There are people who hate Cloud? I may have never played a single Final Fantasy game in my life, but even I understand the significance of the character to the franchise itself as well as his influence on the opinion of Western gamers with regards to the RPG genre.
I hope this doesnt change people´s opinion on me but yes I didnt want Cloud in Smash. (I think there are probably more out there). I am fine with him now that he joined but I wasnt exactly thrilled by the idea when I first saw support for him during brawl. My hate mostly stem from how he acted in the KH games and the movies which was the only contact I had with the character. My opinion (edgiest character ever) changed when a friend bought me his game to try it out. My opinion changed completely after playing the game. He is a totally different guy. Anyway, by smash 4, I actually was curious and happy to see the guy.
The years and experiences have taught me that smash caters to many people and everyone has a character that they want. I dont always understand why there is interest for some characters but I stay around and think that there might actually be something of value behind the character. I dont always get it but it is fine since it is imposible to understand every single person in the world. I just go back to the experience with Cloud and move on thinking that I should give people the benefit of the doubt at the very least.
Funnily enough, life went ahead and show me the hard reality. I have met many people (some of those people are friends I play smash in real life) irl that hate the characters I love. Characters I found amusing like Game and watch, ROB, Duck Hunt or Incineroar have detractors. I even know a few people that absolutely hate Pokémon. Knowing that not everything I enjoy is of the like of others, makes me realize that I am not in a better position than any other person on the planet. We all have things that we like, we all have things that we hate.
That is probably why I try to stay away from arguments of disapproval for other characters. I dont know. There are still some characters I dont approve but it is mostly related to what floodgates they open when they join rather than the character themselves.