History YMMV / TheVampireDiaries

* StrangledByTheRedString - Bonnie and Jeremy. They've never interacted or showed interest in each other for almost 1.5 seasons, and then suddenly and inexplicably start getting cozy; moreover, Bonnie's speech to Jeremy when they did hook up was basically summed up in "You're hot. Let's try this." The writers are clearly trying to sell the relationship, and the actors have pretty good chemistry, but it definitely could use some better build-up and overall writing.

** Killing off [[spoiler: Anna]]. She was a fan favourite and there was ''a lot'' more that they could have done with her character.

* DesignatedProtagonistSyndrome - [[YourMilageMayVary many, many]] fans find Damon far more interesting and sympathetic than Stefan. If you look on their Character Pages, Damon has over twice as many entries as his little brother.

** Jenna's funeral too.

* TheScrappy - Bonnie is one for a big segment of the fandom, due to her very judgemental nature and questionable methods, although she has some fans as well.

* MissedMomentOfAwesome - Damon giving blood to Caroline to heal her in 02x01. Especially awesome as this time last year he was compulsing her and taking blood from her.

** "I Was Wrong" by SleepStar in 2x08 when Damon tells Elena [[spoiler: that he loves her, and then makes her forget.]]

* CharacterAlignment -
** Stefan: LawfulGood (as he still obeys human morality, even after being turned)
** Elena: NeutralGood (she has her moments of rebellion)
*** Moments of rebellion doesn't make for "Neutral Good". She is "Lawful Good" since she is against killing even other vampires if they don't deserve it, sometimes even if they do deserve it. Indeed [[spoiler: Elena is the opposite of Katherine's utter disregard for anyone in her drive to sacrifice herself to Klaus to save her friends and family.]]
** Damon: ChaoticEvil or ChaoticNeutral (depending on what mood he's in)
** Caroline: ChaoticGood (she often takes things into her own hands without consulting [[FiveManBand the group]])
*** She is improving greatly. She was a vital and effective team player in both ''Katherine'' and ''By the light of the Moon''. She was actually more reliable than Elena.
** Bonnie: LawfulNeutral (does her best to stay out of vampire problems)
** Kathering: ChaoticEvil (though she seems to be drifting to ChaoticNeutral with all the 'self-preservation')
*** But at any price no matter who gets hurt, vampire or human or werewolf, which makes it ChaoticEvil.
** Tyler: TrueNeutral (he'll probably choose a side at some point)
** Rose: ChaoticNeutral (she looks out for herself)
** Uncle John: LawfulEvil (mostly)

* BetterThanItSounds - The show. When news first broke this book series was being turned into a TV show, most people thought it was just another attempt of capitalizing on vampires' [[{{Twilight}} sudden]] [[TrueBlood popularity]]. However, just four or five episodes in people started to realise the series had far more depth than originally thought, having far more likable and fleshed out characters and a much more compelling mythology than anyone - at least non-book fans - imagined.
** "Vampires in high school and the girls that love them" sounds like a {{Twilight}} ripoff, and ripping off Twilight is scraping the bottom of the barrel... but the characters are surprisingly low on {{Wangst}}, the vampires have senses of humor, PoorCommunicationKills is frequently threatened - and then averted within the episode.

** Many (not all) of the people complaining about Bonnie are Damon fangirls who are pissed whenever anyone is mean to him. [[SarcasmMode Because it's not like he deserves it or anything.]]

** [[SarcasmMode Though this couldn't possibly be because a different Troper added the entry for Stefan's MoralEventHorizon to Katherine's KickTheSonOfABitch.]] And it makes no difference whether John is unpopular with fans or not, Stefan was still [[KickTheDog giving the dog a pretty hard kick]] especially as when he threatened to turn Uncle John into a vampire, he was recovering from having been taunted and stabbed by Katherine the previous episode.

** The first hint of the beard is when they drop the [[{{Narm}} narmful]] "reading from the diaries" at the beginning of each episode.

* GrowingTheBeard - "Lost Girls". The mythology starts to truly be developed, Elena starts to grow a backbone, Vicki's turned, and we find out Mystic Falls isn't much better than [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Sunnydale]].

* DracoInLeatherPants - Damon, before his HeelFaceTurn, [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys obviously]].

**** Yes he has been a surprise but he still doesn't regard human life in high esteam.

** Killing off [[spoiler: Anna]]. She was a fan favourite and there was ''a lot'' more that they could have done with her character.

*** Most male-and for that matter female-vampires are like this given their disregard for human life. {Isobell Stalzman} is an obvious example.

** Jerennie - Bonnie/Jeremy

** Killing off [[spoiler: Anna]]. She was a fan favoutire and there was ''a lot'' more that they could have done with her character.

* ForTheEvulz - The motivation for most of Damon Salvatore's actions.
** Actually it's pretty clear the motivation for most of his actions is love. His whole 'evil plot' in the first part of season 1 was in order to save Katherine.

** Stefan and Caroline to a lesser extent, although there's a healthy fandom for their [[StraightWillAndGrace platonic friendship.]]