The dumbest reason you didn't watch/play/read something.

[WindKnight]

Well, I skipped both Dragon Age Origins and Dead Space 2 because the marketing went pretty base and made me feel insulted as a potentials.

A modern RPG like Baldurs gate had me hooked, then they pushed the whole 'lots of BLOOD and TITS!!!' aspect, and, yeah interest killed.

And after really being surprised how much I liked Dead Space, I was really into the sequel, and then they did the 'your mom hates deadpspace 2' crap, and my interest on the game was dead. I picked it up in a steam sale for ?2 eventually, but this was a game I wanted immediately till that crappy ad campaign.

 

[twistedmic]

I could never, can never, and will never, be able to get into G. I. Joe.

Why?

Because there's no character NAMED Joe in the whole series!!

For some reason, that irks the hell out of me. I can tell that no matter what episode or movie you plop me in front of, no matter how kickass the action, all I'm going to be thinking the whole time is "Where's Joe?" And yes, I know the whole franchise is based off an action figure called G. I. Joe; doesn't matter. If G. I. Joe himself isn't in the series freaking named AFTER him, why should I care?

That sounded a bit heated, but that one tiny aspect of the series has annoyed me since childhood.

I don't think that there was ever a character named Joe in the G.I. Joe line.
The name G.I. Joe, I'm almost positive, comes from G.I. meaning either Government Issue or General Issue and Joe being a common male name. So they were essentially 'General Issue guys' or Army guys.

 

[Barbas]

Because it was popular. When a film or show comes up often enough in conversation, I make sure to avoid it; I don't like a lot of noise or fuss. Some people think that's a dumb reason, so there you are.

There are a few people whose opinion I take into special consideration when it comes to films and shows, but they've earned it.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I never watched Breaking Bad. Why? Because everyone was telling me how great it was.

You read that right. I avoided a highly acclaimed show that won quite a few awards, because I had too many people hyping it up to me.

In my defense, it was partially because I knew it couldn't live up to expectations, and partially because one of the people hyping it up had a tendency to put down shows that I did watch as being "not as good as Breaking Bad".

 

[Lightspeaker]

I don't think that there was ever a character named Joe in the G.I. Joe line.
The name G.I. Joe, I'm almost positive, comes from G.I. meaning either Government Issue or General Issue and Joe being a common male name. So they were essentially 'General Issue guys' or Army guys.

Wikipedia to the rescue!

"During World War II, "G.I. Joe" became the general nickname for all American soldiers, no matter what branch of the Army or Army Air Forces they were in: infantry, artillery, armor, Rangers, paratroopers, logistics, combat support, or the other support wings of the Army. Soldiers and airmen sardonically referred to themselves as "G.I." = "General Issue" items, all equally as disposable as helmets, boots, tents, canteens, rifles, jeeps, trucks, tanks, and combat aircraft. They viewed themselves as being "General Issue" items of "Uncle Sam" while they were in military service."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._%28military%29


I feel like I should be posting that "The More You Know" picture here. X-D



On topic: Yeah I agree with those saying when something is overhyped to you. I know its a weird response to overwhelmingly positive reception but I personally put it down to sheer exhaustion. If you have one person telling you something is amazing and going on about it then they're clearly a bit of an obsessive (see me with PMMM) but they might have a point, if you have a few people saying it then you're going to be encouraged to take a look since whatever it is must have some broad appeal...but if you have EVERYONE telling you it, constantly, all the time then you're just going to get tired of whatever it is from overexposure before even having a look yourself.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

I stopped watching Doctor Who because Peter Capaldi is old
It made me realize that what I loved about the previous three doctors was how they were hundreds of years old, but still saw the universe with wonder and amazement. From nine saying "fantastic" all the time, to Eleven saying in his hundreds of years he's never met anyone who wasn't important
It really gave me hope that just because one gets older doesn't mean they have to lose that excitement about life
And apparently the Doctor has to be young and pretty for that to work, in my mind

 

[JaKandDaxter]

When I was a young teenager, I loved the music and commercials for the original Kingdom Hearts. But I thought the Disney characters and such was too kiddy for me. So I avoided one of the greatest games during the PS2 generation.

I eventually did buy and played KH1 for a bit. But just couldn't get myself to play through a PS2 game. Tried to buy the PS3 HD remaster, but a deal didn't go through at a used electronics/book store. And been on a tight budget while also holding out on a possible PS4 re-release. So someday, maybe during the upcoming holiday season. I'll pick up the remaster games.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Well I never watched DragonBall Z during it's first run in my area, with the first Funamation dub... For no other reason than because a kid in my class constantly misgendered me, telling me how I was a boy and DBZ would make me like being a boy. For that reason I watched Sailor Moon religiously instead. Which is a stupid reason I watched an Anime that got on everyone of my nerves and didn't watch the one I would have liked. Granted Sailor Moon Crystal in subtitled form fixed everything wrong with the first series, from the horrible dub to the stupid as hell filler episodes.

I didn't watch the first six seasons of South Park because of people in school constantly spouting lines from the show.

I didn't play half of the games I owned on the PSX, PS2, and GameCube because I'm always hesitant starting a new game.

 

[Dizchu]

It took me ages to finally play through all the Mass Effects because on my first playthrough of the first game a bug about two hours into the game made it impossible for me to advance and I ragequitted, despite being really invested in the story.

I never watched Breaking Bad. Why? Because everyone was telling me how great it was.

You read that right. I avoided a highly acclaimed show that won quite a few awards, because I had too many people hyping it up to me.

In my defense, it was partially because I knew it couldn't live up to expectations, and partially because one of the people hyping it up had a tendency to put down shows that I did watch as being "not as good as Breaking Bad".

I absolutely loved Breaking Bad and felt it lived up to the hype, but I understand both sides of the "you have to watch this" problem.

On one hand you have this series which pretty much set the bar incredibly high for other TV shows. It's absolutely amazing but you can't explain WHY it's amazing without spoiling it, and the whole series is based around a mixture of foreshadowing and unpredictability. It's the kind of thing you can watch a second time and maybe even enjoy it more. People want others to see it so they can talk about it.

Which inevitably feeds into why people don't want to watch it. Without giving away spoilers the most you can say is that Breaking Bad is about "a man dying of cancer selling meth to support his family" or even less informatively, "it's a show where Ned Flanders slowly becomes Scarface". I literally only watched it because I couldn't believe any show could be as good as people were describing Breaking Bad as being, and miraculously it exceeded my expectations. But nobody convinced me to watch it and that's the key.

So yeah while I recommend watching it just because of its outstanding quality, I know feeling pressured to watch things can ruin them. So forget about it. Maybe one day you'll check the first episode out on Netflix out of curiosity, but I know what it's like for people to desperately try to get me to watch/play/read something so I can relate.

 

[Slenn]

For the longest time, between junior high and undergrad, I didn't finish Starcraft Brood War because I didn't like the dark tones that encompassed the Zerg campaign. I didn't like how Kerrigan killed Fenix and how the final campaign mission involved crippling and betraying everyone.

Funny enough, I ended up diving back in and gave the plot another chance. And the ending to Brood War is the sole reason why it's still my number one favorite game. And Kerrigan remains as one of my favorite villains in media.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I refused to watch The Butterfly Effect despite it having an interesting premise because I can't stand Ashton Kutcher.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I refused to watch The Butterfly Effect despite it having an interesting premise because I can't stand Ashton Kutcher.

Nah, that is actually pretty reasonable. Don't get me wrong, Butterfly Effect was actually surprisingly decent, but Ashton Kutcher is just so...punchable.

 

[The Raw Shark]

I refuse to ever watch Evangelion because it just makes me think about how much I miss Megas XLR....yeah I'm petty like that.

 

[Dalisclock]

I still haven't played CoD Ghosts because of how racist the whole premise of the game feels and the recent "Refugees/Immigrants are terrorist sleeper agents coming here to murder us" from the current election hasn't helped.

It's wierd because I've played pretty much all of the other CoD Games(besides 3 and BO3) and liked them to varying degrees, and I also usually don't pay much attention when the "This game is racist/sexist" topic comes up but somehow the premise of Ghosts just sticks in my craw.

 

[SecondPrize]

I've never seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding as I figured it was racist against Greeks. This was back when there was still some semblance of sanity attached to charges of racism so I got a few laughs but I never did actually watch it.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I pretty much quit watching "Vikings" because:
A: Ragnar Lothbrok looks so much like Jax from "Sons of Anarchy" that it was weirdly distracting.
B: Lagertha is so freakin' hot that it completely killed any believability of the show for me.

On a somewhat similar note, one of the reasons I quit watching "Sons of Anarchy" was because I hated Tara so much.

I've avoided basically every movie ever made with Sean Penn in it (except "Fast Times at Ridgemont High") because he's such a pretentious douchebag.

I almost didn't watch Netflix's "Daredevil" when I heard Vincent D'Onofrio was going to be in it. He's one of those strange actors whom I can't stand, and I have no real idea why. Lucky me that I decided to watch the show anyway, both because it was awesome and because he was actually really good in it.

I pretty much lost all interest in "Assassin's Creed" (and had no desire to play any of the sequels) when I found out that none of this is really happening, you're just living out 'genetic memories' or whatever. Basically instantly killed my immersion and any sense of connection to the plot.

 

[Something Amyss]

I railed against the Harry Potter series at one point in life for no other reason than having the misguided notion that a kids/young adult book series couldn't be worth my time.
Time has proven me wrong as I got sorted into Slytherin...

Welcome, fellow Slytherin!

I avoided Harry Potter because of the hype. Weeeeeeeeell...I avoided it because a friend of mine read me a passage of it that he thought was particularly brilliant prose, and I was like "eh. Susan Cooper was better. Twenty years ago. Without such praise."

Now, this wasn't the sort of thing like when people call DS9 a poor man's Babylon 5 or something. I believe there's room for more than one children's series involving a magical Chosen One and whatnot. This was more "this is the best you think this series has to offer?"

It wasn't until I caught some of the second movie on HBO or whatever I had for a premium channel at the time that I decided "this is okay, maybe I should give the books a shot." I generally assume the book is going to be better than the movie, so if I can watch the movie, it's usually worth at least trying the book.

 

[Something Amyss]

I refused to watch The Butterfly Effect despite it having an interesting premise because I can't stand Ashton Kutcher.

Don't worry, the movie was awful and ruined a pretty cool premise. By the end, I wished I had the power to go back in time so I could tell myself to not waste my time. And I sat through Encino Man.

 

[Fox12]

Persona 4 Golden... Marie... I refuse to accept her as part of the [real] canon of Persona 4... I just can't...

Other than that, there was a time where I refused to watch FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood because I thought it would be seen as the "one true" FMA series... but, mostly because of Ling... I used to hate that guy... Now, it's ambivalent indifference... *shrugs*

Oh my God. Chie's new voice actor. She single handedly killed the entire game. And I loved Persona 4. I absolutely refuse to play Persona 4 Golden, new content be damned. She was my favorite character, and now I hate absolutely everything about her.

And on that note: anything with Johnny Young Bosch. Period. I tried watching Kill La Kill, and it was okay. He showed up in a single episode, and I dropped the series. Pokemon Origins? Dropped it. Durrarara? Dropped it. Akira? Fucking burned my copy of the DVD. If the series is good, then I'll switch to the Japanese dub just to avoid his awful voice. He sounds the exact same in Every. Fucking. Role. And he's in everything. The worst offender was, of course, the Persona 4 animation, where he voiced both the hero and the villain. He even ruined the main character for me.

I will never watch the Berserk movies because they fucked up Guts's face.

Spoiler

This chiseled block of wood is Guts.

I don't know what the hell this thing is

 

[Tiamattt]

I refuse to watch Adventure Time for a very petty reasoning: too much advertising before it aired. I know it's their job was to hype up people to watch the show but before it officially aired it's commercials felt like it was playing constantly and before long I got totally tired of them to a point that I didn't even want to see the show at all, they made me sick of the show before the first episode which has to be some sort of achievement. And that's a shame since I've heard good things about it but holy cow did they try way too hard.

For a somewhat similar reason I also refuse to watch anything Scooby Doo related anymore, back in my teen years it felt like a different variation of a Scooby Doo cartoon was constantly on Cartoon Network, and since I watched the Network a lot back then I got sick and tired of it and got very annoyed that it felt like whenever I turned it on they would be running yet another Scooby Doo cartoon. Like they have a massive library of cartoons yet it felt they were playing Scooby Doo most of the time. Not really a loss here since I've seen enough of that dog to last me several lifetimes but it does get a little awkward when my kid wants to watch him on Netflix and I have to ask her to pick something else.