#pokemon masters eight tournament

[casebasket]

ash battling with leon is like ash battling himself but using his bestie goh's pokes

[thena0315]

Master Eight Arc may have been done poorly, but at least it had the biggest all-star crossover in the series

[themattress]

The Dragon Master and the Dragon Buster

Looking back on Best Wishes lately and just felt the urge to sing the praises of the rivalry between Iris and Georgia/Langley, because it does exactly what a good rivalry should do: develop both characters and push them further in their goals. They actually help each other.

Georgia first helps Iris when she shows up and provides her with an annoying opponent she really wants to defeat, only to fail due to Excadrill not listening to her, which is the push she needed to stop beating around the bush and directly delve into what Excadrill’s problem is.

Once Iris and Excadrill have sorted out their issues, Iris ends up helping Georgia by drawing with her in their rematch. Despite Georgia having told Iris to “be a bit stronger the next time we meet”, Georgia is so egotistical that she didn’t actually consider “a bit stronger” actually affecting the outcome of their rematch.  While she remains arrogant, she’s never this stupidly arrogant afterward, not taking it as a given that she’ll win and fighting more strategically. 

After Iris wins the Don Battle, Georgia stops seeing her as just some upstart in over her head and begins to treat her like a legitimate rival, showing her some respect and telling her that she wants her to become a Dragon Master because defeating her would be worth more then.

After Georgia displays in the Donamite that she can indeed “bust dragons” and has skill to back up her endless boasting, Iris begins taking her more seriously as a rival, motivated to defeat her for the sake of the challenge rather than just because she gets on her nerves.

Teaming up with Georgia’s Vanilluxe is what helps Iris overcome her fear of Ice-type Pokemon, which existed because she was so empathetic and in tune with Dragon-types and is now resolved as she extends her empathy toward Vanilluxe in spite of it being an Ice-type and one of her rival’s Pokemon, which is a great display of Best Wishes’ core theme as well.

Georgia is also helped by this event, as she had been seeking to somehow change her Vanilluxe’s friendly-toward-Dragon-types personality only to see that even with a Dragon trainer teamed with it, its power was brought out in full, and on top of that Iris thanking her (using Vanilluxe as a proxy) makes her reconsider how she views Dragon-types and trainers. Maybe she also realizes she’s falling in love with Iris, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if so.

In the Junior Cup, Iris defeats Georgia in the first round...but through none of her own efforts, as her freshly caught Dragonite insists on fighting battles his way without any input from her. As far as he’s concerned, she’s a glorified Taxi service to take him to strong opponents. Georgia calls Iris out on how unbecoming of a Dragon Master this is, and Iris really takes these words to heart and tries to fix this in the next rounds, but to no avail...yet, anyway.

At the tournament’s end, we see that Georgia was also helped by the battle, since it made her realize that for all her efforts at making Beartic into a physical powerhouse, it didn’t mean much if its defenses were low while another Pokemon like Dragonite’s were high. As such, she playfully notes that she’s going to “start powering up from scratch”, just as she should.

Executive interference with the show’s final year sadly meant we were robbed of Georgia’s send-off episode, which I personally think would have revealed her to have a Dragon-type on her team now. Using a Dragon to bust Dragons; it just feels like the natural endpoint to her development and experiences with Iris. Thankfully, Journeys was able to save things, as it showed that Iris became both Opelucid Gym Leader and the Champion of the Unova League. And when she makes it to the Masters Eight and faces Cynthia, we see Georgia front and center at the Battle Club where the battle is being broadcast, and her face just says it all.

She’s so proud of Iris, proud that she gets to have someone like this as her rival, to have bragging rights that this girl was helped along on her path to greatness by her, and to be perpetually motivated to keep growing stronger in the hopes of someday defeating her...an achievement that would now be an even more satisfying one than it had ever been before.

Best Wishes’ Best Rivals, definitely. 

[kooldewd123]

Okay, I wanna talk about the Pokemon anime for a second, because the way they've been treating the dub has been increasingly ridiculous and I need a place to vent about this and maybe try to spread awareness?

Long post, kinda rambly, sorry.

So I think most Pokemon fans are at least tangentially aware of some of the dub's problems. I know it definitely got some attention back when XY blew up and started getting attention outside of the usual anipoke sphere. You probably expect me to start talking about the soundtrack replacement here, but the much bigger issue at the moment is actually the release delay. Generally speaking, the English dub tends to release about 3-4 months behind the original Japanese release (XY actually had a good streak with only a 2-month gap up until the start of XYZ). It's not good, especially considering the standard set by Funimation for other popular weekly anime dubs, but at least it's consistent and we learned to just live with it. The Japanese episodes would release, the English side of the company would pretend they didn't exist, and English-speaking viewers either had to seek out fansubs or dodge spoilers for a couple of months. However, this situation has gotten much, much worse as of late.

The latest series, Pokemon Journeys (JN for short), aired its dub on Netflix. Netflix of course did its usual thing and released the series in batches every few months for people to binge. This is a problem for two reasons: First, JN just isn't a particularly bingable show. Due to the timeslot it originally aired in in Japan, the show is more episodic than any that came before, even the famously "slice-of-life" Sun & Moon. It works well in bit-sized morsels every week, but there's not usually enough connective tissue to feel satisfied consuming it all at once. Secondly, it destroyed the consistency I mentioned before. Instead of getting a new episode every week, we would get 12 episodes every few months, purely at the whim of whenever the hell Netflix decided to release them. It started out fine-ish, with about three month windows between releases to match the three months' worth of episodes each batch contained, but as the series went on, we started to see windows of four or five months between releases, inflating the dub delay problem to ridiculous levels. Today, June 23, the penultimate batch of episodes released, containing the grand finale of the Masters Tournament, where Ash defeated Leon to win the World Coronation Series. If you read that sentence and thought "huh, didn't that happen a while ago?" you would be correct. It aired in Japan all the way back in November, eight months ago. The first episode of the batch, Ash vs. Steven, is nearly an entire year old, first airing in July.

"Well," you might be thinking, "you said earlier that the English side of the company doesn't acknowledge the Japanese episode releases. If someone managed to completely avoid any news about the Japanese episodes, it's not as if they would get spoiled by the official English Twitter account, right?"

Right?

Note the timestamp there (I'm in EST). Not only did they release this Tweet on the same day the finals aired, they did it as soon as the episode finished. Even for the people who followed the Japanese releases and watched the episode with fansubs or even raw, this is so early in the morning for most of the English-speaking audience that anyone who didn't get up early enough to watch the episode live could potentially be spoiled from it. Granted, the Internet was ablaze with spoilers regardless, but the official account joining in on the spoilers when the people it's supposed to be advertising to have no way of officially watching the episode certainly isn't a good look. Surely they wouldn't do it again, right?

Right?

Following Ash's departure from the anime, the next series was called Pokemon Horizons (HZ). One of its core story hooks is a mysterious pendant worn by one of the main characters, Liko. In the two-part debut, the mystery deepened when the pendant activated, transforming into a never-before-seen Pokemon that the English Twitter account again highlighted, taking the wind out of the sails of what was supposed to be a really cool and exciting surprise.

At the time of me writing this, not only is there no news about when HZ will be officially available for a western audience, but the JN dub still hasn't even finished yet, and likely won't until Netflix decides it's time to drop the final batch of episodes in a few months.

And the weirdest part of all this? From the way they've been treating HZ, it feels to me like they want to bring the Japanese and English sides of the anime closer together, and maybe Netflix fucking up the release schedule beyond recognition ruined their plans. Both of the Twitter incidents show implicit recognition that there is a portion of the English audience following the Japanese release. And when they announced that Ash would be leaving the anime and HZ would take his place, they did so through a video with Japanese audio and official English subtitles, with a later HZ trailer even specifically mentioning the Japanese release date (both of these videos releasing on the English YouTube channel, mind you). Most of the HZ cast have names that remain the same or only slightly changed between languages (highly unusual for this series), even extending to side characters like Anne or Alec. So now we're stuck in this weird limbo situation where the anime feels like it's trying to be more accessible to the West, while in reality being the most disconnected it's ever been. I'm super curious to see if/how the HZ dub will try to amend this issue whenever it inevitably comes out, and where the marketing goes from here. HZ has me more excited about the future of the anime than JN ever did, and I truly hope the dub can live up to it.

I don't remember exactly what the point I was trying to make at the start of this is. Just please fix this shitty distribution situation Netflix got you in, TPCi.

[stannipoo]

sneak peak of my (completely self-indulgent) SP Pokemon AU

I still have a lot to figure out, but if you’re curious about what I already have click read more!

Stan (On the right) is from a small farm town where he runs his own berry and flower shop. He also creates his own herbal remedies and poffins that he sells in his store. Stan doesn’t consider himself a trainer, nor does he have any desire to join in on battles. All of Stan’s pokemon were either rehomed to him, or taken in by him after abandoned by their previous trainers.

Pete (On the left) is a dark type gym leader, and the current monarch of the Masters Eight. He took the monarch title from Craig after defeating him in the last Masters Eight tournament. Pete’s main and most trusted pokemon is his Mightyena.

Craig (Not pictured) is one of the Masters Eight, ex-monarch, and retired electric type gym leader. He retired from his gym and bestowed the title onto his little sister, Tricia. He intended to use his free time to explore the world and train harder so he can take back his title. That is, when he’s not stuck baby sitting Tricia.

That’s all I have for now! I’ll flesh em out more with each character sheet I post.

[invictarre-archive]

okay so !!!! here's a timeline of (some of) leon's important life points:

at age four, a sickly charmander is brought back to postwick. arthur, leon's father and a ranger from almia, estimates that it has weeks left to live and should be made as comfortable as possible

at age five, charmander is given the all-clear to become leon's official starter and is given a pokeball of his own

leon enrolls into the isle of armor when he is eight. he trains under master mustard for two years, becomes fast friends with his kubfu, teddie, and meets rengoku, another trainer on the isle and one leon gets along excellently with

leon and red start their gym journeys not too far apart from each other. red becomes champion first and achieves worldwide acclaim, and when leon takes galar's championship, the region is quick to latch onto the idea of this new child prodigy. there are many comparisons made between the two

however, red's disappearance makes galar's officials nervous. they can't risk leon buckling under the pressure, and so they think of preemptive ways to tighten control to keep their new champion in line. these turn out to be unneeded, as leon takes to the spotlight like a ducklett to water and flourishes in the dynamic stadium environment

at age eleven, a year into his championship, he makes his debut in the world coronation series. he becomes the monarch of the master's eight

around seven or eight months before the events of swsh, dani breaks the 3000-year-ban on mega evolution in an exhibition match against leon. this is something leon was heavily involved in organising, and was the first step in drawing galar and kalos closer together after their rocky history

the events of swsh happen. leon and dani are an established couple, though the media coverage is largely focused on leon's battles instead

leon is hospitalised for a month following the eternatus attack. he is still heavily injured when the championship battle happens. he loses his title, and remains in galar while he completes the battle tower and creates the star tournament

leon and dani elope to kalos, after she accepted his proposal while he was hospitalised. soon after, he focuses on creating his mega evolution showcase and makes yveltal's image a prominent part of the branding

while in kalos he takes full advantage of the battle chateau, and soon rises up to the rank of duke. he also begins training to challenge the kalos league and all those abroad, curious to see which champions he could defeat even when on their home soil

at twenty-one, leon loses his monarch title to ash ketchum, following their battle at the master's eight finale

at twenty-two, leon learns how to mega evolve char into charizard Y. he debuts this skill to galarian audiences in the first battle of that year's mega evolution showcase

at twenty-three, leon enrolls in paldea's uva academy for a single term. he excels in the battle classes and chooses a quaxly as his introductory pokemon. it's a good introduction to paldea and the type of environment it has to offer, and he considers achieving champion rank. he ultimately chooses not to, this time around

at some point, he regains his monarch title. it is then lost to dani, where the two of them remain as the king and queen of the master's eight. everyone else is left to fight for third place

[lunarsilkscreen]

Pokemon Unanswered Questions

There are two; does every trainer start in the starter town? And what are Gym Leaders *exactly*?

In the original comic, Gym Leaders were closer to Martial Artists that opened their own Dojo. Challenging a Dojo Master is like challenging a Black Belt to a sparring match.

In the original story; Yea, every Gym Leader was therefore extremely strong in comparison with a regular trainer. But the RPG leveling system took away some of that feeling of danger in the games.

The Elite Four were this weird combination of "Stronger Gym Leader" and "Stronger Team Rocket" who doubled as world ending threats, and even tried to ****** extremely strong trainers like red.

And collecting all the badges were linked to a super strong power that could only be achieved with all eight badges (which were unique) and the magic words that only the Elite Four knew.

Obviously, the games changed this. The Elite Four became the 4 strongest members of the Pokemon League which held sanctioned tournaments regularly, and the various Pokemon Gyms were scaled down.

The number of badges you've earned is equivalent to a Martial Art's belt level.

So no badges is a white belt, and eight badges is equivalent to a black belt. The TV show changes this idea, because Ash sucks. And kind removes the idea of badges really showcasing a trainer's true talent by treating Ash as if he's still badgeless between seasons.

That's a problem with the show, but It feels better in the games.

Therefore; each Gym Leader is hand picked by the league, there are Gyms that are trying to earn a place in the League like the Kanto region fight club, and they adjust *their* team based on the challenger's skill level.

Season One of the anime actually showcases Gym Leaders that are closer to the original design, while later seasons nerds them into how I've described them. Seriously, the season 1 battles definitely had a more life/death feel to them, while the modern ones are just "Yea, you know the drill. I, the gym leader, don't really have anything to lose here."

As such, the Gym Leaders are specifically picked for their expertise in Pokemon Rearing and a type mastery of at least one type.

A Pokemon Professor is likely a Gym Leader that has studied and more or less mastered a region instead of a single type.

And the Elite Four is the four strongest trainers at the time of when the tournament is held, subject to availability and scheduling.

What this likely means is that a Gym Leader can double as a Pokemon League representative and hand out starters to new trainers. In fact, some of the Gym minions are likely new trainers that are getting ready to go out on their own Journey like the MC.

In lieu of a Gym Leader; Pokemon Centers also double as education centers, and in some towns: Pokemon Museums. Who also have the authority to start a trainer on their journey.

However, Not every person in the series is a Pokemon trainer, or even able to raise Pokemon. In the series we see plenty of trainers that simply befriended a random pokemon, and one of the Protagonists of one of the Comics starts with a Poliwhirl, and catches a Pikachu that was gnawing on the wires in his house; while other trainers are gifted with *actual* starter pokemon; this trainer has a Poliwhirl and a Pikachu.

Which is literally a tadpole and just a random mouse in the series. Literally, weak-mon. That trainer's name? Red.

It's why Gary Oak is closer to Blue in the series being gifted an Eeve to start with. Literally able to have a better starter pokemon than average, while Ashtoshi gets a random pokemon that is considered weak.

Anyway, the Pokemon League has changed in form and function from the initial launch of the series and today. Which has some interesting implications, but at the same time; the widespread acceptance and change really reflects Pokemon in the real world as well.

[suprgamr66]

Writer’s comment: this is a part 1 of the masters eight storyline of the infinitewatch chronicles. This series of the infinitewatch timeline will show infinite recruiting the masters eight to combat Titan as he furthers his plans to bring down infinitewatch.

The infinitewatch chronicles: masters eight part I

Infinite was talking to Rift and he said, “Is it me, or is it weird how Titan hasn’t tried to attack since he left.” Rift responded, “Yeah. We should check the titan scanners and see if any titan class organisms have been near the base.” They checked and saw nothing. Infinite’s visor switched to light blue. Rift said, “Why so confused? He doesn’t have the equipment to repair his armor so he’d have to somehow find a way to get the materials again and with his little to no ability to use dark energy he can’t create a rift to get there again.” Infinite nods and says, “But wouldn’t that mean he’d try to sneak back into the base and use the rift room?” Rift replies, “I man that room 24/7. That’s why we’re talking here and not somewhere else. He’d have to kill me to use it and it’d be relatively difficult to do that if he can’t land a hit on me.” Infinite’s visor switches back to yellow as he says, “But still, I don’t like it. There’s gotta be another factor.” Rift says, “What if we get some new recruits so we have a factor that he won’t know about.” Infinite nods and says, “Who were you thinking about.” Rift says, “May I introduce you to the masters eight.” He pulled up eight files that appeared on a large monitor as he said, “Meet Ash, Steven, Diantha, Lance, Iris, Alain, Cynthia, and Leon.” Infinite says, “Wait, aren’t some of these people a little young?” Rift responds, his visor changing to light green as he said, “Didn’t we just recruit school children a month ago?” Infinite responded, is visor flickering between red and yellow as he said, “You know that was a special case.” Rift’s visor switches back to yellow as he says, “That’s why I’ve designed them all armors. They’ll each command a squad of their own pokemon armors. Not to mention their armors keeping the abilities of their pokemon as well they’d be well protected in battle. Besides, Ash has died more times than I can count on one hand.” Infinite’s visor color changes to white as he says, “It says here he’s only ten.” Rift says, “Yeah, we may want to get a therapist ready if we recruit him. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t have ptsd.” Infinite says, “It says here he doesn’t have any mental illness.” Rift’s visor switches to white as he says, “Holy shit. This kid is resilient. He’d make a good leader that’s for sure. He appears to be confident. Maybe he’d be able to lead the Pokémon division if we make it for this.” Infinite nods and says, “When will we be able to get them.” Rift says, “he appears to be in a tournament that he’ll win. Maybe we can pull him and the rest of the masters eight from the tournament.” Infinite says, “alright, get ready. You’re coming with me for this one.” Rift says, “wait what? I have to stay here and guard the rift room incase Titan comes back and tries to use the rift room?” Infinite responds by reaching his hand out, it glowing red, and five humanoids without faces and made from power stones go to guard the room. Infinite says, “Titan’s powerful but without his armor’s full capability he won’t be getting through that. Come on let’s go.” Rift’s visor switches to green as he walks forward and infinite says, “don’t worry, I’ll get us right back.” He creates a rift and they walk through. The reach a stadium and infinite says, “Come on. Let’s teleport into the stands. I wanna see their capabilities.”

The first battle went by and infinite was impressed with Alain’s determination but understood that Leon was the more skilled trainer. As Alain was leaving the arena infinite appeared in front of him and said, “Hello. I have a proposition for you.” Alain began to reach for a pokeball and infinite said, “That won’t be necessary. I come in peace. Time is currently frozen so that I don’t miss the tournament. I must talk to the others too.” Alain asks, “Why me first?” Infinite responds, “you were eliminated first.” Alain says, “Not sure how to take that.” Infinite quickly responds with, “Take it as an honor. I’m hear to recruit you and the other masters eight to infinitewatch.” Alain tries to walk away saying, “I’m not interested in your villain organization. Been there done that, I don’t want to be involved.” Infinite responds, “we aren’t the bad guys. The opposite actually. That’s why I’m here.” Alain stops and turns around before saying, “Give me one good reason to go.” Infinite coldly responds, “infinitewatch has a new enemy more powerful than we’re used to fighting. His name is Titan. He used to be one of us but a month ago he betrayed us. I was able to send him running but he’s too powerful to take lightly. He hasn’t made a move recently which concerns me given his drive. I’m concerned he has something up his sleeve that we don’t know about. We need new recruits with great power. Normally we only give armors to people in a position of command but you and the other masters eight are an exception. Your armors will mimic your Pokémon’s abilities and include mega evolution or gigantamaxing in Leon’s case. Except for ash whose armor can change into every pokemon team he’s had in every region.” Alain says, “tempting. But how do I know you aren’t tricking me.” Infinite shoots lightning into the ground from his hand, it produces a hologram type texture in the air and it shows everything Titan did. Alain nods and says, “fine. But if something happens that makes me doubt you. For even a moment. My loyalty will not be in your favor.” Infinite nods and says, “I’d expect nothing less. Now come watch the rest of the tournament with me and my second in command. There is much more to be done.”

[casebasket]

the last move isn't mega evolution, or a z move, or a dynamax. it was not a new fangled flashy mechanic. it was just simple thunderbolt, pulled straight from the core, pushed to the extreme, powered solely and completely by the love they share, and at the end of the day this is a story of a boy and his dog (electric rat), and how they love each other, and how that love reminds others to love too.

[thena0315]

If only the Master Tournament also included a special double battle exhibition match between these four fan favorite Champions before the finals

[businessupside12]

A Twitter Post Made Millions Relive Their Childhood

His twenty-five-year quest of winning the best Pokemon trainer in the world finally ended. The official Twitter handle of Pokemon anime declared Ash Ketchum champion of the Masters Eight Tournament in the World Coronation Series.

https://businessupside.com/2022/11/16/ash-ketchum-becomes-worlds-best-pokemon-trainer-after-25-years

[businessupside8240]

A Twitter Post Made Millions Relive Their Childhood

His twenty-five-year quest of winning the best Pokemon trainer in the world finally ended. The official Twitter handle of Pokemon anime declared Ash Ketchum champion of the Masters Eight Tournament in the World Coronation Series.

https://businessupside.com/2022/11/16/ash-ketchum-becomes-worlds-best-pokemon-trainer-after-25-years

[chancherpancher]

Ash Ketchum is Finally the Very Best like No One Ever Was! 🥳

This calls for a Classic Theme Song:

[thejourneystartstoday]

There were certainly things about the start of Ash vs Cynthia that I didn’t love. Dragonite and Gengar and Gastrodon all fell victim to the odd and awkward battle pacing, and I don’t know why Ash is suddenly asking Pikachu to spam Thunderbolts over and over this tournament like he can’t come up with a better plan, and yeah, I wish a champion level tournament involved more fast-paced strategy and fewer one-hit KO’s

BUT

Can I please just gush about the good in this ep because the good is SO SOLID

First off Pikachu getting in 2 KO’s before going down made me happy because he really is the most experienced team member and I love it when the show respects that

I love that we’re finally returning to Ash’s on-the-spot strategies and ideas, loved Pikachu’s Iron Tail combo on Gastrodon AND basically his entire battle against Spiritomb with the thunderbolt shield AND the electro web cage

I fricken adore that Cynthia waited to use Destiny Bond until Pikachu was out because she KNOWS it’s a threat and decides to take it out quickly and early

But the absolute best thing about this battle so far is Cynthia’s strategy. Cynthia has known Ash for a very long time. She has watched him battle, she knows he works best when he’s on the spot. She knows he learns from every single defeat and that he turns set backs into strategies that win.

So she doesn’t give him the chance to follow through.

Cynthia switching Pokémon as often as Ash has to prevents him from capitalizing on any of it. Dragonite goes down to a ghost Pokémon so Ash brings in Gengar for super effective damage on a Pokemon that’s already taken a few hits, but Cynthia switches to Roserade. She might not be anticipating the Will’o’wisp but she still manages to get some damage on Gengar before Spiritomb comes back to take it out. Ash brings in Pikachu and bam, Spiritomb is gone again, this time replaced by Togekiss who does the same thing as Roserade: lay down some damage and disappear so someone else can come in.

Cynthia’s whole plan is to subvert Ash’s strats and to keep him on his toes by being as unpredictable as possible but also this allows her to play the chipping game with Ash’s Pokémon. They take damage while not being able to lay down damage of their own nearly as effectively. And the damage they take makes them more susceptible to KO’s. It’s already worked on Gengar.

I love it. I love this matchup. I cannot wait for next week.