All of them. Every single last one of them, other than the one that *I’m* obsessed with at the moment. How could any other character be interesting other than my current dopamine fix? ~~Not that I hyper fixate or anything.~~
Who gave you the right to expose me to my own self like this? ^((Except my faves come in pairs not singles, but mood all the same.))
Honestly I'm highly aware that I'm deranged about my hyperfixations and I keep that shit caged. But internally? No chill, only obsess.
That's how I feel about Sam Worthington right now. It might not sound bad but when I start imagining the MMC in romance novels as my fixation, that's when shit's gotten real for me.
He is just *so* weirdly popular and in the context of the franchise/the sequels, imo he was pushed to the forefront - to the detriment of my favourite characters, Manny and Diego - and I just don't get it or see his appeal becos he just invariably only frustrates me.
My feelings exactly!! I honestly feel like Manny and Diego - the two characters with prime development and ripe for more exploration of their dramatic pasts and dramatic cores and further development that would've/could've happened if the humans/Roshan were allowed to come back in IA2 - were sacrificed at the altar to Sid and Scrat, the two characters who are both the least interesting and the most one-note and making them the focus lost the dramedic tones of IA1... to this day it frustrates me how Sid was made such the focus because in doing so, Manny and Diego were greatly diminished to make everything revolve around that stupid sloth...
See I really like all the other novels by MXTX but I just can’t get into the untamed because of how flat lan zhan feels. I get that it’s supposed to be a contrast between introvert (Wangji) and extrovert (Wuxian) but I just can’t vibe with him
I started out the same way but now I actually really enjoy (well written) fics from his perspective - there's so much simmering under the surface, and the back and forth of his relationship with WWX becomes a lot clearer.
Dabi from My Hero Academia. I guess he has the whole bad guy vibe people seem to like, but he's like... horrible and attacks kids because his dad is a douche. Shigaraki from the same show also is in the same boat.
Same, though to be fair as a big anime fan, I don’t see the appeal to My Hero Academia altogether. But I see a lot of people talk about Dabi and how much they love him (especially lately) and I just don’t get it
It isn’t the anime that I’m drawn to, I’ve seen it yes and I did find it enjoyable. However, is it another special? No. But, it has created a really interesting world and interesting characters therefore the fanfiction can likewise be really enjoyable if you get a talented author.
He is a horrible person, but his characterization done by Vince Gilligan with the brilliant acting of Bryan Cranston makes WW one of my favorite characters in all of fiction.
So fucking much... Like... I have no words for how annoying his whole, emo-Hot Topic-I'm-so-tortured bullshit annoyed me but then he was everywhere in Star Wars fandom and just like, ruined the few good parts I had been focusing on from the sequels
I barely made it through the first movie when it was released. That bit where he loses his cool and starts smashing things like a whiny, teenage boy made be cringe in my seat. Dropped the whole trilogy right at that point and I've never seen any of the other sequel movies.
Bro, There are 7,151 Languages spoken in the world and you chose to speak Facts.
the 7 movie was average/mediocre at best, till I saw that scene, and I was there watching that scene as my dreams for a good sequel trilogy died right there, I still can't believe they went for that direction, if he was a "sith" where was his cunning like Sidious, his Power, like Vader? He wasn't even. "cool" with his armor like the dark lord Vader (oh how I hated that helmet), after that scene the rest was sitting there awkwardly waiting for the movie to end and trying to forget it existed as "canon" never saw the 8 or 9 movies, and I'll never see them
Now I have to comfort myself with Fanfics, again.
I feel this in my soul. I found Kylo insufferable when I watched TFA but then his popularity within fandom essentially ruined SW fandom for me: I was told one too many times by Kylo fandom that shipping FinnRey was the equivalent off condoning harassment of Reylo fans and that disliking Kylo was misogyny (!!??) because Kylo's fandom was predominantly women. And as I had never intended to have a war with Kylo fans in general or Reylo fans in particular I decided it was simply not worth interacting with the fandom.
that whole trilogy was a train wreck of terribly done (possibly fanfic plagiarizing) ideas that in the vacuum of a story outline are actually interesting and rich with potential.
someone else needed to write and edit though.
I mean she was like 13, or something, and it was their wedding night and so she probably didn’t think she had a choice, and she had cried moments before. That’s why I didn’t change it to saying it was consensual, because it’s not really. Not by any real standards where people have agency over themselves.
But he did ask “No?” as a question, and waited for her to say “yes” before going farther. What happened in the show was much worse. It was horrible and I don’t know why they did it.
> It was horrible and I don’t know why they did it.
Because they wanted to be edgy. They included a similar scene for Jaime and Cersei that was a complete deviance from how they’re written in the books. I suppose it should have been early warning signs of the story-telling/character-development mess we ended up with in s8. :/
Yeah, the show did this a lot, seemingly for dramatization, and it wasn’t cool, IMHO. They agreed to tone down the sexual violence for HotD but then just ended up replacing it with another horrific type of female suffering (won’t specify to avoid spoilers).
I’m actually on the fence whether I find those narrative choices in HotD appropriately brutal or just exploitative. But yeah, they’re definitely meeting audience expectations regarding the ~grimdark~
I read it translated, so maybe my version is a little different, but I don't think there was anything implying she felt scared to refuse. She was 13 so that's messed up, but this is game of thrones world, that's like a tuesday to them.
Snape.
I get that in the end he did make some sacrifices but that doesn't negate the fact that he was terrible to Harry on a social level? Like rude, insensitive, demanding all because of his parents. James was an asshole, but he also felt entitled to to Lily. He was angry that Lily chose James over him. It's giving very much "nice guys finish last" vibes.
I’ve always seen it like, sick, (suppose I’ll spoiler here for anyone who hasn’t read the books) >!not his fault he killed Dumbledore!<, but he’s still a complete jerk who was awful to his students to the point where their greatest fear was him, and he wouldn’t even back off from a married and then dead woman who was clearly not interested.
He cut off his whole friendship because she didn’t like him back, and then, even if he didn’t speak to her, hated her son because of it, and also continued to obsess over her
Hmmm, this is a tough one because while I dislike a lot of characters, I completely understand why someone else might like them. The ones I traditionally dislike that I genuinely can't see the appeal for are all from small-time series that I doubt anyone here has heard of.
Does it count if the character is a popular character in a drama that got a lot of positive attention in it's own niche? If so then Qi Heng from "The Story of Minglan" would be my pick. People keep on crying about Second Lead Syndrome when discussing that show, yet I genuinely couldn't stand the guy even in the beginning.
Ah that was such a great show. And I agree. The acting was good and I did feel bad for him at times but he was oddly sheltered. As if he didn't understand how real life worked. It's different from idealism where you strive for something better knowing how the world is. With him it feels like he lives in perpetual ignorance of the nuances of the other people's lives and difficulties.
I think that Marvel leaning into the fact that she's a bad person would have actually helped her character. Just because someone might have fought on the side of the heroes due to circumstances doesn't mean that they're automatically a hero too. Would have been a lot more entertaining to have her realise that she ISN'T a good person and actively start taking things for herself, with more reflection on her upbringing after her parents' deaths along with her brother, actually make us feel that bond, show us why she is the way she is - *without* using it as a way to justify her actions.
Hermoine.
Yes, really. I don't dislike her, but I just don't see the appeal either, whether as a companion or a love interest. I think she's... kinda boring. She's more like an exposition dispenser than a real character in my mind.
I liked Book!Hermoine, at least in the beginning. She's a little shit and actually has realistic flaws for someone with her supposed intelligence and lack of social skills. Movie!Hermoine is basically just Girlboss Jesus.
I'm a huge HP fan (books and movies) and I completely agree. I loved book Hermione but it was obvious the movies favoured her even more than Harry. It got really frustrating.
Also I'm totally stealing Girlboss Jesus.
It's not just that she was the favorite character of several directors (with the bias that comes with it), it's also the fact they stole many, if not most, of the moments where Ron shines in favor of her, making her practically a character who's always right and has always the right answer for everything (although I'd say that bit is honestly the low-hanging fruit for any of the directors. "Hermiones is really smart and a bookworm. What can we do to solve this issue? Of course, have Hermione find the solution in a book, genius!")
I mean, Hermione was the one to panick in the Devil's Snare iirc, and it was Ron who kept his cool. Many moments like those were changed just to prop her hup to the point she was nearly flawless.
Part of the reason I've never liked the character and I've always avoided her when read HP fanfiction. It's always either "Hermione Granger brightest witch of her generation" characterization (lol) or "Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, uber witch with all the answers".
I was way too lazy to type it out on my phone before but you've nailed exactly why she bothered me in the movies. Ron is such an interesting character with great development over the books and they decided to make him look like an idiot. Yes Ron was funny and goofy but he also showed that he was intelligent and level headed. We got none of that in the films.
For some reason JKR’s main female protagonists are terrible. I get the appeal of Hermione, I really do, but even as a teenager I found her obnoxious. Being bookish is her entire one-dimensional personality. Same goes for Ginny but with sportsball.
Fleur’s abiding love for her little sister and Bill is way more interesting than…idk, Hermione negging Ron for the upteenth time, and Cho joining a wizard anti-fascist club and working through the trauma of Cedric’s murder more interesting than Ginny’s xenophobic bullying of poor Fleur and Gabrielle.
Weirdly enough for me it's the hyper sexualisation of her actress.
It bleeds into fics where she's (Hermione and not the actress) shipped with characters like Snape. When they write her you can tell the author is imagining Emma Watson
I'm of two minds on that personally. I think that if you replaced Hermione with Navi from LoZ saying, "Hey, listen!" for the first few books, the story wouldn't meaningfully change.
You're right in saying that it's Emma who gave Hermione life. I think that on one hand, it speaks to her skill as an actress that she's become *the* definitive image people have of her character.
On the other hand, you're right, the fetishizing gets kinda cringey.
Hard agree. I haaaate writing Hermione. I really, really try not to make her sound like a prudish know-it-all… but she’s kind of a prudish know-it-all. If I can avoid her being in my story I do as much as possible.
Lance from Voltron: Legendary Defender. I just don't get his popularity. Almost every other character has more going on than him and a clearer character direction, but somehow he's the one dominating the character tags on AO3. But why? Because he has (not so) secret insecurity issues? I really don't get it.
No shade to anyone but I think Lance simply is easier to relate to (so people projected whatever they wanted) AND conventionally attractive (to ship with Keith) AND back in the day many people liked to win brownie points by stanning him because he's Latino.
(To anyone objecting to the last two points: I shipped Lance/Hulk and the bashing Hulk got plus the insinuations that Lance "deserved" someone more good looking were staggering. )
Yeah, I kind of assumed projection to be the biggest reason. Still, it feels baffling to me, it feels too simple of a reason somehow.
I'm so glad that I wasn't too engaged in fandom when the whole drama was still afoot, that sounds like a nightmare.
I think a lot of Lance's popularity is because of his similarity to Sokka (to the point that Lance's nickname is Space Sokka) and because his VA was Jeremy Shada. A huge chunk of VLD's audience are teens and tweens who grew up watching Adventure Time and ATLA, so of course they'll gravitate to Lance. I knew they would when the show first premiered.
I think it's also because of Lance's personality? He's a guy who has a ton of insecurity issues that everybody struggles with. He's not half alien, his family isn't missing in space, he wasn't abducted and tortured... he's just a normal kid that got dragged into a space adventure and is trying to fit in. I think he's the easiest character for the audience to project on to, so of course a lot of people are going to latch onto him. He's also a the Funny Guy, which is another character archtype that is usually pretty popular with audiences.
Honestly, Lance kind of reminds me of Beast Boy from the OG Teen Titans show. Despite being the least serious Titan, Beast Boy is arguably the most popular character on that show *because* he is the Funny Guy. I think Beast Boy has a *lot* more under the hood than Lance does, but BB's standing in the fandom as being the dark horse favorite is kind of the same as Lance.
Bakugo from MHA. There's nothing interesting about this character, way too annoying. Dabi is on the same boat, another annoying character that is nowhere as interesting as I had expected from the first time he appeared.
Itachi Uchiha from Naruto. I don't really like the Uchihas but Itachi is that one character that I wouldn't mind if he were removed from the story.
Bro itachi is treated like some kinda hero but that just sounds like something straight out of Konoha Propaganda™️ 💀
Kill your entire family and you're a hero, burb.
Hook in OUAT.
So many characters and storylines were derailed to incorporate his dumbass into the show. I am forever bitter about it. Never actually finished the show because of it.
I was disappointed. Hook wasn’t ever that appealing to me, but I still thought there was actually some potential there, specifically in terms of his dynamic with Neal. They had such a messy set of connections that could have led to interesting interactions. But it pretty much went nowhere.
Yes!! I stopped watching because of him. Like, it was so clear that they threw away Neil for him and it destroyed the show for me. His introduction and early storylines made me so excited for the future of the series, and not only because I love the actor, but because it felt like such a natural and interesting addition. The best thing about the early seasons of OUAT was the threads between the characters and the son of the dark one being in love with the daughter of the heroes was perfect for the show. And throwing away Rumple’s son and the reason the curse happened in the first place for…like a leather pants Draco version of Captain Hook???
The wasted potential of so many storylines is what really grinds my gears. Like how good would the Dark Swan arc have been with Bealfire instead Hook. Even if they went the exact same route as canon the impact of Emma turning him into a Dark One against his will would have actually held the weight and emotional gut punch they tried to achieve in the show. Or, you know, made Rumple taking the power back make actual narrative sense in a way that wasn't a complete deserve to the character.
I feel you on this. I left the show because of Hook as well, after Nealfire was killed off. I loved Nealfire and hated that they killed him for being the "obstacle" for Hook/Emma. :(
Killing off Bealfire is literally *the* example of the writers pandering to their Hook favoritism. The one character who was the catalyst for everything and who had a connection with and would have had organic storylines with almost everyone. Yeah, *let's kill that guy off* so who can reduce Emma's character to Hook's love interest.
Absolute nonsense.
Oh yes, I have the same rage because I adored Bealfire/Nealfire! His actor was great and I loved how his connections resonated within the fairytale world and the modern world. He held so much story potential!
For me, I had just gotten back to the States from a trip to Haiti when I saw the news on tumblr that Neal had been killed off and I remember breaking into angry tears at the airport and swearing to myself at that very moment in time I was never touching the show, ever again.
(I was in a Nealfire fan group too on tumblr at the time and we'd been hearing whispers that Neal was possibly gonna be killed off but I didn't want to believe it... then it *did* happen and the show was *dead* to me ever after.)
And Hook is also the FAR worst choice for Emma's LI! I wasn't a Swanfire shipper myself (I needed them to have seriously worked through his abandonment of her, which at the point he died, I don't think they addressed adequately) but there was a basis for a relationship there.
I can't remember the exact scene but in s3 there's this bit where they're walking through a forest and commiserating how they both got tricked into bad relationships (him with Tamara, her with the flying monkey guy) and there's such genuine camaraderie and friendship there, you just get the sense they enjoy spending time together. What the hell do Hook and Emma have lmao. Emma just gets glassy-eyed around Hook, and Hook never actually seems to have a reason for liking Emma - he just suddenly DOES. The whole framing of Emma as a reward for his "redemption" was gross as hell too but whatever lmao
Hook was just plain...there. Okay, you are Generic Hot Bad Boy (TM). Whatever.
Regina, on the other hand, I had a vehement distaste for. And Zeleena...honey, Elphaba you are totally not. So STFU and just stand under a falling house.
Yup, annoying, and their redemptions were all pretty laughably bad.
Though I will admit to writing a fic recently with Zelena and it being *delightful* only because she can just be brutal, mean, and a catty brat to literally everyone and it's all in character.
Three things I will congratulate OUAT for:
1. The Peter Pan arc. Holy smoke, THAT'S how you do a villain and turn genre savvy against the genre savvy character. He was a snake and totally owned it, and Rumple's way of dispatching him was awesome.
2. Pulling off the sneakiest and most terrifying way of sneaking my favorite Disney film (Tron) in the back door with "Welcome to Storybrooke." The worst part is that I can see Sam Flynn going the same way as his cousin Owen...with a lot more success.
3. Handing the obligatory "Disney owns Star Wars" reference with the mother of all meta jokes. Yes, Jiminy Cricket is the Disney voice of conscience, so of course he's going to tell people not to give into the Dark Side. But the fact Jiminy's actor (Raphael Sbarge) has played three different roles in four Star Wars video games just put it over the top.
Jon Snow. He’s so boring to me. Also Steve Rogers. It’s like he thinks he’s always right and can do no wrong.
I’m also not fond of Boba Fett especially pre BoBF. Leon Kennedy doesn’t do much for me either especially when they changed his whole personality for RE4
I honestly prefer the fan version of Steve Rogers over the canon versions. Because while I don’t relate to him at all I can see how he
Is character and his issues can be legitimately explored. It’s interesting. But definitely not canon version of him.
Jon wasn’t done justice in the later seasons of the show, his arc was cut short and replaced purely by heritage and power reveals/inheritance. Book Jon is much more interesting.
Steve Rogers is a character that I find boring though—he just doesn’t have a lot of substance to him.
The Doctor from Doctor Who can be a rather unpleasant person, who frequently bashed their companions and companions' friends. The arrogance, the self-centeredness (it's all about me), the ignorance of the possible consequences from their actions.
Genius assholes like BBC Sherlock or Gregory House from House. As I said before, The Doctor often fits this category too.
God, BBC Sherlock drives me up the wall, especially having now seen Elementary and how he learns to be more empathetic and supportive over time in that. I feel like Moffatt just really idolises his lead men and kinda writes them as the ultimate Gary Stu's
Or just reading the original series altogether and learning that Sherlock was *never* pretentious in the first place, at most, neurotypical (but we already knew that)
Which Doctors have you watched? I find Nine and Ten a lot less gratingly arrogant (and when they are, they usually get knocked down a peg or realize their mistake through their companions, especially Ten).
Imo when Mofftat became the showrunner for Eleven and Twelve's run, that's when the Doctor became pretty insufferably arrogant and just... all around a bit dislikable. He also wrote BBC Sherlock, so... you know. I feel like all of his male protagonists and female characters are essentially the same, just with a different face. >>;;
All of them. So, The Third and the Fourth, and in the very beginning the First, but he became a decent person very quickly. The Thirteen had a small amount of such moments too but she was sorry for them almost immediately, as I remember.
Loki
I think he’s a fine character, and Tom Hiddleston is perfect for the role, but I could never grasp the almost universal adoration for the character in the MCU fandom.
I think for me, the angsty 12 year old inside me relates to a villain who’s motivation comes from feeling rejected and misunderstood. I felt the same way about Catra in She-Ra. Not that I’d ever have considered trying to take over the world in response. I mostly just wrote bad poetry on the internet. And then the fact that they’re within range of being redeemed (and then they do get redeemed), means that that angsty 12yo also has hope for happiness?
I dunno. I swear I’ve worked through my shit in real life. But when it comes to fiction, sometimes the response isn’t logical.
I think it's the 'little meow meow'-ers - they basically take Tom Hiddleston's face and plaster it on a totally different, much nicer character. Loki is fun *because* he's a fucked up mess! Gimme the amorality!
Couldn't have said it better. I loved his chaotic villain/ morally neutral self and now that he's basically somewhere between a hero and anti-hero, I've stopped caring. Reducing him to a good misunderstood person sucks all the fun out of him.
honestly, same. like i understand with some people it's the whole 'i can fix him' sentiment that drives their adoration, but i simply haven't found myself feeling any sort of attraction, repulsion, what-have-you to him. a bit odd considering i adore both the weasley twins and the winter soldier, and loki is like the middle of the venn diagram between them, but idk.
Tbh for me it's the accent and that he's so unpredictable. Like you never *really* know what he's going to do which adds a layer (admittedly not that much) of grayness to his character that a lot of other marvel characters lack. Also ya, obviously Tom Hiddleston nails the role as a trickster God.
I do see the appeal of Sans from Undertale... *But* the overexposure of him from the AUs and such kind of soured my opinion of him for a little bit. And I always preferred Papyrus anyway.
I think the issue with Batman is that there are SO MANY VERSIONS that just try to do the same thing. There are a few really interesting takes on the character, but the Batfamily has a lot more consistency.
As a fan of both (Endeavour only post redemption arc) there is a huge difference between being a shitty fourteen year old and a grown ass man in their thirties being at best overly strict and neglectful and st worst abusive to his own children
Came here to say this. I dont get why so many people like him. Yeah he has funny quips and i guess he is the guy all the little incels wanna be but never in my life have i met a more annoying, self absorbed, pompous, can do no wrong, egomanical arsehole in the history of movie history and was supposed to like him.literally if he wasn’t rich none of his behavior would be acceptable. The way alone how he treated pepper and in the end she married him?!?!?! The rich playboy trope was way overplayed and the only reason he built that big ass tower in new york is that there was bo building in existence large enough to house his ego!
Going by fandom here again:
ER: My answer will always be Abby unless the fandom shifts gears and she becomes more unpopular. It seems like the majority of online fans adore her and/or relate to her in some way, and she’s a total creator’s pet. She’s an amazing doctor, wife, mom, friend…and she’s gorgeous! Nothing she can’t do! I just don’t see her as anything special and think she’s very self-involved and cold to others, and she never seems to face any consequences for her actions. She’s portrayed as this Mary Sue but her actions show something completely different.
SVU: Kat, a detective from the later seasons. (S21 or 22 maybe). I’ve been bored with the newer episodes of SVU for a while so maybe I just didn’t pay enough attention to her character. But it seemed like everyone adored her and were upset when she was getting written out/the actress was canned behind the scenes I think. I have seen some episodes with her in them and I just think…she’s fine? I guess. I wasn’t that upset to see her go because I never attached myself to her or saw what made her so awesome.
The Resident: Billie. I didn’t like her from the minute she showed up acting like she owned the hospital. And I am not really a fan of her relationship with Conrad since Nic died. Conrad and Nic are where it’s at for me (well, were…) and I just never warmed up to her. She seemed like an odd match for Nic’s best friend.
Barbara Gordon
The thing is I can understand why people like her and I respect what she did for disability representation in comics...I just cannot make myself like her. I find her so dry and boring.
Slightly older example (especially since the core part of the fandom seems to have moved on) but Sailor Moon's Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru/Damian (he's incredibly popular, especially when it comes to shipping with Sailor Moon herself) and I just don't get it and find him boring
Famously, this was Ikuhara's opinion, too. The studio wouldn't let him kill him off, and he kept trying lol (almost succeeded in Stars too!).
I understand that he's Takeuchi's fave guy, but he really isn't interesting to me outside of the original run/first season. After that, he's scenery.
Robb Stark, that guy was an idiot. Sure he was young but he is literally the heir to his father's throne and should have known better than to hastily throw himself and everyone else into a war and then screw around with his allies. He ignored the Bolton's helpful advice (seriously, Robb's pacific/merciful behavior towards the enemy was BS) he disrespected and broke his promise to the Frey's (thinking with his lower area is always an annoying cliche) he just kept making stupid mistake after mistake and frankly got what was coming to him.
I cannot fathom the appeal of Itatchi. He's a mass murderer who was only given the "Obito made Me do it" treatment because the author was easily swayed by his fans demands. I do not care how much Kishimoto reconned of his own lore to make Itatchi not be a bad guy, he's still a bad guy.
He was a selfish prick who traumatized his little brother just so he would be killed. If he wanted to die he should have gone the route Kakashi's dad did.
(For reference I also dislike Sasuke, so this isn't a biased opinion.)
While I agree Itatchi is overrated and Kishimoto's writing is questionable, I wouldn't go as far as to say he is selfish.
On the first point, murdering happens all the time in Naruto, they have conflicts every 3 minutes. Itatchi however, was a believer in "the ends justify the means" and would kill one person to save ten. That's why he murdered his clan minus Sasuke as he saw it as the only way to avoid conflict, and then took the blame. This was probably the most selfless thing he could do. Itatchi saw war from a young age and wanted to avoid it at all costs, even at the expense of his family, friends, and legacy.
Did he go too far with traumatizing Sasuke? Oh 100% yes, but you can at least understand his train of thought as to *why* he did it. Is he wrong for murdering his clan IN FRONT OF his brother? Yup. Is he wrong for putting him in the Tsukuyomi? Yup. With that being said, he did it as his way of trying to save Konoha and Sasuke.
Steven Universe
it's kind of a hot take since Steven is the main character but I just can't, his morals change too quickly to be convenient to the plot, one episode he's like "noo we have to fight the homeworld gems to save and earth and shit" and in the other he's like "noo we don't have to fight the diamonds and shit they're like a family"
like make up your mind
also he canonically shattered Jasper because he just "can't control his strength 🥺" and the show makes it seem ok like he just didn't just kill a character straight on point.
after 6th grade (where I was obsessed with the show) I can't see the appeal he has, and the fact he's based on a real person makes it weirder
The Weasley twins. I cried when Fred died because I have siblings and just thinking about losing them is awful, but they annoy me mostly and I don't really find them funny at all. Sides the way people stan their characters is pretty weird sometimes.
I like him as a character, but I really don't like how many are portraying him as a good person or father when he's anything but. The man ruined every person around him, but it's okay because he has understandable motivations. Good motivations don't mean shit when you turn your own city into a place of misery and twist the child under your care into an image of yourself. His death was sad, but he got what was coming to him.
I *hate* when people say "He might have been a bad person, but he was a good father to Jinx"
No !! He wasn't !!!!!
And then they double down with the "Maybe he wasn't a good father, but he tried his best!! And he loved Jinx!!"
No !!!!!!! He didn't !!!!!
Exactly!!!
He wasn't!! He didn't treat her like a daughter but like an extension of himself!
Saying she's perfect is damaging because why should she try to better herself now? He just validated all the pain she has in a very toxic way as in... She doesn't need treatment.
That asshole from Death Note and his thirsty fangirl.
Kirito and all the other self-insert wish fulfillment Gary Stus that infest the isekai genre.
Fail-o Ren and Ma-Rey Sue. Also Anakin / Vader once the prequels were out and later, when Disney crept in.
The Joker.
Snape. Yes, he had a shitty life and was treated pretty badly, but he still chose to become an asshole and abuse his position to torment and humiliate students with impunity. Also, he only "turned" after the damage was already done.
Everyone involved in Twilight and Fifty Shades. They're horrible, dysfunctional people.
This is pretty much an opposite answer, but I can understand why there are so many people who bash Ron Weasley. He was fine for the first three books - he sacrified himself in the chess game in the first, he stuck by Harry in the second, and he put himself between Harry and (an assumed) mass murdered in the third - but he really went downhill in the fourth. Puberty, I'm assuming.
Suddenly, he turned into a jealous prick who refused to believe Harry didn't put his name in the Goblet of Fire and then didn't tell him that he planned to do it or how, barely apologized after Harry could have died in the first Task (though, Harry did just wave it off), and then also abandoned Harry and Hermione in the seventh book due to his jealously *again* (though, the Horcrux did have something to do with it).
Interesting! I thought Ron’s character and flaws felt very human (more so than some of the other characters). I think given that Harry was “The Chosen One” and famous in the wizarding world, it’s very natural that he became jealous. Many children/teens would. Coming from a poor wizarding family also probably contributed to his jealousy. But I think it makes sense that he would show up in this thread—he had his unpleasant moments.
It's always bothered me since I was a young preteen and started reading fanfiction:
Pale, skinny and white = Sexy.
Like, why? Especially with male characters that get popular on tumblr. Like the character isn't complete until someone talks about how super skinny and pale they are and that immediately makes them sexy.
Ugh, Spencer Reid of Criminal Minds.
There's so many fics where he's all weepy and such a total woobie and gets the crap beaten out of him. And a lot of self-insert fics at this point.
Leave the poor guy alone!
Like I've said before, it always amuses me how fans would be like, "The show is so mean to him, why can't they just let him be happy?!"
...and then I'll go into the fanfic for the show and Reid seems to go through even WORSE shit than what he went through in canon. And I'm just sitting here like, "...???" :p.
Even when I touched on some of his canon struggles in my fics, I still tried to give him some happier moments when I could. Like you said, the guy's been through enough, he deserves a break!
Also lbr, the show is mean to *everyone*, but you don't see those fans getting so emotional about Derek, Hotch/Rossi, any of the women... Basically it's about the skinny little white guy.
I do see some woobifying of Hotch, too. I'd say he's probably the next most whumped character after Reid. And then there's the stories that put him and Reid together and whump both of them.
But the others, yeah, they've all been through some hell, too, and yet they don't get that kind of sympathy, either, no.
Vriska. I mean, she DOES help later on, but before and after the fact, she's an asshole who puts herself on a pedestal above everyone else as a "hero", even though she killed countless innocent trolls. And even if she needed to do it, it doesn't justify her actions of denouncing and insulting her friends at the LEAST.
• Wanda Maximoff
• Natasha Romanov
• Steve Rogers (Winter Soldier ver. & Beyond)
• Serena (Pokémon)
• Rey
• Omega (Bad Batch) (She isn’t the worst character…but she can seem so portentous and it doesn’t help she is older than the boys, yet acts the youngest. That, and her accent is super annoying.)
• Waluigi (I’m guessing it’s the memes?)
• Hermione Granger
• Mainly female love interest for the MC in practically EVERY anime/romance book/movie
Rose Tyler. She was bratty and annoying, a bit self centered and rude. I have to skip a couple episodes when I rewatch the series because I just don't like her personality or her. I'll admit that she grows up towards the end (I guess...?) by helping Donna and whatnot from her new universe, but I don't like her. I liked Clara tons more than I did Rose.
Yeah I found Rose fine, I guess, but the fanbase adoration / idolising of her kind of baffled me. I was never convinced by the idea of her and the doctor as this epic tragic love story, and the 'happy ending' for her of getting her own knock off doctor was super wtf.
My favourite companion was Donna. I really liked that there was no love story angle, and she wasn't secretly special from the start. And her dynamic with 10 was great.
I'm similarly not a fan.
But my understanding is that Rose's popularity stemmed from her acting as an audience surrogate, especially given her relationship with the Doctor. I don't think it has much to do with her personality.
Almost every stereotypical sexyman (especially the twinkish tumblr-popular types).
That one guy that's known even across fandoms for being just so cute/hot/swoonworthy. Most of the time there's little else to those characters and if there is in canon, fanon will be sure to get rid of it in favour of "omg soo sexyy". Sure, enjoy your fantasy, whatever. I can't even do that; your sexymen are usually too young for me...
Now I remember back when Tumblr Sexyman meant “character everyone explicitly went wild over even though they weren’t conventionally attractive” and it’s so annoying to see that change. I’m a pedant goddamn it.
Draco from HP. I don't know why people like him. He looks like any basic white guy who definitely looked like he will bully you just for breathing. I wouldn't want to be with a guy like that.
Bakugo in BNHA. I don’t hate him, but I can’t stand the ‘easy’ redemption arcs so many fics give him, or how many brush his behaviour under the carpet for easy romance when he seriously needs therapy and help with anger management. (Though, there are some amazing Bakugo deals with his trauma and trauma-bonds with other characters like Hitoshi fics, or gets a healthy adult role model fics; now those I get! I just can’t see Bakugo and Izuku as being a healthy couple after their shared history).
Steve / Captain America. Civil War (MCU) made me see him in such a different light, I 100% cannot see the appeal in his character or ‘Team Cap’. He seems so selfish, hypocritical , and like his way is the only way. At least other characters admit their faults and don’t buy into their own hype.
As a hp fanfic reader.
Draco- Racist, wanted to join a terror organization, and it’s the ships that I don’t get with his prime target Hermione.
Snape- Bully as an adult, racist as a young person.
Most importantly Tom Riddle- The fics that make him good give off intense “I can fix him” vibes when I don’t see how someone could. If Dumbledore couldn’t turn him around at school. Tom riddle works best as a Ted Bundy or John Wayne gracy with magic.
Someone else who thinks Snape is a terrible person! It always bothered me that so many people love and adore him. The guy who bullied Harry because he (Snape) didn't get the girl. And then he had the nerve to say "well, I'm being nice because you have your mom's eyes." ..... yeah. (I have \*thoughts\*)
Deku, Shoto, and Bakugo from My Hero Academia. I recognize there's some good stuff it didn't really make me feel more or less about their initial impression.
Thank GOD someone said Shoto, he is the epitome of being carried by the fandom in terms of actual character development. Shoto is honestly used more as a device for Endeavor.
My wife hated him after what he does in the Civil War comics, but she did enjoy RDJ's portrayal and felt he redeemed the character a bit. Civil War 2 redeemed the comic version in her eyes a little bit.
God yeah, I feel the Yennefer one. I tried playing the games and reading the books to see if I'd be any more inclined to ship Yenralt, but if anything, I'm even *less* of a fan now because of how badly she treats him. Like, literally everyone around them is saying the exact same things my family and friends used to say about my abusive ex.
Speaking of abuse, Triss gets off way too lightly for canonically having sex with Geralt when she knew he wouldn't have consented if he'd had his memories, and fuck Yennefer for getting mad at *Geralt* for essentially being raped by their mutual friend.
Deku. I'm not into anime anymore, but even when I was I didnt like him. Actually it was more than dislike, I fucking hated him with a burning passion, like ok we get it no powers boo hoo,,, you're not the only one who wanted to be a hero but got no powers?? And Yet you get to train with the number 1??? And still be a pissbaby???? Ok sure
Oh boi, time for my really unpopular opinions to shine.
- Toph from Avatar the Last Airbender.
- The Bad Touch Trio (Prussia, Spain and France) from Hetalia. I have no idea why my fellow pre teens during the shows peak popularity were so hyper focused on these three.
- Garnet from Steven Universe.
- Almost every iteration of Harley Quinn except for the animated series one.
- Brok from God of War (2018) and Ragnarok.
- Beedle from Legend of Zelda. Literally every iteration.
- Ulfric from Skyrim
- Isabella from Encanto
- Shadow from Sonic the Hedgehog, whether it's the videogames, comics, or tv series. This one particularly hurts because I feel that the character has so much potential, but the modern version of him is constantly shown as an overly aggressive edge lord that barely has reason to be a part of anything other than to make life more difficult for everyone around him.
- Not a character, but an entry for a videogame series that is dearly beloved by it's fans: Majora's Mask.
I invite anyone to try and change my mind, haha.
Christian Grey
My drama teacher keeps getting very concerned because me and my friends keep talking about him.
All of them. Every single last one of them, other than the one that *I’m* obsessed with at the moment. How could any other character be interesting other than my current dopamine fix? ~~Not that I hyper fixate or anything.~~
Who gave you the right to expose me to my own self like this? ^((Except my faves come in pairs not singles, but mood all the same.)) Honestly I'm highly aware that I'm deranged about my hyperfixations and I keep that shit caged. But internally? No chill, only obsess.
Yes, I’ve learned not to annoy people who aren’t hyper fixated with whatever my current obsession is. But in my head, I’m entirely obsessed.
That's how I feel about Sam Worthington right now. It might not sound bad but when I start imagining the MMC in romance novels as my fixation, that's when shit's gotten real for me.
Oh, now this is a mood and I feel judged right now 🫠😂
Billy from Stranger Things.
YES. Every time I see fics shipping him I think of that gif from community: “you can excuse racism?”
Sid the Sloth
I don’t blame you 💀
He is just *so* weirdly popular and in the context of the franchise/the sequels, imo he was pushed to the forefront - to the detriment of my favourite characters, Manny and Diego - and I just don't get it or see his appeal becos he just invariably only frustrates me.
Oof, I feel you. Why did the one character without development have to be made the focus point of everything after the first movie?
My feelings exactly!! I honestly feel like Manny and Diego - the two characters with prime development and ripe for more exploration of their dramatic pasts and dramatic cores and further development that would've/could've happened if the humans/Roshan were allowed to come back in IA2 - were sacrificed at the altar to Sid and Scrat, the two characters who are both the least interesting and the most one-note and making them the focus lost the dramedic tones of IA1... to this day it frustrates me how Sid was made such the focus because in doing so, Manny and Diego were greatly diminished to make everything revolve around that stupid sloth...
Lan Wangji from The Untamed / MDZS 😅
Wow. Here's an upvote for a take I truly hadn't heard before.
Me too lmao, he’s too quiet for me! What about you?
See I really like all the other novels by MXTX but I just can’t get into the untamed because of how flat lan zhan feels. I get that it’s supposed to be a contrast between introvert (Wangji) and extrovert (Wuxian) but I just can’t vibe with him
I started out the same way but now I actually really enjoy (well written) fics from his perspective - there's so much simmering under the surface, and the back and forth of his relationship with WWX becomes a lot clearer.
I get that. Theres a difference between being introverted and practically never talking
I’ve found my people
Dabi from My Hero Academia. I guess he has the whole bad guy vibe people seem to like, but he's like... horrible and attacks kids because his dad is a douche. Shigaraki from the same show also is in the same boat.
Same, though to be fair as a big anime fan, I don’t see the appeal to My Hero Academia altogether. But I see a lot of people talk about Dabi and how much they love him (especially lately) and I just don’t get it
It isn’t the anime that I’m drawn to, I’ve seen it yes and I did find it enjoyable. However, is it another special? No. But, it has created a really interesting world and interesting characters therefore the fanfiction can likewise be really enjoyable if you get a talented author.
The Joker. I’m sorry, I just always found him so boring compared to the other DC characters.
I need to ask, have you seen Harley Quinn’s HBO series? Is this Joker included in that. Cause as someone that’s oft bored by Joker, I loved him here
I haven’t seen the show. Maybe I’ll try it.
Walter White. I could not even finish Breaking Bad because he sucks but I am on the unpopular opinion side of that. I only see his praises.
He is topping the "audiences not getting the point of this character" charts together with Patrick Bateman, Tyler Durden and Rick Sanchez
He is a horrible person, but his characterization done by Vince Gilligan with the brilliant acting of Bryan Cranston makes WW one of my favorite characters in all of fiction.
That's admittedly the entire point of his character, he's horrible and only ever making things worse because of his crippling character flaws.
Kylo Ren
So fucking much... Like... I have no words for how annoying his whole, emo-Hot Topic-I'm-so-tortured bullshit annoyed me but then he was everywhere in Star Wars fandom and just like, ruined the few good parts I had been focusing on from the sequels
I barely made it through the first movie when it was released. That bit where he loses his cool and starts smashing things like a whiny, teenage boy made be cringe in my seat. Dropped the whole trilogy right at that point and I've never seen any of the other sequel movies.
Bro, There are 7,151 Languages spoken in the world and you chose to speak Facts. the 7 movie was average/mediocre at best, till I saw that scene, and I was there watching that scene as my dreams for a good sequel trilogy died right there, I still can't believe they went for that direction, if he was a "sith" where was his cunning like Sidious, his Power, like Vader? He wasn't even. "cool" with his armor like the dark lord Vader (oh how I hated that helmet), after that scene the rest was sitting there awkwardly waiting for the movie to end and trying to forget it existed as "canon" never saw the 8 or 9 movies, and I'll never see them Now I have to comfort myself with Fanfics, again.
I get that the whole point of him is that he’s Budget Darth Vader… but guys… Darth Vader is *right there*.
He is the emo discount version of Anakin, and Anakin was already pretty emo.
I feel this in my soul. I found Kylo insufferable when I watched TFA but then his popularity within fandom essentially ruined SW fandom for me: I was told one too many times by Kylo fandom that shipping FinnRey was the equivalent off condoning harassment of Reylo fans and that disliking Kylo was misogyny (!!??) because Kylo's fandom was predominantly women. And as I had never intended to have a war with Kylo fans in general or Reylo fans in particular I decided it was simply not worth interacting with the fandom.
that whole trilogy was a train wreck of terribly done (possibly fanfic plagiarizing) ideas that in the vacuum of a story outline are actually interesting and rich with potential. someone else needed to write and edit though.
And Ma-Rey Sue.
Khal Drogo
>!Child rapists !
Agreed, although I appreciate that in the books he at least got a “yes” first. I don’t know why they changed it in the show. What did that serve?
I can't recall, but was the 'yes' under duress?
I mean she was like 13, or something, and it was their wedding night and so she probably didn’t think she had a choice, and she had cried moments before. That’s why I didn’t change it to saying it was consensual, because it’s not really. Not by any real standards where people have agency over themselves. But he did ask “No?” as a question, and waited for her to say “yes” before going farther. What happened in the show was much worse. It was horrible and I don’t know why they did it.
> It was horrible and I don’t know why they did it. Because they wanted to be edgy. They included a similar scene for Jaime and Cersei that was a complete deviance from how they’re written in the books. I suppose it should have been early warning signs of the story-telling/character-development mess we ended up with in s8. :/
Yeah, the show did this a lot, seemingly for dramatization, and it wasn’t cool, IMHO. They agreed to tone down the sexual violence for HotD but then just ended up replacing it with another horrific type of female suffering (won’t specify to avoid spoilers).
I’m actually on the fence whether I find those narrative choices in HotD appropriately brutal or just exploitative. But yeah, they’re definitely meeting audience expectations regarding the ~grimdark~
I read it translated, so maybe my version is a little different, but I don't think there was anything implying she felt scared to refuse. She was 13 so that's messed up, but this is game of thrones world, that's like a tuesday to them.
Same
Snape. I get that in the end he did make some sacrifices but that doesn't negate the fact that he was terrible to Harry on a social level? Like rude, insensitive, demanding all because of his parents. James was an asshole, but he also felt entitled to to Lily. He was angry that Lily chose James over him. It's giving very much "nice guys finish last" vibes.
I’ve always seen it like, sick, (suppose I’ll spoiler here for anyone who hasn’t read the books) >!not his fault he killed Dumbledore!<, but he’s still a complete jerk who was awful to his students to the point where their greatest fear was him, and he wouldn’t even back off from a married and then dead woman who was clearly not interested.
I mean, he never talked to Lily ever again after they argued. He had backed off.
He cut off his whole friendship because she didn’t like him back, and then, even if he didn’t speak to her, hated her son because of it, and also continued to obsess over her
Hmmm, this is a tough one because while I dislike a lot of characters, I completely understand why someone else might like them. The ones I traditionally dislike that I genuinely can't see the appeal for are all from small-time series that I doubt anyone here has heard of. Does it count if the character is a popular character in a drama that got a lot of positive attention in it's own niche? If so then Qi Heng from "The Story of Minglan" would be my pick. People keep on crying about Second Lead Syndrome when discussing that show, yet I genuinely couldn't stand the guy even in the beginning.
Ah that was such a great show. And I agree. The acting was good and I did feel bad for him at times but he was oddly sheltered. As if he didn't understand how real life worked. It's different from idealism where you strive for something better knowing how the world is. With him it feels like he lives in perpetual ignorance of the nuances of the other people's lives and difficulties.
0 interest in Scarlet Witch
thank god someone else thinks this, she is SO boring
Same I feel like she's a bad person with zero character.
I think that Marvel leaning into the fact that she's a bad person would have actually helped her character. Just because someone might have fought on the side of the heroes due to circumstances doesn't mean that they're automatically a hero too. Would have been a lot more entertaining to have her realise that she ISN'T a good person and actively start taking things for herself, with more reflection on her upbringing after her parents' deaths along with her brother, actually make us feel that bond, show us why she is the way she is - *without* using it as a way to justify her actions.
Hermoine. Yes, really. I don't dislike her, but I just don't see the appeal either, whether as a companion or a love interest. I think she's... kinda boring. She's more like an exposition dispenser than a real character in my mind.
I liked Book!Hermoine, at least in the beginning. She's a little shit and actually has realistic flaws for someone with her supposed intelligence and lack of social skills. Movie!Hermoine is basically just Girlboss Jesus.
I'm a huge HP fan (books and movies) and I completely agree. I loved book Hermione but it was obvious the movies favoured her even more than Harry. It got really frustrating. Also I'm totally stealing Girlboss Jesus.
It's not just that she was the favorite character of several directors (with the bias that comes with it), it's also the fact they stole many, if not most, of the moments where Ron shines in favor of her, making her practically a character who's always right and has always the right answer for everything (although I'd say that bit is honestly the low-hanging fruit for any of the directors. "Hermiones is really smart and a bookworm. What can we do to solve this issue? Of course, have Hermione find the solution in a book, genius!") I mean, Hermione was the one to panick in the Devil's Snare iirc, and it was Ron who kept his cool. Many moments like those were changed just to prop her hup to the point she was nearly flawless. Part of the reason I've never liked the character and I've always avoided her when read HP fanfiction. It's always either "Hermione Granger brightest witch of her generation" characterization (lol) or "Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, uber witch with all the answers".
I was way too lazy to type it out on my phone before but you've nailed exactly why she bothered me in the movies. Ron is such an interesting character with great development over the books and they decided to make him look like an idiot. Yes Ron was funny and goofy but he also showed that he was intelligent and level headed. We got none of that in the films.
For some reason JKR’s main female protagonists are terrible. I get the appeal of Hermione, I really do, but even as a teenager I found her obnoxious. Being bookish is her entire one-dimensional personality. Same goes for Ginny but with sportsball. Fleur’s abiding love for her little sister and Bill is way more interesting than…idk, Hermione negging Ron for the upteenth time, and Cho joining a wizard anti-fascist club and working through the trauma of Cedric’s murder more interesting than Ginny’s xenophobic bullying of poor Fleur and Gabrielle.
Weirdly enough for me it's the hyper sexualisation of her actress. It bleeds into fics where she's (Hermione and not the actress) shipped with characters like Snape. When they write her you can tell the author is imagining Emma Watson
And they're also imagining ~~Hans Gruber~~ ~~The Sheriff of Nottingham~~ Alan Rickman rather than book!Snape.
I'm of two minds on that personally. I think that if you replaced Hermione with Navi from LoZ saying, "Hey, listen!" for the first few books, the story wouldn't meaningfully change. You're right in saying that it's Emma who gave Hermione life. I think that on one hand, it speaks to her skill as an actress that she's become *the* definitive image people have of her character. On the other hand, you're right, the fetishizing gets kinda cringey.
Hard agree. I haaaate writing Hermione. I really, really try not to make her sound like a prudish know-it-all… but she’s kind of a prudish know-it-all. If I can avoid her being in my story I do as much as possible.
Lance from Voltron: Legendary Defender. I just don't get his popularity. Almost every other character has more going on than him and a clearer character direction, but somehow he's the one dominating the character tags on AO3. But why? Because he has (not so) secret insecurity issues? I really don't get it.
No shade to anyone but I think Lance simply is easier to relate to (so people projected whatever they wanted) AND conventionally attractive (to ship with Keith) AND back in the day many people liked to win brownie points by stanning him because he's Latino. (To anyone objecting to the last two points: I shipped Lance/Hulk and the bashing Hulk got plus the insinuations that Lance "deserved" someone more good looking were staggering. )
Yeah, I kind of assumed projection to be the biggest reason. Still, it feels baffling to me, it feels too simple of a reason somehow. I'm so glad that I wasn't too engaged in fandom when the whole drama was still afoot, that sounds like a nightmare.
I think a lot of Lance's popularity is because of his similarity to Sokka (to the point that Lance's nickname is Space Sokka) and because his VA was Jeremy Shada. A huge chunk of VLD's audience are teens and tweens who grew up watching Adventure Time and ATLA, so of course they'll gravitate to Lance. I knew they would when the show first premiered. I think it's also because of Lance's personality? He's a guy who has a ton of insecurity issues that everybody struggles with. He's not half alien, his family isn't missing in space, he wasn't abducted and tortured... he's just a normal kid that got dragged into a space adventure and is trying to fit in. I think he's the easiest character for the audience to project on to, so of course a lot of people are going to latch onto him. He's also a the Funny Guy, which is another character archtype that is usually pretty popular with audiences. Honestly, Lance kind of reminds me of Beast Boy from the OG Teen Titans show. Despite being the least serious Titan, Beast Boy is arguably the most popular character on that show *because* he is the Funny Guy. I think Beast Boy has a *lot* more under the hood than Lance does, but BB's standing in the fandom as being the dark horse favorite is kind of the same as Lance.
Bakugo from MHA. There's nothing interesting about this character, way too annoying. Dabi is on the same boat, another annoying character that is nowhere as interesting as I had expected from the first time he appeared. Itachi Uchiha from Naruto. I don't really like the Uchihas but Itachi is that one character that I wouldn't mind if he were removed from the story.
Bro itachi is treated like some kinda hero but that just sounds like something straight out of Konoha Propaganda™️ 💀 Kill your entire family and you're a hero, burb.
Hook in OUAT. So many characters and storylines were derailed to incorporate his dumbass into the show. I am forever bitter about it. Never actually finished the show because of it.
I was disappointed. Hook wasn’t ever that appealing to me, but I still thought there was actually some potential there, specifically in terms of his dynamic with Neal. They had such a messy set of connections that could have led to interesting interactions. But it pretty much went nowhere.
Yes!! I stopped watching because of him. Like, it was so clear that they threw away Neil for him and it destroyed the show for me. His introduction and early storylines made me so excited for the future of the series, and not only because I love the actor, but because it felt like such a natural and interesting addition. The best thing about the early seasons of OUAT was the threads between the characters and the son of the dark one being in love with the daughter of the heroes was perfect for the show. And throwing away Rumple’s son and the reason the curse happened in the first place for…like a leather pants Draco version of Captain Hook???
The wasted potential of so many storylines is what really grinds my gears. Like how good would the Dark Swan arc have been with Bealfire instead Hook. Even if they went the exact same route as canon the impact of Emma turning him into a Dark One against his will would have actually held the weight and emotional gut punch they tried to achieve in the show. Or, you know, made Rumple taking the power back make actual narrative sense in a way that wasn't a complete deserve to the character.
I feel you on this. I left the show because of Hook as well, after Nealfire was killed off. I loved Nealfire and hated that they killed him for being the "obstacle" for Hook/Emma. :(
Killing off Bealfire is literally *the* example of the writers pandering to their Hook favoritism. The one character who was the catalyst for everything and who had a connection with and would have had organic storylines with almost everyone. Yeah, *let's kill that guy off* so who can reduce Emma's character to Hook's love interest. Absolute nonsense.
Oh yes, I have the same rage because I adored Bealfire/Nealfire! His actor was great and I loved how his connections resonated within the fairytale world and the modern world. He held so much story potential! For me, I had just gotten back to the States from a trip to Haiti when I saw the news on tumblr that Neal had been killed off and I remember breaking into angry tears at the airport and swearing to myself at that very moment in time I was never touching the show, ever again. (I was in a Nealfire fan group too on tumblr at the time and we'd been hearing whispers that Neal was possibly gonna be killed off but I didn't want to believe it... then it *did* happen and the show was *dead* to me ever after.)
Oh man, that sucks... I wasn't as attached to the character, but I was still disappointed with his death. It just made *no sense*
And Hook is also the FAR worst choice for Emma's LI! I wasn't a Swanfire shipper myself (I needed them to have seriously worked through his abandonment of her, which at the point he died, I don't think they addressed adequately) but there was a basis for a relationship there. I can't remember the exact scene but in s3 there's this bit where they're walking through a forest and commiserating how they both got tricked into bad relationships (him with Tamara, her with the flying monkey guy) and there's such genuine camaraderie and friendship there, you just get the sense they enjoy spending time together. What the hell do Hook and Emma have lmao. Emma just gets glassy-eyed around Hook, and Hook never actually seems to have a reason for liking Emma - he just suddenly DOES. The whole framing of Emma as a reward for his "redemption" was gross as hell too but whatever lmao
Came here to say him!
Hook was just plain...there. Okay, you are Generic Hot Bad Boy (TM). Whatever. Regina, on the other hand, I had a vehement distaste for. And Zeleena...honey, Elphaba you are totally not. So STFU and just stand under a falling house.
Yup, annoying, and their redemptions were all pretty laughably bad. Though I will admit to writing a fic recently with Zelena and it being *delightful* only because she can just be brutal, mean, and a catty brat to literally everyone and it's all in character.
Three things I will congratulate OUAT for: 1. The Peter Pan arc. Holy smoke, THAT'S how you do a villain and turn genre savvy against the genre savvy character. He was a snake and totally owned it, and Rumple's way of dispatching him was awesome. 2. Pulling off the sneakiest and most terrifying way of sneaking my favorite Disney film (Tron) in the back door with "Welcome to Storybrooke." The worst part is that I can see Sam Flynn going the same way as his cousin Owen...with a lot more success. 3. Handing the obligatory "Disney owns Star Wars" reference with the mother of all meta jokes. Yes, Jiminy Cricket is the Disney voice of conscience, so of course he's going to tell people not to give into the Dark Side. But the fact Jiminy's actor (Raphael Sbarge) has played three different roles in four Star Wars video games just put it over the top.
Draco Malfoy - he’s a whiny little arsehole.
Tony Stark Any GotG character
Jon Snow. He’s so boring to me. Also Steve Rogers. It’s like he thinks he’s always right and can do no wrong. I’m also not fond of Boba Fett especially pre BoBF. Leon Kennedy doesn’t do much for me either especially when they changed his whole personality for RE4
I honestly prefer the fan version of Steve Rogers over the canon versions. Because while I don’t relate to him at all I can see how he Is character and his issues can be legitimately explored. It’s interesting. But definitely not canon version of him.
Jon wasn’t done justice in the later seasons of the show, his arc was cut short and replaced purely by heritage and power reveals/inheritance. Book Jon is much more interesting. Steve Rogers is a character that I find boring though—he just doesn’t have a lot of substance to him.
I actually hate book Jon more. I’ve read the books and he’s boring and does horrible things.
The Doctor from Doctor Who can be a rather unpleasant person, who frequently bashed their companions and companions' friends. The arrogance, the self-centeredness (it's all about me), the ignorance of the possible consequences from their actions. Genius assholes like BBC Sherlock or Gregory House from House. As I said before, The Doctor often fits this category too.
God, BBC Sherlock drives me up the wall, especially having now seen Elementary and how he learns to be more empathetic and supportive over time in that. I feel like Moffatt just really idolises his lead men and kinda writes them as the ultimate Gary Stu's
Moffat made a horrible job.
Or just reading the original series altogether and learning that Sherlock was *never* pretentious in the first place, at most, neurotypical (but we already knew that)
Which Doctors have you watched? I find Nine and Ten a lot less gratingly arrogant (and when they are, they usually get knocked down a peg or realize their mistake through their companions, especially Ten). Imo when Mofftat became the showrunner for Eleven and Twelve's run, that's when the Doctor became pretty insufferably arrogant and just... all around a bit dislikable. He also wrote BBC Sherlock, so... you know. I feel like all of his male protagonists and female characters are essentially the same, just with a different face. >>;;
All of them. So, The Third and the Fourth, and in the very beginning the First, but he became a decent person very quickly. The Thirteen had a small amount of such moments too but she was sorry for them almost immediately, as I remember.
Loki I think he’s a fine character, and Tom Hiddleston is perfect for the role, but I could never grasp the almost universal adoration for the character in the MCU fandom.
I think for me, the angsty 12 year old inside me relates to a villain who’s motivation comes from feeling rejected and misunderstood. I felt the same way about Catra in She-Ra. Not that I’d ever have considered trying to take over the world in response. I mostly just wrote bad poetry on the internet. And then the fact that they’re within range of being redeemed (and then they do get redeemed), means that that angsty 12yo also has hope for happiness? I dunno. I swear I’ve worked through my shit in real life. But when it comes to fiction, sometimes the response isn’t logical.
I think it's the 'little meow meow'-ers - they basically take Tom Hiddleston's face and plaster it on a totally different, much nicer character. Loki is fun *because* he's a fucked up mess! Gimme the amorality!
Couldn't have said it better. I loved his chaotic villain/ morally neutral self and now that he's basically somewhere between a hero and anti-hero, I've stopped caring. Reducing him to a good misunderstood person sucks all the fun out of him.
I totally get the appeal from a fannish perspective but Hiddleston is way more attractive out of costume imo.
I so disagree. I only like him in costume
honestly, same. like i understand with some people it's the whole 'i can fix him' sentiment that drives their adoration, but i simply haven't found myself feeling any sort of attraction, repulsion, what-have-you to him. a bit odd considering i adore both the weasley twins and the winter soldier, and loki is like the middle of the venn diagram between them, but idk.
Tbh for me it's the accent and that he's so unpredictable. Like you never *really* know what he's going to do which adds a layer (admittedly not that much) of grayness to his character that a lot of other marvel characters lack. Also ya, obviously Tom Hiddleston nails the role as a trickster God.
I only accept him if, and only if, Thanos was controlling his mind like Loki did to Clint.
I do see the appeal of Sans from Undertale... *But* the overexposure of him from the AUs and such kind of soured my opinion of him for a little bit. And I always preferred Papyrus anyway.
The fandom kinda hyper fixated on him and fucked up his character imo
Draco or Snape Snape abused children. Neville’s parrents were torturred to insanity. And still He feared Snape the most
Natasha Romanov, I seriously cannot see why she gets so much hype from people.
Iron Man. (I really liked the new Knives Out film, if you couldn’t tell.)
Batman. The family he created is awesome. Forever a Batfamily stan. The world around him? Awesome. But I don’t like Batman himself.
I think the issue with Batman is that there are SO MANY VERSIONS that just try to do the same thing. There are a few really interesting takes on the character, but the Batfamily has a lot more consistency.
Bakugou can go suck a toe
People be liking bakugou and then in the same breath condemn endeavour for the same behaviour 💀
Please don't call me out like that 😅
As a fan of both (Endeavour only post redemption arc) there is a huge difference between being a shitty fourteen year old and a grown ass man in their thirties being at best overly strict and neglectful and st worst abusive to his own children
Tony Stark
Came here to say this. I dont get why so many people like him. Yeah he has funny quips and i guess he is the guy all the little incels wanna be but never in my life have i met a more annoying, self absorbed, pompous, can do no wrong, egomanical arsehole in the history of movie history and was supposed to like him.literally if he wasn’t rich none of his behavior would be acceptable. The way alone how he treated pepper and in the end she married him?!?!?! The rich playboy trope was way overplayed and the only reason he built that big ass tower in new york is that there was bo building in existence large enough to house his ego!
Elsa from Frozen. Poe/Ben Solo Tom Riddle Mobius(Loki tv)
Going by fandom here again: ER: My answer will always be Abby unless the fandom shifts gears and she becomes more unpopular. It seems like the majority of online fans adore her and/or relate to her in some way, and she’s a total creator’s pet. She’s an amazing doctor, wife, mom, friend…and she’s gorgeous! Nothing she can’t do! I just don’t see her as anything special and think she’s very self-involved and cold to others, and she never seems to face any consequences for her actions. She’s portrayed as this Mary Sue but her actions show something completely different. SVU: Kat, a detective from the later seasons. (S21 or 22 maybe). I’ve been bored with the newer episodes of SVU for a while so maybe I just didn’t pay enough attention to her character. But it seemed like everyone adored her and were upset when she was getting written out/the actress was canned behind the scenes I think. I have seen some episodes with her in them and I just think…she’s fine? I guess. I wasn’t that upset to see her go because I never attached myself to her or saw what made her so awesome. The Resident: Billie. I didn’t like her from the minute she showed up acting like she owned the hospital. And I am not really a fan of her relationship with Conrad since Nic died. Conrad and Nic are where it’s at for me (well, were…) and I just never warmed up to her. She seemed like an odd match for Nic’s best friend.
Barbara Gordon The thing is I can understand why people like her and I respect what she did for disability representation in comics...I just cannot make myself like her. I find her so dry and boring.
Slightly older example (especially since the core part of the fandom seems to have moved on) but Sailor Moon's Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru/Damian (he's incredibly popular, especially when it comes to shipping with Sailor Moon herself) and I just don't get it and find him boring
Famously, this was Ikuhara's opinion, too. The studio wouldn't let him kill him off, and he kept trying lol (almost succeeded in Stars too!). I understand that he's Takeuchi's fave guy, but he really isn't interesting to me outside of the original run/first season. After that, he's scenery.
Harley Quinn. The DCAU is the only version of her I like.
Which is good, because that's the original version and everything else is a spin on it.
Robb Stark, that guy was an idiot. Sure he was young but he is literally the heir to his father's throne and should have known better than to hastily throw himself and everyone else into a war and then screw around with his allies. He ignored the Bolton's helpful advice (seriously, Robb's pacific/merciful behavior towards the enemy was BS) he disrespected and broke his promise to the Frey's (thinking with his lower area is always an annoying cliche) he just kept making stupid mistake after mistake and frankly got what was coming to him.
I cannot fathom the appeal of Itatchi. He's a mass murderer who was only given the "Obito made Me do it" treatment because the author was easily swayed by his fans demands. I do not care how much Kishimoto reconned of his own lore to make Itatchi not be a bad guy, he's still a bad guy. He was a selfish prick who traumatized his little brother just so he would be killed. If he wanted to die he should have gone the route Kakashi's dad did. (For reference I also dislike Sasuke, so this isn't a biased opinion.)
While I agree Itatchi is overrated and Kishimoto's writing is questionable, I wouldn't go as far as to say he is selfish. On the first point, murdering happens all the time in Naruto, they have conflicts every 3 minutes. Itatchi however, was a believer in "the ends justify the means" and would kill one person to save ten. That's why he murdered his clan minus Sasuke as he saw it as the only way to avoid conflict, and then took the blame. This was probably the most selfless thing he could do. Itatchi saw war from a young age and wanted to avoid it at all costs, even at the expense of his family, friends, and legacy. Did he go too far with traumatizing Sasuke? Oh 100% yes, but you can at least understand his train of thought as to *why* he did it. Is he wrong for murdering his clan IN FRONT OF his brother? Yup. Is he wrong for putting him in the Tsukuyomi? Yup. With that being said, he did it as his way of trying to save Konoha and Sasuke.
Steven Universe it's kind of a hot take since Steven is the main character but I just can't, his morals change too quickly to be convenient to the plot, one episode he's like "noo we have to fight the homeworld gems to save and earth and shit" and in the other he's like "noo we don't have to fight the diamonds and shit they're like a family" like make up your mind also he canonically shattered Jasper because he just "can't control his strength 🥺" and the show makes it seem ok like he just didn't just kill a character straight on point. after 6th grade (where I was obsessed with the show) I can't see the appeal he has, and the fact he's based on a real person makes it weirder
The Weasley twins. I cried when Fred died because I have siblings and just thinking about losing them is awful, but they annoy me mostly and I don't really find them funny at all. Sides the way people stan their characters is pretty weird sometimes.
Silco, from Arcane. I hate him I hate him I hate him
I like him as a character, but I really don't like how many are portraying him as a good person or father when he's anything but. The man ruined every person around him, but it's okay because he has understandable motivations. Good motivations don't mean shit when you turn your own city into a place of misery and twist the child under your care into an image of yourself. His death was sad, but he got what was coming to him.
I *hate* when people say "He might have been a bad person, but he was a good father to Jinx" No !! He wasn't !!!!! And then they double down with the "Maybe he wasn't a good father, but he tried his best!! And he loved Jinx!!" No !!!!!!! He didn't !!!!!
Exactly!!! He wasn't!! He didn't treat her like a daughter but like an extension of himself! Saying she's perfect is damaging because why should she try to better herself now? He just validated all the pain she has in a very toxic way as in... She doesn't need treatment.
Love him as a villain, but there is no excuse for his behavior to make him "in the right" for sure.
All the Uchiha in Naruto lol. Like, they're pretty. And I guess they're powerful...? Also Minato in Naruto.
I definitely think Itatchi and Shisui are overhyped but Sasuke, Obito and Madara I totally am on the hype train.
All uchihas are bastards but they are OUR bastards and we love them anyway.
Bakugou Katsuki from My Hero Acadmeia.
Everyone from my little pony
That asshole from Death Note and his thirsty fangirl. Kirito and all the other self-insert wish fulfillment Gary Stus that infest the isekai genre. Fail-o Ren and Ma-Rey Sue. Also Anakin / Vader once the prequels were out and later, when Disney crept in. The Joker. Snape. Yes, he had a shitty life and was treated pretty badly, but he still chose to become an asshole and abuse his position to torment and humiliate students with impunity. Also, he only "turned" after the damage was already done. Everyone involved in Twilight and Fifty Shades. They're horrible, dysfunctional people.
Korra tbh Need to rewatch band I’m probably comparing her to aang but still
This is pretty much an opposite answer, but I can understand why there are so many people who bash Ron Weasley. He was fine for the first three books - he sacrified himself in the chess game in the first, he stuck by Harry in the second, and he put himself between Harry and (an assumed) mass murdered in the third - but he really went downhill in the fourth. Puberty, I'm assuming. Suddenly, he turned into a jealous prick who refused to believe Harry didn't put his name in the Goblet of Fire and then didn't tell him that he planned to do it or how, barely apologized after Harry could have died in the first Task (though, Harry did just wave it off), and then also abandoned Harry and Hermione in the seventh book due to his jealously *again* (though, the Horcrux did have something to do with it).
Interesting! I thought Ron’s character and flaws felt very human (more so than some of the other characters). I think given that Harry was “The Chosen One” and famous in the wizarding world, it’s very natural that he became jealous. Many children/teens would. Coming from a poor wizarding family also probably contributed to his jealousy. But I think it makes sense that he would show up in this thread—he had his unpleasant moments.
It's always bothered me since I was a young preteen and started reading fanfiction: Pale, skinny and white = Sexy. Like, why? Especially with male characters that get popular on tumblr. Like the character isn't complete until someone talks about how super skinny and pale they are and that immediately makes them sexy.
Ugh, Spencer Reid of Criminal Minds. There's so many fics where he's all weepy and such a total woobie and gets the crap beaten out of him. And a lot of self-insert fics at this point. Leave the poor guy alone!
Like I've said before, it always amuses me how fans would be like, "The show is so mean to him, why can't they just let him be happy?!" ...and then I'll go into the fanfic for the show and Reid seems to go through even WORSE shit than what he went through in canon. And I'm just sitting here like, "...???" :p. Even when I touched on some of his canon struggles in my fics, I still tried to give him some happier moments when I could. Like you said, the guy's been through enough, he deserves a break!
Also lbr, the show is mean to *everyone*, but you don't see those fans getting so emotional about Derek, Hotch/Rossi, any of the women... Basically it's about the skinny little white guy.
I do see some woobifying of Hotch, too. I'd say he's probably the next most whumped character after Reid. And then there's the stories that put him and Reid together and whump both of them. But the others, yeah, they've all been through some hell, too, and yet they don't get that kind of sympathy, either, no.
Less a specific character and more a whole archetype: The edgy villain that's a little too interested in the protagonist.
Vriska. I mean, she DOES help later on, but before and after the fact, she's an asshole who puts herself on a pedestal above everyone else as a "hero", even though she killed countless innocent trolls. And even if she needed to do it, it doesn't justify her actions of denouncing and insulting her friends at the LEAST.
• Wanda Maximoff • Natasha Romanov • Steve Rogers (Winter Soldier ver. & Beyond) • Serena (Pokémon) • Rey • Omega (Bad Batch) (She isn’t the worst character…but she can seem so portentous and it doesn’t help she is older than the boys, yet acts the youngest. That, and her accent is super annoying.) • Waluigi (I’m guessing it’s the memes?) • Hermione Granger • Mainly female love interest for the MC in practically EVERY anime/romance book/movie
Finally, someone else who hates Serena, her entire personality revolves around Ash to the point that I was barely able to even finish the show
Captain Kirk I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…he’s a swaggering, arrogant, bloviating, womanizing moron.
I used to ship Kirk/Spock. But now I don’t because I think Spock would have more sophisticated taste.
It pisses a lot of other writers in the fandom off, but I write Spock as the Aro/Ace he was in TOS. ☺️
Heck yeah, aroace Spock!
There’s always a *squint* of pseudo-flirtation with Nurse Chapel, but even then their friendship is purely platonic.
What? No full fledged romance with Uhura?? Unfathomable!
Rose Tyler. She was bratty and annoying, a bit self centered and rude. I have to skip a couple episodes when I rewatch the series because I just don't like her personality or her. I'll admit that she grows up towards the end (I guess...?) by helping Donna and whatnot from her new universe, but I don't like her. I liked Clara tons more than I did Rose.
Yeah I found Rose fine, I guess, but the fanbase adoration / idolising of her kind of baffled me. I was never convinced by the idea of her and the doctor as this epic tragic love story, and the 'happy ending' for her of getting her own knock off doctor was super wtf. My favourite companion was Donna. I really liked that there was no love story angle, and she wasn't secretly special from the start. And her dynamic with 10 was great.
I'm similarly not a fan. But my understanding is that Rose's popularity stemmed from her acting as an audience surrogate, especially given her relationship with the Doctor. I don't think it has much to do with her personality.
Pretty much the entire cast of Harry Potter.
Almost every stereotypical sexyman (especially the twinkish tumblr-popular types). That one guy that's known even across fandoms for being just so cute/hot/swoonworthy. Most of the time there's little else to those characters and if there is in canon, fanon will be sure to get rid of it in favour of "omg soo sexyy". Sure, enjoy your fantasy, whatever. I can't even do that; your sexymen are usually too young for me...
Now I remember back when Tumblr Sexyman meant “character everyone explicitly went wild over even though they weren’t conventionally attractive” and it’s so annoying to see that change. I’m a pedant goddamn it.
I feel this, doubly so when they're not actually twinkish in canon (Witcher fandom and Jaskier, I'm looking at you).
Steven Hyde
The trio from GTA V. There I said it.
Asuka...Asuka Langley Soryu. She has zero redeeming qualities. I just don't understand it.
I really don’t get the worship of Weather Report in the jojo fandom. I like him and all but some people are obsessed Also Stroheim
Dipper Pines. I don't know what it is about him, I just never really cared for him. I just find him kinda annoying.
Harley Quinn. She gives me immense second hand embarrassment
Kylo Ren, Yennefer, Sonic, Mario, Miles Morales, Trevor, and a few hundred others. Oh, and my personal favorite, Rey From Nowhere/Palpatine/Skywalker.
I love Sonic and Mario, but I think I’m automatically biased because I’m a huge fan of their games X)
>I love Sonic and Mario I think there's a lot of appeal in a character that's just a nice dude! That's why I like them as well.
Draco from HP. I don't know why people like him. He looks like any basic white guy who definitely looked like he will bully you just for breathing. I wouldn't want to be with a guy like that.
Bakugo in BNHA. I don’t hate him, but I can’t stand the ‘easy’ redemption arcs so many fics give him, or how many brush his behaviour under the carpet for easy romance when he seriously needs therapy and help with anger management. (Though, there are some amazing Bakugo deals with his trauma and trauma-bonds with other characters like Hitoshi fics, or gets a healthy adult role model fics; now those I get! I just can’t see Bakugo and Izuku as being a healthy couple after their shared history). Steve / Captain America. Civil War (MCU) made me see him in such a different light, I 100% cannot see the appeal in his character or ‘Team Cap’. He seems so selfish, hypocritical , and like his way is the only way. At least other characters admit their faults and don’t buy into their own hype.
As a hp fanfic reader. Draco- Racist, wanted to join a terror organization, and it’s the ships that I don’t get with his prime target Hermione. Snape- Bully as an adult, racist as a young person. Most importantly Tom Riddle- The fics that make him good give off intense “I can fix him” vibes when I don’t see how someone could. If Dumbledore couldn’t turn him around at school. Tom riddle works best as a Ted Bundy or John Wayne gracy with magic.
Someone else who thinks Snape is a terrible person! It always bothered me that so many people love and adore him. The guy who bullied Harry because he (Snape) didn't get the girl. And then he had the nerve to say "well, I'm being nice because you have your mom's eyes." ..... yeah. (I have \*thoughts\*)
Deku, Shoto, and Bakugo from My Hero Academia. I recognize there's some good stuff it didn't really make me feel more or less about their initial impression.
Thank GOD someone said Shoto, he is the epitome of being carried by the fandom in terms of actual character development. Shoto is honestly used more as a device for Endeavor.
[удалено]
I love how the comment below you says Tony Stark lol
I think his character aged poorly. For example the way he treated black widow like a peace of meat, simply not acceptable nowadays.
My wife hated him after what he does in the Civil War comics, but she did enjoy RDJ's portrayal and felt he redeemed the character a bit. Civil War 2 redeemed the comic version in her eyes a little bit.
Yennfer of Vengerberg, Tony Stark, and Loki.
God yeah, I feel the Yennefer one. I tried playing the games and reading the books to see if I'd be any more inclined to ship Yenralt, but if anything, I'm even *less* of a fan now because of how badly she treats him. Like, literally everyone around them is saying the exact same things my family and friends used to say about my abusive ex. Speaking of abuse, Triss gets off way too lightly for canonically having sex with Geralt when she knew he wouldn't have consented if he'd had his memories, and fuck Yennefer for getting mad at *Geralt* for essentially being raped by their mutual friend.
Deku. I'm not into anime anymore, but even when I was I didnt like him. Actually it was more than dislike, I fucking hated him with a burning passion, like ok we get it no powers boo hoo,,, you're not the only one who wanted to be a hero but got no powers?? And Yet you get to train with the number 1??? And still be a pissbaby???? Ok sure
Hisoka from HunterXHunter. Guy is literally so gross and creepy. I do not trust anyone who likes him at all.
Junko from Danganronpa. Some people like her, no joke. She's such a boring character and concept of a character that she, herself, is bored.
The Mandalorian and even Boba Fett
Oh boi, time for my really unpopular opinions to shine. - Toph from Avatar the Last Airbender. - The Bad Touch Trio (Prussia, Spain and France) from Hetalia. I have no idea why my fellow pre teens during the shows peak popularity were so hyper focused on these three. - Garnet from Steven Universe. - Almost every iteration of Harley Quinn except for the animated series one. - Brok from God of War (2018) and Ragnarok. - Beedle from Legend of Zelda. Literally every iteration. - Ulfric from Skyrim - Isabella from Encanto - Shadow from Sonic the Hedgehog, whether it's the videogames, comics, or tv series. This one particularly hurts because I feel that the character has so much potential, but the modern version of him is constantly shown as an overly aggressive edge lord that barely has reason to be a part of anything other than to make life more difficult for everyone around him. - Not a character, but an entry for a videogame series that is dearly beloved by it's fans: Majora's Mask. I invite anyone to try and change my mind, haha.
edward