Pokémon Trainer's Choice
Pokémon Trainer's Choice is a feature from the English dub of the Pokémon anime. Starting from What You Seed is What You Get, Trainer's Choice was the lead-in to the mid-show advertisement break. It replaced the original series's Who's That Pokémon?. It was not used in the original Japanese version of the anime; instead a simple eyecatch was shown. The final Trainer's Choice aired with Pasta La Vista!. It was not replaced with a similar feature.
Concept
Trainer's Choice follows a simple concept. Rather than recognizing the silhouette of a Pokémon, viewers are asked a question about a Pokémon and instructed to choose the best of three possible answers, usually over a commercial break when watched on TV. Generally, the viewer is asked to determine which Pokémon has a type advantage over another; although other questions have been asked for. The feature is voiced by Veronica Taylor, in character as Ash Ketchum.
Controversies
Trainer's Choice was initially met with much criticism from the fandom. 4Kids very frequently made Pokémon type match-up errors, resulting in many incorrect answers given, questions with multiple correct answers, questions with no possible correct answer and questions with no right or wrong answer at all. The company also frequently made spelling errors in the names of Pokémon. These constant mistakes were seen by many as an indication that 4Kids in actuality knew very little about the franchise. The most famous example is their erroneous claim that Seviper evolves from Arbok, featured in the Trainer's Choice of A Fan with a Plan; the Trainer's Choice scene in particular is a source of ridicule by many fans.
In Pokémon: Advanced Battle, the creation of questions for Trainer's Choice is credited to Lawrence Neves and the accuracy rate was greatly improved. Starting with Advanced Battle, the questions did not involve any relevance on another Pokémon (such as which would be the best choice to battle, what it evolves into, etc.) When Pokémon USA and TAJ Productions began dubbing the series, Trainer's Choice production was ceased.
