Review HZ122: Wings of Blazing Heat! Roy VS Friede

Well would you believe it? We've just had another character from last era (first one in the flesh) make a quick cameo: Steven Stone which was nice to see.

I know I've been whinging every now and then over how Roy has become so full during this phase of the show but this was a pretty good battle. It's great to see Skeledirge showing how just how far it's come not only managing to learn Torch Song but also taking down Friede and giving him his first major loss.

On the other hand though it looks like Friede's left the crew once again (and is going to Devon Corp) so looks like he's leaving things (and Cap) to Roy which I'm not too happy about since we only just got him back and now he's off again to back so me looking like a grump once more, ha ha.

Aside from those last few minutes this was a good episode and a nice way to cap off what has sadly been a pretty disappointing year for Horizons (at least for me anyway). Things started great with the Laqua arc and I was quite excited for the timeskip but aside from a few episodes I feel as if Horizons is fumbling this whole idea complete with a few decisions I really don't like (boring Lucario I don't care about, Dot and Liko not battling any of the Blueberry Elite Four, the aforementioned direction they're going with Roy). I haven't been watching it much as a result but here's hoping that when they reach the big finale arc they'll be able to nail it because this was likely the show's final full year and no doubt they'll be prepping things up for the next era soon.

Come on Horizons, don't let me down with that finale.
 
What an epic episode of Roy versus Friede with the RVT on the line of being disabled. Thankfully Roy win and continue it adventure. While Friede returning back to astronaut research. While also revealing all the secret of Laquium coming from space.

On top of that, finally with not just Mega Starmie, but also Mega Charizard Y for the conclusion of this year last episode with a bang. At the same time with Hoenn champion, Steven stone making appearance of helping Friede.

Overall rating: A+
 
skynerel said:
I knew they were going to let Roy win and people tried to tell me otherwise lol
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People may going to debating why Friede never used Mega Charizard Y against Roy's Skeledirge? That will be an easy win for him, but others might claim Friede make himself to lose in order for Roy to took the lead charge for RVT. When he is absent and studying at Devon Corp Astronaut.
 
I am a little disappointed that Friede's whole year was summarized in like, 5 minutes, and now he's gone again. I missed him, goddamit! But the episode was generally cool. I was happy to learn more about laqurium. Loudbone being happy about the win and Roy hugging him was cute.

BTW
Since Friede was safe in the Devon corp facilities for a huge chunk of the timeskip, not literally running away from Explorers, he does not really have a good excuse for not contacting the crew earlier... I can't believe they did not have a backup end to end encrypted way to contact each other.
Poor Orio
 
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It is very interesting that for the very first time (aside from Nurse Joy), a character who also appeared in the Ash anime appeared in Horizons, in Steven Stone. Just recently there were mentions of Drayden and Clay but it's cool to finally see an actual appearance happen. It should also be noted that the Devon Corporation's headquarters and the Mossdeep Space Center's brief appearances in this episode are identical to how they appeared in the Mega Evolution specials of the Ash anime and Journeys.
 
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i guess Roy/Rhod/Rory is the Temporary Leader again
 
The more I think about this episode the more mad I am at it (so I should probably stop thinking). CW: This post is a rant :tentacruel:

The entire Friede's space adventure deserved not a 3-episode miniarc (like the one Roy got to explain his new Pokemon), not a full flashback episode (like the one Friede himself got to explain how he met Pikachu) but 5 minutes of hasty infodump? There was a whole spy movie of material there about two corporations racing to solve the mystery of Laqurium with a daring "top agent" pitted against a wealthy, charismatic CEO...

They chose the worst possible way IMO to resolve the "Space Friede" thing. How did Friede fly to space? He simply asked nicely! How did Friede meet his new Pokemon? It was chilling out in a pool! What did Explorers and Exceed do about him? Absolutely nothing!

When the protagonists got back to the Brave Asagi in HZ100 they found a 3 months old message from Friede who was hiding from Explorers. Did he take unauthorized field trips in the middle of the astronaut training? Did he "forget to tell" his new allies at Devon and the space centre that the thugs from the competing corporation are after him? This doesn't make a sliver of sense, the timing is wrong and/or the writers just ceased to care about continuity. Or maybe Friede deliberately left the Voltteccers in the dark, because... maybe he needed some time to reflect on the time with the extended team? Maybe he was conflicted about pulling 3 schoolchildren into his adventuring life? Maybe he felt that the responsibility was too much? Or had any other kind of thoughts and feelings which prevented him from reaching out and it would be very interesting to see this on screen (remember spy movie material? Yeah, ambiguous feelings about the past would fit the genre like a glove)

We learned that Friede spent a year training for space and it's cool! It really is, I love that it was not as simple as "hey, I wanna go to space. OK, here's a rocket, have a nice flight!". And I also kind of appreciate the writers didn't go for a weirder plotline with stealing spaceships and whatnot (though it would be cool too). We got this vaguely realistic setup with theoretical lectures, spacesuit exercise, all the stuff a self-respecting space agency would inflict on a candidate to make sure they are fit for the task. And I'm not surprised that Friede made it through, he's a scientist, aviator and very good at improvisation, great astronaut material.

So why in Arceus' name this realistic, competent space agency did not give a slightest damn about their capsule's disaster?!?!?!?

They must have seen the trajectory, they had contact with Friede (if he could radio Brave Asagi he could radio ground control), and we got exactly zero interest?? I get that the plot demanded that the children and Pikachu save Friede on their own, but it really wouldn't hurt to drop a 5-second video call from the flight control in the previous episode, they could say something like "uh oh all our rescue trucks are out of range but we will send you data blah blah thanks for help". Then the next day still zero contact, Friede has to fly to Hoenn on his own Charizard and I guess walk through the front door? As if he casually showed up for work on Tuesday? "Hey guys, I just got back from space, the capsule is toast and I'm alive only because my old team of widely vilified anarchists were miraculously nearby, but I hope you weren't worried too much". HZ122 could have been exactly the same except at the very end a helicopter sent from Hoenn would pick up Friede from the sunset and I would have no reason to rant this hard. I thought that no one cared for the capsule because Friede's trip was "illegal" or "rogue" in one way or another. Turned out it's because writers didn't care to write it consistently.

At least the mock trailer for the in-world Kaiju movie was cute.
 
The fight was cool, but everything else in this episode heavily felt like trying to wrap up Friede's storyline quickly. So it's a thing that the Mossdeep Space Center teaches mega evolution to their pilots, I suppose?
More than that though, I'm annoyed he's not even staying. It just felt... really clumsy, overall. Like, we've been waiting for Friede's return for so long, and him leaving had so much impact. Having him return at the end of an episode, and already leaving again at the end of the very next one... It doesn't really feel like all that build-up went into something satisfying. It just feels disrespectful.

I guess they wanted to spare him from doing the Mochi dance next episode. Looks like all the humans onboard the ship will get hypnotized, leaving the Pokemons to save the day.
 
Doubl - Echo said:
The fight was cool, but everything else in this episode heavily felt like trying to wrap up Friede's storyline quickly. So it's a thing that the Mossdeep Space Center teaches mega evolution to their pilots, I suppose?
More than that though, I'm annoyed he's not even staying. It just felt... really clumsy, overall. Like, we've been waiting for Friede's return for so long, and him leaving had so much impact. Having him return at the end of an episode, and already leaving again at the end of the very next one... It doesn't really feel like all that build-up went into something satisfying. It just feels disrespectful.

I guess they wanted to spare him from doing the Mochi dance next episode. Looks like all the humans onboard the ship will get hypnotized, leaving the Pokemons to save the day.
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but what if the pokemons got hypnotized again???? now who's gonna save the day since friede is back in space again
 
0cerge said:
Not to mention things that often appear in fiction, such as complete adaptation to gravity immediately after landing or convenient discovery of the meteoroid in the orbit. :sneaky:
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I didn't think about the gravity thing! A good nitpick I missed hehe.

Though I'm fine with the meteoroid. Friede's entire idea was to go to space to search for Laqurium, his mission was probably planned exactly to match the meteoroid, since he expected the connection after seeing the crater. And Steven Stone and the space center agreed that the hypotesis makes sense and is worth investigating. Did this episode speedrun a scientific grant review procedure? Maybe but we never had the time to hear this.
 
So Roy is now the official commander of the re-formed RVT. Its still interesting that Captain Pikachu remains on Roy's eyecatch and Friede's.

I still get the impression, towards the ending of the series, Captain Pikachu is going to become an official member of Roy's team. Especially, since Friede had decided to step down as the RVT commander.
 
Scholar78 said:
So Roy is now the official commander of the re-formed RVT. Its still interesting that Captain Pikachu remains on Roy's eyecatch and Friede's.

I still get the impression, towards the ending of the series, Captain Pikachu is going to become an official member of Roy's team. Especially, since Friede had decided to step down as the RVT commander.
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So, for you, Pikachu's reaction to Friede's return doesn't matter?
After something like that, there's no way Pikachu would change trainer.
 
The battle was okay, but there wasn’t much strategy involved. I liked how Friede bonded with Starmie throughout their training to prepare for the space mission. I wish Friede had stayed with the group though, he just returned and he is going away again? Meh
 
You know, given Friede’s explanation on where he had been for the entire year, it kinda retroactively makes the time skip even more of a waste. Liko had gone through a depression for a year due to feeling guilty about Friede and the adults disbanded the RVT because of the combination of Friede and the slander of the RVT. Had Friede actually informed them of his status while telling them that he couldn’t come back to them just yet then even if they did split up temporarily as to avoid making themselves an easier target of Exceed’s slander, it could have had them go into the time skip with clearer heads and had everyone make use of it to make themselves stronger, being inspired by Friede’s solo task and wanting to be ready for the day they’d meet again.
 
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