Do you find Trip/Shooti to be an interesting rival?

[Mokoniki]

Paul was never seen as being good looking or interesting like Gary and Trip.

LOL, wut? Paul has often been lauded as being the best of Ash's rivals. He had arguably the most developed storyline out of all of Ash's rivals. He was the most interesting in my opinion.

 

[Darth Darkrai]

Not Really, I now realize that he was a Really Terrible Rival now.

 

[Albedo]

I liked Trip but I never considered him much of a rival. He was a rival by title but he was more into his own things while Gary enjoyed mocking Ash and Paul usually just pretended to not be interested in Ash, with Trip he genuinely didn't care for Ash. He was more of his own character which I enjoyed. He was never even really up showed by BW Ash even in the league.

 

[Sakuraa]

Not really since his "rivalry" with Ash was pretty much non-existent. The fact that he was basically a Paul rehash already makes him uninteresting, but he never even seemed to care much about Ash at all, so I can't even really call him a rival. He never really payed attention to Ash in battle or care about anything he was doing. He only seemed to focus on Alder and beating him rather than beating Ash. Not to mention that he was made out to be much stronger than Ash despite having way less experience than him, so I found him pretty unlikeable from the start.

We also pretty much only saw two of his Pokémon in major appearances more than once. Serperior, who was overpowered for most of the series, and Conkeldurr, who never even won a battle on screen. I thought his Tranquil would have been a rival to Ash's, but we never saw it again after blowing away some bugs and his strong Frillish and Vanillite were never seen again after their debut episodes. So I can't even say that much about over half of his team.

I only thought that 2 things were interesting about him in the beginning. He documented his journey, but that was never shown again after the Nimbassa tournament iirc and the "Kanto is the boonies" thing, except that it was never explained why he thought this and it was also abandoned rather early. So overall, no I don't consider him an interesting rival. I feel that he had potential and could have been much better, but as of now, I actually find him rather boring.

 

[Supreme Leader Palpitoad]

He was good at the start and especially in his 5vs5 battle with Ash. But then he was treated really badly and was made fodder in two tourneys and won the third because of that the writers did not bare to continue his plot with Alder. And the only pokemon he really used was Serperior and Conkeldurr. Serperior was strong but Conkeldurr was just fodder all the time. But a problem with Serperior is that it was never used during Clubsploison or Battle Club tournament and we could never see it become stronger. And then the writers gave Ash and Trip an one on one battle in the first round of the league as conclusion of their rivalry. Trip was good at the start but sucked in the end.

 

[Albedo]

He was good at the start and especially in his 5vs5 battle with Ash. But then he was treated really badly and was made fodder in two tourneys and won the third because of that the writers did not bare to continue his plot with Alder. And the only pokemon he really used was Serperior and Conkeldurr. Serperior was strong but Conkeldurr was just fodder all the time. But a problem with Serperior is that it was never used during Clubsploison or Battle Club tournament and we could never see it become stronger. And then the writers gave Ash and Trip an one on one battle in the first round of the league as conclusion of their rivalry. Trip was good at the start but sucked in the end.

I gotta agree with you. He didn't outright suck but he was shafted too much despite all the other rivals being as bad if not worse then him. Honestly Conkeldurr to him was basically what Weavile and to a lesser degree pre-Full Battle Ursaring were to Paul, tough Pokemon that always got used as fodder. The only difference was that Conkeldurr was used in 1 on 1 battles while the other two were used in Full Bttles and three on three battles. If anything I'm doubting whether Ash could have even handled Trip in a Full Battle considering Trip's team statistically is stronger overall then Cameron's team and along with Trip also being smarter then Cameron as well, Ash would probably be as hopeless as he was in the 5 on 5.

 

[Supreme Leader Palpitoad]

He was good at the start and especially in his 5vs5 battle with Ash. But then he was treated really badly and was made fodder in two tourneys and won the third because of that the writers did not bare to continue his plot with Alder. And the only pokemon he really used was Serperior and Conkeldurr. Serperior was strong but Conkeldurr was just fodder all the time. But a problem with Serperior is that it was never used during Clubsploison or Battle Club tournament and we could never see it become stronger. And then the writers gave Ash and Trip an one on one battle in the first round of the league as conclusion of their rivalry. Trip was good at the start but sucked in the end.

I gotta agree with you. He didn't outright suck but he was shafted too much despite all the other rivals being as bad if not worse then him. Honestly Conkeldurr to him was basically what Weavile and to a lesser degree pre-Full Battle Ursaring were to Paul, tough Pokemon that always got used as fodder. The only difference was that Conkeldurr was used in 1 on 1 battles while the other two were used in Full Bttles and three on three battles. If anything I'm doubting whether Ash could have even handled Trip in a Full Battle considering Trip's team statistically is stronger overall then Cameron's team and along with Trip also being smarter then Cameron as well, Ash would probably be as hopeless as he was in the 5 on 5.

If Ash had used Krookodile, Leavanny and Palpitoad instead of Unfezant, Oshawott and Boldore against Cameron he should have won. The same with Trip.

 

[Albedo]

I'm sure he would have beat Cameron had he replaced those guys. It's just I can't properly analyze how Ash would do against Trip considering that only 2 of his Pokemon really showed up.

On the side note Trip never really spammed his Pokemon to me. In the Club Battle he was just testing out his newly evolved Gurdurr, while in the Clubsplosion he was going along with the theme of the tournament and signed up with Conkeldurr, in the Junior Cup he was already set on challenging Alder with Serperior so he just used him throughout the tournament to practice for that showdown and in the league he wanted to use his best Pokemon since he figured Ash would us his best Pokemon so it wasn't necessarily spamming but he didn't battle enough so it seemed like spamming.

 

[Darth Darkrai]

He was Ok I think and should have shown more his Pokemon.

 

[skyline02]

Now I never personally liked Paul either, but it was mostly because of how poorly they had written Ash in comparison during the Sinnoh saga. They made Paul use all of his best Pokemon while relegating Ash to continuously using the same Pokemon, (I get it, its for merchandising and promoting but doesn't mean I should be forced to like it).

Overall, looking back what they did with Paul was day and night compared to Trip. I hated Trip from the start but it wasn't his fault. Just like Paul, it was the writers fault and they had made Trip even more OP than Paul ever was due to Trip just starting out.

Now I just recently watched the Unova league and it just pisses me off how far the anime fell from the unexpected heights it would achieve during the Sinnoh league (even with that horrible Tobias BS which made me quit watching the anime for a long time).

If things were planned better, he could've been a superb rival, almost like a Drew2.0, (who to me was probably the best rival the show had besides Gary and Paul).

 

[Hidden Mew]

If things were planned better, he could've been a superb rival, almost like a Drew2.0, (who to me was probably the best rival the show had besides Gary and Paul).

I agree. The idea of a rookie being Ash's main rival was at least an interesting idea that had potential. I don't know if he could have been a superb rival, but I definitely think that he could have turned out better at least. Making him so ridiculously overpowered was such a horrible decision. I was okay with Trip winning their first battle since it was setting up their rivalry and I was willing to see where they were going with it. But then it just went into overpowered rival to force Ash in the underdog role, which made the decision to make him a rookie trainer really backfire on him. It would have been slightly more tolerable at least to see Ash being defeated so easily if Trip had just a vague amount of experience, instead of being a new trainer altogether. Not to mention it would make Trip's skills seem a bit more believable, instead of just lousy writing to make Ash never beat him until the Unova League.

 

[Masurao]

I'm still not sure what the writers were smoking when they thought making Trip a rookie was a good idea.

 

[Odinn]

When Ash gets a rival he gets obsessed with defeating him. It's time to do vice versa.
I mean Ash meets a trainer, defeats him/her badly (like his battle against Casey but with much more serious character for the series) and the rival gets obsessed with defeating Ash.
Ash doesn't have to be the underdog all the time.

 

[Misty Calls Masquerain]

He's a better character than rival. They haven't found a good balance for so long.

 

[Pikacuh]

Paul was a step down from Gary who was ten times better then him as a rival. Trip being a rookie rival was a lot more better and fresher then that terrible boring uneeded fake poorly handled rivarly Ash had with Paul in the DP series, Gary and Trip were on the same level as being Ash's rivals unlike Paul was, Paul didn't really help Ash's character out that much the during the DP series and the Sinnoh saga made Ash's character a lot more worser not better.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Paul was a step down from Gary who was ten times better then him as a rival. Trip being a rookie rival was a lot more better and fresher then that terrible boring uneeded fake poorly handled rivarly Ash had with Paul in the DP series, Gary and Trip were on the same level as being Ash's rivals unlike Paul was, Paul didn't really help Ash's character out that much the during the DP series and the Sinnoh saga made Ash's character a lot more worser not better.

I could understand not liking Ash's rivalry with Paul, but considering it unneeded, fake, and poorly handled just seems really odd to me. The rivalry with Paul was the only rivalry that was actually handled well and it was a significant aspect of the series not only because of the Chimchar subplot, but also because of how wanting to defeat Paul impacted Ash throughout the series. Paul is so much of a better rival than Gary and Trip in my opinion. Trip being a rookie trainer was an interesting concept, but the fact that they just made him ridiculously overpowered to keep Ash in the underdog role made the choice of Trip being a rookie really backfire on them. At least with Paul, they kept his amount of experience vague at first and then basically said that he traveled through the other regions Ash had gone through.

Honestly, Ash's rivalry with Trip was unneeded, fake and poorly handled in my opinion. It was completely one-sided and even then, Ash wanted to battle him just because, which was a pretty weak reason compared to why he wanted to battle Paul and even Gary. Neither Ash or Trip were affected by their rivalry and the rivalry itself was practically nonexistent. Alder was more of a rival for Trip than Ash was since Alder was more of a goal for Trip and Alder was the one who actually affected his character. Trip could have been a decent rival if he was handled better, but as he is, I think he's the worst rival character ever introduced in the anime.

 

[Ambipom666]

Out of all characters who could mow down Ash and everybody else in his path, I think a rookie is the last person who should do so. I also find it pretty weird how his threat level fluctuates throughout the series. One minute he's unstoppable, the next he's losing in the first round, the next he's winning the whole thing...

Ash was shoved into the underdog role for pretty much his entire rivalry with Trip. It really doesn't have to be like that.

How about this? Trip starts out losing a couple of times, then he ties with Ash in battle, increasing in ability to point where he can eventually best Ash, becoming a credible threat, then Ash beats him in the league, the end.
I just realized that aside from the last part, what I described is basically Ash and Trip's rivalry, except inverted. It almost makes you think that Ash is a rookie and Trip is an experienced veteran. :/

 

[Hidden Mew]

I just realized that aside from the last part, what I described is basically Ash and Trip's rivalry, except inverted. It almost makes you think that Ash is a rookie and Trip is an experienced veteran. :/

There were a few moments during the series that definitely made Trip ace like he was the experienced veteran with practically treating Ash like he's the rookie and how he was made overpowered whenever they battled. That annoyed me so much and it made the choice to make him into a rookie virtually pointless. If they were going to make Ash the underdog of the rivalry again, why not just have Trip also an experienced trainer traveling through Unova? Granted, that's what they did with Paul, but given how they handled Trip, making him a rookie was unnecessary and made his victories more frustrating to watch. It would probably be still annoying to see him being so overpowered, but it would probably be more tolerable at least.

 

[Life]

Paul was a step down from Gary who was ten times better then him as a rival. Trip being a rookie rival was a lot more better and fresher then that terrible boring uneeded fake poorly handled rivarly Ash had with Paul in the DP series, Gary and Trip were on the same level as being Ash's rivals unlike Paul was, Paul didn't really help Ash's character out that much the during the DP series and the Sinnoh saga made Ash's character a lot more worser not better.

I've noticed that you also rated Sinnoh 0/10 in another thread, and I'm just a bit confused... I respect your opinion and I know that everybody is entitled to theirs, but could you at least supply some facts to back up your statement? I mean, fake, handled poorly? In my opinion, Paul was the best rival they've ever had, and his battles with Ash were also some of the best. I also don't know how you could say that "Trip being a rookie rival was a lot more better and fresher" when Paul was the first and only non-rookie. I mean, you just make it sounds like you've waiting forever for that to happen.

Anyways, to the main point of the thread; No. He was basically a wanna be Paul character who acted rude and arrogant for no reason. He only beat Ash twice (I think?) and tied with him once. He also lost to Cilan & Bianca, and eventually Ash at the Unova League. His team had no development besides his Serperior and Conkeldurr. He barely showed up, and if he did it was usually a relatively boring episode. His back story was really lame, he met Alder once so he thought he knew everything... Ok than...Nothing was interesting about him- at all.

 

[Pikacuh]

Paul was a step down from Gary who was ten times better then him as a rival. Trip being a rookie rival was a lot more better and fresher then that terrible boring uneeded fake poorly handled rivarly Ash had with Paul in the DP series, Gary and Trip were on the same level as being Ash's rivals unlike Paul was, Paul didn't really help Ash's character out that much the during the DP series and the Sinnoh saga made Ash's character a lot more worser not better.

I could understand not liking Ash's rivalry with Paul, but considering it unneeded, fake, and poorly handled just seems really odd to me. The rivalry with Paul was the only rivalry that was actually handled well and it was a significant aspect of the series not only because of the Chimchar subplot, but also because of how wanting to defeat Paul impacted Ash throughout the series. Paul is so much of a better rival than Gary and Trip in my opinion. Trip being a rookie trainer was an interesting concept, but the fact that they just made him ridiculously overpowered to keep Ash in the underdog role made the choice of Trip being a rookie really backfire on them. At least with Paul, they kept his amount of experience vague at first and then basically said that he traveled through the other regions Ash had gone through.

Honestly, Ash's rivalry with Trip was unneeded, fake and poorly handled in my opinion. It was completely one-sided and even then, Ash wanted to battle him just because, which was a pretty weak reason compared to why he wanted to battle Paul and even Gary. Neither Ash or Trip were affected by their rivalry and the rivalry itself was practically nonexistent. Alder was more of a rival for Trip than Ash was since Alder was more of a goal for Trip and Alder was the one who actually affected his character. Trip could have been a decent rival if he was handled better, but as he is, I think he's the worst rival character ever introduced in the anime.

Ash and Paul's rivarly was okay but it wasn't all that great. Trip was an interesting rival and his Pokemon were really cool, i think he was the best rival on the show.

Paul was a Gary wanna be and his personality was a bit bland most of the time, and i don't know why some trying to make Paul be so overratted because he wasn't the greatest rival or anything like that.