The Rocket machine actually adds some variety with their battles against Ash by giving them different Pokemon to use. I'm never all that attached to the Pokemon they catch so I'm not too upset about them not catching their own
Sure the Gatcha mon still lose in the end but I still appreciate the different variety. Plus it capitalizes on the new season promoting all generations of Pokemon.
ING DO SOMETHING WITH MIYAMOTO! Such a big part of Musashi’s backstory and they do nothing despite having multiple opportunities as of recent between an episode about lost loved ones, a remake of the first movie, and a companion who’s entire goal revolves around getting Mew! Oh and remember how I said no TRio related characters have returned? That includes characters like Blissey (whose species ran the Pokémon Centers in SM) but most of all Jessebelle/Rumika! You can make the claim that Butch and Cassidy served their purpose and have been replaced by Matori, you can make the argument it’s a copyright issue that Miyamoto hasn’t appeared, there is no excuse for Rumika! The last time we saw her, she was chasing Kojiro and Nyasu in a steppe This is kind of late now but you know, this is the most common defense I’ve seen for the Gacha. I know some of the responses I’ll get but I just want to ask, how would you feel if it was Ash who was stuck with the Gacha machine; if this entire series (or a previous series) he was just going around with Pikachu but whenever it’s time to battle in a match, instead of using his own Pokémon, he’s forced to roll a Gacha and use a random Pokémon. Sometimes it’s a powerful mon or a mon he could strategize with but most of the time, the Pokémon don’t listen to him or they’re completely useless. And he only uses them for that specific battle so he doesn’t get any time to try to get to know them or figure out a way to connect with them and bring out their full potential. Oh and Pikachu doesn’t battle, he just stands on the side. And Pokémon he bonds with or has a connection with like Dragonite or Kamon? He doesn’t catch them! And if he does, a poor overworked Pelipper comes and takes them away and you don’t see them except once or twice. But it’s okay, it’s for variety! That’s pretty much what Team Rocket fans are going through with the Gacha.
Here’s an idea, why not instead of giving them one Pokémon per region/saga, why not give them two or three? There’s Cramorant, Sinistea/Polteageist, Nickit, Sizzlipede/Centiskorch... Better yet, if you want variety or to advertise old Pokémon and some of the new ones from the current gen, here’s an idea; why don’t you go the pre BW route and bring back their HQ mons in storage! When they first announced this would be all regions, I was hoping this was what they'd do. Of course, it would take some major deus ex machinas to prevent seven Pokémon from sweeping Pikachu and Scorbunny (which is my theory on why they went with the Gacha) but now that we have Dragonite, Gengar, and Kamon barely doing anything and Gou currently having 71 Pokémon, it would probably be a good way to give them something to do. Plus when they're able to have Pokémon, they can catch one or two. On top of that, that variety you want, you'll get it because you'll never know which ones it'll be. Maybe sometimes it'll be the Sinnoh team, maybe sometimes it'll be the Kalos team, maybe it will be the new mons, maybe sometimes it will be all the HQ ones, maybe sometimes it'll be ALL of them! Not to mention, because they're Pokémon we have prior connection with, it would be interesting to see how they interact with each other and the new ones (for example, I headcanon Megayanma and Gourgeist are besties). Oh, and you know how during XY and SM there were frequent "Gee I wonder if they're really being released" episodes? Well now, there's a 50/50% chance that an episode hinting at such could very end with a release and even if it doesn't, there's a lot more unpredictableness.
It's my opinion. If I like the fact that they don't have any new captures I'll express it. It's fine if you disagree but I'm not going to hide my praise of the Gatcha Machine just because fans don't like it.ii kanji and kantoskies pretty much nailed a lot of my reasonings for BW being the worst series and to add on to what they were saying about TRio never truly recovering, while their personalities eventually returned with glory, there’s several aspects to their characters that haven’t and I feel like you can argue that a lot of the current situation in Journeys is a result of the choices made in BW.
TL;DR: A lot of the choices and traditions made in BW, such as the TRio's Pokemon being replaced every gen, contributed heavily to the current situation with the TRio in Journeys. I also hate how it completely jumbled the TRio's personal storylines, characterization, and marked DP as many beloved TRio/Team Rocket related characters' final appearances without a proper conclusion.The big one is how their Pokémon are handled. At the beginning of DP and prior, TRio would bring their Pokémon to a new region with their team growing with new ones and shrinking when it came time to release. Now flash forward to BW and suddenly they’re these obscenely serious emotion drained characters and all their Pokemon are gone! Habunake who's been on the team since early AG? Gone! Manene, Kojiro's baby and the closest Kojiro has to a Sonansu-like Pokemon/mascot? Gone! Megayanma, their most recent capture? Gone! Even Sonansu is suddenly gone with no proper sendoff, little care and the flimsiest of explanations. ‘They attract unwanted attention’ Uh Taurossh*#! Even if you wanted to push the only new Pokémon thing Unova was famous for at that point in time, you could’ve at least given them a proper sendoff like how AG did with Arbok and Weezing! It also doesn’t match up with their characters at all, especially Kojiro! Just because he lets Musashi use his Pokémon in Contests doesn't mean he's okay with leaving them in the dark storages of Team Rocket HQ, especially his baby Manene and childhood Pokémon Muskippa! I’ve seen people give Musashi flak for managing to have two (or in the case of Journeys, a) Pokémon but it's literally a matter of luck, Sonansu's iconicness, and fan response that he didn't meet the same fate as the others. It also gets worse when they retcon the 'only Unova Pokémon allowed' rule in the second half of the series (there's a Plasma Grunt in one episode that uses a Habunake for crying out loud) and a lot of the following regions very openly have old Pokémon residing in them so that excuse no longer works! But unfortunately this has been sent in stone for at the end of BW, their BW mons were given to Sakaki in a way that spelled out the writers clearly wanted to distance themselves from BW and the backlash (by the way, can I say that I feel so bad for Yamask? While a lot of their BW Pokemon were bland and forgettable, it was cute, had some personality, and it was caught in the classic Kojiro fashion which makes it's fate all the worse). And now their Pokémon disappear between every saga (except for Sun and Moon which openly acknowledged and dealt with this) so now Journeys has pretty much opted to cut out the middle mans (or mons if you will) and not give them a single Pokémon of their own this saga.
There’s also the fact that BW reduced their screen time dramatically. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s good that TRio aren’t forced into every episode anymore, "quality over quantity', and they’re not as formulaic... but is it really necessary that they’re absent for months straight with no sign of when they’ll be back? Especially when taking the above into account, this is probably another big reason why they don’t have their own Pokémon this saga, because they barely appear and the Pokémon they caught would absolutely suffer from it. As much as I love SM and their Alolan team, that 20 episode gap between SM 91 and SM 111 was not good for Mimikyu’s characterization. And remember Takeshi Shudo considered them the stars of the show and just as main characters as Satoshi!
It also really bugs me that ever since the end of DP that outside of Giovanni and Matori, we never see any other old Team Rocket characters or characters related to the TRio anymore. No Delibird, no Attila or Hun, no Domino, no Dr. Nanba, and most of all no Butch and Cassidy. I saw some people saying in a different thread they’re obsolete now and we can talk about how they were treated post Johto but like... no. If they’d gotten a more proper send off with Jessie and James managing to beat them in a battle or doing something to save them with some sort of acknowledgment after either incident, I might be inclined to agree but as it is, they were just dropped in a desert with not much being resolved. Imagine if at the end of Johto, Ash never battled Gary, you didn’t even see him at the league, and you never saw him after. So now I’m just wondering how they took the rivals they looked and pushed down on suddenly rising up the ranks and exceeding them (which, by the way, can I say the explanation given is super flimsy and makes no sense! Oh they took credit for defeating Team Galactic? They tried the same thing prior with Team Aqua and Magma and Giovanni didn’t buy it so why did he buy it now?! I mean, I know this show has never been renowned for its writing but... come on!!!) How do they feel now when they’re slipping through the good graces, especially with Matori? Why aren’t they part of any of these special missions or operations?! No matter how you feel about their latter appearances, every single episode they appeared in pushed the fact that they were high ranked and highly respected agents, they were trusted with the important missions both from the Boss and a Team Rocket scientist, and were regularly given the better equipment so it makes zero sense why we don’t see them ever again after DP. I’ve seen people say they would’ve better for the serious Rockets in BW but after Journeys 24, I realize that despite their serious nature as villains, they honestly have enough personality that it would feel off if they had the soul sucking BW gave to TRio; Butch and Nanba had the name gag, Cassidy openly enjoyed antagonizing Jessie, and there was a little bit of a relationship there with their Hitmontop+Houndour and Mightyena+Sableye (so the Gacha wouldn’t fit well with them either). Quite honestly, if you wanted serious Rockets, go with Attila and Hun. And even worse, except for Matori, none of the new Rockets have lasted beyond their respective generation; Dr. Zager, Gozu, Alolan Nyasu, even Giovanni’s Persian, who’s been with him in every appearance prior except for quick cameos, has not made an appearance in Journeys. The only character that has a valid excuse for disappearing is Pierce and that’s because it was around the cancelled two parter. And while I’m glad SM gave her some personality and more to do and Journeys 24 has made me like Matori, I just find her so straightfaced and boring and I can’t help feeling like she’s a downgraded version of Cassidy or Domino.
And we haven’t gotten any backstory episodes since DP! Heck, since DP ended we have only gotten one flashback from TRio (XY 85) and a couple of little hints and references (such as in the Lillie arc). One! And when you consider the amount of flashbacks spread out among the first four generations, whether in Team Rocket focused episodes or regular, it becomes egregious. You had many stories about James’ rich childhood, Jessie growing up poor, holidays being cursed for her, their many jobs and attempts at honest careers, there was even a detail that because of food being so scarce to the point where snow was a meal, Musashi could eat and like anything, no matter how bad it was! You could make the argument that this is better for continuity (hi Bike Gang and Hoso) but there’s still so many interesting flashbacks and backstory episodes that you could do! Maybe we could see more of Nyasu’s life on the streets or how he found out about Team Rocket? Maybe we could find out what Kojiro was doing in the time between running away and joining Team Rocket, maybe clarify what is up with Pokémon Tech and the Bike Gang? Oh and(what is it with DP dropping TRio antagonists in a desert? It’s weird it happened twice and that’s the last time we’ve seen both). I gather it’s supposed to be a reference to how her debut episode ended but like, Satoshi can just blast her off with Pikachu as soon as the credits start rolling, Kojiro doesn’t have that and we know from the dungeon scene in Holy Matrimony that he doesn’t think straight when she’s right on his tail like that and he’s the one she’s after! As far as the viewer is concerned, she’s still after him! And she’s also never referenced again! While it didn’t happen a lot, every so often in sagas before BW, she would be referenced to (this happened with Butch and Cassidy too at times) and we saw the impact she’s had on Kojiro. That’s not a thing that happens anymore.
Some of you guys are probably wondering where I’m going with this since this was encompassing all of the recent sagas and not just BW but like, that’s the thing. There was such a shift that happened with BW that it completely changed the show. People have talked about how the four sagas after DP feel fragmented and disoriented in tone and writing but with Team Rocket, it feels like there’s a clear split between what was and what is. Maybe it’s petty but these things within this box is why I can’t bring myself to forgive BW because even with the canned two parter, even with interest in the Team Plasma finale, Team Rocket would still suddenly have this drastic personality change with little explanation with this new trend of leaving their beloved Pokémon behind between sagas with the disappearances of so many memorable and iconic characters related to them. That’s ultimately why I had to choose BW and this isn’t even everything I thought of over the years or while writing this.
And as much issues as I have with Journeys, I love the artstyle, especially them in it, and they've had some good outings (Ditto episode, Resort episode, Chewtle *grumbles*, domestic Rockets).
This is kind of late now but you know, this is the most common defense I’ve seen for the Gacha. I know some of the responses I’ll get but I just want to ask, how would you feel if it was Ash who was stuck with the Gacha machine; if this entire series (or a previous series) he was just going around with Pikachu but whenever it’s time to battle in a match, instead of using his own Pokémon, he’s forced to roll a Gacha and use a random Pokémon. Sometimes it’s a powerful mon or a mon he could strategize with but most of the time, the Pokémon don’t listen to him or they’re completely useless. And he only uses them for that specific battle so he doesn’t get any time to try to get to know them or figure out a way to connect with them and bring out their full potential. Oh and Pikachu doesn’t battle, he just stands on the side. And Pokémon he bonds with or has a connection with like Dragonite or Kamon? He doesn’t catch them! And if he does, a poor overworked Pelipper comes and takes them away and you don’t see them except once or twice. But it’s okay, it’s for variety! That’s pretty much what Team Rocket fans are going through with the Gacha.
Matter of fact, why is it Team Rocket that get criticized about variety when most of Ash’s companions have had three or less during their time with Ash in a series?
Here’s an idea, why not instead of giving them one Pokémon per region/saga, why not give them two or three? There’s Cramorant, Sinistea/Polteageist, Nickit, Sizzlipede/Centiskorch... Better yet, if you want variety or to advertise old Pokémon and some of the new ones from the current gen, here’s an idea; why don’t you go the pre BW route and bring back their HQ mons in storage! When they first announced this would be all regions, I was hoping this was what they'd do. Of course, it would take some major deus ex machinas to prevent seven Pokémon from sweeping Pikachu and Scorbunny (which is my theory on why they went with the Gacha) but now that we have Dragonite, Gengar, and Kamon barely doing anything and Gou currently having 71 Pokémon, it would probably be a good way to give them something to do. Plus when they're able to have Pokémon, they can catch one or two. On top of that, that variety you want, you'll get it because you'll never know which ones it'll be. Maybe sometimes it'll be the Sinnoh team, maybe sometimes it'll be the Kalos team, maybe it will be the new mons, maybe sometimes it will be all the HQ ones, maybe sometimes it'll be ALL of them! Not to mention, because they're Pokémon we have prior connection with, it would be interesting to see how they interact with each other and the new ones (for example, I headcanon Megayanma and Gourgeist are besties). Oh, and you know how during XY and SM there were frequent "Gee I wonder if they're really being released" episodes? Well now, there's a 50/50% chance that an episode hinting at such could very end with a release and even if it doesn't, there's a lot more unpredictableness.
Also just because you don’t have attachment to their Pokémon doesn’t mean others don’t so this parading of them not having a single new Pokémon as a good thing comes off as insensitive...
She didn't tell you not to express your opinions, she asked you to be a bit more sensitive to other fans' feelings. Which... this one-line, biting response (to a lengthy and nuanced analysis) absolutely fails to do...
And I just said it was fine if you disagree with me on the Gatcha. I'm not telling people that there wrong about not liking the fact they aren't catching any Pokemon. And if you like their past Pokemon I get it. But I just dont
