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Controversial opinions

Being left alone for years, waiting for its trainer to come back, only to find out that its original trainer actually abandoned it because he blamed Gengar for giving him bad luck sounds traumatizing to me. It wasn't physical abuse, but emotional abuse and trauma definitely happened too. Chimchar dealt with both physical and emotional abuse from Paul, so they haven't only dealt with physical abuse or trauma before.

On a different note, I'm just about to get to Ash vs. Volkner in the dub and I'm amazed that they actually have pair trainers for their matches in the Hyper Class. Admittedly, I'm not sure why I didn't think that was the case before given how Ash battles against more established trainers going forward in the PWC. I'll give them credit for that improvement, but I'm also baffled as to why that wasn't the case from the start. It might not have fixed all of my problems with the PWC, but getting rid of the random encounters with nobodies, making use of both the world tour gimmick and the huge cast of characters from the franchise's history and providing a bit of buildup for the matches by Ash learning about them ahead of time would have gone a long way to make the PWC feel like a big deal.
 
Being left alone for years, waiting for its trainer to come back, only to find out that its original trainer actually abandoned it because he blamed Gengar for giving him bad luck sounds traumatizing to me. It wasn't physical abuse, but emotional abuse and trauma definitely happened too. Chimchar dealt with both physical and emotional abuse from Paul, so they haven't only dealt with physical abuse or trauma before.

On a different note, I'm just about to get to Ash vs. Volkner in the dub and I'm amazed that they actually have pair trainers for their matches in the Hyper Class. Admittedly, I'm not sure why I didn't think that was the case before given how Ash battles against more established trainers going forward in the PWC. I'll give them credit for that improvement, but I'm also baffled as to why that wasn't the case from the start. It might not have fixed all of my problems with the PWC, but getting rid of the random encounters with nobodies, making use of both the world tour gimmick and the huge cast of characters from the franchise's history and providing a bit of buildup for the matches by Ash learning about them ahead of time would have gone a long way to make the PWC feel like a big deal.
I think ash vs Volkner was the last great battle in pwc. Everything has been mediocre or bad thus far. Didn't watch Marnie battle so can't comment on that
 
I think ash vs Volkner was the last great battle in pwc. Everything has been mediocre or bad thus far. Didn't watch Marnie battle so can't comment on that
Given what I've heard about the latter matches, I'm not surprised. Ash vs. Volkner was one of the more hyped matches that I can recall too.
 
They should start having pokemon as villains. The evil malamar thing was genuinely enjoyable. I just wonder what you do with them after beating them. Send them to jail? Also it disprove that stupid quote where "pokemon aren't evil, humans make them do bad things" which always annoyed me when people being it up

I feel it's honestly just first series weird installment. There are many things in the OS that definitely was forgotten in the later ones. Like actual real animals

Pokemon have been shown extremely intelligent. Especially to know right from wrong. Not all of them but most.

Pokemon, like the companion, have been shown to have a moral compass. I can't see Pikachu or poplio attacking a child even if there trainers commanded them too. There their own characters.
 
Pokemon, like the companion, have been shown to have a moral compass. I can't see Pikachu or poplio attacking a child even if there trainers commanded them too. There their own characters.
If I recall correctly we had Arbok and Weezing refusing to attack a doctor who healed them back in Kanto and I thought there was an episode later on where Wobbufett or Meowth got TR's others to stand down, but the memory is vague.
On the flip side Sceptile used a referee as a human shield when he thought Ash told him to...which probably says a lot about Sceptile, really.

That sort of thing can definitely be interesting to explore.
 
If I recall correctly we had Arbok and Weezing refusing to attack a doctor who healed them back in Kanto and I thought there was an episode later on where Wobbufett or Meowth got TR's others to stand down, but the memory is vague.
On the flip side Sceptile used a referee as a human shield when he thought Ash told him to...which probably says a lot about Sceptile, really.

That sort of thing can definitely be interesting to explore.
Well, TR’s pokemon have reason to believe their trainers are up to no good, Sceptile probably thought “Ash” a plan of sorts… hopefully.
 
If I recall correctly we had Arbok and Weezing refusing to attack a doctor who healed them back in Kanto and I thought there was an episode later on where Wobbufett or Meowth got TR's others to stand down, but the memory is vague.
On the flip side Sceptile used a referee as a human shield when he thought Ash told him to...which probably says a lot about Sceptile, really.

That sort of thing can definitely be interesting to explore.
Lol the sceptile comment genuinely made me laugh. I forgot all about that. Yeah maybe sceptile really does have a dark side lol.

It did show sceptile was uncomfortable with it. I can see pokemon owned by people like Giovanni or hunter j not having an issue with that.

But yeah they should really explore that.
 
If I recall correctly we had Arbok and Weezing refusing to attack a doctor who healed them back in Kanto and I thought there was an episode later on where Wobbufett or Meowth got TR's others to stand down, but the memory is vague.
On the flip side Sceptile used a referee as a human shield when he thought Ash told him to...which probably says a lot about Sceptile, really.

That sort of thing can definitely be interesting to explore.
To be fair to Sceptile, he was pretty shocked by the order and even hesitated before ultimately complying. One also needs to take into account that Arbok and Weezing had been with Jessie and James for years and thus already knew what they were like. By contrast, Ash was being possesed, and Sceptile had no idea that was the case, which would just add confusion on top of everything else.

TL; DR, don't judge Sceptile too harshly. His situation was way different from Arbok's and Weezing's. I mean, I certainly wouldn't use this as an indicator that Sceptile is malicious in any way. Like I said, he had no idea that Ash was possesed, and Sceptile knows that Ash wouldn't hurt a fly, so he probably concluded that it was just a weird strategy, even if it clashed with Ash's usual style. (Though I will say that Sceptile should have caught on that something was really wrong here, so if nothing else, he might not be very bright or at least not very observant)
 
Of course, joking aside I imagine Sceptile basically trusted Ash and assumed it wasn't exactly what it looked like. This wasn't too long after the small arc where he lost his powers and regained them after Ash was in danger, which showed how close they are.

Drawing that comparison, back in Isle of the Giant Pokémon Ekans and Koffing openly called J+J "bad guys". They don't have any illusions about the whole thing.
 
I think it's because moral/ethical issues require a lot of nuance that needs to be very well thought out, especially for a kiddie show like Pokémon, even more when you take into account that the show has never really approached the "grey area" too much. Morality issues were never something the show was thought with in mind, unlike something such as, say... ATLA or etc.

But I'm all for exploring morality with the Pokémon themselves. I mean, you tell me that Pokémon are essentially as sapient as humans are and (nearly) every single one of them is always gonna be good? That there's basically no Pokémon that is objectively bad? Or even morally grey?

Because like, animal irl can't be fully distinguished as "good" or "evil" because they don't have enough sapience to understand human concepts of morality and ethics, but Pokémon are. And they say that ever since day one, with even some being canonically smarter than humans.

Bottom line is: I get why it might be difficult to do that, but I think it's a lot of new ground the writers could explore if they wanted to.
 
I think it's because moral/ethical issues require a lot of nuance that needs to be very well thought out, especially for a kiddie show like Pokémon, even more when you take into account that the show has never really approached the "grey area" too much. Morality issues were never something the show was thought with in mind, unlike something such as, say... ATLA or etc.

But I'm all for exploring morality with the Pokémon themselves. I mean, you tell me that Pokémon are essentially as sapient as humans are and (nearly) every single one of them is always gonna be good? That there's basically no Pokémon that is objectively bad? Or even morally grey?

Because like, animal irl can't be fully distinguished as "good" or "evil" because they don't have enough sapience to understand human concepts of morality and ethics, but Pokémon are. And they say that ever since day one, with even some being canonically smarter than humans.

Bottom line is: I get why it might be difficult to do that, but I think it's a lot of new ground the writers could explore if they wanted to.
It also require the characters to be nuanced as well. I just can't see ash or the companion being effective characters for this kind of plot. They aren't the most complex or barely flawed, and just too nice.
This is why the villains we have aren't really nuance and one note bad guys

You have character like faba who tried to erase lusamine's daughter memory, the reason lusamine is kidnapped, then blamed lusamine for her own kidnapping z and then is invited to a wedding. With everyone basically saying "lol it's alright faba". The heck

You have Meowth who travels with the BW group. Pretends to be their friend. Betrays them and kidnaps their pokemon. And what's ash reaction? "Was fun traveling with you lol". Like tf

You have lysandre stating his goal and motivation ( albeit a stupid one at that" and Alain being the reason everything was going to hell in the whole team flare arc finale. And ash basically states "people and pokemon are friends" or whatever m and everyone around him acting like it's some amazing nuaced speech. And ash having no reaction to Alain betraying him (granted wasn't his fault)

These characters are present with interesting conflicts but react so blankly that it wouldn't work.
 
One thing I think it's worth noting is that despite the whole "no Pokemon is truly evil" deal, the anime still has some noticeable biases when it comes to depicting certain species which actually often mirrors how certain animals are more prone to being villainized than others: stereotypically cute and/or cool Pokemon are almost always depicted in a heroic and sympathetic light, while the more intimidating-looking ones are, although rarely outright villainous, still more likely to be in an antagonistic position, most notably being under the command of rivals. I mean, during DP Paul was the most hostile rival Ash had ever had, and just look at his team: almost every single Pokemon he's seen using is a species that's either large, intimidating, or a combination of both, and the most egregious exceptions (Chimchar, Azumarill, and the Starly trio) were quickly removed.

Heck, sometimes the more stereotypically cute/cool Pokemon are even used to highlight which villains are less villainous, with the Lati@s Movie providing a very blatant example: the main antagonists are two thieves named Annie and Oakley. The former's signature Pokemon is the cute and elegant kittyfox Espeon while the latter's is the scary and mean-looking giant spider Ariados. Guess which girl is the one who second-guesses the duo's actions and even expresses relief when their plan is foiled and which one is the one who goes mad with power.
 
There are no evil Pokémon...
togepi.png
 
One thing I think it's worth noting is that despite the whole "no Pokemon is truly evil" deal, the anime still has some noticeable biases when it comes to depicting certain species which actually often mirrors how certain animals are more prone to being villainized than others: stereotypically cute and/or cool Pokemon are almost always depicted in a heroic and sympathetic light, while the more intimidating-looking ones are, although rarely outright villainous, still more likely to be in an antagonistic position, most notably being under the command of rivals. I mean, during DP Paul was the most hostile rival Ash had ever had, and just look at his team: almost every single Pokemon he's seen using is a species that's either large, intimidating, or a combination of both, and the most egregious exceptions (Chimchar, Azumarill, and the Starly trio) were quickly removed.
I suspect this is partly Ash's long-running underdog factor at play--if he sent out a Garchomp against Paul he'd have a perception of being the stronger of the two (side note: looking back I find it odd Paul didn't have a psuedo back in DP as I recall. It's not like those were locked off or anything since Tyson used one in AG).
Even when he got final form psuedos they're probably the two cutest and least intimidating ones (Goodra and Dragonite) despite possessing equal power to the others in-game.
I wonder how Meowth fits into that, though--he's very, very cute despite the most famous one being a villain, but on the other hand cats are very prone to villainization and he's been softened over time (honestly looking back in early Kanto I felt the TRios interactions suggested that while Jessie and James were old friends Meowth was less close and held himself above them, though later on it often turned into Jessie terrifying Meowth and James instead). I guess another cute Pokémon who was allowed to be pretty close to villainous was Sho's Raichu almost beating Pikachu to death.

Although even ignoring the underdog thing, Beedrill and Ursaring were often portrayed as menaces in the wild.

Though when you look at it I think the writers didn't feel too attached to "no evil Pokémon" concept overall, considering things like the giant Claydol in AG or the villainous Malamar in XY.
 
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I wonder how Meowth fits into that, though--he's very, very cute despite the most famous one being a villain, but on the other hand cats are very prone to villainization
This, and the hero's signature Pokemon is a mouse. It just makes perfect sense for one of the main villains to be one of Pikachu's natural predators. Though granted, this is also something that stems from real-life animal stereotypes, namely the "(cute) prey animals good, predator animals evil" stereotype, and indeed, the cat/mouse dichotomy is probably the most recurring example of that archetype.

Raichu, meanwhile, is probably more along the lines of David and Goliath than a true subversion of "cute critter equals good", since it is Pikachu's evolved form and all, and if you put a pre-evolution next to its evolution, of course the latter does seem more menacing if only by comparison.

Lastly, I will be somewhat fair on the writers in that the cuter-looking species can sometimes be harder to pass off as powerful threats. One example being Harley's Wigglytuff: you can tell that the writers wanted the viewing audience to fear that thing to the point that they drew it with a permanent evil glare on it's face, but if you asked me, that backfired horribly and mostly just comes off as downright comical. Like, no writers, no amount of you trying to make this soft, pink marshmallow look scary is gonna hide the fact that it's a soft, pink marshmallow XD

Honestly, I think there it would've been better if they hadn't gone out of their way to make Harley's Wigglytuff look evil and simply relied on showing its battling skills. If you ask me, having a seemingly-innocuous Pokemon turn out to be a tough opponent is a far more effective way to establish it as a threat than to try to visually paint it as tough from the start. This is an aspect where "show, don't tell" can really shine in a narrative.
 
This, and the heroe's signature Pokemon is a mouse. It just makes perfect sense for one of the main villains to be one of Pikachu's natural predators. Though granted, this is also something that stems from real-life animal stereotypes, namely the "(cute) prey animals good, predator animals evil" stereotype, and indeed, the cat/mouse dichotomy is probably the most recurring example of that archetype.
Although I do appreciate that the show plays with the cat/mouse rivalry in a few ways; the mouse is the by far the physically superior one, the cat isn't looking for a snack but to capture the mouse to ultimately make them work with them, and the two are oddly amicable at times.

Lastly, I will be somewhat fair on the writers in that the cuter-looking species can sometimes be harder to pass off as powerful threats. One example being Harley's Wigglytuff: you can tell that the writers wanted the viewing audience to fear that thing to the point that they drew it with a permanent evil glare on it's face, but if you asked me, that backfired horribly and mostly just comes off as downright comical. Like, no writers, no amount of you trying to make this soft, pink marshmallow look scary is gonna hide the fact that it's a soft, pink marshmallow XD
I actually recall reading once that the artist for the Electric Tale manga had apparently mentioned that he had trouble with the Drake battle for this reason--he wanted Dragonite to look cute but still come across as powerful.
Of course Dragonite has the advantage of sheer size to get across menace in a way something like Wigglytuff doesn't, and the nature of contest battles meant Harley wasn't allowed to just have it buzz through May's team before going down.
 
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