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That still sounds like a lot of assumptions to me. Pikachu has a lot of experience, but its strength is also inconsistent as can be. Not to mention it never had the best endurance. Melmetal is a Legendary Pokemon with a lot of brute force, but it wasn't particularly impressive from what I remember. The comparison with Lycanroc and Sceptile kind of makes sense given that I think Lycanroc was Ash's strongest SM Pokemon, but saying that Zoroark is on the same level as Pikachu seems a bit of a reach given that it was just hiding for years after its original trainer disappeared. It still seems weird to compare Gladion's Pokemon with someone like Tyson. Gladion is a strong trainer, but I still wouldn't say he's necessarily stronger than trainers with full teams and I think the same applies for Guzma. They're both strong, but far from the most challenging opponents Ash has faced before.You're forgetting something, Ash had way more experience and far more powerful pokemons against Gladion than he had against Tyson who he barely lost to, Pikachu against Gladion is obviously faaar more powerful than he was in Hoenn league, Melmetal is literally the mythical Pokemon whose attacks and defenses are sooo high, while Lycanroc is like BF Sceptile level, Gladion himself had LEGENDARY Silvally, Zoroark tie with Pikachu (with some help from Silvally) who is stronger than past series, Gladion's Lycanroc barely lost to Ash's Lycanroc, barely losing to far more powerful pokemons than those Tyson faced is more than enough, not to mention he was more powerful than Guzma who is far stronger than Kalos league trainer Illima.
That is a valid point in regards to how most Champions are seen with just their ace Pokemon. I think it's hard for me to believe that Kukui was a Champion tier trainer because of how he was treated as more of a popular wrestler than a Champion. Plus, his specialty was mostly on one-on-one battles, if not the Battle Royal format. That isn't to say he wasn't a good or strong trainer. I just don't think he was on a Champion level based on how he was treated and his battle with Ash doesn't really change that for me. Professor Kukui wasn't exactly an in-game Champion either. He kind of takes the place as one when you first take on the Alola Pokemon League in the games, but he isn't a Champion. I don't particularly like the whole "you can't deny" response in general. It's fine if you still disagree with me, but I don't like treating your opinion as facts or that I can't deny what you're saying despite it being completely subjective. Defeating Tapu Koko is still an impressive feat. I just don't think it's the best or most impressive thing Ash has ever done.We never seen almost all other champion or E4 Pokemons other than their ace, Gastrodon is the only other Pokemon Cynthia use which didn't shown much on screen, Steven Aggron beat TR that's it, Alan was close to champion tier but the only Pokemon we seen him using was charizard (metang for small time) we seen at least half of the Pokemons throughout SM which Kukui use against Ash, beating an in game Champion and beyond champion opponent isn't champion tier feat? Which legendary Pokemon Ash defeated before is champion ace level? Tapu Koko is whole different level than Kukui's Incineroar, Tapu Koko+Guardian of Alola is far more powerful than anything Ash defeated in his life, you can't deny that in both anime and games Tapu Koko is beyond champion opponent so he is easily comparable to other champions ace,
I'm pretty sure that Steven is a regional Champion in XY. I know that DP referred to Wallace as the Hoenn Champion, but they make it pretty clear that Steven is back as the Hoenn Champion to tie in with OR/AS and make better use of Steven in XY. Ash is referred to as the Alola League Champion, but I don't think that's the same thing when there isn't an Elite 4 and winning the Alola League isn't really impressive. There weren't any full battles and most of the trainer in the Alola League weren't even particularly interested in battling. Winning the Alola League still isn't nothing, but I don't think it's the end all be all of Ash's accomplishment either, especially when fans tend to put it on a high pedestal.Steven isn't regional champion in XY/Z either than because he had EXACT same title as Ash had and was called the same, Ash becoming regional champion is literally the main reason he is in PWC, why this never brought up before? Because PWC Is world level challenge which is what Ash needed after completing regional challenge, Ash being Alola region champion is literally the reason he beat another regional champion, look at all of his battle against E4 or other Champion where he was no match for them until final season and here he beat one champion, except BW every series shown Ash progress and PWC is the only way Ash character can progress from SM.
No, Ash supposedly becoming a regional champion is not literally the main reason he's in the PWC. It certainly isn't the main reason in-universe and as far as I know, there haven't been any confirmation from the production crew about that being the out of universe reason for him to be in the PWC. My assumption that they didn't want to undermine Ash's Alola League victory by having him take on another Gym Challenge right afterwards is just that. An assumption. You are also making assumptions about the PWC based on how you look at the Alola League and the PWC. The notion that PWC is the only way for Ash to progress after SM is so ridiculous to me. Not only because I still think of the Alola League as a Pokemon League set on easy mode, but the PWC isn't really much better. Ash defeating a bunch of one shot trainers both on and off screen does not sound like he's grown or that he's too good for Gyms because now he can defeat random Pokemon like Tauors, Meganium, Elekid or Heracross in less than five minutes. The PWC should be a big deal, but it isn't and I think you're treating it as a bigger deal than the show is. The PWC often feels more like Random Encounters: The Tournament than anything else to me. This is also a big reason why I can't get into the PWC. Fans hyped it up as this next step as Ash's journey right from the beginning and that still comes up whenever people defend it, but Journeys definitely doesn't treat it as such, which just makes it harder for me to be invested it in. Not only because of how I feel about it, but just being annoyed at how overhyped it got at least initially doesn't help either. If that was the case, then I think it would have proper focus, the battles would be longer and it actually would come off as impressive. Instead, it's mostly just Ash defeating a bunch of one-shot characters with some occasional strong trainers when they decide to devote a full episode to it.
I already explained why Ash defeating Iris wouldn't necessarily mean that he's a regional Champion. Yeah, he would struggle against every other Elite 4 or Champion trainer whenever he battled them before, but again, Iris is less experienced compared to other Champions and I don't think the show itself think that defeating her was a big deal either. Plus, I'm not sure how much Iris' Champion title matters for the PWC when everyone does start out at the same rank regardless of their other accomplishments.
Defeating adult Gym Leaders isn't quite on the same level as defeating adult Elite 4 and Champions though. Yeah, all of them would have more experience compared to young challengers, but Gym Leaders aren't as powerful or shown to be as unbelievable strong as Elite 4 or Champions. Since I don't want to go around in circles anymore or feel like I'm not being clear about my points, I'm not going to respond you further after this.Iris is youngest Champion like Iris true but she defeated previous champion Alder and other E4 too, age was never matter in anime because a 10 year old kid who start his/her journey very recently beat lots of adult gym leaders.
As for setting the series in Galar, that really would help a lot with at least giving them more chances to go to Galar locations, see Galar Pokemon, possibly run into more Galar characters and make better use of Dyanamax. If we could still have Chloe and her family somehow involved, then I think it would have been great. As much as I love Galar and want to see more of it in the anime, I also wouldn't want to get rid of Chloe. All of her focus episodes that I've seen are really good and I think she's pretty refreshing among the female leads, even if she isn't properly considered a main character at the moment, so I wouldn't want to get rid of her. Her family could also be surprisingly endearing. I thought that her father was bland and boring at first. He still is, but that flashback with how he supported his future wife's interest in drawing and most of his interactions with Chloe make him more endearing than I would have expected.
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