Controversial opinions

[Daenerys]

I don't want Greninja to return. It got literally more than enough time in the spotlight already. Plus, I've read enough YouTube comments pleading for that to happen to make me see the whole idea as kinda... mildly repulsive, I guess I'd say?

I loathe the thought of Greninja returning too. He had practically a whole year devoted to his hype and yet some people still want more even though Greninja was already overexposed. I'm also not quite sure why people want him onscreen given that he fulfilled his purpose and there's nothing left for him to do that hasn't already been focused on.

 

[Shadowlarvitar]

I don't want Greninja to return. It got literally more than enough time in the spotlight already. Plus, I've read enough YouTube comments pleading for that to happen to make me see the whole idea as kinda... mildly repulsive, I guess I'd say?

Why? I'd rather see him at the lab than in Kalos helping a freaking legendary that was hyped up like it was Arceus itself.... yet it needed help?!

Greninja and Naganadel shouldn't have been released. Same with Goodra

 

[techitisJ]

I like the idea of Greninja sticking in Kalos to help protect Zygarde. The anime makes it very apparent he has this amazing amount of power, why not put it to use instead of sitting around the Professor Oak's lab.

As for a possible return of Geninja? Maybe for a few episodes, it could be a cool plot point idea, It frustrates me when some starters get more love than others, but the anime I can be much more flexible for because he was actually a major character. So, if the have a good reason to bring him back for an episode or two, then I think it's fine.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I loathe the thought of Greninja returning too. He had practically a whole year devoted to his hype and yet some people still want more even though Greninja was already overexposed. I'm also not quite sure why people want him onscreen given that he fulfilled his purpose and there's nothing left for him to do that hasn't already been focused on.

Probably the same reason Charizard returned on a regular basis before they decided they aren’t doing references anymore.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I loathe the thought of Greninja returning too. He had practically a whole year devoted to his hype and yet some people still want more even though Greninja was already overexposed. I'm also not quite sure why people want him onscreen given that he fulfilled his purpose and there's nothing left for him to do that hasn't already been focused on.

For the same reason people enjoy seeing Ash use his reserves; it’s nice to see Ash making use of his experienced Pokémon in a way that’s also a fan service to older fans. Everyone has a favorite of Ash’s older Pokémon. Besides, he’s Ash’s first fully evolved Water starter and even without the Ash-Greninja form, he’s still a cool Pokémon.

 

[Daenerys]

For the same reason people enjoy seeing Ash use his reserves; it’s nice to see Ash making use of his experienced Pokémon in a way that’s also a fan service to older fans. Everyone has a favorite of Ash’s older Pokémon. Besides, he’s Ash’s first fully evolved Water starter and even without the Ash-Greninja form, he’s still a cool Pokémon.

My point is that Greninja's whole character arc was completed and it would be kinda redundant for him to return. And I'm aware that people like Ash's reserves and all, but there's a distinct difference between people wanting one of the Oak'd Pokemon to return given that they're easier for Ash to access, whereas the logistics involved with having Greninja return would be a mess imo. Ash would have to go all the way to Kalos again (which I suppose isn't that difficult given the traveling aspect of this series), but he'd also have to find the exact location where Greninja is, which might be hard since iirc Greninja is constantly moving around from place to place to get rid of those giant rock root remnants.

 

[Kurolegacy]

My point is that Greninja's whole character arc was completed and it would be kinda redundant for him to return. And I'm aware that people like Ash's reserves and all, but there's a distinct difference between people wanting one of the Oak'd Pokemon to return given that they're easier for Ash to access, whereas the logistics involved with having Greninja return would be a mess imo. Ash would have to go all the way to Kalos again (which I suppose isn't that difficult given the traveling aspect of this series), but he'd also have to find the exact location where Greninja is, which might be hard since iirc Greninja is constantly moving around from place to place to get rid of those giant rock root remnants.

And why exactly does the fact that it’s character arc is completed bar it from returning exactly? Lapras’ character arc was completed back at the end of the Orange Islands and that didn’t stop it from appearing again in Johto, a completely different region. Pokémon has had numerous points in which massive amounts of convenience would have to occur for events to happen yet they still did. If the plot demands something happen, it will happen.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

My point is that Greninja's whole character arc was completed and it would be kinda redundant for him to return. And I'm aware that people like Ash's reserves and all, but there's a distinct difference between people wanting one of the Oak'd Pokemon to return given that they're easier for Ash to access, whereas the logistics involved with having Greninja return would be a mess imo. Ash would have to go all the way to Kalos again (which I suppose isn't that difficult given the traveling aspect of this series), but he'd also have to find the exact location where Greninja is, which might be hard since iirc Greninja is constantly moving around from place to place to get rid of those giant rock root remnants.

For all we know Sycamore's lab is a resting place for Greninja and Ash calls him to get Greninja back. Like it’s been said before, if the writers want a Pokemon to return, they can do it.

 

[hanecco]

I really like Tobias. What’s not to like about a friendly yet mysterious guy with a team of legendaries?

(It helps that I’m not particularly invested in Ash.)

 

[Acrobatic Crobat]

What’s not to like about a friendly yet mysterious guy with a team of legendaries?

...The fact that he was less of a character and more of a walking plot device?
I think people would be a bit more tolerant towards him if he actually had any personality, goals, backstory. The way he is, they could've as well simply have Ash disqualified from Sinnoh League for some petty reason rather than going into trouble of designing an entirely new character and then simply drop him in there with no context on who he is and what he is like. Compare him to Ritchie, Harrison, Tyson or any other league only rival - all of them actually did something on screen and there was something known about them. The main reason for all the hate Tobias gets is because he lacks any personality (and no, "Friendly but mysterious" is not a personality).

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Alain was basically Tobias done right: an undefeated roadblock to stop Ash from winning, but he actually had backstory and motivation, which were built up over the course of multiple episodes.

 

[Daren]

Alain was basically Tobias done right: an undefeated roadblock to stop Ash from winning, but he actually had backstory and motivation, which were built up over the course of multiple episodes.

Alain is really more of Tyson or Harrison than Tobias; Alain barely beat Ash, but Tobias was ludicrously OP and swept the league easily.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Alain is really more of Tyson or Harrison than Tobias; Alain barely beat Ash, but Tobias was ludicrously OP and swept the league easily.

Aside from his loss to Siebold, Alain's Charizard has a flawless track record, kinda like Tobias's Darkrai, who only lost to Sceptile.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Alain was basically Tobias done right: an undefeated roadblock to stop Ash from winning, but he actually had backstory and motivation, which were built up over the course of multiple episodes.

Technically speaking, he did lose to Siebold in the first Mega Evolution special, but that was his only on-screen defeat if I recall correctly and they spent the last chuck of XY making Alain and his Charizard ridiculously overpowered and broken. The fact that he only used two Pokemon up until the Kalos League finals still frustrates me to no end.

While he does remind of me Tobias in regards to how he was ultimately there to defeat Ash, I wouldn't say that he's Tobias done right. That is mainly because I still find Alain way more frustrating than Tobias. Yeah, Tobias came out of nowhere with overpowered Legendary Pokemon on his team to sweep the Sinnoh League, but that never really bothered me. As cool as it would have been for Ash to win the Sinnoh League, there just wasn't any time for that. They had to wrap things up and move towards BW. I understand why it was so infamous, but it was a better way to handle Ash's defeat after he finally defeated Paul than if he lost to a regular trainer. He went out in a blaze of glory and was the honorary runner up for defeating his Darkrai. Alain had a backstory and motivation built up through the Mega Evolution specials, but he just became more boring for me due to how broken he was and unlike with Tobias, I couldn't just write it off as Legendary Pokemon being automatically overpowered. It was just clear favortisim for the Charizard line. Plus, I don't think that winning the Kalos League really mattered in the end for Alain or affected his storyline nearly as much as the Team Flare arc did. I'm fine with Tobias simply because he is designed to be overpowered from the start to kick Ash out of the Sinnoh League, while the screentime for Alain made me dislike him because of how overpowered he eventually became.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Technically speaking, he did lose to Siebold in the first Mega Evolution special, but that was his only on-screen defeat if I recall correctly and they spent the last chuck of XY making Alain and his Charizard ridiculously overpowered and broken. The fact that he only used two Pokemon up until the Kalos League finals still frustrates me to no end.

While he does remind of me Tobias in regards to how he was ultimately there to defeat Ash, I wouldn't say that he's Tobias done right. That is mainly because I still find Alain way more frustrating than Tobias. Yeah, Tobias came out of nowhere with overpowered Legendary Pokemon on his team to sweep the Sinnoh League, but that never really bothered me. As cool as it would have been for Ash to win the Sinnoh League, there just wasn't any time for that. They had to wrap things up and move towards BW. I understand why it was so infamous, but it was a better way to handle Ash's defeat after he finally defeated Paul than if he lost to a regular trainer. He went out in a blaze of glory and was the honorary runner up for defeating his Darkrai. Alain had a backstory and motivation built up through the Mega Evolution specials, but he just became more boring for me due to how broken he was and unlike with Tobias, I couldn't just write it off as Legendary Pokemon being automatically overpowered. It was just clear favortisim for the Charizard line. Plus, I don't think that winning the Kalos League really mattered in the end for Alain or affected his storyline nearly as much as the Team Flare arc did. I'm fine with Tobias simply because he is designed to be overpowered from the start to kick Ash out of the Sinnoh League, while the screentime for Alain made me dislike him because of how overpowered he eventually became.

Okay, maybe I should have said "Tobias with a backstory". And yeah, I don't mind the way Ash lost to Tobias, and Alain definitely could have used a loss as a wake-up call, since his pursuit of power was clearly consuming him.

 

[Almonds]

I don't know... even if Tobias had a backstory it just seems ridiculous to imagine that they would shove in someone with a Darkrai and a Latios just to make Ash lose because they couldn't come up with a full team like they did with Alain.

 

[Daren]

Technically speaking, he did lose to Siebold in the first Mega Evolution special, but that was his only on-screen defeat if I recall correctly and they spent the last chuck of XY making Alain and his Charizard ridiculously overpowered and broken. The fact that he only used two Pokemon up until the Kalos League finals still frustrates me to no end.

While he does remind of me Tobias in regards to how he was ultimately there to defeat Ash, I wouldn't say that he's Tobias done right. That is mainly because I still find Alain way more frustrating than Tobias. Yeah, Tobias came out of nowhere with overpowered Legendary Pokemon on his team to sweep the Sinnoh League, but that never really bothered me. As cool as it would have been for Ash to win the Sinnoh League, there just wasn't any time for that. They had to wrap things up and move towards BW. I understand why it was so infamous, but it was a better way to handle Ash's defeat after he finally defeated Paul than if he lost to a regular trainer. He went out in a blaze of glory and was the honorary runner up for defeating his Darkrai. Alain had a backstory and motivation built up through the Mega Evolution specials, but he just became more boring for me due to how broken he was and unlike with Tobias, I couldn't just write it off as Legendary Pokemon being automatically overpowered. It was just clear favortisim for the Charizard line. Plus, I don't think that winning the Kalos League really mattered in the end for Alain or affected his storyline nearly as much as the Team Flare arc did. I'm fine with Tobias simply because he is designed to be overpowered from the start to kick Ash out of the Sinnoh League, while the screentime for Alain made me dislike him because of how overpowered he eventually became.

I get this. I think Tobias is a worse character since he was so hilariously, painfully OP, and not even pretending to be anything but a plot device, but I hate Alain more, so to speak, because of all the meta controversies surrounding the Kalos loss. I was also well and truly sick of Charizard by that point, especially since he was always my least liked Kanto starter.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

The only thing that really bothers me about Alain was his nearly flawless win record and especially his Charizard's win record. Charizard may be my favorite Kanto starter, but I don't like too perfect characters. Alain had his flaws for sure, but the way his Charizard steamrolled everyone before it was a bit too flawless to my taste. Even an Elite Four member, which have previously required a Champion to beat them in the anime, wasn't enough to defeat him when he went up against one for the second time. Kinda makes me feel annoyed that Lysandre had to interrupt Alain's match with Steven, because Steven was more than likely going to hand Alain a loss.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I don't know... even if Tobias had a backstory it just seems ridiculous to imagine that they would shove in someone with a Darkrai and a Latios just to make Ash lose because they couldn't come up with a full team like they did with Alain.

Honestly, it felt like they made Alain's team at the last minute. Up until his second battle with Ash, we didn't even know if he had any other Pokemon besides his Charizard. Despite being featured throughout the first two years of XY through the Mega Evolution specials, there was no indication that he had more than one Pokemon, let alone a full team. I don't really see how that's much better than Tobias' team. I don't think too many fans remember any of his Pokemon besides Mega Charizard X.

I get this. I think Tobias is a worse character since he was so hilariously, painfully OP, and not even pretending to be anything but a plot device, but I hate Alain more, so to speak, because of all the meta controversies surrounding the Kalos loss. I was also well and truly sick of Charizard by that point, especially since he was always my least liked Kanto starter.

Charizard is my favorite Kanto starter, but even I was getting tired of the blatant Charizard favortisim with Alain's Mega Charizard X. It just became so overpowered all of a sudden and there wasn't an easy justification for it like Tobias's Legendary Pokemon. I can understand being more annoyed with Tobias since he was basically just a roadblock to prevent Ash from winning the Sinnoh League, but Alain just doesn't seem like a significant improvement to me. He's Tobias if he was a supporting character in DP that we were supposed to care about and whatever investment I had in Alain disappeared the moment he defeated ten trainers in a row, including an Elite 4 member.

The only thing that really bothers me about Alain was his nearly flawless win record and especially his Charizard's win record. Charizard may be my favorite Kanto starter, but I don't like too perfect characters. Alain had his flaws for sure, but the way his Charizard steamrolled everyone before it was a bit too flawless to my taste. Even an Elite Four member, which have previously required a Champion to beat them in the anime, wasn't enough to defeat him when he went up against one for the second time. Kinda makes me feel annoyed that Lysandre had to interrupt Alain's match with Steven, because Steven was more than likely going to hand Alain a loss.

There was also how Alain won all eight badges he needed for the Kalos League in a seemingly fast manner. Time is really weird in the anime and he would be able to travel around potentially faster than Ash, but he still won his way through the Gyms and Kalos League not because he wanted to win it, but because he wanted to face Ash again in battle. This was seriously frustrating to me not only because of how it made Alain even more broken, but it was also something that they could easily have fixed. They could have had Alain going through some Gyms before meeting Ash. He would need to get his Pokemon to be stronger in order to fight more Mega Pokemon and at least two Kalos Gym Leaders had Mega Pokemon on them, so it wouldn't have been a stretch to just have Alain challenging a few Gyms during his travels. I understand that they wanted Ash to inspire Alain to compete, but it just made their rivalry and Alain's involvement in the Kalos League feel like a last minute addition more than anything else.

 

[hanecco]

@Acrobatic Crobat
Sorry, I should have been clearer: I like him in spite of all that, which I know is an unpopular opinion (to say the least).You’re completely right that it was a piece of lazy writing, unfair to Ash and what he had achieved, and that Tobias doesn’t have much of a personality beyond the writers making him powerful for the sake of the plot.