Iris is protrayed in the game, influencing the her current handling?

[Masurao]

In the beginning of the series, Iris was protrayed as a wishy-washy trainer who didn't get alot of focus. However, quite quickly her past was revealed and then we had her win an entire small tournament. Do you feel that the writers are trying to portray her as such simply because of her game role as the 8 Gym leaders apprentice/ Youngest Gym Leader even if she's currently not, and they feel rushed to develop her?

 

[Cybersai]

I think maybe the writers realized their mistake of ignoring her in the early BW episodes, and tried to correct it by giving her a lot of screentime quickly and having her win a tournament.

I am pretty sure Ash will battle Iris in the 8th Gym, even if its only an exhibition match before he fights Drayden. I am certain we'll see Ash take down Excadrill, and maybe Axew's evolutions since it should be evolved by then. So yeah, her game status is what caused this.

 

[Jukain]

I still think it's uncertain if she will take the role of Opelucid's Gym Leader. I do, however, think that there will be an important character development point for her once they get there. Her being portrayed as strong may be a function of her being a gym leader, but I would've thought the writers already knew that. Maybe, like you suggest, they realized they needed to develop her in order to achieve this image.

 

[AtoMan]

They probably accelerated her character development after the whole Plasma fiasco...

 

[Joshawott]

My guess is that Iris was chosen for the main cast because of her appearance in the games was more prominant than the other female characters (barring Juniper and Bianca) and her trainee persona suited that of a travelling companion; wanting to improve herself. I assume the first few episodes were really about setting the scene in Unova; having Ash get over his child-like excitement (remember the first few episodes where he threw Pokéballs without weakening the Pokémon?) and getting the cast together.

The problem with Iris though is that her goal isn't really something that can be explored gradually without risking it becoming boring unlike Ash, who constantly has new trainers to battle and Cilan, who let's be honest, doesn't have a goal any of us know how he'll achieve. If we assume that BW will be around 190 episodes (AG was 192; DP was 191) then I predict that Axew will probably evolve into Fraxure at around episode 95-ish; with Haxorus being towards the end of the series (after all, it was only around BW042 that Axew actually started being an alright battler). I'm guessing the writers gave Iris the disobedient Excadrill and the quirky Emolga to try and divert people's attention from Axew; using difficult Pokémon to justify why all of her attention isn't spent on the little dragon, while giving her character some development (While Cilan mainly serves as the "wise watcher" and comic relief).

Besides, it's not like Iris was completely ignored from the start; she was introduced in episode 2, and we learned about her goal as early on as episode 9, we saw her superstitious side in episode in episode 14, the Emolga stuff in episode 24/25, her dragon knowledge in 27, Langley in 33 and the Don battle focus in 41 and 42.
Compare that with Cilan, who we met in episode 5, caught Dwebble in 11, saw his scientific side in episode 14, got the whole Connoisseur thing explained in 19, got his romance on in 29, scientific on in 30, detective in 35, fishing in 37 and battled in 40-41 (yes, I did exclude the Stunfisk episode because really, his capture was more like something thrown on the end for the hell of it).. So really, so Cilan hasn't had much more episodes focused on him than Iris; and you could argue that the majority of Cilan's episodes were more comic relief if anything. Only thing is, Ash is the main character so he will be getting the majority of the screen time.

In conclusion, rather than it being the writers realising they have to give more screen-time to Iris because of her in-game portrayel, I'd assume that rather, the writers realised they had to give Iris more depth so they can pad out her goal for the duration of the series.

 

[Masurao]

In conclusion, rather than it being the writers realising they have to give more screen-time to Iris because of her in-game portrayel, I'd assume that rather, the writers realised they had to give Iris more depth so they can pad out her goal for the duration of the series.

I guess that make sense, but given her actual goal of becoming a Dragon Master, it seems strange that her strongest Pokemon gives her more of a League trainer feel. I guess since they couldn't have it happen off screen ( or give her a powerful Dragon from the start) so they had to give her a very powerful Pokemon in Excadrill to give a feel of her game counter-part.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

I guess that make sense, but given her actual goal of becoming a Dragon Master, it seems strange that her strongest Pokemon gives her more of a League trainer feel. I guess since they couldn't have it happen off screen ( or give her a powerful Dragon from the start) so they had to give her a very powerful Pokemon in Excadrill to give a feel of her game counter-part.

Maybe being a "Dragon Master" isn't about dragon type pokemon after all?

I kind of scratched my head at Iris when she implied that catching Choroneko will help her become a Dragon Master.

Or she's in denial...

 

[Masurao]

Maybe being a "Dragon Master" isn't about dragon type pokemon after all?

I always assumed it did. But as I said, I guess they couldn't give her a powerful Dragon from the start..because her actual goal was to become a Dragon Master. So they had to improvise, and give her other types of Pokemon to still give her the feel that she is an apprentice of a powerful trainer in anime, even if she's not actually the apprentice yet from what we know.

 

[Adamant]

They probably accelerated her character development after the whole Plasma fiasco...

All the BW episodes you've seen were well into production at the time the Plasma episodes were skipped. What the hell are you talking about?

 

[Cybersai]

I wonder if Iris was only the 2nd Gym leader like Misty, she probably wouldn't be shown to be as strong. I think it is her 8th Gym status in the games that the writers had to make her a better battler.

After all, everyone can see the comparison.

 

[Masurao]

I wonder if Iris was only the 2nd Gym leader like Misty, she probably wouldn't be shown to be as strong.

Well, with May and Dawn in the games they are options for beginner trainers. So their rookie nature was expected. With Iris all they had to go on games is that she seems younger than her anime counter-part, is already capable of enough to defend Bianca from Team Plasma, and is know as the apprentice of the 8th Gym leader/Youngest Gym leader depending on which version you have. So, they really couldn't portray her anyway else I suppose.