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Losing Its Lustrous (564)

Rebeccag

Well-Known Member
Good episode. I thought it was shocking when Crogunk got stabbed but didnt think he would die. LIked seeing Cynthia again and her grandmother. Also it was funny seeing Jessie and James dressed up as Jennnies. And Ihope Brock sees the 3rd ledgenary as well
 

Faerie

MONS
This wasn't much more than an OK episode, but its purpose was to introduce us to Team Galactic as a real plot point (finally), and it did. My complaints are mostly just nitpicks and/or "pan-canonical inconsistencies rar rar rar".

The "pan-canonical inconsistencies" part I'm talking about involves not Team Galactic, but Celestic town, which was supposed to be just that: a town. It was in touch with its heritage and was the least modern town in the game, without even a pokemart. And what did they turn it into in this episode (and the next)? Take a look. I also seem to recall from DPt that Cynthia's grandmother was the village elder, not a well-known scientist. Then again, what do I know? I'm just a fan who pays too much attention...

Also, I'm pretty sure that every major (key word: MAJOR) appearance Team Galactic has made has taken place in a museum. Teams Magma and Aqua did that a lot too. The episodes all just feel like a rehash of the last one. Can't they do anything different for once? Isn't there somewhere besides a museum they can keep a precious artifact?

Like most fans, I was considerably surprised by Croagunk falling through a skylight and then being stabbed in the gut by Toxicroak. For once I'm glad pokemon is such a kid friendly show. Croagunk guts? No thank you.

I appreciated that Cynthia and Cyrus were given some history together. The games seemed to be hinting at it a little, and a lot of fans had speculated on the matter, but this episode really solidified it. Their relationship (please to not be taking this out of context, kay?) has has been shown in bits and pieces in various incarnations of the series, and I hope we will finally find out what they really have to do with each other. They're both very interesting characters.

Partially due to the museum thing, and partially because the writers' creativity dried up long ago (I don't blame them--it's a long series), this episode just felt like the same old Team thing. I can't wait to see how the arc is resolved, mostly because I'm tired of the same old thing. You could honestly skip this episode and go on to the second half of the two-parter without missing much. It wasn't bad...but it wasn't exceptional either.

(Why do I feel like I say that about every episode?)
 

katfairy

Well-Known Member
Also, I'm pretty sure that every major (key word: MAJOR) appearance Team Galactic has made has taken place in a museum. Teams Magma and Aqua did that a lot too. The episodes all just feel like a rehash of the last one. Can't they do anything different for once? Isn't there somewhere besides a museum they can keep a precious artifact?

Well, that is where priceless historical artifacts are usually kept.
 

Vernikova

Champion
An exciting episode. Croagunk didn't attack Brock at all in the episode and he noticed that. It was ominous and a nice thing to add in the episode. Cyrus showed some of his insanity in this episode. He tried to make Ash and Dawn look at the orb and try to see Azelf, Uxie, or Mespirit. Croagunk losing to Toxicroak the way it did was pretty cool. Nothing else to say really about this episode other than a good job to the writers.
 

Blue Snover

Cold as ice
Is it just me or has Toxicroak shrunk since the episde with the meteorites?

I think Croagunk put up a good fight, but Brock could have given it a little help.

Cyrus is crazy, and i can't see how anyone would miss it.
 

Ash-kid

Ash-kid
TG were really smart, they planned everything so well.

and i loved to see Cynthia again.

7/10
 

wobbanut

Team Awesome
Have I said how much I hate Team Galactic? At least Teams Aqua and Magma contributed an interesting ongoing story to the RSE games and the anime with something to fight for. What does Team Galactic do? Something about unleashing the pokemon of space and time? Huh? They're boring. At least the Platinum game has the Reverse World to make things interesting.

At least Cyrus was interesting in this episode, and it wasn't too obvious to the others that he's the bad guy. Cynthia's grandmother was a cool character too, and it was interesting to see Meowth behaving like a normal Meowth while in disguise.

Apart from that, this two-parter seriously sucked.
 

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
i did not realise that Syrus have the same VA as Archie. so some 4kids VA still doing VA for pokemon.?

Yeah. Dan Green was one of the first VA's to return. He voiced Spiritomb, Byron, and Damos.

Anyway, good episode. I loved that we got to see Cynthia again, and he grandmother.

We did learn some more about the Sinnoh Space-Time legend, but that was probably not what made this episode exciting. Cyrus' debut was what made it good. He seemed so calm and nice, but he's a raging psychopath with his own hidden agenda.

9/10 for the great episode.
 

KGB13

Man of Mystery
Good episode. I thought the way Toxicroak peirced Croagunk with Poison Jab was one of the most violent scenes in the anime, but I'm not complaining. I don't find TG all that interesting to be honest but Cyrus I do.
 

Willow's Tara

The Bewitched
I didn't think it was a bad episode, probably because Cynthia was in it again and that's nice, although the second parter is better. This was just a start off for it.

I am surprised nobody really thought Cyrus could be the villain, I wonder what Cynthia;s (And possible her grandmother if she appears in another episode) reaction will be to him being the leader.

Poor Crogaunk got hit with Poison Jab, well aleast he knows now exactly how Brock feels when he is jabbed like that in the guts (And since Toxicroak seems to have a sharp claw or whatever it's probably best it never evolves lol).

I do notice Cynthia does sound like an older Dawn, I liked her voice at the end because she didn't sound like Dawn at all when she is angry. And oh boy two champion Pokemon? I would have retreated at that lol
 

Lance The Champ

The Aura Guardian
Why is there no mention of the Griseous orb?
 

wind21

Well-Known Member
Really just reviewing the first part, since, as usual, I'm not very knowledgeable about the TG part.

The first few minutes are really quite entertaining. Ash is working on his new move, and it's fun to see the different responses from his friends. Dawn is happy to see her spinning move being taken to new heights, while Brock is much more skeptical, and questions Ash about where he's going with this and whether he's really made a new move at all. It's funny to see. I think the fact that Brock brings up how Ash has done this before is again one of the charms of Sinnoh, in that Sinnoh generally acknowledges openly that it's repeating things that have been done before, with a slight twist added to the mix. Ash clarifies the difference, and in a way I can see what he's saying. The path Drifloom's hypnosis took to hit Buizel was certainly not straightforward, like Delcatty's Sing attack against Ampibom. But Ash also sort of acknowledges the weakness of the move as well, since by spreading the attack to cover so much area, he's only going to deal a "little" damage. This may just be a dubbing thing, but I think it's nice. Ash feels this is the best way to go, and his pokemon are all behind him. The fact that Ash has all of his pokemon out to help him figure out what to do establishes a sort of camaraderie for his pokemon; this group feels really close together, and I think part of that comes from how many training episodes we've had with them together. Ash also thanks Ampibom for the inspiration as he rubs its head, and I think this is the type of the friendship the writers were aiming for when they had the trade b/w Ash and Dawn, to make the trio seem closer together. And it works really well. I sincerely feel that this group of pokemon are the closest in terms of friendship since the Kanto group, and also the Hoenn group towards the BF stage.

Ash asks Dawn if she'll stay a little longer so that he can work on his move, and not Brock....and I think that was wise, since Brock looks like he was really ready to leave. He's even a little annoyed by Happiny emptying his backpack, in what was really a cute scene.

The most important scene in this episode, for me, is where Ash tries to explain to Cynthia how his last battle with Paul went. His hesitation prompts Cynthia's grandmother to surmise that Ash lost, or at the very least was disappointed with the results, and so he cannot even think of challenging Cynthia. I think the writers are really showing their sense of humor here, since this is the sort of thing we as fans probably complain about all the time, and it was wonderful to see Ash look a bit angry- like he really cares that he's traveled so long, and still can't match the champion. Ash (very politely, mind you) tries to brush it off and challenge Cynthia to a battle, but she declines. But I think Ash's challenge came more from how upset he was at hearing Cynthia's grandmother's "insult," rather than a sincere desire to challenge Cynthia.

It's this type of scene that makes all the difference for Ash, as a character. In the final episode of dp, he has an even more intense look than this one when watching Cynthia battle. He really, really wants to win, and he believes he can; but maybe no one else does. He also, I think, has some doubt whether he can. And supposing he doesn't, would it matter? I think that's one of the charms of this anime, in that, Ash's main dream is not something that the fate of the world depends on. What if Ash never does defeat the champion? He's done so much, and probably exceeded a lot of people's expectations already. I doubt anyone in Pallet Town would really be disappointed if Ash did not become champion; he's probably already the "pride" of that town. Neither Dawn nor Brock really stick up for Ash in this scene (although considering the champion's grandmother is saying this, I don't think they should). On Dawn's part, much of her story in this region is about her figuring out that it's important for her try her best, rather than be concerned about winning; even if she tries her best, sometimes that won't be enough to win. In future episodes, though, she does stick up for Ash and cheer him harder than anyone else does in this region. But at the end of the league, I think it's interesting that Ash's real feelings about his result, he sort of keeps to himself. Dawn sees him and catches him a little by surprise, but as soon as he realizes who it is, his expression changes, and he's "acting" a little. Brock very rarely is overly supportive of Ash (this episode is a great example, with him questioning Ash's tactics without just blindly praising them), and it's not until Ash's final battle in the Sinnoh league that he realizes something, and starts to cheer Ash on with much more energy than he normally does. But even so, I wonder if Brock really believes Ash can be good enough to beat someone like Cynthia.

Well, that was a lot of words and not much progress on what anything means. But there are such few scenes like this one in the anime, where you see Ash really being questioned about whether he CAN do it, and you see him thinking about it. I think this is one of his best scenes in Sinnoh, and as I've said probably too often, I think very rarely in Sinnoh we see Ash's true thoughts. Most of his best scenes, in fact I think 4 of his best ones (this one, the one earlier when Dawn loses for the 2nd time in a contest, the one at the very end of the Sinnoh League, and especially the one where he's watching Cynthia battle in the last dp episode), have him like this, where his expression is all we have to go by about what he's thinking.
 

G50

No longer posting
This episode was ok... It was cool to finally see Team Galactic again. It was cool to see Cynthia's grandmother for the 1st time. Toxicroak really nailed Croagunk hard when they were battling. It was cool to see what the Lustrous Orb looked like for the 1st time. It looks really cool. It was cool to see Team Galactic leader Cyrus for the 1st time. Cyrus at this time isn't revealing who he is, and that he is the leader of Team Galactic. It was cool to see Ash having his Pokemon practice those Appeal-looking moves.

30/100
 

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
I cheered when Saturn and Toxicroak hijacked Jenny's plane; that was some James Bond stuff. I enjoyed seeing Brock's Croagunk anticipating Saturn's Toxicroak arrival as well, and seeing Mars and some grunts plant dynamite at the ruins in Celestic Town was cool as well. It was a good distraction plan and I screamed when Toxicroak injured Croagunk.
 
Two of my favorite quirks?/characteristics? (not sure which word is more proper in this situation...) of Croagunks are definitely his looking at his own reflection and, like in this and other Team galactic episodes, how he can sense when Saturn's Toxicroak is among them.
 

JudySpell

Banned
Celestic Town looked like any other anime town. I liked seeing Cynthia & Cyrus even though this was mostly a set up for the next episode. 7/10
 
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