What Is The Pucking Wrong Guy About?

Glen Powell steals the scene as the big-hearted guy in the romcom I just watched, and I couldn’t stop grinning through half the movie. He plays the kind of 'nice guy' who’s effortlessly earnest — not syrupy, just genuinely considerate and funny in the way that makes romcom chemistry click. His banter with the lead lands, and he brings that twinkly charisma he showed in other roles while keeping things grounded. There are moments when he leans into classic romcom timing and then flips it with a slightly modern, self-aware wink, which I loved. If you like a romcom that blends old-school warmth with a touch of cheeky contemporary humor, his performance is the main reason to watch. Personally, seeing him carry both the silly and tender beats made the whole film feel like a cozy night in — I walked away smiling and a little head-over-heels for the character.

Scrolling through late-night rec lists, I keep finding the same comforting pattern: the truly great 'nice guy' fanfics don't just parade virtue, they examine it. The best ones make me root for a character whose kindness is real, sometimes brittle, sometimes stubborn, and often tested. I like stories in the 'gentle!character' or 'slow burn' vein where patience and small, honest moments do the heavy lifting. In fandoms like 'Sherlock' and 'Harry Potter', that usually means quiet scenes—tea on the kitchen table, a bandaged hand cleaned without comment—that say more than grand speeches. What I tend to recommend to friends are fics that avoid the entitled or manipulative 'nice guy' trope; instead they reward empathy. Look for tags like 'redemption arc', 'found family', or 'supportive!partner' on sites like Archive of Our Own. For 'Marvel' readers I often point people toward domestic, healing Steve Rogers stories where heroism is everyday kindness. For 'My Hero Academia', there are lovely Izuku-centric fics that focus on mentorship and steady emotional growth. If you want re-reads, pick fics with consistent character voice and a balance of conflict and cozy payoff. Those small, believable character beats are what stick with me most, and I always come away softer for having read them.

I get that question a lot at my book club, and honestly the phrase 'nice guy' pops up in different places, so there isn’t a single, universally recognized novel series titled exactly 'nice guy' that everyone points to. What usually happens is people mean one of three things: a self-published romance series using 'Nice Guy' as a subtitle, a fanfiction/web serial that adopted the name on platforms like Wattpad, or they're mixing it up with the movie 'The Nice Guys' (screenplay by Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi). If you’ve seen a cover, the fastest route is to check the back cover or the title page for the author, or plug the exact title into Goodreads, Amazon, or your local library catalog. Self-published series can be tricky because multiple indie authors sometimes use similar series names. I’ve tracked down a few of those myself by searching lines from the blurb in quotes — that usually leads straight to the author page. It’s a little detective work, but I kind of enjoy the hunt.

One angle that keeps me poring over each panel of 'Pucking Wild' is the idea that the chaotic scenes are actually a carefully coded prophecy. I trace little symbols—an upside-down playing card, a tiny comet, and a red thread in backgrounds—that turn up before major turns, and I swear they form a sequence. Fans have pointed out that the first appearance of the red thread matches panel counts that correspond to specific chapter numbers, like a breadcrumb trail the author leaves for the obsessive. I love mapping this stuff out with spreadsheets and timestamped screenshots. Another theory I cling to is that the ensemble are iterations of one fragmented mind. The varying eye colors, mirrored scars, and recycled dialogue suggest repeated reincarnations or simulated runs. Easter eggs support this: background items repeat with subtle differences—posters change date stamps, radio dials shift a notch—and a hidden QR code in chapter seven links to a short melodic loop that appears whenever a character realizes a truth. It feels like the creator is winking: wild on the surface, meticulous underneath, and I find that blend irresistibly clever.

I still smile whenever I hear that opening riff — it hits different. 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' was tracked during the sessions for 'Billion Dollar Babies' at Morgan Studios in London, with Bob Ezrin producing. The studio take is the one you hear on the single and LP; it’s tight, theatrical, and has that glossy early-'70s rock sheen that made Alice Cooper's band sound huge without being overblown. Live, the song was rolled out on the 'Billion Dollar Babies' tour soon after the record was finished, and its public debut was in London at the Hammersmith venue (the classic Odeon/Hammersmith Apollo space where so many rock premieres happened). Hearing it in that cramped, raucous theater for the first time, people reportedly flipped — the chorus was tailor-made for singalongs. For me, mixing the studio polish from Morgan and the raw punch of those Hammersmith nights captures why the track still feels alive; it’s studio craft and stage chaos braided together, and that contrast is part of its charm.

Reading 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' was like getting a wake-up call I didn’t know I needed. The book really digs into how trying to be overly accommodating can backfire—like when you prioritize everyone else’s needs to avoid conflict but end up feeling resentful or invisible. One big lesson that stuck with me is the idea of 'covert contracts,' where you do things for others expecting something in return without ever communicating it. It made me realize how often I’d fall into that trap, silently hoping people would just 'get' what I wanted. Another key takeaway was embracing authenticity instead of seeking approval. The author argues that 'Nice Guys' often hide their true selves to avoid rejection, but this just leads to shallow relationships. Learning to set boundaries and express needs openly felt terrifying at first, but it’s been game-changing. Now, when I catch myself slipping into people-pleasing mode, I ask: 'Am I doing this because I genuinely want to, or because I’m afraid of disapproval?' Still a work in progress, but way more freeing.

On a rainy afternoon when the radio felt like a friend, I learned that 'Don't Get Me Wrong' was written by Chrissie Hynde, the voice and main songwriter of The Pretenders. She penned it during the mid-1980s for the band's album 'Get Close'. The song always struck me as bright and sly at once—poppy guitar hooks wrapped around lyrics that are tender but insistently self-assured. I think she wrote it because she wanted to capture that odd mix of vulnerability and confidence you feel in a relationship: wanting someone to know you love them without being reduced or misunderstood. Musically it leans toward the 1960s pop sound she admired, and it readied the band for a slightly more radio-friendly moment. Hearing it now, I still get that warm, bittersweet twinge that says love can be both playful and serious at the same time.

I’ve always loved those little musical threads that tie decades together, and 'Don't Get Me Wrong' is one of those songs that keeps cropping up in the DNA of modern indie music. When I put the record on, what strikes me is the brightness — that chiming guitar, crisp production, and Chrissie Hynde’s confidently conversational vocal. It’s poppy on the surface but a bit sly underneath, and that sweet-sour mix is exactly the emotional palette a lot of indie bands have been painting with for the last twenty years. You can hear echoes of that sunlit-but-wry approach in bands that favor jangly guitars and bittersweet lyrics: think the slacker-lifted jangle in some tracks by The Shins or the wistful, melodic contours of Camera Obscura. The influence isn’t literal imitation so much as a shared vocabulary: clean, interlocking guitars, melodic hooks that feel effortless, and vocals that carry personality rather than overt grandstanding. I saw this pattern play out at small shows and in late-night playlists: kids in 2010s indie scenes picking up Rickenbacker-like tones, writing tight, hummable choruses, and leaning into female-fronted vocal intimacy in a way that echoes Hynde’s approachable cool. Producers also borrowed the polished-but-spare 80s sheen — not a glossy pop gloss, but a clarity that lets the vocal and melody breathe. That production ethic shows up in bands who straddle indie and pop, like some tracks by Vampire Weekend and Alvvays; they're not covering 'Don't Get Me Wrong' note-for-note, but the lineage of bright chord voicings and cheeky lyricism is clear. Beyond sound, there’s a cultural throughline: Hynde’s persona — tough, witty, unpolished in the best way — opened space for indie singers to be clever without being slick. If you listen to playlists that mix 80s alternative with contemporary indie-pop, 'Don't Get Me Wrong' often sits comfortably alongside newer tracks. That placement keeps the song in circulation as a kind of template. So yes, it has influenced modern indie bands, mostly as an aesthetic blueprint rather than a direct model. Next time you hear an indie tune that feels sunny but slightly sardonic, trace it back a few records: you might find a few chords of 'Don't Get Me Wrong' humming under the surface.