Punching Bag Characters

[R-Taco]

Wile E. Coyote? Wouldn't a punching bag character be a character who doesn't deserve all the abuse he gets? Wile E. Coyote is always trying to kill an innocent roadrunner. I'd say his pain is karma at work.

He's trying to eat. Nothing immoral about natural predatory behavior.

Personally, I'm not a fan of this kind of humor unless the characters get some kind of relief every once in a while.

 

[tb4000]

Every show in the 80s/90s had that punching bag character....Iago from Aladdin, Bingo from Get-Along Gang, Gonzo from Muppet Babies, etc. The one that was always somewhat of a slight jerk, yet never always warranted it.

 

[Shadow Eevee]

I think there's a fine line between punching bag and comic relief, and that line was broken long, long ago. Some punching bag characters that come to mind are that Redhead from Bill and Mandy, Sokka from Avatar (40 percent of the time), Candace from Phineas and Ferb, as well as the professor, who's name I can't spell (Candace's Mom thinks Candace is insane, while the professor's flashbacks are good enough proof), and yeah that's about it.
That Redhead, because he usually gets victimized out of nowhere.
Sokka, because he can't bend anything, as well as lack of respect in earlier episodes.

But yeah, it's seems to be funny, but I can't help but pity these punching bags.

 

[Antiyonder]

I guess I'm the only one who actively finds this sort of thing extremely entertaining. The audience feels bad for the character, but the rest of the cast rarely does...and that's fun.

It's all about execution. If they pull it off well, we can feel sorry for the character without feeling annoyance from the character who does the punching.

As you said, giving the punching bag a break is helpful in the execution. Or in the case of Master Shake from Aqua Teen Hungerforce, sure he's a jerk, but he gets a good deal of comeupance.

Another method is making the antagonist likable (fun personality trait). The bully from "My Dad's A Rock Star" has a more sophisticated well read personality. Flash Thompson from The Spectacular Spider-Man has a plausible reason for bullying Peter (thinks he's egotistical and arrogant).

Granted the last two examples are bully victims and not so much punching bags, I hope I made a valid point.

 

[Game Freak 4]

TV Tropes have 2 names for this: Butt Monkey and Chew Toy. Mikuru Ashimina and Eustace Bagge fits in the Chew Toy Trope.

If Video Games are allowed, my vote goes to Luigi Jumpmen, Hong "Chuugoku" Meling, and King DeDeDe. Toon Link is another.

 

[Lavenderpaw]

Jake Long from American Dragon constantly suffers abuse by the show itself. He is egoistic to the point of causing most of his dilemas but he almost always sets things straight.However, he is the main character and he is the constant source for abuse.

I've also got to list Johnny Bravo; who is even more egoistic than Jake Long if you can believe it. He's likable in his naivety but I'd just like him to find that one girl.

 

[J.E.Smith]

The Happiness Bunny from Shin-Chan is literaly a punching bag character.

 

[Joe]

And I second the vote for CatDog's Cat. He could be kind of an egotsitcial jerk at times, sure, but the humiliation, degradation and abuse that received in many episodes just crossed the line for me; at times it seemed like they hurled abuse at cat just because he was Cat.

I third Cat. It's even worse that it often had a clear psychological affect on him. I'm surprised he didn't get to the point in which he commited suicide or tried to kill Dog in his sleep.

 

[Itchy]

The Simpsons have several characters like that
Scratchy
Hans Moleman
Sideshow Bob
Lance Murdock
And of course Homer.

 

[stephane dumas]

will the Pigs in the animated series the Raccoons might fit the category? They often yelled by Cyril Sneer when they did something they shouldn't or being kicked out of the office at the wrong timing when they ask for a salary raise.

 

[Elven Moon]

Victor Volt from The Secret Show is the one to get the short end of the stick 99% of the time. Professor Professor is always making him the sole guinea pig for his inventions, when something has to hit a character (like coconuts or rocks), it's him that gets it, when something goes wrong it's automatically assumed it's his fault even when he didn't do anything. The list goes on. With the treatment he gets, I personally would've quit a long time ago. At least he gets some kind of "reward" for putting up with it, as shown in the "from the future" episode.

 

[Cullen]

The Alpha Gang from Dinosaur King constantly gets insulted and abused by Dr. Z non stop. I guess it doesn't pay to be bad guys.

 

[Marvin Tikvah]

In the recent seasons of Spongebob Squarepants, it seems Squidward has filled in the role of punching bag. When he's not busy being artistically elitist or contemplating how much his life sucks, he's usually the one who ends up getting into a very painful accident or receiving a beating by someone larger than him. Sad thing is, usually it's caused by something Spongebob did, yet he never seems to suffer any consequences.

 

[Naruto D.Luffy]

In the recent seasons of Spongebob Squarepants, it seems Squidward has filled in the role of punching bag. When he's not busy being artistically elitist or contemplating how much his life sucks, he's usually the one who ends up getting into a very painful accident or receiving a beating by someone larger than him. Sad thing is, usually it's caused by something Spongebob did, yet he never seems to suffer any consequences.

I was just going to put in a word for him. I couldn't take some of the situations he was put that would put Spongebob in the light, like the magic conch shell incident, the nursing incident, the April fools incident and the one that really makes me angry was the one where Squidward gets replaced by the doll that Spongebob makes.

I fourth Cat from Catdog, because to me he was ironically the "underdog" of the show.There were like only 3 or 4 episodes that I remember were he got to taste the fruits of victory.

 

[BartWinkle]

Wouldn't Charlie Brown be included? Just once, I would like to have seen him exact revenge on most of the gang, especially Lucy.

 

[cyde]

Wouldn't Charlie Brown be included? Just once, I would like to have seen him exact revenge on most of the gang, especially Lucy.

How? With Charles Shultz dead?

 

[DarthGonzo]

How? With Charles Shultz dead?

Well, they can do more Peanuts shows and specials, as long as what they're doing is coming directly from the comics.

 

[R. Escobar]

I think Butters being a "punching bag" character is what makes his character work on South Park, he's the only kid in the main group who is actually just an innocent 9 year old kid, and that explains why he had good chemistry with Cartman, a manipulative, sociopath.

 

[Starbraces]

Ahh... character torturing. I absolutely love it. It's one of the most hilarious things when it comes to cartoons. And, I actually never thought people DIDN'T enjoy it until I stumbled across a Foster's Home for Imaginary Friend's forums

At the time, sadly, I had no idea the amount of Wilt fangirls

When "The Buck Swaps Here" had just aired, all hell broke lose. Just because of some character torturing on Wilt. In the episode he's extremely dehydrated to the point his life is literally fading away, and noone manages to help him (even though Ed does try). I could not stop laughing, but appearantly some of his fangirls got so mad they completely abandoned the show. Talk about needing a chill pill

In the recent seasons of Spongebob Squarepants, it seems Squidward has filled in the role of punching bag. When he's not busy being artistically elitist or contemplating how much his life sucks, he's usually the one who ends up getting into a very painful accident or receiving a beating by someone larger than him. Sad thing is, usually it's caused by something Spongebob did, yet he never seems to suffer any consequences.

That's one of the reasons I love Squidward, though. He's always so anti everything Spongebob does, but, (like in the Camping episode) it's his very own fault that he lets Spongebob spark his interest "You don't think I see what you're doing!? Oh I see what you're doing..."

He's also the first character in a cartoon for kids that I've seen having a death wish. I don't remember what episode it was, but he says "Too bad that didn't kill me"

The same reason goes for Todd from Wayside. He usually gets the short end of the stick and often end up in similar self-induced situations (and he's my favorite character because of this)

For those who don't see the humor in character torture, it makes me think of something Lauren (Craig McCracken's wife) said once in the script she made for "Go Goo Go!" - because Mac is constantly being tortured - "It's FUNNY because it's happening to him, and not you."

 

[Alph]

He's also the first character in a cartoon for kids that I've seen having a death wish. I don't remember what episode it was, but he says "Too bad that didn't kill me"

That's from Band Geeks. One of my favorite episodes. Also, ironically, Squidward actually wins in that episode.