Oh okay. And I wasn’t debating who’s strong but instead saying that this argument can apply to many an all things thus loses it’s meaning in the long wrong because power scaling in the anime can be conflicting. And I was wrong for saying “brain dead” especially since you’ve been very civil while I was…rather aggressive.
As far as Paul, I think they mentioned he was never suppose to come back in the first place. My issue with this whole argument was diminishing other things (like the SM league companions or Ash’s title as well) when the former has lost four leagues but is somehow stronger than Gladion, Guzma etc.
So by extension yes I find this argument faulty because it always avoids the conversation of, what are Paul’s feats despite slamming Ash which rivals have done?
The only thing you can do is try to say Ash winning a league doesn’t count in terms of him being a Champion or Dragonite losing to a prepared Pokémon when it’s not like Haxorus could not have improved as well.
Constantly deflecting onto other people to avoid the question of what else did Paul do besides beat Ash three times and get his but handed to him by Cynthia and Brandon? This entire conversation would’ve ended if somebody could explain that to me.
So it’s not about power scaling them because that’s irrelevant but what are you giving us to say becoming Champion of the Alola doesn’t count because of the competitors and Iris and Paul have different feats. It’s attaching other characters to his growth as a trainer instead of it just being shown.
It's okay, I used to be aggressive and sarcastic in online debates everywhere, but now I'm old and mellowed out lol.
I think ever since the anime broke from the OS-DP progression with Ash, and the BW 'reset' happened, there's a disconnect where DP Ash is still considered by some as Ash's pinnacle (prior to JN of course) despite there being subsequent series. And Paul outclassed that DP Ash, especially at Lake Acuity, up until the Sinnoh League thriller, where he didn't even use his best team. Paul consistently showed he prioritized training only Pokemon who enjoyed his brutal training regimen, and he combined that with potent strategies, including entry hazards, triggering abilities, switching constantly, etc. Very few trainers have done that. I do wish they showed Paul beating more elite trainers, but he did sweep a pretty good trainer in Barry 3-0. I see now what you mean by "eating other people's plates" I think (???), because Paul's skill level is often predicated on his performances against Ash. Thus, if DP Ash (and now JN Ash) performs at a certain level against other trainers, then the assumption is that Paul should also be on that level. This could be seen as flawed, but
I don't think it's entirely wrong to do this since the DP/JN iterations of Ash were both consistently good trainers, and Paul too was consistently good. I think it's fair to say that if Ash could handle a opponent, Paul should as well given his arsenal of powerhouses and strategy.
Considering how close DP Ash and Paul were to each other in skill, and how Ash improved/powerscaled in JN, then Paul undoubtedly levelled up too just like Ash. We see that obviously because none of his 3 Pokemon against Ash got instantly wiped despite Ash being a Champion-level trainer. In fact, his Garchomp beat Dragonite.
I don't think Paul losing four league conferences should be a negative either. It was mentioned for narrative purposes back in DP in order to match Ash with an equivalent, also seasoned rival. It took Ash 7 tries before he finally won his first league.
My theory is also that given Paul is considering taking the Gym Leader role in JN, that means he
did beat Brandon with 3 Regis (Paul wouldn't have it any other way) because that was his goal after DP and he would have gotten that done first. Moreover, again a theory, but I think the writers wrote him out of the PWC because there wouldn't have been a good reason why a trainer of his potential, skill, and work ethic wouldn't have made it to the very end like Ash just as Cynthia expected back in DP. However, the writers wanted the Masters 8 to be more hype by having the in-game Champions with Ash replacing Kukui. I think they picked Alain to finish off the group because he's a more recent character, the most recent league conference winner, whose MCX was a raid boss badass all of XY, and he made for the perfect fall guy for Leon, such that by Ash beating Leon, he more or less surpassed Alain after the Kalos League and 'avenged' that loss.
