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Trial Mission! Volcarona's Golden Scales!! (1169)

nuzamaki90

Well-Known Member
I think like @nuzamaki90 said the problem is that the trial itself doesn’t feel any different to any other normal ep?

Aside from my problem with ash participating, another negative if the trials so far is that you could take out the context of PM and it wouldn’t be any different to a normal episode. Especially with how episodic and random this series is. The golurk, flygon, zapdos, or suicune ep could easily be converted to a PM episode.

On the other hand gym, contest, and showcase episodes are very unique as you won’t get what’s in it in another random episode. So the PM trials needs something more unique to make it pop and stand out.
Exactly this. There is really nothing setting these episodes apart from previous Goh focused capture episodes besides the now involvement of Project Mew. Really the biggest difference is that Goh performed “better” as a trainer in those episodes than he does in the PM episodes which seem to want to ham it in that Goh still needs to improve as a trainer if he wants to do well. But like, he was already doing well, catching Pokémon with little to no effort and when he did battle he wasn’t that far off from your average trainer. It’s a little inconsistent with the writers basically remembering that Goh is a beginner trainer and should be struggling a bit when we are already almost 2 years into the series.

Like you said these episodes aren’t as engaging as previous series’ alternative goal episodes. It’s just more of the same several episodes we’ve already gotten in this series.
 
D

Deleted member 384931

Guest
How can Gou become more independent if Urshifu boy and girl keep saving his butt?
 

KurashiDragon

Well-known Dragonite Enthusiast
I feel like this project mew stuff could've been better handled if Go were say...... already part of it but I think the problem with Journeys over anything else is the poor planning of the series in general so this is really just small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. The episode itself was alright. I've always been a fan of Volcarona and seeing a shiny one reminded me of the time I was trying to get a perfect IV'd Larvesta and wound up with a shiny one coming out of an egg. I also liked seeing Inteleon do things. Good to know that *at least for now* it's not getting immediately shafted after its evolution. Hopefully I can see it do more cool stuff so I'll finally stop feeling like I got ripped off choosing Sobble as my Sword Starter.

6 / 10
 

Ace-Barn

#Tokio&Nickit
I wonder how the 3 mission choice will come into play in the future?

It seems like an odd detail to add when they could just give him a single mission, but I don't see how him choosing one would affect things outside of potentially showing us what sort of other missions there are (though we didn't get to see the other missions in this episode).
 

British Soul

Top Hat Regulator
Not an essay time:
Up until this episode, it was my headcanon that Ash was on probation for cheating against Volkner (see: Z-move KO'ing Electivire) because he had done naff all since, but he was made useful with Pikachu powering the lift, but even then Go has electric pokemon so he could've sorted it (again Ash wasn't really needed). Not gonna lie, when the Ferrothorn was attacking the hunter, I had completely forgot that Rose used one in the SwSh arc, because the last time I remembered (at time of watching) it appearing was under the ownership of the idiot who thought you need 5 pokemon for a full battle, though I guess it proves how forgettable the rest of Rose's roster is. Asahi having an Azumarill I think fits her character, much like how I think Weavile fits Tsurugi's character. I thought it was sneaky that they showed a regular Larvesta in the preview from last week only for us to find out that said Larvesta was actually shiny, we knew that a shiny Volcarona would show up, I didn't think it'd be a Larvesta initially. I thought that the Hunter moonlighting as a researcher for his own benefit was a tad scummy, though I will say I'm not sure that the PM people have the authority to release other people's pokemon, sure they're pokemon owned by hunters, but they're still their pokemon, but I guess it's to disincentivise them from hunting in the future. Of course we can't have a Go episode without him catching pokemon, at least he battled them rather than just chuck balls at them.
 

Tabasco Boshi

★★★★★
Surprised to see so many positive opinions about the episode. I thought it was boring. Like the Ninetales one honestly. I genuinely think next episode will be way more entertaining.
 

janejane6178

Kaleido Star FOREVER in my heart <3
Surprised to see so many positive opinions about the episode. I thought it was boring. Like the Ninetales one honestly. I genuinely think next episode will be way more entertaining.
Same here. Was super boring for me
 

Evstike

Take me back to peak pokemon
As someone who hates Journeys, I have to say this was a great episode. By far my favourite episode of this series. Much better than whatever garbage the last Project Mew episode was.

First off, it was written quite well. Unlike the flashbacks and offscreen ranking up at the start of PWC episode, the exposition here showed us what happened between this and the last Project Mew episode and gave us some insight into Asahi and Tsurugi. Their task to look for the hunters incorporated them into the current plot naturally instead of just happening to be at the right place at the right time to save Ash and Goh. This episode also referenced JN014 and JN071 in a natural way by using them to further the current story. The highlight for me was how both Ash and Goh got to do something with Goh still getting the most focus but not at the expense of Ash. Inteleon and Dracovish showing up added so much in a series where main cast Pokemon barely get to show up. This episode was full of conflict, something that JN lacks, so that was nice to finally have some stakes. Otherwise, the tone was consistent, animation was better than usual, and we got a few new tracks that sounded like a huge upgrade from what we've previously heard.

My only issue is a minor nitpick that doesn't bring down the episode for me. At the end with the hunters, Ash and Goh could have been prepared to attack or started the battle before Asahi and Tsurugi showed up. It's not really a big issue since the boys only took one hit before they got saved so we don't know if they were struggling or not, but it would have been nice to know that they weren't going to be helpless if the bears didn't show up.

Overall, a very good Journeys episode and a good episode in general. I look forward to seeing where Project Mew goes next.
 

AuraChannelerChris

Easygoing Luxray.
The Urshifu kids surely appeared at the last minute just to give a false sense that Goh has some ways to Goh or some **** when in truth he's perfectly capable to do anything and without Ash anyway. Like stop pretending Goh is this talentless hack, he's capable of using his vast network of Pokemon as his own Batman tools and doesn't have to rely on one mon all the time as a Swiss Army Knife.
 

AznKei

Dawn & Chloe by ddangbi
How can Gou become more independent if Urshifu boy and girl keep saving his butt?
Nah, the writers wanted to show the audience how badass the Urshifu trainers are. But nope, they could make the twerps use stuffs like Inteleon, Cinderace, Lucario & Dragonite and kick those poachers butts.

Anyways, I'm surprised that Goh actually fought the Pokemons before capturing them instead of chucking Pokeballs at them from the beginning. It really how shows competent he becomes. Wished, that Cinderace & Inteleon interacted for once.

Loved how the wild Roggenrolas are after the twerps when the latters are retreating in panic while Inteleon is just tagging them looking all cool and shooting water shots like it's playing arcade light-gun games.

Loved how Goh suspected the poach leader behavior when the latter eyes were blinking while Ash is all chill until the twerps are being betrayed. Come to think of this, the wild Ferrothorn should punish the man but the twerps have to save everyone I guess.

Good Goh focused episode. I'm glad Ash was in the sidelines and I found the Urshifu girl pretty cool & nice. Can't say the same about the Urshifu boy.
 

AuraChannelerChris

Easygoing Luxray.
Anyways, I'm surprised that Goh actually fought the Pokemons before capturing them instead of chucking Pokeballs at them from the beginning. It really how shows competent he becomes.
I, uh, don't think this is really an example of becoming competent but rather a strange downgrade to his usual flawless modus operandi. Like seeing a bird that can just fly having to walk up a staircase.
 
Review with subs now:
So we see Alolan Ninetails in the beginning, nice.
Tsurugi seems to show some sort of sympathy, interesting. And Asahi has an Azumarill, nice.
So there's three choices of missions, huh.
Shoutout to the Super Golurk!
OMG, GOLD RUSH REFERENCE! Never thought there would be a reference to the wild wild west. Oh my gosh I love the setting here...
There's Inteleon! A fun roller coaster mine cart ride.
Pikachu lights em up.
Goh uses Cinderace against Ferrothorn, smart, and he catches it.
And Ash doesn't know what a Pokémon Hunter is... again... sigh
The fire burns the webs. Don't mess with Pikachu.
Love seeing the Water types helping out. I didn't know Goh has a cookie cookie!
Goh risking himself to protect the eggs, you love to see it.
Wow Ash actually doesn't bother me in this episode. He acts fine and he does what he needs to do.
There's the shiny Larvesta, who promptly evolves. Volcarona's shiny looks nice ngl.
Urshifu saves the day.

Overall an amazing episode to kickstart the first Project Mew Trial for Goh. The setting with the gold rush and gold mine had some American history to it which I loved the reference to. Ash acted really good in this episode, he was helpful and wasn't all that bothersome. Goh also showcases growth here as he wants to fight the Pokémon instead of Ash and he protects the Larvesta eggs. The only negatives would be Ash not knowing what a Pokémon hunter is and Ash and Goh not being able to stop the hunters and have Asahi and Tsurugi do it instead. One of the best episodes of Journeys so far, and I'm excited for the next trial mission!

Edit: They showed Clemont's Luxray again in the ending, and Grookey and Pikachu are wearing Pancham's shades....
 
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