Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Difference between revisions

* Miaka Yuuki, main character of ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'', appears to have gotten a little less flak from some of her haters thanks to ''Eikoden''; their reasoning was that no matter how bad they thought Miaka was, she at least had good intentions and cared a lot for other people than herself, whereas Mayo was a hundred times worse.

* The little duck billed bratty demon, Kanchome, of ''[[Zatch Bell]]'', was generally useful for little more than a random flawed disguise on the spot to help his ... *sigh* [[True Companions]], and his attitude had [[The Scrappy]] written all over it. The anime gave him a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] by having him nearly defeat a stronger foe with a new spell that made replications of himself, but he would go on to be much more badass in the manga - he saved the Earth from destruction by Clear Note (the [[Big Bad]]) by ''transforming into the Earth'' and hypnotizing Clear to think it was the real thing.

* Chris Thorndyke from ''[[Sonic X]]'', in the final two series, after being given a [[Plot-Relevant Age-Up]] and some actual ''abilities'', plus being portrayed as being significantly less clingy and self absorbed.

* {{spoiler|Momo Hinamori}} from ''[[Bleach]]'' has finally gotten some bits of slack from the fanbase after {{spoiler|her return to action, where she saves Matsumoto from Halibel's [[Amazon Brigade]] ''and'' says that she's got things to do now, showing that she's starting to get over [[Break the Cutie|the massive trauma]] that the Soul Society arc was for her.}}

* Damian Wayne, the son of [[Batman]] and Talia al-Ghul, initially came off as a [[Jerk Sue]], violent, powerful, and a [[Jerkass]]. But after he becomes the new [[Robin]] next to Dick Grayson's Batman after his father's death, many fans are surprised to find that he is becoming much more likable, thanks to some character development by [[Grant Morrison]] (his creator) and [[Paul Dini]], who have effectively made him into the [[Tsundere]] youngest member of the Bat-Family who, despite his bravado, has grown to appreciate his new family (he has more-or-less grown to accept Tim Drake ''and'' [[Batgirl 2009|Stephanie Brown]]!) and has been told that there is '''much''' he still needs to improve on. But take notice that this is still at least a work in progress, as the fanbase at large has merely decided to changed their opinion from him being near universally reviled to seeing the character as a [[Base Breaker]].

** Probably the biggest part of rescuing him from the Scrappy heap was when he started acting more his age instead of trying to pretend he was older and more mature. There's one moment in particular between him and Dick Grayson that shows how he's starting to open up more, has come to truly respect Dick, and is willing to show his vulnerabilities. It happens after Dick, Damian, and Alfred realize that Bruce really ''is'' still alive, and are exploring secret parts of Wayne Manor to find clues Bruce left for them in the past.

'''Dick:''' You honestly think he'd put up with you the way I do? ''[pause]'' ...Damian, I'm ''joking.'' }}

** This is also a reason people liked Colin Wilkes aka Abuse: Damian was interacting with someone his own age without showing massive disdain for the person. He even fist-bumped him! Given as Damian clearly was supportive of Colin being Abuse, many are hoping for his return to continue to prove Damian isn't a total prick.

** Drift is a major case of a phenomenon you see a lot in comic books: a [[Mary Sue]] is hated by all but the writer, then the ''next'' writer gets his hands on the character and opinion turns around. Evidently, it takes someone who can ''step back'' and figure out where he fits and who he ''needs'' to be instead of the creator who can't get past his "I adore him, so, you must too, and I'll keep him onscreen 24/7 until you do!" feelings about [[Creator's Pet|his pet]].

* Matter-Eater Lad of the ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' started out as a total weirdo with an incredibly [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|lame power]] who was eventually written out of the storyline, first by going back to his home planet and eventually [[Alas, Poor Scrappy|going into a coma]] after saving the universe by eating a "Miracle Machine" that was warping reality. During the "[[Time Skip|Five Years Later]]" era, though, he was re-imagined with a rock-star persona ([[Cool Shades]] and all), gleefully reveling in his own absurdity.

** In the most recent [[Re Boot]] of the series, he ''[[Took a Level In Badass|bit a guy's finger off]]''.

** In [[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|the animated series]] he has the "rock star" design and gets this line:

(We then get a shot of Matter-Eater Lad with a big-ass grin on his face) }}

* Layla Miller debuted in ''[[House of M]]'' as an obvious plot device, to the point that fans nicknamed her [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/285294 Layla MacGuffin]. When [[Peter David]] took her into the cast of ''[[X-Factor]]'', he transformed her into an [[Oracular Urchin]], [[Deadpan Snarker]], and frequent [[Creepy Child]], suddenly becoming a fan-favorite. Even after a big crossover punted her into the distant future, fan demand earned her a one-shot comic.

* [[Deftones]] and [[Slipknot]] are the most respected bands associated with [[Nu-metal]], to the point where their fans argue that they are ''not really'' [[Nu-metal]] at all.

* James Blunt when he appeared on ''[[Top Gear]]''.

* To an extent, Roger Waters of [[Pink Floyd]]. His last album with the Floyd, ''The Final Cut'', was an [[Anvilicious]], dark, [[Love It or Hate It]] album and a slow seller, and he carried the [[Wangst]] and [[Control Freak]] tendencies well into his solo albums. He gained a certain amount of bad press over the lawsuits and public arguments over the rights to the name "[[Pink Floyd]]", as David Gilmour's [[Lighter and Softer]] Floyd gained success in the late 1980's and early 1990's. By the end of [[The Nineties]], his feelings over [[Pink Floyd]] and the media cooled and he started performing Floyd-like arena shows with heavy emphasis over his former band's works, to the delight of many, with full performances of [[The Dark Side of the Moon]] and later, [[The Wall]], and slowly patched things up with his old bandmates. This culminated in the Floyd's reunion show for Live 8 in 2005, and since then he has had great success and better press lately, and his full-scale performance of [[The Wall]] is a massive success.

* Whenever [[Kanye West]] releases an album it almost makes you forget that he's a douche. Almost...

** Cena had also gone through the process once already, with his original smiling babyface character being rescued by dressing like Vanilla Ice on a Halloween show and then running with the concept. The irony is that his massive popularity in the role is largely attributable to the fickle internet fans who booed him later on.

** Cena's been [[Lampshade Hanging|doing that]] for years, almost to the point where it's part of his gimmick. It started during his feud with [[Kurt Angle]] during that first title run:

** As of July 23rd, 2011, he's also gotten a BIG SHIFT. He's gained more of an edge and lost most of his plain vanilla straights by showing his backbone (in the sense that he wouldn't be known for kissing [[Vince McMahon]]'s ass after the end of his match with [[CM Punk]] in Money in the Bank 2011), actually calling out on Vince for all the crazy stuff that's going on, and is also more about getting a fair fight even if people try to screw things up.

* MVP was at first a Scrappy to many internet fans as well, who argued that if [[Chris Benoit]] couldn't pull a good match off him, no one could. Then he got into an inferno match with [[Wrestler/Kane|Kane]]... and not only did quite well for himself during the match, but took the match-losing burn ''on his back''. Suddenly many of those same people were all over him.

** In turn, however, fans started ragging on Lachesis as "one slutty princess". Still, she has yet to be completely pushed to the Scrappy Heap thanks to her sympathetic [[Character Development]] and [[Game Breaker]] status.

* As unpleasable as the [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] [[Fan Dumb|fandom]] is, some are starting to warm up to [[The Ditz|Big the Cat]] after ''[[Sonic Chronicles]]'' where his stupidity was funny rather than irritating.

** ''Chronicles'' also toned back Amy Rose from [[Stalker with a Crush]] to a more tolerable [[Clingy Jealous Girl]], and polished Rouge into a [[Deadpan Snarker]] par excellence. Say what you will about the gameplay and plot, but Bioware did a magnificent job with the characters.

** In spite of its other flaws, ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'' managed to make [[Base Breaker|Shadow the Hedgehog]] more bearable for some of his previous haters. Since [[Shadow the Hedgehog|the previous game]] saw him reach the end of his [[Quest for Identity]] and resolve to put the past behind him, this game saw Shadow greatly cut down on the angsting and replace it with stoic badassery.

* ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League Unlimited]]''

** One episode took a bunch of [[Captain Ethnic|Captain Ethnics]] (two of which were also Scrappies) from the ''[[Superfriends]]'' cartoon, retooled them, and made some of them legitimately badass. Yes, even [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|the one that used to turn into a bucket of water]] and [[Took a Level In Badass]]: "Form of -- ''T Rex''!" "Form of -- tidal wave!" Downpour also showed how [[Green Lantern Ring|few limits]] his power had by becoming a legitimately deadly threat by simply turning into "Water." and surrounding a guy so that he ''could not breathe''. When the team was running berserk, Downpour tried to the same thing to ''[[Shooting Superman|Aquaman]]'', and didn't get very far.

** Arthur Curry/Aquaman was rescued from his own ''[[Superfriends]]'' stigma to become a blond haired viking-looking [[Badass]] [[Anti-Hero]] who [[Justice League (film)/Awesome|chopped off his own hand to save himself]] [[And Your Little Dog, Too|and his infant son]] from his [[Cain and Abel|evil brother's]] Deathtrap. He replaced it with a wicked-looking grappling hook, which only managed to make him look like even ''more'' of a badass. It also helps that he became quite the [[Deadpan Snarker]], even lampshading his own ability to communicate with marine life.

*** This actually began with [[Peter David]]'s work on Aquaman in the late nineties, though the JLU origin for the hook hand was far more cool.

*** Better yet, they gave him a little dash of Adam West, with his calling Atom "[[Stealth Pun|Chum]]" constantly...

** And then, both of them meet when the one in the form of a tidal wave slams into Aquaman and he just ''stands there.''

** [http://i44.tinypic.com/oshgfp.jpg HOW DO YA LIKE ME NOW!?]

* ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' did this with the Aqualad mantle by replacing Garth, a character widely mocked for having the same "useless" powers as Aquaman and wearing ridiculous short-shorts, with Kaldur'ahm, an Atlantean child soldier who can create weaponry from water and generate powerful electrical blasts.