There are certain characters who receive
a lot of hatred from the fanbase for one reason or another. Most often, when their creators pick up on the hate, they have a couple options. They can ignore it,
tweak the character into a more likable version, or even
play it for laughs. Sometimes, however, the creator(s) have become so attached to this character for whatever reason, whether because they see something of themselves in the character or the character reminds them of someone they were close to or the character represents something they admire, that they decide to increasingly
focus on him, magnifying the importance of his role, and having the other characters
talk about how awesome he is, in painful ignorance of — or sometimes in spite of — the fans' obvious hatred.
That's the Creator's Pet in a nutshell.
The main characteristic of the Creator's Pet is that the writers' focus on him is detrimental to the show. It's not that the parts featuring this character necessarily suck more than the rest, but that so much effort is being directed to him that it detracts from the quality of the series as a whole. It's as if the writers think that there's nothing more important than browbeating the viewers into falling in love with this one character. And it never works. In fact, shilling a character excessively can cause other characters to be drawn into the hatred.
Keep in mind that this isn't "
The Scrappy with a big role", nor is it the
Canon Sue, although there's a lot of overlap in both cases. The Creator's Pet is a combination of being:
Unless it meets
all of these criteria, it doesn't fit.
Compare
Spotlight-Stealing Squad, which happens when
Character Focus pushes a lot of the other characters out of the limelight for an extended period of time;
Periphery Hatedom, when this kind of character is hated by people he's not even targeted at; the
Canon Sue, which is frequently also this trope by default; and the
GMPC, which is often this in a
Role-Playing Game.
Compare
Character Shilling, which is unwarranted praise for one character by one or more other characters, regardless of fan reaction. Contrast
Shoo Out the New Guy, whom the creators get rid of as quickly as possible, the
Unpopular Popular Character and the
Designated Monkey, who's adored by fans despite being loathed in-universe. Finally contrast
Ensemble Darkhorse, a character who receives relatively little
Character Focus but is adored by fans. On the flip side, take note of
Creator Breakdown and
Artist Disillusionment, which can happen when the author vehemently disagrees with the fans and takes it out on the show.
For cases when the character is heavily hyped out-of-universe as well as within it, see
Wolverine Publicity. If the "character" is a real person, that's
Billing Displacement.
Note: Although this is subjective, only blatantly obvious or creator-acknowledged examples should be listed in the pages below.
Examples:
