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=== DC ===
* Superboy-Prime is a funny case in that the authors hate him personally, but like using him. He's their concentrated embodiment of the [[Straw Fan]] arguing that [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]], and is every bit as overpowered and irritating as a [[Fix Fic]] protagonist who destroys everyone's lives to [[Esoteric Happy Ending|make things go the way they "should]]." Those who see the insult and fit it are, of course, pissed. Those who see the insult and don't fit it are ''really'' pissed. Those who don't see or care about the insult [[Plot Tumor|wish he would stop interrupting the plot]] or at least [[Superpower Lottery|lose a little power]].
** They may have gotten the message after ''[[Countdown to Final Crisis]]'', which proved how poorly he was written ''because'' of the insult. ''[[Blackest Night]]'' seems to have tried to take steps to [[Rescued
* Danny Chase from [[The DCU|DC Comics]]' ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|New Titans]]'' was universally loathed by fans within a few issues of his first appearance. He was a [[Cousin Oliver]] (he even ''looked'' like the original Cousin Oliver) introduced to make the team seem younger, as he was only in his early teens while everyone else was pushing 20. Despite his age, he constantly argued with the other members of the team, criticized them, was supposed to be a genius superspy teenager with telekinetic powers, but then totally went crazy with fear whenever an actual fight took place. The only person who didn't seem to grasp how loathed this character was was writer Marv Wolfman who, to this day, still insists it was the readers' fault for not "getting the character".
** As a tip, in a series about costumed superheroes with codenames, whose fans presumably enjoy reading about costumed superheroes with codenames, having a character who continually goes on about how lame costumes and codenames are and how he's too cool for a costume or codename probably isn't going to go down too well.
** It also hurt that Marv Wolfman had no idea how to write a telekinetic to complement the Titans' diverse power set. Chase's powers were mainly shown to be (at best) extremely limited: at best he could levitate himself (but only while sitting Indian style) and throw small objects around at bad guys to annoy them. Jean Grey he wasn't; this combined with his wussy behavior during combat, made him practically useless in battle. As bad as Cypher was power-wise, at least he had training in hand-to-hand combat and was willing to take a bullet for his teammates when necessary.
*** Cypher was also a nice guy who got along well with all his teammates and provided emotional support, while Danny was... not. Protip for DC: having a character be genuinely likeable within the comic often helps him be likeable to the readers of the comic.
* When [[Armed
** ''[[JLA
*** While you might think the comic is making a good point, the problem is more how EVERYONE talks about how Batman (and just Batman, other tech based heroes are barely mentioned) was always the BEST of them EVER. All characters are derailed into whining fanboys for Batman who does almost nothing in the story. He doesn't actually try to help anyone or gather the heroes together, instead just stays in Gotham and only helps once the heroes come to him and ask for help. So it isn't even a very heroic version of Batman.
* [[Dwayne McDuffie]] had Green Lantern John Stewart, though this was largely part of self-fulfilling prophecy; a lot of fans didn't like Stewart for the way that leapfrogged Kyle Rayner to be the JLU Green Lantern, which led to McDuffie (a black creator who was quite vocal on what he felt was racism within the TV and comic industry and who had inherited Stewart on the cartoon from the previous showrunner) making some rather off-putting comments where he basically accused anyone who hated Stewart as being racist, which led to the widespread notion that Stewart was McDuffie's pet character. Fast forward a couple of years when McDuffie DID take over the JLA comic, he was made to use John instead of Hal as the JLA Green Lantern on orders from above (partly due to the fact that Hal was being given HIS OWN JLA TEAM!). Sadly, McDuffie failed miserably with regards to the transition process and the overall backlash (aided by the fact that Hal's JLA spin-off was reduced to a mini-series when it became apparent that James Robinson's artist was never going to get the book done on time) led to Hal being restored to the title until ''[[Cry for
** One could argue that the Green Lantern has been a source of shilling the creator's pet since the 90s. Start with Kyle Rayner replacing Hal Jordan and the writers trying to shill him to win over the fan base disgusted by Hal's [[Face Heel Turn]] in ''Emerald Twilight''. Fast forward 10 years, and a number of those fans are now writers/editors for DC, and they promptly retcon the heel turn and restore Hal to being GL Numero Uno - and now must shill him to the fan base who grew up with Kyle and are upset with him getting booted down - not to mention John Stewart as described above.
=== Marvel ===
* [[Wolverine]] of the ''[[X
** Another card related one was the tie-in Top Trumps-like card game for the third film (one which arguably solidifies Logan as the Creators Pet). Each card had four traits, Speed, Strength, Fighting Ability, and Intelligence, each ranking one to seven. Most characters had about two for two of the traits, a four for one more, and six or seven (EG, Angel had lower traits for the latter three, but a six in speed, while Mystique had low for all but fighting skills and intelligence, and Colossus excelled at strength). Logan had six or seven for ''every trait''. He's apparently a better fighter than Mystique (which as X-Men #1 showed was [[Curb Stomp Battle|not the case]]), faster than Angel, stronger than Colossus, and smarter than Doctor Doom.
** Wolverine started out cool, but then [[Wolverine Publicity|he was on every cover, even issues he wasn't actually, you know, in]]. The fact that Marvel has been pushing him as their main hero has not endeared long-term comic fans at all.
*** Part of what went wrong with Logan is simply that he has been so overused that he has no character core anymore. So many writers have used him, and played mainly on his appeal to the fantasies of young teen males who think the caricature version is kewl, and his [[Healing Factor]] and other powers so used and misused, that there's nothing much left.
** However, thanks to the skilled pen of [[Jason Aaron]], it's apparently become cool to admit you like Wolverine again; he won the Comic Book Resources X-Books forum's "Best Hero of 2011" award.
** X-23 gets hate for this too. Being a teenage [[Opposite
*** Her role in ''New X-Men'' in particular, once her creators Craig Kyle and Chris Yost took over the title, you could be forgiven for thinking was written by a thirteen-year-old girl. She's portrayed as having [[New Powers
**** And it didn't do her any favors that the ''original'' main characters of the series were either unceremoniously [[Dropped a Bridge
*** This is ironic, given that she was initially an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] when she originated on ''[[X
* [[The Sentry]] from ''Mighty Avengers'', ''Dark Avengers'', ''Age of the Sentry'', ''[[World War Hulk]]'', ''Secret Invasion'', ''Dark Reign'', ''Siege'', ''Fall of the Hulks'', ''New Avengers'', and ''The Sentry'' mini series. Writers love using him, fans hate seeing him. If they wanted to see Superman with mental problems, they would've just gone to [[Super Dickery]].
** The Good News: {{spoiler|He's finally dead!}} The Bad News: {{spoiler|despite being utterly useless for most of his comics existence and a [[Face Heel Turn]] that also revealed he was an [[Eldritch Abomination]] and saw him try to destroy the world, his send-off issue was nothing but the entire cast of Marvelverse heroes waxing poetic about how wonderful he was and how he'd made their lives better in flashback retcons. The hamfisted attempt at [[Alas, Poor Scrappy]] was ''not'' well-received.}}
*** {{spoiler|Don't forget how Rogue had sex with him first, despite the fact that was established in the pages of Xtreme X-Men that Rogue lost her virginity to Gambit when the two lost their powers.}}
** He's also an example of a [[God Mode Sue]]. He's ''better at molecular manipulation than Molecule Man'', for instance. Of course, all this may come with the territory, given that he's heavily implied to be {{spoiler|''[[The Grim Reaper|Death]]''}} and all that...
* Kitty Pryde became Peter Parker's girlfriend in ''[[Ultimate Spider
** Some characters in his Avengers comics - Spider-Woman, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Ares- are accused of being Creator's Pets. Of course, Bendis has a tendency to showing his affection by [[Break the Cutie|heartlessly breaking them]], so all five went through some serious crap under his care. And that's not counting Bendis's "love" for Hawkeye, who has become nothing more than a vehicle from which Bendis [[Take That, Critics!|attacks his critics]] (and to spite fans whose overwhelming hatred for Bendis' attempt to permanently kill Clint off led to Bendis being forced against his will to bring him back to life, at which point he turned him into a ninja to further spite fans).
* Mary Jane Watson-Parker of the [[Spider-Man]] comics is an ''inversion'': Most of the fans like her and want stories featuring her, while creators (''especially'' [[Joe Quesada]]) hate her and are willing to ruin the franchise to get rid of her. This ''might'' be because they were [[Running the Asylum|readers when they were young]], when MJ became the target of [[Die for Our Ship]] from Gwen fans following {{spoiler|Gwen's death}}, and MJ and Peter's marriage became a [[Base Breaker]] move. As MJ went through massive amounts of character development and became a much more beloved character, a combination of lazy writers using her in uncreative ways during [[The Clone Saga]] and old hatred of her and/or the marriage led to people like Quesada gaining control over the writing.
** Carlie Cooper, however, has been playing this '''frustratingly''' straight:
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*** Also she's coming off as a [[Composite Character]] to many. Tries hard to invoke the [[Nerds Are Sexy]] trope, presumably so that she's "on the same intellectual level" as Peter or some such nonsense? '''Deb Whitman'''. Has a tragic past involving her father (really, couldn't even make it the mother? Or another authority figure?), that really doesn't come off as being as bad as '''MJ's''' was. Tuted as being the "perfect girl" for Peter, being idolized (this time by people in-universe, as opposed to in fans' memories). '''Gwen Stacy''' (Fans hope she will complete this set by dying) ''Falling in love with "plain ol' Peter Parker?'' '''Mary-Jane again'''.
*** However, there's a light at the end of the tunnel: the recent ''[[Spider Island]]'' storyline ends with Carlie breaking up with Peter precisely '''because''' he didn't tell her he was Spider-Man, while Mary Jane gets closer to Peter. The comic also focuses on Carlie's negative traits and MJ's positive ones: when people in New York start developing Spidey's powers, Carlie uses hers to play around while MJ helps Peter and the Avengers fight the [[Big Bad]].
**** Unfortunately, she's still not going anywhere anytime soon. Despite having had broken up with Peter, Carlie is still sticking around in the book. In addition, she's starting to pop up in other books like the Punisher. Not only won't she go away, she's being featured in more titles despite an utter lack of enthusiasm on the part of the readers. And if you were thinking that she'd be portrayed in a negative light, the creators insist that she- out of anyone else in the books- is perhaps the "sanest" member of the cast.
* Nurse Annie in ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|Uncanny X-Men]]''. Universally maligned "writer" Chuck Austen introduced the single mother/apparent expert in mutant physiology shortly into his equally despised run on ''X-Men''. [[Word of God]] stated she was based on Austen's real-life wife, never a good start. He quickly made her the inane central character in many of his story lines. This usually included:
** Vapidly gossiping about sexy men with once-intelligent characters Husk and Northstar.
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=== Other ===
* In the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (
** Different writers have met criticism over over usage of certain cast members. Ken Penders was noted for his expansion of the Echidna brotherhood, which by the end of his run had its population and story background bloated to a convoluted rate. This treatment did not seem mutual with later writers, who decided to limit their numbers and had numerous Echidna characters [[Killed Off for Real]]. Ian Flynn however has been noted for his recent usage of Sally Acorn, reestablishing her as an active Freedom Fighter and love interest for Sonic and giving her a fairly notable role in nearly every arc (ranging from main character to prominant supporting character). Granted in both cases there are still [[Base Breaker|a fair amount of supporters]], though it's obvious the fanbase is very polarized by their heavy usage in the comics.
* Drift from IDW's ''[[Transformers]]'' comic hit this status before he even debuted because the promotion of the character was so obnoxious. He was hyped up at conventions as "The [[Wolverine Publicity|Wolverine]] of ''Transformers,''" which struck many fans as odd because Grimlock pretty much has a lock on that role. Drift has a Weeaboo vibe thanks to the rising sun motif and [[Gratuitous Japanese]] on his car mode, as well as being described as a "drift-racing Transformer" created because he filled a niche no other character could (never mind the [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] in Transformers and the fact that at least one drift racer already existed). He boasts [[Implausible Fencing Powers]], an annoying arrogant smirk that ''never goes away,'' and copious shilling from fan-favorite Kup. He debuted alongside the Wreckers, a group of well-loved [[Badass|badasses]], with no explanation except that everyone thinks he's so awesome. There are even instances of characters asking where he is when he's off screen. Oh, and did we mention that he's some sort of mysterious wild card who is not really an Autobot but is trusted by Kup and company anyway? And that he has a level of morality far greater than those mean old Autobots, and holds it over them in their darkest hour with a "Maybe you deserved this."? Essentially, he's a heavily promoted character who is cool pretty much because the comic tells us he's cool and lets him curb stomp scary Insecticon drones (while wearing ''that Primus-damned smirk'') and impress the actually likable characters. The similarity to ''[[The Simpsons]]'' parody of Creator's Pets has led Transformers fans to start a meme of quoting "The Itchy & Scratchy & [[Shoo Out the New Guy|Poochie]] Show" in reference to Drift, hoping desperately that his home planet needs him and that he dies on the way back.
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** One of the biggest problems with Drift is that he's not only writer Shane McCarthy's totally awesome fancharacter, he's also become editor-in-chief Chris Ryall and editor Denton J. [[Meaningful Name|"Doubledealer"]] Tipton's pet character. Hence his inclusion in the children's book "I Am Optimus Prime" (ensuring kids reading the book would remember the totally awesome character that IDW totally invented) and under Tipton's penmanship, ended up having his horrible advice taken by Perceptor over the veteran, experienced Kup's more sensible advice, abandoning science in favor of becoming a dull-as-hell "sniperer".
** You know Drift's bad when [[Complete Monster|Flatline]] (from the movie spin off comics and another writer's personal creation) is more likable than he is.
** [[Rescued
*** Well, considering how Roberts is playing up [[The Fundamentalist]] aspects of Drift and including entertaining little tidbits like him being Rodimus' speechwriter (which is even funnier when you remember the core of his personality aside from swords was "delivers a lot of pseudo-philosophical rousing speeches)... It seems Drift is ascending from the Scrappy Heap as we speak.
* The ''[[Silent Hill (
** At least she was [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|forgotten]] when Tom Waltz took over the writing chores of the comics.
* In [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage
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