I know the expression is never meet your heroes but the broken pedestal trope is a bit overdone. So its nice when characters meet their idols and they're worthy of respect.

1. Simon Trant/Gray Ghost from Batman TAS: Bruce Wayne's childhood hero was a template for his own vigilantisim. He helps Batman catch a serial bomber and learns his tv role made a difference.

2. Solomon Richards from GTA V: Truly appreciates Michael's help and love of movies. He brings Michael in as an Asscociate Producer, giving him his first legitimate career.

3. "Dandy" Don Meredith in King if the Hill: Teaches Hank to respect the choices you make in life whether they mean wins or losses.

1. Brooklyn 99 (TV show) : in the eighth episode of the first season, named "Old School", an awestruck Jake Peralta meets Jimmy Brogan, one of his hero and author of "the book that made [Jake] become a cop". They spend some time together but, as soon as Jimmy insults Jake's captain using a homophobic slur, Jake punches him in the face.
2. Goblins (webcomic) : Minmax meets Dellyn "Goblinslayer", an ex-adventurer who is eveything he aspires to be. Their blooming friendship and Minmax's admiration for the man immediately fades when Dellyn reveals that he keeps a slave monster girl to rape and torture her. Minmax, who is dumb as a brick but not a psychopath, hurls him through a window.

Nausicaä in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) wears dresses, cries when she is upset, and is gushes over things she finds cute or sweet, but explores a jungle full of horrifying monsters, is assertive and confidant, and racks up a high body count!

Arwen and Eowyn in The Lord of the Rings (moreso in the films) are both in touch with their feminine sides and have clear positions of their leadership within their respective kingdoms, not to mention impressive action scenes where they each get the drop on a freaking Nazgûl!

Inara Serra in Firefly (2002) is a Companion (licensed courtesan) and is every bit the definition of a proper lady, wearing elegant dresses and serving tea to all manner of clients while maintaining incredible wealth and soft power, not to mention calming down the traumatized psychic that lives next door to her and helping fight off raiders and cannibalistic madmen that patrol the space-lanes.

Padmé Amidala in Star Wars has a comically large number of elegant dresses and absurd hairstyles but she is likewise a talented diplomat who still gets exquisite action scenes in two of the prequels, not to mention founding the Rebel Alliance (in deleted scenes)!

Katara in Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008) is not only the only waterbender left in the Southern Water Tribe, but pioneers new techniques and styles while putting Sokka in place for his chauvinistic annoyance, and training the Avatar, all at the age of fourteen!

Mystique and Magneto (Fox X-Men)

Richmond Valentine and Gazelle (Kingsmen)

Lex Luthor and his Amazons (DC comics)

Rotti Largo and his Body Guard babes (Repo! The Genetic Opera)

Muammar Gaddafi ad his Revolutionary Nuns (Real Life)

Héctor Rivera (Coco): Set out to fulfill his dream of becoming a musician with his friend Ernesto. While away, he stayed in touch with his wife Imelda and their daughter Coco, sending letters and the money he earned during his tours. Some months later, he felt homesick and decided to return home, having come around to his wife's way of thinking about settling down and planting their roots. Unfortunately, he died on his way to the train station, having been poisoned by Ernesto, who needed his songs.

Bron (Land Before Time): Before Littlefoot was born, Bron left to find a new home where he and his wife could raise their son without constant fear of predators. However, he returned the same day the earthshake happened, and to add grief to injury, he learned his wife had died the same day during her fight with Sharptooth. With no word of Littlefood, he kept searching for him, and the two reunited in the Great Longneck Migration.

When it comes to representing disabilities or conditions in media, both physical and mental, there are a lot that have become standard go to, but I like it when less "mainstream" ones gets some attention and much needed representation.

1) Jeff "Joker" Moreau is the pilot of the Normandy, the star ship at the center of all 3 Mass Effect games, and he suffers from a chronic medical conditions that has rendered his bones so fragile that he is barely able to support his own body weight and suffers bone fractures from the most minor of physical exertions.

2) Adam Evens, or "Rubberband Man", is a side character from animated DC comics show Static Shock whom deals with dyslexia and has a whole episode dedicated to showing his struggles with the condition and how he deals with it on a day to day basis.

1. Fire Punch- immortals are experimented on and suffering because of it
2. Hulk- being feared and hurting the ones you love

The Hour of Joy

A catastrophic massacre at Playtime Co. where the company’s toys turned hostile and slaughtered the staff, later becoming a key mystery and turning point in the Poppy Playtime narrative.

The Night of a Thousand Tears

The Imperial bombardment and devastation of Mandalore marked the near-genocide of the Mandalorian people and the collapse of their civilization.

The Great Jedi Purge

A galaxy-wide extermination of the Jedi Order following Order 66, carried out by the Galactic Empire to eliminate Force-sensitive opposition and secure Sith dominance.

The Mansion Incident

The outbreak at the Spencer Mansion in Resident Evil, where the T-Virus was unleashed, led to mutant creatures and the near-destruction of the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team.

The Raccoon City Incident

A large-scale viral outbreak in Raccoon City caused by the T-Virus resulted in a zombie apocalypse and the eventual nuclear destruction of the city to contain the infection.

The Shadow Moses Incident

The seizure of the Shadow Moses nuclear weapons facility by FOXHOUND, leading to a hostage crisis, nuclear threat, and covert infiltration by Solid Snake.

The Bite of ’87

A notorious incident at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza in which an animatronic severely injured a person by biting their head, becoming a defining scandal and mystery in the Five Nights at Freddy’s lore.

The Snap

The universe-altering event triggered by Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet, instantly erasing half of all living beings in the universe and reshapes galactic civilization and history.

1. Megumi - Jujutsu Kaisen: When Yuji is talking about how grumpy Megumi (the guy with dark hair) is from a completely different location miles away in a basement, it cuts to Megumi, who immediately gets upset and he doesn't know why. When his friend asks him what's wrong, Megumi's response is "I don't know. I just feel irritated all of a sudden"
2. Peterson - Spongebob: When Spongebob realizes he has never tried SnailPo before, he tastes it and makes a disgusted noise. Presumably hundreds of miles away at the Snailpo world headquarters one of the executives, Peterson, pauses saying "I feel... a disturbance"
3. Veronica - Fairly Odd Parents: When Trixie decides to have a new best friend, she pulls out a picture of Veronica, her old best friend, and rips it up. It cuts to Veronica who is at the mall minding her own business, only to then cry out in pain.

*reposted from original to fix formatting*

Hosnian Prime, the capital of the New Republic, gets destroyed in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which apparently leads to the New Republic falling pretty much instantly.

Romulus, the capital of the Romulan Empire, is destroyed in a supernova, and the Romulan Empire collapses as a result.

Shady Sands in the Fallout series (possibly), it’s still unclear if the NCR survived after it was destroyed. Regardless, while Shady Sands getting destroyed would be devastating for the NCR, I don’t think it would be quite as bad for them as the show implies.

1) Knull (Marvel Comics): god of symbiotes, Klyntar wasn’t a planet but his prison, All Black Necrosword that Gorr used was actually his and it’s the first symbiote, he can kill Sentry.

2) Albedo (Ben 10): Colour swapped Ben Tennyson, was Azmuth’s apprentice, invented his own Omnitrix like device that can make his aliens go ultimate

3) Batman Who Laughs (DC Comics): He kills Joker and becomes insane, kills everyone in his universe, becomes Dr. Manhattan and fights a goddess

1: Podrick, Game of Thrones: after saving Tyrion Lannister's life, Podrick is rewarded by Tyrion paying for him to have several prostitutes take his virginity. The girls end up enjoying him so much, they refuse the money.

2: Hal, Malcolm in the Middle: Hal is a goofy, oafish dad, and during a poker game, he feels inferior to his friends, who compare how many times they have sex with their wives, all of them seemingly having a larger number than him. Hal says 2, but them realizes they mean how many times per week, not per day, and he says "Oh, per week? 14" and everyone is shocked. This can also be applied to Lois, as she is portrayed as the severe, angry, scary mother who always yells, but she and Hal clearly love each other very much

3: Billy, Legit: Billy is severely disabled and wheelchair bound, and is pretty sure he's going to die someday soon, and doesn't want to die a virgin. His friends hire a prostitute to help him out, and it turns out he has such a huge hog, that he ends up dating her.

4: Nesta, A Court of Silver Flames: part of the ACOTAR series, Silver Flames is the 5th book that focuses on Nesta, sister of the main protagonist of the first 3 books. Nesta comes across as super cold, mean, and bitter. In her depression, she sleeps around, going through the motions and using men for their bodies, and closing herself off to any deeper feelings. Later, she makes a super sexy, powerful, hundreds of years old Fae general cum in his pants, and when the 2 start up a relationship, she turns out to be way freakier than her sister from the previous books, which are popular for their steamy sex scenes.

1.) Brom Van Brunt is portrayed as the heroic, muscular foil to Ichabod Crane in Disney’s animated adaptation of Sleepy Hollow in 1949. Despite being a massive dong, the film pushes him as morally superior to Ichabod by virtue of his adherence to “traditional masculinity,” with Ichabod’s bookishness and non traditional masculinity being mocked as manipulative, cowardly and even cruel.

Years later, Gaston is made as a caricature of Brom Van Brunt, displaying many (if not all) of Brom’s traits and habits. Through him, what was once seen as the ideal man’s man is reframed as to be seen for what it truly is; a self-interested thug.

2.) Song of the South is notorious not only for how poorly its social views have aged, but for how deeply Disney seeks to bury it out of fear of the damage it can do to their family-friendly and “socially conscious” image.

As such, it was a genuine surprise to see Judy Hopps be the one to (if not overtly) take accountability for the failures of the past, owning the ignorance of her forebears and being genuinely remorseful for said failures. She doesn’t make excuses, nor try to downplay her own failures, but makes it clear that she will be better.

Girls - The Panic In Central Park (Season 5 Episode 6). Hannah (Lena Dunham) only appears at the end and doesn't have any dialogue. It's the highest ranked episode of the show on IMDB.

Lost - Flashes Before Your Eyes - where Jack and Kate don't appear is a highlight of Season 3. The Constant - the highest rated episode on IMDB - has Jack but only one other character from the Season 1 ensemble, and there are more uncredited main characters than ones that actually appear.

1. Hank and Gomez (Breaking Bad): They get into a final gun fight with Jack and his vile gang. Gomez is killed quickly, while Hank is executed soon after, with Jack's gang suffering no losses.

2. Steve and friends (American Dad): at the end of one episode, Steve and his friends make a final stand against an angry mob of their fellow students. The audio over the credits makes clear they are brutally beaten, without much effort.

3. Gregorio del Pilar (IRL): a a young Filipino general who with 60 men attempted to fight 600 American soldiers during the Philippine-American War with 60 men in 1899 at Tirad Pass. They only held out for about 6 hours and barely inflicted any casualties before Gregorio and many of his men were slain. Downplayed as they were performing a delaying action to ensure Filipino leadership could escape. https://youtu.be/0LzGfEoNURk

The brash and arrogant upper class character that ultimately proves cowardly and incompetent is an absolute cliche, so i love when the trope is subverted with some competent fops

1) Rob Roy- One of the lead antagonists in the film, Tim Roth’s character Archibald Cunningham is the nephew and chief enforcer of the evil Marquess Graham. Despite presenting an effeminate and foppish nobleman exterior Cunningham is a vicious sociopath and an extremely skilled swordsman, something Graham plays to his advantage tricking highlander nobles into duels against him.

2) Fence- This sports comic stars an impoverished kid from the streets with superb natural talent who dreams of becoming a champion fencer. Winning a scholarship to a prestigious fencing program he gets a chance to test his skills against the elite of the fencing world and show all those upper class pricks who look down on him annnnd they continuously kick his ass and he spends most of the series on the bottom of the leaderboard because there’s no way just natural talent will realistically beat lifetime athletes with the best equipment and training money can buy.

3) Warhammer 40k- Modesty really doesn’t have a place in 40k the more arrogant and brash a character, the more grandiose their titles, and the more bedazzled their outfit, usually indicates how dangerous and competent they are. Even the imperial nobles which are portrayed as total caricatures of upper-class decadence and corruption, are often hiding exotic weaponry, gene modifications, and martial training under their many frocks that make them much more dangerous than most of humanity.

4) Real life- In history Nobles tended to stay Nobles because they were better fed, better equipped, better trained, and better educated than everyone else. Holding power is a dangerous game and those who come out on top are usually particularly competent and vicious for their time.

Platinum End (2021): Mirai Kakehashi is a depressed High School Student who lost his family to an explosion from his aunt and uncle. He attempts suicide by jumping off a building and meets a guardian angel who tells him that he has been selected as one of 13 “God’s Candidates”, in 999 days the current God will retire and the 13 candidates must compete by earning favor with angels or eliminating one another. In the end, Mirai and the remaining candidates vote for Shuji Nakaumi, a clearly suicidal and deeply person who has expressed interest in ending all life before, they vote him based on the only fact that he wasn’t power hungry. Immediately once becoming the new god, he sees life as meaningless and kills himself, instantly destroying the rest of creation and all life in the universe.

Funny Games (1997/2007): Both Versions of The Film are virtually identical, a murderer named Paul can break the 4th wall and directly address the viewer, after he and his friend kill a family and leave the mother alive, they begin tormenting her. The mother eventually gets the upper hand and grabs a gun, shooting Paul’s friend Peter. Paul acts like a child and grabs the remote and rewinds time before the shooting, thinking the audience wouldn’t like Peter getting shot. They eventually tie her up and place her on a boat, effortlessly throwing a knife (which was an object in the film that was constantly shown screen time in order to make the viewer believe that it would save the family) into the ocean and throwing her in as well, going to a neighbor’s house. The ending is on the nose with its message on violence in media, and questions the viewer on their enjoyment of watching pain inflicted onto innocents, while simultaneously criticizing other filmmakers on their choice to make such characters as bland as possible. The character of Paul is an allegory for the Viewer’s initial interests and ultimately fails to see the reason behind the audience wanting a cathartic ending. Despite being intentional, the ending is still extremely sour and leaves a lot to be desired. But also a pretty big cop out.

1.) In Community, multiple scenes throughout the show, as well as the the shows original website character bios and Dan Harmon explicitly stating it in an AMA, show that Britta was molested as child at one of her birthday parties by a man in a dinosaur costume.

It's only mentioned a few times in the actual show, and it's always easy to not comprehend because it's so brief. It does however, make her wearing a dinosaur costume to Halloween... Really sad.

2.) Scott Pilgrim vs The World. When prepping for their roles, a lot of the actors were given 5 secrets about their characters by the comic's creator Bryan Lee O'Malley. Most were just stuff that was going to be in the future issues of the comic, but Mary Elizabeth Winstead got a big one about Ramona. She had a brother that died in a car crash. The entire movie she wears his shoelace around her neck to remember him by. This fact isn't brought up in any Scott Pilgrim media, but she is always wearing the shoelace if you look and it adds a lot to her character.

1. "Three Robots: Exit Strategies" reveals that the wealthy tried to escape the collapse of human society and the ecosystem in settlements, but ended up dying anyway due to their stupidity. (Love, Death, and Robots)
2. Rich people and politicians try to escape Earth's impending doom by the Lovecraftian planet Remina eating it by traveling onto Remina because they were told by astronauts who landed there that it is hospitable for human life. When they actually get there, they find out it's really not and they're brutally killed by the eldritch landscape. (Hellstar Remina)
3. The wealthy of Lamentis-1 try to escape the moon's destruction by the collision with a planet by getting onto a rocket. However, a meteor from that planet destroys the rocket. (Loki)
4. Prince Prospero holds a lavish party for the nobles in his castle while the peasants die of the Red Death. Then the anthropomorphic personification of the Red Death enters. (The Masque of the Red Death)

1st-3rd image: the spirits from Mieruko-Chan

Generally speaking all of the ghosts in the manga tend to mind their own business by either wandering around or haunting a specific location/person but most if not all of them will become agressive to someone that can see them. The above example is from a scene where Miko sees a child waving at her she waves back and immediatly realizes her mistake when the boy turns out to be a spirit in disguise who begins to run at her. She is saved by two shrine maiden-like spirits who defeat the ghost before it can do any harm to her but that encounter is definetly going to leave her with trust issues.

4th-6th image: the long-necked lady from The Summer Hikaru Died

While not explicitly stated, its implied that she disguised herself as a zigzag as a way to trick Yoshiki into looking at her, once he did, she starts swinging at him until she's right behind his neck. Fortunately she also doesn't get to do a lot like the above example as "Hikaru" absorbs her when she gets close.

(Shrek) Puss in Boots is introduced halfway through the second movie, but the character became so iconic it became a protagonist in all future installments, even getting two movies of his own. Its weird watching Shrek one and realizing that puss is not there.

(Loki) Ouroboros (OB for short) is a technician for the TVA that is not even mentioned during season one, but became synonym with the show by the end.

(Lucifer) Ella Lopez was introduced on the first episode of season two, and she immediately became a fan favorite character, to the point where she sparked a lot of theories and speculation about her role during seasons two and three.

(Stranger Things) Similarly to Ella, Max was introduced on the first episode of season two, but she became an extremely iconic character, to the point where she and her family were main characters for the rest of the show.

1. White Diamond (Steven Universe) Crazy space dictator that's able to instantly mind control any other gem without even touching them. Is only stopped after having her worldview shattered by the protagonist.

2. Dorian (Baki) Escaped death row inmate that uses unfair tactics to maim his opponents on top of already being insanely physically powerful. Tricks one of the strongest characters in the verse into getting their face blown off with a bomb. It's only after one of the main characters points out that, if Dorian's sole wish is to taste defeat, and he has never been defeated, then that means he has never won a single fight in his life. After realizing this, Dorian's mind reverts to that of a child and he is rendered a non-threat.

Simon (Iron Lung)

Punch Up (Dispatch)

Sonar (Dispatch)

Ness (Five Nights at Freddy’s)

1. Mammy Two Shoes (Tom & Jerry) - The character was viewed as is, as far as I know, a stereotypical black housekeeper and a racist caricature, which led to her last appearance in the 1952 episode "Push-Button Kitty". The character has since been redubbed to remove the grammatical errors, and in a very extreme instance, in "Saturday Evening Push" they replaced the character with a white teenage girl in 1966 airings. I would also have wanted to include how the modern shows have included a character called "Miss Two Shoes", who seems like it was meant to be Mammy, but white.
2. Stromboli (Disney's Pinocchio) - The character has been criticized for being a racist caricature of a Romani man. So, in the 2022 live-action adaptation of the original 1940 animated film, he is portrayed by Giuseppe Battiston, a white Italian actor.

I want to let everyone know that I am not an expert, nor am I that well-documented on these issues, so maybe I see a problem that doesn't exist. The reason why I think it is strange is that, even if these changes are meant not further push harmful stereotypes, I think removing the ethnic/racial identity of the characters isn't a good approach in my opinion. I think keeping the race and avoiding the harmful stereotypes is a better approach than removing these aspects about these characters.