History Main / CharacterPerceptionEvolution

** Scott was one of the most beloved characters in the ''ComicBook/XMen'' comics for the first three decades of his history--which is likely why he's one of the few characters who's remained in the core cast more-or-less consistently since the series began in 1963. While he wasn't always the ''most'' popular member of the X-Men, many readers loved his classically heroic characterization and cool-headed demeanor, with the pathos of his tragic backstory only serving to endear him to readers more. And since ''X-Men'' was consistently one of Creator/MarvelComics' highest selling books throughout most of the '80s and '90s, Cyclops was one of the most iconic characters in the entire Marvel canon by default.

** On the comics' side, Scott would follow the 90s-to-early-00s trend with storylines that would "darken" his character by focusing more on his flaws. However, many fans soured him on the character even more after Creator/GrantMorrison's ''ComicBook/NewXMen'' (where he has an extramarital affair with ComicBook/EmmaFrost shortly before ComicBook/JeanGrey's death) took him in a rather controversial direction, which brought more negative attention to some of his more questionable moments from past storylines (most infamously the circumstances behind [[ComicBook/Inferno1988 his first marriage falling apart]]). By the late 2000s, you couldn't throw a stone in the ''X-Men'' fandom without running into fans mocking poor Scott for being a boring tight-ass at best, and a hypocritical jerk at worst.
** Notably, this has come around full circle around the mid-2010s for a few reasons: Wolverine's popularity eventually diminished due to fans getting sick of his rather infamous [[WolverinePublicity overexposure]], the live-action films somewhat faded from popular consciousness as they were overshadowed by the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, nostalgia for the [[WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries 1990s animated series]] (which featured one of Cyclops' most well-received incarnations) began to surge as its fans grew up, and popular tastes gradually began to shift towards emotional sensitivity and earnest wholesomeness starting around the 2010s--leading to aspirational do-gooders like Cyclops coming back in vogue. The positive audience response to his portrayal in ''WesternAnimation/XMen97'', which [[ForgotFlandersCouldDoThat goes out of its way to showcase his admirable traits]], has been cited as evidence of pop culture finally falling back in love with the character.

* ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} was one of the most beloved characters in the ''ComicBook/XMen'' comics for a good deal of his history--which is likely why he's one of the few characters who's remained in the core cast more-or-less consistently since the series began in 1963. While he wasn't always the ''most'' popular member of the X-Men, many readers loved his classically heroic characterization and cool-headed demeanor, with the pathos of his tragic backstory only serving to endear him to readers more. And since ''X-Men'' was consistently one of Creator/MarvelComics' highest selling books throughout most of the '80s and '90s, Cyclops was one of the most iconic characters in the entire Marvel canon by default. By the end of the 1990s, though, a growing preference for morally ambiguous {{antihero}}es led many fans to dismiss his unflappably righteous "boy scout" persona as cheesy and old-fashioned, leading to him being largely displaced in popularity by the likes of ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} and ComicBook/{{Gambit}}. It didn't exactly help that Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox's [[Film/XMenFilmSeries live-action films]] (an AudienceColoringAdaptation for many younger fans) largely [[DemotedToExtra relegated him to the sidelines]] and gave him few moments to shine, contributing to the general impression that he was little more than a bland StandardizedLeader. Many fans soured him on the character even more after Creator/GrantMorrison's ''ComicBook/NewXMen'' (where he has an extramarital affair with ComicBook/EmmaFrost shortly before ComicBook/JeanGrey's death) took him in a rather controversial direction, which brought more negative attention to some of his more questionable moments from past storylines (most infamously the circumstances behind [[ComicBook/Inferno1988 his first marriage falling apart]]). By the late 2000s, you couldn't throw a stone in the ''X-Men'' fandom without running into fans mocking poor Scott for being a boring tight-ass at best, and a hypocritical jerk at worst. Notably, this has come around full circle in more recent years for a few reasons: Wolverine's popularity eventually diminished due to fans getting sick of his rather infamous [[WolverinePublicity overexposure]], the live-action films somewhat faded from popular consciousness as they were overshadowed by the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, nostalgia for the [[WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries 1990s animated series]] (which featured one of Cyclops' most well-received incarnations) began to surge as its fans grew up, and popular tastes gradually began to shift towards emotional sensitivity and earnest wholesomeness starting around the 2010s--leading to aspirational do-gooders like Cyclops coming back in vogue. The positive audience response to his portrayal in ''WesternAnimation/XMen97'', which [[ForgotFlandersCouldDoThat goes out of its way to showcase his admirable traits]], has been cited as evidence of pop culture finally falling back in love with the character.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Hody Jones was originally seen as a [[ReplacementScrappy flat replacement]] of Arlong, lacking the traits that made him a memorable antagonist. Overtime, fans have come to see him as a [[RealismInducedHorror shockingly realistic]] portrayal of how racists can be made from being born in an environment that encourages those viewpoints with nothing to oppose them. Furthermore, fans have also since come to properly realize and understand that his earlier lack of memorability compared to Arlong could be considered an intentional showing of how villains like him are essentially 'old news' to the Straw Hats as they are post timeskip and how they now have much bigger threats to seriously worry about now that they've TookALevelInBadass to prepare for the New World.

* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'': Jonathan Harker had long been derided as boring and chauvinistic. As a result, he has not fared well in adaptations or [[Literature/DraculaTheUnDead2009 the official sequel]] of the book, usually presented as the repressive and/or dull alternative to the mysterious, seductive Count {{Dracula}}. However, when Dracula Daily kicked off and readers went back to the original source material, Website/{{Tumblr}} users quickly embraced Jonathan as [[PlayAlongMeme their new best friend]], connecting with his open adoration of his wife, his willingness to condemn himself to a FateWorseThanDeath [[YouAreWorthHell if it means Mina won't be alone]], and his struggles to survive an extremely traumatic situation as the Count's prisoner, qualities which had been overlooked for quite some time and rarely, if ever, shown in adaptations.

** Severus Snape went through this twice. Initially seen as an unlikable {{Jerkass}} with an arbitrary hatred of Harry (albeit one with a very large DracoInLeatherPants following), later books revealed that he was bullied by Harry's father and fell in love with Harry's mother, which recontextualized his treatment of Harry. Together with his role as TheMole for Dumbledore, this shifted fan perception of Snape into a TragicHero and a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, aided by his AdaptationalSympathy (not to mention Creator/AlanRickman's charismatic performance) in the films. However, with the passage of time and [[ValuesDissonance changing social mores]], his SadistTeacher behavior saw renewed criticism and his treatment of Harry's mother was increasingly seen as unhealthily obsessive in light of incel culture and its rampant misogyny becoming more prominent in the 2010s. These observations have shifted fan opinion of the book version of Snape to a DoggedNiceGuy and a StalkerWithACrush that [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic the narrative fails to make sympathetic]]. [[AdaptationalNiceGuy The movie version]] gets more of a pass, again in large part because of Alan Rickman's performance.

** When the book was first released, Captain Ahab was derided by critics as an unrealistic character, with many of them scoffing at the idea that he could go as far as he did and simply be obeyed. Following UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, however, Ahab's destructive obsession and his crew going along with it resonated far more strongly. It's telling that today, multiple real people seen as letting their obsessions get the better of them with disastrous consequences have been compared to Ahab.

* ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'': Moore's take on Mina Murray, heroine of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', was a beloved aspect of the book for years. Moore's take on Mina as an early suffragette who was also the sensible anchor of the League with nothing but social competence and wit, along with merely the idea of pushing Mina to a central role rather than the book's male figures like Dracula, Jonathan, or van Helsing, earned her a lot of praise as a feminist, TruerToTheText reinvention of the character in the face of most adaptations [[AdaptationalWimp turning her into nothing more than Dracula's victim]]. However, over time, the critical luster surrounding ''League'' started to fade due to its divisive later installments, and Mina maintained a continual presence up to the end in all of them, meaning her character ended up suffering the most in the process, becoming a PinballProtagonist with little to none of her original identity. Then, people began revisiting the original book and found that Moore's take on Mina was anything but TruerToTheText, with the main concept of her character--that she divorced her husband because he found her neck scars ugly, and would go on to become an immortal asskicker--defying [[HappilyMarried everything about the two]] and [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Mina's beliefs]] that Stoker had presented. From then on, many other traits of Mina fell under scrutiny: [[FauxActionGirl her leadership being more often than not wholly ineffective]], her regular role as a DamselInDistress, and the heavy implication that she lusted for Dracula after his attack on her, which was also suggested to be part of her attraction to Quatermain, all of which seriously dented the idea of her as a feminist character. Lastly, it became more widely-known that according to Moore, he only picked Mina [[TheSmurfettePrinciple because he needed a woman]], and he originally wrote and envisioned her as [[Literature/SherlockHolmes Irene Adler]], only ditching Adler because he couldn't remember her name. Nowadays, it's far more common to find people invoking Moore's Mina as an example of what ''not'' to do with the character.