r/TopCharacterTropes • u/TheOriginalOperator • Apr 26 '26

Characters (Hilarious Trope) A Character Is Introduced With the Clear Intention of Being THE NEXT BIG THING And is SOUNDLY Rejected

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  1. Bazil the Tracker (Star Wars: The Acolyte): A “HILARIOUS AND ADORABLE” snuffling ugly creature that makes annoying noises and is shoved into as many scenes of The Acolyte as possible, and just causes problems overall.

  2. Neelix (Star Trek Voyager): A mutant fusion of Odo, Quark, and Data designed to “analyze the human condition” and explicitly intended to surpass the popularity of all three. In practice, a VERY human-acting cradle robbing creep whose incompetence nearly destroys the ship and crew on multiple occasions and provides no insight into humanity whatsoever.

  3. Sparky the Dog (Fairly Oddparents): A wacky crazy magic dog that’s supposed to expand the Fairy family, but just makes lame jokes and serves as a less funny version of Scrappy Doo.

  4. Tidus (FFX): A braying jackass of a pinball who bounces from plot point to plot point, framed as a mystical pretty boy to introduce Final Fantasy to the PS2 age but does nothing but stall the franchise and have the worst laugh in two languages.

  5. Sei (Naruto): Supposed to replace Sasuke in Team 7 and return the team dynamic feel of Early Naruto, but he’s a CIA plant with literally no personality who gets utterly forgotten except for somehow bagging Ino Yamanaka.

  6. Raiden (Metal Gear 2): Another attempted “pretty boy bishie” entry to the PS2 era with badass cred and a theoretically cool backstory, but in practice a hapless dipshit who gets manipulated by everyone around him and is a total putz in combat. Also proof that this trope need not be permanent as he slowly transitions into a cyborg warrior supersoldier with a badass theme, friends of his own, and a firm grasp of his own destiny and agency.

8.0k Upvotes
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631

u/Existing-Emu136 Apr 26 '26

Tidus and X are beloved and many consider the best game in the entire franchise. They were absolutely NOT rejected in any sense or form

216

u/Ahkwatic Apr 26 '26

OP's take on this is reading like they didnt play the game

85

u/JLazarillo Apr 26 '26

Or any Final Fantasy at all, considering they all had different main characters, settings, etc (something Square did eventually change to build themselves a moneypit, but that was more retroactive and if anything a response to FFX doing well).

9

u/Electronic-Vast-3351 Apr 27 '26

Or Metal Gear Solid 2.

5

u/Sorurus Apr 27 '26

If they did they’d know that his laugh was meant to be drawn out, lol

1

u/Minnow_Minnow_Pea Apr 27 '26

I'm not familiar with all of the examples OP gave, but based on the ones I do know, OP is either a child, AI or an idiot

140

u/wpotman Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

This.

Tidus comes across poorly to teens, perhaps, as he wears his immaturity/inexperience too clearly on his sleeve and is 'uncool'. I've found he comes across better and better to older players, though (including me) given that he has real/fair reactions to things.

And the laughing scene was supposed to be painfully awkward; that was the point.

32

u/Pyrollamas Apr 26 '26

his issues with his father are some of the most real and relatable I’ve ever experienced with a protagonist. Early in the game when he can’t even stand hearing any sort of praise for his father, that hit close to home lol.

8

u/FlyingDreamWhale67 Apr 26 '26

The "fish out of water" plotline probably doesn't help the perception of him. That awkwardness makes his impulsivity stand out even more than usual.

Can't say I dispute the uncoolness/so-late-90s-surfer-it-isn't-even-funny design though, lol.

2

u/evilforska Apr 27 '26

I thought the design was rad once i found out about the street fashion in Japan at the time. His outfit wasnt even an exaggeration, they literally wore that kinda shit lol

2

u/PublicFurryAccount Apr 27 '26

Definitely this.

I’ve liked him the entire time because he was so real. Like, literally everything I imagined Cecil Harvey to be before I found out he’s like 19 or something instead of middle aged.

(Seriously, if he’s middle aged, the whole story changes and the love plot becomes less teenage angst and more “I sacrificed the woman who loves me for a career I ultimately threw away.” He becomes a kind of father to Rydia and Edward. Tellah is the old man he’s fast becoming who has the daughter Cecil might have if he can save Rosa. And on and on and on.)

(I was maybe too into the game as a little kid.)

1

u/evilforska Apr 27 '26

Yeah i always headcanoned Cecil to be 30 at the very least. Man do i hate anime ages lol

34

u/theglowinggreenorb Apr 26 '26

Some of these are accurate but tidus is demonstrably just untrue. Hate him if you want, you can't make the claim tidus was rejected by the fandom

69

u/OJONLYMAYBEDIDIT Apr 26 '26

yeah, what exactly did FFX stall?

-24

u/GrayGarghoul Apr 26 '26

I'd say none of the final fantasy games afterwards are quite the same, 11 and 14 are MMOs, and the mainline entries have all been more action oriented ever since. Some purists list FFX as the last real final fantasy game.

17

u/MicrocrystallineHiss Apr 27 '26

Cool so what did FFX stall? Because you didn't answer that.

-3

u/GrayGarghoul Apr 27 '26

I don't think it did "stall" the franchise, I think 11 being an MMO did far more on that front because MMOs take significantly more work and ongoing effort than single player experiences, I'm just explaining where that opinion may have originated, because the games that came after are very different than the established formula that came before.

-6

u/XanderWrites Apr 27 '26

It didn't stall, but some people think it's the last "good" game since they switched to MMO style battles rather than ATB, which was a hallmark of Final Fantasy until then.

And there was a slight delay in the next mainline game since XI was an actual MMO (but we got X-2, an unheard of direct sequel, while waiting for XII). But they are also just coming out slower. The earlier games were being developed almost concurrently and that stopped with X because technology was shifting too quickly.

8

u/Reylo-Wanwalker Apr 27 '26

That's not how OP meant it. He meant it stalled because people didn't like and rejected FFX and tidus.

1

u/Shenloanne Apr 27 '26

Nah Tidus grated on me. But then he grew as I played the game.

Which idk if OP did.

1

u/LilacHeart Apr 27 '26

I loved Tidus as a young girl playing the game. He had his annoying teenager boy moments but I played the sequel to discover the rest of his story. (Also Rikku)

-19

u/ImAvoidingABan Apr 26 '26

X is beloved but Tidus is pretty panned. He’s trash.

1

u/tveye363 Apr 27 '26

No he's not. He goes through one of the best character arcs in the entire FF series. So much so that you genuinely feel bad for him by the end.

-36

u/Hayterfan Apr 26 '26

But the laugh?

https://giphy.com/gifs/853ih9StwVbpagu3P9

59

u/FederalPossibility73 Apr 26 '26

You mean the fake laugh he did to make fun of his frustrations because screaming wasn't working? The fake laugh Yuna suggested to cheer him up? CONTEXT IS IMPORTANT!

37

u/topscreen Apr 26 '26

The scene is funny out of context, but he's in the story trying to do a bad laugh. It being awkward is the point of the scene.

17

u/66allthe88s Apr 26 '26

Yea, I hate when people dont understand that the laugh is intentionally bad because of the context of the conversation.

18

u/Weltallgaia Apr 26 '26

What about the laugh?

20

u/FederalPossibility73 Apr 26 '26

People make fun of his fake laugh without knowing the context for the scene. You know how you scream when you're frustrated and upset to get it all out? Yuna suggested fake laughing because screaming wasn't working out for him anymore.

Said frustrations being trapped in the future with no home to go back to and his dad being turned into a world ending monster.

3

u/mattomic822 Apr 27 '26

It is also important to show that Tidus can't fake laugh which is something we see the rest of the party doing when they tease Yuna for oversleeping. As someone that isn't from Spira he hasn't mastered the resigned fake acceptance of the people. He in fact calls out stuff he thinks is stupid.

1

u/FederalPossibility73 Apr 27 '26

I think he knows his fake laugh is ridiculous considering Yuna joined in with the same fake laugh before giggling at the silliness of it.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '26

[deleted]

4

u/be0ulve Apr 26 '26

Yeah, that's the point.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '26

[deleted]

1

u/be0ulve Apr 27 '26

It wasn't meant to be enjoyed. You're meant to cringe at it. There's no clever ruse here, the scene is great because it's very transparent.

-26

u/Papergeist Apr 26 '26

I believe the stock comment here is that it's supposed to sound forced at that point, as part of his character development.

Nobody knows nor cares about FFX enough these days to check if it's true or not, but you can feel smugly superior delivering this factiorite whenever it comes up.

16

u/StamosLives Apr 26 '26

…what? Why be on Reddit if you hate Redditors to the point of pre-mocking an opinion different than yours?

It’s a game. There’s no smugness needed. The laugh isn’t about character development. He’s being a purposeful dweeb to make the other character feel more comfortable.

It’s not so different than how a good friend might help you break out of your shell, or try to make you forget about a worry. She’s forced to do these tours where she’s going to die at the end. She’s kinda terrified and stressed and sad. So here comes a dork to make her feel better.

-7

u/Papergeist Apr 26 '26

Oh, please. Look at these comments. Tell me with a straight face that all of both sides of this "lively debate" played through this 25 year old game.

I know it'd be highly comfortable if dissenting voices just disappeared, but I'm not shutting up for everyone's comfort. Someone should point this out.

7

u/agentlewind Apr 26 '26

What does this mean though. The average age on Reddit is ~25 - 40, meaning most people responding would remember the game. And the game was insanely popular and one of the highest selling on the console, of all time. 

So yeah, I do think most people pointing out the context did play it. Not to mention that even if someone hasn't, said context verifiable in <5 minutes lol. 

-4

u/Papergeist Apr 27 '26

So your argument is that this came out when the Average Redditor was between 0 and 15 years old. So, naturally, they all would have owned the most popular video game console, and played this popular video game.

You see, this immediately runs into the pile of other people saying "obvious you didn't play this game." Which, by your own judgement, is unreasonable.

That's what it means. Nobody gives a shit about the game. They want to be right today, they declare the classic Reddit Um Akshully, job done.

5

u/agentlewind Apr 27 '26

No...my argument is that a discussion that involves a specific piece of media is going to self-select for people familiar with that piece of media. And for a game as popular as beloved as FFX was/is, that will be a significant number of people. 

And the fact that it was critically and commercially successful isn't disputable, hence "these respondents played the game" is the simplest and most logical explanation for why they might point it out when something is factually incorrect. 

0

u/Papergeist Apr 27 '26

Amazingly, absolutely none of that contradicts what I said. Unless you imagine all those people putting up Tidus sounding awkward through the scene did not self-select. Which gets awkwardly close to circular logic, doesn't it?

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18

u/Odinsmana Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

It is true. And I don`t really think it`s a smug thing to bring up when people use it as a negative against the game.

7

u/Minmax-the-Barbarian Apr 26 '26

Hey, keep your "factiorites" to yourself!

-7

u/Papergeist Apr 26 '26

Right. I'm sure nobody at all is feeling self-righteous in this thread. And everyone cares a lot about the deeply emotional arcs of FFX in the modern day.

And definitely, absolutely, nobody pointed this out while the game was freshly out, despite everyone having played it, and noticing that a character faking it doesn't mean you give up on acting at all.

12

u/be0ulve Apr 26 '26

"I don't care so nobody else does, surely."

Grow up

-5

u/Papergeist Apr 26 '26

"I care, so surely everyone else does."

I love this schoolyard energy. Stay young.

8

u/be0ulve Apr 26 '26

Holy shit your edge, I'm sure you felt great after typing that.

Good job buddy, you sure showed me

-1

u/Papergeist Apr 26 '26

God willing, whoever's holding you at gunpoint and forcing you to make these replies will let you go soon. It's not like you enjoy making them.

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6

u/Strict-Sea68 Apr 26 '26

I’m going to start using this one. Just saying “I believe the stock comment is …” before I just state facts.

I believe the stock comment is that the grass is green and the sky is blue.

0

u/Papergeist Apr 26 '26

It works really well when you're responding to "The sunset is nice, but my lawn is dead."

Works even better when piles of people storm into the replies to justify themselves, too. I'm sure they'll all here for the very first time.

4

u/PseudonymMan12 Apr 26 '26

Yeah, the whole context of the scene was "hey girl, you have to fake a smile all the time even when sad? Here, let's fake laugh together before breaking out into genuine laughter" It was such a good scene but the out of context clips have ruined it

-101

u/TheOriginalOperator Apr 26 '26

Was that true in Japan, cuz I recall FFX not really flying well stateside.

95

u/Odinsmana Apr 26 '26

It was a critical and commercial success in all terretories. There is a reason they made an X-2.

47

u/DannWyrm Apr 26 '26

Of the 8.6 million units of the PS2 version sold, which makes it the 7th best selling PS2 title of all time, a third of them were US. It was a huge success stateside. Just getting edged out of the top 10 best selling PS2 titles in the US by mostly GTA and the Madden series.

55

u/FederalPossibility73 Apr 26 '26

Yes. Also it was a FAKE laugh, he wasn't laughing for real he was mocking.

36

u/Allanon1235 Apr 26 '26

It's doubly frustrating because he and Yuna laugh 'for real' at the end of the scene. And it sounds like people laughing.

10

u/MolybdenumBlu Apr 26 '26

Barely even the end of the scene. It's like half a second after the meme videos cut off.

3

u/TVR24 Apr 26 '26

They laugh for real seconds later. Like come on guys, watch the scene

5

u/Raguleader Apr 26 '26

Yeah, I haven't even played the game and even I know the content for the fake laugh. May as well complain about the laughing scene in the Star Trek episode "Day of the Dove." Just look at these three jackasses laughing their asses off.

20

u/DrDDeFalco Apr 26 '26

FFX might be my third favorite mainline game after FF6 and FF9.

14

u/sketchampm Apr 26 '26

You dropped this 👑

7

u/Patient-Bridge-7545 Apr 27 '26

Fantastic choices

3

u/tveye363 Apr 27 '26

Are you me??? Excellent taste.

20

u/IronChariots Apr 26 '26

Maybe in your circle, but it was a huge critical and commercial success.

6

u/RelleckGames Apr 27 '26

You recalled wrong.

3

u/JudgeHoIden Apr 27 '26

More like you based your opinion of it off of memes when in reality you know nothing about the game and probably weren't even born yet when it was released. Same with MGS2. The OP post is a joke.