Why do you think Paul got so much more and better screentime than Gary did?

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Cybersai

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Wow, Gary really got shafted as a rival compared to Paul, didn't he?

The writers really did make a big deal about Paul. He appeared on a relatively consistent basis throughout Sinnoh, was involved in many arcs, competed against Ash in the tag battle, Pokeringer and other competitions, and his Pokemon all had development of their own with interaction with Ash's.

He battled against Cynthia and had a minor rivalry with Barry. The whole Chimchar storyline was connected to Paul. Not to mention having a full 6 on 6 before the league, and now a 3-part battle in the league.


Gary, in comparison, got next to nothing. Even though Gary lasted through 3 sagas (Kanto/Orange/Johto), compared to Paul's 1 (Sinnoh), Gary hardly appeared and wasn't involved in many major story arcs at all. Gary only battled Ash ONCE before the league, and it was only Eevee Vs. Pikachu. Ash and Gary didn't even battle at the Indigo league.

It almost seem as if Gary has become the next Misty, in terms of getting little screentime compared to the characters who "replace" them.
 
Well because writers really did get better. And there's also the fact that Gary was very similar to Ash and they were childhood rivals that were always trying to outdo each other. Paul is a true foil for Ash and emphasizes many pf Ash's better qualities more so than Gary did.
 
Because Cynthia, Barry and Chimchar didn't exsist before Sinnoh

Gary and Paul have two completely different personalities. I think their attitudes played towards their actions.
 
Because Silver and anyone like him is awesome and deserves more screen time. Or what Yusuf said.
 
I'm really starting to feel sorry for all the original series characters. Almost all the characters that come after them get better screentime.

Misty/Gary didn't get May/Dawn/Paul's level of screentime.

Watch Brock's replacement get more screentime than him too.
 
Because Paul was more of a rival to Ash than Gary was. Gary was a bit of a show-off and was one step ahead of Ash, but Paul has opposing training styles to Ash, which causes frustration for the both of them.
 
Paul and Ash have better chemistry as hated rivals. Gary was just that stupid hometown kid that you always wanted to outdo.

Paul is in a lot of ways the polar opposite to Ash.
 
Ash and Gary were more like children on the playground. Paul's personality and training methods are the Moriarty to Ash's Holmes.
 
Because really the only thing to hate about Gary was that everything went his way, and even that died out pretty fast.
 
BlazingQuilava said:
That disappoints me cause Gary is a much better rival than Paul, based on character.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say Gary is a better rival than Paul. He's more of a better person than Paul, because Paul was designed to be a foil character to Ash and not just a rival.
 
I’m sure that this thread already has the thoughts I am about to post, but here it goes anyway. Gary was Ash’s childhood rival, but Paul is the complete opposite of Ash. Similar to how Ritchie was a “clone” of Ash, Paul is the “negative” version of Ash. Just call it a Darkwing Duck and NegaDuck situation.

Let’s not fail to mention that Gary was the rival for the original series, and Paul is the rival for the newest season. Look at the time gap in between the original and DP series, the writers have had plenty of time to improve on their writing skills. Gary and Ash had their first “true” battle at the Johto League that settled their rivalry. I wouldn’t say the one before Johto (Eevee vs. Pikachu) was a true match because Ash wasn’t using his head he was fueled by anger the entire time.

As for Paul, the writers did a good job by giving some background to his character. Also along with having Paul and Ash battle every so often instead of only twice in a matter of 100s of episodes like Gary makes the fans believe in their rivalry even more than the Ash/Gary feud.

They need to have Gary vs. Paul to make up for the lack thereof for Gary’s screen time.
 
Please note: The thread is from 16 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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