Rival Speculation

[Almonds]

I think that they should something new. The rival should a girl ojousama that call you a pleb and that she is much better than you (so in that way we can have another Gary Rival). Also we should have a friendly rival that would be the other sex MC, but in this case he/she will be your actual brother/sister in the game and also live in your house and the house will have 2 or 3 rooms (3 in the case they made a room for the mother).

Didn't we have someone like Ursula in the anime? I'd like to see how it would be like if she was the rival of the games.

 

[Isaac Gravity]

The sibling idea seems pretty popular here. Then again, utilizing the other unused gender PC is always a good thing.

EDIT: I'd make them the friendly (but still gives you a good fight) rival and pseudo-travel companion myself. In which I mean they often head with you from place-to-place (esp. early on, new world for them to so you may as well stick it out together) and are implied to be travelling with you but ultimately are doing their own thing and may go within another path as you go down the linear one the game will ultimately place for you. Think the XY companions but actually worthwhile and is your goofy twin-sibling whose always got your back.

While we all know GF wants nothing to do with antagonizing rivals I still hope they run with an (entitled) elitist who feels their long-standing house of high ranking knights and "superior genes" due to being uppercrust or what have you makes them feel they are a shoe-in to be the champion. It's only natural that the superior stands tall.

While not a total prick to you (because GF says no to that) they do not see your worth (and even when they start to, they still feel your status rank only leaves so much to be desired for you) and are mostly dismissive of you and other common class trainers. Heck, they even have issues with other trainers they feel have the "natural right".

Despite this they will still go out of their way to challenge you if you ask (a knight turns down no challenge) or if you happen to be at the right place at the right time for them to test their "newest blade/blade technique"

 

[Proxima Centauri B]

I want a kinda jerkish rival.

also while I dont see this happening, a personal want of mine is to see the rival get swayed to join the evil team and end up joining and you having to get them out and end up battling them because they refuse to leave, it would be very unique and tbh I think that would be something very interesting for the games.

 

[Lunala]

Why would they be siblings even if the PC's opposite gender counterpart is an NPC?

If I recall, in HGSS, the opposite gender PC is an NPC, but isn't a sibling.

 

[Almonds]

I guess there would be people anticipating sibling rivalry because despite it being a popular trope, it hasn't been explored in pokemon games. If I remember correctly, there aren't any in the main games. We've had family drama, but that was mostly between parent and child, not siblings.

 

[Alola]

The question is now, will Hop be a Hau clone? Champion's brother aside, he seems uber-friendly from his art and in-game appearances so far.

 

[RileyXY1]

We're also getting more than one rival based on Hop's description.

 

[CynthiaLover]

I just hope that the rivals are more fleshed out this time, after the disaster that was Kalos' rivals. Hopefully they'll be along the lines of Cheren and Bianca and will get good character development, as well as not be utter jokes like the entire roster of Kalos rivals. Oh, also, GF, give them more than 4 Mons by endgame, please?

 

[Almonds]

I'm expecting a personality like Hugh.

 

[Silktree]

Hop is no Hugh. He feels right at home after Hau and Trace. No doubt he'll love his brother but be jealous at the same time.

Yawn.

 

[TheElderKing]

Compared to Hau, for the little they said about him, it seems that Hop do want to follow his brother’s footsteps and become a great trainer/champion. Hau didn’t really seem to care much about anything other then eating.

That doesn’t mean that Hop won’t be similar to Hau or Trace, just they he seems more driven then either. We need to definitely see him more in my opinion to judge him.

In any case, the site mentions that he’s one of our rivals, not the only one.

 

[prog rocker]

Compared to Hau, for the little they said about him, it seems that Hop do want to follow his brother’s footsteps and become a great trainer/champion. Hau didn’t really seem to care much about anything other then eating.

At least until the end of USUM, where he cares more about the challenge. It helps that he takes a level in badass when you face him at the end.

 

[El_]

Hop could potentially get great character development, perhaps starting off friendly but becoming increasingly at odds with himself due to living within the shadow of his brother.

If he stays friendly throughout, then he can just hop on outta here.

 

[TheElderKing]

At least until the end of USUM, where he cares more about the challenge. It helps that he takes a level in badass when you face him at the end.

Yeah, I meant for most of the journey.
We honestly know too little about Hop to judge him. Heh, if the theories on Leon being in secret an antagonist are true, there might be some character development related to that as well.

 

[Juliko]

Honestly, I think Hop's name is stupid. I mean, who names their kid Hop?! For Pete's sake, give him a cooler sounding name! Seriously! I can come up with a better name for him than that!

 

[prog rocker]

Honestly, I think Hop's name is stupid. I mean, who names their kid Hop?! For Pete's sake, give him a cooler sounding name! Seriously! I can come up with a better name for him than that!

Well, I think it comes from a plant, like recent characters in the games. So you could blame theme naming on that.

 

[Cute Charm]

Considering his brother has an normal name...it could be short for Hopkin or Hopper or Robert. Or it could just be a nickname because he hops around a lot.

Though considering his name is the same in Japanese, he's probably just named after hops.

 

[prog rocker]

Considering his brother has an normal name...it could be short for Hopkin or Hopper or Robert. Or it could just be a nickname because he hops around a lot.

Though considering his name is the same in Japanese, he's probably just named after hops.

Leon's name is also based on a plant, the dandelion. His name is even Dande in Japanese.

 

[Cute Charm]

I know, but Leon is a much better sounding derivative than Dande.

 

[prog rocker]

I know, but Leon is a much better sounding derivative than Dande.

True.