❆Welcome to the Gym, Time to Test Your Might❆ (Gym Leaders' Club)

What is your favorite gym layout? Explain your choice:
I would have said either Sootopolis or Fortree city gym. However with the new Kalos gyms, I just can't choose. They were all just amazing If I had to pick one, it would have to be the Anistar city gym. It's layout was like nothing I've ever seen before.

I've never participated in a monotype tournament, so I can't really say much from my own experience, but I think I'll have to agree with Slayr. While getting matched up with someone with an advantage against your Pokemon in the first round would suck, designing your team to be able to take on such a challenge is all part of a monotype tournament, isn't it? I kinda feel like that would be where the real challenge would lie, but alas, I'm still not experienced with that kind of battling :p I'm not shutting down the idea of 2/3 to advance though, since I honestly still think that'd be a good idea, especially in cases of getting matched up against someone with a team that's strong against you :)

Sector said:

Also, what can we say about Blue? He wasn't exactly a monotype gym leader. What was he based on exactly, other than Red's rival?

Click to expand...

I feel like Blue was kind of a special case. They just needed someone to replace Giovanni, he was the obvious choice, and it wouldn't make sense to redesign his team to be purely Ground types; especially considering the games were made mainly for people who'd played the originals :p I can't remember how much his team varied from his rival team in the originals, but I think they both were pretty much based on the stronger Pokemon of the Kanto region. But again, he's kind of an odd one out, so I wouldn't really say the team is really based on anything specific :p Makes you wonder what rules actually apply to gym leaders.

I can join finally! Yay!

Name: Axeliira
Your 3 Gym Leaders: Erika, Elesa, Brycen
6 Partner Pokemon(Read the Rules & Yes we can have nicknames!): Leavanny, Meganium, Zebstrika, Ampharos, Aritcuno, Dewgong
Why have you joined to be trained: I want to be an elitist, to show incoming trainers that gym leaders are trainers that have accomplished so much. Not only that, I want to become a mentor to trainers, giving tips for the trainers to use for their journey. :3

What is your favorite gym layout?
It would have to be Elesa's BW gym layout...when it was in a roller coaster format. It's so much fun. I don't see why she moved to a "runway" layout in BW2, though.

Axeliira said:

I can join finally! Yay!

Name: Axeliira
Your 3 Gym Leaders: Erika, Elesa, Brycen
6 Partner Pokemon(Read the Rules & Yes we can have nicknames!): Leavanny, Meganium, Zebstrika, Ampharos, Aritcuno, Dewgong
Why have you joined to be trained: I want to be an elitist, to show incoming trainers that gym leaders are trainers that have accomplished so much. Not only that, I want to become a mentor to trainers, giving tips for the trainers to use for their journey. :3

What is your favorite gym layout?
It would have to be Elesa's BW gym layout...when it was in a roller coaster format. It's so much fun. I don't see why she moved to a "runway" layout in BW2, though.

Click to expand...

Didn't some people have a hard time beating Elesa in the first Black & White games? Or am I remember dreams? Which pings the question:


& Welcome Axeliira!

It's been a while since I played Black 2, but I don't recall having too much of a hard time beating Elesa. I do however recall her Zebstrika to be a beast to take down, and her Emolga was pretty annoying to, being immune to Ground types and all, so perhaps I'm wrong. As for her gym layout, I kinda liked and disliked it at the same time. I thought it was very creative, and can understand why people would like it, but it just felt a bit tedious to me. Like, it wasn't really that challenging, and was more about getting from point to point, to finally be able to get to Elesa. And I constantly had to go back outside to heal, since the trainers kept paralyzing my Pokemon, and that was just awfully time consuming. But it fit greatly into the theme of Electric type Pokemon, so I still like it in that respect :p

As for her design, I don't really know. I kinda like both of them, but just for the sake of choosing one, I'd have to say her B2/W2 design. I feel like the black hair kinda suited her more, and considering B2 is the only fifth generation game I've played, there's bound to be some bias ;)

Which version of Elesa do you like best: The blonde hair(from Pokemon Black/White) or the black hair(from Pokemon Black 2/White 2) version?

I love her B2/W2 design way better, black hair really looks awesome on her and she got way more beautiful because of that. Even if many claim her to be one of the hardest Gym Leaders due to that Emolga of hers, I'll always be a fan of her.

Sector said:

Which version of Elesa do you like best: The blonde hair(from Pokemon Black/White) or the black hair(from Pokemon Black 2/White 2) version?

Click to expand...

I actually hated the B/W2 Elesa at first but a few months later I just couldn't see how that was possible of me. Her B/W2 design is definitely a lot better; there's no overabundance of yellow and it looks great in general. Emolga's black coat is a lot more fitting with Elesa's newer design, too (as I see it as her signature Pokemon more so than Zebstrika).

On the topic of beating her.. ugh, I suffered in my White version. She kept Volt Switching out and then Zebstrika always managed to find a way to faint me somehow. Took a bit of training to catch up and win. :(

Name: Nymphadora
Your 3 Gym Leaders: Clair, Flannery, Morty
6 Partner Pokemon: Garchomp, Kingdra, Ninetales, Dusknoir, Salamence, Golurk
Why have you joined to be trained: So that I could improve my skills and better myself. (:

Which version of Elesa do you like best: The blonde hair(from Pokemon Black/White) or the black hair(from Pokemon Black 2/White 2) version?
I prefer black-haired Elesa, as it fits her skin color more. Plus, she also wears a better-looking outfit. Some may not like it, but to me, it looks great!

Which Gym Leader is your favorite and why?
I like a lot of gym leaders, but my most favorite's gotta be Flannery. She's got a never-say-die attitude, which I'm really fond of. Her gym's quite challenging as well.

Which Gym Leader(s) gave you the most trouble?
Definitely Whitney. Her Milktank was extremely difficult to take down; whenever its health was low, it would always recover itself with Milk Drink. Then, it'd proceed to wipe out my entire team with Stump and Rollout. Aside from her, Clair was pretty tough, too.

What is your favorite gym layout?
Bugsy's gym layout from HeartGold and SoulSilver would have to be one of my favorites. Elesa's layout from Pokémon B/W is also my favorite.

I don't really have much of an opinion on fashion. Although, I'll just say that I like B/W2 Elesa for various reasons. I found her to be a very challenging gym leader with that volt switch strategy. I like her second gym design better because I wanted to be a roller coaster designer when I played B/W, and that design of her roller coaster made me cringe.

Which version of Elesa do you like best: The blonde hair(from Pokemon Black/White) or the black hair (from Pokemon Black 2/White 2) version?

I am a huuuuge fan of BW2 Elesa. It was a major improvement from her BW days. I love how they emphasized her title as a model, and her wardrobe was improved as well. I love her outfit, her hair, her everything. I liked her dress from BW but it didn't match her blonde hair.

Discussion seems to have died down a bit, so how about we get a new topic on the field?

Which gym leader do you think has had the best plot-line/backstory so far? Are there others you also found interesting?

Which gym leader do you think has had the best plot-line/backstory so far? Are there others you also found interesting?

Hmm... I think the little story you get when you first meet Roxie in B/W2 was pretty neat. I'll have to say Giovanni as well deserves credit for having the best backstory. I mean, gym leaders are really respected citizens, who better then them to lead a secret team of villainy?

Which gym leader do you think has had the best plot-line/backstory so far? Are there others you also found interesting?
Due to the reasons that others have stated, it'd definitely have to be Giovanni. Aside from him though, I think Normal has a pretty interesting story as well. If I remember correctly, he took control of Rayquaza in the manga, and was the guy who stopped Groudon and Kyogre from feuding. :p He then died, unfortunately, but was somehow revived once Ruby had released his Celebi.

Yeahh, I guess I kinda forgot that Giovanni was actually a gym leader xD No doubt he'd take the spot as favourite backstory, simply due to how elaborate his character was, and how much impact he had on the original games. I kinda feel like he's a bit overrated though, because while he might've been the original leader of the original evil team, and thus it would've made sense to make him the ultimate evil mastermind back before the second generation was introduced, he's received such a high status and importance in a lot of the other mediums that Pokemon has roots in as well, whereas most other evil team leaders are just around for a bit, then never seen again. But I guess it makes sense :p

In any case, he's definitely my pick for most interesting backstory. If we're also talking anime as well, Volkner was one that kinda stuck as well. I don't remember if it was built on anything canon, and I honestly can't remember it completely, but I'll say what I remember :p Basically, he used to be friends with Flint of the Sinnoh E4, and used to be super into battling and stuff and eventually, he made it as gym leader. As time went by though, he started getting bored with battling, and started giving out gym badges for free. After watching a battle between Ash and Flint however, he regained the interest in battling, due to seeing the same spark in Ash as he used to have I guess, and started battling challengers again. I don't know why I like it so much, but I guess just something about losing interest in something over time, but regaining the interest because of memories from the past is something that always gets me, since it appears to be a bit of a cliche in anime :p

Which gym leader do you think has had the best plot-line/backstory so far? Are there others you also found interesting?

Giovanni for sure. In the first games, you didn't know who was the Viridian Gym leader, until you actually reach to that point. And then BOOM he's your leader. But he was practically easy to beat. Olli summed up some of my points as to why he had such an interesting backstory.

I wish the Anime showed a bit more backstory on Erika. There's gotta be more than just her and her Gloom.

The club seems to be halting in activity, so time for a new topic!

Are there any typings you feel like the gyms have been neglecting? Any types you'd like to see appear more frequently?

Are there any typings you feel like the gyms have been neglecting? Any types you'd like to see appear more frequently?

Considering that there hasn't been a dark type gym yet...

Anyway, one type I would love to see more is grass! Okay, before you roll your eyes and skip my comment, I have others too. I would also like to aee a bug type gym that isn't first or very early on. It makes it seem like bug types are really weak, when some of them (Volcarona) are actually really powerful. It just makes me feel like Gamefreak is ignoring or degrading the type when they do this.

Are there any typings you feel like the gyms have been neglecting? Any types you'd like to see appear more frequently?
As Slayr stated, there's never been a dark-type gym; personally, I would really like to see one. d: It'd also be nice if they gave us more steel and ghost gyms; especially the former. There's only been three steel-type gym leaders in all of Pokémon games, so, yeah.