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Controversial opinions

They even had an entire movie, arguably the most well-received Pokemon movie to date, where the main villain was a collector who objectified Pokemon and cared little for the impact his actions were having on the world, to say nothing of the numerous poachers the show has demonised and blasted off.
Not to object your opinion in any way, but I'd just like to point out that Lawrence was only called out for collecting Pokémon in the dub. In the Japanese version, Misty only called her out on the method which he used to collect Pokémon, which she (rightfully) considered a more cruel method than simply using Poké Balls.
 
Also, you might want to consider actual players who try to fill the dex or accumulate catch numbers - go to a route, throw a Quick Ball. Done. No one - not even in-game NPCs - questions the morality.

You know, I really don't understand this line of thinking. "That's how it is in the games, so therefore that's how it should be portrayed in the anime, no matter whether it makes sense or not". You wanna know why some of the things that happen in the games happen only in the games? Because they're video games. And, just like any video game, they have mechanics and gameplay and interactive elements that keep the player interested in the game. However, the anime is not an interactive video game. It doesn't take place in a virtual world, it takes palce in a more realist, a more organic world, a world that has some similarities to our own in a way. So you can't just recreate elements of the games down to a T and implement them in the anime, as that would clash with the more realistic setting. Pokémon battles aren't turn-based in the anime as they are in the games, because that wouldn't make any sense (the Pokémon aren't restrained by the turn-based format of the games and aren't locked in one place do to the limitations of the hardware and/or the style of gameplay, so they are free to move around, to launch attacks at the same time as their opponent, to make creative and sometimes even crazy move combination, to doge incoming attacks etc.) and would make for some pretty boring actions sequences (which is also why the accuracy of a move's damage, even when it's a super-effective one, isn't 100% identical to that of the games and why OHKO-ing a Pokémon with a super-effective move rarely happened in the anime). It's also why, before/while/after catching a Pokémon, the characters would try to bond with it: because, unlike the games, where the Pokémon are just a bunch of virtual data that is stored on a cartridge, Pokémon are treated as living being in the anime. Living beings who are as intelligent as (or, in some cases, even more intelligent than) humans, beings who have their own personalities, their own dreams, their own likes and dislikes, their own style of living. You can't just treat them like they're some kind of collectable items that have no soul like in the games (which, by the way, not everyone does, as you and others who use this excuse keep implying; even some those who do catch Pokémon to make a living dex end up getting attached to those Pokémon and caring for them (as Dexit proved)), as that would make for a very jarring clash with the world they established. You can't just have something that is in the games because of the way video games are structured be thrown into the anime, something that belongs to a whole other medium, and expect it to go smoothly. That's not to say that some things form the games can't be adapted in the anime, like catching Pokémon or Pokémon moves and Pokémon evolution and the type chart. But you can't just take anything and everything from the games willy-nilly, without thinking about it or caring how it would impact the anime's world, throw it in a pot no matter whether it makes sense to or not, stir it, pour it in the show and call it a day.

As for NPCs not questioning or lecturing the player on this: you do realize that some people actually had a problem with this, right? You are aware that one of the reasons people loved Generation V was because of Team Plasma and how they tackled the morality of catching Pokémon, which made for an interesting story that a lot of people loved? You do know that Game Freak has even added some mechanics in the last two generations that allow you to take care of the surplus of boxed Pokémon that you have, by sending them to a place where they can have fun and relax, while also growing and becoming stronger (you know, stuff like the Poké Pelago)? And you also do realize the catching all of the Pokémon is a completely optional side activity that is not mandatory or forced upon the player in any way?
 
Please do not attack me for the directions the anime team decided to take, whatever decisions they made. Obviously I don't work for them and I don't know their intentions. I can only guess and speculate. And even though people say they should not have adapted GO.... they're doing it now and they probably have months worth of scripts having Gou doing GO things. You might be out of luck if you expect to see GO elememts disappear completely from this series( for a few months at least.)

If the current direction really is a problem, there would be enough complaints to get an explanation out of them. Countless times I referred to the episode where Serena's Eevee evolved into Sylveon at a dance party, and a staff had to post an explanation about what they intended for that episode. I was not satisfied with how the episode turned out but I just left it at that. I had no idea what the internet was like for them to actually post an explanation and I can only guess at a massive number of complaints.
 
I'm kinda starting to like Go. I know it's blasphemous around here to show support for him since many people think he's stealing Ash's spotlight, but I think Go's a much more active character and honestly kinda fun to watch
I agree, like Gou’s honestly one of my favorite characters after the Rockets already. I think he has the potential to be one of the most nuanced and fascinating characters (at least if the writers actually use that potential). I find his being unable to make friends and being kind of a smart ass relatable (mostly in the scenes of him being six years old. While not exactly the same, I was very much that kid that tried to answer anything I knew the answer to especially if no one else was cooperating (my teachers actually had to put limits on me at times)). I also find a lot of his interactions and friendship moments with Satoshi pretty charming and adorable. I just wish the series around him was better written.

Oh and before anyone says anything, no I do not approve of how episode six handled his catching all Pokémon goal. There needed to be a lot more challenge and exploring the ways to catch Pokémon the anime has put in place and I really hope they have an episode with some sort of villainous group that discusses what makes Gou so different from them and having him develop from there.

I also don’t think he’s a Gary Stu the way some are making him out to be. Yeah, Ash has been a butt monkey lately and him catching all these Pokémon so easily is very infuriating with context to how things work in the anime but he still has flaws in so many other ways and the writers and animators haven’t been afraid to make him be a dick at times and even a butt monkey on occasion (anyone remember those Dugtrio tossing him around). We see him being a know-it-all as a six year old and kind of stuck up in general, we see him being harsh towards the Ivysaur, we see him pushing Scorbunny away for his own dream, we see him get Scorbunny in trouble with some of the Bug types they face, he’s way over his head in the tournament and the show makes him face consequences from that and develop (although I agree it and Satoshi need to hold him more accountable when he’s doing something wrong). As a result of being snobbish, he doesn’t have a lot of friends. Because of his viewpoint towards not helping anyone, he and Satoshi have an argument which Gou believes is the end of this new friendship (and it’s pretty obvious Gou likes Satoshi and respects him a lot) and after the events of that episode, we see him realize his mentality was not healthy/not a very good one to have and we see him move past this in episode 4 where we see him help Scorbunny and save it from the store owner which is why Scorbunny wants to be with him. In episode 5, when he’s met Scorbunny again after it’s followed him all the way from what the anime perceives to be Wyndon City, you can tell that he’s astounded by what Scorbunny has done to be with him and he likes Scorbunny a lot but this dream he’s had since he was six is holding him back. Some said he changed his mind about capturing Scorbunny too quickly but I thought it was pretty clear that he was fighting with himself about it (although it could be because I’ve seen that face
IMG_2182.jpg
on the TRio multiple
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times
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and analyzed moments like them more times than I can say) because of the aforementioned conflict. But when he and Scorbunny took on the Snorlax together, he finally found someone who he was in sync with (other than Satoshi) which, coupled with Scorbunny’s obvious sadness and dedication, is why he decided to overcome himself and be Scorbunny’s trainer as it wanted. Of course, this leads to the thrill of capturing and getting overexcited about it and I’m sorry to those that like that episode but I just can’t defend episode 6 and the way of mass capture. The two good things I will say about it is that 1. I’m glad they’re at least having Gou spend time with them and showing him care about them (like when he freaked out about Metapod’s wellbeing when it was at risk of being seriously hurt and apologizing to Scyther after he lost that battle) instead of just being one and done with them after and I hope that we’ll get periodic episodes that are just that, him spending time with his captures, taking care of them, bonding with them, playing with them, training with them, maybe releasing them if there’s something out there they want more (even if the writers still continue to play “stay back demon” with Satoshi’s old Pokémon, hopefully they would have to give more screentime to Koharu right?) The other one is that it paves the way towards what could be a very interesting story arc where he is faced with someone like Lawrence III and is forced to think about what makes him any different, how should he grow and change from this knowledge, and what he should do going forward (both with the Pokémon he’s already captured and in the future).

I know this manner of thinking is probably way more optimistic than Pocket Monsters 2019 deserves at the moment but I really like Gou and his interactions with Satoshi and some of his Pokémon and I can see so much potential stories they could do with him and characters he could interact with (I really want to see an episode where he’s separated with Nyasu for example) and development they can do with him. It excites me and that potential with Gou and his interactions with Satoshi are honestly the only reason I’d still watch the series at this rate (other than Team Rocket).

Whew, sorry this got long but I’ve been thinking about this stuff a lot but was afraid to say it and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to talk about it.
 
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Please do not attack me for the directions the anime team decided to take, whatever decisions they made. Obviously I don't work for them and I don't know their intentions. I can only guess and speculate. And even though people say they should not have adapted GO.... they're doing it now and they probably have months worth of scripts having Gou doing GO things. You might be out of luck if you expect to see GO elememts disappear completely from this series( for a few months at least.)

Buddy, neither me, nor anyone else here is attacking you. If we're attacking anything, it's your arguments and rationale behind them, but not you personally. Nobody is insulting you or calling you names or harassing you or doing something that would constitute as a personal attack. Nobody is holding you responsible for the series' direction or saying that you specifically are the reason that the series is the way it is. But you have made post that are defending the series, the changes it made and its new direction. So, naturally, people are gonna look at your arguments and, if they find they aren't that strong, they will counter them. That doesn't mean that the people who are arguing against your points have some kind of personal beef with you. It just means that they don't agree with your stance and are making arguments for why they think you're wrong. That's the nature of having a discussion or a debate on a subject. Sometimes it may get very heated and maybe even take an ugly turn (especially if it's something controversial), but, so far, no one is trying to eat you alive or anything like that.
 
Buddy, neither me, nor anyone else here is attacking you. If we're attacking anything, it's your arguments and rationale behind them, but not you personally. Nobody is insulting you or calling you names or harassing you or doing something that would constitute as a personal attack. Nobody is holding you responsible for the series' direction or saying that you specifically are the reason that the series is the way it is. But you have made post that are defending the series, the changes it made and its new direction. So, naturally, people are gonna look at your arguments and, if they find they aren't that strong, they will counter them. That doesn't mean that the people who are arguing against your points have some kind of personal beef with you. It just means that they don't agree with your stance and are making arguments for why they think you're wrong. That's the nature of having a discussion or a debate on a subject. Sometimes it may get very heated and maybe even take an ugly turn (especially if it's something controversial), but, so far, no one is trying to eat you alive or anything like that.
Apparently, you have misunderstood my post. I was not talking about insults or personal bullying behavior. I am aware nobody has done that to me. I was referring to how people are choosing me as a complaint target for bringing up the obvious "Gou is obviously doing GO things and they scripted him to do that" knowing full well that complaining to me is not going to change a single thing about the direction the anime is to take. That is far from a discussion or debate.

GO is still based on easy captures and they host capture community events where pokemon spawn endlessly for three hours or so on a certain day. Players enjoy going on a capture spree -sending them off for candy to make room/by CP choice/etc. Millions of people enjoyed Pokemon GO without raising questions about easy captures or the lack of a process of forming a bond. Gou's capture spree could just be accepted as a typical "GO-player" (and Let's GO as well).
 
I have a feeling this whole thread will eventually be clogged by variations of this one sentence for the duration of this new series:

"They don't make the anime like the good old days anymore"

Safari Zone episode aside, we can't deny Pokemon GO and Let's GO have been the popular games during the past few years. Catching pokemon with ease, going on a capture spree - so many people have done that. The anime adapted GO as Gou. The anime decided that Gou is doing GO things.

That isn't really what people have been saying at all though. People have been talking about how Gou's way of capturing Pokemon doesn't really mix well with how the anime has treated Pokemon for twenty years. It isn't a simple matter of "This is new and different and thus automatically bad" or something like that. Going from treating the Pokemon like individual characters who bond with their trainers to just things for Gou to capture for the shake of it doesn't really mix well with a lot of fans and I think that the reasons given have been pretty reasonable. It isn't just complaining about how other Pokemon series were better.

And have Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee been that popular? I'm pretty sure that they were better received after they were released, but there was quite a bit of complaining about introducing Go catching mechanics into the main series, especially when fans were worried that was going to replace the traditional catching method for good. They obviously sold well for being part of the top ten highest selling Switch games, but their sales were still more along the lines of what Pokemon remakes usually sell. Plus, I'm pretty sure Sword/Shield reached that same amount of sales, if not surpassed it, but either its opening weekend or first week. They are still successful games, but I'm not sure how popular they are. They are more of an indication of how much Go has impacted the franchise more than anything else.

I'm not a fan of the "Gou represents Pokemon GO players" idea because it misses the reason Pokemon GO was such a success in the first place. Pokemon GO made Pokemon into a social event again by encouraging people to go outside and share information on where Pokemon and Poke Stops were. You could go out and see a stranger playing the same game and have that moment of "wow, we're doing the same thing". The game gained traction not because people had an inherent desire to catch Pokemon, but because they wanted in on a growing social event and to feel a part of something. This was also how Pokemon Red and Blue took off and became this cultural phenomenon, until greater information accessibility curtailed the social element and turned the games into a more solitary experience.

Not to mention there was also the fun factor of just finding Pokemon to capture within your own neighborhood. So many kids wanted to do that and Pokemon Go offered the closest means of doing so. Obviously, that couldn't be recreated in the anime, but that was a key aspect as to why Pokemon Go became such a hit too. There were a lot of stories of people connecting with each other through Pokemon Go, especially early on when it started, and that made it more meaningful than just a walking game app too.

J Bouken said:
People can relate to a character whose goal is to catch all the Pokemon because it's a shared experience, but Gou only represents a limited amount of those people because he doesn't engage in the social side of being a Pokemon trainer. He's not out there trading information with other collectors, nor is he collaborating or competing with others. He goes out, throws a ball, gets his Pokemon, and then goes home, which comes off as cynical. To me, he's more like those players who play Pokemon as a single player experience, but so far he's limited because he's only engaging in one aspect of being a trainer, and that aspect has had a shallow presentation.

Even the single player experience allows for interactions with your Pokemon to increase their friendship, especially with features like Pokemon Amie, Refresh and now Camp. It still lacks that kind of social connection/interaction, but there would be ways to showcase more of the single player experience without making it feel shallow or cynical.

Apparently, you have misunderstood my post. I was not talking about insults or personal bullying behavior. I am aware nobody has done that to me. I was referring to how people are choosing me as a complaint target for bringing up the obvious "Gou is obviously doing GO things and they scripted him to do that" knowing full well that complaining to me is not going to change a single thing about the direction the anime is to take. That is far from a discussion or debate.

Except that Gou being used to represent Go players isn't really confirmed. At least I don't think it is. From what I can tell, it's just an assumption made by fans based on his name and I guess how he captures Pokemon. That doesn't necessarily mean that he's supposed to represent Go players, or at least that is is confirmed that he's doing so. People know that they can't change the anime by complaining about it to you, but I don't think that is the intent either. I'm pretty sure people are just trying to explain to you why they disagree with your points with their own opinions.

Kyriaki said:
GO is still based on easy captures and they host capture community events where pokemon spawn endlessly for three hours or so on a certain day. Players enjoy going on a capture spree -sending them off for candy to make room/by CP choice/etc. Millions of people enjoyed Pokemon GO without raising questions about easy captures or the lack of a process of forming a bond. Gou's capture spree could just be accepted as a typical "GO-player" (and Let's GO as well).

I definitely recall some complaints about sending Pokemon off for candies when Go first started. Granted, there were jokes about it too, but I remember some people saying how it didn't really fit with how the franchise treated Pokemon in general too. The point about the lack of forming a bond is also kind of strange considering the recent Buddy Pokemon feature. It is basically a more simple version of Pokemon Amie, but it still offers similar kind of benefits as you increase your friendship level with your Buddy Pokemon. The reception to this update was pretty positive and appealed to people because they could now feel like they're walking with their Pokemon, which is similar as to why Pokemon Go became such a hit in the first place. It's not just the anime that has trainers bonding with their Pokemon. The main series has emphasized the importance of bonding with your Pokemon instead of treating them like tools since R/B. I don't know if people were complaining about not being able to bond with their Pokemon in Go, but they clearly wanted to introduce a way for players to have a better/clearer bond with their Buddy Pokemon.

Besides all that, just because some people who play Go like going on capture sprees and enjoy the capture methods doesn't mean that the Go style of capturing would be acceptable within the anime. Some video game aspects just don't translate well into other mediums and that goes for the main series too. The friendship level checker is necessary for the video games and it works because you have no other way to tell how your Pokemon feels about you for the most part, but that doesn't really work well for the anime when a bond between a trainer and their Pokemon can't be measured through an item,
 
Uh, why does it matter whether he's a tandrum throwing brat or an unjustifiable monster? I criticized the shallowness of the reason behind his actions, it would be shallow in either case.
... Are you saying jealousy=shallow always, no matter what? It isn't just a decline of Guzma and any other antagonistic character who acted upon jealousy, but also a decline of context of such characters actions. It's a weird standard to set in stone, and very limiting for writers.

Plus, in case you forgot:
Anime Guzma doesn't really make any sense. He's evil because he's jealous of Kukui.
This post implies a cause and effect relationship between his actions and motivations, which is why I've been talking about scales and context of his actions. What you're essentially saying is: his motivation (jealousy) isn't enough to justify his actions, so his writing is nonsensicall. And now you're trying to tell me that all you've criticized is the reason behind his actions, completelly ignoring this very post post that ignited this conversation.

Motivations and actions don't exist in seperate reallms, when it comes to judging whether a character is well written or not, analyzing just one of them is redundant. So it might be that you only wanted to debunk his motivation and nothing else, but in that case, that would not be enough to judge whether Guzma is well written or not.

You're defending him? Why?
Because he's one of the better written characters in SM, which isn't a high bar, I know, but still.

Maybe it comes to thing you said about scales, but anime's only explanation was "I failed to beat Kukui, I guess I'll create a gang that harass Alola people," which is not a good explanation. As you said, "If Guzma was only briefly angry with Kukui before whitdrawing from it after one talk" you probably wouldn't hear me complain, but, then, because it would be inconsequental to the show, not because it wouldn't be bad.
Look, you're forcing me to repeat myself... It's not the case. Guzma obviously didn't command Team Skull, like I said before, they were so disconnected, that from a narrative standpoint, Guzma could've served his role in the show without having any association with Team Skull, and vice versa. They are already harrasing Alolan people beyond Guzma's supervision, so it's likelly they would be doing that even if Guzma didn't exist.

Plus, it isn't just jealousy about Kukui that drove Guzma's actions, either. An important part of his personallity was also his cowardice, the fear of admitting superiority to his opponent, being scared of humiliation of defeat. According to Bulbapedia's description, he build himself the reputation of 'Undefeatable Emperor' amongst Team Skull by 'only defeating weak and easy opponents whilst also whitdrawing from battles against stronger opponents, under the pretense that he would defeat them anyway'.

Those facts create a more coherent picture of why Guzma created Team Skull, it wasn't to harass Alolans, but to create an enviroment of people who would look up to him as undefeatable, in order to increase his declining self worth.


Now, I guess it's time I adress the idea that jealousy is always bad, because the impression I get from your post is that you're thinking this is the case.

In my case, I was jealous of the attention my little brother's been getting, so I signed myself for a karate club. And guess what, I've had so much fun I eventually forgot I joined out of jealousy. I've made some great friends, some of them were Pokemon fans, and one of them gave me a pendrive with Pokemon Black and White emus, which is how I got into emulation. (Oh hoooo boi, piracy!!!)
And all of that wouldn't be possible if not for jealousy.

Now, you might argue that it isn't the case with Guzma, which is fair, but all I'm saying is, jealousy can have positive results on your life, as does anger, sadness and... Any other emotion normally considered 'negative', really.

BTW... A bit of a nonsequitur, but is that just my impression, or are you trying too hard to be negative about SM and positive about PM?
 
Are you saying jealousy=shallow always, no matter what?
No, but turning evil over childish jealousy over a match is shallow.
This post implies a cause and effect relationship between his actions and motivations, which is why I've been talking about scales and context of his actions. What you're essentially saying is: his motivation (jealousy) isn't enough to justify his actions, so his writing is nonsensicall. And now you're trying to tell me that all you've criticized is the reason behind his actions, completelly ignoring this very post post that ignited this conversation.
No, you're claiming that Guzma's evil is justifiable 'cause he didn't kill anyone, which is definitely not the case in my opinion.
Look, you're forcing me to repeat myself... It's not the case. Guzma obviously didn't command Team Skull, like I said before, they were so disconnected, that from a narrative standpoint, Guzma could've served his role in the show without having any association with Team Skull, and vice versa. They are already harrasing Alolan people beyond Guzma's supervision, so it's likelly they would be doing that even if Guzma didn't exist.
The show itself doesn't support this view. He's the founder and the ultimate leader of them, even if he doesn't contantly review their day-to-day activities.
Plus, it isn't just jealousy about Kukui that drove Guzma's actions, either. An important part of his personallity was also his cowardice, the fear of admitting superiority to his opponent, being scared of humiliation of defeat. According to Bulbapedia's description, he build himself the reputation of 'Undefeatable Emperor' amongst Team Skull by 'only defeating weak and easy opponents whilst also whitdrawing from battles against stronger opponents, under the pretense that he would defeat them anyway'.
Sounds like a fanfic to me. And actually contradicts how he entered the league with serious hopes of winning it.
BTW... A bit of a nonsequitur, but is that just my impression, or are you trying too hard to be negative about SM and positive about PM?
No. BTW... A bit of a nonsequitur, but is that just my impression, or are you Pulsaro's alternate account?
Now, I guess it's time I adress the idea that jealousy is always bad, because the impression I get from your post is that you're thinking this is the case.
Yes, jealousy is always bad. No, positive consequences doesn't make it a good thing.
 
Some people didn't liked PM001 because it only gave us tiny details of Pikachu's backstory instead of the full picture. Well, that's how I felt about SM125, as it didn't tell us anything about Guzma, where he got the idea of being the Masked Royal and what are his trainer achievements
He would need to be older to tell us that, but saying "I'll challenge the Unova League" would be enough.
. In my opinion, SM125's case is worse since Kukui can talk and directly tell us about those things, whereas in the Pikachu case the episode would have needed more scenes.

Another opinion is that...J is a great villain because she represents the opposite beliefs of our heroes', she sees Pokemon as disposable tools instead of friends. Team Galactic's story wasn't bad and was a good lesson om to how to handle villainous teams in the anime, but the tension between TG and the group was just non-existent (Croagunk not withstanding) and they just defeated TG pretty much because they were "there". I understand that TG had to be used because of game promotion reasons, but J should have gotten a bigger role since she's the one you really hate.
 
where Dragapult is concerned, Cursed Body is way better than Infiltrator and you can fight me but I'm right and you know it.
 
My unpopular opinion is that I don't really care much for May as a character (that doesn't mean I think she is a terrible one). I mean I enjoyed her as a kid, and I remember the good ol' days when I hated Harley's guts and I ALWAYS rooted for May against him (I still do when I re-watch AG because I always wanted to see May win against that asshole). When I started DP, BW, and SM, I just started liking the other female companions over her because I found their flaws and quirks way more endearing than May's.

Another one is: I don't completely hate Max even though I do find him annoying. His send off episode was the 3rd saddest one for me.
 
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As far as Guzma goes, I thought that they handled his storyline relatively well. He definitely should have been established much earlier in the series and I think that saving him for the League was a poor choice. I can see why they did that because of his whole needing to accept defeat instead of running away from it, but waiting until so late in the game to introduce him still weakened the impact. Having more time to establish his history with Professor Kukui definitely would have been nice too. Doing more with Guzma and Team Skull could have given Plumeria more screentime. She could have used more as well, but to be fair, I felt the same way about how she was handled in the games.

It certainly helps that Guzma wasn't handled like Hau, who felt so unnecessary in the grand scheme of things that they could have just given a random trainer a Dartrix instead and nothing would be different, but all things considered, I liked how they handled the conclusion for Guzma in SM.
 
As far as Guzma goes, I thought that they handled his storyline relatively well. He definitely should have been established much earlier in the series and I think that saving him for the League was a poor choice. I can see why they did that because of his whole needing to accept defeat instead of running away from it, but waiting until so late in the game to introduce him still weakened the impact. Having more time to establish his history with Professor Kukui definitely would have been nice too. Doing more with Guzma and Team Skull could have given Plumeria more screentime. She could have used more as well, but to be fair, I felt the same way about how she was handled in the games.

It certainly helps that Guzma wasn't handled like Hau, who felt so unnecessary in the grand scheme of things that they could have just given a random trainer a Dartrix instead and nothing would be different, but all things considered, I liked how they handled the conclusion for Guzma in SM.
I follow one PokéTuber who thinks that Guzma's storyline was handled flawlessly in the anime. I personally am not bothered by the late reveal.
 
I follow one PokéTuber who thinks that Guzma's storyline was handled flawlessly in the anime. I personally am not bothered by the late reveal.

Flawless would definitely be overselling it, especially when Hau's poor treatment makes Guzma's role better by comparison, but it was better than I expected at least. The late reveal did and still does bother me. That isn't something exclusive to just Guzma, but the anime taking its sweet time introducing key characters from the games is a big problem overall.
 
I personally don't get the point of Lance being a member of the "Pokémon G-Men". Especially since we never saw any other person related to said organization in any way. Some part of me thinks that the whole thing was invented just to make him seem more cooler, because shouldn't he be tackling the Team Rocket scheme that was going on anyway, due to his status as a Champion? Why would he need to be a member of some cool-sounding organization to take initiative in a threatening issue, especially when we never see anyone else related to this organization?
 
I think it’s because Ash is the main character and the writers just simply didn’t want Ash walking around with powerful Pokémon obeying him (the same can go for Dawn and her Mamoswine and Iris and her Dragonite). This is also the reason why I hate the Indigo League a lot more than the Unova league. The Unova one comes in second on my list because while I don’t agree with Ash losing to Cameron (due to Cameron being a brain dead idiot), at least Ash’s Pokémon didn’t disobey and humiliate him like Charizard did and he lost with more dignity.

I will admit that Cameron won fair and square like UnofficialBlaine said, but that doesn’t mean Cameron’s win wasn’t problematic. Cameron’s win is the second most problematic to me, while the first is Richie who only won because of good luck on his end and the official rules of the league rather than his skill as a trainer (the ONLY thing that could be said in Richie’s defense is that Richie really wanted a fair fight against Ash).
Well it was mostly team rocket and charizard’s fault.
 
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