This week will be Scarlet Violet Week as I'll be posting everyday this week with Scarlet Violet related updates since I'm officially completed with the main story of Violet. I haven't played Scarlet yet, but plan to in the near future once I get the Pokedex completed in Violet.

Also, Lied a little bit here, I'm ranking the Scarlet Violet Gymleaders AND the Elite 4. Spoilers of course if you haven't played Scarlet or Violet yet.

So sit back and enjoy this ranking of Scarlet & Violets Gym Leaders and Elite 4

11. Katy

Katy the Sugarbug, the Gym Leader who specializes in the Bug typing is... Disappointing. Just like every Bug type Gymleader before her, Katy suffers from being the 1st Gym Leader and the easiest of them all. Even when Geeta tasks the player with rechallenging the gyms with their Champion level teams, Katy was still painfully easy to defeat. There's a reason why people RARELY use Bug type Pokemon on their teams as Bug types typically are very weak and only good for the beginning of any journey. Trust me, I've only ever actively used a Bug type in 2 Games and they'd be Kleavor and Vikavolt. Katy is so forgettable it hurts. Her gym team is horrible too. Since her gym challenge dealt with rolling around a giant Olive, I thought Katy was gonna have a Smoliv or one of its evolutions on her team that could Terastalize into a Bug Type but nope. However, once again, nothing about her stood out design or personality wise and I have to place her as the worst of all the gymleaders. Sadly, based on everyone's opinions on the game, everyone agrees with me on Katy.

10. Tulip

Tulip the beautician is the Psychic Gym Leader and I... Don't like her. She's supposed to be beautiful but she comes off as creepy looking in my eyes. Her personality is also annoying as she literally sits there and talks about all the ways to make you more beautiful which is basically a really shallow way to say that you're ugly. Her gym challenge was stupid and a VERY big waste of time as she made you do multiple rounds of ESP training which is basically where you're told what emotion to express. I will hand it to Tulip however as her Gym Battle was the hardest of all the Gyms in this game the first time around as her team were VERY well leveled AND her Pokemon knew moves that could counter her weaknesses. I'm not kidding, her Espathra put the beat down on my Ceruledge with ease. The only thing that didn't make sense about her team is that it didn't have any Medicham on either of her teams despite how she almost always has a Medicham with her. If Tulip wasn't such an annoying character, I would've ranked her higher.

9. Kofu

Kofu, the VERY forgetful and hard headed Chef is the Water Gym Leader. I don't like this dude's design! WTF is going on with his face!? Anyways... This wouldn't be the first time we've had a Water specialist trainer who's also a cook and to put it simply, Siebold did it better by like... A mile. This Gym had two gym challenges of which I didn't mind the first challenge, that being you were requested to traverse a desert to deliver Kofu's wallet to him at the next town over. The second challenge, of which felt like a major waste of time, was that Kofu forced you to take part in a bidding war in order to get him a rare Hoenn cooking ingredient. The only upside to the second challenge was that Kofu literally pays you to do it so I guess $20,000 makes the challenge worth it. To put it simply, I wasn't a fan of Kofu.

8. Poppy

Poppy is the 2nd Member of the Elite 4 as she's our youngest Elite 4 Member to date (as she's probably no older than 5) and she specializes in the Steel typing. Amazingly, Elite 4 Challengers RARELY get past Poppy which says just how skilled of a trainer Poppy is. Due to how young Poppy is, she often comes off as annoying and a bit overbearing as she's 100% certain she'll beat the player in battle... In literally every instance you talk to this little girl outside of the Elite 4. She also often gets her words jumbled or incorrectly uses words so reading her dialogue gave me quite the seizure. I'm not even joking either, I had a seizure during one of her in game interactions... I wasn't a fan of her character and her design didn't bring anything new to the table.

7. Iono

Iono the Streamer and Paldean Icon is the Electric Gym leader. Everyone went crazy for her when she was announced in the Scarlet & Violet promotional trailers and I personally don't get it. I do love her design, especially the two magnemite in her hair, but that's about it. I'm not a fan of her personality in the slightest as she gives streamers a bad rep. The entire time you're talking to Iono, all that she talks and cares about is stuff that'll get her more views on top of how she often came off as rude & disrespectful. I especially wasn't a fan when she was using her over the top fanboys as Challengers in her gym rather than actual electric type trainers. The only good thing about Iono was the gym challenge itself. In the gym challenge you had to play a game of Where's Waldo with Mr. Clavel where you're finding him within a group of people over a course of three rounds. Iono was also the strongest of all the gym leaders when it came to their Champion level rematch teams cause she kept one-shotting my entire team and had all of her bases covered. This battle WAS the hardest battle in the entire game for me besides the AI Turo fight if that says anything

6. Larry

Larry, the assigned businessman who runs the Normal Gym AND is a member of the Elite 4. This marks the first time ever where someone is both an Elite 4 Member and a Gymleader (in the same game). Larry is a very forgettable man to put it simply BUT we all love him anyways. Hes the most relatable Pokemon character in existence who prefers things boring and will often ridicule his boss if something is outside of his paygrade. I love the theme of his gym, being a traditional chinese restaurant. His gym challenge was really fun too! You run around town, trying foods and looking at foodstals, until you find the one stal with an odd menu item that doesn't fit the theme of their stand. Many find this challenge boring, maybe even too hard as it does take a bit of brainpower, but I had fun with it.

5. Grusha

Grusha the Pro Snowboarder is the Final Gymleader who specializes in Ice Types. This marks the first time in Pokemon history that the final gym leader is an Ice Type! Final gym leaders, based on past games, normally are Dragon or Electric type. Ice Gym Leaders normally are one of the last gym leaders you face but until now haven't ever been the final gym leader. Despite living atop a mountain, and being an Ice trainer at that, Grusha doesn't like the cold so it's kind of comical seeing Grusha fight off the bitter cold of the mountain. It's also adorable how Grusha has a little Cetoddle that follows him around like a puppy. Grusha was alright as a gymleader but he most definitely fades into the woodwork compared to other gym leaders such as Piers, Draden or Volkner. Grusha also heavily insinuated that Geeta forced Grusha to make the decision to choose between Snowboarding or being a Gym Leader and he chose the later. I'm sorry, that's a bit messed up!!!

4. Rika

Rika is the first member of the Elite 4 that you battle against and she specializes in the Ground Typing which came off as a genuine surprise to me. I thought she'd specialize in Steel or MAYBE Ghost. Anyways, who designed her? WHO DESIGNED HER!? I've heard countless people question their sexuality around Rika. I won't deny, she's a hot woman! She has no right looking so damn fine! Rika is most definitely one of the better designed females Pokemon has given us in a while (Sorry Nessa Fans!!!) However... I REALLY didn't like her questionnaire that Rika required the player to partake in. If at any moment you gave Rika a bad answer, she kicks you out of the Elite 4 and you're forced to keep retaking the questionnaire till you give her acceptable answers. Once you successfully pass her questionnaire, Rika will repeatedly remind you that you failed her quiz throughout the rest of your Elite 4 journey. Honey, I love your design but as a character you suck!!!

3. Ryme

Ryme, the DJ of RIP, is the Ghost Gym Leader AND the younger sister of Ms. Tyme, your mathematics Teacher at Uva/Naranja Academy. I absolutely love this girl. Pokemon did a woman of color correctly and I'm here for it! I absolutely love how she's older but it's not overbearing as she's older YET still looks young and attractive like Queen Latifah! Her design is just *chef's kiss* from her skeletal dread lock hair to her fun and still classy clothing choice. Her gym theme was so fun as well from being Double Battle to how during her gym match Greavard are dancing atop her speakers and Houndstones are vibing with the crowd. It literally took me attending classes at school for me to realize Ryme's sister is a teacher let alone was a former Rock gym leader. Hands down, Ryme is the best Ghost Gym leader to date right next to Allister!

2. Mr. Hassel

Hassel is the 4th member of the Elite 4 as well as the Academy's Art teacher. Hassel specializes in the Dragon typing of which I FREAKING CALLED IT as I found it weird Hassel kept referring to his Gible as a king in the classroom. Oddly enough, despite owning a Gible and using one in the classroom, he doesn't have a Garchomp on his Elite 4 team which makes NO SENSE!!! Anyways, I took almost an immediate interest in Hassel due to his job as an art teacher and that he was later mentioned to be an Elite 4 Member. I found Hassel's interactions with Sir Gible to be adorable and I loved how Mr. Hassel was the only teacher who kept checking in on and encouraging the player throughout their journey. In fact, Hassel left his family as a young man to abandon the family profession as Dragon Tamers. While yes, Hassel still went onto become a gifted dragon trainer, he abandoned his family after they rejected his dreams in order to live up to his own dreams of being an artist. When faced with the decision to come back home and see his dying father or remain as a school teacher, Hassel chose to remain a teacher due to his dedication as well as how his relationship with his family is... Non-existent to put it simply. It is also worth noting how Hassel is a VERY close friend to Brassius. Hassel managed to pull Brassius out of his deep depression and teach the man the true meaning of art. The two of them share an inseparable bond that I'm low key envious of😅 I think Mr. Hassel gets the best teacher award🏆

1. Brassius

Brassius the Artist is the resident Grass Gymleader with somewhat of a fixation on Sunfloras. I immediately vibed with Brassius despite not really caring for him at all in the Scarlet & Violet trailers. Brassius' time with the player was especially short lived but if you attend art class in school, you get a surprisingly deep and meaningful lesson from Brassius about how everyone values their art differently and just how personal art can be to the creator. Through his lesson, you learn that Brassius went through a suicidal phase in his life which led to him creating his most famous art piece called the 'Surrendering Sunflora'. Brassius is an artist who prides himself on making himself and his town a welcoming beacon for artists to be themselves. His entire design makes him look intimidating despite how much of an inspired sweetheart he is from his almost scary and tired expression to his clothes of which represent thorny vines. It especially took me by surprise when he appeared atop a windmill then jumped off of it!!! I felt that Brassius' Gym was a welcomed and unique experience compared to most of the other Gyms as it was fun looking all around the town searching for Sunfloras. Sometimes the Sunfloras didn't wanna be caught so they'd fight you. I didn't realize just how much respect I hold for Brassius before I wrote this to be honest. He's a phenomenal character and I light up whenever he's on screen.

Who's your favorite Scarlet Violet Gymleader/Elite 4 Member?