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Author Topic: Wil Wheaton fans will enjoy this
Strider
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recursive Wheaton

really, anyone with a sense of humor will enjoy this.

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The White Whale
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recursion
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The Rabbit
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Does Will Wheaton have fans?
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The White Whale
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He has a fairly geeky, small group of entertained internet fanboys.
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Strider
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not sure, I remember him best from Toy Soldiers as a kid! Found this image on popurls.
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Bella Bee
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I'm not sure anyone should allow Wesley ad infinitum.

Although it could probably be argued that this has already happened (or maybe it just felt that way at the time).

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Blayne Bradley
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Will Wheaton was originally only hated for his role as Weaselly Crusher from TNG but has managed to turn this around somewhat recently and become a small internet celebrity like John Hodgeman.
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mr_porteiro_head
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He was also loved for his role as Wesley Crusher. [Smile]
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Strider
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Oh wait! Stand By Me. I forgot that was him.

I've never really seen star trek, can someone explain the anamosity towards this guy?

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Blayne Bradley
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Wesley was allegedly a horribly written flat annoying character that even Wheaten himself felt was a terribly written character to the point he made it a point to apologize profusely for it ever since, as for the specifics as to why you'ld need to look it up on Tv Tropes.

You'll find mph that the number of people who hate the character vastly outweigh (on the internet anyways) the number of people who like the character (the actor himself people would universally agree is a cool guy and shows up at PAX alot I think) as for my views on him I actually never saw enough of TNG to register an opinion other then "stop talking so Data can get more lines"

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Blayne Bradley
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Quoted for your convenience:

quote:

"How can you not like me?"
—Brian, Family Guy
"It's what the network wants, Why bother to complain?"
—Pinky and the Brain theme song on Elmyra, Pinky And The Brain
There are certain characters who receive a lot of hatred from the majority of the fanbase for one reason or another. Most often, when their creators pick up on the hate, it's either ignored or, sometimes, played into (as eventually happened to Scrappy-Doo in the first Scooby Doo movie).
There are times, however, when it becomes obvious that at least one writer has become attached to a hated character, writing them into more and more scenes, giving them more — and more important — things to do, having the other characters rave about how awesome they are and sometimes even making them the proxy voice of the author, all while blithely ignoring the fact that the fans absolutely goddamned hate this character.
That's The Wesley in a nutshell (a.k.a. the Creator's Pet or "author's darling").
The main characteristic of The Wesley is that the writers' focus on them is detrimental to the show, not so much that the parts featuring this character necessarily suck more than the rest, but that so much effort is being directed to them that it detracts from the quality of the series as a whole. It's as if the writers think that there's nothing more important than browbeating the viewers into falling in love with this one character. And it never works.
The trope is named after Wesley Crusher of Star Trek: The Next Generation, probably the most (in)famous example of this syndrome. Star Trek fans have a really hard time understanding why the snot-nosed kid is the one saving the Enterprise every other episode, so the writers explain it by... revealing that he is actually a super-special genius destined to Ascend To A Higher Plane Of Existence. Then, they wonder where things like the Usenet group "alt.wesley.die.die.die" came from.
The Trek franchise is strong enough to overcome the original, but other shows haven't been as lucky. When a character starts developing into The Wesley, it's often a code-red Jump The Shark sighting. Like Wesley's puppy-powered cousin, he can still be Rescued From The Scrappy Heap, but that's rare and takes considerable writing talent. The only certain way to dodge this particular bullet is to either put him on a bus or outright kill him off.
Keep in mind that this isn't "The Scrappy with a big role", nor is it the Mary Sue, although related traits and tropes are often a factor in why this character is hated. The Wesley is a combination of being hated by fans (The Scrappy), loved by the writers (Creators Pet) and butting into big scenes for no reason (Character Focus). If it doesn't meet those three criteria then it doesn't fit.
Compare Spotlight Stealing Squad, which happens when Character Focus pushes a lot of the other characters out of the limelight for an extended period of time, and The Barney, when this kind of character is the main one from the beginning. Also compare the GMPC, which is often this in a Role Playing Game. Contrast The Artifact, as a fair solution to a character who is only a Wesley because of overuse: the writers no longer find them interesting, but can't write them out of the series without royally screwing things up. Also contrast The Poochie, whom the creators get rid of as quickly as possible.

This both exemplifies why I love tvtropes and why I shouldn't try describing things from memory.
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HollowEarth
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Man, I'm more epic than that everyday and twice on Tuesdays.
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Blayne Bradley
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Was there something wrong with the way I explained the situation to Strider?
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TomDavidson
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quote:
as for the specifics as to why you'ld need to look it up on Tv Tropes.
Except that TV Tropes doesn't do as good a job as, say, Wikipedia or Wheaton's own blog at describing why someone might be a fan of Wil Wheaton. [Smile]
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The White Whale
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quote:
Was there something wrong with the way I explained the situation to Strider?
The general incoherency, I'd venture.
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Blayne Bradley
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quote:
Originally posted by TomDavidson:
quote:
as for the specifics as to why you'ld need to look it up on Tv Tropes.
Except that TV Tropes doesn't do as good a job as, say, Wikipedia or Wheaton's own blog at describing why someone might be a fan of Wil Wheaton. [Smile]
Exceeeeeeept that wasn't the question! The question was 'why would there be animosity towards this guy' which specifically is why would their be animosity towards the character of Weasely Chrusher which I answered correctly with the quoting.

"The general incoherency, I'd venture."

What would you have preferred I edited my post to provide the correct explanation in the first go and pretend my mistake didn't exist? That would be dishonest which is why I made the second post with the direct quoting from the relevent tvtropes article.

Seriously this should be obvious clearly some of you need to stop knee jerk insta posting and read the damn post first.

Unless "anamosity" means the complete opposite of "animosity".
[Roll Eyes]

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The White Whale
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I was referring more to the syntax, grammar, lack of punctuation, strange flow, run-on sentences, and your spelling Wheaton "Wheaten."
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Blayne Bradley
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quote:
Originally posted by The White Whale:
I was referring more to the syntax, grammar, lack of punctuation, strange flow, run-on sentences, and your spelling Wheaton "Wheaten."

Hrrm no looking back on my actual post doesn't reveal any of these things to be in a significant enough degree to actually be incoherent. Reading not skimming would actually reveal the point I'm trying to get across and as for the text I quoted it is not my responsibility to check or correct for any grammatical inconsistencies.

Spelling Wheaton with an 'e' is not a big deal and doesn't significantly change the pronunciation leaving it still fairly obvious whom I am referring to, your just being a grammar nazi.

So welcome to Hatrack you are wrong. Again.

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Blayne Bradley
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quote:
Somewhere along the line this contributor got more into the form than the content. They sometimes leave snarky little notes in discussion areas about the correct use of italics or where the apostrophe goes in "its/it's." They don't actually add no any new content — except possibly passive-aggressive "help" articles on proper usage of the semicolon. At their worst, they are known for insisting on "rules of English" which don't actually exist. They'll also likely become a Serial Tweaker, careful to quickly correct their own mistakes. (hopefully)
For emphasis.
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mr_porteiro_head
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quote:
your just being a grammar nazi.
I love the fact that there are two grammar errors in this phrase.
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Blayne Bradley
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Live a little! Resist the Grammar Oppression! Fling off our chains! What is their to lose but our self-respect!?
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Strider
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can't we all just laugh at how amusing that shirt is?
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TomDavidson
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quote:
So welcome to Hatrack you are wrong.
Never use this line, please. It makes me sad on a number of levels.
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Blayne Bradley
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We could, but that would show discipline and self restraint, as well as respect to the original post.

And this being the internet, blasphemy!

On another note that shirt is funny like Colbert's portrait.

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Strider
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quote:
Originally posted by TomDavidson:
quote:
So welcome to Hatrack you are wrong.
Never use this line, please. It makes me sad on a number of levels.
hah, seems like it'd be a fitting motto for the last few years.

[ April 06, 2010, 01:29 AM: Message edited by: Strider ]

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Dan_Frank
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Blayne, if I didn't know better I might actually think your consistent confusing of you're/your/there/their in this thread was intentional, for some sort of obscure comedic effect.

Sadly, I do know better. [Frown]

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mr_porteiro_head
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quote:
Originally posted by Blayne Bradley:
[QB] We could, but that would show discipline and self restraint, as well as respect to the original post./QB]

No, you do not have to actually have respect for something in order to act with decorum and respect.
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Blayne Bradley
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I think you completely missed the point there.
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AchillesHeel
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I'm gonna go ahead and ignore the tangeant/tiff and say that Wheaton was awesome in the latest season of The Guild, even though he doesnt play any online games and stumbled around some the of the dialogue. Obviously most of the cast are not gamers but atleast they dont have to relearn geekspeak like he had to.

Is it bad that I remember Wil Wheaton better for the Family Guy joke where Stewie mispronounces WH words like Wheaton and whip?

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kmbboots
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I am reminded of the first time I noticed recursion - or more specifically the Droste effect. It was Mr. Peanut holding a jar of peanuts with his picture on it - holding a jar of peanuts...
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The White Whale
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quote:
Originally posted by AchillesHeel:

Is it bad that I remember Wil Wheaton better for the Family Guy joke where Stewie mispronounces WH words like Wheaton and whip?

No. Especially since Family Guy has had so few moments of actual comedy recently.
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Blayne Bradley
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quote:
Originally posted by AchillesHeel:
I'm gonna go ahead and ignore the tangeant/tiff and say that Wheaton was awesome in the latest season of The Guild, even though he doesnt play any online games and stumbled around some the of the dialogue. Obviously most of the cast are not gamers but atleast they dont have to relearn geekspeak like he had to.

Is it bad that I remember Wil Wheaton better for the Family Guy joke where Stewie mispronounces WH words like Wheaton and whip?

Was he in the first season of it (The Guild)? I didn't notice as I was trying to NOT watch it while playing other games when my friend kept insisting on playing it since if I was going to watch it I wanted to watch it from beginning to end and not jumping around so I wanted to avoid spoilers.
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dabbler
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I saw him at PAX East two weekends ago and he wore the shirt on that Saturday. He was signing autographs and posing for photos as well. His default pose was the one in the picture. My bf and I got his autograph on a Crusher action figure (boxed). I posed with wilw (twitter name) in the "Iron Guard Position" a la Penny Arcade.

It was really nice to meet him. He gave an excellent keynote speech for PAX that focused on the friendships made through gaming.

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Valentine014
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quote:
Originally posted by The White Whale:
He has a fairly geeky, small group of entertained internet fanboys.

And fangirls! [Smile]
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Stephan
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I want a tee-shirt like that (of myself though). That would throw off my students a bit.
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Jon Boy
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quote:
Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head:
quote:
your just being a grammar nazi.
I love the fact that there are two grammar errors in this phrase.
Uh . . . what's the second one? If you're talking about "nazi," it's typically lowercase when not referring to actual German National Socialists.
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Jon Boy
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Oh, and I love the shirt. It looks like he got it from the Basic Instructions store.
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Shedemei_82
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quote:
Originally posted by Jon Boy:
quote:
Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head:
quote:
your just being a grammar nazi.
I love the fact that there are two grammar errors in this phrase.
Uh . . . what's the second one? If you're talking about "nazi," it's typically lowercase when not referring to actual German National Socialists.
I'm guessing You're. Both the lack of capitalization and the lack of apostrophe.
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mr_porteiro_head
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No. It was the "nazi". There is no capitalization needed, as it wasn't the beginning of a sentence.
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aeolusdallas
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quote:
Originally posted by The Rabbit:
Does Will Wheaton have fans?

Quite a few fans. His books are a lot of fun and his blog is interesting.
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rivka
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quote:
Originally posted by dabbler:
I saw him at PAX East two weekends ago and he wore the shirt on that Saturday.

Oh, JEALOUS. I loved his keynote speech, and I'm not even a gamer!
quote:
Originally posted by Valentine014:
quote:
Originally posted by The White Whale:
He has a fairly geeky, small group of entertained internet fanboys.

And fangirls! [Smile]
Amen! [Big Grin]
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AchillesHeel
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quote:
Originally posted by Blayne Bradley:
quote:
Originally posted by AchillesHeel:
I'm gonna go ahead and ignore the tangeant/tiff and say that Wheaton was awesome in the latest season of The Guild, even though he doesnt play any online games and stumbled around some the of the dialogue. Obviously most of the cast are not gamers but atleast they dont have to relearn geekspeak like he had to.

Is it bad that I remember Wil Wheaton better for the Family Guy joke where Stewie mispronounces WH words like Wheaton and whip?

Was he in the first season of it (The Guild)? I didn't notice as I was trying to NOT watch it while playing other games when my friend kept insisting on playing it since if I was going to watch it I wanted to watch it from beginning to end and not jumping around so I wanted to avoid spoilers.
He is a new character in season 3, I am no spoiler man when it comes to The Guild but I would like to implore you to watch especially if your a WoW player. Its creepy how non-exagerated certain jokes and instances are in that show.
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paigereader
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This guy from my high school math class was an extra in Toy Soldiers. He said Will was kind of a snot, but how many years ago was that? 1991 or 1992? I did enjoy him on Big Bang, though. His interaction with Sheldon was great.
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Blayne Bradley
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quote:
Originally posted by AchillesHeel:
quote:
Originally posted by Blayne Bradley:
quote:
Originally posted by AchillesHeel:
I'm gonna go ahead and ignore the tangeant/tiff and say that Wheaton was awesome in the latest season of The Guild, even though he doesnt play any online games and stumbled around some the of the dialogue. Obviously most of the cast are not gamers but atleast they dont have to relearn geekspeak like he had to.

Is it bad that I remember Wil Wheaton better for the Family Guy joke where Stewie mispronounces WH words like Wheaton and whip?

Was he in the first season of it (The Guild)? I didn't notice as I was trying to NOT watch it while playing other games when my friend kept insisting on playing it since if I was going to watch it I wanted to watch it from beginning to end and not jumping around so I wanted to avoid spoilers.
He is a new character in season 3, I am no spoiler man when it comes to The Guild but I would like to implore you to watch especially if your a WoW player. Its creepy how non-exagerated certain jokes and instances are in that show.
I've "played" WoW but no where near as seriously as Everquest back in the good ol' days.

I got a level 40 ish Mage in WoW which I made as part of a buddy account system with a friend of mine (we get about 3x the experiance when in the same group) aaaaand then he kept playing after I took and break and then I lost interest when he zoomed ahead.

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The Black Pearl
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I saw some of his recent pax keynote. I thought it was kind of nifty but then i saw that it was 55 minutes, stopped watching, and lost a little faith in humanity.

But i'm half joking.

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rivka
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The story behind the shirt, and the photo.
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Lisa
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He was nominated for a Streamy (the Streamys were last night) for best guest star in a web series. Unfortunately, he didn't win.
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