October 6th: SM142 - Burn with Passion! Get Filled with Intensity! A Full Battle!!!

[Dragalge]

Melmetal is acceptable imo. Not the best written Pokemon but iirc its evolution was hinted months in advance via seeing more Meltan. Only Poipole's evolution here is badly written (and to a lesser extent, Torracat's break from focus somewhere in the middle of the series). But who cares because Ash is going to command an extradimensional draconic wasp of new worlds! All the more reason why that Skrelp in XY was robbed of a slot in Ash's team

 

[SceptileTheBanana]

I typically don't say it, but I really want Naganadel to job (ok, maybe beating one mon). He hasn't trained on screen even a little and has one team skull fight as his battle track record. Sure, Ash kinda got handed Melmetal too, but he also jobbed after showing his prowess (not to mention that they got to understand each other a bit better from the fight with Silvally, as shown by Ash mimicking Melmetal's movements at some points), while Naganadel probably won't have anything more than this fight

Yeah, I mean I honestly don’t care what happens at this point, since Ash is obviously losing this battle no matter what. I am still salty about Noivern not getting one win despite having actual battles beforehand unlike Poipole. But Naganadel is a pretty cool Pokémon I guess, so I’m hopeful it’ll get at least one win. My only wish is that Rowlet is absolutely demolished without getting a single win, after that incredibly pathetic display against Hau.

 

[Blue Saturday]

I really am wondering if they’re ballsy enough to go ahead with Nyaheat evolving, I remember when Nyabby evolved in their first match Royal Mask remarked “finally.” I love how you can look at this team of crazy muscled monsters, blood thirsty wolf, and killer poisonous wasp and...then Sleeping Owl...I love Mukuroh. Looking forward to seeing that broken Feather Dance again. Maybe he can bring down Warrgle or soften up Gaogaen.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Stupid that the one match that deserves to be a 1v1 is instead bloated to an awkward full battle, where the only match that wouldn't be padding is Torracat vs Incineroar

I hope they at least have the decency to make it the first match so Torracat can get its required win out of the way and then lose to whatever pokémon Kukui willed into existence for this match

 

[ash&charizardfan]

Torterra was unfortunate because the writers didn't want to give it Earthquake while Ash had a bromance with his Infernape. It was unfortunate.

Ash's torterra sucked big time, not only was its moveset terrible it had low endurance and durability for a tank, all the times it lost it was either oneshotted or twoshotted.

 

[Doppelgänger]

Stupid that the one match that deserves to be a 1v1 is instead bloated to an awkward full battle, where the only match that wouldn't be padding is Torracat vs Incineroar

Now that we know Masked Royal's identity is exposed, it's no longer an "exhibition match". It's now a rival battle, and it has all the drama that is typical of one.

 

[Lord Godwin]

The fight Has a ton of hype on its side. A sad thing, though, is the fact pokemon gamers (including all the PokeTubers) will not be able to replicate it as there is no way to have both Naganadel (or Dysk Lycanroc) and Melmetal on the same Team...

 

[Deleted member 384931]

The fight Has a ton of hype on its side. A sad thing, though, is the fact pokemon gamers (including all the PokeTubers) will not be able to replicate it as there is no way to have both Naganadel (or Dysk Lycanroc) and Melmetal on the same Team...

Meh, it feels a bit stupid if we know MR identity

 

[Blue Saturday]

Stupid that the one match that deserves to be a 1v1 is instead bloated to an awkward full battle, where the only match that wouldn't be padding is Torracat vs Incineroar

Why isn’t the Champion v. Kukui match that was snatched right from the S&M games that the writers have been hyping up forever now an anticlimactic 1 v. 1 l instead of being a full showing of Satoshi vs. the closest thing he’s ever had resembling a father? Why would anyone not want to see his whole team go all out in a bang. And obviously Nyaheat v. Gaogaen will be last. We got our bird battle, dog fight, evil boss fight out of the way so now it’s the cat’s time.

 

[IkeBayern]

I got this from someone else's comment on another forum but since we all know who Ash is gonna use for his full battle, how about Kukui?

We know he has 3 Pokemon but he needs 3 more obviously unless he smacks Ash's team with only Braviary, Lucario and Incineroar

-Lycanroc: Nope, I don't think there will be more dog battles.
-Snorlax: It has a wide movepool and could be an interesting challenge for Ash to overcome.
-Magnezone: Doesn't look too much like his style, but it would be an interesting foil to Melmetal.
-Ninetales: Doesn't look too much like his style, but Lillie's reaction would be priceless. But if they want to reference it they could change it for its counterpart Alolan Sandslash.
-Crabominable: Would be an interesting challenge as we've yet to see it battling, but if Hala uses it its chances of appearing will be very low.

Other options from the Alola Dex:

-Trevenant: A reference to SM125, obviously it would be a different one.
-Ledian, Flygon: They kinda fit with the superhero aesthetic.
-Alolan Muk: We haven't seen it much, it would be a nice reference to Ash's Muk.
-Arcanine: Another fan-favorite that could distinguish itself easily from Incineroar.
-Hawlucha, Primeape, Poliwrath, Mienshao, Machamp, Passimian, Scrafty: I think Lucario will be the only representative of the fighting type, but I'll put them here just in case.
-Heracross: I think it has a higher chance as it's not defined as a fighting type, and could be the counterpart to Guzma's Scizor.
-Salamence, Kommo-o, Dragonite, Metagross: As others have said, it's likely he will have a pseudo.
-Kabutops, Armaldo, Archeops, Carracosta, Tyrantrum: He is a researcher so it would make sense he would have a fossil, and they would great add type coverage.

 

[dman_dustin]

Stupid that the one match that deserves to be a 1v1

That would have been the most boring thing after the Gladion vs Ash fight. Ash deserves a hearty challenge after defeating Gladion.

Sure I could be biased because full battles are my favorite battle format. But if we objectively look at it, there would be NO and I mean NO reason for there to be an exhibition between the winner of the Alola league and the Masked Royal IF it was only Incineroar vs Torracat.

 

[Doppelgänger]

Why isn’t the Champion v. Kukui match that was snatched right from the S&M games that the writers have been hyping up forever now an anticlimactic 1 v. 1 l instead of being a full showing of Satoshi vs. the closest thing he’s ever had resembling a father? Why would anyone not want to see his whole team go all out in a bang. And obviously Nyaheat v. Gaogaen will be last. We got our bird battle, dog fight, evil boss fight out of the way so now it’s the cat’s time.

Masked Royal and Professor Kukui are different identities, so having the battle be against Masked Royal limits the emotional investment to Torracat and his rival Incineroar.

Having it against Kukui adds additional layers. Kukui is Ash's father-figure in Alola, and isn't seen as a rival. Ash is Kukui's "senpai" and the very reason he is the person he is today. They are simultaneously rivals and mentors to one another. It's like your dad admiring you for beating him in a Wi-Fi battle, but you're both using pseudonyms and aren't aware of who you really are.

I also think there's an unspoken dynamic because Kukui's in-universe age (late 20's to mid 30's) is around Ash's actual age (32 years old). So while they've both swapped the mentorship role, in reality they're closer to peers.

This is a different dynamic from the games where Kukui doesn't have this special relationship with the player. It's rather cool that you finally get the battle the Pokemon Professor as the ultimate league challenge, but since Kukui is inferior to Elite Four Lance, it's just a novelty. He's a fill-in for the Champion, not an actual Champion.

Here, Kukui is practically the underdog: he's challenging the Alola Champion who has a stacked team of various types. His ace has a rivalry with one of Ash's Pokemon, and he himself has a rivalry to settle with Ash. It's very reminiscent of the original battle at the end of RBY, where Blue is the Champion and you are the challenger, your starter having a rivalry with his.

That is the complete opposite of what I thought the battle would be before today. I figured it would just be a fun novelty battle with some interesting undertones, not the conclusion of an Ash/Kukui character arc.

 

[Lord Godwin]

I got this from someone else's comment on another forum but since we all know who Ash is gonna use for his full battle, how about Kukui?

We know he has 3 Pokemon but he needs 3 more obviously unless he smacks Ash's team with only Braviary, Lucario and Incineroar

-Lycanroc: Nope, I don't think there will be more dog battles.
-Snorlax: It has a wide movepool and could be an interesting challenge for Ash to overcome.
-Magnezone: Doesn't look too much like his style, but it would be an interesting foil to Melmetal.
-Ninetales: Doesn't look too much like his style, but Lillie's reaction would be priceless. But if they want to reference it they could change it for its counterpart Alolan Sandslash.
-Crabominable: Would be an interesting challenge as we've yet to see it battling, but if Hala uses it its chances of appearing will be very low.

Other options from the Alola Dex:

-Trevenant: A reference to SM125, obviously it would be a different one.
-Ledian, Flygon: They kinda fit with the superhero aesthetic.
-Alolan Muk: We haven't seen it much, it would be a nice reference to Ash's Muk.
-Arcanine: Another fan-favorite that could distinguish itself easily from Incineroar.
-Hawlucha, Primeape, Poliwrath, Mienshao, Machamp, Passimian, Scrafty: I think Lucario will be the only representative of the fighting type, but I'll put them here just in case.
-Heracross: I think it has a higher chance as it's not defined as a fighting type, and could be the counterpart to Guzma's Scizor.
-Salamence, Kommo-o, Dragonite, Metagross: As others have said, it's likely he will have a pseudo.
-Kabutops, Armaldo, Archeops, Carracosta, Tyrantrum: He is a researcher so it would make sense he would have a fossil, and they would great add type coverage.

I think having a Kommo-o would work well here, as it had very little screentime, no major trainer had it and it could be a nod to Kukui's Trial in SM Demo.

From your post Ledian would be interesting.

 

[Doppelgänger]

I don't think he'll have Snorlax because Burnet has Munchlax. I feel like if there won't be Pokemon from the same line in the cast unless they're rivals. The same justification is why I don't think he'll have an Alolan Ninetales.

I also think that he'll try to have one Pokemon from each region. Alola, Unova and Sinnoh are already represented. A Mega would automatically cover Kalos, so I think his remaining Pokemon will be from Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn.

 

[Deleted member 384931]

So you are going to tell me Ash and Dia can beat one Guzzlord with 2 Gigavolt Havocs, but they now need 6 Z-Moves, a UB, a Trio Mech, a Bewear ?

 

[Rock Captain 99]

So you are going to tell me Ash and Dia can beat one Guzzlord with 2 Gigavolt Havocs, but they now need 6 Z-Moves, a UB, a Trio Mech, a Bewear ?

And the tapus!!

 

[Deleted member 384931]

And the tapus!!

Makes it even worse lol

 

[GarchompChain]

So you are going to tell me Ash and Dia can beat one Guzzlord with 2 Gigavolt Havocs, but they now need 6 Z-Moves, a UB, a Trio Mech, a Bewear ?

They didn't beat it though. They just pushed it through a wormhole.

 

[Deleted member 384931]

They didn't beat it though. They just pushed it through a wormhole.

Yes that is true. But this isn't Ultra Necrozma they are fighting

 

[Revolver Furious Dragon]

I really want kukui to have snorlax. It's a beefy Pokémon that works with a wrestling theme. Plus it would be a good chance for ash to reference his own.