Big the Cat is misunderstood

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I don't think I quite 'get' the majority of hate for Big the Cat. Sure people are entitled to dislike him. It's just when he's disliked for petty reasons that's the point of contention.

Fans call him a 'moron', 'dumbass' and other unpleasant names pertaining to dimwittedness yet Big isn't dumb at all when you really get down to it. Dude lives out in the wilderness with only a fishing rod for sustenance, an open hut to live in and a frog as his only apparent permanent associate. He 'piloted' the Tornado 2 competently enough to make it back to his home safely even if the plane was crashed. And no, I don't consider Chronicles to be some credible portrayal of Big's character in any way, shape or form because...

1 - The game is officially confirmed as non-canon, meaning that it never happened and therefore it's portrayals of characters are completely moot and irrelevant to anything
2 - Every other character is grossly OOC and/or exaggerated in that game by writers who clearly don't know what the hell they're doing anyway as evidenced by the contradictions of continuity and rampant factual errors sprinkled everywhere in the game.

I personally thought that Big was a breath of fresh air. In a world of mad egg-shaped scientists and supersonic blue Hedgehog's, his sedentary mannerisms and simple lifestyle stick-out pleasantly IMO and don't detract from anything. I also think that's he's pretty lovable too, big furry oaf with his adorable simpleness and dedication to his best friends Amy, Cream and Froggy.

Another thing about Big is that his detractor's blame his very polarizing game style on him as a character. A gameplay style is relevant to a character's personality and design and the other things that constitute a character? Not really... By this logic, we could claim that the often-disliked treasure hunting levels in the two adventure games mean that Knuckles or Rouge suck as characters. Catch my drift?