Flint Lights The Fire (633)

[Mrs. Oreo]

I liked how Ash didn't want to take a free Beacon badge cuz of his pride and Flint was so cool. I knew Ash wouldn't defeat him, but I liked how Volkner witnessed their battle and became less depressed at the end. ^^

 

[Leonhart]

Ohba was awesome as expected, and him being Denzi's childhood buddy was a nice game reference. Denzi's depression was handled well, and although I know that Satoshi had too much pride to have accepted the Beacon Badge without a fight, he has accepted free Badges before. How things have changed.

 

[Wednesdayz]

I loved the rivalry between Flint and Volkner and Flint's Infernape was a beast. I was surprised that the poacher was the coffee shop guy. Great backstory as well between Flint and Volkner as well nice to go into a bit of history.

 

[Alloutℯ]

I like how they went about Volkner's personality. It seemed alot like that of his in the games. I like it when the anime tries to follow the games closely.

 

[Mrs. Oreo]

and although I know that Satoshi had too much pride to have accepted the Beacon Badge without a fight, he has accepted free Badges before. How things have changed.

In Ash's defense, he hadn't won a 'pity badge' in a long time, so him refusing to take a Beacon badge that he didn't earn was well within his character traits. I would've been shocked if he had taken the badge cuz he doesn't accept handouts. :3

 

[ZilverLox]

Ash vs. Flint seemed like a waste since Ash lost and it made Flint seem unbeatable. For once I wish Ash had defeated an Elite Four member.

 

[Leonhart]

In hindsight, Denzi's lethargy with Gym battles seemed similar to what Sumomo went through, except that Denzi was upset due to his opponents being too weak instead of them being too tough.

 

[Vulpicks]

It was extremely freaking cool how the poacher ended up being the bartender lol.

 

[Daizy]

This episode was fun. Ash vs Flint was exciting especially with Volkner's memories mixed in. I couldn't help thinking of LaRousse City with the moving streets in the beginning in Sunyshore though.

 

[FullmetalJackie]

I liked how Sunyshore City looked futuristic like the city in the Deoxys movie. I also thought that the writer did a supremely good job keeping the Volkner story line completely intact and giving it a little extra attention as well by showing us Volkner's past. Flint was a pretty cool character and the thing that I didn't really like was the twist about the poacher suddenly being a good person.

 

[Ragnarok4]

Infernape is not that strong ... he was literally smashed by flint

 

[mysticalglacia]

I really liked this episode and Volkner + Flint as characters, again getting to know more of the Gym Leaders/E4 and who they are as people is something DP does exceptionally well. Their backstory together was quite touching, as well as the way we see Volkner eventually drifting off and becoming more detached and apathetic. Burnout from not being stimulated or challenged is real, and I think it was portrayed well here. Volker then being revitalized by seeing Ash and Flint fight and seeing himself in Ash was great. I just love Volker, I think he’s so cool. His design, his story, his team, his association with his city; easily the best Sinnoh GL.

Sunnyshore is such an awesome city, it’s still one of my favorites out of any region. A seaside town that runs on electricity from solar panels? Just so unique and very aesthetically nice to look at. I always love beach towns and routes in Pokémon because I have an affinity for those places irl, but Sunnyshore feels distinct in the way it melds together technology w nature.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

In retrospect, I kinda hate how they handle powerscaling here. Yes this was at a time where these trainers were insurmountable and all powerful, but Flint was portrayed way too strong here, he manhandled Ash way too easily imo and set the scale of invincibility too high for these trainers in the future which caused troubles when starting from XY they started to break their invincibility
Maybe it's on the future series for not respecting this powerscaling/ on the future series for not building up to it more properly
But the fact only this episode needs to be kinda changed to fix most of the powerscaling issues with the trainers is really sticking out like a sore thumb
Infernape and Pikachu should have put up a much better fight and did atleast a bit to Flints mons