Controversial opinions

[Daenerys]

Togepi for Dawn would've made sense from a HGSS promo standpoint I guess, but I didn't like the evil Togepi, so I wouldn't have wanted her to get that one. Thinking back to Dawn's DP team, I realize now that I only ever liked her Pachirisu.

 

[CaptainBuggles]

The decision to give her a Togekiss was probably done so late that they wrote it for her in its fully evolved form to save time. If only they had done a similar thing with Gible...

In general, I feel like they're always mucking at least one thing up with every effort to do a main character with a pseudolegend

Larvitar is a mild case, because it was clear that it was mainly just a delivery mission all along

Gible shouldve been introduced earlier and been given proper time to evolve and all that

Iris' Dragonite actually made me angry for a while, and even now I'm not a huge fan of it. Especially since Dragonite's typical personality is one of the things I really like about Dragonite as a species, but this individual's personality was kind of grating and made it feel like it would make more sense as a Salamence or Hydreigon instead.

Goomy is pretty likeable in all stages, but its evos happened too fast, and its initial encounter felt a little too sudden and convenient, thanks to the delayed explanation for why it happened.

Poipole isnt exactly a pseudolegend, but it's similar enough that its handling still ends up feeling like a waste.

 

[FluffleFi]

At some point I think i'd like it if the female lead was an already somewhat accomplished in her goals and was on equal footings to Ash. The guy's been through multiple regions and leagues and has beaten a host of tournaments, so why not throw the female lead a bone this time? I think the anime's done enough 'Ash tutors the rookie' or 'The rookie's going through the ropes'. Why is she back in her supposed home region? Maybe she wanted some experienced before tackling her home region? Just a thought I had earlier today.

 

[CaptainBuggles]

At some point I think i'd like it if the female lead was an already somewhat accomplished in her goals and was on equal footings to Ash. The guy's been through multiple regions and leagues and has beaten a host of tournaments, so why not throw the female lead a bone this time? I think the anime's done enough 'Ash tutors the rookie' or 'The rookie's going through the ropes'. Why is she back in her supposed home region? Maybe she wanted some experienced before tackling her home region? Just a thought I had earlier today.

I feel like this is what Iris /could've/ been, and sort of has shades of, but ultimately they missed the mark.
Like, someone wanting to be a Dragon-type master pretty quickly brings to mind someone cool and accomplished.
But Iris, while not exactly a total noob, just isn't really someone I ever really respected or rooted for all that much.... Largely thanks to how I feel like her starting personality was the least likeable of all the main girls, so I feel like I wasn't given that early incentive to respect her and root for her to become better... Plus, her forward progress is less structured and interesting than something like challenging Gyms or Contests. So, by time she accomplishes anything, I just feel like "so what?", since I didn't become all that invested to start with.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Watching the games (where Iris is a Gym Leader who ascends to championhood) and reading the manga (where Iris even participated the Pokémon League tournament and beat an Ice-type expert) really makes me feel sad about how much Iris was ruined in the anime. Some people dislike Iris solely because of her depiction in the anime, which is really unfair. Why didn't she evolve Axew, despite the buildup? Why wasn't she a Gym Leader? Why couldn't Ash have gotten his eighth Badge from her? Urgh...

 

[TheGoldenToon]

"Our next battle victory will be our 100th win in a row!" That line is from Iris and Excadrill Against the Dragon Buster! for reference. Forgive me for being blunt but, tell me that's a dub only line, because I have a difficult time believing Anime Iris could've pulled off 99 consecutive victories in a row or at least not at the age she was in that flashback of that episode.

 

[Daenerys]

Why didn't she evolve Axew, despite the buildup?

marketable
mar·ket·able | mär-kə-tə-bəl

1. fit to be offered for sale
2. wanted by purchasers

#2 succinctly explains Axew's situation.

Why wasn't she a Gym Leader?

Oh yeah just what she needed, to be in a position of power so that fans would dislike her even more. As if her 99 win streak, Club Battle tourney win, catchphrase, and Dragonite capture weren't enough excuses for people to whine about her already.

 

[KenzeyEevee]

This is a really great picture. XY was different from other series because it had its own story and didnt need any Kanto reference. But tbh I cant see any Charizard since XY ended tbh.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Watching the games (where Iris is a Gym Leader who ascends to championhood) and reading the manga (where Iris even participated the Pokémon League tournament and beat an Ice-type expert) really makes me feel sad about how much Iris was ruined in the anime. Some people dislike Iris solely because of her depiction in the anime, which is really unfair. Why didn't she evolve Axew, despite the buildup? Why wasn't she a Gym Leader? Why couldn't Ash have gotten his eighth Badge from her? Urgh...

Admittedly, I don't mind that Axew didn't evolve. There wasn't much buildup since it was dropped practically the moment they brought it up. It was still pretty bad since Iris' goal, or at least part of it, was getting Axew to evolve and it wanted to evolve too, but if they had actually shown Axew to become stronger over the course of the series in a believable manner, that would have been fine. As it is, it still feels like the writers couldn't decide on if they wanted Axew to be the cute useless baby Pokemon like Togepi or the strong secondary mascot like Piplup and the decided to go for both. In some episodes, Axew is weak, in need of rescue or useless, but in other episodes, it learns Outrage out of nowhere or actually deals some damage to Cynthia's Garchomp. Iris being a Gym Leader in-training instead of just an extra special gifted trainer might have been better, or at least probably wouldn't be any worse than how Ash got his eighth badge.

"Our next battle victory will be our 100th win in a row!" That line is from Iris and Excadrill Against the Dragon Buster! for reference. Forgive me for being blunt but, tell me that's a dub only line, because I have a difficult time believing Anime Iris could've pulled off 99 consecutive victories in a row or at least not at the age she was in that flashback of that episode.

Sadly, that is what really happened in both versions. It's even more unbelievable when you remember that Iris couldn't even get Axew to learn Dragon Rage, one of the weakest Dragon type moves, for the first thirty or so episodes of the series, Axew was still a pretty weak battler even by the time the first Club Battle tournament started and Iris' training methods, or lack there of, heavily implied that she was a rookie trainer, or at least not experienced enough to win nearly one hundred battles in a row well before she even started her journey. The flashback also makes her look even worse with Excadril. Iris looked at least a couple of years younger in that flashback, unless she hit a huge growth spurt in a short amount of time. If that is the case, then she hadn't been able to get Excadril to listen to her for years.

I thought that they didn't start over hyping Iris as some extra special trainer until that flashback, but they started much earlier than that. It started the moment Iris was giving advice to another trainer's struggle with her own Druddigon. She was still struggling with Axew's Dragon Rage, so suddenly making her a wiser trainer was extremely jarring and out of place.

Oh yeah just what she needed, to be in a position of power so that fans would dislike her even more. As if her 99 win streak, Club Battle tourney win, catchphrase, and Dragonite capture weren't enough excuses for people to whine about her already.

Honestly, being a Gym Leader might have reduced the backlash against Iris. I think a big part as to why stuff like the 99 win streak and the Club Battle victory frustrated a lot of people is because of how forced those accomplishment were. Iris's skills always made her seem more like a rookie trainer, but BW kept claiming that she was indeed a strong and gifted trainer despite how her actions never backed it up. It didn't help that she would rarely train her Pokemon, even before they went overboard with making Iris a special trainer. If she was a Gym Leader out on a training journey in order to make Axew stronger or something like that, I think it could have worked out better. Being strong enough to win multiple battles in a row or win the Club Battle tournament could have been more believable since Gym Leaders have to battle against different trainers all the time.

Granted, this still would have depended on the execution. If Iris' personality was the same or she still didn't train much outside of whenever she got a focused episode, it still could have made people really upset with her, but being a Gym Leader out on a journey could have helped reduce the backlash and it might have given the writers something more solid to focus for her as a goal beyond just being a Dragon Master.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

marketable
mar·ket·able | mär-kə-tə-bəl

1. fit to be offered for sale
2. wanted by purchasers

#2 succinctly explains Axew's situation.

Those were rhetoric questions.

 

[RK9]

I hate Serena appearing in the anime, because I now can't find any good Game! Serena artwork anymore.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I hate Serena appearing in the anime, because I now can't find any good Game! Serena artwork anymore.

You can make more specific image searches. Try excluding the anime pictures from your searches as much as possible.

PS. Weird reason to hate a character. I'd blame the search engine myself.

 

[LazySpy]

I have an opinion I'll probally be killed for....
I mean, as much as I loved SM21, that much I can't agree that Litten just got over his loss so quickly, and was fast to make a choice to stay with Ash.
Ash's companions have a lot of positive qualities that could have been fleshed out with Litten having a few more episodes to make a choice who he wants to be his next guardian, so I think Litten should get a few more screentime episodes before the SM21, (maybe even moving the events of SM21 to a diffirent episode?) and in those "more screentime episodes" he would have been given time to learn more about Ash's companions. Maybe that could result in someone else than Ash taking care of him?
Do I make a valid point in here?

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I have an opinion I'll probally be killed for....
I mean, as much as I loved SM21, that much I can't agree that Litten just got over his loss so quickly, and was fast to make a choice to stay with Ash.
Ash's companions have a lot of positive qualities that could be fleshed out with Litten having a few more episodes to make a choice who he wants to be his next guardian, so I think Litten should get a few more screentime episodes before the SM21, (maybe even moving the events of SM21 to a diffirent episode?) and in those "more screentime episodes" he would have been given time to learn more about Ash's companions. Maybe that could result in someone else than Ash taking care of him?
Do I make a valid point in here?

No one other than Ash and the old lady took any special interest in Litten, and Ash really, really tried to go out of the way to help him unlike another companion so it really wouldn’t make sense for anyone else to take care of it.

 

[LazySpy]

No one other than Ash and the old lady took any special interest in Litten, and Ash really, really tried to go out of the way to help him unlike another companion so it really wouldn’t make sense for anyone else to take care of it.

What I was trying to say is that there could have been episodes before SM21 (or should I say events of SM21?) in which his companions are shown doing something for him, and THEN he could have been shown choosing his next guardian from more people than just Ash.
I actually thought I made that clear in my first post. Should I edit it?

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

What I was trying to say is that there could have been episodes before SM21 (or should I say events of SM21?) in which his companions are shown doing something for him, and THEN he could have been shown choosing his next guardian from more people than just Ash.
I actually thought I made that clear in my first post. Should I edit it?

It's pretty clear from your post but it just seems unnecessary imo.

If anyone other than Ash had shown interest in Litten in its first appearance then I could’ve understood it. It just seems out of the blue for the companions to suddenly care for it in your proposed episode after not caring for it in its first appearances.
Companions would be unlikely to suddenly begin to care for Litten, and your proposed scenario just reminds me of creating a competition just for the sake of it.

Even if there were a scenario where Litten was offered choices it would ultimately boil down to Ash and Kiawe:
Lana: She’s a water type trainer, so I doubt Litten would enjoy her company.
Lillie: She couldn’t touch Pokemon during the Litten arc iirc.
Sophocles: He trains too little for Litten to care.

So its not as if the other choices were something that excited Litten or would make it reconsider its decision to go with Ash.

 

[LazySpy]

It's pretty clear from your post but it just seems unnecessary imo.

If anyone other than Ash had shown interest in Litten in its first appearance then I could’ve understood it. It just seems out of the blue for the companions to suddenly care for it in your proposed episode after not caring for it in its first appearances.
Companions would be unlikely to suddenly begin to care for Litten, and your proposed scenario just reminds me of creating a competition just for the sake of it.

Even if there were a scenario where Litten was offered choices it would ultimately boil down to Ash and Kiawe:
Lana: She’s a water type trainer, so I doubt Litten would enjoy her company.
Lillie: She couldn’t touch Pokemon during the Litten arc iirc.
Sophocles: He trains too little for Litten to care.

So its not as if the other choices were something that excited Litten or would make it reconsider its decision to go with Ash.

It could still work as a contributing factor to Lillie eventually conquering her fears...
Or maybe was it just the part of me that plain hates Ash speaking?

Well, that could arguably be a pointless competition (cue Togepi flashbacks) if they'd handle it to make it one, but I'd like to see that because:
1. Litten agreed with his situation within a single episode because he saw a cloud.
2. I can't help but feel he was given to Ash because of the forced "Ash must have starter Pokemon from the region" thing.
3. Possible character development for Ash's companions (Questionable factor?).
4. Before meeting Ash he seemed to judge humans relying on stereotypes, and I can't bring myself out to be okay with that it was again Ash who made him stop hating humans that much. That guy "healed" quite enough Pokemon in his life IMO.

Oh, and also: I implied plural for a reason. In my proposed scenario, other Ash's companions could've shown more interest in Litten in any episode before SM21, including the first episode of his appearance.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I’m guessing that its your personal dislike of Ash. Personally I think Litten suits him and his training style a lot.

Ash was persistent with Litten the way no one else was and Litten decided to train with Ash because that’s what stoutland would’ve wanted.

2. I can't help but feel he was given to Ash because of the forced "Ash must have starter Pokemon from the region" thing.

That can’t be the only criteria since he already had a Rowlet with him.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Ash getting Litten was perfectly fine for me. He was the only character in the main cast who attempted to reach out to Litten, it fits with his battle style and there weren't a lot of Fire types from this generation that could have fit with Ash's team. I do think that they resolved its grief a bit too easily. On one hand, they showcased how grief can affect people through Litten pretty well, but it's also something that takes a lot longer to actually deal with. They wouldn't want to linger on a depressing subplot for that long. It wouldn't fit with the tone of this series or the anime as a whole for that matter, but it was more of an issue for me than it might have been for other people.

It's still a good episode and it is emotionally effective. I just think that the limitations on what they can show of the grieving process, along with how Litten's connection to Stoutland hasn't really come up in a significant manner, brings it down a bit.

 

[CaptainBuggles]

On the topic of starters, I wish Rowlet would either evolve or start working harder to be impressive without evolving. Like yeah, it's adorable, but it's this late into the game and Razor Leaf is its best move... Plus, Ash has only 4 Pokemon who actually fight right now, so that's another reason it'd be nice for Rowlet to pick up some more slack.

Not to mention, his team building in general seems slow this time around. I actually went back to check to make sure it's not my imagination, and in Johto/Sinnoh/Unova/Kalos, he always had enough Pokemon to make a full team by now ('by now' meaning the same number of episodes within that region), although Goodra wasn't on hand for a large part of Kalos. I checked Hoenn too, and even then he had 5 Pokemon who actually fight by now.