Controversial opinions

[Sobblefan]

1. Ash’s Lucario shouldn’t have happened. I don’t really understand the appeal of him getting one. The bond stuff feels kind of shoehorned to me. The slot could’ve been used towards giving a Galar Pokémon the actual spotlight that Lucario got- maybe Inteleon or Urshifu.

2. Most of the strong feelings towards Alain/Charizard/Greninja from XYZ are way too… personal? I’m not sure but I don’t really see why a 5~ year old saga is being treated as if it was written solely to spite some fans. I recognise the irony of me complaining about complaining but… well sometimes it gets too weird how caught up everyone is about that still.

Pokémon should have given him a Kubfu and let him evolve it into and Urshifu (Single Strike). The bond could have been easily done with Kubfu

 

[Daren]

To be fair I actually wouldn't be surprised if they'd decided on Ash having Lucario before the writers were told that Kubfu existed. With Lucario being either the JN Ace or Ace adjacent (depending on how Leon shakes out) he was probably decided on pretty close to the beginning.

 

[PrettySylveon]

Did you read the rest of my post?

Yes. Yes I did. I do find it problematic how Leon does exhibit some Gary-Stu like traits. Him steam rolling Diantha confirms this belief of mine. However, he’s still not the worst character of this show.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

However, he’s still not the worst character of this show.

I have literally never said that. Please do not put words in my mouth.

 

[PrettySylveon]

I have literally never said that. Please do not put words in my mouth.

I never said you said that (you only said that he was probably worse than Tobias). I stated my opinion. I don’t like being accused of saying or doing things I didn’t say nor do either. I also don’t like when people make things up, so that wasn’t my intention when I told you that.

 

[Imtnt]

So lets conclude he is the perefct character - what makes him the worst character ever

 

[PrettySylveon]

what makes him the worst character ever

Leon can’t be the worst character of this anime if that idiot houdini Cameron still exists.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

At this point… I know the accusation is pretty cringe but Leon genuinely seems like some kind of -Stu to me. He has totally no flaws, is all powerful and is literally what everyone looks up to. Isn’t it the literal definition of a Gary Stu?

 

[Daren]

At this point… I know the accusation is pretty cringe but Leon genuinely seems like some kind of -Stu to me. He has totally no flaws, is all powerful and is literally what everyone looks up to. Isn’t it the literal definition of a Gary Stu?

I think the final judgement of Leon is going to depend on how the PWC ends. If he wins he'll come across as a writer's pet (especially when in the source material losing his really an important part of his existence). If he loses he's just Pokémon Journeys' "final boss", including the standard "better than everyone until the protagonist finally beats them" clause.
I mean Leon embarassing the previous champions is nothing new in escalation fiction. Each new villain needs to be scarier than the last--the main difference between Leon overwhelming Alain with ease and Dragon Ball having Freeza killing Vegeta with a tiny fraction of his full strength is that Pokémon champions are non-evil combat sports entrants instead of galactic warlords.

 

[Enzo]

It's somewhat incredible that the series that gave us Goh and Chloe managed to make a third character who's somehow even worse when it comes to writing in the form of Leon...

Well, I mean... it's JN. I don't know why I'm surprised tbh.

 

[Sai]

If you watch episode 100, Leon's development seems to be he needs to learn to lose again. Even losing to Eternatus which was a flashback in that ep didn't give him that feeling. So Leon just winning and winning and beating everyone leads nowhere.

This is probably the only reason I think Ash will still beat him. Leon gets nothing out of this if he just stays the undefeated champion.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I think the final judgement of Leon is going to depend on how the PWC ends. If he wins he'll come across as a writer's pet (especially when in the source material losing his really an important part of his existence). If he loses he's just Pokémon Journeys' "final boss", including the standard "better than everyone until the protagonist finally beats them" clause.
I mean Leon embarassing the previous champions is nothing new in escalation fiction. Each new villain needs to be scarier than the last--the main difference between Leon overwhelming Alain with ease and Dragon Ball having Freeza killing Vegeta with a tiny fraction of his full strength is that Pokémon champions are non-evil combat sports entrants instead of galactic warlords.

I mean, it’s not just a win vs defeat thing, it’s a character thing. Defeating other rivals was satisfying because they had character flaws that led to a genuine desire for Ash to prove himself superior to their flawed visions, and this made the audience root for him.

1. Paul- we know.
2. Sawyer- Strategy vs Unpredictability
3. Alain- battling is supposed to be about having fun

And the rivals had character flaws accordingly. Leon has nothing. He’s just a “cookie cutter” good person. There’s no nuance to him in the anime when there are plenty of directions they could’ve taken like him being too obsessed about his public image, or the pressure to maintain his own public image and collapsing under that and much more- but honestly compared to other “big rivals” Leon comes off as pretty one dimensional to me.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

At this point… I know the accusation is pretty cringe but Leon genuinely seems like some kind of -Stu to me. He has totally no flaws, is all powerful and is literally what everyone looks up to. Isn’t it the literal definition of a Gary Stu?

The only flaw Leon has is he's terrible with directions and frequently finds himself getting lost.

 

[Enzo]

The only flaw Leon has is he's terrible with directions and frequently finds himself getting lost.

Which isn't... really a flaw, right?

As in, okay, it's sure inconvenient for him and everyone involved, but that's not a flaw in his character. It's like they were so hellbent into making a guy everyone would love that they just threw the world's safest flaw at him so he can't be considered flawless but at the same time, it's not a flaw that turns people off, and instead, makes him come off as endearing.

It's essentially the same thing as characters whose only singular flaw is being shy and/or awkward around people. It's a safe flaw. Enough to not make your character be flawless, but not enough to make them be read as unpleseant, and with the bonus effect of making them relatable and cute. Which is what we saw happen with Goh, for example.

 

[Eitarou]

It's not a flaw, it's a quirk. One the writers forgot about until halfway into Journeys, but better late than never, I suppose...

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

I mean, it’s not just a win vs defeat thing, it’s a character thing. Defeating other rivals was satisfying because they had character flaws that led to a genuine desire for Ash to prove himself superior to their flawed visions, and this made the audience root for him.

1. Paul- we know.
2. Sawyer- Strategy vs Unpredictability
3. Alain- battling is supposed to be about having fun

And the rivals had character flaws accordingly. Leon has nothing. He’s just a “cookie cutter” good person. There’s no nuance to him in the anime when there are plenty of directions they could’ve taken like him being too obsessed about his public image, or the pressure to maintain his own public image and collapsing under that and much more- but honestly compared to other “big rivals” Leon comes off as pretty one dimensional to me.

Ash never beat Alain

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I still feel like Leon's problems would be solved, or at the very least be made more tolerable, if the writers simply hadn't gone so ridiculously overboard with his power level. I have been thinking of what could have been done to still keep Leon above other Champions while still making it belieavable for Ash to beat him, and what I came up with was this:

1. Make all the battles in the tournament 6v6. This is not just because using a full team would allow all the Masters 8 to fully show what they're made of, but also because it would facilitate the next point.
2. Remove the restriction of only one gimmick per battle and have every member of the Masters 8 have all three gimmicks in their teams (we can justify this in-story by having the announcer state that this is the first time this has ever been the case in the PWC, and maybe that's what gets the one-gimmick-per-battle rule removed so everyone can use all three). I know that for this to work there would have to be some liberties taken with several characters' teams, but this adjustment is also necessary for the last point.
3. Make it so that when Leon beats Alain and Diantha, he wins by using only one of his gimmicks but still comes down to his last Pokemon while both Alain and Diantha use all of their gimmicks. This way the power gap between Leon and the other Masters 8 is big enough to be noticeable at a glance, but still small enough that Ash beating him doesn't come off as too unbelievable.

 

[Hidden Mew]

The fact that they've really gone out of their way to overhype Leon's strength, to the point where he pretty much curb stomps the one rival Ash couldn't defeat and another Champion level trainer, really does make it hard to believe that Ash could defeat him with his current team. It would probably have the least amount of backlash compared to if Leon wins, but with the problems with Ash's team in mind, I don't know if they could pull off a victory that feels believable and earned at this point either.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Oh, I have a great idea!

You know that Garchomp of hers that’s powerful as hell?

You see, we get that thing and have it pummel Lucario! Beat the shit out of him, parry every last one of his moves, completely outclass him and make Ash look like a starstruck rookie, but here’s the twist! Lucario, like, gets a lucky hit in and oneshots Garchomp!

Your move, Sinnoh League!!

What will be Ash vs Cynthia

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I seriously hope Ash vs. Champion Cynthia isn't just gonna be Ash's team getting pummeled the ENTIRE battle, while having all of their moves being countered, doing no countering themselves, and getting a lucky one shot. I wanna see him struggle, but I want to see him have moments where he can outsmart Champion Cynthia and get the upper hand for short moments at a time. Not just getting lucky one shots. That's been one of my biggest issues with a number of battles for Journeys.