Paul's Behavior

[Paulisthebest]

I’m making this thread for the user named; Shuckle213896052. In my post about which rival ticks off Ash more Gary or Paul, the user mentioned that someone should make a post about whether or not Paul smiles at all.

I was thinking about all of Paul’s appearances throughout the DP series, and his few smiles come around during similar situations. When he thinks that he has an upper hand in a battle, putting down Ash and other occurrences have shown the viewers his smile. It is a rather rough smile because his nature is mostly stoic (meaning that he expresses little or no emotion).

His first smile came when he was first shown on-air, the ending
of “Two Degrees of Separation.” He saw Ash catch Starly, and thought it wasn’t good enough. The end of the episode showed him smiling as he saw this rookie (to him he thought Ash was a beginning trainer at the time) catch a pathetic and weak Pokemon.

Now here is a list of the times Paul has smiled (I live in the US so I am only going to include his appearances up to the point of his full battle with Ash), remember I am only human so if I miss any feel free to mention them (there may be times where I list smiles that may not count as smiles to other people):

• After watching Ash catch Starly
• Telling Ash about how 3-on-3 is the best way to test a trainer’s strength (at their first meeting after Ash and Brock met him in the forest)
• Waiting outside the lab for Ash and challenging him to a battle again (after Ash and company are about to leave Rowan’s lab and he is leaning against a tree waiting to challenge Ash since he now has 3 Pokemon)
• After telling Ash that he sounds like a little kid (Dawn-“I’ve never seen a Pokemon battle before!” Ash-“Well your about to see one now so hold on to your hat!”)
• Telling Ash that Focus Punch was not a good choice of attacks (Aipom vs Chimchar)
• After asking if Pikachu was the one that does Volt Tackle
• His Elekid had absorbed power from Thunderbolt to power up their Thunder
• Pikachu’s Volt Tackle proves worthless because of Elekid’s Protect
• Pointing out to Ash that Elekid has a free arm (Iron Tail and Brick Break power struggle)
• When he sees Turtwig biting onto Ash’s head
• Chimchar dodges Razor Leaf (the first battle with Ash’s Turtwig)
• “I thought you might do that!” (when Ash has Turtwig dive in a hole and then Paul has Chimchar blast it with Ember)
• After Turtwig loses to Chimchar and calling Ash pathetic
• Chimchar activates its Blaze against Roark’s Cranidos
• After Aipom loses to Cranidos
• After Garchomp uses Giga Impact and Torterra (in Paul’s thoughts) was about to finish it off with Giga Drain followed up with Frenzy Plant
• Seeing Elekid finally evolve into Electabuzz
• Gliscor escapes (the first time Paul attacks it) and Paul sees that it lives up to its powerful reputation
• When Honchcrow uses Sky Attack on Maylene’s Meditite, after winning the badge and calling her weak and a light-weight
• Telling Ash that he sure can get worked up (Chim charred!)
• Sending out his Gliscor, telling Ash that a loss is the trainer’s fault, after Ash tells him that “Flamethrower is more powerful now don’t you think?”
• Mocking Chimchar for being scared (flinching) from Urasring’s Secret Power
• After thinking that Chimchar was finished after being smashed into the ground by Hammer Arm
• After Ash tells him that he does not full around with using Blaze (Aiding the Enemy)
• Telling Ash that his was of training was the same as him after seeing him use his Pokemon in battle against each other to make their attacks more powerful
• Telling Honchcrow to use Sky Attack on Turtwig
• Calling Ash and his newly evolved Grotle pathetic
• When he thinks that Honchcrow was going to win the ringer match, but at the last second Staraptor steals the win
• After sending out Electabuzz against Regirock because it knows the super effective Brick Break
• During Reggie’s flashback when he was battling Brandon, Paul and Turtwig watch the match and a big smile is on Paul’s face
• He smile multiple times during his full battle with Ash (Pikachu affected by Flame Body, Guts ability being activated, and many other times)
• When he wins he has a smile and Reggie comments that he hasn’t seen that face in a long time hinting that Paul was not always that stoic

These are all the times that I have seen him smile. Notice how he tries to quickly hide his happy side from others; when Reggie mentions his happy face, Paul quickly wipes it off of his face and says “I’ll send you my Pokemon.” I think the time will come where his anger and bitterness will finally dissolve. Then his true colors will come out for everyone to see. Though his stoic character is one of the reasons why he is my favorite character, but the rival of the next series has some huge shoes to fill.

 

[CommanderPigg]

Re: Does Paul ever smile?

Well, according to that extensive list you've made (very impressed, by the way), I'd say that he does his fair share of smiling. I don't understand why people would think so otherwise. He's just...sadistic and incapable of showing too many genuine emotions, whether it be his nature or past experiences.

Anyways, look what happens when he DOES smile:

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! Dx

 

[Takoto]

Re: Does Paul ever smile?

oh god that's just Pauls rape face.

 

[Paulisthebest]

Re: Does Paul ever smile?

I just thought of another one; in "A Rough Act to Follow" while Ash is deciding on how to battle Roark, Brock mentions how Paul's way of using speed gave him the upper hand. Then Paul approaches while smiling saying how Ash should just imitate his way of battling.

 

[CommanderPigg]

Re: Does Paul ever smile?

oh god that's just Pauls rape face.

Ahaha XD. I suppose the point is, people smile for different reasons. Ash smiles while winning badges, doing activities with his friends and eating. While Paul smiles at...other people's (cough ash) failures.

If this topic is more about a debate on whether Paul has always been stoic or not, my answer is that as a small child, he was probably quiet, but not a jerk. After being disappointed at his brother's failure and attitude, he is power hungry and disconnects all feelings of "weakness" from him (therefore, acting stoic and rude?)

I dunno.

 

[Paulisthebest]

Re: Does Paul ever smile?

To Commanderpigg,

I've been thinking about how Paul may have been affected by something other than his brother's loss to Brandon. Something else may have happened during his childhood that pushed him to become the hateful/power hungry/stoic trainer that he is today. Perhaps Reggie's loss was the last straw that pushed Paul over the edge. Maybe when he appears again at the league his full story will be covered. Or it could be that if he were to battle Brandon again and win (or have Reggie rematch with him and win) could finally put some closure to his anger.

I think that if he loses to Ash and Infernape it will just show him that his style of training is wrong, but I don't think it will do anything to help out with his brother losing to Brandon. Unless you connect his style of training as a way of showing his brother that it is connecting with Pokemon that made him a weak trainer.

What do you think?

 

[PlatinumDude]

Re: Does Paul ever smile?

I don't remember the last time Paul ever smiled, but I think that he does it to taunt Ash at times.

 

[Paulisthebest]

Do you think that Paul is just mean to Ash and nice to others when not onscreen?

Paul has shown to have a very cruel demeanor when he comes in contact with Ash and the gang. Most of the time he does not even say hello or goodbye to Ash and his friends, at almost every encounter he may notice them and then turn to go in the opposite direction or just pass them by without even looking at them.

Even if he does talk to Ash it is only because Ash calls out to him to get his attention. Then he says something that ticks Ash off like calling him pathetic or something like that. But one must wonder; does he act like this towards everyone that he comes in contact with?

I think that he does but depending on the situation at hand. This is made evident by his easy victory over Maylene and the speech that he gave her after their battle. Calling her pathetic and that the battle was one of the easiest gym battles that he ever had shows that he is not afraid to express his feelings on weak trainers. Against Cynthia, he shows some signs of cockiness when he thinks that he has her Garchomp beat, but he was quickly put back in his place.

He shows respect to those that he feels deserves it like Nurse Joy, Cynthia, Roark (this was one of the best signs of his respect because even though he won the battle it was a rough one, he almost lost because it was obvious that the last strike between Elekid and Craindos had both Pokemon ready to collapse but he got lucky, though we now know that he had some powerhouses like Weavile/Torterra that could have easily won the match for him), and Reggie.

Reggie even mentions that Paul has been known to have a bit of a cruel streak in him. So, through his journeys in other regions I think it is safe to say that Paul still acts the way he does to other trainers. I think it is obvious that he lost a few matches to other trainers (aside from the 3 leagues that he entered because he said that he did not win any of them) and that he may have shown slight respect for those that he lost to. Perhaps there were those that showed him friendly invitations to train with him, stay at their house, become friends, etc. However, given his notions of friends I bet that he turned them all down.

I think that he shows his worst side to those that disagree with his style of training and battling.

 

[CommanderPigg]

Re: Does Paul ever smile?

To Paulisthebest,

To be honest, I do believe that his brother's lost was the largest factor in his current behavior. His quest to grow stronger by harsh means seems to completely contradict Reggie's philosophies. Plus, I'd be pretty pissed too if my bro all of a sudden gave up his long journey (that he was extremely successful in, mind you) and became a BREEDER in a green apron. I think that Paul had expectations of his brother, looked up to him for his achievements and was just crushed to see him finally fail like that.

This is pretty evident in "aiding the enemy" when Paul was talking to Brock. Paul wants to find a method of training to "do what Reggie couldn't," yet in his struggle, he lost sight of why he wanted to become a trainer (and that probably wore him away after a while).

I'm hoping that Ash's battle will give him closure, it seems like Ash has been his first real challenge in a while, gives him another purpose in battling, ya know?

So, to answer your question (I'm not so sure if I did in all that mess up there, lol) I don't think he had any terribly harsh past (like a death of a family member or anything). There's room for possibility, but his attitude and general grumpiness just seems like he was born that way, and intensified through Reggie. Damn Aniki.

 

[Musashi]

These two threads were very similar so I have merged them and changed the topic to discuss Paul's behavior in general.

 

[PlatinumDude]

Re: Do you think that Paul is just mean to Ash and nice to others when not onscreen?

Paul seems to have respect for people with important titles (like the Gym Leaders (such as Roark), Professor Rowan and Pyramid King Brandon). He doesn't respect people like Ash (who doesn't agree with what he does, i.e. release Pokemon or abuse them in some way).

 

[Paulisthebest]

To Commanderpigg,

I agree I never thought that there was a major event that caused Paul to become the way that he is. Reggie’s loss and changing of careers (trainer to breeder) was the biggest factor in my book. Look at it this way, in my opinion Reggie was Paul’s hero.

He was his older brother that traveled from league to league winning badge after badge and competing in major competitions and according to some sources he never lost to gym leader or frontier brain, but that was before Brandon.

I’m sure that Paul always thought that he wanted to be just like his brother when he became a trainer, but was torn to bits when he saw his brother lost. It just wasn’t the loss that made Paul freak, but the way Reggie handled the loss (with a smile on his face and becoming a breeder in the process). To me this is similar to how Max handled his Dad losing to Ash. Norman was his hero and on his way to possibly become one of the Elite 4. He and May never saw their dad battle so it is safe to assume that they never saw him lose a match. The same relates to Paul, he probably saw his brother battle only a handful of times and each time Reggie came out with a victory.

This is backed up by the big smile on his face when he was watching the match. He was probably thinking about how his brother was going to become a frontier brain for sure, and that Brandon was the only thing standing in his path. Then seeing him lose so easily, and how the need for “inner strength” was a factor in why Reggie lost the match shook him to the core. However, unlike Max I don’t think there was anyone that explain that it is ok to lose once and awhile because it teaches a trainer certain things. Ash and Norman helped to show Max the benefits of a loss, but I don’t think anyone did that to Paul. Reggie may have tried, but Paul probably did not want to have anything to do with him because to him Reggie was just a quitter.

Brandon had an effect on Paul when he told him not to cling to the past and asking why he was a trainer in the first place. This relates to you talking about how he may have forgotten why he became a trainer in the first place, and this could be a reason why he literally freaked out when Brandon asked him. He totally lost his composure and lost the match.

I do think that his battle with Ash will give him closure and I think it is obvious that Reggie will be there to see it and give comfort to Paul when he loses (I wish he would win but still you can’t stop the obvious from happening, but after seeing Dawn narrowly lose to Zoey I don’t know what to expect in the conclusion of Ash and Paul’s battle).

 

[CommanderPigg]

To Paulisthebest:

I pretty much agree with all that you have said (quite insightful). It could have been because of Paul's stoic behavior that no one gave him reassurance after Reggie's lost. Even before he became a TOTAL jerk, he doesn't seem like the type to make a lot of friends or the type to have close family members. His closest companion probably WAS his bro, which is what usually happens when one has a reticent personality (attach oneself to a sibling).

When Reggie tried to explain to him why he made the decision to quit, it probably didn't roll well with him (denial? rage? confusion?).

I was actually hoping that Paul would win to Ash, but have it not feel like a complete victory (like, it was some referee fluke or something) and have a rematch later. But that's because I can't get enough of Ash and Paul interactions XD. If anything, it'll reveal whether Paul will take a similar road like his brother, or finally find "his own strength."

 

[severus6]

Paul is polite to people when he has to be (better trainers, his elders). He treats everyone else, not just Ash, like dirt.

 

[Godzillawolf]

I think Paul had a lot of respect for Reggie and as said, seeing him lose then quit being a trainer just crushed him. So he tried to be the complete opposite of his brother, but in doing so lost what made Reggie a strong trainer anyway, actuelly connecting to his Pokemon. The only Pokemon I'd say he actuelly has any compassion for is Torterra, and probably only due to him being his starter and that compassion is only not berating it for losing or doing something he doesn't agree with.

I think probably one of the reasons Ash annoys Paul so much is that Ash is a lot like Reggie personality wise, which makes sense if Paul wanted to be the opposite of his brother. But still, I think in doing so, Paul lost what's needed to make his pokemon grow properly, friendship. Chimchar proves that. Paul had Chimchar for some time but his sadistic personality prevented him from effectively using Chimchar and letting it evolve, once Ash gets him Chimchar becomes a whole lot stronger and evolves all the way to Infernape in a short period of time. I have a feeling that Ash will win their battle and it will be because of Infernape. And I think that will drill home the fact to Paul he's wrong.

 

[Paulisthebest]

To Commanderpigg,

Yeah his behavior could have been a factor in this mess. Quickly brushing off other people’s remarks about what happened could have made him even bitterer than before. You know what I think, Paul actually had friends when he was a child but Reggie’s loss may have caused him to get rid of them.

Think of it this way; Paul does not use friendship in his training because to him it makes Pokemon weak. Reggie did train that way and to Paul that is why he lost the match. Now, if Reggie lost because of his bond with his Pokemon, to Paul friendship was what made Reggie weak as well. So, Paul being callous as he is thought that if he made any relationships/connections with other people or with his Pokemon he would become weak as well.

What do you think?

In reality, Brandon told Reggie that his style of battle had no uniqueness to it. Really we never see Reggie battle in the past aside from the brief flashbacks to Brandon, and we don’t see how he commanded Drapion in combat. From what I can see he told it to use Cross Poison, but it was bombarded with Stone Edge and then finally knocked out with a Focus Punch. So, if this was how the battle went down I would say that Reggie usually uses a head on style of battle using the most powerful attacks to take down his opponents, but there has to be some sort of defenses to his style as well not to mention slight creativity. Think back to the other 6 frontier brains and what their symbols mean (knowledge, tactics, guts, luck, and the other 2) he had to have some style of battle. Just compare that to the way Ash battled with Torkoal against Registeel, he had some impressive moves, and Brandon never said that he needed a style of battle (just to find a style that was his and his alone so in a way finding his own inner strength, it was like Brandon could see that Ash had a certain way of battle he just had to find a way of mastering it).

Yes, I see what you mean that if he beat Ash he would not feel like he won the “whole” thing in the sense of his battling style. Well he would prove that it was better than Ash’s but I think if it were down to their last Pokemon (Paul’s last one is something that we have to wait and see, but it is obvious that Infernape is going to be Ash’s last pick) then it would be a battle to end all battles.

Let’s say something like this; Infernape is losing to Paul’s last Pokemon (which is unknown) and is taking a major beating but Ash keeps trying to encourage it to continue. Paul might say something like he is pathetic for doing that, but then might remember what happened in the Staravia vs Honchrow match, it was losing but when Ash encouraged it, it evolved and won the match (only by the rules if the battle was a fight to the finish I think it is safe to say that Honchrow would have won).

Infernape powers up (similar to Monferno in Evolving Strageties) because of its determination, but still this proves to be not enough to give it the upper hand against Paul’s Pokemon. It finally takes a powerful attack and is badly damaged on the ground and looks like the match is over, but then Ash says something very powerful about their bond or something like that.

Now Infernape is moved by Ash’s words, filled with the desire to finally beat its former master, Pikachu is probably cheering it on and the same goes for Dawn and Brock. It activates Blaze to a whole new level (or the level Paul saw when he first met Chimchar, when it used it in Chimcharred, or when Monferno lost control and it evolved) and fights back (now whether or not it has control is unknown as well). If it does finally control it, Paul’s Pokemon starts to get beat, but Paul knowing that it would have to face Blaze eventually plans some kind of strategy to beat it and win the match.

He will get the prize and the chance to face the Elite 4, but then realize that Ash made a major comeback even though he lost the match. Paul may go over and say something not completely negative to Ash and Infernape, I think that he might even shake his hand or something. Then says a few things and the two gain mutual respect for each other then they go their separate ways.

 

[Paulisthebest]

To Godzillawolf,

He only scolded Torterra a couple of times; In Aiding the Enemy, “your reaction time is too slow!” this was when Frenzy Plant was dodged and Weavile hit it with Ice Shard, but after Paul yelled at it a couple of vines easily knocked down Weavile. It then looked at the window where Ash and Grotle were and Paul said “just leave them be.” To me this shows that Paul in a way wanted to help Ash or he knew that Torterra really wanted to but didn’t want it to.

Then when it returned to camp where Paul met it he remarked on “you’re a strange one aren’t you” or something like that pointing out how Torterra went to help even though he said not to. Considering it was his starter there is some bond between the two that we have yet to see.

I also agree with you saying that he dislikes anyone that acts the way Reggie does as seen in “Enter Galactic” when Reggie says that Ash is a nice guy I like him, and Paul says “you would.” This shows how he detests anyone that is similar to Reggie as a trainer and as a person.

My one question is how long did Paul have Chimchar? I know in “Glory Blaze” he said that he caught it and thought that they would win the league, but he did not. In Top Down Training he said that he caught it when he came back to Sinnoh. Now putting these facts together; he may have came home after returning from Kanto, Johto, or Hoenn and spotted it while he was with Elekid. So, he may have went home to train for a competition and then go back with some new skills I mean this is a possibility. It seems that he just picked up Chimchar and thought that with this how could I possibly lose? He probably expected it to win the match with Blaze, but was disappointed that it did not. It makes since that he would rely on that strategy but did not know how to unlock its true power. Looking at its move set when it first came on in episode 3 of DP; Scratch, Ember, Flame Wheel, and in episode 6 Dig. It can be assumed that Paul had not had it for too long. So, it makes sense that it did not evolve (to me it beat Onix, Paul’s Elekid in a training match, and some other Pokemon on their journey and still not evolved but then again the game is different from the show) unless you count friendship as a factor. Charmeleon evolved to fight Aerodactyl not for Ash and the two barely had a friendship, so why would Chimchar/Paul’s friendship have anything to do with it?

 

[KojiroJames2006]

Okay, Paulisthebest, let me state that IMHO, Paul is nothing more than a snot-nosed arragant punk to everyone. Ash, the others, even his Pokemon.

Gary changed when he became a researcher for his grandfather, Professor Oak, and he seems more into this than Paul. If there was a backstory on this (which the three or four Paulshippers can come up with), we might learn why he's so danged arragant.

 

[Jade-Serpent]

To KojiroJames2006

What you said about Paul is a pretty biased opinion. Paulishthebest has come up with pretty valid arguments in regards to Paul's behavior.

 

[Godzillawolf]

To Paulisthebest:

I agree, to me it seems Paul is less harsh on Torterra than on his others. This may be A) It's his strongest Pokemon so he knows it can prove itself. Or B) Paul has a bond with Torterra because it was his first Pokemon.

Yeah, which ironically, takes away the bond that made Reggie the strong trainer he once was.

To me, Chimchar just seems to go further in battle for Ash than he did for Paul, it may be because Ash isn't trying to get Chimchar's Blaze to activate, or that he's simply much more motivated. Let's look at how Paul reacts to Chimchar winning and how Ash reacts (paraphrased, just because I can't remember exactly how they reacted):

Paul: "That's nothing to be proud of!"

Ash: "Way to go Chimchar!"

If you were a pokemon, whose words would motivate you more? And most of the time in the anime, pokemon seem to evolve out of sheer will to protect their trainer or help them, and both of Chimchar's evolutions involved situations that would've likely not had the same reaction under Paul, because Chimchar didn't have any reason to try under Paul, he wins, he gets put down, he loses, he gets put down. Under Ash, he wins, he gets praised for doing well, he loses, he gets praised for trying his best. Its more about motivation than friendship. Charmeleon's motivation was fighting a worthy opponent, that made him evolve, Chimchar's motivation is Ash supporting him and a want to make him proud.