A breakout character is a character in serial fiction, especially a member of an ensemble cast, who becomes much more prominent, popular, discussed, or imitated than expected by the creators. A breakout character may equal or overtake the other characters in popularity, including the protagonist. Prominent breakout characters will often make cameo appearances in expanded franchises or feature as main characters in spin-off installments of their own.
Animation
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ !Character !Introduced in animated series !Year introduced !Notes |- |Porky Pig |Looney Tunes (1930–present); Merrie Melodies (1931–present) |1935 |Porky Pig (first voiced by Joe Dougherty, shortly thereafter replaced by Mel Blanc) debuted as a supporting character in an ensemble cast of new characters that included, among others, Beans the Cat. Only a year later, it became clear that audiences were more interested in Beans' stuttering sidekick, Porky Pig. After Westward Whoa, Beans and the others were phased out and Porky replaced him as the star of Looney Tunes. Looney Tunes itself was designed to be a showcase of music from the music publishers' record companies that Warner Bros. owned. By 1935, the show was overhauled to accommodate Porky Pig after the character increased in prominence. Porky Pig's popularity was also instrumental in facilitating the success of Looney Tunes merchandise for the next several decades. |- |Bugs Bunny |Looney Tunes (1930–present); Merrie Melodies (1931–present) |1938 |Bugs Bunny (first voiced by Mel Blanc) was originally envisioned as one of several potential foils for Porky Pig, alongside unsuccessful competitors including Gabby Goat and Petunia Pig. While Daffy Duck, who himself became a substantial star for Warner Bros., won that role, Bugs developed as a character in his own right by 1940 and became the biggest star in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts, developing his own cast of foils and starring in shorts for Warner Bros. until 1964. TV Guide identified Bugs as the greatest cartoon character in history in a 2002 listicle. |- |Woody Woodpecker |Woody Woodpecker (1940–present) |1940 |Woody Woodpecker began as an unnamed minor character in Knock Knock, a short film featuring Andy Panda who was then Universal's star character. Audiences liked him immediately, so he became the star of his own cartoons. |- |Yogi Bear |The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958–1961) |1958 |Yogi Bear (first voiced by Daws Butler) debuted in 1958 as a supporting character in one of three segments of The Huckleberry Hound Show. Yogi Bear's segment of the show became extremely popular and over time, overshadowed its titular character Huckleberry Hound in popularity. The first breakout character in animated television created by Hanna Barbera, Yogi Bear began starring in his own show by 1961, with Hokey Wolf taking his place on The Huckleberry Hound Show.Mallory, Michael. Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1998. . p. 44. |- |Bullwinkle J. Moose |Rocky and His Friends (1959–1964) |1959 |Bullwinkle J. Moose (voiced by Bill Scott) on Rocky and His Friends. Although the series was originally named for Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Rocky's dim-witted sidekick Bullwinkle got most of the jokes while Rocky served as straight man. By 1961, the series had been renamed The Bullwinkle Show, a title that appears for the last three seasons of the series. |- |The California Raisins |Sun-Maid commercials |1986 | The California Raisins (lead singer voiced by Buddy Miles) were the creation of claymation artist Will Vinton, as a work-for-hire for an advertising agency who had the California Raisin Advisory Board as its client. In light of focus group data that showed raisins were uncool, they purposely created the California Raisins as energetic soul musicians. The Raisins unexpectedly became major pop culture icons of the late 1980s, with an appearance in the television specials Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas Celebration and Meet the Raisins! along with a 13-episode traditionally animated Saturday morning cartoon, The California Raisin Show. The success of the campaign triggered a vicious cycle in which the profits from the campaign were fed back to the Board, who sent that money back to the advertising agency for more ads, leading to a member revolt and the collapse of the Board in 1994. |- |Harley Quinn |Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995) |1992 |Harley Quinn (first voiced by Arleen Sorkin). She first appeared in Batman: The Animated Series in the 1992 episode "Joker's Favor" in what was originally supposed to be the animated equivalent of a walk-on role. She eventually became popular enough to become one of the most common recurring villains in the series, start appearing in the comics, earn a starring role in the 2016 film Suicide Squad and even receive her own animated series in 2019. |- |Broly |Dragon Ball Z (1989–1996; films only) |1993 |Broly is considered to be one of the most popular villains in the Dragon Ball series with a cult following, in spite of his origin as a non-canon character exclusive to the Dragon Ball animated film series as well as manga side stories. His popularity led to a rebooted canonical version of him starring in Dragon Ball Super: Broly. |- |Butters Stotch |South Park (1997–present) |1997 |Butters Stotch (Matt Stone) on South Park. Originally a background character in the show's pilot, the character eventually emerged as a submissive foil or victim of Eric Cartman's, and gradually became one of the show's most prominent characters,Kurp, Josh (June 19, 2013). "10 Great TV Characters That Were Introduced Late In A Show's Run". Uproxx. sometimes as the protagonist whose schemes drive the plots of episodes, as in "Franchise Prequel",Schedeen, Jesse (October 11, 2017). "South Park: 'Franchise Prequel' Review". IGN. or the character whose closing soliloquy provides the philosophical insight or "moment of clarity" that serves as the episode's thematic resolution, as in "Raisins",Cain, Tim (April 21, 2011). "Tim Cain column: 'South Park' visits infinite social issues, with equal offense to all ". Herald & Review. "Cartman Sucks",Fickett, Travis (March 15, 2007). "South Park: 'Cartman Sucks' Review". IGN. and "Butterballs".Nicholson, Max (April 12, 2012). "South Park: 'Butterballs' Review". IGN. |- |Stewie Griffin |Family Guy (1999–2003, 2005–present) |1999 |Stewie Griffin (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) on Family Guy. Creator Seth MacFarlane stated that he was very surprised that Stewie turned out to be the show's breakout character, and that this required him to write stories centering on him. |- |Bender |Futurama (1999–2003, 2007–2013, 2023–present) |1999 |Bender Bending Rodríguez (voiced by John DiMaggio) on Futurama. Bender is largely considered the show's breakout character with DiMaggio's vocal performance being credited with helping boost Futurama's longevity and loyal fan base. |- |Plankton |SpongeBob SquarePants (1999–present) |1999 |Plankton (voiced by Mr. Lawrence) on SpongeBob SquarePants. Mr. Lawrence summarized Plankton's origins in 2015, saying that he "was only supposed to be in one or two episodes, but I was a writer on the show and I really liked this character". Following his first voice recording as Plankton, Lawrence drafted some of his own ideas for the character and passed them to Hillenburg. From then on, Plankton began to appear more often. Lawrence considers the third season the first in which Plankton is a main character. |- |Strong Bad |Homestar Runner (2000–present) |2000 |Strong Bad (voiced by Matt Chapman) was originally conceived as the villain of Homestar Runner, a Web series that began mainly as experimental work by its creators The Brothers Chaps to learn how to create Flash animation. The establishment of a uniform style for the series in 2001, and the launch of a spin-off viewer mail segment Strong Bad Emails, helped round the character into a more comic persona and became a major driver of traffic to the Homestar Runner Web site. He was later one of the main characters in the game Poker Night. |- |GIR |Invader Zim (2001-2002, 2006) |2001 |Gir is the robot companion of the titular protagonist of Invader Zim. Built from scraps of the more advanced robots by the Almighty Tallest due to their lack of faith in Zim, he poses as a dog in public to not draw attention from humans like Dib Membrane. GIR has been praised for his random non-sequiturs and cheerful persona. |} Literature
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ !Character !Introduced in book !Year introduced !Notes |- |Sam Weller |The Pickwick Papers (1836) |1836 |Sam Weller is considered to be the character that made Charles Dickens famous. The serialised episodes of The Pickwick Papers sold modestly until Weller's first appearance in the fourth episode, at which point sales exploded. The character's popularity overshadowed that of the title character Samuel Pickwick, inspiring merchandise and a dedicated stage play (Samuel Weller, or, The Pickwickians). The Paris Review stated, "arguably the most historic bump in English publishing is the Sam Weller Bump." |- |Ramona Quimby |Henry Huggins |1950 |Ramona Quimby was introduced as a minor character, initially the two-year-old sister of elementary school student Beezus Quimby, who in turn was a friend of the titular character of Henry Huggins in the works of author Beverly Cleary. Ramona quickly became the focal point of Cleary's subsequent books, particularly with 1968's Ramona the Pest. By the time of the fourteenth and final book in the Quimby/Huggins fictional universe, 1999's Ramona's World, Ramona has aged to ten years old. |- |Severus Snape |Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |1997 |Severus Snape was introduced as a villain, and a relatively minor one compared with Lord Voldemort, but became so popular with readers that Borders' advertising campaign for the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, revolved around him. Fans could choose between two bumper stickers, “Trust Snape” and “Snape Is A Very Bad Man.”
Comic strips
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ !Character !Introduced in comic(s) !Year introduced !Notes |- |Krazy Kat |The Dingbat Family (1910–1916) |1910 |Krazy Kat evolved from an earlier comic strip of series artist George Herriman's, The Dingbat Family, which started in 1910 and was later renamed The Family Upstairs. This comic chronicled the Dingbats' attempts to avoid the mischief of the mysterious unseen family living in the apartment above theirs and to unmask that family. Herriman would complete the cartoons about the Dingbats, and finding himself with time left over in his 8-hour work day, filled the bottom of the strip with slapstick drawings of the upstairs family's mouse preying upon the Dingbats' cat.McDonnell, O'Connell and De Havenon 52. This "basement strip" became a daily comic strip with a title (running vertically down the side of the page) in 1913 and a black and white full-page Sunday cartoon three years later. Due to the objections of editors, who considered it unsuitable for the comics sections, Krazy Kat originally appeared in the Hearst papers' art and drama sections.McDonnell, O'Connell and De Havenon 58. Hearst himself, however, enjoyed the strip so much that he gave Herriman a lifetime contract and guaranteed the cartoonist complete creative freedom.Schwartz 8–10. |- |Popeye |Thimble Theatre (1919–present) |1929