Estopa (As Aventuras de Gui & Estopa)

Estopa is the one of the protagonists of the 2008 Brazilian film and cartoon series mh:besttvshows:As Aventuras de Gui & Estopa.

He is a sheepdog mix that was originally created in 2000 as Gui's best friend, during the time when Gui was known as Iguinho and was originally created as a mascot for the children's website Iguinho (a website belonging to iG, a Brazilian Internet service provider). Like Gui/Iguinho, he was originally a normal dog, but over the years, his appearance has changed, where it has more anthropomorphic characteristics. He was considered a supporting character until the launch of the TV series in 2008 where he went on to share spotlight with Gui as the cartoon's title protagonist.

Why He Sucks

 * 1) Despite being currently considered the protagonist of the show alongside Gui, he is one of the few characters that has less focus and prominence in the episodes, normally appearing more as a sidekick for Gui than a protagonist. Even Pitiburro and Cróquete prove to be more important characters for the cartoon than Estopa.
 * 2) He doesn't have much personality, as he is usually portrayed as a generic fat guy who only thinks about eating. He is also shown to be gross and stupid at times.
 * 3) Based on the reason mentioned above, Estopa can also be considered an offensive stereotype about fat people, since he is responsible for providing several fat-phobic jokes in the show.
 * 4) The episodes that focus on him as the main protagonist are usually the most unfunny in the cartoon.
 * 5) Although he is considered a child of the same age as Gui, his voice and appearance make him look like an adult in his 30s. This is probably because the character was originally an adult before the characters were anthropomorphized, but curiously, Estopa only came to be considered a child when the TV series started, because there is a Christmas animation published on the Iguinho website sometime between 2000 and 2007 that shows Estopa working as Santa Claus.
 * 6) He strangely wears shoes in his hands. This is because Estopa was originally a quadruped dog and the fact that he wore shoes on each of his paws made him have a really interesting design, but it ended up losing charm when the characters were anthropomorphized.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Unlike Gui, Estopa at least hasn't changed as much in his design and personality over the years, looking almost similar to how he looked like in the early years.
 * 2) Estopa is also one of the few characters in the cartoon to have an original and interesting design.
 * 3) He could have been a better character if he wasn't so poorly written.