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Preview Masters Tournament special preview

Does anyone actually, uh, LIKE Tracey?
I mean, I don't hate him, he's alright, and I did think it was weird he was only aknowledged once in this series set in Kanto and never even appeared as a background, even non-speaking character, a role he's pretty much perfect for.

So at this point, yeah, I'm surprised they're giving him an appearance, and it's about time, but I wouldn't say I'm EXCITED for him to come back. I'm curious, is anyone? Because from what I've seen a lot of people used to dislike him.
I've seen a few people really like Tracey and the fact that people would want him to return and get a speaking role for the first time in ages says a lot too. Tracey did get a lot of hate back in the day, especially after he initially replaced Brock, but I think that cooled down after a few years. Not showing up for ages to the point where people wondered if the anime forgot that he exists probably helped to make people appreciate him too. I doubt that Tracey will become one of the more popular characters, but he does have his fair share of fans.

Lance was called the "Elite Four Champion" AKA the strongest member of the Elite Four. Kanto & Johto don't appear to have had actual Champions until Lance took the title for both regions.
I thought that they said Champion of the Elite 4 when Lance showed up in Johto, which I thought meant that he was the Johto Champion. I could have misinterpreted it or it wasn't accurate dialogue in the dub. The idea that Lance is the newest Champion in the Master Class is really weird though. Admittedly, they were kind of in a weird position to have the first and second generation represented in the Master Class since neither Blue or Red exist in the anime. Plus, there wasn't a proper Champion in the first generation prior to Blue anyway and even the Johto Elite 4 shared some Kanto characters too. So having Lance represent both Kanto and Johto made sense. I just have a hard time believing that Iris became a Champion before he did. As much as I hate Iris being the Unova Champion, having her be the newest Champion would have made more sense.
 
The saddest thing is realizing being a part of the crowd is the most characters like Hop and other Galar Gym Leaders are probably gonna get. They really robbed this region.
What’s even sadder is that, judging by the fact that Hop still has Wooloo and it hasn’t evolved, this Hop either hasn’t even set out yet or isn’t very experienced yet. In the games, Hop’s Wooloo evolving into Dubwool and returning to his team after he benched it was a big turning point for his character development that represented his growth past how shaken his loss to Bede left him. The fact that it’s still a Wooloo in the anime, feels like insult to injury of taking this long to actually show him.
 
Prior to the reveal of the rest of the Masters 8, I thought Hop had a legitimate shot being in. Wouldn't have been as impactful without any previous appearances, but it would have made sense relative to SWSH.

I think a Masters 8 with a mixture of game and anime characters, something like Leon, Ash, Alain, Paul, Cynthia, Hop, Lance, and Iris, would have been a little more interesting than the relatively straightforward lineup we got.
 
So far I'm hating the Master's 8. The problem is that over half of the contestants have Mega evolution, 2 or 3 have GMax and I kind of doubt Iris will have either. This leaves Z-Moves unaccounted for and makes the rules counting Z-Moves as a part of the tournament pointless. It Also seems WAY too predictable for everyone but Lance and Leon to have their aces Mega evolve (at least of those that CAN Mega evolve). I also doubt anyone but Ash will use BOTH Mega evolution AND G/DMax. Cynthia now looks like she'll do ALL battles with a Mega Garchomp, same with Diantha with Gardevoir etc
 
So far I'm hating the Master's 8. The problem is that over half of the contestants have Mega evolution, 2 or 3 have GMax and I kind of doubt Iris will have either. This leaves Z-Moves unaccounted for and makes the rules counting Z-Moves as a part of the tournament pointless. It Also seems WAY too predictable for everyone but Lance and Leon to have their aces Mega evolve (at least of those that CAN Mega evolve). I also doubt anyone but Ash will use BOTH Mega evolution AND G/DMax. Cynthia now looks like she'll do ALL battles with a Mega Garchomp, same with Diantha with Gardevoir etc

I think Ash and Iris will be the Z-Move users.
 
What’s even sadder is that, judging by the fact that Hop still has Wooloo and it hasn’t evolved, this Hop either hasn’t even set out yet or isn’t very experienced yet. In the games, Hop’s Wooloo evolving into Dubwool and returning to his team after he benched it was a big turning point for his character development that represented his growth past how shaken his loss to Bede left him. The fact that it’s still a Wooloo in the anime, feels like insult to injury of taking this long to actually show him.
I just think it's because Wooloo is popular and Dubwool is not and we're not supposed to think deeply into it

Wooloo is just essentially Hop's Piplup/Oshawott/Chespin/Rowlet/Snowy/Grookey/Eevee/etc..

A cute marketable walking plushie

Hop probably has more stronger Pokemon he uses for battles
 
Dumping many the remaining Galar Pokemon without debuts as cameos in the public is a very Journeys-like thing to do, sigh...But they can't debut everyone that way (like Barraskewda or the legendaries) so there's hope for those, right?

On a more positive note, I like seeing Hop and on retrospection it's a no-brainer he was going to be used. Goh needed someone to comment the battles with, and we already know Hop's personality and interests from the games so he doesn't need a long introduction. Also, he can be useful in providing more details about Leon, and his fanboyism about him could lead to some amusing moments.
 
Except that Ash already used his Pika Z-Move last episode, which makes me think he'll GMax Pikachu against Leon instead.
Except they cut away and didn't actually show Ash winning with it, so it won't feel as repetitive if he wins with it in the Masters Tournament.
 
Except that Ash already used his Pika Z-Move last episode, which makes me think he'll GMax Pikachu against Leon instead.
He'll probably use Mega Lucario against Leon, based on the intro and the fact that it's his regional ace. I do think there's a chance Ash uses a Z-move with with a different Pokemon though, given the overexposure of 10M volt Thunderbolt already.
 
I just think it's because Wooloo is popular and Dubwool is not and we're not supposed to think deeply into it

Wooloo is just essentially Hop's Piplup/Oshawott/Chespin/Rowlet/Snowy/Grookey/Eevee/etc..

A cute marketable walking plushie

Hop probably has more stronger Pokemon he uses for battles
If that’s their reason to undercut a major development, it’s a major disservice to Hop as a character. Though I can’t really agree especially since in the anime, rival class characters have never really been used as the vehicle for plushie Pokémon no matter how popular they may be. For example, in spite of Barry and Hou having had a Piplup and Rowlet respectively, neither were limited in their Pokémon‘s growth by their partner’s form popularity. This instead feels more like the result of Hop basically being an afterthought for the writers. Sadly, whatever level Hop is as a trainer, we’re more than likely not gonna see it.
 
He'll probably use Mega Lucario against Leon, based on the intro and the fact that it's his regional ace. I do think there's a chance Ash uses a Z-move with with a different Pokemon though, given the overexposure of 10M volt Thunderbolt already.
Unless someone gets a new move within the next two eps, the only one who can use Z-Moves is Lucario.
 
I agree with Kairyu, the animation for that preview wasn't the best... I'm hoping that won't be the standard for the remainder of the Masters 8.

I'm also curious as to the context of those scenes. We've got what looks like Ash Vs. Steven and Diantha Vs. Iris... But then the style looks the same for all the individual scenes too. If that was supposed to be an exhibition match of sorts, it feels bizarre to me. I could also see it as another Battle Royale akin to the first round of the Alola League too - this way, the writers/animators/etc. wouldn't have to animate individual 1-on-1 matches or multiple Pokémon per entrant; how satisfying that would be as a viewer is another story, though.

That all aside, Hop is finally here! Hau's animation isn't the only he's emulated, it seems... Given that he has also been introduced ridiculously late in his saga. On the one hand, I'm happy he is going to be animated. But on the other, it sucks as it seems he'll be as poorly handled as Hau was.

Then we got cameos from some of Ash's hard hitters as well as Tracy of all people. I hope there's some significance behind the former's appearances. One of the cool things about the Sinnoh League was that certain Pokémon, such as Noctowl and Sceptile, got come back for some key victories past their respective sagas; I wouldn't' mind seeing that again here.
 
Reserves are like Ash being 10 at this point. It only makes sense with out of story reasons and exploring it only leads to dumb
I'm headcanonning that Ash is actually 16 in Journeys and that every Saga was a year. And that Characters who are said to be 10 like Serena are actually the same age as Ash when they meet him.
They rarely even mention his age, so I don't care if they say he's 10.
 
I saw the preview before and I just figured out that no Z Move in this preview so why?
 

Why did I watch this. Half way through it spoiled the first half of the battle, with it showing which Pokemon went down.
Great! Even without pausing it, you could see some of the results.

Looks like Pikachu and Spiritomb draw as both their icons fade at the same time.

I guess Dragonite won’t get to use its Draco Meteor technique against Garchomp (Was always likely that it was never going to get the winning blow against it, and instead Lucario, but still)…if it got beaten without getting a K’O on one of Cynthia’s, I swear to God…please don’t tell me Dragonite is another Goodra
 
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Dang they aren’t even hiding that Leon Vs Diantha isn’t even important to any of this. And from the looks of it, Cynthia will be using her DP team though most likely replacing Lucario with either Gastrodon or Komo-o.

Also, man it hurts my soul how the writers are basically rubbing it in that the reserves are nothing more than cheerleaders now.
 
Dang they aren’t even hiding that Leon Vs Diantha isn’t even important to any of this. And from the looks of it, Cynthia will be using her DP team though most likely replacing Lucario with either Gastrodon or Komo-o.

I'm guessing it'll be the former since it already appeared in this tournament. Makes you wonder why they even bothered giving her a Jyararanga at all if she's not going to use it other than the fact she owns one in the mobile game.
 
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