Donkarasu
Dodgemaster
Still here, but also not here.
Posts: 4,649 
|
Post by Donkarasu on Oct 8, 2016 17:51:27 GMT -4
And still to this day a lot of the people say the Unova League is the wors-SECOND WORST, THAT'S NOW THE KALOS LEAGUE, HAHAHAHA!
Actually I don't give a fuck how a Pokémon League goes in the anime, because I never really cared for the Pokémon Leagues in general.
But I will say this scatterbrained moment of Cameron's wasn't needed, they could have found a way to make him win with five Pokémon without it.
Cameron was there when they announced the quarter-final round would be 6 on 6, but as he is terrible with numbers, he easily forgot about that.
My idea for this: have his Hydreigon defeat three of Ash's Pokémon. Two wins was actually pretty disappointing for such a hyped "secret weapon".
Speaking of which: I want to know how he managed to train a Pokémon known for its brutal nature so damn well. ...What, he's gone? Well fuck that.
You don't have someone hype up a Pokémon and then just have it appear for a short time without giving any back-story on how he got and trained it.
I am glad Aotrs isn't upset at Cameron, but the writers for what happened. Finally, someone who is aware that HE'S A FUCKING FICTIONAL CHARACTER.
|
|
frewd
Junior Dodger
Posts: 26 
|
Post by frewd on Oct 9, 2016 1:43:17 GMT -4
Nope, Unova still worse, because Kalos not that bad.
|
|
Donkarasu
Dodgemaster
Still here, but also not here.
Posts: 4,649
|
Post by Donkarasu on Oct 9, 2016 5:21:19 GMT -4
So in response to SeriousJupiter saying he hates Iris.... the hate she gets is the worst I have ever seen. The majority who hate her are guilty of this: I don't care that people don't like her, but it's how they go about it which is the most saddest thing ever and all comes down to Iris calling Ash "a kid". It's just supposed to be playful teasing, it's what friends do, but no; there are people who actually think Iris was being a "mean bitch" and... oh boy... They all wanted to ruin Ash's character. They wanted him to shove all his achievements in Iris' face and for Iris to kiss the very ground Ash walked on. That is not a friendship relationship, that is a servant and master relationship. If Ash did do that, he would officially be one of the worst main characters. Remember when I said the Ash-worshipping in the XY(Z) series bothered me? Well this is the reason why (thankfully Ash wasn't turned into a show-off). I was REALLY hoping it'd work up to something really funny, like this was THE Cameron and he actually, like, ended up going back in time or something with Riolu for his destiny as That Cameron in Hoenn or whatever or something... But no. Apparently (thus far) co-inidink. Which Cameron do you mean? The one who takes photos in Heart Gold and Soul Silver or the one from Pokémon Ranger? And of course he wouldn't be either of them, their Japanese names are Genzō and Camry while the one in BW is Kotetsu. Also can I just say, I prefer Kotetsu over Cameron because the former name is cool and Kotetsu has a much better voice. |
|
|
|
Post by Aotrs Commander on Oct 9, 2016 7:13:16 GMT -4
Which Cameron do you mean? The one who takes photos in Heart Gold and Soul Silver or the one from Pokémon Ranger? And of course he wouldn't be either of them, their Japanese names are Genzō and Camry while the one in BW is Kotetsu. Also can I just say, I prefer Kotetsu over Cameron because the former name is cool and Kotetsu has a much better voice. *skulldesk* I didn't even mean Cameron, I meant sir Aaron (Lucarion and the Mystery of Mew), which shows how loopy I was the last few episodes and/or posts. Don't even have an excuse, considering I've been literally just been re-reading Saphroneth's Ashes of the Past over on Fanfiction (which actually hinged around Sir Aaron and has him appear frequently in effective omakes), I don't even KNOW how I jumped to that. The names... rhyme, I guess, and they both have Riolu/Lucario... No, I got nuthin'. Chalk that one up to old age and insanity. |
|
|
|
Post by SeriousJupiter on Oct 11, 2016 15:08:24 GMT -4
Oh boy, oh boy, I smell a good ol'-fashioned BW flame war in the air! *sniiiiffff* Nah, just kidding. I had more than my share of those on the old forums. Besides, I don't want to pick fights with a Moderator. Don knows EXACTLY how I feel about BW, Iris, Cameron and the Unova League and I hope she remembers my reasons for those feelings, so there's really no point in going over them again for the billionth time. I'll just say that I truly enjoyed reading your Unova League rant, AC, and I agree with every single thing you said. That's all, folks! ETA: Actually, might as well ask around this time, for the folk that did watch this. If Ash really had to lose at this ranking, top 8 and all, which of his Unova rivals would've been better to lose to compared to Cameron? Trip, Bianca, Steph An or Virgil? Okay, fine, I'll answer this and then I'm done. Not Trip. Definitely not. Ash had already had too many bullshit defeats to him which never should have happened in the first place. I admit I was looking forward to a full battle between those two, but in hindsight, getting eliminated in the preliminary round was precisely what Trip deserved. Bianca... I dunno. Her running gag with the water was pretty annoying, but that had nothing to do with her skills as a Trainer, and like AC so rightfully said, Bianca really was a better Trainer than Trip. She did win two Badges with only one Pokémon, after all. Still, I don't think I would have wanted to see her beat Ash. Ash's inexcusable noob reset in Unova aside, I never got the feeling that Bianca was as serious about Pokémon as Ash was and IIRC, she never managed to beat him in a battle, did she? *checks* Nope, unless we count the Tag Battle between her and Juniper against Ash and Cilan. I felt bad for her when she lost to Cameron, though. She really should have made it further and I wanted to see a real battle between her and Ash, even though she probably would have lost. So yeah, either Stephan or Virgil would have been my choice. Stephan was always every bit as determined as Ash, and he already had some good victories under his belt. His battle against Ash was the only good battle in the Unova League (despite the fact that he apparently thought teaching his Zebstrika FOUR GODDAMN NORMAL-TYPE MOVES was a solid strategy against Ground-types). Virgil... *sigh* Yeah, yeah, he was the obligatory "cool" older guy, but at least his battle against Ash would have been a shitload better than that travesty we got against Cameron. Also, let's be real here, unlike in Sinnoh and Kalos, Ash never had a chance in Unova. We all know it. The writers had done everything in their power to nerf him, so having him win would have been just unrealistic. He was destined to lose that League, so the very least they could have done was to have him lose in a great battle against a serious rival. Sadly, it was just not meant to be. NOW I'm done. |
|
|
|
Post by Aotrs Commander on Oct 11, 2016 17:28:24 GMT -4
New Places... Familiar Faces! The girl is an idiot. Still better than Trip, though. And Team Rocket back to something approaching normal.
The Name's N! Axew, you're an idiot. I took a pretty immediate umbrage with N, becuase if there is one thing I CAN'T STAND it's people who don't listen. I'd have been more annoyed, but a dude who is actually friendly to Ash was going to get so Ash'd it wasn't even funny. HOWEVER, I also give N points for actually doing what the Pokémon Rangers SHOULD be fucking doing and not using mind-control. Ask, you shits, ASK.
There's a New Gym Leader in Town! Axew, you're a smegging idiot. Yay Cheren...? Did anyone else feel Cheren felt a bit... passive and uncertain? Couldn't we have had Cheren as primary rival instead of Trip?
Team Plasma's Pokémon Power Plot! Nurse Joy, you're an idiot. Also, wehen are people going to realise that mind-controlling Pikachu never works. Actually one ofg these days, I want to see someone try it and then it fail utterly, since he's so used to it by now it's like he's gained dark resistance. Hooray for Looker, though. Like Cynthia, dude knows who the REAL champion around here is.
The Light of Floccesy Ranch! This would have been very mediocre, but Dragonite was hilarious.
Saving Braviary! My first thought here was,"wait, what, N is not afflicated with Team Plasma? Interesting..." I was wrong of course, but they did basically go an entirely different way with this, so, points for that.
The Pokémon Harbor Patrol! N, you are being a dick. "People and Pokémon?" Er, NO, mate: "humans and Pokémon;" Pokémon are people too, you frackwit! Though at LEAST dude actually is willing to go "yep, no I was wrong," which actually gives hima lot more leeway in my opinion.
The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion!
Mother. Fucking. Charizard. YES!
Seriosuly though. I actually have to hand it to BW. Whatever else sins they have committed, when they re-did and reanimated Charizard's arc it was well-done, fitted right into the story. As compared to when fricken' Naruto Shippuden did it, when they basically just tried to re-tell the entire series out of nowhere - for FOUR FUCKING EPISODES. After watching the first one and seeing the others were more of them same I said "no. No. Fuyck nyou, shippudden. I sat through the painful, childish plea for sympathy and stupidity that was Pain's backstory (which basically boiled down to "they killed his DOG!") I am not watching THIS bullshit, especially considering the way you flashback and flashback and flashback every freaking time to the point of flashing back to one long scene in its entiriety two episodes in a row."
Team Plasma's Pokémon Manipulation! Looker, mate... You're a member of the international police. Carry a gun, mate. The world is at stake. Just shoot Colress in the head. Problem solved. If of all people Johnny English, a comedy character evolved from a fracking series of insurance adverts can man up and at least TRY to do it, you, being a highly competant person, CERTAINLY can.
Secrets From Out of the Fog! N's backstory... And his girlfriends are idiots.
Meowth, Colress and Team Rivalry! Starting here, this is really what Team Rocket SHOULD be being bast at - fucking up the plans of the other bad guys. Let them shine here competantly, even if all the times they do Bad Things they get screwed up, but shafting the bad guys ought to be their jam. (My favorite Pokéman fanfic, Saphroneths Ashes of the Past does exactly this and it's great.)
Ash and N: A Clash of Ideals!, Team Plasma and the Awakening Ceremony!, What Lies Beyond Truth and Ideals! Destroy the machine. Destroy the machine. Destroy the fucking machine, you idiots!
Really, as they were so STUPID as to leave Ash all alone and unguarded, Ash's plan of attack should have been "quietly summon Krookodile, point at Colress's machine and say "use dig!" Bam. Job done.
Ash and his Pokémon really shone here though; that moment with them all - without any input from Ash working out how to get shit done was perfectly matched with the music. And N's "holy shit, this is what's it's all about" face as he watched was priceless.
Also, what I said about Team Rocket before. Fuck, yes. Go Meowth.
In fact this time, we can make an arguement that nevermind Ash Motherfucking Ketchum, it was Pikachu Motherfucking... (Pikachu? Ketchum? I dunno) who saved the world single-handed this time. (Still makes it TWICE this series, movies not counted (as I haven't got to them yet).)
So an interesting arc, handled pretty well, though as I say, when the fuckwits onlt have the one device and one scientist who stomps around in plain view, it's really hard to understand how they could not have curb-stomped this harder. (Looker, carry some non-lethal ranged weapons, at least. Frack's sake, a tranq dart would have knocked Colress out...)
Charizard made me think the other reason Ash lost this time. His Kalos Unova team is... kind of weak. He had three-fully evolved Pokémon (two of which have are not stellar in movepool terms (Leavanny and Unpheasant)) - that he rotated on roaster (so each one could perforce get less training time), two mid-evolutions and two unevovled starters, and Pikachu. And, it has to be said... Oshawatt is... kinda not all not strong. Snivy at least has experience, but Oshawatt seemd to lose more than he won all the time. Compare to DP, when he had four fully evolved Pokémon (one who was rotated out only late) and he made full use of his non Sinnoh Pokémon veterans.
Perhaps this is why in XY, he's so slow in picking up new tema members, compensating for that bog-up last time.
Speaking of:
A Battle by Any Other Name! Heh, Serena gets to Do A thing (sort of) and... Something is kinda of made of her thing for Ash. (Dude, if you weren't oblivious, you'd be swimming in girls...)
To Find a Fairy Flower! Yeah, this was... an episode that happened.
The Bonds of Evolution! Cynthia was better.
(Also, I have a rather personal low opinion for Diantha's Mega-Gardevoir as a threat, since Jubilance, my Pikachu, tanked her Moonblasts twice and took her out single-handedly...!)
After I have gotten used to the stupidly good production values of XY, the non-critical episodes... Seem to be very moribund at the moment. And I think I know what it is. There's not enough conflict between the protagonists. Serena has a crush on Ash, Clemont is (not unreasonably) kinda in awe of him, and Bonnie is a bit too young (though actually, she's pretty well characterised for being that age, for a rare occurance). So, there's not really a strong personality to call him on his bullshit (or go into their own bullshit) as much. We don't have a rival yet... And the Pokémon are all kinda compartively sane, Ash's in particular - the only two (aside from the obvious) he has. It's a bit too stable of a dynamic, I think, at the moment.
Serena would have been he best choice for that, putting her more into the Misty-ish mould maybe (though Dawn and Irsis didn't take his crap either, and May didn't for very long). She's just a bit too agreeable. Alternatively, they needed to make her crush on Ash a better running gag, like Brock being Brock or Bonnie and Clemont. Mine that for some good old Ash-obvilious comedy gold, and watch as she quietly and politely chews her fiungers off he's just not picking up all the signs she's giving him).
Or an Piplup or an Oshawatt in the proceedings.
That said, they are doing a bit better than (all but the post-league) BW in remembering that all their Pokémon exist and getting them all out. One of DP's strengths was, despite the large number of Pokémon characters, that they were always coming out and the really did feel like they were one big, dysfunctional family. BW missed that boat a bit much... But I don't thinkhalfway through season one XY has even had a good old-fashioned "the Pokémon on their own" episode yet, since there's so few of them. Serena really not having much of a drive other than "follow Ash" - which as I said isn't being liked like it should for her single major character motivation doesn't help.
It's not bad or anything, but I think it is notable, even when compared to BW that the group dynamic is just slightly... off currently.
Edit:
Heroes - Friends and Faux Alike! And then, just to prove me wrong, XY gives us a really good filler episode, with Team Rocket-centric antics - and a different enough twist to keep things interesting. And hell, an Officer Jenny who DOESN'T immediately jump to conclusions and arrest Ash. Actually the whole fakes thing was very refreshing change to the hoary old chestnut; I was expecting them to do the whole "mistaken identify" rigamarole... And instead, it looks like the people of Kalos don't breathe the same kind of Stupid as Unova...!
Touché, XY, touché!
|
|
frewd
Junior Dodger
Posts: 26
|
Post by frewd on Oct 11, 2016 22:59:18 GMT -4
Just to correct yourself, Kalos isn't the region from BW and you should be ashamed of it.
Just saying 'Cynthia was better' without actually explaining why you feel so, even if you don't give a crap about her game performance isn't very good, either, though at least it's for me. What is Cynthia better AT, exactly?
|
|
|
|
Post by Aotrs Commander on Oct 12, 2016 10:23:57 GMT -4
Just to correct yourself, Kalos isn't the region from BW and you should be ashamed of it. Guh. Perils of watching two series simultaneously, I'm afraid...! Corrected... Just saying 'Cynthia was better' without actually explaining why you feel so, even if you don't give a crap about her game performance isn't very good, either, though at least it's for me. What is Cynthia better AT, exactly? Just better generally; better character, better design (I thought Diatha looked a bit silly personally) and basicallu just a better Champion. (I mean Cynthia goes around helping Ash saving the world! Diantha... makes movies. And, from implication, not even proper movies, like, I dunno, whatever the Pokémon equivilent of Avengers or something is, but all those technical-acting star-vehicles about people and such. (Yes, I am a peasant.) 'Course, we've only seen her once, maybe she'll impress me later on with any other appearances or something. (Yes, Cynthia has had the advantage of lots more appearnce, that's half the point, hush!) |
|
Donkarasu
Dodgemaster
Still here, but also not here.
Posts: 4,649
|
Post by Donkarasu on Oct 12, 2016 11:37:17 GMT -4
Nope, Unova still worse, because Kalos not that bad. You know I was joking there, I was making fun of those people who were calling it the "worst League ever" and saying "XYZ sucks" after praising it for so long. Although I would not call the Kalos League amazing either, because it actually starts out as very 'meh' and only picks up a few episodes in. To me, it was okay. I wonder if there will ever be another League like the Sinnoh League were every battle was awesome, with one fight going down in history as one of the best. Charizard made me think the other reason Ash lost this time. His Kalos Unova team is... kind of weak. He had three-fully evolved Pokémon (two of which have are not stellar in movepool terms (Leavanny and Unpheasant)) - that he rotated on roaster (so each one could perforce get less training time), two mid-evolutions and two unevovled starters, and Pikachu. And, it has to be said... Oshawatt is... kinda not all not strong. Snivy at least has experience, but Oshawatt seemd to lose more than he won all the time. Compare to DP, when he had four fully evolved Pokémon (one who was rotated out only late) and he made full use of his non Sinnoh Pokémon veterans. And that's why the Unova League should have happened after the Episode N arc. You know how much better Ash versus Cameron would have been? 1. There could have been more time to stretch out their battle and so the writers would not have to include Cameron mistaking full battles for 5-on-5. 2. We could have seen an awesome battle between Ash's Charizard and Cameron's Hydreigon. Two secret weapons going at it, what a waste that is... Oh and I guess Ash would win, but I don't care about that. Just fucking Charizard versus Hydreigon, the writers had their opportunity and they missed it! So yeah, comparing Cameron's team to Ash's Unova team before Ash got Charizard back; there is no contest. Cameron clearly had the upper hand with his. |
|
|
|
Post by SeriousJupiter on Oct 13, 2016 5:24:44 GMT -4
HOWEVER, I also give N points for actually doing what the Pokémon Rangers SHOULD be fucking doing and not using mind-control. Ask, you shits, ASK. This. Pokémon Rangers are hacks. There's a New Gym Leader in Town! Axew, you're a smegging idiot. Yay Cheren...? Did anyone else feel Cheren felt a bit... passive and uncertain? Couldn't we have had Cheren as primary rival instead of Trip? Yes, I thought so too. Pity - I liked Cheren in the games. Still, the sad truth is that even if we had had Cheren as Ash's main rival instead of Trip, he probably would have been just as lame as Trip. The Pokémon Harbor Patrol! N, you are being a dick. "People and Pokémon?" Er, NO, mate: "humans and Pokémon;" Pokémon are people too, you frackwit! Er, what? Lots of characters, including Ash, have used the phrase "people and Pokémon" many times. Seriosuly though. I actually have to hand it to BW. Whatever else sins they have committed, when they re-did and reanimated Charizard's arc it was well-done, fitted right into the story. Mostly true, but they made one mistake I spotted right away when I first watched that episode. Charmander didn't beat Koga's Golbat with Flamethrower, he actually used Fire Spin in the original episode. Secrets From Out of the Fog! N's backstory... And his girlfriends are idiots. I have to disagree. Sheltered and close-minded, yes. Idiots, no. They had a VERY fucked up childhood and they had their reasons for not trusting strangers. Charizard made me think the other reason Ash lost this time. His Kalos Unova team is... kind of weak. He had three-fully evolved Pokémon (two of which have are not stellar in movepool terms (Leavanny and Unfezant)) - that he rotated on roaster (so each one could perforce get less training time), two mid-evolutions and two unevovled starters, and Pikachu. And, it has to be said... Oshaw ott is... kinda not all not strong. Snivy at least has experience, but Oshaw ott seemd to lose more than he won all the time. Compare to DP, when he had four fully evolved Pokémon (one who was rotated out only late) and he made full use of his non Sinnoh Pokémon veterans. I definitely agree that Ash's Unova team kind of sucked, but he actually had three mid-evolutions, not two. However, I really can't blame you for forgetting Palpitoad, since the writers and Ash forgot him all the time too. You also forgot Scraggy. Also, in my opinion, Oshawott did have some impressive victories. A couple of those victories were totally unrealistic, but I think most of them were pretty great. As for Snivy, I only remember a couple of her victories at the moment. I think Ash didn't actually use her all that much. And that's why the Unova League should have happened after the Episode N arc. You know how much better Ash versus Cameron would have been? 1. There could have been more time to stretch out their battle and so the writers would not have to include Cameron mistaking full battles for 5-on-5. 2. We could have seen an awesome battle between Ash's Charizard and Cameron's Hydreigon. Two secret weapons going at it, what a waste that is... Oh and I guess Ash would win, but I don't care about that. Just fucking Charizard versus Hydreigon, the writers had their opportunity and they missed it! So yeah, comparing Cameron's team to Ash's Unova team before Ash got Charizard back; there is no contest. Cameron clearly had the upper hand with his. 1. True, but knowing the BW writers, the battle would have still sucked. 2. I would have liked to see that. I feel like Charizard didn't really get to do all that much in Unova. Even his battle against Dragonite was called off because of some bullshit reason. 3. Cameron had the upper hand in theory. He just completely blew it with Ferrothorn and Swanna and he only won because the writers wanted to humiliate Ash. |
|
marimo
Junior Dodger
Posts: 37
|
Post by marimo on Oct 13, 2016 9:14:04 GMT -4
My idea for this: have his Hydreigon defeat three of Ash's Pokémon. Two wins was actually pretty disappointing for such a hyped "secret weapon". I think normally, having two wins in a row before being defeated is pretty good. The problem is that there's too much sweeping in this match to make that feel special, and that relates to one of my problems with the match that I don't see people mentioning much, how its paced. Even though it's a 6 on 6 battle, it relies mostly on 4 Pokemon between the two trainers sweeping the others. Hydreigon gets 2 wins in a row, then Pignite gets 2 wins in a row, Samurott gets only 1 win, then Pikachu gets 2 wins in a row, then Riolu/Lucario gets 3 wins in a row. It feels like this could've been a 3 on 3 battle, and the rest of the Pokemon were put in there to pad out the episodes and to give Ash at least one full battle in this gen. I mean, at the very least have the Pokemon substituted between victories. |
|
Donkarasu
Dodgemaster
Still here, but also not here.
Posts: 4,649
|
Post by Donkarasu on Oct 13, 2016 11:08:07 GMT -4
HOWEVER, I also give N points for actually doing what the Pokémon Rangers SHOULD be fucking doing and not using mind-control. Ask, you shits, ASK. I'm guessing you have never played the Pokémon Ranger games? Because if you did, you would very well know Rangers aren't using mind control. They are connecting their hearts with the Pokémon, in fact every Ranger game consists of the main character FREEING Pokémon from mind control. Pokémon Rangers care about Pokémon, they fight for their peace (as well as for humans and the world). It's just the anime didn't portray them well. If I had never played any of the Pokémon Ranger games and I too only saw Rangers in the anime, then I might have also questioned their methods. But I played the games and got a full understanding of Pokémon Rangers, they are great, they are heroes and they can jump off a really high ledge. |
|
|
|
Post by Aotrs Commander on Oct 13, 2016 18:46:58 GMT -4
My idea for this: have his Hydreigon defeat three of Ash's Pokémon. Two wins was actually pretty disappointing for such a hyped "secret weapon". I think normally, having two wins in a row before being defeated is pretty good. The problem is that there's too much sweeping in this match to make that feel special, and that relates to one of my problems with the match that I don't see people mentioning much, how its paced. Even though it's a 6 on 6 battle, it relies mostly on 4 Pokemon between the two trainers sweeping the others. Hydreigon gets 2 wins in a row, then Pignite gets 2 wins in a row, Samurott gets only 1 win, then Pikachu gets 2 wins in a row, then Riolu/Lucario gets 3 wins in a row. It feels like this could've been a 3 on 3 battle, and the rest of the Pokemon were put in there to pad out the episodes and to give Ash at least one full battle in this gen. I mean, at the very least have the Pokemon substituted between victories. That makes me think of an interesting obsevration - that the writers for BW really didn't know how to write extended battles at all. Think how many of the battles were just flat one-on-one over and over and over; even the gym battles were mostly pretty understated too. HOWEVER, I also give N points for actually doing what the Pokémon Rangers SHOULD be fucking doing and not using mind-control. Ask, you shits, ASK. I'm guessing you have never played the Pokémon Ranger games? Because if you did, you would very well know Rangers aren't using mind control. They are connecting their hearts with the Pokémon, in fact every Ranger game consists of the main character FREEING Pokémon from mind control. Pokémon Rangers care about Pokémon, they fight for their peace (as well as for humans and the world). It's just the anime didn't portray them well. If I had never played any of the Pokémon Ranger games and I too only saw Rangers in the anime, then I might have also questioned their methods. But I played the games and got a full understanding of Pokémon Rangers, they are great, they are heroes and they can jump off a really high ledge. To address this seriously, and slightly less tongue-in-cheek and Dodgyness-toned-ness-flippantly as afore-quoted... I played the first Ranger game (I think) when I first bought my DS, played it for a few hours until Diamond came out, and then have never touched it since. The problem with Rangers, as I see it, is three-fold. First, it is an old mistake but which the otherwise very good DP committed to much. Game mechanics do not a good world make. One should never take the rules of a game ( any game) as the rules of the world (outside of some very unusual situations). One should always treat a game as an imperfect simulation of the "real" world. As an extension to that, what makes an interesting game mechanic 1 does not necessarily translate well to a more simulationist setting (i.e. an anime set in a "real" world). The execution of the Rangers in the anime is, frankly, oming from their game-mechanic-gimmick, pretty damn terrible in context; both silly and nonsensical, even in a show about unsupervised small children saving the world from evil with magic mostly-sentient animal-friends with superpowers. Secondly, it strikes me as pretty fracking idiotic to base your entire career and modus operandii about just happening to run across the right type of Pokémon at just the right moment. That's like... Going out to fight fire/crime armed only with the contents of your jeans and hoping you'll find the tools for the job when you need them. Unless you are frigging McGuyver or something, it's just not gonna happen. You don't go out to mow the lawn hoping to find random pairs of shears in the garden (or a rabbit or a goat or something), do you? No, you get the damned mower out! Lack of preparation kills, especially in the sort of work you expect the Rangers to be undertaking. Finally, I think the larger problem is it's just conceptually dissonant with the spirit of the other games in the first place. To start with "joining their hearts" is a pretty meaningless banal phrase if you look at it (the sort of thing that one wonders if it comes from a poor translation of a more meaningful (and perhaps culutrally slanted) Japanese concept). But leaving that aside and taking it on context; isn't that, like, what trainers are SUPPOSED to be doing with their Pokémon anyway? Isn't that, like, the entire thrust of the series and games? Buit apparently the Ranger have some sort of magic device which can (somehow) make that happen without any of the effort, learning and befriending that goes into that goal, and break it just as easily. How can you possibly explain it away WITHOUT mind-control of sort stripe being in there? The absolute closest I can possibly imagine is that it basically is a sort of data package that says "please mr pokémon, I am a good dude trying to help do good stuff, here are some mental credentials or equivilent (perhaps from context some sort of empathic projection of their feelings), will you please help me do stuff?" Essentially, a way to quickly explain and deputise a Pokémon to help, without having to have a full verbal conversation. But that is REALLY not at all how it comes across, in the anime especially. The word "capture" should not be any-fucking-where near such a contract. And even THEN, there is no credible way that every single Pokémon a Ranger ever uses their stylus on JUST HAPPENS to be willing to immediately drop everything to help their new friend, do something and then just wander off 2. That is... just not a thing that can be rationalised around with any degree of creditibilty. Rangers just don't work on any level for me, outside of the context of the actual Pokémon Ranger games and even only then as a conceit of the game itself. And the more I think about them, the less I like the idea at all. (If you ask me, the better solution would be to have a Ranger be a dude or dudette with a party of highly-trained Pokémon professionals. A party which cicumvents the six-limit (which actually should techinically really ONLY ever apply to trainers competeing a League, let's remember. Ther is no sensible reason why Dawn, for example, should not be able to have more than six Pokémon with her, since in her line of work, there is no advantage to be gained from it. It's not like she could use more than two at once ANYWAY...) That way, your Ranger can be prepared for any eventuality with a well-oiled and prepared team with a wide variety of skills immediately at hand. Much better than at best daftly hoping that a Pokémon will just happen to be narratively conveniently available at the right moment with just the right skill set to help your particular predicament. 1Full disclosure - I'm not sure personally I'd even have given the stylus scribbling as that, be it in Pokémon or in the Naruto RPGs; it's more of a tech gimmick. 2Frankly, the thing it most smacks to me of is Dungeons & Dragon's Charm Person spell, which makes the target your mate for a bit (if they fail their save). |
|
frewd
Junior Dodger
Posts: 26
|
Post by frewd on Oct 13, 2016 20:30:36 GMT -4
It's hilarious because they're the same writers for a long time.
My guess is that the good writers were busy and couldn't work on those episodes. What else do they work on besides Pokémon?
|
|
marimo
Junior Dodger
Posts: 37
|
Post by marimo on Oct 14, 2016 0:12:15 GMT -4
I think normally, having two wins in a row before being defeated is pretty good. The problem is that there's too much sweeping in this match to make that feel special, and that relates to one of my problems with the match that I don't see people mentioning much, how its paced. Even though it's a 6 on 6 battle, it relies mostly on 4 Pokemon between the two trainers sweeping the others. Hydreigon gets 2 wins in a row, then Pignite gets 2 wins in a row, Samurott gets only 1 win, then Pikachu gets 2 wins in a row, then Riolu/Lucario gets 3 wins in a row. It feels like this could've been a 3 on 3 battle, and the rest of the Pokemon were put in there to pad out the episodes and to give Ash at least one full battle in this gen. I mean, at the very least have the Pokemon substituted between victories. That makes me think of an interesting obsevration - that the writers for BW really didn't know how to write extended battles at all. Think how many of the battles were just flat one-on-one over and over and over; even the gym battles were mostly pretty understated too. They don't completely change the writing staff each season. A lot of them have been around since Kanto. Though the writers for this battle didn't particularly have any experience writing battles with full battles. In terms of just League battles, the writer of the first part wrote Ash's Indigo League match with Jeanette (the one with the Bellsprout), the very end of Ash's battle against Harrison when it was just Charizard vs Blaziken, and one of the double battles from the Hoenn League (Corphish and Torkoal vs Swalot and Tropius). And the writer for part 2 had only written Ash's match against Nando as a league battle at this point. And I'll just say he wrote both parts of another full battle at a later point. There's probably more battles they've done, like maybe some gym battles, but I'm not going to look up everything they wrote. |
|
