Finally got around to watching the dub of this, and I'm still as bitter about this episode as I was with the original.
Anyone remember the Ash vs. Paul battle... how there was a ton of strategy involved with decent improvised moves and battle plans. Yeah, none of that here. Instead, it's one Pokemon after the other with a ton of:-
"Don't worry Oshawott, I know you can defeat Hydreigon!"
"Don't worry Ferrothorn, I know you can defeat Pignite!"
"Don't worry Pignite, I know you can defeat Samurott!
"Don't worry Samurott, I know you can defeat Pikachu!"
"Don't worry Swanna, I know you can defeat Pikachu!"
"Don't worry Riolu, I know you can defeat Unfezant!"
Oh wait, excuse the last one... Riolu did defeat Unfezant. The bird didn't manage to get off a single move... having said that, she was only hit by three moves that shouldn't have been that effective before being knocked out so I guess logic is being thrown out of the window for the 'Heart of the Cards' mentality the show has been pimping recently.
But let's get on to the worst factor about this episode... Cameron only brought FIVE Pokemon with him!. I mean, geez, there's dumb but then there's bone-shatteringly stupid. "Duh, I thought full battles were five-on-five!" They're called FULL battles, you dumbass. Clearly your logic does not resemble our Earth logic.
The fact the writers went this is stupid idea pisses me off for two reasons...
- It cheats us out of seeing a proper full battle at the league.
- It makes Ash look even weaker that he's having trouble against this guy. DP Ash would be walking over him.
Some people might reason there wasn't time to include another Pokemon, and I could buy that if we hadn't had yet another 'Axew goes missing' filler plot just before. God, even in a league Iris takes focus away from Ash.
People who refute that BW has made Ash weaker and is a massive step backwards for both him and the series, this episode is all the proof you need.
I guess I should give this episode one compliment... I liked the design of the scoreboard (and a really nice touch is that when the evolution is finished you can just see Riolu's picture being replaced by Lucario's... of course, he still shows at Riolu a couple of shots lateR). That's all the good things I can say about it.
Oh, and Jimmy Zoppi... did you have to use your James voice for the referee? Didn't you have anything new you could use?
My thoughts exact, General Zod.
Also this post below sums up my feelings:
because he apparently did not know you could carry 6 Pokemon, I'm pretty sure that would've been an important thing to know for any kind of trainer.
No offense to the user's earth logic but I don't know how Full Battle equals 6 on 6 without knowing prior that a trainer can carry and battle with a maximum 6 Pokemon.
If they said 6 on 6, then I would agree.
"I thought a 6 on 6 battle involved a 5 on 5" then the questioning of Cameron's logic valid.
And remember, Cameron is a scatterbrain so it must have completely slipped out his mind. Also the focus on not being late to his match with Ash.
Cameron is especially careless when it comes to numbers; getting the date of the Junior Cup wrong, thinking you need 7 badges to enter a League.
Um... didn't they say in the previous episode that the following matches were going to be 6 vs. 6? Bringing only 5 Pokemon was Cameron's fault, but that doesn't mean that is illegal to bring less than 6 Pokemon.
I don't know what the dub did, but I'm pretty sure they were only referred to as full battles. And unless you knew about full battles, it doesn't automatically equate to it being 6 on 6, we know that a full battle is a 6 on 6, but because we were told that's what it meant.
But if someone didn't know jack about Pokemon, like say your hypothetical cousin in a country that has no internet, or knowledge of Pokemon, it's unlikely he'll be able to discern that full battles = 6 on 6 battles.
Now Cameron obviously knows something about Pokemon, he's a trainer with conveniently powerful Pokemon, and you'd think he would know what a full battle actually is. But it could've easily been something that was never came up, similar to the situation, where you're trying to find someone and you coincidentally keep missing them.
Or it could be as simple as he was lied to by his parents, or something, who only wanted him to carry 5 Pokemon instead of 6, although his reaction was clearly more because of the former than the latter.
I mean looking at Cameron and who he is, I could see why his parents were to hypothetically lie to him, I mean could Cameron even take care of 6 Pokemon once, or is he going to forget, and then when he does remember, he sends out his Pokemon only to find a pile of bones.
dman even in the japanese version, Freddy stated that the next round was 6 vs 6.
Dont know if anyone pointed this out but Ash losing 5v6 is a big **** you to the idea of Ash, he is supposed to be the "underdog", so giving him an advantage is just stupid.
in retrospect this might be my least favorite episode of the entire show.
with all the glorification pignite and pikachu got, ive named them Piggybank, and Pikaching.
In the games hydeign alone would have swept ash several times over, so ash is still the underdog.
Ash would be a underdog in the majority of his battles just going based off the games.