Base Breaking Character Cleanup

Comment it out since that entry lacks context and doesn't go into detail onto why some like her and some dislike her.

Okay, I feel context is important here, even if I'm not at all familiar with the source material or its creator.

Apparently, Growing Around is a pet project of The Mysterious Mr. Enter and he's been trying to get it off the ground for a while now. From what I can gather, he has written at least one book and posted a few episode scripts up online, but that's about it. Notably, there was an Indiegogo campaign earlier in the year to help fund the creation of the first season... that ultimately reached only 3% of its fundraising goal. So, no episodes are likely to be produced.

Again, I have no familiarity with Mr. Enter or his work. So, I'm not sure if any of this is based on tangible source material, or is just fans troping about a potential show based on promotional material. Especially since Growing Around is also listed on the Just for Fun namespace, which makes me question the validity of the examples even more.

Edited by chasemaddigan on Sep 12th 2018 at 1:16:13 PM

I removed an example from The Dragon Prince because it was literally released yesterday.

Wow, seriously?

YMMV.Street Fighter V has a bunch of base-breaking character examples. Not all of them seem to fit, especially since the game is in active development with releases in 'seasons' so knee-jerk reactions are likely. (Its prequel, YMMV.Street Fighter IV, also had this.)

Edited by lalalei2001 on Sep 17th 2018 at 7:46:34 AM

Found this on Re:Zero, which may be too wordy: Subaru has become the biggest one in the fandom as the series has progressed:

• The first point of contention regarding him is his non-reaction to being transported to another world. Some people don't mind it and consider it's not important to the story as it is. Other people find it ridiculously unrealistic even by fantasy setting standards, and that it sets Subaru's character for a very bad start. Among readers of the LN it's a bit better, since the issue is at least addressed, albeit not really explored.
• Albeit at first the split was more or less moderate, it became much larger since the start of the third arc (starting in the 12th episode). One half of it despise him for his idiotic behavior, his quasi-stalkerish obsession over Emilia and his stupid choices, who leads to him (and others) to go into troubles. Plus, many argue that those idiotic choices are plot-driven, instead of character-driven. Or in other words, "Subaru behaves like an idiot when it's convenient for the plot", which is a pretty common comment among detractors. The other half likes the guy because how realistic they find his behavior and defend that Subaru acts like a flawed human being rather than acting like an idealized, typical fantasy world protagonist. Episode 16 only added more fuel to the fire, as his rage clouding his mind made him do, in some people's eyes, even more stupid decisions.
• More in general, people put Subaru's motivations into question, particularly those regarding Emilia. Supporters claim they're perfectly understandable, since they have more than enough interaction for Subaru to genuinely fall in love with her, and it creates a solid foundation for the story to brutally depict Subaru's character archetype. Some compare this to how people can become infatuated with others, and blindly "loving" someone for shallow or little reason. Especially in episode 14, where Emilia mentions, "the version of me inside of you must be amazing", which many supporters say is justified, since Subaru has seen Emilia in more ways and has had more intimate moments with her throughout his loops that she's not aware of, but Subaru is. Detractors, on the other hand, disagree that they have enough chemistry to justify Subaru going to such lengths for her, which coupled with his aforementioned non-reaction to being in a different world, makes him feel artificial. And that's BEFORE including Rem in the equation, which takes things Up To Eleven.
• In particular, since the second half of the show, many viewers complained about Emilia growing into a Living MacGuffin and the nature of her and Subaru's relationship/his love for her being little more than explicable religious fanaticism, while Rem being the fan favorite character formally remained on the sidelines, even after Subaru confessed his love equally to both girls. Eventually, feeling Subaru to her remains poorly motivated even when Emilia starts to develop a well illustrated reciprocal feelings. At the same time, some Rem fans seems quite satisfied with such author's superficial attitude to the line of Subaru and Emilia, believing that much more concretized SubaRem attitude can give hope for future better chances for Rem, than at the moment.
• Did his breakdown in episode 13 show that he was an entitled dick or was it just him grasping for straws as his mental trauma surfaced due to the sudden fear of being abandoned, rendering all his former suffering for naught and then leaving him alone with it?
• At the end of the third arc, Subaru decided to start taking things more seriously and become a true hero, and manages to succeed, with some help, in defeating the White Whale and the Witch's Cult. Many fans are up in arms about this being the typical self-insert harem protagonist played straight and claim it to be the worst incarnation of Subaru of all because he's not losing. Others claim that his development is realistic and doesn't go into tensei hero territory, and after all that has happened to him over the course of the story, letting the poor guy succeed and save the ones he cares about is the least the writer could do. People that know the actual ending to Arc 3 that the anime has yet to cover is one of the main sticking points against this point of view.
• The above point brings to light the fandom's divide on Subaru's successes. Some fans believe that Subaru having some success here or there doesn't detract from the story's dark elements, and are okay with him making things better before he's gut punched by the next Diabolus ex Machina. Others are against the very idea of Subaru succeeding at anything, winning any conflict, or even learning to be a better person because they see that as playing into a standard Isekai series.

@ Street Fighter V. At the very least, that entry about Falke is almost 100% complaining. Either rewrite it, cut it, or move her to the The Scrappy.

• Not only is Karin's entry mostly complaining, it reads like it was written pre-release.
• Juri is mostly a list of gameplay changes, which would only matter to people who play as her (therefore not breaking the base, just a small portion of it).
• Blanka and Falke also seem to be knee-jerk reactions added shortly after their reveals. As mentioned above, Falke's entry is also just complaining.

Tangled: The Series has almost every characters listed.

• Base-Breaking Character: A lot of characters are surprisingly divisive. For example:
  • Cassandra is quite divisive. Some fans like her because of her kindness towards Rapunzel and her fighting prowess and general badassery. Others utterly despise her because she's a bitch towards Eugene, and makes Rapunzel promise not to tell anyone how her hair grew back, not caring how it could've hurt her and Eugene's relationship or what consequences it could bring for everyone in favor of her own problems. Not to mention she acts like a Know-Nothing Know-It-All, saying that Eugene isn't good enough for Rapunzel, never mind the fact he was the reason why Rapunzel was brought back home and rescued in the first place. Later episodes attempt to make her more likable by giving her and Eugene more Vitriolic Best Buds development, and having her even support Eugene when he tries to become a Royal Guard.
  • Willow, the queen's sister in "Way Of The Willow" is either a fun and energetic character who genuinely cares for her family, or an annoying woman who's more concerned about not causing damage. What is worse is that her quirky personality traits undo her sister's Hidden Depths that were shown in the earlier episodes.
  • Queen Arianna is either a kind, diligent mother to Rapunzel, or a bland and one-note yes woman to her husband.
  • Varian, both before and after his Face–Heel Turn into villainy, really exemplifies this trope. Pre-Face–Heel Turn, his dorkiness and clumsy demeanor were either annoying and unfunny, or endearing and adorable. Post-Face–Heel Turn, where he swears revenge for his father being imprisoned in amber (despite it being his fault for meddling with the rocks), there's a three way split between those who think that he's gone too far off the deep end to be truly sympathetic, those who believe he shouldn't be blamed at all for his actions, and the middle ground who believe the balance of both makes him a compelling Anti-Villain. He has even in cases been given blame for the show's Cerebus Syndrome, citing Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy.
  • King Frederic started exemplifying this trope in later episodes. When Rapunzel confronts him on keeping the black rocks a secret from others, he then proceeds to give her even more restrictions, mainly locking her in her bedroom, to make sure that she's protected. You either think that he's genuinely looking out for Rapunzel and is just too stubborn to trust her and give her freedom, or you think that he's a borderline dictator who's no better than Gothel. The fact that both Rapunzel and Eugene point out the latter in universe doesn't help one bit.
  • Adira, the mysterious figure from the season 1 finale, is also a bit divisive. There are those who think she's a Mary Sue with no real character flaws, while others think she's a compelling action girl with funny moments, and like the fact that she's the only one who can cut through the mystical black rocks with her special sword.
  • Not even Rapunzel is safe from this, with those who think she's still a compelling character with the show greatly expanding on her, or those who think her arc wrapped up fairly well in the movie and she has a bit too much Wangst to be seen as truly interesting.
  • The citizens of Vardaros (except the more sympathetic Vex and Quaid) also come across as this, mainly stemming from if they should be seen as a Hate Sink or The Scrappy.
  • The Lorbs are either funny and quirky, or annoying and a hindrance to the plot.
  • Uncle Monty, much like his debut episode, is also divisive, mainly from those who found his hatred of Rapunzel somewhat understandable or very petty and selfish.
  • While Eugene still has plenty of fans who appreciate the show giving him some hidden depths, there are those who think the show tries a bit too hard to make him a source of comedy, and thus tends to find him more annoying.
  • Varian's father Quirin is divisive for the same reasons as King Frederic, on whether his actions are for tough love and not thinking straight, or where he's essentially being an idiot for not directly communicating his true intentions. His being imprisoned in amber when trying to protect Varian adds to this.

I feel like Cassandra and Varian could keep. At least the main character should be cut.

This show was brought up in the Broken Base cleanup thread. I noted that many examples just give one positive and one negative trait of a character and give no context about how fans perceive them.

I'm not familiar with the show or its fandom, but I agree that Cassandra and Varian's entries look good and fleshed-out enough to give good context for both sides of the issue. Everyone else's suffers from the issue I mentioned.

More examples has been added since I've brought on the other thread. That being said, is there a rule that groups can't count like The Scrappy?

These two entries from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends are very negatively biased.

• Bloo. Some fans find him very entertaining and endearing because of his antics, while other fans find him as an obnoxious Jerkass who doesn't deserve Mac as a friend. Many fans have started to dislike Bloo because of his rude, selfish, and egotistical personality, and to make it more insulting, he got worse as the show went on. Just look at the stream of nothing but negative traits on his character page. So many fans kept wondering as to why Mac didn't just ditch Bloo later on. And you know it's bad when the deuteragonist is loathed by the fandom and the other characters.
• Mr. Herriman. Some fans like his strict personality, and see him as a person who just tries to keep everything structured and feel his moments of taking things literally can be funny. Other fans find him to be an obnoxious, inconsiderate militant control freak who abuses his rules and feel some of his policies are unreasonable. (yet he has no problem breaking his own rules) They also hate him for being a complete Jerkass toward Frankie for NO reason other than to spite her. Not helping the fact that he's constantly insulting and berating her, even when she does something right and feels only his way is right. Some of the worst examples of this are "Imposter's Home for Um... Make Em Up Pals" "Let Your Hare Down" and the beginning half of "Destination Imagination".

Bringing up these examples from The Flash (2014):

General

• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Iris West. In Season 1, she was either considered heartwarming for the way she cares for Barry or annoying with her Locked Out of the Loop subplot. Season 2 she was more liked outside of shipping wars, but over season three the "Save Iris" arc made people split on if she was an annoyingly useless Damsel Scrappy or a compelling character that was being poorly used and handled her apparently upcoming death with grace. In the fourth season, the fact that she became a leader in Team Flash was divisive, with some people thinking her role is unjustified thanks to her lack of both a scientific background and general experience, while others praise her new role as making great use of her journalistic instinct and the fact that as the least-suited for field work, manning tactics back at base made sense, not to mention she has far more emotional stability than other Team Flash members. She also got attacked for her initial tension with Barry when he returned while others actually agreed with her complaints regarding Barry's post-return attitude.
  • Wally West is rather divisive. His initial angst, rudeness and his extreme Chronic Hero Syndrome made him come off as unsympathetic to some, which was not helped by his controversial Race Lift to a black lad. Once he gains powers and the team stop trying to push him away from heroics, though, fandom seems to have split between if he's a good part of the show for being Fun Personified in his role as Kid Flash and bringing levity to an otherwise dark story, or if he's distracting and unneeded, especially given his increased prominence as Barry's protege and the potential for him to take over the show completely. Season four's poor treatment of him however made many fans cry foul, to the point Legends of Tomorrow had to step in and transplant him over to their show.

Season 1

• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Cisco. Either an Adorkable nerd who loves his job and good comic relief, or someone not annoying enough to be The Scrappy, but still annoying enough to let the show down. This largely went away as the series went on and he was given more things to do beyond being the comic relief.
  • Caitlin, largely due to her rather quick rush to abandon Ronnie, even wishing he was dead, after finding out he became Firestorm, which irked many of the fans, while others consider her a much better female lead than Iris and should replace her in the role, similar to Tina McGee in the 90s series or Felicity in Arrow.
  • Pied Piper. Either he's a badass Chessmaster who should replace Cisco as the Flash's gadget guy (his common role in the comics), or an annoying little Smug Snake; it largely comes down to if you think he's as smart as he thinks he is. There's also the numerous changes from his comic book self which has irked some people.
  • Captain Cold. There's a split on if he's really a competent Chessmaster or everyone else just becomes an idiot around him while he gets off scot-free, then gets rewarded for it by becoming a hero in the spin-off.

Season 2

• Base-Breaking Character:
  • The portrayal of Patty Spivot is very popular with some viewers, while others call it a contrived attempt to give the show its own version of Felicity whose Adorkableness is forced (being a fan of Barry's lab reports, seriously?). Not to mention she's just another Romantic False Lead to keep Barry from being with Iris.
  • "Jay Garrick" was anticipated eagerly when his helmet appeared in the Season One finale, but has become divisive ever since he made a physical appearance. Some sympathize with a man who lost his speed and in a world he doesn't know, while others find him useless most of the time he is on screen since he hasn't done much to train Barry since teaching him to throw lightning which happened very early on in the season and just seems to stick around to either comment on how dangerous Zoom is or get into fights with Earth-2's Harrison Wells. Add on the fact he has a polarizing romance with Caitlin as well as how people fear the show might drag him out his lack of speed for a majority of the season and the (false) Crimson Comet doesn't have much of a middle ground of fans or haters. This got rendered moot with the reveal that "Jay" was actually Hunter Zolomon pretending to be him. The real Jay Garrick, who was a completely separate character altogether, was far better received.
  • Zoom, depending on who you ask, is either a Generic Doomsday Villain with an anti-climactic Evil Plan and a poor substitute for the more engaging Reverse-Flash, or a terrifyingly intimidating villain and worthy successor to Thawne. While he does become more nuanced after his true identity is revealed, fans remain split on whether he's an awesome villain with a tragic backstory or a cheap Replacement Scrappy who just retreads the same ground as Reverse-Flash and ruins the comics' version of Hunter Zolomon with his Adaptational Villainy.
  • Jesse was anticipated by Flash fans and her own fans since she's long been in limbo in the comics, due to the edict that Barry not have a Flash family. The show's version of her however; either she's another poor attempt to make yet another adorkable girl character in a franchise that already has too many, and her workaholic personality was removed for no reason to make her yet another Damsel in Distress who needs to be rescued, or she's a good character who grounds Harry and gives the viewer not only a more normal character in general, but also a more normal Earth-2 character, in terms of how she reacts to everything. Even supporters want her to eventually move more in-line with her comic counterpart, however.

Season 3

• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Barry's actions have really divided the fanbase. Some see him as a self-absorbed crybaby who thinks he has it harder than those who are suffering because of his actions, while others see him as a flawed human who made one mistake in a moment where he was going through some extreme emotional pain and is doing his best to make amends to those he has (accidentally) wronged. He divided the fanbase even further in "The Wrath of Savitar" when Barry runs towards the spot where Wally had inadvertently summoned the Speed Force and appears to make no effort to try to help Wally out of the Speed Force as Wally disappears and Savitar reappears despite Wally not fully disappearing into it for a few seconds. Some fans now see Barry as being incredibly stupid for not trying to help someone close to him, with a few others interpreting Flash's inaction as a possible sign of pettiness over Wally spoiling his engagement plans with Iris earlier. Others, however, defend Barry's actions and point out the possibility that had Barry tried to help Wally out of the Speed Force, he would have been sucked in too, leaving Iris completely vulnerable to Savitar's predations.
  • Julian Albert, the new CSI tech. Some loved him for Tom Felton's awesome acting and his frequent Jerkass Has a Point status. Others dislike him since he's an Insufferable Genius who nearly got everyone in the police station killed in Episode 3 because he decided to confront a metahuman all by himself just to prove his theory right rather than follow basic police protocol and he later blackmailed Barry while complaining about Barry's morality. It also really doesn't help when we learn that he's Doctor Alchemy, one of the major villains this season, though "The Present" shows he was something of a physical avatar/mouthpiece for Savitar and completely unaware of his alter-ego while giving Julian another chance to mend the fence with Barry.
  • Mirror Master was highly anticipated before his debut, especially in light of the announcement he would be adapted into a metahuman. When the episode aired, Mirror Master was subjected to criticism for having little depth—beyond a vendetta against Snart, he only displays a fondness for bank heists in his role as a throwaway villain. Part of the fanbase finds his depiction and performance underwhelming, while another segment is willing to wait and see what the show does with the newest additions to the Rogues. Though personality aside, many fans agree the live-action portrayal of his powers is pretty awesome.
  • Some fans like Earth-19 Wells/H.R. for being funny, providing a hilarious reversal of Cisco's dynamics with the previous Wells, and giving Tom Cavanagh more chances to show off his acting skills. Others see him as a Replacement Scrappy for Earth-2 Wells/Harry and think that he has nothing to do with the show's plot and he is only an excuse to keep Tom Cavanagh on the show. Then there are those who have no problem with the character, but would have preferred it if Harry stayed as he had already spent his time up to the point of his departure building a strong rapport with the team and endearing himself to the fans. His criticism gets downplayed with time, though.
  • With the fallout between him and Barry starting in the seventh episode, Cisco has been carving out some territory here, as his constant potshots at Barry are not only starting to wear thin, but are also giving many viewers flashbacks to the similarly peevish Felicity of Arrow's third and fourth seasons. For those who find themselves suddenly annoyed by Cisco, it's not so much that they feel he's without justification as it is they hate how unnecessarily petty he's being with his grudge. He manages to redeem himself in the third part of the "Invasion!" crossover, though, after finding that he and Barry are Not So Different.

Season 4

• Base-Breaking Character
  • Many fans turned on Jesse Quick in "Luck Be a Lady" where she breaks up with Wally out-of-the-blue via a "breakup cube" and kicks her dad off Earth-2. Mitigated by "Enter Flashtime" where it's revealed Harry wasn't being fully honest and he was to blame for his departing from Jesse too.
  • Some love Ralph Dibny for being funny, Hartley Sawyer's performance, being less angsty than Wally (at first) and being a protege to Barry who isn't another speedster, but others see him as a Replacement Scrappy for Wally, an out of place character in general, an annoying misogynist, and pointless comic relief with juvenile and crude humour that ruins the tone of the season, all of which isn't helped by how Ralph is portrayed as an Adaptational Jerkass. He outgrows the misogynistic aspects of his character, but his constant cycle of not wanting to be a hero only to be persuaded later, and then forget that lesson in the next episode has grated on many fans.
  • Big Bad DeVoe himself falls into this category. For instance, IGN's reviews seem to enjoy the gravitas and menace the character lends to the season along with the ensuing Story Arc it entails, while AV Club's reviews conversely feel that the show's writers themselves aren't smart enough to write for what is supposed to be the world's smartest man, making the end result seem underwhelming, and appreciating when the show takes a break from the serialized conflict. He becomes all the more polarising when Neil Sandilands stops portraying him in favor of the Bus Meta actors, whose bodies DeVoe keeps stealing. For some, the continued body theft misses the point of the intended Brains Evil, Brawn Good conflict, even if later episodes establish that DeVoe's new hosts suffer from Possession Burnout due to inheriting his ALS, thus necessitating his constant bodyhopping.
  • Recurring antagonist Amunet Black. Is her portrayal a delightful Ham and Cheese performance that neatly contrasts with the quieter and far more menacing DeVoe, or is she a cheesy under-performing villain who weakens episodes she appears in and her fake British accent so distracting that it makes the character outright annoying?
  • Killer Frost has her fans, but her detractors aren't impressed with her being knocked out all the time, her lack of accountability for her previous participation on a conspiracy to murder a friend and for her involvement with a human trafficker, feel that the Jekyll and Hyde situation is cheesy, and that the reason for her even being Killer Frost in the first place is unclear. Not helped by the fact that the show keeps changing the rules about how her powers and personality work.

Okay so the MLP page has every single main character, and others too!

• Rainbow Dash. The base is split between those who think she's a Jerkass due to her arrogance and constant boasting, and those who think she actually has the skills to keep up with her boasts. She's on many fans' "Favorite pony" list, but also on many "Worst pony" lists. The trend of Scootabuse (artwork of Rainbow abusing Scootaloo played for laughs.), Rainbow Factory, Pony.MOV, Friendship Is Witchcraft, and other fanworks that derail her have not helped despite their noncanonicity and not being reflective of her character. There are even some fans who wish she'd be removed from the show permanently, or humiliated in front of her idols (Which has ended up occuring with great frequency, who, with the exception of Soarin' are also divisive as well, ever since a certain episode. To make matters worse, in many stores Rainbow Dash toys are the only ones left while every other pony is sold out or in very limited quantity. Episodes like many early S2 episodes written by Charlotte Fullerton or Merriwether Williams only increased her hatedom. Her status as the Element of Loyalty has also been called into question as episodes such as "The Last Roundup" "and "Three's a Crowd" involve her showing no remorse or having her suffer no consequence for ignoring her friends. Then we have more modern episodes like "Trade Ya!" and "Tanks for the Memories" which just add more fuel to the fire. She's hated in "Trade Ya!" for the unspeakably heinous crime of accidentally trading her friend away for a book, with very few fans realizing she didn't understand what had happened until it was (almost) too late. If you make a poll on least favourite mane six ponies before Starlight Glimmer showed up, many will say Rainbow Dash. Some have even labeled her as a Designated Hero and think she's even worse than the villains.
• While many love Pinkie Pie for being a Fun Personified pony whose driving purpose in life is to make others happy, other fans feel that she has a history of making things harder for other characters, such as preventing Twilight from resolving the conflict in "Green Isn't Your Color" because of an arbitrary promise, hurting Luna's attempts to be accepted in "Luna Eclipsed" by pretending to be scared of her, hoarding cider in "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000", annoying Cranky in "A Friend In Deed", and especially for aggravating Fluttershy's stage fright in "Filli Vanilli". (The flak sparked from that appearance was exceptionally strong.) Her habit of being Innocently Insensitive and often not being called out for it has gained her a Hate Dom, which isn't helped by her being connected with some of the more controversial aesops of the series (Such as "Swarm of the Century", "Feeling Pinkie Keen" and "A Friend In Deed"). In addition, while many find her "random" humor and hyperactivity hilarious, others find it irritating, especially since exactly how scatterbrained she is tends to vary between episodes.
• Fluttershy. Some fans go through Hype Backlash when it comes to her cuteness, and find her passiveness and cowardliness irritating rather than endearing. Her willingness to stand up for herself and/or her friends also varies, depending on the episode. She also tends to be very easily forgiven by her fanbase. Whenever she does something wrong (like hurting her friends’ feelings, whether on purpose or not), she’s quickly forgiven, yet when any of her friends hurt her, they quickly become targets of unrelenting hate. Her cemented assertiveness in the later seasons also causes this. Some people think it retrospectively makes her a walking Moment of Awesome and others think she's now boring and unrelatable.
• Twilight Sparkle got a ton of divisive opinions thrown her way after she became a princess at the end of the third season. Some fans love Twilight and think of her as an Adorkable Badass Bookworm who deserves to be the show's main protagonist. Others see her as overpowered with the writers fawning over her and making her flaws told rather than shown. Even ignoring the issue of her being an alicorn princess entirely, Twilight still gets some flak for having the majority of the show's more dramatic moments focused on her. This has led some bronies to accuse Twilight of stealing the spotlight, especially in the two-part episodes.
• While the majority of fans like Applejack, she and her family are a Spotlight-Stealing Squad to the point where Applejack has appeared in more episodes than any other major character in the show, and it's left some divided on whether it's a good idea or not. While several Applejack fans appreciate the extra attention especially since she was somewhat Out of Focus in the second season, other fans, particularly ones whose favorite pony is one of the other main characters, are starting to get tired of the extra Character Focus she's recently been getting for the last few years, not helped by the fact that more recent episodes where she's had a leading or major supporting role have started receiving more divisive reception.
• Rarity got hit with this pretty hard in the earlier seasons. Until her Hidden Depths were revealed in "Suited for Success", her most prominent critics labeled her as The Scrappy of the Mane Six, even more so than Rainbow Dash. Many people admitted to hating her at first for being dim, shallow, arrogant and useless — in other words, typical Rich Bitch, the very stereotype she was designed to subvert. Her detractors claimed she wasn't fit to wield the Element of Generosity whenever she lapsed into selfishness and greed, often citing her behavior in "Dragonshy" as an example where she cared more about the dragon's treasures than getting the dragon out of his den. As she was given more time to develop, fans eventually warmed up to her, though others were uncomfortable with her upstaging Rainbow Dash in "Sonic Rainboom" and intentionally trying to avoid Twilight's birthday party in "Sweet and Elite". Fans who have grown to like her have said that in her defense, she learned her lesson in each of those two episodes. Even still, fans either love her for being the Drama Queen of the cast or think she's annoying for the same reason. Her famous whining scene in "A Dog and Pony Show" for example is seen as either her funniest moment or yet another excuse to pick on her over-the-top behavior. Her mannerisms are also subject to this with the fan base saying she's either the most proper or the prissiest of the Mane Six.
  • Starting with the second half of Season 5, Rarity has gotten a lot of focus. While some fans are okay with this, others feel like Rarity has become a Spotlight-Stealing Squad that is overshadowing the rest of the Mane Six.
• A lot of bronies were immediately taken with Spike, who was quickly adopted as the Audience Surrogate of the cast, apparently because he's The One Guy. Some of the tension may be due to the fact that he's written as more of a comedic sidekick. While some fans admire him for his Butt-Monkey status, others don't appreciate how often he is used for Comic Relief, often claiming They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character. It hasn't helped that he is shown to have some amazing abilities, like swimming in lava and fire breath that can melt locks or stadium-sized pieces of ice, Hidden Depths, and a rather mysterious backstory. Many episodes with him as the central character are often disregarded due to him acting like a complete moron, while episodes where he isn't the focus usually have him as The Reliable One. Other fans abhor him being The Chew Toy, referring to the slapstick he goes through as "Spikeabuse" and feeling that the sheer amount of it he's subjected to is unfunny at best and downright meanspirited at worst. However, many fans are in agreement that Season 6 is finally giving him some good spotlight episodes.

Out of all of these I'd say only Rainbow and Rarity are keepers. Rarity isn't a Creator's Pet like the example says though as she isn't shilled. The others aren't nearly as widespread hated. Spike is basically the show equivalent of a Tier Induced Scrappy and even that is a stretch considering he and Discord are the main male representatives of the show.

Other possible keeper entries are Spitfire (dear god, she is basically the MLP equivalent of Ashfur), POSSIBLY Starlight and the EG characters (then again the EG haters are at best a vocal minority). Celestia might be a keeper considering the nasty amount of Ron the Death Eater she goes through, but Luna and Cadence I would say cut.

For the flash: I think Iris and Raph count. Unsure about the rest. Captain Cold is an absolute no. He's very popular and only a minority doesn't like him.

Zoom is absolutely not a GDV (another misuse of this trope)

Edited by Silverblade2 on Sep 29th 2018 at 10:31:14 AM

I'm pretty sure the MLP characters have far more fans than haters, as well as a significant chunk of people in the middle.

In general I'm very doubtful about any work with more than a couple examples.

I would be inclined to agree with you if there weren't literal flame wars over Rainbow being a "good" hero or a douche who doesn't deserve her element. I agree there are likely more fans but the fact is, there are at least enough people either neutral about her or hate her entirely. Then there's also the trend of Scootabuse, Rainbow Douche artwork, and fanfics. She's pretty much the MLP version of Ron.

Is Ralph a base-breaking character. Near all of the reviews and online sites I went to seem to be negative towards him without many defenders which is different to iris who at least has both her fair share of detractors and supporters. Keep in mind order to be this, you need to have both a good amount of detractors and Supporters.

Maybe you're right thought I've seen more complains about Iris than Raph. What do you think about the other characters?

I think of these other characters: wally, zoom, julian, Devoe and Amunet are really the only ones who fit properly. Cisco, Caitlen and Barry arent really divisive to this degree.

Edited by miraculous on Sep 30th 2018 at 3:17:49 AM

Though I'm not terribly familiar with the TV Flash fandom, my hunch is that a lot of those are probably due to shipping issues or some such, which probably shouldn't get factored in.

OH MY GAWK, look at this example from Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Pyra is also this to a lesser extent as many find her character more bland and less developed in comparison to Mythra (especially after Torna the Golden Country). On top of that there's already the complaints about her design being a bit too over the top.

Remove that entry since "to a lesser extent" are Weasel Words and it only explains the negative side.

I commented out this example on Blaze and the Monster Machines due to focusing solely on the haters' opinions:

• Blaze, due to accusations of being a character who always wins and never loses simply because he's the main character.

I wouldn't quite say Weasel Words as I would say Downplayed Example, which most of the time means it's a shoehorn for something that doesn't quite meet the standard of the trope. And that's for tropes in general; for these tropes Downplayed Example pretty much explicitly means it doesn't qualify as a proper example, as the tropes are extreme by definition.