Intense attachment to fictional characters?

Today, I ran into this song on You Tube (Lovely Wii Fit Trainer), and it got me thinking about the intense emotional attachment that some people develop for fictional characters. Perverse Sexual Lust is the obvious example, but I'm also talking about passionate shipping and nonsexual attachments such as daydreaming about befriending a favorite character or Longing for Fictionland. As a kid, I experienced all of that very frequently, and very intensely (and I'd be lying if I said it didn't still happen from time to time), and the subject is fascinating to me.

Do any of you guys ever feel like that? Where do you think those fantasies come from, and what do you think they mean? (note: this is not a place to discuss your Perverse Sexual Lust explicitly, or to talk about anything family-unfriendly. If you think you should keep something to yourself, do.) Do you think our relationship to the media that enchants us tells us anything about ourselves? Obviously it's all a bit of harmless daydreaming, but the relationship between fans and the object(s) of their affection has always intrigued me.

For example, I know superheroes are traditionally thought of as power fantasies for little boys and young men, but when I saw a cool hero, I never dreamed about being them. I dreamed about being their friend and hanging out with them, kind of aimlessly, not to have them beat up the bullies or anything "opportunistic" like that. I think the notion of being liked by somebody awesome made me feel validated. Like, if an amazing hero thought I was cool, maybe that meant I wasn't quite as shitty as I felt.

What are your theories? Alternately, what is your experience with daydreams like these?

edited 8th Jun '14 1:48:22 AM by ThriceCharming

I would hang up with Wallace Wells

I feel like a lot of it has to do with inadequacies with social relationships in real life, thus people invent their own relationships with fictional characters and grow highly attached to them as a substitute to feel less lonely.

I tend to have romantic rather than sexual feelings for fictional characters.

Which is why I have 8 waifus. Pathetic I know. but until I get an actual girlfriend it'll have to do.

Back when I was a twat, one of my favorite activities involved:

1. Find someone who is intensely attached to a fictional character, be it online or off.

2. Bash the CRAP out of that character in front of that person. If it's a female character, call her a slut.

3. Watch the fireworks, preferrably with a bag of pop corn and safe amount of distance between.

Yeah...I used to be a massive jerk. -_-

I once dreamed of being a Pokemon Trainer and having a Pikachu as my partner. Does that count? Right now, though, I'm attached to several of the characters I've created in my story, all in different ways.

I don't see anything in particular wrong with having an attachment to a fictional character. To me, it's no different than having a crush on a celebrity or something. Sure, you know it'll never happen, but it's fun to imagine what if.

I had a really passionate not-relationship with one of the Headcrab Zombies in Half-Life 2

you know the one

Mostly I just get crushes on characters, but I really want to snuggle Lip.

Sometimes fictional characters are just really cool people who would be fun to be around.

edited 8th Jun '14 10:50:06 AM by resetlocksley

This thread reminds me of that old Perverse Sexual Lust thread that's now gone.

Which is ironic, because OP stated that was not his intention.

Weirdly enough I've always liked the ideas behind some fictional characters rather than the characters themselves, if that makes any sense. I always thought that because the personalities of fictional characters were either influenced from traits the author is fond of, people they knew or both, there had to be people in the real world that possessed similar mindsets either because they already had said traits or were influenced by said fictional characters I like such as Captain Falcon (GX personality of being unfettered in even the most ridiculous of situations), Samus Aran (adaptable and smarter than she seems), and based of what I've heard of....Tali'Zorah.

I'm strange, I know.

It's still around. It's just called "Character crushes and other depravity" now.

i absolutely adore the servant grunt from amnesia

look at those luscious curves

that handsome mug

those piercing eyes

my one true friend in all of brennanburg◊

I certainly find myself loving many fictional characters...

I didn't mean to say it's not okay to discuss crushes on fictional characters here, if you're comfortable doing it. Just don't get too explicit or you'll A) probably squick someone out, and B) get us locked.

I definitely had difficulty making friends as a kid, before I had the Internet to find like-minded people (and eventually my actual, human girlfriend). In my early teens, I daydreamed about the characters from The X-Files, Teen Titans and Code Lyoko (among other things) and even wrote a 200-page Self-Insert Fic about meeting them and hanging out with them, which I thankfully never put online. I was deeply infatuated with the girls from both cartoons, but not in a sexual way because I wasn't really interested in sex at the time.

Hans from Frozen is pretty damn attractive. That singing voice. Those sideburns.

Ferret, no. That guy'll break your heart.

I'll just pretend the second half of the film doesn't exist. I'll braid my already ginger hair and I can totally be Anna for him

I can understand why you'd be fond of the characters from Teen Titans (before the Go! spinoff). Cyborg was my favorite character, I liked how Robin was adapted from klutzy sidekick of Batman to completely independent and capable Badass Normal, and I always liked the kindness and unfamilarity of Earthen customs from Starfire.

edited 8th Jun '14 1:28:25 PM by ParadoxialStratagem

It's not just about escapism or social difficulties, because I have a lot of friends and I still find a lot of fictional characters very intriguing and find myself very attached to them to the point that I cry when sad things happen to them. It's because well-written characters feel like real people and they're much easier to idealize. We can ignore their flaws because they're fictional and nothing they do can actually affect us at all, unlike the flaws of the people close to us.

The cool thing about Teen Titans is that it worked to make you like the characters instead of merely looking up to them. Even superhero cartoons as revered as Batman The Animated Series don't really invite you to invest in the stories and characters on an emotional level. Teen Titans is the show that made me care about superheroes in the first place. My favorite character is Raven, closely followed by Cyborg, closely followed by Terra. I liked Raven and Cyborg because they were smart and not afraid to show it; I had always been afraid of people rejecting me socially (or even picking on me) if I acted "like a nerd." I also really admire Cyborg's love of life.

I'm very attached to Cecil Palmer from Welcome To Night Vale. I think it's because of the way the show is designed. It's like he's talking to us, the listeners personally every night. And usually (with the exception of a few wham episodes that came our way recently), he tells his listeners good night. Maybe I'm just remembering the simpler times of childhood when my own parents used to tuck me in... I get fuzzy feels just thinking about it.

I'm also attached to Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens. Aziraphale just because he can be so nice and helpful (and I've always believed in angels or some kind of divine intervention), and Crowley because he does have some good in him and it really shows when he acts on it.

When I was around 12 or 13 (and I'd first played FF 6) I cared about Edgar and Sabin from Final Fantasy VI too. At the time, they were the first sibling pair in a video game or anime series I'd seen who didn't have a grudge against each other. I pictured them as my brothers, sometimes. And I thought Edgar was pretty cool being a Gadgeteer Genius and all. Now I admire them for the way their characters are written, and how their character arcs play out.

edited 8th Jun '14 7:31:50 PM by Misuki

I'm rather attached to the characters I've created. ^_^;;

I wouldn't say that I have any romantic or sexual feelings towards fictional characters (tiny crushes are the extent), but I definitely feel for them. I remember that when I was watching the last few episodes of Soul Eater, I was close to crying when Chrona nearly died. I tend to get nervous a lot when a character gets hurt badly (my stomach drops and I start biting my nails).