Sliding Scale of Character Appreciation
This needs to be turned into a category. |
MOD: Maybe call it "Character Appreciation Tropes"?
While having good characters doesn't make a good story, there are some characters who can make or break a series simply by walking onstage. On the one hand, you can have a minor character from an obscure and poorly liked series who nonetheless inspires thousands of fanfics. On the other hand, some characters are so hated by fans that some feel the only way the show will ever be watchable again is to write the character out of existence. If the negative audience reaction is coming from outside the target demographic it is a Periphery Hatedom.
Characters we like to watch:
Characters who impress us once:
Characters we love to see, even if just standing in the background:
Villains we sympathize with:
- The Anti-Villain
- The Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain
- The Magnificent Bastard
- The Noble Demon
- The Unintentionally Sympathetic villain
- The Draco in Leather Pants
- The Affably Evil villain
- The Faux Affably Evil villain
Characters we love to see suffer:
Characters who allow us to live vicariously:
- The Badass
- The Cape (trope)
- The Escapist Character
- The Magnificent Bastard
Villains we love to hate:
- The Big Bad
- The Magnificent Bastard
Heroes we love to root for:
We love to watch them get needlessly killed:
We love to see them semi-naked
Characters we hate to watch:
- Anyone who must Die for Our Ship
- The Complete Monster
- Though usually, this doesn't ruin the show for people. At least, as long as he doesn't get away with it.
- The Smug Snake
- The Mary Sue, and all subtropes thereof; this rule can be broken sometimes, but Don't Try This At Home.
- The Scrappy, and all subtropes thereof
- The Alien Scrappy
- Creator's Pet
- The Damsel Scrappy
- The Ethnic Scrappy
- The Replacement Scrappy
- Also, the following likely scrappies: