#as for brendan i think cheren would know of him because he's a champion

[cassioppenny]

sorry 2 hear youre having a bad day X_X hope u feel better soon... anyway!!! what's loki's pokemon team as champion of kanto....OR. OR are any of the milesverse protags/rivals Gamers. if so what video games do they like to play......

SO SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG I HAD TO DO SOMETHING anyway....

LOKI'S TEAM 🔥🔥🔥

yeah it's literally just a mono psychic team lol. as they're a psychic type themselves he finds other psychic types the easiest to get along with. her espeon is his bestie kitties moment!!!

as for the gamers...

red - his family owns a snes and a gamecube. the snes is in his and green's bedroom and he plays mother 2 on it ALL THE TIME. him and green play like mario kart and meele with blue on their gamecube sometimes

green - shitty horror games officianado. she starts a lets play channel post rgby and screams at freddy fazbear

blue - his family only has an old as fuck genesis that used to be his dad's. loves sonic 3. would be absolutely devastated if he learned about sonic.exe

ethan - lies about having "real" consoles like a ps3 and xbox 360 but only has a wii and a ds. he's pokemon scott the woz in terms of games taste

kris - HUUUUGE rpg guy kingdome hearts strongest soldier. also plays rhythm games because. miku.

lyra - doom.

brendan- guitar hero

wally - rpg maker horror 100% also utdr

dawn - also loves horror shit. knows the most obscure horror schlock imaginable. probably made an eight hour video on fnaf lore

lucas - banjo kazooie collectathon platformers he MUST collect everything or he's explode

barry - sonic duh

hilbert - fighting games, battle sims, or anything competitive in general

hilda - too busy on that comp battle grind to game🔥 she does play some battle sims occasionally if the battle subway is closed or she wants to battle online

cheren - literally anything hilbert plays so he can be better at it than him

bianca - the sims and animal crossing and harvest moon and stuff like that. also rhythm games because meloetta

rosa - she likes anything she can find. her parents wouldn't let her play video games as a kid because they were "too violent" so now she happily eats up and slop she can find a rom for. loves gta just to spite her parents

nate - okay so fortnite doesn't exist yet in bw2 but. fortnite. also cod i guess. he's that type of gamer

hugh - REALLY salty fighting game player. also animal crossing

serena - she used to be a huge fan of kirby before dying 💀

calem - he's a cod kid sorry

shauna - she usually plays more casual games like rhythm games or farm/life sims but she is surprisingly really into metroid. (she has a crush on samus (gee i wonder what her taste in women is))

trevor - puzzle games and farming sims!! also collectathon platformers

tierno - ddr OBVIOUSLY he likes other rhythm games too

selene - she LOVES mario galaxy. rosalina was her childhood crush (gee i wonder what her taste in women is)

elio - he only plays REAL games for REAL MEN (proceeds to play crash bandicoot)

hau - animal crossing i think he plays games to relax and chill out

gladion - unironicly shadow the hedgehog 2005. he thinks shadow is just like him fr

lillie - her mom didn't let her play that many games when she was little but she LOVES playing mario galaxy with selene. also she plays animal crossing with selene and acerolla real

gloria - loz twilight princess. there's a funny wolf and swords of course she likes it

victor - he's a kirby fan but one of those kirby fans who INSIST that kirby is actually super dark and not for kids

hop - loz botw. him and gloria argue which zelda game is better

marnie - i think she likes cool stylistic indie stuff like rpg maker games, utdr, ect. she doesn't like overly corporate lifeless feeling games like new super mario. she really likes the world ends with you she'd think the style of that game kicks ass

bede - wii sports💀

juliana - retro games and games with retro artstyles!! she loves old shit so much she bought nso just for the retro games (she doesn't know how to emulate</3)

florian - he likes a lot of games actually!! he wants to be a game developer when he's older so he loves learning about game design and how games are made.

nemona - battle sims, fighting games, action games, ect she likes high action stuff!! she'd be a god at dmc i think

arven - he only has his childhood ds that's on life support. yes he does have cooking mama

penny - rhythm games, jrpgs, rpg maker, fighting games, ect ect she plays a LOT of stuff. also unfortunately plays gacha games. me and her are both in miku gacha hell i think

carmine and kieran - they just have their grandparents old ass wii but dead god can have the most insane round of mario kart they have ever seen

[chercept]

✔ For Barry and Brendan!

My muse(s): cheren for barry!

Do I know your muse(s):  yes | no | a little | tell me about your muse

Setting: our verse | my verse | your verse | modern | alternate universe | other

Pre-established relationships? yes | no | depends on the relationship

Possible relationships: friends | classmate | co-worker | roommate | family, real or adopted | dating or blind date | married | friends with benefits | unrequited love | lending a hand | teacher - student | rivals | allies | partner-in-crime | enemies | protecter - guarded | business partners | spy - infiltrated | manipulator - manipulated | star-crossed | first meeting | other

I’m in the mood for: fluff | angst | horror | romance | humor | crime | hurt / comfort | action | supernatural | slice of life | crack | dark threads | light threads | any genre | multi-para | shorter para | one-line | any length | plotted threads | unplotted threads | other

Feel free to: message me ooc | message me ic | tell me your ideas | write a starter | answer one of my opens | send a meme | reblog this with your preferences - let’s find common interests!

- - - - - - 

My muse(s): cheren for brendan!

Do I know your muse(s):  yes | no | a little | tell me about your muse

Setting: our verse | my verse | your verse | modern | alternate universe | other

Pre-established relationships? yes | no | depends on the relationship

Possible relationships: friends | classmate | co-worker | roommate | family, real or adopted | dating or blind date | married | friends with benefits | unrequited love | lending a hand | teacher - student | rivals | allies | partner-in-crime | enemies | protecter - guarded | business partners | spy - infiltrated | manipulator - manipulated | star-crossed | first meeting | other

I’m in the mood for: fluff | angst | horror | romance | humor | crime | hurt / comfort | action | supernatural | slice of life | crack | dark threads | light threads | any genre | multi-para | shorter para | one-line | any length | plotted threads | unplotted threads | other

Feel free to: message me ooc | message me ic | tell me your ideas | write a starter | answer one of my opens | send a meme | reblog this with your preferences - let’s find common interests!

[epicspheal]

Heya! I hope your doing well!

Ever since swsh gave the rivals something to do after the fact( something that I believe only happened to Blue), I can't help but think of the rivals prior who haven't. What do you think they end up doing? I know that Blue ends up becoming a gym leader, but would still be interesting what you plan for him too! :3

Hi there @ihopethisendswell! So actually, it's the norm typically for the rivals to have something to do, even if it's just continuing being a roaming trainers. Being a roaming trainer is still just as valid of a career path as other routes given the way the Pokemon world works, it's just not as solid of a career path as say gym leader or research assistant. Pokemon Sword and Shield is one of the only main games that really puts emphasis on the rivals' alternate careers paths as part of the plot outside of the gen 5 games. So like you have Blue who becomes gym leader and also helps his grandpa with his research by still be a roaming trainer (much to the frustration of anyone trying to challenge his gym). By the time of Sun and Moon/USUM he has ditched the gym to become battle facility which ultimately given his status as a former champion ends up being a much more fitting role. Granted he needed that time as a gym leader as long standing humbling exercise so it wasn't a bad call at all. Then we have Silver, who remains a roaming trainer, though he kind of mainly sticks around the Dragon's Den because he really wants to avenge that loss to Lance and show how much he has changed. Then we have Brendan/May (when not the protagonist) who end up going back to being full time assistants professor Birch. Wally on the other hand, is much like Silver in that he continue to be a roaming trainer, with him staying around the Battle Resort in ORAS with him eventually going to the Battle Tree by the time the SM/USUM events occur.

Barry also follows the roaming trainer route with him staying Stark Mountain in Diamond/Pearl and with Platinum he hangs around the Survival area.

Gen 5 is where the rival's future goals get the most attention, and was the best well done (SwSh in my opinion failed hard on the rival's goals bar Klara and Avery's). Bianca is still my favorite "how to do a future career path" ending in the entirety of series which is she really doesn't know. She ends up taking up a position as Professor's Juniper's assistant. However it's this linefrom Bianca in Pokemon Black 2/White 2 that I really enjoyed:

"Actually, I'm not sure being a professor's assistant is really what I want to do... But when I do the work, I have lots and lots of fun!" I really appreciated that they allowed Bianca to have doubts that this is her final career path. She's still a child and I can remember when I was her age (God, I sound so old) how many career paths I thought about in that time frame...and only one of those comes even remotely close to what I'm attempting to go back to school for. I liked how she's just trying to things and aiming for experiences while not trying to commit herself to one specific path. Now obviously this could theoretically be true for any number of the rivals as with the exception of Blue (and Wally although for some odd reason they didn't give him an aged up model considering he'd be just as old as Red and Blue are) we don't see them as adults and their ambitions could very well have indeed changed over the years. Then you have Cheren who after that scolding from Alder really begins to question his pursuit of strength and what he really wants to do. Cue 2 years later in BW2 where we see him as the Aspertia City gym leader as well a lecturer at the trainer's school. Fitting as it shows his desire and capabilities as a trainer but also allowing a more concrete goal than just pursuing strength but actually overseeing the future generations. And Hugh, another one of my favorite characters, concludes his story arc on forgiveness (since he had absolutely none for Team Plasma at the beginning of the story) ends up a roaming trainer but also helping the good side Team Plasma in Driftveil City reunite Pokemon that were stolen during the events of Black/White to their original trainers. So he has a goal and really touching one I might add, one of the few that doesn't revolve around battling or researching.

Then there's the XY rivals who were admittedly the most shafted. They all pretty much end up as roaming trainers except for Trevor who already had the aim of completing the Pokedex for Professor Sycamore and he continues to do so.

The no specific aim works the best, in my opinion, for Shauna as she really didn't have much of a goal to begin with outside of travelling/making memories, and much like I said with Bianca, it's okay for characters to not have a specific end game (although I personally see Bianca's route as better as although she isn't quite sure what she wants to do, she does take initiative and actively pursue a goal to gain experience and see if it's for her).

Serena/Calem (again when not the protag) having no set aim also works because they were most competitive of the group and continuing to be a trainer makes sense, but since they get hardly any development it just feels hollow and not satisfying. At least with characters like Wally, Silver and Barry who are roaming they all went through some major development. Lack of major development plus no end game just makes Serena and Calem unfortunately just not stand out.

Then Tierno...poor Tierno. He's my favorite XY character and I hate that screwed over so poorly. He actually a goal but the game doesn't allow us to see how a dance team would work. Kalos really could've benefitted from a Pokemon Contest/Musical like sidequest where Tierno shines in. So him being a roaming trainer is just...meh.

Now moving on to Gen 7 and best boy Hau (Hau's up there with Blue and Leon as one of my favorite Pokemon characters PERIOD). In both Sun and Moon and USUM he's a roaming trainer but I argue that Sun and Moon actually wrapped up his character better, despite USUM giving him much more in the way of development. By that I mean he explicitly mentions to the player that he wants become strong enough to find his father who fled Alola because the pressure of being the Kahuna's son was too much. So yeah he is still just a regular trainer, but he does have an explicit goal that goes beyond just trying to continue to measure up to the player. He also helps to train the reforming Team Skull grunts in the art of Alolan SuMo. In USUM this is erased for a more generic roaming trainer scenario unfortunately. Gladion's fate also changes depending on what version of the Gen 7 games you play. With Sun and Moon he ends up taking over as Aether's president but also still trains on the side as he is one of the challengers that can come for your title in the post game. In Ultra Sun and Moon he actually takes the "I'm going to Kanto" route instead of Lillie although he actually back and is essentially a roaming trainer since Lusamine's villainy was nerfed and therefore allowed to stay as Aether's president

Then there's Trace who ends up champion then loses it, but keeps on going in this endless circle of trying to reclaim it from the player. And then finally the Gen 8 rivals where we have Bede, Marnie, Klara and Avery all become gym leaders and Hop is a professor. Despite this cast having the most focus on their future paths since the gen 5 rivals I don't think they were done that well. Like Klara and Avery's worked, really well and they're probably the only rivals bar Trace and Blue who actually their goals (with them actually maintaining there dream status because their goal didn't involve becoming champion).

I've talked about Hop's on this post before but the lack of genuine foreshadowing just made his sudden declaration of wanting to be a Pokemon Professor just come out of nowhere. And honestly considering the fact that he had just come out of a depressive stage and still hadn't quite addressed his idolization issues I think he would've been served better with the Bianca route where yes he becomes Sonia's assistant, but it's clear that he's still trying to find his new path and that he's just open to trying out research rather than making a rather bold claim that this was his new career path. Either that or do better in the foreshadowing where he shows he has a much clearer interest in academia but feels like he needs to be a champion like his brother.

Then there's Marnie who I've also stated was kind of screwed over. Because she made it rather clear to Piers she didn't want to be gym leader (which makes sense given that she saw how that position screwed over older brother that she admires). She's pretty much doing this because she still has the motivation to save her hometown which is extremely admirable and mature. But also it's sad, like if she didn't have to do this, would she honestly still be gym leader. I think not, at least not immediately. Considering that gym challengers can still compete on the big stage with the champion's cup rematches and some even can be invited to the Galarian Stars Tournament, I think if I had of written that I would've focused on how with Leon as the head of MC he's going to actually work with Spikemuth to revitalize without shouldering the responsibility on one single person, especially a minor. And let her be a roaming trainer and live for herself and not continue to be Spikemuth's martyr.

Then there's Bede who quite vocally states when crashing the Champion's Cup that he was ready to retire. Like poor boy goes from being used as Rose's wishing star collector and fall boy to Opal's reirement plan. Like yes it's great that Opal actually remembers his name and gives him a support system and teaches him some discipline. But still it's kind of sad as he was very much okay with retiring but more or less gets goaded into staying because of the stadium audience.

So this post got way longer than I what it was going to be but hey that happens. But yeah too long don't read, all of the rivals do have a goal, even if a lot of them end up as roaming trainers. If I'm honest in most cases (bar the gen 6 rivals because they lacked developent) the roaming trainer thing works. Because they're kids and they still have their whole lives ahead of them and they don't need to have concrete job just yet. Especially because in some cases the concrete plan just doesn't always fit the character. It works best when it feels like an organic part of the story and not just trying to wrap things up for the sake of wrapping things up.

Finally, to answer your question about how I deal with Blue. Well in my Pokeverse (dubbed cactusverse in case you see me refer to my AU as this), I tend to be fairly canon compliant to the games. So after he loses his champion title to Red he becomes Viridian gym leader, slightly patches things up with grandfather by helping with the research and eventuallya head of the Battle Tree as an adult once he gains the Battle Legend Status (which is an actual legitimate title in cactusverse held currently only by him, Red and Leaf, although one of my OCs gets this designation as well). So nothing that really deviates from canon except for some offscreen events. Basically the battle legend status is bestowed if a major event happens that is taken care of by an already established powerful trainer. So there's a rather major plot thing the Kanto Trio gets involved in that once they take care of gives them their status.

Also for cactusverse there's the whole issue of the Viridian City gym. So it eventually it gets passed down to Trace as Blue has shown that he's become a bit too powerful to be a gym leader. He was honestly when he first got it probably still a bit overkill for an 8th gym leader, but he also really needed an attitude adjustment. And with Lance being a far better father figure to him than Oak could ever dream of, with the help of Agatha tried to rein in his egotistical and self important ways by giving him the position. Which worked very well. Still in cactusverse there's rules on the win percentage a gym can have and that's determined by position. Win too many for your rank and you get moved, vice versa if you lose too many, and sometimes you might even lose your position. The first and last gym leaders are always the most at risk of losing their status. This actually happens to Wallace, Iris and eventually Raihan because they just end up exceeding the strength of most challengers who try to challenge them. Hence why all three of them end up champions at some point cactusverse (Raihan does not become Galar's champion, but Johto's champion since I really like the idea of him spreading his wings beyong Galar).

Blue between the time of BW2 and SM had ended up getting to a point that no one had gotten a gym badge off of him in a couple of years which is unacceptable by league standards and he would've gotten booted out sooner had Lance not personally asked my OC Terra to come kick his butt and get a badge off of him. And cue possibly the most iconic and brutal gym battles to have ever gone down in a region of outside of Galar because two heartbroken champion tier trainers, who broke each other's heart is a recipe for a frightening battle. Lance happened to referree that match and might be a little traumatized. Terra won and he was able to give out his last badge before Red came back from his latest global trip and said let's go to Alola.

[byakuyasdarling]

Ah yes, Pokémon rivals; my favourite topic

Warning: this list is massively biased. I (kinda jokingly) rag on every ‘Awful’ tier rival, so if you don’t want to here that, feel free to skip that explanation. I am pretty harsh with Marnie, I know a lot of people like her, so if you do like her PLEASE don’t read her section because I do not want to upset anyone. 

Also, I do ramble a bit how I like SWSH but they are my personal least favourite games (which is a hot take, I know), so if that would upset you please skip. Take care of yourselves <33

I created the politically correct ranking of Pokémon rivals (/j)

Anyway, epic explanation under the cut:

*if N was on this list he would fall under “Amazing”. Breath-taking story, breath-taking development, great theme songs, awesome character, fantastic team.

Why Blue is in S rank (very long explanation compared to the rest)

You cannot tell me Blue (or Green, or Gary, whatever you want to call the main Kanto rival) isn’t THE BEST RIVAL EVER. They got it SO RIGHT. He inspires hatred, AND sympathy. Literally, his grandad, the only living relative aside from his sister we even know about, loves you (the player) more than him and it’s kind of sad. 

Blue is great, he has a crappy pronunciation of ‘Bonjour’ (see Pokémon Masters), he says ‘smell ya later!’ he has class, swag, and is by no doubt the most challenging rival character. He is the only rival I never swept on a normal run. He is always demeaning you; he is always one step ahead all the way up until the champion battle where you finally beat him. AND HIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OMG.

He still is arrogant and prideful, but respects people and wants to guide people to be better at Pokémon battling and thrives when he sees others succeeding - he doesn’t mind being ‘a former champion’. HECK HE’S SO COOL AND AMAZING. 

Also he has the best champion theme and encounter theme ever. Yes, he was a previous F/O so I am super biased; but so were 3 others on this list. 

Silver and Gladion

These two were my F/Os when I was much younger (around 12). They are great rivals with great development and story arcs. Plus, they have bopper encounter themes and battle themes. Gladion was my real introduction to the oc x canon community and inspired me to take drawing on as a hobby (as well as Lillie but I did not end up drawing her as much). 

Brendan, Cheren, Hugh, and Barry

When I was 10 playing Omega Ruby, I liked Brendan a lot (so... another past F/O... he’s the final one though). I dunno, he genuinely had a good friendship with that extra spice of rivalry with our character, May. I do not like friendly rivals (if my listing wasn’t obvious), but Brendan did it right. There was a lot of touching scenes with him and May *cough*cough* Delta Chapter *cough*cough* which really made me connect with him when I was 10. Now, Brendan and May are interchangeable depending on which one of them you pick to play as, so why have I ranked Bredan far above May? Better encounter and battle theme (yes, they have different instrumentation) and he gets the childhood crush pass.

Cheren is cool, I just really like his character and his attempts to create a good strategy. He is really dedicated to what he loves and becomes a gym leader (like BLUE DID. Blue has it all, really). Plus, glasses are cute :) (he is the same age as me, I can legally say that even though that was an obvious nod to Byakuya but you never know what people will take out of context). 

Hugh is cool becomes he somewhat feels like an asshole rival, but at the same time, has a really soft side. Like, his whole motivation to be a good trainer is to save his sister’s Purrloin that was stolen by Team Plasma. He is a hero y’all. Also GREAT encounter and battle theme; huge thumbs up. 

Barry! My man! Overall, cool rival with a great team. He is the second hardest rival to me (but Blue is harder than him by a landslide still). He is really funny in both the games and the anime and despite being a bit more friendly, he still sparks a lot of rivalry with you. Plus, his dad is battle frontier brain Palmer! How awesome! He was also my first rival, so that’s something special to me too. 

Average Tier

I like Hau as a character, he feels like a genuine friend and how he develops with the main character and Lillie is really wholesome. It’s just - I dislike him as a rival, a lot. Easy fights, not the best encounter theme... just kind of there. I get why people consider Gladion as ‘the true rival’ of S and M because he really is. Hau is also a rival that chooses the starter WEAK to your starter like the gen 6 rivals (who I hate with my entire being). 

Wally had a bad-ass final battle theme song and moment. That’s literally the only reason he makes the average tier. If this was a ranking disregarding ORAS he is easily down in the ‘Awful’ tier. 

I like Pokémon Sword and Shield... except I just don’t like them as much as every other game (yes. I did play Pokémon Yellow and enjoyed it more, thank you). I know you all HATE that, but that is just my opinion - I think I have earned the right to say that after my almost 12 years of playing these games and being a VGC player for a few years. It has good characters and some cool Pokémon and yeah... gameplay? Lacklustre. I really do not know what went wrong outside of story. Somehow the competitive battle scene is not the fun it used to be. Dynamax bugs me, the lack of megas bugs me, the dex cut REALLY bugs me. I know I am not the only one who thought this game lacked the charm other Pokemon games have. Graphically though, it’s very nice for the most part.

I have gone way off-topic, but anyway, yeah. SWSH rivals make average because I like their characters (especially Hop’s development). Outside of that, not the best rivals.

May is cool for a lot of the reasons I discussed with Brendan.

Lacking Tier

I like Bianca’s whole deal with her dad and how Elesa has a nice moment to shine too - and that’s it. I know the whole theme of her team is friendship but I die inside every time I watch a Chandelure uses RETURN. It was cool she returned in BW2 I guess? I like how her battle theme matches her personality, but it isn’t anything to write home about. 

I like Calem a bit more than Serena but I do not want to pull another Brendan and May (even though I had some good reason to do that) and I’m going to put them here. Bad teams and not memorable in the slightest, Calem and Serena belong in this tier. 

Awful Tier

X and Y rivals amirite??? They just suck. They are annoying and they suck. They have 3 Pokémon in all final fights, really? At least Shauna is likeable in the anime. 

I hate Trace. But, he has one funny memory I have with my dad that makes him slightly better. We both named him ‘Blue’ since Blue is the actual Kanto rival, but then Blue showed up in LGPE... And then the two ‘Blues’ talked to each other and it was mildly amusing at the time. Anyway, he didn’t deserve Blue’s champion theme (which is even used for Blue in later games outside of his champion battle (BW2), THAT IS NOT TRACE’S THEME. Anyway, he is the gross friendly rival that attempted to fulfil the best rival’s shoes. Sorry Trace, bad luck my dude. 

I just never attached to Marnie I suppose, but I can understand that she is important to those who are invested in her. I am about to fully rag on Marnie, so please skip if that makes you upset. 

 I am going to hurt a lot of people when I said I never liked Marnie. She was always just... like why do people like her so much?? I feel like most people like her because she is ‘funny haha goth gf’ which, fair I suppose. I just think she is super lacking as a rival, she makes no real impression as an actual character, and I think if you removed her from the game it wouldn’t make a difference. Don’t want to be that guy, but I AM that guy right now. I suppose she has a cute design?? and that’s it. Again, I am really biased when it comes to SWSH and rivals, so I suppose she really got the short end of the stick with me.

[sage-nebula]

the pokemon company be like *thinly-veiled misogyny*

To be honest, the sexism isn’t even really thinly-veiled if you think about it. Like off the top of my head:

— Professor Juniper was our first female professor, and it took until Gen V to get her. But whereas all the other professors got to stand on their own without needing anyone else, Professor Juniper had to have her father come in to provide answers to various plot occurrences that she didn’t know. IIRC, she also inherited her practice from him, which was also something that the male professors before and after didn’t have to contend with. It’s a miracle that this was averted with Professors Magnolia and Sonia in Gen VIII, both of whom are women.

— Speaking of female professors being screwed over, in Gen VII we’re introduced to Professor Burnet, whose practice specifically focuses on ultra wormholes and disturbances in space-time (which makes sense since she was previously working on the Dream Radar). Given how much of the plot concerns ultra wormholes, you would think that she would be the main professor of the story, or at least play a big part. But you’re wrong! Instead she’s only in one mandatory scene, and then is basically never heard from again. Meanwhile, Kukui shows up all the goddamn time even though his goal (to create a League) is literally meaningless in the scope of the overall plot. (And even that could have been cool if it had delved into the socio-political ramifications of what overthrowing Alola’s current system of government for another one would mean, but now is not the time to get into the failings of Gen VII’s plot. I’ve gone through that enough times.)

— Back to Gen V for a second, we’re also given two rivals in the first of the Unova games: Bianca and Cheren. While Cheren, the male rival, is taken seriously and has it talked up over and over how great of a battler he is, Bianca has her Munna stolen from her halfway through the story and spends the rest of the game talking down on herself and ultimately deciding that her father was right and she really is not cut out to be a Pokémon Trainer. Keep in mind that Bianca was the first mandatory female rival in the games, because while May could be a rival in Gen III if you played as Brendan, if you chose to play as her, both rivals (Brendan and Wally) were male. So on that note, our rivals so far look like:

Gen I: Blue Oak (male)

Gen II: Silver (male)

Gen III: Wally (male), optional May (female), optional Brendan (male)

Gen IV: Barry (male) 

Gen V: Cheren (male), Bianca (female), Hugh (male)

Gen VI: Shauna (female), Tierno (male), Trevor (male), optional Serena (female), optional Calem (male)

Gen VII: Hau (male), Gladion (male)

Gen: Hop (male), Bede (male), Marnie (female)

So, let’s see. We only have two mandatory female rivals (Bianca and Marnie), as well as two optional female rivals (May and Serena). Meanwhile, we have twelve mandatory male rivals, as well as two optional male rivals (Brendan and Calem). To cap this off, while the mandatory male rivals (outside of the useless Kalos ones) are always treated as strong, competent battlers who have important roles in the story, our two mandatory female rivals, well . . .

Bianca: See above

Marnie: Gets battled a whole grand total of two times and has basically zero impact on the plot despite the fact that her brother is the only Gym Leader who didn’t give into Rose’s vision for how Galar should operate and use Dynamax evolution

And even when it comes to the optional ones, since Brendan is treated as the default MC by TPCi, that means May is the one who gives up training to go be a professor like her dad. (Which is the exact thing they basically did to Bianca in Gen V, except she studies under Juniper instead.) Serena at least keeps battling if she’s the rival, but jeez.

So to say there’s definite gender inequality where the rivals are concerned is a bit of an understatement.

— Moving away from the rivals, let’s talk about villains! We didn’t get a female villain until Gen VII with Lusamine, and even then she wasn’t allowed to stay a villain because I guess Game Freak doesn’t want to accept the fact that women can be evil, too. Moreover, all of Lusamine’s achievements come from the men in her life, and all of her motivations revolve around her husband. To spell it out:

- She inherited the Aether Foundation from her grandfather / father, without having founded it herself like we’re at first led to believe.

- Her husband Mohn was the one who discovered how the ultra wormholes work, not her. IIRC, he was also the primary researcher behind Type: Null’s creation.

- The reason why she does what she does is because she’s looking for her missing husband Mohn, with an added dash of “women just go crazy (and abuse their children) without their husbands!!1!!!” thrown in for flavor. 

Compare this to Giovanni, Maxie, Archie, Cyrus, Ghetsis, Colress, Lysandre, and now Chairman Rose, all of whom formed their own organizations (Giovanni inheriting his from his mother is anime only and does not pertain to the games at all) and had their own goals and desires, versus relying on someone else for those goals and desires. And as if Lusamine not being allowed to form her own organization and have her own goals for her own sake wasn’t bad enough, they then had to go and make it even worse in USUM by turning her into a damsel in distress in the Rainbow Rocket plot, depicting her as not only less capable as the male villains, but also less capable than her male subordinate. Gag me.

— On that note, Oleana is sorely underappreciated by basically everyone except the Twilight Wings writers considering she’s the only reason anything Rose did got done, yet got none of the credit for herself. Damn shame.

— Stepping away from the games for a moment, Generations was a hot mess in terms of sexism. First of all, they only ever used the male MCs, pretending that the female ones didn’t exist at all, even in cases where the female MCs are vastly more popular (e.g. May, Dawn, Hilda). Second, most of the episodes focused on male characters from the series, and the ones that didn’t were either there so they could disrespect the best character in the series by not giving her the episode she deserved (Zinnia), or were told from the point of view of a male character despite that it was supposed to be a female character’s story (Emma). And lastly, there was whatever the fuck that mess with Cheryl was. It was animated in a way that made it look like an anime not suitable for anyone under the age of eighteen. Like honestly, what the hell.

— Leaf has been consistently and constantly disrespected all over the franchise. Despite there allegedly being four trainers who left from Pallet Town (counting Ash) in the anime, Leaf has never been seen or mentioned even once throughout the two decades that anime has been running. They had an opportunity to show her in at least a cameo form in the 20th anniversary movie, but they chose not to do that either, adding yet another disappointment from that movie to the list. She had no appearances in Origins, no appearances in Generations, they didn’t do what they should have done in HGSS by making her the rival atop Mt Silver if you chose to play as Lyra, she wasn’t a skin for Pokémon Trainer in Super Smash Bros. until Ultimate, I’m pretty sure they never made an Amiibo for her either, they replaced her with her Special counterpart in LGPE and her characterization absolutely bonkers to boot, and back to Masters, SS Leaf doesn’t have the Main Character designation for the theme skills that SS Red has, and is also routinely left out of any story bits that feature Red or Blue. It’s a miracle she was even included in the Battling Legends event or whatever it was. As far as TPCi seems to be considered, Kanto only has one main character and that’s Red.

— Oh and speaking of Iris, they gave her the Gym Leader theme designation instead of the Champion designation, instead choosing to act like Alder is Unova’s only Champion when he, no offense, didn’t really fucking do anything in Gen V. :’) We hate to see it.

— In the current run of the anime, the two boys (Ash and Gou) have gotten to go around and have adventures for ~50 episodes while the girl (Koharu) has had to stay home and go to school. You can argue, “She wanted that!” all you want, but you have to remember that she only wants what the writers tell her to want, and the writers said the boys get to have adventures while the girls stay home. She finally has an Eevee and will presumably go on adventures now, but we’ll have to wait and see. And don’t get me wrong, I like Journeys and I love Gou as a character, but it is absolutely a Choice to not have a female lead present in the adventures at all and it’s one that the writers deliberately made for whatever reason.

— On that note, let’s look at Ash’s female companions, shall we? 

Misty: A Gym Leader who has a vague goal (water pokémon master) and is largely out of focus during her run as a primary companion. She had no rivals or in-series (as in, concrete ones she could accomplish before leaving the main cast) goals of her own.

May: A coordinator. Does have rivals and has a story, which is nice, but battling isn’t her focus.

Dawn: Another coordinator. Even more focus than May (she was written as a deuteragonist), but also not primarily focused on battling.

Iris: A battler (her Gym Leader / Champion Status is written out) who actually does get decent focus and a cool arc surrounding her connection to dragons. 

Serena: A performer, which is a girls-only career path that doesn’t have battling in it at all, unlike contests. Does have a goal, but much of her character is written around her crush for Ash and at the end of the series she says that he is her goal.

Lillie, Lana, Mallow: Honestly I didn’t watch enough of SM to have an opinion on how these three were handled outside of hating how Lusamine didn’t get to be a villain in the anime either.

Koharu: See above, she’s only just now getting to be involved with things.

Now, don’t get me wrong: There’s nothing wrong with being a coordinator (and we do see male coordinators too, such as Drew and Harley), and I think that both May and Dawn are wonderful characters. But it does make me feel some kind of way that the female characters were often given the “girly” sidequest while the male main character got to go for the Gym badges, especially since AG and DP went on for a good chunk of years. None of the ladies so far have been treated as badly as Serena was (that performer stuff is just nasty, I’m not sorry), but again, it’s a deliberate choice and something to think about, especially since I feel the only reason they didn’t go that route with Iris is because of her Gym Leader / Champion status in the games. 

I could probably think of more examples of the casual sexism in the series if I thought about it, but this is just from the top of my head. As you can see, there is a lot. All of this being said, and I’m putting major emphasis on this since I don’t want anyone to get it twisted—

I love Pokémon with my entire heart, flaws and all. It has been my hyperfixation for 22 years and that is not going to change any time soon. So DO NOT even dare suggest that I hate Pokémon, or shouldn’t play it, or anything like that. I will be playing Pokémon on my deathbed and nothing and no one will stop me.

But that being said, I criticize because I care. Because I wish it would do better. Pokémon is for everyone. It’s for boys, girls, nonbinary folks, and people all over the gender spectrum. But the treatment of its female characters and the abundance of favoritism shown toward the male characters leaves a lot to be desired (though at least girls are at the table, whereas trans folk are relegated to background NPCs and nonbinary folk are nowhere to be seen :/). I think Pokémon can get better—Magnolia and Sonia felt like a proper apology for how Juniper in particular was shafted, not to mention Burnet—but it’s got a long way to go.

(And also, yes, you’ve understood this right. Twilight Wings is the only anime series to not fuck up at all when it comes to sexism. You go, Twilight Wings. Four for you, Twilight Wings.)

[smoldewott]

I’ve been having a lot of feelings.

TL;DR: Leon represents every kid who grew up playing Pokemon.

When I was ten years old, the Sinnoh games were the latest core series Pokémon games. I remember loving Dusknoir especially, thinking of it as “my partner” the way Ash had Pikachu. I loved the idea of Pokémon contests and watched every episode that had one. I loved the idea of being independent, of going on a journey.

I’m turning twenty-one next January. I still love Pokémon, but now I interact with the series differently.

Pokémon, first and foremost, is a game for children. It’s always going to have kid or teen protagonists. The coming of age story is designed for children. When you beat the champion in any game, a grownup character will tell you you’ve grown so much and how they’re proud of you. I bet a lot of us have some fond childhood memories about specific moments in the games.

As parts of the fan base grow up, though, there’s a question: what comes next?

What happens after you defeat the bad guys? What happens after you enter the Hall of Fame? What happens after you grow up?

The writers have been developing this (or at least trying to) ever since Gold and Silver. Because their protagonists are blank slates, though, it’s hard to write epilogues that get specific. Red becomes a silent recluse. Hilbert/Hilda disappear on a search for N. (I mean, mood, and probably what a lot of players themselves would have done, but it’s also kind of sad to see the world move on without you.) Red appears again to vacation with his rival in Alola. (Also a mood and also what I’d do if I spent three years on an ice mountain, but that doesn’t develop any story about him as a character.)

It’s hard to write about the player characters after they become champion.

Hence: Leon.

Leon is noted for becoming champion at the age of ten. That number is not an accident: it’s possibly the most common age given for when a kid can start their journey. (Note: I love Ash Ketchum. If you wanna make fun of him, make your own post.)

Leon is called unbeatable. He’s never lost an official match. From the outside, this might sound suspicious, but it’s pretty much the same as every player character in every other game. After all, if you lose in a prior game, you’re transported to a Pokémon center and everyone acts like the battle didn’t happen. Protagonists don’t lose, and Leon is no exception.

He’s even got a pair of rivals a la May/Brendan and Wally, Cheren and Bianca, or Hau and Gladion.

But there are two things that set Leon apart from any player character (aside from perhaps Elio/Selene, @Gamefreak you better let us know how the Alola league is doing —) ahem. The first part that sets Leon apart from any player character is that Leon becomes Champion, and he actually stays Champion.

He grows up. He stays strong. He becomes famous, beloved.

This could theoretically be what happened to any of the player characters, after their stories.

So. What kind of person is Leon?

He’s a strong trainer. A given.

He’s a showman, representing Galar’s football-esque league.

He’s responsible: when there’s trouble, he goes to fix it. He doesn’t ask the child protagonists to do the work for him. (Note, too, how his only ally during the game is his rival Sonia.)

But Leon’s most important role in the story of Sword and Shield isn’t that he’s the champion, or that he’s a responsible adult. I mean, sure, those are important, but every champion is important, and Gamefreak has been getting better about letting adults do things.

No, what makes Leon important is that he is our rival’s brother.

That’s the other thing that sets him apart. Our player characters never have siblings. (Yes, I know the character you don’t chose in the Hoenn games has a little brother, but he doesn’t count.) The minimalist family is another part of the blank-slate protagonist design. But Leon, a protagonist who gets to be a person, gets to be a big sibling.

His brotherly instincts aren’t limited to Hop, either. He treats Victor/Gloria similarly: giving them their first Pokémon, teaching them how to catch Pokémon, looking out for them and encouraging them — 

How many of us have done the same when interacting with a child new to Pokémon?

(In 2017, I had a very pleasant conversation with a kindergartner telling me how strong his Wishiwashi was. I like to think we learned at least a little from each other.)

So, to recap: Leon reflects the protagonist archetype. He shows what might happen after a player becomes champion. Leon represents anyone who’s been a Pokémon Master since they were a kid.

And in the end, he steps aside when it’s time for the younger generation to take their place.

Nobody’s saying that adults shouldn’t play Pokémon. At a certain age, though, we have to remember that it’s not primarily for us anymore. As adults, we have influence, and we need to be mindful of how we act around younger players.

Are we being kind? Are we being helpful? Are we giving them a safe place to grow?

After all, that’s what being a champion is about, right?

[stratuscloudsurfer]

Champion Stadium Hard Level 1 Strategy Guide

Ok, since I had fits with the champion stadium (especially round 3), and I’m hard pressed to find any strategy for it yet, I’m going to share the exact teams and order I used to finally attain victory, in hopes of helping someone else do the same.

WARNING LONG POST UNDER THE CUT

Round 1: (Parameter: Use status conditions and other conditions against all opponents!) Lorelei

So, Leaf was basically tailor made for this battle against Lorelei. Use razor leaf turn 1, and all three opponents will most likely get badly poised. From there, I set up Mega Healing and used Dawn to buff defense, freeing Brendan up to do his thing. Lorelei’s team went down pretty quickly, mostly thanks to the massive amount of poison damage. 

I think other sync pairs that would work well during Round 1 are Koga, Lyra, or Rosa. In hindsight, I wish I had used Lyra or Rosa in lieu of Dawn, as the extra healing she provided was altogether unnecessary due to how fast my opponents went down to poison damage and Sceptile’s leaf storm. 

Also, I know that the game recommends you take out the two pokemon on the sides first, but I went into this round without reading the tips, and took out Lapras first. I’m not sure how much of a difference it would make to take out the other two first, but taking out the center mon first worked out for me in this round. 

Round 2: (Parameter: Use sync moves quickly against all opponents!) Bruno

Sygna suit Blue came in SUPER clutch this battle. His move “To the Top!” was super useful in accelerating the move gauge for Kris’s Mega Kick. I used one at the beginning, and the second one when the first one ran out. Hilbert, of course, is an ideal support for Kris. His attack and speed boosts get rid of the need for Kris to waste any turns using her attack boosts, freeing her up to straight up attack right off the bat. 

As for strategy, mine was basically to spam Mega Kick over and over again. Again, I focused on taking down the center mon first. One recommendation I have is to use Blue’s sync move on your first opportunity. This activates Force Field 4, which will give your team a Sp. Def buff, as well as the Safety Net. The fact that Blue and Hilbert could survive one more attack meant that the opponent’s pokemon had other targets to get through before they could take out Kris. I truly believe this ability got me the W in the end. 

I think other sync pairs that would work well for this parameter might be Siebold and Clawitzer paired with Winona and any other support that could boost special attack. If you don’t have Hilbert but do have Kris, Maylene would be a great support for her, as well. 

Round 3: (Make use of special damage reductions to battle opponents with high Sp. Atk!) Lance

Round three was, hands down, the hardest one for me. I spent AGES trying to take down Lance with all kinds of different combinations of sync pairs. It was especially frustrating because the opposing Lance’s Dragonite was practically indestructible with its Clearheaded ability, which prevented the confusion it otherwise would have hit itself in probably a thousand times due to spamming Outrage over and over. 

I tried for a long time to use Lyra in lieu of MC and Torchic, as I wanted to save her for Blue, but I had no other choice. MC’s “Blazing Hope!” was absolutely necessary to boost the power of Lance’s Hyper Beam. My strategy was to use both “Blazing Hope”s and Drake’s Special Defense boosts at the very beginning of the battle as quickly as possible, then fire off Hyper Beams at the pokemon on either sides. I at first tried to take out the center mon first like in the previous battles, but this time, it was impossible to win any other way than to take out the side mons first. 

I burned up MC’s two attack boosts to get down to my Lance’s first sync move, and used Drake’s “Hard to Starboard!” just before the opposing Lance could use his sync move, which is helpful because it had the additional effect of charging up the move gauge and allowing my Lance to fire off more Hyper Beams. I used Lance’s potions to heal up MC’s Torchic and keep it alive as long as possible. I saved both “Now or Never!”s until the very end of the battle, then used them both in between two Hyper Beams that delivered the final blow to the opposing Lance’s extremely infuriating Dragonite. 

All this being said, I think I probably battled Lance a good 50 times before I got the W. Other combinations I tried was swapping Zinnia for Lance and Maylene for MC, but neither of those worked very well, I think due to the lack of healing capability. I think Zinnia could be useful in this battle if you had the Clearheaded ability unlocked as a lucky skill and a support sync pair that had healing capability, such as Dawn or Skyla. Additionally, I had to fully unlock Drake’s type skills, and my MC’s potential was boosted up to 4 1/2 stars. 

Round 4: (Parameter: Use sync moves as much as possible against all opponents!) Agatha

I actually tried versing Agatha in Round 3 Acerola, Fantina, and Pheobe, but found it to be even more impossible than Lance on the 3rd round, which is why I decided to save her for last. 

Elesa was definitely the MVP of this battle. I took a look at her sync grid and unlocked it to the point that I could get the MP refresh for “Breathtaking!” and it was a game changer. I used up both of her Special Attack boosts and Acerola’s Defense boosts the beginning of the battle, then targeted the side mons first with Fantina’s Shadow Ball. I used up Acerola’s “Over Here!” right before Agatha’s Gengar could use it’s sync move, which would allow Elesa’s Rotom to stay alive and continue using “Breathtaking!” to get down to Fantina’s sync move continuously. I waited until Gengar was the only pokemon left to use Fantina’s two “Dance with Me!”s so that I could fire off the two Shadow Balls that delivered the death blow. 

If you don’t have Fantina, I think that Shauntal would be an excellent swap in for her. In place of Elesa, Rosa or Cheren would probably be good support mons, especially with Cheren’s full heal to get rid of the self-inflicted burn that would probably take Shauntal out fairly quickly otherwise. I’m sure Morty would be good as well, but I can’t speak for him because I don’t have him. I highly recommend Acerola as at least one of your allies for this team, though, as her type skills were super helpful fully unlocked. 

Round 5: (Parameters: Use physical attacks against opponents with low defense! / Use status conditions and other conditions against all opponents!) Blue

I hated to be so cliche as to use Red against Blue, but... well, he’s obscenely strong, so I had to do it to him. This was the exact team I used. I chose the status effects condition with Flannery in mind, and let me tell you, it was the right decision. I actually intended to level all of these guys up to max before I challenged Blue, but I ran completely out of level up materials, and so decided just to go ahead and challenge him to get a feel for how the battle would be. I didn’t expect to win on the first try, but this team brought me to a solid and swift victory. 

Skyla is an ideal partner for Red because her “Take Flight!”s negate the massive drop in both defenses that Charizard incurs after using “My Destiny!” My strategy in this battle was to use both “My Destiny!”s and “Take Flight!”s at the very beginning of the battle, then to burn Blue’s Exeggutor with Will-O-Wisp immediately after the status boosts. I unlocked Skyla’s sync grid enough to get the MP refresh for Potion, which was super duper helpful. I think it refreshed a good 5 times, allowing me to heal her up to survive all the attacks directed at her, as well as her two allies after Blue’s sync move had been used. With Red, I spammed Heat Wave before and after his sync move until both side mons went down, then used a couple of Blast Burns to take down Blue’s Exeggutor. 

Other sync pairs that I think have potential for this battle are Flint in lieu of Red and Blaine in lieu of Flannery. Of course, MC and Torchic would be a great support for this battle, as well. 

And there you have it! Now of course, I’m not a Pokemon Masters expert, or am in any way claiming to be. I just hoped that my struggle could perhaps help someone else out with this challenge. Also, if anyone else has beat the Champion Stadium with other sync pairs, I would love to hear what you used! 

[atrainernamedradish]

Top 5 Least Favorite Rivals

5) Kalos Rivals [Pokemon X & Y]

Don’t get me wrong: I like the idea of having a group of friends setting out on their Pokemon journey together. That’s a wonderful idea! My issue is, however, the way it was executed… I have just moved to a new region and have four other kids already clambering at my doorstep to get to know me and befriend me. As someone is very introverted and socially awkward… that would not sit well with me. 

Not to mention there is clearly one that is romantically interested in me trying to be better at me at battling as well as with pretty much everything on my journey. Which, sorry neighbor, but not no, but hell no! I’ve got better things then hang out with someone who’s already sizing me up thinking that they’re better than me, and trying to make me feel bad for always kicking their ass! Fuck off Serena/Calem!

Then you have the other one who also has a crush on you, especially if you’re the male character: Shauna! The fireworks scene in the storyline wants to come off sweet and enduring when in reality it comes off creepy! Like… sweetie, we’ve only known each other for not that long, I am not interested in you. If they would have toned this back a little, I would have liked Shauna more, oh well.

Trevor annoyed me so much! I don’t care about the Pokedex, and stop crying every time I’ve seen more Pokemon then you in it! If you cared so much about the damn ‘dex then why haven’t you worked as hard on it as the game claims you have, for fuck sake! Every time you are on the screen I want you gone! Oy!

Tierno was the rival I actually liked the most. He actually had a personality that wasn’t creepy or annoying. My only gripe with him is that he talked about having a fucking dancing team, and had no members to speak of that looked to fit the part! I think in the anime he had a Ludicolo, which is something he should have had on his team, but as always in each new game they are trying to push the new Pokemon so hard that they fuck up a character’s team doing so…

4) May/Brendan [Ruby & Sapphire; Emerald; Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire] & Dawn/Lucas [Diamond & Pearl; Platinum]

You know what’s really annoying? Having a rival of the opposite gender who is pretentious and egotistical because they have a teeny bit experience over you, but is weaker than they realize pretty much being filler wasting your time in the game’s storyline.

These are the assholes that started that trope of the “nice” weak rival that has implied romantic interest in you. What a waste of character space in my opinion… As much shit as I gave the Kalos rivals, at least they had some personality compared to these boring carbon copies of each other these four are... 

3) Hop [Pokemon Sword & Shield]

Put away your pitchforks, and hear me out before you mob me! I don’t necessarily hate the character itself. I hate how he conflicts with the usual formula for Pokemon games.

He talks a lot about how he’ll follow in his brother’s footsteps and become the next champion. He thinks of you starting out as someone he has an edge over always acting surprised when you know even the basics of Pokemon and battling. He tries so hard not to let you know that always whooping his ass bothers him, but it does every single time.

The game tries to introduce this champion successor that has done as this research who already has a Pokemon when you first battle them. But even then the usual formula contradicts them. They choose the weaker starter allowing you to beat them so easily! And then have the audacity to be surprised by the results!

Then when Bede beats them, which how the fuck do you lost to a single type specialist who hasn’t been training that long Hop?! You can’t feel sorry for him because he was doomed to fial from the start! Game Freak already had him precoded to get his ass beat by you over and over again, despite the story claiming otherwise! There was no damned reason why Hop was in the finals with you! To be honest, it wouldn’t surprise me if his matches were rigged because he was related to the champion!

Hop had no business being cocky throwing around his brother’s title then feeling sorry for himself when he lost. I just can’t invest in this character. He is a knockoff Hau if Hau actually gave a shit, which they failed at doing in USUM. Even Hau was more of a challenge and someone I was more emotionally invested in…

Game Freak, if you’re going to try and spin this try hard rival that’s in the shadows of their better sibling then make it believable. Your own formula fucked up a perfectly good character arc and it shows. By this point in my second playthrough I was rooting Bede on to kick Hop’s ass again. That’s how little I care about him.

2) Cheren [Black & White; Black 2 & White 2]

I am about to get soooo much hate for this! Oh well…

You know what drives me crazy? Having to be stopped every 5 fucking seconds by my annoying childhood friend who doubles as my rival because we just beat the local gym leader, and he has to see who is the better trainer telling me how strong he is and how strong he wants to see how I’ve become since the last battle, and how he wants to be the champion of the region, and then when I beat him he will be surprised I won and how he needs to get stronger to beat me, and rinse and repeat. Every. Single. TIME! Like… Cheren… FUCK OFF! Let me having so fucking breathing room!

1) Hugh [Black 2 & White 2]

You know what’s worse than what Cheren was doing above? Take Cheren, make him angrier and jaded, give him an attitude problem and make him whiny, have him obsessed with Team Plasma, and you have Hugh.

I’ve got better things to do then be friends with a guy who thinks he can talk to me however he pleases who tries to boss me around and act like he’s better than me. Like, Hugh, honey, grow the fuck up and see a therapist. I hate when games give me friends/rivals like these because I don’t like them. I would never associate with people like this in real life. As much as I would want to whoop the shit out of someone like this, it takes less stress and time to just not be around them and save me the headache. He was the worst experience for me in Black 2 & White 2, and those are some of my favorite games in the series, to give you an idea. I hate this guy.

[sydchan]

Pokémon Champions for the ship meme?

Green Oak- My NOTP for themNone, I’m fine with all the ships I’ve seen with Green. - My BROTP for themWhile they’re OTP as well, Red/Green is my BroTP ship for Green.- My OTP for them Red/Green all the way!- My second choice pairing for themI’m super ride or die for Namelessshipping, so it’s very hard to seriously consider alternative ships. Green/Leaf is cute as well, plus there’s always AUs with her as the protag so she’d be the one with the dynamic Red/Green have that I like so much. - My fluffy pairing for themRed/Green by default.  While they also have a lot of good angst potential (particularly earlier on in their relationship), I tend to view them as fluffy once they resolve things. - My angsty pairing for themThis isn’t a serious ship of mine, but Ethan/Green going with the idea Green’s attraction to Ethan is due to his resemblance to Red. - My favorite poly ship for themI’ve seen some cute content for Red/Green/Leaf. - My weirdest pairing for themEthan/Green isn’t that odd, but it’s less mainstream than the others.

Red- My NOTP for themNone, all the ships I’ve seen for Red are fine. - My BROTP for themRed/Pikachu!  Like I mentioned above, Green/Red is BroTP as well- My OTP for them Red/Green or bust- My second choice pairing for themI mentioned this in the ask about Giovanni, and while I don’t feel super strongly about this ship, Giovanni/Red was the only other ship I considered in my next gen AU for bad end/angst potential. - My fluffy pairing for themWhile they have their angst, Red/Green ends up being the fluffier ship as things progress. - My angsty pairing for themRed/Giovanni since I can really only see if taking place in a bad end AU. Team Rocket Wins or something. - My favorite poly ship for themRed/Green/Leaf- My weirdest pairing for themRed/Giovanni

Lance- My NOTP for themThis is gonna sound super hypocritical, but I actually don’t care for Lance/Silver.  Lance/Clair as well, due to them being cousins and preferring their relationship as more sibling-like.  - My BROTP for themI actually headcanon Bruno/Lance as really good friends. Even in AU settings, Bruno is the one I tend to throw in as Lance’s main confidant. - My OTP for them Lance/Ethan to an absurd level.  The ship I’ll be forever shook by how much I came to like. - My second choice pairing for themWhile I’m blaming good fanart for this one, I think Lance/Yellow could be interesting. - My fluffy pairing for themDiscounting all the nonsense I put them through, Lance/Ethan is my fluffy ship. - My angsty pairing for themCounting all the nonsense I put them through, Lance/Ethan is my angsty ship. They’re the be-all/end-all ship so they get both sides of it. - My favorite poly ship for themI want to say Lance/Ethan/Silver with the idea that Ethan is openly with both of them, but I just can’t see it.  So I guess angst route with Lance/Ethan/dubious-third-party-antagonist. - My weirdest pairing for themWhile pixiv would lead me to believe Lance/Ethan actually has some amount of popularity, I’ve almost never seen this ship in the western fandom.  So Lance/Ethan

Steven (already did him so I’ll skip)

Wallace- My NOTP for themI only bring this up since I’ve seen it in doujins, but Wallace/Lisia (if you can’t tell, incest ships are generally the ships I don’t care for, the only exceptions being for angst/drama potential). - My BROTP for themI mentioned this in Steven’s, but whenever I don’t ship them, I really like the idea of Steven/Wallace as best friends (although this is true even when I do ship them). - My OTP for them Steven/Wallace - My second choice pairing for themThis is mainly due to fanart, but Wallace/Winona seems interesting.  Particularly with pre-remake RS Wallace. - My fluffy pairing for themSteven/Wallace - My angsty pairing for themI don’t ship Wallace with anyone else strongly enough to have an opinion on this, so I guess Wallace/Steven if Steven ends up with someone else.  But Wallace also doesn’t seem like the type to pine forever, so he’d wish Steven the best, remain his supportive friend, and move on. - My favorite poly ship for themI’ve mentioned the ship involving Alain, but Steven/Brendan/Wallace would be interesting as well. - My weirdest pairing for themThey’re really just old contest-rivals in my headcanon, but since all good rivals get shipped together, Wallace/Tucker.

Cynthia- My NOTP for themNone. - My BROTP for themThere’s not one character I see as her true bro. She’s someone I picture as very skilled at getting along with others, but never has that one true friend she can always fall back on.  If I had to choose, maybe Lucian/Cynthia?  He’s at least the one I see her staying in the most contact with once she steps down from being Champion- My OTP for them Cynthia is one of the character that while I really like her, I’ve never strongly shipped her with anyone. Maybe Cynthia/Dawn if I had to choose. - My second choice pairing for themCheryl/Cynthia. I’ve actually given thought to making this one canon in my next gen AU. - My fluffy pairing for themCheryl/Cynthia- My angsty pairing for themMaybe Lucian/Cynthia?  Since I tend to picture it either being one-sided on Lucian’s part or just ending badly. - My favorite poly ship for themRiley/Dawn/Cynthia- My weirdest pairing for themCheryl/Cynthia since it was spawned by seeing one (1) piece of good fanart.

Alder- My NOTP for themNone, but it’s also rare to find content of Alder in general.  - My BROTP for themDoes this wandering hermit have friends?  I honestly can’t think of any characters he interacts with enough. - My OTP for them None, but if I really had to choose, Ghetsis/Alder might be interesting to explore from the angle that they have history with each other due to being rivals in their teens. - My second choice pairing for themI can’t even say I like this pairing, but I guess Cheren/Alder?  If only because it’s clearly a bad decision, so it might be interesting to explore (it’s also the only other ship involving Alder I can recall seeing content for). - My fluffy pairing for themAlder/his late wife (before the dying thing)- My angsty pairing for themBoth of the above, but I guess Alder/Ghetsis moreso since it’s Ghetsis- My favorite poly ship for themMaybe some kind of weird love triangle turned temporary truce in a scenario involving Ghetsis/Alder/N’s late mother???  None is the true answer- My weirdest pairing for themAlder/anyone. He’s just not that shippable.

Iris- My NOTP for themI have no issues with people shipping this, but I just don’t see the appeal of Cilan/Iris.  It has a lot of cute fanart, I just don’t see the chemistry. - My BROTP for themShe’s another character I see easily getting along with others, but not having that one true bro (other than Axew in the anime). Maybe Iris/Shannon (that girl who’s her childhood friend in the anime). - My OTP for them I don’t strongly ship Iris with anyone, but Iris/Shannon would be my top choice. - My second choice pairing for them. Benga/Iris is cute as well- My fluffy pairing for themBianca/Iris- My angsty pairing for themIris/Shannon since guess who often dies when I do anything with this ship in aus (hint: not Iris) - My favorite poly ship for themBenga/Iris/Shannon (actually, this might be the way to go. OT3 in the next gen au)- My weirdest pairing for themAll of the above ships seem equally weird. Maybe Benga/Iris since they never canonly interact.

Diantha - My NOTP for themNone. - My BROTP for themDiantha/Siebold.  I headcanon that Diantha is pretty good at endearing herself to most people she meets, but of her Elite Four, gets along with Siebold surprisingly well. Diantha/Sycamore is a close second for BroTP.  - My OTP for them Malva/Diantha for that good hero/villian dynamic- My second choice pairing for themI don’t have a second ship for Diantha.  Cynthia/Diantha is fine, but since I don’t really ship Cynthia in general, I’m neutral toward this ship.  But if I had to choose, it’d be ship #2. - My fluffy pairing for themAs my only ship for her, Malva/Diantha gets to be the fluff pairing. - My angsty pairing for themMalva/Diantha has good angst potential for obvious reasons. I honestly see them as a mix of both fluff and angst, moving from angst to fluff as the relationship develops. - My favorite poly ship for themI feel like it would be a train wreck, but Malva/Diantha/Lysandre could be interesting. - My weirdest pairing for themMalva/Diantha by default as my only ship for her, but since it only exists due to headcanons, I suppose it does count.

Sun/Elio (I debated whether he should count but Bulbapedia lists him and I like talking about the protags so…)- My NOTP for themNone. Since even though I prefer the idea of Sun and Moon as twins, I’m fine seeing them shipped since who knows how they’re related canonly. - My BROTP for themSun/Hau with Sun/Lillie as a close second- My OTP for them It was close with the next ship, but Gladion/Sun barely wins. - My second choice pairing for themGuzma/Sun.  I find this pairing more interesting to work with than the above ship, but ship them about equally. - My fluffy pairing for themGuzma/Sun.  While they certainly clash more than Gladion/Sun, they’re really not an angsty ship.  Plus as I mentioned with Guzma, Sun is his fluff ship. - My angsty pairing for themGladion/Sun. Shouldn’t this be reversed with the above, you might ask, but I tend to put Gladion/Sun through worse scenarios, so they’re the angsty ship by default. - My favorite poly ship for themGladion/Sun/Hau- My weirdest pairing for themGuzma/Sun for sure

[rockman-x]

Pokémon Rivals I've Met, Ranked

Participants

Blue (RBGY / FRLG)

Silver (GSC / HGSS)

Brendan / May and Wally (RSE / ORAS)

Barry (DPP)

Cheren, Bianca and N (BW / BW2)

Calem, Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor (XY)

Hau (SM / USUM)

Honorable mention: Ash (Pokémon Blue). That's the name I gave to my rival, because he looked a lot like Ash Ketchum.

First Meetings

Blue: Met in Pokémon Blue, Yellow, and Fire Red. I either stop at the beginning or halfway through.

Silver: Met in Pokémon Silver and Crystal. I either stop at the beginning or halfway through.

Brendan: Met in Pokémon Sapphire and Emerald. I either stop at the beginning or halfway through.

May: Met in the Pokémon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire demo.

Wally: Met in Pokémon Sapphire.

Barry: Met in Pokémon Platinum. I stopped at the beginning.

Cheren, Bianca, and N: Met in Pokémon White. I am almost finished with the game.

Calem, Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor: Met in Pokémon X. I stopped at the beginning, because I was playing on my friend's 3DS.

Hau: Met in the Pokémon Sun / Moon demo.

Ranking

S - N, Silver, Cheren, Bianca, Hau, Brendan A - Barry, Wally B - Blue, May C - The XY Rivals

Explanations

N: My dude (gender-neutral) have you played Pokémon White. I can't even begin to explain why I like him so much. (I actually kinda can: his autistic swag has captivated me.) Play it yourself and understand. Silver: I don't know man I just think he's neat :) I haven't gotten to see him get better but I think he's really funny. He always goes out of his way to say "I HATE the Weak and I hate YOU because YOU are Weak". My dude I am literally just vibin??? But I like you. You're funny. Also I just beat your ass. Cheren and Bianca: I care them deeply. It really does feel like they're my childhood friends. I want to see Bianca and Cheren (ESPECIALLY Bianca) succeed!!! Follow your dreams, Bianca. I will support you through every little step. Always. Hau: How can anyone hate this boy he is so full of energy and joy!!! (and likely malasadas) Hau is really cool and I felt really sad watching a random clip of him crying in the anime after Ash beat him :( You are Alola's Champion. In my heart. (I'd give him the title in game if I could) Brendan: He's one of my favorites forever because I really like Hoenn and I also really like his outfit in Sapphire and I think he's really cool. That's it Barry: I only had Barry for 30 minutes but if anything happened to him I would kill everyone in this room and then myself. I will install PokéPlatinum again when I'm finished with White and Black 2. Wally: My son Wally, he has every disease. I love him so much :) Blue: I don't really have any strong feelings about Blue. He's there I guess. Kind of a dick. I don't hate him though. May: I interacted with her for like 10 minutes what do you want me to say The XY Rivals: I'm sorry but I have no idea what to say about them!!! I interacted with them very little and I don't have a very good image of Kalos (besides it's Pokémon, it seems very weak)!!!! I am sorry. This might change if I research it a bit more, though.

The end :)

[lesbianmichelmishina]

random thoughts on my pokemon magical girl/boy au:

the protags/rivals fuse with their pokemon to become heroes. it’s not rly like ash-greninja or mother beast though. maybe a bit more like su fusion?

their powers come from the legendary pokemon of the region in question, via these things called “hearts”, which are weird artefacts found at the sites where leagues are built. the champions (+ kukui and burnet) look after these and watch over the heroes. the powers are specifically handed out by talking electric rodents (plus a mimikyu that got hired bc togedemaru wasn’t around and silvally couldn’t hand the power to gladion itself).

geez this got long let’s put it under a cut

red = charizard, blue = blastoise, leaf = venusaur.

red signs his dramatic speeches. leaf and blue thought initially maybe he could try speaking with his charizard’s help, but he still can’t speak any human languages. fortunately he’s still able to trash-talk giovanni, who learnt sign language because you never know who you’ll be dealing with in his line of business.

also red accidentally caught the pikachu that was trying to give him superpowers bc he was like “wow a pikachu!! they’re rare!! let’s catch it!!” pikachu has never let him live this down.

ethan = typhlosion, silver = feraligatr, kris = meganium, lyra = azumarill.

silver got picked up by the spiky-eared and pikachu-coloured pichu bros first. they regret this decision right up until goldenrod when the character development starts kicking in.

lance: “why this kid though?” pichu bros: “well... he has a good heart deep down!! we just didn’t realise how deep down it was.” lance, getting out his #1 dad mug and a barbeque: “guess i’m going to have to handle this one myself.”

kris actually gets her powers last, they meet her in ilex forest with her bayleef.

may = blaziken, brendan = swampert, wally = gallade.

SORRY SCEPTILE. i love you but... can’t have two greens...

may loves this job way too much. wally is so determined to do this right. brendan... is just getting dragged along for the ride.

wally’s costume has a face mask designed to help his breathing as part of it, so he can stay active for longer than he normally could. it actually really helps his health.

archie and maxie are also getting way too into this. archie is enjoying being the big bombastic magical girl villain, and while maxie won’t admit it, he’s going very shiny-glasses-and-tch on the gang.

dawn = torterra, lucas = empoleon, barry = infernape.

barry has fire powers, arceus help us all. wait, this is partially arceus’s fault. fuck.

cyrus is your standard super fucked up why is he in this genre at all villain.

looker figures out who the trio are basically immediately, but promises to keep their secret so long as they work with him against the team galactic. they agree because looker’s awesome and fuck cyrus.

dawn very much enjoys using the move wood hammer.

hilbert = samurott, bianca = emboar, cheren = serperior, n = zoroark.

the nacrene museum affair is a complete disaster for n, who realises at the last second that the skull isn’t what they want, and then has to go magical boy mode with hilbert to get it back, which confuses the HELL out of the plasma grunts.

please imagine bianca punching ghetsis through a wall. it is a great image.

cheren thinks this is stupid but he LOVES his costume.

rosa = lucario, hugh = unfezant.

the first one is based on the pokestar studios first movie. rosa stars in a film about herself, playing herself, and almost no one knows. hugh and bianca die of laughter when they see it.

the second one... firstly he gets a pidove fast, secondly, that MASK. imagine it.

my apologies to hilda and nate. you guys are cool but i couldn’t fit extra protags in on this one.

serena = delphox, calem = greninja, shauna = chesnaught, tierno = clawitzer, trevor = florges.

they love this. they love this so much. it is the best thing that has ever happened to these kids. especially tierno. he quickly becomes known as the most graceful of kalos’s legendary heroes and he loves it.

trevor is in kind of an odd situation - everyone else has gender match-ups on their pokemon but he can’t. so technically “florges hero” is non-binary. it’s an interesting opportunity for self-exploration if nothing else.

serena would probably end up very usagi-like just for the joke in the names. meanwhile calem is a fucking ninja and he loves it.

shauna in a suit of armour. it’s so stupid. i love it.

moon = incineroar, sun = primarina, hau = decidueye, lillie = lunala, gladion = silvally.

LILLIE PLZ. GLADION PLZ. that’s just excessive??

sun and moon are twins. scary twins. meanwhile hau is robin hood. he just wanted a type advantage over his grandpa.

the plot would be some convoluted mix of sm and usum with necrozma and mother beast and all of that thrown in. 

episode rr is the movie where they get all of the teams together. giovanni is like “???” when he sees silver. archie and maxie end up working together because if they don’t then this tiny blaziken girl will destroy them both. cyrus has now seen it all. ghetsis laughs at n being there until he can’t fucking find anyone because of all the illusions, also it’s not funny to harass someone who is beyond the point of caring about it. lysandre cannot believe this is happening. faba runs screaming the moment the big fight starts.

fwiw: lance = dragonite (he adopts like seven unruly kids in this mess), steven = metagross (probably shiny for the aesthetic), wallace = milotic (most fabulous magical mentor ever), cynthia = garchomp (if you actually make her transform you’re screwed), alder = whatever his partner was in the past (you never see him change form), iris = haxorus (tiny princess girl with an axe), diantha = gardevoir (bow down to the queen or get moonblasted), kukui = lycanroc & burnet = musharna (they found the heart so they have to deal with it).

the villains also generally manage to imitate these powers with varying levels of success. giovanni manages it but doesn’t enjoy it. archie and maxie do fairly well because their pokemon like them. cyrus thinks it’s a weird but useful tool. ghetsis... max frustration hydreigon... it’s not pretty. n obviously nails it. colress never personally tries but it’s an interesting phenomenon all the same. lysandre also does well because his gyarados actually does seem to like him a lot. lusamine should not have tried this with an ultra beast. guzma goes all street samurai with his golisopod and it’s AMAZING.