Ash finally retires

[Perkilator]

Yes, I’m serious. After 2 and a half decades, the Pokémon anime series will have a brand new protagonist in a new series coming out in 2023.

[Etrurian emperor]

And he should! The ripe old age of 10 is a respectable age to leave the workforce. 

[𝐍𝐲𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐥]

It's still crazy to me that he hasn't aged a single year throughout the whole show, at least to my knowledge

[indigoasis]

I'd love to see how long Ash's journey really was in-universe. It'd either have to be calculated within a year, or from episode to episode/movie to see how long it really was.

Either way, a well deserved ending for such a long-lived character. What a GOAT.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Shows been going downhill since Butterfree left to be tbh

[henrymidfields]

@PerkilatorAt first glance, I thought that male character was Goh in the twitter post.

[lenticular]

I'm curious to see what they do with pikachu going forward. Ash's pikachu has always been a big part of its status as the mascot of the series, and that's presumably going to go away now. I'm sure it will still get a lot of attention, but probably not as much any more. And any new -- especially young -- fans who get into the franchise aren't going to be seeing as much pikachu going forward. I wonder if that will end up doing anything to hurt its longterm popularity or recognisability.

(This does assume that they aren't just going to immediately give a pikachu to whoever the new anime protagonist is, of course, but that seems like it would be a weird decision.)

[Lord_Brand]

Given that Pikachu's starred in Super Smash Bros. from the get-go and has had several games and even a movie named after it, I doubt it's ever truly going to vanish from the public eye. But they may decide to relax how much exposure it gets for the near future.

Personally, I think every Generation should have been allowed to have its own mascot (independent of the version mascots of course) who got to star alongside the protagonists of that generation. Riolu and Lucario for example could have been the face of Gen IV, maybe alongside Buneary and Lopunny, while Zorua and Zoroark could have been the face of Gen V. At the very least, they could have given the other electric rodents a chance to shine, such as Plusle and Minun of Gen III (to play up the Double Battle mechanic of that generation).

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

"Join two new characters and three Paldean starter Pokemon"... how does that work out? The girl has Sprigatito, the boy gets Fuecoco, and Quaxly is a "shared custody" scenario? With one trainer on weekdays, the other on weekends? We'll see, but it would've been the easiest decision in the world to make three starring trainers, so it's funny that they're not doing that.

On 12/16/2022 at 11:53 AM, Izanagi said:

It's still crazy to me that he hasn't aged a single year throughout the whole show, at least to my knowledge

Obviously, he's been sending his aging to Professor Oak's laboratory. When he finally calls it quits, he'll have to withdraw those twenty-some years and have a... let's say, accelerated puberty.

On 12/16/2022 at 10:48 PM, lenticular said:

(This does assume that they aren't just going to immediately give a pikachu to whoever the new anime protagonist is, of course, but that seems like it would be a weird decision.)

Maybe one of the characters will get a Pichu? That way, there'd be the added interest of "when's it going to evolve into Pikachu?". Conversely, they could choose to focus on Gen IX Mons in the new series. We'll see!

On 12/17/2022 at 1:57 AM, Lord_Brand said:

Personally, I think every Generation should have been allowed to have its own mascot (independent of the version mascots of course) who got to star alongside the protagonists of that generation. Riolu and Lucario for example could have been the face of Gen IV, maybe alongside Buneary and Lopunny, while Zorua and Zoroark could have been the face of Gen V. At the very least, they could have given the other electric rodents a chance to shine, such as Plusle and Minun of Gen III (to play up the Double Battle mechanic of that generation).

I tended to view Lucario and Zoroark this way - they each got their own movie, were limited-access "gift Pokemon" in their original games, and were used by prominent Trainers (Cynthia and N, respectively).