General & Others Is it really the fans' fault for believing Kid=Luffy?

#22
To the OP´s question, yes and no.

It´s Oda´s fault because from the setup, you could have expected to at least have Law and Kid compete with Luffy, at least until the BB fight. And with the setup of "Haki blooms in extreme diff fights" Oda would also have an explanation of why they could have competed for a while despite not having masters like Rayleigh or Mihawk training them, especially Kid who throws himself into fights, compared with Law who is more about strategy.

It´s also the fan´s fault because after Dressrosa, it was not unlikely that Oda was not treating them credibly as rivals since Law became a cheerleader, and there was no significant argument to why Kid should be different. Add to that the fact that Luffy basically outperformed everyone, including Kid, within 2 weeks of coming to the New World, yeah, the argument of "Kid is supposed to be Luffy´s rival, hence Luffy = Kid" did not work anymore, just like it did not work for Smoker in Punk Hazard.

To be fair, i always expected that this is the arc that elevates Luffy to the top contender besides Blackbeard (after having beaten Shanks), so i never expected Kid to fully compete, but did not imagine it to be this bad and large of a gap.
 
#23
I feel like there's been a lot of gaslighting going around in regards to Eustass Kid

I think that up until the rooftop, arguing that Kid was on par with Luffy had some legitimacy. Zoro fans, of course, always argued otherwise because they wanted their favorite to be Luffy's only equal. Then the rooftop happened, Kid was sidelined, and all of a sudden, now I was supposedly delusional all this time for thinking Kid could be on Luffy's level.

When irl literally the entire point of Kid's character was to be Luffy's rival:
  • their interaction in sabaody
  • having a higher bounty than luffy in sabaody
  • having a supernova right hand
  • wanting to kill shanks
  • having a comparable bounty up until WCI
  • having CoC
  • their interaction in udon
If Oda didn't want Kid to be Luffy's rival, then he shouldn't have done any of the stuff I mentioned. I figured that this portrayal had to have some sort of payoff, that Oda wouldn't introduce a character like this for the fuck of it. That especially with Kid wanting to kill shanks and become pirate king, there must be some sort of confrontation between the two.

And oda blatantly failed to deliver on his promises. I don't think this is a fanboy take. Why do so many people view Kid as a disappointment, despite him 2v1ing an emperor? Why do so many people think Kid is trash despite having better feats than most other characters?

This isn't the fans fault for misinterpreting the manga, Its Oda's fault for making Kid's role in the story inconsistent with his initial portrayal.
My biggest problem was when Kidd fans told me Kidd > Zoro not Kidd = Luffy

I would have been fine with following two Kidd = Luffy takes since I don't care about either Kidd or Luffy

1 Zoro > Luffy = Kidd
2 Zoro = Luffy = Kidd

It is when I heard Kidd > Zoro I called bullshit and I have been calling Kidd > Zoro bullshit since Dressrosa since I always know Zoro was this fucking strong. People just realized that in wano when he made Luffy and everyone else look like turds on Roof top.
 
#26
Because the ultimate rival of Luffy is Blackbeard!

His name itself Edward D. Teach, the D. + same name as Whitebeard.
The moment he was introduced, a clear opposite parallel with Luffy (one likes pies and hate that drink, the other one was the opposite).
He wants to become the PK like Luffy. He is now Yonkou and has two DF, never seen before.

There was no place for Kidd in the first place.
Rival of Luffy for what, how ? Because he said he wanted to become PK ? but many said that. Bounty over luffy ? I mean Oda explained very well, kidd has higher bounty because he was killing people. Dude never defeated a yc, a warlord, nor faced WG directly.
Luffy was way ahead by defeating 3 warlords, cp9, punching the CDs.

So yes it was really the fault of some fans who expected and wanted Kidd to be Luffy's fierced rival. Even if he defeats big mom with law, it won't change anything. He will never be on Luffy's lvl.
 
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