Unpopular opinions on the male protagonists?

[Teravolt]

Based on the thread for the female protagonists. Thanks to whoever originally put that one up.

Opinions I’ve mentioned before:
-Cilan is best boy. Period. No contest.
-Goh isn’t a bad character. His character arc has been poorly executed, though.
-Clemont needed more screen time.

I haven’t seen anything from OS-DP, so I can’t vouch for Brock.

Discuss!

 

[AZ-the-I-don't-even-know]

I feel that the male antagonists are better.

I actually like Goh, he is surprisingly original unlike many female main characters. I like how he has gone from an antisocial kid to what he is now. People dislike him for the same two or three things (and it is hard to disagree), but I think his captures are not very annoying, especially at the amounts he currently captures at (most episodes these days he catches nothing).

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I think Tracy was extremely boring and a poor replacement for Brock even if it was temporary. Half of the time he was just there doing nothing. Being an artist that focuses on Pokémon has so much potential and they went nowhere with it. And his poor Pokémon didn’t even get very many opportunities to shine and Scyther was sort of the only one to get the spotlight for an episode. Venonat was just used as radar and Marill was basically a sound tracking device. Marill could have easily been used as a marketing ploy to gain more interest for Gen II like Togepi only it can battle and shows off what it can do.

 

[JustAStatistic]

I feel Brock is kind of overrated. I appreciate his role as the smart and experienced trainer, but he felt kind of pointless after AG. Also I hate his gag now, though I did find it occasionally funny when I was younger.

Cilan isn't a bad companion, though I wouldn't put him as my favorite either.

Sophocles is underrated. I feel people write him off because he's not conventionally attractive, but IMO he's better than both Mallow and Lana.

Goh is rightfully controversial. There's some very interesting ideas put into his character, but they're coupled with lackluster execution.

 

[masdog]

Brock - his gag got really old really quickly. In DP, Croakgunk and Ash and Dawn’s reactions are the only thing that redeemed it.
Clemont - His original arc ended way too early, and his exploding inventions gag also got old quickly. He also should have returned in SM as I think he would have gotten along very well with Sophocles.
Sophocles - Underused in an otherwise crowded cast.
Goh - I actually like Goh’s character. I don’t mind the catches, especially since they toned them down significantly. (and game mechanics have been altered to allow you to catch a Pokemon without battling one in Go and PLA).

I’d love to see Sophocles, Clemont, and Goh in the same scene. I think they’d get along very well if the Goh/Sophocles scenes in last week’s episodes are anything to go by.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I found Cilan to be a bit dull. I mean he does have his moments and he certainly is better than Tracey was but his schtik of him being a connoisseur of almost everything was getting really old by the fourth time it was used and his one main interesting character trait of having a phobia of Purrloin was never actually told to the viewers and the episode had no real payoff to the series or his character development. At least with Dawn, we learned about her fear of Plusle and Minun and why her friends called her DD and saw her overcome her fear and not to let being called DD upset her as much.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Sophocles is underrated even if I'm indifferent to him.
I found Cilan worse than Iris in BW.

 

[DatsRight]

I feel like SM was the first instance of the show being invested in writing the male companions really.

Kiawe felt like everything the original male companion archetype was SUPPOSED to get (eg. being a proactive mentor/lancer type with plenty battle competence and involvement while still doing the usual exposition/comic relief stuff), and managed to hold onto that role consistently for the whole series rather than slowly falling out of favour for the other protagonists (I'll give Clemont credit for bouncing back with some sort of payoff at the end of XY, but he still suffered a heavy demotion beforehand).

Sophocles meanwhile had a modest but charming 'slow burner' arc and dynamic with Ash and Kiawe. I feel like the episodes revolved around the three boys were a lot of fun in that series due to how well they bounced off of each other and seemed invested in helping each other.

I tend to find that the male companions work best in terms of being supporting characters and having a good synergy/interaction quota, while the girls tend to get the more dynamic character arcs. I feel like this is something that tends to be squandered in a lot of series beforehand since they don't tend to be great giving trainers synergy a lot of the time so the girl lead tends to dominate focus. The newer series seem to be getting interactions better while ironically dumbing down actual character arcs, meaning it's the girls that suffer more often now.

I think the compromise can be done if they are versatile enough. Kiawe for example still had far less episodes as main character than Lillie and even Mallow and Lana had, just he was good at getting involved as a supporting character. On paper the setup could have worked.

 

[beanDude]

Want a really unpopular opinion? I like Max. I thought his armchair critic personality felt justified since he isn't allowed to keep his own Pokemon yet, so it doesn't come across as pretentious. Especially considering how mild-mannered May is, it would have been boring if there was no-one in the group to occasionally give Ash a hard time.

 

[Litleonid]

Goh had the potential to be a good character, but the execution of his arc and his goal were poorly done. I don't think the route of catching all Pokemon to get to Mew works well at all and I think there should have been a much greater emphasis on research, similar to what we do in Legends Arceus.

 

[Blastmaster]

DP was unironically Brock's best series. He joined and did well in multiple competitions, had good focus episodes (both serious and non-serious), and was just as important for the villain arc as Ash and Dawn. Not to mention catching by far his best Pokemon (Croagunk) and his second best Pokemon (Happiny). Croagunk especially wouldn't be nearly as popular as he is if Brock was actually useless.

 

[DatsRight]

DP was unironically Brock's best series. He joined and did well in multiple competitions, had good focus episodes (both serious and non-serious), and was just as important for the villain arc as Ash and Dawn. Not to mention catching by far his best Pokemon (Croagunk) and his second best Pokemon (Happiny). Croagunk especially wouldn't be nearly as popular as he is if Brock was actually useless.

I kinda feel like DP was similar to Brock as it was for Team Rocket, in that they'd gotten so bad last series that the only way to really go was up, so the writers started 180ing it and letting them be effective characters. They still weren't GREAT but at least they were getting some solid moments now.

Many will probably say that Kanto was Brock's best, though the rest of the OS was serious downgrade for him. The issue is that Brock didn't get a whole lot of chemistries after Ash and Misty toned down Johto onwards. DP did better for individual moments for Brock but even then too often it was Ash and Dawn getting the lion's share of interaction time, both between themselves and other supporting characters.

Want a really unpopular opinion? I like Max. I thought his armchair critic personality felt justified since he isn't allowed to keep his own Pokemon yet, so it doesn't come across as pretentious. Especially considering how mild-mannered May is, it would have been boring if there was no-one in the group to occasionally give Ash a hard time.

That's not a bad mindset really, and truth be told I kinda preferred Max's brattiness to Bonnie's since Max often got reprimanded or comically punished for it when he went too far.

I think the issue with Max is that they didn't really go anywhere after that. He cooled down and became less arrogant halfway in, but that just put him in the background more, he wasn't even funny comic relief anymore. I think toying with the idea of him being in charge of a Pokemon like Bonnie got would have at least given some potential to develop around this personality trait, realising that caring for Pokemon is actually pretty hard and also let him fit in among the group and be more proactive. What's the point of having an armchair critic as a main character if they don't get thrown off that armchair?

 

[janejane6178]

Since ppl consider any male character in SM as a protagonist for some reason, here are my unpopular opinions of them:
1. The Kaki boy's design is not appropriate. Put on a SHIRT. It's disgusting and un fitting for a children show.
2. I like llimia's design and I dont think he was boring

 

[Teravolt]

Since ppl consider any male character in SM as a protagonist for some reason, here are my unpopular opinions of them:
1. The Kaki boy's design is not appropriate. Put on a SHIRT. It's disgusting and un fitting for a children show.
2. I like llimia's design and I dont think he was boring

Illima good. He got me into femboys.

Also.

Alola is Hawaii. It’s really hot. It makes perfect sense that some of the male characters aren’t wearing shirts because it’s

S C O R C H I N G

O U T S I D E

 

[ChampioN One]

Tracey's a good character and deserved more screentime.

 

[janejane6178]

Illima good. He got me into femboys.

Also.

Alola is Hawaii. It’s really hot. It makes perfect sense that some of the male characters aren’t wearing shirts because it’s

S C O R C H I N G

O U T S I D E

Then you are welcome to send me in PM evidence of children and teachers going shirtless to school in Hawaii. If i see such evidence I will be quiet about this subject from now on. Until then, I see this as a very inappropriate thing to do.
Also, Alola being hot didnt prevent them from censoring Olivia who wore short shirt. If it's so hot why cant a woman wear hot shirt there and a man can wear no shirt at all?

Anyway, adding another unpopular opinion:
1. Clemont is amazing and deserves more love

 

[beanDude]

Illima good. He got me into femboys.

Also.

Alola is Hawaii. It’s really hot. It makes perfect sense that some of the male characters aren’t wearing shirts because it’s

S C O R C H I N G

O U T S I D E

Getting sunburned isn't fun.

 

[Teravolt]

If it's so hot why cant a woman wear hot shirt there and a man can wear no shirt at all?

Anyway, adding another unpopular opinion:
1. Clemont is amazing and deserves more love

To answer the first question: Societal standards of modesty. For some reason, it’s appropriate for a man to go shirtless but not appropriate for a woman to wear chest-bearing clothing.

But…

CLELEY DOES NEED MORE LOVE <3

another example of a character who needed a spin-off series

 

[beanDude]

To answer the first question: Societal standards of modesty. For some reason, it’s appropriate for a man to go shirtless but not appropriate for a woman to wear chest-bearing clothing.

But…

CLELEY DOES NEED MORE LOVE <3

another example of a character who needed a spin-off series

Haven't reached seeing Straiton Gym in the anime but based on the games I can guess it also doubles as a fine dining restaurant. I'm pretty sure if Cilan took off his shirt during service it might make customers start to think they're in a different type of eating establishment...

Especially if he started pouring free wine for his tables...

 

[Teravolt]

Haven't reached seeing Straiton Gym in the anime but based on the games I can guess it also doubles as a fine dining restaurant. I'm pretty sure if Cilan took off his shirt during service it might make customers start to think they're in a different type of eating establishment...

Especially if he started pouring free wine for his tables...

kaskskakaakaaaaaaaaaaaaa

a

help

*blushes profusely*