Tag: Human Characters

Anonymous asks:

They shoulda made Ash win the Sinnoh League! Ash was at his peak, his rivalry with Paul was such a huge part of that series and they had a 3-episode climactic battle and everything. They literally had to bring out a troll character with multiple legendaries out of nowhere just to stop him! They coulda made Ash win and retired him as the protagonist, and started anew for the Unova series (which woulda worked perfectly because the fifth gen was the reboot gen anyways). Do you agree?

Sinnoh is actually the series that I’ve seen the least of, so I don’t know if I can comment on the appropriateness of that moment specifically.  In general, though… I don’t know, people always bring up getting rid of Ash as something that would be great for the anime and revitalise it, but I don’t think I’m convinced.  For one thing, Ash is pretty iconic by this point and I think the fanbase would inevitably be deeply split on any possible replacement.  For another, Ash’s ingrained cluelessness is actually a useful character trait for the lead in a story about exploration and discovery, because the audience can learn with him, so any replacement would need to resemble him in some important ways anyway.  I don’t think Ash is played out; I think the whole premise of the Pokémon anime and its “Pokémon journey” format is played out – so arguably the better solution is to do exactly what Alola is doing and try to abandon that premise.

Anonymous asks:

How do you think Team Aqua/Team Magma, as environmentalists/ecoterrorists, would react to Oreburgh City and its reliance on coal?

Well, are they environmentalists, though?  Team Magma in Omega Ruby seem very much not to be; Maxie is a proponent of human progress at all costs.  I don’t think he would be bothered by it in the slightest, and might even own shares in the bloody coal plant.  Team Aqua is a different story, because they do have a kind of cultish devotion to the primordial purity of nature, but they also have a rather obsessive focus on the ocean, not the land or atmosphere, so while I suspect they’d be bothered by coal plants, it might not be high on their list of priorities.

The Philosophical Sheep asks:

I was kind of disappointed with the plot of Sun and Moon. The whole “Aether is working with Team Skull” twist didn’t feel like something the writers had fully thought through, and thus it raised many more questions than it answered. I would have preferred if instead Team Skull had aided the player, Hau and Gladion when they invaded Aether Paradise, and in doing so learned what true strength meant and also redeemed themselves in the eyes of everyone else.

Mmm.  I thought the whole denouement felt a bit… rushed, I suppose?  Given the opportunity, I might have asked for… well, essentially something like what I tried to do with “Grunt B” in my playthrough write-up, that is, seeing Team Skull member question Guzma’s leadership (and sanity…), ultimately stepping in to help the player save Guzma from himself and taking an active role in the final mission to Ultra Space, perhaps along with members of the Aether Foundation.

Anonymous:

If you were to make a themed team for Cynthia, what would you give her? Feel free to interpret any particular theme you feel is appropriate for her, and you can use Pokémon from any region you want, but you MUST keep her Garchomp.

Ehhhhhhmmmmm.  Cynthia likes mythical things and ancient mysteries and such.  Garchomp probably isn’t a Pokémon I would have chosen for that theme, given the option, but it is a big dragon, and dragons are magic, so close enough.  A lot of her other Pokémon already do have an appropriately mystic feel – Spiritomb, Lucario, Milotic… Roserade doesn’t fit; the Gastrodon she uses on Diamond and Pearl certainly doesn’t fit, though the Togekiss she replaces it with on Platinum is a bit better.  I would in principle want to replace them both with Pokémon that exist in Sinnoh.  I rather like Bronzong, which has the disadvantage of being Lucian’s signature Pokémon in Diamond and Pearl, but is workable if we just switch it out for Gallade on Lucian’s team (which is actually what happens in Platinum).  I’m tempted to go with a second Ghost- or Dark-type for the final slot… maybe Froslass, or Absol.

Anonymous

Now that you’re done with your play through, mind sharing your thoughts and theories on Anabel? I’m not asking for a formal review on her or anything as I know you have a lot of other things planned, but outside of the Epilogue bit you wrote, do you have anything to say on her appearance? Why they chose her, what it all means? It was a really unexpected appearance!

Anabel… I think she’s there at least partly because she isn’t in Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby, and they wanted to do something with her.  She’s sort of the unofficial leader of the Frontier Brains in Emerald, and does seem to have an affinity for legendary Pokémon, using more of them in the Battle Frontier than any of her colleagues except for Brandon.  They might also have felt it was important to include characters from Hoenn who could act as assurance that Mega Evolution isn’t gone for good (Anabel can use Mega Alakazam, Mega Lucario or Mega Latios in the Battle Tree).  She seems like she may be a Psychic-type specialist, so she sort of makes sense for the vaguely X-Files/Men In Black-ish Ultra Beast incursion plotline.  Could also be that the game designers have big plans for her in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

The Philosophical Sheep asks:

When you review the major trainers in gen 7 (a.k.a. the rivals, villains, champion etc.) would you mind talking more about how the pokemon they use “fit” them as a character? My biggest complaint about Cyrus, for instance, was that his ace was a Weavile which didn’t seem to fit him at all. Lysandre, meanwhile, had a Gyarados as his strongest pokemon, which was unexpected given his element but fell in line with his motives quite well. Just something to consider.

Hmm.  Duly noted, and I think there’s a couple of choices of that kind in Sun and Moon that would be worth talking about, when I write those (probably after reviewing the Pokémon, since I’ve been putting that off too long already).

I think there’s sort of an argument for Weavile as Cyrus’ signature Pokémon, in that his type is very appropriate for Cyrus – “dark and cold” basically sums Cyrus up.  But yeah, other than that, I don’t think Weavile was a great choice; Cyrus isn’t a spiteful person or a particularly devious and cunning villain, and those stick out as Weavile’s core characteristics.  Obviously they wanted it to be a Pokémon that was new in generation IV, and I’m not sure what else I would have chosen… maybe Magnezone (for his affinity with machines) or Spiritomb (for his interest in ancient magical powers)…

Anonymous asks:

A post on the internet made me realize that Grant, the Kalos Rock-type Gym Leader, is probably named after Dr. Alan Grant from Jurassic Park, right down to only having dinosaur Pokémon! (not a question, I just thought it was neat, especially since you’ve brought up JP and fossils in Pokémon before)

Well, I think his name is probably more likely to come from granite, actually, though it’s hard to tell because his English name isn’t used for any of the other languages the games are translated into.  But this is certainly a happy coincidence!

LadySeychelles asks:

Hey, what are youre thoughts on the gym leaders? I always have fun thinking what they could do in Pokemon society

Well, there seem to be basically three things Gym Leaders do in a community: they test and certify trainers wanting to challenge the Pokémon League, they provide instruction and a learning environment to junior trainers, and they solve people’s Pokémon-related problems.  Most of them – with some notable exceptions, particularly in Kanto – are pillars of the community, well-known and generally trusted.  The last few generations, particularly V and what I’ve seen so far of VII (if we say that the Captains are basically equivalent to Gym Leaders), have been making a very deliberate effort to show that most Gym Leaders also have “day jobs” in addition to their Pokémon-related responsibilities – Cilan and his brothers run a restaurant, Clay is a mining tycoon, Viola is a photographer, Clemont is an electrical engineer, Ilima is a painter, etc.  So it might well be that, in some regions at least, Gym Leaders actually work as volunteers.  These are people who just care so much about Pokémon training that they will devote a significant portion of their own free time to running what is basically an entire sports facility (or, in Alola, administering trials) so that members of the community can learn more about it.  Which I think is pretty neat.