Best gym leader?

So many of the gym leaders in pokémon are so... strangely designed. Others are a bit too plain. But there are some who are just right and unique in good ways and who you remember well. So what gym leaders do you think are the best ones? Not in terms of how strong they are, but in what kind of pokémon they use, their overall theme and looks, how they fit into their city etc.

Flannery! Her city is near a volcano and even has the word "lava" in it, which totally fits. She also has a fiery personality typical to fire-type specialists, and her look just screams fire. Slugma and Torkoal also fit the theme of a volcano well, and her puzzle is okay too.

Morty is another one. Can't explain it well, but it "clicks" with everything. So all is good :)

Giovanni/Blue
Because on red for me was shocking that the bad guy was the last gym leader. i was like what the **** ? in Gold i was like wheres Giovanni ? and i see blue. that guy. i was like.. you....you.... *****. after that they were the best GYM LEADERS

Blaine looks and acts totally awesome. He even sets up another gym after Cinnabar island gets wrecked!

I also really liked Valerie. She's really pretty, has a cool design, and the concept of a human that wants to be a pokémon is just cool.

Only guy that comes to mind right now is Volkner. He seems like he holds a lot of influence in Sunyshore with the solar panels and stuff. Plus he uses Pokemon outside his element, which is pretty revolutionary.

I always thought that Blaine was pretty cool, even going so far as to use Fire type Pokemon on a volcanic island like Cinnabar. And like Shiva said, he even sets up a second Gym after his first gets destroyed- I'm pretty sure most other Gym leaders would've just stepped down instead.

I love Erika, she's a dainty and kind of spacey lady who lives in the biggest city in Kanto with gambling and shopping galore, while she's in her little secluded gym arranging flowers and all that. She just seems so out of place and she really contrasts with the city which I always thought was unique. Plus she's cute as hell and Grass is one of my favorite types, so there's not much to dislike for me.

Blaine was the first one that popped into my head :)


Firstly, he fits well into his surroundings in that he gives out a Volcano badge, and as I'm pretty sure volcanic eruptions are capable of creating new islands, the fact that he is situated on Cinnabar ISLAND makes perfect sense to me haha :)


Plus, his isolation on an island creates an air of mystery about him that wouldn't necessarily exist if he were part of a bustling city, and as such the riddles that he issues tie in perfectly with the uncertainty surrounding him :)


Just my opinion haha :)

In terms of what kind of t they use, I'd say Whitney is one of the greatest out there, really. Her team consists of only normal-types, which, yes, are quite easy to take down with fighting-types, but at the same time, they're also quite a tank. For me, one, big threat was Milktank. It was simply tough to damage, and once you manage to get this Pokémon to a low amount of health, it would recover itself immediately with Milk Drink, which, for me, was very upsetting. Same goes for a lot of other people as well, I'm sure. It also knew Rollout, if I remember correctly. While the attack doesn't cause much damage at beginning, it becomes more and more powerful each time it has been used, and once you're up to a certain limit, you'd be able to knock out almost any opponent with it by only one hit.

Design-wise, I'm very much fond of Winona. Although she does wear a pretty complex outfit, it resembles her a lot, considering that she specializes in flying-types. Alongside, I'm also a pretty big fan of Flannery, as well as Brawly. Hoenn's Gym Leader designs were all pretty stunning, if you ask me.

I think my vote would go to Koga. I love the ninja motif with him, and most of his pokemon are bug type. I super excited when I first played through Generation II and found out that he had been made a member of the Elite Four. <3

Cheren. *~* I love how far he'd come in his journey and how much he grew as a trainer. His overall character is by far my absolute favorite; would love to meet him if given the chance. What a sweetheart.

Design-wise Winona is just gorgeous. Something about that soft blue and feathers does wonders for me. The more I look at her the more I'm reminded ever so slightly of Clair.. haha. Probably the hair.

whitney..

JK

My fav is Pryce! He is just on old man who loves ice type pokemon! dont you just love old people?

In terms of design, Morty. He's hot and definitely looks like he fits his role as a seer and Ghost user.

In terms of character, Cheren and Flannery. Cheren went through quite a bit of character development before becoming a Gym Leader, and even after becoming one he still has a good personality. I like that he plays quite a bit of a role in BW2, too (given, most of the Gen. V Gym Leaders have some role in BW/BW2). Flannery definitely acts like a newer Gym Leader, and she's sort of cute in that regard <3

In terms of difficulty, Sabrina in RGBY/FRLG. Psychics were considered godly in Gen. I; even in Gen. III they were still pretty good considering you didn't have access to Gen. II/III Pokemon. Sabrina's Pokemon were also at fairly high levels, and I found her to be difficult every time I faced her.

Yato said:

In terms of design, Morty. He's hot and definitely looks like he fits his role as a seer and Ghost user.

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All of my yes. That's how I think of Morty. He's pretty hot, especially that scarf, and really looks the part of his specialist type.

For personality and strength, probably Crasher Wake. In the games, he has a strong, albeit small team, while in both the anime and games, he had a fun-loving but strong personality. Also, who doesn't love Water-type wrestlers?

The first one to pop into my head was Elesa. You know, that one electric gym leader from Unova.

What I like about her is the kind of influence she has on the city. I'm not talking about politics, as that's boring, but I'm more about the citizens. I mean, she's a top super-model, so she's already famous, but she breaks the mold from the stereotypical, dumb beauty queen. She has a real fight about her and she's clearly intelligent, which makes her the perfect role model for the kids growing up in that town.

Plus, her volt switch strategy in Black totally wrecked my team the first time I went up against her, haha.

Jasmine because she's really sweet and strong at the same time.

I lean towards girl characters in Pokemon. Every new region it happens IM SORRY

Favorites are Erika, Sabrina, Jasmine, Juan (omg a male), and Valerie.

Erika and Jasmine vaguely remind me of what I might be like as a gym leader. They're both quiet, don't take what they do too seriously, use my top two favorite types, and they seem to be more interested in other things than actually being a gym leader. I wouldn't be as elegant or as nice though teheheheheh BUT I AM NICE.

Sabrina is just a full on badass so it's really hard not to love her. Her redesign sucks which hurts because she had the coolest slick look for so long.

Juan is great because he's cheesy. He's a womanizer yet with a feminine side, dresses sharp, is into elegance/art. Idk why I like men like that irdk.

Valerie idk too much about yet. But I love her design and her type of choice. I like that she gives off a "I'm kind of a psycho" vibe. Even her gym is kind of eerie in a way. She reminds me of Sabrina in some ways because of her weird vibes.

My favorite all timer will always be Volkner. I like his design a lot, his personality on anime. For the first time he gave me nice challenge on Platinum. He is really strong for the 8th Gym Leader in Sinnoh region.

Erika and Whitney were the first to come to mind. I always thought that Erika had one of the most gorgeous sprites in Pokémon Yellow, even as a little kid, and Whitney was superbly powerful and strategically gifted, in addition to being stationed in one of my favorite Gen II cities.

Another favorite was Elesa; I still have the "Nimbasa's Shining Beauty" theme set as the forum default. She was another tough one to defeat, especially with Dewott as my strongest Pokémon. Her Volt Switch strategy crushed my team the first time I took her on.

Giovanni/Blue was a fantastic surprise, and thoroughly satisfied me as a young gamer. I loved the diversity of their teams as well; it was a refreshing change from an entire team of the same type.

And I can't forget Pryce. He was a good gym leader, yes, but he was old and gruff and I absolutely loved his personality and design both.

I like Morty because of his involvement in the history of Ecruteak, the Legendary Beasts, and Ho-oh. I really like when Gym Leaders interact outside of just battling and that might be the best of them, even if it is brief, because it spawns another part of the great story line of the Gen II games (and remakes). I also like Ghost-types, and Gengar in particular, so his Pokémon give him a nod as well.