Fuck Yeah, Controversial Characters!

Again Ash here? Give him a break guys

• Nos as good as he was in DP.

Well yes, it’s true he isn’t that good in comparison to Sinnoh but guess what, it’s a complete new and big region with a bunch of new pokemon and moves he didn’t know about it.

This is not totally canon so feel free to ignore it, but also take in count the first four regions are based in Japan while Unova is based in the USA…so the change of continent may affect him more than expected or not.

• Catching too many Pokémon.

GOTTA CATCH ‘EM ALL RINGS A BELL PEOPLE!?

• Relying heavily on Pikachu.

Pikachu IS his stronger pokemon, what did you expect? But choosing Pikachu all the time it’s actually false:

✿ Against Lenora: Oshawott and Tepig.

✿ His battle with Elesa he didn’t want to use Pikachu in battle but Pikachu practically yelled at him because he wanted to do it.

✿ Against Clay: Oshawott, Snivy and Roggenrola/Boldore.

✿ Against Brycen: Krokorok, Scraggy and Pignite

• Not training his Pokémon.

False, Ash practically stop in every Battle Club he founds to train his pokemon and if not, then he trains where he can, alone or with Iris/Bianca’s help.

• Loses too much.

New region, new pokémon, new moves…

• <SPOILER> Came in the Top 8 of the Unova League when he placed in the Top 4 last time </SPOILER>

Which is normal because he never get used to Unova… also who said Sinnoh League and Unova League are at the same level?

• Not evolving his Pokémon.

FALSE.

✿ Pidove → Tranquill → Unfezant

✿ Tepig → Pignite

✿ Sewaddle → Swadloon → Leavanny

✿ Roggenrola → Boldore

✿ Krokorok → Krookodile

I tried to not make it too long this time, but really… some of the reasons why to hate Ash are just… too stupid and goes to just the fact he doesn’t win in Leagues.

Last time I checked, you learnt more from loosing than winning… also leaving this here, just in case nobody really get it.

As an avid fan of the first three Ace Attorney games I can understand why the fourth title might be pretty polarizing. In fact I have some issues with it myself, as I’ll mention along with this. But Apollo himself does not deserve to have hate lobbed at him.

Replacing Phoenix as the main character

Naturally this is the first expected reason for disliking Apollo. I myself felt quite sad when the third game ended, like I was saying goodbye to some special friends I had made. But that’s no reason to take it out on Apollo.

his game not including old favorites from the PW games

Again, no reason to hate Apollo. In fact I can respect the creator’s decision to make a new game using entirely new characters. After the events of Trials and Tribulations, the stories of Phoenix, Maya, Edgeworth and the others were nicely concluded. For some characters, such as Edgeworth, there’s plenty of room for more focus and development (as his spinoffs show) but with Maya, it would be difficult to add anything else to her story without it feeling tacked on.

Phoenix losing his job in the game

Another thing that Apollo himself has nothing to do with, in fact Apollo is just as upset about this as the fans. If there’s anyone that can be blamed for this, it’s the executives who meddle in the affairs of a work’s creator. As mentioned earlier, the creator wanted to make Gyakuten Saiban 4 entirely fresh. A completely new cast and setting. However, the executives pushed for Phoenix to be included in the game, as if to make money on his name. This resulted in the plot involving Phoenix’s disbarment.

Of course now that the fifth Ace Attorney game has been revealed, with Phoenix back in the blue suit and attorney’s badge, I don’t think too many people are complaining.

no personality

The phrase “Passionate Heart Burning Red” comes to mind. Apollo is much less laid back than Phoenix was, more prone to outbursts. One can also infer that he’s a bit of a Phoenix Wright fanboy, as he often stays up late practicing shouting, or as he calls it, his “Chords of Steel” People just tend to not notice Apollo’s personality for reasons specified in the segment below.

his game being the “worst” Ace Attorney game

The bulk of the problem with Apollo is that because of the above executive meddling, he doesn’t get a chance to truly shine, even in his own game. From the very beginning Phoenix was pulling the strings on everything taking place in the seven years between his last case and the end of this game. Phoenix is the true star of this game. It’s all his story and Apollo is merely the tool to achieve his goals.

This is VERY bad for having a new novice attorney as the protagonist. Phoenix and Trucy are so much more competent than him, legal-wise that they tend to take over the trial phases. In the end the story is almost entirely focused on Phoenix, Trucy and the Gavin Brothers, and Apollo only gets a vague portion of back-story near the very end of the game.

So to summarize. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney may not be the best game in the series, in fact I myself not too fond of cases two and three of that game, but Apollo himself is a good character who just had the misfortune of having money placed in priority over a good story.

I will be first to admit that TDKR was not one of my favorite movies and I honestly found it very hard to love any part of it because so much of it spat in the face of already established comic canon but one of the few things I did take away from it was an appreciation for Catwoman, even if she wasn’t the best Catwoman ever to grace the screens, she was by far the best part of an other wise frustrating and depressing movie for me. 

Bland:

When? When was she bland? The rest of the movie, especially Bruce, was dead compared to Selina. Sure she wasn’t swinging from rooftops stealing cat statues from museums but she at least did things in this movie!

Doesn’t act like comicverse catwoman:

If I made a list of Character who didn’t act like their comic counter-parts in this movie we would be here all night. I don’t see the fans gripping about all this. I sense double standards!

Not being Michelle Pfeiffe:

Oh dear god! If we are going to complain about a character not being played by the actor that made them iconic might as well point out that Kevin Conroy wasn’t Bruce Wayne, Joker wasn’t played by Mark Hamill, Ra’s wasn’t David Warner etc.

On top of that, I will be first to admit I wasn’t sure Anne Hathaway could play Seline Kyle, but she did, very well!

 Next!

Doesn’t have the cat mask:

You know what other versions of catwoman don’t have a mask? Arkham City (She had a hood/hat thing much like the goggles idea for TDKR) Hush and many others, again I don’t hear the fans whining about that!

On top of that, Bane is not wearing the wrestler mask in this movie, and yet all I hear about it was how it was a cool idea, or would have been if we could understand him, while that is true. I do not hear any other fans upset that he is not wearing the right mask so we are just dealing with a double standard here. 

 Has a gun instead of a whip:

And Robin’s name wasn’t Dick Grayson, They gave Talia Bane’s backstory, half of the actors were the wrong ethnicity for their characters, Bane wasn’t on venom, he didn’t wear the proper mask ect ect.

Overall these reasons just seem like an attempt for fans to justify hating a strong female character, an incredibly disturbing and prominent trend in comic fandoms. In the case of these being legitimate reasons for hating her than you seriously need to reevaluate your opinion on the movie if you liked it except for these reasons. Either accept all the changes they made in the movie or become like me and pretend the movie did not exist because it makes it easier to forget how much they screwed up. 

Character Defending: Havok (Alex Summers)

Fandom: X-Men

I think one of the main problems with Havok is that everyone focuses on his brother/he often is an author avatar (Remender and Austen, I’m looking at you).  However, Havok is an interesting character when he is written right.  He’s initially the reluctant hero, and he is not really willing to be on the X-Men or X-Factor.  In fact, he initially joins the X-Men in the 80s because he knew too much information about the X-Men, and it was possibly either join or be killed (the 80s were hardcore, yo).  After he ended up on Genosha after going through the Siege Perilous (long story short: portal that basically reboots your life), he stayed on the island to try to make it better.  Even more so, he told Val Cooper, who asked him to be the leader of the government sponsored X-Men, to leave him be.  He wanted to stay on Genosha to help and not become a government lapdog (Woah, that’s like the opposite of what he’s being accused of!).  He did join X-Factor and became the leader (after a LOT of convincing), and he eventually worked on getting past his insecurities as a leader.  After that, well, Alex was really mishandled by writers.  He went off to a different dimension, he came back, he hooked up with Nurse Annie (Chuck Austen’s Mary Sue), he eventually went to space and took over the space jammers, came back to unsuccessfully run the new X-Factor, and finally joined the Uncanny Avengers.  From what I’ve read of Uncanny Avengers, many of the characters seem off, and Alex is another victim of that.  I think his character has been the victim of either wish-fulfillment writing or no-idea-how-to-use-him writing.  However, I don’t think his character is a government lapdog.  Unlike Scott, he’s not really a soldier for the mutant cause.  He wants to help, but sometimes he screws up.  He’s a geophysicist, not a leader for the mutant cause.  I know people were upset by Uncanny Avengers 5, but I think in the moment, he was trying to help people understand that mutants are people also.  However, he’s once again caught in Scott’s shadow, and that causes him to screw up.  In my interpretation, Alex means well, but he’s made a mistake, and *gasp* that’s something anybody with actual flaws would do.  Alex Summers is the only one of the Summers’ brothers I can stand, and honestly, much of the horrible characterization can be placed on different writers.  

here’s my url: mytwofavoritexmenaredead.tumblr.com

Oh no… Oh no…! Now I’ve gotta defend one of my favorite characters from Dangan Ronpa!? Honestly, there’s no level people won’t stoop to hate characters, huh? Well, allow me to defend Sayaka with all the knowledge I have.

So, let’s see the reasons behind her hatred we have… Fake, bitch, self-absorbed, crazy. idol singer so she MUST be one of these stupid girly girls who use their looks to get what they want, whore who wants to use Naegi for her own purposes…

“Fake”

First of all, aren’t most idols in Japan what you call, fake? They all have an outer shell, a persona, if you will. You can’t blame her, can you? She has a reputation to keep up, after all. If she was truly herself, not saying her true self is bad mind you, her reputation would be tarnished as an idol. Trying to maintain a proper image as a reason for hatred is not valid, if this is what she HAS to do.

“Bitch”, “Self-Absorbed”, “Crazy”

What the hell about her says she’s a bitch? (I’ll get to the spoiler parts later.) From what we’ve seen, she ISN’T one. You can tell that she’s quite caring of everyone, concerned if you will. We haven’t seen her be this ‘bitch’ you claim she is, or ‘self-absorbed’ either, because if you’re talking about that moment where she broke down to the point where she went batshit insane, of course she was emotional! I’ll explain why in another part of the argument due to spoilers sake.

As for the crazy part, that will be defended later in my rebuttal.

“Idol singer so she MUST be one of these stupid girly girls who use their looks to get what they want”

THIS IS A COMMON STEREOTYPE AMONG THESE TYPES OF CHARACTERS. NOT ONLY IS THIS COMPLETELY UNTRUE FOR SAYAKA, YOU CAN’T SAY THAT THIS IS TRUE FOR ALL CHARACTERS LIKE THIS.

Besides, she isn’t stupid, from what we know, since she can easily tell what Naegi is thinking most of the time. Whether this is on intuition or mind-reading, who knows, but she isn’t stupid. And she hasn’t even ONCE tried to use her looks to manipulate others.

“Whore who wants to use Naegi for her own purposes”

I’m not even going to bother with the whore argument, because this is a common reason for hatred among female characters. But let me be brief for that portion. She is not a whore because she has good looks or the way she dresses. The end.

Technically, yes. The whole using Naegi thing is true, but you really think that all she saw in him was another tool? I mean, we don’t really know what she’s thinking, or if she truly thinks that Naegi is a tool or whatever, because we can’t really look into her mind. Everything from here is speculation, and speculation is not a reason for hatred.

Now, I’ve left things ambiguous for quite some time, but that’s because from here on out, I’ll let loose and talk about the spoiler-ish parts. So for those who haven’t seen Dangan Ronpa yet, or just don’t care for spoilers, keep going.

“Goes crazy first just because she might lose her career”

She wasn’t concerned about her career! She was concerned about her fellow idols, and she wants to know why they broke up. Given how everyone was trapped in a life or death situation, can you really blame ANYONE in that situation? I can guarantee you, most of the people who read Dangan Ronpa would know that they can’t survive in a situation like this, mentally in that case.

So for those who think she’s crazy, she’s not. She’s emotionally distressed, and I’m sure that others were feeling the same as well.

“Manipulates Naegi so she can murder Leon and pin it on him”

She wanted to get out. She wanted to see her friends again. She was desperate. This is a flaw in her, yes, but all characters have flaws, do they not? Yes, she manipulated Naegi, but it’s not because of her looks, like one of the reasons of hatred claimed. They were implied childhood friends, and what she did WAS wrong, mind you, but it’s not like she didn’t like him as a friend. We don’t know that for sure, since she died in the first chapter as the first victim.

Is murder unethical? Of course it is, and it’s not like murder could be forgiven. However, we’re forgetting that she’s also a victim in all of this. She was the one that ended up being murdered by Leon in the end, all because she was desperate to figure out the truth. Yes, what she did was unforgivable, but in a situation like this, you can’t hold it against her for what she did. After all, because of her desperation, she was just another pawn in the mastermind’s plan, and that, is a tragedy.

So there you have it, my defense for Sayaka Maizono. I don’t know about you, but I love her character. And if you still hate her, well… I don’t blame you. Everyone has opinions. Just make sure if you’re going to hate a character, give valid reasons, okay?

In defense of Sayaka Maizono from Dangan Ronpa

Sayaka Maizono is one of my favorite characters in anything, ever. She is snarky, smart, cute, and kind. However, that doesn’t stop her from being ambitious. When she was younger, her father neglected her, and she made sure from then never to be forgotten. She wanted to be an idol so that she could inspire people and give others strength like the idols gave her when she was alone. She worked hard to become an idol, and attempts to keep up in such a cutthroat industry. She joined Hope’s Peak Academy to make sure that she and her friends would not be forgotten, and that they would be happy for the rest of their lives.

 “Bitch”: Where is she a bitch? She’s scared. She’s trapped in a school where the only way to get out is to kill someone else. But never has she been rude to anyone. She was a kind friend to Naegi (albeit she did manipulate him), but CARED ABOUT HIM IN HER LAST MOMENTS.

 “Self-absorbed”:  She’s not. She clearly states that “ [I wanted to] become an idol like them. Someone who can give other people strength.” She chose her career because as a child, the idols gave her hope, and she wanted to do the same for the others. Also, she JOINED Hope’s Peak Academy so that she and her friends could stay together forever. She got into this Elite School for her friends, so they could stay together. She did it for them!

“Crazy”: She’s not crazy. She’s scared. Again if YOU were trapped in a school where the only way out was mutual killing, I’m sure you’d be scared too! She’s only a high school, and she didn’t know what to do. She’s worked her whole life to get to her dream, and in a simple instant it could be taken from her.

“Idol singer so she MUST be one of these stupid girly girls who use their looks to get what they want”: Idol singers are really great though? They keep their image very clean and kind. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu isn’t a “stupid”, and Sayaka definitely isn’t either (Also, what is wrong with being a girly girl? A character can be a girly girl and strong? I’m confused). Sayaka clearly did not use her looks to get what she wanted. It’s clear from the way Sayaka talks that she worked hard to get to the top. She keeps telling Naegi that you always have to keep your goals in mind. She worked hard to get where she was.

”Whore who wants to use Naegi for her own purposes”: I’m so confused?? How is she a whore? I don’t think that is even a term you should yes. Yes, she did use Naegi. Because she was scared, and she was afraid she and her friends would be forgotten. That being said, she did care about Naegi. In her final moments, she cleared his name. She wouldn’t have done that if she hadn’t cared

[SPOILER] “Goes crazy first just because she might lose her career: Her career is all she has. She talks about how, in the music industry you have to keep swimming against the current or you’ll get swept away. She thought that if she didn’t get out of the school, then she would be forgotten. It’s a cutthroat kind of world. If she lost her job, she’s be disgraced, and she wouldn’t be able to inspire all those people like she wanted to. Her career is important to her. I don’t know what’s wrong with that. And let’s not forget, that she doesn’t want to be forgotten. Why? Because her father neglected her as a child. Her mother wasn’t part of the picture, and her father spent most of his time working. She was lonely, and she doesn’t want to be forgotten again. [/SPOILER]

[SPOILER] “Manipulates Naegi so she can murder Leon and pin it on him: Yes, she does. She is so desperate to get back out to see her friends again that she attempts to pin it on Naegi. BUT. It is clear she does care about him. IN HER DYING MOMENTS, SHE CLEARS HIS NAME. She writes “Leon” (albeit, a little confusingly so that Naegi doesn’t figure out, but…) SO THAT THEY KNOW IT ISN’T NAEGI. She wouldn’t have done that if she didn’t care about Naegi at all. Yes, she did use him, but it’s clear in her last moments that she regretted it. [/SPOILER]

I am not surprised to see the Klink evolutionary family pop up on this blog; they’ve been subject to a lot of criticism, much of which comes from the “Gen 1 Elitists”. But much of it is unfounded as well, as all three of the Gear Pokémon have their merits. Let’s go through the paces.

“Just a bunch of gears”

Yes. It is. This is true, and I’m not going to deny that. However! It is not a reason to hate a Pokémon. If being composed of assorted machine parts was a reason for hating a Pokémon, then Magnemite and Magneton would’ve been receiving hate since Gen 1. Exeggcute would also receive the same hate as well, for being “just a bunch of eggs”. But wouldn’t you know it, they haven’t (aside from people using them as counterarguments against the Gen 1 Elitists, anyway). It’s simply a double standard that some people in the fandom have imposed; its design is actually pretty unique, since mechanical Pokémon are few and far between.

Limited movepool

Again, this is true. However, despite its somewhat limited movepool, it actually has two unique moves; Shift Gear and Gear Grind. Shift Gear is an incredible boosting move which makes Dragon Dance look weak, as it grants +2 Speed and +1 attack with no drawbacks. Gear Grind, while having imperfect accuracy, has the ability to break Substitutes while still damaging the foe, and KO through Sturdy and Focus Sash, something very few moves can boast. It also at least learns decent moves like Return, Wild Charge, Substitute, Rest, Sleep Talk, and Protect. Again, its movepool is barren, but it’s not so barren that it can’t be worked with.

Not to mention that these are not the only Pokémon to have limited movepools… Most “Eeveelutions” have some pretty terrible movepools as well, but they’re beloved by the fandom. Once again, it’s a double standard that’s only selectively applied to Pokémon that people dislike.

“Unoriginal”

No. Unlike the others, this one is just flat out false. Mechanical Pokémon are extremely rare, to the point where new ones are, in fact, more original than other Pokémon. The only thing remotely close to it is the Magnemite family, and even then, they’re completely different concepts since the Magnemite family is based on magnets and magnetism, while the Klink family is based on gears and energy generation. It’s a concept that hasn’t been done before in a Pokémon; ergo, it’s original.

“Stupid”

This reason is pointless. Stupid is just an arbitrary statement someone makes about something they don’t like. Due to the fact that people overuse it to bash anything that they don’t like, it doesn’t really hold any real meaning anymore. Whether someone likes or dislikes something is totally up to them, and they’re entitled to their opinion. However, not liking something does not make it “stupid”.

Conclusion

Much like Vanillite’s evolutionary family, Klink and its evolutions are just the poster Pokémon for haters who want to bash on Gen V designs. However, there’s much more to these Pokémon than meets the eye, to the point where they are simply undeserving of the disproportional hate. They’re interesting and unique Pokémon; yes, they have their flaws competitively, but a lot of competitively useless Pokémon get a lot of love nonetheless. Whether you like or dislike Klink, Klank, and Klinklang is up to you, but just because you dislike them is not a reason to blindly hate them or bash them. You can dislike a Pokémon without actively hating and bashing on them.

Ok, I fucking love shadow. He is my favorite of the Sonic cast. I cannot believe people hate him. Here goes.

Emo: This term has been tossed around and around just like “Mary Sue” and “Slut”. I will give you the Urban Dictionary definition of Emo.

 An entire subculture of people (usually angsty teens) with a fake personality. The concept of Emo is actually a vicious cycle that never ends, to the utter failing of humanity. 

Shadow is not that. He may have been depressed, but he got over that in his solo game. 

Failed attempt to be a badass: More like Successful attempt to be a badass if you ask me. He can throw cars and break signs with his bare hands. What is NOT badass about that? Besides, he is one of only 2 non-robot game characters that uses guns.  The other was Fang. 

Starring game was badly received: It’s not his fault that his solo game bombed, so blame the developers, not the character! 

Sonic Clone: Two words: METAL SONIC. Metal sonic is also a sonic clone yet he gets little to no hate. 

Unnecessary added character: Shadow has a deep backstory, and is more three-dimensional unlike some of the other sonic characters who were still around at the time, so SEGA wanted to be able to tell an interesting story as well have a great game, so that is why they added shadow. Shadow started out as an Evil Counterpart to Sonic. There are lots of Marvel/DC heroes who have evil counterparts. Superman has Bizzaro. Batman has almost his entire rouges gallery. Spiderman has Vemom. Even Iron Man has Iron Monger, who is just another Iron man. Sonic is no exception to the trope of Evil Counterpart. 

Shadow the Hedgehog: Just like Sonic, but even more way past cool!

First of all, I just don’t get how ANYONE could hate Rikio. He’s really a kind character and one of the least sadistic and sociopathic characters in K. He should at least get some brownie points for that.

Overweight

How is this a bad thing exactly? I’m getting real tired of characters being judged by their appearance. There is nothing wrong with having an overweight character in a show. For god’s sake everyone else is a bishonen pretty boy, why can’t Rikio stand out?

Thug-like

Really? The only time you could say Rikio was acting like a “Thug” was in episode 5 when he tried to talk to a group of girls. Even then he didn’t seem to realize he was talking in a way that would scare them, and if we’re going on “thug” as a bad thing then shouldn’t the entirety of Homura be hated for this? They’re ALL thugs, and I don’t see anyone complaining about it. Hell, one of the most beloved characters in the fandom in Misaki Yata is ten times the thug Rikio is. Also consider how gentle Rikio is with his other Homura members, especially Yata. He cleans up wounds, gives banter, and is just a pleasant guy to be around from the outside looking in. His chapter in the manga should be enough to show his personality in full.

Follows around Yata, and doesn’t do much in the first part.

Well, think about it logically. There were only thirteen episodes of K in the first season and most of it was based around a linear story. There were a huge amount of characters, and YES a lot of them got the short end of the stick and didn’t get a lot of screen-time. With a second season on the way that could be amended  Not to mention the MANGA in which Rikio plays a slightly bigger part than his anime version and gets a whole chapter dedicated to him and his summer changes. 

Also. He follows Yata around because Yata is his PARTNER. They work together. Why would it be strange for them to be together all the time?

..At least there weren’t any complaints about “gets in the way of my shippan”, but still a severely underrated character.