You know, one of the fun things about looking into the subway twins in the aftermath of PLA (and as someone who tends to skip the battle subway in B&W) has been realizing just what fun characters they are. The two share one brain cell whenever they’re in a room together. Literally, speaking the same lines and doing the same actions in sync. Even when apart, they tend to gravitate to the same ideas and wants (granted, in their own ways), the same kinds of Pokemon, and fixate on the same objects. Which- yeah. They’re identical twins. That tracks.
It’s when they’re apart that the differences start to accumulate.
On one hand, you’ve got Ingo: the one with a perpetual frown on his face, wears darker clothing, and whose primary partner Pokemon is presented as the floating goth ghost chandelier: Chandelure. (Fun fact they’ve both got one- in fact the majority of their Pokemon overlap, but most media (and fanwork) depicts Chandelure as being one of Ingo’s).
At a glance, you’d expect him to be serious and formal at best- until you walk into his train at the end of the single battles and he starts cheerfully introducing himself and excitedly starts the battle, or when you beat him and he applauds your victory and cheers you on. Or in Pokemon Masters, where he’s actively distraught by the fact people have trouble reading his facial expressions and so will loudly explain how excited he is and how much he loves battling whenever he enters a room.
Even in PLA, where he’s rediscovering who he is along with everyone else, he still clearly enjoys the same hobbies- not only fights himself, but seeing other people have great battles. He’ll just straight up have a heart to heart about his personal feelings and predicament with a stranger he just met an hour ago, can’t resist a smile from a good battle, and despite the fact he’s clearly lost the light behind his eyes, is still such a friendly, helpful soul who genuinely wants to see the best in everyone. (it would be so funny to see the reactions of the PLA crew seeing normal-Ingo and what an aggressively friendly ball of sunshine he actually is. It’s just something missing from most ‘Ingo is reunited with his brother and memories’ fics).
Then on the other hand, you’ve got Emmet. The Subway Boss who drifts through life with a smile on his face, wears lighter clothing, and whose primary Pokemon is a big poofy colorful dumb looking bird whose better at running then flying. And whose most famous line (I like winning more then anything’) is one of the longest sentences he says to the player in the original game.
In contrast to his brother, Emmet speaks in clipped, factual statements. While loving his Pokemon and battling, he views his team through a very strategic lens, wanting the best, perfect combination of moves and strategies. Even when you beat him, he announces how much fun he had fighting you in the same matter-of-fact way he has of speaking (he lost. You are verrrrry strong) and ends on a very simple note that you should ‘ride the trains more often!’. In Pokemon Masters, he’s much more detail orientated then his brother, questioning the Player for all sorts of details about the location and what they look for in a good battle. He’s still very clearly excited to fight the Player, and to bring the Battle Subway to a new location, but has a very ‘there is nothing in life more important then winning’ attitude that’s just barely friendly enough to stop him from having a threatening aura. It’s also worth noting that, despite the two of them both sharing the same title, Emmet talks about how much he looks up to his brother and respects him as both a trainer and in individual.
When you fight both of them in B&W, Ingo will have a whole conversation with the player about the nature of team battles and trusting in your partner as much as you trust yourself. Emmet has a serious of short quips that are no more then three words each. We get the feeling that, where his brother has trouble expressing himself with his facial expressions and falls back onto his words so that people’ll understand him, Emmet has trouble expressing himself with his words and has learned to use his facial expression to project how excited he is outwardly- large smile, over the top gestures despite his simple sentences, a sparkle in his eye so that people are actually willing to approach him and don’t get scared off by this ultra-stern rules abiding boss at the end of a train.
When you beat them together, Emmet comments on you having a good combination and being strong, and it being a fun battle. Ingo applauds the player but also reminds them that beating the two of them was only one milestone in their life, and actively encourages them to go on to do even greater things further down the line. Emmet seems like a very here-and-now kinda guy, focusing on the life that’s in front of him, while Ingo is focused on the line ahead and what he can do now to prevent regret in the past. (Which is ironic, isn’t it?).
Also if you search up clips of the two from the B&W anime, one of the only straight clips you can find is a 30 second clip of them investigating someone (*coughteamrocketcough*) messing with the subway. In it, Ingo wants to get to solve the mystery to protect the city and the people who use the subway. Emmet focuses on holding the guilty party responsible. They also naturto run on the subway tracks, which is very important.
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