AgentPierce
Mad science FTW!
... for Pokemon. It's a kid's show. People thought it was deep and engaging for a kid's show. Nobody is calling Paul the best written character in anything ever, they're calling him good in compared to other characters on the show.
Except...it's not even deep by Pokemon standards, and damn near every other major character on the show is better compared to Paul.
Again, why? You're not really backing up your argument here
Because there was true personal tension between Ash and Gary, as opposed to just disagreements on training styles that came up every time Ash and Paul met, and then disappeared after they parted ways.
... Silver and Paul had pretty much the same story. Cold and jerkish with a lack of connection with their Pokemon, became nicer and treated their Pokemon better after losing to their rival and having the champion talk to them about their style.
Except that Silver had legite reasons for being the way he was (being trained to be a criminal by his father, who then walked out on him when his organization failed), he lost to his rival in more than just one batlle (as opposed to Paul, who almost always wiped the floor with Ash), really took the champions' words about his style to heart (as opposed to Paul brushing off Cynthia's words and then Cynthia never trying to convince him otherwise again), and he was portrayed as a terrible jerk who was in the wrong, not just "someone with different methods than the norm."
No they're not? I'm sorry, but this is just clear bias against Paul.
It would take a clear bias towards Paul to think that there ever was slow, subtle character development for him.
Why do you have such a problem with people liking Paul? The people who "worship" him are in a very small minority. I could also say the same for you and your "worship" of Team Rocket and Zager.
People can like Paul all they want, but the Paul worshipers aren't in the minority on forums like this. And no, I do not "worship" Team Rocket and Zager either: I enjoy them, but I'm not going to tout them as the best thing in the show and excuse their faults as characters.
You are aware that it was pretty much the same way with Paul? Ash just repeatedly challenged him to a battle. You're just grasping at straws by saying "well Trip doesn't need to offer him anything, but PAUL SHOULD HAVE".
Except that Paul DID offer him battles back because they were for a reason, flimsy as it was: training methods. He always took Ash's challenges so he could curbstomp him time and again, proving his training style right. With Trip, Ash wants to battle him just for the heck of it, which Trip doesn't feel the need to do. It's only when Iris goads him into battling Ash that he does it, which has happened twice.
I mean seriously you come across as insane.
Oh, so the Paul haters are insane here? HOW FUNNY!
Except it isn't an opinion. It's a fact that he is popular among the pokemon fanbase, whether you like him or not. If someone thinks he was the best rival or not, that's an opinion.
Exactly. I think Paul is the worst rival ever, but I'm not going to say he's not popular. 'Cause if he wasn't, we wouldn't be having all these arguments right now, would we? To say "it's just your opinion that Paul is popular" just goes beyond idiotic.
My final say: Paul is a worthless jerk, and he's the worst thing ever to disgrace the Pokemon anime.
HEAR HEAR!
Paul was one of those more intimidating rivals for ash. Behind Gary of course. I mean the dude never smiles and always talk in his monotonic deep voice.
To me, that's not intimidating: that's just boring and unrealistic.
Remember what I said about reiterating the same rhetoric over and over and over again ... ?
Kinda like how Paul lovers repeat why he's a complex, influential, groundbreaking, awesome rival who was the best thing to ever happen to the anime? Really, why can't Lilytwo express her disgust in how Paul was as both a character and a person? The people who don't think that way are never going to get it, so why bother debating it at all?
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