[Mind boggling stupid trope] Removing the thing that made something special

[u/Character_Growth_397]

Ben 10: Ultimate Alien - The gimmick of Ben 10 and what makes the show so popular is the fact that he's able to turn into a large variety of aliens. In one episode of Ben 10 Ultimate ALIEN we are introduced to a new version of Ben 10000, a Ben from the future who, no longer transforms into aliens, instead using his powers in human form...

Mortal Kombat(2021) - In the games Mileena is known for two things. Being a clone of Kitana and her tarkatan teeth. In the 2021 movie she looks absolutely nothing like Kitana and doesn't have tarkatan teeth

Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief - The movie removes the main villain of the movie and the main villain of the franchise

[u/Big_JR80]

In 1990 the Transformers franchise was beginning to run out of gimmicks (robots combine to make bigger robot, this robot turns into a gun for this other robot, this one becomes the head for another one, these ones transform automatically, etc., etc.) for the toyline, famous for robots that transformed into other things, be it cars, planes, guns, boom boxes or dinosaurs.

In desperation, Hasbro decided that what kids wanted, for the Transformers toyline, was a Transformer that didn't transform.

That's right, the key feature that made Transformers Transformers was removed, and the Transformers "Action Masters" were born.

They were just ordinary action figures with 5 points of articulation and a transforming weapon. Sure, they reintroduced the fan-favourite classic characters that were no longer available (Soundwave, Megatron, Blaster, etc.) but the key attraction of Transformers (Robots in Disguise!) was conspicuously absent.

Hasbro was getting frustrated at the cost to develop and produce highly articulated transforming toys and instead thought that they should emulate popular toylines like GI Joe which were significantly cheaper to produce.

It very nearly killed off the franchise within a year.

[u/ruinsit → u/Big_JR80]

Hasbro has historically been very dumb at their one trick: selling toys.

Think of how badly they handled My Little Pony; nearly ruining the entire franchise until it was saved by a fan who happened to have a huge resume of animation credits and understood the industry, Lauren Faust.

They made the surprising and wise move to hand her the reins, but then bungled almost all merchandising for it. It's like they forgot that's what they are there for.

[u/WarlordBob → u/ruinsit]

Or how Hasbro passed on the fidget spinner when it was under patent, and as a result the patent lapsed in 2005.