Paul

[FlameRose]

Never link someone to TvTropes. EVER.

Are any of Paul's Pokemon overused in competetive battling? We know there are quite a few competetive people use, like Blissey and Legendaries, but does Paul have any? I'm not a competetive battler, so could anyone who is tell me?

 

[LightingKimba]

Are any of Paul's Pokemon overused in competetive battling? We know there are quite a few competetive people use, like Blissey and Legendaries, but does Paul have any? I'm not a competetive battler, so could anyone who is tell me?

Gliscor, Electivire, and Weavile are his only OU pokémon. He only has one more OU pokémon than Ash, though in the anime's physics, Paul's Ursaring (NU) is MUCH stronger than his others in his rotating team.

 

[TheFarmboy]

Hmm..... even though I hadn't paid attention to Paul recently. He's pretty much Ash's foil, take for example, he use merciless training regimes (possibly, correct me if I'm wrong) while Ash uses the Nice guy approach.

EDIT: A better comparison would be like Shadow and Sonic for thsoe who ever played Sonic the Hedgehog. You can guess who's who

 

[STICKTOPIA]

I'm also surprised how controversial this trainer is; he's the only character that has over a page on the forums currently.

Lol what do u expect? Paul is the 1st person in the anime who's like this. We've seen arrogant trainers but none like Paul.

 

[lucarioman098]

i think he's a j****** even gary wasnt this bad

 

[Geodude]

Another "good" thing Paul did that I just remembered...after his "useless" Azumarill lost against Roark, he gave it to a kid instead of releasing it. Now, no doubt he didn't go looking for someone to give it to, he probably just saw the kid nearby and figured it was easier to give Azumarill to him than to go out somewhere and release it. On the other hand, someone with absolute contempt for the "weak" would have probably released it anyway.

 

[Chim-Charred!]

Paul was so right about that Azumarill too! I remember Ash was really angry because of how Paul just casually gave it away but Paul responded and said "that was as strong as that Azumarill was going to get. It was a lost cause." Ash being the sickeningly nice guy that he is, would never admit it but the Pokémon was fully evolved already so there would never be any huge leaps in power for it and in addition it even lost against a Geodude so I like that Paul was able to see the truth.

 

[thunderblade12]

The thing is, he's not telling the truth. He thinks he is but he's not. That's the whole point of the Paul storyline. Ash wants to prove he can bring out some inner power in his pokemon through friendship and caring.

Paul treats his pokemon the way the players do when playing the games. Ash is treating his like they're real animals or something..that fight..and grow stronger through love.

 

[LightingKimba]

Paul treats his pokemon the way the players do when playing the games.

Didn't I already explain how Paul isn't similar to most competitive players just a day ago?

 

[Mr. Joker]

Paul is another one of my favorite Rivals, because his personality is so bad boy and dark it is hard to resist. I really like him as a Rival! But I think we all know that the day will come when he turns “good” and stops being Ash’s rival and then some other chum will take his place ;;

-Mr. J​

 

[Combusken-94]

I'm just hoping that the writers don't just make Paul suddenly turn all nice, and realise that he was wrong, straight away. I know it's going to happen, since nobody leaves Pokemon without realising their mistakes, but I hope that he slowely starts to get warmer over time, rather then just being shaken by Ash defeating him.

 

[Slowking[George]]

Well I doubt that will happen seeing as Paul was never ever convinced by Ash's methods, and it will probably take a huge loss against Ash (probably in the League) to realise it.

I can't see him getting warmer with his pokemon or accepting how he was wrong all along so easily. That's just me though.

 

[GoodPokemonTrainer121]

I'm just hoping that the writers don't just make Paul suddenly turn all nice, and realise that he was wrong, straight away. I know it's going to happen, since nobody leaves Pokemon without realising their mistakes, but I hope that he slowely starts to get warmer over time, rather then just being shaken by Ash defeating him.

Paul being nice? I doubt it. Love how Paul wants it his way. But I just hate how he thinks he is so good and better..

 

[STICKTOPIA]

I'm just hoping that the writers don't just make Paul suddenly turn all nice, and realise that he was wrong, straight away. I know it's going to happen, since nobody leaves Pokemon without realising their mistakes, but I hope that he slowely starts to get warmer over time, rather then just being shaken by Ash defeating him.

I'm sure he'll change his ways. I don't think he'll turn all nice but I think he'll have a better attitude towards trainers he find as weak like Ash and Maylene.

 

[Chim-Charred!]

Hmm..... even though I hadn't paid attention to Paul recently. He's pretty much Ash's foil, take for example, he use merciless training regimes (possibly, correct me if I'm wrong) while Ash uses the Nice guy approach.

EDIT: A better comparison would be like Shadow and Sonic for thsoe who ever played Sonic the Hedgehog. You can guess who's who

Yeah but Sonic is so much cooler than Ash that there is like no comparison! However I do get your point. Moving along, I do worry that Paul will lose to Ash in the league and then turn nice. I always think about what happened to my favorite character Gaara when he lost to the main character in Naruto. Now he actually looks up to him! I hate it! Even if Paul loses to Ash I won't care as long as he doesn't change or want to be friends with Ash like Gary did.

 

[Midbus]

if i were Ash i would go punch paul in the face
my future hg team
;155; ;253; ;009; ;222; ;165; ;000;

 

[Eon Master]

I don't know if people agree with this, but from some of his more recent reactions I think he's starting to hold some doubts. Especially after his battle with Brandon, and his following battle with Ash. He probably believed he was head and shoulders above Ash, and though he beat Ash 6-2 in their battle, every one of his Pokemon except Honchakrow, who saw the least action, was seriously damaged by Ash's Pokemon, thus showing (at least to his mind) that he wasn't as far ahead of Ash as he thought. Knowing Paul's tendency to use battles as a yardstick to measure his power against that of other strong(or at least decent) trainers. Seeing how badly Cynthia and Brandon crushed him, knowing that Ash beat Brandon once in the past, and the difficulty he had with beating Ash; all of that has to start a waverence of his confidence in some respect.

 

[Eon Master]

^I'm not saying Ash is what he's worried about. It's his own abilities he's got to be questioning. I mean Brandon crushed him without breaking a sweat, even with the Regi's, it shouldn't have been that easy. Cynthia beat him with one Pokemon, and Brandon probably could have done the same.
Also, remember how analytical Paul is as a trainer. He analyzes every bit of a battle, win or loss, in order to get stronger. His loss to Brandon was total, more so than Cynthia, I think, having seen both. His victory against Ash was narrow at best. And his analysis of all three battles has only one conclusion: He's not as superior as he thought. Either Ash is improving faster than he thought, or he'd been overestimating his own abilities from the start.

 

[Torpoleon]

Paul probably could turn nice. Isn't Paul like Gary 2.0? Right now, Paul is mean and Gary was mean back in Kanto, so, maybe in the future Paul will turn nice. I don't know. He does have a good Pokemon team with his training philosophy.

 

[Eon Master]

Gary never trained his Pokemon brutally or kicked out one of his team members for being too weak to suit his standards. So no, I don't think Paul will change at all unless Ash beats him badly and proves to him that what he's doing is wrong. Which isn't likely to happen.