WaterTypeStarter
Well-Known Member
Many in the fandom tend to think of the rival in gen 1 and FRLG as a bully and a jerk. However, he really does not do anything that bad. He comes across as arrogant but really all he does is challenge the player to battles and act cocky. The closest you could argue is that he does not help you beat Team Rocket at Silph co, but the action is more selfish than villainous. Even telling his sister not to give you a map really is more underhanded than actually bad. The rest of time he just suddenly runs into the player, brags about how he is better than the player then makes an excuse after losing. Even in adaptations he is rarely depicted as being antagonistic. In the anime, his counterpart Gary is a jerk but really does not do anything antagonistic. And according to TV Tropes, the 4Kids dub actually makes him more a jerk to Ash than in the original where he is really a friendly rival, though not sure if this is true. In the Adventures manga I think he grows out of his jerk personality quite fast. And in Origins, he is only really a bully during his first battle with Red (and by the way Red later has no qualms beating up Mewtwo even more brutally just so he can catch it, so really the part where Charmander is being bitten is not that bad by the standards of the show as people make it out to be). After that, he really does not do much that is bad. He tries to get glory for himself in the Lavender Town episode but ends up pretty much comically. And he never really does anything particularly antagonistic. The closest you can say is in the Zensho manga where he knocks Red off his Pokemon while flying, though you can argue he is not meaning it as antagonistic and is just being rough. To conclude, the rival in gen 1 is a jerk but he is not the evil bully that so many people make him out to be. Even in adaptations he is not really bad at all. I may not have written this post well since I am a little tired and not sure what to say but I wanted to post my thought so what is your opinion?
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