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Most overrated character of all time!

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DatsRight

Well-Known Member
That's kind of the other thing, Lana never really battled throughout the series to really EARN a good status in the league. She beat up a few jobber bad guys and got plot armoured in a few tense circumstances like the other two girls. If she was suddenly on Ash and Kiawe's level after they worked MUCH harder and went through much more trial and error to get their level of experience it would seem really unearned and contrived.

This is kind of a recurring niggle I have with both XY and SM, it keeps wanting to skip over the rough parts for the girls, using the non-battler excuse for them but still wanting them to be complete badasses whenever possible. It's monotonous seeing that old setup where the girls can only be face offs they absolutely dominate and don't look remotely fallible while even the most competent males are allowed to take hits back and sell the odd threat. Serena similarly was just randomly competent in her final battle with Ash after a series load of TR spam curbstomps and plot armour moments, like that was supposed to serve as valid battle experience, though they at least didn't have the audacity to make it a serious battle in the freaking league.

Hell even harmless slapstick, Lillie is about the only post-BW girl they're willing to put through the wringer if it makes her more amusing and sympathetic. She's not a complacent character whose always forbidden to look like a 'loser', which is sometimes what I feel with for the other girls, even she however they seem to sidle from battling intensely.
 
Zoruagible

Zoruagible

Lover of underrated characters
DatsRight said:
That's kind of the other thing, Lana never really battled throughout the series to really EARN a good status in the league. She beat up a few jobber bad guys and got plot armoured in a few tense circumstances like the other two girls. If she was suddenly on Ash and Kiawe's level after they worked MUCH harder and went through much more trial and error to get their level of experience it would seem really unearned and contrived.

This is kind of a recurring niggle I have with both XY and SM, it keeps wanting to skip over the rough parts for the girls, using the non-battler excuse for them but still wanting them to be complete badasses whenever possible. It's monotonous seeing that old setup where the girls can only be face offs they absolutely dominate and don't look remotely fallible while even the most competent males are allowed to take hits back and sell the odd threat. Serena similarly was just randomly competent in her final battle with Ash after a series load of TR spam curbstomps and plot armour moments, like that was supposed to serve as valid battle experience, though they at least didn't have the audacity to make it a serious battle in the freaking league.

Hell even harmless slapstick, Lillie is about the only post-BW girl they're willing to put through the wringer if it makes her more amusing and sympathetic. She's not a complacent character whose always forbidden to look like a 'loser', which is sometimes what I feel with for the other girls, even she however they seem to sidle from battling intensely.
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You can even throw Iris and Dragonite into this.
Where rather than evolve Axew and make it feel earned they just tossed a fully evolved Dragon into her lap! You'd never see the writers doing that with Ash, after the OS he's captured Pokemon in either the middle or first stage.
 
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DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Zoruagible said:
You can even throw Iris and Dragonite into this.
Where rather than evolve Axew and make it feel earned they just tossed a fully evolved Dragon into her lap! You'd never see the writers doing that with Ash, after the OS he's captured Pokemon in either the middle or first stage.
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I can at least sort of swallow that because they actually made it the ENTIRE POINT that she didn't earn Dragonite and the upper hand it gave her. She still had to climb the ladder in some regard and learn how to tame and use Dragonite herself to make it HER accomplishment, there was SOME level of agency and hard work put in, just a kind of variation. If they had credited Iris for Dragonite automatically winning for her and Dragonite itself was a bland flawless Pokemon that needed no tending to, yeah, it would have been really cheap and annoying, but that wasn't the case. Actually I credit Iris for being among the few protagonists called out for cheap victories. Most of the time in the anime, you win, you're a good trainer.

Plus Iris was at least established as an experienced battler so it wasn't as spurious as a rookie suddenly being plot armoured up to Ash's level. Her being more focused on ironing out personality issues and making a bigger team made more sense since she had already worked on battle experience.

Also outside of the token plot armour moments, Iris at least done battles she was allowed to lose or struggle in, had plenty character flaws that were called out, recurring issues with her Pokemon she had to iron out, and was allowed to suffer slapstick and humiliation to make her a halfway interesting and human character (which is ironic since they made it a running gag she could avoid slapstick antics and yet still did more than the XY/SM girls). I mean, could you imagine how insufferable her arrogance would have been if she didn't fall on her ass sometimes?
 
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Apslup

Apslup

Feelin' Fine.
Pokegirl Fan~ said:
Lucario
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Yeah I've never seen the hype behind Lucario. It's got a crappy design imo and the Pokemon Company loved forcing it down our throats which I feel is the main source of resentment towards it (including it in Smash Bros and giving it a title role in a Movie).

I also tried using it during a playthrough of White 2 (since you get it really early) and it didn't learn any half-decent moves until after mid way through the game so I boxed it.
 
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maartjeverhoef

maartjeverhoef

Banned
DatsRight said:
That's kind of the other thing, Lana never really battled throughout the series to really EARN a good status in the league. She beat up a few jobber bad guys and got plot armoured in a few tense circumstances like the other two girls. If she was suddenly on Ash and Kiawe's level after they worked MUCH harder and went through much more trial and error to get their level of experience it would seem really unearned and contrived.
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We didn't see her throwing shuriken prior to SM118 or jumping over a vaulting box prior to SM085 either yet she managed to do well in both fields so it'd be totally in character for Lana (of all people) to do well in a League.
 
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DatsRight

Well-Known Member
maartjeverhoef said:
We didn't see her throwing shuriken prior to SM118 or jumping over a vaulting box prior to SM085 either yet she managed to do well in both fields so it'd be totally in character for Lana (of all people) to do well in a League.
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I guess it's that those elements were always for gags and never really undermined an agency that made a lot of another character's development. Ash and Kiawe didn't spend the entire series working and training to throw shurikens or jump vaults, those things were never meant to be taken seriously. They DID work their way up as battlers, that was earnest development, thus that's an area where making Lana randomly and effortlessly competent risks crossing the line from harmless comic relief to plot breaking Mary Sue territory.

I guess the problem is that Lana's archetype there is the 'always someone better' character, and there's a reason such a character is almost never a protagonist, because they are an obstacle for another character, something that is always designed to surpass and be better than them, which isn't really what makes a sympathetic enough character to be rooting for. In fact most of the time they're meant to be the guy you're rooting against. This is another reason I believe Lana would have worked much better as a supporting character.
 
Barry Hernandez

Barry Hernandez

Well-Known Member
I say Serena is the most overrated. I disliked her time in the show.
 
J.Agera

J.Agera

[Top-notch Сasual Dating Authentic Ladies]
The most overrated character is obviously Anime Misty, wake up people.
Then comes Red from Origins easily. (The entire Origins series is overrated tbh).
Then comes the game Red.
Anime Lillie is also overrated. Actually the entire SM cast tbh.

Serena is not overrated.
Paul is not overrated.
 
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Kuzehiko

Kuzehiko

That moment I found a lifetime treasure
PokemonBattleFanatic- said:
There's one side that hates him and the other that loves him,the overrated part I do not get.
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Is Paul that hated? I thought he was mostly liked by the fanbase for being the best rival to date. How can one simply hate him? They can't understand his character and development.
 
PokemonBattleFanatic-

PokemonBattleFanatic-

Hardcore Paul Fan
Kuzehiko said:
Is Paul that hated? I thought he was mostly liked by the fanbase for being the best rival to date. How can one simply hate him? They can't understand his character and development.
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That's true on here but on the outside there's still some people that think he's a jerk,unemotional and a pokemon abuser.Like you said the fanbase (at least on serebii) like Paul for being the best rival.It could be just casuals who didn't watch DP fully.
 
Kuzehiko

Kuzehiko

That moment I found a lifetime treasure
PokemonBattleFanatic- said:
That's true on here but on the outside there's still some people that think he's a jerk,unemotional and a pokemon abuser.Like you said the fanbase (at least on serebii) like Paul for being the best rival.It could be just casuals who didn't watch DP fully.
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Being a jark is part of his character development. I find that very interesting in Paul because we had never seen anyone treat his/her Pokemon like that prior to DP series. Of course, one cannot just get it if you don't fully watch DP
 
J.Agera

J.Agera

[Top-notch Сasual Dating Authentic Ladies]
SH65 said:
They're more mixed than overrated.
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Not Really. Paul is loved by majority and so is Serena, but she is definitely one of the more hated charcaters, main reason being that she basically devours the hopes for Pokeshippers (they are a fairly large chunk of the shipping community). There's literally no other reason to hate her honestly.

Don't get why would anyone hate Paul though.
 
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