View source for Rescued from the Scrappy Heap

{{trope}}
{{quote|"''Jar-Jar, you're a genius!''"
|'''Qui-Gon Jinn'''|''[[Darths and Droids]]''}}

Sadly, the [[Mary Sue]]'s aura of awesome does not extend out of the pages she's written on, and that "sympathetic" [[Creator's Pet|teen genius Wesley]] and "adorable" [[The Scrappy|feisty pup Scrappy]] aren't exceptions either. Even the "cool" plot twist can go awry. What's an author to do? There's always the option of [[Put on a Bus|Putting Them on a Bus]], or hoping to succeed with an [[Author's Saving Throw]], but this character, for various reasons, just can't be done away with like that.

Well, there's only one thing left to do...get them '''[[Title Drop|Rescued From The Scrappy Heap]]'''. An unwritten rule of comic book writers is, "there no such thing as a bad character, just bad writing", so all it really takes to rescue a Scrappy is a ''good'' writer. 

In a nutshell, this is a reinterpretation of the character or idea, be it in the form of [[Character Development]], a [[Retool]], a [[Time Skip]] making the character mature a bit, or giving the actor acting lessons. In any event, they get fleshed out in a way that wins over bitter fans and breathes new life into the series.

A few series can even do this intentionally, and have an otherwise unlikable [[Smug Snake]] [[Dynamic Character|evolve into]] a more human, three-dimensional character.

Not to be confused with [[Took a Level in Badass]], which, while capable of being a step in the right direction, is about a wimp becoming a badass. This is about a hated character [[Dynamic Character|becoming]] a much less hated character. To illustrate the difference:

* If Scrappy Doo were able to fight the monsters on a roughly equal footing, then he'd have [[Took a Level in Badass|Taken a Level in Badass]]. He'd still be an incredibly hated character, however.
* If Scrappy Doo were to grow up a little, and stop trying to fight monsters all the time and doing all his other stuff that irritates fans (while keeping his lack of monster-fighting skill), that'd be this trope.

Naturally, the two can be combined, if the main reason a character is disliked is their cowardice and lack of skill.

In a way, this is the opposite of [[Canon Discontinuity]], which excludes the character from [[Canon]] entirely. Compare [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] and [[Badass Decay]]. Also contrast [[Author's Saving Throw]], which is an attempt to [[Hand Wave]] away the offending element, rather than fix it outright. See [[Growing the Beard]] in case you feel this way about the show itself. Might overlap with [[Alas, Poor Scrappy]], [[Reimagining the Artifact]], or especially [[A Day in the Limelight]].

{{noreallife|calling real-life people "unlikable" [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|is a bad idea]], and Real Life is not scripted anyway.}}

{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny]]'' is generally forgiven for sucking by the ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' fanbase, because ''[[Super Robot Wars Z]]'', ''[[Super Robot Wars K]]'' (to a minor extent due to cutting out most of the plot), and ''[[Super Robot Wars L]]'' did them a service by making GSD ''make sense'' (even severely rewriting several plot points to acheive this goal in the last case). Also, the characterization was improved, Kira was verbally and physically bitchslapped for being a [[God Mode Sue]] (and his motivations were more sensible), Neo {{spoiler|Mu La Flaga}} expressed regret for lots of shit he pulled on others while [[Brainwashed and Crazy]], and Shinn Asuka's angst has been redone to keep him from being a [[Jerkass]], amongst many other fixes.
** Speaking of Gundam, there's Saji Crossroad from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]''. He spends most of Season One [[Trapped by Mountain Lions|trapped by extremely boring mountain lions]], with his only glimmer of relevance being that Setsuna is his neighbor. Most of the reaction that early-episode Saji gets is "why does this guy get so much screentime?". Towards the end of Season One, though, ''[[It Got Worse|everything that could go wrong for him]] [[The Woobie|goes wrong]]'', and after the [[Time Skip]] {{spoiler|he is [[Mistaken for Terrorist]] and sent to an A-LAWS prison colony, where he is found by Setsuna. He then joins Celestial Being simply because they are the only ones who would take him in, and [[Takes a Level In Badass]] as the pilot of the 0-Raiser.}} [[Captain Obvious|Somewhere along there the hate vanished.]]
** Also in ''00'', {{spoiler|Andrei Smirnov}} jumped full-on into the Scrappy Heap after {{spoiler|killing his father Sergei, the series' resident [[Cool Old Guy]] and one of the most [[Reasonable Authority Figure|reasonable authority figures]] in the series, ''[[Murder by Mistake|because he jumped to a conclusion]]''}}. [[The Movie]] gives him {{spoiler|a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] [[Heroic Sacrifice]], which jumped him out of "despised" if not into "well-liked". Obviously doubles with [[Alas, Poor Scrappy]]}}.
** Also, Nena Trinity once she killed an even ''bigger'' Scrappy than herself:  {{spoiler|Wang Lu Mei.}} Unfortunately, Nena wasn't able to do much of anything after being rescued from the heap, as she  {{spoiler|dies ''immediately'' afterwards.}}
* You can only imagine how many fans Kanako Urashima of ''[[Love Hina]]'' gained when [[Take That, Scrappy!|she punched even bigger]] Scrappy [[Tsundere|Naru Narusegawa]].
* This happened to Bart in ''[[Vandread]]'' as a result of his [[A Day in the Limelight]] episode. The [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] made him [[Badass]], and the [[Important Haircut]] (or rather, the reason for it) made him [[Character Development|sympathetic]]. Though his [[Let's Get Dangerous|newfound competence]] helped, it was still primarily the [[Character Development]] that did it in earlier episodes, culminating in a blurb before the new season where the older version boggles at the younger version and wonders if he used to be that silly.
* A rather odd example: ''[[Naruto]]'''s Sasuke has been considered a Scrappy for the longest time [[Americans Hate Tingle|in America]]. But once he's been pitted against [[Invincible Villain|Danzou]], American fans have actually started ''[[Black and Grey Morality|rooting]]'' for him. Though this may be more because it's his [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] than him just being the lesser of two evils.
** Now that {{spoiler|Danzou is dead}}, most people want Sasuke to follow suit.
*** To others, being pitted against [[Creator's Pet|Sasuke]] also rescued ''Danzo'' from the scrappy heap for many fans, having people who previously dismissed him as a nasty [[Smug Snake]] commenting that Danzo had [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|several good points]] and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesome moments]] during his surprisingly even fight with Mr. [[Plot Armor]] himself. This combined with his [[Alas, Poor Villain]] moment had many fans declare Danzo a more honorable and sympathetic character than Sasuke at this point. {{spoiler|Sasuke killing Danzo}} made some fans like him a little, but it also made a lot of people hate him ''more''.
** Also happened to Karin when {{spoiler|Sasuke sacrificing her to kill Danzou turned her into [[The Woobie]]. Although she survived, she made it clear she didn't care about Sasuke after what he did. Not only did this remove her from the shipping equation, but she also displayed, what some fans believe, more common sense than other characters in the series.}}
** Sakura went through this at the start of ''Shippuden'' due to [[Character Development]] and [[Took a Level in Badass|becoming a lot stronger]]. Sadly, she's gone right back into the Scrappy Heap for many once [[Chickification]] caught up with her once more.
* Suzaku Kururugi from ''[[Code Geass]]'', {{spoiler|after Lelouch Geass-es him to "Live!", which causes him to revert from his fake (and debatably hypocritical) nice guy persona to his brash, rude, and brutally honest "true self".}}
** The events that take place during the [[Time Skip]], {{spoiler|namely his handing Lelouch over to the Emperor in return for a promotion, while still unrealistically touting his idea of changing Britannia from the inside}}, seem to have booted Suzaku right back into [[The Scrappy]] Heap (at least by those who don't know of or care about "[[Memetic Mutation|Spinzaku]]"). Between episodes 14 and 20 of R2, Suzaku's actions became wildly erratic, until  {{spoiler|his [[Heel Face Turn|becoming Lelouch's Knight of Zero]]}} in episode 21.
** Then we have [[Tyke Bomb|Rolo Lamperouge]], {{spoiler|performing a heartwrenching [[Heroic Sacrifice]] in order to take Lelouch away from being shot by the Black Knights, killing himself in the process through Geass overuse.}}
** [[Shrinking Violet]]-turned-[[Psycho Lesbian]] [[Hot Scientist]] Nina Einstein spent most of the time between episode 22 of the first series and episode 18 of the second firmly establishing herself as the Scrappy Goddess, only to have a [[My God, What Have I Done?|complete change of heart]] and become a character that is not only likable, but ''[[Heel Face Turn|admirable]]'', when she {{spoiler|begins working for Lelouch to create a countermeasure to the FLEIJA warheads that she invented.}} Works quite well for some, nowhere near enough for others, since despite her attending  {{spoiler|the wedding of the Britannian Villetta and Japanese Premier Kaname Ougi}} and looking quite relaxed in a picture taken there (which implies she either got over her racism or is still working on getting over it (contrasting with {{spoiler|the elegant party in episode 9 of R2 where she had a huge [[Freak-Out]] and screamed at Kallen for being [[But Not Too Foreign]])}}, some parts of the [[Unpleasable Fanbase]] still '''refuse''' to see any kind of good in the poor kid, even when faced with the proofs of her change.
* Sakuno Ryuzaki from the animated version of ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'' is portrayed as a [[Shrinking Violet|"sweet and earnest, but klutzy and stuttering child"]], and thus, she's often reviled and hated. But several Sakuno haters have come to like her better after reading the manga, which tones down her klutziness and makes her a pint-sized, more self-assured [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]. Same goes to her Chinese drama self, where Sakuno is more outspoken and independent ''and'' a promising artist on top of that.
** Conversely, some fans (often of the [[Het Is Ew]] type) dislike manga!Sakuno's portrayal as the ideal girlfriend for Ryoma (whom they see as a possible [[Purity Sue]]), but prefer her anime counterpart as the clumsiness and insecurity are semi-realistic character flaws.
* [[Inverted Trope]] with Rossiu from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', where he went from the [[Only Sane Man]] in the first half of the show to a [[Wrong Genre Savvy]] [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] with a stick up his ass the size of a [[This Is a Drill|Giga Drill]]. Fortunately, he gets a [[Take That, Scrappy!]] in the form of Simon, the main character, ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|inventing teleportation specifically to punch him in the face]].''
* The ''[[School Days]]'' manga portrays main character Makoto Itou as more sympathetic than his other versions (that of an idiotic [[Jerkass]] who cares only about boning as many girls as possible). In the manga, he is portrayed as a well-intentioned idiot who actually ''cares'' for the girls, other than just schtupping them.
** Sadly, the process was reversed with Sekai Saionji. While she's portrayed in games and anime as being impulsive and idiotic yet having a good heart and showing remorse for her actions, Sekai in the manga is shown as quite the self-centered and manipulative bitch... and two of the [[PlayStation]] endings definitely go this route as well, ''without'' giving her the madness excuse that Kotonoha tends to have when she goes [[Yandere]].
* Bat from ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' went from annoying brat to capable warrior between the first and second series. He grew up pretty well.
* Shiho is considerably more tolerable in ''[[Mai-Otome (manga)|Mai-Otome]]'' than her ''[[Mai-HiME (manga)|Mai-HiME]]'' counterpart was, since she doesn't spend her time [[Clingy Jealous Girl|watching over Yuuichi]] (a.k.a. [[Role-Ending Misdemeanor|Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Series]]) like a hawk, and actually gets to be her own character for a change. At the very least, the complaints about her whininess don't seem to be as loud with the new series. Although some still prefer her ''[[Mai-HiME (manga)|Mai-HiME]]'' self since she had more dramatic weight instead of being a [[Running Joke]] character.
* Miaka Yuuki, main character of ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'', appears to have gotten a little less flak from some of her haters thanks to ''Eikoden''; their reasoning was that no matter how bad they thought Miaka was, she at least had good intentions and cared a lot for other people than herself, whereas Mayo was a hundred times worse.
* The little duck billed bratty demon, Kanchome, of ''[[Zatch Bell]]'', was generally useful for little more than a random flawed disguise on the spot to help his ... *sigh* [[True Companions]], and his attitude had [[The Scrappy]] written all over it. The anime gave him a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] by having him nearly defeat a stronger foe with a new spell that made replications of himself, but he would go on to be much more badass in the manga - he saved the Earth from destruction by Clear Note (the [[Big Bad]]) by ''transforming into the Earth'' and hypnotizing Clear to think it was the real thing.
* Many a fan of ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' profoundly hates Seiya for only winning his fights due to support from others. His author, Masami Kurumada, seemed to get the message when he made ''[[B't X]]'', which features many [[Expy|expies]] from his previous works, as was his style. Seiya's expy Teppei, while still very brash and headstrong, has a strong resolve to stand on his own two feet and delivers. To make sure he didn't veer off too much in the opposite direction, however, he ''does'' see what happens when he ignores his B't  {{spoiler|when he nearly dies against the 5th Point Soldier}}, and a balance is struck. More than a few fans agree Teppei is much more likable.
* Chris Thorndyke from ''[[Sonic X]]'', in the final two series, after being given a [[Plot-Relevant Age-Up]] and some actual ''abilities'', plus being portrayed as being significantly less clingy and self absorbed.
* {{spoiler|Momo Hinamori}} from ''[[Bleach]]'' has finally gotten some bits of slack from the fanbase after  {{spoiler|her return to action, where she saves Matsumoto from Halibel's [[Amazon Brigade]] ''and'' says that she's got things to do now, showing that she's starting to get over [[Break the Cutie|the massive trauma]] that the Soul Society arc was for her.}}
** The Zanpakutou Filler arc rescues her further from the heap, whereas she starts taking active roles in battle and the arc actually shows that she is awesome on her own right.
** And now, as of chapter 449  {{spoiler|Orihime}} seems to be going in this direction, as she finally got her wish to  {{spoiler|be the [[Combat Medic]] and an active part of the [[True Companions]].}}
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Usopp was heavily criticized by the fanbase for dueling Luffy and leaving the crew over Luffy's decision to replace the irreparable Going Merry, causing some of his detractors to bring up his relative weakness compared to the rest of the crew. Later in the arc, he adopted the persona of Sogeking to avoid getting a large bounty for attacking Enies Lobby as well as to prevent his former crewmates from noticing who he was, although only Luffy and Chopper didn't notice, and demonstrated a powerful new weapon with new techniques and far greater accuracy. Then he later apologized for his actions and rejoined the crew. He only got more popular after the Dressrosa Arc, with his [[Red Baron]] "God Usopp" making him a [[Memetic Badass]].
** [[Smug Snake|Bellamy]] was just a mere [[Hate Sink]] pre-[[Time Skip]]. Post-[[Time Skip]], he comes back having [[Took A Level In Badass]] and gotten rid of his more unpleasant tendencies. His [[Trauma Conga Line]] at the hands of [[Manipulative Bastard|Doflamingo]] earned him ''major'' [[The Woobie|sympathy points]], and by the end of the Dressrosa arc he has erased every bit of Scrappydom completely.
** Before Bellamy, there was [[Spoiled Brat|Helmeppo]] via [[Heel Face Turn]], [[Took a Level In Badass]] and [[Heterosexual Life Partners|heartwarming friendship]] with [[Nice Guy|Coby]].
* Koizumi Kyoko from ''[[20th Century Boys]]'' is first presented as an overtly comedic [[Butt Monkey]] akin to Heckel from ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'', and just as out of place. However, once she gets sent to Friend Land and becomes more involved in the central story, she becomes quite sympathetic and one of the characters the audience can most identify with, as a regular person thrown into the center of an epic battle against an evil conspiracy.
* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'''s [[The Chew Toy|Chew Toy]], the sometimes annoying crybaby [[Bratty Half-Pint|Satoko]], gained a fanbase after standing up to Shion while being ''stabbed to death''. In some fan's eyes, {{spoiler|Takano Miyo}}'s flashback arc did a great job at making {{spoiler|her}} sympathetic and cheer-worthy in the eyes of a lot of fans, even though {{spoiler|she's}} the [[Big Bad]].
** ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' seems to be trying to do the same thing for [[Creepy Child|Maria]] as of the fourth arc.
* Raki from ''[[Claymore]]'', post time-skip. From a whiny little "protect her" obsessed powerless crybaby to... THAT. There should be a limit to these things. He manages to talk down a medieval angry mob, smiling all the way, and (to put it in perspective,) he's holding himself off from [[Super-Powered Evil Side|awakening]] due to the death pikes harder than one of the female hybrid Claymores, which actually managed to turn the ''second strongest Claymore'' into a cat-monster-thing with no resemblance to a mind. Think about that.
* Shinji from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' is often given a back-bone and made much more socially capable when he's ported over to things like the ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' series of games or [[Continuity Reboot|re-imaging]]/AdaptationDistillation of the main series such as the manga adaptation, the Angelic Days/Girlfriend of Steel 2 storyline, or the ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'' film series.
** Asuka was widely hated during the series run. She was a total bitch for no reason (To the viewers) and was just a horrible character. Then came the [[Mind Rape]] and the genuinely tragic [[Freudian Excuse]]. It drove some people to like her. Then came the rest of her story in the anime, and she gained more fans. Then came her  {{spoiler|[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Last]] [[Last Stand|Stand]] against the Mass-Produced Evas, where she is horribly mangled in the cruelest Evangelion death to ever be in the franchise, and the rest of ''[[End of Evangelion]]'' where Rei and Shinji trigger the Third Impact (because Rei was unsure on what to do so she asked Shinji) and everyone else's actions in the movie (Ritsuko dying, Gendo dying, Misato trying to help Shinji but failing and dying, etc. etc.).}}
*** And if somehow you still dislike her, the manga adaptation and the ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'' movies even more so tone her down into a more likable [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] [[Tsundere]], so her actions in the anime are absolved by a few more people.
* This, apparently, was the effect for some of [[Soul Eater|Mosquito's]] [[Bishonen Line]] during the Baba Yaga arc. He was dead within two chapters - interrupted transformations sequences FTW.
** This good-looking younger version of Mosquito is the one he uses to slice Death the Kid's arm off. This is an [[Evil Is Sexy]] thing, isn't it? Had he done it in his massive gorilla-insect-ish forms, people wouldn't have 'Rescued' him.
* Crow Hogan, from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's|Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds]]'', may be on his way to this. His  {{spoiler|being a signer is slowly being justified, starting with the acquisition of his Dragon,}} and in more recent episodes, he actually has been sidelined in favor of other major characters.
* [[The Napoleon|Emerald]] is generally the least-liked Dex Holder in ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', but his [[Backstory]] gave him [[The Woobie|Woobie]] status.
** White was initially bashed for [[Real Women Never Wear Dresses|not being an]] [[Action Girl]], but she's getting ''major'' sympathy points as {{spoiler|she fell out of the Nimbasa Ferris Wheel due to the shock of her Tepig, Gigi, abandoning her for N}}. It helps that she's also  {{spoiler|resolved to ''become'' an [[Action Girl]] after the incident, steadily becoming stronger as a character now that she's recovered from her [[Heroic BSOD]].}}
* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'': Sealand became a more liked character after his role in the [[Hetalia Bloodbath 2010]] strips. Additionally, Korea and Japan appear to have become less hated with the passage of time: the ugly incident regarding real-life Korean [[Moral Guardians]] is hardly ever brought up against Korea now due to it having faded away into the past, and Japan having a minor role at best in the most recent webcomic strips have put a damper on accusations of him being a [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]] or [[Relationship Sue]].
* Elizabeth Middleford of ''[[Black Butler]]'' in chapter 57.  {{spoiler|This sweet, adorable and harmless [[Damsel in Distress]] reveals herself as a [[Badass Adorable]] in Chapter 57 and confesses that she desperately wanted for her fiancé Ciel to not see her "uncute" side, and deliberately hid her badass side up until then. Even nearly at the cost of her own life. Shortly after Ciel berates her for such behavior (Prioritizing lady-manners over survival), when she is about to die while Ciel, who despite his best efforts ends up injured and unable to save her, is in danger, Elizabeth spontaneously leaps into action and stabs down the zombies using swords in both hands. While tearfully declaring that she'll protect him, even.}}
** [[Character Development|It's more than that, really.]]  {{spoiler|She lives in Victorian England, where a lady must be prim and proper; her mother Frances taught her swordsmanship since she was quite the [[Child Prodigy]] at it... which young Ciel had no idea at the time, [[No Guy Wants an Amazon|only wishing to marry sweet Elizabeth and not a savage warrior like Frances.]] Then we see her train of thoughts as she has to sacrifice so much for Ciel's safety, vowing that [[Violently Protective Girlfriend|she would become a powerful wife so she could protect him]].}} Such stuff is HUGE [[Woobie]] material.
* During her first arc in ''[[The World God Only Knows]]'', Kanon Nakagawa drew a lot of hate for being a [[Yandere]] [[Attention Whore]]. Her later role in the story shows her softer, much more likable side, and the fandom has mostly warmed up to her.
* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', Chisame was fairly unpopular early in the series for her excessively abrasive personality. Then Mahorafest rolled around and [[Character Development|developed her]] into an [[Only Sane Man]] / [[Meta Guy]] / [[Audience Surrogate]], at which point she was much more well received.
* ''Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba'' generally excels at characters who seem incredibly unlikable at first glance, yet gain the readers/watchers' approval over the course of the story:
** [[Blow You Away|Sanemi Shinazugawa]] is the series' biggest example. He was introduced as a massive [[Jerkass]] with a ''horrible'' [[Establishing Character Moment]] (stabbing and taunting [[Cute Monster Girl|Nezuko]] and trying to kill [[Big Brother Instinct|Tanjiro]] for defending her) that made him [[Hate Sink|despised]] by both [[The Hero|Tanjiro]] and the fanbase alike, which only got worse after he attacked his younger brother {{spoiler|Genya}} (who just wanted to apologize for their fallout) [[Disproportionate Retribution|just because]] {{spoiler|he joined the Demon Slayer Corps and [[Cannibalism Superpowers|eats demons]] to fight}}. Later chapters show more context over his actions and [[Big Brother Instinct|genuinely sympathetic motivations]] that make him similar to Tanjiro himself. The final battle only sealed his [[Jerkass Woobie]] status {{spoiler|by having Genya die against [[The Dragon|Upper Moon 1 Kokushibo]] in a cruel way, making his efforts [[All for Nothing]]}}, and ends up taking ''huge'' [[Took a Level in Kindness|levels in kindness]] at the end of the series, {{spoiler|apologizing to Nezuko for his previous behavior, making amends with Tanjiro off-screen, and even [[Fire-Forged Friends|befriending]] [[The Stoic|Giyu]].}}. This ''massive'' character growth led him to become a [[Ensemble Darkhorse|fan-favorite]] by many.
** [[Snake Person|Obanai Iguro]] wasn't nearly as hated, but was criticized for being a [[Flat Character|bland]] [[Jerkass]] with no heroic traits unlike the other Hashira, a fact not helped by being [[Out of Focus]]. He rescued himself in a big way in the [[Final Battle]], finally explaining his backstory and proving himself to be the best part of a battle that was considered [[Arc Fatigue|underwhelming]] by a lot of fans. {{spoiler|His [[Star-Crossed Lovers|tragic yet heartwarming]] romance with [[Rose-Haired Girl|Mitsuri]]}} only sealed the deal.
** Similar to Sanemi, [[Abusive Parents|Shinjuro Rengoku]] did ''not'' impress people by being an [[Alcoholic Parent]] who angrily dismissed his {{spoiler|recently deceased}} eldest son [[Hot-Blooded|Kyojuro]] in front of [[Hero Worshipper|Tanjiro]] and treated his youngest son [[the Woobie|Senjuro]] like shit. While the series gave him a [[Freudian Excuse]] and ended up {{spoiler|abandoning his alcoholism by finally mourning his son's death}}, it's not until he apologizes to Tanjiro via letter for their previous encounter and takes strides in improving himself, proving it in the final battle; the hate pretty much died down.

== Comic Books ==
* [[Cable]] used to symbolize everything wrong with the comics industry; now he's a fairly popular character, since he stopped being a [[Nineties Anti-Hero]] and gained more characterization than "uses huge-ass guns". It also helps that he was teamed up with one of Marvel's most popular characters, [[Deadpool]].
** An example of that [[Characterization Marches On|gained characterization]] was when the writers finally came up with a reason for him to be more proactive (aka challenging norms publicly, doing much larger-scale, more-public things) in his work than Xavier. Originally, Cable was just "the guy who gets things done because ''whiny idealism'' like Xavier's doesn't work." A big reason he shifted was because people in the real world started disliking overly violent/murderous solutions to things. A real turning point was in ''Cable and Deadpool'' where Cable admitted that his need to change things in a big way ''now'' can very much be a flaw ([[Truth in Television]] too-people who go in trying to fundamentally change a system right away are usually kicked/laughed out very fast).
* Damian Wayne, the son of [[Batman]] and Talia al-Ghul, initially came off as a [[Jerk Sue]], violent, powerful, and a [[Jerkass]]. But after he becomes the new [[Robin]] next to Dick Grayson's Batman after his father's death, many fans are surprised to find that he is becoming much more likable, thanks to some character development by [[Grant Morrison]] (his creator) and [[Paul Dini]], who have effectively made him into the [[Tsundere]] youngest member of the Bat-Family who, despite his bravado, has grown to appreciate his new family (he has more-or-less grown to accept Tim Drake ''and'' [[Batgirl 2009|Stephanie Brown]]!) and has been told that there is '''much''' he still needs to improve on. But take notice that this is still at least a work in progress, as the fanbase at large has merely decided to changed their opinion from him being near universally reviled to seeing the character as a [[Base Breaker]].
** Probably the biggest part of rescuing him from the Scrappy heap was when he started acting more his age instead of trying to pretend he was older and more mature. There's one moment in particular between him and Dick Grayson that shows how he's starting to open up more, has come to truly respect Dick, and is willing to show his vulnerabilities. It happens after Dick, Damian, and Alfred realize that Bruce really ''is'' still alive, and are exploring secret parts of Wayne Manor to find clues Bruce left for them in the past.
{{quote|'''Damian:''' If my father returns... ''we'' can't be Batman and Robin any more, can we?
'''Dick:''' No, I guess not. It's a small price to pay for getting him back alive.
'''Damian:''' What will ''I'' do? Do you think my father will let me stay on as Robin?
'''Dick:''' You honestly think he'd put up with you the way I do? ''[pause]'' ...Damian, I'm ''joking.'' }}
** This is also a reason people liked Colin Wilkes aka Abuse: Damian was interacting with someone his own age without showing massive disdain for the person. He even fist-bumped him! Given as Damian clearly was supportive of Colin being Abuse, many are hoping for his return to continue to prove Damian isn't a total prick.
* One of [[Will Eisner]]'s few mistakes with ''[[The Spirit]]'' was Ebony White, a highly stereotyped black kid who drove the Spirit's cab. ([[Fair for Its Day|Compared to the other black characters of the era, he was downright progressive]].) Darwyn Cooke's 2007 series turned Ebony into a more realistic and thought-out character (albeit still a thirteen-year-old who drives a cab, but this is a comic).
* Similarly, ''[[Blackhawk]]'''s Chop-Chop started out as a rather horrendous "Chinaman" comic-relief stereotype (even, arguably, by the standards of its time.) Subsequent eras gradually improved the character. By the '60s, Chop-Chop was recognizably human, and by the '80s, he was a competent equal member of the team in the Evanier/Spiegle run, and a worldly, sophisticated, and articulate character going by the name Weng Chan in Howard Chaykin's re-tooling of the series.
* Simon Furman goes too far with this in his ''[[Transformers]]'' comics, rescuing Grimlock from being a brute with no consistent characterization to a cunning if arrogant and temperamental warrior who cares just as deeply for his own troops as does Prime for all Autobots, and who only uses lines like "Me Grimlock" because he feels intellectuals don't get respected enough. Thankfully, he seems to have learned his lesson.
** Some people think Furman's approach to Grimlock has come right around and done the opposite with Grimlock in recent years. This could be due to him enduring a bit of [[Wolverine Publicity]].
** IDW's ''[[Transformers]]: Spotlight'' recently did this for Wheelie, not only emphasizing his survival skills to a near-[[Badass]] level (remember, the kid ''did'' used to live on a planet full of Sharkticons), but also provided a plausible reason for his constant rhyming.
** Drift was rescued from the Scrappy heap thanks to fan-favorite writer James Roberts including him in his new ongoing series, severely downplaying his brooding faction-switching swordsman tendencies in favor of playing up his trend as [[The Fundamentalist]] with his blind loyalty to the [[Mary Suetopia|Circle Of Light]] and playing with his constant habit of delivering pseudo-philosophical speeches about war and morality by making him Rodimus's speechwriter. He's even being written as being flawed and still distrusted by many (and not in a "poor Drift gets no love but he should" way), with Ultra Magnus even considering his likelihood of returning to crime "off the scales".
*** He's also become a big-time [[Deadpan Snarker]].
** Drift is a major case of a phenomenon you see a lot in comic books: a [[Mary Sue]] is hated by all but the writer, then the ''next'' writer gets his hands on the character and opinion turns around. Evidently, it takes someone who can ''step back'' and figure out where he fits and who he ''needs'' to be instead of the creator who can't get past his "I adore him, so, you must too, and I'll keep him onscreen 24/7 until you do!" feelings about [[Creator's Pet|his pet]].
* Matter-Eater Lad of the ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' started out as a total weirdo with an incredibly [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|lame power]] who was eventually written out of the storyline, first by going back to his home planet and eventually [[Alas, Poor Scrappy|going into a coma]] after saving the universe by eating a "Miracle Machine" that was warping reality. During the "[[Time Skip|Five Years Later]]" era, though, he was re-imagined with a rock-star persona ([[Cool Shades]] and all), gleefully reveling in his own absurdity.
{{quote|"All this roughhousing is giving me an appetite * CHOMP* and you don't want to give '''me''' *gulp* an appetite."}}
** In the most recent [[Continuity Reboot]] of the series, he ''[[Took a Level in Badass|bit a guy's finger off]]''.
** In [[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|the animated series]] he has the "rock star" design and gets this line:
{{quote|'''Brainiac 5''': (to restrained villain) Move anything, and he'll bite it off.
(We then get a shot of Matter-Eater Lad with a big-ass grin on his face) }}
* Layla Miller debuted in ''[[House of M]]'' as an obvious plot device, to the point that fans nicknamed her [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/285294 Layla MacGuffin]. When [[Peter David]] took her into the cast of ''[[X-Factor (comics)|X-Factor]]'', he transformed her into an [[Oracular Urchin]], [[Deadpan Snarker]], and frequent [[Creepy Child]], suddenly becoming a fan-favorite. Even after a big crossover punted her into the distant future, fan demand earned her a one-shot comic.
** [[Peter David]] also de-Scrappified the [[Incredible Hulk|Incredible Hulk's]] sidekick Rick Jones by aging him into an adult and letting him display a more [[Rounded Character|well-rounded personality]]. In fairness, the original teenaged Rick worked well as an angst-ridden kid hanging around the Hulk [[Failure Knight|out of guilt for causing Banner's curse]]; he only became [[The Scrappy]] when Marvel separated him from the Hulk and made him, implausibly, a serial sidekick to a host of other more mainstream superheroes, making him a [[Marty Stu]], (though give him points for bluntly telling [[Captain America (comics)]] to quit his [[My Greatest Failure|incessant "Bucky is dead" moaning]]). David brought Rick back to his roots. Ironically, David himself later teamed Rick with the hero Genis-Vell, but the dynamic was much the same as Rick/Hulk, since Genis was ''also'' a dangerous, psychologically unstable, very powerful character.
** [[Peter David]] seems to have the knack for this. The entire cast of ''[[X-Factor (comics)|X-Factor]]'', not just Layla, is made up of C-list and D-list characters that no one else wanted. Under [[Peter David|PAD's]] writing, they've all flourished and grown into their own.
*** Not only does he have a knack for it, he seems to have a ''preference'' for it. After he was forced to write Rahne out of X-Factor so that she could be in X-Force, he said that part of the reason he brought Shatterstar into the book was because the character was considered so terminally uncool that no one else was even considering having him in their books, and this gave him lee-way to revamp the character and play around with him without worrying that he'd get poached for another title.
* Kyle Rayner initially received a lot of hate from ''[[Green Lantern]]'' fans (mainly Hal Jordan fans) when he [[Replacement Scrappy|replaced Hal Jordan]] after the controversial ''Emerald Twilight'' arc. However, over time, Rayner was presented as a likable character, thanks to Grant Morrison's run on [[Justice League of America|JLA]]. Fans argue that Geoff Johns is trying to throw him back in with his role as the clueless whipping-boy of the Sinestro Corps.
** Once Rayner's creator, Ron Marz, got through his period of making him as unlike his predecessors as possible, he also helped temper his previously brash character quite a bit.
* In IDW's ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comics, Chuckles is being de-Scrappified as we speak.
** He wasn't much of one to start with, however. Now, if someone managed to tell a good story with ''Raptor''....
* Hard to believe, but in the early days of [[Chris Claremont]]'s epic run on [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]], a vocal group of fans wrote letters demanding that '''[[Wolverine]]''' be killed off (70s readers weren't ready for a [[Nineties Anti-Hero]], I guess). It didn't help that co-plotter and penciller Dave Cockrum didn't like Wolverine either, focusing his attentions on his [[Marty Stu|own personal creation]], Nightcrawler. When John Byrne (a Canadian) replaced Cockrum, he liked the idea of a major hero from the Great White North, and became enamored of the little runt. A [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] or two later, and an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] was born...
* The filk-rock band Ookla the Mok have a song called "Arthur Curry" about what a lame hero [[Aquaman]] is. It includes the line "Not even [[Peter David]] can make me cool."
** Except Peter David & [[Grant Morrison]] DID make him cool. And if you give his ''[[Brightest Day]]'' incarnation a chance, [[Geoff Johns]] has shown that, yes in the right hands, even [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] Aquaman can be cool. But not as much as his wife.
* [[Daken]] was widely despised by the fanbase during his initial appearances in ''[[Wolverine]] Origins'', but is starting to grow into a fan favourite after joining the [[Dark Avengers]].
* Ian Flynn's run on the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comic series has done this for a good number of characters. Some of these include turning Sonic's [[Evil Twin]], err, Evil Sonic, into a [[Took a Level in Badass|more distinctive character]] named Scourge. Most recently, he's managed to do this for the almost universally despised Monkey Khan, turning him from an obnoxious ''[[Journey to the West]]'' parody into a more well rounded, sympathetic, and [[My Greatest Failure|tragic]] character.
** He starts doing this by showing Monkey Khan being picked on by orphans. Do I sense a ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]'' reference, or is it just me?
** He also rescued Silver of the much hated ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'' by turning him into a one man [[Time Police]] who, while well meaning, is a bit of a bumbler.
* Kaine in [[Spider-Girl]]: Once he was a [[wangst]]y [[Creator's Pet|over-hyped]] [[Nineties Anti-Hero]]. Now he's a [[Deadpan Snarker|snarky]] [[Badass Grandpa]] just trying to [[The Atoner|atone]] and [[Mysterious Protector|watch out]] for [[Papa Wolf|his niece and nephew. Excuse me, nephews.]] Doesn't hurt that they gave him a new look either.
** Kaine's run as the Scarlet-Spider in the main canon is also well loved.
* The creation of the [[Marvel Adventures]] line saw a lot of characters getting a much-needed face lift, but by far, the best-received [[Retool]] was changing [[The Wasp]] into [[Marvel Adventures|Giant Girl]]. Readers that hated the former loved the latter, and readers who liked the former adored the latter even ''more''. Of all the characters who were axed when the MA: ''Avengers'' series was cancelled in favor of a continuity reboot in MA: ''Super-Heroes'', Giant Girl was the one most fans were saddest to see go.
* Superboy-Prime had, by ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Three Worlds]]'', become a [[Villain Sue]], a [[Straw Fan]], and a positively colossal [[Jerkass]]. Then, there came ''[[Blackest Night]]'', where he featured in a crazily metatextual story, became the butt of several ''massive'' [[Take That, Scrappy!]] scenes, started receiving major repercussions, and was shown being almost heroic for once - trying to save the heroes of the DCU from getting killed off in the latest event, something you'd expect from a genuine fan. Some fans have since reevaluated him. The story ends with it unclear if he'll continue down this path or backslide.
* [[Red Hulk]] was introduced by [[Jeph Loeb]] taking down one major league hero or cosmic entity after another, with no particular motivation and a secret identity that no one cared about. He used to provide the page picture for [[Villain Sue]]. Recently (and after Loeb lost control of the character) it's been explained that his [[Villain Sue]] abilities were due to a [[Deadly Upgrade]] by a group that was [[Unwitting Pawn|using him to dispose of their enemies]], then die. It's been removed, and Red Hulk is going through the process of being cathartically (to both readers and characters) beaten up by the people he trounced while in God Mode and facing up to the consequences of his actions. Commentators on his newer storyline have mentioned how it just feels ''weird'' to actually be interested in Red Hulk as a character.
** A similar rescue has taken place with the Red She-Hulk. Originally she was introduced as a generic 'sexy bad girl', complete with giant guns and a ludicrously [[Clothing Damage|ripped costume]], and a prime example of [[Jeph Loeb|Jeph Loeb's]] inability to come up with good names. Since then the firearms and the torn outfit were unceremoniously dropped, instead putting her and [[Incredible Hulk|the Hulk]] into a well-received two-person [[Love Dodecahedron|Love Quadrangle]].
* Maria Hill started off as [[Nick Fury]]'s replacement after he went into hiding, and her main character trait seemed to be "Mega Bitch", specially in regards to superheroes and she became one of the poster children for what was wrong with the Pro-Registration side during the [[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]. Then upon giving up her position to [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]], she was subsequently changed into a much more likable character, one of Tony's closest confidants and quite badass.
* [[Vixen (comics)|Vixen]], a charter member of the [[Dork Age|widely reviled Detroit-era]] [[Justice League of America]], experienced a comeback in recent years, after many years of being regulated to [[Comic Book Limbo]] and infrequent (and often non-speaking) guest spots. Many fans chalk this up to appearances on the popular ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League Unlimited]]'' animated series, as well as ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold]]''. This is even mentioned in-story at one point, with the narration pointing out that Vixen was experiencing a second wind of sorts after years of obscurity.
** It seems that, with the New52, DC is trying to put her BACK into the Scrappy heap: In [[Justice League International]], she was put into a coma at the end of the first arc.
* Rick Remender has a knack for doing this with terrible comic ideas from the 90s. [[The Punisher]] becoming a supernatural creature? A series about a heroic [[Venom (Comic Book)|Venom]]? A group of "proactive" X-Men who kill? Remender has taken these once ridiculous concepts and made them all awesome.
* ''[[Spider-Man]]'': Ever since "Spider-Island", Carlie Cooper has slowly gained more fans as Peter's ''ex''-girlfriend than she ever did while dating him. At first, she was a classic bad fanfic [[Mary Sue]] of the "perfect love for the main character ''because I say so''" type. Then she got in the hands of a writer who wasn't basing her on his own daughter, got some character traits that weren't clippings taken from Gwen or MJ, and you can actually go a panel without [[Character Shilling|everyone telling us over and over and over how perfect Carlie is for Peter]] even when they're the last characters you'd expect it from. By now, Carlie... ''almost'' makes people not see red at the mention of her name. (Her origin and the whole [[One More Day]] thing mean that'll be the best she can do for at least a few more years, though.)

== Fan Works ==
* ''[[The Hill of Swords]]'', a ''[[The Familiar of Zero]]'' fanfic by Gabriel Blessing which does this ''in spades'' for [[Tsundere|Louise]]. It has been observed by some that the vast majority of reasons for Louise's Scrappy-hood can be traced back to a combination of her low self-esteem and having an idiot of a love interest who can't stop pushing her [[Berserk Button]]s and damaging her self-image further still. Gabe's response was to replace Saito with someone who would dodge said [[Berserk Button]]s and help Louise [[Inept Mage|get her magic working]], namely [[Fate/stay night|Shirou Emiya]]. The result sees Louise getting massive amounts of [[Character Development]] and turning into an admirable young lady with Shirou's help. The story worked so well that it sparked the creation of an onslaught of fanfics following similar variations on the "Replace Saito with _____" premise.
* ''[[Sailor Moon Millenials]]'' gives [[Bratty Half-Pint|Chibi-Usa]] this treatment by having her come back from the future ''as a [[She's All Grown Up|teenager]]''. She isn't quite [[Future Badass]] levels, but the upgrade from Sailor Chibi Moon to Neo Sailor Moon has clearly [[Took a Level in Badass|done some good things for her]].
* ''[[Ultimate Sleepwalker|Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'' and ''[[Ultimate SpiderWoman: Change With the Light]]'' both deliberately emphasize this trope. Heroes and villains alike who are typically [[C-List Fodder]] in the official comics are given the spotlight, as the author very deliberately subverts the traditional pecking order of the Marvel Universe. In this universe, characters like Sleepwalker and Darkhawk take center stage away from the likes of Wolverine and the Punisher, while villains like 8-Ball, the Dreadknight, Jack O' Lantern and Firebrand are just as dangerous as the likes of the Green Goblin or Bullseye.
* ''[[Shinji and Warhammer40K]]''. When Shinji Ikari finds a [[Warhammer 40,000|strange little box]] washed up on his shore, [[Took a Level in Badass|things]] [[The Messiah|begin]] to [[Psychic Powers|change.]] [[Better Than It Sounds|Oh yes.]]
* ''[[Hunting the Unicorn]]'' does this for [[Glee|Blaine Anderson]] due to the story's [[Cerebus Retcon]] fleet. Klaine is a shallow [[Fairy Tale]] romance? The story's plot parallels '''''[[The Last Unicorn]].''''' Blaine is a [[Relationship Sue]]? With his [[Lonely Rich Kid|nonexistent]] [[Dysfunction Junction|family]] and [[Break the Cutie|incredibly damaged]] [[Heroic Self-Deprecation|self-esteem]], it's no wonder [[Love Martyr|he'd latch onto Kurt so fast]]. They're [[But Not Too Gay|too chaste?]] It turns out in Blaine's last relationship, ''{{spoiler|he tried to invoke '''[[Sex Equals Love]]'''.}} [[It Got Worse|At sixteen.]]'' [[Tear Jerker|And it didn't work.]] Essentially, Blaine is why an actual [[Relationship Sue]] would [[Deconstruction Fic|desperately need therapy]]<ref>which he's actually gotten</ref> [[The Woobie|and hugs]]. Most of the readers are already Klaine fans, but a few of them didn't like Blaine at all before reading the fic.
* The ''[[Pony POV Series]]'' does a combination of this and [[Alas, Poor Scrappy]] with {{spoiler|the ''entire G3 world''. The biggest complaint about G3 were the characters were bland and seemed to all have the same personality and stuck so close to the model it was hard to tell them apart.}} So how does the fic do this? {{spoiler|[[The End of the World as We Know It]]. Their universe begins to ''die'' because the spell used to make their world "perfect" violates the laws of magic and the laws of the universe to the point it begins to ''break'', and threaten to take the timeline with it. The only way to stop this is with a [[Cosmic Retcon]] by [[Physical God|the Alicorns and Draconequi]], essentially erasing the timeline, and its inhabitants, from existence so the timeline can be saved. As their world dies, the characters [[Take a Level In Badass]] and undergrow character growth in response to what they're faced with, becoming complex and likable characters...which makes it that much of a [[Tear Jerker]] when they ultimately fail to save their world in the end, resulting in the creation of the G4 timeline.}}
* ''[[Undocumented Features]]'', in job lots.  As one reader put it, "...''UF'' is where characters go to become awesome again after their original writers forget how to treat them right."

== Film ==
* Also about ''[[Star Wars]]'', Abel G. Pena's [[retcon]]s in [[Universe Compendium|reference books]], making even such "gems" as ''[[The Glove of Darth Vader|Kadann and the Prophets of the Dark Side]]'' seem plausible.
* A rather complicated (and completely intentional) version occurred in ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' with Edmund Pevensie. In the beginning of the series he was...[[Bratty Half-Pint|well]]...[[Jerkass|kinda]] [[Turncoat|detestable]], but by the end of the first book he made a [[Character Development|complete turn around]] and showed in later books that he had definitely changed for the better. A lot of people never ''read'' any further than the first book and so by the time ''[[The Film of the Book|Prince Caspian]]'' came out their hatred for Edmund was pretty deep seated. Needless to say, many people were completely blown away by seeing "bratty" Edmund behaving so maturely. The many [[The Chronicles of Narnia/Awesome|crowning moments of awesome]] he got probably didn't hurt, either.
* [[Peter David]] made [[Star Trek Generations|Captain Harriman]], a.k.a. the indecisive idiot who got Kirk killed, a lot more tolerable in his tie-in novel "The Captain's Daughter".
* Erickson in ''[[Saw]] VI''. In the standard year-long wait between Saw films, Erickson had become something of an in-joke with the fanbase for his ever-present bluetooth headset, as well as what was seen as his "unfortunate status" of being the last good guy still standing (and seeming to blindly play his role in [[The Chessmaster]]'s latest plan, at that). VI... changed that, and to say how without spoilers is impossible. {{spoiler|The first scene Erickson appears in in Saw VI's present timeline has him revealing that he had helped fake a fellow FBI agent's demise for the sake of effectively putting her out of harm's way, so the two of them would have the time and evidence necessary to convict Jigsaw's living apprentice. Granted, he kills both of them, but he has to [[Take a Level In Badass]] to do so, and they make him sweat heavily in the process.}}
* Although opinions of [[Michael Bay]]'s ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' series varies amongst fans, it inarguably saved the franchise from the [[Dork Age]] that was the [[Unicron Trilogy]]. It got so bad that Target was the only major chain that actually stocked toys for the first movie, as Wal-mart and the others were convinced the whole franchise was dead.
* Mark Ruffalo's portrayal of [[The Incredible Hulk|Bruce Banner]] in ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]'' made the character the film's [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]. Shortly before the film's release it was flatly stated there were no plans for any more Hulk movies; shortly after it was announced a Hulk movie may be in development for 2015 and the actor had signed on for six more films.


== Literature ==
* It seems that most readers of ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' start out hating Sansa Stark. But thanks to her [[Character Development]] over the last three books, a lot of people have started to warm up to her, and she also has plenty of die-hard converted fans - an unusual instance of a character being rescued from the Scrappy heap via [[Break the Cutie]]. It might be a case of her initial unlikable status being intentional, since the Stark kids seem to exist to give numerous different perspectives on the path to maturity. [[Coming of Age|Sansa starts as idealistic, naive, and, frankly, rather foolish, but is forcibly disabused of her innocence.]]
* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] book ''[[The Courtship of Princess Leia]]'' had an exceedingly two-dimensional, generic froth-at-the-mouth-when-things-go-wrong bad [[Villain of the Week|villain-of-the-book]]. Warlord Zsinj was also [[Fat Bastard|visibly overweight]], petty, and [[Fat Idiot|rather stupid]]. Early books in the ''[[X Wing Series]]'', set before ''Courtship'', don't show him directly, he's said to be cautious and opportunistic. A character believes he's more dangerous than the notes on his file indicate. In the [[Aaron Allston]] books he's a major character, a very smart and clever warlord who uses [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] despite knowing that plenty of the people he worked with can see through the act. He's still evil, but entertainingly and memorably so.
** In fact Zjins was stated as being perhaps the most powerful third party in the galaxy, after the Empire and the New Republic. This means he was considered more powerful than the Hutts (massive criminal empire), The Hapes Consortium (high tech amazon royalty), and Kuat (a group of planets that's essentially a MASSIVE shipyard). His biggest problem was his inability to properly administer his sector, he was a military officer not a good politician.
*** For clarity, this was more in terms of threat assessment. The Hutts and Kuat have no real military forces. The Hapes Consortium has a significant military force, but is militant over their neutrality. Zjinj was clever, has enough forces to be a valid threat, and had a goal that could make his an actual threat.
*** It also helps that several more clever and dangerous Imperial officers turned Warlords were wiped out by the Imperials or Rebels prior to Zjinj's appearance.
* According to [[Word of God]], Lily Bart of ''House Of Mirth'' was intentionally made to be as unlikeable as possible specifically so that she could be redeemed in the latter part of the novel. Readers vary as to whether or not this was successful.
* Getting [[Warrior Cats|your warrior name]] is apparently a pretty good way to be rescued—Cloudtail and Squirrelflight are both significantly less annoying than they were as apprentices. Berrynose shows that this doesn't always work, though.
** But come ''[[Warrior Cats Omen of the Stars]]'' Berrynose goes through [[Character Development]] and became much more popular.
** Millie gets this treatment in the fifth book of ''[[Warrior Cats Omen of the Stars|Omen of the Stars]]'' due to sticking up for Hollyleaf and Cinderheart as well as not obsessing over Briarlight.
** Inverted with Onestar. In the [[Warrior Cats the Original Series|first arc]] when he was Onewhisker, he was an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]. However, in ''[[Warrior Cats the New Prophecy]]'' he [[Took a Level in Jerkass|takes a level in jerkass]] after becoming Onestar and by the [[Warrior Cats Power of Three|third arc]] he became a full on scrappy.
** Also inverted with Poppyfrost who became a scrappy in the fifth book of ''Omen of the Stars'' due to obsessing over her kits.
* Apparently this was the original idea behind [[Jane Austen]]'s ''[[Emma]]''. She wrote ''Emma'' as someone who was originally unlikable and slowly redeemed her through the book. Risky literary experiment, I'll tell you that.
* Edmund and Eustace in ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' both had this effect built into their [[Character Development]], starting off obnoxious and unlikeable but turning around thanks to their experiences in Narnia, and filling much more sympathetic roles in later books.


== Live-Action TV ==
* Wesley was probably [[The Scrappy]] of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', and seemed to remain under this shadow at first when transferring over to ''[[Angel]]''. However, he quickly improved, and after a couple of seasons and a great deal of character development, he was one of the more fleshed out and well-rounded characters on the show.
** Connor, after the Wolfram Hart [[Deal with the Devil]] that Angel made, came out a much nicer, sane, laid-back fellow after having  {{spoiler|new memories and a new upbringing put in}}. Even after he {{spoiler|got his memories back}}, he still was much improved.
** Dawn on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]].'' Her very existence was a [[Cosmic Retcon]], and many felt that she was a whiny [[Damsel Scrappy]]. In the last season she loses some of her angst issues and becomes a sort of junior Watcher, helping the rest of the team in research.
* Then there's [[Creator's Pet|Wesley Crusher]] himself. During ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'s'' run, Wesley had his Pet-ness toned down at least somewhat as the show went on. Even [[Wil Wheaton]] himself relates that he insisted the writers bring the character back down to more realistic levels or he'd quit. This wasn't enough to save him, though, and he ended up being [[Put on a Bus]]. Nobody missed him.
** All of Wesley's reappearances were better than almost any episode he had a major role in during the first four seasons. One of them ("The First Duty") is generally considered to be one of the show's best episodes.
*** "The Game" is another decent example. A popular episode, Wesley manages to serve as a non-irritating protagonist (aided by Ashley Judd) and isn't even the one to [[Big Damn Heroes|save the day]].
** ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'s'' Nog annoyed viewers to no end in the early seasons of the show, but he went on to become one of its most sympathetic characters.
** Jake and Rom as well - to a certain extent, anyway. Jake grew up along with Nog and Rom became somewhat more likable when it turned out that he could do things besides screw up.
** Julian Bashir was ''intended'' to be a Scrappy eventually rescued by humanizing flaws.
* Beginning in season 4, the producers of ''[[24]]'' took great lengths to rescue Chloe from the pit of fan hatred (even earning the nickname "Jar-Jar" on one forum) that she'd fallen into after her début the previous season. She was given better makeup and wardrobe, they toned down her abrasive personality, and ultimately gave her a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] — a scene where she ''mowed down terrorist assassins with an M-16.'' It also helped that her "I do things my way and don't listen to authority" attitude, which was directed at well-liked characters like Jack in season 3, were later redirected at unsympathetic characters. More simply put, she could still be a pain in the ass, but if she is a pain in the [[Jerkass]] character's ass, driving the unsympathetic character up the wall, you love her for it.
** This was later lampshaded in the final episode of 24. In that episode, Jack actually said something along the lines of "When you first came to CTU, I never thought it was going to be you that was going to cover my back all those years." to Chloe during their final conversation. Chloe later has the final line of the series, "Shut it down" before the 24 countdown clock times out.
** Kimberly used have loads of hatred for being the [[Damsel Scrappy]] but this changed as she grew up. When this happened is debatable, though - most would argue Day 7, when she apologises to Jack for how she acted after he came back from the dead, or Day 8, when she tells him to go back to CTU regardless of whatever plans he had with her, but some say Day 3, when she was working for CTU and managed to make herself useful more often than not.
* While it may have been planned from the beginning, Jin from ''[[Lost]]'' became a far more sympathetic and likable character after the episode "In Translation", and especially in season 2.
** [[Designated Protagonist Syndrome|Jack]] was Rescued From the Scrappy Heap in season 6 when he finally embraced the new craze that everyone else on the show was trying: [[Character Development]]. But in fairness, it was a planned arc for the character: Jack endured five seasons of deliberate [[Badass Decay]] that reduced him from [[Standardized Leader]] to [[The Scrappy]] (it was truly amazing how he would see [[Character Development]] coming and ''run as fast as he could'' in the other direction), so that when he was finally Rescued, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|much awesomeness ensued]].
** While arguably more developed than Jack, Kate didn't really grow with most fans until either season 5 or 6 after she became a surrogate to Aaron and her love triangle with Jack and Sawyer lost focus.
*** However, for many fans, she never quite got rescued, even though the writers obviously tried; even in season 6 she was probably the most hated character in the show (a poll on a popular fan site showed that up to 50% of voters wanted her to die).
* When Donna Noble made her first appearance on ''[[Doctor Who]]'' in the 2006 Christmas Special, many fans were put off by the shrill, abrasive nature of the character (Given that she was played by comedian Catherine Tate, at least the British fans knew what to expect). The announcement that she would be a regular member of the cast during the 2008 season was met with mixed reaction at best. A few episodes into the season, however, she had undergone deliberate [[Character Development]], and about half of the fandom had warmed up to her and even praised the "shrill, abrasive nature" that earned Donna so much hate in her debut. As of the end of Series Four, certain fans even considered her the Best Companion Ever. Who knew?
** It was partly helped by circumstances. When Donna first appeared, that "shrill, abrasive nature" was levelled against the Doctor himself (including slapping him.) This isn't a smart thing to do around Whovians. By the time the show came around, that nature was being pointed toward the actual enemies of the series, so she probably started getting liked more when she started hating the right people.
** One of the more interesting things about this example was {{spoiler|that the other characters acknowledged that this had happened and in the end her fate worse than death was to be returned to her Scrappy-state. Some of the fans that once disliked her were instead upset that such an anti-climactic fate had befallen her.}}
** In many ways this also extended to Catherine herself, since before her return to Who she was something of a victim of typecasting in roles which had a limited appeal. Donna started out as such a character, then changed incredibly.
** Tate also picked up '''the Doctor Who Magazine's Greatest Contribution Award''' for 2008 for her performance. With twice as many votes as her nearest competitor, [[Russell T. Davies]], who had definitively proven ''[[Doctor Who]]'' was back and popular by leading it to its first #1 at the top of the weekly viewing figures in its history. If that's not proof how well the character turned around, what on Earth is?
** [[Big Finish]] [[Big Finish Doctor Who|audio appearances]] have considerably improved the reputation of the Sixth Doctor among the fan-base (they got rid of the hideous coat and gave him a blue one, for a start). To display just how ''much'' he has been rescued, it is now the case that the man who was once almost unanimously agreed by many to be the ''worst'' Doctor, now rates very highly on fan-polls, and is almost unanimously agreed by many to be the ''best'' Doctor of the [[Big Finish]] audios.
** The Sixth Doctor's companions managed to get some boosts to their reputations as well. Peri isn't as abrasive as she was in the TV stories (and her accent slips less too) and Mel seems to have been updated into a [[Badass Bookworm]] with occasional moments of both [[Action Girl]] and [[Deadpan Snarker]]. And she doesn't [[Screaming Woman|scream]] as often either.
** Similarly, the Seventh Doctor started his tenure as an annoying, over-the-top pratfalling clown with a tendency towards irritating mixed metaphors, who irritated many of the viewers. After his first season didn't go down that well, the production team decided to sober him up, taking away his more annoying quirks and adding a more mysterious, brooding depth to him. This met with widespread fan approval; however, it was arguably too late to save the series, which was cancelled after his third season. This [[Character Development]] continued in the [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures novels]], which greatly increased the character's more sober, introspective [[Anti-Hero]] nature to widespread approval (although it's also often argued that, at worst, the novels had a tendency to take it too far with the [[Darker and Edgier]] stuff, and sometimes wobbled into making the character an unlikeable [[Knight Templar]] bastard).
** Another notable example is the Eleventh Doctor, for some. At the time of [[Matt Smith]]'s casting, many fans cried out in panic that Ten was no longer going to hang around and in extreme cases threatened to stop watching the show entirely. This meant that all of Series 31/5/Fnarg was pretty much spent attempting to rescue the new incarnation for said section of the fandom. Haters that are left are generally Rose/10 Shippers or those who are too stubborn to admit that [[Stupid Sexy Flanders|Matt Smith]] might be a decent Doctor after all. Granted that happens generally when they switch actors, but the Tennant-Smith switch made quite the fuss.
*** That one's probably debatable; it could be said that Smith received the same reaction as every actor playing the Doctor has received following the previous one. It makes more sense for it to be down to the fans, convinced that [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]] and the more extreme of them going for the more intense "[[Ruined FOREVER]]" reaction. So in a sense, Matt Smith's Doctor didn't need rescuing from the Scrappy Heap because he was never a Scrappy to begin with.
*** It's worth noting that critical reaction to his performance was highly positive even immediately after [[Doctor Who/Recap/S31/E01 The Eleventh Hour|his first episode]]. If he was ever a Scrappy, he was a very short-lived one, as the only footage of him as the Doctor previously was the few moments at the end of Ten's regeneration; some fans got a bad first impression due to the [[Mood Whiplash]], and dreaded over-use of the [[Catch Phrase]] "Geronimo" (which didn't end up being said ''that'' much).
*** His scrappy status ended as soon as he wore that [[Nice Hat|Fez]]. [[Nice Hat|Fezes are cool.]]
** The most egregious Doctor Who example, Adric, seemed to manage this in the 2008 audio ''The Boy that Time Forgot'', a tribute to the character and his status within the show's history, in which he is played by 'an actor' (Andrew Sachs) as opposed to Matthew Waterhouse; before that, his larger, more active role and [[Heroic Sacrifice]] in his final story went some way to redeem him, although that falls more under [[Alas, Poor Scrappy]].
* Attempted with Lana of ''[[Smallville]],'' who [[Took a Level in Badass]] and now ''has more to her character than romantic [[Wangst]].'' However, they might've made her [[God Mode Sue|too badass]] [[Instant Expert|too quickly]] for it to be [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|believable]].
** Unfortunately, it didn't last. She had her level in badass taken away again and any good the attempt had done was instantly gone.
* ''[[Jericho]]'s'' Emily became [[The Scrappy]] very quickly, and remained so for all of Season One. Although she was now in a relationship with the hero, Season Two still made a good effort to rectify this, by giving her approximately two minutes of screentime an episode.
* When first introduced into the show, Pearl was rather unpopular among ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' fans for being a smug [[Villain Sue]] mother of the established bad guy. Once she became the main bad guy however, her character was shifted until she became more of a [[Distaff Counterpart]] of the original Doctor Forrester.
* While it might still be too early to tell, Riley from ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' seems to be redeeming herself from Scrappy status. Especially due to a recent twist and character developments {{spoiler|the revelation that Riley may be from the future showed that she actually does have a purpose other than the writers wanting to introduce a love interest for the main character.}} The die-hard John/Cameron [[Shipping|shippers]] will probably [[Die for Our Ship|never accept her]], but she's definitely not so useless as once thought.
** She got Rescued From the Scrappy Heap just in time to {{spoiler|[[Alas, Poor Scrappy|get shot by Jeese]].}}
* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]''
** Dr. Cameron was initially hard to like, but the fanbase seems to have warmed up to her (especially in comparison to her replacement on House's team, Thirteen). It was difficult to like Cameron because she usually became emotionally involved with the patients and would usually disagree with House and sometimes the rest of the team simply because whatever House had planned was immoral. She was probably planned to be sort a straight man or voice of reason, but due to the strong personalities of the other characters, especially House, she became more like a preachy, annoying character who made stupid mistakes that sometimes did more harm than good for the sake of her morals. After being replaced by the new team, she reappears occasionally but is ''much'' less irritating.
** Chase was similarly rescued - on House's team, he was an annoying suck-up with the moral fiber of soggy newspaper who had a crush on Cameron. After he got fired? Likable, funny, doesn't give a damn what House thinks, and in a stable and sweet relationship with Cameron. Rescued from the scrappy heap and [[Took a Level in Badass]].
* Say what you will about the [[Jumping the Shark|show in recent years]], but most people agree that Peter Petrelli from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' became ''much'' more likable after {{spoiler|his [[God Mode Sue]] status was undone as he was [[Brought Down to Normal]]}}, which forced him to actually use his brain and drop the [[Idiot Ball]].
** How about Hiro? Popular in volumes 1 and then deeply annoying in 3 and 4 due to his development from the first two seasons being rejected in favor of him being a childish moron again. Then redeemed in 5 due to his cancer and Charlie arcs making him more serious again and him no longer appearing in every episode.
* ''[[True Blood]]'''s Jessica quickly shed her Scrappy status after she started seeing {{spoiler|Hoyt}}, a relationship that many fans now consider the most realistic and relatable on the show..
* Used on purpose with Quinn on ''[[Glee]]''. Quinn began as a shallow, nasty, [[Ice Queen]] [[Alpha Bitch]] who was just a [[Romantic False Lead]] for Finn—the [[Official Couple]] being Finn and Rachel. Quinn was also and a spy for the [[Big Bad]], Sue. She was so unlikable that you didn't feel sorry for her when she got pregnant due to this making her a [[Straw Hypocrite]] (she's president of the celibacy club) and got the baby while cheating on her boyfriend with his best friend. Over time, however, she turned into one of the most sympathetic characters on the series, turning into a [[Fallen Princess]]. Some people still hate her but even those who despise her admit to feeling sorry for her during episode 10 when a crying and desperate Quinn begs for her bigoted parents to forgive her only for them to promptly kick her out of the house.
** Sadly, all that character development got thrown out the window when the following season Quinn leaped back onto the Scrappy Heap. All the lessons she'd learned about friendship and kindness were apparently forgotten and she went back to being a [[Jerkass]]. Then at the end of Season 2, it looked like she was mellowing out again...only to jump even deeper into the Scrappy Heap in Season 3.
* Andy on ''[[Parks and Recreation]]'', who went from [[Jerkass]] to one of the funniest characters on the show.
** Andy is practically a [[Trope Codifier]] here. When he debuted on the show, his entire purpose was to be [[Rashida Jones]]' terrible asshole idiotic selfish boyfriend whose stupidity was almost a superpower. By season 4, he'd been sanded down to wildly sympathetic complete idiot who generally ends up doing the right thing of his own accord, because he's not a bad person, just a very stupid person.
* Subverted by Izzie Stevens from ''[[Grey's Anatomy|Greys Anatomy]]'', who earned a reprieve from the Scrappy Heap in her cancer storyline, which actually saw her become a pretty sympathetic character. However, a combination of the storyline dragging on without resolution and actress Katherine Heigl's extremely obnoxious real-life behavior have catapulted her back onto the Scrappy Heap in spectacular fashion, probably for all time.
* Kelly Ball from ''[[Shameless]]''. Started life off as Kev's annoying sister. After annoying out of everyone in one episode per series (2-4), she was promoted to the main cast as Shane Maguire's boyfriend and has shed her previous image.
* Andy Bernard on ''[[The Office]]'' was introduced as a throughly dislikable sycophant with rage issues. While he's continued to be portrayed as a comically awkward character, his portrayal became more sympathetic during his engagement to Angela (who cheated on him and was otherwise emotionally abusive) and by the time he ended up a main character in the most recent series he was one of the most likable characters on the show.
* Anders and Cally in [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica'']]. Anders was disliked for distracting Starbuck from Lee, but got his own characterization arc after  {{spoiler|realising he was a Cylon}} and turning out to be more important for several reasons than it first appeared. Meanwhile, even those who liked Lee at first went off him after too much smugness when he left the armed forces. Cally replaced Boomer in the chief's affections and seemed (realistically) tough and bad-tempered. She got her own episode though just before  {{spoiler|Tory offed her.}}
* Jenny on ''[[The L Word]]'' was both [[The Scrappy]] and a [[Creator's Pet]] for most fans, but, when the writers caught onto just how disliked her character was, and brought her back as an all out unsympathetic, incompetent [[Jerkass]] director in Season Five, it actually ''boosted'' her popularity. Mia Kirshner's utterly hilarious performance with the new material made her a joy to watch. Ironically, having her go crazy - and ''acknowledging'' her craziness within the show - made fans care about her a lot more than any of the previous efforts to redeem or [[The Woobie|Woobify]] her in earlier seasons.
* Jerri Manthey from ''[[Survivor (TV series)|Survivor]].'' Everyone hated "[[Memetic Molester|Man-Eater Manthey]]" after her appearance in ''Survivor: Australia'' back when Survivor was new and it was the next greatest thing. She received similar treatment after appearing on ''Survivor: All Stars'', when she was booed out of the reunion by the audience. Her third time on the show in ''Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains'', she toned her self down, and was put next to larger than life characters like Coach and Russell Hantz who many fans did not like. She turned into the [[Plucky Girl]] and became a fan favorite near the end before being voted off at the final four. She received a loud applause at the reunion, in contrast to her reception several years prior.
** In the same season (heroes vs. villains), Coach actually became this. In Tocantins he was a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] who was a [[Creator's Pet]] hands down. However, in ''Heroes vs. Villains'', he seemed to focus more on the game itself, begun to perform well at challenges and pull his weight in the game.
*** Hilariously enough, Coach and Jerri were actually allies during that season.
* The last two seasons of ''[[Farscape]]'' had a couple examples of potential Scrappys who were rescued from the heap. Jool was initially a very annoying, shrill, and obnoxious character who underwent somewhat drastic character development over the course of the 3rd season and her brief appearance in the 4th, {{spoiler|though for reasons unknown she devolved into a sex-starved Xena clone in the miniseries}}. The changeover appeared to occur around the time she began to be given duties approximating that of medical officer.
** Sikozu, who joined in the final season, was initially dismissed as a [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]] - style replacement for Jool (even down to the red hair and obnoxious attitude), but was almost instantly rescued from the Scrappy Heap when she finally appeared on screen, most certainly around the time she let her hair down later in the first episode of Season 4.
** Noranti, the crazy old woman added in the Season 3 finale episode, was most definitely a Scrappy at first, until hidden layers to the character were revealed, and the writers scaled back the "crazy old woman" in favor of making her closer in spirit (if not necessarily in looks and behavior) to Zhaan.
* Caroline and Tyler on ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'', who in the first season were, respectively, a [[Dumb Blonde]] [[Alpha Bitch]] and a [[Jerkass]] who almost date-raped his girlfriend in the very first episode and quickly went [[Out of Focus]] for half a season. Fast-forward about 25 episodes, and the first one is a certified [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] and the second is quickly catching up, thanks to  {{spoiler|both of them becoming supernatural creatures, going through [[Character Development]] and starting a sweet relationship which some fans start to actually prefer to the [[Love Triangle]] between the leads.}}
** Though Tyler went back down once he {{spoiler|became a hybrid}}. This was made worse by the fact that {{spoiler|he was sired to Klaus}}
** Also Stefan himself was considered rescued when went through a {{spoiler|[[Face Heel Turn]]}} Now  {{spoiler|he's good again}} but still shows signs of being a [[Magnificent Bastard]].
** Matt as well in Season 3 after he takes on the role of [[Only Sane Man]].
* Judith from the second season of ''[[Joan of Arcadia]]'' started out as alternating between being annoying, a [[Jerkass]], dangerously unstable, and seeming like she was either wanting to steal Adam from Joan or Joan from Adam. But as she got to know the other characters better and they got to know her, she calmed down a bit and revealed a genuinely sweet side to herself, culminating in the perfect date between Adam and Joan which she largely orchestrated single-handedly. And then, in a [[Wham! Episode]] moment,  {{spoiler|she was murdered out of the blue}}
* Shaw from ''[[Chuck]]'' after {{spoiler|his [[Face Heel Turn]], although arguably this was a case of [[They Plotted a Perfectly Good Waste]].}}
* Jaden from ''[[Nikita (TV series)|Nikita]]'' started out as a fellow trainee alongside Alex, who took a disliking to her for no apparent reason and acted like a school bully. Then comes the episode "Girl's Best Friend," where she proves willing to work with Alex for the good of a mission, gets some [[Character Development]] with her story about killing an abusive boyfriend, and finally is set up to be a full-fledged [[Evil Counterpart]] to Alex rather than just a whiny bitch. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, she's killed off in the next episode.}}
* Carter Grayson from ''[[Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue]]'' was originally considered a bland, uninteresting character. However, over time, and with [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara's]] help, he has become a [[Memetic Badass]]. It's pointed out the big deal is that Carter isn't a martial artist but a firefighter (like most of the LR team with other specialties). In comparison to the past rangers in the "[[Milestone Celebration|Forever RED (film)]]" episode he does come across as too reliant on his weapons, but few other rangers had the same "go in guns ablazing" mentality. So Carter doesn't use the typical strategies other Rangers use but instead just [[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?|shoots at the bad guys]] or tries to [[Ramming Always Works|run them over]] with the rescue jeep.
** Rick Medina is an interesting case. Originally playing the hated Cole in ''[[Power Rangers Wild Force|Wild Force]]'', he was almost completely forgotten. Then, when Saban announced that Medina would be returning in ''[[Power Rangers Samurai|Samurai]]'', the fans almost went irate. This all changed, however, when his character [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Deker]] showed up.
** Blake Foster (Justin from ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'') is another odd case. Justin was hated for being an annoying brat. However, ever since he finished puberty, fans are much more loving of Foster, especially since he has expressed his appreciation of the fandom. Justin himself was redeemed fairly well in the ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'' [[Reunion Show]] appearance, where he comes to save the day.
** For one with a much faster turnaround, there's Alpha 6, also from ''Turbo''. He was introduced as Alpha 5's [[Totally Radical]], slightly ruder replacement. In the changeover to ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'', 6 had some emergency repairs that removed those traits and made him a straight [[Expy]] of 5, making him much more acceptable.
* Chelsea was an extremely hated character when she first appeared on ''[[Days of Our Lives]]''. She was an arrogant [[Jerkass]], rude to everyone around her (even her best friend Abby), responsible for killing her little brother, and tried to break up Bo and Hope's marriage. When she started dating [[Hollywood Nerd]] Nick, she became a much better person. She went from being the most hated character on the show to one of the more popular characters.
* Ziva on ''[[NCIS]]'' started out as a [[Replacement Scrappy]] for Kate. The writers attempted to rescue her by giving her a series of awesome talents and ninja skills and letting her perform a couple of selfless acts and save the day a few times, the most significant of which was when she helped Gibbs recover his memory in the third season finale, and it generally seemed to work. Ziva is now a pretty popular character and half of most of the fandom's [[One True Pairing|OTP]].
** The fact that she's now been in six seasons and Kate was only in two probably isn't hurting her popularity either.
* Evan from ''[[Royal Pains]]'' was [[The Scrappy]] for most of the show by being the annoying younger brother to [[The Hero|Hank]]. Evan's main concern seemed to be expanding Hank Med against [[The Medic|Hank's]] protests. Though since he started dating Paige, he's become a much more likable person, improving his character immensely.
* Haley Reinhart managed to pull herself out on Season 10 of ''[[American Idol]]''. At the beginning of the season she was criticized for her appearance adding more to her staying power than her voice. That all changed when she started to deliver stellar performances and gained a possibly insane fanbase.
* Alex on ''[[Happy Endings]]''. Many deemed her a boring, [[Mary Sue]] type character initially, but starting with the second season, the writers began to [[Character Development|flesh out her character more]], and she became the lovable [[The Ditz|ditz]] viewers have come to know.
* In ''[[The Umbrella Academy]]'' TV Series, Luther was hated in the first season for being a self-righteous yet incompetent leader, his [[Romantic Plot Tumor|derided]] [[Not Blood Siblings|incestuous]] romance with Allison and, most damningly, {{spoiler|his idiotic decision of locking [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Vanya]] up, [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|which directly led to her causing the apocalypse the siblings tried to prevent]].}} The second season fixes this by being more cooperative with his siblings, apologizing to Vanya for his previous actions, moving on from Allison, refusing to stick up for [[Abusive Parents|his father]] any longer, and being given more funny moments.

==  [[Multiple Media]] ==
* Kiina from ''[[Bionicle]]''. [[No Guy Wants an Amazon|Many fans]] disliked her brash, impatient [[Genki Girl]] personality and her tendency to shout "WOOHOO!!!" at the top of her lungs as per her portrayal in ''The Legend Reborn''. However, in more recent ''Bionicle'' media, she seems to have undergone some [[Character Development]], being more sensible and thinking before she acts, as well as displaying a more gentle side—but without being any less [[Badass]] in battle. The novelization of said movie also retroactively justified her personality therein, explaining that she actively forced herself to appear joyful, fearing that otherwise [[The Hero]] (who she hoped would save her people) would have bailed.


== Music ==
* [[Metallica]], after their [[We're Still Relevant, Dammit!]] [[Jumping the Shark|shark jumpage]] between the albums ''Load'' and the [[The Scrappy|critically despised]] ''St. Anger'', were Rescued From the Scrappy Heap when they released the album "Death Magnetic," despite its production issues, to the point where fans begged for a better remix and pirated ''[[Guitar Hero]]'' DLC versions of the songs.
** And then promptly dropped back in hard with the release of LuLu.
** They then proceeded to launch themselves right back OUT of the Scrappy Heap with their [[Continuity Porn|30th anniversary shows.]]
* [[Megadeth]] released ''Risk'' which garnered a similar hatred as Metallica's ''St. Anger'', though for different reasons; ''St Anger'' was hated for it's ghastly production quality and for the drums that made it sound like Lars Ulrich was banging on trash cans, while Risk had decent production but represented a drastic change in style. ''Risk'' was however saved by hardcore Megadeth fans who argue that if you judge the album as just an album and not as a "thrash metal" album that the songs are quite well written, evoke genuine heartfelt emotion, and are actually quite catchy.
* Swedish [[Death Metal]] band Hypocrisy has gone through several stylistic changes throughout the career and experimented with a number of different sounds. Generally, they were very well received...except for the [[Nu-metal]]ish album ''Catch 22" which was almost universally panned by their fans. As an apology of sorts to the fans, the band re-recorded the album with much better vocals, more powerful drumming, and remastered production. The re-recording was much better received by fans.
* Blaze Bayley was the [[Replacement Scrappy]] in [[Iron Maiden]], but that doesn't stop his solo career from being arguably the best received of the three singers (the guy he replace also had some success, but unlike Blaze people didn't hate his guts).
** The guy he replaced being [[Bruce Dickinson]], who had a couple of false starts but has made three albums widely regarded as classics in a row since ''Accident of Birth'', Blaze's solo career being more successful is very debatable.
* In 2005, electronic musicians [[Daft Punk]] released ''Human After All'', which was a great disappointment to critics and fans alike; the songs were criticized as being boring and tedious, particularly when compared to the vibrancy of the duo's two previous albums. Three years later, most of those same songs were performed on their live tour, ''and they are awesome.''
* After their first return in 1985, cult [[Post Punk]] group [[Wire]] drew much ire from much of their fanbase by releasing a string of poppy, overproduced records, culminating in the critical disaster that was 1991's ''Manscape''. Live, however, the songs often took on a ''very'' different character, though Wire, being the contrarians that they were, never released a proper live album from this period... Until 2010, with the inception of their "Legal Download Bootleg Series", one of the first of which was [http://pinkflag.greedbag.com/buy/21-july-1988-astoria-london-0/ an 1988 performance from the Astoria in London]. To summarise [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|the average fan reaction]]: ''[[Crowning Music of Awesome|Hot]] '''[[Crowning Music of Awesome|damn]]'''''.
** Or, somewhat earlier, their revival of various '80s numbers on their 2000 comeback tour.
* [[Deftones]] and [[Slipknot]] are the most respected bands associated with [[Nu-metal]], to the point where their fans argue that they are ''not really'' [[Nu-metal]] at all.
* James Blunt when he appeared on ''[[Top Gear]]''.
{{quote|'''James Blunt:''' Come on you little [[Precision F-Strike|****]]!}}
* To an extent, Roger Waters of [[Pink Floyd]]. His last album with the Floyd, ''The Final Cut'', was an [[Anvilicious]], dark, [[Love It or Hate It]] album and a slow seller, and he carried the [[Wangst]] and [[Control Freak]] tendencies well into his solo albums. He gained a certain amount of bad press over the lawsuits and public arguments over the rights to the name "[[Pink Floyd]]", as David Gilmour's [[Lighter and Softer]] Floyd gained success in the late 1980's and early 1990's. By the end of [[The Nineties]], his feelings over [[Pink Floyd]] and the media cooled and he started performing Floyd-like arena shows with heavy emphasis over his former band's works, to the delight of many, with full performances of [[The Dark Side of the Moon]] and later, [[The Wall]], and slowly patched things up with his old bandmates. This culminated in the Floyd's reunion show for Live 8 in 2005, and since then he has had great success and better press lately, and his full-scale performance of [[The Wall]] is a massive success.
* Whenever [[Kanye West]] releases an album it almost makes you forget that he's a douche. Almost...
* [[Christina Aguilera]] rescued herself by appearing on ''[[The Voice (TV series)|The Voice]]''.


== Professional Wrestling ==
* Here's one to blow your mind, action movie fans: when [[Dwayne Johnson|Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson]] debuted in the [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWF]] in 1996 as Rocky Maivia, his super-duper-ultra-nice-guy persona was ''hated'' by fans despite everything the [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWF]] did to put him over, due to a combination of [[Hype Aversion]] and the fact they perceived him to be a phoney (''no-one'' could be ''that'' nice). After getting injured and being off camera for a few months, he [[Face Heel Turn|came back]] as member of the [[Heel]] group The Nation of Domination. It helped that he's a genuinely charismatic, funny guy with a real gift for speaking, and once he was freed from having to be the ridiculously straight [[Face]] he could use those skills. Better yet, he became so "over" that he was [[Evil Is Cool|treated as a face by the fans]], and he would [[Heel Face Turn|become a perpetual Face]]. There's a reason that WWE's "[[WWE Smackdown|SmackDown]]!" brand (even when it was just a second show for a unified WWF) has always been named after one of his [[Catch Phrase|catch phrases]].
** And the really funny part? By most accounts [[Dwayne Johnson]] ''actually is'' as nice as the Rocky Maivia character was.
* [[ECW]]'s Tommy Dreamer began as a green suspenders-wearing pretty boy that the fans hated. ECW was starting to be known as the blue-collar hardcore promotion people know today and Tommy stuck out like a WCW reject. He gets put in a "Singapore Cane Match" where the loser gets caned by his opponent. He lost to the Sandman, who went to town on Tommy with his now famous cane. By the third strike Tommy's back was bleeding but he wouldn't stay down. After the tenth shot, he stumbled to the mic and defiantly cried, "[[Animal House|Thank you, sir. May I have ANOTHER]]?!", which he promptly got. At the end of the caning, Tommy walked over to Sandman and told him that he took Sandman's best and was still standing. It was the first step to Tommy becoming the poster boy of ECW.
* The whole concept of WWE "Divas" that emerged some time in the late '90s to early 2000s, including the "Diva Search", was reviled by many wrestling fans who, while certainly not averse to looking at beautiful women, generally preferred to see actual wrestling matches using up the shows' airtime. However, some time around 2006, these "Divas" started to become actual wrestlers instead of just eye candy, which led to a revitalization of the women's division. The most surprising example of this was Candice Michelle, who rose to fame as the model from the GoDaddy.com Superbowl commercials. Sure, they're still annoyingly called "Divas", a lot of them wrestle fairly predictable matches, the "Diva Search" still tends to be [[Filler|a waste of time]], and there are still pointless titillation matches that only serve to insult the intelligence of the male viewers, but the situation has still improved drastically. These days, almost every "Diva" also trains to be a wrestler.
* The infamous [[New World Order]] stable was in a big part, a way to rescue the boring [[Invincible Hero]] [[Hulk Hogan]] from the Scrappy Heap.
** However, the NWO eventually managed to turn the entire WCW into a giant scrappy: they changed Hogan from boring [[Invincible Hero]] to boring [[Invincible Villain]], when what they should have done was ''removed the boring and invincible bits.''
* [[John Cena]] was, for many people, way on top of the Scrappy Heap during his initial push (and subsequent first title reign), when he was booked as unstoppable. He was often booed even as a face, and the amount of heat he got on the One Night Stand PPV was brutal. Arguably it wasn't until his feud with [[Edge]] and a long series of subsequent good matches (and improved technical skills) that many internet smarks warmed up to him. On the other hand, a lot of people took a perverse pleasure in some of the more virulent anti-Cena reactions, since the people who were booing him were also fuelling a massive rise in WWE attendance during that period.
** Cena had also gone through the process once already, with his original smiling babyface character being rescued by dressing like Vanilla Ice on a Halloween show and then running with the concept. The irony is that his massive popularity in the role is largely attributable to the fickle internet fans who booed him later on.
** Cena's been [[Lampshade Hanging|doing that]] for years, almost to the point where it's part of his gimmick. It started during his feud with [[Kurt Angle]] during that first title run:
{{quote|'''Cena''': You get mad when these fans chant 'You suck.' Half the people out there think ''I'' suck.}}
** As of July 23, 2011, he's also gotten a BIG SHIFT. He's gained more of an edge and lost most of his plain vanilla straights by showing his backbone (in the sense that he wouldn't be known for kissing [[Vince McMahon]]'s ass after the end of his match with [[CM Punk]] in Money in the Bank 2011), actually calling out on Vince for all the crazy stuff that's going on, and is also more about getting a fair fight even if people try to screw things up.
* MVP was at first a Scrappy to many internet fans as well, who argued that if [[Chris Benoit]] couldn't pull a good match off him, no one could. Then he got into an inferno match with [[Kane (wrestling)|Kane]]... and not only did quite well for himself during the match, but took the match-losing burn ''on his back''. Suddenly many of those same people were all over him.
** And then those fans who hadn't been convinced by the inferno match soon rallied to his side after his Wrestlemania XXIII match against Benoit, where MVP displayed a surprising aptitude for mat wrestling he hadn't shown before. This match was a lot better than MVP's debut outing against Marty Garner at No Mercy 2006, which sparked the "if [[Chris Benoit]] couldn't pull a good match out of him" train of thought in the first place.
* When [[The Miz]] came to the WWE, he was a very annoying Diva Search host who was so bad that he was blatantly reading his lines off his arms. Most felt that he hadn't paid his dues and was only there because of his [[The Real World|Real World]] "fame". When he was put in the ring, he wasn't very good at that either. He started to show mild improvement as he got drafted to ECW, but most felt that the TV time should have gone to anyone more talented. Case in point, he was voted to be [[CM Punk]]'s challenger for the ECW title at Cyber Sunday because the [[Genre Savvy]] fans knew that Miz would never win the ECW title. His rescue would start when he and [[John Morrison]] were randomly thrown together and won the WWE Tag Team titles on their first night as a team. A few weeks later, WWE.com posted the first [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfJU4-r0tSU ''Dirt Sheet''] and [[The Miz]] and Morrison duo became a sensation almost overnight. The Dirt Sheet videos coupled with Miz's drastic improvement in the ring while tagging with [[John Morrison]] turned Miz from a [[The Scrappy|Scrappy]] to a possible future main-eventer, United States Champion, and Money in the Bank ladder match winner who ultimately cashed in said briefcase on November 22, 2010 to become [[Small Name, Big Ego|the most must-see]] '''[[It's All About Me|WWE Champion]]''' [[Small Name, Big Ego|in history]] [[Catch Phrase|because he's the Miz and he's AWESOME!]]
** [[The Miz]] and Morrison tag-team also helped out Morrison (although not to the extent it did [[The Miz]]). [[John Morrison]] was in limbo following losing the ECW title to [[CM Punk]], a run that was cut short due to an ill-timed [[Fan Nickname|Wellness Vacation]]. In addition, many fans did not buy the former Johnny Nitro as an ECW champion (this was when WWE was still considering it a "World title"), and many fans were still bitter from him being a less than stellar replacement for [[Chris Benoit]]. [[The Miz]] and Morrison team allowed Morrison to gain some much needed credibility. Now these two are looking to avert the [[Breakup Breakout]] syndrome that affects popular tag teams.
* Vickie Guerrero was brought into World Wrestling Entertainment during a feud between Chavo Guerrero and [[Rey Mysterio, Jr.]] during what was termed [[Fan Nickname|Eddiesploitation]], eventually turning heel and siding with Chavo. Fans hated her and [[X-Pac Heat|not in the way they were supposed to]] as they found her annoying. Then WWE decided to team her and Chavo up with top heel [[Edge]] in a stable known as La Familia and make her the General Manager of Smackdown. During this time, they intentionally played up her annoyingness, making her more shrill and having her loudly exclaim "Excuse me!" Because of it, she's now one of the biggest heels in the company and regularly gets what can only be described as nuclear heat.
* The now-infamous "NXT Invasion" of the June 7th, 2010 WWE RAW is notable for not just rescuing one or two wrestlers from the Scrappy Heap, but ''[[The Nexus|the entire cast of Season One]]''... redeeming weeks of mediocre TV and turning seemingly poor wrestlers or no-charisma spot monkeys into superstars with tremendous heat in mere ''minutes''.
* Michelle McCool was previously the [[Creator's Pet]] for most of 2008 and 2009 as your basic bland heel and it didn't help being wooden and robotic on the mic. Then they paired her with Layla and created "Team [[Lay Cool]]", and she became a parody of the [[Alpha Bitch]] and was involved in one of the more interesting women's feuds with Mickie James. She has a real gift for comedy and is now much more interesting to watch. Her Sueishness also took a hit when [[Beth Phoenix]] started beating her regularly.
* [[Michael Cole]]'s [[Face Heel Turn]] on WWE NXT to being essentially a Troll to the [[Smark|Internet Fanbase and Indie Fans]] has ironically gained Cole more fans in the process.
** His and Josh Matthew's [[Accentuate the Negative|recent]] [[Greek Chorus|commentary]] on the third season has been considered the '''only''' reason to watch the show.
* [[Trish Stratus]] is rightly remembered as one of the greatest female wrestlers of the last decade. But, would you believe that when she first showed up in wrestling, she was generally detested? No wrestling ability (she ''botched a catfight'' once), somehow even less charisma, and those dorky cowboy hats. And she was managing T&A - Test and Albert. Fans used to joke that her gimmick was *wears a cowboy hat*. She started breaking out of it during T&A's feud with The Dudley Boyz. First, there was the table lingerie promo. Then, she earned some credibility by getting (legit) injured by a powerbomb through a table from Bubba Ray Dudley, and rehabbing it instead of just leaving the business.
* Tyler Reks. When he debuted, he had a surfer gimmick and was generally disliked, despite being a good guy. He disappeared from TV after a few months. However, he returned about a year later, sporting a new look of wild hair, beard and a new intense personality. He immediately qualified for Team SmackDown at Bragging Rights and has remained fairly successful since.
** It doesn't hurt that he's a damn good power wrestler, and unlike a lot of WWE's heels looks genuinely intimidating. His finisher being the BURNING FREAKIN HAMMER... [[Lighter and Softer|sort of]], might have something to do with it.
* Many [[ECW]] fans had lost major respect for Mike Awesome for jumping ship to [[WCW]] while world champion, and he was greeted with massive heat at ECW One Night Stand. After an [[Incredibly Lame Pun|awesome]] match against Masato Tanaka, fans started chanting "This matches rules!" and he along with Tanaka got standing ovations. Even [[Joey Styles]], who made some [[Funny Aneurysm Moment|controversial remarks]] during the match had started to commend him.
* Recently the Bella Twins. Their gimmick had grown stale and they were going absolutely nowhere, mainly being used as arm candy for the Raw guest hosts. It started with Nikki Bella turning heel during NXT and shocked the world by revealing how good she was at it. Then she and Brie were turned fully on Raw and adopted new bitchy personalities as well as using the twin switch as a heel move. Both of them are now much more interesting because of it.
** Sadly Brie has gone the other way since her title win. It's clear that Nikki is a better wrestler than her and Brie was much better as a face.
* Similarly Melina Perez returned from her ACL injury as a loose cannon in the ring and unable to pull off the same high flying moves she did as a face. Then she was turned heel and we saw the return of the bitchy and arrogant Melina we had all loved from her MNM days. And as a heel she switched her wrestling style to more grounded submission-based moves and is much better in the ring because of it.
* Titus O'Neil in [[WWENXT]] Season 5. Known as the one in season 2 who had the worst record, tripping during the barrel challenge, and "Make it a win!", before ultimately being eliminated first; in season 5 he returned and became a dominating force who easily became the most over rookie of the season and is ahead of everyone else in the standings by a mile.
* The Hart Dynasty in early 2010 were about as bland and average as it got when it comes to generic heel teams but their angle with [[Bret Hart]] and [[Heel Face Turn]] made them go from dead crowds to standing ovations. While WWE dropped the ball by splitting them up, it did wonders for [[Natalya Neidheart]] who even got her hands on the Divas' title.
* [[Ron Killings|R-Truth]] following his heel-turn. Prior to it, he was something of a [[The Scrappy|Scrappy]] for the IWC, and only got a [[Cheap Pop]] when he did his "What's Up" Chant. After his heel turn, everyone completely 180'd on him and he now gets one of the largest responses from crowds than nearly everyone on the roster.
* The WWE Creative department at times have been more ballyhooed than ''any of the wrestlers'' and have been the scapegoat for many of the controversial and maligned storylines in the WWE. While still a source of derision, former WWE creative writer and Paul Heyman understudy Dave Lagana's ''I Want Wrestling'' podcast have helped make past writers more sympathetic in their dealing with the micromanagement of their [[Vince McMahon|equally decisive boss]] and his "gladhanding, nonsensical, douchebag yesmen", offering in-depth interviews with wrestlers, bookers and other producers and using maximizing the use of Twitter for live commentary of shows and PPVs.
* Even Sean "[[X-Pac Heat]]" Waltman can be rescued. On a few different occasions in WWF/E, he briefly overcame his heat just by finding his workrate and wrestling a good match. One was a singles match with [[Eddie Guerrero]] and one was a tag match where X Pac teamed with [[Jeff Hardy]] against two Alliance wrestlers. Later in 2011, Waltman decided to do three shows with [[CHIKARA]]. He reverted to the 1-2-3 Kid gimmick (even going so far as to shave his beard). He worked hard on all three matches. Lost his trios match although he didn't drop the fall, won a 4 way dance with Amazing Red, Obariyon, and Frightmare with a top rope X-Factor, and in his third match put over popular indy wrestler El Generico. Afterwards he claimed he'd had more fun wrestling for Chikara than he'd had wrestling in years.
* [[Sheamus]] is probably the crowning example in recent years. A passable heel whom many thought was only in the main event because [[Triple H]] liked him gradually improved in the ring over the course of the year but then he got his [[Heel Face Turn]]. Nobody could have predicted how well he could play the face role, oozing charisma and showing how athletic he was in the ring. It's translated to the crowds as well since he's gone from nearly no reactions to standing ovations. And he managed it all without any [[Badass Decay]].
* David Otunga was long disliked for his poor in-ring ability and dull personality, but more recently has been rescued by his new gimmick that plays up his real life Harvard law background and transformed him into an entertainingly slimy toady for John Laurinaitis (himself a rescued Scrappy), constantly sipping from a thermos of coffee and sport a dorky bow tie. He has also improved enough in the ring to now be passable, so he's no longer painful to watch in a match.
* Brodus Clay got his start as a dime-a-dozen monster heel on NXT and Smackdown before disappearing. Vignettes popped up around late 2011 hyping up his return, focusing on his status as a monster. Then the vignettes stopped and no sign of Brodus, eventually becoming a running gag that his debut on Raw was being held off. Fans, meanwhile, could not care less, not wanting to see Clay on television. When he did return, he was given a new gimmick as [[Pretty Fly for a White Guy|the Funkasaurus]], with a new hometown of [[Parts Unknown|Planet Funk.]] He immediately became over with the crowd as happy-go-lucky disco dancer (with two sexy female backup dancers) doing his same routine, but with added jiggling and gyrating.
* TNA Knockout Velvet Sky was a huge scrappy when she was in the Beautiful People, hated for her patchy ring skills and the fact that she was [[Ms. Fanservice]] and nothing else. Then after a [[Heel Face Turn]] she improved in the ring and it's safe to say she's one of the biggest stars they have today. She was even cheered going against miss popularity herself '''Mickie James'''.
* WWE NXT itself. It started as a competition with somewhat iffy matches and annoying, overly long challenges and was generally regarded as a poor replacement for ECW (a show/brand that was itself eventually rescued after being widely panned when it first started). Eventually most people lost interest and after Smackdown was moved to [[Syfy]] NXT lost its slot in the middle of its third season and made internet only. It got even worse during the fifth season that brought back previous contestants with the pointless stated goal of the winner getting on season 6 and seemingly having no ending; about the only bright spot was [[William Regal]] on commentary. Eventually, however, any pretense of it being competition was dropped, Regal was made the matchmaker, everyone involved in the show went all-out on cheesy soap opera stuff and previously personalityless bores managed to find new life (Johnny Curtis as a meatheaded creep who asks girls if they [[If You Know What I Mean|wanna get weird]], Maxine as the scheming femme fatale and straight (wo)man to Curtis' bizarreness, Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks as a pair of brutish oafs, etc.). It's since started garnering a bit of a cult following.


== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

=== Card Games ===
* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has had a few mechanics that have become rescued over time.
** Green as a color. Planar Chaos granted it a lot of awesome abilities, such as white's (very powerful) Disenchant spell. In Rise of the Eldrazi, it has an affinity-like ability where Khalni Hydra gets cheaper for each green creature you control.
** Defender, or not attacking. Rise of the Eldrazi gave a lot of creatures with defender that count creatures with defender.
** Big creatures. Normally they don't come out until you're dead. Shards of Alara made an exception, with Naya's "five-power matters" rule. Also, Rise of the Eldrazi again.
** Lands. You either don't have enough or have too many. Zendikar (and Worldwake and Rise of the Eldrazi) made them relevant with the landfall ability, which triggers whenever a land comes into play.
** Poison. The entire purpose of Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Besieged, and New Phyrexia. Instead of "When CARDNAME damages a player, that player gets a poison counter.", infect creatures do damage equal to their power in poison counters, making it mutable, and more deadly. Although this has caused a bit of a [[Broken Base]] in the Magic community, as there are plenty of people who absolutely ''hate'' the powerful Infect creatures running about Standard.
** Lifegain. Historically seen as weak, but lifelink creatures and equipment, and cards where lifegain is a side effect made it playable. Life payment made it useful.
* In the [[Yu-Gi-Oh (Tabletop Game)|Yu-Gi-Oh! card game]], the Elemental Heroes were hated for a long time for numerous reasons - in the [[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (anime)|anime]], because Judai's obsession with using the same monsters over and over. In the card game itself, due to the near-uselessness of the cards and the fact that they flooded ''every single set'' through almost two years. When the Yu-Gi-Oh GX manga kicked in, though, it introduced two new additions, which greatly boosted the popularity of the Archetype:
** The "[[Fan Nickname|Omni-Heroes]]", six Elemental Heroes that work by fusing any Hero with any Attribute monster, which not only managed to make them much more powerful, but allowed clever deck-building by combining multiple Archetypes.
** The "Masked Heroes", which revived a long-favorite mechanic (Fusing with a single monster, introduced with the now-banned [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Metamorphosis Metamorphosis]) and made it relevant again.

=== Roleplaying Games ===
* In the ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' universe, no faction was more Scrappy-ish than the Necrons. Personality-less, undying metal skeletons with living gods as their masters who were forced into the canon in one of the most awkward [[retcon]]s (with so many mysteries being solved with 'C'tan Did It!') since the Squats were made [[Ret-Gone]]. Their rules were even worse, going from brokenly overpowered in 3rd and 4th Edition to incredibly nerfed and underpowered in 5th Edition. Now with a fancy new coat of Mat Ward's signature 5th Edition paint, the Necrons have gone from a faceless, voiceless phalanx of overcosted metal zombies to a vast, balanced, undead empire lead by some of the craziest, most enigmatic overlords in 40K lore.
* The ''[[Pathfinder]]'' book ''Misfit Monsters Redeemed'' [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|attempts to do this]] for [[Reconstruction|ten of the corniest monsters]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons|D&D]] history. (Including the infamous [[Our Monsters Are Weird|flumph]], no less.)
** Half-Elfs and Half-Orcs in 3.5 were some of the worst race options a player could pick (outside of Diplomacy maximizing for Half-Elfs), with only some minor boosts to skills and immunity to sleep effects that high level characters are immune to anyways (Half Elfs) or the only race feature to make up for their unbalanced racial modifers<ref>a net -2 with the norm +0</ref> being Darkvision, which other races have anyways (Half-Orc) compared to a Human's bonus feat and extra skill points. In Pathfinder both races get to pick +2 to any atribute with no penalties. Half-Elfs can pick any Skill Focus or Weapon Proficiency feat for free,<ref>neither all that great on their own, but common requirements for worthwhile things</ref> can pick two favored classes and have the best Bard and Summoner favored class alterentives. Half-Orcs have actual racial features and a decent range of alternate features to customize themself with.


== Video Games ==
* Sometimes this can happen entirely without conscious effort on the creators' part, due to the fickle minds of fans. Take Nero from ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4'' for example; When it was first revealed that he and not series lead Dante would be the protagonist for the installment in question, the [[Internet Backdraft]] was frightening as disgruntled fans decried him for [[Replacement Scrappy|aspiring to Dante's position]]. Then subsequent trailers came out, dropping [[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|Moments of Awesome]] for Nero, and hate gave way to... like? The additional cool feats he pulled off in the full game endeared him even more to fans. Although both Dante and Credo dramatically [[Overshadowed by Awesome|overshadow him in awesome]]. The [[DmC: Devil May Cry|DmC version of Dante]] taking over the scrappy title doesn't hurt either.
* Hope Estheim from ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]''. Fans hated him because of his constant [[Wangst]] over the death of his mother. However, he began to mature, [[Took a Level in Badass|stopped panicking over everything]], and {{spoiler|buried the hatchet with Snow after confronting him}}.
** Similarly, most people warmed up to Vanille after her mask broke in chapter 8.
** Every character in the game is made to appear extremely unlikeable in the first part of the game, but they slowly reveal their much greater depth as the plot progresses in the second half.
* Similarly, Frost from ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance]]'' got massive [[Internet Backdraft]] to the point where fans said that she would '[[Ruined FOREVER|ruin Mortal Kombat]]'. After the game was released, however, she was much better received.
** [[Mortal Kombat 3|Kurtis Stryker]], ''the'' original Scrappy in the [[Mortal Kombat|MKverse]], got a new design in ''[[Mortal Kombat Armageddon|Armageddon]]'', which was well-received. But the real rescuing for him came with ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]'', where he gets a [[Genre Savvy]] personality, an even cooler outfit, and an overall better design.
** ''MK9'' did this to ''anyone'' from [[Mortal Kombat (video game)|the]] [[Mortal Kombat 2|original]] [[Mortal Kombat 3|trilogy]] who hadn't escaped this label by the time of ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deception|Deception]]'' and ''Armageddon''. It may just be the [[Nostalgia Filter]] speaking, but most fans were ecstatic to see the old cast return. It didn't hurt the improved storytelling fleshed out many an obscure character and several of them [[Took a Level in Badass|had been level grinding since we last saw them]]. [[The Scrappy|The only exceptions]] ([[Broken Base|depending on who you ask]]) would be Sindel (for {{spoiler|[[Hero-Killer|killing]] [[Anyone Can Die|most of]] [[Kill'Em All|the heroes]] [[Wham! Episode|in the]] [[Diabolus Ex Machina|penultimate chapter]]}}; in her defense, {{spoiler|[[Brainwashed and Crazy|she had no]] [[And I Must Scream|control of her actions]]}}) and Shao Kahn (for being a [[Complete Monster]] and--[[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|more importantly]]—a [[SNK Boss]] like no other).
*** Raiden is now seen as this by much of the fandom due to his [[What an Idiot!|idiotic moments throughout the story]].
* [[Spoony Bard|Deekin]], in ''[[Neverwinter Nights]] Shadows of Undrentide'', was generally obnoxious. Hordes of the Underdark did a much better job with him by giving him some generally humorous dialogue ("Drows be fatty. Gots it.") and his big [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] in the endgame.
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' does this at times. This is rather important, given that nearly every [[NPC]] ally you get tends to start out yelling "[[The Scrappy|Puppy Power]]!" and [[Leeroy Jenkins|diving headfirst into groups of powerful enemies]]. The most notable case is probably Penelope Yin, who starts as a combination of [[The Ditz]] and [[Creator's Pet]] with bits of [[Faux Action Girl]] for flavor, a psychic with vast but [[Informed Ability|non-combat]] powers and the interest of several different major factions of the game. Thankfully, by the next time you run into her, she's a useful in-combat ally, with slightly more reasonable chat text. She still makes mistakes, but it's a bit more reasonable. Fusionette, on the other hand...
** Recently, the game developers have gained a knack for doing this to [[That One Level|Scrappy ''Levels'']]. Faultline was once deserted, being insanely hard to navigate and having no point whatsoever, but was completely transformed into a far more tolerable zone with an engaging storyline (and featuring the aforementioned Penelope Yin, along with a few other [[The Scrappy|Scrappy]] NPC 'helpers'...). The Rikti Crash Site's rescue was even more successful, turning another wasteland into the cross-faction, action-filled Rikti War Zone brimming with well-written storylines and features for high-level players. The Hollows received some minor touching-up as well, turning the brutal proving ground into something slightly more tolerable. The other [[That One Level|Scrappy Levels]] such as Perez Park, Boomtown and especially the Shadow Shard are still in dire need of this treatment though.
** Fusionette, in fact, is an interesting case of it being attempted but not working out as well as intended. Her boyfriend, Faultline, shows up as a combat [[NPC]], but his Stone/Stone powerset means that he gets some of the best defensive powers in the game, essentially making his role as a Tank plausible and effective. Poor Fusionette, an Energy/Energy [[Squishy Wizard]] Blaster, draws lots of enemy fire that she's utterly incapable of dealing with, especially compared to PCs of the same level.
*** Fusionette comes into her own as an extra damage dealer in solo play or small teams, especially if a "support" PC keeps her healthy and buffed. Other NPCs that are useless to large competent teams and tend to die quickly unless an active effort is keep them alive and powered up include Daedalus and Imperious from the Imperious Task Force, and (in a rather disconcerting example of [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]]) the entire Freedom Phalanx during the Mender Silos Task Force. Which makes their "help" something of an [[Escort Mission]].
*** [http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/General_Z General Aarons], the absolute squishiest and most hyper-aggressive alleged ally in the game. Not helped by the fact that he's mainly found in missions against the Sky Raiders and usually locks onto their teleporting minions and lieutenants and chases them through several rooms and spawns, usually getting himself killed and causing you to fail the mission because part of your objective is to keep him alive. He can be vastly more hated than even Fusionette. At least she can do some damage. The General? He fires one bullet and then rushes into melee to hit the enemies with the butt of his gun.
* Several [[NPC]]s who were something of [[The Scrappy]] in the first ''[[Baldur's Gate|Baldurs Gate]]'' become more tolerable or even acceptable in its sequel (for example, Quayle, rather than being a near-useless party member, turns out to have matured considerably in becoming an NPC). Other characters who were tolerable or acceptable become awesome ({{spoiler|Jaheira's}} reaction to finding the butchered body of {{spoiler|Khalid}} is notably heart-rending).
** Also, in ''[[Baldur's Gate|Baldurs Gate]] II'' you got Anomen. He starts with a self-righteous, Holier Than Thou attitude that makes him annoying at best and insufferable at worse. After you complete his personal quest in the right way he gets '''much''' better. If you finish the wrong way, however...
** Another BG2 example: Aerie, the obscenely sweet and naive winged elf, is generally reviled throughout the game by most of the player base. However, in the expansion, she [[Took a Level in Badass|takes a level in badass]] and becomes much more likable in the process. In any event, if you can get past her needy personality and her [[Squishy Wizard|having the lowest HP of any of your party members]], her class combo (cleric/mage) makes her one of the most useful characters in the game.
* Some ''[[Super Mario Bros.|Super Mario Bros]]'' fans began warming up to Waluigi after, well... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6CLfZl0m88 This.] He is one of the strongest assist trophies in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]: Brawl''.
** ''[[Brawl in the Family]]'' also helped Waluigi gain fans.
** Bowser, Jr. was hated by a lot of fans for replacing ''all seven'' of the Koopalings after ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]''. After Junior ''and'' his seven siblings came together in ''[[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]'', it turns out there's room for the whole darn family after all.
* As a comic relief character in a fairly dark and serious game, Jansen Friedh of ''[[Lost Odyssey]]'' seemed doomed to [[The Scrappy]] heap at first glance. Fortunately, in the English dub, at least, his voice actor's naturalistic performance and improvisation managed to rescue him, transforming what could have been an irritating sidekick into a genuinely funny and sympathetic character. That he received quite a bit of [[Character Development]] along the way, particularly once he {{spoiler|fell in love with an immortal queen}}, also helped.
* People hated Raiden of ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' for [[Replacement Scrappy|replacing Snake]] as the protagonist and for his annoying tendencies. The fourth game, however, shows that, when you get right down to it, he is not someone you want to screw with.
** Unfortunately, some still saw Raiden as being [[The Scrappy]] in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]''. With a lot of [[Wangst]], plenty of [[God Mode Sue]] and a touch of [[Deus Ex Machina]], it was possible to see him as being as firmly stuck in the Scrappy Heap as ever.
** Raiden's girlfriend, Rosemary, also became a bit more palatable for certain fans in ''Guns of the Patriots''. The fact that in said game talking to her is almost entirely optional (as opposed to MGS2 when you had to put up with her every time you wanted to ''save'') probably helped.
** In the first ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' game, Natasha was nothing more than [[Author Avatar|a way for Hideo Kojima]] to [[Author Tract|blatantly tell you that]] [[Anvilicious|nukes suck]]. The second game gave us ''In The Darkness Of Shadow Moses'', a novel [[Show Within a Show|supposedly written by her]] showing the whole first game from her perspective. It gave her interesting [[Backstory]], gave her motivations and a personality, and then [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|threw her into the abyss.]] Dammit.
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'':b
** Some fangirls have shifted to a more favorable opinion on Kairi due to the shift in [[She's All Grown Up|appearance]] and [[Plucky Girl|personality]] from ''[[Kingdom Hearts (video game)|Kingdom Hearts]]'' to ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]''. The fact that she {{spoiler|receives a keyblade}} either [[Broken Base|increases or decreases this status.]]
** Xion of ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days]]'' was rightly suspected of being a [[Copy Cat Sue]]. And she is. {{spoiler|A [[Deconstructed Trope]], [[Ax Crazy|emotionally unstable]], genuinely deep and enjoyable one.}} Add a copious helping of {{spoiler|[[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]}} and voila: a fairly popular character whose only truly vitrolic haters are whiny [[Yaoi Fangirl|Axel/Roxas]] [[Die for Our Ship|shippers]].
* This arguably happened to Axl when he [[Shut UP, Hannibal|interrupted]] Lumine's [[Not So Different]] [[Hannibal Lecture|speech]] [[Talk to the Fist|with a judicious amount of gunfire]] in ''[[Mega Man X]] 8''.
** It also helped the ''X8'' cleaned up Axl's gameplay, making him easier to use than in ''X7''.
** Alia seems to have gotten this as well. Somewhere between [[Fan Service Pack|becoming hot]], [[Optional Party Member|pulling out]] [[Took a Level in Badass|her own]] [[Arm Cannon|buster]], and having her [[Exposition Fairy|statements of the obvious]] turned down, the cries for her to [[Stop Helping Me!]] seem to have subsided.
* Beowulf from ''[[Fire Emblem]]: [[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' was once known as a universally hated character for lying and cheating on Lachesis, people think he's a big liar and philanderer. But suddenly, it's revealed that Lachesis was still in love with her brother Eltoshan and may have had an affair with Finn in Thracia 776. Thus, fan reaction towards him has softened ever since (those who are pissed with him are probably going on his mediocre stats, and his 'stupid grin').
** In turn, however, fans started ragging on Lachesis as "one slutty princess". Still, she has yet to be completely pushed to the Scrappy Heap thanks to her sympathetic [[Character Development]] and [[Game Breaker]] status.
* As unpleasable as the [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] [[Fan Dumb|fandom]] is, some are starting to warm up to [[The Ditz|Big the Cat]] after ''[[Sonic Chronicles]]'' where his stupidity was funny rather than irritating.
{{quote|"Ice Cream!" (everyone stares in silence.)}}
** ''Chronicles'' also toned back Amy Rose from [[Stalker with a Crush]] to a more tolerable [[Clingy Jealous Girl]], and polished Rouge into a [[Deadpan Snarker]] par excellence. Say what you will about the gameplay and plot, but Bioware did a magnificent job with the characters.
** In spite of its other flaws, ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'' managed to make [[Base Breaker|Shadow the Hedgehog]] more bearable for some of his previous haters. Since [[Shadow the Hedgehog|the previous game]] saw him reach the end of his [[Quest for Identity]] and resolve to put the past behind him, this game saw Shadow greatly cut down on the angsting and replace it with stoic badassery.
*** From a purely technical perspective, his gameplay is probably the least broken out of the three main heroes.
*** It may also help that he kicks the ''new'' scrappy of the game, Silver, [[Take That, Scrappy!|in the head]].
** ''[[Sonic Generations]]'' seems to be causing the fanbase to finally warm up to Silver the Hedgehog. Considering Sega gave him a new voice actor, made him less of a whiny [[Jerkass]], and made his boss battle enjoyable, it's a big step up from [[Most Annoying Sound|"IT'S NO USE!"]]
* [[World of Warcraft|The Cataclysm]] expansion's entire ''raison d'etre'' is to rescue the most hated zones in the game from the Scrappy heap, by nuking them and building new quests around picking up the wreckage. (As this is ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', at least one quest will actually be about picking up wreckage.)
** In a more conventional sense, Varian Wrynn gains a bit more sympathy after he {{spoiler|allows the grieving Varok Saurfang to cradle the body of his dead son}} in Icecrown Citadel, showing that despite his earlier rage against the Horde, he remains an honorable, empathetic man.
** Happens to Garrosh in Cataclysm. He {{spoiler|publicly executes a Horde general that bombed an Alliance village full of innocent people (by dropping him off a cliff), and tells Sylvanas off for using the val'kyr to raise more Forsaken, saying she is going against nature and is no better than the Lich King.}}
* A non-character example is the knife in the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' series. It used to take up an inventory space, and did minimal damage. Even if you had a rare position of attacking a zombie from an elevated position, it would take many slashes to take it down. So players would consign it to the nearest chest ASAP. But in ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'', it does a lot more damage, ''and'' could aim just like the other weapons. Suddenly, the knife is one of the most valuable weapons. If it guaranteed a stun with every slash to the face, some players wouldn't even use guns (except for when they had no choice). Making matters better, it no longer took any inventory space whatsoever!
** In the second fight against Krauser, the knife is one of the best weapons. The guy is ''kinda'' [[Made of Iron]], but goes down very, very fast with the knife, faster than any other gun you'd have available at the time.
*** But the earlier [[Press X to Not Die]] knife fight was a big clue for this.
*** In the fight with Krauser, this strategy seems to work entirely on [[Rule of Cool]], as the way to figure out by yourself it is a good strategy would be to be Badass enough to take on Krauser on a knife fight. A reason for the knife working better than guns here is that he moves towards you while dodging bullets moving left or right pretty damn fast, but the knife, being a horizontal attack, manages to hit him pretty well when close enough.
** It probably doesn't hurt that the enemies feel pain in 4 without being made-of-muscle, badass, bio0weapons.
** The knife is quite effective in ''[[Resident Evil Code: Veronica]]'', especially since ammunition is somewhat scarce in the early game and a downward hit can inflict major damage on a zombie by hitting more than once. [[That One Level|It doesn't make Wesker's Battle Game any easier, though.]]
* In ''[[Super Robot Wars Z]]'', they manage this with most of the ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny]]'' [[Adaptation Distillation|characters and story]]. Shinn Asuka is less [[Wangst|whiny]] and [[Jerkass|mean]], Stellar Lousier gains some credible intelligence and is more than just a mentally impaired girl, they toned down the "Jesus" and philosophies in Kira "[[God Mode Sue|Jesus]]" Yamato, {{spoiler|Neo Roanoke doesn't just turn into Mu La Flaga out of whim and forget his past life}}, and Gilbert Durandal becomes a respectable villain and still makes sense.
* While virtually no fans of ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' games ever hated Roll, due to her being seen as the cute, benevolent face of what robotics ''could have'' been, and thus, part of what you're fighting for as the hero, in the ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom]]'' games she was something of a [[Tier-Induced Scrappy]]—in fact fans jokingly gave her her own tier because none of the other tiers were thought to be bad enough. In ''[[Tatsunoko vs. Capcom]]'', she definitely [[Took a Level in Badass]] with some rather devastating combos, many of which end with her ferociously slamming her mop into downed opponents' groins.
* ''[[Castlevania Judgment]]'' received all kinds of flack ever since it was announced, from reports of terrible controls to [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|heavy bashing of the new artstyle]]. Now that the game is out, the general consensus is that it's a pretty good Wii fighting game with awesome music... among some of the fans, anyway. [[Reviews Are the Gospel|The game critics]] still don't like it.
* ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'', which had a similar cold reception, won its way out by repeatedly leaking details to set the [[And the Fandom Rejoiced/Video Games|Fans Rejoicing]].
* ''[[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years]]'' not only pulled [[Spoony Bard|Edward]] out of the Scrappy Heap, but polished him up, and [[Took a Level in Badass|gave him a set of steel cajones]] before setting him out in the world. See the [[Final Fantasy/Awesome|CMoA page]] for details on his newfound [[badass]]ery.
** His rescue came even earlier: The DS remake of ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' gave him genuinely useful abilities, pleasing design, and a good voice actor.
** And before that, the GBA remake increased the chances of status effects with his attacks, to where he became a legitimate powerhouse.
* ''[[Pokémon]]'' examples: 
**''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]'' made major changes to the metagame (namely, that attacks are determined to be "physical" or "special" on an individual basis instead of by their type), and in the process caused many Pokémon who were previously laughably bad to become invaluable players.
*** Said move typing split debuted in ''[[Pokémon Colosseum|Pokémon XD]]'' with the Shadow moves introduced in that game, so the franchise started pulling itself out of the heap as a result of that. The split went mainstream in Gen IV.
** Gen IV actually saved a ''[[Elemental Powers|type]]'': [[Green Thumb|Grass]] was inferior to [[Shock and Awe|Electric]] when it came to defeating [[Making a Splash|Water]]-typed Pokémon, due to its poor selection of attacks. Many of them had low base damage, or had high damage but had some limitation (a turn of charge-up, guaranteed to [[Standard Status Effects|Confuse]] your own Pokémon after use, or was only available to one 'mon). Electric had no such problem, thanks to the widespread availability of Thunderbolt. Grass' other selling point, it's ability to hit [[Dishing Out Dirt|Rock- and Ground]]-type Pokémon was undercut by the aforementioned Water type doing the exact same thing plus the fact that any [[Player Versus Environment]] team has a Water type so that they can travel across seas and rivers with Surf. Gen IV added [[Boring but Practical|more reliable]] attacks such as Energy Ball, Seed Bomb, and made Leaf Blade non-exclusive to Sceptile. There's still the overlap when it comes to fighting Rock and Ground types, but at least now Grass can reliably deal good damage to [[Poor Predictable Rock|Crasher Wake's, Misty's, and Cress']] lineups. It get even more saved in gen V, with the introduction of several good grass type such as Ferrothorn, who sports awesome defensive stats, good entry hazards and support movepool, and decent attack stats.
** While gen IV brings it to spotlight, it is not fully save until Gen V saves ''yet another'' type: [[Big Creepy-Crawlies|Bug]]. In previous generations "new Bug types" usually meant "[[Crutch Character|early-game bugs]], usually early evolving as well, whose stats just plain sucked". Also, half of them were Bug/Flying, a typing weak to many attacks. The only ones that were playable were Scyther/Scizor, Yanmega, Nincada family, Heracross and Pineco/Forretress. Gen IV, despite giving Stealth Rock that hinders Bugs, started to save them by giving an instant switch move in U-Turn, which means they can play scouting role while dealing awesome damage, Bug Buzz, which is a good special move for bugs, alongside buffing many bug types, most notably Scizor and its [[That One Attack|infamous Bullet Punch]]. Then Gen V came around and introduced ''eighteen'' bugs. All of them with great stats. Not a single one evolves early. None of them Bug/Flying.
*** Scolipede is [[Lightning Bruiser|very fast]] and is able to learn ''Earthquake'' and ''Rock Slide''.
*** Galvantula gets STAB Thunder with ''much better'' accuracy thanks to Compoundeyes.
*** Durant has very high attack power with its Hustle ability, albeit with a little less accuracy, and can be taught Hone Claws, which boosts Accuracy ''and'' Attack, as well as Rock Slide. It's Bug/Steel too, which means that it has only ''one'' weakness.
*** Volcarona has the awesome [[Status Buff|Quiver]] [[Game Breaker|Dance]] (boosts Special Attack, Special Defense AND Speed) and a strong STAB signature move which boosts its Special Attack half the time. It was so strong, that people considered using it worth the effort despite the four times stealth rock weakness, which previously only achieved by [[Olympus Mons|Ho-Oh]].
*** And then we have Genesect, honor of being the first Bug-type legendary ever (not counting Insect-plate Arceus). It's also Bug/Steel, which means that it has only ''one'' weakness.
** With each new generation, there's new evolutions for preexisting [[mon]]s, as well as new moves and abilities. Previously average, forgettable Pokémon become [[TV Tropes Made of Win Archive|awesome]] after getting a new evolution (Kingdra, Magnezone, Scizor, Steelix, Porygon-Z, Togekiss, the list goes on and on), new ability (Gengar's and Weezing's Levitate, Machamp's No Guard, etc.), or new move (Focus Punch, Stone Edge, Volt Tackle, Energy Ball, Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, Close Combat...).
** Speaking of ''Pokémon'', if [[Vindicated by History|time]] and the quality of the Pokémon games didn't rescue Pikachu from the Scrappy Heap, teaming up with [[Metroid|Samus Aran]] against Ridley in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'''s Subspace Emmisary mode certainly did.
*** In-universe, Game Freak managed to make their [[Tastes Like Diabetes|obnoxiously cute]] mascot ''worth using'' in competitive play, thanks to a little item called the Light Ball, a passive ability that can paralyze anyone who touches him, and a little move called Volt Tackle. They even made it possible to get members of the Pikachu family with ''Surf'' or ''Fly'' (via Pokéwalker).
** This seems to be happening to the [[Pokémon Black and White|Generation V]] water starter, Oshawott (or [[Fan Nickname|"Wotter"]]), long before Black and White are even out. When first revealed, Oshawott was largely considered inferior to the other two new starters, and was often bashed even without the comparison. Cue someone creating a comic of a [[The Woobie|poor, cute Oshawott being sad about not getting picked by anyone]], and some speculation that its evolutions may be [[Crazy Awesome|samurai sea otters]]. A lot of people are reconsidering their coming choice of a starter now.
*** Oh, and the samurai sea-otters? [[I Knew It!|IT HAPPENED!]]
** ''[[Pokémon Sword and Shield]]'':
*** Corsola was one of many Pokemon time forgot, with stats that render it slow, passive, not bulky enough to really be used defensively, and with a typing with far too many weaknesses for its own good -- it only really got attention for how it was the prey of the far more popular Toxapex in Gen 7. Galarian Corsola has found its fortune thanks for an advantageous change to Ghost-typing in a game where Knock Off's distribution has been reduced, a movepool other utility Pokemon would kill for, and gaining an evolution (Cursola) allows it to make use of Eviolite, giving it the kick to its defenses it needs.
*** Also, Farfetch’d. This Pokemon has always been a [[Joke Character]] at best and a burden at worst. Galarian Farfetch’d, however, is a vastly improved version. First it's Normal/Fighting making it somewhat better than the old Normal/Flying version without one decent move in either type. More importantly, it can now evolve into Sirfetch'd. Not only does this new form look totally awesome (the expression in its eyes practically says, "Come one step closer and you'll get this sword where the sun don't shine") it has more than twice the base ATK of Farfetch'd, can learn some decent moves like Brick Break and Brave Bird, and is the only known Pokemon able to learn Meteor Assault, a Fighting version of Hyper Beam. It's not a ''perfect'' Pokemon, but it's at least usable now.
* In an odd example, the [[Play Station 3]] recently went through this after a disastrous launch where one of the most anticipated new consoles in gaming history became [[The Scrappy|hated by the entire internet]]- due to being [[Crack is Cheaper|incredibly expensive]], being openly described as a 'Trojan Horse' for the [[Blu-Ray]] format which few gamers were interested in (and was blamed for the high price), having very few quality games (and several poor quality games getting [[8.8|inflated reviews]]), the downright bizarre antics of Ken Kutagari, [[Dada Ad|crazy ads]] and being overshadowed by the cheaper, better selling and innovating [[Nintendo]] [[Wii]]. People trying to defend it usually only made the problem worse. But...
** With the [[Hype Backlash]] having died down, and a fair amount of quality games being available for the system, Sony seems to have been pulling off a successful rebranding, with the new PlayStation Slim (countering the accusations of the original being oversized) having a much more subdued ad campaign ("It only does everything.").
** Too bad in April 2011 the [[Play Station 3]]'s network infrastructure was [[wikipedia:PlayStation Network outage|compromised by hackers]], who stole boatloads of personal information, and forced Sony to shut down the entire network. Sony was widely ridiculed for its poor security encryption, and for taking nearly a week to address the problem. The Playstation Network was down for at least 3 weeks, drawing the ire of gamers and politicians everywhere. Whether this incident would send the PS3 back to the scrappy heap remain to be seen.
* In ''[[Jak II Renegade]]'' the Hellcat was clunky, slow, and generally a piece of crap. ''[[Jak 3]]'' fixed it, upping its firepower, and making it essential for [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|taking down the KG War Factory]].
* [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Butz/Bartz]], the protagonist from ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'', isn't really all that bad...he's just dull. To make it worse, his main adversary Exdeath is - well, [[When Trees Attack|a tree]]. Then ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' came along and made him into an actually likable character, with a design that found balance somehow between his forgettable sprite and his somewhat... odd [[Yoshitaka Amano|Amano]] design. Even his blandness and lack of character angst compared to the other heroes get mocked properly. Plus, dual wielding the two most badass weapons in the whole series? Who wouldn't be loved after doing that?
** Exdeath was likewise lifted from being a bland, forgettable [[Tin Tyrant]] [[Complete Monster]] [[Evil Overlord]] into THE [[Large Ham]] [[When Trees Attack|Tree]] [[Barrier Warrior]] [[Narm Charm|obsessed with the Void]] by ''Dissidia''.
** Just before that, Exdeath had a great cameo in ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' as a summon (alongside the main villains from ''[[Final Fantasy I]]'' through ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]''!). His name is re-translated as Exodus, getting him is a genuinely enjoyable puzzle, and the whole tree thing looks downright cool.
** Bartz was more [[Overshadowed by Awesome]] than anything. Consider this game has  {{spoiler|A character fighting alone at '''0 HP'''}}, and introduced us to [[Braggart Boss|Gilgamesh]], and it's clear that it's not his fault at all for the general lack of attention.
* [[Thanos]] in ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 2]]'' was one of the lowest ranking characters in the game. Recently however, more players have been experimenting with him and finding some useful combos.
** [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]] of all people from [[Marvel vs. Capcom 3|the sequel]] is ranked pretty low on the tier list, but many fans can forgive this because of his incredible [[Large Ham]] tendencies and his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lk2fJK_JvE&t=1m46s Mighty Speech], a taunt so powerful that [[Mundane Made Awesome|thine hyper meter recharges with every syllable of its divine power!]]
* Rochelle in ''[[Left 4 Dead 2]]'' is shaping up to be this based on the promo trailer for The Passing DLC. Everyone hates her because she isn't witty or talkative as the guys and the fact that she is not another Zoey. However, in the trailer, Rochelle meets Francis and starts talking about things she hates, which makes Francis happy, and then she goes and insults his vest. The amount of people suddenly liking Rochelle based on this scene alone is astounding.
** Add to the fact they gave her some genuinely funny interactions with both her team and the surviving originals throughout the Passing, and a lot of fans who used to hate her have started to like her.
*** Ironically, despite what happened in the trailer, in the actual campaign she tells Francis she ''likes'' his vest - which seems to endear her to him even more.
*** She seems to say this playfully and not mean it, since Francis tries to compliment her on her Depeche Mode shirt but mispronounces it. The conversation in the trailer does come up from time to time when she's the one to talk to Francis.
* ''[[Age of Conan]]: Hyborian Adventures'' had the ambition of becoming the next king of MMORPGS (as evidenced by the sumptuous launch party) but, after a good start upon release in 2008, it failed to deliver the promise and fell on a host of problems that quickly reduced the number of players; high system specs required to play didn't help. Some of the people involved with the game resigned, and many started to compare it with the equally ambitious and failing [[Warhammer Online]]. Funcom, however, didn't give up and, shedding the original ambitions of going head-to-head with [[World of Warcraft]], worked hard to fix the problems and took several initiatives to attract old and new players. Today, ''[[Age of Conan]]'' has a solid userbase of some hundred-thousands, and has happily entered 2010 with the release of the ''Rise of the Godslayer'' expansion.
* Time will tell if ''[[Star Trek Online]]'' will rise from the ashes of mediocrity to become a solid MMORPG.
** With the return of some key staff to make some much-needed improvements, giving the Borg and the Undine (Species 8472) back much of their badass cred, making the Klingons from a planet of hats into a brutal, but cosmopolitan and socially complex empire, combined with the game now going free-to-play without making the subscribers feel gypped, it's a pretty safe bet it has. It does the impossible of making the events of some of the worst moments in Trek history have lasting and realistic repercussions (the radiation cloud from Shinzon's ship 'sploding in Nemesis remains a threat to nearby systems even 20 years later that you need to investigate).
* When ''[[Punch-Out!!]]'' for the Wii was in development, the revelation of many members of the lineup announced made classic (read: NES) gamers [[Squee]]. Glass Joe, Von Kaiser, King Hippo, Bald Bull, Don Flamenco... old-school favorites brought to glorious 3D. Then the developers revealed Aran Ryan, and those few who remembered him from ''Super Punch Out'' had to ask 'Why?', especially when they'd even included the more colorful Bear Hugger. Then players realized that Ryan had gone from a bland, straightforward boxer with no personality to speak of to ''a complete and utter maniac'' who cackled madly with every punch...yours ''or'' his. The fact that his new moves could only be described as [[Combat Pragmatist|"blatant and insane cheating"]] certainly didn't hurt either. Complaints faded quickly after that and Ryan has gone on to become a surprising favorite in certain fan circles.
* Ultimecia from ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', early on regarded as a bland [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]], managed to be rescued from the scrappy heap by [[Fridge Brilliance]] as people came to better understand the game's [[Mind Screw]] story. ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' in particular gave her a more direct presence compared to the background role in her original game, [[Mind Screwdriver|making her motives more clear]].
** ''Dissidia'' also gave her [[Time Stands Still]] powers, which she uses [[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|ZA]] [[Memetic Mutation|WARUDO]] style.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', Yuffie is something of a [[Base Breaker]], and Cait Sith is damn near unanimously reviled by everyone who's played the game. In ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' and ''[[Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children]]'', Yuffie's [[She's All Grown Up|new look]] and less selfish personality that she had developed by the end of the original game went a long way towards winning over her detractors, and Cait Sith lost his [[Head Pet|oversized Moogle ride]] and became the [[The Pollyanna|one bright spot]] in the markedly grim [[Dirge of Cerberus]].
* Used within ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages|The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages]]'' by Ralph, who starts as a rival NPC more interested in [[Always Save the Girl|saving the girl]] than in the [[Grand Theft Me|body-snatching]] evil witch trying to wreak havoc via [[Time Travel]], and is [[Stop Helping Me!|completely dismissive of and insulting to Link]]. By the end credits, he's [[Character Development|learned that he needs to protect his country]], become a [[Royals Who Actually Do Something|Royal Who Actually Does Something]] ([[Curb Stomp Battle|or at least tries]]), and is taking swordsmanship lessons from Link.
* Zeke in the first ''[[Infamous (video game series)|In Famous]]'' game was a bit of a [[Jerkass]] who [[Most Annoying Sound|would not stop calling and insulting you]] and constantly put himself in danger because he was jealous of Cole's super powers.  {{spoiler|His betrayal in the game's last quarter didn't help either.}} In the sequel though he undergoes some serious [[Character Development]] and becomes much more helpful and sympathetic, building various [[Gadgeteer Genius|devices]] for Cole and being [[Mission Control|essential to progressing through the game]].
* Carver Hawke in ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' spent the entire first act [[The Resenter|constantly bitter]] of their [[Always Someone Better|older sibling]] being before being [[Put on a Bus]] after joining  {{spoiler|the Templars}} or the  {{spoiler|Grey Wardens.}} Even the companions in-universe found Hawke's little brother to be an annoying presence for his constant complaining. After the release of the DLC ''Legacy'', fans were pleasantly surprised that suddenly Carver [[The Bus Came Back|returned]] with a ton of character development, new-found maturity and self-depreciation  {{spoiler|(particularly if he became a Warden)}}.
* 343 Guilty Spark gets one of these in ''[[Halo (series)|Halo]] Anniversary'' if you look at the terminals.
* When James Vega of ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' was first revealed, many people complain about him because of [[Delinquent Hair|his design]], [[Replacement Scrappy|the desire of old characters as party members]], and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|being a human]]. Nowadays, people actually find him likable thanks to a well rounded personality and being [[Hidden Depths|more than he seems]]. There is even a small group of people wishing he was a love interest.
** Khalisah Bint Sinan Al-Jilani, once the [[Butt Monkey|butt of many jokes about being punched in the face]]. In ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' however, many people found a new level of respect for her provided if you do either the Paragon interrupt or only the first Renegade interrupt.
** Javik got [[Tainted by the Preview]] for being day-one DLC and worries that a Prothean would be unable to relate to other characters. Then everyone discovered his snarky personality, interesting backstory, and general badassery. He quickly became one of the most beloved characters.
** [[Ass in Ambassador|Udina]], of all people, actually gets some degree of rescuing. Where in previous games he seemed like an unrepentant [[Jerkass]], his behavior is toned down quite a bit and he becomes more helpful in his desperate desire to get aid for Earth. Even {{spoiler|the attempted coup}} has a legitimate reason behind it, and he comes across as almost sympathetic.
* Brine Cave rescued Chatot from this pile in ''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers''.
* [[Tales of the Abyss]] seems to this with every member of party. Not that every character begins as the Scrappy, but because of the vastly different characters, chances are at least one will annoy you. Then they get rescued in a way that's neither ham-fisted character development or retcon.
** Luke begins as a spoiled-rotten, irresponsible, sheltered prick who doesn't even TRY to improve himself, then you find out  {{spoiler|he's only seven years old, and after a few events the guilt he feels from his actions guides every single thing he does afterwards.}}
** Guy can be bland and a seem a bit unnecessary compared to the personal stake the other party members have in the plot.  {{spoiler|Then you find out that he spent years infiltrating House Fabre and plotting to kill Luke, only to turn away from not only that entire mindset, but also his former retainer, Van.}}
** Tear can be stubborn and single-minded in her need to kill Van without so much as "deigning" to tell the other party members why this is so.  {{spoiler|She's so on edge about it because Van's plan actually has some merits, oh and he's more of a surrogate father to her than a brother.}}
** Jade is condescending and aloof.  {{spoiler|He also probably has more self-loathing and contempt for who he used to be than possibly any other Tales character.}}
** Anise is the obligatory annoying kid who insists on being the Annoyance Supreme.  {{spoiler|That's because she's a adolescent spy who's parents are being held hostage and who's charge, who she adores, is a clone that she ends up killing.}}
** Natalia is probably the most likely to be considered the Scrappy since she is as sheltered as Luke, but also casually lords her position over others and orders Guy about.  {{spoiler|Then you find out she's practically the soft-touch of the King's rule and as helped set-up social institutions, like a hospital. Kinda need those. Wasn't even retconned either as before the scene it's brought up in, random npc's in Baticul will mention her efforts.}}
* The [[Batman]]: [[Batman: Arkham Asylum|Arkham Series]], especially ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]'', has done wonders for many of Batman's foes, primarily for non-comic readers. Villains who were seldom taken seriously or not well-known have had their popularity boosted by these games. The Penguin as a [[Fat Bastard]] and dangerous psychopath who tortures cops with glee, the Riddler using ''[[Saw]]'' style traps that are [[Nightmare Fuel]] incarnate, Calendar Man telling creepy stories on different holidays about murders he committed on said holiday, and the list goes on.
* The [[Persona]] franchise has a notorious example in [[Persona 3]]'s Ken Amada. The Portable version gives him a social link, solving his lack of focus ([[Shotacon]] elements notwithstanding), ''Persona Q'' has him striking a friendship with [[Persona 4|Kanji]] {{spoiler|and nearly abandoning his revenge plan before having his memories erased}}, becoming a [[Bishonen]] in ''Persona 4 Arena Ultimax'', and the film version has him befriending Shinjiro, which makes the reveal that {{spoiler|he was his mother's accidental murderer}} a lot more tragic instead of him being [[Unintentionally Unsympathetic]]. He only got more rescued in a [[Vindicated by History]] way (similar to [[Devil May Cry|Nero]] above) when ''Persona 5'' introduced {{spoiler|[[Sixth Ranger Traitor|Goro Akechi]], who could be considered Ken's [[Evil Counterpart]] and who proved to be far, ''far'' more [[Unintentionally Unsympathetic]] than Ken ever was, retroactively highlighting Ken's positive qualities by comparison}}. While there's people who'll never let October 4th down, he's nowhere near the scrappy he used to be nowadays, with many becoming fans of the character.

== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' turns Jar Jar Binks into a likable character...by making him the imaginative product (and character) of a nine-year-old girl playing an RPG. Sadly, by their own admission, they may be throwing R2-D2 onto [[The Scrappy]] heap in his stead (making him the character of an annoying [[Munchkin]]).
** A FanEdit of Episode I titled ''Balance of the Force'' vastly improves Jar Jar by redubbing his dialogue in an alien language and subtitled to make him into a [[Deadpan Snarker]] [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]].
** ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars|Star Wars the Clone Wars]]'' is hard at work with this, upplaying his slapstick [[Butt Monkey]] nature and downplaying his everything else.
* An in-story example of this can be found in ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', where one of the marks of Roy's [[Character Development]] is how his feelings change about the [[Spoony Bard]] Elan: originally, he thinks of him as an annoying, worthless member of the party, but eventually, he considers him a true friend (at least to the "will rescue him from a gang of bandits" level). It helps that Elan himself learns to make himself more useful.
** In the Empire of Blood storyline, Elan has become the main character, with everyone else taking a backseat.
* Chris Hazelton, author of ''[[Misfile]]'', lampshades fan reaction to the comic's resident Scrappy, Missi's, rescue from the heap in [http://www.misfile.com/?page=1016 this strip].
** She's still getting in the way of Ash and Emily's relationship, so [[Die for Our Ship|she's not out of the woods yet]].
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20110103080229/http://www.misfile.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/4_Concrete_Dreamscape_2_0.pdf This] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110103082649/http://www.misfile.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/5_Electric_Dreams_2_0.pdf fanfiction] does the same for Jenny the Second.
* Mike from ''[[Something*Positive]]''. While still quite prone to forays into dumbass territory, he has become a much wiser, more mature, and more decent person than he was in his first appearance. He has handled the pressures of being a family man with amazingly few missteps, and he was depicted as dealing with a stint working fast food with surprising grace. When you consider that most of the strip's antagonistic characters either stay antagonistic or [[It Got Worse|sink to new lows]], his evolution as a character is remarkable.
** Similarly, Kharisma, whose self-absorption, vanity, and contempt for others had her squarely in the scrappy zone from her first appearance. She's [[Break the Haughty|suffered quite a bit since then]], but in the process she's gained quite a lot of sympathy from the readers. As [https://web.archive.org/web/20111006063657/http://somethingpositive.net/swst06142011.shtml the author put it:] "I have to say I'm surprised by how many people actually look forward to Kharisma strips and more stunned it's not to see her suffer."
* Marigold from ''[[Questionable Content]]'' . During her first appearances she was [[Acceptable Target|your stereotypical otaku/ gamer nerd]]: far less attractive than any other character, a virgin, ridiculously slobby, a stereotypical [[Yaoi Fangirl]] with bad skin and [[No Social Skills]]. The first story arc she was used in involved her lusting after a guy who wanted another girl (one of the main characters) instead, and was written in such a clumsy way that implied [[Unfortunate Implications|otaku/geek-girls are untouchable]]. She still ends up as the [[Butt Monkey]] a lot and the [[Pair the Spares|the implied beginnings of a relationship with Dale, who she has no real chemistry with]] is a little annoying. Lately, she's become a lot more likable (and less offensive), with her appearance being updated ( [[Art Evolution|or to be more accurate, "completely changed"]]), quickly getting over her crush after she learns it wasn't viable and being less mopey and self-obsessed than most of other main characters.
* Lyonel from ''[[Samurai Princess]]'' was introduced in such a way ( {{spoiler|Giving a well liked character a [[Traumatic Haircut]]}}) that he was doomed from the start. He is now becoming a more likable and enjoyable character.


== Web Original ==
* Happens from time to time in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', usually because of [[Character Development]] and/or [[Characterization Marches On]]. The most classic example would be v1's Nanami Nishida who was universally considered annoying by most handlers when she was alive. Sometime after her death, though, handlers started to realize [[The Woobie|just how much her life sucked]]. Likewise, in v4 Liz Polanski and Raidon Naoko had many handlers skeptical when their profiles first came up (the former being a [[Broken Bird]] drug dealer, the latter being a Japanese immigrant whose father was a member of the [[Yakuza]]). Once they ''officially'' made their first appearances on the island and turned out to be a [[Crazy Awesome]] [[Trickster Archetype]] and [[Anti-Villain]] [[The Philosopher|Philosopher]] respectively, however, many handlers changed their minds and adored them. There are countless other examples that it's impossible to name them all.
* In Sim Brother Network's "Sim Big Brother USA", Maya. Week 2, she gets in a huge physical fight with Shantel and becomes disliked. Only reason people voted to evict Shantel over her? Because Maya would make drama. However, Alex and Nicola became the new antagonists as they broke Duncan's Heart and rubbed it in his face after a night of drinking. When Duncan was near the [[Despair Event Horizon]], Maya said that what [[Even Evil Has Standards|Alex and Nicola did was despicable]] and was there for Duncan, especially after Big Brother asked her to. She then proceeded to become a "hero" for the rest of the season with Duncan as [[The Woobie]] and finished in second.
** Nicola likewise didn't exactly realize what she did to Duncan until she was evicted, and upon seeing the footage of Duncan near the [[Despair Event Horizon]], said [[My God, What Have I Done?]]


== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League Unlimited]]''
** One episode took a bunch of [[Captain Ethnic]]s (two of which were also Scrappies) from the ''[[Superfriends]]'' cartoon, retooled them, and made some of them legitimately badass. Yes, even [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|the one that used to turn into a bucket of water]] and [[Took a Level in Badass]]: "Form of -- ''T Rex''!" "Form of -- tidal wave!" Downpour also showed how [[Green Lantern Ring|few limits]] his power had by becoming a legitimately deadly threat by simply turning into "Water." and surrounding a guy so that he ''could not breathe''. When the team was running berserk, Downpour tried to the same thing to ''[[Shooting Superman|Aquaman]]'', and didn't get very far.
{{quote|'''Aquaman:''' King of the seas, remember?}}
** Arthur Curry/Aquaman was rescued from his own ''[[Superfriends]]'' stigma to become a blond haired viking-looking [[Badass]] [[Anti-Hero]] who [[Justice League (animation)/Awesome|chopped off his own hand to save himself]] [[And Your Little Dog, Too|and his infant son]] from his [[Cain and Abel|evil brother's]] Deathtrap. He replaced it with a wicked-looking grappling hook, which only managed to make him look like even ''more'' of a badass. It also helps that he became quite the [[Deadpan Snarker]], even lampshading his own ability to communicate with marine life.
*** This actually began with [[Peter David]]'s work on Aquaman in the late nineties, though the JLU origin for the hook hand was far more cool.
*** ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' continues the Descrappification process by depicting him as a [[Large Ham]] and a [[Boisterous Bruiser]]. "Outrageous!!!"
*** Better yet, they gave him a little dash of Adam West, with his calling Atom "[[Stealth Pun|Chum]]" constantly...
** And then, both of them meet when the one in the form of a tidal wave slams into Aquaman and he just ''stands there.''
{{quote|"King of the seas, remember?"}}
** [http://i44.tinypic.com/oshgfp.jpg HOW DO YA LIKE ME NOW!?]
* Kite Man has often been considered the lamest of the lamest of [[Batman]]'s rogue's gallery; his lame "power" was the ability to hang-glide very well, and after appearing in three stories as an antagonist, he seemed to become a "professional cameo character" appearing in the background whenever a large group of villains were one place. But to everyone's shock, the ''[[Harley Quinn]]'' cartoon (where he becomes Poison Ivy's boyfriend, then lover, then ''fiancee'', no less) made him a three dimensional character with actual depth. While he's still a [[Joke Character]] and something of an [[Iron Woobie]], he's finally managed to gain some respect among fans.
* ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' did this with the Aqualad mantle by replacing Garth, a character widely mocked for having the same "useless" powers as Aquaman and wearing ridiculous short-shorts, with Kaldur'ahm, an Atlantean child soldier who can create weaponry from water and generate powerful electrical blasts.
** Even moreso for Sportsmaster, a Z-list supervillain from [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]] [[Adaptational Badass|who gets reimagined]] as a [[Badass Normal]] mercenary.
*** The show in general has a habit of turning various villains into rightous [[Adaptational Badass|badasses]], even those who were pretty good before. Mister Twister was suddenly a huge threat, and Clayface (not an unpopular villain before) became downright fucking ''[[Nightmare Fuel|terrifying]]''.
* Speaking of Scrappy-Doo, they tried to change him during the "All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo" and the "New Scooby-Doo Mysteries": "Scrappy is now even more matured, and softened down from before, having a much bigger sense of danger. He will even back down if a monster growls loud enough, and can even be seen shivering in fear and crying for help; unthinkable in his earlier life. He is now the 'new Freddy', solving the mystery with Daphne, while Shaggy and Scooby return to their prior role as the comedy relief who only keep the ghosts busy while Scrappy and Daphne find the clues." He was also okay in ''[[The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo]]''; though mostly from having [[Ethnic Scrappy|Flim Flam]] pick up the slack (and he later got rescued as well). That said, he never got completely rescued until 2023 when the [[So Bad It's Horrible|universally despised]] ''Velma'' series aired, ''finally'' getting rid of the title of worst character in the franchise, with that title going for that series' title character. As if that wasn't enough, {{spoiler|him appearing in the second season and [[Take That, Scrappy!|killing said titular character]]}} had his popularity ''skyrocket'' overnight, becoming something of a [[Memetic Badass]].
** Daphne herself went from a [[Damsel Scrappy]] to one of the coolest characters over the years.
*** ''Aloha, Scooby Doo'' is practically a manifesto on rescuing Daphne from the Scrappy Heap. She dons a [[Bare Your Midriff|midriff-baring]] version of her traditional outfit - when she isn't just wearing a bikini - and the plot hinges on the world-class [http://www.southseascinema.org/Toon%20Images/Aloha%20Scooby%20Doo%20Daphne%20surfing%202%20crop.jpg surfing abilities] you probably didn't know she had (it's not like it would have come up often).
*** And in ''Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword'', she demonstrates some fine martial-arts skills, only losing a fight with [[Action Girl]] Miyumi after [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty|having her hairband pulled down over her eyes]].
*** And now in ''[[Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated|Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated]]'', she gets to temporarily join the Hex Girls and sing an [[Crowning Music of Awesome|incredibly badass goth rock song]], "Trap Of Love". [[Character Development]] is a beautiful thing.
* Gwendolyn "Gwen" Tennyson of ''[[Ben 10]]'' was [[Base Breaker|polarizing]], with opinions varying from "obnoxious [[Mary Sue]] who just annoys Ben" to "[[Only Sane Man|The only one with any sense or responsibility]]". However, after the [[Time Skip]] for ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]]'', she's much more soft-spoken and Ben isn't doing nearly enough crap for her to complain about, which was enough to satisfy plenty of her haters, [[Broken Base|while the people who liked her beforehand now hate her.]]
** Similarly, Ben's canon love interest Julie Yamamoto was initially hated by fans for being considered as a [[Shallow Love Interest]] who had been created just for the sake of giving Ben a girlfriend, having no real personality or interesting power and being considered as a [[Replacement Scrappy]] for Ben's crush in the original series, Kai Green (despite Kai appearing in only one episode of the original show and not being that popular). As the series went on however, Julie [[Took a Level in Badass]] by gaining a Galvanic Mecamorph pet named Ship who could turn into a ship and later a [[Powered Armor]] for her, and eventually learnt how to fight. Now she still has some haters, but also some fans, and most of her haters tend to be those shipping [[Ho Yay|Bevin]] (Ben/Kevin) or [[Kissing Cousins|Bwen]] (Ben/Gwen).
* Dil and Kimi, despite being loathed Scrappies in ''[[Rugrats]]'', were actually quite liked when they became preteens in ''[[All Grown Up!]]''. Although some argue that Kimi's personality took a [[Little Miss Snarker|turn for the worse]].
* Enzo Matrix from ''[[ReBoot]]'' started off as an obnoxious, trouble-making [[Bratty Half-Pint]], then got caught in something simultaneously a [[Time Skip]] and [[Plot-Relevant Age-Up]], and changed into a gun-wielding, renegade bad-ass [[The Lancer|lancer]] type between one season and the next.
** On the flip side, some Bootniks, especially the older ones, found ''Matrix'' to be the undesirable one due to his unexpected one-eighty and excessive angst.
*** And then young Enzo was brought back, so you had both Enzo and Matrix. Everyone is happy! Or everyone is unhappy...?
* In ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'', human sidekick [http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Spike_Witwicky Spike] was considerably more tolerable (and [[Mr. Fanservice|attractive]]) after the [[Time Skip]] in the movie (he even got to say 'shit!').
* The creators of ''[[Family Guy]]'' are currently trying to do this with Brian, seeing how he had devolved into a self-possessed, arrogant schmuck who the writers simply would not allow to be wrong about ''anything'', no matter what. Quagmire's [[Take That]] rant against Brian isn't considered a [[Family Guy/Awesome|Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for nothing. They've been toning down Brian a bit lately and seem to be trying to make him more sympathetic and return to his original role on the show: the voice of reason, yet not overly political.
** A really weird example with Meg. Early on in the show she was NOT a very well-liked character and was just an "average teenage girl" and didn't really do a lot of interesting things. The creators of the show took this and decided to make her a [[Butt Monkey]], since people already disliked the character and it would give her more of a place and identity on the show. Ironically, the [[Butt Monkey]] status has really saved her with some of the fans: now people feel SORRY for her, and they cheer every time the creators give her some moments of happiness, like getting a good boyfriend or getting revenge on someone who was mean to her.
* Spyke from ''[[X-Men: Evolution|X-Men Evolution]]'' was changed from an underdeveloped [[Totally Radical]] [[Token Minority|Token Black Guy]] with powers that were unintentionally similar to an existing X-Man to a maturing [[Badass]] hero for the downtrodden Morlocks with cartilage armor and the ability to light his spikes on fire. Many Spyke detractors liked the change but unlike [[X-23]], [[Canon Foreigner|it wasn't enough to get him in the comic]]. He did have a counterpart in the third movie, but he was a villain.
** Spyke ''did'' appear in the comics as a member of the X-Force (which later became X-Statix)...although as [[Canon Immigrant|canon immigrants]] go, this wasn't a very good one; Comic Spike was a beefy, arrogant adult instead of a wiry, carefree teenager. They didn't even have the same real name...but the inspiration, at least, was clear.
* Two Words: American Godzilla. The [[Godzilla: The Series|cartoon spin-off]] helped garner fans that originally hated the monster in the first place. It also helps that he [[Took a Level in Badass|started to ACT like his Japanese counterpart as well.]]
** His appearance in ''Final Wars'' also helped, where he acted like a true kaiju and decimated Sydney, Australia by himself.
*** It ALSO counted as a [[Take That, Scrappy!]]. Once the "real" Big G showed up in Sydney, Zilla came charging in like a maniac for what looked like would be a battle of a [[Lightning Bruiser]] vs. [[Mighty Glacier]]. Nope; Godzilla smacks his CGI counterpart away with his tail - taking out the Opera House at the same time - and with one big Atomic Breath attack annihilates him. At least it was funny!
* A controversial example would be [[The Simpsons (animation)|Lisa Simpson]]. Some have always loved her, while others think she became a scrappy in later seasons, once she turned from [[The Smart Guy]] into a [[Soapbox Sadie]]. For the latter group, the show's last three seasons should seem like a good example of this trope. Starting from season 19, the show has had an unwritten ban on stories where Lisa gets involved in politics, in favor of returning her to her roots as a socially isolated smart girl.
* Courtney from ''[[Total Drama Island]]'' seemed to be undergoing this early in Season 3, after she was changed into a [[Villain Sue]]/ [[Jerk Sue]]/ [[God Mode Sue]] in Season 2. That changes in the later half, but she arguably has a more justified reason, and still isn't as bad due to lacking her previous [[Mary Sue]] tendencies, becoming a pawn when she falls for Alejandro.
** Owen was more of a [[Base Breaker]] than a true Scrappy, but season 3 puts emphasis on his positive traits: getting an actually funny sub-plot of being afraid of flying, both negatively and positively contributing to his team and, most importantly, his [[Odd Friendship]] with [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Noah]] and his [[Tear Jerker|breakup with Izzy.]] {{spoiler|Cemented in the Swedish episode, where he ''uses himself as a cannonball to help his team win''!}}
** [[Stalker with a Crush|Sierra]] has always been and remains a [[Base Breaker]], but even many detractors will admit that she's more tolerable in the last few episodes of season three, when some quick and long-needed [[Character Development]] has her finally realize that she should treat [[Cool Loser|Cody]] more like [[Better as Friends|a friend]] than a prize to be won.
* ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars|Star Wars the Clone Wars]]''
** Ahsoka Tano. It's generally been accepted that she started to get better as a character in Season 2 once they pulled back from having her in nearly every episode and had her start growing past her initial bratty behavior. As of Season 3 and [[A Day in the Limelight|several episodes]] later, it's safe to say Ahsoka has become a good example of a character being rescued from the Scrappy Heap, to the point she's now a ''huge'' [[Ensemble Darkhorse|fan-favorite]]. The good blood Ashley Eckstein has built up in the fanbase thanks to Her Universe probably helped a little too.
*** Unfortunately, Ahsoka would start losing the goodwill she had built up thanks to perceived favoritism from her creator, Dave Filoni, which has led to her showing up all over the place in Disney's EU. Even then however, she's more of a [[Base Breaker]] than an outright [[Scrappy]] since she's still a likable and sympathetic character.
** Anakin is liked a lot more here than he is in the movies. While Hayden Christensen isn't a bad actor by any means, he was held back by [[Narm|Narmy]] dialogue and even Narmier directing, which made him come off as a petulant whiner saddled with the unfortunate nickname of "Mannequin Skywalker". Thanks to benefiting from better writing and directing here, Matt Lanter helps him come across as the charismatic, yet troubled hero that he was meant to be. He's also ''terrifying'' when he dabbles in the Dark Side of the Force.
** They made ''Jar Jar Binks'' tolerable (and also gave him [[The Beast Master|a useful ability]])! One thing that helped here was they showed how [[Take That, Scrappy!|other characters were annoyed by him]], and how [[The Friend Nobody Likes|even his friends like Padme often are humoring him]]. Also, only one episode had him being ridiculously clumsy. And instead of inexplicably taking out tanks, like in Episode I, it just enabled him to dodge insanely well which, added to his cloak, made the [[Too Dumb to Live]] mooks assume he was a Jedi. He then used the fact that they thought he was a Jedi to ''trick'' them. That's right. Jar-Jar pulled one over on the bad guys!
*** One story arc had him form a buddy cop duo with ''[[The Stoic|Mace freaking Windu]]'' of all characters, and they play off each other far better than you'd ever expect. Instead of being an annoyance, Jar Jar is genuinely ''funny'' thanks to his chemistry with the [[Comically Serious]] Windu.
* The LGM from ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' went from annoying gag characters to {{spoiler|[[Big Damn Heroes]] when they rescued the gang from the incinerator.}}
* Bucky Buenaventura spent the first season of ''[[The Zeta Project]]'' as an insufferable little borderline sociopath. He reappears in Season 2 with a flattering redesign, a new voice actor, a reasonable grasp of common sense and friendship, and a mild (and hilarious) crush on Ro, but keeps the mad hacking skills and snarky dialogue. The overall result takes him from horrendous brat to surprisingly likable [[The Lancer|lancer]].
* Sandy Cheeks of ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' began as a somewhat grating [[God Mode Sue]] and near [[Purity Sue|incorruptible]] [[Only Sane Man]] for the other far more flawed cast members. Following the second season however, the show began to [[Lampshade Hanging]] Sandy's somewhat excessive talents and also [[Character Development|develop]] [[Cloudcuckoolander|some]] [[Small Name, Big Ego|valid]] [[Large Ham|flaws]] for the character (episodes such as "Pressure" and "SpongeBob, Sandy and the Worm" seemed to focus largely how Sandy ''wasn't'' good at everything). Ironically she is arguably the one main character in the newer episodes that hasn't had her [[Jerkass|callous]] or [[Too Dumb to Live|idiotic]] habits heavily [[Flanderization|Flanderized]], almost making her a single rescuee of the show's ever-growing Scrappy Heap.
** Speaking of which, every character got back to their pre-movie selves in Season 9 after their infamous [[Flanderization]] in seasons 6-8.
* Nabu from ''[[Winx Club]]'' wasn't a very popular character when he was first introduced in season 3. Understandable, seeing as he was introduced late into that season, didn't get much [[Character Development]] and it was pretty obvious that he was [[Shallow Love Interest|just there to give Layla a love interest]]. He didn't even appear in the first movie apart from a brief cameo appearance at the very end. Season 4 gave him some more [[Character Development]] and some chances to show off his awesome magical fighting skills, which quickly helped make him a lot more popular. There's also Roxy, who was introduced in that season. At first the fans were a bit skeptical to her as they felt a seventh fairy wasn't necessary, but as the season progressed the fans seemed to warm up to her as she became more confident with being a fairy.
* Cubert from ''[[Futurama]]'' lost his oft-annoying skepticism at the end of his debut episode.
** Notably the creators had intended him as a ''parody'' of annoying characters (particularly [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Wesley Crusher]]), so even that episode had plenty of [[Take That, Scrappy!]] moments.
* [[Great Gazoo|Bat-Mite]] in ''[[The New Adventures of Batman]]'' was generally hated. In ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'', he provides a lot of humor to make up for it.
* [[Ant-Man]] and to a lesser extent [[The Wasp]] [[Never Live It Down/Comic Books|haven't had the greatest reputation in comic books]] so, it seems likely that their rather different and much more sympathetic portrayals in ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes|Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes]]'' is an intent to do this. Instead of a mentally unstable wife-beater, Ant-Man is one of the most moral team members, and rather than being a [[Rich Bitch]], Wasp is a likable [[Non-Idle Rich]] [[Genki Girl]].
** By the same token, the show continues the trend in spin-off media of distancing Iron Man from his "Nazi" [[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]] persona by toning down his [[Jerkass]] tendencies and making him an [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right|anti-authoritarian]] [[Chaotic Good|rebel]] who tells Nick Fury where to get off and refuses to trust or cooperate with SHIELD.
* ''[[Thundercats 2011]]'' made Snarf bearable by making him a [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]] who ''can't talk''. The Thunderkittens have also received this treatment; it helps that they are voiced by actual children this time.
* ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' goes [[Up to Eleven]] with this, by rescuing the ''human species'' from the scrappy heap. Unlike most Transformers shows, the humans don't suck this time. The main adult character is a [[Reasonable Authority Figure]], the kids stay out of the way (as a group, individually is another story), and Silas the human villain is just as threatening as any Decepticon. Only Miko is the typical Scrappy human, though she's been getting better.
** A pattern started by ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', which had a larger but still well-liked cast of humans. Several human villains appeared in the earlier episodes, but their presence was mitigated by the fact that they were [[Word of God|explicitly intended]] to create a sort-of [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]] with the Decepticons at the top; and when the Autobot/Decepticon conflict took the fore as the series progressed, the human villains faded quietly away. Ironically, though, the character who was probably the best-received human sidekick yet, Sari Sumdac, {{spoiler|turned out to [[Tomato in the Mirror|not be a human at all]]!}}
*** Human villain [[Playing with Syringes|Meltdown]] was generally well-received by the fanbase, however, and got to appear the most during the first two seasons. Probably helped by him being [[Knight of Cerebus|a credible threat]] and all-around [[Complete Monster|nasty piece of work]] compared to the others who - barring maybe [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|the Headmaster]] - were usually an enormous joke.
* Lola Bunny first appeared in ''[[Space Jam]]'' as a seemingly flawless tomboy clearly added simply to fulfill [[The Smurfette Principle]]. She later appeared in ''[[The Looney Tunes Show]]'' as a neurotic [[Stalker with a Crush]]. A number of people find her funnier this way. The fact that she's dressing more modestly for a change and having her voluptuous figure toned down to make her seem like more of an [[The Ingenue|Ingenue]] rather than a [[Ms. Fanservice]] helps.
* Irving from ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'', though never technically an official Scrappy, was definitely a [[Base Breaker]]: Half the fans hated him, the other half related to him and liked him. After his first appearance, though, he was given more [[Character Development]] beyond just being the [[Loony Fan]] that follows the boys around, and fans are now much more agreeing and accepting of him.
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' arguably [[Growing the Beard|did this to the ''entire franchise'']], at least after the rather [[Uncanny Valley|unsettling]] appearance of the G3.5 videos that surfaced beforehand. This also applies to several in-universe characters:
** More specifically, Angel Bunny is starting{{when}} to receive this treatment. He'd always been a bit of a jerkass, but the way he took it [[Up to Eleven]] in ''Putting Your Hoof Down'' made many members of the fanbase ''absolutely despise'' him. A couple of episodes since then have portrayed him in a much more likable light.
** The Episode ''Baby Cakes'' even managed to do this to baby ponies for some people. For a long time, they were a popular target due to their oddly anthropomorphic shapes arguably ruining the appeal of ponies. Then this episode used their similarities to real human babies to advance a meaningful plot.
** Princess Cadance in "A Canterlot Wedding" starts out to be a too good to be true stereotypical princess, then suddenly turns out to be a [[Jerkass]] during the wedding preparations. Suddenly, you find out {{spoiler|she's an imposter}} and {{spoiler|the real Cadance is a brave and resourceful mare who goes through so much hell before kicking ultimate ass at the climax that you'll be completely charmed at her getting the nice wedding she deserves at the end.}}
*** [[Serious Business|There were also a lot of viewers concerned]] that Hasbro [[Merchandise-Driven|ordered the show to have another winged unicorn.]] This was supposed to be a special thing for the royal sisters, but Cadance more than proved that she is as awesome as them.
** Rainbow Dash was also flirting with [[Creator's Pet]] territory in early season two with too much of a focus on her arrogance and having her act like a jerk without the [[Jerkass With a Heart of Gold|heart of gold]] trait she's better known for. The second half of the season with episodes such as "Read It and Weep" and "Hurricane Fluttershy" have been working on making her a more likable character again.
* [[Pucca]]'s third season/[[Continuity Reboot]] ''Love Recipe'' does this to many characters after being [[Flanderization|flanderized]] to annoying degrees in the [[Jetix]] series:
** Pucca and Garu get the most notorious one, with Pucca being a more reasonable [[Clingy Jealous Girl]] and Garu a [[Sugar and Ice Personality|stoic yet kind]] [[Badass]] who enjoys being with Pucca as long as she doesn't get too clingy, thus making their relationship easier to root for.
** [[Lovable Coward|Dada]] is more competent (though still clumsy), [[Adaptational Attractiveness|has a more attractive design]], and completely lacks his derided crush on [[Alpha Bitch|Ring Ring]] that made him hold the [[Jerkass Ball]] many times during the [[Jetix]] series. Him being [[Those Two Guys|paired up]] with [[Ensemble Darkhorse|fan-favorite]] [[The Stoic|Dandy]] only furthered his rescue.
** [[Alpha Bitch|Ring Ring]] was more of a [[Hate Sink]] than a true scrappy, but ''Love Recipe'' gives emphasis on her [[Hidden Heart of Gold|positive traits]] and has better control of her rage. It helps she's tied to the DK Restaurant plot and gains a crush on Garu, making her more relevant as Pucca's rival; as well as her father [[Darth Vader Clone|Dong King]] taking her previous [[Hate Sink]] mantle, with her often showing [[Even Evil Has Standards|disgust]] at some of his plans and even taking an active role in sabotaging them.
* In the [[Netflix]] version of ''[[Carmen Sandiego]]'', Zach and Ivy were Scrappy-like in Season 1, being [[Plucky Comic Relief]] sidekicks for Carmen who usually served little purpose than to be annoying. This didn't truly change in Season 2 (still annoying) but by then, their antics started to become [[Actually Pretty Funny]].

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