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Post by BettyNewbie on Mar 5, 2017 19:45:17 GMT -5
If you're like me and came of age in the late 90s and early 00s, then you're probably familiar with this franchise. Do I even need to write an introduction? What game did you start with? Did you stop playing after Pokémania ended, or did you continue onto later games? Thoughts on Pokémon GO?
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Post by Squad 51 on Mar 6, 2017 9:51:56 GMT -5
I watched Yu-Gi-Oh! and also Pokemon but never played it. Just a fan of the animes!
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Post by Melinda Halliwell on Mar 6, 2017 14:11:49 GMT -5
I watched the original Pokemon Anime's also and did not play the games.
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Post by adzpower on Mar 6, 2017 16:29:27 GMT -5
Did Pokemania even end? Still going strong from what I can see.
I started back in 2000 with Pokemon Gold, I loved that game so much, I've gotten every game since, its probably my favorite franchise of all time, its just so addictive, I'm 24 now and I still love it just as much as I did when I was 8!
Anime I'm not really a big fan of, mainly because they're really isn't any kind of progression with the characters or story, it exists purely to sell the games. It can be fun at times but boy is it repetitive.
I don't play Pokemon Go because its just a watered down version of the ACTUAL games. Which are so much more fun and detailed.
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Post by BettyNewbie on Mar 6, 2017 20:41:31 GMT -5
Did Pokemania even end? Still going strong from what I can see. The franchise's popularity did take a pretty big dip starting in the late Gen 2/early Gen 3 period (2001-2003). It seemed to begin with the negative reception of the Johto anime (which was criticized for being dull, childish, and loaded with filler), and fans were also starting to hit puberty and become "too old" for Pokémon. The final kicker was when Ruby and Sapphire broke trading compatibility with RBY/GSC, and forced players to abandon old favorites in favor of a bunch of strange new Pokémon (many of which were obvious expies/clones of older Pokémon... case in point). It did recover later on, although it never returned to the same levels of popularity it had circa 1998-2000. (Note that I am speaking from the perspective of someone in the US. It may have been different in the UK where you are, Adam.) Pokémon GO, for what its worth, though, did revive interest in the franchise for a lot of people and even turned out to be a big boost for Sun and Moon's sales, so you never know. I started back in 2000 with Pokemon Gold, I loved that game so much, I've gotten every game since, its probably my favorite franchise of all time, its just so addictive, I'm 24 now and I still love it just as much as I did when I was 8! My first game was Yellow in 1999, and I later got Blue, Gold, and Silver in 2000-2001. (I also had Snap, Hey You Pikachu, and the Stadium games for the N64.) Admittedly, I was one of those people who quit the series in the early-mid 00s because I became "too old" and "too cool" for it, but I later got back into it. Since my cartridges no longer work, I mostly play the games via emulator on my computer nowadays. I don't hate later gens, but RBY/GSC will always be my favorites. Anime I'm not really a big fan of, mainly because they're really isn't any kind of progression with the characters or story, it exists purely to sell the games. It can be fun at times but boy is it repetitive. I have fond memories of the Kanto and Orange Islands seasons, but as I alluded to earlier in the post, Johto mostly sucked. Way too long, boring, and full of filler. Misty and Brock were completely wasted, Ash's team was weak, and interesting plot points like the GS Ball were dropped without fanfare. The League and some of the gym battles were good, and I loved the episodes Lance appeared in, but otherwise, Johto was a waste. Hoenn and onwards barely even registers to me. That was when the anime settled into a strict, repetitive formula and became even more of a blatant marketing tool than it already was. I still laugh at the fact that so many people seriously thought that Ash was going to win the Kalos League, or that Serena was going to continue traveling with him in Alola, even though Status Quo states that Ash must always lose every league and get a hard reset with new friends and new Pokémon with every new region. Oh, and Ash must always be 10 years old, forever and ever. I don't play Pokemon Go because its just a watered down version of the ACTUAL games. Which are so much more fun and detailed. I have little use for mobile games, in general. I like that GO has revived interest in the franchise, though.
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Post by Melinda Halliwell on Mar 8, 2017 3:00:42 GMT -5
Yeah I always wondered why Ash or the other characters never grew up in the anime even though his voice changed.
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Post by adzpower on Mar 15, 2017 9:13:59 GMT -5
I think the Digimon anime is ten times better than the Pokemon one, specifically the third season of the show named "Digimon Tamers", its very dark for a kids show, dealing with death, depression and even philosophy. If Pokemone could get as good as a fraction of that then I would probably watch it. But I'm 24 years old, I started watching Pokemon when I was 8, and Ash was 10, fast-forward to now and I've aged 16 years, and Ash is still 10! Its why I love other animes like Dragon Ball and Naruto so much, I grew up with these characters who also grew up with me if that makes sense. I feel nothing for Ash now.
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Post by BettyNewbie on Mar 15, 2017 16:05:58 GMT -5
I think the Digimon anime is ten times better than the Pokemon one, specifically the third season of the show named "Digimon Tamers", its very dark for a kids show, dealing with death, depression and even philosophy. If Pokemone could get as good as a fraction of that then I would probably watch it. But I'm 24 years old, I started watching Pokemon when I was 8, and Ash was 10, fast-forward to now and I've aged 16 years, and Ash is still 10! Its why I love other animes like Dragon Ball and Naruto so much, I grew up with these characters who also grew up with me if that makes sense. I feel nothing for Ash now. The problem with Pokémon vs Digimon/Dragon Ball/Naruto is that Pokémon's writers work under the assumption that viewers will always grow out of the show after X number of years and be replaced by a new generation of viewers, so Ash always gets a hard reset with each new region and is never allowed to grow and develop as a character. Continuity isn't even allowed to exist, and storytelling suffers big time.
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Post by adzpower on Mar 15, 2017 16:48:20 GMT -5
It really is such a shame, it has so much potential, I wish they'd launch a seperate anime for a more mature audience, I don't know if you've ever read any of the manga, I read a few at the library once and it was a LOT darker than the stuff I expected, featuring Pokemon abuse and more, it just felt more realistic. I remember trying to watch the Black and White anime a few years ago, first episode, Pikachu gets destroyed by a new trainer's starter Pokemon that he just got, um.....WHAT?! Pikachu must be level 5000 at this point! Its inexcusable and just makes Ash look so incompetent.
Something else I noticed, he wants to be a master and "catch em all" but he never catches them all! Each region he leaves with maybe ten caught Pokemon from said region.
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Post by Melinda Halliwell on Mar 15, 2017 23:24:00 GMT -5
Well Pikachu will never evolve because he doesn't want to and is the face of the brand anyway although he is cute though so there you go then but I have always wondered to if he'll ever 'Catch them all' or if that's just a funky rap we'll always know or something.
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Post by BettyNewbie on Mar 16, 2017 1:08:32 GMT -5
It really is such a shame, it has so much potential, I wish they'd launch a seperate anime for a more mature audience, I don't know if you've ever read any of the manga, I read a few at the library once and it was a LOT darker than the stuff I expected, featuring Pokemon abuse and more, it just felt more realistic. I remember trying to watch the Black and White anime a few years ago, first episode, Pikachu gets destroyed by a new trainer's starter Pokemon that he just got, um.....WHAT?! Pikachu must be level 5000 at this point! Its inexcusable and just makes Ash look so incompetent. Something else I noticed, he wants to be a master and "catch em all" but he never catches them all! Each region he leaves with maybe ten caught Pokemon from said region. The Adventures manga (assuming that's what you read) is terrible in its own ways, IMO. It cranks up the violence and gives characters OOC villain characterizations for the sake of being "edgy" and isn't anymore true to the games than the anime. I will never forgive that series for the complete character lobotomy it performed on Lance, one of the kindest and most heroic characters in the games. The BW anime is infamous for being terribad. It started with the total Ass Pull they had to do at the end of DP to make Ash lose the Sinnoh League, and then they pulled a hard reset on him as soon as he arrived in Unova (complete with Pikachu losing to a L5 Snivy). All of the accomplishments and experience he had gained from Kanto to Sinnoh were completely forgotten, and he was right back to being a dumb rookie. And, it only got worse from there.
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Post by adzpower on Mar 16, 2017 5:17:54 GMT -5
Oh goodness I've just remembered the existence of Iris, what a sorry excuse for a travelling companion she was, every 5 minutes, "ew Ash you're such a kid", SHUT UP YOU'RE THE SAME AGE.
Black and White is definitely the low point, I actually think Hoenn and Sinnoh were my favorite Pokemon seasons, I remember really enjoying the contests, it was a nice break from the badge collecting and gave the side characters something to focus on other than just following Ash around. I do miss Brock though, Cilan was basically just a complete copy of him but with green hair, he had a type specialty, he cooked, I dubbed him "Lime Brock" after seeing him in just one episode.
Has anyone seen the advertised 20th anniversery movie coming this year? It looks to be a complete re-telling of the original first season of Pokemon but modernized for today's society. Seems like there is an emphasis on Ho-oh.
Were the adventures manga really that bad? I've seen nothing but positive reviews for them and the few chapters I read seemed ok if nothing special. Didn't see any with Lance though, did they really do a number on him?
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Post by BettyNewbie on Mar 16, 2017 14:24:25 GMT -5
Oh goodness I've just remembered the existence of Iris, what a sorry excuse for a travelling companion she was, every 5 minutes, "ew Ash you're such a kid", SHUT UP YOU'RE THE SAME AGE. Black and White is definitely the low point, I actually think Hoenn and Sinnoh were my favorite Pokemon seasons, I remember really enjoying the contests, it was a nice break from the badge collecting and gave the side characters something to focus on other than just following Ash around. I do miss Brock though, Cilan was basically just a complete copy of him but with green hair, he had a type specialty, he cooked, I dubbed him "Lime Brock" after seeing him in just one episode. The deal with Iris and Cilan was that they were trying to remake the Misty and Brock dynamic for a younger generation, but they were annoying, badly-written, and ultimately came off as nothing more than poor man's versions of the originals. Really, everything about the BW arc was like a poor version of the Kanto arc, even right down to having a poor version of the Orange Islands (Decolore Islands). May and Dawn's contest arcs likely came around as a response to the biggest criticisms of the Johto arc, aka. loads of boring filler and lack of storylines for Misty and Brock. The Hoenn and Sinnoh arcs actually weren't much shorter than Johto, but because they could focus on May and Dawn's contest storylines to pass time between badges, there was a lot less filler. I feel that, out of all of Ash's traveling companions, Misty got screwed over the most. Her goal of becoming a master of Water types was never developed, and her character even regressed in Johto. Then she was sent back to her gym (a place she was unhappy at) without having ever realized her goal, and that was that. She basically ceased to exist in the series after AG, which is both amazing and depressing when you consider how popular and iconic she was in the early years. Has anyone seen the advertised 20th anniversery movie coming this year? It looks to be a complete re-telling of the original first season of Pokemon but modernized for today's society. Seems like there is an emphasis on Ho-oh. It looks promising, so far. I'm hoping it's the start of a series of reboot movies for the Kanto/Orange/Johto seasons (in the vein of the Abrams Trek movies) rather than a one-off thing. Were the adventures manga really that bad? I've seen nothing but positive reviews for them and the few chapters I read seemed ok if nothing special. Didn't see any with Lance though, did they really do a number on him? I should warn that my feelings on Adventures aren't shared by the majority of the fandom. A lot of fans love it and its darker, more action-packed depiction of the Pokémon world. On the other hand, I find its "dark and edgy" tone off-putting and reminiscent of bad fanfics that try too hard to be "mature" and "cool." For me, Pokémon works best when it's fun and has a sense of humor, which are things that a work can have while still being smart and mature. Plus, Adventures' art style really makes me cringe, with everyone having a "big head, bug eyes" look and emo bangs being randomly given to characters whose designs never had them in the games. (Cases in point, Red and Lance.) Everything about Lance's depiction in Adventures pisses me off and perfectly highlights everything I find wrong with the manga. They took this character who has always been depicted as being very selfless and kind-hearted and turned him into a murdering villain, all for the sake of being "edgy." His love for Pokémon and their well-being was turned into a character flaw and comes off as a bad Teabagger strawman of what an environmentalist is (aka. loves animals more than people and wants to murder humanity... the Nazis sitting in the White House right now also happen to share this view of environmentalism). That is not the loving, heroic Dragon Master I first fell in love with years ago, and it angers me that anyone associates that creature from Adventures with the character of Lance. I feel like it has also poisoned the fandom's perception of him, as most people seem to either hate game/anime Lance for not being evil like in Adventures, or they hate all versions of him because of how he is in Adventures and come up with every excuse under the sun to argue why game/anime Lance is secretly evil.
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Post by adzpower on Mar 16, 2017 14:46:17 GMT -5
Its a real shame they butchered Lance like that, I don't know a whole about him, but I remember him helping out in Gold/Silver and doing whatever he could to help the endangered Pokemon that Team Rocket had enslaved.
Look and learn Iris, LANCE is an ACTUAL dragon master. Certainly not a "kid". Eurgh, I hate her.
Do you have a favorite Pokemon type Betty? Mine is either water or grass, I always tend to gravitate towards them. What's your favorite Pokemon? I have two, Pancham and Vaporeon, my brother bought me plushies of them for Christmas, I also love Bulbasaur, Chikorita and their associated evolutions.
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Post by BettyNewbie on Mar 16, 2017 16:58:09 GMT -5
Its a real shame they butchered Lance like that, I don't know a whole about him, but I remember him helping out in Gold/Silver and doing whatever he could to help the endangered Pokemon that Team Rocket had enslaved. Look and learn Iris, LANCE is an ACTUAL dragon master. Certainly not a "kid". Eurgh, I hate her. Lance's anime portrayal is pretty similar to his game one, although it added an extra element and portrayed him as being a sort-of Pokémon Ranger/vigilante who helped endangered Pokémon for a living. Anime Lance is underrated and deserves more attention, IMO. The fandom complains about anime Lance being "too nice" (And, that's supposed to be a bad thing?) even though that is exactly how he's supposed to be in the games. It's the Adventures portrayal that's wrong, not the anime one. If only we could've seen Lance school Iris' ass, but sadly, the show completely forgot about his existence after AG. His last appearance was way back in the infamous Groudon vs Kyogre two-parter from 2004, and he hasn't been seen or heard from since then. He was never mentioned once in any of Iris' episodes, even with Clair showing up at the end of BW and Iris going to Blackthorn City in a post-BW special. Rather insultingly, they depicted Iris as idolizing Cynthia (aka. Champion Barbie), even though the two characters have absolutely nothing in common outside of being female Champions in the games. Talk about a wasted opportunity to bring back Lance and (possibly) rectify the negativity the garnered from his ill-fated appearance in Hoenn. Even in the games, he seems to be a rather neglected, ignored character. He's one of the few past Champions who has never appeared outside of their home region besides the (non-canon) PWT in B2W2. He's also the only pre-Gen 5 Champion (besides Wallace, who was only a Champion in a single game) who doesn't have a Nendoroid figure. Also, he's been in twice as many remakes (FRLG and HGSS) as Steven (ORAS), yet Steven got more promotion and attention with his remake than Lance got with both of his combined. And, with Red, Blue, and Barbie's cameos in SM's Battle Tree, Lance is also now the only pre-Gen 5 Champion left who's never appeared in any of the 3DS games. Apparently, GF felt that even the likes of Anabel and Grimsley were worth bringing back more than Lance. Do you have a favorite Pokemon type Betty? Mine is either water or grass, I always tend to gravitate towards them. What's your favorite Pokemon? I have two, Pancham and Vaporeon, my brother bought me plushies of them for Christmas, I also love Bulbasaur, Chikorita and their associated evolutions. I don't have many strong favorites, but I tend to favor Water, Psychic, Dark, and Ghost types. My feelings on Dragon are complicated. I loved the type as it was in the first three Gens, where it seemed to represent a powerful, yet rare and mystical type. Then sometime around Gen 4, GF started slapping the type onto every ugly, overdesigned, overpowered dinosaur brute, and it lost a lot of appeal to me.
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