Pokemon Emerald Snapshot: Brendan, Microaggressions and Jerk Rivals

Today, we're going to be looking at one of the less popular rivals from Pokemon's history: Brendan from Pokemon RSE. But first, what do we mean when we talk about "the rival" in Pokemon? The rival character is someone, usually from the starting town, who follows you around in your adventure and challenges you to battles.

The first two examples of the archetype were, to put it politely, jerks. Blue, from RBY, is a very schoolboy bully kind of unpleasant, constantly denigrating the player at every turn, boasting about how much more successful his own quest has been, and seizing the title of Champion before you and becoming the game's final boss. Silver (yes, these are their actual names, early Pokemon was kinda terrible at that), from GSC, was even worse, introducing himself by physically assaulting the player and stealing a starter Pokemon from Professor Elm, before generally being such a cruel and callous little tyke that the only reason he doesn't join Team Rocket is a combination of daddy issues and not being entirely impressed with how bad they are at being criminals.

Since then, Pokemon has kinda been at an identity crossroads when it comes to later rivals. Due to a greater understanding of the impact of childhood bullying, Pokemon has been shifting away from such characters and focusing instead on more supportive rivals, making the character purpose of the rival be more about what the rival is like and how they can better themselves as people- the latter of which was a direction that started with Silver himself. For a mixture of reasons that's beyond the scope of this snapshot, this direction has not worked for Pokemon fans. None of those later rivals have enjoyed popularity, or even likability, as Blue and Silver have achieved. Some characters, who aren't explicitly "the rival" but have rival-like buildup, enjoy an unrelated fanbase, although perhaps it's worth mentioning that most of the characters like this are girls with beloved romantic dynamics (equally strangely, always with the female protagonist).

Brendan is... interesting. As the rival that immediately succeeds the beloved jerk rivals, you'd think he'd be subject to the most scrutiny on the subject, but surprisingly, he often slips out of focus. Whenever someone complains about the low quality of "nice rivals", the list always tends to start with Barry from DPPt- and to be fair, they've got a point. Barry's hyperactivity, occasional bouts of bragging and attempts to fine the player ridiculously high prices for things like "being too slow" represents a clear starting point for the transition between "jerk rivals" and "nice rivals". So where does that leave Brendan?

No, the protagonist's name is not Bethany by default. Her name is May, and it's worth mentioning that, if you were to choose to play as a male protagonist, your rival would be May. Most of the subject matter I want to highlight today is highly dependent on Brendan's nature as a male character talking to a female protagonist, which is why I haven't been describing this as a matter of "Brendan/May", but just "Brendan".

(Also, before DPPt, all character names were written in ALL-CAPS. I don't know why this was, but the player is allowed to write their name in sentence case. I felt it less jarring if I fell in line with the game's standard.)

Non-Silver rivals are either your childhood friend or someone who wants to be your friend, depending on whether the protagonist lived in the starting town or has just moved in, respectively. May is the latter type.

On a tangential note, it's interesting that Pokemon has not settled on one or the other in terms of how to introduce the protagonist to the region. Both approaches have their benefits, and there isn't really a pattern of when the devs pick one or the other. I think I have a personal preference for "protagonist has just moved in".

Interestingly, he isn't.

Going upstairs is mandatory to trigger the next event flag: this scene with Brendan. I think he'll come in no matter what you do in this room (even if you go to leave it).

Pokemon uses silent protagonists, since it's heavy on role-playing as the main character. Sometimes you're implied to speak. Other times, like now, it sounds more like the person you're talking to is just guessing.

And right away, we get to the point of the update. Brendan is...

Kinda weirdly sexist?

Among other things that'll come up as we go along, I'm curious why he even thinks May being a Gym Leader's kid means she's a guy. The obvious conclusion would be an association with Pokemon battling and masculinity, but Hoenn's Gyms are nearly gender-balanced, and while Gym sets do have a male bias more often than they do an even split, it's usually 5-3.

Passing over that entirely, since that's what he's doing...

This is a pertinent observation, although once again, Brendan's foot has gone straight into his mouth and his approach to contributing here is "do you want me to do it for you?" Interestingly, May is the only protagonist in the series who does not need to be taught how to catch Pokemon- the obligatory tutorial is in the context of May teaching someone else.

...Then what were you doing while you were out?

Brendan brushes this off and goes to sit at his PC doing something. Considering he just blew us off to go help his dad like a responsible son, it's weird he then proceeds to... not lend a hand. He's probably just organising his notes or something.

May: Huh? Who… Who are you?… Oh, you're <player>. So your move was today. Um… I'm May. Glad to meet you! I… I have this dream of becoming friends with Pokémon all over the world. I… I heard about you, <player>, from my Dad, Prof. Birch. I was hoping that you would be nice, <player>, and that we could be friends. Oh, this is silly, isn't it? I… I've just met you, <player>. Eheheh… Oh, no! I forgot! I was supposed to go help Dad catch some wild Pokémon! <Player>, I'll catch you later!

Rival May's equivalent dialogue. I've almost never played as the male protagonist in RSE, so how she talks to him is a lot less familiar to me. It's interesting to see how shy and coquettish she is in comparison. Although the ability to choose between a male and a female player character is an old, immutable Pokemon tradition, it was not around since the start: the first game to include it was Pokemon Crystal. This means that RSE was the first time in the series the player character you didn't pick could play a significant role as an NPC. And thus, there's a possibility that this is an intentional dynamic and not just natural sexism the pair picked up from the writers.

Next up in the plot: Professor Birch has been caught with his pants down, fleeing from a wild Zigzagoon, and May steps in to save him by taking one of the three Hoenn starters (Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip) from his bag and using it to fight it off. Birch's official artwork really makes him look rather hapless.

Birch's surprise at our ability to take a random Pokemon and fight with them comes as equally surprised regardless of gender- Birch, at least, doesn't have any dialogue alterations based on your gender (except, of course, the name of his child). Pokemon training is often stated to be a difficult task and this is a genuinely impressive in-universe feat, but because Pokemon is a turn-based RPG, this is not reflected in the player's experience.

Because of our prodigal skill, Birch decides to give us the starter, no strings attached. RSE and DP experimented with the player robbing the Professor for the starter to repel an aggressive wild Pokemon and the Professor agreeing to let you keep it after the fact, but from Platinum on, they reverted back to the original approach of "the Professor has offered you a starter because he wants you to help him with his research". Or "you are given a starter by somebody who wants you to complete the Gym Challenge/Island Challenge as a rite of passage", later on.

Not really, but we'll be forced into saying Yes anyway.

He'll be overjoyed.

Brendan is over on Route 103, a route over from Oldale Town (a small town with the basic necessities- mostly existing as a tutorial to tell you what Pokemon Centres and Pokemon Marts do), and he's apparently cataloguing what Pokemon appear.

(Incidentally, Poochyena, Zigzagoon and Wingull.)

Hello, Brendan. Your dad told me to see you for some reason.

So much for learning something from him.

Then again, battling is how Trainers get to know one another. 

May: Oh, hi, <player>! …Oh, I see, my dad gave you a Pokémon as a gift. Since we're here, let's have a quick battle! I'll give you a taste of what being a Trainer is like.

Time to begin our first Trainer battle! The first Trainer battle being against your Rival is another tradition of the series.

Brendan's battle theme. Hoenn is known for its trumpets. I never minded them much, but hey, worth noting.

The "first Rival battle" is against a level 5 version of the rival's Starter, matching the base level of yours. Rivals have traditionally used the starter with an elemental advantage against yours, but starting with Gen 7, they switched to using the one with a disadvantage. For some reason, this is used as evidence that rivals have gotten weaker, despite the fact that a) your starter matchup stops mattering around the third battle anyway, b) the rival usually adopts at least one Pokemon that covers their starter's weaknesses regardless, c) you're under no obligation to use your starter in the first place.

And d) in the first battle, you don't even know an elemental move yet. This is related to the real reason that the rival has stopped taking the advantage and started taking the disadvantage: Starting in Gen 6, your starter comes knowing an elemental move, and the game doesn't want the first battle to be an unwinnable mess. XY hides this by making your first battle being against a secondary rival who did take the disadvantage, and you later fight the one with the advantage regularly later.

Funnily enough, ORAS, the remakes of RSE, run head-first into this issue by giving your starter the elemental move and keeping this battle. They resolved the issue by removing the move from their set behind the scenes. Most players aren't going to notice- you don't know what moves your opponent knows unless they use them.

Unusual action time: Growl to lower Mudkip's Attack. Stat stages in Pokemon are a multiplier on your current value, and apply in stages. A Pokemon can have -6 to +6 stages at a time. Growl is -1 stage in Atk, which will decrease the power of Mudkip's Tackle.

Mudkip and Torchic both know Growl, but Treecko instead knows Leer (-1 stage in Defence). Each rival fight is slightly different based on which Starter you went with.

Critical hit! In these games, a crit does double damage (This was nerfed to 1.5x in Gen 6). I did the crit, thankfully.

This time, I was less fortunate. Crits also ignore stat stages that negatively affect the attacker (penalties to Atk or bonuses to the defender's Def), so Growl was no help to me here. Fortunately, I am also the faster Pokemon.

Tackle is the only generic attacking move known by these Starters that can miss- and even then, it's 95% accurate. Gen V buffed it to 100%, same as Scratch and Pound. Lucky that hasn't happened yet, saved my poultry.

So yeah, this fight is RNG hell. You start with a free Potion in your PC, and even with that, a crit at the wrong time or an uphill battle against Treecko's Leer means you may just die anyway despite this fight being ostensibly completely fair to both sides.

Strangely, Brendan is the only rival I'm really scared of in this opening fight. Every other rival has one (multiple have them before you have the opportunity for random encounter grinding), but it tends to go so much smoother there. I wonder if it's confirmation bias or if Brendan really is the scariest one.

As much as we're having a discussion about Brendan's treatment of May, I do not attribute this victory to skill.

...Have you two even spoken since I saved him from the Zigzagoon?

Aw, that's nice. (No, seriously, "friendship" is a stat the game tracks, but you don't have to go out of your way to keep it raised.)

Brendan will actually head back to the lab- and he will also jump off a ledge to show you can. It is possible to travel from this spot to the lab without entering the tall grass by jumping off ledges. This only works one way, though.

May: I think I know why my dad has an eye out for you now. I mean, you just got that Pokémon, but it already likes you. You might be able to befriend any kind of Pokémon easily. Well, it's time to head back to the Lab.

Do I need the reminder? Oldale Town isn't that big.

May: <Player>! Over here! Let's hurry home!

May feels a little more natural, at least.

I can assure you it wasn't.

He's so proud of his son, even though Brendan's "extensive history" amounts to having a starter the same level as mine.

At this point, Birch gets around to giving us the Pokedex and suggesting we fill it up.

The idea is that we're helping the Professor with his research, but also manually recording information on your new encounters is boring, so the Pokedex does all the hard work for us. Who's programming this thing?

Filling the Pokedex is solely for pride and accomplishment: The Pokedex is full of interesting lore nuggets that occasionally get weird interesting (or outright physics-defying), but very little pertinent gameplay information. You can see where to find a Pokemon if you've at least someone else use it, but otherwise, your only source of stuff like movesets and stats are Bulbapedia and Serebii.

...Why wouldn't you?

Interestingly, in Emerald only, Brendan uses a Pokemon that you don't have access to until much later. I feel this is a dynamic of the rival's team-building that goes under-analysed: are the Pokemon they're using familiar?

May: Oh, wow, <player>! You got a Pokédex, too! That's great! Just like me! I've got something for you, too!

Wow, May almost comes off as childish here.

Five of them, to be precise. The games are inconsistent over whether you can purchase Poke Balls beforehand or if these are the first five (or in later games, ten) you get. Usually, however, the initial five comes after the catching tutorial.

...

I have never considered how weird it is the catching tutorial's not until you get past Route 102 in this game.

He's not wrong. Playing with a full team of six is far more engaging than steamrolling with an overlevelled starter, even if the latter strategy is both valid and used by speedruns.

This is aimed at the kids in the audience, mostly because of how completely ridiculous it is to say in context.

May: It's fun if you can get a lot of Pokémon! I'm going to look all over the place because I want different Pokémon. If I find any cute Pokémon, I'll catch them with Poké Balls!

Of course it's cool vs cute.

Interrupting this journey through Brendan's dialogue to briefly look into how our dad treats us. Like Birch, gender-neutrally.

Routes 101 and 102 are littered with wild encounters, a journey would be very dangerous without Pokemon. Kinda begs the question why Dad set up shop in Petalburg and left us to live in Littleroot instead of somewhere a little closer. What, we can't visit our dad at work?

On noticing we have (four) Pokemon, he nods and rolls with it.

And he's happy to battle us. Later on, though, when we have a more impressive team and he can use one of his own.

In fact, it is Norman who asks us, without batting an eye, to teach Wally how to catch a Pokemon of his own. Told you we knew how, Brendan.

Now then, significant time skip (we're going to be showing all of Brendan's disconnected scenes):

Next time we see him, he's in Rustboro, after we beat Roxanne for our first Gym Badge and recovered the stolen Goods from Team Aqua.

We just got a Pokenav that accepts phone calls, and the game is going to slowly but surely get all the significant NPCs' phone numbers on it, starting with Brendan.

Match Call was introduced in Emerald, so a lot of the stuff relating to it is not in RS.

That's all we need to worry about.

This is a gameplay reminder that your next objective is to talk to Mr. Briney and accept his offer to take you across the ocean to Dewford Town.

Still only around 5, I think. I don't really like going for Pokedex completion in games before the EXP Share became OP.

Pokedex completion and battle prowess are almost comically separate.

Why would you?

May: How's your Pokédex coming along, <player>? Mine's looking pretty decent! So… How about a little battle?
Yes:
May: You just became a Trainer, <player>. I'm not going to lose!

May almost feels like she's genuinely worried about the possibility of failure, as opposed to Brendan who's only worried about keeping the match fair.

Rustboro Brendan has two Pokemon, the first of which will be a Pokemon matching your Starter's type (presumably to cover the weaknesses of his starter). Treecko trainers see Lotad and Mudkip trainers see Wingull, but Slugma is the Pokemon that will be unavailable to the player until they beat the third Gym. It is also the only one of these Pokemon not introduced this generation.

It's also kinda bad. Wingull is better than many give it credit for, which is why she's on my team, but I'm actually impressed this Slugma took one Water Gun. Of course, it does not take the second.

Next comes the starter, and this time it does know an elemental move. Hope you brought something that beats it! For Mudkip, this is usually Shroomish.

Heidrun's job is to cheat the hell out of the game. Double Team is a scourge, but Ralts hasn't learned enough moves to forcibly remove it from her learnset yet, so a scourge we shall be.

Mudkip knows Mud Slap (to lower your accuracy) and Bide (a move that makes it take two turns of damage and then unleash double the pain it suffered as an unblockable attack). This is kinda scarier than anything Treecko and Torchic have.

Bide, of course, doesn't work if the opponent doesn't even try to attack.

And this is how much Heidrun's Confusion is doing.

There's a reason I won this fight.

Confusion, fitting the name, has a chance of inflicting the Confused status. While Confused, you have a 50% chance of hitting yourself for a 40 power typeless physical move. Physical attackers hate this status, and in battle sims, the optimal build for special attackers is to zero out the Atk IV for exactly this use case.

Sometimes, very rarely, he will actually hit me. And prove why Heidrun's not fighting fair.

Thank you!

That one did feel more like skill, but I was still abusing the unfair game mechanics in order to seize uncertain victory.

You don't say.

The player has been introduced to Mr. Briney themselves (they saved his pet Wingull, even!), so this line of dialogue feels particularly pointed despite the fact that Brendan is correct in assuming you might not know. Mostly, he's going to continue his job telling the player that the next story trigger is to talk to Mr. Briney and travel to Dewford Town on his boat.

May: Oh, by the way, Mr. Briney, who I just passed… <Player>, you just moved here so you might not know this, but Mr. Briney was once a revered seafarer.

Skipping ahead to Route 110, we've beat Dewford Gym and delivered the things Devon Goods asked us to deliver, chasing Team Aqua out of Slateport while we were at it. We can now proceed north to Mauville City and the next Gym, when Professor Birch jumps out and asks why we're not with Brendan.

It kinda feels weird for him to express this vague disappointment that Brendan and May aren't working together- not really as a "don't ship kids" thing (although this probably counts), but moreso a sense that he doesn't entirely feel one of them should be without the other. Probably May regardless of which one is his kid.

He says this and then continues on to give us his phone number before wandering off. This scene is only present so he can give us his phone number: It won't happen at all if you've backtracked to Littleroot Town and asked for it personally (he will supply it if you do). It also serves as a warning: Brendan is on this route.

Very well.

This one... this one really gets me, and it's sorta the main reason I'm even making this post: I'm not comfortable with the way Brendan treats May. He's not a jerk, like Blue and Silver are, but man he puts his foot in his mouth talking to the player, passively assuming they are weaker just because they're a girl.

May: Hi, <player>, long time no see! While I was searching for other Pokémon, my Pokémon grew stronger. So… How about a little battle?

I was expecting it to just be my imagination, teething pains from shifting from a jerk rival to a nice rival, or casual sexism because this is a game from 2004 and awareness in the issue wasn't as high as it is today. But the more I consider May's equivalent lines of dialogue, I have to wonder if the writers were at least aware that what they were writing was vaguely sexist, since both Brendan and May lean into it, but in opposite directions. If it was my imagination, May would be as aggressive as Brendan is. But instead, she's meek, blushy and cute, and she wants to test her Pokemon instead of ours.

Anyway, Route 110 Brendan is one of the hardest battles in RSE, and a contender for one of the most difficult rival fights in the series. He has three Pokemon, a Grass type, a Fire type and a Water type. Lombre is the Grass type, Slugma is the Fire type, and Wingull is the Water type, with one of them being replaced by whichever starter he took. It'll usually be the starter that's the issue.

Lombre is weak to Poison, Flying and Bug, a somewhat unusual combination of types. Most players are going to be able to hit it super-effectively because they have a Flying type like Taillow.

I like Gulpin. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why I like Gulpin, I just do. Poison types are very messy offensively, but they're kings on defense, and you can always use them to catch a Grass type unawares anyway.

In Pokemon, it's a soft tradition that the most dangerous Pokemon on the enemy's team is sent out last, but this is only strictly enforced starting in XY, and even then only if the Pokemon is going to be employing the game's signature gimmick (Mega Evolution, Z Moves, Dynamax, Terastal). Trainers who use a mixture of types, like Brendan, will use their ace if they think it has a good matchup against whatever you have out. And Marshtomp will make short work of Manana.

(Trainers who specialise in the same type, like Gym Leaders, can use the same reasoning, it's just likely that whatever you have out will be just as good on their ace as the rest of their team.)

Marshtomp knows the moves Water Gun, Bide, Mud Shot and Foresight, and it is weak only to the Grass type. Pokemon is not kind to mixed attackers, but this is an issue only at high-level play. In the main story, there are some Pokemon that can play the mixed game dangerously, and Marshtomp is one such Pokemon. Mud Shot is a powerful physical move that's in the very offensively strong Ground type, and it is not unusual for your team to be susceptible to it. If you do happen to have something that can take a powerful physical move like that, it can hit your Special Defence with Water Gun. Or he can just Bide and turn your chip damage into big damage.

Grovyle and Combusken are no slouches. Combusken in particular uses the same strategy as Marshtomp- hitting you with his newfound powerful physical move in Double Kick, and having Ember if that doesn't work. Grovyle is also a mixed attacker, using a tricky combination of types but not really having one powerful move to lean on. And regardless of which starter he has, there's no guarantee you found a good counter. Marshtomp is probably the most dangerous one, since it's got good power and good tankiness, but I wouldn't blame you if you lost to one of the other two.

Wingull is a surprisingly good suggestion for all three. I say "surprisingly" both because Wingull is so ludicrously common, especially later on when the game leans on its water routes, and because you wouldn't expect a single Pokemon to counter all three of a Grass, Fire and Water type- the endgame Dragon type is supposed to be special because it can do that. But Flying synergises well with Water, and all of the most dangerous moves you can face here are resisted by Fiona- and also she's outright immune to Mud Shot. She may not necessarily chew through Marshtomp as fast as she can Combusken (with Water Gun) or Grovyle (with Wing Attack), but she can stop them cold and force them to play her game.

She is good at her game.

This is a weird choice, especially since I've confused him (Growl lowers the damage he does to himself), but I am aware that Marshtomp isn't necessarily going to be single-handedly defeated by Fiona, and I want my other Pokemon to have a chance against his Mud Shot.

Especially if that's what a Water Gun is doing.

Wing Attack isn't as great on Fiona: She doesn't really like using her Attack stat. Unfortunately, she doesn't really know any Special moves that hit Marshtomp hard... although now that I say that, Water Gun is neutral on him...

Unfortunately, Marshtomp takes victory over Fiona.

Let's try out Heidrun.

We're going back to cheese strats, are we?

...Never mind.

Manana wishes it was staying in.

All right, starter on starter duel. Alena unleashes her claim to fame from DQ: hitting twice and hitting hard.

...Meep. Good thing Fiona got off those Growls, that's probably the only thing that saved Alena from an even stronger Mud Shot. This Water Gun is being boosted by Marshtomp's Ability Torrent, though- all starters have an Ability that boosts the power of their type's moves when they're in danger (defined as <33% health).

Fortunately, Brendan didn't decide to save himself with a Bag Item, and Alena secured victory by being the faster Pokemon.

...Oh, right, I didn't deal with Slugma yet. Fortunately, I have fresh Pokemon (although Alena probably could've done just fine, I think I wanted the EXP on L'Arachel).

Plusle is a highly underrated Pokemon, and that's in part to its gimmicks. Plusle is the first formal addition to the series tradition of including rodent-themed Electric types that store electricity in their cheeks, also known as "Pikachu clones". Plusle, and her brother Minun, are intended to showcase the new "Double Battles" RSE introduced, with the Abilities Plus and Minus boosting their Special Attack when they appear together in a Double Battle.

Most people read that and assume neither Plusle nor Minun is particularly good outside of this gimmick. This impression is not helped by the fact that, in the games that are all Doubles, you get an underlevelled Plusle and no matching Minun, so you're not even invited to try. But Plusle is good, actually- sure, 85/95 offenses aren't winning any prizes, but those are equal to Grovyle's. And in a region where you're almost required to bring an Electric type to deal with an excess of Water types, it's good to have a plan beyond just "use Manectric every time".

"What about Minun"? Minun has higher defensive stats- Plusle and Minun have "the same" stats, but they've switched around offense and defense. Since Plusle's Sp. Atk is already below-average, Minun can't really afford the drop. Although that does mean L'Arachel does have to tread carefully around being hit- not a great place to be in a turn-based system with only one target.

Fortunately, Slugma is stunned by its paralysis and L'Arachel is able to eke out the win.

...Although it's closer than it seemed. One interesting thing about this fight's timing that hurts L'Arachel in particular is that Mauville City has the Game Corner, and if you're patient/rich/cheaty enough, you can buy some powerful TMs and shift the power dynamic in your favour for a good solid chunk of the game. One of those TMs is Thunderbolt, and L'Arachel doesn't even have an Electric move yet.

I think this time, I will call that fight skill. Despite the fact I have five Pokemon on the team to his three and I won with only two of them still standing, both of which were at red health. And also that was my second try.

"Good enough", he says. Yikes, I might just skip the "foot in mouth" bit on this one.

May: <Player>, you've been busy training, too, haven't you? I think you deserve a reward! This is from me!

"You deserve a reward" is not something I think I needed to hear.

The Itemfinder (or Dowsing Machine, or whatever similar name it has) is a Key Item that can be used to tell you if there's any hidden items nearby. Usually it'll be pretty obvious or not at all clear, and the Dowsing Machine is helpful in neither situation, but sometimes- like this very route- you can have a lot of fun spamming it trying to find which conspicuously empty spots have treasure.

It'll also emit arrows pointing in the direction you need to travel in most to get to it. It only does cardinal directions, though, so you might need more than one application to zero in on exactly which square it's on.

Brendan then gets on his bike and leaves. The player doesn't have a Bicycle yet (you get yours in Mauville City), and I get the impression this is supposed to be like Blue going "I've gotten so much further ahead than you, and look at me prove it", just without any dialogue.

May: That's an Itemfinder. Try it out. If there is an item that's not visible, it emits a sound. Okay, <player>, let's meet again! I know it's a little silly coming from me, but I think you should train a lot harder for the next time.

Surprisingly, it's May who's more "train harder". She's not exactly being boastful about it, though, so they're keeping to the idea that the rival always thinks May is weaker.

Brendan next appears directly after you beat Flannery, the fourth Gym. Fortunately, he isn't here to ambush you with a difficult battle after you're likely worn out- I don't believe any main series game does an ambush like this without giving you a free heal.

Pokemon XD: Gales of Darkness does have an example, although the tone and higher difficulty of the Orre games (as well as the fact he's not a boss, and he's built to be tanky rather than offensive) makes it work out. Plus, it's also in the middle of the final dungeon.

That house he just came out of sells bitter herb medicines- highly effective, but your Pokemon don't like the taste* and using them lowers your friendship. It's amazing how people avoid using them despite the fact that friendship only affects specific mechanics- if your Pokemon doesn't evolve by friendship or know Return, it doesn't care about the friendship stat. But you don't want your Pokemon to hate you, do you?

*RSE introduced the ability for Pokemon to enjoy specific flavours in the context of the "Pokeblock" sweets. One of these flavours is "Bitter". Pokemon that enjoy Bitter Pokeblocks do not enjoy bitter herbs.

Says someone making no effort to collect Badges themselves.

...I think Brendan is the only main rival who doesn't attempt to take on the Pokemon League (or Island Challenge, in Alola).

May: <Player>! Long time no see! Oh? While I visited the hot springs, you got the Lavaridge Gym Badge. You must have collected good Pokémon… No, I believe you raised some. I guess it would be okay for you to have this.

May's starting to get that matching edge. Starting. I still kinda feel bad for her.

The Go-Goggles are an inventory item that allows access into the sandstormy part of Route 111 (and only that area). There is no plot reason to go there, but there are a number of good Pokemon that can be acquired by visiting that area, and it's also the best place to level grind for the actual next plot trigger: fighting Norman.

I will actually be using a desert Pokemon, funnily enough.

..."Near" Route 111? The game considers the desert Route 111 for everything that "what Route you're on" matters for- admittedly, what Route you're on doesn't matter for anything practical. I think. I vaguely remember it doing something in one game to do with friendship.

You can find Sandshrew, Trapinch, Cacnea and Baltoy normally, and in Emerald, all of them are exclusively found there- in RSORAS, Sandshrew could appear on the volcanic, neighbouring Route 113, but you're out of luck for anything else.

Unusual behaviour for someone not really following us through the League.

Well fuck you too.

I say that, but Norman is legitimately a difficult boss fight. He uses the Pokemon Slaking, a Pokemon with near legendary stats "balanced" by the fact its Truant Ability forces it to act only on every other turn. In competitive play, it is really easy to counter this strategy, but this doesn't really work so well in the maingame. Plus, Norman's still got some scary Pokemon that can attack every turn, and his favourite move is Facade, which doubles in power if you apply a status condition to them- you know, the best way to get an edge in a hard fight.

Brendan gets on his Bike and rides off, but since we have a Bike too, I don't think this is supposed to be as "smell you later" as it was the first time. Still very rude considering his parting comment.

May: With those Go-Goggles, you'll have no trouble getting through the desert near Route 111. But, wow, <player>… Challenging Gyms… You're trying hard because you don't want to lose to me, I bet! <Player>, I think I should challenge your dad in Petalburg Gym. See you again!

The next thing you're required to do in the plot is go fight Norman, which is why both rivals bring him up, but not only is May's comment far less rude, it is also more accurate to the character dynamics established thus far. Well, mostly- May is perhaps being a touch over-confident saying our desire to get stronger is because of her, although she is good enough that it's an accurate comment.

Next up, we beat Norman, we started exploring east of Mauville, and fought Team Aqua out of the Weather Institute. Route 119 here is always in a state of overworld rain.

It's almost embarrassing, how much he continues to cling to the delusion he is still in any position to "test" us narratively. He has been a bit of a monster mechanically, but things have... changed.

Yeah, yeah, I get it, I'm on it...

May: <Player>! Where were you? I was looking for you! How much stronger have you gotten? Let me check for you! Ready with your Pokémon? Of course you are! Go!

May using the same language and irritable battle challenge.

We open showing off that Brendan has brought the same team to this battle, higher levelled to suit the environment... and unlike the Rustboro and Route 110 battles, I have the level advantage.

Rain is a weather effect, and when it is raining, Water type moves are more powerful, Fire type moves are less powerful, a few Abilities start working, a few moves get bonuses, and a few other moves get penalties. Nothing in particular of the latter type really applies to this battle, although it's worth noting the rain exists and that it is permanent unless I overwrite it (Brendan does not know any moves to do so himself). You can set up weather with Pokemon moves, but it only lasts for five turns if you do it that way.

Lombre opens up by showing off a cool party trick: Fake Out can only be used on the first turn a Pokemon is in battle, where it is a guaranteed flinch for a very small amount of damage. It's a good scouting move, but it's hard to call it useful when you're not really getting anything out of it.

Earlier, I commented that the weather had no impact on us move or Ability wise. I wasn't entirely truthful: Brendan's Lombre has the Ability Swift Swim, which doubles its Speed in the rain. This is one of the more powerful Abilities in competitive, but it doesn't seem to have helped him much here.

He couldn't get rid of my Swalot with it.

Right, Marshtomp. Bringer of chaos, destroyer of runs.

Mud Shot, Foresight, Mud Sport, Take Down. I would be ashamed to call that a moveset. (Mud Sport weakens the power of Electric moves as long as Marshtomp is on the field. Marshtomp is immune to Electric moves.)

Combusken and Grovyle are doing well for themselves, though. Grovyle's picked up Leaf Blade, a powerful move matching its type for a damage bonus, while Combusken has Bulk Up (not that I expect it to be lasting long on setup sweep duty). I guess since Brendan has two Water types on a rainy route, the devs want to cut you a break?

It does actually manage to scare Spine Les. Slightly.

Can you believe Spine Les is relying on Bullet Seed to deal damage at this point? Bullet Seed does multiple hits in rapid succession at a low power, and you get the TM before the first Gym as a crutch. The only reason Spine Les is still using it is because he doesn't get Needle Arm until level ~40, and the Giga Drain TM is a little later on.

Once you see "it's super effective", the move is done hitting.

I think we should spare Spine Les and let someone better score the win.

Imagine doing that much to a Gardevoir.

No more futzing around with Double Team on Ralts. Remember when this was a Ralts?

It turns out it was a better than average idea to let Spine Les get that level.

His last Pokemon continues to be Slugma. Before we use him as a punchline for being a Slugma, I would like to make him a punchline for a novel reason: Brendan's Slugma has the Magma Armour ability, which prevents it from being frozen, instead of the superior and more common Flame Body ability, which has a chance of inflicting Burn on anything that hits it on contact. Sure, Flame Body probably isn't saving it, but it might make Marshtomp's life easier!

You, on the other hand, have stopped being a dangerous opponent that required I actively make teambuilding decisions to deal with.

May: Achah! <Player>, you're strong! I was worried that you might be struggling with your training.

Stop worrying about me and go back to whatever it was you were doing before, it seemed to be working.

I was saying about levelling Spine Les to level 32? It happened to be his evolution level. Excellent, now Marshtomp is even easier.

I mean... where else do I have to go but up after an active volcano? That was ages ago, but still.

This is a helpful little inventory item.

Fly is this game's Zoom spell. Pokemon is surprisingly reticent with Fly: you've usually explored at least 50% of the region by the time you get Fly. Compared DQXI, which gave you Zoom as soon as you were done visiting areas the game didn't want you going back to too early.

(The reason the second screenshot is bright yellow is because it also happens to be thunderstormy on this route. This is purely aesthetic and has no applications mechanically or narratively, it just sometimes has thunder and lightning effects.)

In Pokemon, the ability to use HM Moves is tied to Badges, forcing you to advance to a specific point in the story and/or level curve to use them. I think the reason for this is to prevent the player from trading in a Pokemon that knows an HM before they are "supposed" to be able to use it and doing sequence breaks, but I don't think there has ever been a situation past Gen 1 where this has been an actual concern. Most of the plot roadblocks are unrelated to HMs now.

Brendan gets on his Bike and rides away. Again.

May: But I had absolutely nothing to worry about! Keep it up! And, here! I have a present for you.
Gives HM02
May: Use Fly, and your Pokémon will instantly carry you to any town you've already visited. But, to use Fly, you have to get the Gym Badge from Fortree City. That's important, so don't forget. You should Fly home and visit Littleroot for a change. I bet your mom's worried about you, <player>. Well, let's meet again somewhere!

May is so much more polite, and even, lightly, addresses her more aggressive behaviour before the battle. It's still a little weird, but her heart was in the right place. She's also much friendier than Brendan is- and talks longer, too.

After you beat Norman, you can talk to your mother and receive a special item called the Amulet Coin. I wonder if this is supposed to be a clue to go check, although only male players get the clue if it is.

Scott is a random NPC added to Emerald. He shows up everywhere you are, and basically comments "hey, you're actually pretty good, keep it up!" as he goes. It turns out he is the propietor of the Battle Frontier, and once you beat the Champion, he will formally invite you over. He hasn't actually been intersecting with the Brendan subplot until now, but he does have something interesting to say about it here.

He actually bumped into Brendan on his way over.

This is an interesting addition to the Brendan dynamic, although as he is, it's not a flattering look for him. His inability to beat the player is something I can understand his frustrations dealing with, but considering waves vaguely, it comes off as him feeling like he should be winning against a girl.

(This is apparently gender-neutral, which also sheds some equally interesting light on May losing to the male protagonist. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it- although I feel far more bad for her than I do for Brendan.)

This is normally as much substance as he usually comes up with.

The next encounter with Brendan isn't that far off: It's the next town over from Fortree, Lilycove City. The plot demands you pass Lilycove and go deal with Mt. Pyre first, although it's recommended you at least stop here for the Fly point. And hey, while you're here, you might as well visit the Department Store he's gone and plonked himself in front of.

You are not living this one down, you know that? It's probably not a coincidence that someone who repeatedly talks down to a female character is also very keen on not appearing feminine himself. Not exactly endearing himself, though.

This battle is actually completely optional. The only reason to fight Brendan is if you want to shop at the Department Store.

...The Department Store has good stuff, of course you want to go there at some point.

Considering your last showing...

May: Oh, hey? <Player>, are you shopping, too? I bought a whole bunch of Dolls and Posters. Of course, I've also caught a lot of Pokémon, and I'm raising them properly, too. Actually, I'm more worried if you're raising Pokémon properly, <player>. I'll battle with you, so you can show me your Pokémon, <player>.
Yes.
May: The Pokémon I raised won't be beaten by your Pokémon, <player>!

...May is saying a lot more than she needs to. She's definitely feeling insecure about something.

...Hey, that's still weaker than my Pokemon were at the time of our last battle! It's kinda weird that these two Brendan battles are so close together. I feel like they should've pushed this one further forwards, but after this point, we enter The Great Water Route of Hoenn (if you've ever heard complaints along the lines of "too much water", note that after we're done dealing with Lilycove, every route left is a water route), and Pokemon hasn't really expressed the interest or the ability to add dynamic events like NPC encounters while you're on the water.

I'm just toying with my food, really. Tropius is not a very strong Pokemon, despite how big he is. Since it's also a Grass type, I'm not sure why Brendan thought it'd be a good candidate for his fourth team member. ORAS improved him significantly by replacing it with a Swellow.

New fight, same old Bullet Seed. I could have picked up Giga Drain, but I guess I didn't think it was that worth it- it has 5 PP back here in Gen 3.

Marshtomp and Grovyle haven't changed their movesets from the last round. Combusken has, though, and it was a terrible one: Double Kick has been replaced by Quick Attack. When a Pokemon is levelled up automatically by the Day Care, any new moves replace the oldest moves learned, and I suspect most Pokemon you find in Trainer battles are given moves through the same technique. Gym Leaders have to learn their signature TM move, but other than that, the games have been very conservative about how strong opposing Pokemon are. Newer games have far more well-thought out movesets, although sometimes they forget to fill all four slots.

Insult to injury.

I won't be using it in this battle, but at least someone is profiting from this waste of both our times.

Confirmation that he still has the Slugma. It won't evolve until level 38, but enemy Trainers cheat those all the time (and a number of Pokemon have too high an evolution level anyway), at least give him a Magcargo! It won't help him at all, but...

Unfortunately, Ludicolo is no better off. The Pelipper has a similar issue of melting on contact with any Electric moves: Something you're going to need because there's a lot of Pelippers flying around.

Compared to the time this journey has taken thus far, that head start is looking more and more like small potatoes.

May: I remember the battle I had with you, <player>, on Route 103. That battle helped you become this strong, <player>, didn't it?.

Wow, she's saying the player name a lot. She's also far more positive about the experience of being roundly outclassed by a trainer she once had the upper hand on.

This is intended as more than just an expression of his immediate next action.

He's considering leaning even further into being his father's assistant

Well, we've already got six...

...Or maybe he isn't. I don't think Brendan ever does this in RSE. Or even ORAS, come to think of it.

And then he Flies off. That's the last we'll see of him for a good long while.

May: I'm thinking of going back to Littleroot soon. I've caught a decent group of Pokémon, and my Pokédex is coming along, so I'm going home to show my dad. <Player>, what are you going to do? Collect all the Gym Badges and take the Pokémon League challenge? Well, while you're collecting Badges, <player>, I'm going to work on my Pokédex. I'll complete it before you! See you!

Well, that's a nice ending for her. She gets to be more competitive than Brendan, but over a different factor of Pokemon training. Even as modern Pokemon has made the process of completing the Pokedex easier and easier, it's such a long process that many don't bother, and by this point, I think the devs are starting to be aware of that.

After a long and difficult struggle, L'Arachel lands the final blow on the Champion of Hoenn, a Water expert. I have no idea why he replaced Steven- it's a decently good idea narratively, but it just means you have a bunch more Water types to chew on, which causes a lot of issues in terms of homogeny (although perhaps this makes it better because your team built for dealing with the water routes is built for handling him). He's also mid-50s, and it's amazing Plusle won with level 46.

I'm sure that fight went all kinds of interesting over the course of the battle, but Wallace has praise for it all the same.

Yes. A cunning, well-executed master plan.

At the end of this flowery speech praising us for our efforts, he is stopped at the last moment.

Brendan would like to give us some advice.

He takes a moment to look more closely at what is going on, and realises "oh... you beat me to it."

I wonder what advice he had. Somehow get the feeling it would be pretty broad- like "he uses Water types, bring an Electric type!" or something rather than a more specific strategy.

May: <Player>! Here's some advice before you challenge the Champion… Huh? What, what, what? <Player>… Could it be that… It's already over?

May also has advice, although her surprise that she has been beaten to the punch relates to her being late rather than being surprised we won at all.

Birch is rolling his eyes at this whole mess. I wonder if he realises just how ridiculous this whole mess is, or he's solely focused on this one specific instance being unusual.

For... some reason, the Pokemon Professor of the region comes into the League to personally congratulate you for a job well done. (Well, Oak did it in GSC- poor Elm can't even headline his own game). I'd say this is a tradition that kinda died with the Unova games, but it's difficult to say it has been killed- BW didn't have a Champion, B2W2 had Iris herself do the congratulating, XY had the Professor congratulate you at a big celebration they threw, SM has the Professor be the Champion... is it dead or have the last few games just been unusual edge cases? I'm inclined to say the former, especially since the Professors have started to become characters unto themselves rather than interchangeable researchers.

After Norman, there really isn't anything in your way until the League itself. Hoenn has some tough cookies scattered throughout the earlygame (beyond just the early Brendan fights, you've got Brawly, Wattson and Norman all acting as significant roadblocks), but the hardest fights you can say the lategame has to throw at you are Tate & Liza, and only in Emerald.

It was a lot of work.

I think this is unique to Hoenn: Birch takes the opportunity to evaluate our progress. Oak might do it too, but I'm fairly sure Rowan doesn't.

The Hoenn Pokedex goes up to 202, or 200 if you're not counting Jirachi and Deoxys. I have no idea how I missed 47 Pokemon- that's nearly a quarter of the dex right there! My first Pokemon games were DPPt, so call me biased, but I feel like, if you've explored every nook and cranny of the world, you should beat the game with a full Seen dex.

I missed: Treecko line, Swampert, Masquerain, Alakazam, Shedinja, Exploud, Golem, Aggron, Vileplume, Bellossom, Magcargo, Weezing, Grumpig, Vibrava, all four Fossil Pokemon, Igglybuff, Jigglypuff, Starmie, Pichu, Raichu, the Psyduck line, Wynaut, the Phanpy, Heracross, Rhydon, Huntail, Gorebyss, Relicanth, Corsola, the Beldum line and all the Legendaries.

OK, Anorith and Wynaut are on me, and I suppose I could've always done the hunt for the legendary golems, maybe had a romp through the Safari Zone... interestingly, I notice most of Steven's team is on this list. I guess when they replaced him, they forgot to account for that.

(I own: Torchic line, Zigzagoon, Nuzleaf, Wingull line, Ralts line, Abra, Skitty, Aron, Electrike, Plusle, Gulpin line, Trapinch, Cacnea line, Castform, Kecleon, Tropius, Absol, Snorunt, Spheal and Bagon.)

The whole "levelling Pokemon up to evolve them for Dex entries" thing is annoyingly out-of-the-way in Kalos, a game with the EXP Share for all. I'm not bothering on GBA. We don't even have reliable trainer rematches.

Anyway, we're here because I battle good.

...Champion Bethany, perhaps?

Time for us to get inducted into the Hall of Fame.

And Brendan follows right behind. For some reason.

Sorry, Brendan, this isn't your accolade.

You are incredibly surprised. What did you think Birch was waiting outside for anyway, the lack of interest in climbing a few stairs?

Why did you even assume I wanted the company anyway?

May: Groan… I'm just joking! That's okay! That's the rule! <Player>! Honestly, congratulations!

May, once again, manifesting a healthier, if still presumptuous, reaction.

And with that, I go into the Hall of Fame, log my team, and in general "have beat the game to the point where the credits roll".

As the credits roll by, you mostly watch May riding her bike along, but at one point, Brendan speeds past. May catches up, and in the last bike scene, both of them ride alongside one another up to Littleroot Town. Pokemon's credits have different animations from game to game, and since we were talking about Brendan, I felt there was value in at least acknowledging his role here.

Brendan's sexism has manifested itself in a very low-key manner, and if you were to confront him on it, he'd likely be confused about what the problem is. Part of the reason microaggresions in general are such a pervasive problem is that they are such small and relatively harmless things that it hardly seems worth the effort to correct them. And yet, the more times it happens, the more it feels less like several dumb mistakes and the more it becomes a concerning pattern. Although he's not really much of a jerk as compared to Blue and Silver, somehow he irritates me more. Possibly because, while Blue and Silver are supposed to be villains, Brendan is supposed to be helpful.

Sitting down and comparing him to May, I do kinda feel like they were going for something with the dynamic of Brendan's condescending attitude genuinely being a reflection of a deep-rooted and unrecognised sexist bone in his body, but this is not something that is going to be very appreciated within the community. On top of the Pokemon fandom already being uninterested in engaging with the narrative as it is, Pokemon is a game where you can play only one adventure per file without erasing all your hard-won progress, meaning the portion of players who are going to bother playing as both Brendan and May are even slimmer than, say, Byleth- Three Houses has plenty of save files for exploring the alternate paths.

So where does that leave Brendan? Brendan offers the experience of a jerk rival to female players of Pokemon- a cohort that has only just got to the point of representation- with a character that doesn't exactly come across as being intended as such a jerk. Male players, in contrast, got a rival who exemplifies many of the issues that caused modern nice rivals to flounder- not interesting, not pleasant to beat, and doesn't have a satisfying conclusion to the story. Unlike later examples, there doesn't even seem to have been an attempt to give Brendan and May an ending- the final rival encounter is with the sickly boy Wally we did the capture tutorial with, and while that's a cool twist, Brendan and May are out on their own. I also suspect that the need for these two characters to express themselves so divergently is tampering with their respective effectiveness- May starts adopting Brendan's aggressiveness and Brendan can't get a defeat scene because May doesn't deserve one. It was an ambitious approach to the characters and it was probably a wiser call to move away from using the gender split to create divergent rivals. BW did revisit the idea with Cheren and Bianca, who appear to both male and female players, but I wouldn't really say that fully matches what Brendan and May were going for.

And now for ORAS. I don't have a way to take 3DS screenshots, so take some more blocks of text:

Pokémon fully restored… Items all packed, and… Y-you… Who are you? <player>? Oh, you're the new kid who just moved in next door?! Huh… I didn't know that you'd be a girl. Dad- I mean, Professor Birch- told me you were the kid of a Gym Leader, and I sort of hoped you'd be a guy. My name's Brendan. Well, I guess we are still neighbors, so… Nice to meet you! Let's be friends, OK? Huh? Hey, <player>… Don't you have any Pokémon? If you want, I can go catch you one. Aw, wait, I forgot… I'm supposed to be going out to help my dad catch some wild Pokémon. Some other time, OK?

Hey, <player>. So this is where you've been. How've things been going? I was just checking out the Pokémon around here to help with my dad's research. He says that a long, long time ago, nature used to be way more diverse and there were lots more kinds of Pokémon, too. My dad and I want to learn more about those Pokémon from the past, you know? That's why we do fieldwork. And this journey has really helped. I've met a lot of Pokémon on my way here and learned about them, too. Which reminds me! Come on! It's the first time we've met in ages, so let's have a battle! Show me what you and your team have accomplished on your journey, <player>!

Keep those with you if you're planning on going into that desert near Route 111. There should be some Pokémon that only make their habitat in the desert, you know. You might check 'em out- if you're up to it. And… Huh? You got the Lavaridge Badge! So you even beat Flannery, huh? Looks like you've been taking proper care of your Pokémon. Guess that means…that you'll be headed to Petalburg City next, huh? To challenge your dad at his Gym? W-well, if you are… I just happened to be thinking of going to Petalburg myself, so… How about it? Wanna go back to Petalburg together?

Hm? Hey, if it isn't <player>! Did you come to do some shopping, too? You know what I'm talking about… The Lilycove Department Store! My dad asked me to pick him up a few things here. It's not like I'm here to buy Dolls or something, r-right! A-anyway, it feels like it's been ages since we last ran into each other. How about I battle you so you can see which one of us is doing a better job raising our Pokémon? Though I think you and I both know who the winner is gonna be, <player>!

Boy, that stings a bit… I had a head start on you as a Pokémon Trainer, but still… I, uh… I'm planning on going home to Littleroot. You know how I've been helping out my dad with the Pokédex, and it's been coming together pretty decently. So…I ought to go back home and show it to him. <player>, what are you gonna do? You still thinking of collecting all the Gym Badges and taking on the Pokémon League challenge? I guess I'm not surprised. Do your best. You know I'm behind you.

<player>! Before you go to challenge the Champion, I've got one last thing you've got to… <player>… You didn't… No, you couldn't have… Did you already beat the Champion?!

Wha- … Can't be helped, I guess. Them's the rules, right? That's awesome, <player>. Congratulations…really!

Brendan's vaguely sexist streak from RSE has... well, I don't want to say it's gone for sure, but it's definitely significantly downplayed if not excised entirely. Not exactly a surprising outcome, of course- now that we're on the 3DS, we're well and truly in the "no jerk rivals" phase of Pokemon writing, but considering how much of the concept of Brendan survived, despite the addition of several new scenes where Brendan is purely helpful and/or friendly, really highlights how little impact on his actual character the sexism really had. If it was intentional, it was hurtful to be hurtful and didn't have a payoff when we put the bully in his place, the way Blue does, or a moment of self-reflection and an effort at redemption, like Silver does.

In a way, Brendan here kind of foreshadows the issues that plague the nice rivals: they don't have endings. Barry gets a nod to the idea, where his reckless charging into things doesn't work and he sees Uxie get captured because he couldn't stop it, but aside from a Doubles match where he makes up for it against Team Galactic, the game fails to communicate the consequences of his turning point. Cheren and Bianca get hugely boosted for appearing in a sequel and the game showing us what they've done over the three year timeskip- Cheren becoming a Gym Leader and tackling the challenges of this job while Bianca became Juniper's assistant. Lillie and Marnie are the most beloved rival-like characters not only because they do get endings, but the consequences of their endings are clearly communicated. Brendan is just a guy who happens to be a jerk.

Addendum: Whoa, I was not expecting Scarlet and Violet to blow this conclusion out of the water. I initially drafted this update before the games released, and I wasn't entirely prepared for what I'd see in this new game. But I feel it's worth addressing separately rather than trying to rewrite my old conclusion, mainly because SV vindicated it so hard. They took everything I diagnosed was wrong with nice rivals and gave Nemona a fix for them. She's still definitely a "nice rival", but she is passionate about battling you. She has a character arc that makes it so losing all the time is exciting, and the player is also given incentive to go all out against her without making her feel bad. She has an end goal and the satisfying conclusion of her story is not only given spotlight, but becomes the big spotlight of the League Challenge- she's not the Champion, but she overshadows the Champion. They could've ended Nemona's story there and she'd be the best nice rival in the series, but the final story and the postgame character building also opened a window into Nemona's head and showed why she's the way she is. Nemona is an amazing character and great representation for both "long-time fans desperate for a fresh challenge" and "neurodivergent girls isolated and desperate to be seen", and I would gladly gush about her in depth. But I'll save that for another day, and for now say that, while I am skeptical they can recapture Nemona's magic forever without just reiterating her, the devs have found the problem, and wrote someone who screams "we can fix it".