>>33861965I appreciate Cyrus' backstory most, as it leaves me wondering - since his grandparents in Sunyshore say he had a relatively nice childhood - what drove him to have such extreme views? Unlike N and Lysandre after him, its not an ideological conviction - its something very primal thats shifted, and thats a bit more interesting to me. Moreover, I really appreciate that he was the first villain not to go back on his convictions, unlike Archie/Maxie and somewhat Giovanni before him - sort of the first villain that felt mature; not kid-friendly. His quest to overcome emotion and to devote himself to rationality was also very appealing to me as a teenager back when D/P were released, so even if I see it as a bit shortsighted now, its something I still fondly remember.
As for SM, its as simple as myself being a life-long Pokemon fan desu. Every game is an improvement on the last for me. Sure, there are features I miss from previous iterations, or that I hate from SM itself, but overall, its a series that I see as building upon itself, not as one of individual games competing to be called the epitomy of pokemon games, or otherwise the best. And as much as I know the games do fall short of the headcanon that I have, I love the worldbuilding most of all, and as such will always love most the latest iteration of the mainline series. There are regions, or characters, or pokemon, or what have you from other gens I prefer, but speaking overall, i prefer whatever is latest.
As for Koga, I've always thought him to be really cool, and that he developed to become an E4 member from a Gym leader always stood out as one of those rare but much appreciate moments in the development of the Pokemon lore. I was torn between him and Siebald since I am quite smitten by the aristocratic flair of XY, but I picked Koga since he was older - and I picked Illima over him as Gym Leader for pure vanity reasons.
