Pokemon Fan Presents the Alola Pokémon League

[Doppelgänger]

James

I'm happy to see Pokemon's best girl is getting love from the fans!

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

James, Misty, May, Dawn, Serena, Lillie, Lana, Sophocles...

Plenty of strong female presences in Pokémon

How dare you put Serena in there! Remove her, and this list is golden!

 

[Sonnas]

Diantha is brainless muscle and not a role model.

How is she brainless muscle?

 

[Doppelgänger]

Her only role was to show how powerful she was. All of her appearances involved her crushing opponents while being uncooperative like with her refusal to help Sycamore. She had to be bribed to battle Ash instead of doing it to nurture a younger trainer.

Alder offered Trip genuine advice and praise after beating him, and Cynthia mentored Iris during their brief time together. Diantha offered little more than shallow flattery.

There's nothing to admire about Diantha aside from her power and looks.

 

[Blue Saturday]

Even during the cases where there were no Pikachus in close proximity Mimikyu showed little to no interest to battle other Pokémon.

Well Mimikyu did defeat a Totem Pokemon, kind of mirroring Pikachu’s defeat of Totem Dekagoos.

How is she brainless muscle?

Because though strong the character didn’t offer much substance, compared to Shirona, Adeku and Mikuri who taught lessons during their times in the show or even Daigo who played a notable role in the TSME specials. Being a strong female character isn’t always literal strength but offering good substance and personality.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Being a strong female character isn’t always literal strength but offering good substance and personality.

Which is exactly what Serena brings to the table and why she's one of the best

Still not a battler, but at least she has something going for her, unlike Mallow, while Lana is a better Misty

 

[Doppelgänger]

Serena is a strong female? Is that a chasm I fell into?

A strong female -or character, really- has the power to influence her world. It could be as simple as making her own decisions instead of relying on others to decide for her. Bianca's game story arc where her father tried to take her home is a perfect example of demonstrating a strong character. Physical power or battling skill are more a means to the end of the character moving toward a goal or dream, although they're important to give the character credibility.

Cynthia's role in the anime was to nurture and inspire other trainers. She battled characters who had no chance of beating her and also engaged in exhibition matches for children. She defended Sinnoh and Unova against villains with ill intent. In spite of being literally the strongest character in the show with no obvious room for growth, she was still highly motivated and used her power constructively.

Diantha spends most of her time acting and being a glamorous celebrity; they're polar opposites. She's supposed to be from Unova, right? Unova had a trend where the Gym Leaders had other jobs and didn't seem all that interested in battling.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Diantha spends most of her time acting and being a glamorous celebrity; they're polar opposites. She's supposed to be from Unova, right? Unova had a trend where the Gym Leaders had other jobs and didn't seem all that interested in battling.

Like an actual human being, not some battling machine like people claim XY Ash is?

 

[Rock Captain 99]

James, Misty, May, Dawn, Serena, Lillie, Lana, Sophocles...

Plenty of strong female presences in Pokémon

James? Really¿?

 

[Blue Saturday]

Which is exactly what Serena brings to the table and why she's one of the best

Strongly disagree. Serena is utterly dreadful and for the most part without much substance, her defining trait is shipping, little to no agency (orbits around Satoshi) and a blatantly problematic and sexist goal and she felt much more of a self-insert for sweaty otaku than a character.Literally only left the house for Satoshi, remove him and she’s still sitting at home doing Shiron Racing.

There’s a reason I saw her often compared to Asuna from Sword Art Online. Literally every other female lead I enjoyed goal wise and personality wise. But those TriPokalons were beyond sexist and problematic idol trash. But don’t even send me into a tailspin on this girl and the politics around her writing and portrayal. Unless you’re being sarcastic, I can’t tell.

 

[DuquÊ?]

Like an actual human being, not some battling machine like people claim XY Ash is?

Or SM Ash being a better character because he have a "personality" and he's "fun", which is totally subjective. Serena had a different development and a character having doubts and needing help to decide his/her goal is relatable enough, not everyone needs to decide their goals in a few episodes, like May or Dawn.

About SM, you do learn to appreciate the characters have different ways to reach their goals that doesn't necessarily focus in battles. Even Ash didn't caught any of his SMons battling them (litten wasn't a traditional capture, that was just a quick sparring). For example, and for obvious reasons, Lillie is the best developed SM girl and she's just a little better battler than Mallow.

And, quite honestly, I stopped to care whatever a character can fight at their respective levels, because at this point, the current league proves you need to turn off your criticism and see what will happen. Simple.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

James? Really¿?

Have you seen the way he dresses and acts?

Unless you’re being sarcastic, I can’t tell.

I'm here to correct incorrect assumptions of characters from a show people claim to have watched, then somehow come to the wrong conclusion which throws some spectacular doubt to their claim of having actually watched the show

Or maybe people have different opinions on a fictional show

Hard to tell, really

 

[Dephender]

Friendly reminder that this thread is about the Alola Pokemon League.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

So, nobody besides Gladion and Kiawe had good showings during the Royale, followed by an absolutely pathetic match between Ash and Faba, a great match with Guzma vs Ilima, the tail end of Hau vs Alolan Oak, and whatever they were trying to do with Lana vs Mallow

50/50 between good and bad battles so far, which hopefully won't be the standard for the remaining bouts

The fact Hau, who's only done one Grand Trial, is somehow able to keep up with Ash (who admittedly has one of the worst teams only rivaled by Unova) makes me worry about their match, especially if Ash is once again gimping himself (previously done in Sinnoh against Tobias - seriously, Torkoal and Gible?)

Jessie vs James should hopefully be interesting, even if Bewear comes along

Gladion getting shafted to make Lillie look good is going to be irritating, but at least we know he'd steamroll her if he used his full team...

I feel only a small part of this league is going to be memorable and I can't wait to see people's opinions do a 180 when Ash loses

 

[Leonhart]

I wonder if all battles are going to be 1vs1 in order for ALL of his PKMN to shine? I feel like having 2vs2 or 3vs3 will also make the impact of his PKMN less good coz then the other are in the same battle that is supposed to be the highlight for Pikachu or Lycanroc. And 1vs1 makes sure only THAT PKMN can shine.
And if so, I can see Ash winning and Torracat has his battle against Royal Mask.

1 versus 1 seems likely now given that many of the trainers who we know are moving onto the higher rounds have few Pokemon to begin with, so something like 3-on-3 just doesn't seem very plausible for all of the upcoming matches. At least 1-on-1 would make things short and sweet.

 

[DatsRight]

Or SM Ash being a better character because he have a "personality" and he's "fun", which is totally subjective. Serena had a different development and a character having doubts and needing help to decide his/her goal is relatable enough, not everyone needs to decide their goals in a few episodes, like May or Dawn.

About SM, you do learn to appreciate the characters have different ways to reach their goals that doesn't necessarily focus in battles. Even Ash didn't caught any of his SMons battling them (litten wasn't a traditional capture, that was just a quick sparring). For example, and for obvious reasons, Lillie is the best developed SM girl and she's just a little better battler than Mallow.

And, quite honestly, I stopped to care whatever a character can fight at their respective levels, because at this point, the current league proves you need to turn off your criticism and see what will happen. Simple.

I think the key there was that SM has at least more versatile in terms of agency for characters besides beating up bad guys and doing competitions (and even then only for selective characters). It also seems to have cut the formalities in terms of maintaining a superficial badass level with some of them, Mallow was allowed to fail miserably in the league with the admittance that it just wasn't the thing she trained for, she'd curb stomped a few bad guys in a flashy way but that wasn't a tremendous amount of development. They expressed she done well for someone who'd done so little, but that was as far as it went. I get the suspicion Sophocles and Lillie will only do relatively better, or at least SHOULD do, given only a mild more limelight was put into their battle skills.

Earlier series still had battle and formula heavy storytelling, thus there was more a push to give most of the characters agency through battling. Even Serena whose goal didn't even involve much battling, was forced to do lots of half assed training spars and action scenes despite barely having the agency for it, when SM's more versatile slice of life storytelling would have arguably allowed her to flourish a lot more. This is likely why the end of XY still tried to play off Serena as being an accomplished battler who suddenly knew all the right skills. Imagine how differently a character like Sophocles or Lillie would have been able to stand out in the old formula for example, where rather than episodes focusing poignantly and quietly on their other depths they were stuck dealing with a COTD or beating up jobbers like Team Rocket over and over. It wouldn't dream of undermining that and suggesting they didn't have what it takes to battle.

 

[ShadowForce720]

1 versus 1 seems likely now given that many of the trainers who we know are moving onto the higher rounds have few Pokemon to begin with, so something like 3-on-3 just doesn't seem very plausible for all of the upcoming matches. At least 1-on-1 would make things short and sweet.

While it's confirmed that the top 16 are 1vs1 I don't see how it's likely that the higher up rounds are 1vs1 when a vast majority of the characters have more then one pokemon and the ones that don't aren't likely making it to the higher rounds, I mean sure maybe the Top 8 could be 1vs1 if James beats Jessie but then again if the Top 8 is 2vs2 James could just either have Meowth join his team or borrow one of Jessie's Wobbuffet, and before you mention Mina, Mina could easily reveal that she has another pokemon.

However all that being said there is no reason for the Top 4 or finals to be 1vs1 when the people that are likely making it into the top 4 and finals are all trainers that have more then one pokemon. So if anything it's likely that the Top 4 will be a 3vs3 or higher.

 

[Red and Blue]

1 vs. 1s may not be the most exciting option but it would be the best way to ensure Ash reaches Kukui. That way each of Ash's five Pokemon get a trainer for themselves

 

[Sham]

Strongly disagree. Serena is utterly dreadful and for the most part without much substance, her defining trait is shipping, little to no agency (orbits around Satoshi) and a blatantly problematic and sexist goal and she felt much more of a self-insert for sweaty otaku than a character.Literally only left the house for Satoshi, remove him and she’s still sitting at home doing Shiron Racing.

There’s a reason I saw her often compared to Asuna from Sword Art Online. Literally every other female lead I enjoyed goal wise and personality wise. But those TriPokalons were beyond sexist and problematic idol trash. But don’t even send me into a tailspin on this girl and the politics around her writing and portrayal. Unless you’re being sarcastic, I can’t tell.

I still prefer Asuna than Serena. Asuna was originally portrayed as a competent fighter and it wasn’t until her and Kiri became an item then the writers became blind deaf and stupid in terms of writing her as a strong female character.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Preeeeeeeetty sure Asuna is still leagues better than Serena, but that is a discussion for somewhere else.

By the way, I like how this thread became the central topic of discussion of the whole league. Ha ha.