Well, I liked his attitude. He gets points for that. XD; Honestly the only electric gym leader I never really liked or got attached to was Wattson. But I think that's mostly because I didn't really play much Gen 3 since I hated Hoenn. :P
The recent games do have more character development. I definitely agree with you there. With the old games, you got a few lines of text and character design and that was about it. Now there's a lot more to go on so it's easier to find characters relatable and likeable. :3