SPOILERS: Masters Eight Discussion/Speculation Thread

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

What’s the best way for me to get a recap for the Masters Eight matchups so far?

Clip show that’s airing Friday

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Clip show that’s airing Friday

I almost thought this was a satire, and binge watched everything Ash-related from the Drasna battle.
Now totally caught upto speed and realised that there were two literal clip shows airing right when I rejoined the forums and the anime discussions

At least the battles were good for the most part, barring some grievances I had on the match ups cough cough Alain.

 

[FelipePR]

I wonder if that Ash vs Red from the new Masters trailer will be important somehow? They did make a point about Ash training for the M8 in Pasio. Is it just for fun or could this be relevant to the upcoming Leon battle? Red is usually associated with Charizard, isn't he?

No, he is often related to all Kanto starters and Pikachu as well. It shouldn't take long for the battle between Ash and Leon, so it must have been for fun. But I don't know and I haven't seen it Lol.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Spoiler

Okay, so apparently this is going to be the team Cynthia will use against Ash:

Essentially it's the team she uses in Platinum, except for Kommo-o taking Lucario's place. If it's accurate, I'm really happy about that because Cynthia's Platinum team is my personal favorite, as in my opinion it's the one that fits her character the best. Plus, we'll finally get to see a Togekiss that isn't Dawn's in a major role! Not to mention Spiritomb not being a villain for once.

 

[Imtnt]

Spoiler

Okay, so apparently this is going to be the team Cynthia will use against Ash:

Essentially it's the team she uses in Platinum, except for Kommo-o taking Lucario's place. If it's accurate, I'm really happy about that because Cynthia's Platinum team is my personal favorite, as in my opinion it's the one that fits her character the best. Plus, we'll finally get to see a Togekiss that isn't Dawn's in a major role! Not to mention Spiritomb not being a villain for once.

Sounds logical..

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Ash vs. Cynthia special preview:

 

[MimeyTheKeeper]

Ash vs. Cynthia special preview:

I do not know if that is technically spoiler, since we see it all in preview, but nevertheless
Edit: I had them hidden with spoiler tag, but since the whole thread is marked "spoilers", I take it is redundant

My remarks:

• No Kommo-o, that's a bummer
• Dragonite does not even take on Garchomp, again, training with Unfezant shows and Goodra sends her regards (after PWC therapy session with headline "How does Ash take on pseudolegendaries in his team for them not to amount to much when the going gets though" starring both of them) - although still hoping Dragonite will get proper showdown against Leon's Dragapult
• On that note - it does seem that not one match against Paul was entirely prophetic
• At least Pikachu jobbing does not seem validated, but Ash is still unreasonably behind - It seems the quick preview of scoreboard shows quick change of double knock-out of Pikachu and Spiritomb - so Spiritomb joins just Gastrodon as fallen Pokémon, Roserade and Togekiss have battled already but have been withdrawn. Ash has already Dragonite and Gengar down. To be fair, all three with Pikachu must have dealt a ton of damage, so that it would be at least believable that Sirfetch'd, Dracovish and Lucario can dispose of Milotic, Roserade and Togekiss swiftly (Lucario seems to be taking care of Togekiss - flying Pokémon with fighting move, but whatever I guess). To have enough steam do defeat Garchomp. IF Lucario defeats Garchomp "mono-a-mono", that's simply stretching it too much. Even Pikachu needed one very solid hit-lead from Dracovish to beat Steven's Metagross. I would say at least one direct Meteor Assault from Sirfetch'd or Dragon Rush from Dracovish is needed as starting difference, Lucario simply is not the 2nd most powerful Pokémon in Anime, yet. A even his Gigantamax Aura Sphere has a kicker - it very well works against G-Max stationary Pokémon, but I cannot imagine it hitting Diatnha's Gardevoir or Steven's agile Metagross for example. Hopefully we are not getting something like Ash vs Drasna, but "gigantamaxed"
• Would those fans be important later?
• You guys at Oak's - stop chearing and take flight to help, it would otherwise take not plot armour, but plot fortress against Leon
• How does Milotic dare to make Kamon's badass thrown shield useless again (if I see correctly)
• Would like to see subtitles

 

[PokeFan2005]

Spoiler: Cynthia has important news to share. Big Spoiler Leak

https://twitter.com/PokeFansTaiwan/status/1558039017249468417

 

[Daren]

This might be where that song about Ash's feeling he can't reach the top of the championship comes on; he seems frustrated at points.

Kind of funny that this is the most the reserves have done in years.

 

[Eevee298]

This might be where that song about Ash's feeling he can't reach the top of the championship comes on; he seems frustrated at points.

Kind of funny that this is the most the reserves have done in years.

Kinda sad too lol

The animation in the battle doesn't look bad. But I got a weird feeling there will be alot or jobbers and draws.

 

[Turbo]

Spoiler: Cynthia has important news to share. Big Spoiler Leak

https://twitter.com/PokeFansTaiwan/status/1558039017249468417

If true
I wonder if there’s an irl reason for the writers to retire her. As in universe I can believe she would want Ash to be her final battle. But out of universe there isn’t a clear replacement like an Iris for Alder or Steven for Wallace (Maybe Paul but they just established his gym leader thing but I guess Iris was similar lol) so retiring her means we’re never getting anything champion or at least Sinnoh champion needed again

I do not know if that is technically spoiler, since we see it all in preview, but nevertheless
Edit: I had them hidden with spoiler tag, but since the whole thread is marked "spoilers", I take it is redundant

My remarks:

• No Kommo-o, that's a bummer
• Dragonite does not even take on Garchomp, again, training with Unfezant shows and Goodra sends her regards (after PWC therapy session with headline "How does Ash take on pseudolegendaries in his team for them not to amount to much when the going gets though" starring both of them) - although still hoping Dragonite will get proper showdown against Leon's Dragapult
• On that note - it does seem that not one match against Paul was entirely prophetic
• At least Pikachu jobbing does not seem validated, but Ash is still unreasonably behind - It seems the quick preview of scoreboard shows quick change of double knock-out of Pikachu and Spiritomb - so Spiritomb joins just Gastrodon as fallen Pokémon, Roserade and Togekiss have battled already but have been withdrawn. Ash has already Dragonite and Gengar down. To be fair, all three with Pikachu must have dealt a ton of damage, so that it would be at least believable that Sirfetch'd, Dracovish and Lucario can dispose of Milotic, Roserade and Togekiss swiftly (Lucario seems to be taking care of Togekiss - flying Pokémon with fighting move, but whatever I guess). To have enough steam do defeat Garchomp. IF Lucario defeats Garchomp "mono-a-mono", that's simply stretching it too much. Even Pikachu needed one very solid hit-lead from Dracovish to beat Steven's Metagross. I would say at least one direct Meteor Assault from Sirfetch'd or Dragon Rush from Dracovish is needed as starting difference, Lucario simply is not the 2nd most powerful Pokémon in Anime, yet. A even his Gigantamax Aura Sphere has a kicker - it very well works against G-Max stationary Pokémon, but I cannot imagine it hitting Diatnha's Gardevoir or Steven's agile Metagross for example. Hopefully we are not getting something like Ash vs Drasna, but "gigantamaxed"
• Would those fans be important later?
• You guys at Oak's - stop chearing and take flight to help, it would otherwise take not plot armour, but plot fortress against Leon
• How does Milotic dare to make Kamon's badass thrown shield useless again (if I see correctly)
• Would like to see subtitles

• Komoo-o can still be there we only saw five in the preview edit wait I’m wrong I forgot to count one yeah Komoo-o not battling here the team is Spiritomb, Togekiss Roserade Gastrodon Milotic and Garchomp
• Yeah I don’t think Paul matchup for Pokémon was prophetic as Gyarados already disproved that (unless Leon has a Gyarados), it was more for Ash the trainer to see how troublesome each Pokémon could be and also test him against these powerful foes
• Spiritomb seems to be a nuisance, with what seems to be hypnosis facilitating the Dragonite and Gengar losses, and still plays into Ash getting outclassed with the two losses and presumably Pikachu tie leaving it 4v3 so I wouldn’t be surprise if Lucario gets 2-3 wins as Sirfetch’d or Dracovish will get one win and just come down to if they want one of them to carry more of the load

 

[Eevee298]

If true
I wonder if there’s an irl reason for the writers to retire her. As in universe I can believe she would want Ash to be her final battle. But out of universe there isn’t a clear replacement like an Iris for Alder or Steven for Wallace (Maybe Paul but they just established his gym leader thing but I guess Iris was similar lol) so retiring her means we’re never getting anything champion or at least Sinnoh champion needed again

I was wondering that myself. Maybe a sign that the VA is tired of her role as Cynthia? She has been doing it for 12 years.

Or maybe because the future generation (aka Ash and co.) will take over soon?

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

See, this is the kind of writing I wish the writers were allowed to do. Have fun with the lore and characters, outside of their usual positions. It keeps the world feeling fresh and ever-changing. In a way it might be how they handle future parts of the anime.

Spoiler

Despite Lucian being the supposed big-dog of the Sinnoh E4 (not sure if that was ever implied in D&P anime), I could easily see Flint taking her place. He was pushing against Leon, and the other top six members, prior to this tournament, and was constantly challenging Cynthia herself for the Champion title. So, he could easily be seen as capable enough.

Honestly, I thought Flint was going to be one of Ash’s PWC match-ups at some point, as he seemed to have the biggest influence/connection to Ash out of all of the high-ranking battlers in the anime, besides Kukui if you count him (not sure about Leon).

 

[Eevee298]

See, this is the kind of writing I wish the writers were allowed to do. Have fun with the lore and characters, outside of their usual positions. It keeps the world feeling fresh and ever-changing. In a way it might be how they handle future parts of the anime.

Spoiler

Despite Lucian being the supposed big-dog of the Sinnoh E4 (not sure if that was ever implied in D&P anime), I could easily see Flint taking her place. He was pushing against Leon, and the other top six members, prior to this tournament, and was constantly challenging Cynthia herself for the Champion title. So, he could easily be seen as capable enough.

Honestly, I thought Flint was going to be one of Ash’s PWC match-ups at some point, as he seemed to have the biggest influence/connection to Ash out of all of the high-ranking battlers in the anime, besides Kukui if you count him (not sure about Leon).

Spoiler

the obvious replacement for Cynthia would be Paul. But in the anime you never know. I can see a random trainer taking over. It is interesting that both Alder and Cynthia seem to retire. While Flint could also be an option I don't see him willing to do so.

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

Spoiler

the obvious replacement for Cynthia would be Paul. But in the anime you never know. I can see a random trainer taking over. It is interesting that both Alder and Cynthia seem to retire. While Flint could also be an option I don't see him willing to do so.

Spoiler

He probably would decline knowing Flint, cause I would assume he would like to earn it rather than a hand-out, but I’m not sure about Paul.
Someday I could see it, but with him literally just getting offered the gym-leader role, I don't envision it. I don’t think he would rush into a position like that. Even if that wasn’t the case, he would decline it like Flint, to try and earn it.
Maybe they would just have the E4 battle it out to crown the new champion, and replace the position of E4 with someone else.

On the other hand, I raise name to one candidate …Tobias, champion?

Okay, I know, that would be too much.

 

[Eevee298]

Spoiler

He probably would decline knowing Flint, cause I would assume he would like to earn it rather than a hand-out, but I’m not sure about Paul.
Someday I could see it, but with him literally just getting offered the gym-leader role, I don't envision that. I don’t think he would rush into a position like that. Even if that wasn’t the case, he would decline it like Flint, to try and earn it.
Maybe they would just have the E4 battle it out to crown the new champion, and replace the position of E4 with someone else.

On the other hand, I raise name to one candidate …Tobias, champion?

Okay, I know, that would be too much.

Spoiler

Never say never about Tobias, but it would cause outrage. How about Barry? Is he a possibility?

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Spoiler

Aw, man, looks like poor Dragonite is gonna job again... well, okay, to be fair there is the greyed-out Gastrodon, so hopefully Dragonite is the one who defeats it, but I don't have high hopes. I hope that at the very least Dracovish gets to redeem itself from last round, though. Also, it looks like Pikachu's not gonna job completely like initial leaks suggested (is anyone actually surprised by this, though?) as he'll tie with Spiritomb. By the look of things, Mega Lucario is what we're gonna get in this round, since Ash's other two gimmick users go down relatively early, with Mega Lucario vs Mega Garchomp being the final matchup.

Not sure how to feel about Cynthia's retirement statement. On one hand, it feels quite logical from an in-universe standpoint, since she's likely been at this game for years and is likely going through some form of burnout, but in the other hand, Cynthia has no canonical replacement, so is Sinnoh just gonna be vaguely Championless from now on or is the battle against Ash gonne change her mind?

(Lucario seems to be taking care of Togekiss - flying Pokémon with fighting move, but whatever I guess).

Well, Lucario did learn Bullet Punch in the practice battle against Paul's Gyarados, and it also has Steel Beam. Both of those are effective against Togekiss.

 

[kickachu]

Here is my prediction for the episode
Ash vs cythnia
-gastrodon vs Dragonite
Dragonite recalled
-gastrodon vs gengar
Gengar
-Spiritomb vs gengar
Spiritomb
-spiritomb vs Dragonite
Spiritomb
-spiritomb vs pikachu
Pikachu
-roserade vs Pikachu
Roserade
-roserade vs dracovish
Dracovish
- togekiss vs dracovish
Dracovish recalled
-Togekiss vs Lucario
Lucario
-milotic vs Lucario
Lucario recalled
-milotic vs dracovish
Milotic
- milotic vs sirfetchd
Tie
- mega garchomp vs mega Lucario
Mega Lucario
Tell me what you think of this

 

[kickachu]

Here is my prediction for the episode
Ash vs cythnia
-gastrodon vs Dragonite
Dragonite recalled
-gastrodon vs gengar
Gengar
-Spiritomb vs gengar
Spiritomb
-spiritomb vs Dragonite
Spiritomb
-spiritomb vs pikachu
Pikachu
-roserade vs Pikachu
Roserade
-roserade vs dracovish
Dracovish
- togekiss vs dracovish
Dracovish recalled
-Togekiss vs Lucario
Lucario
-milotic vs Lucario
Lucario recalled
-milotic vs dracovish
Milotic
- milotic vs sirfetchd
Tie
- mega garchomp vs mega Lucario
Mega Lucario
Tell me what you think of this

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

-spiritomb vs pikachu
Pikachu

The preview confirms it'll be a double KO.