I think what people are mad about was how this battle seems like a big one and thus far, fans want to see Lucy handling it alone like she’s been doing (albeit there were scenes where she’s saved). So, when she’s saved by Brandish, people are agitated, because she’s been shown that she could mix star dresses and is capable to stand her ground but this chapter… the writers had Brandish stepping in, we rarely see that with Erza, Natsu, Gray or Wendy… so yeah
We only see that with Erza and Natsu in this sequel, and even then many are not happy with the same ol' "Erza is Erza" battle outcomes when it comes to Erza vs. enemies. Natsu was given solo fights but with minor interferences from other team members. Gray literally rarely has solo fights, let alone was able to win most of it Wendy also had lesser solo fights. Lucy was definitely a spotlight in this sequel due to her being given a lot of newer abilities and better character development.
I would've not minded if people were complaining about just Brandish entering the battlefield out of nowhere, but they are literally just ignoring Lucy's previous battles in this sequel which are quintessential to her character development it's annoying.
Personally, I don't even mind Brandish stepping in. If anything, it took an interesting turn since we're gonna see how Lucy and Brandish are gonna work together.
This has always been a thing for a while not only for Lucy, but for the team Natsu as well minus Natsu and Erza come on. That doesn't mean Lucy's fights so far aren't crucial for her development and in showcasing her abilities just cuz somebody help her nor were they less interesting which is mind-boggling to me cuz her fights out of all of them in this iteration are the most entertaining and interesting.
Anyways, if you reread my entire reply, then you should know what I'm talking about. It's just funny how you people would complain when she doesn't use magic in fights and instead use as minimal magic as she can through strategic planning, and when she does use magic that completely disengage her enemies, apparently, it's not focused enough on strategies like?? idk just a lil silly to me if I'm being honest
cuz lucy had way more solo fights here than in the original series, most of them having satisfactory results, so idk what the fuck are you bitches complaining about. we literally had her casting Gottfried on her own. she showed multiple new star dresses along with her new star dress combinations. so literally idj what tf are you alk complaining about. literally stop watching those "author ruined lucy" "lucy is useless" "fairy tail worst females in shounen manga" cuz those shits are just false narratives and a cheap narrative on how shounen treats female characters by using FT which is arguably one of the better ones
the one done dirty in the series so far is no doubt Gray, like come on