Things you are mad at that the anime didn’t do/take advantage of

[RafaSceptile]

As much as I like SM, I wished they did more with the ultra beasts. Like I would’ve liked to see their home worlds. We only saw Nihilego, Guzzlord’s and Poipole’s worlds I think. The same thing applies to ultra megalopolis and how the ultra reacon squad didn’t even show up.

I get that the premise was about getting them out of Alola, but these places looked so cool in game and would’ve made some of the UB episodes better, or at least more interesting (especially the Kartana one).

They should at least show the world where Ash travelled in the last episode, at the very least.

 

[Orphalesion]

I haven't watched the anime since I was a young child.

But I'm still salty about them slapping Bulbasaur with that complete and utter BS storyline about how "he doesn't want to evolve"
Bulbasaur was my first starter and I wanted Venusaur to have just as big a role in the anime as Charizard had. But nooo everybody who chose Bulbasaur or Squirtle wasn't important enough, I guess

 

[Redstar45]

I haven't watched the anime since I was a young child.

But I'm still salty about them slapping Bulbasaur with that complete and utter BS storyline about how "he doesn't want to evolve"
Bulbasaur was my first starter and I wanted Venusaur to have just as big a role in the anime as Charizard had. But nooo everybody who chose Bulbasaur or Squirtle wasn't important enough, I guess

(Males)Kids like Dragons and T-Rex

 

[Leonhart]

But I'm still salty about them slapping Bulbasaur with that complete and utter BS storyline about how "he doesn't want to evolve"
Bulbasaur was my first starter and I wanted Venusaur to have just as big a role in the anime as Charizard had. But nooo everybody who chose Bulbasaur or Squirtle wasn't important enough, I guess

I've always assumed that they didn't evolve it because its evolved forms probably weren't that popular. Everyone seemed to love Lizardon (Charizard) because of its dragon-like aesthetic, but a giant green reptile with a flower on its back being on Satoshi's team doesn't seem like it would've appealed to the audience nearly as much as Lizardon did.

 

[Redstar45]

I've always assumed that they didn't evolve it because its evolved forms probably weren't that popular. Everyone seemed to love Lizardon (Charizard) because of its dragon-like aesthetic, but a giant green reptile with a flower on its back being on Satoshi's team doesn't seem like it would've appealed to the audience nearly as much as Lizardon did.

Problem is that Shudo probably went to talk about right of evolution in the Pokemon.

 

[Orphalesion]

I've always assumed that they didn't evolve it because its evolved forms probably weren't that popular. Everyone seemed to love Lizardon (Charizard) because of its dragon-like aesthetic, but a giant green reptile with a flower on its back being on Satoshi's team doesn't seem like it would've appealed to the audience nearly as much as Lizardon did.

I always assumed animation it was partlty because, yes unevolved Pokémon tend to be cute and marketable and partly because they are less detailed and thus easier to animate than evolved ones. (remember Squirtle never evolved either)

Digimon really had the upper hand here, since they cold digivolve into their badass higher forms for battles and then revert back to their cuddle/marketable/easier to draw and animate Child/Rookie forms.

 

[DatsRight]

I always assumed animation it was partlty because, yes unevolved Pokémon tend to be cute and marketable and partly because they are less detailed and thus easier to animate than evolved ones. (remember Squirtle never evolved either)

Digimon really had the upper hand here, since they cold digivolve into their badass higher forms for battles and then revert back to their cuddle/marketable/easier to draw and animate Child/Rookie forms.

Yeah, this is generally why lots of evolved Pokemon got the shaft outside of battle/action moments too. Charizard I feel got off relatively better because he had a more streamlined design compared to the other evolutions, though even then he stopped appearing with the others far more. You evolved Bulbasaur, you would likely kiss goodbye most of his interaction/personality scenes afterwards, which did play a lot into why he was so endearing in the first place.

Even besides, Bulbasaur was at least still allowed to battle competently, so they tried to compromise there.

I think the creative team even stated this as the exact reason they eventually put off evolving Axew, because it became too much of a main character, and evolving it into a more complex design would require demoting it to avoid it being a perpetual hassle for animators. It was only really SM onwards that bigger/evolved Pokemon could stay in focus, due to the looser animation style established in that series.

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

You speak like Turtonator was more of a presence than, say, Togedemaru or Popplio.

I felt that once Marowak was caught, it started appear way more than the turtle until that focus episode on how Kiawe got it.

 

[DatsRight]

You speak like Turtonator was more of a presence than, say, Togedemaru or Popplio.

I felt that once Marowak was caught, it started appear way more than the turtle until that focus episode on how Kiawe got it.

True it still wasn't 50/50, but it's easy to think that in a previous series Turtonator would have been like say, Onix or Luxray, barely appearing at all, let alone gaining a personality (even when Marowak came along, Turtonator would still frequently appear because their chemistry was a lot of the fun). Same deal with Lycanroc compared to previous aces who usually only appeared in battle rather than being 'one of the kids'.

The only SM Pokemon that really felt typical to this syndrome was Primarina, who only evolved after Sandy appeared and could take over the playful scenes (and even then it got rare moments). Others like Charizard and Tsareena almost felt like subversions and seemed to get MORE spotlight by the end of the series.

 

[Leonhart]

Problem is that Shudo probably went to talk about right of evolution in the Pokemon.

I don't know about that. He didn't seem like someone who would've had a problem evolving certain Pokemon or cared about that in general: he seemed more interested in the human characters and their interactions with Pokemon for the most part, which is implied by the fact that most of the episodes that he wrote tended to focus on characterization and moral lessons rather than physical Pokemon development (i.e. evolution).

 

[Orphalesion]

Problem is that Shudo probably went to talk about right of evolution in the Pokemon.

Then do it with some guest Pokemon. Not with one of the three starters. It was a BS storyline anyway.

 

[Redstar45]

Then do it with some guest Pokemon. Not with one of the three starters. It was a BS storyline anyway.

Hey i actually wanted Satoshi/Ash be Game!Red from rgb era that had all final evolution of the Kantou starters that was used in Generation 2 GSC games

 

[Weavy]

As much as I like SM, I wished they did more with the ultra beasts. Like I would’ve liked to see their home worlds. We only saw Nihilego, Guzzlord’s and Poipole’s worlds I think. The same thing applies to ultra megalopolis and how the ultra reacon squad didn’t even show up.

I get that the premise was about getting them out of Alola, but these places looked so cool in game and would’ve made some of the UB episodes better, or at least more interesting (especially the Kartana one).

This. As a big UB fan, I was very disappointed with how they were handled. Aside from Nihilego, Guzzlord and the Poipole line, they were pretty much regulated to the typical "monster of the week" episodes like most other Pokemon. And for things hyped up to be dangerous threats, they felt more like troublemakers at best (Heck, Celesteela in particular did absolutely nothing aside from somewhat bonding with Sophocles). I know they're not evil, but I feel like it would have been nice to see how threatening monsters like these could actually be if left unchecked.

They should at least show the world where Ash travelled in the last episode, at the very least.

And to add salt in the wound, this was apparently a UB we've not seen before either according to what I've been told. It would have been nice to see this mystery UB as well as this world, but that's probably never gonna happen and that sucks.

 

[DatsRight]

Truth be told, while I understand people wanting to have seen more from the Ultra Beasts, I didn't mind the twist of some of them being more quirky aliens or fish out of water, instead of ALL of them being sinister monstrous threats, which I think might have gotten old fast applied to ALL of them instead of just a handful of more dangerous ones. It'd be like if EVERY legendary had that same amorphous 'powers beyond mortal understanding' depiction, you need SOME variation or their group become predictable and undeveloped.

There was still some sense of them being dangerous in terms of inadvertent power but I liked the idea it was more from being fish out of water.

 

[Sham]

Sun and Moon was already becoming known for being a non battle heavy series with Ash barely battling and the main characters only having 0-3 in their runs so far. When you add the fact that UB’s aren’t being battled like their game counterparts, it adds salt to wound. I’m not saying they all should of been vicious but some of those episodes definitely seemed like filler with a UB slapped on it.

 

[Red and Blue]

Yeah I definitely would of loved to have seen the other Ultra Beast worlds in SM. And they could of had Megalopolis be the world of Poipole and Naganadel since Poipole was said to be considered a starter in that world in the games.

Its why I want Go to catch the UBs so we get a chance to see the worlds

 

[RafaSceptile]

Sun and Moon was already becoming known for being a non battle heavy series with Ash barely battling and the main characters only having 0-3 in their runs so far. When you add the fact that UB’s aren’t being battled like their game counterparts, it adds salt to wound. I’m not saying they all should of been vicious but some of those episodes definitely seemed like filler with a UB slapped on it.

But UBs are not supposed to be evil and/or battlers, neither Ultra Guardians to combat them. The problem with how UBs debuted is not different to the problem with a lot of previous PotD debuts in previous series during filler episodes.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Yeah I definitely would of loved to have seen the other Ultra Beast worlds in SM. And they could of had Megalopolis be the world of Poipole and Naganadel since Poipole was said to be considered a starter in that world in the games.

Its why I want Go to catch the UBs so we get a chance to see the worlds

You had me at Megalopolis, but you lost me at "Go."

 

[Weavy]

Truth be told, while I understand people wanting to have seen more from the Ultra Beasts, I didn't mind the twist of some of them being more quirky aliens or fish out of water, instead of ALL of them being sinister monstrous threats, which I think might have gotten old fast applied to ALL of them instead of just a handful of more dangerous ones. It'd be like if EVERY legendary had that same amorphous 'powers beyond mortal understanding' depiction, you need SOME variation or their group become predictable and undeveloped.

There was still some sense of them being dangerous in terms of inadvertent power but I liked the idea it was more from being fish out of water.

I can agree with this. The majority of them don't go out of their way to cause trouble, so it was nice to see them as a "I don't belong here" scenario. But the fact they were hyped up to be dangerous threats and the fact we never actually saw them do anything dangerous (at best we got would they could do) does feel like they didn't live up to the hype, hence why the disappointment.

Sun and Moon was already becoming known for being a non battle heavy series with Ash barely battling and the main characters only having 0-3 in their runs so far. When you add the fact that UB’s aren’t being battled like their game counterparts, it adds salt to wound. I’m not saying they all should of been vicious but some of those episodes definitely seemed like filler with a UB slapped on it.

Also this. Even a few battles would have been nice. They probably didn't do it because most of the group weren't proper battlers and seeing them be curbstomped by Pokemon on par with legendary Pokemon (like birds of beasts tier) wouldn't be interesting to watch. Doesn't mean it's not disappointing; would've been nice to show us how powerful they are instead of simply telling us.

Yeah I definitely would of loved to have seen the other Ultra Beast worlds in SM. And they could of had Megalopolis be the world of Poipole and Naganadel since Poipole was said to be considered a starter in that world in the games.

Its why I want Go to catch the UBs so we get a chance to see the worlds

I can somewhat see this happening, though I don't think the chances are high. Since his goal is to complete the Pokedex and the UBs are in the dex, it is possible for him to get a few. But if he got to keep them, there will almost certainly be salt as Ash didn't get to keep Naganadel.

 

[Leonhart]

Admittedly I have no interest in the Ultra Beasts in general, so I wasn't particularly disappointed by how the anime treated them. I did however despise the Ultra Guardians task force since it seemed incredibly contrived and not at all entertaining, at least not to me.