#and its not something that can be snapped away like how palkia works with hero and partner

[vaugarde]

Current worry about Starfall’s themes and Asha’s arc in particular is that it parallels the Darkrai arc a liiittle too well

[punz4lyfe]

Now you've been asked what you do like about him what about the opposite what don't you like about goh?

Aw man, this is gonna hurt.

TL;DR - Goh’s a completely lovable character, but I have three particular issues with him that I feel could become worse if not taken care of properly.

First off, DISCLAIMERS!! To all my fellow Goh fans, please know that writing this, I do not mean any hatred to Goh in anyway. I LOVE Goh, and if you’ve seen literally ANY of my past anipoke posts, you would already know that. These are just issues I find with his character that I want to be changed for the best.

Now with that outta the way, here’s what I don’t like about Goh:

1. His iffy character development. While he’s doing fine in becoming more open to people and more willing to help Pokemon, his fighting skills are what I have trouble with it. Let’s go back to his first ever official battle.

It was at Hoenn’s Frontier Cup where he used Scorbunny and Scyther against a trainer’s Mightyena. Despite having a type advantage with Scyther, he lost horribly, which is completely understandable. He’s a beginner and doesn’t possess the same kind of street smarts and experience Ash and many other trainers have. Alright then, so maybe this will lead to a change in character of wanting to become better in battles by getting some training with Ash, who made quick work of that Mightyena trainer. Surely we’ll get some development over this topic after this episode!

He beats Saffron City’s Karate Master and scores a free Hitmonchan.

...Okaaaay, I mean, we’ve never seen the Karate Master in battle before, so perhaps it was just another fodder trainer the anime is filled of. I sure we’ll get some more Goh development after thi-

He easily defeats and captures a powerful Flygon.

.....Alright, alright, it was only a wild Pokemon. Everyone can beat those, right? Heck, in the next episode, he technically suffers a curbstomp loss against Kiawe and admits he only battles Ash every so often. Perhaps this loss will encourage Goh to train more with Ash so he could become a stronger trainer. I mean, despite his good luck with Pokeballs, he’s gonna need to be as strong as he can be for tougher mons, like Legendaries. I’m 100% sure we’ll get something out of thi-

He takes down a wild Zapdos and NEARLY captures it.

.........Uh, okie dokes, it wasn’t a successful capture, and who knows? Even though we have not seen him battle/train that much on-screen, maybe he just got a little lucky. Even in the games, it happens to the best of us. Perhaps this barely missed victory will finally give Goh the time to actually development more on-screen so that he could have a better chance agai-

He defeats Oleana’s Milotic, using his fire-type Raboot who only wanted to use a weak fire-type move.

..............Allllriiiiight, maybe Oleana just got a little cocky later on. Plus, Raboot finished Milotic by evolving in Cinderace and finishing it off with Pyro Ball. With this powerful evolution in hand, maybe Goh will finally realize that, in order for Cinderace to reach its greatest potential, he must start training for once and obtain some proper development for a chance against stronger threa-

Cinderace fights decently well against Mewtwo, even lasting longer than Pikachu and being on-par with the more trained Lucario.

....................At this point, I’m all out of excuses for him. Overall, Goh’s development as a trainer is very rushed to the point seeing him achieve numerous victories despite all odds being against his favor to be iffy.

2. Slightly touchy topic, but there are some negatives with his whole catching all Pokemon goal. So Goh wants to catch every single mon he can in order to reach up to Mew, as he said to Mewtwo in episode 46. And yes, this includes Legendaries as well. Unfortunately, this is where my issues with his goal starts. First off, where in the world will Goh keep any Legendary he encounters? Cerise’s glorified garden dome? Yeah, keep Dialga and Palkia, literal beings of space and time, inside a glass dome with a bunch of weaker mons. And speaking of which, wouldn’t catching mons like the Creation Trio or the Island Guardians cause quite the upset in, well, y’know, the natural balance of things? Sure, Goh technically hasn’t caught a single Legendary yet (Eternatus doesn’t count because it had to be sealed away), with how the anime is playing out, issues like this will surely rise throughout the series.

And yes, the anime is playing it out for Goh to indeed catch every single mon before reaching Mew. If you pay attention to the openings as well as many of Goh’s own character moments, such as episode 46, then you can easily see the signs telling us that Goh is bound to catch them all, just as Ash is bound on defeating Leon. In the past, pretty much all of Ash’s traveling companions had their own goals as well, but it’s usually because of those goals is why they leave Ash by the end of their journeys, like May and Dawn pursuing contests in other regions, Brock wanting to become a doctor, Iris wanting to find more Dragon types, Kiawe wanting to become an Island Kahuna etc. Because of that, it becomes up to the audience’s interpretation (and fanfics) on how they achieve their dreams and what challenges they could face throughout the way. With Goh, there will a lot more focus and emphasis placed on his goal, and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s too bad there aren’t really any stakes or obstacles in Goh’s journey!

Really now, another glaring issue with Goh’s goal is that he has NO trouble going through with it at all. From his very first fodder capture, all he has to do is get a good throw and then PING! Pokemon caught. Guess the thing of having to weaken a Pokemon first before capturing it has been retconned out of the anime forever. With that said, there’s absolutely no struggle for Goh to overcome in his journey, which kinda makes things boring. Where’s the challenge? Where are his rivals? Are there any doubts? Does he have any issue of having to catch and connect every single mon in existence? No, well then good for him I guess! Sad thing too is that he catches so many Pokemon with so much potential, but they then disappear completely after their debut.

Remember that free Hitmonchan he scored from Saffron’s Fighting Dojo who seemed completely willing to train with Riolu and Farfetch’d? Never seen again. That female Raichu who loves giving berries? Completely forgotten about. That Aerodactyl Goh resurrected and bonded with before catching? Thanos snapped. The Heracross Goh obtained from a trade at the cost of a second Pinsir he worked hard to find? Literally who?

3. And my biggest issue with Goh. The fact he’s somehow on the same scale as Ash.

Don’t believe me? Well, let’s go back to the ending of episode 46. After Mewtwo teleported him, Ash, Pikachu, Lucario, and Cinderace back home, Goh said this: “We’ve still got a long way to go.”

Excuse me, but WHAT?!?!?!

You BOTH got a long way to go, even though you both suffered a complete curbstomp from a mon that would probably even make the likes of Lance, Cynthia, and Leon comparable to Youngster Joey?!?! What the Distortion World?!?! Why is Goh and, by extension, the writers implying he and Ash are on even terms when it comes to being a trainer? Goh, as a reminder, you literally only began your trainer career 45 episodes ago!!

Alright, let’s talk about Ash for a second and what he’s been through since he started his trainer career. Ash started in Kanto, and while he really only fairly achieved three out of his eight badges (Brock and Misty’s were givens, Erika’s was a thank-you gift, Sabrina’s was all Haunter’s doing, and Jessie and James are complete jokes that no one should take seriously), he still partook in as many battles as he could against tough trainers while getting some pointers from the much more experienced Misty and Brock. After that, he went on to become a much more impressive trainer in later journeys. Instead of a full recap, I’ll just list two impressive things Ash has done in each region he’s journeyed through after losing in the Kanto League.

Orange Islands: Won his first official double battle with Pikachu and Charizard despite neither initially getting along at first and then defeated the Orange League champ, Drake.

Johto: Survived an entire forest of bloodthirsty Ursaring with his friends and defeated Gary’s Blastoise with his Charizard.

Hoenn: Helped stopped both Team Magma and Team Aqua’s elemental threats and reached Top 8 in the Hoenn League despite only two of his mons being fully evolved with one being a glass cannon bird.

Kanto again: Conquered the Battle Frontier and tied with May in his first ever contest.

Sinnoh: Helped protect a Riolu from the famed Hunter J and knocked out two of Tobias’ Legendary Pokemon.

Unova: Defeated Iris’ Dragonite twice (Charizard pretty much had the high ground in their fight) and helped protect Meloetta.

Kalos: Defeated four Mega Evolutions (Lucario, Abomasnow, Absol, and Sceptile) and was one of the main heroes against Lysandre.

Alola: Became an Ultra Guardian and conquered the Alola League.

And right now as of Journeys: Defeated Korinna’s Mienfoo and Mega Lucario with only Dragonite right after the two curbstomped Gengar and defeated Chairman Rose.

And this isn’t even scratching the surface, and yet, somehow, Ash is still on the same scale of Goh. This doesn’t make any logical sense, it completely negates Ash’s experience while over-wanking Goh’s, and it ruins any semblance of power scaling between the two. Logically, Ash should be leagues above Goh and the latter should always confide to Ash whenever he needs assistance or pointers, not “Oh, we both lost to a powerful legendary, guess that means we both have stuff to learn and we’re both beginners lul”. It’s like Deku and All Might both losing a villain that’s beyond both of their capabilities, and then Deku saying that they BOTH have much to learn afterwards! Does it make sense? HECK NO.

If they had to have Goh comment about their loss, why couldn’t he say something that would’ve made more sense? Maybe say something like “Wow, I can’t believe I lasted that long, honestly.” And then Ash would say, “Hey, you’re only getting better. And me and my team will always be there in case you need more training.” Have the two acknowledge the fact that even trainers like Leon wouldn’t fare any better than them against Mewtwo. Just absolutely anything that doesn’t completely ruin what we know of these characters to the point the two are considered equals, despite all the evidence saying otherwise.

I’m getting a little exhausted now, so I’m done, but thanks for asking, anon!

And for anyone reading, please feel free to agree or disagree. I’m completely acceptable to anyone else’s thoughts/opinions over Goh and would love to hear them.

[nelvana]

Intermission

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which two allies return from their journey together Previous: In which the judge is spoken to

    Temporal Tower stood out far away from any of the continents, though closest to the Grass Continent. This structure was built on a single, floating stone island. A few other of these islands surrounded it, but none of them had the same mass as the one that had to support the Temporal Tower.

    Standing at the top of this tower, was the legendary pokemon of time, Dialga. They slowly looked over their home, leaning down to peer down the sides to make sure everything was holding strong. This was a routine they had developed for themself; only after they were certain that the Temporal Tower wasn’t going to crumble and that all the time gears were in place that they would allow themself to relax.

    With that morning task out of the way, Dialga was able to breath out a breath of relief and simply stare out into the horizon. If they completed this early enough, there would still be time to watch the sunrise. Staring out into the peaceful morning always brought ease to their very being, so they would often stand still in place until the sun had fully risen.

    However, this morning there were some difficult thoughts plaguing their mind. In fact, as much as they disliked admitting it, this had been worrying them for many days now, and they had just elected to ignore it. As selfish as it was, they had just wanted to be able to relax for just a little bit longer. It was absolutely irresponsible, and they knew it, but part of them had been hoping the problem would fix itself. At this point though, it was becoming painfully obvious how much of a danger this could become.

    Dialga let out a sigh, “Celebi, it’s time we speak about the world’s balance,” they announced.

    From behind Dialga, the green pixie pokemon fluttered over to the much larger pokemon. Celebi wasn’t even anywhere near the size of the god’s head, but they still made sure that they were noticed by their companion as they moved. Celebi did not make eye contact with Dialga, instead choosing to hover beside them and stare out into the horizon as well.

    “Ah, finally,” Celebi murmured, “where would you like to start?” they asked.

    “As I’m sure you’ve noticed,” Dialga began, “the world’s balance has not been properly restored. It should have restored itself with the flow of time righted, however something has been delaying it. Something, or someone, has been keeping the world still out of balance.”

    Dialga spoke aloud in a hushed voice, as to not be deafening in comparison to their smaller friend. In the past, the pair would communicate through telepathy to solve this problem, but in recent times Dialga had come to prefer speaking out loud. It was comforting to them to hear themself able to properly speak softly, instead of hearing abysmal roaring. While they had not said so, Celebi seemed to agree, and begun speaking as well to avoid it sounding like a one-sided conversation.

    Celebi nodded courtly, “yes, I have noticed that. It is Palkia’s doing.”

    Again, Dialga sighed, turning away this time, “…I knew that,” they admitted, “I had just hoped that it would not be the case.”

    “Denial will not help us any,” Celebi told them, “Palkia is most certainly the cause.”

    “The question is… why?” Dialga questioned.

    “That, I am not certain of quite yet…” Celebi now turned to look at Dialga. “I assumed you would have known. Can you not sense anything from your kin?”

    Dialga slowly shook their head, “no, I cannot. It would seem as if Palkia has found a way to completely block me off.

    “I… didn’t think that was possible,” Celebi commented, blinking. “They must be aware of what they’re doing then. Revenge, perhaps?”

    “Palkia isn’t the sort to go for revenge. And even if so, their quarrel would be just with me,” Dialga replied, “no need to involve anything, or anyone else. Seeing as they’ve been delaying the restoration of the world’s balance, this must be more than just revenge.”

    “What do you suppose then?”

    Dialga opened their mouth only to close it. Their throat was dry. They looked down at their feet, which were the same as ever. Blue, just blue, no orange, no glowing. The tower still stood solidly under them. As a quietness from the lack of either of them speaking crept in, Dialga could listen to their heartbeat. Always keeping the same rhythm, the same strength. They took in a deep breath, slowly exhaling as they sorted out their thoughts.

    “I believe… Palkia may be going primal,” Dialga finally answered.

    Celebi paled, “you think so…? But how come? Nothing has happened to prompt that.”

    “It’s just… it’s just a theory. I’m not sure if it’s the case,” Dialga responded all too hastily. “I’m not sure why that would happen, but there aren’t that many other possibilities.”

    “I see.” Celebi swallowed, looking away again for a moment, but their gaze was drawn back to the worried legendary. “Either way, there is not much we can do about that at the moment. We shall have to see how this all goes,” they continued.

    “We cannot just sit back on this for much longer though,” Dialga murmured.

    “Agreed. For now, we will collect more data on the situation. You know that if Palkia has gone primal… you won’t be able to beat them in a fight,” Celebi replied, “you may need to collect more allies if it comes to a fight.”

    “I have you,” Dialga pointed out, looking back up.

    Celebi laughed, but it carried no joy with it, “you and I both know that I am not much help against a primal legendary,” they said darkly, their expression creasing back into a small frown.

    Dialga’s throat felt dry again, “you would still be a help.”

    “Hm, I suppose so,” Celebi hummed, crossing their arms behind their back.

    There was a pause between the pair; the strain of their relationship hanging in the air. Dialga knew what Celebi meant with those comments. Celebi had died in the other timeline to Primal Dialga, after all. The both of them were connected to the flow of time, they both clearly remembered what happened. And no matter how many times they could apologize, they would never have the same friendship as they had had before.

    Again, Dialga opened their mouth to speak, but then reconsidered and closed it again. They opted to stare out into the horizon again, which had long since faded into the plain blue of the sky decorated with puffy white clouds. Celebi, however, kept their gaze focused on the temporal pokemon, working up the courage to speak instead.

    “There is something on your mind. Speak up,” Celebi instructed firmly.

    Dialga chuckled quietly at themself; of course it would have been foolish to try hiding their feelings from a psychic-type, especially one that knew them so well.

    “You said that we should be considering gathering more allies… truth be told, I have been thinking over that myself,” Dialga began.

    “And?” Celebi prompted.

    “There is someone… from the other future, who I’d like to bring back here for a second chance,” Dialga told them.

    Celebi furrowed their brows with displeasure, “him?” they questioned, already knowing who this “someone” was. “You think that he deserves another chance on this plane?”

    “Yes, I do,” Dialga replied confidently, lifting their head up. “Dusknoir was not the best person in the time he got to live, but that was because he had the misfortune of being under… my influence. He could become a better person if given the opportunity.”

    “Mm... Sure, let’s say I believe that. Why bother bringing them back? We can find allies elsewhere; without risking ruining the world’s balance more than it already is,” Celebi huffed, bringing their arms up to cross them in front of their chest.

    “Because,” Dialga sighed, “they were incredibly loyal, and they got nothing out of that. I feel that I should repay that somehow,” they told them, “and, while your concern is understandable, bringing him back won’t destroy the world’s balance completely. I know how to do that safely. There have already been four pokemon brought back from that realm; he won’t tip everything over.”

    “Four?” Celebi repeated, “I thought there had only been three.”

    “Ah, you are thinking of the time travelling heroes. Yes, there were three in that group. The human, the grovyle, and… your successor. They were all brought back, but that was weeks ago,” Dialga responded, “recently, a fourth was brought back. Not someone from that timeline, but a cursed spirit guide. The curse was broken ahead of its time, and they have been brought back to life.”

    “Hmph, so you’re certain then that bringing Dusknoir back would not harm the world’s balance?” Celebi asked.

    Dialga nodded, “I am.”

    Celebi paused, thinking this over before shaking their head, “I still do not agree with this. He should not be brought back, even if you think he should be blessed with such a second chance,” they told them, “this is a bad idea.”

    “What makes you think that?” Dialga questioned, leaning closer to their companion. “You are my advisor; I’m always willing to listen if you think.”

    “I…” For once, Celebi seemed to be having difficulties forming together their thoughts into words. “He’s a murderer, Dialga. Have you forgotten? He felt no guilt for killing hundreds, directly or indirectly, just because you told him to. You may not have been in your right mind, but he always was,” they spat.

    “He can change,” Dialga insisted.

    “How do you know?” Celebi snapped, whirling to fully face Dialga. “How do you really know? He was just a servant to Primal Dialga, you don’t know him.”

    “Neither do you,” Dialga responded.

    “I know enough to know that this is a bad idea,” Celebi growled, turning away again and letting out a sigh. “But you know what? Fine. You do what you want. I can’t really stop you. I never could.”

    “Celebi.” Dialga stepped over to have the smaller pokemon be facing them again. “I don’t appreciate you trying to manipulate my decision by guilting me.”

    Celebi barely noticeably stiffening at being called out, but slowly relaxed again. Dialga sighed, reminding themself to relax again as well. They didn’t want to lose their temper.

    “However,” they continued, “I do want to respect your opinion on the subject. I will think this over some more. You are right, it is an important decision to make. And… if it does turn out poorly, know that I will accept the consequences of that and do my best to fix it,” they assured them, “I’ll add as well, that if Palkia really does go primal… being picky about our allies won’t help us any.”

    “…fine. I’ll trust you on this,” Celebi finally replied, “and I apologize for acting in such a way. I just…”

    “I know. It’s alright; I understand.”

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which two allies return from their journey together Previous: In which the judge is spoken to