Actually, that's one of the things that's kinda bugged me since I was a kid. They actually mentioned him having ten, it wasn't just some animation mix-up. The implication was that there were more than just the primary eight gym leaders in Kanto.

If that's true, where the fuck are they? Who the fuck are they? Why are their badges so fucking weird?

>>20958
Their badges aren't any weirder than the other eight badges available. And in the anime, Kanto is a much bigger place, with far more towns than there were in the games. Ash himself found a handful of extra Gyms; it's just that he was unfortunate to only find unofficial gyms, so they didn't have badges.

But Gary was unfortunate enough to challenge the Viridian Gym while Mewtwo was there, so he doesn't have an Earth Badge.

>>20959
But that brings up more questions! What qualifies as a "official" gym? Is there a lot of paperwork involved? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? WHERE ARE THEIR TOWNS? THEIR TYPE SPECIALTIES, IF THEY HAVE ANY?

Who's Gray?

>>20960
Even in the games, there are official and unofficial gyms. Hell, in Gen ONE there's the Fighting Dojo which had to give up its official gym status to Sabrina and her psychics. Which means I guess, there can only be one gym per town, so we know one rule at least.

>>20962
I always found that to be really sad. They lost their official gym status because of some bitch who had the right type to beat them.

>>20963
It could've happened to any of the Gyms. Nothing could really stand up to a Psychic-type in Gen 1.

>>20963
I wonder if the outcome would be the same if they challenged them again in this day and age, since Fighting-types have come a long way since Gen 1.

>>20965
Yes, because it's still just Kanto Fighting-types versus Kanto Psychic-types. They'd need the likes of Scrafty, Gallade, Herracross, or Cobalion to stand a real chance.

It would have been pretty cool if like, in Gold and Silver, the fighting dojo and become the official gym.

>>20960
Well in Unova at least, the Gym Leader system seems to be part of some sort form of civil service, since the Gym Leaders seem to be expected to protect their general area and give orders to lesser trainers. If that's the case, one would expect there to be an official registry or something for each region, possibly overseen by the local Elite Four.

>>20968
And the Champion controls all of that, hence Team Plasma's plan.

Their 'Plansma' if you will.

>>20960
It's not specified in the game, but the anime showed they had to be certified by an official agency. Remember how the episode with the two wannabe gym leaders with the Electrabuzz and Scyther ended with them both getting official status denied for being a bunch of thugs destroying their city?

>>20963
Yeah, it's incredibly stupid that beating someone at a battle give you priority as a Gym Leader when being strong isn't really even what being a Gym Leader about.

>>20968
I've always been really fond of the sort of civil defense league thing that Pokemon Adventures introduced, except for half the leades being Rocket members... actually that was awesome too, but damn Pokemon League, totally incompetent at keeping track of your leaders.

Anyways, that's what I've always slotted in as a Gym Leader's responsibility. To prepare a sort of guard for their region and test challengers. I've always imagined a sort of classic dojo challenge for the leaders, that if they kick your ass, you obviously have something to learn, so you join them to learn at their knees.

>>20972
To be fair, the Elite Four was fucking insane in PA as well.

Lance, man.

Motherfuckin' Lance.

>>20963

DEM PSYCHICS TOOK 'ER JERBS!

>>20974
Yeah... to be honest I really didn't care much of the Elite Four in PA.

>>20974
I'm not sure the Elite Four was official associated with the Pokemon League in Adventures.