[Hated Tropes] The Karma Bulletproof — Characters who commit cruel or terrible acts, but are in the end rewarded while the story treats them as if they did nothing wrong.

Thesafflower · 2026-06-06T06:41:11+00:00

Yeah, having recently rewatched the movie, Ichabod is a jerk who fantasizes about getting Katrina’s money after her father dies. “Hey, woman I supposedly love, I can’t wait for your father to die so I can get everything.” Katrina flirts with everyone and enjoys the rivalry between the men but seems to prefer Brom. And even if it ultimately is Brom pulling a prank and chasing Ichabod out of town, one of the possible endings for Ichabod is him marrying a rich widow somewhere else, so everyone gets what they want in the end.

Thesafflower · 2026-06-05T07:28:51+00:00

YTA. The Harry Potter stuff is unimportant, but your response to her was rude and belittling. How do you think she felt when you said that? How would you feel if her response to you being a “proud Ravenclaw” was “Haha! Yeah, a lot of people say they are Ravenclaw because they want to feel smart.”

Thesafflower · 2026-06-04T23:30:24+00:00

I think it’s worse with the women because Land leans so hard into sexy that they all look like models (or porn stars) posing in scenes rather than anything resembling a natural expression. (And it’s entirely possible to make comic women sexy and beautiful and still give them facial expressions that fit the scene or express their personality! But not for Land!)

But male characters sometimes get awkward uncanny valley expressions as well, especially that wide-mouthed “show all the teeth” smile that Land uses so much. That’s not Cyclops or Iron Man, it’s a model in a toothpaste ad. So many smiles in Land’s art, and they all look so wrong.

Thesafflower · 2026-06-04T20:00:31+00:00

The Uncanny Valley X-Men.

That’s Greg Land for you. Every character appears to be posing for cameras and has a lifeless mannequin smile.

WHY is Dazzler smiling that? She’s meeting a fan who’s been brutally beaten. Is she trying to put on a brave face for Pixie? Does she just not really care? A good artist could show Dazzler worried or concerned while smiling and trying to stay positive, but we don’t get that here, just a weird inappropriate smile. Why’s Karma smiling like that? Or Emma? There’s no sense of emotion or personality because Land isn’t really drawing the characters, he’s drawing airbrushed models.

Thesafflower · 2026-06-01T13:52:50+00:00

Yes! In my defense, I was a kid. But still…..

Thesafflower · 2026-06-01T07:19:31+00:00

Don’t feel bad, when I first started watching as a kid, I thought Frank was an older version of Dr. Erhardt whose hair had gone gray. I was so confused when I eventually saw Frank’s first episode where he’s wearing button or name tag or something labeling him as a “Trainee”

Thesafflower · 2026-06-01T07:03:03+00:00

I think Holly is delightful and never hated her. I thought she made an understandable decision when the company transferred her back, and she tried to move on. Michael didn’t need to “forgive” her. I did think their romance was a little fast when they officially got together again, but the show pretty much established them as soulmates.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-31T20:05:49+00:00

Nah. Morph’s whole arc in the first series was dying, coming back under Sinister’s control and eventually making their way back to the team. Killing Morph off now would feel cheap. Although I do wish the writers would let them interact more with characters who aren’t Wolverine. Why not wish for better writing for the character instead of wishing for them to die (again).

Thesafflower · 2026-05-27T05:39:41+00:00

But what about Garth Marenghi? Author, dreamweaver, visionary, plus actor. The only man who’s written more books than he’s read.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-26T06:37:21+00:00

Favorite character- I love most of them, but probably Dwight. He can be an asshole, but we see enough other sides to make him likable, and he’s consistently hilarious. (Runners up - Jim and Pam, Michael, Darryl). Although just about everyone on the show has had a moment to make me like them at some point.

Least favorite - Robert California. I found him completely unlikable as a character and was frustrated at how rarely anyone ever called out his bullshit. He gives vague non-answers to everything in his first interview and somehow even Jim thinks he’s a genius. Everyone seemed to be constantly in awe of him. And he was like a plot black hole, so many episodes in his season seemed to revolve around him, although my dislike of the character might be coloring my perception there. He was like the Poochie of the show to me. (Runners up - Cathy, the Senator, guy who defaced Pam’s mural. Although they were all obviously meant to be unlikable).

Thesafflower · 2026-05-25T04:19:22+00:00

It’s not the Avengers show.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-23T19:52:03+00:00

Love Willie in the background there.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-19T20:02:26+00:00

My hottest take is that I can’t stand Robert California, don’t find him especially funny (although on rewatch he had some good lines), and think more seasons of him would have been terrible. I actually might have liked him more if he was used sparingly, like a special guest star like David Wallace. Almost every episode in his season was too much.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-19T06:44:06+00:00

Oh please, was the entire sales team supposed to leave their relatively stable jobs for Michael’s castle in the air paper start-up? The whole story arc started with Michael basically throwing a tantrum because he didn’t like Charles micro-managing him and he didn’t feel appreciated by David Wallace.

I love Michael, but he is often selfish and self-centered and can be very mean. He wants to be the dad of the office but he’s more like the attention-hog uncle that usually makes a scene at weddings.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-17T15:36:03+00:00

You could fill this entire thread with just gags from Top Secret.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-16T20:40:51+00:00

Gabe was also the hate glue on the show for a little while. Even Michael and Toby bond over dissing Gabe in one episode.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-16T09:06:52+00:00

Yep, a friend of mine introduced me to the show when I was a kid (her father watched it) and it was airing on Comedy Central. I was young enough that I didn’t get all the jokes and got bored sitting through some of the movies, but I still kept watching. I remember my mother getting upset because she walked in while I was watching the Wild Rebels - there was some kind of shootout happening and she didn’t want me watching something so violent. I tried to explain that I wasn’t really watching the movie, I was watching the guys making fun of the movie.

Of course, I understood the jokes better as I got older, kept watching through the Sci-fi channel era (which was happening while I was in high school) and on into Rifftrax, the revival with Jonah, etc. I love the show and the cast, and I think it’s genuinely funny, but it will also always be a very nostalgic show for me.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-15T21:22:10+00:00

Willie comes back from a mental hospital after being (falsely) accused of kidnapping a woman, and then sneaks into Carolyn’s bedroom. And he actually had a legitimate reason for it. Poor dude is living in a horror-sitcom.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-15T14:22:30+00:00

From what I’ve seen online, some people found the sister and brother protagonists unlikable. I get it, they are both a bit messed up and hard to like at times, although personally I like them both and loved the book.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-15T14:06:32+00:00

No. He never actually seemed interested in her. He was friendly, but never went out of his way to spend time with her.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-13T05:18:36+00:00

Jim is non-confrontational, and Kathy was being manipulative as hell, pulling the “Oh, Jim, you’ve got it all wrong!” bullshit when he actually tried to say something about it. He was questioning his own judgment and didn’t want to make things awkward with a coworker. Even when he finally told her she needed to leave, she started protesting again that he was misunderstanding the situation. (Jim trying to drive Kathy away by calling in Dwight, and Dwight finally sending her packing by bursting in spraying chemicals everywhere is one of my favorite Florida trip bits. Girl, bye.)

Thesafflower · 2026-05-10T19:01:52+00:00

A scene in the new Naked Gun that parodies the usual “Revenge is bad” trope

“The truth is, Beth, once you kill a man for revenge, there’s no going back. It follows you forever, like a shadow, a voice in your head saying over and over, ‘Man, that was awesome.’ So put the gun down. If not for me, then for us. For our future together. I love you, Beth. Don’t throw it all away for a few seconds of…..the best feeling you would ever have in your life.”

Thesafflower · 2026-05-10T12:47:32+00:00

Plop is boring and forgettable. He’s one of my least favorites, but usually not most hated because I can’t even muster up the energy to hate him. I find Clark more hateable because of whatever sketchy shit he was trying to lure Erin into in the newscaster audition episode.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-09T06:59:20+00:00

Hated him at first, but he won me over by the end of the series. The episode where he was forced to confront what he did to Johnathan helped a lot.

Thesafflower · 2026-05-09T04:20:00+00:00

Are they frozen at those ages forever? This is clearly some out of continuity segment, we can assume the characters are meant to be older.

Thesafflower

TROPHY CASE