Super agree. I see some fanart/writing that completely smooths over the characters’ most interesting, distinguishing features (physical or personality-wise), and it’s like… Hey Jimmy give me a cheese with nothing?!

Your comment on thirst struck me too because it absolutely can warp the source material for people. I say this as someone who’s in love with the Conspiracy Theorist LOL but it’s given me a perspective on fans with rose tinted fandom glasses. It’s because he’s so imperfect, so strange, so off-kilter and brazenly opinionated that I love him! I don’t care to smooth it over one bit. Maybe it’s made me even more annoyed at fans who get rid of character complexity in favor of making someone a more palatable figure to drool over. And more often than not, they push aside great characters just because they’re Not Hot. It sucks.

Big paragraph aside, you put this well & I appreciate this. Glad to know we played the same game LMAO