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Scratchmark Hill, Rockruff and Lycanroc!! (958)

AuraChannelerChris

Easygoing Luxray.
Pikachu was the BW ace.

Otherwise, why use him over Pignite/Leavanny/Krookodile against Trip's Serperior? As much as we hate how things went there, Pikachu was the BW ace.

So I don't think someone else that isn't the starter or Pikachu for Ash will be the Alola ace.
 

Satomine Night

The Power of Z!
So I don't think someone else that isn't the starter or Pikachu for Ash will be the Alola ace.

Hey, you. Stop crushing our dreams, however delusional they may be. :p

Traditions are meant to be broken. Those who want Rockruff to be the main ace this saga can still root for it. There's usually more than just one specific ace anyway (if we're including Pikachu). BW's team barely had any focus, the potential was there, it was just neglected and forgotten for the mouse.

You're right, Pikachu is usually one of the aces, alongside the starter ace. I'm not getting my hopes up for this, but it would be nice if there were more than two aces. I would like to see a non-starter get a chance to be the ace, even if it's just for part of the series. In fact, I like the idea of the position of regional ace rotating among a few of Ash's Pokémon (with Pikachu, of course, having a permanent ace position). Perhaps Lycanroc is the ace for awhile, and then Decidueye gets its turn, and then Incineroar. Of course, that presents the problem of a "former" ace getting gypped, so I'm not sure how well that would work, either. :/
 
Imagine if Ash got a Pyukumuku and it became his ace

I feel like is episode successfully showed that despite the art aesthetic change, some things didn't suffer. I didn't like Ash's Sun/Moon redesign, but I love how Rockruff and the two Lycanrocs looked this episode.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
The only sad bit of all this speculation is how good the series is at making the current roster endearing, and the fear that should any evolve, they'll lose their adorable personalities to be standard serious badass types (as much as it seems destiny for Rockruff to evolve, I'll miss it's affectionate, bubbly puppy personality that likely won't be there as a Lycanroc).
 

AuraChannelerChris

Easygoing Luxray.
The only sad bit of all this speculation is how good the series is at making the current roster endearing, and the fear that should any evolve, they'll lose their adorable personalities to be standard serious badass types (as much as it seems destiny for Rockruff to evolve, I'll miss it's affectionate, bubbly puppy personality that likely won't be there as a Lycanroc).

Why do you think we want Midnight Lycanroc? Midday Lycanroc looks like killjoy material that will give the animators breaks from not drawing it too much.

There is hope, in Midnight.
 

Satomine Night

The Power of Z!
I feel like is episode successfully showed that despite the art aesthetic change, some things didn't suffer. I didn't like Ash's Sun/Moon redesign, but I love how Rockruff and the two Lycanrocs looked this episode.

I agree; I love the way the two Lycanroc looked, as well as how they interacted with each other. (Midnight actually didn't look as possessed in this episode as it does in the games--probably due to the lack of constant slasher smile.) And Rockruff was just all kinds of adorable in this episode.

The only sad bit of all this speculation is how good the series is at making the current roster endearing, and the fear that should any evolve, they'll lose their adorable personalities to be standard serious badass types (as much as it seems destiny for Rockruff to evolve, I'll miss it's affectionate, bubbly puppy personality that likely won't be there as a Lycanroc).

I can see Rockruff retaining its personality even after it evolves. (IMHO, Midday Lycanroc seems like it would be more affectionate than Midnight Lycanroc, just based off Midnight's general aggressiveness compared to Midday). It may not be as bubbly as it is now, but it can still be just as affectionate--leaping on Ash, giving him doggy kisses, rubbing its pointy rock ruff against him--while, at the same time, maintaining that fierceness that Lycanroc seems to have. In fact, that's what I hope for, just as I hope Rowlet maintains most of its derpiness outside of battle when it evolves.
 
Why do you think we want Midnight Lycanroc? Midday Lycanroc looks like killjoy material that will give the animators breaks from not drawing it too much.

There is hope, in Midnight.

Exactly! I feel like I really want something new with this anime that doesn't require any Deus Ex Machina starters or companions with different but still pretty one-note personalities, and giving Ash a Pokemon that he'll have a challenge working out the strategy of is a new concept that I'd love to see!
 

Frozocrone

Miraculous!
Imagine if Ash got a Pyukumuku and it became his ace

I feel like is episode successfully showed that despite the art aesthetic change, some things didn't suffer. I didn't like Ash's Sun/Moon redesign, but I love how Rockruff and the two Lycanrocs looked this episode.

Pyukumuku, use Soak!
 

TheWanderingMist

Paladin of the Snow Queen

DS0308

<--- Actually me
Episode content was pretty spot on for me. A nice little story for Rockruff leading to the capture. Enjoyed it more than Rowlet's one.

The negatives I have on this episode are very minute in the scale of the whole episode but are still there. While I was fine with the Shellder transition there really wasn't a need for the Magikarp one straight after. I really don't understand why Ash needed to make a Magmar face there, nor do I know why Samson Oak has to do it but he makes it work for some reason.

Not a negative but more jarring on my end was how they used the exact same Lycanroc howling part about three times in the episode, with two being in the space of a minute. Could've at least done a different angle?

Also why were Rowlet and Rotomdex shown running to catch up to Ash when they could just, you know, fly? It was somewhat amusing in fairness (one of the few things that actually was funny, but they didn't try a whole lot which I'm rather thankful for given the nature of the episode).

I still rate it quite highly though, even if some sequences were a bit too quirky for my liking.
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
Not a negative but more jarring on my end was how they used the exact same Lycanroc howling part about three times in the episode, with two being in the space of a minute. Could've at least done a different angle?

Repeating animation saves time. Time constraints are usually the largest hurdle to crack for animation, getting the episodes done in time. So if you have something that looks very good, like an animation for Pikachu's Iron Tail or whatnot, you repeat it instead of redrawing it and then reanimating it over and over again. The thing is, you can either get those animators to redraw it over and over again, and gain very little except a bit of variation, or you can instead use those same animators to make other scenes look better or work on different episodes. Repeating animation that is good is common practice in pretty much all anime, it's generally stupid to not do it as by not doing it you sacrifice a lot of overall animation quality for very little gain.
 

lemoncatpower

Cynical Optimist
so I actually really enjoyed this episode, quite surprised Rockruff was never Kukui's, and with that I am happy with it going to Ash.

I have a feeling by the end of the series, we'll see a good team from Kukui. They've already hinted that he has a team and judging by the games, it'll be a strong team.

Midday lycanroc was quite beautiful not going to lie, but definitely didn't look better than that amazing Midnight lycanroc. I have a whole new love for midnight after this episode tbh, the way it stood there and took hits and growled. Anyways, (yn) here's me crossing my fingers that Rockruff evolves into midnight instead of midday! Also midday sort of looks too fancy pants for Ash in a way. Midnight seems more his style imo. This comes from Ash's extreme lack of grace this season compared to the likes of XY. In XY I could see midday, but with SM, I lean more towards midnight.
 

Frozocrone

Miraculous!
so I actually really enjoyed this episode, quite surprised Rockruff was never Kukui's, and with that I am happy with it going to Ash.

I have a feeling by the end of the series, we'll see a good team from Kukui. They've already hinted that he has a team and judging by the games, it'll be a strong team.

Midday lycanroc was quite beautiful not going to lie, but definitely didn't look better than that amazing Midnight lycanroc. I have a whole new love for midnight after this episode tbh, the way it stood there and took hits and growled. Anyways, (yn) here's me crossing my fingers that Rockruff evolves into midnight instead of midday! Also midday sort of looks too fancy pants for Ash in a way. Midnight seems more his style imo. This comes from Ash's extreme lack of grace this season compared to the likes of XY. In XY I could see midday, but with SM, I lean more towards midnight.

This is where Ash will try and combine the two and have a speedy Midnight form (that results in a suicide mountain v2)
 

TheWanderingMist

Paladin of the Snow Queen
They should really change the title of this thread to Pokémon Fight Clubs it's easier to spot. I feel like this episode shows how Paul (Yeah, I'm bringing him up despite his irrelevance) should have trained Chimchar, instead of the gang up borderline/outright abusive method he did use which the writers for some reason wanted to justify later.
 

Navin

MALDREAD
Mal's Review - Sun&Moon Edition

You do not talk about (Pokemon) Fight Club.


Pros:

* Free-for-all

* Ash training Rockruff (and tanking Rock Throws)

* Pupper vs Magmar

* Thank god Ash catches the best Pokemon in Sun&Moon


Cons:

(none)


Thoughts:

* What is up with the Pokemon washing ashore?


Please let Lycanroc be the regional ace.


7.5/10


Last ten episodes ratings: 6/4/7/7.5/8/9/3.5/4/4/7
Average of episodes 1-10: 6.6/10
 

Soaring Pikachu

Cool Trainer
A wild pokemo fight club was pretty neat to see.

I'm not sure which is more amazing, the fact that Ash helped teach a rock pokemon a special move or that it actually worked. All things considered, I guess it shouldn't be much of a surprise though. At the end of the training Ash took that Rock throw attack like a real man!
 

mystic9899

Pokemon fan
unfortunate that they replaced all the music except the title card, but oh well. also i actually really like the dub voices for lycanroc. midnight's is so much deeper than midday's lol.
 
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