Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)

Barnabus "Barney" Stinson (born 1976), is one of the five main characters in How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris. He first meets Ted Mosby in MacLaren's Pub in 2001 then initiates himself as part of the gang, fancying himself as Ted's best friend, despite Ted's protests. After being burned in his early twenties by a girlfriend who left him for a businessman, Barney reinvents himself as a "suit" and a serial womanizer, who viciously rejects any form of commitment. He conducts elaborate acts of seduction and regularly engages in casual sex. As the series progresses, Barney is revealed to have unresolved childhood issues, specifically with his absent father, who he reconnects with in 2011. Barney's life of debauchery wears thin as he matures and experiences several serious relationships, in particular his on-off relationship with Robin. His elaborate seduction techniques are a constant source of humor (typically for Marshall), amazement (typically for Ted), and disgust (typically for Lily) for the group. Though most of his seduction plays are cold and mean-spirited, he is extremely caring toward friends and family, often using his wealth to help them out of tight spots.

Why He Rocks

 * 1) He is one of the best characters in the show. You can tell Neil Patrick Harris is having fun playing the character.
 * 2) Barney has also helped Ted to get out of depression, find him a girlfriend, and introduced him to Robin.
 * 3) He may be a douche to Marshall, but he's very thoughtful and generous. Barney brought him and Lily back together, went to a game show called The Price is Right to not only meet a man named Bob Parker, (who he thought to be his father), but also won prizes for both Marshall and Lily as wedding gifts.
 * 4) Barney had comforted Robin after her breakup with Simon.
 * 5) Barney knows when to reference pop culture, like Star Wars, Marvel or DC, he does it surprisingly well.
 * 6) Barney has a lot of funny lines:
 * 7) *"True story."
 * 8) * "Suit up!"
 * 9) * "Challenge Accepted."
 * 10) *"What up?"
 * 11) *"I'm awesome."
 * 12) *"I don't know who Barney is, but I've heard that he's awesome."
 * 13) *"Oh, you're not sorry Ted Mosby. But you will be. You will be... Hehehe. Hahahaha. Hahahahahaha! That's how you do an evil laugh. Ciao for now."
 * 14) * "It's gonna be legend, wait for it... and I hope you're not lactose intolerant, because I'm gonna say: dary! Legendary!"
 * 15) * "Guys, great news. I'm the new leader of the gang!"
 * 16) He became very relatable in the episode "Swarley", where he got his name written on the coffee cup wrong, and everyone in the pub, (including his friends) to embarrass him.
 * 17) His own version of the opening: how i met your barney, which had the last lyrics of the song "Ba-Barney is, the new, leader of the gang andlifehasjustgotwaymoreawesome! Yeah!"
 * 18) While random, Barney explains that his ancestor Barnabus Stinson, along with Benjamin Franklin and George Washington created a set of rules calling it The Bro Code is really funny.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) He is very manipulative, sexist, sometimes childish.
 * 2) Before his character development, Barney constantly hits on every women he sees, had sex and sleeps with them, and leaves them behind and never saw one of them again.
 * 3) Barney has a habit of breaking promises. When Ted told him to not bring strippers into Marshall's bachelor party, Barney still brought a stripper anyway.