Top Pokemon series/region

janejane6178 said:

I loved both BW and XY(Z). but the latter was my favourite. I can agree about Clemont, buy Bonnie certainly wasn't a backgroun character. Especially in last season of XY.

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CodeHelmet said:

Black and White tried to do too many things at once. They tried rebooting the series with a rookie caliber Ash and rekindling the Original series Mentor/Tsundere relationship with Iris of all characters while promoting the new Clubsplosion and other in-game Tournaments throughout the series. They botched the rivals and other facets of the series(which I noted in my 2nd ranking) but at least I'll give it credit for trying to stick true to the core of what the anime was about: traveling around doing Gym's and entering the regional league. People hate on it because it went from one of the best series in Sinnoh(Diamond and Pearl) to one that was a shell of its former self(Unova or Black and White). When your predecessor series is so good, I really think people put a ton of expectations on it and well it never lived up to it.

Sun and Moon, on the other hand, changed the formula completely but rather than trying to stick to the game's mantra of trials with Trial Captains, they subbed for that with a Pokemon School. Considering way back in Season 1, Ash was never into School and they further demonstrated that back in Season 11 with the Pokemon Summer Academy in Sinnoh(with Angie). They reused the Academy again in Kalos(although Ash seemed more up to it this time around) but if history has told us anything is that Ash is not fond of school and it certainly doesn't work as the basis of a series where the game's have nothing in common with it(outside of the Grand Trials with the Kahuna's so far).

As for XY/XYZ, Clemont was basically the Sceince nerd who served his purpose as comedy relief and as Ash's 5th Gym Battle(in a way he basically was this series' version of Brock). Was also Bonnie's big brother so he added a needed family component to the group. Bonnie was a far better character than Max(let's agree on just this ok?). She grew from an innocent little girl to one that took on more and more responsibility at such a young age, including caring for Pokemon(one of which was the legendary Zygarde). Her caring nature is ultimately what decided the final battle as her lullaby is what broke Team Flare's Mind Control over the Zygarde she took care of. Everyone makes a big deal over Ash in that final battle but the true MVP is Bonnie.

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Rajas20 said:

Got to mostly agree with Codehelmet on his ratings, especially XYZ. It became my favorite series from the beginning which surprised me greatly as I usually take 10-15 episodes to get into the story and characters. I've seen some saying Serena was annoying to them but I really couldn't relate to that as she was the near perfect companion Ash needed in the series based on his behavior compared to the past series. I fully enjoyed his much added maturity and for once seemed to be the leader of the group. Definitely added years to his character (from 10 to 17 at least for me). I have also never been one to 'ship' characters with Ash but the way Serena was written felt smooth to me and hardly forced. I may not have remembered the past seasons as greatly as I wanted to but his actions towards her seemed way different than his usual behavior. Not sure if age has something to do with it as well but I've greatly grown to appreciate what XYZ was trying to portray maturity wise.

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CodeHelmet said:

Thanks with the vote of confidence but im curious as to which of my rankings/ratings did you view? I did an updated one on page three where I go into a bit more detail and brought in other elements I didn't do in my initial rankings. I gave Black and White an initial boost of support in my first ranking but reconsidered it after looking at other areas of the series. Like with regards to the rivals, they kind of botched it. Trip was trying to be a Paul clone(although who's to say that wasn't a bad thing), Bianca was palpable but Stephan and other Ash rivals were just awful. The worst ones of all were Georgia and Burgandy or the rivals for Iris and Cilan. If Brock and Misty didn't have rivals, why should Iris and Cilan? Completely unnecessary if you ask me.

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Rajas20 said:

That was the post I wanted to quote but couldn't because I recently joined lol. I found your analysis to be mainly spot on with everything especially how I felt in the seasons and what annoyed me as a viewer. It's also why XYZ made top for me. It was so well done and I find it hard to agree with those who say it was poor.

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CodeHelmet said:

Ah well I'm sure I'm not the first one to say this but welcome to the community. I agree that they took a bit more care with XY but if there was one thing I would have loved to see was Serena catching more Pokemon than just the three she had(makes for speculating as to what three Pokemon she will catch to complete her team a never ending debate until they actually answer it with a special or side series). Outside of that and the things I mentioned, there wasn't a whole lot to complain about in XY/XYZ(except maybe Greninja and Goodra I suppose).

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Rajas20 said:

Thanks for that welcome my friend! You were the first one seeing as this is one of the few threads I've commented on. I agree with you there as well, Serena getting more Pokemon would have been nice but I'm still satisfied with her growth as a character in general. I hold hope that Greninja would return one day but not Goodra lol. I'd also love to see a Serena side series as well.

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CodeHelmet said:

If you want more greets and hello's, consider making an Intro thread here. I did and it's how I got acquainted with some of the members here. Might even find mine in there if you're willing to do some digging lol.

In any case I'll be doing another ranking in a couple weeks. Misty and Brock might give brownie points to Kanto to bump it ahead of Hoenn.

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Rajas20 said:

Will check it out! thanks man! I'll be looking out for your new ranking :D

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CodeHelmet said:

If you want more greets and hello's, consider making an Intro thread here. I did and it's how I got acquainted with some of the members here. Might even find mine in there if you're willing to do some digging lol.

In any case I'll be doing another ranking in a couple weeks. Misty and Brock might give brownie points to Kanto to bump it ahead of Hoenn.

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Hikamaru said:

Can't wait for your next rating. Will be interesting to see how Brock and Misty impact on SM's rating but I feel it may not be enough to save it from the bottom of the barrel.

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Hikamaru said:

Can't wait for your next rating. Will be interesting to see how Brock and Misty impact on SM's rating but I feel it may not be enough to save it from the bottom of the barrel.

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janejane6178 said:

Welcome =]
I'm glad to have another XYZ lover in here ( and I LOVE ur pic) <3

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CodeHelmet said:

Sun and Moon likely won't get much of a bump since they're relying on Kanto characters rather than the Alola characters or plot to revive interest in the series. If anything, Brock and Misty will help the Original series due to the Companions longevity(still going strong after all these years). That's why I said brownie points towards Kanto series to bump it ahead of Hoenn(Not much separates the two or even three if you include Unova). Granted if the Alola characters interaction with said Kanto characters brings out something about them that we haven't seen before, then I might give a bump to its Companion score.

Edit: Btw, figure I'd add the rubric I'll use for next ranking:

1) Ash: Is Ash a newb(aka fresh meat), a noob(regressed into his mirror self that is his polar opposite) or a badass(mature experienced trainer who knows what he's doing). Added this due to someone(will not name them) lobbying for this.
2) Ash's Pokemon: How strong is his team, how evolved is it and how do they perform overall.
3) Pokemon Comedy relief. This started in Kanto and has been a fixture of the anime since the beginning. Will rate it on how funny I found each region to be.
4) Companions: Who travels with Ash and how much do they progress in terms of development and towards their goal. Also will grade chemistry.
5) Rivals: Rivals for Ash and main protagonists will be graded.
6) Additional side characters: Every region had side characters that left a notable mark. Example: Duplica in Kanto region or Angie in Sinnoh region.
7) Series OST. This includes opening themes and other scores within the respective series.
8) Team Rocket: Specifically Jesse and James because well they're in all 20 seasons.
9) Antagonist Group: Main antagonist group for the region. With regards to Team Rocket, it's everyone but Jessie and James.
10) Champion/Gym Leaders. How much do they test our main protagonist?

All scores on a scale of 1-10 so yeah, a biggie next time around.

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Rajas20 said:

By quick skimming this, XYZ still stays top tbh, in fact, maybe pushes it further forward lmao.

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CodeHelmet said:

Maybe, maybe not. Sinnoh or Diamond and Pearl was really good and we shall see if the grades come close to what I had last time(they should be identical or very close to last time and considering the top two were separated by a half point eh it could flip(never know)).

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CodeHelmet said:

Thanks with the vote of confidence but im curious as to which of my rankings/ratings did you view? I did an updated one on page three where I go into a bit more detail and brought in other elements I didn't do in my initial rankings. I gave Black and White an initial boost of support in my first ranking but reconsidered it after looking at other areas of the series. Like with regards to the rivals, they kind of botched it. Trip was trying to be a Paul clone(although who's to say that wasn't a bad thing), Bianca was palpable but Stephan and other Ash rivals were just awful. The worst ones of all were Georgia and Burgandy or the rivals for Iris and Cilan. If Brock and Misty didn't have rivals, why should Iris and Cilan? Completely unnecessary if you ask me.

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Piii said:

Ash and Paul rivarly was fairly decent, but Infernape did took away a lot of srceen time that other Pokemon could have gotten, instead it was way too overrush and was used to many times in Gyms that other Pokemon could have battle in.

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Frozocrone said:

It all comes to fruition at the league with Infernape. Yeah, Infernape hogged a lot of the gyms and battle (a negative point of DP) but it's storyline epitomises the rivalry between Ash and Paul. One valued brute strength above all else and couldn't harness Chimchar's power. The other valued bonds and believing every Pokemon had potential. This is evident when Chimchar wouldn't evolve under Paul and yet under Ash it evolve not only twice but also manages to control its Blaze. Infernape defeating Electivire symbolises two things, first that Paul acknowledges that Ash's methods are just as legit as his (they just take more time than Pauls, but Paul immediately tries them by thanking Electivire) and second, that Ash proved to himself that he was a good trainer despite his doubts about himself.

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