Should Ash use reserves in the Sinnoh League ?

[V Faction]

If worse comes to worse, and Ash starts thinking about using reserves to face Paul, the two Pokemon I could see maybe getting a sit-out would be Gible and Pikachu.

And I say maybe because Gible hasn't had a go at Paul's team yet. But there might be a potential meet-n-greet in the works down the line. And plus, he is still a Sinnoh Pokemon. Gotta' represent and all that.

And I say Pikachu... because I don't like it--

...OR, perhaps that's not it exactly, but Pikachu's seen a lot of action already. Back in Johto, Ash sat Pikachu to face Gary because he had to go in with force. Part of that was good storytelling in my opinion and the other part was to get some other hardly seen Pokemon into that fight. And y'know, Pika's been at all the major tournments. What exactly new is he bringing to the table, when all the other Pokemon are getting new evolutions and new attacks and are being showcased for the first time? He's lost a lot against Paul, so I'm sure there's that burning desire to kick his ass. That, and being Ash's signature Pokemon, is the only glue holding together his spot on the Paul fight right now.

 

[Weedle Mchairybug]

Worst scenario ever Ash not using its Sinnoh team against Paul would totally go against everything the show is about, every ounce of character developpement the writers have done for 4 years... The writers pretty much established rivalries between Ash's and Paul's pokemon off the bat and it's more a question of Ash changing strategies than ash changing pokemon... The number of times that those guys fought and lost against Paul, they deserve a victory... Monferno and Grotle evolving, Buizel learning a new move, Ash getting Gible... All of those things point to Paul facing a much different team that the one he faced last time...

Will it really matter, anyways? Ash already went against everything the show was about when he got Gible and in essence left Gliscor behind. Gliscor also seemed to want to beat Paul, especially seeing how its rival was also its former pack leader. Any chances of him beating its rival pokemon and proving to Paul its self worth under Ash's command went down the drain once Ash left it with that flying master. Even IF he doesn't use reserves, he still is going against everything the show was about. To me, at least, it ultimately won't matter. I still wish that Pikachu at least lost against Torterra, since that still would make a whole lot more sense than, say, losing against Ursaring.

 

[Hellion]

Will it really matter, anyways? Ash already went against everything the show was about when he got Gible and in essence left Gliscor behind. Gliscor also seemed to want to beat Paul, especially seeing how its rival was also its former pack leader. Any chances of him beating its rival pokemon and proving to Paul its self worth under Ash's command went down the drain once Ash left it with that flying master. Even IF he doesn't use reserves, he still is going against everything the show was about. To me, at least, it ultimately won't matter. I still wish that Pikachu at least lost against Torterra, since that still would make a whole lot more sense than, say, losing against Ursaring.

About Gliscor, i'll quote one of my posts from one of the other threads...

It stayed with ash for about a 100 episode and doesn't really have anything to show for it except entertaining a portion of the fans. I'm not a Gliscor hater (didn't like its personnality, but that's besides the point...) but I don't think it left before its prime, I think the writers sent a hugeamount of character developpement its way but never really let the character take off and serve as anything else than comic relief... maybe cause it was never meant to. Every generation, ash gets a crybaby pokemon, an attention whore whose sole purpose is to cry, try to get Ash's attention ( and annoy the hell outta me, Bayleaf, Torkoal and Gliscor I'm looking at you !). Yet those characters help define Ash's progress as a trainer as he helps them mature and blossom into more grownup pokemon (before Ash captured it, Torkoal had problems defeating magnemites, then in the BF, it nearly defeated Registeel) at least until Sinnoh that is... Gligar was this generation's crybaby but even after Ash trained it, evolve it and started using it in battles, he never lost the attention seeking thing it had and never really grew... that's why I don't think it was a mistake for Ash to send it to training with the Air master, because that's exactly what Gliscor needed, to learn to be self-reliant and be a future asset to Ash. I don't as I said above, I don't think it was meant to be a strong battler in the first place... I don't think Glisor was released before its prime, I think it never would have reached it had he not been released...

So this is why I think Ash released it... Ash didn't say I release you cause you're wothless and weak like Paul did when he released Azumarill after it didn't help him at Roark's gym... Ash released Gliscor cause Gliscor wanted it, to become stronger... big difference.

Plus Paul has used his Gliscor only once... Gliscor has stronger rivalries with other members of Paul's team like Paul's Torterra... I think Ash will only use his Sinnoh pokemon against Paul, whether the sixth slot on his roster is gonna be held by Gliscor or Gible doesn't matter...

 

[hhhhdmt]

Well Bayleef was nowhere near as needy after it evolved, plus it is a very good battler. Never liked Torkoal though

 

[cassius335]

Worst scenario ever Ash not using its Sinnoh team against Paul would totally go against everything the show is about, every ounce of character developpement the writers have done for 4 years... The writers pretty much established rivalries between Ash's and Paul's pokemon off the bat and it's more a question of Ash changing strategies than ash changing pokemon... The number of times that those guys fought and lost against Paul, they deserve a victory...

It's not about character development or who deserves a victory, it's about tactics. If Ash uses his Sinnoh team, the same team Paul's already fought time and again, Paul will tear Ash apart. Again. Ash needs to use Pokemon Paul isn't familiar with, Pokemon that Paul won't have a very pre-prepared strategy for.

Monferno and Grotle evolving, Buizel learning a new move, Ash getting Gible... All of those things point to Paul facing a much different team that the one he faced last time...

One new Pokemon, two evolutions and an Ice Punch ain't that different. Especially as Paul's got Weavile. Y'know, the Ice-type? So he's already got a Pokemon that can beat Gible.

 

[J J M]

I'm not sure I see the point in Ash facing 4 people in the opening if he's not going to battle him, especially since Barry and Paul are his main rivals.

Likewise with Dawn, I don't see the point in having Ursula, Jesselina, Nando, Kenny, and Zoey appearing in her rival section if she's not going to battle them.

Being in the opening just means they're the present rivals in the league/GF. It doesn't mean all of them are eventually going to end up against each other.

It's also realistic if the main character doesn't end up against all of them one after the other. I didn't like the Johto/Hoenn league for having Ash fighting one friend and then another friend in the very next match. Seriously, what are the odds of that?

Anyway on-topic, Ash should just use the Sinnoh Pokes for the Sinnoh league (yes, that includes Gliscor) and leave all the reserves for after that.