Preview Project Mew

[game3524]

DP and XY are the “golden age” for the online fandom. But Kanto and Orange are the actually “golden age” in terms popularity and cultural relevance.

I am all for using reserves. My hope with Infernape is that Ash realizes he is neglecting all of his Pokémon and not just him and then he starts to use his reserves similarly to how he used them during the BF arc, only on a bigger scale.

 

[Jewel the Quaxly]

he is neglecting all of his Pokémon

To be fair, that's more of an out-of-universe thing than an in-universe thing, and since it's treated okay in-universe, he won't have this big moment of "oh my god I was neglecting all of my pokemon". In-universe, he was not neglecting his pokemon, otherwise it would be brought up. Out of universe, though, the reasoning for Ash leaving his pokemon behind makes sense on a marketing level, but it is one-hundred percent neglect and doesn't have much of an affect on the story.

That being said, if he DOES use reserves, then he ends up ignoring his newest pokemon, which just goes back to the same problem once more. Plus, it'll be difficult balancing all the screen-time-not to mention, the anime would probably only use the popular pokemon that already got plenty of attention regardless so it will go back to the same problem again.

Gotta say, though, they especially screwed this up with Pikachu. Instead of saving Pikachu for important battles, they constantly have him battle, and since he's not getting any character arcs or development, that's all he's there for(also cute moments because ). Plus, that means he loses more, and if Ash always uses Pikachu as his first pokemon in a region, we'll probably get something like him losing by slipping on ice or some very lackluster reason like that. We get it anime, Pikachu's for marketing-literally all you have to do is save him for important battles and have him THERE-it'll actually have a more positive affect than just endlessly spamming Pikachu in almost every battle.

On the Infernape thing, while I realize this is another attempt at marketing, it probably will only return for a few episodes. If it stays longer there is literally no point-and it takes more attention away from Ash's other pokemon who are, gee, I dunno, currently on his roster?!

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Infernape coming back due to being restless sounds good on paper, but then it opens a precedent for other pokemon that would clearly feel the same way, like Buizel, Sceptile, Krookodile, Hawlucha, etc. Why does Infernape get to stretch its legs and not them? Not a good way to go.

 

[Jewel the Quaxly]

Infernape coming back due to being restless sounds good on paper, but then it opens a precedent for other pokemon that would clearly feel the same way, like Buizel, Sceptile, Krookodile, Hawlucha, etc. Why does Infernape get to stretch its legs and not them? Not a good way to go.

Honestly, considering how Journeys does its pokemon, I have yet another reason why I don't want Ash's other pokemon to appear. I feel as if Journeys would ignore the dynamics between Ash's pokemon, though I'm still crossing my fingers on this once since I saw Pikachu hugging Bulbasaur in the trailer(blink and you'll miss it moment) but then again that's one small thing and I feel things like Noivern and Hawlucha's relationship, Buizel's personality, Krookodile's personality, etc will be ignored. Crossing my fingers, though, since I personally feel as if Journeys has actually been improving lately. So, who really knows?

 

[Hidden Mew]

I am all for using reserves. My hope with Infernape is that Ash realizes he is neglecting all of his Pokémon and not just him and then he starts to use his reserves similarly to how he used them during the BF arc, only on a bigger scale.

Saying that Ash is neglecting all of his Pokemon sounds a bit of an exaggeration to me. Not using his reserves more frequently or checking on his Pokemon on-screen more often isn't really being neglectful. They're all taken well care of at Professor Oak's lab and I'd still say that learning moves off-screen implies that do more than just play there as well. I don't think that they'll treat it as being neglectful in large part because leaving his Pokemon at Professor Oak's is a necessity at the end of each series. They aren't going to suddenly make it into a problem, especially when balancing out the screentime for Ash's current and reserve Pokemon would be pretty difficult to do.

If Ash's current team had better development/focus, then I think that they could handle the balance relatively well. I think it generally worked in the Battle Frontier arc because Ash's AG team still got moments to shine and already had a good amount of development during the Hoenn portion of the series. Admittedly, I'm not sure if the fast pace of the Battle Frontier arc worked in favor or against of this method, but I think it generally worked. I'm much less confident that they could balance out the screentime with Ash's Journeys team and his reserves. People are already upset and annoyed with how infrequently Dragonite, Gengar and Dracovish appear. Bringing back older Pokemon will probably make it harder for those Pokemon to get more attention, especially when they'd be more interested in bringing back the popular marketable Pokemon instead of other underdeveloped ones.

 

[Jewel the Quaxly]

Of course, this doesn't mean his pokemon don't miss him...

Spoiler

 

[90'sPokéfan]

Maybe a solution in the middle ground are surprise appearances.

Like Ash keeps using the Pokémon most of the time, but at rare occasions he could bring out a 'secret weapon' he brought over for the mission/battle before him.

I still have fond feeling when Ash, out of the blue, called out Muk in the 4th round of the Indigo League. Or when he called out Muk in the Orange Islands because he had to save Misty, Bulbasaur and Togepi in the sewers. Or Snorlax against Claire in their rematch. This were all surprises because there was no foreshadowing of those choises, but afterwards it did seem logical.

Like, they could have done it with the eating contest. Ash suddenly calling out Snorlax. (It's not like Dragonite had a big part.) And they still could have let Snorlax lose. Like him being disqualified because he started eating food he shouldn't have, him falling asleep, TRio cheating,...

How great would it be if he did some research about opponents in the PWC if he had a chance, and 1 of his 2 (I hope 3 or more) pokémon in the future is a surprise guest.

Or when he and Goh have a mission and Ash takes a fitting Pokémon with him.

However, my guess is he won't rotate his reserves into his party. I think it will be nice to see (most of) them again, and he will command Infernape against Moltres again, but in the future after this episode/arc... His reserves won't play a (big) part in the series.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I don't think we should take that to mean anything (as we only saw seconds of material), that being said, yeah, probably nothing pertaining to the Jessie's Mom lore.

Those usually are the most notable seconds of the material though. If Miyamoto was debuting they’d have shown her in the footage.

Infernape feeling restless at the lab would be forced as hell. Charizard feeling that way would make sense given that it lived at the valley for such a long-time. Even Bayleaf makes more sense given her attachment to Ash. But I wouldn’t buy it with Infernape.

This logic doesn’t work, Charizard can clearly return to the valley anytime it wants, the other Pokémon don’t have his luxury.

 

[Cuttyman010913]

When did Goh get Grookey?

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

When did Goh get Grookey?

In episode 59 about one and a half months ago.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Of course, this doesn't mean his pokemon don't miss him...

Spoiler

View attachment 143522

Poor Krabby.... Ash didn’t use it at all until the league

 

[nickdt]

However, my guess is he won't rotate his reserves into his party. I think it will be nice to see (most of) them again, and he will command Infernape against Moltres again, but in the future after this episode/arc... His reserves won't play a (big) part in the series.

That would be a super big bait by the writers that wouldn't sit well with the majority of the fandom and can only hurt this saga in the long run, when people realize Ash won't use his current mons that aren't named Dragonite and Lucario (Poor Gengar) and his reserves.

 

[Cuttyman010913]

In episode 59 about one and a half months ago.

'kay. He FINALLY gets all three starters lol

 

[swiftgallade46]

That would be a super big bait by the writers that wouldn't sit well with the majority of the fandom and can only hurt this saga in the long run, when people realize Ash won't use his current mons that aren't named Dragonite and Lucario (Poor Gengar) and his reserves.

Not really. His reserves have appeared plenty of times in the past and did not become regular parts of his team sans Johto and Charizard (and Aipom if you want to be technical). This is not any kind of suggestion or indication that they will do anything but appear in the episode. You’re welcome to believe otherwise, but I wouldn’t call that a safe thing to do.

 

[nickdt]

His reserves have appeared plenty of times in the past.

Actually, they haven't. Last time they appeared was in Sinnoh. But the Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos teams haven't appeared since their respective Saga's, Glalie was done dirty in the Battle Frontier and the Sinnoh league and Kingler and Snorlax were done dirty in the Kanto 2-parter in Alola. Even if Tauros wouldn't have appaered in Alola, it at least was referenced.

 

[swiftgallade46]

Actually, they haven't. Last time they appeared was in Sinnoh. But the Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos teams haven't appeared since their respective Saga's, Glalie was done dirty in the Battle Frontier and the Sinnoh league and Kingler and Snorlax were done dirty in the Kanto 2-parter in Alola. Even if Tauros wouldn't have appaered in Alola, it at least was referenced.

It happened a while ago, yes, but it still happened plenty. In the Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh leagues, the Battle Frontier, when Ash returned in Unova, when he returned briefly in Alola, and when he returned to Alola in JN. And each and every time, they were either used for a battle or two, or shown in a cute reunion with Ash and that was it. Other than the exceptions I mentioned (plus Phanpy I forgot) they never became mainstays. At best we had BF where he regularly used his reserves, but even then they didn’t do much outside of battle, most of them were used only once, and the habit of doing so was established from the beginning of the saga unlike JN.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Honestly, while Ash's reserves have appeared, we haven't had a time where we've seen Ash's reserves in this large of a scale in a while, which was in Unova. When he returned to Kanto in SuMo, we only saw Bulbasaur, those 30 Tauros, Squirtle, Totodile, and Corphish. We did get to see his Alolan team in this series, though in the upcoming episode, we're seeing his reserves on a much bigger scale. While some are missing from the shot, its likely we're gonna get to see everyone.

 

[nickdt]

Honestly, while Ash's reserves have appeared, we haven't had a time where we've seen Ash's reserves in this large of a scale in a while, which was in Unova. When he returned to Kanto in SuMo, we only saw Bulbasaur, those 30 Tauros, Squirtle, Totodile, and Corphish. We did get to see his Alolan team in this series, though in the upcoming episode, we're seeing his reserves on a much bigger scale. While some are missing from the shot, its likely we're gonna get to see everyone.

We saw Muk as well and a shot of the Squirtle Squad.

 

[Vando97]

Well...

 

[Jewel the Quaxly]

Are we sure about that? I mean, the opening also shows Divi and Mulpi so...unless the handyman guys are going to appear after their one filler, I don't think we can go off of that.