A Riveting Rivalry! (931)

[Franckie]

That was Boomburst.

That explains it. Either a translator or a typesetter made a mistake since Ash yells "Supersonic!" in the subtitles.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Trevor, Astrid, Tierno, and remo had to be sacrificed to show that Ash, Alain, and SSS were the best of the best. Everyone else just didn't matter

I wished those "sacrifices" weren't that. Remo's little bit of backstory was such a "what could've been" for the rest.

 

[AlexTogekiss]

That was an error in the subs. "Chonpa" is Supersonic and "Bachompa" is Boomburst.

 

[potat_lasaro]

Okay, not playing sides or anything, but a few questions.

Other than bolstering battle records, what value would seeing all of those lost rounds have had?
Would you have just wanted to see sweeps? Isn't that boring?
If not a sweep, considering the amount people are already complaining about how Ash could possibly be a match for Alain from his semifinal battle being 6-5, would seeing Ash struggle in even earlier rounds be better?

Just seems a rather double-edged sword to me.

Personally, I don't mind missing out on all of the no names that were skipped. The only battle I would have liked is to see Astrid's match in full and maybe see her interacting with the group.

Otherwise, I'm not worried about the win/lose records for the team since they've all shown to be quite competent throughout the region.

 

[Janovy]

That much is incredibly obvious just taking a glance at these fourms, I wouldn't try painting Sawyer dislikers in the minority when this obviously not true whatsoever

It's not the numbers that matter, but the fact that those people are constantly barraged by posts from other users when they dare to criticize Sawyer.

Instead of acknowledging imperfection, people act as if there's nothing to complain about.

 

[InfernoApe]

Okay, not playing sides or anything, but a few questions.

Other than bolstering battle records, what value would seeing all of those lost rounds have had?
Would you have just wanted to see sweeps? Isn't that boring?
If not a sweep, considering the amount people are already complaining about how Ash could possibly be a match for Alain from his semifinal battle being 6-5, would seeing Ash struggle in even earlier rounds be better?

Just seems a rather double-edged sword to me.

You keep saying that. You keep thinking in black and white. There's a middle ground you know.

There's not just seeing 4 sweeping rounds or just not showing anything at all. Get it?

 

[potat_lasaro]

You keep saying that. You keep thinking in black and white. There's a middle ground you know.

There's not just seeing 4 sweeping rounds or just not showing anything at all. Get it?

Okay, but do you want to see Ash struggle against his opponents and then get a BS power up/Alain nerf to make their last fight seem reasonable or skip those early fights where the impression is they're not close to Ash's level so that his matches with Sawyer and Alain seem more reasonable without the need of nerfing his opponents?

That's just my thought, if Ash struggled in the early rounds while Alain was OHKOing everyone then their final battle wouldn't have felt realistic if Ash was fighting equally against him.

 

[Omegaz]

Personally, if there was extra time, then yeah, I would've enjoyed seeing more of Ash vs. Astrid and possibly some other rounds. But they would all be sweeps which for some would be boring unless you just love watching Ash wreck things like Alain. Unfortunately, the writers cast aside 7 episodes for each league. There was a lot of things they had to do in those 7 episodes and I'd say that they did. I'm not saying the league is perfect because it has it's flaws as it would've been nice at the very least to see Ash v. Tomo and Ash v. Astrid in full so we all full battles, but that would've taken away from the other battles, it would be nothing but 1HKO, which aren't bad but not enjoyable at times. If they screwed Ash v. Shota and Ash v. Alain, then I'd have a reason to diss this league. But trying to speed through the early rounds is not the end of the world in my opinion.

 

[DatsRight]

I admit to loving the methods in Pikachu vs Aegislash. I don't mind at all the anime using surrounding based methods we can't use in the game, it's more exciting than strict turn and call based methods (and is more diverse than 'Dodge it' for evasion techniques). Ash being forced to be smart in the League at last.

Having TWO stalemates in a row broke suspension of disbelief a little though. And while the tension was there, somehow I thought Serena kinda overdid it. I mean everyone was taking it seriously, but she was almost treating it like Ash was going to die if he lost.

 

[diakyu]

Having TWO stalemates in a row broke suspension of disbelief a little though. And while the tension was there, somehow I thought Serena kinda overdid it. I mean everyone was taking it seriously, but she was almost treating it like Ash was going to die if he lost.

The two ties never bothered me much. While Ash is very experienced his Pokemon are a different case altogether. Both Noivern and Goodra are the most inexperienced of Ash's team atm so them tying to two of Sawyer's Pokemon didn't strike me as odd. Though Goodra drawing with Slurpuff of all Sawyer's Pokemon is a bit annoying but I like the call back to Slurpuff's sniffing ability shown all the way back in episode 75 so I'll let it slide. Plus Goodra has a very flawed moveset when it came to fighting fairy types.

But yeah, Serena being Serena lol

 

[InfernoApe]

Okay, but do you want to see Ash struggle against his opponents and then get a BS power up/Alain nerf to make their last fight seem reasonable or skip those early fights where the impression is they're not close to Ash's level so that his matches with Sawyer and Alain seem more reasonable without the need of nerfing his opponents?

That's just my thought, if Ash struggled in the early rounds while Alain was OHKOing everyone then their final battle wouldn't have felt realistic if Ash was fighting equally against him.

No I mean like show one sweep. For example against Tomo. Then snippets of the second and third round. A good 3-1 win against Astrid without Greninja.

That kind of middle ground.

 

[potat_lasaro]

I admit to loving the methods in Pikachu vs Aegislash. I don't mind at all the anime using surrounding based methods we can't use in the game, it's more exciting than strict turn and call based methods (and is more diverse than 'Dodge it' for evasion techniques). Ash being forced to be smart in the League at last.

Having TWO stalemates in a row broke suspension of disbelief a little though. And while the tension was there, somehow I thought Serena kinda overdid it. I mean everyone was taking it seriously, but she was almost treating it like Ash was going to die if he lost.

But, understand the point behind both of those ties. Noivern is the least experienced member so tying with a pseudo is quite the feat for it. Plus, look at the way he dodged the incinerate. It goes to show just how much he's grown from the Noibat who couldn't fly at all

Goodra, you have to think that he only has two moves that can actually do any damage to Slurpuff in the forms of Ice Beam and Bide. Slurpuff is shown to have Flamethrower which cancels out Ice Beam. This leaves him with just Bide. No matter how tanky Goodra is, he'll grow tired after too many hits so it would make sense that he falls from an explosion caused by his super charged Bide...

Of course, I'd have rather seen them both get a win before getting defeated by Sawyer's next pokemon but it is what it is.

@Infernoape, I guess that would have worked out well. I would have been fine if Astrid had been a 3-2 with each of the flyers getting a win. For Tomo, I'd rather have seen Altaria taken down and then skip to the finishing shot of Ash-Greninja taking out his last as well.

Of course, all I wanted were scoreboards for rounds 2 and 3 and then have an episode for the Astrid battle. Why hype up her participation only to then have her battle be skipped!

 

[InfernoApe]

But, understand the point behind both of those ties. Noivern is the least experienced member so tying with a pseudo is quite the feat for it. Plus, look at the way he dodged the incinerate. It goes to show just how much he's grown from the Noibat who couldn't fly at all

Goodra, you have to think that he only has two moves that can actually do any damage to Slurpuff in the forms of Ice Beam and Bide. Slurpuff is shown to have Flamethrower which cancels out Ice Beam. This leaves him with just Bide. No matter how tanky Goodra is, he'll grow tired after too many hits so it would make sense that he falls from an explosion caused by his super charged Bide...

Of course, I'd have rather seen them both get a win before getting defeated by Sawyer's next pokemon but it is what it is.

@Infernoape, I guess that would have worked out well. I would have been fine if Astrid had been a 3-2 with each of the flyers getting a win. For Tomo, I'd rather have seen Altaria taken down and then skip to the finishing shot of Ash-Greninja taking out his last as well.

Of course, all I wanted were scoreboards for rounds 2 and 3 and then have an episode for the Astrid battle. Why hype up her participation only to then have her battle be skipped!

Well what are we arguing about then? We totally agree

Just not about the Goodra battle. I feel Ash should have saved Talonflame for Slurpuff. Using Goodra against Slaking and maybe to weaken Sceptile a bit. Leaving Pikachu for a 6-4 win.

 

[potat_lasaro]

Well what are we arguing about then? We totally agree

Just not about the Goodra battle. I feel Ash should have saved Talonflame for Slurpuff. Using Goodra against Slaking and maybe to weaken Sceptile a bit. Leaving Pikachu for a 6-4 win.

I was never arguing, I was just saying that outside of seeing the scoreboards it might have made the Ash vs Alain fight unrealistic if he had struggled at the beginning of the League especially after they heavily implied he swept that match. But Astrid would have been fine for a close match since she has been depected as strong

Now, I think he went with Talonflame because of its speed allowing it to attack much more often than Goodra and wouldn't give Slaking as many chances to use Slack Off. Keeping it in to battle Clawitzer was just an Ash moment of believing in his pokemon despite the disadvantage.

 

[jrizza88]

I think this battle would have had to have been a 3 parter for it to be as epic as people wanted it to be like Ash vs Paul.

 

[InfernoApe]

I was never arguing, I was just saying that outside of seeing the scoreboards it might have made the Ash vs Alain fight unrealistic if he had struggled at the beginning of the League especially after they heavily implied he swept that match. But Astrid would have been fine for a close match since she has been depected as strong

Now, I think he went with Talonflame because of its speed allowing it to attack much more often than Goodra and wouldn't give Slaking as many chances to use Slack Off. Keeping it in to battle Clawitzer was just an Ash moment of believing in his pokemon despite the disadvantage.

Yeah but that was what Hawlucha was doing as well and Ash knew Slurpuff was coming.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

I think this battle would have had to have been a 3 parter for it to be as epic as people wanted it to be like Ash vs Paul.

Sadly, SSS wasted two entire days gushing about his senpai that he didn't exploit using his absurd fast growth as a trainer. Now he suffered a two-parter defeat.

 

[potat_lasaro]

Yeah but that was what Hawlucha was doing as well and Ash knew Slurpuff was coming.

I guess, but I feel as though it would have switched out for either Salamance or Slurpuff. Slaking wasn't shown to move except to stand up to attack and didn't have any ranged moves.

 

[WaterShuriken]

That's often how I feel about BW. It has many positive sides, but, well, people can only ever talk about its flaws despite the fact they could easily focus on the positives.

Why shouldn't XY get the same treatment?

Because that is an extremely petty viewpoint. Two wrongs don't make a right.
-
I'll post my views on this episode later tonight. I think it was good battle though.

 

[Omegaz]

Ultimately, the way those opening battles were treated comes down to the fact that they have 7 episodes to do everything because we have too many fillers. I get that they are important but in XYZ, if they removed the Litleo episode and the Phantump episode, that is two episodes that can be used to go into further depth in the league.