Heroes - Friend and Faux Alike! (832)

[Zoruagible]

I love me some Team Rocket episodes! James cosplaying Ash was a little bit creepy and that kid calling Officer Jenny just because he lost a battle was cheap.

I agree.

James and Jessie's disguises were pretty convincing.I think Meowth's was the best though

 

[chalkus]

Jessie completely owned Serena with her imitation.

 

[The Pokemon Broadcast]

It's kind if funny how despite them failing the way they always, Giovanni is all impressed how TR is doing.

 

[munchlaxboy]

Even after 832 episodes of the Pokemon anime, Inkay-disguised-as-Pikachu is definitely near the top of the list of the weirdest things this show has pulled from the back of its pocket. But hey, it works! Heroes - Friend and Faux Alike finally gets the show back on track after a slew of subpar episodes. Impressed by Clemont's inventions, Team Rocket devises a convoluted scheme to separate Clemont from the group and get him to assist in making their Pikachu-snatching devices. They manage to pull this off by disguising themselves as Ash, Pikachu, Serena, Bonnie, and Dedenne (in puppet form) and invoking havoc around town, causing the police to take the Ash & Co. away (except Clemont, of course) for further questioning and elaboration. Poor Clemont really took his lumps in this episode, from unknowingly assisting Team Rocket to having two of his inventions blow up in his face.

This episode is downright hilarious. James's Ash impersonation is spot-on, and manages to be unintentionally funny in the dub in that his voice impression is just as awful as Ash's voice actor (ha!). The humor really comes to a head when Ash & Co. confront their impersonators, leading Jessie to do a full-on Serena impression ("Ta-da, ta-da, ta-da!") and make fun of the poor girl's fashion sense, much to Serena's fury. Bonnie is just upset that Meowth impersonation of her is "...not even a little bit cute!" Inkay also makes for a creepy yet delightful floating Pikachu--a skill it learned because of "lots of special trainin'."

The XY series was really in a lull for these last dozen or so episodes, but this one really brightened my day. Just goes to show that filler episodes can sometimes be the most enjoyable. Team Rocket felt almost Kanto-like in this episode, as they were genuinely humorous to a degree. I just wish that this type of Team Rocket humor isn't a one-time thing for the saga.

Grade: B+

 

[Gillachu]

I agree.

James and Jessie's disguises were pretty convincing.I think Meowth's was the best though

His was the worst in terms of convincing, though. James looked just like Ash and Jessie was kind of like Serena minus the attitude...

 

[*Frank*]

Clemont's inventions are simply the best. Kek.

This was a fun episode. This is one of the few times that I like TR. Their plan was well thought out, and they reminded me of their old-ish personalities. If only they knew that Clemont's inventions actually explode, because that was their only flaw.
8/10 + 1 = 9/10 because Inkay dressed up as Pikachu.

 

[JudySpell]

Meowth dressed up as Bonnie made me spill my drink from laughing. James had the best disguise out of the TRio though and he even looked good as Ash. 9/10

 

[wobbanut]

Even if the show's recycled a few episodes in the recent past, like the caterpie episode being like "Bye Bye Butterfree" all over again, this recycled episode was actually really good IMO. Season seven's "A Double Dilemma" is one of my all-time favorite episodes, and I was worried that this would just be the same with a new cast, but I think they avoided it being a rehash. What really separates it is the focus on Clemont, and I find it interesting that Team Rocket actually tried something different and it worked for a little bit, getting a twerp to unknowingly *help* them. I liked them imitating his lines too, LOL.

Just one question, though: how did they learn Serena was from Vaniville? They already knew Ash, and I'm sure Bonnie was easy, but I'm surprised they even knew Serena's hometown.

9/10

 

[Wednesdayz]

Good XY filler, finally. I appreciated the way the writers played off of his Clemont's shtick: I mean, they had previously established that he gets overexcited when technology is involved, so having Team Rocket take advantage of that made perfect sense.~

 

[Mrs. Oreo]

It was extremely funny to see Team Rocket dressed as Ash's group and running amok ruining everyone's reputation except Clemont's. Clemont's Heliolisk robot was pretty cool as well and I liked seeing him get focus.

 

[Wednesdayz]

It was extremely funny to see Team Rocket dressed as Ash's group and running amok ruining everyone's reputation except Clemont's. Clemont's Heliolisk robot was pretty cool as well and I liked seeing him get focus.

Well, it's not as if Clemont even had a reputation worth ruining anyway: his failure with inventions and his Gym's crisis with the Clembot kind of made him look incompetent this entire time.

 

[Leonhart]

It was ingenious of the Rocket-dan to steal the identities of Satoshi, Serena, and Eureka to get away with stealing hot dogs, and Citron's Elezard bot malfunctioning and ruining the Rocket-dan's scheme was amusing. Kojirou's Maaiika looked humorous while it was upside-down disguised as Pikachu, too.

 

[Alloutℯ]

I seriously hate the idea of this plot. How could anyone be so stupid that they don't notice the effing height difference between TRio and Ash's group? Team Rocket's at least a foot and a half taller.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

I seriously hate the idea of this plot. How could anyone be so stupid that they don't notice the effing height difference between TRio and Ash's group? Team Rocket's at least a foot and a half taller.

They were sitting down a lot of the time, but if I recall correctly, the Japanese version has the shopkeepers telling them about people who look like them going around doing bad things while shouting who they are and where they're from.

 

[Wednesdayz]

I seriously hate the idea of this plot. How could anyone be so stupid that they don't notice the effing height difference between TRio and Ash's group? Team Rocket's at least a foot and a half taller.

People in the show are just stupid sometimes when the plot demands it, like when Ash and Co. don't realize that TR are disguised 99% of the time.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Seeing Team Rocket disguising themselves as Ash and his friends was pretty funny and weird especially with Inkay disguised as Pikachu and it using Psybeam on Myron's Pancham. Good to see a move absorption machine that was able to reflect attacks but unfortunately, it broke.

 

[Leonhart]

I seriously hate the idea of this plot. How could anyone be so stupid that they don't notice the effing height difference between TRio and Ash's group? Team Rocket's at least a foot and a half taller.

None of the townspeople had seen the real Satoshi or his friends, so they had no idea that there'd be differences between them and the imposters.

 

[Daizy]

Jessie's Serena disguise was the best one, then Inkay's Pikachu disguise second. I thought that Clemont hanging out with the fake group could've been funnier though.

 

[Leonhart]

Jessie's Serena disguise was the best one, then Inkay's Pikachu disguise second.

I thought Musashi's disguise was decent, but Kojirou's disguise seemed like the accurate by comparison. Nyasu's disguise was hilariously bad.

 

[Power Up]

Another hilarious episode. Man, early XY was so fun and the comedy landed so well.