• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Review JN102: Trial Mission! A Freezing Raid Battle!!

Prediction: Go, Gary and Horace will be admitted into Project Mew when they clear the Regigigas mission later this year. The actual project is what they'll be doing throughout the next generation.
 
After gathering my thoughts together I can point out all the Goods and the Cons about this episode

The Goods
-Goh development. I don't get why people are upset by him showing flaws.

- Grookey actually helping

-Seeing Inteleon again after so long

-Tokio is pretty cool

-Gary once again, carrying the show

-Articuno kicking ass and living up to being called a LEGENDARY

-Lucario not being portrayed as uber powerful like usual


The Cons
- Sirfetch'd, Tyranitar, Indeedee, and Darmanitan went down WAAAY too quickly

- Lucario and Cinderace getting one shotted by a Blizzard was dumb

- Inteleon why weren't you apart of this Raid battle?
(It's probably for the best that he wasn't since I know he would've jobbed with the rest but I'd still like to see him battle since he rarely gets to do so)

- As awesome as Articuno was, It was way too OP. An Ice/Flying type Pokemon constantly tanking hits like Pyro Ball, Blaze Kick, Flame Thrower, Steel Beam, Aura Sphere, Thunderbolt, AND Stone Edge breaks my suspension of belief even by Legendary Standards

I'm giving this 7/10
 
I really liked this episode, mostly because of the variety of topics it offered!

First, yes, this is how legendary Pokemon should be shown! Compared to Moltres and Zapdos which were portrayed rather weak, Articuno was allowed to show that kind of power you'd expect from a legendary bird.

What I also liked was that the episode can be seen as a major setback for Go, who's been treated way too mildly so far. This must have been the first time in ages that he was confronted with his weaknesses again and it sure was a welcome change! Frankly, it would have been fine with me if Go had received only one or even no tokens at all.

One of the best things about the episode sure was the dynamics between those three totally different characters, Gary, Horace and Go. The first being bossy, the second as kind as one could be and the third...oh well, how would you describe Go in this episode? Maybe as a mixture of insecurity and selfishness.
However, let me also point out that I will not agree with Gary's position 100 per cent, either. Of course, strictness is important but it sure isn't everything! There's more to being a successful Pokemon trainer then one-sided strictness. It's that precise mixture of strictness and kindness (besides other important character traits), that will do the trick. This conflict reminded me a lot of Sinnoh, where Ash and Paul were contrasted in the exact same way, with Cynthia :)love:) pointing out the importance of being like both Paul and Ash.
So, personally I wished there would have been some form of setback for Gary, too, because although he's been portayed as Mister Know-it-All, he certainly wasn't completely right, either.

To sum up: A very intense episode when it comes to Pokemon and battling and a mature episode with regard to character development. I enjoyed it!
 
Hmm, I suppose it says something about this series that I already forgot when that Golurk Raid Battle was. That aside...
  • Typhlosion deserves way better, for a badass Pokémon that apparently hasn't appeared in the main series since Hoenn.
  • Tokio/Horace chasing after Psychic-type Pokémon to get to Celebi somehow makes (somewhat) more sense than Goh catching every Pokémon to get to Mew.
  • Creative use of Caterpie's String Shot.
  • Goh seems to be getting some development, interesting...

1647692017861.png
 
Hmm, I suppose it says something about this series that I already forgot when that Golurk Raid Battle was. That aside...
  • Typhlosion deserves way better, for a badass Pokémon that apparently hasn't appeared in the main series since Hoenn.
  • Tokio/Horace chasing after Psychic-type Pokémon to get to Celebi somehow makes (somewhat) more sense than Goh catching every Pokémon to get to Mew.
  • Creative use of Caterpie's String Shot.
  • Goh seems to be getting some development, interesting...


Steel Beam. Lucario learned it in the Bea Battle
 
Is no one going to bring up how Goh had nine Pokémon on hand in this episode? He had Cinderace, Intelleon, Grookey, Caterpie, Darmanitan, Boldore, Golbat, Graveler, and Cloyster. The original series and Best Wishes both explained what happens when you have more than six Pokémon in your party, and I wish Journeys explained why it ignores this rule. This isn’t even the first time this has happened in Journeys either, it’s happened in a few other episodes.
 
Is no one going to bring up how Goh had nine Pokémon on hand in this episode? He had Cinderace, Intelleon, Grookey, Caterpie, Darmanitan, Boldore, Golbat, Graveler, and Cloyster. The original series and Best Wishes both explained what happens when you have more than six Pokémon in your party, and I wish Journeys explained why it ignores this rule. This isn’t even the first time this has happened in Journeys either, it’s happened in a few other episodes.
The three new captures were probably locked away, I don’t think he used them?
 
Is no one going to bring up how Goh had nine Pokémon on hand in this episode? He had Cinderace, Intelleon, Grookey, Caterpie, Darmanitan, Boldore, Golbat, Graveler, and Cloyster. The original series and Best Wishes both explained what happens when you have more than six Pokémon in your party, and I wish Journeys explained why it ignores this rule. This isn’t even the first time this has happened in Journeys either, it’s happened in a few other episodes.
Well, if the anime has stayed loyal to its logic, which it has rarely, I remember back to when Ash first caught his Sewaddle in B&W.

After the event, Ash’s Pokeball had a constant red light on it, and it shrunk in size, with Ash unable to expand it to bring forth Sewaddle. At the same time, and they even said it in the episode, Ash had too many Pokemon on hand (of course B&W Ash didn’t realise this straight away). So, whilst they didn’t show it exactly the same, this is probably what happened.

1EFC78DF-B94D-4D25-8945-9D0EA3F3670A.jpeg

 
Well, if the anime has stayed loyal to its logic, which it has rarely, I remember back to when Ash first caught his Sewaddle in B&W.

After the event, Ash’s Pokeball had a constant red light on it, and it shrunk in size, with Ash unable to expand it to bring forth Sewaddle. At the same time, and they even said it in the episode, Ash had too many Pokemon on hand (of course B&W Ash didn’t realise this straight away). So, whilst they didn’t show it exactly the same, this is probably what happened.


And that was already a retcon from OS, where the seventh pokeball was transported to Oak's Laboratory.
 
You know, I'm far from being a Go supporter but the more I think about it, the more I'm starting to realize that maybe it wasn't Go lacking cooperation but rather Gary being too bossy. I mean he literally told the others to follow his commands. If I were Go I definitely wouldn't want to be bossed around like that and I doubt any other trainer with at least a little bit of self-confidence would have accepted such a behavior.
Yes, Go made a mistake by predicting the wrong move, but that could clearly have happened to anybody as well. So, instead of blaming Go for not being a teamplayer, how about blaming Gary for not respecting his raid battle comrades a bit more?
Just my alternative way of looking at this episode...
 
You know, I'm far from being a Go supporter but the more I think about it, the more I'm starting to realize that maybe it wasn't Go lacking cooperation but rather Gary being too bossy. I mean he literally told the others to follow his commands. If I were Go I definitely wouldn't want to be bossed around like that and I doubt any other trainer with at least a little bit of self-confidence would have accepted such a behavior.
Yes, Go made a mistake by predicting the wrong move, but that could clearly have happened to anybody as well. So, instead of blaming Go for not being a teamplayer, how about blaming Gary for not respecting his raid battle comrades a bit more?
Just my alternative way of looking at this episode...
Nice take. I’d like to think this actually shows Goh’s inexperience in battling more than anything. Sometimes, it’s probably better to plan for the worst case scenario, to optimise chances rather than relying on the fall of a dime. Gary tried to avoid the worst case of everyone being knocked out, but Goh was being too reliant on his own knowledge, which is similar to what Gary was saying about him - too optimistic.

In the best case, if they followed Gary, the Sheer Cold wouldn’t have happened to such a degree. It could of still happened, but opposed to catching three of the team, it may have just caught the one, and a Blizzard possibly would have done at most two knockouts from them splitting up.

When it comes to taking on legendaries, I would like to think that it’s better to stay in the fight for longer than a head-on fight. Goh didn’t realise this.
 
What do you think Horace's Gardevoir is probably going to sound like in the dub? More like either Melodi's Gardevoir (DP020)/SM003 (Meowth's Mimikyu fantasy) or more like Concordia's/Diantha's/Kimia's (M19, shiny)/Kublock's Gardevoir. Do you think it would be pretty funny? If Horace's Gardevoir sounded like the Gardevoir from AG109. Which Gardevoir anime voice sounded most or least like how a Gardevoir should? Will they ever have Gardevoir and Gallade ever appear in the same episode (like if both Horace and Rinto both appeared again at the same time)? Since Typhlosion finally made a reappearance in this episode since Pokemon: The Series: Ruby and Sapphire, will any Pokemon that haven't made any appearances since then like Cacturne and Beldum ever make reappearances? Apparantly, neither Kadabra nor Jynx have ever made any appearances in the anime since the Battle Frontier arc.
 
First, yes, this is how legendary Pokemon should be shown! Compared to Moltres and Zapdos which were portrayed rather weak, Articuno was allowed to show that kind of power you'd expect from a legendary bird.
Wait, what? How was Moltres portrayed weak?

Ash's Infernape couldn't land an attack on it and Moltres defeated Gary's Blastoise with a type disadvantage. It only got hit by a double thunderbolt from Pikachu/Electrivire and then fled. Where on earth did you get that idea Moltres was portrayed as weak from?

That's like the exact opposite the way it was shown in the episode
 
Wait, what? How was Moltres portrayed weak?

Ash's Infernape couldn't land an attack on it and Moltres defeated Gary's Blastoise with a type disadvantage. It only got hit by a double thunderbolt from Pikachu/Electrivire and then fled. Where on earth did you get that idea Moltres was portrayed as weak from?

That's like the exact opposite the way it was shown in the episode
Zapdos was portrayed as too weak and Articuno as too strong. Moltres was just right, but I still prefer this episode (Horace and Bayleef>Infernape).
 
Wait, what? How was Moltres portrayed weak?

Ash's Infernape couldn't land an attack on it and Moltres defeated Gary's Blastoise with a type disadvantage. It only got hit by a double thunderbolt from Pikachu/Electrivire and then fled. Where on earth did you get that idea Moltres was portrayed as weak from?

That's like the exact opposite the way it was shown in the episode
OK, I admit I need to differentiate a bit more:
Zapdos was indeed portrayed too weak. I guess we can agree on that.
Moltres was stronger, but to me personally, it didn't feel like a legendary battle, rather like a battle against a stronger, but still "ordinary" Fire-type Pokemon. It got hit too easily, didn't really do anything spectacular and, as you already mentioned, it even fled from the battle after being hit! A legendary bird fleeing(!) from a battle was what bugged me most and why I said that's not what you'd expect from such an opponent.
 
What move cause Sir farfetch and the other pokemon to loose with one shot?
still couldn't believe that Articuno was that strong
 
The beginning was okay. The catches were boring but at least we got an interesting use of Goh reserves as well as a confirmation that Project Mew isn't a secret system no one knows about and that it's a real competition.

The battle was certainly interesting. It was really cool to see all boys stopping to plan an strategy and choosing their own roles to play, we finally see Goh struggling on communicating his own ideas and the animation was quite decent. However I'd have liked them to focus in only one group of Pokemon instead of three, specially as every group was less interesting than the previous one. I also think that this should have happened near the start of Project Mew around 15-20 episodes ago since I got the vibe that Project Mew and Goh's arc is only getting started.

8.5/10
 
OK, I admit I need to differentiate a bit more:
Zapdos was indeed portrayed too weak. I guess we can agree on that.
Moltres was stronger, but to me personally, it didn't feel like a legendary battle, rather like a battle against a stronger, but still "ordinary" Fire-type Pokemon. It got hit too easily, didn't really do anything spectacular and, as you already mentioned, it even fled from the battle after being hit! A legendary bird fleeing(!) from a battle was what bugged me most and why I said that's not what you'd expect from such an opponent.
Birds fleeing from battle is pretty common, it got hit by two Thunderbolts but wasn't severely damaged and decided to flee. It's the same way legendaries flee in the games.
 
Remember Kids. If these Legendary Birdies have taught us anything, The One most important thing to learn from this episode:

Team Mystic >>>>>>>>>>>> Team Valor >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Trash >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Team Instinct
 
Please note: The thread is from 2 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom