Controversial opinions

[Archsage]

I really wish they'd bring back pokemon contests in mainstream games, not counting BDSP

 

[jjliang]

Gardevoir and Gallade really need to interact with each other at least once. Suppose what if during the Masters 8, Diantha and her Gardevoir were present, and some trainers who owned members of the Ralts line like Rinto and Horace came to watch the event. Horace's Gardevoir would probably draw some attention to Rinto's Gallade and a random trainer's Gardevoir (who for some reason sounds like the one from AG109). Horace's Gardevoir and Rinto's Gallade would try to interact with each other, but Gallade and the other Gardevoir start fighting over Horace's, only to be both knocked out by Diantha's out of annoyance. Try to guess why one of the Gardevoir sounded like the one from AG109... (the Gardevoir from that episode didn't even sound like a Gardevoir...)

Let's hope Horace's Gardevoir in the dub would probably sound like Melodi's (from DP020) since Melodi's Gardevoir sounded more like a Gardevoir and that Horace's Gardevoir should actually sound like a Gardevoir.

 

[Weddingbells]

Mallow's ep is really well done. If you told me 10 years ago the writers would make an ep where one of the main characters parents pass away from cancer or some other illness and the last thing a kid said to them was they hate them and regret it for years later is pretty deep and unexpected.

Mallow episode as a stand alone is well done. Mallow episode as you look at it outside the episode and how it affects mallow character as a whole is poorly executed imo

 

[HiroHunter]

Mallow's ep is really well done. If you told me 10 years ago the writers would make an ep where one of the main characters parents pass away from cancer or some other illness and the last thing a kid said to them was they hate them and regret it for years later is pretty deep and unexpected.

This ep would have been fine for me if I had a reason to care about Mallow before hand but I didn't. And don't get me wrong I don't hate Mallow I just found her boring and the ep did nothing to change that.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Mallow's episode itself is good. It's emotional and tackles grief extremely well, especially from a child's point of view. However, I think it's main issue is that there was never any sign that Mallow lost her mother or that her last words to her mother were "I hate you". The fact that both happened and was never brought up before makes it feel sudden. And no, the fact that Mallow only had her father on-screen while the other SM classmates had two parents wasn't foreshadowing it or setting it up. Plenty of other characters have only one parent on screen or no on-screen parents. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're dead. No one believes that Dawn's father is dead because he was never on-screen or mentioned.

As emotionally effective as the episode was, it doesn't really change Mallow's character, or at least how I saw her. She was back to being her usual self in just the following episode and the only lasting impact was that she got Shaymin to hold around for the rest of the series. Mallow isn't unlikable or anything like that, but she is pretty boring and unmemorable. If it wasn't for this episode, I still feel like Mallow would be the most forgettable female character in the series.

 

[Eitarou]

Dawn isn't from a series that has the bonds between family as one of its most prominent themes.

 

[Weddingbells]

Dawn isn't from a series that has the bonds between family as one of its most prominent themes.

Either way we're used to mult character having one parent. Mallow having one as well doesn't raise any eyebrows

 

[Hidden Mew]

Dawn isn't from a series that has the bonds between family as one of its most prominent themes.

While that's true, the point I was trying to make was that characters having one parent or even no on-screen parents isn't really unusual. Mallow only having her father on-screen wouldn't be a hint that her mother had already passed away or anything like that. If anything, the fact that the bonds between family was one of SM's themes makes it stranger that Mallow's grief with losing her mother wasn't brought up sooner. Admittedly, I wouldn't expect Pokemon to focus on grief for that long when that would be too depressing and at odds with its more light hearted tone. It's the same reason why Litten's grief over Stoutland lasted for one episode. But at the same time, Mallow was a main character and losing a parent at such a young age should have been hinted at sooner, especially given their last interaction together. Mallow's mother not being mentioned or seen despite every other classmate having two parents isn't enough, especially when most of them didn't appear that much to begin with.

 

[FluffleFi]

So that whole thing where Drizzile was disappointed because it didn't go from Sobble to Inteleon, I honestly hope they reuse this idea. Though it should be stretched out into a proper arc and for a Pokemon with branching evolutions, like maybe for the next Eevee on the cast. It could wanna be, say, a Jolteon cause it really looks up to one or something. So Eevee and trainer spend a good chunk of episodes trying to find a Thunder Stone(Ash could even bring up how he use to have one)only for, in a burst of excitement, the Eevee ends up evolving into an Umbreon/ Espeon and this starts it dejected arc. It could be a bit more distant and abrasive than it use to be and even challenge the friendship it has with its trainer, since said trainer might not know how to handle the situation. But that's just my take, since I like the idea of a Pokemon being upset that it didn't evolve into what it wanted to be.

On another note: Before Drizzile disappeared did anyone tell it that it had an extra evolution to go through before it could be an Inteleon? Cause if not that's just needlessly cruel and stupid, considering they met someone else with an Inteleon its not an unknown species so Goh or anyone could've done some research.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

On another note: Before Drizzile disappeared did anyone tell it that it had an extra evolution to go through before it could be an Inteleon? Cause if not that's just needlessly cruel and stupid, considering they met someone else with an Inteleon its not an unknown species so Goh or anyone could've done some research.

I think when Goh found Drizzile in the cave he told him something along the lines of "You want to become an Inteleon right? We can work on it!"

Renji also had a picture of Drizzile on the projector screen in the episode where Sobble met Inteleon but there was no attention brought to it (really just felt like an Early Bird Cameo) so Sobble might have just overlooked that

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

So that whole thing where Drizzile was disappointed because it didn't go from Sobble to Inteleon, I honestly hope they reuse this idea. Though it should be stretched out into a proper arc and for a Pokemon with branching evolutions, like maybe for the next Eevee on the cast. It could wanna be, say, a Jolteon cause it really looks up to one or something. So Eevee and trainer spend a good chunk of episodes trying to find a Thunder Stone(Ash could even bring up how he use to have one)only for, in a burst of excitement, the Eevee ends up evolving into an Umbreon/ Espeon and this starts it dejected arc. It could be a bit more distant and abrasive than it use to be and even challenge the friendship it has with its trainer, since said trainer might not know how to handle the situation. But that's just my take, since I like the idea of a Pokemon being upset that it didn't evolve into what it wanted to be.

On another note: Before Drizzile disappeared did anyone tell it that it had an extra evolution to go through before it could be an Inteleon? Cause if not that's just needlessly cruel and stupid, considering they met someone else with an Inteleon its not an unknown species so Goh or anyone could've done some research.

It honestly surprises me that we haven't actually properly tackled the premise of a Pokemon with a branched evolution ending up as something other than what it wanted to become despite the huge story potential it could bring. It has been used, but only in single episodes, most notably in a Johto filler concerning a feud between Vileplume and Bellossom and in Journeys with the Flareon and Jolteon of Chloe's arc.

I mean, there's actually a lot of ways we could go about with a story like this, for example: maybe we could have someone with a Tyrogue that wants to evolve it into a Hitmonlee, but the Tyrogue wants to be a Hitmonchan instead, creating tension between the Pokemon and the trainer and putting their bond to the test. Or like you said, an Eevee that evolves into a different Eeveelution than what it wanted to become, meaning it'd have to learn to learn to accept itself, and this could even be used as a metaphor for how sometimes people just don't end up getting the things we actually want in life, so we have to learn to roll with and adapt to what it throws at us, therefore teaching the young viewers in the audience a pretty important lesson. This is a premise ripe for some pretty powerful storytelling, so it does surprise me it hasn't been properly taken advantage of more. I think the closest to a "oops, I got the wrong evolution" arc we've ever gotten is Jessie's Wurmple ending up as a Dustox when she wanted it to be a more conventionally pretty Beautifly, but even that was resolved pretty quickly.

 

[Beatsy Ray]

I think the closest to a "oops, I got the wrong evolution" arc we've ever gotten is Jessie's Wurmple ending up as a Dustox when she wanted it to be a more conventionally pretty Beautifly, but even that was resolved pretty quickly.

Jessie loving and accepting Dustox immediately was such a great character moment. You expect her to show some disappointment or stay in denial, but they don't go that route.

Contrast that with the recent episode about Jolteon and Flareon, and how cold their trainers acted.

 

[Bendicion]

The execution of the Hoenn contests were rather bad. Way too many CotD characters that played a one time rival like Kaito Dusclops and Medicham-chan.

 

[Superior Serperior]

I don’t see the problem with one shot contest opponents, Dawn almost exclusively being in contests against her rivals feels more contrived to me, especially because none of them sans Ursula were very interesting

 

[Bendicion]

Jessie loving and accepting Dustox immediately was such a great character moment.

I remember this... Its why I liked Jessie's Dustox more than May's Beautifly. One of the reasons why Dustox had more character than Beautifly. Perhaps its the relationship between Jessie and Dustox that makes me like it a bit, May pretty much did absolutely nothing with Beautifly except use it in some contests to a generic degree and occasionally team up with someone else to blast TR off.

 

[Unireon]

Regarding Hikari's Rivals, my favourite was Kengo.

But that was just my Seiyuu Bias striking again. I like Mita Yuuko very much.

Totally unpopular opinion by both facts.

 

[Sai]

I don’t see the problem with one shot contest opponents, Dawn almost exclusively being in contests against her rivals feels more contrived to me, especially because none of them sans Ursula were very interesting

Yeah they recycled Zoey and Kenny a lot in those early DP contests and it felt really repetitive. I would have liked a few more varied characters or Urusla being introduced earlier.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

While some people say that Journeys has downgraded Legendary Pokémon, IMO, it's that other series have made them overpowered. Same with Elite Four members. It was understandable during the early seasons, but these days? Not as much.

 

[Weddingbells]

While some people say that Journeys has downgraded Legendary Pokémon, IMO, it's that other series have made them overpowered. Same with Elite Four members. It was understandable during the early seasons, but these days? Not as much.

Definitely think they downplay the Regis in JN

 

[CharizardFan7]

Definitely think they downplay the Regis in JN

The Regis are kinda weaker Legendaries though.