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Review XY074: Kunoe Gym Battle! The Beautiful Fairy Trap!!

Credit to Hawlucha, the guy (probably) got a good win. All that remains is Fletchinder to win a Gym Battle, Wulfric is certainly possible.
 
Credit to Hawlucha, the guy (probably) got a good win. All that remains is Fletchinder to win a Gym Battle, Wulfric is certainly possible.

You mean to star in a gym battle? Fletchinder has already won 3 gym battles as far I remember: vs. Surskit at Santalune gym, vs. Machoke at Shalour Gym, vs. Sylveon at Laverre Gym.

Anyway, this was a great battle, XY's gym battle record so far is awesome, reminds me of Johto/AG/DP level.
 
Credit to Hawlucha, the guy (probably) got a good win. All that remains is Fletchinder to win a Gym Battle, Wulfric is certainly possible.

You mean to star in a gym battle? Fletchinder has already won 3 gym battles as far I remember: vs. Surskit at Santalune gym, vs. Machoke at Shalour Gym, vs. Sylveon at Laverre Gym.

Anyway, this was a great battle, XY's gym battle record so far is awesome, reminds me of Johto/AG/DP level.

You forgot Fletch's win against Jumpluff as well.
 
The look on Valerie's face when hawlucha shattered spritzee's trick room was priceless.
 
I really enjoyed this Gym battle - Ash looked in form and on top for the whole battle, which is exactly right for someone of his experience level, even up against the partial unknown of the Fairy type. Especially with Shouta being in this episode, it really got to cast Ash as being the one showing everyone how it's done. Confidence with good reason, not just the bumbling enthusiasm on its own.

Hawlucha was never down and out, it was able to win with pride and ease. That's how it should be for Ash, he should be at the level where a Gym leader needs to be someone special to get him on the ropes, not the typical down to the wire battles where they try and show it as a close run thing on who faints first.

I want to be able to get my hopes up after seeing that battle. It's really where Ash should be as he heads towards the league - just a shame that he still can't do a full battle with the Pokemon he has on hand. Maybe he will bring just five...

I was slightly hoping Ash would try to speak to his Pokemon - just for the sake of hearing his impression of them, even if they just facepalm at his attempt.
 
I really enjoyed this Gym battle - Ash looked in form and on top for the whole battle, which is exactly right for someone of his experience level, even up against the partial unknown of the Fairy type. Especially with Shouta being in this episode, it really got to cast Ash as being the one showing everyone how it's done. Confidence with good reason, not just the bumbling enthusiasm on its own.

Hawlucha was never down and out, it was able to win with pride and ease. That's how it should be for Ash, he should be at the level where a Gym leader needs to be someone special to get him on the ropes, not the typical down to the wire battles where they try and show it as a close run thing on who faints first.

I want to be able to get my hopes up after seeing that battle. It's really where Ash should be as he heads towards the league - just a shame that he still can't do a full battle with the Pokemon he has on hand. Maybe he will bring just five...

I was slightly hoping Ash would try to speak to his Pokemon - just for the sake of hearing his impression of them, even if they just facepalm at his attempt.

Personally I feel that the last legs Gym Battle finale is not the worse thing to do in the right circumstances: Grovyle vs Slaking and Pikachu vs Mega Lucario certainly worked best with that battle style. Though I will admit that after doing that not only with Mega Lucario, but Luxray as well XY probably should try and avoid doing that again unless it really, really fits, and only Avalugg to me could possibly require that level of exhaustion.
 
Personally I feel that the last legs Gym Battle finale is not the worse thing to do in the right circumstances: Grovyle vs Slaking and Pikachu vs Mega Lucario certainly worked best with that battle style. Though I will admit that after doing that not only with Mega Lucario, but Luxray as well XY probably should try and avoid doing that again unless it really, really fits, and only Avalugg to me could possibly require that level of exhaustion.
Absolutely - like a lot of things, it has its place - Korrina's gym battle was one of my favourites as well. But I'd put Pikachu being able to beat a Mega Lucario as a very good reason why Ash should be able to easily beat 'lesser' Gym leaders.

When leagues have hundreds of participants that have met the 8 badge requirement, and Ash is up there with the best, he should naturally have a relatively easy time of beating the various Gyms in that process. Obviously when he's just putting together a new team, it's believable, but occasionally he should just be able to step into a higher gear and just thrash a Gym leader, with the weight of his experience and the strength of his Pokemon.

It's a balance I think is largely tipped towards trying to show all the Gym leaders in a positive light, which does a disservice to Ash. The best solution is to do what happened in the previous episode - have Gym leaders battle someone other than Ash and win, to then go on to lose easily to Ash - showing that it's not that the Gym leader is weak, but that Ash is not an average trainer.

I still want to see him sweep a gym without a Pokemon looking tired - just to have the exact opposite of the Roxie battle that was the worst of BW.
 
This is classic BW all over again - Pokémon learning and mastering moves off-screen.

It's good that Hawlucha finally learned its fourth move, but of all things it had to be X-Scissor? A move, may I remind you, deals NFE damage on Fairy-types? I would have preferred it to know Poison Jab instead, but whatever.
 
This is classic BW all over again - Pokémon learning and mastering moves off-screen.

It's good that Hawlucha finally learned its fourth move, but of all things it had to be X-Scissor? A move, may I remind you, deals NFE damage on Fairy-types? I would have preferred it to know Poison Jab instead, but whatever.

Didn't that happen in other series too? I at least don't remember ever seeing Ash teach Herracross how to use Megahorn or Focus Punch, Snorlax Ice Punch, or Gliscor Screech?

While I did think that Steel Wing would be used by Hawlucha, X-Scissor isn't bad. It also feels more Hawlucha ish than Poison Jab. A poisoned foe might not be to his sensibilities.
 
Didn't that happen in other series too? I at least don't remember ever seeing Ash teach Herracross how to use Megahorn or Focus Punch, Snorlax Ice Punch, or Gliscor Screech?

At least with Heracross and Snorlax, you get the impression that they've learned those moves on their own while they were with Professor Oak. Oak even mentioned something on the lines of Ash's Pokémon training at the ranch a few times.

As for Screech, well, I can't explain that one.

What I meant by it being BW-ish is that it was relatively more common for it to happen in BW: Pignite learning Brick Break, Leavanny learning X-Scissor, and Palpitoad learning Sludge Wave.

While I did think that Steel Wing would be used by Hawlucha, X-Scissor isn't bad. It also feels more Hawlucha ish than Poison Jab. A poisoned foe might not be to his sensibilities.

I know why X-Scissor was chosen over Poison Jab, but this is the third time that one of Ash's Pokémon had that move. None of Ash's Pokémon were shown to use Poison Jab.
 
Am I the only one surprised this was a 2 on 2? But perhaps I missed something. She's 3 vs. 3 in the games, and I thought they would use Mawile or Mr. Mime, since they introduced them previous episode. I also think it's weird they went with Spritzee; I thought maybe it would evolve during the Valerie arc, but I guess not. It just seems odd, a fifth Gym Leader with an unevolved Pokémon as their strongest. The only reason I can think of is that they're using Aromatisse for a more important recurring character. Aria perhaps, but I doubt her Aromatisse will be that important.
 
At least with Heracross and Snorlax, you get the impression that they've learned those moves on their own while they were with Professor Oak. Oak even mentioned something on the lines of Ash's Pokémon training at the ranch a few times.

As for Screech, well, I can't explain that one.

What I meant by it being BW-ish is that it was relatively more common for it to happen in BW: Pignite learning Brick Break, Leavanny learning X-Scissor, and Palpitoad learning Sludge Wave.

While I did think that Steel Wing would be used by Hawlucha, X-Scissor isn't bad. It also feels more Hawlucha ish than Poison Jab. A poisoned foe might not be to his sensibilities.

I know why X-Scissor was chosen over Poison Jab, but this is the third time that one of Ash's Pokémon had that move. None of Ash's Pokémon were shown to use Poison Jab.

Some moves are just more Ashy than others.
 
This is classic BW all over again - Pokémon learning and mastering moves off-screen.

It's good that Hawlucha finally learned its fourth move, but of all things it had to be X-Scissor? A move, may I remind you, deals NFE damage on Fairy-types? I would have preferred it to know Poison Jab instead, but whatever.

Didn't that happen in other series too? I at least don't remember ever seeing Ash teach Herracross how to use Megahorn or Focus Punch, Snorlax Ice Punch, or Gliscor Screech?

While I did think that Steel Wing would be used by Hawlucha, X-Scissor isn't bad. It also feels more Hawlucha ish than Poison Jab. A poisoned foe might not be to his sensibilities.
Look on the bright side. If Ash chooses to use him against Olympia, he has a super effective move now. And I'm pretty sure this has happened in other series. Like Charizard always comes back with new moves. Cyndaquil/Quilava showed up in DP with Flame Wheel.

X-Scissor was actually great here since it turned out to be a great counter for Trick Room.
 
Does anybody else think Valerie's Sylveon has the Pixilate ability?

Usually when a Pokemon uses Giga Impact in the anime, it is surrounded by a white-colored aura with yellow-colored streaks. But Sylveon's Giga Impact was pink-colored. In addition, when Sylveon did use Giga Impact, there was a sound effect that wasn't present for any other Pokemon that used the move before.

Am I the only one surprised this was a 2 on 2? But perhaps I missed something. She's 3 vs. 3 in the games, and I thought they would use Mawile or Mr. Mime, since they introduced them previous episode. I also think it's weird they went with Spritzee; I thought maybe it would evolve during the Valerie arc, but I guess not. It just seems odd, a fifth Gym Leader with an unevolved Pokémon as their strongest. The only reason I can think of is that they're using Aromatisse for a more important recurring character. Aria perhaps, but I doubt her Aromatisse will be that important.

It seems the writers wanted to give Valerie a Fairy-type Pokemon that wasn't seen often on screen and/or used by a major character.

Shauna has Flabebe, while a Floette and a Florges were recently featured just four episodes ago. Dedenne is already on the main cast. Mawile has been used in a battle by Mabel. Mr. Mime is owned by Delia. Klefki is Pierre's signature Pokemon. With Miette being confirmed as a recurring character, Slurpuff has also been taken. If you count the Diancie short as part of this series, Carbink has been seen as well.

It was either Spritzee or Swirlix, and Swirlix has, at the very least, had its own episode in this series. Prior to XY073, the last time Ash and co. saw a Spritzee on screen was in XY001, and as a small cameo no less.
 
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This is classic BW all over again - Pokémon learning and mastering moves off-screen.

It's good that Hawlucha finally learned its fourth move, but of all things it had to be X-Scissor? A move, may I remind you, deals NFE damage on Fairy-types? I would have preferred it to know Poison Jab instead, but whatever.

Didn't that happen in other series too? I at least don't remember ever seeing Ash teach Herracross how to use Megahorn or Focus Punch, Snorlax Ice Punch, or Gliscor Screech?

While I did think that Steel Wing would be used by Hawlucha, X-Scissor isn't bad. It also feels more Hawlucha ish than Poison Jab. A poisoned foe might not be to his sensibilities.
Look on the bright side. If Ash chooses to use him against Olympia, he has a super effective move now. And I'm pretty sure this has happened in other series. Like Charizard always comes back with new moves. Cyndaquil/Quilava showed up in DP with Flame Wheel.

X-Scissor was actually great here since it turned out to be a great counter for Trick Room.

I agree. In context, X-Scissor was great as it served as the spear to pierce and the Trick Room.

But then again, it would have been nice to see Hawlucha learn the move or be introduced to the fact that Hawlucha knew the move...rather than it randomly appearing here of all places. At least it finally has 4 moves now, with the final move being a type other than Fighting.
 
I will admit that I went into this battle with low expectations - with it being trimmed down to a 2 vs 2 and Spritzee of all things being Valerie's trump card. Buuuuuut..I really enjoyed it! Spritzee seemed very threatening for a cute unevolved Pokemon - worthy of being a trump card unlike Tynamo back in BW.
Ash felt so in control - he battled so well. Even when I thought he was being an idiot by ordering those repeated Flame Charges, it ended up being all a part of his strategy to wait out the Trick Room.

Also, very happy a 4th move was revealed for Hawlucha. I love both of Ash's birds so I didn't mind who starred. I just glad they both won their battles very convincingly :). Can't wait until the next gym.
 
I really enjoyed this gym battle. Fletchinder appeared to be in a bind when Sylveon wrapped it around with its feelers. However, Ash realized that it made Sylveon an easy target for Fletchinder's flame charge. I also liked both of his strategies for Spritzee's trick room. At first, I thought Ash lost it when he had Fletchinder spam nitro charge, but all along, he was waiting for trick room to wear out. Having Hawlucha use Spritzee's gyro ball to set up a spinning X-scissor was also a nice strategy. Overall, Ash was very in control and it was refreshing to see him win a gym battle without it going down to the wire.
 
I really did enjoy the Gym Battle. Ash really thought things through, although some people dislike the fact Hawlucha learned a new move off screen, we did know that he trained with Shota last episode right? Due to he did trained, its more like a move that Ash prepared for the Gym, so I think its OK.

I love how Ash is utilizing opponents momentum in this series, most of his improvised tactics seems to revolve around this, but I LOVE it. Admittedly my favourite thing in the whole episode is the Gym itself and Shota watching the Gym Battle. Its a good way to setup their rivalry.

Congratz to Hawlucha for the win!!!! You did a great job, although I think Fletcheinder did very well too.

Overall a nice episode, although I hope there is one more layer of tactics in the battle, the whole battle seems to be Trick Room and how to overcome it. 7.5/10
 
This is classic BW all over again - Pokémon learning and mastering moves off-screen.

It's good that Hawlucha finally learned its fourth move, but of all things it had to be X-Scissor? A move, may I remind you, deals NFE damage on Fairy-types? I would have preferred it to know Poison Jab instead, but whatever.

I'm pretty sure they were going with long term rather than short term gain. X-scissor I believe is more useful to Hawlucha in the long run, while Poison Jab, only benefits Hawlucha in THIS gym. Ash has Fletchinder/Talonflame for other fairy types.
 
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