This thread is weird, but I'll bite.
I don't even see how Tweedy can be considered a villain. He's obviously just trying to go into matches against Fox with some confidence and build up some hype in the process. But anyone who saw him post after the KC set could tell that he took it hard. I'm sure he will come back strong and bring back some friendly shit talk, but neither of those things do a villain make.
As far as Fox goes, I subscribe to the old school mentality in that I like seeing someone dominate so convincingly. I don't care how long it takes for someone to dethrone him, when it happens it's gonna be fucking hype. Until that happens, I will keep enjoying watching our community have a supreme champion while everyeone else works to git gud.
We got a taste of it about a month ago..I was at SCR, and the energy in the room when Scar eliminated him was incredible. The long and short of it is, players are going to need to step up and beat him. And then someone will need to do it consistently. The kid's too damn nice to even be considered a villain despite clearly being our communities reigning overlord. The whole situation Is like when JOP was destroying everyone back in the day in Tekken, and when Slips finally beat him it was the craziest shit ever.
Hell, as I type this, I don't even think I can consider anyone a true villain in this community.
@Pig Of The Hut touched on it a bit earlier in the thread that those at the top just don't have that villain gene. Not that it's bad, but everyone is just super nice and humble. Which is fine, but it surely doesn't bring the hype like we had when VSM vs PL vs MidWest vs EastCoast was going on. It's kinda boring and speaks to an odd generational paradigm shift happening in our community; Top players are getting younger, eSports teams and their sponsors have expectations on public behavior, Twitter followings carry so much more weight, etc etc.
In terms of player success, humility and having an open door policy with respect to getting games and talking online via social media are literally what pays now, not the shit talk and regional 5v5 pride fights of days gone by.
With that shift, it seems the
true villains of our community are really nothing more than villains of our message boards, trolls who spend more time crying about the Ice Clone being broken or yelling 'washed up' anytime a top player loses to another top player, lol. Long story short, it's going to take a player who's willing to push the boundaries of acceptable public image in this age of eSports MKX to really show that a villain can also be successful at the highest level, both in game and in terms of getting signed and staying signed.
It's an interesting time in our community right now, but it's not just us. The SFV community is very much going through the same thing. Some of the most well known heels in that community have turned face as their sponsorships have greater and greater demand on a 'family friendly' public image. These dudes are literally becoming role models for aspiring gamers, and are acting accordingly. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing either. But over time, I think it will balance out once value is again found in those loose cannons and colorful personalities.
TL;DR - It's my theory that the lack of the Heel vs Face dynamic is not indicative of the scene dying. But rather the requirements for professionalism by those who have financial/advertisement interest in players has rendered that dynamic somewhat obsolete for right now.
