I hate it so much when people mischaracterize Boothill as some sort of heartless cold-blooded bounty hunter who would hurt anyone who got in his way. He's a strong defender of the innocent and weak. He's a Galaxy Ranger who makes sure the evil and wicked receive poetic justice.
Oki long ass reply, my bad:
AAAUUUGGGHHHH SAME i fear IPC propaganda works too well on these ppl although at the same time, I can't fully blame them either, if that makes sense?? The thing is, Boothill has shown time and time again how he actually uses the the IPCs image of him to his advantage and plays into the role of a trigger happy thug (example being when he threatened two NPCs during the 2.6 quest) but when you look at the bigger picture, Boothill only ever acts this way when 1. He's facing off against the IPC or 2. When he thinks his actions will lead to consequences that will have a good outcome for a larger number of ppl.
Furthermore, it's been established throughout his story and the quests he's appeared in that Boothill is a very self-sacrificing character. I'd go as far as to say that he has a very big martyr complex and has a very altruistic mindset. The biggest and clearest example I can find of this is how Boothill sacrifices his organic body to gain a cybernetic one for the purpose of getting revenge and justice (there are other reasons too but these two are the biggest and primary ones). Keep in mind that him becoming a cyborg doesn't even benefit him exactly. While Boothill is a pretty mellow and chill guy, he still has to keep this anger burning in some way to keep himself motivated to continue his revenge and its obvious his mental health has suffered greatly because of this (as well as the tragedy of his home planet but that's a given). Other times when Boothill took the hit for someone else was when he took March 7ths place during that assistanana trial. Anyways, my point is that it's just wrong to see Boothill as someone who's cold blooded when in reality, he's one of the more human characters that we've seen in the game and what is a human if not someone who loves and cares with all their heart?
Also also also !!! The "keeping up with boothill" event showed how Boothill has helped and defended people. He's incited rebellions in planets under the IPCs oppression, donated money to charity and also chased away wrong doers from a bar (my memory is fuzzy on the last one but it was smth along these lines).
All in all, Boothill isn't some cold blooded bounty hunter, duh !! He's meant to be a morally grey vigilante instead. Boothill’s moral compass is incredibly strong to the point where the second he sees someone evil, his very first instinct is to put a bullet into that person (established in 2.6 quest). Furthermore, it's strong to the point where he can end such a person with just a single shot because once you're his target, it's kinda game over for you, shrugs.
To sum up Boothill’s character, you could use the exact same phrase that he uses for Sunday in his voiceline. "The roadway to hell is paved with good intentions." Boothill has pure intentions but it's the way he goes about these intentions that make him so morally grey and more misunderstood.
These are my personal thoughts and analysis on him, my bad if it's a bit jumbled 😓
