Rooting for the Empire: Difference between revisions

== Media in General ==

* [[The Caper]]. Like the ''[[Feng Shui]]'' quote on the quotes page said, who roots for the cops?

** This is the base premise of ''[[Tucker and Dale vs. Evil]]'': The two rednecks who live in the woods ''are the nice guys'' and the [[Too Dumb to Live]] teenagers who [[Wrong Genre Savvy|automatically assume them to be slasher villains]] ''are the villains themselves.''

* In a combination of this trope and [[Values Dissonance]], many older westerns lead to modern audiences siding with the Native Americans who serve as the [[Designated Villain]]s.

 

 

* Many fans of the ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'' merrily bash the Seishun Gakuen aka Seigaku regulars as overpowered [[God Mode Sue|Gary Stus]]. Specially if they're fans of either Rikkaidai or Hyoutei, which are entire ''teams'' of [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]s that border on [[Draco in Leather Pants]].

* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' has this in effect for the [[Goldfish Poop Gang|Team Rocket Trio]] Jessie, James, and Meowth. While they can succeed in some of their efforts, they are always defeated by [[Invincible Hero|Ash]] and Co. Ash has so much [[Plot Armor]] that you can expect him to win anything that's not a major tournament, and you know that he never loses to Team Rocket unless the plot demands it (just remember, waaaaay back in the third episode, James' incredulous "Beaten by a ''Caterpie''?!"). Even then it's usually by trickery rather than a battle. This goes on for so long, with even their most [[Failure Is the Only Option|brilliant schemes failing]], that you want them to win at least once. [[Team Rocket Wins|Just see them steal someone's Pokemon]] and get away with it to prove that they are still a threat. You just can't help but get mad sometimes when Team Rocket should have gotten away, but don't because [[The Good Guys Always Win]].

* The anime version of [[Valkyria Chronicles]] really makes many of the Imperial characters more likable than the Gallian High Command (i.e. anyone above Varrot save for Cordelia). True, this was present in the game, but the [[Adaptation Expansion]] of Selvaria (already a likable [[Anti-Villain]]), Jaeger (an even more likable [[Anti-Villain]]), and Gregor (still as much of an asshole as ever, but compared to his Gallian counterpart [Damon] he's actually seen as far more competent and more genuinely deserving of respect by comparison), the Imperials look far better in terms of characterization than the Gallian Regulars, who, much like the game counterparts, treat the real heroes (Welkin Gunther and Squad 7) like crap.

** This is averted, however, with Maximillian, who is an even more obvious [[Jerkass]] than his game counterpart. It also doesn't help he has [[Code Geass|Lelouch's voice, Schneizel's dress code, and none of either's natural charm.]]

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

**** Technically Rowling wrote that there never was a bad wizard who didn't come from Slytherin. She never said good people don't come out of Slytherin. Your point still stand though.

***** Hagrid's comment about 'never was a bad wizard who didn't come from Slytherin' is itself shown later in the series to be only the product of ignorance and prejudice; even Hagrid knows that the person who betrayed the Potters to their death was a Gryffindor. Admittedly he was blaming the wrong person, but both the alleged traitor (Sirius Black) and the actual one (Peter Pettigrew) were not Slytherins, so Hagrid is, even if just restricted to in-character knowledge, still talking out his ass.

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20130314080320/http://www.exposingsatanism.org/harrypotter2.htm This guy] takes it [[Up to Eleven]]. He's a Christian fundamentalist, and seriously thinks Voldemort is ''God''.

* [http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/theories/gandolt.htm Alternate interpretations] of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' have it as a highly biased account given by the real bad guys: the exiled Gondor and Elvish aristocracy, Spartanesque Rohan and Hobbit mercenaries who destroyed the egalitarian revolutionary Sauron who united the oppressed peoples of Middle-earth.

* ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' features the three tracker vampires who are trying to kill [[Mary Sue|Bella,]] which is seen by some as a sympathetic aim. Never mind the fact that each is an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] in their own right.

** It also doesn't help that the 'heroes' let HUNDREDS of innocents die to protect one human. (Especially in Eclipse.) And Bella's narration is so painfully self-centered.

{{quote|''I knew it was stupid to react like this. Who knew how much time I had to look at his face? He was saved, and I was saved, and he could leave me as soon as we were free. To have my eyes so filled with tears that I could not see his features clearly was wasteful — insanity.''}}

* ''[[Gone (novel)]]'': Sociopath [[Big Bad]] Caine and [[Ax Crazy]] sadist Drake both have legions of fans. Hardly anyone likes Sam, [[The Hero]], the best.

** And then he was made head of the talent department, and despite initial fears that he would push nothing but [[The Giant|big men]], his first acquisitions were the IWC favorite Awesome Kong and [[Masked Luchador]] Sin Cara and hyped them up with video packages like the wrestling days of yesteryear. Now many are looking forward to seeing what else Trips has in store for the talent department.

** On a more conventional level, Trips has always had his fans no matter how overt a [[Heel]] he is at the moment, because regardless of the nepotism issues, he's also legitimately talented in the ring and charismatic behind the mic.

 

 

* Quite a few ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'' fans are rather pro-Phyrexian, to the point where one rather prominent fansite is seemingly unironically named "Phyrexia.com" (and themed around the plane). Considering that Phyrexians are not so much [[Exclusively Evil]] as Always [[Complete Monster|Completely Evil]] (considering that they were created by a man who [[Moral Event Horizon|lived as a nomad visiting various civilisations just so he could release plagues and wipe them all out - in one case just to see what would happen]], it isn't surprising), the level of support they've garnered is almost shocking. The fact that the ''Scars of Mirrodin'' story arc brings the Phyrexians back into the limelight, and that Wizards of the Coast was quite adamant on not revealing whether or not they'll win just contributed to this - just watch the promotional videos on Youtube, often depicting Phyrexians committing [[Nightmare Fuel]] atrocities against the Mirrans, then look at all the comments proudly shouting Phyrexian slogans. In fact, according to the statistics from when ''Mirrodin Besieged'' came out, 51% of players supported the Phyrexians. In other words, ''less than half'' of the player base is rooting for the people they're supposed to be rooting for.<ref>Actually, the fact that the Phyrexians are the most abhorrent beings to have ever lived might ''be'' why [[Evil Is Cool|they're so popular.]]</ref>

** [[Wizards of the Coast]] invoked this trope during the Mirrodin Besieged prerelease: those that supported Phyrexia were given several packs containing nothing but Phyrexian cards, while the Mirran side got only Mirran cards. They gave the participants the opportunity to root for the Empire.

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20140214150751/http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Phyrexia The wiki article on Phyrexia] even includes a section describing in detail what a [[Crapsack World]] Phyrexia is and how a Phyrexian victory would result in the loss of free will<ref>[[The Evils of Free Will|not that this is an inherently bad thing]].</ref> and emotion. In a type of website that usually tends to be impartial, this seems suspiciously like a rebuttal to the Phyrexian fans.

** Back in the day, Phyrexia was confined to Black, the ([[Dark Is Not Evil|usually]]) "evil" color. As per the ''New Phyrexia'' expansion, though, they've branched out into all five colors, and while this has mostly consisted of [[Light Is Not Good|twisted Phyrexian takes on each color's philosophy]], some Phyrexians, most notably those aligned to Red (the color of freedom and passion), [[Affably Evil|are starting to show more sympathetic tendencies.]]

** It should be noted that, as of ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'', the eventual defeat of the Fire Nation has been revealed to have led to... another industrial revolution that this time spread prosperity to other countries, without any war and oppression required (and in ''The Last Airbender,'' it's shown that the machinists were the ones who gave the Fire Nation a large chunk of their new technology).

* In [[Sequel Series]] ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'' fandom, some fans support [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized|the Equalists]] striping all [[Elemental Powers|benders]] of their abilities as the only way to put [[Tall Poppy Syndrome|all people on a level playing field]] and end the oppression of non-benders, even if the benders themselves don't consent to the procedure. Debates on whether or not bending is an intrinsic part of a person and the show's civilization/culture, and if what the Equalists are attempting is a fantastical form of mutilation or not, can get quite heated. The show itself is [[A Lighter Shade of Grey|a bit grey on the issue]], showing that some benders ''can'' be oppressive but also portraying the process of benders being unwillingly striped of their powers as analogous to rape. It gets much easier to call them bad guys after episode 6, where {{spoiler|They bomb the pro-bending arena}} and in episode 7 where {{spoiler|they attack innocent civilians and kidnap the metal bending police.}} Complicating matters is the fact that some corrupt benders {{spoiler|namely representative Tarrlok}} feel that rounding up all non-bending individuals, Equalist or not, and imprisoning them, is a perfect way to neutralize the threat.

 

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