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Assuming the Pokémon league makes its money like a real world league, by selling advertising and tv rights, then the intention of the gym system is to
a) root out shitters
b) groom and nourish potential trainers
c) present a cultural, regional presence to get people invested in the system and content in the first place
Keeping this in mind, it only makes sense that gym have different teams depending on the level of the challenger (judged by number of badges) - but it also shows that gyms are clearly meant to be beaten. They’re not supposed to win.
Now this next post is a bit of conjecture as well as a mix of anime and game lore, but I really like the idea of 8 badges qualifying you to a tournament against other trainers and the winner of that gets to challenge the E4 and eventually the champion. It’s just a cooler format and it solves the logistics of having every twerp with 8 badges running at the E4.
