>>53178726I see where you're coming from, and I do agree with you on the reserves point. It would've been great to see Ash put a new spin on some of his previous tactics while using some of his old Pokemon, sorta like we saw with him bringing back Counter Shield. It's true that it felt like his M8 wins were primarily the result of his SM/JN experience... but considering the anime didn't give Ash a mega in XY, the anime at least did the next best thing, imo - bring Korrina back and have her talk a little about mega evolution with Ash and accompany him on his journey to obtain lucarionite, and Ash had to learn how to sync with Lucario in battle, even if it did all happen pretty fast. We did in a way get to see his journey, in the same way with Gengar too, though story arcs in both cases would've given the journeys more weight and interest. But yes, to your overall point, the M8 did not feel like the culmination of 20 years of experience and training.
