Gary as a researcher

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hhhhdmt

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do you think the writers made the right decision for Gar to quit trying to be a trainer and trying to be a researcher? Or should he have comtinued trying to become a pkmn master?
 
I say, it'll be better to leave him a Researcher now, now that he isn't the asshole he use to be in Gen 1 episodes XD

plus, he'll continue what Oak might not be able to.......due to age maybe
 
After Ash beat Gary in the Johto league, there was no real reason to keep him as a rival anymore so I like what they've done with him as a researcher.

The only problem with Gary is we barely see him. He was in only 2 AG eps and he's also in only 2 DP eps.

Gary has appeared in only 4 eps and 1 Hoso special over the last 6 years. I think Gary keeps up his quota of appearing once every 60 episodes. :x
 
hhhhdmt said:
do you think the writers made the right decision for Gar to quit trying to be a trainer and trying to be a researcher? Or should he have comtinued trying to become a pkmn master?
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I thought it was smart. I was rewatching more of the Kanto eps recently, and particularly one episode that I skipped over: The Diglet episode. In that, I remember when Gary reported FULL ON information about Diglet, from it's exact height to it's moveset. He was like a walking Pokedex full of information on them, despite his supposed "Catch them first, ask questions later" motto brought up in the Poke'Coral.

So apparently this whole researcher thing may have been hinted at loooong before he ever established it as his future occupation. I thought that was cool.
 
It's kind of funny, I can picture the private conversations that Gary and Ash could have had after Ash discovered Gary became a researcher:
Gary - "I'm rivaling with the greats now, the Oaks and the Birches, you are just slowing me down as a rival. I'm becoming a Pokemon researcher"
Ash - "Oh yeah!? Well, I'm going to find a better rival, a meaner, ruder rival who abuses his Pokemon and wears even plainer clothes, then you'll see!"

Also, I never really thought of it, but Gary is like the pokemon trainer equivalent of an undeclared major. He just dabs in everything but never accomplishes any real goal... I wonder how long it'll be before he decides to get into being a Pokemon Ranger!
 
bell02+ said:
Also, I never really thought of it, but Gary is like the pokemon trainer equivalent of an undeclared major. He just dabs in everything but never accomplishes any real goal... I wonder how long it'll be before he decides to get into being a Pokemon Ranger!
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That kind of upset me actually, because he clearly had the potential to. He was shown throughout the anime to be light years above most trainers and on an exceptionally high level. But I guess his whole ordeal was to learn a lesson about being humble and learning when to drop the attitude. Guess they couldn't have him excel through the tournament to do that. I actually thought that was a great shock. When I think about it, it was a fairly brilliant thing to plot out.

Gary was, in a way, Ash's comfort. Whether Gary'd admit it, Ash was the same. They both came from the same town and were the only two Pallet Town representatives. On such a stage like the Indigo, I'm sure the two secretly rooted for one another, and as "rivals", relied on the idea that the other would do well, since they were in some way barometers to one another. So imagine the shock for Ash to see Gary ousted early in the tournament, when he was placed in such high regards.

Brilliant of the writers.

I hated that he lost in Johto to Ash though, 'cause Ash did nothing with it and went on to lose to wack ass Harrison. I'm positive that if Gary would've gotten through that match, him >>> Harrison.
 
I didn't know what to think, but I didn't really like it because I didn't expect it, I guess.

I always figured that Gary and Ash would be rivals forever, and that Tracey would follow in Oak's footsteps. I liked Gary as the arrogant rival much better than I liked him as a researcher.

Maybe Gary and Tracey are rivals now?
 
My only problem is there was zero foreshadowing for Gary's sudden change to researcher at the end of Johto. All of a sudden Ash/Gary finished their match, and out of nowhere Gary says, "I'm going to be a researcher now."

It literally came out of nowhere. The Johto saga always did have poor foreshadowing and instead sprung things on us without warning, they did the same with Misty's sudden departure coming out of the blue, and I'd wager to say for Char/Squirtle as well.

They could have shown hints that Gary was going to switch his profession but it didn't happen at all.
 
Yeah yeah, Johto got screwed.

I think Gary makes a fine researcher. Carrying on the Oak tradition.
 
Scott85 said:
My only problem is there was zero foreshadowing for Gary's sudden change to researcher at the end of Johto. All of a sudden Ash/Gary finished their match, and out of nowhere Gary says, "I'm going to be a researcher now."

It literally came out of nowhere. The Johto saga always did have poor foreshadowing and instead sprung things on us without warning, they did the same with Misty's sudden departure coming out of the blue, and I'd wager to say for Char/Squirtle as well.

They could have shown hints that Gary was going to switch his profession but it didn't happen at all.
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Well, unless you count during the actual league itself. I remember it being hinted at before their actual match.

*fishes through DVDs* Ah, here we are!

Ash: So, Gary. Guess you couldn't sleep either, right?
Gary: Okay. Mmm... you got me this time, buddy.
Ash: Well, then, that makes two of us.
[long pause]
Gary: Boy, talk about a full moon!
Ash: Awesome!
Gary: That same kind of moon was out after the first night I left Pallet Town. 'member?
Ash: No, not really.
Gary: That was the same day you came to Prof. Oak's laboratory and you were acting weird 'cause you were late. 'member?
Ash: Do you have to bring that up?
Gary: And the only Pokémon left was a feisty little Pikachu that wouldn’t do anything it was told to do.
Pikachu: Pika?
Gary: And now look what’s happened! That Pikachu has become your best buddy and your best Pokémon.
Pikachu: Pi?
Ash: Uh… Well, you’re right about that one, Gary.
Pikachu: Pikachu!
Gary: I wonder… If you hadn’t come late that day, or if, say, I hadn’t been watching a big moon like this that night, we might have ended up in two different parts of the world tonight, doing completely different things, having completely different hopes and dream who knows what dreams. And there’s so many more dreams we haven’t even thought of.
Ash: …hey, Gary, you okay? I mean, why are you thinking about all this stuff?
Gary: No reason. I was just thinking that there are all kinds of possibilities waiting for the two of us out there in the future. But that doesn’t change the present, Ashy! I’m going to beat anyone who gets in my way of first place and that includes you!
Ash: Uh… okay, now you sound more like Gary, which can mean only one thing: means you better get used to that #2 spot! ‘Cause I’m gonna be numero uno even if we are friends!
Pikachu: Pikachu!

Anyway, Gary being a researcher always made sense. He's following in his granddaddy's footsteps. ^^ And like Trainer'sInsomnia said, that Diglett scene's pretty funny when you think about it.

What I want to know is, why did Gary leave that island to go onto Sinnoh? And why is he working with Prof. Rowan, who specializes in evolution, when Gary's field of research is fossils? ...and how did a little kid become a researcher anyway, come to think of it? XD
 
His "future career" was pretty much set in stone, before the anime progressed into what it is today.
 
Scott85 said:
My only problem is there was zero foreshadowing for Gary's sudden change to researcher at the end of Johto. All of a sudden Ash/Gary finished their match, and out of nowhere Gary says, "I'm going to be a researcher now."

It literally came out of nowhere. The Johto saga always did have poor foreshadowing and instead sprung things on us without warning, they did the same with Misty's sudden departure coming out of the blue, and I'd wager to say for Char/Squirtle as well.

They could have shown hints that Gary was going to switch his profession but it didn't happen at all.
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You're speaking off of false memory. Watch the episodes again before complaining about that. Lil Brother just gave you the seen that indicated it. And as far as "hints" go, we've seen that he's had a knack for it as far back as Kanto.
 
I think it's a great thing for Gary to do, as that particular path requires knowledge about Pokémon, which Gary has an abundance off from his experience as a Pokémon trainer, and requires great maturity, I think making Gary a researcher is wonderful step to make him seem more mature then when he was a cocky trainer. It makes great character development.
 
I don't know that it WAS Gary's destiny to be Ash's rival always and forever until the show ended, though. I mean, at the time, I was surprised that Gary became a researcher, because it just...seemed so sudden. Yet, now, I think it would be terribly awkward even if Gary was a trainer.

It seemed almost as though...Gary never truly had the heart to be a trainer in the first place. Which might've been why, in retrospect, that even his grandpa preferred to cheer for Ash, maybe he realized that Gary truly didn't want to be a trainer, and maybe he realized that Gary had a different calling in life before Gary realized...the same thing.

I don't like to do much reasoning with Johto since it's a plotline trainwreck, to be put simply, but, given the few times he appeared, he might've gotten much more exposure to things involving pokemon and fossils and research and the like...and then, he slowly realized that he didn't really have the heart to be a trainer, and that maybe the only reason he truly went for it was because Ash did (which can be for a ton of reasons, but because I'm a gigantic Palletshipper almost all of them are probably terribly biased.)

I also think...even though Gary wanted to try his best at the Silver Conference, he wanted to try more for Ash's sake than for his own, just so he could see Ash prove himself, since he obviously cares a lot about him (once again, lol I could go on for a while about that) even if he doesn't always go about the best way of showing it.

Even now, as a researcher, whenever he appears in the show, it's always in a way that he wants to bring out the best potential in Ash, because he only wants for Ash to do his best and not forget his goals.

Of course, my opinion's probably fairly biased, but I think that Gary realized his true calling, and that having him as a researcher isn't necessarily bad, at least now, because it gives him a reason to still be in the show, and as weird as it seems for Gary to possibly be there in the show, at the same time, he's someone who's very important to Ash, so it'd be odd for him to just...disappear entirely, even though his purpose on the show is mainly fulfilled.
 
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