User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 457: Naked Battle, Review./@comment-153.91.251.105-20151019162240/@comment-1776824-20151020014853

I'm going to chime in now.
 * 1) I think Erza is the most terribly written character in Fairy Tail (depending on context). She is cliche to the maximum; is the very core of everything that is wrong with Fairy Tail; her magic has been nerfed to pants that give her no magical abilities whatsoever; when she uses her magic for what it is truly worth, it is only to show that the enemy is beyond the use of her fundamental armors... or it is to introduce some kind of situational armor that allows her to turn the tide of the battle in seconds (which Hiro can write off as being legit because she owns over 100 armors).
 * 2) In spite of this, I do not hate Erza despite all the bitching I do about her, because in terms of how she interacts with the other characters, she is amazing. Almost every single complaint I have about Erza revolves around fighting. As far as character-to-character interactions go, and how Erza is written in terms of backstory (refer to comment regarding context) is wonderful. I only ever bitch about her within the context of battle.
 * 3) Erza is far from my favorite character. I do not think Natsu is stronger than her. >_> In what fucking way is he stronger than her? He performed a feat like destroying Ikusa-Tsunagi? Okay, but Erza didn't try to kill him. You can't say, "Natsu is stronger than Erza because he did -thing-" when Erza didn't even try to do the same fucking thing. There is no comparison to be had! In terms of actual in-story feats that are comparable, and how the story is written, Erza is stronger than Natsu. It took Natsu Lighting Flame Dragon Mode to be able to combat Tempester, who is roughly half as strong (or less) as Kyoka, who Erza managed to defeat with no magical enhancement. As bullshit as the fight was, that is a fact. That is something you can use to draw comparison. We have not seen how strong Erza really has gotten since the timeskip has taken place; Natsu destroyed a god (whose power level was not in particular stated; size doesn't necessarily mean crap, you know), but Erza did what? One-shotted a guy with a bad perm? Yeah, real comparable. >_>
 * 4) Erza is strong, but you are correct in saying she is weaker than Laxus and Gildarts. However, Makarov said Erza would have trouble fighting Ajeel, meaning that the fight should ideally be a total struggle for her. As ridiculous as I find the notion of him all of a sudden being caught off guard enough for a wound that serious when he blocked her swords with his arms before, whatever. It happened.
 * 5) Just give it up. Even the strongest can be taken down by those weaker than them if they are overconfident and let their guard down. This is an indicator not of Erza's strength, but of her ability to instantaneously take advantage of a split second's hesitation. Do I think she defeated Ajeel? No, but even if I think it's ridiculous, I'm not about to ignore the facts of the matter. >_>

...wow, I just defended Erza. Rai, where mah cookie at? ( ._______.)