Preview JN040: VS Thunder! A Legendary Raid Battle!!

[Black&White]

And do what? Be a decoration in the zoo? Because there's clearly nothing wrong there both from a writing as well a logical perspective, right?

Well they are already doing it with Golurk. It can become a second guardian of the lab

 

[Beary]

I find it hard to believe that people think goh is going to catch zapdos. Bro, this is one episode. If he was going to catch it there would be multiple episodes as it’s a legendary pokemon. Please stop arguing and use your brains for once.

 

[Silktree]

Well they are already doing it with Golurk. It can become a second guardian of the lab

There doesn't need to be a second guardian, though. I hope the writers make the right decision here, and as said, there is way too little fanfare about this episode for it to result in the first legendary capture. I'm in favor of Go running into Zapdos multiple times and maybe catching it towards the end of the series.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I find it hard to believe that people think goh is going to catch zapdos. Bro, this is one episode. If he was going to catch it there would be multiple episodes as it’s a legendary pokemon. Please stop arguing and use your brains for once.

Big things can happen in one episode and receive buildup later.

 

[Beary]

Big things can happen in one episode and receive buildup later.

I don’t think so this is a really big thing as none of ash companions caught a legendary before. It’s just not happening in one episode

 

[Islander Princess]

Not like it actually means anything, but I'm gonna guess that Goh doesn't catch Zapdos. It might inspire him somehow, maybe he'll want to work towards catching a legendary, but I don't see it happening here right off the bat.

Honestly, I'm looking forward to this episode because it'll be good battle experience for Goh. He's actually shown some promising potential in that area, so I want them to explore that more.

 

[Singaporean]

Second preview of the episode:

View: https://youtu.be/XRemo49JG8c

 

[Hidden Mew]

Ah, I see what you mean now. Well, the reason people keep bringing up Melmetal (or at least, the reason I do) is more because of meta than anything else. Yes, experience wasn't a factor when Ash caught it, nor was it a reward for any of any kind storywise, but I don't think Ash getting a Legendary, even a weaker one, would have been as well received if it had happened in an earlier saga, regardless of if it was an in-universe or narrative "reward" or not. I bet that a lot of people would have complained about it potentially "ruining the tension", or making Legendaries seem "less special", or saying that "now Ash has no excuse to not win the League this time" and stuff like that. Heck, if Ash had lost the Alola League, chances are people wouldn't look back on Melmetal as fondly.

I'm not sure about the timing part. Depending on the Legendary Pokemon in question and the execution, I don't think people would have had a problem with Ash getting a Legendary Pokemon in DP or XY. People have been saying that Legendary Pokemon have been less special for years, so I don't think Ash getting one would necessarily contribute to that. There still could have been some problems with maintaining the tension though. I don't see how the Alola League really helps Melmetal. It didn't do as badly as Goodra and Noivern did during the Kalos League, but I don't think it really got as much noteworthy battle moments compared to the rest of Ash's team.

I mean, I personally don't hate Goh in the slightest. I am wary of him, though, since he gives me a lot of Iris vibes in the sense that I feel like he has a lot of potential, but due to how badly Iris was handled I'm admittedly not very confident on whether the writers will handle him well in the long run. And yeah, I do agree that him getting Zapdos could potentially work, but at the same time I feel like such a capture is far too easy to botch up, both in this episode and in the long run of this saga, especially if Zapdos ends up just becoming a background Pokémon at the Cerise Laboratory, which would feel like a huge waste of a Legendary. Like I said before, though, I don't know whether Zapdos is even going to be a capture or not, so I'm reserving judgement until the episode airs, since I don't want to work myself up over what could potentially end up being nothing. That said, jumping the gun, however irrational it may seem, is a very common fan reaction, and something that I think we've all been guilty of at least at some point in our lives; I mean, I at least am certainly quite guilty of having done that in the past, both with Pokémon and with other fandoms I've been a part of, so that's why I'm giving the "gun jumpers" some slack.

To be clear, I didn't mean to imply that you hate Goh or anything like that. I just meant that the amount of hate that he does get heavily contribute to why people are jumping the gun with assuming he'll catch Zapdos and that it will be done horribly. I can understand why people jump to conclusions. I've done that plenty of times, but I also think that there's little to no signs of anyone catching Zapdos, let alone Goh, so the concern or anger towards this episode seem just overreactions to me, I like Goh so far myself, but I can definitely understand not being sure if the writers can handle him well in the long run for multiple reasons.

 

[R1ke]

I doubt Goh will catch Zapdos here to be honest. It seems way too early for him, and he really doesn’t deserve to have that kind of power right now. Besides, the placement of the episodes is pretty weird - imagine he gets Zapdos, then there’s a filler, then a 4 episode-long DD arc. As far as that goes, he’ll be mainly gigatamaxing Cinderace as his main battler, and also using Flygon. So Zapdos won’t be seeing any usage for 5 episodes after its capture. That would be a bizarre choice, as having a legendary would surely warrant it adequate screentime right after its capture.

There’s also the issue of keeping it in a lab for the rest of the series, which looks highly unlikely once again.

Edit: On a side note, it’s also nice seeing 2 back-to-back decent TR appearances. Hope they reach their potential later on in the series.

 

[Sobble Bubble-O-Seven]

So wait, has this episode not aired yet?

 

[Emmy]

So wait, has this episode not aired yet?

...Did you not hear about the move to Fridays?

 

[Sobble Bubble-O-Seven]

...Did you not hear about the move to Fridays?

Yes, but I thought that was beginning with episode 42, the start of the Darkest Day arc.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Yes, but I thought that was beginning with episode 42, the start of the Darkest Day arc.

Nope. It starts with this episode.

 

[Emmy]

In regards to the topic of "Will Gou capture Zapdos" I haven't been following this thread too closely but the Ho-Oh episode was on TV yesterday and after watching it, I gotta say it definitely feels like Journeys is treating Legendaries like less of a "stuff of myths, never really seen beasts" and more like just a super powerful Pokémon that passes through occasionally, what with us seeing Lugia, Mew, Ho-Oh and soon Zapdos all within a relatively short span of time.

I'm not sure how to feel about that...

 

[Sobble Bubble-O-Seven]

Nope. It starts with this episode.

Okay, my bad then.

 

[Beary]

In regards to the topic of "Will Gou capture Zapdos" I haven't been following this thread too closely but the Ho-Oh episode was on TV yesterday and after watching it, I gotta say it definitely feels like Journeys is treating Legendaries like less of a "stuff of myths, never really seen beasts" and more like just a super powerful Pokémon that passes through occasionally, what with us seeing Lugia, Mew, Ho-Oh and soon Zapdos all within a relatively short span of time.

I'm not sure how to feel about that...

Mew is being treated as a legendary than the actual legendaries lol

 

[BigDocFan]

Still no staff list for this episode which is strange as we're only 5 days away

 

[Kurolegacy]

Well they are already doing it with Golurk. It can become a second guardian of the lab

If it was disobedient, what makes you think that it would have any interest in being a guardian of the lab? If anything, a disobedient legendary is a recipe for trouble especially in a confined space.

 

[Black&White]

If it was disobedient, what makes you think that it would have any interest in being a guardian of the lab? If anything, a disobedient legendary is a recipe for trouble especially in a confined space.

Well then just give us another episode dealing with Zapdos freaking out in the lab like they did with episode 23. That could end with Go and Zapdos bonding and it officially becoming a co guardiam with Golurk

 

[VetProf]

In regards to the topic of "Will Gou capture Zapdos" I haven't been following this thread too closely but the Ho-Oh episode was on TV yesterday and after watching it, I gotta say it definitely feels like Journeys is treating Legendaries like less of a "stuff of myths, never really seen beasts" and more like just a super powerful Pokémon that passes through occasionally, what with us seeing Lugia, Mew, Ho-Oh and soon Zapdos all within a relatively short span of time.

I'm not sure how to feel about that...

That's basically how S&M treated them too.