| 1 | %% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1367003972091846600 |
| 2 | %% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest an image. |
| 3 | %% |
| 4 | ->''"Eighty percent of this country is Christian. It's the religion that changed the world. Probably not the best choice. And Wrestling/KurtAngle--who I guess is Christian--standing right next to me, starts screaming at '''''ME!''''' And ''I'm'' screaming back! [='=]'''''I''''' don't know! I didn't book this thing![='=]"'' |
| 5 | -->-- '''Wrestling/JoeyStyles''' on the crucifixion of [[Wrestling/JimFullington Sandman]], ''Forever Hardcore: The Documentary'' |
| 6 | |
| 7 | Fans sometimes blame the wrong people, and thus [=misblame=] somebody. Comes in multiple varieties: |
| 8 | |
| 9 | !!Garbage In, Garbage Out |
| 10 | |
| 11 | There are actual weaknesses in the original work, which were faithfully translated in an adaptation. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | For example, you see an anime or manga with great action sequences and an interesting premise, punctuated by bizarre scenes or lines of dialogue, which you assume are changes by the translators, that cheapen said premise, provide a jarring tone, or even make the plot nonsense. You assume it's fallen victim to a ''serious'' {{Macekre}}. So you import the DVD, maybe get a [[MediaNotes/RegionCoding region 2 player]] if you live outside the region, and put it in... Surprise! It's not a Macekre after all; what you thought was caused by overzealous translators was just a weakness in the original work. And yet, the fans have [=misblamed=] the translators, and they're not going to stop any time soon. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | It's less common for audiences nowadays who have [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil access]] to the original material beforehand, and especially less common now with the rise of [=VPNs=] and other services. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | !!ProductionLeadTime |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Works take time to create, with professional works often taking years and having hard deadlines to complete by. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Thus there's many times the blame is for things implemented before what it's being accused of, the unforeseeable events that caused it to become controversial, or they'd found out about the audience backlash. By the time they realize or are in a position to address the issues, so much of the work is set in stone that they couldn't feasibly fix it even if they wanted to. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | !!Most Visible Target |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Writers and those working the grindmill of day-to-day creative production are just trying to [[MST3KMantra do their best]] making a good show/movie/comic book. Unfortunately, the demands of the executives to try and make it more popular become a kink in the creative flow. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | For example, a new {{story arc}} emerges that turns the characters inside out, and [[AudienceAlienatingEra the fans respond with bile and hatred]]. Upon exiting said story arc, everything returns to the status quo. Odds are, such major changes are demanded as a method to shake up the series and blindsides you because [[ExecutiveMeddling it was shoehorned into a narrative]] the writers already had planned out. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | Similarly, often the actors will take heat for being "terrible actors" and "ruining the performance" when the real problem lies in the script they were handed and the director telling them what to do. [[PolishTheTurd An actor can only do so much with what they're given]], and their choices are often limited to [[HamAndCheese going wild with it]] or [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously trying their damnedest to give a good performance]]: neither option is particularly likely to work barring luck or an ''extremely'' charismatic actor as it's not like an actor can just up and say "this is bad, I'm going to change it!" unless they have a ton of sway and push or creative control on the project. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | !!"The Creator Is GOD!" |
| 32 | |
| 33 | Blaming ExecutiveMeddling when the author did it on purpose, without any executive mandate, [[IntendedAudienceReaction perhaps with good cause]], perhaps with poor cause. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | The mere existence of meddling executives often gives the impression that they are tyrants, slave driving the humble writer. But even the glorified writers are prone to mistakes and their own issues, which is chronicled with AuthorTract, AuthorAppeal, CreatorBreakdown and other tropes. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | For example, your favorite character is subject to {{Flanderization}} and you assume that the executives demanded the supposedly "flatter" personality. But the writer's blog reveals that the change was made because it made writing for the character easier and allowed for more story possibilities. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | !!FanDumb Poisoning Its Own Well |
| 40 | |
| 41 | The ultimate difficulties of the FanDumb, laying down false information and establishing opinion as fact. The information is then spread across the Internet and only information from the source can correct it. |
| 42 | |
| 43 | This is an example of when the fan dumb just doesn't fact check. They blame someone who worked on it for an error when they actually didn't even do that much behind it. A very common form of this is when people blame a company that worked on something that was subject to HypeBacklash, when in reality, the blamed company was merely a financial backer or they didn't have ''any'' involvement whatsoever and merely published it. |
| 44 | |
| 45 | This is often the underlying cause behind all the other types and we here at Website/TVTropes are not immune to it either. |
| 46 | |
| 47 | Another small set of cases that might be related are mistranslations. Some fans might accidentally translate something the wrong way and accept it as fact. (See: SpiceUpTheSubtitles) This may also be the result of rumors. |
| 48 | |
| 49 | !!"Single Person" Fallacy |
| 50 | |
| 51 | They believe somehow ''one'' individual is responsible for the totality of a problem or mistake that cripples a production. Or the entire production as a whole. A common name for this particular fallacy variant is the "Quarterback Syndrome", so called due to the tendency to blame the quarterback for bad plays in a game of American football. |
| 52 | |
| 53 | Take any given movie or television series. There happens to be an episode or scene that is just bad. The [[WTHCostumingDepartment costuming is ridiculous]], the acting is stiff, the dialogue is clichéd, the direction is uninspired and even the lighting looks bad. Yet why is the director/showrunner blamed for it all? Well, each of those things listed are handled by a whole individual team who specialize in that field. The director has a lot of control, but if one of those elements goes sour it isn't just the director/showrunner's fault, and sometimes the director/showrunner is unable to do anything about it due to executive meddling, time/budget constraints, or some other impairment. |
| 54 | |
| 55 | A similar fallacy that applies to VideoGames is the "There are no Developers, only Publishers" Fallacy. Despite all the company logos that show when people load up a game, they only seem to see the one of the big company and tend to assume it was all their doing. Even when their input is limited to monetary support and maybe localization. To further confound this, sometimes the #1 targets for this fallacy (Creator/{{Nintendo}}, Creator/SquareEnix, Creator/ElectronicArts, Creator/{{Ubisoft}}, Creator/{{Activision}}) are companies that actually ''do'' develop ''and'' publish games. There are some rumors that Japanese developers are actually glad in knowing they'll receive no credit for their work, because they'll ''also'' receive none of the criticism. |
| 56 | |
| 57 | This is often a result of a phenomenon called "Credits Negligence". Admit it. You yourself don't watch most credits in movies, shows, games, etc. Unless, that is, they do stuff like add in animation sequences, bloopers, small epilogues, or there's something else at the end. And even then, it's not likely you paid attention to them. Sometimes, they even scroll too fast for you to read them exactly (this happens on Television shows a lot, because they have to fit it all within a timeslot, so many times they only show the major credits and omit a lot). But nevertheless, you sometimes would actually be ''quite'' surprised at what one person's role really ''was'' in the work if you took the time to read the credits. Most haters typically won't do this, especially for games (this leads to why the "Single Person" Fallacy is often accepted as "fact" and "creditable"). |
| 58 | |
| 59 | All of that said, many would say that blaming the director for an artistic demerit in a film is completely justified. After all, the director's job is overseeing all artistic decisions, so if he or she lets another person's mistake slip by unchecked, there is some culpability. Hence the popular industry ideology, "When you're the director, ''everything'' is your fault" (this is pretty much the same phenomenon wherein the director is also ''credited'' for every good thing as well). The problem in these cases is when people fail to acknowledge that the director isn't the only one to blame. |
| 60 | |
| 61 | Even ''we'' are susceptible to this. Both in this page and other pages on the wiki, you will see us blame a "[[ExecutiveMeddling mysterious executive]]" for all of a show's problems. |
| 62 | |
| 63 | Misblame can be exacerbated when someone willingly takes blame for something not their fault. Among professionals, this can happen for lots of reasons: |
| 64 | * The director of a film, or other "auteur", may take blame because they agree with the above belief that "When you're the director, everything is your fault." Even if the problem wasn't fixable or wasn't under their control. |
| 65 | * Someone may take blame, because casting blame on another person (even truthfully) may mean never working with that person again, or never working again, period. |
| 66 | * Someone may tactfully take blame because they don't want to air dirty laundry. It's very easy to get accused of being hard to work with and it's easier to take your whipping and move on. |
| 67 | * Someone may take blame out of a genuine desire to protect another person, especially someone who is more easily replaceable than the big names. |
| 68 | |
| 69 | Compare BeamMeUpScotty for misquotes. Compare and contrast CreatorWorship, CreatorBacklash, and TheScapegoat. See also GodNeverSaidThat, for a specific species of well-poisoning. Compare CowboyBebopAtHisComputer for when it is done in the media. See also SpiceUpTheSubtitles, which is a frequent case of this trope. |
| 70 | |
| 71 | This is a fan reaction trope, as such real life examples are impossible by definition. |
| 72 | |
| 73 | The InUniverse-equivalent of this trope is MisplacedRetribution. |
| 74 | |
| 75 | ---- |
| 76 | !!Subpages |
| 77 | [[index]] |
| 78 | * Misblamed/AnimeAndManga |
| 79 | * Misblamed/{{Film}} |
| 80 | * Misblamed/VideoGames |
| 81 | ** Misblamed/ElectronicArts |
| 82 | ** Misblamed/{{Nintendo}} |
| 83 | * Misblamed/WesternAnimation |
| 84 | [[/index]] |
| 85 | |
| 86 | !!Other examples: |
| 87 | |
| 88 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 89 | |
| 90 | |
| 91 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 92 | * Fans of superhero comics used to frequently blame Frederic Wertham and MediaNotes/{{the Comics Code}} for the near-extinction of superhero comics during MediaNotes/TheInterregnum. In reality, superhero comics just fell out of popularity after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII[[note]] Understandable, given that early superhero comics were largely a product of {{the Great Depression}} and World War II; when times changed in the postwar era, readers' tastes changed too[[/note]], long before Wertham and the Comics Code came along; this led to them being largely displaced in the 1950s by crime and horror comics, which Wertham and other [[NewMediaAreEvil anti-comics campaigners]] ''really'' hated. Many pop culture historians have argued that the Comics Code actually ''saved'' superhero comics from fading into obscurity, since it effectively [[GenreKiller killed]] crime and horror comics (which were their biggest competitors), allowing superhero stories to reemerge as the comic book industry's dominant genre. Of course, Wertham didn't like superhero comics either, notoriously accusing them of being fascist power fantasies, and alleging that heroes' [[HoYay relationships]] with their {{Kid Sidekick}}s were [[LoverAndBeloved pederastic]] in nature--but their content was generally tame enough that they were at least able to survive the rise of the Comics Code. |
| 93 | * Feminists seem to get a lot of blame for Characters/{{Wonder Woman|TheCharacter}}'s depowering in MediaNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}}, however the complete opposite is true. While the decision to depower her was made to make the comic more appealing to feminists and women in general, DC came up with the idea all on their own -- in fact it was backlash from the feminists that resulted in her getting repowered. Also, both her depowering and [[Characters/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]]'s are often taken as extremes of sexism regardless of ''whose'' order you think it's on. Often ignored is the fact that they were "demoted" to CharlesAtlasSuperpower-wielding {{Badass Normal}}s. If you were really depowering a character because you ''didn't like the idea of strong women,'' you ''wouldn't'' make them Xena-class asskicking machines, which meant that it could have worked in theory. On the other hand, the de-powering period also coincided with her getting beaten up a lot by male villains, which, combined with less restricted content standards, came off as a lot more brutal than they otherwise would, and the idea that Wonder Woman would give up the responsibilities of her position to run a Mod clothing store in New York got dated real fast. |
| 94 | * And then there's Wonder Woman's position as the secretary of the original ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica in ''All-Star Comics''. This is often blamed on sexism, since she's a secretary and didn't go on missions. In fact, it was editorial policy that any character with their own solo book couldn't be a member at all (which is why Superman and Batman weren't included and Flash and Green Lantern got kicked out when ''All-Flash'' and ''Green Lantern'' started). Wonder Woman was made an exception because of her popularity and having a back-line support position as a secretary was ''better'' than similar male heroes who didn't get to be there at all. |
| 95 | * ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': |
| 96 | ** Bob Budiansky gets a ''lot'' of flak from fans for horrible writing in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'', while Creator/SimonFurman is praised as the saviour of the series. They tend to ignore the fact that most of Budiansky's work was praised when it was originally released, and he even got a fan letter from Creator/StanLee for the "Decepticon Graffiti" story. The majority of Budiansky's work was easily as good as Furman's, but his entire opus was tainted by the burnout he suffered in his last few issues as he tried desperately to keep up with [[MerchandiseDriven Hasbro's demands]]. In fact, some of his popular work is occasionally misattributed to Furman for just this reason. |
| 97 | ** Also, the extent to which the franchise is Budiansky's handiwork is often not understood -- the early Marvel guys, him among them, were the people who were handed a bunch of toys and told to make them characters and a universe. ''Without him, Transformers as you know it never comes to be.'' If you're a TF fan, you have Bob to thank for way more of the things about the franchise you love than you realize -- ''whichever'' series or comic happens to be your favorite, because all of them build on that original work to some extent. Fortunately, these misunderstandings have been cleared up, and the hate for Budiansky has largely died down. |
| 98 | * Blaming Bob Harras for most ComicBook/SpiderMan stories of the 90s including ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'', demonstrated in [[http://comiccritics.com/2010/10/10/textual-harrasment/ Comic Critics: "Textual Harrasment"]]. Harras is responsible for some of the bad comics of the time, most notably the Mackie/Byrne run where he demanded ideas the team disliked. But the Clone Saga wasn't really his fault. EIC Tom Defalco was stripped of his power by a decision to divide EIC into separate teams with each team encouraged to rival and compete with each other for success, and Harras, who was in charge of the X-Men stable, had no involvement in the early part of the Clone Saga which writers and editors spun wheels around; he arrived at the tail end, inheriting a major mess which he, to his credit, resolved. It's unlikely anyone in his position would have done different in that situation given how badly that story was managed at the time. And the decision he did take, bringing [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Norman Osborn]] BackFromTheDead, was ultimately seen as a good one by most comics fans. |
| 99 | * To a lesser extent, some people sure love pinning everything DC Comics is doing "wrong" on either Creator/DanDiDio, Creator/GeoffJohns, or Creator/GrantMorrison. |
| 100 | * Creator/JoeQuesada is apparently solely responsible for every hated story to come out of Marvel offices, during his tenure, he planned them, wrote them, drew them, colored them, lettered them, with no help from anyone, especially the creative team assigned to the book. Quesada's job is EIC (Editor-In-Chief) which means he commissions, vetoes, or otherwise takes a decision on story and idea, but he doesn't dictate every little twist and turn, and while he did start out as an artist, he only did the artwork for a few issues. For instance, ''Sins Past'', a story by Creator/JMichaelStraczynski which originally was planned to have Gwen be revealed as Peter's babymama, was vetoed by Quesada who objected to Peter and Gwen having unprotected sex as young people, the idea of kids aging Spider-Man, and furthermore the perception of Spider-Man as "deadbeat dad". Quesada did suggest changing the father to Norman Osborn, which most would agree was a terrible idea, but it was still JMS' choice to write that story and take that suggestion rather than withdraw it once his idea was proving unworkable. |
| 101 | * Quesada is most famous and notorious for ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'', which was also blamed on writer JMS for creating the story until it was known Quesada ordered it (the fact that Quesada served as artist/editor and had story credit was a dead giveaway and as EIC he was more than content to take credit for an idea that he had never made any secret of, namely ending Spider-Man's marriage). JMS differed from Quesada in that where the EIC wanted the retcon to create a BroadStrokes status-quo where every story happened with Peter and MJ in a relationship but not married, even if such a decision entirely altered whole scenes, moments, and the entire CharacterDevelopment of multiple characters, JMS wanted to create a more logical change that would allow for character progression and be grounded on their history. |
| 102 | ** Others point out that while Quesada ended the marriage, he also oversaw some of the best stories in that entire period - namely JMS' Spider-Man, where Quesada didn't say anything against the plans to bring the couple back from separation from the Mackie-Byrne era, which happened before his tenure and which he had criticized, noting that it was absolutely out of character for Peter and Mary Jane Watson to ever divorce given their devotion to one another, after everything they had been through together. Likewise, Matt Fraction used his foreknowledge to write "To Have and to Hold" (which Quesada approved) as a tribute to their iconic love story and their marriage and which Fraction said was a cheap shot and "dirty pool" to show the direction Spider-Man could take with a married Peter. Quesada also defended ComicBook/SpiderGirl, the daughter of the couple in the AlternateUniverse line [[ComicBook/MarvelComics2 MC2]], from multiple cancellations and stated that was the natural progression of their relationship. Many writers note the {{Irony}} that the period right before the marriage ended proved the great potential for storytelling and opportunities a married Spider-Man brought to the title, much of which was encouraged by Quesada as a kind of last hurrah. |
| 103 | ** Dan Slott pointed out that the decision to end the marriage happened on the corporate level to protect Spider-Man's status as the company mascot and it wasn't necessarily about seeing Peter Parker as a character in a story. It was something that earlier editors had been asked and pressured to do, and tried to do, and it would have likely happened without Quesada. Of course whether anyone else would have done it without the same backlash and weak execution, and in a way that provided catharsis for the people who liked it, and didn't amount to telling audiences that the thing they liked was a mistake and unimportant, is a separate question altogether. |
| 104 | * Creator/KenPenders has been given a ''lot'' of his from ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' fans, and comes in two flavors: bad stories misattributed to him, and dangling plot threads misexplained as him being a douche. In reality, most fans tend to forget that Ken lost his position as head writer to Karl Bollers for a good chunk of the timeframe most of the misattributed stories come from (in reality written by Bollers himself), and that ExecutiveMeddling was pretty much a staple of the comic ever since issue 50, leading to confusion over whether Ken left the comic voluntarily due to conflicts with this meddling, or if he was fired because of it. Even the favorite accusations of old fans that he turned the Echidnas into a SpotlightStealingSquad that dragged down the main comic's quality seems to be off, as he had little choice in the matter, and the Knuckles comic that came from it, despite being ScrewedByTheNetwork, is still considered one of the best parts of the comic. Granted, there ''are'' bad stories that Ken has done, but not nearly the amount that is attributed to him. On his twitter account, he will gladly tell anyone who thinks he's the reason why the comic was rebooted his side of things. |
| 105 | ** In the late issues, a number of characters that Penders created have been removed or gone missing while Archie and Penders work out some legal issues over the rights to said characters, causing numerous edits in varying degrees of severity. For all the flak Penders has gotten, Archie's legal team was behind their removal. Technically there wasn't anything wrong in using them, but said legal team didn't want to risk fanning the flames. |
| 106 | ** Prior to the above mess, fans were quite dismayed about the application of FantasticRacism towards the AI NICOLE, with many fans saying that Ian's usage of it was too much. Many people seem to have forgotten that FantasticRacism in the comics was a prevalent feature as the comic left its goofy roots. |
| 107 | ** Speaking of Ian, there has been a growing number of people who blame him for everything someone doesn't like about the later Archie Sonic run, as well as [[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW the IDW series]]. While he's certainly not completely innocent of all writing decisions, such as Eggman's characterization in the IDW series, he also shares head writing duties of the IDW series with Evan Stanley, who herself has had her share of people misblaming her. It's worth mentioning that Ian, Evan and others mentioned that Sega's desires for the book ultimately override anything the writers might want. It's also worth noting that they still gave their approval to what's been published so far. This doesn't mean the writers are completely innocent, but neither is Sega. |
| 108 | * Creator/DwayneMcDuffie was attacked by a number of white fans for supposedly "shoving diversity down their throats" with regards to his ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]'' roster. The truth is, ComicBook/{{Firestorm|DCComics}} and [[ComicBook/GreenLantern John Stewart]] were added to the team by editorial, while ComicBook/{{Vixen}} and ComicBook/BlackLightning had already been in the book when he took over. The only minority character he actually added to the team was Doctor Light. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u16sKK-1oLQ He discussed the ridiculousness of these complaints here.]] |
| 109 | * The infamous (and maligned) scene in which ComicBook/BlackPanther (a human with low-grade SuperSerum-induced powers) seemingly incapacitates the Characters/SilverSurfer (near-godlike wielder of the Power Cosmic) with just a simple armlock is frequently attributed to Reginald Hudlin, when in reality the scene was actually written by the above-mentioned [=McDuffie=] in an issue of ''ComicBook/FantasticFour''. |
| 110 | * Jack Schiff got blamed for injecting sci-fi elements into ComicBook/{{Batman}}'s stories. In truth, it was editorial director Irwin Donenfeld's fault for having sci-fi be put into the DC output. Schiff recognised that aliens, spaceships, and the like had no place in Batman's detective storylines, and in fact, sci-fi is outside his aptitude as an editor. He argued against the management, but eventually gave in to pressure. |
| 111 | * Creator/GeoffJohns gets a lot of flak for the storyline ''Graduation Day'' (though it was in actuality written by Judd Winick), the GrandFinale of ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'', which saw that FunPersonified series [[SuddenDownerEnding end in a bloodbath for no apparent reason]] and is widely seen as a point at which Franchise/TheDCU became [[TooBleakStoppedCaring too dark to care]]. Likewise, James Robinson gets hate for the similarly bloodbath-y ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice''. In reality, both of these stories were mandated by the same man, editor Eddie Berganza, and both times the writers fought against him; Johns lost out, but Robinson actually scored a major victory, believe it or not, as Berganza's version would have destroyed ''all'' Franchise/TheDCU's fictional cities except [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Metropolis]] and [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Gotham]]. |
| 112 | ** While Geoff Johns had received controversy for turning Bart Allen into Kid Flash, the blame is more accurately shared with Eddie Berganza for that first transition. Johns felt that having Bart mature would develop his character further (although obviously not many fans agreed), while Berganza had wanted Bart to be more of a "brand" character in the title. However, Bart's rapid-aging to become the new Flash was mandated by Berganza and Creator/DanDiDio, a development that Mark Waid expressed disappointment and irritation over, stating that Berganza seemed to be an editor that "hated anything fun" in the DCU. Even with the backstory explained, you'll still see some fans cry foul on Johns for going along with the Kid Flash edict and not quitting the title in protest. |
| 113 | * Creator/GrantMorrison did not retcon Damian Wayne’s origin as Talia drugging and raping Batman. The graphic novel people usually cite as proof of this is ''Son of the Demon'', which was an Elseworlds story and has never been considered canon. Even in that story the issue is a bit murky as Batman had been given drugs by the League earlier in it. (Although [[WordOfGod Morrison themself]] says they ''intended'' Damian to be a reference to ''Son of the Demon'' and "messed up the details, like Batman wasn't drugged when he was having sex". So it's a reference error, but not a ''continuity'' error, because the story they were referencing wasn't in continuity until they referenced it, at which point it was only canon ''to the extent'' that they referenced it.) |
| 114 | ** Damian's death was blamed on the ''ComicBook/New52'' reboot and touted by fans as "Yet another example of how the ''New 52'' is ruining DC's characters." In reality, Morrison had planned Damian's death from the beginning, and had set the plan into motion long before ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint|DCComics}}'' was even announced, which is HilariousInHindsight given that for the first few years of his creation, there were quite the amount of fans that were indeed wishing for his death... |
| 115 | * A frequent complaint from fans is that DC mistreats the ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'', and that in-universe, that period in Justice League history is unfairly considered an AudienceAlienatingEra. In reality, the perception of the JLI as a blotch on the League's history dates back to the actual series itself, where writers Keith Giffen and J.M. [=DeMatteis=] made constant [[SelfDeprecation Self-Deprecating]] jokes about how the team was poorly regarded by other superheroes. The later reunion series, ''Formerly Known as the Justice League'', even had Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} and [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] looking back on their time with the JLI as an OldShame. |
| 116 | * Certain fans of the original Richard Rider version of ComicBook/{{Nova}} blame Creator/JephLoeb for killing him off to replace him with Sam Alexander, [[AffirmativeActionLegacy who is half-Latino]] and therefore touted as proof of Rich DyingToBeReplaced. What these accusations usually ignore is that Rider had actually died several years earlier in ''ComicBook/TheThanosImperative'', well before Sam was created. Jeph Loeb is guilty of a lot of things, but in this case the worst he can be blamed for is not resurrecting Richard. |
| 117 | ** As a perfect example, someone sent hate mail to Creator/BrianMichaelBendis' blog accusing him of hating Richard Rider. Bendis simply reiterated the point that Richard was already dead way before he had been hired to write ''Comicbook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', and that the ones who killed him were Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. |
| 118 | * The same criticisms were leveled at Jaime Reyes, the newest ComicBook/BlueBeetle, several years prior. Some fans complained about Ted Kord (the previous Blue Beetle) supposedly being killed off for the sake of diversity, when in reality, Creator/KeithGiffen (considered by most to be Ted's [[MyRealDaddy Real Daddy]]) says it's the ''exact opposite'' situation. It had already been decided that Ted would die in the lead-up to ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', and Jaime Reyes was only conceived as a replacement ''after'' plans for Ted's death were finalized. |
| 119 | * The creators of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante [=DiMartino=] were ''not'' responsible for the controversial plot details of fan-hated ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePromise The Promise]]'', ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch The Search]]'' and ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderSmokeAndShadow Smoke and Shadow]]'' graphic novel trilogies, such as the break up of [[spoiler:Zuko and Mai]] in ''The Promise'', [[spoiler:Azula running away after suffering another mental breakdown]] and the FanDislikedExplanation of how Ursa departed from the Fire Nation in ''The Search'' and Mai [[TookALevelInJerkass becoming a complete jerk]] and being depicted as [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic someone that fans are supposed to sympathise but actually isn't]], especially how she treats Zuko in ''Smoke and Shadow'' and how OutOfCharacter she was in the comics, in fact they were only involved with the story ideas due to their involvement in sequel series ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', as most of the graphic novel content was actually written by Gene Yang. |
| 120 | * Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Axel Alonso was not responsible for relaunching the publisher with Marvel NOW!, it was actually Joe Quesada's idea. |
| 121 | * ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' #200, the infamous issue where [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarolDanvers Ms. Marvel]] becomes impregnated and gives birth to her own impregnator before going off to have a "happy ending" with him has four writer credits: writers David Michelinie and Bob Layton, artist George Perez and then-Editor-in-Chief Creator/JimShooter. Both Mark Gruenwald and David Michelinie have said the issue was a last minute re-write due to similarities to another comic coming out around the same time (specifically Carol was supposed to be impregnated by the Kree's Supreme Intelligence originally; the other comic was a similar plot in ''What If'') and according to Gruenwald Shooter's involvement was essentially the decree that they needed to find a different father. Still despite a book re-written by committee at the last minute Shooter, perhaps because of his infamous reputation, is generally the sole person blamed for that issue. That said, by Shooter's own admission, he couldn't precisely remember what part he played, but the fact that he was editor at the time meant that he wasn't completely innocent, and has accepted responsibility for it. |
| 122 | * As with ''Spider-Man: One More Day'', Straczynski gets let off the hook for ''Sins Past'' and the editorial staff took the blame. However it's difficult to ignore the fact that the actual premise (Gwen Stacy having not one, but TWO off-panel pregnancies before she died) was entirely Straczynski's idea. Though the editors did put the kibosh on Straczynski's original idea, which was for the kids to be Peter's children, and not Norman Osborn's! |
| 123 | * It's been said that Batman fans at the time of ''ComicBook/BatmanADeathInTheFamily'' hated [[Characters/BatmanJasonTodd Jason Todd]] to the point they voted to kill him off. This leaves out that it's been speculated, even by the late Creator/DennyONeil, who over saw the event, that the votes were rigged by one person who wanted to see Jason die. And that's without getting to Jason's death InUniverse is the subject of BlamingTheVictim, overlooking [[ParentalBetrayal Sheila Haywood, who he found out was his biological mother, and her betrayal of Jason to the Joker]]. |
| 124 | * Issue #12 of ''ComicBook/{{Saga}}'' wasn't for sale on the iOS version of digital comics storefront Comixology due to two panels depicting gay oral sex on Prince Robot IV's screen. People originally pinned this on Apple forbidding it, but it turned out that Comixology forbade it based on their interpretation of the Apple rules. Apple then said that they never banned it, and the comic was reinstated. |
| 125 | * A number of Dark Age DC fans blame the cancellation of ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'''s fourth self-named book on Creator/DanDidio and alleged old-school fans and writers who supposedly hated the Linda Danvers version of Supergirl and wanted her out of the way to allow the creation of a new Kara Zor-El. In reality the book was always in hot water due to perpetually dismal sales, and the decision to cancel it was taken long before Kara was reintroduced in ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton2004'' because of her less convoluted backstory (and not because of old-school fans). |
| 126 | * Creator/GrantMorrison's ''ComicBook/NewXMen'' is highly divisive among ''ComicBook/XMen'' fans for many reasons, but many fans blame the run for robbing Characters/{{Ma|rvelComicsMagneto}}gneto of his moral ambiguity and turning him back into a supervillain. While Morrison's interpretation of the character (who was later {{retcon}}ned as an imposter) ''is'' one of his most unsympathetic portrayals by far, Creator/ChrisClaremont actually returned Magneto to supervillain status back in the early 90s--over a decade before Morrison came along. |
| 127 | * A case of avoiding this very thing being the reason for a writer's departure is Len Kaminski leaving ''ComicBook/IronMan''. Kaminski, who had a well-received run on the book, [[https://www.cbr.com/iron-man-teen-tony-stark-quit/ revealed]] that ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'', the story that came after his run, was a case of ExecutiveMeddling and after realizing the editorial staff had chosen to ignore his protests, he chose to get the hell out of dodge than have this trope happen to him. |
| 128 | * Creator/GeoffJohns is blamed by some ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' fans for rebranding Kyle Rayner as a cosmic character who regards Earth through a lens of StrangerInAFamiliarLand. In nearly every story that Kyle appears in after ''ComicBook/GreenLanternRebirth'', he is devoted to the Corps and Oa, and repeatedly affirms that he feels more comfortable in space than on Earth. This is a marked shift from earlier depictions of the character, which portrayed him as an earthbound everyman who had good friends on Earth and was proud to be on the Justice League. Many of Johns' critics assume that he shunted Kyle into space to clear the JLA spot for Hal Jordan. However, Kyle had actually left Earth long before Hal's return, as DC wanted to push John Stewart as the Earth-based Green Lantern. |
| 129 | * During Sam Humphries' run on the Rebirth-era ''ComicBook/HarleyQuinn'' solo title, he got some hostility from Harley/Ivy shippers for not depicting Ivy enough in his run, with accusations that he was part of a homophobic plot by DC to "de-gay" Harley.[[note]]Which obviously wasn't very effective, given that Harley was unambiguously stated to be bisexual in ''Film/BirdsOfPrey2020'', and she and Ivy got a full-on BigDamnKiss in the second season of ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019''[[/note]] In a fan Q & A, he said that he wanted to feature Ivy, but was ordered not to by the editorial department because she was being used in other comics. |
| 130 | * Some ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' fans blamed editor Jonathan Peterson for not allowing Characters/{{Nightwing|DickGrayson}} and [[Characters/TeenTitansStarfire Starfire]] to marry in the 100th issue of ''The New Titans''. In actuality, the decision was made by his successor Rob Simpson after he left DC to join Image as well as Batman editors, who wanted Nightwing to return back to the Bat-books, forcing Creator/MarvWolfman to scrap plans to have them married as well as a miniseries taking place prior to it. It's even worth knowing that Peterson was actually in support of the wedding plans than against it. |
| 131 | * The exact degree to which the widely-maligned ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' is ''not'' the fault of writer Creator/TomKing is uncertain, but it's generally accepted that there was some level of ExecutiveMeddling that factored into the series' most controversial aspects. A broad trend is that as the series was being released, King would claim certain aspects were all planned by him, but as it neared its conclusion, he began dropping hints that there had been a change of plans, if not [[FlipFlopOfGod outright recanting on certain details]] (ones he probably wouldn't need act on to if unnecessary given how despite the heavy criticism, [[https://www.cbr.com/king-gerads-react-heroes-in-crisis-backlash/ he's overall quite happy with the series and will defend other aspects]]). Since DC editorial has remained hush-hush and [[BuryYourArt quietly done much to bury the series in the past]], it's unlikely we'll ever know the full truth, but to recap: |
| 132 | ** Perhaps the most widely-criticized aspect was the series' handling of [[Characters/TheFlashWallyWest Wally West]], revealing him to have suffered an extended mental breakdown [[spoiler:that [[AccidentalMurder accidentally resulted in several hero deaths]]]]. While King insists that everything involving Wally being a central focus of the story (which from day 1 has been all about exploring [[MentalHealthRecoveryArc the mental health of superheroes in the face of trauma]]) was as he had written, [[https://comicbook.com/dc/news/tom-king-on-heroes-in-crisis-the-fan-reaction-and-more/ he also made it clear]] that he didn't originally plan to write Wally to begin with -- [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants he simply had an outline of the story of a hero making a terrible mistake without any specific characters in mind, and editorial asked Wally to be slotted in]]. This leaves a chicken-or-egg question on whether Wally's majorly out-of-character actions in the story were a result of King's ignorance of the character or DC editorials (though it should be noted that then-EIC Creator/DanDiDio had [[CreatorsPest a notorious longstanding hatred for the character]]), but this issue leads directly into the next one... |
| 133 | ** The story itself -- while touted as being entirely King's intent -- seems to have been altered mid-release. Originally the series was announced as a 6-parter, then bumped up to 7, then finalized to 9, and while King claims it was his idea (according to him, it was 7 issues plus 2 side "special edition" issues, but he talked DC into making them all making them official), nothing about said issues reflect this. What instead received attention was the occasional odd delay, the degree to which certain high-profile elements of the story -- mainly the Trinity, Sanctuary, and its therapist AI -- [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse are abruptly dropped by the last three issues]], and how rushed the last few issues were in introducing and resolving the mystery, leaving even more plot and [[LostAesop thematic threads]] dangling. This, combined with [[https://bleedingcool.com/comics/heroes-in-crisis-spoilers-armageddon-2001/ early (though unsubstantiated) rumors of the series' ending]] and the series already receiving backlash from day 1, has led to a good chunk of readers to assume that for whatever reason, someone (whether it be King, editorial, or both) got cold feet at the original trajectory for the series, and that they had to change course for a different resolution. While the end result was still work by King's hand, it's since been accepted among more charitable readers that the worst decisions of the story weren't his to make. |
| 134 | [[/folder]] |
| 135 | |
| 136 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 137 | * ''Fanfic/TheExtendedRailwaySeries'': InUniverse example. In "Blandford the Somerset Engine", Blandford is not happy about having to work on The Little Western with Duck and Oliver. When one of the Blisters asks him why he never speaks to him, he tells them about his original home, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_and_Dorset_Joint_Railway Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway]]. After it became part of the Western Region of British Rail, he was assured no big changes. Over time however, the line started losing traffic, he found he was sharing sheds with Western Region engines, his brothers started being withdrawn, and then the line was closed down for good on March 7th, 1966. Blandford believed the Western Railway and its engines were behind it all (they'd been trying to gain ownership of the line for some time before then), and doesn't like Duck and Oliver as a result (Duck defends himself by saying he'd never been to Somerset, having been a station pilot at Paddington before coming to Sodor). It isn't until Blandford, while at the works after an accident, hears from Donald and Douglas the whole story about why his line was closed down that he finally comes around to the two Western Engines. |
| 138 | [[/folder]] |
| 139 | |
| 140 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 141 | * There was a small debacle when fans of the comic ''ComicBook/TheBooksOfMagic'' accused Creator/JKRowling of ripping it off for her ''Literature/HarryPotter'' novels. Nobody has confirmed this, and in fact, even Creator/NeilGaiman admitted that neither Rowling or himself were the first people who created a bespectacled young man destined to become a great wizard, or send him to school. But it got worse when a magazine said Gaiman ''accused'' Rowling of pinching his idea. Immediately Gaiman defended himself against the person who misblamed him and said, "I did ''NOT'' accuse her of that!" He even admits that if anything, they were more inspired by fantasy authors writing Arthurian legends than each other. |
| 142 | ** Terry Pratchett has likewise had to fend off numerous accusations that he'd ripped off J.K. Rowling with ''Equal Rites'', despite [[OlderThanTheyThink the latter having been written in 1987]]. When he's pointed this out, some fans have turned around and misblamed him for accusing ''Rowling'' of stealing his work! The similarities between them mostly amount to this: there is a school for magic users, someone in the book uses a broomstick to fly. Someone is turned partially or entirely into a pig, goats are mentioned a couple times. |
| 143 | ** An accusation also leveled at him for the ''Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy'' (even though the similarities pretty much begin and end with Johnny and Kirsty being similar characters to Harry and Hermione). |
| 144 | * One of the complaints about the ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Wheel of Time]]'' [[CoversAlwaysLie infamous covers]] is that Lan is shown to have a samurai-based helmet in the first book, claiming that only the Seanchan have Samurai-based helmets. Actually, Lan did have a helmet just like the one on the cover of the book during the Aiel war. It was based off of the one used by the famous Samurai Date Masamune. In fact Lan's helmet was probably the most accurate thing about that cover. |
| 145 | * All of the books with "Creator/TomClancy's" on the cover were, in fact, written by other authors, with pretty much no input on the contents of said books by Mr. Clancy himself, past laying out the setting for the various series. When people complain about Mr. Clancy's works, however, often those licensed books are cited as examples of the quality of his writing (or, specifically, lack thereof). |
| 146 | * Quite a few people blame Creator/WilliamShatner for the fact that his name is plastered all over the cover and marketing of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' novels that he co-wrote with Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Judith Reeves-Stevens, and accuse him of pushing them to the sidelines for the sake of his ego. Fact of the matter is that writers have little, if any, say in the cover design of their books and the publishers did it because his name carries more weight outside of the Trek ExpandedUniverse readership than the Reeves-Stevens do. |
| 147 | * Richard Knaak of the [[Franchise/{{Warcraft}} World of Warcraft]] Lore receives some of this. While the man does certainly have weaknesses in his writing style (Mary Sues for instance) he doesn't exactly go around changing the lore as he sees fit. He does discuss things with the rest of the lore team before hand, and he does have to get their approval before he makes any major change. While he is guilty of at least a few sins, changing the lore because he feels like it isn't one of them. |
| 148 | * In ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' (formerly the ''Expanded Universe''): |
| 149 | ** Karen Traviss gets a lot of flak, most notoriously for establishing that the Grand Army Of The Republic constituted a mere three million clones. While this number is ridiculously low for a galactic scale conflict (the Eastern Front in WWII alone had somewhere around ''15 million'' troops), what people missed was that when Lama Su was talking about 'two hundred thousand units' being ready, he was talking about 'units of product' (and individual clones) rather than 'military units'. This was more clearly stated in the then upper-tier canon ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' movie novelization, which was released in 2002. Traviss' first published work in Star Wars wasn't released until ''2004''. Unfortunately, this created a substantial amount of conflict when other authors missed the higher-canon established figures, and did things like give the Separatists an army in the quintillions. The resulting flame wars were not pretty to say the least. |
| 150 | ** Curtis Saxton, who was the franchise's technical consultant in the late 1990s and 2000s and authored several tie-in books (most notably the ''Incredible Cross-Sections''), was active in the online "''Star Wars'' vs. ''Star Trek''" debate, leading to many accusations that he pulled huge firepower numbers out of thin air purely for the purposes of permanently settling the debate in favor of the ''Star Wars'' side. [[https://www.theforce.net/swtc/index.html Saxton's website]] shows the workings behind the figures, and while they're based on assumptions that, especially in retrospect, tend to be regarded as questionable, it's obvious that he genuinely did do a great deal of work on the subject instead just abusing his position to invent grossly inflated numbers. That said, other authors such as Gary [[https://web.archive.org/web/20070310230221/http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?s=8b0cee4d26fbd37de69edd98b3a97904&p=11217497&postcount=39 Sarli pointed out major flaws in his assumptions]], resulting in things like turbolaser firepower calculations being at least five orders of magnitude larger than they would have needed to be, while the droid figures included in the Revenge of the Sith Incredible Cross Sections were several orders of magnitude larger than the trillions of commonfolk of the Republic established in the ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' movie novelization, and at least twelve larger than the clone troop figures, also established in said novel. |
| 151 | * If you've met a disgruntled fan of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', they'll probably tell you that the SeasonalRot of ''Literature/AFeastForCrows'' and ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'' is evidence that Creator/GeorgeRRMartin ran out of ideas after the third book, and currently [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants has no idea where the series is going]]. While the series' rather JustForFun/{{egregious}} case of ScheduleSlip is no one's fault but Martin's (and he's admitted as much), the truth about the slow pace of the plot is a bit more complicated. As Martin has confirmed in multiple interviews, he knows ''exactly'' where the plot is going, and he has for years. The problem is that ''Crows'' and ''Dragons'' [[WhatCouldHaveBeen weren't even supposed to exist in his original plan for the series]]; he wanted to have a lengthy TimeSkip after the events of ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'' that would have set up the final climax of the series in the next books (hence, why so many major characters [[KilledOffForReal die]] or [[PutOnABus leave]] at the end of that book). When he realized that that plan wouldn't work, he had to write two new books as a bridge between the first act and the final act; if [[BreatherEpisode not much seems to happen]] in those books, it's because they're only meant to set up the climax that Martin originally wanted to write much earlier. And yes, Martin ''does'' know how the series is supposed to end: he shared the planned ending of the series with the producers of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' in the event they got to the ending before he did (which they did). |
| 152 | * ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia:'' The controversial and allegedly sexist ending of [[Literature/TheLastBattle the last book]], in which [[spoiler: Susan doesn't enter Narnia's Heaven with her family]] because she doesn't believe in Narnia any more and only cares about stereotypically feminine things such as make-up, was actually a SequelHook for an eighth book that unfortunately was never made. It would have resolved this issue, as [[spoiler: Susan was intended to come to terms with the loss of her siblings, "find Narnia in her own time" again, and eventually make her way to Heaven to be with them]]. |
| 153 | * Creator/JimButcher has been accused of sexism, relating to the long, loving descriptions of female characters in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. However, these descriptions are completely absent from all his other works, and simply stem from the fact that the POV character in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' is a former {{Tykebomb}} with a wide and deep set of personal issues (RageAgainstTheMentor and ParentalAbandonment are only the tip of the iceberg). Some fans have even noted that the length and detail of the description is directly proportional to the amount of in-universe time since the character last got laid. |
| 154 | %%* In the later installments of ''Literature/SpiceAndWolf'', some {{fansub}} groups were accused of "using Funimation's translation" in [[SpellMyNameWithAnS spelling]] the female lead's name as "Holo" rather than "Horo". "Holo" is the official spelling according to the Japanese companies and the in-show visuals. |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 158 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Showrunners Creator/DavidBenioff and Creator/DBWeiss have often been blamed as the sole reason behind the show's SeasonalRot after season 4 and its ''highly'' disappointing series finale, with some even claiming that they rushed the show's ending so that they could work on a ''Franchise/StarWars'' project (which later fell through due to disagreements between Creator/{{Disney}} and the showrunners regarding the project's premise). While the amount of blame Benioff and Weiss deserve for the show ending the way it did has been the subject of hot debate, it is important to note that perhaps the biggest factor behind the show's decline in quality was the fact that it [[OvertookTheManga overtook]] the unfinished [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire book series it was based on]], as Creator/GeorgeRRMartin failed to finish writing the books before the series ended, resulting in the showrunners having nothing but a few notes to work with in order to end the series. |
| 159 | ** Similarly, the cancellation of Benioff & Weiss's ''Star Wars'' trilogy of films has often been falsely attributed to Creator/{{Disney}} [[PanderingToTheBase changing their mind after taking into account the poor audience reception of the ''GoT'' finale]], however these claims are almost completely unfounded. The actual reason behind the producers' firing being a culmination of the aforementioned conflict regarding the premise of the trilogy, and schedule conflicts that arose after Benioff & Weiss signed on to an additional deal with Creator/{{Netflix}}. |
| 160 | * The American ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' is often accused of adding unnecessary silly humour. Ironic, since the humour in ''Power Rangers'' is usually far less prevalent and far less silly than in the original ''Franchise/SuperSentai''. |
| 161 | ** The best way to explain the differences between ''Power Rangers'' and ''Super Sentai'' is that ''Rangers'' stays in the middle whereas ''Sentai'' goes to '''BOTH''' extremes. Yes, ''Rangers'' is less silly and does cut out a lot of the over-the-top cuteness of the Japanese version, but because the MoralGuardians seem to be less strict in Japan, ''Sentai'' is also allowed to show blood, use guns, and have characters actually die. Oddly enough, each show is LighterAndSofter and DarkerAndEdgier than the other at the same time. |
| 162 | ** Additionally, Bruce Kalish was ''NOT'' responsible for the excessive explosions during his and the rest of Disney's run on the franchise. That was actually done by Koichi Sakamoto[[note]]This is disputed and since been disproven in subsequent interviews with Sakamoto[[/note]], who, in fact, has worked on the series with Saban, and even does work on Japanese shows (you can see more than a few "explosions" in the Sakamoto-directed ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'', especially the final episode). [[SarcasmMode But Kalish was the executive producer, and thus, everything was his fault.]] Fans may also be willing to give Sakamoto more leeway because aside from the explosions, his style of fight direction is generally held in high regard. |
| 163 | *** While Bruce Kalish has passed the buck to Koichi Sakamoto on multiple occasions as Sakamoto does use similar effects work in series he directs (see: Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger on top of the above Fourze example), the problem with such blame for many fans is Sakamoto was not the main or stunt director nor involved in choreographing scenes during Kalish’s run (SPD, Mystic force, Overdrive, Jungle Fury). He hadn’t done so for Power Rangers since the end of ''[[Series/PowerRangersWildForce Wild Force]]''. And during the bulk of ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive''[='=]s production (where many cite Kalishplosions being at their absolute worst), Sakamoto was busy in Japan doing second unit directorial work and stunt choreography for ''Series/JukenSentaiGekiranger'' (''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'''s source material), meaning he was not present or able to perform or direct the original effects work for Overdrive due to the much more demanding production schedule for Sentai. His work on Gekiranger in turn lead to his primary directorial work with Toei later on for Fourze and Kyoryuger, alongside [[Series/KamenRiderDouble Kamen Rider W]], ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'', and [[Franchise/UltraSeries the Ultra series over with Tsuburaya productions]]; none of these latter cases featuring egregious overused explosions which a scene then lingers on or repeats footage of; which is one of the more prevalent criticisms of the Kalishplosion, and such was otherwise absent from his work or nowhere near the egregious degree before this period. So generally fans have given Sakamoto the benefit of the doubt over this; as his while his effect-work does use a lot of explosions, his style of fight direction remains in known for it’s fast, Dynamic and effective pace while not removing coherence or detracting from the narrative staging of a scene. Most of which is lacking or absent in what fans refer to as Kalishplosions. As the problem with Kalishplosions is not just the explosions, but how they are framed and utilized with respect to a scene and the story. |
| 164 | *** Mark Harris replaced Sakamoto as stunt director at the beginning of ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm''. As what fans refer to as Kalishplosions began to appear prominently in ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'', and such appeared in his later work, it’s likely he is the true culprit in this argument. Tellingly, Harris returned as stunt director for the Neo-Saban era, and the Kalishsplosions still continue in that era, albeit they're a lot less noticeable due to being filmed and edited differently -- which has just brought the argument full-circle as to whether or not Kalish was the person ordering the explosions to be showcased much more during his era. |
| 165 | ** The fact that the original Black and Yellow Rangers were played by an African-American man and an Asian-American woman has received a lot of criticism due to perceived UnfortunateImplications. It should be noted, however, that the actress originally cast as the Yellow Ranger was actually Hispanic (the original pilot ended up airing some years later), and the Vietnamese-American Thuy Trang was only brought in as a replacement when said actress dropped out of the show. As for the Black Ranger, [[WordOfGod Walter Jones himself]] has since explained that he was actually originally cast as the Blue Ranger, but the producers wanted him to switch roles so that the original Sentai footage would line up with the idea that Zack was Jason[=/=]Red's best friend; Jones was ''asked'' if he was okay with the change, and said "Yes" because [[RuleOfCool he thought the suit was cooler]]. Jones also said that the staff '''did''' realize the UnfortunateImplications of the casting, but not until several episodes had already been completed, at which point it was too late to do anything about it. |
| 166 | *** The promotional video entitled Galaxy Rangers (which can be seen on the DVD boxset) done by Saban in 1992 as a proof of concept for Bandai (which is believed by some to be made up from footage from an attempt at making Bioman with Zyuranger footage being swapped in.) Zack (played by actor Miquel Nunez Jr.) is classified as green (on screen at least) and Trini is played by a white actress. |
| 167 | ** Haim Saban often gets blamed or credited (at least with the Saban eras) with anything Power Rangers despite not having much of a hand with it since 1995 and only cutting the checks nowadays. His producing partner, Shuki Levy was apparently far more guilty of ExecutiveMeddling, and even then it only got really out of hand with ''Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie''. |
| 168 | ** Similarly, fans tend to blame Saban (the company, not the man) for the terrible live-action ''Manga/SailorMoon'' adaptation that never made it further than a brief promo video, to the point of nicknaming it ''Saban Moon''. This is presumably because Saban is the best-known (and for many fans, the ''only'' known) company that produces and/or adapts {{Toku}}satsu for Western audiences; the promo was made by Toon Makers, a subsidiary of Toei, the company that owned the rights to ''Sailor Moon'' at the time. |
| 169 | * Speaking of ''Franchise/SuperSentai'', many fans will often claim that ''Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger'' was the series that almost killed off the franchise, while ''Series/GekisouSentaiCarranger'' was the one that saved the franchise. In reality, the ratings for ''Carranger'' were actually ''lower'' than those of ''Ohranger'' for a good amount of its run[[note]]in fact, ''Carranger'' has the lowest rated episode in the entirety of the franchise[[/note]], and in terms of toy sales, ''Ohranger'' outsold ''Carranger''[[note]]in fact, ''Ohranger'' is one of the most profitable shows in the entire franchise[[/note]]. [[http://tokusatsunetwork.com/2016/06/fact-checked-did-carranger-save-sentai/ As noted here]], the show that ''actually'' almost killed Super Sentai was actually ''Series/ChikyuuSentaiFiveman'', which was a flop both in ratings and in toy sales[[note]]although the ratings decline had started since ''Goggle V'', the toy sales were a result of poor executive decisions and general shoddy design - one notable example being the decision to produce a large number of Max Magma toys, despite the fact that said mech only appeared for two episodes in the series before being destroyed[[/note]] - it was so bad that Toei decided that they'd make one more show and call it quits on the franchise. Said show, ''Series/ChoujinSentaiJetman'', ended up being a ''huge'' hit, and as a result, Toei decided to continue making Sentai series. Fortunately, this incorrect belief seems to have started to die off. |
| 170 | ** In another Sentai-example, fans of ''Power Rangers'' will correctly blame Toei for ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'' being heavily rooted in Samurai culture...but for the wrong reasons. A rumor is that ''Shinkenger'' has so many aspects of Japanese culture due to Toei retaliating against Disney trying to make the Sentai footage tone down on the violence (to the point where Disney wanted an ''animated series'' to replace the show). However, ''Shinkenger'' aired during the run of ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'', which was (at the time) going to be the last ''Power Rangers'' season, and had only happened because Disney was contractually obligated to make it (if Disney had their way, ''Jungle Fury'' would've been the last ''Rangers'' series), and Toei had no way of knowing that Saban would buy the rights back after ''RPM'' finished. As such, it's simply an issue of bad luck on Saban's part - ''Shinkenger'' finished airing before Saban bought the rights back, and even if they could've skipped ''Shinkenger''[[note]]which they couldn't; Saban's deal with Toei explicitly forbade them from skipping Sentai at the time; it's the reason why Saban had to use the comedic ''Carranger'' for ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'', despite ''Turbo'' planned as being DarkerAndEdgier[[/note]], the alternative would've been to adapt ''Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger'' (which, while not as heavily rooted in Japanese culture, still had some aspects of Japanese culture, not to mention that it had a religious theme), so it was a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation in regards to adapting ''Shinkenger'' (as ''Shinkenger'' was very well-received in the west, in part due to fans watching it since no ''Rangers'' adaptation was made by Disney, whereas ''Goseiger''...wasn't; if Saban ''had'' been able to skip ''Shinkenger'' and done so, jumping to ''Goseiger'', odds are fans would've complained about the former getting skipped, as evident by the complaints fans had when ([[Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers at the time]]) ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters'' was skipped in favor of ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger''). |
| 171 | * The poorly received third season of the original ''Series/{{Star Trek|TheOriginalSeries}}'' was largely blamed on the showrunner Fred Freiberger. But most of the cast and crew have worked to denounce that idea because of several major reasons. First, Creator/GeneRoddenberry had left the writing duties in the third season, he (the creator) only had a minor influence on the show. Second, Gene Roddenberry left because the network promised a juicy Monday night spot, only to renounce it and give them the FridayNightDeathSlot. Third, the production budget was always below par for a sci-fi series, and the budget was slashed another 10 percent, which affected the scripts heavily. Freiberger was doing his best on a show that was sinking fast. If anything the main culprits were script editor Arthur Singer and network executive Douglas S. Cramer, the former of whom knew virtually nothing about the show and made little attempt to find out during the season, and the latter of whom apparently vetoed several good story ideas and pushed for the show to have a campier overall tone (one of his demands in particular was having the script for "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E20TheWayToEden The Way to Eden]]" changed to incorporate childish pot shots aimed at his predecessor, Herbert Solow). |
| 172 | ** In regards to Rick Berman and Creator/BrannonBraga's control of the franchise in later years, fans seem to often believe that they had complete control over it even above Paramount Productions. They were actually not immune from any ExecutiveMeddling and were given demands that have compromised the various shows. This shows primarily in the TNG-esque nature of ''Voyager'', which had started off fairly unique unto itself. But with ''Deep Space Nine'' underperforming in ratings, ExecutiveMeddling demanded that the more TNG-like Voyager stay with the TNG formula. Those demands largely hurt the morale at the show; Creator/RonMoore said it was extremely depressing being in the writers' room. |
| 173 | ** Additionally, some seem to be under the delusion that Brannon Braga was the {{showrunner}} for the entire run of ''Voyager'', and so lay the blame for the show's quality at his feet. In actual fact, he was only the showrunner on two out of the show's seven seasons -- Jeri Taylor was the main showrunner for most of the show's history, and in an odd inversion of the trope, receives virtually no blame from the fans but quite a bit from the other writers who worked on the show. On the other hand, Braga '''was''' the showrunner for all but one season of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', so he has more to answer for on that count. |
| 174 | ** Some fans blame Creator/RonaldDMoore for turning the Klingons into thuggish, honor obsessed warriors during the course of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. In actuality, that had already been done by then-showrunner Maurice Hurley during the first season, two years before Moore started working on the show. If anything, Moore actually ''toned down'' the TNG-era Klingons from their first few appearances, where they were depicted almost as animalistic savages; in their latter appearances they were again depicted with the more cunning and ruthless nature displayed in the TOS era, albeit still with the Vikings-in-Space angle that Hurley had introduced. |
| 175 | *** If anything, the blame goes back even further, to their portrayal in ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'', which took the newer, more animalistic look, viking-like armor and dark ship interiors from ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' and ran with it, having the Klingons growl at each other and behave as pirates, both in attitude and action. So, more so than Hurley, Harve Bennett deserves blame for starting the trend. |
| 176 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'' fans have a tendency to find one particular behind-the-scenes figure -- Creator/JohnNathanTurner, Michael Grade, Creator/RussellTDavies, etc -- and blame absolutely everything they don't like on that figure, regardless of whether they can be reasonably blamed or not. |
| 177 | ** Creator/GrahamWilliams replaced Creator/PhilipHinchcliffe's highly acclaimed tenure and was given the job of toning down the horror element and playing up the humour and whimsy. In addition, his era oversaw a whole slew of behind-the-scenes troubles, none of which were his fault. While his era is regarded as divisive at best, it's generally agreed that he did the best he could under very trying circumstances. |
| 178 | ** The low quality of seasons 22-23 of ''Doctor Who'''s original run was for a long time blamed on Creator/ColinBaker's [[JerkWithAHeartofGold performance]] as the [[TheScrappy Sixth Doctor]]. After his surprisingly good performances in the ''Creator/BigFinish'' audio plays, he's [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap largely cleared his name]], leading fans to look to [[ExecutiveMeddling other scapegoats]]. |
| 179 | ** On that Michael Grade note, one of the things some fans blame him for is the original show's cancellation, due to his involvement in the 1985-86 hiatus. While Grade's actions in that period may have set things in motion, at the time of the cancellation he was no longer Controller of BBC 1 (the position that ultimately decided whether to recommision the series), having been succeeded by Jonathan Powell two years before - and while Powell accepted the decision not to continue the series, he wasn't the one who made the decision in the first place. It was Head of Drama Group Mark Shivas who informed Powell that they wouldn't be offering a new season of ''Doctor Who'' for the 1990-91 financial year. |
| 180 | ** When Creator/FreemaAgyeman (Martha Jones) left after the third series of the revived show, some fans insisted she had either been fired or pressured to leave because the producers felt she could not live up to her extremely popular predecessor, Creator/BilliePiper (it didn't help that onscreen Martha left the Doctor for this reason). This was denied by all involved, but it still pops up occasionally as a conspiracy theory in the fandom. It's possible that she had only signed on for one series. |
| 181 | ** Creator/ChristopherEccleston appeared to have left for reasons similar to the above (on top of the hectic shooting schedule); there has been no definitive proof that the 40-something actor left after one series due to being "typecast". Eccleston has also been quoted as being dissatisfied with how some of the directors mistreated the other crew during long shoots as why he wasn't involved in the 50th anniversary show. When his autobiography was released in 2019, it was clarified that he also had a falling-out with Creator/RussellTDavies and was battling anorexia and depression. |
| 182 | ** Martha had also fallen victim to a Type 3: her character has received criticism for not being confident enough in herself (particularly in her unrequited feelings for the Doctor), and not being convincing as a professional adult. This seems to be based on a misconception by US viewers about the character's intended age: medical students in Britain start studying at age 18, so Martha could well be a teenager, and cannot be any older than 22 or so. There's no in-story reason for her to be particularly world-wise. |
| 183 | ** Creator/StevenMoffat often gets blamed for casting a woman to play the Doctor by those who disagree with the idea of a female Doctor. The idea to cast Creator/JodieWhittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor was done by his successor, Creator/ChrisChibnall, though Moffatt did lay a lot of the groundwork by canonising the idea of cross sex regenerations. On a related note, the idea of a female Doctor has been around as long as regeneration and it was supported by Creator/SydneyNewman, one of the show's original producers. Ironically, during his tenure Moffat often got plenty of stick from people on the other side of the line for ''not'' casting a female Doctor when he had the opportunity. |
| 184 | ** Creator/ChrisChibnall has been blamed for ''destroying the Canon'' with the Timeless Child plot twist (in which it was revealed that [[spoiler:the Doctor, far from being an ordinary inhabitant of Gallifrey, was actually a mysterious child of unknown origin who the Time Lords stole the power of regeneration from]]. First of all, ''Doctor Who'' canon has contradicted itself before. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]" also showed the Doctor having previous regenerations before Hartnell and the Seventh Doctor was also hinting at a mysterious origin and not being an ordinary Time Lord. So essentially Chibnall was simply just building on some ideas already introduced. He has also been blamed for every aspect of stories people haven't liked, such as the rather disliked politics in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E7Kerblam Kerblam!]]", a story which he didn't even write. The hatred for him was such that when he said that he wasn't told who the next showrunner would be and that he didn't pick them, people took that as proof that he didn't care for the future of the show, as if he personally decided not to pick a new showrunner! |
| 185 | * The regrettable murder storyline from the second season of ''Series/FridayNightLights'' was such a huge departure from season one's low key, realistic tone that everyone was sure it was all Creator/{{NBC}}'s ExecutiveMeddling trying to get the show's middling MediaNotes/{{ratings}} up. Turns out, it was entirely the idea of the show's producers. However, NBC really didn't help with all their commercials focusing on the storyline, showing an incredible misunderstanding of what the show's fans wanted to see. Or they assumed that the show's fans would be watching anyway, but that promoting the murder storyline would bring in people who had previously not watched much of the show. |
| 186 | * ''Series/{{Elementary}}'' is full of these. First off, despite what some more aggressive ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' fans may tell you, Creator/StevenMoffat did ''not'' invent the idea of a modern Literature/SherlockHolmes adaptation, and the concept had been around for decades (it goes back to the 1940s Universal films with Creator/BasilRathbone, which had Holmes battling Nazi spies). As for the criticism about making Watson [[RaceLift Asian]], it was not meant to "pander" to minority viewers; the creators are on record saying the part was race-neutral, and Creator/LucyLiu just happened to be [[AbilityOverAppearance the best actress for the job]]. |
| 187 | ** Some people have even complained about Sherlock's "fake-sounding" accent. Creator/JonnyLeeMiller is actually English, he just doesn't sound like Creator/BenedictCumberbatch. The complaint seems to be due to the misconception that all English people have the same accent, despite the fact that there are just as many variations as one would find in American English. |
| 188 | * Every single cast change in ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' (quite a few, as by the end the entire original cast was gone) was blamed on Jim Mallon, who the fans portrayed as a tyrant imposing his will on everyone else involved with the show. This even happened with the departure of Joel Hodgson, who not only had the same level of creative control as Mallon but created the show in the first place, so no one could make him leave if he didn't want to. There had been some behind the scenes friction between the two men that ultimately led to Joel's departure, but much of this has been blown out of proportion by the fanbase and Joel himself has had to play damage control more than a few times. |
| 189 | * Pretty much anything that went wrong with ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' is blamed on Fox, even when [[WordOfGod Joss Whedon himself]] takes credit for such things as drastic changes or [[http://whedonesque.com/comments/17005 shooting a new pilot]]. Granted, it's hard to blame the fans. Fox ''did'' [[TheFireflyEffect cancel]] ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', which was definitely a high-quality show that got screwed by ExecutiveMeddling. But it's like Whedonites have a constant persecution complex up and running -- All. The. Time. |
| 190 | ** ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' is the perfect example of the above-mentioned phenomenon where a popular show gets cancelled because the "wrong" audience liked it. Producer Chris Buchanan said: "The initial results -- they made the network nervous. The men didn’t respond as strongly as they thought they would, and the women responded more strongly." |
| 191 | * Nikki and Paolo are universally despised by most ''Series/{{Lost}}'' fans for their sudden introduction, questionable relevance to the main plot and the false pretense to "have been here all along". Yet the reason the characters were created in the first place is because fans themselves often asked about the stories of the random extras seen carrying wood or something while main characters were discussing important stuff. They didn't use the actors who had actually been seen in the background earlier in the series because they ''were'' extras, and thus couldn't be expected to hold up when moved into more major roles. |
| 192 | * ''Series/MySoCalledLife'' fans tend to blame the show's one-season run on either a) ScrewedByTheNetwork or b) Claire Danes (who was, it's worth pointing out, all of 16) being a prima donna and refusing to sign for a second season. The producer statements have been ambiguous, but the most likely interpretation is that the network didn't offer a renewal until Claire had other commitments that she didn't want to back out of, and the producers threw up their hands rather than try to negotiate. |
| 193 | * Fans of the American version of ''Series/BigBrother'' seemed to have blamed that the eviction of Jeff in the thirteenth season was somehow the producer's fault. Sure, ExecutiveMeddling has been the most likely culprit for several game-changing instances, but there was clearly no ExecutiveMeddling, obvious case of [=misblame=] there. Why would CBS meddle in a ratings dog? (The viewers literally dropped by ''half'' after his eviction.) |
| 194 | * Creator/GeorgeLucas' {{hatedom}} will sometimes blame him for the quality of ''Film/TheStarWarsHolidaySpecial'' (see, for example, the final paragraphs of [[http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/starwars-holiday/page3.php this article]]). The fact is, Lucas wrote up a basic story outline, and left CBS to finish it while he worked on ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. Without Lucas' involvement, the producers rewrote much of the original script, turning it into the 70s-variety-show schlock-fest that we all love to hate. It appears that contractual obligations were the only reason that Lucas allowed the finished product to air, and he has gone on record saying that he wants to ''destroy'' every copy of the Holiday Special. |
| 195 | * A large portion of the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' fandom can still be guaranteed to meltdown at the name of Marti Noxon, whom they hold responsible for the divisive sixth season, during which she took over showrunner duties while Creator/JossWhedon was giving the majority of his time to ''Series/{{Angel}}'' and ''Series/{{Firefly}}''. For many of them, the failure of subsequent series ''Series/PointPleasant'' was often held up as "proof" that she was out of her depth helming a TV show. Whedon came to her defense, saying the most divisive story elements ultimately came from him. David Fury and Steven [=DeKnight=] sometimes also get this, although in their cases it's more down to off-screen interactions with fans that went bad. |
| 196 | * In ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'', Ianto's character arc involved him beginning to accept his bisexuality and come out to his family about his relationship with Jack -- then he [[spoiler:was [[BuryYourGays suddenly and unexpectedly killed off.]]]] Many fans were ''not'' happy, and blamed Creator/RussellTDavies (despite the fact that he is openly gay and has introduced a variety of LGBT characters on both ''Torchwood'' and ''Doctor Who''.) He denied that sexuality had anything to do with it, and insisted Ianto was just "[[AnyoneCanDie defeated by a greater evil]]" for plot purposes. Some people then turned their ire towards writer James Moran, who has also stated that there was no malicious intent behind the decision. It's worth noting that ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' is very much an example of EveryoneIsBi. Of the original [[FiveManBand five characters]], the three that die are all bi, while of the two that survive, one is pansexual and the other either bi or bi-curious DependingOnTheWriter. This isn't to say it was necessarily good writing, but it hardly seems the UnfortunateImplications were intentional. |
| 197 | * Creator/JayLeno tends to get a lot of blame for the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Tonight_Show_conflict 2010 conflict]] over the hosting of ''Series/TheTonightShow'', but most reliable accounts suggest that it was more-or-less entirely the result of ExecutiveMeddling by Creator/{{NBC}}. It effectively started in 2002 when Creator/{{Fox}} tried to poach Creator/ConanOBrien by giving him a highly lucrative offer to leave his position as host of ''Series/LateNight'' at NBC, but NBC executives convinced him to stay by promising him in writing that he would succeed Leno as host of ''The Tonight Show'' by 2009 at the latest, giving him a chance to fulfill his childhood dream. Leno wasn't informed of this agreement, and was (rather understandably) frustrated when he eventually found out during contract negotiations in 2004. While he publicly went along with PassingTheTorch to O'Brien, he was upset enough by NBC's decision that he seriously looked into jumping ship to another network--which NBC was determined to prevent, worrying that he might draw viewers from O'Brien's ''Tonight Show''. So they convinced ''him'' to stay by offering him a new gig as host of the short-lived ''The Jay Leno Show'' (which most people viewed as effectively ''The Tonight Show'' under a different name), ultimately leading to his public conflict with O'Brien after NBC tried to put ''The Jay Leno Show'' in ''The Tonight Show'''s timeslot, infuriating O'Brien to the point that he stepped down as host and left NBC after negotiating a hefty settlement, leading to Leno being reinstated as host of ''The Tonight Show'' until he stepped down for good in 2014. While it's understandable that Conan's sizeable fanbase were upset by his ''Tonight Show'' tenure ending prematurely, there's little evidence to suggest that Leno was personally involved in any attempts to sabotage him. |
| 198 | * ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' fans who blame the [[TheScrappy scrappiness]] of certain characters on the actors who portray them. |
| 199 | ** Poor Dania Ramirez, who played Maya, is probably the all time example of this. Yes, Maya was annoying, but Dania Ramirez did not write or direct the 11,000 scenes in which her character [[DamselScrappy cried]], [[SayMyName screamed for her brother]], and/or acted [[TheLoad useless]]. |
| 200 | ** Likewise, Creator/SendhilRamamurthy has been ''incredibly'' snarky about his own character's permanent possession of the IdiotBall during some episode commentaries, to the point where it's pretty obvious he only WISHES he had control over the scripts. In fact, Mohinder's storyline would probably get a lot more entertaining if he did. |
| 201 | ** ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' was also a victim of extensive ExecutiveMeddling by NBC (not to mention the writer's strike). |
| 202 | * Creator/AlanAlda often gets blamed for a lot of the [[StrawCharacter Strawman Political]] regarding ''Series/{{MASH}}''. Series creator Larry Gelbart, however, pointed out more than a few times that the series had been greenlit when no one really knew what it was supposed to be, and Alda was the only one really willing to come forward with any ideas. |
| 203 | * Arguably ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'' qualifies as an inversion of type 1 (not that the show had no flaws, just that it's the successors that had the flaws generally associated with the work) mixed with type 2. It is usually blamed by people (especially on the Internet) for Creator/DisneyChannel's current batch of low budget StrictlyFormula shows with over the top humor, wacky plots, weird premises, and laugh tracks, despite the fact that it really had none of those (Lizzie was supposed to be a normal girl, albeit one with a cartoon avatar, there wasn't a laugh track, and the show didn't look particularly cheap) and wasn't even made by the same production company. This may be because the success of the show really promoted Disney Channel to the forefront in the young female demographic. |
| 204 | * The ''Series/BionicWoman'' reboot in 2007 has had executive meddling or low ratings usually blamed for the cancellation of the show. But it was the Writer's Strike that halted production. Had it not been for the strike, it's likely the show would have had a full first season at the least. |
| 205 | ** The Writer's Strike resulted in a lot of problems. Fledgling shows went months without new episodes and lost what momentum they built, and some shows had [[AbortedArc storylines cut short]]. It's also the reason why Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was below standards. Creator/MichaelBay had to write most of the movie himself or it would have gotten shut down. He even admits that's why the movie sucks. |
| 206 | * The Creator/AdamWest ''Series/{{Batman|1966}}'' TV show is often accused of "ruining" the ''Batman'' franchise and enforcing the idea that comics are for children, whereas ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and the 1989 Creator/TimBurton [[Film/Batman1989 movie]] are credited with making Batman "[[DarkerAndEdgier serious]]" again. However, as West is quick to point out, the show was ''far less'' ridiculous and campy than most of MediaNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} ''Batman'' comics that were being published at the time. |
| 207 | * Creator/JossWhedon gets blamed for ''everything'' that people don't like about ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', despite having almost no involvement in the writing or the production of the show. Perhaps the most egregious example of this was fans blaming Whedon for the death of [[spoiler:Antoine Triplett]], citing it as yet "another" example of Whedon's problems with black men; in fact, the character's death came about because the actor had other commitments that had already impacted his ability to regularly appear on ''SHIELD''. Of course, this mis-blame can also sometimes work in Whedon's favor - fans tend to erroneously credit him for everything they ''like'' about the series. |
| 208 | * Creator/JulianFellowes got a lot of hate from fans of ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' for [[spoiler:killing off Sybil Crawley]] but that idea came from actress Creator/JessicaBrownFindlay, who wanted to leave the show and not return in any later seasons. |
| 209 | * Creator/{{Netflix}} got all the blame from fans for canceling ''Series/TheGetDown'', with some fans essentially claiming the show was ScrewedByTheNetwork (and some fans further claiming that it's because of the mostly African-American and Latin-American cast). While that may be part of the reason, this ignores other factors such as the show's high cost (at least $120 million, making it one of the most expensive TV shows ''ever''), relatively low ratings, and the showrunner Creator/BazLuhrmann's commitments to other movies. |
| 210 | * Some people wrongfully accused Netflix or Bill Nye himself of censoring ''Series/BillNyeTheScienceGuy'' by editing out a segment about sex chromosomes. [[http://www.indiewire.com/2017/06/netflix-bill-nye-the-science-guy-censorship-1201837460/ The edit was actually made in 2007 when Buena Vista decided to sell 31 of the episodes on iTunes]], and cut out many segments they couldn't get the music or talent rights to. The actress in that segment couldn't be found, so it was cut. |
| 211 | * After it was announced that ''Series/CoronationStreet'' character Rana Habeeb would be killed on her wedding day, many viewers took the show's producers to task for pulling the BuryYourGays card. In reality, Rana's actress, Bhavna Limbachia had decided to leave the show and specifically requested that the character be killed off. That being said, it ''was'' the decision of the show's writers to have her die on her wedding day, which many felt to be a pointlessly cruel twist. |
| 212 | * ''Series/TheWestWing'' was always closely associated with Creator/AaronSorkin, and not unreasonably -- he wrote, essentially, every episode during his time at the show. But it's common for people to bring up a litany of complaints about unrealistic Bartlett Administration achievements (or achievements that the person in question doesn't like) and attribute them to Sorkin -- for example, the administration "saving" Social Security, fixing the Middle East and even Bartlett getting a Democratic successor. The problem is that Sorkin left the show after the fourth season, and all of these things happened ''after'' Sorkin left. If there's something you don't like from the first four seasons, ''that'' you can blame on Sorkin. |
| 213 | * ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'': Phil Klemmer is this for the ''Legends'' fandom on Website/{{Tumblr}} who act like he is responsible for every single creative decision on the show. However, [[PlayedForLaughs this is mainly done in a joking manner]]. |
| 214 | * SoapOpera fans can be quite passionate, especially when it comes to favorite characters or [[ShipToShipCombat specific couples]], and will often rake an executive producer or the head writer(s) over the coals for ''anything'' that happens on the show they don't like, even though those two jobs have two very specific functions that don't often overlap: the executive producer (or "showrunner") is responsible for casting and production decisions, while the head writer plots out the storylines (with the other staff writers responsible for individual episodes). The network gets final say on things, which sometimes leads to ExecutiveMeddling. One specific headache for the main creative people at soaps is the issue of which members of the cast will be available for stories. Soaps have both full-time contract players and secondary cast, and sometimes contract players will have specific airtime quotas that the soaps must abide by. If it seems like certain characters have too much airtime, while your particular favorite hardly appears, it's likely a contract situation. [[TheOtherDarrin Recasts]] often aren't because an actor got "fired": an actor may have reached an impasse with the network, or found work elsewhere that conflicts with the soap. |
| 215 | [[/folder]] |
| 216 | |
| 217 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 218 | * Music/TheBeatles: |
| 219 | ** For years, Music/YokoOno's been blamed for causing their break-up, when it's largely clear that they were already drifting apart from growing tensions and diverging interests among the band. It is fair to say that her increased presence in the studio was annoying to the other three Beatles, recordings having previously been a 'no girlfriends' zone, and by all accounts she didn't make much of an effort to make friends, but as early as 1971, Music/GeorgeHarrison said publicly (on the Dick Cavett show) that Yoko was being misblamed and that the Beatles broke themselves up. Yoko still gets blamed for the general weirdness that was her and John Lennon's marriage, despite a ton of evidence that John was at least as odd as she was before they met. |
| 220 | ** Linda [=McCartney=] has also gotten her share of mis-directed blame for the break-up too. |
| 221 | ** Additionally, the Beatles were horrible businessmen. They opened the Apple Boutique in London in December 1967 to support the arts and sell Beatles-related products, and it closed seven months later in July 1968 due to rampant thefts and bad business. Among other things, shoplifting occurred on a daily business with employees stealing directly from the stock. The Beatles-founded Apple Records has had its own share of business problems throughout their history, including a decades-long useless feud with Apple Computer/Apple, Inc. over issues where TechnologyMarchesOn and Apple added sound capabilities to their computers and began to sell music through iTunes, which they felt was Apple homing in on their territory. One could even claim that the end of the Beatles started when manager Brian Epstein died of an overdose, leaving the Beatles directionless. Without a strong manager, the group imploded with squabbling and arguing over what direction to take. |
| 222 | ** Owing to the oft-expressed truism that John Lennon was the "creative" Beatle and Music/PaulMcCartney was the "fluffy" Beatle, people tend to credit all the "deep" and "important" stuff that they did to Lennon, including ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand''. In fact, from about late-1966 onwards [=McCartney=] was the creative powerhouse of the Beatles, as he was the one coming up with all the ideas; Lennon, although he certainly wrote some fantastic songs during this time, spend most of the period drifting away from the Beatles and getting deeper into drugs, which in general sapped his creative instincts. |
| 223 | ** John is also considered to be the dark, edgy one with Paul dismissed as a lovey-dovey lightweight. In fact, Paul has written his share of hard rocking songs like "Helter Skelter" while John wrote gentle ballads. |
| 224 | ** All four Beatles have at various points griped about the phenomenon of "Beatlemania" and how they quickly seemed to become an excuse for people to go utterly mad, cause chaos and/or smash things up (the obvious example being the fans losing control and becoming hysterical at their mere presence, but on several occasions police would use this as a reason to apply excessive force in controlling the crowds) and then somehow [[NeverMyFault blame them for all the trouble that was caused]]. |
| 225 | * Lots of Music/{{Gackt}} and/or Malice Mizer fans tend to treat Gackt's departure from MM as Mana's fault. Public opinion often portrays Mana as a wicked schemer who didn't like Gackt's behavior for some reason, so he began forcing him away from the band, and then literally kicked Gackt out. It's usually come from one of Gackt's misquotes saying "I was asked to leave Malice Mizer". Gackt really meant that Mana asked him whether he still wanted to stay in the band and said that if he didn't nobody would stand in his way. Gackt himself admitted later on that he saw MM as a temporary jump-start project and he had always wanted to pursue a solo career. He was, in fact, disinterested in MM because he loved classical music since childhood but he never was into VK, EGL, EGA and other gothic stuff. Mana, on the other hand, thought that Gackt was the best suitable for MM and the band wouldn't be the same without him. That explains why Mana couldn't find a new vocalist for 2 years until he briefly recruited Klaha whose mannerisms and appearance were almost identical to Gackt's. Then he just disbanded Malice Mizer to form Moi Dix Moi which fairly wasn't too much different from MM. |
| 226 | ** It gets worse from there. Mana's reputation as not just a schemer, but also an arrogant, sadistic and jealous primadonna who can't stand anyone more popular or talented than him, has stuck. He now gets blamed by a significant number of people every time someone he works with leaves or a band on his label splits up. Admittedly, Moi Dix Mois' HighTurnoverRate, as well as Mana's stoic and emotionless public image doesn't help, but it really has gone too far. The really sad thing is that half the people who believe it don't even listen to Malice Mizer or Moi Dix Mois, and only think Mana's to blame for everything because [[FaNon everyone else in whichever Jrock community they belong to treats it as fact.]] |
| 227 | * The opposite happened with reactions on La:Sadie's disbanding when almost every time Kisaki was solemnly blamed. Most typical reason is "the band wanted to go major while Kisaki wanted to stay indies". Which doesn't make sense because Kisaki was never against becoming major and his later activities kind of prove it. Every band he's been involved ever since was significantly more major than the previous one. Up the last band Phantasmagoria which was a living definition of majorism and him founding his own major record company Undercode Productions. Now he said he's retiring to focus on producing (producing = promoting various indies band to majors; Undercode had done dozen of these already). So the more legit reasons are Kaoru's lead persona and the fact that the band met Toshiya from D+ L at a joint concert and liked him so much, that they "stole" him. |
| 228 | * The fact that [[Music/MarcBolan T. Rex]]'s "Get It On" was [[MarketBasedTitle released stateside]] as "Bang a Gong" is often held up as an example of American prudishness, when the truth is almost the exact opposite: there was ''already'' a song by the jazz-fusion group Chase entitled "Get It On" on the American charts. |
| 229 | * Sammy Hagar tends to get flack from former Music/VanHalen fans regarding the group's switch to a PowerBallad sound after he joined. In fact, Eddie Van Halen was already moving in this direction before (and was a considerable factor behind Music/DavidLeeRoth quitting the band). |
| 230 | ** Additionally, the band has famously often been blamed for the damage to the Colorado State University-Pueblo's basketball arena, supposedly because Roth threw a fit over discovering brown M&Ms despite the band's rider explicitly saying that their candy bowl was not to have any. While the band ''did'' vandalize the backstage area in anger, what actually caused most of the damage was the fact venue management had not read the rider properly--and thus had failed to realize the venue didn't meet the requirements to handle Van Halen's immensely heavy setup. So when they put everything together, it went ''through the floor''. The M&M clause had been put in as a SecretTestOfCharacter after the band had gone through similar incidents previously (the thinking being that if the venue missed the candy clause, they hadn't really paid attention to the rider, so the band would at least know they were careless), which was why Roth lost his temper. |
| 231 | * Every time Music/MotleyCrue does something that displeases the fans, there are always three camps placing blame for it on either Vince Neil (for being a prima donna), Nikki Sixx (for being a control freak), or Tommy Lee (for being kind of an idiot). Mick Mars seems to have some kind of mystical immunity to this effect. |
| 232 | * There are two different versions of the photo collage on the back cover of the original 1967 vinyl edition of ''Headquarters'' by Music/TheMonkees: one where the center picture shows the album's producer and a recording engineer, and the other showing the Monkees with facial hair. When new generations of Monkees fans rediscovered the album, they assumed the bearded Monkees pic was the original, but the record label was afraid people would complain about their [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks teen idols no longer being clean-cut]], so they substituted it with the other. In fact, it was the other way around: the producer-engineer pic was the original, but the caption mis-identified the engineer, so they replaced it with the bearded Monkees. |
| 233 | * Many Music/{{Genesis|Band}} fans blame Music/PhilCollins for the band's shift away from ProgressiveRock to pop in TheEighties. Collins [[WordOfGod is on record]] as saying that the shift occurred because [[Music/MikeAndTheMechanics Mike Rutherford]] and Music/TonyBanks saw the solo success he was having and [[MoneyDearBoy wanted a piece of that as well]]. Collins said on his (now defunct) official forum that (paraphrasing from memory) "I'd like to see someone [[StubbornMule convince Tony Banks]] to do something he doesn't want to do!" |
| 234 | ** Also according to WordOfGod, as the band were shifted from a five-piece to a four-piece to a trio, the band were attempting to avoid the fights over writing credits and creative input they were facing with the departures of Music/PeterGabriel and Music/SteveHackett by crediting the entire band with all the songs on each album. They credited individual writers by ''Music/ATrickOfTheTail'' to deflect accusations that Gabriel was [[IAmTheBand the sole visionary]] behind the group's music, which led to the inter-group squabbles (Hackett in particular) they tried so hard to avoid. The band decided to come in the studio with no pre-written material and write collectively in the studio. They also discovered that a great deal of magic came with [[ThrowItIn group improvisations]], and that by shortening the group compositions they could get more of a variety of styles. They were also, by 1981, equipped with their own recording facility (Fisher Lane Farms), and were interested in reinventing their sound for TheEighties, producing their own music along with engineer Hugh Padgham. What came out of these circumstances was ''[[NewSoundAlbum Abacab]]'' and the music they came up with since then. The results of having commercial success with their new sound and approach was simply icing on the cake. |
| 235 | ** On a similar note, Banks is often blamed for the creative conflicts that led to the departure of Gabriel and Hackett, down to excluding Gabriel from the songwriting for ''Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway'' and passive-aggressively mixing Hackett out of the band's second live album ''Seconds Out'' [[note]]It was a DeadpanSnarker quip from Banks that Hackett himself has denied ever actually happened[[/note]]. This of course ignores Gabriel's problems with his wife and daughter around the same time (although he did end up writing the lyrics and overall story of the album) and the fact that the Banks/Collins/Rutherford trio had already gelled into the main creative force in the band. In fact, the band started crediting individual writers for each song in order to escape the notion that Gabriel wrote everything. |
| 236 | ** Genesis also, by WordOfGod, began as a "songwriting collective", then became a band when they could find no one else willing to sing their material. They had tried to write pop songs on their first album, but failed to get success. They moved into a ProgressiveRock direction from their second album, ''Trespass'', especially as it was [[StiffUpperLip easier for sheltered, upper middle class private school-educated Britons]] to write fantasy lyrics over love songs, but they occasionally dabbled in their own brand of pop ever since with songs like "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)", "Counting Out Time" and "Your Own Special Way". They hadn't intended to be strictly progressive rock, but most of their material fell into that style until they learned to write more commercially and gained success from it. |
| 237 | ** And yet, out of everyone, no one in the band's history has received more vitriol and blame from the fanbase than Ray Wilson, the replacement singer on ''Music/CallingAllStations''. In truth, Mike and Tony were the ones who wrote most of the album, all Ray did was do what he was asked to do. |
| 238 | * Music/MikeLove is blamed by many Music/TheBeachBoys fans for the non-release of ''Music/{{Smile|TheBeachBoys}}'' in 1967. While Mike can be hated for a lot of reasons (look up his acceptance speech at the MediaNotes/RockAndRollHallOfFame on behalf of the Beach Boys), this is not solely his fault. It was actually a combination of a royalties lawsuit against Creator/CapitolRecords filed by the Beach Boys, Van Dyke Parks leaving, Music/BrianWilson's mental problems and the beginning of his drug problems, and a lack of support from other members (including Mike). The story that Love and Brian Wilson got in an argument during the sessions and Love told Wilson "Don't fuck with the formula!" isn't true; the line originated in a magazine article years later, and it was a band insider's ''characterization of Love's attitude'' toward the project. |
| 239 | * Music/LizPhair has gained some infamy in the music industry for "selling out". Despite what some [[BrokenBase fans]] choose to believe, it wasn't Liz's fault. Her indie record label Matador Records dumped her onto the major Capitol Records. They wouldn't give her money to record an album unless she worked with mainstream producers and made a pop album. If Matador Records didn't give Liz away, then she most likely would have continued on her indie rock route. Additionally, Phair has said that she wasn't forced into making the album and willingly went along with Capitol's suggestion, because she thought it would be an interesting experiment for her to write and record mainstream pop music. |
| 240 | * Rebecca Black's "Music/{{Friday}}" was an autotuned single produced on a budget of a few thousand bucks and was posted on Youtube. It soon went viral, mostly from people pointing and laughing, metaphorically speaking. A certain imgboard began to troll her, including death threats and posting her school schedule online. Yet [[https://www.gawker.com/5783433/the-internet-made-rebecca-black-cry when she went on Good Morning America talking about how hurt she was]], a lot of people blamed her parents and the video production company, instead of ''the people doing the actual trolling''. (Compare to the tone of Gawker's own [[https://www.gawker.com/5781414/is-this-the-worst-music-video-ever earlier]] [[https://www.gawker.com/5783222/whats-4chan-going-to-do-to-rebecca-black posts]], which were much less sympathetic.) Also, she apparently doesn't get to complain because the single is selling very well and she's rich now. |
| 241 | ** Also, she is perceived as in it for the money or something or doing this on purpose, but actually she's just the one video that got lucky and had enough Platform/YouTube views to get famous. [=YouTube=], and in fact RealLife itself, is full of girls with decent singing voices who want/have record deals and film low budget music videos. |
| 242 | ** The way some people bash the song and her make it obvious they think Black's the one who wrote the song; she just sang it. It was written by two grown-ass men, Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson, who are record producers, songwriters, and otherwise professionally associated with the music industry. Black was just your average American teenager who, as stated previously, just happened to hit it big (though probably not in the way she wanted). On a general note, it's depressing how many people online think it's okay to harass people just because they're rich and successful (or they perceive them to be) or because they've landed a dream job (even if it turns out to be not so great), especially if they're young like Black. |
| 243 | * Music/BlackFlag fans tend to be [[BrokenBase divided]] over the more experimental, heavy metal influenced direction the band started heading in after ''Damaged''. Those who don't like this period sometimes blame Music/HenryRollins for the change (or at least the "heavy metal" aspect of it). While Rollins was the band's front man at the time and contributed to the songwriting process, founding member Greg Ginn was still writing most of the band's music, and he was mainly the one behind their change in direction. In fact he said part of the reason Rollins was hired as a singer was because he wasn't solely interested in singing HardcorePunk songs. That said, Ginn ''did'' lament that ever since Rollins joined they had to consistently [[DarkerAndEdgier keep things dark and edgy]] lyrically. |
| 244 | * Everyone knows that the bass on Music/{{Metallica}}'s ''...And Justice for All'' album is almost non-existent. It's been believed pretty much since the album was released that new bassist Music/JasonNewsted's parts were deliberately buried in the mix by the surviving members as a way of hazing Newsted. However, when Newsted appeared on the first 2013 episode of ''Series/ThatMetalShow'' and that was brought up, he admitted that a lot of the blame actually falls on him. He said that he recorded his parts by himself with no input from anyone else, using the same equipment, bass, and engineers that he used in his former band Flotsam and Jetsam. Also, since he wrote the music in F&J and the guitarists took their cues from him, his bass parts on ''Justice'' were too much like a rhythm guitar, and ended up clashing both note-wise and sonically with Hetfield's actual rhythm guitar parts. |
| 245 | ** Speaking of ''Metallica'', people who dislike ''Lulu'' blame the band for that album...despite the fact that the late Music/LouReed was the one in charge of that area--while Reed has released a lot of acclaimed work as a part of the Music/VelvetUnderground, he also released ''Music/MetalMachineMusic'', so it's entirely possible that Lou made this album to be a troll. |
| 246 | * Music/{{Queen}} are often criticized for their use of synthesizers, sequencers, drum machines, etc. in TheEighties, and de-emphasis of their progressive hard rock elements, after many years of releasing albums with a "No Synths!" disclaimer in the liner notes and adopting a very guitar-centered sound. In reality, Queen never opposed synthesizers and were always open-minded to them, but didn't feel that the synths of the time could produce the sounds they wanted to hear. They also felt they wanted to use Music/BrianMay's "guitar orchestra" multitracking techniques more in the studio, and only placed the "no synths" disclaimers after reading one too many comments mistaking Brian's guitar (and the band's general wizardry in the studio) for synthesizers. As Queen wanted to move their sound forward and felt inspired by the technology of the day, they decided to incorporate it into their music while still keeping it in the Queen style. |
| 247 | * After Music/{{Devourment}} released ''Conceived in Sewage'', which was a NewSoundAlbum that skewed more towards NYDM and proto-slam than their established slam death metal sound, a lot of fans angered by the change in sound blamed Relapse Records and Erik Rutan (who produced the album) for pushing them towards a "lighter", more marketable sound. In reality, neither claim was accurate. Most of the album had been written for years and hadn't been recorded largely because they desperately wanted off of Brutal Bands, and Majewski had expressed a desire as early as 2010 to expand his vocal range and move into more varied territory, as they had grown sick of playing pure slam and wanted to broaden and introduce some variation to their sound. Relapse had absolutely no say in what they did with their sound and Rutan's input was largely restricted to how they played various riffs; the rest was all them. |
| 248 | * Around the tail end of the 1980s, Mike Gonzalez of Dark Angel was arrested while on tour in Germany because he supposedly vandalized a police cruiser. He actually wasn't responsible, however; according to Eric Meyer, the real culprits were several members of their crew, and Gonzalez was arrested because he was the only one with a passport and thus an easier scapegoat. |
| 249 | -->'''Tom Zutaut''': A lot of kids can’t help repeating what they grew up with. But we have to try and learn from our parents and do better. I’m not gonna sit here and have you blame everything on Axl anymore, because the truth is that if you wanted to get out of this cycle, you could. But it requires you to leave him or it requires you to stop blaming him. I mean, you guys need to go into therapy or something. |
| 250 | * This wiki seems to have something against Music/{{Bananarama}} and/or the song "Venus", acting like they wrote it. Not only did they not write it, [[CoveredUp they didn't even originally perform it]]. It was written by Robbie van Leeuwen and originally performed by his band Shocking Blue [[OlderThanTheyThink about 17 or 18 years]] before the British GirlGroup scored a hit with it. |
| 251 | * Music/DragonForce got a lot of stink during their disastrous 2006 World Tour, especially at Graspop of that year, for being apparently incapable of playing their own songs, and it led to major accusations of them being a studio act that sped up their own recordings. The actual ''reason'' the tour went so poorly is because the technician they hired was wildly incompetent: Barely tuning the band's gear or not tuning it at all, and technical issues were so common it permanently colored the view of the band for years. They've since re-hired their techs, and undergo significant preparations before every tour to ensure it doesn't happen again. |
| 252 | * Music/{{Eminem}}: |
| 253 | ** Despite popular belief, Music/{{Eminem}} did not face much racist harassment from Black hip-hop audiences, who often underestimated him based on his appearance, but were supportive of him as soon as they realised he could actually rap, even defending him from racist personals in the '97 Rap Olympics by booing so loud as to drown out his opponent for making white-people jokes. (As Eminem himself notes in "White America" - "''when I was underground, no one gave a fuck I was white''".) A few people held he was a white appropriator, but they were outliers and not the general view in the 90s hip-hop scene. Eminem ''did'' experience racist assaults by Black people, but they were just local bullies who did not know or care he was a rapper. The racism he experienced in hip-hop was mostly from other white people, with white label executives preventing him from getting signed numerous times because of his race, and white audiences chanting 'wigger' and 'Vanilla Ice' at him and pelting him with bottles at his early shows. |
| 254 | ** ''Encore'': |
| 255 | *** The content and rapping style on ''Encore'' has been attributed to Eminem's abuse of Ambien at the time, including by Eminem. However, Eminem writes in his book ''The Way I Am'' that he had been freestyling the material due to an attempt to recapture the humour and spontaneity he had with Music/DrDre while recording ''Music/TheSlimShadyLP'', as well as to push himself to improve as a rapper (particularly because of how much he admires Music/JayZ, who can write entire songs by freestyling). His 2003 material also shows inklings of the stylistic direction he'd adopt on ''Encore'', particularly his three ''Invasion'' freestyles which show him beginning to incorporate crunk and snap influences in his delivery, a fake Southern accent, and [[ToiletHumour belching]], all recorded at a time when he was still on probation and facing regular drug tests that prevented him from being able to abuse medication. While it's obvious Eminem's Ambien addiction was a factor on the lowered technical ability on the album, the audible slur in his voice and the [[{{Wangst}} woe-is-me]] content, ''Encore'' ended up the way it did due to purposeful artistic decisions that were ''not'' all the fault of the zolpidem clogging up his brain. |
| 256 | *** ''Encore'' turning out the way it did is also often blamed on several of the tracks intended for the album leaking, forcing Eminem to hurriedly record replacements - fans tend to assume the serious songs on the album were the "real" songs and the silly ones were the replacements. What actually happened was that the leaks gave Eminem the opportunity to revise the entire track list for the album, with many of the album's beloved serious tracks like "Evil Deeds", "Mosh", "Mockingbird" and "Like Toy Soldiers" also coming out of his freestyling sessions with Dre. Another reason he'd wanted to revise the track list had been because he was sick of the beefs he was involved in with Benzino and Ja Rule - the original track list for Encore would likely have been disses aimed at them. |
| 257 | ** Eminem's CreatorBacklash to ''Relapse'' and his cancellation of ''Relapse 2'' is sometimes based on the idea that a bad fan and critical reception to the album spooked him (Music/FiftyCent has said as much). ''Relapse'''s [[PresumedFlop reception wasn't that bad]] - while there were some [[ContestedSequel intense reactions from his own fanbase]] and some disappointed reviews, it was mostly liked, was the highest selling rap album of the year, and netted a Best Rap Album Grammy. Em himself has always maintained that he changed direction on ''Relapse 2'' on his own. The turning point was a block of sessions in Honolulu where his producer Denaun Porter persuaded him to start dropping the [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent creepy accent]] he was using and imagine he was a young MC at an open mic, leading to him producing much more playful, technical material that he felt was much better than what he'd been doing before. Around this time, his writing finally exhausted the SerialKiller incarnation of Shady he'd used on ''Relapse'', with the character developing into a more 'mundane' LowerClassLout persona with subject matter about drinking, dancing, brawling, driving and bullying his girlfriends. Music/DrDre then withdrew from the project to focus on his [[DevelopmentHell doomed]] album ''Detox'', causing Eminem to find other producers, largely from the pop-rap world; this had the effect of getting him back in touch with the outside world, and he began wanting to make more confessional, meaningful material that fit his [[CreatorRecovery happier state of mind]] instead of relying on shock-comedy. The highlights of ''Relapse 2'' that still used Dre production, SlasherMovie-{{Horrorcore}} subject matter and accents ended up on a ''Relapse'' UpdatedRerelease called ''Relapse: Refill'', with Eminem admitting that, although they no longer fit the new project, he was still proud of the songs and wanted them to be heard; the ones that fit the new direction were bundled up with some new songs and ended up on a new album called ''Recovery''. |
| 258 | [[/folder]] |
| 259 | |
| 260 | [[folder:Pinball]] |
| 261 | * A lot of pinball fans, especially the [[Creator/MidwayGames Bally-Williams]] fans, blame Creator/{{Stern}} for causing pinball to go through an AudienceAlienatingEra through the 00s and dragging it from an American icon into MainstreamObscurity. While Stern is not entirely blameless (there is no one to blame but themselves for shoddy manufacturing and often rushed production), the stagnancy that occurred during this decade was largely the fallout of a patent war during [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties the previous decade]] between Bally-Williams, Creator/{{Gottlieb}}, Creator/DataEast, and Creator/{{SEGA}}, who [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope collectively patented everything they could get away with to stymie their competitors]], then left the pinball business still holding onto those patents. The result was that Stern, the only pinball company to survive the decade, was left with next to nothing they could use that wasn't some universal un-patentable thing, like flippers. These patents finally started expiring around 2009, which also happens to be the year that Stern started GrowingTheBeard with their machines becoming less bland and more varied. The upturn in quality is also sometimes attributed to Creator/JerseyJackPinball popping up as competition, meaning Stern no longer had a monopoly, but that didn't happen until 2011. |
| 262 | [[/folder]] |
| 263 | |
| 264 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 265 | * In general, because of the {{kayfabe}}-heavy nature of the proceedings, ProfessionalWrestling does it best to obfuscate who exactly is to blame for what on and offscreen. It's not entirely the fans' fault if they criticize the on-screen culprit of a WorkedShoot in a RealLifeWritesThePlot situation, when the actual people behind the scenes have done their damndest to confuse the issue. |
| 266 | * When Vincent J. [=McMahon=]'s proposed deal about bringing the WWF back into the Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance failed, people were quick to lay the blame on the feet of perennial NWA World Heavyweight Champion Wrestling/LouThesz and spread rumors about exactly how he killed the deal. After kayfabe was effectively dead and he had retired, Wrestling/BrunoSammartino came to Thesz's defense, revealing that the deal required Sammartino to become World Heavyweight Champion and saying he didn't want the belt unless he'd be given Sundays off so he could see his family. |
| 267 | * People tend to blame Wrestling/VinceMcMahon (Jr) for everything bad in the WWE; while it is true that he has final say on what goes on TV a lot of the more controversial angles where others were the idea of other people working for the company (for example, the infamous Katie Vick angle was developed by [=McMahon=], then-''Raw'' Head Writer Brian Gewirtz, Wrestling/BrucePrichard, and Michael "P.S." Hayes (according to Pritchard), though Vince has defended it pretty strongly and gladly taken "responsibility" for it in interviews, confusing the issue). |
| 268 | ** This is especially true for 93-94 at which time Vince had actually taken a leave of absence for legal reasons and the company was being run by Wrestling/PatPatterson. |
| 269 | ** As Wrestling/CMPunk made sure to mention, some of it belongs on [[http://www.cagematch.net/?id=93&nr=886 "his idiotic daughter and his doofus son-in-law and the rest of his stupid family. "]][[note]]Punk's prediction would prove accurate; as of September 2022 the [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon idiotic daughter]] is now CEO and the [[Wrestling/TripleH doofus son-in-law]] is the booker. Punk is in AEW, currently under an indefinite suspension for knocking out one of the Young Bucks (who were also suspended, along with Kenny Omega and Ace Steel) after a backstage fight. Christopher Daniels, Brandon Cutler, and Michael Nakazawa were also briefly suspended, but their suspensions were lifted when it came out they were trying to break up the fight. Punk would later be released from the company and eventually return to WWE in 2023.[[/note]] |
| 270 | ** Many critics also don't consider just how much responsibility the TV networks and sponsors have, since Vince pretty much has to answer to them. This is particularly true for everyone who complains about WWE's more sanitized, PG-rated, predictable programming nowadays; given that a lot of the more controversial stuff that DID get on the air in the late 90s was always getting Vince in hot water with studio heads (USA president Kay Koplovitz threatened to kick Raw off the air on a standards & practices violation after the infamous "Pillman's Got a Gun" episode), it's not unreasonable to suggest any choices to not take chances today is to appease those who ultimately decide if WWE is allowed to be on the air at all. |
| 271 | ** For a long period of time, Vince got a lot of blame from fans for his heavy handed work schedule where his wrestlers were expected to wrestle night after night on both televised shows and untelevised house shows. Because of Vince's grueling schedule, it was commonly assumed that injury after injury would pile up night after night with wrestlers getting no rest. However, more recent years have revealed that a huge number of wrestlers are getting injured [[https://whatculture.com/wwe/why-aew-has-so-many-injuries even in a company like [=AEW=] that runs a much more relaxed and less grueling schedule]], where wrestling ''less'' regularly (while at the same time being encouraged to do riskier moves when they do wrestle) actually makes their bodies less "in tune" and increases the strain when they get into the ring, similar to the "load management" controversy in regards to the modern crop of top stars in the UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation. Now, due to the knowledge that even a relaxed wrestling schedule isn't necessarily any better for the body than a grueling one, Vince's heavy WWE schedule can either at best be seen as something that isn't to blame for recurring wrestling injuries with AEW's ascension vindicating Vince or at worst, a busy workload schedule that's not the most helpful when it comes to health but shouldn't get all the blame because pro-wrestling in general can be very taxing on the body and the fault shouldn't lie on a sole individual or wrestling company anymore. |
| 272 | * Wrestling/HulkHogan tends to be blamed for holding people back and not jobbing cleanly, and indeed he has used his pull and fame more than a few times for personal gain or vendettas (like getting Wrestling/{{WCW}} to fire color commentator Wrestling/JesseVentura). However, he was never a booker and even though he had creative control, he did not decide on the angles that didn't concern him. Management is to blame for most of the mishandling of people like Wrestling/BillyKidman and Wrestling/LexLuger. One particularly egregious example of him being misblamed is for the botched ending of his match against Wrestling/{{Sting}} at ''Starrcade 1997''. Several people to this day claim that Hogan bribed Nick Patrick to intentionally count at regular speed, to make Sting look bad when he kicked out when he was supposed to (after "three"). There is no real evidence that Patrick didn't just make a mistake, other than general rumors of Hogan's backstage behaviors. |
| 273 | ** Wrestling/EricBischoff has said in multiple places (like Wrestling/RicFlair's podcast and Conrad Thompson's 83 Weeks podcast) that '''he''' booked the controversial Starrcade 1997 finish. Bischoff is adamant that Hogan lobbied for the original finish to put Sting over clean because of the year-plus that had been put into the build. But when Sting showed up on the day of the event, he was pale, out of shape and unenthusiastic (Sting was struggling with substance abuse and marital problems unbeknownst to Bischoff at that time and had not wrestled an actual match in over a year), which caused Hogan and Bischoff to doubt Sting's work ethic. Bischoff shortened the match and changed the finish a few hours before showtime. As for the pacing of the count, Nick Patrick said in several interviews (including 83 Weeks) that he was initially told by both Bischoff and Hogan to do a regular count, but Sting later told him to do the fast count. Unsure of what to do, Patrick panicked and did a regular count. |
| 274 | * The Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob was such a chaotic situation, and kayfabe and {{worked shoot}}s have further muddied the issue until a lot of people are ''badly'' misinformed about what actually happened. That being said. Triple H was not a major contributor to the Montreal Screwjob, although as Wrestling/ShawnMichaels' buddy he was in on it. He claims to have been the one to give Vince the idea of doing something drastic about Hart and the title; and in a 2012 DVD release, Michaels all but admits HHH planted the seed in his head. WWE has always denied that booker Pat Patterson had any involvement; although he was the one who came up with the sharpshooter spot. Conversely, Earl Hebner, who was in on the entire thing from close to the beginning, is frequently described as having been unaware of anything until minutes before the match and having been bullied into going along with it against his wishes. Many people use Michaels' autobiography as a source about the Screwjob, but as someone said, the most controversial thing about the autobiography is "whether it belongs in the fiction section". |
| 275 | ** In 2020 Wrestling/JimCornette claimed he was the one that planted the seed, as it was going down to the wire he angrily (but ''sarcastically'') just yelled out "Why don't we just double-cross him?", though he didn't know they were actually going to do it and wasn't involved with the planning of it. Bret upon hearing of this was obviously not happy, to which Cornette basically responded with "Well, then you shouldn't have put yourself in that position to begin with." |
| 276 | * Wrestling/BretHart gets quite a bit of the misblame as well. Contrary to popular belief, he was booked for another month of TV and house shows following Montreal, as well as having permission from WCW head Eric Bischoff to work the next pay-per-view in order to drop the title and finish up business in the WWF. His refusal to drop the title to Michaels was only after Shawn made it clear he wasn't losing to Bret under any circumstances. Stories of him taking the WWF title belt to WCW are equally ludicrous; the two previous incidents of this happening (one with Wrestling/RicFlair, and one with Wrestling/{{Madusa}}) both ended up in nasty lawsuits[[note]]Though had Bret not lost the title that night there was nothing preventing Bischoff or someone else telling the world that WCW had just signed ''the reigning WWF world champion'' to a contract on ''Nitro'' the next night, which would have been just as damaging to the [=WWF's=] credibility. '''This''' is what Vince was afraid of[[/note]], and hindsight shows WCW had no plans for the unbeaten WWF champion when he did in fact arrive. |
| 277 | * Hulk Hogan's can also apply Wrestling/TripleH starting from 2002 onwards, especially due to his longtime relationship with Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon, holding back smark favorites like Wrestling/EvanBourne, [[Wrestling/TheWorldsGreatestTagTeam Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin]]. Of course, this often avoids factors like Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin's retirement from wrestling and [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] becoming [[Creator/DwayneJohnson an actor]] depleting WWE's main event talent until guys like Wrestling/JohnCena and Wrestling/{{Batista}} were ready. Or that Vince [=McMahon=] has always favored not only the larger wrestlers but the ones who can exude the most over-the-top personality even before Triple H was in WWE. |
| 278 | * If ''Literature/RingOfHell'' is to be believed, Triple H was responsible for Stone Cold Steve Austin's 2001 [[FaceHeelTurn heel turn]] after ''[=WrestleMania=] X-Seven''. According to Austin's autobiography, ''The Stone Cold Truth'', Austin wanted to turn heel to refresh his character. |
| 279 | * For the longest time, Triple H was pretty much the lightning rod for the fans' wrath, regardless of whether or not he had anything to do with it. Considering he's married to the then-head of the WWE's creative department (and, if you believe some of the nastier rumors, closer to Vince than his own son Wrestling/{{Shane|McMahon}}), he's always accused to steering the company to always benefit himself. Have a favorite wrestler who isn't being pushed? Triple H is holding them back because he's "threatened." Crappy storyline? Triple H is burying someone he doesn't like. The blame has indeed continued on now that he has become WWE's head of talent - which would make sense given that he is officially the one running WWE's shows now, except that word around the company is that Vince still micromanages and meddles in the shows' affairs. It supposedly got to the point that even Triple H was getting frustrated with Vince's meddling - ironic given his reputation for having been a ProfessionalButtKisser for much of his career. |
| 280 | ** This became subverted with the emergence of NXT, which Trips was allowed to run unfettered. The NXT product and shows under Trips were generally well-liked, with good, solidly booked storylines based around solid, fresh talent. This actually led to fans calling for Vince to retire and turn the main roster over to Triple H to see if he can do the same thing with it... |
| 281 | ** ...until Trip was removed from his NXT role in 2021, with Vince effectively taking over the booking. But then in 2022, Vince was pushed into retirement due to allegations of sexual misconduct with female office staffers, and Trip ended up taking over WWE creative. |
| 282 | * A lot of Wrestling/{{ECW}} fans blame TNN for what they saw as lower quality shows when it was on that network. Everything on TV was done by Wrestling/PaulHeyman, and though he faced some initial level executive meddling, generally TNN took a "hands-off" approach to the promotion (extending to the promotion and provided budget, the real reason the show got ScrewedByTheNetwork)[[note]]That and TNN leaving ECW to wither on the vine after they got the rights to ''Monday Night Raw''. Had they cancelled ''ECW on TNN'' right then Heyman would have had time to find a new TV network, but TNN wouldn't let them go until ''Raw'' actually premiered on TNN a few months later. By that point it was too late to salvage the company[[/note]]. This confusion is not helped by the inclusion of a kayfabe network representative {{heel}} whose character attempted to tone down the hardcore style ECW was known for. |
| 283 | * For a long time, Creator/DavidArquette received a large amount of undeserved flak for his winning of the WCW Championship by people thinking that he was the driving force behind the angle. A) He wasn't, B) as a wrestling fan, he knew it was a terrible idea and would've refused to do it had he not been contractually obligated, and C) he donated all of the money he made on the shows to paralyzed wrestler Darren Drozdov and the families of the late Wrestling/BrianPillman and Wrestling/OwenHart. It was actually Wrestling/TonySchiavone who suggested the idea to Russo as a joke, but Russo apparently decided that it would be a good idea after all. |
| 284 | * Speaking of Tony Schiavone, he got a lot of grief over the years for burying Wrestling/MickFoley's WWF world championship win on the infamous January 4, 1999 edition of Nitro. Tony was ordered to do so by Eric Bischoff (though the line "That's gonna put some butts in the seats." was entirely Tony's). He not only called to apologize to Foley days later, but admitted that he would have changed the channel to see Foley win as well. |
| 285 | * Vince Russo's booking in general. Even during his disastrous stint as the booker of Wrestling/{{WCW}}, a key thing to keep in mind is that, despite the booking meetings being attended by plenty of wrestling veterans and staff, ''no one hammered into him just how dumb some of his ideas were''. |
| 286 | * One thing Russo is blamed for that he shouldn't is the "Wrestling/MaeYoung gives birth to a hand" skit, which took place in early 2000, months after he left the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]]. He often also gets blamed for unmasking Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr in WCW, which happened months ''before'' he left the WWF. |
| 287 | * Wrestling/KevinNash claims he didn't book the Starrcade 1998 finish of Wrestling/ScottHall tasering Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}, nor the FingerpokeOfDoom eight days later[[note]]As he later said in a shoot interview about the Fingerpoke, "Why the hell would I book myself to do that? I look like the biggest douchebag of all!" Then again, Nash has a tendency to troll smart fans during interviews, and has actually said he ''did'' book it in other interviews, so take anything he says with a grain of salt[[/note]]. Nash became a WCW booker around this time but he claims he knows this for a fact because he still has his pay stubs from WCW and he got paid more once he started booking. He's offered to show them to prove his point. |
| 288 | * [[Wrestling/TheGreatMuta Keiji Mutoh]] is sometimes unfairly blamed for Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling's downturn in the 2000s, with his resignation in 2011 in being used as the "proof". This is largely because quite a few fans who watched and loved the ever escalating efforts of Wrestling/GenichiroTenryu, Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa, Wrestling/KentaKobashi and Akira Taue in the 1990s ''hated'' Mutoh's "Puroresu Love" period that followed. Thing is, All Japan's decline can be linked back to the exodus of talent from the company thanks to a dispute with Giant Baba's widow Makoto to Misawa's Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH, a promotion many of Mutoh's detractors followed almost exclusively until its own decline. The resignation had more to do with TARU assaulting Super Hate, leading to the latter having a stroke, than failure to turn the company around, which he actually succeeded in. While All Japan was behind the others, the "Puroresu Love" shows at least drew close to 10,000 and often well beyond it once they were established and also out drew some AJPW classics such as the tag league. |
| 289 | * According to [[Wrestling/TotalNonstopActionWrestling TNA]] owner Dixie Carter, the fans' chants of "Fire Russo!" were misblame, as Wrestling/VinceRusso only had a small part in writing their shows. Disregarding the fact that the shows still had Russo's {{signature style}} all over them, this hardly made for a better situation, as it implied that the entire booking team had their collective heads up their asses, rather than just one member. (Hilariously muddying the waters: after Russo was fired 2012 at the behest of Spike TV, he was secretly rehired as a consultant a year later. Dixie would keep up the facade of Russo not being involved until Spike removed TNA from its schedule.) It's also easier to chant "Fire Russo!" than it is to chant "Fire Russo or whoever is responsible for this awful match!" |
| 290 | * Wrestling/JohnCena gets constant flak for being a boring InvincibleHero and his FiveMovesOfDoom (amongst other things), yet as a performer, he really doesn't get the final say in the matter. Executive meddling is responsible for telling him what moves to do and how he should wrestle his matches. In fact, Cena said in an interview in the summer of '06 that he wanted to drop out of the Main Event scene after he jobbed to Edge at New Year's Revolution and [[FaceHeelTurn turn heel]] to refresh his character. The writers collectively slapped him down and continued to write all of his lines at shows like they had since '03 when he [[HeelFaceTurn turned face]]. Cena's HateDumb also tends to hold him exclusively responsible for the companies [[LighterAndSofter PG Era]]. The PG-Era writing was a result of the company wanting to clean up their image after Wrestling/ChrisBenoit's double murder-suicide and to help with Linda [=McMahon=]'s attempt at having a political career. |
| 291 | * WWE caught a lot of flak for releasing Wrestling/MartyJannetty just days after signing him in 2006. Jannetty had to go onto his blog and insist WWE was not at fault and had no choice but to let him go after both sides discovered his probation prevented him from meeting their travel demands. |
| 292 | * The fall of extremely popular Diva Wrestling/MickieJames in WWE is this. The "Piggie James" feud with Wrestling/MichelleMcCool was followed by James dropping the Women's Title two weeks after winning it at Royal Rumble and her subsequent release led to fans immediately accusing WWE of burying a talented wrestler they thought was too fat in favor of a rail-thin blonde who was dating Wrestling/TheUndertaker. In a 2010 interview after her release, James revealed that she didn't have a problem with the angle itself and she was released for causing issues on a tour. |
| 293 | * Wrestling/JimCornette was amusingly blamed for Wrestling/{{The Colony|Wrestling}}, Super Smash Bros and Los Ice Creams not getting more Wrestling/RingOfHonor bookings, as well as not getting stronger Ring Of Honor bookings, based on his known hatred of "cartoon wrestling" and statement he'd rather have [=RoHbot=] [[TheScrappy scrappies]] the [[Wrestling/MattHardy Hardy]] [[Wrestling/JeffHardy Boys]]. This is despite the fact he said that the Wrestling/{{Chikara}} wrestlers were respectful and fine to work with. Their lack of booking had to do with not being contracted to ROH, which he and [[Wrestling/HunterJohnston Delirious]] could make suggestions about but ''weren't'' in charge of. He also gets blamed for Wrestling/TheYoungBucks being absent because he alleged they didn't bring in anyone new, even though he did want Wrestling/TheYoungBucks back simply to appease the people who were already there and blaming him for things but couldn't convince Sinclair to pay for them since {{tag team}}s "just as good" were available and didn't need to be flown in. In short, [[NotHelpingYourCase his tendency to shoot off his mouth rather than keep his opinions to himself lead to it]], with him running off Wrestling/ColtCabana being precedent for a whole flood. And even then, Cabana initially refused to return to ROH even after Cornette left and went back to OVW, saying he didn't like the new corporate owners either, and addressed the fact they mistakenly thought they could get him back after "the guy with the racket left" instead saying he returned for Carry Silkin. |
| 294 | [[/folder]] |
| 295 | |
| 296 | [[folder:Puppet Shows]] |
| 297 | * HBO has received flack for making changes to Series/SesameStreet, such as firing older cast members and reducing the overall number of characters. However, the network is merely acting as a second home and financial backer for the series, and has no creative input. |
| 298 | * Even the slightest "mature" content in Franchise/TheMuppets productions over the years has led people to say "Creator/JimHenson must be rolling in his grave." Of particular note, ''Series/TheMuppets2015'' series for ABC received flack for not being kid-friendly like the original ''Series/TheMuppetShow''. However, Jim Henson never considered himself a children's entertainer, and always intended to aim the Muppets at general audiences. Adult humor had always existed in the Muppet world. Heck, one of the pilots for the original Muppet Show was titled "Sex and Violence." The fact that the Muppet Show characters are cousins to those on ''Series/SesameStreet'' only adds to the confusion for some. |
| 299 | [[/folder]] |
| 300 | |
| 301 | [[folder:Sports]] |
| 302 | * The description for Type 5 of misblamed is also known as "Quarterback Syndrome", because a lot of mistakes (such as a bad play, a poorly executed play, etc) are automatically blamed on the quarterback of American football teams. When really, sometimes it isn't their fault at ''all''. |
| 303 | ** And if it's not the quarterback, it's usually the head coach. Which is slightly more accurate, usually, but none but the most egotistical of them are in charge of choosing their teams (except in college football, of course). |
| 304 | ** A good example is when Tennessee Titans back-up quarterback Kerry Collins was hugely blamed for the team's abysmal blunder against the New England Patriots in 2009 (the one with the 59-0 score), though mostly from people who only watched snippets from ESPN, and only spotted his [[EpicFail -7 passing yards]]. For those who actually watched the entire game, it told a different story. Although it's true that Collins didn't play his best, he certainly fared much better than the receivers he threw the ball to. His best passes often resulted in a no gain, yard loss or a drop, or only inched forward with maybe a yard or two gain. Worst of all, Collins tossed the ball to one receiver, who idiotically backpedaled ''twenty two yards'' to avoid getting tackled, but failed anyway and resulted in a huge loss of yards. Unfortunately, the ESPN replay didn't note this, so everyone thought Collins caused the suckage when it was multiple factors that caused the horrific loss (like god awful defense and special teams, being a couple others). |
| 305 | ** Relatedly, it's also fairly common, as you'll see below, that a team's loss will be blamed on a single play, even if there were a dozen or so other bad plays that happened within the same game that contributed to the loss. |
| 306 | *** One of the bigger cases in point: The 2001 Texas-Oklahoma game, where Texas' loss is put all on Chris Simms throwing a late 4th-quarter interception that Teddy Lehman ran into the end zone for a game-sealing touchdown. What no one remembers: If Nathan Vasher hadn't tried to field a punt on the previous play, the ball would have bounced into the end zone and Texas would have gotten the ball at the 20-yard-line. Instead, Vasher had to fall on the ball and Texas started inside the 5; this allowed OU to blitz, and Simms had no choice but to throw ''something'' fast or else get sacked in his own end zone for a safety (2 points for OU and Texas loses the ball) that would have sealed the game anyway. |
| 307 | * Of course, it also works the other way. Tim Tebow became the biggest example of Quarterback Syndrome in reverse, getting ''every single bit'' of credit for the Denver Broncos 2011 turnaround. When the Broncos defense intercepts the opposing quarterback's pass in his own territory near the end of the game, leading to the Broncos kicker getting an easy game-winning field goal, and everyone says "Tebow does it again!" it's gotten pretty ridiculous. |
| 308 | * Fran Tarkenton, a quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings from the '70s, is often known as the "quarterback who lost four Super Bowls". Actually, the Vikings first Super Bowl loss was with Joe Kapp at the helm. Similarly, John Elway was known as being a quarterback who lost four Super Bowls, when the Broncos first loss was with Craig Morton at the helm. |
| 309 | * After the Baltimore Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII in the 2012-13 NFL season, quarterback Joe Flacco was signed to the most lucrative contract in football history. He proceeded to have a miserable 2013 season (his quarterback rating in the final game of the season against their division rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals, was in the ''40s''), and some Ravens fans were calling for the team to cut him. Of course, Flacco's best receiver was traded away in the offseason as were three of his offensive lineman, and his formerly dependable running back Ray Rice averaged just 2 yards a carry for the season. |
| 310 | ** It was because of that contract that the Ravens had to get rid of those other players in order to stay under the salary cap. Of course, that should still place blame mostly on management for offering the contract and not taking into account who they would have to get rid of in exchange and how it would affect the team. |
| 311 | * The infamous Mark Sanchez "butt fumble", in which he ran into one of his offensive lineman's rear ends and fumbled the football, happened after fullback Lex Hilliard missed a handoff, and the butt he ran into was Brandon Moore, who was being driven back by defensive lineman Vince Wilfork. |
| 312 | * The ESPN Classic series "Top Five Reasons You Can't Blame" was devoted to this, listing some of the most infamous moments in sports and giving reasons why the blame shouldn't solely go to the one person (or group) that took all the heat. Some of the incidents that were covered included: |
| 313 | ** Don Denkinger's blown call in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series. The former Major League umpire is blamed for the St. Louis Cardinals losing the 1985 World Series due to his blown call at first base in the ninth inning of that game. This ignores that 1) the Cardinals had a 3-1 series lead over the Kansas City Royals and scored only two runs in the last three games, 2) They made three defensive mistakes after the call that all contributed to the loss, and 3) They were more focused on blaming Denkinger than trying to win Game 7, which the Royals won 11-0. |
| 314 | ** The 1986 World Series would produce its own epic case of misblame, one which has become entrenched in baseball lore. In Game 6 of the series, the New York Mets would come back in extra innings, scoring the winning run of that game when first baseman Bill Buckner made an error and failed to field a ground ball hit between his legs. The Mets promptly won Game 7 and became champions, prolonging the legendary agony of the Boston Red Sox. Easy case for blaming Buckner, right? Not so much. Those who do conveniently ignore the fact that Boston's bullpen had already blown two leads before the error occurred, with Boston having lost a 3-2 lead in regular innings and a 5-3 lead in the 10th before Buckner's error. The situation in the 10th is particularly notable, since it happened despite the fact that when the Mets rally started they had 2 outs and no baserunners, and just about everyone except the Mets players themselves had conceded defeat. (The TV crew had already announced one Red Sox player as the player of the game and named another Sox player the World Series MVP, the message board in Shea Stadium briefly displayed a message congratulating the Red Sox on their victory, etc.) Boston relievers then gave up three hits in a row and pitcher Bob Stanley allowed the Mets to tie the game by throwing a wild pitch nowhere near target that let the tying run score and the winning run to move to second base. On top of ''that'', Buckner (who was nearing the end of his long career) had leg injuries, particularly in his ankle, that should have kept him out of game, but Boston manager John [=McNamara=] insisted on Buckner playing so he could take part in the victory. With regards to the play itself, Buckner had to play the ball well behind first base, and it is doubtful that he would have beaten the speedy baserunner Mookie Wilson (who held the Mets team record for stolen bases until 2008) to the bag even if he had fielded the ball cleanly. (Buckner had about 1.6 seconds from when the ball reached him to when Mookie Wilson touched first base, not exactly a lot of time to make the play.) Lastly, if Buckner had fielded the ball cleanly and gotten the out, it would have preserved the tie and sent the game into a new inning, it would not have given Boston the win, something which quite a few people overlook. ''And on top of all that'', Boston still had Game 7 to work with, where they once again jumped out to an early lead and blew it. |
| 315 | ** In the 2003 National League Championship Series, Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman went after a foul ball at the same time left fielder Moisés Alou was trying to catch it. Other Cubs fans heckled and threw stuff at Bartman until security had to escort him out of Wrigley Field, and given after the incident the Cubs went from a 3-0 lead to an 8-3 defeat, Bartman was tormented enough to change his phone number and have police cars outside his house, along with being labeled a physical example of the Cubs' jinx. Of course, the fact the Cubs had such a disastrous collapse, and the Florida Marlins won not only the ensuing game 7, but the World Series afterwards, shows there was more to this defeat than a single fan's interference. |
| 316 | ** For most people, the Buffalo Bills' loss at Super Bowl XXV is summed up with two words: "Wide Right". Here are other reasons the Bills lost to the New York Giants: the Bills were outcoached by the Giants, who, in addition to Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells, had the likes of Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin (both of whom would become multiple Super Bowl winning head coaches later). The Giants logged 40:33 time of possession (a record still standing as of 2016). There was also Belichick's game plan which muzzled the Bills' "K-Gun" no-huddle offense. Scott Norwood's famous kick was a 47-yard field goal on grass, and he was not good at kicking field goals on grass (not to mention, while nowhere near impossible, a 47-yarder is no chip shot either). Unlike many such examples, Norwood has had a positive reputation within Buffalo (no one picks out a team's flaws better than its hometown fans), was cheered by diehard Buffalo fans at a parade held after the Super Bowl, and even spent the next year (where Buffalo again made it to the Super Bowl) with the team. |
| 317 | ** Another Bills-related example, the famous "giving him the business" penalty in a game against the New York Jets. Referee Ben Drieth erroneously called Mark Gastineau as the culprit when it was actually Marty Lyons. |
| 318 | --->'''Ben Drieth''': There's a personal foul, on number 99[[note]]Gastineau; Lyons wore 93[[/note]] of the defense; after he tackled the quarterback, he's ''giving him the business'' down there. That's a 15-yard penalty. |
| 319 | * College basketball fans, sportswriters and TV commentators all grossly overestimated the importance of the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) ranking in the NCAA's selection procedure for its annual men's UsefulNotes/{{basketball}} tournament. Every year there were complaints about teams with a high RPI being left out or teams with a low RPI making the field, all concluding that the RPI is deeply flawed and the NCAA should get rid of it. But the NCAA always said that the RPI was just meant as a simple table to compare teams early on in the process, and that their decisions ultimately come down to who the team in question beat and who they lost to. The NCAA finally concluding that the RPI had a few too many structural flaws, plus the availability of [[TechnologyMarchesOn more advanced analytical systems]], led them to replace it with the new NET ratings starting in the 2018-19 season, but they again tried to emphasize that it was one evaluation tool of many. |
| 320 | * Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez was heavily criticised for paying about 100 million euros to Manchester United for the transfer of a single player, Cristiano Ronaldo, especially because it happened in the middle of the post 2008 worldwide economic crisis. However, the transfer was signed a year before by his predecessor Ramón Calderón, who was betting on Ronaldo's arrival saving his scandal-ridden presidency. He didn't resist the whole year and resigned before it passed. After his election, Pérez found that Calderón's agreement forced the club to either pay the 100 million for Ronaldo or a 30 million penalty for breach of contract and get nothing in return. |
| 321 | * Watching ESPN's documentary, ''[[https://30for30.espn.com/film/small-potatoes-who-killed-the-usfl.html Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?]]'' the answer to the titular question would seem to be "UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump". While Trump, as owner of the New Jersey Generals, started a bidding war with the NFL over college players (one that most USFL owners didn't have the resources to compete in), the real downfall of the league -- the disastrous decision to move from spring to fall and compete directly with the NFL -- couldn't have been done without a consensus of owners going along with Trump. Much like the Vince Russo entries above, it's unfair to say he single-handedly destroyed the league. Though Trump doesn't help his own cause by defending everything he did as "the right thing to do" and accepting none of the blame for the USFL's swift and epic collapse. |
| 322 | * Losing UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup can lead to the fifth case. In Brazil, there are four known scapegoats: |
| 323 | ** Barbosa, the goalkeeper in 1950 -- where they lost the finals to Uruguay in Rio de Janeiro. He's famously quoted as: "The biggest penalty for a crime is 30 years. I'm currently paying 43 for a crime I didn't commit!" |
| 324 | ** Toninho Cerezo, whose defensive mistake led to Italy's second goal in their 3-2 victory in 1982 (a simple draw would have put Brazil into the semi-finals, but the second goal turned the tide toward Italy). |
| 325 | ** Zico, who missed a penalty against France in the quarter-finals in 1986. The game ended up 1-1, with an eventual French victory in the penalty shootout. |
| 326 | ** In 2006, while Zinedine Zidane was taking a free kick, Roberto Carlos was adjusting his sock. Thierry Henry passed behind him and scored France's victory goal. |
| 327 | * Goalkeeper Tommy Salo was blamed for Sweden's 4-3 loss in the quarterfinals against Belarus in the 2002 Olympic hockey tournament. While he can be blamed for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-7N2Va1XqY the endlessly replayed final goal]], the coach pointed out that it wasn't Salo's fault that a Swedish team full of NHL pros only scored three goals (out of 47 shots) on a minor team like Belarus. |
| 328 | * The Hillsborough Stadium disaster of 1989, when several dozen Liverpool soccer fans were crushed to death in the standing pens at an FA Cup game (for those who are confused, in those days most soccer stadiums had lower levels with no seats that were enclosed by cage pens). Immediately after the disaster, ''The Sun'' published a front page story stating the fans themselves were to blame, intentionally overcrowding the pens and then attacking policemen after the cages broke and they spilled onto the field. It turned out that there was no security to inform and direct fans to the less crowded pens, the police actually prevented ambulances from entering the stadium after the fence broke, and the fans were trying to shuttle the injured out to the ambulances (which the police also prevented). Furthermore, stories about fans attacking police officers attempting to tend to the injured were [[BlatantLies outright fabrications]]. ''The Sun'' is still boycotted in Liverpool to this day. |
| 329 | * The baseball version of "Quarterback Syndrome" could be called "A-Rod Syndrome", named for Alex Rodriguez. While Rodriguez is one of the best players in history, he has- with the exception of one year- never done well in the playoffs. As a result, when the New York Yankees are eliminated from the playoffs most of the blame and focus usually falls on Alex Rodriguez. This usually ignores the fact that he is rarely if ever the cause of the failure, but rather part of a wider problem. In 2012, for example, Alex Rodriguez was being ''benched'' in the postseason and being blamed for the failure of the Yankees, despite the fact that other players like Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson weren't hitting well either and that Derek Jeter, the Yankees' most famous postseason hero, had gotten hurt early in the ALCS series. |
| 330 | ** Similarly, a lower-level focus came on Prince Fielder in that season's World Series, despite the fact that almost the entire Detroit Tigers team was generally anemic at the plate during that series. |
| 331 | * New York Giants fans still shudder at the mention of Trey Junkin, who botched a snap for what could have been a game-winning field goal in the 2002 playoffs against the San Francisco 49ers. Many fans inexplicably ignore the fact that Junkin had literally been hired the week beforehand, after going into retirement at the end of a very successful career, and was very rusty as a result. They also tend to gloss over the fact that the Giants blew a massive 38-14 lead in only a quarter-and-a-half of football, resulting in the second biggest blown lead in NFL history. Then there's the fact that the referees missed a penalty on the final play that should have allowed a re-kick of the field goal and redemption for Junkin (the penalty they ''did'' call was on the Giants for having an illegal man downfield, which they did but it wasn't Rich Seubert, [[ProperlyParanoid who had reported as eligible in case Junkin botched the snap]]; the actual man illegally downfield for the Giants was Tam Hopkins). The game apparently haunts Junkin to this day, resulting in the guy misblaming himself for a situation he never should have been in. |
| 332 | ** It wouldn't be the only time a member of the Giants special teams received blame: Late in the 2010 season, the Giants were playing the Philadelphia Eagles at [=MetLife=] Stadium. The game was tied at 31 with 14 seconds to play. Giants punter Matt Dodge punts the ball away and it gets caught by Eagles wide receiver [=DeSean=] Jackson...[[DownToTheLastPlay who proceeded to return it for 65 yards into the endzone as time expired]], winning the game for Philadelphia, 38-31. Then-Giants head coach Tom Coughlin blamed Dodge for kicking it to Jackson, when the blame should have went to the Giants defense for blowing an earlier 31-10 lead. |
| 333 | * While Americans have not taken UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball as a spectator sport well, they are often blamed for creating the word soccer, an alternative word for the sport which is a colloquial abbreviation of association (from assoc.). However, the word was actually coined by Charles Wreford Brown, an Oxford student (in England) said to have been fond of shortened forms such as "brekkers" for breakfast and "rugger" for rugby football, and back in the day, it was used by rich folk to distinguish Association Football from Rugby. When the sport arrived in the U.S. in the late 19th century, it was called Association Football (and was surprisingly quite a popular sport at the time) until after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, mainly due to the popularity of UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball, and the word soccer was adopted to differentiate with the two footballs. However since then, soccer in the US [[PopularityPolynomial would fall into obscurity for a brief period of time,]] due in thanks to "soccer war" between the country's major league organization and FIFA. This sport's naming has also reigned true in some other countries like Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand; who have adopted or invented another football code, either as their "main" football or alongside Association Football. However, the British have since grown to hate this word, and have been hell-bent on lambasting the U.S. for it, never minding that the word came from the same place the modern rules of the game were made, the latter fact the British embrace and the former fact the British will often deny. |
| 334 | * The NCAA "death penalty" in 1987 is often thought to have killed the Southern Methodist University football team, and is often regarded as an argument against strong NCAA sanctions against any particular team. In reality, when the full extent of the pay-to-play scandal was brought to light, the university itself (and the church bishops overseeing it) decided to de-emphasize its football program (threatening to drop football entirely if need be), imposing extremely tight recruiting restrictions, significantly increasing academic standards for all athletes (not ''just'' football players), making the team play in the tiny, on-campus Ownby Stadium (which the Mustangs hadn't played in since 1947) instead of Texas Stadium or the Cotton Bowl,[[note]]The Mustangs would return to the Cotton Bowl in 1995; in 1998, SMU tore down Ownby Stadium and opened the current Gerald J. Ford Stadium on that site in 2000.[[/note]] and severing ties with almost all players and boosters associated with the program in the 1980s, greatly alienating the program's supporters. |
| 335 | ** Furthermore, many want to directly blame the fallout of the SMU death penalty for causing the breakup of the Southwest Conference. However, the 1984 Supreme Court ruling ''NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma'' probably played as much if not more of a factor, as it opened the floodgates for college conferences to negotiate their own TV contracts and subsequently start poaching off schools to make themselves look more attractive to networks (which college sports is still dealing with to this day). It's largely suspected that the SWC's biggest schools at Texas, Texas A&M and Arkansas were already considering going elsewhere even before the penalties were handed down on SMU. |
| 336 | * Baseball player Fred Merkle spent almost his entire professional career being blamed for costing the New York Giants the 1908 National League pennant because he failed to touch second base after a game-winning hit. What most of the fans who blamed him conveniently forgot was at the time the rule requiring runners to touch the next base after a hit was rarely enforced on "walk-off" hits and customarily ignored by veteran players. It was Merkle's misfortune that Cubs player Johnny Evers was a stickler for the rulebook, and that umpire Hank O'Day was willing to enforce it. |
| 337 | ** Furthermore, many of those who choose to blame Merkle don't know the specific reason Merkle didn't bother touching second base and why he and the Giants didn't expect the rule to be enforced: The fans were pouring out onto the field, and the Giants players were all running for the clubhouse for their own safety. It was because of the fans being on the field that they couldn't continue the game even though nullifying the winning hit/run simply kept the game tied and thus forced it to be replayed at season's end. |
| 338 | * NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is often blamed for the annual rule changes, especially the ones that protect the offensive players. It's the NFL's Competition Committee that determines the rule changes. Though Goodell has been a vocal proponent of many of the changes. |
| 339 | * When a college sports team, such as the Oregon Ducks football team, introduces new hi-tech, expensive equipment, uniforms, facilities, etc., people will criticize the university for spending so much money on their athletics rather than academics. The truth is most of the money that funds the teams comes from boosters, most notably Oregon alum and Nike founder Phil Knight, with the express purpose of it being used that way. In fact, many teams rely solely on booster money and use very little of a university's allotted athletics budget. (''Especially'' Oregon; by some reports, Knight has spent over ''$1 billion'' on Oregon's athletic facilities, not just in football. He's donated even more to Oregon's academic side.) |
| 340 | * NFL legend Jerry Rice took a lot of heat when, during his brief, late-career stint with the Seattle Seahawks, he wore jersey #80 (which he had his entire career). Problem was that #80 had already been retired for Steve Largent (the player Rice surpassed for most of his receiving records). Most assumed Rice big-leagued the Seahawks and asked for #80 and the Seahawks capitulated, rather than make a fuss. According to Largent himself, the Seattle general manager at the time called Largent and told him that Rice wanted #80 and asked if it would be okay if they un-retired it. After Largent said yes, the GM called Rice and told him Largent ''wanted'' him to wear #80. |
| 341 | * The England football team have a well-known habit of crashing out of major tournaments on penalties. Despite it being rare that England miss only one penalty (Gareth Southgate in Euro 96 being a notable exception), the press and public always tend to blame whoever missed the final penalty. In particular, Chris Waddle and David Batty got most of the country's ire after the 1990 and 1998 World Cups respectively, despite Stuart Pearce and Paul Ince also having missed penalties. Oddly enough, this was inverted after Euro 2004, where few put the blame on Darius Vassell (whose penalty miss was actually the one that caused England to be eliminated), and David Beckham instead took the heat for an admittedly spectacularly awful first penalty. |
| 342 | * One of the biggest controversies of the 2013-14 NHL realignment was that the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings were placed in separate conferences (the West and East, respectively), thus breaking up one of the league's biggest rivalries. Fans naturally blamed NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman for it since he has a history of disregarding league traditions. However, it was actually the Red Wings who requested they be placed in the Eastern Conference because they were sick of being forced to play a quarter of their games three time zones away, making their players fatigued and screwing up TV broadcast times. |
| 343 | ** "[[WTHCostumingDepartment Bettman Stripes]]", the vertical piping featured on some of the Reebok Edge uniforms introduced in 2007, along with the Edge redesigns of certain uniforms in particular. Ultimately, this comes down to the individual teams allowing the manufacturer to make these changes, particularly since several teams did, in fact, stand pat and keep their existing designs, while a couple more teams actually adopted more traditional-looking designs than they had been wearing before Edge. |
| 344 | * Fans of the Chicago Bears still hold blame on kicker Cody Parkey for missing a field goal that would have won a 2018 NFC Wild Card playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Parkey's kick had hit the left end of the goal post and then bounced off the crossbar, and the play ended up earning the nickname "The Double Doink". What is often overlooked, however, is that the ball had briefly grazed the fingers of Eagles defensive lineman Trayvon Hester, and it was later ruled a blocked kick. Nevertheless, Parkey was treated as Public Enemy #1 in Chicago until the Bears released him in the offseason. |
| 345 | * The baseball writer Bill James once observed that bad teams blame their problems on their best players. They tend to get it into their heads that their star player should be dragging them to the playoffs, when instead it's the organization's fault for not surrounding the guy with better players. This often creates a cycle where the organization resents the player, the player grows to resent the organization and then the organization is forced to trade their best player, often for a pitifully small return. |
| 346 | [[/folder]] |
| 347 | |
| 348 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 349 | * The "Roving Mauler" ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' monster gets a lot of "what drug were they on" reactions from its appearance. Said appearance is lifted from the demon [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Buer.gif Buer]], who goes all the way back to the 16th century. Really, this just raises the question of what drug were they on in the 16th century? |
| 350 | ** One of the more common beliefs about 3.5 is that the game's notoriously poor balance towards casters was caused by PowerCreep from the release of too many handbooks, and people should stick to core books only. In reality, the wide opinion of optimizers is that the ''least'' balanced way to play 3.5 is to use only the core books. Nearly all the most broken caster tricks in the game, from polymorphing to scry-and-die to the Candle of Invocation to Natural Spell, are found in the core books - meanwhile, most of the popular non-caster tactics, like Leap Attack or martial adepts, were only introduced in splatbooks. In an all-splat game, the caster's power doesn't really change because they're already broken, while the low-tier classes can actually do stuff. |
| 351 | * Head designer Mark Rosewater is often blamed for many things the players hate about ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', even things that he had nothing to do with. And indeed, even things that have absolutely nothing to do with his department -- as the face and voice of the company, he's just the one chosen to announce such things, leading many players to blame him for the decisions he likely had no say in whatsoever... Then again, many other things are entirely his fault. |
| 352 | * Matt Ward is often blamed for just about everything people don't like from 5th Edition and on in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', most of which were not his fault, or were done on orders from Games Workshop. His rewriting the Necrons backstory was an editorial demand that came down from higher-ups. A controversial story in which Grey Knights murdered an entire convent of Sisters of Battle is actually not that out of character for the Inquisition, with whom the Grey Knights are in lockstep. The change in the meta from largely assault-based to largely shooting-based armies between 5th and 6th Editions was also a change mandated by GW brass to try and sell more models and is not specific to anything Ward did unilaterally. His codices are scrutinized for being overpowered when first released, however PowerCreep has long been part of the game. The new codices are supposed to be more powerful to try and drum up interest and sell more models. (Case in point, the extremely powerful 6th Edition Tau Empire codex wasn't even written by him.) The lack of quality control and playtesting of codices is also the result of a direction change at Games Workshop to generate content in a rapid manner. |
| 353 | ** The one thing Ward is guilty of is being a shameless Ultramarines fanboy and interjecting this viewpoint into his fluff at the expense of the pride, history and identity of some other much-beloved Space Marines chapters. |
| 354 | [[/folder]] |
| 355 | |
| 356 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 357 | * For a while in the 90s, it was widely claimed that the thing that killed the original ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' was the 1990 line--more specifically, the Action Masters, which infamously eschewed [[OxymoronicBeing transforming figures]] altogether (they had transforming accessories and vehicles, but the figures were just typical action figures). However, the line had been in a rapidly-increasing decline for a while; the cartoon had long gone off the air, ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' was now at the height of its popularity and ''Micro Machines'' was no small threat, and the franchise as a whole was nearing seven years of age with no significant rebranding. The Action Masters were just an attempt to reverse the decline--sure, it didn't work, but very little would have worked at that point. |
| 358 | * Greg Farshtey gets a lot of backlash for ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'''s story, mostly because he was the most prominent name attached to the brand and the only one during its original run to be active in fan communities. Whether it's the series' tonal shift from [[DoingInTheWizard mystical fantasy to darker, comicbook-esque science-fantasy]], the [[NoHuggingNoKissing removal of romance]], inconsistent and flat characterizations or plot holes in general, fans were always quick to target Greg, ignoring that he wasn't part of the original concept creators and many decisions came from Franchise/{{LEGO}}'s management. This got to a point where some fans would start spreading falsehoods about Greg's involvement, like that he was the "head writer" of the dubiously received 2005-2010 sagas -- he wasn't. The GenreShift likewise had nothing to do with him, it was always planned. The complaints about many of the books and all of the online serials are more justified though, as most of these were written entirely by Greg. |
| 359 | [[/folder]] |
| 360 | |
| 361 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 362 | * Lampshaded in [[https://web.archive.org/web/20071029011716/http://www.killfrog.com/animations-of/34-animations/96-evil-piggies-show-1.html this]] cartoon. |
| 363 | --> "Creator/StevenSpielberg is the executive producer for ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', but we still blame him anyways." |
| 364 | * In his commentary for the [[WebVideo/TGWTGYearOneBrawl TGWTG Brawl]], Creator/DougWalker wasn't exactly happy with fan dumb calling him a misogynist for showing a pillow fight between WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick and Little Miss Gamer, explaining that Creator/{{Lindsay|Ellis}} had been the one to come up with it, not him. [[note]] He wasn't angry at Lindsay, just the concern trolls.[[/note]] Same went for Creator/NoahAntwiler and his commentary for the first "Spooning With Spoony". |
| 365 | ** Similarly, Lindsay Ellis took some flak for the jokes at the expense of Nella in [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick her show]]'s review of ''Film/{{Grease}}''. Lindsay had to clarify that Nella wrote the script herself, and that Nella and her are friends and she would never actually say anything like that. |
| 366 | ** A lot of people [[XPacHeat attack]] Creator/AllisonPregler for allegedly kicking [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]] off of Website/ChannelAwesome. This is in [[HateDumb spite of the fact]] that Spoony [[WordOfGod himself]] has said that Lupa [[http://www.twitlonger.com/show/i6dop4 did not]] [[http://spoonyexperiment.com/2012/09/15/to-boldly-flee-part-1-spoony-commentary/ get him fired]] and that he chose to leave himself. |
| 367 | ** Since he's the face of the website, Doug Walker often gets the brunt of criticism for Website/ChannelAwesome's mistreatment of its producers. Most of the executive decisions and abusive behavior came from Mike Michaud and, to a lesser extent, Rob Walker, who hold the majority stake in the website and dictate most business decisions. Some ex-producers do criticize Doug's lack of interference, however. |
| 368 | * WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic often ends up blaming movies for elements that originated from the works they were based on. Case in point, the purple suit worn by Film/{{The Phantom|1996}}, as well as his nickname "The Ghost Who Walks". On that note, Rachel and Malcolm are often blamed for things people don't like about the new Nostalgia Critic episodes, even though they have far less creative control than previously and they've said they just show up and get told what to do. |
| 369 | * Many Platform/YouTube comments are guilty of this, and frankly it shows how so few people actually ''do'' the research about stuff. Humorous examples include: |
| 370 | ** Saying the Japanese ruined ''Pokémon'' when the franchise was ''created'' by a Japanese company. |
| 371 | *** Blaming and crediting Nintendo for ''Pokémon'' games, when Nintendo is only the ''publisher''. |
| 372 | *** Also when the reboot happened, many blamed Game Freak which for once, had nothing to do with it. |
| 373 | *** Saying Ken Sugimori is running out of ideas and pointing towards Vanilluxe. Vanilluxe was designed by ''James Turner'', an Englishman. |
| 374 | ** Saying Nintendo ran out of ideas and reused music for ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Kingdom Hearts Re:coded]]''. In no way is Nintendo involved in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' franchise outside of advertising it in ''Magazine/NintendoPower''. Nintendo is not even the ''publisher''. |
| 375 | ** Saying ''Disney'' should have finished ''WesternAnimation/TheThiefAndTheCobbler''. Disney had ''nothing to do'' with that movie, it was made to be an anti-Disney, and the art style looks ''nothing'' like the art style of Disney movies. |
| 376 | *** Well, since Disney owned Miramax, the company responsible for ''Thief''[='=]s Macekre, Roy Disney for a long time was talking about having the Disney animators, many of whom trained with Richard Williams and brought that influence to ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', finish animating Williams' cut of the movie. But then Roy Disney left the company and then died, and Miramax closed and their library appears to have been sold to various other companies, so good luck with that. |
| 377 | ** Pointing fingers at Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} for stuff done in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' series after it was bought out by Creator/{{Disney}}. |
| 378 | *** Blaming Disney for changes to ''Doug'', when most of the original crew was still retained. |
| 379 | ** Bashing Creator/WarnerBros (or Time Warner) for removing music on Platform/YouTube, when it was actually Creator/WarnerMusicGroup, a ''completely separate'' record company. And neither Warner Bros. nor Time Warner owns WMG anymore. WMG spun off from Time Warner in 2004; since then, they've been owned by private investors, then a company called Access Industries, not Time Warner. At least the record company still keeps "Warner" in their name. |
| 380 | ** Anger at Creator/DisneyChannel for not making a ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' anime already. Channels aren't responsible for making shows--it is the job of ''studios'' to do that. |
| 381 | * For Creator/LittleKuriboh's ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'', despite the fact Creator/FourKidsEntertainment are the main villains of the 3rd season, fans keep on saying that [=4Kids=] are responsible for banning Creator/LittleKuriboh (aka [=CardGamesFTW=]). However, they were suspended by a Japanese company named Nippon Ad Systems--[=LittleKuriboh=] even stated himself that people should stop blaming [=4Kids=] and [=4Kids=] are still blamed to this day. Notably, the studio itself has been defunct for years. |
| 382 | ** Granted it wasn't even the company that banned him, but one of the faulty copyright bots [=YouTube=] uses to enforce copyright. |
| 383 | * The more irrational fans of the LetsPlay/{{Yogscast}} tend to accuse LetsPlay/InTheLittleWood of "replacing" LetsPlay/{{Sips}} for a series of ''VideoGame/GarrysMod Murder''. The reality... is that Sips simply wasn't available. |
| 384 | * LetsPlay/{{Sjin}} did not simply end his ''WebVideo/FeedTheWorld'' series (part of the WebVideo/YogscastMinecraftSeries) and choose to reboot it. The "Heartbleed" patch basically corrupted the old ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' server that the Yogs played on, meaning that a reboot was necessary. |
| 385 | * LetsPlay/LewisBrindley and LetsPlay/SimonLane tend to get a lot of flack for not finishing ''WebVideo/ShadowOfIsraphel''. While Lewis is involved in the creative process, he didn't make the series by himself (which, considering that the whole series began due to other Yogscast members pranking him, should be telling). Add to the fact that the creative team for ''SOI'' has largely moved elsewhere and you have a pretty huge case of ArtistDisillusionment. Simon has seemingly ''never'' been involved in the creative process, only turning up to play whatever storyline gets thrown his and Lewis' way. |
| 386 | * LetsPlay/{{Sips}} came under fire for a seeming shift to ''VideoGame/GarrysMod'' and nothing else come late 2014, with some accusing him of either selling out or screwing them over. The reality is that many of his ongoing Let's Play videos, such as ''VideoGame/FarCry4'', were lost due to his hard drive malfunctioning and dozens of videos subsequently going missing; this forced the rest of the Yogscast to essentially give him content to fill the gaps, leading to the increase in ''Gmod''. Similarly, he came under fire after LetsPlay/{{Turpster}} disappeared from videos come early 2015, with fans accusing him and LetsPlay/HatFilms of kicking him out due to the HateDumb (some going from calling for him to be removed to missing him). In reality, Turps had just become a father and quite understandably won't be involved as much due to his newborn baby. |
| 387 | * After a fairly ugly Twitter spat between LetsPlay/SimonLane and Creator/TheCynicalBrit, many unsubbed not just from Simon and Lewis' joint channel, but also from other content creators such as LetsPlay/DuncanJones and LetsPlay/ZoeyProasheck, even though they had ''literally nothing'' to do with the events. |
| 388 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': |
| 389 | ** After the season 3 finale, many fans accused Miles and Kerry of [[spoiler:killing off Pyrrha]] solely as one final tragedy in a season that was already divisive due to its massive change in tone and threat level. Thankfully, this died down quickly after it was confirmed by both Monty's widow and [[spoiler:Pyrrha's voice actress]] that Monty himself planned it before the series even began. |
| 390 | ** Miles often gets accused of writing Jaune (who he voices) as a self-insert and giving him an abundance of screen time. A [[https://www.reddit.com/r/RWBY/comments/7x3w4s/crwby_ama_w_miles_luna_kerry_shawcross_and_paula/du5a1zm/ Reddit AMA]] revealed that Monty and Kerry were behind most of Jaune's prominence and that Miles actually became averse to writing scenes with Jaune because of the accusations. |
| 391 | ** Eddy Rivas is often misblamed for the supposed queerbaiting that happened between Clover and Qrow, but little actual dialogue suggests a romantic bond between the two. Most of the blame for this can be laid at the social media team deliberately pushing the idea of the ship, several animators deliberately adding flirtatious content like Clover's wink when the script didn't call for it, and the voice actors of Qrow and Clover for underselling that they were meant to be more antagonistic. |
| 392 | ** After the Volume 9 Blu-Ray was released, and the commentary revealed that a number of segments had been cut due to time and money, the fanbase quickly came to the conclusion that this was because part of the budget intended for the season was used for ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueXRWBYSuperHeroesAndHuntsmen''. After this belief became widespread, Kerry Shawcross would explain that [[https://x.com/kerryshawcross/status/1711788948056383676?s=20 the movies had nothing to do with Volume 9's budget]], as the show is funded internally by Rooster Teeth, while the crossover movies were funded by Warner Bros. Animation. ''RWBY'' was simply one of the countless productions across the entertainment industry to affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| 393 | * The drag and drop animations site ''Platform/{{GoAnimate}}'' removed several text-to-speech voices (from sites such as Ivona, Oddcast and [=VoiceForge=]) in early 2016. Most of the non-ironic fanbase, who were already mad at site founder Alvin Hung for trying to turn the site into a business-only site and removing most social features, [[FelonyMisdemeanor took this as a second attack against them]] and proceeded to blame Alvin Hung for being "greedy". Truth is, however, most of the voices had expired licenses (and on top of that, mostly outdated) and Hung decided not to renew them. |
| 394 | * Many, ''many'' fans blame CBS for the culling of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan film community, accusing CBS of being jealous of the production of ''WebVideo/PreludeToAxanar'' and appointing the rules so that only they could make ''Star Trek'' productions. What many fans love to ignore is that the producers of ''Axanar'' were ''profiting'' from this and not actually being a non-profit work. CBS had to step in to protect their work and it was the ''Axanar'' creators' refusal to back down that lead to the rules being set up. |
| 395 | * The fansite [[https://www.smuncensored.com/comparison.php?episodeid=25 SM Uncensored]] thinks [[DubNameChange Lita]] being a "butchy, trash-talking whore" was a product of the infamously censored DIC dub. Quite frankly, that was pretty much the personality Makoto had in the original Japanese version of the anime. The three-dimensional anime!Makoto who's both girly and tomboyish that the fandom worships only exists in their imaginations. Makoto didn't do much in the anime and didn't have much personality to match. Most changes to her lie in the transition from manga to anime, thus Toei is more to blame than DIC or Optimum; the dubbers were simply working with what they had, though they undoubtedly made the problem worse. |
| 396 | * There was an infamous [=IndieGogo=] campaign for a sitcom inspired by a Website/{{Tumblr}} post about a pair of pansexual and asexual roommates, titled ''[[PunBasedTitle All or Nothing]].'' The campaign raised $6,000, but the product never manifested due to some heavy TroubledProduction (since the people behind the project were all teenage novices), leading to massive backlash as no refunds were ever issued. A couple of years later, an unrelated group adapted the concept into a vlog-based webseries, with the same title and basic premise. Unfortunately, many people assumed they were the ones who ran the [=IndieGogo=] campaign, leading to comments bashing the webseries for producing something cheap with $6,000 of crowdfunded money (in reality, the webseries was self-funded and never had any sort of crowdfunding, hence the small budget). |
| 397 | * PlayedForLaughs with "[[MemeticMutation Thanks Obama]]", where you basically would blame [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama the man]] for things that were absolute [[FirstWorldProblems non-issues]], could not even reasonably be considered the man's fault, or for things that happened before he was in politics ''or even born''. Or any combination thereof. Things like your Oreo breaking off in your glass of milk, your toast getting stuck in the toaster, not being able to find a decent place to eat tonight, or things like UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, or the extinction of the dinosaurs. The list goes on. It hit a point where Obama ''himself'' referenced it in a Buzzfeed video. |
| 398 | * PlayedForLaughs when ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'' are playing ''VideoGame/{{Breakout}}'' and Dan sings the lyrics to ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCOULpZztoM Turtle Power]]'', which gets Arin actually upset at the lyric "Raphael is the leader of the group" and makes him lecture Dan on the canon of ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'': |
| 399 | --> '''Arin:''' Raphael's the leader of the group?! |
| 400 | --> '''Dan:''' In the [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990 movies]], yes. |
| 401 | --> '''Arin:''' What?! No he's not! Leonardo's the leader! |
| 402 | --> '''Dan:''' In the ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 cartoon]]'', yes. |
| 403 | --> '''Arin:''' ''No!'' In the movie, Leonardo's still the leader! He goes on like a fucking spirit journey! It's straight out of the fucking [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage comic]]!!! |
| 404 | --> '''Dan:''' You're gonna be mad at ''me'' because-- |
| 405 | --> '''Arin:''' Well you're ''wrong!!!'' |
| 406 | [[/folder]] |
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