Characters you love that everyone seems to hate.

[Casual Shinji]

Well I don't hate the entire cast of NGE, and a lot of people do. I don't "love" them, but I understand why they are the way that they are, and don't think that not being completely right in the head is "wrong" considering the vast majority of the species is dead, and they are only ever a moment away from possible extinction. Some seem to hate them simply for not being the normal cool headed, light hearted roguish protagonists that make up most series based around such things.

Yeah, Evangelion has gotten a lot of hate recently. Some... deservedly, if we're talking running out of money and the budget going ptttthth, and I can't speak for the new movies, but I have noticed that people who have gone through depression seem to "get it" a bit more than those who don't. To those who haven't it seems to come across as whiny and they don't understand why, let's say Shinji, can't just get up get over himself and do something - or even why it would go against the point if he did. The lack of empathy is astounding to me, though I'll admit, I didn't start understanding the series until I had postpartum depression for a good chunk of time. So usually when I see people going on about what a protagonist should be or do I tune out. That's not so easy, and not everything fits into a neat little box.

The odd thing is that generally speaking both the people who like Shinji and who hate him are all kind of right. The most common argument you'll hear against Shinji is that he's surrounded by hot chicks and pilots an awesome super robot, yet still he whines. And that's in essence what it's all about: When you're depressed and have zero faith in yourself, it doesn't matter how many people love you or how seemingly great your life is. You could be the richest man alive, loved by the whole world, but if you can't love or accept yourself, all of that means nothing.

There's more than enough people in the real world that have everything going for them, yet are misserable with themselves. And many of them will have people telling them "You have so many things going for you, why can't you just be happy?"

 

[Yuno Gasai]

I love Claptrap, but apparently I'm in the minority. A lot of people I know hate him. :c

Also.. I quite like Joffrey from Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice & Fire. I don't agree with a lot of the decisions he makes, but he's actually a really interesting guy. Or maybe I'm just morbidly fascinated by him and his motives.

 

[Lieju]

He is like my second favourite immortal gun-wielding rollerskating hedgehog ever!
I do have a soft spot for hilariously 'cool' characters, but I unironically like Shadow.

I like Sonic adventure 2 a lot, and I always liked Shadow's colour-scheme and way of movement more than Sonic's.

I think it's the overall writing in Sonic-games being what it is (and so making it better by comparison)or maybe I just got into the flow of it, but I think his story is tragic.
It's not well-written, but I can't say I dislike for example his storyline in Sonic 2006.


EDIT: Also I need to mention Ashley from RE4. I don't really love her, but I do like her. She was a normal teenager who acted like a normal teenager in that situation, and I liked escorting her around. You could always tell her to hide in a dumpster, she didn't have issues with pathfinding and she'd stay where I told her to, know how to duck if she was in the way of my gun, and her getting hit wasn't a one-hit kill.

I actually like escort missions, if done right.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I like Tidus from FFX. I think Spoony popularized the hate and now it just runs rampant through the interwebsphere. The voice acting was terrible yes, and the clothes are stupid, and he looks like Meg Ryan yes, but dang it I still like the little ditz, especially by end game where it does indeed become his story. I like him a lot more than all the emo guys/gal leads in FF games, that's for sure.

Your turn!

Yeah I also like Tidus, he starts irritating but he gets better as the game goes by... by the end I was fully invested in his journey and that ending made me tear up a bit.

 

[balladbird]

I like emo characters.

Wait, that's misleading by it's very nature. allow me to rephrase: I like characters that are often called "emo" because they failed to live up to the standards of masculinity the gaming crowd (bronzed Adonises all) set for them. That is to say, if you're not a character who sweats and bleeds testosterone, whose only reaction to being tied to a chair and forced to watch as his every friend and loved one was dismembered limb by limb was to growl a guttural promise of revenge before roaring into battle, then you're emo.

So yeah, Cloud Strife is okay in my book. Squall's a tad more ridiculous, but he still gets a pass too. Aww heck, come on over here, Raiden. "Love" is a strong word in all those cases, but I seem to have a much higher tolerance for them than gaming at large does.

But a special shout out goes to Edge Maverick from Star Ocean IV. A horrible game, populated by horrible characters, and damn straight he was one of them, but he forever earned my sympathy after I saw fandom react to a scene that takes place about halfway in. Not to spoil, but he does a really bad thing. a really really bad thing that results in quite a few deaths... like, 9-10 digits worth of deaths. Once the gravity of what his decision has wrought sinks in, he becomes self destructively and totally depressed, and since this is not at all how any gamer would react to this situaition, you can imagine fandom reaction.

"Stop being an emo p***y, edge!"
"If everyone got depressed just because they killed a few billion people, no one would do anything."

the necessary arc of the story in which Edge grappled with the PTSD and guilt associated with involuntary murder at a staggering scale was forever dubbed the "emo Edge" arc, and became a favorite part of the game to point out when talking about how badly it sucked. (which wasn't fair, because the rest of the game was far more meritorious)

I mean, the drama wasn't very well done, but jesus. XD

 

[Chaos Isaac]

He is like my second favourite immortal gun-wielding rollerskating hedgehog ever!
I do have a soft spot for hilariously 'cool' characters, but I unironically like Shadow.

I like Sonic adventure 2 a lot, and I always liked Shadow's colour-scheme and way of movement more than Sonic's.

I think it's the overall writing in Sonic-games being what it is (and so making it better by comparison)or maybe I just got into the flow of it, but I think his story is tragic.
It's not well-written, but I can't say I dislike for example his storyline in Sonic 2006.


EDIT: Also I need to mention Ashley from RE4. I don't really love her, but I do like her. She was a normal teenager who acted like a normal teenager in that situation, and I liked escorting her around. You could always tell her to hide in a dumpster, she didn't have issues with pathfinding and she'd stay where I told her to, know how to duck if she was in the way of my gun, and her getting hit wasn't a one-hit kill.

I actually like escort missions, if done right.

I have to say something here. As someone else who likes Shadow, his character was only good in Sonic Adventure 2. He had a nice little story arc and when it ended, and he died at the end. It should have stayed that way.

Just about every appearance he's had since has had the same stupid fucking maria and am I real repeat fucking story for him. Or, otherwise, he's just kinda there and filling up space.

Anyways, going onto my list: Dante from the original DmC trailer where he smoked. I liked the white tuft of hair that seemed like it was his natural color and he was dying it. Iunno, it fit more and had a greater discrepancy from the old Dante who accepted it, and has just kinda done along the entire time with it.

I'm neutral about the new Dante. He just didn't really have much of a character, he just kinda went with it. Yeah, he's a bit of a smartass, but Vergil's heelturn and Kat just didn't have the same spice as Vergil's momentary assistance in DMC3 and Lady's straightwoman/tough girl act.

Cloud: Guy's not emo. He's living a fucking lie he's not even aware of. There is genuine dramatic shit lying in there, and Cloud isn't really a emo kinda guy. He's just more... of a dead man walking, if you feel my drift. This also makes Tifa a pretty friggin' awesome supporting character who kinda stole the show. (The adorable, and amazing, slapfight scene sealed the deal.)

Ashley: You guys are right. She's a pretty decent character in RE4. And escorting her wasn't tedious really, maybe like one scene, but you have much more of a sense she's vulnerable then say, god you have to escort in Infinite.

Oh, i'm sorry? Did I say God? I mean Elizabeth.

 

[Terminate421]

He has plenty of personality people, just because he doesn't talk about his favorite cereal or that time he did something and had fun doesn't make him a person without any personality what-so-ever.

 

[Misterian]

I like Princess Celestia from MLP:FiM.

In almost all her appearances, she's shown to be a wise and kind (if slightly eccentric) monarch.

Why SOME PEOPLE here think she's a troll, tyrant, sexual deviant, or anything else that's bad is beyond me.

I also like Rarity for reasons I will quote from one of my previous posts;

To me, she's likeable in the sense that she's nice, classy, and (hence her Element) generous while also often prone to making mistakes and occasionally giving in to her vices, which to me makes her one of the most three-dimensional and identifiable of the entire show's cast. We can relate to being, or wanting to be good people yet still encounter moments that put us into serious temptation or test our patience to our limits, and I can't think of a better character than Rarity to spotlight what it means to be in those situations.

 

[Furrama]

I like Princess Celestia from MLP:FiM.

In almost all her appearances, she's shown to be a wise and kind (if slightly eccentric) monarch.

Why SOME PEOPLE here think she's a troll, tyrant, sexual deviant, or anything else that's bad is beyond me.

I also like Rarity for reasons I will quote from one of my previous posts;

To me, she's likeable in the sense that she's nice, classy, and (hence her Element) generous while also often prone to making mistakes and occasionally giving in to her vices, which to me makes her one of the most three-dimensional and identifiable of the entire show's cast. We can relate to being, or wanting to be good people yet still encounter moments that put us into serious temptation or test our patience to our limits, and I can't think of a better character than Rarity to spotlight what it means to be in those situations.

I think those two are pretty well liked in ponydom. Rarity's been on the butt end of bad writing lately, ( I miss the Faust, yes), along with no spotlight, but she still stars in a couple of the best episodes the series has to offer. As far as Celestia, I think for the most part people are just poking fun. She has ambiguous motives and rules pretty much everything, and while I think she's supposed to be that mentor character who is good and right and whatnot she's just too big of a target, for speculation and humor.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Most characters that people say are whiny and mopey I end up liking. I mean there are some that get on my nerve, but most of the time I can empathise with them. Biggest example would be, of course, Shinji Ikari from Evangelion. WHile I don't agree with all his actions, I can empathise with him. I can see where he's coming from and why he'd think the way he does.

Another would be Madoka Kaname from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, who is one of my favorite characters. I'm not sure if she's hated or not, but she's not really favored compared to the other characters in the show. Yeah, she tends to cry and mope a lot, but there's something commendable I find about her. She's aware that she's a weak, cowardly character who has no faith in herself, but she always tries her best to help her friends, even if things don't go the way she wants it to. I've always said that she's a magical girl protagonist that wants to be like every other magical girl protagonist, but constantly fails at it.

Also, Shu Ouma from Guilty Crown. Not that he's one of my favorite characters or anything, but I honestly don't get the vile hatred most people have with him. To me, he's one of the most unluckiest characters I've seen in an anime, in that...

Spoiler

...he goes through so much shit, loses friends, is betrayed by them and all his classmates, loses an arm, and loses his love interest at the end, as well as become blind, all while saving the world from a virus, and he's never rewarded for his actions and suffering. In fact, he ends up with far less than what he started out with, and seeing him in the state he is at the very end I find kinda depressing. Hell, he doesn't even keep his void power, so he really didn't gained anything from his journey, yet at the end he seems happy, which I'm both admired and frustrated by. I thought Guilty Crown overall was okay, but if I'm gonna praise it for anything, it's for taking an otherwise traditional storyline into a slightly harsher direction than I originally expected.

 

[tabristhegreat]

Ashley Williams from Mass Effect. I hear people ***** and moan about her being a space racist and xenophobe. To me, that not only misses the fact that she is not so much "racist" as "uneasy about instantly trusting other species", but the fact that she only feels that way because of her family name being blacklisted for the actions of her grandfather during the Shanxi Conflict, and the fact that over the course of the three games, she develops as a character to get past those biases.

To me, anyone who hates Ashley Williams for being a space racist should be compelled to do the same for Tali, since they have the exact same character flaw (just replace "other species" with "the geth"), and the exact same character development. Other than Tali rejoining the crew in ME2 while Ashley didn't, but...well, Ashley kinda had a point if you look at it from her point of view, and even Tali was unsure at first.

\

So much this. From the get go I kind of got what Ash was saying...she's not a racist and has decent reason to not trust aliens. Tali on the other was far more racist, it was always GETH ARE ALL EVIL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM" in back in ME1 when she went on about loosing her homeworld I kind of sat there thinking "well yeah but you kinda tried to murder them all" I never once felt sympathy for the quarians.

Depending on where you go in the bioware fandom Aveline gets a lot of hate which I plain just don't understand. She is my all time favorite character in DA and one of the best female game characters I can think of. I liked that she would often roll her eyes whenever Hawke was being a dumbass without getting too preachy plus her personal quest is one of my favorites.

 

[Lieju]

I have to say something here. As someone else who likes Shadow, his character was only good in Sonic Adventure 2. He had a nice little story arc and when it ended, and he died at the end. It should have stayed that way.

Just about every appearance he's had since has had the same stupid fucking maria and am I real repeat fucking story for him. Or, otherwise, he's just kinda there and filling up space.

I agree, actually.

Although his story-arc in Sonic 2006 isn't like that. It's not good writing, but I can't help liking it. The plot of Sonic 2006 in general is very interestingly awful for me.

But I genuinely liked Shadow's story in it.

Tha bad guy shows him the future where humanity has turned against him because they are afraid of him, and tells him to join him.

And then Shadow just goes 'No' without a second thought and accepts that if that's something that ends up happening to him, then it does.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

A lot of people I know hated Carth from the original KotOR and I just never got that. To me he is perfectly justified in not trusting others after his mentor blows his planet and his family to kingdom come. One of the only people who he trusted before this happened up and took everything he cared about. He is one of my favorite characters in the game (though not my favorite character).

 

[Frybird]

Felix Gaeta from Battlestar Galactica

Many people didn't like him for being a bit of a suck-up or because he usually tends to side with Baltar when possible in the first two seasons.
But it seems everyone really hated him by the time in Season 4 when he...

Spoiler

...stages a mutiny and gets executed for it

Well, i love this character.
Despite being very much on the edge and constantly disillusioned, he maintains a strong sense of loyalty, a calm exterior, and a strong sense of morale.

Spoiler

Too bad for him that he constantly gets the short end of the stick and ends up being disliked for things he didn't do (quite the opposite in fact) and as the s**t stacks up for him, he eventually breaks.

But even in his "fall from grace", he remains mostly reasonable and honorable, and even his motives for the mutiny feel somewhat justified...not that anyone cares, except for Baltar.

He's a great tragic character who shows that even when you tend to do the right thing, fate can still break you.

 

[WolfCross]

I really like Cloud Strife and still do...though have found Squall a bit less tolerable with repeat playings (really liked him to begin with)

Raiden also got a huge pass for me, i realise even people that 'got' MGS2 subsequently didn't want it, which is fine, but personally i liked the idea of Raiden and how Kojima pulled it off in-game.

Anyways by the looks of this thread not exactly ground breaking choices, but i've kept to games solely to keep my head from popping whilst trying to consider all the books, t.v., films etc that may have had less than popular characters that i personally liked..

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Witcher 2 Spoilers

Spoiler

King motherfucking Henselt!

I cannot tell you how much I love this character. His appearance, his personality, the strong/ruthless king aura he throws off flawlessly. Ahh man, I just love him. I think he is very well written as well, and has an interesting decision to make for players who take Roche's path. Kill him, and gain revenge for Roche and Ves? But doom the North's hopes of withstanding Nilfgaard's onslaught. Or let him live, and allow the North to retain its strongest ruler and best chance of obtaining any kind of victory.

Besides, you gotta love a king that will join a battle in the frontlines alongside his men. He was similar to Foltest in that regard. Definitely not the cowardly type.

 

[Nouw]

Skylar from Breaking Bad. She behaves like a normal person when their significant other starts acting up, gets cancer for that matter too, and it's rather baffling to see people still hating on her even during Season 5 considering the justification for her actions only grow stronger and stronger as Walter gets darker and darker.

The odd thing is that generally speaking both the people who like Shinji and who hate him are all kind of right. The most common argument you'll hear against Shinji is that he's surrounded by hot chicks and pilots an awesome super robot, yet still he whines. And that's in essence what it's all about: When you're depressed and have zero faith in yourself, it doesn't matter how many people love you or how seemingly great your life is. You could be the richest man alive, loved by the whole world, but if you can't love or accept yourself, all of that means nothing.

There's more than enough people in the real world that have everything going for them, yet are misserable with themselves. And many of them will have people telling them "You have so many things going for you, why can't you just be happy?"

That's deep man ㅇㅅㅇ. Never thought of it from that perspective.

 

[bug_of_war]

EDIT: Also I need to mention Ashley from RE4. I don't really love her, but I do like her. She was a normal teenager who acted like a normal teenager in that situation, and I liked escorting her around. You could always tell her to hide in a dumpster, she didn't have issues with pathfinding and she'd stay where I told her to, know how to duck if she was in the way of my gun, and her getting hit wasn't a one-hit kill.

I actually like escort missions, if done right.

I think Michael Jones puts it best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6gLxdwoEGc


OT: This badass right here:

Everyone says he's too serious/angry, yet they seem to forget WHY he is.

 

[Frybird]

Skylar from Breaking Bad. She behaves like a normal person when their significant other starts acting up, gets cancer for that matter too, and it's rather baffling to see people still hating on her even during Season 5 considering the justification for her actions only grow stronger and stronger as Walter gets darker and darker.

I agree, but at the same time...it's fiction, and it's about an anti-hero (at least, the first seasons)...and while her being normal and reasonable and such that makes her still an "opponent" of sorts. Seeing her spoiling the "fun" in a TV show is different from how most people would percieve the situation IRL. (After all, Jesse, of all people, is in many eyes the "new hero" in later seasons, despite that he did and still does awful stuff...Hell, i for one like Gus for how sucessful, well-spoken and precise a DRUG DEALER he is)

For me, it doesn't help that she had been already naggy and controlling from the start (also, I.F.T., and everything revolving around that)...but that said, i can symphatize with her more since she is in on what Walter does and properly articulates where she stands and how she worries for her family and herself.

Captcha: goody two shoes
...well, in Breaking Bad, no one really if you think about it.

 

[Frybird]

The odd thing is that generally speaking both the people who like Shinji and who hate him are all kind of right. The most common argument you'll hear against Shinji is that he's surrounded by hot chicks and pilots an awesome super robot, yet still he whines. And that's in essence what it's all about: When you're depressed and have zero faith in yourself, it doesn't matter how many people love you or how seemingly great your life is. You could be the richest man alive, loved by the whole world, but if you can't love or accept yourself, all of that means nothing.

...Well, and let's not forget the obvious stuff.

Shinji pilots an awesome super robot that causes him massive amounts pain, is surrounded by hot chicks that are weird and broken in thier own ways and is generally a young kid who has been dragged into a semi-military life with the burden of MILLIONS of lives upon his shoulders.

I wouldn't like to be directly responsible for even a DOZEN of lives, no matter how awesome a super robot i get to pilot. And i'm an adult.

That said, i don't really like him either ^^