Beware of Shovels!! (965)

[Serebii]

Beware of Shovels!!

While training, Ash discovers a mysterious shovel moving aronud in the sand. Learning that it's a Pokémon called Sandygast, Ash learns of the dangers in touching the shovel. However, Sandygast's shovel flies off and angers tha Sandygast. Will Ash be able to help it?

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[Locormus]

The preview confused me, I wanna know how the events work out first hand.

The episode starts with..

- Ash and Kiawe training on the beach with Litten vs. Turtonator.
- Litten growls a lot..
- Litten Fire Fangs Turtonator's tail and it does nothing.
- We see a shovel move across the universesand.
Opening..
- Training continues and while trying to use Fire Fang again, Litten trips over a shovel.
- Pikachu and Rockruff examinate the shovel, it moves towards Litten and it reveals itself as a Sandygast.
- Logically, it is angry at Litten.
- Backstory on Sandygast, Kiawe touched a shovel when he was young and got possessed.
- Rockruff is trying to scare it away, but Sandygast just turns around and scares it.
- Rockruff then uses Rock Throw and the shovel gets blown into the water.
- Sandygast is.. well.. distressed about being shovelless.
- Ash uses Rotom as a replacement shovel. Okay.. SM being SM.. -.-
- Enraged at the sheer amount of disrespect, Sandygast evolves into Palossand.
- This Palossand is massive. It uses Sandstorm and Rotom is still stuck on Palossand.
- Palossand literally swallows Ash whole.
- No worries, Ash can look out of its "palace eyes". But Rowlet gets swatted away.
- Oops, it's a sandtrap inside. Pikachu doesn't work either. It's a Ground-type.. -.-
- Lana and Mallow and Sophocles and Lillie show up.
- Rockruff is really feisty about this and trying to save his trainer from Palossand, which goes in for another swallow, but Litten kicks it away and gets swallowed by Palossand instead.
- Immediately on the inside, it gets tormented to an Absorb/Mega/Giga Drain.. Oh dear.
Break..
- The friendsquad goes in for the Water-type hit. It's useless, Water Compaction being a thing? As Rotom is also being drained!
- More talk by the friendz.. Pikachu suggests to bubbledive into the ocean.
- Litten taking the damage from Palossand, who enjoys being in a sandstorm.
- Shiron suggests itself. Lillie agrees in order to save her friends.
- Pikachu and Popplio find a Shellder.
- The team of friends attack with fire, leafs and rocks!
- Shiron attacks with Ice Beam.
- Palossand with the Shadow Ball.
- Mallow with the leaf tornado? Lana and Lillie join in. Steenee helps blowing with her ears? Sophocles is there... I guess.
- Shiron is exhausted, but it manages to freeze Palossand.
- Litten starts sharing its warmth with Ash.
- Popplio finds the shovel, but accidentally bubbles a Magikarp.
- The freezingcrew manages to completely freeze Palossand.
- Rockruff and Rowlet highfive. Cute.
- Popplio tries to bubblewrap the shovel again, but a Corsola pops the bubble.
- Ash tries to run out of the Palossand, but the ice is too slippery.. -.-
- Ash and Litten manage to break out through the wall.
- After that PrisonBreak, Palossand defrosts!
- Shiron is too tired to try anything again!
- Right at that moment, Popplio's bubble with the shovel comes to the surface of the ocean!
- All the pokémon help with getting the shovel in the bubble up to the top of Palossand, where Ash dislodges Rotom.
- Ash falls off of Palossand, but Charizard catches him midflight.
- The shovel gets stuck in Palossand again, and it is happy and leaves. -.-
- Later that night.. Kukui wonders why it suddenly turned dark and walks outside..
- ..only to be greeted by the HUGE Palossand that swallows his house whole.. TO BE CONTINUED!

 

[Frozocrone]

At this point I've given up on a new intro animation until there is a new song xD

Ash, you dun goofed.

Lana just confirmed Popplio knows Bubblebeam.

Although props to her for taking initative!

Ash's Litten shirt is cute.

Pretty forgettable episode to me. Teamwork and bonding was cute but outside that...not much, if anything.

 

[NegaiFreak]

So... did Palossand kill them in the end or...?

 

[KingMinun]

This was one weird episode, it didn't feel like a normal episode. However, that doesn't mean it was bad, I enjoyed it, I think this episode was needed, this is the first time we've seen Ash's Alola friends being the heroes I believe. And each one and their pokemon helped out which was nice. I'm also enjoying the friendships that are building up with Ash, Ash and Mallow, Ash and Lillie and in this episode, Ash and Kiawe really stuck out. However, I don't think they're bonding with each other quite yet, aside from Lillie and Mallow. So it was nice to see Lillie and Soph's hanging out.

Pretty decent episode I thought.

 

[Frozocrone]

This was one weird episode, it didn't feel like a normal episode. However, that doesn't mean it was bad, I enjoyed it, I think this episode was needed, this is the first time we've seen Ash's Alola friends being the heroes I believe. And each one and their pokemon helped out which was nice. I'm also enjoying the friendships that are building up with Ash, Ash and Mallow, Ash and Lillie and in this episode, Ash and Kiawe really stuck out. However, I don't think they're bonding with each other quite yet, aside from Lillie and Mallow. So it was nice to see Lillie and Soph's hanging out.

Pretty decent episode I thought.

Was needed for them. I think my biggest problem with the episode was it was...generic I guess? Off the back of SM021 it felt lackluster to me.

 

[UnovaMaster]

If my favorite Pokemon Shellder appeared it's an automatic A

Episodes that showcase new Pokemon are not filler

 

[CMButch]

Just watching it, guys who was that blonde guy in the snow, holding a phone?

 

[Nerdy McNerdface]

Reading through here, I am really looking forward to this episode. So we get a bit of Kiawe backstory, then for once it's all the other characters instead of Ash doing stuff! This seems really cool.

 

[Frozocrone]

Just watching it, guys who was that blonde guy in the snow, holding a phone?

Think you mean Alola Detective Raki - the show Rotom enjoys.

Reading through here, I am really looking forward to this episode. So we get a bit of Kiawe backstory, then for once it's all the other characters instead of Ash doing stuff! This seems really cool.

Pretty much! Kiawe was hypnotised or something so kudos to whoever predicted that.

Then it's a team effort (although Sophocles, just what are you contributing to the effort idk) to rescue the damsel that was Ash for this episode.

 

[mystic9899]

lol rotom really admires alola detective raki. just as a true fanboy should!

cute filler episode overall.

 

[Locormus]

I felt that the conclusion was met a little too sudden. The shovel gets popped into its head and it's all fine and dandy and leaves? Too quick. And then for shizz and giggles it returns at night at Kukui's house? While I found that part particularly enjoyable, there's not much consistency to it. If Palossand still had beef, why did it leave?

 

[NPT]

The sheer wackiness of the crazy Palossand and teamwork of Ash's classmates made this episode quite enjoyable. Palossand randomly showing up and swallowing Kukui's house sure was a weird way to end the episode...

 

[345ash-greninja]

Well, this episode was better than I expected! Litten training with Kiawe to perfect Fire Fang at first, and then the teamwork of the cast to free Ash and Litten from the interiors of Pallosand was really nice! I also liked how Shiron played a major role in the rescue. Nice filler, 7/10!

 

[Mia Blaze]

Props to whomever predicted Kiawe's possession, that little section as a kid really looked good.

I really liked the episode overall, of course Ash angering the thing by putting Rotom on its head was the reason why he was swallowed up and Litten saving a teammate over itself was nice to see. Watching the others take charge and play a vital role was really refreshing as well.

It's also not filler people, Litten perfected Fire Fang, something it still hadn't done at the beginning of the episode and has some backstory lore for Kiawe so, yeah, not filler. But the ending, however... let's just say I would like to see how that ended out. Did Pallosand just fall on them or swallowed the house whole? I have questions that will forever remain unanswered.

 

[UltimateNinja]

Weird episode. Doesn't like pokemon centric filler and it doesn't help that I don't like the Sandygast line. Outside of the evolution, this was a 24/7 pokemon related filler. Boring.

 

[satopi]

I see Ash is training Litten right off the bat.

-I haven't heard Kiawe's Charizard say anything in a really long time.

-Wow, they're showing Kiawe actually possessed... just gathering sand.

-Sandygast looks so bland and ... just a pile of sand without its shovel. It's a bit weird to say out loud.

-Rowlet has such a panicked funny face when he's about to get hit by the Palossand.

-I wouldn't think Litten would purposely kick Rockruff

-Haha, Sophocles isn't sure about his own battling skills and helping out. Please make everyone useful

-Nice save Turtonator! ;~; Also, Mao chan was really cool (and useful) into using that giant leaf. She seems just as determined as Lady Lana

-Godzilla came back! O_O

I really was entertained by this episode. I loved the use of Lady Lana's Balloon and it was really funny on how the sea Pokémon kept getting in the way every time Popplio tried to capture the shovel. I also loved on how everyone tried to make themselves useful and how Shiron did her best to freeze the Palossand. Ash's escape attempts were hilarious to watch like how they explained why they couldn't just leave and Ash's head isn't that thick to break ice. Rotomdex was annoying in this episode, seriously I didn't want another Detective Raki moment animated even if it's somewhat related to their situation.... not. It was really great seeing all the Pokémon come together to rescue the Princess Ash and his duchess Litten. (yes Litten is a duchess in this situation.) I also liked on how Litten learned Fire Fang. It built up throughout the episode (and past episodes) and instead of automatically learning it to save Ash from Team Rocket, it learned it by simply thawing out the ice bars to get themselves out. Not bad for a supposed filler episode.

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

While not what I expected, this episode was definitely great. Not only did it showcase the creepy aspects of the Sandygast line from the games, but all of the characters had an active role this time & none of them stood in the background. This is the first time since Ash's battle with Hala that it actually felt like a serious and intense situation, despite all of the zaniness that was going on. Sun & Moon has definitely been doing a great job finding a happy medium between the goofy and serious tones.

Also, one minor thing I liked from this episode was how they played the score "The Matter's Settled" from season 1 when Palosand was leaving after getting its shovel back. Now all they need is to play "A Meeting & Parting" in a future episode & this will be one of my favorite sagas to date

 

[Satomine Night]

Overall, this was an entertaining episode. It was nice to see Ash's friends show initiative and actively work to save Ash. Without a doubt, Kiawe and the girls shined brightest here. (I don't know what Sophocles's purpose was other than he owns Togedemaru, but even the porcupine wasn't all that useful in this episode. Seriously, kid, what is your deal?)

I liked how Lana stepped up to battle first, and showed that Popplio is not just an arm accessory who blows bubbles. Kudos to Shiron for working so hard to use Powder Snow. It was a nice touch that Shiron struggled to keep up Powder Snow and was absolutely exhausted afterward, to the point where it couldn't use it again when Palossand broke free of the ice. It was a nice reminder that Shiron is still a newborn and doesn't have the stamina the older, more mature Pokémon have. Great ingenuity on Mallow's part in thinking to use the palm tree leaves (or whatever those were) to create an air current to help Shiron's Powder Snow. (Togedemaru using her antenna to create a fan blade effect was humorous.)

I also liked the way Ash's Pokémon were portrayed in this episode--Rockruff (in a display of canine nature) stepping up to attack Palossand without second thought; Litten kicking Rockruff out of the way (showing, once again, its compassion for its fellow Pokémon); Pikachu volunteering to search the ocean for Palossand's shovel; Rowlet not sleeping and actually joining in on the fray.

It was really nice to see Litten master Fire Fang to escape the frozen Palossand, surprising even Ash. But I have to ask: Why, Ash, did you attempt to break the ice by banging your head against it?! Haven't you learned by now that body-checking things is rarely a viable solution?

Anyone else catch Ash imitate Rotomdex and say, "Yorotoshiku" when he grabbed Rotomdex to use as a substitute shovel for Sandygast? I got a chuckle out of that one.

 

[Cat's Eye Draco]

So it was just a random anger evolution. And we got a brief glimpse of mind-controlled Kiawe after all.

Palossand's departure seemed a little abrupt to me as well, though. It got it's shovel back, yes, but you'd think that by that point it'd be a little ticked off for other reasons, namely the way that the classmates continually attacked it and froze it solid.

(Also, did anyone else immediately think of Team Plasma's collapsible palace in BW when Palossand disappeared into the ground?)