Contest Rumble of the Rivals!

[Dorothy]

Howdy! Here's a thread to pit all the series' rivals against each other! Is Blue the best? Wally? Cheren? FIGHT!

 

[Alola]

Out of all the rivals faced in the series so far, I have to say I've really enjoyed Silver. I love his design, his history and past, and the fact that unlike most rivals, he has a naturally legitimate antagonistic disposition to the player. His rival battle music has always been one of my favorites, and I was greatly pleased with the HGSS rendition. Also, the fact that he is only rival to steal his starter Pokemon, in addition to one of his party Pokemon, has its novelty. Additionally his growth from a rude jerk, to a power hungry trainer, to being temporarily "broken," to the kind, cool reserved type was beautifully written in my opinion. And when he finally reaches the pinnacle of understanding that a trainer should have love for their Pokemon, which is explicit in his Golbat's ultimate evolution into Crobat, I was thoroughly impressed. Nice one Game Freak. I don't think other rivals come close to maturity in that regard or character development.

It was also pretty awesome that his dad was the head of an infamous villainous group. And even more awesome that he chose to stand against them rather than easily follow in his father's footsteps. Not to mention, you get to experience him across a span of two regions rather than one. The only complaint I have is that I wish his Sneasel and Magneton would have evolved into Weavile and Magnezone respectively when he went to Kanto. Other than that, I really enjoy him the most out of all current rivals.

 

[Norzan]

Silver by far, he is the most interesting rival and i love his character develepoment throughout the game, too bad he is in a game where the story is terrible.

 

[Orion-Sama]

Bianca, hands down. I really found her sweet and adorable, and like all of BW's main characters, her development really showed, as well as having her confront her father and even herself in what she wanted to do. She's a very deep and kind character, and goes through quite a few hardships, but she never loses sight of the adventure and works hard even if she has many difficulties, in hopes to find her own personal truth. Her cuteness, cheerfulness and her love for Pokémon are really inspiring and touching and made me cry quite a few times. Even with her apparent weakness, Bianca is no weakling and provides many good battles with her pretty well balanced team. Her appearance in BW2 shed even more light in her resolution and show that she's still the sweet and lovely lady she has always been. Such a wonderful character is proof that rivals don't have to be jerks to be good characters and strong Trainers.

 

[Rainami]

I like all of the rivals at least a little, save Bianca and May/Brendan. I voted for Silver, but he's not necessarily my favorite. I like how he has more backstory than the rest, and his antagonistic personality is somefin I personally miss, considering how friendly rivals since him have been.

 

[Team Gaara]

Wish I could vote for more than one, I consider Blue and Barry to be my favorite rivals, but Silver, and Serena/Calem are also notable.

Ended up voting for Barry for nostalgia reasons and just because he's really funny~