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Serena's goal : What do you think it is?

Yes, because a Pokedex Completer would be so much less boring than a Pokemon Breeder who never breeds his Pokemon, or a Sommeliar who rarely makes use of his ability and needs to think up one-off passion-based specialities (like fishing) instead, or a Dragon Master who only ends up with two dragon type Pokemon and around 5-6 Dragon Tamer battles, right?

No, it wouldn't be much less boring, it'd be more boring. Do you really think Serena would catch everyone Pokemon she sees?

I don't think it'd mess with the vibe of the show at all - it only does if you think of it in the mechanical way the games are set out. What if she wants to befriend every Pokemon from every region, effectively having the opposite attitude to Gary (who collected Pokemon without considering their feelings). Remember, the Pokemon all go back to her original Professor she registered with. All of Ash's old Pokemon still like him, so I don't she why they couldn't have her doing that with her Pokémon. Maybe she'll challenge herself by using the different types of available Pokeball? Who knows.

I still think a Collector would be a million times more interesting than a Pokemon Fashionista. I'd rather not have generic competitions that are an almost exact copy of a Pokemon Contest again!

Nah, I'm not feeling it. It sounds bland and unrealistic to me. I just don't see Serena doing that, but if you can see it working, that's your prerogative. The writers always give these characters vague goals that never get accomplished anyway, so whatever. I'm not particularly fussed either way over what she ends up doing; I really just hope her personality is fun.
 
A Pokemon Collector? Serena is a Player Character, she does not need to be traveling with Ash doing nothing important 90% of the time like Misty and Iris did, she needs a battle oriented goal/sidequest like May and Dawn had.
 
She maybe wants to compete in any battle oriented tournament she can find. Like a Battle Tournament Buster(okay, that sounds silly).
 
Basing on what is revealed so far it seems how Serena has higher case of becoming supporting character in case of joining Ash and co as travel companion, rather than being co-star like Dawn was. Personally im fine either way. She would still likely be second most important character in group right after Ash making her deuteragonist(regardless of what role she plays).

If anything it matters a lot more to me what kind of personality characters are going to have being one of most crucial ingredients required to make series enjoyable and appeal their dreams bring with themselves. How much spotlight someone is going to receive wasn't and never will be deciding factor for me, because its all about quality and not amount of focus they receive, with characters which receive large amount of screen time often ending developed worse than those who got less.

As far as it goes for now there isn't any side quest in games aside from gyms for Serena to participate in. Which likely wont happen if she were to be travel companion only clashing into way with Ash development imo being prone to become redundant. Not to mention to be honest i would rather have her be her own character with different dreams and storyline instead of Ash extension.

Becoming pokemon collector completing pokedex from start seems like unrealistic goal to pursue and kinda boring. There needs to be purpose behind character journey, objective he is trying to reach and strive toward making it seem like all hard work, training and struggles he/she went through leads toward something making it gained something out of it and go on next step.

And with such goal there doesn't exist much room for growth since it doesn't lead toward anything bigger, more substantial character should be aiming to reach.

Judging by preview and what Serena said mentioning "pokemon Morana" i do wander if this will be in any way linked to her dream. But at same time i hope its not something associated with fashion and dressing up being rather unappealing to me. I much rather prefer when female protagonists have battle focused goals like Misty, Iris, even May using more trainer style in her contests making character quest more intense, exciting and meaningful to follow. At least to me.

Ideal thing would be to have Seena play recurring role bumping into Ash and co from time to time showing her entering some gyms becoming his rival pursuing same quest he does of winning league. But that obviously wont happen unfortunately never getting competent female adversary which could pose actual threat.

A Pokemon Collector? Serena is a Player Character, she does not need to be traveling with Ash doing nothing important 90% of the time like Misty and Iris did, she needs a battle oriented goal/sidequest like May and Dawn had.

Just because they didn't entered competitions on daily basis doesn't mean they weren't important seeing them battle, use pokemon, contribute to resolution of plot in episodes, bring humor and good interactions in cast along with getting focus and growth.
Maybe some things weren't treated well, but tbh May and Dawn growth arc wasn't flawless either.

Granted i wouldn't mind Serena becoming co-star like Dawn was, but if she ends up being sidekick ill still be fine with such role not being something to be ashamed of. Sidekicks can often be very vital to main storyline, in some cases even more than protagonist itself.
 
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A Pokemon Collector? Serena is a Player Character, she does not need to be traveling with Ash doing nothing important 90% of the time like Misty and Iris did, she needs a battle oriented goal/sidequest like May and Dawn had.

Last time I checked Ash and Co. were encountering new Pokemon every episode. You know, unlike merely water-types of dragon-types.

I'm honestly not sure why you folk are so against the idea. Pokemon collection, heck Pokedex completion, has never been explored by the anime. That concept was gone by the time Ash realised Gary had way more Pokemon than he did, and he'd never catch up, and thus a core part of the games was then never referred to ever again. The purpose of the Pokedex is almost completely lost in the anime, bar for scanning the same Pokemon a zillion times or being used as an ID twice in a season (registering in the region, then registering for the League).

A sidekick or co-star with tons of Pokemon opens said character up to a lot more potential than any prior female character. Being non-battle oriented means she also doesn't need to either be vastly underpowered (I'll keep training and finally win the last competition on a technicality) or overpowered (oh look, none of my rivals can even touch me) in order to keep being relevant - it could even tie in with Super Training.

pokemon fan 132 said:
Becoming pokemon collector completing pokedex from start seems like unrealistic goal to pursue and kinda boring. There needs to be purpose behind character journey, objective he is trying to reach and strive toward making it seem like all hard work, training and struggles he/she went through leads toward something making it gained something out of it and go on next step.

And with such goal there doesn't exist much room for growth since it doesn't lead toward anything bigger, more substantial character should be aiming to reach.

We don't know there isn't a goal with Pokedex completing or Pokemon collecting. We don't know because it hasn't ever been explored. The capture mechanics in the Pokemon world, outside of 'weaken it before you capture it', 'throw the ball in its direction', and the Johto-specific balls, have not once ever been focused on, or expanded upon. Heck, other than a handful of speciality balls, we haven't even seen the full set of standard Pokeballs (Pokeball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball).

Heck, why are we even complaining about a lack of character growth? Cilan/Dent was already the best, he had nowhere to grow but I didn't see anyone complaining about that. And unrealistic - Ash wants to become the Pokemon Master. Have we seen a Master class trainer? Not yet. Have they been referred to outside of Ash's own assertions of wanting to become one? Not yet. Is it even a thing? It might not be. Completing the Pokedex is unrealistic? Please - it's more realistic than becoming a Pokemon Master.

A goal with an end for at least each region's Pokedex is more 'realistic' within the Pokemon universe than one might think. It's even achievable in the games.
 
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We don't know there isn't a goal with Pokedex completing or Pokemon collecting. We don't know because it hasn't ever been explored. The capture mechanics in the Pokemon world, outside of 'weaken it before you capture it', 'throw the ball in its direction', and the Johto-specific balls, have not once ever been focused on, or expanded upon. Heck, other than a handful of speciality balls, we haven't even seen the full set of standard Pokeballs (Pokeball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball).

Heck, why are we even complaining about a lack of character growth? Cilan/Dent was already the best, he had nowhere to grow but I didn't see anyone complaining about that. And unrealistic - Ash wants to become the Pokemon Master. Have we seen a Master class trainer? Not yet. Have they been referred to outside of Ash's own assertions of wanting to become one? Not yet. Is it even a thing? It might not be. Completing the Pokedex is unrealistic? Please - it's more realistic than becoming a Pokemon Master.

A goal with an end for at least each region's Pokedex is more 'realistic' within the Pokemon universe than one might think. It's even achievable in the games.

I agree how character doesn't necessarily need to develop to be enjoyable and bring something valuable for anime. But there is difference between male and female companions. With Cilan its kinda understandable why he didn't developed with males not being intended in general to go through some big changes serving mainly purpose of bringing humor and appeal through their quirks and interests into cast, while taking care of group and help push either character or story sometime forward through their interventions.

But with females most people expect to see them learn and gain something from their travels, to go through some changes because of trial and temptations they were faced through journey making it seem like they became stronger, better characters eventually coming closer toward accomplishing their aim and being acknowledged for their efforts. Something each girl experienced to some degree so far be it through emotional(on pšersonality ground) or career growth giving note of realism and depth into them.

And i would like to see same thing happening weith Serena, but main strife i have with goal of collecting all pokemon completing pokedex is in its entire premise. Even if she manage to catch every pokemon where this would lead her in end? What would she gain out of it other than personal satisfaction and how this could contribute to her overall character development. Not saying how its not feasible option, but since there wouldn't be build up on it, some higher cause she would be striving to achieve im not sure to what this captures would amount to.

Nonetheless while in theory is doable that Serena eventually catch every existing pokemon, practice is different story requiring to catch 650+pokemon(if it involves all kind of forms), every legendary, fossil and rare pokemon living out there which is basically unavailing job. At least with Ash pokemaster quest its known how one of steps required to become this lies in winning league and beating E4 along with champion as its been confirmed.

Like you said we couldn't know if all this mess to go through of completing pokedex could be part of some bigger goal paying of in end, but as of now and given info we are working with im basing judgment on what is known so far.

Noew dont get me wrong. Perhaps if it would be elaborated more upon with some substance being injected into it my current view might change and i can see from where your coming, but for now im skeptic about whole thing.
 
She's gonna become a model and then get ash's hand in marriage. Sports players (face it pokemon battling is like NFL in the pokeverse) and model marriages are very common.
 
Maybe serena will play pokemon super training, in wich her pokemons battle others throwing soccer balls at them.
 
She might be a Rhyhorn racer or maybe that could be part of her goal.

Since she is training to be a Rhyhorn racer, maybe there are many competitions throughout Kalos and she tries to win a certain amount to enter a championship race or something. Like a race version of contests.
 
I watched the XY livestream and Sycamore mentioned the PC's father being a famous Rhyhorn racer or something. Not exactly sure, but the term Rhyhorn racer was definitely brought up, so seems like Serena's goal does stem from the game.
 
I'm perfectly okay with the racer choice, something unusual for a change. But the term "Rhyhorn racer" sounds a little wierd to me, it seems like only Rhyhorns specifically are able to participate, something odd considering we already had races involving multiple Pokémon before.
 
She might be a Rhyhorn racer or maybe that could be part of her goal.

Since she is training to be a Rhyhorn racer, maybe there are many competitions throughout Kalos and she tries to win a certain amount to enter a championship race or something. Like a race version of contests.
That would be awesome. But not only with Ryhorn. Other pokemon too. Like Skkido, Gogoat, Onix and so on.
 
She might be a Rhyhorn racer or maybe that could be part of her goal.

Since she is training to be a Rhyhorn racer, maybe there are many competitions throughout Kalos and she tries to win a certain amount to enter a championship race or something. Like a race version of contests.
That would be awesome. But not only with Ryhorn. Other pokemon too. Like Skkido, Gogoat, Onix and so on.

Agreed, I hope they don't limit her team though.

Maybe they could battle each other while racing or something.
 
I watched the XY livestream and Sycamore mentioned the PC's father being a famous Rhyhorn racer or something. Not exactly sure, but the term Rhyhorn racer was definitely brought up, so seems like Serena's goal does stem from the game.

i'm also trying to figure out the significance of it, due to sycamore making reference to it, maybe it's some side game thing like contests in the game were.
 
Judging by the new features of the game she's probably going to be a professional bench-sitter or a diagonal-walker.

But seriously, I don't know why, but I have a feeling she might join Ash just because she likes him in some sort of childish romantic way (I don't like this idea, though) and she later finds her own goal or something like that, however, I would love if she was just a regular trainer and maybe tries to compete with Ash on the Gym quest (especially if handled well by the writers), but it seems highly unlikely...
 
Some possible directions:

* Pokemon Fashionista
* Serial kiler
* Fairy Type Pokemon Master
* Being cutest trainer
* Stalker with multiple crushes
* Breeder (if you know what I mean)
 
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