Ranking of Team arcs

[Akkipeddi]

With the Aether Foundation arc concluded (hopefully only for now), I wanted to see what everyone's rankings are on the various arcs. Mine would be:

Team Flare>Team Galactic>Team Rocket(Unova)>Team Plasma>Aether Foundation>Team Aqua/Magma

Edit: Lol I can't believe I mistakenly voted for Team Plasma. Should've been Team Flare.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

With the Aether Foundation arc concluded (hopefully only for now), I wanted to see what everyone's rankings are on the various arcs. Mine would be:

Team Flare>Team Galactic>Team Rocket(Unova)>Team Plasma>Aether Foundation>Team/Aqua/Magma

Edit: Lol I can't believe I mistakenly voted for Team Plasma. Should've been Team Flare.

if the Team Rocket vs Team Plasma episodes weren't banned then Team Plasma could have had the best arc

Anyways I think Team Galactic had the best arc followed by Aether Foundation, Team Rocket (Unova), and Team Flare. I didn't care much for the others and felt that they were poorly handled.

 

[SH65]

I would say

Galactic = Flare < Rocket (Unova) < Plasma < AF <<< Aqua/Magma

 

[satopi]

Team Flare arc all the way! It is so exciting and heart pounding. I felt like everyone had a role to follow and the animation was stunning! The delivery of emotional scenes hit me hard and the episodes afterward followed suit. The Flare arc was wrapped up pretty nicely.

if the Team Rocket vs Team Plasma episodes weren't banned then Team Plasma could have had the best arc

This right here.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

Team galactic's handling throughout was better, it was stretched throughout the whole DP. Team flare and aether foundation was still completed in short time but the finale or last 5 episodes of team flare arc especially the last stand was far far superior to team galacti. TG finale was definitely underwhelming they should have included paul or dawn's rivals or even gary who was just sitting in the sidelines instead of giving trio and cynthia all the glory in which case team flare was much better. So in terms of story throughout the arc TG takes the cake but when it comes to final battle TF is much better. So, to me I would say TG=TF

 

[Zoruagible]

Team Plasma was utter garbage and an insult to Ghetsis' character. Ghetsis is the most evil of all the antagonists in the games, and is very smart too.... yet in he anime he is turned into a brain washing schemer that the TRio and Butch/Cassidy have done before and did it better. Team Rocket's plot in Unova was WAY better than that, N was the only thing the anime did right. Everything else involving Plasma was garbage. I really wish that earthquake never happened, Ghetsis is my favorite antagonist and it was so infuriating seeing him treated like that. Not to mention Zekrom dropped off the face of the earth and the plot revolved around ONE dragon and that was it.....

Team Galactic is the best anime team so far, funny seeing how I don't give a damn about them in the games. Team Skull and Aether had potential.... but yeah.

Team Galactic>Team Rocket>Team Magma/Aqua>Aether>Plasma>Flare

Flare just sucks

 

[Darthlord7]

Galactic > Flare > Rocket(BW) > Aether > Plasma > Magma/Aqua = Rocket(OS)

 

[AshxSatoshi]

I'm sorry but can the AF even be compared to the other evil teams arcs? There wasn't any villains or team motives. It was just a sad case of irony of Lusamine being abducted and needing saving. Aether hardly felt like a cult in the anime compared to the other teams.

 

[Akkipeddi]

I'm sorry but can the AF even be compared to the other evil teams arcs? There wasn't any villains or team motives. It was just a sad case of irony of Lusamine being abducted and needing saving. Aether hardly felt like a cult in the anime compared to the other teams.

Well, it's the anime's problem for botching the AF arc by not having the AF employees show up. Even if the anime hasn't shown the employees, the fact is, the AF is supposed to be a team who blindly follow Lusamine's orders, so they still are a type of cult. As for villains, Faba was the primary villain, and the only difference is that the AF was more of a family drama rather than a world catastrophe like the other arcs, but it's still the main arc for the season, so it still can be compared.

 

[AshxSatoshi]

Well, it's the anime's problem for botching the AF arc by not having the AF employees show up. Even if the anime hasn't shown the employees, the fact is, the AF is supposed to be a team who blindly follow Lusamine's orders, so they still are a type of cult. As for villains, Faba was the primary villain, and the only difference is that the AF was more of a family drama rather than a world catastrophe like the other arcs, but it's still the main arc for the season, so it still can be compared.

But said orders where never seen and she never ordered them to act out of malice. Faba was a hit or miss as a villain considering he only did it to please Lusamine and Nihilego ended up taking his spot as a "villain". I personally believe comparisons should be made after SM is over and we get a good insight on TS, URS and Necrozma because this AF arc doesn't seem comparable to the rest of the arcs because as you said it was more a family drama arc than an evil team arc

 

[SONW]

the """Aether arc""'''(honestly, we only gave that name because of the games) should not even be considered a Vilan team arc.

I agree with the votes in TF and TG (whereas we are evaluating traditional villain arcs). But my vote is in TR. I really felt the wickedness of Giovanni there.

 

[Victorian Rush]

I think by far, Team Flare has had the best arc so far. It literally kept me on the edge of my seat.

I think they rushed into the Aether Arc in the anime, the Team Magma/Aqua was not handled very well. Team Galactic was good but nowhere near as good as Team Flare’s. Team Rocket’s Unova arc was good too, I did watch it but Team Flare’s was still so much better. Did not really care for Team Plasma’s arc, to be honest.

 

[UltimateNinja]

Still Flare at the top, followed by Galactic. Maybe a potential Ultra beast can top them but I doubt that if they handle it like the Lusamine arc.

 

[GarchompTheAssassin]

Flare > Galactic >= TR (Unova) > Magma/Aqua > Plasma = that baby Lugia thing in Johto

 

[Rampardo]

Galactic > Flare >>> Aether > TR Meloetta > Magma/Aqua > Plasma

Galactic and Flare are leagues ahead of the others though.

 

[Xuxuba]

Flare. It had:
- Amazing animation and soundtrack
- More action than any other arc.
- every gym leader coming together to defeat the opponent.
- Everyone doing something useful things even the rivals.
- There was actual consequences to TF's actions and big ones. Because of them Lumiose was destroyed.
- It had touching moments like Clembot death and Eureka being attacked by Eureka and it also had moments of character development especially from Alain and Blue Puni-chan
- It was actually interesting to see TR in this arc.

I think one could argue that the TF's backstory wasn't explored all that much. But tbh i'm tired of sad villain backstories, i care more about who they are on the present.
Compared to the games' plot, it was far better that is for sure.

 

[Rajas]

Just my personal opinion here but why is AF there? There's really no team tbh. At least in the game AF and Team Skull worked together so I think we'd actually get a TS arc further down the line. Whether it's trash or not is left to be seen.

IF we are to compare the AF arc to those above then it'll be last because there's nothing remotely comparable to any of them. There's no leader with a evil goal so no main villain, there isn't even any real plot per say with respect to attaining said goal. AF is just a mother getting kidnapped by a curious Pokémon who then merges with her to learn more. It literally would have gladly done the same to Lillie or Gladion as well as they were the initial targets. So with respect to that, the AF arc would be the worst 'villain' arc ever made because there's no villain.

 

[Jangobadass]

Sorry, but we shouldn't count AF. At least not until Sun & Moon is over and the story is done.

Even then they were NOTHING like their game counterparts thanks to SM being the Show at its most kiddy in years, and that someone in charge wanted the game's story over with so they could bring in USUM stuff (just as long as this doesn't turn out as bad as AG and especially BW).

As for ranking the other Teams, for me it's either Galactic or Flare in 1st place with the other being in 2nd (can't really decide), then Plasma, then Aqua/Magma.

(Don't really count TR since they've never had enough story and are mainly an excuse to keep Jessie, James and Meowth around)

 

[Zipper4242]

This is just my opinion, but I actually really disliked the Flare Arc. A lot. It felt rushed, it made the league rushed, and we never got a Clemont vs Xerosic battle. I felt that it focused far too much on Alain/Mairin.

Yes, all the gym leaders and Steven and Diantha and Myer uniting were awesome, but to me, it really came down to an eight-year-old singing a song to a giant brainwashed serpent and then encouraging it to kill Lysandre the next episode.
As for Ash/Alain/Malva vs Lysandre, I feel like Ash's team totally got shafted for Wonderzard and Mega Houndoom. And I still have no idea what the heck he was trying to do with the giant rock and hanging Ash's team up on the side of prism tower.

TBH I feel like XYZ kind of fell apart after the Machine fair filler episode (aka before the league). Just far too rushed to finish before SM. But the buildup was great, possibly the best in the series.


That's why I loved Galactic. It had a fantastic buildup (almost as good as Flare) and a cool culmination. Not to mention that it was nice how a lake spirit each appeared to one of the main characters and bonded with them, respectively. As for Aqua/Magma and Plasma, well, Plasma could have been good before the earthquake, and Aqua/Magma started out well and then totally fell apart.

So, if you ask me, the order goes Galactic>Rocket (BW)>Flare>Plasma>Aqua/Magma>Rocket any other time.

As for Aether/Skull, I agree with Jango, but I don't think it'll go very high up on the list since Skull (by far my favorite team) has literally disappeared into oblivion

 

[ash&charizardfan]

TR of unnova could have been much better if some big TR hotshot was kept incharge of capturing meletta or was in charge of TR unnova's operations and those 3 clowns were his lackeys instead of three clowns suddenly becoming serious after doing 13 years of gag comedy.