Pokemon XY&Z

[Flame Dragon]

Sure he was an idiot and Ash did worse than he did in Sinnoh by losing to him, but going by battle quality, Ash's battle with him was better than the fight against Ritchie.

Fair enough. I never watched the battle so I can't say how good it was. It just leaves a MUCH worse taste in my mouth.

[~British Soul~]

Fair enough. I never watched the battle so I can't say how good it was. It just leaves a MUCH worse taste in my mouth.

I can see where you're getting at given it caused a regression in Ash's performance.

[Flame Dragon]

I can see where you're getting at given it caused a regression in Ash's performance.

Its not just the regression, it is also who he lost to. Nothing about Kotetsu feels like a character Ash should be losing to. He was just made too dumb to be someone I'd accept Ash losing to, be it top 8 or finals. The fact he only used 5 pokemon (something I didn't even know) actually makes it worse.

[~British Soul~]

Its not just the regression, it is also who he lost to. Nothing about Kotetsu feels like a character Ash should be losing to. He was just made too dumb to be someone I'd accept Ash losing to, be it top 8 or finals. The fact he only used 5 pokemon (something I didn't even know) actually makes it worse.

Fair enough. Though to be fair you could say the same about Ritchie. That battle left a bad taste in my mouth for a number of reasons; Squirtle and Charizard didn't actually faint (Squirtle was eliminated after it was put to sleep, and Charizard refused to fight), then there's the fact that Ritchie almost won due to disqualification when Team Rocket kidnapped Ash before the fight.

[Flame Dragon]

Fair enough. Though to be fair you could say the same about Ritchie. That battle left a bad taste in my mouth for a number of reasons; Squirtle and Charizard didn't actually faint (Squirtle was eliminated after it was put to sleep, and Charizard refused to fight), then there's the fact that Ritchie almost won due to disqualification when Team Rocket kidnapped Ash.

I totally get that. My one friend really doesn't care about the anime (don't think he even remembered the Squirtle bit, I know I didn't), but he can go on for a little about how terrible the battle was. Its a choice between losing because of bad calls or losing to a terrible character. I can totally see falling one way or the other, but the breaking point for me is that Ash's lost to Kotetsu happened in Gen 5.

 

Regardless, both were terrible and its nice to see this league is much more in line with Gen 4 in terms of quality.

[~British Soul~]

I totally get that. My one friend really doesn't care about the anime (don't think he even remembered the Squirtle bit, I know I didn't), but he can go on for a little about how terrible the battle was. Its a choice between losing because of bad calls or losing to a terrible character. I can totally see falling one way or the other, but the breaking point for me is that Ash's lost to Kotetsu happened in Gen 5.

 

Regardless, both were terrible and its nice to see this league is much more in line with Gen 4 in terms of quality.

Yeah, it is nice going back to Gen 4 quality.

 

EDIT: [spoiler=Thoughts on XY125]

- Just like in the games, Trevor has an Aerodactyl and Florges, which I thought was neat. Not surprised he got completely swept though.

- That red haired punk who delayed Ash, I would like to think that this won't be the last we see of him for some reason (then again he's probs a 1-time character). To me, he just gives off a villainous vibe. Though it's funny I mention his almost disqualification in season 1 the other day, as he almost got disqualified here.

- We see Malva report from the league (w TR as the camera crew). We know she has connections with Team Flare, but we should remember she has a career outside of Team Flare stuffs.

- From the preview we have Ash vs Astrid which I believe we wanted to see anyway, ofc we know Ash will get redemption after he lost to her in the Diancie movie (I'm sure she'll mention their previous encounter as well)

 

 

[Flame Dragon]

Raw for the new episode is out. Really wish I knew what people were saying (the confrontation between the Proff and Alain looked interesting) but the battle was pretty sweet. Alain is WAY stronger than most the people competing.

 

Also, figured out what the league is going so fast, only 64 people made it

 

Thats only 6 rounds. I think thats a bit shorter than leagues normally go.

[Astro Dude]

And what was the deal with Furfrou Mohawk guy?

[Flame Dragon]

And what was the deal with Furfrou Mohawk guy?

If I were to guess he was salty Ash got in and he didn't.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Apparently he didn't have all 8 badges and wanted to fight, but yeah that little battle almost caused Ash to forfeit his preliminary round. 

 

Ah yes, and Alain wiped Trevor 3-0 as I predicted; recall that I said that the odds are stacked against Trevor and his chances of winning are slim. Needless to say he was disappointed. (Well, Alain is a really good Trainer and Trevor simply wasn't up for it).

 

Wish they showed more of Ash's preliminary battle; it was rushed to be honest (although factor in the little side fight). Going to assume Ash wiped his opponent 3-0 with Greninja. 

 

---

Like I've mentioned before, how/when did Trevor and Shota get Mega Stones? Probably sometime between the last time they were seen and now, but some backstory on that might be nice.

[Flame Dragon]

I'm fine with them not showing the Ash battles. We already know he is going to do well and getting some stuff from the side characters, especially since they are fighting Ash's main rivals, is welcome. Don't mind not saying where the Mega Evos came from either. It would be interesting to know where they came from, but it isn't important.

[~British Soul~]

I'm also fine with them not focusing on the Ash battles much as well, better to have focus on the other relevant characters as they don't get as much screentime.

 

Also XYZ-029 subs (the gym battle) are out.

[Flame Dragon]

And back up to date with the subs (decided to wait for the 3 episodes to be out before I caught back up).

 

Yea, looks like Ash lost his battle because he was trying to muscle it, which really isn't something he normally does. He lost his cool and it cost him.

 

Episode 28 is just as good. It really does take things slow and is a pretty quiet episode which it needed to be. I feel bad for Serena since she was trying so hard to help, and Ash was such an ass. Still, it got through to him and him coming out of his funk works.

 

The rematch was good. Still don't fully get why he switched up his team order, but I guess he wanted to keep Ash guessing or something.

 

 

I will say that the one down side of Ash-Gren is that it kind of has taken the spotlight from all his other Pokemon. Hopefully his other Pokemon will get some love still during the league.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

They have XYZ30 (or XY123) subbed now, so can watch it. Basically the one where Ash visits Goodra.

 

But yeah, Ash lost his battle because he wasn't thinking straight; least it got fixed the first time, but still wondering why Wulfric didn't use Abomasnow first to set up weather, then have Avalugg heal its HP every turn. I guess they wanted to throw in his Mega Evolution and all [suppose he wouldn't have another one that he could've sent out to make the field Hail though]. Or really, Avalugg/Bergmite could have learned Hail themselves. 

 

----

Just need that filler episode subbed now, and then this week's one. 

[~British Soul~]

but still wondering why Wulfric didn't use Abomasnow first to set up weather, then have Avalugg heal its HP every turn. I guess they wanted to throw in his Mega Evolution and all [suppose he wouldn't have another one that he could've sent out to make the field Hail though]. Or really, Avalugg/Bergmite could have learned Hail themselves.

I think Wulfric wanted to change up his strategy for the rematch.

As for the subs, nice to see them catch up and as there's no episode next week because of the movie, the gap between RAW and Subbed will remain at 2 or even be reduced to 1 before the next episode comes out.

(Having said that, I couldn't care less for the subs of the next episode, as it's filler)

 

[spoiler=Thoughts on XY126]

Not surprised Goodra returned for the full battles. I mean we all expected this quite frankly.

Also not surprised Alain will be facing Remo in the semis.

Nice to see Hawlucha get redemption by beating Absol after it was defeated by the latter in the Diancie movie.

 

 

[Astro Dude]

Now we have to wait 2 weeks. I guess that's nice.

[~British Soul~]

On another note, we now know Shota's 6th party member; Slaking 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

[spoiler=126 stuff]

• Yup, Hawlucha beat Mega Absol after what happened in movie 17. Then again, does Ash even remember that it happened?
• Alain gets a rematch against Remo/Louie; I expect Alain to win again as Remo is just filler who appeared in Mega Evolution as a punching bag.
• At least Tierno did better than Trevor did, but maybe because he didn't have to contend with a powerful Mega the first time. 
• Goodra rejoins Ash; well, there's really no way to get one from Kanto. Then again, is Ash actually going to keep it for the remainder of series, or it goes back to Route 14 afterwards?
• Three of the semi-finalists are Mega Evolution users (barring Ash, but I guess you can call Ash-Greninja a pseudo-Mega if you want).

 

 

[Flame Dragon]

One of the things that surprised me about the episode was that top 8 was only 3 Pokemon. Thats SUPER unusual. Though I guess this league was smaller than most the other.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Yeah probably; usually top 8 go for full battles but they have bigger pools instead of the 64 they have for Kalos this time around. If they had more time to run X/Y, maybe they could have more matches and stuff. 

[~British Soul~]

New title;

Episode 932: Fierce Fighting at the Kalos League! Gather, All of My Passion!! (August 4th)

[Astro Dude]

Description for this episode please? Also what would Bonnie's Marriage nightmare be like in English? For Americans, find out tomorrow in:

[spoiler next episode]

A Keeper for Keeps?

 

 

 

On the Japanese note, this is the final battle, Ash vs. Alain. Who would win?

[~British Soul~]

On another note, one of my friends told me an interesting tidbit about the last episode. Turns out the announcer at the feast was the same announcer from the Princess Festival WAY back in Season 1 (EP052).

 

Also

[spoiler=Further thoughts on XY126]

- There was a wide variety of BG music used in this episode;

Ash vs Astrid; Sinnoh gym leader battle music

As Tierno vs Shota was about to begin; Unova league BG music

When Goodra returned; BG music originating from season 1.

- Shota definitely picked the perfect opportunity to mega evolve Sceptile; just as Raichu was about to use Thunderbolt

- Although Tierno certainly is not the sharpest tool in the shed; using Solarbeam when it's raining. Is he not aware that it only does half damage in rain, I mean it's no wonder Aegislash was able to break through it like it was nothing.

 

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

[spoiler=Response]

As far as game mechanics go, yeah it won't work too well outside of sun and no weather, but I would guess the weather mechanics and stuff don't really care. Or really, Tierno should've used Hydro Pump again, since that would be boosted by rain.

 

Then again, Aegislash was already at +6 due to Swords Dances and unless I heard it wrong, King's Shield lowered Ludicolo's power even though it did not make contact.

 

 

 

As for Ash vs Alain, likely going to be the latter, but I do suspect it'll be a close one.

[~British Soul~]

If I recall, King's Shield lowers a pokemon's physical Attack so it wouldn't really affect Ludicolo much as it's a Special Attacker.