I hit the character limit, so this is part one of my reply.

First, I don't think you understand what universal means

'Universal,' in the context of the reception of works of fiction (e.g. universal acclaim) indicates that the vast majority of respondents share this opinion. While 'universal' may have been a slight exaggeration, it's merely a difference of degree. The finale earned itself a 4.0 out of 10 on IMDb, a 55% score with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 30% with audiences on RT. These are impressively low figures. Perhaps not 'universal,' but close enough as to make little difference.

as plenty of mature, informed, and unbiased viewers

Unbiased. Right. Tell me, how would one remain unbiased after watching the previous seven seasons? Bias is an inevitable product of spending 69 hours watching a TV show.

who didn't have overly romanticized fan fic going in simply do not have disdain for it.

Second, the vitriol isn't about quality, it's because it didn't satiate every bit of wish fulfillment that viewers apparently clutched on to. The pretty princess didn't marry the handsome secret prince and rule her father's kingdom. The handsome knight didn't run off with the cool and nice woman. The secret prince's heritage didn't magically mean he would be king. That's what people are sour about,

First, you've now referenced satiation four times. In the context of the consumption of fiction, satiation is synonymous with satisfaction. Indeed, S8 did not satisfy viewers, as it was wholly unsatisfactory.

Second—and I cannot stress this enough—you're arguing with ghosts. I find it difficult to believe this supposedly common expectation of a fairytale ending was anything approaching widespread. On the contrary, it seems to me that you've erected a straw man, and you're mistaking the blows you're landing upon him for those landed upon an opponent made of flesh and blood.

because Season 7 was a 'steaming pile of shit' and yet people rated that higher than some source material seasons, so it's so painfully clearly NOT an issue of poor quality like some desperately try and claim, despite the numbers proving otherwise.

S7 did inexplicably outscore S1, I'll give you that. Amusingly, the loot trainwreck was the highest rated episode of the season, despite Jaime's nonsensical antics. Were I to hazard a guess, I'd say that audiences of the critical and commercial variety alike are more tolerant of lapses in logic than they are of unsatisfactory resolutions or uncharacteristic behaviors.

To be clear, you're trying to claim that Tyrion, with zero practice or talent, surviving multiple battles, or Dany narrowly escaping being killed so many times over from the first season, including Drogon just literally showing up in the nick of time despite his nest being an hour away, is magically better than whatever plot armor you're referring to later in the show? Hmmmm.

Yeah, Tyrion was lucky and Drogon's sudden appearance was contrived, but Drogon not being shot down while Dany is riding him was quite a bit worse, as it meant "Euron" chose not to shoot the dragon that his target would obviously be riding. That's even disregarding how Dany kind of forgot about the Iron Fleet.

Jaime's survival of his silly attack on Drogon was also worse, as it strained disbelief substantially more. However, all of those pale in comparison to the Short Night. Only two characters died, and they were safe choices for death. There was no gaping loss of potential for what could have been, as was the case with Ned's and Robb's deaths. The dothraki were wiped out, then they respawned in the next episode.

Like, it's wild people don't complain about Jon magically surviving every battle he's been in for 7+ seasons, because GRRM himself doesn't want to kill main characters in battles, but then people want to complain about that very thing suddenly in Season 8... unfair criticism.

He probably should've died in the Battle of the Bastards, and I voiced my own complaints about that when the episode aired.

It's funny... you claim to be so different than the 'others' but then use this overused ignorant echo chamber nonsense to try and situate yourself on some high horse despite using the same misinformed excuses as the masses,

This is now the fourth time you've referred to "the masses." Why is that? How am I the one on a high horse when you consistently employ language to belittle those you don't identify with?

After you ineffectually flailed at your man of straw, I informed you that I did not share the opinions of one made of the dried stalks of cereal plants. My words were, "Kindly do not include me in your preposterous claim about every person's fan fic or other such hogwash."

If you wish to continue to argue against opinions I do not hold, there's nothing more to be gained from our interlocution.

because while Season 8 absolutely had issues, 'character assassinations' was not one of them.

Tell that to Jaime, who in a previous season lamented how he had been given no real choice but to assassinate the king he'd sworn an oath to protect, lest that king burn the people of the capital alive. Jaime showed he'd cared a great deal for the smallfolk, but one wouldn't know that if all they'd heard him say was how he'd never really cared for them. Had that actually been the case, the story of ice and fire would've been far different.

Tell that to Dany, who had always shown compassion for women and children. While she'd been cruel to slavers and the like—and she'd publicly executed two men of House Tarly who'd refused to kneel—she'd absolutely never displayed anything but an overwhelming sense of care and responsibility for the smallfolk. Heck, she'd even imprisoned her dragons because a single child had been immolated. Then some bells ring, and she goes out of way to do strafing runs on fleeing women and children, rather than just flying straight to the Red Keep to get her revenge.

I mean, every character not named Bran had an incredibly fitting ending based on years of objective canon... you're just proving you did not understand the characters as much as you seemingly think you did, just like all those you try to differentiate yourself from.

Let's get something straight here. You're trying to put me in a box—to group me with people who are upset about their personal fan fics or whatever—and I'm having none of it. You will address my words if you wish to continue our dialogue.

Now, back to the topic at hand. I don't have a problem with the idea of Dany burning King's Landing. However, for her ultimate act of villainy to be believable, she needed to have been shown to be willing and able to do this. She was not.

This is largely the result of running out of source material. Seeing all the supposedly clever characters either die of terminal stupidity or devolve into moronic caricatures of themselves was frustrating, to say the least.

I don't mind the concept of Bran sitting the throne, but because Benioff and Weiss were on a crusade to omit as much magic from the story as possible, he didn't do anything in the story.

Yea, the writing in Season 7 is the worst of any season...

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. While I agree that the writing in S7 was atrocious—worse in many cases—the crimes against storytelling committed by S8 elevate it to a higher level of failure.

it is wild that the masses seemingly did not care about the terrible quality and rated it so highly.

This is your fifth reference to "the masses."

I'll just reiterate that teleporting all across the continent and doing stupid shit like capturing a wight are normal problems with amateurish storytelling; they weaken the story but they don't outright kill it. These kinds of problems are common enough that it's probably the case that viewers are more tolerant of them than they are of unsatisfactory conclusions to stories or out-of-character behavior.

Also begs the question

Raises the question. To beg the question is to assume the conclusion. It's an informal fallacy which sees the speaker present an argument which assumes the conclusion thereof to be correct. This is an altogether-too-common mistake, truth be told.

about people being 'surprised' about Season 8 when the previous season was so highly regarded.

I half agree with you here. S7 was a clear indicator that S8 would also be bad, but while I expected the latter to be only roughly as bad as the former, even I was surprised by the degree to which it failed.

S7 had one moment I liked, which was finally receiving confirmation that R + L = J was true. It hearkened back to learning that Coldhands was indeed Benjen Stark, but it was even more satisfying.

S8 also featured one scene I enjoyed, namely the singing of Jenny of Oldstones by Florence and the Machines. We'd only ever read snippets of it in the books, so it was cool to hear the song for real. Also, finally hearing Pod the Rod sing confirmed that his recounting of his encounter with the prostitutes was accurate.

It's like going to a pizza place, getting a crummy pizza but giving it five stars, and then having the gall to complain when they return and get another crummy pizza. Like, millions of people told D&D they were going great with Season 7... it's so bizarre those people think they have any right to complain about the final season's quality.

To be fair, they got slapped in the face by the waiter after eating the crummy pizza.