Sci-Fi Shenanigans

An Ode to a Dead Show

a.k.a. an old Heroes meta I found in the archives. In here, you'll find ramblings on Sylar, the actor who portrays him and the screwed up fan base. Enjoy! (Or should that be a question mark?)

Let me just say first that I think Zach makes nice eye candy and presents himself very well. Like Sendhil, he is far from being an idiot and actually strikes me as one of the more intellectual cast members (I said one, not the most; don't jump all over me for that please.). Now that I've explained my reasons for liking the actor, let me make my other disclaimer.

Sylar is not that interesting to me.

Don't get me wrong. Sylar is different from many typical American villians out there. He's young, American and manipulative-charismatic. On a psychological level, he's more developed than many villians in recent popular memory. However, he's still very much an archetype and a rather flat one at that. He fits the devil archetype, although to say he is charming is a bit of a stretch. His charm is unbelievably subtle, and we don't really see it in action until he joins up with Maya and Alejandro. Hate on Maya all you want (personally, I don't, but that's another meta), but her interactions with Sylar make his character easier to understand. A really good example of his charm is how he gets Maya to control her ability. If that's not a deviant way of using charm to con someone, I don't know what is. Getting back to the whole archetype thing, the use of the devil archetype is kind of flat. I suppose you could make an argument for his archetype being an outcast/devil cross, but the development of the outcast part is kind of crappy. I think if more of his outcast qualities influenced his personality and were not eclipsed by his manipulative charm, the argument for the archetype cross would be stronger. That said, this malevolent charisma appeals to people and for good reason. When properly executed, a sizable enough group of people will fall for the act. Even basic math dictates that Sylar's charm would work on about 20% or so of the fandom. Even with fans fleeing the show, it's still a sizable contingent.

What makes it even worse is that this contingent just happens to be the loudest (figuratively speaking). Whatever the circumstances, Sylar has gained cult status. Now while there are Sylar fans who like to talk about the character and make the occasional "He looked hot in scene X" comment, there are fans that develop dangerous obsessions. Right now, the line is pretty clear, as many of the fans are willing to take the risk of being killed. When they make those kinds of statements, you have to wonder how many of them treat Sylar as if he's a real person. If he was a real person, there'd be a manhunt of epic proportions going on right now, and you would not seriously want to fuck someone like that. With that mini-wank out of my system, this is the conclusion I've drawn about these rabid fans. They have no lives, have personal issues that lead to unhealthy fixations, and they might even want Zach to embody that so they can fulfill their somewhat dangerous fantasies. As much as I wouldn't mind hanging out with him, I'd be put off if he propositioned me. I'm not so far gone I'm willing to sacrifice the best relationship I've ever had (4 years in July [as of the time this was written]) for one fling. Granted, some of these fanatics probably don't have sex lives, but some probably do, which makes this (and their fantasies) even more frightening.

This leads to the final aspect of this meta: the blurring of the line between Zach and Sylar. I touch on it a bit in the last sentence of the previous paragraph. However, there is one thing that realy gets me. A lot of Zach related stuff seems to end up at Sylar-related communities . I admit I'm not one to talk about those places, seeing as I've only lurked at best in them. However, as far as I can tell, quite a few discussions/posts initially start off with something pertinent to Sylar but end up going waaaaaaay the fuck away from the original topic, resulting in a mess of vomit-inducing fansquealing over Zach. I never thought I'd say this, but I was relieved when I found out that he'd been cast as Spock. Finally! Another role of his for people to talk about. I admit I think he has the best chance of having the breakout performance out of all the cast (yeah, even trumping Milo). I think I'll feel better about this (and hopefully see less of the fanbase blurring the Zach/Sylar line) when he gets more roles. I'll keep my eye on actor based groups for more information on that. By the way, they're usually pretty tame. There's some fansquealing going on, but it's not at psychotic levels. It's, in fact, pretty run of the mill, as far as I've seen. Thank god.