• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Review S15 EP44: Ash, Iris and Trip: Then There Were Three!

Can we stop with the thinking out loud thing after the Junior cup is over? It's okay when only Ash does it, because there's a need to occasionally have him explain his thinking in a battle, but does Georgia need to 'think' something she then more or less says out loud a few scenes later?

Ash had a great line of stupidity in this episode - telling Pignite that it had the type advantage over Serperior and then immediately using Tackle, the only move Pignite has that isn't super-effective. Of course considering Serperior was somehow fast enough to almost teleport out of the way, it doesn't really matter. Would it have been that bad for Ash to land one shot before losing?

Nice to see Dragonite lose, though I don't for a moment understand why Cynthia had to tell Iris that she'd done well - doing well would have been attempting to recall a rampaging Pokemon, but no, Iris chose to think it might be able to win regardless of it refusing to obey and attacking with no sense, Iris failed as a trainer beyond her Pokemon not obeying her, she failed to act as a trainer should do to protect people around a Pokemon over winning a battle. Even if Iris failed to recall Dragonite, the attempt alone would have been enough to suggest Iris was at least trying.

That said I did like Iris saying she couldn't be bothered with Georgia/Burgundy.
 
Dragonite's rampage is proof that there should be a rule against using a Pokemon that the trainer can't control in a battle tournament. Ash, Dawn, and the others in the stand were even ducking for cover and the audience was certainly fortunate that none of Dragonite's attacks went their way. Iris should have been disqualified for such potentially lethal dangers (not to mention that even if she did "win", it would have been all Dragonite's doing, like before) or she should have called it quits like any wise trainer would have known to do, rather than caring more about winning the battle than anything else.

So glad she finally got her much needed loss after advancing farther into the tournament than she deserved, even if the Ash's victory was cheap in more ways than one.
 
Last edited:
Allowing disobedient pokemon to battle in official tournaments is nothing new. Remember Ash and Charizard in the Indigo League?
 
Allowing disobedient pokemon to battle in official tournaments is nothing new. Remember Ash and Charizard in the Indigo League?
You mean the Charizard that was disqualified for literally doing nothing and cost Ash the win? I'd hardly call that 'allowing' disobedient Pokemon.
 
*Oh lookie it's Gotpika to the defense of his precious Iris and BW episode.*

What about Dawn's disobedient raging Mamoswine that she couldn't control that lost to Carnivine? Dragonite obviously wasn't gonna kill anyone since stuff like that ain't happening in Pokemon and the Pokeball's reach wouldn't have been long enough to return Dragonite to its ball. Raging or not a battle is still a battle and this is Pokemon Anime a show about magical creatures with superpowers and lethal talents kicking each other's asses. It was done for the sake of drama and action because that's what this show is about. Would it be fun to watch Ash and Shamus talk out their problems and not battle? It's so unfair that Iris's Dragonite gets singled out and shows truly how much of an effect Iris has had on peoples' judgement of her normal behavior.


The talk between Georgia and Burgundy. Speaking of, Burgundy I still wonder if the writers are gonna give her any validations for being Cilan's rival. All everyone ever says that in order for Burgundy to not be crappy is for her to listen to Cilan and allow him to change her. I disagree. I think she could find her own path and improve on her own rather than needing Cilan to go anywhere. Using a little experiment, let's say Iris and Cilan swap rivals and everything else in BW is the same. Would Burgundy still need to "learn a lesson" in order to develop and be made a fool of constantly? Before you think of the scenario, keep in mind all the seething Iris hatred thus far in BW is still in-tact. Keep in mind every episode featuring her would have her doing everything Cilan does to Burgundy.

The question is would it be Burgundy "learning a lesson" or Iris getting "glorified" for the sake of Burgundy? With Georgia Iris is on fairly equal-tiered footing, even less possibly. I'm trying to enjoy Cilan's character a whole lot, I really am, but things like this just get pressed sometimes. :p
 
What about Dawn's disobedient raging Mamoswine that she couldn't control that lost to Carnivine? Dragonite obviously wasn't gonna kill anyone since stuff like that ain't happening in Pokemon and the Pokeball's reach wouldn't have been long enough to return Dragonite to its ball. Raging or not a battle is still a battle and this is Pokemon Anime a show about magical creatures with superpowers and lethal talents kicking each other's asses. It was done for the sake of drama and action because that's what this show is about. Would it be fun to watch Ash and Shamus talk out their problems and not battle? It's so unfair that Iris's Dragonite gets singled out and shows truly how much of an effect Iris has had on peoples' judgement of her normal behavior.
The people in the anime can't watch the anime to know they won't get hurt - it's reasonable enough to expect that a tournament would have basic safeguards against a Pokemon that goes so out of control it aims its attacks randomly and might hit the crowd.

It's simple enough to expect that trainers should resolve their issues with their Pokemon off the battle field. Sure you can't predict every act of disobedience, but when one Pokemon is out of control to the point of people diving for cover, that's a bit too far to suggest that is a normal part of battling. Indeed it may not have worked, but Iris attempting to recall Dragonite, rather than continuing to go for the win by hoping it would manage to still defeat Krookodile in its rage, would have at least shown common sense for her part as a trainer. I'd also suggest that Iris trying to stop Dragonite would be more dramatic than what occurred in the episode.

Dawn at the very least then went and had several training episodes with Mamoswine before using it again in contests - Iris had used the same Pokemon three times in a row without doing anything to resolve the issues she was having with it other than hoping for the best and having Cynthia pat it.

We're supposed to believe that Iris has a gift for bonding with Dragon types, connecting with them and raising them - part of that should surely mean doing something to stop Dragonite before it hurt others or itself in its rage, to place Dragonite ahead of the tournament win; and part of that should have been training with Dragonite before using it in a tournament to further her bond with a new Pokemon.

Everything was there to help Iris - two trainers with her who have had similar troubles. a connoisseur whose training is in helping trainers bond with their Pokemon, a master of Dragon-types to get to be the champion of a region and a Pokemon who could calm Dragonite down if need be - all the ingredients to do a good storyline about Iris having a struggle and working through it, instead we got a rushed tournament and luck.

The episodes were a missed opportunity.
 
I only watch the dub, so when I first heard Ash and Krookodile would be the ones to take down Dragonite, I can't tell you how happy I was to wait for the battle (I love Krokorok/Krookodile) to come out in English. Wow was it disappointing. First off I don't mind mid-battle evo's as long as they aren't cheap and forced. I didn't feel like this was. Krokorok was putting up a decent fight, but was getting over powered. He had his back up against the wall and evolved because he knew it was the only way to win the battle. That's fine. Then Dragonite gets struck with dragon claw and decides to throw a child like (see what I did there, Iris) tantrum. That's not fine. Krookodile won but only because Dragonite was in a blind rage. He probably would have won even if Dragonite was in battle mode, but still. Now I know why people were complaining about this battle. It ultimately wasn't a battle. As far as im concerned that was Krookodile stopping a wild rampaging pokemon. With Iris, as usual, no where in the picture. Ash is a far better trainer than Iris. The writers didn't show that in this battle. They showed Ash stopping a rampaging pokemon. Then again Dawn is also a far better trainer than Iris..

The Ash/Trip battle was even more of a joke. I was somewhat okay with Ash loosing to Trip at the beginning of BW because Ash had to have an established rival that was made to look like a threat. Now it's gone to far. Ash is also a MUCH better trainer than Trip. Not only should Pignite have landed one hit, he should have won. That third flame charge should have gotten his speed up to the point where Serperior could no longer avoid EVERYTHING. But nope, not if you're over powered I guess.
 
Last edited:
So Trip and Serperior won by screwing the rules again...figures. Seriously, sometimes I just can't figure out TPTB. On the surface, they act like they're sticklers for game mechanics, but then they deep-six those mechanics for the plot. I just don't know...

And speaking of things I can't figure out, what's been up with Dragonite? Was this the same Dragonite who wasn't listening to Iris last ep suddenly taking orders from her this time? As much as I like it when jerks start behaving themselves, it might help to actually show the transition, either as a moment of realization or a gradual personality shift. That still doesn't explain the blind rampage, though. And it's not even like Dragonite was taking all that anger out on its opponent...just everything else. Iris should've realized that Dragonite was completely out of control and recalled it, rather than trying futily to reason with it or order it around.

As much as Georgia annoys me, I have to admit that she's been right about Iris. That girl's a looooooong way off from being a Dragon Master. I guess that mind-meld from Dragonite's debut didn't really do squat for them.

And just to add to the list of weirdness, Alder's not being a total putz anymore. How'd that happen?
 
Ugh, the only part worth watching was Dragonite vs Krokorok/Krookodile. The rest was just unbearable. Alder had better kick Trip's overconfident ass or I swear to god I will hurt somebody...
 
I wanted Iris to win only so Dragonite could pick out trips pokemon and throw it into his stupid smug face.
 
I loved the heated and intense battles and thus enjoyed the episode very much.

Also, I really can't get it why some people keep blaming Dragonite for being too strong! Tell me, for how long have we already been seeing Pokemon that were rather standard? So, it was about time that the Anime would shift into a higher gear in terms of Pokemon, so to speak. And if even Cynthia herself calls it a "fascinating Pokemon", how could you not love Dragonite?

Also, I love that wonderful Cynthia and Iris-subplot! Isn't it amazing that although that whole Junior Cup is about winning the privilege to battle Alder, Cynthia seems to be the secret hero who's watching over the whole tournament like some kind of guardian angel? Maybe I should compare her to Ho.oh's role in the Kanto -League?
 
Also, I really can't get it why some people keep blaming Dragonite for being too strong! Tell me, for how long have we already been seeing Pokemon that were rather standard? So, it was about time that the Anime would shift into a higher gear in terms of Pokemon, so to speak. And if even Cynthia herself calls it a "fascinating Pokemon", how could you not love Dragonite?

I don't think it's a simple matter of Dragonite being strong (which is usually very cool). I think it's about two things:

1. Iris was practically handed this power on a silver platter and now can't control it.

2. When it comes to Ice, Dragonite habitually screws the rules like they've never been screwed before.

I think if Iris (as well as TPTB) knew how to properly use Dragonite's power, he could be a first-class ass-kicker. When that's gonna happen, though, is anyone's guess.
 
Please note: The thread is from 11 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom