Dude you hit the nail on the head. On my pocast with my boys I had to rip Theo Rossi a new one and eviscerate him into dust, because this is honestly one of the worst performances I've ever seen in a legitimate television show.
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And besides, what idiotic douche would wear sunglasses inside at night, rendering you basically blind? Shades, that's who.
Every time I saw him, I'd start humming Corey Hart to myself.

No, they just cut that element from the show because it doesn't fit the tone of the environment.

from the Luke Cage comics, Shades character allegedly had a power of some sort blasting from his eyes. somewhat similar in scope to that one Xmen guy who wore a visor and could use some sort of power ray from his eyes. However this is never explained in the Luke Cage TV show. I loved Theo Rossi in SOA. To me he did not fit right into LC and i never cared much for his character.

I think the whole point of his appearance was that he deliberately cultivated this image of "wannabe badass" so no one would see him as a real threat.

At first I thought he had some kind of mind control powers when taking off the shades, or something.
Why can't you be a non-conformist like everyone else?

I know the actor as Juice from Sons Of Anarchy and I
really
couldn't buy him as a tough guy and a fixer. Miscast.

I like Shades. maybe because the shows so boring, when he comes on, Im like theres the guy from Sons of Anarchy

He is the kind of character who is like herpes: Doesn't give you a big problem, but you can't kill, only weaken. You simply tend to care about other stuff that you look as more dangerous, but the herpes is in your genitals in no time and MAN! The damage is done!
Yeah. Diamondback seemed to know that once his attempt on Shades' life failed, as he calls him "Hernan the cockroach" upon crashing Pop's Barbershop.

I tend to disagree. He was not some kind of badass, he was the kind of guy who is competent and does not have a problem to do the dirty work. And that ridiculous smirk every scene made him a guy like Littlefinger form GoT.
He is the kind of character who is like herpes: Doesn't give you a big problem, but you can't kill, only weaken. Yousimply tend to care about other stuff that you look as more dangerous, but the herpes is in your genitals in no time and MAN! The damage is done!

i loved his character, how poised he was, and how he always kept thinking and planning, even in the more dire of situations, such as when he was being choked to death.
i didn't mind the shades thing tbh. for all we know there could be a physical reason for it that has not been explained as yet.

I agree Shades was the best of the villains, but then again we're talking about a pretty mediocre bunch to begin with. However Shades' character is probably the most believable in terms of what happens to them and their reactions. That's also what made Cottonmouth enjoyable. Diamondback is too cartoony to be liked (he might as well grow a mustache so he can twirl it when he's monologuing) and Mariah's character is too unbelievable (how is she still in council?).

Shades was easily the best villain on the show. the worst was the completely idiotic Diamond guy.

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I loved Shades just the weird way he talked it wasn't exactly an accent least not one I've ever heard. I was totally right about the sexual tension between him and Mariah

I assumed that people in protection services and law enforcement wore shades so that people who may come up against them will never be sure where they are looking.
That's what the "intimidation tactic" is. Of course, Secret Service guys wear sunglasses outdoors so that their eyes are adjusted to the light when they go indoors. Inside agents almost never wear sunglasses, its just that most of the time they are seen they are outdoors.

I assumed that people in protection services and law enforcement wore shades so that people who may come up against them will never be sure where they are looking.

I was waiting for the whole sunglasses at night thing to be explained, but I do believe they made the character intentionally corny, like he has this thing where he thinks the shades are cool and people let him get away with it because he's pretty good at his job. I mean, he might be cool but he's not cool enough to pull off the sunglasses at night thing, but it is hard to find a good henchman.
I think Shades wears his sunglasses for the same reason Secret Service agents wear them: the intimidation appearance.

I was waiting for the whole sunglasses at night thing to be explained, but I do believe they made the character intentionally corny, like he has this thing where he thinks the shades are cool and people let him get away with it because he's pretty good at his job. I mean, he might be cool but he's not cool enough to pull off the sunglasses at night thing, but it is hard to find a good henchman.
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I think he wears shades inside because he tires of the idiotic banter between everyone and he can take a nap without them knowing it.

"And besides, what idiotic douche would wear sunglasses inside at night, rendering you basically blind? Shades, that's who."
Ok, that made me laugh.
I can see what you mean about him, but I guess he grew on me. The persona was a bit corny but I thought the actor did a good job and I thought his character was well written.
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Right.
Because that's what the character is supposed to be.
Not intimidating,"ridiculously hot".

He's ridiculously hot. The way he just sits there and stares, and then is there's his creepy smile, that's somehow cute.

He just seems like a poser wannabe douche, and portrays no semblance of a character the people in this show would actually fear.
He's probably the best of the villains because he's unfailingly pragmatic, often to "I'm surrounded by idiots" levels, which includes knowing when to (and when not to) have standards, when to walk away and when to engage. He often tries to play an advisor role to Stokes and later Diamondback, and keep his cohorts from being self-destructively violent or aggressive, but hardly anyone listens when they should except Mariah, and it nearly gets him killed by Diamondback.