Controversial opinions

[Blob]

Defeating the literal strongest non-legendary non-deity Pokémon of Alola isn’t enough for you?

It is weird you’re singling it out since literally the only Pokémon that HAD a good reason to evolve on the main cast was Torracat.

It's more that it didn't even get to fight after evolving, while all the other series showed us that Pokémon regain full health after evolution. Also I find Incineroar ugly and IMO, Torracat is the peak of its whole evolution line.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

It's more that it didn't even get to fight after evolving, while all the other series showed us that Pokémon regain full health after evolution. Also I find Incineroar ugly and IMO, Torracat is the peak of its whole evolution line.

1. It still doesn’t change the fact that Torracat "evolved for no reason".
2. It varies according to instances. Grotle lost after evolving from Turtwig. It literally defeated the most powerful trainer owner Pokémon of Alola. It’s evolution was long overdue and not for "no reason"
3. The third point is heavily subjective and again has no bearing on Torracat's reasons for evolving.

 

[Blob]

1. It still doesn’t change the fact that Torracat "evolved for no reason".
2. It varies according to instances. Grotle lost after evolving from Turtwig. It literally defeated the most powerful trainer owner Pokémon of Alola. It’s evolution was long overdue and not for "no reason"
3. The third point is heavily subjective and again has no bearing on Torracat's reasons for evolving.

1. I guess it did deserve the evolution, but it still felt pointless to evolve a Pokémon that will never be used again. At least Quilava still got some use against Team Rocket.
2. Grotle lost because Ash never learned how to use it. All Ash did was find a way to speed it back up instead of using its bulk and stealth rocking opponents.

 

[Unireon]

Grotle lost because Ash never learned how to use it. All Ash did was find a way to speed it back up instead of using its bulk and stealth rocking opponents.

It's just that it, and Dodatoise, doesn't suit Satoshi's style. He favours speed and offensive.

 

[Enzo]

1. I guess it did deserve the evolution, but it still felt pointless to evolve a Pokémon that will never be used again. At least Quilava still got some use against Team Rocket.

''Will never be used again'' doesn't sounds that good of an argument tho. No one knows the future, therefore we cannot tell that Incineroar won't ever be used again. I mean, let's give credit where is due, at least JN managed to make Ash use Infernape again, and considering we might go back to Alola again, there's still plenty of chances. This all without counting futures series too.

I personally wouldn't put my money on it due to JN being a trainwreck of a show but, well, there is some.

 

[nickdt]

''Will never be used again'' doesn't sounds that good of an argument tho. No one knows the future, therefore we cannot tell that Incineroar won't ever be used again. I mean, let's give credit where is due, at least JN managed to make Ash use Infernape again, and considering we might go back to Alola again, there's still plenty of chances. This all without counting futures series too.

I personally wouldn't put my money on it due to JN being a trainwreck of a show but, well, there is some.

Especially since you can also make that argument for both Naganadel and Melmetal as well.

 

[FluffleFi]

I know Iris isn't the most popular character in the anime, but I think I would have preferred if she had been another PWC rival. If thye wanna make her a rival ro match her in-game counterpart, that's cool, but maybe go into details into why she chose this, considering back in the Unova Saga she didn't even want to be a Gym Leader. Instead of making her a CHamp outright they could've said she won the LEague but was using the PWC to further trainer and get ready to battle the Elite Four. The rivalry between her and Ash would't need to be complex, its just two friends having fun and getting stronger. And the time she would show up could've been used to explain why she started collecting badges and how she's changed since the end of Unova. Instead we only got one episode starring and her, compared to the other Pokegirls who get two. Granted I don't watch subs, so maybe the show went into details that i'm not aware of.

 

[Blob]

''Will never be used again'' doesn't sounds that good of an argument tho. No one knows the future, therefore we cannot tell that Incineroar won't ever be used again. I mean, let's give credit where is due, at least JN managed to make Ash use Infernape again, and considering we might go back to Alola again, there's still plenty of chances. This all without counting futures series too.

I personally wouldn't put my money on it due to JN being a trainwreck of a show but, well, there is some.

Don't even get me started with the stupid Infernape episode... if any Pokémon deserved that win it was Torterra, but of course it doesn't even show UP in the episode!

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

It’s just occurred to me that there’s only been six episodes in Journeys where Pokemon have learnt a new move

Dragonair learning Dragon Dance
Sobble learning U-Turn
Scorbunny evolving to learn Ember
G.Farfetch’d learning Detect
Riolu evolving to learn Aura Sphere
Dragonite gaining Draco Meteor

I dunno, but seeing a Pokemon have some development and learning a new move, all-be-it something simple like Detect (which is broken in the anime), is way more satisfying than anything else.
Learning new move episode > Legendary encounter episode.
For example, seeing Grotle learn Rock Climb, or Pikachu learning Electroweb, or Buizel learning Water Pulse/Ice Punch is peak excitement for me. It gets me stoked to imagine what the possibilities could be, or even taking in what the hell even happened. As a little kid, I thought Buizel was learning Aura Sphere against Lucario, and it made me so gassed.

 

[Squad_Broke_Down]

Heres One: Riolu shouldn't have evolved in JN045

Here's the thing: So far evolution has literally only been bad for Riolu mostly because it got shafted (literally only major appearance since evo was in JN046 and JN048). And no, this opinion is not because of my personal opinion that I think Riolu is better, but I just feel that if Riolu didn't evolve, it probably would have been used more. It could probably have it's own episode later in the series where it evolves, but nah, we just had an (admittedly cool but also random) double evolution with Raboot. As for what would happen in JN045, just have it be able to use it's aura better, perhaps even have episodes before the darkest day arc focus on riolu learning how to control it's aura better, and use Aura Sphere in place of the evolution moment.

also Riolu is 100 times cuter than lucario

 

[Blob]

Heres One: Riolu shouldn't have evolved in JN045

Here's the thing: So far evolution has literally only been bad for Riolu mostly because it got shafted (literally only major appearance since evo was in JN046 and JN048). And no, this opinion is not because of my personal opinion that I think Riolu is better, but I just feel that if Riolu didn't evolve, it probably would have been used more. It could probably have it's own episode later in the series where it evolves, but nah, we just had an (admittedly cool but also random) double evolution with Raboot. As for what would happen in JN045, just have it be able to use it's aura better, perhaps even have episodes before the darkest day arc focus on riolu learning how to control it's aura better, and use Aura Sphere in place of the evolution moment.

also Riolu is 100 times cuter than lucario

Yeah, I have the same problem with Farfetch'ds evolution. Its design had way more personality as a Farfetch'd than it does as a Sirfetch'd plus it feels like Sirfetch'ds loyalty was meaningless, since it hasn't been used since it evolved.

 

[nickdt]

It’s just occurred to me that there’s only been six episodes in Journeys where Pokemon have learnt a new move

Dragonair learning Dragon Dance
Sobble learning U-Turn
Scorbunny evolving to learn Ember
G.Farfetch’d learning Detect
Riolu evolving to learn Aura Sphere
Dragonite gaining Draco Meteor

I dunno, but seeing a Pokemon have some development and learning a new move, all-be-it something simple like Detect (which is broken in the anime), is way more satisfying than anything else.
Learning new move episode > Legendary encounter episode.
For example, seeing Grotle learn Rock Climb, or Pikachu learning Electroweb, or Buizel learning Water Pulse/Ice Punch is peak excitement for me. It gets me stoked to imagine what the possibilities could be, or even taking in what the hell even happened. As a little kid, I thought Buizel was learning Aura Sphere against Lucario, and it made me so gassed.

seven episodes actually, since G.Farfetch'd also learnt Fury Cutter and Focus Energy (Which was ditch off-screen in favor of detect and has only used it once, making Galarfetch'd learning it pointless in the first place).

 

[Welkamo]

I think making Malva turn against Lysandre during the final conflict came out of the left field and was not a good choice. Her game personality was much preferred and is what I would've wanted to see more from her anime counterpart.

This may not be 100% related to the anime or manga, but Malva is such an underrated character, in my opinion. Sure, Elite Four members being evil isn't new to the manga, but I really like how they did it with Game!Malva at least.

 

[Enzo]

I was talking about this in another thread, but I thought I'd dive into it a bit here since this one seems more fitting lol.

I know we all give the writers and the anime itself a lot of sh*t for bs moments like Thunder Armor and Greninja getting defeated by Fire Blast and all, and while I wouldn't go as far as saying it's in the exactly same level as these two events, the way Sobble was captured is dangerously close to that level to me personally.

Like, I don't think we as a fandom ever discuss enough the sheer absurdity of it all. Goh throws a Pokéball at nothing, somehow manages to hit Sobble, who was actually invisible, may I add, and captures it immediatly. Like....???!!?!?!?! What???? Just how spoiled by the writers lucky is Goh actually? He doesn't even sees the target and get's a bullseye on the first try?

No, seriously, I wanna know how the conversation for this went in the writing room. Who pitched that and did no one actually stopped and questioned it?

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

I was talking about this in another thread, but I thought I'd dive into it a bit here since this one seems more fitting lol.

I know we all give the writers and the anime itself a lot of sh*t for bs moments like Thunder Armor and Greninja getting defeated by Fire Blast and all, and while I wouldn't go as far as saying it's in the exactly same level as these two events, the way Sobble was captured is dangerously close to that level to me personally.

Like, I don't think we as a fandom ever discuss enough the sheer absurdity of it all. Goh throws a Pokéball at nothing, somehow manages to hit Sobble, who was actually invisible, may I add, and captures it immediatly. Like....???!!?!?!?! What???? Just how spoiled by the writers lucky is Goh actually? He doesn't even sees the target and get's a bullseye on the first try?

No, seriously, I wanna know how the conversation for this went in the writing room. Who pitched that and did no one actually stopped and questioned it?

Grookey's was worse for me honestly.

Goh literally wakes up with Grookey in arms who just so happened to randomly end up in his bed (which is on the top bunk mind you) while completely ignoring Ash on the bottom bunk lol

Not to mention how Grookey all of a sudden has a random attachment to Goh despite barely interacting with him anymore than it did with Team Rocket yet Grookey is for some reason miserable with Team Rocket despite giving us no reason for it. And only had TR being ooc for a brief moment for no other reason than to "justify" why Goh would a better Trainer for Grookey

 

[Unireon]

Both captures were contrived as hell and symptoms of the bad-writing that plagues this series.

I cannot grasp how the staff decided that those were good ideas....
It seems like they are outright ruining the anime on purpose.

Why would someone do something like that.....?

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I think Sobble's capture bothered me more because of the marketing around Sobble. They outright tricked us into thinking Ash would catch Sobble, and you can't convince me otherwise. That audio on top of that clip really did make it seem like Ash was going to catch Sobble.

 

[Unireon]

I think Sobble's capture bothered me more because of the marketing around Sobble. They outright tricked us into thinking Ash would catch Sobble, and you can't convince me otherwise. That audio on top of that clip really did make it seem like Ash was going to catch Sobble.

I thought that they would stop doing that after what happened in SM.....
That the staff had learnt their lesson on misleading advertising.

Instead they stepped up their game, causing expectations that were dashed when Messon debuted.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Honestly, the SM Eevee can be ignored as an example of "misleading promotion" by me, but Sobble and Farfetch'd are perhaps one of the few times where it’s easily visible that it was deliberately planned. The voiceovers in previews were switched so it looks like Ash is talking to Sobble, the magazine previews switched Sobble and Farfetch'd. And it’s not like a poster where you’re going for aesthetics. These were deliberate and calculated choices, unlike any of the poster placement drama we've seen before.

 

[Unireon]

Given how little the misleading character did in SM....
I don't think how it getting that placement could be justified.....
That's the part that made me upset, the lack of development.

Messon was my only choice for Satoshi to get a starter.
So that trailer really played me and when it happened, I got very mad.
After that, I accepted the fact that no starters for him this generation.