Alain Discussion *minor spoilers*

[Almonds]

He's only appeared for three special episodes (four if you count Sycamore's flashback in the main series), but I think he's appeared enough to deserve a discussion thread. As the protagonist of the Mega Evolution specials, we're given a teenage hero with a mature and darker aura than Ash.

We saw how he cares about pokemon and brought in a Gible that was wrecking havoc in town when he was Sycamore's assistant. He ended up working for Lysandre as his agent not only because he wanted to be the strongest Mega Evolution trainer, but also because he didn't want to put Sycamore in danger. He works alone for the most part, but proves to be a reliable teammate who can keep up and battle alongside the Champion (Steven). He's an older brother and mentor figure to Manon, and we can see his warm side when he's interacting with her. The recently updated OP hints at a possible Alain appearance in the TV series, so we might have a lot to look forward to - not to mention a possible Alain vs Ash battle.

What do you think of Alain as one of the lead protagonists in the show?

Here's another question: If (and this is just a hypothetical IF) Alain was the protagonist of the TV series instead of Ash, do you think he would be received well? How would the show be different?

I know they're never replacing Ash, so you don't have to remind me of it XD It's just a fun fan speculation.

 

[Boots2@sses]

Alain is everything i like in a main character, he's cunning, he's strong, he's badass and most of all has the coolest mega pokemon. His character might appear as straightforward but he has that mature attitude that an anti hero should have. IMO he is a good character and can carry the show after ash but i don't want him to bcuz ash is my favourite character.

But what i do want is Ash and Alain face off, the battle of the decade Mega Zard X vs Y.

 

[Perpetual_Phoenix]

It would be really interesting if Alain battle Ash in order to protect Lysandre.

Since it would take some convincing from Ash and co. to convince Alain that Lysandre is the real villain and that he was being used the whole time.

 

[CrystaI]

Many people say Alain was uninteresting because he is stoic and silent and unemotional. But I see him in the opposite manner. He is surely an "interesting" character, not in the meaning of he will make the audience laugh, but in the meaning of he had a complex yet solid background, making him having sophisticated mindset and thorough thinking pattern, contain the grown-up composed adult charisma completely different from the simple-minded generic shonen-type Ash Ketchum. Hence it is engaging to watch his adventure, because he is kind of mysterious, makes you feel like want to know more about him. Also due to his current work and plot situation, you know that he is up to something big, and you know that he will definitely put up a much more epic battle than Ash Ketchum because he is that kind of person willing to charge towards danger on his own yet able to deal with it calmly and intelligently. And most importantly, for some unknown reason you somehow know that story-writer(s) will not ruin his story with some anti-climatic ending.

Maybe it is just me, but I personally prefers cool-headed and cool-looking characters that is composed and intelligent, able to handle any sort of things calmly. If not then grown-up and adults of any sort of personalities, because just being an adult already make a character loaded with many different kind of life experience, hence he/she will deal with specific things calmly and professionally. It is also interesting to see under his/her sobering surfaces lies a passionated heart that only emerge to be seen at the right situation. And, at the time when this straight man is paired together with a stooge, who would had known that such a poker-face can be so laughable?

Of course, that depends on what is one's definition of being "interesting". If one's definition of "interesting" is only limited to laughing, or only meaning to seeing characters doing absurd stupid things making trouble to the surroundings, or only meaning seeing battles of all kind regardless of reason behind, whether the opponent is friend/rival/villain/parent/superior/extraterrestrial beings, etc. Then Alain is of course not interesting at all to these audience. But for me, my definition of being "interesting" is anything non-stereotypical that is groundbreaking and out of pattern, any story-writing that is uncliched containing something unique to this specific tale, the story will move forward never stay in the same place forever, meaning the audience will never able to foretell what the character will do next and what will happen in the near further. Therefore, Alain is an interesting character to me.

But, as an important remark, what makes a character interesting is not only the character design itself, but largely is thanks to the story associated with him/her. A character exist only in the character designer's file, having only the basic profile and personality info and background summary, but never perform any action in any sort of actual play, will never ever become truly interesting. Therefore, it is important for a character to perform a story, and MORE IMPORTANTLY having a finely written story plot in order to let the character shine. Alain's story (aka Mega Evolution Special OVA) IMO is executed nicely, as it is rather unique, character himself is also innovative in terms of Pokemon-anime standard, moreover his story is character-driven, he decided himself what he will do in next step, he is the one having full control of his destiny. Therefore despite it is short of merely three episodes in current stage, I found him and his story interesting.

As a side note, on the opposite, although Ash Ketchum also has a story to told (in the form of current Pokemon anime), but I found him become less and less interesting. Firstly it is his plot confined into a pattern, making story predictable (not yet to mention continuity problem and many other narrative logic problems). Secondly which is just the fundamental problem, is that his character design was weak and background was unfinished even before the beginning, and gaps were never filled for all these years. Thirdly, his story was plot-driven, Ash's destiny was drifted by the surrounding situations and surrounding characters, even from in-universe POV but not out-of-universe POV, it feels like he has no control of his own future, he never thought thoroughly of what he should do next. Fourthly, well this one is just my personal subjective opinion, he is not my preference as he is not intelligent enough to be a competent trainer, the amount of his failures are more than successes. So IMO he and his story is uninteresting.
If the Pokemon anime was not centered around Ash Ketchum as the protagonist, rather if in the case of making him into some recurring character or just another CotD, I'm sure audience will never say he is interesting, audience will at best remembering this guy as just one impulsive kids came from some small town of Kanto, always acts according to his/her mere desire and basic emotions, quite unintelligent as he always move his body first before moving his head.

But in the opposite, I can't say for sure, or even go speculate the hypothetical situation of Alain be the protagonist of Pokemon Anime. That is because I wouldn't guarantee Alain will remain his current characteristic in the long run, rather I somehow sees he will grow uninteresting in the same manner as Ash, as the main show had become marketing-orientated, they need to feature pokemon/problem/character/villain of the day to elongate the show, Alain is definitely not the best character for the current formula. He goes help some strangers on the street is just somehow unimaginable......

 

[Osprey]

I like the guy because he's a very clean break from what I have come to expect of the anime over the years. For the most part, the show has been about a semi-hyperactive "ten-year-old" who never matures or retains knowledge over a long course of time, with little to no character development. He's stuck in a perpetual cycle of one step forward, two steps back and will always stay a newb, whereas kids who grew up with the character (like me) have been able to mature and become really good with Pokemon. Story's loose, vague and serves mostly to make sure it keeps going on forever.

Alain is not like that. His story is concise, although that may very well be the result of it being comprised of few and far-between special episodes, but that's not the point. It has a beginning, middle, and soon-to-be end, strong plot and BIG AWESOME POKEMON. Where Alain shows up, some big ol' battle with Megas or legends seems to ensue, where they tend to be action packed and reliant on power and strategy, not DEM's and gimmicks, to win. I guess you could say the character's more relatable (and a lot cooler) to someone like me, who's kind of outgrown Ash's cluelessness. Basically, Alain and his story are not bound by the usual conventions of the anime, so he's not just the same old, same old, and therefore is interesting to me. Also, Charizard X. I like it. *activates flame shield*

Oddly enough, for a character who's shown up only in a handful of special episodes, it seems like he's got more popularity and influence than a lot of others. As we've seen, he's been mentioned and seems to be scheduled to appear in person later on in the show. Not only that, but ORAS actually references the guy during Episode Delta; bring the shiny event Beldum to Steven, and he'll remark that he and a young man with a black Charizard once met Rayquaza. I don't think any special episode character has ever gotten any focus in the anime, let alone an Easter Egg in the actual GAMES. I don't think that even ASH got a reference that direct in the core series.

However, I don't think Alain should ever take the helm if Ash leaves. The main reason that I like the guy is because he doesn't have to fit in with the anime's perpetuating formula and can go against the grain of the standards set by Ash. I'd rather him stay that way than become the very thing he was supposed to contrast: a stale character in a stagnant story that goes on forever as a glorified commercial. (Yeah, the special episodes were commercials for Megas and ORAS, but they aren't going to go on forever and they were pretty well-executed.)

 

[CrystaI]

Oddly enough, for a character who's shown up only in a handful of special episodes, it seems like he's got more popularity and influence than a lot of others. As we've seen, he's been mentioned and seems to be scheduled to appear in person later on in the show. Not only that, but ORAS actually references the guy during Episode Delta; bring the shiny event Beldum to Steven, and he'll remark that he and a young man with a black Charizard once met Rayquaza. I don't think any special episode character has ever gotten any focus in the anime, let alone an Easter Egg in the actual GAMES. I don't think that even ASH got a reference that direct in the core series.

A bit off-topic, but you may count Pokemon Yellow for in-game Ash reference. But, that is already an old game in the oooooooooooooooold days. Besides, within the game, Yellow!Ash made all the way to Pokemon League and defeat Team Rocket (not only TRio, but the entire organization), in the same manner as Red. Now for the Anime!Ash...... do I need to describe the contrast any more?

 

[pokepal_123]

I might be in the minority but I really only care about Alain due to his connection with Lysandre and the character dev. he goes through because of that.

Alain is not like that. His story is concise, although that may very well be the result of it being comprised of few and far-between special episodes, but that's not the point. It has a beginning, middle, and soon-to-be end, strong plot and BIG AWESOME POKEMON. Where Alain shows up, some big ol' battle with Megas or legends seems to ensue, where they tend to be action packed and reliant on power and strategy, not DEM's and gimmicks, to win. I guess you could say the character's more relatable (and a lot cooler) to someone like me, who's kind of outgrown Ash's cluelessness. Basically, Alain and his story are not bound by the usual conventions of the anime, so he's not just the same old, same old, and therefore is interesting to me. Also, Charizard X. I like it. *activates flame shield*

What, to me Alain is just a glorified Ash, I mean what strategy does he use in battle all he does is call out random moves and hopes for the best, and have you seen the ACTUAL strategy Ash has used in XY espeically in the last gym. Alain may have power on his side but basically what I am saying that is that he has style but no substance in his battling.

 

[Almonds]

I mean what strategy does he use in battle all he does is call out random moves and hopes for the best, and have you seen the ACTUAL strategy Ash has used in XY espeically in the last gym. Alain may have power on his side but basically what I am saying that is that he has style but no substance in his battling.

Alain doesn't seem to be someone who just calls out random moves. Lysandre clearly saw potential in him, and I doubt the big boss would just pick any trainer with no strategy to do his bidding.

The Mega Evolution Specials are plot-heavy - they have to pack in a lot of content within 20 minutes in order to move the story along, so they can't focus on showing battle strategies elaborately like they're doing with Ash. For Ash, they're dedicating at least one, entire episode - a full 20 minutes - for the gym battle. All of Alain's battles lasted less than 5 minutes - how could they showcase strategies within 5 minutes? If I remember correctly, the only time they've actually commented about battle strategies during battles were when Siebold was explaining what Mega Blastoise's ability was, and Steven explaining the side effects of Flash Cannon. They barely had the time to explain detailed stuff.

In short, Alain has his own battle-style and strategies in battles. It's up to the viewers to pick them out since they don't have the time to explain them.

 

[pokepal_123]

I mean what strategy does he use in battle all he does is call out random moves and hopes for the best, and have you seen the ACTUAL strategy Ash has used in XY espeically in the last gym. Alain may have power on his side but basically what I am saying that is that he has style but no substance in his battling.

Alain doesn't seem to be someone who just calls out random moves. Lysandre clearly saw potential in him, and I doubt the big boss would just pick any trainer with no strategy to do his bidding.

The Mega Evolution Specials are plot-heavy - they have to pack in a lot of content within 20 minutes in order to move the story along, so they can't focus on showing battle strategies elaborately like they're doing with Ash. For Ash, they're dedicating at least one, entire episode - a full 20 minutes - for the gym battle. All of Alain's battles lasted less than 5 minutes - how could they showcase strategies within 5 minutes? If I remember correctly, the only time they've actually commented about battle strategies during battles were when Siebold was explaining what Mega Blastoise's ability was, and Steven explaining the side effects of Flash Cannon. They barely had the time to explain detailed stuff.

In short, Alain has his own battle-style and strategies in battles. It's up to the viewers to pick them out since they don't have the time to explain them.

Your missing the point though, what I was trying to say is that Alain isn't any better than Ash like some people claimed, like if Ash was in the same position as Alain and was using megas I doubt that he will be any worse tbh.

 

[Almonds]

Your missing the point though, what I was trying to say is that Alain isn't any better than Ash like some people claimed, like if Ash was in the same position as Alain and was using megas I doubt that he will be any worse tbh.

Alain is pretty much just about E4 level or right below if you take the type advantages/disadvantages into consideration. He put up a good fight against Siebold, who used Mega Blastoise, and was almost evenly matched against Steven and Mega Metagross (which ate up a Blast Burn btw). He's only shown to have one pokemon, so if he had a full team of six, Ash might have trouble if they battle six-on-six. Ash was at his best during DP and he's evenly matched with Paul who was completely slaughtered by Cynthia's single pokemon. We haven't seen Alain getting completely wiped out when fighting with a full team so we can't say for sure what he's like, but from the battles we've seen I think Alain is a step above Ash.

 

[Zweilous]

Alain has potential, but I can't say he really interests me right now. At this point, he's mostly coming off as just the typical "stoic badass" character, someone with a mysterious past surrounding him that we don't quite understand, and because of that, maintains a calm and cool demeanor that is rarely penetrated. It's a archetype that I've seen a lot of of in cartoons and anime, and while it presents a nice foil to Ash, they haven't done too much with it yet and it doesn't give me that much to attach to since he's not giving me too much as a character. They have unraveled some of those layers, but his potential still isn't being tapped yet due to the focus mostly being on the Megas and Primals, and until they get to that I can't say that he's leaving that strong of an impression with me.

Also, while I know it's very popular, I don't care at all for Mega Charizard X. Its relationship with Alain is the only thing that keeps me interested in it.

 

[Perpetual_Phoenix]

Your missing the point though, what I was trying to say is that Alain isn't any better than Ash like some people claimed, like if Ash was in the same position as Alain and was using megas I doubt that he will be any worse tbh.

Alain is pretty much just about E4 level or right below if you take the type advantages/disadvantages into consideration. He put up a good fight against Siebold, who used Mega Blastoise, and was almost evenly matched against Steven and Mega Metagross (which ate up a Blast Burn btw). He's only shown to have one pokemon, so if he had a full team of six, Ash might have trouble if they battle six-on-six. Ash was at his best during DP and he's evenly matched with Paul who was completely slaughtered by Cynthia's single pokemon. We haven't seen Alain getting completely wiped out when fighting with a full team so we can't say for sure what he's like, but from the battles we've seen I think Alain is a step above Ash.

That plot convenience for Alain to be an extremely good battler when he had little to no experience before hand due to him being Professor Sycamore's lab assistant. Doesn't mean I wouldn't want to see Ash battle him. We need to show some love for Charizard Y and what better way to do that by having it beat the over used Charizard X.

 

[Osprey]

Your missing the point though, what I was trying to say is that Alain isn't any better than Ash like some people claimed, like if Ash was in the same position as Alain and was using megas I doubt that he will be any worse tbh.

Alain is pretty much just about E4 level or right below if you take the type advantages/disadvantages into consideration. He put up a good fight against Siebold, who used Mega Blastoise, and was almost evenly matched against Steven and Mega Metagross (which ate up a Blast Burn btw). He's only shown to have one pokemon, so if he had a full team of six, Ash might have trouble if they battle six-on-six. Ash was at his best during DP and he's evenly matched with Paul who was completely slaughtered by Cynthia's single pokemon. We haven't seen Alain getting completely wiped out when fighting with a full team so we can't say for sure what he's like, but from the battles we've seen I think Alain is a step above Ash.

That plot convenience for Alain to be an extremely good battler when he had little to no experience before hand due to him being Professor Sycamore's lab assistant. Doesn't mean I wouldn't want to see Ash battle him. We need to show some love for Charizard Y and what better way to do that by having it beat the over used Charizard X.

Alain had to raise that Charizard from a Charmander himself and had to find that Mega Stone for his Pokemon on his own. I think he has a little more than "little to no experience" with battling, since it's not like the Mega Stone and Charizard were just given to him without any effort on his part. Besides, just because a Pokemon is very powerful doesn't mean it could battle effectively if its trainer is unskilled; just remember Ash's Charizard earlier on.

Besides, I don't think a total noob would be able to hold his own against an E4 member with and a type disadvantage. Considering that the E4 are shown to be stupidly powerful in the anime, that's pretty impressive.

 

[Perpetual_Phoenix]

Your missing the point though, what I was trying to say is that Alain isn't any better than Ash like some people claimed, like if Ash was in the same position as Alain and was using megas I doubt that he will be any worse tbh.

Alain is pretty much just about E4 level or right below if you take the type advantages/disadvantages into consideration. He put up a good fight against Siebold, who used Mega Blastoise, and was almost evenly matched against Steven and Mega Metagross (which ate up a Blast Burn btw). He's only shown to have one pokemon, so if he had a full team of six, Ash might have trouble if they battle six-on-six. Ash was at his best during DP and he's evenly matched with Paul who was completely slaughtered by Cynthia's single pokemon. We haven't seen Alain getting completely wiped out when fighting with a full team so we can't say for sure what he's like, but from the battles we've seen I think Alain is a step above Ash.

That plot convenience for Alain to be an extremely good battler when he had little to no experience before hand due to him being Professor Sycamore's lab assistant. Doesn't mean I wouldn't want to see Ash battle him. We need to show some love for Charizard Y and what better way to do that by having it beat the over used Charizard X.

Alain had to raise that Charizard from a Charmander himself and had to find that Mega Stone for his Pokemon on his own. I think he has a little more than "little to no experience" with battling, since it's not like the Mega Stone and Charizard were just given to him without any effort on his part. Besides, just because a Pokemon is very powerful doesn't mean it could battle effectively if its trainer is unskilled; just remember Ash's Charizard earlier on.

Besides, I don't think a total noob would be able to hold his own against an E4 member with and a type disadvantage. Considering that the E4 are shown to be stupidly powerful in the anime, that's pretty impressive.

We'll he did raise it since it was a Charmander so one would assume he has strong bond with already. I always assumed Lysandre just gave him the Charizardite X because Alain showed interest in mega evolution and just happened to have a Charizard. While he did give a member of the Elite 4 a fight it still irks me how good of a battler is if he never actually battles anyone except people who have the capability to mega evolve one of their own pokemon. Maybe Alain was a battler before he became Sycamore's assistant? The problem is we don't know and him just being a skillful trainer out of nowhere is slightly annoying. Still to much plot convenience if you ask me. He' a great character overall but I wish they would have at least shown him battle with Charizard without mega evolving it every time against normal trainers.

 

[Osprey]

We'll he did raise it since it was a Charmander so one would assume he has strong bond with already. I always assumed Lysandre just gave him the Charizardite X because Alain showed interest in mega evolution and just happened to have a Charizard. While he did give a member of the Elite 4 a fight it still irks me how good of a battler is if he never actually battles anyone except people who have the capability to mega evolve one of their own pokemon. Maybe Alain was a battler before he became Sycamore's assistant? The problem is we don't know and him just being a skillful trainer out of nowhere is slightly annoying. Still to much plot convenience if you ask me. He' a great character overall but I wish they would have at least shown him battle with Charizard without mega evolving it every time against normal trainers.

It's called a "Mega Evolution special" for a reason. They show him battling other Megas because that's what the special is supposed to showcase, and they don't really have enough time to show him doing random battles with normal Pokemon. Also, it's safe to assume that he has battled more than just Megas before his Charizard got strong enough, and he exclusively fights other Mega Pokemon because he wants to test his own overpowered partner against others of an equal level of strength and skill. Plus, it's all part of his journey's goal: battle and win against the most powerful Megas there are. Convenient for the plot? Maybe. Necessary? Probably so, for a special that has a very limited run time and a specific focus.

Also, was it ever specifically mentioned that Lysandre directly gave the Charizardite and/or Mega Ring to Alain? I don't remember that.

 

[pokepal_123]

We'll he did raise it since it was a Charmander so one would assume he has strong bond with already. I always assumed Lysandre just gave him the Charizardite X because Alain showed interest in mega evolution and just happened to have a Charizard. While he did give a member of the Elite 4 a fight it still irks me how good of a battler is if he never actually battles anyone except people who have the capability to mega evolve one of their own pokemon. Maybe Alain was a battler before he became Sycamore's assistant? The problem is we don't know and him just being a skillful trainer out of nowhere is slightly annoying. Still to much plot convenience if you ask me. He' a great character overall but I wish they would have at least shown him battle with Charizard without mega evolving it every time against normal trainers.

It's called a "Mega Evolution special" for a reason. They show him battling other Megas because that's what the special is supposed to showcase, and they don't really have enough time to show him doing random battles with normal Pokemon. Also, it's safe to assume that he has battled more than just Megas before his Charizard got strong enough, and he exclusively fights other Mega Pokemon because he wants to test his own overpowered partner against others of an equal level of strength and skill. Plus, it's all part of his journey's goal: battle and win against the most powerful Megas there are. Convenient for the plot? Maybe. Necessary? Probably so, for a special that has a very limited run time and a specific focus.

Also, was it ever specifically mentioned that Lysandre directly gave the Charizardite and/or Mega Ring to Alain? I don't remember that.

Yes in the flashback in Act 2 we see Lysandre giving Alain a Mega Ring and a Charzardite X.

 

[Perpetual_Phoenix]

We'll he did raise it since it was a Charmander so one would assume he has strong bond with already. I always assumed Lysandre just gave him the Charizardite X because Alain showed interest in mega evolution and just happened to have a Charizard. While he did give a member of the Elite 4 a fight it still irks me how good of a battler is if he never actually battles anyone except people who have the capability to mega evolve one of their own pokemon. Maybe Alain was a battler before he became Sycamore's assistant? The problem is we don't know and him just being a skillful trainer out of nowhere is slightly annoying. Still to much plot convenience if you ask me. He' a great character overall but I wish they would have at least shown him battle with Charizard without mega evolving it every time against normal trainers.

It's called a "Mega Evolution special" for a reason. They show him battling other Megas because that's what the special is supposed to showcase, and they don't really have enough time to show him doing random battles with normal Pokemon. Also, it's safe to assume that he has battled more than just Megas before his Charizard got strong enough, and he exclusively fights other Mega Pokemon because he wants to test his own overpowered partner against others of an equal level of strength and skill. Plus, it's all part of his journey's goal: battle and win against the most powerful Megas there are. Convenient for the plot? Maybe. Necessary? Probably so, for a special that has a very limited run time and a specific focus.

Also, was it ever specifically mentioned that Lysandre directly gave the Charizardite and/or Mega Ring to Alain? I don't remember that.

I acknowledge all this but it would have been nice to see him battle normal trainers in order to make his battling skills more believable.

Uhh...concerning his Charizardite X stone and mega ring he did receive it from Lysandre in a flashback in Act 2.

 

[Osprey]

We'll he did raise it since it was a Charmander so one would assume he has strong bond with already. I always assumed Lysandre just gave him the Charizardite X because Alain showed interest in mega evolution and just happened to have a Charizard. While he did give a member of the Elite 4 a fight it still irks me how good of a battler is if he never actually battles anyone except people who have the capability to mega evolve one of their own pokemon. Maybe Alain was a battler before he became Sycamore's assistant? The problem is we don't know and him just being a skillful trainer out of nowhere is slightly annoying. Still to much plot convenience if you ask me. He' a great character overall but I wish they would have at least shown him battle with Charizard without mega evolving it every time against normal trainers.

It's called a "Mega Evolution special" for a reason. They show him battling other Megas because that's what the special is supposed to showcase, and they don't really have enough time to show him doing random battles with normal Pokemon. Also, it's safe to assume that he has battled more than just Megas before his Charizard got strong enough, and he exclusively fights other Mega Pokemon because he wants to test his own overpowered partner against others of an equal level of strength and skill. Plus, it's all part of his journey's goal: battle and win against the most powerful Megas there are. Convenient for the plot? Maybe. Necessary? Probably so, for a special that has a very limited run time and a specific focus.

Also, was it ever specifically mentioned that Lysandre directly gave the Charizardite and/or Mega Ring to Alain? I don't remember that.

I acknowledge all this but it would have been nice to see him battle normal trainers in order to make his battling skills more believable.

Uhh...concerning his Charizardite X stone and mega ring he did receive it from Lysandre in a flashback in Act 2.

Ah, okay then. Sorry about that.

 

[CrystaI]

We'll he did raise it since it was a Charmander so one would assume he has strong bond with already. I always assumed Lysandre just gave him the Charizardite X because Alain showed interest in mega evolution and just happened to have a Charizard. While he did give a member of the Elite 4 a fight it still irks me how good of a battler is if he never actually battles anyone except people who have the capability to mega evolve one of their own pokemon. Maybe Alain was a battler before he became Sycamore's assistant? The problem is we don't know and him just being a skillful trainer out of nowhere is slightly annoying. Still to much plot convenience if you ask me. He' a great character overall but I wish they would have at least shown him battle with Charizard without mega evolving it every time against normal trainers.

It's called a "Mega Evolution special" for a reason. They show him battling other Megas because that's what the special is supposed to showcase, and they don't really have enough time to show him doing random battles with normal Pokemon. Also, it's safe to assume that he has battled more than just Megas before his Charizard got strong enough, and he exclusively fights other Mega Pokemon because he wants to test his own overpowered partner against others of an equal level of strength and skill. Plus, it's all part of his journey's goal: battle and win against the most powerful Megas there are. Convenient for the plot? Maybe. Necessary? Probably so, for a special that has a very limited run time and a specific focus.

Also, was it ever specifically mentioned that Lysandre directly gave the Charizardite and/or Mega Ring to Alain? I don't remember that.

Yes in the flashback in Act 2 we see Lysandre giving Alain a Mega Ring and a Charzardite X.

In regarding to the case of Lysandre giving Alain the Mega Ring and Charizardite X, IIRC in exchange for this powerful item, Lysandre demanded Alain to work under his conduct. So it is not really the case of Alain got the ring and Mega Stone for free without any compensation. But since this is simply a give-and-take trade-off where Alain thought he had nothing to lose in the end, so he and Lysandre both compromised. I remembered that Alain was even hiding this fact from Prof.Sycamore.

 

[KrisiChiki]

I'm not particularly fond of Alain, but that's not to say I dislike him. You could say I'm neutral towards him. It's like what Zweilous said:

[...]he's mostly coming off as just the typical "stoic badass" character, someone with a mysterious past surrounding him that we don't quite understand, and because of that, maintains a calm and cool demeanor that is rarely penetrated. It's a archetype that I've seen a lot of in cartoons and anime, and while it presents a nice foil to Ash, they haven't done too much with it yet and it doesn't give me that much to attach to since he's not giving me too much as a character.

I understand there is a lot to fit in just one episode (though I wonder why they didn't just make it a short 12 episode side series instead), but he's really just a character archetype I've seen several times before. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it just doesn't appeal to me in particular. I would be a liar if I said I dislike popular character archetypes, as there are some characters who "have been done before" yet I still like, but I digress.

I really like his interactions with Mairin, and that is perhaps what makes me somewhat like him. Mairin is honestly what makes the Mega Evolution Special for me, apart from the cool battles and Steven Stone of course.

Regarding XY, I'm very curious to see what the writers are planning to do. On one hand, I'm tired of seeing Charizard so if Ash calls his back, I'll probably roll my eyes. On the other hand, I do like the prospect of a Charizard X vs. Charizard Y battle.