>>36026585Blue would be a good rival if he had any character at all. Showing up and being a dickhead doesn't make him a good rival.
A rival is someone you stand with and fight against, constantly pushing and bettering yourself together. While it's true that Blue is very standofish and that does help in making you "want" to beat him, there's no reward for beating him. He doesn't change or grow up, he just throws a tantrum. We do see he eventually mellows out after 3 years - But that's what I'm saying. Put that stuff IN the game and then I'll be interested.
That's why Silver is a good rival. He's a complete fucking asshole but he actually grows as a character, even if its generic, its better then the pile of nothing Blue is. Same with Wally. He's not a total jerkoff, but the fact he actually grows and gets stronger each time you face him is what makes me want to keep running into him. I don't just roll my eyes like I do when Blue shows up.
Hau had so much potential to be a good rival. During the Aether Invasion arc he has this little moment when he realizes Pokemon battles aren't always some fun happy go lucky thing. If they had just run with that a bit more then one off hand mention they could have had Hau go from some goofy happy go lucky guy to a respectable rival. Kind of like Judai from Yugioh GX when he realized dueling isn't always fun after spending so much time dueling with lives at stakes.
Same reason why Gladion was a good rival, he grows up as a character over your few encounters with him.
Again, there's nothing wrong with a jerkass rival. Just give them some more substance then just being an asshole otherwise in my opinion they are just as boring as the XY rivals.
