History YMMV / Iconoclasts

* JerkassWoobie: Elro. His wife and daughter die within the game's first hour. Over the course of the game, in trying to protect Robin, his only remaining family, he gets dragged all over the world, imprisoned, beaten, and even [[spoiler:loses his arm and gets shot in the back]] for doing what he thinks is right. Throughout the game, he constantly moans about how he ''just wants to go home''. The "jerkass" part is because he's incredibly callous and uncooperative towards his allies and sister, is revealed to have [[spoiler:[[ForWantOfANail caused the entire plot]] by killing [[TokenGoodTeammate Agent Gray]] in a fit of rage (something the other heroes never find out about)]], and only seems to have slightly learned to trust Robin by the ending.

** It extends to the other characters too. The Isi are ''really'' guilty of coming off as jerks; they're self-righteous and make a lot of assumptions, and besides Gustavo, Samba, and Mina, are either distrustful of you ''even after you save their city'' or put their beliefs so far ahead of anything else that they basically shun other members of their faction who can't or won't procreate. Mina's mom is especially bad about this, doing nothing but insulting and demeaning her own daughter in every one of her appearances. It makes it hard to care about any of them when they show no gratitude for all of your help.

** [[https://konjak.bandcamp.com/track/psychopomp-vs-mothers-corners Psychopomp]], the boss theme for [[spoiler: [[BonusBoss Mother's Corners]]]]. The overall foreboding rock sound, combined with the warning siren-like noise, perfectly sums up just who you're fighting: [[spoiler: The only two people considered powerful enough to have had the honor of standing at Mother's side.]]

* BrokenBase: ''Iconoclasts'' has a last-minute twist that reveals that [[spoiler:[[DoingInTheWizard the Starworm was the spaceship of an alien bird]] looking to refuel its ship with Ivory, and that the Starworm was never a god in spite of what the One Concern always claimed]]. Many fans find this a great twist that ties well into the game's lore and themes of mistrust of higher beings, while also providing levity after the drama of the final act. Just as many fans think the twist is [[ShockingSwerve ridiculous]], requires a coincidence on numerous occasions to make sense, and think that that the game should have ended with [[spoiler:Agent Black's last stand and multi-stage boss fight]].

* BrokenBase: ''Iconoclasts'' has a last-minute twist that reveals that [[spoiler:[[DoingInTheWizard the Starworm was the spaceship of an alien bird]] looking to refuel its ship with Ivory]]. Many fans find this a great twist that ties well into the game's lore and themes while also providing levity after the drama of the final act. Just as many think the twist is too ridiculous and [[AssPull abrupt]] for the story, adds little-to-nothing to the actual story, requires a coincidence on numerous occasions to even make sense, the final battle was rather underwhelming overall, and would've preferred that the game ended an hour earlier with [[spoiler:Agent Black's last stand]], or that [[spoiler:the Starworm actually be an EldritchAbomination as was built up]].

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy:
** Most of the characters in ''Iconoclasts'', save for Robin, Mina and the various [=ChemiCo=] Contra workers you encounter, are jerks, which makes it hard to actually care about their fates. Robin's brother Elro is a KnightTemplarBigBrother whose attitude towards her borders on StayInTheKitchen sexism (not to mention his decisions directly result in much of the game's plot), while Royal's legitimately tragic arc is undercut by his arrogant personality. Even Mina has an episode in which she undeservedly lashes out at Robin; and since she's mostly a HeroicMime saddled with ButThouMust, you can't really call anyone out.
** It extends to the other characters too. The Isi are ''really'' guilty of coming off as jerks; they're self-righteous and make a lot of assumptions, and besides Gustavo, Samba, and of course Mina, are either distrustful of you ''even after you save them'' or put their beliefs so far ahead of anything else that they basically shun other members of their faction who can't or won't procreate.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: The Silver Watchman. He's a cool samurai character who provides some challenging boss fights in the midgame and is built up to have a prominent role, but not only does he get absolutely no backstory, [[spoiler:Royal abruptly kills him off just before he could dub Robin a WorthyOpponent and possibly even help her]].

* JerkassWoobie: Elro. His wife and daughter die within the game's first hour. Over the course of the game, in trying to protect Robin, his only remaining family, he gets dragged all over the world, imprisoned, beaten, and even [[spoiler:loses his arm and gets shot in the back]] for doing what he thinks is right. Throughout the game, he constantly moans about how he ''just wants to go home''. The "jerkass" part is because he's incredibly callous and uncooperative towards his allies and sister, is revealed to have [[spoiler:[[ForWantOfANail caused the entire plot]] by killing [[TokenGoodTeammate Agent Gray]] in cold blood (something the other heroes never find out about)]], and only seems to have slightly learned to trust Robin by the ending.

* BrokenBase: ''Iconoclasts'' has a last-minute twist that reveals that [[spoiler:[[DoingInTheWizard the Starworm was the spaceship of an alien bird]] looking to refuel its ship with Ivory]]. Many fans find this a great twist that ties well into the game's lore and themes while also providing levity after the drama of the final act. Just as many think the twist is too ridiculous and [[AssPull abrupt]] for the story, adds little-to-nothing to the actual story, the final battle was rather underwhelming overall, and would've preferred that the game ended an hour earlier with [[spoiler:Agent Black's last stand]], or that [[spoiler:the Starworm actually be an EldritchAbomination as was built up]].

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: The RelationshipValues mechanic results in one; to get the best outcomes for [[spoiler:the final boss]], you have to go along with what the people around you want, no matter how contradictory (such as telling Mina you blame Royal for the One Concern's invasion of Isilugar while also telling Royal you like him in an attempt to boost his confidence, or going with Mina to save Samba but telling Elro you don't want to help her and just want to hide). Hence, today's moral is "if you want people to like you, lie to their face and contradict yourself, [[YesMan as long as you tell them what they want to hear]]."

* BrokenBase: ''Iconoclasts'' has a last-minute twist that reveals that [[spoiler:[[DoingInTheWizard the Starworm was the spaceship of an alien bird]] looking to refuel its ship with Ivory]]. Many fans find this a great twist that ties well into the game's lore and themes while also providing levity after the drama of the final act. Just as many think the twist is too ridiculous and abrupt for the story, and would've preferred that the game ended an hour earlier with [[spoiler:Agent Black's last stand]].
* CompleteMonster: [[EvilMatriarch Mother]] and her associate [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Emmet Darland]] are the oppressive leaders of the corporate theocracy One Concern. To monopolize the mining and harvesting of Ivory, they create the Penance system, in which heretics are locked in their homes and executed by Controllers, with Elro's wife and daughter among the victims. To enforce their laws and exterminate their rivals, the Isi, they subject countless people to the [[BodyHorror Transcendence experiments]], killing hundreds and leaving the survivors to live tormented lives as their Agents, whom they send after heretics and the Isi. The two also secretly build a Tower to hold children and brainwash them into loving Mother, and when one tries to escape, Darland uses mind control to [[PsychicAssistedSuicide make the boy kill himself]] in front of his friends as a warning. Upon being informed that their Ivory mining has endangered the planet, they secretly build a rocket that will save them and the other One Concern elites while leaving everyone else to die, and when Royal, Mother's adopted son, accidentally hastens the coming destruction, Mother [[OffingTheOffspring tries to kill him]] in anger.

** Most of the characters in ''Iconoclasts'', save for Robin, Mina and the various [=ChemiCo=] Contra workers you encounter, are jerks, which makes it hard to actually care about their fates. The majority of the people you encounter are jerks or are very selfish and ungrateful. Robin's brother Elro is a KnightTemplarBigBrother whose attitude towards her borders on StayInTheKitchen sexism (not to mention his decisions directly result in much of the game's plot), while Royal's legitimately tragic arc is undercut by his arrogant personality. Even Mina has an episode in which she undeservedly lashes out at Robin; and since she's mostly a HeroicMime saddled with ButThouMust, you can't really call anyone out.

*** [[spoiler:Agent Grey absolutely had it coming with the false sympathy they showed Elro, and without Elro killing them, Robin never would have saved the world in a lasting way. It all would have died in 50 years, and then the One Concern would have left to do it all over again. So, intended or not, Elro causing this chain of events that resulted in the world being saved.]]

*** [[spoiler:Agent Grey absolutely had it coming with the false sympathy he showed Elro, and without Elro killing him, Robin never would have saved the world in a lasting way. It all would have died in 50 years, and then the One Concern would have left to do it all over again. So, intended or not, Elro causing this chain of events that resulted in the world being saved.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-R-AJ8G6fs Jet Black]], the music when you face [[TheDragon Agent Black.]] You hear it, and you ''know'' shit's about to go ''down.''

* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: The main focus of ''Iconoclasts'' is its story, with the gameplay being less well-received outside of the boss fights and puzzles. Its {{metroidvania}} aspects are very limited (it's possible to play the whole game in a linear fashion without affecting the difficulty much, since Robin's stats never change), while the combat is more simplistic and less fluid than it is Konjak's other titles. The gameplay isn't bad by any means - it's just overshadowed by the story quite a bit.

* JerkassWoobie: Elro. His wife and daughter die within the game's first minutes. Over the course of the game, in trying to protect Robin, his only remaining family, he gets dragged all over the world, imprisoned, beaten, and even [[spoiler:loses his arm and gets shot in the back]] for doing what he thinks is right. Throughout the game, he constantly moans about how he ''just wants to go home''. The "jerkass" part is because he's incredibly callous and uncooperative towards his allies and sister, is revealed to have [[spoiler:[[ForWantOfANail caused the entire plot]] by killing [[TokenGoodTeammate Agent Gray]] in cold blood (something the other heroes never find out about)]], and only seems to have slightly learned to trust Robin by the ending.

* ThatOneLevel: The Tower. It starts off as a NoGearLevel (though Robin retrieves her wrench pretty quickly) and then turns into a vertical maze where the goal is to free Mina and Elro and then collect three keys to reach the top. Its annoyances include enemies that sap your wrench charge, having to crawl slowly through many air vents, needing to manage several elevators to get around, and getting periodically ambushed by the Silver Watchman. It's also a pain to collect everything in, since you need the Usurper Shot for two items and the map isn't very helpful (it displays the inner rooms as being accessible from both above and below, even if they aren't).

* ThatOneBoss: The Silver Watchman in his first and second encounters, who teleports constantly and leaves the player with only a split second to react to his katana swing... which requires the wrench to be ''spun'' to deflect, not merely swung like most parry-able projectiles and enemies, leaving even less reaction time, coupled with the fact that he will [[AlwaysAccurateAttack counter]] after his swing for a second attack if you're too late on the draw. He ''is'' a GlassCannon and takes only four (five in the rematch) swings to defeat, so there are small mercies, but simply damaging him once takes a small act of [[EldritchAbomination Him]]. He's just as much of a pain in the BossRush; the Usurper Shot has no effect on him and he takes six hits before going down, so if you aren't careful he'll tear through your Iron Hearts and leave you with less life for the later bosses.