Contest The TRUE Dark Master??

[Almonds]

Alright, let's face it. This is going to be fair and square cuz
- All of them are members of their region Elite4
- All of them specialize in Dark-types
- All of them have rematch teams

So, shall we see who's better?

Sidney of the Hoenn League, Karen of the Indigo League, and Grimsley of the Unova League.

1. Who's got the best team? (first battle, and post-league rematch are included.)

2. Who's got better design?

3. Who was more challenging?

4. Who would you like to battle again?

5. Who is the Dark Master? (who do you like best?)

 

[winstein]

The best team, in my opinion, goes to Grimsley. Of course, that's because he has four generations of Pokemon to choose as opposed to the other two. His Generation 5 selection is pretty rad, consisting of some of the coolest Dark-types, although it's understandable he can't fit in Zoroark and Bisharp. Of course, he wisely chose Drapion and Sharpedo as extras, because they help him in type coverage, although the computers are not a fan of switching around.

In terms of design, I think Sidney is different in that you won't expect him to be a Dark-type specialist. I could say the same about Karen, I think, but not so because I am not into Generation 2 stuff. Sidney's musician garb makes him stand out a bit, and his mohawk hairstyle looks nice too, so that's a few points up for me.

In terms of challenge, I am not so sure, but I imagine Karen is up there, because she's the 4th member you face, whereas Sidney is the first member, while Grimsley can be anywhere. While Karen's Pokemon has the issue of lower levels (but it's not lower level by the game's standards), but Grimsley only has four Pokemon. Still, Grimsley has the advantage of having a Fighting-type (Scrafty), so I guess he's somewhat challenging? Anyway, I guess Karen.

In terms of re-battle, I imagine Grimsley is great for re-battling because of the variety of Pokemon he has, not to mention their high levels make it a challenge. Sidney comes as a runner-up because his team also consist of interesting Pokemon.

Personally, I like Sidney the best, although Grimsley got the best pick for both team selection and re-battling. It's his design that appeals to me the most, although it's a shame he's not really featured in the anime (can't say the same for Grimsley since it's early to tell this).

Thanks for reading.

 

[Envoy]

I like Karen the best. She has some of my favorite Dark type Pokemon (Houndoomm, Umbreon,) her rematch team is terrific, she looks and acts a bit like a femme fatale (I can't help but imagine she has a low, sultry, seductive voice,) she's the fourth member of her Elite Four and she's of course in my favorite game. Though I have to say I liked her elegant dress in GSC much better than the yellow tube top and jeans of HGSS. Still, minor gripe.

Yes, my decision is based purely on fanboyish favoritism. Sue me.

Sidney... I never quite understood why he was associated with dark types. He didn't seem very dark, personality-wise. Just the opposite, in fact, he was bright and cheery. It's a bit of a gripe I have with the RSE. There was a dissonance between Sidney and Phoebe and their chosen types. Frankly, Sidney looked more of an electric type user to me, while Phoebe did have the name and personality to go with ghost types, the Hawaiian hula dancer look was just a bit random, but I digress. Anyway, I did like Sidney's Absol, at least. Still, he's my least favorite of the three.

Grimsley was a bit of a nice surprise. I do like him and his punk rocker/slightly Dracula-esque look. I do really like his team. I like his backstory (he's got a gambling addiction, apparently) and he's appropriately dark. I really do like him a lot, I just like Karen better. You can probably attribute that to my affinity for female characters.

 

[Infinity Mk-II]

Sidney is dark because of the "edgy" part. Even if he's cheerful, it's similar to how Candice is rather hot-blooded for an ice trainer.
He doesn't have the feeling of mystery or depression associated with dark types, but he does have the more edgy concepts. If Scrafty was in that generation, it would have been his main pokémon hands down.
Also that mohawk. He'd be full of piercings if not for nintendo.
He has a pretty clever and interesting design for the dark type in any case.

Karen... First of all, an elite 4 Dark master made a lot of sense in that generation, as opposed to later on. But what I like about her is how she emphatises "dark is not evil", and rather has some sort of dark beauty concept around her. Her Houndoom actually tells the most about her.

And Grimsley, he's basically the best character of the best elite 4. He also plays on the elegance of darkness, but in a different way. His backstory, personality, and design are awesome. His team is naturally the best, but that's because of lack of variety.


I would honestly just vote the three of them. Each are different directions of the type and I can't really say I preffer one over another.

 

[Soulmaster]

1. Who's got the best team? (first battle, and post-league rematch are included.)
Grimsley has the best team I think
2. Who's got better design?
no idea what you mean
3. Who was more challenging?
Grimsley by far
4. Who would you like to battle again?
probably Karen
5. Who is the Dark Master? (who do you like best?)
Karen by far

 

[Caprizant]

Grimsley. Without a doubt.

First battle team: 4/10. Not that hard to be honest, granted you have a fighting type. On choice of Pokémon, regardless of difficulty, the only one I like is Bisharp. Krookodile just seems like Hippowdon, with an extra Dark typing (which it seems like it should have had in the first place). I just find Liepard to be kinda boring. And I find Scrafty to be one of the stupidest looking Pokémon ever created.

Rematch team: 8/10. I haven't gotten around to the rematch yet, but I like the addition of Sharpedo and Drapion, both of which are Pokémon I love. Sucks that a few of the others weren't switched out, though.

On design, 10/10. Grimsley's design just looks perfect. Everything about it just screams "awesome." I just find Sidney's design to be boring. Karen's design makes her look 100 years old.

I didn't find any of them challenging, since I usually have a good fighting type present on my team by then.

I would definitely battle Grimsley again.

On the awesomeness scale, difficulty aside, 20/10.

 

[raychuu]

In my views, in the case of Karen, I'll use her gen IV self.

1. Who's got the best team? (first battle, and post-league rematch are included.)

First Teams:

Karen has a fairly interesting team, that opposes the Dark type's weaknesses, Fighting and Bug, well. However, it does have wildcards, which, in my opinion, detracts from the Dark-type user feel, even though she has a lack of dark types in her generation.

Sindey's team is OK, as far as the individual Pokémon go. However, he is extremely easy to beat with a Fighting-type, and even more so with a Bug-type (though decent Bug-types are rare, let alone strong Bug-type moves). True, he is the first of his Elite 4, but still...

Grimsley has a fine team. It is not bad against Bug-types, which have become notably stronger between Gen III and V, but he is still too weak against Fighting-types, which is bad considering it is a pretty common and strong offensive type. Two of his Pokémon have Aerial Ace, at least...

In the end of the day, it's a tie between Grimsley and Karen. The latter has a better team, but the former has an OK team made out of Dark-types only, which is a plus.


Second Teams:

This is a bit unfair for Sidney, who does not have one, so I will refrain from this aspect.

2. Who's got better design?

I do like Karen's design, but it does not scream "Dark/Evil" type to me, in any aspect. She has a slightly elegant look about her like Dark-types, I guess. She would do better as a Psychic or Ghost-type trainer in this aspect, I think.

I adore how Sidney resembles his type without being too blatant. There's something in his grin, edgy appearance and black sleeveless shirt that reflects really well the cool, radical side of Dark-types.

Grimsley is clever, he really makes me think of a vampire, and his hair makes me think of a bat.

It could be a tie between Sidney and Grimsley, however, I'm personally not too fond of Grimsley's suave appearance. I prefer Sidney's coolness.

3. Who was more challenging?

When I fought each, probably Sidney, but then again I was like 8 years old and with a weak team.

Realistically, first time around Karen has the potential to be the most difficult, though that's all a matter of which team you have.

4. Who would you like to battle again?

Sidney, simply because we never got a chance to rematch him in the first place.

5. Who is the Dark Master? (who do you like best?)

I will go with Sidney. Sure, he is not the most challenging, but he is cool in my book and I have faith the RSEmakes or whatever will do him justice.

 

[Blue Dragon]

Karen of course and she was the most challenging out of all the Dark Masters for me. She had some good tactics up her sleeve and a very deceptive fashion style indeed. Also her Umbreon was awesome.