@fritz I'd be interested to hear more examples of these kind of characters, then.

I think Tavros is an interesting case because Hussie's commentary does totally play up the idea that we're all supposed to hate him and that the story constantly uses Vriska as a means to punish him for being stupid and annoying. I don't think that running gag (which I frankly found more annoying than funny when reading with commentary) NECESSARILY reflects how he was really written in the comic itself, but I suppose it reveals that Hussie can absolutely be inclined toward treating a character like that in an attempt to be funny.

But then I also think the story shows that Hussie doesn't think of Tavros as totally useless when it consciously uses Jake English as a kind of recycling bin for the bits of Tavros that were interesting, and sort of 'vindicates' the Page archetype in the process. And Jake himself is an interesting case in your point, because I can totally see how he might become more interesting and not less over time; but I think when we see it in Jake it's more clear that this is on purpose, and that Homestuck is interested in not just arcs that reveal a character's hidden beauty and strength, but also arcs that reveal how deeply flawed a character is instead. And taking those flaws to the extreme is one of my favourite parts of the recent developments in Beyond Canon! But I'm just spitballing here; I'm interested to hear more about your position on this, which isn't one I've really seen or heard a lot about before.