Well Then
So I've been a memeber of this community for god only knows how long and haven't done anything in it! Oosh... So here I am, trying to distract myself from writing a coma-inducing essay on T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land and I rediscover this community and the hated_pairings comm and thought, "Wow, what better distraction than blabbing about fandom?" And so I make intro post... Cue laughter here. I'm going to admit right now that I'm pretty damn indiscriminate when it comes to liking a character and nearly equally liberal in my 'shipping tendencies... Usually I can like a character detested by a fandom at large if they're a useful or entertaining literary device, this includes detestable villains and antagonists (here's looking at you, Dursleys). Most anything's fair game:
Avatar: The Last Airbender
-Zuko. Due to recent storyline developments, Zuko isn't high on the fandom's list of favourite characters... God forbid he actually stick with his stubborn personality.
-Jet. I didn't like him so much when he first popped up and I really can't explain now why I disliked him so much at first. Maybe it was his A Clockwork Orange-esque experience in Ba Sing Se or his amusing Zuko-and-Iroh-stalking that won me over. Apparently there isn't much Jet love floating around on the 'net.
-Mai. Oosh, she's catching some serious flak now in season 3, though she wasn't especially beloved prior to the Fire Book. So maybe she's a bit of a stereotypical token goth girl, her weapons skills are beautiful and formidable and her apathetic deadpan personality is something I find endearing.
-Jin. For the love of GOD, fandom, give that poor girl a break. It seems like any girl who ISN'T Katara that could potentially be with (or even HAS been with) Zuko gets an immediate wave of hate from the female section of the bleachers. Jin's plucky, cute, has an absolutely adorable voice, and is just a friendly and confident girl. Wow, doesn't that just REEK of Mary-Sue :/.
-Song. Here's another big one, that sweet Earth Kingdom girl with a scarred leg who got her Chocobo stolen by Zuko. Do you know how many people have accused her of being a Sue? She has a scar, "OMG, she's a Zuko Sue!!!1!" I'd like to say, for the record, that being in a country heavily colonised by the Fire Nation and regularly attacked, a character with a burn scar other than Zuko really isn't that far-fetched.
-Katara. There's not too much of it, but naturally (as with any female lead) there is some Katara hate in the fandom. While she did catch on and hold her own against Master Pakku rather quickly, I attribute this to the fact that she is a prodigy. The girl's been teaching herself waterbending, which is pretty damn amazing in itself, so I don't suppose it'd be too unreasonable to think that with a little instruction from a master she'd get the push she needs to go beyond what she learned on her own.
-Azula. Easily one of the most stacked characters in the series, and yet look at her. She's powerful and brilliant, yes, but even her friends are wary of her. She's an excellent villain, sociopathic and a prodigy, charismatic and manipulative... We've got the antagonist we can sympathise with (most of the time) in Zuko, we have the villain in Azula.
-Ty Lee. I'm not too sure if there's any Ty Lee hate in large waves floating around, so I won't linger here long.
-Suki. Suki gets the same treatment in this post as Ty Lee; she seems well-liked enough that I don't need to defend her.
-Yue. Is there Yue hate?
Really, I'm hard-pressed to find a character in Avatar that I don't like for one reason or another. I can't think of any other particularly disliked ones at the moment, but if anyone has a suggestion, toss it my way; I guarantee you I can find something in that character that I really like.
Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga, mostly)
As with Avatar, I have a hard time finding a character in the Hagaren manga that I despise (I can find quite a few in the anime that I dislike), but the one character that I find gets more than her fair share of grief from the fandom is one Winry Rockbell. I'm still puzzling over what it is that some people hate about her... What, she cares about the Elric brothers and gets so worried over their personal well-being to the point of tears? She's a bit of a tomboy in her obsessive love for mechanics? I'm failing to see what there is to hate about her.
Gundam Wing and G Gundam
-Relena Peacecraft. I was guilty of hating her like no fictional character deserves to be hated... and I never did have a legitimate reason for it either. I wasn't a fan of Heero, so it wasn't out of dumb fangirl jealousy, and I wasn't a slash shipper for any of the Gundam guys (still not) so it wasn't like she was a threat to any imagined relationship... I actually 'shipped her with Heero even while hating her. Now I go back and watch it and find the only thing I really don't like about her is that dub voice... but that's it. She's a rather enjoyable character to watch develop.
-Dorothy Catalonia. I had a similar inexplicable dislike for Dorothy as I had for Relena. I'm still a bit weirded out by her eyebrows, but her radical views in comparison to the other female leads and her position as a foil for Relena made me like her after rewatching the series in recent years.
-Allenby Biasury. I just adore her for reasons I still have difficulty explaining. Maybe it's because G Gundam was the only other Gundam series I'd seen aside from Wing and a character with such shocking hair colour was a novelty for me, maybe it was her Sailor Venus Gundam, maybe it was her berserker ability; I don't know, I just love me some Allenby.
Kingdom Hearts (and II)
I think Kairi's the only one that really needs defending in this game series. As with many other central female characters in games, stories, and shows to which I had been introduced earlier in life, Kairi was the victim of my unjustified disdain (along with what must be half of the Kingdom Hearts fanbase). My reasons for hating her were lame... She giggled. It was a transitional point in my life wherein I had entered that dreaded phase of slash fangirlism: kill all female characters. I've now passed that stage and have gone back to accepting het and slash on a couple-to-couple basis and in the process have reassessed many a female character I had dismissed in ealier years.
To my surprise, the biggest problem Kairi had going against her is that she was and still is very much a plot device more than a fleshed-out character. How can I hate a character that barely has development? Much of my love for Kairi now has to do with a project two friends and myself are constructing with Kairi as the lead; I've channeled my desire to like her into the development of her character.
Naruto MANGA ONLY
Hoooboy, this one could take a while. As with Avatar and the Hagaren manga, I do have difficulty finding characters I dislike in the manga (outside of most of the Akatsuki, that is). Though I've begun to recently seriously toy with the idea of leaving this fandom where it is (I just can't take much more of this NEWER, SHINIER, OLDER JUTSU crap, never-ending god-mod fight sequences, and 50% more monologuing! But that's a rant for another day and another community) I still find that I'm attached to the characters. So, here are some of the more common victims, whom I adore or at least like, of fan-hate:
-Hyuuga Hinata. I don't hate her, but she's really not at the top of my beloved characters list; she's on the characters-who-are-cute-but-really-need-some-more-panel-time-so-I-can-assess-her-better list. I'm also a tad discouraged by her low self-confidence... I've always had difficulty with friends in real life who reacted similar to Hinata. That aside, she really is a cute character and I'd love to see more of her inner ferocity like we saw during the Chuunin exams when she finally got around to handing Neji his ass (or at least to a good job of getting there). It's a shame, really, that most of the Hinata-bashing I've witnessed actually comes from my favoured niche in the fandom... The NaruSaku branch. I'm not big on the NaruHina pairing, but my god, that's no reason to take it out on Hinata! I get so ruffled when Sasuke 'shippers wail on Sakura, so I don't like seeing that happen to Hinata either.
-Haruno Sakura- Here she is, the most easily remembered bashed character in Naruto and I adore her. I can honestly say I have never housed hate for Sakura when I started with the series; sure I was more-or-less indifferent about her, but her presence never pissed me off or made me want to punch Kishimoto's face in. She was cute and had pink hair, it was a good enough reason for me to be okay with her, but I just knew a character like Sakura was just asking for abuse at the hands of cruel, cruel fandom. So, out of a stupidly obsessive love for this character, I present to you my mini-essay that I also use as my Naruto forum profile write-up:
Out of all the characters, she's one of the most believable. She does have potential, and yes, she was a cheerleader for an unbearably long period of time, a bitch to Naruto, she has crushes like a normal girl would, and even obsesses at times; it's something most girls do. There was a point where I was certain she really cared about Sasuke beyond a crush, and though I'm not a SasuSaku shipper by any stretch of the imagination, I was honestly moved by her devotion. She may not be strong at first, but not everyone will develop immediately. Our Sakura is a late bloomer. She wasn't always nice to Naruto, but she's human, and prejudices with which a child is raised are hard to overcome, besides I'm sure all of the Sakura haters who have that as the only excuse in their arsenal were perfectly sweet even to those they didn't like as children... :/. Sakura eventually comes to realise what a valued member of the team Naruto is.
As for her lack of assistance in the beginning, as I said she is a late bloomer. The other kunoichi at least have something about them that allows them to stand out. Hinata has a burdening lineage to maintain and a rather abusive cousin, not to mention she has her kekkai genkai Byakugan and the Hyuuga's Juuken (Gentle First) taijutsu, Tenten's a very underdeveloped character, but is still known for an impressive arsenal, Ino has her signature Shintenshin no Jutsu and follows her father's lead as a shinobi (to the point of being part of the second generation Ino-Shika-Cho team), Temari is a very strong-willed young woman with the prowess to back her attitude up. Sakura has a rivalry with an old friend, a psychotic inner self (who seems to have merged with her outer self by arc II), and a crush on a boy. She has no signature style, she doesn't have any favoured weapon, all we ever hear of Sakura throughout the first arc is that she's smart, has excellent chakra control, and is good with genjutsu (though we saw only very few demonstrations of her chakra control and still have yet to see her genjutsu).
The important thing is that she honestly does her best to be stronger. And she succeeds, too. Yes, Chiyo-baa did have to help her against Sasori, but Sakura did very well on her own behalf; she was facing an Akatsuki, after all; just look at the hell Asuma and company are going through facing Akatsuki in recent chapters, and no one has accused them of being weak or underdeveloped.
Sakura's not a shinobi known for her mad skills, so she did remarkably well against an Akatsuki. She was injured by Naruto in Kyuubi state. SO WAS JIRAIYA. The points I've been hearing against her in the second arc are so half-assed, they astound me.
I think most Sakura haters don't like her because she's so normal. She doesn't have a particularly fascinating past, both of her parents (I presume) are still alive, she has a rivalry over a boy with one of her friends. She's unusually normal compared to many of the Rookie 9. She's been improving little by little, at a very normal and painfully human rate. In a sense, I like her for her normality. I like her for the way she's determined to be something, and that she honestly tries to improve for the sake of her team. That's a defining trait in itself.
-Yamanaka Ino. Ino's another one I just can't understand all the hate for. Whoop-de-do, she and Sakura had/have a long-running petty obsession with Sasuke, the resident cute, dark, tormented genius. Looking past this highly normal trait, Ino may not have been the bravest fighter at the start, but she has her own sneaky ways of getting her job done. Arc II Ino is more focussed, still a bit on the petty side, but she's got a clearer view of where she's going in life.
Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon
I really don't dabble in this fandom, so I don't know which characters catch hell for lame reasons, but it's safe to say that I have a fond affection for every character in the anime and manga.
Psychonauts
-Lili Zanotto. I've seen it, mostly in fanfiction, but it exists: Lili bashing. I'm still trying to determine the reasoning behind it; if anything, Lili's presented as something different from your average female video game lead and love interest. Lili's snotty, apathetically talented, and sports what strikes me as a slight masochistic side. Luckily I've yet to encounter Milla-bashing.
Storm Hawks
Any input on the views on characters in this fandom would be greatly appreciated, as it is, I've yet to dip my toes into anything beyond watching the show and favouriting the occasional fanart.
I would, however like to state for the record that I positively adore Junko.
Teen Titans
Since the comic verse is broad like woah, I think I'll limit this character session to the newer faux anime version. Again, does anyone have some character suggestions as far as neglected characters are concerned?
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (and CCS)
-Tomoyo-hime. Come on, I love KuroFay just as much as the next CLAMP fanatic, but this is like that whole anti-Hinata situation... must you take it out on a character who's barely there? I mean, she's TOMOYO! What more should I say?
Sakura-hime. TRC Sakura really pales in comparison to her CCS counterpart, but I really do love her still... at the heart she's still that cute, sweet, and sometimes inept Sakura that hooked me into CCS.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West BOOKVERSE ONLY
The Wicked book!verse fandom is disappointingly tiny, so I really haven't noticed any character hate here. Correct me if I'm mistaken.
xxxHOLiC
-Kunogi Himawari. It's not a widespread trend, but I've witnessed a few isolated incidents against Himawari. It's a shame, really, because she's another terribly cute character. I won't lie, she was a two-dimensional character for an unbearably long period of time, but I held any judgments on her. Flashforward over a hundred chapters later and she is still getting gypped in the development department, but she's got hella more to her than she did for a long time, and what we see if her really isn't any grounds for feeling violent towards her.
And I am SO not in the mood right now to type of my Harry Potter list O.O
Avatar: The Last Airbender
-Zuko. Due to recent storyline developments, Zuko isn't high on the fandom's list of favourite characters... God forbid he actually stick with his stubborn personality.
-Jet. I didn't like him so much when he first popped up and I really can't explain now why I disliked him so much at first. Maybe it was his A Clockwork Orange-esque experience in Ba Sing Se or his amusing Zuko-and-Iroh-stalking that won me over. Apparently there isn't much Jet love floating around on the 'net.
-Mai. Oosh, she's catching some serious flak now in season 3, though she wasn't especially beloved prior to the Fire Book. So maybe she's a bit of a stereotypical token goth girl, her weapons skills are beautiful and formidable and her apathetic deadpan personality is something I find endearing.
-Jin. For the love of GOD, fandom, give that poor girl a break. It seems like any girl who ISN'T Katara that could potentially be with (or even HAS been with) Zuko gets an immediate wave of hate from the female section of the bleachers. Jin's plucky, cute, has an absolutely adorable voice, and is just a friendly and confident girl. Wow, doesn't that just REEK of Mary-Sue :/.
-Song. Here's another big one, that sweet Earth Kingdom girl with a scarred leg who got her Chocobo stolen by Zuko. Do you know how many people have accused her of being a Sue? She has a scar, "OMG, she's a Zuko Sue!!!1!" I'd like to say, for the record, that being in a country heavily colonised by the Fire Nation and regularly attacked, a character with a burn scar other than Zuko really isn't that far-fetched.
-Katara. There's not too much of it, but naturally (as with any female lead) there is some Katara hate in the fandom. While she did catch on and hold her own against Master Pakku rather quickly, I attribute this to the fact that she is a prodigy. The girl's been teaching herself waterbending, which is pretty damn amazing in itself, so I don't suppose it'd be too unreasonable to think that with a little instruction from a master she'd get the push she needs to go beyond what she learned on her own.
-Azula. Easily one of the most stacked characters in the series, and yet look at her. She's powerful and brilliant, yes, but even her friends are wary of her. She's an excellent villain, sociopathic and a prodigy, charismatic and manipulative... We've got the antagonist we can sympathise with (most of the time) in Zuko, we have the villain in Azula.
-Ty Lee. I'm not too sure if there's any Ty Lee hate in large waves floating around, so I won't linger here long.
-Suki. Suki gets the same treatment in this post as Ty Lee; she seems well-liked enough that I don't need to defend her.
-Yue. Is there Yue hate?
Really, I'm hard-pressed to find a character in Avatar that I don't like for one reason or another. I can't think of any other particularly disliked ones at the moment, but if anyone has a suggestion, toss it my way; I guarantee you I can find something in that character that I really like.
Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga, mostly)
As with Avatar, I have a hard time finding a character in the Hagaren manga that I despise (I can find quite a few in the anime that I dislike), but the one character that I find gets more than her fair share of grief from the fandom is one Winry Rockbell. I'm still puzzling over what it is that some people hate about her... What, she cares about the Elric brothers and gets so worried over their personal well-being to the point of tears? She's a bit of a tomboy in her obsessive love for mechanics? I'm failing to see what there is to hate about her.
Gundam Wing and G Gundam
-Relena Peacecraft. I was guilty of hating her like no fictional character deserves to be hated... and I never did have a legitimate reason for it either. I wasn't a fan of Heero, so it wasn't out of dumb fangirl jealousy, and I wasn't a slash shipper for any of the Gundam guys (still not) so it wasn't like she was a threat to any imagined relationship... I actually 'shipped her with Heero even while hating her. Now I go back and watch it and find the only thing I really don't like about her is that dub voice... but that's it. She's a rather enjoyable character to watch develop.
-Dorothy Catalonia. I had a similar inexplicable dislike for Dorothy as I had for Relena. I'm still a bit weirded out by her eyebrows, but her radical views in comparison to the other female leads and her position as a foil for Relena made me like her after rewatching the series in recent years.
-Allenby Biasury. I just adore her for reasons I still have difficulty explaining. Maybe it's because G Gundam was the only other Gundam series I'd seen aside from Wing and a character with such shocking hair colour was a novelty for me, maybe it was her Sailor Venus Gundam, maybe it was her berserker ability; I don't know, I just love me some Allenby.
Kingdom Hearts (and II)
I think Kairi's the only one that really needs defending in this game series. As with many other central female characters in games, stories, and shows to which I had been introduced earlier in life, Kairi was the victim of my unjustified disdain (along with what must be half of the Kingdom Hearts fanbase). My reasons for hating her were lame... She giggled. It was a transitional point in my life wherein I had entered that dreaded phase of slash fangirlism: kill all female characters. I've now passed that stage and have gone back to accepting het and slash on a couple-to-couple basis and in the process have reassessed many a female character I had dismissed in ealier years.
To my surprise, the biggest problem Kairi had going against her is that she was and still is very much a plot device more than a fleshed-out character. How can I hate a character that barely has development? Much of my love for Kairi now has to do with a project two friends and myself are constructing with Kairi as the lead; I've channeled my desire to like her into the development of her character.
Naruto MANGA ONLY
Hoooboy, this one could take a while. As with Avatar and the Hagaren manga, I do have difficulty finding characters I dislike in the manga (outside of most of the Akatsuki, that is). Though I've begun to recently seriously toy with the idea of leaving this fandom where it is (I just can't take much more of this NEWER, SHINIER, OLDER JUTSU crap, never-ending god-mod fight sequences, and 50% more monologuing! But that's a rant for another day and another community) I still find that I'm attached to the characters. So, here are some of the more common victims, whom I adore or at least like, of fan-hate:
-Hyuuga Hinata. I don't hate her, but she's really not at the top of my beloved characters list; she's on the characters-who-are-cute-but-really-need-some-more-panel-time-so-I-can-assess-her-better list. I'm also a tad discouraged by her low self-confidence... I've always had difficulty with friends in real life who reacted similar to Hinata. That aside, she really is a cute character and I'd love to see more of her inner ferocity like we saw during the Chuunin exams when she finally got around to handing Neji his ass (or at least to a good job of getting there). It's a shame, really, that most of the Hinata-bashing I've witnessed actually comes from my favoured niche in the fandom... The NaruSaku branch. I'm not big on the NaruHina pairing, but my god, that's no reason to take it out on Hinata! I get so ruffled when Sasuke 'shippers wail on Sakura, so I don't like seeing that happen to Hinata either.
-Haruno Sakura- Here she is, the most easily remembered bashed character in Naruto and I adore her. I can honestly say I have never housed hate for Sakura when I started with the series; sure I was more-or-less indifferent about her, but her presence never pissed me off or made me want to punch Kishimoto's face in. She was cute and had pink hair, it was a good enough reason for me to be okay with her, but I just knew a character like Sakura was just asking for abuse at the hands of cruel, cruel fandom. So, out of a stupidly obsessive love for this character, I present to you my mini-essay that I also use as my Naruto forum profile write-up:
Out of all the characters, she's one of the most believable. She does have potential, and yes, she was a cheerleader for an unbearably long period of time, a bitch to Naruto, she has crushes like a normal girl would, and even obsesses at times; it's something most girls do. There was a point where I was certain she really cared about Sasuke beyond a crush, and though I'm not a SasuSaku shipper by any stretch of the imagination, I was honestly moved by her devotion. She may not be strong at first, but not everyone will develop immediately. Our Sakura is a late bloomer. She wasn't always nice to Naruto, but she's human, and prejudices with which a child is raised are hard to overcome, besides I'm sure all of the Sakura haters who have that as the only excuse in their arsenal were perfectly sweet even to those they didn't like as children... :/. Sakura eventually comes to realise what a valued member of the team Naruto is.
As for her lack of assistance in the beginning, as I said she is a late bloomer. The other kunoichi at least have something about them that allows them to stand out. Hinata has a burdening lineage to maintain and a rather abusive cousin, not to mention she has her kekkai genkai Byakugan and the Hyuuga's Juuken (Gentle First) taijutsu, Tenten's a very underdeveloped character, but is still known for an impressive arsenal, Ino has her signature Shintenshin no Jutsu and follows her father's lead as a shinobi (to the point of being part of the second generation Ino-Shika-Cho team), Temari is a very strong-willed young woman with the prowess to back her attitude up. Sakura has a rivalry with an old friend, a psychotic inner self (who seems to have merged with her outer self by arc II), and a crush on a boy. She has no signature style, she doesn't have any favoured weapon, all we ever hear of Sakura throughout the first arc is that she's smart, has excellent chakra control, and is good with genjutsu (though we saw only very few demonstrations of her chakra control and still have yet to see her genjutsu).
The important thing is that she honestly does her best to be stronger. And she succeeds, too. Yes, Chiyo-baa did have to help her against Sasori, but Sakura did very well on her own behalf; she was facing an Akatsuki, after all; just look at the hell Asuma and company are going through facing Akatsuki in recent chapters, and no one has accused them of being weak or underdeveloped.
Sakura's not a shinobi known for her mad skills, so she did remarkably well against an Akatsuki. She was injured by Naruto in Kyuubi state. SO WAS JIRAIYA. The points I've been hearing against her in the second arc are so half-assed, they astound me.
I think most Sakura haters don't like her because she's so normal. She doesn't have a particularly fascinating past, both of her parents (I presume) are still alive, she has a rivalry over a boy with one of her friends. She's unusually normal compared to many of the Rookie 9. She's been improving little by little, at a very normal and painfully human rate. In a sense, I like her for her normality. I like her for the way she's determined to be something, and that she honestly tries to improve for the sake of her team. That's a defining trait in itself.
-Yamanaka Ino. Ino's another one I just can't understand all the hate for. Whoop-de-do, she and Sakura had/have a long-running petty obsession with Sasuke, the resident cute, dark, tormented genius. Looking past this highly normal trait, Ino may not have been the bravest fighter at the start, but she has her own sneaky ways of getting her job done. Arc II Ino is more focussed, still a bit on the petty side, but she's got a clearer view of where she's going in life.
Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon
I really don't dabble in this fandom, so I don't know which characters catch hell for lame reasons, but it's safe to say that I have a fond affection for every character in the anime and manga.
Psychonauts
-Lili Zanotto. I've seen it, mostly in fanfiction, but it exists: Lili bashing. I'm still trying to determine the reasoning behind it; if anything, Lili's presented as something different from your average female video game lead and love interest. Lili's snotty, apathetically talented, and sports what strikes me as a slight masochistic side. Luckily I've yet to encounter Milla-bashing.
Storm Hawks
Any input on the views on characters in this fandom would be greatly appreciated, as it is, I've yet to dip my toes into anything beyond watching the show and favouriting the occasional fanart.
I would, however like to state for the record that I positively adore Junko.
Teen Titans
Since the comic verse is broad like woah, I think I'll limit this character session to the newer faux anime version. Again, does anyone have some character suggestions as far as neglected characters are concerned?
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (and CCS)
-Tomoyo-hime. Come on, I love KuroFay just as much as the next CLAMP fanatic, but this is like that whole anti-Hinata situation... must you take it out on a character who's barely there? I mean, she's TOMOYO! What more should I say?
Sakura-hime. TRC Sakura really pales in comparison to her CCS counterpart, but I really do love her still... at the heart she's still that cute, sweet, and sometimes inept Sakura that hooked me into CCS.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West BOOKVERSE ONLY
The Wicked book!verse fandom is disappointingly tiny, so I really haven't noticed any character hate here. Correct me if I'm mistaken.
xxxHOLiC
-Kunogi Himawari. It's not a widespread trend, but I've witnessed a few isolated incidents against Himawari. It's a shame, really, because she's another terribly cute character. I won't lie, she was a two-dimensional character for an unbearably long period of time, but I held any judgments on her. Flashforward over a hundred chapters later and she is still getting gypped in the development department, but she's got hella more to her than she did for a long time, and what we see if her really isn't any grounds for feeling violent towards her.
And I am SO not in the mood right now to type of my Harry Potter list O.O