Alain vs Leon Was a Total Embarassment: Pokemon Journeys

BRUUUUUUUUUUH. I can't believe we got such a horrible episode right after such an amazing episode. Pokemon Journeys 114 was one of the best episodes ever! My favourite character Paul returning was awesome and seeing all of Ash's previous Pokemon from more than 1000 episodes was absolutely insane fan service. Episode 115 was the start of the new Masters 8 Tournament, which seemed hype af considering it's purpose is to decide who the next world champion is. I can't say all the characters chosen were the right pick, but most of them are worthy, so I'll let it slide. What really had me (and a lot of other people based on the amount of rant videos popping up on YouTube every hour) pissed off is the horrible first fight. 

Source: anipoke_PR Via Twitter

In case you didn't see it, Leon beat Alain as if he's a total amateur. Yes, that Alain who won the Kalos league and completely dominated everyone with his Mega Charizard X. I'm not even an Alain fanboy, but I had to come in and defend him after he was done so dirty. Anybody who has seen the Alain vs Ash fight and knows the absolute ridiculous amount of damage Mega Charizard X not only took, but also fully tanked, will know this fight was total garbage.

 

What we see here is the classic method of introducing a new character by completely dominating an incredibly powerful existing character in order to establish them as the new powerhouse. Think of Zane vs Aster from Yugioh GX and Sukune vs Oliva from Bakidou. Most times this is done, it does succeed in making the new character look strong, but doing it at the expense of an already established character usually leaves a bad taste in the mouth of fans. Also, yes I know this wasn't the first time we see Leon, but considering he'll be fighting seriously, in a tournament, on-screen and against other trainers for the first time, it might as well be.

 

One line said by Alain that was especially nonsensical, was when my dude goes "It was my dream to battle against your Lizardon. And to surpass it!" BRUUUUUUUH. What is he even talking about here? From all the evidence we've seen Alain's Charizard is easily the strongest Charizard in all of Pokemon. You can't be serious with this. The same Charizard, that has the exclusive X Mega Evolution, who kept up with literal legendaries, who went on a win streak against 10 other Mega evolved Pokemon in a row and who tanked an unbelievable amount of damage in his fight against Ash? That one? That Mega evolved Charizard lost to Leon's non-dynamax, base level Charizard who used two entire moves against it? Ancient Power didn't even connect properly and Dragon Pulse knocked him out? The most powerful Charizard of all time got one shotted by a base Charizard, completely effortlessly. This is the kinda unimaginable trash that makes me start ranting. What a total upset.

© Pokémon, TV TOKYO, OLM, Inc.

Can we all agree that this is not a serious tournament especially for one that is supposed to decide the next world champion? Why is it not a serious tournament? Easy. Because every other serious tournament was a 6 v 6 full team Pokemon battle. This 3 v 3 nonsense doesn't fly here. If I had to guess, it was done as a cost cutting decision as animating long and exciting 6 v 6 fights for 7 battles in a row would have practically bankrupted the studio lol.

 

Additionally, can we also stop pretending that Dynamax and Z Moves are on the same level as Mega Evolution? Yeah, they are powerful and all of them should be limited to 1 per battle, but Mega Evolution as both a concept and execution is far beyond the other 2. Dynamax is just an HP boost and Z moves are just a special attack. Mega Evolution is the secret, inaccessible, limit breaker evolution that is so powerful, it has to be temporary. A Mega Evolved Pokemon shouldn't lose to the same Pokemon, but Dynamaxed, let alone the base form. There is no conceivable way whatsoever that Mega Charizard X would lose to a single attack that connected from a regular, base Charizard. Absolutely ludicrous!

© Pokémon, TV TOKYO, OLM, Inc.

Here's why Alain's Charizard is so impressive:

 

. The time it spent with Alain was mainly demolishing other Mega evolutions and the one time it did lose was to a Mega Blastoise. He's forgiven because of Blastoise being a water type, thus having a type advantage. However, he then went on to become even more powerful and win against numerous other mega evolved Pokemon, 10 of which were defeated in a row. You never see win streaks like that.

. It stomped on everyone during the Kalos League. It tanked 2 powerful electric attacks from Pikachu before beating it. Remember when I said it lost to a water type earlier? Well it not only beat Ash's Greninja, it was the synchronised Greninja that had its own power up and a type advantage on top...yet it still lost. Not to mention X also defeating Mega Charizard Y in the tournament.

. The final point worth mentioning is his score against legendaries. We constantly see it keep it with multiple different legendaries like Primal Groudon and Zygarde. Additionally, I know it's not the same Charizard, but the one in the Origins universe did have the X mega stone, which made Mega Charizard X strong enough to take out Mewtwo. If that doesn't tell you how much power the Mega form holds, and its ability to keep up with legendaries, I dunno what will.

 

So all in all, one of if not the most powerful non-legendary pokemon shown to date with not only ridiculous offensive power, but also mind boggling toughness and durability just got one shotted by another Charizard who was neither in a mega form or gigantimax form. What an absolute joke. I promise you the only reason Leon won over Alain is because of the recency bias due to him being the newly introduced, current champ. You know the writing is complete butt cheeks when Pikachu gave Leon's Charizard a decent fight like a year ago and Alain's dummy strong Mega Charizard X got one shotted...

© Pokémon, TV TOKYO, OLM, Inc.

Overall, seeing Alain match up with Leon in the first round was unfortunate to begin with, as it's almost certain Leon will be facing Ash in the finals. This means everyone more or less expected Alain to lose due to conventional storytelling and tournament structure rules, but there was no excuse for the disrespect that occurred. These are all trainers of comparable skill. The fact that we didn't even get to see Leon's 3rd Pokemon solidified this as one of the worst Pokemon episode of all time and a total disgrace of a battle. Leon is not written as a compelling character, much less a certified world champ and the way he won really made me hate him. Honestly, I've never been much of an Ash fan, but man am I rooting for him hard now. If I don't see Leon squirming on the ground in utter defeat Imma be disappointed.

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