Who is everyone's favorite and least favorite gym leader?

[zednoughtbeta]

My favorite has to be Blue or Norman

Least favorite is Whitney or Cheren

 

[Rockapheller]

Gym leaders do not have too much to serve as their personality or treats in the games, to be honest. Mostly the anime makes them more remarkable or unique in style. But I love the dynamic of Roxie and Volkner, and maybe the calm nature of Valerie. I am not fan of Roxanne and Roark, however. They are just boring repeats of Brock in the most uncreative way.

 

[PinkIceFox]

Favorite: Wallace. Wallace. Wallace... I love how unapologetically fabulous he is in OR/AS. Also he's pretty cool, what with being the protector of the Cave of Origin and having to be the one to undo the seal on the Sky Pillar and testing the player to make sure they've got what it takes to actually meet Rayquaza. I love gym leaders that are more than just that dude/gal at the end of the gym walk. It makes the gym and title feel like more than just "well the league put a gym here let's find a trainer to hand out the chips that let you face the league."

Least Favorite: OOH WE HAVE A TIE, SON.

• Whitney. To hades with her milktank. To hades with the fact she was being a crybaby and didn't give you the badge right away. How did you become a gym leader, you whiny little pink demon?!
• Clair. Give me my badge. Give me. My badge. I don't want to walk through a cave to win what was rightfully mine. I'm going into the cave anyway since it's a new area and all that, but GIVE. ME. MY. BADGE. If I had my way you'd be reported to the league and Cousin Lance and have your fancy little behind stripped of your title for someone who actually has honor enough to do their goddang job. Maybe grandpa from the cave can replace you, hmm? Then you can be scolded double for being a sore loser on a power trip.

 

[zednoughtbeta]

Favorite: Wallace. Wallace. Wallace... I love how unapologetically fabulous he is in OR/AS. Also he's pretty cool, what with being the protector of the Cave of Origin and having to be the one to undo the seal on the Sky Pillar and testing the player to make sure they've got what it takes to actually meet Rayquaza. I love gym leaders that are more than just that dude/gal at the end of the gym walk. It makes the gym and title feel like more than just "well the league put a gym here let's find a trainer to hand out the chips that let you face the league."

Least Favorite: OOH WE HAVE A TIE, SON.

• Whitney. To hades with her milktank. To hades with the fact she was being a crybaby and didn't give you the badge right away. How did you become a gym leader, you whiny little pink demon?!
• Clair. Give me my badge. Give me. My badge. I don't want to walk through a cave to win what was rightfully mine. I'm going into the cave anyway since it's a new area and all that, but GIVE. ME. MY. BADGE. If I had my way you'd be reported to the league and Cousin Lance and have your fancy little behind stripped of your title for someone who actually has honor enough to do their goddang job. Maybe grandpa from the cave can replace you, hmm? Then you can be scolded double for being a sore loser on a power trip.

I completely forgot about Clair. Her afterquest is some bs

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

My favourite is Citron/Clemont. In the anime he is funny and his game counterpart is too. If Kalos has a third game, his gym should have machines that break.

Least favourite is Whitney with her Miltank.

 

[Dieter]

Tate&Liza/Fantina/Wallace on a shared first place I guess. I just love their aesthetic. Valerie and Gardenia get an honourable mention. I just wish Tate & Liza would have had their Emerald team in ORAS, rather than their R/S team, cause they're real pushovers otherwise.

I don't have any leaders I actively dislike, but I'm not a big fan of Olympia's design. Never played G/S/C when I was little so I don't have the youth traumas some people here seem to have involving Whitney and her Miltank.

 

[Almonds]

Favorites: Roark, Volkner, and Cheren

Least favorites: Whitney and Clair.

 

[BigBadButterfree]

I really like gen 4 redesign, but other than that he’s not an outstanding character.

Tate and Liza are pretty far up on my list. They have the cool psychic twin thing going on, but also they’re the only gym leader(s) to challenge you differently. And despite only having 2 Pokémon, the first time I played ruby they did actually give me some trouble.

As an actual challenge I have to tip my hat to Elisa. The volt switch over and over against an unsuspecting teenage me really messed me up. And the third gym only, too! Or was she 4th... I don’t remember. Anyway, I was rather upset in ORAS when I fought Wattson and he reused that same strategy. It just seemed cheap.

Other than that, I can’t really say any are my favorites. Like, most of the time in the games they have no personality. And in the anime they’re always obnoxious.

 

[AnthonyS]

I love the designs for some of the newer gym leaders, such as Valerie. The graphics of her gym and city were beautiful. I do think, however, the “older” gym leaders tended to present much more of a challenge and had better ideas behind their designs. Leaders like Whitney, even though she’s a giant pain, were memorable and a fun obstacle to overcome.

I still maintain that I was sad to see Alola skip the gym trend.

 

[Ambrose7]

My favourite leader is Morty. I really like his design and that he uses ghost types early on. I don't really dislike anyone but a lot of Kalos leaders were pretty forgettable imo.

 

[UnovaForever]

Drayden is my favorite because he did something outside of just being in a gym. Like most of the posts here, I think gym leaders are only memorable if they do something unique especially if it is outside of the gym and story related. Large tie between everyone that doesn't do anything outside of their gym for my least favorite.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Gardenia and Jasmine are tied for first place for favorite. Gardenia has a lot of personality, both in game and in the anime, and her design was really cool.Plus she was the only early gym leader who used a fully-evolved 3-stage Mon AND a starter, so that's something to commend. As for Jasmine, not only was she the only female Gym Leader in Johto who didn't make you jump through hoops to get her badge (bar Amphy, but that's more understandable), but she never threw a temper tantrum and immediately recognized your skill both before and after the battle. Plus I really liked her meek nature, as it added a bit of charm to her. Runner-up is Winnona for having a cool motif and interesting quirks.

I will say pretty much all the Kalos gym leaders, with the exception of Korrina, were very forgettable and uninteresting, with Korrina's only saving grace is that you actually encounter her outside of her gym (and Battle Chateau), she has some personality, and she gives you your first Mega, though that's just barely enough to actually make her noticeable. Really, all of the Kalos and Kanto gym leaders are largely uninteresting and devoid of real personality, the former of which has absolutely no excuse after Gen V's display of unique personalities and quirks in their gym leaders.

 

[stunning_cyan]

Personality-wise I really like Brycen just because of how he was portrayed in BW2. Brycen-man is one of the best things to happen to the Pokemon franchise. I also like how cool Norman and Byron are. Unlike others above, I love Clair because she is the only gym leader to this date to corner me. I love Cheren's funny nervousness as a new leader. Wattson seems like a fun and wise old man, too.
Cool personality AND gym: Tate and Liza's gym is my favourite gym challenge ever, period. The difficulty. The mystique. Two of my favourite pokemon Solrock and Lunatone in the spotlight. That maze. And unforgettable tropical athmoshere of Hoenn. The twins are cool, too. Too bad the story didn't focus on them much. And Blaine has the coolest nature-inspired gym (I even envy him a little).

Leaders I don't like: always disliked Crasher Wake foir some reason. He seems like an annoying, aggressive clown. Plus, his getup makes me think he is a pervert or serial killer, who wears that? Old man in BDSM\fighter getup = bad news.I also hate how my loser rival sucks up to him and his stupid bravado. I also dislike Whitney because Miltank is the work of devil himself.

 

[DarkMeow]

For favorite, I really like Lenora. She gives off a calm vibe and I love the color of her hair. Also, she specializes in my favorite type, Normal.

For my least favorite, Whitney. God. Dang. Whitney. I was only like, 11 when I fought her for the first time in SoulSilver and she made me SO ANGRY with her GOD DARN MILTANK. 11 year old me was so frustrated. The infatuation effect drove me up the wall. That Rollout move was awful. I wanted to personally punch that Miltank in the face.

 

[al_the_bard]

Favorite: Korrina and Morty

Least Favorite: Whitney

 

[Camille]

Favourites: Jasmine, Cheren, Norman, Winona. I actually like Clair quite a lot, too, both for her design and her attitude. The only things I dislike about her are Gyarados' moveset during the Gym Battle in the remakes and her rematch team(why does she still use Dragonair and not, say, Flygon, especially since Lance doesn't have one?)
Least Favourites: Fantina, her mannerisms are kind of annoying. Falkner for using a very uninspired team. Volkner for causing a blackout in Sunyshore and for using two non-Electric Pokemon in D/P. He should at least have used a Pachirisu (even if it is weak, it can still dent Ground-type foes with Super Fang, since they are usually slower).

 

[IncineROAR]

Favorite: Volkner because he's pretty cool. Korrina for giving the player a Lucario (one of my favorite mon ever) and mega stone

Least favorite: Whitney, Jasmine, Fantina, Skyla, and Burgh (he seems like a stoner) - special mention goes out to Wallace, simply because he still stupidly tries using waterfall despite me using Primal Groudon on his rear end.

 

[Solros16]

Favorites: Wallace, Volkner, Morty, Winona, Cynthia

Least Favorites: Clair and Whitney

 

[~Smugleaf~]

Favourite: Volkner, Valerie, most of the Gen III and Gen V Gym Leaders.
Least Favourite: Design-wise probably Olympia. Can't think of any others I dislike though. Most of the Kalos gym leaders were pretty 'bleh' though, with the exception of Valerie of course.

 

[IncineROAR]

I have to say my favorite gym in terms of design/puzzle is the Cyllage City gym. I am replaying XY and I have to say the gym is awesome in terms of the climbing. Grant is pretty annoying though (dialogue is dumb).