• Our spoiler embargo for the non-DLC content for Pokémon Legends: Z-A is now lifted! Feel free to discuss the game freely across the forums without the need of spoiler tabs, and use content from the game within your profiles!

What do you think of Pokemon Showcases?

What do you think of Pokémon Showcases?

  • I love them.

    Votes: 2 6.7%

  • I can't stop watching them.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I like them.

    Votes: 5 16.7%

  • I ignore them/don't care.

    Votes: 10 33.3%

  • I don't like them.

    Votes: 9 30.0%

  • I hate them.

    Votes: 5 16.7%
  • Total voters
    30
jnsharley13

jnsharley13

Active Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2015
Messages
121
Reaction score
20
Pronouns
  1. She/Her
  2. He/Him
  3. They/Them
  4. It/Its
  5. Any
Hopefully this turns out better than the first thread.

Anyways, I think they're bad, sexist (they wouldn't be as bad if they allowed boys), and boring. I much prefer Pokémon Contests.

I also like Pokémon Musicals and going to the casino, but that's in-game.

So.... discuss, I guess...
 
They should've renamed it Popularity contests. I liked the concepts for the Pokemon Showcase, but they wasted it so badly by poorly handling the balance of Serena and her rivals. I wanted to see Musashi get her other Keys. There wasn't even a single reference to HOW, when, or WHERE she got them.

Pokemon Contests are preferably better because the judges are the ones voting, and it also depends more on skill then luck. Like I've said earlier, it's a Popularity Contest because:
Serena has....
Satoshi
Citron
Eureka
That weird dancing guy
Her mum

While the other rivals don't really have much with them.

They killed it with the visuals they did though. They were NOICE.

Serena winning was also made too obvious because........

SONANSU!
 
Pokemon Showcases seemed nice at first, until it became very clear that they were just popularity contests and I think keeping males out of it did help people form the "Pokemon Showcases are sexist" argument. While I loved seeing the performances, it suffered from being a popularity contest that proves you needed more luck than skill.
 
They seemed like a decent idea at first, but then were very poorly executed, with appearance/popularity taking priority over actual talent or creativity, often lame themes, and Serena winning her keys by essentially doing the same thing over and over and over again. And when she lost, it wasn't because the competition did better than her, but because of some accident or mistake. Not to mention about how the problems she had were making mountains of molehills.
Also, the Showcase rivals were only as good as the plot required it, winning keys offscreen--quickly at that--while often being total chumps when we saw them (right, Nini?)

The worst part is that they had such great animation, which could've/should've went to something more significant and deeper :(

I'd like to fair/nice and say that the real life Japanese "Idol" shows they're based on didn't mix well with Pocket Monsters or that just wasn't a good fit, but poorly handled story is still poor handled :mad:
 
Last edited:
The idea of Showcases definitely wasn't doomed from the very beginning and I have to admit that Serena's first win was beautiful. The problems started when they just did it a few more times with little variation outside of evolutions and the addition of Eevee. Point being, even when we take the "popularity contest" connotations out of this, it was basically the same routine from Serena. Wonderful at Laverre, tiresome by Fleurrh. At least May and Dawn mixed things up in contests.

It's such a shame, really. I do feel that they could have been far better executed.
 
I'd like to say that Showcases were a good concept that were poorly executed, but truth be told, I don't think that there was a lot going for Showcases to begin with. With constantly changing first rounds and a performance round, there wasn't a whole lot to make them more interesting. The performances could have been at least more creative and interesting than they turned out to be, but that would probably just make Showcases pretty to watch and nothing else.

While having a different first round every time gave them something different to do, none of them were particularly good and hardly any of them used the Pokemon in a good way. Plus, the first rounds always emphasized more traditionally feminine traits/interests like cooking or fashion. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with cooking or fashion of course, but when those are used to help determine who can become Kalos Queen, it does make them look more like beauty/popularity contests, especially when the winners are determined by the audience and it's a girl only competition. While I'm not sure if it was intended, it does kind of give off a sexist kind of vibe to the competition, or at the very least feels like a step backwards when the franchise has never had any gender specific goal beforehand.

The problem wasn't so much that they focused on traditionally feminine traits and beauty. The problem was that Showcases were boring as dirt. Even the performances always made me think of glorified Contest appeals. To be fair, they weren't bad glorified Contest appeals, but there weren't a lot of noteworthy performances. In retrospect, it's kind of weird that Serena didn't teach her Pokemon new attacks more often, especially Pancham. It would have provided something different to do with her performances instead of using Flame Thrower/Fire Blast and Dark Pulse all the time. Sylveon added something new at least, but this seems like it could have been something done throughout the journey instead and it could have shown more on-screen training for her Pokemon too. They weren't really presented in a way that could make me feel invested or engaged with the competition. Showcases were basically something that could have worked as a one episode kind of competition stretched out into a series long goal.

One major issue that I didn't really pick up too much until I saw Serena's third Princess Key victory was the lack of any huge challenges for her. Sure, she had rivals, but none of them were really challenging. Shauna, despite introducing Serena to the concept of Showcases, was defeated when she won her second Princess Key, Miette was brought back just to tease Serena about her crush, I don't know why Nini was brought back instead of staying a character of the day and Amelia was presented as this hometown favorite who had the skills to back it up in the second round only for Serena to win because main character status despite Amelia having a more polished and well down performance. There is Jessie, but I don't know if she really qualifies as a rival too much, even with beating Serena just once. Either way, she had no huge challenges during her Showcase journey. Most of the conflict came in the form of falling down on and off stage, which is pretty weak in my opinion.

To be fair, Ash didn't have a lot of rivals that challenged him for most of XY, but he can make that work because it's still a challenge to just get a Gym badge. With the way Showcases have been presented in the show, it gives me the impression that anyone popular enough with the masses could easily get three Princess Keys. Perhaps they wouldn't be Kalos Queen material, but getting the keys themselves looks pretty darn easy, especially when three is a pretty small number to begin with. Not only are Showcases boring to watch, but they lack conflict, tension and actual skills among the performers to make it look like they've made a major accomplishment.

I do like the impact Showcases have had on Serena. She has had a lot of good character moments and development due to her determination for Showcases. That has made her more likable and interesting to me before she became a Performer, but the goal itself is still pretty terrible. Even if it was executed in a better fashion, I don't think I'd be that much more into it. At this point, I'm still praying for Contests to return and for Showcases to stay Kalos exclusive.
 
I loved them. I thought they were a very interesting concept that honestly deserved more focus. I really wish they would have made it so Performers needed more than 3 keys to get to Master Class, because the small number kind of made the goal pretty short lived.
 
Discount Contests.

They're more or less beauty pageants, and aren't particularly interesting to me. I preferred the way that the Contests (particularly in Sinnoh) merged creativity and beauty with action and Pokemon training.
 
I watched the first Tripokalon and then did not ever fully watch through another one. It's just so tedious. Watching the pokemon dance around and create sparkles in incredibly stupid outfits is just not my cup of tea. I seriously hope this goal never returns again.
 
I believe the Showcases were an interesting concept that could have worked well if more work was put into them. I was actually happy to see a goal that involved Pokemon, but not battling. There are a lot of goals you can have with Pokemon, and I want the franchise to explore this in the future. Unfortunately, the overall execution of the Showcases was pretty poor.

The Pokemon franchise has always encouraged both boys and girls to enjoy playing the games and watching the anime. Having a gender specific competition was a questionable decision. Nobody has issues with Contests despite them having to do with "beauty". We've had a lot of amazing male Coordinators. Another issue is that Showcases lacked proper tension and suspense, which made them much less exciting to watch than Contests or Gym Battles. Serena's struggles didn't come from her inability surpass her rivals, but from miscellaneous accidents. This not only made her rivals seem weak and non-threatening, but made it seem like Serena didn't really learn anything from them.

Serena's goal started pretty late, which limited the number of Showcases they could include. This in turn made the goal rather short and predictable, and the writers didn't have enough room for losses from which Serena is supposed to learn. All things considered, it felt like she breezed through the Showcases without facing a lot of trouble. It definitely doesn't help that the Showcases are more or less popularity contests as well, in which your appeal and ability to attract viewers matters more than the effort you put into making creative performances.

This leads me to another point; Serena's performance routines became a little dull. I don't mind her having only three Pokemon, but if her goal had started earlier, maybe she could have caught four or five Pokemon. Contests appeals were interesting because May, Dawn and their rivals would catch new Pokemon from time to time so we would see new combinations. Not to mention being able to execute a successful performance with five or six Pokemon would be really something. When Showcases were first introduced, I was hoping the Master class would be all about amazing performances with a full team of Pokemon. Now, that's something the Kalos Queen should be able to pull off.

To sum up; Showcases were a concept with potential, but the execution failed. I still like Serena and her character development, but her goal was really disappointing and she deserved better. I hope Showcases remain a Kalos thing, and the writers will do a better job with the next female's goal.
 
I think that three Pokemon works for Serena's role in the series. Four could have worked, but anything beyond that might have been too difficult to pull off well enough. It could have given some more variety to her performances, but they could have faded into the background too. Giving some more moves to her Pokemon would have been a good compromise. I'm not sure if Braixen ever did anything besides use Fire moves and dance around.

It would have been nice for Serena to lose without one of her Pokemon falling down too. Putting on a good performance and just not being as appealing to the audience would have provided a bit more of a realistic touch to what basically is a Pokemon popularity contest and it could have forced her into coming up with a significantly different routine too.
 
Hidden Mew perfectly summed up how I feel about Showcases as well. One of my biggest complaints is that Serena did very little for like 40 episodes with the writers teasing some possible goals like Poké Puff baking and Rhyhorn riding and then all of a sudden Showcases were introduced out of thin air. It's pretty obvious to me the writers didn't really know what to do with Serena for a long time and when they did, they only had like 70 episodes left to execute her goal. With the result being a poorly executed, rushed mess. The rivals ended up being bland as hell and they didn't even bother to animate two short scenes to show Jessie winning her final two Keys. Which is kind of insulting to that character and her fans, since I'm sure many fans care about her.
Hidden Mew said:
The way Showcases have been presented in the show, it gives me the impression that anyone popular enough with the masses could easily get three Princess Keys. Perhaps they wouldn't be Kalos Queen material, but getting the keys themselves looks pretty darn easy, especially when three is a pretty small number to begin with. Not only are Showcases boring to watch, but they lack conflict, tension and actual skills among the performers to make it look like they've made a major accomplishment.
Click to expand...
Besides this, nearly all background Performers from the Showcases we had seen were in the Master Class. Which made qualifying for the Master Class seem like an even bigger joke.
 
Decent idea poorly executed. They could have been so much more if the writers actually tried.

Ultimately, they became more of a tool to facilitate Serena's development rather than a legit, well-developed competition that treats all characters fairly. Lack of superior rivals also didn't help. Not to mention the way they screwed up the Master Class, the final competition that didn't even feel like the grand finale but merely another Showcase.
 
I thought they were alright but they definitely could have been done better. But I would have really disliked them had I been an actual audience member in the show's universe. Everything that made them interesting-- from music, to complex animation/camera angles, to quick editing-- would be lost on the in-universe audience and they'd just be watching a quick 20-30 second dance. That's not even starting on the baking segments. The quiz show would probably have been the only interesting part about them to the crowd but that hardly makes up for the rest.
 
I too wish that they executed showcases better. To be honest, to me it kind of feels like Showcases had a rushed development. Like the writers realized "Man, we should probably give Serena something to do, it's been like 40 episodes." and scribbled out the outline for showcases. I do not hate them and I've enjoyed some of the performances, I just wish that if anything they had been more creative with the performances. I still am glad showcases exist however, because Serena definitely needed something to work towards.

Hopefully next gen the games will have a proper side quest like contests that the anime writers can work from. Or that they bring just bring back contests since Sun and Moon are supposed to bring all games together or whatever the line was.

(also I'm totally just bitter the writers created that elemental monkey performer and then like exclusively showed her from behind in the background of scenes and in the Fleurrh Showcase she was obviously performing and backstage but was never even shown in any of the rounds)
 
it just doesn't feel very thought out to me it's the poor mans version of contests which are far better so why not bring them back instead
 
Please note: The thread is from 9 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom