There’s a lot of rewritten history here. Queen Aliona definitely had her share of critics, especially when she and Robin did that very literal Send in the Clowns with Clown make up and costumes.
Absolutely. Once they had become WC, the criticism began and the first I remember being poorly received was "Schindler's Adagio" LP from 08-09. But their scrapped Vancouver LP, "Send in the Clowns," and "Flamenco Bolero" were certainly not immune from a good deal of negative commentary from fans. S/S gained their fanbase by always trying something different, and that approach inevitably leads to some attempts that just aren't successful. It's incredibly difficult to develop two fresh concepts every season over such a long span when it's expected that you go +1 from the year prior. It also usually inevitably - and unfortunately - leads to making 'safe' choices at the worst moments; while I loved their SC debut of "Out of Africa," I have to imagine both it and "Nutcracker" 4 yrs later came from desperation."Nutcracker" may have also just been what happens when you have nothing left in the creative tank.
FWIW, S/S's record over 9 years was pretty remarkable in terms of innovative work, though I wish they had skated to all of their titles as they did in Moscow '11. I think S/M have had an incredible run of not only results, but programs, and while I had initially hated the idea of an Ingo-less Aliona, I don't think we'd have ever gotten the flirtation of their SP nor the simplicity of their LP in South Korea.
Not sure where or why the "T/M are just being bullied" line of defense is coming from, but it holds no weight whatsoever, as 4+ years ago, I remember everyone waiting for programs that matched their SS. That it never happened this cycle is nobody's fault but theirs and/or their team's. From everything I have seen, both fans and judges are ready to accept them as equals to S/H+S/M and "pairs need 4 years to figure themselves out" is simply not a good enough excuse for why they didn't get to that point by this OG. Certainly, S/H+S/M did not need 4 years.
Will be interesting to see what Worlds ends up looking like next season. At this time post-Sochi, it looked like S/K would be coasting to a couple of World titles until the return of V/M. Instead, S/K - for whatever reason - gave up their best, and maybe only, chance at a WC when they skipped out on 2015, allowing D/R to win and send most teams into a frenzy to try and get their tech up to a level that could compete with theirs. That arguably impacted both S/K's entire quad which was without any medals, as well as V/M's brief return with neither the tech content or interesting CH. Oh well. Aside from the forced withdrawal of S/K, random and rapid decline of I/M (CAN), nagging perseverance of he-Zhang (JMO), and the entire RUS Olympic team that didn't include B/D, K/S, A/M, or any of the beautiful teams that were around at the end of last cycle, pairs was markedly improved in quality at these OG.