After you laugh at a franchise for almost a decade, it starts getting less funny and more sad because of the pitiful position fans put themselves in. For them, it is just perpetual disappointment that they actively choose at every opportunity. They just keep falling for it, over and over, it's like seeing a gambling addict have a chance to get their shit together and escape their problems, but choose to keep gambling anyway, or watching a society being destroyed from the stupidity of its people.

If mediocrity is what you want, mediocrity is what you'll get. If they could get away with only doing the minimum (or even less), why would they do anything more?