[Interesting Trope] Attempts at fanservice/virality that failed not because they were hated, but because nobody noticed them or cared at all.

[u/mp3help]

1) Hoopy the Hoop, Portal (2007) When you defeat GLaDOS and her room is destroyed at the end of the game, debris rains down in the final cutscene, including a big metal hoop that bounces around a bit. Developer Erik Wolpaw said the team dubbed it "Hoopy the Hoop" and expected it to become the big meme of Portal. Of course, none of the fans paid much attention to the hoop since "The Cake is a Lie" became the biggest meme of the game, and overall one of the biggest video game memes of all time.

2) Burgh, Pokemon Black and White (2010) When designing Burgh, developer Yusuke Ohmura said Gamefreak had many of their female employees give input on his design to create their ideal handsome man. However, as someone who's been in the Pokemon fandom for almost 3 decades, in the 15+ years since Pokemon Black and White released, I have personally never seen any fans swoon over Burgh, or even mention him in general. If anything, characters like N and Colress are far more well-known within the fandom as the most handsome and beloved male characters of Pokemon Gen 5.

[u/ArgentSZ]

I know more Pokemon fans that are head over heels for Clayton than Burgh. It's hilarious now that I know about this.

[u/ComprehensiveBox6911 → u/ArgentSZ]

I’m not a woman, but Burgh has one goofy ass outfit

[u/SeaworthinessDue1650 → u/ComprehensiveBox6911]

Burgh dresses like a one-off villain in jojo

[u/Jetstream-Sam → u/ComprehensiveBox6911]

Honestly I thought this was going to be a thing about him being like, the first confirmed gay pokemon character or something but nobody cared, not that he was specifically designed to be appealing to women.

I've played through black and white a ton and he's basically a nonentity in my mind still. I think he's the bug type gym leader, right? Those don't exactly tend to be memorable at the best of times since noone ever gets stuck on the bug leader, you just whip out your fire type pokemon and you're done in like three turns.

[u/Bug-Type-Enthusiast → u/Jetstream-Sam]

Salty but agreeing bug noises

[u/Jetstream-Sam → u/ArgentSZ]

You mean clayton as in the guy who apparently is there in the anime for an episode who teaches Ash's Buizel ice punch, or Clay as in the Gen five ground gym leader who's dressed as a cowboy and looks pissed off that he lives in a world where he can't get a steak?

Because either would be surprising for different reasons

[u/happilyevil321 → u/Jetstream-Sam]

The cowboy one. There is someone on Twitter that constantly commissions gay porn of him.

But also generally, I do can see gay people liking him more than twink as a twig with Bad fashion sense Burgh

[u/Jetstream-Sam → u/happilyevil321]

Ah yeah I thought it was more likely cowboy man, I think the other one's a bit obscure, and kind of looks like a generic NPC kinda guy. I wouldn't have any idea he existed if not for the wiki

But yeah, gruff cowboy man is probably a fairly popular guy now that I think about it. Burgh just looks kinda generic IMO and I don't even think he has much of a notable gym in order to stick in your mind. All you do is walk through a few doors that are sticky, whereas Driftveil gym is huge and has a ton of trainers and work that's gone into designing it