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Facing the Grand Design! (857)

PanpourHoopa

Well-Known Member
James and inkay were adorable together! :3
 

ShinyCharyZard

Too old for your rubbish..
Did he say a similar line in the Japanese version?

I'm no Japanese major and it's been a while since I watched it, but off the top of my head I believe the RAW translation was something like..

"Pokemon from space? I want to meet them!"

Which could of course mean that he just wants to meet new ones, other than those he already knows of.. but knowing what Ash's memory is like, he's probably just blanking out every one he's ever met..
 
Second time watching this episode, since I was only half-paying attention to it the first time.

I was hoping we'd see a continuation of this 'grand design' plot at some point in this saga, and it looks like this plot isn't quite finished, which is exciting. :)
 

the1stpkmnfan

Your Big Buff Bro
"I'd like to meet a Pokemon from space!"

..says Ash, who has met Deoxys, Jirachi, Elgyem, Clefairy, etc..

Ash, please stop. You're hurting my inner childhood!

Regardless, this was a rather engaging episode. I liked seeing Officer Jenny again, and the Malamar were rather interesting. I hope this isn't the last we'll see of them.

Seeing James and Inkay's bond was rather touching, and I'm a sucker for these TR centered episodes.
 

Pikachu52

Well-Known Member
I was actually disappointed by this episode. The Malamar's plot was poorly explained and rather rushed. It's never explained why they wanted to alter the environement or what the machine that they stole was supposed to be for, or why they were evil in the first place. There was also surprisingly little action - Ash, Pikachu and Jessie are captured while James, Meowth and Clemont round up some good Malamar to fight them back. The three evil Malamar don't put up much of a fight and their machine is taken down rather easily. Then at the end they escape into the future - that didn't make sense. Since when can Malamar time travel? Only Dialga and Celebi are supposed to have that ability. And Why didn't Ash and the others try to stop them. They outnumbered the Malamar and could probably captured them in a Pokéball.

The best part of this episode is the friendship between James and Inkay. They shown to truly care for each other - James clearly states we're friends until the end and defends Inkay from Jessie's accusations. Then of course James manages to snap Inkay out of the mind control which Ash had done to Pikachu the last time they went up against Malamar and when Pikachu was controlled by Colress in BW. Prima facie it's rather cute and fluffly but when you think about it in the context of Team Rocket in the entrity of the anime it takes on a rather dark irony.

Jessie James and Meowth have spent the majority of their time in this series and every one prior trying to steal Pikachu from Ash, in some cases giving Pikachu rather nasty and even life threatening injuries and in all cases causing Ash and Pikachu severe heartache. At the opening of the last Malamar episode Jessie even said "we need to separate the twerp and Pikachu."

What's most interesting is that during the Hoenn saga James takes advantage of Pikachu's amnesia after he hits his head to persuade Pikachu to attack his Pikapi (Ash) with a painful thunderbolt. And in that same episode Ash is clearly brokenhearted when Pikachu follows Team Rocket and not him. Now several seasons later an evil Malamar gives him a taste of his medicine by controling his Inkay and forcing it to attack him. The word Karma comes to mind...

There also using the mind control theme a little too often - It worked very well when it was Ash and Pikachu during the Episode N arch because the audience is aware of how strong their friendship is. It doesn't have the same impact here because James and Inkay haven't been together as long and there are few demonstrations of their friendship. It's also not as dramatic. The scene lasted about five minutes before Inkay snapped out it and wasn't as dramatic or emotional as it was in episode N.

Overall I give this episode 5/10 mainly for the irony.

The other thing is there is a lack of continuity in cannon in this episode. Ash says he would love to meet alien Pokémon - he's already met them. During the decalore island saga he meets a group of Beeheeyem trying to repair their UFO. Similarly why is Clemont stating aliens don't exist - Deoxys, Solrock, Lunatone, Gotitha, Rayquaza and Jiarachi all come from outerspace. He's into science he should know that.
 
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DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I always found the evil Malamar idea corny (enjoyable 'dastardly moustache twirling villain' corny, but still corny) and this whole episode gave that same notion, especially the dub, but at the same time, I can't hate it. Like a lot of others I loved how it established Inkay and James' bond, and it's even more enjoyable retroactively since they and the rest of TR have been given more bonding moments since then.

I sorta liked the twist in how all the memories that snapped Inkay out of his trance were mostly painful or degrading ones from TR's schemes, and worked anyway. TR Pokemon don't care about being winners or losers, they care about their trainer.

I also liked how this episode bothered to point out not all Malamar are evil, we get some sweetheart Malamar and the sight of their brethren bullying their neighbour Pokemon makes their blood boil.

The links to 'Pikachu's Goodbye' in the ending may be deliberate or just repetition in formula, but it's a nice touch, especially since Inkay is usually Pikachu's opponent.

Though, they are still far away from pre-BW TR which, although annoying sometimes, still had some personality. It's nice that James loves Inkay and vice versa but seeing that bond more actively would help. And the same is true for Jessie and Pumpkaboo. I don't think Jessie has shown any kind of emotion towards Pumpkaboo, even while catching it.

I'm almost left believing Jessie's deranged story about her ever passionate bond with Pumpkaboo in her evolution episode was a jab at how underdeveloped she was, especially since she is MUCH more close to Jessie as Gourgeist.

Along with moments like the Under the Pledging Tree ending and A Fork in the Road for Jessie and Wobbuffet shortly after this, I feel like this episode was the point the writers decided to make TR 'loveable' again and looked a bit more into their roster. All of TR's Kalos Pokemon started to feel special in some way from this point.
 
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wobbanut

Team Awesome
LOVED this episode. Any Team Rocket-positive episode is great in my book, and it was nice to see how close James and Inkay are. :) Nice to see Team Rocket get the usual "break the spell with memories" plot twist that the twerps or guest characters usually get too. I loved the end scene too.

10/10
 

Alloutℯ

Banned
First good TRio focused episode of the XY series. I loved the friendship between James and Inkay. Nice to have Malamar back in the show, as it is one of my favorites. I do wish they kept only one Malamar as the villain though.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
Wow it was cool seeing the evil Malamar again as well as its two new comrades. Inkay acting strange and James feeding it a croissant was interesting and for a second there I kind of thought Inkay was going to leave or evolve.
 

Wednesdayz

Meowth fanatic
I can't imagine James's Inkay evolving here. Like, this episode made Malamar seem sinister as hell, so James having his own Malamar wouldn't have been fitting.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I feel like the number of Malamar involved was a moot point; the fact that they all failed and were never seen again was the biggest insult IMO.

I think having more than one this time was to justify Inkay amassing his own army against them since so many against one wouldn't have let the Malamar feel like much of a threat (even if they ended up thrashed with just Inkay and Pikachu anyway :p).
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
When I saw Kojirou's Maaiika acting in such a bizarre fashion, I must admit that I expected it to evolve in this episode, or at the very least gain a new attack. Unfortunately, Maaiika's role in this episode was a gyp since nothing came out of it. The Calamanero plot also ended on a low note.
 
So when Malamar said they will escape to the future, could this mean that they didn't originate from this time period? Could this foreshadow time travel? Malamar are so weird. After the first Malamar episode, I was thinking that Flare was behind this, but this episode introduced all sorts of weirdness that makes me think the Malamar are doing this on their own free will. I have no idea why they need to manipulate the world though.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
Frankly, the fact that we saw the evil Calamanero here again would've been much more intriguing if we had seen Xerosicy from the Flare-dan debut here as well. It's a shame that the two antagonists weren't involved with each other, however.
 
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