The Let's Plays: Pokemon Platinum!

[Skyblade]

The first Gym Battle. A damn easy one as well. I'm just wondering: Does the Pokemon Leagues pay these leaders to lose?

Damn. Easiest job in the world.

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They look friendly, but that doctor's degree is fake, and his assistant is actually his mistress

Attachment 45837
No, no you're not.

First, you have two invalid attachments.

Second, I hate to be this guy, but there's something I've got to bring up about your initial question. If you were intending to get to it later, I apologize (I know there are details I left out of my Let's Play that get revealed at a later point). If so, let me know, and I'll edit this out so as not to steal your thunder.

Yes, yes they are. Gym Leaders are meant to challenge people working their way toward the Elite Four. They're meant to test commitment, skills, strategy, and bonds.

In Pokémon Platinum, the game you're doing an LP of now, you get to eventually stumble across the place they all hang out on their off days, and challenge their personal teams, rather than their challenge teams. You can face four of them a day.

Roark (who I was lucky enough to get on today's cycle), goes into battle in this area with:

A level 62 Aerodactyl
A level 63 Ramparados
A level 61 Golem
A level 61 Probopass
A level 65 Tyranitar

So, as you can see, Gym Leaders are actually pretty dang powerful trainers, and are easily among the top 1% of trainers you'll face in the game (story wise, I don't count the final arenas).

Minor Spoilers About Future Gym LeaderRoark's dad is also a Gym Leader. One of the things Roark will say when you challenge him in the pub is that it was after he became a Gym Leader that he realized how awesome his dad was. Which might indicate that he also thought that Gym Leaders were just pushovers, since their public face is their challenge teams.