Writer's Workshop General Chat Thread

[Kelleo]

@Kelleo; You kidding me? DPP had much, much better pokemon personalities. Did you forget Chimchar? Piplup? Turtwig (when it evolved? loved that part).

I disagree. I'll give you Chimchar, but the other Pokemon, I found to be forgettable. I could not forget any of the BW Pokemon though, they're all so awesome. Oshawott is my favorite, he's so cute. And I was mildly terrified of him at first because I thought Oshawott's design somewhat resembled a clown (and I have a fear of clowns).

Cilan is just a copy of Brock (who admittedly wasn't the best of characters).

What? No he isn't. They are two VERY different characters.

Brock: Womanizing breeder and ex-gym leader who comes from a large family.

Cilan: Pokemon connoisseur and gym leader who has many interests whose only known family is two brothers.

The only things these two have in common are that they can cook and are gym leaders. There are lots of gym leaders and I'm sure lots of people can cook. This does not make Cilan a copy of Brock.

[Flaze]

Oh yeah, Ash never used the counter shield again did he :( that was probably one of the best battle strategies I've seen in my life.

[TheLlama]

@Kelleo; Sorry, bad wording. Let me rephrase myself: "a copy of Brock's role". The flat, one-dimensional and gag-filled dude who hangs out with Ash. They both aim at being (or are) something rather obscure in the pokemon world (breeder/sommelier), which entails them to knowing a lot about pokemon. You see them flaunting their respective knowledge at many times (often as a mediocre plot device). The cooking, the navigation, the whole caring "older brother" role, I could go on. Their personalities are different, and there's differences in interests and what gags they run, but they have very similar roles in the party. Now, I don't consider Brock to be better, or even a good character, I'm just pointing out that they are similar in that context, hence him being a copy of Brock's role.

It's like how Iris is that girl who has this ambition to become a very good trainer with a certain type, but is really vague in her ambition at times (except for the plots of certain episodes) and follows Ash around for some whatever reason in the beginning then sticks with him because they want to be friends (now where have we seen that?). Don't forget being a tomboy, having much the same attitude towards Ash, etc. Except Iris isn't a good a character as Misty personality-wise (not yet anyway, still waiting for a pleasant surprise in development). Character quality aside (since that's not what I'm really comparing here), they have very similar roles. Just like May and Dawn had. Different personalities, to some extent, but the same role in the story. Max was only slightly refreshing with this - though he was kind of just a "younger-brother" and "Brock" hybrid in terms of his role.

I can go on and on and on, but I'll leave it at Trip and Gary (gosh, the arrogance is so different).

Quality-wise BW isn't that different from the original series, but it's reusing more formulas than the DP series ever did, or the Advance series did, and I find those two to be of better quality even when looking aside from the reuses. I don't care if their personalities are more distinct, I care if their personalities are more intriguing and deep, you don't need something distinct or extremely memorable for that (that said, I found them distinct and memorable). And that's where the difference between BW and DP lies for me, the former is heavier on reuse and cheap distinctions.

That said, I enjoy one or two of the pokemon characters in BW.

[Kelleo]

@Kelleo; Sorry, bad wording. Let me rephrase myself: "a copy of Brock's role". The flat, one-dimensional and gag-filled dude who hangs out with Ash. They both aim at being (or are) something rather obscure in the pokemon world (breeder/sommelier), which entails them to knowing a lot about pokemon. You see them flaunting their respective knowledge at many times (often as a mediocre plot device). The cooking, the navigation, the whole caring "older brother" role, I could go on. Their personalities are different, and there's differences in interests and what gags they run, but they have very similar roles in the party. Now, I don't consider Brock to be better, or even a good character, I'm just pointing out that they are similar in that context, hence him being a copy of Brock's role.

It's like how Iris is that girl who has this ambition to become a very good trainer with a certain type, but is really vague in her ambition at times (except for the plots of certain episodes) and follows Ash around for some whatever reason in the beginning then sticks with him because they want to be friends (now where have we seen that?). Don't forget being a tomboy, having much the same attitude towards Ash, etc. Except Iris isn't a good a character as Misty personality-wise (not yet anyway, still waiting for a pleasant surprise in development). Character quality aside (since that's not what I'm really comparing here), they have very similar roles. Just like May and Dawn had. Different personalities, to some extent, but the same role in the story. Max was only slightly refreshing with this - though he was kind of just a "younger-brother" and "Brock" hybrid in terms of his role.

I can go on and on and on, but I'll leave it at Trip and Gary (gosh, the arrogance is so different).

Quality-wise BW isn't that different from the original series, but it's reusing more formulas than the DP series ever did, or the Advance series did, and I find those two to be of better quality even when looking aside from the reuses. I don't care if their personalities are more distinct, I care if their personalities are more intriguing and deep, you don't need something distinct or extremely memorable for that (that said, I found them distinct and memorable). And that's where the difference between BW and DP lies for me, the former is heavier on reuse and cheap distinctions.

That said, I enjoy one or two of the pokemon characters in BW.

Well, whatever. I think we should just agree to disagree.

[Selemena]

My favourite series are Advanced and DP, and I can't really say which I like better. I think people look at the original/Johto series with rose-tinted glasses too often, personally. I don't like 90s anime as a rule, simply because the trend in art styles is towards the really pointy, and bright colours, whereas these days there's a lot more softness in art styles and pastel colours floating around. Pokemon is no exception - I didn't like how the original series looked (or sounded, for that matter) and I judge it based on that, as well as the generally below-par storytelling and masses of filler (though that has unfortunately stayed constant throughout). I don't like things because they were what I grew up with. While there is a special place in my heart for early-morning Cartoon Network of 12 years ago - Pokemon, Zoids, Beyblade - I try not to get that nostalgia mixed up when considering what makes a show 'good'.

omg Lindsey Stirling yes yes yes my favourite person in the whole world ever

[Kelleo]

Advanced is my least favorite. I've just never liked anything related to Hoenn that much. Imo, BW > DP > Johto > Kanto > Advanced.

[adiosToreador]

I stopped watching the anime after Johto, apart from a few episodes here and there of the other three series. Dawn was completely awful, and the Hoenn anime and games never really did it for me. As for BW, I just haven't had much interest in getting back into the anime. *leans back and chills in my rose-colored classes*

[ectoBiologist]

the anime sucks. i thought it was cool in the original series but then it just faltered completely. i will not watch it now.

[TheLlama]

@Kelleo; I already recognized as much. I was merely elaborating on my opinion, and I'd hope you would elaborate some more on yours (I'm curiou is all), oh well.

I actually find Advance to be my favorite after DP. I guess it's because I really, really liked Hoenn overall. DP-Advance-Johto-BW/Kanto is my opinion (can't decide between the latter tbh). The end of the Johto series was amazing, I especially loved the episode where the guys split ways. They mad a big point of it, after all that time, unlike some of the other series. The final battle with Gary was awesome. And so on. Overall I'm kind of split between Johto and Advance, but the latter wins me over I guess, because of interesting region.
@Misheard Whisper; I agree. Nostalgia is why most people enjoy the original pokemon series. Generally I often like the art style of the 90s, that dated look. I mean, quality-wise it's nothing compared to today, but some of them did quite well, and I tend to judge the art style based on that time period anyway (was it good/bad compared to the 90s in general?). Evangelion, Kenshin and Bebop are all series that did something right, not only with art, but with story and performance (well, Evangelion can be discussed in terms of story, but it's art style was brilliant for its time).

And yes, Lindsay Stirling is just. Awesome. Though I do have a friend who plays the violin very well and is at least as pretty :")

[Zekurom]

I dunno. Probably not in season three, but in season four... who knows?

LOL. You'd have to put me down as the guy who mysteriously disappeared some time ago.

[Kelleo]

@Kelleo; I already recognized as much. I was merely elaborating on my opinion, and I'd hope you would elaborate some more on yours (I'm curiou is all), oh well.

Um, I did elaborate on mine. I told you why I prefer the BW anime.

[Selemena]

@Llama_Guy Whoops, I was actually going to make a mention of Evangelion in that paragraph, but it slipped my mind. Yes, Evangelion was a really good 90s anime, and I do like the 'classic' look in that case. But it's still the exception, not the rule.

[TheLlama]

But it's still the exception, not the rule.

That, I can agree to.

[Tsutarja]

I watch Pokémon BW because I enjoy it, honestly.

The writing is incomparable to the one of DP as Ash's team is still heavily unbalanced in terms of use and screentime, but the main trio has an enjoyable chemistry and I really like the fact that even sidekicks have their own rivals now. Iris is one of the biggest reasons why I enjoy this series, to be honest. And Cilan, well Cilan was fun until he got really old. ^^

Oh, and Ash's Snivy is amazing.

[Red]

Anime is terrible. Not even kidding. I hate it.

I'm pretty happy, got a lot of writing work done yesterday. I worked mainly on my project though, didn't do anything with Abdication. I plan to work again on Requiem today so Abdication'll be out tomorrow! :)