They Changed It, Now It Sucks/Real Life

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • It is often stereotyped that senior citizens complain about everything that is current just because it's different from the stuff they were used to when growing up (TVs, phones, etc.).
    • "One thing in this world will never become worse than it was back in the good old days: Old timers talking about how things used to be better back in the good old days."
  • Fans of the Ford Mustang pony car adopted this attitude when the 5.0-liter Windsor V8 was replaced with the 4.6 liter Modular motor in 1996. Eventually, they came around, and the aftermarket heavily supports the Mod motors. Now, Ford is gearing up to introduce a 5.0 liter Modular motor in the 2010 calendar year, about a year or so after the new refresh hits dealers...
  • The new Nissan 370Z has a feature called SynchroRev Match, which automatically blips the throttle during downshifting for effortless power delivery and to keep RPM's in check. Driving snobs cried foul almost from the word go, as they felt it would be the end of heel-toe downshifting, nevermind that A.)SynchroRev Match can be switched off, and B.) it's part of a sports package, so not ordering it will keep it out of the car (although it means that you won't equip your car with a limited-slip differential, 19-inch wheels and tires and bigger brakes).
    • Let's not get started about the reaction to the 370Z's styling, especially the headlights and taillights...
  • One more car related one. The Mopar Community universally said They Changed It, Now It Sucks with a little Ruined FOREVER when it was revealed that the Dodge Charger would be resurrected... as a four-door sedan. Massive amounts of Fan Dumb ensued, never mind that the nameplate was defiled previously, that the Charger sedan is RWD and has a Hemi (not quite) like its celebrated predecessor, and that making the Charger a sedan instead of a muscle car gave Dodge the avenue to bring back another muscle car classic... needless to say, once the Challenger was brought back, all was forgiven.
  • If someone sat somewhere just once where you normally do, even though there's nothing which makes it 'yours' in anyway, you probably felt a bit annoyed.
    • Alright, Sheldon.
    • This can be compared to biological niche space.Two good ways to see it's effects are A) Students do not mind that others use "Their seat" while they are attending a different class, but walk into your classroom and there is a lingering person around that seat and they are noticeably uncomfortable. B) The biggest problem after robberies is the psychological impact that someone messed with (and possibly took) your things disrupting the normal stasis.
  • If you like stories about the good old days of music radio, tune in to The Hits Just Keep On Coming.
    • And for the novelty radio equivalent, David Tanny's radio show and podcasts...essentially amounting to 'In 1981, I had to drive out of town to listen to Dr Demento, and he played all this good stuff, and now I don't listen to any of his stuff anymore because it sucks, and I've sent him emails telling him to play my stuff, and he wouldn't, so I sent him emails telling him he sucks.' This man of course has a taste in the sort of novelty music which relies on lame parodies, silly voices and toilet humor, thus meaning it could be made any point in time and essentially be the same.
  • Opal Fruits (in the U.K.) turning into Starburst, and combining Lemon and Lime together to allow space for the blackcurrant.
    • Rather longer ago, Marathon becoming Snickers. Not least because it now sounds like lady's underwear.
      • Mountain Dew Energy. Take one of the most popular US brands. Decline to produce it in the UK claiming there isn't enough demand, something clearly contradicted by the fact it is one of the best-selling products in US import shops. Eventually relent, but insist it will sell better if an energy drink variety is available. Ok. Replace the high fructose corn syrup with sugar. Fair enough. Change the dye used. After all, no one will notice a drink famed for being green become yellow. Then, defeat the point entirely by changing the flavour and texture entirely, make the 'energy' variety the only one available, and don't bother selling it in the cans the US version is available in. A disgrace, which has predictably hardly done well at all.
  • There's a certain amount of backlash against the switchover to digital cable, both that it's happening, and that it's not happening fast enough.
  • Major League Baseball created the World Baseball Classic to try to promote the growth of the game in other countries, modeling it in large part after the World Cup and handling matters of advancing similarly in the inaugural event in 2006 (round-robin pool play, top 2 teams from each pool advance--then they had a second round of pool play, which differs from the World Cup, but whatever). Many people railed against the whole idea of the WBC itself, but only because they were worried that players could get hurt competing at such a high level when they would normally be in Spring Training. Because they wanted to avoid having it in the same year as the aforementioned World Cup, it was announced right away that after the inaugural 2006 WBC, it would be held every four years starting in 2009. Here we are in 2009, and pool play now looks like this: The four teams in a pool are matched up in two games. The winners of the first two games play each other next, and the losers play each other. The loser of the loser game (0-2) is out, while the winner of the loser game plays the loser of the winner game (both 1-1), with the loser being eliminated. Now, here's the really stupid part: The winner of the 1-1 game, now at 2-1, has to play the winner of the first winner game, at 2-0, with the winner of that game winning the pool. Remember, the runner-up from the pool also advances. What the hell? Instead of playing each of the other three teams once, one team has to play four games, and theoretically could end up not playing one of the other three teams (say A beats B and C beats D, then A beats C in the winner game, D beats B in the loser game, and then C beats D again in the 1-1 game, C has played four games and never got to face B.) Pool play is not supposed to work that way! Bring back the round robins!
  • Baseball fans in general act like this. Any time there is any change in the sport - the designated hitter, Astroturf, the Wild Card, interleague play, expansion teams, polyester uniforms etc. - many fans are up in arms.
    • The addition of a wild card playoff game has once again been garnering this reaction. The fact that the final day of the 2011 regular season is already being described as one of the greatest days in the sport's history, one which would have become completely meaningless under the new system doesn't help much.
  • Two words: New Coke.
    • Though to be fair, New Coke did suck, at least in terms of supporting brand loyalty. People who actually liked Coca-Cola were understandably upset when Coke changed the formulation to something closer to that of Pepsi. Considering that the reaction of the general public to New Coke was foreshadowed by early focus groups -- which were largely ignored -- the company should have known that if they changed it, it would suck.
    • New Coke was a major case of Did Not Do the Research on the company's part. The aforementioned focus groups were asked whether they liked this new beverage, but nobody thought to ask the crucial question: "What would you say if this drink replaced the Coca-Cola you grew up with?"
    • At the time, Pepsi was making huge advances on all fronts in the Cola Wars with campaigns like, "The choice of a new generation!" and their devastating blind taste test commercials. Pepsi actually surpassed Coke sales in that era and started winning out. Coke's response was to do the same; New Coke beat out Pepsi in blind taste tests, and Coca-Cola was going to run with that. The real stupidity was ignoring how much of their sales was due to brand loyalty. It was like Coca-Cola was a cash cow, and rather than milk it while introducing their new product, the execs decided to make it into burgers.
    • The big problem, from the execs point of view, at least, was that if they released New Coke and kept regular Coke, it would split sales. Which would pretty much guarantee that Pepsi sold better. Since that would be counter-productive, they got rid of the original Coke, not realizing the enormous backlash this would cause.
    • To some, the drink wasn't the same when they switched to high-fructose corn syrup. Nowadays, getting Coke with cane sugar domestically is more or less a rarity, with the exception of a passover variant. Coca-Cola's frequent claims that there is no taste difference doesn't help. There is, however, a growing following for imported Mexican Coke, which is starting to be sold domestically in stores like Costco and Wal-Mart.
  • Ebay. Every change made, good or bad, if followed by endless ranting in the blogosphere and hastily-organized boycotts. The same goes for any popular website, with several recent social networking examples.
  • "Sci-Fi/SciFi/Sci Fi/Sci-fi/Scifi Channel" changed its name to Syfy. No one cares that it's pronounced the same and exists mostly so they can have a name that can be trademarked. All they care about is having a focus for their hate of the channel's genuine Network Decay.
    • And, in all fairness, because one of the network's stated motivations for the change was to distance itself from its core fanbase, which they expressed in rather unflattering terms.
    • There's also the fact that it looks retarded. Fuh-nettick spelling yoo-zhoo-ullee duz.
      • Don't forget the (frequently repeated once discovered) fact that "syfy" is Polish for syphilis (and a couple of other veneareal diseases).
    • The sudden wave of screwing and cancellations of Caprica, Stargate Universe and Eureka only reinforced the original point.
  • Australian Football has regular rule changes, all of which lead to massive fan outcry. Some work out for the better by most people's opinion (such as the rushed behind rule introduced in 2009) whilst others such as the "hands in the back" rule introduced in 2007 (explained in the other wiki) is almost universally hated.
  • In a valiant but failing attempt to make water polo a higher scoring, more watchable game, the rules have (massively) changed about three times in the last six or seven years--the game was made faster (30 second shot clock instead of 35 for women), the pool longer (30 meters instead of 25 for men), only one hand can block a ball for field players instead of two, and the meter markings were changed to 2-5-7. Recently, they have discussed removing basic fouls since a water polo foul is nothing like a "real" foul in other sports. The result? Coaches storming out of meetings, USA Water Polo receiving death threat emails, and teams completely falling apart--really.
  • In all sports, whenever a sports team changes its logo, colors, name, or uniforms, expect there to be a large amount of criticism towards the new scheme. Notable examples in American sports include the Denver Bronco's dropping of the "Orange Crush" jerseys, the Milwaukee Brewers drop of the "glove logo," and just about any of the logos and colors that the Toronto Blue Jays have tried since the early 90's.
  • The amusement park at the Mall of America in Minneapolis/St. Paul was originally themed around the much more generally appealing "Peanuts" Characters (as Charles M. Schulz was a St. Paul Native), now it's themed after Nickelodeon, which has a considerably much more limited appeal, and also losing one of the mall's most defining Minnesota connections.
    • How ironic. The exact opposite is happening in Cincinnati. King's Island used to have Nickelodeon characters everywhere, but they are replacing them with "Peanuts" characters.
      • Fortunately, Peanuts is returning to Minnesota in 2011, as Cedar Fair now owns the rights to use the brand and they own a park (Valleyfair) in Shakopee, a Minneapolis suburb.
  • Sun-Maid updated the appearance of their mascot, the Sun-Maid raisin girl, in 2009. People are already criticizing the move, complaining that the raising girl has been turned into an Amish Barbie doll.
  • Perfume makers routinely reformulate classic fragrances for a variety of reasons, and feel no need to announce such changes. For the knowing user the best case scenario is that the new formula still smells reasonably like the old one.
  • The Philippine military as a whole usually suffers from equipment shortages due to funding deficits, causing them to frequently resort to refurbishing and upgrading old equipment instead of buying new ones. The Philippine Marines did this en masse to their stores of old World War Two vintage M3 "Grease Guns", adding an integral suppressor, picatinny rails, and other upgrades to get it up to snuff with modern SMGs. Someone posted a YouTube video featuring one of these upgraded M3 SMGs and immediately incurred the uproar of classic gun fans because how dare the Filipino Marines use a practical way of solving a very real equipment shortage problem by ruining the M3 forever.
  • A relatively famous German chocolate brand called "Kinder Schokolade" (transl. children's chocolate) dared to change the design of its packaging after roughly 50 years or so. They replaced the image of a smiling boy with another smiling boy, who looked slightly more modern. Some customers didn't take kindly to this change. They even made a boycott webpage about it, calling the new boy "Kevin". (URL transl: Away-with-Kevin)
    • One funny fact is that the new kid is actually the old kid's son.
  • Sailor Jerry's, a type of rum, recently changed flavour from a sweeter flavour it was known for to a more typical rum flavour. You can see why people are complaining on this account, though.
  • An Anvilicious workplace management book about this phenomenon exists called Who Moved My Cheese? about some "littlepeople" who live in a maze and seek out and find cheese to eat. One group looks for new cheese every time their stash is "moved"[1], while the other group just complains. Guess which does better?
    • The Unfortunate Implications of the book, as some have noted, is that it promotes change for change's sake. If you leave the cheese in one place, it's easier to find, and the mice don't have to spend time looking for it before they can eat.
  • Baristas. Other than Italian for waiter/waitress, stereotyped to be one of the most successful professions in the pacific northwest. Strippers and erotic dancers recently took up the job and came up with what has been called "bikini baristas", further ruining the whole thing.
  • Ever been to a family or high school reunion, and had someone tell you that you've changed, in a negative tone?
  • Disney Parks have had a boat-load of examples over time.
    • "The Pirates Of The Caribbean" rides in Disneyland and Walt Disney World have been changed to incorporate characters and music from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Fans are divided on whether this is a good thing.
    • The "Journey Into Imagination" ride at EPCOT gets this a lot as well.
    • And the Tiki Room, which is now "Under New Management," which in reality means that the original characters have been replaced with the birds from the Disney movies.
      • After an electrical fire in 2011, the Tiki Room in Florida is now an abridged version of the original, with no trace of the "Under New Management" version. Opinions are mixed as to whether this version is more nostalgic or more boring than the "Under New Management" version.
    • Disney does this to their rides a lot. "it's a small world" was refurbished in 2009 to include various Disney and Pixar characters (in the style of the ride's pre-existing characters), provoking exactly the same reaction.
    • In July 2011 they have updated Star Tours as well. It now has "random trips" that include various characters and places from all 6 movies. Which itself hurts a classic ride for many people, but to make matters worse, they made it all 3D meaning anyone who can't handle that combined with the main attraction of a moving theater alienates a fair chunk of people. You let Lucas design it himself there Disney?
    • The retheme of Splash Mountain into "Tiana's Bayou Adventure" has gotten... a mixed reception, to say the least.
  • The end of analog cable and the move to digital cable that needs a box on each tv. Some cable co's have clear qam that is a digital ver of the old analog system but most of them use encryption on all but the basic channels making you get a box to view most of the channels.
  • See how you like it when your local grocery store remodels. You can't! find! anything!
  • NASCAR. Tracks repaved. Tracks closed. Dates changed. The vehicles. The championship format. The championship sponsor. The rules themselves. Fans are divided on some of them.
  • This is the reaction among many moviegoers to the revival of the 3-D movie craze. Partly justified in that some companies cheap out on the 3-D process and end up putting out a horrible 3-D conversion just for the extra cash -- but there are plenty of movies that either put a lot of work into the conversion or film in 3-D from the start and they look beautiful.
  • The GAP company changed its logo, which is a fairly common occurrence with most companies with identifiable logos. It was a complete change though and not a transitional one like most do, and people HATED it. So much so that they changed it back to the original logo. Next, queue up complaints about changing it back!
  • Nickelodeon has received quite a bit of flak for discarding their Iconic Logo for a text-logo for cross-branding.
  • Kid Cuisine has received this from former kids who grew up eating the frozen meals when the company recently changed their mascot's design ever so slightly to a more streamlined, thinner version.
  • In a more unusual example of this trope, the Church council of Vatican II led some heavily conservative groups of the Catholic Church, particularly one Marcel Lefebvre, to complain heavily about the way that things had been handled, and about the changes that had been implemented. This led to groups actually disassociating themselves from the Pope's leadership.
    • Just about any theological change will incur this, regardless of denomination - look at the furore over the Church of England's decision to appoint openly gay (though celibate) bishops.
  • "Pot of Gold" chocolates were originally a wide, narrow box with an assortment of chocolates. They are now a shorter, fatter box with a smaller assortment. Most of the good ones are missing.
  • This happens a lot in the firearms world. The biggest culprit is probably metal injection molding, or MIM. This basically involves using a metal and plastic mix to create the small parts that typically make up the trigger, hammer, and locking mechanisms of small arms. This allows manufacturers to mass produce things like M1911's or revolvers that had previously required extensive amounts of hand-fitting, making them cost less to produce for the manufacturer. While this has its good and bad points, reading any gun forum without prior knowledge will have you surprised it wasn't the tool of the devil himself in order to "cheapen" their beloved 1911 or Smith & Wesson with inferior crap.
  • Necco Sweethearts have always been a pretty YMMV candy, with their silly sayings, pastel colors, and overall chalk-like consistency, but they have a devoted fan base which enjoys them for their very chalkiness. Imagine the shock those fans had this Valentine's Day: without any warning, the New England Candy Company changed everything but the shape. They are now soft, bright, and have artificial fruit flavors, which is not exactly a type of candy the world was crying out for more of. The recipe was obviously changed because so many people weren't fans of the original, but without any advertisement, how are the haters going to know it's completely different candy?
  • Russian czar Peter I aka Peter the Great made so much radical reforms that some people seriously considered him being Antichrist. But in retrospect almost everyone agrees he did a great job and made Russia great and powerful.
  • Certain subway cars of the New York City Subway after general overhaul in the late 1980s/early 90s such as the R32's, R38's, R40/R40M's, R42's, R44's and the R46's.
  • HP Sauce. Britain is up in arms about the recent change to HP Sauce - they've reduced the salt content, thus changing a recipe that is over 100 years old, affecting the flavour and the resulting furore is not dissimilar to the New Coke debacle in the States all those years ago. The fact they shifted production out of the UK previously was already a black mark against makers Heinz.
  • Every time they have ever changed any aspect of Facebook, for any reason, ever.
  • Textual Poachers, Henry Jenkins' study of fandom, looks more sympathetically at this, as demonstrated by an excerpt from a black fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation:

Your favourite character has been "promoted" and (they hope) forgotten; your second favourite character's role has been considerably reduced and his characterization changed; the people who look like you have either been made into a caricature or removed from the bridge altogether, and stuck in unattractive costumes as well (I know that's the division color. I'm sorry, but mustard is simply not a good color on black people). The weight of the show has been placed on an occasionally cute but minor character; the writers aren't doing anything with the two remaining characters, who get less interesting as time goes on - and there's a baby on the bridge where an adult should be. Given all that, might you not maybe possibly be just a little, tiny bit upset?

  • Many of the "first world problems" documented on White Whine involve this.
  • Many people complained about the removal of Pluto as a planet, despite perfectly valid scientific reasons to do so. The complaints basically boil down to "I learned it that way as a kid, now it's different!"
  • This can even happen with things such as the names of buildings. There was quite a bit of indignant squawking in Chicago when the Sears Tower was renamed the Willis Tower.
  • Dear god, the US Army changed its uniform several times. The black beret was made mandatory for all soldiers, despite its history with the Rangers. They were given a Tan beret. The new Army Service Uniform, replaces the dress blues and green class A's. However the warm weather version of the uniform makes a soldier look like a mall cop. And soldiers with the old uniform will have to buy the ASU. For even the lowest ranking soldier the cost is north of $400.00 US.
  • Go to any place that serves food. If even the slightest thing is removed from anything (menus, in the restaurant, etc.) or changed, expect this to happen. Even ingredient changes were enough to incite this trope.
  • The new DC Comics logo has a D being peeled back to reveal a C, which is supposed to be symbolic of the dual identity trope common among many superheroes and villains. Some like it, while others think it looks too much like a toilet seat.
  • Similarly to the "Where's my Cheese" thing mentioned above, changing the format of programs during updates can lead to this. On the one hand, updates can be sorely needed and provide additional content. On the other hand, they often change the interface too much and make it annoying for regular users used to the old format.
  • Certain retailers in Canada. This happened with Walmart acquiring Woolco in 1994, as well as when rival Zellers and its parent, the Hudson's Bay Company, acquired Woodward's in Western Canada and Towers (Bonimart in Quebec) in Eastern Canada in the early 1990s, as well as all the Canadian Kmart stores in 1998. And let's not forget the loss of Eaton's...
  1. ↑ It is implied that the cheese wasn't moved, but that the littlepeople simply ate it all.
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