>>37150362Disagree contests were great, they showed off an entirely different aspect of pokemon, they gave May, Dawn, and Serena to some extent, distinct tangible goals.
And gave us great, (trigger warning) diverse side characters like Drew, Wallace, Harley, Zoey, etc.
Where as all of Ash's rivals usually fall into the same, douchebag power is everything troupe, or have no personality at all, excluding Sawyer and Alain.
Diantha and Cynthia are actually just the same character, Paul and Tripp, Jackson and Eevee dude.
The Contest subplot was the most original thing to come out of the anime in a while.
