[Sword & Shield] How does Leon compare to other champions?

[Sheep]

What do you think of Leon as a champion compared to champions of past games? Did he have a good story, personality, design, etc when pitted against others? What are your thoughts on him overall?

 

[Flowerchild]

Honestly.... all I got from the game was that he liked Charizard and gets lost easily. I dunno if i'd call that a personality.

 

[EssentialFrenzy]

I like Cynthia the best

 

[bobandbill]

Not a fan. He had the same character traits repeated over and over (I'm the unbeatable champion who's unbeatable! And I have a Charizard! I get lost often!), with little development. Some brief moments, sure, such as his refusal of Rose initially, but otherwise kinda boring and one-note. Also sadly not a fan of his Champion Battle theme.

I suppose it's better than appearing maybe once or twice before fighting them for the Champion title, ala X and Y...

 

[pkmin3033]

Leon is probably my least favourite Champion to date. There are reasons for this:

1. His character design. It's like he decided to cosplay the Burger King Man and had to pay the legal fees for doing such a thing by accepting any and all advertising job offers. Or he was just thrown into a closet with a random assortment of old clothing from the 80s and picked what he thought looked "cool" and came away with that. I HATE Leon's design. It's generic and profoundly cynical in many aspects...he's a corporate tool. Which I suppose fits the theme and is what you'd expect of a real-life Champion in any major sport, but...well, since when have video games ever had to reflect reality? Since when has POKEMON? This guy is in the same game as guys with hair that look like a sword and a shield, for crying out loud.

2. His personality - or lack thereof - and more than that, his role in the game. Leon is depicted as a perfect character; something to aspire to...and at no point in the game is it ever even hinted at why. He's loud and obnoxious and worshiped by basically all of Galar, and that is the extent of his personality: he's perfect. His role in the game is equally frustrating: he's there to divert the player away from any distraction and back to the next Gym challenge. I mean, I know that if I was forced to sit through the narrative of those supposed catastrophes Leon was out there averting, and all the "adult" stuff I was told repeatedly not to worry about, I would have been bored out of my mind and impatient to get back to the Gyms, because this is Pokemon: it never has a good narrative. But to be repeatedly forced away from even the chance of a side activity...well, it rankles. Whose the one doing all the forcing? Leon. For his own selfish agenda. And in the end I have to bail him out, too!

3. His battle theme is awful. Although every battle theme in this game is awful. But you can barely hear Leon's over the screaming and chanting.

4. His signature Pokemon is Charizard. He really should have had a Galar signature Pokemon - they should have given something else a Gigantamax form and made that Leon's. But nope, it's Charizard again! It kinda undermined the newer Pokemon (or at least, this is how it felt to me) and it just...didn't feel particularly original. Further enhancing the idea of Leon being a cynical corporate tool with no noticeable character traits whatsoever.

It felt like with Leon they were trying to make an older, more infuriating version of Hop, and by Arceus did they succeed...

 

[the sloth]

I wanted to like Leon, because his design is so stupid I kind of like it. I wondered if at some point the fact he was such a corporate shill that he wore brand deals on his cape and had so much publicity would hint to something greater, like maybe he's not the greatest guy (to serve as a broken pedestal to Hop and make his character more interesting) and he probably would've been a better twist villain than Rose would've been, although doing without a twist villain would've been better. Having him be cocky and giving him a swelled ego that he justifies with his position and popularity could've made for an interesting and satisfying goal to work towards defeating.

But instead we got a bullet list of character traits. I'm the champion, I have a Charizard, and I'm bad with directions. All three outlined within your first/second to Wedgehurst with little subtlety. I feel like whoever wrote Leon wanted him to be the cool guy with the fan favorite Pokemon that everyone adored, but couldn't figure out how to justify that other than with "he's the champion" and no further elaboration. Speaking of Charizard, his ace of the team totally should have been Dragapult. It's a pseudo-legendary, was introduced this gen, has great stats, packs a variety of coverage attacks, and is a strong Pokemon that I couldn't just one/two-shot like the rest of his team, barring Aegislash.

 

[Super Pokemon]

He has the most swag, I will give him that.

As for his team, he would probably own the other champions. Max forms are kind of OP.

Iris is GOAT status, and Lance throws out multiple Dragonite like he has a Dragonite factory or something. Steven's strongest Pokemon is weak to his. I like those three, as for as Champions go.

Iris vs Lance Vs Leon....I would bet on Leon. We need an anime where all the Champions duked it out.

 

[Nanusmightyena]

Leon was disappointing like the entire game. I really hoped that this game would be as good narrative wise as sun and moon was. I saw they had the same director so I got my hopes up. Leon had the personality of a wet plastic bag along with every other character except Piers.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

He's basically the worst champion the series has had, unless you count Red (I don't.) It's clear he and Hop are related because they're cut from the same cloth. And I don't mean that in a good way.

Leon's stupid outfit is over-the-top gaudy. His sponsorship signs are especially tacky. Is he the type of person who can be bought for a price?

He and Hop have a similar type of obnoxious personality. Leon constantly brags about being the undefeated champion to anyone within earshot. It's amazing the general populace of Galar still like the guy, as I was tired of his constant boasting and blatant narcissism before I had my first badge.

And yes, I low-key wanted him to be a surprise villain. He had the classic overconfident attitude that many villains have, and I already mentioned how his showing off his sponsors indicate a person who's easily bought out by anyone who throws money his way. I would have enjoyed feeding him some humble pie before the Championship match. And the whole meeting with Rose sets up that possibility nicely, but doesn't follow through. We could have sided with Rose, and watch Leon and Hop go ballistic, with Leon trying some insane stunt to try to prove his dominance. And of course we go in and stop him, with Hop turned villain because we "betrayed his brother, the unbeatable champion."

But nope, instead Leon comes off as some arrogant clown who somehow bumbled his way to a champion title. The only reason Hop is worse is because the latter appears far more often.

And I didn't appreciate him diverting us from the plot in order to stroke his ego. I get what they were trying to go for with that, but the entire story is badly underwhelming as a result.

 

[solaceon92]

Leon is not as enigmatic and charismatic as Cynthia, Lance, and Steven. He's not a good role model material like Professor Kukui, Alder, and Diantha. He doesn't shine like Wallace and Iris. He's not even a worthy rival like Blue. Leon's design and over-the-top fashion-choice is his only saving grace from being so bland. I'm a bit being harsh here but it's really disappointing. His choice of the main Pokemon being Charizard is stupid because it doesn't even showcase a Pokemon native only to Galar.
I mean for me, Raihan just outshine Leon's character. Raihan is more appealing and a fun character to be with that feels like he could be a much more potential champion than Leon. He does have a strategy of using weather-condition in battle unlike Leon just duking it out with Charizard at his best. Leon gives this vibe like he can be a good brother but he's boring and bland for a boyfriend.

 

[Fairy]

I can't say that I truly like him as a character. He's remarkably aloof, not charismatic, lacks any substantial character development, and just generally comes across as a boring, unenthusiastic, cookie-cutter protagonist elevated to a seemingly higher position than the player character and yet STILL has less of a plot. Yes, he's got a boyish charm and a cute smile, but all that means to me is that he's got a bigger fanbase than a personality.

All that said, I do believe Leon is the most accurate representation of what a "Galar Champion" would look like in today's world. He's covered in logos, no doubt sponsored by Ford, Pepsi, EA, NASCAR, Manchester United, Nestle, the Make-A-Wish Foundation...and everything in between. I can so easily see him doing sponsored deals on his Instagram for what purple hair dye he uses and his favorite teeth-whitening toothpaste. That the fluff on his cape in cruelty free because only he supports sustainability and clean environmental practices for the safety of all people and Pokemon. Bragging on Twitter that his Charizard is on a raw-only diet, and plugging regular interviews on live television where he spouts about his latest and greatest training regiment "which you can get for only THREE EASY PAYMENTS OF $49.99!!!!!!".

I find what Leon represents (or at least the narrative I've constructed for him) to be much more interesting than the rather repetitious and dull character he acts as in game.

Champions like Cynthia were reserved, wickedly intelligent, and insightful. Lance was fiery, determined, and very much the opposite of the playful, goofy Leon we have now. And Steven had accolades well before he ever became champion. These people represented their regions. It feels like Leon just got famous on Tik Toc, got lucky in the gym missions, and now makes a fool on Cameo for mad clout.

 

[Hammerlocke]

Not to be controversial, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say he's my fave champion to date lmfao.

Lance was boring as hell. His generation one team wasn't even a full 6-pokémon roster, and 2 of those 5 pokémon were identical NFEs, easily making him the most pathetic in team building alone. He wasn't much better in generation two, either, with 3 goddamn dragonite. And I know that LGPE only had gen 1 pokémon, but seadra? Really? His design is cool, but for a dragon tamer, he doesn't have an admirable variety of dragons in his championship teams, and he has no personality whatsoever imo. He's just... serious. Congrats, that's boring. Blue/Green was a better, with more variety, but I don't really consider him a champion because he ultimately becomes a gym leader and that final battle is more a rival battle than anything to me.

Steven's team is pathetically easy to beat and again, like Lance, he's... serious. And he likes rocks. His design is pretty good, but design alone doesn't make a champion. Wallace is better in terms of having a personality imo, but again, his championship team is kind of sad and pitiful in terms of how easy it is to beat. I mean, mono water? Really? Bring a grass and electric type (and a flying type for his ludicolo, if you want to be completely set) and you're good.

Cynthia is the first real champion to finally understand the importance of a balanced team (I mean, how are we realistically meant to accept that Steven Stone kept his champion title for so long with such an unbalanced team?), though imo she was nerfed in Platinum when they replaced her gastrodon with a togekiss. Then again, I still never found her especially difficult - just a little more difficult when thinking back on her battle in comparison to the others - and she was my first ever champion, back when I was 5/6 years old. That being said, I know many struggled against her, so her difficulty isn't a hindering point here - people generally found her to be a massive obstacle, and that's a good thing. Her design is brilliant, her music is brilliant, and she has a bit more of a personality, but again... she's still weirdly formal and reserved, given your avatar is meant to be a 10 y/o child. And why does she ask you to deliver her grandma a charm?? What's that about?? Don't get me wrong, though, I love Cynthia. She was my first champ and she'll always have a special place in my heart.

Alder is also rather easy to beat, but he has variety in his team and an actual attempt at a personality, so I can't really complain. His design is... interesting, and he has a sympathetic backstory, as well as an interesting reason for his ascension to champion. Iris, on the other hand, is way more endearing, and her design is brilliant. That being said, I've already established that mostly-mono or unvaried teams aren't exactly difficult, and Iris didn't exactly live up to her appearance and brilliant theme in terms of difficulty. I beat her in my White 2 sololocke (i.e. a nuzlocke but you can only use 1 pokémon - i.e. your starter, which in my case was a samurott that wasn't, for the record, overlevelled) with minimal potions, so I think that says everything about her. Even so, she's one of my fave champions based on design and personality and theme alone.

Diantha had an endearing personality, a brilliant design, a great theme and a terrible team. Really, she let me down. I beat her mega gardevoir with a scrafty that wasn't overlevelled. That shouldn't happen.

Professor Kukui wasn't difficult, but he had one of the best personalities to date imo, and actually was... likeable and frequently present. I didn't enjoy his battle because it was a challenge, necessarily, but because I was caught up in his dreams and was glad that he'd finally managed to fulfil them. Hau, much like Blue/Green, felt more like a rival battle than a champion battle, but I'm one of the people who loved him, even though he also wasn't much of a challenge.

Onto why I like Leon, though, rather than just why the other champions are,,, idk, subpar. Personally, I've never understood why so many champions are able to hide their champion status until you get to the league. I mean, shouldn't the champions be... famous? And well-respected or loved by the population, given how battle-driven the pokémon world is? Why is Cynthia unrecognised until you get to the league? It makes no sense - and then there's Leon, who... is inescapable. He's everywhere. In a region based on Britain (my country) and inspired by football culture, it makes sense that people treat him like a celebrity - and that he has sponsors. I mean, football stars do! That's the point!

And... no offence, but the whole "he likes charizard, is undefeated and often gets lost" shtick is, while mentioned, like, once by Leon himself, actually played up more by the people of Galar, which fits with the annoying habit of fans reducing their fave celebrities/characters down to a handful of uwu traits that suit their personal ideals. Leon himself is shown to be more complex than that: he's observant enough to notice how much Hop has grown exactly in just a glance; he ran after Hop and the protag to protect them in the Slumbering Weald; he repeatedly insists on dealing with danger because children shouldn't be expected to save the world, THANK YOU, LEON; he risks his life to protect Galar from Eternatus, even though he fails; he gives himself 3 days of rest before battling you even though Hop implies he was badly injured by Eternatus, which is... admirable as well as alarming- I could go on and on and on, and I haven't even mentioned the subtleties in his animations, especially when he loses battles. There's lore there, with his distant relationship with his family and his complicated relationship with Chairman Rose and the fact that he's been champion since he was 10, which is... immense pressure in a society like Galar's.

And granted, he's doubled up on the ghost and dragon typings, but by god does he have type coverage in his moves. The amount of times I've seen people online talk about how they sent out a drednaw against his charizard only to have it fall to a max overgrowth is unreal, and to be honest? I actually struggled a bit against him, and I was by no means underlevelled or poorly equipped. Like him or not, he was very easily capable of being a challenge, especially if you weren't expecting him to run max overgrowth. Sure, his battle theme... isn't the best in the franchise, and I massively prefer the battle tower theme in terms of "themes that play when Leon's around,"

Okay, his design is... questionable in terms of, you know, how aesthetically pleasing it is, but it screams "big kid" to me, which makes sense, given his public image/public personality. And as for his apparent perfectionism, how he's never lost a battle and the like... tell me that the protag of every game isn't essentially the same. I know for a fact that I've only ever fully lost maybe five battles at most in a game, and that's only when I'm restricting healing items. It makes sense that a champion would be similarly invincible.

I'll stop rambling now but,, I figured I'd be one of the only people with this viewpoint lmfao so I figured I'd go all out

EDIT: I will say that charizard was a poor ace decision. Not because I hate charizard, but because a champion's ace is traditionally from their generation (with the exception of Diantha, buuuuut mega evolution was a new gimmick, no gen 6 pokémon had them and gardevoir totally isn't overrated /s) and there are so many cool Galarmons to choose from. Still, that aside (and the general lack of galarmons on his team aside), his team is pretty great.

 

[RickGrimes]

Anything's an improvement over Diantha. Her championship had zero weight to it given the two or three brief encounters you have with her.

With this guy, that's not an issue because it's established from the start that he's never lost. The Hall of Fame theme is heard during his battle, meaning he's never tasted defeat. Until now. I'll give credit where credit's due: I've complained about the recent games being too easy, but his battle was genuinely difficult, even after hours of grinding.

 

[Alternative]

I will say that while he's not my favorite champion, he's definitely up there as one of the better portrayed champions in the series. One thing that the devs have done differently with Leon is as others have mentioned: he is the champion of the Galar region, undefeated, unwavering in a battle. You can see his strength in the fact that he uses a Charizard, which for some reason is a symbol of power here. There's other little things outside of the classic Hop mentioning his unbeatable brother being the champion and how he's so cool, like in the Ballonlea gym, there's a test sheet about Leon mentioning he's not the brightest character, but he is strong and is a force to be reckoned with from his own gym challenge as well as sonia who's the opposite lul.

One thing I did like about Leon compared to other champions except maybe barring Lance and Wallace is his status as champion is important thing. You're a powerful trainer, deemed to be one of the strongest and you have a responsibility to live up to. He shows he can protect civilians from sporadic dynamaxing Pokemon, trying to stop Rose from his evil scheme, and so forth. He's kind of dumb and looks like he smells bad, but taking the position of champion in his stride is something thats really good about Leon, and makes him a better character than some of the others.

 

[Fairy]

Onto why I like Leon, though, rather than just why the other champions are,,, idk, subpar. Personally, I've never understood why so many champions are able to hide their champion status until you get to the league. I mean, shouldn't the champions be... famous? And well-respected or loved by the population, given how battle-driven the pokémon world is? Why is Cynthia unrecognised until you get to the league? It makes no sense - and then there's Leon, who... is inescapable. He's everywhere. In a region based on Britain (my country) and inspired by football culture, it makes sense that people treat him like a celebrity - and that he has sponsors. I mean, football stars do! That's the point!

And... no offence, but the whole "he likes charizard, is undefeated and often gets lost" shtick is, while mentioned, like, once by Leon himself, actually played up more by the people of Galar, which fits with the annoying habit of fans reducing their fave celebrities/characters down to a handful of uwu traits that suit their personal ideals. Leon himself is shown to be more complex than that: he's observant enough to notice how much Hop has grown exactly in just a glance; he ran after Hop and the protag to protect them in the Slumbering Weald; he repeatedly insists on dealing with danger because children shouldn't be expected to save the world, THANK YOU, LEON; he risks his life to protect Galar from Eternatus, even though he fails; he gives himself 3 days of rest before battling you even though Hop implies he was badly injured by Eternatus, which is... admirable as well as alarming- I could go on and on and on, and I haven't even mentioned the subtleties in his animations, especially when he loses battles. There's lore there, with his distant relationship with his family and his complicated relationship with Chairman Rose and the fact that he's been champion since he was 10, which is... immense pressure in a society like Galar's.

You know, while this doesn't necessarily change my opinion on Leon, this is a new perspective that I can appreciate. You're absolutely right — he is just a big kid. And damn if I'm not too, being in my 20s and still playing Pokémon. There is definitely a simple charm in that, that I had failed to realize before. Leon and Kukui are the first Champions to feel like they could have actually been the player's character in the not so distant past.

Even though I still don't like his whole, "I'm not just a Champion, I'm an influencer, just check my insta", and "here's my selfie with a conveniently placed Coca-Cola label facing the camera", vibe. You brought up a solid argument, especially by mentioning that Leon tries to convince the protagonist to just keep focusing on the gym missions and not worry about the more political happenings of the story. You can see Leon recognizes that not only is having a line of young, strong, successful Champions important to Galar, but it's just not meant to be the player's responsibility to save the region at this time in their young lives (even if destiny says otherwise, heh).

It's a far cry from dismantling a crime syndicate governed by the richest, most devious man in Kanto — but again hits a level of realism that the fandom has wanted from Pokémon for a long time. Cheers for your post, Hammerlocke.

 

[Bellsprout]

From a design stand point I thought he was going to be a raging douchebag. Also the yellow eyes/pupils gave me a soulless feel every time there was a direct shot of his face. But besides that I thought he made for a decent champion. I can't say we've gotten much personality or character from most of the champions, most of the time we barely hear anything about them in their own regions. I like Leon because we actually get to see what he's like and he's so well known you can buy clothing with his face on it. The gist I got from him is that he's a good older brother and his attitude/demeanor has made him a good figure head of the League. Also I liked that he actually acted like an adult and didn't leave the fate of the region/world on the shoulders of a rookie trainer. Also I thought his team was decent, it wasn't the usual easy sweep for me.

I gotta say I'm surprised (from this thread anyway) that people hate the guy so much. When I think of terrible Champions I think of the likes of Wallace and Diantha. Wallace is pathetically easy to beat, strikes me as a guy who would only be champion if he had an in somehow (oh right he's friends with Steven) and Diantha was pretty much nonexistent throughout the entire game. I don't know anything about Diantha besides she's a movie star.

 

[lillipup03]

I really can't decide if I dislike him more than Diantha or not. Leon's design didn't really do anything for me, and his character was nothing more than annoying to me. There was a lot of potential in that the champion is your rival's brother, but they completely wasted that potential...

Cynthia will always be the best in my mind.

 

[Raicheot]

Got to say he's prob the easiest champion to beat and has the blandest story

 

[Commander Saturn]

Aside from his outfit, I don't like him at all. Honestly it's in such poor taste to stand people up for dinner.

 

[Nanusmightyena]

Aside from his outfit, I don't like him at all. Honestly it's in such poor taste to stand people up for dinner.

His design is the only part of him I like as well. It's so over the top and dumb I kinda like it.