>>45054404>But rather than work it through organically nothing really happened right with either, they were sloppily and lazily finishedFor Hau, maybe, but Hop probably has one of the most complete arcs of a Pokemon character (though that's not a very high bar). He has a natural progression: wide-eyed until his confidence gets hurt by Bede right before Hammerlocke, gets frustrated and starts to cycle though members just to try and beat you from there through Stow-on-Side, gets some of his wits back about him after a talk with Sonia and battle with you in Circhester, leads into the league fight where he starts to have doubts again but nowhere near as shit of a mentality, slips again in the post-game when fighting Sordward and Shielbert, and finally the last battle with you in the Slumbering Weald where he decides to not excessively hound his brother's footsteps and largely follow a different path in Pokemon research, but still claims himself as your rival and still has a spark for battling.
He's annoying at first, sure, but he's an actually good character, which is more than can be said for most in Sword in Shield or even the entire series.
