Review What are your thoughts on ash’s alolan team?

[CometCartoons]

Since the sun and moon series is over, let’s review ash’s alola team. (Including Naganadel, but not solgaleo or Rotom since he never actually caught them.) Please keep in mind that these are all opinions and everyone has different reasons for liking certain Pokémon more than others.

1. Rowlet - He was charming in the beginning of the series, but as the episodes went by I found his comic relief shtick annoying. It took him at least 70 episodes to learn a new move, and he learned it by sleeping in a tree. Plus he pretty much is just as lazy as when ash caught him. Personally, I feel like some of the battles it won weren’t earned especially with how it was mostly getting its butt kicked by Hau’s Decidueye in both battles but won only because of plot armor. And the everstone thing was unnecessary, even if ash wasn’t planning to evolve rowlet, he do NOT need that everstone. Usually when a Pokémon chooses to not evolve it’s because they want to prove how strong they can be without evolution, but rowlet keep the everstone because of how it tasted and because it’s marketable than dartix or decidueye. That’s completely stupid! I find him worse than ash’s oshawott. 5/10

2. Lycanroc - I was really surprised when I found out that he wasn’t actually one of Kukui’s Pokémon. When ash catch rockruff, I thought he would evolve it into a midday Lycanroc since it’s more suited for ash’s battle style of using fast Pokémon. But the evolution it took surpassed its other forms, since it can use both accelrock and counter. Even after it evolved, he still kept his lovable personality. Plus Lycanroc has a lot of achievements such as defeating Olivia and Gladion’s Lycanroc, sweeping Nanu’s trial, and winning ash the alola league. Great Pokémon, great personality, Lycanroc is my favorite doggo. 10/10

3. Incineroar - I like that it has the most tragic backstory out of all of ash’s fire starter Pokémon. And the way it evolved after beating Kukui’s incineroar was perfect. I love how it’s mostly a grumpy cat. The thing I don’t like is how before the alola league it didn’t really get a chance to shine any of the grand trials. And most of its development had something to do with Kukui/Masked Royal. But besides that it’s still a great Pokémon. When this cat fights, it ain’t gonna pull a rowlet and slack off. 9/10

4. Naganadel - As much as I like this Pokémon and I’m glad that it got to help ash in his fight with Kukui, I don’t like how it was given the Goodra treatment. What I mean is that it had a great arc, got released, joined ash for an important battle, and it got released again. I would have loved to it stay with ash a little longer, and watch it battle and evolve since it only knew two moves as a Poipole. I know it’s an ultra beast and staying in ash’s dimension would cause problems, but come on. If you’re release it and not have it battle then why let ash catch it. I will give it respect for winning it’s first battle against lucario and for being the first ultra beast owned by a main character. Also I love how it’s still acts cute, even if it’s not as cuddly as a Poipole. 8/10

5. Melmetal - I’ll be honest when I first saw Ash catch meltan, I thought he was gonna release it after it evolved into Melmetal. But no he actually kept it, even after the league. There was no story arc for Melmetal like naganadel, it just felt like a regular Pokémon ash would own and I like that about Melmetal. The thing that bugs me the most is that Meltan was caught late and we didn’t get to see much of its moveset as a Melmetal. I felt like this should’ve happened sooner and Melmetal should used more moves besides double iron bash and flash cannon since it knew thunderbolt, harden and headbutt as well. Also this was ash’s first mythical and steel type Pokémon. Congrats, Nut man! 7/10

Overall: When ash started the league, he walked in with one of the most incompetent team I’ve ever seen. While they had the most personality, I viewed them as ash’s weakest team since he only had two evolved Pokémon and five Pokémon total. Now, they walked out as champions except rowlet that bird will always be dead to me. I wouldn’t called this ash’s strongest team but they definitely had the most personality. So these guys are my third favorite team. 7.8/10

 

[BigDocFan]

My favorite Pokemon had to be Incineroar, because of the sad backstory providing some very emotional moments. My main complaint with Incineroar had to be the lack of battles it had. It became Incineroar too late in the series to receive any focus

Lycanroc was a unique and powerful Pokemon but to me, it was used too much meaning Incineroar got very little battle time

Melmetal and Naganadel: Were captured late in the series so didn't spend much time with Ash meaning they didn't get much battling either

Rowlet was my least favorite, too comedic so I couldn't take its battles serious, got too many wins by pure luck, especially against Decidueye and Braviary

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Why is there no Pikachu option?

 

[Blaine.]

Honestly, you can't convince me that Ash losing in BW was more BS than him winning in SM.

 

[CometCartoons]

Why is there no Pikachu option?

I’m not count pikachu since ash brings him everywhere. I’m only counting Pokémon ash officially caught in the alola region.

Honestly, you can't convince me that Ash losing in BW was more BS than him winning in SM.

After the infamous Cameron fight, dude I know he was a bad trainer in Unova but that is just the worst way for anyone to lose a league. Losing a full battle to someone with only 5 Pokémon.

 

[Blaine.]

After the infamous Cameron fight, dude I know he was a bad trainer in Unova but that is just the worst way for anyone to lose a league. Losing a full battle to someone with only 5 Pokémon.

Ash literally won 2 battles comedically. And that was against Faba by melting Hypnos ring and Decidueye because of Rowlet's stupid costume. Ash didn't deserve to win

 

[Blaine.]

Ash didn't deserve to win because he put his faith and trust in his Pokemon?

If anything, he was the only one who deserved to win, especially after the full battle performance. And you can't really consider Faba a weak trainer, he was shown to be no pushover in the past.

1: I never mentioned anything about him putting faith and trust into his pokemon? If we are being real, he did trust them, but how Hau and Faba lost was just horrible.
2: What? I never said anything about Faba being weak.
3: The final battle wasn't even a full battle, which it should have been.

 

[CometCartoons]

Ash didn't deserve to win because he put his faith and trust in his Pokemon?

If anything, he was the only one who deserved to win, especially after the full battle performance. And you can't really consider Faba a weak trainer, he was shown to be no push over in the past.

Plus he did technically cheat by bringing meltan out on the field. He deserves to lose in the most ridiculous way possible. I will give him points on the whole hau fight. During rowlet’s fights against Hau’s decidueye, he was always getting his butt kicked never getting the edge until plot armor show up. I mean he was completely pinned in the episode ash met hau and only won because of the z move. Rowlet is a complete slacker and that’s what I hate about him so much. I don’t care how cute he is.

1: I never mentioned anything about him putting faith and trust into his pokemon? If we are being real, he did trust them, but how Hau and Faba lost was just horrible.
2: What? I never said anything about Faba being weak.
3: The final battle wasn't even a full battle, which it should have been.

Ok you have a point in all of them. But keep in mind that this is the first Pokémon league of the alola league. I mean Kukui heard the whole thing from ash as a child so he wouldn’t have a complete idea of how every league works or at least make it the same as the other regions.

 

[CometCartoons]

He doesn't have a point at all. I'll explain.

1. Faba got his comeuppance. He thought Meltan was a "weak link" and cheated to try and get an easy win, he completely underestimated Meltan and lost miserably for that. Ash gets a legit win here.
2. Yes, this is debatable but you can't blame Ash and say he doesn't deserve to win the League because of this... none of it his fault. He put his trust in Rowlet because the mon wanted to battle. If anything, it was Rowlet's fault as well as Hala's, for things turning out the way they did. In Rowlet's case, it literally shattered Ash's trust in him and the fact that Ash had to apologize for its behavior says a lot. But your point about "not deserving" is still invalid.
3. The finals were 3v3, but the true finale was the Champion level exhibition match against Kukui. In both cases, he won fair and square and neither trainers were pushovers.

Agreed I’m just saying that in most leagues the final battle would be six against six but I think people were afraid of the whole Alain thing.

 

[Blaine.]

Rowlet still didn't deserve to win.

 

[Blaine.]

Now you're just repeating the same thing with a different label. Rowlet can rot in the Distortion World for all I care, but that one battle doesn't negate Ash's entire League win at all like you're proclaiming.

I still don't think Ash should have won, but I understand why better. But Rowlet winning was just stupid

 

[CometCartoons]

Rowlet still didn't deserve to win.

I agree that battle made me want to strangle rowlet, pluck out his feathers, crushed his everstone, and toss him into the ocean.

I still don't think Ash should have won, but I understand why better. But Rowlet winning was just stupid

If that joke wasn't there and rowlet was struggling to get and activate overgrow that would have been better.

 

[Daenerys]

His team as a whole was awful until the match against Prof. Kukui imo.

• Lycanroc got too much screentime in the first half of the saga and then became a ghost once Poipole and Meltan were introduced.
• Then of course Poipole left for a long time and Meltan served as a forced promotional tie-in with the Kanto remake games that wasn't even subtle.
• Rowlet was a literal meme who spent most of his time doing stupid shit like sleeping during one of the few battles that he showed passion towards.
• Litten was probably the most developed SuMo Pokemon on Ash's team but even he lost my support once he evolved because I loathed Torracat's design.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Pikachu was the Ace this region
Rowlet was a meme
Lycanroc was teased to be the next Ash-Greninja and then fell flat on its face
Torracat was a lot of fun and got shoved aside by promotional material

 

[Hidden Mew]

Rowlet initially started off pretty well for me. I thought that it did pretty well during the first two Grand Trials, at least from what I remember from those battles, and the sleeping gag was funny at first. But then it became a pretty huge annoying problem. When Rowlet couldn't even fly over a small hill to grab a berry right in front of its face, then it stopped being funny. In nearly any other series, Rowlet's sleeping would be treated as a problem and eventually overcome, but it was just accepted. It didn't really come off as particularly strong to make up for that gag either. I frequently wondered why they even bothered to give Ash a Rowlet when the bulk of its screentime was spent sleeping away. The whole holding an Everstone to learn Seed Bomb was kind of weird, especially when I don't know how many people thought that Rowlet would actually evolve by that point in SM, but I didn't mind it too much. They were just clear that Rowlet wasn't going to evolve. The amount of new moves Rowlet learned felt like a bit much. It didn't really feel natural, but rather the writers desperately trying to make Rowlet look stronger after spending over a hundred episodes primarily as a gag Pokemon.

I really liked Lycanroc though. I thought that it was Professor Kukui's Pokemon at first, but I liked how it was able to bond with Ash through its training as a Rockruff. They clicked nicely together right from the start and that made it more satisfying when Ash caught it. Seeing it evolve into a new kind of Lycanroc was really great and created a sense of mystery about it within the series. It wasn't exactly a new Ash-Greninja, but it was a different Lycanroc form. I especially liked its struggle and training to master its new power during the Ula'Ula arc. That was one of my favorite arcs in SM. Ash reaching out to Lycanroc, that flashback to when they were playing together as a Rockruff and then Ash realizing that Lycanroc had mastered its new power were just terrific moments. Lycanroc didn't really get much to do after that arc, but I don't think it was necessary given its major conflict had been resolved and it still stood out.

Incineroar was pretty great too. I liked the buildup to Ash capturing Litten and its capture episode was pretty memorable too. I liked its rivalry with Professor Kukui's Incineroar, especially with how it evolved. I don't think it was underused per say. It was too bad that it wasn't used during a Grand Trial, but none of them would have been a good fit for Incineroar anyway, The Ula'Ula Grand Trial could have worked, but the arc was primarily about Lycanroc anyway. Plus, SM wasn't a battle heavy series, so it would have been harder for Incineroar to get a good amount of battles, especially when its main goal was about defeating Professor Kukui's Incineroar. All things considered, its screentime was pretty much fine. I never forgot that it exists like I did with Rowlet. It would have been nice if Ash had gotten more to do with Incineroar after it evolved, but I can see why they'd want to save its evolution for the battle with Professor Kukui.

Naganadel was okay. I thought it was cute as a Poipole and giving it the Goodra treatment kind of made sense. Staying back in its world felt like a more fitting conclusion, especially when it was primarily buildup for the Necrozma arc in the first place. It would have been nice if it came back a bit sooner, if only so that Ash could have had a full team before the battle with Professor Kukui and see it evolve, but it was fine. I liked its bond with Ash and Pikachu and its farewell was one of the more emotional scenes in SM for me.

Melmetal didn't really do much for me. Aside from its bond with Rowlet, I don't think it stood out too much. I think it was a combination of being introduced fairly late into the series and not getting much of a connection with Ash. It just felt kind of there without much to do. It didn't really annoy me, but just left me feeling indifferent, which can be worse in a way.

Personality wise, I think that Ash's SM team stands out pretty nice. Lyncaroc and Incineroar in particular feel pretty fleshed out. But in terms of strength, it feels kind of weak or mediocre at best. Only two of his Pokemon actually came off as believably strong to me, or three if we want to count Pikachu. They needed to give Rowlet more to do than just be a running gag. Fleshing out Melmetal, having Naganadel appear a bit sooner or just giving Ash a different Pokemon for his sixth slot might have been better options. Despite my issues with it, I don't think that Ash's SM team is nearly as frustrating as his XY team was for me. It might be due to how SM had more laid back tone and there wasn't a large focus on battles in general. That might have made team's weaknesses a bit less frustrating compared to the problems I had with his XY team.

 

[Nicolas721]

Pikachu: He got more personality through small quirks and scenes, but much less than I hoped. He should have reacted in more "alive" ways to things like Poipole, Mimikyu or Togedemaru bothering him. And Electroweb is a nice a idea but was too OP sometimes.
Rowlet: He spent one third of the series being a decent battler, one third sitting on the background and one third being made both better and worse battler because of the writers' decisions. I overall like him, it's a shame that people will remember the bad things about him, but I can't blame them.
Lycanroc: Had a cool background, a very cool evolution, decent battles and cool moves. However, I would've liked them to explain more things about its red eyes form, I know they were likely a reference to Midnight Lycanroc but I never fully understood it. Also, having two island arcs about it was a bit exaggerated.
Incineroar: Great backstory, but the lack of battles hurt him a lot so he ended up with very meh moves. His rivalry with Incineroar was kinda forced at the beginning, but its conclusion was pretty nice.
Naganadel: Its cute, and I think he did more in the time it appeared in than people give it credit for. However, it was wasted potential to not see it in any battle and see all of its growth off screen. Also, it had a mission when it first came but did nothing to work towards it, and should have had a mission the second time it came.
Melmetal: Considering how late it appeared, it turned out fine. I wish it had bonded more with Ash though, and I'm not exactly comfortable with its evolution happening right before the league finals.