Thoughts on Guile Hideout, an incredibly memorable and "original" villain? (Spoilers)

[shoz999]

HUGE STORY SPOILERS OF COURSE.

A incredibly memorable and "original" villain?

Guile Hideout is an interesting villain of Pokemon Adventures, this identity standing out so much that some fans sometimes separate the identities of Guile Hideout and Archie of Team Aqua when describing the villain of the Emerald Arc even after they reveal who is behind the mask. Sporting a unique knightly design with the most evil-looking Surskuit by his side, he's also one of the best-designed Pokemon villains that fits well in the world of Pokemon. Not only that but some fans thought the lone brutal thief who had the capability to fight powerful Pokemon was even an original villain before it was revealed to be none other than Archie of Team Aqua and even those who wanted Guile Hideout to be an original villain did not shun this reveal but welcomed it, shocked what Archie did to acquire that armor. One could say that Guile Hideout pulled the greatest trick of all in Pokemon, that the person Guile Hideout ever existed.

For me personally, much like superheroes or super-villains, I'd think it'd be an interesting idea to see a "second" Guile Hideout, someone else who has a dastardly Surskuit to take up the broken armor while no one is looking. But what are your thoughts on such an "original" villain?

 

[mehmeh1]

he was an interesting idea with a very interesting execution, especially as foreshadowing for DP (and I actually liked the other reveal in ORAS where in the end he and Maxie just ended up incorporeal in the distortion world, bringing said connection to gen 4 full circle, and making me wonder where's sird and how did she get all this stuff even more), but I feel they didn't capitalize in his design enough, esepecially the sword, which he doesn't do much with, heck, we should've had sword-wielding surskit at some point, that'd have been amazing. Also, I found his name kinda weird, guile would've been enough, but adding hideout as part of his name was just odd, but I guess it makes sense, as the armor is archie's guile hideout

 

[shoz999]

he was an interesting idea with a very interesting execution, especially as foreshadowing for DP (and I actually liked the other reveal in ORAS where in the end he and Maxie just ended up incorporeal in the distortion world, bringing said connection to gen 4 full circle, and making me wonder where's sird and how did she get all this stuff even more), but I feel they didn't capitalize in his design enough, esepecially the sword, which he doesn't do much with, heck, we should've had sword-wielding surskit at some point, that'd have been amazing. Also, I found his name kinda weird, guile would've been enough, but adding hideout as part of his name was just odd, but I guess it makes sense, as the armor is archie's guile hideout

Personally I think the name "Guile Hideout" not only sounded cool but it sounded naturally associated with the character rather than some dubious alias that lots of short names often are, helping Guile Hideout feel more like this original character before his identity was revealed. It's been a while since the Emerald arc though but I do like how his armor and sword functions to combat Pokemon who are these magical powerful creatures that a human with his own natural strength would have a hard time fighting, his armor having the properties of the moves "Reflect" and "Light Screen" taking the brunt of some of the most strongest of Pokemon's attacks and his sword having the properties of "Counter" and "Mirror Coat" which can counter Pokemon moves which is why it was such an ingenius build-up that made so much sense that it turned out that the OP armor also had not just the moves strengths but it's weaknesses as seen through Poliwrath and Politoed using brick break, a move that destroys reflect and light screen, to destroy that OP armor.

 

[ellifeedn]

I wish a dark-type Pokemon using a special move would have destroyed the sword.

 

[shoz999]

I wish a dark-type Pokemon using a special move would have destroyed the sword.

Why a dark-type move?

 

[ellifeedn]

Because Mirror Coat is a Psychic type move that only works with special type attacks and Dark type is immune.

 

[shoz999]

Because Mirror Coat is a Psychic type move that only works with special type attacks and Dark type is immune.

Oh yeah. I suppose ghost type moves would be immune from Guile Hideout's sword as well.

You know, it just hit me that the Emerald Arc has another theme to it. I would post it in the themes thread but double-postings are taken much more seriously here, so I'll just post it here since it fits this topic. So I was re-reading the Emerald Arc and the Ruby & Sapphire arc and I couldn't help but noticed just how much of an impact Kyogre's control over Archie affected him during the events of the Emerald Chapter. If Ruby & Sapphire's villainous theme was "you don't control power, power controls you" than Emerald's villainous theme is the "feeling of powerlessness that turns good men... cruel." as seen above in the picture from the Batman v. Superman movie.

Now while Guile Hideout's past-life as Archie, the leader of Team Aqua is certainly far from "good", he was still considered a respectable boss that everyone admired and he didn't have the overly cruel personality where he treated everyone he saw useless as trash from the Emerald Arc. Maybe Maxie & Archie did really lost themselves under the influence of Groudon and Kyogre because of how stark of a difference Archie's personality has gone through between the two arcs. Spencer of the Battle Frontier himself said that he just touched the orb with a finger and he almost went mad himself. At the ending of the Emerald Arc, although it's pretty shocking what Archie reveals what he may have done to Maxie, he smiles about his cruel actions but it looks a desperate smile and the way he speaks his words sounds like a tone full of regret. Remember the quote the "feeling of powerlessness that turns good men... cruel."? It seems like Archie already accepted himself of what he's become after betraying his team, his loyal admin's and his friend/rival Maxie even though he may have been powerless at the time. If you think about it, Guile Hideout is a cruel character born from Archie's powerlessness.