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League Rivals: The good and bad

205
Posts
13
Years
  • Seen Jul 19, 2014
I'd be lying if I said I completely hated them. They do have some of the coolest battles on the show and Ash doesn't go down without a fight against then. Even Tobias (who had an admittedly cool design) managed to make his battle against Ash fairly memorable and intense.

On the other hand, they are quite frankly nothing but plot devices to ensure Ash doesn't win the league (because why would we want to see him progress on his journey at all) and are discarded afterwards, never to be seen again. Okay, Ritchie reappears in Johto but other league rivals are very one-note.

Tobias being the biggest offender as the other we got to know personally at least. He comes it with a LEGENDARY (a Pokemon who's very existence is questioned) and we never learn anything about him. He's mysterious, yes, but the thing about mysteries is they're very good when they've been solved. I think that's the worse part about him: He could've been very interesting.

What are your thoughts on all this?
 

Wobbu

bunger bunger bunger bunger
2,794
Posts
12
Years
I've always like the league rivals more than regular rivals. The fact that Harrison had a Blaziken during the Johto league was really cool, especially since this was Johto. I'm not a big fan of Richie but he seems to be a good friend of Ash and they definitely work well together. Morrison was a little goofy and childish but so is Ash. What I liked about Morrison was that he brought out Ash's inner passion for battling. Similar to Morrison, Virgil first appears a little before the league tournament starts. I wish we got to see more of him, especially in the dub since Japan got the special with Mewtwo. My least favorite of Ash's rivals is Cameron. Road to Humilau is one of my favorite episodes but Cameron is always forgetting about things and he doesn't know near enough about battling to have defeated Ash.
 
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