Things in Pokémon that actually ANGER you

Whenever you brought a gym leader's final Pokémon down to 1, i repeat, 1 GOSH DARN HP POINT, with a critical hit and they use a hyper potion. Another thing that also grinded my gears was the Kimono Girl fight. It took me forever to defeat them just to get Lugia, a Pokémon I almost never used in Soul Silver because I tried not to use legendary Pokémon (except Red Gyrados maybe) in order not to destroy everyone and to have a more legit experience.

 

I actually have a full Poke-rant blog post on another site, I'll just copy & paste it to here:

RACISM/XENOPHOBIA

Okay, since this is one of the most heated and significant issues of the modern day, I'm starting it out with this. There's a couple cases of this that the makers have put in, but it's mostly the fandom. I'll start out instead with how the Pokémon games/anime and their making, instead of the fandom...so it doesn't feel like I'm only trying to shame certain people the entire time...

Problems with how the games & anime - to begin with, Team Skull. Though they are supposedly based off of Russian/Korean/Japanese B-Boy culture, but it obviously has it's roots in black hip-hop culture. Showing kids that this is what certain groups only act in these ways. Maybe, instead, they could've made Team Skull more like stereotypical pirates. But wait...aren't stereotypes bad? Not all of them... Most German stereotypes (except for them being anti-semantics or Nazis or 'Krauts') are true, but only about the state of Bayern (Bavaria), which makes up southeastern Germany.

Speaking of Nazis...there's quite a few references. Team Rocket's original salute (in the dub, it's both arms raised, but who cares about the dub?) and the original Registeel art. But they've fixed it since then (just not the TR salute in the original anime dub/Japanese). Team Flare is similar. Saying that only the "chosen people" can live, at least in the anime. Sound familiar? Basically if you were an 'undesirable' (for the Nazis, it was Communists, Catholics, Jews, Gypsies, African-Americans, LGBTQ+, et cetera).

Oh, and don't get me started on the lack of non-white people in Pokémon. I don't get it!

Okay, finally...Alola. You know how Kukui wants to do the whole Pokémon League-BS thing in Alola, replacing Alola's beautiful, perfect tradition of Island Trials, Island Guardians and Grand Trials? Well...that fits perfectly in this category! It's Kukui giving in to the cultural superiority complex. It's where a culture is forced to assimilate with the rest of the world because the rest of the world feels that the culture's traditions are inferior. ALOLA IS AWESOME THE WAY IT IS! Kukui, just stop. Please. Just stop.

Fandom: the Iris [non]Problem - now I'm coming after the fandom, hard. Okay, let's take two of Ash's female companions. I don't know...let's say...Misty Waterflower of Cerulean City and Iris Ajagar (the last name I give her in my fanfics, it's Hindu for 'Dragon') of the Village of Dragons/Opelucid City...


Let's compare these two! To begin with the obvious, they were both at one time a female traveling companion's of Ash's. Yeah, both argued with Ash quite a bit of the time (Misty would go as far as beating Ash...trust me, 4Kids Entertainment is f'd up when it comes to Misty. In the original version, Misty is violent and abusive towards Ash. However, in the dub, they cut that out...and make up a ship between the two...sorry Pokéshippers!) and would always call out Ash on his mistakes (that's going to bring me to my next topic...sexism, but that's later...

And both are in a sort-of-a love/hate relationship with Ash (more so with Iris, more of a like or friend/hate relationship when it comes to Misty). And when it came to following Ash, both denied it, but would later embrace it. Oh and guess what!? Both are badass gym leaders who are monotype (however, in the anime and second BW games, Iris is a multitype Trainer). And you wouldn't know...but they're pretty damn good in those types too, Misty being a budding Water type Master, and Iris being a budding/fully realized Dragon Master.

So....now what? Did I just kind of say that these two are the same? Pretty much. Except for the color of their skin. (Sorry I had to get into this, but IT'S PRETTY FREAKING SERIOUS!) Misty is white and Iris is black. Misty is loved, by almost all fans (no, I can't hear you, Amourshippers, see these construction earmuffs? IT CANCELS OUT ALL SOUND, WHICH IS WHY I KEEP HAVING TO SHOUT!). Iris...is hated by most, except for a certain rebellious group (I just had to call all those who like Iris that! It just feels like we are...) It comes down to this: a lot of Pokémon fans are racists. And...to be honest...I'm not sure how we can cancel this out...

...no wait, I do. It starts with fans who have the power of the pen/microphone. Podcasters, YouTubers, fanfic writers, and all of those people. We need to build up the love for those minority characters. Show them we won't tolerate racism in a kids series! [accidentally slips into a Pokémon version of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech for the next fifteen minutes...]

Wishfulshipping...and Colorism - in the February 2016 issue of my high school's newspaper, The Register, a friend of mine wrote an article on 'Colorism'. It's basically where people will try not to be racist when hanging out with colored people, but favor whiter colored people than the darker. And that's the problem with Wishfulshipping fan art. Iris is pretty pale in those. Another reason I hate that ship... In Negaishipping fanart, it's just Iris (though sometimes a bit darker). But some do call that ship the perfect 'interracial ship'. Anyways, colorism is a big problem, and it's been dubbed the 'new discrimination'. I don't know how to fix this problem...

Selectism - this is both a maker and fandom problem. Throughout the series, it seems to show that the strongest Trainers specializes in only one type. Also, how many fans have only done monotype runs? Lusamine fixes this all... The other day, me and another one of my friends (I won't name names unless you want me to, that goes for all references above, too), were talking about Pokémon Sun/Moon. You remember when Lusamine was talking about only accepting what is 'beautiful' in her opinion? Well...it got my friend thinking...had they done the same thing with their monotype run? I realized that too, even when thinking about which Pokémon I will or won't catch in the game... Yeah, it's pretty heavy thinking, isn't it? But it's true. Maybe being the best isn't about just accepting the strongest (like Paul) or the most beautiful (like Lusamine)...but it's about trying to catch them all...and building a bond with all of the Pokémon.



SEXISM/SEXUALIZATiON OF CHARACTERS

Serena...Trainer, or Disney Princess? - Serena bashing time! [removes earmuffs, but places a big electric cage around ravid Amourshippers] You know how in Walt Disney's cartoons, the female lead is mostly weak, sometimes stupid or disabled, until the main male, love interest, lead comes and they fall in love...and all that gross BS? (yeah, I'm saying it...DISNEY IS ALSO SEXIST). That's the feel I got from watching XY and that scourge known as Serena. She was weak, kind of dumb and clumsy.

But she was stalking Ash...because of a supposed crush. She was a stronger Trainer...only when she was traveling with Ash, it seemed. I know, Kalos is France, and most Disney movies take place in Europe...funny coincidence, right...? No. Thank Arceus that Ash is so freaking oblivious and dense! (Clemont, Bonnie...NOT HELPING). This is a bit similar to one Negaishipping fanfic that I've read...so glad it's never been continued...Iris seemed so unbearably like what I've described above...

Then the Pokémon Performances...the Master Class...Princess Keys...and the 'Kalos Queen'. Okay, it's cool that the girls have something to do. Hold on...why is Astrid the only girl in the Kalos League? [turns to anime writers, grabs Misty's hammer from the first season...and bashes them on the head] Why aren't more? And...the Performances...were so damn gender stereotypical. Cooking, dressing up, being cute... ONLY ONE TIME DO THEY EVER BATTLE! AND IT'S A TAG BATTLE WHERE THEY'RE PAIRED UP WITH A MALE CHARACTER! WTF!!!???

It's like they're basically saying...boys do Pokémon Battles...while girls do Pokémon Showcases. It's just like how it used to be...boys play with trucks or dinosaurs...while girls play with dolls, have to wear bows and makeup and dresses. It's so damn sexist, and it's why I HATE XY! I even showed in my Pokémon fanfic, Together Forever, that the anime writers made Serena so weak, that she wouldn't even be able to handle Iris saying, in a casual/joking tone, "What a kid!" AND FANS...ESPECIALLY AMOURSHIPPERS ACCEPT THIS! WHY THE HELL IS IT LIKE THIS!? HOW CAN MODERN SOCIETY BE SO DARN PRIMITIVE AND RACIST AND SEXIST AND ALL THAT CRAP!!!!!?????

They XY writers basically made the girls in Kalos sex objects. I can't believe it. WHY MUST POPULAR MEDIA SHOW THAT THIS IS EVEN ACCEPTABLE!!!!!????? WHAT HAS GONE WRONG WITH MODERN SOCIETY!!!!!???? Another...you know what's funny? Quite a few of these issues have been talked about in The Register?

The way we fix this is...I'm just not sure...any ideas? Oh yeah, just look under the next sub-section.

Misogyny - this is where males feel that they are superior to females, and many societies (that I completely hate) do this. I think it's why people hate Iris or Misty...but love Serena. It's a worse form of sexism. The fans are basically saying that they don't like how Iris or Misty are criticizing Ash, because they're girls and Ash is a boy. They're basically saying "no, shut up....guys are always right." Let me tell you...Ash is a bumbling idiot who needs to be put in his place (a lot of the time). But, when they see Serena's weakness and submissiveness, they say "now, there's a chick who knows how to act around a guy." (Giratina, Dinner Time!).

How do we fix this? No tolerance for that crap. Show people, that it's not right to accept or make this kind of crap anymore.



MISTY THE REVOLUTIONARY

I bet you're wondering..."What the...?" Well, this isn't a problem. This is a big important thing about Misty. Did you know that she's one of the first female leads in a kids' series that isn't weak or treated like a sex object? No, she's rough, tough and a badass. She knows how to take care of herself. Then...some may say that having her have Togepi or Azurill with her makes her look like they're just placing her in a mother position.

Do you know how many times either of those Pokémon have been a really rough situation...alongside Misty? Just goes to show that Misty can 1) stop a crisis and 2) take care of a young Pokémon... That's not weak. That's...well...Misty.



SERENA'S NEAR REDEMPTION

In XY&Z episode 45, Serena comes close to a personal redemption. She decides, "I don't need Ash anymore. I'm going to Hoenn! There...I'll just beat whatever they have there!" [all feminists start clapping loudly] It made me happy and start to like her for the first time. I thought that maybe that Serena would become the Kalosian Misty. And, in Hoenn, she'd try doing Gym Battles and the Hoenn League, alongside Contests and the Grand Festival...just like Nando did in Sinnoh.

But...then there was the final episode of XY&Z that made me completely sick. She 1) kisses Ash and then 2) says something about just wanting to become more beautiful. Serena, what happened to becoming stronger with your Pokémon? What also happened to rejecting Palermo's offer...further freeing yourself from any...control?

I blame this all on the XY writers. Who are perverted and sexist (as are many Pokémon fans). If she does return in Sun & Moon, it better not be because of anything to do with the crush...it better be to do the Island Trials...and/or show how strong she's become to Ash and his friends. I want Serena to be smarter, tougher, stronger. It'd be cool to see her outfit be a cross between May and Selene's (Selene is the potential name of the main female character of SM...I saw it in the Nintendo Demo!) And, for her to have Delphox, Sylveon, Pangoro, Ampharos (can Mega Evolve), Scizor (can Mega Evolve) and a Kangaskhan (can Mega Evolve).

Serena needs to be redeemed. Please, anime writers, fix the problem you caused in the previous series (the new one we don't talk about anymore, including Battle Frontier and Adventures in the Orange Islands)

 

I remember a Battle Royal I had. It told me Legendaries were banned. The opponents had Cutiefly/Moltres/Thundous(alternate form), Heatran/Raikou/Entie, and Entie/Reice/Tornadous. I truly hated that.

I remember a Battle Royal I had. It told me Legendaries were banned. The opponents had Cutiefly/Moltres/Thundous(alternate form), Heatran/Raikou/Entie, and Entie/Reice/Tornadous. I truly hated that.

 

One word: CONFUSION. It's especially irritating as I'm the kind of person who can never be bothered to carry around persim berries, so maybe this is something I've brought upon myself... Ah well, it doesn't make it any less annoying.

 

Who equips berries when you can equip a stat boosting item or something? I never use em...

Also annoying: when you're trying to catch a Pokémon, and none of your Pokéballs catch it no matter how much HP it has. It's so annoying, and then you feel the need to start the whole battle over again!!! I'm talking about Legendary Pokémon now...

 

Oh, that's just the worst. It took me forever to catch Uxie and Azelf in D/P and I don't recall ever being able to catch Mesprit. That was mostly due to my lack of skill as I was a kid, but it was no less frustrating.

 

The one thing that really pissed me off in the anime (XY) was everyone talking about getting Pikachu to mega evolve. Nobody stopped it until, finally, after hundreds of episodes of Team Rocket scheming, Professor Sycamore steps in and says Pikachu can't mega evolve (thank goodness).

 

I think I can safely agree with those here who are mentioning the trouble of trying to get by in the battle areas for bp, when you aren't a smogon level battler nor about to become an extreme breeder as well. I fully respect those that want to play competitively, but it feels like something for real life competitions, not in game OTL but I ultimately just never go in there. Even when I was given a team of cloned fighters with the correct breeding and training etc, I still couldn't beat the singles challenge, no matter how hard I tried.

Probably the thing that I actually do still encounter that bothers me at this point is the "it's help didn't appear!" thing, omfg I get it occasionally would happen but for many of my chain attempts they do this 5 times in a row or more and it makes a fairly ok grind turn into a mind numbing excercise. I don't mind a grind as long as it's actually moving forwards in some way.

 

Zubat that use SOS and actually succeed calling the partner. I swear one more Zubat and I will torch the cave.

 

This is more anime centered, but it ANGERS me. Without further ado...

Ash in XY(Z).

Where did his emotion go? Why can't he show any other emotion rather than "im ash ketcum here to win the battle and keep smirking becauz im kewl and mature look at me im great and purfect and i can only show the emotion of a gary stu!"? Good characters show emotions because... I don't know, they're actually human? But nope, the writers constantly had to make Ash's competence his only defining trait. Just because he is powerful and acts mature does not make him mature. He didn't even cry after losing to Alain! I would be absolutely bawling because I had lost in the finals!

But he just stands there. He stands and smiles. He stands and smiles at quite possibly the biggest loss in his life. He stands and smiles. Greninja, a Pokémon, was more upset than his Trainer.

His team is all fully evolved. Some people would say, "oh, he finally has a decent team that can help him win the Kalos League, hooray!" But I say no. In every region beforehand, he has had at least one unevolved Pokémon that actually performed well (like Buizel in the Lily of the Valley Conference). So why make the switch now? What if I want to see some of what actually made Ash Ash in previous sagas? We get it, XY(Z) writers. Ash is a powerful robot so you must give him equally powerful and robotic Pokémon. It just seems so... out of character for Ash to have control of five powerful Pokémon, even a pseudo Legendary.

And here we find ourselves at Ash-Greninja. Okay, there was barely any plot on it. When I first started watching XY(Z) I was your typical Ash fangirl: "Wow, that was awesome!" But as the series kept going on, it became less awesome and a little more... y'know, contrived. Every battle. Every battle you watched, you were not free from Ash-Greninja despite the Pokémon having the spotlight all to itself for the past 20 episodes. And every battle, when that guitar for Ash-Greninja's theme started, it was less of "goosebumps" and more of "Ugh, again?!" And why is the Bond Phenomenon limited to Greninja? It was like Pikachu was horribly sidelined in favor of a frog ninja that was Japanese fanservice. Not much Ash, but still kinda Ash.

Whew. Sorry that turned into a rant. But after rewatching an episode of XY(Z), I just had to express my undying hatred and anger towards the so called "bad*ss smirk".

 

Well, I do have an answer to that. The "Bond Phenomenon" is actually an Ability called Battle Bond, which Pikachu doesn't have. Apparently in the manga there's another Greninja called Croaky owned by Y that also has that Ability.

 

I think this is relevant but... WHY ONLY 1 LOVE BALL I NEED LIKE 20 HELLO GAMEFREAK BUT EXCUSE ME???

I Love that Pokéball

 

How many location revolutions were in Sun and Moon. I was going to use a Vikavolt and a Crabominable in my first playthrough, but after discovering they only evolve in the LATE GAME. I was a little peeved.

 

MY PROBLEM WITH SERENA:

You know how in Walt Disney's cartoons, the female lead is mostly weak, sometimes stupid or disabled, until the main male, love interest, lead comes and they fall in love...and all that gross BS? (yeah, I'm saying it...DISNEY IS ALSO SEXIST). That's the feel I got from watching XY and that scourge known as Serena. She was weak, kind of dumb and clumsy.

But she was stalking Ash...because of a supposed crush. She was a stronger Trainer...only when she was traveling with Ash, it seemed. I know, Kalos is France, and most Disney movies take place in Europe...funny coincidence, right...? No. Thank Arceus that Ash is so freaking oblivious and dense! (Clemont, Bonnie...NOT HELPING). This is a bit similar to one Negaishipping fanfic that I've read...so glad it's never been continued...Iris seemed so unbearably like what I've described above...

Then the Pokémon Performances...the Master Class...Princess Keys...and the 'Kalos Queen'. Okay, it's cool that the girls have something to do. Hold on...why is Astrid the only girl in the Kalos League? [turns to anime writers, grabs Misty's hammer from the first season...and bashes them on the head] Why aren't more? And...the Performances...were so damn gender stereotypical. Cooking, dressing up, being cute... ONLY ONE TIME DO THEY EVER BATTLE! AND IT'S A TAG BATTLE WHERE THEY'RE PAIRED UP WITH A MALE CHARACTER! WTF!!!???

It's like they're basically saying...boys do Pokémon Battles...while girls do Pokémon Showcases. It's just like how it used to be...boys play with trucks or dinosaurs...while girls play with dolls, have to wear bows and makeup and dresses. It's so damn sexist, and it's why I HATE XY! I even showed in my Pokémon fanfic, Together Forever, that the anime writers made Serena so weak, that she wouldn't even be able to handle Iris saying, in a casual/joking tone, "What a kid!" AND FANS...ESPECIALLY AMOURSHIPPERS ACCEPT THIS! WHY THE HELL IS IT LIKE THIS!? HOW CAN MODERN SOCIETY BE SO DARN PRIMITIVE AND RACIST AND SEXIST AND ALL THAT CRAP!!!!!?????

They XY writers basically made the girls in Kalos sex objects. I can't believe it. WHY MUST POPULAR MEDIA SHOW THAT THIS IS EVEN ACCEPTABLE!!!!!????? WHAT HAS GONE WRONG WITH MODERN SOCIETY!!!!!????

The way we fix this is...I'm just not sure...any ideas?

In XY&Z episode 45, Serena comes close to a personal redemption. She decides, "I don't need Ash anymore. I'm going to Hoenn! There...I'll just beat whatever they have there!" [all feminists start clapping loudly] It made me happy and start to like her for the first time. I thought that maybe that Serena would become the Kalosian Misty. And, in Hoenn, she'd try doing Gym Battles and the Hoenn League, alongside Contests and the Grand Festival...just like Nando did in Sinnoh.

But...then there was the final episode of XY&Z that made me completely sick. She 1) kisses Ash and then 2) says something about just wanting to become more beautiful. Serena, what happened to becoming stronger with your Pokémon? What also happened to rejecting Palermo's offer...further freeing yourself from any...control?

I blame this all on the XY writers. Who are perverted and sexist (as are many Pokémon fans). If she does return in Sun & Moon, it better not be because of anything to do with the crush...it better be to do the Island Trials...and/or show how strong she's become to Ash and his friends. I want Serena to be smarter, tougher, stronger. It'd be cool to see her outfit be a cross between May and Selene's (Selene is the potential name of the main female character of SM...I saw it in the Nintendo Demo!) And, for her to have Delphox, Sylveon, Pangoro, Ampharos (can Mega Evolve), Scizor (can Mega Evolve) and a Kangaskhan (can Mega Evolve).

Serena needs to be redeemed. Please, anime writers, fix the problem you caused in the previous series (the new one we don't talk about anymore, including Battle Frontier and Adventures in the Orange Islands)

 

For S/M it's the amount of cameos. Like I love the cameos but could you not incorporate other games? You finally see N after forever but before that you don't see any of them. Excluding Dexio, Sina and Grimsley

 

Mewtwo spamming recover, that was awful.

 

Ready?
****ING GLOOMS
This might sound weird, but they are the fricking BANE OF MY EXISTENCE. I HATE THEM. In ORAS, I was trying to Secret Base hunt and then the fricking GLOOMS kept popping out every GODDAMN TWO STEPS and I swear I nearly threw my DS against the wall. I was using Max Repels, too! But they kept FRICKING APPEARING and I have not found ONE SHINY of them! Not one! I HATE THEM!!
In Sun, Olivia's Probopass.
**** that Probopass.
Paralyzed my WHOLE TEAM and NOT ONE was able to attack (I was healing them, but the thing kept Thunder Waving) for like FIFTEEN TURNS it was a goddamn NIGHTMARE.
#MissingNo