The point about corporations basically neutering their icons has bothered me for years. "The character will remain preserved forever in the state they are currently in, the prized possession of a corporate hive mind no longer concerned about emotion or growth but about ensuring that nothing associated with them is portrayed in anything that could be interpreted as a negative light"
Which is why I've never been interested in Mickey Mouse since Phantasia (the last time he actually did somehthing 'naughty' as far as I'm aware).
Conflict and character flaws are not the only source of energy in fiction but they're pretty bloody important. This is why I've always preferred Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny to Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Admittedly Donald Duck is flawed but frankly he's just not that funny. As Chuck Jones once put it "Bugs Bunny is what we'd like to be, clever, an answer for everything and always wins. What we actually are is Daffy Duck". So nowadays we have heros that are flawless, and it's the context of a situation that brings the conflict and therefore the drama.
It's hard to put my finger on but I've never been interested in Mickey Mouse, Superman, or Mario (admittedly as I don't have an interest in them I'm completely unaware if anyone ever HAS given them flaws and made them more interesting. I think Superman got some personality injected in the comics at times but what I'm referring to is the broader, public persona we get. I'm sure if you're a fan you've found very interesting personalities in these characters but I put it to you, you're probably projecting you're own interesting self on to them, I've never seen the do anything remotely interesting except when Superman loses it in the first film to save Margot Kidder - who went completely mental in later years, not surprising if you go back and watch her act).
They're all born heroes with no flaws and therefore to me, the most boring fuckers in the entire world. Give me Daffy Duck's and Wiley Coyotes sisyphean role of always being the loser. Give me Batman's fucked up agenda with his threadbare moral line. Give me Guybrush Threpwood's incompetence, or GlaDos' megalomania. Characters like Mario, Link, Master Chief, and even Gordon Freeman (even though HL2 is my favourite game) are dull automaton's. The only reason people like them is because they like the world those characters inhabit, it's got nothing to do with their personality, because they don't have one.
. I guess im a sucker for platforming titles.
