Designated Protagonist Syndrome: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|But you didn't earn it. You didn't work for it. You've never had anybody come up to you and say you deserve these things more than anyone else. They were just handed to you. So that doesn't make you better than us. It makes you luckier than us.|'''Anya''' accusing Buffy of falling into this, ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''}}

The downside to having a phenomenal ensemble cast. This [[Trope]] is when, compared to the many compelling supporting characters, the character who's point of view we have to look through is seen as boring, or even [[The Scrappy|downright annoying]]. This can cause the side plots (those involving the supporting cast) to be seen as more interesting than the main storyline, and every time the main character appears on screen, the audience wants them to hurry up and leave.

This trope is when it seems like the entire cast (other than the lead) has become more popular because the audience likes them more than the supposed main character. This is the result of [[Fan Dumb]] as often as it is the fault of bad characterization or writing. [[Standardized Leader]] is a [[Sub-Trope]], and the two often overlap. Contrast [[First-Person Peripheral Narrator]] and [[Supporting Protagonist]].

Another cause of this can be [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] - each individual member of the ensemble may not have lots of fans, but taken together a significant part of the fanbase prefers other people to the lead, even if they can't agree on who exactly it is that should have more time in focus.

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Not to be confused with [[Designated Hero]], which is a character who the story plays up as being heroic, but comes off as distinctly... ''not.''

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** Being one of the most prominent main characters aside from Luffy, Zoro gets this as well. Some fans believe he has the weakest, least developed back story, and possibly having the least character development out of the entire crew despite being in the story since almost the beginning, and lacking serious personality flaws that impact the plot.

** Averted in Japan at least, where Luffy and Zoro have always been [http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Popularity_Polls the most and second most popular characters respectively].

* ''[[Naruto]]'' has been accused of this as well. [[The Messiah|Naruto]], [[Rival Turned Evil|Sasuke]], and [[The Chick|Sakura]] all have much larger hatedoms than the ensemble cast supporting them, especially since Sasuke is considered the [[Creator's Pet]], Sakura has varying shades of being [[The Scrappy]], and Naruto himself is a massive [[Base Breaker]].

** In recent times and thanks to the magic of [[Character Development]], Naruto has been able to pull himself mostly out of this abyss. However, the main source of all the flak he still gets is due to his penchant for throwing reason to the wind and careening ''head-first'' into [[Stupid Good]] territory when it comes to his promise to save Sasuke. Overblown, nearly comical reactions like going into an miniature [[Angst Coma]] after he finds out the rest of the Konoha 11 plan to kill Sasuke to prevent him from dragging the country into another war and Naruto realizes the hopelessness of his attempts to redeem his friend haven't helped much either. In short, it's not necessarily Naruto's fault himself, but it's almost certainly [[Base Breaker|base-breaking]] by association.

* ''[[Bleach]]'' has this on both sides. The [[Five-Man Band]] are regularly overshadowed in popularity and screentime by the [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|Gotei 13]], leading to [[The Big Guy|Chad]] and [[The Smart Guy|Ishida]] being referred to as main characters ''sarcastically''. However, the inverse is also true; [[Big Bad|Sosuke Aizen]] has become the [[Creator's Pet]] for a massive portion of the fanbase, primarily due to over-reliance on [[Gambit Roulette|Gambit Roulettes]], [[Complexity Addiction]] and his [[Villain Decay|descent]] into an insufferable [[Smug Snake]].

** To elaborate on the protagonists' side, [[Gentle Giant|Yasutora "Chad" Sado]] is often disliked for his [[The Worf Effect|ridiculous tendency to lose battles]], his [[Narm|narmy]] speeches regarding [[The Power of Friendship]], his severe case of [[Demoted to Extra]], and his cessesion in his [[Character Development]], to the point where it's [[Satellite Character|affected and influenced almost entirely by another, more prominent character]].

** [[Genki Girl|Orihime Inoue]] is '''hounded''' for refusing to be an [[Action Girl]], for being [[The Messiah|a goodie-goodie even to her enemies]], and for focusing almost entirely on Ichigo, enough that her [[Character Development]] suffers each time Ichigo is involved. Some fans go as low as attacking for ''anything'' related to her role in the Arrancar Arcs, but mostly getting kidnapped<ref>(Then again, her guard/jailer was the fourth strongest soul-eating monster. What could you do?)</ref>. And, with her being an [[Actual Pacifist]], many people hit her for not fighting.

** [[Aloof Ally|Uryu Ishida]] is often cited as the best-liked member of the [[Five-Man Band]] on the human side, namely for lasting the longest in a fight, being thoroughly independent as a character and a fighter, [[Friendly Enemy|regularly]] [[Sugar and Ice Personality|antagonizing]] Ichigo, and having a strained relationship with his father (everyone else's parents are dead, missing or goofy). The problem? He still gets [[The Worf Effect|mopped around the floor]], he minimally contributes to the overall plot (e.g. primarily just fights, or gets handicapped for an extended time) and he often gets shafted once he finishes up his role in the arc.

** [[Sixth Ranger|Renji Abarai]] has an endearing backstory, but his [[Character Development]] was essentially resolved by the end of the Soul Society arc, so he mostly just tags along in a particular event or fight, which he usually loses in order to make the villains look [[Badass]]. In a sense, he's basically been [[Demoted to Extra]] because there really isn't much else left to tell from him, besides getting new abilities and trying to surpass his captain.

** It's worth noting that most fans tend to view [[The Lancer|Rukia Kuchiki]] in a positive light (some even call her the most interesting of the main cast), but she's been [[Demoted to Extra]] ever since she regained her powers; it's an odd inverse of an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] being a main character, when said main character hasn't done much for a long time. However, there ''are'' fans that still find her to be uninteresting (in personality and backstory) and/or condescending, but they have less of a problem with her lack of screen-time than they do with how much praise she gets from her fans.

** Even [[The Hero|Ichigo himself]] gets these accusations. His toughest criticisms include [[Ass Pull|sudden and controversial power-ups]], [[Badass Decay|constantly fluctuating levels]] between badassery and wimpness, a decrease in ''[[Idiot Ball|sense]]'', and an ''in''crease of his chronic hero syndrome, even when his friends flat-out don't want it. However, things are made in the series to make sure that the [[Five-Man Band]] [[Can't Catch Up]] as a group anymore, so his hero complex might actually be justified. This is also because his default emotion is [[The Everyman]], [[Audience Surrogate]] and a [[Pinball Protagonist]] whose purpose in the series so far is to do battle with the [[Big Bad]], even if he has no real reason to fight them, with the exception of Byakuya and Grand Fisher.

** In fact, it seems that whenever Bleach is declining in popularity to the Japanese fandom (i.e. the fourth movie and the current manga arc), that's because the shinigami captains and lieutenants aren't getting as much focus.

* A variation of this is common in shows with [[Harem Genre|harems]] or [[Love Triangle|Love Triangles]]. Often, the first girl or obvious winner is much more down-to-earth than the competition.

** Any female [[Tsundere]] character who is also supposed to be the "[[Official Couple]]" with the main male lead is also often accused of this, which often leads to causing various types of [[Fan-Preferred Couple]]. It doesn't help that they're [[Betty and Veronica|the most common harem winners]].

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* The ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]'' anime series presented a Scrappy Shirou to viewers unfamiliar with the visual novels. Not until halfway through the show did he become as watchable as the rest of the ensemble. 'Unlimited Blade Works' improved his standing by spreading more screen time to other characters, and giving him more crowning appearances when he did appear.

* Pick any ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' related series, and its almost guaranteed there will be many fans who find one of the other characters more interesting, while accusing the protagonist of winning only through [[Ass Pull|ass pulls]]. In Yugi's particular case, it appears that Yami has more fans; yes, a rare case in which a protagonist is considered less appealing than ''his own alter-ego''.

** This is no surprise, considering that Yami is the one who does almost all the dueling (at least in the anime), leading to many [[Crowning Moments]], while Yugi mostly just sits around and/or runs into trouble.

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]].'' Most fans won't admit to liking Shinji over, say, [[Memetic Sex God|Rei]], [[Misaimed Fandom|much to Anno's confusion]].

* ''[[Ikki Tousen]]'''s Sousaku Hakufu: Sure, people appreciate her [[Fan Service]] and the [[Spank the Cutie]] scenes, but otherwise she's not seen as particularly interesting or appealing compared to the more varied (and [[Loads and Loads of Characters|large]]) cast.

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== Film ==

* Brad and Janet are the main characters/heroes in ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'', and, while they do have a pretty decent number of fans, they're nowhere '''near''' as popular as Dr. Frank N. Furter, Riff Raff, Magenta, Columbia, or Rocky Horror himself. It's pretty telling that their fan nicknames are Asshole and Slut.

* Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan are the protagonists of ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean|Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl]]'', but they get overshadowed by the world's [[Large Ham|hammiest]] pirates. Their involvement in the two sequels only made this more apparent for some critics.

* A common accusation leveled at pretty much any film starring [[Keanu Reeves]]. He's actually pretty good at playing [[Every Man]]-type characters, but otherwise...

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== Literature ==

* Frodo Baggins, from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' isn't really ''disliked'' by fans, but he is noticeably less popular than any other member of the Fellowship, and plenty of the side-characters surpass him in popularity as well. Faramir, Aragorn, Arwen, Eowyn, Legolas and Gimli, and even Tom Bombadil seem to get more attention from the fans than Frodo, whose enormous burden seems to make him inaccessible.

** Of course, Tolkien himself felt that it was more Sam who was the hero and protagonist of the story in the end. The focus also shifts considerably towards him during the latter two books.

* [[K. A. Applegate]] once suggested this was true of Jake from ''[[Animorphs]]'': while the other characters had clear, definable traits that made them easy to identify (Marco's ruthlessness, Rachel's bloodlust, Cassie's empathy, Ax's alienness, Tobias' conflicted nature as a hawk and a human) Jake had the dubious honor of being the "normal" one. Late into the series, it's made up for when he grows into the role of [[The Chessmaster]].

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* Many readers of ''[[The House of Night]]'' series find the side characters more interesting than the protagonist Zoey, especially when they're shown to actually get things done and undergo significant [[Character Development]] while Zoey angsts about her [[Unwanted Harem]] and comes across as an indecisive, weak-willed character who makes poor decisions, can't control her hormones or stick to one boyfriend to save her life, and appears to have been chosen to be the next High Priestess only Because The Plot Says So.

* Many fans of the ''[[Black Dagger Brotherhood]]'' continue reading to find out what happens to the side characters, who then become the main characters and are less interesting than the side characters in the new story, who then become... and repeat.

* Some books in the ''[[Troubleshooter]]'' series have this issue, though fans argue about which books this applies to.

* [[Terry Pratchett]] says that when he wrote ''[[Discworld/Guards Guards|Guards Guards]]'', he thought Carrot was the main character. He compares it to [[Marx Brothers]] movies starring Zeppo - technically some of them do, but no one goes to see a [[Marx Brothers]] film because Zeppo's in it.

* In any novel by [[Simon R. Green]], there's a good chance of the hero being this. This is less a fault of the characters, as, for example, John Taylor is an interesting character in his own right, it's just that Dead Boy, Razor Eddie, Suzie Shooter, and Julian Advent are far more interesting.

* The protagonists of ''[[Hothouse Flower and The Nine Plants of Desire]]'' are, for the most part, either [[Static Character|static characters]], [[Jerkass|jerkasses]], or [[Flat Character|otherwise devoid of any sort of personality]]. The secondary characters (however [[Archetypal Character]] they may be) somehow manage to display more personality in they few chapters they appear in than the protagonists do in the entire book.

* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: It seems that as the series goes on, the characters who are not the main characters become more interesting. This could be due to the fact that the main characters remain pretty much the same as the series goes on, while everyone else gets affected by their actions and react to them in different ways.

* September, the protagonist of ''[[The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making]]'', is a clear [[Audience Surrogate]], to the point where she's outshone by ''every single other character in the book''.

== Live-Action TV ==

* Many fans of ''[[Lost]]'' have an intense dislike for Jack, the presumed "hero" of the show. This is related, at least in part, to his being a much less interesting character than other characters like Locke, Sayid, or Ben. Then again, he was supposed to die in the first episode, and the general consensus is that Jack [[Rescued From the Scrappy Heap|got a lot better]] toward the end.

** Kate gets it pretty bad too. She's the main female character, but unfortunately the majority of the cast - female ''and'' male - is seen as more compelling, sympathetic and likable. Unlike Jack, she ''doesn't'' become that interesting later on.

* The eponymous character of ''[[Doogie Howser, M.D.]]'' was the clear main character for the entire course of the show, but he became less and less prominent as time went on. As he matured, he was able to sidestep most problems; the writers realized that sitcoms were reliant on crazy situations, but Doogie [[Only Sane Man|was too smart to ever get stuck in them in the first place]]. By the fourth season, he was still the title character, but none of the plots were about ''him'' anymore -- they were about the troubles of people around him, particularly his best friend Vinnie.

* ''[[Oz]]'' avoids this trope by making the narrator, Augustus Hill, a minor character and perhaps the most sympathetic in the series, and by otherwise having [[Loads and Loads of Characters]].

* A noticeable problem in ''[[Dollhouse]]'', where a major point of the series (season one especially) is that Echo slowly develops a personality after having been repeatedly mind-wiped. This makes it hard for her to compete with the side characters who already ''had'' fascinating personalities, or even her fellow Dolls Sierra and Victor, who managed to have character development early on via their romance. By the end of season one she became more interesting, especially since Victor and Sierra repeatedly had the ''same'' character development while she moved on, but season two managed to go in the precise ''opposite'' direction by making her so super-special-awesome (while [[Creator's Pet|constantly waxing lyrical]] about her) that it bordered on [[Canon Sue]].

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* In another Whedon project, some ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' fans find the eponymous character boring or annoying. Meanwhile, Willow and Xander were more popular, [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Spike]] had the funniest lines (and both he and Angel ended up with a large female fanbase [[Mr. Fanservice|for some reason or another]]), and a lot of the recurring villains (for example, Dru) and [[Monster of the Week|monsters of the week]] were pretty enjoyable.

* In ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', the eponymous character turned out to be the least interesting of the bunch. It doesn't help that she was sharing screentime with [[Robot Girl]] [[Fetish Fuel Station Attendant|Cameron]] and [[Anti-Hero|Time Traveling Terrorist Vigilante]] [[Mr. Fanservice|Derek]]. Mostly, Sarah ''was'' important because John ''would be'' important, but that meant that both of them couldn't be important at once. The more John ''becomes'' [[The Chosen One]], the more Sarah becomes just another sidekick... and in this case, in the face of all the tremendous [[Badass|BadAssery]] all around her, that means becoming [[The Chick]] again. Despite the precedents from the first film, the writers never figured out how to let Sarah Connor turn back into [[The Chick]] and make it work.

* This was a serious problem for ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]].'' While all of the seven-plus main characters ''could'' support a story, Kirk was conceived as the star, and Shatner aggressively campaigned for more screen time. Attempts to rotate the secondary characters into the spotlight (e.g., doing Kirk-and-Spock episodes, Kirk-and-Scotty episodes, Kirk-and-Sulu episodes, etc.) failed because Spock was so darn popular, and the [[The Kirk|Kirk]]-[[The Spock|Spock]]-[[The McCoy|McCoy]] [[Power Trio]] dynamic worked so well.

* Many fans of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' find Ted to be the most boring out of the five main characters.

* Serena is generally treated as the main character on ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' while the fans complain that they want to see more of Blair and Chuck... even though they ''do.''

* Finn and Rachel from ''[[Glee]]''. For starters, many fans were unimpressed that a show that values racial and sexual diversity has a straight white couple as its teen leads. It doesn't help that Will blatantly plays favorites with the two of them when the other kids are just as talented or more (not hard to do in Finn's case). Granted, Rachel's spotlight-hogging and Finn's weak vocals have become significant plot points within the show, but many fans feel their relationship has become a [[Romantic Plot Tumor]].

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* Arguably Sam Winchester from ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''.

** The same could be said about Dean too. For years now, the fanbase has divided itself into a never-ending civil war of Sam Girls and Dean Girls. The addition of Cas only added a new angle of Dean/Cas shippers versus Wincest shippers. At least ''Bobby'' might be a universally loved character... or at least ''probably''.

* Sookie Stackhouse from ''[[True Blood]]''. Bill also gets this treatment a lot, even though his character's less in focus than he used to be.

** And on the hero side alone, Peter is considered the dullest between having an absolutely broken power and just being dumb as a sack of hammers.

* ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air|The Fresh Prince of Bel Air]]'': While it certainly isn't a universal opinion, a lot of people find protagonist Will to be the least interesting character on Fresh Prince. Many find Will to be an annoying and over-the-top [[Jerk Sue]]. In addition, many simply find Hilary to be a funnier character, or find Uncle Phil more admirable, or root for Carlton because his status as the [[Straw Loser]] makes him more sympathetic to a lot of people, etc.

** The part about Will could actually be summed up nicely when Carlton gave Will this much needed [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]

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* ''[[Entourage]]'''s Vincent Chase as played by Adrien Grenier is easily the weakest link in the cast (possibly because of how hard it is to be convinced by an unknown tv star playing a movie star) with most of the supporting characters having pretty big fanbases but Vince being generally unliked.

* Stefan in ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]''. He's supposed to be the hero, but the majority of viewers call him boring and prefer Damon, his more interesting and complicated older brother. It's not really getting better as the series progresses since side characters like Caroline, Tyler, Klaus, Rebekah, and Jeremy are all becoming more interesting than Stefan too.

** Elena also falls into this. Occasionally there's a tentative foray into giving her characteristics, but mostly she's the Good Girl who everyone obsesses over for some reason. Her self-described flaw is that she's "too good".

* ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]'' had this problem with Andy Travis, who was written to be the [[Only Sane Man]] protagonist a la [[The Bob Newhart Show|Bob Newhart]] or [[The Mary Tyler Moore Show|Mary Tyler Moore]], but was cast with an unknown young actor, Gary Sandy, who was overshadowed by the rest of the ensemble cast. The writers recognized the problem and reconfigured the show so all the characters were roughly equal in importance.

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Shermy and Patty (not Peppermint Patty, she came later) of ''[[Peanuts]]''. The original cast, which also consisted of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and later Violet, had next to no personality, besides Charlie Brown being an occasional nuisance to the girls and Violet being an aspiring homemaker. Once Schroeder, Lucy, and Linus showed up, Charlie Brown grew into the sad-sack we all know and love, and Snoopy began thinking, Shermy was left with little to do and by the mid-sixties had all but vanished. Patty and Violet then took up mocking Charlie Brown, but this eventually became Lucy's role once she got her [[Plot-Relevant Age-Up]], and Patty faded away while Violet briefly became a [[Rich Bitch]] before disappearing as well. In short, many of the original protagonists were so bland they barely made it a fifth of the way into the strip's run.

* To a considerable portion of the reader base, the Patterson family of ''[[For Better or For Worse]]'' evolved into this during the last few years of the strip's original run. Except for youngest daughter April, who is usually seen as the [[Only Sane Man]] by these readers, the whole Patterson clan turned into unlikable characters with unrealistic successes and varying attitude problems the size of Ontario.

** It doesn't help that April seemed to be [[The Unfavourite]], and that anything she did or liked was automatically bad or lame for no apparent reason.

* ''[[On the Fastrack]]'' creator Bill Holbrook [http://www.kevinandkell.com/about/faq.html#1.13 admitted] that original protagonist Bob Shirt was this, and that he had to switch focus to save the strip.

* Les Moore has arguably replaced the title character of ''[[Funky Winkerbean]]'' as the protagonist. The whole strip changed from a light hearted high school story to a soap opera of almost nonstop misery.

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== Video Games ==

* This trope is VERY common in video games, often intentionally. Since the hero is often meant to represent the player, many games will give them a minimal personality (or [[Featureless Protagonist|none whatsoever]]) so the player can project themselves in their place, thus the supporting cast gets all the personality and most of the drama to themselves. Especially prevalent in the case of a [[Heroic Mime]]. Unlike examples of this trope in other media, many fans ''love'' having this trope in their games and will sometimes complain if the hero has a strong personality, though the reasons can vary from not being able to insert themselves into the role to the strong personality being one they find utterly abhorrent.

** Two well known characters have managed to avoid this well, however. Link of ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' is a [[Memetic Badass]] despite the large and colourful supporting cast (though he still managed to be [[Ensemble Darkhorse|massively overshadowed]] by Midna in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|Twilight Princess]]''), while Chrono of ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' is a VERY useful character in a game with a three-person limit, so this helped him win the fans' hearts.

* ''[[Far Cry]] 2'' is quite a notable example of this as the player chooses from one of 12 characters to play as at the beginning. The remaining 11 are found throughout the game, and interact with the player, usually are quite interesting and have distinctive personalities. Then player's character on the other hand becomes a personality-less [[Heroic Mime]]. Players probably would find it most enjoyable therefore to play as their LEAST favorite character.

* One very common complaint about ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' is how boring and/or unimportant Vaan and Penelo are compared to the other characters.

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** While this usually isn't prevalent in the main platformers, largely because there is little supporting cast ([[Excuse Plot|or plot]]) to draw attention away from Mario, it ''is'' prevalent in the more plot-based RPG games, particularly the ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'' games. Of particular note is ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'', where [[Fairy Companion|Tippi]] ends up being the one that gets the most attention.

* ''[[Street Fighter III]]'''s main character is supposed to be Alex, but you'd have no way of knowing that without [[Word of God|official statements from Capcom]]. Popularity-wise, Alex wound up being overshadowed not only by the returning cast members from earlier ''[[Street Fighter]]'' games, but by many of the newly-introduced characters like Dudley, Yun, Yang, Ibuki, Elena, and Makoto as well.

** Alex is a peculiar case in that his stint as the protagonist is widely overlooked despite him having ties to the [[Big Bad]] (most would probably tell you that Ryu is still [[The Hero]], which isn't too farfetched considering that Ryu's been integral to the plots of the first game, ''Alpha'', and ''IV''), but he's still widely regarded to be a popular character in the grand scheme of the series. For example, his surprise appearance on the roster of ''[[~~Tatsunokovs Capcom|~~Tatsunoko vs. Capcom]]'' was warmly received.

** Alex is a peculiar case in that his stint as the protagonist is widely overlooked despite him having ties to the [[Big Bad]] (most would probably tell you that Ryu is still [[The Hero]], which isn't too farfetched considering that Ryu's been integral to the plots of the first game, ''Alpha'', and ''IV''), but he's still widely regarded to be a popular character in the grand scheme of the series. For example, his surprise appearance on the roster of ''[[Tatsunoko vs. Capcom]]'' was warmly received.

** Subverted with [[Street Fighter IV|Abel]]. While more or less touted as the face of ''IV'' (like Alex, he also possessed a link to the main villain of the subseries), he was overshadowed by Crimson Viper and (come ''Super'') Juri. However, he still has a fairly sizable fanbase and is regarded more favorably than the remainder of the newcomers, who have either received mixed reactions or are outright detested.

* You can't have this trope without mentioning ''[[Mortal Kombat]]''; [[In a World]] with energy-wielding ninjas, [[Physical God|Physical Gods]], fantastic creatures, [[Hollywood Cyborg|Hollywood Cyborgs]], et all, the most anyone seems to remember about Liu Kang, the actual protagonist of the series, is that he's [[Fan Nickname|the Turkey Boy]]. Shuujinko is also an example.