Pikachu is overrated. Just like the other hundreds of other Pokémon, in general, they matter to me more than the birds and bees in the sky. Yes, despite my unfathomable love for the outdoors, fictional characters rival my interest and attention to a passionate degree. 

Nothing is more relatable than a hyper-fixation on a person or thing that consumes every aspect of my entire life for a whole week. Sometimes, the interest lasts longer than a month. Now, I partially agree that this is a result of my inability to make friends, but at least I now have friends because of my interests. 

Comfort characters do have more pros besides uniting people with similar interests; they can lighten someone’s life and create a space where they can reflect and compare themselves to something that they already know the background of. 

I relate to the specifics that help me process emotions, mainly to traits such as misunderstanding, life struggles, self-confidence, and many others that I can’t put into words. Each character offers a ticket into a different world that I can explore when I’m stuck in a house full of noisy relatives on a rainy day. 

Take, for instance, Toothless in How To Train Your Dragon. He gives me a fantasy world full of epic music that takes me flying through the land of dragons and fairy tales. Toothless the dragon was one of my favorite things to talk about as well as draw when I was younger. In fact, I was the dragon for at least three years for Halloween, decked out with a handmade crochet hat and life-sized wings made from my mother’s skilled artistry. 

I was not only obsessed with animated things, but I also clicked with book characters. I loved Firestar from the book series Warriors by Erin Hunter. The thought of being a wild cat exploring a forest full of beauty and mystery with coinciding clans of cats clashing at times enthralled me. 

And, why would one not want to spend a whole day just climbing trees and sleeping in the sun? 

No? Just me then. 

Anyway, I also liked the people I would find in adventure movies. Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean has always struck me as an overall fun persona of someone who just wants satisfaction in treasure and exploration. Captaining or even sailing a large sailship is something I would take over homework any day. 

I will also admit that I have my fair share of anime characters that I prefer: Tanjiro from Demon Slayer, Anya from Spy x Family, and at one point, Ash from the many many Pokémon anime series. Each one holds a special place in my heart, and each has taught me new ways of looking from different perspectives in every situation. 

Yes, I am aware, there are some people who could call me childish for liking these things. I say they should find something they really enjoy and focus on the specifics of said thing. I think they would find much more than they expect regarding growth and experience. 

Even today, I am still picking and choosing what brings me the most joy, despite what the norm says about being an over-enthusiastic person. I don’t think it hurts to fixate and fantasize in healthy doses, but just enough that it does wonders for the way I see myself and life.