r/TopCharacterTropes • u/mp3help • 18d ago
miscellaneous [Interesting Trope] Attempts at fanservice/virality that failed not because they were hated, but because nobody noticed them or cared at all.
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.
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u/res30stupid 18d ago
A writer and artist on the Brazilian MegaMan comic got into severe trouble for doing this.
The writer created a new character called Princess and inserted her into the comic without authorisation from the publisher or Capcom with the idea that she'd prove more popular than any of the original stars of the franchise like Rock, Roll or Protoman. The intention was for Princess to outright murder the heroes and steal their status as the main characters of the comic.
When Capcom found out what he was planning, they threatened to completely rescind the license from the publisher for even daring attempt such a stunt and the writer was fired from the series soon after.