What did you think of Ash's secondary DP rivals? (Excludes Paul)

[L-05308]

I'm sure many of us would agree that Paul was a masterpiece, but what of Nando, Conway and Barry? How did you feel these were handled?

Perrsonally...

Nando is one of my favourite characters in the anime to date. The greatest thing is that he was Dawn's rival as well, making him very unique. I was worried at first about Roselia/Roserade being his star because we already had Drew, so I was glad that Kricketune took over, as a result it became one of my favourite pokemon. He got development as well, anyone else notice the first time he was shown to have lost his cool was during his battle with Zoey and he seemed much less mellow against Ash. Only complaint is his long absence from the show, I would have liked to have seen more from him and Kricketune.

Conway is also a favourite of mine. Not only was he a hilareous and leechy- stalker type guy a pokedex for a brain, he actually showcased some of the more unique pokemon and attacks. Feint, Power Trick and Trick Room have only been used by him and Revenge and Power Whip have only been used one time besides from his pokemon. Appearance-wise, I'm satisfied. During the tag battle arc- cool hope this guy turns up again. During the Summer school arc- yeah they brought him back! But he was never established as a rival so when he appeared for the league is was a nice suprise.

Barry was great. It's great they did such a good job with his game personality. However, Empoleon was a bit of an attention whore, other rivals have at least two pokemon be quite prominant but Barry's other pokemon had little screentime, Heracross looked like he could have been big and Hitmonlee got an awsome battle but whatever. Perhaps wish he would have been introduced erlier, since he proped us during the second half of Dp, he appeared very frequently, not that I'm complaining about that but he was literally Busting out all over!

 

[Cybersai]

Nando was a decent idea for a character that was poorly executed. Why the writers only gave him 3 episodes in very early DP and had him completely disappear until the leagues is beyond me. His rivalry with Dawn didn't exist, and his rivalry with Ash wasn't much better. I give him props for having the best contest battle of the show, but overall the writers didn't care for him apparently.

I liked Barry but he was never anything more than comic relief. Conway again was great, but it was only his interactions with Dawn that made him worthwhile.

 

[Aestivate]

Worthy of a debate, so I'm going to move this to the PL.
Edit: I missed the poll, whoops. This is going in the GF.

 

[Bouffalant Herdier]

Nando is easily my least favourite of the three. A rival who took part in both contests and gym battles was an interesting concept, and he gave Ash a good battle at the Sinnoh League, but personality-wise, whilst he was largely inoffensive and polite, he was also unbelievably bland; he might as well been a cardboard cut-out. I was definitely Team Nando when he was up against Zoey in the Grand Festival, as I really wanted to see him win and prove her wrong, but he completely let me down. Bleh.

Barry, on the other hand, was a hugely entertaining character, and judging by what we saw of his battle against Paul, he was a pretty skilled trainer as well, but he loses points on the rival front for never having a full battle on-screen, and because he always felt like a small fry threat when compared to Paul; he had a mixture of both Ash and Paul's flaws, (Ash's impulsiveness, Paul's over-reliance on power) there was no way was he ever going to defeat either of them at the league.

Conway is my favourite. Even though his appearance at the Sinnoh League felt a little random, he had already demonstrated a vast knowledge of Pokemon battling in previous episodes, it wasn't unreasonable that he would be defeating Gym Leaders off-screen. He is the sort of trainer I imagine Max will become when he grows up, (They even look similar) so watching Ash and Conway at the league was an absolute treat, kinda like getting a glimpse of the battle Ash promised Max. (That we're unlikely to see, if even Ash can't be bothered to age) He gains extra points for using a Lickilicky, he's truly a man of good taste.

 

[Midorikawa]

Nando was definitely my favorite. I was disappointed at his lack of screen time and that he only appeared early and at the end, being absence for over a hundred episodes. The fact that he did both contests and battles made him a rival to Ash and Dawn, something never done before. The writers chose not to expand on this though, and his character never got much development due to lack of screen time. From what little he did get it was interesting when he acted different then we were used to even a little, like when he was arrested and was being questioned he gave the police a little attitude, and then Zoey causing him to worry and Ash to change his battle style.

Conway was always a funny character. It was an interesting surprise to find out that he was collecting badges, making it unknown until the league that he was a rival instead of a recurring character. Not much development, but he didn't need it as he always surprised us by just being himself.

Barry was like his game character, and my least favorite. Unlike the other two he got plenty of screen time and his personality was pretty well known with no surprises.

 

[Shinneth]

As a secondary DP rival, Barry is my favorite. When he was around he really felt like part of the group and brought a lot of humor into the mix. It was also a fun mechanic to make Barry a Paul lover fanboy to the point that he would frequently compare Paul favorably to Ash right in front of Ash's face. XD Just to get a sense of how deluded he really was, and at the same time, he had an Ash-like quality of being a total dumbass most of the time, but possessing potential and talent on the battlefield that he could truly excel in if he weren't so superficial. I really liked that in Barry; he was a rival who wasn't really an antagonist, but wasn't full-on a generic friendly rival like the majority of Dawn's were. In fact, I'd say Barry was a friendly rival done right.

However, when it comes to the characters in general, Conway would be my favorite. He wasn't much of an Ash rival, but that's because he was truly written to be a Dawn rival and was just sort of shoved into the role of one of Ash's League rivals. But that misdirection in the writing didn't affect my ability to enjoy Conway's character, as he really came off as a unique sort and for being a character who wasn't officially anyone's rival until the very end, he appeared quite a bit regardless. That led me to believe the staff really liked Conway as well and wanted to find excuses to use him. XD He would've been perfect as Dawn's rival, but Conway is perfectly able to stand on his own as a great character and is easily one of my favorites of the entire anime.

Nando sucks both as a character and a rival. Besides marginal character development for Zoey, nothing would have really changed if Nando didn't exist. We'd just have a little more extra time for the characters that really deserved it more.

 

[CommanderPigg]

It's Barry to me. I mean, yeah, he was weak. But it was a believable weak, it was his first league and I'd say that he did pretty well. He made the mistakes that were consistent and pertaining to his character (being a bit flashy with the moves and only focusing his training on Empoleon) not to mention that he was always in a rush. Easily the most hilarious rival of the bunch and just full of personality.

The fact that he had a hard on for Paul was a huuuuuge bonus as well.

So, in terms of competency, he came up a bit short, but if anything, he taught us that a rival doesn't necessarily have to have those features to be endearing or influential.

Conway is a close second, but yeah, it was like...too little too late XD Never really showed that much interest in Ash (but showed PLENTY of interest for Dawn) so he never really gave off that "rival" atmosphere until the very end. Great as a character, though, basically me as an anime character P:

And Nando...Nando, who?

 

[Almonds]

Barry because he actually reflects his game counterpart in personality - and perhaps skill.

 

[Caseydia]

I acutally liked Barry alot. If only he was shown earlier, I would have loved him more. I love that his father is a Brain and I love that he was able to get Ash hyped whenever they would meet.