Pocket Monsters XY Pokémon Review Thread

[Xenon Blue]

Again, it's been long established Pokemon dont need to be battle experienced killing machines to be allowed to evolve and Serena's case is such a inoffensive one in the grand scheme it's just ridiculous you're choosing this hill to die on when you have crap like Noibat which is an actual bad case of that.

I'm just using Fennekin as an example since you brought it up. Most evolution's in Pokemon is DEM because who cares about plot when you need to focus on marketing the products. I'm not saying it's terrible that Pokemon has to use DEM, I'm just saying it is in fact using DEM for most of it's evolution.

 

[Soniman]

But that's because evolution in itself tends to be unplanned, you can't translate levels into an anime so who evolves and who doesnt is completely up to the writers to decide, it can be after one or 20 battles, some can take bart in 100 battles and STILL not evolve, that's just how it is, not every single case is DEM when that's simply just how evolution works.

 

[thelord3]

This might not be a good question but what does DEM stand for?

 

[Lord Trollbias]

This might not be a good question but what does DEM stand for?

In actual dictionary terms: a Deus Ex Machina which is "an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel." On Serebii, its usually people *****ing about something they didn't like.

 

[Xenon Blue]

But that's because evolution in itself tends to be unplanned, you can't translate levels into an anime so who evolves and who doesnt is completely up to the writers to decide, it can be after one or 20 battles, some can take bart in 100 battles and STILL not evolve, that's just how it is, not every single case is DEM when that's simply just how evolution works.

Which is why evolution in general is really inconsistent in the anime, and when the writers put themselves in a corner and needs to evolve a Pokemon asap, they are too lazy to think about a practical situation and just uses DEM to settle things. Most of these evolution has absolutely no build-up, and just evolves out of sheer plot-power in order to escape an unwinnable situation and just get things over with. The writers deciding when is a convenient time to give someone a convenient power boost when in reality it makes no sense at all and felt like it was done just to progress the plot without logic is the root of all DEM.

 

[Jibanyan]

So many Pokemon intellectuals here..

I hope all the SM evolutions are DEM just to piss you off.

 

[Platinum fan.]

Except evolution without special condition (trading, using stone, etc.) happens when a Pokemon has enough experience in battle that it can transform to a superior form. Serena's Fennekin showed no signs of having enough experience to evolve into a Braxine. Evolving in a clutch situation is fine and all, but when the past doings don't add up and a sudden increase in power/experience is needed to move forward the plot, then problems of DEM starts to arise. Dramatic effects work when the build-up is implied (i.e. it somewhat makes sense logically why it had to happen now rather than before or later), but in Fennekin's case, it's past doesn't logically imply why it had to miraculously happen at such a convenient time when it's experience doesn't show it. Having to use the excuse of "Serena is a performer so it can evolve Pokemon without it gaining enough battle experience" seems to imply there is some inconsistency going on here. It's a kid's show, I know, but that doesn't excuse it from being a DEM.

I've been saying this for years on Serebi, the female lead doesn't operate like that. They don't battle enough with the same Pokemon onscreen to get "experience" going by that none of the girls in Pokemon would ever evolve their Pokemon. And when they do battle a lot they are deemed strong enough and don't evolve, like Piplup. Fennekin and Torchic didn't battle or they did battle and would job and were basically deemed weak. How did that change? By evolution. You can bring up Pokemon with experience evolving all day but the female leads Pokemon don't work like that. None of them evolved because they had experience, they evolved because the plot demanded them. It's not their fault nor should they be criticized for it.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

So many Pokemon intellectuals here..

I hope all the SM evolutions are DEM just to piss you off.

Lol

I've been saying this for years on Serebi, the female lead doesn't operate like that. They don't battle enough with the same Pokemon onscreen to get "experience" going by that none of the girls in Pokemon would ever evolve their Pokemon. And when they do battle a lot they are deemed strong enough and don't evolve, like Piplup. Fennekin and Torchic didn't battle or they did battle and would job and were basically deemed weak. How did that change? By evolution. You can bring up Pokemon with experience evolving all day but the female leads Pokemon don't work like that. None of them evolved because they had experience, they evolved because the plot demanded them. It's not their fault nor should they be criticized for it.

I agree actually. Besides Ash's Pokemon had far more DEM moments if you really think about it, especially that thunder armor crap lol

 

[DatsRight]

I agree actually. Besides Ash's Pokemon had far more DEM moments if you really think about it, especially that thunder armor crap lol

The thing is though, it kinda saps all accomplishment out of the female trainer and for Serena at least, they don't have a lot of compensating moments. I don't remember Serena lasting very long at all in any situation where her opponent fought back (as mentioned, even Meowth left her panicking and in need of rescuing just because he wouldn't just stand still and get thrashed for once). Ash is not immune to such moments at all, but his Pokemon at least have clear moments of being in even handed fights where they last long and even win, because they can adapt to a different strategy or take as much as they dish out. They can handle a challenge and the odds being against them at least token occasions. Serena needs dumb luck or her opponents to go easy on her ALL THE TIME otherwise she's back to being a damsel in distress.

 

[Mrs. Oreo]

I loved him as a Froakie and to this day I still would've preferred if he hadn't evolved.

I'm glad he evolved, although if I had my way he would've stopped at Frogadier and Sanpei and his Greninja would've showcased the Bond Phenomenon instead. I just didn't like all the hoopla on the show when Ash and his Greninja would sync up cuz it became a cliche after a while. Not to mention that Ash didn't get to use a mega cuz of it. ^^;

 

[Red and Blue]

So how much longer until we can start talking about SM captures? No one else is catching or evolving anything in XY

 

[DavidD001]

So how much longer until we can start talking about SM captures? No one else is catching or evolving anything in XY

No idea but it should be coming close I think.

 

[thiagomestres]

Pikachu - meh, the same as ever

Goodra - at first, he was cool, but then he wasn't

Noivern - i forgot that thing existed

Hawlucha - awesome personality, but the writers didn't want to give him any win

Greninja - never liked his design and his personality was boring. It's a shame he was treated as Ash's "mega", he deserved a real one.

Talonflame - my favorite, but they could have given him more things to do at the League. At least he appeared in almost every gym battle i guess.

 

[Pokemon Power]

So how much longer until we can start talking about SM captures? No one else is catching or evolving anything in XY

Yeah, do we have to wait until Sun and Moon come out or something?

 

[lemoncatpower]

I wish we could have seen Sawyer use Slurpuff as a Swirlix... idk if it was stated that he caught it as a slurpuff or not,
but it could have been interesting considering his slurpuff was a good battler.

 

[Mr. Reloaded]

Yeah, do we have to wait until Sun and Moon come out or something?

At this point? Probably.

I mean we do have a Sun and Moon specific thread for it anyway.

 

[DankOverlord]

I wish we could have seen Sawyer use Slurpuff as a Swirlix... idk if it was stated that he caught it as a slurpuff or not,
but it could have been interesting considering his slurpuff was a good battler.

Eh not that much, it literally was a jobber before it fought Goodra, otherwise it was always One Shotted or just plain useless

 

[diakyu]

Eh not that much, it literally was a jobber before it fought Goodra, otherwise it was always One Shotted or just plain useless

Wasn't his Slurpuff one of the only pokemon he used outside of battle? I liked it a lot, but getting in a draw with Goodra makes him look like the ultimate jobber. Definitely the weakest link in his team, which I liked overall (much better than Alain's). Half Kalos and half Hoenn Pokemon which was a neat touch.

 

[345ash-greninja]

Wasn't his Slurpuff one of the only pokemon he used outside of battle? I liked it a lot, but getting in a draw with Goodra makes him look like the ultimate jobber. Definitely the weakest link in his team, which I liked overall (much better than Alain's). Half Kalos and half Hoenn Pokemon which was a neat touch.

But why are we forgetting that Dragon type Pokemon have an overwhelming type disadvantage against Fairy types. Not only Fairy type moves are super effective against Dragon types, but Fairy type Pokemon are also immune to Dragon type moves. So Goodra drawing against Slurpuff isn't unreasonable.

 

[DankOverlord]

But why are we forgetting that Dragon type Pokemon have an overwhelming type disadvantage against Fairy types. Not only Fairy type moves are super effective against Dragon types, but Fairy type Pokemon are also immune to Dragon type moves. So Goodra drawing against Slurpuff isn't unreasonable.

Hawlucha one-shotted Slurpuff the whole time and it was in no type advantage