Of favorite characters and being defensive

[heavens-champion 1,893]

Have you guys ever felt a little defensive when people say something disagreeable about your favorite characters?

For me, I feel that way when my favorite characters get called one-dimensional and things like that. I'm not naming names, of course, for the sake of avoiding an argument.

Edited November 11, 2016 by heavens-champion

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,220]

Early on, I sometimes did. After the season 3 finale I will admit that the hate to Twilight from some did bother me, but I think that was because of the overall negative atmosphere that the fandom had at that time. These days, I don't really car e what anyone says. It is all opinion based.

[ReverieRiver 525]

I know I do. We are always going to be biased towards our favorite characters, yes, but sometimes it runs a little deeper than that. Sometimes some of us has our favorite characters because we connect with them, or we relate to them, or we see ourselves in them. And when you've connected to a character on that kind of level, naturally you're going to get a little defensive whenever someone criticizes said character. It almost feels like a personal offense when someone says something negative about that character.

 

Or maybe I'm just weird like that.

[cmarston1 5,951]

Maybe we just shouldn't attack people for liking things that we don't. For example not attacking fans of certain characters. Just a thought.

[VengefulStrudel 1,486]

Hey @@heavens-champion, since your thread's a directed to the fandom rather than discussing an aspect of the show directly, it's being moved to Surgarcube Corner. Have a nice day!

[GeekySonic 1,150]

Nope. Whenever my brother starts bashing Dashie for being arrogant, unlikeable, reckless, etc., my mind always goes back to 28 Pranks Later, so I shut up and take it.

[greenflare 154]

I know I do. We are always going to be biased towards our favorite characters, yes, but sometimes it runs a little deeper than that. Sometimes some of us has our favorite characters because we connect with them, or we relate to them, or we see ourselves in them. And when you've connected to a character on that kind of level, naturally you're going to get a little defensive whenever someone criticizes said character. It almost feels like a personal offense when someone says something negative about that character.

 

Or maybe I'm just weird like that.

This.

Because even though I know Rainbow Dash is a jerk at times and can be too prideful, I strongly relate to her so it can be a bit sad to hear criticism against her.  I wouldn't attack someone for feeling differently though.

 

My best friend hates Dash and it's kinda awkward and sad since I relate to her so much.

[GrimGrimoire 4,970]

No. I don't care what anyone thinks. I don't like Twilight to impress them. I like her because her personality is adorable, and she reminds me of how I am at times. They are free to talk as much trash as they want to about her.

[BritishBrony2012 718]

Well, sometime, I get annoyed when people don't why Derpy get alot of likes/loves and say she was a mikstake and something. Also with Snowdrop, some critics her show and why she so popular. I just let them be but it annoying they show their disagreement/opition too much.

[EmeraldStar04 250]

Only when someone insults my waifu.

[Guest]

I've never felt the need to defend my preferences, or be offended at someone's disagreement of my choices. I'm content in my choices of favourite characters because they each mean something to me personally, just as others' favourite characters do to them.

[Steve Piranha 28,741]

I've never felt the need to defend my best pony, except when when they do write something completely false (I do that with anypony though)

[They call me Loyalty 1,941]

I have enough self confidence to joke about RD myself.

[Applejacket 185]

Of course. People often take advantage of Applejack and tend to make fun of her and call her insignificant. This is tosh so that doesn't bother me much. But i find usually it's fans of one specific pony who insult her....

[TBD 17,228]

not really. People says RD is rude, disloyal (sometime), egoistic, heartless (sometime), even sadistic, well you get the idea. But yeah I don't feel defensive about it, since heck that what I like about RD. 

[Megas 27,047]

Only when hat is based on misconceptions and flat-out lies, hyperbole, or when they take one flaw and make that the entire character to them, will I get defensive

 

Also this

 

I hate x because they're overrated

Anyone who follows this mentality can go fuck themselves right off

Edited November 22, 2016 by Soundwave

[gamecubeguy214 2,511]

I'm friends with someone who doesn't like Dashie very much and I love the character so freaking much. One time we talked about our opinions on the character, and she felt like I was being defensive over the character. It will probably seem to people that I'm trying to defend the character, but I try to say, "I think," "In my opinion," and to respect the opinion of the other person. It's just a fictional character.

[Flutterstep 46,183]

I use to always get upset when people made fun out of my favourite charecter's flaws, way before I even watched this show. I suppose I thought anyone who would do it to a fictional charecter would do it to someone in real life and upset them, so I use to get very defensive. I don't really know why though; it was pretty silly. xD

[SanityNotIncluded 335]

Not characters per say, but I sometimes instinctively have that reaction over episodes. To a limited extent, feeling defensive is normal when you've invested a lot of emotion into something - though it's not something I let impact my actual behaviour.

[Sunny Fox 5,929]

Rarity got a ton of flak back in the day (for reasons which were sometimes reasonable and sometimes not), so I'm pretty inured to it now. If someone gave a really good reason why they don't like Rarity or can say why she just doesn't appeal to them, I'm fine with that. When they're obviously ragging on her for silly reasons, I simply ignore them... what else do you do with ignoramuses? 

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

I'm more of an "everypony is best pony" kind of person now. I actually find it more annoying when people take their love for a certain character too far and start spamming it all over their profile and their posts. We get it. It could have stopped at just the username and avatar.

 

The only characters I dislike are mainly unpopular side and one-off characters anyway.

[Swifty 249]

You can get defensive if one of your favorites gets flak since the beginning and the damn writers even encourage the haters with their decisions.

[DANUTERCISD 202]

yeah, i would probably be defensive, especially if they were a twilight fan.

[Splashee 28,537]

On 11/11/2016 at 3:51 PM, heavens-champion said:

Have you guys ever felt a little defensive when people say something disagreeable about your favorite characters?

I used to, but they are just fictional. If they were real persons I would be more angry and try to defend them.

[Cwanky 17,443]

Truth be told, most of us whether we admit it or not, at some level are defensive about our favorite characters. Perhaps even if we're silent about it, we're being defensive to ourselves at the least in our minds convincing ourselves why we like a given character.

As they say in sports, the best defense is a good offense. Hence, even simply saying "X character is best pony/creature" is a form of a defense as we are coming out in support of that character's reputation.