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Controversial opinions

Since everyone is talking about the Tapu Fini mist episode, I wanted to mention something about it too. I will start by saying for SM standards it was a quite good episode, but I was really bothered by one aspect. Although I knew it wasn't going to happen, when Ash was lost in the mist I really wanted to hope they would somehow address something about his father. The kid exists, therefore he biologically has a father. It is disappointing it wasn't addressed at all, especially when there was a moment where it was mentioned that he was missing by other members of the cast, implying he had someone to visit in the mist. SM has lasted for 2.5 years and we know at least something about all classmates parents (both mother and father), and yet after 20+ years still no mention at all of Ash's father. It just seems a bit strange that when one of his friends reunites with while two others are searching for their missing parent that he doesn't even have a reflective moment wondering about (or flashing back if he somehow knows) about his own father. So we get super deep moments with characters they are going to unceremoniously dump in 5 months, but still will never know about the main character's father.
 
As interesting as it would have been if Ash met his father in the mist, I feel like something like that would have needed more setup. Mallow's mother would have benefited from more setup too, but if they wanted to just drop the knowledge that Ash's father is dead and that he wanted to see him again, they definitely would have needed to bring it up a lot earlier in SM. Plus, their reunion would have needed to be at the center stage of the episode instead of Mallow reuniting with her mother.
 
So there's something i've been wondering. Remember Ursula, Dawn's mean rival that showed up late into the Diamond and Pearl anime? How in the world did she pull off that double evolution with her Eevee? Just, how do you go about practicing something like that? Last I checked Pokemon can't de-evolve unless we're talking Mega Evolution. Not only that but they were able to perfectly use moves they wouldn't have known as Eevee - i'm talking Flareon using Fire Fang and Fire Spin. I know when it comes to the anime you should have suspension of disbelief, but I guess this is just something that's always baffled me.
 
So there's something i've been wondering. Remember Ursula, Dawn's mean rival that showed up late into the Diamond and Pearl anime? How in the world did she pull off that double evolution with her Eevee? Just, how do you go about practicing something like that? Last I checked Pokemon can't de-evolve unless we're talking Mega Evolution. Not only that but they were able to perfectly use moves they wouldn't have known as Eevee - i'm talking Flareon using Fire Fang and Fire Spin. I know when it comes to the anime you should have suspension of disbelief, but I guess this is just something that's always baffled me.

What's there to wonder about? We saw her throw the Fire Stone and Water Stone at the two Eevee during her Appeal, which she had obviously practiced ahead of time probably using some kind of prop instead of the Stones during practice. As for the new moves that her Flareon and Vaporeon learned, the anime does that kind of thing all the time.
 
It was definitely an emotional episode but I personally find it would have been improved had they eluded to the fact that Mallow’s mother had passed throughout the series. In Pokémon, we’ve become so used to most of the characters having only 1 parent that it didn’t really seem unusual that we only ever saw Mallow’s father with no mention of her mother. Compare that to Lillie and Gladion’s father with how the narrative of him built bit by bit leading to the reveal here that he’s lost but not dead thus giving a building plot and emotional payoff to what had come before.
I honestly don't know how they could have addressed it beforehand without it feeling forced. You don't go to people's face and ask them about their dead parents, especially in a world were single parents are almost the norm. It's also not something I think most people would openly talk about, especially when said loss is surrounded by regrets.

Maybe they could have subtly hinted more at it, but anything beyond that would feel super unnatural and maybe even baity.
After either of Tsareena’s evolutions, they could’ve let Mallow say something like ‘she would be so proud’ as well.
Here's my controversial opinion on this:

I thought it was just fine as it was. Buildup wasn't necessary in any way to make this episode any better than what it is.
 
This is something that's been kind of bugging me since I rewatched the episode.

In EP173 Wobbu-Palooza! the TRio are apparently in the wrong for fighting back against a bunch of low life thugs because apparently according to the Officer Jenny in that episode it's wrong to battle during the Wobbuffet Festival (of course the rule only applies on the village grounds which of course they wait until the TRio's back to doing bad again do they decide to mention, but still...). Anyway, I get the whole point of the Festival is to respect the Wobbuffet and blah blah blah, and I get that there are people out there that are very dedicated to their traditions and will uphold them no matter what, and under normal circumstances that would be just fine, but it just seemed downright stupid in all honesty to let these jerks get away with beating up innocent trainers Wobbuffet and then just stand there watching them destroy the big monument, and the Jenny in this episode has the nerve to tell the TRio they're actually wrong to fight and stand up to those bullies. Figures when the TRio actually does some good they get scolded for it. It's a little thing, but I can't help but be annoyed by it.
 
What's there to wonder about? We saw her throw the Fire Stone and Water Stone at the two Eevee during her Appeal, which she had obviously practiced ahead of time probably using some kind of prop instead of the Stones during practice. As for the new moves that her Flareon and Vaporeon learned, the anime does that kind of thing all the time.

Vaporeon and Flareon did not learn new moves, though. It was still the same Hidden Power attack which changed colours after evolution.
 
Vaporeon and Flareon did not learn new moves, though. It was still the same Hidden Power attack which changed colours after evolution.

I never said anything about Hidden Power, I was referring to Ursula's Flareon's Fire Spin and Fire Fang in particular, which it didn't know when it was an Eevee since Eevee can't even learn those moves to begin with. So the only logical conclusion is that Flareon learned them after it evolved. As for Vaporeon, I guess I don't remember what its original moves were.
 
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I liked that appeal of Ursula's because it was different; aside from a rehearsed appeal, what better way to show off a Pokemon than the novelty of evolution (and with the contrast of Fire and Water no less)? Induced evolution, at that? We had somewhat of a precursor of such a tactic during Dawn's dream induced by that wild Mismagius, but to see it used like that was pretty cool. Say what you will about Ursula's personality (yes, she was a jerk), but she did have some of my favorite appeals and contest combinations.
Also, no, Vaporeon and Flareon didn't learn anything new during the performance as they already knew Hidden Power as Eevees.
 
I just watched Meltan's capture episode. While Rowlet shielding Meltan was supposed to be touching, my first thought was how Rowlet is so weak that it can't even fight against Meowth. Meowth was able to dodge its Razor Leaf surprisingly well and instead of just hitting Meowth with another attack or just knocking it away, it just kept getting scratched up. I know that it was supposed to help build a bond between Rowlet and Meltan, but if this is the start of Rowlet's increased focused to make me think that the writers suddenly care about it outside of being a gag Pokemon, it is not off to a good start, especially when it still feels like a gag Pokemon with those admittedly pretty hilarious facial expressions. To be fair, I'm not sure that there's much the show could do to make me care about Rowlet at this point or to make it seem like a halfway decent battler, but this episode didn't really improve my opinions on it either.

As cool as the idea of Ash capturing a Legendary Pokemon is, I also think that catching Meltan without really having any actual connection to it kind of weakened it. He caught it just because Meltan developed a close bond with Rowlet. Even Lana had a bit more time with Sandy before catching it. Although, I'm not sure if that is a good example either considering how forgettable Sandy has unfortunately become too.
 
I just watched Meltan's capture episode. While Rowlet shielding Meltan was supposed to be touching, my first thought was how Rowlet is so weak that it can't even fight against Meowth. Meowth was able to dodge its Razor Leaf surprisingly well and instead of just hitting Meowth with another attack or just knocking it away, it just kept getting scratched up. I know that it was supposed to help build a bond between Rowlet and Meltan, but if this is the start of Rowlet's increased focused to make me think that the writers suddenly care about it outside of being a gag Pokemon, it is not off to a good start, especially when it still feels like a gag Pokemon with those admittedly pretty hilarious facial expressions. To be fair, I'm not sure that there's much the show could do to make me care about Rowlet at this point or to make it seem like a halfway decent battler, but this episode didn't really improve my opinions on it either.
Its even worst because Rowlet has battled pokemon who are stronger than Meowth.
 
Its even worst because Rowlet has battled pokemon who are stronger than Meowth.

That's true. It's been awhile since I saw the first two Grand Trials, but I thought that Rowlet did pretty well for itself in both battles. It was still sleeping all of the time, but it still seemed at least capable of battling when it needed to. Now it won't stay awake long enough to get a berry right in front of its face and Ash doesn't see this as a major problem, which is an issue onto itself.
 
I'm genuinely curious as to why you consider this episode one of SM's "really high ups".
Hadn’t clicked the episode links... I did it now, and this?

It’s one of the worst battles in the series, giving not one but two Deux Ex Machina to Pikachu in a battle that was otherwise on equal footing and Mimikyu even had a chance of winning.
 
Pokemon Origins is vastly more interesting and a similar show should replace the OG anime.

I agree that it was more interesting in some parts, although Red being a Gary Stu could've been toned down a bit.

I'm genuinely curious as to why you consider this episode one of SM's "really high ups".

Maybe he meant that the writers were literally high when they came up with that episode?
 
I agree that it was more interesting in some parts, although Red being a Gary Stu could've been toned down a bit.

Agreed but feel this is due to the length of the Anime he went from getting his butt kicked to OP and we didn’t see how he one most of his badges.

It is worth noting we are OP in the games so it suffers from this as well. I’d like that style of story with an original character that ends up a Red/Gold tier trainer but takes many seasons.
 
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