Characters with wasted potential

[Mystic TimeKeeper]

So, looking back at the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise we can fondly remember our favourite characters duking out with children's trading cards, be it main or side character, and regardless of the amount of screentime (for example, I absolutely love Enjo Mukuro).

That's IF those characters managed to stand out and weren't cursed with bad characterization/being forgotten by the story altogether, so I ask you:

- What is the character that disappointed you the most? Had you any expectations or it was doomed from the start?

To make an example, I was extremely disappointed at how Rei Saotome/Blair Flannigan (GX) was handled by the writers, she appeared as a child in season 1 as a one-shot character in one of the funniest episodes ever in the franchise, then they make her appear as a teenager at the end of season 2 presenting her as one of the 2 finalist of the Genex Tournament (the other was Manjoume/Chazz), a tournament that supposedly had the best duelist in the world partecipating (granted that Judai dropped out in the middle).
You think that after all this grand comeback she is gonna do something relevant, right? Of course no! Aside that sub-plot with the kid that was hosting Yubel's arm at the time (Martin/Marcel for those who actually remember the name) in which the best she can do is being a plot device and calling his name, she disappears again until Season 4 where she only gets that Tag Duel where the main focus isn't even her.

I'd prefer to limit the discussion to the series that have already ended so we have the whole picture to look at.
So, if you have complaints towards how a character could have been much better with just a bit more effort, that's the place to say it.

[AccelRainbowDashley]

I imagine a lot of comments will involve 5Ds.

For me, Asuka was wasted. They built her up as a strong female duelist, capable of going toe to toe with Judai, only to make her a damsel in distress in season 3.

[Mystic TimeKeeper]

I imagine a lot of comments will involve female characters.

And yes, Asuka has the fault of being around since season 1 AND being hyped in several occasions, then always failing to live up the hype she created.

[MystikX]

(for example, I absolutely love Enjo Mukuro).

YAY! I'm not alone in this line-of-thought!

Biggest disappointment was Demak. He was just....there.....

[Mystic TimeKeeper]

YAY! I'm not alone in this line-of-thought!

Biggest disappointment was Demak. He was just....there.....

Hily... Demak! The Dark Signer they just called randomly a saturday nigt because they were short one guy.

[AccelRainbowDashley]

Probably because they didn't know how to write female characters consistently. She was a top duelist in season 1, one of the few that actually won their duel against an assassin, then season 2 she was still treated as a top duelist and was treated as an elite in Saoiu's cult. Then suddenly, in season 3 she was useless.

[Dread Kaiser]

Everyone not a main character and not from ARC V.
Basically every character outside the main 3 of Zexal (especially Anna and Cathy, for basically the same reasons as Asuka from GX) and...GX. All of it.
Atleast Chazz got awesome moments in the manga, but what they did to him in the anime.....

Top one off of my list would be the 3 kids and Reira of ARC V. Ayu aside, they just cut to Reira beating them.

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I imagine a lot of comments will involve female characters.

And yes, Asuka has the fault of being around since season 1 AND being hyped in several occasions, then always failing to live up the hype she created.

well duh, ARC V and 5D's season 1 aside YGO has not been nice to their ladies

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YAY! I'm not alone in this line-of-thought!

Biggest disappointment was Demak. He was just....there.....

Blame Crow for that one

[Cheesedude]

DM:

Bakura (in the anime, obviously). His lack of participation in every filler arc was disappointing.

Rebecca in the DOMA arc, too, I wish she had done a bit more (but she was the highlight of the KC Grand Prix, so there's that).

GX:
Asuka's slowly dwindling role.

Misawa was a particular disappointment to me. He honestly reminded me of MYSELF when I used to Duel with my friends in middle and high school. Starting the game far before when the game started so to speak. I once "helped" a friend with his deck, then showed up the next day with a deck specifically designed to counter what I told him. Yeah, I was a dick when I was a kid. So I wanted more Misawa. Always.

I would say Sho as well, but they actually pulled off something fairly unique with him in season 3 - they developed him and the development was explicitly NOT tied to Dueling at all.

All of the foreign champions except Johan could have done with more screentime (even though they were eating the screentime of the original cast), but what we got from each of them was good. Amon is a particular favorite.

5D's:
Aki, Ruka and Rua, obviously. Particularly Ruka. Oh, and Sherry. These are some of the worst offenders in the franchise.

ZEXAL:
Rio sticks out to me here, such a good debut for her and then basically nothing after that. Definitely suffered from "too many characters" syndrome. I would have liked to see more from Gauche too, but his role in the story was pretty much done, so I appreciate that they didn't keep shoehorning him in (bar the Legendary Numbers arc duel, but that was a fairly-well done shoehorn).

Plus the entire Numbers Club. Cathy was an early favorite of mine, it was very disappointing she dropped off the radar except for crush on Yuma. I honestly liked Tokunosuke's character too. I'm more neutral towards class rep and Tetsuo, but they weren't bad characters by any means.

Also Durbe. And despite all this, ZEXAL had enough other interesting characters that did get screentime that I can't complain too much.

[Dread Kaiser]

Probably because they didn't know how to write female characters consistently. She was a top duelist in season 1, one of the few that actually won their duel against an assassin, then season 2 she was still treated as a top duelist and was treated as an elite in Saoiu's cult. Then suddenly, in season 3 she was useless.

She WAS IN SEASON 3?
I don't even remember her being there.......oh right I guess Bronn needed that sacrafice

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wow this topic exploded
there was only 1 reply when I started typing...

[AccelRainbowDashley]

She WAS IN SEASON 3?
I don't even remember her being there.......oh right I guess Bronn needed that sacrafice

She was also caught in one of Cobra's traps, a sealed room that slowly filled up with water. I -think- Johan saved her, but I don't fully remember.