User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 473: Red Lightning, Review./@comment-1248963-20160217091753/@comment-3290324-20160217210447

How irritating a cop out is is entirely dependent upon the circumstances of the fight. The circumstances in this particularly incident being the opponent and the length of the fight. If Laxus was facing a minor villain, then I wouldn't be bothered at all by the cop out. But he was facing a Spriggan. And are there still lots of Spriggans left? Yes, but that doesn't mean it's not irritating when one of them is defeated in a short and wholly unsatisfying fight. And if Laxus and Wahl's fight would've been long and drawn out, then the cop out would be irritating, but still, not as irritating because there would've at least been a good fight with a "meh" ending as opposed to a completely "meh" fight and ending.

And, as I mentioned in a thread below, I think this chapter was awful, but I certainly don't feel as if this fight was as bad as Erza vs. Kyouka. Believe me, my lack of review for this chapter is much nicer than the rant I did when I read that chapter.