Evolving Strategy (600)

[dman_dustin]

DEM Ursaring, an Electabuzz that gets walloped by Dig and doesn't even flinch, and constant protection move spamming made this excuse for an episode a complete joke imho. I know the Anime doesn't follow the games, but this is one instance where it should - the protection move spamming should have resulted in at least one failed attempt, but no - we get pathetic DEM instead.

While I agree Paul did spam the hell out of protect, you're forgetting one important detail. Protect only fails with consecutive attempts.

Protect-Attack-Protect-Attack like Electabuzz did would not cause Protect to fail, because once Electabuzz used a regular attack, it reset protects guarantee to 100%.

See the fight with Maylene, Meditite used detect to much and ended up failing, But that's not the case with Electabuzz and Protect.

 

[eryyy]

This episode was alright. I felt so bad for Ash after he lost. He looked so crushed and ready to cry. Poor Ash

 

[No. 1 Machop Fan]

I cried when Ash's Chimchar evolved, and I'm still crying now! Unfortunately, I think I'm the only one who's crying about this.

Ever since it evolved, I continually imagine it becoming a Chimchar again. That's why I posted this in Create And/Or Rename Anything And Everything!!!:

Item: Power Stone. Devolves a Pokémon that evolved via level up (except the Hitmons, who are a branched evolution) e.g. turns a Monferno into a Chimchar, re-enabling the ability to learn Nasty Plot. It can evolve again as soon as it levels up (provided it's below level 100, of course).

As stated, it can learn Nasty Plot if it devolves. According to the games, it increases the user's Special Atack by filling its mind with negative thoughts. For that reason, it would have been great on Chimchar after what it had been through with Paul.

 

[Alpha Gamer]

I cried when Ash's Chimchar evolved, and I'm still crying now! Unfortunately, I think I'm the only one who's crying about this.

Yep, I think you are. Monferno is awesome.

 

[umbreon_shadow27]

I cried when Ash's Chimchar evolved, and I'm still crying now! Unfortunately, I think I'm the only one who's crying about this.

Ever since it evolved, I continually imagine it becoming a Chimchar again. That's why I posted this in Create And/Or Rename Anything And Everything!!!:



As stated, it can learn Nasty Plot if it devolves. According to the games, it increases the user's Special Atack by filling its mind with negative thoughts. For that reason, it would have been great on Chimchar after what it had been through with Paul.

You're aren't the only one who didn't want chimchar to evolve.Chimchar was way better before it evolved.

 

[STICKTOPIA]

Think about it all u want Chimchar ain't coming back

 

[Rebeccag]

Great chapter. Wasa bit sad that Ash lost but Pauls pokemon were just too strong. Loved how Chimchar evolved into Monferno though. The rest of the battle was just really Ash losing all his pokemon to Pauls until Chimchar came on the screen. Maybe they could have made it a bit more equal

 

[laloman]

This was one of the best episodes ive seen in a long time. Monferno is a cool pokemon and it should have beaten electabuzz.
Im really getting tired of people saying that ash should bring back his old pokemon
i think that he should just use the pokemon he caught in sinnoh cuz think that his old pokemon already had their time to prove their strength and now he needs to use only the pokemon he gets in sinnoh
ash rulesssssss

 

[truebreeder]

I think Ash was kind of lazy for this battle. I mean he didn't prepare at all. It seems like he didn't even think about the battle until it was time to call the first pokemon. If he had used some strategy and thought about type matchups, maybe he would have had a better chance of winning.

 

[JavinMcarthy]

I'm just going to copy and paste what I thought of the episode from another thread. Slightly edited for content.

And alas other trainers of course don't get to use Deus Ex Machina, as that only applies to the protagonists. So whatever.
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I am not pleased with this battle, personally I think it's a bunch of bull, but no one would agree with me.

6-2 is just bull, even with Paul's reserves, Ursaring was caught at the start it was just ridiculous that it couldn't be knocked out. I mean dear god how many hits did it take before going down.

And Electabuzz, oh so what Dig isn't a ground type move, therefore super effective. The flame body and the thunderbolt/Electric Attack paralysis was way too convenient for Paul. I mean why don't they make more use of it, why just randomly put it in just because it could happen that way.

And even after Blaze, Monferno couldn't knock out Electabuzz.

Writers if you're going to portray someone as powerful, you better do it from the beginning, none of this pulling crap out of your hat just because its convenient for you.
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And again of course it doesn't matter what I say, because nothing would come of it from complaining.
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If I have to find anything good about this battle, it's the animation and Monferno vs Electabuzz (before Monferno lost). I was actually pretty pleased with the battle, until Monferno had to go and get knocked out.

Poor Ash, falls victim to the writers' schemes all the time.

When Moferno was Battling Electabuzz that was not Blaze, It was Moferno's Determination not to be Beaten Manifesting in it's FLames

 

[ChaosMage]

I don't think that they could really have Ash do any better against Paul in this battle- he can't defeat Torterra, Magmortar or Honchkrow at this time without undermining the threat they pose later. But I do wish it had been a tie between Electabuzz and Monferno- would also make sense of Paul presumably wanting to evolve Electabuzz

 

[Cobalt_Latios]

And next off... the episode in which Chimchar evolves (if you weren't aware, too bad, you should know this already).

For one, I found that, besides the fact that Ash lost, besides the fact that Paul seems to be the EV training, Metagame player, and besides the fact that Chimchar Evolved... I think Ash may want to somewhat reconsider his training methods just a tad.

Okay, sure, I get that he was attempting to prove a point with the way he trains, and obviously this episode was all about Chimchar -> Monferno, I just can't believe they made half of Paul's team that overpowered.

Ursaring... my god, what have they done. I get it, it was a menace back in Johto, why must you put so much emphasis on that. It gets hit by it's own Focus Blast, and is able to keep going through 2 more of Ash's team before finally being taken down by Chimchar... of all things. I get it, you wanted to evolve Chimchar (ironic, since Chimchar was what Paul used to catch the damned bear), but my god, why couldn't Ash had just immediately swapped to Chimchar, taken down Ursaring, and then have another 2 guys ready to take down another member of Paul's party (and maybe give the rest of his team some chance at taking down at least Electabuzz and maybe Torterra... I don't know if it was beaten, correct me if I'm wrong).

Otherwise, I think Paul just had the better strategy; he actually seemed to use actual in-game techniques that work pretty damn well (using his Electabuzz to set up Light Screen was pretty damn clever, IMO).

Personally, Ash was at a disadvantage from day 1. Reggie even points this out! Paul obviously went with his best team, and used that. Ash... he just stuck with 6 pokes and left it at that. No real strategy. I hate to say it, but Ash: YOU NEED TO GET A STRATEGY IN THERE THAT WILL WORK AGAINST PAUL! I get that he's trying to point out the other method of training, but at this rate, he's not going to be able to prove much if he keeps losing.

I sincerely hope the writers have taken that into consideration and are planning to give Ash a much needed strategic makeover. C'mon, where's all these "outside" the box stuff that got Ash to this point int the first place? I thought Ash could think up a strategy in the middle of battle and come out victorious.

Oh wait, I forgot, that only works with gyms, because he obviously needs to win those.

Not very smart. I hope the writers realize this and actually give him time to concoct these outlandish strats that Ash was known for. I get it, Paul has a different way of treating his Pokemon. Can't we just let that slide?

<C_L>

 

[wobbanut]

Too bad that Ash ended up losing his battle to Paul, but at least it was a great battle from start to finish. I just knew that if Chimchar were to evolve, it would be against his former trainer, and they didn't disappoint. Too bad that Ash seemed to get worse as the battling went on, but at least he put up a good fight against Paul.

Overall, an awesome two-parter.

 

[Locormus]

Cobalt Latios has it right there.. as we could all see, Paul had the upperhand the entire battle, and if he didn't, he switched to a better counter. So did Ash, but still made awefull decisions (Grotle vs Honchkrow, we know it wants to, but give it a rest), and that made him fail.

What was Ash thinking when Chimchar evolved and Paul still had 4 pokemon left? Yes we can? Paul had Torterra, Honchkrow, Electabuzz and Magmortar left.. that'd kill Monferno if he were pitted against that, if it were still trained by Paul.. (you know, how Paul pitted Chimchar against his entire team.. but if it were these four, it would've surely killed Monferno..)

This episode was the worst of the two in my opinion.. not saying that it was bad, but totally lopsided.. but in the end, it did what it was supposed to do, which is to set Paul up to be the major, major rival in the league.. which has made this the best battle Ash had in Sinnoh to date, closely followed by Buizel vs. Lucario and Grotle vs Rhyperior.

 

[Afan]

I thought that this episode is going to serve a huge purpose down the line.
Here are my thoughts on the episode:
1. Ash needs to get a stratagy aginst Paul. It seems to me that Paul planned before the battle while Ash did not. It was lopsided from the start.
2. I think this is what Ash needs as a wake up call. Not saying that i liked seeing Ash lose the way he did but i think that he needs to see Paul as a real threat down the line.
3. This was the first time we saw Paul's Battle stratgey. Before it was just one on one battles between pokemon. It also showed his true strengh as a trainer.
4. Improvements are not optional, THEY ARE NECESSRY
5. It sets up a very good Battle later on.

 

[Afan]

I thought that this episode is going to serve a huge purpose down the line.
Here are my thoughts on the episode:
1. Ash needs to get a stratagy aginst Paul. It seems to me that Paul planned before the battle while Ash did not. It was lopsided from the start.
2. I think this is what Ash needs as a wake up call. Not saying that i liked seeing Ash lose the way he did but i think that he needs to see Paul as a real threat down the line.
3. This was the first time we saw Paul's Battle stratgey. Before it was just one on one battles between pokemon. It also showed his true strengh as a trainer.
4. Improvements are not optional, THEY ARE NECESSRY
5. It sets up a very good Battle later on.

 

[swampertlover5712]

here is exactly what i thought about it:
positives:
-Chimchar evolved.
-Electabuzz got beat up, but still beat Monferno, the hyperactive kung-fu monkey
negatives:
-Ash, use strategy, not just brute force.
-What the hell man, Light Screen is NOT Protect. jeez.
-Why call out Grotle to fight a Honchcrow? weird.
-Ooh, looky! it's Ursaring, the anger problem, steroid infused grizzly bear! cool!
-why yes Flame Body does cause burns.
-why, oh why, did you let your Pokemon battle when they were hurt? call 'em back and i dunno, think it through.
-Evolution did not help you my friend, hate to break it to ya.
i'm done.

 

[dman_dustin]

When Moferno was Battling Electabuzz that was not Blaze, It was Moferno's Determination not to be Beaten Manifesting in it's FLames

Yeah thank you for quoting me at the time this episode first came out and no one bothered to say exactly what was going on and I had to guess.

I knew long before it aired in the dub that it was not Blaze.

 

[V Faction]

"I Can't Believe It's Not Blaze!" Margarine spread.

 

[Shego]

I'm sad that he lost the fulll battle. But that will be the last time that a sweeetheart like Ash lose to a big arrogant jerk. I mean, the guy who not only mistreat the pokemon, not only rudely insults Ash and pikachu, he also disrespected the Gym Leader such as Maylene. Even Jessie and Harley knows how to develop the relationship with pokemon.