Brycen is the 7th gym leader in the original Pokemon Black and White games. He is an ice type expert and the Icirrus City Gym's guardian. Brycen hands players the Freeze Badge when defeated in battle.

Pokemon Black, White

The player first encounters Brycen in Icirrus City. He will be available for battle pretty much right after arriving in the city.

Brycen's gym is a classic ice sliding puzzle. You have to slide into the rocks at correct angles to progress. New to this ice puzzle are the turns you need to slide into, causing you to slip all over the ice in a circular motion. Not to mention needing to collect enough speed to literally slide over a death gap in between the different rooms. Who told him this was a great idea?

In battle Brycen is, frankly, pathetic. To start, he has 3 Pokemon as the 7th gym. This is a problem in all of Unova, and Brycen is a lot weaker because of it. Ice already isn't a great mono-type to have due to its many common weaknesses and negligeable resistances. Brycen leads off with a Vanillish, something I'm sure you're tired of seeing by now. By this point in the game it's so frail that anything can knock this unevolved Pokemon out. Next up is the rare Cryogonal. This grandpa snowflake is a rare Pokemon, so it might be the first of its kind you encounter. It's really fast and hits quite hard, on top of having great special bulk. Any strong physical hits destroy it though. It tries to mitigate this with Reflect, but you literally get the Brick Break TM in this city, making its attempts at defending itself useless. Brycen's ace Pokemon is a Beartic. This nasty bear does a lot of damage, but is slow and not even that tanky. You'd think a polar bear Pokemon would be a beast to take down.

After that whelming gym battle, Brycen assists you in taking down Team Plasma when they storm Dragonspiral Tower. He does appear to have a very keen eye, as he was able to spot those cheating teleporting ninjas (Shadow Triad).

Brycen shows up once more at the battle in Team Plasma's Castle at the Pokemon League. He, and all the other gym leaders, help the player by holding back all the wise sages in an epic scene.

Pokemon Black 2, White 2

Brycen was not among the fortunate to retain their gym leader job in the sequel games. Although this wasn't decided for him, Brycen in fact stepped down as gym leader. Perhaps struck by how pathetically easy he was to defeat as the seventh gym leader, he now returns to the passion he had before attaining the position. You see, Brycen is a very renowned movie actor, up there with the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio etc. He fully immerses himself in any role he takes on.

I say all this because this is literally what he does in these games. Once the player reaches Virbank City, home of the second gym, they are introduced to Pokéstar Studios, a film studio where all the biggest hits are made. The player actually gets to try out as a lead actor for a minor film, and the antagonist of the story is a masked and cloaked figure named... Brycen-man. Golly, I wonder who this could be.

After shooting the film, Brycen shows up. It was him all along! He tells you that you have potential as an actor and wishes to meet you again behind the camera some day.

You do get this opportunity, as the Riolu-boy/girl series you filmed the premiere of was successful in the box office or whatever. More Brycen-man! He stays in character really well, despite the many corny lines you both have to say. Finally, there's a Brycen-Man strikes back movie where you actually get to beat him up as if he were a Pokemon. Crazy right? Oh wait, there's a Brycen-man strikes back harder movie. That is not a joke.

He also appears as Full Metal Cop in that franchise. I couldn't tell you what it's about, as I hate the Pokéstar Studios with a passion and never completed all the films. Cool costume though this time.

Thankfully Brycen hasn't completely forgotten how to battle, as he does show up as an opponent in the Pokemon World Tournament alongside all the Unova gym leaders. He can be fought in the Unova Leaders and Type Experts challenges. Brycen evolves his Vanillish into the stronger Vanilluxe, and keeps the rest of his gym team. He then adds a Dewgong, Weavile, and Walrein. There's a minor hail strategy going on, but nothing crazy.

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And that's Brycen! He's a very minor character among the gym leaders, with probably the least lines out of all of them, but I do appreciate that he was used in a whole new feature in the sequel instead of just being forgotten about. Even if I hate said feature.

I like that he gets to express his true passion, and that he gets to be successful doing that. I do wish we got to see more of his cooler side that he really only showed when he called out that Shadow Triad member. I think perceptiveness is such an underutilized trait, probably because developers get scared the character is too powerful from a storywriting perspective.