Barto from ‘One Piece’

This is a strange character type that I’ve noticed showing up in various shows.  They are major fans of one of the heroes and will be nearly obsessed with them.  Typically, they show up after a few adventures create a reputation for their idol.  Personality-wise, people can find them annoying and their fervor can cause friction with those who don’t agree with their idol.  Although, they can also be useful and friendly to anyone who is associated with their hero.  In fact, I’ve seen a few versions of this character type:

Obsessed Fan

This is the one that I see a lot in American stories.  The character is obsessed to the point of becoming a villain.  They may attack others if they see them as a threat or try to do what they think their idol would.  It’s always a skewed and warped version of the hero’s morality too, which is why they go villain.  This kind of story teaches people that dangers of hero worship, especially when you don’t really know the other person.  They follow an idealized, unflawed version of the real hero and it sets them down a dangerous path.  Happens a lot in the real world too.

Loyal, Evil Sidekick

Many henchmen who rise above the normal ranks fall into the fanboy/fangirl category, but they are more restrained.  They hold the same level of loyalty and can get really obsessed with following orders.  I’m talking about the characters who don’t question their leader or do anything to insult them.  Even if they’re told to die for their leader, they will do so without question.  We’re talking blind loyalty here, which is clearly a bad thing.

The Harmless Fanboy that I Really Wanted to Talk About

I threw the other two in because people might mention them, but this type is the one that had me wanting to right this post.  Specifically, the character of Bartolomeo from ‘One Piece’ who is a pirate that shows up in episode 633.  Initially, he is a crude and foul-mouthed character that one expects to go head-to-head with the heroes.  The twist is that he’s actually a MAJOR fanboy of the Straw Hat pirates to the point where he is elated by any attention they give him.  Even his ship is designed to an homage to the crew who inspired him to go from street thug to pirate.  It gets both comical and fairly annoying for some people.

The reason I found this character type interesting is that I don’t think I see it very often outside of anime.  Barto is an obsessed fanboy, but he isn’t a danger to those around him unless they are enemies of the Straw Hats.  He becomes an important ally with his barrier powers and determination to help his idols.  If he is about to go too far, Luffy or one of the other Straw Hats tells him to stop and he snaps back in line.  This kind of shows the danger of idol worship, but it also demonstrates how such a person can be helpful as long as they respect boundaries.

I think another difference is that Barto doesn’t seem to have an idealized vision of his heroes.  Anything they do that doesn’t match his expectations isn’t rejected or used to turn him against the Straw Hats.  He accepts it and changes his own mindset in order to stay in the presence of his inspirations.  There hasn’t been anything I’ve seen that could make him turn against them and decide that they aren’t the great pirates he believes them to be.  The ultimate loyalty and how he will put himself in harm’s way to protect his idols really made me grow to like him.  The obnoxious fanboy-ing he would do got silly at times, but I was fine with it when I saw he was so faithful to the heroes.  No worry about him betraying them like other characters.

Going back to the general concept, the fanboy/girl can’t really be done right off the bat unless you have an established hero.  I kind of did this with Morgan in the Ichabod Brooks stories.  She’s a young monster hunter who idolizes Ichabod and gets to team up with him.  The stories of his prowess and power end up shrinking when she sees he’s just a really skilled human with a lot of mileage.  I think the only reason this worked is because I made it clear from the start that Ichabod had a reputation.  Morgan being a fangirl wouldn’t work if I didn’t set that up.  It would confuse the reader who would wonder why she’s excited to work with some guy that they just met.  Aside from that, this really is a character who shouldn’t show up until halfway through a story or series.  That way the audience can see why the heroes have such a fan.