Characterization Pet Peeves

[Berserker]

Cocky characters who never suffer the consequences of their attitude and actions. On the other hand it can be good to see the cocky character challenged and rise to the challenge. Demonstrating just why they are worthy of their attitude.

[Kiweevil]

When the romance characters (especially in BL) are all the same person and the only way you can possibly tell them apart between comics is by the style of the artist illustrating it.

You know the ones. Everybody knows.

[darthmongoose]

Female character who is described as being really strong and competent but actually does nothing but get rescued by dudes all the time and only gets to have a fight or to win a fight against the token female villain. (Vampire Knight I swear, just....AAAAGHHHH).

The only "good" female character who isn't duplicitous, cowardly, hypocritical or irrelevant is the "not like otha girls" one who only hangs out with boys, can't relate to other women, has no female friends and frequently verbalises her low opinion of any activity associated with femininity, ie. wearing make up, dressing up, talking about feelings, cookery. (but she'll still wear the standard actually quite feminine "female outfit as designed by a straight man" of a cropped t-shirt with a low-neckline and really low-rise bootleg jeans and high heeled boots, maybe with a cropped biker jacket (optional)).

Female villain's entire motivation for becoming evil world-destroying supervillain/monster was because a man was emotionally abusive, dumped her or didn't return her affection. Somebody will say some variation of "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned". (GLARING AT YOU, STEVEN MOFFAT.)

The only bisexual character is 100% horny for literally everyone all the time and will cheat on their significant other at the drop of a hat. Aaaaaagh.

Oh boy these two attractive white men who work together keep getting mistaken for a gay couple! ISN'T THAT HILARIOUS! But maybe we will make them gay, keep watching the show to find out! (no, they won't).

All PoC are minor characters who exist to use their sensitivity to the spirit world and wise "noble savage" mysticism to help white protagonists find their destiny of being the hero. White protagonist walks into like... a Starbucks and the barista is some sort of non-white ethnicity and immediately is like "Ohhh! White wolf! You have a powerful spirit curse entwined with your aura! Come with me, we shall do an ancient ritual I learned from my grandmother to send you on a spirit walking quest and unlock your powers, for you are the one of prophesy!" None of the details of what they say or the quest will have any real bearing on the culture appropriate to the character's ethnicity, it'll all be random new age stuff appropriating from a mish-mash of cultures that sounds spiritual and exotic to a white audience, also even though this character has apparently trained in mysticism for years, they are 100% content to humbly work in a Starbucks, using their power to turn white people into magical superheroes or give them spiritual guidance while getting nothing in return.

Related: Hyper-competent woman who has trained for years rescues and trains useless chump rookie man in magic/kung-fu/whatever. He surpasses her in a matter of hours/weeks/months because he's the chosen one, and he then becomes the leader and she's totally chill with it. (Trinity, Tigress etc.....).

[TheBryceKrispy]

I hate it when the writer tells us how the character acts but never shows us the character acting that way. Although I feel like telling us something and then not following through could be potentially great, like if a character was telling us how another character acts and then subverting that. It could show a character bias and viewpoint but that requires showing.

[joannekwan]

Female characters in mxm romances that are there simply to be an obstacle for the two male characters to overcome to be together. I Especially hate it when the woman is written as vile or a total bitch.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I finally came up with one (that hasn't been said 8 million times already): that thing where it turns out that the mean, 'hardass', borderline-abusive mentor character was just acting that way "for the MC's own good". Bonus points if that character is a parent.

I can understand it when the character in question is trying to push the MC away for their own safety. But when this is a character that DOES want to have a social relationship with the MC, and the only way they can see to "help" them is to be unnecessarily cruel, I don't think good intentions are a valid excuse.

Being strict is one thing, literal bullying without any positive affirmation of any kind until the very last second is quite another.

[DukeOfOool]

Yes, the only time the abusive mentor thingy works if the setting/plot forces the mentor into this situation. Like you exacly said, e.g: if there's some court intrigue and let's say the mentor, a swordmaster, is trying to stop it, but because the mentor fears retaliation by this unknown 3. party, he tries to seem as far away from the mc as possible. But for this to work thereneed to besome signs that the mentor's just acting. Maybe giving the mc one of his rings / letter that sadly got postponed or misunderstood by the mc, while some ofthe audience catches on on the intrigue.

[azzy-m]

Wait, wait, I've got more:

• The dynamic found in mlm romances (yes, admittedly, mostly in yaoi) where one is clearly meant to be the "woman" in the relationship and the other is the "man". Like this just seems weirdly.... homophobic to me? Write gay characters normally, you clowns. No "submissive, dainty, womanly" uke and "strong hardass" seme. Christ.

• This is what I like to call the "Taming of The Shrew But Less Creepy And Abusive Depending On How Bad of A Writer You Are" Dynamic, where the character is a woman who is mean, coldhearted, and largely uninterested in romance, and then the LI is some dude who keeps insisting on trying to woo her. Sometimes this is endearing (although it's still not my cup of tea lol), but in some stories, it can seriously come off as stalker-y and very pervasive especially when the lady is so clearly, incredibly uninterested. Hence why it reminds me of Taming of the Shrew - it is literally the plot. Stories where the genders are reversed but this same dynamic is present are still kind of bad - just that I've seen some stories where the creepy, abusive line is never crossed (thank god).

[liamhernandezlucas]

One of the dynamics with the 'coldhearted and mean' character that can sometimes be a lot more fun is when they end up befriending or falling for a character that doesn't try to woo them, but is generally more assertive and doesn't take their nonsense. I haven't seen that happen often though, and if done badly it just comes off as an abusive relationship. It definitely doesn't work when the character remains colhearted and mean throughout, and the other character does succumb to their nonsense. I'm so tired of abusive tsundere relationships.

[gempompadour]

Over sexual/ized Female Villains. The slutty one dimensional rivals of the angelic main character. The scorned, semi-nude sidekicks of the main villain. Often the t & a characters of a story. I've developed a love-hate relationship with this type because there are so many sassy sexy villainesses I love. And yet. While they're often confident and assertive in their sexuality, it doesn't seem to be portrayed in a positive light. These villainesses ooze sexuality, but it's this wild, fiery, untamed and dangerous kind of sexuality.

It's probably the madonna-whore spectrum that even I can't escape from. It just feels like their sultriness is there to remind men and women that these sirens of seduction will bring nothing but ruin in the end. The good girl is the one who triumphs, because she doesn't use her sexuality. She never tries to control her man with it, instead she might even give him the reins.The point is she personally doesn't gain any power from it, whereas sexualized female villains are often harmed and undone by theirs. Their strength is based solely on sex, and when that is overcome by the hero they're defeated.

Their motives and lives are also tied to men. Men who've betrayed them, men who don't love them back, men who ignore them as anything but an asset to use etc. Rarely are they the main bad guys with actual ideology and vision behind their actions. They don't drive the plot anywhere, and are often easily dispatched by the weakest member of the main character's entourage, usually the sole woman to show that she can fight too! I've also noticed that sexy villains are portrayed as older and more mature/experienced than the innocent and naive girls they oppose...

[indagold]

Characters that are super fans of something and want to be a part of it but are never shown to work for it or put in the effort someone who was serious about a position/job/apprenticeship would. They either A) are just unusually skilled at the thing they want to attain and everyone just accepts them into the role or B) suck at everything but somehow still succeed in the end when in reality they would fail. It's a dumb "follow your dreams" trope that just fails because it doesn't give any bit of conflict or risk to the character doing it.

[DiegoPalacios]

Thats why i liked Monster`s university, because it took a more realistic approach on the zero talent case.

Mike Wasowsky wanted to be a scarer, but he didnt have the talent, he was too adorable and funny and not imposing enough. That means that he was in danger of being expelled from the university.

He worked hard for it, studied a lot, and his theoric knowledge allowed him to figure out how to help the other classmates that were in danger of being expelled to be scary, but still......he couldnt be scary himself.

While it was obvious that he was never gonna be a scarer, he realized that his studies were not in vain, because it turns out he was an amazing coach for scarers.

[brilliiant]

Here's another one! And this might be an unpopular opinion.

I HAAAATE characters that are unapologetically mean and rude to everyone but in a way that's clearly framed by the author as being cool and sassy. Like, I have no problem with characters roasting each other (hell that's half my comic), but I have a serious problem with a sustained asshole presence that's supposed to be received as cool or funny or even aspirational. Think Gina from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, just a constant asshole of a character that never ever gets called on their shit in a meaningful way.

[NickRowler]

I don't really like when a story is set in modern era yet all the female characters wear dresses or skirts. I understand if our story has them in uniforms, but for casual wear, it is far more common to have a girl wearing pants.

[spadedigsbutts]

They’re all shopping at the same store apparently lol