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Bond Phenomenon

Because they wanted to give Ash a Mega Evo, but couldn't since no Gen 6 Pokemon except Diancie have Megas, so they had to make up a new form for Greninja instead.

Besides, 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt is basically Pikachu's equivalent to the Bond Phenomenon.
 
If I were to make a guess, it might be because it only triggers when a Pokemon is fully evolved like with Mega Evolution. I wasn't the one that came up with this theory, but it seems logical.
 
Because they wanted to give Ash a Mega Evo, but couldn't since no Gen 6 Pokemon except Diancie have Megas, so they had to make up a new form for Greninja instead.

If I were to make a guess, it might be because it only triggers when a Pokemon is fully evolved like with Mega Evolution. I wasn't the one that came up with this theory, but it seems logical.

But why Greninja? What about Hawlucha, Talonflame, or Noivern? Those are fully evolved.
 
But why Greninja? What about Hawlucha, Talonflame, or Noivern? Those are fully evolved.
Not sure, aside from Greninja's popularity, I can't think of an in universe reason why. I actually liked the idea of the bond phenomenon, but I myself do admit to wishing it could be used on other Pokemon too. Heck, I wish it wasn't just something Ash had if I'm going to be honest.
 
But why Greninja? What about Hawlucha, Talonflame, or Noivern? Those are fully evolved.

Because Greninja was the designated ace Pokemon.

Same reason Ash also has a unique Lycanroc now.
 
Same reason it was included in SSB4. It's a very popular Pokémon and a strong battler.
Wasn't Greninja added to that roster before said popularity became a thing? I seem to remember reading this somewhere.
 
Wasn't Greninja added to that roster before said popularity became a thing? I seem to remember reading this somewhere.
Oh that's possible, I don't remember the exact timeline or how and what. But X and Y were released in October 2013 and SSB4 almost exactly one year later.

Point still remains: Greninja is very popular, one could even say it's one of Gen 6's mascots (although that's up for debate). Being Ash's regional ace was also an important factor.
 
Wasn't Greninja added to that roster before said popularity became a thing? I seem to remember reading this somewhere.

Correct. Greninja was chosen long before XY were released or Greninja was made public.
 
Megas were quite OP in the anime, which is why I think the writers didn't want to give one to Ash.
So, the best solution was to give him something that resembles a Mega, but not quite like one, and that's how Ash-Greninja happened.
 
I wonder how long Bond Phenomenon existed as a concept idea, actually. Fans were constantly clamouring throughout XY for Ash to get a Mega Evolution but with the way he typically builds up his regional teams (only newest generation Pokémon unless they evolve into such, like with Gligar and maybe Aipom), that seemed impossible from the get-go if he stayed with said pattern. Charizard not simply doing an Aipom sorta ruled him out as an option for me.

What I'm saying is, how far in advance was Bond Phenomenon created? Was Froakie mapped out from the start to be Ash's "pseudo-Mega" all along?
 
What I'm saying is, how far in advance was Bond Phenomenon created? Was Froakie mapped out from the start to be Ash's "pseudo-Mega" all along?
I really feel like it was planned from the start. They had the whole story of this being a special Froakie and leaving other trainers and then having this special trust and admiration for Ash. And watching the first season of XY again after knowing what happened, I am definitely noticing a lot more "in synch" moments between the two of them I would have never thought about without knowing about what was coming. They certainly made their personalities be quite similar, but in a different way than Ash and Pikachu's personalities are similar, and I don't think it takes anything away from Pikachu because they still have a ton of moments in XY (not to mention its absurd showing in the league compared to past leagues). Design wise, I think it worked a lot better than any of Ash's other Kalos Pokemon for the bond, and for them to have a similar personality makes sense too, so I think it was a good choice.
 
That doesn’t make sense since Ash- Greninja straight up OHKOed a Mega Altaria, thus proving itself even more OP than Megas.
But then it's defeated by a Mega Charizard, thus proving that not all Megas are equal in power.
 
Just thought I'd stop by and leave this: Tetsuo Yajima Interview on XY
*Yajima wanted to make the bond between Satoshi and Gekkouga a major part of the story, but felt it would be difficult to do so if it had to remain a Gekkouga, so he went to Game Freak, and they came up with the idea of a synchro transformation. It was put in Sun/Moon afterwards, but was created during this discussion between anime staff and GF.
 
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