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Your favorite rival?

Who is your favorite rival?

  • Blue

    Votes: 7 14.9%
  • Silver

    Votes: 7 14.9%
  • Brendan/May

    Votes: 1 2.1%
  • Wally

    Votes: 3 6.4%
  • Barry

    Votes: 4 8.5%
  • Bianca

    Votes: 1 2.1%
  • Cheren

    Votes: 4 8.5%
  • Hugh

    Votes: 3 6.4%
  • Calem/Serena

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Shauna

    Votes: 1 2.1%
  • Tierno

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Trevor

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Hau

    Votes: 1 2.1%
  • Gladion

    Votes: 6 12.8%
  • Trace

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Hop

    Votes: 4 8.5%
  • Bede

    Votes: 3 6.4%
  • Marnie

    Votes: 1 2.1%
  • Avery/Klara

    Votes: 1 2.1%

  • Total voters
    47
I have never cared much about rivals, but my vote goes to Hop. His story is really good and I feel something whenever I see him.

Second would be Blue, he was charismatic and pushed you to become stronger.

Third is May for nostalgia reasons.

Fourth is Gladion, even though I see it more as a recurring character. Everything about the Aether Foundation is so great and I'd be cool if he had appeared more.

Fifth is Wally, I like the concept behind him but sadly doesn't appear much.
 
Klara, hands down

I don’t have a long-winded post in me for this one rn so I’ll just do a quick ranking:

1. Klara
2. Hugh
3. Bianca
4. Hop
5. Gladion
6. Bede
7. Cheren
8. Blue
9. Silver
10. Hau
11. Marnie
12. Wally
13. Brendan / May
14. Barry
15. Avery
16. Shauna
17. Tierno
18. Calem / Serena
19. Trace

Also, I’m usually inclined to treat N as a rival, in which case, I’d prrrrrrrobably rank him between Gladion and Bede.
 
Right now it's probably Gladion.
- A jerk rival who contrasts with the friendly one, making for an entertaining dynamic between the two.
- Has a tragic backstory which explains his standoffish/distrustful nature, and it ties into the game's climax and overall story.
- Grows over the course of the story - he never sucks up to you, but he's genuinely thankful for all your help and continues to keep getting stronger to challenge you. He even gives you a type:null to show how much he trusts you with it.
- Actually achieves his goals of saving his mother and breaking Type:Null free of its mask.
- Great anime appearance that expands on his game counterpart; has great interactions with Ash (he's distant, but never an outright jerk to him, and is even inspired to do the island challenge by him) and grows along the anime as well. I really liked the part in the finals where they both broke out into laughter - so wholesome and it really shows how far he's come from his initial stoic appearance and how Ash brought out a side of him that even Lusamine hadn't seen in years.
- Pretty neat team theme since 3/5 of his pokemon evolve via happiness.
- Famous 'get out' line.
- Awesome encounter and battle themes.

Bede and Hugh are honourable mentions, however they don't have as much screentime as Gladion does (at least for now with Bede).
 
I gave my vote to Blue simply because I don't agree with the "he's a jerk" sentiment of some people. He's a rival; he's not meant to be a friend. And he's one of the few characters that actually seemed strong and offered a challenge. I also love how Red and Blue seem to learn about battling and raising Pokémon from each other.

Second place would be Barry, he's just so loveable and fun. And despite the relationship between him and the protagonist being more of a friendship than a rivalry, he was still determined enough for me to actually take him seriously.

My third favourite is Silver, I still find his family background super interesting and his character development is very well done too.

I don't necessarily dislike "weaker" rivals like May/Brendan or Wally as long as they're interesting as characters (which I think at least the latter one definitely is, especially in the remakes), and I quite enjoyed the two Black/White rivals being polar opposites character-wise. This being said, I haven't really been able to take any post-gen. 5 rival aside from Gladion seriously at all.
 
I will say blue, he was a jerk and kicking is ass was always a joy. Silver and Gladion are also pretty good rivals. Silver was a Blue 2.0 and Gladion was a bit of a jerk, but with a bit of character development.
 
This was what I wrote 4 years ago in these forums, and I still feel it rings true for me:

For me... I like rivals that are more mysterious, full of secrets, and somewhat contradictory in beliefs and actions. In that regard, Silver stood out as my favorite rival.

He was a true rogue with many parallels: He stole his starting Pokemon, and perhaps another one later on, yet battled with them by the rules. He had an "all about power" belief system when training, yet hated the power mongering and greedy Team Rocket. He seemed fairly rigid and scoffing in his personality and beliefs, yet as you keep battling and defeating him, he starts to rethink his abilities to a point of exploring the powers of others to improve himself. The most interesting part was that in the Gen II remakes, he was willing to turn in his starting Pokemon to Professor Elm - but Elm told him his Pokemon was quite fine battling with him and let him keep it.

This, to me, is quite deep and memorable, compared to Blue - the know-it-all jerk whose personality and sense of battling hardly changes throughout the game. Silver's actions, areas he visited, and behaviors made you wonder about what was going on in his head, and what made him think that way. That is what I see in a good rival - one that makes you think about his or her hidden background...

Of course, after finding out Silver's actual relationship later on, it all made sense.
 
Blue, Cheren, Bianca and Hop.

The rest are hardly worth the title of Rival bar Silver and maybe Barry.
 
My personal favourite is Gladion. He's awesome, and I like how well-designed his team is, coupled with the development behind his ace Pokemon, Silvally. Cheren and Bianca come a close second due to character development. Others I have mixed thoughts on as a whole.
 
You know "rival" and "friend" are not mutually exclusive, right?
I do, thanks for checking. My point was that people who are fans of the later rivals often seem to criticise Blue for this, when clearly he was only ever meant to be a rival, nothing more and nothing less.

To me, the "rivals" should be rivals first and friends second. In the later games, however, Game Freak seems to have designed them more as friends rather than rivals, in fact some of them are almost impossible to take seriously and pose no challenge whatsoever (e. g. being severely underleveled, having objectively bad teams and movesets, picking the starter that is weak against yours???), which I think is unfortunate.
 
I do, thanks for checking. My point was that people who are fans of the later rivals often seem to criticise Blue for this, when clearly he was only ever meant to be a rival, nothing more and nothing less.

To me, the "rivals" should be rivals first and friends second. In the later games, however, Game Freak seems to have designed them more as friends rather than rivals, in fact some of them are almost impossible to take seriously and pose no challenge whatsoever (e. g. being severely underleveled, having objectively bad teams and movesets, picking the starter that is weak against yours???), which I think is unfortunate.
IIRC, Blue was made a jerk in the original games simply because it was a personality that was easy to portray with the limited visual capablities on the Game Boy.
 
IIRC, Blue was made a jerk in the original games simply because it was a personality that was easy to portray with the limited visual capablities on the Game Boy.

Yes and no?

The later rivals were a combination of being able to use more vivid expressions as well as them feeling that 'people this day and age don't appreciate jerk rivals'. (Cause after all, we did still get Bede despite those more vivid expressions.)

And seeing the way (most) people absolutely whine about Blue being a jerk, they were most definitely right. Everything and everyone just has to be sunshine and rainbows, sadly enough.
 
And seeing the way (most) people absolutely whine about Blue being a jerk, they were most definitely right. Everything and everyone just has to be sunshine and rainbows, sadly enough.
Not really? The big problem with Blue is not that he's a jerk, is that being a jerk is his only trait. Also, I disagree with him being strong, considering I only ever have trouble with Gyarados.
 
Not really? The big problem with Blue is not that he's a jerk, is that being a jerk is his only trait. Also, I disagree with him being strong, considering I only ever have trouble with Gyarados.

Just cause you only have trouble with 1 mon doesn't mean he's not strong. This is like people saying Cynthia isn't that bad cause you nailed her Garchomp in the face with a STAB Ice Beam. In terms of strength, Blue runs circles around pretty much every rival we've ever gotten. (Except maybe Barry. I remember him having a solid team.)

To be fair, in later games, Blue was given a lot more personality and growth. But strictly talking about RGBY and FRLG, yeah he is a bit one dimensional. You can be a jerk and have more to your character (like Silver).

The depth of Blue comes from piecing together from all other games he appears in too.

But to be honest, just like saying RBY are the worst game, I find it an easy way out to pick Blue as the worst rival. (Which he can't be cause Hau, Serena/Calem, the rest of the Kalos possé and Gladion exist.) They were the first games with limited possibilities and it shows in a lot, including Blue (Which also becomes apparent with the appearances he made down the road.). It's like picking on the weak kid in school cause you know he won't/can't fight back and you're too scared to go for people that actually can.
 
Just cause you only have trouble with 1 mon doesn't mean he's not strong. This is like people saying Cynthia isn't that bad cause you nailed her Garchomp in the face with a STAB Ice Beam. In terms of strength, Blue runs circles around pretty much every rival we've ever gotten. (Except maybe Barry. I remember him having a solid team.)
Not really. Cheren, Barry, Hau and Gladion have given me way more problems than them, and with most of their team, not just one mon.

Gen I didn't age well at all. I was there when it started and it looked good, but with the time it just made me wonder how it got this big. Kinda like with Final Fantasy I for the NES, it started a successful franchise, but that doesn't mean that the game was any good (the remakes make it passable, but the originals don't).
 
Just cause you only have trouble with 1 mon doesn't mean he's not strong. This is like people saying Cynthia isn't that bad cause you nailed her Garchomp in the face with a STAB Ice Beam. In terms of strength, Blue runs circles around pretty much every rival we've ever gotten. (Except maybe Barry. I remember him having a solid team.)

How exactly are you measuring this, though? “Runs circles” how? This isn’t the kind of comparison where you can just say “this is how it is.” It needs analysis. Is it just team comp? Cause if that team has dumpster movesets like Blue’s Champion team in Gen 1 then that doesn’t mean a whole lot.

(Which he can't be cause Hau, Serena/Calem, the rest of the Kalos possé and Gladion exist.)

I actually like Blue quite a bit, but Hau and Gladion are based
 
The depth of Blue comes from piecing together from all other games he appears in too.

But to be honest, just like saying RBY are the worst game, I find it an easy way out to pick Blue as the worst rival. (Which he can't be cause Hau, Serena/Calem, the rest of the Kalos possé and Gladion exist.) They were the first games with limited possibilities and it shows in a lot, including Blue (Which also becomes apparent with the appearances he made down the road.). It's like picking on the weak kid in school cause you know he won't/can't fight back and you're too scared to go for people that actually can.
Well I did say “strictly talking about RGBY and FRLG”. But yes, if you’re including his other appearances then there is more to his character, which I also stated.

Not sure if that second paragraph was directed towards me, but I never said Blueis my least favorite rival; he isn’t. (Incidentally, for me it’s probably either Hugh or Trevor). But to be fair, the question at hand is “who is your favorite rival” not “who is your favorite rival while taking into account hardware limitations at the time they were introduced.” There are plenty of great characters that were introduced to us in both the GB and GBA eras anyway.
 
Please note: The thread is from 4 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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