Character types you hate - any media

[Evonisia]

The kid from Walking Dead. Incredibly spooky in his ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as well as being a pain in the arse. Not sure how to condense that into a character type though. 'Crap children' maybe?

Carl Grimes... hate, haaaatttteeee.

In fact, thinking of Carl Grimes, my most hated character type is the mystical plot armour character. More often found in video games and TV than film (seeing as they take place over a longer period of time mostly), but they remove all suspense from the scene because you know they will be fine, and at their worst they get other characters hurt or even killed.

See: Carl Grimes from The Walking Dead TV show.

 

[happyninja42]

It's mostly portrayed by a male character stalking an uninterested female character and then the female gets herself into some sort of distress and then male steps in and all of a sudden love at first sight. Even though she's told him she's not interested and he basically stalks and harasses her up to this point. I have read very good romance type books that don't fall into this trope but they are few and far between.

You might check out the movie Untamed Heart with Christian Slater and Marrisa Torme. It's sort of like this you've described, but also not. I actually really liked it as a romance story.

 

[Kitsune Hunter]

Tsunderes. Why would anyone want to go out with someone so annoyingly violent and bitchy, unless they're some kind of masochist. Oreimo would have been so much better if I didn't feel the need to punch Kirino in the face every time she opened her mouth to her brother. Not to say I hate all tsunderes, I like ones that are done well like Rin Tohsaka from Fate Stay Night.

The useless child character. Oh Stardust Crusaders, I love you so much, but why was she even here to begin with?

Spoiler

 

[The_Darkness]

When a strong female character has spent the entire game, story, or movie with our protagonist connecting ... only for the next game, story, or movie to have her suddenly with someone else for a very stupid reason. I'M LOOKING AT YOU DEAD SPACE 3!! How dare you have Isaac open up with someone as great as Ellie, only to have her rip his heart out at the start of the third game and making her an awful trope... and introducing a love triangle in a HORROR GAME!

Shame on you Spider Man movie series for having Mary Jane switch from Peter to some generic dude for... reasons??

Really tore me up Jurassic Park 3 when you had Dr. Ellie Sattler married and HAD A CHILD with some other dude when the first movie showed how perfect of a couple Dr. Allan and Ellie were. The heck did that come from, with no warning at all?

Don't even get me started on The Dark Knight, or Legend of Korra at the end of Season 1 / start of Seasons 2.

This largely comes from the "True Love is Boring" trope - authors feel that writing a stable relationship doesn't have any conflict or tension in it, so they break the characters up just so they can go through the "Having the characters get together" plot again. Would be nice if they could, for once, explore the work that goes into maintaining a relationship...

Also, DS3's portrayal of Ellie is all kinds of bad. From a character that we first met mowing down Necromorphs in an epic last stand, to never even holding a gun throughout DS3... I have to wonder what they were thinking (and wonder why Ellie wasn't the co-op partner).

(Also - completely off-topic, but I love your current avatar.)

The Canon Sue is a particularly galling one if done badly, I had the misfortune of watching a movie called 'Van Wilder' with a friend last weekend and the main character was the most blatant example I'd seen for years. The protagonist was a college student who happened to be the most popular guy in his school, handsome, unfailingly good-natured (except to the designated antagonists) and also smart enough to pass without doing any real work. Make no mistake, he'd be a great guy if he was real... but for a comedy film, it was utterly boring. Give us an underdog we want to root for, or a terrible person who we can't wait to see what they'll do next, not a perfect idol who never struggles with anything.

Silk, in the SpiderMan comics, is rapidly heading in Canon Sue direction.

It's particularly frustrating because the original character concept (someone else that got bitten by the same spider, and has been hanging around in the background throughout Spidey's entire career) has some serious potential... Especially when early previews suggested she would be a villain. Someone with Spidey's power set, but without the "Great Power, Great Responsibility" thing? Who seemed to be working behind the scenes against Spiderman? Sign me up! Looks like the perfect character to contrast against Spiderman.

Instead - nope, she's just been locked up all this time, she's essentially flawless, and apparently she's a perfect romantic partner for Peter for... um, reasons. Spider-Sense-ey reasons. For goodness sake, they were already kissing by the end of her reveal issue... (Of course, I'm still sore about One More Day, so that doesn't help...)

 

[monopandora]

I don't know if this is because of the translator or the Japanese manga writer, but the annoying teenage protagonists (especially any manga/anime that involves romance) whose response to any situation includes one of the following: eh, Eh, eH, EH, EH!!!, EH!!??!!

Maybe I've just been reading mangas for too long but I just get really angry every time I see it.

 

[Blow_Pop]

It's mostly portrayed by a male character stalking an uninterested female character and then the female gets herself into some sort of distress and then male steps in and all of a sudden love at first sight. Even though she's told him she's not interested and he basically stalks and harasses her up to this point. I have read very good romance type books that don't fall into this trope but they are few and far between.

You might check out the movie Untamed Heart with Christian Slater and Marrisa Torme. It's sort of like this you've described, but also not. I actually really liked it as a romance story.

I think I might have heard about that but I'll keep that in mind while I'm doing book/movie catch ups (currently doing books this week next week will be more movies)



OT: Another that I thought of that might or might not be mentioned

Strong female character who suddenly turns to inability to do shit once she meets attractive male character.

Or Female character that's been training for years for in comes male protag and training montage and suddenly is now in male character's capable hands. That really pisses me off

 

[Vault101]

I hate the portrayals of people in rom coms and how stalking is acceptable behaviour more so into the fluff books (I refuse to call them chick lit since I know plenty of male identified people who read them too).
.

does that make it any less "chick-lit"? I mean if its designed to appeal to female readers (in a certain way) but some male readers happen to like it you can still call it "chick-lit"

 

[Blow_Pop]

I hate the portrayals of people in rom coms and how stalking is acceptable behaviour more so into the fluff books (I refuse to call them chick lit since I know plenty of male identified people who read them too).
.

does that make it any less "chick-lit"? I mean if its designed to appeal to female readers (in a certain way) but some male readers happen to like it you can still call it "chick-lit"

Perhaps but I don't like the negative connotations that chick lit gets. Hence why I call it fluff.

 

[Mahemium]

The righteous hero. The one who strongly believes in a universal, objective morality in particularly morally ambiguous circumstances and situations and tries to enforce that on others.

"You can't kill him?"
"But he just killed X!"
"Don't bring yourself down to their level"

stfu

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Comic relief characters who do or say stupid shit while otherwise serious things are happening. I've always hated that shit, always.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Arrogant dick who mistreats everyone around him but gets away with it because he's just that good.

Examples include Tony Stark in the Marvel movies and Sherlock Holmes from the new-ish BBC show.

Can be funny to watch at first, but quickly gets on my nerves.

You know, I'd be on board with this if I hadn't seen far worse. Namely...

Spoiler

OT: Your basic tropes for anime characters, and not just the protagonists. Brooding hero, comedic side character who also get's placed in danger because the plot, and the female character who is emotionless as a robot and is a fighting machine. So basically Mikasa from AoT.

Other than that? Incompetent characters who are also the main protagonists. I can handle it to a degree, lot's of conflict can come from a protagonists that has problems, but there is a limit. They need to seem capable and learn things, they need to earn their victories and make the audience feel they deserved them.

They need to not be Korra from The Legend of Korra.

The only thing worse than that are characters who do shitty, disgusting things and face no comeuppance from their actions. It's the mark of terrible writing.

Ahh, and look, we have another example from Legend of Korra.

Spoiler

Mako, that fucking guy. Seriously, what a first class arsehole. If I was the ghost of Mako Iwamatsu, I'd very upset that this wanker was my 'tribute'.

 

[Tiamattt]

The Idiot Dad - Maybe it's just overexposure thanks to so many years of Simpsons and Family guy but I'm so tired of the completely moronic dad that treats his wife, kids, friends and even their job(s) like crap yet never has to deal with the consequences. Their friends and family will forgive them no matter what horrible things they do to them and they'll have their job(s) back by the next episode. I've actually had high hopes for Stan from American Dad since at first he looked like he was going to be different, but sadly enough he just joined the idiot dad club before long. I guess it's what people wants since those shows are obviously so successful but I've gotten sick of that kind of character ages ago.

The stalking love interest - This is something I've sadly bumped into way too many times in my years of anime. A guy or girl(most of the time girl) will be obviously head over heels for the main character, but will be too afraid to admit it. So instead they do the whole watch them from far away thing while whispering their name over and over again. They rarely lead to anything story wise, they're a waste of space since they rarely do anything significant, and it's downright creepy! Although it does lead me directly to

The clueless hero - See the type above? Yeah they're usually really, really bad at the whole "hide their feelings" thing since everyone figures it out within 2 seconds of meeting him/her. Except for the person that's being stalked, that person will never notice for reasons I can't even fathom, unless of course we're supposed to root for a complete moron to save the world

The Scrappy Doo - For anyone that doesn't know(it's been a while since that little guy been anywhere) Scrappy Doo is Scoopy Doo's nephew, who is very small and brave to a fault. He will gladly take his tiny fists and uselessly air punch any threat that comes his way which always leads to him being dragged to safety and him complaining why didn't they let him stay? (And get killed) So pretty much any idiot that's not afraid to charge into things they can't possibly handle and loudly complain why his/her friends save them from being killed.

Ok that should be enough for now, don't want this post going too long

 

[Theodora]

One or two that have started to bother me...

Stereotypical Adorkable female characters... Sorry Zooey Deschanel D:

Teens that are "Wise beyond their years."

 

[b.w.irenicus]

I hva eno problem with certain characters per se. If they are well writen, I give them a pass. A well written smart kid? No problem with me. A well defined tsunere? Ok. Problem is, more often than not they are not. And then they get annoying. A LOT.
Hell, Little Lamplight in Fallout 3 was the only reason I had to install the killable-children-mod.

 

[conmag9]

Tsundere type characters. I know about studies explaining why that behavior is so popular, but in my case, I find the behavior infuriating. The constant rain of psychological (and sometimes physical) abuse does NOT go away just because you're incapable of expressing yourself like a rational human being.

Kids with something to prove are another annoyance. The overcompensation has never been done right for me. I've seen well portrayed children characters, liked them alot sometimes. But when they try so hard to prove how amazing they are for their age, rather than letting things work out naturally (which can include non-forced talents!), it grates on my nerves.

Pointlessly rude people also tend to strike a nerve. Ugly things tend to happen to them in games where I get the chance to...correct their behavior.

There's lots of others, but I think most of them are derivations of these ideas, or similar ones.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

Poorly written strong female characters. It's not that hard of a thing to do if you're already used to writing strong male characters; just give the sort of lines you would give to that sort of character to a female character. For some reason though, a lot of writers tend to portray strong-willed female characters as less strong and more as wholly irrational and stubborn. I'm not saying that people who write such characters are sexist, but it definitely has undertones of the same stereotypes that strong female characters aim to subvert.

If it's well written, I am fine with pretty much any character type.

 

[spacemutant IV]

I have a problem with most cop show protagonists. These cops are supposed to be liked by everyone, so everyone can root for them, and that's why they end up as empty shells. IRL, everything you do and like as a character, also says something about the things you don't do, and don't like. That's why these people never enjoy or do anything out of the ordinary, because it would scare part of the audience away from them. The one thing we know about John Luther, for example, is that he likes David Bowie. David Bowie is one of the biggest superstars ever, which is why when someone likes him, it really tells us next to nothing about them.

Of course, most fictional characters are written like this, but it becomes a problem with cops in particular, because these soulless, empty shells, robts almost, who cannot be defined by or criticized for anything, invariably end up judging and criticizing everything and everyone around them. They don't care about anything, they don't identify with anything except their work, and they regularly disrespect the interests, fashions, philosophies, etc. of all the bad guys, who might be assholes, but seem like real people.

I read an interview with the creator of the show Luther (I use this show as an example, and can still somewhat enjoy it), where he said that the character was designed as someone who buys a bulk of the same clothes, because he is so caught up in his work, he can't be bothered to pick a new outfit every day. - And he called this an IDEA he had for what Luther would be like. Dude, that's not an idea. It's a stereotype floating around in the ether, and you didn't write it so much as you just perpetuated it.

 

[Therumancer]

Arrogant dick who mistreats everyone around him but gets away with it because he's just that good.

Examples include Tony Stark in the Marvel movies and Sherlock Holmes from the new-ish BBC show.

Can be funny to watch at first, but quickly gets on my nerves.

I have to agree on the movie version of Tony to be honest, part of what helped humanize him in the comics was that he was a problem alcoholic, and when that exploded and he came back, he mellowed out a lot and just became more of a swashbuckler type (for lack of a better example).

When it comes to Sherlock Holmes, it seems like he's fallen prey (multiple times now) to the modern convention that almost all genius detectives have to be degenerate weirdoes for laughs. It was cute when you had shows like "Monk" doing it, but nowadays it seems like pretty much any brain-oriented crime solver has to be dysfunctional.

-

In following those comments, I guess my big problem in this thread isn't that there is any particular type of character that bothers me, it's when they keep overusing the same gimmicks, again and again, until it gets annoying. For a long time I've felt we've needed more "old school" fairly normal heroes. Sure, that did get boring years ago, but then they went off the deep end with the weirdoes so now that's becoming just as boring and annoying.

I think they need to give the dark pasts and angst a rest, and also understand that such things usually aren't supposed to be what defines a character. The negative aspects of a character are supposed to play off the rest. To use Tony Stark as an example, half the point of his alcoholism was to show nobody could pretty much deal with what he did and act like he did and hold it all up. It wasn't "well, let's make him drunk because it will be funny to have him fly drunk and get into brawls, and shoot off his mouth". What's more it wasn't something he just bounced back from either, or had everyone go "oh hey, you were a problem drinker, good to see you got over it..." 15 minutes later, the guy was in disgrace in the comics for a while. In part because you know... he was a good guy, but he was also kind of a jerk.

 

[DSD12]

Characters that have a brother or sister and don't want you to get close to them so to do this they become a complete ass and treat you like crap.

Also characters that hate you for no reason.

 

[Aesir23]

Probably the "Badass female protagonist" where her personality boils down to being callous and uncaring. They're trying so hard to make her a badass that the character ends up being very one dimensional. I've seen this in so many shows and movies with female leads that it really grinds my gears.

It's the same reason I have a special dislike for another couple of character types. The protagonist that has a deep, dark secret and is the only one that can save the town/country/world or the girl/boy who meets a girl/boy that has a deep, dark secret. These seem to be rampant in the books of quite a few genres but seem to be especially prevalent in fantasy novels. It's actually made it very difficult to try and find a new series now that I'm nearly up to date on the Legend of Drizzt Saga after ten years of reading it.

I fear I may be going on a bit of a tangent here but one thing that annoys me about characters in anime are the females with the really high chipmunk voices. It's just one of the reasons I avoid subs if I can.