shoz999
Back when Tigers used to smoke.
In Pokemon Adventures, a lot of villains meet some surprising or even some downright mind-blowing conclusions to their character arc. It's one of the reasons why so many Pokemon Adventures villains are cemented as some of the most greatest villains of the Pokemon series but a part of what also makes villains awesome that I don't hear discussed a lot is how they are introduced and an introduction is just as important as their conclusion because an introduction to these villains most often tell us who they are as a character or at least who they appear to be such as their beliefs or personality and how they interact with other characters, if any at all. They are the hook that grabs the audience's attention and man are Pokemon Adventures villain introductions just so incredibly awesome. So let us discuss the incredibly awesomeness that is of the introductions of the villains of Pokemon Adventures.
So you got friendly villain introductions, spooky villain introductions, introductions that give us an idea of the condition of the villain teams, philosophical villain introduction and even simple introductions like Cyrus showing up for the first time as a shadowy figure from a far-off distance are memorable but for me personally, I think the best villain introduction I've ever seen in Pokemon Adventures is Lysandre of Team Flare and man, what a way to introduce a villain that's often considered by fans to be the weakest of the Pokemon villains of the main series games. Compared to the idealistic Team Plasma, the mafia-like Team Rocket, the insane Team Galactic or the ridiculous plan of Team Magma and Team Aqua, Team Flare is considered by some fans to be the weakest and even the most forgettable before the games were even released. So I don't think anyone was sure how Hidenori Kusaka could adapt Team Flare into Pokemon Adventures. Considering how lackluster Team Flare is in the games, the writer of Pokemon Adventures could've just done a more original idea for Team Flare like he did for Gen 2's Neo Team Rocket and fans would probably enjoy it anyway but instead he stuck to GameFreak's vision and expanded upon the game's secret society concept into a surprisingly deep and complex organization that's still able to maintain the spirit of Team Flare from the games.
With that being said, Lysandre's introduction to the XY crew of friends is just amazing because we see this through Trevor's point of view and it perfectly shows who Lysandre is as a character, as a very terrifying but also somewhat human character. As soon as he presents himself in the cafe, Trevor notices he looks like the man from the photo he's taken and it's here that Trevor grows from suspicious to downright terrified of the inventor of the Holocaster, the friend of the people who is simply sitting at the counter about to order some lunch and I just like how the panels show this fear step-by-step from questionable thoughts, to an uneasy nervousness, to shaking constantly, to rapid sweating, to Trevor just unable to speak to the man because his body is telling him to shut up and get out of there right now. This is all from Trevor's point of view and I just like that throughout this scene, Lysandre doesn't utter a single word that arouses suspicion, he's just calmly ordering lunch while all this is going through Trevor's mind. Instead it's mainly Lysandre's presence alone that speaks volumes of terror to Trevor because he looks like the man from the photo and he's here right in front of him and what adds to the intensity is that Trevor is the only one who feels this, his friends don't take his concerns seriously. They think Lysandre is just the friendly CEO of Lysandre Labs, not a suspicious figure they should stay away from. It's when Lysandre asks Trevor that could he look at those photos that he has that alarms him that he and his friends should get out of there right now and man what an intense scene. Could you imagine this animated with voice-work, music, perhaps no music, just utter silence as Trevor approaches Lysandre?
And it doesn't stop there, it's when Trevor finally convinces his friends to leave the cafe that Lysandre finally shows his terrifying side and sends out all his powerful Pokemon to trap them and the thing is your not really sure how this is going to play out. They are trapped, you can see that they are all absolutely terrified, and you know they just started their Pokemon journey really early on at this point so it's pretty obvious that their Pokemon are no match for Lysandre's. These kids have every reason to be afraid of this man as the only thing on their mind is what is Lysandre going to do to them and in one panel, he's portrayed as a shadowy figure with very cold-hearted eyes who responds in a calm tone that he only wants to see those photos, a stark contrast to his previous friendly and helpful character. You can really feel that these kids are very much in real danger and you can really feel the uncertain terror and tension in Lysandre's character moments away before it shatters apart when the Pokemon Champion, Diantha, steps in like some kind of protective parent to these kids and were suddenly reminded that Lysandre isn't invincible, he's still just human in every scene he enters, that he's suddenly not the strongest trainer around the cafe anymore, that he's backing off because he knows he can't win against Diantha but despite the disadvantage here, we see that Lysandre remains calm, shrugging off Diantha's concerns as if they were nothing. We can see that even though the uncertain terror that Lysandre was invoking moments ago is now gone, we see that Lysandre still stands tall and confident to an opponent he knows is stronger than him, that he shows practically no fear when the Pokemon Champion steps in. We also see a bit of his human side near the end, not through his friendly nature of gifting Trevor a Holocaster fixed and functional but through what looks like his very real fears of something else, foreshadowing something much bigger, his concerns of the future, ideas of beauty and society with it.
It's through this villainous introduction of Lysandre that we do feel a sense that Lysandre is a person that invokes an uncertain terror early on, remains undaunted in the face of someone stronger than him and in some ways it feels like that despite his concerns for the future. he intends to do everything in his power to win that in certain moments, like confronting the kids at the cafe, he does feel invincible and yet you, the audience, are still reminded that this person is still just a person like you and me which is pretty ironic considering the shocking conclusion to Lysandre's character arc. Makes one wonder if it's a callback to the first time that XY's group of friends met Lysandre and Diantha. Well. I think I've talked way too much about Lysandre, please tell me your thoughts on any villainous introduction you like to talk about!
So you got friendly villain introductions, spooky villain introductions, introductions that give us an idea of the condition of the villain teams, philosophical villain introduction and even simple introductions like Cyrus showing up for the first time as a shadowy figure from a far-off distance are memorable but for me personally, I think the best villain introduction I've ever seen in Pokemon Adventures is Lysandre of Team Flare and man, what a way to introduce a villain that's often considered by fans to be the weakest of the Pokemon villains of the main series games. Compared to the idealistic Team Plasma, the mafia-like Team Rocket, the insane Team Galactic or the ridiculous plan of Team Magma and Team Aqua, Team Flare is considered by some fans to be the weakest and even the most forgettable before the games were even released. So I don't think anyone was sure how Hidenori Kusaka could adapt Team Flare into Pokemon Adventures. Considering how lackluster Team Flare is in the games, the writer of Pokemon Adventures could've just done a more original idea for Team Flare like he did for Gen 2's Neo Team Rocket and fans would probably enjoy it anyway but instead he stuck to GameFreak's vision and expanded upon the game's secret society concept into a surprisingly deep and complex organization that's still able to maintain the spirit of Team Flare from the games.
With that being said, Lysandre's introduction to the XY crew of friends is just amazing because we see this through Trevor's point of view and it perfectly shows who Lysandre is as a character, as a very terrifying but also somewhat human character. As soon as he presents himself in the cafe, Trevor notices he looks like the man from the photo he's taken and it's here that Trevor grows from suspicious to downright terrified of the inventor of the Holocaster, the friend of the people who is simply sitting at the counter about to order some lunch and I just like how the panels show this fear step-by-step from questionable thoughts, to an uneasy nervousness, to shaking constantly, to rapid sweating, to Trevor just unable to speak to the man because his body is telling him to shut up and get out of there right now. This is all from Trevor's point of view and I just like that throughout this scene, Lysandre doesn't utter a single word that arouses suspicion, he's just calmly ordering lunch while all this is going through Trevor's mind. Instead it's mainly Lysandre's presence alone that speaks volumes of terror to Trevor because he looks like the man from the photo and he's here right in front of him and what adds to the intensity is that Trevor is the only one who feels this, his friends don't take his concerns seriously. They think Lysandre is just the friendly CEO of Lysandre Labs, not a suspicious figure they should stay away from. It's when Lysandre asks Trevor that could he look at those photos that he has that alarms him that he and his friends should get out of there right now and man what an intense scene. Could you imagine this animated with voice-work, music, perhaps no music, just utter silence as Trevor approaches Lysandre?
And it doesn't stop there, it's when Trevor finally convinces his friends to leave the cafe that Lysandre finally shows his terrifying side and sends out all his powerful Pokemon to trap them and the thing is your not really sure how this is going to play out. They are trapped, you can see that they are all absolutely terrified, and you know they just started their Pokemon journey really early on at this point so it's pretty obvious that their Pokemon are no match for Lysandre's. These kids have every reason to be afraid of this man as the only thing on their mind is what is Lysandre going to do to them and in one panel, he's portrayed as a shadowy figure with very cold-hearted eyes who responds in a calm tone that he only wants to see those photos, a stark contrast to his previous friendly and helpful character. You can really feel that these kids are very much in real danger and you can really feel the uncertain terror and tension in Lysandre's character moments away before it shatters apart when the Pokemon Champion, Diantha, steps in like some kind of protective parent to these kids and were suddenly reminded that Lysandre isn't invincible, he's still just human in every scene he enters, that he's suddenly not the strongest trainer around the cafe anymore, that he's backing off because he knows he can't win against Diantha but despite the disadvantage here, we see that Lysandre remains calm, shrugging off Diantha's concerns as if they were nothing. We can see that even though the uncertain terror that Lysandre was invoking moments ago is now gone, we see that Lysandre still stands tall and confident to an opponent he knows is stronger than him, that he shows practically no fear when the Pokemon Champion steps in. We also see a bit of his human side near the end, not through his friendly nature of gifting Trevor a Holocaster fixed and functional but through what looks like his very real fears of something else, foreshadowing something much bigger, his concerns of the future, ideas of beauty and society with it.
It's through this villainous introduction of Lysandre that we do feel a sense that Lysandre is a person that invokes an uncertain terror early on, remains undaunted in the face of someone stronger than him and in some ways it feels like that despite his concerns for the future. he intends to do everything in his power to win that in certain moments, like confronting the kids at the cafe, he does feel invincible and yet you, the audience, are still reminded that this person is still just a person like you and me which is pretty ironic considering the shocking conclusion to Lysandre's character arc. Makes one wonder if it's a callback to the first time that XY's group of friends met Lysandre and Diantha. Well. I think I've talked way too much about Lysandre, please tell me your thoughts on any villainous introduction you like to talk about!