I think part of the reason he doesn't attribute the specials is because he's a dub-only watcher, which did present the specials as a separate entity while in the Japanese airing they were aired in replacement of the episodes, making them more of just a special episode.
Though, of course, Ash was mentioned in the very first special and then the events in Hoenn were mentioned prior to the Olympia battle while Alain was directly referenced right after the Clemont battle. (He was also in the Japanese Opening that followed that).
Of course, I agree with you in terms of buildup. There's also the fact that Lysandre was very much a shadow guy. He purposely never sent his operatives of Flare into the field until he absolutely needed to when Squishy was broken out in the 4th special, and as soon as he obtained Z-2, you never saw anyone but Xerosic in the field again, and that was mostly for experimental purposes over operations.
I can't seem to find the original post you quoted here, but it was addressed at me, while you answered most of it, the part I'd like to answer since it was asked like a question is why did I think this was even worse than Plasma. I would say that, fair or unfair, I partially give Plasma a pass due to how it was messed up by the earthquake, and it's clear that without that happening, they were setting up for a series-long arc just like TMvTA or TG. Now, I get after reading this thread that I was "supposed" to get that the Mega Evolution Specials were building up to something in the main series, but it's just a fact that I did not get that the first time, which is kind of what matters when I'm gonna give my opinion on something and how I experienced it. And as far as Ash being referenced in one of them, I thought that was just an Easter egg. I did not see the Japanese opening in question. Team Plasma was kind of forced to work with what they got lol, and I thought it was a really good arc given the need to rework their original plan, and I actually liked the self-contained nature. We had had smaller self-contained arcs up to that point like Lugia 3-parter and Red Gyarados 2-parter, but with TMvTA and TG being series-long arcs, this 14-episode self-contained arc was a novel concept to Pokémon and I remember loving it. I also want to say that when I'm giving my opinion about something in this show, I usually recall how I originally felt, because I feel the writers' goal should be to impact the viewer the most on their initial viewing, not subsequent viewings. Hence my thoughts on why TP is better than TF. Now, I get that both happen after the league, but I think most here can agree, even people who love or hate the TF arc, that despite TP and TF happening after the league, TF was after the league in a different way. TF was meant to be the true finale, especially after Ash lost the league. TP on the other hand, was a separate thing. The BW league was the finale of BW, while TP (and later Da!) were random self-contained arcs. Hence they will easily have different expectations. And I think that for something that's the true finale of a whole region, it should have setup from the beginning:
OS finale: Ash vs. Gary - set up from episode 1
AG finale: beating Brandon - ok, this is not set up
(it could also be argued that from may's perspective, "the unbeatable lightness of seeing" is her finale, which was definitely set up all series long)
DP finale: Infernape vs. Electivire - set up from AG192 losing to Electivire and DP003 tying Elekid
BW finale: beating Trip's Serperior - not a good farewell episode for Trip, and it shouldn't have been 1on1, but it was still set up, from the very beginning BW01
SM finale: Pikachu vs. Tapu Koko - set up from SM001-2
something that's set up only in side episodes, and even if you call them main episodes, the first one wasn't as close to the beginning of the series, to me just isn't enough, and carries more weight and importance in the overall XY&Z show than TP arc carries in the BW show, hence it will have different expectations because it needs to play a different storytelling role in its respective series
Team Galactic's only failing is how anticlimactic its finale is. The heroes play little role, Cyrus steps in his portal, it closes and...that's kinda it? Buildup was aces, but it faltered at literal very last step of the arc, which is sadly how I remember it.
And here I hope is a good example of a quote by you that I can use to explain to you how I feel about TF: buildup incredible, but messed up at end. So I hope you can understand how I feel, if you just imagine how you feel about TG, take that feeling and you'll be able to put yourself in my brain with respect to TF
Simple? Perhaps. But effective
I disagree. Her needing to only beat herself is not interesting. It could be interesting as part of a multifaceted multilayered arc, where it was just one piece, but it's the main and only piece. Her rivals are pointless, and even if you say rivals alone don't make a good arc, it doesn't even have to be someone with rivals. They could be COTDs like all the ones May faced. But when May faced them, she had to understand who they were, their strategies, and beat them straight up, not just beat herself.
