History YMMV / Onceuponatime

** Debuting in ''Series/OnceUponATimeInWonderland'', [[Characters/AladdinJafar Jafar]] is an EvilSorcerer who plans to enslave three people and use their combined magic to grant his wish to become the all-powerful ruler of Wonderland. [[KickTheDog Cruelly transforming the woman who loved him into his iconic serpent staff]], Jafar also murders a young woman just to watch the reaction of her lover, before resurrecting her and magically making her fall in love with him to spite her lover yet again. Though [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse having the excuse of a neglectful father]], Jafar is revealed to want to use magic to make his father love him just to hurt him more when he torments him. Upon becoming Royal Vizier of Agrabah in season 6 of the main series, Jafar tortures and kills people at his whim with his dark powers and deceives Princess Jasmine into giving him a magical ring, then threatens to destroy Agrabah if she does not accept his marriage proposal. Threatening to use the ring to disintegrate Agrabah, Jafar means to create a ghostly version of the land and [[AndIMustScream seal all the souls within in limbo for eternity]]. Cruel and [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]], Jafar is a wicked man who cares only for his own {{ambition|IsEvil}} and sadistically tormenting anyone he can.

** As of "The Bear King", Ruby/Mulan is being shipped as [[IncrediblyLamePun "Mulan Rouge"]].

** One of the biggest criticisms thrown at later seasons is that most of the villains are meant to be {{Tragic Villain}}s with [[ItsTheSameSoItSucks similar backstories and motivations]]. In season 1, {{Big Bad}}s Regina and Rumplestiltskin were both meant to be tragic villains as well, but they were well-received characters since, at the time, they were the only tragic antagonists and even then their backstories and motivations differed enough from each other to not seem repetitive so they were praised as complex three-dimensional characters. As the series went on and almost every every ArcVillain had the same backstories about being denied love and a happy ending, many fans began to tire of the trend since the they had little to no variety in their motivations and it felt like the writers were making them tragic for the sake of it or couldn't come up with more than one way to make them tragic.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** Regina as of season 4. Suddenly everything bad she ever did is the book's fault, not hers. She blames Emma for [[spoiler: seemingly]] saving one of Regina's previous victims because it inconveniences Regina to have the woman alive because she's Robin's wife. Her berating Emma and plotting to kill Marian are played as if we are supposed to sympathize with Regina. Both Snow and Henry are ''happy Marian is dying'' because it gets the woman out of Regina's way. She [[spoiler: steals Belle's heart and wipes Belle's memories of it ever happening.]] The few times someone calls her out, like Gepetto, it's not allowed to stick. And Henry, while reading the book that details all of Regina's evil acts, such as killing whole towns, declares she's not a villain.
*** Season 5 has not improved. Regina admits she enjoys that the dagger gives her power over Emma, doesn't have to really pay the price for magic when she forces Emma to use magic to save Robin's life, declares herself the savior over Emma in a manner that left a bad taste in many fans' mouths, and has added yet ''another'' flashback village massacre to her list.
*** As of the Season 5 finale it has ''finally'' improved, with Regina actually showing remorse for having been the Evil Queen due to [[spoiler: Robin's death]] [[HeelRealization making her fully aware of how much bad karma she's accumulated due to her crimes]], and having a desire to get rid of her [[spoiler: which is fulfilled via EnemyWithout, meaning that we now have both an actual sympathetic Regina and an '''intentionally''' unsympathetic Regina - the Evil Queen - on the show.]] Unfortunately, [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot this didn't end up going the way most people thought it would]] and the complaints returned, since [[spoiler: apparently the writers didn't even want the intentionally unsympathetic Regina to go without a happy ending.]]
** Hook can come across as this for much the same reasons as Regina. The show has a tendency to ignore some of his more villainous acts and make it seem like he is a completely different person post HeelFaceTurn than he was before it, a notion which ironically he ''himself'' seems uncomfortable with. This is not getting into the fact that he is EasilyForgiven for [[spoiler: his actions as the Dark One and killing David's father, and while it might make sense for the former when all things are considered, it does ''not'' for the latter given David's murderous rage toward King George when he thought that ''he'' had been his father's killer, and yet then just shrugs off the revelation that Hook actually did it.]]
*** Hook and Emma kissing after Hook saves her father is supposed to be charming and romantic, but a lot of fans find it a bit hard to swallow on Hook's end. The sticking point is Hook seemingly pressing Emma for the kiss due to saving her dad, basically asking for a reward for doing the right thing, even if that was not the intention. While it's meant to be a flirty little back and forth between the two, some of Hook's dialogue, such as "That's all your father's life is worth to you?", reads as accidentally manipulative. Add to this Emma originally turning down kissing him, and you have the reason a lot of fans see it as creepy instead of romantic.
** On the heroes side, there is the way they all treat Belle. Despite seeming to value her, they show no interest in helping her at any point and ignore her problems all the time (in one egregious case, [[spoiler: ''nobody'' comforted her when she collapsed on the street in tears after Rumple's HeroicSacrifice in "Going Home"]]). This means she always goes to Rumple which backfires on her more often or not.
** Belle herself for quite a long time was seen as this too, as she was constantly excusing Rumple's actions from both the past and in the present. Since the mid-season finale of Season 4, however, she [[CharacterDevelopment finally wised up]] and stopped doing this, being more than willing to call Rumple out on his behavior during his future transgressions.
** Prince Charming. He operates on BlackAndWhiteMorality and it reaches BlackAndWhiteInsanity and IdiotBall at times, especially when the villains in the middle of a HeelFaceTurn are concerned. In Season 2, his tendency to blame Regina for everything, including a wraith dragging Emma and Snow into the Enchanted Forest which was not her fault, did nothing except isolate Regina and almost make her turn evil again when she genuinely wanted to change. The Neverland arc would have also gone much more smoothly if he was not constantly belittling Regina and Hook when they were trying to help. It reaches its nadir in season 4B where it is he who is spearheading attempts to cover up [[spoiler:what he and Snow did to Maleficent]] and even more adamant about it than Snow.
** On the flipside, Snow is often seen as having become far ''too'' forgiving and accepting of Regina, to the point where she ignores her own daughter in order to cater to the woman who ripped Snow apart from said daughter for 28 years.
** [[Literature/TheLittleMermaid Ursula the sea witch]] in the "Queens of Darkness" story arc. While her backstory shows that she used to be a kind mermaid until Hook stole her voice, her transformation into a monster was self-inflicted yet she [[NeverMyFault puts all the blame]] on Hook. Just as she’s about to strangle Snow, Hook brings her voice back and makes her reconcile with her father. She’s suddenly considered as good and [[KarmaHoudini free to leave the town]] even though she express no remorse in actively helping Rumplestilskin and the other Queens [[spoiler: to turn Emma into a villain]]. Not helping is the later revelation that she and Cruella [[WouldHurtAChild left Maleficient’s baby daughter to die]].
** Myth/RobinHood for his LackOfEmpathy toward his wife Marian. When he finds out that [[spoiler: Regina was the one who killed her before Emma undid her death]], he doesn't seem to care at all [[SkewedPriorities being mostly concerned with still being in love with Regina]]. He then starts an affair with her while Marian is in the coma. [[spoiler: Marian turns out to be Zelena the wicked witch who killed and replaced her. Once again Robin is barely concerned by the revelation and is immediately ready to move on with Regina. The only remaining obstacle is Zelena being pregnant with his baby.]]
** Emma in Season 5B comes off as unsympathetic to many fans, despite the story clearly wanting them to feel sympathy towards her. While her losing Hook is tragic and her desire to get him back is understandable, many feel like she goes a little overboard in this pursuit. The main thing for many is how she drags her whole family, including her young son, and friends into going into what is basically Hell in order to pull off a plan that most tell her won't work. Even when Hook tells her that he is not worth saving or risking their lives, she ignores his wishes and continues on with her plan.
** Cinderella/Jacinda. There's no denying she's been through a ''lot'' of pain and loss, and the acting and writing for her wants her to come across as unique: [[DamselOutOfDistress badass]] and cynical. However, more than a few fans find it to be done poorly, given that she comes off as ''too'' whiny and cold. Case in point, she punches Henry and steals from him despite him trying to ''[[UngratefulBitch help]]'' her, yet he doesn't even hold it against her. She does admittedly get better in later appearances, but many make complaints about her lack of development and likable moments.

** Fan boards had joked [[spoiler:since ''{{WesternAnimation/Frozen|2013}}'' hit theatres about how it would translate to that universe. Less than 6 months after the film's release comes the release of Elsa from an urn, setting up Season 4's opening arc]]

** Queen Eva (or Princess at the time) telling Leopold about Cora is presented as MoralEventHorizon for the character - Regina even states something about "such darkness in her heart". Yet all Eva was doing was telling the future king about a woman that had gotten pregnant off a gardener (and would presumably pass the baby off as Leopold's) - and exposing a GoldDigger who for all she knew was trying to manipulate the future king. Add that to the fact that Eva had already been betrothed to Leopold and her actions seem pretty heroic. Also, it's said to be bad because Eva "told a secret", just like Snow did with Regina... except that Eva was ''eavesdropping'', she and Cora had ''no'' agreement whatsoever that Eva would keep that information a secret. Eva was under no obligation to keep quiet about what she had heard, making it even more bizarre that this is treated as a crime.
** Mary Margaret repeatedly has to apologize to Regina for having killed the latter mother's Cora despite the fact that she did it to protect her family. When Emma suggests later that she did the right thing, she just responds that she did "because it was easy" and we are supposed to agree. Yet again there wasn't any other options available at time since Cora was seconds about to kill Rumplestilskin.
** The plot to turn Emma's heart dark basically plays by the same rules as ''Literature/TheCasterChronicles'': people have a good/evil switch in their head, and once it's flipped they're completely helpless to make any decisions against that inclination. Hence, killing someone physically incapable of hurting anyone, despite being completely ignorant of that and genuinely believing Henry's life was in danger, automatically turns Emma evil. The next episode does handle this better by showing it to be the first step towards something truly evil (like killing Lily in cold blood).

** The curse being broken and magic being brought to Storybrooke in Season 1 is very well-known as later seasons have a major usage in magic and the commercials don't seem to have a problem showing characters using magic in Storybrooke. While it came across as a surprise to some fans thinking that the curse won't be broken in Season 1, those who started watching the show on later seasons will reach a ForegoneConclusion for Season 1 if they decided to go back and watch that season.
** [[spoiler: Neal being Baelfire]] is also very well-known. It doesn't help that that [[spoiler: his FanNickname is Nealfire and most people are more likely to call the ship name for Emma/Neal Swanfire than Swan Thief.]]

** For many viewers, the Charming family. David and Snow are paragons of heroism and virtue, their daughter Emma is a fairly standard hero with a backstory some feel to be boring, and Henry rarely gets focus. These people tend to prefer the reformed villains as the protagonists, but as seen above, they're controversial too.

** Despite the creators [[WordOfGod constantly stating that it's not the direction they're taking the show and never was]], the enemies-turned-friends pairing of Swan Queen (Regina/Emma), is a popular fan couple (largely because the two of them are both Henry's mothers and they eventually become best friends in canon), so much so that Swan Queen made it into the Final Four in every Zimbio poll since 2014, beating out canon pairings Captain Swan (Emma/Captain Hook), Snowing (Snow White/Prince Charming), and Rumbelle (Belle/Rumplestiltskin) each time, and still dominates fanfiction for the show years after the show ended. On Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn and Website/FanfictionDotNet, it tops both of their canon pairings (Emma/Hook and Regina/Robin Hood), as well as all other ships from the show on either site, with it even being the second most popular femslash ship on [=AO3=] as a whole.

* MentorShip: Following the revelation that Regina was Ivy/Drizella's magic teacher, there exist a large number of fanfics that pair Ivy/Drizella with her, helped by the fact that their backstories are very similar. Most shipping fanfics about Ivy on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn and Website/FanfictionDotNet will pair her with Regina, even topping her canon crush on Henry. This ship is referred to as "[[IdiosyncraticShipNaming Step Queen]]" in these fanfics. This also doubles as FoeYayShipping, as Regina spends a good portion of the final season wanting to stop/kill Ivy after she poisons Henry.

** Many viewers thought it odd how accepting Marian was of Robin's relationship with Regina. [[spoiler: That's because it's actually Zelena. She pulled a KillAndReplace on Marian to hitch a ride with Hook and Emma back to Storybrooke. This is {{Foreshadow|ing}}ed by her impersonating Ariel in "The Jolly Roger," with the six-leaf clover pendant finally providing the mechanism for how she accomplished this. However, it does make something of a mess of the show’s continuity even before the storyline started (one wonders why Robin never felt the need to explain he’d already encountered Zelena last season). And to top it off, Marian's actress had no idea she was actually supposed to be playing Zelena the whole season until she read the reveal in the script.]]

* WTHCastingAgency:
** Creator/AgnesBruckner as the adult Lily has some raised eyebrows. The thing is that Creator/NicoleMunoz is very clearly Hispanic (half Spanish on her mother's side) with light brown skin and black eyes. Agnes Bruckner is clearly white, naturally blonde, and with light brown eyes. The casting got some minor accusations of whitewashing, as well as for the fact that the two actresses simply do not look alike.
** Creator/MichaelRaymondJames retroactively once it's revealed who he is. He fits fine as the PluckyComicRelief and lovable doofus he's introduced as. [[spoiler: When he's revealed as Baelfire]], a very melodramatic role, it's clear he's not quite up to the task.
** Creator/PatrickFischler's performance as Isaac holds the bizarre distinction of being pantomimey even for this show. What's especially glaring is that his character is from our world originally, so his overblown performance really makes no sense.
** Creator/LeeArenberg is another contender, with his forced hammy performance as Leroy/Grumpy really clashing with everyone else's attempts at grounding the fairy tale stuff in realism or [[HamAndCheese embracing the campy stuff]]. Granted in some ways he's beloved for NarmCharm.

** Emma had sex with [[spoiler:a winged monkey]]. A few fans immediately dedicated themselves to making sure no one ever forgot this.

** [[spoiler:Ursula]] at the end of "Ariel". She never made another appearance on the show afterwards.

** A lot of fans who ship Emma/Regina are also big fans of Ruby and like to include her. It helps that Emma has chemistry and LesYay with both of them, as does the fact that Ruby is bisexual in the show. Ruby's canon relationship often being seen as StrangledByTheRedString also helps. This pairing is referred to as "Red Swan Queen".

** When the first half of the seventh season was airing, Henry and Drizella/Ivy (aka Step Believer) were popular. The consensus was that Drizella/Ivy has far more chemistry with Henry than Cinderella does. It helps that Drizella seems closer to Henry's age and has a major case of AdaptationalAttractiveness. However, as the second half aired and Ivy became far less important, the ship quickly fell from popularity. Nowadays, you are far more likely to find a post on Tumblr or Twitter (or come across a fanfiction or fan art) dedicated to Henry and his canon love interest Cinderella/Jacinda (aka Glass Believer) than you are him and Ivy.

** It's not remotely difficult to find someone out there who wishes that Drizella ended up being Henry's True Love instead of Ella. Fans will usually point to the superior chemistry, Adelaide Kane's superb acting skills, and the similarities that Drizella possesses with Regina (i.e. both were redeemed at least partially by love for Henry as well as both being a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds). As Ivy's {{Jerkass}} facade begins to crumble the more time she spends around Henry, this could have led to an even bigger LoveRedeems moment for her where she would work with Regina to undo Henry's poisoning, earning back Regina's respect and showing Henry just how much she cares. Instead, the writers wrote her out about three quarters into the story before the show's cancellation was even announced.

** Rapunzel, considering the success of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}''. Instead she was just reduced to a role that could easily be played by a generic princess. This was remedied in Season 7, where a new version of Rapunzel is given a bigger role.

*** Sir Kay, Arthur's [[SourSupporter sarcastic but loyal]] foster-brother and seneschal gets DeathByAdaptation before he even joins the group.

** It's not remotely difficult to find someone out there who wishes that Drizella ended up being Henry's True Love instead of Ella. Fans will usually point to the superior chemistry, Adelaide Kane's superb acting skills, and the similarities that Drizella possesses with Regina (i.e. both were redeemed at least partially by love for Henry as well as both being a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds). As Ivy's {{Jerkass}} facade begins to crumble the more time she spends around Henry, this could have led to an even bigger LoveRedeems moment for her where she would work with Regina to undo Henry's poisoning, earning back Regina's respect and showing Henry just how much she cares. Instead, the writers wrote her off about three quarters into the story before the show's cancellation was even announced.

** Likewise numerous people reacting with shock at Mulan being a woman in season 2 seems a little too heavy handed with the Girl Power theme. Especially considering season 1 saw plenty of women active in the war against Regina - implying that Snow and Red were fighting on the front lines personally. The Enchanted Forest just doesn't seem sexist enough for a group of people to be shocked at a female warrior. This pops up again in Season 5 with Mulan and Merida's episode, where the other members of the clans inexplicably don't think a woman can be a warrior. Note that this is at least ten years after the events of ''Brave'' - where Merida had already established herself as an ActionGirl.
* ArcFatigue: A common complaint for most of the later seasons, especially once the show decided to adopt the "two arc per season" approach.

** The Queens of Darkness arc which immediately followed got these complaints too. An entire episode dedicated to what Robin has been up to in New York slowed it down considerably and [[spoiler: bringing Zelena back just made it worse.]] Then there's the fates of the Queens - [[spoiler: Ursula is redeemed]] four episodes in, before the arc has even got going, [[spoiler: Cruella gets killed off]] and [[spoiler: Maleficent is anti-climactically reunited with her daughter]].

** True North can get ''pretty'' preachy on the problems of the foster system.

** Mr. Hyde, despite being set up as the main villain of season 6, is taken out with an electrical weapon by Jekyll in the Season 6 premiere; defeating him is not even the main plot of the episode. [[spoiler:Then later he is released from his cell by the Evil Queen and successfully out gambits Gold gaining possession of the Dark One's knife and doesn't fall victim to the electrical weapon again, only to die as a result of Jekyll's death, though it does take the whole episode to defeat him this time.]]

** Mr. Hyde, despite being set up as the main villain of season 6, is taken out by an electrical weapon Jekyll in the Season 6 premiere; defeating him is not even the main plot of the episode. [[spoiler:Then later he is released from his cell by the Evil Queen and successfully out gambits Gold gaining possession of the Dark One's knife and doesn't fall victim to the electrical weapon again, only to die as a result of Jekyll's death, though it does take the whole episode to defeat him this time.]]

** [[spoiler:The Black Fairy, the woman hyped as the BigBad of the entire series, is ''not'' defeated by Emma but by ''Gold'' in a single attack with her own wand. Collectively, the entire fanbase was left disappointed and annoyed that the true villain of the show never got to fight Emma in the Final Battle ''like she was prophesied to from the very beginning'' and that other characters like Regina, Zelena and Gold have to keep defeating villains for Emma time and time again (even worse this time seeing as it was the ultimate villain who Emma was destined to fight), although the writers did warn the fanbase that the Final Battle was less a physical fight between Emma and Fiona and more a battle for control over Emma's belief and the destruction of the realms, which continued after Fiona's death and Emma did win it via TakeAThirdOption.]]

** After "Quiet Minds", [[spoiler: Emma's fake story on how Henry's father died as a hero]] in "True North".

** Emma had sex with [[spoiler:a monkey]]. A few fans immediately dedicated themselves to making sure no one ever forgot this.

** Meta-example: The showrunners have said that the most grief fans have given them has been over Tamara's taser.

* EvilIsSexy:
** The Evil Queen. It's also notable that in the Enchanted Forest flashbacks, the more overtly evil she's being, in general, the more plunging her neckline. Before her husband's death, she is shown dressing demurely; by the time the curse is made, she appears to have a wardrobe consisting entirely {{of corsets| sexy}}. It doesn't go away as Madame Mayor; never has business chic looked so good.
** The Blind Witch from ''Hansel and Gretel'' as portrayed by Creator/EmmaCaulfield, with her impressive cleavage and the orgasmic sounds she makes after eating food.
** Killian Jones, aka Captain Hook. It's very easy to forget what a {{Jerkass}} he is because he's so damn pretty. He's probably the character whose looks are mentioned in-universe the most, too. Captain Hook? More like Captain ''Hunk''!
** Cora could be considered to bridge this and SilverVixen. Consider that her younger self was portrayed by Creator/RoseMcGowan in flashbacks.
** The Snow Queen as portrayed by Creator/ElizabethMitchell in Season 4. Cold has never looked so hot.
** Dark Swan. Emma wasn't exactly ugly before, but the Dark One version of her dresses entirely in tight black leather, has [[WhiteHairBlackHeart white hair]], and speaks in a low, deep, even voice that borders on AudioErotica.
** Mr. Hyde is played by Creator/SamWitwer, who is listed as MrFanservice on his own page.
** The Black [[FairySexy Fairy]] could give even the Evil Queen a run for her money.
** ''Creator/OdedFehr'' plays Jafar, and any fangirl who's seen ''Film/TheMummy1999'' can attest to his smoking hot looks.
** Drizella/Ivy in Season 7, full-stop, as played by Creator/AdelaideKane, well-known for portraying the gorgeous young [[Series/{{Reign}} Mary, Queen of Scots]] and [[Series/{{PowerRangersRPM}} Tenaya 7]]. Bonus points for being the youngest example listed here. Her obvious VillainousCrush on Henry and her interactions with him amplify this trope up to eleven.
** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20130410015055/http://www.wetpaint.com/once-upon-a-time/articles/once-upon-a-time-whos-the-hottest-guy This poll]] asked fans who the hottest male cast member is. The two most popular answers were Mr. Gold and Hook.
*** And the final winner was [[spoiler:Mr. Gold]], who beat [[spoiler:Hook]] with 37.58% of the vote (25,885 votes) to [[spoiler:Hook's]] 33.21% (22,874 votes).