Trainer kits are pointless because they don't teach ppl how to WIN the game even tho that's NOT the heir goals lmao
Fixed
Trainer Kits would serve a purpose if they actually resembled proper decks. Not having enough trainers makes them HORRIBLE teaching tools. (Even Theme Decks are a LOT better in this regard...) Only the HGSS and BW ones had a decent array of Trainers. (Though the BW Trainer Kit suffered from unbalanced Pokemon. Excadrill is by far the best card in either deck, and hits the other deck for weakness as well, though I guess this doesn't matter much for the guided-duels that Trainer Kits are kinda intended for, not that I think many people go through them.) The last couple in particular (the Latias/Latios one and the Pikachu Libre/Suicune one) were terrible.
If you're going to teach people how to play the game, you need to include more trainers and less Pokemon. "Run every Pokemon you can and don't worry about Trainers" is not a good precedent to set for new players. They should be encouraged to look at their options. Considering the only options for most of the Pokemon typical of Trainer Kits is attach energy to your active Pokemon and use its highest-damaging attack, it's not a very good way to learn the game. (They're too linear. There's never a point where you have an option of what to do. I know they're guided duels, but they could at least have multiple things you could've done even if you're forced into a specific choice, to get players to think about potential plays in the future.)
I wonder if the "great game tips" are any use to new players. I'm guessing it's just the simple "don't run too many types" type stuff. Either way, it's obviously a throw-away line that doesn't really mean anything.
I find it funny how some of you say this product should have this or that, while its main purpose is to teach new players how to play after they still don't get it, after reading the rules sheet on the back of the theme deck playmats.
This is simply a hands on approach to learning how to play. Note that it does not teach you how to beat a competitive player, that you have to find out on your own.
I remember there were these MTG starter games, or core games, which is similar to trainer kits. The cards were vanilla, and the decks sucked, but I sure learned how to play MTG with them. It wasn't like I used them, and I still don't know how to play MTG. A product like that would fail, if I bought it, followed the tutorial, and still have no idea how to play the game. Sure it didn't have threshold, or flashback, or morph or those block expansion mechanics at the time, but you were supposed to learn those later.
For trainer kits, attach energy to pokemon, attack with pokemon, use trainers that do basic things, and the turn structure is all this product needs to teach. The rest, they can learn with other products. The worst thing this product could do is have a bunch of trainers, and the person using it says "I don't get it".