Competitive/laid-back rivals correlated with starter advantage/disadvantage?

[Macromind101]

Does it seem like the extent to which a rival is competitive or laid-back with the PC (which can also tie in with whether the rival has a friendly or unfriendly relationship with the PC) is directly correlated with whether their starter has a type advantage against the PC or a type disadvantage? For example, Bianca, Shauna, Hau, and Hop all seem very laid-back (albeit maybe not Hop towards the later parts of SwSh) with the PC whereas Blue, Silver, Barry, and Cheren seem much more competitive (and whether they are friendly with the PC or not appear to be less frequent when compared with the type-disadvantage rivals). Do you guys agree that there is a direct correlation between the rival's starter and whether they have a strong or relaxed rivalry with the player?

On my end, I would say there is only one straight-out exception, which is May. And that's only because she has to fulfill a role that would otherwise be fulfilled by Brendan, who is much more competitive and derogatory towards the PC in comparison. Other potential exceptions I can think of are Barry, Cheren, and Hop. But Barry can also be viewed as rather obnoxious and disrespectful (albeit likely unintentionally and not to the point where it gets difficult to get along with him, and not nearly to the same extent as Blue), and he still tries and makes everything a competition with the PC. Cheren, while overall a nice person, is still rather blunt and definitely more competitive than Bianca. Hop may have become a much more competitive rival later on in SwSh, but at the beginning he seems less competent and less serious about battling (and he is never unfriendly with the PC at any point in the game).

 

[Phosphene]

Does it seem like the extent to which a rival is competitive or laid-back with the PC (which can also tie in with whether the rival has a friendly or unfriendly relationship with the PC) is directly correlated with whether their starter has a type advantage against the PC or a type disadvantage?

In terms of rivalries where you have two rivals with similar amounts of focus, I'd say this applies as the one with the stronger starter is more competitive than the other (see Cheren vs Bianca, Calem vs Shauna, technically Hop vs Gladion).

It definitely does not apply to Hop. He's clearly competitive throughout the entire story except the end I'd say, even towards the beginning of the game, referring to himself as the future champion, for example, despite having the weaker starter. He's not unfriendly, but he's not uncompetitive either.