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Abra & The Psychic Showdown (022)

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
I don't think that's a good thing since she made the other leaders seem bland by comparison. Her doll having psychic powers was even more of a wtf moment...

Well I kind of figured that the doll had powers cuz Sabrina was channeling her own powers through the doll. ^^;
 

JudySpell

Banned
Sabrina's doll was creepy as heck and I was enthralled by how cold-hearted Sabrina was. At least her dad saved Ash's friends and gave him advice. 7.5/10
 
My favorite moment was when Sabrina's assistant bent the spoon with his mind and how Ash did it with his strength. I felt bad when Ash lost to Kadabra.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
When I was a kid, Natsume and her talking doll freaked me out. It was good that Satoshi and his friends had finally arrived in Yamabuki City, but the Rocket-dan's stunt wasted too much time that could've been better spent focusing on Satoshi's Gym battle with Natsume. Yungerer was very powerful, though.
 

Wednesdayz

Meowth fanatic
Another cool episode. It was one of the first times I ever seen Teleport. I thought they were turned into nothing back when I first seen this episode. I knew about the shrinking thing, though. However, the little girl did look creepy in the first scene her eyes are shown.
 

ZilverLox

Banned
I loved this episode. Best of Kanto. You never see a Gym Leader toy with Ash like this anymore. Sabrina's Kadabra utterly dominated Pikachu. It was cool how the show was still more fantasized as it compared to now how they have to battle like mystic forces and the whole psychic power thing. Ash, Brock, and Misty turned into the size of dolls and stuck in the doll house.
 

Wednesdayz

Meowth fanatic
Satoshi wasn't completely at fault for Pikachu's loss, though. Granted, he may've seemed slightly overconfident when facing Natsume's sleeping Casey, but her Yungerer was really advanced. He would've lost no matter what Pokemon he used.

Eh, I just feel that Ash was laid back in these early episodes and he was acting like winning in Gyms would be easy with no training.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
I don't get why Sabrina's doll rescued Pikachu from TRio when in the end Sabrina was pretty evil herself.

Natsume may have wanted Satoshi to challenge her using his best Pokemon for her own sadistic reasons, which makes sense since her doll teleported Satoshi and his friends right outside of the Yamabuki Gym. So perhaps the doll saved Pikachu so that Satoshi would use it against Natsume.
 

Manchee

extra toasty
This episode felt so weird, especially with the little girl popping up multiple times before the gang made it to Sabrina. Her, plus Team Rocket using the warp tile all felt very jumbled, like the episode wasn't well-planned. Clearly it was intended for Ash to lose so he would have to go get Haunter in the next episode, but Team Rocket's part was clearly all filler.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
In hindsight, I kind of wonder if that building in Yamabuki City where Satoshi's group was kept in the beginning was meant to be the Sylph Company headquarters due to the warping panels.
 
Sabrina's freaky powers seemed OP. Like how could she foresee Ash coming to Saffron and why did she even care. I laughed when Ash bent the psychic man's spoon and I was mad when Kadabra beat Pikachu.
 

gentwoer

Well-Known Member
Like how could she foresee Ash coming to Saffron
How does Clairvoyancy make her OP? If anything her ability to warp reality by shrinking the gang down or turning Misty and Brock into dolls
later on made her seem way more over powered than typical telekinetic/telepathic stuff. Things she did like watching people with her mind's eye, freezing people, telepathically controlling her Abra, levitating, and force strangling are all pretty standard psychic stuff.


and why did she even care.

Because he was a new challenger to "play with"

and I was mad when Kadabra beat Pikachu.

Why mad? Wouldn't it be boring if Pikachu won every fight ever? Kadabra was one of the best Pokemon in the gen 1 days so it made sense it stood no chance.
 
How does Clairvoyancy make her OP? If anything her ability to warp reality by shrinking the gang down or turning Misty and Brock into dolls
later on made her seem way more over powered than typical telekinetic/telepathic stuff. Things she did like watching people with her mind's eye, freezing people, telepathically controlling her Abra, levitating, and force strangling are all pretty standard psychic stuff.

I meant her psychic abilities in general. She had the advantage before the battle at the Gym even started.
 

Tiffo

Geeky Pokemon Master
A solid 7-8 from me, this was one of the few episodes I remember watching as a kid. I loved how they portrayed Sabrina's character, they made her seem very mysterious and mystical and it worked, it was very enjoyable.

It also set up the next episode or two very nicely, where you see Ash defeat Sabrina in the end, however I think this bit could have been improved a little, maybe it's just me.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
It also set up the next episode or two very nicely, where you see Ash defeat Sabrina in the end, however I think this bit could have been improved a little, maybe it's just me.

But even at the end of this Yamabuki Gym mini-arc, Satoshi still didn't manage to defeat Natsume, so in a way all of the development that Satoshi needed to go through here amounted to nothing.
 

gentwoer

Well-Known Member
Sabrina was my favorite gym leader in the anime and I enjoyed how they reimagined her from just a gym leader who used psychic pokemon to a creepy telekinetic psychopath with a split personality. Pity they never implemented that into Pokemon Yellow or Firered/Leafgreen

Some observations

I wonder why the anime decided to make Sabrina the 4th gym leader when she's officially the 6th (though often fought as the 5th and some strategy guides list her as such)

So Team Rocket has already taken control of Silph CO or what?

Russian guy claims you need psychic powers to control Psychic Pokemon but that just isn't true
 
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KyogreThunder

Call of Fate
Sabrina was creepy in this episode. Abra seemed overpowered even before it evolved, but since Psychics were the strongest type in the Generation I games, I wasn't surprised. Sabrina's father made me chuckle at the end.
8/10
 
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