Next week's battle is looking very intense🤓

And as always I am rooting for BEST GIRL IRIS 💜

The animated Pokedoko trailer. Tbh, not a fan of most of the match-ups we got besides Iris vs. Cynthia since they have history. 😅 That said, I would have liked Iris vs. Lance too since they're both Dragon Masters. Steven and Diantha would be cool, kinda wanted to see that since XY, or even Cynthia vs. Diantha, and just throw Steven at Leon because someone has to go. (Though Cynthia vs. Leon would be absolutely nuts, she's the 2nd biggest threat this tournament. Taking her out in the first round would suck.)

I would have also loved a Ash vs Alain rematch. Like, he's the only one of Ash's true rivals to remain undefeated by Ash. Plus, it would have given us some proper closure between them after Kalos.

I'm pretty optimistic the battles will be good tho. It's also cool that Ash will be facing down Cynthia in the 2nd round (I don't think they'll go for another Ash vs. Iris, plus given Cynthia's reputation and popularity, the fanbase would probably riot 😅)

Bonus, a new screenshot of Alain. I hope he sticks around for a bit after Leon kicks his butt. I'd love for him to get some interaction with Ash:

“megazardx2: The salt whirlwind after he lost to Leon, of course. After that, I just watched all of Ash’s Masters 8 battles and nothing else. Haven’t watched the other stuff after that yet, and I might not for a good while yet.“

Well the good news is, having watched all of it but the Alain match and the finals match, you didn’t miss much.  Diantha vs Lance rules, but Diantha gets unceremoniously blasted off-screen for literally no reason, and Cynthia vs Iris is like...fine I guess.  I personally think the conclusion of it is stupid, kinda removes the concept of Iris as anything close to connected to Ash’s story, but Cynthia’s fight with Ash is pretty fun if you ignore the part where they made her Volkner.

Also I’m kinda surprised that people got salty over Leon stomping Alain, considering.  I would’ve expected that to be cathartic after the fury of his victory.  To say nothing of the new antagonist beating the old one easily is an ancient trope to establish threat level early.  That outcome was determined the instant they showed the bracket.  It’s one of the few outcomes I agreed with.

Pokemon Journeys Episode 116

This was an extremely enjoyable episode in my opinion. Right off the bat I really enjoyed the fact that this episode was really allowed to just focus on the battle. I talked a bit about this in my last episode review but I think it's good that so far the rest of the maters 8 matches seem to have whole episodes dedicated to them. Lance and Diantha's respective speech was a huge personal highlight for me. It was really nice to just see them talk about their pride of being champions and realizing the weight on their shoulder being representatives of different regions (and in Lance's case, two). Another part about their speeches that I loved: the cameos! We knew from a few weeks back that there would be some surprising guests watching the masters 8 matches. I did not expect to see Ritchie, Jimmy, Vincent, and Marina watching the match but it was a touching nod to the OS series. As someone who started watching the anime as a kindergartener back in 1999 these are some are the characters that I remember seeing and making me fall in love with the franchise (although admittedly even as a kid the Ritchie vs Ash league battle kind of annoyed me). So seeing them watching Lance's battle was a nice touch. Of course, it was also nice to see Shauna, Tierno, Sawyer, and Trevor watching it for Diantha but I definitely expected to see them as cameos. And then of course there was the slow realization from both Goh and Hop that Ash knows the entire masters 8. I love how despite all of his achievements and connections, Ash manages to stay rather humble about and not namedrop all of the powerful people he knows. Now onto the battle. I personally am glad that Diantha won this. It was nice to see the series put some respect on the Kalos' champion's name. She gets a lot of flak from the fans, especially her game counterpart. Admittedly yes, I'm pretty harsh on her as well at least for my Cactusverse AU. That being said, after doing a Y replay to simulate how my Kalos champion OC would fare in the region, Diantha can be a lot tougher than many fans give her credit for. With a water-monotype team and EXP share turned off the battle was more evenly matched and not as one-sided when I first played Y back in undergrad. So with that, it was very nice to see a close battle between her and Lance. I know there have been a few complaints that Lance used too much brute force but personally, I didn't see that as too much of a problem. Lance often uses more outright offensive moves in his game appearance (there are some status moves too) so I think it lined up well. Diantha's Pokemon tend to use more status moves in the games (both her champion's matches and at the Battle Chateau) so seeing her in an all-out battle using more defensive methods made sense. I also really enjoyed the mega vs Dynamax battle. Admittedly I would've liked to have seen that in the Leon vs Alain battle, but seeing it here is also a good choice because between two separate battles it shows that both gimmicks are equal in strength. I'm glad Diantha got her flowers in this battle and seeing Steven and Leon being so impressed by her was really touching. It was really symbolic given that Steven has been seen interacting with Diantha in XYZ and with Leon being her next opponent. I can't talk about this episode without speaking about Team Rocket. Admittedly I'm not their hugest fans, but it was really entertaining to see Jessie be kind of "meh" about Diantha until she showed a Gourgeist. I know a lot of people in the fandom sometimes like to say Jessie doesn't care for her Pokemon but I feel like this episode alone should put those thoughts to rest. Also, it was hilarious seeing her tell Diantha in the post-match interview to finish with Gourgeist the next time. We'll see if that happens in the Leon vs Diantha match. Finally, I really enjoyed the ending where we get to see Ash greet both Iris before her battle with Cynthia and Lance after his defeat. It was nice to see Lance tell Ash good luck and Iris being just so pumped to face Cynthia, especially after that battle they had all the way back in BW. All in all, it was a good episode in my book

With the 20 year timeskip can you imagine 45 year old Steven?! He's gone from pretty rich boy to middle-aged Hiker with a Geodude you meet on the mountain routes, Steven with a beard sounds so cursed I want to cry. We're finding out tomorrow if Ash curb stomps him in battle, rip both Lance and Steven are out of the game, too bad 😩 He put up a decent fight against Diantha, but my god were they both so dramatic about it in their pre-battle monologue, and then Lance went and pitted a water type

(+) against a grass type, and THEN he went and put up a Hail weather effect on the field!! Huh?! I was right about one match up being Dragonite vs the Ice/Fairy Dragon-Killer but he won that one surprisingly, and Ash was "he's waiting for Dynamax to wear off before attacking" WHY??!! And in typical Lance fashion, he uses Hyperbeam, Dragonite can't go for another turn and gets Moonblasted in the face, also something about seeing anime Lance in action has me watching like 😮🥺 (+) he's so different from all the other versions, I usually think of the Origins/Generations version, and then this one throws me for a loop like?? You're weirdly nice??? Lmao. And the ending got me like 0_0 Ash runs up to him as he's walking solemnly in the hallway, looks up and says "my battles end here" a weird expression that's sad but smiling that I'm struggling to read, it's all in the furrow of the eyebrows, "hang in there" and the way Ash watches after him looking 😯😧 WOW OK OKAY (+) I have to admit, I was completely wrong about Iris's match now while I wasn't expecting her to win, I wasn't expecting her loss to be SO EMOTIONAL?!?! It made ME sad, she was crying so hard but then she said she felt better after a good cry session and her friends are there and they're all smiling sadly but they're still proud and AGH STOP JUST STOP MY BABIES 😭 I'm also trying to look into this wild thing I heard that the anime producers wrote Steven and Wallace as divorced exes?!?! (+) It sounds so funny, I cannot even imagine what went on between those two. PokeAni really saw them and went "what if we wrote them like an old married couple with relationship issues" ALL I KNOW IS THAT WALLACE WAS SALTY OVER ASH REMEMBERING STEVEN'S NAME BUT NOT HIS where are people seeing this, am I watching the wrong episodes lol?

Imagine instead of him turning out to be the average hiker on the mountains, Steven doesn't look like he aged a day while everyone around him are showing visible signs of aging XD

His hair being gray already means it doesn't change colour and the most he gets are smile and laughter wrinkles.

I hope Steven gets a chance to put up a decent fight before he loses because Ash is the main character T-T It's so bad because it feels like I can't enjoy news about Ash succeeding because my mind goes, "it's only because he's the main character that he won, not because he's actually at their level" even if that's not true (though I do kind of roll my eyes that a 10 year old (and yes that includes Iris) could be better than those who have years of experience on him. I'm able to overlook it in games because that's just a self-insert but it's not something I can take very seriously in the anime XD

I can't believe that Lance shot himself in the foot in his own fights by the sound of it. Honestly he deserves to lose :p

And lol, I've never actually shipped Steven and Wallace but I can see why the PokeAni would write them like they're an old married couple XD

I caught up on the Ash vs. Cynthia fight and folks, I am choosing violence.

My stance on the anime has overall been really negative this tournament run.  Barring Diantha vs. Lance, nothing has been particularly exciting to me.  I can live with the Alain vs. Leon outcome, and the Ash vs. Steven outcome, I just feel like they could’ve done a bit more to make the match feel like it mattered.  I’m still not over Diantha vs. Leon, and doubtless, never will be.  But barring how hard they disrespected Diantha...this is the most bothered I’ve been.  This is worse than how sidelined Iris was.

It’s not because Cynthia lost.  I feel like I need to preface that.  Cynthia was always going to lose, no one should be surprised.  It’s not even strictly how she lost.  Ash still fights like a cheating anime protagonist (what the fuck is “Use Breaking Swipe on the shield to remove Stealth Rock supposed to be?), but most situations could’ve been handled equivalently without it, they just did it for dramatic effect (just have Pikachu tech in Electric Terrain this fight for Hypnosis immunity and it checks out, Breaking Swipe on Garchomp would’ve dealt damage that cancels out what Lucario would’ve taken from Rocks and the same outcome occurs anyway, etc).  It’s a mild inconvenience at worst.  In fact, I’m willing to say that on the whole the fight itself is really solid.  Part 1 is fantastic for ramping up the tension by taking Pikachu out early, the reveal of Dynamax Togekiss was amazing and that little blob actually did fantastic.  Even smaller bits like surprise, Roserade has Natural Cure, Gengar effectively accomplished nothing, is great.  It’s a little dumb that Cynthia apparently didn’t bring a Ground-type attack on Garchomp, but small potatoes in the grand scheme of an otherwise good fight.

No, what bothers me is what they did with Cynthia herself.

“By the way, win or lose, I’m retiring after this.”  That had people pretty mad, but personally, I was all for it.  Cynthia’s always had her fixation on her research and travels, and I had assumed this was leading into Black and White timeline stuff, where she’s going off to visit Caitlin’s villas around the world in her research, and is participating here just to show off that she’s the best, and retire on top.  Which is cool and interesting and works for her character.  But that’s not what happens.  No, instead, we get some nonsense in part three as she gets really into the tension of the fight with Ash, and decides that no, actually she’s not retiring, how could she ever give up something as fun as battling?

Fuck.  You.

That is stupid.  That is bottom of the barrel bullshit stupid.  You’re telling me the whole retirement thing was just so arrogant ploy of “Oh, I am simply just so bored of always winning.”  Fuck off.  That is the least compelling reason for anyone to do anything.  Especially for someone in her position.  You’re not even #1, Cynthia, what the fuck do you mean you’re bored?  All this motivation serves to do is make you intolerably arrogant for no reason.  To say absolutely nothing of the sheer disrespect it paints toward Iris.  Iris also had you down to your last Pokemon and was battling pretty well, but apparently absolutely nothing in that counted for anything?  Nothing Iris accomplished made you feel excited about battling, or like there was something worth doing in the fight?  Are you goddamned kidding me?  Fuck Iris I guess, not even good enough to register.  Oh but Ash is though.  I guess if you wanted to showcase a divide in his skill compared to Iris, there you go.  Just grind the poor girl further in the dirt, why don’t you?  But at the top of this list of bullshit, there is the most frustrating aspect of this whole situation.

THAT’S JUST VOLKNER

Apparently the anime’s grand plan of action with Cynthia was to whole-hog rip off Volkner’s entire personality.  I’ve been on record saying I can’t stand Volkner, and it’s because of this exact thing.  Dude, you’re a Gym Leader in a region with a proper Elite Four.  There are five people at minimum who are better than you in the region, and you’re bored of battling because no one’s challenging enough for you?  Sounds like a you problem.  Like maybe you’re avoiding facing off against opponents that obviously exist and can challenge you, and then complaining when there’s not enough challenge.  It’s intolerably arrogant, self-important, and stupid.  And despite having plenty to draw from on the topic of a regional champion, this is all they could think to do for her.  Copy the worst personality trait of a gym leader from her own region.

I legitimately don’t know what I expect anymore.  I got two parts of really fun engagement with the battle, before the anime decided to remind me it can’t do anything right with its characters.  I’m just blown away at how little everyone matters.  Lance and Steven get swept aside and effectively do nothing.  Iris gets a little but is unceremoniously pushed aside, her entire association with Ash as a former travel companion and rival just rendered meaningless.  Diantha gets a really cool debut fight, only to be obliterated off-screen and pushed aside for Leon, who has been given exactly 0 personality thus far.  And now Cynthia just gets her entire personality obliterated and replaced with Volkner.  What an absolute shitshow.  In for a penny and all that, I’ll get to Ash vs. Leon eventually, but boy I am not expecting anything beyond the battle anymore.

While I am still incredibly salty about how hard they disrespected my girl Diantha last week, I will admit Ash vs Cynthia part 1 is pretty sick.

Spiritomb rules, and man I just really wish that was one of Cynthia’s Pokemon in Masters now.  Definitely not happening for Halloween, but like...I want this.  I want this a lot.

But man, that thing was great.  Effectively, it’s the reason three of Ash’s Pokemon are down.  Which is really funny when you think about it.  Sucker Punch was already solid, but the Hypnosis/Dream Eater combo is, I feel, underrated.  Not in actual competitive.  There it’s bad.  But I’ve used it in main game runs, and I love that combo so much.  And it’s such a cool, tactical approach for a slow, bulky Pokemon.  I kinda wish it was how her Spiritomb played in the main games.  Maybe then she wouldn’t be so weak to setup sweepers.  Anyway, Spiritomb was really cool, and I’ll come back to it for the last knockout.

Roserade didn’t do too much and I’m a little disappointed.  It mostly showed up to be at a type disadvantage against Gengar, and get burned.  But hey, maybe later it’ll be cool.

Togekiss was fun, and I’m a fan of them actually wrapping in abilities here.

Gastrodon...man, I’m sorry, I was hoping she went full Platinum mode on him, but now Lucario or Milotic are out.  No way does she ditch Garchomp, so it would have to be one of those two missing.  I kinda hope it’s Lucario.  Both because I love Milotic, and because Lucario was given to her in Masters as a combo, and I sincerely believe the funniest outcome is Masters trying so hard to tie in to the anime, only for Cynthia to not even use the Pokemon she partnered with.  Peak comedy right there.

Anyway, I’m gonna salt a bit, sorry to those who dislike this: I feel like this particular method of knockout from Pikachu is the exact kinda nonsense I never liked.  You know, aim for the horn and all that.  It functions, but it also just feels really weird to me when it’s like...not even really a move?  Like Iron Tail just smacked some rocks at it and that accrued enough damage that a resisted attack net the KO?  Okay.  It’s the same thing against Spiritomb; why not just call it Electric Terrain, at least then the reason for not going to sleep is like...coherent, instead of “Electricity just blocked it.”  But I guess I’ve let other stupid things go, like Haxorus’ Psycho Cut being able to cut the sound waves of Disarming Voice.  At a certain point, I am, perhaps, just being nitpicky.

Regardless, this is where I turned around on it: Spiritomb’s last move is Destiny Bond, and it takes out Pikachu.  Ash is down 4-3, and just lost his ace, while Cynthia’s still got hers in the wings.  That rules.  That’s fantastic tension.  I am interested to see how he pulls this one off.  If I’m remembering right, the rest of his team is Sirfetch’d, Lucario, and...I can’t remember its name.  Fisheous Rend.  That one.  Anyway, that should mean Mega Lucario is the finale, which means type disadvantage against her Garchomp.  Be interesting to see how that one plays out.

In any case, I’m really enjoying this one.  Cynthia’s got that tactical approach on par with how Diantha vs. Lance went, and that has me all sorts of excited.  I know full well she can’t win, but I am invested in the how of this match, and that’s what matters in this situation.  There is a level of tension and drama that I am here for.

I just...really wish I knew what Cynthia’s end goal was.  She’s apparently retiring after this tournament no matter what.  Which, good for her, I imagine she plans to Emerald Steven it and just follow her interests knowing she’s secretly the toughest in the region.  But I don’t really know enough about Anime Cynthia to know if her goals are just to be the best before stepping down, or if there’s a bit more to it.  Like okay, obviously, everyone here has the primary motivation of being the best.  But part of my rooting for Iris in the quarter-finals was because she had the added motivations of keeping up with her old travel companion Ash, and proving how far she’s come to someone who helped train her in Cynthia.  I feel like the more satisfying character arc was for Iris to win there, showing how good she is by taking out the former second strongest, and then naturally having to lose to Ash, but proving she’d kept up.  I don’t feel like there’s anything like that for the other contestants, but maybe I needed to keep up longer than the current arc to know what that is.  Or you know.  Watch the part of last episode that wasn’t Diantha getting unceremoniously curbstomped.  Stiiiill bitter.