I have 452 characters on Excelsior at the moment, no doubt I'll make more at some point, but right now I mainly play just a few of them.
I have some of those super powerful(can do the 4* stuff) characters, and I like their costumes and backstories well enough, but lately it's become all about the character itself.
Their name, story, origin, how they look as they're fighting... all of these things make playing a character that much more fun for me.
I guess it's become a holistic thing, after all this time.
Crunching numbers or copying the builds others make is commonplace, making an iconic hero/villain is not.
Not that there's anything wrong with any character anyone makes, so long as they are happy with it themselves, that's really all that matters.
If others enjoy the characters you've made and tell you so, that really is the highest compliment, so be sure to return it whenever you see someone else's character that blows your mind.
Games are meant to be fun, so if you're not having fun, take a break for a while, it can help give some perspective.