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What Dissapointed You Most In XY?

What Did You Hate Most?


  • Total voters
    67
Because Showcases don't really benefit a big strong Pokemon like a Pangaro. With Contests, there was a battle round that made Pokemon like Mamoswine shine, but Showcases don't really have that. We haven't see a lot of tough looking Pokemon like Pangaro in Showcases and while it would be interesting to see how she could adapt with a new Pokemon like that, it really wouldn't fit Serena or her style at all. Altaria and Absol would be good fits for her though.
I wish she was a coordinator instead
 
The introduction of Ash-Greninja and how it went on to dominate the remainder of the show.

There's always going to be one or two Pokemon every season that gets more of the spotlight and that's fine. But Greninja ended up so over-exposed I just got sick of the sight of it. I really liked Ash's team before then, not for its type coverage or anything but because they were characterised well, each one was getting its moments to shine and it seemed pretty well-balanced. After Ash-Greninja though the others stopped existing, and they went out their way to show Ash working with Greninja more than his other Pokemon.

What makes it more disappointing for me is that it isn't even that exciting to watch in battle. There's no real strategy involved when it battles besides spamming its moves over and over again.
 
EXACTLY..... In Sinnoh, I felt that the Pokemon Ash had worked as a team. In the XYZ series (but not the XY arc), hardly any episode was devoted to any of Ash's Pokemon learning a new move or perfecting a training technique. After the 7th gym, instead of having to use any cool strategy for evading or for attacking, power became the main focus. Strategy took a backseat. Even Infernape was displayed equally with respect to Ash's other Pokemon .
 
Tougher and fully-evolved Pokémon in showcases should have worn tuxedos and things like that, so even though they may not be pretty, they can still exude charm.
I could see a Rhyhorn or Rhydon or Rhyperior that belongs to Serena wearing a tuxedo
 
Ash getting overhyped by writers and fans to win when it was him losing that was the plan from the start.
 
Serena, undoubtedly. I grew up with watching AG many moons ago, and thought May was awesome. (Dawn too, but to a lesser extent)

Sernea however... it feels like she just exists to act cute (how many times she blush or freak out when coming into physical contact with Ash? In fact there was a whole episode about that recently. Ash even falls onto her chest and uh.... yeah.) and be shipping fodder, which led to a very shallow character. I already had low expectations for her when the first XY eps aired in Japan and read about how her existence was shoehorned into Ash's childhood. For the entire series I never really found her to do anything interesting. The biggest thing she did was cut her hair. Nice.

Additionally, I found showcases to be a huge bore and difficult to watch, unlike contests (both AG and DP) which were always exciting to me. Showcases are basically just a collection of teenage girls wearing colorful dress and dancing, which just adds to the "exists to act cute" factor. Contests were a mix of content and were pretty gender neutral, and focused on creative and dazzling styles of battling. Plus, the cooking was not part of the event.

Really hope the SM series has a better female protag. Even Iris returning for the series would be better in my opinion. At least showcases ended already....
Serena should've been a coordinator. In those first 50 episodes she could've had another Pokemon like Scatterbug that would evolve into Vivillon. Guess I am trying to duplicate May with Serena.
 
I wish she was a coordinator instead

I would have liked that too, but there was just no time to give her a Contest arc. There was barely enough time for them to do a Showcase arc and even then, waiting a year to start it really backfired on them in the end. She didn't even get her first Princess Key until Ash had six badges. There was no way she could have earned five Contest ribbons before the Kalos League. I'm positive that's why Showcases only required three Princess Keys, although it also does fit in with how Showcases themselves aren't particularly difficult.

Really hope the SM series has a better female protag. Even Iris returning for the series would be better in my opinion. At least showcases ended already....

I wouldn't go that far. Serena does feel like wasted potential and Showcases are easily one of my biggest problems in XY, but I'd still take her over Iris. They're both wasted potential in my opinion, but Serena was still generally likable, had good interactions with the other characters that conveyed friendship and did have believable development, despite neither that nor her Showcase arc being handled particularly well. I could barely tolerate Iris when she was on the sideline and I grew to actively hate her as the series progressed. At least Serena got more interesting when she started to focus on her own goal and there were some genuinely good moments for her during her arc, which is one reason why I wouldn't say that she was just the girl with a crush on Ash. I'd rather be disappointed with a character I can generally like and be bored with their storyline than feeling anger whenever they're on screen or when their storyline is the main focus. I do hope that the SM series has a much better female lead as well though.

Ash getting overhyped by writers and fans to win when it was him losing that was the plan from the start.

Considering that even some of the staff members weren't happy with Ash losing, I'd question how much Ash losing was planned from the start. Even Alain's role in the Kalos League comes off a bit forced or at least a very last minute change when they realized that Ash didn't really have any noticeable rivals in the League to face off in the finals again, especially when he had no interest in the Kalos League until after his second battle with Ash. He could have easily been challenging Gyms as he was traveling to find more Mega Pokemon to fight, especially when the Kalos League turned out to be full of Mega Pokemon, but they didn't do that until far too late into the series. Both Ash's mess of a team and Serena's Showcase arc starting a year into the series also makes me question how much they planned things out from the start as well. Both of those issues gave me the impression that they weren't quite sure what to do, which would explain why Ash had an empty slot for way too long and why they basically gave up on the freestyle performance in Showcases for Serena's third victory.

I can understand not liking how much hype Ash had throughout the series and for the League by fans. I'll still probably see XY as a tad overrated by the end since I don't find it quite as good as lot of other fans seem to, but that's not really something that the series itself disappointed you with. That was a problem with the fanbase for you, which is completely different than something about the show itself that disappointed you. To be fair, it can be hard to tell the differences sometimes, especially being angry at the fanbase after a big event, but it would help to try to remember those differences in the future.

Serena should've been a coordinator. In those first 50 episodes she could've had another Pokemon like Scatterbug that would evolve into Vivillon. Guess I am trying to duplicate May with Serena.

I think then fans would just label her as May 2.0, which could be another huge problem in itself, and I don't think that Vivillon would fit her team that well.
 
Serena is already a May clone, more so than Dawn was.

Aside from how neither one of them knew what they wanted to do when they started off their journey, I don't really see how Serena is a May clone. They really aren't that similar and neither are their storylines. Serena's storyline is mainly about her gaining more confidence and determination for a goal that she actually wanted to do, while May's storyline was more about growing to like Pokemon, which was admittedly resolved fairly quickly into AG, becoming a better trainer and then realizing why she needed to head out on her own at the end in order to find her own battling style. I have seen people claim that the XY group is basically another version of the AG group due to the similarities, but I think that overlooks a lot of key differences between the various characters.

Saying that Dawn was a May clone is especially strange to me. At least May and Serena have something unique in common rather than just having the same goal. Dawn's personality and storyline were completely different to May's. That would have to be the case when Dawn knew what she wanted to be well before DP started, she wanted to become a Top Coordinator like her mother and her struggles on her journey were completely different from what May went through, especially with her losing streak to get her second ribbon. Despite both characters sharing the same goal, May and Dawn really aren't that much alike and certainly not to the point where I'd call Dawn a May clone.
 
Pokemon careers are not exclusive. Thus I don't understand the ire with fans regarding Serena as May/Dawn 2.0 if she pursued contests (or clone talk in general). Given we've been following the same guy doing the same thing for nearly 20 years.
yes but Dawn and May had different styles to their contests and different kinds of Pokemon too

Aside from how neither one of them knew what they wanted to do when they started off their journey, I don't really see how Serena is a May clone. They really aren't that similar and neither are their storylines. Serena's storyline is mainly about her gaining more confidence and determination for a goal that she actually wanted to do, while May's storyline was more about growing to like Pokemon, which was admittedly resolved fairly quickly into AG, becoming a better trainer and then realizing why she needed to head out on her own at the end in order to find her own battling style. I have seen people claim that the XY group is basically another version of the AG group due to the similarities, but I think that overlooks a lot of key differences between the various characters.

Saying that Dawn was a May clone is especially strange to me. At least May and Serena have something unique in common rather than just having the same goal. Dawn's personality and storyline were completely different to May's. That would have to be the case when Dawn knew what she wanted to be well before DP started, she wanted to become a Top Coordinator like her mother and her struggles on her journey were completely different from what May went through, especially with her losing streak to get her second ribbon. Despite both characters sharing the same goal, May and Dawn really aren't that much alike and certainly not to the point where I'd call Dawn a May clone.
I guess I just wanted Serena to have a better storyline, similar to May but not exactly, like the list of Pokemon I wanted for Serena
 
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yes but Dawn and May had different styles to their contests and different kinds of Pokemon too

And? Serena has a different style as well, even if she was a bit repetitive. Besides, just because multiple people pursue the same goal it doesn't mean that they are clones. By that logic, all of the League competitors are Ash's clones.

On a sidenote, please avoid to double post. If you need to add something, just edit your previous post.
 
I didn't like how Serena didn't have a male rival and instead just shallow female rivals. Well... at least Ash had decent rivals.

Serena IMO feels more tagged on than Bonnie, since Bonnie is still plot relevant, unlike Serena.
 
yes but Dawn and May had different styles to their contests and different kinds of Pokemon too

That does make me wonder why you considered Dawn a May clone when you say here that they had different styles to their Contests and different kinds of Pokemon. I agree with that completely, but that makes me more confused about your earlier claim.

KatsumiChris1991 said:
I guess I just wanted Serena to have a better storyline, similar to May but not exactly, like the list of Pokemon I wanted for Serena

I would have liked for that as well since May's storyline was pretty good and I remember liking seeing a more active female lead for the first time in Pokemon, but I'm not too surprised that Serena's storyline didn't turn out as good as I hoped for it at the beginning of XY.

I didn't like how Serena didn't have a male rival and instead just shallow female rivals. Well... at least Ash had decent rivals.

Serena IMO feels more tagged on than Bonnie, since Bonnie is still plot relevant, unlike Serena.

To be fair, she couldn't have gotten any male rivals because Showcases were a completely female only competition, which was another problem I had with Showcase. A gender specific competition seemed like a step backwards in a few ways. Contests were obviously there to appeal to female viewers too, but at least it was still open to both genders and there were still male rivals for both May and Dawn. That and they didn't have such lame rounds like baking Poke Puffs because when I think of Pokemon competitions, I think of a bake-off rather than a battle or a display of the Pokemon's power. I don't know if I'd call all of Ash's rivals decent, but they were better than Serena's rivals, even though that probably doesn't say much either.

Bonnie wasn't really plot relevant until she got Squishy though, so it's a bit much to use that against Serena when Bonnie was primarily there to be the cute little sister gushing over Pokemon and doing her annoying running gag with Clemont for the vast majority of the series. She wasn't any more plot relevant than Serena at that point. At least Serena had a storyline and character development. They weren't handled nearly as well as they could have, but that's at least more than what Bonnie has had prior to getting Squishy.
 
I don't understand the point of your comment. I'm arguing for your point, not against it.
Oh. Sorry.
And? Serena has a different style as well, even if she was a bit repetitive. Besides, just because multiple people pursue the same goal it doesn't mean that they are clones. By that logic, all of the League competitors are Ash's clones.

On a sidenote, please avoid to double post. If you need to add something, just edit your previous post.
Guess I'm referring to the writers using the same archetype for the three girls.
 
Since it asked for MOST, and not ALL, I'm sticking to just one thing (and saving full list for later)

My problem with this saga is the rivals.

Right off the bat, it ties into my real biggest problem with XY(&Z) in that the cast is distressingly small this time, which I'll go into more detail about another day. Having rivals fill out the cast is always nice, especially since they tend to be fun & interesting, and even deep.

Here, they made decent characters...but lousy rivals. The fact they went for long stretches between appearances was bad enough, but when we DID see they came off as chumps who were only as strong & skilled as the plot the required it, doing well off-screen while failing when we actually SAW them. It almost makes one wonder if they stole those badges and princess keys... o_O

The worst offender, for me, isn't Sawyer or Alan (though they weren't very good), but Miette, who was MUCH less a rival and more of tease for Amourshipping, which, let's face it, is really just a bizarre waste of time (surely the creative team KNOWS that their target audience doesn't care about this sort of thing, right? :cautious:)

Teirno's unique, fun dancing battle-style should've gotten him some on-screen wins. Trevor was just given the shaft the full way around. Poor Nene never had a chance. Sawyer just went from buttmonkey to badass overnight. Amelia could've been the new Harley or Ursula, but just a snooty COTD. The other Performers were just a waste of cool Pokémon (what's the point of giving characters a Plusle & Minun and a Glaceon & Leafeon if you're not going to DO anything with them?!:confused:).

The sad part about Alan is that I LIKED him in the Strongest Mega-Evolution...then they started ruining him in Act 4 by having him fight 10 megas in a row while introducing Squishy & setting up his role in XY&Z. It backfired big time. If him taking out most of them in ridiculously quick sucession wasn't bad enough, he defeated an Elite 4 member, which just made him look TOO powerful. What's more, his presence in the TV Show, his rivalry with Ash, and his presence in the League ended up being forced and awkward. Especially after Sun & Moon forced them to speed things up. Thing is, I figured he'd be the one to defeat Ash at the League...but didn't expect it to be so poorly handled.

So of all my problems with XY(&Z), it's the shoddy treatment of the rivals (and cast in general) that rustles my jimmies the most. :mad:

I just pray to Arceus that the Gen 7/Alola rivals are handled even a few percent better....:(
 
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I really wasn't anymore invested in the league because Ash really didn't battle anyone he didn't battle before in the series, he has battled Alain, Sawyer, and Astrid before thought I am tempted to say that wasn't canon for Astrid but still we the fans have seen it before so nothing new there, although Tomo was the only new person here but its not like if Ash was going to lose to him in the first place. Also Ash really didn't use too many Pokemon here in this competition like in previous ones where he uses Pokemon outside the current box like in the Hoenn League which would of made things a little more better in my opinion, simply to throw in some cheer to the fans like in the Sinnoh League I really think Ash should of used Torterra due to the fact he has no Grass Type and Sceptile would just be old news because of Sawyer's Sceptile and it would be a tease on the fans behalf that Ash wouldn't Mega Evolve him anyways. Other than that what really made me disappointed was how they threw Ash in the 2nd place mark only to lose to someone he already battled before, making it a lot less meaningful because its already happened and because he was in Second place it just was a shallow thing to do.

As for the XY rivals wasn't Trevor supposed to have been a rival to Clemont as it was shown in the Camping arc, I feel Trevor was very disjointed because Tierno was always meant to be another Gym competition guy to Ash and so was Shauna who did compete against Serena in those showcases while Trevor I don't know, he just returned and just became another gym competitor out of nowhere.
 
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Pokemon careers are not exclusive. Thus I don't understand the ire with fans regarding Serena as May/Dawn 2.0 if she pursued contests (or clone talk in general). Given we've been following the same guy doing the same thing for nearly 20 years.
I think that's actually the point. We're following Ash's path to be a Pokemon Master, so at the very least we could get a bit more diversity from his travelling companions, which ARE changed every season (with some exceptions).

I'm not a fan of the whole clone talk and I don't see May, Dawn, and Serena being the same, but I WAS a little disappointed that Serena chose to be a performer. It's like, sure, let's have the girl do the "girly" thing. Sure, like Hidden Mew said, with contests we had both male and female coordinators but the whole thing is obviously geared more towards the female audience. And performances are even female-only, with segments like cooking and fashion... May was a Coordinator because that's a game mechanic that was introduced in Generation 3. It was also present in Generation 4 and the player's mom used to be a Coordinator so I get why Anime Dawn was one, too.

I think it would've been much more interesting to have Serena take part in something that was introduced in HER generation- Sky battles. From what I know, her manga counterpart from Pokemon Adventures does exactly that, because going up in the sky is the complete opposite of Rhyhorn racing. And she even could have started her adventure with Fletchling. That would've been fun to explore for more than just 1 episode. Heck, we could've even had her be a direct rival to Ash- collect Gym badges not as a rival who appears once in a blue moon but who travels along with him.
 
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