Preview XY042: Team Battle! Competing for the Hall of Fame!!

[Playerking]

XY042: Team Battle! Competing for the Hall of Fame!
Airs: September 4

Spoiler

 

[Dogasu]

Where are you getting the title and airdate?

Here's what the image you provided says:

Airs Sepember 4th

Upper Right
"Team Battle!
The Battle to Determine who will enter the Hall of Fame!!

The Pokemon Summer Camp has finally reached its climax! As Satoshi and the others are involved in a Triple Battle, the Rocket-Dan close in undetected."

Below the picture of the Kanto Starters
"Zenigame, Hitokage, and Fushigidane vs. Pikachu, Fokko, and Harimaron! It's a full throttle battle!"

Bottom Half
"Save the three pokemon captured by the Rocket-Dan!!
A showdown against the Rocket-Dan to save Sana's and the others' precious partners. This is where they show the results of the training they've been doing at camp!!"

 

[Ampharos King]

At least this is the first real Triple Battle in the series; the battle in BW053 was training and didn't really count.

And Ash just had to use Pikachu, and not Froakie, here. What could have been a Kalos vs. Kanto starter triple battle was preempted for Pikachu.

 

[Karamazov]

Would have preferred it if Ash used Froakie here, for the parallel to the other group's starters. Oh well, the yellow rat, which we see every time we look at the screen, is also good.

 

[UxieLover1994]

What do you expect with signature Pokémon? Or has Ash returned to the idiot protagonist status he was in Best Wishes? On the other hand, it looks like Serena is finally gonna do some serious battles that are not against Team Rocket... provided that the Kanto starters belong to other trainers.

 

[Alola]

Alright! What a perfect way to end the mini-arc!

~Serena finally gets to participate in an official, substantial Trainer battle (if she doesn't in the prior episodes).
~We appear to finally get an actual, substantial Triple Battle. It's about time! And given the battles we've received in XY so far, I'm sure this one won't disappoint.
~Fennekin finally gets to battle! And more Kanto starter screentime!
~Tierno, Shauna, Trevor!

I am not pleased however, as is everyone, that Pikachu is being used rather than Froakie. It gets enough screen time as is (and is also scheduled to win the bread for Ash against Korrina (ughhhh) ). I was really looking forward to a Starter vs Starter battle.

Well, you can't win them all.

 

[Darth Darkrai]

Ok, I wonder how they will handle this but I'm Excited to see what's going to be Happening here.

 

[Chiplet]

Ugh, this was exactly the thing I was one day hoping to see back in the BW days for Ash, Iris and Cilan, but never got it. I am really excited to see that we'll it here though, and calling it Team Battle would be really fitting in replacement of Triple Battle, as there in fact are one trainer per Pokémon. Ash and Co. should lose this though, as Serena never has participated in any official battles, but I very much doubt that will actually happen.

With Team Rocket apparently approaching them, I can see the battle getting stopped in the middle of it, only to resume later with Ash possibly replacing Pikachu with Froakie as Froakie is seen in the bottom images along with Fennekin, though on the other hand I'd also understand if the writers decided not to include him as they maybe don't want to display any starters stronger than the others.

Regardless, I'm excited for this episode as I've been waiting for this kind of battle ever since Best Wishes!, though I do think it's a shame that Bonnie can't be included as this leaves one of the gang's member as an outcast from this whole ''team experience''.

 

[dman_dustin]

Could someone honestly ask someone who works for the anime, why Ash even has other Pokemon when all Ash ever uses is Pikachu?

I mean Pikachu is apparently the star for three gyms in a row, and for the most part anything that Pikachu can be used in battle for, Pikachu is used. Pikachu can't be used for sky battles, so it took a break there, and I'm honestly surprised Ash even used Froakie against Hawlucha.

I honestly just can't see any point, why Pikachu is being used all the time, I don't care if it's Ash strongest/signature Pokemon, at this point it's just beyond stupid. Next thing you know Ash is going to only use Pikachu against a ground type trainer. And Ash is going to be completely mystified why Pikachu's electric type attacks aren't working.

I mean I honestly don't expect Kalos's team to be very strong. I mean if you only use one Pokemon all the time, how can your other Pokemon get stronger? This is what happened in Unova, and the writers didn't learn their lesson about favoritism (which sure as hell didn't help Oshawott any). I don't care if Pikachu is used more than anyone else. What I don't like is Pikachu being used 95% of the time in any and everything except for battles it can't participate in, or the random battle it's not used in.

Besides that little rant, good to see Serena battling.

 

[WatcherMark]

I am not pleased however, as is everyone, that Pikachu is being used rather than Froakie. It gets enough screen time as is (and is also scheduled to win the bread for Ash against Korrina (ughhhh) ). I was really looking forward to a Starter vs Starter battle.

To be fair, technically all six trainers are using their starters in this battle.

 

[garrison-san]

I am not pleased however, as is everyone, that Pikachu is being used rather than Froakie. It gets enough screen time as is (and is also scheduled to win the bread for Ash against Korrina (ughhhh) ). I was really looking forward to a Starter vs Starter battle.

To be fair, technically all six trainers are using their starters in this battle.

I don't think that quite works - Chespin wasn't Clemont's starter.

 

[UxieLover1994]

Another example of the anime only "caring" for Ash, Pikachu and Team Rocket, and nobody else. If we take Pikachu's powers into levels, then Ash would not really need to catch any other Pokémon or worry about fighting Julius in Traverse Town, as the Mouse Pokémon would be at an estimated level 200.

But as per traditional predictions, Team Rocket will interput this battle to steal them all, and should it resume, either Ash and co. lose or Pikachu dominates everything like always.

 

[JacobYBM]

Could someone honestly ask someone who works for the anime, why Ash even has other Pokemon when all Ash ever uses is Pikachu?

I mean Pikachu is apparently the star for three gyms in a row, and for the most part anything that Pikachu can be used in battle for, Pikachu is used. Pikachu can't be used for sky battles, so it took a break there, and I'm honestly surprised Ash even used Froakie against Hawlucha.

I honestly just can't see any point, why Pikachu is being used all the time, I don't care if it's Ash strongest/signature Pokemon, at this point it's just beyond stupid. Next thing you know Ash is going to only use Pikachu against a ground type trainer. And Ash is going to be completely mystified why Pikachu's electric type attacks aren't working.

I mean I honestly don't expect Kalos's team to be very strong. I mean if you only use one Pokemon all the time, how can your other Pokemon get stronger? This is what happened in Unova, and the writers didn't learn their lesson about favoritism (which sure as hell didn't help Oshawott any). I don't care if Pikachu is used more than anyone else. What I don't like is Pikachu being used 95% of the time in any and everything except for battles it can't participate in, or the random battle it's not used in.

Besides that little rant, good to see Serena battling.

He uses them, just not when you want him to use them.

Pikachuu is the face of the franchise, therefore he is going to be used in important battles. This isn't something 'the writers' decide, this is something the higher-ups decide. The head writer is still Tomioka Atsuhiro, the man who gave us Diamond & Pearl's wonderful battles and rivalries.

Satoshi's Isshu Pokemon were not weak because they were rarely used, they were weak because it was decided they would be. They're fictional characters, they are not weak because they were not used enough, they are weak because the story was specifically written to make them weak. Fictional characters don't just gain strength on their own, after all.

Placing that aside, his Pokemon don't have to be featured all the time to be strong. An undefined amount of time occurs off screen, plenty for them to train and grow stronger. The same thing happened in the Isshu League with Waruvial who learned Aerial Ace.

 

[dman_dustin]

He uses them, just not when you want him to use them.

Fletchling's last battle was against Grant. Froakie was used to battle against Hawlucha but its last battle before then was against Grant. Before that Fletchling was used against Viola, while Froakie's previous battle was against Sanpei. Before that Froakie got Slyveon, and Fletchling didn't get anything prior. But Pikachu battled Bunnelby, battled Viola, battled the Princess, in the Battle Chateau, against Korinna (of the episodes we've already had, including the gym battle with Korinna), against Grant, against Tierno, Shauna, Trevor. And I'm sure there were many other battles Pikachu was in (official against other trainers that I missed)

Pikachuu is the face of the franchise, therefore he is going to be used in important battles. This isn't something 'the writers' decide, this is something the higher-ups decide. The head writer is still Tomioka Atsuhiro, the man who gave us Diamond & Pearl's wonderful battles and rivalries.

I didn't mention the writers at all, I'm calling out everyone who works in the anime on this one.

Satoshi's Isshu Pokemon were not weak because they were rarely used, they were weak because it was decided they would be. They're fictional characters, they are not weak because they were not used enough, they are weak because the story was specifically written to make them weak. Fictional characters don't just gain strength on their own, after all.

You missed my point, they were written to be weak because they were hardly used. Oshawott was consistently weak because it was written to lose in every battle it had participated in, and even when the character got development, that development was ignored just for it to lose as usual, none of the stories written for it revolved around it getting stronger. And his other Pokemon were written to be weak because Ash mostly ignored them. You can't ignore the fact that the writers did this to themselves. The writers and everyone chose to ignore the Pokemon, and they chose to write them as weak as a result of them being used. I'm not ignoring the writers here, I'm lambasting them. Ash will never be a Pokemon master because Ash relies too much on Pikachu resulting in the writers messed up writing of his other Pokemon.

I mean look at the battle with Elesa, the worst gym battle in the Unova league. Ash somehow was written to be mentally challenged because he CHOSE not to use Pikachu, and then Pikachu was written to be a bratty intolerable creature throwing a temper tantrum and all that resulted in was Ash ending up using Pikachu anyway. All of that episode was completely out of character for Ash. Ash would never rely on only one Pokemon, and only bring in Palpitoad and Pikachu to the gym, refusing to even use Pikachu until the end. He sure as hell wouldn't forget Snivy was a female, or that Emolga has an advantage, and he sure as hell wouldn't use Snivy simply because it had attract even knowing from countless episodes before that attract only works on the opposite gender and wouldn't
"forget". The whole episode was written so badly that it was laughable (with the exception of Palpitoad vs Zebstrika), all simply because Ash chose NOT to use Pikachu and Ash isn't allowed not TO USE Pikachu.

The writers did this to themselves, just like they're doing it to his Kalos Pokemon. Fletchling got a milestone marker more so than any of his base stage bird Pokemon by just beating Viola's Surskit, but then it fell to obscurity not really even be used properly and look its evolving, and the only remarkable thing Fletchling ever did was defeat a gym leader's Pokemon.

Froakie hasn't had any decent battles at all (since most of them just end in losses), and I'm not sure how to qualify its battle against Grant's Onix, I mean sure it won, but I'm not sure HOW impressive you want to consider it seeing as how Onix is 4x weak against Froakie but I guess Froakie beating Onix was more impressive than Fletchling beating a Surskit even ignoring its a first for his base stage Pokemon before they evolve.

Placing that aside, his Pokemon don't have to be featured all the time to be strong. An undefined amount of time occurs off screen, plenty for them to train and grow stronger. The same thing happened in the Isshu League with Waruvial who learned Aerial Ace.

I don't care about moves learned off screen, I care solely about battles (evolutions). And the lack of a Pokemon battles is what causes me not care about a certain Pokemon.

Look like I said, I don't care that Pikachu is being used, because it's going to be used whether or like it or not. What I am pissed about is that they are using Pikachu like it's going to tragically die or get replaced. It's not hard to grasp the concept that Pikachu will always be on the show so long as Ash is, it will always get battles, it will always get glory.

No one who works on the anime realizes that his other Pokemon DO NOT have the same luxury. And as a result they are treated like crap. I mean look at Diamond and Pearl, in terms of Pokemon character development, that had the best character development for his Pokemon of ANY series. And Infernape more so than anyone else.

But notice, how not since then, we haven't even got anything close to that style of writing. Why? Because Ash used his OTHER Pokemon, and didn't rely on Pikachu so much, I mean sure Pikachu still got overexposure, and Torterra did get screwed over in the end, but that's to be expected, because no matter what series, one will always be treated like crap, it's inevitable, every series has that "ONE" Pokemon.

But that's the problem, it's everyone who works on the anime's fault (at least the writers and executive producers). Why? Because a Pokemon can ONLY be as well thought out as effort is thrust upon said character. You can't honestly expect a Pokemon to be a decently portrayed Pokemon, if for the most part you treat it like crap, especially if one Pokemon gets all the glory.

There is literally no excuse for Pikachu being overused, NONE, because it will always be used, always get battles, I'm pretty sure Pikachu's battle absence is not going to cause some catastrophic collapse in the world where anyone will cry out "Why didn't Ash continue to keep using Pikachu" before the Universe collapses and everyone dies. I wish the writers and executive producers would stop acting like it would. At least for awhile.

At this rate Pikachu is going to be used IN every single gym battle, likely starring more than letting someone else take the glory and it's going to be more than pointless. I don't watch the anime for Pikachu, this isn't called the Pikachu show. It's called "Pokemon" and everyone involved in the anime fails to realize that.

Pikachu will always be the mascot, Pikachu will always get over-glorified, always overused, always be Ash's favored and strongest Pokemon but letting other Pokemon get some focus, wouldn't kill anyone.

 

[Johtohfiller]

Wow, so glad to see an official triple battle with the XY crew. I've been hoping for this; it's a logical move considering how they play off each other so well. Pity about the Pikaspam though (at least give it Volt Tackle back; Electro Ball is only good when it's used as something other than a projectile attack), but at least Froakie is getting some kind of action based on those pics.

 

[Nicolas721]

I'm actually more upset about Team Rocket being here, because they will likely interrupt the battle., and we will end up getting two small and rushed battles. I wouldn't have high hopes for this episode...

And who knows, maybe the reason because the writers are overusing Pikachu is because Ash will overuse Charizard at the league, like in Johto?

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

First of all, I am disappointed that Ash isn't using Froakie. It could've been Kalos starters vs Kanto starters. Nope! He has to use Pikachu AGAIN. Seriously they're overusing him this series so far. Pikachu even seems like he's gonna get Ash the Rumble Badge....Second of all, I'm not too thrilled that Team Rocket is being included. I can see them interrupting the battle here and having no victor in the end.

 

[WatcherMark]

I am not pleased however, as is everyone, that Pikachu is being used rather than Froakie. It gets enough screen time as is (and is also scheduled to win the bread for Ash against Korrina (ughhhh) ). I was really looking forward to a Starter vs Starter battle.

To be fair, technically all six trainers are using their starters in this battle.

I don't think that quite works - Chespin wasn't Clemont's starter.

Oh crap, you're right.

I'll let myself out.

 

[JacobYBM]

You missed my point, they were written to be weak because they were hardly used.

I understood your point perfectly, your point is simply based on a false assumption. "Satoshi used his non-Pikachuu members scarcely" is one fact. "Satoshi's non-Pikachuu members are weak" is an entirely separate fact. The thought process by the decision makers was not "we have not used these Pokémon often, so we will make them weak" it was "we will focus on Pikachuu for battles, have Satoshi's other Pokemon weak and used scarcely, and make Satoshi an embarrassment." Mijumaru being an uncoordinated (but cute!) mess in battles isn't just a natural phenomenon, it's somebody with the power to make it happen saying "do it that way." I have a hard time believing Series Director Sutou Norihiko and Series Organizer Atsuhiro Tomioka would flush down the drain the hard work of they put into Diamond & Pearl by choice.

Sutou and Tomioka also held both of those positions for Diamond & Pearl, a series where nearly all of the episodes with intelligent battling were written by Tomioka himself (Tomioka did the same often even before he took on the head writer role). Best Wishes roles around and Tomioka suddenly stops writing many scripts himself, he doesn't even write for the Isshu League despite writing almost all of the Shin'ou League himself. Yajima Tetsuo has taken over the role of series director for XY and Tomioka is still the man responsible for series organization. The battles have all increased in quality for XY, even without Tomioka writing many scripts personally. I'm thinking this is indicative of a change in producer between these three series, but I can't say for sure without seeing a credible translation of main staff credits for all three to confirm. Sutou leaving the role of series director could be a result of fatigue, but I also can't help but wonder if he was fed up with what happened to Best Wishes.

Well, that sure turned away from the original topic quickly.

 

[UxieLover1994]

There is literally no excuse for Pikachu being overused, NONE, because it will always be used, always get battles, I'm pretty sure Pikachu's battle absence is not going to cause some catastrophic collapse in the world where anyone will cry out "Why didn't Ash continue to keep using Pikachu" before the Universe collapses and everyone dies. I wish the writers and executive producers would stop acting like it would. At least for awhile.

At this rate Pikachu is going to be used IN every single gym battle, likely starring more than letting someone else take the glory and it's going to be more than pointless. I don't watch the anime for Pikachu, this isn't called the Pikachu show. It's called "Pokémon" and everyone involved in the anime fails to realize that.

Pikachu will always be the mascot, Pikachu will always get over-glorified, always overused, always be Ash's favored and strongest Pokémon but letting other Pokémon get some focus, wouldn't kill anyone.

The writers just don't care for anyone over the age of 10. When you compare the favorite Pokémon between age groups, those underneath the age of 10 are far more likely to say Pikachu and/or Meowth, and those over are more likely to say Charizard, Mewtwo, Zekrom and/or Greninja. The writers taylor to mostly children, and ignore the fans, or pretend that Pikachu and Meowth are everyone's favorite Pokémon, when in reality, they are among the most hated.

If Pikachu continues to steal the spotlight, then they should change the name of the anime to "Ash and Pikachu", as this almost has nothing to do with Pokémon, anymore. Keep this up, and he can easily take down all legendaries plus Sephiroth, Kurt Zisa, the Phantom, the data replicas of Organization XIII (except Lexaeus... but then again...), the Lingering Will, Young Xehanort, the Vanitas Remnant and Julius in just one Thunderbolt, all at the same time!