Pokemon Fan Presents the Alola Pokémon League

[DatsRight]

Even Lana has yet to have one proper official battle and hasn't really gotten to refine a proper style compared to most of the established rivals appearing thus far.

Actually what happened to Lillie doing a battle royal? It's almost like they keep planning battle time but someone's putting the kibosh on them, so the league announcement was basically a "There, stop THIS one!".

 

[Kintaro]

Even Lana has yet to have one proper official battle and hasn't really gotten to refine a proper style compared to most of the established rivals appearing thus far.

Actually what happened to Lillie doing a battle royal? It's almost like they keep planning battle time but someone's putting the kibosh on them, so the league announcement was basically a "There, stop THIS one!".

I get the feeling the lack of battles for main girls is because after Iris they didn't want to do a girl who could battle on par with Ash anymore.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I get the feeling the lack of battles for main girls is because after Iris they didn't want to do a girl who could battle on par with Ash anymore.

I hope not, because that would be a dumb excuse to be honest.

 

[DatsRight]

I still wonder if someone's actually mandated a downplay on female abuse since BW. There were a lot of female butt monkeys in that series and the Pokemon beatdowns also tended to be indiscriminate (even TR routinely gave everyone some token lumps back for once).

They begrudged Serena taking many beatings at all last series (she got KOed all of once), while SM's minimised it even further while exaggerating the experience growth through having only curbstomp battles. Only Lillie's really applied for a butt monkey role this series besides group slapstick and even then they dabble in and out with giving her a more passive role as well and even then Snowy's barely been a pressured battle.

It might also explain why all the females post-BW have far more diminished flaws and egos, because an egotistical protagonist that CAN'T get their comeuppance would be insufferable.

 

[Kintaro]

Blame the backlash against BW, Ash being written as a rookie again, and Iris being superior to him. Going from a girl calling Ash, "what a kid" in every ep to the next girl who was literally in love with him and adored him all saga was especially notable. And while the SM girls aren't like that, they're all still very friendly with Ash and look up to him and none of them bicker with him at all.

 

[DatsRight]

And yet ironically Iris was still a more fallible battler than the XY/SM girls, being allowed in situations she took beatings or even just even-handed battles and was actually called out on her plot armour. If Tsareena cleans house in the league she could end up the Dragonite situation played perfectly straight faced, she even follows of the pattern of seldom listening to Mallow, just it's not treated as a flaw.

 

[Kintaro]

And yet ironically Iris was still a more fallible battler than the XY/SM girls, being allowed in situations she took beatings or even just even-handed battles and was actually called out on her plot armour. If Tsareena cleans house in the league she could end up the Dragonite situation played perfectly straight faced.

Iris beat both Ash and Dawn in battle. She essentially upstaged the two protagonists of the previous series. Granted Ash did beat her Dragonite with Krookodile later on, but Iris was always written superior to both BW Ash and then Dawn when she came back. It's even worse when you realize all of Mamoswine's attacks should have been 4x effective against Dragonite being an ice type, but she still lost.

 

[DatsRight]

Iris beat both Ash and Dawn in battle. She essentially upstaged the two protagonists of the previous series. Granted Ash did beat her Dragonite with Krookodile later on, but Iris was always written superior to both BW Ash and then Dawn when she came back. It's even worse when you realize all of Mamoswine's attacks should have been 4x effective against Dragonite being an ice type, but she still lost.

Iris was still allowed to lose the upper hand and be humiliated however, she was punished for being a complacent battler, while the XY/SM girls tend to always have the kiddie gloves on and are forbidden to be in any battle they could even take a hit most of the time, let alone LOSE the match, this being a show that has repeatedly emphasised that strategy and style display is more important than winning or losing, and that if anything losing a few times is absolutely vital to become a rounded battler.

Also Iris was established with high battle experience from the beginning, giving reason she was ahead of the other protagonists at first. Lana getting a badass position in the league against several accomplished trainers, in spite of none of the experience or setbacks Iris had would be FAR more glorified than anything the former had done.

 

[Zoruagible]

Kiawe and Lana are the most hyped up from the writers themselves, it's obvious they'll get the furthest. I don't see Lillie, Mallow or Sophocles making it past their first battle...unless they throw in some random filler COTD fights in the league.

Yes but has Lana done anything to prove herself a threat to Ash? Heck no.

Actually what happened to Lillie doing a battle royal? It's almost like they keep planning battle time but someone's putting the kibosh on them, so the league announcement was basically a "There, stop THIS one!".

Dropped like a lot of good things this saga....
Sucked Torracat was locked to Battle Royale and only Ash could do that

 

[p96822]

Which doesn't really help her case, because she supposedly became a powerhouse who in the previous episode could swat away wild Pokemon left and right, from evolving at the right time and beating up Meowth a couple instances.

One, She evolve so she is stronger, two Team Rocket didn't call out there Pokemon that could have change there situation that they were in, and three Swatting away Pokemon doesn't means anything if the Pokemon is not knock out. That Cloyster and Bruxish were still okay when they ran off. It shows how strong Tsreena can send a Pokemon flying, but it doesn't count when doesn't knock out the Pokemon

 

[DatsRight]

Dropped like a lot of good things this saga....
Sucked Torracat was locked to Battle Royale and only Ash could do that

Actually SM has been pretty good at coming back to insinuated plots most of the time, if at any length of pace. The girls and Sophocles hinting to doing proper trainer battles is among the few not answered to at least moderately.

 

[Leonhart]

Though if they couldn't give Virgil a Slypheon to help promote Gen 6 in the Isshu League, chances are good Ilima won't have a new Eeveelution here as well.

I don't think he'd showcase a new Eievui evolution either, but even so I'm not too excited for the possibility of him competing since he's overhyped and isn't really an interesting character from my perspective.

 

[DatsRight]

Ironically Sophocles was outright given a gift Pokemon, but he evolved it himself and it's strength is far less glorified than either Brionne or Tsareena (beating that flock of Golbat was probably it in terms of jobber battles while the latter two get them in excess).

 

[p96822]

Ironically Sophocles was outright given a gift Pokemon, but he evolved it himself and it's strength is far less glorified than either Brionne or Tsareena (beating that flock of Golbat was probably it in terms of jobber battles while the latter two get them in excess).

We never saw those Golbat getting knock out. It was more of Vikavolt being at the right place at the right time. Unlike how Crabrawler when it evolve into Crabominable

 

[DatsRight]

We never saw those Golbat getting knock out. It was more of Vikavolt being at the right place at the right time. Unlike how Crabrawler when it evolve into Crabominable

Well Crabrawler was a Kahuna Pokemon, so it would make perfect sense it would have a lot of battle experience offscreen.

And yes Charjabug evolving I believe was stated to be specifically tied to the electric current in Poni Canyon. Still kind of fluke-y but at least not flat out plot armour like Brionne's evolution and BOTH of Bounsweet's. There hasn't really been anything to suggest Vikavolt gained much of a power boost from evolving besides flying either, it was actually struggling to overpower Meowth's mech in its previous episode.

 

[Ignition]

The irony how people to this day are complaining about Dragonite but are not batting an eyelash over the fact Lana and Mallow have two fully evolved Pokemon who have been in one battle each. I have no idea what “given” Pokemon are but using context; it seems to be a major boost to a character that was “undeserved”... and this maybe the biggest examples yet.

People have had issues with all of their Pokèmon especially Tsareena and Primarina

 

[DatsRight]

The problem is that the training/battling emphasis has been EXTREMELY lop sided in SM, giving the insinuation that some Pokemon have to work their ass off just to reach the level some others do with no effort at all. Even with limited development time Rowlet and Torracat have done way more of both in a more developed manner than Primarina has.

 

[Kintaro]

Nobody has issues with Tsareena because it's not a battle oriented pokemon. It's like complaining Brock got a fully evolved Crobat and Ludicolo with almost no battles, nobody cares because he's a side character and his pokemon barely did anything but battle Team Rocket once in a blue moon.

Lana may not have many battles but that's more due to how SM is set-up in general, even Ash barely has battles this season. So while the middle stage was rushed it doesn't really matter. The writers want to showcase it's final evolution before SM ended.

 

[DatsRight]

The problem is they're non-battlers but the writers still want the PERKS of battlers, as in no properly developed battlers but still cheap emphasis of them being 'badasses' at every possible opportunity (eg. LOADS of jobber curbstomps). Also now they're culminating it all with a group tournament and the wrong face offs with the wrong results would come off as EXTREMELY unearned. Suddenly making either Mallow or Lana as experienced battlers as Ash or Kiawe for the sake of an eventful battle would seem cheap.

There's been a clear emphasis with the actual battlers that there's more than just power boosts involved, they had to develop a unique style and strategy, fine tune the flaws and limits and just struggle through some beatings every once in a while. Saying that the non-battlers can just skip over all of that because it's not their occupation and suddenly be equals in the league completely undermines another protagonist's development. It'd be like if Ash was suddenly a better inventor than Sophocles because he bought a better tool kit, or Kiawe could suddenly cook better than Mallow because he has good cook book. Oh but it's not their true occupation, it doesn't matter in the long run.

 

[Kintaro]

Nobody said they're skilled battles. Kiawe is clearly portrayed as the strongest of the SM cast and none are on his level.