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I love those characters who bitch and moan and want to do things differently, although they don't usually take up the leadership role themselves, they just THINK they should be leader instead, but they don't really want to be one. They become a sort of fake antagonist… they're not the REAL antagonist, they just like to spice things up and add tension because they don't want to go with what the leader or the rest of the gang says.

This was inspired by Banes' Thursday Newspost “Against the Grain”. There are so many good examples of these characters, Will Scarlet in Kevin Costner's Prince of Thieves, and Rufio in Hook are some of my faves. You can count Hans Solo and Mr Spock in there too actually! Most police chiefs and captains in procedural cop shows fit into this role, though they ARE the leaders they're not the protagonists so they don't lead the story. J. Jonah Jameson in Spiderman is another great example.

As a little kid my fave examples were Jason in Battle of the Planets (anime), and Doctor Smith in the old black and white Lost in Space. Ones I grew up with were Endora, the mother-in-law in Bewitched, Colonel Alfred Bellows, the psychiatrist in I Dream of Genie, Frank Burns and major Charles Emerson in Mash, Colonel Klink in Hogan's Heroes and many more. They were characters you'd almost hate… but not quite.

Not all stories have these characters and many use them in other, cleverer ways. my fave example of that is Farscape, the US Australian Scifi show on the late 90s and early 2000s. It featured a cast of renegade characters where ALL of them took turns being the contrarian! Even the two chief protagonists, John Crichton and Aeryn Sun! That really mixes things up. Though the most usual contrarian was Dominar Rygel XVI who was always extremely selfish, sneaky and underhanded.

Who is your fave example of this sort of character? Do you agree with my picks? And do you use one in your own work?

This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by TEMPERAMENTAL - A funky Latin beat coupled with a chaotic, burning fire of scrabbly strings all over a heavily distorted electric guitar… an emotional conflagration paired with a calm, measured, phlegmatic rhythm.


Topics and shownotes

Links

Based on Banes' newspost:
Against the Grain - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2025/mar/08/against-the-grain/

Featured comic:
A Rallian Chronicles - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2025/mar/10/featured-comic-a-rallian-chronicles/

Featured music:
TEMPERAMENTAL - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/TEMPERAMENTAL/ - by swordheart, rated M.

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/


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