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"...but that's not going to help you since WE know everything YOU'RE going to do! STRANGE, ISN'T IT?!?"

Boy oh boy, do I have a LOT to talk about with this new masterpiece! This is only the first of remaining point-outs of similarities between Ash and Sonic's worlds I'm so famous for doing. After Ash's big championship win and Sonic's newfound streak of good luck in 2022, Uncle PTM's gonna go full throttle with this subject matter as it comes for the rest of the year!

Today, we got one hell of a scenario I've been waiting YEARS to depict in some form or another. This might border on fanfction territory if it's potential is developed well enough, but here's what's going on: remember when I headcanoned Eggman Nega as working for Team Rocket now?

Labeled as the organization's newest subordinate, head of weapons development, foremost intel on Sonic's world, creator of all the mechs Jessie, James and Meowth have used to capture Pokemon (he claims it's not the weapons that were failures; it's the idiots who operate them) and ultimately, self-proclaimed most powerful member of Team Rocket, second only to "Master Giovanni" himself. He's antagonized our Trainer and hedgehog together in two former RP's, and here, he's devised his most infallible plan to wreak havoc yet.

While one day searching through the Team Rocket archives of every operation and plan both succeeded and failed (which could possibly still be the source of Gio remembering Mewtwo even though it wiped the organization's memories of it in Mewtwo Returns) Eggman Nega comes across the design documents for one of Giovanni's deadliest creations: the mechanical marvel that learned, amplified, and returned every Pokemon attack that hit it in battle: MechaMew2. Giovanni and Eggman Nega have created a new model, and now it not only can learn even MORE Pokemon attacks--with an improved control system that prevents any adaptability of emotions that destroyed the first model--it can now absorb any and all types of weaponry and apply the power data of Mega Evolution, Z-Crystals, Dynamax and Terastalization into it's mainframe. Using leftover CPU data of Emerl he obtained from his ancestor Eggman's discovery of the ancient Gizoid, the result is the new MechaMew2 fully absorbing Metal Sonic--from his Neo form and taking characteristics of his Metal Madness/Overlord form--Eggman Nega seems all but assured that absolutely nothing can stop Team Rocket from conquering both worlds now.

But our heroes are on their way to try! Ash, Pikachu and Sonic--along with Emerl the Gizoid from Sonic Battle--arrive at the space-bound Death Egg, and a showdown for the ages is underway! MechaMew2 and Emerl seem to be the only ones not getting tired in the fight though, and as they continue to learn and adapt each other's attacks, Gio and Nega are cool as cucumbers, as this may be leading to an even bigger outcome for their plan...

Okay, let's separate my description for this pic into more separate parts. First of all: the comparisons. MechaMew2 from Pokemon Live was by far one of the most intimidating antagonists Ash and Pikachu had EVER faced. Modeled after Mewtwo, but with an incredibly creepy design and color scheme that doesn't fit Pokemon's overall style at all, it's alien-like dual-voice near the end of the show (which SPOILERS, The End from Sonic Frontiers seemed to directly channel to me), it's involvement with Gio wanting to have it destroy our 10-year-old child hero once he serves his purpose of completing the robotic menace, manipulating/hitting on THE KID'S OWN LOVING MOTHER to do it, and not to mention its main ability to learn and return any Pokemon attack, a power that very obviously inspired the Mirage Mewtwo Dr. Yung used in the Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon special. Hell, when one of the other Trainers that challenged MechaMew2 lost to it earlier in the show I thought the thing actually impaired him with deafness, and that was the Trainer who later challenged Ash with Jigglypuff. So, if he wanted to, Gio could have MechaMew2 give victims a fate worse than death by possibly permanently disabling them. That is just so TWISTED and shows why Giovanni is the ultimate evil in the Pokemon world that Ash HAS to take down in his upcoming finale. It's only because of Mewtwo's last-minute attack full of Ash's happy memories...

...that the boy is still alive and MechaMew2 had its own unfeeling heart opened, willing to Self-Destruct to destroy Giovanni's base now that it learned right from wrong.

When Sonic Battle and Sonic Heroes released in 2004, I put together even more callbacks to Pokemon Live when I played them. The plot setup for Sonic Heroes was almost identical to Pokemon Live:

- The villain, under a guise, puts out an invitation for all challengers to stop him (Giovanni as a gym leader towards all Trainers for the DiamondBadge, Neo Metal Sonic disguised as Eggman challenging Teams Sonic, Dark, Rose and Chaotix)
- The love interest of the oblivious main hero tries to get him to notice her (Misty's tsundere feelings for Ash, Amy's yandere feelings for Sonic)
- The villain collects data from each challenger, even kidnapping their beloved pets (Giovanni with Pikachu, Neo Metal with Froggy and Chocola)
- The villain is a robotic copy of an individual who can adapt data and attack abilities (MechaMew2 and Neo Metal Sonic)
- The usual main nemesis the hero faces is sidelined for the final battle (TRio obtain Ash and Pikachu but are dismissed from seeing the final fight, the real Dr. Eggman is kidnapped by Neo Metal)
- A jewel becomes the center MacGuffin of the plot (The DiamondBadge and the Chaos Emeralds)
- Both MechaMew2 and Metal Madness/Overlord share a similar design
- A power pertaining to the power of friendship defeats the villain (Mewtwo's Ash happy memory attack, Super Sonic with "pseudo-Super Tails and Knuckles)

This is the main reason I usually pair Giovanni with Metal Sonic in my comparison plot headcanon.

But MechaMew2 itself, to me, draws the MOST comparisons and parallels to Emerl the Gizoid from Sonic Battle. Like MechaMew2 and Neo Metal Sonic, he too can learn, amplify and return attack techniques, as he does when he battles Sonic, Rouge, E-102 Gamma and the like, during the game. What made Emerl more interesting however was its backstory and how it contrasts with MechaMew2's. Another Echidna tribe created his kind 4,000 years ago, Professor Gerald Robotnik installed an emotion-based AI into his system to keep him from being destructive once he absorbed the Chaos Emeralds, he only obeys those who exhibit more power to him than his previous operator--establishing a "Link" as it's called--and throughout the entire course of the story, Emerl's arc is one giant bizzaro-arc from MechaMew2's. Right from the start Sonic and his friends, through teaching Emerl more adapted attack techniques, teach it love, goodness, heart, and right from wrong, and he's supposedly "complete" once all 7 Emeralds are collected and Maria's wish to "bring hope to humanity" erases his data as a war weapon. Unfortunately, here's where the last-minute morality contrast comes in. Whereas Mewtwo opened MechaMew2's heart, Eggman actually CLOSES Emerl's by luring him to his Death Egg and firing the Final Egg Blaster to destroy several stars in front of him. This causes Emerl to go haywire as a heartless weapon once more, sending his battle power off the charts and ready to aim the Final Egg Blaster at Earth itself. Sonic tragically has to battle Emerl and destroy him to save the planet, but not before Emerl momentarily gets his caring soul back to say good-bye.

Pokemon Live and Sonic Battle/Heroes were among the most loved, if not corny, representations of Ash and Sonic as characters and with both MechaMew2 and Emerl both being able to adapt all forms of attack, it made me wish there was some sort of Death Battle between the two mechanical marvels. So that's the thought process behind this scenario. Yes, I know Gemerl from Sonic Advance 3 is alive and based off Emerl but I really wanted to use Emerl to make the direct comparison. Who do YOU think would win though; MechaMew2 or Emerl? I might make a poll about it so let me know!

Development story: I've experimented more with my new CorelDaw software and Paint 3D to develop the pic. I made the wall and floor separately and stamped them onto 3D boxes to make like a movie set for my character cels to be layered onto. Originally the moon (actually the half-roboticized Eggmoon from Sonic X, NO, I will NOT make any Eggman announcement jokes) was fully hand-drawn but I decided to combine mediums again and stamp the moon on a 3D sphere to make it look even more ambitious. I finally found the Touch-up option on CorelDraw so I might use that to clear up drawings better than tediously rubbing my finger on the screen in MSPaint to fill up white spaces or fix mistakes. Magic Select and Magnetic select are still hiccupy though, I still like to remove negative space in MSPaint, but I'm sure I can adapt. Finally, MechaMew2's Shadow Ball was developed in Paint 3D and given its glow effect in Vegas Movie Studio, as was Emerl's blurry streak trail made from the classic Shift key trick in MSPaint. See kids? MSPaint may be mostly for newbies but put the right person behind the wheel like an old Ford and it handles like a dream.

Before I sign off, I may as well tell y'all about what I expect or want from Ash's finale in the Pokemon anime (yes, I've heard about Yuyama-san saying we may see Ash again). There is only one thing I want and ONLY one thing. I don't care if Ash never gets shipped, never ages past 10, never solves any unsolved mysteries (GS Ball, Zekrom, the evil Malamar, Ash-Greninja), never meets his father, never reunites with Pokemon like Pidgeot and Primeape, I don't even care if Veronica Taylor never returns one last time for the dub. I'm willing to make peace with all of that--ALL of it--once the anime ends, but I refuse to believe Ash's journey will be 100% over until ASH DEFEATS GIOVANNI.

Forgive me if I start going all ranty here, but Gio has been the looming darkness over the entire show and perceived as the most powerful villain Ash hasn't fully faced yet. Mewtwo Returns was just a momentary meetup and non-acknowledgement and the Meloetta arc in Best Wishes had Ash mostly be his "dumbass in distress" status with a VERY rushed one-sided battle with the evil TR leader. Only when Ash had Pikachu use his gigantic Electro Ball on him did he directly take him on, and even then, he kinda worsened Gio's ambitions than stopped them thanks to him getting possessed by that mirror. To me, Pokemon Live was the most basic idea for an Ash vs. Giovanni scenario in the show, and there have been SO many opportunities them to square off, ESPCIALLY going by episode titles (the Nanu thing in Alola, plus Team Rainbow Rocket in the anime, WAS PRACTICALLY GIFT-WRAPPED for you, writers!!!) but each and every single time Gio still just sits on his keister petting his Persian, barking orders to his subordinates, repeatedly tells TRio "I expect great things from you" and never does ANYTHING else of importance throughout the ENTIRE concurrent saga. Pokemon Live, Mewtwo Returns and the Meloetta arc was where he was the most active, and that last one aired A DECADE AGO.

What makes this worse is that throughout Gio's whole inactivity there have been more villains like Hunter J, Dr. Yung, the Iron-Masked Marauder, Grings Kodai and Lysandre, who've proven to be WAY more evil and worthy of an Ash Ketchum final battle than he's shaping up to be. Giovanni is supposed to be the most evil, cruel and powerful villain above all of them and he keeps wasting his potential. He was the one who commissioned the birth of MEWTWO, for Arceus' sake!

These final episodes are Giovanni's last chance. I know stopping criminal organizations is not the epicenter of what Pokemon or its anime is all about; it's about Ash's dream to be a Pokemon Master, and these final episodes are trying to give the main idea of what Ash believes that dream exactly means. But Giovanni, though his evil organization, has stood as both an obstacle and a steppingstone (I'll get to why later) to Ash's said dream. I expect SOME closure from Gio and Team Rocket as a whole, for Ash to somehow defeat him like he did Teams Magma, Aqua, Galactic, Plasma and Flare, to prove he truly IS a Pokemon Master despite him not knowing he's already one. I don't think any of us want Giovanni looming over Liko and Roy in the following SV saga, making them the ones to fully take down the Big Bad of the franchise instead of the first hero to come before. It'd be like the Star Wars sequel trilogy all over again, and believe me, I'm sure Liko and Roy are already giving off vibes of Rey and Finn that I'm trying to fight off with my hopefulness and optimism for their potential.

But back to my point, Giovanni needs to prove that he doesn't need his subordinates to do all the talking, motivations and work for him; he needs to acknowledge the number one Pokemon world champion's reputation and the biggest threat to his world conquest, and engage in a final resolving battle, one for the animation history books. Long-running shows with huge fandoms have had some amazing finales over the years like Avatar: The Last Airbender, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, TMNT 2003, Codename Kids Next Door, even smaller-scale shows like Phineas & Ferb and Ed, Edd n' Eddy have proven they can finish with a bang. 4Kids-dubbed anime also try their hardest to end their shows with the most epic good-vs-evil action they can; half of them are usually space battles! Like all these shows and their heroes, Ash deserves his battle with Gio after 25 years of being pursued by his eyes and ears that are Jessie, James and Meowth.

Speaking of which, let's talk about them for a second. Many, MANY fans want these three to quit Team Rocket and either become good guys or start their own paths separate from the organization. This is somewhat understandable why fans would want this outcome: they're the "friendliest" TR members, they had tragic and engaging backstories, Ash has joined hands with them to overcome greater threats, they care for their own Pokemon WAY more than other TR members do theirs, they're belittled by Gio and their peers as the most incompetent and idiotic members, and they provide an act to their villainy that people enjoy and find funny. I already made my point on why TRio are so integral to the Pokemon anime's DNA in Extending Their Reach...

And as I've been saying as of late, a much more satisfactory outcome for Jessie, James and Meowth in the final episodes is if Giovanni decides to retire and he promotes them as the new co-bosses of Team Rocket. Why? For all the reasons people actually want them to leave. Giovanni as of late doesn't seem to be as condescending or angry towards TRio's failures as he used to be. He seems to be seeing in them what every Team Rocket member needs to have: integrity and perseverance. Despite how many times they're defeated, no matter how big the failure is, they keep pursuing their boss' mission and dream to rule the planet. Every other member, as well as all the other villainous teams, have been disbanded or eliminated after their main mission is foiled, but Jessie, James and Meowth represent the immortality Team Rocket as a whole has. I've said before that Gio, and by extension, Team Rocket, are the representation of all evil in Pokemon. And this is a message that there will always be evil in the world no matter how many times you win against it, and goodness by itself cannot exist without evil. I really mean it when I theorize that as long as there's at least one Pokemon in the universe to exploit, Team Rocket and Giovanni's ambitions will never die, nor can it ever be killed.

Jessie, James and Meowth, through their persistence and devotion to Gio, embody this for the organization more than any other subordinate, and that'd be what make them the perfect successors to his rule, directly parallel to Ash becoming a Pokemon Master. TRio, through their antagonizing our 10-year-old Trainer, have unintentionally contributed to him growing and getting the skills he earned to be a Pokemon Master in the first place. If TRio quit after Gio was defeated, that'd destroy EVERYTHING people loved about them. They started from the bottom of the barrel, and I believe it'd satisfy every TRio fan to see them finish off on the very top of the organization, as evil as it is, that made Ash who he was. As Meowth himself said, Team Rocket stands for righteous evil, not EVIL evil. If TRio took over, they'd run the organization with more action and integrity than Gio ever did, plus it'd make Team Rocket a more fun antagonistic force like Dr. Eggman, King Dedede and the like. If Giovanni's evil must live on, I'd be ecstatic if Jessie, James and Meowth took the mantle. As Ash would probably say, "Being a Pokemon Master would be boring without you three!"

And with that...my first 2023 pic is complete. Stay tuned for more and thanks a bunch!

Description
"...but that's not going to help you since WE know everything YOU'RE going to do! STRANGE, ISN'T IT?!?"

Boy oh boy, do I have a LOT to talk about with this new masterpiece! This is only the first of remaining point-outs of similarities between Ash and Sonic's worlds I'm so famous for doing. After Ash's big championship win and Sonic's newfound streak of good luck in 2022, Uncle PTM's gonna go full throttle with this subject matter as it comes for the rest of the year!

Today, we got one hell of a scenario I've been waiting YEARS to depict in some form or another. This might border on fanfction territory if it's potential is developed well enough, but here's what's going on: remember when I headcanoned Eggman Nega as working for Team Rocket now?

Labeled as the organization's newest subordinate, head of weapons development, foremost intel on Sonic's world, creator of all the mechs Jessie, James and Meowth have used to capture Pokemon (he claims it's not the weapons that were failures; it's the idiots who operate them) and ultimately, self-proclaimed most powerful member of Team Rocket, second only to "Master Giovanni" himself. He's antagonized our Trainer and hedgehog together in two former RP's, and here, he's devised his most infallible plan to wreak havoc yet.

While one day searching through the Team Rocket archives of every operation and plan both succeeded and failed (which could possibly still be the source of Gio remembering Mewtwo even though it wiped the organization's memories of it in Mewtwo Returns) Eggman Nega comes across the design documents for one of Giovanni's deadliest creations: the mechanical marvel that learned, amplified, and returned every Pokemon attack that hit it in battle: MechaMew2. Giovanni and Eggman Nega have created a new model, and now it not only can learn even MORE Pokemon attacks--with an improved control system that prevents any adaptability of emotions that destroyed the first model--it can now absorb any and all types of weaponry and apply the power data of Mega Evolution, Z-Crystals, Dynamax and Terastalization into it's mainframe. Using leftover CPU data of Emerl he obtained from his ancestor Eggman's discovery of the ancient Gizoid, the result is the new MechaMew2 fully absorbing Metal Sonic--from his Neo form and taking characteristics of his Metal Madness/Overlord form--Eggman Nega seems all but assured that absolutely nothing can stop Team Rocket from conquering both worlds now.

But our heroes are on their way to try! Ash, Pikachu and Sonic--along with Emerl the Gizoid from Sonic Battle--arrive at the space-bound Death Egg, and a showdown for the ages is underway! MechaMew2 and Emerl seem to be the only ones not getting tired in the fight though, and as they continue to learn and adapt each other's attacks, Gio and Nega are cool as cucumbers, as this may be leading to an even bigger outcome for their plan...

Okay, let's separate my description for this pic into more separate parts. First of all: the comparisons. MechaMew2 from Pokemon Live was by far one of the most intimidating antagonists Ash and Pikachu had EVER faced. Modeled after Mewtwo, but with an incredibly creepy design and color scheme that doesn't fit Pokemon's overall style at all, it's alien-like dual-voice near the end of the show (which SPOILERS, The End from Sonic Frontiers seemed to directly channel to me), it's involvement with Gio wanting to have it destroy our 10-year-old child hero once he serves his purpose of completing the robotic menace, manipulating/hitting on THE KID'S OWN LOVING MOTHER to do it, and not to mention its main ability to learn and return any Pokemon attack, a power that very obviously inspired the Mirage Mewtwo Dr. Yung used in the Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon special. Hell, when one of the other Trainers that challenged MechaMew2 lost to it earlier in the show I thought the thing actually impaired him with deafness, and that was the Trainer who later challenged Ash with Jigglypuff. So, if he wanted to, Gio could have MechaMew2 give victims a fate worse than death by possibly permanently disabling them. That is just so TWISTED and shows why Giovanni is the ultimate evil in the Pokemon world that Ash HAS to take down in his upcoming finale. It's only because of Mewtwo's last-minute attack full of Ash's happy memories...

...that the boy is still alive and MechaMew2 had its own unfeeling heart opened, willing to Self-Destruct to destroy Giovanni's base now that it learned right from wrong.

When Sonic Battle and Sonic Heroes released in 2004, I put together even more callbacks to Pokemon Live when I played them. The plot setup for Sonic Heroes was almost identical to Pokemon Live:

- The villain, under a guise, puts out an invitation for all challengers to stop him (Giovanni as a gym leader towards all Trainers for the DiamondBadge, Neo Metal Sonic disguised as Eggman challenging Teams Sonic, Dark, Rose and Chaotix)
- The love interest of the oblivious main hero tries to get him to notice her (Misty's tsundere feelings for Ash, Amy's yandere feelings for Sonic)
- The villain collects data from each challenger, even kidnapping their beloved pets (Giovanni with Pikachu, Neo Metal with Froggy and Chocola)
- The villain is a robotic copy of an individual who can adapt data and attack abilities (MechaMew2 and Neo Metal Sonic)
- The usual main nemesis the hero faces is sidelined for the final battle (TRio obtain Ash and Pikachu but are dismissed from seeing the final fight, the real Dr. Eggman is kidnapped by Neo Metal)
- A jewel becomes the center MacGuffin of the plot (The DiamondBadge and the Chaos Emeralds)
- Both MechaMew2 and Metal Madness/Overlord share a similar design
- A power pertaining to the power of friendship defeats the villain (Mewtwo's Ash happy memory attack, Super Sonic with "pseudo-Super Tails and Knuckles)

This is the main reason I usually pair Giovanni with Metal Sonic in my comparison plot headcanon.

But MechaMew2 itself, to me, draws the MOST comparisons and parallels to Emerl the Gizoid from Sonic Battle. Like MechaMew2 and Neo Metal Sonic, he too can learn, amplify and return attack techniques, as he does when he battles Sonic, Rouge, E-102 Gamma and the like, during the game. What made Emerl more interesting however was its backstory and how it contrasts with MechaMew2's. Another Echidna tribe created his kind 4,000 years ago, Professor Gerald Robotnik installed an emotion-based AI into his system to keep him from being destructive once he absorbed the Chaos Emeralds, he only obeys those who exhibit more power to him than his previous operator--establishing a "Link" as it's called--and throughout the entire course of the story, Emerl's arc is one giant bizzaro-arc from MechaMew2's. Right from the start Sonic and his friends, through teaching Emerl more adapted attack techniques, teach it love, goodness, heart, and right from wrong, and he's supposedly "complete" once all 7 Emeralds are collected and Maria's wish to "bring hope to humanity" erases his data as a war weapon. Unfortunately, here's where the last-minute morality contrast comes in. Whereas Mewtwo opened MechaMew2's heart, Eggman actually CLOSES Emerl's by luring him to his Death Egg and firing the Final Egg Blaster to destroy several stars in front of him. This causes Emerl to go haywire as a heartless weapon once more, sending his battle power off the charts and ready to aim the Final Egg Blaster at Earth itself. Sonic tragically has to battle Emerl and destroy him to save the planet, but not before Emerl momentarily gets his caring soul back to say good-bye.

Pokemon Live and Sonic Battle/Heroes were among the most loved, if not corny, representations of Ash and Sonic as characters and with both MechaMew2 and Emerl both being able to adapt all forms of attack, it made me wish there was some sort of Death Battle between the two mechanical marvels. So that's the thought process behind this scenario. Yes, I know Gemerl from Sonic Advance 3 is alive and based off Emerl but I really wanted to use Emerl to make the direct comparison. Who do YOU think would win though; MechaMew2 or Emerl? I might make a poll about it so let me know!

Development story: I've experimented more with my new CorelDaw software and Paint 3D to develop the pic. I made the wall and floor separately and stamped them onto 3D boxes to make like a movie set for my character cels to be layered onto. Originally the moon (actually the half-roboticized Eggmoon from Sonic X, NO, I will NOT make any Eggman announcement jokes) was fully hand-drawn but I decided to combine mediums again and stamp the moon on a 3D sphere to make it look even more ambitious. I finally found the Touch-up option on CorelDraw so I might use that to clear up drawings better than tediously rubbing my finger on the screen in MSPaint to fill up white spaces or fix mistakes. Magic Select and Magnetic select are still hiccupy though, I still like to remove negative space in MSPaint, but I'm sure I can adapt. Finally, MechaMew2's Shadow Ball was developed in Paint 3D and given its glow effect in Vegas Movie Studio, as was Emerl's blurry streak trail made from the classic Shift key trick in MSPaint. See kids? MSPaint may be mostly for newbies but put the right person behind the wheel like an old Ford and it handles like a dream.

Before I sign off, I may as well tell y'all about what I expect or want from Ash's finale in the Pokemon anime (yes, I've heard about Yuyama-san saying we may see Ash again). There is only one thing I want and ONLY one thing. I don't care if Ash never gets shipped, never ages past 10, never solves any unsolved mysteries (GS Ball, Zekrom, the evil Malamar, Ash-Greninja), never meets his father, never reunites with Pokemon like Pidgeot and Primeape, I don't even care if Veronica Taylor never returns one last time for the dub. I'm willing to make peace with all of that--ALL of it--once the anime ends, but I refuse to believe Ash's journey will be 100% over until ASH DEFEATS GIOVANNI.

Forgive me if I start going all ranty here, but Gio has been the looming darkness over the entire show and perceived as the most powerful villain Ash hasn't fully faced yet. Mewtwo Returns was just a momentary meetup and non-acknowledgement and the Meloetta arc in Best Wishes had Ash mostly be his "dumbass in distress" status with a VERY rushed one-sided battle with the evil TR leader. Only when Ash had Pikachu use his gigantic Electro Ball on him did he directly take him on, and even then, he kinda worsened Gio's ambitions than stopped them thanks to him getting possessed by that mirror. To me, Pokemon Live was the most basic idea for an Ash vs. Giovanni scenario in the show, and there have been SO many opportunities them to square off, ESPCIALLY going by episode titles (the Nanu thing in Alola, plus Team Rainbow Rocket in the anime, WAS PRACTICALLY GIFT-WRAPPED for you, writers!!!) but each and every single time Gio still just sits on his keister petting his Persian, barking orders to his subordinates, repeatedly tells TRio "I expect great things from you" and never does ANYTHING else of importance throughout the ENTIRE concurrent saga. Pokemon Live, Mewtwo Returns and the Meloetta arc was where he was the most active, and that last one aired A DECADE AGO.

What makes this worse is that throughout Gio's whole inactivity there have been more villains like Hunter J, Dr. Yung, the Iron-Masked Marauder, Grings Kodai and Lysandre, who've proven to be WAY more evil and worthy of an Ash Ketchum final battle than he's shaping up to be. Giovanni is supposed to be the most evil, cruel and powerful villain above all of them and he keeps wasting his potential. He was the one who commissioned the birth of MEWTWO, for Arceus' sake!

These final episodes are Giovanni's last chance. I know stopping criminal organizations is not the epicenter of what Pokemon or its anime is all about; it's about Ash's dream to be a Pokemon Master, and these final episodes are trying to give the main idea of what Ash believes that dream exactly means. But Giovanni, though his evil organization, has stood as both an obstacle and a steppingstone (I'll get to why later) to Ash's said dream. I expect SOME closure from Gio and Team Rocket as a whole, for Ash to somehow defeat him like he did Teams Magma, Aqua, Galactic, Plasma and Flare, to prove he truly IS a Pokemon Master despite him not knowing he's already one. I don't think any of us want Giovanni looming over Liko and Roy in the following SV saga, making them the ones to fully take down the Big Bad of the franchise instead of the first hero to come before. It'd be like the Star Wars sequel trilogy all over again, and believe me, I'm sure Liko and Roy are already giving off vibes of Rey and Finn that I'm trying to fight off with my hopefulness and optimism for their potential.

But back to my point, Giovanni needs to prove that he doesn't need his subordinates to do all the talking, motivations and work for him; he needs to acknowledge the number one Pokemon world champion's reputation and the biggest threat to his world conquest, and engage in a final resolving battle, one for the animation history books. Long-running shows with huge fandoms have had some amazing finales over the years like Avatar: The Last Airbender, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, TMNT 2003, Codename Kids Next Door, even smaller-scale shows like Phineas & Ferb and Ed, Edd n' Eddy have proven they can finish with a bang. 4Kids-dubbed anime also try their hardest to end their shows with the most epic good-vs-evil action they can; half of them are usually space battles! Like all these shows and their heroes, Ash deserves his battle with Gio after 25 years of being pursued by his eyes and ears that are Jessie, James and Meowth.

Speaking of which, let's talk about them for a second. Many, MANY fans want these three to quit Team Rocket and either become good guys or start their own paths separate from the organization. This is somewhat understandable why fans would want this outcome: they're the "friendliest" TR members, they had tragic and engaging backstories, Ash has joined hands with them to overcome greater threats, they care for their own Pokemon WAY more than other TR members do theirs, they're belittled by Gio and their peers as the most incompetent and idiotic members, and they provide an act to their villainy that people enjoy and find funny. I already made my point on why TRio are so integral to the Pokemon anime's DNA in Extending Their Reach...

And as I've been saying as of late, a much more satisfactory outcome for Jessie, James and Meowth in the final episodes is if Giovanni decides to retire and he promotes them as the new co-bosses of Team Rocket. Why? For all the reasons people actually want them to leave. Giovanni as of late doesn't seem to be as condescending or angry towards TRio's failures as he used to be. He seems to be seeing in them what every Team Rocket member needs to have: integrity and perseverance. Despite how many times they're defeated, no matter how big the failure is, they keep pursuing their boss' mission and dream to rule the planet. Every other member, as well as all the other villainous teams, have been disbanded or eliminated after their main mission is foiled, but Jessie, James and Meowth represent the immortality Team Rocket as a whole has. I've said before that Gio, and by extension, Team Rocket, are the representation of all evil in Pokemon. And this is a message that there will always be evil in the world no matter how many times you win against it, and goodness by itself cannot exist without evil. I really mean it when I theorize that as long as there's at least one Pokemon in the universe to exploit, Team Rocket and Giovanni's ambitions will never die, nor can it ever be killed.

Jessie, James and Meowth, through their persistence and devotion to Gio, embody this for the organization more than any other subordinate, and that'd be what make them the perfect successors to his rule, directly parallel to Ash becoming a Pokemon Master. TRio, through their antagonizing our 10-year-old Trainer, have unintentionally contributed to him growing and getting the skills he earned to be a Pokemon Master in the first place. If TRio quit after Gio was defeated, that'd destroy EVERYTHING people loved about them. They started from the bottom of the barrel, and I believe it'd satisfy every TRio fan to see them finish off on the very top of the organization, as evil as it is, that made Ash who he was. As Meowth himself said, Team Rocket stands for righteous evil, not EVIL evil. If TRio took over, they'd run the organization with more action and integrity than Gio ever did, plus it'd make Team Rocket a more fun antagonistic force like Dr. Eggman, King Dedede and the like. If Giovanni's evil must live on, I'd be ecstatic if Jessie, James and Meowth took the mantle. As Ash would probably say, "Being a Pokemon Master would be boring without you three!"

And with that...my first 2023 pic is complete. Stay tuned for more and thanks a bunch!