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Thoughts on the Masters 8/PWC as a whole?

Red and Blue

Well-Known Member
Ash actually did battle someone from Johto. A green haired trainer from Goldenrod city with a Meganium in episode 20. The lack of Alolan trainers competing was disappointing though.
 

Sham

The Guardian of Ruin and Birth
I'm so confused why Ash fighting Steven was this hyped thing? Like I understand Cynthia was needed for BDSPLA promotion and Leon is the main goal but why Steven? They tried to hype up that battle and even imply he's always wanted to fight Ash despite the fact he's talked to Alain more than him.
 

Lord Godwin

The Lord of Darkness
I'm so confused why Ash fighting Steven was this hyped thing? Like I understand Cynthia was needed for BDSPLA promotion and Leon is the main goal but why Steven? They tried to hype up that battle and even imply he's always wanted to fight Ash despite the fact he's talked to Alain more than him.
They just wanted Ash to beat no 3, no 2 and no 1.
 

Sham

The Guardian of Ruin and Birth
They just wanted Ash to beat no 3, no 2 and no 1.
But they didn't have to make him that number and it felt pretty weird having him become number three in the PWC despite having the least amount of exposure out of all of them. Why was he the third best trainer in the world again? That's what I was trying to say
 

sutellakiara

Shirona, my beloved...
But they didn't have to make him that number and it felt pretty weird having him become number three in the PWC despite having the least amount of exposure out of all of them. Why was he the third best trainer in the world again? That's what I was trying to say
Because Steven's more popular than Lance, Diantha and Iris. Simple as.
He's easily among the most well regarded Champions in general. Not the most favorite of them all, but liked well enough among most people.
 

Sham

The Guardian of Ruin and Birth
Because Steven's more popular than Lance, Diantha and Iris. Simple as.
He's easily among the most well regarded Champions in general. Not the most favorite of them all, but liked well enough among most people.
Yeah, the sure are wishy washy with how much they place importance on popularity considering Ash's has an entire Dracovish on his team, still think they should've kept Lance in that regard but I didn't know Steven had a (huge?) fanbase. Interesting to know.
 
Ash battling Lance feels like its being saved for something in the future, like when Ash becomes the Kanto champion himself one day forcing Lance to retire.
Yeah in offscreen land. But Ash should have battled Lance in the M8 if he wasn’t going to battle Alain with AG
 
Lance, Geeta, Diantha should be his next 3 opponents to take down.

If Alan returns again have Ash battle him early like he did with Iris.
And with Ash-Greninja (SCREW THE RETCON)
 

Lord Godwin

The Lord of Darkness
Lance, Geeta, Diantha should be his next 3 opponents to take down.

If Alan returns again have Ash battle him early like he did with Iris.
If Ash stays I can see a Ash-Nemona and Pikachu-Pawmi student-mentor or rival-rival relationship.
 

Damerdal

[Dam]n h[er] Gan[dal]f!
I think the frustrating part is when the writers brainstormed: “let’s make this the season that Ash finally becomes Champion of the world”, the natural instinct would be to make this a climatic culminating series.

And if that’s the case, the no-brainer ideas should be to bring back all of the old characters/rivals, celebrate/focus an episode or battle on each of Ash’s Pokémon, and make battles as complex as those in DP and visually dazzling as those in XY.

This is the same show that produced the two Lake Acuity and Sinnoh League full battles against Paul, the Kalos League full battle against Sawyer, and the Hoenn League full battle against Katie. This is the same show that had the Ash v Paul rivalry. This is the same show that had Battle Frontier arc to demonstrate how to adequately use reserves.

So when the supposed final tournament doesn’t necessarily deliver on the hype and expectations, it falls flat. Especially when they had the prior templates and capability.

I’m sure those 10-year-old kids, which this show is geared toward, thought that the PWC was awesome.

I’d say it was fun and not bad, and the best part is the writers finally gave Ash the title that he deserved to get over a decade ago.

However the entire tournament was a bit disappointing to those of us who followed the show for all these years.
 

Sham

The Guardian of Ruin and Birth
Something I do not understand, was what was the point of even including the Champions in this? And if they had to, why did they include the losers? If Ash was going to battle Cynthia, Steven and Leon then they could've easily excluded Lance, Iris, Alain and Diantha. It's especially jarring since none of Diantha's battles were even suppose to be animated. Are you saying somehow the Champions were "mandated" to be there but only three battles were suppose to be displayed?
 

Broseph08

Well-Known Member
Yeah no, the dude is boring. He’s got as much personality as a bag of rocks. Immediately L making this a hyped match.
Meh, the only champions with actual, distinct personalities are Iris and Leon. The rest are all some combination of nice, wise and powerful. Iris obviously wasn't gonna be #3 and Leon was already established with Cynthia for the later rounds. Might as well go with the champion from the universally liked games and most dripped out design
 

Sham

The Guardian of Ruin and Birth
Meh, the only champions with actual, distinct personalities are Iris and Leon. The rest are all some combination of nice, wise and powerful. Iris obviously wasn't gonna be #3 and Leon was already established with Cynthia for the later rounds. Might as well go with the champion from the universally liked games and most dripped out design
Honestly then the best bet would be just go with Lance. At least he has that emotionless stoic thing that people find interesting. He has no personality either but at least that’s his thing which is showing no emotion and he’s been in the anime since OS and actually had a bunch of moments with Ash.

It’s not a big thing but just randomly making Steven the third most powerful and hype around him facing Ash was arbitrary tbh
 
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