SOY UN PERDEDOR. *

Alright so on Twitter a user posted a side by side comparison of Hop's champion cup battle animations to Leon's. And it's quite possibly one of my absolute favorite points about the games.

Throughout the entire game, it's made very clear how much Hop looks up to Leon and wants to be like him. So much so that when Bede trashes him in battle and claims that Hop's performance is hurting Leon's rep, Hop actually gets depressed at that.

He goes through a bit of a phase trying to get his groove back and eventually, when he makes it to the champion cup decides to channel his brother (the current champion) by slapping his cheek and throwing the ball in an almost identical fashion.

That's not laziness on Gamefreak's part (as a few people have legitimately tried to claim), that's brilliant. It fits Hop's character arc up until that point. It's a realistic thing for a younger sibling to do. It's definitely a nod to the whole saying "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". And it's one of the better examples of showing, not telling in the game as it is through a visual cue and not through dialogue.

Like Hop wants attention (evident by the fact that all of the pictures in his house are of Leon and not him). It's a very natural reaction for a young kid like Hop to try to get attention by copying the very person he looks up to the most. Everyone on this planet has at one point in their lives, emulated another's actions. It's a human thing to do very appropriate for someone as young as Hop. Like I'm not sure what people expect from a KID.

Not to mention the animations are not 1:1 exact copies of each other. Hop can't throw his ball as forceful as Leon can. Hop almost falls when he throws his dynamaxed ball while Leon can yeet a dynaxed ball with ONE HAND like it's nothing. Again this is yet another "show, don't tell" moment to remind everyone that Hop and Leon are not the same person. Which again ties into Hop's whole arc of realizing he doesn't have to be exactly like Leon to be important and make a difference.

ok. no one wants to help. i guess you’re on your own. build a foundation with the bricks they throw. in a black and white world true colors show, change if you want; everybody grows & life’s like an eel, but try and get ahold;

OPINIONS AIN’T ＦＡＣＴＳ— TAKE ‘EM IN, AND 𝕃𝔼𝕋 '𝔼𝕄 𝔾𝕆. ★

rest under the cut because it got long!!!!! rly long!!!!! anyway, a hop and a bede get on a full train 🚂🚂🚂,