Do you like Stephan/Kenyan as a rival?

[Faerie]

I never really thought of Stephan as a rival, though I do like him as a character. He's a pretty cool guy and seems to be very passionate about Pokemon. I agree about the problem with Stephan having a lack of Pokemon. Maybe he does have more, I just wish we could see the rest of his team.

Honestly, I think more about Stephan than I do about Trip.

 

[The Froakster]

He's a nice guy, two cool Pokemon, if there were no name gag, he would be been so much better than shooty.I was rooting for him in the donamite.

 

[weeaboo_girl84]

Stephan's okay, but I find him pointless. He's just a fat guy who acts like Ash.

Keep in mind Stephen is a third-tier rival. He's not the main guy like Trip or the secondary one like Bianca.

What on earth is a third-tier/secondary rival? o_o

 

[TaiChiChasers]

It's stupid how Ash and Group can pronounce words Icirrus City (You would think its ICK-E-RUS, but the show pronounces it EYE-SEAR-US) and all the Pokémon names correctly but fail to say this guys name, not once, but EVERY single time. I could understand a first time, but why is it still an issue? Ash managed to say Iris and Cilan's names correctly, and they're more uncommon than Stephan.

 

[blowsave]

It's stupid how Ash and Group can pronounce words Icirrus City (You would think its ICK-E-RUS, but the show pronounces it EYE-SEAR-US) and all the Pokémon names correctly but fail to say this guys name, not once, but EVERY single time. I could understand a first time, but why is it still an issue? Ash managed to say Iris and Cilan's names correctly, and they're more uncommon than Stephan.

The writers think it's hilarious.

 

[weeaboo_girl84]

It's stupid how Ash and Group can pronounce words Icirrus City (You would think its ICK-E-RUS, but the show pronounces it EYE-SEAR-US) and all the Pokémon names correctly but fail to say this guys name, not once, but EVERY single time. I could understand a first time, but why is it still an issue? Ash managed to say Iris and Cilan's names correctly, and they're more uncommon than Stephan.

It's called a bad running gag. I don't like it either.

 

[Silverwynde]

It's stupid how Ash and Group can pronounce words Icirrus City (You would think its ICK-E-RUS, but the show pronounces it EYE-SEAR-US) and all the Pokémon names correctly but fail to say this guys name, not once, but EVERY single time. I could understand a first time, but why is it still an issue? Ash managed to say Iris and Cilan's names correctly, and they're more uncommon than Stephan.

It's the same reason people misspell my middle name constantly--they figure it's supposed to be this way when it isn't. I've even explained that my name is exactly as they see it, three little letters, but people still try and correct me. I swear, it's my name: shouldn't I know how it's spelled? :sweat: (And Icirrus is pronounced that way because it's a combo of ice and cirrus clouds. A lot of people blow that pronunciation, believe me.)

As for the topic at hand:

As a rival, I actually like Stephan. He's fun and I adore his team--well, one member of his team. He's passionate and just a lot of fun. The name gag has never bothered me, as I'm kinda in the same boat as the poor guy and it only made him more sympathetic to me. I have to admit, I enjoy watching Stephan battle more than Trip or some of Ash's other rivals. That's really saying something, but I'm not sure what.

 

[Almonds]

For some reason, he's the only person in BW who was written in a decent way towards the end of the League...XDD and yes, I find him a very good character

 

[Yoshi-san]

Kenyan should have been the main rival of BW. I may be biased but I feel Kenyan is the "Friendly Rival" done a lot better in comparison with the others in the past. He was never hostile/rude to Ash or anyone and he was a strong, competent trainer with being boring/invincible or completely book dumb.

His relationship/rivalry with Ash is one of my favorites(for obvious reasons) because unlike some of the other rivalries in the series, they both constantly encourage each other to become stronger without any malice or conflict. They would help each other when they need some help with training(Well all we saw was Kenyan offering to help Ash with Scraggy's Focus Blast but we can safely assume Ash would do the same for Kenyan) and when they finally had their battle, they gave all they got without no regrets or hard feelings. This is how a rivalry should be in my opinion.

 

[Karamazov]

Yoshi-san brings up some good points. One of Stephan's strengths comes from his attitude. He's competitive, but he's not mean-spirited. He's friendly, but smart. Stephan actually feels like a real, organic person because his personality is so balanced. He was a different take on the rival, and a kind I'd like to see in the future.

Main rival, on the other hand? I think Bianca would have been a better choice than him.

 

[Cinderfella]

The name gag did get very tiring, but excluding that by the end of his League battle I came to appreciate him. As many things that went wrong in BW, I can now honestly say Stephan wasn't one of them.

I actually find him refreshing and want him to appear at least once more, and even I'm shocked. He truly won me over by League time, mainly because he was a classy rival done right.

 

[Shinneth]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree. As far as how Stephan was handled as a rival in Best Wishes, he was the best. He was competent, posed a decent challenge to Ash, and Donamite did wonders for his credibility. As a character, Stephan's somewhere in the middle for me. He's way better than Trip, Cameron, and Virgil, but not as fun/memorable as Bianca, Burgundy, and Georgia. Had it not been for the incessant name gag that plagued his very existence every time he appeared (barring the League, which was ironically both funny and jarring at the same time), I probably would've liked him a lot more. Though to his credit, the dub made that gag a lot less painful by giving Stephan more varied reactions than his Japanese counterpart.

It's funny, really. Ever since Donamite happened, I said many times that it, in my eyes, cemented Stephan as a proper "main rival" for Ash far more so than Trip, who had that role from Day One but did jack to earn it. Then comes the League and sure enough, Trip is the one who gets booted out in the first round after a shitty 1v1 battle while Stephan goes out having the one single decent battle of the entire Unova League in a 3v3 with a Top 16 ranking. Normally something like this would never happen in the anime, but things like this are what makes me believe the writers themselves play favorites with their characters AND get bored with ones they initially hype up. Stephan's role shift vaguely reminds me of Conway's; both were in relatively minor roles in their debut (Conway even more so) and easily could have never appeared again, but they kept appearing and got better with each appearance, to the point where they shined more than certain established rivals in the show, and consequently they were given some unusual perks that I can only rationalize as the writers showing favoritism with some characters they didn't expect to like as much as they did.

In cases like Stephan, I can see this as totally justified, since even at his debut he was a more interesting character than Trip. Honestly, as horribly as Ash has been handled in Best Wishes, part of me thinks I would've liked this series a lot better if the main story was about the ongoing rivalry between Stephan and Montgomery.

Of course, I would've liked it even better if Bianca or Burgundy or Georgia were main characters in Best Wishes, but that's sort of the awkward trade-off with the rivals this series. None of them are properly balanced. Stephan was better executed as a rival, but comparatively so-so as a character. Bianca had a rich character and engaging story, but was handled pretty poorly as a rival.

All in all, though, I'm alright with Stephan and I'm glad at least he got decent representation in the League... more so than anyone else, that's for sure.

 

[Gengarzilla]

In my honest opinion, he would have made a much better main rival that Trip. I almost don't need to explain why I think this.

 

[Fandango]

Steppan is someone you don't want to mess with so easily. Not after what his Sohk did at that one tournament. D&P Ash and him would have been a good equal match, but B&W Ash won't stand a chance.

 

[Caseydia]

The name gag did get very tiring, but excluding that by the end of his League battle I came to appreciate him. As many things that went wrong in BW, I can now honestly say Stephan wasn't one of them.

I actually find him refreshing and want him to appear at least once more, and even I'm shocked. He truly won me over by League time, mainly because he was a classy rival done right.

That's because he wasn't a main rival. He was one of those rivals that would appear ever other bunches of episodes while the main ones would either be too goofy or too in-your-face douchy. However, he needed more screentime than what he got.

 

[Cinderfella]

True, but I'm grateful he didn't work my last nerves.

That being said, however, although Kenyan is a good example of how a classy rivals hould be or at least similarly I still believe the writers should keep friendly and squeaky clean rivals at a minimum.

If this show revolved around nice rivals with nothing to prove and no dignity to gain because they have one already, the show would get very boring. It's the ruthless and quirky rivals that make the show go round, but Stephan definitely proved himself competent even with class.

 

[Zexy]

His name pun is annoying, and he is clearly one of the "Whenever the writers make me battle Ash, I will surely lose" characters we frequently see in the Pokemon Anime. His age, plus the fact that we never got an explanation of his 8 Unova League Badges help me more to give him the negative. The Clubsplosion was not about him, it was about his Sawk, who had to battle a Throh desperately for marketing reasons. It's still nice he won it, though, because he has given us some pretty nice battles whenever he appeared, compared to a certain Trip.

That is, I don't like him as a character, but I like him as a battler. After all, the Ash v Stephan battle was the best this League had to offer. I could say an 6/10

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

Yeah, I do. He's pretty cool and friendly in my eyes. I enjoyed him as a rival more than any of the others in Unova myself.

He was essentially like the Kosaburō/Butch of Unova with his name gag. That did get old really fast (suprisingly Biff's/Botch's/Bitc...oops...never did).

 

[Albedo]

Steppan is someone you don't want to mess with so easily. Not after what his Sohk did at that one tournament. D&P Ash and him would have been a good equal match, but B&W Ash won't stand a chance.

But BW Ash beat him in the league without really struggling too hard. lol

I didn't mind him but he only seemed good compared to the other's cause there wasn't any pressure on him since he was just there. Also he was never shafted or mishandled in tournaments like all the other rivals were.

 

[Masurao]

I thought Stephan was an alright rival, better than Trip...but really that's no saying much. He wasn't ground-breaking or anything, but his battles with Ash were fun.