Pokémon Horizons General Discussion/Speculation Thread

[Sakuraa]

Probably because he won't appear in the first two episodes.

I'd be shocked if one of the main characters didn't appear at all in the first two episodes.

 

[PokeMasterLA]

I wonder if Molly “The Healing Specialist” will be replacing Nurse Joy in this series. I always figured that we would still see Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny in this series since they’re characters that are not necessarily connected to Ash. But I’m starting to have my doubts now.

 

[DuskAstral]

I'd be shocked if one of the main characters didn't appear at all in the first two episodes.

And I do not.
Roy has not appeared in any trailer so far.
If all those moving scenes are from the first two episodes, then Roy won't be there.

 

[Eclipsical]

I'm guessing Captain Pikachu knows Volt Tackle based on their team name.

I think giving Cpt. Pikachu a different move-set from Ash's Pikachu would be a good way to set them apart. I could see Cpt. Pikachu being more of a close-combat brawler if he is more actively big and tough in personality. Giving him Thunder Punch or Brick Break would be interesting, though I doubt they won't give him Thunderbolt.

 

[Sakuraa]

And I do not.
Roy has not appeared in any trailer so far.
If all those moving scenes are from the first two episodes, then Roy won't be there.

Even if those clips are from the first two episodes, we've only seen a few seconds of random scenes and we know there's going to be an hour long special to start things. Roy could still appear in one of the first two episodes.

 

[Poke Trey]

Could also see Captain Pikachu having Rising Voltage, not just Volt Tackle. Also, yeah weird we've not seen any Roy or Friede footage either.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

I'd be shocked if one of the main characters didn't appear at all in the first two episodes.

I'm not saying that he can't appear, but he probably won't, and even if he appear it would be a little scene teasing his involvement. Also, even though they're both called the protagonist, Riko is still the primary character out of two as shown in posters.

 

[Sakuraa]

I'm not saying that he can't appear, but he probably won't, and even if he appear it would be a little scene teasing his involvement. Also, even though they're both called the protagonist, Riko is still the primary character out of two as shown in posters.

Again, I personally see no reason for why he wouldn't appear, but I guess we'll have to just wait and see.

 

[Eitarou]

I wonder if Molly “The Healing Specialist” will be replacing Nurse Joy in this series. I always figured that we would still see Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny in this series since they’re characters that are not necessarily connected to Ash. But I’m starting to have my doubts now.

I think you're forgetting "Joy" is a surname. She could very well be a Joy.

 

[Poke Trey]

I think you're forgetting "Joy" is a surname. She could very well be a Joy.

Molly Joy. Could be a full name for her. What about Murdoch, Orio, Landon or heck even Friede?

 

[Kallyle]

It does rather seem like they're moved away from following the games plots and closer to what game adaptations like Monster Rancher or Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai did.

It's both exciting and worrisome, especially since it seems like they're gunning for a new continuity (unless Molloy is still a Joy; they are a familiy after all). If they wanted to move away from the games, then why do the games have to be rushed out? Furthermore, wouldn't this independence give less justification for the three year cycle for different generations in general and the "new protagonist per series speculation" going on right now? Even the budget cuts the Anime faced seemed odd when TPC could very well afford celerity pop stars like Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran. Do they not pitch in to give OLM some of the money budget-wise?

It feels like a lot of the decisions TPC made with these different aspects of the franchise, especially in terms of splitting it between the promotional material, the Anime, the Game, and TCG (both budget-wise and game-wise), are out of sync, like there's no communication beyond "Game Freak, make a brand new set of VGC titles so our other media projects get new toys to play with!" and there's little to no cross-promotion beyond Pokémon GO. The franchise seems to be pulling in too many directions right now. XD

 

[Eclipsical]

I wonder if we'll be getting new recurring villains in this series in the same vein as Team Rocket were. I just wonder how they could separate them character-wise from the trio so they don't feel like repeats. What if they introduce an anime-exclusive evil team?

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Furthermore, wouldn't this independence give less justification for the three year cycle for different generations in general and the "new protagonist per series speculation" going on right now?

We don't know whether it'll be three year seeies or not. For all we know this could be a 52 weeks anime, or something last longer than three years.

 

[Konja7]

If they wanted to move away from the games, then why do the games have to be rushed out?

The games aren't rushed due to the anime.

The games being rushed is more likely due to Pokemon Company wanted to profit with the games.

We don't know whether it'll be three year seeies or not. For all we know this could be a 52 weeks anime, or something last longer than three years.

This is true. We don't know how much this series will last.

It's always possible the adventure of Liko and Roy would last around a year. And, after that, they are replaced for new protagonists with Unnova starters or something like that.

That said, I doubt this season will last more than three years, since the protagonists are clearly associated with Paldea starters. So, there will likely be new protagonists with the new Gen starters.

 

[Fairy Type Arceus]

It's both exciting and worrisome, especially since it seems like they're gunning for a new continuity (unless Molloy is still a Joy; they are a familiy after all). If they wanted to move away from the games, then why do the games have to be rushed out? Furthermore, wouldn't this independence give less justification for the three year cycle for different generations in general and the "new protagonist per series speculation" going on right now? Even the budget cuts the Anime faced seemed odd when TPC could very well afford celerity pop stars like Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran. Do they not pitch in to give OLM some of the money budget-wise?

It feels like a lot of the decisions TPC made with these different aspects of the franchise, especially in terms of splitting it between the promotional material, the Anime, the Game, and TCG (both budget-wise and game-wise), are out of sync, like there's no communication beyond "Game Freak, make a brand new set of VGC titles so our other media projects get new toys to play with!" and there's little to no cross-promotion beyond Pokémon GO. The franchise seems to be pulling in too many directions right now. XD

The idea that the games need to come out every 3 years needs to die. Outside of VGC getting a little stale there's no reason for it. The anime can do its own thing when there's a lack of content. Orange islands and the battle frontier are proof. Gen 8's and now gen 9's anime only seem to loosely tie in some of the main plot from the new game titles. Hisui could have bought the anime a whole year on its own Scarlet and Violet could have been given another year in the oven while the anime and TCG focused on that game. instead it's almost entirely unused. Sword and Shields plot got shoved into 4 episodes, and the crown tundra and isle of armor didn't get much (or anything at all in IoA's case). How many gen 8 pokemon didn't even get so much as a cameo in JN?

 

[JollyYoshi]

And I do not.
Roy has not appeared in any trailer so far.
If all those moving scenes are from the first two episodes, then Roy won't be there.

I can see your point but in recent years, the protags have appeared from the first episode even if they didn't meet with the MC. They might need the first and second episode to flesh out Liko. In the original series, we were about an hour and twenty minutes in until we met Brock. Though, that series was made by a different writer so really, anything could happen.

 

[Hidden Mew]

The idea that the games need to come out every 3 years needs to die. Outside of VGC getting a little stale there's no reason for it. The anime can do its own thing when there's a lack of content. Orange islands and the battle frontier are proof. Gen 8's and now gen 9's anime only seem to loosely tie in some of the main plot from the new game titles. Hisui could have bought the anime a whole year on its own Scarlet and Violet could have been given another year in the oven while the anime and TCG focused on that game. instead it's almost entirely unused. Sword and Shields plot got shoved into 4 episodes, and the crown tundra and isle of armor didn't get much (or anything at all in IoA's case). How many gen 8 pokemon didn't even get so much as a cameo in JN?

As much as I would have loved for the anime to actually do something more with Legends Arceus, I don't think that they could have spent a year in Hisui. There would have been plenty of content for them to adapt and it would have been cool to see the characters in the ancient past for awhile, but that effectively would have meant putting a hold on both the PWC and Project Mew for a year. Putting aside how I feel about both plot points for the moment, I don't think that they would have been willing to do that, especially when Project Mew already started fairly late in the series' run. Given how the fast pace was easily one of the biggest problems in Journeys, I couldn't really picture them doing more than just another brief arc set in Hisui either.

I think that the main reason we have the three year structure for generations come down to the merchandise. They want to push new toys, cards, etc, and they need new games with new Pokemon for that. While I do really enjoy Scarlet/Violet, I also want video game developers to breathe and not deal with crunch time, so I hope that they'll have generations lasting longer going forward, or at the very least make some changes to help with the developers so that they aren't under so much crutch time. I don't recall the exact number of Galar Pokemon that didn't get an appearance in Journeys, but they skipped out on showing quite a lot of Pokemon and characters from the games.

 

[Kurolegacy]

With them revealing that they’re gonna be traveling by an airship, it alleviates the one issue of them yo-yoing back to the home base at the end of each episode thus making the world feel smaller by turning everything into a day trip. While I will admit that I’m going to miss traditional traveling, that their home base is an airship does seem it will still give this series an adventure feel compared to Journeys. I’m just hoping that with them traveling by ship that we can actually spend some time in each region they land in since returning home wouldn’t involve them having to actually leave the region this time. So we could get some time in a given location before they set off again for another.

 

[Kallyle]

I think that the main reason we have the three year structure for generations come down to the merchandise. They want to push new toys, cards, etc, and they need new games with new Pokemon for that.

I also think this needs to be addressed and possibly questioned as well, as they don't seem to be doing much merchandise on the newer generation Pokémon as they have the more popular older staples. Where are the Palafin and Lokix action figures (since the former seems to be based on superheroes and the latter seems to be an homage to the popular Kamen Rider series)? Those Pokémon are practically designed to be pretty marketable figures, yet I don't really see them pushing those guys all that much. Instead, TPC mostly focuses on already marketable Pokémon like Pikachu, Eevee, Rotom, Lucario, etc. That makes me quesiton just how necessary the three year cycle really is in the grand scheme of things. It really seems to me that the real reason behind the three year cycle is the new gimmicks rather than the creatures themselves, which at this point people are mostly getting tired of.

I'll concede that the TCG is at least a valid reason, though since it normally does its own thing I could see them getting by through their own unique ideas for at least an extra year or two.

With them revealing that they’re gonna be traveling by an airship, it alleviates the one issue of them yo-yoing back to the home base at the end of each episode thus making the world feel smaller by turning everything into a day trip. While I will admit that I’m going to miss traditional traveling, that their home base is an airship does seem it will still give this series an adventure feel compared to Journeys. I’m just hoping that with them traveling by ship that we can actually spend some time in each region they land in since returning home wouldn’t involve them having to actually leave the region this time. So we could get some time in a given location before they set off again for another.

That's what I'm hoping for as well. However, they could just as easily use it as an excuse for how they jump regions so quickly. It's overall a 50/50 chance for whether or not the airship allows the gang to stay in one region for a longer amount of time. At the very least it's a very cool concept.

 

[Poke Trey]

The airship combined with Dai Sato writing this series. Eureka Seven vibes will be all over this thing.