Alternative Character Interpretation in Wreck-It Ralph.
- The Sugar Rush racers. Are they really alright kids who were just mean to Vanellope because Turbo took away their memories, and are genuinely apologetic for what they've done once they've gotten their memories back? Or are they still fantastic racists against glitches and they're only apologizing because they realize Vanellope has the power to punish them for their actions? Even if fear of punishment doesn't play a factor into the racers regretting being mean to Vanellope, there's also the possibility it's because she wasn't actually a glitch and they will still display Fantastic Racism against "real" glitches.
- The Surge Protector. Harmless? Very powerful? Game Central Station's only way to interact with game characters? Capable of actually enforcing any protocols or just a "cardboard" authority figure? Secretly a fun guy?
- Was Turbo...
- A Jerk with a Heart of Gold who took losing popularity the wrong way,
- A psychopathic, attention-seeking, and destructive program who crashed two games in a fit of petty jealousy, or
- A bratty, selfish egotist who gradually jumped down a slippery moral slope?
- Yet another interpretation: if TurboTime had become unpopular enough it's likely it would have been unplugged, especially as the arcade had another driving game in Road Blasters. So did Turbo game-jump for the attention like everyone thought, or was he simply trying to save his own life and find a new home before it was too late?
- Fans criticize the film for portraying Zangief as a bad guy when he's quite the opposite in the Street Fighter franchise. Maybe going around, beating people senseless, covered in scars and not particularly close to anyone... maybe Zangief just felt like a bad guy and that's why he goes to Bad Anon.
- It's a crowning moment of funny since making Zangief a "bad guy" was the writer's version of revenge for always losing to Zangief in the original Street Fighter II arcade games.
- Some fans have interpreted Gene as being the owner and/or founder of the Nicelanders' hotel. It would certainly explain why he seems so protective of the other Nicelanders, and why he hates Ralph so much for destroying the building and throwing him off the roof. If you had to watch someone destroy a building that was your pride and joy for thirty years over and over again, wouldn't you feel a tiny bit of resentment towards that person? Of course this still plays off Gene as a Jerkass since it would mean he's responsible for tearing down Ralph's own home to make the apartment in the first place.
- When Vanellope first meets Ralph, is she pestering him with annoying, occasionally insulting questions and annoyingly mimicking him because she's a Bratty Half-Pint who's enjoying bullying someone else instead of being bullied? Or is she, in her own way, trying to make a friend with someone who looks like he might be a kindred spirit (and being insulting because that's the only way she knows how to relate to people, thanks to being an outcast in her own game)?
- Related: When Vanellope asks if Ralph is a hobo, is she mocking his sloppy dressing or genuinely curious because she herself lives like a hobo?
- A number of people see the Nicelanders' behavior towards Ralph not so much as hatred but as jealousy, since Ralph is an important part of the game while the Nicelanders are just nameless palette-swapped NPCs, and the reason they shun and exclude him so much is to feel better about themselves and their own comparative lack of importance. This interpretation is supported by the way that Gene reacts when Ralph points this out to him.
- In-universe: The first verse of "Wreck It, Wreck-It Ralph" treats Ralph as the hero, trying to get back his stolen land, but the second verse treats Felix as the hero, trying to protect his building.
- Gene: Too Dumb to Live Jerkass bigot picking a fight with a monster of a man that can utterly wreck him? Or a Tragic Bigot whose lack of fear stems from the fact that Ralph can't really threaten him with anything that he doesn't already do on a regular basis as part of his job?
- Adding to the above point, when Ralph finds Gene alone at the bar when everyone's cleared out after the game has been decommissioned, Gene is abnormally calm and respectful to Ralph. Is he just too angry with him to raise his voice? Is he just too emotionally burned out, exhausted, and grieving from the loss of his home to pick a fight with Ralph? Or does he actually recognize his own culpability in the issue, and feel guilty because he knows he's partially responsible?
