4 Videogame Side Characters We Love to Hate (But Should Still Love Anyway)

You know you do really. It's okay. I understand

Videogames aren't exactly known for their deep and subtle narratives, so it should come as no surprise that games have more than their fair share of punchable little scrotes lumped on the unwitting player. It definitely came as a surprise to me, since I struggled to find a minimum of five oft-hated side characters who I could actually defend with a straight face, which probably doesn't bode well for my inaugural Generic List Article.

However, after much Googling and two cups of coffee, I managed to unearth four heavily derided characters whose status as second fiddle is more than made up for by the frothing hatred spewed forth by gamers everywhere.

Spotlight On: Wizard School

When destiny throws you a curve ball, take it for all the free booze you can magic up

This unashamed rip-off of the Potterverse begins with the chosen one being gunned down by his mortal enemy; despite casting every protection spell known to man, he forgot to protect against physical projectiles, like bullets. These opening pages set the tone of Wizard School right off the bat and promise a pretty good endgame somewhere down the line, because if the dark lord in question is a sarky, evil-minded bastard who's read a bit too much of the Evil Overlord List, then he has nothing on lead asshole Russell Graham.

Spotlight On: Warbot in Accounting

We're an equal opportunity employer here, even for instruments of death. Especially for instruments of death

It's never made clear why a hulking war machine needs to make ends meet as an office schlub, but it's both achingly cute and heartbreakingly sad to see him try so hard, yet fail to often. A trip to the fax machine takes him several hours, while his attempts to save a cat from being run over result in a front-page massacre.

So easily could he have made his problems go away with gunfire, but not this Warbot; whether attempting a date or building a child for Take Your Daughter to Work Day, he takes the obstacles presented by his enormous frame, stubby arms and lack of speech functions in his stride. That his prospective girlfriends occasionally suffer tragic deaths and his blind, crippled daughter now sits in a bin, praying for death, doesn't seem to slow him down. Or possibly he can't find his auto-destruct.

Warbot in Accounting isn't updated often, but Nuklear Power is home to several comics, including the now finished 8-Bit Theater, so blast your way through Warbot's short run and check out the rest of their portfolio here.

Digital Remix: Maverick Rising

Sometimes, you really can have too much of a good thing

I definitely have a soft spot for OverClocked ReMix, partly because I'm a gigantic nerd who loves him some videogame music, but also because it's a fascinating experiment in producing a crowd-sourced music label. Not that it is a label, per say, but with over thirty albums under their belt, complete with album art and all created by an immensely talented and enthusiastic community who sweat blood and tears for moderate fame and zero pay, it's clearly a model that has something to it.

Spotlight On: Lackadaisy

A story of a time gone by, in many shades of brownish-grey

Lackadaisy shares a few of the same elements as published comic Blacksad, from an anthropomorphic cast to a pleasingly realistic period setting, in this case the height of prohibition and the speakeasy. The sepia-toned setting is contrasted by a big-eyed, cartoonish cast, but a stylistic choice that could have turned the series into complete farce is always bound by reality, adding a slight but tangible layer of levity to even the darkest of moments while never descending into physics-defying slapstick.

Lackadaisy tells the story of the eponymous speakeasy, fallen on hard times since the none-too-peaceful death of its owner, Atlas May; under the ownership of his wife Mitzi, the security of angry, crippled man-monster Viktor and the unpredictable lunacy of Rocky, the hired guns of Lackadaisy have to get back on their feet the only way they know how - sabotage, trickery, good old fashioned thievery and a shy tiger who gets a screaming case of the crazies whenever he grabs hold of a gun.