big fan of crystal and thus HG/SS imo, the best rival. Blue had a lot of depth but something about his always made me feel like meh. like he was cool but he acted like way too much of a jerk. brandon/may was too much of a wuss, you never even get to battle the 3rd evolution of his/her starter and they disappear from the storyline completely before fortree city, i believe. lucas/dawn was also sort pathetic. i never liked the whole, "we're childhood friends but theres no tension between us" idea. at least Blue there was a solid bitter rivalry. and bianca/cheren was a little better, the way they were integrated into the story but they still didnt feel like rivals. yeah, i really just thought silver was the ideal rival, or at least marginally beating out blue for the title.