Notice Iris Debate Thread

[Musashi]

Due to the heated discussions that happen whenever this character is brought up, the staff felt that instead of filling up various threads with debates, it would be easier if there was just one thread where everyone could discuss the character.

So from now on, please use only this thread to debate Iris as a character and your thoughts on her development. Just remember that while you're free to debate the character, do not go after any individual user. If posters start going after users themselves, flaming and bating infractions will be handed out. This is your only warning.

If you have any questions on this, don't hesitate to contact any anime mod.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

There was more "heated discussions" about Misty, and Iris' character is a big part of BW storyline. Isn't that a little unfair to remove all discussions about her from all other forum topics?

 

[Force Fire]

Better than clogging up threads with useless arguments.

 

[garrison-san]

There was more "heated discussions" about Misty, and Iris' character is a big part of BW storyline. Isn't that a little unfair to remove all discussions about her from all other forum topics?

Have you noticed that every single Best Wishes episode discussion thread inevitably winds up going back to the same old "spirited" debate about Iris and her development/contributions to the show? Which is a problem to those of us who do not wish to participate in such discussions but would still like to discuss the episodes at hand.

I cannot see myself posting a lot in this thread but I applaud its existence.

 

[Iteru]

Okay, let's go!

I like Iris so far as a character. I think taking things at her own pace is something that I can relate to and so it helps me to familiarise myself with the character. I do think there is a slight downside to this (in which I have encountered too ) that sometimes her own pace sometimes equates to doing very little. What I mean by this, is that I think she could be doing a bit more in her attempts to patch things up with Doryuzu but I do like how after listening to Satoshi's and Dent's reasonings, she took a more active approach with Kibago. I think it shows some nice development on her part. I think that maybe she could be a "one problem at a time" person though which I think is an okay thing to be. Entertainment wise I think it may not be as fun as other approaches that we have seen before in past characters, but I think she has her own unique charm.

 

[Necrozma]

Much like Iteru, I also think that Iris is a pretty interesting character so far. So what if she does things at her own pace? It's all a part of her personality, not to mention that I love her personality and interactions with Ash and Dento. Granted, she did lack of screentime in previous episodes but she's getting her fair share of screentime in the future episodes as the focus switched from Dento to Iris a while ago.

I really enjoy Iris and her story is going great so far, in my opinion. She's got Kibago to master Dragon Rage by constantly pushing it to battle (well not constantly, but quite often), she'll soon start working on Doryuuzu where we'll hopefully learn more about her past and how she caught that thing. Her only problem remains Emolga who is too lazy to do anything, but I'm sure writers will come to that part eventually, too. So far, I think she's the character who's had the most problems with her team which is one of the reasons I like her. Her catchphrase kodomo ne though, is an ironic one as she acts like a child most of the time too, but she did prove that she has great knowledge over dragon types.

I have no doubt that now that Kibago wields over Dragon Rage, we'll see her take on the more active role. What will only happen if she gets Doryuuzu to obey her? Iris really interests me as a character and her growth from a criticizing girl to a mature Pokémon trainer is one thing I'm looking forward the most in Best Wishes.

 

[Sweet Veil]

A Iris thread? This sounds nice, but I don't think Iris should be excluded from other threads especially one's with episodes about her.

 

[CommanderPigg]

Bah, I go to sleep and this happens XD

Apologies to the rest of the staff if I'm interpreting this thread incorrectly, it's still relatively new to me.

In many ways, this is like the Thoughts on Dento/Cilan thread. General musings on the character are allowed and encouraged, rather than turning other threads into a discussion JUST about Iris's character (especially when her character was not predominant in said episode(s)/topic(s)).

I can see where there could be a grey area with this - Iris centric episodes will obviously fall under the exception since it would be silly not to talk about her character in that episode. But on the review thread, please try to keep your posts to episode-specific instances; On this thread, you are free to discuss whether you think that this has contributed to her character as a whole/developments/predictions etc.

 

[Ambipom666]

Am I the only person who wants Iris to have a full party by the series ends? Not counting Dawn, a co-star, has any sidekick of Ash's ever had a full party before?

I do like the way Iris was shown as mysterious and on top of things early in the series, so taking that notion apart (i.e. episode 9) was the next logical step I guess.

I want to see if Iris will be Drayden's granddaughter. Mainly because I don't think Lance and Clair's relationship (As cousins) from the games was retained in the anime. Hell, I don't even think it was mentioned in HeartGold and SoulSilver, but that's another story.

Anyway, I kind of agree with the others here. I'd like to see Iris act as a sort of catalyst (so-to-speak) for events. even in episodes that don't focus her. Excluding Scraggy vs. Axew, It seems like every episode's battled has been focused on her (BW030 and vaguely, in the Emolga episodes) But I suppose it's excusable thus far given her party....

I really hope Excadrill does not obey her from defeating a challenging opponent. It's not a bad plot in my opinion, it's just been down twice already and I'm not sure if the third time's the charm.

And err, if it's appropiate, I wouldn't mind posting my fanfiction plans for Iris (I haven't really gotten around to it) or the Pokemon I want her to acquire, but I guess that's limited to the Capture thread only.

 

[Cybersai]

I like Iris so far and I realize she's just a sidekick character. That's why I am not really expecting much more than seeing her grow stronger with Axew. As long as she has amusing moments that's enough for me.

 

[Piplup]

Not counting Dawn, a co-star, has any sidekick of Ash's ever had a full party before?

Misty had 6 at the end of Johto: Staryu, Goldeen, Psyduck, Togepi, Politoed and Corsola

 

[Cybersai]

Misty had 6 at the end of Johto: Staryu, Goldeen, Psyduck, Togepi, Plitoed and Corsola

Pretty much only because she and Brock at the time didn't leave behind their Kanto pokemon before Johto began. Misty only did capture one new pokemon in all of Johto, (Corsola), the rest is what she already had in Kanto/Orange.

 

[Ambipom666]

Misty had 6 at the end of Johto: Staryu, Goldeen, Psyduck, Togepi, Politoed and Corsola

You made a mistake! She only had 5: Staryu, Goldeen, Psyduck, Politoed, and Corsola!

Ah, I see. Thanks.
I want Axew to learn Dual Chop. Since if I'm not mistaken, only Axew, its evolutions, Gabite and Garchomp can learn the move. SO for all intents and purposes Axew would have a signature move. Which I think is pretty cool. Plus it's kind of subpar in the games, so it would make a nice transitional move until it learns stronger moves. And it cpuld expand on Scratch, I guess.

 

[Necrozma]

Wouldn't Dragon Rage be Kibago's signature move now?

 

[Ampharos King]

It wasn't just Hellion at fault. I contributed as well since Iris and Excadrill's relationship was important to that episode, and I went overboard with my input... Sorry, guys...

From what I am seeing, the writers have ignored Iris in the earliest parts of this series because they had more important issues to cover: Ash catching his pokemon, winning his two badges, and battling several of his rivals. Up until around Episode 17, Iris and Axew only got those two episodes (BW002 and BW009) where they were in the focus.

Some people were complaining how the writers gave Iris, who seemed to have nothing going on for her, such a powerful pokemon like an Excadrill. In which case, people changed from wanting Iris to leave the series to wanting Iris to actually use and showcase Excadrill in battle.

It is important to remember, however, that the majority of the time that the writers decided to give Iris has to be devoted to her own goal. In which case, Iris was given a task to allow her Axew to grow and develop. Axew's safety and happiness, in addition to its strength, also come in to play to address this issue. The elder in Iris' village claimed in a flashback in BW030 that if Iris completes this rite of passage, she will become a "Dragon Master." Does this mean that the writers will only give Iris this one Dragon-type pokemon to train? Or will Iris catch more Dragon-types later on?

For what it is worth, Iris does seem to receive a lot more focus lately. In BW027, Iris obtains an Emolga who befriended her Axew. In BW028, Iris decided to fight Bianca alongside her Emolga. In BW030, Iris helped another trainer battle alongside her Druddigon, and it was in this episode that her Axew mastered Dragon Rage. And now in BW036, her relationship with the disobedient Excadrill will finally come in to light.

I am not expecting the writers to go "overboard" like they did with May and Dawn, since they were treated as co-stars, not sidekicks. I am hoping Iris's character evolves beyond that one goal she was given at around the beginning of this series. I am hoping Iris gets to battle and bond with her other pokemon as well, and still make hearty contributions to the main group. Iris may be treated as a sidekick and an annoyance to some because she tends to criticize people for their mistakes, but by training alongside her pokemon, she could evolve beyond that type of person. Remember, the elder did tell Iris that she would grow as well by completing this task.

So yes, Iris has a lot of potential with what the writers have decided to give her. It is true that Axew will not make leaps and bounds immediately; Axew's growth will occur very gradually. Over time, Axew could learn new moves and evolve, but I am not expecting something like this soon.

 

[Yoshi-san]

Okay, let's go!

I like Iris so far as a character. I think taking things at her own pace is something that I can relate to and so it helps me to familiarise myself with the character. I do think there is a slight downside to this (in which I have encountered too ) that sometimes her own pace sometimes equates to doing very little. What I mean by this, is that I think she could be doing a bit more in her attempts to patch things up with Doryuzu but I do like how after listening to Satoshi's and Dent's reasonings, she took a more active approach with Kibago. I think it shows some nice development on her part. I think that maybe she could be a "one problem at a time" person though which I think is an okay thing to be. Entertainment wise I think it may not be as fun as other approaches that we have seen before in past characters, but I think she has her own unique charm.

I agree with Iteru on this. Iris is every interesting in the most part.

 

[Cybersai]

I still wonder if Ash is going to battle Iris at the end, how are they going to, "beef up" her team in time?

Its obvious right now Ash can pretty much blow apart her team aside from maybe Excadrill, so I wonder especially since Ash's team is going to get stronger and evolve by the end of Isshu too.

 

[Piplup]

I'd like to say that I'm happy to see Iris is getting more focus lately, especially now with the recently announced ep title with Excadrill
She wasn't focused in the first 25 eps or so because she only had an Axew who couldn't battle and an Excadrill that didn't listen to her
But recently she's revealing more about herself, starting to solve her problems and actually do stuff... she caught Emolga, Axew mastered Dragon Rage, she revealed a little more about her background and goal, and the recent ep title suggest we'll learn more about Excadrill and maybe even solve its problem
So yeah, she's still not getting as much as Dawn or May got, but she's getting as much as Misty/Brock/Tracey/Max got when they were around and as much as Cilan gets now... and I think she's filling her role as a sidekick good enough... I just wish we had a girl star like Dawn and that they'd use the BW heroine, but I got over that by now... there's no use crying over it, so I'm just trying to get used to Iris... recently I'm starting to like her a little... and the BW series in general (though Cilan is still kinda boring to me... but whatever...)
For me, the main reason to watch BW is Ash himself (which wasn't my main reason for watching AG/DP - May and Dawn were much more interesting to me)
So I'll just focus on Ash and enjoy the cases where Iris or Cilan get to do something too... just don't expect too much from either of them, cause they're not supposed to do more than what we've seen them do so far

tldr - Iris is nice and I'm warming up to her... just wish she had more dragons on her team cause it's ridiculous dragon is her favorite type, yet she only owns one... (but yeah, not enough dragons this gen... that's a problem... hopefully at least she'll get that other dragon who can evolve into the three headed dragon...... yeah, I should learn the names soon XD )

 

[Ambipom666]

Wouldn't Dragon Rage be Kibago's signature move now?

True, true, but I'd hate to see Dual Chop go unused.

 

[Paperhorse]

I like Iris better now than I did in the beginning. At first, I found her annoying because of the constant Kodomo ne, but I am glad that they toned that down a bit.

I am not a fan of Iris's goal however. I think it is too broad, and the thing that irks me about is that there are no "benchmarks" to really measure her growth as a dragon master.

I think she has potential to grow as the series progresses, (since I have seen a little growth already, although not much unfortunately) especially if there are more episodes focused on her in the future.