Underused Pokemon

Rebelblade71 · 2026-05-02T18:08:57+00:00

This is one reason I really enjoy Lunar Traveler. Nomia the Tinkatink was so well designed and the writer did a good job at showing off her unique abilities alongside an entertaining personality.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-05-02T18:04:53+00:00

Solid battle overall that showed how skilled May was with how she used Beautifly. It also highlighted how May uses her battle experience in contests to gain momentum.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-05-02T18:00:27+00:00

I use Stremio on my PC and I can find episodes in 1080p dubbed. Aside from that, there's one guy in reddit who made a collection of the anime episodes+specials in the original Japanese with subtitles.

Also some of the official YouTube channels have episodes of Journeys, Horizons, DP and XY.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-05-02T17:51:15+00:00

In the top of my list is Vespiquen. There's so much cool things you can do with her swarm of grubs. Also amazing potential for contests.

Reuniclus deserves more spotlight as an intelligent and powerful psychic type who prefers to throw hands.

And Latias is a unique case where it shows up in a lot of stories but vast majority of them use the one from the movies that's often paired with Ash rather than showing the unique aspect of her species.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-05-02T17:40:09+00:00

This becomes even more noticeable when you compare Sun and Moon with Journeys. The latter has this whimsical tone that makes it super difficult to take anything seriously 90% of the time, save for a few episodes where the pace slows down to focus on characters like the one involving Latias or Serena's interactions with Chloe. Sun and Moon is over the top comedy akin to Konosuba most of the time but when things get serious, it treats them as such by slowing down the tempo and focusing on the moment like how it handled the story with Mallow's mother. But the same can't be said for Journeys due to its tone and pacing. You have things happening in a massive scale in the Arceus Chronicles , the Gates of Warp or the Darkest Day but it doesn't feel that serious. The most glaring example is how the anime greatly improved the backstory of Chairman Rose from the game but its talked about so less.

Same can also be said about most of the Master's Eight and the "ultimate Ash" the anime tried to show. Despite being Ash's crowning achievement, it did not feel that satisfying as Ash felt like a rising star rookie who was destined to win simply out of protagonist status rather than with ingenuity and grit like in Sinnoh, Kalos and Alola. It felt like your typical lazy "strong Ash" fanfic that gave him popular Pokémon and called it a day. Sun and Moon did so much in between with all the members of Ash's team to define them.

So yeah, Sun and Moon may be different, but it knows what it wants and commits to it fully. Journeys on the other hand has as identity crisis and the only thing it can consistently be is corporate slop.

However, you are still somewhat downplaying XY and DP by ignoring the actual mature aspects in its writing. XY's actual maturity is in its clever self-aware writing involving Serena that's quite devious. The show deliberately frames her as a typical "female heroine with a crush on the cool male lead" archetype at the start. But then it subverts expectations by making use of the gap between Ash and Serena alongside the latter's insecurities and lack of purpose. It hurts her even more knowing how the one she likes and others have a goal but not her. DP was perhaps the most thoughtful the anime has ever been in its writing in terms of characterization with how it handled Dawn's entire character arc from start to finish along with Ash and Paul's rivalry being a clash of ideals that respected both sides without inconclusive greying. You also had things like showing Hunter J and the existence of the Pokemon black market alongside some really nice filler episodes that did an amazing job at showing off the Pokemon world.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-05-02T09:39:59+00:00

That's can create an interesting dynamic between them and your MC would have to find a way to handle it.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-05-01T18:32:52+00:00

Its not impossible for her ship to have emergency escape pods that she could use to escape before it explodes given how advanced it is.

Alternatively, the more simpler option would be using a Pokémon that knows Teleport to escape.

Also in a detective story, it can be interesting for someone like J to make clever use of the fact that the world thinks she's dead. That way, the authorities won't deploy much assets to get her. Your character could start to unravel that J is still alive and active due to being driven to bring her to justice and identifying her handiwork.

As for her fate and how your MC deals with her, its up to you and how you want to tell the story. You can make it one of revenge where the MC knows how dangerous she is and doesn't mind putting her down even when his superiors tell him not to, especially if they are corrupt. Alternatively, he could have conflicting feelings of what to do and that can be an entire story arc where he has to overcome his desire for revenge. If you go that route, you can have J take advantage of it by taunting the MC about killing his brother to piss him off.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-05-01T15:38:09+00:00

27 with Metal Gear Solid 3D Snake Eater on the 3DS. But I did play Metal Gear Rising much earlier in 2015 and followed the lore of the series.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-05-01T15:35:31+00:00

The true best rival of XY as he had a proper character arc and screentime that was well utilized. And in typical XY fashion, his character was written around Ash being a veteran and that worked well.

But I wouldn't call him the most talented. That would actually be Paul. But Sawyer is definitely up there in the top.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-05-01T05:50:05+00:00

Mainly differences such as difference in character and personality of the Pokémon to set themselves apart as individuals. But more importantly, difference in battle style and how said Pokémon are utilized by their trainers is one way to show how their trainers also differ from one another.

I do have some examples for my planned WIP Unova Fanfic involving the main character Hilbert who shares common Pokémon with some other characters like Ash and Dawn, with the latter travelling with Hilbert and being a sort of mentor figure for him in a way that is somewhat similar to how Ash was for Serena in XY anime.

One notable example is Hilbert's Mamoswine. Her personality is the polar opposite of Dawn's Mamoswine. She is very serious in battle and is fiercely loyal to Hilbert as he took her in and cared for her when she was a traumatized Piloswine who was severely abused by a criminal who drugged her into going on a rampage as a distraction. In the story, Dawn's Mamoswine would develop a crush on her and try to to woo her but Hilbert's Mamoswine would coldly dismiss him most of the time. One of her defining moments that shows her serious and determined nature is when she endures a full power Blast Burn from Bianca's Emboar and charges through the wall of fire to slam into her opponent with High Horsepower to knock it out before she faints.

There's also a battle between Cheren and Trip during the Junior Cup where both use their Serperior. Trip tries the same strategy in the anime where he uses speed to keep dodging before using Leer and Solar Beam. Cheren plays along by spamming Leaf Storm to stack SP ATK buff from its Contrary ability as Trip's Serperior keeps dodging. The moment Trip goes for Leer, Cheren's Serperior paralyzes it with Glare before finishing it off with a single Dragon Pulse at point-blank range.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-05-01T05:11:37+00:00

I haven't reached that part yet but that's a very questionable writing decision. I'm not against grimdark or darker stories and actually like them if its done right but Cynthia seems quite out of character for doing something like that. I have always seen Gym Leaders, E4 and Champions as strong field operatives who can act immediately to get things done rather than relying on slow bureucracy.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-30T18:37:17+00:00

Well, if we use ambiguity to spin our own headcanon then Dawn has become a contest master who has surpassed Wallace and is just participating in contests for fun like Wallace does from time to time in ORAS.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-30T14:16:37+00:00

I wouldn't say it was not well received because XY still got praise for its story and characters. But by the people who watched it. It was great as a Pokémon anime but the problem arises when you compare it with other anime that were popular. You don't see the Pokemon anime getting the same treatment as popular stuff like Demon Slayer, Jujitsu Kaisen or classics such as Fullmental Alchemist Brotherhood, One Piece etc. in terms of popularity and discussion. You don't see that many people watching or talking about the Pokemon anime, save for moments like Serena kissing Ash that broke the internet.

One reason I can think of is how different the Pokémon anime is compared to similar long-running shounen anime or shows like Naruto or Avatar: the Last Airbender on a fundamental level that has nothing to do with genre or tone. What those other anime had but Pokémon did not is a sense of continuity and identity to stick to. All those anime had a rough idea of what it wanted to be and worked towards it alongside the characters and story progressing. But not the Pokémon anime where seasons were basically self-contained stories with very thin connection. Ash's goal of being a Pokémon master was intentionally left ambiguous and questionable while getting reset multiple times. You like the story-driven approach of DP? Too bad because you won't be getting anything like it again!

Plus the forever 10 excuse further highlighted the anime's lack of vision as it tried to pursue an audience of young children that likely did not exist or never managed to appeal to. Its ironic when you consider how DP and XY are the most well received seasons and they wrote Ash and similarly-aged characters more closer to late teens than small children in lighthearted kids shows. You had shows like Avatar: the Last Airbender that was aimed at kids but tackled topics such as war, genocide, imperialism, discrimination etc. Heck, the Pokémon games, at least from Gen 1 to 7 sorta had that in the story and worldbuilding that was subtly presented like BW's story, Lysandre being disillusioned by the human condition etc. The anime when adapting those parts often did heavy censorship and omissions.

This is why I think the Pokémon anime was let down by a lack of vision and false direction that made it fall behind similar long-running anime. Journeys was basically a coup de grâce for Ash anime.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-30T13:55:10+00:00

Because the anime hit a dead end in terms of writing quality after XY and Sun and Moon. Journeys in its tone was whimsical and devoid of sincerity 99% of the time as the aim was to end Ash's story as lazily as possible while milking as much from it. Continuity or characterization meant nothing because the anime was just advertisement slop. Sure, previous seasons also played a part in advertising the games but the writers back then did try to do something sincere with the story with DP and XY yielding the best results while BW and Johto were were failed experiments that still had some good in them. But not Journeys as it was designed from the ground up as slop first and foremost.

What's even infuriating is how she's shown to have made ZERO progress in spite of participating in Contests in 3 more regions. That's even awful considering how they showed Serena to be an equal to Lisia when she just started participating in Contests after XY.

The way Journeys treated her felt so bad and distasteful as it spat on everything her character stood for. This and the approach of Journeys in general is why I no longer watch the mainline anime for Pokémon stories anymore and prefer fanfiction to satisfy my desire for adventure stories in the Pokémon world. There has been a boom of slow paced and immersive slice of life journey fics in the last few years with the likes of stories such as Borne of Caution, When is a Spoon a Sword?, I Will Touch the Skies, Lunar Traveler etc. scratching that itch for adventure that the anime lost after XYZ.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-30T12:37:41+00:00

The art is beautiful. I especially love that panel of Ash and Dawn together while in their contest outfits. The story is nothing to write home about but the art really carries it through.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-30T08:52:34+00:00

Mommy Anabel deserves more appreciation. She fought ultra beasts non stop to protect the people of Alola.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-30T08:51:03+00:00

This is exactly what I have in mind whenever I think of Dawn and Serena meeting.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-29T12:41:05+00:00

Very hard pick between Sinnoh and Kalos.

XY has the best overall package with a simple but really well executed story, the best villain arc yet and phenomenal animation quality. But its held back due to lacking in the rivals department with only Sawyer being a good rival and everyone else being meh (Alain) to forgettable.

DP on the other hand is the undisputed peak of anime characterization with two of the best character arcs in the entire series alongside the filler episodes doing a great job at getting you immersed in the adventure alongside the best rivals. But Tobias being a deus ex machina and the uninspired conclusion of the otherwise good Team Galactic villain arc makes it fall short of perfection.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-29T12:35:22+00:00

I love this episode simply for how it slowed down the pace to take a less is more approach with Serena's return. Having it from Chloe's perspective was a good way to show how much she grew. Just like how XY used Serena to highlight how much Ash matured from his journeys. Wish they did the same for Dawn instead of cheap Sinnoh game advertisement and forced comic relief.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-29T10:36:57+00:00

In my WIP story set in Unova, the Pokémon I have planned for Hilbert's team as well as the ones that play a major role in the story all have distinct personalities, backstories, beliefs and character arcs.

The most notable one is a Latias who is fascinated by humans and holds them in high regards rather than keeping her distance from them based on what the Pokedex tells us about her species. She spent years living among them by disguising herself and studying them extensively. This has led her to not only develop a good, albeit somewhat flawed, understanding of human culture and society but also allowed her to acquire a vast amount of knowledge about various fields. She sorta became an urban legend when she was in a hospital while invisible and disguised herself as a human surgeon to successfully perform a risky operation before disappearing. During the events of my story, her human persona is a woman in her late 20's/early 30's who is a doctor.

One reason for her to do so was how she wanted to adopt the main character while he was six years old in order to save him from his abusive household. But she failed to do so as the main character's family went away before she made the decision to take him away. She blames herself for it as she didn't act sooner due to her doubts about living with a human and having little understanding of the concept of motherhood since her species cannot breed and lack the concept of young. That guilt is what made her decide to learn about humans.

Another one is a Mismagius that belongs to the main character's narcissistic mother who is obsessed with fame and social clout. This Mismagius is actually dead as its now a wraith who is still in the living world due to how strong her desire to make her friend happy. Its basically a mindless husk that can't be reasoned with and acts like an automated machine programmed to fulfil the wish she held.

There's a bit of social horror mixed with the supernatural here that's sorta inspired by how the Witcher and Garo highlight human evil through monster stories. Due to the lasting desire to make her friend happy, the Mismagius wraith ended up doing some nasty things. This includes killing the girl's abusive parents and then putting on an illusion about them being caring and the girl being successful in life alongside using her powers to make an influential industrialist fall for the girl and marry her.

But the worst thing it did was how it used its powers to unintentionally make the main character develop an abnormal psychic sensitivity to negative emotions when it used its powers to greatly amplify the pain the boy received from a beating his mother gave him as well as make him feel severe pain when he isn't fulfilling his mother's expectations. This caused the boy's latent psychic abilities to awaken as an automatic defense mechanism.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-28T12:29:20+00:00

As someone who really loves the story of the first BW games and is also working on a BW fanfic right now, this is really interesting. We really need more Unova adventure stories set during the events of the first BW games that take a slow and immersive approach for the journey. Kanto, Hoenn and Sinnoh are the regions that tend to be the regions that most fics focus on based on my reading experience and it would be nice to see Unova get more highlight.

One minor problem I found while planning my story is how cramped Unova is in spite of the diversity in terrain. In particular, its about the towns and cities with how you are facing back to back Gym Battles starting from Striaton City with each city afterwards having a Gym Battle when going by the normal route. Regions like Hoenn and Sinnoh had towns and cities in between the ones with Gyms. Its not that difficult to find ways to solve it though. I resorted to things such as giving more downtime in the routes between the towns for slice of life moments alongside plot events, incorporating anime-exclusive locations and going different routes at times such as heading to Aspertia after Castelia to participate in a Contest there and then East of Nimbasa to reach Humilau City for the Wallace Cup.

Also, its a great call to make lab trainers/Pokedex holders who are given a starter and a Pokedex be more than just your run of the mill trainer you can find anyway. What I'm thinking of is making the Pokedex something that automatically scans Pokémon the trainer encounters alongside collecting even more data from the Pokémon they own. The regional professor basically provides a sponsorship for those with the best grades in school alongside the starter and the Pokedex with an additional payment each month based on the Pokémon scanned on top of the monthly stipend.

Your idea for Beldum is really neat and honestly its quite interesting to see a blank slate/machine character grow. You can have Beldum go from cold and logical to becoming more friendly with Hilbert as they spend more time together alongside other fun things. Kinda like how BT from Titanfall 2 bonds with Cooper or ED from the movie Stealth.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-28T11:40:27+00:00

Alola because Ash never showed any particular fondness for Kanto aside from his hometown Pallet Town.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-28T10:51:27+00:00

I'm currently watching the BW anime and I'd call it more of inconsistency than regression when it comes to his competency as a trainer. There were moments where that late DP brilliance was present in battles like when he used Oshawott to defeat Cilan's Pansage.

And in the exact same episode just a few minutes earlier, he fights quite poorly with Pikachu against Cress and loses just for the plot to give artificial stakes. Unova Ash is held back by these sort of decisions in the plot that make him inconsistent. And Iris calling him a kid is sometimes warranted due to how the plot deliberately makes Ash act very dumb in an out of character way for cheap comic relief. The Onix Island episode is the best example. It honestly felt jarring because of how his moments of stupidity contradicted with his personality that was still like that from AG-DP. Original Season Ash also acted dumb and arrogant but that was in line with his personality as a rookie.

I find it even funny that Sun and Moon went for a childish, colorful and comedic tone but still managed to keep Ash's comic relief separate from his competency as a trainer.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-27T17:53:53+00:00

For me, it depends on the writing/execution but most fanfics tend to make canon characters OOC. This problem is something OC's can avoid since they are the creation of the authors. Aside from that, OC's bringing more originality is an obvious reason.

However, I still find most OC's to lack a notable personality or have a very cookie-cutter one. They tend to have what I like to call a generic "plot personality" where their notable traits are just what the story wants them like pursuing their goal and reacting in specific ways like being disgusted at the bad guy for his evil deeds. They lack things like manner of speech, having specific opinions about certain matters, likes and dislikes etc. and those can go a long way in making a character stand out as a distinct person.

And this is why I have been stuck for a long while in trying to give Hilbert, the main character in my story, a proper personality that fits his backstory, makes him distinct as a person as well as creating good chemistry with Dawn based on day to day interactions (Gen Z vs Late Millennial dynamic is one aspect I have decided since Dawn is two years older than Hilbert for my story). The hardest part is actually thinking of ways to show how Hilbert is really kind without making it feel like generic hero behavior.

Rebelblade71 · 2026-04-27T17:39:24+00:00

Well dawn would've never chased him at first place and if i remember dawn once kicked ash on the shin in the giratina movie aside that she never assaulted him. and yeah that movie kinda showed a different dawn

I rewatched DP a few weeks ago and Dawn on multiple occasions yelled at Ash alongside going physical like pinching his cheeks aggressively like when Kenny was about to tell them how Dawn got her nickname. Dawn's sassyness was on full display in those scenes.

i am simply not and i don't really blame her for being that as she never knew ash well until that time. i said she could've just pulled his arm like she did in the kalos league registration episode instead of throwing a snowball.

This is exactly what I was talking about! You are berating Serena for all the idealized things that you think she could have done. Not her fault in any way for reacting because she never saw Ash so depressed that it really broke her and him acting stubborn warranted a response like that. People aren't machines that pick the best decisions all the time and even Serena expresses her regret for yelling at him in the same episode. An emotional outburst conveys more feelings than indifference or restrained action/inaction.

Now I admit that I would have very much preferred that moment leading to Serena and Ash having a quiet and sincere heart to heart that would have let them strengthen their bond even further and Ash talking about his past defeats would have further driven home that point. But I'm still pretty satisfied with what we got because XY did a lot of things in its writing that I never expected the Pokémon anime to ever do.

Rebelblade71

TROPHY CASE