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i dont like it when people call norman (gameverse) a bad dad. the gym thing is not in his control and he is proud of his child regardless even if he is frustrated by being beat by them since he wants to be strong but he isn't a deadbeat. he genuinely cares about his family.
like he can't go with his wife to the meteor shower bc of gym duties but instead of throwing away the tickets entirely he decides he might as well let his kid have a fun time with their new friend because they deserve it. they're the champion now. they should have some fun
and like... in pokemon masters he really does care about brendan a lot like he helps his grovyle evolve into sceptile and even asks the player if there's any restaurants they know so he can take them out to eat. and brendan admires him a lot but also wants to surpass him
it's like!!! i can't express it in words but it's very important that pokemas shows that norman genuinely does care about brendan despite his gym duties making it hard for him to go back to littleroot and spend time with his family. it's very nice seeing him being competitive-
with his son but still making it obvious that he cares a lot about him.
also the whole family ties event sure was. Something. but i'm really jusy blaming that on the writers LOL i'm pretty sure no one on pasio other than the alolans actually knew what lusamine did so norman just thinks it's some small misunderstanding when it's just lusamines fault
speaking of family ties though it's great that norman made wally a part of his team with brendan like he considers wally a part of the family ever since he caught that ralts with brendan's help :,)
this thread got long tl;dr it is MUCH more nuanced than "norman is a bad father in the games" and i wish more people went into that. i do want pokespe norman to die a horrible death though i hate his guts. that's all
