Herman (Herman and Katnip)

Herman the Mouse is the main protagonist of the 1940s to 50s show Herman and Katnip. He is the mortal enemy and arch-nemesis to the more clownishly dim-witted Katnip and the leader of his four loyal cousins. He is voiced by Arnold Stang.

Why He Sucks

 * 1) He is a Gary-Stu, one of the most sadistic Gary-Stu's ever made.
 * 2) He never, if ever, gets his comeuppance for his cruel actions against Katnip, who is a thoroughly ineffectual and sympathetic butt-monkey who is always perceived as the villain. Instead, he wins in every episode, making Herman a huge Karma Houdini.
 * 3) Speaking of which, Herman is someone we are supposed to root for since he is obviously ripping off the idea of the heroic ideal of Jerry the Mouse from Tom & Jerry. But he is so barely well-intentioned that he usually comes off as more of a villain than the titular Katnip.
 * 4) *This is especially evident where Katnip in an episode is either sleeping or simply doing his job while Herman or even his cousins are causing trouble around wherever Katnip goes.
 * 5) *Speaking of which, there were shorts where Herman and his inconsistently young cousins pick on Katnip whether he is not around or even when Herman is still torturing Katnip.
 * 6) *In fact, he is so cruel and sadistic that he even makes the worst version of Jerry look like an absolute angel in comparison.
 * 7) He is also very manipulative towards his ineffectual enemy, much to the point that it always comes off as unreasonably sadistic and harsh, especially where the attacks he pulls on Katnip are way too murderous and underhanded to come off as morally righteous. And worse, none of the attacks he pulls on them are funny and instead come off as extremely hurtful.
 * 8) With that said, he never gives his feline rival any mercy and always has him either murdering him or make him suffer most of the time.
 * 9) And because of this, he isn't likable in any way.
 * 10) His weird voice that has a Brooklyn accent is very uncomfortable.
 * 11) His singing is very bad.
 * 12) His attempts at humor or witty lines always fail because of lacking any real comedic touches with his sayings (e.g "There is more than one way to skin cat" from the episode "From Mad to Worse", which comes off as extremely disturbing).

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Despite being the biggest Gary-Stu around, he can be rational towards Katnip's stupidity.
 * 2) He was shown to be briefly likable in shorts that don't revolve around him being against Katnip, especially in some cartoons where he is paired with Henry the Rooster where he helps the rooster stand up against his utterly abusive wife Bertha/Chickenpie. It is not until when he was still paired with Katnip where he suffers from more flanderization by becoming more of a sadistic jerk than before.
 * 3) His design comes off as either cute or just okay, depending on your view.

Trivia

 * 1) Itchy from Itchy & Scratchy is based on Herman because of Herman's sadism and his cruel & manipulative tendencies towards Katnip.