A Conspiracy to Conquer! (822)

[Honeyichigo]

Wild speculation on my part: I'm actually assuming for now that Malamar isn't part of Team Flare. I mean, if it was, the writers would have no reason to limit the team's main-series introduction to a single Pokemon, with no team name drop or even a human member in sight- we already know all about Flare, so it's not like their mere existence is any sort of surprise.

Rather, I think that Malamar was a part of a new evil team that will feature in the next Kalos games (Z, X2Y2, whatever). They get introduced now, sort of, because it's more interesting than having absolutely nothing go down until then, but pretty much nothing can be revealed about them until the new Kalos games are on their way. And it is plausible that there'll be a new evil team in Kalos- remember that one NPC in, like, Anistar, who says in the postgame that there was another team poking around asking about Kalos's legends.

Meanwhile, Flare will get most of their screentime in the Mega Evolution specials, maybe crossing over into the main series for a couple episodes towards the special's climax.

 

[The Michael]

What a creepy episode! O_O I don't know about all that genetic material or waste or whatever that stuff was, but it's cool to finally see a serious antagonist in the series. I love how they're just slowly teeeaaasing us with Team Flare!

 

[The Michael]

What you're referring to is a girl who says "A few years back, a different group of people came around here, asking the same questions." What if Pokémon Z is a prequel?

 

[momopeach]

Nah, not better than BW yet. It had pretty amazing Kami Trio episodes. And the scenes when TR knew how to be badass.

That was my favorite part of BW. It was nice seeing them get a story separate from pikachu.

Anyway loved the episode. Malamar was creepy and this was a very Meowth focused episode, which I like.

 

[The Michael]

Yeah! The heroes of the episode were...Ash & MEOWTH!?!? When does THAT ever happen? That was really cool to see!

That was my favorite part of BW. It was nice seeing them get a story separate from pikachu.

Anyway loved the episode. Malamar was creepy and this was a very Meowth focused episode, which I like.

 

[The Mustache]

Hi! I don't know if it has been discussed already... But could Malamar be owned my Xerosic from Team Flare? It would make a lot of sense. In the games we can see why they are gathering pokemon... for the ultimate weapon! Probably Malamar used it's psychic powers to hypnotiza other pokemon and take them to Xerosic for the Ultmitate Weapon. Plus, we can see that those pokemon were mostly in their evolved form and looked really strong. More strengh means more energy for the weapon. What do you think?

 

[momopeach]

Hi! I don't know if it has been discussed already... But could Malamar be owned my Xerosic from Team Flare? It would make a lot of sense. In the games we can see why they are gathering pokemon... for the ultimate weapon! Probably Malamar used it's psychic powers to hypnotiza other pokemon and take them to Xerosic for the Ultmitate Weapon. Plus, we can see that those pokemon were mostly in their evolved form and looked really strong. More strengh means more energy for the weapon. What do you think?

I think people were mentioning it a few pages back but I wasn't paying much attention tbh.

Your theory is a possibility. There weren't any hints as to a trainer, but it's always something that could be added and surprise viewers later.

 

[NPT]

"A Conspiracy to Conquer!"

Man, what a strange episode. I gotta say, Madame X and Malamar apperance were mysterious at the beginning. The creepy laugh of Madame X, followed by Malamer trying to hypnotize Team Rocket made the scene good for me. Meowth was able to find a way to prevent himself from being hypnotized, but Jessie and James couldn't do anything to protect themselves. The way Jessie and James moved around, definitely made them look like zombies. Anyway, I thought everyone except Ash suspecting Meowth kinda made sense since he usually makes up stories like this to steal Pikachu and other Pokémon, but it turns out he's telling the truth this time because the hypnotized Jessie and James, along with Malamar and Madame X appeared there just a moment after Mewoth told them about the incident.

It's kinda weird how Malamar just lifted Pikachu into the air so easily and flew away with him without any trouble. On top of that, Pikachu didn't even try to fight back. Geez, talk about cheap plot devices. Moving on, it's cool to see Clemont trying to find Pikachu with his new invention "Pikabot". The Pikabot exploded right after it got stuck in a fence... but at least it was able to track down the obeservatory where Madame X and Malamar had taken Pikachu.

Geez, Clemont and Bonnie didn't even try to look away when Malamar was using Hypnosis. Oh well, maybe they were too surprised to suddenly run into it... so I guess it's fine. As for Serena getting hypnotized, I hated it. Don't get me wrong, I like Serena, but the way she hyponized by Malamar was dumb. I get that the writers wanted to put everyone except Ash under Malamar's Hypnosis, but they could've come up with a better reason for that to happen to Serena. Not wanting get her face scratched by Meowth just made her look bad. Anyway, it's kinda funny when Zombierena tried to catch Ash. Gee, what was she trying to do to Ash?!

The scene where Ash tried to break through Pikachu's mind control was intense! We've seen Ash getting hit by Pikachu's Thunderbolt in the past episodes, but getting hit by an Iron Tail.... that must've been painful. When it seemed like Madame X and Malamar were gonna hypnotize Ash as well, something unexpected happened. Clemont's invention PIKABOT suddenly crashed into Malmar, breaking everyone free of its Hypnosis! Wow, who knew that Clemont's invention would end up saving the day? Science really is amazing.


So Madame X was actually Officer Jenny who was being controled by Malamar? Well, that explains why her bike was parked outside the ovservatory. Apparently Malamar was building some kind of weapon to take over the world. But since it’s been discovered, Malamar blew up the device and escaped. Hmm, I wonder if this will lead to something in the future? Malamar's plan about the weapon made it seem like it has something to do with Team Flare.... but it could be something else.

Dub-wise, the voices were good as usual.... but TPCi messed up the title card. In the original, there was Pikachu's face on the title card, but the dub changed it Ash again! Also, the lack of Japanese music in this episode was dissapointing since they kept a good amount of music in the English dub of the previous episode. Hopefully more Japanese music will be kept in the next dub episode.

 

[pokepal123]

I think that Malamar most likely belongs to Team Flare with the biggest give a ways being that Malamar used terms such as "we"and "our" but I felt the biggest give a way was when he said something about the Ultimate Weapon which leads me to believe that it does belong to Team Flare.

 

[RedJirachi]

An explicitly evil Pokemon? That's news to me. With the exception the PMD games, not a single Pokemon in either the games or anime besides Meowth and that one Togepi treated as evil. They're either only serving evil people(Ekans and Koffing), were made evil by man(Mewtwo), mistaken for evil(Darkrai), unaware what they're doing is wrong or antagonistic but not really malicious. Even Meowth has an explanation and Togepi was played for laughs. It's good that they recognize that Pokemon can be as evil as people

 

[The Pokemon Broadcast]

Well now I want to see if this will be a recurring story line later. That Malamar seemed too evil and sinister to just be forgotten about.

 

[Pikachu52]

It's the Pikashipping episode that should have been but wasn't. Okay overall but could have brought out the friendship/love between Ash and Pikachu much more than it did.

What's good about it
It's a good Pikashippy episode. I love the way Pikachu is forced to attack Ash but Ash is able to talk him out of it. It's also nice that Pikachu was able to fight Malamar when he heard Ash's voice. Then they hugged which was cute. Malamar was quite scary - haven't seen anything like that before.

What's bad about it
Serena was disapointing in not wanting Meowth to fury swipes her when she was faced with being controlled by the evil Malamar. Honestly the more I see of XY the more I dislike Serena. She didn't do much the entire episode. If she had allowed Meowth to scatch her then she could have been more help to Ash e.g. sent out Fennekin to battle Malamar. Not sure about Malamar being the main villan. I suppose it makes a change to have a Pokémon that's evil but I don't get why it would want to take over the world. Clemont's Pikabot didn't really add much. The fact that it saved them by reactivating itself and blowing up inside the observatory is just a little too convient - a better ending would have been have Pikachu shock sense into everyone.

It's just not Pikashippy enough
We've already seen Pikachu under a mind control and forced to attack his Pikapi in the BW series by Colress. Those three episodes where Pikachu is controlled in BW were much more emotional than this episode and really brought out the strenght of Ash and Pikachu's bond in my opinion. By comparison this episode is lackluster - Ash is not distressed or angry enough when Madame X takes Pikachu and there wasn't enough hugging, licking and nuzzling between the two when Pikachu snappes out of hypnosis. I quite like the idea of Pikachu being controlled as a plot device but it needs to be more emotional.

I think Ash should have tried harder to save Pikachu from Malamar. He could have battled Malamar with Froakie or Fletchling and he could have tried to capture it to prevent it doing any further evil deeds or hurting his best friend/lover. He also should have been angrier at it. The other thing is why Pikachu didn't fight back when he was first taken and why Ash didn't attempt to battle Malamar when it first tried to get it's tentacles on his patner - I agree with who said it was a cheap plot device.

Overall I give it 6/10 for the Ash/Pikachu moments and because it's quite an interesting and suspensful plot.

 

[munchlaxboy]

After watching A Conspiracy to Conquer!, I am left with a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. An evil Pokemon--is that really possible? A Malamar manages to put the entire cast--with the exception of Ash and Meowth--under a hypnotic spell, giving it full control of their minds and bodies. It vocalizes its intentions of taking over the world (as cliche as a villainous intention can get) by using some sort of superweapon. However, Clemont's invention inadvertently saves the day (see, Clemontic Gear CAN be useful!) and breaks Malamar's mind control, forcing Malamar to destroy said superweapon since it has now been discovered. The episode is enveloped by a creepy atmosphere throughout, with the scenes inside the abandoned radio station especially giving off an Alien-esque, horror movie vibe.

This episode definitely has a lot going for it. The eerie, disturbing aura of this installment is a welcomed change from past sagas' overly happy-go-lucky vibe. The episode's heroic duo of Ash and Meowth is certainly a fresh pairing, and creating alliances between members of Ash & Co. and the Team Rocket trio seems to always make for a good show. Ash and Pikachu's bond is rigorously tested, as Ash is forced to absorb the blows from Pikachu's attack while trying to get the poor possessed electric mouse to come back to reality. Malamar, while its dub voice is hit-and-miss, seems to be a seriously threatening new villain who will undoubtedly appear once again in even grander fashion.

I wasn't too sure what I thought of this episode before whipping up this review, but while in the writing process I realized that this episode left me questioning: Where did this Malamar come from? Is it truly evil? Can Pokemon really be evil? Is it acting on its own accord? For a kid's show to actually get me so invested with a plot that leaves with me such confounding questions is downright impressive, especially for a Pokemon episode. The whole "take over the world" cliche makes me want to roll my eyes to the back of my skull, but having it be carried out by a (seemingly) standalone Pokemon is an untouched area for this anime. I am very much looking forward to how the rest of this evil Malamar arc plays out.

Grade: A-

Side Note: I really love these Clemontic Gear/"SCIENCE IS SO AMAZING" segments. It might be a bit too early to judge conclusively, but for now it might just be my favorite running gag that the Pokemon anime has ever produced.

 

[*Frank*]

Okay, it was a terrifyingly nice episode for something with an evil (episodic) subplot. Still, it had its bad moments. For example, when Serena declined Meowth's Fury Swipes...

 

[Gillachu]

Lol I'm sick of mind control plots which have been done to death on the show already. Madame X being a mind controlled Jenny due to Malamar was meh also...

 

[JudySpell]

Madame X being used by Malamar was entertaining but my only regret was that Malamar wasn't working for Team Flare. 7.5/10

 

[wobbanut]

Wow, this episode was creepy. I figured it was just from the pictures, and boy did it deliver. Not quite as creepy as the litwick episode, but close enough. I can't wait to see the sequel, though, since it looks like an excellent James-centric episode. I did like the final scene, where Team Rocket get nervous when they realize that malamar is Inkay's evolved form, LOL. I also liked seeing Ash and Meowth work together. And Clemont's robot Pikachu was cute. ^_^

The one real downside to this episode is zombie Pikachu. I normally don't criticize Pikachu's voice actor's work since it has been five-star throughout the series, but having zombie Pikachu sound like a sheep brought me out of the episode. Even if it was oddly fitting, it was a bit annoying. Zombie Wobbuffet sounded far creepier for the three lines he had under hypnosis.

6/10

 

[Mrs. Oreo]

I liked how Ash's group helped Meowth and I didn't expect that Malamar had the ability to control people and pokemon. Clemont's Pikachu robot looked funny and I liked how the wild pokemon saved Ash's group.

 

[Leonhart]

I thought that Junsa being mind controlled by Calamanero and taking on the identity of Madame X was interesting, mainly due to how sinister Calamanero was. It seemed genuinely evil. I wasn't too pleased with Pikachu getting mind controlled, but I liked seeing Onvern and Goronda help Satoshi's friends.

 

[Wednesdayz]

Lol, Jessie, James and Pikachu were creepy with their blank eyes, not to mention the horror movie atmosphere in Madame X's hideout. I also like how the key for breaking the hypnosis was the failed robot that Clemont created earlier in the episode.