"[Spoilers] Black/White was a critique of Pokémon battling. Sun/Moon is a critique of..."

…collecting.The villain wants to collect and preserve Pokémon, including very rare Ultra Beats, at the expense of herself, her family, her foundation, and the Alola region. Just like we, as players, have profited off near-disaster in Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos in our pursuit of mascot legendaries.The phrase “frozen for the rest of eternity” is haunting, and used to refer to, among others, the failed Type: Full creatures being put into stasis. But isn’t that what the PC and now Poké Bank are doing? (I’ll discuss Pelago in a moment)Then, of course, is Nebby. Always wanting to get out, explore, be a Pokémon and not an item for a bag. And Cosmog is right to fear the bag: a metal bag-like structure is built to confine and “stress” it for the purpose of collecting and imprisoning others of its kind.But then you, the hero of this story. You’re portrayed as different - strong and having a sense of freedom. Nebby ends up wanting to go with you, not Lillie, because it wants to be free. A Poké Ball is a minor inconvenience if you get to travel the world, face off against foes, and enjoy your trainer’s company instead of being condemned to a storage unit intended to cause pain, or constantly having to hide in a bag, away from the world.That’s because battling - being in your trainer’s party - is shown as the antithesis to the negatives of collection. With Refresh, you’re encouraged to interact with your party, feeding them, petting them - treating them as allies. And the game encourages adding new members to your party frequently, with new post-catch options. Ride shows that Pokémon and people can work together, and plays info a theme of community that’s salient in this story. Z-moves also drive home the fact that battles require cooperation between Pokémon and trainer.Pelago is a sort of gray area. Optimistically, it shows that you’re not like the villains; after you collect your Pokémon, you let them roam free on islands, helping each other day by day, instead of being left in cyberspace, a closed-off greenhouse, or a frozen limbo. Pessimistically, it shows how collection inevitably leads to less attention for the vast majority, or even slave labor.Lillie leaves to go on her own Pokémon journey in Kanto, partially because she wants to be strong like you. She overcomes her trepidation of having her friends hurt by battle in exchange for a more fulfilling, and ultimately healthier, pursuit for both her and her friends. So this story is somewhat of a rejection of N’s mentality in BW1.In fact, Lillie leaving at the end is a relevant point about impermanence: enjoy the friends you have now, instead of trying to hold on to them forever.And maybe there’s a reason the National Pokédex isn’t available yet: the developers want us to focus on the friends we found here, rather than our gigantic collections.Finally, consider what most region professors want you to do: fill out your Pokédex. But Kukui? He wants to see Pokémon in action, in battle. He is the counterexample to mindless collecting. He wants your Pokémon to live to their full potential. via /r/pokemon http://ift.tt/2huLYqV