April 26th: SM72 - Ta-Dough! Burn with Passion, Mao's Family!

[345ash-greninja]

I think that happened for specific reasons:

As DatsRight said the series was closing and only had a few episodes left (which makes you question why Eevee was captured so late but whatever)

The writers were probably to lazy to teach Eevee Charm and have it gradually bond with Serena besides the whole “I’m going to help you get over your shyness” plot.

Although it definitely means that the writers pick and choose which evolution rules the want to follow since Dawn’s Ambipom and Mamoswine evolved how they were suppose to via Double Hit and Accident Power.

Having a Pokemon learn a damn move isn't much of a difficult thing to do, it basically about takes one episode. So it being late into the series wasn't probably the reason; probably the writers in that case didn't want to follow the conventional method.

While it's definitely possible that the writers follow the conventional method in case of Steenee, it's also possible like the Weepinbell, Goodra and Sylveon cases that the writers don't follow the conventional method.

 

[Golden_Latias]

I could also get in a car accident on the way to work today. It can happen, but do I think it's likely? Probably not. I have a clean driving record after all.

Just because it can happen doesn't mean it's likely.

While I admit that Eevee slipped my mind, I do agree with DatsRight. In the scenarios where it has happened, two of them have been near the end of the series when there hasn't been enough time for development, and one was part of a very rushed arc. And while I know you said that it takes one episode to learn a move, pretty much all of the new moves learned in SM thus far have been the result of training as opposed to just magically learning them in the heat of the moment. Pretty sure Popplio's Aqua Jet is the only example of the latter in the series thus far (and I don't even think that felt as bad because Popplio was actually doing good against Totem Wishiwashi until Alomomola stepped in).

But I digress. The point is, we're not near the end of SM, and there is no reason to rush Mallow and Steenee's development, so why change Steenee's evolution method? The only way I see Steenee evolving in this episode is if we learn it has been working on Stomp, and again, there isn't much use for Stomp in a bread baking competition.

 

[Satomine Night]

Although I would love for Steenee to evolve into Tsareena in this episode, to be honest, I don't think it's going to happen. Granted, the SM series has surprised us in the past, and this wouldn't be the first evolution that wasn't foreshadowed, but this doesn't seem like the kind of episode that would contain an evolution. I think the focus is going to be on the baking contest and on Mallow's interactions with her brother.

OR when Sylveon randomly evolved despite Eevee only knowing Swift, Protect and Double Team. And the fact Serena and Eevee “had” this ultra strong bond according the writers that made it evolve, despite Eevee only being caught for about 16 episodes.

Eevee evolves into Sylveon due to Affection, not Friendship. Technically, Serena and Eevee didn't need to have a super strong bond in order for Eevee to evolve into Sylveon; Eevee just needed to be fond of Serena, which it was. If a high level of Friendship was required for Eevee to evolve into Sylveon, then that would be different, but Affection is not as hard to achieve.

 

[DatsRight]

Truthfully I'd be fine with Steenee staying Steenee (or even a Bounsweet for that matter) if they just made her remarkable with what she had. Steenee at this point seldom gets to do anything. Even Eevee had a palpable character arc bonding and training with Serena.

I tire of plot armour boosts and evolutions anyway, if anything they're a way out of such development and making the twerps do anything interesting with their Pokemon. Hell most of the time a Pokemon evolves it's an excuse so they can curb stomp some challenging situation and then close off their development arc and not be looked at as a character again. This was annoyingly exactly what happened with Eevee (anyone remember Sylveon doing much interesting after evolving or even just getting the odd characterisation moment?). And no this isn't more XY dissing since it's been regiment since the show began. Only a handful of Pokemon evolved in the form of a character arc and even less STAYED interesting.

SM doesn't need that most of the time because the Pokemon are more treasured as characters and the writers are more interested in having the twerps and Pokemon fully responding to situations in an off the wall way. Plot armour isn't needed to fill as many gaps anymore. The only reason I think Steenee was an exception is because they can seldom think of anything for her to do.

I could also get in a car accident on the way to work today. It can happen, but do I think it's likely? Probably not. I have a clean driving record after all.

Just because it can happen doesn't mean it's likely.

You really shouldn't tempt fate like that. ^^;

 

[AshxSatoshi]

Eevee evolves into Sylveon due to Affection, not Friendship. Technically, Serena and Eevee didn't need to have a super strong bond in order for Eevee to evolve into Sylveon; Eevee just needed to be fond of Serena, which it was. If a high level of Friendship was required for Eevee to evolve into Sylveon, then that would be different, but Affection is not as hard to achieve.

I’m going by what the anime told us. I don’t know if this was a dub thing or not but Clemont claims after Eevee evolves that “it needs to be especially close with its trainer to evolve” this to means that by anime logic Eevee evolved through “friendship”

 

[Satomine Night]

I’m going by what the anime told us. I don’t know if this was a dub thing or not but Clemont claims after Eevee evolves that “it needs to be especially close with its trainer to evolve” this to means that by anime logic Eevee evolved through “friendship”

"Especially close to" can also mean "attached to." To be especially close to someone implies attachment to that person. In fact, the Japanese name for Attachment in the games is Nakayoshi, which translates to "closeness," as in the closeness between intimate/really good friends. Someone whose Japanese is better than mine will have to clarify exactly what Clemont said, but assuming the English dub accurately translated the original Japanese dialogue, it's possible this is a case where a faithful translation is misleading and the dubbers should have altered the line and changed "close to" to "attached to."

My point is that "especially close to" can just as likely mean attachment as it does friendship. Serena and Eevee might not have had the greatest bond, but Eevee was attached to Serena and to Bunnelby, but unfortunately, attachments between Pokémon don't cause evolutions.

 

[AshxSatoshi]

"Especially close to" can also mean "attached to." To be especially close to someone implies attachment to that person. In fact, the Japanese name for Attachment in the games is Nakayoshi, which translates to "closeness," as in the closeness between intimate/really good friends. Someone whose Japanese is better than mine will have to clarify exactly what Clemont said, but assuming the English dub accurately translated the original Japanese dialogue, it's possible this is a case where a faithful translation is misleading and the dubbers should have altered the line and changed "close to" to "attached to."

My point is that "especially close to" can just as likely mean attachment as it does friendship. Serena and Eevee might not have had the greatest bond, but Eevee was attached to Serena and to Bunnelby, but unfortunately, attachments between Pokémon don't cause evolutions.

True, I guess the dub must of reworded the situation but considering that Pokémon Amie didn’t exist in the anime and was barely touched upon besides for baking...the writers probably just decided to mash affection and friendship into the same category because you theoretically need to be have affection for someone to be friendly towards them. Again if they were trying to convey that Eevee evolved based off Serena showing affection to it I’m fine from with that but the way the anime made it seem was like they had this uber strong bond from only 16 episodes.

 

[1rkhachatryan]

So I think Steenee's new move might be Aromatic Mist. This kind of sucks cuz it's useless in single battles but I guess the anime could change that.

I'm literally going on that there seems to be some sparkle in the game animation. Aromatherapy seems to release a powder or dust so I don't think it's that.

 

[Golden_Latias]

Aside from Kiawe and maybe Lana to an extent because of her Z-Ring, the other classmates seem better suited to support anyway, and a lot of their Pokemon's movesets and utility so far seems to suggest that. Togedemaru only knows one move right now, but is often used to block Electric attacks. Charjabug is as well, although it also knows String Shot, and I could see it becoming more offensive if/when it evolves. Popplio has a purely offensive moveset plus the Z-Move at its disposal, but Sing has been foreshadowed for it, and it does often use the balloons to its advantage. And if Dewpider is caught, its moveset is clearly Bubble Beam and Water Sport judging by one of the trailers. Steenee has its Sweet Scent, while Snowy's only offensive move is Powder Snow.

 

[playerking]

Mallow kissing her brother on the cheek was nice to see. I'm glad there's a real closeness between the two. And Team Rocket are in there Malasada truck again, which makes sense considering what this episode is about.