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Leap 'n' Climb: Stakataka! (1028)

345ash-greninja

Auto-Memories Doll
Nah man, I find it hardly believable that there was anything at all likeable in this episode. Slapstick and buttmonkey momets are ok to have but there's needs to be at least an upper bound to it, especially when this is supposed to be an Ultra Guardian episode where an UB is to be caught and this episode simply exceeded that upper bound. And why does one character all the time has to bear the brunt of the slapstick, get the buttmonkey treatment 90% of the times??? It just looks cringeworthy, period. And Bourgain being used as a slapstick object, really? It just looked bad, he clearly suits the typical bad guy of the day role way better, this clearly wasn't a fitting role for him. And lastly, the capture of Stakataka simply looked cheap and felt like a total cop-out. Stakataka was strongly resisting capture throughout the entire episode, was rampaging throughout the entire episode, and suddenly out of absolutely nowhere calms down and gladly lets itself captured??? It hands down looked ridiculous and hardly made any sense whatsoever.

So yep, I'd say that this episode is easily among the worst episodes of SM so far.
 
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DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I still found it better than a standard TR curb stomp climax that's for sure. The twerps still looked like they had to struggle and use brain cells for this.

I also like that so far none of the UB face-offs have been used to set up a DEM boost or evolution. The writers actually seem steadfast that the twerps have to stop them through their own personalities.

Stakataka I just considered calming down because Ash had got that uncomfortable statue off of it and then, instead of hassling it, actually politely asked if it wanted to go back. Just one of those cases where a little niceness can go a longer way than confrontation. I thought that was Ash's upper bound really, and it's not like the others didn't suffer as well (the backfiring Pokeballs and the Turtonator end gag for example, and loads of stuff in Kiawe's direction). The recent dancing and shrinking episodes were better cases of Ash being a butt monkey and not getting any sort of moment of redemption from it (though even there he wasn't necessarily alone in the abuse).
 
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Frozocrone

Miraculous!
Gee I dunno, I liked Ash falling flat on his face, totes suits him.
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
I thought Ash falling face down in his attempt was hilarious in some way but then he still tripped in the first place to set up the gag. But I still liked Lillie trying her best to jump over the vaulting horse in her partially Z-Powered form. But at least she did better than Ash.
 

Almighty Zard

He has returned.
the parts at the beginning with Ash reminded me of Yuma from Yugioh Zexal doing similar stunts with those boxes.

I still want to know how Bourgain got out of jail, but in this episode he didn't really play the bad guy role.
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
I still want to know how Bourgain got out of jail, but in this episode he didn't really play the bad guy role.
I believe he is still filthily rich, so that he always gets someone to pay for him to get out of jail. The Bourgain statue must have cost a lot.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
So much for Lillie being the one. Still didn't like Ash being the spotlight.

I fondly remember not-Guzma was Kiawe's villain until he ended the relationship and went for Ash.

In fairness it was Kiawe who his name REALLY touched a nerve with in this episode and spent most of the episode 'helping' in a sneakily spiteful way, so I'd still say they remember he's Kiawe's personal villain.

I admit I'd like more episodes one of the other twerps did the main bit of work. If they're worried about balancing Ash, it's simple, make the other twerp the main butt monkey of the episode instead.

It seems to be a rule that the twerp whose put through the wringer the most and has the audience feeling sorry for them tends to be the one that solves things in the end as a redemption, the 'underdog' rule, just Ash obviously usually wins in that area. Kiawe, Lillie and Sophocles sometimes compete for butt monkey so get their moments they pull their own weight, while Lana and Mallow, who only seldom have jokes at their expense, spend a lot of the series being fairly useless.
 
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NPT

Just a member
People actually liked the poorly-placed slapstick in this sorry excuse of an ULTRA BEAST capture episode? The standards have fallen quite a lot since XY.
 
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Dragalge

"Orange" Magical Girl
People actually liked this sorry excuse of an episode? Wow, the standards have fallen a lot in the recent years.
I mean there are posts that found the episode fine so there’s your answer. : )

Besides, imo, a variety of unique ways to deal with UBs —> potential boring stream of Z-moves being used in the end
 

Remix2

Well-Known Member
So much for Lillie being the one. Still didn't like Ash being the spotlight.

I fondly remember not-Guzma was Kiawe's villain until he ended the relationship and went for Ash.

I remember when he was a somewhat promising recurring villain, then we realized that the writers either don’t know or care in what to do with him and basically turn him into team skull 2.0.
 

satopi

Life doesn’t end, …it changes.
People actually liked the poorly-placed slapstick in this sorry excuse of a ULTRA BEAST capture episode? The standards have fallen quite a lot since XY.
How was this poorly written? Just because it isn't your cup of tea, it doesn't make it a bad episode. Just because the Ultra Beasts look threatening, it doesn't mean they are. I'd rather this than a piss poor battle. A lot of the solutions to a problem in the past were of a simple wash, rinse, and repeat battle. I liked that the UGs had to use their heads for once, it's not like they didn't try battling it. It just didn't work so if battling doesn't work, you gotta think of something else. Better than the TRio upsetting it and the UGs having to curbstomp them which'll make friends with Stakataka without any sort of buildup.
 

Zoruagible

Lover of underrated characters
Ugh I can't take watching those anymore; I'll take an episode like this over any of the standard fillers from the past series

Better than the stupid wedding and sport episodes.

At least the TRio are likeable.... unlike Bourgain
 
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NPT

Just a member
I would rather watch a XY filler episode over crap like this. At least it won't be as frustrating as sitting through another stupid UB capture episode.

And characterisation? What characterisation exactly? Making stupid memefaces and falling face-first?

How was this poorly written? Just because it isn't your cup of tea, it doesn't make it a bad episode. Just because the Ultra Beasts look threatening, it doesn't mean they are. I'd rather this than a piss poor battle. A lot of the solutions to a problem in the past were of a simple wash, rinse, and repeat battle. I liked that the UGs had to use their heads for once, it's not like they didn't try battling it. It just didn't work so if battling doesn't work, you gotta think of something else. Better than the TRio upsetting it and the UGs having to curbstomp them which'll make friends with Stakataka without any sort of buildup.

Yeah, riiiight.
 
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DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Agency, as in they can be given a plot and actually hold it the whole episode, while nearly every COTD episode involves the usual flow of them failing to help the COTD and then TR butting in and making it as simple as spamming one or two attacks on them. Just a pure lack of intuition or really having the twerps be the highlight of the episode, especially in later ones where they have ZERO chemistry with TR and often not much with the COTD either.

I get way more frustration out of episodes like the XYZ Pikachu rocker episode where it looks like the twerps might actually do something interesting and challenging for the third act, only for TR to butt in and make it something boring and basic as 'Pikachu, Thunderbolt!' for the billionth time. At least SM is more liable to just stick to a damn story and play it through.

And Bourgain I consider the same step as Yosemite Sam was for the Looney Tunes series, the nastier more challenging villain that makes sure you're rooting for the heroes, compared to Elmer Fudd/Team Rocket who are so pitiful that the audience is sometimes rooting for them. I feel like there was more point to Bourgain being here because it was his facility that was causing the problem, it felt like a 'humans' industry intruding on Pokemon nature' type episode like we sometimes had in the OS. Team Rocket and Team Skull would have likely just been a generic nuisance and easier to swat away. Also while TR and even TS are indeed more sympathetic as characters, it doesn't really play at all into a dynamic with the twerps or making them more interesting antagonists (compared to even Elmer who at least has his more playful runarounds with Bugs), while even in this episode Bourgain's jackass nature got some amusing moments out of the twerps.

Better than the stupid wedding and sport episodes.

Yeah, I can't deny some of the SM fillers are a miss, but far less than previous series.
 
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satopi

Life doesn’t end, …it changes.
Better than the stupid wedding and sport episodes.

At least the TRio are likeable.... unlike Bourgain
He isn't even liked in universe. Just look at all the pain he endured in this episode.

I would rather take a XY filler episode over an atrocious UB episode like this.

And characterisation? What characterisation exactly? Making stupid memefaces and falling face-first?
I'd take fanservice over straight boredom of watching someone open a lock, a group of irrelevant little kids having an adventure, or "shivers" Nene appearing.

What is a "memeface"? That isn't even a word and no one made a face that resembled a meme. Slapstick was bound to happen if you kept having Pokeballs thrown back at you and your assignment was to convince some hunk of weight to go back to it's world.
 
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