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Thoughts on BW

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Give the reasons why you dislike BW.
for me:
Iris.
Dragonite.
Filler Islands.
Episode N.
Team Rocket.
Cameon.
The Leauge.
Ash's Pokemon. (Other than Oshawott, Krookodile, Leavanny and Scraggy)
Ash vs Elesa.
Soft Reboot.
 
Sure, it was hard to see Brock leave the show and Ash show some regression in his battling skills. But what really made Black and White hard for me to watch were the silly writing decisions made during battles. Why did Ash only bring Palpitoad to a 3v3 gym battle with Elesa? Why was Dawn’s Mamoseine able to land multiple Ice type attacks against Iris’s Dragonite, only for Mamoswine to be OHKO’d by one Dragon Rush? Why was Trip’s Serperior able to suffocate Ash’s Pikachu for five on-screen minutes, only for Serperior to get OHKO’d by a weird combination of Electro Ball and Iron Tail? On top of that, Ash’s Oshawott couldn't even use Aqua Jet with its eyes open at first. Even stuff like how Pikachu was able to summon a gigantic Electro Ball to stop Giovanni’s plans feels really shoehorned. We’ve had plenty of Deux Ex Machina moments in the Pokémon anime in the past, but what really hurt Black and White for me in my opinion is how many battles just have poor writing. And I haven’t even mentioned the Cameron vs. Ash match, let alone Snivy vs. Pikachu in episode 1.
 
-The decision to reset Ash and all his knowledge, making him look like this newbie trainer.
-Right off the bat they have Pikachu lose to a level 5 Snivy, despite still being able to use Iron Tail and Quick Attack.
-The failed attempt to recreate the dynamic Ash had with Misty, with Iris.
-Their poor attempt to recreate what they did with Paul, with Trip.
-The annoying gags such as Bianca feeling the need to accidentally knock Ash into a body of water every time she shows up.
-The whole Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma thing and never having back up plans to rework that story instead of abandoning it.
-The very lackluster battles and decisions made, like in Ash's gym battle with Elesa.
-Ash's lackluster team.
-The fact that they gave Ash's companions actual rivals, yet never do anything meaningful with them.
-The Unova League and Ash losing to a complete idiot who thought a full battle only required 5 Pokemon. Also no full battle with Trip?
-The Decalore Islands being purely filler.
 
What do you mean they did nothing with the companions' rivals? They did do stuff with them.
Nothing truly meaningful. The rivalries weren't really that fulfilling, especially when it came to Burgundy who was merely a joke and did little to expand on Cilan's goal or even further develop Ponemon Connoisseurs. Nothing came about that rivalry.
 
I don't dislike BW. While I agree that this particular series has some annoying issues, I actually quite like it.

Going by comparision SM has far more things I dislike than BW.
 
I mean, in all honesty...I don't. It had some writing and pacing issues to be sure, but setting that aside I honestly really enjoyed it.

I will say the one thing I disliked in particular was how Team Rocket was handled. I did not like the super serious OOC Rockets in the slightest and I'm glad that they got rid of this aspect in subsequent series' (I still maintain that SM had the Rockets at their most enjoyable since the original series), but this alone didn't stop me from enjoying most of BW in general.
 
-Ash being loathsomely stupid
-Iris' botched storyline (mainly Dragonite)
-Most of the major battles sucked
-The "New and Improved" Team Rocket
-Annoying running gags shoved in our faces and crammed down our throats
-Cameron
-Trip
-Team Plasma being treated as an afterthought and busy work :cry:
-The Decalore Archipelago
 
This soulless, humourless and ultimately pointless villainous trio:

1612458122176.png
 
I personally loved the BW take on Team Rocket. We had seen the same comedic antics for over 10 years at that point, so I enjoyed seeing what it would look like if they were more serious and not always focused on Pikachu. Had the Rocket/Plasma two-parter not had been shelved, I think the pay-off would have been incredible.

I personally loved the chemistry Ash had with Iris and Cilan, and how all three had their own rivals which got shown off in the Don George-hosted torunaments. Those were always a treat to watch! And this is more of a personal bias, but I appreciate how this is the last arc to not employ the "talents" of Ed Goldfarb. Loeffler and Wolfert were much better, in my opinion, as I never really found myself bothered by their replacement scores like I constantly am with Goldfarb.
 
* Awful league for Ash.
* Very little focus on TRio as characters and had their most boring lineup in the series
* Terrible balance of focus on Ash's team, even Kingler is more memorable than Palpitoad
* The infamous Pikachu power reset
* Having an entire season dedicated to episodic fillers
* Lack of proper focus on Iris
* Humorwise felt really bland to me
* Replacing Volt Tackle with Electro Ball
 
Because it tried so hard to follow in the original series' footsteps by being a soft reboot but instead got punched in the face by it's big brother (imo I don't think the original Kanto series has aged well either).

  • Ash was downgraded to an insulting level that made me feel like he had rocks for breakfast.
  • Would quite frankly start the whole problem of his character flip flopping all over the place from this point onwards (which can still be felt with Journeys)
  • Pikachu's reset was the worst it's ever been (I know people like to bring the Snivy moment up but he also got his ass handed by Team Rocket a few times after Ash lost the league almost like the staff thought it was Humiliation Month).
  • They tried far too hard to make Iris and Cilan the next Misty and Brock when they could have made them more unique.
  • Team Rocket was made more serious only for them to disrupt their plans every time it did not go their way.
  • All the rivals (asides from Stephan and maybe the guy with the Zoura who I can't remember his name) were either boring, annoying or Cameron.
  • Cameron
  • Ash's team was not really all that great. Unfezant easily being the most useless Pokemon I've ever seen.
  • Gags more tiring than Brock confessing to 800 ladies.
  • Cameron
  • A near embarrassment of a league (again excluding Stephan's battle) proving that Ash had degraded from the glory Sinnoh days.
  • Cameron
  • A soft reboot that they couldn't fully commit too since they would chuck that straight out the window once Dawn came back.
  • And an entire series dedicated to a whole bunch of uninteresting fluff because they ran out of ideas and just wanted get to XY as quickly as possible, Iris and Cilan's departure being perfect proof.
  • Did I forget to mention Cameron too?
 
This soulless, humourless and ultimately pointless villainous trio:

View attachment 139565
BW did something positive with them imo, being absent from plot-important episodes or gym battle episodes where they weren't very necessary. The rest I agree though.

Anyway I've read somewhere that this particular pic is either taken from the Rocket-dan vs Plasma-dan two-parter or it comes from the Hiun City's gym battle episode, albeit with Trio's uniforms repainted to white.
 
BW did something positive with them imo, being absent from plot-important episodes or gym battle episodes where they weren't very necessary. The rest I agree though.
This might be the best (and maybe the only good thing?) about BW Trio: their appearances were more ''dosed'', cuz let's be frank, in Gym Battle episodes or some VERY important eps for Ash and his companions, they just don't add anything, at least imo. They cram way too much time in eps like that, even though they aren't necessary for the plot to move forwad, just there to clog away time.

And I'm kinda glad they ''brought it back'' in Journeys. They haven't been handled well, especially after SM, but the fact they aren't breathing down the neck of every single episode Why Hello DP!!! is a breath of fresh air to me.
 
I personally loved the BW take on Team Rocket. We had seen the same comedic antics for over 10 years at that point, so I enjoyed seeing what it would look like if they were more serious and not always focused on Pikachu. Had the Rocket/Plasma two-parter not had been shelved, I think the pay-off would have been incredible.

And the decision not to put them in every single episode was of benefit to everybody because by the DP series they'd become so formula in that their efforts to steal a Pokemon would inevitably solve the issue that Pokemon was having with themselves or the Character of the Day.
 
- Besides it relying on reseting Ash, his rivalry with Trip has nothing riding on it.

Paul was Ash's opposite in how he treated his Pokémon.

Gary started in the same town and same day that he did, but started off better and more prepared. Basically beating him proves that his late start is a mere setback..

You had maybe country pride with Trip showing some possible racism, but that faded away after awhile. Or have him be an intellectual trainer who suggests that knowledge alone will suffice where as Ash seeks to prove that hands on experience is more essential.

But no. Their rivalry says nothing.

- Contrary to what BW fans do think, some of us can still appreciate the season having fans despite our own misgivings. No I'd argue that the writers had some actual disrespect instead.

Besides the talk of how Cilan and Iris' rivals amounted to nothing and lacked a decent final appearance, they themselves got a poor departure. Especially when Cilan's penultimate appearance would have made a better goodbye for him and letting Iris' goodbye get more focus next episode.

But nope. We have him reaffirming his decision to travel with Ash only to go back on that in the follow up ep.

A soft reboot that they couldn't fully commit too since they would chuck that straight out the window once Dawn came back.

And Charizard's return. A Pokémon who represents Ash's growth as a trainer.

I personally loved the BW take on Team Rocket. We had seen the same comedic antics for over 10 years at that point, so I enjoyed seeing what it would look like if they were more serious and not always focused on Pikachu. Had the Rocket/Plasma two-parter not had been shelved, I think the pay-off would have been incredible.

Even so I'd say Dogasu gives a better take on why their seriousness was just bells and whistles: Japanese Episode BW 048

I don't know. I mean even some US shows for kids would occasionally end on a somber note to subvert the heroes always win trope like say Gargoyles episode Metamorphosis or Justice League's Starcrossed. Even a lower quality show like Captain Planet and the Planeteers which often sugar-coated things ended with an episode where the Eco-Villain succeed in clear cutting a forest and laughing in the heroes' face.

I'd think Japan would be able to have the trio succeed in a heist even if undone say several episodes later.

Heck even the more chilled Sun and Moon had them defeating Ash in a battle.
 
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