Discussion about characters' popularity

[Grem]

This is a topic idea I had for a while, but didn't want to do because I feared that it would turn into a bashing of some characters. Anyway, I think it's interesting to discuss why some characters are so popular and praised while some others are simply forgotten.

Here's my observations :

-Jill and Wesker are essentially the most popular characters within the franchise, and Kawata in a recent interview of EGM confirmed that.
-Since RE4, Leon is bashed on RE forums while casual gamers who discovered RE with RE4 tend to love him.
-Chris and Claire are very unpopular outside of RE fans communities.

With all these observations, I simply wonder why?

Jill is pretty obvious : She's just the sexy female protagonist. That's the only reason I think she's so popular. In my own opinion, she's not better than any of the other protagonists. I thought she was pretty bland even in comparison with the other 3 protagonists.

Wesker does make sense, since he is the main antagonist. He's the only one loved by fans AND people not totally familiar with the series.

For Leon, I don't know what's the problem with this guy. Newbies who discovered RE with RE4 think he's the best, and fans hate him because of that. I disagree with both sides. I just like Leon for what he is : a good protagonist, but not as important as Chris or Jill. He became pretty generic after RE4 and is just your typical James bond wannabe. Still lovable and cool, but far less interesting and relevant than Chris, for example.

Chris, on the contrary feels completely unloved. He's described as the most bland and boring protagonist when he shows that he's got more personnality the others. I can understand that people think he's somewhat unnoriginal, but he shows his temper quite well throughout the series and is really the main protagonist.
I just hate to see the usual threads online : "who is better? Chris or Leon?" and always the same replies "Leon would break Chris! Leon rocks! Chris just took steroides..blablabla"
Man, even making a comparison between the two is dumb. Both are good and have their own advantages and weaknesses. You just cannot tell who is better. Plain and simple.

Claire is on the same line than Chris, but she's far less important to the series than her brother, so it's understandable.

What are your thoughts?

[Exactly]

Nice topic, and I basically agree with you. I do feel that Jill is a very bland and boring character and her popularity stems from her being 2D eye candy.

I personally don't like Chris because of his somewhat angry attitude. He reminds me of Sailor Uranus from the Sailor Moon anime series. I also think that Claire and Leon has the most personality. Wesker is just a cliche villain who wants to take over the world and build everything in his own image.

I do wonder outside of these biohazardous breakouts, what are the charactrs really like.

[GuardhouseMusic]

RE2 Leon's my favorite character. He's vulnerable and naive yet determined, and he grows through his time with Ada and the gravity of Umbrella's control over Raccoon City.

I enjoy Jill, but it's less for any concrete reason and more for her intangible change from RE1 to RE3. I mean, it's hard to imagine considering it, especially because she was just dumb in the first one. Still, I liked the complete 180 of her attitude. Her popularity can easily be chalked up to her conspicuousness and yes, sex appeal.

[Bertha]

Definitely agree with you about Jill. As I mentioned before in the old Jill arguments, I felt that Jill was very much just there for sex appeal. Even her diary is more about her whining because Chris is going on the hunt for Umbrella and largely trying to shield her. I feel like her being in the movie and being somewhat accurately portrayed by a decently talented, attractive woman also gives her popularity a boost (though her cameo on the latest movie looks like terrible cosplay). I used to adore Jill. But over the years I've slowly come to dislike her character. Part would be due to the community, part would be due to the terrible writing of her character.

I dislike Leon because he's too heroic a character. Arrive in a zombie infested city on his first day as a cop, instantly displays his "I'll save the world and everyone I come across despite the fact that I have no idea what the hell is going on!" badge, and then stupidly believes anything he wants about Ada because he "falls in love" with her. I mean...he literally only knows her a few hours and when Annette confronts him, he tells her "She's not like that! I know her!" Uh....what? I can slightly understand his change in attitude in 4, but that made him feel more bland, and then the movie sealed it for me.

I feel that Leon was made to be a counter to Chris, but Chris has a maturity level that exceeds Leon's. Personally, I'd toss them both aside for a character more like Bruce or one of the Outbreak males (in terms of male protagonists). But in the Chris v Leon debate...Chris wins it for me. I just dont see any reason to like Leon more than Chris.

As far as Claire goes...I want to like her so badly. However, the creators are very content with turning her into the babysitter. Sherry, Steve, the girl from Degen...I'm honestly shocked Claire didn't swoop in in RE4 and take over protecting Ashley. "Guarding someone, Leon? They constantly getting away from you? Dont worry Leon....I'm personally trained by the Babysitter's Club!" Claire seems spunky and strong, but so played down. Even in CV she ends up getting rescued by big brother Chris.

[Guest]

In RE2, at least Leon wasn't super-emo like in RE4.
But the real problem is = CAPCOM

While Mikami was producing REMAKE and Zero, other producers were fucking up the Resident Evil franchise. And after that, Mikami at least could save a bit of RE story by entering as Executive Director.

After that, Mikami left CAPCOM and everything went down the toilet. The characters and story were super-off.
Jill = Only you Chris can save the world (WTF)
Chris = Now on Steroids
Wesker = Matrix?
Annette (Darkside) = She's not psycho.
Sherry (Darkside) = She changed papers with Annette, now she's psycho, doesn't love her own mom.
Alexia (Darkside) = She killed his brother, that is ultra-wrong. And her voice is awful.
Carlos (Umb. Chr.) = The only thing that has to do with original is his appearance and the fact he is a good mercenary.

[Vector]

-Since RE4, Leon is bashed on RE forums while casual gamers who discovered RE with RE4 tend to love him.

You really hit the nail on the head here. I've seen multiple polls on non-RE gaming forums where they ask who the best RE character is, and it's not even close. Leon pulls away with a vast majority of the vote, followed by Jill and usually Wesker. Chris doesn't get honorable mention, and Claire is completely missing. Every once in a while someone will throw in Ada.

Meanwhile, if you come to a place like this one, people see Leon for what he really is -- a decent character who starred in the series' most successful and revolutionary game that introduced RE to the bigtime mainstream. He's just way too much for me. The hair, the stupid one-liners, the over-the-top action sequences...RE2 Leon was much more likable than his RE4 or Degeneration version.

As for Chris, he'll always hold a special place for me because he's the star of the original. I always played as him. He had pretty good reasons to have such a personal vendetta against Umbrella, and I respect the fact he dedicated his life to fighting bioterrorism. Jill, though? I wish I could say she was an independent woman and a 'role model' for female video game characters, but that'd be an outright lie. All she really ever does is follow Chris's lead.

[Grem]

I do wonder outside of these biohazardous breakouts, what are the charactrs really like

Same here. You can see a glimpse of that in Degeneration, but it's pretty much inconsistant.

I wonder if characters like Chris or Jill would appear as serious as they were during their missions, for example.

RE2 Leon's my favorite character. He's vulnerable and naive yet determined, and he grows through his time with Ada and the gravity of Umbrella's control over Raccoon City.

Yes, Leon's personnality was very good during RE2. He had some weaknesses and this idealistic persona that made him interesting, but with RE4 he became an ordinary action man. Ironically, it's his RE4 personnality that got the most attention which led me to believe that some people like characters more for superficial reasons : if he looks cool/hot or whatever then the character is good. I don't think so.

I feel that Leon was made to be a counter to Chris, but Chris has a maturity level that exceeds Leon's. Personally, I'd toss them both aside for a character more like Bruce or one of the Outbreak males (in terms of male protagonists). But in the Chris v Leon debate...Chris wins it for me. I just dont see any reason to like Leon more than Chris.

As for Chris, he'll always hold a special place for me because he's the star of the original. I always played as him. He had pretty good reasons to have such a personal vendetta against Umbrella, and I respect the fact he dedicated his life to fighting bioterrorism. Jill, though? I wish I could say she was an independent woman and a 'role model' for female video game characters, but that'd be an outright lie. All she really ever does is follow Chris's lead.

That's why I don't really understand all the hype for Leon or Jill.
One of the reason I like Chris more than them, is partly because Chris was designed like an average man. He looked normal but showed that he was extremely tough. He's the perfect character for what RE was supposed to be before RE4: A survival horror game in a more or less credible universe.
But people are looking for eccentric and inhumanly cool heroes in a videogame. Chris does not fall in that category and just because he doesn't look ultra-cool doesn't mean that the character is completely uninteresting.

And you're right Vector, I thought Jill's importance in the series is just that she's Chris' sidekick in the end.

[Inferno04]

Personally, I'd toss them both aside for a character more like Bruce or one of the Outbreak males (in terms of male protagonists)

I'm not alone. o.o

Chris and Leon both feel very flat to me...you know something is wrong when oneshot side characters are more appealing than the main two males. Something about me likes RE4 Leon though, he's got this slight sarcasm that I enjoy.

[alexdz]

I don't really care about the main characters from the series. To me Jill and Chris are very bland and Leon is the guy who makes 14yo go "he's so cooooool", Claire is the only one I like but I wouldn't care if she didn't appear again, any of them actually.

I see the characters as anything but the focus on the series, they're just there because the player needs to control something in that enviroment of danger. People just like X character because of the game they are in, if it was Bruce instead of Leon on RE4 people would love him, if it was Rebecca instead of Jill on RE3 people would love her and so on and on. There's no focus on the characters' personality and emotions, so what most people see in them is just they doing crazy shit and going "he's/she's so coooool".

[the cure]

barry!!! jill is only famous because she has big boobs

[Grem]

alexdz : I disagree. If Leon and his relationship with Ada weren't in RE2, I would have probably never liked that game.
Just like CV would not be the same without Chris and his rivalry with Wesker. Protagonists can contribute to the whole game appeal, in my opinion.

[Gambit]

Perhaps people find comfort in Leon because Chris is just your standard action hero. We've seen that character so many times, y'know, single-minded and hot tempered. I use to like Jill (only because she was the first female character I've ever played with), but she's just...so bland and one dimensional. I find Leon to be refreshing. He has personality, but that doesn't mean it's a good one. I'm deeply annoyed with the guy. I try to like Claire, but I always get flashbacks to Code Veronica's opening and I just dislike the gal.

So, I suppose it just depends on what you prefer :/

[alexdz]

alexdz : I disagree. If Leon and his relationship with Ada weren't in RE2, I would have probably never liked that game.
Just like CV would not be the same without Chris and his rivalry with Wesker. Protagonists can contribute to the whole game appeal, in my opinion.

Yeah but those are just secondary aspects of the games, not the main deal. I'm not saying that characters are not important just that they're not the focus, the protagonists didn't have much of a development besides "Now they work for the govermnent or a NGO", to me Chris, Claire and Jill sound the same since Code Veronica and RE3 and Leon has his personality changed every game. They've seem some pretty fucked up stuff in their lives but weren't really changed by it.

[Dracarys]

Jill was popular when she was only in RE1, I've never understood where this idea she is sexed up is from anyway, I certainly disagree with it, in RE1 she wasn't at all, unless you are some sort of sexual recluse who doesn't go out and see women often then RE3 was less sexed up and more a typical young womens wear, her personality was not changed at all. For some reason Claire gets a free pass for wearing hotpants, three times...

I wouldn't speak for every Jill fan but I personally like her because she is a strong independant female character only is still vunerable, she has emotions that show but doesn't let them control her, is willing to rely on others for help, most female characters that try be strong end up being like Lara Croft who just kicks the crap out of everything and then maybe feels bad for a few moments (if you're lucky) before kicking more ass. Jill by comparison is very down to earth and thus easier to identify with which goes a long way in the like for character. Jill has featured in other non RE games also, as well as the only movie featured character to physically resemble the game character, the exposure all adds up.

Leons currently popularity is proably a large part the appeal to young, stupid, girls and young boys who have yet to realise how awful curtains look. I think the split in his popularity from those who liked him in RE2 is from such the drastic character change, he was the rookie cop caught in a horrific scenario with some emotional story and then he dissapears and returns a highly trained government agent who goes and seeks out bad guys to throw lame one liners at, run up walls with and do flips for.

Chris I long ago discovered has more fans with an older male crowd, I guess he identifies better with that agegroup, the vast majoirty of people on gaming forums are younger so his popularity is probably misconstrued/underated. Are plenty of people who like the Chris/Jill couple idea also.

Claire is a difficult one to work out. Personally I liked her in RE2 but since CV that started to decline, my personal reasons for liking Jill Claire is doing the opposite of. In RE2 she seemed down to earth enough, then in CV she turned into an action girl, unlike Jill she was meant to be a civvy yet starts doing all fancy action sequences and gun maneuvers and I just found none of it believable (accounting for suspension of disbelief), she was a lot stronger than her RE2 self but then breaks down crying at the end when steve dies. Gone from overly strong to overly weak. I think most of her fans are long timers from RE2 and that less were created in CV, but RE2 was so long ago and with the drought of new Claire material over the years her popularity has faded with fans who moved on. Her repeated mother role probably doesn't help, mums are rarely cool.

Wesker appeal is obvious, the 'cool and calm' bad guy in sunglasses appeals to plenty of people, his quotes especially in RE5 are a great source of humour and humour breeds like.

[Mr. Spencer]

Cole Phelps