Sakurai explains why Ridley isn't Playable.

[SmashBro99]

Surprised this thread is still open.

Well Sakurai shared his reasons for what he did, and I'm fine with it, Ridley is the most interesting boss we've had, and aside from people being salty, I don't see why this is seen as "Sakurai hating Ridley" he put so much detail into the boss, and kept him true to the character, a big menacing boss, not a mini Ridley who can lose to a Jigglypuff...if you wanted that you are honestly a bandwagoner and NOT a Ridley fan, just my opinion.

If anything you guys who are hating should be thankful to Sakurai for this Ridley boss, its completely awesome.

The Olimar and Bowser comparisons are completely different, many people have already explained why these are fine, while Ridley's size was a huge factor.

I did hate Sakurai for what he's done to Ganondorf all this time, but he does have some magical properties in his moveset and he's being decloned every time there is a new game, and I can understand that some people like how he plays in Smash so it makes sense to not completely redo him to something like how he plays in Hyrule Warriors (I'd still want that tho)

You can't compare Ridley to the other characters, there's a big difference, Ganondorf is still meant to be a powerful fighter, even before obtaining the Triforce of Power he was the strongest being in Hyrule, and he has some elements of dark magic in his moveset, so they still kept some things true to him which I appreciate, Bowser changes size a lot (usually huge when he has the Power Stars, Star Rod, etc) and Olimar is a completely different story, we can talk about sizes in stages and blah blah but only the saltiest of Ridley supporters are still arguing these silly things, the realistic ones understand which is good.

This is just one guy's opinion.

 

[Samus Harang]

He doesn't care about Ridley, the size thing makes no sense. He is only twice the size of Samus in many appearances, he's not always a giant creature.

 

[MagiusNecros]

I think size is a nonissue. All the characters are toy figures brought to life. It's probably Ridley's proportions and how powerful he generally is as a result that stops Sakurai. Ironically for Brawl Sakurai made Meta Knight an absolute monster which is now no longer the case in Smash 4. Guess he wants to avoid a super powerful go to character. But I still think an inverse to Little Mac would be great. Weak on the ground but stupid strong in the air.

 

[LancerStaff]

Ridley is only twice the size of Samus in Super Metroid, which is like the same thing that Bowser is compared to Mario in the original games (when your little Mario.)

If Bowser can fit so can Ridley!

Big Mario has been the cannon size for Mario since LL.

 

[Boozer]

Ridley is the second-biggest thing in any game he appears in.

not even close bby

when i first saw this article i was upset that lord sakurai actually thought ridley couldnt work. but since we have modders to prove him wrong im just gonna go with my new headcanon of him being high 24/7 and saying the first thing he says when he gets asked questions.

asol i dont get how ganon having purple fire effects on his moves is really representative of his ability to use dark magic. i mean falcon has fire effects on his moves but you ain't see no one calling him a fire mage ?_?

 

[LancerStaff]

I think size is a nonissue. All the characters are toy figures brought to life. It's probably Ridley's proportions and how powerful he generally is as a result that stops Sakurai. Ironically for Brawl Sakurai made Meta Knight an absolute monster which is now no longer the case in Smash 4. Guess he wants to avoid a super powerful go to character. But I still think an inverse to Little Mac would be great. Weak on the ground but stupid strong in the air.

not even close bby

when i first saw this article i was upset that lord sakurai actually thought ridley couldnt work. but since we have modders to prove him wrong im just gonna go with my new headcanon of him being high 24/7 and saying the first thing he says when he gets asked questions.

asol i dont get how ganon having purple fire effects on his moves is really representative of his ability to use dark magic. i mean falcon has fire effects on his moves but you ain't see no one calling him a fire mage ?_?

Proof?

And obviously Falcon is so awesome he doesn't need a reason for the fire.

 

[Teran]

I'm getting tired of repeating myself...

Bowser was that big in three of the five games before Melee, and Charizard is usually depicted on the ground and having limited flight.

Dude have you even watched Pokémon and seen the recent games? Charizard is constantly in flight in X/Y, he's always been depicted as being able to sustain continuous flight.

 

[Samus Harang]

Big Mario has been the cannon size for Mario since LL.

What's LL?

 

[Folt]

Gonna C&P this from the Social Thread...
YOU KNOW WHAT!?
I'm not going to give any opinions here, I'm merely going to explain how Sakurai simply hates Ridley and Metroid in general and how he's a complete hypocrite, through FACTS. These statements clash so much with how the final product looks like, and it bugs me that he can't outright say "I don't like the Metroid series" rather than giving us this goldmine of words that don't match up at all...

“I definitely know that Ridley’s a much-anticipated name for fans, but if we made Ridley as a fighter, it wouldn’t be Ridley any longer, It’d have to be shrunk down, or its wings reduced in size, or be unable to fly around freely.”
Characters that directly contradict the shrunk down (Size) statement:

Characters that blatantly contradict the fly around freely statement:

Also, the 'or its wings reduced in size' is particularily troubling, as the METROID SERIES HAS DONE THIS BEFORE WITHOUT BREAKING ANY OF RIDLEY'S CHARACTER, THE METROID SERIES, apparently you're more accurate than the goddamn source material, Sakurai:

“Providing accurate portrayals of characters is something I want to pay ample attention to,” he continued. “If I don’t stick to that thought, then we’d have to lower the quality or break the balance of the game. Something that goes way off spec could break the entire game.”
Accurate portrayals? Lemme see here...
: Has an animal voice because Sakurai liked it better, because the Mario series doesn't exist and neither does SHOWTIME! or Bowser's current, well-liked portrayal as an expressive villain with attitude.
: Has an animal voice because Sakurai liked it better, because his visual design totally doesn't match up with his actual voice from the actual Donkey Kong games, where he's expressive and memorable. The lack of a Barrel Throw move seems odd, especially considering that both his UpB and SideB are non-canon, made-up moves.
: Do I even need to touch this one? Ganondorf literally draws zero content from the Zelda series for his moveset, and he's been stuck 3 games as a clone of character he has nothing to do with. Precious, simply precious, the main villain of one of Nintendo's biggest series IS A CLONE OF ANOTHER SERIES' CHARACTER.
: Completely generic and OOC voiceover.
: Most of his moveset belongs to another character from Earthbound.
: The suitless Samus somehow has a higher damage output and physical capabilities than the one with the Power Suit. You know? The physically-enhancing, almighty, technologically-advanced alien combat suit that's often associated the most with the Metroid series?
: Uses absolutely zero unique content from Wind Waker, Spirit Tracks or Phantom Hourglass on his moveset.
: Complete lack of Wario Land representation, and most of his moves aren't even based on WarioWare, so he's basically made up on the spot, really faithful to the Wario series.
: Olimar never used Wing Pikmin In-Game.

Oh, let's look at some characters with perfect portrayals that draw a ton from their respective games...
: Entire moveset change to be more accurate to the source material? Of course!
: He has to exist because he couldn't use the Three Sacred Treasures, screw the Triforce Slash, the Zero Laser, the Great Aether, Giga Bowser, Peach Blossom, Balloon Puff, Mario Finale, Megaman Legends (This one gets a pass), Difussion Beam and Power Star never being things on the actual games, Dark Pit can't be seen using the Three Sacred Treasures. Oh, not to mention the Koopalings turning into Shadow Mario, I guess they should all be characters because they shouldn't be turning into Shadow Mario, IT'S NOT CANON, THE HORROR!
: The only flaw about Palutena's representation would be her voice actress, but she still sounds pretty similar, even...
: All pretty much a copy of their respective game counterparts, all drawing heavy inspiration from canon.

“Instead of going through a lot of very convoluted hocus-pocus to make Ridley a fighter, I figured it’d be better to keep Ridley as it currently is, the correct way, and have it feel like a truly threatening presence,”

What about the convoluted hocus-pocus of balancing a character based on an all-ground playstyle? Or the convoluted hocus-pocus of making a puppeteer character? Or the convoluted hocus-pocus of balancing an all-projectile character? Or the convoluted hocus-pocus of making a character that can basically switch playstyles and physics on the go? I guess you could also call turning costumes into full-fledged characters a convoluted process, especially with the balancing part...oh...and wasn't it a convoluted hocus-pocus to make a three-style customizable fighter with variable weight and outfits that has access to 3 times the moveset of all characters? Wasn't that convoluted?

Basically "Instead of putting EFFORT into something that the Metroid fanbase has rightfully demanded and defended FOR YEARS, I figured it'd be better to keep Ridley as it currently is, the way I like it, and have him bending over to anyone who beats him up enough, completely ****ting on the fact that his character's based on how cunning, smart and egoistical he is, rather than some mundane thing like his size"

I hope this was at least a decent read for anyone who's as angry at this man as I am right now, there's nothing that pisses me off more that a man that goes back and forth on his word like a freaking Tennis match. The thing that angers me the most was the 'shrink his wings' bit, it's like this man has never even touched a Metroid game.

To address some of your points:

size change:
Let's say all those Ridleys have those same sprites as 3D models. Now, try resizing those Ridleys to around, let's say Smash Bowser's size: Do they look the same to you? Do they look threatening like they do in their games? Do those resized Ridley models do Ridley justice in terms of being a ****ing sadistic space dragon pirate that's more than a match for his archrival? Do they look like they could take the currently playable fighters in a fight?

No?

flying freely:
Um, pretty sure "flying freely" in this case means actual unhindered non-timed flight, not hovering over the ground and getting a limited amount of "jumps" or flaps to poorly imitate how they fly in their games of origin or, in Pit's case, temporarily getting the ability to fly. Ganondorf doesn't even do that flying stuff so I have no idea why he's there.


: To be honest, in spite of their animal voices in Smash, they still manage to possess plenty of the attitude they have in their main games. As for a Barrel Throw move for DK: Pick up a barrel item (or use fthrow on a fighter). Been there since the original and still going strong.

: He uses dark magic and is ridiculously strong, and he is the humanoid form of Ganon (or rather, Ganon was what Ganondorf eventually became). These are the only things that are consistent throughout Ganondorf's appearances in the Zelda universe. In Smash, he uses dark magic to augment his attacks, is ridiculously strong, and can transform into Ganon from Brawl onwards. As much as Ganondorf cribbed from Cpt. Falcon, he's managed to still be rather faithful to the traits that make him Ganondorf in the first place, and Brawl onwards have seen him make the cloned moveset his own thing.

: Ness is the most recognizable playable character from Earthbound and I suspect that the reason Ness borrows moves from the other characters is because it would better represent the fact that he's a PSI user and because they are flashier attacks, more befitting of being special moves, than Ness's own.

: I'd chalk this up to game balance. Also, as much as ZSS is acrobatic, the way her weapons arsenal is lowered from energy balls, bombs, missiles, and morph ball, to jet heels (4 onwards) and a plasma whip/pistol make her feel astoundingly less powerful and less flashy than when she's in her power suit.

: To be honest, Link's weapons most associated with him are pretty much the arsenal that both Links bring with them to Smash: Sword, Bow, Boomerang, and Bombs... + Hookshot/Clawshot and all are weapons that Toon Link also uses. As Toon Link is also a successor to Young Link who's used these weapons before Adult Link was even a thing, it makes this much more appropriate.

: He still keeps his overalls. Also, much of Wario's movements, in his moveset or otherwise, when he debuted was given janky animations similiar to how he's animated and act in WarioWare, and his Brawl incarnation also had the shoulder barge.

: Olimar may not, but when we have a choice between a recovery that's simpler to use and an easily-gimped tether recovery from Brawl onwards, it should be obvious as to what would make people more happy. Also, Olimar got an alt in this game who did make use of the winged Pikmin.

: All of those Final Smashes you listed (except Megaman Legends and that one gets a pass anyways for the ridiculous love they give to that franchise) are things that wouldn't be out of place on their respective characters as a super move (not to mention Giga Bowser also references the fact that Bowser frequently changes sizes and lets you control a boss character: Bowser is probably one of the most notable bosses in videogame history and Giga Bowser was so cool I wanted to play as him when I saw him in Melee). Also, the Koopalings is a rather dumb example to use since they were much better as alts in this case: Imagine the roster being taken up by 7 more Mario characters and having 57-58 total roster spots on the screen. I couldn't even imagine the complaints. Since both Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings have become more and more associated with each other, him leading them and their use of a clown car in NSMB2, this was a good choice. Shadow Mario being the Final Smash for all of them by virtue of being alts is a piddly cost to make for a more clean roster and throwing the Koopaling fans a bone. Finally, it makes sense for Dark Pit to use his own most powerful weapon for his Final Smash, rather than using Pit's Sacred Treasures.

As far as Little Mac, Mega Man and Mii Gunner, and Zelda/Sheik (& Samus) go: It's easier to balance someone who's supposed to dominate on the ground but being crap in the air due to how Smash's mechanics work compared to someone who could fly freely at will since the ground-based fighter can only do so much as the stage allows them to while the flier would basically make use of the entire arena. Mega Man and Mii Gunner's projectile-based arsenal gave them defined strengths and weaknesses from the get-go that Sakurai could build upon to give them what they need to stay competitive.

As for Rosalina & Luma, it probably gave Sakurai less headaches to conceive and implement them than the Ice Cimbers for this iteration of Smash given that Luma would be simpler to program than the Nana/Popo CPU, which would make it easier to test and balance the character further against the rest.

As for Mii Fighters, let's face it: This, and also making them customizable fighters, is a much better choice over Ridley no matter what and it gave me a Fighting ____ Team that is finally as equally good as the Fighting Polygon Team, but for (mostly) different reasons.

 

[Xzsmmc]

Well Sakurai shared his reasons for what he did, and I'm fine with it, Ridley is the most interesting boss we've had, and aside from people being salty, I don't see why this is seen as "Sakurai hating Ridley" he put so much detail into the boss, and kept him true to the character, a big menacing boss, not a mini Ridley who can lose to a Jigglypuff...if you wanted that you are honestly a bandwagoner and NOT a Ridley fan, just my opinion.

If anything you guys who are hating should be thankful to Sakurai for this Ridley boss, its completely awesome.

I think I said this earlier, but the Ridley stage boss is pretty embarrassing. He's nothing but an intrusive pinata that you're encouraged to beat up, and can even kill for an extra point in time matches. He can still be beaten by Jigglypuff, and it's even more rididulous, since he'll join it's side if it hits him first. I don't know too much about Ridley's character, but it seems very unlikely to me that he's a coward who immediately joins who hits him. Why not just make him an Assist Trophy if he's pretty much going to play the same role? That way he can be less pathetic, and not make Pyrosphere virtually unplayable.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Well I can't argue against that.

 

[Samus Harang]

Sakurai picks favorites, but that's not a big deal. It's that a lot of cool characters get left out because he doesn't get enough ideas from his staff or the community to make them a reality. Smash 4 has a cool roster but it could obviously be better.

 

[Boozer]

Proof?

well in zero mission there's king worm and kraid, prime there's like, parasite queen, flaahgra, sheegoth daddy, thardus, the phazon elite pirate, and he's pretty much one of if not the smallest boss in other m. i'll give you fusion though, he's pretty big in that (but it's not actually ridley in that game soooooo :>). it's just a pretty blatantly ignorant statement to say that he's the second biggest thing in every game he's in, as it's just not true. :<

size really isn't a big deal for ridley's character anyway tbh; it's not like a savage dragon thing slightly taller than bowser in this game WOULDN'T be intimidating just because he's not as big as he usually is, you know?

 

[Malkior7]

Sorry but that's a bunch of BS Sakurai

 

[Folt]

I think I said this earlier, but the Ridley stage boss is pretty embarrassing. He's nothing but an intrusive pinata that you're encouraged to beat up, and can even kill for an extra point in time matches. He can still be beaten by Jigglypuff, and it's even more rididulous, since he'll join it's side if it hits him first. I don't know too much about Ridley's character, but it seems very unlikely to me that he's a coward who immediately joins who hits him. Why not just make him an Assist Trophy if he's pretty much going to play the same role? That way he can be less pathetic, and not make Pyrosphere virtually unplayable.

Given how certain aspects of the Pyrosphere work for Ridley, I'm guessing the stage was made with Ridley s it's boss in mind.

 

[Naglfarii]

So this finally happened, huh? I wasn't expecting him to come out and say this.

I don't care about Ridley anymore, I'm not going to bother myself with the reasoning, but it was a BAD move on his part. If he knows how popular Ridley is, I'm pretty sure he also knew that a comment like that would definitely kick up a storm. That was honestly immature on his part.

I think there's been pressure a while to explain why ridley wasn't picked.

 

[Xzsmmc]

Given how certain aspects of the Pyrosphere work for Ridley, I'm guessing the stage was made with Ridley s it's boss in mind.

Doesn't make it any less of a mess. The FD variants of Wily Castle and Pyrosphere are an absolute lifesaver, since it means you can actually fight there.

 

[Samus Harang]

Why say anything though. I saw that clone comment which just upset people so why say more stuff when people don't want excuses, good or bad, for things they don't like. Was Sakurai ever so talkative before?

 

[MagiusNecros]

Doesn't make it any less of a mess. The FD variants of Wily Castle and Pyrosphere are an absolute lifesaver, since it means you can actually fight there.

The terrible thing though is you no longer have platforms. So Projectile based characters once again get the advantage.

Why say anything though. I saw that clone comment which just upset people so why say more stuff when people don't want excuses, good or bad, for things they don't like. Was Sakurai ever so talkative before?

Nah. This gen he said he wouldn't talk as much and just post pictures. I imagine it's probably because what he would have to say wouldn't go over well with fans. Kinda like this whole Ridley thing. Since it just sounds like an excuse when he would be better off either not answering or just saying Ridley is a boss. Putting it up there, up front without trying to be classy and fancy about it.

 

[Folt]

Doesn't make it any less of a mess. The FD variants of Wily Castle and Pyrosphere are an absolute lifesaver, since it means you can actually fight there.

So? I can have a giant boss on my side on a stage designed with him in mind. No regrets!

 

[LancerStaff]

Dude have you even watched Pokémon and seen the recent games? Charizard is constantly in flight in X/Y, he's always been depicted as being able to sustain continuous flight.

Most games and the show typically show him grounded. And again, Charizard doesn't really care if he's fighting in the air or on the ground, while Ridley is actually flying and fighting 99% of the time.

What's LL?

Lost Levels, or SMB2J.

well in zero mission there's king worm and kraid, prime there's like, parasite queen, flaahgra, sheegoth daddy, thardus, the phazon elite pirate, and he's pretty much one of if not the smallest boss in other m. i'll give you fusion though, he's pretty big in that (but it's not actually ridley in that game soooooo :>). it's just a pretty blatantly ignorant statement to say that he's the second biggest thing in every game he's in, as it's just not true. :<

size really isn't a big deal for ridley's character anyway tbh; it's not like a savage dragon thing slightly taller than bowser in this game WOULDN'T be intimidating just because he's not as big as he usually is, you know?

Second biggest, third biggest, whatsever. Forgot about giant worm because I skip him so much.

The terrible thing though is you no longer have platforms. So Projectile based characters once again get the advantage.

Do we really need to bring in the FD-only-versus-other-stages argument?

 

[Boozer]

Second biggest, third biggest, whatsever. Forgot about giant worm because I skip him so much.

gotta admit though, for a guy whose viewed as being too big, being one of the smaller metroid bosses is pretty ironic

 

[MagiusNecros]

Do we really need to bring in the FD-only-versus-other-stages argument?

Just saiyan. I'm not arguing. It's a fact. Those without a projectile will have to fight twice as hard. Not impossible to achieve. Just hard work and determination.

 

[LancerStaff]

Just saiyan. I'm not arguing. It's a fact. Those without a projectile will have to fight twice as hard. Not impossible to achieve. Just hard work and determination.

*sigh*

It's really not that hard to deal with since projectiles have been nerfed to heck. And too many characters only work effectively on FD to add in other stages. Even adding a stage with any significant difference would then turn Glory into a game of who's stage gets picked, wins. And of course, there's absolutely no consensus on what stages are good or not. FD only is the quickest, easiest solution there is.

 

[MagiusNecros]

*sigh*

It's really not that hard to deal with since projectiles have been nerfed to heck. And too many characters only work effectively on FD to add in other stages. Even adding a stage with any significant difference would then turn Glory into a game of who's stage gets picked, wins. And of course, there's absolutely no consensus on what stages are good or not. FD only is the quickest, easiest solution there is.

Adding FD stages with platforms as a separate mode within FG would also be a easy solution. But I digress. We aren't discussing why Projectile characters have an edge in FG. It's all about Ridley right now.

 

[Samus Harang]

Limiting stages is like limiting characters, no variety and annoying to see the same thing all the time.

 

[Naglfarii]

I'm sure when they picked FD for the omega maps over battlefield they made a conscious decision to balance 1v1 around FD.

tbh the omega stages are my favorite addition to smash bros outside of new characters

 

[Samus Harang]

I thought Battlefield was added into For Glory, or was that a rumor? I don't have the game so I don't know.

 

[LancerStaff]

I thought Battlefield was added into For Glory, or was that a rumor? I don't have the game so I don't know.

A completely bogus rumor.

 

[Dendros]

“Providing accurate portrayals of characters is something I want to pay ample attention to,” he continued. “If I don’t stick to that thought, then we’d have to lower the quality or break the balance of the game. Something that goes way off spec could break the entire game.”

So he decides that this abomination:
i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b483/pacack/Ridley-Alt01_zps116c0468.png

Is a more accurate portrayal that this:
metroid.retropixel.net/games/ssbb/boss_ridley1.jpg

way to go sakurai. you basically just said screw you to all metroid and ridley fans.

 

[MagiusNecros]

I thought Battlefield was added into For Glory, or was that a rumor? I don't have the game so I don't know.

Each stage has a Omega Version. Which all stages are flat with no platforms. Personally I love them. No clutter. That said as a Bowser player I know when I have a clear disadvantage. But if you mindgame the player you can beat them at the game they play.

--------------------

And I'm pretty sure Sakurai doesn't know that Other M Ridley isn't really Ridley. But is still Ridley as far as Sakurai is concerned.

 

[Luigi#1]

...
Damn, that was brutal.

 

[LancerStaff]

“Providing accurate portrayals of characters is something I want to pay ample attention to,” he continued. “If I don’t stick to that thought, then we’d have to lower the quality or break the balance of the game. Something that goes way off spec could break the entire game.”

So he decides that this abomination:
i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b483/pacack/Ridley-Alt01_zps116c0468.png

Is a more accurate portrayal that this:
metroid.retropixel.net/games/ssbb/boss_ridley1.jpg

way to go sakurai. you basically just said screw you to all metroid and ridley fans.

It's the most current design. Wether or not OM should have content in SSB is a completely different matter.

 

[Dendros]

Yeah Sakurai just cares about making accurate portrayals of Kid Icarus characters and fire emblem characters.

 

[Dendros]

It's the most current design. Wether or not OM should have content in SSB is a completely different matter.

why didn't they use link's latest design? or Zelda's or megaman's or pacman's? what about sonic ? he still got his classic design even though they made a terrible abomination out of him.

 

[StarBot]

Yeah Sakurai just cares about making accurate portrayals of Kid Icarus characters and fire emblem characters.

I know it's your opinion, but no...
That's not true

 

[Geno Boost]

poor Ridley...
but why sakurai didnt give us at least Dark Samus?

 

[LancerStaff]

Yeah Sakurai just cares about making accurate portrayals of Kid Icarus characters and fire emblem characters.

And Metroid characters that resemble the current design that the person currently in control of Metroid as a whole made.

why didn't they use link's latest design? or Zelda's or megaman's or pacman's? what about sonic ? he still got his classic design even though they made a terrible abomination out of him.

Link is so he matches Ganondorf and the gale boomerang, Zelda to match the other two, Megaman matches Megaman 10's in-game design, Pac-Man's new design exists next to the old (and the PM in the cartoons is old PM's son from what I hear), and Sonic is the Lost World design over a spin-off in Sonic Boom.

 

[WwwWario]

I completely understand Sakurai and his points. However, it is still a bit weird. Take Charizard for example. In-game, he isn't much taller than the human characters, while in the anime is is gigantic compared to Ash and the other humans there. Though, Pokemon can have different sizes I guess

 

[PCHU]

After looking at some fan content, I guess I'm just not seeing how he couldn't work.
One could argue that it might be too much of a size difference between characters like Olimar/Kirby and Ridley, but I don't really think that's a valid excuse.
I think he could've been pretty interesting, especially if canon moves were integrated, but with characters like Ganondorf and Wario running around, I don't think the chances of that would be high.

I do like Sakurai because he gave us some cool stuff, but I kinda wish he'd just leave it at "I include who I want to include" to prevent him from going back on himself so much, or to have things be misinterpreted.
Stripping Wario of his Wario Land moves and calling it canon isn't exactly what I would call trustworthy, especially when there wasn't a real reason to do it in the first place.
Like I said, the guy made some cool stuff, but his reasoning doesn't align with his actions; I'd actually rather him give the "free dessert" argument again.