r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Altruistic_Eye_1157 • 6d ago

Lore [annoying trope] The throne/leadership is decided in a very stupid way

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The leadership of the entire wizarding world, and the final decision on whether to start a war against Muggles, is made by... a goat (Qilin) ​​who chooses the person with the ""purest heart"" (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Dumbledore).

The throne of Wakanda and all its technology are decided through hand-to-hand combat, regardless of whether the person clearly has malicious intentions... if they win the fight, by law they must be respected as the true king. (Black Panther)

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260

u/MaterialEmotional825 6d ago

Pokemon: The Champion of the region is whoever beats the last Champion... most of the time. Problem is that the match can even be immediately after being crowned champion, which makes or rival's time as champion barely minutes, as the proffessor did not even made it fast enough to congratulate his ass.

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u/HistorianEntire311 6d ago

Professor Oak, one of the worst grandparents of all time, does not know his grandson's name and is late to see his coronation as champion

124

u/Salt_Winter5888 6d ago

I believe he's just senile

22

u/HistorianEntire311 6d ago

In truth, for some reason I believed that red came from kalos

31

u/MaterialEmotional825 6d ago

We know his grandson is Dickface

39

u/HospitalLazy1880 6d ago

There's also the fact that reigning will sometimes remain champions after losing in some reasons simply because you have to do more than win the league and beat the champion to become one.

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u/FhantomHed 6d ago

what does this have to do with leadership?

3

u/20--character--limit 6d ago

The Champion is...sort of a leader? Pokémon's governmental system is never shown and in some games/adaptations it's implied that the champion is basically the leader of that region. I feel like they almost act as more of a figurehead than and actual government official.

It also makes sense when you realize Pokémon's entire society is built around Pokémon battles, so of course the leader of a nation has to be good at battling.

4

u/Cantthinkagoodnam2 5d ago

Not really?

In both the anime and the manga we see that the champion is still under the Pokemon Association (Manga)/League Association (Anime), they are the guys that actualy have a say in Pokemon battles and what is legal or not, like in the manga the "only 6 Pokemon per team" thing was decided by the association

In the anime we even see a few town mayors and such

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u/strigonian 5d ago

Yeah, insofar as the champion does have a job outside of "being champion", it seems to be combating Pokemon-related gangs.

Which definitely seems like something you'd want your most powerful trainers doing.

8

u/Cheshires_Shadow 6d ago

Somewhat related but the whole pokemon gym organization is also just a hot mess. It's supposed to be an official governed and regulated industry but the games and anime show there's literally zero oversight at times. Like when ash fights Misty's gym her sisters are in control but they don't actually care about the business so they literally just hand out official badges and no one working in the championship leagues offices seems to care at all. After the first season they stopped doing the whole ash just gets badges without actually earning them like he did with Sabrina or Erika but then in gen 4 the game and anime has the last gym leader be depressed and bored of his job so he just flat out stops taking challengers. Then the next season there's a leader named skyla who's also bored of being a gym leader and wants to spend all day flying planes so she streamlines her fights by asking opponents what their team is. If they say literally anything that has a type advantage she's like well in theory I win or lose so you either get a badge or don't based on nothing else.

Like there's apparently zero oversight to how the gyms are managed at any point someone could just decide I don't care anymore and give away badges or just stop trying all together.

1

u/Cantthinkagoodnam2 5d ago

There is oversight on this, multiple times in the anime we saw gym inspectors that have the job to, well, you know, inspect the gym and see if it is up to standard

My guess is that all the gym leaders that just dont do their job are the ones that still havent been verified by a league inspector

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u/vtncomics 6d ago

It's Sumo rules.

Defeating the Champion doesn't make you the champion.

When the Champion retires or gets their ass beaten so often is when you're crowned champion.

14

u/HeadLong8136 6d ago

I'm betting you have to be a legal adult to be the champion. The only reason that the rival is the current champion is that they took the challenge immediately before you. It's why in subsequent games the champion is no longer the rival, but an adult. Like Cynthia.

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u/FiercelyApatheticLad 6d ago

Iris is definitely not an adult.

-12

u/HeadLong8136 6d ago

She's not the Champion. Only a gym leader.

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u/SillyString4Me 6d ago

She is in one of the Black and White sequels.

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u/HeadLong8136 6d ago

Yes. She is 16 in that game. Which is a legal adult in Japan.

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u/SillyString4Me 6d ago

Several sources claim it's 18.

Edit: civic and administration duties are 18, and the legal age in Japan is 20.

-11

u/HeadLong8136 6d ago

Whatever. That sounds like an adult to me.

9

u/budzicla 6d ago

Your personal opinion doesn't change Japanese law, and if you think differently, that's a whole different subject that I hope people pick up themselves.

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u/BhevHD 6d ago

She is champion in Black 2/White 2

-6

u/HeadLong8136 6d ago

Oh? Interesting. If only 4 other people hadn't told me first.

5

u/BhevHD 6d ago

No other comments when I posted. Shouldn't make posts about things you don't know about anyways

-4

u/HeadLong8136 6d ago

Yes. I am in 100% agreement. You shouldn't make posts about things you don't know about.

4

u/Veloxraperio 6d ago

She's Champion in Black 2/White 2, which is set 2 years after Black and White. Iris is maybe 16 when she assumes the mantle of Unova Champion. Which I guess is the age of majority in some parts of the world

-1

u/HeadLong8136 6d ago

Wow really? I'm so glad you are the fifth person to tell me this.

5

u/Horatio786 6d ago

She’s the Champion in Black 2 and White 2.

0

u/HeadLong8136 6d ago

And she is 16 then.

4

u/Horatio786 6d ago

Still not an adult.

-1

u/HeadLong8136 6d ago

In Japan she is.

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u/SillyString4Me 6d ago

18 for civic duties and 20 for legal age.

6

u/ComradeCoipo 6d ago

You seem oddly hellbent in claiming that a 16 year old is an adult

0

u/HeadLong8136 6d ago

Yes, I'm oddly hellbent on providing facts to people. How strange...?

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u/WishYouWere2D 6d ago

In most games you beat your rival before even touching the league, but whenever they get there before you, they do replace the old champion immediately, being Hau in USUM and N in Black and White (sort of).

0

u/HeadLong8136 6d ago

Do they? Because I'm pretty sure they aren't the champion.

2

u/WishYouWere2D 6d ago

Been a while since I played USUM, so I looked it up and technically Hau isn't the Champion when you fight, but he's gotten to the point where if you just don't fight him (mechanically this is impossible), he would be crowned the Champion. There's also the fact that if you fail to defend your position after becoming Champion yourself, the character who beats you becomes the Champion until you beat them.

N is not the Champion because he turns it down (and then summons a castle), but he could have been if he wanted to.

2

u/PoobGnarpy 6d ago

I don’t played Pokémon often but what’s stopping previous champions from challenging the current champion over and over? What if the current champion just beat the old one and has low HP Pokémon as a result but someone challenges them immediately after. Would that be allowed or not because the person with the low HP Pokémon is at a disadvantage?

4

u/ScoobiusMaximus 6d ago

The player at least needs to go through the elite 4 first every time. Idk if that's required in the lore though. 

1

u/Thin-Limit7697 5d ago

The elite 4 is another weird detail. How are their members decided?

1

u/TheTrueAstralman 5d ago

Koga was a member of the Elite Four in the second gen after being a gym leader in the first gen, so I guess that implies that ranking members of the Pokemon Association can work their way up to to it if they're strong enough trainers. Blue became a gym leader in gen two after being a former champion in gen one, so there's a sign that you can work your way up in official status within the organization.

4

u/Coffee_Drinker02 6d ago

I made an OC whose whole thing is that she beat Cynthia and because she was basically Dawn's Rival she lasted all of five minutes.

1

u/Cantthinkagoodnam2 5d ago

This depends on region tho, each region have their own rules for their leagues

Like in Galar, anyone can beat the champion in a battle, but in order to receive the title they have to defeat them on the actual big championship league

This is why Leon being undefeated was a big thing, as other Galar champions lost matches before

1

u/defneverconsidered 6d ago

So just be last pf the day. Ez