Imagining Myself as a Pokemon Gym Leader

Having been working my way through Pokemon Shield, I’ve come to realize that there are a lot more Pokemon I both do and don’t like. From complete unknowns (and unowns) to Pokemon I now like more than ever before, I am finding that my table of favourite Pokemon has definitely been shaken up. And when it comes to talking to others about it, it’s insanely hard to pick even a number 1 now. However, we can spend all day discussing favourites when instead we can look at things in a more practical way. Why not put yourself in the shoes of a gym leader, and come up with your own team?

Thing is, I’ve kinda done this before. But that was before I’d properly played a real Pokemon game. In Pokemon GO, we have three team leaders but we use our own Pokemon to protect gyms. Most of the time with tanky things like Blissey and Slaking. In Pixelmon, there were gym trainers and random NPCs to battle, but the vibe just wasn’t the same, due to there not really being a Pokemon league to begin with. Now that I’ve played a proper Pokemon game, I like to think about things as if I was in the Pokemon world. The question is, what sort of Gym Leader would I be?

Dragon

Originally, I always thought I’d be a Dragon type trainer. After all I love dragons quite a lot. Long-time readers may recall that I have modded my Skyrim to the point where I AM the dragon, and I’ve sadly reviewed several dragon games that all kinda flopped. Dragons are all-round awesome but, for reasons unknown, that’s never translated well into video games.

The same thing kinda applies to Pokemon. I like Dragon types but they never quite manage to float my boat. When you take out Legendary Pokemon, then the list of favourites gets rather small.

But on top of that, already-existing gyms have also been lacking in dragon types. Cynthia and her Garchomp are a terrifying menace that can leave you emotionally scarred, but even she doesn’t have that many dragons on her team. Heck, Raihan in Pokemon Sword and Shield only has two dragons on his team, despite being a dragon trainer.

It seems, if you run a Dragon gym, you have to self-nerf yourself.

Ground or Poison

My next thought was to be a Ground type trainer. While on the surface, I don’t look like a Ground type trainer, if I look at my highest CP Pokemon in Pokemon GO, there sure are quite a few Ground types present. Groudon, Garchomp and Rhyperior are all among my most powerful Pokemon, and as you scroll down, the Rhyperiors and Garchomps don’t stop. Scroll a bit more and you can also see Mamoswine and Excadrill, even more Ground types. An honourable mention also goes to Tyranitar, which isn’t a Ground type at all, but its pre-evolutions both are Ground types. However, this kinda just feels like coincidence, because some of the best Community Days were Ground-type Pokemon.

Poison though comes from even more left field. In Pokemon GO, I never cared much for poison types, outside of Roselia and Venusaur. In Pokemon Shield however, the most powerful members of my team are Salazzle, Toxtricity and a freshly caught Eternatus. All three are great Poison types that also look cool. Galarian Weezing is also a pretty neat Poison type as well. That being said, I probably wouldn’t fill an entire team with Poison types. After all, earthquakes are pretty common.

Fire

Really though, this should have been obvious. I mean, take a look at my favourite Pokemon. Ponyta, Houndour and new favourite Salazzle are all fire types. My favourite Kanto starter is Charmander, the best doggo is Growlithe, another fire type, and Pokemon like Talonflame and Darumaka are pretty useful to have. So of course I’d be a Fire type trainer!

It’s not quite the same on the legendary front, but we do have the likes of Heatran and Moltres, which I both like. Sure, as a Gym Leader, I’m not really allowed Legendary Pokemon, but there’s more than one Heatran out there, so surely I might be able to snag just the one for my team.

So maybe I am a fire type trainer. After all, a majority of the Pokemon I like are all fire types, and apparently I am occasionally fiery. I’m also pretty hot in real life and I do like burning things. So there’s definitely something there.

That being said, if I were a Gym Leader, I’d also have a Rhydon on my team, regardless of my speciality. Because why not?