I admit there are a fair number of things i didn't think i would care for due to my stupidly specific tastes, but ended up proving me wrong. A couple examples i can think of currently are earthbound and minecraft - both things i wasn't sure i'd really care for, but pleasantly surprised me. there are more examples of this, where i checked something out on a whim and was glad that i did.

So are there any things - be it movies, games, food, whatever - that ended up being far better than you expected?

(i hope this thread wasn't made already, though i dont recall seeing it if it was hahah.)

Hey, Hawks!!! :D

I definitely echo the sentiment about Earthbound- I initially wasn't too enthusiastic about it from the premise alone, but then it grew on me fast!

I think one of the biggest examples of things for me that I was initially hesitant about was Cowboy Bebop. It was hyped up a lot and I was extremely wary going into it, didn't get too invested at first, and then it really exceeded my expectations with the characters and the way the universe was constructed. I loved the episodic episodes the most. I was not used to enjoying more episodic series!

As for food, I'm usually wary of pumpkin spice anything, but I had this like pumpkin spice ice cream once and it was strangely delicious lmao- I usually don't like pumpkin.

For me it was the newest Batman movie. The DC movies have been kind of hit or miss, and I was hesitant about the whole dark thing with it. But, it was actually really good. It was dark but not teenage edgy dark,and I loved that it was a detective movie, which was something I wanted in a Batman movie.

Ironically, I think my last job, in spite of how it ended, really exceeded my expectations and what I could expect from myself. I went from working retail to being the business manager of a small company all because the last business manager wanted to retire and she had no planned successor (and she always came into the big box store I worked at and liked me I guess?). I had no managerial experience before this (lies, I did but nothing official since my retail job of 10 years never bumped me up to manager but I acted as temp-manager for several months while they tried to fill several manager positions) and was tossed into a field I had no clue on (auto parts mostly). I remember fretting for two weeks before starting that job thinking I wouldn't be able to cut it and it was a stupid idea to go from my familiar retail job to something like this.

But in the end? I wound up being pretty damn good at it and found a new calling I really enjoyed. Art doesn't pay the bills, sadly, so I'm working toward management and book keeping. It was probably my favorite job I've had so far and if not for a huge clash between the owner and I, I would still probably be there. (Boy, tell the owner of a company that he can't spend money he doesn't have because we need to pay rent and our employees is no fun. I quit shortly after.)

The Peter Rabbit movie. The trailers made it look absolutely atrocious but it's actually a fun, sweet movie with some really nice animation at the start of it too. I went in thinking I was going to hate-watch it but ended up really enjoying it. I still need to see the sequel.

Definitely tuna salad sandwiches

I know one for a lot of people right now is Puss in Boots The Last Wish, because no one was expecting a spinoff sequel to be probably the best animated film of the year

Joined a gym last year, but went with the lowest-commitment plan because I wasn't sure I'd stick with it. I've been going at least twice a week since then. I really like it. It's good stress relief, I'm getting a little stronger, and it gives me an excuse to get out of the house for a while doing something other than my job or errands.

Pokemon Violet

After watching the trailers and seeing all the glitches people were having when it first came out, I just was not excited about it

But my partner got it for me for Christmas, and I ended up vibing with the whole thing from start to finish??

There weren't too many new mons that I cared that much about, but that somehow didn't detract from my enjoyment of it at all - it was just super charming and I loved the human characters and the final boss fucking ruled

(also glitches in pokemon games tend to feel more like a feature than a flaw to me lmao, though I completely understand everyone's frustration with that, especially since they were far worse before I played it)

Earthbound exceeded my expectations by miles and miles. I didn’t give it a second look until I stumbled upon a forum of people talking about how unsettling the final boss battle was. I watched footage of the Giygas fight and knew I needed to play it. It’s one of those endings that needs to be seen to be believed, and knowing the final spoiler didn’t ruin the experience for me. If I hadn’t known about what happened in the Giygas fight, I would have never played the game because I wasn’t interested in RPGs. Now Earthbound is one of my all time favorites.

Nearby my workplace are buildings used by multiple art museums to house their private archives and library resources not intended for the general public. These buildings are in a limbo pedestrian-less area of industrial and office building skyrises, and the museum library/archive buildings are tiny and boxy and largely windowless. Not scary, but not a place you don't think to walk through unless you work there.

One museum archive building, for some reason, decided to open its doors to the public for a short time for a mini folk art collection that was otherwise too small to showcase in the main museum itself. So I decided to visit it and I was treated to a nice selection of local folk art. And being that it was off the beaten path and locally advertised, I was able to view and enjoy the mini-collection in relative silence with no crowds.

Morrowind. Surely an RPG couldn't possibly be that accessible and immersive, right?

What finally turned me on to it was a review for it on Toonami of all places, and I sunk years into it. To this day its the most engrossing RPG I've ever played. Even though it's sequels brought worlds that felt more "realistic" Morrowind still somehow feels more alive, and believable. Maybe its how each area's ambience is so dutifully crafted, and the fact that you really have to walk to get most everywhere, forcing you to take the world in as you go. That said, some of it has aged very poorly, like it's keyframed animations, lack of a physics engine and its awkward combat(in early levels you can barely hit anything).

One Piece. Pretty old manga/anime series with a billion characters and over 1000 episodes/chapters? Lumped in with every starter shounen (Naruto, Bleach. Ect.)?

Shockingly very good and full of HEART. Like that is the only way I can explain it. Full of HEART. Characters cry, feelings are spoken about, action and comedy are great. Some arcs are super long and out stay their welcome (I was so bored of Arabasta bc I hate Vivi's constant whining about her kingdom, but I love Crocodile so balance).

Fun character designs, heart breaking backstories. It's pretty easy to jump around the series too. I saw the recent film having only watched up to Arabasta n read a lot of wiki and wasn't too confused.

Plus there be many a hot man for me to fawn over. Always the best.

Feels good to enjoy such a large series. My wallet weeps for how much merchandise I've bought. My partner got me into it and it's a lot of fun to make ocs and stories for.

Good times!

I think the Final Fantasy VII Remake was this for me. Granted, the main reason I was hesitant was that it was just so damn expensive. But I was also a bit worried that I wouldn't like the battle system, because it was different, I wouldn't like the story, because it would be different, stuff like that, because I love the original game so much, you know?

People who know me personally know that this was probably my favourite game maybe of the decade? I finished it in just over a week, 40 hours in a week you guys. I can't shut up about how much I love this game. I'm forcing myself not to just replay it from the beginning again immediately because I have other shit to do. Holy shit is this a fun game to play, and the story also rules, and the soundtrack fucks so hard. It felt like this game was made specifically with me in mind. Pandering is good actually, it turns out, when something is pandering to me.

If my friend hadn't got it for me for Christmas I probably still wouldn't have played it, because I was really umming and ahing about it like a FOOL.

Remember that CG ninja turtles movie in the 2000's? I thought that was going to be crap but I was dead wrong.

The last airbender, I thought it was a simplistic childrens show because the comedy was advertised and...come on, it was Nickelodeon. Again, dead wrong.

Real steal. I hoped it was good, but it was brilliant.

What I thought before seeing it was that it was going to be yet another anime-lite western show (there were a lot of those around the time it premiered). I was pleasantly surprised thought because:

1. It actually had some somewhat decent animation.

2. The characters were not just one-note tropes.

3. It didn't pull that chibi-cut bullshit, or at least not that much (Teen Titans did that A LOT).

Minecraft is a good example. It was released when I was in high school, so everyone was talking about it. From what I heard, it sounded like a zombie apocalypse horror game, which was not my kind of thing. Then my friends got on the anti-Minecraft bandwagon, so they told me stuff like "The graphics are so baaaaad!" My sister got Minecraft, so I actually saw the game for the first time... but still wasn't impressed. Until I started understanding the construction potential and procedural generation. It ended up being the gateway to lots more construction/survival games.

Similar story with Pokemon games long before Minecraft. Kids brought their Gameboy Advances or Advance SPs to school and played Pokemon games together in the schoolyard. My reaction: "Who wants to play games on a tiny little screen?" A short time later, a friend got an Advance SP and Pokemon Ruby. So I started watching him play it. Soon I had an Advance SP and Pokemon Sapphire. And the rest was history.*

*Confession time: I was pretty bad at playing Pokemon games and stopped playing after Gen 4, but the idea of a clueless trainer clumsily making it to the top sort of stuck in my head...

I had rock bottom expectations for the 2016 Powerpuff Girls show, but I found it was alright. Some episodes I liked some I hated. A solid C+.

Another thing is the Runaways comic. When I first glimpsed at it in 2004 I thought it looked cringe but when I took another look at it in 2009 I liked it and have been obsessed with the series ever since even though it's on and off in having it's own series.

Among Us.
When it kept appearing everywhere in 2020 I was just like "this is annoying, the game's probably not even that good."

I was wrong, it's a good game.

Now, the fanbase, is what's bad.
So fucking annoying.

But the game's fun!
(The memes are annoying at best though.)

The live action Sonic movies. Especially after that questionable initial design. It did feel a little bit too human-focused? But less so in the second one. Also Jim Carrey's Robotnik performance, while being different from any other portrayal, was wonderful.

Also Jordan Peele's horror movies. I only knew him from his comedy, so his horror being amazing gave me whiplash. Especially Us and NOPE because I have weirdly specific fears of .