The questions on Dark and Steel

[Almonds]

We've had three Elite Four Dark-Type masters up till now - Karen, Sidney, and Grimsley.

Yet, we never saw a gym leader specializing in Dark.



We've had two gym leaders specializing in Steel - Jasmine and Byron, and a Champion - Steven.

No Elite Four members specializing in Steel.



Pretty funny how they are distributed in places where the other isn't?



So the question is, why we never got a Dark-type gym leader, and why we never got a Steel-type Elite Four member?

 

[Anser]

No one can answer that question but Game Freak.

 

[Almonds]

No one can answer that question but Game Freak.

But we can still make guesses

 

[Anser]

No one can answer that question but Game Freak.

But we can still make guesses

Oh well, in that case...

I'm going to talk about the Dark type because I have no idea of what to say about the Steel type. I think we haven't seen a Dark type Gym because it's a kind of complex type. You know, it's not a type you can easily get the hang of and it's not a type you can figure its weaknesses out by logic, like the Fire type. It's kind of hard to deal with the Dark type. Maybe they could put it as the seventh or final Gym someday. Who knows. I know this doesn't make much sense, but it's all I can think of.

 

[Quetsol Melt]

You know I always pictured a Dark Type as being an 8th Gym leader in other region. As for your question I think Game Freak is just somehow teasing us and making us wait which sucks and there's nearly so many Dark Type variants like the Houndour line Dark/Fire Types. Also picture a Bug/Dark Type how cool would it be and there's also Psychic/Dark which I felt the Gothita line should of been.

As for why there hasn't been a Steel Type Elite Four Member yet Game Freak is just being uncreative and going for the usual.

 

[Infinity Mk-II]

In Gen II, it made sense that one of the new types would be a Gym and the other an Elite 4. And I'd think their distribution there is fitting. (Still doesn't excuse them for trying to make two Dragon specialists with just four Dragon pokémon, though)

Gen III... Given they wanted to give a fresh start to the series, I'll pass it as a mere coincidence and a side effect of ignoring previous games so it doesn't try to compliment anything.

But after that? Yeah, they don't want a Dark type gym for some reason. I believe the worst is how they really could've changed many of them for B2W2 and put one there, but instead they simply reused the majority of gyms and put a Water specialist of all things, as if the Water type hadn't been already explored in virtually all forms anymore.


But, you're asking why. I guess I could say that, given the Dark type's concept, it's far easier to design an elite 4 member than a gym leader for it.
An Elite 4 member generally can have a pretty exotic background and past, and stay shrouded in mystery. For their characters what matters is their philosophy, it's their central focus, and how they reached this philosophy is left for the player to guess. This makes the Dark type extremely fitting for an Elite 4.
On the opposite, a Gym Leader is a more open person. Someone people look up to and that their hobbies or job help society. The focus of their character is what they do, how they act. It's certainly nowhere impossible to make such a figure with a Dark type motif, but I'll give them that it's harder than say, a Water or Rock specialist.

Still, that isn't excuse enough for not having a Dark gym at all after so long. If anything it just says they don't want to bother.



As for Steel not being Elite 4... whatever types Elite 4 don't have are irrelevant in my oppinion. There are plenty of other types that've never shown up in Elite 4 matches either.

 

[Almonds]

In Gen II, it made sense that one of the new types would be a Gym and the other an Elite 4. And I'd think their distribution there is fitting. (Still doesn't excuse them for trying to make two Dragon specialists with just four Dragon pokémon, though)

Talk about the dragon-hype ;_; Even Game Freak must love Dragons to have Dragon Masters in every single region. I know Sinnoh doesn't have a Dragon Master, but Cynthia does use a Garchomp... well, skip.

But after that? Yeah, they don't want a Dark type gym for some reason. I believe the worst is how they really could've changed many of them for B2W2 and put one there, but instead they simply reused the majority of gyms and put a Water specialist of all things, as if the Water type hadn't been already explored in virtually all forms anymore.

Exactly. I was hoping that there would be some changes in the gym leader, Elite 4 members. Like, Grimsley could've finally won a gamble and bought Black City or something and decided to stay there as a gym leader or so. Just my imagination, but I wanted a Dark-type gym leader that much.

But, you're asking why. I guess I could say that, given the Dark type's concept, it's far easier to design an elite 4 member than a gym leader for it.
An Elite 4 member generally can have a pretty exotic background and past, and stay shrouded in mystery. For their characters what matters is their philosophy, it's their central focus, and how they reached this philosophy is left for the player to guess. This makes the Dark type extremely fitting for an Elite 4.
On the opposite, a Gym Leader is a more open person. Someone people look up to and that their hobbies or job help society. The focus of their character is what they do, how they act. It's certainly nowhere impossible to make such a figure with a Dark type motif, but I'll give them that it's harder than say, a Water or Rock specialist.

Ohh... a very reasonable reason XDD I guess that could be plausible. Gym leaders more, like, have to fit in as a representative of their town/city and be more a citizen than an elite figure.

Still, that isn't excuse enough for not having a Dark gym at all after so long. If anything it just says they don't want to bother.



As for Steel not being Elite 4... whatever types Elite 4 don't have are irrelevant in my oppinion. There are plenty of other types that've never shown up in Elite 4 matches either.

Well, they bothered to get a Steel-type master as a Champion. If they could make Wallace the Champion in Emerald, they could've done that as well in RS, but they went and gave Steven the throne temporarily for some reason.

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

For a Dark type Gym Leader, I imagine him/her being 1) a prankster, or 2) a crime-fighting vigilantte. For a Steel type Elite Four member, I would imagine him being a higher tycoonist.

 

[Digifiend]

As for Steel not being Elite 4... whatever types Elite 4 don't have are irrelevant in my oppinion. There are plenty of other types that've never shown up in Elite 4 matches either.

Seven, so it's a minority. We've had Ice, Fighting, Ghost, Dragon, Psychic, Poison, Dark, Bug, Ground, and Fire. That leaves Steel, Water, Electric, Grass, Normal, Flying, and Rock.

 

[Stuntology]

I can imagine a dark type gym having some sort of dimly lit castle design which would be pretty sweet.

 

[coolcatkim22]

Because Dark is a powerful type. It's difficult to make a gym leader for it that wouldn't be over powered.

Steel, although versatile, can be taken down with a good fire type attack. As for why Steven is champion, he didn't use all steel types. Half his Pokemon weren't steel types and three of his Pokemon know earthquake.

 

[Anser]

Because Dark is a powerful type. It's difficult to make a gym leader for it that wouldn't be over powered.

Steel, although versatile, can be taken down with a good fire type attack. As for why Steven is champion, he didn't use all steel types. Half his Pokemon weren't steel types and three of his Pokemon know earthquake.

Dragon is even more powerful than Dark and we've already had three Gym Leaders who specialize in that team, so I don't think that's a good excuse... If anything, I would say that it's a very tricky type and it's not easy to get the hang of it. The only option would be having the Dark gym as the final gym, I think.

 

[Romanesque-Marionette]

Does anyone else think Cheren would've been more fitting as a Dark-type leader? I mean, his name translates to 'Black' in Slavic, and one of his signature Pokémon used to be Purrloin.

Then again, I suppose finally having have a Dark Gym only for it to be the first one you face would be pretty anticlimactic, though there is the PWT later on.

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

The Steel typing can be excused because frankly, not every other type has been covered by the Elite Four either. The only ones that have were Ice, Fighting, Ghost, Dragon, Psychic, Poison, Dark, Bug, Ground, and Fire. Every other type has also not been covered.

 

[Digifiend]

That's 10 out of 17 i.e. the majority.

 

[Infinity Mk-II]

@Digifiend; If you want to look at it from a purely statistical point, a margin of 3 out of 17 is insignificant. Specially when there have been merely five iterations/twenty slots; coincidentially three more than the highest possible diversity.

It literally means that some types have been used more than once. That there are six repeats. Six, out of twenty. And figuring they come in sets of four, it means even less.

Compare with a Dark gym being out with the highest possible margin of 16/17, over 4048 slots.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

I wouldn't say dark incredibly tricky type offensively it's good against the exact same types as ghost which was THIRD in platinum. And you don't need a type advantage to win and dark and ghost being good against ghost makes about as much sense as dark's weaknesses. I think maybe they are just proud of their dark type's and want them in the hands of a tough trainer.