Though I like Merida, Mulan upstages her by being tough, kind, and sweet all in one.

Mulan is somewhat too good to be true. Her flaws are forgivable.

^^

^ Merida is the very opposite of selfless...until the very, very end of her movie. Merida spends most of Brave thinking entirely of how "unfair" Elinor is being to her. Only at the end, does Merida believe she has to "patch things up" and starts being compassionate to other people. Mulan isn't too good to be true, because, yes, there are people in the real world ( Mother Teresa, for instance) who have compassionate hearts right off the bat. But Merida certainly caused a heap of trouble and needed forgiveness, later. Merida wasn't very selfless until she reaped the awful consequences of what she had sown.

Agree with 3*Z, merids definitely is more close to real life characters, relatable and understandable. Though i love Mulan as well

I think the reactions between these two people as a whole have are very interesting: it shows that people DO love them a warrior woman, but only if she's overly idealized (coincidentally, the opposite is true for feminine/non warrior types, like Snow White and Elsa- both are idealized but Snow gets hatred for being TOO idealized and Elsa does not, no matter that Elsa is never portrayed in a negative light at all herself). both kick butt and save the day, but Mulan, is is dang near angelic next to Merida, is loved for her bravery and strength and general lack of flaws, whereas Merida's realistic flaws make her hated, despite her also having bravery and strength.

Like I said in another poll... some people are just against character development. I agree with many of the things Merida gets criticized for, because most of them are true, but people tend to take it too far and refuse to forgive her (but it's OK for Ariel, Jasmine, Elsa, and Rapunzel for doing some of the same things Merida does, of course).