Hop, Bede and Marnie in Pokémon Journeys

[Enzo]

Considering that we are in what is presumably the middle of the series, or at the very least nearing this middle, since it's been almost one year and a half (!) since the debut of the first episode, it raises the question:

Is it still possible for Hop, Marnie and Bede to debut in the current series?

In one hand, they were rather important characters in SWSH. They were rather proeminent in the main story and added to the player's own journey, while also having their own character arcs.

But in the other hand, we are already well into season 2 of JN, and nothing seems like to point out their possible debuts. Most of the gym leaders are nowhere to be seen, the Darkest Day arc was already completed without their appearences, Rose and Orleana are nowhere to be seen rn.

And there's also the fact that some moments of SWSH story that appeared in the anime were done by other people in the series: Goh was in Hop's place in the Slumbering Weald and in the battle against Eternatus in the DD arc, one of Orleana's subordinates destroyed the wall in Stow-on-Side, which was Bede's doing originally, etc.

Let's discuss.

 

[Emmy]

Honestly? At this point I wouldn't be interested in seeing them in Journeys unless the writers gave them interesting new roles which I find unlikely.

The worst thing they could do is throw the trio in an episode each making them hardly any better than glorified COTDs.

 

[Sheep]

It does feel a little late but I'd still like to see them. A stuck-up rival like Bede is one I always enjoy seeing in the anime since it adds a unique dynamic/flavor to the show, and I would've loved to see Ash help him grow out from that and into a respectable gym leader. Would have been a really cool plot point. Marnie's a cool (and very popular) character too that I figured they'd have shown by now, same with Hop because his energetic personality seems to fit well in this saga. I'm glad they're giving old characters a bit more focus for sure, but Galar has had little spotlight in JN so far.

There's still time so I'll remain hopeful. As long as they get more focus and aren't basically just characters of the day @_@

 

[Hidden Mew]

A part of me would love to see them in Journeys. Hop is my favorite rival, I grew to like Bede more than I expected when he was such a stuck up jerk at the beginning of the game and Marnie is pretty likable, even though I felt like she had the least amount of focus compared to the other rivals in the game. However, I'm really not sure what they could do. They obviously can't really do much for Hop's or even Bede's storylines. Being one of the chosen heroes for the Darkest Day plot was tied into Hop's character development and they can't really do his storyline justice at this point of the series either. Bede not having his relationship with Chairman Rose established prior to the Darkest Day also seems to limit his options. While the games don't really focus on that relationship as much as I think it should have, it was still important to explain Bede's stuck up attitude and it did give more weigh to his change after he became the new Fairy type Gym Leader. Out of the three, Marnie would probably be the easiest to fit within Journeys, but when they already have Morpeko, her signature Pokemon, involved with Team Rocket instead, I don't know if they'd really be interested in bringing Marnie in. The anime has featured all of the evil/antagonistic teams in the past, so they could still want to bring in Team Yell and in turn Marnie, but since Team Yell doesn't really do much beyond blocking your way and being Marnie's cheer squad, I don't think there would be much of a reason for he anime to feature them.

I'd love to see Hop interact with Ash and Goh and it does seem odd to not even have him mentioned at this point when Leon is effectively Ash's goal for the series, but I really don't Hop in particular to get the SM Hau treatment. Hau is another one of my favorite rivals and his storyline in US/UM was really great. But because he was introduced so late into SM seemingly only to showcase Rowlet's evolutions after it was made clear that Ash's Rowlet wouldn't evolve, it really felt like his role could have been given to an anime-only character instead. I don't want Hop or even Bede to feel tacked on into Journeys. Maybe they could still give them something to do and feature them in the PWC, but I feel like they needed to introduce at least one of them, if not ideally all three of them, as rivals for Ash shortly after he started the PWC if they were going to incorporate them into that goal instead. I'd like to see them in the anime, but if their roles are going to feel tacked on or if they are treated more like characters of the week instead of giving Ash some much needed rivalry or having something interesting for them to do, then I'd sadly rather not have them appear in the anime.

 

[KrspaceT]

Hau and Barry say yes.

I mean everything in this series is late or spaced out oddly (hello WCS and Bea and Chloe stuff)....

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

Hau and Barry say yes.

I mean... On the other hand, Wally and Hugh say no

 

[Keith]

For as long as Leon is in the anime, Hop will always have a chance. I'm not so sure about Marnie and Bede though.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I mean... On the other hand, Wally and Hugh say no

To be fair, I think it would have been virtually impossible for the anime to incorporate Hugh. The time skip in B2/W2 and the different Team Plasma groups were pretty important for his storyline, so I don't think that BW could have included Hugh without making some significant changes to his character. They took too long to showcase Cheren and when they did, he was a new Gym Leader without any connection to BW Bianca. Not including Wally was a bit of a stranger choice by comparison, but AG is one of the few series that didn't seem interested in giving Ash a long term/note-worthy rival.

 

[Handy Man]

I’m really surprised that Hop didn’t appear with Leon in episode 12. I would think that Leon’s brother would be his biggest fan and be in the audience for all of his matches, but I feel like Hop is retconned from the Journey’s version of Galar until proven otherwise.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Considering that we are in what is presumably the middle of the series, or at the very least nearing this middle, since it's been almost one year and a half (!) since the debut of the first episode, it raises the question:

Is it still possible for Hop, Marnie and Bede to debut in the current series?

In one hand, they were rather important characters in SWSH. They were rather proeminent in the main story and added to the player's own journey, while also having their own character arcs.

But in the other hand, we are already well into season 2 of JN, and nothing seems like to point out their possible debuts. Most of the gym leaders are nowhere to be seen, the Darkest Day arc was already completed without their appearences, Rose and Orleana are nowhere to be seen rn.

And there's also the fact that some moments of SWSH story that appeared in the anime were done by other people in the series: Goh was in Hop's place in the Slumbering Weald and in the battle against Eternatus in the DD arc, one of Orleana's subordinates destroyed the wall in Stow-on-Side, which was Bede's doing originally, etc.

Let's discuss.

At this rate, I would not be surprised if Bede gets the Cheren treatment where he's already a gym leader if he shows up.

 

[SammyW27]

Given the way the Show treats rivals, it's up the air...

Gary was more of a running gag than an actual rival. (Even to this day it bums me out that he made his most appearances in Kanto but did NOTHING). Strangely enough he's been handled better since.

Poor Silver and Wally never got to appear AT ALL (and don't bother me with Silver in the Legends of Thunder, sticklers. He just stood there menacingly. To make matter worse, said scene was removed from the dub )

Barry showed-up mid-way through DP, though he was handled it up for debate.

Bianca was different from her game counterpart and used more for comedy. Cheren was a gym leader like his B2W2 counterpart and only in one episode. Hugh didn't get to appear.

The XY rivals were chumps (to be fair, so are their game counterparts), with Trevor getting the short end of the stick with the least appearances.

Gladion's story was different from the Games, but he was still handled well. Hau was introduced late as an afterthought.

So there's NO telling how things could go with the Galar rivals...

(Though I thank Arceus for Twilight Wings and the GOTCHA music video)

 

[Everclear]

Hop will definitely appear because of Leon and I think Marnie might show up in the higher ranks of the World Coronation. Don't care for Bede though.

 

[CrystalRose21]

I still have hope that these three Galarian rivals might appear in Pokémon Journeys, honestly.

 

[Lucifer Morningstar]

I acknowledge that this thread is old but the series is up to 'A Midsummer's Night Light' on Netflix and according to Serebii.net it's just 8 episodes behind the full current release.

To be honest, I don't care much about Marnie and Bede although this could be a chance to redeem Marnie's flat character and step Team Yell up as a proper nuisance.
As far as jerks go Bebe doesn't much stand out and Gary has fulfilled that role with a few reappearances even if he's only pestering Goh now not Ash.

It's Hop I want to see. He had one of the most if not the most unique rival arcs in the game series and with Leon as a central character in the plot and Hop sharing Ash's goal of beating him for his top trainer title I feel it's almost inevitable that he's going to appear.
It might be getting late in the series but it would be appropriate for Hop to debut as one of Ash's climactic opponents in the finals of the tournament. Part of me even wants Hop to defeat Ash and at least get to battle Leon if not beat him.

Therefore I'm still hopeful.