The most disappointing characters

[IllumInaTIma]

So, I'm rewatching The Walking Dead and that brought me to the issue of the Governor. Every trailer for 3rd season was teasing Governor to be new villain who will go to war against Rick's group. And then season 3 started and they've introduced us to the Governor itself. Boy, was I delighted! He was charismatic, kind, understanding and capable leader. "OH MAN!" I though to myself, "So, Rick is going to have a war with this guy, who is not an obvious bad guy?! It's so cool! It's not going to be good guys vs. bad guys, but rather good guys just fighting each other because of some misunderstanding! Maybe someone from one group accidentally killed someone else from another?! Shit happens, you know, and sometimes conflict may arise out of nowhere!". Couple episodes later, "NOPE, he's just another crazy guy". And then it just went downhill culminating in final episode of 3rd season where he
<just snaps and kills whole town with one magazine. WHAT THE FUCK>
It's just such a waste of potentially good character! And then I looked up Governor in comics and he's even more ridiculous!
<img src=http://www.badhaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/1a45204d6ea1f9c6239.jpeg>

TLDRo you have any game, book, movie, or any other kind of character that you were just disappointed in?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Well, easy answers are Darth Maul and Jango Fett to many people. Each movie markets the hell out of them and hypes them constantly, but they get very little actual screentime before being disposed unceremoniously.

On a similar note, anyone who has been bombarded by pop culture and the prequel movies WITHOUT having seen the original trilogy, might find themselves disappointed to see what shitty role Boba Fett plays in the original movies.

 

[Queen Michael]

Okay, first of all that comic book picture is the height of awesomeness.

As to who the biggest disappointment is, well:

Spoiler: It would have to be this guy.

Sure, Kilowog might seem pretty one-dimensional when you first read about him in the comics, but you'll soon find out that he's got suprising depth. In the movie, though, he appeared so briefly that I was very disappointed indeed. At least he had time to call somebody "poozer."

 

[Drummodino]

Have to agree on The Governor. Such a waste of a good actor.

 

[Socius]

I'm going to go for Talia Al Ghul in Batman the Dark Knight Rises.
Her relationship to Bruce Wayne, as well as her angle to the destruction of Gotham and the depth of the character were all so disappointing when seen comparison to her appearances in the comics, the animated shows and even the games.

 

[Therumancer]

Hmmm, well I think it's harder for me to find a character I've been totally satisfied with in recent years rather than finding one that has been a disappointment. To me it seems like pretty much every character is a cookie cutter of every other one, and they all generally seem to be making the same kind of moral decisions and acting more or less the same way despite their predictably "quirky but within the limits of mainstream tolerance" personality foibles. When someone does something to break the mold it seems mostly to be an excuse to sit around in depressed naval gazing and eat up screen time where the writers couldn't think of anything else to have them do.

I'll also be honest in saying that some of the characters people seem to find disappointing were cool mostly because they were used so little and captured the imagination. Had they been expanded on it might not have worked out so well. I consider "Darth Maul" and both of the "Fetts" to be in this category from Star Wars. If you take a look at some of the failed spin offs on TV over the year, it sort of shows how a character that was cool in a supporting role more often than not doesn't work out well as a protagonist. Look back to say "Highlander: Raven" which had a lot of people excited since "Amanda" was a fairly popular supporting character, and how it turned out. It wasn't so much that they weren't consistant with the character, it's just that she worked better in measured doses.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

This kid.

Vaan Ratsbane.

He was basically a rip off of Ramza Beoluve from Final Fantasy Tactics. An outsider participating in a massive war who's close enough to see the major characters and events shape his world. Instead he was just another highly irrational androgynous male main character in the FF series, but the main character.

FF12's main character was supposed to be Basch, but the main writer (from Tactic Ogre and FF Tactics fame) got hospitalized due to illness, so the remaining writing jammed Vaan into the story in an attempt to rip off FFT's dynamic. It's disappointing because the "outsider looking in" dynamic worked so well in FFT. I honestly think that Vaan's brother Reks would have been a better character for this role due to him actually being in the army of Rabanastre and seeing the events that started off FF12's story first hand. Instead we got some naive kid who really thought that becoming a sky pirate was more important than the war that was tearing apart his home country. Vaan has the traits that most people over the age of 12 hated about characters like Tidus and Ash Ketchum. He'd have made a decent side character, not a good main one.

 

[Fox12]

The three siblings from Enders Game. When Enders sister was manipulated into joining their older brother I thought it was brilliant. She was slowly growing further apart from Ender, who she originally loved more, and was growing closer to their brother, who she originally hated. It was even better, because she tried to justify it by claiming that she wanted to help control their brother, who was a psychopath who killed and tortured animals, when in reality part of her just wanted to obtain power. The whole time this happening, of course, Ender is sacrificing everything to protect her. So Ender is having to give up hi relationship with the person he loves most in order to keep her alive.

I figured "wow, this is getting interesting! So after the war, there's probably going to be a massive civil war on earth that his brother helped to start. Then Enders going to have to side against his family, forced to choose between his duty and ideals and the person he loved most, who has by now become a total stranger to him. He'll realize the sister he grew up with is gone now." She'd probably feel conflicted too. Ultimately, in order to protect the world he'd just saved, he would have to fight the very person he'd protected it for in the first place. Everything seemed like it was going to culminate in a great, tragic sequel.

Then it just... didn't. His brother turns out to be a decent guy, despite all evidence to the contrary, and Ender and his sister fly away together. A happy ending with a little red bow on top. Very anti-climactic.

 

[Genocidicles]

Joshua Graham in Fallout: New Vegas. Maybe it's just because I read the Van Buren design documents, but I felt kind of let down by the man we meet in the Honest Hearts DLC.

In Van Buren he was supposed to be the 'evil' party member, who'd murder people in fits of rage, start pointless conflicts because he felt like it, and generally make a pacifist runthrough impossible unless you were charismatic enough to talk him down.

Having an evil party member who'd act of their own accord, who'd potentially fuck up any chance of diplomacy unless you kept them under tight control sounded a hell of a lot more interesting than a penitent Mormon in a cave.

 

[hermes]

Nyreen Kandros

Spoiler

A female turian assassin turned freedom fighter. So much potential, so little done with her.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Definitely Demise from Zelda: Skyward Sword. He is practically the Satan of the Zelda universe, yet he was out shined in the villain department by Ghirahim who was just his lackey. His battle is fairly easy, and you grow to hate him because of the lame "Imprisoned" boss fights with his other form, not because he's a compelling baddie. He doesn't even show his true self till the last 20 minutes of the game.

Now, his legacy is interesting, his "curse" sets the rest of the franchise in motion, but as a character, he's pretty lame.

 

[FPLOON]

the lych from adventure time:

i dunno if he got better in later seasons but his first aprence he just came off as a generic villian to me

Pretending that you're Doug Walker watching passed Season 2 of Adventure Time, without spoiling too much... I have to say "kinda" with a hidden asterisk stuck to that answer...

OT: At first, I thought the character Thomas from Regular Show was pretty disappointing after his first appearance... He did get two or three decent episodes revolved around him, but I kinda still want to know more about this intern... besides the fact that he's the butt of all the jokes geared towards him...

 

[FPLOON]

the lych from adventure time:

i dunno if he got better in later seasons but his first aprence he just came off as a generic villian to me

Pretending that you're Doug Walker watching passed Season 2 of Adventure Time, without spoiling too much... I have to say "kinda" with a hidden asterisk stuck to that answer...

OT: At first, I thought the character Thomas from Regular Show was pretty disappointing after his first appearance... He did get two or three decent episodes revolved around him, but I kinda still want to know more about this intern... besides the fact that he's the butt of all the jokes geared towards him...

yeah but thomas is voiced by rodger craif smith and and thats awesome ^^

True... So, I guess that balances it out... Besides, I still like Thomas nonetheless... He reminds me of me a little bit... only without the internship...

 

[Story]

Personally it's hard to recall disappointing characters because more often than not they are just forgettable. It's difficult to recall forgettable characters. I had to give this a lot of thought.

Darth Maul for an obvious answer I guess.

OT: At first, I thought the character Thomas from Regular Show was pretty disappointing after his first appearance... He did get two or three decent episodes revolved around him, but I kinda still want to know more about this intern... besides the fact that he's the butt of all the jokes geared towards him...

I agree with this. The character adds absolutely noting to the show and he is a dreadfully dull strait man character to boot. That's especially problematic for Regular Show because its such a dull series to begin with.

Looking at your avatar FPLOON, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic's King Sombra was pretty bad.

A lot of characters in Bioshock: Infinite, mainly the antagonists. The Songbird immediately comes to mind but Daisy Fitzory was another one in a way. The same thing for the Handymen if they were suppose to be comparable to the Big Daddies.

 

[Rariow]

This gal right here:

Spoiler

Tara, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Such a shame, really. Amber Benson did a fantastic job, and what little we saw of the character was amazing. It's one of the few lesbian relationships in mainstream media that didn't feel to me like it was put in simply for the extra views from that dreaded straight teen male demographic that seems to end up ruining everything by just existing. Almost every scene Tara was in was a highlight of the episode to me, especially when she WASN'T around Willow, since she didn't get overshadowed by Hannigan's subtly energetic acting.

OK, so you've got a fantastic character, played by an actress who seems to have been born for the role, and you seem to be writing them better than any single other character. So, what do you do?

Spoiler

Why, have them be a side-character for the first season they're in, too shy to talk for half of the second, absent through most of the third, and, as soon as they come back, kill them off in the most pathetic way possible just so you can have Willow become one of the most ridiculous (If menacing and entertaining) Big Bads the series' seen, only to replace Tara with the Jar Jar Binks of the Buffyverse!

On less detailed and aggressively sad notes,
-Lilly and Larry from the Walking Dead game (Promised interesting practicality vs morals discussions, gave me psychotic assholes)
-Grunt from Mass Effect (Promised interesting "What is really a person?" discussion, gave me Captain Badass)
-Anyone who pretended to have a personality in Skyrim
-Vaas from Far Cry 3

Spoiler

(I loved the character, but you see way too little of him)

-Qui-Gon Jinn from Phantom Menace (Liam Neeson, playing a Jedi? Shame it's the guy with the ridiculously long-winded and dumb plans and the personality of the third brick from the right in my back wall)
-Comstock, from BioShock Infinite

Spoiler

I loved the twist, but I was hoping he'd be a villain of the calibre of Ryan. We just got some crazy dude with a beard who happens to be you.

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

Everyone in the Walking Dead is disappointing(except Daryl.) I would have expected a bunch of apocalypse survivors to be way more competent then they are in the series. They basically bumble around making awful decisions but surviving because they have plot armor.

 

[Rutskarn]

The Outside from Dishonored. Let's take a literal avatar of puckish chaos and cast him as a monotone, boring, standing-still-with-his-arms-folded-occasionally-gesturing-with-one-hand ************, just like every other fucking character in the fucking game. Like so much of Dishonored's story, it was one person coming up with a really cool idea and someone else halfheartedly rendering it.

This guy gives you superpowers that let you summon swarms of plague rats to tear people apart while you teleport around throwing jugs of whale oil and stealing paintings, and he talks like he's trying to explain a software issue to an impatient customer on the other end of a help hotline.