Some of the BMP do have interesting personalities such as Big Mom, Katakuri who I would say is the most well developed character out of all of them, Perospero, Mont-d'Or, Brûlée, Oven, and Flampe. As for their designs they are unique because Oda actually took the time to make each and every single one of them look unique in their own way including the minor members, the only ones I would say aren't that interesting in terms of designs are like Opera's quintuplet brothers as well as Chiffon and Lola. If Oda wanted to he could have only made the important members have unique designs and the rest all have bland looking designs, but he didn't do that and instead he made all of them have unique looking designs. He even made the female members have unique designs as well, something that Oda rarely does when it comes to designing a female character. Imo the female members have much more better designs than the Kuja Pirates as well as some other female characters in the series, seriously though even someone like Flampe has a much more better design than some of those Kuja Pirates.
I can't argue anything about Smoothie and Compote because their portrayal during the WCI arc really was bad, as for Big Mom she only became disappointing as an antagonist during the second half the WCI arc. During the first half of the WCI arc she was actually a decent antagonist, she orchestrated to have the Vinsmokes killed during the tea party and planned out how they were going to be killed, had Pudding show Luffy and the others how to get to WCI and once they arrived then she had had Brûlée lure Luffy and the others into the seducing woods, she sent Cracker a sweet general to kill Luffy, she tricked Sanji about letting Luffy and the others go, she defeated Brook and captured him, and during the tea party she defeated Judge, Niji, and Yonji. Yeah Big Mom is not the best antagonist but at least she was decent during the first half of the WCI arc, it's only during the second half of the arc when things really go downhill for her.
No plenty of major arc antagonists have suffered humiliations when they go up against the SHs the only exception to this is CP9 as well Kizaru and Sentomaru, the BMP being humiliated isn't anything new plenty of major arc antagonists are going to be shown as being seemingly perfect at first until they go up against the SHs. Despite the BMP being humiliated they were still the most dangerous enemies that Luffy and the others faced in the New World, two characters had to sacrifice themselves in order to help the SHs and others, they were almost killed multiple times and the only reason why they survived was because plot and having help, and even at the very end the SHs needed help from Jinbe, the Sun Pirates, and Germa just to escape from the BMP territory.
While I can understand some of the criticism when it comes to the BMP, the rest in the other hand is just poor and not even actual criticism it's just simply oh I wanted them to perfect and end the SHs. The problem is some people like you had high expectations for them acting like they were going to be a perfect crew with no flaws, and now we are going through a similar thing with the Beasts Pirates for the Wano arc.
This entire post is just one huge straw man, accusing me of things that I never said and arguing against points that I never made.
Did I say that I wanted the BMPs to “end the SHs”?
No because that would be dumb, unrealistic and utterly destroy the plot. That is ridiculous.
Did I say that no other One Piece antagonist had suffered no humiliation whatsoever?
No, I did not, read again, properly this time.
Did I say that I wanted a “perfect crew”?
No because flaws are what makes characters interesting to begin with and besides, how many famous and popular villains/antagonists in fiction ultimately win against the protagonists in the climax of a story?
Certainly not that many in comparison to how many lose against the protagonist. That entire line of argument is just straight up disingenuous.
It is not
who wins that matters but
how they win. It is whether the victory is deserved against an opponent that has been hyped as a dangerous and credible foe for whatever reason. The fact that you are whipping out the “but plot” card already tells me whether or not you think the victory was deserved.
Oda made the Straw Hats win by making the Big Mom Pirates grossly incompetent despite their prior hype as a supposedly intelligent crew and yes, that gross incompetence counts as part of their portrayal.
If Oda does not take them seriously, why should anyone else?
Were my expectations high?
Should they not have been? This was the first Yonko crew that Luffy was going to face, it would be damn strange if my expectations were low.
Besides, the one who sets the expectations regarding a story is the creator of the story. They hype characters that within their world are supposed to be important and influential. Then they either deliver on that set up hype or they do not.
With Big Mom, Oda clearly did not deliver. That is on him.
Just think about these two questions.
I) Can you name me one other major arc antagonist that was outshined by their own subordinate in their own arc?
II) Would any other serious major arc antagonist (especially a male character) lose their mind, fall flat on their face, lose one of their main weapons and chase a bakery product for 20 chapters straight?
I will wait.
