Shadow Triad - A case of Adaptational Villainy or elaborate Red Herring?

Eitarou

Eitarou

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I posted this on Serebii, and now I want to know what you guys think as well.

Well, I made this and I wanted to know what you people think. The clues are there, and I've been gathering them for a while now.

This has nothing to do with the games, and is strictly for Pokemon Adventures.

And yes, this has been done to death, but not for this manga. I don't care if you don't believe them to be the Shadow Triad, it's just a theory and that's all it is until their true identities are revealed.

Sorry if the images are too big, just wanted to get all the info.

shadowtriad1.png


shadowtriad2.png


shadowtriad3.png


shadowtriad4.png


shadowtriad5.png


So, what do you think? Is there any holes in this that you like to point out? (No, I don't care about spelling errors)

Any ideas you'd like to add?

Also, thanks to Dogasu about ink information.
 
Wow, I think there's a high chance they are indeed the Shadow Triad. I noticed the mask before, and Pokemon thing but, I really never ever noticed the poses. That only strengthens the evidence that Cilan, Chili, and Cress are indeed the Pan-masked Ninja trio. If indeed this is true, I look forward to the revelation in future chapters. So, yeah it's them.

Nice job putting it together @Eitarou ;P I like the Striaton Bros a lot in Spe so it's nice to see the writers doing more with them.
 
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Freaky...

That's some really good evidence, great job compiling it, and I honestly hope it becomes true in the manga but mostly in other media. ;)

The masks and the poses are just spot on. If they aren't the Sanyou brothers, then kudos to the writers for messing up with our minds. XD
 
Oh my god the poses are dead on. That is so bizarre. :eek:

Wow, the evidence is definitely piling up.
 
With the masks, I thought there was a chance that we were just being trolled, but I didn't know about the poses. One similarity is just a coincidence, but three leads me to believe that perhaps the Striaton brothers really are the Shadow Triad (at least in the Adventures canon, though like Hellion, I would like to see it in other canons as well xD).

Good observations, and very nicely done.
 
It's dead obvious that they're the trio. Maybe they have the same motives as in the games - they're simply repaying a favor (I believe) - or maybe they are truly antagonists.
 
Wow, this is amazing detail and work. Especially the last part, about the mannerisms. I would never even have noticed something like that. It's such a small little detail, yet it gave away a very important clue.

But I really hope it's just a red herring. There's subte foreshadowing (the masks, the mannerisms), and then there's just laying it on thick - which is what they've done with the Pokemon.
 
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Could you perhaps compare the speech patterns of the Striaton Brothers and the Shadow Triad? If I remember correctly, each of the Striaton Brothers have a distinct way of speaking. I wonder if each of the Shadow Triad mirrors this.

Well it seems in the games, the Striaton Brothers' gym leader title in Japanese is "Trial Triangle." Could they make it any more obvious? :rolleyes:
 
Nice work on compiling the hints. I remember the mask shapes and the Pokemon they used against the 6 gym leaders. The poses and the screen tones are all new to me. Kusaka/Yamamoto sure are laying it thick this time around.
 
They Trinity has the same pose on the title page for this month's CoroCoro Ichiban! chapter as well:

corocoro_ichiban_april_2012_title_page.png
 
Oh my god those covers. They're really not trying to hide it, are they?

I wonder if they'll reveal it first in PokeSpe, and then this reveal will make its way over to the other canons.
 
I just wanted to remind people that think this might happen in the anime: It probably won't. The anime and the Pokemon Adventures manga, while both feeding off the games, have their own unique story and don't feed off each other at all. If the canons all applied to each other: Yellow and Emerald would exist in the anime, Trip would be in the manga, the E4 would be evil all around, and sooooo much more. So please don't get your hopes up of this happening in the anime. Hell, Team Plasma hasn't even appeared in the anime yet (aside from the obvious cut episodes, but I'm not going there), not to mention the brothers have clear roles in the anime aside from just being gym leaders. So while I adore this theory, I don't want people to forget that the manga has done stuff like this before, and it didn't always apply to the anime. In fact, the anime has never accompanied the manga for anything. Even Silver being Giovanni's son (granted Silver only appeared in the Chronicles opening, but Giovanni has been around for a while. He could have mentioned having a son, and he hasn't.), something that has been proven in the games.

All that aside, it's nice to see so much evidence of a theory I've been a long-time supporter of. It only makes me wonder what would have become of this if it were to come up as a new topic now, and some of those users were still around.
 
I would love it if, in a future chapter, just as Black is about to say "I know who you all are... you're the three Gym Leaders from Sanyou City!", the three suddenly turn up disproving the theory on the spot.

But yeah, this is pretty convincing evidence. I'm almost convinced that they are.
 
I'm reserving my judgement until it's officially revealed one way or another in the games or manga.

Let's see if each canon is the same or different. (I know that the Kanto Elite Four are genocidal maniacs in the manga but benevolent or neutral in the games.) I mean, Cilan is a main character in the anime this generation. How would this theory work there and how would that twist the story? Or, if the Striaton Brothers AREN'T the Shadow Triad, will they get a chance to redeem themselves in BW2 after the original Gym Leader showdown with Team Plasma?
 
I thought I was crazy when I first played the games and thought the Shadow Triad were the Striaton trio...but now I can't unsee it.

I have to hand it to Kusaka and Yamamoto for making it so subtle, yet so obvious at the same time.
 
Joshawott said:
I thought I was crazy when I first played the games and thought the Shadow Triad were the Striaton trio...but now I can't unsee it.

I have to hand it to Kusaka and Yamamoto for making it so subtle, yet so obvious at the same time.
Click to expand...

So you believe these hints, but not other hints about Hoenn? Oh well at least we can finally agree on something about this.

But I also believe this will occur in the anime and in BW2. It's perfectly possible in the anime for Cilan to be a good guy still, there just repaying Ghetsis as he saved their lives and feel like the owe him. Cilan could have been told to follow Ash after Team Plasma somehow found out that Zekrom had appeared to Ash.

I expect this to happen in the games and anime, as although the story is different, and the characters personalitys can be different, ie Evil Elite 4, has there ever been a case before where 2 people were the same person in one canon but different in another?
 
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