5th Gen The Elite Four!

[Pendraflare]

As with every Pokémon game, Black and White, as well as Black 2 and White 2, have the Elite Four at the very end of the game at the Pokémon League. This time around the Elite Four consisted of Shauntal, the Ghost-type thriller, Grimsley, the Dark-type gambler, Caitlin, the Psychic-type mystifying girl, and Marshal, the Fighting-type rumbler. Additionally, Caitlin was with Darach, the owner of the Battle Castle in the Battle Frontier in the Generation IV games.

However, the Elite Four in Black and White were the first in the series to only use four Pokémon, instead of five like ones in past games had, although this is likely due to the shortage of Pokémon the Unova Dex contained before post-game. Black 2 and White 2 suffer the same fate with this, but if you're playing on Challenge Mode, they have five Pokémon along with held items, which makes them much stronger fights. This was also the first Elite Four in which you could choose to battle them at your discretion, instead of battling them in a set row.

What did you think of the Unova Elite Four? Who was your favorite member from them, if any at all? Were they challenging for you in either game? Did you enjoy battling them? Why (not)? Did you like being able to choose at your discretion and having them as equals or do you prefer the older way of doing it? And if you've battled them in B2W2's Challenge Mode, how much different did you find it there? Discuss.

 

[Sheep]

I loved them. Unova's E4 were probably my favorite group even if there are some members that don't stick out as much as others; they were the closest to the "perfect" E4 if I had to make a choice. Caitlin and Shauntal especially had gorgeous designs and wonderful E4 rooms, not to mention teams with a lot of potential and fitting types. Grimsley was another favorite.. though I truly wish they had more of a role in the games in general.

Marshal's the only one I tend to forget more often than not but that might be because I never was a fan of the "macho man" fighting-type trainer. :P They weren't too difficult to beat but I definitely had more trouble with them in B/W than B/W2 if I had to say. My team wasn't as polished in the first versions.

 

[Hikamaru]

Unova pretty much had my fave Elite Four of any region, because I just loved how pretty their rooms were when you fight them. My faves of the bunch are definitely Shauntal and Caitlin, both use some very powerful Pokemon (especially Shauntal, dat Chandelure of hers) and they are pretty beautiful looking girls.

Grimsley I also like as well, but Marshal eh not so much. I've never been into the "macho" kind, but Grimsley's design and the fact he's a gambler makes him that more interesting. It was sad they barely got attention outside the League (except maybe Marshal) but they had very strong teams. I did find them slightly more difficult in B2/W2 compared to B/W, and ever since watching the nastiness of Shauntal's Chandelure in the Marriland Black 2 Wedlocke I don't think I'll ever attempt Challenge Mode.

 

[Altairis]

I thought the Elite Four was semi challenging, and they did have really nice battle music! What I didn't like, however, was how they allowed us to choose the order in which we fought them. It was a nice idea in theory, however, that means that all of their Pokemon have to be at the same level when we enter the Pokemon League. If we start with our Pokemon's levels matching their's, it's almost guaranteed that we will increase in level after we battle 12 high-leveled, trainer-owned Pokemon. There was more of a challenge, in my opinion, when the levels went up as you defeated more members.

However, they were pretty solid. I had a tough time defeating them in B2W2 my most recent playthrough, although I was a bit underleveled :P The music makes up for it!

 

[Necrum]

I'm not really a fan of Marshall. He looks like any other fighter in the series, and his team is really boring. Shauntal is probably one of my favorite Elite Four members of all time though, boasting some really cool ghost Pokemon, and having the fun theme of being a writer (wish she was writing about mysteries instead of Pokemon battles though). Grimsley is an odd one. I think he's cool, but he has those deep sayings that are strangely out of place somehow, I can't really explain it. He does have a pretty cool team though, but I would have dropped Liepard. Caitlin kinda scares me, but not in a disturbing way. But I mean being in a space like that, it feels like something out of Lovecraft. Her team is good, but nothing noteworthy really. I don't remember ever seeing her companion though? Are you sure he's there?

 

[Pendraflare]

All this dislike for Marshal I find rather ironic, considering he's my favorite of the three but i'll talk about that in a bit. And Necrum, I think this is what you're thinking of, or the Darach she was with in Gen IV to my recollection.

Anyway, I really liked this Elite Four. Some people have said their type choices were unoriginal considering we've had them as past Elite Fours multiple times before, but their Pokémon are pretty strong. Their characters I felt quite enigmatic compared to past Elite Four members, with some sick designs and just as cool rooms (and in B2W2 they were made even cooler, arguably). As for why Marshal is one of my favorite Elite Four members ever? He does make appearances outside of the league himself, you see him on Twist Mountain in B2W2 and in the post-game of BW, he makes a comment about getting stronger when you challenge Cheren. To add to that, he was Alder's student, which would have been nice if we had seen some of what Alder had done for him. Not to mention his Fighting-type Pokémon are pretty strong, and can cover their weaknesses pretty well with Rock-type attacks and Payback (although I wonder what Game Freak was on when they gave two of his Pokémon Grass Knot in BW...). And i've said this before, but there are people who said he should have been Champion instead of Iris, which I think would be very interesting.

On the battling front, I don't remember them much from my first play of White, but my first play on White 2 they weren't too tough but that was owed to me being way over-leveled, although Shauntal's Chandelure did cause slight problems (and I remember my Altaria accidentally activating Defiant on Grimsley's Bisharp, which was funny), as did Marshal. When it came to my Wedlocke duo, though, I still remember how ridiculously unlucky Grimsley's Krookodile got in White with my Watchog that used Flash and had the BrightPowder (he missed so many times with Earthquake), although she then succumbed to Bisharp. In White 2 they weren't very hard, even though I was on Challenge Mode, since I had a lot of EV trained stuff following two massacres from Ghetsis and Victory Road, but it was time consuming having my Unfezant use FeatherDance on Liepard to ready him for my Haxorus (and she almost succumbed to a critical hit). Caitlin's Metagross was rather tense, too.

In other B2W2 challenges i've done where I had Challenge Mode, they would prove to be good opponents overall. It was something else that they gave them competitive items such as the Expert Belt, Leftovers and other boosting stuff, and I liked that they gave Caitlin a Metagross. While the other members didn't get too exciting things (except maybe Marshal with Lucario), they were still much more enjoyable fights there.

 

[XtinaIsMeLuvinWWE]

I honestly really like all of them except for Caitlin, I dunno how to explain it there's just something about her design that irks me lol.


Shauntal has a cute design but most of all I love that she's interested in writing, I am as well and I also have glasses so I guess I just relate to her the most lol :) Grimsley just looks awesome, one of the best designs in Pokémon imo and I love that he represents one of my favourite types in the Dark type. He also has an intriguing sense of mystery about him :) With Marshal, he also represents one of my favourite types so maybe I'm biased but I really like that they gave him a design which made him a serious threat and didn't just go with the usual shirtless fighter (I know Brawly's an exception but it was kinda a pattern with Bruno and Chuck haha). The fact that he also refers to Alder as his mentor is so cool; the fact that he has a close friendship of some kind with the Champion adds a lot of depth to his character imo :)