Characterization Marches On/Western Animation

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of Characterization Marches On in Western Animation include:

  • In later episodes, Roger of American Dad has a surprisingly full, active life outside the Smith house, able to effortlessly conceal his identity as an alien through a variety of surprisingly effective disguises- which makes the early episode "All About Steve" strange to watch, where he is so desperate for human contact that the only place he can go to interact socially with others is a sci-fi convention. A viewer coming to the series via the later episodes would no doubt be wondering why he doesn't just wear one of his 50,000 disguises.
    • Lampshaded in the commentary for "Roger Codger," the episode where Roger has to find his way from a landfill to home without being caught by the CIA, where they point out that the whole premise of the episode is somewhat worthless compared to his current persona.
      • Roger Codger and some other earlier episodes also depict Roger as more beloved member of the family who, while with blatant Jerkass tendacies like the others, is actually willing to sacrifice himself to protect the Smiths. Compare this to later seasons which try to one up his self obsessed Comedic Sociopath persona with each episode.
    • Originally, Stan was pretty much just a Strawman Political for Republicans: hotheaded, bigoted and stupid. Once the show went through Inverted Issue Drift, however, he became more well-rounded. He also became less hypocritical—while an early episode showed him casually going to a strip club, a more recent one had him act incredibly uncomfortable when his coworkers dragged him there, and he wound up helping some of the strippers get a new job.
  • Ralph the Guard from Animaniacs started off on Tiny Toon Adventures as an unnamed security guard who was constantly preventing the show's cast from visiting a studio. It's pretty hard to believe that he was so good at that job when, later on, he could never succeed in catching Yakko, Wakko, and Dot except in their show's theme song.
  • In the first episode of Archer, a flashback shows that Archer once wanted to do something sexual that creeped out Cheryl. The same Cheryl who, as of episode 5, is established as a Nightmare Fetishist who literally orgasms at the thought of being murdered.
    • So she's not into anal. Doesn't mean that it's anything marching on.
  • Francine was a lot more of a Jerkass bully in the early Arthur episodes, and Binkie was more of a straight-up bully then a sensitive boy with a Jerkass Facade.
  • In Avatar: The Last Airbender, it was a subtle version of this trope that had many people claim Flanderization for Sokka. While he had a comical overconfidence in his own abilities in the first couple of episodes, his actual personality was actually fairly low-key and best explained by how he stoically packs the canoe behind Katara's back. After a few episodes of being the comedic Butt Monkey, he took on the role of being Plucky Comic Relief.
    • Not to mention Jack DeSena's hilarious voice acting and improvisation helped morph Sokka into a much more livelier character. The original plan for Sokka's character was more in line of what Toph turned out to be.
    • Ron Stoppable from Kim Possible shares a similar situation.
  • When Daria was just a secondary character on Beavis and Butthead, she had a wider range of expression and a less monotone voice (in the early episodes) than she later had in her Spin-Off, and even participated in extracurricular activities.
    • In season one of Daria, Britney was shown as being a shallow, spoiled cheerleader who was definitely Book Dumb but not a complete ditz; later seasons upped the ditsiness, probably to accentuate her moments of ingenuity.
  • The titular character of Dexter's Laboratory was quite serious and methodical, and even at times a Jerkass (mostly to Dee Dee), in the very early episodes. Compare this to the change in his character (which didn't occur after too long) that made him much more full of enthusiasm, giving him a more childlike, pleasant nature, though he was still an egotist. As for Dee Dee, all throughout the series her personality could be anything from the most insufferable Annoying Older Sibling to the Genius Ditz with more common sense than our resident boy genius.
  • Classic Disney Shorts:
    • Mickey Mouse. Currently: Either the Everyman and the cartoon character that everybody knows and loves, or the Keyblade-wielding Badass that Kingdom Hearts fans know and love. 1928: The guy who forced Minnie to kiss him, was also a bit of a jerk, and didn't mind harming his enemies.
      • Epic Mickey returns to his original characterization, sort of. Mickey's pranks set in motion the dangerous events of the game, and he has the option of either helping the inhabitants of the world he inadvertently endangered (becoming The Hero and looking more heroic), or looking out for himself and just trying to get back to his world (becoming The Scrapper and looking more sinister). Essentially, the player has the option of making Mickey like his modern self, or his original self.
      • Mickey's change is kind of Justified when you think modern Mickey is the grown up and matured classic Mickey.
      • Mickey in his early cartoons was prone to almost Bugs Bunny-level of retribution (such as his magical pranks on Donald in Magician Mickey), and had quite a low tolerance for things not going his way, notably pulling a gun on Donald in Symphony Hour when the Duck tried to ditch a Concert Gone Horribly Wrong.
    • In Daisy Duck's first appearance she was basically Donald in high heels; just like Donald she would get angry easily, and they even had the Voice Actor.
      • Then she becomes the straight woman/voice of reason to Donald's Temper, a Deadpan Snarker in Quack Pack, and in House of Mouse, she becomes The Ditz.
        • In early appearances she was quite mature and lady-like. Nowadays she's wild and ditzy.
    • Goofy went from Lovable Klutz to a period of being literally The Everyman in the 50s before being reverted back to the Klutz everyone knows and loves.
    • Huey, Louie, and Dewey were undisciplined troublemakers in their appearances up to and including the early episodes of DuckTales (1987). Later on in DuckTales (1987) they're shown as quite responsible, almost never breaking the rules unless they think it's for a good cause. This change made the Five Episode Pilot seem really weird when seen alongside later episodes in reruns.
  • The first episode of Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy had Double Dee staring at Sarah with hearts in his eyes, while Sarah treats him with disdain. This is extremely weird now, when it's established that Sarah has a rather annoying crush on Double Dee, to which he reacts with horror.
  • The early pilot episodes of The Fairly OddParents had Cosmo as a fairy of normal unintelligence, and both he and Wanda were a bit spacey. (They described themselves as "two halves of one idiot!") In the actual series, Cosmo becomes a ditzy Man Child, while Wanda is the Only Sane Woman who seems to hold everyone else in contempt and always calls Cosmo out for being an idiot. This, of course, went through serious Flanderization over time.
    • Not to mention the difference in voice: Cosmo sounded like a smooth-talking game show host in the pilot rather than the high-pitched Motor Mouth he became.
  • Nearly every character in Family Guy has gone through dramatic changes, most of them also qualifying as Character Derailment. Perhaps the most radical is Stewie. Once an egomaniacal baby genius, bent on world domination and matricide, Stewie has evolved into an effeminate, gay infant with a penchant for occasionally whipping out some manner of advanced technology.
    • In "If I'm Dying I'm lying" Peter's blasphemous actions result in modified versions of the plagues of Egypt descending on Quahog. It is Brian who realizes the significance of the biblical events and when Peter insists "there must be a logical explanation" Brian slaps him repeatedly and states "Here's an explanation, GOD *slap* IS *slap* PISSED *slap*". Evidently dogs don't have the best memory because for the last few seasons Brian has been an outspoken hard line atheist.
    • In Mayor West's first two appearances, he appears to be more of a Bunny Ears Lawyer compared to the rest of the series. He's first introduced telling the story of the city's founding, and the humor is coming entirely from the ridiculousness of the (apparently completely true) story. On his second appearance when he meets Peter Griffin, he is actually surprisingly helpful until he discovers that Peter's property is not part of the United States. Then though, he reveals the trapdoor in his office (and his plans for further work on it), and his characterization is set.
    • Likewise, Glen Quagmire was initially portrayed as more of a 50s-type swinger fellow and seems quite normal in comparison to the extreme pervert he would eventually become; he was also very unsuccessful at attracting women before becoming the sort of guy who beds a different woman every night.
    • It is also odd to watch the really early episodes where Meg was treated with respect and love by her family, like Peter trying his hardest to help her out at the school newspaper. Also when Meg and Chris are both in front of an air fan, Meg complains that Chris is hogging all the air to which he replies "Yeah well, YOU'RE hogging all the UGLY!" Unlike the later barrage of "Meg is ugly" jokes, this merely intended as a childish insult someone like Chris would say to his sister.
    • The earlier episodes actually revolved around Peter and Lois' well intentioned attempts to raise and provide for their family and, while retaining selfish tendacies, often learned an Aesop from the episode's events. As the show progressed they both gradually evolved into exagerratively self centered Abusive Parents for laughs, making the show's title rather ironic.
    • In Joe's first appearance, Meg hit on his son. He was slow to respond, but that was because she was so awkward. By the end of the episode, he seemed to genuinely enjoy her company. She also had a couple other boyfriends in the past. Compare to present day when boys commit suicide/murder to avoid going on a date with her.
    • In the earlier episodes Joe was a mild mannered wheelchair bound cop who is generally friendly towards everyone and well respected because he's crippled but capable. Later episodes have him constantly abused by Peter and other people due to being crippled, he has a severe anger problem often lashing out at and beating up his friends, and sometimes depicted as being depressed.
    • Also, in their first appearances, news reporters Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons were sexually attracted to each other. Through most of the show's run afterward, they dislike each other and constantly take shots at each other about how unattractive the other is.
  • In his first appearance on The Flintstones, Dino could actually talk, which never happens again in the series.
  • In his first appearance in Futurama, Mr. Panucci seemed an abusive jerk toward Fry. All future episodes portray him as one of the only people that likes him and treats him with any degree of respect, seemingly retconning the first episode outburst as stress.
    • Kif is another notable example. In his first appearance he was basically a Deadpan Snarker who was clearly disgusted with Zapp's stupidity; the creators actually came up with him based on the question "What if Spock had hated Kirk?" In subsequent episodes he quickly evolved into an Extreme Doormat, however, miserably suffering under his boss' idiotic commands.
    • The Professor is a subtler example: in original episodes he had a sort of softspoken, kindly senility, while later he became prone to crazy outbursts and played up more Mad Scientist tendencies.
    • In the pilot episode, Fry is having a beer with Bender and asks why a robot needs to drink. Bender replies, "I don't need to drink, I can quit anytime I want." This statement comes across as peculiar in later episodes, where it's revealed robots use beer as a fuel source.
      • His original statement is technically still correct since it's also revealed that "mineral oil" is just as effective a fuel source as alcohol.
      • Fairly certain that's a lie; the fairly well-known in-the-media line of "I can quit when I want" is generally a dead giveaway of an alcoholic.
  • In the first season of Hey Arnold!, Stinky was a bully and sidekick to Harold who wore spiky wristbands. Later on, he's a sweet, naive Country Mouse struggling to find something he's good at. Since Stinky is much better known for how he was written in later episodes, it's a bit jarring to watch him in his earlier appearances.
  • In the first episode of Invader Zim, GIR is essentially a two-year-old with a larger vocabulary, completely useless and unable to focus on anything. While his attachment to reality remains non-existent, he is later shown to be productive and capable, able to accomplish many things (even if it is rarely anything that Zim wants).
  • Dr. Scientist on Jimmy Two-Shoes. In the first season, he was a rather helpful scientist who seemed rather friendly to Jimmy (even though he could feel exhausted by him) and was also established as Heloise's inferior. In season two, however, he suddenly Took a Level in Jerkass to become a villain, and it's stated that he won the Mad Scientist Award every year, easily beating Heloise.
  • The two main villains in Kim Possible. Drakken was originally a competent, and even intimidating, person before turning into his typical Harmless Villain persona. Shego was just a typical mook, with few essences of her signature personality. Then they became Ensemble Darkhorse's and the team noticed how well Shego's voice actress worked with sarcasm.
  • Luanne of King of the Hill has always been a tad on the ditzy and slutty side, but early episodes show her as a competent mechanic (despite Cotton's Stay in the Kitchen attitude towards women) with dreams of being better than her dysfunctional parents by first going to beauty school, then to community college. After creating the Manger Baby puppets, being shown infrequently throughout the series, becoming a born-again virgin, marrying Lucky the redneck, and having a baby... well, let's just say, the later-season Luanne probably wouldn't know which end of the car actually houses the engine.
    • Dale was also much more mellow in his earlier appearances who only showed dislike for the American government. Compare that to the totally insane conpiracy theorist is later seasons.
      • Heck, even Bill was more calm and observant and less pathetic at first. After his habits and personality changed and years of Flanderization followed it's hard to believe the Bill from the first episode is the same as that from later ones.
    • Hank is actually seen eating a charcoal-grilled burger in the first season, and actually admits it was the greatest burger he's ever eaten. This would be unfathomable in later seasons, with his love of propane and hatred of all other forms of grilling/heating.
      • Bobby is also much different in early episodes. In the first couple seasons he was mainly a naive kid. By season 3 he started getting more development as a character.
  • Thanks to some of the most infamous cases of Flanderization in the animated business, a few of the title characters in the Looney Tunes shorts act very different in their 1940s and 1950s-onward appearances (Daffy perhaps being the best example). Still, you will get a few rare nods to their original forms now and then (Space Jam, for example, tries to make a few of the characters' different personas more interchangable).
    • Notably, Bugs Bunny started off as Screwy Squirrel, After a few shorts, he settles into the Wise-cracking Brooklyn-accented Trickster who only retaliates against deserving villains that everyone knows and loves.
    • Similarly, Daffy went from Screwy Squirrel, to scheming trickster to the now familiar Butt Monkey, victim of his own Ego.
    • Pepe le Pew wasn't really French in his first appearance. The accent was a fake he put on to try to woo the ladies. Also, in Pepe's first appearance, he was married with children and cheating on his wife with a male cat who had painted himself up as a skunk so he can get back at the butcher who kicks him, the dog who attacks him, and the housewife who beats him.
    • Elmer Fudd originated in the late 1930s as a more bizarre Tex Avery creation known as Egghead, who was only once called Elmer Fudd on screen (in "A Feud There Was") before being retooled in 1940.
    • Crossing over with Early Installment Weirdness, Sam the Sheepdog and Ralph the Wolf's first short, "Don't Give up the Sheep" had the two be typical slapstick villain and foiler, with Sam (named Ralph in this short) instead switching shifts with another dog named Fred. Later shorts introduced the dynamics the two are well known for.
  • One early Metalocalypse episode establishes contract negotiation as being one of the few non-music related things that Dethklok is actually good at (they even manage to negotiate Satan down from all of their souls to a $15 department store gift card). However, one key plot point of the season three premier revolves around them being unable to make heads nor tails of their contract.
    • Another example would be Nathan's parents, Oscar and Rose. In the early Season One episode, "Dethfam," they were huge embarassments to Nathan, and Oscar had nothing but contempt for Nathan making him give up drinking. All in all, they were not much more different from the other Abusive Parents of the other Dethklok members. More recent episodes however have given Nathan and Oscar a better relationship. In the season three episode "Fatherklok," Nathan proudly states that he loves his dad and they enjoy hanging out together when they have the chance. Rose can still be a bit embarassing, but all in all, Oscar and Rose seem to be the only Good Parents in the series.
      • Fridge Brilliance: Nathan really meant it when he said Explosion Sauce changed his relationship with his dad!
  • On the first episode of Phineas and Ferb (and even more so in The Pilot), Phineas seems fairly irritable and sarcastic, apparently because the creators wanted him to seem like an annoying little brother. Within a few episodes he settled into his usual personality, chipper and laid back to the point of naïveté, which also worked to highlight Candace's paranoia.
    • Major Monogram. In early episodes, he was far more competent and authoritative. Now he is almost the Good Counterpart of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, every bit as crazy and eccentric.
  • In first couple of appearances in Rugrats, Susie was shown as being a crybaby. Even when in the early season(s), she begins to grow out of the crybaby stage, to the newer episodes where she becomes more of a foil for Angelica.
    • Chuckie's fear of clowns is now legendary and one of his defining character traits. In the early season 1 episodes it was Didi who was afraid of clowns. The episode "Reptar's Revenge" has her freaking out when a clown sneaks up on her and Chuckie doesn't even bat an eyelid. Maybe he picked it up from her?
  • The first season Simpsons episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home" is an extremely odd episode to watch, especially for those who have never seen The Simpsons in its first season. Homer is embarrassed by his family's boorish behavior (including Marge getting drunk at his boss's party) and takes them to family therapy. Yes, HOMER is embarrassed by his family's boorish behavior (if this were written after season one, Marge or Lisa would be the ones embarrassed by how crude and boorish the family is). Here's an actual quote by Homer from this episode:

"We're not going to shovel food into our mouths while we stare at the TV. We're going to eat at the dining room table like a normal family."

    • And then after they are seated, Lisa (usually the only sane person in the family) says

Happy, Dad?... Good, commence shoveling!

    • However, Homer is actually somewhat called out on it later that episode, since most of the things he was ashamed of them doing were his fault in the first place.
    • Another first season episode has Homer getting fired from his job for crashing a forklift and going into such a deep depression at losing the identity of household bread winner that he actually attempts suicide so he wouldn't feel like a failure around his wife and children. At the end of the episode, he becomes the power plant's safety inspector because he's very concerned that the plant isn't being run safely and wants to make a difference. In later episodes, his on-the-job negligence is legendary, with him personally committing safety violations that would not only get him canned, but probably send him to prison for a long time, if the show cared about realism. He would regularly be sacked for gross incompetence and show little or no concern, or casually ditch work for the sake of whatever zany adventure he's going on that week. Also, even though his title of safety inspector continues to be mentioned, his job rarely seems to involve any safety inspecting. Admittedly, the plant itself, even without Homer's incompetence, is terribly run and itself would be closed down if Burns ever ran into someone he couldn't bribe.
    • Another Simpsons example: Lisa being a big fan of kiddy "The Happy Little Elves" and Bart preferring to watch Krusty the Klown and The Itchy and Scratchy Show (along with horror movies and, on the episode where Homer steals cable TV, X-rated movies). Later episodes either show the both of them being childish, the both of them being mature or (in a lot of recent cases) Bart being the childish one and Lisa being the more mature one.
    • Lisa is actually a great example in her own right... Throughout the Ullman Shorts and the most of the first season, she is a disrespectful troublemaker and not particularly bright, much like her brother. The writers conceived her and Bart as something of an interchangeable duo of bratty kids designed to drive Homer and Marge crazy. As Bart became the show's rascally Breakout Character however, Lisa as a female version of Bart seemed redundant, so they redesigned her as a brainy, yet socially awkward girl.
      • The bit about Lisa being artistic must date back at least to the development of the show, since her saxophone solo is part of the opening credits. A case of this trope would be her rebellion against her music teacher Mr Largo. It's part of the opening credits, and is emphasized considerably in a couple early episodes. Later, not only did Lisa avoid conflict with her teachers to the point of becoming a grades-obsessed teacher's pet, but Mr Largo has been Demoted to Extra (and in some cases, Put on a Bus).
      • Another one related to Lisa- earliest episodes showed her being friends with other average girls in her class, liking ponies and having small sleepovers at her house. Then numerous later episodes established her as a sad loner who is very disliked, constantly bullied for being "smart", a very uppity Granola Girl- and always tries to find friends outside her school and joins environmental groups and MENSA...
    • Supporting characters have gone through this too. When we first see Principal Skinner's mother in one of the first episodes, she is the stereotypically sweet, frail old lady who embarrasses her son by calling him, "Spanky." After that appearance, she was rewritten into a cruel, controlling matriarch who controls every aspect of her son's life (though that could have something to do with the cherry bomb incident in "The Crepes of Wrath").
    • Skinner himself has changed, too. Whereas now he's a pathetic mama's boy who is usually easily outsmarted by Bart, in the early days, he was far more competent and authoritative, and his main shtick was a tendency to mispronounce long words and have flashbacks about his days as a Vietnam War soldier (and demonstrate his Green Beret skills, such as taking out a group of lawyers from The Disney Corporation who threatened to sue Skinner over using "The Happiest Place on Earth" for the school carnival). The writers kept the 'Nam flashbacks (though those got phased out as well as time went on), but ditched his penchant for mispronouncing long words, and eventually made him a loser who always fell for Bart's tricks.
    • Dr. Hibbert went through it too; his first appearance in "Bart the Daredevil" is as a stern, competent professional. By his very next appearance, he became somewhat absent-minded and laugh-prone (and an Expy of Bill Cosby, complete with a wife who looks like Phylicia Rashad [only with darker skin], a teenage son who looks like Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and a daughter who looked like Keisha Knight-Pulliam).
    • Police Chief Wiggum also went through a dramatic shift. In early episodes he is portrayed as a serious, no-nonsense police officer surrounded by idiotic officers. Later on, he becomes an idiotic police officer.
    • Even before Ned Flanders became the Trope Namer for Flanderization, his personality had drifted towards being nice and meek. It's sort of funny to watch his first appearance, where he's so indifferent/oblivious to Homer's obvious financial problems that it reaches Jerkass proportions and he actually seems fully deserving of Homer's enmity.
    • Nelson and the Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney trio used to scare Bart and were overall much worse kids. Now they're all Bart's pals (though Nelson, Jimbo, and Kearney do beat up Bart sometimes), in fact Nelson is pretty much one of the gang except for the ocassional punch on the gut.
  • In South Park, Randy Marsh's drift into Mr. Serious Business in the later seasons makes early episodes strange to watch; apparently World of Warcraft and Little League games deserve more panic than things like spontaneous combustion or lava engulfing the town. "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" also shows a much more homophobic general populace than later episodes like "The Death Camp of Tolerance" and "Follow That Egg!"
    • Something that came to mind while watching the season three episode "Two Guys In A Hot Tub". In that episode, Stan refuses to hang out with Butters and Pip because they are "melvins" and the geekiest kids in school. Although both characters are still Butt Monkey types in later seasons, Stan is usually one of the nicest and most tolerant characters, and Butters is practically one of the gang now, so Stan acting like he wouldn't be caught dead with them seems somewhat unusual. Even Kyle agrees with this point of view at the end.
      • Stan and Kyle actually were a lot nastier and more immature in the first couple of seasons, and actually seemed like genuine 8 year olds a lot of the time. It wasn't until about Seasons 6-7 that they became the eternal Straight Men and Only Sane Men to the idiocy of the wider South Park population.
      • Arguably, it's more down to the Comedic Sociopathy humor used early on in the show, in that while Stan and Kyle did have a somewhat plausible moral code early on, they would still break character to envoke Butt Monkey situations onto Pip and Butters. Kyle was highly against Cartman's bigotry and bullying even early on, yet actually seemed to side with him concerning these characters, even earning a broken nose for his repeated intolerant slurs on Pip (even Chef loathed Pip early on). Arguably, the change occured during the sixth season, when the writers seemed interested in developing a more sentimental tone; in the premiere "Jared Has Aides," all of the boys are seen bullying and exploiting Butters in an equal fashion. Yet in subsequent episodes (despite getting thrown out of the gang), he seems to gain a more developed relationship with them, his treatment now more dependent to the characters in play (Cartman obviously still abuses Butters highly while Stan and Kyle have a more sympathetic tone towards him). As early as in "Toilet Paper" a season later, they have resentment to exploiting Butters in a similar manner than they did before.
    • From seasons 1-4, Eric Cartman was a whiny spoiled brat with a high scratchy voice who begged his mother into getting whatever he wanted and picked on Kyle mainly because he didn't celebrate Christmas, but the others got along with him for the most part, and he had many catchphrases. But from season 5 and onwards he is more intelligent, conniving, manipulative, and psychopathic; his voice is lower and deeper; he rarely whines or cries; the other boys hate him and rarely generally get along; and he doesn't say any of his catchphrases anymore. This is most noticable in "Freak Strike"; Cartman is afraid he is not the most out-of-control kid on the show so he makes up a bunch of outrageous lies about horrible things he's done. Why would he have to make things up? What about the times he fed a kid's parents to him or tried to reignite the Holocaust or... oh, yeah, those things happened in later seasons.
    • Remember when Wendy Testaburger was a psychotic Yandere who murdered a substitute teacher Stan had a crush on? Compare that to the smart and sensible girl, who is even willing to break up with Stan, seen in later episodes.
    • A more subtle example might be the Mayor. In early episodes she was basically the Queen of Town, only concerned about her own image while the other adults were smarter. In more recent episodes she's become smarter while everyone else got dumber, so now she's either just the primus inter pares of the adults' antics or even the Straight Man having to deal with a town of idiotic citizens.
    • The town itself experienced this. In the early seasons, it was clearly a small conservative mountain town, with a homophobic populace, only one police officer, and rednecks Uncle Jimbo and Ned playing major roles in many episodes. In the middle and latter seasons, the town has grown significantly in size, featuring a Walmart, a large community center, a two-story police station full of cops, a number of resturaunts, among other things, Uncle Jimbo and Ned have largely been Demoted to Extras, and its politics have moved significantly to the left, to the point where it usually more closely resembles a Bourgeois Bohemian-filled liberal suburb than a conservative mountain town.
  • Before Revenge of the Sith premiered, General Grievous made his first appearance one year earlier in the Genndy Tartakovsky produced Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series. It is a very different characterization than what would end up in the live action movie; Grievous in the animated series is a scary, unstoppable killing machine that singlehandedly defeats a number of Jedi. In the movie, Grievous is less formidable adversary and who runs when he is knows he cannot defeat an opponent. This characterization has continued into the CGI Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
    • Grievous tends to follow Dooku's advice in most of his later characterizations:

Dooku: Don't let your pursuit of trinkets cloud your reality. Remember what I taught you, General. If you're to succeed in combat against the best of the Jedi, you must have fear, surprise, and intimidation on your side. But if any one element is lacking, it would be best for you to retreat. You must break them before you engage them. Only then will you ensure victory and have your trophy.

    • Could also be seen as legitimate character development since at the end of the Clone Wars cartoon shorts, Grievous was very nearly killed by Mace Windu. It's implied that the character's regular coughing fits that show up in later appearances was caused by Mace using the force to crush his chest plate.
  • In Slade's first appearance on Teen Titans, he was a Card-Carrying Villain who spouted very cliched dialogue ("Next time my plans will succeed- and the Titans will pay!"), smashed teacups when he got angry, and employed a butler. Later episodes turned him into the creepily emotionless Manipulative Bastard Titans fandom loves to hate, gave his immediate plans a definite focus (though we still never learned what his ultimate plan was), made his dialogue into what amounted to a series of very nasty Hannibal Lectures, and the butler was never seen with him again.
    • The Butler is named Wintergreen, and he was Slade's regular sidekick in the comics. He was most likely added to the first episode with the intention of developing into the same role in the cartoon, but was then dropped in favor of Slade working alone.
    • To a somewhat lesser extent this happened to the third season's Big Bad, Brother Blood. In his first appearance he was hammy and egotistical, true, but he mostly overacted only when playing to an audience and could be quite calm and suave when he wanted to, and took his defeat at the end of the episode quite calmly. Later episodes made him into an emotional hothead who blew his top at the slightest provocation, though he could still scheme effectively if he kept himself away from the action. And in one episode he tried to create a giant tidal wave for no discernable gain at all...
  • In Transformers Armada, Tidal Wave initially speaks normally, and is said to have led teams before. Near the end of Armada and throughout Energon, we get the speech pattern we're used to (nigh-monosyllabic Third Person Person with plenty of Pokémon-Speak.) In Energon, though, he will speak in full sentences and more intelligently, though still keeping a love for his name (even after he gets upgraded and changes it.)
    • He also suffers a bit of Villain Decay and some typical-for-TF Your Size May Vary. In his early appearances, he is as big as you'd expect a guy to be if he turns into an aircraft carrier and a battleship and landing craft. He is insanely colossal, insanely invincible, and swats Autobots like bugs. Bit by bit he becomes less "god of destruction" and more "just one more 'con" though he remained the tallest in the bunch. When he returns in Energon he gets some of it back, but doesn't stay on top long (Scorponok is big and he's a new toy.)
  • In the second season of The Venture Brothers, Hank mentioned that Sergeant Hatred once touched the boys inappropriately, and that "most of it was awful". Later, Hatred becomes their arch-enemy and even their new bodyguard, but the boys never speak of their experience again. Granted, he still has an affinity for young boys, but it's strange that Hank and Dean are so cool with being around him.
    • To be fair, only Hank remembers the experience (Dean "was passed out from the wine") and Hank takes a long time to accept Hatred, and still generally dislikes him (though this seems to be more due to the fact that Hatred replaced Brock). Dean, meanwhile, seems fine with him.
    • Don't forget that they are not the same VBros that first encountered Sgt. Hatred. They are clones of them. Or clones of clones of clones of them?? Who knows what that could do to a kid's memory. Those learning beds and reel-to-reel tapes are from the 60's after all. At the time Hatred comes back, Dean may have forgotten him completely and Hank just has a fleeting feeling of disturbed distaste whenever he's around.
    • Brock Sampson also deserves a mention. In his early appearances, especially in the pilot, he is portrayed as as a barely contained psycho killer knuckle-dragger who barely speaks in more than mono syllables. In the first season, he gets much better dialog but is still a crazed killer when angered. In later seasons, he becomes much more introspective and even agonizes over killing a mook. Of course, this could all just be character development, but it is rapid enough to seem like it fits into this trope.
      • Doc Hammer, one of the creators, sometimes mocks Brock's personality changes. The way he tells it, every time they write a scene where someone acts out of character, they just run with it, and people mistake it for character development.
  • In X-Men: Evolution, Lance was originally a jerk ass with a known hair trigger temper and a small shade of manipulative bastard, and was to some extent a dark mirror version of Cyclops. In season two, however, they then established he had a crush on Kitty and pretended to be nice to get to her. After they broke up, he became the Jerk with a Heart of Gold that we all remember, who while willing to plot against the X-Men was also unable to leave a helpless old woman to die, and even teamed up with them to stop an explosion, in fact, many don't even remember his original depiction, and if someone does point it out, its usually called just bashing him. Pietro, originally a Smug Snake, took over as the Brotherhood's leader with a BIG case of Manipulative Bastard who in all fairness, is the exact opposite of Cyclops. Only Blob and Toad really remained their original personalities, and even there, Blob lost his anger, and Toad lost any competance he had (Originally being able to hold his own against Nightcrawler).


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