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Review S18 EP18: Confronting The Darkness!

Why would you focus on the dent on Clembot's head rather than the horn instead of hair? It's a much more obvious design difference that was readily viewable on the screen. And if Clembot was actually responsible - all Clemont would need to do is get it to shoot out the Pokeballs of the Pokemon it is holding on to, and then go back to his plans and make another one.

Anyway, I fundamentally hate this episode and every other one involving Clemont's gym.

Even the vague attempt at trying to cast Clembot as being programmed to care about the wellbeing of Pokemon still doesn't make me any more comfortable with the idea that a robot replaces him in his Gym. Every episode showing off how much personality that Clemont's Heliolisk just makes me more annoyed about the situation. It might be outwardly happy, but how could it possibly be when its trainer prefers to leave it with a robot just battling in a Gym all day, when he's out on a journey to see the world?

Are viewers just supposed to be proud of how smart Clemont is by being able to create the robot in the first place? What other situations would we be expected to be on the side of the person who gets a robot to battle for them? What if that's what the plot was with Volkner, instead of just handing out free badges he just got a robot to do it instead? Oh right, it's all okay because Clembot battles in the right spirit...

By it being a robot instead of a person, the Pokemon turn from companions into tools. They are used entirely and only to battle in a Gym - they are a tool to be used by Clembot. There's no other context the anime would paint that as being okay, and I certainly don't think it's okay here. Clemont should long ago have shut the gym down - if he wants to go on a journey fine - take your Pokemon with you or leave them with a person you can trust - Clembot clearly makes a perfectly good Mr Mime.
 
An okay episode I guess.

I like how Bonnie and Clemont hugged upon reuniting since they didn't do anything special upon separating. I guess Pikachu dancing with Chespin was kinda cute. I could see why Serena would show off Braxien to Clemont, but I was surprised to see Ash just reveal Goodra like that. I would have thought that he'd want to keep him as a surprise for the gym battle, but whatever. I guess he was just excited to show off his evolution.

Okay, with Braxien already being out of her PokeBall, I could understand her watching the gym battle, but I wonder why Pancham was there watching. Maybe because the battle is with someone they know. And ok, is it just me or is Bonnie pointing out the obvious a lot today? Yes, we already know that Clemont is in Lumiose City and he’s been training for Ash’s gym battle.

Anyway, moving on to the actual plot, I still think it's weird how they arrested a robot. That to me is like arresting a dog or I guess in the Pokemon world, a Pokemon. Shouldn't Clemont, the owner/creator have been arrested? Well anyway, I do like how Clembot still has his injury from when Clemont knocked him over. But with that said, really Clemont? The only thing you can say to prove Clembot wasn’t the robot who committed the crimes was the dent on his head? No mention of the fact that the robot on camera has a cone on his head as opposed to Clembot’s Clemont-styled “hair”? And I swear that Officer Jenny said “Luminose City”. Am I the only one who heard that?

I loved when Bonnie hugged Meyer upon seeing him too. I guess it was nice to see Alexa again even though I don't care too much for her. Though I don't really see the point of her being here. She didn't really do anything. But I did like how she brought up Blaziken Man in Meyer's presence.

Ok, Clembot kicking Dark Clembot was BAD ASS! And damn, Clemont's facial expression when the evil dude was talking to him. I thought the robot battle actually having a VS. screen was pretty funny. But at the same time, I thought it was weird how Clemont said he’d battle the other robot and then tells Clembot to seconds later. I lol'd at TR showing up and getting blasted off by Mega Blaziken with a matter of seconds. And I love how Clemont stepped up to battle Belmondo. Magnazone getting KO'd by Swift was especially funny.

Lol, at Clembot wearing that pink maid outside. But seriously, how the hell is that robot blushing? Whatever. Overall, I actually surprising found this to be a pretty enjoyable episode. 7.9/10.
 
I must say that it was a surprisingly interesting episode. The idea of having a Pokemon battle with the trainers being robots was something completely new! They managed to come up with something that has never been there before and that's quite remarkable considering how many episodes have already aired over the last years. Creative and interesting, I like that!

By it being a robot instead of a person, the Pokemon turn from companions into tools. They are used entirely and only to battle in a Gym - they are a tool to be used by Clembot. There's no other context the anime would paint that as being okay, and I certainly don't think it's okay here. Clemont should long ago have shut the gym down - if he wants to go on a journey fine - take your Pokemon with you or leave them with a person you can trust - Clembot clearly makes a perfectly good Mr Mime.

Moe, I don't agree with you here. Even in gyms with "humans" gym leaders, Pokemon seem to be used as tools for battling. You hardly see gym leaders do anything else with their Pokemon, like for example training. And besides, who says that Clemont didn't program Clembot to train with his Pokemon, too? If it can battle with them, you can be sure it will also be capable of doing training.

But on the sidelines, who else found it kind of creepy that Dark Clembot stole those mannequins' clothes and hand them from the ceiling? I was, well,...surprised to put it mildly
 
Moe, I don't agree with you here. Even in gyms with "humans" gym leaders, Pokemon seem to be used as tools for battling. You hardly see gym leaders do anything else with their Pokemon, like for example training. And besides, who says that Clemont didn't program Clembot to train with his Pokemon, too? If it can battle with them, you can be sure it will also be capable of doing training.
I'd suggest that's more a product of how little we see of Gym leaders besides the battle - but nothing directly comes to my mind where a Gym leader is seen as not having a close bond with their Pokemon - they all thank them for their efforts and the like. Obviously you can program all of those particular things, but it doesn't change Clembot being a robot and that interaction being essentially fake, I can't suspend belief enough to assume Clemont could program a robot with real emotional attachment.

I come back to the huge bond between trainer and Pokemon as something drummed into us in every other episode, it's about the only explanation given as to why Pokemon are willing to listen to the commands of a trainer in the first place. I really don't think any level of programming overcomes that basic subconscious interaction between trainer and Pokemon. The exceptions to that, where you have characters who are shown not to care as much and just want to win, sometimes you will have their Pokemon cast as clearly being okay with that - Paul's main Pokemon all seemed to understand his ways and worked with him - except Chimchar, who was clearly seeking that interaction with a trainer.

To put it another way - if Clemont really thought it was fine, why didn't he rotate his team while he was at the Gym? Leave Chespin, Luxray or Bunnelby behind and take some of the Gym Pokemon with him. Chespin and Luxray's captures I think demonstrate the main problem - he caught them because of the bond he personally forged with them. "Hey Luxray, I know we just met up again after years of being apart, but would you mind staying with Clembot and not see me for a few months so it can win some Gym battles?" - it just wouldn't happen.
 
...it's a robot. Surely you should be arresting the person that owns it?

It has different hair, I noticed straight away...

why would he use Magneton over Magnezone as his main battling Pokemon?

How would the cpu know who hacked? why would he make it so obvious? even if it were from usernames he could've used someone else's account to hack.

Is it not cruel to have those Pokemon stuck in the robot's arms?

Tbf despite those minor complaints it was a decent enough episode.
 
How would the cpu know who hacked? why would he make it so obvious? even if it were from usernames he could've used someone else's account to hack.

Well, Every PC that hacks has it's own IP address and is unique for every Computer that is registered and when checked it can show the user registered with it. Well also we have seen technology in the Anime has been shown to be futuristic, so for that I don't agree with you. As far as Hair is concerned, i was not satisfied with the original version too........They could have easily spotted the hair instead of the dent and also the nose
 
Whenever I hear the name Alexa I can't help but sing the first few lines of "The Downeaster Alexa" by Billy Joel.
 
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