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Does anyone like Sophocles?

How do you feel about Sophocles (anime)?

  • Worst character in the history of the show

    Votes: 2 4.5%
  • Worst character in SM series

    Votes: 2 4.5%
  • Dislike him

    Votes: 11 25.0%
  • Neutral

    Votes: 16 36.4%
  • Like him

    Votes: 12 27.3%
  • Favorite character in SM series

    Votes: 1 2.3%
  • Favorite character in the history of the show

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    44

sc190191

more afraid of you
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This is honestly just a question, I am really curious. I don't really like SM characters for the most part anyway, but I know I have seen people say they like just about everyone from the SM main cast in one way or another, except Sophocles, so I am curious if anyone likes him.

I personally think he is the worst character in the history of the series, but I don't want to get into to that too much because i'm really just curious to see if some people do like him. I always wonder why he was put into the cast over Ilima, since he is the only trial captain from Ula Ula in the main cast and Ilima is from Melemele. I kind of think its because they wanted Ilima to be more competent, and weren't looking for competency in their main cast for whatever reason....

I think part of why I have trouble with him is because his design is just so different and off-scale from others. I imagine people know what I mean, but I'm not sure exactly how to explain it. We have had this a lot in past series, but normally with characters that don't appear frequently, so its easy to overlook. Even so, his design is the same in the games and I didn't really dislike him in the games. I find him extremely annoying and sort of pathetic, and don't really find any reason to cheer for him or just watch him in general.

But enough about my opinion, do people like him, do people hate him, or somewhere in between? Please vote in the poll too. Thanks
 
I dislike Sophocles. I was almost tempted to vote him as the worst SM character, but I don't know if my dislike towards him is that intense. Plus, I don't know if he's worse than Mallow who barely has any presence in this series.

I just find him to be rather annoying. He doesn't have a unique or interesting personality to make him stand out more individually. Aside from the Minior episode, all of Sophocles' focused episodes, what few we actually have, tend to make me dislike him more. Most of the other characters in the cast have good focus episodes that make them more appealing to me or have some relationship to make them a bit more endearing, but Sophocles doesn't really have any of that for me. He's just kind of there, but doesn't offer anything to make me consider him likable compared to the rest of the cast.
 
His whole shtick is being a walking fat-joke, being scared of dark and, rarely, make something tech related. I don't think he's worst character of this show, or SM for that matter, but I don't enjoy seeing him.
 
Thanks to the writers, SM026 has given me a huge repulsion on Sophocles. Throughout the episode, I believed Sophocles was going to be the first one to leave the school and wrap up the plot as Trial Captain near the end. The classmates were going to follow his path in the future, and such. It ended up being just a misunderstanding that gave me the biggest facepalm I ever felt like doing.

Even today, if you take classes how to write a good plot, one of the golden rules that you are taught would be not disappointing the audience with a paper dragon, which refers to tricking audience to believe what the main character has been doing is the truth, but it ends up nothing but a dream or a misunderstanding. In that case, the audience will feel cheated and get annoyed. And I wonder how the writers could possibly decide to do that in this show.

It is not to blame Sophocles but solely the writers, but ever since then, I have been annoyed by him. Although nowadays I have rather "neutral" impression on him but it is only because I am getting used to the characters in 2 years. He is a character that was ruined by the writers for me, and the fact that writers haven't done anything rewarding with him helped me only keep disliking him for a long time.
 
Do people still think he is a fat Clemont?

If Clemont and Cilan had an obese child, it would be Sophocles. I don't mind Sophocles in the games, but he really has no purpose in the series. Neither does Mallow or Lana (well Lana is there to deprive Ash of an opportunity to have an Eevee). Ash's companions should have really just been Lillie and Kiawe, those are his only two "companions" in the series that I actually don't mind.

I think only Lana or Mallow surpass Sophocles for having no personality whatsoever.

As for the anime Lillie, I like her, but she doesn't hold a candle to the SM Lillie or USUM Lillie.
 
If Clemont and Cilan had an obese child, it would be Sophocles. I don't mind Sophocles in the games, but he really has no purpose in the series. Neither does Mallow or Lana (well Lana is there to deprive Ash of an opportunity to have an Eevee). Ash's companions should have really just been Lillie and Kiawe, those are his only two "companions" in the series that I actually don't mind.

I think only Lana or Mallow surpass Sophocles for having no personality whatsoever.

As for the anime Lillie, I like her, but she doesn't hold a candle to the SM Lillie or USUM Lillie.
Why doesnt anime Lillie hold a candle to the SM Lillie or USUM Lillie?
 
Why doesnt anime Lillie hold a candle to the SM Lillie or USUM Lillie?

I think because of the amount of screentime that she has to share with the 500,000 companions, she hasn't had ample time to really develop to the level that she is in the games. In the games, Lillie is pretty much there with you through the entire games and I actually got emotionally attached to her in the games. The series doesn't give her the same amount of justice.
 
Do people still think he is a fat Clemont?

I remember people calling him that at the beginning of SM, but even then, it doesn't really make much sense. They're both trainers with Electric Pokemon and have made inventions, but that's about it. They only share surface layer similarities. Clemont was more focused on making new inventions and did have more interest in Electric type Pokemon, even though that didn't come up nearly as often. Sophocles only has two Electric type Pokemon, although I almost forgot about Charjabug, hasn't shown any interest in capturing more of them and barely uses technology. They really aren't similar enough to say that Sophocles is another version of Clemont.

If Clemont and Cilan had an obese child, it would be Sophocles. I don't mind Sophocles in the games, but he really has no purpose in the series. Neither does Mallow or Lana (well Lana is there to deprive Ash of an opportunity to have an Eevee). Ash's companions should have really just been Lillie and Kiawe, those are his only two "companions" in the series that I actually don't mind.

I think only Lana or Mallow surpass Sophocles for having no personality whatsoever.

As for the anime Lillie, I like her, but she doesn't hold a candle to the SM Lillie or USUM Lillie.

I don't know how Sophocles could be similar to Cilan. I can't judge on Lana capturing Eevee since I haven't seen the episode yet, but I don't think it's really fair to say that she's just there to deprive Ash of capturing it. They could have given Eevee to Ash if they wanted to since he has the room or to Lillie if they wanted to give her another Pokemon. Besides that, Lana at least had a bit of focus with getting the Waterium Z Crystal and perfecting it with Popplio. It isn't a lot and she doesn't really stand out that much, but that's more than what Mallow and Sophocles have done in the series.
 
I like Maamane and I actually think he is one of the least generic/most nuanced companions Satoshi has had. I can understand people not liking him - he's somewhat cowardly, a bit of Smart Alec and far too self confident for someone who doesn't have the prerequisite shonen traits :)rolleyes:) - but to say that he doesn't have any personality? Are you people having a laugh or what?
 
who doesn't have the prerequisite shonen traits :)rolleyes:) - but to say that he doesn't have any personality?
Speaking for myself, I didn't say he didn't have personality, I just really dislike his personality. I just want to touch on your mention of shonen traits because it sort of parallels what people who like SM say about those of us who don't (Now I'm not putting this on you personally because I think you are joking and I have no problem with what you said, your comment just really struck me and I wanted to take the opportunity to stress something I feel strongly about). As someone who really enjoys the humorous characters, humorous and lighthearted episodes in past series and have no interest in a shonen hero, I just think its unfair to classify someone who dislikes Sophocles or SM, or anything for that matter, with simple assumptions. Many seem to insinuate that those of us who dislike SM are just action obsessed and don't like humor or characterization, and for me that just isn't the case. I personally just don't feel like SM has done a good job with humor or characterization, just like I don't feel like Sophocles is funny or interesting. I really don't think acting foolish is equivalent to being funny, I think the humor has become really lazy when it was much better in past series, and I think the character interactions are more predictable and basic, but I'm totally fine with people who feel a different way and I can understand that some people would. But anyway, everyone's different and I made this thread because I wanted to see opinions that were different, I just feel frustrated that those of us who dislike SM and its related characters are frequently put in a box.

Do people still think he is a fat Clemont?
I think I remember hearing this, but it was before the series started. I personally adore Clemont and like others have said, I don't think they have anything in common besides types and supposedly Soph has some interest in inventions (but not really). I'm surprised people are so on about his weight though, who cares. Having a more realistic array of body types makes sense. My point about his design has nothing to do with his weight, just that from a design standpoint he looks so bizarrely different from everyone else, like if I were to line them all up I would pick him to be from a different franchise all together because his design is just so different, which can be a bit distracting.

Why doesnt anime Lillie hold a candle to the SM Lillie or USUM Lillie?
In my opinion its mostly SM Lillie, because USUM takes some of the most powerful stuff away, but there is just so much emotion with her story and a characterization and bonding with the main character that was so impressive for the games. Her personality was more nuanced than we typically get, because she is very smart, a bit awkward, and grew up sheltered, but she also had another side to her where she would joke around and be sarcastic. The whole setup of the games was her saving Nebby, then trying so hard to learn and do whatever she can to help Nebby even though she doesn't necessarily have the skills or means to do so. She showed a huge amount of courage to runaway from her home and sheltered life to try to save Nebby, so she selflessly took a huge risk and made a massive change in her life. She had to overcome a significant family issue (one that was lightened in both the anime and USUM) and came to forgive and even help her mother who had done so many awful things. She grew in confidence throughout the game and even during some really tough moments she was able to stay positive and still be playful as well. Some of the bonding moments with her were just so touching, my favorite is probably the part on Exeggutor island, but there are so many great moments where she is interacting with the player throughout their journey that range from humorous to really deep and emotional. Her role in the games is also hugely larger than it is in the anime (which is surprising because almost always that is the other way around). I don't think Lillie is the only one to fall victim of the anime making them worse, I personally really like Lana in the games but I find her a chore in the anime. Well really, I like every trial captain better in the games, but that is probably because the series just isn't my cup of tea.
 
The one time I tried to watch SM, I had the bad luck of hearing him talk. The LA dub voice is like a mix between Toad and Jibanyan. At least, that's how I remember it.

Ugh... The dub voice is grating. This is the one season where two of the voices drive me insane enough to only watch it in Japanese.

Lillie and his voice both sound unnatural and not pleasant to my ears.

If I only watched the English Dubbed, I know for sure I would not like him. =_= Sad as it is, I do feel that the VA for any series can have a large impact on whether or not I like a character.
 
Please note: The thread is from 5 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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