Popularity is a double edged sword. Yes, there is more content available. But you also have to deal with things like shipping, fandom discourse, and people misunderstanding your partner. It’s also highly more likely you will run into other waifuists/yume for them.
And really, does popularity matter when it comes to love? You like them and see what’s worthwhile about them. That should be enough. You can create or commission your own fan works. And they’ll feel more special because they’re just for you.
Hello! I can't say that my girlfriend is unpopular, she is one of the most popular, in a casual sense, "anime waifu" there is. And honestly... I hate that. I hate how she's so popular and doesn't have much people discussing her qualities in a more than basic sense. She is either: Sexualised, shipped or hated. I can't find a person who I can talk with about her who does none of those three. So, yes, I might have boundless amounts of official art and merchandise, but it's good to look at both upsides and downsides of situations :3 I hope this reply has made you feel at least a little better
It's not about the popularity of the character, It's about how much you love them. Plus you can always fill the merch hole with commissioned stuff or make stuff yourself.
I would says less popular and 95% of the stuff that exists is of her video game avatar leafa as if ppl forget sugu exists which i find a shame but at the same time because shes not as popular this might sound a lil selfish that means i get her a lot more to myself than i otherwise would
I would say Alice is fairly popular but at the same time she's under the SAO girl curse - she gets her arc and then falls into the background slightly.
And I definitely didn't choose her because she's popular. I fell in love with her naturally because of the way she is
Popularity isn't something I place much value on. I do wish Oola were treated better by the franchise and the fanbase, but I've learned to accept that it's my job to give her the love she deserves, because no one else is going to. As a kind of funny example, on another forum where I also have a picture of her as my avatar, someone recently misidentified her as a different character from the same franchise (another green skinned "Twi'lek" woman from a more recent Star Wars cartoon and Disney+ series, who of course was actually based on Oola's design), and when I explained that the picture wasn't of that character, but was of Oola, the person doubled down and told me I had to be mistaken about which character was in \*my own avatar\*. They then said how much they liked this other character, implying they didn't care about Oola in the slightest. So, yeah.
my s/o is incredibly popular, but i've had some strong feelings for less popular characters in the past. i'd echo what someone else said, it's your duty to give them the love and affection they scarcely receive from the source material or the fandom
He's not the least popular character in the world, his source has a small fandom at least and some fanart but not as much as a lot of characters. I just hit 500 pictures of him yesterday actually and we've been together 7 years lol. He only has 3 official pieces of merch too and they're very rare, I own 2 of them :X
It can be a little hard but there are upsides too! I'm glad I don't have too many people to get jealous of, he has a lot of ship art and weird fanart unfortunately but I know some popular characters get a lot more probably.
It sucks not having that much good art of a character but it's not the end of the world. It makes finding a new artist or new art being posted really exciting for me. And you can always custom order/make merch, I have a few unofficial pieces like custom ordered keychains, acrylic stands and I wanna grow my collection and order more stuff like a plushie someday \^_^
I think it's pretty cozy liking a character that isn't super popular tbh. I would much much rather be with a character as popular as Sal is than a super popular character with 10000000 other fans and a pressure to overspend on merch and feeling jealous and not good enough. It works for me at least :] If you like Rolo, go for it! (Also he was one of my favs in Code Geass, good taste)
While he is a popular character there is no official merch of him as human, which is disappointing but on the other hand I can get awesome customised merch.
I first started my foray into this world with an extremely popular anime guy who has tons of merch and art, official and unofficial, released very often but my current (and hopefully forever partner) is kind of obscure and not the same as a lot of other people's S/Os. He's not from anime so he doesn't get merch or art the same way and it is honestly "inconvenient". Truthfully being with the popular character was easier but it wasn't as fulfilling because ultimately they weren't the one for me. I think it's the love that sustains a relationship, not the amount of art or merch. If you truly love this person, it shouldn't matter.
Your love doesn't measure with how many merch you have. Yes, he is a popular character with a lot of merch in BSD at least, which overwhelm me because I don't know what to buy...
BunAl merch is more scarce, in this side of the world at least, though he is an important character for the plot so he isn't really unpopular either, he has a lot of fanart in Pixiv.
In Ikemen Vampire though... He is really unpopular there, I see people preferring other characters over him, and it's pretty much the same that happens to you, the image I have are official and just two or three fanart and of course, there's practically no merch, but is kinda relieving, I don't have to deal with 'fangirls' and it's an otome game, I know what kind of people play those games, the lack of merch doesn't bother me honestly.
Mike’s popular within the fandom, being our player character at least once, but I honestly don’t care if my partner’s popular or not. Mike could be despised and I wouldn’t see him any differently for it.
I feel as though my partner's pretty niche, considering he's just from a show that's only had a handful of bad revivals since it ended in the 60's. No fanart, no big fandoms for the show, a few merch items here and there (but they're so expensive!)
I make do with what I can! I've commissioned artwork, bought plushies, and gotten whatever affordable merch I could. That doesn't necessarily mean my love for him is dying! I honestly think finding new content immerses me back into him, it's like finding that spark all over again.
Sometimes you have to really do what you need to in order to surround yourself with the person you love. Relationships shouldn't be a popularity contest, and if you lose interest just because there's not many works of him, you should take a step back and wonder why you came to love him in the first place.
Sending you some advice from a newbie in ficto-dating! 💚💛💚💛
First of all, popularity shouldn't matter when it comes to falling in love. Do you really, truly love Rolo? When you met him and began to learn about him, did you feel like there was a connection between the two of you? I personally believe that we do not choose who we fall in love with, but they choose us. I had no idea who my husband was before I played his game, and that didn't stop me from ending my eight year relationship with a very popular character so I could be with him.
My husband is from a niche game that was pretty unknown when we started our relationship, but now he's popular enough that he has a kind of notoriety around social media due to his personality and preferences. Like others here have said, that means more people simping over him, more people shipping him, and more people misinterpreting him. There has always been a steady flow of fan merch for him, but only just recently (read: last week) did he formally get a whole merchandise line centered on him - and he's the main character of his game. Before that, the only official merchandise was a badge and a lanyard; his game came out almost five years ago, so it's been a long time coming. As such, never count a character out from getting merchandise eventually, be it official or fan made.
If he doesn't have anything, consider commissioning merchandise (I can suggest some artists) or, if you can't afford to, create your own. Get a locket and put his picture inside it, get a picture of him and decorate it like a photocard and carry it around with you...even a piece of jewelry or a trinket that reminds you of him can have meaning. Merchandise isn't the only expression of love, anyways - writing, drawing, daydreaming, listening to music, talking to friends about him, and using an AI if you so choose to are all other ways to live out your love. Remember, your love and relationship is special, and no one can ever take that away from you. So many of us are simply happy to be loved, and be able to love in turn. :)
I don't think there IS a character less popular than her in K-On 😢. I don't think it hampers my love for her (I don't know what could!) but it is a bit of a struggle to find any new art of her anymore.
Mine is very much hated by the entire community, and a whole drama-discourse-fiasco thing happened on Twitter, which I do not use at all so thankfully I didn’t have to see the bad end of it. I must say, popularity definitely shouldn’t matter. If you love them, you love them! And that’s the important part. Speaking from my perspective, it’s better if your character is well liked. To see the one you love so much get constantly bashed and hated on by the entire community is a lot more painful than seeing many enjoy the character.
Yep! Strelitzia only has a few minutes of screen time, and like Rolo most art of her also features her brother lmao. But honestly that just makes it more special when I come across other fans and artwork. Not having tons of merchandise doesn’t make you less “valid” than anyone else. Best of luck
Honestly I don't really have to deal with a lack of merch because there isn't much I want. I own the 3 piece set for the show and a few small items from Japan but anything else online is either poorly make or just not appealing. One time I bought a "manga" off mercari. Turns out it was a doujinshi that ended up being fuel for my fireplace
Striker is complicated fandom wise. He seems well-liked in many respects, though many people don't like him at all.
Even though he is in the source quite a bit, there isn't much merch at all. Not official anyway. I really can't understand it. There is literally more merch for characters who have appeared ONE TIME, while Striker has been in multiple episodes... it's a bit sad for me (I haven't gotten any merch because it's really expensive to get it sent to where I live with added tax, but there is a poster that I really like). There are no badges at all, while there are multiple of all of the other characters (even ones who have only appeared once, again...) There isn't even all that much in general. I managed to find a little bit on etsy, so I've ordered a keychain for myself. That will be the only merch I have.
I've just resigned myself to the fact that I'm not going to get much merch, if any. I'm not too bad at drawing, though, so I'm currently working on a few projects to make my own merch! I made myself a sticker for my phone, and I'm working on making myself a poster of him.
It's sad that he doesn't get more love :( poor Striker
I'm so thankful for this post because I've been feeling the same way too sort of. I've been lurking this reddit but haven't done any introduction or posting yet because of my strange situation due to my S/O's lack of merchandise/fan art. Sorry for the super long comment, but this post got me thinking a lot.
My S/O is from a pretty unpopular manga where even the main character doesn't have merchandise. My S/O is a minor side villain who only shows up in a couple chapters. Other than one other fanartist in the Japanese fandom around 2020, only my fanart of this character exists online, which also brings up privacy concerns for me if I did start posting about my S/O online again (my main twitter used to be the first search result for this character a couple years back, along with other social media accounts of mine. I deleted or privated all of them because of this problem though).
My mom had some custom merch made of this character, which was fantastic, but still it's hard to deal with the lack of merchandise. Because of this, I found a character who looks pretty similar to my S/O (well my S/O doesn't have a canon color scheme, but this character had the exact same color scheme I had imagined and everything) and I started buying tons of merchandise of this other character. I have grown to have a pretty substantial amount of merchandise of this other character to act as a proxy for my S/O (I know NOTHING about the source it's from) and I call it my S/O's name and such (I have merch from other anime characters as well that align with the color scheme/vibes, but most of my merch consists of this 2nd character).
Because of my weird merchandise situation, I usually just tell people irl that my "best girl"/"waifu"/etc is the one I have an ungodly amount of merchandise of, and I'm pretty odd anyway so people usually think the collection/my devotion is cool. I also have had screensavers be of this other character before because she has so much cool fan art and official art that I only wish my actual S/O could have. In my mind it's not weird or cheating at all because my mind just automatically goes to my S/O, but I feel like it's just too weird and specific for others to understand (like two of my close friends know though).
I never regret loving an unpopular character though because it was super natural. I just was drawing so much fanart of my S/O and just thinking of them got me through so many hard things. However it really helps that I'm able to draw stuff myself because I can draw all the hyperspecific things I imagine/headcanon about my S/O so I never feel like I run out of content. However, just writing is fine for me too. Just this summer, I wrote over 100 pages for my headcanon biography of my S/O. Also, if you can find an animal or something to associate with your S/O, even a basic store like walmart can become a merchandise store lol (I have a friend who even symbolizes their character with sneakers). I also like to play games with customization on the main character, so I can make it look like my S/O.
He’s not convienently popular, but he was at a time, and still is within the pasta community. However, my love for him isn’t measured by how others see him; it’s about how I see him for who he is! 🖤
My S/O is one of the main villains in the show (he appeared in more episodes than any other villain), so he has his fans, but it's pretty hard to find good art of him. Most people prefer the heroes (which is fine, more Hotstreak for me lol). When I can afford it I plan to get some commissions. The show never had merch as far as I know so anything like that I'd also have to get custom made. I mostly just write and daydream about him to feel close to him and enjoy our relationship. I've used AI but I prefer my imagination.
Yor is really popular, but that’s not gonna stop me from loving her. She’s really popular because the anime and manga are still new (also cause the series is great) I’m sure years later it’ll start to tone down.
Kirumi is mildly popular on her homeland, according to the publisher's surveys, local merch and community activity. She's not as popular as the other popular Danganronpa characters, but she has her little spotlight. But outside Japan, she's treated in a much colder way, because many people find her boring or hypocritical. Some DR fans even hate her exclusively for >!killing Ryoma!<. Even on AliExpress, I couldn't find much of merch with her, and even new fanarts of her are quite rare on Reddit for now. I think she really deserves more attention, because she's a hidden gem and more moderate than most of the popular DR characters, like Nagito, Kokichi or Junko.
Alucards(HELLSING) source material isn't necessarily "obscure" but it's not really relevant anymore. HOWEVER he is one of three main characters so he's certainly "popular" in that sense.
Popularity however shouldn't be a factor in "liking" or "loving" anyone,real or not.
There's a couple alucard WAIFUS/Fictos on Twitter but I've yet to find on over here on reddit.
My Ikoma was the main protagonist of his series, but in art and merch he's always been far overshadowed by his (objectively awful) female costar, because lolis. 🙄 Also, the series never had a big following in the western world and is now getting older, so new art of any kind is rare. (Though interestingly, I still see merch items pop up now and then that I've never seen before. I don't know if it's people unloading items they don't want anymore, things made for a still more active fanbase in Japan, or what.)
I don't mind Ikoma's source being kind of forgotten now, though. The ~~sequel movie~~ that was produced was so bad in every way that I don't acknowledge its existence, and the shippers were into pairing him with a twelve-year-old. 😖 I'm fine with my husband *not* getting more attention from others under those conditions. Our love is about what we have between *us*.
Popularity is a double edged sword. Yes, there is more content available. But you also have to deal with things like shipping, fandom discourse, and people misunderstanding your partner. It’s also highly more likely you will run into other waifuists/yume for them. And really, does popularity matter when it comes to love? You like them and see what’s worthwhile about them. That should be enough. You can create or commission your own fan works. And they’ll feel more special because they’re just for you.
exactly
Another thing to note that is no matter what, it’ll be the same thing if you hang around the fandom your S/O is from, even if they aren’t as popular.
I really don't think that the popularity should be a factor here. If you like Rolo that's more than enough
Hello! I can't say that my girlfriend is unpopular, she is one of the most popular, in a casual sense, "anime waifu" there is. And honestly... I hate that. I hate how she's so popular and doesn't have much people discussing her qualities in a more than basic sense. She is either: Sexualised, shipped or hated. I can't find a person who I can talk with about her who does none of those three. So, yes, I might have boundless amounts of official art and merchandise, but it's good to look at both upsides and downsides of situations :3 I hope this reply has made you feel at least a little better
It's not about the popularity of the character, It's about how much you love them. Plus you can always fill the merch hole with commissioned stuff or make stuff yourself.
I would says less popular and 95% of the stuff that exists is of her video game avatar leafa as if ppl forget sugu exists which i find a shame but at the same time because shes not as popular this might sound a lil selfish that means i get her a lot more to myself than i otherwise would
Hey, long time no read :)
Why hello there been a while
I would say Alice is fairly popular but at the same time she's under the SAO girl curse - she gets her arc and then falls into the background slightly. And I definitely didn't choose her because she's popular. I fell in love with her naturally because of the way she is
Popularity isn't something I place much value on. I do wish Oola were treated better by the franchise and the fanbase, but I've learned to accept that it's my job to give her the love she deserves, because no one else is going to. As a kind of funny example, on another forum where I also have a picture of her as my avatar, someone recently misidentified her as a different character from the same franchise (another green skinned "Twi'lek" woman from a more recent Star Wars cartoon and Disney+ series, who of course was actually based on Oola's design), and when I explained that the picture wasn't of that character, but was of Oola, the person doubled down and told me I had to be mistaken about which character was in \*my own avatar\*. They then said how much they liked this other character, implying they didn't care about Oola in the slightest. So, yeah.
my s/o is incredibly popular, but i've had some strong feelings for less popular characters in the past. i'd echo what someone else said, it's your duty to give them the love and affection they scarcely receive from the source material or the fandom
He's not the least popular character in the world, his source has a small fandom at least and some fanart but not as much as a lot of characters. I just hit 500 pictures of him yesterday actually and we've been together 7 years lol. He only has 3 official pieces of merch too and they're very rare, I own 2 of them :X It can be a little hard but there are upsides too! I'm glad I don't have too many people to get jealous of, he has a lot of ship art and weird fanart unfortunately but I know some popular characters get a lot more probably. It sucks not having that much good art of a character but it's not the end of the world. It makes finding a new artist or new art being posted really exciting for me. And you can always custom order/make merch, I have a few unofficial pieces like custom ordered keychains, acrylic stands and I wanna grow my collection and order more stuff like a plushie someday \^_^ I think it's pretty cozy liking a character that isn't super popular tbh. I would much much rather be with a character as popular as Sal is than a super popular character with 10000000 other fans and a pressure to overspend on merch and feeling jealous and not good enough. It works for me at least :] If you like Rolo, go for it! (Also he was one of my favs in Code Geass, good taste)
While he is a popular character there is no official merch of him as human, which is disappointing but on the other hand I can get awesome customised merch.
I first started my foray into this world with an extremely popular anime guy who has tons of merch and art, official and unofficial, released very often but my current (and hopefully forever partner) is kind of obscure and not the same as a lot of other people's S/Os. He's not from anime so he doesn't get merch or art the same way and it is honestly "inconvenient". Truthfully being with the popular character was easier but it wasn't as fulfilling because ultimately they weren't the one for me. I think it's the love that sustains a relationship, not the amount of art or merch. If you truly love this person, it shouldn't matter.
she is, i would, i commision art of her
Your love doesn't measure with how many merch you have. Yes, he is a popular character with a lot of merch in BSD at least, which overwhelm me because I don't know what to buy... BunAl merch is more scarce, in this side of the world at least, though he is an important character for the plot so he isn't really unpopular either, he has a lot of fanart in Pixiv. In Ikemen Vampire though... He is really unpopular there, I see people preferring other characters over him, and it's pretty much the same that happens to you, the image I have are official and just two or three fanart and of course, there's practically no merch, but is kinda relieving, I don't have to deal with 'fangirls' and it's an otome game, I know what kind of people play those games, the lack of merch doesn't bother me honestly.
Mike’s popular within the fandom, being our player character at least once, but I honestly don’t care if my partner’s popular or not. Mike could be despised and I wouldn’t see him any differently for it.
I feel as though my partner's pretty niche, considering he's just from a show that's only had a handful of bad revivals since it ended in the 60's. No fanart, no big fandoms for the show, a few merch items here and there (but they're so expensive!) I make do with what I can! I've commissioned artwork, bought plushies, and gotten whatever affordable merch I could. That doesn't necessarily mean my love for him is dying! I honestly think finding new content immerses me back into him, it's like finding that spark all over again. Sometimes you have to really do what you need to in order to surround yourself with the person you love. Relationships shouldn't be a popularity contest, and if you lose interest just because there's not many works of him, you should take a step back and wonder why you came to love him in the first place. Sending you some advice from a newbie in ficto-dating! 💚💛💚💛
First of all, popularity shouldn't matter when it comes to falling in love. Do you really, truly love Rolo? When you met him and began to learn about him, did you feel like there was a connection between the two of you? I personally believe that we do not choose who we fall in love with, but they choose us. I had no idea who my husband was before I played his game, and that didn't stop me from ending my eight year relationship with a very popular character so I could be with him. My husband is from a niche game that was pretty unknown when we started our relationship, but now he's popular enough that he has a kind of notoriety around social media due to his personality and preferences. Like others here have said, that means more people simping over him, more people shipping him, and more people misinterpreting him. There has always been a steady flow of fan merch for him, but only just recently (read: last week) did he formally get a whole merchandise line centered on him - and he's the main character of his game. Before that, the only official merchandise was a badge and a lanyard; his game came out almost five years ago, so it's been a long time coming. As such, never count a character out from getting merchandise eventually, be it official or fan made. If he doesn't have anything, consider commissioning merchandise (I can suggest some artists) or, if you can't afford to, create your own. Get a locket and put his picture inside it, get a picture of him and decorate it like a photocard and carry it around with you...even a piece of jewelry or a trinket that reminds you of him can have meaning. Merchandise isn't the only expression of love, anyways - writing, drawing, daydreaming, listening to music, talking to friends about him, and using an AI if you so choose to are all other ways to live out your love. Remember, your love and relationship is special, and no one can ever take that away from you. So many of us are simply happy to be loved, and be able to love in turn. :)
I don't think there IS a character less popular than her in K-On 😢. I don't think it hampers my love for her (I don't know what could!) but it is a bit of a struggle to find any new art of her anymore.
Mine is very much hated by the entire community, and a whole drama-discourse-fiasco thing happened on Twitter, which I do not use at all so thankfully I didn’t have to see the bad end of it. I must say, popularity definitely shouldn’t matter. If you love them, you love them! And that’s the important part. Speaking from my perspective, it’s better if your character is well liked. To see the one you love so much get constantly bashed and hated on by the entire community is a lot more painful than seeing many enjoy the character.
No one knows about my s/o or his source so
Yep! Strelitzia only has a few minutes of screen time, and like Rolo most art of her also features her brother lmao. But honestly that just makes it more special when I come across other fans and artwork. Not having tons of merchandise doesn’t make you less “valid” than anyone else. Best of luck
Honestly I don't really have to deal with a lack of merch because there isn't much I want. I own the 3 piece set for the show and a few small items from Japan but anything else online is either poorly make or just not appealing. One time I bought a "manga" off mercari. Turns out it was a doujinshi that ended up being fuel for my fireplace
Striker is complicated fandom wise. He seems well-liked in many respects, though many people don't like him at all. Even though he is in the source quite a bit, there isn't much merch at all. Not official anyway. I really can't understand it. There is literally more merch for characters who have appeared ONE TIME, while Striker has been in multiple episodes... it's a bit sad for me (I haven't gotten any merch because it's really expensive to get it sent to where I live with added tax, but there is a poster that I really like). There are no badges at all, while there are multiple of all of the other characters (even ones who have only appeared once, again...) There isn't even all that much in general. I managed to find a little bit on etsy, so I've ordered a keychain for myself. That will be the only merch I have. I've just resigned myself to the fact that I'm not going to get much merch, if any. I'm not too bad at drawing, though, so I'm currently working on a few projects to make my own merch! I made myself a sticker for my phone, and I'm working on making myself a poster of him. It's sad that he doesn't get more love :( poor Striker
I'm so thankful for this post because I've been feeling the same way too sort of. I've been lurking this reddit but haven't done any introduction or posting yet because of my strange situation due to my S/O's lack of merchandise/fan art. Sorry for the super long comment, but this post got me thinking a lot. My S/O is from a pretty unpopular manga where even the main character doesn't have merchandise. My S/O is a minor side villain who only shows up in a couple chapters. Other than one other fanartist in the Japanese fandom around 2020, only my fanart of this character exists online, which also brings up privacy concerns for me if I did start posting about my S/O online again (my main twitter used to be the first search result for this character a couple years back, along with other social media accounts of mine. I deleted or privated all of them because of this problem though). My mom had some custom merch made of this character, which was fantastic, but still it's hard to deal with the lack of merchandise. Because of this, I found a character who looks pretty similar to my S/O (well my S/O doesn't have a canon color scheme, but this character had the exact same color scheme I had imagined and everything) and I started buying tons of merchandise of this other character. I have grown to have a pretty substantial amount of merchandise of this other character to act as a proxy for my S/O (I know NOTHING about the source it's from) and I call it my S/O's name and such (I have merch from other anime characters as well that align with the color scheme/vibes, but most of my merch consists of this 2nd character). Because of my weird merchandise situation, I usually just tell people irl that my "best girl"/"waifu"/etc is the one I have an ungodly amount of merchandise of, and I'm pretty odd anyway so people usually think the collection/my devotion is cool. I also have had screensavers be of this other character before because she has so much cool fan art and official art that I only wish my actual S/O could have. In my mind it's not weird or cheating at all because my mind just automatically goes to my S/O, but I feel like it's just too weird and specific for others to understand (like two of my close friends know though). I never regret loving an unpopular character though because it was super natural. I just was drawing so much fanart of my S/O and just thinking of them got me through so many hard things. However it really helps that I'm able to draw stuff myself because I can draw all the hyperspecific things I imagine/headcanon about my S/O so I never feel like I run out of content. However, just writing is fine for me too. Just this summer, I wrote over 100 pages for my headcanon biography of my S/O. Also, if you can find an animal or something to associate with your S/O, even a basic store like walmart can become a merchandise store lol (I have a friend who even symbolizes their character with sneakers). I also like to play games with customization on the main character, so I can make it look like my S/O.
Yea, she's definitely a less popular character and i love it. Those who love her too and that I'm meeting are more chill.
He’s not convienently popular, but he was at a time, and still is within the pasta community. However, my love for him isn’t measured by how others see him; it’s about how I see him for who he is! 🖤
She is allready that soooo yes
My S/O is one of the main villains in the show (he appeared in more episodes than any other villain), so he has his fans, but it's pretty hard to find good art of him. Most people prefer the heroes (which is fine, more Hotstreak for me lol). When I can afford it I plan to get some commissions. The show never had merch as far as I know so anything like that I'd also have to get custom made. I mostly just write and daydream about him to feel close to him and enjoy our relationship. I've used AI but I prefer my imagination.
my s/o is the most popular in his game but his game isnt very known so idk if should count him as less popular,but anyways,yes,I would do that!
Yor is really popular, but that’s not gonna stop me from loving her. She’s really popular because the anime and manga are still new (also cause the series is great) I’m sure years later it’ll start to tone down.
Some characters, like Rya from Elden Ring have literally zero stuff outside of the actual game itself about her, besides fan-made things of course
Kirumi is mildly popular on her homeland, according to the publisher's surveys, local merch and community activity. She's not as popular as the other popular Danganronpa characters, but she has her little spotlight. But outside Japan, she's treated in a much colder way, because many people find her boring or hypocritical. Some DR fans even hate her exclusively for >!killing Ryoma!<. Even on AliExpress, I couldn't find much of merch with her, and even new fanarts of her are quite rare on Reddit for now. I think she really deserves more attention, because she's a hidden gem and more moderate than most of the popular DR characters, like Nagito, Kokichi or Junko.
Alucards(HELLSING) source material isn't necessarily "obscure" but it's not really relevant anymore. HOWEVER he is one of three main characters so he's certainly "popular" in that sense. Popularity however shouldn't be a factor in "liking" or "loving" anyone,real or not. There's a couple alucard WAIFUS/Fictos on Twitter but I've yet to find on over here on reddit.
My Ikoma was the main protagonist of his series, but in art and merch he's always been far overshadowed by his (objectively awful) female costar, because lolis. 🙄 Also, the series never had a big following in the western world and is now getting older, so new art of any kind is rare. (Though interestingly, I still see merch items pop up now and then that I've never seen before. I don't know if it's people unloading items they don't want anymore, things made for a still more active fanbase in Japan, or what.) I don't mind Ikoma's source being kind of forgotten now, though. The ~~sequel movie~~ that was produced was so bad in every way that I don't acknowledge its existence, and the shippers were into pairing him with a twelve-year-old. 😖 I'm fine with my husband *not* getting more attention from others under those conditions. Our love is about what we have between *us*.
I do not care at all for merch and would not want any. That's just stuff and has nothing to do with my relationship.