Review S08 EP08: Solid as a Solrock

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Dogasu

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Japanese Episode AG 100: "Mossdeep Gym! Lunatone and Solrock!""
American Episode 371: "Solid as a Solrock"

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Kids' WB!, 10:00am ET
Encore airing on Friday, November 11th at 3:00pm
You know how there were all these people who hated "The Scuffle of Legends?" Well, this episode pretty much receives the same amount of hatred among fans.
Seriously, Super Saiya-Jin Pikachu and Ohsubame are lame.

Post your thoughts about the episode here. Please mark any spoilers for episodes not that have yet to air in America in spoiler tags.
 
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The coolest, yet most confusing, battle conclusion in the history of the anime. That's my opinion on it. Anyway, review time:

So…Swellow and Pikachu…Interesting combination. I'm glad the writers explained why he chose Swellow, but Ash could have at least put some thought into it before choosing Pikachu.

There are three clear phases that Liza and Tate go through:
1) (Last episode) Liza pwns Tate because he can’t time Solarbeam
2) (First Half) Liza and Tate are not in sync, so can’t battle properly. Slarbeam is now firing as quickly as Ice Beam.
3) (Second Half) Liza and Tate are suddenly a super-force that cannot be beaten.

Most Gym Leaders are the third stage, which is fair enough, but the fact that they pass through those so quickly is really unrealistic. The battle in the last episode had some really interesting potential, but that is just disregarded here.

As for Ash’s eventual victory plan... It was cool and all, but…wtf. Not only can I not see how Ash envisioned that one, I just don’t see how it actually worked! I mean…that must be one of the most ridiculous things we have seen in the anime!

Team Rocket. For once I actually wished we hadn’t seen Wobby. It’s inside its Pokeball for the whole time anyway, why does it have to come out at the end? It's so obligatory now it isn't funny. Chimecho stayed put. But the motto was brilliant! Definitely the highlight of the episode!

So now it's onwards towards Izabe Island!
 
Yeah, this episode wins "Biggest WTF moment ever" award, easy.

Aside from that... A pretty good gym battle episode. Although it's starting to get a bit formulaic at this point... At least TR spiced things up. Although it seems they just can't seem to stop with making "James is gay" references. :p
 
Ho...ly....fu....?

"To extend our reach to the balls of flaming gas above"?! *eyes cross*

I'm sorry, I'm very, very sorry, but when your CC cuts off the line at 'balls' is a time when you're allowed to feel the world has seriously gone wrong... but only until the rest of the line pops up.

*headsmack* And what the HELL was that gold plating?! @_@ Someone must've watched the later episodes of G Gundam a little too fanatically to get a half-assed-- nnn, there are no words for that. I give up.

Not Happy.
 
I gave a chuckle when Ash clicked with his 'brilliant strategy'. Damn, they made it seem like the decision was a near blatant one. Uh, sorry, I'm not exactly hip to the idea of bouncing attacks off of clouds to give oneself a power boost.

But it was definitely exhilarating. Even as admittedly cheap (and oddly confusing) as the golden armor finisher was, it still remained full of excitement.

TR's role in this episode was actually tolerable.
 
OK... that was weird.

The Good:
  • TR's motto was the best motto variation in a while. Hit the high note, James!
  • Meowth fantasy also had its musical upbringings.
  • Trainer's choice seems to be on a winning streak. (Question: Which Pokémon is not pure Fighting: Mahkuhita, Machamp, or Blaziken? TC's answer: Blaziken.)
  • Yay Double Battle!
  • ASH is paralized! He may not be able to hug his POKéMON!

The Bad:
  • Almost half the episode was wasted on beating TR.
  • It never explianed HOW Swellow & Pikachu could absorb Thunder to become even more uber.

Next Episode in the US: Vanity Affair!
 
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Hahah, that motto was the best ever. Team Rocket's appearance in this episode was wonderful - if only they were this amusing in every episode. *_*; The dialogue, the cracked-out boss fantasy, the motto... so fun. XD;

But, uh, "make like candles and blow"? But... candles don't- ... oh, nevermind.

Tate and Liza are neat, too; I like how their characters were done in the anime (in this and the previous episode). I'm quite thankful they didn't keep the tandem-speaking from the games. Oh, that was so annoying~ *_*;

So, yeah. I actually didn't mind Ash's little Thunder manoeuver. I know, I know, it didn't make any logical sense - I don't care how good Swellow is at absorbing electricity, that's still two direct hits from a super-effective attack. But, whatever. The animation for the battle was well-done, and it's always nice to see Ash attempting to use some sort of strategy (with that little DT sneak-attack). Deus ex machina-eqsue victory aside, it was still an enjoyable, if predictable, battle.

So I thought~
 
Luna Tiger said:
Ho...ly....fu....?

"To extend our reach to the balls of flaming gas above"?! *eyes cross*

I'm sorry, I'm very, very sorry, but when your CC cuts off the line at 'balls' is a time when you're allowed to feel the world has seriously gone wrong... but only until the rest of the line pops up.
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You know, I'm not usually one to agree with conspiracy theorists...

But this is getting silly now >.>
 
MistyIRC said:
You know, I'm not usually one to agree with conspiracy theorists...

But this is getting silly now >.>
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Wait, me plucking that out is part of the conspiracy and you're calling me silly .... or are you calling the dubbers out on being silly and you believe the theorists are right and said dubbers are intentionally gaying James up? x_X; Because I'm just reporting was caught me off-guard. If I didn't have the CC on, it probably wouldn't have smacked me so hard.

...Or maybe it would have; I distinctly remember Stuart drawling on the word. *feeble shrug* I'm not trying to make anything out of it.
 
When Brock said that Pikachu and Swellow were using the Thunder as armor, that reminded me of how some characters in X-Men Legends can make armor for themselves out of whatever element their powers are (Steel for Colossus, Ice for Iceman, etc). The armor both raises their defenses and adds extra power to their attacks for a time, and that's exactly what happened in this episode. That'd be cool if something similar could be implemented as a move in D/P.
 
Luna Tiger said:
Ho...ly....fu....?

"To extend our reach to the balls of flaming gas above"?! *eyes cross*

I'm sorry, I'm very, very sorry, but when your CC cuts off the line at 'balls' is a time when you're allowed to feel the world has seriously gone wrong... but only until the rest of the line pops up.

Not Happy.
Click to expand...

Just be thankful they weren't talking about any blue planets. XD

I was only minorly awake for this one, but I'm pretty sure TR actually woke me up when they were screeching singing the motto. They didn't sing bad, it's just when you're not expecting it... haha.

I'll give more of an opinion when I rewatch. ^_^
 
I think the writers were trying to go for an 'electric type Flame Wheel' that Pikachu/Swellow would use to break through Lunatone's Light Screen.(something similar to how Magmar dove into it's own Fire Blast at the Silver Conference) Since Light Screen was reflecting all of Pikachu's electric attacks,Ash had to figure out a way to get through it and get the chance to attack Solrock and Lunatone. (even though Light Screen isn't supposed to reflect attacks.But they were Psychic Pokemon,and Psychic types can pretty much do whatever the hell they want...)


As soon as Pikachu and Swellow enveloped themselves with electricity,that gave them the chance to resist against Lunatone and Solrock's other attacks.Once Lunatone brought up Light Screen,Pikachu/Swellow charged right at it and broke through since LS can't handle physical attacks.Then both Pikachu and Swellow had the opportunity to attack Lunatone/Solrock.


I think the director/animators are the ones to blame for that weird gold plating.Instead,they should've surrounded Pikachu/Swellow with sparks and bolts of electricity so that people would've gotten a better understanding of what was going on.The gold armor plating was just confusing.


As for Swellow "aborbing" Pikachu's attack? C'mon,we all know Ash has "special" Pokemon. (and not in the retarded sense...) He has a Bulbasaur that held it's own against a friggin' Meganium for cryin' out loud.If Swellow all of sudden learned how to resist electric attacks in this one episode,that would be bullsh*t.But we all know he's been taking on electric attacks since he was a Taillow and the writers wanted use his unique ability in this Gym Battle.



As for my rating,I'll give it a 9/10.What can I say? I'm an action junkie and that battle *was* pretty sweet.It would've been perfect if it wasn't for the golden Pikachu/Swellow and if TR hadn't gotten in the way again.
 
I have one thing to say about this episode: Best. Boss fantasy. EVER.
With that said, this was pretty good for a gym battle episode, given that I usually zonk out from my ADHD during them and do something else. It was surprising/disturbing/funny to hear the motto sung this time (when was the last time J&J sung again?), and the battle was interesting, ish. Although one quibble about Meowth's fantasy. You'd think 4Kids could improve the scene by adding some music (I mean, let's face it, it's kinda weird to see chibi Gio just dancing around with no music), but I suppose that would be 4Kids for you... the one time you want them to add music, they don't. Although the mere fact that it blatantly ripped off Singin' in the Rain, delighting musical geeks like myself (wink), was exactly which got it Neku's Comic Book Guy Reference of the Month.
8/10. With 5 of those points going to the fantasy.
 
This was a really good episode!!!! At first, I thought that Ash was gonna win right from the start, because of Tate and Liza's lack of cooperation at the beginning. But, then, they surprised me, and the battle turned on Ash like it usually does, except this time it looked like Ash had no way of winning. And then he came up with the perfect strategy so he could get rid of Solrock and Lunatone's Light Screen and win the battle too. Although, I've gotta admit, the way the animator's made that electric armor scene look, with Pikachu and Swellow all yellow/gold like that was weird. And like some have already said, it would've made a lot more since if they had just made sparks fly from them or something. But, anyway, other than that, the animation in this whole episode was just excellent. Oh, and one thing I didn't like was the fact that Team Rocket had to interrupt Ash's gym battle. But, oh well, I'll overlook that since I've come to expect it from them. Anyway, overall, this was a really good episode, it was cool and interesting, and the animation was awesome too.

Rating: 5 out of 5
 
One very stupid line about the Tate and Liza's mom (?) saying that the two can't substitute their Pokemon. Hello? If we're going by R/S terms, Solrock and Lunatone are the only ones they have. In Emerald, they also have Xatu and Claydol, and since Emerald came out afterwards, they're going by the first one.
 
Well, that was probably mainly said to Ash.

And they go by Emerald for the last Gym Battle, anyway.
 
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