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Avery or Klara

Klara or Avery

Today, I'm talking about more game exclusive gym leaders. Klara & Avery are exclusive to the Sword & Shield Isle of Armor DLC. And although technically these two are gym leaders, it don't feel like it. Especially since they don't have their own Pokemon Gyms AND they aren't on the same level as the other Galarian Gym Leaders like Allister, Nessa & Raihan.

So, if you play Sword, your rival will be Klara who specializes in the poison typing.

If you play Shield, your rival will be Avery who specializes in the Psychic typing.

I'm gonna say this right now, Avery & Klara were characterized to be annoying to say the least. Avery thinks that everyone is out to get him so he does get desperate at times and often comes off as a jerk. Meanwhile with Klara, I don't see her as anything other than an annoying teenager. She's obsessed with social media, always wants in on the current fashion and trends, degrades the player, cries all the dang time, she's a tsundere to say the least. Avery and Klara are foils of one another BUT I do prefer Avery over Klara. Avery is actually one of my favorite Pokemon characters out there while I cannot stand Klara. I'll gladly explain why!

Why I don't like Klara...

I don't like Klara for a lot of reasons and the paragraph above was just the tip of the iceberg. I thought I didn't like Klara during the Dojo Trials, I enjoyed her EVEN LESS after reading her League Card. Klara is a narcissist through and through. Narcissistic characters are hard to like sadly enough. Everything to do with Klara comes off as insanely fake. Everything she does stems from her wanting to be popular/the center of attention. Klara's League Card tells you about how she used to be a musician but because nobody liked her music, she changed her dream as to become a gym leader because it'll bring her fame considering how the Galar gym leaders are seen as public icons. Furthermore, her card explains that Klara chose to specialize in the Poison typing because Poison types aren't popular therefore there'd be less competition for her.

Klara has no passion for Pokemon or battling. Even after her redemption, I still feel no passion from her. As mentioned before, I find Klara especially annoying since she was repeatedly overly jealous of the Player's strength claiming they must be cheating, there's nothing special about them, they're trying to upstage me, etc. She is a sore loser!!! She kisses too much butt and I don't get why she cries all the dang time! Even further, I think she's creepy! I don't get what's going on with her mouth!!!

Lastly, even though Klara & Avery both cheated during the Third Trial, I found that Klara's means of cheating was miles worst than what Avery did. Klara sabotaged the battle field placing toxic spikes across it. Therefore, poisoning your Pokemon.
Avery cheat by changing the field's atmosphere as so Psychic type moves have increased power. While yes, Avery gave himself an advantage, he didn't sabotage/take away from the Player.

So why do I love Avery?

Unlike Klara, almost everything to do with Avery has nothing to do with popularity but rather his own pride. Avery comes from a long line of Psychics, and Psychic Gym Leaders at that. Avery is the family disappointment as his Psychic abilities are lackluster compared to the rest of his family. Furthermore, he broke family tradition and is the first person in the family to not become a gym leader. So, throughout Avery's character arc, we see that he desperately wants to make his family proud and that he genuinely wants to become the next Psychic gym leader and succeeds in doing so. We further learn that Avery holds high respect for his partner Pokémon, Galarian Slowbro, because he appreciates how they live life at their own pace/how they decide.
I also love Avery because he actually has a relationship with a major character in the main story of Sword & Shield. Avery both holds respect and disappointment towards your rival, Bede. Respect because Bede used to specialize in Psychic types and that Fairy types perfectly complement Psychic. So much so, Bede & Avery team up in the Galarian Star Tournament together. The disappointment comes from the fact that Bede no longer specializes in Psychic types. A double edged Sword if you call it.

So yeah, Avery was overbearing at first but he's miles above Klara. Avery has so much depth and surprisingly he's much more likable.

What about you? Do you prefer Avery or Klara?