Playing the Performance Encore (630)

[ijea4444]

God I loved this episode. I'm defiantly going to watch this episode mulitple times lol.

The thing I loved most was that it showed how strong Jessie was. Haze+Sonic Boom and Sonic Boom+Poison Tail was incredible and IMO the same as if not better than Dawn/Ursala/Zoey/Kenny/etc standard. The only reason she lost is because Seviper/Yanmega are just weak pokemon. If Jessie can make her pokemon physicaly stronger(shes got the appeal down) she could be an enormous threat.

 

[Juputoru]

Provided she doesn't post while I'm watching this, I will have beaten Juputoru to the bullet-point-punch, thus cementing my greatness in forum hyphen history. You dare deny my greatness? Well, I dare deny your inferiority! Wait...that didn't come out quite right. Oh well, BACK TO ADVENTURE!

CURSES! I will chase you to the ends of the earth to make you pay for this, S.Suikun! (The fee is $19.99, plus shipping and handling)

-The ep opens with...Jessie vs Ursula! Hell yes!
-In Ursula's corner, there are Pichu Red Version and Pichu Blue Version. Jessie's using the infinitely cooler Yanmega and Seviper combo! Who will win? (probably not the person using the cool Pokemon)
-Pichu Red and Pichu Blue counter Seviper's haze by cheating with some sparkly thing.
-Stop using the goddamn plus/minus ability stop it stop it.
-Jessie's actually being creative with her attacks and she's going to lose to goddamn Plus/Minus spam.
-Seriously the rat twins are glowing yellow and blue and flying around like super saiyans what the hell
-Jessie is understandably depressed at losing to someone who used zero creativity in their battle. And at losing to fucking PLUSLE AND MINUN.
-I see the animators are being creative with their "show a bunch of battle stills so we can pretend that people other than Dawn and her rivals are in this contest" shot transitions this time.
-Oh, THERE'S the goddamned Cyndaquil/Mamoswine combo Dawn spent so much time perfecting.
-5 minutes into the episode, Dawn loses!
-Okay, okay, she won against generic empty husk of a coordinator #1457 by a landslide.
-Ursula has terrible taste in Pokemon(other than the Gabite), but at least she has a winning(read:interesting) personality!
-Who needs to show Dawn and Ursula when they're talking to each other, when...YOU CAN JUST SHOW PIPLUP INSTEAD!
-Hey look! Johanna's bothering to watch her daughter on TV!
-Mamoswine eats the ice ball and......WHAT. It...suddenly has ice spikes for some reason.
-Look guys, it's Tacky Out-Of-Place-CGI Swift!
-...Dawn? There's such a thing as "trying too hard."
-Ursula's a jerk! I STILL LOVE IT!
-Dawn's Pokemon...are using the wrong moves?!
-Oh, I bet they used Encore. I GET IT.
-Aw look, Dawn and her Pokemon are sparkly and their hair's all frizzed up. (...shouldn't your moves actually HITTING YOUR OPPONENT get you some kind of penalty?)
-Ursula is a Super Jerk!
-The MOOOOOOs and HEEEEEEs of Dawn's Pokemon convince her to get over her crippling phobia in a manner of seconds! Or they made her realize that she can, you know, fix her hair after it gets messed up.
-Dawn has...Cyndaquil attack Mamoswine? She's cracked! Cracked like a coconut!
-She's LOSING POINTS FROM HER OWN STRATEGY
-And now Mamoswine attacks Cyndaquil! MASS MAYHAM ON THE MAIN STAGE!
-All that to get out of Encore?
-I will SO GLAD to never have to hear that popping noise again.
-I just love how arbitrary the point counters are. Don't you?
-The "main character gets their ass kicked but turns EVERYTHING around in the final act" bit is cliche as hell, but I don't mind as long as I get to see Plusle and Minun suffer.
-I am so expecting the timer to run out while everyone is dramatically waiting for Spark.
-...the timer ran out as everyone was dramatically waiting for Spark!
-Dawn wins, Ursula loses, nobody's really surprised.
-Forget Dawn. I want to see Ursula VS Jessie become the main contest rivalry!
-And to think some of you thought Dawn would lose but get into the GF with the ribbon her mom gave her(do the writers even REMEMBER that?).
-Oak's lecture is on...the Unown! With clips all from ONE episode, obviously the only one they ever appeared in(the Solaceon ruins? What on earth are those??)

 

[Cobalt_Latios]

I'm not as I saw the preview and the episode before. I hope they learn Nasty Plot by Grand Festival though.

It sure fits with Ursula's personality.

As her strategy was to make everything go sparkly and dodging attacks, I believe Ursula was reading Twilight lately,

A diabolically inclined character who's surprisingly "cold" and enjoys using shiny and sparkly attacks/moves. Vampire, anyone?

*Reads S.Suikun's bullet poins*

*Reads Juputoru's bullet points*

Sorry, but I gotta give the win to S.Suikun... at least in the beginning portion. Juputoru did have the more descriptive main part though. I'll you that.

C_L

 

[Lorde]

The thing I loved most was that it showed how strong Jessie was. Haze+Sonic Boom and Sonic Boom+Poison Tail was incredible and IMO the same as if not better than Dawn/Ursala/Zoey/Kenny/etc standard. The only reason she lost is because Seviper/Yanmega are just weak pokemon. If Jessie can make her pokemon physicaly stronger(shes got the appeal down) she could be an enormous threat.

I noticed Jessie's (Candy Musalina's) combos but they just weren't spectacular like Dawn's or Ursula's combos. The first Sonic Boom and Haze combo was kind of dull, the Poison Tail and Sonic Boom combo was probably the most clever in my opinion. Using those attacks to turn a physical move into a special move was pretty cool.

What I liked the most about Jessie was the fact that she stayed to watch Dawn's performance against Ursula. I don't know who she rooted for though :S

 

[Thriller]

Question, does Miss Mushashi call Dawn "Twerpette" while in costume? Because if she wants to keep her identity secret, it wouldn't be prudent to continue that hideously old trend that died before Charmander evolved, at least not in costume.

 

[NES]

-I just love how arbitrary the point counters are. Don't you?
-The "main character gets their ass kicked but turns EVERYTHING around in the final act" bit is cliche as hell, but I don't mind as long as I get to see Plusle and Minun suffer.

Haha that's true, Mamoswine was h¡ted like 200 times and Dawn's counter reduced just a little bit...

Anyway it was a nice episode, it was enjoyable to have Ursula and Jessie battle, in fact i like it when we get to see other characters battle and not just Dawn's.

Dawn is now in the GF, but it sucks for Ursula, she deserves more than get beaten every time she shows up lol :/

What was the argument about at the end between Ursula and Jessie btw?

 

[Lorde]

What was the argument about at the end between Ursula and Jessie btw?

I'm guessing something along the lines of "I'm getting my 5th ribbon before you are!" or "I'm battling Hikari in the GF!".

I think the point counters were only ever added to tie in to the games. They don't really serve any other purpose since you can get hit 100 times and still win the battle.

 

[Sweet Pinpuku]

I'm thinking that if they want her to get in, she'll likely have a side contest during Ash's battle with Volkner, and then *gasp* a contest that centers around her trying to earn her fifth ribbon in the "last" contest before the GF after all it wasn't specified that this was the last contest now was it.

That's actually quite likely when you consider that "Jessilina" is an important character to the group in some respects. I wouldn't be surprised to see Dawn and co. there cheering "Jessilina" on at some point.

I loved the battle of "Jessilina" and Ursula, but really wanted to slap Ursula when she won. "Jessilina" pulled off some amazing combos and, as people have said, she's really improved and just for that I hope she gets to the Grand Festival.

Dawn's opening combo was just stunning - Ice Shard, then Swift, then Take Down and then Cyndaquil shooting its flames off its back. Just thinking to way back when she had trouble combining just two moves and now she seems to do it with three or four so easily. The battle was amazing, loved how she beat Encore and finally perfected her Fire/Ice combo (beautiful btw) and then just pummelled Plusle and Minun, which worked even better for me with "Jessilina" watching - sweet revenge ^.^

The only thing that bothered me was the preview at the end and seeing Jessie and TR as villains again - for me, it just doesn't work anymore with Jessie more than the others constantly switching, what to me seems like constantly hopping between "good" and "bad". I think the writer's are getting to a point where they need to choose where she's going to focus really soon - Contests or TR, because I personally don't think it works anymore.

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

The only thing that bothered me was the preview at the end and seeing Jessie and TR as villains again - for me, it just doesn't work anymore with Jessie more than the others constantly switching, what to me seems like constantly hopping between "good" and "bad". I think the writer's are getting to a point where they need to choose where she's going to focus really soon - Contests or TR, because I personally don't think it works anymore.

Well, if Ash and co. can save the woorld yet fail in some competitons I think writers can easily find a way.

Sorry, but I gotta give the win to S.Suikun... at least in the beginning portion. Juputoru did have the more descriptive main part though. I'll you that.

What you expected? They are veterans and I'm an amateur. I can't defeat them.

 

[uber gon]

Wonder what significance Dawn's Togekiss will have now?

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

Wonder what significance Dawn's Togekiss will have now?

It will give Dawn some coolness points, she will get a fully evolved Pokémon and help Pearlshippers to make speculations and fanfictions.

 

[Dax]

How in the world was her win cheap? ._.'

 

[Bliksem]

It's amazing to see how the show has evolved from its first season. Battles back then ended in one shot, either for the opponent or for the main characters. The combinations shown in this contest were just unbelievable. About the only things that irritated me were such:

1) While Dawn had her small breakdown, Ursula didn't capitalize on the opportunity. I suppose it should be forgiven, as few characters really know how to push their opponents.

2) Mamoswine is a ground-type. Why did Spark and Charge Beam hurt it?

Plusle and Minun are just too cheery :x

 

[Lorde]

How in the world was her win cheap? ._.'

Some people think that the fact that her Pokemon were hit with Spark, Charge Beam, etc., about 20 times and her point counter barely changed was cheap. She was doing badly and then she turned the whole battle around in her favor on the last 3 minutes, making Ursula lose a lot of points with just a few moves as opposed to several like Ursula used.

 

[NES]

Well when you put it that way, 20 hits to 3 or 5 seems like a lot of difference.

 

[Platinum fan.]

How in the world was her win cheap? ._.'

Don't listen to Dawn haters. They accuse Dawn of cheap victories when previous girls do the exact same thing only they KO the opponent in a giant DEM fashion. The battle wasn't cheap it was fair, don't listen to them.

Edit: I'm just now noticing the scene with Dawn and Ursula in the dressing room not saying a word to each other for awhile and Piplup just looks between them. Very strange yet funny position Piplup was in.

 

[Platinum fan.]

Almost every contest is like that. The main girl gets her butt kicked in the beginning then she makes a miracle come back in the end. It's been like this since Hoenn, the only difference is Dawn doesn't flat out KO her opponent nearing her victory. If this is a cheap win then every contest in existence performed by a main girl is cheap. Do you want Dawn to DEM KO her opponents with twice as much experience as her?

 

[CyberCubed]

Yeah, this was simply a great battle. Minor point squabbles don't matter.

I actually consider this one of the top 5 contest battles of the series. I thought it was very impressive.

 

[Yuppirox]

I just saw the episode again, and I'm actually really amazed of the animation in this episode. The animators really improved over time... On the episode, it's now my favorite Contest battle in Sinnoh, hands down. I loved how Ursula used Encore to her advantage. I'm impressed.

Can't wait to see how the Grand Festival plays out. =P

 

[katfairy]

Okay, now that was pretty cool. Jessie gets to show her stuff; good thing she doesn't work that well against the twerps. Miss Princess Hair needs a good spanking, but we already knew that. And Ash is rubbing off on Dawn- taking bizarre risks to win and succeeding. Can't wait to see it.

Now if only I could find a version with the opening and closing credits...