It's been awhile since I've done an article,but that's because I was too busy with my personal life.But now that I have time to finally write more articles,I'm back with a list that I've been thinking of doing in the past.
Pokemon has always been a character-heavy series,both human and Pokemon wise.
,so it can be tough for a character to stand out especially when every game has its own set of Gym Leaders.But there are couple that stand out in my memory than others.
Now before we start,let's get a few things out of the way first:
1.Video-Game canon only.All of these characters appear in the games,anime and manga,each sporting a slightly different personality and story across each.Sabrina for example,I really liked her in the anime,but didn't really care for her in the games.So I decided to play fair and keep everything in the Pokemon franchise's main plot-line.
2.Like I said,if you happen to dislike my choices or disagree with my list,just remember that just because you disagree with me,doesn't mean that I won't respect your opinion,or you as a person.
Now let's start with the list:
10.Lt.Surge a.k.a The Lighting American (Vermillion Gym);
Lt.Surge is one bad ass Gym Leader.Let's look past the fact that in HeartGold SoulSilver he looks remarkably similar to Guile from Street Fighter and just look at the facts.
Lt. Surge is known as The Lightning American.Apparently,he is or was an American soldier who fought in at least one war,during which Electric-type Pokémon saved his life.As a member of the army,Surge was a strict CO,and was rather cautious.He was a pilot as well,and used Electric-type Pokémon to power his planes,a practice that in at least one occasion saved his life.Also,Surge saved the life of one of the Trainers in his Gym who was in the army at the same time.
A little paranoid, Lt. Surge installed a series of traps in the Gym. He takes a liking to Trainers with a lot of guts.
The possiblity and fall out of a past Pokemon war has been a fan-topic for years,but just let that sink in.
He also has the most mind-numbing frustrating Gym ever.Found a switch,second switch is a Jason to the first,mess up,sorry but you have to do it all over again.He's quite insane and that's what makes him such a fun character for me.
Aside from the whole mystery of being a war veteran and all,it's also another factor about him that he's a war veteran always intrigued me.
In HeartGold and SoulSilver after getting Surge's number,you can meet him at the Magnet Train Station in Saffron City where he will offer to trade a special French Pikachu (Volty) for a regular one.Why French? I don't know,maybe it's from Kalos,but seeing that he's called as "The Lighting American",maybe it's not that simple as you might think it is.
Surrounded in mystery,legacy and muscles,this guy is truly one of my favorites.
9.Burgh a.k.a Premier Insect Artist (Castelia Gym);
He is a skilled painter and a Bug-Type specialist.Burgh's Gym is modeled after a beehive and features many of his works of art.He is friends with Lenora.In Black 2 and White 2,Burgh is still the Castelia Gym Leader,but his Gym is now coated in silk from cocoons.The top floor is entirely smothered in paint.
The reason why I put Burgh here it's because he actually reminds a lot about myself.
I love art,after I finish university I want to become either an animator or a fashion designer.
And the fact that he looks a little feminine,has a lot of compassion and even helps you out in both Black and White and Black 2 and White 2.I share these traits with him,and seeing that in a trainer is interesting to me.
Plus his signature Pokemon is a Leavanny which is my favorite Bug-Type Pokemon,I even used one last year in my first playthrough of Pokemon Black.
I enjoy him as a character because he reminds me a lot of myself,so that earns him a spot on my list.
8.Roxie a.k.a Poison days,poison on the stage! (Virbank Gym).
Just like most Gym Leaders in Unova,Roxie is more interesting for her story rather than the battle itself.She's a member of a Rock-Band performs in her Gym and also the Gym Leader.Her father is a captain of the fairy that goes from Virbank to the Main-land,but much like his daughter he has 2 responsibilities,he inspired to become a movie-star at PokeStar Studios.Unfortunately,he's not as good at balancing 2 passions and Roxie gets frustrated with her Father ignoring his duties as a captain.He thinks even though Roxie can do 2 things that she loves,then why can't he?
One of the weird things about growing up is worrying about your parents looking after them.And the way Roxie looks after her father is a great example of that.Itțs universal that's hard to deal with sometimes which makes Roxie quite relatable.But at the same time weather she worries about him or not,he figures out for himself to what to do and Roxie learns to let go and let him do what he wants,sort of.
It's a cute story and to me it makes Roxie stand out even more than that catchy tune of hers!
7.Fantina a.k.a. The Alluring,Soulful Dancer (Hearthome Gym);
Fantina is fabulous and I can't deny how much I really like her.
In the English versions of the games she speaks in broken English with French mixed in.In the Japanese versions,she speaks broken Japanese with English mixed in.And in the French version she speaks broken French with English mixed in.In every play she's meant to be a foreigner.
To native speakers hearing foreign people trying to speak their language and making mistakes is cute.,and we tend to underestimate their intelligence because they had trouble communicating.Even though learning other languages is actually really hard.I'm honest here,I live in the country of Romania and I've been studying French ever since I was in the fifth grade and I'm still garbage at both of them.It takes a lot of dedication and brain power to learn another language and use it properly.And because the internet is mostly in English,I had to learn the language and now I'm very fluent at it.
Even if Fantina makes mistakes,you know she's smart and hard-working just so she can be good at what she does.She even learned about Pokemon to become a Gym Leader.And if that wasn't enough,her Gym is filled with Math puzzles (In Diamond and Pearl), and while I'm pretty good at Algebra,I suck at Geometry.And seeing something as hard as Math in a game from a franchise that I love dearly is kind of weird.
Fantina might be charming and cute native speakers such as myself,but don't underestimate her.She's still probably the smartest Gym Leader in all of Sinnoh.
What I also really like about her is how elegant she is,which is always a bonus for me.
6.Blue (Viridian Gym);
With Giovanni out of the picture in the second generation,Blue ended up taking the position of the Viridian City Gym Leader.
Now believe it or not but I actually wanted to have Giovanni on my list too.He went from being the leader of a crime organization who thought of Pokemon as nothing but tools for business,to a man who realized the anger of his ways and became a better person.But after I played the Celebi event in HeartGold a few weeks back,I was kind of wrong about Giovanni.He actually WANTED to return to his team and be the leader again,which doesn't make sense in the least.So that's why I didn't put him on the list.
Okay,back to Blue.
What's interesting about Blue is that he actually develops a little over time.Blue goes from an arrogant but skilled brat who cared more about his personal image,to a defeated champion who realized that he has room to grow.
He's also the only single Gym Leader that doesn't have a specific Type theme around his Pokemon team (Which is weird,considering the badge he gives when he's defeated is called the EARTH Badge!).
Either way you look at it,making Blue,a defeated champion and your formal rival into a Gym-Leader,was great in every way of the word.
5.Brycen a.k.a Ice Mask (Icirrus Gym);
Brycen is interesting to me.Before he was a Gym-Leader,Brycen was a movie-star,but retired from acting after injuring himself during the filming of a reckless action scene.Unsure of what to do with himself,he took the advice of Alder and became a Trainer.He traveled alone in an icy cave and trained in silence to gain as much knowledge as possible.Brycen also places importance on concealing his true identity from others (which is something that I can relate to).He later decided to return to acting following the downfall of Team Plasma's first incarnation,hoping to communicate the need for a bond between Pokemon and people with his films.
What's interesting about Brycen to me is that he had a career and a dream.However that career was taken from him by the very thing he was good at.I can relate to this because I'm quite good at writing and playing games.When I tried to finish a game that I downloaded and played on an emulator,sometimes it crashed because of something that I did like the using of too much cheat-codes and seeing that that was something that I was good at made it harder for me.The same thing happened with writing articles.
But after Team Plasma's defeat,he learned how strong a bond between a Trainer and its Pokemon can be and he returned to acting to teach the lesson he learned to others by doing to one thing he's good at.
Anyone with a career eventually have to face something that will bring it down.And seeing that Brycen lost his career,started a new one,learned a valuable lesson and returned to his old career to spread what he learned to others.
That's very admirable in my opinion.
I also really like his design and that he's a good martial artist.Which kind of reminds me of Bruce Lee actually.
4.Cheren a.k.a The one who seeks the right path. (Aspertia Gym);
Blue wasn't the only rival who became a Gym Leader in the next game,but in my opinion,Cheren was the more developed of the two.
While Bianca represented The Truth and was able to be realistic about her abilities,Cheren represents ideals.And despite doing the best as your rival in the game,he never gives up and keeps trying,even to the point of frustration.Even near the end of the first Black and White games,he forces you to battle him every single opportunity he gets in hope that some day he'll win.Which makes him more of an archetypal rival on his own,but it's his contrast to Bianca that really makes him feel whole and stand out.
For this reason,the fact that he becomes a Gym Leader makes his conclusion all the more satisfying.
Bianca saw herself as not the best Trainer so she gave up and took the job as Professor Juniper's assistant and she finally got it.Cheren stayed on the same path no matter what and he still ended up being happy.
The sad thing is that despite being such good friends at the beginning of the first Black and White,in the story of Black 2 and White 2,Bianca and Cheren don't seem to be stayed in touch despite living in the same city,just because their past took them in different ways in life.
Sometimes following your dream does mean that you'll drift away from the people that you are close to,but your ambitions will expose you to many more people and ideals that will help you grow.
Your old friends can still be happy even if you're not close anymore.
Cheren and Bianca went down 2 very different paths but still ended up right where they needed to be.
3.Elesa a.k.a The Shining Beauty (Nimbasa Gym);
Generation 5 really went out of it's way to give each one a personality and a story of their own that makes them feel more human.Elesa happens to tie in with another character that I'm very fond of,Bianca.
When Bianca reaches Nimbasa City,her father finds her and convinces her to give up being a trainer and come home.Bianca isn't the most eloquent speaker,so when she has trouble convincing her father,Elesa steps in and has her back.She has faith in Bianca,both as a person and a Trainer even if Bianca's father doubts her.And she gives Bianca the courage to stand up to him.
It's a great moment in the game not only for Bianca but also for Elesa.
It would've been easy to write Elesa down as a simple stop on your way to The Elite Four,but that scene with Bianca humanizes her.That she shows compassion for others and gives her dignity.Generation 5 does this with almost all of the Gym Leaders,but I think that scene in peticular is a perfect example on how to inform a character well in a short amount of time.
In past Pokemon games and in X and Y,Gym Leaders were a little more than Boss Battles,and aside from 1 or 2 lines of dialog they couldn't let their personalities shine through.While that scene with Bianca manages to go with 3 different characters,Bianca,Bianca's father and Elesa.While Bianca's father might be on the wrong ultimately,but he just cares about his daughter and doesn't want her to get hurt.Bianca might not be great at battling,but she just wants to continue on her journey so she could learn.And Elesa empathizes with strangers and stands up for those in need.It really shows how far Pokemon Games have come when telling stories (that is except for X and Y's main story which was downright forgettable).
It's a fantastic moment in a flawed but still amazing Generation of Pokemon games.
And also,those Volt Switching Emolgas.
2.Norman a.k.a. A man in pursuit of power! (Petalburg Gym);
The fact that you have a father in a Pokemon game is amazing on its own,but being able to battle him and receive a Gym Badge is what makes him so memorable.Norman the Normal-Type expert moved from the Johto Region to the Hoenn Region so that he could become the Normal-Type Gym Leader.
It's kind of cool that he followed his dream,but didn't leave his family behind to achieve that dream.After a very intense battle between father and his child,Norman gives you the Balance Badge.And it made perfect sense to name his badge the Balance Badge,because it shows the Norman had to balance being a father who wants you to succeed and an opponent who has to stop you from succeeding.
And as a normal father would,Norman proudly watches as his child escalates through the ranks,eventually coming terms with the fact that his child can surpass him in skill.
And as player,finally overcoming your father is a great moment plot-wise,where you realize that you and your team are strong enough to take on the world.
1.Drayden a.k.a. The Spartan Mayor (Opelucid Gym).
My all time favorite Gym Leader is none other than the man with facial hair,Drayden.
Let's look at first his role in the story.In Black 2 and White 2,Drayden not only plays an important role in the story,but provides a unique perspective that no one in the Unova Region has.
The Generation 5 Pokemon games were hugely introspective,in a way no other games in the series has been.They challange the series they loved and grew up with and though they're not perfect games,they're some of my favorites for this reason,and I feel like I'll get the chance to say what I think about them simply because there's so much to think about.Drayden knows what a time before Poke Balls was like makes him the link between the two sides of the story.He feels Pokemon and Trainer's should belong side by side,but at the same time he can't defend the use of PokeBalls either.
And again that was all about showing how things aren't so "Black and White",this is a valuable point of view,and not only does this make him interesting as a character,but also helps support the games major themes.Though Drayden isn't particularly memorable as a Gym-Leader,as a character he has valuable insight into Unova's past.
And the fact that he has an awesome design and that he specializes in my favorite Type,Dragon-Types guaranteed him a spot on my list.
What fascinates me the most about him is the fact that he said he lived in a time before Poke Balls were invented.
And the fact that he's an intelligent,observant,respectful,strong and mysterious trainer;
-the fact that he specializes in my favorite Type,Dragon-Types;
-the fact that he knows a lot about Unova's lore;
-the fact that he has a large beard;
-and the fact that his signature Pokemon is a Haxorus,which is an anthropromorphic Dragon that has a strong,thick armor and tusks that resemble a battle axe...
...leads me to believe that Drayden was once an honorable knight,but because of a spell of some sort,he stopped aging.
And while it is just a theory of mine and it wasn't confirmed,in my opinion,this is makes perfect sense for Drayden.
What's also interesting about him is that Drayden he's not only the Gym Leader,but also the mayor of Opelucid City,not to mention he trains by wrestling Pokemon,he's like Mike Haggar from Final Fight.
My only minor complaint is that you can't fight him in Pokemon White,only in Black,which is also one of the reasons why I preferred Black Version over White Version (besides getting Reshiram of course).I have nothing against Iris as a character,but I think Drayden being the Gym Leader makes much more sense.
So there you have it,my Top 10 Favorite Gym Leaders.It was actually hard to decide which one I like the best,but I came to a conclusion that I honestly find satisfying.
Most Gym Leaders are very interesting and I think they're fun to talk about ,even if you fight them once or twice in the games,they will sure leave an everlasting impact on you.
As always,Smell ya' later!
Pokemon has always been a character-heavy series,both human and Pokemon wise.
,so it can be tough for a character to stand out especially when every game has its own set of Gym Leaders.But there are couple that stand out in my memory than others.
Now before we start,let's get a few things out of the way first:
1.Video-Game canon only.All of these characters appear in the games,anime and manga,each sporting a slightly different personality and story across each.Sabrina for example,I really liked her in the anime,but didn't really care for her in the games.So I decided to play fair and keep everything in the Pokemon franchise's main plot-line.
2.Like I said,if you happen to dislike my choices or disagree with my list,just remember that just because you disagree with me,doesn't mean that I won't respect your opinion,or you as a person.
Now let's start with the list:
10.Lt.Surge a.k.a The Lighting American (Vermillion Gym);
Lt.Surge is one bad ass Gym Leader.Let's look past the fact that in HeartGold SoulSilver he looks remarkably similar to Guile from Street Fighter and just look at the facts.
Lt. Surge is known as The Lightning American.Apparently,he is or was an American soldier who fought in at least one war,during which Electric-type Pokémon saved his life.As a member of the army,Surge was a strict CO,and was rather cautious.He was a pilot as well,and used Electric-type Pokémon to power his planes,a practice that in at least one occasion saved his life.Also,Surge saved the life of one of the Trainers in his Gym who was in the army at the same time.
A little paranoid, Lt. Surge installed a series of traps in the Gym. He takes a liking to Trainers with a lot of guts.
The possiblity and fall out of a past Pokemon war has been a fan-topic for years,but just let that sink in.
He also has the most mind-numbing frustrating Gym ever.Found a switch,second switch is a Jason to the first,mess up,sorry but you have to do it all over again.He's quite insane and that's what makes him such a fun character for me.
Aside from the whole mystery of being a war veteran and all,it's also another factor about him that he's a war veteran always intrigued me.
In HeartGold and SoulSilver after getting Surge's number,you can meet him at the Magnet Train Station in Saffron City where he will offer to trade a special French Pikachu (Volty) for a regular one.Why French? I don't know,maybe it's from Kalos,but seeing that he's called as "The Lighting American",maybe it's not that simple as you might think it is.
Surrounded in mystery,legacy and muscles,this guy is truly one of my favorites.
9.Burgh a.k.a Premier Insect Artist (Castelia Gym);
He is a skilled painter and a Bug-Type specialist.Burgh's Gym is modeled after a beehive and features many of his works of art.He is friends with Lenora.In Black 2 and White 2,Burgh is still the Castelia Gym Leader,but his Gym is now coated in silk from cocoons.The top floor is entirely smothered in paint.
The reason why I put Burgh here it's because he actually reminds a lot about myself.
I love art,after I finish university I want to become either an animator or a fashion designer.
And the fact that he looks a little feminine,has a lot of compassion and even helps you out in both Black and White and Black 2 and White 2.I share these traits with him,and seeing that in a trainer is interesting to me.
Plus his signature Pokemon is a Leavanny which is my favorite Bug-Type Pokemon,I even used one last year in my first playthrough of Pokemon Black.
I enjoy him as a character because he reminds me a lot of myself,so that earns him a spot on my list.
8.Roxie a.k.a Poison days,poison on the stage! (Virbank Gym).
Just like most Gym Leaders in Unova,Roxie is more interesting for her story rather than the battle itself.She's a member of a Rock-Band performs in her Gym and also the Gym Leader.Her father is a captain of the fairy that goes from Virbank to the Main-land,but much like his daughter he has 2 responsibilities,he inspired to become a movie-star at PokeStar Studios.Unfortunately,he's not as good at balancing 2 passions and Roxie gets frustrated with her Father ignoring his duties as a captain.He thinks even though Roxie can do 2 things that she loves,then why can't he?
One of the weird things about growing up is worrying about your parents looking after them.And the way Roxie looks after her father is a great example of that.Itțs universal that's hard to deal with sometimes which makes Roxie quite relatable.But at the same time weather she worries about him or not,he figures out for himself to what to do and Roxie learns to let go and let him do what he wants,sort of.
It's a cute story and to me it makes Roxie stand out even more than that catchy tune of hers!
7.Fantina a.k.a. The Alluring,Soulful Dancer (Hearthome Gym);
Fantina is fabulous and I can't deny how much I really like her.
In the English versions of the games she speaks in broken English with French mixed in.In the Japanese versions,she speaks broken Japanese with English mixed in.And in the French version she speaks broken French with English mixed in.In every play she's meant to be a foreigner.
To native speakers hearing foreign people trying to speak their language and making mistakes is cute.,and we tend to underestimate their intelligence because they had trouble communicating.Even though learning other languages is actually really hard.I'm honest here,I live in the country of Romania and I've been studying French ever since I was in the fifth grade and I'm still garbage at both of them.It takes a lot of dedication and brain power to learn another language and use it properly.And because the internet is mostly in English,I had to learn the language and now I'm very fluent at it.
Even if Fantina makes mistakes,you know she's smart and hard-working just so she can be good at what she does.She even learned about Pokemon to become a Gym Leader.And if that wasn't enough,her Gym is filled with Math puzzles (In Diamond and Pearl), and while I'm pretty good at Algebra,I suck at Geometry.And seeing something as hard as Math in a game from a franchise that I love dearly is kind of weird.
Fantina might be charming and cute native speakers such as myself,but don't underestimate her.She's still probably the smartest Gym Leader in all of Sinnoh.
What I also really like about her is how elegant she is,which is always a bonus for me.
6.Blue (Viridian Gym);
With Giovanni out of the picture in the second generation,Blue ended up taking the position of the Viridian City Gym Leader.
Now believe it or not but I actually wanted to have Giovanni on my list too.He went from being the leader of a crime organization who thought of Pokemon as nothing but tools for business,to a man who realized the anger of his ways and became a better person.But after I played the Celebi event in HeartGold a few weeks back,I was kind of wrong about Giovanni.He actually WANTED to return to his team and be the leader again,which doesn't make sense in the least.So that's why I didn't put him on the list.
Okay,back to Blue.
What's interesting about Blue is that he actually develops a little over time.Blue goes from an arrogant but skilled brat who cared more about his personal image,to a defeated champion who realized that he has room to grow.
He's also the only single Gym Leader that doesn't have a specific Type theme around his Pokemon team (Which is weird,considering the badge he gives when he's defeated is called the EARTH Badge!).
Either way you look at it,making Blue,a defeated champion and your formal rival into a Gym-Leader,was great in every way of the word.
5.Brycen a.k.a Ice Mask (Icirrus Gym);
Brycen is interesting to me.Before he was a Gym-Leader,Brycen was a movie-star,but retired from acting after injuring himself during the filming of a reckless action scene.Unsure of what to do with himself,he took the advice of Alder and became a Trainer.He traveled alone in an icy cave and trained in silence to gain as much knowledge as possible.Brycen also places importance on concealing his true identity from others (which is something that I can relate to).He later decided to return to acting following the downfall of Team Plasma's first incarnation,hoping to communicate the need for a bond between Pokemon and people with his films.
What's interesting about Brycen to me is that he had a career and a dream.However that career was taken from him by the very thing he was good at.I can relate to this because I'm quite good at writing and playing games.When I tried to finish a game that I downloaded and played on an emulator,sometimes it crashed because of something that I did like the using of too much cheat-codes and seeing that that was something that I was good at made it harder for me.The same thing happened with writing articles.
But after Team Plasma's defeat,he learned how strong a bond between a Trainer and its Pokemon can be and he returned to acting to teach the lesson he learned to others by doing to one thing he's good at.
Anyone with a career eventually have to face something that will bring it down.And seeing that Brycen lost his career,started a new one,learned a valuable lesson and returned to his old career to spread what he learned to others.
That's very admirable in my opinion.
I also really like his design and that he's a good martial artist.Which kind of reminds me of Bruce Lee actually.
4.Cheren a.k.a The one who seeks the right path. (Aspertia Gym);
Blue wasn't the only rival who became a Gym Leader in the next game,but in my opinion,Cheren was the more developed of the two.
While Bianca represented The Truth and was able to be realistic about her abilities,Cheren represents ideals.And despite doing the best as your rival in the game,he never gives up and keeps trying,even to the point of frustration.Even near the end of the first Black and White games,he forces you to battle him every single opportunity he gets in hope that some day he'll win.Which makes him more of an archetypal rival on his own,but it's his contrast to Bianca that really makes him feel whole and stand out.
For this reason,the fact that he becomes a Gym Leader makes his conclusion all the more satisfying.
Bianca saw herself as not the best Trainer so she gave up and took the job as Professor Juniper's assistant and she finally got it.Cheren stayed on the same path no matter what and he still ended up being happy.
The sad thing is that despite being such good friends at the beginning of the first Black and White,in the story of Black 2 and White 2,Bianca and Cheren don't seem to be stayed in touch despite living in the same city,just because their past took them in different ways in life.
Sometimes following your dream does mean that you'll drift away from the people that you are close to,but your ambitions will expose you to many more people and ideals that will help you grow.
Your old friends can still be happy even if you're not close anymore.
Cheren and Bianca went down 2 very different paths but still ended up right where they needed to be.
3.Elesa a.k.a The Shining Beauty (Nimbasa Gym);
Generation 5 really went out of it's way to give each one a personality and a story of their own that makes them feel more human.Elesa happens to tie in with another character that I'm very fond of,Bianca.
When Bianca reaches Nimbasa City,her father finds her and convinces her to give up being a trainer and come home.Bianca isn't the most eloquent speaker,so when she has trouble convincing her father,Elesa steps in and has her back.She has faith in Bianca,both as a person and a Trainer even if Bianca's father doubts her.And she gives Bianca the courage to stand up to him.
It's a great moment in the game not only for Bianca but also for Elesa.
It would've been easy to write Elesa down as a simple stop on your way to The Elite Four,but that scene with Bianca humanizes her.That she shows compassion for others and gives her dignity.Generation 5 does this with almost all of the Gym Leaders,but I think that scene in peticular is a perfect example on how to inform a character well in a short amount of time.
In past Pokemon games and in X and Y,Gym Leaders were a little more than Boss Battles,and aside from 1 or 2 lines of dialog they couldn't let their personalities shine through.While that scene with Bianca manages to go with 3 different characters,Bianca,Bianca's father and Elesa.While Bianca's father might be on the wrong ultimately,but he just cares about his daughter and doesn't want her to get hurt.Bianca might not be great at battling,but she just wants to continue on her journey so she could learn.And Elesa empathizes with strangers and stands up for those in need.It really shows how far Pokemon Games have come when telling stories (that is except for X and Y's main story which was downright forgettable).
It's a fantastic moment in a flawed but still amazing Generation of Pokemon games.
And also,those Volt Switching Emolgas.
2.Norman a.k.a. A man in pursuit of power! (Petalburg Gym);
The fact that you have a father in a Pokemon game is amazing on its own,but being able to battle him and receive a Gym Badge is what makes him so memorable.Norman the Normal-Type expert moved from the Johto Region to the Hoenn Region so that he could become the Normal-Type Gym Leader.
It's kind of cool that he followed his dream,but didn't leave his family behind to achieve that dream.After a very intense battle between father and his child,Norman gives you the Balance Badge.And it made perfect sense to name his badge the Balance Badge,because it shows the Norman had to balance being a father who wants you to succeed and an opponent who has to stop you from succeeding.
And as a normal father would,Norman proudly watches as his child escalates through the ranks,eventually coming terms with the fact that his child can surpass him in skill.
And as player,finally overcoming your father is a great moment plot-wise,where you realize that you and your team are strong enough to take on the world.
1.Drayden a.k.a. The Spartan Mayor (Opelucid Gym).
My all time favorite Gym Leader is none other than the man with facial hair,Drayden.
Let's look at first his role in the story.In Black 2 and White 2,Drayden not only plays an important role in the story,but provides a unique perspective that no one in the Unova Region has.
The Generation 5 Pokemon games were hugely introspective,in a way no other games in the series has been.They challange the series they loved and grew up with and though they're not perfect games,they're some of my favorites for this reason,and I feel like I'll get the chance to say what I think about them simply because there's so much to think about.Drayden knows what a time before Poke Balls was like makes him the link between the two sides of the story.He feels Pokemon and Trainer's should belong side by side,but at the same time he can't defend the use of PokeBalls either.
And again that was all about showing how things aren't so "Black and White",this is a valuable point of view,and not only does this make him interesting as a character,but also helps support the games major themes.Though Drayden isn't particularly memorable as a Gym-Leader,as a character he has valuable insight into Unova's past.
And the fact that he has an awesome design and that he specializes in my favorite Type,Dragon-Types guaranteed him a spot on my list.
What fascinates me the most about him is the fact that he said he lived in a time before Poke Balls were invented.
And the fact that he's an intelligent,observant,respectful,strong and mysterious trainer;
-the fact that he specializes in my favorite Type,Dragon-Types;
-the fact that he knows a lot about Unova's lore;
-the fact that he has a large beard;
-and the fact that his signature Pokemon is a Haxorus,which is an anthropromorphic Dragon that has a strong,thick armor and tusks that resemble a battle axe...
...leads me to believe that Drayden was once an honorable knight,but because of a spell of some sort,he stopped aging.
And while it is just a theory of mine and it wasn't confirmed,in my opinion,this is makes perfect sense for Drayden.
What's also interesting about him is that Drayden he's not only the Gym Leader,but also the mayor of Opelucid City,not to mention he trains by wrestling Pokemon,he's like Mike Haggar from Final Fight.
My only minor complaint is that you can't fight him in Pokemon White,only in Black,which is also one of the reasons why I preferred Black Version over White Version (besides getting Reshiram of course).I have nothing against Iris as a character,but I think Drayden being the Gym Leader makes much more sense.
So there you have it,my Top 10 Favorite Gym Leaders.It was actually hard to decide which one I like the best,but I came to a conclusion that I honestly find satisfying.
Most Gym Leaders are very interesting and I think they're fun to talk about ,even if you fight them once or twice in the games,they will sure leave an everlasting impact on you.
As always,Smell ya' later!