Did you LIKE or HATE Iris?

[PokeDot517]

During the Black & White saga, Iris was Ash's female companion alongside Cilan. Throughout their journey through Unova we've had many opinions, criticisms etc on these characters and their personalitys, goals etc.

Now let's just focus on Iris. She was great in video games & manga but she was borderline tolerant in the anime. One thing I've always loathed about her, was her catchphrase "What a little kid." She would frequently say that when criticizing Ash or someone else who's being immature.

The idea of her dream for becoming a DRAGON master was good but they way the writers set out to develop her dream throughout Ash's journey through Unova was poor.

The writers presumably wanted to bring a feel of nostalgia from Misty with Iris because their personalitys share some of the same attributes.

Overall I do dislike Iris for her rude, hypocritical, immature, rash behaivor but I would still want to see her make a cameo appearance sometime during XY but...I swear...If she says "What a little kid." one more time I'm going to reach through my computer monitor and strangle her...(not really)

 

[fawfulmark2]

Iris was part of the reason why I dropped the BW series halfway, even pissing me off to make this pic



Iris was made solely to fill the misty void,but didn't do a good job of it. She, just like Trip, was a character that the writers tried too hard to make look more powerful then they actually were. T hey basically had her on a long tangent training everything except her bloody Axew( who still got buffs by god knows whatever method somehow) and then when the writers were slapped in the face by the fact she actually DOES become a Dragon Master in the game(and even the new Unova champion), they pulled a Dragonite out of bloody nowhere to make up for the lack of character growth. I hear she becomes a little more bearable later, but it mostly comes down to if I decide to wrap be up because it had a "too little too late" vibe for me.

Her rival Georgia was cool, though she should have probably sought out actual Dragon trainers more.....and on that topic not having Benga in the series( another Dragon trainer and Alder's kid) was a really big missed oppertunity.

 

[Lysson]

Her anime character kinda ruined the video game version of her for me. I don't hate Iris but I don't really like her, she felt like a minor character trying to be a major one. And she was slightly annoying as I saw more potential for her character then what she actually got.

 

[CrashBash]

Eh, to be honest, I always liked Iris. Her headstrong personality made a refreshing change to May and Dawn, and whilst her "Such a Kid" thing was a little overused, at least it was toned down as the series progressed. That, and I do kinda like her design too...purple hair on black skin...feels different. X3

I dunno, I guess I'm more into the "tougher" female characters than the girly ones, although obviously exceptions exist. Still, assuming they follow the pattern they've done for every other girl, I look forward to her return in XY.

 

[Litten]

I loved her. She was always honest and called Ash out on his amateur mistakes in BW, which a lot of the fandom also did back then, which is why I find it strange that her comments about Ash are frequently criticized. She was refreshing though.

 

[Master Cyrus]

On the like hate continuum, its definitely closer to hate.

 

[Team Gaara]

Absolutely hated that piece of trash of a female lead.

I also feel they tried to make a stronger, more tomboyish, Misty-like character after coming off of both May and Dawn. But their methods failed horribly. They played her off in the first few episodes as a "wild child", which, as the show goes on, hardly remains true. Iris was nothing but a conceited asshole who acted like she knew everything and that everyone else around her was immature and knew nothing. She constantly called everyone around her "kids" and failed to see the very irony in that she was one of the most immature characters in the series. You can get called out by Iris as being a kid for so much as being interested in something, which is beyond ridiculous. Why this is ironic is that whenever Iris is interested in something, it's perfectly fine. Additionally, the absolute worst Pokemon episode to date, in my opinion, follows Iris getting mad at Ash for something that was never even his fault (it was her own Axew's fault, but God forbid she ever scold him) and HE'S played off as the one that has to apologize, NOT IRIS, even though SHE was the reason for everything that happened because she's to damn petty and immature! Nothing is ever her or her Pokemon's fault, in her eyes. Axew gets lost? Well, Pikachu should have been watching him better. Iris is always trying to get sympathy from everyone and play the victim rather than trying to improve herself as a trainer and a human being which makes her an atrocious and terribly unlikable character in my eyes.

Then there's her: "There are no bad Dragon-types" motto. I'll never understand who thought this was a good idea. Not only does this show Iris as someone who can't listen to reason and automatically jumps to the rescue of any Pokemon that is a Dragon-type no matter what kind of danger they may present, she's also basically saying that this is only true of Dragons as she has had no problem saying other Pokemon of other types were bad, essentially presenting Iris as a Pokemon racist. In a world that shows that there can be both good and bad Pokemon of any typing, it makes no sense to basically have a character that preaches that ONLY a Pokemon of the Dragon-type has absolutely zero chance of being a bad Pokemon. The reason this is the most confusing (and perhaps stupid) is probably the fact that this is the same generation that brought us the Brutal Pokemon, Hydreigon, a Dragon that attacks anything that moves and automatically writes it off as a prey.

One of my biggest complaints is that for as much as I can say I didn't really feel Dawn or May (I'm not really into girly characters who do girly things), at least they worked towards their goals and developed well; growing as trainers. Iris constantly went on and on about becoming a Dragon Master, yet she blatantly refused to train Axew in favor of babying him and mainly fighting with Excadrill and Emolga. When she finally gets another Dragon-type, not only does he refuse to follow her orders, making it look as if her ability to communicate with Dragons is complete bullsh*t, he himself is pulled straight from the writers' asses. There was no reason to just hand Iris a fully-evolved Psuedo-Legendary Dragon out of nowhere. She literally never works for anything she gets! As I mentioned earlier, she never grows as a trainer. She never trains Axew or scolds him and her other three Pokemon neither respected nor listened to her for a majority of their early screen time. The entire time she was on the show it just felt like she was screwing about an never really doing anything, except the occasional tournament, and it took Ash entering them for her to even do so.

Sorry for the rant, it just pains me to dislike the Anime version of Iris so much, as I actually really like her in both the games and Adventures Manga. Why the Anime decided to screw her over so badly, I have no idea. I'm still upset that they had so much potential in Iris and wasted it. I firmly stand by my belief that the Anime writers for BW had no idea how to make Iris into a likable character like Misty and decided to completely moronify Ash just to make her look like an intelligent being.

 

[Sweenix]

Hating is such a strong word, and i couldn't ever hate a character, especially seeing as iris has done nothing that is worth me hating on her. Although on the otherhand. She is considerably annoying and i have no idea how ash managed to spend over 100 episodes with her without going insane.

 

[Sakuraa]

I hate Iris and she is currently my least favorite female character. I could write an essay rant on why, but basically she was rude, hypocritical, annoying, and overall unlikable. I thought I hated Dawn, but there were at least moments with Dawn I can honestly say I enjoyed. Not the case with Iris whatsoever and I'll always view her as one of the worst characters in the series.

 

[XYZ Nexus]

Actually I'm among the few who LIKE her. She did get annoying with her belittling of Ash. But otherwise she was very good IMO. She's far from being the worst, in fact I'd even say Bonnie is beyond worse. She wasn't that rude, sometimes hypocritical though. But I still feel she was good, even if she was my least favorite Female MC until Bonnie. But even then, I didn't hate her to the extent many are saying. So I had nearly no problems with Iris, she was a great character, far from a "piece of trash" everyone says.

And if anyone says Serena is better, that's because they'd take a pretty piece of eye candy over a character who's done far more and better. Sure I didn't like her Emolga ( too much of a diva and I hate the species) and Axew (got its own filler in the league, never amounted to anything), but at least she did a good job handling them.

 

[Alola]

Iris:

I mean just her relevance to begin with. Here is a girl who hails from The Village of Dragons, close to Opelucid City, in the far north of Unova. Can someone explain to me how in the world she ended up all the way in Nuvema Town, on the other side of the region? And for what reason? And what did she do in that spare time, in her travels? Why was Axew not trained? Why didn’t she try to understand her Excadrill better? You can’t cross an entire region and not gain anything from it. That always bugged me, compared to Dawn and May’s more reasonable journeys from their hometowns into the fields of their respective region. It was just unrealistic.

Then, her goal. I’m getting tired of the whole main character who has a “-Insert Type- Master” dream. That was Misty’s forte, who in my opinion did a reasonable job with it and ended it. I understand the writers wanted to create a sense of OS nostalgia in BW, but they did a horrid job with Iris. She did very little in obtaining Pokémon of her desired type, never once expressing active interest in catching the native Druddigon or Deino. She also barely did anything pertaining to dragons apart from constantly blurting "DRAGON MASTER, ME, DRAGON MASTER, HELLO, DRAGON MASTER, MASTER, DRAGON, SOMEDAY" to every COTD the gang happened to meet. Then her stupid Axew. I mean, the whole point of her leave of from the village was to go and train it into a Haxorus. She couldn't even pull off a Fraxure. Heck, by the time the gang stumbles upon the elder again, Iris and Co have taken a full lap around Unova and Axew is still as useless as ever! Apart from a few spontaneously learned moves, it didn't evolve, barely fought and hardly grew ever since Iris obtained it. Heck, as of now I still can’t discern any individual personality from it. And it didn't help that Iris babied it more than Misty did with Togepi. It was so infuriating going from what we had with Dawn and Piplup (especially that goodbye scene in the last DP episode) to the silly crap of Iris and Babyew. Furthermore, she spent more time and development with non-Dragon types than Dragons! What the hell did Drayden see in her?

Then, she obtained a second Dragon and still couldn’t even raise that one right! Two disobedient Pokes in only a party of four! Iris obtaining Dragonite was such random ass crap it wasn't even funny (and with that, Axew was further demoted from extra to just filler cameo). Even after her series was over, she was still having difficulty commanding it in battle as seen with Clair. For the "Girl Who Understands The Hearts Of Dragons," she understands dragons as much as Ash's Heracross understands Bulbasaur's personal space.

Then her appearance and temperament. I hated her hair. Hated it. I know Pokémon characters can tend to have very unlikely hair styles, but Iris’s was just plain ridiculous. It looks like a giant purple beehive. How did she sleep at night? I swear, shouldn't she have overheated several times? And the on-and-off bangs she would randomly sport during movies only made it worse and more unnatural. If you can freaking hide a Pokémon in your overgrown bush, something is wrong. Additionally, she was also very hypocritical. For reasons unnecessary. She had no qualms criticizing others on their idiosyncrasies, mistakes and characteristics she deemed annoying. Yet she would be just as abrasive, rash, unrealistic and annoying herself (like her idiotic “fear” of Ice types which was gloriously addressed by Trip). I know Misty at times was tough with Ash, but he usually deserved it or the squabbles were equally started. Here is a girl that would berate Ash for no real reason (how the hell was he supposed to know what one of Frillish’s, A POKEMON HE HAS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, abilities was and the effect of said ability?). A boy who has saved the world several times, competed in 4 different Pokémon leagues, was offered a spot as a Frontier Brain, defeated legendaries, has raised a plethora of Pokémon, seen and experienced so much more than you have and then some. And she has the audacity to berate and insult him? What. A. Kid!

I also hated how she had this initial disposition of “nature girl who only eats natural fruits & foods and sleeps in trees”… only for it to vanish. By the time the series was halfway in, it’s like the individual characteristic that distinctly set her apart from the other PokeGirls had vanished and suddenly she was accustomed to modernity. That bummed me out so much! I wanted her to keep that, and refine it! To truly be different and be a fresh character to the series. Such a waste! Same thing happened with her spiritualist views that only surfaced in that one episode in Nacrene City. These characteristic ceasings just made her exasperatingly boring.

She never really contributed anything to Ash or the group in general. As far as I’m concerned, she had no synergy with Cilan. The two were the most unlikely traveling buddies the anime has ever produced to date. In regards to Ash, well she is simply a male version of him but 17 times worse. Her rival was pointless (who the hell makes a living off being a –Insert Type- Buster?) and her interactions with just about every character were so bland. I desperately wished her and Bianca switched places. THAT would have been eons better than the tasteless hours upon hours of nothing that we got with her. What an underwhelming female lead.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

Personally i didn't disliked or liked Iris, i was mainly indifferent to her. Her backstory i have to admit was very unique and interesting though , i liked her untamed spirit being wild girl which swing on vines, know how to take care of herself and run faster on trees than some would on foot. Along with her connection to nature and paranormal things adding unique angle to character.

Issue with her characterization lied imo in lack of variety and big enough pool of emotions, two way alley interacting between main characters. Often causing that her deadpan snark nature, comedy scenes and hyperactive attitude deliver opposite effect backfiring on what was tried to be accomplished there.
Bringing instead of entertainment value, counter effect of delivering disorder and irony in main cast.
This can be noticed in arguing with Ash or trying to incite him with his response usually being non existant or Iris itself coming of as hypocritical in calling him immature. Despite often herself falling in same mold doing acts which were pretty childish undermining thus credibility of such statements directed toward others.


There were fun momenbts, but i often felt that she failed to extract natural, organic emotions from people around herself, come of as spontaneous, sincere and consistent in portrayal of her personality traits. Not having as much depth, passion and dynamic flare like Misty did whose snarky nature, temper and flirty side managed to stir up others more successfuly delivering more appealing chemistry at least for me.

There was also problem of rushed and fast paced development. There were some good moments such as rectifying broken bond with Excadrill finding new resurgence in understanding between trainer and pokemon. Or in Iris risking her life jumping in front of Thundurus attack to protect Dragonite starting to slowly but steadily to earn big massive dragon respect.

But in general it seemed like while ideas behind Iris dreamds and story sounded good in theory, werent really executed on big screen in most consistent, cohesive manner. This can be best noticed in there existing big gaps in first half of BW with little to no focus existing in exploring on character past, its motives, fears, even dream which wasnt revealed until 30th episode.

Just to see writers doing fast forward her growth giving her fully evolved pokemon which wasn't even issue in itself for me. Because admittedly its much harder to find common language with prideful and already powerful pokemon in its final stage than it would be with basic form. Putting to test best how much understanding and ability to read properly dragon feelings she really does posess as person.
Opening foundation for some really deep and eventful growth in Iris starting to question herself if it was mistake of her to catch Dragonite taking more than she could handle feeling ashgamed of her skills and illusion of belief in reading dragon pokemon thoughts properly. Seriously shaking her confidence.

But that didnt happened, there was no build up, some story arc or foreshadowing toward such big step made coming of as afterthought. Making it seem like she was gifted with sudden power up without working much for it.

And worst of all Axew which served as catalyst and main reasoning behind Iris journey to first place, his own dreams of evolving in Haxorous and supposed pathway through which Iris would come closer toward title of dragon master. In working together , training, battling and trying to improve small baby pokemon strength going through bad and good times making bond between trainer and dragon stronger. With time learning how to become like one in reaching to Axew heart with growth serving as testament to both evolving during that journey. Was completely ignored for most part.

Flop out in rivalry vs Georgia with no real closure wasn't something to be happy about either.

Premise behind Iris character was interesting. Girl growing in nature surrounded by wild animals, treated as outcast which couldn't fit within society and desire to master one of toughest species out there(dragons). Offered potential for some really imaginative story, but execution was pretty subpar. Followed with incoherent characterization.

I suppose writers tried with Unova series to do some sort of throwback to Original series in bringing main girl in cast which so far was closest to original girl, but in my honest opinion i dont know i often felt it would have made more sense in that case if writers just brought Misty instead doing sequel. She is more likable, has funnier pokemon, more relatable flaws and overall her water master career has more potential. Due to sheer abundance of water pokemon allowing build up on Whirl Cup in creating water events. George tournaments serving as excellent way to develop countermoves for other types.Eventually becoming E4 apprentice making massive step toward becoming type master. Generating imo bigger hype and excitement in reuniting with Ash after so many years than Iris in end did for me.

 

[Necrozma]

Interesting title. Actually, I love Iris.

Also guys, nice job hiding your weak arguments behind walls of text so intimidatingly long one completely loses the will to debate. Some of these posts are completely laughable: from people unable to grasp Iris's character development, development of her as a Dragon Master to people completely ignoring certain things and letting their hate consume them.

But that's Iris for ya; a controversial character who will always remain underrated because people can't cope with change and because they are incapable of comprehending good writing.

I bet some of you hate Iris so much that you think Serena is better than her, LOL.

 

[Dr. Buni]

I liked Iris. She is not my favorite female companion, but she still was a very fun character and quite refreshing after May and Dawn. She is also much more entertaining than Serena, who is probably the worst and most pointless female companion we ever had in the series. I just wish she had actually achieved something, like making Axew evolve at least once or catching more Dragon-types. I am not sure if I should blame her for not achieving anything, since the writing in Best Wishes was horrendous (unlike the writing in X & Y, which is actually kinda good... yet Serena has been doing absolutely nothing since the beginning).

 

[Alola]

Interesting title. Actually, I love Iris.

Also guys, nice job hiding your weak arguments behind walls of text so intimidatingly long one completely loses the will to debate. Some of these posts are completely laughable: from people unable to grasp Iris's character development, development of her as a Dragon Master to people completely ignoring certain things and letting their hate consume them.

But that's Iris for ya; a controversial character who will always remain underrated because people can't cope with change and because they are incapable of comprehending good writing.

I bet some of you hate Iris so much that you think Serena is better than her, LOL.

What development? What things are we missing? If you would kindly point out since your post is obviously directed at me.

Also, the post are "intimidatingly long" because some of us might have a lot to say. The same also applies if we like a character. But as this isn't a thread about Misty, Dawn or May, well that will be seen from me on another day.

 

[Necrozma]

I mean just her relevance to begin with. Here is a girl who hails from The Village of Dragons, close to Opelucid City, in the far north of Unova. Can someone explain to me how in the world she ended up all the way in Nuvema Town, on the other side of the region? And for what reason? And what did she do in that spare time, in her travels?

Really? That's a problem? That is the most insignificant thing you could have mentioned. Iris is clearly a traveler and the anime map does not equate the game map.

Iris could have easily gotten to Nuvema. But that is just nitpicking, seriously.

Why was Axew not trained?

Because Axew was just a baby when she got it and he barely knew two attacks. We don't even know what Axew was like? Did he need to be babysit a lot at first? He clearly wasn't competent from the very beginning.

Why didn’t she try to understand her Excadrill better?

The Excadrill episode clearly showed that Iris tried befriending Excadrill on the course of her journey, we even got flashbacks which you should have seen if you actually watched Best Wishes. Iris couldn't understand Excadrill better because she didn't know what the problem was in the first place. She didn't realize the error of her ways until she met Cilan. That is where her character development happened in the same episode: Iris realizing what she did wrong after Cilan cleared her up and her apologizing to Excadrill for what she did. THAT'S RIGHT: character development. Iris owning up to her errors and growing as a result of that.

Character development.

You can’t cross an entire region and not gain anything from it. That always bugged me, compared to Dawn and May’s more reasonable journeys from their hometowns into the fields of their respective region. It was just unrealistic.

I'ts funny that you're complaining about such an insignificant matter. Iris simply underwent slow progress. In her first focus episode we knew that Axew was practicing to master Dragon Rage and that she had a disobedient Excadrill. In the flashbacks we learned that the Axew she got was just a baby, thus explaining its lack of development during her journey and she didn't even understand why Excadrill was acting weird despite trying to befriend him.

She did very little in obtaining Pokémon of her desired type, never once expressing active interest in catching the native Druddigon or Deino. She also barely did anything pertaining to dragons apart from constantly blurting "DRAGON MASTER, ME, DRAGON MASTER, HELLO, DRAGON MASTER, MASTER, DRAGON, SOMEDAY" to every COTD the gang happened to meet.

Except, you know, numerous flashbacks featuring Iris interacting with wild dragon types, Iris calming wild dragon types, Iris teaching a new dragon trainer about commanding dragon types, Iris wanting to get a Deino that was seemingly abandoned by its trainer, Iris having a girl crush on Cynthia and her amazing Garchomp? Iris' eyes shining at the Hydreigon in the first BW movie? Iris defending a wild Dragonite even when everyone thought it was guilty of a crime? Iris believing dragon types couldn't possibly be bad? And let's not forget Iris catching another dragon type, Gible, in her special and being amazed as Rayquaza, a Dragon type legendary.

That girl was obsessed with dragons and if you didn't notice that then I have to wonder what show you were actually watching: it clearly wasn't Best Wishes. And Iris was more obsessed with dragons than Misty ever was with Water types.

Then her stupid Axew. I mean, the whole point of her leave of from the village was to go and train it into a Haxorus. She couldn't even pull off a Fraxure. Heck, by the time the gang stumbles upon the elder again, Iris and Co have taken a full lap around Unova and Axew is still as useless as ever! Apart from a few spontaneously learned moves, it didn't evolve, barely fought and hardly grew ever since Iris obtained it. Heck, as of now I still can’t discern any individual personality from it. And it didn't help that Iris babied it more than Misty did with Togepi. It was so infuriating going from what we had with Dawn and Piplup (especially that goodbye scene in the last DP episode) to the silly crap of Iris and Babyew.

That is because Axew was a mascot and we all know mascots do not evolve. Iris did set out to evolve Axew, I agree that that is a flaw, but her primary goal was to learn more about Dragons and train to become a Dragon Master.

Furthermore, she spent more time and development with non-Dragon types than Dragons! What the hell did Drayden see in her?

Excuse me? She trained her butt off trying to learn Axew Dragon Rage and one of her biggest developments lies with Dragonite. What Drayden saw in Iris was potential. Iris is a girl who absolutely loves dragons, as I previously mentioned above and named numerous examples which you, somehow, managed to miss while to watching BW. Furthermore, she has a special connection to Dragon types which makes her uniquely qualified to be a Dragon Master, especially a dragon type gym leader. So Drayden saw a lot in her, most of which you are ignoring right now.

Then, she obtained a second Dragon and still couldn’t even raise that one right! Two disobedient Pokes in only a party of four! Iris obtaining Dragonite was such random ass crap it wasn't even funny (and with that, Axew was further demoted from extra to just filler cameo). Even after her series was over, she was still having difficulty commanding it in battle as seen with Clair. For the "Girl Who Understands The Hearts Of Dragons," she understands dragons as much as Ash's Heracross understands Bulbasaur's personal space.

Yes, Iris should have been suddenly able to understand Dragonite as per deus ex machina. Do you know what 'character development' is? For a person who claims Iris didn't get any development you should surely first educate yourself on the very concept of development. Iris growing from a person who didn't understand her Dragonite and didn't get along quite well with to a person who works well and understands her Dragonite is character development. The entire Junior Tournament Arc was dedicated to establishing the problem with Dragonite, Cynthia pointing out that Dragonite lacks trust in Iris and then Iris having to work with Dragonite in order for it to gain the trust in her.

Did you even watch Best Wishes? Because your arguments are so weak and poorly founded I find myself hardly believing you. Seems more like you just read her character summary and decided you hated her.

Then her appearance and temperament. I hated her hair. Hated it. I know Pokémon characters can tend to have very unlikely hair styles, but Iris’s was just plain ridiculous. It looks like a giant purple beehive. How did she sleep at night? I swear, shouldn't she have overheated several times? And the on-and-off bangs she would randomly sport during movies only made it worse and more unnatural. If you can freaking hide a Pokémon in your overgrown bush, something is wrong.

That is a personal opinion and far from a fact.

Additionally, she was also very hypocritical. For reasons unnecessary. She had no qualms criticizing others on their idiosyncrasies, mistakes and characteristics she deemed annoying. Yet she would be just as abrasive, rash, unrealistic and annoying herself (like her idiotic “fear” of Ice types which was gloriously addressed by Trip). I know Misty at times was tough with Ash, but he usually deserved it or the squabbles were equally started. Here is a girl that would berate Ash for no real reason (how the hell was he supposed to know what one of Frillish’s, A POKEMON HE HAS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, abilities was and the effect of said ability?). A boy who has saved the world several times, competed in 4 different Pokémon leagues, was offered a spot as a Frontier Brain, defeated legendaries, has raised a plethora of Pokémon, seen and experienced so much more than you have and then some. And she has the audacity to berate and insult him? What. A. Kid!

That is because Ash acted like a retard during Best Wishes because he regressed.

She had every right to call him a kid.

I also hated how she had this initial disposition of “nature girl who only eats natural fruits & foods and sleeps in trees”… only for it to vanish. By the time the series was halfway in, it’s like the individual characteristic that distinctly set her apart from the other PokeGirls had vanished and suddenly she was accustomed to modernity. That bummed me out so much! I wanted her to keep that, and refine it! To truly be different and be a fresh character to the series. Such a waste! Same thing happened with her spiritualist views that only surfaced in that one episode in Nacrene City. These characteristic ceasings just made her exasperatingly boring.

Iris kept her spiritual characteristics, but you had to watch Best Wishes to see that.

She never really contributed anything to Ash or the group in general. As far as I’m concerned, she had no synergy with Cilan. The two were the most unlikely traveling buddies the anime has ever produced to date. In regards to Ash, well she is simply a male version of him but 17 times worse. Her rival was pointless (who the hell makes a living off being a –Insert Type- Buster?) and her interactions with just about every character were so bland. I desperately wished her and Bianca switched places. THAT would have been eons better than the tasteless hours upon hours of nothing that we got with her. What an underwhelming female lead.

Iris was one of the best characters of Best Wishes and had an enjoyable chemistry with both Ash and Cilan. With Ash, it was like two siblings fighting together with Cilan being the older, more mature one. And with Cilan, the two where frequently shown being complete opposites. And yet, as time went by, Iris' calling Ash a kid became more of a tease and her true devotion to their friendship was depicted in Ash VS Roxie where Iris painted both her and Cilan's face and cheered for Ash in order for him not to give up. In their break up episode, where Iris and Ash had a fight, both of them showed clear regret at leaving each other which was heartwarming and a true example of a close bond.

-------------

Overall, it doesn't seem like you watched Best Wishes, either you skipped a lot of episodes or you skipped the whole thing. Your basic knowledge on Iris is lacking therefore making you unqualified to discuss, debate or even hate a character, especially a character you know pretty much nothing about. Judging by your poorly constructed argumentation, you must have read a synopsis of her story during Best Wishes somewhere or saw how she called Ash a kid and decided you hated her. To make a long story short: go, please watch Best Wishes and then come back, and then maybe, just maybe we can have a normal debate; that is, only if you don't let your Iris hatred consume you. And I have very little faith in that.

 

[CrashBash]

OK guys, lets not get into a big argument about it. If you want my thoughts (which you probably don't), even though I like Iris, I can understand both sides of the discussion.

 

[Necrozma]

OK guys, lets not get into a big argument about it. If you want my thoughts (which you probably don't), even though I like Iris, I can understand both sides of the discussion.

I can understand both sides too. I can understand that Iris was far from perfect and that Axew learning Outrage and never using it again was bulls*it. Axew also learning Giga Impact out of nowhere was bullshit as well as Iris conveniently getting a Dragonite right before the Junior Cup. But what I cannot understand is people claiming Iris didn't show any affection towards Dragon types or that she didn't get any character development. Iris is flawed, but she's far from being the worst character ever.

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

I know they wanted to get that Misty characteristic into Iris, but my God, did they fail horribly.

Iris is, without a doubt, my least favorite character in the entire series. I dislike her even more than Paul, and I hate that guy! There was nothing redeemable about Iris, which is a shame because her game counterpart was really awesome. The writers did a terrible job in developing her character, and her constant berating of Ash was hard to watch. I admit I am not an Ash fan, but she could never give this guy a break. What made Misty a great character was the build up to where she got with Ash. Yeah, she could be snarky, too, but at least it was funny and there was no ill-intention involved. With Iris, she just felt like such a mean-spirited character. They could not have made her an independent wild child without having to make her character so unlikeable? She had no other personality other than being a whiny brat, all while being hypocritical at the same time.

God, I hate her stupid "You're such a kid" line! I want to reach into my brain and just bleach that sentence out!

 

[Alola]

Really? That's a problem? That is the most insignificant thing you could have mentioned. Iris is clearly a traveler and the anime map does not equate the game map.

Iris could have easily gotten to Nuvema. But that is just nitpicking, seriously.

Yes, it is a problem for me. Because with all that traveling, Axew shouldn't have been as incompetent as it was and she shouldn't have been so foreign with Excadrill.

Why was Axew not trained?

Because Axew was just a baby when she got it and he barely knew two attacks. We don't even know what Axew was like? Did he need to be babysit a lot at first? He clearly wasn't competent from the very beginning.

Hello, have you seen Scraggy? Who was born after Axew? Who trained with Axew and then proceeded to be used in a Gym Battle, League Battle(s) and one of Unova's several battle tournaments? There is no defending Axew and his trainer's lack of raising. Also note every other baby Pokemon that hatched from an egg that was adept in battle (Phanpy, Eevee, Cyndaquil, Azurill, Happiny, etc).

Why didn’t she try to understand her Excadrill better?

The Excadrill episode clearly showed that Iris tried befriending Excadrill on the course of her journey, we even got flashbacks which you should have seen if you actually watched Best Wishes. Iris couldn't understand Excadrill better because she didn't know what the problem was in the first place. She didn't realize the error of her ways until she met Cilan. That is where her character development happened in the same episode: Iris realizing what she did wrong after Cilan cleared her up and her apologizing to Excadrill for what she did. THAT'S RIGHT: character development. Iris owning up to her errors and growing as a result of that.

Character development.

I never said she didn't receive any character development at all whatsoever. Additionally, I also stated below she bonded more with non-dragons (i.e. Excadrill). And those flashbacks were from the immediate aftermath following its loss to Drayden. It isn't clear that she tried to understand/talk/apologize etc with it during her roadtrip to Nuvema.

You can’t cross an entire region and not gain anything from it. That always bugged me, compared to Dawn and May’s more reasonable journeys from their hometowns into the fields of their respective region. It was just unrealistic.

I'ts funny that you're complaining about such an insignificant matter. Iris simply underwent slow progress. In her first focus episode we knew that Axew was practicing to master Dragon Rage and that she had a disobedient Excadrill. In the flashbacks we learned that the Axew she got was just a baby, thus explaining its lack of development during her journey and she didn't even understand why Excadrill was acting weird despite trying to befriend him.

Keep in mind perspective. What you may deem insignificant I may find important, and vice versa. For Axew, see Scraggy once again and Excadrill I already covered.

She did very little in obtaining Pokémon of her desired type, never once expressing active interest in catching the native Druddigon or Deino. She also barely did anything pertaining to dragons apart from constantly blurting "DRAGON MASTER, ME, DRAGON MASTER, HELLO, DRAGON MASTER, MASTER, DRAGON, SOMEDAY" to every COTD the gang happened to meet.

Except, you know, numerous flashbacks featuring Iris interacting with wild dragon types, Iris calming wild dragon types, Iris teaching a new dragon trainer about commanding dragon types, Iris wanting to get a Deino that was seemingly abandoned by its trainer, Iris having a girl crush on Cynthia and her amazing Garchomp? Iris' eyes shining at the Hydreigon in the first BW movie? Iris defending a wild Dragonite even when everyone thought it was guilty of a crime? Iris believing dragon types couldn't possibly be bad? And let's not forget Iris catching another dragon type, Gible, in her special and being amazed as Rayquaza, a Dragon type legendary.

That girl was obsessed with dragons and if you didn't notice that then I have to wonder what show you were actually watching: it clearly wasn't Best Wishes. And Iris was more obsessed with dragons than Misty ever was with Water types.

Okay, I give you that. With all of this, one can successfully argue that her love for Dragon types was there. However all the instances you mention are episodes that are sporadically spreadout through BW. And that in lies the problem. Sure we got flashbacks to her interacting with the dragons in THE VILLAGE OF DRAGONS and the occasional "Ooh-Aah" on dragons on site, but that was it. I wanted to see her catch more during her run, battle more, express more knowledge about them and such. Bonding with COTD Pokemon is one thing, but it isn't enough. And I'm sorry, I just didn't see that with her. And Dragonite was guilty of the crime. The actual issue at hand was if it was intentional or not. Gee, were you the one who didn't watch the BW series?

And I'm still for Misty with her active role as Water type Gym Leader, her possesion of a myriad of Water Pokemon, all the water type Pokemon episodes we have with her, and so on and so on.

Then her stupid Axew. I mean, the whole point of her leave of from the village was to go and train it into a Haxorus. She couldn't even pull off a Fraxure. Heck, by the time the gang stumbles upon the elder again, Iris and Co have taken a full lap around Unova and Axew is still as useless as ever! Apart from a few spontaneously learned moves, it didn't evolve, barely fought and hardly grew ever since Iris obtained it. Heck, as of now I still can’t discern any individual personality from it. And it didn't help that Iris babied it more than Misty did with Togepi. It was so infuriating going from what we had with Dawn and Piplup (especially that goodbye scene in the last DP episode) to the silly crap of Iris and Babyew.

That is because Axew was a mascot and we all know mascots do not evolve. Iris did set out to evolve Axew, I agree that that is a flaw, but her primary goal was to learn more about Dragons and train to become a Dragon Master.

Togepi qualifies as a "mascot" and it evolved, Piplup outright chose not to evolve, Dedenne can't evolve, and in case you didn't notice, Axew wants to evolve. So shame on Iris for not helping her Pokemon do so. And I disagree. Her primary goal was Axew, and we have no other indication that she would have left the village to train and learn about Dragons if not instructed to raise the Tusk Pokemon.

Furthermore, she spent more time and development with non-Dragon types than Dragons! What the hell did Drayden see in her?

Excuse me? She trained her butt off trying to learn Axew Dragon Rage and one of her biggest developments lies with Dragonite. What Drayden saw in Iris was potential. Iris is a girl who absolutely loves dragons, as I previously mentioned above and named numerous examples which you, somehow, managed to miss while to watching BW. Furthermore, she has a special connection to Dragon types which makes her uniquely qualified to be a Dragon Master, especially a dragon type gym leader. So Drayden saw a lot in her, most of which you are ignoring right now.

You are excused. She didn't train her butt off with Axew, not like she did with Excadrill...who she has participated in 100+ battles with. As far as I'm concerned, I'd say she is closest to Excadrill. Her developments with Dragonite are very few as he she is still a work in progress with him. And that special connection is crap because Trainers can have an equal connection if not better with their Pokemon (which has really been exemplified in XY recently). So no, I don't see the special potential that makes her different from anybody else who loves Dragons.

Then, she obtained a second Dragon and still couldn’t even raise that one right! Two disobedient Pokes in only a party of four! Iris obtaining Dragonite was such random ass crap it wasn't even funny (and with that, Axew was further demoted from extra to just filler cameo). Even after her series was over, she was still having difficulty commanding it in battle as seen with Clair. For the "Girl Who Understands The Hearts Of Dragons," she understands dragons as much as Ash's Heracross understands Bulbasaur's personal space.

Yes, Iris should have been suddenly able to understand Dragonite as per deus ex machina. Do you know what 'character development' is? For a person who claims Iris didn't get any development you should surely first educate yourself on the very concept of development. Iris growing from a person who didn't understand her Dragonite and didn't get along quite well with to a person who works well and understands her Dragonite is character development. The entire Junior Tournament Arc was dedicated to establishing the problem with Dragonite, Cynthia pointing out that Dragonite lacks trust in Iris and then Iris having to work with Dragonite in order for it to gain the trust in her.

I only point out Dragonite because people like you put her on a pedestal for understanding dragons, being at one with dragons, etc etc. So if that is the case, then her whole problem with Dragonite shouldn't be as tedious and noteworthy as it currently is. And that isn't really character development on her part, moreso than it is Dragonite. He's the one that is slowly accepting Iris as a trainer; she just continually tries to get him to open up and choose moves he wants to use in battle. Also, do not put words in my mouth. Never at any point did I ever say that Iris "didn't get any development." Regarding that, what I pretty much said was that I felt she never really achieved her goal or made milestones in it or such.

Did you even watch Best Wishes? Because your arguments are so weak and poorly founded I find myself hardly believing you. Seems more like you just read her character summary and decided you hated her.

Haha you're kidding right? Seems like you tried to find anything wrong with my beliefs and counter them. Guess we aren't so different (sarcasm).

Yes I did watch BW but if you choose not to believe me that is your choice. My arguments are valid. As are yours. The evidence is there in the episodes; it's all a matter of interpretation. Clearly I dislike Iris while you adore her, so we might as well leave it at that. This thread was for others to either state why they like or dislike Iris, not to insult others on the support of their beliefs (which you initially did).

Then her appearance and temperament. I hated her hair. Hated it. I know Pokémon characters can tend to have very unlikely hair styles, but Iris’s was just plain ridiculous. It looks like a giant purple beehive. How did she sleep at night? I swear, shouldn't she have overheated several times? And the on-and-off bangs she would randomly sport during movies only made it worse and more unnatural. If you can freaking hide a Pokémon in your overgrown bush, something is wrong.

That is a personal opinion and far from a fact.

Yes it is opinion, as is this whole thread. Great job on pointing out the obvious.

Additionally, she was also very hypocritical. For reasons unnecessary. She had no qualms criticizing others on their idiosyncrasies, mistakes and characteristics she deemed annoying. Yet she would be just as abrasive, rash, unrealistic and annoying herself (like her idiotic “fear” of Ice types which was gloriously addressed by Trip). I know Misty at times was tough with Ash, but he usually deserved it or the squabbles were equally started. Here is a girl that would berate Ash for no real reason (how the hell was he supposed to know what one of Frillish’s, A POKEMON HE HAS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, abilities was and the effect of said ability?). A boy who has saved the world several times, competed in 4 different Pokémon leagues, was offered a spot as a Frontier Brain, defeated legendaries, has raised a plethora of Pokémon, seen and experienced so much more than you have and then some. And she has the audacity to berate and insult him? What. A. Kid!

That is because Ash acted like a retard during Best Wishes because he regressed.

She had every right to call him a kid.

It's true Ash regressed from the impressive feats he showed in DP, but that is no reason to be mean to someone for no reason. And this my friend, is a major reason why she is so unpopular. And am I to understand you are perfectly fine with insulting people if they "act like a retard" (which is a very derogatory and discriminating term mind you, very surprised you would even say that)? That does say a lot about you.

I also hated how she had this initial disposition of “nature girl who only eats natural fruits & foods and sleeps in trees”… only for it to vanish. By the time the series was halfway in, it’s like the individual characteristic that distinctly set her apart from the other PokeGirls had vanished and suddenly she was accustomed to modernity. That bummed me out so much! I wanted her to keep that, and refine it! To truly be different and be a fresh character to the series. Such a waste! Same thing happened with her spiritualist views that only surfaced in that one episode in Nacrene City. These characteristic ceasings just made her exasperatingly boring.

Iris kept her spiritual characteristics, but you had to watch Best Wishes to see that.

Yeah, that were a sentence or two of dialog that weren't even profound or explicit. And if they were, you sure as hell would have mentioned episode examples. But there aren't any really.

She never really contributed anything to Ash or the group in general. As far as I’m concerned, she had no synergy with Cilan. The two were the most unlikely traveling buddies the anime has ever produced to date. In regards to Ash, well she is simply a male version of him but 17 times worse. Her rival was pointless (who the hell makes a living off being a –Insert Type- Buster?) and her interactions with just about every character were so bland. I desperately wished her and Bianca switched places. THAT would have been eons better than the tasteless hours upon hours of nothing that we got with her. What an underwhelming female lead.

Iris was one of the best characters of Best Wishes and had an enjoyable chemistry with both Ash and Cilan. With Ash, it was like two siblings fighting together with Cilan being the older, more mature one. And with Cilan, the two where frequently shown being complete opposites. And yet, as time went by, Iris' calling Ash a kid became more of a tease and her true devotion to their friendship was depicted in Ash VS Roxie where Iris painted both her and Cilan's face and cheered for Ash in order for him not to give up. In their break up episode, where Iris and Ash had a fight, both of them showed clear regret at leaving each other which was heartwarming and a true example of a close bond.

This is an opinion, which you chastised me earlier for. Don't debate with double standards. Or just don't debate in general, and rather let people state their opinions, and agree with the ones you like.

-------------

Overall, it doesn't seem like you watched Best Wishes, either you skipped a lot of episodes or you skipped the whole thing. Your basic knowledge on Iris is lacking therefore making you unqualified to discuss, debate or even hate a character, especially a character you know pretty much nothing about. Judging by your poorly constructed argumentation, you must have read a synopsis of her story during Best Wishes somewhere or saw how she called Ash a kid and decided you hated her. To make a long story short: go, please watch Best Wishes and then come back, and then maybe, just maybe we can have a normal debate; that is, only if you don't let your Iris hatred consume you. And I have very little faith in that.

Mind you, I have seen all of Best Wishes. But in your judgmental assumptions (which is something you shouldn't do), I highly doubt you would believe me and I simply do not care. Like I said before, this thread is to state whether you like or hate the character. Clealry we aren't going to change our stances, so there is no point in going further. My only beef is that you not call other arguments weak because the same in essence can be said yours or anybody-it is all up to interpretation.