Worst examples of writers wanking off a character?

deimosmasque · Mar 31, 2021

Reym said:
Yup. It actually got to the point where I got completely turned off the character and I'm to the point where I actually kinda dislike him now.

Agreed. And since Prometheus in this was essentially written to be "evil Batman" it sorta hilighted what exactly was bothering me and was more or less the turning point for me to dislike Batman too.

It's funny because even at his wankest, Batman couldn't have done that.

He maybe have been able to pull of the Deathstroke beat down, but the Prometheus stuff didn't even work with how his abilities actually supposed to operate.

Batman is supposed to be the man with the plan, ie unlimited planning + unlimited resources can give him the edge against even the strongest of foes.

Prometheus had this fight when, by his own admitting, his plans had failed. It was a situation he didn't plan for yet there he is dropping Red Tornado, Plastic Man, Zatanna, Star Man and Black Canary like they were nothing.

Cokomon · Mar 31, 2021

Rule 34 artists have lots of experience with this.

...

Oh wait, that's not what you meant.

Temascos · Mar 31, 2021

It got pretty bad with Wesley Crusher from Star Trek. I remember the actor did a review of some of the episodes he was in years later and even he was annoyed at his character!

Dimple · Mar 31, 2021

DragonSJG said:
What are the worst examples when a writer wanks off a character in order to show how awesome they are but its done in such an obnoxious way that you can't help but roll your eyes at it. For me, It's Bakugo in the upcoming arc of the anime and the JT arc from the manga:

So in this arc, Class1A and 1B are doing training rounds against each other. In Bakugo's round, he beats a recommended student and pretty much manhandles everyone with no one on his team losing and this is all done in 2 chapters while everyone is praising him for doing what others have done from the start.....cooperation. I mean Todoroki, like one of the class's strongest struggled and got knocked out along with Tokoyami in the round before that. It's even more jarring when after that, All Might says Bakugo is a good childhood friend/good friend, despite him doing nothing but bully Midoriya for most of that and having done nothing to show any kind of good friend behavior. Yeah this was pretty bad

lmao I saw the title thread and literally came here to post the exact same thing.

And you just know BONES are gonna make it ten times worse in the anime.

ParanormalFupa · Mar 31, 2021

The Doctor in the last season of Voyager. It felt like he became the main character that the rest of the show revolved around.

Gunny T Highway · Mar 31, 2021

Dougieflesh said:
Jesus himself. Our Lord and Savior Kirito.

I'll raise you with this:

Tatsuya Shiba from Irregular at the Magic High School. Dude can:

Re-write peoples internal magic code to literally undo time thus saving them or himself from actually dying from a mortal wound as long as it is within a 24 hour period.

Among other things.

ilikesanta · Mar 31, 2021

ForKevdo said:
Read The Name of the Wind sometime.

Yes. Anytime there is a character who is"clever" it's really the author calling themselves clever because they are the ones that thought of the clever thing that they're clever character got to do

mbpm · Mar 31, 2021

Deathstroke tripped the flash and took GL's ring from him by being more willful

Dougieflesh · Mar 31, 2021

Gunny T Highway said:
I'll raise you with this:

Tatsuya Shiba from Irregular at the Magic High School. Dude can:

Re-write peoples internal magic code to literally undo time thus saving them or himself from actually dying from a mortal wound as long as it is within a 24 hour period.

Among other things.

They both are at the top of the list for self-insert overpowered harem kings.

Karate Kid · Mar 31, 2021

mrmoose · Mar 31, 2021

deimosmasque said:
Prometheus in Justice League Cry for Justice (a horrible book anyways)

Dude takes down some of the most powerful members of the Justice League in seconds.

Not even Deathstroke in equally awful Identity Crisis was that out of character powerful.

Didn't Prometheus take out the entire big 7 Justice League in his introduction in Morrison's run (until he was taken out by my choice for this thread, Morrison's JLA Batman)?

At least, unlike earlier in the story when Robinson kills off a bunch of characters, Prometheus didn't off a major hero. Unlike, say, the daughter of the Mist in Starman (which is still an amazing run).

loco · Mar 31, 2021

Mungan said:
Rick and morty the thread

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Rick's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Rick and Morty truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Rick's existencial catchphrase "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Dan Harmon's genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools... how I pity them.

Sensei · Mar 31, 2021

bakugo haters are a joke btw. bow to your lord

HStallion · Mar 31, 2021

Yujiro Hanma from Grappler Baki. A series that has been running for 3 decades and he's never even come close to being beaten. Took on the entire US army in Vietnam for training and won, made the USA sign a peace treaty with himself, defeats everyone without even trying including a caveman that killed T Rex's with his bare hands. Can bunch the ground hard enough to stop earthquakes, hit by lightning and not even flinch and so on.

Manu · Mar 31, 2021

Kirito made me drop SAO, so that.

However:

Edmond Dantès said:
Taita from Wilbur Smith's Egyptian series. Pretty much the da Vinci of Ancient Egypt and perfect in every conceivable way except for been a eunuch.

Oh a man of culture I see.

I kinda lost track of the series when he made him a fucking wizard.

Like River God is great and then the books drop the first-person POV and every book after that gets more outlandish and you have Taita being the Gandalf of Ancient Egypt.

And then he finds the Fountain of Youth, brings Lostris back from the dead and I was out.

deimosmasque · Mar 31, 2021

mrmoose said:
Didn't Prometheus take out the entire big 7 Justice League in his introduction in Morrison's run (until he was taken out by my choice for this thread, Morrison's JLA Batman)?

At least, unlike earlier in the story when Robinson kills off a bunch of characters, Prometheus didn't off a major hero. Unlike, say, the daughter of the Mist in Starman (which is still an amazing run).

Difference is he didn't do it in a single ludicrous page. I have no problem with him winning, its the ridiculously over the top way he does it.

Taking out those characters would be any entire issue of a good book and would come with Prometheus having to outsmart them as they got their own hits in, instead he just jobs them all out in seconds.

mrmoose · Mar 31, 2021

deimosmasque said:
Difference is he didn't do it in a single ludicrous page. I have no problem with him winning, its the ridiculously over the top way he does it.

Taking out those characters would be any entire issue of a good book and would come with Prometheus having to outsmart them as they got their own hits in, instead he just jobs them all out in seconds.

Well, as you stated, this was not a good book. In all of that crap that Robinson wrote (and I love Robinson's earlier works but man), this was like the least of the book's foibles (the worst being that they continued the story with that Rise of Arsenal book with that cat picture)

Ehoavash · Mar 31, 2021

The x-men movies can't do anything without this guy. Like fuck they're called x-men stop focusing everything on wolverine

Shippuden is just about this asshole

OmniGamer · Mar 31, 2021

This little shit here

ArgyleReptile · Mar 31, 2021

Meliodas from Seven Deadly Sins.

All the girls love him. Why? Because he's Meliodas. Hell, one his teammates kickstarts some serious shit because he didn't return her love when they first met. 3000 years or whatever ago. Yet we still don't know what any of them see in him. I barely understand why his main squeeze fell in love with him.

In a series full of mind readers, no one can read his. Why? Because he's Meliodas. He's too cool for fucking school bro. Fairies, whose entire race can read hearts? No dice. The Giant whose special clairvoyant ability is referenced in regards to their whole power level system and can see what's in anyone's mind? Nah, can't do it.

He's always retconned into being the strongest character despite prior evidence going against what came after. And he's never gone all out apparently. Why? Because he's Meliodas of course. The series literally reveals he has a magic so powerful, if he uses it, he'll be banned from the current dimension. We never see it. It's never named or brought up again. But he always has it in his back pocket from now on.

And he can never be wrong. Why? Because he's Meliodas goddammit. You're the bad guy if you question why he's not sharing extremely pertinent information about this new group of antagonists he refuses to talk about. You're beyond redemption if you side with said group of bad guys, despite the fact that he was their former leader, the worst of the worst, and did a complete face turn himself. You're a piece of shit if you lie to him and the rest of your friends who trusted you, despite the fact that he lied to their faces multiple times in the series and never once apologized for it. Yet, somehow, he manages to get Apologies out of everyone else for their justified emotional responses to shit he's pulled.

Imperial Bishop · Mar 31, 2021

Blackleg-sanji1 said:
Zoro motherfucking roronoa

Even when the guy loses he wins

He's been toeing the line in Wano, but he's not doing anything crazy crazy against the Yonko.
Also, Zoro can lose to anyone as long as they're not a sword user.

Vincent Alexander · Mar 31, 2021

DragonSJG said:
What are the worst examples when a writer wanks off a character in order to show how awesome they are but its done in such an obnoxious way that you can't help but roll your eyes at it. For me, It's Bakugo in the upcoming arc of the anime and the JT arc from the manga:

So in this arc, Class1A and 1B are doing training rounds against each other. In Bakugo's round, he beats a recommended student and pretty much manhandles everyone with no one on his team losing and this is all done in 2 chapters while everyone is praising him for doing what others have done from the start.....cooperation. I mean Todoroki, like one of the class's strongest struggled and got knocked out along with Tokoyami in the round before that. It's even more jarring when after that, All Might says Bakugo is a good childhood friend/good friend, despite him doing nothing but bully Midoriya for most of that and having done nothing to show any kind of good friend behavior. Yeah this was pretty bad

MHA started a notch above most recent shonen, but has quickly fallen into mediocore status for me. The sidelining of most of the class has gotten really bad, and all while wanking off one of the worst characters in the show.

Deleted member 30544 · Mar 31, 2021

Kino · Mar 31, 2021

Jack Donaughey from 30 Rock

Charizard

Ramsay from GOT

Belladonna · Mar 31, 2021

Gunny T Highway said:
I'll raise you with this:

Tatsuya Shiba from Irregular at the Magic High School. Dude can:

Re-write peoples internal magic code to literally undo time thus saving them or himself from actually dying from a mortal wound as long as it is within a 24 hour period.

Among other things.

I thought oh easy Kirito. Nah it's this guy. The most bland boring uninteresting character in every possible way. So overpowered that it's just like what's the point but not comic one punch man way. Just boring over tooled for every encounter in a most serious way but he's so boring that I can't even call him badass, more like blandass.

Oh among all other things his sister has hots for him. Urgh. Maybe everyone has hots for him, the girls, the guys, the young, the old, the allies and the enemies.

I think I'll take Kirito over him even after the absolute wankery that was Alicization part 2 or whatever it was called.

PAFenix · Mar 31, 2021

Sword of Truth was my first dive into "adult" fantasy (if I don't count LotR).

It became quickly apparently (I say quickly but it took me until about Book 4 or 5) that the main character Richard was the epitome of wank. Always on the right side of things. Always able to achieve victory despite the adversity, and always one to lecture others. I'm surprised I made it as far into the series as I did.

colorblindmode · Mar 31, 2021

ForKevdo said:
Read The Name of the Wind sometime.

Pineapple Taco said:
I know Kvothe is supposed to be an unreliable narrator hyping himself up, but yeah. That wasn't my only problem with the book, but it was a big factor in avoiding the second book.

These are exactly what I came to post. I get the unreliable narrator thing but when it's like "OH AND I HAD SEX WITH A SEX FAIRY FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG AND SHE SAID I WAS THE BEST EVER EVEN THOUGH SHES A SEX FAIRY", I can only stomach so much

SolVanderlyn · Mar 31, 2021

Tommy Oliver in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Took over the plot, then the team, then stole Jason's girl too.

To be fair... he was really cool.

RedVejigante · Mar 31, 2021

Dr. Doom is unironically one of my favorite comic book characters of all time, but even I'll admit that the Doom wankery has reached obnoxious levels. It honestly makes me nervous to see how he'll be treated in Gaurdians.

OmniGamer said:
This little shit here

Granted, I wasn't following the series too closely during this time, but I thought the whole point during this run was precisely that Quentin was an obnoxious, self-important dipshit?

Roliq · Mar 31, 2021

Vincent Alexander said:
MHA started a notch above most recent shonen, but has quickly fallen into mediocore status for me. The sidelining of most of the class has gotten really bad, and all while wanking off one of the worst characters in the show.

Honestly it was mistake making the class be composed of 20 people, like 6 of them are nothing more than background characters, also it was funny how Iida and Ochako went from main characters to side-characters

Lunar Wolf · Mar 31, 2021

Ehoavash said:
Shippuden is just about this asshole

Wanking Sasuke is really just a wanking of Naruto . Any elevation of Sasuke is there to elevate Naruto more.

It's like Kishimoto says, Sasuke isn't a singular character. Sasuke is part of Naruto's character.

Masashi Kishimoto has spoken about his feeling towards Sasuke in the past, and the artist admits he cannot think of the Uchiha as a singular being. Instead, Sasuke is always viewed in light of Naruto. " Sasuke is always in the corner of my mind."

Bengraven · Mar 31, 2021

ForKevdo said:
Read The Name of the Wind sometime.

I legit thought this thread would be about Kvothe.

retroman said:
Also, Tommy Wiseau's character in The Room.

"You're my favorite customer!"

I almost forgive this one just because the film itself is such a huge piece of masturbation.

Mungan said:
Rick and morty the thread

But they have their down moments, which the hardcore fans will say justify the Gary Stuism of this show.

"yeah, but Rick lost Birdman once and..."

Mugenhunt · Mar 31, 2021

OmniGamer said:
This little shit here

Quentin was bad, but the little kid Hellfire Club was worse, and the plot armor that allowed for a team of literal children to defeat the X-Men repeatedly just wasn't good, even in a more light-hearted X-book like this one. It felt like Jason Aaron really believed that little kid Hellfire Club was the greatest thing ever.

teague · Mar 31, 2021

colorblindmode said:
These are exactly what I came to post. I get the unreliable narrator thing but when it's like "OH AND I HAD SEX WITH A SEX FAIRY FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG AND SHE SAID I WAS THE BEST EVER EVEN THOUGH SHES A SEX FAIRY", I can only stomach so much

my immediate thought as well, jfc I hated that part of that book

Valcrist · Mar 31, 2021

take_marsh said:
I think Tanjirou fits. He's like a Kirito minus the harem.

mandatory

Indeed.

Tanjiro? Uhhhh. Naw.

colorblindmode · Mar 31, 2021

teague said:
my immediate thought as well, jfc I hated that part of that book

It's so unnecessary and gives me some real weird vibes about Rothfuss.

I just finished reading Blood Song and it's very similar to The Name of the Wind, but the character is less "Uber sexy god student" and more "dude who works his ass off and still eats shit". Very similar narrative beats.

Lotus · Mar 31, 2021

DarknessTear said:
Tanjiro? Uhhhh. Naw.

Yea I can't agree with Tanjiro either, he ain't doing nothing too crazy

Roliq said:
Honestly it was mistake making the class be composed of 20 people

And then another 20 students of the same grade and school in Class B for some reason...

Pineapple Taco · Mar 31, 2021

colorblindmode said:
These are exactly what I came to post. I get the unreliable narrator thing but when it's like "OH AND I HAD SEX WITH A SEX FAIRY FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG AND SHE SAID I WAS THE BEST EVER EVEN THOUGH SHES A SEX FAIRY", I can only stomach so much

I never got to that point, but my wife told me about that. My similar experience is in Name of the Wind is when he finally gets to the university after living like a feral child for three years. He isn't just a smart kid, but so smart he immediately schools students and teachers in an extremely pompous fashion.

Scullibundo · Mar 31, 2021

Laura Roslyn in BSG.

Kept trying to get me to empathise with this obnoxious dumbass with cancer who would milk the cancer for all it was worth to paint her as a martyr. Somebody would like, offer her a glass of water and she would croak her way out of bed coughing, being like 'No... *splurt* *cough* *cough*... it's okay... *hack* *splurt*... I'll... do it.', while the other perfectly healthy person is standing right there.

This was her character for at least a couple seasons. Incredibly obnoxious. And fans bought into her self-perpetuated martyrdom - characterising her as being brave for being a sanctimonious, reckless dumbass, preying on people's empathy. Meanwhile I would be watching her like...

Dimple · Mar 31, 2021

Lotus said:
And then another 20 students of the same grade and school in Class B for some reason...

Not to mention all the U.A students from other courses or in different years, plus all the hero students from other schools...

Deleted member 15240 · Mar 31, 2021

Shepard in Mass Effect 2 and 3. The first one already has Liara fawning all over you but it gets so much worse in the sequels. Miranda, a woman literally designed to be genetically perfect, feels hopelessly insecure when comparing herself with the great Shepard. Tali tells you that of course she fell head over heels with the hero captain who saved her life. Even the Cthulhu-ass space monsters capable of destroying galaxy-spanning civilizations become singularly obsessed with Shepard. So much so that it's why they decide to attack earth first! And then all this wankery of Shepard (and in extension the player) culminates in an epilogue where it is revealed that Shepard became a Jesus-like legend whose story is passed on from generation to generation.

Don Fluffles · Mar 31, 2021

Dice said:
Being a "nice guy" is a low ass threshhold for all these girls to be crushing on them. It's bizarre/

Otaku focused romance is almost always peak cringe.

EdibleKnife · Mar 31, 2021

deimosmasque said:
Prometheus in Justice League Cry for Justice (a horrible book anyways)

Dude takes down some of the most powerful members of the Justice League in seconds.

Not even Deathstroke in equally awful Identity Crisis was that out of character powerful.

Came in to mention both along with Kirito from SAO which is a gimme. Deathstroke overpowering Hal's ring with his own willpower while it's still on Hal's hand in IC is so freaking lazy. Also speaking to Batgod shit and more Hal Jordan jobbing, in All Star Batman having Batman and Robin not just paint themselves yellow to "neutralize" Hal's effectiveness and steal the ring off his damn hand without him noticing is also so much nonsense.

crimsonECHIDNA · Mar 31, 2021

Naijaboy said:
Red Hulk

Yes, that is him using the Silver Surfer's board and Terrax's weapon.

Other highlights include using the lack of gravity to lift Mjolner and punching out the freaking Watcher.

His Supergirl run for DC has the same fucking problem. For whatever reason his first arc of the book had Kara breaking out into fights and beating literally every other superhero team just to establish how powerful she was.

Lotus said:
Fucking Ramsay could do wrong for the longest in GoT

And then when he finally died we were graced with:

EdibleKnife · Mar 31, 2021

mrmoose said:
Didn't Prometheus take out the entire big 7 Justice League in his introduction in Morrison's run (until he was taken out by my choice for this thread, Morrison's JLA Batman)?

He did but in JLA it felt like effort was put in & more coherent rather than dropping 5 members in 1 page of panels

Roliq · Mar 31, 2021

Nero from the Fate Series, in both Fate/Extella and FGO Nero is wanked to be the best emperor in all of Rome to the point that in the Septem chapter where she is your main companion Spartacus (who literally is against all forms of authority no matter how small or irrational it is) and Boudica (you know the one who was raped and had her daughters slaughtered during Nero reign) are cool with her, in fact literally every single character mentions how special and perfect she is

In Fate/Extella even through the game is billed as having 3 routes with a different heroine Nero is the one who not only has the most loyal followers but also is the focus of the True Ending having a new special form to defeat an alien creature that no one can defeat

Also in my personal opinion doesn't help that her design sucks, is literally a smaller, bustier and less dressed Artoria/Saber

GreenMamba · Mar 31, 2021

NekoNeko · Mar 31, 2021

didn't Bakogou get one for all in the movie and had full control over it?

Lotus · Mar 31, 2021

crimsonECHIDNA said:
And then when he finally died we were graced with:

Ugh don't remind me

Astral · Mar 31, 2021

Dougieflesh said:
Jesus himself. Our Lord and Savior Kirito.

I can't stand this dude's softass baby face.

Worst examples of writers wanking off a character?

Ugly, Queer, Gender-Fluid, Drive-In Mutant, yes?

One Winged Slayer

Unshakable Resolve - One Winged Slayer

One Winged Slayer

Ugly, Queer, Gender-Fluid, Drive-In Mutant, yes?

One Winged Slayer

User Requested Account Closure

Unshakable Resolve

Chicken Chaser

I love pineapple on pizza!

▲ Legend ▲

Tic-Tac-Toe Champion

Chicken Chaser

One Winged Slayer

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One Winged Slayer