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Controversial opinions

I just don't see why it's wrong to have stuff happening between matches.
Because it robs certain Pokemon of opportunities to shine, especially because Leagues are going to be the current team's swansong in terms of battling, so having an episode that honestly could have taken place at literally any other time is going to be annoying. Just like it was completely unnecessary for Team Rocket's antics to steal spotlight from Quilava's match back at the Sinnoh League, it was also completely unnecessary to make Axew's antics the center of an episode when that time could have instead been used to show more of Ash's Unova Pokemon get wins. Particularly for the more underused members.
 
Because it robs certain Pokemon of opportunities to shine, especially because Leagues are going to be the current team's swansong in terms of battling, so having an episode that honestly could have taken place at literally any other time is going to be annoying. Just like it was completely unnecessary for Team Rocket's antics to steal spotlight from Quilava's match back at the Sinnoh League, it was also completely unnecessary to make Axew's antics the center of an episode when that time could have instead been used to show more of Ash's Unova Pokemon get wins. Particularly for the more underused members.
And lest we forget how badly the Indigo League was squandered, even outside of Ash's match with Ritchie. Namely, the episode with Ash's second and third round matches, which spent half of its runtime on filler stuff; and the episode where Ash meets Ritchie, where we have no League battles whatsoever.
 
And lest we forget how badly the Indigo League was squandered, even outside of Ash's match with Ritchie. Namely, the episode with Ash's second and third round matches, which spent half of its runtime on filler stuff; and the episode where Ash meets Ritchie, where we have no League battles whatsoever.
In general Kanto seemed to avoid full-episode battles, focusing more on the general adventure and comedy elements. I think the cloest we got in Kanto was Lt. Surge, where battling took up a large part of it, but even then it was a battle and a rematch in one.

The second Drake episode might be the first full-episode battle, come to think of it.
 
I just don't see why it's wrong to have stuff happening between matches.
I mean, others here have explained it way better than me, but I will throw my two cents anyways lollll.

I don't think it's innherently harmful per say, but it's just cuz,,, I mean, it's the League. The thing the entire series leads up to. The reason why Ash goes to challenge 8 gyms and travels through a whole region is to try on the League. Then right in the middle of it, we get an filler? And it didn't even amounted to anything. It was completely pointless in every sense of the word.

I wouldn't still love it, but if this was an episode that wasn't about the League and actually led somewhere, I think maybe the masses wouldn't get pissed. But as it stands, well, it was awful.
 
I respectfully disagree. Leon was clearly meant to be a grown-up version of a player character. Think about it: he never lost to anyone besides another player character, he had a rival in Raihan and a supportive Professor in Magnolia, he became a Champion, and his ace is a starter Pokémon. Those are characteristics of a player character.

The Galar games were all about passing the torch to the next generation, with Sonia becoming a Professor in place of Magnolia, Bede becoming a Gym Leader in place of Opal, and the player becoming a Champion in place of Leon. Leon passing the torch to the player is basically meant to represent the older generation of Pokémon players making way to the newer ones. That could actually be why Leon's ace is a Charizard: it's a popular starter amongst the original Pokémon players who are around Leon's age now.
Keep in mind I said partially, as player characters, cities, moves, and all Pokémon concepts in general draw inspiration from several ideas and sources; rarely does something solely represent one idea. Whose to say when Leon was conceived, both trains of thought were not contemplated or referenced at some point?

And the irony of your post is that Alain himself was based on the same principle you are claiming Leon to be - older Pokémon fans who played through the games years ago with the sentimental Charmander, who also rarely lost in their respective playthroughs and bulldozed everything with their Starter Pokémon.
 
Except that Ash losing because of Charizard's disobedience could be seen as a moment of him having relied on luck over skill coming back to bite him big time and teaching him to actually train his Pokémon properly. But otherwise, yeah, the episode was just awful.
He is actually screwed over due to his bad luck, the skill was not a factor here. He lost his good performer due to TRio's attack and his team was not in the best form due to not being treated at a Pokémon Centre.
 
He is actually screwed over due to his bad luck, the skill was not a factor here. He lost his good performer due to TRio's attack and his team was not in the best form due to not being treated at a Pokémon Centre.
Despite that, if he had actually taken time to work out his Charizard's obedience issues, it wouldn't have been as big of a deal. But he didn't, and that came back to bite him then and there.
 
Despite that, if he had actually taken time to work out his Charizard's obedience issues, it wouldn't have been as big of a deal. But he didn't, and that came back to bite him then and there.
But that wasn’t really the major lesson I got there. The main reason for Ash's loss was an irresponsible Pokémon league who made no accommodations for their contestant who was attacked by a notorious evil organisation.
The Charizard issue was secondary for me, since I doubt using Charizard was even a part of Ash's strategy for the match.
 
But that wasn’t really the major lesson I got there. The main reason for Ash's loss was an irresponsible Pokémon league who made no accommodations for their contestant who was attacked by a notorious evil organisation.
The Charizard issue was secondary for me, since I doubt using Charizard was even a part of Ash's strategy for the match.
That was early installment weirdness. Charizard's lack of obedience was the main thing.
 
Early installment weirdness doesn’t excuse the fact that it passes out that message anyways. Ash's loss in that match ultimately wasn’t related to his skill since it was not a fair match. Ash was fighting on a handicap.
That is true. But, again, it wouldn't have mattered if he had trained his Charizard properly.
 
That is true. But, again, it wouldn't have mattered if he had trained his Charizard properly.
That just returns to the same situation, if Ash's luck hadn’t been so comically bad they wouldn’t have had such a situation. The episode just gives out different messages to different people, I guess. The sheer injustice of the situation hit to me when I watched it, since Ritchie could’ve been the easiest win Ash got had Pidgeotto been healed.
 
That just returns to the same situation, if Ash's luck hadn’t been so comically bad they wouldn’t have had such a situation. The episode just gives out different messages to different people, I guess. The sheer injustice of the situation hit to me when I watched it, since Ritchie could’ve been the easiest win Ash got had Pidgeotto been healed.
You know though, this is what makes it realistic for me, internal pokemon league jurisdiction logic stuff aside. Sometimes however well you compensate the stars align to expose your weakness and make you fall. It happens to all of us, and it’s good it happened to Satoshi so kids witness the unfairness of the world hurting their hero, just as it will hurt them.

I guess as you said, different people, different take home messages!
 
Honestly, that's one reason why the complaints about Ash not getting enough focus is confusing to me. I really didn't think that Ash was that popular here to begin with, so people being upset that over the screentime just surprises me in that sense.
Honestly, while I don't question Ash's popularity (and even learned it stemmed a bit more than I thought), I also thought people would have little issue with the focus going to someone who wasn't Ash, and clearly, was mistaken here, to my surprise. Though it also amuses me to think on every time I see complaints regarding this subject.
 
Honestly, that's one reason why the complaints about Ash not getting enough focus is confusing to me. I really didn't think that Ash was that popular here to begin with, so people being upset that over the screentime just surprises me in that sense.
I've gotten the impression a decent amount of the disinterest/annoyance with Ash in the past was over his story not really moving for so long, and that could explain why people would be unhappy with him getting less attention now that he's seemingly moved away from the gym--league--fail cycle.
 
I've gotten the impression a decent amount of the disinterest/annoyance with Ash in the past was over his story not really moving for so long, and that could explain why people would be unhappy with him getting less attention now that he's seemingly moved away from the gym--league--fail cycle.

That was certainly part of the disinterest in Ash. Most of Ash's friends have been able to get a good amount of closure in their respective series, while Ash couldn't get that due to being the main character and having to stick around for the next journey. I can understand wanting to see Ash continue to make progress towards his goal, but I do have to wonder if he has moved from that cycle. I still don't think he's going to beat Leon and the PWC definitely isn't treated like the next step in Ash's dream to become a Pokemon Master either. Plus, I still think that the screentime complaint is too exaggerated for my tastes. Ash always has had his fans and I like him too, but I just didn't think that people would be that upset over Ash not getting more focus.
 
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