G&C Podcast - Episode 178: Discussing The Pokemon Rivals!

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, on this episode of Gaming and Collecting, me and Alex are going to be talking about all of the Pokemon rivals from the video games. Kind of going over our thoughts on them and how some of the later ones are incredibly forgettable.

[00:00:12] It was an interesting list, I didn't remember half of them but you know, that's how it goes. But anyways guys, onto the intro music. I'm glad you picked that up. How have you been? Wonderful. Actually, you know today fucking sucked.

[00:00:55] Today, just, I went into work and I got an email and I mean, I was able to get it done but I basically got an email that was like

[00:01:04] Hey can you have a presentation done that would probably take you a couple days done in an hour and present it? And I was like, so I did it. And then I basically, oh I got an intern last week.

[00:01:19] Which was fun, I didn't really know I was getting one so I was like, I don't know what to do with you.

[00:01:25] So but I had her doing stuff but basically this morning I was like, I'm sorry but I'm just going to ignore you all morning because I've got to get this done. So I got it done. I did my presentation but then like, oh just everything just spiraled.

[00:01:40] I came home from work, well I stopped to get groceries and I learned that like don't go to Geistler's at 430 on Wednesday because oh my god it was a shit show.

[00:01:49] All the self checkouts were down. Like there was one self checkout in the one register so it was a madhouse. What else? And then I came home and my umbrella outside tipped over into my neighbors yard so I was like shit I hope it didn't break anything.

[00:02:04] It didn't break anything but it ruined my flowers. And I had to fix it and then I come home and boo is eating blankets. Why is she eating blankets? That's how my day has been going. She eats everything.

[00:02:25] Well she eats bugs which like I mean I don't hate because like I'm going to get to the bugs but at the same time ew. But like I have like that thing, you know I have that white little like blankety table-y cloth thing in the window.

[00:02:42] I freaking see her in the window like smacking it and I'm like what are you doing? Are you stuck? So I went to go help her. And then I look and she's freaking hungry. She's been eating. She eats everything. She's a badass. Cattle never ends Alex.

[00:03:02] No it doesn't. It doesn't at all. And then I was finally catching up to our podcast today which I listened to today. And then I'm still baffled how you've never seen the Josh Hutchinson meme. How have you ever seen that? The first time I've seen it. Alex.

[00:03:26] Like I see it all the time on Instagram and I go fuck you Josh. The first time I've seen it was today when you sent it to me. I've never seen that in my life. You need to see it with the music too.

[00:03:37] I don't do TikTok reels whatever that brain rod is. Alright you know what? I'm sending you. Because you need to experience it with the music too. It's just part of it.

[00:03:53] This is where Alex burped and requested I remove it from the episode. So I did. But you all still get to know it happened. I got it. I got it. Okay I found a video. Wait I gotta find a better one. This one's kinda shit.

[00:04:16] Yeah but um so I had to go. I don't care about your Josh Hutchinson meme. Guess what Ad? I just got a stream yard ad. Great. Just great. Um yeah so I had to go to the dentist this week.

[00:04:41] Yeah Bill has an extra tooth growing out of his bungle. I don't even know why I take you serious sometimes. Um you've taken me serious before? Like what? Yeah but. That's your fault forever thinking that was a good idea.

[00:05:03] Anyways I have wisdom teeth that are uh I thought I got lucky with that roulette but unfortunately not. You thought you had enough wisdom? That you didn't have to get them out but you didn't have enough wisdom is what you're saying. Whatever. They're your wisdom teeth.

[00:05:23] Oh Bill guess what I got? I got a book of dad jokes. Do you want your one? Not really. What do you call a moose with no name? I don't care. I'm not a moose. Anyways. Why is dad napping?

[00:05:49] The joke doesn't work when you're too high pitched and I don't hear a word you said. Wait okay. Let me find a good one. What happens when you put eggs on the shopping list? I don't know and I really don't care. They roll off.

[00:06:10] Yeah but in other words I'm gonna have to go for surgery soon so that's gonna be fun. I know and guess who's probably gonna have to drive you there and make sure you're see you being all loopy? Me! Yay. Me! I can't wait to take videos of you.

[00:06:35] Okay then I'm not editing it out the burp. No okay never mind I'm sorry. I won't take videos here. You want to hear another dad joke? No I don't. If you tell me another dad joke I'm gonna leave the burping. I win. Where is she?

[00:06:53] I hear her but I don't see her. She's eating your rug probably. No I just heard her. Oh she's over there. Are you sure you don't want to hear one more dad joke? Can I just say one more and it won't be done? No.

[00:07:12] One more and it won't be done. Please this one's a good one Bill please just one more and I'll be done. I promise I swear on poo that I will be done after this joke. If you tell it I'm leaving the burping. No no please just one more.

[00:07:31] There's a good one. There's a good one please. Please just one more and I'll stop. Your fate is up to whether this is good or not. I'm scared. Nevermind. Wait wait wait. What do clouds wear? What? Thunderwear. Do you look at the book of death? Oh my god.

[00:08:16] I feel like a demon trying to come up. Bill needs to lose his wisdom and I'm going to have to drive him to the vet. Mother of god what is happening right now? My cat is eating blankets. What? Sorry. Bill do you see it?

[00:08:42] That's a lovely nightlight you have back there. What are you drinking? A ginger ale. You're drinking water. I'm drinking big wine, spring water, 16.9 fluid ounces. Nobody missed this. What? Nobody missed this. Yeah they did! It's distributed by big white boots in Springfield. Bill we pass there every day.

[00:09:16] It's a product of the USA and the cap can be a choking hazard so Bill don't choke. 100% satisfaction guaranteed. I'm going to have to drive him to the vet. I'm going to have to drive him to the vet. Don't choke. 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Please recycle.

[00:09:42] Well anyways after that nonsense we do have a topic for today's episode. Yeah that's fine. I don't care like some people. Fuck you Sylphie. I'll edit it out but everyone will know it happened. No! You have to edit out the context too.

[00:10:07] No you're not getting that much out of me. Can I at least tell another dad joke? No you've already gone over your quota. But anyways so we're discussing, we're talking Pokemon again. Mom turn it off now. Turn it off now? She's already given up at this point. What?

[00:10:42] She's already left at this point. She's already, oh yeah she, well no because sometimes she might just have it on and not read the title you never know. No I mean she left after that travesty of a big opening. What? It's just everything. What was wrong with it?

[00:11:00] It's like our usual banter. Hardly, hardy, hard. Heebie heebie hee. Ho ho ho ho ho. So we're talking Pokemon again. In the previous episode we discussed all of the protagonists in the series which I'm not going to lie half of them I didn't really remember in the slightest.

[00:11:22] Yeah. So for this episode we decided we're going to continue on in that route because we still don't have any new Pokemon to talk about. And we're going to be talking about the rivals. The assholes as some would like to call them. Not all of them, no.

[00:11:42] They start out and then progressively go in many directions as this series goes on. So I guess the best place to start would be the original rival of the series. And that was Blue Oak. Blue Oak? Gary Oak! Known as Green in Japan because the names are stupid.

[00:12:10] Why make it make sense? Well no, it makes sense in Japan. We're the weird ones. Oh, sure. Yeah and if his design looks familiar it's because they basically reused it for Gary Oak in the anime. Who's supposedly 10 and driving a car surrounded by hundreds of women.

[00:12:32] I've never bought that at all. In the games he's not as... He's got a good V-neck going on. Well which version are you looking at? I'm on Bulbapedia so I'm looking at the one that is on Bulbapedia.

[00:12:52] I was going to say that there's no V-neck present in the picture at the time. Oh, I'm looking at his original photo. There's no V-neck there either. There never is. Where? That's not the photo I'm seeing then. What are you looking at? Mine's different. I looked up rivals.

[00:13:18] On Bulbapedia? Yes. And he's wearing a V-neck. Here, I will send you what I'm looking at. I want to know because I have no fucking idea what you're looking at. I just sent you what I'm looking at. Where? I put it in the chat.

[00:13:40] I sent you the Josh Hutcherson video there too. Oh that's his fire red leaf green. Yeah, I guess that's kind of a V-neck. Exactly. Not as...I thought you were talking about his sun and moon design.

[00:14:00] It's not a lot of design. Are you seeing all of the designs? How are you seeing that? You go down to gallery. Gallery? Where? You scroll down and there's the tab that's gallery of artwork. Are you looking on your phone or are you on the computer?

[00:14:22] I'm on the computer. You scroll down. It is not hard. I can't get it. Did I break the mic? He brings back the Google. Alright, the first design... It's Gary. He kind of looks like the villain from Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon R movie.

[00:14:50] I got to look...oh shit, I wasn't typing this thing. Tell me...just keep talking out. Phil is dead there. I swear he looks like Dave. Anyways, Gary is the original rival. Gary Blue. They're basically the same character at this point.

[00:15:09] Blue is the reason why the whole jerk-ass asshole mentality with the rivals comes from. He literally the entire game is always just showing up at weird times just to be a dick. His famous quote is, smell you later. Please look...this picture isn't doing as great.

[00:15:37] It's not moving. God damn it. He looks like this dude a little bit. This is what Gary became after he won the championship. The image you sent me didn't load. I sent it through Discord. I don't know why, but that's when I saw that design.

[00:16:05] It kind of reminds me of that. If he shaved his hair, I guess. That's not shaved. No, it's just cut. It's just Sailor Moon stuff. That's what it looks like. I don't know. I think his best design is the HeartGold SoulSilver design when he's a gym leader.

[00:16:25] I hate that design. I like his Capris design. I like the ones with his green capris. That was from Sun and Moon where him and Red show up in their 20s. He looks very much like a lady. It was Sun and Moon design. That was my favorite.

[00:16:53] He appeared in Let's Go even though there was a different rival in Let's Go. He did? Apparently. There's concept art. The top page artwork is his artwork from Let's Go. Oh, yeah, apparently. I don't remember that. I didn't finish it.

[00:17:19] I think what we're getting down to is this design is basic. It's not... basic. I will say his sprites in the original game are the best because his outfit changes in every sprite. He was just a weird edgy character.

[00:17:39] I kind of like Blue for just the asshole he is. He's not even an ass. He's just a jerk. He shows up and is just there to be a dick for no reason. Then he shows up in Sun and Moon and he's just a capris wearing mom.

[00:17:57] Yeah, he's there. We should probably talk about... I guess we'll talk about his reimagined... We're talking about them all. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Trace? Yeah, we'll talk about Trace next. Trace was the reimagined rival for Let's Go. He looks like a dork. Yeah, he looks green.

[00:18:21] I don't like the whole pants tucked into the socks look. It's a little much. Yeah, that's a look that some people go for. He looks kind of like Blue if he was de-aged a little bit and has just some smug bastard. Not as asshole-y.

[00:18:37] Yeah, not as much asshole, more just smug bastard. I just remember him being just an inconvenience in the game whenever he showed up. He wasn't really annoying. I don't have any recollection of him. I don't even remember the Bible at all. I don't really remember Let's Go.

[00:18:53] I guess that's where I'm getting down to is that I don't remember this little dork at all. Basically, he showed up all the same places Blue showed up, but he was just kind of there.

[00:19:01] You had your stupid overpowered Pikachu move so you just fucking annihilate him every time he appeared anyways. Blue there. Yeah. Moving on though now to probably the most well-remembered rival, Silver. And Silver is probably the most a-hole-ish. Emo! Emo! I don't even really get emo out of that.

[00:19:34] I don't know. He has the emo. I feel like his original design is more emo hair. Maybe a little. He just looks kind of like he's got that edgy look to him. He's got more of a feminine look to him in his redesigned art.

[00:19:53] Yeah, Silver is an interesting character. Famously, he's the son of Giovanni. So that's a thing. He also is arguably the head leader of Team Rocket. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. And the final gym leader in the original game.

[00:20:16] His crowning moment is he steals one of the Pokemon to start off the game. You can find him creeping outside of Professor Elm's laboratory. And if you talk to him, he just violently shoves you away.

[00:20:33] And all of his encounters, he's just such a dick every time he's there. He's got that emo boy energy bill. Honestly, up until a certain game we'll get to later, he had the best development out of any rival.

[00:20:50] Because he actually goes through a character arc and becomes a better person throughout the game. But as a rival, he's actually pretty effective because whenever he shows up, it's always kind of like, God fucking damn it. You actually have a fight that's worth a damn.

[00:21:04] You actually have to try in order to beat him, unlike some of the other rivals we'll talk about. Yeah. Speaking of which, so Ruby Sapphire and Emerald were weird with how they handled rivals. So there is technically a rival per se. Yes.

[00:21:24] But the game kind of doesn't treat him like a real rival. So the main rival in Ruby Sapphire and Emerald is Wally, who is kind of pathetic. I'm not going to lie. I mean, I'm just looking at his design and I'm going pathetic is what I see.

[00:21:45] Well, his arc is basically that he's super sheltered and sickly. And you have to... Now I feel kind of bad for calling him pathetic. Well, he is kind of pathetic at first. So basically you help him catch his first Pokemon.

[00:21:59] Then he appears a little bit later in the game and he still has just that one Pokemon, I think like one other. And you basically steam roll him. Then he disappears for the rest of the game and then suddenly appears right before you get to the Elite Four.

[00:22:15] And he has this really well-designed, thought out team that's actually pretty good. But if you play the game like I do, you're so overleveled by that point that you just demolish him anyways. Aw. But as a rival he kind of just exists.

[00:22:32] The actual kind of rivals for this game are actually your counterpart character. Where if you say played as Brandon, then May would be your rival. If you played as May, then Brandon would be your rival. And a bunch of games do that as well. It's a bit...

[00:22:52] Some of them do, some of them don't. I know May and Brandon were probably the most well-known ones that did that.

[00:23:00] And it was mostly just...they were essentially just kind of like roadblocks where you'd get to a certain point in the game and then be like, ooh battle. You're gonna fight me! Design-wise though, you can just watch our original Protagonist's episode if you want to hear more. Yeah.

[00:23:16] Go back and listen. I like their Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire designs the best. That's all I'll say. And Wally is... I don't remember Wally, so... He shows up three times. He wasn't very memorable. No, he shows up three times. That's about it.

[00:23:37] But you know what rival I do remember, Bill? Everybody remembers Barry. You know why I remember Barry? Because he was a fucking... No! This is one time when you could change the rival's name. You could change Barry's name. I always rename... I named him Buttface.

[00:23:59] And it is still Buttface in my game to this day. So whenever I came, I'd go, Buttface! I'd always name him like Jerkoff or like Douchebag or something. It was always Buttface. And I kept it.

[00:24:14] And I think when I replayed...when I played with Shining Pearl and Bluffable Diamond, I think I did rename him to Buttface again. I'm pretty sure I named Barry in my most recent playthrough, Crackhead. Crackhead? Because he's on Crack the entire game, I swear.

[00:24:36] He is in his hair. It's very...what's that guy from the man...what band is it? It's Flock of Seagulls. Yeah, Flock of Seagulls. He kills air. That's all I think of when I see his air.

[00:24:51] He looks like Chandler Bing whenever they went back to the 80s or whatever. This is legitimately his haircut, Phil. This is legitimately what it is. He has the Flock of Seagulls haircut. He does. I also like how his original design... Please include that in the thumbnail for this?

[00:25:14] I already made the thumbnail. We gotta go back and fix it because that's his hairstyle. I'm pretty sure everybody knows the style. I also like how they did the same thing where his original design, he had short sleeves for no reason.

[00:25:29] And then for his redesign for Platinum, they just gave him long sleeves. But it's literally the same fucking outfit. Just a long sleeve version. He actually pissed a lot of people off when he was first introduced. Especially because he actually infamously...

[00:25:50] One of his teams that you'd run into towards the end of the game actually was statistically stronger than Red from the original game. So they actually buffed Red up in the HeartGold SoulSoul Remakes just to make him stronger again. Oh really? Which one was it?

[00:26:09] It's one of his final encounters, I think when you fight him over on the battle zone or whatever. I just wonder if it's also dependent on what starter you choose. Because whatever starter you don't choose, they pick a different one.

[00:26:24] It was one of his weird off-pokémon. It wasn't his starter. I know that. Okay. Well no, no, I wasn't sure. But some of them change based on what the starter is, is what I'm saying.

[00:26:36] So if he picks Chimchar, he has Rose Raid for a grass Pokémon and Float Soul for water. I don't remember to be honest. I'd have to look it up again. But yeah, Barry's fine. He's definitely the most...

[00:26:55] Honestly, I kind of like him more now that I realize that he has the flock of seagulls haircut. So honestly, his buttface. His name is not Barry to me, it's buttface. He's also not a jerk. He's just an inconvenience at most. He's just annoying.

[00:27:12] He'll just pop up at a point where you're like, god damn it. And then he'll just go off because they're technically friends in this game. They're not really antagonistic. Well the next one is... The next game is probably the best.

[00:27:31] So this was the start of Rivals doing an idea that I really liked. So Black and White introduced an interesting concept where there was multiple Rivals, which I guess Ruby and Sapphire did first, but Wally is so inconsequential for the entire game. Well this doesn't count because yeah.

[00:27:51] Well no, he literally is so inconsequential to the overall game that it's like, I guess. But with Black and White they introduced us to an interesting idea where we had two main Rivals

[00:28:03] and then a third Rival who was actually the main antagonist that you'd find out later on. With Sharon, Bianca, and N. And I like the idea behind Sharon and Bianca where you would've... Well Sharon's kind of your stereotypical actual Rival where you actually have to...

[00:28:26] True. But the way they would handle it is before you enter the town you'd run into Bianca and have a fight. And when you were leaving a town you'd usually run into Sharon who would be the stronger one so you'd be kind of like...

[00:28:38] Which was really nice in terms of balance too as well because it gave you a lot of opportunities to gain more experience. There was a few occasions though where they would ambush you right outside a fucking gym with your Pokemon probably depleted and you'd be like, fuck!

[00:28:54] So you always have to remember to save before you leave gyms and like... That's what kind of makes Black and White so good is that you have to be kind of strategic about it and sometimes you're in those scenarios where you're like, fuck! Okay! I gotta fix this.

[00:29:10] And then N is his own interesting paradox. Oh but I want to talk about Bianca first because well Sharon is kind of your stereotypical Rival. He's kind of on the road with you. But Bianca I really like her story of like she's not your normal Rival.

[00:29:26] She's a little more timid and she's even like kind of going... Like she even has her own little story of like her dad doesn't want her, like her family doesn't want her to be going

[00:29:34] and doing the usual Pokemon trainer route. And she's like, no I want to. I want to be a Pokemon trainer. So it was kind of nice, you know, a nice little change up, you know? I like too that in the sequel she becomes a researcher. Yeah! Very fitting.

[00:29:50] And I actually do really like her second design, her Black and White 2 design. I like both of her designs. They're both fine. I think the second one is better designed. Well, I feel like the first one kind of fits where she's at at the time.

[00:30:04] Where she's more like timid, sheltered, doesn't really know what her goals are. And the other one when she's like, yeah, I'm confident. I'm a researcher now. So I like the designs. I liked Bianca a lot.

[00:30:15] She was very sweet and I was very upset when her Pokemon got stolen. And I was like, I am getting your Luna back or something. Whatever the Pokemon was. Sharon on the other hand, Sharon's story arc is weird. Like he kind of... Depending on...

[00:30:35] If you're playing as Hilda, which is the definitive way to play as Black and White. He has kind of like this weird tension with her at all times, which is like weird. But she also has tension with En, which is also weird.

[00:30:51] I'm telling you there's like a subtle romance plot. Very, very, very subtle. Like not very... If you squint, you can kind of see it. And that's like where it comes in. You are meant to play as Hilda. Hilda is the main character of this game.

[00:31:06] And Hilbert is just kind of there. But you're supposed to play as Hilda in Black and White. It makes some of the scenes make more sense. It's funny because the manga changes it up completely, but that's for another discussion. Sharon's okay.

[00:31:21] I find he's definitely the most serious rival we've had in a while. He's not really a dick. He's just kind of edgy. Then he becomes a gym leader. Which is very fitting. His gym leader design, I'm not going to lie. I'm not a huge fan of.

[00:31:41] What? What's wrong with it? The double tie bothers me. Oh, it's a double tie. Why is it two? I don't know. It just looks weird. It's double the professionalism, Bill. I don't know. He's the first gym leader you face and you literally wipe the floor with him.

[00:32:01] Well, he is the first one. With fucking Nate and Rosa. Who are the ditziest protagonist we've had. Probably talk about N though. N has the best character development I think out of every rival in the series. Oh yeah. He has a really cool design. The long hair.

[00:32:27] With the hat, the mystery vibe. He looks like a trainer. He's got that trainer look, but he also stands out at the same time. He's also 20 years old, I just realized. He's got a really cool design.

[00:32:42] And it makes some of those things even more uncomfortable now that I think about it. Yeah. Like the fact. His character is cool too, because he's the one that he can actually talk to the poke, communicate with the Pokemon. He can actually talk to them and stuff.

[00:33:05] Which is pretty cool. His story arc is fun because he's actually in his mind, his idea isn't bad. He has very good ideals, but he's being manipulated by the team plasma. Because his intentions are good where he wants to help Pokemon.

[00:33:25] Because he understands them and have them be free. But he's using the extremist methods that team plasma enforces, which doesn't work. But it's also the influence because he doesn't exactly know everything that's going on and what team plasma's true intention is. I love how his story ends too,

[00:33:45] because he literally realizes he fucked up and then just flies off. And he's basically like, I have things to do to learn. Yeah. And then you find out more. He comes back in black and white too. Yeah. And he's learned a lot.

[00:33:58] His dad comes back and he's dead becomes even bigger asshole than he was double asshole. Oh yeah. The biggest fucking bait and switch of that game to where it's like, Oh my God. I know this dragon. Don't get me started. This freaking boss fight.

[00:34:17] It took me so many tries to fucking beat stupid shit. Stupid asshole dad. Yes. So Alex, what are your thoughts on Hugh? I see Hugh. Oh, sorry. I saw just the little sprite icon. I need to see a bigger pick. That he looks like a Danganronpa character.

[00:34:46] Yeah, kind of. He's definitely. And that's my first thought is Danganronpa. He doesn't quite have the same spike value as Nate, but it's, it's up there. He looks more black and white too. Or he looks like he looks like a Danganronpa character or a Digimon character.

[00:35:09] He doesn't look like a Pokemon character. Does it look like he looks like he's in the wrong anime slash game? Like sir, you're lost. Yeah. Hugh was okay. He was interesting to me because he he's like the least like he's

[00:35:27] he's basically just, he's not even really like a rival in like the sense that he's antagonistic. He's literally just kind of your bro and he just shows up at times. Yeah, I don't remember him. I kind of didn't, I thought that black and white too didn't have a

[00:35:43] rival. So he barely barely a rival. Yeah. He wasn't very memorable for me and he just doesn't look like a Pokemon character. I'm seeing more Danganronpa character. Yeah. So X and Y now. Oh, your favorite characters here. Callum. Fuck you Callum. You know what?

[00:36:06] That's probably why I hate him too because I kept having to deal with him in my cause I was Serena. So, but this is where you had four rivals, which is stupid. Technically, technically only three because you the, the redheaded guy. Yeah.

[00:36:20] So basically the game does the same thing as Ruby and Sapphire where the, where the, the unused protagonist is the other rival in this game. Kind of the main rival. So is, is your alternate character. So in the case, if you play as Callum, it's Serena.

[00:36:36] If you play Serena, it's Callum. Then you also get Shana and. Here, no. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Shana and. Here, no. Yep. And Tierno is supposed to be like the Bianco where he's kind of pathetic. You only face him like, like twice.

[00:36:54] And he just kind of exists. Shana is more of like your buddy character. Like she's more the she, she appears. She honestly is more helpful than a rival at times. Cause like in the one. Uh oh. What? My screen just flashed for a second. But we're still here.

[00:37:15] So you're frozen on my end, but I can still hear you. So, okay. That's still recording. So whatever. We're not using the video, but anyways, broken. I'll just be, I'll just be on, like on you again. That's fine. Yeah.

[00:37:37] Shana though, just kind of like, I always think of like that first dungeon where she's literally just a portable Pokemon center that just follows you around. Cause that was the point where I realized I'm like, wow, X and Y is a fucking cakewalk. Yeah.

[00:37:51] I know I'm thinking about it. I remember that I'm like, oh yeah. That's what she was. She was, she wasn't a rival. She was just your helper. When you fought her a couple of times, but it was like never a real challenge.

[00:38:05] I think the only time she would have been a challenge is maybe the last fight because she has a dragon. But other than that, yeah. Not really. Ew. I forgot how fricking ugly the grass Pokemon final form is in this game. Chestnut. Oh, it's Buzz Lightyear. That's gross.

[00:38:26] Why do you think that? It's so ugly. Sorry. I kind of forgot that that existed. Yeah. I also like how Shana and Cheernose designs are super cartoony and then like Kalam and Serena have these super detailed designs. It's like, what an odd contrast.

[00:38:45] Interesting idea, but X and Y I think has probably one of the weakest lineups of rivals. Yeah. They kind of, no, they're not really rivals. They're just kind of there. Like most things in X and Y it had a lot of ideas,

[00:39:00] but none of them were fully realized. Yep. Moving on though now. Okay. So you're going to have to help me with this one, Alex, because I'm going to be the one who's going to be fighting. I'm going to be fighting. I'm going to be fighting. So. All right.

[00:39:15] Moon territory. So I can. So the first one, he is your normal little buddy rival. But is that, I think his dad, his grandpa is like one of the Island heads and something. So. But he's just, he's your little friend that falls you around and he's nice.

[00:39:32] I mean. I'm not sure. Is he your rival or is he just a guy that you know? Yeah, he's definitely a rival. You fight him at least. Let me see. There is. You fight him about eight times. So yeah, he's your rivalry.

[00:39:47] Like you fight him very consistently all the time. So as the game. Yeah. Is he a jerk or is he just a, or is he like a Barry Sharon? Like. Yeah. I mean, like you guys are kind of just like going through it together.

[00:40:04] Like, yeah, we got this. Okay. So it's kind of like other characters throughout the series. What about edgy? McEdge Lord over there. Oh, so that's mommy issues. He has mommy issues. Okay. His mom. So you, so in X and Y you also.

[00:40:23] You have, she's not a rival, but she's. She's a sister. So she's like, I'm just going to talk about her here because we're probably never going to talk about her other than that. But he has a sister and his sister is the one that kind of like. Yeah.

[00:40:35] I've seen this. I got that far in the game. Let me see. I'm trying to remember her name. Oh yeah. Lily. So Lily. I'm just going to talk about her now because like when else are we going to talk about her?

[00:40:47] But Lily is his sister and Lily kind of follows you around in the game. Oh, her full star. Oh, is it Lily? I'm going to. Oh, this is just her master's design. I want like her. Regular. Oh, non-string. The hat design. Yeah, it's down in gallery. All right.

[00:41:09] Well, I'll find it. Give them later. But yeah, she, she's kind of your friend. I can't really remember exactly how she interacted with me, but basically she holds on to the legendary Pokemon throughout the whole game.

[00:41:23] So she's just has it as a little buddy throughout the whole game. And eventually it kind of evolves into the legendary, which the legendaries are from like space or another dimension in this game. But their mom is like the villain character who's like trying to

[00:41:37] get the space creatures in the original game. That's when she like became one with the aliens and became alien monster. And you actually fought her, which was really weird. And that's probably why Pokemon got rid of it when they made sun and moon the other one.

[00:41:52] So this character he's mommy issues. He's away from his mom and he has his little special guy, Pokemon, the, uh, no guy. Yeah. Yeah. And I think you find them at the Pokemon league, but yeah, he just, he has mommy issues. Yeah.

[00:42:11] Rightfully so because his mom becomes a Pokemon monster lady. So yeah, he just, his daughter spikes alone scream edgy edgelord. Yes. Mommy issues. Oh, I'm trying to find, oh yeah. I found Lily's original design with her. But yeah, she literally goes around like,

[00:42:33] she's how you get introduced to, um, that's how she helps you find the level. Well, she has the legendary, like she was saving, like hiding it from her mom. Gotcha. Um, yes. The mom's name. Oh yeah. Which is like Lady Gaga. Ask fashion.

[00:42:54] And she becomes part Pokemon monster. Her hair is just a cape. Why is her hair a cape? I'm not kidding. And there's a really becomes like the bully, like you, you bite her. It's weird. Yeah. Sun and moon was a weird trip that I didn't like. Game.

[00:43:17] That's why they wrote it off. Yeah, that's why they fixed it with sword and shield. I never thought I'd face. Other rivals though. Like yeah, they, um, yeah, I don't, I don't really remember much about him except he was your little buddy. Okay. So sword and shield,

[00:43:32] I can actually talk about these ones because I've played enough of it at this point, but, um, Hop is annoying. What is his that his picture is just weirdly proportionate. Yeah. I will say hops a little annoying and I feel like there's a lot of them

[00:43:46] where he comes up and you're just like, Oh, go away. Like, To be fair though. To be fair, the player character of that game's design is bad too. So I'm not going to lie. I don't hate his design. I just like,

[00:44:01] No, he's got a better design than I do. His hop was a little annoying. He's, he's, he's like the buddy buddy rival though. Like not the, uh, The true rival of the game. It's also like his, uh, his brother is the champion.

[00:44:14] So he's like trying to, you know, become the champion. Um, The other rival was. BD who. Just shows up and is annoying. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

[00:44:31] Just shows up and is annoying. And becomes, well, they're just, well, no, they were working for, um, The, oh, have you, how much have you played? Not far enough. So don't spoil it. All right. Uh, I don't want to say it then, but yeah, I know they,

[00:44:47] they come back around that you'll get more. I don't want to spoil anything since you haven't played it yet, but, uh, Actually is a pretty interesting character. I will say. Well, the farthest I've got is I've been running into him like twice

[00:45:00] and both times he got super butthurt that I've gotten through all of his fucking. Diversions. Yeah. Um, yeah. You'll, they'll be back. They'll be back. I assume he comes off very much as the, uh, interesting. So I would keep it in your pocket.

[00:45:16] He comes off as more of the edgy rival for the game. My favorite rival of the game. Marine and her fucking simp army. Yes. Okay. The fact that there is a whole Pokemon, like, um, enemy team that is basically just fan club is amazing. Like that's wonderful.

[00:45:36] I've come around a lot to sword and shield, but fucking I hate team yells so much. No, I mean, yeah. I mean, no one will ever hit. No one will ever be team skull again. Just no one ever will. It just won't work.

[00:45:51] It's just not going to work. It's just not going to work. No one ever will. It just won't happen. That perfection that is team skulls never be back. Which team? Which one was team skull? You don't make my team skull. Were they in sun and moon? Yeah.

[00:46:13] I didn't get, I didn't get that far. Like I got like legit. Aren't so great. They're just annoying punks. That's what makes them great. Because like the mommy issues mom is like the main villain. And then team skull is just kind of there being like,

[00:46:27] why have the teams been so ass since pull it since fucking great. You take that back. Black and white had team plasma, which was awesome. And then we got team fucking flare, which is the worst one. Well, Team flare. Team team flare isn't,

[00:46:49] we'll have to rank the teams at some point, but yeah, we'll do that next. Team flare. Isn't the worst cause team yell is objectively the worst. No, bill. The worst one is in the final game. I have, I know literally nothing about that game. They're stupid.

[00:47:08] I hate them. I do like Marnie's design though. And I kind of like her as a character. Yeah. I love her. And I love her supportive older brother is wonderful. I just like how, yeah, he's fun. He's fun. I just liked how she's like chill. Like she's,

[00:47:27] she just kind of apologizes for the fucking nuisances around her. I'm sorry. I'm just trying my best. Yeah. She's, she's like, just wants to fight. She doesn't actually want to deal with any of that bullshit. It's a perfect representation of Sims. Yes. Yes.

[00:47:45] Now I'm assuming these are from the DLC for sword and shield. See, I'll see for sure. Wait, I don't see. Oh no. Oh my God. My screens keep flickering anyways. Oh, okay. Yeah. I have no idea who these are. I don't even know what these are from.

[00:48:12] I'm assuming these are, yeah. I'm assuming that these are DLC. Just based on the soccer ask uniforms that they're in as well. Yeah. Very colorful. They're very. But I don't know anything about them. So I'm not. I'm not really into Avery's giant top hat. That's an odd choice.

[00:48:33] It's very, I like her. I like a Clara's bow. I'm assuming that she's a poison and bug trainer based on her design. Her. Avery is a psychic. Trainer. I get Clara's face kind of just freaks me out of a little, it's a little odd. Okay. It's drawn. Yeah.

[00:48:55] Yeah, I guess I'll have to play the DLC at some point. I was on your hair going on though. She does. This is on his future. She becomes a Pokemon trainer. Yeah. So now moving on to Scarlet and violent, it's just the school uniform again. Yeah.

[00:49:09] That doesn't sound like a good sign. And like, I'm not going to lie. Like. I wasn't. Never. Whatever. The Mona. I don't know how to say her name. But. I think. I. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

[00:49:29] I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I. I thought that she was a little annoying. I don't know. She just looks like too much energy and it was just like, please take it down three notches. You're a little too much for me.

[00:49:45] Her design is fine until the shorts ruined it. What? The shorts are so. The school uniform. And I know. And I hate it. Found it. I mean, I guess not annoying, but like she becomes champion. And you're just like, cool. I don't know. I don't know.

[00:50:03] I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. But the champion wasn't very threatening. The champion before her wasn't. Hard at all. Like the, this game, it was like the elite four was so much harder than the actual champion. And then you fight. No. No.

[00:50:20] No. No. Yes. I don't remember. I don't know who this little twerp is. He's from the DLC for. Scarlet and violet. Yeah. I don't know. I think. He has emo hair. All right. He has emo hair. Kind of. Yeah, I guess he's got something going on there.

[00:50:41] He looks like a sad boy. Yes. It looks like he appeared in the anime though. The anime still going on. Yeah. I guess so. Not with Ash. That's for sure. Sure. Sure. Ask ketchup. No. Ashton. Ashton ketchup. Ashton. Ash. Yeah, I don't know.

[00:51:07] I thought she was kind of annoying and you were just like, I just moved in or something. Like I literally just started to live here. Can you please like give me some personal space? Yep. So yeah, that's the rivals as of now. There was more.

[00:51:24] But I guess there wasn't. No, there really isn't. I'm not going to rank them just because. Yeah. There's too many of them and they're such a. They're so inconsistent. I will say my. Yeah, that's the thing. Let's just say our favorite rivals. I think my favorite set.

[00:51:45] I'm going to, I'm going to rank them by set. I'm going to say my favorite. I think my favorite set. I'm going to, I'm going to rank them by set. Okay. My favorite set of rivals is black and white. Yeah. Same. Followed by.

[00:51:59] My favorite rival was definitely N. Is the best rival, but black and white. Yeah, definitely. Black and white has my favorite overall set. I think silver is my favorite. Overall arc rival. I mean, blue is iconic, but other than that, the rest of,

[00:52:15] I mean, basically all of them up to black and white are fine. Everything after that is incredibly forgettable. Sword and shield. Very buff face with his flock of seagulls haircut. Yeah. Like X X and Y is forgettable sun and moon is who cares? A sword shield.

[00:52:35] I think is a step was a step in the right direction. At least the original game. Yeah. I was like, yeah, Arnie. I like Marnie's design. Marnie is fun. I mean, all three of them are interesting. They're at least unique and they at least all do something.

[00:52:49] Like that's that's right. It's really making me see like how bland some of these characters are that I don't even remember them because like X and Y ones don't remember. And like I remember the rivals for sun and moon, but I don't remember.

[00:53:04] I remember the designs, but nothing really about them. It's kind of interesting going back because you're just like, wow, these guys weren't very memorable. Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, other than that, nothing much to say. The rivals are definitely not as interesting as the protagonist.

[00:53:22] We're going to have to rank the teams at some point down the line. We'll continue our. It would be cool to rank the champions. Champions would be a cool one too. Like champions designs are quite cool. And then we have to end it off by ranking the professors.

[00:53:38] And we got to bring the villain teams, the team rock. Yeah, but the teams I said the teams we have to do. Oh, OK. I kind of remember the team. Oh, well, he was a villainous team.

[00:53:56] I can't remember what the ones in the last one were because it's really bothering me. I like the pirate of Team Aqua. They're just. Well, yeah, because you love pirates. But yes, yes, I do. Team Flare. Yeah, I know they're we'll save it.

[00:54:14] We'll save it for the episode. But anyways, my computer is like my Internet doesn't want to play. I think Boba Peat is Boba Peat is all the Boba Peat is. That's why I do it on my phone because Boba Peat is such an unstable website.

[00:54:30] Yeah, it's like freaking out every time. I just need to know who the team what the team was called in the last game because they were stupid. They were dumb and I hated them because they were annoying. I don't even think they're considered a team.

[00:54:45] They're not even in the article of Team Star. It was just all the school uniforms with star glasses and motorcycle helmets. That's it. That's it. That's all it was. Team Star. So, yeah, that was fun. We'll definitely we'll continue with that. I never want to do this again.

[00:55:15] Oh, sure you do. But anyways, guys, she's probably eating the blanket again. You go check that. Anyways, guys, once again, thanks for joining us on the Gaming Collecting Podcast. Get out. Keep interrupting me. I'm going to leave the burping.

[00:55:31] Anyways, though, guys, you can find us on all the all the podcasting platforms, particularly podcast and Spotify. You can also find us on YouTube and you can find all of our links at Linktree slash The Barber Who Games.

[00:55:50] And if you'd like, you can find you can join us over at the GNC Podcast Network Discord server to find all things. You're still frozen in the same spot. Yeah, you can. You can join us over at GNC Podcast Network Discord server to find all things.

[00:56:14] GNC, 3Dio experience, geek addicts. And yeah, once again, guys, thanks for joining us. We will see you all later. Wait, wait, wait, I have just one more joke and it's fitting for what you're dealing with right now. What do dentists call their x-rays? What? Toothpicks. Good night, everybody.