History YMMV / Empowered

** Empowered. Almost every single act of competence and badassery and happiness she gets throughout the series gets actively denied by the {{Jerkass}} part of the cast (who have more of an influence over AllOfTheOtherReindeer than the reasonable part of the cast... doesn't helps that they are still smart enough that they manage to pull a JerkassHasAPoint even on the most blatantly unfair of moments), and then we find out stuff like her [[spoiler:having seen her dad die of an aneurysm in front of her when she was a child, ''while he was preparing breakfast for her'', and the constant implications that she would be even more badass if she wasn't so absurdly fraught with self-doubt]]. It's not "one step forward, two steps back" with her, it's more like "one step forward, '''ONE MILE''' back".

** Emp's low self-esteem: Genuine insecurity or fishing for compliments? While it's obvious that she does have some body issues, Melissa's circle of friends is so genuine and accepting of her that it becomes much harder to believe that she hasn't become more comfortable with herself over time. It doesn't help that she lays it on pretty thick that she thinks her curvaceous body is fat and undesirable despite her boyfriend's refutations.

* LesYay: Ninjette towards Empowered. And Three-Drink Bisexual Emp towards Ninjette, or Maternal Instinct Emp towards Ninjette. Volume 10 has Three-Drink Bisexual Emp kiss Li'l Daisy full on the mouth after the latter complains about how she still has the flirty instincts she did when she was alive, but nobody reciprocates now that she's a badly burned corpse. [[spoiler: Also, Sistah Spooky and Mindf██k, though those two actually HAD been together.]]
** As with most things, this happens in-universe as well. Apparently there's a fairly sizable Empowered x Sistah Spooky fanbase (apparently for the exact reasons there'd be one out-of-universe: antagonism = hot sex). Empowered is quite annoyed at discovering said fiction, and has to use [[HypocriticalHumor the "Well that's different!" defense]] when it's pointed out that she's an ardent fan of slashfic involving male heroes.
*** It's not just in-universe. When Ninjette asked Emp if she had ever really been spanked by Sistah Spooky, Emp refused to answer. And we have evidence that Emp is Spooky's type (Spooky may hate blondes, but she's clearly attracted to them too).

* EvilIsSexy: The Vanity half of the Divangelic duet, with the Charity half being an AngelicBeauty.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Just how accurate are Sistah Spooky's recollections of her youth? Was every other girl in her school really an Aryan uberhotty? Or was that just how Theresa perceived them? How much was she bullied? Clearly she was bullied, but was it really by everyone, or did it just feel that way to her? And was she really bullied for her looks, or because she was gay? In one of her flashbacks we see one of her schoolmates angrily accusing her of having tried to kiss her. For that matter, just how gay is she? We know she had sex with a man on one occasion, but that was to hurt Emp, at least primarily. Is she basically straight, but Mindf██k was the exception, or is she bi, or is she gay, and Mindf██k was her type? Could it be that her issues with blondes are, in a sense, sour grapes? That is, blondes are her type, but because of her experiences in school, she so fears rejection by them that she compensates by hating them before they have a chance to reject her?

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Ninjette. Ask anyone and they may pair her with [[spoiler:the Maidman]], [=ThugBoy=], Empowered, [[CrackShip Caged Demonwolf]]. Basically any main character.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: As Adam Warren himself pointed out, a bit near the end of the fifth volume has the villain Anglerfish claim that his son didn't deserve his CruelAndUnusualDeath, as he never committed any serious crimes and only ever used his lurelight to get laid. While the exact details of how he used his powers aren't really elaborated on, considering that Anglerfish's abilities are to trap people who see his light in a hypnotic illusion, many readers took this to mean that he was using it to mindcontrol people into sleeping with him--which would mean the guy was a rapist, and thereby an AssholeVictim at best.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: As Adam Warren himself pointed out, a bit near the end of the fifth volume has the villain Anglerfish claim that his son didn't deserve his CruelAndUnusualDeath, as he never committed any serious crimes and only ever used his lurelight to get laid. While the exact details of how he used his powers aren't really elaborated on, considering that Anglerfish's abilities are to trap people who see his light in a hypnotic illusion, many readers took this to mean that he was using it to mindcontrol people into sleeping with him. If the interpretation is correct, the guy was a rapist, making him an AssholeVictim at best.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Just how accurate are Sistah Spooky's recollections of her youth? Was every other girl in her school really an Aryan uberhotty? Or was that just how Theresa perceived them? How much was she bullied? Clearly she was bullied, but was it really by everyone, or did it just feel that way to her? And was she really bullied for her looks, or because she was gay? In one of her flashbacks we see one of her schoolmates angrily accusing her of having tried to kiss her. For that matter, just how gay is she? We know she had sex with a man on one occasion, but that was to hurt Emp, at least primarily. Is she basically straight, but Mindf██k was the exception, or is she bi, or is she gay, and Mindf██k was her type? Could it be that her issues with blondes are, in a sense, sour grapes? That is, blondes are her type, but because of her experiences in school, she so fears rejection by them that she compensates by hating them before they have a chance to reject her?

* WhatAnIdiot: Seriously, Ninjette's father, [[spoiler: starting a war with an allied clan over your daughter's virginity]]? Where is the sense?

* DracoInLeatherPants: Willy Pete becomes an in-universe example of this after a video of him [[spoiler:massacring (and in some cases raping) nearly a dozen superheroes]] leaks to the internet. People begin drawing ''yaoi doujinshi'' of him and the heroes he either injured, raped, or killed. Even another female superhero speaks well of him and [[YaoiFangirl adoringly downloads the doujinshi]], brushing off his atrocities by saying that she didn't like the personalities of those he raped and killed anyway.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Willy Pete becomes an in-universe example of this after a video of him [[spoiler:massacuring (and in some cases raping) nearly a dozen superheroes]] leaks to the internet. People begin drawing ''yaoi doujinshi'' of him and the heroes he either injured, raped, or killed. Even another female superhero speaks well of him and [[YaoiFangirl adoringly downloads the doujinshi]], brushing off his atrocities by saying that she didn't like the personalities of those he raped and killed anyway.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The {{Jerkass}}-to-genuine-good-guy ratio leans pretty hard in the {{Jerkass}} direction and CerebusRetcon is also on a high ratio (''at least'' Volumes 7 and 8). The titular heroine being a FailureHero with an elephant-sized dose of DudeWheresMyRespect (and other DysfunctionJunction issues) balancing out her {{Determinator}} attitude can also trigger this. And then there's the fact that the biggest CompleteMonster villains are still running around...

* DracoInLeatherPants: Willy Pete becomes an in-universe example of this after a video of him [[spoiler:massacring (and in some cases raping) nearly a dozen superheroes]] leaks to the internet. People begin drawing ''yaoi doujinshi'' of him and the heroes he either injured, raped, or killed. Even another female superhero speaks well of him and [[YaoiFangirl adoringly downloads the doujinshi]], brushing off his atrocities by saying that she didn't like the personalities of those he raped and killed anyway.

* MoralEventHorizon: In ''Empowered and Sistah Spooky's High School Hell'', Queen Bee Ashley solves the problem of too many blondes sharing too little mystical power [[spoiler:by roasting the other girls alive in a deathtrap supposedly meant for the title characlers]].

** this could qualify as GreyAndGrayMorality, given that Kid Anglerfish WAS a minor villain, who seems to have used his powers in pursuit of sex without meaningful consent, which Anglerfish doesn’t appear to regard as particularly wrong. That said, Willy Pete’s actions were totally unacceptable by any definition, whoever was involved
** there is also the fairly obvious implication that the Super Homies are plain scared of Willy Pete, for good reason

* HollywoodPudgy: Somewhat subverted, considering Emp is drawn like most comic superheroines boob- and booty-wise, yet she still considers herself chubby as all get out. Lampshaded [[http://www.empoweredcomic.com/comic/volume-1-page-101 when Ninjette dismisses]] this as "grenade-fishing for compliments". Might also be a case of RealityIsUnrealistic - a lot of women who look much like Emp will ''insist'' that they're fat no matter how many people tell them otherwise, especially if they're prone to having low self-esteem.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Willy Pete from ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'' becomes an in-universe example of this after a video of him [[spoiler:massacring (and in some cases raping) nearly a dozen superheroes]] leaks to the internet. People begin drawing ''yaoi doujinshi'' of him and the heroes he either injured, raped, or killed. Even another female superhero speaks well of him and [[YaoiFangirl adoringly downloads the doujinshi]], brushing off his atrocities by saying that she didn't like the personalities of those he raped and killed anyway.

** [[KnightOfCerebus Willy Pete]] is a [[EvilIsBurningHot fire elemental]] who still has a man's appetites, which he satisfies with rape—-he favors the eye sockets--and killing, which, in his case, are one and the same, thanks to his constantly superheated body. Because all normal food is incinerated on contact with him, he resorts to [[ImAHumanitarian eating superheroes and supervillains]]. He doesn't even need to eat; he just does it because he likes the taste. At the end of Volume 5, he [[HeroKiller incinerates 8 of the 10 supers sent to stop him]], and then, just for fun, followed this up by throwing as much fire as he could through the portal they came through without even knowing what was on the other end, thereby forcing [[spoiler:Mindfuck]] into a HeroicSacrifice to save Emp.

** [[KnightOfCerebus Willy Pete]] is a [[EvilIsBurningHot fire elemental]] who still has a man's appetites, which he satisfies with rape—-he favors the eye sockets--and killing, which, in his case, are one and the same, thanks to his constantly superheated body. Because all normal food is incinerated on contact with him, he resorts to [[ImAHumanitarian eating superheroes and supervillains]]. He doesn't even need to eat; he just does it because he likes the taste. At the end of Volume 5, he [[HeroKiller incinerates 8 of the 10 supers sent to stop him]], and then, just for fun, followed this up by throwing as much fire as he could through the portal they came through without even knowing what was on the other end, thereby forcing [[spoiler:Mindfuck]] into a HeroicSacrifice to safe Emp.

* HollywoodPudgy: Somewhat subverted, considering Emp is drawn like most comic superheroines boob- and booty-wise, yet she still considers herself chubby as all get out. Lampshaded [[http://www.empoweredcomic.com/comic/volume-1-page-101 when Ninjette dismisses]] this as "grenade-fishing for compliments". Might also be a case of RealityIsUnrealistic - a lot of women who look much like Emp will ''insist'' that they're fat no matter how many people tell them otherwise, especially if they're prone to having low self-esteem.
* MoralEventHorizon: In ''Empowered and Sistah Spooky's High School Hell'', Queen Bee Ashley solves the problem of too many blondes sharing too little mystical power [[spoiler:by roasting the other girls alive in a deathtrap supposedly meant for the title characlers]].

* ShipTease: Ninjette and the Caged Demon Wolf. The author himself has said he didn't expect her relationship with the Caged Demonwolf to develop so much. Example: He notices she's drinking more (pointing out that she's breaking her own rules of drinking) after a horribly close call and reassures her that her friends won't abandon her. Even if it's because [[DirtyOldMan he wants to see her in her tight shorts once more]]. When Volume 7 hits, he takes a break from his usual speaking style to talk to her gently (which she won't remember because she's blackout drunk, and has happened before) about how his memories of her will live on past the end of the universe and into the next one.

* ShipTease: Ninjette & [[spoiler:the Maidman]], Ninjette & [=ThugBoy=], Ninjette & Empowered - I think we found our LauncherOfAThousandShips.
** Yup. And you can add [[CrackShip Ninjette & Caged Demonwolf]]. The author himself has said he didn't expect her relationship with the Caged Demonwolf to develop so much. Example: He notices she's drinking more (pointing out that she's breaking her own rules of drinking) after a horribly close call and reassures her that her friends won't abandon her. Even if it's because [[DirtyOldMan he wants to see her in her tight shorts once more]].
*** When Volume 7 hits, he takes a break from his usual speaking style to talk to her gently (which she won't remember because she's blackout drunk, and has happened before) about how his memories of her will live on past the end of the universe and into the next one.

* HollywoodPudgy: Somewhat subverted, considering Emp is drawn like most comic superheroines boob- and booty-wise, yet she still considers herself chubby as all get out. Lampshaded when another character dismisses this as "grenade-fishing for compliments". Might also be a case of RealityIsUnrealistic - a lot of women who look much like Emp will ''insist'' that they're fat no matter how many people tell them otherwise, especially if they're prone to having low self-esteem.

** Ninjette's father only appears for a few panels, in Volume 7, but manages a lot of evil, and is likely the reason that Ninjette herself is an alcoholic like her father. He starts by putting her through TrainingFromHell, and emotionally abused her to the point where she still has self-esteem issues. Later on, when she is still underage, he betrothed his daughter to a DirtyOldMan of an allied clan, Ninjette tried to lose her virginity, as the deal was for a virgin bride, but her clan was too frightened of her father to take her up on the offer. Instead, she slept with her childhood friend who was prince of an allied clan. Her father's reaction was to slaughter his bodyguards, castrate the prince and stuff his genitals in his mouth before ripping his head off, fully knowing there'd be a war, despite being formerly allied with the clan. He then proceeded to beat his daughter so that for some she wouldn't "be able to walk…or eat solid food, or piss without blood…" In addition, he's been shown as raping Oyuki, a genin around his daughter's age---in a way "anatomically unlikely to induce pregnancy"--and hires another clan to drag his runaway daughter back to the clan without hands or feet to serve as a broodmare. Ninjette's father, despite only being a human with no superpowers, is one of the most vile characters in the series.