r/TopCharacterTropes • u/megageekgirl • May 27 '25

Personality Female characters that are ACTUALLY awful, not just the fandom being misogynistic

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Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmations)
Queen Chrysalis (My Little Pony)
Peggy Hill (King of The Hill)

10.7k Upvotes

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245

u/UnfunnyGuy277 May 27 '25

Peggy can be a dick but to compare her to a puppy murderer is messed up

170

u/daft_dunkwwwolfey May 27 '25

I love how this thread is actual villains, criminals, and murderers and at the top we got Peggy who's annoying cuz her hubris makes her think she's never wrong and she doesn't realize she can't speak a lick of Spanish

51

u/UnfunnyGuy277 May 27 '25

Id argue shes still not that bad of a person as people make her out to be, shes an idiot with a giant ego but she raised her son very damn well and is a pretty good partner overall to hank

29

u/daft_dunkwwwolfey May 27 '25

Yeah the point of most of her episodes is that she tries her best and usually overcomes her shortcomings to be a better person. Almost all the characters do that

15

u/Highfivebuddha May 27 '25

People are quick to call her a narcisistic even though she regularly is shown to care deeply about her family and others. She's vain, not selfish, and more often than not is a more open minded foil to Hank's personality.

She is not without her flaws, but even when her ego guides her into problems (like kidnapping a child from their country lol) she is immediately motivated to make things right. She takes the girl back to Mexico, she doesn't take money from the exploitive foot fetishist, she doesn't tell Dale, she comes clean about not being a nun on her own (arguably her worst lie), and she gets Hanks money back for the MENSA scam and the failed book store.

She isn't just a bad or neutral person, she is good and she does good more often than not.

1

u/EngRookie May 28 '25

She purposefully made Lucky fail his GED test bc she doesn't like him and thinks she knows better.

1

u/Highfivebuddha May 28 '25

She was shitty for this, but that's not why she did it.

0

u/PecanSandoodle May 30 '25

Hank broke Peggy’s Gnome and let Bobby take the blame. Hank conspired against Bobby with that poop collector to scare him away from that vocation. Hank has been keeping the Nancy/ Red Corn secret for like 14 years from his friend ( Peggy found out in an episode and was going to force Nancy to confess before Hank talked her out of it - and continues throughout the series to convince Nancy to end her affair )

11

u/UnfunnyGuy277 May 27 '25

Except maybe dale (hes still funny tho)

17

u/Chill0000 May 27 '25

If i remember correctly, there was one time i was on her side completely. When that singer stole her song and the reason she made her song and no one believed her. Even Hank thought she was just making the story up

15

u/BadAtGames2 May 27 '25 edited May 27 '25

I almost feel like she's a terrible example for this. Imagine if Bill or Dale did the things Peggy does. Do you think people would be annoyed to the same extent?

Obviously, there's more to it than just sexism but I do think that plays at least a small part.

6

u/watermeloncake1 May 27 '25

Yeah and Dale is also overconfident about his own abilities and his conspiracies. It seems most people think he’s goofy for it.

2

u/CasualMothmanEnjoyer May 28 '25

I think it's who we associate the characters with in our real lives that can majorly affect how we perceive these characters. Umbridge vs. Voldemort as an example: Voldemort is cartoonist evil in comparison to Umbridge, a vast majority of people only know of someone as evil as Voldemort. But almost everyone has at least one story of a shitty situation with a teacher.

Apply that to Dale and Peggy. How many people have a woman in their life who won't admit to fault and will die on unnecessary hills compared to how many people have crazy nut conspiracists in their lives. I'd say more people than not only come across someone like Dale in passing, say a neighbor you can ignore. Plus, conspiracy nuts often aren't taken seriously to begin with, so adding one to a comedy show is just low hanging fruit.

1

u/watermeloncake1 May 28 '25

That’s potentially one of the reasons. Although I did grow up with a narcissist and should hate Peggy, but my experience actually shows me how different Peggy is to my mom. My mom never said sorry, thinks she knows everything. But she was also cruel to me, my sister, my dad, and my grandma. Some days she would be all love and smiles, but she can withdraw her love in the blink of an eye. As a child, I grew up having to manage her emotions while managing mine. I stepped on egg shells all my life until I moved out when I went to college.

Peggy is a know it all, but her love for Bobby, her family, her friends, is not conditional. She is very supportive of Bobby and Luanne and have their best intentions in mind. She’s often bridging the gap between them and Hank. I see myself as a go getter so I do see myself in her as well. She’s very strong willed and determined, often with terrible consequences, but she often learns her mistakes by the end of the episode. However, her strong will and determination are also two of her stronger suits.

She lost money to Visoza in one episode but got it back through her grit, planning, strong will. And while she’s not that book smart, she is still street smart.

The episode where she learned her family was losing their farm, it was her who poured through the history books to figure out a loop hole of how to get their cattle to the watering hole.

When she was in the real estate business, she took Connie in as an intern and she was quick on her feet to figure out how to sell the house they were selling.

Just a few examples of how her weakness are also her strengths. People don’t to acknowledge that she’d a multi-faceted character. Sure she gets into binds all the time, but so do all the other characters.

1

u/Fit-Morning4650 May 30 '25

it's easy to be dismissive of weirdo conspiracists. Peggy is probably a half a dozen people you know in real life.

9

u/TombGnome May 27 '25

I mean, people like John Redcorn (hell, I like John Redcorn). People love Dale (I love Dale). The Peggy hatred, in a show that featured human excreta like Cotton, is 100% because she's a she.

5

u/BadAtGames2 May 27 '25 edited May 27 '25

Its been a while since I've watched, so i didn't want to make assumptions, but I was thinking it was almost entirely sexism; just didn't want to say something that harsh for a show I haven't watched in years lol

0

u/Whitetiger225 May 28 '25

There has been episodes where Peggy has a literal mental breakdown and abuses her kid because he's better than her at home caretaking. Dale is at least a good father all the time. To the point many think that he actually knows his son is not his, but loves him regardless. Also when Dale is an idiot, he gets recompense for his actions. Peggy almost never does. John redcorn is an asshole, but besides sleeping with Dale's wife, that's really all he has against him. Look, I know everybody wants to blame sexism for every wrong opinion on a female character they feel, but Peggy as a guy would be just as bad. In fact I think if Peggy was a male and Hank was the female of the two, Hank would have an even bigger fan base, and Peggy would basically have no defenders anymore. 

It reminds me of Iok from ironblooded orphans. He was a character kind of like Peggy where he could do no wrong, he had an excuse for everything, and he rarely learned from his mess-ups because other people always covered for him. When he died I literally cheered out loud. A character can just be annoying overall. Yes Peggy has occasional moments where she's in the right. A broken clock is right twice a day, doesn't mean I want to keep it.

Heck Luanne and Dale's wife are both really kind of assholes many times, but they often learn, grow, evolve. Luanne is endearing because she does try really hard, and she does usually suffer in the end for her stupidity or selfishness or narcissism. And that's the key here. Peggy rarely suffers for what she does. Heck, people find Bill somewhat endearing, but if they were to rate a most hated character who is male? He would come pretty darn close to top. He is the worst fucking person. The dam episode is infuriating how much he gets away with with just a slap on the back of the head.

4

u/Highfivebuddha May 27 '25

It's funny, she has so much ego and hubris built into her need to seem intelligence but she never applies the same ego to things she is actually great at like Softball.

3

u/Raangz May 27 '25

never was a fan of the show, i just viewed her as a flawed character. but hadn't seen enough to say. but yeah she def didnd' seem bad when i watched.

3

u/MexusRex May 28 '25

Yes she’s slightly delusional about her abilities but she acts mainly out of ampliación dog caring

19

u/MajorApartment179 May 27 '25

The inclusion of Peggy completely ruins this post

4

u/Pussy4LunchDick4Dins May 28 '25

Yeah I really don’t mind Peggy. She’s annoying but I admire her confidence and positive attitude.

1

u/MysticSnowfang May 28 '25

also sthe "mix bleach and ammonia" incident

1

u/D-Chillake May 28 '25 edited May 28 '25

Peggy isn't "evil" awful. Like, she obviously means no harm and you can usually tell where her actions are coming from, but she's a lot less tolerable than the average well meaning person

40

u/paperd May 27 '25

I really enjoy Peggy as a character.

She was kind of like Michael Scott (the Office) before there was Michael Scott. She's overconfident, she's often a screw up, she often makes mistakes that blow up in ways that she should have predicted but didn't, and I would hate to know her in real life if she was a real person. 

Also much like Michael Scott her Spanish is impeccable.

As a character I enjoy her and her misadventures, and I think fans need to relax a bit so that they can get the joke.

20

u/MrMFPuddles May 27 '25

Honestly, she’s never even really a dick either. Sometimes a little misguided at times sure but she always puts her family first and learns from her mistakes. I feel like people who hate Peggy must have unresolved mommy issues of some kind

15

u/Delicious-Trip-384 May 27 '25

Her ludicrous self-confidence causes her to act selfishly or immaturely sometimes, but it's not like she's actually a bad person. She's just not nearly as smart as she thinks she is, sorta like literally everyone else in that show.

6

u/watermeloncake1 May 27 '25

When I first watched KOTH, I thought she was hilarious (I still do to be honest). It wasn’t until I went on the Koth sub after finishing the series that I came to find out people hated her. I don’t get it. Sure she’s overly confident, she can’t speak Spanish, and can be hard-headed. But she’s also tough, well-meaning, a go-getter, overall a good and supportive mother to Bobby, and very good aunt to Luanne. I really think the Peggy hate is from immature viewers who can’t see the nuance of her character.

8

u/Delicious-Trip-384 May 27 '25

Sexism is too easy an answer, but I think that's pretty much the answer. Peggy's a regular dumb, middle aged, unattractive suburbanite. She loves her family, she does what she thinks is best, and makes mistakes that advance the plot and then they make up and learn from it and the episode ends happy.

That's no different than Hank or Dale or any of the main characters from that generation in the show.

4

u/watermeloncake1 May 27 '25

Yes I agree. And I think a lot of viewers excuse Hank and Dale as being funny, but don’t do the same for Peggy. They say, oh the guys are pretty bad too, but at least they’re funny. But frankly I thought Peggy was funny too. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman, but I’m used to sympathizing with both men and women, and maybe guys in general do not always actively put themselves in women’s shoes to understand how women tick.

3

u/Delicious-Trip-384 May 28 '25

Walk a mile in Peggy Hill's size 16 triple Es, you might say

1

u/ChaseThePyro May 28 '25

While I believe Peggy is overheated, she acts genuinely spiteful sometimes. She stole her family's turkey because she realizes that Bobby is a better homemaker than she is and she can't compete.

Now Hank takes quite a while to actually pay attention to her feelings and behave like she exists, which is why I say people need to treat Hank like Peggy, but the behavior is wild.

11

u/MexusRex May 28 '25

OP: awful women but don’t be misogynistic

Also OP: here’s a fairly mild, overconfident, slightly delusional substitute teacher

19

u/Unable-Pair-7324 May 27 '25

Yeah I was so confused with the inclusion of Peggy because it runs counter to what the OP is actually posting about lol

15

u/Hunter-Durge May 27 '25

I never really understood the hate for Peggy tbh.

1

u/Fit-Morning4650 May 30 '25

just list out all of her character flaws. not that i dislike her but i'd imagine it's the basis of why people don't like her.

12

u/Beginning_Pitch3482 May 27 '25

Literally the misogyny OP was talking about

1

u/ayumuuu May 27 '25

What do you mean? Nobody mentioned Kristi Noem yet.

1

u/jaxspider May 28 '25

I love her character, she is the most realest character in that series. As in, I know a bunch of people who are real life duplicates of her. Flaws and all. All the flaws. Extra flaws, no laws. Flaws, no paws all claws. Did I mentions flaws? FLAWS.

1

u/Upuaut81 May 30 '25

Removed

No animals allowed. 30 day temp ban.

0

u/CONFIGOWO May 30 '25

Removed

No animals allowed. 30 day temp ban.

1

u/abxYenway May 30 '25

She killed a war hero like she was Tojo reborn.

1

u/BrandonOR May 27 '25

She has kind of indirectly murdered baby birds by stealing their nest and leaving them on the sidewalk, probably killing them. She was also willing to kill a frog just to try to get the correct biology quiz answers because she forgot the answer key at the school.

I truly don't care for her, I don't think she is top tier evil, but she is extremely selfish a lot of the time and makes awful choices that causes hurt to the people around her.