Bad guys have the advantage in a fight they can cheap shot the good guy...

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I'd go for a good guy with an angsty or troubled past. The good guy also hasta have a lot of insecurities about what he's doing and be willing to kick some major ass. I don't like the idealistic goody-two shoes who spend their time living honorably (only one i did was Kenshin, but he had a troubled past). I'd also go for an evil guy who's past was divulged, you'd need to see the evil dude's troubled past or something to see what's wrong with him/her. That way you can truly understand the villian and not hate him as a villian at all.

I don't think that evil is funny enough for me to ally with them. Unless it's HK-47. He's hilarious. I usually lean towards neutral so that I can hang out with the characters that are good for a laugh.

This signature was recovered from Hades to serve in my rotting armies.

basically i think we're all in the general consensus that archetypical heroes and villians suck, and it's better to have them be original or have issues and problems.

I nearly always sympathise with the protagonist, though if I don't like the protagonist I most likely wont watch the series.

Evil..... i cant stand 99.9% of those good main characters.....they really piss me off, the evil ones are always so much better.....

[img]http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/4158/1205047355313.gif[/img]

As you said evil sounds great...In mangas I prefer the bad boys, the once who are doing or did something bad or kills or killed people without or with a reason! bad forever !

You know, you love me

Many of the stuff I like have no clear good or evil characters..... I prefer the seinen drama types like Mushishi, YKK or Solanin.

But I guess it depends..... Alucard is as evil as they come, but he's the good-guy.... you get what I mean.

Decepticons beat Autobums, though!!... Viva Megatron.

Point & Squirt

I'm not partial, really - or rather, whether a character fits into the paradigms of good or evil isn't enough to determine whether or not I sympathize with them. I also think there's a distinction to be made between sympathizing with a character and being interested in said character. While theoretically I would sympathize with the brave knight who sets out to save a princess who's been kidnapped by an evil wizard, if that's all there is to it then I'm not going to be interested enough to see the knight's quest through. At the same time, I don't necessarily need to sympathize with a character for me to find said character compelling enough to interest me in their story. I absolutely hated Lucy from the Elfin Lied anime (haven't read the manga yet), and no matter how much of her tragic past they showed in an effort to get the audience to sympathize with her, I didn't. But she kept me watching for 14 episodes.

Quote from Stealth

Good vs Evil... bleh... such a Manichean concept. I hate it. There is no good and no evil. Who are we to say what is good and what is evil?! All we could afford to judge is it goes against our principles and morals or not. But it's pretty self centered to think your morals are absolute and are the one true good in this world.
You are free to accept or not that people live with different standards. But from there to say that they are evil... that's stuff that we should leave to religious fanatics.
I'm not saying murders don't deserve to be punished, they are breaking the law, they know they are... it's the way society works. But you can't say that they are pure evil either. They had a succession of reasons that made them go down that path.

But that sort of morally relativistic reasoning leads to a bit of a slippery slope, doesn't it? What basis is there, then, for condemning or punishing any sort of crime or atrocity, or even labeling it as such? If there is no good or evil, and any act can only be said to either violate or not violate our own principals or morals, then there would seem to be no crime with which the murderers you mention (or rapists, or any other criminal) can be charged, except offending our own personal sensibilities or some statute penned by some legislator somewhere.

If there is no good or evil, then murderers indeed don't deserve to be punished (the word "deserve" itself being of the same normative strain as "good" or "evil"), because there's nothing to punish them for. After all, I'm sure people like Jeffrey Dahmer or Pol Pot had a 'succession of reasons' that made them go down their respective paths. Without good and evil, who can say they did anything wrong?

While I agree with you that labeling people as 'good' or 'evil' is fallacious in the extreme, I believe that there are certain actions that can be classified as unequivocally good or evil, independent of (and in some cases contrary to) any religion or belief system. Reason and logic can be used to determine what's right and what's wrong. Thus, while I don't consider my personal sense of morality to be absolute or the 'one true good', any flaws in my sense of right and wrong are due to flaws in my rational evaluation of a given situation, mere logic errors.

Quote from Stealth

On the subject of this thread, the characters I like the most are the human ones. The ones that aren't portrayed as saints, nor demons. The ones that have their own values and try hard to stick to them.

I agree with you here, wholeheartedly. I remember one of my favorite characters being Dr. Doom from the Fantastic Four. While certainly a villain in the classic sense of the word, complete with aspirations of world domination, Doom had a sense of honor and principles as iron-clad as himself. And while certainly much of his vitriol towards Reed Richards and humanity in general clearly stemmed from his inability to acknowledge his own faults, Doom wanted to take over the world because he honestly believed it would be a better place with him in charge - and he has reason to think so, given that the one country he does consistently control is in fact better off under his rule than it was under previous despots.

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But that sort of morally relativistic reasoning leads to a bit of a slippery slope, doesn't it? What basis is there, then, for condemning or punishing any sort of crime or atrocity, or even labeling it as such? If there is no good or evil, and any act can only be said to either violate or not violate our own principals or morals, then there would seem to be no crime with which the murderers you mention (or rapists, or any other criminal) can be charged, except offending our own personal sensibilities or some statute penned by some legislator somewhere.

good and evil are extremely subjective to each person. these views are heavily influenced by the cultural environment you are raised in. so i don't think its wrong to say "there is no good and no evil" because honestly... theres no way to objectivly judge something like this.
things like canibalism, or sacrifing humans are accepted by some tribes as means to survive/religion... while my morals say this is wrong i find it difficult to label something like this as "evil".

but there are rules nessecairy for a society to survive... and there are some behaviours that are generelly viewn as "bad" by most cultures. but for a person as a whole to be "evil" or entirely "good"? i don't think that exists^^. maybe someone whose gone nuts and just wants to destroy everything is evil but well ... that person is most likely ill in some way XD (there are pretty intersting plots with psychopaths).

of course this leads to the problem what is a crime and what not... but normally there is a certain consesus on the most imporatant topics in a country... and they change with time.

@topic

personally i rarely like those overly idealistic heroes who want to save everything without harming anybody 🤨 not because i think such a character is unrealistic (it is) but mainly because its plain boring and simplistic^^. however there are mangas where this is done well ( i can count them with one hand though).

same goes for the evil guys. if the big evil boss just wants to conquer/destroy the world for the sake of it, i don't care about them. but in general the bad guys have a way better background story than the main character, and their motives are a bit more complex than just "be evil"^^

so i guess i go for the neutral guys ... there's nothing wrong with helping people but everybody has weaknesses, one isnt pure good/evil

I think it really depends on the serie and on the characters.

I usually hate the naive good guy (Naruto anyone?), but I still support the good guy who doesn't mind the sacrifice something in order to achieve his goal (ex Ares in Ares).

It also depends on POV. I usually prefer series where there is no clear distinction between good and evil.

What I like in Trivial Pursuit style. Pick your category:[img]http://i379.photobucket.com/albums/oo233/Reid4891/Manga/trivia-1.jpg[/img]

depends.
i don't think it matters on the character, but on the motives and reasons one is fighting in the first place.
Naruto has all noble intentions but sasuke (the bitch-pardon my french) is an idiot and is only based off of revenge.

I have seen many things where those whom most would consider "good" were actually currupt and bad (evil)- like Angel sanctuary. some of the demons were good, and most of the angels were bad.

Take WoW (yes i am one of those... sadly =.=), the good arnt exactly "good", they attack the horde side because of looks, the elves (on the alliance) started the whole damn war in the first place.

And honestly the Horde isn't so innocent either... =.= "they started it" isn't the best motive but the "they are destroying our freaking land" is.

I'll take either side honestly. As long as that side has somewhat better intentions 😁 . i know i'm childish, but screw it, i accept it.

and honestly i believe we all have some "good" and "bad" in us, in fact i believe we have more "bad" within our hearts.

[img]http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i228/hollyadair/metalocalypse.gif[/img]

i don't sympathize with the groupings of "bad" guys or "good" guys...i think they're generally idiots for taking sides in the first place, so i just lean towards which ever protagonist/antagonist that is more attractive (for looks/attitude/actions)

The Deviant

I was always a fan of the Chaotic Neutral from D&D based PC games.... Just basically do w/e the fuck you want, if it benefits you or your cause.... I really hate characters that have the uncompromising morals shit...

Quote from patapuf

good and evil are extremely subjective to each person. these views are heavily influenced by the cultural environment you are raised in. so i don't think its wrong to say "there is no good and no evil" because honestly... theres no way to objectivly judge something like this.
things like canibalism, or sacrifing humans are accepted by some tribes as means to survive/religion... while my morals say this is wrong i find it difficult to label something like this as "evil".

You may find it difficult; I don't. I think human sacrifice is evil, plain and simple, regardless of what any religion says. There's no rational justification for it. The same goes for the practices of stoning women to death for adultery, burning witches, torturing heretics, 'honor' killings, and all other atrocities that have at some point been advocated by some school of thought in various religions throughout history. Cannibalism, I would say, depends on the situation.

but there are rules nessecairy for a society to survive... and there are some behaviours that are generelly viewn as "bad" by most cultures. but for a person as a whole to be "evil" or entirely "good"? i don't think that exists^^. maybe someone whose gone nuts and just wants to destroy everything is evil but well ... that person is most likely ill in some way XD (there are pretty intersting plots with psychopaths).

I agree; I've already said that there's no such thing as a unilaterally good or evil person. There are shades of gray in almost everything, but some actions can be said to be unequivocally bad.

Allow me to reacquaint you with... THE GROUND!