Quote Originally Posted by king81992 View Post
You're absolutely right. It feels like Tynion is trying to apply a concept without fully understanding what it means.

Bruce has more in common with Zuko than Aang.

Gary and Ash's rivalry was unusual, it's more a product of memes and fan bias than the anime's actual reality. Ash saw Gary as someone he had to overcome and Gary never took Ash seriously until their last battle, but looking back on things,Ash was ALWAYS the better trainer than Gary. Gary's only real advantage was stronger Pokemon, he was basically the dude with great potential who never lived up to the hype.

Harry and Draco was a legitimate rivalry.
Ash in Indigo, as a trainer seeking to compete in a Pokemon League Tournament, was... He wasn't really good. He tended to rely on luck and fortuitous circumstances (which isn't bad in and of itself, mind you, but comes off ill in consort with his other flaws as a competitive trainer and person during that time frame). He wasn't really invested in bettering his Pokemon's battle prowess and skills, coasting on their innate, baseline capabilities. And Ash's lack of diligence in Indigo is made clear, too. What Ash excelled at over Gary was his more empathetic bond and approach to being with and interacting with most of his Pokemon. (And even then, Ash wasn't at his peak in that regard during Indigo.)

Even if Gary was full of himself in Indigo (which was another of Indigo!Ash's flaws, too), he was still a better League competition Pokemon Trainer than Ash was during Indigo.

That said, I can concur that the louder segments of the Pokemon Anime fandom's tendencies to overplay the Ash and Gary rivalry is a thing. They also overplay Paul, too, albeit for different reasons, but Paul is another can of worms as far as I'm concerned. One I don't feel like opening.