(Sorry, I had to, the joke was too good)

Anyways, something I wanted to get off my chest in light of the tourney coming up. I've been competitive battling for quite some time now, and as of late I've been encountering a certain situation that honestly really bugs me. Now, I know that tiers have quite a bit of bad reputation because of the controversy over their existence. Smogon has been under fire by some kinds of people, and it's become a bit of a joke in the community. Now, I'll be playing Smogon rules and using a team that I made up, usually composed of what would be considered "OU" plus a couple other Pokémon. Sometimes, when starting out, people will just berate me for being a scrub and say that my team building is unoriginal. Now, sure, some of the Pokémon I use are popular. And what of it? Did they ever think that I actually like using that Pokémon because the design is cool, and not simply because of competitive worth? Heck, I'd use a Flygon over a Garchomp any day just because I like Flygon better. But then as soon as I break out the Ferrothorn or the Mega Tyranitar, people just hop on me and start bashing my "OP choice". It really bugs me.

And it isn't just limited to competitive Pokémon either. I have been berated on similar grounds in Smash Bros. I was at a small tournament at my college with some of my friends in the marching band, and I came in packing a Yoshi as my main choice of character (by the way, I placed 2nd, losing to a Rosalina main). People were quick to denounce me as a scrub who could never win with a lower-end character, and would get unnecessarily angry upon losing. Well, they never even bothered to consider that Yoshi has a special place in my heart, since Yoshi's Island for the GBA was the first ever video game that I ever played, and I still play it to this day. I started maining Yoshi in SSB4 because, while I noticed that Yoshi gained quite a number of buffs to make his combo potential much better, I'd always wanted to rock the green dino in one of the Smash Bros, because I never was exceptionally good with Yoshi in Melee or Brawl, try as I might (Yoshi would end up being my secondary character in Melee, and tertiary in Brawl). But because he happens to be a "top-tier character," apparently (I didn't even know this before the tournament), I was labelled as a scrub.

Do any of you guys experience this kind of treatment for using Pokémon that are considered "OP?" Or using any character that is competitively viable in its respective game?

Sometimes i just 1 non-uber legend (Normally just 2) just for the fact that when i do see a real team in OU, people usually have 3-4 non-uber legends on there teams. Like for example: A team will have Landurus-T, Heatran, Latias/Latios on one team.

For me it just feels werid using more than 2 non-uber legends on any of my teams.

It kinda annoys me when people use those Pokemon just about all the time since almost everyone uses them. It's unclear if it's because people like the designs or because the Pokemon is useful, but meh. From my experience, I don't use them because I know they're successful Pokemon. I like to use Pokemon that aren't OU (for the most part, anyways) or lower OU unless my created team calls for the help of something like Terrakion.

Lol, coming from someone who played a lot of Mortal Kombat, I got lots of hate because my main was Ermac and all I did was "spam the tele-throw, projectile, and did the same combo." Umm, no. I'm just playing defensively cause Ermac sucks up close and "the same combo" is his largest damage dealing combo. O.o As mentioned before, if trash talking can happen, it's gonna happen. Just prove them wrong by bumping yourself down the tier and beating them with "low tier" characters.

When you are just starting out in the competitive field, I find that things like Smogon are incredibly helpful. In a few months I went from having never battled another human being before to being a competent battler thanks to not simply copying Smogon's suggestions, but actually looking into why these certain pokémon are supposed to be used for these certain things and whatnot. I distinctly remember being distraught when I found that Dusknoir isn't a good special sweeper. Smogon, to me, is a teaching tool; it helps you get your bearings.

I've used strategies considered overused and overpowered (most notably Baton Pass chains) and have gotten a lot of negativity from others for it. I've also used things no one ever expects to see and I still got a lot of negativity for it. People don't like to lose, some more than others. That's all it really is.