>this dumb manchild with a Charizard fetish and horrendous fashion sense is supposed to be the greatest trainer of all time
This is lame as shit. This makes everyone else in the setting look like an utter idiot for being unable to beat a guy who can't find his own ass on a map. The entire Pokemon world itself is degraded and humiliated by having Leon in it. I would've accepted virtually anyone else being the greatest Champion to ever live, even someone as cardboard as Diantha, over this overgrown twerp. He doesn't even do anything that isn't Pokemon battling. What's his purpose outside a Pokemon world? Who knows, at least someone like Steven would still collect shiny rocks. Fuck me, during prerelease, everyone thought Leon was a fraud because he was revealed so early, had his ace be a Charizard, and was dressed up in a cape with more sponsorship ads on it than a race car. Surely, we all thought, Game Freak wouldn't be stupid enough to play the "greatest trainer ever" schtick straight, right? Especially not with a guy who's like this? But of course they did. Of course they did.
I really can't overstate how much this guy sucks. He's not a character, he's a marketing gimmick, the kind that parodies are made out of. The Charizard, the chipper attitude, the "heroism", the "himbo" (dumbass) traits, the rivalry with Raihan, his strongest Champion ever status, it's all made up for marketing purposes in a cynical, calculated attempt to engage audiences. For some it's worked, just look at all the Leon/Raihan fanfics infesting AO3. But it's failed for most because he's blatantly artificial, looks like a clown and every other Champion is leagues cooler than him. Compare him to someone like Lance and its night and day. Why pick Leon over 90s anime cool dude and dragon tamer Lance, or well-dressed Steven, or even wandering wiseman Alder? Damned if I know. Looking at /vp/, some sort of contrarianism against Cynthia or excuse to post like an idiot from /dbs/, I guess.
