Oscar- Judging from talking to Hummer, I am more inclined to believe what you say. I believe a certain amount of characters regardless of Regional tier listing are gonna be pretty much universal top tier in a game- K' in 13 and 2k2UM, Raiden, KGO in KOFXI, Geese/Zero in SvC Chaos, Kim in NGBC, etc etc. What is going to vary is going to be the other characters that are not in that universal tier list per country because certain countries will put more time to learn other characters than others thus tapping into their full potential when other countries will not tap those characters to their full potential.
Now not choosing to stereotype anyone, when I do The KOF Cup 2012 next year in Japan I will address all of this so that we can see why these people choose not to do such things. But validating a little of what Oscar is saying is this right here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Ki5Y5C5Wohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_Bt2DmBu4Notice how Hummer is saying even in 2002 that the Japanese players CAN'T DO STOMP CANCEL CONSISTENTLY! Yes that's right he is saying that they simply cannot even do Stomp Cancel with Kim consistently so they don't use it! They play in simpler terms/fashions!
Also I can show a link where Hummer states that he is the only May Lee Player in Japan and there are 3 Angels in Japan, therefore another common theme here is that if the character is difficult or requires hard work to use, most of the Japanese do not use them, where in contrast- in Mexico in this same video Bart states that 80% of Mexican players know how to use Angel and May Lee, characters which are hard to use, but top tier when played at their maximum or near maximum potential in 2002 (Hey even I know how to play them and fight against them to a degree because well, everyone can play them!).
Here is that video right here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZFzneF8WDYHummer finally got to play against other players in Mexico that were using tougher characters and it was catching him off guard and he even said in the interview with Andres after he lost 10-4 that Andres knew how to fight Angel and May Lee very well, and this is again because 80% of Mexico knows how to use these particular characters so of course they will have exposure vs. them. But Hummer said in Japan most players use the following in 2002:
Kim, Billy, Choi, Leona, Kula, Athena, Whip and some Ioris. Those are the most of the characters used in Japan with Team Japan being KBC (Kim-Billy-Choi) so of course Hummer would fare better against Mexican players who used Kim-Billy on their team (Skato, Bart, etc)..but against Angel-May Lee, Clark and others he would have a hard time. Something else people in Juarez were exploiting at The KOF Cup was Hummer's weakness against Iori. Everyone was picking Iori vs. him because they had noticed his weakness against fighting him. Luis Cha, who's main team is Kim-Angel-May Lee, against Hummer chose Iori-Angel-May Lee because he knew Hummer's weakness against Iori.
Here is the post interview with Andres where Hummer talks about Andres being exposed to Angel May Lee...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kxztq-qUGMSo yeah people basically in a nutshell, I've been telling people all the time, what you don't know can and will hurt you. You can be the best player in your country with a given amount of characters, but it will be a certain style and/or certain characters used that you are not accustomed to that will more than likely cost you in international tournaments.
But this is why to me international tournaments are the cream of the crop and are my #1 focus. I welcome learning new styles seeing how different people play in different countries and cities because there is so much to learn in a given game the more time passes by.
In regards to what omegaryuji is saying about people complaining about tiers etc, I don't have the patience for that either because more than likely the person that is complaining about tiers:
1. Is not well travelled around the world
2. Has not done enough research to truly discover ways to get around these characters (i.e traveling etc)
3. Only watches match videos from "certain prominent regions only"
4. All of the above
So I don't pay this any mind because I know they are very much ignorant to many things that I have stated in this post alone. Trying to convince them otherwise is like talking to a brick wall, until they actually leave their bubble they simply won't grasp what you are saying.
That's my $2 and 50 cents.