YMMV / CPU Championship Series

• Alternate Character Interpretation: The series thrives on this, given that most is open to interpretation, hosts' commentary aside.
  • Vincent:
    • While Vincent's status as The Hero is mostly undisputed, exactly how much of a protagonist of the series itself is he? Some people gravitate towards other fan favourites like Audible|Link who have done well overrall, those who fought tooth and nail against lore-important foes and won, like Dedede, and those with multiple appearences overrall, such as Ridley.
    • Speaking of Vincent, is he truly as powerful as he lets on or is he washed out? How much is he holding back? What are his true intents outside of fighting strong opponents?
    • His death, whether it was a moment of weakness after his previous fight, an unfortunate case of broken will, to send the remaining heroes a message or simply giving up after fulfilling his goal.
  • Traditional character alignments are a frequent topic of discussion especially after Season 3. Notable because some fighters are instead focused on winning the current tournament.
    • On that note, which characters are allied with Dark Vincent is often brought up, with Wolf and Ken commonly used as examples of possible Heel–Face Turn incidents.
    • Given how difficult is to set up for overarching stories, Dark Samus being a case of possible Foreshadowing regarding Season 3's plot was rather common amongst the fanbase since day one, despite being Put on a Bus as of Season 2. This is winds up true via Retcon, becoming a double agent in the narrative along Hilda.
    • Dark Vincent's role in what happened during the Season Finale is put into question, as well as some Dark Realm participants such as Shadow Mewtwo being simply misunderstood or unaligned with the rest of the army.
  • One possible interpretation for Rosalina's first ever win was due to who her opponent was: Dark Ken. Having to fight her lover might have proved to be a difficult feat, but fighting a dark doppelgänger of her lover? It's only fitting. Another interpretation was offered by the commentators, that Rosalina's ability to fight members of the Light Realm is poor, but her ability to fight others is much better. This is supported by her immediately losing to another Light Realm resident, Matt.
• Badass Decay: The "sponsor's curse". It seems anyone who does well enough to get sponsored immediately nosedives in competence and starts getting their ass kicked regularly. The only exception so far is Audible | Link, who still consistently performs well after getting sponsored. Although the other sponsored fighters seem to be getting back into top form, with Panda Global | Incineroar defeating his blue cousin in the Beach Episode's Thug Finals and Skillshare | Kirby being the champion of "Endgame", stopping Hero Killer Blood Falcon's rampage along the way.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • The Mii Fighters are a point of contention for the fanbase, as they'd rather avoid an oversaturation of OCs in the roster, while still having some fans.
  • Major is a notable case of this, as he's a player controlled character. One camp wouldn't have a problem should he be a CPU instead, while the other is generally accepting of this new change of pace. In spite of this, he has been voted to return for the raid against the Dark Realm, as a CPU controlled character this time.
  • Dark Ken is a minor one, curiously enough, because some just want the "real" Ken to succeed.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: You can say BoTW Mario's sudden inclusion in one of the tournaments is this, since he never returns to the series afterwards, and is never brought up again.
• Broken Base:
  • Season 3's second episode caused this, as noted by Alpharad. General consensus is that they liked the episode, however, there's an ongoing debate in regards to the amount of new ongoing, lore heavy plot overtaking the Tournament Arc. Since he's understandably confused where to go with the series as this was fan request, as well as general reception to the Major gimmick not being a expected one, Alpharad is looking into changing the upload schedule after this Season as well as keep the focus on the tournament itself for the future.
  • Due to issues with the initial Season 3 poll for the Dark Realm episode regarding glaring holes in the voting system, another poll on Alpha's twitter was required, causing eyebrows to raise in the fanbase by itself. Not helping was that some fan favourite choices were on the top 5.
    • However, the results themselves and thus the final roster (Major, Joker, PG | Incineroar, Matt and Piranha Plant) were the main cause of partial discontent to some. Many will argue that these choices are memetic in nature and that the characters were disconnected to the main plot of Season 3, unlike the top choices of the fandom. Others are willing to give this team a chance, with hype involving both Incineroars fighting together, as well as the debut of Joker and LWI Matt, if not Major Duncan's return. Of course, this alleviated by the fact that Vincent, Link and Blue Incineroar, will be present, as they are characters who up to now had involvement within the season.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Tony being Toyconvict was obvious in pretty much every way. Lampshaded when the commentators pointed out the obvious hints to Toyconvict being Tony after learning that they were the same person.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Toyconvict, from Season 2. With a backstory tied to Vincent it was inevitable, but ever since being Put on a Bus, as he was sent to jail again by Dedede, many vouched for future participations, in spite of the crimes he committed. He was one of the top picks for the first poll over his Good Counterpart Punished Convict and barely lost the second one with a 31%. The one who beat him with a 35%? None other than Matt himself.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • Already by the start of Season 3. Ranging from character alignments, to motivations, even theories regarding how events would play out were tossed around for the longest time as more and more information was revealed. Suffice to say that the lore got much bigger and complex as the fanbase dissected each bit.
  • The Stinger for "ENDGAME. It shows a brand new character (A Mii Gunner upon brightening the dim picture) with little to no information but Arc Words, that had the fanbase guessing their role and alignment in the next season, as well as if she's related to any of the veterans, or even Vincent. Alpharad has revealed her to be "a fan" (In an ambiguous fashion, as it's not clear if it's In-Universe or not), in a similar vein to LinusH111's participation, although that won't stop the theories anytime soon.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Loads of them considering the roster. This is inevitable due to how they are perceived as actual players moreso than CPU characters by the fandom.
  • Ridley is one of the earliest examples, demonstrating an aggressive, crowd-pleasing playstyle since the first episode. He never fails to hype up the audience.
  • Lucina and Shulk, being part of the most iconic match of the entire series thus far, proving their worth as competitors.
  • Zelda became The Dreaded as early as her first outing after utterly decimating her side of the bracket and defeating Vincent in Thug Finals.
  • The Sponsored characters:
    • PG | Incineroar gained this status through multiple appearances and generally good outings. His ongoing rivalry with Blue Incineroar and overall portrayed demeanor also helps. And now he returns in Thug Finals to knock some sense into his cousin for Season 3.
    • Audible | Link has been constantly portrayed as The Ace, showcasing not only outstanding results but overall being the strongest CPU in the series so far. He's also the only sponsored fighter so far to not fall victim to the sponsor's curse.
    • Now joining their ranks we have Parsec | Captain Falcon, who is dubbed as the "King of Disrespect" and a hype builder all around through his Season 3 run.
  • Blue Incineroar himself deserves a special mention, being The Rival to PG | Incineroar as well as improving as time went on as shown in his Season 3 appearance.
  • Cloud. While a highly requested pick early on, he's a returning veteran of the Smash 4 tournaments and it shows quite spectacularly. And it shows, as he finally returned in the Season 4 Finale: Everest.
  • Piranha Plant, getting not just a tournament of his own but also Thug Finals. For the Dark Realm Tournament's second poll, he earned his spot by a landslide thanks to the fans. Not surprising considering Plant in the game.
  • King Dedede, of course. Not only an amazing player, but considered the Mii Slayer by many, having defeated Toyconvict on Prison Break and both versions of Vincent! He has been number 1 pick in the Training Camp Poll minutes since it came out and throughly held onto the spot. He was not so lucky on the second poll, but he made it in regardless, and needless to say the fandom was utterly disraught upon his canonical death.
  • Out of all the low scoring characters, Rosalina is easily the most beloved for constantly participating if to win once in spite of her streak, even managing to become a top pick for the Training Camp Poll as early as it came out.The second poll was less merciful, but she still made it in the huge roster. Her first ever victory in "Endgame" proper was a highlight on its own to the surprise of everyone.
  • Joker was already this in the game even before he was fully playable, and here it was no different, being theorized by the fanbase to have a bigger role in the Season 3 since his reveal. He got a spot for the Dark Realm raid in the second poll to the joy of many.
  • Like Joker, Matt was a heavily requested character, and finally appeared with Joker as the two eleventh-hour rangers for "Endgame".
• Growing the Beard: While the Smash 4 Tournaments are fondly remembered, it wasn't until the Ultimate tournaments were it truly took off.
• He's Just Hiding: Considering that Blood Falcon has been confirmed to not having killing powers in the Light Realm, and that Jo's departure from the channel has been confirmed to be temporary until December, it's essentially been speculated that Jo's still alive, just stuck in the Dark Realm. This was confirmed in the Season 4 Finale, Everest.
• Memetic Badass:
  • Matt, a character who hasn't appeared in the series at all yet, but is dubbed as the ultimate Mii Fighter, true equal to Vincent and true saviour of the timeline by the Subreddit. To the surprise of many, he appeared on the Dark Realm raid's poll, remaining a top choice in the first and winning a spot in the second one.
  • King Dedede, first because of his defeats of Toy-Convict and Vincent, but then especially after beating Dark Vince.
  • Ridley, often noted to the people's champ, as his matches will usually end with him either winning or pulling off outrageous stunts, all while putting on a good show for the audience.
• Memetic Loser:
  • Dr. Mario. The Subreddit has been going at it for a while, with memes regarding his MD. In the series proper, it's stated he quit altogether due to a humiliating loss before returning for the Training Camp tournament... and possibly quitting the game again upon losing.
  • Fighters that have not appeared thus far are perceived as this in some portions of the fanbase.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Blood Falcon being the first character in the CPUCS who actually killed characters. Those characters? King Dedede, Vincent, and Parsec Falcon.
• Rooting for the Empire: As per the norm in the setting, you might cheer for your own favourites when they face the "true" heroes of the plot. There is a dedicated SubReddit for Dark Vincent's cult as a more straight example as of Season 3.
• Signature Scene: The infamous Shulk vs. Inkling match on Jungle Japes, where the Inkling's AI got stuck in an endless loop of trying to recover back onto the stage against the water's current and getting absolutely nowhere. All future tournaments included a timer from then on. Well known for representing the hazardous nature of AI play.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Vincent, King Dedede, and Parsec Falcon, all of whom are fan-favorite characters, dying for good at Blood Falcon's hands.
  • Rosalina suffering the same fate as Vincent, King Dedede, and Parsec Falcon did to Blood Falcon at the end of "TIMESKIP".
  • The ending of "The Way Home", wherein Blood Falcon returns to kill King Dede. The commentators, having had enough, intervene by sending Jo out to protect Dede. Sadly, this leads to the death of Jo in his stead.
• The Woobie:
  • What little is revealed of Vincent's backstory brings a rougher side to the character's life. He was often bullied in middle school by Toyconvict, and it's implied the latter turn to crime heavily impacted Vincent, given that he wished they could become friends. Now he's forced to take him down, and it doesn't get any easier, as he soon has to defend the timeline from his Dark self, coming from a timeline where he failed to defeat him, and eventually the version of said bully that never turned to crime, Punished Convict.
  • Rosalina and Ken tend to get this treatment in the fanbase, because eight tournaments in, neither has won a single match. Ken in particular soon had to deal with Dark Ken, while Rosalina's losing streak grew to a whopping 0-8. Luckily for the both of them, they seem to have found love with one another as of "Beach Episode". Many fans just cheer for their high spirits, since they keep coming back to try to finally claim victory. Even when it seemed that Rosalina has overcome it to win her first tournament in TIMESKIP, she died at the hands of Blood Falcon.
    • She does come back, though, in "Rosalina's Revenge".
  • Toyconvict gets a little of this himself. He can't catch a break, getting sent to jail again and again and not even getting past the second round of a single tournament, though he kinda deserves it. Then there's the fact Toyconvict aka Tony used to be friends with Vincent at one point - Alpharad comments that the bullying was due to insecurity, and now he's trying to do the right thing after Vincent's death.

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