What are you talking about? Cole is uber sympathetic. Didn't you read any of his backstory? Poor guy lost his entire family during E-Day so he joined up as a Gear. He has his funny moments, but he really cares about his pals. Cole even writes letters to his dead momma during the novels as a way of coping with his loss.
As for Griffin, goddamn did I hate him. I wish Marcus would have ripped him a new asshole. Gears also has a long streak of terrible songs based off of it. Ask Megadeth.