weedle_mchairybug
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- Seen Aug 29, 2020
It's not really that complicated... retcons happen in comics all the time, but rarely do they impact the current/recent relationship of a character.
So having XY cameos would just link the SM series to the rest of the saga's. (Every single series has had a character return so they where all connected universe wise) Pikachu and Satoshi would just have a brand new origin story. that would also throw a wrench in the alternate universe theory...
The problem with that is that we had no indication that they would outright retcon Ash, Misty, and Brock's friendship, or his rivalry with Gary especially, by treating them as if they never even existed. The fact that they even did that, and in a movie celebrating the 20th anniversary of the series in a manner akin to Dragon Ball: Path to Power, no less, is not exactly the kind of retcon that is likely to occur in comics and are usually a lot more serious and damaging. Usually, with the retcons you allude to, they either are comparatively minor, or otherwise in the case of Frasier are given some justification by indicating that he lied about his father due to a lack of respect for him to justify the change. This is more of a Metal Gear-level retcon, one that is more likely to damage the story overall. Hence, the fact that we need Misty and Brock, not to mention Gary, to not only appear in SM, but also make explicit what occurred in the past episodes and avert Movie 20's insinuation that they barely even existed. Otherwise, even if XY does appear, it's STILL an AU because of the stark differences between M20 (and by extension, SM) and the actual EP001 and Kanto by extension.
The movie's credits basically put all the past companions into the same basket, but the SM ones are consipcuously missing.
I think it's safe to assume that XY is part of the same continuity as the others, but the jury is still out on SM. And it doesn't seem that the writers are interested in any references to the past anymore (silly easter eggs nonwithstanding), so chances are that we'll never know for sure because they just don't care.
Yeah, pretty much (though that being said, that one-shot manga meant to tie in SM to M20 hints that the events of the movie were a flashback Ash and Pikachu had after doing the third trial on Tonno, which if anything makes the Jury even more confused regarding SM's status). I still think it's stupid that the movie writers neglected to give Misty, Brock, and Gary bigger roles, especially when not only would that have worked for actually promoting the 20th anniversary, but more importantly, it also would have cut down on a lot of the speculation on whether SM was meant to be an alternate universe or not.