The Best way to learn a new move?

[L-05308]

How do you like to see the main characters Pokemon learn new moves? I'll explain the question further...

First off, we have learning the move offscreen, Stunfisk's Scald, Sceptile's Leaf Storm, etc. As some of you may know, I'm not a fan of Pokemon on the current main cast getting move offsecreen, though I like that Noctowl and Heracross came to the Sinnoh leauge with 3 new moves each.

Secondly, training or in a battle and the move just happens. For example, Infernape's Flare Blitz or Piloswine's AncientPower. This kind often happens after an evolution like Staraptor's Close Combat or Swadloon's Energy Ball.

Its kinda cute when they learn the move to please their trainer or concer a dier situation out of determination like Carnivine's Vine Whip.

I like it when Ash decides he wants to teach a move and they work on it together. Examples are Swellow's Aerial Ace, Treecko's Bullet Seed and Buizel's Ice Punch. Somtimes this lasts longer than one episode.

Another method I like is when the Pokemon learns the move randomly but then has to work to perfect it. Like Gible's Draco Meteor, Oshawott's Aqua Jet and currently Scraggy's Focus Blast.

Those last two provide a story arc for that Pokemon and give them nice development. Somtimes they are combined. For example Ash decided he wanted Turtwig to learn Energy Ball, which took a couple episodes ande after Turtwig learned the move he spent more episodes learning to target it and perfecting it. Same with Pikachu's Iron Tail.

How do you like it? Do you have different opinions depending on who's Pokemon it is?

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

This thread seriously needs more attention.

I pretty much agree with everything you said really, though:

Learning the move offscreen: This is only good if Pokémon got shit treatment throughout the series and the battle is it's only time to shine(such was the case with Johto reserves except Heracross who already got some screentime priorly, and is pretty much the case with Satoshi's reserves and Dent's Pokémon) OR the move barely saves it(Pochama's Hydro Pump didn't really help it much, and Wakasyamo's Overheat didn't give it any victory, that was Sky Uppercut, Overheat simply bought it time.)

Training or in a battle and the move just happens: While learning a move out of blue while training is fine(because that's exactly what happens with level up), in a battle, it is only acceptable if these cases or;

Learning after evolution: This is a case I am sort of meh about it. But it is acceptable, especially if the Pokémon does learn the move right after evolution(Moukazaru and Mukuhawk learn Mach Punch and Close Combat at the level they evolve, for example), which is a neat way to see that writers do their homeworks.

They learn the move to please their trainer or concer a dier situation out of determination: This is something I am okay with to a degree, as long as it is not in a battle, thus doesn't cheapen the victory. I am sort of iffy with the Doryuz's case, I kind of preferred if it was handled in a bit more episodes, surprisingly enough, rather than being crammed into Langley's debut, but it didn't gave it the victory, so it really didn't cheapen his victory.

Character decides he/she wants to teach a move and they work on it together: Possibly one of my favourite ways, if done correctly(case in point, DP159, it didn't lag the episode, it wasn't lagged by other stuff, it was the main focus, it didn't move on to other episodes, and was shown off with a decent battle). Reiji and Mukuhawk teaching Mukubird Brave Bird was well done too. Hikari's contest combinations were nice, but it would be nice to see those combinations not perfected against Urara and perfected in the episodes they were created. It would be nicer if she got other people's help, or got more episodes for other combinations, or created more than one combinations in one episode(DP155 doesn't count, while it showed the ground work for Hikari's appeal in DP161 as Mimirol was shown freezing Pochama's bubbles, it was like, one second or so). Or more diverse ones than "small Pokémon in ice hamster ball" .

The Pokemon learns the move randomly but then has to work to perfect it: This is neat if done once or twice in a saga. Three or more start lagging the series and the Pokémon however, unless the gap between learning and mastering is kept short.

My absolute favourite is however:

Pokémon learns the move from seeing another Pokémon: Probably the neatest of the ways, and one that needs to be utilised more oftenly. This works both as combined with other ways(case in point, Brave Bird, Enegy Ball), but works most wonderfully if it came through Pokémon-Pokémon interactions, which is why I think the way Zuruggu learned Hi Jump Kick was brilliant, especially since Zuruzukin was a wild one, not a trainer owned one, but still had nice interactions and personality traits.