What is your tolerance for character incompetence trainer wise?

[SerenaRulez]

I don't like it when rookie trainers are shown to have a phobia of Pokemon like with May and how she didn't seem to like Pokemon that much. Serena is an example of a good rookie because she grew up around Pokemon and she knew the basics of training and raising Pokemon.

 

[Redstar45]

I don't like it when rookie trainers are shown to have a phobia of Pokemon like with May and how she didn't seem to like Pokemon that much. Serena is an example of a good rookie because she grew up around Pokemon and she knew the basics of training and raising Pokemon.

That point of Haruka character as she grew up and overcome her fear of Pokemon .

 

[DatsRight]

Character incompetence I tend to only find annoying if the plot seems to be trying to ignore it and get around having to give the characters any real agency besides what the formula allows. Characters' weak spots or follies should be acknowledged in-universe and help in making them more fallible, not just be the result of lazy writing or plot devices as Aduro pointed out.

The twerps being gullible to Team Rocket disguises I can pass as an exception, it's a cartoon cliche done way too often to care about now.

 

[Xuxuba]

I don't know, but BW Ash certainly crossed that line.

 

[Sham]

To be honest I tolerate just about anything that involves lack of knowledge because not everything that comes easy to others comes easy to everyone. The only problem I have is when well established character’s brains decide to take a vacation (BW Ash). In certain characters like Lillie and May...their reasons are fleshed out as to why they didn’t start out as knowing as much as the rest of the Pokegirls (lack of interaction with Pokémon) which from a narrative perspective I’m okay with.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I can handle new trainers’ incompetence most of the time such as OS Ash or May during the first twenty episodes of AG but I can’t handle someone as stupid as Cameron was. I mean even a Rhyhorn isn’t as stupid as that moron. First off he thought that the Unova League was being held in Johto. And then he thought that only seven Badges were needed to participate in said League when Ash knew that he needed at least eight to enter the Indigo League at least five episodes into the series and this was after he literally tried to catch a Pidgey using a shirt and throwing a rock at the Pidgey and it ending up hitting the Spearow thinking it would make it easier for him to catch that way. Cameron is about as a broken iPod and I’m not okay with that at all. With Ash you can excuse him for his stupidity for about half of the OS until around Celadon City Which was the fifth city that had a Gym because he had just begun his journey and had no idea about Pokémon or life outside of Pallet Town. Cameron traveled the entire region of Unova which is much bigger than Kanto and he was still too stupid to learn about type match ups.

 

[DatsRight]

To be honest I tolerate just about anything that involves lack of knowledge because not everything that comes easy to others comes easy to everyone. The only problem I have is when well established character’s brains decide to take a vacation (BW Ash). In certain characters like Lillie and May...their reasons are fleshed out as to why they didn’t start out as knowing as much as the rest of the Pokegirls (lack of interaction with Pokémon) which from a narrative perspective I’m okay with.

I think SM in particular was interesting in how it went for that 'everyone is good/bad at different things' direction. We had Ash failing miserably at tons of non-battling agendas the others were good at, which ultimately set him up for winning the Alola league AND exhibition match while some of the other students got curb stomped in early parts of the tournament. Nothing shameful in either case, it just wasn't what they had been training for the whole series.

I think if they'd tried to make everyone as advanced as Ash after spending all that time not working or battling besides a few jobber stomps, it would be more annoying, like they didn't have to put any agency into this (though I admit for some cases like Lillie it's a shame they DIDN'T train more throughout the series since they needed a bit more to do).

 

[Leonhart]

I don't like it when rookie trainers are shown to have a phobia of Pokemon like with May and how she didn't seem to like Pokemon that much. Serena is an example of a good rookie because she grew up around Pokemon and she knew the basics of training and raising Pokemon.

I don't think that Haruka had a phobia of Pokemon per se. Haruka seemed more neutral about Pokemon overall in the sense that she just didn't think of them much at first, and she didn't set out on her journey with Pokemon training in mind. Serena may have had some prior experience with Pokemon because of her mother, but she was still an amateur for the first year of XY.

 

[Ignition]

I can handle incompetence at almost any level as long as it sets up the foundation for their development and isn’t used as a running gag.

 

[Leonhart]

I can handle incompetence at almost any level as long as it sets up the foundation for their development and isn’t used as a running gag.

I agree that progression makes initial incompetence understandable. Most characters go through smooth development and gradually grow stronger, although we've seen resets such as when Satoshi went to Isshu.

 

[Ubermuk]

I just like characters who grow out of their rookie phase fast and who don't take up too much time with their newbie mistakes. Everyone starts off new but some characters stay that way for too long.

 

[Leonhart]

I would like to see characters in between the two extremes. Iris was competent from the start and that’s why there wasn’t much place to develop her. Meanwhile Dawn started off with some trainer knowledge but then her focus turned to Contest appeals. I swear half of late DP is just Dawn practicing appeals one after the other.

I'd like to see more balance as well. I personally felt that Hikari was the most balanced rookie trainer out of the ones we've seen in the cast, although technically she had a head start that Haruka and Serena didn't have since she was already accustomed to what Contests were, so she already had a goal in mind before leaving Futaba Town.

 

[DatsRight]

I thought the whole point of Iris was that she had experience at early points but that led her to be very cocksure and overestimate her own abilities, thus not being adapt to standard trainer roadblocks like when her Pokemon disobeyed her or catching a very powerful and unruly one.

 

[Leonhart]

I thought the whole point of Iris was that she had experience at early points but that led her to be very cocksure and overestimate her own abilities, thus not being adapt to standard trainer roadblocks like when her Pokemon disobeyed her or catching a very powerful and unruly one.

That was her biggest problem in her past when she set out to become a trainer I suppose, but I still considered her to be competent when she first debuted in terms of overall skill at the time. Her biggest flaw at the time was that she was essentially sabotaged by her own Pokemon since her Kibago's problem was that he was still very young and didn't have much training, whereas Doryuzu was strong but didn't respect Iris.