Playing Catch - Up

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NotQuiteDave

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Hi, I'm new here. I've just really started getting back into pokemon after falling out of fandom when British TV stopped showing the anime. I still played the games and had fond memories from my childhood, but other things captured my imagination (Doctor Who for example) and pokemon became a thing of the past for me. 3rd Gen came but, though I always meant to go and get a copy of sapphire, I always found more important things to spend my money on.

Then came D/P and , after my brother bought diamond, I forked out the money and bought my copy of Pearl. Everything had changed. Suddenly there were two generation worth of pokemon and special features to catch up on and none of it made sense to me. For the first time in my life, when a wild pokemon attacked I didn't know what it was, what type it was, what it could do, or for that matter what my pokemon was. I was out of my depth, but the game still managed to awaken my long dormant pokefan instincts.

Since then I have been trying to catch up. I have ordered Emerald over the internet and have started watching the anime again from the point I left off. Unfortunately, that point was early season four, and after marathon watching sessions I have only just now started Master Quest. Playing through Emerald and Pearl is going to be a lot harder for me than the games used to be, and though I love the anime I don't know whether I'll ever get through it all and catch up. What do you think? Do I have a chance of re-becoming a true blue pokemon fan again, or should I just quit while I'm behind, and is anyone else in the same boat?

Sorry for the long post.
 
Well i did that with the anime. i caught up with the anime around battle frontier. when i bought Ruby i was confused on the Jhoto and a few Kanto pokemon since i didn't knew what they were back then (and yes i do admit i was a noob back then as well)

I use to be on the same boat as you but don't worry. you will catch up and it isn't hard as it seems. just make sure you talk to everyone cause they can give some useful advice and items.

Also in Emerald i would also like to add natures. they are all different and affects the a pokemon stats. (depending on what pokemon you have)

An also welcome to the forums. ^^
 
Welcome back to the fandom! ;D And also to Bulbagarden.

You're right to say that the video games have changes a lot. From the last time you played, there are 242 more pokémon with more moves (like I'm counting them) and other characteristics than ever before. Pokémon are more individual now that they house natures and characteristics. If you're catching up in the games, I definitely suggest reading up on those, since they're the most important change I can think of (though contests are fun, too). Everything else is relatively guessable if not the same.

As for the anime, I'm in the same boat. Always will be. I stopped watching when I lost cable TV, which was right after Master Quest. All I know, I know it from the internet. But I certainly don't think it's impossible! Maybe people won't agree, but I don't think you gotta watch every. single. episode. to be a proper fan. If you do, then I'm far from. Just do what you can, and take your time with it!

And laaastly, everyone here's pretty nice. They're all willing to answer questions and share ideas. That's what a community is for, after all! ♥
 
I was in the same boat as you a couple of years ago, and whilst I never got past GBC (and can therefore not play Gen 3 or 4 games), I tell you - it is possible to catch up on the anime. I never bothered watching every single episode, but I still get the gist of all that happened, and there are people, new to the fandom even, who have managed to catch up. You'll get there, and as Destry said, everyone here will be happy to help you :)
 
Yeah, I stopped watching the anime for a while, both the Orange Islands, and then around the middle of Hoenn. I just bought the Johto League Championships, and the rest of them on dvd to catch up on the anime, and the games, I never bought a GBA, so I started when the DS came out.

You'll catch up eventually.;)
 
If I were to play catch up, I would be thirty by the time I'm done. I left off at season... something and I only did find out that Misty was replaced twice in February lol.
 
The best remedy for such a case is a little known but really helpful site known as:

http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/

It is technically worthless for 99% of everyone here (my opinion only) but trust me, you will find the links on the left hand side of the seagull Pokemon title really useful.
Don't go into the Trading card game sections yet.
The links at the main page's left side will remind you of your old game and how everything has changed since then.
Start off at the very last memory you had of your fandom, and then its smooth sailing from there.
Hope to see you as a regular member of bulbagarden soon!
:cheers:

P.S. the best part in the early anime comes in the end of Johto at the Tournament. Do check that out!
 
I joined the fandom at Generation III, with no prior knowledge of the series, and now I'm considered something of an expert amongst my friends. If a former noob to it like me can catch up like that, and since you have some prior knowledge herein, I think you'll do perfectly well catching up.
 
Destry said:
Welcome back to the fandom! ;D And also to Bulbagarden.

You're right to say that the video games have changes a lot. From the last time you played, there are 242 more pokémon with more moves (like I'm counting them) and other characteristics than ever before. Pokémon are more individual now that they house natures and characteristics. If you're catching up in the games, I definitely suggest reading up on those, since they're the most important change I can think of (though contests are fun, too). Everything else is relatively guessable if not the same.

As for the anime, I'm in the same boat. Always will be. I stopped watching when I lost cable TV, which was right after Master Quest. All I know, I know it from the internet. But I certainly don't think it's impossible! Maybe people won't agree, but I don't think you gotta watch every. single. episode. to be a proper fan. If you do, then I'm far from. Just do what you can, and take your time with it!

And laaastly, everyone here's pretty nice. They're all willing to answer questions and share ideas. That's what a community is for, after all! ♥
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Its the same for me as well for the anime since I basically stop watching the show back in 2003 when the advance saga started up and if you ask me I thought it was worst sage overall. For me the advance saga was even that good since I thought season six were the worst season I watched out of the whole show and thats why I stopped watching it in 2003. Just recent I got back into Pokemon again including the games too since I thought I need to catch up from what I missed over the years starting with my purchase of Pokemon silver off ebay. I have no desire to buy Pokemon ruby/sapphire/emerald since most of the Pokemon weren't that memorable compared to Pokemon from the Kanto and Johto so it was basically unfamiliar for me. Now the newer ones that came out I want to buy Pokemon Platinum since I think the forth gen pokemon look great and not bland like the third gen pokemon.

Now back to the anime when I started watching it again I basically went back and watched the first season all up to the fifth. Now even though I hated the advance saga since I thought the story sucked I mean who idea was it to use team magma and aqua that were bland bad guys any way I still watched it all the way through. Another thing I hated was the fact that they basically made two filler chacaters just to replace Misty (no offense advance shippers but May felt like a filler character) which is why I couldn't stand this saga. I will go as far as to say that season six and seven were the worst seasons out of the whole anime that I watched but I do think season eight was decent. Now for season nine I thought it was good since Ash and Brock with the two filler characters (no offense advance shippers) went back to Kanto where it all started for them and was funny to see them visit the same places that were in first season I mean it like Kanto revisit.

After watching the tenth season I think the anime has gotten way better then before since the advance saga sucked to me I mean even the filler from that saga weren't even worth watching for me . What I like about the D/P saga is that they made Dawn a main character (unlike May) on the same level as Ash hell they even dedicated an episode to her debut alone like Ash was in the first episode. What I also like is how they are hinted a Ash and Dawn pairing (yeah I'm pearl shipper:smokin:) and I'm enjoying these hints more then with the Ash and Misty pairing and this is another reason I think this is the best saga since the originals. They even made the main characters have more of story surrounding them this time compared to the Advance saga or even the Kanto and Johto sagas which is giving the anime a little more dept then before and due to this I'm even enjoying the filler episodes a lot. Right now I'm watching the eleventh season I think its great so far like Dawn challenging Maylene to a gym battle which is a first for the anime since Misty and May never tried to do so which surprised me.

End of rant sorry I must have gotten carried away.:embarass:
 
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I'm in the same boat as you, NotQuiteDave. I fell out of love with Pokémon around the time that Ruby and Sapphire were released, and I didn't pay Pokémon too much attention after that (though I did get Pokémon Colosseum when it was released). I only very recently got back into Pokémon, and I'm doing what you're doing: trying to catch up on all I've missed.

Anyway, I don't think you should give up on trying to be as up-to-date as most of the others are on here. Keep at it, man. :D
 
GhostsNGoblins86 said:
Another thing I hated was the fact that they basically made two filler chacaters just to replace Misty
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That is the most ridiculous thing I heard in a long time. Calling May and Max "filler characters," compared to Misty, who was never that important herself?

I wasn't aware being in the anime for nearly 200 episodes, 4 movies, and having the second largest role of Ash's travel companions next to Dawn made you a filler character. I think its funny that people are still under the assumption that Misty (who was only in the show for 5 years) is any more internal to the franchise than the new characters.

Anycase, Hoenn was pretty much the result of the writers apologizing to the fanbase for how horrible the Johto saga was, and actually making an attempt to get the anime back on track. Not only was everything the fans hated about Johto done away with or improved upon, but that saga has a number of well done episodes, some of the most memorable Pokemon on the group, and actually good group dynamics.

Of course at this point, the saga isn't that important since you can just skip it and watch the most recent arc which is DP, but I thought Hoenn had the best pacing of all the long sagas (compared to Johto and Sinnoh, Hoenn was the shortest and the best paced), and some consistent good (and sometimes great) episodes.
 
Scott85 said:
That is the most ridiculous thing I heard in a long time. Calling May and Max "filler characters," compared to Misty, who was never that important herself?

I wasn't aware being in the anime for nearly 200 episodes, 4 movies, and having the second largest role of Ash's travel companions next to Dawn made you a filler character. I think its funny that people are still under the assumption that Misty (who was only in the show for 5 years) is any more internal to the franchise than the new characters.

Anycase, Hoenn was pretty much the result of the writers apologizing to the fanbase for how horrible the Johto saga was, and actually making an attempt to get the anime back on track. Not only was everything the fans hated about Johto done away with or improved upon, but that saga has a number of well done episodes, some of the most memorable Pokemon on the group, and actually good group dynamics.

Of course at this point, the saga isn't that important since you can just skip it and watch the most recent arc which is DP, but I thought Hoenn had the best pacing of all the long sagas (compared to Johto and Sinnoh, Hoenn was the shortest and the best paced), and some consistent good (and sometimes great) episodes.
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It doesn't change what I think about May and Max feeling like filler characters (thats was supposed to act like main characters) since to me they were bland and uninteresting. Another thing is that May's role wasn't a big as some of you think I mean you actually think Satoshi gave as much of role to May like he doing for Dawn well if thats the case how come May never got a dedicated episode to her debut alone. How about the fact that there are only a few similarities between May and Ash but there are many with him and Dawn like seeing a legendary pokemon at the start of their adventure, having a duet song with the two singing about how close they called "High Touch", ECT man the list just goes on. At the end of day it looks like May was basically an experiment just to pave the way for Dawn seeing as she wanted to become a coordinator from the start with out having second thoughts and is about equal to Ash unlike May who felt like she wasn't even on the same level as Brock.

Look at my previous post about what I think about the advance saga since I thought it was the worst saga to watched through and your the first I met that thought the Johto saga sucked. If looked some things Johto saga introduced cleaning and better proportion animation which was an improvement over season 1 and 2 animation and proportion, and making Misty (at the time) and Brock main characters compared to being just side kicks previously. If you ask me the advance saga had the worst pacing and plot ever to be shown man even the filler episodes felt so boring and uninteresting that I was actually skipping most of them and the characters don't even get me started on that either.
 
If looked some things Johto saga introduced cleaning and better proportion animation which was an improvement over season 1 and 2 animation and proportion, and making Misty (at the time) and Brock main characters compared to being just side kicks previously.
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...? Johto's animation was exactly the same as Kanto/Orange's. The show didn't switch to digital animation until the last 10 eps of Johto, and Hoenn benefited from the digital animation and more flashy attacks/backgrounds/etc.

As for the fillers, most of them focused on either battles or comedy, character development, of Pokemon antics.

And likewise, how did Misty/Brock become more major characters in Johto? They had roughly the same screentime there as in Kanto.
 
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welcome to the forums and good luck on catching up to the rest of us on the anime it's easily do able and getting easier every year as better and bettter boxset become available. i'd recommend not rushing your self you can take your time in watching new episodes and still catch up to us fairly quickly. hoenn and battle frontier are in my opinion the very best regions that are currently completed with the best characters to that date. while sinnoh looks to leave them both completely in the dust with out question my favorite episodes are in sinnoh and it still looks like they could be getting ready to do more. paul, conway, and hunter j are some of the all time best characters ever and we have coming up a couple episodes dedicated to two of them.
 
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