User blog comment:Perchan/Fairy Tail 302 - In Which I Was Confuzzled (Eclipse Project)/@comment-1272757-20121005234122/@comment-1272757-20121006033616

What asspulls? The closest I've ever seen to a genuine asspull is.... well Fire/Lightning Dragon Mode, and that's it. But hey, it was referenced before that he tried to eat Laxus' lightning, and this time he was given it willingly and without attack. Even then, he suffered the ill effects afterwards.

Sting/Rogue versus Natsu was just a pure difference of power and experience. I mean I seriously doubt Sting or Rogue have faced half the stuff that Natsu and the rest of his team have. Yeah, seven years difference could have possibly had an effect, but Second Origin allowed him to catch up. And that was hardly cheating; they all had to go through unbearable pain to get that type of power, and it was only after the Celestial Spirits unintentionally screwed them out of two months of legitimate training. As for being a bland hero, I honestly don't know if he is or not. But regardless of that, I like him as a character.