Geeta (Pokémon Scarlet and Violet)

And here we have La Primera herself. Look, I’m not going to pretend Geeta’s team is great, but I do think a few simple tweaks could have made her demonstrably better than what we got. Her fundamental weakness is that her signature Pokémon is Glimmora, which means she uses that rock-and-poison-type last when it’s fundamentally meant to be a setup Pokémon. Its Toxic Debris ability scatters Toxic Spikes on the ground when it’s hit with a physical attack, meaning that the second you use a physical-based move on it (which is optimal considering most of rock and poison’s weaknesses are typically based on physical damage), you’re immediately at a disadvantage for the rest of the match as your Pokémon gain poison status as they swap in and out of battle.

While some of Geeta’s Pokémon aren’t that challenging or intimidating, her team’s well-rounded type coverage means you will likely have to swap between your own Pokémon to exploit their weaknesses, and if Glimmora had been used as a setup for the rest of the match, she would have a legitimate strategy for players to contend with in this final fight. But because the way these games are programmed means someone’s signature Pokémon must be used last, Glimmora becomes utterly useless and Geeta’s fight is forgettable in all ways beyond how baffling her strategy is. If she put Glimmora at the front of the team and had Kingambit as her signature Pokémon, Geeta’s skill as a trainer would have come through and she might not have the poor reputation she has now, which is what compels me to rank her as highly as I have. She’s a victim of a design decision, while in the margins, I can see a better strategy I wish she’d been able to utilize.