Establish mechanics are established mechanics. With two moves that don't affect Excadrill and two that are resisted to death, it was no surprise Pikachu lost. I watched the entire battle again and I don't see the plot armor.
She only got to the final because Axew learned outrage at the last moment and then NEVER used that move again and because Emolga decided to start listening to her only at it's first battle in that competition. The fact that she owned Excadrill too - there was no obvious reason for that choice given she's supposed to be a dragon type trainer. Dribbler are not native to the part of the Unova region where the Village of Dragons is supposed to be and Excadrill could have been showcased by Clay. Pikachu could also easily dodged that final move too so yeah plot amour.
Out of practice means nothing to the established mechanics. Ash had no means other than brute force. Now, had this been Hoenn or Sinnoh level Ash, I'd see a valid argument, but this is Unova Ash, the same fool that lost to a Panpour with a type advantage. You can't pay attention to the anime as a whole, only as a region because continuity is loose.
Brute force has worked in the past and COULD AND SHOULD have worked here. Pikachu has already tied to a latios and beaten a regice. Excadrill isn't a strtech. Hoenn or Sinnoh level Ash is the same Ash so the argument is valid. The Panpour battle was a disgrace too. Pikachu's under powering was the worst aspect of the BW series. I'd understand the argument if it was any Pokémon other than Pikachu who is Ash's strongest and therefore should win the vast majority of his battles (like he has done in XY where the losses can be counted on one hand).
As for Cameron, we knew Iris had an Excadrill and had a functioning brain. Cameron was the worst qualities of Ash on steroids.
For having a functioning brain Iris lost to two gym leaders. Cameron beat 8 and showed he was competent in battle. Iris before this competition could not get either Emolga or Excadrill to listen to her and did next to no training with Axew to the point of avoiding battling with it - Ash shouldn't loose to someone like that and not with his best Pokémon
owned by a competent trainer who went on a 99 win streak with said Pokemon I might add beat Pikachu.
No. Iris is not a competent trainer is the point. Those 99 wins are meaningless given she couldn't beat an actual Gym leader (not a champion or member of the elite four). Ash had beaten 39 plus the orange league and the battle frontier. I'm still surprised that is defended by the same persons who condemn the Cameron battle.
Doesn't even compare to a Dragonite losing to Druddigon.
Yes it does because it proves my point that she clearly wasn't worthy of winning that battle in the first place, if she can't actually defeat a gym leader her opponent had already faced and beaten.
Imagine actually complaining about that.
People complain about a lot of things in this program. The Ash vs Cameron battle was poorly received and it was much better than this rubbish (and I wasn't a fan of that one either).
Stop being so whiny because your inconsistant little mouse couldnt beat an opponent it never had any place beating in the first place.
YES it did is the point. Same Pikachu that beat a leader's Onix, a Latios and a Regice. Pikachu had every place to beat Excadrill and Ash should have beaten Iris.
I will always cherish the moment Excadrill crushed that rat. I'm so glad it was real and not just part of my fantasies or biased pokephillic fanfics!
Every Iris episode gets a 10/10 from me btw, this one is no exception.
What exactly is the point of this post - provocation. You haven't exactly said why you feel that way. Anyway good for you mate. You can cherish it all you like, but I don't see why people bother with Pokémon if they don't like or won't support Pikachu. He's only the hero of the series and the mascot of the franchise. It would be like being a fan of Star Wars and being disappointed that Palpatine didn't crush the Rebel Alliance. And Pikachu's a mouse not a rat. Plus I crush is the wrong word. It was a close victory at best.
In any case the poor portrayal of Pikachu has thankfully been reversed in XY. The "rat" has been the hero of three gym battles and has only lost three battles two of which he won upon rematch. At the end of the day Pikachu prevails as the show's main character while Iris and Excadrill are confined to the realm of re-runs and a possible XY cameo appearance. There's unlikely to be an anime without Pikachu and he's likely to get many more victories in XY.
As for how much you like Iris episodes - I think you miss my point. Iris as a character is not the problem. The problem was the battle and the way the arch was written not the character. Iris using a Pokémon that had not had many battles prior to that battle, who only got the final because of Axew spamming outrage, and whom won against a trainer with clearly more experience than she had using his first and most experience Pokémon when that Pokémon needed a major win at this point is the problem. That in addition to the fact that Iris's calling ash a kid was always unfair and Ash should have been given the opportunity to prove he was in fact highly skilled and the fact there was no rematch and Ash didn't win any of the other tournaments. Considering how he managed to win battles in Sinnoh the battle showed a lack of creativity on the writers part. There are plenty of ways Ash could have won it. Even creating that match up in the first place is odd given the writers tend to avoid such an uneven match up for important battles. That is not only inconsistent writing but it's unfair to your main protagonist.
I thought Iris was a good character but as much as you like her you can't pretend that episode was anything other than terrible writing.
