• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Preview SM139: Birth! The Alola Champion!!

Status
Not open for further replies.
But we've also seen cases where Pokémon still managed to maintain their agility (or regain it), despite evolving into heavier ones (such as with Ash's Grotle or Tierno's Blastoise).
Funny how you mention Ash’s Grotle since its one of the first and the most significant cases of this adjustment. It literally had to be coached by Torterra to adjust.

Blastoise isn’t a valid case since we don’t see it thrown in a battle just some time after evolution with zero training.

Evolution makes a Pokemon stronger, but with such prominent changes with no training to get accustomed to them makes things wonky.

I guess we'll have to wait for the episode to come out to know whether Melmetal keeps its mobility for sure or not, but, based on the previews, there's nothing concrete that says it doesn't.
Silvally’s battle style is specially aggressive and agile, and it has had much more training than Meltan ever had. It makes sense to me Melmetal wins.

Melmetal vs Zoroark would’ve been a much better initial match up imo. Wouldn’t lead to Melmetal being humiliated and would make some sense.

I’m honestly surprised Melmetal’s the first to faint under Fujisaku’s writing. I was expecting it to overwhelm something like Zoroark.
 
Funny how you mention Ash’s Grotle since its one of the first and the most significant cases of this adjustment. It literally had to be coached by Torterra to adjust.

Blastoise isn’t a valid case since we don’t see it thrown in a battle just some time after evolution with zero training.

Evolution makes a Pokemon stronger, but with such prominent changes with no training to get accustomed to them makes things wonky.

You're right that Grotle needed some time and help in order to adjust to its evolution and change its battle style accordingly. But don't forget that all that was unceremoniously abandoned once it learned Rock Climb, which helped it regain its lost agility (at least partially) and helped it return to a similar battle style to the one it used before. And you're right that we didn't see Tierno's Blastoise's evolution and how it affected it, so we don't know if it had to adapt to its changes or not. But these two are still example of Pokémon maintaining or, at the very least, regaining their mobility, even after evolving into bulkier and heavier versions of themselves, which could happen to Melmetal as well (and they could even pull the series' typical "they trained off-screen" explanation in order to justify why Melmetal kept its agility without being shown to have a need to adjust to its new form, provided that they go this route).

And, yes, evolution does sometimes drastically affect the way a Pokémon works (which it should, depending on the context). But whether or not this idea is explored or even employed in a story depends on the quality of its writing. And considering that this is a two-parter from the Sun & Moon series (a series where most of the main cast's Pokémon learned new moves or improved their battling abilities more often off-screen than on-screen) written by Junichi Fujisaku (whose writing abilities, especially when it comes to battles, are... ahem... below the anime's usual standards), I don't have much faith in regards to its quality.

Silvally’s battle style is specially aggressive and agile, and it has had much more training than Meltan ever had. It makes sense to me Melmetal wins.

Melmetal vs Zoroark would’ve been a much better initial match up imo. Wouldn’t lead to Melmetal being humiliated and would make some sense.

I’m honestly surprised Melmetal’s the first to faint under Fujisaku’s writing. I was expecting it to overwhelm something like Zoroark.

Okay? Not sure how that proves or disprove what I said about us not knowing whether Melmetal still keeps the agility it had as a Meltan, which is apparently very important to its battle style, but okay.

Which, now that I think about it, were speed and mobility that crucial to Meltan's battling style? It's a key component of Ash usual style of battling, yes, but, from the few battles that we've seen from it, Meltan was show to be pretty bulky (which is natural, considering it's a Steel-type), was shown to have a move that increases its bulkiness and has at least two Special long-range moves, so agility doesn't seem to be playing such an important role in its fighting style.
 
But these two are still example of Pokémon maintaining or, at the very least, regaining their mobility, even after evolving into bulkier and heavier versions of themselves, which could happen to Melmetal as well (and they could even pull the series' typical "they trained off-screen" explanation in order to justify why Melmetal kept its agility without being shown to have a need to adjust to its new form, provided that they go this route).
Yeah, but it did take some time, and I'm tired of "they did it off screen" when Rowlet couldn’t even learn a move in that time span.

Silvally beating Melmetal makes perfect sense imo, since Silvally is pretty much Gladion's ace, and Ash couldn’t care less about training Mel(tan/metal). It isn’t really a Fujisaku move to defeat Melmetal, in fact I’m wondering how did he resist the impulse to have Melmetal OHKO Silvally...
 
Summaries and cast list, as provided by Adamant

The fierce battle between Satoshi and Gladio in the finals finally concludes!! A champion will be determined! For the first time in Alolan history! Will Satoshi win his first league?!
We also have extravagant giveaways!

Summary:
Intense battles continue throughout the finals. One Pokémon on each side has been defeated, and a battle between Satoshi's Pikachu and what's revealed to be Gladio's Zoroark begins. Satoshi and Gladio's skills as Trainers can be said to be equal. Which of them will win?! The first ever champion of the Alola Pokémon League will finally be determined!! Will Satoshi win his first ever Pokémon League?!
Also, we have giveaways today as well! Get the extravagant prizes!!

Voice Cast:
Rica Matsumoto: Satoshi
Ikue Ohtani: Pikachu
Daisuke Namikawa: Rotom
Kei Shindo: Lilie
Kaito Ishikawa: Kaki
Reina Ueda: Mao
Hitomi Kikuchi: Suiren
Fumiko Takekuma: Māmane
Keiichi Nakagawa: Professor Kukui
Kenyu Horiuchi: Professor Okido
Megumi Hayashibara: Musashi
Shinichiro Miki: Kojiro
Inuko Inuyama: Nyarth
Yuji Ueda: Sonansu
Mika Kanai: Kiteruguma
Chinami Nishimura: Nyaheat
Ryota Iwasaki: Zoroark
Masami Toyoshima: Hanako
Mitsuaki Madono: Sauboh
Sayaka Kinoshita: Lusamine
Sachi Kokuryu: Burnet
Chika Fujimura: Wicke
Nobuhiko Okamoto: Gladio
 
The fierce battle between Satoshi and Gladio in the finals finally concludes!! A champion will be determined! For the first time in Alolan history! Will Satoshi win his first league?!
We also have extravagant giveaways!

Summary:
Intense battles continue throughout the finals. One Pokémon on each side has been defeated, and a battle between Satoshi's Pikachu and what's revealed to be Gladio's Zoroark begins. Satoshi and Gladio's skills as Trainers can be said to be equal. Which of them will win?! The first ever champion of the Alola Pokémon League will finally be determined!! Will Satoshi win his first ever Pokémon League?!
Also, we have giveaways today as well! Get the extravagant prizes!!
So yup. SM138 will feature Melmetal losing to Silvally and Silvally losing to Pikachu. Next, Gladion sends out Zoroark, which disguises itself as Lycanroc at first. Pikachu probably defeats Zoroark, loses to Lycanroc, and the final round will be Lycanroc vs. Lycanroc.
 
Yeah, but it did take some time, and I'm tired of "they did it off screen" when Rowlet couldn’t even learn a move in that time span.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I definitely agree with you there. Having characters achieve stuff off-screen is impactless and a terrible way of developing a character (not to mention that it feels as nothing more than a "get out of jail free" card used in order to justify an character inconsistency rather than a reasonable explanation).

But, since this is one of the signature ways in which the series "developed" a majority of the classmates' skills as trainers (especially after the league was announced), I wouldn't be surprised if the writers pulled it again.

Silvally beating Melmetal makes perfect sense imo, since Silvally is pretty much Gladion's ace, and Ash couldn’t care less about training Mel(tan/metal).

I mean, I'm gonna have to wait and see, but the idea of Melmetal loosing the first battle it's in after evolving kind of defeats the purpose of it evolving, since it did it specifically so it would be a stronger battler, after being impressed by Rowlet's performance during that circus of a league battle. And I get that Fujisaku isn't solely responsible for all of this (the rest of the staff are also to blame for the terrible way in which they didn't properly develop the cast and their 'mons in this series), but he's still partially responsible for this as well.
 
but the idea of Melmetal loosing the first battle it's in after evolving kind of defeats the purpose of it evolving, since it did it specifically so it would be a stronger battler, after being impressed by Rowlet's performance during that circus of a league battle.
But I think it’d be equally more jarring to see Gladion's ace losing against a Pokémon that literally just evolved, and never bothered to battle before, keeping in consideration the colossal amount of training Silvally has.

My ideal match ups would be;
  1. Melmetal vs Zoroark
  2. Pikachu vs Silvally
  3. Lycanroc vs Lycanroc

That case scenario might allow a draw or a victory for Melmetal without it seeming completely nonsensical and jarring. If Melmetal somehow won against Silvally it’s going to be much more nonsensical to me than Melmetal losing its first battle after evolution.
 
I doubt the SM high-power levels are similar to those in XY. It hasn’t battled nearly enough and Golisopod almost dealt with it.


It still had its non electric moves, though.
Paul's Frosslass and Sawyer's Aegislash also did a good number on Pikachu, he still went HAM on the following battles (vs Latios and vs Tyranitar/Metagross)
 
Yet Pikachu is not invincible as we've seen multiple times. Pikachu has lost to Pokemon in this generation which aren't legendaries, I fail to see your point.

More like you're ignoring the point, which is that Pikachu could potentially defeat those two since he's faced much tougher opponents before and since we're at the end of SuMo, he's practically at his peak of power for the region anyway. Btw I never said that Pikachu was invincible nor was I implying that since it wouldn't make sense to claim that he is, so I'm not sure what your point is there.

You were making it sound like it wasn't possible for Pikachu to win against those two before (i.e. you were passing your opinion as a fact, which you often do and then get upset at us when we disagree), which was why I was questioning your logic.
 
Last edited:
Great. Here comes the inevitable Ash loses the league episode because the of the writers stupid "we have to end the series if he wins a league" rule. I don't have high hopes for this episode, especially with Fujisaku writing, even if he tends to have Ash win often. At least Gladion isn't like Alain though, so it won't be a complete disappointment.
 
Great. Here comes the inevitable Ash loses the league because the of the writers stupid "we have to end the series if he wins a league" rule. I don't have high hopes for this episode, especially with Fujisaku writing, even if he tends to have Ash win often. At least Gladion isn't like Alain though, so it won't be a complete disappointment.

That is a myth. There is no rule like that. There's "If Ash becomes Pokémon Master, the show ends" but being a League winner doesn't make you a Pokémon Master. Let me restate this:

In an interview in 2008, Masmitsu Hidaka stated that when Ash Ketchum becomes a Pokémon Master, the show will end. Many fans took that to mean that Ash will never win a Pokémon League because if he wins, he would be a Pokémon Master. Never mind the fact that the goal of Pokémon Master is deliberately vague, with Ash himself saying that winning a League is just a small step to that goal and that being a Pokémon Master is greater than simply being the world's strongest Pokémon Trainer. This misconception has become so notorious that Sun & Moon director Takayasu Yahan had to address the issue by saying that a Pokémon Master is not just winning the League and that learning is more important over winning or losing.
 
...Sigh. Are you... Are you doing this on purpose? Are you just messing with me or something?
Claiming that something is objectively bad is same as saying it's a 100 percent undeniable fact. No Youtube critic can change that.
And I'm not saying that art analysis should be treated like rocket science. I'm saying that art (specifically storytelling) can be assessed objectively based on whether that story contradicts itself or not, whether the way the characters and their actions fit the way they've been portrayed and other stuff like that
Problem with "can be assessed objectively" claim is that there is no answer regarding whose opinion should be regarded as objective truth: someone else can claim that "fake defeat" is objectively good. That's exactly what makes it subjective.
Because the episode explains why! Due to its laziness, it lost the battle and was somewhat made fun off for it by its newfound rival, which prompted it to start to train harder! If you actually watch the episode and pay attention to what is going on, it makes sense, both within the episode's story and the overall narrative! That defeat gives Rowlet an incentive to start taking battles more seriously, something that it didn't have before.
Meanwhile, in the end of the same episode:
124733
 
Meanwhile, in the end of the same episode:
Sleeping after battles is not the same as sleeping during training that said Pokemon wanted to do or a league match that Pokemon wanted to fight in, especially if the act of sleeping wasn't intended by the trainer (like, for the move Rest).
 
Sleeping after battles is not the same as sleeping during training that said Pokemon wanted to do or a league match that Pokemon wanted to fight in, especially if the act of sleeping wasn't intended by the trainer (like, for the move Rest).
Claim was that defeat gives Rowlet an incentive to start taking battles more seriously, which is proved false by its victory is followed by a "lol fail" moment.
 
Claiming that something is objectively bad is same as saying it's a 100 percent undeniable fact. No Youtube critic can change that.

This is the definition of the word objective according to Oxford: "(of a person or their judgement) not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts"! And this is what they define subjective as: "Based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions"! So, by the words' actual definitions, my statements are objective, as they are based on information that is provable and can be measured and aren't influenced by my feeling and emotions, nor do I use them as evidence to prove my point! That doesn't make my statements automatically undeniable, nor does it imply that; undeniability isn't even implied by the actual definition! And if you believe that what I've said is inaccurate or incorrect, then you are more than welcome to prove to me why that is the case!

Heck, this very statement that you have made is objective! It is also objectively wrong, as it is contradicted by the word's real meaning! What is so hard to understand?!

Problem with "can be assessed objectively" claim is that there is no answer regarding whose opinion should be regarded as objective truth: someone else can claim that "fake defeat" is objectively good. That's exactly what makes it subjective.

Besides the fact that the definitions of the words "objective" and "subjective" don't match the way you use those terms (as I pointed out in the paragraph(s) above), there actually is a way to see if an alternative assessment is correct or not: judge it based on the evidence it provides (and if it doesn't provide any, ask the one who made the statements for their evidence) and whether or not it's true and matches/contradicts what was established/presented. One could very well say that the fake-out is objectively good and, based on the proof that they provide in favor of their argument and how much it aligns with what was presented in the actual episode, they could be right. It would then be up to the opposite side to research the accuracy of those statements and whether they match with the information established in the episode and the episodes prior and determine if that assessment was correct or not and explain why. THIS is what is called a discussion or, in more official terms, a debate. And THIS is how you prove which viewpoint is correct from an objective standpoint.

Also, fun fact. That YouTube critic whose video I linked (and that you seem to have some animosity towards) actually tackled this issue in the very video that I have linked, where he explains why objective analysis of art not only exists, but why it works and how it's applicable to writing and storytelling. But I guess it's easier to remain stubborn and not hear what he has to say, since, apparently, you can't be bothered to (at least) watch or just listen to the first 20 or so minutes of his video, where he talks about subjectivity vs objectivity and the difference between objectivity and facts (or just read the one tweet that I linked; not even the entire thread, just that one tweet!).

Meanwhile, in the end of the same episode:
Claim was that defeat gives Rowlet an incentive to start taking battles more seriously, which is proved false by its victory is followed by a "lol fail" moment.

That doesn't disprove anything! What Rowlet chooses to do after it wins a battle doesn't affect the proper battle in any way, since the battle was already done! It doesn't invalidate the fact it was far more focused and concentrated on the battle during its second fight with Dartrix then it was in the first one, nor does it negate the fact that it didn't fall asleep in the middle of the fight like it did in the earlier one! And it's not "a <<lol fail>> moment", as you put it, since Rowlet took the actual battle serious! You are really grasping at straws here!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom