In the spirit of the holiday season, I want to start a more fun conversation.
Who are your favorite characters and why? They can be from anything; movies, TV shows, video games, literature, etc.
Furthermore, did they exhibit any positive traits or skills that made you want to become a better person in the real world in some way? Did their actions help encourage you to want to learn a particular skill, become physically fitter, more resourceful, confident, etc?
I'll get things started (mine aren't in any particular order):
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Zero (Mega Man X): I like both Zero and X, but Zero's confident professionalism so to speak stood out to me. He's serious and intelligent, but he knows how to stay witty and sarcastic at the same time. In addition, he wants to defeat his destiny as a robot designed to commit evil and fight for good. In particular, I love how he's always working to better at protecting others but has to struggle with the realization that doesn't guarantee he'll be able to save those closest to him. That last example reminds me of something I've struggled with in my own life.
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Donatello (TMNT 2003): I love the arc Donnie undergoes in the '03 TMNT cartoon. He's extremely book-smart and; like myself, passionate about machines and technology. Nonetheless, he's open to acquiring new knowledge. Although he studies science and technology at an academic level, he does it out of a genuine love for the field. And he developed his intellect almost entirely on his own. He's great at staying cool and collected under pressure and thinking creatively and quickly in the same circumstances. Out of all the Turtles, he's probably the most pacifistic and diplomatic, but isn't above getting snarky occasionally. Finally, he can get annoyed by his family at times, but will still drop everything to help them and become deeply passionate about helping them.
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Niko Bellic (GTA IV): He may not be a popular choice here, but I loved playing through his story. Although he came from very little and doesn't have a great record of following the law, I think he proved to be so much more than that. Despite a horrible upbringing, Niko in GTA IV goes on to display a clear sense of honor and an ability to think more three-dimensionally than most of the game's other characters. I love how he goes through hell to protect Roman and everyone else he cares about even when their judgement (or lack thereof) gets them in trouble. I chose to take the story paths where he spares targets as I felt they were more consistent with his personality. Besides, who wouldn't admire a character that's agile, adaptable, and can operate any machine from a car to a helicopter?
All three of these characters partially inspired me to get physically fitter, think less impulsively, think about the consequences of my actions, open myself up to new knowledge/ideas, and become more analytical and confident. I became more inspired to treat others how I'd want to be treated and stand up for what's right even if it might not make me popular. Most important of all, following their adventures helped me realize that no matter how uncertain or hopeless I think life can look, there's always some way I can make it a little better.
Your turn.
The wise and goofy old mentor is a trope I'll always love, so Gandalf, Iroh, Obiwan, etc. There's something magical about a guy who's been through the best and absolute worst of times, and come out smiling and jolly.
Reinhard von Lohengramm from The Legend of the Galactic Heroes. This is the type of man all decadent western civilizations need to restore them back to glory.
He is a man who rose through the ranks to become a galactic emperor.
Lohengramm is a benevolent dictator in all sense of the word. The man is hyper-competent, devoted to meritocracy and is ruthless enough to stamp out his corrupt opposition.
If only we had a real world Reinhard von Lohengramm in America to fix the GOP.
Judge Dredd for his serious demeanor for the law and willing to make big choices in the comics (launching massive nuclear MIRVS on the Sov’s mega-cities when they invaded Megacity 1).
Mr.Freeze from Batman Animated series. It is really hard to write a cold-hearted, serious villain without it turning into a pile of tropes. Him as an antagonist was a perfect counter to Batman’s cold thinking but no killing strategy.
Great choices. I'd love to play Advance Wars, Starcraft, and Fire Emblem in the future.
Starcraft's story is pretty good. A bit cheezy at times, but the Protoss characters are rather well done.
The game itself is fun.
If you're good at RTS, the campaing won't be difficult. ( ex: One early mission you're defending a position waiting extraction, I got bored/curious and wiped-out the map of all enemiy bases. But much later there are challenging base defenses. For the lulz you can try setting up a strong enough line to not get wiped-out and ending dialogs talk as if you are getting obliterated. That one was difficult for me. )
You can either torrent a CD image to mount on a virtual drive ( often mounting a virtual CD already works in recent computer. Otherwise easy to find a program for that online ), or download the "free version" with the annoying Blizzard launcher. I didn't like the new "free version" because they changed hotkeys and translations in the French version, making it worse and clash with the ( very good ) French dub.
Fenix may be from an old game, but it can still "throw down with the best of them", as the youths say.
It helps that Hector, unlike most Lords in the series until recently, was a brokenly overpowered unit at nearly all points of the story. The worst part of his story is that you have to wait a bunch more chapters to promote him over Eliwood's where he should be the first one you do.
Because that kills Eliwood's entire character arc (same with Roy and Eirika), the game portion undermines them horribly by how much of a literal fucking millstone they are on your army by being both god fucking awful units but also having to wait until every single other character is promoted multiple chapters ago before they get to to hope they can maybe catch up.
Game devs always need to learn that the story and game sections aren't separate and one can undermine the other.
Spider-Man and Superman because they always try to see the best in people and never give up on trying to help those in need.
Anakin Skywalker because of the lesson that it’s never too late to do the right thing
Good choices. I think when someone chooses to do the right thing regardless of whether or not the recipient deserves it, that makes their moral code quite strong.
Absolutely. Although Sone of my favorite comic books were when Spidey and Punisher would work together and debate philosophy. Quite deep for a comic book. Doubt you would see that in a modern one. X-Men would also have some in depth discussions
Inuart from Drakengard.
Guy was a bard in peacetime, engaged to the girl he loved the most. Until she was chosen to be the "Goddess of the Seal" which meant the marriage was cancelled and she was going to spend the rest of her life in constant pain and suffering trying to hold back the Gods from the world. When war came and the Empire sought to kill her to try and reach God, he took up a sword to try and defend her. And was a complete joke, just got fucking bullied by basic troops that the MC, Caim, slaughtered by the hundreds in the first level.
Caim is her brother, the prince of the kingdom, and just a general unstoppable murder machine. She has always looked up to him for protecting her their entire life, and those feelings eventually became shameful incestuous ones (but more on that later).
But the little band (plus Caim's dragon) goes on a journey to defeat the Empire, during which time Inuart (who has been useless the entire time) gets captured by the Empire and tortured by the very Avatar of the God's themselves by mocking all those nagging hateful thoughts on his mind. Which slowly breaks him down into accepting their offer of power, through a pact with his own dragon to become stronger than Caim so she looks at him again instead of her brother.
Which leads to one of the best scenes in the game. In which Inuart shows off his newfound power to just beat the shit out of everyone and steal back his woman. Declaring everything now is a "world without song" as he throws away his harp, the last symbol of the good man he once was.
The game progresses and his mind starts breaking more and more with paranoia that Caim is going to come and steal her back, and that she still loves Caim more than him. Which is all true, as eventually you beat him in combat and rush to rescue her. But the God's Avatar reveals her incestuous feelings to everyone and she just kills herself in shame right there. Leading to the last seal breaking and the God's breaking into the world.
Which of course doesn't do anything good for Inuart. The game has a bunch of endings from this point. The one that focuses on them involves him attempting to offer her body to the Seeds that fell from Heaven in hopes she is ressurected. Which she is, but as an insane monster who instantly kills him. In all the rest, the Seed does nothing and he just curls up next to her body and lets the world die around him.
I love this character because while he doesn't portray any positive traits, he is still a very relatable character and a walking cautionary tale. Because all of us will have that moment where we lose a girl due to circumstances beyond our control, and also just being completely impotently powerless in a world you weren't meant for.
And how all of that leaves you easily manipulated by others, both by your desire for power and your desire to remove the weakest elements (that would be celebrated in another age). Something I, as a younger lad, needed to see because I was often very blinded by not just rage at the world, but at my own impotence to do anything about it, making it easy for someone to manipulate me into their way of thinking. And I still think is very relevant today more so than ever, especially given how much ragebait gets posted around here fairly successfully.
I also typed all this out as part of my continued crusade to prove Drakengard is a good game that is worth playing, and TheDarkId's LP has done incredibly unfair damage to its reputation by making people only watch it and talk about Murder Monster Caim memes.
Not going to lie, this one here hit close and hard.
Logen Ninefingers, and Glokta from Abercrombie's grimdark First Law trilogy, starting with The Blade Itself.
Somehow Abercrombie gets not as entertaining in his later books in this universe, but the first 6 were dynamite.
Logen is like a Conan who's lost his ambition. He's a badass. The entire North fears, hates, respects him. He's trying to atone for his past. There's like a berserker spirit in him, that when he's too provoked or death is near, it comes out. He kills friends, enemies like. He's actually a bastard, but it's so well done, 12 years later I still think of him as a stand-out character. Think like a William Munny from Unforgiven meets Conan, with a hint of Dresden Files
Glokta is the opposite in many ways. He's just as ruthless, but from a position of authority. He's an inquisitor/torturer trope. Strategist. Working class manager within his realm. He used to be a war hero, but got disfigured and crippled. Now often jokes that a flight of stairs are his worst nightmare. He's written super wry, witty, funny, yet also a complete bastard, just from a different approach.
Jimbei from One Piece. He's a fish-man karate master, and former Warlord. One Piece is ridiculous at it's core, but Jimbei is such a good character. He's one of the few with honor, depth, principles, plays the mentor role, self-sacrificing. He's all of the things western heroes are lacking these days in every media.
Burton Guster from Psych.
Saitama from One Punch Man. He's often a blank slate, but the almost autistic oblviousness, contrasted with his power/focus, concern about small things, when all this Earth-shattering shit is going on, cracks me up. Combined with Genos, King, Blizzard, Tornado gags, there's a lot of good stuff here.
Clay Cooper from Kings of the Wyld.
Was my favorite character on the show for the first several seasons before the "diversity" writing took over and we had to be reminded that he was black all the fucking time.
Optimus Prime. - He's the epitome of "hero" to me. He has the most perfect moral compass where he's basically just Transformers Jesus.
Honorable mentions:
Spike Spiegel - His ability to be very carefree in certain situations ("Whatever happens, happens") was very enviable to me since I can be pretty neurotic.
Zuko - What can you say except the guy completely changed his outlook and way of life through being exposed to ideas outside his brainwashed nation.
Great examples with Zuko and Spike. They're cases of how you can become your best and most well-rounded self just by staying true to who you are at your core.
One time I thought 'Jean Grey' from the X-men was cool, but now-a-days who can really stand her?
Damn I can't find the parody edits of Jean Grey using her powers to forcefully make Iceman come-out as gay to his parents, and go to online dating sites.
It's worth digging through some old Reddit posts brb.
Edit : Luckily enough I found them again on my communities.win.
Jean Grey making Iceman gay :
https://imgur.com/fc8xjUv
https://imgur.com/0V5sKrT
( Just to be clear : I did not make those. )
Was aware of that.
They changed her entire personality and made her a girl boss. They ruined Beast as well, turned Cyclops into an extremist, and did the black panther thing with Storm. Jubilee got turned into a vampire or something and who even knows what happened to Gambit. The entire classic cast got fucked over by these hacks.
Ridley - huge alien space dragon with a beam weapon in his mouth instead of fire. Evil for the sake of being evil, no complicated motivations, no morally gray bullshit, just a straight up villain, and one of the few that has ever canonically beaten Samus.
Starscream - the treacherous second in command, turns into a fighter jet, always has the best plotline, and he made the ultimate sacrifice.
Roy Batty - fulfills the objective of the Tyrell corporation by making a human decision instead of a programmed decision.
Batou - peak masculine specimen, drives a Lancia Stratos and a Ford GT, shoots big guns, has an unrequited crush on a tomboy. Basically a man after my own heart.
Vegeta (DBZ Abridged) - the absolute height of comedy.
Sonny Crockett - a man who fights the good fight, drives my dream car, beats the bad guys, woos every woman he meets, and eventually gets broken down by the systemic corruption in society.
First, in an extremely friendly way, curse you, I have SO many characters I enjoy it's hard to whittle them down to number one. I'll go one genre by who comes to mind:
Manwha: Lloyd Frontera from The Greatest Estate Developer: he's the epitome of 'kind hearted bastard' with a face that terrifies hell, a singing voice more torturous than the 7 circles and a mind that makes Satan want to hire him. I love how he's always looking for a payday but in an honest way (especially if it screws over someone who fucks with him) and how he turns his fortunes around with hard work.
Gaming: Ezio Auditore da Firenze: my favourite assassin in the series, I love seeing him grow from a immature teen who wants revenge after his brothers and father are killed to a mentor helping others learn how to fight for themselves. Has one of the best developed and fleshed out character developments in the series.
Anime: Rintaro Okabe from Steins Gate: I'm a sucker for good character development. When we first meet him he seems to have two sides, the pompous mad scientist side and the more subdued inner monologue. Seeing the explanation behind the mad scientist persona and the conflicted suffering side he tries to hide before confiding in someone was what made me love him.
I like your Ezio example.
There's something sad about seeing someone who had a good life get everything forcibly taken from them (especially when it wasn't because of anything they directly did), but it's nice when they use it as motivation to become better people and make sure others don't have to go through what they did.
Judge Dredd, Jarlaxle from the R.A. Salvatore Books, Samweis Gamdschie.
First 2 just because they are cool and very pragmatic and Samweis for his loyalty to his friends and his bravery.
eh why not.
Wario, specificly the wario land incarnation. yeah hes got faults, however hes got positive aspects too, batter em, freeze em and more he'll take that crap and then make you choke on it, he is a perfect example of a determinator if theres a goal he wont stop till he gets to it. later in life i found that kinda mentality really gets you thru some surprising shit just endure and wait for an opening to let em have it.
there were a lot more but my memory from that time is fuzzy i rember liking sonic tails and funny enough eggman too scrooge was nice but my fine memories of them are glazed.
A great question... Here's two that come to mind:
Nanoha (Anime: Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha): She's the epitome of "Stronk Female Character", but done (IMO) right. While clearly not the strongest being in her universe, she is openly regarded as at least an entity of interest when classifying such. But that's aside from the point of her character. She's emotionally intelligent, but not intelligent-intelligent. When she gets instructions from another on how to disable a special macguffin, and the explanation devolves to "blast it with everything you got" because she wasn't getting it, she replies with a cheerful "easy to understand, thank you, knew I could rely on you!", even though that was what she was already doing. No snark, no backtalk, because it wasn't needed: She confirmed what was important, that she was on the right tack, and made sure the person on the line felt like their work helped. When a villain accuses her of being a devil, she nods and accepts their viewpoint, to them, she IS some horrific demon. She even walks out of a conflagration, covered in the shadows from the smoke, as she acknowledges it with a "then I'll simply need to use my hellish powers upon you". But her power isn't really meant for blowing up big bads... She's a teacher and a friend first and foremost. Her goals are always focused on helping people, even the villains, she just doesn't shy away from bitchslapping anyone who won't accept that help... Even close allies, as it became such a meme of her making borderline-killing = friendship, that her voice actress in another series actually threatened someone with befriending them.
She showcases the strengths (and weaknesses) of a shonen protagonist, while also showcasing the strengths (and weaknesses) of a shojo protagonist, in a neat little bow.
Marin (My Dress-Up Darling): Not necessarily my most favorite character, but I am a big fan of what she represents. Pandering to a target market. Marin is a special-grade waifu. Unless you have VERY peculiar or particular tastes, you'll likely put Marin in any top-5-waifus listing. Even with those tastes, if you're trying to be in any way impartial, you still would. A super-attractive otaku gyaru, financially independant but only in a way that holds things over until a guy can protect her, sexually open but sexually innocent, social butterfly but still awkward and shy, who sees both through and past all the MC's social ineptitudes and loves him for what he is, who while not into his hobbies (hers are more feminine) still supports and appreciates them, and encourages him to participate more in society and make first steps in that regard... And pays for him on the first date, just in case he's not as interested in her as she is in him. It's SUCH blatant wish-fulfillment pandering. She's literally nothing but a checklist of "ideal fantasy waifu traits" polling results. And... It works. Somehow, it works. She's still an almost believable character thanks to the writing, and both her and the series are very well-regarded.
What she represents, is the willingness to give what the target audience wants, and likewise, for that target audience to appreciate it, and have the business venture succeed. In a world full of media attempts to insult the target audience, and have it blow up in their faces, there's actually a surprising lack of the exact opposite: Unabashed 100% pandering. That is then shown to work. A clear example to point to. And so I think she's important enough to list.
Alfred Pennyworthy- the man who stood in the bat cave, dusted it, and helped batman thwart enemy after enemy. I was so impressed by him I wanted to be a butler as a kid and was nicknamed Alfred. In the comic they released if you ate enough batman cereal, which wasn't hard for me, I realized that the secrets of Batmans life that were hidden even to him were known by Alfred. That is man I aim to be.
Garrus Vakarian: Honestly, one of the best dudes we'll probably ever meet. A full story arc from a cynical cop who wants to get out of the Citadel to make a real difference to become his own absolute badass sniper commando, and is influencing the fate of the galaxy and his people. All the while having the best dry wit, being a bit socially awkward, but the most loyal friend you could know.
Unless you're fem shep, where he becomes even better because he's basically perfect husband material
Urdnot Wrex: I know you all have seen American Krogan's argument regarding why Urdnot Wrex's arc is the most subversive possible, but I don't really buy into it. Yeah, I agree that what they are trying to sell by ME3 is a bit of a feminist fantasy; but it would inevitably fail anyways. The issue is that Wrex is actually one of the only actual Krogan that is thinking about trying to preserve his people. The "old ways" really are pretty self-destructive and have led to the Krogan being atomized as their people die. None of the other Krogan ever really take any steps to fix the situation. It's either a reactionary attitude which perpetuates atomization and tribal disunity; or it's Wrex cucking out the wrest of his species. It's a sucky situation, but if you're going to defeat a genocide, you gotta start somewhere.
He's always a deeper and more thoughtful character than he lets on. He genuinely values his friends and people in the highest regard. He's holding to a specific principle that he won't budge on. If he can't save his people, then what the hell good does saving the galaxy do him? He's an honest character, with solid integrity, and has the most uncompromising principle.
Betraying him is the move of a bastard, and you get what you get. If you can't explain it to him in the first game, then you lose out on his arc and his battalions by the 3rd game. But you could betray him in the 3rd game, and at that point you are really asking for it. But, there's no question in my mind that ending the genophage and siding with Wrex was always the best decision.
I guess, because of these two characters, I would say that this is why the two most important words in video games to me will always be:
"Remember Virmire?"
Lan Mandragoran. The baddest motherfucker in all of fiction, if you ask me.
Goku (Dragon Ball Z). I always admired his determination to keep training because of his love for fighting and to protect those close to him. I also relate a lot to his laid back attitude, and his confidence when dealing with seemingly hopeless situations. As someone whos struggled with laziness and weight problems earlier in life, watching Goku fight was part of what motivated me to take up boxing and start living a more healthy and active life.
Link (The Legend Of Zelda). To me Link is the embodiment of the classic hero archetype, specifically as described by Joseph Campbell in The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Link's journey from his humble upbringings to saving the world is something that always inspired me to seek out adventures in my own life whether it was through travelling or pursuing other hobbies. The Zelda games also got me interested in both art and fantasy at a young age, I'd always want to learn about or even create my own worlds similar to these games.
Cecil Harvey (Final Fantasy IV). Most people pick Cloud as their favorite, but I always related more to Cecil. The first reason being that Cecil's redemption journey from dark knight to paladin reminds me of my own Christian faith and how I've also ditched things as well as people from my life who I felt were a hinderance to it. The second reason is I also relate to the disillusionment he felt to his country when his King (who ended up being a puppet of a foreign entity) gave him orders to commit war crimes.
These characters have taught me to push myself to new limits while also being more creatively expressive. They also taught me to appreciate the simpler parts of life such as family/friends and even spending time outdoors.
Arthur Morgan and Charles Smith from Red Dead Redemption 2. They were the most skilled fighters in the game and I really identified with their strong moral compass.
Rance. He taught me feminism and to respect women
Violet Evergarden is not my personal favourite but i heard that the main character goes through similar things that a soldier goes through when they come back from war and back to civilian life, and it has helped actual veterans with their PTSD . A lot of stories is about war but this is a unique story that apparently pretty accurately shows the struggles the soldier goes through after the war
My absolute favorite character of any game will likely always be... Lego Batman from freaking Lego Dimensions of all things. The Lego game writers did a smashing job on that game and every single interaction, and the lines are hilarious and will continue to be. It's a comedy that's written very well.
I don't play very many games with definable characters aside from a few older COD and Halo games though so I have quite slim pickings.
Spider-man of the 60s/70s/80s because he was an obviously good person struggling with the limitations imposed by his desire to be good and the tremendous power he'd been fated to have.
I also found Drizzt Do'Urden appealing because he too struggled to be good despite the many forces aligned against that desire. I hated what the character did to the tabletop though, however inevitable.
Perhaps to add to the theme, Frodo (and Sam) stand out to me as well because they toiled to end a great evil against all the odds.
I suppose the theme here is that I find unlikely heroes who ultimately must stand alone in their beliefs to be most captivating, and all three of these examples embody those tropes (even if Frodo somewhat subverts it).
Louis Tully is the most inspiring character in Ghostbusters.
When we first meet him, he's an accountant with an apartment off Central Park west, which is no joke. He's got a client's list a mile long. He's got a great attitude, and everything we see about him tells us he's great at what he does.
Contrast this with Peter, who we see using a rigged test to seduce a student.
Then Louis' life is ruined. His apartment is trashed along with everything in it. His name has been dragged through the mud, he made an ass out of himself when he was possessed, and it's safe to assume he's lost his clients and is back at square one.
When we see him again in Ghostbusters 2, we learn that despite the failure and embarrassment, he's pulled himself together. He went to school (night school, assumedly while working during the day) and got a law license in New York, which is not easy.
He knows he's not ready, but agrees to help his friends by going to bat for them in a new york courtroom in a criminal case. He knows the odds are bad, but wants to do right by them. When shit hits the fan in the courtroom, it was him who reminded the judge about what the legal situation was and though he gets no credit, if not for doing that the ghostbusters wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.
And then he goes back to doing what he was great at, being the in-house accountant for his ghostbuster friends.
Then when they get into a bad spot, Louis straps up and heads out, alone and untrained, to help knowing lives were on the line including his own.
The series treats the man like a bottom bitch but he's stronger and braver than anyone gives Louis Tully credit for (except maybe Janine, who we know isn't good for much herself.)
That's a fact, Jack.
Yeah you do strike me as a SANIC fan.
I'm a Sonic the Hedgehog fan too.
I find his speed-based abilities and agility cool, but his confidence and fearlessness are some of his best traits for me. What really makes his case for me is how his independent and adventurous attitude is combined with a good heart and a clear sense of justice. Those are values I do my best to maintain in my own life.