Controversial opinions

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Honestly, I personally don't see why it's such a big issue that starter Pokemon are so heavily promoted. I think they do deserve it being the faces of their generation and all, plus being the first Pokemon players obtain gives them that inherent likability due to most viewers already being attached to them due to using them in their team. Besides, with the sole exception of Charizard who is just promoted everywhere all the time (and I guess Pikachu and Eevee, but I don't think they really count in this instance because they feel more like universal mascots for the franchise as a whole and were only made starters as a result of their appeal rather than being starters from the get-go), starters are only heavily promoted during the generation they debuted in and afterwards become basically extras, only being brought back into the limelight if remakes are happening.

 

[Jewel the Quaxly]

This is probably pretty controversial, but I really am starting to get tired of the typical gym badge quest. I know people are defaulting to it because of how Journeys has been handled so far, but why can't we just do something different next Gen? Alola was handled well, wasn't it? And last I checked, it dropped the gym badge quest first with a lot of backlash. And weren't people actually excited over the prospect of traveling all over the world, at least until they saw how it was executed?

Pokemon is such a vast and interesting world where each region revealed is an entire new world to be explored. And doing a gym quest isn't the only way to do so. If they still want to keep the "acquire" narrative, then they could do something else instead of gym badges. What if there was an actual plot-line involving the main characters? What if the traveling was done for an actual reason aside from wanting to-what if they needed to?

I don't know, I do like old pokemon, but I feel like the formula is stale at this point and going back to it would make things feel much more predictable. Alola is a perfect example of this. It broke the typical formula and managed to have the most and best world-building compared to any other pokemon series.

 

[FluffleFi]

With me, its not the Gym Quest that I miss, its Ash n' friends exploring the newest region and the anime putting focus on the newest Pokemon. Have Ash and Goh even been back to Galar after they caught Eternatus?

 

[Daren]

This is probably pretty controversial, but I really am starting to get tired of the typical gym badge quest. I know people are defaulting to it because of how Journeys has been handled so far, but why can't we just do something different next Gen? Alola was handled well, wasn't it? And last I checked, it dropped the gym badge quest first with a lot of backlash. And weren't people actually excited over the prospect of traveling all over the world, at least until they saw how it was executed?

Honestly I was sick of badge quests by DP. After beating Brandon it felt like Ash was going backwards instead of forwards, especially from BW and onward where the lack of reserves made it feel like he was just not trying anymore.

 

[Hidden Mew]

This is probably pretty controversial, but I really am starting to get tired of the typical gym badge quest. I know people are defaulting to it because of how Journeys has been handled so far, but why can't we just do something different next Gen? Alola was handled well, wasn't it? And last I checked, it dropped the gym badge quest first with a lot of backlash. And weren't people actually excited over the prospect of traveling all over the world, at least until they saw how it was executed?

The Alola region itself was handled pretty well. Despite spending most of the time in location, they still explored the other islands and focused on the newest Pokemon. Even staying primarily in one island made sense given the much larger cast for SM. But the Island Challenge was not handled well at all. As much as people complain how the PWC has been handled, myself included, I think that the Island Challenge was worse or at least more of an afterthought. There were multiple times where I thought that they were going to drop it due to how rarely it would come up. Ash wouldn't mention it that often, which was jarring after years of hearing how he's excited for the next gym.

I don't think that the writers were particularly interested or willing to adapt what made the Island Challenge work in the games. They kind of eventually gave up on regular Trials to focus on just Grand Trials since those were closer to battles against Gym Leaders. Aside from the match against Hapu, I think that all of the Grand Trials were pretty solid, but I think that the Island Challenge was still one of the biggest problems in SM for me.

I remember people being excited over the possibility of returning to the Gym badge quest once Sword/Shield was announced, so it isn't just due to how Journeys has handled the PWC, although that probably doesn't help matters either. I never found the formula to be stale myself. It's not like each Gym badge quest was the same. With the different opponents, often featuring new Pokemon, and Ash getting new teams, it felt like there was enough variety to keep it interesting. Not all Gym battles are flawless of course, but generally speaking, the format worked. I'm not against doing something different, but based on the Island Challenge and especially the PWC, I'm not confident that the writers could adapt or create a new engaging goal for Ash that works better than a Gym badge quest. They haven't even found a good goal for the female leads since Contests, so I don't know how well something different could be for Ash either.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

But the Island Challenge was not handled well at all. As much as people complain how the PWC has been handled, myself included, I think that the Island Challenge was worse or at least more of an afterthought. There were multiple times where I thought that they were going to drop it due to how rarely it would come up. Ash wouldn't mention it that often, which was jarring after years of hearing how he's excited for the next gym.

When it came to the Kahuna battles I thought only Hala and Olivia's were any good. The others were either not great or lacking that certain something.

 

[nickdt]

With me, its not the Gym Quest that I miss, its Ash n' friends exploring the newest region and the anime putting focus on the newest Pokemon. Have Ash and Goh even been back to Galar after they caught Eternatus?

Yes, in the Eiscue episode (But it could have just as easily be a Kanto episode).

 

[Sai]

Most fillers in any series feel like generic forests anyway. If you watch any random Johto/Hoenn/Sinnoh filler without the knowledge of what region they were in the backgrounds always look the same anyway, or all the made up cities/towns they use that aren’t from the games.

The Gym quest definitely has been stale for years and after XY I was glad to see it go since they’ll probably never top that. We know Ash will beat all 8 gyms even if he loses once or twice because it’s required to enter the league so there’s no suspense to it. Also without the nostalgia a lot of old Gym battles simply do not hold up in terms of animation or battle techniques either.

I excuse SM since they were trying something different but yeah the Kahuna’s were a mixed bag and the trials were mostly ignored. But eh I don’t care too much about that.

 

[Hidden Mew]

When it came to the Kahuna battles I thought only Hala and Olivia's were any good. The others were either not great or lacking that certain something.

I can understand that. I really liked the match against Nanu myself, but it was all about Lycanroc and it was the only time that Torracat could have been a good fit for a Grand Trial battle, so I can understand not liking it or thinking that it lacked something.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I can understand that. I really liked the match against Nanu myself, but it was all about Lycanroc and it was the only time that Torracat could have been a good fit for a Grand Trial battle, so I can understand not liking it or thinking that it lacked something.

Personally, I feel like the match against Hapu is another Kahuna battle where Torracat could have shone. That battle was just a bunch of missed opportunities, which weren't helped at all by all the contrivances it had to pull to make Pikachu win. The Ash vs Hapu battle should have been a 4v4 with Torracat and Mudsdale as the final Pokemon standing in each respective trainer's sides.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Personally, I feel like the match against Hapu is another Kahuna battle where Torracat could have shone. That battle was just a bunch of missed opportunities, which weren't helped at all by all the contrivances it had to pull to make Pikachu win. The Ash vs Hapu battle should have been a 4v4 with Torracat and Mudsdale as the final Pokemon standing in each respective trainer's sides.

I don't know about Torracat vs. Mudsdale when Torracat didn't really have any moves effective against Ground types. Pikachu didn't either, but they made the victory extremely contrived. Plus, they kind of hinted at Pikachu vs. Mudsdale earlier in that arc. I agree that the battle should have been longer. Making the last Grand Trial a one-on-on match was so lackluster and didn't really provide much fanfare for the end of Ash's Island Challenge. If the match was longer, that could have made it easier for Torracat to be in it.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I don't know about Torracat vs. Mudsdale when Torracat didn't really have any moves effective against Ground types. Pikachu didn't either, but they made the victory extremely contrived. Plus, they kind of hinted at Pikachu vs. Mudsdale earlier in that arc. I agree that the battle should have been longer. Making the last Grand Trial a one-on-on match was so lackluster and didn't really provide much fanfare for the end of Ash's Island Challenge. If the match was longer, that could have made it easier for Torracat to be in it.

True, but Torracat had far more non-contrived ways to beat Mudsdale than Pikachu did: for starters, its Fire-type STAB could actually hit Mudsdale without requiring a faux-Soak; potential burns from Fire Fang reducing Mudsdale's power would offer a much more believable explanation for Torracat tanking super-effective hits (including a freaking Tectonic Rage) as opposed to Pikachu doing it just because; and Torracat's newly-learned Fire Blast completely ignores Mudsdale's Stamina boosts by virtue of being a Special Attack on top of being Torracat's strongest move. In short, Torracat defeating Mudsdale would have been far more believable while still keeping the stakes relatively high due to Mudsdale's type advantage and Ability, so to me Torracat would have always been the better option for this fight than Pikachu.

Besides, seeing how Pikachu got one-shotted by Hapu's Golurk during her initial encounter with Ash, I would have much preferred if Pikachu had just defeated that Pokemon as payback in the Kahuna battle instead while Torracat dealt with Mudsdale.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

and Torracat's newly-learned Fire Blast completely ignores Mudsdale's Stamina boosts by virtue of being a Special Attack on top of being Torracat's strongest move.

Adding to that, Torracat learning Fire Blast from Obi Wan Caninebi felt very random midst all the other stuff happening in the Poni arc, so Torracat fighting Mudsdale would feel like payoff.

 

[Blob]

IMO, Drizzile evolved too soon. It didn't do much after it evolved until it battled Kecleon and since this show loves to shove evolved Pokémon in boxes, this means we probably won't see it again anytime soon. It really feels like the writers wanted to rush Inteleon's evolutions so they can finally get to Grookey. Can't wait for it to evolve in 5 episodes and then again in another 15-20 with 0 development in between...

 

[CyberMonsterTrainer]

IMO, Drizzile evolved too soon. It didn't do much after it evolved until it battled Kecleon and since this show loves to shove evolved Pokémon in boxes, this means we probably won't see it again anytime soon. It really feels like the writers wanted to rush Inteleon's evolutions so they can finally get to Grookey. Can't wait for it to evolve in 5 episodes and then again in another 15-20 with 0 development in between...

Correction, the show loves to put Ash's evolved Pokemon in boxes. They still show Goh's Pokemon, even though I don't see why I should care what they're doing, and would rather see Ash's Pokemon...

 

[Kurolegacy]

Correction, the show loves to put Ash's evolved Pokemon in boxes. They still show Goh's Pokemon, even though I don't see why I should care what they're doing, and would rather see Ash's Pokemon...

Wouldn’t really say it’s only limited to Ash. Quite often we’ll go episodes without even seeing Cinderace and that’s supposed to be Go’s partner Pokémon.

 

[RafaSceptile]

When it came to the Kahuna battles I thought only Hala and Olivia's were any good. The others were either not great or lacking that certain something.

I think those two were the best animated ones, but I think Nanu's was the best one in terms of how the battle was handled with Nanu's strategy and with the Lycanroc's development during the arc.
Hapu's is the one that was meh.

Anyways my controversial(?) opinion is that Ash doesn't need to do anything in episodes that are not focused on him. For example, in this week's episode some people complain about the fact that Ash did nothing in the episode....when this episode is clearly focused into Goh and Drizzle. Especially for Ash, the character that we perfecly know during the previous and current series. If he was a new character, then I would understand that.

 

[Unireon]

For example, in this week's episode some people complain about the fact that Ash did nothing in the episode....when this episode is clearly focused into Goh and Drizzle.

Agreed, to some extent.

Why did they make him appear in that one.....

I cringed when he acted like a moron.

 

[Eitarou]

Because he lives there and it'd be weird for him not to.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Considering the amount of complaints about the screentime and the reactions to the Goh only episode awhile back, I think having Ash not appear at all during some of the Goh focused episodes would just make people more upset than anything else.