Alongside the re-reveal of Dragon Quest 12 as a whole new game now called Dragon Quest 12: Beyond Dreams instead of Flames of Fate, there's a new protagonist in town, and he looks like he's kind of just over the whole thing. Naturally, that means everyone in Dragon Quest land is absolutely roasting the poor guy, with some questioning whether he was even designed by the late Akira Toriyama at all, although that seems like baseless speculation.
I'll be real with y'all up front: As a longtime fan of the series, I don't see the big issue here. Dragon Quest heroes have always been derpy little weirdos with goofy hair. Dragon Quest 11 isn't even 10 years old, and somehow we've all forgotten its hero was rocking a dirty blond, middle-parted bob and purple tunic. We all loved him no less, but it's not as if Dragon Quest is known for its impossibly hot heroes like, say, Final Fantasy. Dragon Quest 12's new hero is just doing his best, but unfortunately not everyone sees it that way.
Here's a small sampling of the bullying I'm seeing online:
Such a Gen Z slop haircut. Toriyama would never let this happen. from r/dragonquest
New DQ Protagonist be like from r/dragonquest
the dragon quest 12 protagonist is so ugly they had to confirm that he was designed by akira toriyama
— @maysuser.name ( @maysuser.name.bsky.social ) 2026-05-29T19:28:41.940Z
he looks like his name is Throckmorton
— @veesheep.bsky.social ( @veesheep.bsky.social.bsky.social ) 2026-05-29T19:28:41.817Z
Bro thinks he's on the team 😭 from r/dragonquest
Can we swap?.. from r/dragonquest
You get the idea. I will definitely concede that the man's expression very closely resembles the face I saw in the mirror at a 6am layover in Miami after a flight from Brazil recently, but that's nothing a good long nap can't fix. And, sure, his haircut isn't doing him any favors, but again, these are fixable problems. I mean, Dragon Quest heroes don't usually change in appearance a whole lot throughout the course of a campaign, but I'm sure we'll be able to spruce up his appearance with some sick armor upgrades and outfit changes. What I'm saying is, give the poor lad a break. He has clearly been through some stuff.
