Characters you (over)identify or connect with

I remember when I was a tween/young teenager I was a huge fan of .hack. I identified a lot with Tsukasa. Of course no that I'm older Tsukasa kind of strikes me as a depressed, bitter, mopey little shit. But at that time in my life I was also a depressed, bitter, mopey little shit.

 

SPOCK
S'chn T'gai Spock of Vulcan, Son Of Sarek, of The House of Surak, whose matriarch is T'Pel, former betrothed of T'Pring before she left him for Stonn during his first Pon Far, has the blood type T-
you get the point.

I realize this is stereotypical, but especially with the bullied backstory in the new movies, and the constant attempts to supress emotions.
I have a few others.

 

Antother thing that makes me so attached to Galley is that I kinda (re)invented the concept of helmsmen before homestuck even ever was*. I´ve always felt the wierd attraction to the concept of flying a spaceship by being it. Or, maybe more accurately, the concept of a living ship/building providing the body for a sentience. (Which is why another fictional character love of mine is Glados from Portal).
The parts in boat trolls where Galley talks about missing the flying, even if he hated all the other shit, really get to me for reasons not explicable by brainweird.

*hand´t read The Ship Who Sang yet either

 

(hmm, I have the idea of people intentionally sacrificed and their souls bound into a ship or vehicle in my attempts at fiction ... reminds me of that, somehow, except this sounds like an impermanent version of it.)

 

Not impermanent, at least not intentionally, just they stick the body in as well (boattrolls helmsmen canon) and said body can theoretically be removed again*. It´s more biomechanics than metaphysics, basically. But yeah, I don´t think this is a unique idea, it turns up in fiction quite a bit.

*

Spoiler: Spoiler for Portal 2

In Glados case they uploaded an AI copy of a living womans mind into a computer, this is pretty permanent and also closer to your version of the concept.

 

(I feel an idea showing up again and again is a pretty good indicator that it works; most original ideas that stay original do so because not enough people like them enough to work from it.)

 

(Hm, I wouldn´t say that as a rule? Plenty of bad ideas get replicated, I´d think good ideas will get ignored as well. In short Popular =/= Good)

 

(probably because we're using different definitions of 'good'; a lot of bad ideas work in the 'infectious idea that strikes a chord' way (a meme, in its original intended meaning, not just "funny things on the Internet"). But this is way off topic so ...)

 

Definitely Jake English from Homestuck and Makoto Tachibana from Free! I connect with Jake because we act similar and have been through a lot of the same past drama plus we share a lot in common when it comes to interests like a love for adventure, movies, and tomb raider lol also this may sound weird but we sort of mope in the same manner to and have a lot of the same insecurities, as for Makoto I share his personality, loyalty to his friends, need to help others, and past fear of the ocean, I also had a fight with an ex which was very similar to the one him and Haru had except mine didn't end well like his did eventually but oh well :)

 

Bumping this old-ass thread because I've since found another character I identify UNBELIEVABLY hard with, possibly more than any other character (even Damara!): Amethyst from SU. Partly because she hits All My BPD Feels, but...there's more, really?

Let me count the ways...

• Lack of impulse control. Something I'm working on, but I do have difficulty with it.
• Extreme appetite, including some weird tastes. Like...when I was four I dipped cotton candy in mustard and thought it was delicious, okay? And I still like dipping (salted) tortilla chips in whipped cream. You can't tell me Amethyst wouldn't do either of those things, okay.
• Anger issues. Hoo boy.
• Humor as a coping mechanism. I've come to the conclusion lately that one of the only non-maladaptive things about the way my BPD presents itself is that my main method of attention-seeking is being funny. (Which, like I said, is p non-maladaptive IMO! It's a harmless and mutually beneficial thing--I get attention (and a chance to make silly jokes, which is itself satisfying), other people get a chuckle, everyone wins!) And I also joke around a lot about things that bother me, from minor things (a frequent example: "I wish I could straighten my hair--even if I liked how I looked with poofy hair*, I will NOT stand for my HAIR being less straight than ME!") to major things. And I also joke around sometimes when I'm trying really hard to pretend there's nothing wrong.
• Tendency to be unwittingly insensitive or rude.
• Tendency towards being manipulative. I'm not very good at it (which, frankly, is for the best), but I've been known to get the urge to be a manipulative asshole to people if I'm deeply upset with them--especially if I actually did do something (such as self-harm) as a direct response to their actions/words.
• Fear of abandonment, and desperate attempts to avoid it. Amethyst's actions in Maximum Capacity were awful but I could relate--not to the same extreme, but the thought of anyone leaving me is terrifying, especially since it's actually happened before.
• A love of watching things burn, so to speak. I do not like being directly involved in drama, but goddamn do I love spectating.
• An unstable sense of identity. Amethyst's rushed regenerations in Reformed are a good example, and if I could shapeshift, you know I'd do it nearly as often as Amethyst does, because I don't know what I want to be.
• A desperate need for attention and validation. Again, see Reformed--she doesn't know what she wants, really, so she just tries to fit the standards she thinks Garnet is setting. ("What DO you want? Just tell me and I'll do THAT!")
• And on a much more trivial note, purple is my favorite color. (And amethyst is my birthstone!)

And as for others?

• Pearl's suicidal protectiveness of and unhealthy devotion to Rose hit INCREDIBLY close to home, as someone who has had that mentality towards someone before. Also, her need to be strong and important and loved.
• Roxy's social awkwardness--being very outgoing, but pretty socially inept, especially IRL (due to isolation from other humans in her case and The Autisms in my case)--and love for and desire to help all her friends and loved ones. I also could be argued to have addiction issues, though mine are in regards to caffeine, which is pretty much entirely due to fibromyalgia causing severe chronic fatigue that makes it genuinely nigh-impossible to function without it. I'm trying to wean myself down a bit, but completely shunning it is not an option for me, sadly.
• Mabel isn't much like 23-Year-Old Acey, but she's so much like 12-Or-13-Year-Old Acey that it's almost uncanny. And I still have that love of stuffed animals and glittery things and oversized sweaters (though I'm more of a hoodie/sweatshirt kinda gal). :P And her bluntness and enjoyment of making art-y things are both Very Acey Things.
• Soos' status as "one of the kids" despite being in his early 20s, and despite having some degree of success in his life--he has a steady and happy relationship, a steady job (haha...I wish I did oops), and functions decently enough as an adult while still not wanting to Grow Up exactly.
• And of course, the aforementioned Megidos.

Honestly, looking at my fave characters page, my favorite characters tend to be ones I relate to in some way!

*I have nothing against poofy hair itself. Lots of people absolutely rock it--it's a fine kind of hair to have in many cases! I just think I, personally, look better with straight/wavy hair. :P

 

I identify with all three of the Crystal Gems in different ways honestly. It's a very relatable show.

But I have come here to tell you about VULCANS. Not even a particular Vulcan, mind you, but The General Platonic Ideal Of Vulcans. My emotions are super-dysregulated and difficult to control, you see, and Vulcans also suffer from that particular affliction! But they have MASTERED THEIR EMOTIONS through acts of will and refuse to let their wild instincts control their life. I find it both incredibly #relatable and an excellent ideal to aspire to - because, like, if these fictional people could master their emotional reactions so hard that they're known for never letting their emotions touch their decision-making, maybe there's also hope for me to do that thing! I'm really emotionally invested in all the Vulcans I see in Star Trek because my first reaction is just 'THESE ARE MY PEOPLE'. They know how much emotions suck and they've taken steps to take care of them. And that's amazing!!

Now obviously in the work of fiction they take it way too far and I wouldn't actually want to cauterise my emotions entirely, but fiction's allowed to make wild statements to make a point. For all that Vulcans are kind of dicks, they are Very Important to me. They are So Good and I love them.

 

I hadn't really thought about this before reading this thread, but it was an interesting thought exercise, and I think I've come up with a couple of candidates! make of these what you will.

Dipper Pines! this is vaguely embarrassing. (I also, I'm pretty sure, had a crush on him when I was like twelve. nnnnot sure what that says about me.)

• issues with anxiety! I have them out the wazoo, he has them out the wazoo, a fun time is to be had for all.
• the whole hopeless embarrassing crush on someone who is clearly not interested thing. haha. hahAHAha.
• the curiosity, although I do not specifically share his interest in the paranormal.
• the whole "obsesses over and/or overthinks things" shebang. similarly, the unabashed nerdery.
• making extensively detailed plans for every possible contingency that inevitably fail, although I do not write mine down.
• the "smart one" thing. hand in hand with this, a tendency towards intellectual superiority.
• insecurity about masculinity.
• I could go on, probably. maybe I'll rewatch GF and make an inventory.

Deryn Sharp, from the Leviathan series. (also had a crush on her. I'm beginning to see a pattern here.) although she's not so much who I am as who I sometimes aspire to be.

• masculine-presenting DFAB person!!!! honestly this is the source of 75% of my identification with her. (not coincidentally I also headcanon her as at the very least genderweird, but that's an argument for another day.)
• takes absolutely no shit. I would love to take no shit.
• sarcastic. (come to think of it, Dipper kinda is too.)
• love of flying/heights.
• the hopeless embarrassing crush thing again. ahem.
• just generally extremely competent?? I would like to be as competent.
• I am sure there are things I am forgetting. suffice it to say I was her for Halloween two years running. also started using her goofy slang out loud, what was I thinking.

 

So I've been reading P.C. Hodgel's Kencyrath books lately and I have learned that Tori is basically me but as a sexy fantasy creature man. He's an extremely nervous man. Like just. Endlessly anxious and paranoid. His anxiety is often times misplaced and directed at things that aren't dangerous to him at all. His panic also manifests violently. Which is really important to see. Tori's not a villain or an anti-hero, but at the same time he's broken enough that he tries to hurt people he loves out of panic. Tori's also someone who is more than aware of how fucked up he is. He's not really avoiding that fact. What he's avoiding is just how deep this well goes and how much worse it can get. He's more than aware of how bad it can get and how fast it can get that bad. And that's just fucking horrifying. It's not that I don't know I'm mad. Oh. I do know how mad I am. And that's terrifying. And what's more so is I know jsut how much worse it can get. Tori is also incredibly oblivious to how his bullshit hurts those who care about him! He's too busy being afraid and refusing to open up that he doesn't realize that he is actually hurting people. Really badly. If he's anything like I was, and he damn sure seems to be, the only way he'll learn is when someone he really loves finally gets sick of his bullshit and blows him off completely. Tori also doesn't care about his appearance at all! He just puts on whatever and fails to eat and sleep like a normal healthy person.

AND HE IS THE BIGGEST BRAT. HE POUTS AND WHINES. AND HE FUSSES. Gods does he fuss. He fusses too much. He is like Maryam levels of fussy. Tori does not stop. He must constantly be working and constantly moving. He must adopt all the Kendar and care about everything because he is responsible and IF NOT HIM THEN WHO? Tori is working himself to death and it's hurting the people bound to him too.

Tori. Tori no stop being me.

 

I find myself strongly identifying with snarky, sharp-witted bitter cynics who just want to be loved. Specifically, Tyrion from ASOIAF. To a lesser extent, Dirk Strider from Homestuck. As a general rule I respect and admire people and characters who value actions over appearances, who can do the morally right thing without preaching about it, and I identify with people who are misunderstood and also self-sabotaging because they can't believe in anything good that happens to them.

Unfortunately, that means I go for antiheroes and the occasional relatable villain, so that means I learned a LONG ass time ago to not let it bug me if fandom hates the character I see myself in. Thick skin: the best fandom armor.

 

Jake English: his relationship with Dirk (basically I have been accidentally manipulative of several people I was close to, fucked myself and them over big time, and am still kinda trying to find where the parts of my personality I can trust went to.
On a similar-ish note: BRUCE FUCKIN BANNER. I've never had anger issues to quite the same extent, but my intrusive thoughts and violent impulses freak me the hell out and I'm still finding ways to contain them that don't result in Hulking out over something relatively minor once bottling has failed. Mark Ruffalo!Banner also shares a lot of my mannerisms.

 

I latched on to Dave Strider many moons ago and I don't think that's gonna lessen any time soon, though it embarrasses me to admit just how tightly that grasp and familiarity feeling is. Or a lot of the habits and weird vocal patterns and thought patterns and tangents and shit, especially if I focus on something or just get to talking aloud. I can't really explain it, but just. There. Very much there.

Spoiler

whee embarrassing admission- It's weird for me though because I look nothing at all like how I headcanon him and for some reason that makes me sadface. If anything though, my headcanon for him is how I wish I looked. So that's an interesting extra cog in the machine.

 

Rose Lalonde from Homestuck. Pearl from Steven Universe. Chloe Price from Life is Strange.

Chloe Price tho. I feel that. I feel that hard. I love her and I also hurt so bad because hello, so many problems with my life. Chloe Price was the first time I actually felt that sense of thing where people are like "this is a character that I feel like could represent me", as much as I waxed over Rose and felt like Pearl started to get close.

(I should connect with Dave Strider, logically, and a lot of my early liveblogging of Homestuck mentions a fair bit of "holy shit are you me" but I can't quite feel the connection because of the stupidest reason. His color is bright red and red is ruined for me by my sister's red Ford Focus.)

 

Matt Murdock/Daredevil - has Lawful Good ideals? Loves people? Definitely has depression? Triple check.

Agatha Spoilerlastname from Girl Genius - does science things? Is smart! Fakes it until she makes it too.

 

oh also Peridot. Her social slipups remind me so goddamn much of my own, and seeing her gradually become someone I wouldn't mind being is actually pretty cool.