Iris or May....or both? Place your bets.

[Life]

What we fans perceive to be a "good reason" for a character to return doesn't make it likely for the writers to think the same way. They obviously have been hesitant about bringing older companions back, since we've only seen them come back in the generation following their departure.

Well, I can't really argue with this, now can I? My logic is obviously not the same as the writers', nor is theirs the same as mine. I just think it would be dumb not to use the opportunity. Simply my opinion, I suppose.

 

[elveonora]

The writers seem allergic to bringing back old characters that the target audience may not know about, so I don't see how May has better odds than Iris does just because of the games. They brought Dawn back for the World Tournament arc even though Misty or Rosa would have been the far more logical choice.

It doesn't help that May's main Pokémon, Blaziken, has already appeared under the ownership of two notable XY characters.

Well, May appeared in Ash's thoughts during the last episode of Best Wishes I believe, along with the rest of old cast. Not to mention as mentioned his Charizard returned for a while, along with a flashback. So if May comes back, they may use a short flashback to explain that she was Ash's traveling companion in Hoenn.

 

[Silktree]

Well, May appeared in Ash's thoughts during the last episode of Best Wishes I believe, along with the rest of old cast. Not to mention as mentioned his Charizard returned for a while, along with a flashback. So if May comes back, they may use a short flashback to explain that she was Ash's traveling companion in Hoenn.

A short flashback wouldn't cut it. I would imagine that they would spend at least half an episode explaining May's history, or her significance would feel hollow. The thing is that I wouldn't take it for granted that the writers would be eager to do that.

 

[elveonora]

I will have been disappointed when she hadn't appeared.

 

[Sweet Veil]

It wouldn't make much sense to air a special for Iris and then bring her back to the main cast for a few episodes.

I don't really understand how that's plausible, Dawn's special aired around the 20's in BW just the same as Iris's has now in XY. If anything they wanted to air the girls' specials back-to-back because they're both leading female characters of their respective series. Brock and Dawn's specials aired back-to-back after all and given the advertisement of both specials in the magazine I wouldn't be surprised if the marketing was what they were aiming for in airing the two girls' specials together.

But like I said, I'd rather this didn't sprout into a typical Iris-sucks-argument, and I'm not just saying this as a fan of hers.

Yeah, it's somewhat disheartening and tiring to me things haven't really cooled down much since my dormancy. I certainly thoughts things would be back to their old glory somewhat in-terms of there not being so much toxicity.

Anyway, the topic, I think Iris will appear if they continue to follow the trend they started. I don't think May's chances of appearing are much honestly, she does play a role in ORAS as the leading lady but I don't think that really gives her a huge chance of reappearing. She's my fave PokeGirl, posting completely objectively and free of bias, but she has been irrelevant for going on a decade iirc. They could always give her a small on TV cameo similar to Marina's in DP or they could simply use Brendan if they wanted and treat him as his own character. Sort of like what they did with Ethan and Jimmy, I could see them doing something similar with May or possibly Brendan. Overall I think that's a more likely scenario, I just don't see her appearing again.

The writers seem allergic to bringing back old characters that the target audience may not know about, so I don't see how May has better odds than Iris does just because of the games. They brought Dawn back for the World Tournament arc even though Misty or Rosa would have been the far more logical choice.

It doesn't help that May's main Pokémon, Blaziken, has already appeared under the ownership of two notable XY characters.

Yeah, you pretty much hit the nail right on the head Silktree. Old characters are pretty irrelevant in opinion in-terms of having agency to the current show. Really, they could have utilized Rosa or Nate for the WTJC if advertising was their main aim but that didn't happen. They could have even used others like Benga or Hugh, abut their characters would probably be warped. Though advertising of Pokemon is important, I do fully expect Clemont's father to have an inevitable time of focus regarding his identity of Blaziken Mask and focus on Blaziken somewhat in-similar to how Lucario and Korrina got focus, only toned down. They've already demonstrated they're perfectly okay with showing previously owned main Pokemon under the control of others, Meyer does have a Blaziken and so does Gurkinn and really I expect more Mega Blaziken out of Meyer in the near future closer to the Clemont battle.

I could see, Aarune, the Secret Base Expert. Appearing in the anime to showcase and possibly teach Ash and Co. about Super Secret Bases along with showcasing Mega Flygon, since he's known for his Flygon I expect it to receive a Mega Evolution with time.

 

[Hidden Mew]

But like I said, I'd rather this didn't sprout into a typical Iris-sucks-argument, and I'm not just saying this as a fan of hers.

I'd also like to emphasize to not turn this thread into an Iris bashing thread. We've already seen one thread be locked due that kind of discussion. If this thread goes off-topic with Iris bashing, it will be locked.

I don't really understand how that's plausible, Dawn's special aired around the 20's in BW just the same as Iris's has now in XY. If anything they wanted to air the girls' specials back-to-back because they're both leading female characters of their respective series. Brock and Dawn's specials aired back-to-back after all and given the advertisement of both specials in the magazine I wouldn't be surprised if the marketing was what they were aiming for in airing the two girls' specials together.

My reasoning has more to do with a special airing this year rather than the marketing behind it. If Iris was going to make an appearance this year, I don't think that they would have aired a special for her primarily because it wouldn't feel like a big return if fans saw her again in her own special a few months earlier. Dawn's special aired around twenty episodes in BW, but she didn't appear in the series proper until over a year later. I imagine that it will be the same case with Iris, so if she does reappear, it probably won't be until next year.

 

[evi]

I rather see Iris make a comeback to the XY series then boring lame old May. Iris has a right to make a return for a visit to see Ash, May doesn't need to come back because she's old news now and she had her time on the show.

 

[Sweet Veil]

I rather see Iris make a comeback to the XY series then boring lame old May.

You know? It is possible compliment a PokeGirl without dissing the other in the process, I know that's something that has gotten lost in translation on this site but really. What is the point in unneeded virulence? I personally wouldn't mind May making a return, I just don't earnestly see it happening. She wouldn't have a strong motive to appear in Kalos out of the blue but I wouldn't be against the idea.

 

[evi]

I rather see Iris make a comeback to the XY series then boring lame old May.

You know? It is possible compliment a PokeGirl without dissing the other in the process, I know that's something that has gotten lost in translation on this site but really. What is the point in unneeded virulence? I personally wouldn't mind May making a return, I just don't earnestly see it happening. She wouldn't have a strong motive to appear in Kalos out of the blue but I wouldn't be against the idea.

To be honest May have no reason to even be coming back, the only PokeGirl that makes sense for a return to the XY series is Iris.

 

[elveonora]

And that's you know, just like your opinion or something. What business does Iris have with Ash? It was her own decision to leave.

 

[Sweet Veil]

What business does Iris have with Ash? It was her own decision to leave.

They're friends...? 0_o Dawn and May, despite their appearances being to come visit Unova and Sinnoh for respective personal reasons centralized around their goals still made it their mission to meet up with Ash and meet his friends that Ash had talked about to them. Ash told Iris and Cilan about Dawn and did tell Dawn and May, iirc May and Max knew about Misty, I wouldn't be surprised if he had told the Kalos trio about Cilan and Iris.

 

[Silktree]

They're friends...? 0_o Dawn and May, despite their appearances being to come visit Unova and Sinnoh for respective personal reasons centralized around their goals still made it their mission to meet up with Ash and meet his friends that Ash had talked about to them.

I think that the point being made is that Iris doesn't have a better "motive" to go to Kalos than May or any other past companion does. Any one of them could be a given random event to attend that would justify their return. This factor is irrelevant to the writers.

 

[evi]

And that's you know, just like your opinion or something. What business does Iris have with Ash? It was her own decision to leave.

May also left on her own so what's your point. Besides the fact Iris is friends with Ash and she have a right to make a return to visit to Kalos, May on the other hand has no reason to even go to the Kalos region.

 

[elveonora]

If Iris' only reason for return is "friendship" then May has equal chances. Also Iris is supposed to inherit the dragon gym, meaning if she already has off-screen, she is unlikely to return due to being busy. May on another hand, travels the world for contests.

 

[Shinneth]

Beyond my own personal feelings on who should be coming back, I still feel that May's a more logical choice - especially for representing ORAS promotion. Barring a new off-screen capture (which seems unnecessary since a new capture happened in her special already), Iris has zero Gen III Pokemon in her repertoire and thus far none of her Pokemon have Mega forms that can be shown off, either. I SUPPOSE it's possible that could change if more Mega forms are revealed before the games come out, but gamewise the likes of Dragonite and Excadrill are pretty broken in their own right and are among the last Pokemon that even need Mega forms. I was going to include Haxorus in that list too, buuuuut let's not kid ourselves, I'd be amazed if Iris came in with even a Fraxure, so that's a moot point.

Mega Blaziken would be redundant, but May ALSO has a Venusaur that can be used to show off its Mega form. It's also possible her Wartortle became Blastoise since it last appeared in DP which would also give an opportunity to show off Mega Blastoise - though admittedly not much needed since we already had Mega Blastoise featured in that one Mega Evolution special. And since it's been a long time since we've seen May, she could easily have other new Pokemon that can serve this purpose - especially if it's one of the new, ORAS-introduced kinds. Not that I can picture May with Metagross or Sableye, but again, I'm assuming there could be more out there that just haven't been shown off yet.

I'd also like to point out that (even though this treads on personal feelings territory, there's some truth in this) Dawn's cameo in Best Wishes happened for no reason whatsoever other than to keep up the self-imposed tradition of the female cameos; she had no reason at all to be in Unova. The Elesa fascination was really just an excuse to put Dawn in the region, considering I don't recall the subject EVER coming up again after Dawn's initial return episode, and with not a single thing in Unova relevant to Dawn's goals existing, that made Dawn's entire cameo a huge-ass waste of time. She gained absolutely nothing by coming to Unova and seemed to only exist to give Iris a galpal (that I still think was really forced and artificial) who ultimately made no impact whatsoever on Iris' story. So Dawn's entire cameo was a waste of time and horribly executed to boot. Compare that to May's DP cameo, where we saw progress in May's story after she left the main story AND her presence ultimately made a huge change in Dawn's story. Misty's cameos in AG weren't as meaningful, but part of that is due to the fact that she had extra development in the Chronicles episodes that aired concurrently with AG - plus, she had some notable and meaningful bonding with Max over sibling issues. Misty also lives in Kanto, so uh, it wasn't unreasonable at all for her to make extra cameos there (the cameo in Hoenn is only justified to me in that it freed her from Togetic ).

So with all that reviewed, what reason does Iris have to go to Kalos besides be as ineffectual as Dawn was during her cameo? Gen VI as a whole can be pretty much summarized as a "Take THAT!" to Dragon-types by introducing the Fairy-types. Admittedly that's like the only REAL reason I might see Iris coming to Kalos for, but more likely than not that means we'd just be seeing her Pokemon get their asses kicked by fairies. While that'd be cathartic for me to see, the show didn't often feature Iris failing and there'd be no real point in doing so for Iris' possible last appearance in the show. I think we've already gotten the message that Iris still has some ways to go in her goal from her special. The cameos are supposed to serve the benefit of the current cast, too, so one has to ask what purpose could Iris possibly serve to aid Serena's cause. Because I can't think of any.

In regards to helping Serena specifically, I believe it makes the most sense for May to cameo over anyone else, because May is the only other main character who's had Serena's dilemma before. So really, Contests don't even need to be a thing in Kalos for May to have a meaningful cameo role in XY. It also helps that May actually has stuff in common with Serena - such as the emphasis of looking your best and whatnot and other aesthetics, not to mention they both have talents in making special foods. They also both harbor not-so-subtle crushes on guys. My point is, I think May would be by far the best girl to cameo in XY, both in terms of entertainment and furthering the story. Again, Iris and Dawn had nothing in common, seemed to only be friends because they're both female and the writers said so, and nothing at all came of their interaction. I can't help but feel Iris would be to Serena as Dawn was to Iris: completely unnecessary in every sense of the word.

I guess it'd be stupid of me to think Iris would NEVER cameo in XY (despite how I'd feel about that), but especially as far as ORAS promotion is considered, May's just infinitely the more logical and most effective choice. XY hasn't done much to disappoint me thus far, so I'm hoping that will also extend to the cameo arc of the series.

PLUS... bonus points if May came to Kalos with Max. I'm hoping the prospect of Bonnie and Max interacting HAS crossed the writers' mind and that it'd be too awesome for them to just pass it up. XD

Hopefully all that made sense! oh geez I'm back into full tl;dr mode again aren't I.

 

[R!ck]

I feel like Iris has a a biggest chance to appear than May but I voted both.

 

[the_may_fan]

Although I voted May, I can see both characters returning. The former to promote OR/AS, and the latter to continue a tradition started in the Advanced Generation Series with Misty's temporary return. As to which is more probable, I can't say, perhaps the latter, but I'd honestly prefer the former for reasons that Shinneth articulated in her post.

 

[Shadow Yoshi]

DP had both May and Lyra, so I don't see why XY won't have Iris and May. Unless they already wrote May's potential time to be on the show (around the ORAS release) planning on KAORI not being there, in which case May wouldn't come back. I suppose they could always change the writing though.

 

[Silktree]

Beyond my own personal feelings on who should be coming back, I still feel that May's a more logical choice - especially for representing ORAS promotion. Barring a new off-screen capture (which seems unnecessary since a new capture happened in her special already), Iris has zero Gen III Pokemon in her repertoire and thus far none of her Pokemon have Mega forms that can be shown off, either. I SUPPOSE it's possible that could change if more Mega forms are revealed before the games come out, but gamewise the likes of Dragonite and Excadrill are pretty broken in their own right and are among the last Pokemon that even need Mega forms. I was going to include Haxorus in that list too, buuuuut let's not kid ourselves, I'd be amazed if Iris came in with even a Fraxure, so that's a moot point.

Iris' return doesn't need to have anything to do with ORAS, which will only be promoted for so long. She could always showcase Mega Garchomp, which has yet to match Mega Blaziken's focus (it lost pretty quickly to Alain's Mega Charizard X). And Dragonite and Excadrill are no more overpowered than Garchomp is, so yes, Game Freak could easily give them Mega Evolutions. They seem to care about popularity more than anything else.

I think we've already gotten the message that Iris still has some ways to go in her goal from her special.

I think that the special did a pretty poor job at explaining Iris' future plans. Just how is she supposed to become a Dragon Master? Iris clearly has more room for development than May does. We should have seen some glimpse of May's Johto adventure, but the time for that has come and gone. Her DP cameo really wasn't spectacular in that regard.

The cameos are supposed to serve the benefit of the current cast, too, so one has to ask what purpose could Iris possibly serve to aid Serena's cause. Because I can't think of any.

If either one of the girls returns after having mastered Mega Evolution, they're probably going to benefit Ash more than anyone else. And frankly, I don't see Mega Evolution as being useful in Contests. Or rather, it seems quite overkill.

XY is probably going to have an episode or two about Contests, and it's very safe to assume that the new customizable Pikachu will be the star. Since that Pikachu is female (judging from the tail), it's unlikely that Ash's Pikachu will represent it. So I see the Pikachu being introduced alongside another character, and I can't see that being May if to be honest. Maybe ORAS will introduce a Coordinator character, which the original games lacked.

 

[Muur]

Both probably will but they could go an alternate route, Brenden to appear.