Marnie from Spikemuth (1188)

[karanova-1]

I am glad that even though it was a short battle but it was competitive as finally ash gengar learned dazzling gleam a fairy type move and sludge bomb as well as the gigantamax gengar was icing on the cake and marnie's grimmsnarl is also quite strong as it is the first time any of his pokemon had learned a fairy type move

 

[masdog]

Good episode. I thought both halves of the episode were done very well. I feel like they did a good job of bringing Marnie and Piers in from the games and doing some world and character building. I really like how they subverted expectations in the motorcycle scene. I got a good laugh out of it.

I really liked the battle scene with Marnie. This is probably one of the best choreographed battles to date. I really missed the 3D camera from XY here as I think it would have been awesome with Gigantimax.

While a 3v3 would have been nice, I'm not sure they would have had enough story to fill out two episodes. The last Ash vs. Bea battle felt way too drawn out because they didn't have enough story to fill out two full episodes.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

What a great episode. Loved it from start to finish. Piers was both hilarious and a badass, good on him for following the speed limit. Marnie was also shown off perfectly, I don’t care what anyone says.

Also Gengar was just awesome. Every move it made was great and keeping a good momentum during the whole fight was just too cool. The animation also helped a lot because everything was very fluid and dynamic. Ash and Marnie’s chemistry during the battle was intense and I really hope she shows up again because Ash and Goh completely confused by Marnie’s smile was absolutely hilarious.

Just watched the episode and I absolutely agree with this! Marnie from the games hardly had anything given to her so people claiming the anime ruined Marnie is so laughable to me because all the depth Marnie had in the games was showcased in this episode itself, she is a character that definitely didn't need to be dragged out. The only reason I wanted a 2 - parter is so we could get a 3v3 which is disappointing that we didn't get one. Even more disappointing is the fact it was apparently a 1v1 from the start??? The PWC is written so weirdly lol
Either way this was an amazing redemption for Gengar, can't wait to see Dracovish get his victory next!

 

[Psajdak]

Dracovish

No one cares about Dracovish.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

No one cares about Dracovish.

Then they are missing out on the joys of life smh

 

[Soniman]

Pretty good episode. Decent 1v1 with some nice strategies and a more dynamic (heh) use of dynamaxing. Spikemuth siblings were both very charming, still hate Team Yell though, Team Skull with none of the charm. 7/10

 

[RafaSceptile]

Actually this was a good episode. The main problem was the pacing (what a surprise of Journeys), but outside of that we got good interactions between the characters and the 1vs1 battle was solid and with Gengar new moves and redemption with a victory.

Episode: 7/10

 

[AZ-the-I-don't-even-know]

Decided to be very harsh on this one, so it gets an 8.

 

[TheNewGuy]

I didn't actually think about the implications of the gen 9 announcement meaning this saga is coming to a swift conclusion.

Assuming a late November release, the master tournament should be starting in like August time or early Sept

So that's why he jumped so high here. They only have 20-25 episodes to play with before getting into the tournament. A shame Marnie is a one and done but it seems like a need's must time-forced thing

 

[TheLink]

…I’m not mad just disappointed.

I know Sword and Shield weren’t the greatest games out there but damnit can y’all at least give the characters focus beyond little 1 to 2 episode “arcs” like this? Like I realize Marnie isn’t some super in-depth character but damn they could’ve given her and Piers (arguably one of the more interesting Gym Leaders we’ve had) more than one focus episode.

If Bede actually makes an appearance I’m terrified of how he’ll be handled.

 

[doofinc]

Got to this fight now.

Obligatory contexts:

• Not watching all of Journeys - just watching the ones that interest me (gonna watch more now with Greninja + Paul + M8)
• Watched most of the major PWC fights that were released (including Drasna)
• I know Gengar was just in a training arc before this with Allister

Pros

• pretty happy that Marnie has her regular outfit instead of her gym leader outfit
• This motorcycle gag is pretty good
• they're really keeping the 3 G-Max moves only thing - I respect it
• Marnie smile

Neutral

• They really put an important plot point as a flashback
• Why are there so many Team Yell members
• Gengar into vore huh
• Dynamax is still kinda meh for me, but at least the vore was funny

Cons

• 1v1 ???????????????????????
  • We really had 2 decent 3v3s into a 1v1 in the top echelon of the PWC
  • This is effectively losing at the character-select screen if you picked the wrong Pokemon for the 1v1
  • who thought this was a good idea in a circuit to determine the best battler in the world
• We really are wasting time on this band intro
  • would've been acceptable if this was a 2-parter
• these Team Yell members think Marnie winning by default helps the city is some kind of stupid
  • really banking on "Marnie number high" when the tabloid headlines are easily gonna be "Marnie number high because it's rigged for her"
  • I guess that matches the average IQ of a hyper fanbase
• Gengar's Max Moves did nothing to Grimmsnarl but Grimmsnarl's clearly did way more in reverse, but I guess Ash just gotta win
• Why was vore the only strategy
  • someone please let me know if there was more blatant strategy that my 12am brain missed
  • no, using False Surrender as the move is designed does not count

My values in judging a battle are focused on strategy, and then equally between the battle somewhat making sense, and sick animation + music. Quite honestly, it didn't hit any of those for me. It's not outright egregious like having your opponent coach your Pokemon to win, but it looked much more like a slugfest with minimal strategy.


Current battle rankings:

Volkner > Bea 3 >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marnie >= Drasna > Iris

• Marnie >= Drasna strictly because the vore was funny

From what I got in my original request for battle watches, Korrina sounds like it was on par or worse than Marnie so I'm probably gonna skip. Greninja/Paul/Masters 8 waiting room time.

 

[Falconmaroni]

• Gengar's Max Moves did nothing to Grimmsnarl but Grimmsnarl's clearly did way more in reverse, but I guess Ash just gotta win
• Why was vore the only strategy
  • someone please let me know if there was more blatant strategy that my 12am brain missed
  • no, using False Surrender as the move is designed does not count

My values in judging a battle are focused on strategy, and then equally between the battle somewhat making sense, and sick animation + music. Quite honestly, it didn't hit any of those for me. It's not outright egregious like having your opponent coach your Pokemon to win, but it looked much more like a slugfest with minimal strategy.

I don't see how you can feel Gengar didn't use strategy, Gengar's Gmax moves including swallowing her pokemon were a result of it, and Gengar did not take too much damage either. They were also both testing the waters with each other during the 3 turn rule and seeing who could outlast the other, (and yes Gengar swallowing it was part of that) and then they finished it up with Gengar's Shadow ball

 

[doofinc]

I don't see how you can feel Gengar didn't use strategy, Gengar's Gmax moves including swallowing her pokemon were a result of it, and Gengar did not take too much damage either. They were also both testing the waters with each other during the 3 turn rule and seeing who could outlast the other, (and yes Gengar swallowing it was part of that) and then they finished it up with Gengar's Shadow ball

I really don't think just using Gmax moves and seeing who can outlast the other is considered strategy - that's just how battles are supposed to work. I already mentioned that the swallowing/vore was strategy. I distinctly remember Gengar taking more gmax moves than grimmsnarl did so I disagree with the damage comment.

Can you outline a different specific strategic tactic that I might've missed?

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

BASED PIERS DOESNT USE DYNAMAX! Really cool of him to drive Ash over, Team Yell are jerks.
Battle sucked and we should of seen more dynamax vs dynamax. Sad that they wasted a potential Marnie arc that could've spanned the whole series into one episode. Also the vore sucked.

 

[Starswirl Pikachu]

My first reaction to this episode was confusion since I saw some peeps that looked very similar to Team skull or some off colored side faction. After regaining my senses, I realized that this was indeed still not Alola and got to watch some giant Gengar vs Grimmsnarl battling. The match seemed fine but only doing a 1 v 1 format puts the stakes pretty high when each contestant already has a lot of rank at risk. (Team Rocket is MIA again?)

 

[vondecayle]

It was an okay episode. 6/10

- It was a nice to see a game location.

- It was a decent introductory episode for Marnie and Piers and it had the grounding to be expanded upon in future episodes if they wanted to.

- The battle had some highlights like Gengar swallowing Grimmsnarl and the sequence where he is dodging Gengar’s ice attack. That being said I wanted them to use more than one pokemon.

- Would’ve been nice to see Morpeko battling and see Aura Wheel animated. Wished Morpeko was treated as more than an unfunny gag.