7th Gen Gladion

Gladion is somewhat of a rival in the S/M/US/UM games. He is Team Skull's "Enforcer". He has a Type Null from the Aether Foundation that he took with him when he escaped. But his reasons for leaving with Type Null differ greatly between the two sets of games. He can be seen as the complete opposite of your friend rival, Hau, but he's not really a jerky rival, either. When his Type Null evolves, it will always be the advantageous type to the starter you picked. He will also try to battle you for the Champion Defense title battles after the game ends. However, for a little while in the Ultra games, he goes off to Kanto. He returns later, however, unlike Lillie in the Sun/Moon games, who does not return.

What did you think of Gladion? I liked that he had a story to his character, and wasn't a straight up "cocky jerk" rival. He wasn't too friendly, but he wasn't too mean, either. I like this rival type.

how Gladion was handled is honestly kinda weird, and i don't really blame people if they have concerns about it. like, from the time the player first meets him up until the end of the game, it does feel like he goes buddy buddy a bit too easily with the player. i would've personally preferred more of his jerk personality showing a bit more before he turns a 180 into a Nice Guy, but that'd be about my only concern about him. i mean otherwise he's a pretty decent character fwiw and i mean, people don't mention it for whatever reason but i think his theme slaps??

I agree with Angie but still as far as rivals go... he's probably in my top 3. So few characters in Pokémon actually have character arcs that even when it's a little rushed, it's still impressive. Plus I like his emo look, sue me.

He was alright. I think he's basically silver though, the rival from gen 2. But he's alright. Just your run of the mill edge lord rival.

Way too much attitude lol.

I liked Gladion! He was kind of the in-between rival, he was friendly but to a certain point. I preferred him to Hau immensely. I wish we saw more of him though. Nonetheless, Gladion is a fitting rival. Perhaps my favourite thing about him is his design. He looks like an E-boy, or like that goth boy that every early 2000s girl secretly wanted to date.