Johnny Klebitz Appreciation Thread

[billiejoearmstrong8]

 

43 minutes ago, Ryo256 said:

 

 

Because they have tried to avoid bringing a controversial point into the thread again. They tried to make things better and easy for everyone to discuss and then another unneeded ripple just happened. I swear, if I had behaved like people have in this thread in a thread, like maybe the Praising Thread for V, it wouldn't get past the first page. But I respected that thread for what it was trying to do, so I only brought what was good out of it and avoided any sensitive points. We're doing that here right now, so can you kindly let us?
 

 

There was nothing wrong with this post, it wasn't directed at anyone and is simply a stated opinion of the character that anyone who didn't like it or didn't want to discuss it could have ignored:

 

18 hours ago, RenegadeAngel said:

His fatal weakness was his attachement to the biker ifestyle. He didn't know otherwise and never wanted to. Despite his connections to politicians and influential people from organized crime, he didn't want to capitalize on that. That's why his move to the West Coast in an attempt to bring the golden days of The Lost back is  more than understandable. Weapons and drugs smuggling with subsequent devolopment of meth addiction is understandable. His lifestory is an effective drama. A drama of a very talented man born in a wrong place with wrong people whose lifestyle he very much embraced and appreciated, but at the same time a lifestyle that in return brought nothing but misery and shameful demise. It's poetic in a sense.

 

And here's the unnecessary overreaction that caused the problem:

 

13 hours ago, Niobium said:

oh for the love of--

 

i didn't even need to bring up his death this time and yet people are still defending it!

 

TLOU spoilers

 

  Reveal hidden contents

why don't you just move on to defending joel's poorly written death and piss off the TLOU fanbase too, i'm sure they'll enjoy it.

 

 

There's no good reason why posts appreciating Johnny in IV only and posts appreciating him in both IV and V shouldn't be able to coexist. If you make a character appreciation thread expect posts about the character's whole story not just the bits you liked. I will stop posting here now because I can't be bothered but it's dumb that one person wants to dictate what can and can't be appreciated about the character.

[Niobium]

.

Edited June 26, 2020 by Niobium

[Ryo256]

Whenever I think about playing EFLC, you know what comes to my mind usually? Johnny's jacket:



There is something very iconic about it. 

[billiejoearmstrong8]

I'm posting but it's about something else don't worry

 

29 minutes ago, Ryo256 said:

Whenever I think about playing EFLC, you know what comes to my mind usually? Johnny's jacket:



There is something very iconic about it. 

True and this also reminds me of how iconic the TLAD intro is. Johnny looking badass on his bike with that jacket flipping someone off, him the rest of the gang all riding through Alderney past the oil refinery with flames shooting into the sky and Liberty City as a backdrop as the title appears on the screen, and that music. I think it's the best game/character intro in GTA, gets you right into that badass biker gang mindset. 

[LowTierDude]

On 6/27/2020 at 2:02 AM, Ryo256 said:

Whenever I think about playing EFLC, you know what comes to my mind usually? Johnny's jacket:



There is something very iconic about it. 

it's actually luis's letterman for me

[Limefong]

He is a brilliant protagonist. Sucks to see him killed by the hands of an idiot like Trevor.

[Niobium]

to me, johnny is the most balanced GTA protagonist ever created. what do i mean by this?

 

well, on one end, you got your human, relatable protagonists. niko, vic, michael

 

on the other end, you have your hell-raising characters who have no problem doing crime. tommy, toni, trevor (ugh)

 

johnny fits on both sides of the spectrum. he fully embraces the criminal lifestyle, but he's also got a heart, and has a code that he lives by. he is both relatable and a hell-raiser. he is the yin and yang of GTA protagonists. (yes, i stole that "yin and yang" comment from somewhere else, but i don't care because it's true.)

 

 

[Guest]

Yeah, Johnny is that rare breed of protagonist who pulls off the hell raising badass character while still retaining his humanity and most importantly to me in a believable manner. They tried to pull the badass yet relatable character with other protagonists too and while they may be more popular and possibly even better characters in some ways, I think none captured that combination like Johnny, he isn't conflicted about his criminal lifestyle and can raise hell as good as any but in the end he never fails to look out for the best interests for the gang and those close to him.

Edited July 20, 2020 by Guest

[NewGuybj]

All these years later, I still can't forgive Trevor, for what he did.

[universetwisters]

13 hours ago, Niobium said:

...johnny fits on both sides of the spectrum. he fully embraces the criminal lifestyle, but he's also got a heart, and has a code that he lives...

 

 

 

Idk man, it's a pretty weird code to have a heart and rob a mob boss who did nothing wrong to you + help tell you where Brian was so you can potentially wack him

[Niobium]

15 minutes ago, universetwisters said:

 

Idk man, it's a pretty weird code to have a heart and rob a mob boss who did nothing wrong to you + help tell you where Brian was so you can potentially wack him

[universetwisters]

3 minutes ago, Niobium said:

 

Meme replies like these don't help your credibility nor are a decent argument about Johnny actually being a less-than-moral protagonist but ok 

[MyNameIsNotImportantBro]

On 7/20/2020 at 6:20 PM, NewGuybj said:

All these years later, I still can't forgive Trevor, for what he did.

Tervor is an ass in GTA V, well, most of the time.

[Corndawg93]

I appreciate the fact that Johnny was against drugs... until he met Trevor 

[billiejoearmstrong8]

6 hours ago, Corndawg93 said:

I appreciate the fact that Johnny was against drugs... until he met Trevor 

He didn't use them personally but he was involved in buying and selling drugs such as heroin and cocaine in large amounts, had a meth addict girlfriend and was surrounded by drug users. Ashley got him into using drugs not Trevor.

Edited July 22, 2020 by billiejoearmstrong8

[universetwisters]

7 hours ago, billiejoearmstrong8 said:

He didn't use them personally but he was involved in buying and selling drugs such as heroin and cocaine in large amounts, had a meth addict girlfriend and was surrounded by drug users. Ashley got him into using drugs not Trevor.

I feel like Johnny said he used to do drugs aswell in a cutscene or something. I could be wrong though.

[Guest]

That final cutscene between Johnny and Ashley in the mission Coming Down, man, it gave me the feels. Such a sweet yet tragic cutscene, kind of a reflection on Johnny's character too. I like his phone calls you can make to Angus and Ashley after the mission as well, he tries to act like he doesn't care that much to Ash but you can tell he's quite concerned. And when Angus tells him that if he's really done with Ashley he should cut her off completely, Johnny's response saying he always has a soft spot for people in trouble, more feels again... 

 

Johnny can be up for mayhem and showing the finger to the system, but at his core he's a real sweetheart lol(I mean this in a nice way). I never felt as strongly about Johnny's fate as most and maybe I never will but after seeing this mission again, I do feel for him, as memorable as Trevor's intro was, watching the story of TLaD again you think damn, Johnny deserved so much better. 

[billiejoearmstrong8]

43 minutes ago, universetwisters said:

I feel like Johnny said he used to do drugs aswell in a cutscene or something. I could be wrong though.

Yeah like during TLAD he's not a hard drug user/addict and he recognises that addiction is bad and has the sense to try and avoid that, and he's more level headed than some other members of the gang. But he's not exactly a "straight edge" guy, he's still an outlaw biker living in glorified squalor with a gang that lives a hedonistic lifestyle. And I think it is hinted that he might've been wilder in the past/when he was with Ashley, we're probably seeing him at his most sensible in TLAD since he's had to step up to be the club leader and then has to deal with so much stuff. 

[Guest]

In the mission Coming Down, when they talk about Ashleys drug habit Ashley remarks to Johnny that he doesn't mess around at her place like he used too. I guess part of that messing around possibly was snorting drugs, though I imagine Johnny wasn't abusing it

Edited July 22, 2020 by Guest

[VenusianDream]

Johnny reminds me a lot of John Marston, and it's not just because they're both outlaws with the same name. They're both key members of a large infamous gang with a leader who's slowly turning insane. Klebitz knew Billy since he was a teenager and joined The Lost at an early age, Marston was practically adopted by Dutch and had also joined the gang at a young age. Marston rides a horse, while Klebitz rides a steel horse; a motorcycle. They both have similar ideals and opinions, and they both died for their romantic interest. At the end of their respective stories they're both betrayed by their leader, and so they both come to a realization that the outlaw's way of living is no more, and that loyalty is meaningless in the criminal underworld. Looking back on it now, TLAD feels kinda like a modern retelling of RDR's story.

 

I appreciate Johnny a lot. He's one of, if not, my most favorite protagonist along with Niko and Vic. Someone described him as the Yin & Yang of the protagonists and I agree. He's not a crazy psychopath like Trevor and Toni, but he also doesn't pretend to be the good guy like Vic and Michael. He's very much in the middle, and yet he stands out from everyone else because he's only trying to survive in the world instead of trying to get rich and he favors motorcycles over cars.

 

"A brother might stab you in the back. A woman certainly will. But a bike will never let you down."

Edited July 27, 2020 by VenusianDream
R.I.P. Johnathan Klebitz, Lost but never forgotten...

[.Ryan.]

 

 

The best song in TLAD IMO. Had it playing the first time Johnny took over chapter presidency and it felt bone chilling riding in formation with the rest of the Lost MC.

 

Brothers for life, Lost forever...

 

 

 

[billiejoearmstrong8]

4 hours ago, Algonquin Assassin said:

 

 

The best song in TLAD IMO. Had it playing the first time Johnny took over chapter presidency and it felt bone chilling riding in formation with the rest of the Lost MC.

 

Brothers for life, Lost forever...

 

 

 

Totally agree, it's the most fitting for sure! Love riding around with that on. I had it play as I was annihilating Evan in his limo to get the diamonds back, it was perfection.

 

Spoiler

Just have to make sure you don't think of the sad irony of how years later Trevor will call Johnny a cowboy 

 

[The Tracker]

For me what made Johnny great in general was how his characterization seemed contradicting with his own themes, yet making sense in the long run, he is shown to be a hardened give-no-f*cks anti-system outlaw biker, but as we know him we see a very conflicted man, that fights between trying what is pragmatic for everyone and keeping his outlaw world together, even if most of it seems rotten, what's the best about him overall was the fact that, unlike the average GTA protagonist, he has an actual development curve, in a very short time and few missions we start from him an overly caring, overly emotional man that will stick to his principles, to a guy whose objective was closure and what was best for everyone even if it meant going through it in a violent way, he wanted closure for the gang, closure for him and his friends to stop being pushed around by everyone, and even if it meant death for some closed ones, he and the gang got freed, he stopped giving a crap to people that didn't matter to him anymore, and that included Ashley. Alongside Niko and Michael I would say he is the GTA protagonists that developed the most through his respective storyline, and this is neat for short DLC storyline such as The Lost And Damned. Plus he had a characteristically raw and direct sense of humour, compared to Niko's more witty and sarcastic sense of humour, he simply didn't hesitate to hit people on the face with the truth:

 

-Clerk: I think you should leave sir, before I call the police

 

Johnny: "i tHinK yOu sHould leAVe sIr, bEfOre I..." Dude, it is the 21th century, let me tell you something, you've got a job wiping rich pricks asses and for some reason you seem a little PLEASED with yourself!

 

-Clerk: Will you leave?

 

-Johnny: Trust me sir, nothing would please me more, but I'm supossed to see Tom Stubbs.

 

 

Only for Johnny a part of me would like GTA V's storyline to not be canon (Even with its good things, as reckless and stupid as it sounds) by the time VI comes out, or at least that Johnny's and The Lost's events actually happened in a way, way different way, because there is no way my second favorite GTA protagonist got wasted in such pathetic and anti-climatic way. 

 

 

Edited January 15 by The Tracker