Rank the protagonists

[nikka]

Hi everyone i've been reading some of the threads and i thought this would be a pretty cool idea, so im gonna rank the protagonist of each game from #6-#1
remember this is just my opinion, i would also like for you to rank them in your own order and so on...anyways..
From #6 - being worst to # 1- behing best

#6 Nate
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Let me start off by saying this guy is no joke, he travelled across western Unova, and eastern Unova, defeated the elite 4, stopped Ghetsis and Corless, and ultimately defeated the fused kyreum. The only reason he is worst on my list is because he basically followed in Hilbert's footsteps. He already had a path laid out for him, and an evil team which was split into 2 by the efforts of Hilbert.

#5 Brendan

Pretty cool character he defeated the Elite 4, stopped team Magma\Aqua, and made it through the battle frontier. Also introducing lots of new concepts to us like double battles etc.

#4 Lucas

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He made it through the Sinnoh region and the Battle Tower, but the real shine behind him is the evil team he was pit against had a much more evil and master plan than most of the others. Needless to say this guy landed himself in the distortion world and made it out.

#3 Ethan

He comes off as cocky too me which is a pretty cool trait for a protagonist. Let's see this guy is the only one of all the players to travel across 2 whole regions. From chasing down dogs to battling Red this guy is a legend.

#2 Red

It's the original badass, the one who started it all. While he didnt have a very menacing evil team to deal with, or 2 regions to travel across, he basically wrote the guidelines for being a trainer.Upon meeting him on Mt. Silver you get these mysterious vibes from him that just leaves you thinking

# 1 Hilbert

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I might sound biased but he is my all-time favorite character. He is basically a new generation Red with an even more of a mysterious ending.He was chosen as a hero and never to be seen again. The end of bw2 leaves you wondering what happened to him.
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[Shiruba]

@ hilbert
well, you do know, actually. he went looking for n. ouo

 

[Yveltal]

I would rate them based on their manga counterparts with the exception of Nate.
#5 Gold. Johto was my favorite season, but Gold was just far too arrogant. It was clear that the writers intended for him to be more of a child compared to Red, and he suffered from a deficiency of redeeming qualities to his personality. Everyone he's ever met besides his mother gives him hell. His personality is uncomfortably rough, abrasive and whiny, and he's shown too much vulnerability in social situations. Gold doesn't have much going for him, besides taking the readers on a tour through Johto for most of the GSC chapters, it's kind of sad.

#4 Dia(Diamond). I love Dia because he's a relatable preteen. He's lazy without being dim, and his extra talents and interests effectively propel the plot forward in minute ways. He's our protagonist, though, and these basic human traits don't make him anything to idolize. Mad props to the guy for catching Regigigas, though.

#3 Red. Red is the perfect good guy for the Pokemon world. He understands Pokemon better than anyone (bar Yellow), and is the king of Pokemon Battles. He gets some social treatment similar to Gold, but only because Red get's taken seriously by everyone, and isn't on a consistant quest to prove himself like Gold was. Red was a very clever battler. His attack orders were easily the most clever to date.

#2 Ruby. I'm a little biased here, but Ruby's entire character was so perfectly fantastical without being unimaginable. His devotion to a certain vision based on a psychological resolve was such an amazing quality for being a great point for heavy character development to stem from. Even though he existed to showcase Pokemon contests in the manga, he was still a very deep and well realized character, especially for a 13 year-old!

#1 Black. Black is what I like to think of as the embodiment of enterprisers. He's got a plan and a schedule, he's spent time learning and realizing his dreams, he's incredibly crafty and very intelligent in and out of battle, and he knows how to get shit done. People learn to love him because he's a driven character with fully realized goals. His personality isn't completely without flaws, as he's a yes-man with some sort of socially inept complex, but such is the personality of many great innovators.

 

[Focus]

As silent protagonists, they're all intentionally meant to be blank slates for the player (that's you, on the other side of the Internet) to impose personality traits on. That said, all of these characters appear as NPCs with actual personalities and quirks as well (depending on the gender you choose to start out as). Speaking of which, you didn't include the female protagonists Leaf, Kris, Lyra, May, Dawn, Hilda, and Rosa! >:(

Red is supposedly the strongest canon protagonist, and defeated Team Rocket single-handedly. He's in some ways the face of the series by being in the original games and by making several notable appearances in Brawl and the Johto games. He still uses a Pikachu though. Come on man...

Leaf is...there. She's the female version of Red with no appearances in the series apart from being a protagonist, so I have no idea what to say. She's cute, I guess? (no pedo) She seems like a thrown-in character with no purpose apart from being a girl. Sort of like...

Kris. Her name is a play on Crystal, and I'm not convinced that she exists for any reason other than to not have a Y chromosome. She is probably the most boring of all, and sort of got left in the dust after Crystal version. Sad, really.

Ethan's gold hat is nice. It's cool how he infiltrated Team Rocket though. And he got 16 gym badges and defeated Red in an epic battle on the top of the world. I haven't played as Lyra though in HGSS, so maybe someone else could tell me what sort of personality he has in those games? I'm a bit stumped.

Lyra has a weird had and has a dress in the same vein as Mario's. Quirky? She doesn't do all too much for the series as a whole. I would have preferred to have Kris back tbh. If you're playing as her, she's just as noteworthy as Ethan. Otherwise...eh.

Brendan has a funky hat. May's sort of clumsy and awkward. And one of them woke up Rayquaza or something as protagonist. May has a Torkoal in Emerald in Rustboro city, which is cool yet jerkish. There seems to be a bit of a ship tease going on between these two no matter who you choose, which is interesting. Then, there's the fact that the protagonist beats his/her father in a memorable Gym battle! It's awesome that for once the protagonist's father is in a game and not just referenced!

Dawn and Lucas sure conquered some powerful monsters as protagonists! I must reference Dawn's skirt size for the record. Isn't she cold when walking head-deep in snow? And now might be as good a time as any when I say that Game Freak has a disturbing tendency to dress the very underage female protagonists in upsettingly short skirts shorts. Regardless, their scarfs and hats are pretty sweet and I'd have to say I like their outfits the most of any protagonists. Oh right, I should probably mention something about their characters:
.....

Hilbert and Hilda are older than the others, and Hilda has cool hair. Hilbert seemed to be to be a Red wannabe design-wise... Anyhoo, the fact that they seem to actually have a semblance social life at the start of the game is unique. I really hope future games do more of that. They tame the dragon of legend as hero/heroine of Unova and defeat and transform N in my favorite moment of any Pokemon game. That gives them major bonus points.

Nate and Rosa are...not Hilbert and Hilda. But have my favorite hair-dos, fwiw. And they're actors at Pokestar Studios, which is impressive that they can be such stand-out actors. Man, I just finished BW2 and I forgot pretty much everything about them. I recall liking them though for some reason though...

If I were to rank, it would be:

13.Kris
12.Lyra
11.Leaf
10.Brendan
9.May
8.Ethan
7.Dawn
6.Lucas
5.Hilbert
4.Rosa
3.Nate
2.Red
1.Hilda

PS: I haven't played Colosseum/XD or the vast majority of spin-offs, so those protagonists are excluded here.

 

[Chou Toshio]

#1 Red

rest: forgetable

 

[Lord Jesseus]

You're all wrong because the best is clearly Wes from Colosseum

Hide

He's just a badass. He starts his game by blowing up a building, stealing the Snag Machine and then gettin gthe fuck out of there on his awesome Hovering Motorcycle thingy. He then goes on to defeat Cipher, who unlike the main series' villanous teams actually use some decent Pokemon instead of spamming weak Poison Types and first route rodents.
Design wise he's quite cool too. His attire emphasises his badassery. And the 2 points that really set him apart from the rest
-He's not a fucking ten year old
-He doesn't wear a hat
So yeah. Wes is best.

But if spinoffs don't count then

#1 Red

rest: forgetable

 

[Celever]

You're all wrong because the best is clearly Wes from Colosseum

Hide

He's just a badass. He starts his game by blowing up a building, stealing the Snag Machine and then gettin gthe fuck out of there on his awesome Hovering Motorcycle thingy. He then goes on to defeat Cipher, who unlike the main series' villanous teams actually use some decent Pokemon instead of spamming weak Poison Types and first route rodents.
Design wise he's quite cool too. His attire emphasises his badassery. And the 2 points that really set him apart from the rest
-He's not a fucking ten year old
-He doesn't wear a hat
So yeah. Wes is best.

You summed it up perfectly, especially the hats part. Also, if she counts:

#1999999999999999999999999999999: Rui

No one likes her gtfo

 

[Darknesscrusher]

Dude, it's yourself, of course, in PMD. Also your partner, if that counts, is cool.

 

[Mekkah]

#1 Red

rest: forgetable

This. Red is the only one out of these that you get to battle. I consider the "rival" counterparts like the RSE ones different characters, since this is "rank the protagonists", not "rank the rivals". Red actually represents you, as the Champion. It does not get more evil than that.

The rest...they beat evil teams and traveled far and wide. Some evil teams are more of a joke than others, but it all comes down to the same thing. And yeah, you're meant to fill in the enormous blanks on them yourself. Who even remembers any of their names without looking them up?

 

[Soul Fly]

#1 Red

rest: forgetable

^This

I didn't even know the rest of their names (apart from gold) until I stumbled upon this thread.

 

[inanimate blob]

Red's definitely the most badass, but I agree with the OP that Hilbert is surprisingly cool.

I gotta say, though, Brendan is pretty cool, but that may be because I started with Sapphire.

 

[Hulavuta]

I like Lyra ;___;

 

[Chou Toshio]

This. Red is the only one out of these that you get to battle. I consider the "rival" counterparts like the RSE ones different characters, since this is "rank the protagonists", not "rank the rivals". Red actually represents you, as the Champion. It does not get more evil than that.

The rest...they beat evil teams and traveled far and wide. Some evil teams are more of a joke than others, but it all comes down to the same thing. And yeah, you're meant to fill in the enormous blanks on them yourself. Who even remembers any of their names without looking them up?

Yep. Plus, Red is the only one with any fashion sense AND lacks stupid looking hair. What a bunch of dorks (and not in the good way)

Where as Red is bad ass.

 

[Mekkah]

Most of the male protagonist's hairdos look fairly normal - it's their hats that make them ridiculous. Especially Brendan.

 

[BattleStar]

I am a bit of a nogstalia person but I would have to say Hilbert IMO was the best protagonist. Most of the protagonist as said are pretty blank slates. However I don't know if is just my memory but Hilbert seemed like the most devolved character. Especially at the end. I don't think any other relationship between the player and a NPC was as devolved as the one with Hilbert and N. It feels like such a powerful devolpemnt when you hear that he went off searching for N. I wouldn't mind in the least of a bit more personality was added to the protagonist in general.

In regards to the other protagonist, they all seem like blank slates to me. Not to say I didn't like them. But it feel (even more so) that they just were force to do things or stumbled upon their quest rather than doing what they did on their own accord.

 

[Steamroll]

Red is by far the best protagonist in the games. Whereas the other protags are just blank slates used to guide the player through the story, Red actually sets the building blocks for another game's story and is constantly mentioned in legend across all five generations of pokemon.

I'm not kidding with the setting in stone another game's story. Red motivated Giovanni to abandon his son (proven in the Japanese script of the Celebi event) in order to train, and set Silver's determination to stop Team Rocket during the GSC/HGSS storyline.

Really other than that for a sense of what is accomplished in story, Ethan/Kris/Lyra would be second best since they traverse through the Kanto region and subsequently beat Red.

 

[Vashimus]

#1 Red

rest: forgetable

Rank the rivals would've actually been a bit tougher for me, since Blue and Silver are both pretty damn cool.

 

[TheFourthChaser]

Red easy, no competition at all lol. BW protagonist is cool but going to look for N and not beating the champion of the League is just lame as hell, especially with N being so overrated. Kris is lame compared to the original design imo. DPP protagonist is alright, BW2's is a lamer version of 1's and RSE's is whatever. XY's dude looks the same as BW's but the female protagonist is different which is cool I guess.

Rival ranking would be easy too, the real question is who do you put first Blue or Silver?

 

[Dre89]

Ethan has a cool sprite (browny points for the backwards cap) but his actual artwork design is bad because he has stupid dress sense. I mean who wears a jumper with shorts? Not only that but they're the same colour too.

I think Red looks cool, even though a vest with half-gloves is kinda out there.

 

[Lord Jesseus]

I think Red looks cool, even though a vest with half-gloves is kinda out there.

...what Gloves? Red isn't wearing any gloves...

Either way though, the worst dressed is Brendan. He's wearing pants underneath his shorts wtf is that
And the hat that looks like hair ummm

 

[scampy]

Hilda and Hilbert, kooky names aside, are my favourite protagonists. They have the most appealing designs to me. They also seem the most human/realistic, I guess largely thanks to the friendships with Cheren and Bianca.

 

[Steamroll]

...what Gloves? Red isn't wearing any gloves...

Red wears gloves in the manga, I guess that's where the post you quoted comes from.

Rival ranking would be easy too, the real question is who do you put first Blue or Silver?

1. HGSS Silver - Purely because of his change of character throughout the storyline in HGSS. I mean the kid got abandoned by his father and set out to destroy Team Rocket to spite his dad, and pursued power in order to accomplish that. After realizing that power isn't all there is he changes heart and in a sense becomes a good friend to the player before they challenge the Elite 4 a second time.
2. Blue - The guy set in place what to expect from a rival. While he was Oak's grandson, he had to deal with playing second hand to Red the entire time (in the games at least), and in the timeskip between 1st gen and 2nd gen he's shown to have matured (somewhat) to be Giovanni's replacement as Gym leader.
3. GSC Silver - A small change in character throughout the game, but lacking the story added to HGSS.
4. Hugh - He may have the most fucked up reason to become a stronger trainer, but bar HGSS Silver he has the most background of any rival in the games bar none.
5. Cheren - He takes a similar path to Blue in both being your rival and a gym leader at a later time, just without the cocky attitude that makes Blue the character we love.
t-6. Barry & Bianca - I know it's odd I can tie these two, but there's really nothing to them other than being your annoying rival to fight you throughout their respective games. They add little to the story, and don't have much background besides being your childhood friend who sets out on their journey with you on the same day.
t-8. Brendan/May - They stop showing up halfway through the damn game, I mean what's the point?
t-8. Wally - He has the oddest plot of any rival in the games. A sick kid who catches a pokemon with your assistance and then gets sent to his uncle's house. He then runs away (and seemingly is cured of his illness) and challenges you in Victory Road. I'm sorry but there's so little background for the guy, unlike his manga counterpart.

 

[nikka]

Nate is dressed like a dumbass, but Hilbert's outfit is fresh I would rock some shit like that maybe different colors

 

[Dre89]

Red wears gloves in his artwork interpretations. For example, on the start screen of Red/Blue.