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The Lack of Rivals in XY (and Z) So Far

ArvAl

ArvAl

Not gone yet. I refuse
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From this date, as we've gone through the second year along Ash and his co. travel around Kalos, our saga still has produced many number of potential rivals between them (excluding Clemont and Bonnie), but yet the story goes on and so are we.

My biggest worry is, if Ash hasn't got good rival after I posted this, we could've a chance to see another controversial character whose powers are thou shall not be offended like Tobias or *ahem* unworthy character like Trip (only Pokefan knows both of them) appearing just to crush Ash down without getting along their background.

Same goes for Serena. I swear if the producers cannot think of any girls who has a same but more power to her, I can guarantee Tripokalons would be a least expecting events that they could imagine of.

What do you think? Are anyone has the same mind as myself? Or havin other thoughts regarding this? Discuss.
 
There's Shota and Alain as rivals for Ash. Shauna seems like Serena's rival. I think they're rivals all the same. Just 'friendly'.
 
Ash has really matured in X&Y as opposed to previous generations. The rivals are there (Scottie, Tierno, Trevor), but its different this time around. Quite honestly, I'm happy to get a break from rivals like Gary/Paul/Trip. If you notice in Hoenn, Ash had no clear rival either.
 
Ah, @Kyriaki; you've reminded me that Hoenn kid,thanks!

I agree that he's pretty suitable candidate for a rival. However, I need to find more rival than just a happy go lucky kid. Maybe,as not serious as Paul, but at least it's worth to be debuted.

On other note, I doubt Alain could even been seen as "suitable" rivals. I find his lack of Pokemon disturbing. But hey, our series is still a long way ride.
 
ArvAl said:
Ah, @Kyriaki; you've reminded me that Hoenn kid,thanks!

I agree that he's pretty suitable candidate for a rival. However, I need to find more rival than just a happy go lucky kid. Maybe,as not serious as Paul, but at least it's worth to be debuted.

On other note, I doubt Alain could even been seen as "suitable" rivals. I find his lack of Pokemon disturbing. But hey, our series is still a long way ride.
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Well, I don't think all rivals have to be serious. Friendly rivals exist. Happy-go-lucky Bianca was also a rival.

Alain has the potential because we don't know if Charizard is his only pokemon. Maybe he has a bunch of others with Sycamore.
 
Even if Ash has a whole gaggle of rivals, like he did in Sinnoh and Unova, they still deemed all of them unsuitable to beat him and threw a last minute trainer in to sweep the league. While I personally don't think that Alain will be that person, I still subscribe to the idea that we'll see a mega-evolved trainer arrive to beat Ash. Either that or Shota will beat him. I'd actually be semi-okay with that.

Regarding Serena, while she has her trio of rivals, none of them seem like they're being developed to best her in the end. I figure they'll ultimately do what they did with May in AG and throw in a veteran performer whom we've only just heard of to win the Master Class.
 
They need to make good rivals again like Paul and Gary.

Kyriaki said:
There's Shota and Alain as rivals for Ash. Shauna seems like Serena's rival. I think they're rivals all the same. Just 'friendly'.
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Shota's the worst character ever. A bigger noob than Ash..... who owns a flipping Dragon AND Fairy but doesn't know one can't hurt the other?
And he gets handed a Mega on a silver platter -_-

And Alain's just plain evil.
 
This has been the worst ever series for rivals (admittedly I didn't watch even 5 seconds of rivals in BW but there are bloomin' loads of them so at least one must have turned out ok!). The current cohort of rivals for both Satoshi and Serena is pretty pathetic with both having almost swept clean the known rivals, even though Serena is a total rookie! There is no indication that Alan will be a rival for Satoshi as he doesn't appear to be collecting badges.

Speaking of which, Alan's actions thus far make him out to be pure evil (although we "know" he isn't) so find it hard to condemn Shadowlarvitar's statement...
 
Ash and Serena both have their rivals, but they're all rather friendly compared to past series. Its not like Hoenn where he has no rivals really, but none are like Gary, Paul, or Trip. They're just friendly rivals. I kinda welcome this, though.

For Ash, he still has Sawyer and Tierno, who we know will be competing in the Kalos League. They're not antagonistic, distant, or just straight up dicks like Gary, Paul, and Trip could be. They're very friendly towards Ash, but still look like they're both in it to win it. Sawyer is an interesting case, since he's obviously been built up as the rookie underdog.

Serena by now has probably three primary rivals, though they're all kinda friendly. Shauna and Nini are both very friendly with Serena, though Miette is does tease Serena a lot more. Miette is still friendly in a way to her, though.

We also have the inevitable league rival who will be introduced and probably go on to beat Ash and win the league. The way XY is going though, they could break that tradition, if they've broken traditions such as Ash traveling with the 1st gym leader, Ash getting the grass type starter, or his primary water type never evolving.
 
Do people like the friendly rivals? I think its pretty boring. Every rival is too friendly. Even Miette seemed like she may be an interesting rival at first and then became friendly. The friendliness is really annoying and dull and there isn't enough controversy. Also Ash doesn't really battle his rivals like he used to, in Sinnoh he battled Paul and Barry frequently and in Unova he battled Trip and Stephan frequently. He doesn't battle anyone but TR these days. Tierno is a decent rival, but I will have a hard time believing Sawyer competing with Ash considering how he was wiped the floor with him already and he is such a beginner. Alain doesn't seem likely to compete for gym badges. Also, Ash didn't lose to Trip in Unova, he lost to that Cameron, who was another late introduction, who lost to Virgil, another late introduction, so as far as that goes, I don't think its relevant, he's going to lose to some unknown, having a rival during the series is fun because of the encounters during the series, not doing the league competition.

soulboy87 said:
Ash has really matured in X&Y as opposed to previous generations.
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Do you like this or not? I honestly hate it. He never argues with Serena or Clemont and they rarely joke or tease each other like past groups. I think its awfully boring. I mean they don't have to be as negative as Iris, but Misty/May/Dawn all argued with him pretty frequently. This extends to rivals who are all "best friends" after one meeting and everyone is so bend over backwards nice to each other that there is hardly any controversy. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the XY(Z) series, but this overall positive attitude is super annoying.
 
sc190191 said:
Do you like this or not? I honestly hate it. He never argues with Serena or Clemont and they rarely joke or tease each other like past groups. I think its awfully boring. I mean they don't have to be as negative as Iris, but Misty/May/Dawn all argued with him pretty frequently. This extends to rivals who are all "best friends" after one meeting and everyone is so bend over backwards nice to each other that there is hardly any controversy. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the XY(Z) series, but this overall positive attitude is super annoying.
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Honestly, I personally enjoy it. I care more about competition, seeing Ash actually become a "pokemon master." I've been a Pokefan for almost 20 years. Only really in this generation has Ash truly demonstrated growth as a character.

I don't want to be here in 20 years where Ash is still ten years old, coming close to winning the league, and so forth. I love Kalos and think the storyline in the games could have been developed more, but with Kalos, I actually look forward to seeing new episodes of the anime. In contrast, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova all followed the same formulary pretty much set with Kanto. I'm happy to see the series actually evolving and not being the same old reboot at the start of every generation.
 
ii kanji said:
This has been the worst ever series for rivals (admittedly I didn't watch even 5 seconds of rivals in BW but there are bloomin' loads of them so at least one must have turned out ok!). The current cohort of rivals for both Satoshi and Serena is pretty pathetic with both having almost swept clean the known rivals, even though Serena is a total rookie! There is no indication that Alan will be a rival for Satoshi as he doesn't appear to be collecting badges.
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BW had pretty fun rivals. It was the first series to give both of Ash's companions rivals, each with pretty lively personalities. They were often antagonistic but also friendly at times making them so much more interesting than the friendly rivals XY has to offer. Example: Iris' rival Georgia constantly got into fights with her (it was a mutual conflict-rivalry) but deep down Georgia wanted Iris to get stronger so she could defeat her. Eventually, the two developed respect for each other.

So honestly, that one rivalry from BW is infinitely more interesting to me than any of the rivalries in XY.
 
sc190191 said:
Do people like the friendly rivals? I think its pretty boring. Every rival is too friendly. Even Miette seemed like she may be an interesting rival at first and then became friendly. The friendliness is really annoying and dull and there isn't enough controversy. Also Ash doesn't really battle his rivals like he used to, in Sinnoh he battled Paul and Barry frequently and in Unova he battled Trip and Stephan frequently. He doesn't battle anyone but TR these days. Tierno is a decent rival, but I will have a hard time believing Sawyer competing with Ash considering how he was wiped the floor with him already and he is such a beginner. Alain doesn't seem likely to compete for gym badges. Also, Ash didn't lose to Trip in Unova, he lost to that Cameron, who was another late introduction, who lost to Virgil, another late introduction, so as far as that goes, I don't think its relevant, he's going to lose to some unknown, having a rival during the series is fun because of the encounters during the series, not doing the league competition.
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My guess is that Shota is based off Wally from ORAS (Shota was introduced to promote Hoenn after all). They both start off as newbies and gain experience as they try to become powerful trainers like the protagonist. Friendly little Wally admires Brendan/May; Shota admires powerful trainers and we've seen in the Getta BanBan opening scene that he follows Ash's footsteps, taking notes on what he wants to learn from Ash. He's weak, he's friendly, but he's a growing newbie with potential. Rivals don't all need to be powerful and competitive from the beginning - everyone has to start somewhere. Just as how Ash started out from a newbie to near professional, Shota can do so as well. Remember how Wally couldn't even catch a pokemon by himself? Remember he only had a Ralts when you met him again at Mauville? Remember how he raised a full team, including a Mega, by the time you reached Victory Road? (the League) I have a feeling Shota is very likely going to have a full team of powerful pokemon by the time of the league arc. We can't really judge him with the qualities he has now because he still needs more experience.
 
I don't mind the little guy improving a lot in a short space of time (after all Satoshi's quickest improvement curve was in Kanto) but it would be more than frustrating to see Satoshi being beaten by him unless he has some major handicap at the time of battle.
 
I am not too concern with this. Sawyer could be a decent rival if done right.
 
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