This is a saying that I have seen thrown around so, so god dam much online and for the past few years whenever I have seen it fly around the internet I can't help but have to stop what I'm doing, sit still for a while, close my eyes and let out a sigh so loud even God himself would hear it. And with the title of this journal you most likely know what that saying is. "It ruined the franchise! It destroyed my childhood! It isn't fun anymore!" and any other variation of this saying. Why do I hate this saying so much? Well that's actually something I didn't know myself but it still made me boil up inside whenever I saw it said online. After thinking about it for a very long time I finally came to a conclusion as to why this saying and it's variants pisses me off. It is overly dramatic, hyperbolic bullshit said by people who didn't like an instalment in a franchise but rather than just admitting they didn't like it and move on they have to get on there keyboards and ramp it up sometimes with the intention of clicks and making obvious rage bait!

Look, there are instalments I don't like in franchises I other wise love. I didn't like Pokemon Let's Go Pickahu and Eevee compared to the fun I had in the recent Pokemon Sword and Shield, I think Mortal Kombat X is way better than Mortal Kombat 11 and I thought The Rise of Skywalker was a fan service fest that was only made for fan appeasement so that J.J. Abrams didn't have to put up with the same amount of harassment from Star Wars fans who didn't like The Last Jedi that also thought driving Rose Tico's actress of Instagram was justified which actually made me like The Last Jedi more than I already did. I tried to pick out the most recent and relevant examples I could think of. These are instalments in there respective franchises that I'm not going to say I hate, I don't, but have less of a positive opinion on. If you want an example of something I genuinely hate well... Attack of the Clones... Kinda? Maybe it's just because I'm not a very hateful person and have actually grown less hateful towards fictional stories and adventures as I've grown older but I can never bring myself to out right hate something I don't like from a franchise I love. But hey, everyone has different opinions and that's good! That is actually a really good thing. If we all thought the same thing the world would be pretty boring. What I do have a problem with is when people take there hate for something to far! And no, I'm not talking about sending death threats to the creators or people who do like it even thought that it self is a pretty shitty thing to do anyway and I could make a whole journal about that two!

Whenever I hear the "It ruined the franchise" augment I always sarcastically say to myself "Oh, so that means that if I go and watch/play a previous instalment then that won't be good anymore? Dam, I didn't think this recent instalment was THAT bad to have some kind of effect on the enjoyment of the last few ones that came before it! I guess any further ones are also going to be instantly bad now two then right?" Even as a child back in the 2000's when the Star Wars prequels were still going I hated hearing people say "Ugg, they ruined Darth Vader! I'm never going to be able to take Darth Vader seriously anymore after they made him a whiny teenager in this trilogy. Darth Vader is ruined and so is Star Wars." It was fucking dumb then and it's dumb now! A more recent example is, and I'm sorry to bring it up again but considering they don't seem to know what "letting it go" means I have no shame talking about it, the Pokemon Sword and Shield drama! "Ugg, not all Pokemon are going to be used? No Z Moves? No Megas? An upcoming expansion Pass? Awful Game! Pokemon is ruined! Game Freak are such shit developers! Masuda is an awful person and anyone who likes this game is a shrill and apologist!" So you don't like Pokemon Sword and Shield? So you don't like Disney's Star Wars Trilogy? So you don't like anything!?!? That is fine! But I fail to see how they "Ruined the franchise." In fact I actually like the idea of the expansion pass for Sword and Shield because I'd rather spend $30 on two add on's for a game I own rather than pay full price for a third version of the same game with new content that would of worked better as DLC. There is nothing stopping you from going back to the previous instalments in the series if you find yourself disappointed by the newer ones. You can always just go back and watch or play them and maybe even have the same amount of fun you did back then now. Nothing is being taken away from them just because you didn't like the newer sequel. The writing isn't any different, the characters are the same as they once were and the game play is also retained. Write or talk about how much you didn't like newer stuff as much as you want but the moment you start to act entitled like this and say that what you don't like ruined the franchise I stop paying attention.

Perhaps I'm just scared that this mentality of saying something "Ruined the franchise" is practically the norm at this point when expressing dis taste for something and I'm worried that calling out someone being over dramatic or hyperbolic may be considered a "Hot take" and you defending the product even if you yourself don't like it! Perhaps it's also because I and a lot of others are a fan of a game die hard fans of the series it belongs to say "Ruined the Franchsies." For those of you who only just started following me I got into the Fire Emblem series back in 2015 with Fire Emblem Awakening on the 3DS and it was for the longest time one of my favortie exclusives on the system. I loved the gameplay and characters and story and music and I really had to struggle to find things I genuinely hated about the game. However, apparently I wasn't allowed to like Fire Emblem Awakening according to the fan base who said that it was the worst game in the series and that it "Ruined the franchise." And every time I saw these shitty video's and claims I just rolled my eyes, in fact it's actually the earliest example I can think of where I even found myself growing really, really spiteful towards the fan base and refused to even watch anything on Youtube related to Fire Emblem, all because these people blew such a gasget over one game in a franchise when it does nothing to harm the previous games in the series and despite what some fans may tell you other wise DID save the franchise from being cancelled, hell Awakening actually made me want to play the previous games despite how hard it is to get your hands on legitimate copies nowadays, especially Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn as they have never been re released, as well as the oldest games, including the ones that star the series flagship character Marth, only being released in Japan!

I want to end this journal by stressing that if you don't like something then that is fine. You are allowed to dislike it or even hate it if you want. If you prefer the older stuff in the franchise then just go back and play/watch them rather than being a keyboard warrior that had to amp up how much you dislike something to often overly dramatic heights. Instead of saying "Mainline Pokemon games are not good anymore" it's better to just go back to previous games or maybe it's time to look at some of the spin off titles. Instead of saying "DmC ruined Dantae" just admit that you don't like this version of the character and prefer how he's handled in the original series and instead of saying "R.W.B.Y is awful now" it's better to just admit you don't like the direction it's taking after Volume 3. Now if you will excuse me I'm of to go hid in my hole again!