All throughout this episode, I really tried to picture another Trek captain doing what Archer does here. And I just couldn't do it. For that matter, I can't imagine any other show making their central character out to be this much of a selfish idiot...I have to wonder if this one episode didn't hasten the inevitable cancellation.
— The Agony Booth on Star Trek: Enterprise, "A Night in Sickbay"
OH, THAT MANIAC, HE IS A CARD! Crashing expensive starships indispensable to the war effort, destroying the flight deck, and running over helpless technicians for fun! He—he cracks me up.
She's a 'strong woman' who can take care of herself, and apparently a 'strong woman' is someone who is inexplicably hostile and has poor impulse control.
As Karma for another episode of atrocious behaviour, Zack's hit on by a hot redhead who asks him if he believes in love at first sight, whom he follows offscreen with the kind of smile that says “By the time I'm done with her, she'll have a thighful of self-harm scars and an eating disorder, or my name's not Zack Morris!”
—Stuart Millard on Saved by the Bell ("The Aftermath"), So Excited, So Scared
Nomi is from the honored society of the 'charming bitch' archetype. Y'know, we like her because she's tough and treats everyone like shit.
I kind of figured that perhaps Amy wasn’t working for me when I was cheering as she was consumed by a gaping, muddy maw. It seems the only time I can ever feel anything for this character is when she is tortured horribly and when it appears that she has been buried alive my heart skipped a beat. That’s a horrible position for anybody to be in. Except Amy doesn’t panic for long, she’s soon being gobby again.
—Doc Oho
on Doctor Who, "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood"
on Doctor Who, "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood""Seriously, Mary Sue, you worry me. You do realize that there is a difference - a very BIG difference - between a cool, collected, liberated woman and a violent, self-aggrandizing bitch? I can't get over how many of you girls think that physically abusing men for no reason other than you're annoyed with them makes you look 'cool'. It doesn't. You do realize that punching men for talking to you does not make you look feisty and independent, it makes you look dangerously unhinged and would not serve to endear you to anyone, still less the man you've just punched?"
LJ user sevendials, from a post on Fanfic Rants
Gary's a jerk, he's better than everyone else, he cheats to get his way, and he always comes out on top with no remorse or retribution. He's the freaking Barry Bonds of cartoons!
— TV Trash, on the title character of Gary the Rat
They never showed us why Lana was so great and why Lana deserved to be a Superhero. Sure they 'told' us more than once but that never matched what they actually showed us. What I saw was a stuck up, deceptive, manipulative witch who's opinion of herself was way above and beyond what the reality they showed us was. That is usually okay. Characters like that can work in a story. The problem was everyone else on the show shared Lana's delusions of grandeur and that is what killed this story.
—Douglas Trumble on Smallville's Lana
Smallville's LanaThe next thing you need to do is create your main character, and since it's important to write who you know, the main character will obviously be you; but while you are a repressed, socially retarded dullard who no one would ever honestly admit to liking, your author insertion character is a fantasy, so they will be a charismatic eccentric who is unconditionally loved by everyone, even while he's setting their dog on fire.
Simba, being brave...doesn't mean you go looking for trouble.
— Mufasa, The Lion King (1994)
