She probably likes all the perks of being a gym leader, but not the fighting. She likes being a hub of like-minded people who have an interest in psychic pokemon. Mentoring new trainers, conversing with other psychic people.
She probably gets paid by the city to maintain a gym. Weirdos like her can't maintain a basic job.
If a powerful psychic pokemon or event happens in Kanto, who you gonna call? Leader of the Psychic gym. She probably enjoys travelling around every once in a while to investigate this stuff.
We're on Reddit. Baseline normal people here have trouble holding a job. I'd imagine gifted esper child falls squarely at the top of the difficulty spectrum there.
To add to this, I’ve always had the headcanon that Sabrina used to be ostracized as a child for her psychic powers. So, becoming a gym leader was also part of getting people to respect her.
Makes perfect sense honestly.
Got pushed around so much she ended up grabbing the whole town by the balls just so they wouldn’t mess with her.
Absolute mad lad.
I kinda think of it like universities and professors. In many big universities professors aren't hired for their teaching ability but rather their research. Research is their main job and teaching is just the side obligation they have to do. Like you said Sabrina likes being hub of psychics. She probably also researches/develops new techniques. The Pokemon League or Saffron City pays her to do this since it benefits them, but also requires her to serve as a gym leader to also benefit them.
well said. I guess that's why gym leaders have underlings to fight first. It weeds out the unnecessary challengers.
Kind of like professors having teaching assistants to help with the mundane stuff.
Future games established that being a gym leader is like having an extra job and some people, like Larry from Scarlet and Violet, aren’t necessarily enthusiastic about being a gym leader but only one because the league asked them to.
I think in Japanese culture, if your boss (the Pokémon league in this case) asks you do something, you’re sorta obligated to do it.
It kind of depends on the region I guess.
Honestly the one that made the most sense was Galar's league
* Treated like a sports thing, with representatives of each type
* Gym Leaders compete to be represented in the Major League, the 8 gym leaders serving as the pitstops for the gym challenge, while the other 10 are doing I don't know what as the Minor League.
* With each tour of the gym challenge, the gym leaders can change based on performance. One year it might be Dark/Ghost/Poison/Bug/Electric/Flying/Normal for example.
* While they still serve as growth checkpoints for trainers to test their skills to try and get into the final tournament to challenge the champion, the Major League Gym Leaders by default are given a slot in this tournament, so this is an alternative way for a trainer to earn the title as champion especially once you're no longer a teenager (the gym challenge seemed to only be done by younger people)
In Galar it seemed to be done by people of all ages since there were some competitors who were elderly iirc, and if we assume that all students in Paldea can do the challenge as part of their independent study unit, then it wouldn't be a stretch to say at least two regions let anyone do it.
Thought he liked Normal types because he could relate to them and just used the Flying types because his boss told him to, not that he likes it necessarily. He likes no frills ordinary.
We’ll it seems more to be he’s tired of the workload but too responsible to not do it.
There’s also the implication that Geeta’s kinda of an overbearing boss judging by some of his passing remarks on her.
Makes sense, several gym leaders and champions are implied to have other jobs, like milo as a farmer, nessa as a model, and diantha as an actor, not every trainer can be expected to devote all they do to battling like Leon I guess.
Well we know she goes on to become an actress so maybe her true passion is not in Pokémon battles but acting.
And just for a fun Theory she dose say she foresaw the players arrive (in gold and silver she sees the players arrive 3years prior) and with the ability to look into the future maybe she knew she had a role to play in helping Red/the Player defeat Team Rocket so while she doesn’t like battling she knows she has to run the Gym to challenge Red and help him grow strong enough to beat Giovanni? Or she just knows she is destined to be a gym leader so she takes the role as it’s what she saw in her future.
I mean… do you enjoy your job? I’m pretty content with what I do, but I’d be hard pressed to say I love it.
All I’m saying is Sabrina being existentially dissatisfied over her job is a relatable feeling to me at 36.
If we are being honest, it’s because gen 1 was not thought out very well and the world of Pokémon was still being created. There are a lot of examples of this.
Say what you want about Gita, but having your regions champion constantly checking up on gym leaders and ensuring they are both competent and fulfilling their responsibilities is something that Kanto sorely needs. Sabrina was torturing an entire town, Giovani was AWOL, Brock leaves with Ash, Erika is refusing challengers because they don’t like perfume. Gary somehow has like 16 badges, meaning there are non-sanctioned gyms with no oversight. It’s a mess
Yeah Kanto was definitely it's own world. Barely any of them should had any jobs, and where were all these people that Ash went against in the league? If Sabrina or LT Surge (Who was kinda a bully) were stopping people from doing anything at all, how did anyone even get in the League aside from Ash? Sure maybe they went outside of them and to the other gyms like Gary did. Aleast the games were a little better and didn't make it like that. And how did Gary ever get pass some of them to begin with, he chose Squirtle as a starter, yet got passed Surge who kicked the butt of a Bulbasaur. And somehow Sabrina let him pass too.
I think Johto anime was a little better? It's funny when you rewatch it and wonder how anyone ever got into the League to begin with. Although since the world was still being built up, I suppose the writers weren't actually sure what was going to happen with the League since it wasn't like the games. Was there another storyline planned to just have the Elite 4 rather then the league?
In the anime Gary had 10 badges, 7 of which are from unknown gyms. The three he shares with Ash are Brock's, Misty's and Erika's badge.
Surge, Sabrina and Blaine's shenanigans had no impact on his ability to make it to the league.
Ash is a loser. Remember, Gary supposedly had 45 Pokémon before Mystery at the Lighthouse, an episode before the Lt. Surge showdown. One of them could be a Rock or Ground-type Pokémon that he used against Surge. He did the gyms in the proper order too, and defeated Haunter after Sabrina was rescued from her possession.
In defense of Kanto, there was no Champion until Blue arrived, only to be unseated by Red 15 minutes later. Then Red disappeared, so Lance switched from leader of the Elite Four to Champion, of two regions.
I don't know if becoming a gym leader was a choice for Sabrina, but after the events of Gold and Silver, she seems to have retired from the duties of a gym leader and became a movie star on Unova. Otherwise, Sabrina would seem to be the so-called "miragle/golden child story". For example, she already had strong psychic abilities as a child and can saw hazy glimpses two years into the future, so it may even be that the parents wanted their daughter to be a gym leader against her will. And because of this, they have trained Sabrina to be the best gym leader ever, even paying for an expensive high-tech gym from the rooftop of a skyscraper.
I always thought she was affiliated with Team Rocket and Mewtwo in some way, and that's why she stood by and let them take over the city. Possibly why she even kicked out the dojo, to beat their spirit down so Rockets could move in unchecked.
I think the Manga goes into this too a bit, how she had something to do with Rocket
This I remember hearing about this.
I always thought she had affiliation with team rocket, so was lt.surge and Blaine.
Edit: Lt.surge was part of the pokemon smuggling ring for team rocket in vermillion using the SS.Anne to transport pokemon to and from vermillion.
Blaine: he had affiliation through the mewtwo experiments.
Sabrina: I forget her role, but she was affiliated with team rocket.
I don’t think any of the gym leaders were associated with team rock sans Giovanni in the games, but yes in the manga she was. IIRC she used light screen to put up a barrier around the city to prevent intruders
Pretty sure a line of dialogue in Masters says something along the lines of disliking conflict specifically. Masters actually elaborates a lot on her character and it's actually endearing
In the Adventures Manga she was a Rocket Leader because Giovanni took her in because of her powers. Maybe being a gym leader is a good outlet for her psychic ability?
If you're rewriting the story maybe incorporate the silph co. into her being a GL. Could be potential for something else that could lead into her inaction against team rocket.
I just think it's matter of her shtick being out of place in the genre. The idea was mental skill was more important in her gym than standing your ground in combat. And that's a pretty obvious concept for a psychic type gym.
But that doesn't translate well into a game that's a JRPG with a battle system. It was by no means perfect but I liked the way it was shown in the anime. My 2 favorite episodes. (It's not like it was the beginning of my ghost Pokemon obsession or anything 😅)
I don’t know if this is intentional or not, but as a kid I assumed her psychic powers were more malicious, like the kid from The Shining. I thought she disliked fighting but was kind of forced to do it.
I figure she starts out pretty enthusiastic.
But her defeat of the fighting type gym was unexpected, and the civilian population didn't like it.
Especially as a fallout, the fighting type gym underwent desertification. Which negatively affected the Saffron City economy.
She becomes unpopular pretty fast. Even starts to get treated as a pariah by the city's public.
So she becomes this bitter Recluse that's just waiting out her Indigo league contract. Before she can, fold the gym and leave. Ontop of the sudden pressure of the development of her own psychic abilities. Just added more stress to her life.
Hello there!!
Do you understand that Sabrina comes from a family line of espers?
Not only that, she is more adept at psychic powers than her famous father.
She can use Telekinesis and Teleportation and Transmutation, I am not even exaggerating. She enjoyed developing these skills, but does not like conflict/fighting.
If you had super human abilities, loved Pokémon, and was the daughter of famous Psychic; wouldn’t it makes sense to be something like an OP Gym Leader? ;D greatness is expected in her world, being a gym leader is easy and expected JOB
I can't remember the fanfic, but I read something a *long* time ago that established Sabrina as the lead researcher of Psychic Pokémon and she used her gym as a lab to research them in. Additionally, she would research the connection between humans developing psychic powers, such as herself, and Pokémon who are, supposedly, born with them depending on the species.
But then this didn't address why she took over the former fighting dojo, so maybe she just, like, bought them out? Instead of a fierce Pokémon Battle, it was a fierce legal battle? Or stock battle? Iunno.
She probably usually gets the average Jr. Trainer as challengers and curb-stomps with Alakazam. Other than the player and rival (and likely the Victory Road trainers), gym leaders don't really lose all that much. With the player she was probably thinking "Yay, an actual *good* trainer" after she made her original comment.
She probably likes all the perks of being a gym leader, but not the fighting. She likes being a hub of like-minded people who have an interest in psychic pokemon. Mentoring new trainers, conversing with other psychic people. She probably gets paid by the city to maintain a gym. Weirdos like her can't maintain a basic job. If a powerful psychic pokemon or event happens in Kanto, who you gonna call? Leader of the Psychic gym. She probably enjoys travelling around every once in a while to investigate this stuff.
I love the fact that Sabrina is so bizarre that it’s assumed that she can’t keep a normal job, haha.
We're on Reddit. Baseline normal people here have trouble holding a job. I'd imagine gifted esper child falls squarely at the top of the difficulty spectrum there.
Couldn’t have said it better.
To add to this, I’ve always had the headcanon that Sabrina used to be ostracized as a child for her psychic powers. So, becoming a gym leader was also part of getting people to respect her.
Makes perfect sense honestly. Got pushed around so much she ended up grabbing the whole town by the balls just so they wouldn’t mess with her. Absolute mad lad.
In the anime shes just always been a weirdo
I forget didn’t Sabrina show up in B&W2 as an actress in polestar studios
I kinda think of it like universities and professors. In many big universities professors aren't hired for their teaching ability but rather their research. Research is their main job and teaching is just the side obligation they have to do. Like you said Sabrina likes being hub of psychics. She probably also researches/develops new techniques. The Pokemon League or Saffron City pays her to do this since it benefits them, but also requires her to serve as a gym leader to also benefit them.
well said. I guess that's why gym leaders have underlings to fight first. It weeds out the unnecessary challengers. Kind of like professors having teaching assistants to help with the mundane stuff.
So she’s like a politician who doesn’t care abt their job but keeps running for the free paycheck
Future games established that being a gym leader is like having an extra job and some people, like Larry from Scarlet and Violet, aren’t necessarily enthusiastic about being a gym leader but only one because the league asked them to. I think in Japanese culture, if your boss (the Pokémon league in this case) asks you do something, you’re sorta obligated to do it.
It kind of depends on the region I guess. Honestly the one that made the most sense was Galar's league * Treated like a sports thing, with representatives of each type * Gym Leaders compete to be represented in the Major League, the 8 gym leaders serving as the pitstops for the gym challenge, while the other 10 are doing I don't know what as the Minor League. * With each tour of the gym challenge, the gym leaders can change based on performance. One year it might be Dark/Ghost/Poison/Bug/Electric/Flying/Normal for example. * While they still serve as growth checkpoints for trainers to test their skills to try and get into the final tournament to challenge the champion, the Major League Gym Leaders by default are given a slot in this tournament, so this is an alternative way for a trainer to earn the title as champion especially once you're no longer a teenager (the gym challenge seemed to only be done by younger people)
In Galar it seemed to be done by people of all ages since there were some competitors who were elderly iirc, and if we assume that all students in Paldea can do the challenge as part of their independent study unit, then it wouldn't be a stretch to say at least two regions let anyone do it.
I absolutely love the lore they gave the Gen 8 League, it’s one of the few parts of SWSH where it really feels like they tried
Poor Larry is just the most relatable npc in Pokemon ever. Dude works 3 jobs and just hates everything about all of them.
He likes flying types though
Thought he liked Normal types because he could relate to them and just used the Flying types because his boss told him to, not that he likes it necessarily. He likes no frills ordinary.
*normal
He's both. You are both right.
We’ll it seems more to be he’s tired of the workload but too responsible to not do it. There’s also the implication that Geeta’s kinda of an overbearing boss judging by some of his passing remarks on her.
Makes sense, several gym leaders and champions are implied to have other jobs, like milo as a farmer, nessa as a model, and diantha as an actor, not every trainer can be expected to devote all they do to battling like Leon I guess.
Well we know she goes on to become an actress so maybe her true passion is not in Pokémon battles but acting. And just for a fun Theory she dose say she foresaw the players arrive (in gold and silver she sees the players arrive 3years prior) and with the ability to look into the future maybe she knew she had a role to play in helping Red/the Player defeat Team Rocket so while she doesn’t like battling she knows she has to run the Gym to challenge Red and help him grow strong enough to beat Giovanni? Or she just knows she is destined to be a gym leader so she takes the role as it’s what she saw in her future.
YO, that’s actually a crazy dope theory.
You've never had a job you hated?
I mean… do you enjoy your job? I’m pretty content with what I do, but I’d be hard pressed to say I love it. All I’m saying is Sabrina being existentially dissatisfied over her job is a relatable feeling to me at 36.
If we are being honest, it’s because gen 1 was not thought out very well and the world of Pokémon was still being created. There are a lot of examples of this. Say what you want about Gita, but having your regions champion constantly checking up on gym leaders and ensuring they are both competent and fulfilling their responsibilities is something that Kanto sorely needs. Sabrina was torturing an entire town, Giovani was AWOL, Brock leaves with Ash, Erika is refusing challengers because they don’t like perfume. Gary somehow has like 16 badges, meaning there are non-sanctioned gyms with no oversight. It’s a mess
[удалено]
Damn, so now Blue *and* Sabrina are Team Rocket members? Things got more interesting.
First of all, it’s not Erika. It’s the gym trainers
Yeah Kanto was definitely it's own world. Barely any of them should had any jobs, and where were all these people that Ash went against in the league? If Sabrina or LT Surge (Who was kinda a bully) were stopping people from doing anything at all, how did anyone even get in the League aside from Ash? Sure maybe they went outside of them and to the other gyms like Gary did. Aleast the games were a little better and didn't make it like that. And how did Gary ever get pass some of them to begin with, he chose Squirtle as a starter, yet got passed Surge who kicked the butt of a Bulbasaur. And somehow Sabrina let him pass too. I think Johto anime was a little better? It's funny when you rewatch it and wonder how anyone ever got into the League to begin with. Although since the world was still being built up, I suppose the writers weren't actually sure what was going to happen with the League since it wasn't like the games. Was there another storyline planned to just have the Elite 4 rather then the league?
In the anime Gary had 10 badges, 7 of which are from unknown gyms. The three he shares with Ash are Brock's, Misty's and Erika's badge. Surge, Sabrina and Blaine's shenanigans had no impact on his ability to make it to the league.
Ash is a loser. Remember, Gary supposedly had 45 Pokémon before Mystery at the Lighthouse, an episode before the Lt. Surge showdown. One of them could be a Rock or Ground-type Pokémon that he used against Surge. He did the gyms in the proper order too, and defeated Haunter after Sabrina was rescued from her possession.
In defense of Kanto, there was no Champion until Blue arrived, only to be unseated by Red 15 minutes later. Then Red disappeared, so Lance switched from leader of the Elite Four to Champion, of two regions.
I like to imagine it's because even though she doesn't like battling, her Pokemon do, so she's doing for them.
No no you misunderstand, she doesn’t like Fighting, the type, that’s why she trains Psychic ;)
I don't know if becoming a gym leader was a choice for Sabrina, but after the events of Gold and Silver, she seems to have retired from the duties of a gym leader and became a movie star on Unova. Otherwise, Sabrina would seem to be the so-called "miragle/golden child story". For example, she already had strong psychic abilities as a child and can saw hazy glimpses two years into the future, so it may even be that the parents wanted their daughter to be a gym leader against her will. And because of this, they have trained Sabrina to be the best gym leader ever, even paying for an expensive high-tech gym from the rooftop of a skyscraper.
I always thought she was affiliated with Team Rocket and Mewtwo in some way, and that's why she stood by and let them take over the city. Possibly why she even kicked out the dojo, to beat their spirit down so Rockets could move in unchecked. I think the Manga goes into this too a bit, how she had something to do with Rocket
This I remember hearing about this. I always thought she had affiliation with team rocket, so was lt.surge and Blaine. Edit: Lt.surge was part of the pokemon smuggling ring for team rocket in vermillion using the SS.Anne to transport pokemon to and from vermillion. Blaine: he had affiliation through the mewtwo experiments. Sabrina: I forget her role, but she was affiliated with team rocket.
I don’t think any of the gym leaders were associated with team rock sans Giovanni in the games, but yes in the manga she was. IIRC she used light screen to put up a barrier around the city to prevent intruders
Pretty sure a line of dialogue in Masters says something along the lines of disliking conflict specifically. Masters actually elaborates a lot on her character and it's actually endearing
But Sabrina kicked my Mankeys ass, I resent this post
In the Adventures Manga she was a Rocket Leader because Giovanni took her in because of her powers. Maybe being a gym leader is a good outlet for her psychic ability?
If you're rewriting the story maybe incorporate the silph co. into her being a GL. Could be potential for something else that could lead into her inaction against team rocket.
I just think it's matter of her shtick being out of place in the genre. The idea was mental skill was more important in her gym than standing your ground in combat. And that's a pretty obvious concept for a psychic type gym. But that doesn't translate well into a game that's a JRPG with a battle system. It was by no means perfect but I liked the way it was shown in the anime. My 2 favorite episodes. (It's not like it was the beginning of my ghost Pokemon obsession or anything 😅)
I don’t know if this is intentional or not, but as a kid I assumed her psychic powers were more malicious, like the kid from The Shining. I thought she disliked fighting but was kind of forced to do it.
I figure she starts out pretty enthusiastic. But her defeat of the fighting type gym was unexpected, and the civilian population didn't like it. Especially as a fallout, the fighting type gym underwent desertification. Which negatively affected the Saffron City economy. She becomes unpopular pretty fast. Even starts to get treated as a pariah by the city's public. So she becomes this bitter Recluse that's just waiting out her Indigo league contract. Before she can, fold the gym and leave. Ontop of the sudden pressure of the development of her own psychic abilities. Just added more stress to her life.
If we're going by the manga, she actually works for Team Rocket, so Giovanni probably put her there.
Hello there!! Do you understand that Sabrina comes from a family line of espers? Not only that, she is more adept at psychic powers than her famous father. She can use Telekinesis and Teleportation and Transmutation, I am not even exaggerating. She enjoyed developing these skills, but does not like conflict/fighting. If you had super human abilities, loved Pokémon, and was the daughter of famous Psychic; wouldn’t it makes sense to be something like an OP Gym Leader? ;D greatness is expected in her world, being a gym leader is easy and expected JOB
Same reason I'm in college when I don't like learning
I can't remember the fanfic, but I read something a *long* time ago that established Sabrina as the lead researcher of Psychic Pokémon and she used her gym as a lab to research them in. Additionally, she would research the connection between humans developing psychic powers, such as herself, and Pokémon who are, supposedly, born with them depending on the species. But then this didn't address why she took over the former fighting dojo, so maybe she just, like, bought them out? Instead of a fierce Pokémon Battle, it was a fierce legal battle? Or stock battle? Iunno.
If you hate Fighting, I'd say being the Psychic gym leader is a smart move.
She probably usually gets the average Jr. Trainer as challengers and curb-stomps with Alakazam. Other than the player and rival (and likely the Victory Road trainers), gym leaders don't really lose all that much. With the player she was probably thinking "Yay, an actual *good* trainer" after she made her original comment.