Hmm to be honest it looks better with the red, but darn those official artworks.
I like it better with the Red too, but I think it still looks fine with Blue.
As for the episode, just finished watching the video version.
I love how Krokorok was trying to explain it's been following Ash and Pikachu, despite it only able to say it's name. Was funny to me.
I also love when Krokorok blasts off. Hoping it becomes a running gag, although I kind of doubt it.
I also love Krokorok losing it's sunglasses. That obvious will be a running gag, and probably leads to development at some point.
I pretty much love everything Krokorok related.
I got a chuckle when Glen came to get Nick. Due to his aggressive personality I saw him taller then he really was, but then when he walked right in the middle of Ash, Iris, and Cilan he looked so tiny to me haha.
It is disappointing that the double battle didn't really last long, but it seems like it was suppose to be a short battle(Of course the writers could come up with better titles in that case).
I like how Ash came off more mature and that in this episode, although it felt kind of odd. I did like how he didn't attack Krokorok while it went to get it's sunglasses though, felt more like Ash.
The Nick plot I wasn't too interested in, it was alright for me still. Nick was alright I guess, wasn't that interesting to me, although he's a nice representation of a young kid who doesn't know a lot about Pokemon yet. Glen was a jerk who changed at the end, which was obvious to happen, he came off as someone who relies on just attacking. Thane I thought was the most interesting out of the three, he knew his stuff and he seemed to care about his father's Pokemon(Or maybe just didn't want to get into trouble, I'd go with both though).
I liked how the writers had so many Pikachu vs Krokorok battles in this episode, felt like it was building up the suspense for when they get to battle till the last one is standing, too bad Krokorok lost, although I'm not surprise.
I loved Krokorok's capture scene, it was kind of sad seeing it walk away all depressed, then Ash makes it's day and captures it. Waited for this day since I first found out about BW003, and it finally happened.
I wish they gave Krokorok another move though. It has Crunch now but it's doubtful it'll ever use Bite again(It's like Tepig with Ember and Flamethrower), kind of got my hopes up that it was going to get Thunder Fang when it bit Pikachu but...nope. Oh well, it'll get another move sometime.
If it wasn't for Krokorok this episode wouldn't have been all that interesting to me, but because of Krokorok I loved this episode.