"Good" Characters who are actually kinda assholes.

Legion

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Oct 2, 2008
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- Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Both deserve a certain level of sympathy for what's happened in their lived, but both make it incredibly difficult to feel it through their behaviour. Admittedly neither of them are quite as bad in the remakes they are doing.

- Re-l Mayer from Ergo Proxy. Spoilt, selfish little madam.

- Lestat from the Vampire Chronicles. Charismatic, cool, but incredibly selfish.

makes a mortal friend of his into a vampire despite said friend repeatedly saying for years that he'd never want to be one

Then again, the entire character list from the series are also somewhat similar.

Arsen said:
Robb Stark.

Became a dick to everyone the second he became king, murdered Lord Karstark, and trusted the people who were obviously going to betray him...what happened to him was not sad.
Poor Grey Wind died because of it.
 

Terminate421

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TeletubbiesGolfGun said:
Terminate421 said:
Nathan Drake.

A super model shouldn't be able to eradicate every race on the planet by only using an AK47 and chest high walls and spouting lines that make my ears bleed as to how bad they are.

I won the thread.
hah without fail, the first response was nathan drake.

you think those lines are 'bad'?

how many games have you played..? those are nothing compared to 90% of games from the past 2 decades...

OT: any pokemon trainer ever, you enslave pokemon that are fully functional and self aware beings that can give consent, yet you make them battle to do your bidding and you make them take all the hits nonchalantly to win money and pulverize other slaves.


It has been stated not to mention shown that the Pokemon in the Pokemon universe find that battling is a mutual relationship.

They get love, shelter, food, safety, and the ability to see the world, in exchange for listening to our commands.
 

userwhoquitthesite

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NinjaDeathSlap said:
Indiana Jones.

How much of a douche he is is usually eclipsed by the fact that the guys on the other side are, well, Nazi's, but there are moments where it is painfully visible. The opening of Temple of Doom, where he is holding an innocent bystander hostage at knife point to save his own skin within the first 5 minutes, springs to mind.
Indy, hold someone at knifepoint? Bullshit. Go watch that movie again. He holds Willie Scott at FORKpoint, thank you very much!
So, let's see...

I'm trying to think of ones that are only assholes if you think about it, not ones who are obviously presented as flawed.

Ezio. Ezio starts his series as a douche, and only learns that he is ENTITLED to be a douche. It isn't until he's repeatedly stomped by the punishment wheel in Revelations that he ever acts like anything BUT a

EDIT: holy crap, the captcha was "one hit wonder", I put in "Sir Mix-a-lot" as a joke, and it worked! either someone in the captcha design office is funny, or these are completely worthless
 

Erttheking

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Malcolm Reynolds, Malcolm motherfucking Reynolds. This guy chewed out Simon for putting his crew in danger, despite the fact that he picked up three passengers while smuggling illegal cargo (thus it's ok for him to endanger them but not them to endanger him) He's constantly running around, stealing breaking laws because TEH ALLIANCE IS EVIL, or at least he TELLS us that that Alliance is evil, but it feels more like it's him being angry at them for the Civil War is all. Also he's a major jackass and people look up to him despite him being a major asshole "I won't leave without you Simon" (leaves without him) "The Captain would do the same for us" (The Captain would NOT do the same for you) oh at let's not forget, he's allowed to call his Love Interest a whore, but when she calls him a petty thief, he gets all depressed about it. Also and there's the part where he more or less told his crew to do whatever he told them to, including desecrating the corpses of several people, or he would more or less abandon them on a desolate planet who's only settlement had been razed, and threatened to shoot them if they protested. And he's the good guy? FUCK! HIM!

All of the characters in Firefly are more likable than him, Simon is more likable, Inara is more likable, Book is morel likable, JAYNE is more likable, and he's supposed to be an asshole. The main reason that I like Jayne better is that everyone doesn't act like he's better than he really is.
 

Terrible Opinions

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Trig0n said:
Kain from the Legacy of Kain series. At the start of Soul Reaver he rips off Raziel's wings and throws him down into an abyss where he burns for an inconceivable amount of time. Just because he grew wings first.

Sure there are some thinly justifiable spoiler filled reasons for it if you feel like playing through every game and getting punched in the face with time paradoxes until your teeth start to taste like the future.
Still. The dude's kind of a dick.
Again - he's not a "good" character. You might as well list the dude from Dungeon Keeper if you're gonna talk about Kain or Kratos.
 

Flamezdudes

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Legion said:
- Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Both deserve a certain level of sympathy for what's happened in their lived, but both make it incredibly difficult to feel it through their behaviour. Admittedly neither of them are quite as bad in the remakes they are doing.
Actually, that's kinda considered to be one of the main points of the show. That humans cause pain to eachother sometimes and life is hard sometimes but that life is still worth living.

Shinji was never an arsehole, he was just incredibly stressed, depressed and lonely. He never really wants to hurt others, it just happens and then he gets hurt.

Asuka on the other hand does have a bitchy attitude but its just a front because she's the personification of narcissism, she wants to be praised and be considered worth something and its how she deals with her issues, so she pushes people away.
 

The Heik

King of the Nael
Oct 12, 2008
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senordesol said:
Korra from The Last Airbender: The Legend of Korra.

Seriously: watch that first season. She spends half of it playing sports while the city goes to shit, never bothers to complete her training, and even though she spends the whole show doing basically nothing; everything works out for her in the end.
This, this, oh dear God in Heaven this.

I saw the first season of LoK a couple of months ago, and from everyone else I've talked to it seemed I was the only one who thought she was a tool. I mean honestly, this girl was so self-centered and childish. I get that the show was trying to portray her as a bit of an insecure teenager who makes up for that with with bravado, but there's a point where they just put too much of that into the character to make it believable. I mean Aang was self-centered and insecure too (heck, that's the establishing idea for the whole story arc of The Last Airbender), but ATLA showed his weaker side more often as well as how he overcame those weaknesses, and as a result the audience could relate to and grow with his struggles. I mean he literally has to save the world. That would get to anyone, and one can forgive some fuck ups so long as he tries to make good on those mistakes (which he does)

But Korra is all tool all the time. There never seems to be a clear point in the show where she truly understands the ramifications of what's happening around her, excepting at the very end where she

loses all her bending powers except air bending (and I'm still waiting for an explanation as to why that last part happened that isn't just plot convenience), and even that doesn't last for more than 10 minutes before it all gets solved by Avatar shenanigans, so it hardly has any narrative weight or impact on the audience.

Needless to say, there's a great character somewhere in Korra. It just really needs some proper attention and development, rather than the flash and crazy we've so far gotten. Hopefully we'll see some of that in the next season, but I'm not holding my breath.
 

Scarim Coral

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Does Church from Red Vs Blue count? I mean he isn't exactly a hero/ good guy but neither of the characters in that shows aren't good guys either!
 

WolfThomas

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Arsen said:
Robb Stark.

Became a dick to everyone the second he became king, murdered Lord Karstark, and trusted the people who were obviously going to betray him...what happened to him was not sad.
He executed someone who disobeyed his orders and murdered squire who were practically children. Even Lord Karstark commented positively (albeit not much) on Robb performing the execution in true Northern tradition.

Yes Robb was an idiot. He broke his promises because of his penis (he was a teenage male remember) and was far too trusting but I wouldn't call him an asshole.

And to be fair it was a pretty bold move from Roose Bolton and the Freys. Roose as we latter learn is obsessed with keeping his reputation suppressed and had served Robb effectively, so there was little reason to suspect other than past squabble hundreds of years ago. The Freys were still going to have a marriage with their Liege Lord's house. There's the whole thing about guest rights and hospitality, what they did was unheard was considered very dishonorable.
 

Legion

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Flamezdudes said:
Legion said:
- Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Both deserve a certain level of sympathy for what's happened in their lived, but both make it incredibly difficult to feel it through their behaviour. Admittedly neither of them are quite as bad in the remakes they are doing.
Actually, that's kinda considered to be one of the main points of the show. That humans cause pain to eachother sometimes and life is hard sometimes but that life is still worth living.

Shinji was never an arsehole, he was just incredibly stressed, depressed and lonely. He never really wants to hurt others, it just happens and then he gets hurt.

Asuka on the other hand does have a bitchy attitude but its just a front because she's the personification of narcissism, she wants to be praised and be considered worth something and its how she deals with her issues, so she pushes people away.
I understand the point of the show, and I understand the characters. I do not need them explained to me.

I am not sure why you assumed I didn't. Characters having reasons to be an arsehole doesn't make them any less so.
 

Flamezdudes

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Legion said:
Flamezdudes said:
Legion said:
- Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Both deserve a certain level of sympathy for what's happened in their lived, but both make it incredibly difficult to feel it through their behaviour. Admittedly neither of them are quite as bad in the remakes they are doing.
Actually, that's kinda considered to be one of the main points of the show. That humans cause pain to eachother sometimes and life is hard sometimes but that life is still worth living.

Shinji was never an arsehole, he was just incredibly stressed, depressed and lonely. He never really wants to hurt others, it just happens and then he gets hurt.

Asuka on the other hand does have a bitchy attitude but its just a front because she's the personification of narcissism, she wants to be praised and be considered worth something and its how she deals with her issues, so she pushes people away.
I understand the point of the show, and I understand the characters. I do not need them explained to me.

I am not sure why you assumed I didn't. Characters having reasons to be an arsehole doesn't make them any less so.
Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you if I did.

And I guess you're right, it just makes it a lot easier to sympathise with them (for me at least). I still say that Shinji isn't an arsehole though.
 

scorptatious

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Alssadar said:
And also, the entire cast of TF2. Some of them are thoughtful individuals, though once you get into revenge/domination taunts, they get quite nasty for such colorful people.
^Can be qualified as semi-heroes due to MvM, as they fight to save Mann Co.
I always did find it weird and funny how the Sniper talks about how you have to be polite while at the same time goes around throwing his urine at people and calling them names.
 

Misho-

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Doclector said:
Also, he's a goddamn Liar. Think about it next time you interrogate someone for Riddler secrets.

"I can hurt you more than you can ever imagine"
"Okay! I'll tell you everything I know, just don't hurt me"
"You've been so educational"
*MASSIVE BAT-FIST TO SIDE OF SKULL*

I'd love it if occasionally, someone said "Y'know what? No. I've seen what you did to the other guys, I'll tell you what I know and then you'll just give me brain damage anyway. Gimme some food, at least."

So, what characters aren't as goody-goody as they're made out to be?
Well, he actually DIDN'T say "Yeah ok, I promise I won't hurt you" The thug was dumb enough to tell him before Batman promised anything.

And in his defense, the prisoners start complaining about food WAY before the part that you mentioned.
 

Legion

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Oct 2, 2008
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Flamezdudes said:
Legion said:
Flamezdudes said:
Legion said:
- Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Both deserve a certain level of sympathy for what's happened in their lived, but both make it incredibly difficult to feel it through their behaviour. Admittedly neither of them are quite as bad in the remakes they are doing.
Actually, that's kinda considered to be one of the main points of the show. That humans cause pain to eachother sometimes and life is hard sometimes but that life is still worth living.

Shinji was never an arsehole, he was just incredibly stressed, depressed and lonely. He never really wants to hurt others, it just happens and then he gets hurt.

Asuka on the other hand does have a bitchy attitude but its just a front because she's the personification of narcissism, she wants to be praised and be considered worth something and its how she deals with her issues, so she pushes people away.
I understand the point of the show, and I understand the characters. I do not need them explained to me.

I am not sure why you assumed I didn't. Characters having reasons to be an arsehole doesn't make them any less so.
Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you if I did.

And I guess you're right, it just makes it a lot easier to sympathise with them (for me at least). I still say that Shinji isn't an arsehole though.
To be honest I don't think they intended him to be, and I don't think that's how the character was supposed to appear, I just felt that the way they chose to portray him made him seem more like one than he was supposed to. The same with Asuka really.

In the rebuilds the characters are still the same essentially, but they change certain aspects to make them more grounded. Like how Shinji offers to share his food with Rei, and how Asuka tries to make up for her behaviour, even speaking to Misoto about how she doesn't hate being around others as much as she used to.

So yes, I can agree that the characters weren't designed to be arseholes, but I do feel that they came across as such in the original (although so did all the characters really, they seemed to collect a lot of angry people at Nerv).
 

CrazyJew

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recruit00 said:
Every paladin ever in D&D. Seriously, those guys are assholes.
You sound just like my friend, you know. She despises Paladins.



On the subject, you, anyone who reads this, in any given sandbox game.