>>46975764People get upset over Lugia because Shudo created Lugia to fill a specific role and then Gamefreak kind of co-opted it for their own needs ignoring what he had planned. This extends past gender too. Lugia in the games is really nothing like what Shudo envisioned for it. It has no ties to the legendary birds in the main canon, it isn't a water type, and its connection to the ocean and nature is pretty downplayed. It's just hiding because it is too powerful it doesn't really have any actual mastery over the ocean or nature. Gamefreak had a different vision and used different inspiration. Personally I think that's fine even if it probably was a bit disrespectful.
Where people are wrong is that Lugia being co-opted did not lead Shudo down a path of drugs and booze. He was already like that before the Lugia shit. Shudo was a dude with a lot of problems and I think Lugia was just an excuse for him to continue down that path rather than an actual cause for his problems. That's typical of alcoholics. They'll use something and make it a bit more of an issue as it is to justify their choices. Shudo would have done all of that even if Gamefreak had respected his every wish while finding a different reason to justify it.
