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Fully Powered! The Alola Desert Island Race!! (1165)

TheWanderingMist

Paladin of the Snow Queen
Tbh, unironically the Alola League really felt low budget in-universe compared to other leagues (which I guess makes sense since it's the region's first). Only one battlefield, having to use the Kahunas as referees, a single "pre-battle lobby" for all participants, and even the vs screen displays felt kinda cheap.
Yeah, but the Alola League had what, 2, 3 months of planning? Other Leagues have systems in place since they've been doing it for years. It'd be like getting a city ready for the Olympics in 1 year when they normally have about 10 (the 2032 Olympics already have a host city picked).
 

Tabasco Boshi

★★★★★
Or they wanna market new Pokémon for the new gen and they don't wanna contrive a reason for every single Pokémon they have to be released each and every time so into HQ they go.
While true, that didn't stop them from keeping Seviper in two full series, for example. But that would require for them to have bigger parties and having more than two Pokémon each is illegal, or one if you are called James. Also, he has access to "friendlier" places to leave his Pokémon (and Jessie's could be left there too). That would be a good way to "get rid" of them in a "in-character" way. I guess I'm asking for too much.
 

mehmeh1

Not thinking twice!
Yeah, but the Alola League had what, 2, 3 months of planning? Other Leagues have systems in place since they've been doing it for years. It'd be like getting a city ready for the Olympics in 1 year when they normally have about 10 (the 2032 Olympics already have a host city picked).
yeah, that's why I said it makes sense in-universe
 

Kungfu-Bear

Well-Known Member
My thoughts
(+) We finally got acknowledgment of Ash’s champion status, Goh's reaction was a nice touch.
(+) Also Ash seemed as experienced here as he should have been, like when he talked about using Z-Move and dealing with Passimian.
(+) Nice atmosphere fitting with the region, glad to hear SM's soundtracks too
(+) That alolan event hostess is back
(+) Good use of Ash and Goh's Pokémon, especially Lucario and his aura.
(+) Nice detail about Sarunori being immune to Sleep Powder since it's grass-type
(+) Finally Clangorous Soulblaze.
(+) Finally TRio meets Mama Bear and the others again.
(+) Finally some cliffhanger connecting with an unrelated next episode (Volkner! Wait, #27?! Wth?).
(+) This is how you balance Ash and Goh's screentime.

(-) Eh not a fan of giving rare & powerful Pokémon like pseudo-legendaries to little kids but okay, not 1st time nor the last.
(-) Only two kids recognized Ash as the Champion. I thought Ash would be a real celebrity over there at this point.
(-) Only 30 seconds for TRio and their Alola mons? Better than nothing I guess...
(-) RIP Ash's Passimian ):

Better than I expected in some points.
 

thor94

Well-Known Member
Wow, you just can't accept that being champion of Alola is an actual achievement, can you? Ash isn't just Alola's Champion. He beat Alola's strongest Trainer. Not to mention that the Alola League was broadcast with the specific intention of drawing more Trainers to Alola in search of powerful opponents. Then, of course, there's the fact he defeated Iris, who is now a Champion in her own right. Of course, you'll probably just say that means Unova isn't a very strong League either while trying to claim that Sinnoh and Kalos are the hardest Leagues. Sinnoh and Kalos aren't some magical uber Leagues. They have the same level of skill requirement as any other League.
The problem is not really about what i think, but what the anime shows.
For alola champion title being seen as great achievement by the fanbase, the anime writers should first give him the deserved champion treatment, like they usually done to the other generation ones, means:
-ash being cheered by several dozens/hundreds alola natives at each step in populated places and during competitions he takes part in the islands.
-Ash being officially announced as "alola regional champion, ash ketchum" (could even add 'from palet town') during most of his official battle and competition like they did during tucker frontier battle or usually do for all other champions (every times they appeared or taken part of a fight and exhibit events, whatever the regions, we always seen street people and stadium announcer say stuff like "the impressive sinnoh champion CYYYNTHIIIAA, the famous kanto/johto champion dragon master LAAAANCE", they were never ignored or introduced like a random trainer).

I won't see alola champion as a significant achievement as long as the anime writers don't give ash the official regional or worlwide recognition and popularity of a champion in the eyes of the pokeworld population. An until now, the anime only depicted his champion status as something almost nobody including most of the alola natives know or even care. Basically the only moment in the anime ash obtain a worthy treatment for his achievements, was during tucker frontier brain battle.
 
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SerGoldenhandtheJust

Deluded Dreamer
Is pointing out what literally happened on screen is bad watching comprehension, then perhaps the fault lies with the writers?

:p
If ONLY you did that, instead you beat around the bush, go full hyperbolic and overexaggerate and even change things to suit your narrative so you could **** on the series, not to mention the absurd amount of baiting you deliberately do in your posts. Anyway guess you succeeded considering the replies and considering the users who are liking your posts (some names really are unsurprising and predictable lol)
Really wish Serebii had a proper block button compared to the useless ignore button it has
The problem is not really about what i think, but what the anime shows.
For alola champion title being seen as great achievement by the fanbase, the anime writers should first give him the deserved champion treatment, like they usually done to the other generation ones, means:
-ash being cheered by several dozens/hundreds alola natives at each step in populated places and during competitions he takes part in the islands.
-Ash being officially announced as "alola regional champion, ash ketchum" (could even add 'from palet town') during most of his official battle and competition like they did during tucker frontier battle or usually do for all other champions (every times they appeared or taken part of a fight and exhibit events, whatever the regions, we always seen street people and stadium announcer say stuff like "the impressive sinnoh champion CYYYNTHIIIAA, the famous kanto/johto champion dragon master LAAAANCE", they were never ignored or introduced like a random trainer).

I won't see alola champion as a significant achievement as long as the anime writers don't give ash the official regional or worlwide recognition and popularity of a champion in the eyes of the pokeworld population. An until now, the anime only depicted his champion status as something almost nobody including most of the alola natives know or even care. Basically the only moment in the anime ash obtain a worthy treatment for his achievements, was during tucker frontier brain battle.
So Ash inspired 2 kids who were complete fans of him and he mentored them like a champion would, and is even called a celebrity by official sources, but you still dont buy it coz his name wasnt announced and we didnt spend the episode with every alolan in sight appreciating him?
I have one question, in the next episode we know Ash's alolan champion status will be mentioned and all sources are hyping up that title in the previews, and we also know its in a big stadium and there will be an announcer. So if Ashs name and title is announced by the announcer in that big stadium of people witnessing Hyper class matches of two high caliber trainers....would you consider it a proper achievement then? Or would other arbitary rules pop up that you will want fulfilled before you consider it a proper achievement?
 
Note to self, don't post when tired. My last post here was a garbled mess that I deleted, so if anyone saw that yesterday, that wasn't an actual response lmao.

At any rate, the show could shout Ash's status from the rooftops, but when that achievement has no heft or weight to it, ultimately for me it really doesn't matter. Course correcting the original problem is essentially impossible unless the show decides to do some retconning or something, so the amount of proselytizing the show will do won't really stregthen the actual achievement for me, but will strengthen the impact if that makes sense. Things like Ash's mentoring does for example enhance the relevancy of the achievement, but it doesn't actually improve the achievement as an example.

It's the same problem with Journeys, but as other users have pointed out, at some point, you've gotta accept the faults of how it started up. At least though with the PWC and Journeys, there's still time to build out Ash's Pokemon and the PWC even if it started off in a disappointingly fashion.
 

Lord Starfish

Fond of owls
Sometimes, and sometimes its just trying too hard with the bait. Id appreciate the humor better if it was organic rather then picking any straw to **** on the show. It gets annoying after the first few times, esp when theres deliberate bait to ignite flame wars, its exhausting. Even more so saddening to see people whose critiques and opinions I actually appreciated once to go down the rabbit holes of claiming his posts have substance beyond the trolling that guy does. This show has always been one I just watch coz of nostalgia coz I find it adorable and when I made an account here during SM's third year it was because it was fun to read people's posts here and I wanted to join in and just vibe with a community about a show. I dont mind playfully poking fun at it either coz its far from good quality but still is endearing, but at this point everytime I come here I dread just seeing my notifs instead of being excited before because its a constant arguments, flame wars and just negativity. Criticism can exist without a toxic atmosphere being created where it feels like we are factions of people at each other's throats, not that there wasnt toxicity beforehand but its just overbearing at this point, the fun community back in SM third year also barely post anything here which I cant blame them, its exhausting. Im probably overreacting here and going too deep into it but its frustrating at this point that well a comfort show's community has come to this where Im now actively trying to break my habits to come and interact here
While I cannot claim that the toxicity didn't exist in Sun & Moon's era either as even back then I saw plenty of people here who seemed to want nothing more but to demean literally everything the current series was doing... Yeah pretty much. The negativity these days is exhausting, and I say that as someone who also is not really that big on this current series. (Currently sitting at a 5/10 on my anime list... With Sun & Moon being an 8.) But it's like, every time I look here I only see negativity. Even in the episodes I liked. (The jabs at Jimeleon here being a good example considering that I loved how that episode resolved itself and thought it genuinely taught a very good lesson about how there are some cases where the only thing you can do for someone is leave them be, and where any attempt at cheering them up will only make them more miserable.)

...I have to wonder if part of the problem is just that at least with Sun & Moon or XY, there was also a sizeable chunk of people who really loved those series, whereas here it kinda feels like we've got a mix of people who hate the show and... people who kinda-sorta like it a little bit?
 

SerGoldenhandtheJust

Deluded Dreamer
While I cannot claim that the toxicity didn't exist in Sun & Moon's era either as even back then I saw plenty of people here who seemed to want nothing more but to demean literally everything the current series was doing... Yeah pretty much. The negativity these days is exhausting, and I say that as someone who also is not really that big on this current series. (Currently sitting at a 5/10 on my anime list... With Sun & Moon being an 8.) But it's like, every time I look here I only see negativity. Even in the episodes I liked. (The jabs at Jimeleon here being a good example considering that I loved how that episode resolved itself and thought it genuinely taught a very good lesson about how there are some cases where the only thing you can do for someone is leave them be, and where any attempt at cheering them up will only make them more miserable.)

...I have to wonder if part of the problem is just that at least with Sun & Moon or XY, there was also a sizeable chunk of people who really loved those series, whereas here it kinda feels like we've got a mix of people who hate the show and... people who kinda-sorta like it a little bit?
Same, I never said there wasn't toxicity back then either, it definitely was there but rn it's a whole other level. Heck pretty much internet culture has evolved into a cesspool, beginning with the discourse TLJ started in 2017. There were criticisms and all always but the extreme amount of negativity towards many things is a common trait nowadays. Whatever
 

Starswirl Pikachu

Well-Known Member
Time for a pokemon foot race on a tropical island in Alola! The whole thing seemed pretty straightforward, not that that is a bad thing. It might be my imagination but the other competitors seemed to get knocked out really easy. Despite their initial plan falling apart, Team Rocket had a good moment of almost catching Pikachu. The probability of them blasting off back into the hands of the Bear pokemon must have been near astronomical but at least it gave them a chance to meet up with their old chums.

(-) Only two kids recognized Ash as the Champion. I thought Ash would be a real celebrity over there at this point.
Not sure I'd call this a negative, I think it might get weird if Ash started to get proper recognition under normal conditions.
 

mysticalglacia

Alola Shill
Loved this episode. Literally felt like an SM ep; the feeling of nostalgia, comfort, and homeyness reminded me why I love that series so much. The gorgeous Miyazaki music, all the callbacks and references (even to the announcer Anna), and the way the episode was structured itself felt so refreshing.

Loved to see Ash’s Champion status get recognized. The brothers were so fun and I genuinely liked them quite a bit; the way they idolized Ash with him being very nonchalant and humble about his title was what I think everyone wanted to see. Ash himself was portrayed really well here, seeing the matured mentor role come back stronger than ever in a way that felt very natural was great. The moment when he instructed the brothers on what they were doing wrong with their Z-Move was perfect in showing that; his advice even if eccentric was very valuable and it’s a testament to his prowess that the brothers understood it 100%.

The captures weren’t egregious either and I appreciated how Ash and Go worked together to catch Bruxish. Made their victory at the end feel earned even if we didn’t get to see the whole race itself.

TR meeting their Pokémon again almost made me shed a tear lol. The BGM coupled with Mareanie greeting James and Mimikyu swimming by was super cute, as was Bewear crushing them all again. Ahhh I love their Alola Pokémon so much! This little reunion was wonderful.

The tone shift at the end was great; Volkner being built up as so formidable hypes their match up. I appreciate how it was established in this episode instead of being randomly next like JN tended to do at this point in the series
 
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