#but they’re capable of cool outfits a lot of the gym leaders have good fits and team star too

[i-have-no-braincells]

the paldean elite fours’ outfits are a bit lacking imo.

[ravenwolfie97]

hey, can i ramble about how awesome pkmn black/white is? cool

specifically i wanna talk about the gym leaders, because they’re one of my favorite details in the games. for the first few generations, gym leaders were just a means to an end, people designed to fight you with specific types of pokemon. they existed entirely to be gym leaders and nothing else. yeah they had design quirks that gave them a vague sense of a life and personality besides gym leading, but they were never actually expanded upon. gens 1 and 4 were good examples of gym leaders with backstory. however, they just never. Did anything with them beyond gym leading, save for a couple short cutscene bits or literally having to track them down to fight them

now gen 5 REALLY amped up gym leaders and the elite four as well, and i love it. each of them is extremely involved in their jobs and hobbies outside of their gym leader status, and they’re reflected in their gym locations. i’m gonna bulletpoint this list of people because it’s an easy-to-digest format

1. Cilan, Chili, and Cress: Grass/Fire/Water leaders from Striaton City They’re restaurant owners and chefs! Their gym is literally within their restaurant, and their waiters challenge you along the way, so it’s dinner and a show! (also all of their names are based on herbs/spices)

2. Lenora: Normal leader from Nacrene City She’s an archaeologist and the curator of the city’s museum along with her husband Hawes. Yeah, this woman’s married! Don’t think that’s been an explicit thing before! She’s also super well-read, with a huge library in the back of the museum, and her gym is hidden underneath the shelves! That’s wild.

3. Burgh: Bug leader from Castelia City He’s an artist and possibly a fashion designer as well! His first gym was an art gallery with honey walls, but his updated gym from BW2 was filled with bug-spun silk and his final floor was flooded with rainbow paint. I don’t know if he’s actually into fashion as well, but I remember he was in a Nuzlocke comic I read, and I could see that fitting for him as well with all the silk.

4. Elesa: Electric leader from Nimbasa City She’s a flippin’ supermodel! Originally her gym was at the end of the rollercoaster ride in Nimbasa’s amusement park, but in BW2 it was changed to a runway with other models challenging you as you advance.

5. Clay: Ground leader from Driftveil City He’s the operator of a mining business! It’s interesting that mining is the main export of a port city, but hey, there’s two caves nearby and his gym is literally a massive crystal-filled mine. He’s super responsible with all that to take care of!

6. Skyla: Flying leader from Mistralton City She’s a cargo plane pilot! Her gym is beside an airport runway and within a mail carrier building. She even flies the player around to certain areas, so she’s still capable of piloting planes as well as battling trainers!

7. Brycen: Ice leader from Icirrus City It’s unclear what he does in BW (he’s like vaguely a ninja/monk?), but in BW2, turns out he’s an actor! You can’t battle him in BW2 but you can find him in PokeStar Studios in his own movies! Just looked it up - he had originally been an actor and then got himself hurt in a stunt gone wrong, so he retired and went to train himself to be more mindful and knowledgeable. Then he went back to acting later on. That’s some good backstory right there.

8. Drayden/Iris: Dragon leaders from Opelucid City I wasn’t actually sure what they did either, but Drayden is the mayor of Opelucid City and Iris is just a very excited Dragon-type trainer from the Village of Dragons. Drayden had to stay in Opelucid as its mayor, while Iris trained hard and became Champion once Alder retired. Both of them had very different goals in their strength!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

9. Cheren: Normal leader from Aspertia City After the events of BW, Cheren becomes a teacher at the Pokemon School in Aspertia, and continues battling as a way to teach the kiddies! It’s a really great position for him to have taken since it aligns with both of his passions: learning about and battling with Pokemon.

10. Roxie: Poison leader from Virbank City She’s the bass guitarist and singer of her very own rock band! Her gym is within a dark and graffitied music club, and her band plays their music on the stage!

11. Marlon: Water leader from Humilau City Honestly not sure what he does, he just seems like a surfer dude who really likes swimming and being in the water n stuff. Maybe he helps out with the Marine Tube? I dunno, that seems plausible.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S STILL THE ELITE FOUR

12. Shauntal: Ghost-type user She’s a novelist! She even has a pen and notebook in her hands as she battles you, and she shares little snippets from her stories every time you challenge her. That’s so cute!

13. Grimsley: Dark-type user He’s a gambler, and really good at it, too - very fitting for a Dark-type trainer. However, he’s got more backstory than I remembered (from Bulbapedia): “He is the son of a distinguished family that fell into ruin. As a result, he developed a gambling addiction.” He eventually went to Alola and got good at Mantine Surfing but that’s not as important. He’s still good at games.

14. Caitlyn: Psychic-type user She seems narcoleptic... Like, her room is literally a giant canopy bed and she’s basically in her pajamas when she fights you. She’s like if Musharna were in human form: constantly sleepy but fueled by their psychic power. Oh! She used to be an assistant in the Battle Frontier Castle in Sinnoh! Forgot about that important bit! And she apparently is actually psychic but is kinda like Mob from MP100 where it gets out of control if she gets too emotional. Neat!

15. Marshal: Fighting-type user He was an apprentice to Alder, and is a very disciplined fighter. His Elite Four room is a big boxing ring and he wears a mouth guard and wears an outfit reminiscent of a gi, so he seems like he could be a boxer or an MMA fighter.

hhhhhhh okay i’m done now

wait, not yet. the coolest thing about all of these guys is that pretty much all of them are involved in the story outside of gym stuff, they all know each other, and at the end of BW they come together to help apprehend Ghetsis

OH AND NOT TO MENTION in BW2 all of the gyms get their own custom remixes! those all further amplify the gym leaders’ aesthetics and sidenote i so wish that’d come back it was srsly super cool

what i’m trying to say is gen 5 was fantastic and did a lot for gym leaders that hasn’t been replicated since. even for alola, that’s kind of debatable; their backstories and trial placements were greatly expanded upon in the same way, but the level of overall involvement in the story was still greatly reduced

tl;dr: BW/2 were great games and i love them ok bye