KrspaceT
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Courtesty of a Spacebattles user named KMT4-ever
...Gives me a tad more respect for May and Dawn's (and possibly Serena's if, like me, you think Performers also count) ability to not break down constantly from stress.
Observation: being a competitive Pokemon Coordinator kind of sucks.
While watching Advanced Generations I've noticed a few things about the w
way the Contest circuit is set up compared to the Gym challenge that to me seem like they would create a really high-stress environment. I am assuming that you try to qualify completely within one year like most of the protagonists and their rivals, but even then there are some noteworthy factors about the nature of contests themselves.
- There are only a fixed number of Contests every year and only one person can win a ribbon at each of them. Meanwhile there's no meaningful limit to the number of badges that one Gym can award every year. Challengers can also come back for as many rematches as they want. That means coordinators really can't afford to lose compared to Gym challengers.
- Because only one person can win any given Contest, coordinators are actually disincentivized from traveling with their peers because they would simply end up getting in each other's way. Someone like Harley might enjoy that, but most people aren't Harley.
- Ribbons are awarded by defeating peers who use any variety of Pokemon, which both forces coordinators to be more flexible with their team and potentially screws them over if they end up facing vastly more experienced competition every time. I'd hate to be the rookie who has to face May or Drew in Johto without having even seen a Blaziken or Roserade before.
- Contests take place in front of a large audience, meaning that there's a lot of psychological pressure that isn't necessarily present in the usually private gym battles. You lose a Contest, you just lost (possibly badly) in front of thousands of people.
- On a related note, successful coordinators appear to attract quite a bit of attention. Both May (even though she just started competing) and Drew are recognized multiple times throughout AG by people who saw them on TV. Meanwhile IIRC the only person who recognizes Ash from the Silver Conference is Max. Ash could lose a dozen Gym battles in a row and nobody would know aside from the Leaders themselves. Meanwhile a coordinator on a losing streak is liable to have that brought up whenever they compete.
...Gives me a tad more respect for May and Dawn's (and possibly Serena's if, like me, you think Performers also count) ability to not break down constantly from stress.