Elite 4

This is a rant!

What are they even doing? They are the strongest trainers in the region, role models TV personalities and yet they're never around.

They should be helping old ladies cross roads and also defeating the bad guys.

So what do you guys think should E4 members be taking a bigger role in story lines?

I just found out about this theory two days ago. It speaks mostly of the situation between Kanto and Johto, specifically about their existence as a single region/nation state, but I think it can apply to other regions as well.

The theory provides evidence of how the Pokémon League is more a form of government than a sporting or entertainment league, akin to Japanese feudalism where the Champion (aka Shogun) controls the populace through Gym Leaders (aka daimyos) and their Gym trainers (samurai), and then the Elite Four are the Champion's elite nobility.

Therefore, it would make sense that the Elite Four's duties extend beyond the practice of Pokémon battling and into governmental functions, not to mention that their true job and self interest is to maintain status quo.

Tasty tinfoil if nothing else.

Hmm this is interesting, maybe then they could have some sort of spin off story line. Is this a fan based theory?

Either way I would like them to feature more in the games story, maybe some lore or maybe they should just have a house in a city, but right now they just stand there waiting haha.

I agree. The elite four should have a role in the story line and not just sitting there, waiting to be sweeped by one pokemon cause they only have a monotype team.

Maybe they're like sports stars. You wouldn't see Peyton Manning or Ben Roethlisberger fighting the mafia like Batman or fighting Team Rocket like Red would you? Maybe they have subtle heroic things they do like contribute to charities or do Papa Johns commercials.

GF (and the anime) hates the E4 for some reason. >:( Even the most boring gym leaders (ie. Erika, Chuck, Roxanne) get more screentime and development than them, they're rarely seen outside of their tiny rooms (let alone other games), very few of them have appeared in the anime (and one of which, Koga, did so as a gym leader), and they were deliberately excluded from the PWT for the dumbest reason ever.

It still amazes me that they actually cared to flesh out Lance and give him a larger role in GSC, especially when not a single other E4 member has gotten anything close to that since then. And, even then, it still feels like Lance gets second class treatment compared to other Champions, especially Steven and Cynthia. He never gets any cameos or appearances in other games, and it's been more than a decade since he was last seen in the anime. Steven got more promotion and attention with ORAS than Lance got with FRLG and HGSS combined.

One would think that if they were government officials that they would have even more of hand in the story though

i like the idea of the elite four being mostly a mystery leading up until you face them... but i will say i'd like to see them somehow incorporated in the post game or having them appear before facing them, but not knowing who they are. I agree it's disappointing as i find there's at least one elite four member each gen who comes off as extremely interesting if given the chance.

I personally when playing the games always just imagined the idea of what the gym leaders and Elite Four are up to when I'm not directly in front of them is that they are out and about living their lives like normal people. Since there was never any real development or information really revealed across playing the games, I always just believed that they worked the gyms as like a government job, and that acquiring a badge from them is like getting government paper work that allows you to join their system and also acts like a passport into other government (gym) run areas in different parts of the country.
I also imagined that the gym leaders are just participating in social events, defeating other trainers, and using the money they make from defeating trainers to pay for maintaining the town they are located in. I just assume that's what they're doing when I'm off doing my own adventure.
When the game's story lacks development, it's more fun for me to just put it together myself.

I just assume they are doing their job in the gyms or pokemon league.
Also, 1 or 2 pokemon league members are fine, but I don't want them all spoiled. It's more fun as a secret.

While I do like the act that they are mysterious, I would like it if they were hyped up a bit more. Like people takling about the fact that they are overpowered, or messages of them clearing out groups of bad guy grunts (without actualy showing ofcourse)

Makes the hype for Elite four a bit more.

Well, don't they all have day jobs? Malva's a reporter, Siebold's a chef, Diantha's an actress, and Steven is heir to the Devon Corporation. I just always assumed it was like that for all of them. Several of the Gym Leaders explicitly state that they have other jobs. Elesa's a model, Viola's a photographer, etc.

Being a gym leader or elite 4 member is probably more like a hobby, or amateur sports league, than a real job.