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I think it's just in the natural order. After a show has existed for around 10 years, a lot of changes are bound to be made such as: new voice actors, new characters, old characters dying off (except for the main character and Brock. I have no idea why he's still in there...). But think of it this way: If they kept the phrase, the old characters and such, it would just be a carbon copy of the same show over and over. There's only so far you can develop a character in a story, so when the character's role is over, you kill him/her off and replace that person with a new character to make fun of. Same goes for the phrase. I bet after they reached pokemon #2,435 (ok, I'd say it's more like 600 or so), catching them all became a fantasy. Once that got old and impossible, they killed it off for something that they think is better (becoming the very best pokemon master). It's a little more practical than catching more pokemon that can be counted which is currently expanding.

There's no official explanation for the slogan's retirement, but most likely it was taken out of use because it became increasingly slammed by critics and parents as really meaning "Gotta buy 'em all" and thus subconsciously compelling children to buy as much of the merchandise as possible.

Another, less likely theory is that with the onslaught of hundreds of new Pokémon, "catching them all" became a very arduous task and NoA thought it wise to retire the slogan in order to focus on the other, less time-consuming aspects of the franchise.

But the retirement of the slogan has nothing to with the anime and everything to do with politics.



Except, it already is. The Japanese directors have confirmed that they recycle old plotlines and characters because the audience is always changing, therefore they can get away with it.

... That explains so much...

Still, I see what you're saying with the polital point of view. Never really thought of it that way, but I guess that's all the more reason to kill "Gotta catch'm all."

Although, my brain finally figured out that I probably DID watch until epi 400ish without getting bored. xD Just tired of the same plots, but not bored.
Then again, I also hadn't watched all the episodes back to back. x-x
But hey, now I'll have better copies of the Lance episodes!!!! heart

Well, being the ultimate Pokemon master simply implies that you have to catch 'em all.

I still don't know why they don't put the phrase in the games anymore. It's pretty much the main goal of the game to complete your pokedex by catching them all. It would only make sense in this context

Mew was event only for the longest time . . .

I use Parasect all the time . . . spore and false slashin a b***h . . .

I do, but then again, I have a "weird" goal of collecting all of the water types (even if I never use them).



I concur.