[Interesting Trope] Attempts at fanservice/virality that failed not because they were hated, but because nobody noticed them or cared at all.

[u/mp3help]

1) Hoopy the Hoop, Portal (2007) When you defeat GLaDOS and her room is destroyed at the end of the game, debris rains down in the final cutscene, including a big metal hoop that bounces around a bit. Developer Erik Wolpaw said the team dubbed it "Hoopy the Hoop" and expected it to become the big meme of Portal. Of course, none of the fans paid much attention to the hoop since "The Cake is a Lie" became the biggest meme of the game, and overall one of the biggest video game memes of all time.

2) Burgh, Pokemon Black and White (2010) When designing Burgh, developer Yusuke Ohmura said Gamefreak had many of their female employees give input on his design to create their ideal handsome man. However, as someone who's been in the Pokemon fandom for almost 3 decades, in the 15+ years since Pokemon Black and White released, I have personally never seen any fans swoon over Burgh, or even mention him in general. If anything, characters like N and Colress are far more well-known within the fandom as the most handsome and beloved male characters of Pokemon Gen 5.

[u/sleepy_koko]

On the flip side, Miu Iruma was designed to be unlikable and hated but ended up as one of the most popular

[u/Unlucky_Log4951 → u/sleepy_koko]

If this was true, they should have not made her such a cutie. I guarantee her ratings would drop if she was ugly. Or fat.

[u/MarcosLuisP97 → u/Unlucky_Log4951]

They learned nothing from Celeste.

[u/peajam101 → u/Unlucky_Log4951]

These are weebs we're talking about, they probably do consider her fat

[u/Sgt_Lt_Captain → u/sleepy_koko]

They made an even more vulgar version of everyone's least favorite character from the previous game unfortunately they made her a conventionally attractive woman so it didnt work

[u/nerdwarp112 → u/Sgt_Lt_Captain]

I also think the fact that she’s a huge coward who backs down after any pushback makes her less annoying than if she were just smug the whole time.

[u/CheetahDog → u/Sgt_Lt_Captain]

I think the biggest difference is that Miu's lines are just wayyyy funnier lol

And she's also a huge loser so it's funny when people rip back into her lmao

[u/DuelaDent52 → u/Sgt_Lt_Captain]

It helps for me that she’s voiced by Wendee Lee and I love her in everything.

[u/Timekeeper98 → u/sleepy_koko]

Are the Japanese ignorant of the modern craze for people wanting crazy evil women to absolutely ruin them? I feel like that would be a society prime for that kind of character.

[u/tylerjehenna → u/Timekeeper98]

Given who the most popular female wrestler in Japan is right now, the general public certainly is not

[u/nyamemeow → u/[deleted]]

[u/tylerjehenna → u/nyamemeow]

She's nowhere near as popular in Japan as she is in the west

[u/nyamemeow → u/tylerjehenna]

fair enough, i just wanted to post this :D

[u/tylerjehenna → u/nyamemeow]

Thats not even the most egregious one lol. One of them was "Oklahoma Steamer"

[u/nyamemeow → u/tylerjehenna]

dear god

[u/tylerjehenna → u/[deleted]]

Saya Kamitani, top heel of Stardom

[u/NIGHT_DOZOR → u/sleepy_koko]

They could never make me hate Miu!

[u/Algorechan → u/sleepy_koko]

Miu clears, she also's intuitively correct almost all the time for all the wrong reasons

[u/MToucan60 → u/sleepy_koko]

designed to be unlikable and hated

EXPECTED to be disliked, not DESIGNED to be disliked.