In my opinion the “Mary Sue” stuff is absolute bullshit that has now seeped into the movies itself. The urge to pacify crying fans is the reason we’re now left with the fan wanking trash that is Rey Palpatine.
Though I suppose the only casualty is the integrity of Rey’s character, and who cares about that when you finally have an explanation for how “OP” she is! The saga is saved!
I don’t think you should blame it on the fans. None of the fans who hated Rey Nobody like Rey Palpatine. They see it for what it is: a misguided attempt to please everyone that resulted in the sequel trilogy having no clear direction.
They’re the cause, whether they like how it ended up or not. JJ and Terrio bought into the argument that Rey’s character progression should treat her like a video game character, not a human being.
No one has ever said that Rey should be a video game character, that’s a complete straw-man. We just want Rey to have some sort of struggle before she begins using the Force like a Jedi master. Is that too much to ask?
I think it’s an accurate descriptor. The films already gave us a character struggling in a different way, but it wasn’t enough for some people because she reached too high a power level without spending enough time grinding for XP. It’s the same reason we have the pointless training sequence at the start of TROS.
They ruined her arc for the sake of fans, and so every fan who complained Rey was “OP” deserved the shitty explanation they got.
They may have thought it was for the sake of fans, but no one who hated Rey Nobody liked Rey Palpatine. It’s like asking someone to make a sandwich, them making a sandwich that looks like a sloppy, slimy mess, and them blaming you for wanting a sandwich.
It’s more like they made a sandwich that worked perfectly well without mayo, then the fans had it sent back because there wasn’t any mayo, then they ruined it by putting a shit ton of mayo on it.