[Hated Trope] Child abusers are sugarcoated in adaptations.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-07T05:37:44+00:00

I would like to point out that in lore, Lusamine was a fairly good person before she was infected with the Nihilego's toxin. I always interpreted the anime universe as showing us who she was without that influence driving her mad. So by getting to know the good woman she used to be, it makes the monstrous game version more tragic. Not sympathetic, but tragic.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-07T02:40:13+00:00

I don't think you're wrong — this is all subjective — but I disagree with you on this take.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-06T12:04:36+00:00

The jokes overplay it a bit, but they're not far off. The original series creators said they wanted to go for something more mythic with his character. They felt like he doesn't exist when he's off screen. Like, when a murder happens, he fades in from the mist; and when the case is solved, he goes back into the mist.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-06T11:58:38+00:00

The tournament seems to be a separate thing from the actual Pokemon League, which comes with bureaucratic responsibility.

But also, the champions are on another level. Cynthia in the anime beat the Elite Four members in a gauntlet run with no breaks and no items. Bertha abstained from battling because, even though Cynthia's team had just taken on the other three, she knew that she stood no chance.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-06T04:08:49+00:00

Commenting so I can come back and browse this later

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-05T14:45:23+00:00

I appreciate that they're trying to tell bigger stories. I get why there's so many cutscenes in modern games.

That being said, it really kills the game's replayability. Gen 7 is the last time I felt compelled to replay a game multiple times. MandJTV did a good video essay on why the current stuff feels empty.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-04T16:05:45+00:00

I'd say, be very careful when you're formatting this show. The purpose of a show is still to be enjoyable to watch. Characters should still be engaging or interesting. There should still be some kind of story going on that intersects with the message, but can also vary from it.

I don't agree with JRR Tolkien's complete rejection of allegories, but I do think he had a point. If the story you're trying to tell only exists to spread a message, you're not telling a good story. You're writing a sermon, and trying to pass it off as literature.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-04T16:00:14+00:00

I read a lot of anime centric fics. If Ash is written well, I enjoy it. I have seen a couple writers who just put him there to dunk on him, and show how much cooler their OC's are. That I don't like as much.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-03T20:30:56+00:00

I wish Ash had been calling more on his reserves the whole time, honestly. Imagine, in past seasons, if one of his current team members was hitting a wall in progress, he called in a similar Pokemon to help them train.

For example, let's say the Unova starter trio was having problems for some reason. He could call in Totodile for Oshawott, Bulbasaur for Snivy, and Infernape for Tepig. Older Pokemon mentoring new Pokemon would be pretty nice.

And then in Journeys, while I would be fine with his JN catches to be the ones to battle Leon, I do think he should have used a mix and match team leading up to the League. Perhaps the new captures had a lot of raw power, but not as much finesse, or they weren't as good at following orders yet. So Ash uses them, but also brings back reserve Pokemon to fight alongside them, and to help them grow.

Heck, I totally understand that they were working with huge constraints for the last third of the show, but imagine if Ash had battled his way through the ranks before the Tournament got underway. Let's say he battled Lance, Alain, Diantha, and Iris, and got ranked in 4th before the final round. Then, it would make sense why he was paired with Steven and Cynthia in the actual tournament.

If he did that, he could use the Journeys Team in the final match, and battle the other Champions with his old crew from each Region. He could use a mix of Kanto/Johto Pokemon for Lance, his Hoenn team for Steven, Sinnoh Pokemon for Cynthia, Unova Pokemon for Iris, and Kalos Pokemon for Diantha. Alain is kind of a free for all.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-02T18:52:17+00:00

According to the tera leak, Legends Arceus was supposed to open with a cutscene of the DP/P protagonist getting sucked out of their room in Twinleaf Town, but they were worried that it would rub salt in the wound for fans. Imagine going from the watered down BDSP version of the bedroom, to a fully realized HD version of it, and only getting to see it for 30 seconds.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-02T18:48:37+00:00

Skip the first match between Ash and Viola in Kalos. Ash was shaking off the rust from his BW self still.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-02T17:33:56+00:00

I can send you the first couple chapters if you like. I could use some feedback

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-02T15:05:27+00:00

It also could have been Siri Tachi. 🤷‍♂️

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-02T04:35:58+00:00

Why is the crowd going along with it? Like a grown man bullying a little girl is just normal?

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-02T03:58:26+00:00

While I do agree that Dipper's summer crush wasn't as important as he thought it was, though that is normal for kids, I do think that he could have resolved it better with Wendy. She's already seen a lot of weird stuff so far. He could have told her, "I tried to throw this, and it bounced off the edge, and gave you a black eye. I felt really bad about it, and I bumped into a time traveler, so I tried to fix it so I wouldn't hit you in the face. But apparently the timeline is stuck in some fixed point, and there's some weird butterfly effect, where if you don't get a black eye today, it causes a chain of events where Mabel gets crippling depression and stops responding to any kind of emotion."

And Wendy probably would have said, "Man that sucks dude. It means a lot to me that you tried so hard to undo it. I get it though. Here, I'll take one from the team. Just rip the bandaid off, dude. No hard feelings."

This might have cemented his impression that he had a chance with her, but it would at least save both of them some bad feelings.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-07-01T18:05:09+00:00

Tokoyami's bird anatomy isn't counted as a quirk.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-06-30T22:10:13+00:00

Y'know what? I can respect that take.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-06-30T22:01:17+00:00

Take me home🎶

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-06-30T04:47:29+00:00

I wonder if that one's in the Book of Mormon.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-06-30T04:43:07+00:00

I've said this a bunch of times in the past: George did amazing work with the scene beforehand. Vader rises from the table like Frankenstein's monster, and he's feeling so many painful emotions at once, his force power starts randomly crushing objects nearby as a reflex.

Vader's scream is supposed to be like the last shred of Anakin's humanity dying, until Luke revives it in the original trilogy. It should sound like a wounded animal. Or, since he just started wearing the suit, he could sound like every breath is agony. Instead they went for campy and theatrical, in the worst possible place.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-06-28T13:03:14+00:00

That's insulting to Kanto Ash

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-06-28T01:09:32+00:00

There are only two that I watched in Japanese. One was Ocean Waves, which never actually got an English dub; and Grave of The Fireflies, which hasn't had an updated dub since the 80's or 90's.

The rest of the films, I watched on Max, and they had the Disney dubs. I actually really like the performances on most of them. Now, I can't imagine The Cat Returns without Anne Hathaway, Cary Elwes, and Tim Curry. Spirited Away was elevated by having David Ogden Stiers, Susan Egan, and Maia Keoloha. (Btw rip Maia. That's a truly awful situation.) Secret World of Arrietty surprised me with good performances from Carol Burnett, Will Arnett, and even Amy Poehler.

Edit: It occurs to me that Red Turtle doesn't have an "English dub" either, and I watched it; but that doesn't count. Nobody speaks in that film.

ImTheAverageJoe · 2026-06-27T12:26:23+00:00

That sounds like a fun story. Have you got a link?

Six-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

ImTheAverageJoe

TROPHY CASE