just saw the new "bolt video" and here's my opinion on it
(for context the video is here: The Brawl Stars Character That Started A Cult. personally, i thought it was an interesting (and somewhat wrong) take, but i don't hold anything against the creator. also fair notice this post is a long, maybe incoherent, yap. don't take this too seriously, i'm just someone who has an intense love for bolt, a hyperfixation on brawl stars, and a bit of free time. also i might delete this soon idk)
So first, I really want to say that his opinion on this sub is very misleading. Yes we are called the "cult of bolt" and yes we call ourselves the "boltians" (i love that name) but at the end of the day they're just fun names for the community. The discussions I see in here about bolt aren't "worshipping" him (yes he says this in the video.) We recognize where his flaws are, and the vast majority of posts are just simple appreciation/discussion (and maybe simping on my end??) for him. This is not an actual cult, as he says. it's just a group of people that really appreciate how unique and fun Bolt himself is.
Then at one point in the video, he says that according to people who liked Bolt, "it was okay for him to be broken because he was fun to play." And I really didn't like that statement (it actually led me to make this post in the first place lmao.) I believed he was extremely fun to play (trust me i talked about it!), but I along with many people recognized that his fundamentals, combined with his kit on release, didn't fit in the game. Brawl stars is a game of positioning, draft, and skill -- but with pre-nerf Bolt you could essentially throw all that out the window, turn your brain off, and just start killing everyone while getting insane win streaks. I will not deny that doing this was fun, but I (and other people!) also recognized that it wasn't healthy for the game at all. I admit it was sad to see him drop to the bottom of the meta and slowly become unusable; venting posts about that were to be expected as people's favorite character (Bolt) could no longer be played in regards to actual progression due to the nerfs/people learning to counter him. But for a time, he was broken, and that wasn't okay no matter how much I loved him.
And about when the video talks about us not complaining about Bolt but instead writing guides for him and debating his builds?? God forbid the subreddit created for Bolt talks about his good sides too. God forbid one understands the concept and strategy of a broken character instead of going braindead as soon as they queue into the first match with him. God forbid people have an interest in a "hated" brawler and actually act on it. I loved those posts; although Bolt was broken, comprehending how his mechanics actually work was fun. Taking part in the discussions and seeing what builds people put on Bolt gave some nuance to a simple, no-skill brawler.
Whenever the video talks about the Bouncy Ball gadget being used in that ONE Brawl Stars short (you know the one, if not it's the one where they begin promotion for the "Formula Brawl" marble race) I will admit maybe I crashed out too hard about it. But they clearly weren't showing "good" gameplay with him. In it, we see a 5000 hp Nani, who can be killed simply by rolling into her. With the Bouncy Ball gadget used, Bolt did a total of 6692 damage which was more than enough to kill her. (don't ask me why I took time out of my day to calculate the damage.) If we took away the gadget (which deals 1200 dmg as seen in the short) he would do 5492 dmg which is still enough to kill her. Maybe I am overanalyzing this and Supercell just wanted to show off his jump gadget (which is fair ngl) but it shows off sub-par gameplay, which wasn't great to see as a Bolt enjoyer.
After the nerfs came for Bolt, the video says that there was no longer anything for us because Bolt wasn't overpowered or even fun anymore. And yes, he lost his place in the meta, and we crashed out. But there were still loads of people playing him, having fun, and pushing him to high prestiges. There are still individuals who take time to play Bolt simply because they like him; I'm seeing posts that celebrate a Bolt push pop up weekly (there's not as many as there were before but that's because he's no longer considered an "easy" prestige.)
Overall I think we can all agree that Bolt is a unique character, and his kit is something the game had never seen before. Personally, I think his concept will always make him either meta or bottom-tier, as he is fundamentally flawed and difficult to balance. But his character design and personality make me love him, and I'm pretty sure many people love him for these things too. I think that's why we made this sub -- a little "cult" to simply appreciate him without seeing him as a god. We watched him rise and fall from the meta and posted our reactions to his ultimate fall. We did analyses on him and had long discussions about him and drew fanart for him because it was fun. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, unlike what the video says. So yeah, that's my take! Thanks for reading.
(what am i doing? why did i spend an hour writing this help?? also if the person who made the video sees this, nothing against you at all! just wanted to post my take, please don't get too offended)