Worst examples of writers wanking off a character?

[Keasar]

For old fans of Warhammer 40k. There is not so much characters and just entire goddamn factions.
Specifically the Ultramarines and the Grey Knights who were stupidly overpowered in lore, breaking physics for breakfast and doing the impossible for dinner, mostly thanks to a certain writer within Games Workshop (who I am not sure if he is still around) who was a complete fanboy of them and wrote just a huge bunch of guffin around them. But if you wanna nitpick within each of those factions there are certain characters who just takes the cake entirely even more like Kaldor Draigo or Cato Sicarius, who were so loaded up on Plot Armour and Writers Godly Touch is just became a running joke within the fandom.

 

[Deleted member 2533]

Here's an unpopular one

A lot of the time Steven Moffat wanked the Doctor in terms of his signifcance to the world.

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Yeah, I had to quit Doctor Who during the Matt Smith run, it was just too much. Tennant was bad too, but I thought maybe it was just the actor or something, so I was optimistic with the recast, but no, just shite showrunners and writers.

 

[Brick]

Read The Name of the Wind sometime.

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I have never turned on an author so quickly as I did going from Name of the Wind to Wise Man's Fear. The whole second book is nothing nothing but Kvothe immediately outwitting everyone around him or sexing them right. No idea why I even finished that book, I hated it so much. Zero desire to read any more from Rothfuss.

 

[Toxi]

For old fans of Warhammer 40k. There is not so much characters and just entire goddamn factions.
Specifically the Ultramarines and the Grey Knights who were stupidly overpowered in lore, breaking physics for breakfast and doing the impossible for dinner, mostly thanks to a certain writer within Games Workshop (who I am not sure if he is still around) who was a complete fanboy of them and wrote just a huge bunch of guffin around them. But if you wanna nitpick within each of those factions there are certain characters who just takes the cake entirely even more like Kaldor Draigo or Cato Sicarius, who were so loaded up on Plot Armour and Writers Godly Touch is just became a running joke within the fandom.

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People always single out the the Ultramarines and Grey Knights, but it's really just the Imperium of Man in general. Maybe excluding the Ecclesiarchy and Adeptus Mechanicus since they're always the designated bad guys and scapegoats for the Imperium's problems, but the Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Grey Knights, Inquisitors, the Emperor himself, all of them are wanked to hell.

 

[SykoTech]

Zoro motherfucking roronoa

Even when the guy loses he wins

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I hate to say it, but this is a very good one. Especially post timeskip. The character seems to solely to evoke Bartolomeo style reactions from fanboys. How things unfolded in Punk Hazard was particularly frustrating. We had a female villain with some pretty cool powers. Perfect opportunity for Nami to cleverly exploit a Logia's elemental weakness like Luffy vs Crocodile. Or maybe Tashigi come have redeemed herself after getting easily kicked around by Law and Vergo. Or maybe Robin could have finally gotten another fight and done something. But nah, let's just waste all those good opportunities to pointless suck off Zoro. Bleh.

I don't get anyone saying Luffy though. The stretch from Sabaody all the way to Marineford was just one crushing failure after another for him. With the failure at the end of Marineford being one so huge that I honestly didn't see it coming. And throughout that entire saga (and plenty of other times throughout the series) Oda has emphasized how completely and utterly screwed Luffy would be if it wasn't for people like Kuma, Mr. 2, Jinbe, Ivanko, and even Crocodile saving his ass from certain death multiple times. Even before that saga, Luffy was allowed to struggle against the likes of Foxy and Usopp despite having beaten a Warlord and a "god".

And then there's things like the one shot in Wano....yeah. Luffy doesn't belong here at all. His losses and humblings are immense.

 

[pbayne]

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They even had self-inset fangirl in the show to gush about him lol
Tbf he is the most fun character by a country mile though

 

[Pandaman]

Drifter from Destiny. Has to be the Mary sue OC of someone on the writing staff, it's getting downright ridiculous.

He's connected to every character and practically every plot point. Osiris spends 1000 years in a vex network? He consults Drifter on his vex tech. Eris Morn has been outright using hive magic for hundreds of years? Pages the drifter to help her understand the darkness. The nine come down and personally anoint him as being equal to the player character and mara sov in importance, he's the guy who helped felwinter root out the corrupt iron lords, he's the guy who was best buddies with Orin back in the day, he's simultaneously feuding with and working with both the dredgens and the praxic order, he's travelled everywhere, done everything. Players meet the calus robot on the leviathan? When Drifter went, he met the real Calus. we're told he's tolerated by the vanguard because he doesn't get anyone killed in his Gambit games and then he gets a bunch of people killed with no consequences.

His fanbase is obnoxious as all hell too, bunch of edgy tweens jerking themselves off about how good is bad and evil is just a tool maaaaaaaaan.

 

[bushmonkey]

Goku

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It took so long for his name to be uttered in this thread, I thought I'd missed a special 'DBZ doesn't count' condition in the OP or something.

 

[PAFenix]

Did you think it wasn't part of the plan for no one to mention him until you?

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[Bengraven]

They even had self-inset fangirl in the show to gush about him lol
Tbf he is the most fun character by a country mile though

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He is so much fun and so ridiculously overpowered that if it were anything but manga and anime, I would assume they were setting him up to be killed in the first two or three episodes/minutes of the film. Then I remembered that not everyone is obsessed with the Joseph Campbell school of fantasy/adventure.

Spoiler: SPOILERS FOR WISE MAN'S FEAR

You're right that they hedge the Devi fight a bit with Kvothe being exhau

sted and powering his gram, but at the same time, Kvothe had a source for his binding, he was using a hearth fire, and Devi was powering through it with no source at all.

I did forget about the whole "spinning leaf" thing. And while I think it's an extremely interesting concept, I suppose it does count as another instance of wankery. However, him doing something "legendary" at the end was more a result of his acting and improvisation abilities than his calling the wind. We see that right afterward when his teacher gives him shit about being so dramatic.

Yeah, there's a reason I said I was going to be the idiot who defends Kvothe's characterization. If people are put off by it, there's really nothing you can say to that. I do think you hit on something interesting with the argument that the story is attempting to make a hyper-competent character relatable. I think that was sort of what I was dancing around with my post. The text seems very aware of how special Kvothe is being portrayed. And while that doesn't suddenly make it bearable for someone who is immediately repelled by it, I do think it at least makes it fundamentally different from character wank that's purely for its own gratification.

For the most part I also agree about the Kvothe and Denna stuff. Although I will say I liked their interaction at the end of the first book. That whole part actually built up some goodwill, but it doesn't last through the second book lol. I always felt that Kvothe and Denna were assholes in some very similar ways.

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The pure Denna hatred in the Rothfuss fanbase is almost ridiculous. They will be the first to tell you that Kvothe is an unreliable narrator, but can't believe Denna would break his heart over and over again.

 

[The Namekian]

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Doom has taken a few L's they are rare but it happens

 

[Annubis]

Time to post the villain of Psycho Pass 2 again.
Whoever wrote Kirito Kamui filled a whole bucket with their bodily fluids.

 

[Deleted member 17388]

Oh I completely forgot Harley Quinn. The worst DC character ever. She was great for a long time but the writers decided to make her nigh invulnerable, capable of competing with almost every super powered character and she somehow is worthy of being one of the only Suicide Squad members with no abilities and no weapons other than a giant ass mallet she pulls from ass

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[Astral]

Does Mikasa from Attack on Titan count? I feel like she's supposed to be this ultimate badass but she's boring as fuck and lame and has no personality.

 

[TAJ]

Doom has taken a few L's they are rare but it happens

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I just read an issue where the Thing alone beats Dr. Doom, Ultron, Baron Mordo, Abomination, Kang, Absorbing Man, Juggernaut, Emma Frost, and at least 20 other villains simultaneously.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

I liked the New 52 Batman as a whole. But, I really didn't care for their god-like Joker. Haven't read the more modern stuff, but that Joker thing that constantly gets posted here looks lame as fuck.

 

[Ogodei]

I can't believe I forgot to mention or haven't seen........

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Bleach does this a lot. You're either one of Kubo's favorites and get wanked to high heaven and back or you're a jobber.

I'm still mad when I remember how Retsu Unohana's big backstory was *all* just wank to power up Zaraki. Fuck that guy.

 

[FelRes]

Zoro motherfucking roronoa

Even when the guy loses he wins

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*Oden

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

Kaladin Stormblessed, who dies for our sins every book and then comes back after the third day. Blessed be the lord!

Love the guy though.

 

[MoonlitBow]

In Half Life 2, it seemed like the main point of every NPC, but especially Alyx, was to show how awesome "Gordon" is. Except Gordon was such an obvious non-character that it was plainly clear that it was really to convince you, the player, of how awesome you are. It was irksome, to say the least.

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Honestly yeah, the constant praise and encouragement towards me as a player actually ended up taking me out of the world and mostly served to kill my immersion and interest. It didn't help that the squad gameplay that was present at some points wasn't really doing it for me. Half-Life 2 is probably a huge reason why I tend to get annoyed when games typically praise the main character that represents yourself, it's more fun when you feel like the whole world is your enemy and it's an obstacle to overcome.

 

[Rookhelm]

Funniest wank example about Kvothe (Wise Man's Fear)

Spoiler: wise man's fear

He out-sexes a literal sex goddess

 

[Deleted member 721]

Jesus himself. Our Lord and Savior Kirito.

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thats not kira jesus yamato

ps: i also hate bakugo

 

[KushalaDaora]

Drifter from Destiny. Has to be the Mary sue OC of someone on the writing staff, it's getting downright ridiculous.

He's connected to every character and practically every plot point. Osiris spends 1000 years in a vex network? He consults Drifter on his vex tech. Eris Morn has been outright using hive magic for hundreds of years? Pages the drifter to help her understand the darkness. The nine come down and personally anoint him as being equal to the player character and mara sov in importance, he's the guy who helped felwinter root out the corrupt iron lords, he's the guy who was best buddies with Orin back in the day, he's simultaneously feuding with and working with both the dredgens and the praxic order, he's travelled everywhere, done everything. Players meet the calus robot on the leviathan? When Drifter went, he met the real Calus. we're told he's tolerated by the vanguard because he doesn't get anyone killed in his Gambit games and then he gets a bunch of people killed with no consequences.

His fanbase is obnoxious as all hell too, bunch of edgy tweens jerking themselves off about how good is bad and evil is just a tool maaaaaaaaan.

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I love Drifter. As someone with east asian root, it's not often you have asian character with prominent role in the story in western games >.>

 

[Deleted member 721]

kanojo okarishimasu
it makes me think she farts rainbows in how perfect the protagonist always describes her

"the 8th son!? are you kidding me"
Wendelin

this fucker has 19 wifes

"i was caught up in a hero summoning but that world is at peace"
Kaito
Dont look at this pic or read the manga/novel if you are woman you will get in love with him, every woman on earth loves him

 

[Strings]

The terrible critic scene from Birdman:




/vomit

 

[OhSatan]

I'm going to do it...

Oden from One Piece

He is the definition of a Gary Stu.

 

[Annubis]

thats not kira jesus yamato

ps: i also hate bakugo

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Respect. He died for our sins... TWICE.

 

[Imperfected]

The thing that always got me about the Bakugo wankery is all the characters in-universe ejactulating endlessly about how awesome his powers are.

No they aren't. They're fucking dumb. He's less useful in 99% of situations than just having a guy with a taser. I guess he's decent compared to most of the scrub-tier powers characters in the setting have, but compared to an All-Might his power is straight up garbage.

And yes, I know, it's shonen battle fantasy so he finds insanely creative/ridiculous unrealistic ways to use his powers to punch above his weight, but being a "fighting genius" doesn't make his powers any less mediocre themselves.

 

[Lunar Wolf]

kanojo okarishimasu
it makes me think she farts rainbows in how perfect the protagonist always describes her

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I mean he explicitly wanks off to her but I don't really think it fits since he's supposed to be head over heels in love with her.

 

[just_myles]

Android 17 in Super anime going head up with SSB. They could have had Goku in SS3 like the manga but didn't.

 

[Toxi]

The thing that always got me about the Bakugo wankery is all the characters in-universe ejactulating endlessly about how awesome his powers are.

No they aren't. They're fucking dumb. He's less useful in 99% of situations than just having a guy with a taser. I guess he's decent compared to most of the scrub-tier powers characters in the setting have, but compared to an All-Might his power is straight up garbage.

And yes, I know, it's shonen battle fantasy so he finds insanely creative/ridiculous unrealistic ways to use his powers to punch above his weight, but being a "fighting genius" doesn't make his powers any less mediocre themselves.

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What's weird is that some of the characters have powers that are obviously more useful for being a hero. Take Uraraka. She has the perfect power for rescuing people from collapsed buildings. Like, literally the perfect power for that job. But apparently it's less impressive than Bakugo's because... It's worse for killing people?

 

[just_myles]

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.

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Yeah their reasoning was bullshit too. Because a portion of his power is cosmic he can see the water and put hands on him. gftoh.

 

[Birdie]

I mean Zoro? Oden?

It's fucking Sabo who is the weird wank character in One Piece tbh.

 

[Lotus]

I'm going to do it...

Oden from One Piece

He is the definition of a Gary Stu.

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Definitely not lol

Spoiler

The man is literally introduced as being incapable of even the most basic sailing skills, with most people of Wano also initially hating his guts due to how crude he is.

Not to mention a core flaw of his character is his selfishness in regards to going on an adventure, which inadvertently screwed over Wano as he left it behind twice, with the 2nd time having him clearly sense something was wrong but still chose to ignore it. And then he's stubborn enough to try and deal with Wano's problems by himself, despite having the Roger Pirates as allies. This stubbornness also rears his ugly head yet again as he takes 5 years to finally let the Scabbards in on his random subservience to Kaido and Orochi.

There was a lot to ultimately love about him, the character is charismatic, but he fucked up hard, and paid the price. But I don't need to tell you all this, you read the flashback too. Dude's a far cry from an actual Gary Stu.

 

[PAFenix]

What's weird is that some of the characters have powers that are obviously more useful for being a hero. Take Uraraka. She has the perfect power for rescuing people from collapsed buildings. Like, literally the perfect power for that job. But apparently it's less impressive than Bakugo's because... It's worse for killing people?

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There's some real interesting things with some of the courses they had to take early on in the series, but I'm getting the feeling as things progress it will just become more about fights fights and more fights.

Bleach does this a lot. You're either one of Kubo's favorites and get wanked to high heaven and back or you're a jobber.

I'm still mad when I remember how Retsu Unohana's big backstory was *all* just wank to power up Zaraki. Fuck that guy.

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"Let's character develop one of the captains with the least amount of history and make her interesting....... Just to kill her to make Zaraki more Kenpachi."

 

[falcondoc]

Zoro is a really good one. Completely uninteresting post time skip

 

[Imperfected]

"Let's character develop one of the captains with the least amount of history and make her interesting....... Just to kill her to make Zaraki more Kenpachi."

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The funniest part is how in the last arc he even lampshades this by having the Sternritter intelligence identify five characters as "unique battle potentials" (Ichigo, Kisuke, Kenpachi, Hachibe [lol] and Aizen) basically saying in-universe that everyone's aware of the wankery.

Like straight-up calling the shot.

 

[Professor Beef]

Korra in Season 1 of Legend of Korra.

 

[Dragoon]

You're just mad because he's way cooler than Sanji will ever be

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Sanji fans live in a world that is constant with handing out Ls. It's just sad at this point.

Fucking Ramsay could do wrong for the longest in GoT



This is the definitive answer for me. Man was literally in a coma and girls were still all over him jfc

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This.. is annoyingly fucking good one. It was unique how difficult it was to take down someone or a House, or how clever you had to be.


and then there's Ramsey.

 

[Saturday]

I liked the New 52 Batman as a whole. But, I really didn't care for their god-like Joker. Haven't read the more modern stuff, but that Joker thing that constantly gets posted here looks lame as fuck.

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It kinda worked when it's sorta played straight in Endgame where the idea that Joker is immortal is played around with and sets Bats vs Joker up as this futile everlasting feud, but Death of the Family Joker was pretty much nigh unstoppable and at his edgiest

 

[Dog of Bork]

Read The Name of the Wind sometime.

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Bout to say, Felurian takes this pretty literally

 

[diakyu]

Glad to see I'm not alone with the Oden stuff, Zoro's good too but I like Zoro and don't feel like Oda tries hard to wank him off. He just is the second strongest guy in our group of protagonists and is shown as such, my views on him after the time skip notwithstanding

 

[RochHoch]

I mean Zoro? Oden?

It's fucking Sabo who is the weird wank character in One Piece tbh.

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100% this. Didn't even think about Sabo until now because he's just so meh.

Dude's basically just a cheap Ace replacement and comes off as too perfect. I liked him in the flashback arc, but he's done nothing for me upon being reintroduced.

I'm not really sure why Oden would be brought up here, the guy died years before the story began and the whole point of the character is that he was this absurd, legendary figure with his own flaws.

 

[DarthSpider]

Ahsoka Tano. She's a great character and I love her story, but she needs a rest and Filoni should learn to start letting go.

 

[Fj0823]

Sword Art Online

The Name of the Wind

But those were already mentioned so

Digimon Adventure (2020) or it's actual title "The Tai Show"

 

[Aaronrules380]

You know the most obnoxious example I've seen has to be in this one really famous book whose name is currently escaping me for some reason. The book constantly tells us to worship and praise the main character, but dude is a total asshole. One time he killed pretty much the entire human race and the fact he let anyone live was seen as a sign of his virtue. He's also constantly taking the credit for all the good in the world, but any bad shit is either not his fault somehow or was deserved despite the fact that the guy should have the power to stop literally any bad thing before it happens. One time he kills a guy's whole family and ruins his life because he wanted to prove the dude would still follow him even if he just constantly shit on the dude and the moral of the story is that him doing so was perfectly fine and the guy whose life he shat on repeatedly would've been wrong to walk out on the abuse.

Hell, there's even a sequel where he sends his own son out to die and we're supposed to act like he's a good guy for doing that instead of just making the world better place by his own considerable power. Dude is a narcissistic prick.

Now if only I could remember what this work was called.... :P

 

[Birdie]

100% this. Didn't even think about Sabo until now because he's just so meh.

Dude's basically just a cheap Ace replacement and comes off as too perfect. I liked him in the flashback arc, but he's done nothing for me upon being reintroduced.

I'm not really sure why Oden would be brought up here, the guy died years before the story began and the whole point of the character is that he was this absurd, legendary figure with his own flaws.

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Sabo just feels like a weird way for Oda to kill off Ace but also keep him around.

And IIRC the reason Sabo never appeared pre time skip was basically "oops I forgot about Luffy and Ace!"

Which is weird because he reappears in the same arc that introduces a power that turns people into toys and makes everyone forget about them. Why not have had that happen to him?

 

[Imperfected]

I can't believe I forgot to mention or haven't seen........

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Interesting. At what point were you under the impression this thread wasn't about Aizen?

 

[beau_beaumont]

If you mean it literally, multiple characters on the wire have monologues where they talk about jacking off their five-inch penises. Seems like an oddly specific thing to do multiple times

 

[Naijaboy]

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.



And then when he finally died we were graced with:

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That was the only time I rooted for evil Cassandra Cain.