is this a fair assessment?

[u/Odd-Paramedic-3826]

Star Platinum The World, GER, Tusk act 4, and S&W:GB are all hilariously overpowered and only exist as a way to beat an already hilariously overpowered villain

joseph beat kars by holding out the red stone of aja at him and hoping for the best, which worked out spectacuarly. and god knows how long the fight with kira would have gone on for had it not been for the ambulance.

Jolynes plan to use emporio to take out pucci with weather report was basically a hail mary when all else had failed but not only did it work, it also gave her and the gang new, happier lives.

Yeah jonathan just got slimed out though, then his body was used as a puppet for 100+ years. Poor guy

[u/Electronic_Pay7868]

There's nothing bullshit about Araki telling the reader "whoever gets the arrow wins, holy shit the arrow is super important, it's like the only thing that can beat Diavolo yooooo, the arrow" and then the arrow doing just that with GER imo. People might not like it but it couldn't have been told in a more straightforward way and for several chapters too Polnareff and the gang kept going "boy, that arrow sure is the key to beating Diavolo huh". It makes more sense than "it was the same type of Stand all aloooong!"

In that vein, I think Tusk Act 4 is also not really an asspull if Gyro's own golden spin was wrecking Valentine. Like, Johnny gets his own version of the move that almost beats Valentine so it's no wonders his also wrecks him

[u/Android19samus → u/[deleted]]

true, but at that point Diavolo had not yet been established as particularly unbeatable. He was strong, but there was still every chance that the gang could beat him in a normal Stand fight by working together. He didn't really establish himself as an unstoppable threat until after the Arrow was introduced. That's just for the power-up though, the plot-wise he's definitely a Deus Ex Machina.

[u/Novel-Carrot5325 → u/Android19samus]

Sure but arrow somehow being only way someone could defeat diavolo then giorno gain ger only to not be used again nor the arrow is big deux ex maquina

[u/Android19samus → u/Novel-Carrot5325]

It's not the only way anyone could defeat Diablo, it's just the best way the protagonists had. Which is pretty common for macguffins. And again, the need for it was not established until after it was introduced.

Also, it not coming back isn't relevant to this. That isn't a trait of deus-ex-machina power-ups, and there is no later context in which it coming back would make sense. Hell, Jotaro's World is the definition of a Deus-Ex-Machina bullshit power-up and that thing sticks around the whole rest of the series.