Rank 100: Heather
Total Drama
Is anyone shocked? Probably, because the TD franchise has been going downhill for years now and Heather is a controversial figure.
However, she actually ends up being my favorite character from the series because of her main villain to anti-villain to anti-hero and avenger of anyone eliminated by the "Big Bad" Alejandro in season 3. That's the main reason why I like her so much: she has GROWTH, and is one of the few TD characters that actually grows during her time on the show, in any season. She starts out as being extremely cutthroat and mean in season 1, and yeah...I was rooting against her, of course. But even back in season 1, I honestly respected how cunning and ruthless she was in her gameplay. TD is meant to be a show that parodies reality television, and she NAILED the backstabbing archetype of reality tv player perfectly. She reminds me of Parvati Shallow from Survivor, on that note.
However, after her infamous tear through the game in season 1, she softens in future seasons. She's still snarky and cunning in season 2, but isn't actively trying to hurt people in TDA. Instead, Courtney picks of the mantle of being "mean" towards other players, while Heather is snarky yet ultimately harmless. She even makes a truce with one of her arch enemies: Leshawna, during the course of the season. I thought something like that would never happen! She ends up being booted roughly halfway through the season, which was a fair place to eliminate her since she made it to the semi-finals in season 1.
Then, season 3 happened...this is where I came to adore Heather. I was a big TD fan throughout middle school and high school, but season 3 was where I fully came to appreciate the writing of Heather, specifically. This is where, instead of being portrayed as a "big bad" character, instead she's actually the main RIVAL of the big bad of season 3: Alejandro. This was unexpected at first; like...how could ANYONE root for Heather after her established legacy? Well...the writers made her softer. She still has the snark, but shows that...she can actually be NICE, and is definitely much more mature on season 3 than in season 1. Who was the person to buckle down and lead her team despite the vastly different personalities? Heather. Who was the ONLY person to see through Alejandro's charming fascade from the beginning, and actually seeing him for being a snake and a jerk? Heather. Who was the FIRST person to comfort Courtney after her breakup? That's right...Heather, surprisingly. Shows that she does have a heart! Who was shocked by Alejandro's ruthless gameplay, of all people? Heather, the queen bee. And finally...who was the one to take out the main villain of the season and win the competition for the year? Heather. Ironically, even after Alejandro blows the lead and falls into 2nd place in World Tour, him and Heather enter a steady relationship during All-Stars.
In any event, there have been a few good characters in the TD series...but very few are GREAT. However, there is one exception to that...and that character is Heather. She becomes a lot nicer over the course of the three key seasons where she's a main character, and she goes from the most hateable villain on cartoon network...into the unexpected anti-hero and "good guy" that took out the most overpowered player in World Tour. She's got growth, and definitely deserves a spot in the top 100, especially since she was my favorite cartoon character after my World Tour re-watch back in 2014. And, she pulls off the cunning strategist stereotype in reality tv excellently.
Rank 99: Miles "Tails" Prower
Sonic the Hedgehog
Ah, Tails...what a journey you've had.
The reason why Tails is the ultimate sidekick is because he's undyingly loyal to Sonic and never leaves his side. For that, I respect the fox boy a lot. Secondly, he has infinite lives. What other sidekick can resurrect themselves INFINITELY after being taken out by any kind of enemy? Well, Tails can. Been doing it since Sonic 2. If you all haven't seen the Dorkly Bits sketch called "TAILS CANNOT DIE", I would recommend you go and watch it.
Third, if we ignore Sonic Forces (which unfortunately butchered his character development), he's got solid character development throughout the series of games. He starts out as being the coatTAIL rider of Sonic (sorry, not sorry
), but in Adventure 1 and 2 he ends up learning how important it is to be independent and think for himself. He ends up becoming much more mature during those games, and after those games (Forces aside) he doesn't require being attached at Sonic's hip throughout the game. It's nice to see that development, and he has one of the better written characters of the game series because of it. This is seen especially well in Colors and Generations, when he investigates the world himself and relays back to Sonic any information he finds...ya know, on his own.
Finally, he's very likable. Soft-spoken but intelligent, and has an innocent personality. I'm a self-proclaimed nerd myself so I can relate to Tails in that regard, even though I would say the Sonic character I most CLOSELY relate to concerning personality is Vector (Vector's an ENTJ, Tails is an INTP). In any event, he's very likable and definitely one of the best Sonic characters (and the highest one on this list actually; spoiler alert).
Rank 98: Ness
Earthbound/Mother
MY BOI <3
I'm so glad I started to main Ness in Smash, because it helped me appreciate his character more and how he came to be. He stars in the cult classic game "Earthbound", and RPG when him and three other kids (or young teenagers, since Ness is canonically 13) are tasked to defeat Giygas before it takes over the world. It's a very colorful and fun RPG, and we get to see into Ness' mind especially well during the Magicant section of the game. We get to see into Ness' mind through Magicant in Earthbound. Within his own Magicant world, I always interpreted his Magicant as a place that reflects his key character traits: being brave, loyal to his friends, and optimistic. We see this well in Brawl's Subspace Emissary as well, where his BFF Lucas (or one of his BFFs, Ness also gets along well with Luigi and DDD in SSE) is someone who is timid and cynical throughout most of the game mode, while Ness is more courageous and optimistic. He's just got a lot of raw likability to him, and me using him a lot in Smash helps a lot. He's a character that seems kinda...very plain and shallow, similar to Link or Mario. However, sometimes he shows signs of depth that must not go unnoticed.
Also, have I mentioned how FUN he is to play in Smash? He's SOOOOO rewarding to play as, for real. It's why I picked him up as my #1 in Ultimate and PM.
Rank 97: Rika Furude
Higurashi
This picture reminds me of Majora's Mask for some reason.
Now, I watched Higurashi back in 2014, and it's been many years since then but I still remember the events vividly. No, I'm not just referring to the horror scenes that are seen quite frequently throughout season 1 (and things do get intense and scary at points), but I remember especially how Rika was revealed as the true hero of the show in season 2. While Keiichi is set up as the main character in season 1, Rika is revealed to be the true main hero in season 2.
Rika is the one that is related to the curse of everyone dying in Hinamizawa village, where her and the other main characters live, over and over again. It's ultimately up to her in order to see how her friends and the rest of the townspeople can escape horrible demises. The burden on Rika's shoulders is a TON to bear, but thankfully the cycle finally breaks in season 2 and the constant repeat of violent death in the village finally ends. Her character suffered through a lot, but thankfully the cycle finally ended. Considering how much this character had to go through during the two seasons of Higurashi (and no, I'm not gonna talk about the spinoffs; those are trash), it made me feel for her.
Higurashi was certainly a thrill ride and a good example of a horror-mystery-thriller show (and I DIG that genre), but what made it special is how the writers wrote Rika in the show. Her character is simply brilliant.
Rank 96: Vanellope von Schweetz
Wreck-It-Ralph
If we just based this ranking off the first movie, Calhoun and Vanellope would've switched spots. Calhoun was far and away my favorite during the first Wreck-It-Ralph movie, but Calhoun barely got any screen time in the sequel. Vanellope, on the other hand, continued to develop as a character and grow more likable in the second film.
She was portrayed as a bit of a snarky brat at the start of the first film, but her personality and circumstances make her likable. With her dealing with a lot of bullying and Mean Girls-esque drama in the first film, the writers helped audiences feel for the character from the beginning. Over time, she learns to connect well with Ralph and ends up using her glitch quirk for good, and overcoming that flaw in her programming. She has a very sweet arc of her overcoming the odds and not being beaten down by people who mistreat you simply because you're "different", in some way.
Then, Ralph Breaks the Internet happened...and that's when she solidified as my favorite from the franchise. In the second movie, she also has a really good arc of learning how to grow up and move on in life. And, despite being a child character (and Ralph being an adult), Vanellope is MUCH more mature about leaving Sugar Rush in order to see all the world has to offer, and it makes her character even more likable. I would say Ralph has more raw growth since he comes to terms with it by the end of the film, but Vanellope's character development was more gradual and her character was also more likable throughout the movie.
Overall, she's definitely a fine character and I can't see why people wouldn't like her...unless you dislike her voice, which I kind-of get. Then again, it fits her quirky, extroverted personality.
Rank 95: Vera Claythorne
And Then There Were None
Surprise! I was NOT referring to Sherlock Holmes.
Arthur Conan Doyle's stories are great and all, but my FAVORITE raw mystery story of all time is "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie. It started out as a book, then has been transformed into many movie adaptations, and even a mini-series on BBC. And, Vera's character is the most interesting of the bunch.
The basic premise of the story is that 10 people are invited to an island vacation stay during the summer. However, while they are there, the house guests learn that one of their own invited them there on purpose in order to kill them all off one by one, playing "God" and "judge, jury, and executioner" of sorts. It's up to the innocent house guests to determine which one of their own invited them all to the island, and ALSO has been killing off the house guests one by one at the same time. And out of the 10, Vera is the most interesting one to me.
Vera's backstory involves her dealing with guilt over letting one of her students drown out at sea during a physical education lesson focused on swimming. Her motive in the original novel is to inherit the inheritance of the boy's cousin or uncle (or something like that). However, at the last second while the student is drowning, she feels instant guilt and goes into the water to save the boy. But, by the time she reaches him she's too late. Turns out, the relative of the student ends up NOT marrying her, and now she's both out of luck concerning inheriting any money, and also has to deal with this massive guilt on her shoulders.
To summarize, the killer in the novel invites everyone onto the island in order to kill them one by one to administer justice to every criminal in England he knows personally that hasn't been properly brought to justice yet. In the end, Vera ends up being the final one alive out of the "innocent" house guests, and ends up committing suicide at the end of the novel. In the epilogue, the villain of the novel reveals to have faked his death during the course of the events in the book, and that's how he ended up taking out the other 9 members of the vacation.
Vera's character is tragic in the original book. We see her struggle with guilt and depression throughout, wanting to be a better, friendlier person. However, in the end she succumbs to going insane and ends up taking her own life out of distress.
I will say though...in most movie and tv series adaptations, Vera ends up being one of the two houseguests that actually does NOT have a shady past and is completely innocent of any past crimes (the other houseguest being Phillip). In these "lighter and softer" adaptations, Vera and Phillip are able to escape the island before being taken out by the main villain and murderer of the story, and end up living a happy life together. Either version of Vera works, but in the end she's a very interesting character and it helps that she's from my favorite mystery story of all time.
Rank 94: Kabuto Yakushi
Naruto
SHOCKER AGAIN. It's not Sasuke. While Sasuke was far and away the most hated character during the zombie ninja/final ninja war arc, Kabuto was the "forgotten" Scrappy Doo of the cast, and from what I saw on forums...Kabuto seemed to be the 2nd or 3rd most hated character in a lot of people's minds. For me, I never understood the hate. Kabuto is a fantastic villain, and thankfully he gets a redemption story and ends up joining Naruto and the rest of the heroes in the final arc in order to take down big bads Madara and Kaguya.
Kabuto is the resident spy of the cast. He's sent by his master (Orochimaru) in order to spy on the Leaf village and gather intel in order take it over. And, he's VERY good at spying as well. With originally seeming like an innocent, slightly underskilled ninja...when he's revealed to be a spy, I definitely liked him more as a villain. It made sense, and with Kabuto being arguably the most intelligent character in the series (I said arguably, because Shikamaru has the most raw potential but has a tough time applying himself, while Kabuto is just brilliant all around), it made me respect him a lot as a villain. His fight against Tsunade and main hero Naruto was also VERY fun to watch, and one of the most entertaining fights in the whole show.
After having a draw/tie fight against Naruto, he ends up slipping into the shadows and becomes a background character for a while...then he re-emerges with a vengeance in Shippuden. Kabuto starts to have identity crisis issues, and then strives to become the strongest being in the universe...and he always struggled with being slightly arrogant, but when Kabuto put Orochimaru's DNA into his OWN body in order to find himself...it was a tragic fall of grace for him. What makes his story sadder is when we see his backstory: Kabuto used to be a good guy, being a medic and being trained by his foster mother. But then, when he accidentally fatally wounded his foster mother...he goes into deep depression and shock. THIS is when Orochimaru mentally manipulates Kabuto and turns him into a puppet...that's how Kabuto ends up being a villain in the first place.
Thankfully for him, after losing to Sasuke and Itachi after his transformation into this...snake/dragon creature, he ends up turning over a new leaf and re-discovers his true goal in life: not to be the strongest being or prove his worth through sheer power and force...but rather, to help people and aid them. This is when he heals Sasuke's wounds and ultimately sides with the heroes to take out the main villains of the final arc.
Kabuto has a very tragic backstory, but thankfully for him he has a redemption arc as well. It also helps that his cool, slightly cocky demeanor makes him very likable to me, and I love how Kishimoto wrote the character throughout the series. He's a very interesting character, and he's well-written as well. Fortunately for him, he now lives as a social worker, overseeing an orphanage and living out a life of peace and he gets that happy ending that I've wanted for him ever since I began reading the novels and watching the anime.
Rank 93: Todd Chavez
Bojack Horseman
"Hooray!"
There are characters that are seldom more enjoyable than Todd Chavez, played brilliantly by Aaron Paul. Todd is known as a slacker in the show, being someone who, during the early seasons, sleeps and resides on Bojack's couch. He doesn't really apply himself and has been a loafer ever since he got kicked out of his parents' home.
He's good for a few laughs, but his character develops into something much greater as the show goes on. Todd ends up being someone that learns to take responsibility and live independently. After Bojack mistreats him one too many times, he ends up standing up to Bojack and seriously moves on from their friendship (Todd later forgives Bojack in a way, but he still isn't nearly as close to him as he once was) and ends up actually becoming much more responsible as a character! He is a kind person, willing to take on many tasks and burdens for his peers and accomplices, and is someone who begins to actually try hard in life. Eventually, he ends up being the president of a large corporation...and does a surprisingly decent job of it, despite having no management experience. Todd is someone in which as long as he applies his mind, he can do anything...and this is something that is done comically well throughout the show. We see this best in "Hooray, TODD EPISODE!" where he has an infinite number of obligations, and yet he manages to satisfy his need in almost every role. It's pretty incredible.
Also, he's one of the most easy to like fictional characters in general. He's funny but not overbearing, he's relatable for a lot of people watching the show, and he has a very kind, understanding, and easygoing personality. It's impossible to NOT like Todd, and if you say you dislike Todd then you're lying to yourself (or you just have bad opinions
).
Rank 92: Alucard
Hellsing
This dude has GOT to be the coolest character in existence.
Alucard is just the epitome of cool. He's got a sweet red coat, dual pistols for fighting evil nazi vampires, sick shades, a stylish fedora, and a deep sexy voice that has the fangirls swoon, and fanboys like myself stand in amazement. He's just so easy to root for throughout the series because he's so darn cool, and he's fighting AGAINST nazi vampires! How could you NOT root for a guy who's task is to protect civilization from nazi vampires? It's a no-brainer lol
I will say though, the reason why he makes the top 100 is because of his development in Hellsing Ultimate. He's still got a blood thirsty streak (he's a vampire, after all; thus he gets brutal when fighting enemies) but he shows humanity when reflecting on the events that have transpired during the show and saying "monsters don't cry" and then breaking down and sobbing when his respectable rival Anderson gets blown to pieces. For just a brief moment...the anti-hero monster of the series became like a human...and it make the character all the more deep and interesting to me.
Anyway, there's nothing much else to say. He's so freaking cool and awesome that I can't help but put him in the top 100 of all time. His development in Ultimate also helped a lot as well.
Rank 91: Haida
Aggretsuko
Ah, Haida...the lovable hyena who can't ask out his crush to save his life.
Well, Haida does ask to date Retsuko seriously in the season 1 Christmas special, which is nice to see since it shows his growth as a character. However, he is still VERY prone to acting awkward around his love interest and gets scared of screwing it all up. And, I can relate to that. I can be shy around women as well, so I can relate to him there.
It's nice to see him be better with that more recently though. At the start of the show, Haida's ability to ask out girls (specifically Retsuko) was nil, as he would get awkward and scared around her and would resolve to offering to do different tasks for her in order to get closer to her. It's adorable and all, but we see where he ends up resigning to the fact that he wasn't handling the situation appropriately at all, especially with how Retsuko started going out with the socially unaware and unintelligent Resasuke. Thankfully for Retsuko, she moves on from him and ends up becoming closer to Haida at the end of the season 1 finale.
While Retsuko wants to keep her relationship with Haida at a friend level, there's still a chance the pair end up dating. It would nice to see that since Haida has developed a lot throughout season 1 and has become slightly (if only) more confident in asking out his crush. It shows growth in maturity, and it's nice to see. We also see a lot of growth out of him where at one point he says "the Retsuko I've been seeing is actually the idealized one in my head, not the real Retsuko." He took responsibility for relating to his crush, and I respect that a TON. Based on that realization he had at the end of season 1, hopefully it will help him grow more as a character.
In all seriousness though, I think it's equally viable that he ends up with Fenneko instead, since Fenneko and Haida actually seem to have personalities that mesh very well together: he's the kind and friendly yet slightly awkward sweetheart, while she (Fenneko) is a calculating, intelligent, yet aloof kind of person. Their different personalities complement each other very well.
