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Review HZ023: Galar Fire Blazes Up

Decent episode. Very action packed, but also a lot of the same action over and over. I'm glad the gang got G-Moltres, I'm just a bit disappointed that yet again, Liko is the one in possession of one of Lucius's Pokémon. I thought the plot with the ancient Pokeballs and Lucius was supposed to be Roy's thing, yet twice in a row, these Pokémon have gone to Liko. Liko already has the Terapogos plot, I don't see why she has to get the most focus when it comes to Lucius as well. I can only cross my fingers and hope he'll get the remaining Pokémon. Anyway, it was nice to see Wattrel again. Idk why it feels like we haven't seen that bird in ages. Hopefully he'll start to get more screentime. Overall, episode was okay. 6/10.
 
There really was no Liko plot and Roy plot. The promo for the series kind of misled us.

Roy's Pokeball is useless without Terapagos and without Rayquaza Liko's plot doesn't move forward, so those two things are intertwined.

Liko is on her path to be the next hero after Lucius, but I hope we find out what exactly he did to earn that title and how Terapagos is involved. Speaking of Terapagos, looks like it's going to spend less time in pendant form now if at all.
 
What a solid episode for trying to calm Moltres down with Arboliva and provide power up for Sprigatito to make it realize gang is not an enemy with the additional flashback from distance past of Liko ancestor.

Now, they have a major objective to capture all remaining four before explorer does. Also with Fredie out of mine in no explanation is truly out of touch.

Overall rating: B
 
Singaporean said:
What a solid episode for trying to calm Moltres down with Arboliva and provide power up for Sprigatito to make it realize gang is not an enemy with the additional flashback from distance past of Liko ancestor.

Now, they have a major objective to capture all remaining four before explorer does. Also with Fredie out of mine in no explanation is truly out of touch.

Overall rating: B
Click to expand...
Is there even really a threat of the Explorers getting to the remaining ancient Pokémon? Thus far, the plot’s had that both ancient Pokémon they caught have had it occur with the combination of Terapagos and showing that they aren’t the enemy, something that the Explorers can’t replicate. At worst, the only actual threat would be the Explorers stealing the ancient pokeballs.
 
So...Arboliva didn't pop out a week ago to solve the problem because...?

Oh right, the DLC's not out yet so they can't actually move anything related to Kodaikame forward
 
Twilight-Kun said:
So...Arboliva didn't pop out a week ago to solve the problem because...?

Oh right, the DLC's not out yet so they can't actually move anything related to Kodaikame forward
Click to expand...

But then how could they stretch it out into a 2 parter complete with Friede seemingly in danger only to be instantly revealed to be fine 5 seconds into this episode?
 
I enjoyed seeing Liko, Roy, and Friede work together to calm down Moltres. I liked how they had to use a combination of a lot of their Pokemon to get the job done. Liko continues to develop her passion and confidence. I also liked how Liko was the only one to actually attempt at communicating with it instead of immediately attacking it. There is a layer of sadness beneath all of Moltres' anger. I wonder if it mourns for Lucius.

Speaking of Lucius, we got to see what he really looked like and he is definitely an ancestor of Liko. He has the same shade of blue hair that Liko and her grandmother have. It makes sense considering everything else that has happened with Liko. The pendant only reacts to her and it just so happens to be the key to all of Lucius' Ancient Poké Balls. Rayquaza also looked at her specifically before it flew away.

Roy didn't have a lot to do in this episode, all things considered. Fuecoco and Wattrel still seem to bicker with each other. I was happy to see Wattrel get a little time to shine with assisting Charizard in blowing up the Leafage. I hope we get to see more from him. We also got see Kabu again, which was nice. His nonchalant reaction to Liko telling him she had a Galarian Moltres, which is apparently only a rumor to most people, in her Poké Ball was funny.

Terapagos emerges once more, but this time it seems like it is here to stay. I wonder if that is really true, or will it ultimately end up reverting back into pendant form in the near future. Amethio was revealed to have been watching the whole thing and witnessed the existence of Terapagos. His final speech at the end of the episode actually felt menacing with the accompanying music. But will he inform the rest of the Explorers of that information? So far it appears that every admin in the Explorers is in it for themselves. Spinel withheld the information regarding Liko being the key because it would benefit him and his future attempts. Amethio himself was taken off the mission to obtain the pendant so he would have to come clean about betraying orders if he were to disclose that information to the group.

Anyways, another good episode!
 
Something Funny I just noticed is that Liko throwing herself over Sprigatito when Moltres fired the move kinda sorta also put Hattena right in line of the move too. Defenintly just an oversight but its funny.
 
Just caught up with the series, and have to say I’m really enjoying it. Liko has a solid start to her character, whilst Roy is doing just enough for now. The most surprising thing is that I actually warmed up to Cap really quickly, not finding him an annoying forced-insert!

It’s nice to see them take an actual adventure route in this series, and it helps that we don’t have any context from the games (as of now). The show is well paced, helped by the characters from the Rising Volt-Tacklers making everything feel connected, no matter how small. I love the tiny interactions all of them have with each other.

Although, it’s obviously not perfect. I do kind of fear for the stakes of the series as it goes on. As people have said, what are the Explorers really supposed to do? This episode kind of highlights this for me. They can’t capture Lucius’ Pokemon without Terapagos, and I can’t imagine Terapagos co-operating if they get it. They already tried captures several times, it would be kind of repetitive for them to keep it up like a game of Hot Potato.
If Roy’s objective ties into Liko’s so much with the Ancient Explorer, then what’s he adding?
From last episode, it left it on a good cliffhanger for Freide, then he managed to get out - no biggie.

All I can hope for is for Amethio to switch sides? Or disband from the Explorers, creating his own side/faction in the story? Make Liko’s pathway of being a trainer boil down to making tough decisions for the sake of winning in other ways (like Amethio is the actual descendent of Lucius, enabling him to accomplish more in terms of peace/power/prosperity)?
Hope it continues to engage me!
 
Liko and Roy finish healing their Pokémon and Cap at the Pokémon Center and Friede wanders in having escaped between episodes (not what I expected but it makes more time for the episode's main plot.) Our heroes then develop a strategy to use Sprigatito's scent to calm down Galran Moltres. After a lot of improvising, and help from Aboliva, the plan works well enough for Moltres and Terapagos to chat. Moltres, of course, catches itself and tags along with Liko who wants to learn more about its feelings. Terapagos then decides it's done being a pendant and has to be carried out of the mine wrapped in a blanket. Kabu wanders in to get a bit more screen time. Ametheo apparently saw Terapagos and wants to steal it (This is going to turn into a Team Rocket/Pikachu situation isn't it?)


The overall pattern of the series seems to be that Roy does more classic Pokémon trainer stuff (eg. getting stronger in battle, fighting gym leaders, etc.), although not to the extent Satoshi did, while Liko gets focus in the actual plot. Basically, Roy's here to make sure fans used to the old anime don't get bored of the relative lack of battle focus in the main plot while Liko's here to actually progress said plot with the power of empathy and kindness.
 
This episode only just proves that this is Liko's show and I guess you xould say everyone else are just pawns, like Roy and Friede.
 
ena9219 said:
The overall pattern of the series seems to be that Roy does more classic Pokémon trainer stuff (eg. getting stronger in battle, fighting gym leaders, etc.), although not to the extent Satoshi did, while Liko gets focus in the actual plot. Basically, Roy's here to make sure fans used to the old anime don't get bored of the relative lack of battle focus in the main plot while Liko's here to actually progress said plot with the power of empathy and kindness.
Click to expand...
I just hope that there’s more to Liko’s story than just approaching and resolving everything that isn’t the Explorers coming at them by sitting down and singing Kumbaya but given how much emphasis they put on that the kind of trainer she wants to be is one who understands the feelings of Pokémon, I don’t have much hope in her doing much that’s actually interesting to watch in action. And while I get that being empathetic is pretty much the point of her character, it’s just kinda annoying to me that we finally get a female protagonist and of all the paths they can take, the one they choose to take with her is the stereotypical role of the girl being the the nurturer.
 
Reborn Talonflame said:
Although, it’s obviously not perfect. I do kind of fear for the stakes of the series as it goes on. As people have said, what are the Explorers really supposed to do? This episode kind of highlights this for me. They can’t capture Lucius’ Pokemon without Terapagos, and I can’t imagine Terapagos co-operating if they get it.
Click to expand...

We've had antagonists control Pokemon they don't own multiple times in the past.

Why would this be any different?
 
Nice episode!

I liked that everyone played a role in calming down Moltres. It was nice to see Arboliva get out of its pokeball to try and help, even if it was unsuccessful in its attempt. I had been wondering how would an interaction between Lucius pokemon would be and now we finally got to see it. Like someone said, Moltres anger was a layer of sadness and it wouldn’t listen to Arboliva (who was his teammate) so they had to devise another plan to get it to listen. Loved when he finally calmed down and interacted with Terapagos. These pokemon have a history together and I’m looking forward to see it.
 
The Explorers could just make a machine to extract its power or something.
 
Kurolegacy said:
I just hope that there’s more to Liko’s story than just approaching and resolving everything that isn’t the Explorers coming at them by sitting down and singing Kumbaya but given how much emphasis they put on that the kind of trainer she wants to be is one who understands the feelings of Pokémon, I don’t have much hope in her doing much that’s actually interesting to watch in action. And while I get that being empathetic is pretty much the point of her character, it’s just kinda annoying to me that we finally get a female protagonist and of all the paths they can take, the one they choose to take with her is the stereotypical role of the girl being the the nurturer.
Click to expand...
Well......at least she won't be handled as poorly as Chloe, right?
 
Eitarou said:
We've had antagonists control Pokemon they don't own multiple times in the past.

Why would this be any different?
Click to expand...
Which is why I’m worried for the stakes. If it’s controlled, I’d imagine it be the usual Liko reaching out to it, and there’s the solution to breaking it free. Original.

I hoped Terapagos would be like a neutral factor in the story for a while, and we could see the various sides attempt to warm up to it/unlock its powers. Having Arboliva and Galarian Moltres on Liko and Roy’s party makes it seem one-sided, especially when the pendant only seems to function for Liko.
Maybe the Explorers could gain one of the three unknown Pokemon of Lucius’ party, but if not it will just be the usual mind-control trick, which is already very stale in the series.

I guess the mystery of Terapagos will be left to be discovered by the Rising Volt-Tacklers solely. Yeah, not exactly a shock considering it’s their adventure show, but was hoping for the Explorers to be more than just the typical bad guys.
 

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