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First coined by Twitter user @buggy_con, the John Walker Effect is when in any form of media the writers unintentionally make the antagonist characters -Far more entertaining -Far more believable as characters -More sympathetic -More heroic than the stale and downright evil protagonists/heroes Typically you will see the writers project all the things they view as evil onto these characters in order to make a straw man to pit against their oh so perfect protagonists. However, this unintentionally causes these characters to be loved by the audience, for they are the only ones who -Call out the protagonists' bullshit for what it is -Have actual ideas and motivations that aren't selfish These characters often have to be amped up to cartoonish levels of evil in order to try and make the audience root against them.
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