Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Is Stephan that fat guy with the Serperior? If so, him.
Is Stephan that fat guy with the Serperior? If so, him.
Well, Burgundy is collecting gym badges (unless she gave up on that), so technically she is one of Ash's rivals, even if she's not really treated as one in terms of plotlines.For starters, Cabernet and Langley aren't really Ash's rivals. They've battled him, but they're Cilan and Iris' (respectively) rivals.
I don't see how that boosts his chance to win the Unova League considering the writers could just create some new rival to defeat him like in every other league - on top of the fact that he isn't treated as being superior to Trip.They're all weaker than Ash battle wise, even Trip.
It's why Ash better damn well win the league this time, all his rivalries are beneath him for once.
She has improved in her battling skills, as shown in the Clubsplosion, and is the only rival in BW who has had any development so far - which is what makes her the best rival of the series.Bianca, because she acts too ditzy unless something big is on the line.
She also needs to become Professor Juniper's assistant. She is so weak, this is the only fitting fate, to be trapped in Unova and never show up beyond its borders.
We need a competent female rival for Ash...no more Dumb Blondes/Barry Expys!
This is no contest; the honor of being the worst goes to Trip.
Not only is he the worst of Ash's Unova rivals, but I'd argue he's among the worst of Ash's rivals period. That includes his League-exclusive rivals. I think only the likes of Casey, Tobias, and MAYBE Ritchie are worse than Trip. Everyone else is better by a mile.
Let's just face it; he does not have anything going for him. His level of progression makes no sense because he's a fucking newbie. Imagine how awful the Pokemon series would've been if Ash defeated a trainer vastly more experienced than him in his very first trainer battle. How cheap it would be if Ash had a full team of six Pokemon (possibly more) within 10 episodes, with all of them well-trained, having nary a problem with their newb of a trainer and no initial personality clashes, in addition to at least half the team having evolved once already (Pidgeotto doesn't count since Ash caught it in that form, and the Caterpie line is supposed to evolve quickly)? It's no less cheap or lazy for this to happen with Trip.
Trip made an awful first impression as a huge-ass Gary Stu (which only mellowed out once Trip started losing tournaments), as well as visually showing us that the staff did not put more than 5 minutes into designing his character; they just color-reversed Paul and made small adjustments from there and huzzah, brand new character. It doesn't help that the first bits of info we got on Trip before BW aired (from the people who work directly with the show itself, no less!) was that he was literally called the "Shinji-like rival". He isn't exactly like Paul, of course, but it's easy to see why people would use such words to describe their first impression of him. First impressions are very important; that Trip made a very bad first impression (as well as a bad second impression later on) still reflects poorly on him today.
Most importantly, there's really nothing to Trip. They gave him a camera gimmick, but it's very forgettable, bland, and was relevant all of one time in this series so far. He has a catchphrase, but it's a boring and stupid catchphrase that Trip often contradicts anyway, so it's pointless. The only remotely unique thing about Trip is that he's a xenophobe, as he calls Ash a hick pretty much every time they meet, but that too is dull and can't even be used to its full potential because Trip knows nothing of the world outside of his own region, so he's the one who comes off as an ignorant jackass every time he claims Kanto is the boonies. They tried to implement something with him involving Alder, but it's honestly nothing special. Trip is just one kid of several who got to meet Alder and become inspired by him to become a strong trainer and one day battle and defeat him. It would've been fun if they sort of acknowledged that Trip is an idiot with his head stuck up his ass for expecting Alder to honestly remember him for all the five minutes they spent together years ago, but nope, that too was passed up on. And rather than being persistently bitter over the whole thing, they just have Trip walk away from him mid-episode. They do nothing interesting at all with Trip finally losing battles, either. You'd think arrogant newbies would be a bit more torn up/bitter after losing, ESPECIALLY to people they underestimated like a fool (Bianca; again, that contradicts his whole "basics" thing), but nope, he just brushes it off as if nothing happened and leaves immediately afterwards. Nothing comes of it, nothing is foreshadowed, nothing is built up on, which is why it will be so very underwhelming if Trip actually wins the upcoming tournament. They've just done NOTHING interesting with his character at all, and Trip barely has anything unique to call his own. His personality is some odd-ass mix of Paul, Gary, and Drew's, his camera gimmick is just Todd Snap 2.0... only new thing he really brought was the xenophobia.
Worst of all, Ash's motivation to battle Trip does not differ from any CotD trainer he's fought in the entire series. With Gary there was a childhood backstory to go by that set him apart from other trainers, and with Paul there was a clash of philosophies of their opposing training methods that was represented by Chimchar, who was trained by both of them. And Paul served as a consistent inspiration for Ash to keep pushing himself throughout the series, taking his training seriously. With Trip, Ash has nothing to prove to him. Because Trip got DEM victories against Ash already and has yet to lose to him, Trip has nothing to prove to Ash, either. Trip's already realized Alder is not the perfect idol he once believed to be, so I don't see what Trip is supposed to get out of being defeated by the Champion, considering he got jack and shit out of being defeated by Cilan and Bianca. Defeat apparently does not faze this newb, so what's the point? What's the point of Ash defeating Trip in the League, for that matter? With Gary and Paul there were strong, developed storylines backing these inevitable victories so that they actually meant something; Ash clearly gained something significant by defeating them. What will Ash defeating Trip mean? That... Kanto is not the boonies? Woo? Only way Ash will probably convince Trip of that is if he uses his Kanto team against his xenophobic rival, and really... there's an easier way of proving Trip wrong here: by actually sending the little snot to Kanto and see how well he fares in a region that isn't his home turf.
So that's my lengthy mumbo-jumbo on why Trip is the worst rival. Bianca may suffer some issues in terms of being a credible threat, but Donamite especially seems to be fixing that problem, and I'm hoping by the League that Bianca is shown to be a real force to be reckoned withproven when she eventually wins the Unova League. Otherwise, Bianca is fine. She does possess some similarities to Barry, both in behavior and design, but Bianca is a distinct enough character in her own right for that not to be a problem, and her design can't be helped because, well, she's a game character.
Stephan's probably my second-least favorite rival of the Unova bunch, but the only thing about him that bugs me is that stupid running gag about his name. If that weren't plaguing him I'd like him a lot better. Even without it, though, Bianca, Burgundy, Georgia, and even Luke (who I don't think counts as a rival anymore) are more interesting characters than him in pretty much every way. Donamite did wonders for his credibility, though, and it's nice that they do put at least some effort into how hard he trains with Sawk that makes him a believable threat. He obviously takes his training very seriously and he's got a good attitude, so I'm okay with him. Especially compared to Trip.
Is Stephan that fat guy with the Serperior? If so, him.
No, that fat guy with the Serperior is Trip.