Review JN028: Sobbing Messon

[hiverstone]

Did anyone else notice that every time Raboot was crying, he hid his face. Like he was too cool to be seen crying.

Honestly, I really couldn’t care less if Ash doesn’t get a fire, water and grass Pokémon this time. They usually get half of Ash's party. And if we take into account, Pikachu and the regional bird, there is only one spot left.

He has already so many water, fire and grass types, it's time to give some spotlight to some Pokémon of the other 14 types.

 

[TheGoldenToon]

I just like to point out once again the Rocket's Rotom Phone is best Pokedex. Its cheeky don't give an f response and Jessie's reaction was hilarious!

 

[El Squibbonator]

So is Ash ever going to catch a Generation VIII Pokémon (no, Farfetch'd doesn't count)? This has got to be the longest he's gone between entering a new region and catching a new Pokémon from said region.

 

[Sobble Bubble-O-Seven]

I do have to ask. How was Sobble able to bend the bars on that cage? Sobble doesn't have a good physical attack stat, so physically it's not that strong of a Pokemon. It's a special attacker. Either that's the weakest cage ever or that Sobble is physically the strongest Sobble ever. Knowing Team Rocket, that was probably the weakest cage ever.

 

[Johtohfiller]

I do have to ask. How was Sobble able to bend the bars on that cage? Sobble doesn't have a good physical attack stat, so physically it's not that strong of a Pokemon. It's a special attacker. Either that's the weakest cage ever or that Sobble is physically the strongest Sobble ever. Knowing Team Rocket, that was probably the weakest cage ever.

They could only afford a cheap cage.

 

[Kurolegacy]

So is Ash ever going to catch a Generation VIII Pokémon (no, Farfetch'd doesn't count)? This has got to be the longest he's gone between entering a new region and catching a new Pokémon from said region.

At the rate they’re going, I don’t expect them to give Ash any Galar Pokemon sans Sirfetch’d especially since they seem too busy giving Go the vast majority of Galar captures rather than balancing things out. Even if we do count Farfetch’d, it’s now at this point 3:1, which has the potential to only continue to grow further lopsided depending on future Galar trips.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

The main focus of the episode was on Goh bonding with Sobble, not him trying to catch it.

That doesn’t mean the way Sobble is captured doesn’t matter. There would be no Sobble to bond with if Go didn’t have sheer dumb luck.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I watched the subtitles an hour or two ago, and I like this episode even more now, because the subtitles showed that Goh actually mentions that Sobble helped him to grow as a person.

 

[JinksChow]

I watched the subtitles an hour or two ago, and I like this episode even more now, because the subtitles showed that Goh actually mentions that Sobble helped him to grow as a person.

Don't get me wrong, that certainly is an inspiring quote and all, but wouldn't you say something like that AFTER you spend a lot of time together?

I expect a quote like that from a character at the end of a season or, at the very least, after a few episodes, not like in the very same episode where they met each other for the first time.

To me, Go saying this to Sobble so soon kind of devalues his statement, no matter how much he means well by saying that.

 

[nickdt]

Lol. Go wanted Sobble because of its ability reminded him of Mew (The ability to turn invisible). I think this sentence alone also confirms Zorua line for Goh.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Don't get me wrong, that certainly is an inspiring quote and all, but wouldn't you say something like that AFTER you spend a lot of time together?

I expect a quote like that from a character at the end of a season or, at the very least, after a few episodes, not like in the very same episode where they met each other for the first time.

To me, Go saying this to Sobble so soon kind of devalues his statement, no matter how much he means well by saying that.

Yea, now if only he had another Pokémon who he had captured in the past that could’ve helped him grow. A certain lonely Pokémon whom he had bonded with before capturing. Alas, such a thing simply doesn’t exist in this anime.

 

[L87-1729]

They weren't wild Pokemon and must have been caught in other regions. This reminds me of TPCi apologizing for the Dewgong in Nessa's Galar Wings episode.

You can't even bring an Armaldo from Kanto-Alola to Galar, so they shouldn't been shown using one to battle in Galar.

 

[Alain]

Lol. Go wanted Sobble because of its ability reminded him of Mew (The ability to turn invisible). I think this sentence alone also confirms Zorua line for Goh.

I respect your opinion but I don't think it is something valid bcoz by that logic Goh would have gotten Ditto by now.

 

[jbmasta]

That was rather disappointing

At least Goh caught Sobble early on therefore not building our hopes that Ash would catch it too much

Too bad Goh couldn't recall Sobble whilst in the cage, easy sollution

Its not like anyone else has tried to recall Pokemon that Team Rocket have in cages or nets before. It’s usually only shown when Team Rocket have preempted that move.

Easily the best thing about the episode was Go’s character development. He’s learned from the dancing episode with Raboot and make an effort to apologise to Sobble and consider its feelings in future.

 

[Rocket Messiah]

I will change some things in my review



POKEMON JOURNEYS EPISODE 28 REVIEW

Salt in my veins

The Plusle

• I guess this was the best Go of the series, seemed likable and learnt of his mistakes.
• He tried to comprend Sobble fealings at least
• Ash asks and shots latter, Go shots first and asks later, it' s a nice difference between the two.
• To be fair I'm more of a Cinderace and Inteleon guy. Since I love Soccer and I love James Bond.
• The development of Sobble will be decided in future episodes. Wait patiently. And then shot.
• Team Rocket was awesome however the stupid can of beans and the Morpeko tease made me furious.
• The Morpeko scene dissapointing that it was. Still opens the door to a future appearence pretty much like Gengar.

The Minun

• So he catches it by incident... clap clap clap.
• So the reason to catch it Is cause he acts like Mew? Then he should catch Zorua,Ditto, Keckleon,Starmie,Stunkfish and all Ghost type pokémon then.
• He cries and he is afraid by people cause all Sobble are the same
• The crying gimmick will get tiresome soon, also the creepy Mr Mime, I hate Mr Mime in general I prefer his creepy dancing cousing to be fair or his pre evolution (Come back Mime Jr we miss you )
• So the way the defeat the enemies is cause Mr Mime cooks with googles, and coincidence we have a lot of googles on our backpacks.
• Team Ocket cause without a Pokemon of their own Team Rocket is crippled.
• The last time a trainer tried to fight a predatorial Pokemon with a weak Pokemon he got slaped in the face. Just saying but that would be cool.
• Teasing Morpeko. Now I hate him.

The questions The rant

Who the hell had the nice idea of not giving Team Rocket Pokémon of their own. WHO? AND WHY? I loved Team Rocket when I saw the Arbok and Weezing departure episode I cried when that episode happened, I cried in the Cacnea episode, the Dustox episode, The Inkay episode . The Alola goodbye...Team Rocket are the only ones that make me care for this series. And seeing them threated like this. With random Pokemon... come on who is responsible of this. Team Rocket cared for their Pokemon and now they are reduced to tools.

What a freaking disgrace to Team Rocket fans, what a spit in the face of Team Rocket former Pokémon. This is not fair.

When I saw Morpeko in the final scene I was very happy but when it blasted them off. I was furious. They teased us with Chewtle and now this. I had enough of this. It's time for that machine to go.

Go well, he is a character I do not like. But the gatcha is what is ruining everything

I like beter a Serious Team Rocket than an empty of meaning Team Rocket. After Alola Team Rocket this is a huge stepdown. Pokemon Masters gave us a better Team Rocket and it was a 15 minute cameo.

Conclusions

The rating of the episode is the following:

Three mad Morpekos and Half.

The episode is good, it was the best Go episode with Go is a character that I dislike due to his goal being stupid and selfish. This episode was hated for two reasons : The Sobble tease that due to COVID was extended. (Without the pandemic the wait for this episode would have been shorter.) And the promotion material confusing us.

But the gatcha machine... We are at episode 28 and Team Rocket only have Rental Pokemon that are defeated by One Hit. I would like to have a word with the main writter of this series and told him that he is ruining almost 25 years of character development. Even Jessie from Pokemon Go from all things agree with me:

So maybe Local Go does not ruin everything but Local Gatcha sure does ruin everything.

I hope Bewear returns has fun with it.

 

[Greninjaman]

Bye Sobble. Have a nice time rotting in the Sakuragi Park.

We don't know if that will happen. Perhaps Go will be used to show off the starters. After all Scorbunny didn't get left behind at the lab when it was caught.

 

[Kurolegacy]

We don't know if that will happen. Perhaps Go will be used to show off the starters. After all Scorbunny didn't get left behind at the lab when it was caught.

Even if he does show them off, unless they actually give Go something to do with his Pokémon, sans the occasional TR encounter and short battles with wild Pokémon that don’t stay in the ball right away, it’s going to be the most uninteresting way of showing off the starters in the entire series. Raboot has been with him since episode 5 and in 23 episodes hasn’t done anything particularly interesting despite being his partner. They need some major course correction for the starters to not feel wasted on him.

 

[Greninjaman]

Even if he does show them off, unless they actually give Go something to do with his Pokémon, sans the occasional TR encounter and short battles with wild Pokémon that don’t stay in the ball right away, it’s going to be the most uninteresting way of showing off the starters in the entire series. Raboot has been with him since episode 5 and in 23 episodes hasn’t done anything particularly interesting despite being his partner. They need some major course correction for the starters to not feel wasted on him.

That's true.

 

[Moe]

I liked this episode. The accidental capture is a far nicer way of the capture happening than the end of the episode Pokeball headbutt you'd usually get in an episode like this, and a good twist on the usual easy catches Gou has. I like the general trend that more and more there's showing some need to battle for Pokemon, and that he will need to develop as a trainer to be able to keep making progress on dex filling. But moreso, I like that Ash gets to fill a role here of being the experienced teacher in guiding Gou towards that realisation.

The Team Rocket balloon joke at the start was fun, but agree with the other comments on the gacha Pokemon being a disservice to their characters - I get *why* they are doing it as a 'show off extra Pokemon' thing, but I'd certainly rather they started to catch their own, Morpeko would be a good Jessie Pokemon, and I hope it happens. I too find that complaint about borrowed Pokemon in Pokemon Go amusing in the context of the current Anime - or at least I would if I could get something other than a damn Ekans/Koffing out of that battle!

I wonder how much screen time Gou's Farfetch'd will get simply to be a foil for Ash's one - I suppose that'll resolve itself in the inevitable Sirfetch'd evolution episode, they'll stop being a matched pair and Gou's can fade into the background - but in an episode structure that leaves so many Pokemon already starved for development on screen, it's just odd.

Honestly though - the biggest thing that grated on me in this episode was the 3 v 2 battle - it's probably not the first time it's happened this series, but usually they stick to "fair" fights against Team Rocket, because they are the good guys for sticking to doing things to the rules. If they aren't going to - why not just go all out?

 

[Queen Cynthia]

I'd call this a typical filler episode, albeit not the worst one.
Sobble (and its final evolution Inteleon in particular) is my favorite Galar starter, so I guess it was about time it got its debut. Plus, its unique ability to vanish when getting in contact with water sure sets it apart from the other two starters which, if I remember correctly, don't have any special ability whatsoever.

And finally, finally(!!) Go had a catch that he truly deserves! And by saying he deserves it I mean that, although catching it accidentially, he eventually fought for it and proved he really cares for his new Pokemon. THAT's what catching Pokemon should be all about, not just throwing Pokeballs at randomly appearing Pokemon, catching them effortlessly and finally dumping them at some laboratory. And that's also why I'm really glad Go didn't get to catch Silicobra because it wouldn't feel right.

Last but no least, do you agree with me the actual star in this week's episode was TRio's Rotom-Dex? Its "I couldn't care less"-attitude was priceless!

As a side note: I found it awesome the writers chose Armaldo and Magnezone and made it appear like they weren't crying because one could think their eyes were the red things in the middle of their heads, while in fact they're further outside. A nice little trick that I just wanted to mention because it shows to me they've put some effort into the episode.

To sum it up: A filler. Not the best, but quite an entertaining one.
Judging from the preview next week's episode looks really lame. Hope it won't get that bad.