Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Companions: how have your views on them changed from first impressions?

Nah, still shallow and predictable.
If you had played any rpg in the last 30 years or watched any TV show you could predict the story of each companion 5 minutes after meeting them. (Granted, it required some meta game knowledge of Larian being very conservative and risk averse, so there was no chance of them making any surprising turns with companions).

And if you know anything about the FR you could play "spot the difference" with the D&D original and Larians lazy copy.

The only real change was when Larian catered even more to fan demand which made the companions even worse.

Edit: To be more specific

Shadowheart: Most overused trope imagineable. While her background as cultist for the god of lies could serve for good characterization and some awesome mind games Larian was clearly too afraid to do anything with her and instead stuck with "designated waifu", meaning all edges were filed off and it was clear from the start that she can easily be fixed with just a few kind words which is also what happened.

Lae'zel: Similar issues than Shadowheart. Her arc was very obvious and telegraphed right from the start. Her background, too was much to underused in order to keep her likeable for romance purposes and after the first story beat in the druid camp where she acts very arrogant she softens very quickly without any reason. Her fight with Shadowheart is also a very underused opportunity and marks the end of anything interesting about her.

Astarion: Same as the other two (a common trend, Larian was not exactly creative when it comes to character archetypes. "Betrayed by authority figure" describes half the party).
While his story had potential to be interesting, but Larian was too afraid to do anything with it or let him be actually evil and from his design and mannerism it was clear that he was designed as romance target. And once it became clear that this is indeed the extend of his character and outside that has the same type of tragic backstory and being easily fixable like everyone else I lost all interest in him.
It doesn't help that Larian even chickened out of making him an actual vampire and instead made a Twilight "in name only" version instead.

Gale: Gale is a victim of Larians lazy writing. His backstory being a near exact copy of Elminster soured my impression of him by a lot. And his character arc as designated bomb might have been interesting, if the game would not be D&D, where ressurecting people is common and we in fact ressurected people the whole time, reducing death to the equivalent to a bathroom break. Even outside of the ressurect-o-tron, Larian made him such a special character that it is near guaranteed that he would come back in some way as archmage chosen always do.

Wyll: Same handicap as Gale, his backstory being a watered down version of Rise of the Dragon Queen. Get more creative Larian!
I had high hopes for him in act 3 which is why I kept him around, but when it turned out that despite him being nobility politics is not a factor I dropped him instantly as it reduced his status to that of a wet blanked who can't do anything in my eyes.

Karlach: From all companions the least conventional trope. Doomed, but instead of moping about it, wanting to spend the remaining time the best way possible. Only soured by the game being D&D and death not meaning anything.
Initially I was skeptical after her tantrum but her not 100% predictable arc made her my favorite, although I am not sure if Larian planned that or just ran out of time when implementing saving her, considering how safe they play all stories (which also made this result an actual surprise)
I also think she got hit by extensive reworks as her anger issue takes a backseat quite fast.

Halsin: Not a character. Painfully obvious that he was written as an NPC and that his story ends in act 2. He only got made into a companion because EA player wanted to ride his bear meat and that is the extend of his personality.
Wasted space.

Didn't play much with the legacy characters, so no comment on them.

Overall all characters are various degrees of bad and stay that way. Main reason is imo that Larian was too afraid to do anything interesting with them and instead kept them simple for maximum mass market appeal and hornyness.

Also Larian overused the same tropes over and over again. Tragic backstory, betrayed by authority figure.

Other RPGs have much more varied tropes like (pulled from Owlcat games), "proud to be evil" characters that can rationally argue why, and can't be fixed, successfull characters without tragic backstory, the pretty female companion being an unlikeable murder psycho instead of mellow waifu or redeeming evil characters by absolutely humiliating and breaking them instead of saying a few nice things and they are good now and getting backstabbed by good characters that are blackmailed.

Larian would do well to get more creative and brave with companion instead of making the same character archetype, tragic backstory and easily fixable, which the fandom/shipping community likes so much over and over again.

I think I get into the bff-zone with Gale too quickly. He always shares the whole story really early. Usually when he starts asking for artefacts I am sitting on some useless magic items that don't even bring a good price at the merchants, so I usually just go whatever and throw some boots at him and his approval goes up so much. Like I am not going to start a big fight and pull knives to defend a pair of gloves worth 12 gold. If the items he needed were more rare and valuable it would put a little more gravity to the decision, but since magic items are a dime a dozen already in act 1, it just doesn't feel like a tough decision.

From the perspective of my one playthru Tav, Sava, I guess she got along with Astarion least, since they were two very different flavours of evil, selfish vs. habitual. They bonded over brutal killing, but fought over who wanted the book more, team building and about siding with devils and thieves a lot. This only changed about mid-act 3 when they reached some mutual respect and understanding.

As a grounded, middle-aged Githyanki, Lae'zel was a focus of both envy and sarthly instincts for Sava, as she came from a very prestigious crèche and had a bad tendency to rush into action without a proper plan. Sharing a bunk probably wasn't a good idea either. They broke up late in act 1, had a major fight over going to Crèche Y'llek in the Gauntlet of Shar and only truly bonded over the events there and their determination to help Voss.

Shadowheart fascinated Sava from the beginning, they started romancing in late act 1, and are now reported to share a farm with wizard tower in the lower Chionthar area.

Astarion, Shadowheart and Sava found Wyll before Lae'zel cage, so he completed the first Act I line-up as the token good character. Sava had decided that siding with the druids was the wiser choice, so having a local folk hero was perfect. While she didn't agree with each of his decisions, she respected Wyll's spirit and learning curve, so he remained a valued ally as we explored his past, pacts and every dungeon between the Wilderness and Baldur's Gate. But then, in Sava's view, the whole Ansur fiasco broke his mind. (I did this one just before Gortash and going to the Morphic Pool.) The Wyll they met at Reunion Camp may have just as well spent the time lost in the Wood of Sharp Teeth with Scratch keeping the "Blade of Avernus" safe from Ogres and Kobolds.

Gale had a bad start with Sava. Not only did she see him as wizardly competition, but he also burned through their magic items like Kobolds in a distillery. However, his sagely advice and solid evocation spells often saved the day, so the two became good friends and Gale a regular on the team.

Karlach completed the "girls' night out" line-up with Sava, Shadowheart and Lae'zel. This is the team that did most of the exploring, since their skills were well balanced and allowed them to pass most trials. When a quest was personal, a lock too hard to pick, an enemy asked for more arcane firepower or the situation required a hamster, the experts were called in, but this crew was the Gondian pocket knife. As Wyll, Shadowheart and Lae'zel descended to the riverside, they expected a tough boss-fight against what sounded like a Cornugon. It proceeded to become increasingly awkward, as first Wyll's file on Karlach fell apart at the binds, and then we had to admit that we already killed the jerks hunting her, because we wanted their stuff more. Karlach was the bubbling soul of the party, and I'm still hoping for a happier ending for her utilising the enhanced infernal metal. Shadowheart switched to camp duties after her parents were found, but Sava stayed with her friend Karlach until the end.

Call it a weak-spot for elves, but Sava fell for Halsin's charm early. He influenced Sava to take a road closer to the light side. I guess with Jaheira and Minsc there wasn't much of a change from my first impression to the last. Jaheira was, of course, invaluable when exploring Baldur's Gate, and Minsc was much needed comic relief when the end was looming. I only found out you could get Minthara as a companion when I was way past the Goblin Camp.

I know the thread has moved on, but just in case anyone is tempted to go back and further explore the digression, could I just ask that focus here on sharing our own impressions and preferences rather than theorising what’s behind others’ perspectives?

Thank you!

Sounds like you are describing your impression from a roleplaying-perspective, like what impression your character had of the companions. That's an interesting angle, because what my characters might think of the companions would differ from what I personally think.

Interesting topic for a spinoff-thread of its' own I think.

Really interesting to read folks’ different takes. For me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of replaying the game is experiencing the differences in the way the companions develop and the feeling of the relationships with them, depending on the character I’m playing. Though admittedly some companions feel more complex and sophisticated than others, and I don’t feel I’ve fully explored all of them.

Gale was an EA fave and still is now. It was clear his mix of ambition, arrogance, romanticism, humour, open-mindedness and kindness could pull him in different directions, and I think the writers and actor pulled this off brilliantly. He’s ended up a god, a professor and a martyr in my finished playthroughs, but in each he’s felt like a genuine friend of my PC. I’ve also got current runs one with a PC romancing him, and another evil run where the relationship feels a lot rockier and darker, and I’m looking forward to seeing how things develop.

Astarion was another EA favourite who more than lived up to my hopes due to the writing and acting. His story played out similarly with my first two characters: an early fling, followed by a strong platonic friendship and moving rejection of ascension. In the third he didn’t like my nature paladin character (who had an unrequited crush) nearly as much and things felt much tenser though by the end they were friends. I’ve not even experienced his full romance or ascension paths yet, so lots to look forward to.

Shadowheart was up there with Gale and Astarion for me in EA but somehow she was less snarky, sarcastic and manipulative than I’d hoped, and despite maybe being the only original BG fan who actually enjoyed the House of Grief, it didn’t really feel as though the relationship with SH developed in act 3. Though perhaps that was because her ouchy bug overrode all party banter, she died in the Shadowfell in one run and I’ve not yet finished romance or DJ runs with her, so will keep trying.

Lae’zel somehow hasn’t found a regular place in my EA or full runs, and ended up on a slab for much of act 3 all three times I’ve got that far. I think she’s hilarious and, from the brief fling with one of my PCs before the latter broke it off, the romance path looked as though it would be fun, but I still don’t feel like I know her. It was heartbreaking not to be able to persuade her to reject Vlaakith in my first run, and her story ended tragically, and she felt like a friend and companion with a happier ending in my other runs, and again there are more permutations to try and I’m looking forward to a run where she’s a more core part of the gang. The rapidity and completeness with which she could turn on Vlaakith did surprise me, but on reflection it made sense that whatever she does, Lae’zel goes all in.

Wyll didn’t convince me totally in EA. I liked the idea of the character but it felt as though there were too many facets that just didn’t gel and it was probably right to rewrite him. But you just can’t please some people, and now I feel he doesn’t have enough facets or complexity and I prefer my lawful good characters with a bit more humour and light and shade. But I do like the idea of a paladinly warlock and enjoyed the slow burn, slightly awkward romance from my first playthrough even though it did feel a bit threadbare, and his connection to the plot is great even if not as much is made of it as it could be. And Mizora is hilarious and fabulous, so I guess that was the good surprise from Wyll’s story. And that all said, Wyll will likely be my first origin character run (hoping I can find a way to RP him that I find a bit more compelling) and I love the idea of being able to play a warlock with a patron who is in game.

Karlach had a tough gig, breaking into the gang after I’d already played hundreds of hours in EA with the others. I was pleasantly surprised by her after her somewhat bloodthirsty intro in EA, and thought the choice to make her so bouncy and in some ways younger than her years both meshed in an interesting way with an emotional barbarian character, and made sense in the context of someone who was trafficked as a relative youngster (if not quite a child soldier) so whose development in certain ways was stunted and in other ways accelerated. And she has those powerful emotional scenes that brought a tear to my eye in various permutations, even if I was a bit grumpy when she upstaged my PC’s own moving death scene.

Halsin didn’t pan out as I expected. Kudos to Larian for not doing the obvious and making the distant and wise-seeming ancient druid lusty and actually kind of insecure, and as unsure what he’s really meant to be doing in act 3 after breaking the curse that’s been his focus for a century as I was. I was glad he was there as a LI for my second PC who felt the others were all a bit too demanding of commitment and to pick up the pieces after Astarion didn’t warm to my third, but I am among the folk who find that some of his interactions strike a bum note for PCs who aren’t attracted to him.

Minthara I don’t know yet. I brought her along via the KO route on my last playthrough but she didn’t really get on with my PC. Though some of her lines were unexpectedly hilarious, as fylimar said. My evil Durge currently at Rosymorn did have an interlude with her post-grove-slaughter and is looking forward to getting to know her better.

Jaheira was brilliantly done, with writing and acting both great and true to the BG1/2 character while updating her for this sort of game. I just loved seeing glimpses of the life and family she’d made for herself.

Minsc and Boo were also well done, but given how late we recruit them the relationship feels a bit rushed and forced (which is kind of acknowledged) and I’ve not kept him active in my party yet. Given the characters could just be a one note joke, I think it’s great Minsc can occasionally give my PCs pause, while still making me laugh and recognisably being the character from previous games, albeit a more fully developed version. I’m determined to give the pair more adventuring time in a future run.

Wyll might be the only origin, I would maybe play at some point. He has main character energy, is pretty involved in the main plot and as RQ mentioned: his patron is actually in the game and the stakes are high.

I have different relationships with the companions depending on who I play.
I also choose romances mostly by the roleplaying aspect. If I would go by attraction, I would romance Karlach every time, but I romanced everyone with different characters ( apart from Halsin and Minthara, the latter just never liked me enough to start a romance in act 3, I'm too good for her, literally :-D)

Technically The Dark Urge is an origin, but obviously we are talking about origin companions. I will probably always play a character I can fully customize on my own. Pre-defined characters in rpg games just does not appeal to me.

I've had playthroughs where I have dismissed or killed companions that I like based on how I roleplay my character. Astarion has been senf off during the bite night, because my manipulative character saw him as a rival that played the same game (yes all of the companions up tp that point, except Lae'zel and Karlach, are a bit deceitful, but my character recognized that Astarion was good at it, and as such a larger threat). I've had Shadowheart getting killed when she tries to murder Lae'zel because my hothead character wasn't the type of person who would just tell the girlies that we need to talk this out, but reacted to someone taking a knife to one of the party members throat by immediately intervening and attacking them.

I like coming up with headcanons for my romances about what has been happening behind the scenes to create the bond and attraction between my MC and the companion and how they might be an odd matching, but there are sides to them that they don't show or even know about that brings them together.

I prefer making my own characters too, which is the reason, I haven't played Disco Elysium or Witcher yet, despite liking Geralt in the books. I like developing my characters and back stories.
And yeah, I would sacrifice characters if it serves roleplay purposes. My good aligned gnome artificer would not dream of trying to save the evil drow, who wants to kill her friends in the Grove ( she is best buddies with Rolan and siblings, protective of Silfy, who seems not fit into Mols little crime sindicate, and has a crush on Nettie)

Lae'zel
It was love at first sight, to such a degree that I played my entire first playthrough with two pure fighters. I just couldn't bring myself to put her on the sideline since my Tav was a fighter. I started courting Shadowheart, but her being all mysterious and secretive made it all too easy to fall into Laezel's arms when she showed interest. The rest is history... My opinion has not changed, I love Laezel and it is only with great effort of will that I let her rest any playthrough.

Shadowheart
First impression was that of an annoying emo with phoney secrecy, first playthrough I was mostly annoyed and did not interact a lot with her at all after Laezel swept me off my feet. Subsequent playthroughs I have gotten to know her better and I really appreciate her character arc. Probably the companion my of whom my impression has changed the most.

Astarion
First impression was "oh darn, this one is going to stab me in the back eventually" and I kept interactions as brief as possible. Him being a vampire didn't make me trust him any more... Since my fighter Tav had Urchin background I took care of the rogue role myself and Astarion stood loitering in camp the entire playthrough. Later on I have come to appreciate him more, he has a truly tragic, heart-wrenching story that makes me empathise with him despite his clearly selfish tendencies.

Gale
I've never liked him, from the first time I pulled him out of the rock to my current playthrough I just can't empathise with him. The fact that he started eating magic objects right off the bat didn't help of course, but I believe it's mostly a personality clash. I don't like too much talking - and he talks A LOT.

Wyll
Thought him a one-dimensional bore at first, left him in the Grove first playthrough... Next time I was so annoyed with Gale that I decided to use Wyll as the primary spellslinger and I got to see that he has a lot more depth than I thought at first. I like him a lot.

Karlach
My girl <3 Loved her from the first interaction and her ending broke my heart in a way I never thought a computer game could. Still love her, so my opinion has not changed much from the first impression.

Minthara
My encounter with Minthara at the gobbo camp has never ended in any other way than me killing her. She's an arrogant villain and the mission is to take her out, so how could it end any differently? Anyway I could never side with the gobbos, and knocking her uncon just to pick her up later is a little too meta for me. From what I've seen on youtube it seems like a fun character, but knowing myself I'd probably end up fighting her later on if I recruited her, she's just too evil...

Jaheira
I've had a crush on Jaheira since BG1 so when she appeared in Act 2 I was delighted - then she kamikaze'd into a throng of absolutists and was torn to bits before I could react. I was like wtf have they done to Jaheira?!?! Next run I managed to keep her alive and could recruit her. Love her, although the exaggerated body language in dialogues can be a bit annoying.

Halsin
Don't like him. Comes across as a self-important poser. I've never interacted with him more than to get the Act 2 quests to progress.

Minsc
Bro Minsc, loved this guy ever since BG1 and I think he was introduced to BG3 in a great manner. Not much of an arc to him since he is introduced so late though. They just buggered his game stats up royally - Minsc does NOT have 12 strength. In BG1 he was a brutal berserker, in BG3 he is defaulted to an archer. If you want to make him seem more like himself in play you need to respec him, that's a huge miss on Larian's part.

Hah, sorry about that! I've been DMing AD&D for close to thirty years now, so I was entirely playing through that filter with a lot of glossing over to head-canon when I had the chance to be a player and play someone's campaign for once. My personal view on the companions actually didn't change that much. I went in with some sort of apprehension that the game and its characters may be too Wizards of the Coast-D&D for me to indulge in, but found the characters and their stories very enjoyable and suitable for a Forgotten Realms-campaign. While I was trying to find the story I want to tell with Sava, I don't think I heaped too many expectations on the companions. Maybe some of my character's disappointment with the Blade of Avernus was my own, though. Up until that point I thought his story was solid!

I found it really interesting as I also choose a lot of interactions based on what my character would think of this person, not what I would think.

So I'll make a separate thread where we can discuss our roleplaying impressions with freedom to include whatever headcanons we want.

My answer to this question is kind of boring. My opinions on the characters have barely changed. This might be due in part that I've been playing since EA so I've been around both to see the datamines and make my own (ultimately right) conclusions about where their arcs would go.

I generally enjoy all companions. I think my opinion on Wyll got worse with Full Release because I really liked him in EA and I find his newer version a bit blander (I tend to dislike very nice, morally spotless characters). I already disliked Halsin in EA, and it did get worse with Full Release. I really liked EA Shadowheart, and while I still enjoy her in FR, I have to say I was slightly let down, but her actress did an amazing job and she has a lot of charming moments. I think that's about it regarding opinion changes.

Astarion: Bounced off him hard. He's very...whiny not a fan. Also his story has bits I'm not a fan of.

Gale: I adore Gale. Absolute fave.

Wyll: Liked him more in EA but I still like him

Lae'zel: I was neutral on her but she's a fav now.

Shadowheart: I went from dislike to neutral so improvement?

Minthara: Love her no notes

Halsin: Neutral really. Like he's fine I guess? Kind of just there.

Jaheria: I like her *way* more than I did in the original games which is great.

Minsc: He's fine.

Karlach: not a fan at all. I just get the robes and move on.

I'm seeing a lot of people pointing this out. There's definitely no reason for most good characters to recruit her, only non-lethal extremists and evil characters have any logical reason to save her. It would be nice if she had some kind of protected status that prevents her from being killed before act 2, so more people could have the experience of an openly evil person helping to save the world lol.


Yeah, I have always thought that was a baffling choice. Granted the default stat distributions all have multiple odd-numbered choices that functionally waste points, but his stats are exceptionally bizarre. I keep wanting to handwave it away but I can't even imagine a reason to do that. And it's such a simple fix, too!

Yeah he is following the standard point distribution when you recruit him. With that, if you look at his stats before you fight him, he has his standard stats. I was hoping a modder would fix this. Jaheria’s stats are also borked.

Jaheria (mind you I would be cool with a few age related adjustments, IIRC 3rd Ed had some rules for this).
https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Jaheira

And Minsc for relevance:
https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Minsc

The reason is that when Minsc was created barbarian was a subclass of ranger and Minsc clearly was designed for the barbarian subclass.

But people associate Minsc with being a ranger and Larian didn't spend any effort on Minsc and thus made him a generic ranger and slapped the default ranger stats on him which by now changed to a pur archer or dexterity weapon build as barbarian was made into its own class.

This lack of compatibility was exactly why I was initially unsure if I could enjoy the game. Rangers and Barbarians used to be a special kind of Warrior, so you had the extra strength column that other classes, capped at 18 for humans, didn't get. You can use books from across the TSR editions interchangeably with little or no adaptions, but Wizards changed the game and many narratives in such a way that a lot had to be "re-imagined" in distorted form. Luckily, I didn't play the earlier BG titles (yet?), so I met Jaheira, Minsc and Boo for the first time in BG3.

Yeah Minsc's original strength score translates to +2 to attack and +5 to damage so can't be immediately translated to a 5th ed score - but I'd give him 20. If nothing else for the crawling out of a mimic scene.

To get Minsc in BG3 working somewhat like he did in the originals, you need to multiclass him Barbarian/Fighter or even Barbarian/Ranger/Fighter. My last run I gave him 3/3/6 and it worked better than I expected. Since we can respec him it is no biggie, I just think it is unforgivably silly by Larian to introduce Minsc with a scene screaming "Whoa, this guy has superhuman strength!!1!" and then when he joins your party he has a score of 12...

Astarion: First impression - funny, interesting, “Mr. Disapproval”. The knife scene made an impression - I love such surprise plot moves and “non-standard“ variants of getting to know future companions. But then Astarion entered my heart like no other character in any other game before. His story shook me to the core, became much more important than the main storyline or anything else. Astarion is so alive thanks to Neil's wonderful acting, his emotions, his voice, his facial expressions - no fictional character has ever evoked such feelings before. My all time favorite character, just for him I keep logging into the game until now, simply because I start to miss him if I don't see him for a long time. The big disappointment was the writing of his romance (act 3). Not Astarion himself - he's lovely, he has great lines and his gaze alone, the way he looks at Tav, is worth a lot. But extremely, in my opinion, a meager choice of lines for the player, very few not only decent, but at least any acceptable lines for roleplay, rails in the story, imposed mimicry, such novelization I have not yet met in any RPG-game. It changed my opinion a lot, but not of the character, but of the quality of the game as a whole. Fortunately, modders have fixed a great many of his romance's shortcomings, and it's possible to have a much better gaming experience with mods. Still, Astarion's own personality is far more appealing than even a well-written romance in any other game, so it's a truly unique experience.

Minthara: My first impression was wrong. I mistook her for an evil boss only when I found her wearing camp clothes, I thought there was something wrong, but the knockout method didn't work then. On the second playthrough I already knew too much about her to get a fresh first impression, but my overall impression is a wonderful companion, the most intelligent companion in the group. My favorite character #2. Disappointing that she has so little content, and that she's been unfairly neglected.

Lae'zel - first impression is good, liked the fact that she challenges me and argues. Interesting character. To Lae'zel I have no complaints - very interesting personal quest, bright and well revealed and realized character. Plus she's very useful - not a single boss fight was without Lae'zel.

Shadowhart - no complaints either. Her story is moving and she is quite intelligent and observant.

Gale - there are some good interesting lines, funny moments with him. My first impression of him was better than the subsequent ones. But no particular complaints, either. And neither is there any specific sympathy.

Wyll - the first impression is neutral, after negative. Pretty stupid character, I have no sympathy for him, in the first playthrough I completed his quest and uncovered his story, further sits in the camp forever. All I found interesting about him was his personal quest, which is well written and engaging. The character himself, not so much.

Karlach is a character-disappointment. The biggest difference between the first impression (I liked her a lot at first) and the subsequent one. Her intelligence does not shine, in Act 3 her engine problems and constant talk about how she is going to die are already perceived as whining. The quest itself looks unfinished and underdeveloped, in my first playthrough I always try to complete all companion's quests in as much detail as possible, and Karlach looked like the only companion with an underdeveloped quest. But speaking of her, I don't really care.

Minsc, Jaheira are my least favorite companions. Minsc is much more in line with the original than Jaheira, but I don't have the patience to see them around for longer than it took to complete their quests in the first playthrough. I liked them better in previous games in the BG series, though I was never a big fan of them. If Larian had paid more attention to their own characters instead, the game would have been better in my opinion.

Halsin - stands apart. The character, in my opinion, could have been realized much better. He had much more interesting potential in EA. In the first playthrough I had an extremely negative attitude towards him. Later - I decided to be open-minded, skipping with the help of the “space” key his “offer”, simply refusing him and not paying attention to his obsession. In everything else - a good, adequate companion, more pleasant than many other “good” companions, like the same Wyll. He doesn't have many lines, but I didn't find anything repulsive or silly. It was a character with a good idea, but not the best realization.