Superman is such a single note character that the good things that came out of his existence can all be counted on one hand. I get that he was foundational to the concept of superheros, but it shows in this day and age.
I will say the monologue in justice league while he's slapping around Darkside is immaculate though.
The best thing to come from Superman is Lex Luther. No villain can go toe to toe with Supes, except maybe Doomsday, but does he really count as a villain? Mindless kill machine. Anyway, Lex has to beat Superman who can punch him into mist, or roast him by looking at him too hard, or literally blow him to the moon. How do you write a villain to counter that? By making them cunning and lovable to the public so that if Superman does any of those things, the public turns against him. Superman’s weakness isn’t only kryptonite, he craves social acceptance, if he didn’t he would just punch his way into being in charge and dare anyone to stop him. Lex gets how razor thin that edge is and takes full advantage.
Superman has had its good moments like the world made of cardboard scene. Nowadays I think saitama from one punch man makes for a better all powerful hero as the narrative really focuses more on the consiquences of that power on himself and the people around him rather than just having him save the day over and over.
Like most really early animated characters, Mickey Mouse was a lot of things over a long period of time. And as far as American animation goes, Mickey Mouse has been a staple for the childhood of literally every generation. Younger millennials and zoomers grew up on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Children in decades prior watched Mickey be a musketeer in one short and starving due to poverty in the next.
So while the rough edges of the character have been sanded down over time, he's still very much a plucky, brave, kind, and helpful protagonist in most of the media he's in.
Which to your average adult viewer means... he's a bland and uninteresting character.
That said, he's still an icon of animation as a whole, and most things with Mickey in them are doing some new and novel something (design, production pipeline, whatever) that pushes the whole industry forward in some way.
Rich Evans once said of Who Framed Roger Rabbit: "Bugs Bunny gave Eddie Valiant the spare tire (instead of a spare parachute) because Mickey Mouse would never do anything funny."
Harry Potter. People often talk about a "golden age" of JK Rowling, and I think to myself, what golden age? Harry Potter, both the character and the books, are written like a hyperinflated Cinderella, complete with an attempt at discriminatory apologetics that would make CS Lewis say "you okay bro?"
Also, Luke Skywalker. People hate Anakin for being whiny and weak and Rey for being a Mary Sue, but Luke is both and nobody complains.
Luke had to actually train and failed when he fought his main, more experienced villain for the first time. Then he went back and did more training off screen. I think that makes him less a Mary Sue. He's definitely whiny, though.
Additionally, and probably most importantly, Luke actually isn't strong enough to defeat the emperor at the end. He losses. However, he wins over his father and that's what turns the tide.
Similarly, while Anikan has some mary sue moments, he has a far share of losses (chase for Padme's would be assassin, count doku fight, Obi-Wan fight, etc.)
I think the only time Rey "losses" a battle is in force awakens when she gets captured (but even after being captured she overpowers Ben almost immediately).
As much as I enjoy that franchise I agree with you. For years I kept hearing 'it's better in the books', I remember specifically people saying that about the organization that helps dobbie and his people. Fuggin, I read the books as an adult and it's barely expanded on it at all, they just have more scenes about the organization but it isn't ever truly relevant beyond explaining why Hermione does what she does as an adult.
It's a charming little story that matured with readers and got a decent adaptation that led it to explode. Lots of luck to get to where it's at.
I would love to see a wandering inn adaptation instead.
Astarion from BG3. I can understand why people like him. I personally do not and generally never used him in the party because I didn't want to hear him be annoyed yet again I was helping people.
Astarion is particularly annoying in Act 1 for some reason, with 99% of his reactions just being him hating anything that is remotely positive. His reactions (and character in general) in the following acts is a lot more fleshed out and varied.
I think he's endearing. But I was probably about 12 when I first played BG1, and the dumb-but-good-hearted warrior with the world's only miniature giant space hamster was comedic gold for me at that age.
I killed him almost immediately after those first few nights in camp. I then left Shadowheart there to rot with his corpse. I never understand the mass appeal towards those two.
I think as the game progresses, you get to see why Astarion is so eager to act in his own interests. However, his backstory really only justifies half of his refusal to help people. The other half of his whining feels antithetical to his own situation, but perhaps that's just because he doesn't fully acknowledge his newfound freedoms until Act 2.
I think he's liked more because he's relatable, rather than he's an interesting character. Personally, I think his pranks on Dwight are amusing, but everything else about him is nothing special.
Dwight would be a much more loyal friend for sure, and far less likely to steal your girl. But these high intelligence low wisdom friends are exhausting. Especially when they make a mistake, because they’re so book smart they couldn’t possibly be wrong. Tons of unwanted advice on subjects they’ve only read about. But they’ll always be first to arrive when you need help moving. It’s almost impossible for you to be as good a friend in return, not that it’s required, but I feel bad when it’s not even. And then you’re just driving around one day chatting with them in the passenger seat and they pull out the ninja star they bought at the gas station and want you to think it’s as cool as they do. I just don’t know how to handle Dwight friends.
Ross is the one that drives me insane. Literally every other person demonstrates some sort of growth over the 10 years the show takes place, but Ross is pretty much exactly the same.
For me, Rachel starts out annoying but gets more likeable through the seasons.
I was watching a few on a road trip and happened to catch them when Rachel was rejecting Joey, then demanding Ross not date and stay with her. She was just awful in every episode I saw.
Sephiroth. His look is basically the most generic bishy anime character you can make, his entire backstory can be boiled down to "mommy issues" and his motivations are the standard villain "destroy world/become god". He's just so bland.
(I firmly believe most people gush over FF7 so much only because it was their first exposure to a mainstream console RPG in non-Japanese circles. FF7 as a whole was a fairly meh entry into the series anyway, if you ask me.)
Not only did Kefka have real style, twisted though it may be, he also for all intents and purposes actually managed to win. He fractured the world, scattered the heroes, built his goddamned tower, and was lording it all over everybody with a penthouse view. He didn't have angst; he was just nuts. It was frankly a complete fluke that he got the shit whacked out of him by a little girl with a paintbrush, a 8x per round attacking Moogle with Genji gloves, a senior citizen, and a mime.
We get it. You wish a dashing eccentric gentleman with an English accent will appear out of the blue and whisk you away from your situation to a life of adventure. But it's not going to happen, sweetheart.
It doesn't help that Doctor Who has always been crap sci-fi, but gets a free ride due to having such a long history stretching back to before anyone knew any better. The series as a whole is one of those I find also dragged down by a subsection of rabid insufferable fans, at least the modern incarnations, right up there with Rick and Morty and Supernatural. (I see I already kicked the beehive.)
I think the sci-fi is not crap. But it is not appealing to everyone. DW remains a children's show, always has been. It should be viewed as such, just like Star Wars is.
TBH, I still watch it, even though it peaked seasons 4 - 6, then went down and down and down. I think nostalgia has got a hold of me because the new season wouldn't wouldn't get hooked to it if I were my first time watching it.
I never watched the old stuff. I enjoyed the campy and quirky scifi romp that peaked with the 10/11 doctors, but there are certainly long stretches of pretty dull episodes, I admit. There are many episodes that I just love and tried to make note of through my last watch through.
It doesn't take itself too seriously and I like that. It's also like gateway scifi for people not normally too into the genre.
Dr Who has had some genuinely good episodes and plot lines, nowadays though it does mostly seem to be re-hashing its own old plot lines but in a shorter and less well executed form or just trying to cram as many current issues into an episode as possible. Its basically suffering the same fate as the simpsons.
I thought you were referring to The Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager and was about to pitch a fit but, yeah—fuck Whom’st Doctor Doth Darken Mine Teleboothe
For me it was Rose. She was an alright companion but far from the best and it annoyed me how much importance she had to everything with all her storylines.
I really don't get the obsession with overusing the Joker when most of Barman's other rogue gallery members are much more interesting. The worst of it is during "The Batman Who Laughs", because now you have both the regular Joker and "what if Batman became Joker" running around. And then, as if it couldn't get any more ridiculous,
spoiler
The Batman who Laughs gets Dr. Manhattan's powers in a groan-worthy way which is like, not how Dr. Manhattan works at all just so they can fit more Joker into the story.
And I think most people will agree by now that Harley Quinn is a lot better of a character after she's done being Joker's sidekick.
It's an easy movie to watch, which makes it enjoyable for me. Everything else in life takes a lot of energy, so when I want to watch a movie over doing something else, I just want something that I can zone out to.
Same reason I watch a Will Ferrell movie and like them (like the one where he voiced a dog)
John wick is supposed to be a shallow character. A nobody who is surprisingly a goat assassin. The surprising simplicity of the first movie is exactly what it's supposed to be. Man mad cuz wife dead and brat crimelord son kills dog gets revenge.
Just like another Keanu movie that there shouldn't have been sequels to the story suffers if the perspective gets expanded. Prison break too, forcing follow ups means the story gets more complex whilst the simplicity is it's main draw.
Keanu sommes un those roles a he is a bit aloof and emotionally detached. Somehow that suits both roles, but there isn't much there to flesh out a longer story.
Yeah....I want to like him and he's got more character development than any other, but yeah. So your high school crush didn't "get" your personality disorder and then slipped away. That's what happens in high school. But then he goes back to teach AND LIVE at his old high school and never moves on? Snape my man...marry Denise from your gym and get over it. Get a job somewhere else, join a pickleball league or somethin.
It was a global success (translated into over 500 languages and has sold over 140 million copies). That doesn't seem like much compared modern movies or TV shows, but for a book those are really good numbers. Dr. Seuss sold over 600 million books but that's spread over 60 different titles. Could be a generational thing. I remember seeing "The Little Prince" in a lot of homes in the 80s.
I grew up watching cartoons, and still do.
I'm an avid scifi, horror, and speculative fiction reader/watcher.
There absolutely should be animations geared toward adults.
I don't like Rick and Morty. I think it's dumb, self obsessed, drivel. I think it's writing style is the literary equivalent of pumpkin spice latte. No one hurt me, I just don't like it and I don't understand why people do. I answered a question. I didn't tell people to not watch it.
Not op, but i dont care much for the show myself either. I used to, when it was new and something different, but I believe I have grown past the pseudointellectual, but actual college humor. It just hits different these days
There are a few companions in Mass Effect that seem to inspire a way stronger reaction from other fans and I don't totally get it. Like, I like Thane, and I'm sad about what happens to him, but some people are SO into him and I don't get it. I also love Tali and restarted my first nearly complete playthrough when I realized I couldn't save her and Legion, but there are fans who are full on obsessed. Then again, my love for Garrus can't be contained, so I'm sure some people don't get that.
At least we can all agree that Ashley and Kaiden are the worst, right?
Edward Kenway from Assassin's Creed 4. The whole game actually is extremely overrated. I had a hard time finishing that game. I rather play 3 or even Unity.