>>46517923They really kind of are, though.
The unfortunate reality is that Leon isn't a bad character, but is poorly implemented in the story and has all the cool stuff badly expressed while simultaneously being shoved down your throat along with Hop for worse reasons. All of his interesting character aspects are hidden in vague cards for the duration of the main story, and Leon only becomes an outwardly good character with good subtle animations that convey who he is AFTER he's already lost the title.
Similarly, because of who Leon is and how he's written, he's practically forced to have Charizard as it's the only thing that fits him, yet Charizard is so terrible and lackluster in-game that it turns his boss fight into a joke and undermines his character and the climax of the battle by being an easily killed disappointment. Leon's team excluding his Charizard isn't that bad, honestly, but it does drag him down since everything else is weaker than it and it's supposed to be the real show-stopper and final challenge, resulting in Leon being unsatisfying to defeat because he's more or less a pushover.
Having replayed the game recently, Leon really isn't as bad as I remember him being, but only in regards to him as the character. The best way to describe Leon is as a pretty good character who is muddled by how the story and games choose to present him. When Leon is by himself and you're allowed to just learn more about him without his autistic shit of a brother screaming about him, he's genuinely pretty alright, and once you get to the Post Game he's really fucking good. If the Post Game version of Leon had just been the Leon you'd had throughout the entire game, he'd probably be the best champion in the series character wise. It's a shame.
>>46517591Unironically the easiest way to make Leon a more difficult fight would've been to just give him Mega Charizard X. Yes, I know, >megashit, but Zard-X is undeniably really fucking good.
