How different would Journeys be if Hop was the co Protagonist instead of Goh?

[KukuiFanatic501]

I saw this idea floating around a bit here so I wanted to make a thread on it.

I’d like to know what everyone think how Journeys could’ve gone, and would’ve been, if Hop was Ash’s traveling companion instead of Goh. Or if Hop was at least the main rival for Ash in the World Championships.

 

[masdog]

I think it would have been a completely different series that followed a more traditional gym challenge formula. Hop’s game character doesn’t really fit the PWC arc.

 

[Blood Red]

Presumably, we'd get a saga where Ash actively helps coach a trainer who focuses on battling, with Hop being the true main character and Ash being relegated to the background as a mentor figure. He could help prepare Hop for the Galar League, while Ash himself focuses on something that's not too ambitious and is within the writing team's capabilities, i.e. NOT a world tournament arc. Also, I wouldn't give Ash a new roster in this format; I'd want him to rotate his reserves. Galar has many strong trainers, so they could easily have Ash deal with them if they wanted to give him a bit more to do than just train someone. Ash vs Mustard, for example, would've been a great match to see. Ash vs Peony too.

As for Ash vs Leon...if they really wanted that match, they could have Ash fight against him in some sort of exhibition match.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

He's a rival. They never do get the companion tag, Ash would never coach someone like that, and the writers would be crazy to repeat every gym battle twice.

 

[janejane6178]

Then Maybe the co protagonist would be more humble and less greedy

 

[Leonhart]

I don't think anything noteworthy would've changed. I figure that the writers would've stuck with the idea of making Pocket Monsters 2019 as different from past sagas as possible, so Hop would've likely fulfilled Gou's role almost exactly with no major differences.

 

[Sham]

Considering the anime aren’t that consistent with keeping “game personalities” like Lussmine for example, I don’t think that they wouldn’t make Hop that different from Goh tbh

 

[KukuiFanatic501]

I don't think anything noteworthy would've changed. I figure that the writers would've stuck with the idea of making Pocket Monsters 2019 as different from past sagas as possible, so Hop would've likely fulfilled Gou's role almost exactly with no major differences.

Makes sense given Hops secondary goal is similar to Goh.

Would Leon be more involved though?

 

[SatoSereFan224888]

It would be interesting if Ash was Hop’s mentor. Hop would be battling the gyms instead of Ash. Plus Ash would be like 18 years old. He’s long retired from battling gyms. Plus I would rather have the series entirely in Galar.