@Megadoomer:
I'm pretty sure it's because he's been shoe-horned into every arc in some form or another, often for little to no reason (ex. the Luxus arc, where it turned out that Mystogan was actually Gerard from another universe, the S-Class Exam arc, where he randomly gained telepathy in order to inspire Erza to win, and basically every arc after the one where he was the main villain). In my eyes, it's easier to tolerate him in this arc since the romance subplot between him and Erza seems to have been basically settled and now he isn't being taken so seriously, but I don't know if others feel the same.
Also he's an unfunny whinner bishie bitch whose only out-emoed by Zeref, once a light of hope at the end of the tunnel.
Speaking of Edoras I love how it was casualy brought up a few chapters ago, where random captain mcuseless heard of it from some of his subordinates ?
Old Guy: Say random useless military fodder, you do know about this super secret totaly unknown paralel dimension, right ?
Guy: Sure thing, heard about it from the guy who washes my socks.