History YMMV / WizardsOfWaverlyPlace

** Justin is either an {{adorkable}} nerd or an [[InsufferableGenius insufferable]] know-it-all. The examples of detractors ire are Wizard of the Year, Alex's Logo, Justin's Back In and Who will be the Family Wizard.

** [[TheConscience Conscience]] is either a particularly blatant career vehicle for Moises Arias, or an [[AnthropomorphicPersonification interesting and likeable character]] in his own right, thanks to [[IronWoobie having to deal with Max 24/7]]. Plus, he didn't overstay his welcome, only sticking around for one arc.

* BrokenBase: Half of the fanbase think season three is great season because of the witty humor, story-arc episodes, and new characters. The other half think it is terrible due to Alex and Justin's relationship became CainAndAbel, the tone became darker and dramatic, the mean-spirited humor, and the introduction of Mason.

* NeverLiveItDown: Some people still have a grudge on Justin for his actions in Alex's Logo. Being out-of-character (despite being written by his actor), and getting no punishment for his actions also helps.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Jerry and Theresa with their attitude towards Alex and, to a lesser extent, Max. With Alex, they often run hot and cold either being unnecessarily controlling or giving her no guidance and only lashing out when she screws up. While admittedly her screw-ups would make any parent angry, they never seem to consider their hands off approach with her is why she looks for shortcuts in everything when they didn't do the same to Justin and he turned out much better. With Max, they just brush off his lack of intelligence as a mild quirk, even when it gets to the age when they should start being concerned. In the episode Laritate leaves, Jerry is actually angry that Max is starting to shape up with the superintendent in charge. A key example of how they are unhelpful towards Alex is in "Alex's Logo", when Alex received the Citizenship Award, but then said hurtful things towards everyone because Justin put a truth spell on her but forgot to take it off, which in turn caused the whole student body to hate and ignore her, not only did Jerry and Theresa not stop her from saying all the hurtful things or punish Justin for once, but the advice Theresa gave Alex to help her in this situation isn’t just stupid, it’s also self-centered.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: This trope applies to the two elder Russo siblings

** Also, is Justin really the sweet nerd he appears to be, or one of the show's biggest {{manipulative bastard}}s. He puts on an act that he is always punished and Alex gets away with everything, but in every episode Alex will get in trouble even unfairly, and he will usually be pardoned since he is the good kid.

** With rumors of Jake T. Austin not returning for the reboot, it became popular to such Max be played by Noah Centineo.

** Stevie. Why would allowing all wizards to keep their powers be a bad thing? This competition is regularly stated to have broken up families, including the previous generation of the Russos. [[RiddleForTheAges This question is never answered.]] WordOfGod said ''[[CircularReasoning If you can't see what was wrong with Stevie's plan, maybe you have a little evil in you yourself]]''. [[ShrugOfGod In other words,]] yes, because if [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr Stevie]] had [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream spoken up]] then life as a wizard [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_integration would be very different]].

* NeverLiveItDown: Some people still have a grudge on Justin for his actions in Alex's Logo. Being out-of-character, and getting no punishment for his actions also helps.

* FanPreferredCouple: Justin/Alex is easily more popular than their canon pairings with Juliet and Mason respectively. This is mainly due to the major IncestYay between the two, the chemistry between the actors, and the fact that they weren't originally supposed to be related. The pairing dominates fanfiction about the show on both Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn and Website/FanfictionDotNet. It has also lead to some [[ActorShipping shipping their actors]].

* AccidentalInnuendo: In "Helping Hand", after Max 'invents' his toothbrush/backscratcher, Jerry and Theresa have a conversation debating how unfair their 'backscratching' is in bed. Jerry accuses Theresa of pretending to be too tired to 'scratch his back' and she accuses him of not returning the favour, stating "It's just scratch, I'm done."

** In the Season 2 episode, "Future Harper," the Russo kids confront a fantasy author writing about their lives who turns out to be an adult Harper, come back in time because books about wizards are no longer that of big sellers in the future due to the existence of wizards being public knowledge. While she won't give details, she does go so far as to say that it's the fault of someone in the room; all three Russo kids immediately assume this means Max. (Yes, including Max himself.) After the two-part Season 3 finale/Season 4 premier, Max is the only one of the three kids who ''doesn't'' expose wizards in Crumbs' secret test.

* StrangledByTheRedString:
** Mason and Alex. Literally together for only an episode before Alex was 'in love' with him. Then you were supposed to be sad for him when he gets turned into a wolf, after he flat out tried to ''injure/kill'' Justin and Juliet ''for no apparent reason''.
** Meanwhile, Alex seems to not care that Juliet and Justin's lives are in danger ''at all''

** The dark angels who wanted to invoke some sort of Apocalypse, before they got there halfway. The same episode had Max maliciously turning the girls from the sleepover into fruit the family was going to eat. The final scene is the family listening to the fruit tell jokes. The audience is left to assume they changed them back to girls and wiped their memories or something, but there was some pretty dark humour in that scene, when Jerry practically threatened to put them into a blender.

** The fact that Theresa and Jerry's [[Creator/MAriaCanalsBarrera actress]] and [[Creator/DavidDeLuise actor]] had both worked for one of Disney Channel's [[Creator/CartoonNetwork rival channels]], although on [[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague different]] [[WesternAnimation/MegasXLR shows]].

* TheScrappy:
** Many fans don't understand how Alex acts so different when Mason's around, not to mention how he was a {{jerkass}} [[StalkerWithACrush stalker]] in "Wizards vs. Werewolves", "killing" Juliet and effectively rendering both Justin and Alex heartbroken for the majority of Season 3. Many people who like him are either [[PortmanteauCoupleName Alason]] {{shipp|ing}}ers, or they just think Gregg Sulkin is cute. This is not helped by the fact that [[EnsembleDarkhorse Juliet]] appeared in less episodes in season 4 (justified since Bridgit Mendler was busy doing ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'' at the time and couldn't return until during the final episodes) and that he appeared in more episodes during this season.
** Daphne, who seemingly serves no purpose outside of proving that Justin isn't hopeless with girls. It's hard to blame Justin for wanting nothing to do with her, since she's clingy, forces herself into his life against his will, and generally only seems to be interested in him [[PitySex because she believes he won't get a date otherwise]].

** There was quite a hit of it between Max and his Conscience--he and his Conscience were wrestling [[NotWhatItLooksLike (which looked very suggestive)]] and his Conscience has even sat on his lap. It probably doesn't help that his Conscience is played by Moises Arias, Jake T. Austin's (the actor who plays Max) best friend in real life.

** This was quite noticeablebetween Max and his Conscience--he and his Conscience were wrestling [[NotWhatItLooksLike (which looked very suggestive)]] and his Conscience has even sat on his lap. It probably doesn't help that his Conscience is played by Moises Arias, Jake T. Austin's (the actor who plays Max) best friend in real life.

** There seems to be some between Justin and his dad (after all, Justin is his favorite). More noticeable is the amount between Max and his Conscience--he and his Conscience were wrestling [[NotWhatItLooksLike (which looked very suggestive)]] and his Conscience has even sat on his lap. It probably doesn't help that his Conscience is played by Moises Arias, Jake T. Austin's (the actor who plays Max) best friend in real life.

** Daphne, who seemingly serves no purpose outside of proving that Justin isn't dateless. It's hard to blame Justin for wanting nothing to do with her, since she's clingy, forces herself into his life against his will and generally only seems to be interested in him [[PitySex because she believes he won't get a date otherwise]].

** Daphne, who seemingly serves no purpose outside of proving that Justin isn't HollywoodDateless. It's hard to blame Justin for wanting nothing to do with her, since she's clingy, forces herself into his life against his will and generally only seems to be interested in him [[PitySex because she believes he won't get a date otherwise]].

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Jerry and Theresa with their attitude towards Alex and, to a lesser extent, Max. With Alex, they often run hot and cold either being unnecessarily controlling or giving her no guidance and only lashing out when she screws up. While admittedly her screw-ups would make any parent angry, they never seem to consider their hands off approach with her is why she looks for shortcuts in everything when they didn't do the same to Justin and he turned out much better. With Max, they just brush off his lack of intelligence as a mild quirk, even when it gets to the age when they should start being concerned. In the episode Laritate leaves, Jerry is actually angry that Max is starting to shape up with the superintendent in charge. A key example of how they are unhelpful towards Alex is in "Alex's Logo", when Alex received the Citizenship Award, but they hurtful things towards everyone because Justin put a truth spell on her but forgot to take it off, which in turn caused the whole student body to hate and ignore her, not only did Jerry and Theresa not stop her from saying all the hurtful things or punish Justin for once, but the advice Theresa gave Alex to help her in this situation isn’t just stupid, it’s also self-centered.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Jerry and Theresa with their attitude towards Alex and, to a lesser extent, Max. With Alex, they often run hot and cold either being unnecessarily controlling or giving her no guidance and only lashing out when she screws up. While admittedly her screw-ups would make any parent angry, they never seem to consider their hands off approach with her is why she looks for shortcuts in everything when they didn't do the same to Justin and he turned out much better. With Max, they just brush off his lack of intelligence as a mild quirk, even when it gets to the age when they should start being concerned. In the episode Laritate leaves, Jerry is actually angry that Max is starting to shape up with the superintendent in charge.

* InformedWrongness: When Alex doesn't write lines for the puppet show she and Harper are doing to raise money to buy their own apartment, Harper decides to do it on her own, but she does a puppet making fun of Alex, which hurts Alex's feelings. When Alex does her own puppet show using Justin and Zeke for puppets and people enjoy it more than Harper's, Harper gets mad at Alex for stealing her customers, ignoring the fact she disregarded Alex's feelings by making fun of her in public, despite seeing how upset Alex was. Even after Alex apologizes, Harper ''never'' apologizes to Alex in return, even though her making fun of Alex was just as wrong.

%%* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:

** Justin is either an {{adorkable}} nerd or an [[InsufferableGenius insufferable]] know-it-all.

%%* JerkassWoobie: Alex, in TheMovie and in the show.

* ActorShipping: Some people out there think that Music/SelenaGomez and Creator/DavidHenrie look cute together. In a round-about way of avoiding {{squick}}, many fans who can't stomach their [[BrotherSisterIncest character pairing]] resort to shipping them in real life instead while watching the show. In an interview, her perfect guy description basically was the impersonation of David, physic and personality likewise: "My color of hair. I don't know, i've never been attracted to someone who doesn't have brown hair. Tall, cause I like to feel short. I don't like to feel taller than someone, and I do like to wear heels so someone has to be taller than me. Green eyes because I don't have green eyes and I think they are very pretty. Muscular, kind of. Or between. I dont like them to be too muscular, but I want them to take care of me. Uh, scruffy. I kind of like a little scruff. Goofy and a little serious because I love to have a good time but I also like someone who can have an intellectual conversation."

* AccidentalInnuendo: In "Justin's Little Sister", Alex blatantly admits to her mother that the idea of her parents [[GRatedSex canoodling]] [[ParentalSexualitySquick grosses her out]] more than the idea of [[PlatonicWritingRomanticReading going out with her own brother]]. This scene can be considered [[AccidentalPublicConfession the turning point]] for many fans of the show, as from this point on you were either a Jalex fan or you weren't. Note that is not a case of ThatCameOutWrong, as neither her or her mother saw anything wrong with this.
** Perhaps not-so-accidental: in "Helping Hand", after Max 'invents' his toothbrush/backscratcher, Jerry and Theresa have a conversation debating how unfair their 'backscratching' is in bed. Jerry accuses Theresa of pretending to be too tired to 'scratch his back' and she accuses him of not returning the favour, stating "It's just scratch, I'm done."
* ActorShipping: Most people out there think that Music/SelenaGomez and Creator/DavidHenrie look cute together. In a round-about way of avoiding {{squick}}, many fans who can't stomach their [[BrotherSisterIncest character pairing]] resort to shipping them in real life instead while watching the show. In an interview, her perfect guy description basically was the impersonation of David, physic and personality likewise: "My color of hair. I don't know, i've never been attracted to someone who doesn't have brown hair. Tall, cause I like to feel short. I don't like to feel taller than someone, and I do like to wear heels so someone has to be taller than me. Green eyes because I don't have green eyes and I think they are very pretty. Muscular, kind of. Or between. I dont like them to be too muscular, but I want them to take care of me. Uh, scruffy. I kind of like a little scruff. Goofy and a little serious because I love to have a good time but I also like someone who can have an intellectual conversation."

** Stevie. Why would allowing all wizards to keep their powers be a bad thing? This competition is regularly stated to have broken up families, including the previous generation of the Russos. This question is never answered. WordOfGod said ''[[CircularReasoning If you can't see what was wrong with Stevie's plan, maybe you have a little evil in you yourself]]''. [[ShrugOfGod In other words,]] yes, because if [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr Stevie]] had [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream spoken up]] then life as a wizard [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_integration would be very different]].

** Alex and Stevie. And occasionally Harper, which turns "Third Wheel" into a LoveTriangle.