0d474b1 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_d0d474b1 | comment |
Downplayed, since she was the most popular opponent for who she was fighting, but many fans were caught off guard at seeing Zatanna show up on the show, since she is not as popular or well known a hero as many of the other DC heroes who had been brought on the show. | |
Unexpected Character / int_d0d474b1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_d0d474b1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Zatanna (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_d0d474b1 | |
Unexpected Character / int_d25ddfc | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_d25ddfc | comment |
Who expected the Horned King, the villain from a movie Disney tries hard to pretend never happened, to get included in a game like this? | |
Unexpected Character / int_d25ddfc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_d25ddfc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Black Cauldron | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_d25ddfc | |
Unexpected Character / int_d64bff49 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_d64bff49 | comment |
Doctor Who (Titan) comics: The Eleventh Doctor Year Two comics reintroduced '90s Anti-Hero Abslom Daak from the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip. A doubly unexpected character as he hadn't been used for many years, and also because he came from a completely different Expanded Universe continuity with different rightsholders. The Third Doctor comics did this twice over — first the Second Doctor suddenly appears, and then he turns out not to be the Second Doctor at all, but his believed-dead human Mad Scientist Criminal Doppelgänger Ramón Salamander, from the TV story "The Enemy of the World". The Lost Dimension: Nobody was expecting Jenny, the Doctor's Opposite-Sex Clone from "The Doctor's Daughter", to play a major role in the series, her first appearance in any medium since her solitary TV episode a full decade before. |
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Unexpected Character / int_d64bff49 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_d64bff49 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Doctor Who (Titan) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_d64bff49 | |
Unexpected Character / int_d739f949 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_d739f949 | comment |
When Dawn of the Clans, a prequel series dealing with the founding and early days of the five Clans was announced, lots of theories were made about appearances from the Clan Founders (Thunder, River Ripple, Wind Runner, Tall Shadow, and Clear Sky), original medicine cats (Cloudspots, Dapplepelt, Mothflight, and Pebbleheart), and a few other characters mentioned in the field guides (Gorsefur, Owleyes, Lightningtail, etc.). However, almost nobody predicted Graywing the Wise (a character whose sole mention in the series beforehand was being credited with creating a few WindClan battle strategies in Battles of the Clans) showing up, let alone his role as the (initial) main character of the arc. To a lesser extent, few expected Half Moon and Lion's Roar to appear in the arc, but they ended up being supporting characters in The Sun Trail. | |
Unexpected Character / int_d739f949 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_d739f949 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Warrior Cats: Dawn of the Clans | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_d739f949 | |
Unexpected Character / int_d787b47c | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_d787b47c | comment |
On the Autobot side of things, while staples like Grimlock, Arcee or even the most recent Windblade are expected, no one would have guessed Gauge, a character original to the 2019 IDW continuity, as one the main characters to one of the stories. She even manages to take on Shockwave along Pinkie Pie. | |
Unexpected Character / int_d787b47c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_d787b47c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Transformers (2019) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_d787b47c | |
Unexpected Character / int_da5c1131 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_da5c1131 | comment |
The War For Cybertron Trilogy has made several surprising inclusions despite being another retread of Generation 1: A good portion of surprising inclusions in the toyline are merely unexpected headswaps of existing molds (which trades in their accuracy to their original designs). Said unexpected headswaps include Crosshairs, Rotorstorm, Jackpot, and Maximal Skywarp. No one expected Bug Bite, a Canon Immigrant from Challenge of the GoBots, to make an appearance in Earthrise, though the character is modeled after his e-Hobby design by being a Palette Swap of Bumblebee and Cliffjumper. He would not be the only one, as the Kingdom Golden Disk Collection adds in fellow Go-Bot Road Ranger, who is also modeled after his e-Hobby design by being a Palette Swap of Huffer. Another instance of an "unexpected homage" are the Micromasters Windstorm and Stingracer, which homage the Hurricane and Stinger from fellow Hasbro IP M.A.S.K.. No one expected Kingdom, the third part of the trilogy, to feature the Maximals and Predacons, especially since characters from the Beast Era have rarely interacted with the Autobots and Decepticons despite both occurring in the same continuity family. This would mark the first proper crossover between the two eras, as the subline does commemorate the show's 25th anniversary. The Pulse Con 2020 Poster for Kingdom had a couple of surprising inclusions. The first is Polar Claw, a Toyline-exclusive Maximal despite the focus on show-only Beast Wars characters. The second is Ultra Magnus, who had been killed off on Cybertron during the fourth episode of Siege yet appears in his Earth Modenote Subverted in the show proper as he does not get resurrected, only appearing as a ghost. The third is the Ark itself being a Transformer, when it has never displayed this capability before in the G1 continuity. When the toy of the Ark was properly revealed, it surprisingly came with Mainframe, a character from the much maligned Action Masters subline from the end of Generation 1. Not only that, Mainframe also ignores the toyline's attempts to adhere to show accuracy as best as possible by being completely yellow rather than blue and red, though this is because he turns into Teletran-1 as an odd instance of Composite Character. The Ark's robot mode itself is another "unexpected homage", as it is modeled after Autonomous Maximus/The Last Autobot, an obscure character from the tail end of the original The Transformers (Marvel). Rodimus Prime was sort of expected in Kingdom (seeing as the subline also commemorates the 35th anniversary of the original G1 movie, and if he did not he would have instead appeared in the concurrently running Studio Series 84 line instead), his toy does have a surprising inclusion: The Sword of Primus from Regeneration One. While Terrorsaur was present in the original Beast Wars TV show, it was thought that he would be skipped over alongside his fellow Season 1 Predacons Tarantulas and Inferno (though the latter's omission was justified by him being a massive shelfwarmer during the original Beast Wars toyline). He made a surprising appearance in the final part of the Golden Disk Collection, albeit as a retool of Airazor (which causes him to be a bit less show accurate due to their designs having different proportions). The final wave of Kingdom added in Slammer, one of Metroplex's components. What makes his inclusion all the more surprising was that he was a Weaponizer, when that gimmick was previously thought to be only confined to Siege and in Kingdom was replaced by the similar Fossilizer gimmick. There is also Shadow Panther, who while being a Palette Swap of Cheetor (albeit with the "Mutant Head" was still a surprising inclusion (especially since they made a version of Beast Wars Ravage, which itself is also an example since it is modeled after a Season 2 Transmetal character despite the focus being on Season 1). |
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Unexpected Character / int_da5c1131 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Unexpected Character / int_da5c1131 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_da5c1131 | |
Unexpected Character / int_daa23919 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_daa23919 | comment |
On February 2021, Scrag was revealed as a lootcrate-exclusive figure. Besides him being a minor villain that didn't return after season 1 of the show, his announcement was all the more glaring compared to lootcrate announcements for other parts of the TMNT franchise being fan favorites (such as the Tournament Fighters version of Armaggon). | |
Unexpected Character / int_daa23919 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_daa23919 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_daa23919 | |
Unexpected Character / int_db30cf92 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_db30cf92 | comment |
Warrior Cats: Lots of unexpected characters pop up in the Omen of the Stars finale The Last Hope, such as Redtail, Raggedstar and Mosskit. But almost nobody was expecting Brambleberry's cameo appearance at the beginning where she is one of the first cats to ever successfully give Jayfeather a lecture. When Dawn of the Clans, a prequel series dealing with the founding and early days of the five Clans was announced, lots of theories were made about appearances from the Clan Founders (Thunder, River Ripple, Wind Runner, Tall Shadow, and Clear Sky), original medicine cats (Cloudspots, Dapplepelt, Mothflight, and Pebbleheart), and a few other characters mentioned in the field guides (Gorsefur, Owleyes, Lightningtail, etc.). However, almost nobody predicted Graywing the Wise (a character whose sole mention in the series beforehand was being credited with creating a few WindClan battle strategies in Battles of the Clans) showing up, let alone his role as the (initial) main character of the arc. To a lesser extent, few expected Half Moon and Lion's Roar to appear in the arc, but they ended up being supporting characters in The Sun Trail. The ninth Super Edition. Usually Super Editions star major characters, and are always about leaders or medicine cats. The ninth Super Edition was revealed to be Hawkwing's Journey, focusing on a cat nobody had ever heard of. It turned out later that he had previously appeared in a novella, Ravenpaw's Farewell, as a SkyClan apprentice who shows up one time and speaks one word. |
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Unexpected Character / int_db30cf92 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_db30cf92 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Warrior Cats | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_db30cf92 | |
Unexpected Character / int_dbb68ab6 | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_dbb68ab6 | comment |
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe had the now rather infamous scene in which Father Christmas pops up out of nowhere to give the Pevensie siblings their Christmas presents. Despite being set in a fantasy world, his appearance in Narnia is still a little jarring, and it's worth saying that he's never again seen or mentioned in any of the other books. | |
Unexpected Character / int_dbb68ab6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Unexpected Character / int_dbb68ab6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Chronicles of Narnia | hasFeature |
Unexpected Character / int_dbb68ab6 | |
Unexpected Character / int_dc1bbe1d | type |
Unexpected Character | |
Unexpected Character / int_dc1bbe1d | comment |
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 soundtrack, curated by Lorde, features mainly mordern female electronic/pop vocalists such as herself along with CHVRCHES, Charli XCX, Tove Lo, Ariana Grande, Bat For Lashes, Tinashe, HAIM, and... Grace Jones? Also rappers Q-Tip and Pusha-T appear in Stromae's "Meltdown" alongside Lorde and HAIM for an odd-yet-compelling collaboration. Also featured, perhaps most surprisingly of all given Lorde's feud with Diplo at the time, was Major Lazer featuring Ariana Grande with "All My Love". | |
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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 | hasFeature |
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RWBY Chibi offered one that also serves as a case of Trolling Creator. With the reveal of an episode called "Evil Interview", fans got hopeful about what villain would debut there. Turned out to be Cardin Winchester, a really minor and unpopular antagonist who hadn't appeared in two volumes of the main show - and as proven by the episode, is thoroughly outclassed in the evil department by the actual villains of RWBY. Even his voice actor stated he was surprised with the character's return. | |
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RWBY Chibi (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
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"One-Trick Pony" brings in Wildwheel, a Decepticon introduced in the Cyberverse continuity family (and exclusive to it until now). Then the story tops itself with two more surprise characters— Quickstrike and Skids. Skids is the less unexpected of the two— while he only showed up in two episodes of the G1 cartoon, he's still a G1 character so he's at least understandable. Quickstrike, however, is a Beast Wars character (and not even a particularly popular one). | |
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Transformers: Cyberverse | hasFeature |
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New Super-Man #8 ended with the mysterious prototype "Super-Man Zero" talking to a mysterious figure who boasted that, without him, there would be no super heroes. That man? Ching Lung, the Yellow Peril Chinese stereotyped supervillain that was on the cover of the very first issue of Detective Comics. | |
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New Super-Man (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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Another instance of an "unexpected homage" are the Micromasters Windstorm and Stingracer, which homage the Hurricane and Stinger from fellow Hasbro IP M.A.S.K.. | |
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M.A.S.K. | hasFeature |
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Sherlock Holmes and Watson (though not named, it's obviously them) appear in a segment of a Final Destination novel in Victorian Britain. | |
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Sherlock Holmes | hasFeature |
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In the fifth book of Venus Prime, Sir Randolph Mays, the insufferable Pompous Political Pundit who seems so hellbent upon exposing the Free Spirit, turns out to be William Laird, the leader of the Free Spirit. | |
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Venus Prime | hasFeature |
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Spongebob Squarepants was quite the surprise to be put on the show, especially since he's a kid-friendly cartoon character. Just as surprising was his opponent, Aquaman — not a composite version, but specifically his Super Friends incarnation. | |
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SpongeBob SquarePants | hasFeature |
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You'd think the eponymous Sailor Moon would be its first character to appear here, but no! It's Sailor Galaxia, the series' True Final Boss. | |
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Sailor Moon (Franchise) | hasFeature |
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Occasionally the long-running Transformers toy franchise will have a release that up and surprises everyone: One very surprising release was a character named Heatwave in the "Hero Mashers Line." Heatwave shares a name with a Transformers: Rescue Bots character who was on shelves at the time, so the Hero Masher instead being directly based on an obscure, Collector's Club-only character was completely unexpected. In this case, it was highly likely that said Heatwave got confused with the more recognizable one. Less a "character" and more an "unexpected homage" but Rollbar's robot mode in the Transformers: Age of Extinction is very clearly based on X-Brawn from Transformers: Robots in Disguise, a character who has had no representation of any sort for over a decade (unless one counts other versions of Brawn). The War For Cybertron Trilogy has made several surprising inclusions despite being another retread of Generation 1: A good portion of surprising inclusions in the toyline are merely unexpected headswaps of existing molds (which trades in their accuracy to their original designs). Said unexpected headswaps include Crosshairs, Rotorstorm, Jackpot, and Maximal Skywarp. No one expected Bug Bite, a Canon Immigrant from Challenge of the GoBots, to make an appearance in Earthrise, though the character is modeled after his e-Hobby design by being a Palette Swap of Bumblebee and Cliffjumper. He would not be the only one, as the Kingdom Golden Disk Collection adds in fellow Go-Bot Road Ranger, who is also modeled after his e-Hobby design by being a Palette Swap of Huffer. Another instance of an "unexpected homage" are the Micromasters Windstorm and Stingracer, which homage the Hurricane and Stinger from fellow Hasbro IP M.A.S.K.. No one expected Kingdom, the third part of the trilogy, to feature the Maximals and Predacons, especially since characters from the Beast Era have rarely interacted with the Autobots and Decepticons despite both occurring in the same continuity family. This would mark the first proper crossover between the two eras, as the subline does commemorate the show's 25th anniversary. The Pulse Con 2020 Poster for Kingdom had a couple of surprising inclusions. The first is Polar Claw, a Toyline-exclusive Maximal despite the focus on show-only Beast Wars characters. The second is Ultra Magnus, who had been killed off on Cybertron during the fourth episode of Siege yet appears in his Earth Modenote Subverted in the show proper as he does not get resurrected, only appearing as a ghost. The third is the Ark itself being a Transformer, when it has never displayed this capability before in the G1 continuity. When the toy of the Ark was properly revealed, it surprisingly came with Mainframe, a character from the much maligned Action Masters subline from the end of Generation 1. Not only that, Mainframe also ignores the toyline's attempts to adhere to show accuracy as best as possible by being completely yellow rather than blue and red, though this is because he turns into Teletran-1 as an odd instance of Composite Character. The Ark's robot mode itself is another "unexpected homage", as it is modeled after Autonomous Maximus/The Last Autobot, an obscure character from the tail end of the original The Transformers (Marvel). Rodimus Prime was sort of expected in Kingdom (seeing as the subline also commemorates the 35th anniversary of the original G1 movie, and if he did not he would have instead appeared in the concurrently running Studio Series 84 line instead), his toy does have a surprising inclusion: The Sword of Primus from Regeneration One. While Terrorsaur was present in the original Beast Wars TV show, it was thought that he would be skipped over alongside his fellow Season 1 Predacons Tarantulas and Inferno (though the latter's omission was justified by him being a massive shelfwarmer during the original Beast Wars toyline). He made a surprising appearance in the final part of the Golden Disk Collection, albeit as a retool of Airazor (which causes him to be a bit less show accurate due to their designs having different proportions). The final wave of Kingdom added in Slammer, one of Metroplex's components. What makes his inclusion all the more surprising was that he was a Weaponizer, when that gimmick was previously thought to be only confined to Siege and in Kingdom was replaced by the similar Fossilizer gimmick. There is also Shadow Panther, who while being a Palette Swap of Cheetor (albeit with the "Mutant Head" was still a surprising inclusion (especially since they made a version of Beast Wars Ravage, which itself is also an example since it is modeled after a Season 2 Transmetal character despite the focus being on Season 1). |
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Transformers (Franchise) | hasFeature |
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Mob and Tatsumaki pit two lesser-known characters against each other. While One Punch Man was bound to get on the show at one point, it caught many off guard that the first character featured wasn’t Saitama or even Genos (although Genos was the second from the series and Saitama appeared later as well). However, few people expected Mob Psycho 100 to ever be featured on the show at all. On the OPM side, Tatsumaki is the only winner so far. | |
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Mob Psycho 100 (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
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