#problematic fave bracket

William "Spike" Pratt (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Crimes:

Killed lots of people. Also most infamously tried to rape Buffy at one point.

Mass murder, assault, thievery, torture, attempted rape, innumerable other offenses. Cut a bloody massacre throughout Europe in the late 1800s. He’s quite rude and hits below the belt too lol. and hes british

Why do you like them?

He's wears a cool outfit. He thinks he's hot shit. He has mommy issues. He falls in love with every woman who can beat him up. He's my pathetic meow meow.

Vote Spike/"William the bloody" (bloody terrible poet, that is, because who the fuck says "effulgent"?)!!!

He's monogamous despite being in a polycule he has catholic guilt he's a hopeless romantic (but is also, unknowingly, arospec) he thinks the only way to love is to be sacrificed and HE HAS THE LOVELIEST SINGING VOICE EVERRRRR

(added by @thatwasfunnypleaselaugh)

He’s a genuinely evil person who goes through a seasons long arc to get redeemed.

Spike starts out being a no-holds-barred soulless evil villain with his only goal being to kill the protagonist Buffy. he would do everything to kill her if not for the fact that someone worse shows up and he needs to work together with her to stop the entire world from getting destroyed - he’s a vampire, but he doesn’t have a death wish.

He is very skilled at manipulation, and despite most of the main characters hating him outright, is able to pit them against each other for his own gain. He has an extreme bloodlust and thirst for violence, and upon being rendered powerless to hurt humans, almost killed himself bc he was so upset. He got back to normal once he realized he could kill his own kind, which indirectly benefited the good guys.

After seasons of wishing death upon Buffy, it comes as a shock to him to realize that he has evolved to being in love with her due to how twisted vampires are concerning pain, love, and hate. after a century of committing the most violent, heinous acts, spike makes the decision to get a SOUL, which is the single most important thing that the show delineates between being on the very black-and-white side of good and evil.

Before spike, there was only one other vampire with a soul, and he had to be Cursed with it by travelers. Spike actively chooses to GET a soul in order to be a better man worthy of buffy instead of a soulless monster.

(I mean, just look at this shot of spike draping himself over a cross while mad with guilt over all the harm he's done. very nice.)

But even while he’s supposedly evil, spike is remarkably humanlike, and he cares about other things than killing his own kind. He cares about Buffy and buffy’s family, acting as a guardian for her kid sister in her absence even while he’s soulless, and their friendship is one of the most humanizing aspects of spike.

He also used to be poet when he was a human and a lot of his sensitivity bled through to his vampire self so he’s much more emotional than the average vampire. And he’s serially monogamist. And throughout all this, a gigantic punk rock loser. Billy idol stole his look!

Spike is one of the best characters to ever grace television, especially because none of this would have ever happened if joss Whedon got what he wanted and killed him off in season 2.

Also he’s really pretty.

(submitted by @gottadomymanright)

Ianthe Tridentarius (The Locked Tomb)

Crimes:

Murder Cannibalism Lobotomy (consensual?) <NOT A DOCTOR Manipulative af Hitting on her lobotomy vic‐ patient Problematic age gap (22 vs 18) < I'm mostly kidding << Ianthe was not mostly kidding she was like "this age difference problematic as fuck & I'm going for it" Lying Imperialist royalty (x2) Ran a decades-long con using insane necromancy to convince people her AND her normal sister were BOTH necromancers (<the amount of power this requires is insane) Possessing a corpse (the one she cannibalized) (also I mean possessing as in puppetting its movements words etc not as in she simply acquired the body although she also did that) Gaslighting the main character (in a hot way) Became a disciple of the imperialist genocidal dictator of the universe Generally being creepy & weird I probably forgot a few things anyway vote for Ianthe

Why do you like them?

Ianthe Tridentarius (The Locked Tomb)

Crimes:

Murder Cannibalism Lobotomy (consensual?) <NOT A DOCTOR Manipulative af Hitting on her lobotomy vic‐ patient Problematic age gap (22 vs 18) < I'm mostly kidding << Ianthe was not mostly kidding she was like "this age difference problematic as fuck & I'm going for it" Lying Imperialist royalty (x2) Ran a decades-long con using insane necromancy to convince people her AND her normal sister were BOTH necromancers (<the amount of power this requires is insane) Possessing a corpse (the one she cannibalized) (also I mean possessing as in puppetting its movements words etc not as in she simply acquired the body although she also did that) Gaslighting the main character (in a hot way) Became a disciple of the imperialist genocidal dictator of the universe Generally being creepy & weird I probably forgot a few things anyway vote for Ianthe

Why do you like them?

Her manipulative lesbianism ways have charmed & bewitched me. Also she's hot

Alice "Daisy" Tonner (The Magnus Archives)

Crimes:

She was a cop who regularly engaged in police brutality to feed the fear god she was in service to.

Why do you like them?

She's a GREAT example of a well-executed guilt-and-atonement arc: most of those tend to fall flat because the character hasn't done anything that they should actually feel guilty about, but Daisy HAS, so when she decides to work towards becoming a better person, it actually hits. She also has a really homoerotic relationship with her partner, who she dies to save. And she delivers the iconic line "I thought this was hell. I was dead, and I was in hell. And I knew I deserved it."

Bryony Halbech (Red Valley)

Crimes:

has run through dozens of test subjects and does not care about any of them on a personal level. constantly reactivated a man's PTSD triggers in the name of science. shot two people with a shotgun. she's very much a Leaver (leaves when the situation gets too difficult for her to reasonably handle)

Why do you like them?

she's so determined and loves science so much she'll do anything for it. also extremely secure in her own abilities and knowledge. she wants her steak cooked medium fucking rare

William "Spike" Pratt (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Crimes:

Killed lots of people. Also most infamously tried to rape Buffy at one point.

Why do you like them?

He's wears a cool outfit. He thinks he's hot shit. He has mommy issues. He falls in love with every woman who can beat him up. He's my pathetic meow meow.

Vote Spike/"William the bloody" (bloody terrible poet, that is, because who the fuck says "effulgent"?)!!!

He's monogamous despite being in a polycule he has catholic guilt he's a hopeless romantic (but is also, unknowingly, arospec) he thinks the only way to love is to be sacrificed and HE HAS THE LOVELIEST SINGING VOICE EVERRRRR

Alexander Hilbert (Wolf 359)

Crimes:

Unethically experimented on 4 people, 2 of whom died as a direct result of his actions, and murdered a 5th. Tried to kill all of the main characters at least once.

Why do you like them?

He's snarky! He's a genius! His false persona is silly and fun, but it's all a front to hide that he's secretly evil! He's not morally aligned with either the heroes or the Big Bads because he just wants to advance science no matter what! He has a tragic backstory! He's borderline apathetic towards his own life outside of the work he can do! He haunts the narrative! He loves pecan pie!

Vote for Alexander Hilbert, creator of The Blessed Eternal, a mutant plant monster with mind control powers and the understanding of how to make a lamp.

Vote for Hilbert! He has a tragic backstory that inspires a noble goal and absolutely every single step he takes to get from one to the other is utterly inexcusable and unacceptable.

Plus if he wins this match up and Dr. Halbech wins hers we will have a Wolf 359 vs Red Valley match in Round 4.

(added by @sexiestpodcastcharacter)

Flowey (Undertale)

Crimes:

Murder. Lots of murder. Also stealing souls

Why do you like them?

Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls)

Crimes:

What didn't he do (world destruction, torture, attempted child murder, suicide baiting, and psychological abuse just from the top of my head)

Why do you like them?

Edgy sillyguy character I got attached to as a teen and later got deeply invested in his implied tragic backstory (that's now more established canon since a book release). He's a tragic villain and it's largely his own fault and it's awesome!!!

Envy (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Crimes:

Lots of murder, including one of THE most heartbreaking deaths in the whole series. Has incited at least one or maybe two genocides. Calls the main character short all the time.

Why do you like them?

Evan Hansen (Dear Evan Hansen)

Crimes:

Got right on the slippery slope water slide of not correcting a pair of grieving parents and letting them assume he was their deceased son's best friend, slid that slide directly into social media stardom and essentially taking that dead son's place in his family by lying harder and worse every single day so he could feel accepted and supported for the first time ever. The poster kid for the dangers child emotional neglect.

Why do you like them?

He fucks up so so badly in exactly the way a deeply unwell teen with no functional coping skills would in this situation. Tries very hard to not use his powers (lying) for evil (pure self-interest) for a while and then abruptly stops when he realizes he might be able to make people like him, a very new experience for him. Got the Problematic double whammy of both being #problematic himself and being in a piece of #problematic media, so double the haters.

Junko Enoshima (Danganronpa)

Crimes:

Destroyed The World via inducing despair in like the Entire Population Of The Earth to the point that human society completely devolved and destroyed itself She Caused The Apocalypse……….. and also tortured her friends to death and made them kill each other

Why do you like them?

Jay (Marble Hornets)

Crimes:

i won't lie if i was being stalked by a supernatural entity my first instinct wouldn't be to upload it to youtube

for that matter, if i found sensitive medical records, i probably wouldn't upload those either

he does just SO much stalking. and—you guessed it—uploads it to youtube

i love when he threatens people with his shitty little pocket knife. it never works because he is the size of a baby bird and approximately that threatening, but that doesn't discourage him from trying

he keeps dragging people into the supernatural horror because at no point does he tell anybody anything (- unless they find his youtube channel, in which case they know absolutely everything. including another character's medical records)

i really cannot overstate how much sensitive personal information he's uploading at any given time

and the stalking

the stalking is a problem also

Why do you like them?

my soggy wet pathetic little puppy boy. he only makes bad decisions and then he doubles down on them once called out. he has negative survival instincts. i genuinely don't know how he survives as long as he does. i need him carnally

Damien (The Bright Sessions)

Crimes:

where do we start. he kidnapped a guy who had just woken up from a coma and kept him for months on the road trying to rehash all his trauma to “help” him, gave a college girl a concussion by hitting her over the head with a lamp, threatened to kidnap and harm a teenager, used his mind control to make someone murder another person against their will, manipulated his therapist for months into divulging private matters and continuing to see him, and essentially stole from, manipulated, and used every person he ever encountered due to being unwilling to try to control his quasi-mind control ability.

Why do you like them?

Astrid Becke (Critical Role)

Crimes:

Well, you see, she's a spy for a facist government. Also openly tries to kill the Nein several times.

Why do you like them?

She's a wizard assassin, she's a spy for a facist government, she's polyamorous, and she's hot <3

Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader (Star Wars)

Crimes:

Mass murder - the WOmen and the CHILdren. Also the younglings but that came later. And then literally whole planets but that came MUCH later

multiple genocides. many war crimes. many and plentiful murders. he's darth vader man idk

Like a shit ton of murder and joined a fascist imperial regime, some genocide etc etc

Why do you like them?

He's just a traumatized, autistic child who needed grief therapy and instead was groomed by an eviler old white guy

he compels me. he was just a little boy on tattooine and he had every horrible thing in the world happen to him. and then did many crimes about it.

He's the chosen one, he's desperately in love, he's super cute when he cries

i REFUSE to let vader lose so lets go propaganda mode

1.

look at that face. look at little baby ani. are you gonna look at him and tell hes NOT your favorite villain?

2. anakin skywalker was set up for failure by everyone. he spent the first nine years of his life in slavery on tattooine with no one he could rely on except his mother. and then qui gon jinn shows up and goes "hey do u want to be a jedi? oh sure we can totally free all the slaves if you do that 100% (mostly lying)" so anakin leaves for his Big Magic Destiny and leaves his mother behind forever!!!!

he proceeds to grow up and never really fit in with the jedi amazingly. he then re-meets padme and falls in love immediately, they have their ill-advised summer of romance, etc which creates a GAPING weak spot for him. and then his mom is murdered. and he does some horrible murders about it. and then he covers it up and proceeds to go try to rescue his brother/father/best friend/teacher and they almost die together but scrape through with the power of friendship (and yoda).

the clone wars happen and he almost dies every day and watches all his friends and the men he is coming to know almost die or actually die frequently. war crimes abound.

all this time, palpatine has been mentoring and manipulating him under the guise of "just a nice old guy who wants a grandkid analogue" and so really anakins whole moral compass is skewed by about 45 degrees!

enter revenge of the sith. there are so many horrible things happening and what the fuck is he supposed to do? he tries to play by the rules for the first section of the movie, but fails because palpatine tells him to kill dooku. he's terrified that the love of his life is going to die. he tries to ask for help and gets extremely unhelpful "we'll deal with it bc we dont trust you, so u sit there and suck it up and we'll talk once we're done with your "mentor". and then he gets conflicted about letting his trusted adults extrajudicially kill the evil chancellor whos been his friend his whole life. and then he fucks up his entire life, does many murders, ensures the rise of the empire, etc etc.

he lives his life from then on as a lonely attack dog who thinks he killed everyone he ever knew or loved (or they left him behind) but he doesnt think abt that bc hes too busy doing palpatines evil bidding and then putting his own anakin "war crimes" skywalker spin to make it ever more horrible. up to and including destroying a whole planet.

eventually he does a very small about face and kills his evil mentor to save his son and then immediately dies.

all in all this man has had possibly the worst setup of a childhood to make his downfall into a beautiful parachute-less skydive of misery. and i love him for that. i maintain that up until he started murdering people in RotS he was TRYING to do the right thing by the rules he was given! i dont think he necessarily really understood those rules fully but he was trying. and the mental breakdown was not actually his fault it was a failure of his guardians and palpatines evilness.

also its fucking darth vader. you know deep down darth vader is one of the (if not Thee) best villains of all time.

#vadersweep or i riot

(added by @nyapetaleijon)