[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/Stoneheart7]

For Disney's Encanto, the merch was focused on Isabela, the pretty sister who can make flowers sprout around her at will.

Nobody gave a shit about her.

Instead everybody was into Luisa, the very butch sister with super strength.

[u/don-chocodile → u/Stoneheart7]

I think this is generally true but I know of some people who strongly identify with Isabela since they felt like they had to be their parents’ “perfect” child growing up.

[u/ohnomoisttoes → u/don-chocodile]

Yeah, Encanto doesn't have any poorly written characters imo. Quite a few that don't get much screen time, but it's unironically one of the best depictions of a Latin family ever made.

[u/ImprovementOk377 → u/don-chocodile]

i feel like isabela is more popular with older fans (who relate to her struggles) while luisa is more popular with kids (who think superstrength is cool)

[u/99-dreams → u/ImprovementOk377]

I remember seeing that kids wanted Isabella dolls that looked like her outfit after "What Else Can I Do" (aka messy and colorful) but all her merch was what she looked like the majority of the film. But I never actually saw a source for that so it could have been someone's else interpretation. It does make some sense: she becomes an outwardly nicer character in her new outfit and her primary outfit is her being a bully.

[u/ImprovementOk377 → u/99-dreams]

the only argument i can see for marketing her in her pink/purple dress would be that the colorful version would spoil the ending, but yeah for merch it makes way more sense to depict her in an outfit that she actually feels comfortable in!