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As fans, which is more irritating, overexposed or shafted characters?

Which is more irritating, overexposed characters or shafted ones?

  • Overexposed

    Votes: 43 57.3%

  • Shafted

    Votes: 32 42.7%
  • Total voters
    75
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Cascada

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If a certain character or Pokemon is shafted in the show, that makes many people root for them essentially. The fans often, however, get very frustrated that their screentime is stolen from those who either have enough of it or are the writer's favorites it seems.

At the end of the day, which is more irritating as a fan to you, a Pokemon or character who is overexposed, or a Pokemon or character who gets shafted.

For me, it's definitely the shaft. On this show, there's always going to be favorites, fanboys, fangirls, etc. But there are those who don't have ANY, who IMO truly deserve some, and who are there because the writers want what they perceive to be as a BALANCE.
 
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The reason characters aren't treated equally on this show is because its mainly about Ash. His friends will have some moments of glory along the way but its mainly about him. If this thread is about the various rivals or Gym leaders, most of them were handled fine. Of course there are exceptions, Kenny and Nando barely appeared, Gary went MIA for most of Johto, but they did a decent job.

As for what is more irritating? I'd say overexposed. Dawn's Piplup and Zoey were irritating in DP for this reason. Too much of not-so-great characters.
 
I felt that this thread could go in the League because of the open-endedness in the way the topic was presented, so I've moved it accordingly.

A reminder to everyone that merely restating a poll choice does not contribute to the thread whatsoever, and that Pointless Posts will be modded accordingly. And EVERYONE is entitled to their own opinions about characters that users may bring up in order to defend a poll answer. flaming/baiting infractions will be given without warning if we even see a hint of a user attacking another one because of their views. debate opinions and argue with arguments, not petty insults :)
 
Gliscor'd said:
The reason characters aren't treated equally on this show is because its mainly about Ash. His friends will have some moments of glory along the way but its mainly about him. If this thread is about the various rivals or Gym leaders, most of them were handled fine. Of course there are exceptions, Kenny and Nando barely appeared, Gary went MIA for most of Johto, but they did a decent job.
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True, this is probably why I hardly ever root for Ash outside of his usual journey. In the Whirl Cup I rooted for Misty, in the Wallace Cup I rooted for Dawn, in the Don Tournament I rooted for Iris. Ash already has his arc, and because it's already big, why make Ash as a character more inflated. I wish there were more tournaments for other main characters who don't get as much screen time as Ash.

Personally, it seems to me that battles, and character interactions are what make fans go crazy, and tournaments accomplish all of this, hell why are Ash's Leagues so major then?

Gliscor'd said:
As for what is more irritating? I'd say overexposed. Dawn's Piplup and Zoey were irritating in DP for this reason. Too much of not-so-great characters.
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Some could say the same about Oshawott, but I love Oshawott! Some could say Togekiss was given of how little it was on the main cast as well. Honestly, I think Dento is one, I feel like the writers show Dento to the max just to make up for Brock baggage.
 
I HATE how they treated Nando in DP. If they HAD NOT given him such an interesting mindset and goal, then I would not have minded him getting the amount of screentime he did. But He said very early on that he wanted to pursue both gym battles AND contests, and yet we NEVER saw him at any of the gyms, let alone how he won his badges, and we only saw half of a normal contest performance in one contest. The Grand Festival is probably my favorite episode Nando is in because we actually got to SEE him do a real contest battle. Don't get me started on his Sinnoh League match, they totally abused him there.

I feel like they wasted his potential. Here they introduce a brand new character doing something NO ONE has even considered doing, or even have it cross their minds, and yet they don't pay any attention to him whatsoever.

So yeah, while I don't like the writers overindulging certain people, shafting characters who have real potential as plot devices is even worse. If you bring someone in who is unlike anyone else, then don't ignore them in favor of what everyone already knows about. Quit giving fanservice with the AppealShipping and PenguinShipping and tell the story the way you make it appear! /endrant

But this isn't about shipping, so please don't try to turn this thread into a discussing about it. I was just making a point. They spent way too much time introducing a ton of rivals and all they ever did was give fanservice for the "favored" ones instead of really focusing on the characters. They did a lot of overexposure in DP and shelved several characters before they even had a chance to really give their stories.
 
Overexposed characters in my opinion, because they are often the cause of shafted characters.

Take Mijumaru for example. Heavily advertised starter that can let itself out of its Monster Ball. Within the first 20 episodes of Best Wishes, this was incredibly grating as Mamepato had barely appeared while Mijumaru has over 5 more appearances than her, which were often comical in nature, which ate up time in which the less-focused characters could have shown some personality. The Koaruhie episode springs to mind. It also has had three training episodes (shared one with Pokabu for the 2nd gym, Kenyan debut and Gamagaru capture episode). Where's Kurumayu's training episode? There's just not enough time to fit one in when the potential time for one is being given solely to someone else.
 
It may be that I don't normally hold any particular favorites, but I am unaffected by either. Technically, it may be lack of development for me since the writers really do miss a lot of opportunities to focus on a certain character, and instead fall back on their usual stock. This is particularly true for Oshawott with me, but that is because I have different ideas for him than the writers do. Admittedly, their idea is more original than my own, but theirs is still kinda cliched in it's own way.
 
Taiki said:
Overexposed characters in my opinion, because they are often the cause of shafted characters.
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This right here.

Characters who are underdeveloped/underutilized can be frustrating because you know they have much more potential than the series is giving them credit for, but in those cases you can use your own imagination to cope and somewhere down the line, they might actually get their moment in the spotlight when you least expect it. With shafted characters, they aren't made less likable by their lack of apperances.

Overexposed characters, on the other hand, can start out awesome and become outright ruined with too much spotlight. I initially liked Piplup at first, but its personality really got old for me before too long. Being whored out for no reasons other than marketing, having its character development more or less resolved around the beginning lead to redundant episodes where it was focused and it completely ruined the character for me. Not only that, but its overexposure came at the expense of the rest of Dawn's Pokemon who all could've benefited from more development and spotlight, but couldn't ever get it because Piplup was the STAR and they felt the need to cram that down your throat every single solitary episode. There are many characters who also fall into this example, but Piplup's the one that stands out the most to me.

All in all, neglected characters can still retain the traits that made them likable. It's grating, but easier to accept characters never getting their due. Things like fanfiction make that a lot easier to take.

It is much, much harder to redeem a character who's been tainted - even ruined with overexposure. And favoritism in Pokemon, where there are hundreds upon hundreds of species and human characters present in the show that all deserve equal amounts of displayed awesomeness, is a malicious force that can really ruin an otherwise decent character at the turn of a dime. It's almost impossible to turn back once you go so far.

And even worse... it takes forever to get rid of them.
 
A lot of you bring up good points, but even myself I often wonder, with the exception of Ash and Pikachu, will we ever get a season where EVERYONE has equal screentime, character development, battles, etc. It realy makes you wonder.
 
With underexposed characters, you can at least fill in the blanks for yourselves to make them more interesting in your own mindset (which is why many minor characters have their own fanbase). There IS such a thing as "too much of a good thing" because there's only so much the show can flesh out before it gets stale...unless you're absolutely obsessed and will take anything that comes your way XD totally not like that with Dento or Paul at all, noooope.
 
Well if you take Bianca for example, she's the only other character that shows up more than the others. I understand the writers for trying to keep us entertained but her constanly everywhere plus her personality is over reaching.
 
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Come to think of it, shafting characters doesn't bother me as much as it should.

For example I wish Solidad was introduced earlier in AG so we could see more of her, but at the same time I don't really care that she wasn't. I wanted Holly to return and Conway to get more screentime in DP, but again, I am not too bothered that they didn't.

I guess shafting doesn't really bother me too much.
 
Considering my least favourite characters, Dento, Mijumaru etc. are all overexposed, and my favourites - Brock (and uh, that's it...) are shafted, I find overexposed characters personally much more annoying. As was mentioned, the overexposed characters are often the cause of some characters getting shafted. I mean, what has happened to all of Ash's other's Isshu pokemon other than Miju, Scraggy and Pikachu? Really not much.
 
Takeshi, pretty much got the middle finger at times. He deserved more screen time and more time focused on his goal and deserved to catch more Pokemon. I'm glad he got Lucky(the Pokemon :p) and that connects back to Nurse Joi a bit, and he is great. But, he was pretty much playing second fiddle most of the time, but at least he got some eps focused around him a bit (Battling a Cute Drama, The Brockster is in, One Big Happiny Family, The Special, A Chip off the Old Brock, Leave it To Brocko) he did help in the tag battle, and had a lot of girls that actually crushed on him back. And he got one of the mascot Pokemon(Croagunk) of DP who took over after Sudowoodo, so that's something to be happy with. He was connected to Chimchar's storyline when he talked to Shinji about Chimchar's situation. It's a shame he doesn't get nearly as much attention as Iris and Dento are getting that emotional Dragon, Musical, and other stuff coming up. But, hopefully if he does join Satoshi again(here's hoping :) he gets treated better.

Iris got her ass shafted pretty much for 3/5 of BW, it really is a shame too. But, I am glad that atleast the writers are focusing on the emotional weaker, more none-snarky side of Iris. I love Dead Pan Snarker, Iris for calling Satoshi out on being an idiot when he acts like one. But, I'm glad the writers have been steadily focusing on her more emotional layed side since the Don Battle with the whole Team Rocket Nyasu stuff ya know? :p Oh, well better late then never I suppose ^^;

Somebody needs to lock Mijumaru up in a closet, he was cute at first but, dang he hogs up a lot of time. I liked Pochama a bit more at first, and I like Miju but, they need to give more time other pokes too.
 
Just a reminder that you should state clearly which one is more irritating to you - overexposed or shafted characters and provide your arguments for it afterward or else your posts can appear a bit ambiguous and confusing.
 
I can't choose both?? :D

But yea, I feel some overexposed characters (cough, Ash, cough, Dawn, cough) makes me angry. Especially Ash since he's been the chief for 700+ episodes and 15 years!!!

Some shafted characters (cough, Max, cough, Tracy, cough, Brock) were just there to be there, and it sucks to be them, I guess.
 
I was a huge fan of Dawn's back in DP, but I did wish that Buneary was shown a lot more often. It didn't necessarily have to evolve, but for Dawn's first capture, it should have played a much bigger role than given(R.I.P. her voice actress)

Also, it would have been nice to see Brock and Misty battle on the regular, underwater battling could've been a big hit started by Misty, IMO.
 
Overexposed. Why? I'll tell you why.

Because it seems as if the overexposed characters never progress and ever have the right to be overexposed. Charizard or Sceptile deserved those awards because they went from cute little lizards to dragons of death while still suffering with real, multi-episode issues. Piplup or Oshawott, on the other hand, and especially Togepi, were the cute comic relief, essentially stealing Pikachu's position, while at the same time stealing the thunder of other Pokémon (looking at the birds here) so that they can be marketed better. Oshawott still has room for improvement, especially if it evolves into Dewott and Samurott and learns to respect Pikachu and be humble or something, but Piplup and Togepi lost the chance fifty times over.

Honestly, who remembers Misty's team besides Togepi? Or how about who remembers that Dawn has Pokémon besides Mamoswine, Togekiss, and Piplup? Or even in the case of May, can anyone recount from memory May's Kanto team besides Combusken and Squirtle?

Like I said, BW may handle Oshawott better. Maybe Ash will get all three fully-evolved starters, which would be awesome. But for now, the other two starters and the bird are being shafted in favor of the overdone Oshawott.
 
Ursula and Conway were shafted characters but in the end I don't mind. I would have liked to see them get more screentime but at the same time I don't care that they didn't.
 
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