#it still baffles me he didnt battle lance despite the fact i enjoy steven as a character and battler much more

[love-is-a-pearl]

I kind of see what you mean regarding the Masters 8. Instead of it being a finalist tournament with more matchups, you wanted a one on one race to the top? But it’d be hard to imagine the Champions just sitting there and not battling each other, also wanting to climb the ladder, unless if their positions were fixed from last years tournament and Ash, would be the “only” challenger, probably beating Iris and Alain since they’re new, and then beating the champions in reverse rank order until Leon? I struggle to see his Cyndaquil and Oshawott beating out whole dragons tho. How do you feel about the match ups chosen in JN? They’re so funny. We thought Alain VS Ash would get a turnaround but he got cooked to show how unbeatable Leon is. Lance got the short end of the stick VS Diantha. Steven was perfect defeat fodder to them. Then Cynthia, who Ash knew the most and is 2nd strongest. Cynthia VS Iris was just bullying at this rate lol, and mandatory girl VS girl fight. I think I’d change it to be Alain VS Ash. Iris VS Lance. Steven VS Diantha. (Old rivals, Dragon masters, Kalos team) but Cynthia’s fans would be SO mad if she lost to Leon. Unless if I kick Leon out and add another person and winning the M8 gives you the right to face him. He doesn’t get to join otherwise.

i mean, isnt that sorta what the other challengers where doing? battling whoever that got close to their rank to try and keep their place?

Also, cmon, by that time the staff was already commited to taking Ash off the anime. Between seeing champions battle eachother and the boy we've been with for 20+ years battling people he met in that never ending journey, which one is more interesting for anime viewers?

And honestly I wouldn't care how forced the wins would be LMAO i would be more than happy to see Oshawott taking down Iris' Haxorus :v (but also, many of those "weaker" pokemon could evolve here too. And we know how evolution is a game changer in battles remember cameron's lucario? of course you do!)

But all in all I get why they didn't go with it. Most of the battles would be 1 episode long, perhaps not even full 6v6 and I'm sure some of Ash's older mons were voiced by Oak's deceased VA so I get it.

But still.. it was Ash's last moments... I would totally prefer that and sacrifice the 11 mezamas episodes for it.. It would've been so so cathartic, to see how far he had come, to see him use all his pokemon one last time, and to give every fan closure, despite whatever their favorite season was.

With all that said, the final bracket we got is exactly what I wanted LMAO

I was never into the Alain rematch bandwagon (i dont care for his "rivalry" with Ash much sorry); Iris already had a match with Ash in the middle of Journeys so they would never battle here again; Cynthia was TOTALLY gonna be the "final challenge" before Leon (rightfully so) and between the remaining ones Steven is by far the most interesting for me.

But honestly I expected the writers to have Ash vs Lance instead of Ash vs Steven (the Kanto boy vs the Kanto champion, poetic and all despite the fact I find Lance OH SO boring) so because of that I was expecting Iris vs Alain (so she could kick his butt beautifully) and Steven vs Cynthia (Sinnoh over Hoenn 5ever dont at me) and maybe let Lance win against Diantha (RIP queen) and then we could have Leon vs Iris in the second round and continue as usual.