Pokémon anime

She's also confirmed to be the standard "small cute creature that has telepathy for some reason"

Yeah, we knew that from the moment she, Hoopa, and Volcanion were leaked.

The Pokemon website uploaded the 5 minute prequel to the movie earlier today (it's below the trailer).

I definitely think it's a given now that Ash is catching the Goomy. Based on it's pokedex entry in the games, it would fill that "overly affectionate" niche that Bayleef and Gliscor had.

And Muk.

edited 6th Nov '14 9:02:39 AM by WorldTurtle

Goomy and Hawlucha on the same team? It's like some singularity of my fabvritest Kalos Pokémon.

What do you guys make of the 'patterns' fans come up with when speculating. Some I can understand if you go by a predictive criteria formula. Ash has gotten a Flying, Fire, Grass, and Water type every series so odds are he'll get these. That one I can understand the Classical Elements are a thing in fantasy media.

Those I don't understand are "no one will get fossils" or certain types (Dark and Dragon before it was averted in DP and BW) or 'bears' (talking about Pancham before it was confirmed Serena would get one, which is weird since Snorlax is a cartoon looking bear mixed with a beanbag…).

edited 6th Nov '14 7:58:54 PM by WorldTurtle

I can see "no one will get fossils/dragons/dark types" being a thing due to their relative rarity- not only is there less of a pool to chose from, they're supposed to be all special (maybe not dark types so much, but the others sure) and having one just chilling with the main cast devalues that just a bit. That being said, it's trivially easy for the writers to break those sorts of rules.

But "no bears"... m8 u wot

I've always written it off as odds, only so many Pokemon (just counting evolution lines we're looking at out of 50-80 depending on the Gen, well till Gen 6 where it is now in the 30's) will make it onto the main cast. The fact Ash already has 5 spots claimed leaving room for 1 wild card at most (save for when the writers are feeling generous: 2, doesn't help. We probably won't be seeing the rotation game again till the Gen 8 series).

They also pointed out Ursaring and Beartic are put into "antagonistic roles" belonging to rivals (Paul and Georgia). While true I don't think that means anything. Beartic is an Ice-type the perfect Pokemon for a rival (Georgia) of Iris's-an aspiring Dragon Master-to have.

But still let's look it over: Ursaring (Johto)

Misty: Aside from Togepi, Misty only catches Water Types

Brock: If you want to see it do nothing, but be a background character or just fight TR, sure give it to Brock. That and he doesn't get a lot of Pokemon 3-4 was like his max IIRC.

Beartic (Unova): Iris is afraid of Ice Types, as for Cilan: see Brock.

As for Ash in the case of Ursaring, well they gave Ash Phanpy who is the version counterpart to the Teddiursa line (honestly not sure if that would really factor in, but... eh it makes them 'rivals' to me, I wouldn't give Ash certain Pokemon if its more interesting to see what he already has fight them: Charizard vs. Dragonite, Heracross vs. Scizor, etc.). BW was pulling a Generation Xerox homage to the OS Team with Krookodile as the odd one out. Even if you disagree with the Xeros theory there is still the fact they were having trouble giving screen time as it was for who Ash already had. That and again Beartic was better suited to be Georgia's signature Pokemon.

edited 6th Nov '14 9:02:52 PM by WorldTurtle

Regarding the end of the Summer Camp arc:

For Teams Froakie and Squirtle to be Tied for 1st with 13 going into the Tourney, that had to mean that:

1. Froakie got 3rd in Fishing
2. Squirtle 3rd on whatever happened in Day 4 while Froakie blanked^note hence, why it wasn't shown
3. Chikorita could only have scored 3rd in Orienteering in addition to their 2nd in Pokevision^note More likely didn't score anything other than Pokevision
4. Charmander could have gotten a single 2nd or a 3rd in one event.
5. Whomever won on Days 4 & 5 didn't place in any other events.

EDIT: So, that means that: 2 Tied for 1st, at least 2 tied for 3rd (potentially 4), and that a total of 80 points were awarded prior to the Tournament. Of these, 26 for Froakie and Squirtle between them, 10 each for the other 2 event winners, and at least 10 total to the 2 other teams listed as placing in Pokevision. That's 56 points between 6 teams, leaving only 24 points unaccounted for.^note 3 "7"s, plus the "3" in Orienteering. However, in the fireworks shot, I counted 10 groups of 3-4, confirmed in the closing ceremonies. So it's possible that all teams had points at that point, or that 1 or 2 didn't with a lot of teams hovering at that 10-point mark. Ergo, while the Writers Cannot Do Math, it was still possible to work out the situation to get to that point, so the Trope doesn't apply here.

Still, 10 teams is hard to get a set Single-Elim out of. Maybe the Points for days 2-5 set up the seeding for a Winner-Take-All Tournament, with the lowest 4 teams having to fight an extra battle.

As someone who's interested in tournament setup, here's how I would've run the camp competition:

I would've had the points split for Days 2-4 as 6-3-1, with the Orienteering event having 10-6-3-1. I would also have the Tourney take place over the course of the camp. It would start with 2 Pools of 5. Most likely, that would've meant 1 match per day per Team in addition to the regular activities, though 1 team from each pool would have a "bye" per day. Each Pool Win would count 1 Point (No points for Ties).

The Top 3 Teams per Pool would've entered a single-elim tourney, with the other 4 teams completing the Round Robin between them. The Consolation Pool would be scored as the regular pool (only cross-pool matches would be played here). In the Knockout Tourney between the Top 6, the Winner getting 8 additional points, the Runner-Up getting 4 more, and the Semifinal losers each getting 2 more. (Split for the Knockout portion: 8-4-2-2-0-0)

The Best case for the Tourney is 12 points, (4 from Pool Play, 8 from Knockout,) With a perfect score for the Camp being 6+6+6+10+12=40.

Then again, I would also have left an opportunity for Teams to earn "Merit Points" for exemplary behavior, as well as "Demerits" for behavior unbecoming.^note Much like the House Points System in Harry Potter. Squirtle would've earned some for helping find Bonnie, while Froakie would've earned some for rescuing Squirtle from Rocket.

As for the final battle itself, at least Serena made a defensive play before going down, and that to two consecutive water hits. Which means that Serena may fall prey to Can't Catch Up. Clemont, due to his prior experience, still has a chance of keeping up, as shown in the battle. If the writers do have Team Flare in the plot eventually, I'm hoping they expand on this aspect. On the other hand, from what I saw earlier in the episode, Serena may work better as direct Support for Ash.^note This may end up furthering the Meta-Betty and Veronica dynamic with Misty, as the latter would serve more as Ash's Wingman whereas Serena would be more like Ash's Co-Pilot. (I'm Listening to Top Gun music at 1 AM.)

Conversely, when it was down to Squirtle vs Pikachu and Chespin, I was expecting Tierno to get a second faint before going down.

In other news, Yes, I know that they gotta have 5 AG episodes to front for ORAS, but given the Trailer the shown at the end of the arc, I'm thinking it would've been better to have 5 Legendary-related episodes. Best to have 1 for each of the female companions, even if it means reshowing an episode from the recent Summer Camp arc:

• OS: Freeze Frame
• AG: The Green Guardian
• DP: Sleepless in Pre-Battle
• BW: Searching For A Wish
• XY: Foggy Pokemon Orienteering: The only one that's part of a mini-series, but that's countered with the Pokemon in question also being in the movie just after.

Orienteering could be substitued out for a one-shot during the Meloetta arc to allow 1 half-hour per generation instead. This would be put ahead of Searching. (Articuno, Celebi, Jirachi, Cresselia/Darkrai, Meloetta)

edited 6th Nov '14 11:10:29 PM by DonaldthePotholer

Speaking of Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor I wonder if they'll be the ones to introduce the Mega Kanto Starters in the regular anime? And if Trevor will have Charizard X or Y. It'll probably be 'Y-Zard' since that'd fit better with the other two look wise. While Ash gets the more unique looking X-Zard and Charizard lives up to his position as Ash's "Dragon".

edited 6th Nov '14 10:50:46 PM by WorldTurtle

Alain already has X-Zard, and so does Origins!Red. If Trevor gets Y-Zard, that means that Ash's Charizard's appearance in Best Wishes Season 2 was all for naught.

I'm talking about in the regular anime. Why does Origins and the Mega Evolution Special have to do with that? How does that stop Ash's Charizard from becoming X-Zard?

edited 6th Nov '14 11:36:21 PM by WorldTurtle

It makes the most sense that the most prominent Charizard user gets the one Mega Evolution never shown off among the various Animes. Ash definitely should be the one to get Mega Charizard Y. Nobody uses Charizard nearly as often as he does.

While I can understand that reasoning. I'm expecting Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor to show off the Kanto Starters and their eventual Mega Forms (either Y or X in the case of Charizard) somewhere down the line for the main anime unless they turn out to be a Red Herring. I'd be somewhat disappointed if that were the case as I was interested in seeing Fully Evolved Kalos Starters vs. Fully Evolved Kanto Starters. The Original Generation vs. The New Blood. Who will win?

edited 6th Nov '14 11:55:40 PM by WorldTurtle

I really want Ash to get Sceptile back (ORAS games coming out and all) and have that one Mega evolve. I'm honestly kind of tired of all the Charizards :/

Origins was nice, Mega Evolution Special is nice too but even the anime series?? Come on. Ash actually has about 4? (not counting Pidgeot that's long gone, Squirtle that needs to evolve etc.) Pokemon that can Mega Evolve so I'll be pretty mad if they pick Charizard again despite it having so much attention already.

Well, "mad" isn't exactly the word, I don't get mad over anime. However, if they do pick Charizard it better be the Y one. I like the Y one more (I have it ) and as far as I know it has had no appearance yet.

edited 7th Nov '14 3:15:04 AM by Krisichiki

Because those already gave X-Zard marketing power. And, lest we forget, prior to the announcement that yesterday's special would be tied into ORAS, there was the fan theory that the Final Battle of the Kalos League would be Alain's X-Zard vs Ash's Y-Zard.

Giving X-Zard to either Ash or Trevor would give that form overexposure, especially considering that Alain is still active. Conversely, giving Y-Zard to both would also overexpose it, so either Ash or Trevor would miss out.^note The potholed Tropes demonstrate the respective ramifications of Y-Zard's Drought ability.

This was just posted on Serebii, from Masafumi Mima (Sound Director for XY) who posted it up on Twitter: "Also, we were celebrating the one year anniversary of Pocket Monsters XY, and the producers brought a cake that had the entire cast on it. I took a photo. However, the thing is, the cake had the picture from the front cover of the episode scripts color painted on it. That means it was full of spoilers, lol. That's why I had to edit the photo a bit before I was allowed to upload it. Maybe this is a bit too daring? I really wanted to upload a photo of it, though. "

You can see Goodra's feeler and others have pouted out Braxien's leg behind Hawlucha.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B169b70CcAAMcvG.jpg:large

edited 8th Nov '14 10:03:02 AM by WorldTurtle

Watching CN air episodes from Seasons 6 & 7 really makes me appreciate how the animation improved significantly.

The animation in AG fluctuated constantly. Some episodes looked really good and others seemed rushed.

They also didn't start using CG in battles till DP, which was especially noticeable during the Contest battles.

Hmmmm.... Looks like we have May and Brendan for a new ORAS animated short, though whether it is in the same universe as the anime or another Origins special has yet to be determined. If it's the later, then I have two thoughts about this:

1) On one hand, by separating itself from the main anime world means that the short would no longer be burdened by major continuity issues such Team Aqua and Team Magma's appearances as well as reintroducing Brendan as a new rookie trainer. We might even have a better Team Aqua vs Team Magma story than the one in AG (unlikely given the format, but you never know).

2) On the other hand, it makes me want to see May come back in the anime in her new outfit (and with some new Pokémon).

edited 9th Nov '14 1:44:59 AM by Shadao

It's apparently a "short episode", which makes it sound like it'll just be a long advertizement. :P But anyway, the art and May's face doesn't look like the main anime's, so I doubt it'll be in the anime continuity. Plus our May has no reason to be playing around with the lab starters at this point.

Incidentally, the Mega Evolution episodes are apparently going to keep being in Hoenn for now... which further makes me doubt there'll be a full series, even an Origins-length one, based on ORAS.

Still, it looks cute. I'm guessing it'll be like that b2w2 trailer, except less edgy.

edited 9th Nov '14 7:18:20 AM by YamiiDenryuu

That's a short with a new version of May and Brendan to advertise ORAS. Its not the same May as the one from AG and its not in continuity with the main anime.

That May looks so much younger than the one from the main series.

So, then, in the same continuity with the Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 trailer?

EDIT: World Turtle: I personally think that they should have more to celebrate than just the 1st anniversary of this arc. Any updates on the ratings situation?

edited 9th Nov '14 6:49:13 PM by DonaldthePotholer

Warning: SPOILERS!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B1YN_cYCUAArfQ4.jpg:large

Well if that's the script cover the cake was based on I can see Luxray and Goodra

edited 10th Nov '14 6:31:35 AM by WorldTurtle

The way Goodra is positioned makes it look like some high-powered supporting role rather than a main cast member. That and I doubt anyone'll be catching a fully-evolved pseudo this early on, unless someone who already has one joins the cast for a while.