SPOILERS: Masters Eight Discussion/Speculation Thread

[BigDocFan]

We’re guaranteed episode titles this week, so hopefully we don’t have to wait much longer for this to be confirmed. If Ash vs. Leon starts in November, then it makes me wonder what’s going to happen in October. Regardless, I think it’s fair if they don’t want to rush into the Scarlet and Violet series if they want to give Journeys proper closure first.

Darkest Day Part 2 maybe

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'm not really sure what they could do during the rest of October if they aren't going to jump right into Ash vs. Leon. It wouldn't be impossible, but it feels like a lot left for them to cover at this point. If it is going to start in November, that could explain why we haven't heard anything about a new series yet, along with the production problems. A series having four clip shows within a short span of time is a pretty big red flag, so they might need more time to wrap up Journeys before moving to the next series.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

The only thing Journeys really needs to do before Ash vs. Leon is wrap up Goh's story with Project Mew and at least have him encounter Mew. Not catch it. There's definitely something going on behind the scenes and multiple clip shows is a huge red flag. The last few months have been a huge drag to get through because of all these clip shows and breaks.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Spoiler: Leon's fourth Pokémon has been confirmed

 

[nickdt]

Spoiler: Leon's fourth Pokémon has been confirmed

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Plot twist: Ash brings a "reserve" but it’d Mimey to remind the audience of Ash's humble beginnings and clickbait at the starting of the saga.

 

[BigDocFan]

With Goh giving Leon Eternatus, I dread to imagine Leon using it against Ash, I don't think he'll stand a chance

 

[SamurottMan]

This whole "Leon has never lost more than 2 Pokemon in a battle" is giving "no one has ever beat Darkrai".

Showing only 4 Pokemon feels like they're aiming for a Leon win with an Ash consolation prize in the form of "Look at this trainer, who defeated more than 2 Leon mons, no one has ever done that before :0"

 

[Daren]

Spoiler: Speculation on Leon's final team based off scan

Confirmed Leon Pokémon:
*Charizard
*Rilaboom
*Mr. Rime
*Dragapult

In-game he can also have Rhyperior, Seismitoad, and Haxorus. Personally I suspect he might use Seismitoad to cover all three starter types. That leaves slot six.

There has been speculation he might use Eternatus here, however, since he's something of a shoutout to the first gen I'd like to make a bold proposal on his sixth Pokémon:

Spoiler

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I wanna guess Rhyperior and Aegislash for Leon's last two. I hope they don't pull out Eternatus. Goh did give it to Leon essentially.

 

[Nicolas721]

My prediction is Charizard, Rillaboom, Dragapult, Mr. Rime, Seismitoad and Eternatus. Seismitoad is more versatile than Rhyperior and as someone above said it completes the starter types trio. It might be replaced by a Galar mon that hasn't debuted, but at least for Water-types Barraskewda and Arctovish can't walk on land so it can't be them.

Some fights I predict could happen, in no particular order:

• Dragonite vs Dragapult (Pseudos battle): Most likely Dragonite wins
• Gengar vs Dragapult (Ghosts battle): Could go either way
• Gengar vs Rillaboom (Gigamax factor battle, though obviously Rilla won't use it): Gengar wins
• Mr. Rime vs Sirfetch'd (Regional evos with sticks battle): Could go either way
• Seismitoad vs Dracovish (Water battle): Could go either way
• Sirfetch'd v Eternatus (because the knight vs dragon motif can be seen a third time with the same result): Eternatus wins.
• Lucario vs Eternatus: Lucario wins or draws using The Aura Sphere of Friendship™
• Pikachu vs Charizard: Could go either way

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Spoiler

I'm not sure about the chances of Leon using Eternatus tbh. On one hand it would certainly be worthy of being "Ash's ultimate battle" and would more than justify Ash being allowed to use all three of his gimmicks against Leon. On the other hand, it was already really difficult to believe that Ash would even put up a good fight against Leon due to how overpowered he's been portrayed as, and him using Eternatus of all things would just amplify that issue even more (and here I thought that there was no way that Leon's power-shilling could possibly get any worse...)

However, I could also see some sort of compromise to come into play. Maybe Leon will refuse to use Eternatus precisely because he wants a good, challenging fight and/or it's not safe to use it since he only just started working on taming it, but Eternatus will still play some important role in the battle regardless, such as maybe supercharging Wyndon Stadium's Dynamax energy so that Leon can use multiple Gigantamax Pokemon or something (and he already has at least two, so I could see something like Leon having one Gigantamax Pokemon per Ash gimmick)

 

[Daren]

Okay, so a thought has occurred to me about the finals, tying into my theory that Ash's previous companions will arrive to cheer for him. This isn't really a prediction so much as a thought.

Spoiler: Spoilers for JN128

Leon is a very popular champion, so it's not hard to imagine the crowd being on his side. With Gou being off that means possibly the only people there to cheer Ash on are the TRio.
So maybe they'll be a scene where Ash is losing and starts to get shaken as he realizes pretty much the entire audience wants him to lose until his old friends--possibly with Gou in tow, having finished up his Project Mew things summon and just managing to make it back mid-battle--arrive to encourage him, giving him a push to keep fighting.

 

[BigDocFan]

Ash vs Leon is confirmed to be a three parter at least courtesy of JN131

 

[Alola]

I think Leon is going to use Eternatus - that'll be the big "wow" factor to supplement the end of the saga, akin to Pikachu Vs. Tapu Koko on top of Ash becoming a regional Champion. Otherwise, the dedicated time they spent animating Go giving it to him as well as the off-screen character development it had seems outlandishly contrived and unnecessary.

A minor aside, but it also draws parallels to how Ash used an Ultra Beast and Mythical Pokémon against Kukui, which was unprecedented in Alola at least.

 

[Daren]

I think Leon is going to use Eternatus - that'll be the big "wow" factor to supplement the end of the saga, akin to Pikachu Vs. Tapu Koko on top of Ash becoming a regional Champion. Otherwise, the dedicated time they spent animating Go giving it to him as well as the off-screen character development it had seems outlandishly contrived and unnecessary.

A minor aside, but it also draws parallels to how Ash used an Ultra Beast and Mythical Pokémon against Kukui, which was unprecedented in Alola at least.

Yeah, part of why I suspect Eternatus is being used is that we've been told this is supposed to be the "ultimate battle", and how do you outdo the final opponent using a Legendary?
The final opponent using an uber-tier Legendary (Groudon and Kyogre or Dialga and Palkia's level, basically).

 

[BigDocFan]

Although the Masters 8 hasn't been perfect, I'm glad that we haven't had a series of 1-on-1 battles like in JN012 or JN027, I do wish the first round had full battles as well and we'd seen all of Diantha vs Leon

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Yeah, part of why I suspect Eternatus is being used is that we've been told this is supposed to be the "ultimate battle", and how do you outdo the final opponent using a Legendary?
The final opponent using an uber-tier Legendary (Groudon and Kyogre or Dialga and Palkia's level, basically).

Yeah, if Leon doesn't have any other gimmicks besides Gigantamax, Eternatus playing a role in his battle against Ash is a more than adequate substitute if the "only one gimmick" rule ends up nixed for the final. Even if Eternatus doesn't participate directly, I can still see it doing something like restoring the stadium's Dynamax energy so that Leon can use Gigantamax thrice (aka, once per Ash gimmick). Leon already has a Rillaboom that can Gigantamax, after all, so it wouldn't be too shocking if he had at least one other Pokemon with access to its Gigantamax form.

 

[VetProf]

I think Leon is going to use Eternatus - that'll be the big "wow" factor to supplement the end of the saga, akin to Pikachu Vs. Tapu Koko on top of Ash becoming a regional Champion. Otherwise, the dedicated time they spent animating Go giving it to him as well as the off-screen character development it had seems outlandishly contrived and unnecessary.

Yeah, no one would've batted an eye if Eternatus was just sealed away forever, so the writers going out of their way to bring Eternatus back and have Gou explicitly hand it over to Leon feels like a Chekov's gun waiting to go off soon. I understand how dumb it would seem from an out-of-universe perspective, considering how ludicrously overpowered Leon's team already is, but from an in-universe perspective it would make an awful lot of sense.

A lot of emphasis was placed on Eternatus's important role in Galar's ecosystem and the need for it to coexist with Galar's residents, which is why Leon and the professors tried their best to tame it and familiarize it with humans. And what better way to showcase their progress than to have Eternatus participate in arguably the biggest, most important battle Galar will ever get to witness? Not only will the audience be reassured that the huge beast that terrorized the region a while ago is no longer a threat to them, but it'll also be a significant enough buff to Leon's team to justify Ash using all three of his gimmicks (if that really ends up happening).

If Eternatus isn't used in the upcoming battle, then the only other opportunity for screentime would be if something big happens during the battle or after it's over (eg. Rose returning). While I admit the possibility is there, I think it's unlikely considering there's probably not a lot of time left before Journeys' end. Alternatively, maybe the writers really did just give Eternatus some last minute character development without putting too much thought into it. That's possible too, I guess.

 

[Imtnt]

Maybe Eternatus is back for evil arc round 2