Why are people obsessed with "kick ass" characters?

I believe the game that suffered most from this was Metroid: Other M. As soon as th mediocre reviews came out, all the hate started. Not necessarily because people thought it was a bad game, but because it became a popular game to hate.
 
In Other M's case, it was much because of Samus's character. So, she wasn't as tough, perfect and unbeatable as in past games. She was crying, had a really strong mother instinct and took orders from a man. Oh, what a world. I bet you anything that if Link started to take orders from Zelda and cried when he saved a Goron baby, no one would think that would be anything bad. But this was Samus - the ultimate "kick ass" heroine.
 
I'm not really sure what's up with people's attitudes here. Somehow, it's like they can't accept Samus to have any weaknesses. To my understanding, there were three major things people complained about in Other M:
 
1) Samus takes orders from Adam and want to show him she can follow them. OK, so what's wrong with that? Just because you're super strong means you can't take orders? Or was the problem that the orders came from a man? Do I smell a bit of feminism here? Samus wanted to prove herself for a character she saw as a father figure - I don't see anything wrong with that. It's not like she didn't prove herself in combat throughout the game.
 
2) Her butt was too big, making it look fat. As ridicolous as that sounds, this has been a serious complaint from people. Compared to Smash Bros. Brawl, Samus's butt was indeed very big in Other M - and if a woman with Samus's otherwise slim body has a butt that big, it has quite a bit of excess fat on it, yes. But you know what? That's how real women look like. Real women's butts are big and a little fat. Real women don't look like Samus did in Brawl - big boobs and boy hips with a wasp waist.
 
3) She was way too sensitive and... SHE WAS CRYING FROM FEAR WHEN SHE MET RIDLEY!!! Good Lord. This can't be good. Samus crying? I thought she was a cold robot without emotions... how the hell can she cry from fear? Irony aside, people complained that Samus had met Ridley many times in the past and never cried - guess what - Other M is the first game to focus on her character and feelings. If you met a monster ten times your size who killed your parents in cold blood, you'de be scared to death.
 
Do video game characters have to be "Oh, I'm so though and I can never lose and I have a lot of cheesy, American one liners when I speak"? What's wrong with showing weakness and emotion?

@oskar_det said:

What's wrong with showing weakness and emotion?

Nothing. It's just that the way it was shown in Other M was bad. Everything from the voice acting to the ridiculous dialogue was just plain bad.

@oskar_det said:

What's wrong with showing weakness and emotion?

Nothing. It's just that the way it was shown in Other M was bad. Everything from the voice acting to the ridiculous dialogue was just plain bad.

I wonder what feminism smells like? A little musky, I bet.

People like bad asses because Dolemite made it cool back in the 70's.

@Enigma777 said:

@oskar_det said:

What's wrong with showing weakness and emotion?

Nothing. It's just that the way it was shown in Other M was bad. Everything from the voice acting to the ridiculous dialogue was just plain bad.

What was ridicolous about the dialouge?

@oskar_det said:

@Enigma777 said:

@oskar_det said:

What's wrong with showing weakness and emotion?

Nothing. It's just that the way it was shown in Other M was bad. Everything from the voice acting to the ridiculous dialogue was just plain bad.

What was ridicolous about the dialouge?

Everything. All of it.    Pick any line from the game.

What'sup with the super defensive tone of the OP? Did somebody on some other message board greatly insult your taste in Other M?
 
That's probably exactly what happened.

Dialog and voice acting weren't stellar, but they weren't Other M's biggest problems. Neither was Samus, herself.

Metroid games are about having a large, well designed overworld to explore and Other M's was anything but.

What'sup with the super defensive tone of the OP? Did somebody on some other message board greatly insult your taste in Other M? That's probably exactly what happened.

Dialog and voice acting weren't stellar, but they weren't Other M's biggest problems. Neither was Samus, herself.

Metroid games are about having a large, well designed overworld to explore and Other M's was anything but.

@oskar_det said:

@Napalm said:

What'sup with the super defensive tone of the OP? Did somebody on some other message board greatly insult your taste in Other M? That's probably exactly what happened.

I'm a little tired of all characters in games who pulls off cheesy one liners that are supposed to make them appear ultra though and unbeatable. Games like Gears of War, Uncharted and Mass Effect are full of this shit.

@Giantstalker said:

Dialog and voice acting weren't stellar, but they weren't Other M's biggest problems. Neither was Samus, herself.

Metroid games are about having a large, well designed overworld to explore and Other M's was anything but.

Well, Metroid Fusion didn't have that large overworld either, but it was praised anyway. And really, all Metroid games except the Prime ones are very small and short - with lots of replay value.

Could you please watch this so we can see if your head explodes?

@oskar_det said:

@Napalm said:

What'sup with the super defensive tone of the OP? Did somebody on some other message board greatly insult your taste in Other M? That's probably exactly what happened.

I'm a little tired of all characters in games who pulls off cheesy one liners that are supposed to make them appear ultra though and unbeatable. Games like Gears of War, Uncharted and Mass Effect are full of this shit.

@Giantstalker said:

Dialog and voice acting weren't stellar, but they weren't Other M's biggest problems. Neither was Samus, herself.

Metroid games are about having a large, well designed overworld to explore and Other M's was anything but.

Well, Metroid Fusion didn't have that large overworld either, but it was praised anyway. And really, all Metroid games except the Prime ones are very small and short - with lots of replay value.

Could you please watch this so we can see if your head explodes?

I wish "real women" could match Samus's rear end.

I wish "real women" could match Samus's rear end.

@oskar_det said:

Well, Metroid Fusion didn't have that large overworld either, but it was praised anyway. And really, all Metroid games except the Prime ones are very small and short - with lots of replay value.

I'd say that, while smaller, Fusion's 2D areas were much better designed than the 3D areas of Other M. Your arguments are about the character of Samus however so I don't really know what else to say, other than it's just opinion, and mine is... it could've been better.

"Badass" characters with one-liners are just a stereotype that's secondary to the gameplay they're inserted into. Very few people play Gears because they loooove Marcus Fenix so much, they play it because it's a great 3rd person shooter.

What's wrong with being obsessed with kickass characters?

@oskar_det said:

Well, Metroid Fusion didn't have that large overworld either, but it was praised anyway. And really, all Metroid games except the Prime ones are very small and short - with lots of replay value.

I'd say that, while smaller, Fusion's 2D areas were much better designed than the 3D areas of Other M. Your arguments are about the character of Samus however so I don't really know what else to say, other than it's just opinion, and mine is... it could've been better.

"Badass" characters with one-liners are just a stereotype that's secondary to the gameplay they're inserted into. Very few people play Gears because they loooove Marcus Fenix so much, they play it because it's a great 3rd person shooter.

@oskar_det said:

@Giantstalker said:

@oskar_det said:

Well, Metroid Fusion didn't have that large overworld either, but it was praised anyway. And really, all Metroid games except the Prime ones are very small and short - with lots of replay value.

I'd say that, while smaller, Fusion's 2D areas were much better designed than the 3D areas of Other M. Your arguments are about the character of Samus however so I don't really know what else to say, other than it's just opinion, and mine is... it could've been better.

"Badass" characters with one-liners are just a stereotype that's secondary to the gameplay they're inserted into. Very few people play Gears because they loooove Marcus Fenix so much, they play it because it's a great 3rd person shooter.

Of course they do, but that wasn't really my point. My point was that there are too many characters like Mr. Fenix and then when someone like Samus from Other M appears, all the hate starts because she's portrayed as a sensitive, fenimine, and emotional character. Why do all characters have to be strong and look perfect?

The reason is because more people like great characters like Nathan Drake instead of shitty ones like the Samus from Other M. Supply and demand, man. Supply and demand.

@Slaker117 said:

I wish "real women" could match Samus's rear end.

Are you trying to imply something here?

@oskar_det said:

@Slaker117 said:

I wish "real women" could match Samus's rear end.

Are you trying to imply something here?

I don't really understand your second point at all. Giving Samus a sizable butt isn't making her imperfect or realistic, it's further sexulizing her. It makes her less of a flawed, relatable character and more of a glossy, manufactured archetype you seem to hate.

I also think a lot of the hate comes from the fact that, even though Other M was a prequel, Samus has never acted like that before. It almost feels like another character that they just called "Samus" and put in a game with "Metroid" in the title.

Other M is not terrible but it's so different I don't think it succeeds as a Metroid game, at all. I've met plenty of others who think the same way and that's probably why "... it became a popular game to hate."

I also think a lot of the hate comes from the fact that, even though Other M was a prequel, Samus has never acted like that before. It almost feels like another character that they just called "Samus" and put in a game with "Metroid" in the title.

Other M is not terrible but it's so different I don't think it succeeds as a Metroid game, at all. I've met plenty of others who think the same way and that's probably why "... it became a popular game to hate."

You have convinced me to play Metroid: Other M. Thanks!

@oskar_det said:

What's wrong with showing weakness and emotion?

Nothing. It's just that the way it was shown in Other M was bad. Everything from the voice acting to the ridiculous dialogue was just plain bad.

There's a big wide zone between a badass character and a complete bitch. Other M ignored the spectrum and went to the other extreme. Its the kind of shitty character development that takes years of isolation from girls and hundreds of hours of enjoying bad anime to grow a taste for.

Jessica Martin can't voice act.

You list games like Uncharted and Mass Effect as games with ridiculous badasses, but I can't really think of any moment where I groaned as much as I did playing Other M. Also, she was more robotic than ever in this game purely because of her voice. She sounded like Stephen Fucking Hawking.

@ryanwhosaid:

There's a big wide zone between a badass character and a complete bitch. Other M ignored the spectrum and went to the other extreme. Its the kind of shitty character development that takes years of isolation from girls and hundreds of hours of enjoying bad anime to grow a taste for.

Another character that is on the complete bitch side of the spectrum is Vincent from Catherine. I liked the premise but the whole thing reminded me of a shit anime where the guy is too much of a bitch to do what a normal person would do and just say that he's cheating.

@oskar_det: So you don't have fun being some unrealistic hard ass? Video games are fun, enjoy silly things like that. Video games aren't H.P. Lovecraft Novels, they aren't Hemingway, they aren't Shakespeare... They never will be either. Just have fun with it.

When Other M came out, I think people disliked it not for how the character was portrayed, but rather because that portrayal was poorly executed. Now, I didn't play Other M at all, so I may be speaking out of turn, but there was a bit of footage from a cutscene I saw in which Samus gave a thumbs up to some other random military-looking character. Not only that, it was a kinda exaggerated, flamboyant thumbs up. Now, I don't know about you, but if I was a well-respected bounty hunter, regardless of gender, I'm pretty sure if I gave someone a big-ass thumbs up, they would look at me like I was a crazy person. That doesn't sound like something a person I would trust to eradicate an entire evil alien species would do. 
 
Now like I said, I didn't play the game, and it has been a looooooooong time since I've seen or heard anything about it, so I could be totally mischaracterizing everything, but that is what I remember about Other M

@McGhee_the_Insomniac: That video was one of the greatest. Thank you for sharing.

@oskar_det said:

@Giantstalker said:

I also think a lot of the hate comes from the fact that, even though Other M was a prequel, Samus has never acted like that before. It almost feels like another character that they just called "Samus" and put in a game with "Metroid" in the title.

Other M is not terrible but it's so different I don't think it succeeds as a Metroid game, at all. I've met plenty of others who think the same way and that's probably why "... it became a popular game to hate."

It's because it's the first Metroid game to focous on emotion and Samus's personality. In all past games, she has been more or less of a perfect robot who just carry out her missions.

Just because it's the first doesn't make it a good attempt. Quite honestly, it was pretty shit in that aspect, Metroid or otherwise. Which is a damn shame, really, because it COULD have been pretty interesting, and the gameplay was good enough that I would have gone through it, if not for the overall quality of the rest. The presence of emotion isn't a problem, but how it's handled, especially with a character that has for some time been portrayed as a very capable, assertive individual. The performance of Samus' voice actress coupled with some ridiculous and needless lines of narration didn't help to build a particularly likable character. This is besides the narrative to gameplay trope that she would willingly go into hazardous situations that she HAS the gear for to take care of rather simply and with ease, but just won't use because Adam hasn't authorized its use at that time. WHY. Could they really not think of a better reason, or work around to fit the game design than that?

Metroid: Other M didn't suffer from people wanting "kick-ass" characters, it just didn't do characters nor narrative very well to begin with.

@oskar_det: Trust me, they aren't giving her a plump ass to make her look natural. I'm not sure how you can't recognize that the female behind is played for sexuality throughout media. While skinny is definitely focused on a lot, there is more than one popular take on what is sexy.

When Other M came out, I think people disliked it not for how the character was portrayed, but rather because that portrayal was poorly executed. Now, I didn't play Other M at all, so I may be speaking out of turn, but there was a bit of footage from a cutscene I saw in which Samus gave a thumbs up to some other random military-looking character. Not only that, it was a kinda exaggerated, flamboyant thumbs up. Now, I don't know about you, but if I was a well-respected bounty hunter, regardless of gender, I'm pretty sure if I gave someone a big-ass thumbs up, they would look at me like I was a crazy person. That doesn't sound like something a person I would trust to eradicate an entire evil alien species would do.  Now like I said, I didn't play the game, and it has been a looooooooong time since I've seen or heard anything about it, so I could be totally mischaracterizing everything, but that is what I remember about Other M

@oskar_det said:

@Giantstalker said:

I also think a lot of the hate comes from the fact that, even though Other M was a prequel, Samus has never acted like that before. It almost feels like another character that they just called "Samus" and put in a game with "Metroid" in the title.

Other M is not terrible but it's so different I don't think it succeeds as a Metroid game, at all. I've met plenty of others who think the same way and that's probably why "... it became a popular game to hate."

It's because it's the first Metroid game to focous on emotion and Samus's personality. In all past games, she has been more or less of a perfect robot who just carry out her missions.

Just because it's the first doesn't make it a good attempt. Quite honestly, it was pretty shit in that aspect, Metroid or otherwise. Which is a damn shame, really, because it COULD have been pretty interesting, and the gameplay was good enough that I would have gone through it, if not for the overall quality of the rest. The presence of emotion isn't a problem, but how it's handled, especially with a character that has for some time been portrayed as a very capable, assertive individual. The performance of Samus' voice actress coupled with some ridiculous and needless lines of narration didn't help to build a particularly likable character. This is besides the narrative to gameplay trope that she would willingly go into hazardous situations that she HAS the gear for to take care of rather simply and with ease, but just won't use because Adam hasn't authorized its use at that time. WHY. Could they really not think of a better reason, or work around to fit the game design than that?

Metroid: Other M didn't suffer from people wanting "kick-ass" characters, it just didn't do characters nor narrative very well to begin with.

People like bad asses because Dolemite made it cool back in the 70's.

  Not saying he'd kick Samus' ass, but he'd certainly tap it.

I think its bloody nonsense the way people bash the game.
 
Game is one of my all time favorites and I really enjoyed completing it 100%.
 
Hater's gonna hate.

No one wants to play a video game to so something they can do any day

@oskar_det: I think your bias brings about an incorrect assumption. People didn't not like Samus in Other M because she wasn't a Marcus Fenix style character but because she was turned into a self monologuing parody of herself. Also her terrible voice acting didn't help. The character design is because of Team Ninja as not so much the audience....

Buttocks eroticism, sexualization, and fetishization, especially of the female buttocks, has occurred throughout history, partly due to its proximity to the sexual organs.

Sexologist Alfred Kind suggested that the buttocks is the primary sexual presentation site in primates.

In humans, females generally have more round and voluptuous buttocks, caused by estrogen that encourages the body to store fat in the buttocks, hips, and thighs. [...] Evolutionary psychologists suggest that rounded buttocks may have evolved to be desirable trait because they provide a visual indication of the woman's youth and fertility. They signal the presence of estrogen and the presence of sufficient fat stores for pregnancy and lactation. Additionally, the buttocks give an indication of the shape and size of the pelvis, which impacts reproductive capability. Since development and pronunciation of the buttocks begins at menarche and declines with age, full buttocks are also a symbol of youth.

In Studies in the Psychology of Sex, published in 1927 and written by British physician and sexual psychologist Havelock Ellis, he describes cultural sexual characteristics of the buttocks. He says:

Thus we find, among most of the peoples of Europe, Asia, and Africa, the chief continents of the world, that the large hips and buttocks of women are commonly regarded as an important feature of beauty.

What'sup with the super defensive tone of the OP? Did somebody on some other message board greatly insult your taste in Other M? That's probably exactly what happened.

How is giving her a big butt sexualizing her? 

In regards to the title probably because the characters are cool to the people that Identify with them. 

What sounds more reasonable.
"Oh I love that character, he's badass."
"Oh I love that character, he's a total pussy."

Man, you make bad threads.

@oskar_det said:

Do I smell a bit of feminism here?

You do realize feminism is just for equality between sexes, not some man-hating agenda, right?. Unless you believe men and women aren't equal than you're a feminist. If not you're kind of a fucking moron.

What's wrong with being obsessed with kickass characters?

@oskar_det said:

Of course they do, but that wasn't really my point. My point was that there are too many characters like Mr. Fenix and then when someone like Samus from Other M appears, all the hate starts because she's portrayed as a sensitive, fenimine, and emotional character. Why do all characters have to be strong and look perfect?

The reason is because more people like great characters like Nathan Drake instead of shitty ones like the Samus from Other M. Supply and demand, man. Supply and demand.

People didn't like Other M's Samus because she contradicted the Samus they grew to love. You don't just come in, turn an iconic character upside down and claim that this is the same character.
 
The Samus in Other M felt unreal, she felt like she wasn't Samus. Because she is entirely different from the heroine we've come to know and love.
 
Samus was not a blank slate before Other M. And the character she's given in Other M doesn't sync up with the Samus we had known before.