Thread:RRabbit42/@comment-5754292-20161222205442/@comment-961279-20161223022058

Antagonist fussing is usually a case where people are fighting over exactly what level of an antagonist a character is (main, secondary, tertiary, etc.) and no one can agree which one it should be. That happens because they do it to themselves. They want a precise measurement of exactly what kind of antagonist a character is and you just can't get that. They probably wouldn't like it if someone rated them as "59% my friend", and they'd like it even less if another person came by and said, "no, they're 72% my friend, not yours".

Being hung up on "an antagonist must be a villain" is a little more recent, but I think part of that is coming from one or two specific people who seem to think they're the ones who decide everything.