Review S14 EP12: Here Comes the Trubbish Squad!

[Shinneth]

I feel like the lead little boy-- I... forget what his name was now, but the most adamant one about keeping Trubbish and yelling at his peers to follow his lead, he's the kind of kid who's bound to grow up and be a total overbearing asshole. Really, telling one of his friends to suck it up and continue screaming a total lie at the top of her lungs? Not to mention stealing Ash's hat (even though he returned it... only after Ash joined their ranks).

Just... peer pressure all over this damn episode. What lesson was it supposed to teach again? Other than GO BUY POKEMON, of course.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

They are living in a world where 10 year olds began their career as independent pokemon trainers. They look ideal aged for habituation/practice with pokemon. (Like Hikari's kindergarden experiences) I can't see what's the big deal...

 

[Karamazov]

It would make sense for them to get used to Pokemon, but soething like a Poison-type might be a little too much for such young kids. Maybe when they're older and more mature.

 

[dman_dustin]

But little kids have a tendency to get tired of pets. It sounds cool at first, but eventually they get tired of taking care of it and it would be all on the teacher.

We're talking about a Pokemon here, who has near the same level intelligence as humans and can use elemental powers to attack. They cannot be in any way compared to pets, since they are FAR superior.
----

Anyway I think Daniella was in the wrong here. Going back to what I just said in the previous paragraph, we're talking about a Pokemon.

Did you all forget that Meowth can speak and understand human language like he is a human himself? All Pokemon have superior intellect, that I honestly think cannot be compared to any real life animal. Some Pokemon can be dumb, true, but for the most part they are near level the same intelligence as humans. And I'm sure some Pokemon are already superior to humans intellectually.

Going off that Daniella is pretty much a bigot. Now maybe being human gives her the right to "hate" certain types of Pokemon. But she never gave Trubbish a chance. Isn't that the exact same problem WE human have. We don't give certain people a chance, and quite a few humans are assuming assholes, who don't care for the majority of the people in the world.

However look at the kids, they're innocent, like real life kids (assuming their parents haven't 'brainwashed' them with their bigotry), they aren't prone to make harsh initial reactions. They'll likely, like anyone when they meet them for the first time. The kids also represent the gentler side of humans. Again Daniella is a bigot. She can call Trubbish "A bag of shit" and she'll probably say it to its face and not even care about its feeling.

Is a wild stray dog really going to care if you call it a "piece of shit?" No because it can't understand human language. A Pokemon? Yes it will know exactly what your talking about because they can understand the language pretty damn well.

Daniella made NO EFFORT whatsoever to get to now Trubbish. She took one look at it and was ready to kick it to the curb. How in the world is that right?

I know I my argument seems pretty extreme, but I think I got my point across the best way I know how.

Again, while the kids were stubborn, the fact of the matter is, Daniella did absolutely nothing to make me like her or agree with her point of vire. If she was brutally attacked by a group of Trubbish, then Daniella has every right to be a bigot, and not like any Trubbish. Completely understandable. Maybe the smell of Trubbish at one point almost killed her, and she had to go to the hospital to recover, but was "this" close to death. I would agree with Daniella completely, selfish? Yes, but a good selfish reason.

But did any of that happen? Not as far as we can tell. So no, I just cannot give a shit about Daniella's opinion on this. The way the writers wrote it, to me, they clearly made Daniella the antagonist here. The evil villain of the episode that needed to be "stopped" in the writers own way of telling it. If the writers actually intended to make this episode where the viewers sympathized with Daniella's 'plight', they would've wrote it differently. But since it is Pokemon it's not like it could be anything too extreme anyway. Though I think they very well could've gotten away with her almost dying from the stench of Trubbish, and she had to go to the hospital.

But as I said, it wasn't written that way. The writer never wrote it so we were to sympathize with Daniella, so why anyone is, is really baffling me.

 

[garrison-san]

The rhetoric of this episode was essentially "kids, if you want something but the adults in your life say no, just throw as big a hissy fit as you possibly can and they'll soon see the light."

Actually, for a franchise geared toward selling as much merchandise as possible I can see why that might be quite beneficial.

Me, I'm left wondering who's going to take care of Trubbish whenever the class breaks up for holidays. One of the kids always could take it home with them, of course, but then they'll probably have to wage a whole new kind of war with their parents...

 

[Paperhorse]

Going off that Daniella is pretty much a bigot.

Bigot is a very strong word, and the wrong word to describe Daniella

How does not letting a pokemon into HER classroom, which, could honestly be potentially dangerous, which is distracting to the children, which could cause many unforeseen problems, make her a bigot?

If I recall correctly, she never said she hated Trubbish, she just doesn't want it around.

Now maybe being human gives her the right to "hate" certain types of Pokemon. But she never gave Trubbish a chance. Isn't that the exact same problem WE human have. We don't give certain people a chance, and quite a few humans are assuming assholes, who don't care for the majority of the people in the world.

No, it is not. A pokemon is not a human. Yes, it is a living creature, but you can't compare pokemon to humans in this situation.

Daniella made NO EFFORT whatsoever to get to now Trubbish. She took one look at it and was ready to kick it to the curb. How in the world is that right?

I know I my argument seems pretty extreme, but I think I got my point across the best way I know how.

But like you even said, we don't know her background with this particular type of pokemon. She grew up in Unova, so therefore she is familiar with it.

Also, Trubbish is a wild pokemon. It isn't trained and had no human companions. Wild pokemon are not the same as trained pokemon. She has every right to be wary of it, and to not want around, especially since her job is to take care of the children.

As shown in the episode, the children even did get into harm's way because of the Trubbish. If they listened to Daniella in the first place (like they are supposed to) they wouldn't have been in that trouble.

But as I said, it wasn't written that way. The writer never wrote it so we were to sympathize with Daniella, so why anyone is, is really baffling me.

I think there are plenty of reasons to sympathize with her. As a Kindergarten teacher, your job is to take care of the children. School is supposed to be a place of learning only. The children were obviously distracted by Trubbish, and Daniella thought that this Trubbish would not be a good addition into her classroom.

She thought it would cause problems, which was actually proven true in the episode, since the children's attachment to Trubbish caused them to rebel in the first place. IMO, she should have never given in at the end, and she she should have never let Ash talk to the children at all.

 

[garrison-san]

But as I said, it wasn't written that way. The writer never wrote it so we were to sympathize with Daniella, so why anyone is, is really baffling me.

I don't think anyone is disputing the likelihood that the writers intended for us to side with the children. All we're suggesting is that they failed rather dismally. Can't win 'em all, I suppose.

 

[Karamazov]

Me, I'm left wondering who's going to take care of Trubbish whenever the class breaks up for holidays. One of the kids always could take it home with them, of course, but then they'll probably have to wage a whole new kind of war with their parents...

Probably Daniella. >

Wait, do the kids live in the class? Or did they all simultaneously sneak out of their respective houses to spend all night building the base?

 

[Queen Cynthia]

Not a bad episode but not all too spectacular either, except for the TRio part.

The plot itself was well thought-out and entertaining, however, what bugged me was Ash's stubbornness and thus, I completely agree with Iris that by joining up with those kids Ash somehow showed that he was more childish than those children themselves.

What worries me even more is the fact that the episode conveyed a totally wrong message. It bassically wanted to say: "Just be as stubborn as possible and you'll get your own way with adults".

Apart from that, it was a decent episode.

 

[Karamazov]

Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way: the target demographic is kids. Kids a little older, I think, but still kids. Of course they would be a little biased against the adults, and would side with the kids who just want to keep their friend.

Or maybe, (and this seems more logical) this was some stealth message for this episode. We're supposed to sympathise with Daniella and side with her, and the audience is supposed to see the kids as spoiled, with Daniella as the caring teacher who only wants to keep her students safe.

 

[Russia]

the leader of the trubbish squad (I think thats what its called) was like me when I was little. SO CUTE TRUBBISH!

 

[Shinneth]

Guess it varies from viewer to viewer. But I was on Daniela's side; it's kinda funny, because even though this show undoubtedly wanted to gear you more towards sympathizing with the kids and their trash bag, they did give Daniela ample time to explain her side of the story to the audience so that it all really made sense why she didn't want to keep the Trubbish around, to the point where the kids were the ones looking like assholes (or maybe just that one boy; I think the others would have folded to logic if he hadn't been riding their asses in asserting the total fib that is "TRUBBISH DOES NOT STINK").

That and the kids' side just wasn't as well-explained, but then what wonderful justification must we expect from kindergarteners? I agree that if they were better about communicating to their teacher that it wouldn't have escalated to the level it did; if Daniela was willing to listen, she'd only be hearing more of the same: "WE WANNA KEEP TRUBBISH! HE DOES NOT STINK! WE WANT HIM TO STAY! LET US KEEP TRUBBISH!"

Did I forget to mention that Ash & Co. totally failed to make a positive impact on this situation? Oh, I didn't. Well, it bears repeating. They should've just moved the hell along... and though Ash was spectacularly fail at negotiating, somehow I doubt Iris or Cilan would've been any more successful about reaching a better conclusion.

And yeah, piss on Daniela's grandmother for not mentioning the stink issue not being permanent that would've bypassed a lot of the bullshit gone through. Though she said "eventually", as in the stink wouldn't go away immediately. Still, I can't imagine Trubbish itself is very sanitary and if it's Daniela's job to watch out for these kids.... yeesh, I don't blame her for repelling something that's canonly described as industrial waste and a trashbag combined through chemical reactions.

Why couldn't the kids just find a nice, abandoned Minccino to bring over instead? If they really wanted to make these kids out to be in the right, anyway... I don't care how nice that Trubbish is; its stench and toxicity and high maintenance just makes it something that shouldn't be under the hands of a damn kindergarten class.

 

[Karamazov]

Here is Trubbish's Black Pokedex entry:

"Inhaling the gas they belch will make you sleep for a week. They prefer unsanitary places."

...Charming.

 

[Torterra Trainer]

I still don't understand why Ash would think that he was justified to battle Daniela. Bascically he is saying that I don't care if this is YOUR classroom, these kids are right and I'm just going to have to defeat you in battle to prove it. What would Daneila going to say if Ash beat her. "Oh since you beat me that means my mind is totally made up and y'all can keep the Trubbish!" No in real life that would make her even more mad and unresponsive to negotiating and I'm pretty sure she would want to go down their and physically remove Ash from among her kids.

Why Ash, why? D:

 

[Piplup]

I still don't understand why Ash would think that he was justified to battle Daniela.

If I remember correct, he didn't try to battle her, but just protect Trubbish from her trying to randomly attack the poor thing for no reason at all...

 

[Sweet Veil]

I wonder if I should allow the young kids to bring in a old stray cat they found? It could have diseases, be dirty, or be dangerous. But they can keep it.

That is Trubbish's Evolution. What the hell will Daniella do? That things ugly then sin.

 

[Shinneth]

Here is Trubbish's Black Pokedex entry:

"Inhaling the gas they belch will make you sleep for a week. They prefer unsanitary places."

...Charming.

I just looked that up after posting here. Wow, no wonder the anime went for White's Dex entry instead. XD I guess it's not as potent in animeverse; that would all-too-conveniently ruin the kids' case of keeping Trubbish around.

And then I remembered what Trubbish evolves to.

My god, that kindergarten is doomed.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

No, it is not. A pokemon is not a human. Yes, it is a living creature, but you can't compare pokemon to humans in this situation.

Why? They are allways showed as similar to humans and with human-like intelligence, especially little and un-evoved ones.

 

[NoodleChefKyle]

How fitting for Ash to get an egg when tomorrow is easter xD

I didn't even think about that! That's awesome! I can't wait to see what comes out of Ash's egg (though I already know what it is). It's gonna be sweet!

 

[dman_dustin]

Spoiler

Bigot is a very strong word, and the wrong word to describe Daniella

How does not letting a pokemon into HER classroom, which, could honestly be potentially dangerous, which is distracting to the children, which could cause many unforeseen problems, make her a bigot?

Do you think if this was a Minccino, or a Oshwott, that she'd be like "NO!!!!" of course not. The only reason was because it WAS a Trubbish and ONLY because it was a Trubbish. Isn't that the kind of thinking what we call racism not letting someone be a part of something based on the color of their skin? Not letting this Pokemon be a pet just because its a Trubbish.

No, it is not. A pokemon is not a human. Yes, it is a living creature, but you can't compare pokemon to humans in this situation.

Looks to me like if they were extraterrestrial life you'd be a staunch defender of not letting them have any rights on Planet Earth. And shunning them whenever you did see them. Maybe even involved in dragging an alien across the street tied to a truck because its not a human, sorry if you took offence on that last bit (I don't think you're that messed up) but I want you to keep note of the important part of that last sentence (because it's not human).

But look at what being a human means scientifically. We're just higher evolved animals with a highly evolved brain, capable of highly evolved communication, and abstract thinking. All which of course lead to our biased opinions of each other as well as many things about the world.

Now if I remember correctly, let's go on the religious side of this, and explain what a human is religiously. A human is a being made in God's image. God also created animals to serve man's need such as nourishment and companionship, competition, etc, etc, etc.

But a Pokemon CANNOT be compared to a cat, dog, chicken, cow, pig, etc. It's not the same in any sense.

Pokemon Scientifically- They have to be a lot more evolved than humans. Not only can they control the elements of the world, they can think abstractly (Meowth proves this), and they can understand and decipher human language with near superhuman level comprehension. Can YOU learn a new language just by listening to it, once, twice, or maybe three times? I sure as hell can't, I'd have to study hard and for a very long time to understand another language a human speaks.

So I'd say Pokemon are more highly evolved than human in the Pokemon world. So then why is man still apparently at the top of the food chain? Because humans wrote this, therefor there is a species bias to it. If an alien wrote Pokemon, aliens would be at the top of the food chain. If it was possible and a dog wrote Pokemon again dogs probably would be at the top of the food chain.

Pokemon Religiously- Well obviously we hit a problem off the bat. As Pokemon apparently gave birth to new species of Pokemon, we can then conclude that directly a powerful entity didn't create Pichu for example. Maybe Arceus, but not Pichu (though yes indirectly yes an entity did create Pichu). We can also conclude that an entity didn't create Pokemon to serve man's needs. If an entity did do that, why make it equal or superior to man? Sure I don't see Psyduck creating spaceships and laser guns capable of taking on the humans for control. And with the ability to control the elements of the Pokemon world, I really don't see a reason why they'd be interested in technology at first glance. But even with all that, Pokemon are equal/superior to the humans in the Pokemon world. The only reason why they do serve humans is merely because humans made the show, they get to decide who the top of the food chain is.

But even still Pokemon CANNOT be compared to the non humans of the real world. You name me one species of animal besides human that is as highly evolved as humans, and I can see your point on why Pokemon shouldn't be compared to human. Said animal has to be able to understand any human language almost instantly without any hard training. Has to be able to SPEAK a human language, understanding the entirety of the language and since it took Meowth awhile, I'll let you have training on this one. As well as an animal that can think abstractly.

Again Pokemon can be compared to humans, simply because they are capable of what real life humans are capable of. They are equal and in some cases superior to real life humans. We're not talking about an animal that only thinks instinctively. Some Pokemon sure may only think instinctively like a wild Beedrill or a wild Ursaring, but that's probably only because they don't run into humans very often. A wild Ursaring in the woods would not be the same as a wild Ursaring living in a city with humans.

But like you even said, we don't know her background with this particular type of pokemon. She grew up in Unova, so therefore she is familiar with it.

Please don't argue that. It's really a weak argument. Just because we don't know her background doesn't mean something traumatizing involving Trubbish happened. IF it did, she would've mentioned it.

Also, Trubbish is a wild pokemon. It isn't trained and had no human companions. Wild pokemon are not the same as trained pokemon. She has every right to be wary of it, and to not want around, especially since her job is to take care of the children.

Again IT was ONLY because it was a Trubbish. Again if it was any non poison Pokemon she probably would've let them keep it.

Daniella CLEARLY didn't know everything about it, evidenced by the end of the episode when she just found out from her Grandma that Trubbish won't smell bad at all if Trubbish is loved and cared for.

That's what makes her a bigot. She went in not knowing anything and basically kicked Trubbish to the street without hesitation merely BECAUSE it was a Trubbish. Again I don't think we'd be arguing if this was an Audino or Alomomola or hell Lillipup, Herdier, or Stoutland.

As shown in the episode, the children even did get into harm's way because of the Trubbish. If they listened to Daniella in the first place (like they are supposed to) they wouldn't have been in that trouble.

Defending a cause is always going to lead to harm, so why argue it? You can't defend something without some risk involved. You can fight for your country against another one without the possibility it ending in you getting dragged out inside a body bag.

Now Trubbish didn't really ask the kids to defend it, love it, and do anything FOR it. That was all the kids' fault. Trubbish was merely a bystander in all this, and merely appreciated the kids for actually treating it should be treated.

I think there are plenty of reasons to sympathize with her.

I didn't see ANY at all, so I guess its subjective.

As a Kindergarten teacher, your job is to take care of the children.

Only because she's a human taking care of human children.

School is supposed to be a place of learning only.

I didn't realize being a Pokemon trainer means you're incredibly idiotic and stupid. Honestly a very bad argument? Why because if it's anything like when I went to school, we don't learn EVERY single second we are at school.

And how is this really any different than a class pet for example. If anything Trubbish was likely going to stay outside and the kids would come out when they could and play with Trubbish. And even assuming Trubbish came into the school how is it any more distracting than a hamster, or a rat running around crazy in a cage. Sure some schools/classes don't allow class pets, but they exist. Like I said Trubbish is probably close to human intelligent, if Daniella were to tell Trubbish to shut up and stop moving until otherwise said, it probably would listen unlike telling that to a hamster, or a cat.

The children were obviously distracted by Trubbish,

How did the kids even go to the dump to find the Trubbish in the first place?

1. Daniella must be careless if it was on her time. Because I'm sure as a parent I would be pissed to know my child managed to get to a dump UNSUPERVISED, got pricked with a needle and now has AIDS because of it. Whose fault? Daniella for not watching my children like she was supposed to. And I'd bring down the hammer of justice, and Daniella could very well get into SERIOUS trouble.

2. Not on school time? Well then obviously you can't argue that it was a distraction.

Frankly those are really the only two choices here. Either its Daniella's fault that Trubbish is a distraction, or you can't argue it as a distraction in the first place.

and Daniella thought that this Trubbish would not be a good addition into her classroom.

Again, Trubbish, Trubbish, Trubbish. Not Pokemon. She thought Trubbish would not be a good addition. Rather than not allowing any kind of Pokemon. Honestly if she straight out said: "No children, the answer is no, and its not because it's a Trubbish, I honestly DO NOT give a damn, I don't want ANY kind of Pokemon in my classroom" then maybe she'd have a point.

Of course she can't argue that when she has a fucking Deerling at her disposal, so she's clearly not against Pokemon just Trubbish in gerneral.

She thought it would cause problems, which was actually proven true in the episode

No it wasn't, she thought it was cause problems directly. If you really feel the need to blame Trubbish for whatever the hell reason, it would be all indirectly. Trubbish isn't an evil mind controlling Pokemon. Sure it may have helped the children with all that trash, but it was still a bystander in all this.

since the children's attachment to Trubbish caused them to rebel in the first place.

No it was because of Daniella that they rebelled.

Again this is extreme. But should we just accept human slavery merely because some racist leaders said so? Should we accept another country invading our country just because we should accept their ideals and beliefs because we're not allowed have differing opinions and ideas?

What example does Daniella set by being the antagonist here? That they should follow what anyone says merely because they are the leader.

So when they grow up and get a job, they have to kill a child because their boss says so. Kill a Pokemon just because the BOSS says so. Just because an authority figure "says" so.

If your boss told you to go out and kill his enemy, and if you didn't he'd fire you. Would you do it? Why? He told you to it, he's supposed to know better than you. So how can you argue against him? How can you rebel? You don't have the right. Why? Because you learned at a young age that what authority figure is ALWAYS right. You HAVE NO RIGHT to challenge that authority.

Your morals, ethics, your opinion DOESN'T matter. It also doesn't matter if its against the law. It doesn't matter if 5000 of your colleagues agree with you. Your boss is an authority figure, and if you want to keep your job, well you have no choice but to do that.

However does that work in real life? No it doesn't, if your boss tells you to kill someone or else he'll fire you, and you can prove it, you can go to the police or someone of higher authority and tell them what's up. Chances are your boss could get arrested or fired. This of course assuming your job doesn't involve killing people. Otherwise that's a whole other argument.

So maybe you're right, maybe the kids shouldn't have rebelled. They should've probably talked to someone who is of higher authority than Daniella and request Trubbish stay (and surely someone has to be higher authority than Daniella). Oh but then again their kids, they probably didn't know they had that option.

IMO, she should have never given in at the end

Look at what happened though. Trubbish saved the children's lives, and Daniella CLEARLY was affected by this. She conceived Trubbish to be the most despicable Pokemon and SHE was PROVEN WRONG. Again that just proves her to be a bigot. She NEVER gave Trubbish a chance. If SHE DID this Whole thing wouldn't have happened in the first place.

I still have to wonder though, why Karena didn't get involved in the argument. Clearly she knows more than Daniella about Trubbish, so clearly she would have better say on whether or not Trubbish is an acceptable Pokemon for the children or not. But Karena merely took a back seat, and half-lazily agreed with her Granddaughter (though not outright saying the kids were in the wrong) merely because Daniella is her Granddaughter. But I have a feeling if Karena wasn't being Grandma, and being like "You should figure things out yourself" I have a feeling she would've defended the children.

What say you then? What if Karena defended the children? Would you still think Daniella was right?

I really didn't intend for that to be as long as it did. But I love writing, so what can you do? In spoiler tags lengths for sheer length.