5th Gen Alder vs. Iris!

Alder, does have so cool Pokemon with incredible speed like Accelgor, but I don't think he will manage against Iris with her Dragon type Pokemon.

I don´t think Alder would even stand a chance against Iris! >.<

I like Alder a lot because he's got the persona of like a seasoned veteran, but when you battle him he's pretty underwhelming. On the other hand, I like Iris because she's about your age--probably even younger--and that's the first time since Blue that you've faced against a champion your age.

As characters I like them both equally, but I have to give my vote to Iris for being the more challenging of the two.

I like Alder. He has the feel of a Champion considering his age. Also, I've seen enough of the "Dragon Master" Theme with Lance, Clair and Drake. Diversity is what makes the strongest team- just look at Cynthia and Blue.

I like them both, but I chose Iris. (I'll talk about Alder in a minute.)

For Iris, they gave her some solid development with the Memory Link, and while her character wasn't very frequent in the game, I still thought it was kinda nice. And for battling her, not only is she the only battle in the DS era, or any pre-XY game for that matter, to use full body VS sprites, but she has that outstanding multicolor beaming battle background, and that battle theme, oh my fricken Jesus in high saint's heck, her battle theme, which I can never get enough of. She also uses several of my favorite Pokémon, which is why I always have such a fun time battling her.

Alder is great too, mostly for the fact that he actually steps up to try to fight the big villain, and he too has some depth. While he wasn't as fun to battle as Iris, I still liked him for what they had to give him.

Alder. I just never liked Iris much for some reason.

Alder, because not only does he gives off a better champion feel than Iris appearance wise, his theme gives off more of a final boss theme than Iris' theme. I just wished he had a more balanced team (and Braviary, which was later fixed in BW2).

It would have to be Alder for me, due to the same reason Pinkie stated above. Iris is just way too young; I think it would've been a lot better if they kept her a gym leader, and gave the champion position to some other person. Maybe Hilbert? :p

I went for Iris, because in my opinion she had better development and also her team is more challenging than Alder's in my opinion, especially in Challenge Mode where she has that beastly Salamence. And she was even smart enough to stick a Focus Sash on her Haxorus meaning you need a bit of strategy as well when you battle her.

Although i like B2/W2 a lot more than its predecessor, Alder is the better Champ imo. He might not be able to beat Iris in a battle (team-wise), but as a character, and especially as a champion i find him to be more fitting for the role. Iris is a little bit too young to be champion, i just couldnt take her as serious as Alder

In terms of battling strategy, I think Iris would still come up on top with her powerful dragon type. She was pretty difficult to beat, Alder's Pokemon would be beaten. So, I'll vote for Iris on this one. :)

Iris, for sure. Screw Alder and his Volcarona. Iris has Hydreigon and Haxorus. 2 VERY good gen 5 pokemon! Also, Ghetsis has a Hydreigon (although, he doesn't know how to properly use one...). And, well, Hydreigon is one of my favorite pokemon!
Also, this --> [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEbZyS4sKUw[/ame]
That is a darn good 8-bit remix of Iris' theme!

Iris has the better battle theme IMO, but Alder is the better champion for reasons that others have already stated.

Out of the two, I prefer Alder's design. Yeah, Iris had a decent re-design for B2W2 but something about it just doesn't quite sit with me. Alder gives off this cool wild-man vibe, and his hair looks like fire, which is always cool.

With regards to their teams, though, Iris wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiins. Alder had an okay team, and introduced us to the terror that is Volcarona, but Iris had a team packed full of fear. Literally everything on her team is badass, as is her Champion Battle theme in comparison to Alder's.

So ultimately, Alder wins for design and story, Iris wins for actual battling.

I find Alder way cooler than Iris. The experienced, older sage concept has always appealed to me more than the child prodigy. Alder's design is nicer as well (monkish is cooler than Iris' weird dress-when I first saw it my reaction was 'wtf is that??') His team is also not yet another dragon team.

I do have to give Iris props for having a difficult team, as well as being the youngest champion yet. But I still like Alder more overall.

I like them both but for some reason I liked Iris just a little bit more :3

I'm struggling between Iris and Alder; but here's my 2 cents why.

Alder as champion; He seems guide the protag in depth and be helpful to young and willing trainers, what's more he more of a bug-type champion guy and he seems wise and team wise; You can pummel alder's bug and volcarno with a single boulder, peck it out or burn it out with ace, His steel/bug hybrid totally hard to find a weak spot though. yet he is very wise and pointed Cheren purpose of becoming strong and light-heart to N

Alder as Trainer; same as he teach younglings about pokemon and he himself very much like a guru to me

Iris as Trainer; yet I love Iris she is outgoing, wild and hyper person for a trainer as her age and she being gym leader sure was no picnic. She is helpful and wild as usual

Iris as Champion; Her champion team is no picnic either and pack of full of mostly dragon-type, which your ice-type needs struggle of their counter attacks unless your ice team is beartic that is. Focus-stashed Hax would be a nightmare with it's Reversal towards you ice-type for a major walop

So Iris for being a competitive battler, to Alder being a wise sage and storyline.