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He's Born! The Alolan League Winner! (1082)

345ash-greninja

Auto-Memories Doll
I can actually understand the perspective of the people who don't consider the Alola League to be of comparable standard & quality compared to the other Leagues in terms of competition and thus are upset at "Ash's moment of winning finally came in such an underwhelming League with low standards of competition and so on...", "how much value & prestige does winning a mini-League/baby joke tournament of this level have in the first place...etc. etc."..............

But despite all of that,

It doesn't change the fact that this moment has enormous historical, landmark and narrative significance in the context of the Pokemon anime as a whole. Ash failing to win the Pokemon League has been the longest status quo in the Pokemon anime by far, which has looked nearly unbreakable, which has led to countless disappointments & despair for many Pokemon fans as a whole (who can forget the outburst of sky-high levels of salt after the Kalos League) leading us to believe that Ash never winning a League is very likely the (harsh) reality we've to just accept. We've throughout the 22 years of the Pokemon anime witnessed one disappointing loss after another, giving us fans disappointment in that very one aspect for all these years who wanted to see him finally win achieve what has been since depicted as the primary big step towards his goal....leading to Ash earning the tag of loser in the eyes of several people. This time, he at the most crucial time and the crunch battle, stepped up and made it big, winning the whole thing and finally added that long-awaited title/accomplishment as a League winner which he has been lacking for all these years & breaking the status quo which has made the Pokemon anime go on in an repetitive formula/rigid structure year after year., region after region.

Yes, SM isn't the best series, neither is the Alola League the best of Leagues, and Ash & Gladion isn't the best final League Ash battle to happen. Yes, SM as a series has its own problems, moreso for the Alola League which has several obvious problems too (I'm personally not the biggest fan of SM series or the Alola League, or Ash's SM version in general either). But he still won this after all these years, after years of failed attempts, valiant efforts resulting in at best respectable losses. This time, he has finally gone past that barrier he was failing to overcome all these years and won the whole regional tournament, which means he can finally strive and aim for somethimg beyond this, he finally can take that secondary step towards his goal after fulfilling the seemingly insurmountable primaly step after all these failures. Matter of fact is that this win has actually ended the status quo and repetitive tiring formula after a long wait, which just simply can't be denied. If Ash lost, then guess what. The very same and rigid/tiresome formula of Ash losing a League and going off to the next region would've just continued on. This win is that point where all of that has had finally a change after all, after 6 losses/failed attempts in Leagues, which is why the narrative importance of this battle, this very moment, is huge regardless of the standards/prestige of the League as a whole.

And consider the nostalgia factor here: many/several fans amongst us who have been watching Pokemon since our very childhood have very likely wholeheartedly rooted for Ash to win during his League battles throughout all these years at least at some point during all these years, likely at least during some of the previous 6 Leagues has participated in, maybe during our childhood, maybe during our pro-teens, etc. etc. During the course of these several years and all of Ash's previous losses, with time I guess most of us have accepted the Pokemon anime for what it is & deal with Ash's losses more realistically/better without involving ourselves too much regarding Ash's performance/predicament in League battles.....heck this time around, around, I wasn't really much super invested in the outcome either, learning from my previous experiences of seeing Ash lose in various ways & I'd have been totally fine with the result going either way. But now that after all these years, this rare & unexpected moment has finally happened, can I (& several other fans like me too) really help but feel emotional during this moment of massive historical and landmark significance? The anwser plausibly becomes no. Because at least at some point, we long term Pokemon anime fans have very likely rooted for the boy, whether in childhood or pro-teens. So even in case where we're not super invested in the outcome & would've been fine either way, it's hard to not show our appreciation and emotion where this unexpected moment has finally happened somehow. Since nostalgia, landmark & narrative value are quite hard to overlook.

That's all I really have to say on this matter. :)
 
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U.N. Owen

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night ...
Bulbapedia went down, presumably because people were checking it to see if what's trending on Twitter is real.

I can actually understand the perspective of the people who don't consider the Alola League to be of comparable standard & quality compared to the other Leagues in terms of competition and thus are upset at "Ash's moment of winning finally came in such an underwhelming League with low standards of competition and so on...", "how much value & prestige does winning a mini-League/baby joke tournament of this level have in the first place...etc. etc."..............

I can certainly understand the dislike of the league. In fact, I wanted a more character driven final story arc or even Victory Road like the games. I certainly won't go as far as declare this league invalid since the validity of the league isn't for us to judge. The quality of the league is there for us to judge.
 

Ultra Beast Lover

Well-Known Member
Royal Mask is stacked , from the preview it seems he has a shiny Guzzlord. Ash is likely going to get obliterated. Melmetal as terrible as it did is likely the only who stands a chance of beating it.
pikachu vs lucario also seems destined again
Um pretty sure that's not the Royal Mask's
 

Bortgreen

Captain Pikachu is EPIC
I mean there's never been a "good" conclusion to a league because Ash always lost, but the last three before this one were particularly insulting. In DP they moved away from the league-only rival formula by adding... a league-only Action Replay abuser who never showed up again, which is probably even worse than what they did before. Then in BW he actually regressed, only finishing top 8 and losing in a 6-on-5 battle. Awful. In XY they bait-and-switched us hardcore and it was a really gross FU to the viewers and fans - and him winning here is proof of that. It was their attempt to placate the fanbase after not reading the room while writing the Kalos league, not expecting the vehement reaction. The post-Kalos outrage worked, which is one in the eye for people who attempted to justify what happened there.

So after 3 consecutive leagues of being badly stung by bad writing and genuine, outright insults to the fans, I don't care about the art style or the quality of the trainers in this league. He won and it is magnificent. The writers gave the people what they wanted, rather than stringing them along endlessly.
Also in Hoenn he lost to a Meowth in boots(interesting but completely random and unfitting as dream crusher) and like I said, in Kanto he lost because of a couple of pokémon sleeping
Only in Johto he lost somewhat fairly
 

Redstar45

The Anime/Special's canon know it all.
Also in Hoenn he lost to a Meowth in boots(interesting but completely random and unfitting as dream crusher) and like I said, in Kanto he lost because of a couple of pokémon sleeping
Only in Johto he lost somewhat fairly
In kanto he lose to his clone which should be Shigeru Okido in first place
 

Mr.Munchlax

Great Ball Rank Trainer
It’s just another Guzzlord that’s shiny lol.
Do you think it’s possible that it’s just the same Guzzlord & they’ll use some anime exclusive McGuffin to turn it into its shiny form?
 

Ultra Beast Lover

Well-Known Member
Who's is it?
As others said, it's a second one. Why would Kukui have a Guzzlord? Tobias having Darkrai and Latios was fine because there's not one of those species, they're not too important/powerful for one person and they're on Earth, Guzzlord is a living black hole from another dimension that no one had access to.
 

Cradily17

Well-Known Member
Congratulations to Ash for winning his first official league (Orange Islands doesn't count)! The Guzzlord and Mohn arc as well as Ash's battle against Masked Royal (please let him win this as well) will be exciting, too. I'm really going to miss SM when it ends, but I'm looking forward to the next saga.
 

Redstar45

The Anime/Special's canon know it all.
I honestly wish Misty and Brock could of been there. They’ve achieved their dreams so it would of been nice for them to see Ash achieve such a feat.
Not just them everyone as well!!! (even if you do hate Serena)
 

Sham

The Guardian of Ruin and Birth
Not just them everyone as well!!! (even if you do hate Serena)
Yeah, all of them should of been there. I just put priority into Brock and Misty since they were there at the start and should of been there at the end (not the literal end)... also they’ve appeared twice already and they brought back Delia and Oak anyway. Seeing all of his friends would of been nice although. I’m sure they would of all been proud of him however. Misty and Iris would of seen he’s all grown up, May and Dawn probably would of used it as motivation to become top coordinators etc.
 

Redstar45

The Anime/Special's canon know it all.
Yeah, all of them should of been there. I just put priority into Brock and Misty since they were there at the start and should of been there at the end (not the literal end)... also they’ve appeared twice already and they brought back Delia and Oak anyway. Seeing all of his friends would of been nice although. I’m sure they would of all been proud of him however. Misty and Iris would of seen he’s all grown up, May and Dawn probably would of used it as motivation to become top coordinators etc.
And Serena ?
 
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