Pokémon Sword and Shield - How will they impact the anime?

[Revolver Furious Dragon]

I prefer it when he has two.
When all three characters get a starter, the third wheel's usually ends up underdeveloped as heck. Marshtomp, Chespin, Primarina... all at the bottom of the starter pole

It's the same when ash gets more then one starter though. Not only do his other pokemon get shafted in favour of the starters but even among the starters themselves one will usually pull ahead of the others and get the attention while the other suffers.

Look at torterra in sinnoh. Got the shaft in favour of infernape.
Look at unova where ash got all three. They were developed well at first but eventually oshawott pulled ahead because of popularity and got the screen time. While pignite did evolve it didn't really get any notable growth beyond that. And snivy just got left behind.

Compare that to hoenn and kalos where ash had 1 starter. All his Pokémon got fleshed out. Had plenty of time to develop and shine

 

[dman_dustin]

It's the same when ash gets more then one starter though. Not only do his other pokemon get shafted in favour of the starters but even among the starters themselves one will usually pull ahead of the others and get the attention while the other suffers.

Look at torterra in sinnoh. Got the shaft in favour of infernape.
Look at unova where ash got all three. They were developed well at first but eventually oshawott pulled ahead because of popularity and got the screen time. While pignite did evolve it didn't really get any notable growth beyond that. And snivy just got left behind.

Compare that to hoenn and kalos where ash had 1 starter. All his Pokémon got fleshed out. Had plenty of time to develop and shine

I really don't think the amount of starters Ash has dictates how they are treated. Clearly the writers can give the Pokemon the focus they deserve, they choose not to, for some idiotic stupid reason.

I mean technically Alola has kind of given the starters all equally the shaft and has given the fairest treatment between all three, that I have ever seen (not intense positive treatment but not completely shafted like other starters).

1. Popplio evolved all the way and defeated Tsareena.
2. Torracat evolved once and is a strong member on Ash's team.
3. Given the most "personality" and it beat its fully evolved form.

So as far as starter treatment goes, Alola was the most balanced of all generations with the exception of MAYBE the Kanto starters (when Ash had all three) and they all got pretty major focus, with maybe Squirtle receiving the least amount of focus (but that's only if you really take into account the rest of the generations rather than 1st generation).

 

[Doppelgänger]

Look at torterra in sinnoh. Got the shaft in favour of infernape.
Look at unova where ash got all three. They were developed well at first but eventually oshawott pulled ahead because of popularity and got the screen time. While pignite did evolve it didn't really get any notable growth beyond that. And snivy just got left behind.

Compare that to hoenn and kalos where ash had 1 starter. All his Pokémon got fleshed out. Had plenty of time to develop and shine

I don't agree with this comparison. I think the anime has done well whenever Ash had three starters (Kanto, Johto, Unova) and only did a good solo job with Grovyle. All three starters in the aforementioned regions got a lot of battle reps in, and they all had distinct personalities that bounced off Ash and one another.

In Sinnoh and Kalos, all Ash's Pokemon were shafted once the Infernape/Greninja show started. In Alola, Torracat received less battle-focused development that Rowlet. Rowlet exists mostly as comic relief too, diminishing a lot of the tension from his battles unless he's overmatched. However, Torracat still got strong character development, even though his physical growth was glossed over.

Infernape taking over the show was OK because Ash's Sinnoh team managed to shine in the league. But Greninja taking over XY didn't end well. So, I'd say the anime has had the best track record when it was forced to juggle three starters, for the starters and the overall team.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

I really don't think the amount of starters Ash has dictates how they are treated. Clearly the writers can give the Pokemon the focus they deserve, they choose not to, for some idiotic stupid reason.

I mean technically Alola has kind of given the starters all equally the shaft and has given the fairest treatment between all three, that I have ever seen (not intense positive treatment but not completely shafted like other starters).

1. Popplio evolved all the way and defeated Tsareena.
2. Torracat evolved once and is a strong member on Ash's team.
3. Given the most "personality" and it beat its fully evolved form.

So as far as starter treatment goes, Alola was the most balanced of all generations with the exception of MAYBE the Kanto starters (when Ash had all three) and they all got pretty major focus, with maybe Squirtle receiving the least amount of focus (but that's only if you really take into account the rest of the generations rather than 1st generation).

Kanto starters also didn't get the balanced fous, it was clear charizard got prefrential treatment over bulbasaur and squirtle, bulbasaur was fine but squirtle was left behind. Even alola starters have some issues rowlet was just sleeping most of the times until hau and meltan appeared and gave it something and torracat was utilized very less and didn't do anything outside the royal mask episodes. So both kanto and alola have issues as well.

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

I'd be fine with Ash getting Sobble only if it evolves all the way. With Greninja released, Ash needs a new water starter ace.

A couple days ago, Grookey was announced as a new mascot for the Osaka Pokémon Center (along with the usual Pikachu and Meowth). Chikorita, Litten, Froakie, Charmander, Tepig, and Squirtle have all been Pokémon Center mascots- Rowlet and Chespin were the previous Osaka mascots. All of those Pokémon bar Chespin have been on Ash’s team, and all of them have been on the main cast. Grookey being chosen over the more popular Sobble and Scorbunny as a PC mascot is a surprising choice (maybe it’s more popular in Japan?), but to me it’s likely it’ll belong to either Ash or the female MC.

Personally I hope it goes to the girl; we’ve had enough fire and water Pokémon owned by them.

Yeah, it's time for the girl to get the grass starter. It'd be a first.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

A couple days ago, Grookey was announced as a new mascot for the Osaka Pokémon Center (along with the usual Pikachu and Meowth). Chikorita, Litten, Froakie, Charmander, Tepig, and Squirtle have all been Pokémon Center mascots- Rowlet and Chespin were the previous Osaka mascots. All of those Pokémon bar Chespin have been on Ash’s team, and all of them have been on the main cast. Grookey being chosen over the more popular Sobble and Scorbunny as a PC mascot is a surprising choice (maybe it’s more popular in Japan?), but to me it’s likely it’ll belong to either Ash or the female MC.

Personally I hope it goes to the girl; we’ve had enough fire and water Pokémon owned by them.

I was going to ask when the last time Ash had a grass starter was before remembering it was every Gen but VI.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

Infernape taking over the show was OK because Ash's Sinnoh team managed to shine in the league. But Greninja taking over XY didn't end well. So, I'd say the anime has had the best track record when it was forced to juggle three starters, for the starters and the overall team.

When did the sinnoh team did well, torterra and staraptor were the jobbers in the league whereas all buizel did was beat a gastrodon who was present to find out ash's team. Both the teams performed poorly in the league.

 

[GarchompChain]

When did the sinnoh team did well, torterra and staraptor were the jobbers in the league whereas all buizel did was beat a gastrodon who was present to find out ash's team. Both the teams performed poorly in the league.

Staraptor won a match vs Nando and Gible performed well.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

Staraptor won a match vs Nando and Gible performed well.

Gible and glisor were the ones that performed well same way in KL hawlucha and talonflame peformed well as well. Still wont change the fat that both sinnoh and kalos teams were pretty poor.

 

[GarchompChain]

Gible and glisor were the ones that performed well same way in KL hawlucha and talonflame peformed well as well. Still wont change the fat that both sinnoh and kalos teams were pretty poor.

Well that's an unpopular opinion. But I see where you're coming from.

 

[RileyXY1]

Here's the statistics regarding the starters:
Grass: Ash has gotten the Grass starter in every gen except VI, when Clemont got Chespin instead. To date, the female companion has never gotten the Grass starter (May did get Bulbasaur, although it wasn't the Grass starter in RS). The Grass starter has remained unevolved 4 times, evolved to its middle stage only once, and fully evolved twice.
Fire: Ash got the Fire starter 5 times. Both times in which he did not get the Fire starter it went to the female companion. The Fire starter has fully evolved 3 times, evolved to its middle stage 3 times, and remained unevolved only once (although Cyndaquil did evolve in a later saga).
Water: Ash has gotten the Water starter 4 times, with Brock getting Mudkip, Dawn getting Piplup, and Lana getting Popplio. The Water starter has fully evolved twice, has evolved to its middle stage only once, and remained unevolved 4 times.

 

[Lightning Bolt]

Every regional team has it's flaws. OS team didn't had such a great track record and was mostly played for gags, AG relied in Swellow, Sceptile and Corphish with Torkoal and Glalie (and Aipom technically) being basically jobbers. Torterra became bad the moment it evolved, Gible was rushed, Staraptor could be better. His Unova team was a pile of garbage: Oshawott had a big losing streak, Snivy only had 3 moves, Palpitoad was just pointless, Scraggy was weak, Unfezant is his worst bird (besides Pidgeotto I think), Boldore didn't had a good track record either, Pignite was shafted by Charizard, Leavanny should be Cilan's, etc. Goodra and Noivern ended with the short end of the stick in Kalos. Greninja hogged spotlight of everyone. And in Alola Ash just doesn't care about catching Pokémon anymore.

I prefer it when he has two.
When all three characters get a starter, the third wheel's usually ends up underdeveloped as heck. Marshtomp, Chespin, Primarina... all at the bottom of the starter pole

I don't think Primarina is on the same tier as Chespin and Marshtomp. Yeah, it's battle record isn't impressive, but she managed to fully evolve, defeat a Totem and has 2 Z-Crystals for herself. If anything, Ash's Totodile fits that role better than Primarina.

 

[Leonhart]

Ash getting Corviknight probably depends if its the final stage of the early route bird or not. This might be a Braviary situation though, but well crows are a kind of 'common bird' so there being a com mon of one makes a certain amount of sense.

I do get the feeling that the crow Pokemon is more like Wargle or Airmd than the final form of the regional bird Pokemon for instance. Either way, I would love to see Satoshi get it in Galar anyway since he already broke the pattern of catching the regional bird in SM.

 

[Sham]

Looking back I can’t believe May got a Squirtle and Bulbasuar.

 

[RileyXY1]

Looking back I can’t believe May got a Squirtle and Bulbasuar.

It was rather excessive FRLG promotion.

 

[Sham]

It was rather excessive FRLG promotion.

Yeah she’s literally promoted three sets of games.

 

[Leonhart]

Looking back I can’t believe May got a Squirtle and Bulbasuar.

I'd like to see the female traveling companion get two Starters in Galar, just for a slight change of pace. The writers could give Satoshi Hibunny and give his female friend Messon and Sarunori. I just worry that one of them might get overshadowed by the other depending on which one becomes more marketable.

 

[RileyXY1]

I'd like to see the female traveling companion get two Starters in Galar, just for a slight change of pace. The writers could give Satoshi Hibunny and give his female friend Messon and Sarunori. I just worry that one of them might get overshadowed by the other depending on which one becomes more marketable.

Ash has never used solely the Fire starter, so this would be original.

 

[Sham]

I'd like to see the female traveling companion get two Starters in Galar, just for a slight change of pace. The writers could give Satoshi Hibunny and give his female friend Messon and Sarunori. I just worry that one of them might get overshadowed by the other depending on which one becomes more marketable.

Unfortunately I doubt that’s going to happen. Ash comes first and nobody can overshadow him. I doubt another character not named Ash is going to get two starters unless they’re from another generation like May and Dawn.

 

[mysticalglacia]

A lot of the fun for me about getting new series announcements is voice actor reveals for the new companions and Pokémon. I’ve never seen people care about that much, so maybe I’m the odd one out, but I find it interesting speculating what the characters will sound like. Kei Shindō, Mayuki Makiguchi, Yūki Kaiji, Mariya Ise, and Megumi Toyoguchi all voiced minor characters before being promoted up to the main cast, so maybe one of the Galar companions will be voiced by a recurring character or COTD from SM or XY.

If they can get Ami Koshimizu and Miyuki Sawashiro to voice minor/supporting characters, their budget must be literally unlimited.