Past Characters As Trial Captains/Kahunas?

[MidnightSkye]

What if we got a few old faces as trial captains/kahunas. I keep hearing we may get more than 4. For example would be cool to see maybe Sabrina as a psi trial captain or Giovanni as an earth one.

 

[blue]

I think it's more likely to see one of the past characters as a more important role such as Champion. The Trial Captains are probably characters that are native to their respective island so I can't really see past characters fitting that bill?

 

[blue]

idk like... when I think about this, what character(s) from past games would fit into Alola's culture as Champion? Assuming there's something equivalent to Champion or something. Like, other than maybe Caitlin? There's Phoebe from Hoenn's E4 too but... even then. @__@;

None of them really do but if I had to say one of them then it would be Caitlin. The only reason why I say that is because of her dialogue from past games and she seems to own several villas around the world which would give a reason for her connection to Alola.

 

[MidnightSkye]

idk like... when I think about this, what character(s) from past games would fit into Alola's culture as Champion? Assuming there's something equivalent to Champion or something. Like, other than maybe Caitlin? There's Phoebe from Hoenn's E4 too but... even then. @__@;

Maybe Shauna? She did say she was going way to afar off region. I'm just curious where in the timeline S&M takes place. Would be really weird (but cool) if it is like 20 years after FR&LG since it seems remakes take over the original's canons.

 

[Ducolamia]

I really wouldn't like it if past characters were island kahunas/champions. If it was just one, maybe, but no more than that. Why should Alola have to share it's culture with anyone else? If it's a post game thing in which we fight old characters for the sake of memory( like Red) than yeah. However, it would spoil part of the experience for me. Alola shouldn't have to share itself with other characters to be good. (I don't see Hoenn/Sinnoh doing this) This isn't like another Pokemon game were you fight 8 gym battles, go to the elite 4 etc...this is an entirely different system. How would you fit them in? I can see a short cameo, but nothing more than that.

 

[Rivvon]

While I don't see how using past characters is instantly going to take away from Alola's "unique culture" or "ruin the experience," I will admit that any past character needs a reason not only to be in Alola to begin with, but also live there so they can reasonably be a Trial Captain. It's for that reason that past characters are almost always delegated to cameo roles; the only exception I can even think of would be Caitlin, and that's because it's in-character for her to have houses in different regions.

For instance, characters such as Sabrina, Brycen, and Diantha would be much better suited to appear in a Pokéstar Studios-like facility due to their status as movie stars. Having characters move to Alola for no real reason will make them feel shoe-horned in, and would be much more welcomed as cameos or in a facility like the PWT rather than as a Trial Captain. By having older characters act as Trial Captains, you also have one less "new character" to look forward to, as well.

As it stands, if they can come up with a reasonable, believable reason to have an older character as a Trial Captain, I wouldn't be opposed to it; but at the same time, I can't think of anyone in particular who would be suited for the role, so if anyone had to make a comeback, I'd rather they be placed in more appropriate cameo roles instead.

 

[Ducolamia]

While I don't see how using past characters is instantly going to take away from Alola's "unique culture" or "ruin the experience," I will admit that any past character needs a reason not only to be in Alola to begin with, but also live there so they can reasonably be a Trial Captain. It's for that reason that past characters are almost always delegated to cameo roles; the only exception I can even think of would be Caitlin, and that's because it's in-character for her to have houses in different regions.

For instance, characters such as Sabrina, Brycen, and Diantha would be much better suited to appear in a Pokéstar Studios-like facility due to their status as movie stars. Having characters move to Alola for no real reason will make them feel shoe-horned in, and would be much more welcomed as cameos or in a facility like the PWT rather than as a Trial Captain. By having older characters act as Trial Captains, you also have one less "new character" to look forward to, as well.

As it stands, if they can come up with a reasonable, believable reason to have an older character as a Trial Captain, I wouldn't be opposed to it; but at the same time, I can't think of anyone in particular who would be suited for the role, so if anyone had to make a comeback, I'd rather they be placed in more appropriate cameo roles instead.

Specifically referring to that bolded part, that's what I mean by having old characters in the game. As long as it makes sense, I don't have a problem with it. However, I don't want characters like Red shoehorned in for no reason. The PWT made sense because it's a tournament, you expect to see other people from different regions there. However, moving into another region and becoming a Kahuna? It feels more forced for fanservice than anything.I get it's the 20th anniversary but they can do something else.

 

[Rivvon]

You say you don't understand that, but you also explain how you feel that characters from past regions should have a belivable reason to be in Alola to begin with, otherwise they'd stick out like a sore thumb, hence basically making my point clearer that they would take away from the culture if they were inserted there haphazardly. :P

Alola seems to have a strictly island-esque culture and, while there are no doubt going to be some big cities we're going to travel to, I find it hard to imagine any past character fitting into the region without a good reason for them to be there. Every notable character that may even have a remote chance to appear in Alola seems to be far too culturally different than what the region seems to project to me, so far.

Maybe I missed the part where people pointed out that being "haphazardly added in" would be a problem, but from what I gathered, all the posts were just saying "They would be bad to be included, period," which I don't think is true at all. Alola is known to have a lot of tourists and people can come from all over and move in there, so I don't think there's a "You need to be born in Alola" requirement for their Trial Captains or anything.

For instance, because of the similarities you can draw with previous regions' Elite Four, I can totally imagine Phoebe moving to Alola and working her way up as a Grand Kahuna. Lorelei originates from the Sevii Islands so maybe she could move to a colder location in Alola and take up a profession there. I admit that it's more likely that they'd be "just visiting," but I definitely don't think it would be impossible or even "intruding on Alola's culture." People move and travel all the time.

Depending on when the games take place, maybe characters like Brawly or Marlon did move there because they love being surrounded by water. Maybe in this timeline, the reason why Juan isn't in ORAS is because after Wallace took over the Gym, Juan moved to Alola and became a Trial Captain there. I don't think it's likely to happen but I don't think it would be problematic for Alola if it did turn out to occur in some fashion. If anything, I'd argue it adds to their culture because it solidifies the point that it's a popular region to visit, and some people love it so much they may even choose to stay there.

 

[Rivvon]

Alola seems to be first and foremost rich in tradition and culture, secondarily rich in tourism. I apologize if I was unclear, but characters from previous generations would, in my eyes, definitely stick out unpleasantly if they had anything to do with the plot (of course, this is a far off assumption given we don't even know the plot yet, but generally speaking, anyway). The very theme and feel of Alola would feel a lot more genuine to me if it was native born Trial Captains/Kahunas rather than people from other regions being shoehorned in because "tourism". Tourism can very well be a product of Alola's culture, weather, Pokemon, atmosphere, people, etc, which is why I'm more of the belief that if any past major characters are going to be returning, they'll probably be relaxing around either in a post-game facility waiting to be challenged or doing something else, but I don't imagine them playing any significant factor or involving themselves extensively with your character or a hypothetical plot that involved the character and Team Skull, because it will feel extremely contrived and shoehorned.

To be fair, we don't even know if the Trial Captains are going to be involved in the plot at all. We all seem to hope so, but there's nothing to hint that they will be at this point. With that hypothetical in mind, does it really matter who the Trial Captain is, so long as they fit their associated Type? We technically don't even know if the currently-revealed Trial Captains are native to Alola; it's really not a matter of where they're from, but who the character is. If we already know them from a previous game, they'll need more explanation lest they feel shoe-horned into the game.

I'd say Johto had a fairly unique cultural feel to it, too, and yet it didn't feel hindered when Lance showed up to help deal with Team Rocket. And Unova felt leagues different than Sinnoh but I don't think anything was ruined by Caitlin being in their Elite Four (actually, her inclusion helped give a reason for Cynthia's cameo, which was very appropriate to have as a cameo).

I still really don't see it happening because I do agree, they need a really solid reason to be placed in a position like that. But if, through some odd twist of fate, it were to happen, if there's a good reason for it, I wouldn't view it as inherently bad. And depending on the path the plot takes, maybe we will see previous characters involved, even if they're not Trial Captains or Grand Kahunas. Who knows at this point?

 

[Rivvon]

Fair enough point. The revelation of the Trial Captains themselves goes with the assumption that they're native to the region. Unless it's stated otherwise in an official biography by TPC or something, that's probably a safer move than not, right? But the thing is, the fact that these very individuals who seem to be apparently native to Alola serve as Trial Captains need not an explanation beyond the fact that they exist to fulfill that role being assumed important natives (maybe it functions like Gym Leaders whereas you take on the position whenever it's open or something, but that's beyond the point); whereas, as you stated yourself, a returning character would run the risk of being shoe-horned in if we don't have a particularly good reason why they would spotaneously show up and assume a pretty important role such as Trial Captain, Island Kahuna, or whatever Alola's version of Elite Four/Chamipon would be.

This is the very reason why I think, to some degree, it matters where these characters originate because as of right now, from every trailer we've been shown, it's a probable bet that Alola is a very removed and far away region that no character would really visit unless they were on vacation, much less assume an important island position such as Trial Captain/Kahuna, does that make sense (unless they were originally from there after all, I guess)? It wouldn't be a bad thing if, somehow, for example, we get someone like Phoebe as a Trial Captain or Island Kahuna, heck no! It would be half-unexpected for sure, and there'd probably need to be a good reason for it unless Phoebe is originally from Alola and not a Hoenn native or something.

As an off-topic point, I don't think anyone actually recognized Caitlin at first in Unova because she assumed a far different appearance than she did when she was at Sinnoh ruling over Battle Castle. Besides kind of being "there" with Castle Valet Darach, and giving the player Battle Points, she didn't play any significant role until Unova, although generally I see your point there and with Cynthia.

Yeah, but I do think if, say, the Electric Trial Captain were to say "I was born in Unova," I don't think that would necessarily ruin the character nor the feel of Alola. It really would depend on some of the themes of the game, but they could potentially have a Trial Captain who goes along with it (like how Giovanni was sort of just the final Gym Leader in gen 1 for a sort of... primitive form of shock factor, in a sense).

I definitely get that Alola seems like a remote island chain so it could very well be far-off and make it not as... common? for people to move there. But then again Game Freak did put Kanto and Johto together despite there being a region in-between their real-life counterparts, so anything could be up in the air in regards to Alola's location, too... So if say, they decided "These regions are both based on American States, let's put them close together," we could potentially see more Unova cameos, for example.

I can't really comment much about "recognizing" Caitlin because I first found out about her from Japanese players who started getting BW (praise Arceus for the recent near-simultaneous worldwide releases) who just flat-out said "Caitlin's in the Elite Four" (to which I responded "YES"). But that could project onto other characters too, I guess. Like if the Sevii Island-native Lorelei decided to move to Alola, she could have visibly aged and changed her attire, and since she wasn't significant outside of "I'm the Elite Four lady in this room so battle me," a similar thing could theoretically happen.

A kind of related thing that could occur is siblings or relatives of past Gym Leaders could perhaps turn up as Trial Captains or Grand Kahunas, lending for more opportunities for cameos of their relatives rather than the older character being a Captain.