Let's Talk Fanfiction!! {Closed}

Profiling the Character: The Bad Boy

I almost forgot to make a rant due to being sucked back into the world of anime.
I finished one in one night and nearly cried.
And then continued to feel empty and unmotivated for the next day.

That being said, I finally got my act together and managed to type down a poorly done rant. But it's better than leaving you guys hanging, wondering why the actual frick frack I haven't updated. So..here ya go. Happy birthday.

Characters: The objects we as authors, writers, artists, and anyone else with a story use to create adventures and worlds in.

We've seen just about all of 'em. From the ripped-jeans, low talking, awkward and antisocial tomboy to the cheeky, unreasonably adorable, slightly stalkerish dude from next door.

There's a whole sea of Cliche's that people use frequently, especially when it comes to said characters.

And because I have literally nothing else to rant on, I'm starting a new mini series on here called "Profiling the Character", where I will take a cliche, point out why in holy hell it's overused in the first place, and then maybe add a few jacked up twists just to keep things interesting.

If you haven't guessed which one I'm ranting on today, you obviously can't read and there's absolutely no possible way you could've gotten this far.

Moving on.

The Bad Boy.

Personally, I don't understand what's so great about "bad boys", namely the ones glorified in real life with their motor cycles and jackets and that air of arrogance that surrounds them that makes you want to crawl away on your hands and knees because their very presence is just suffocating.

We'll just assume– for the moment, anyways– that I have a problem with these idiots.

There's always that one thing about 'em that makes their face look so....punchable.

And I don't know about any of you fellas or gals out there, but if I ever had a relationship, I wouldn't want my partner to be someone who's mouth is the literal equivalent of a shit basket.

I mean, that's just me.

And I wouldn't want to be with someone who made me want to cry or smack myself upside the head every time I'm near them.

But before I get too rant-y here, lemme just back up a bit because as difficult as it is to comprehend, these loathing pieces of foxdung have an actual reason for being overused.

Back before this was a "cliche", the badboyxgoodgirl scenario was probably used as a love story with characters who contradicted each other so much that any scenario with them would be seen as comical or destructive.
Adding onto that, they might've been shoved together to create this line of dynamic character development and change as the plot went on.

Ex: BB learns that being bad isn't the only way to go in life and eventually he becomes softer, more forgiving, and learns to control his deep emotional turmoil.

GG realizes that it's okay to be a little wild and let loose because we are all human and we all need a break from the rule book every once in a while.

This pair didn't even have to be in a relationship to show that they were changing. As the story goes and the longer they hang out, the easier it is for them to influence each other's behavior.
Which, by the way, is very much possible and completely realistic. That's just what friends do.

It was when the "love" factor came in and destroyed everything that I came to respect in books that changed how the Badboyxgoodgirl relationship. Now it was okay to toss these two together, make no possible character development or change, and people would still eat it up like eye candy.

So, my fellow Badboy haters, this used to be a decent character, as hard as it is to believe. People just need to tone down the speed dating and action for a while and actually attempt to put some personality into their character.
But that's a rant for later.

Moving on, I can now rip this monstrosity apart.

Today's Badboy is categorized by being arrogant, condescending, harsh, and ruggedly handsome.
And smokes. Or drinks beer. Even though most are under the appropriate age and shouldn't be able to consume the hard stuff without feeling the effects.

But I digress.

You know what badboy character I absolutely loved?

Nico de Angelo.

But I loved him because he was written well, often dealing with personal issues and finding it difficult to prove himself as a Demigod.

My FRIEND on the other hand– as with so many young girls– had an obsession with him. If you look up on Wattpad for Nico de Angelo stories....actually, no, don't do that. Please.
It's almost as bad as some of the Sonic fanfics I've seen. Almost.

Rick Riordan caught whiff of how many young girls romanticized his Badboy character and decided to break all of their little hearts into teeny tiny pieces simultaneously.

He made Nico gay.

And now my respect for this beloved author is higher than ever because of that.

People don't bother to take the risks of developing their characters– especially this overused one– because they're afraid of losing readers.

And with the Badboy, it's just so much easier these days to throw on a leather jacket, add in a few terrible qualities, and wrap him up in an underdeveloped pitifully sad backstory.

Let's bring in a "badboy" who watched little kids shows in his free time or gets caught in his shenanigans way too many times and is given actual punishments.

Or one who does prank wars.
Real prank wars.

Anyways.
There's my take on a badboy. Feel free to say your opinion on this. I like hearing you readers' sides of things, even if you don't agree with me.

So...
Vote!
Comment!
And I will see YOU in the next rant!!!!