Most Unlikable Protagonists

[Drtooth]

He doesn't snap their necks; he straightens them because they're bopping to music.

Eh, whatever... doesn't make the cartoon suck any less. Whoever made that cartoon hasn't seen a Huckleberry Hound cartoon in his life, and you can essentially throw any Hanna Barbera character in that cartoon and it would be the same.

 

[JJandJanice]

What about North from the movie...well...North? People were treating that kid like he pooped gold or something. I mean of course the whole movie was awful and had racist stereotypes. And I know some of you will point out that it was a dream of his, but honestly, that makes the kid even more unlikable.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm going with post-Soapbox Brian Griffin. Who'd've thought he would be even less likable after the writers decided not to make him a mouth piece for their justifiable (he was very active in the Bush era), yet tiresome rants? I like the character and all, but last night's episode (Brian the Closer) made him just despicable. Yeah, I get Quagmire's a jerk to him and all, but... really!?! And I'm, talking about late seasons FG where everyone's mean to each other for no particular reason (other than it's supposedly funny). Seriously. In an episode where Peter ran over a kid on a bike and smashed in the face of his best friend so he could get a used rope toy because funny somehow, who would have thought Brian would manage to out jerk him?

 

[mimitchi33]

SpongeBob: He's so annoying!
And of course, the Oogieloves or any other protagonists from bad films.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I'm going with post-Soapbox Brian Griffin. Who'd've thought he would be even less likable after the writers decided not to make him a mouth piece for their justifiable (he was very active in the Bush era), yet tiresome rants? I like the character and all, but last night's episode (Brian the Closer) made him just despicable. Yeah, I get Quagmire's a jerk to him and all, but... really!?! And I'm, talking about late seasons FG where everyone's mean to each other for no particular reason (other than it's supposedly funny). Seriously. In an episode where Peter ran over a kid on a bike and smashed in the face of his best friend so he could get a used rope toy because funny somehow, who would have thought Brian would manage to out jerk him?

Anytime a comedian/comedic show lets their agenda get in the way of the humor, be very afraid, lol.

South Park has its agenda moments too, but their nothing sacred attitude is stronger. Family Guy's problem is some things actually became sacred, and that's just not funny.

And yeah, when they're not being preachy, they're just being mean. It's incredibly lazy writing.

 

[Drtooth]

Like I said, it wasn't so much preachy as being totally ticked off at the thin political majority at the time, and they handled the topics without the delicacy and nuance that American Dad did discussing the same issues. But I'll take morally superior Brian over completely morally inferior Brian. I respect that they listened to the critics and changed the character to make him imperfect. And frankly, for a brief period they made the character wonderfully vulnerable and flawed... the Locked in a Safe episode where it was revealed that he was suicidal, and having Stewie talk him out of it was one of the actually touching moments of the show. Then they just made him a jerk like everyone else, because it's easier to get laughs that way.

 

[Harleena]

Cody, the hero of the 1990 sequel, seems so obnoxiously cute it's a challenge to pull for him as well. He talks to and befriends all the animals, but he's pretty brave and resourceful

Basically a Disney Princess.

 

[Harleena]

• Ciel Phantomhive from "Black Butler" AT TIMES. He's often just rude and whiny, and one time he slapped Sebastian after Sebastian saved his life…but I can't help but feel bad for him after all he's gone through. But even the author herself said that Ciel was a bad person!
• Robin from Teen Titans Go! In the original series, he was a good leader, cared about justice, and wasn't crazy. In the new series, he's self-centered, a horrible leader, a huge control freak (sure, he was a control freak in the original series, but TTG takes it too far), and shows lots of signs of being insane. I could make a list of all of them, but here's just a few:
  • he stalks his crush, Starfire. I'm not even exaggerating. The new episode literally showed him doing it.
  • he cares about his staff more than he cares about the team. And he talks to it and treats it like a person. I'm not kidding. There's actually an episode about that.
  • he seems to get joy out of killing bad guys. In the old series, it was just his job, but in the new series, he enjoys killing. Batman would not approve.
  • he often shows signs of having multiple personality disorder. He literally turns into the other members of the team when the balance is thrown off in one episode.
  • he kidnapped Speedy in one episode and dressed as him so he could go on a date with Starfire.
  • he tried to turn the team into puppets so he could control them and they would listen to him.
• Sure, the other Titans have their crazy moments (Starfire giving Robin a human heart for Valentine's Day, Cyborg caring more about his magazine than Beast Boy [I think that was more for comic relief, since Cyborg's usually pretty good], Raven banishing Terra to another dimension just because she was jealous [okay, Terra was evil, but still], Beast Boy almost killing Aqualad and literally saying "I knew I should have gone for the throat!"), but they're not as bad and annoying as Robin.

 

[snichols1973]

I think that in the early shorts the Roadrunner was oblivious. He just wanted to run around, and the Coyote's suffering was the direct result of his own mischief. Acme karma. However, sometimes in the later episodes I did get the feeling that the Roadrunner had some understanding of what was going on. Maybe over the years he caught on, but continued playing dumb because it's so fun to see that dumb coyote clobber himself.

Many of Wile E. Coyote's Roadrunner catching plans are perfect examples of Murphy's Law in action: "If anything can go wrong, it will."

In Soup or Sonic, a shrunken Wile E. Coyote finally gets ahold of a gigantic Road Runner, and holds signs reading "Okay wise guys, you always wanted me to catch him. Now what do I do?"

 

[Drtooth]

Robin from Teen Titans Go! In the original series, he was a good leader, cared about justice, and wasn't crazy. In the new series, he's self-centered, a horrible leader, a huge control freak (sure, he was a control freak in the original series, but TTG takes it too far), and shows lots of signs of being insane. I could make a list of all of them, but here's just a few:

While I admit I do like the show in the context that sometimes it's actually pretty good, and while the weakest of CN's original line up (a very high breed for sure this time), at least it's not Johnny Test or Annoying Orange. But the writers clearly are trolls. You can tell these guys love post-cancellation series Family Guy, as they turned the Titans into the Griffins. But I have to admit, they did something special with Robin. They made him both Peter and Meg at the same time. As a fan of the original 00's Titans cartoon it is a might offensive, but it's clearly what they're going for. I agree, I really didn't like what they did to him, but I don't really like what they did to any of them. But, again, they wanted to tick off the audience. They're well aware that the Titans are unlikable jerks this go around. The villains look downright sympathetic half the time. All according to plan.

Though, frankly, watching Beast Boy and Cyborg's antics in this show makes the Thunder and Lighting episode of the first series very strange. They both have restraint, and they kinda have more of a vitriolic best buds thing going on.