Yeah, both the manipulations of the SS arc and indeed the more recent stuff with Ichigo's mom, retcons aside with the stupid hollow thing, were actually far more sensible and actually makes Aizen look smart and opportunistic, changing his plans on the fly when unexpected factors, like Ichigo's mom distracting and killing the hollow or Ichigo's group ACTUALLY managing to save Rukia from execution happen.
He didn't plan for those things, hell half the time he doesn't even expect them and had no way to see them coming. However his plans were fluid enough and he was willing enough to change them and react as needed to keep things moving along towards his goal. That's the sign of an intelligent, and incredibly dangerous villain and how you truly execute a Xanatos Gambit, particularly long term.
NOT the arrancar arc bullshit where 'everything dance to the palm of my hand', and things only fall apart at the end because you want them to. THAT Aizen is a villian sue of epic proportions and deserves all the scorn the entirety of the arrancar arc garnered for its bullshit. It's fortunate in fact that there's a way to differentiate these two Aizens. Glasses Aizen is the smart, calm and intelligent one. No glasses is the bullshit sue who manipulates the entire plot because he can and doesn't even really lose without it being all according to plan. Separate those two characters and things start making a lot more sense.
Clearly the GLASSES were the true man behind the man and the source of his clever plans. :snigger: