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Review S18 EP29: A Relay in the Sky!

Cool episode.

I liked how Noibat was training with Fletchinder and Hawlucha again in the beginning of the episode. He's is really improving. Aw, I love how Noibat was riding Hawlucha and mimicked him when they introduced themselves to that Noctowl man, (Ornithal?). (And speaking of Noctowl, I love that thing's expressions.) I also like how, once again, Bonnie introduced Clemont.

I don't know why, but that Starly team dude (Orson?) looked familiar to me. Aw, Noibat hiding behind Hawlucha was cute. As was his shivering when Ash was discussing the order of the team for the competition. He's so damn adorable. I lol'd when Clemont was going on about Ornital's hypothetical goals and desires related to the race only to hear that he never even entered the relay. And is this dude honestly saying that the only reason he never entered the Sky Relay because he didn’t have 3 flying types? All these years he’s never had one single damn opportunity to go out and look for 2 extra flying-types to catch. Sorry, but that sounds pretty damn ridiculous.

I like how the group was stationed off into 3 groups for the competition, with Ash starting at the beginning with Fletchinder, Clemont and Bonnie with Hawlucha and waiting for Fletchinder and Serena with Noibat waiting for Hawlucha (I also liked that Serena and Hawlucha later joined Ash in the balloon). Lol, Idk what was up with that Hydreigon, but seeing it knock itself out by slamming into a tree trunk was hilarious. Overall I think Fletch and Luch were awesome. Hawlucha was especially cool using the surrounding environments to progress further ahead.

Ok, what the hell kind of bogus-ass competition/judge system is this? These judges let TR’s Pokemon cling onto another contestant to get to the front of the race, didn’t notice a fake-ass Pelipper with a fire shooting out of it, and let this "Pelipper" repeatedly slam into Hawlucha with absolutely no repercussions. Then, jut when I thought it couldn't get any more ridiculous, Serena says that "Pelipper" broke apart and the same idiot judges say "Pelipper turned into something else". And did Ash seriously ask if“Pelipper” was okay when Meowth had already been revealed? What is wrong with these people???

Aw Noibat looked so sad that he didn't get first place. I like how they all cheered him up. I didn't mind Ash not winning. After all, Noibat only just hatched and learned how to fly. Ash getting first honestly would have seemed odd to me. And I wanted team Starly to win anyway:) Also, awesome TR blast off.

Overall, a good episode. 9/10.
 
I cracked up so much when they showed Pelliper sitting at the starting line because it looked so fake and it just was so ridiculous that nobody cared and went along with it xD
 
When Team Ash got to the competition site, I thought this was going to be another of those aerial races that we saw in Hoenn and Sinnoh, but the relay aspect was just original enough to keep it from being a rehash. And does Noctowl Man sound like every father who wants to vicariously live his dream through his son? Lucky for him that Ash would've competed anyway.

Sakuraa already said most of what I would've about the stupid TR plot, but I can still add a few more things. For example, not only was Pumpkaboo's little hitchhiking ploy most likely illegal, but how the hell didn't Altaria notice? And shouldn't Hawlucha have felt that the "Pelliper" was made of steel and not feathers and flesh? Talk about a black mark on an otherwise fair ep.

Too bad the ep didn't end with a Rocky-style dialogue between Noibat and Starly. "Ain't gonna be no rematch." "Don't want one."
 
And did Ash seriously ask if“Pelipper” was okay when Meowth had already been revealed? What is wrong with these people???

Seriously that's what the dub did, because the only time I remember Ash being worried about Pelipper in the original was asking if there was something wrong with it. But nothing after Meowth was revealed.

not only was Pumpkaboo's little hitchhiking ploy most likely illegal,
If they weren't disqualified until after they were found cheating, it's not illegal or against the rules, let's use common sense, at the worst it's completely immoral.

I mean after all a rocket flaming rear end, wasn't enough to be disqualified why would the lesser offenses count?

And shouldn't Hawlucha have felt that the "Pelliper" was made of steel and not feathers and flesh?
You're assuming three things.

1. That Hawlucha ever came in contact with a Pelipper prior to this moment
2. That Team Rocket didn't at least try to imitate the feel of Pelipper
3. That Hawlucha, if it actually thought something was off, that it would've had any choice or action it could take to do anything about it. I'm pretty sure Hawlucha wasn't going to stop in the middle of the race, pointing at the Pelipper making weird accusation sounds to alert that something is wrong with it, since that would've disrupted the race.
 
What happened to the Altaria after Pumpkaboo jumped out of it? If it was able to compete with Pumpkaboo riding inside of it, it probably should have continued to be relevant, rather than just disappearing and hoping we all forgot about it. Otherwise I liked this episode. Refreshing that Ash actually lost an event he had no experience in. Was kinda waiting for Fletchinder to evolve in some wind current like Taillow and Staravia did in the Pokeringer
 
Even now I still can't comprehend how all the Starly bloke (Orson?) said about the Pelipper with a rocket coming out of it's ass was "we've got to catch up to it". I'd probably contest the fact that Pumpkboo hiding in Altaria's wings is legal, although from what they were saying it may actually be legal to physically jostle with other competitors, not that I necessarily agree with it.

Actually, going back to Orson, they gave those two characters of the day somewhat odd names. Not so much Orson but Ornithal (or however it was spelt)? Didn't exactly expect him to get the direct translation of Oiseau either, which would've been Bird. :/

Also how can a newly-hatched Noibat evolve after just learning to fly? Team Rocket's plans border on idiotic sometimes... *facepalm*

Was a little surprised they decided to use an instrumental version of Be A Hero when Noibat managed to regain control in the air current (same way I was surprised they used Volt again in the Japanese version - never thought I'd hear that again).

I really liked this episode bar some of the more ridiculous plot points, Noibat's always adorable. :)
 
Well it was a filler ep but as filler eps go this was a really good one (no more ones where the gang get split up or lost in a cave/forrest please)

I'm also happy they didn't hand Ash the win, I thought they would, especially when Noibat was named the anchor, and his opponent was only a Starly.

Also Noctowl man, wtf. First off, that Noctowl has been taking some sort of growth hormone. Ash's one fitted on his shoulder this one was taller than everyone else.
And how did he achieve his dream? His Noctowl wasnt part of the winning team. He wasn't in the air balloon. Sure he supported Ash, and give him a few pointers but to me that does not count as winning. He didnt say his dream was to coach someone to victory, he said it was to enter it and win it. He didn't enter it, and the guy he mentored didnt win in. But still at the end he was like, my dream has been fulfilled???

I didn't quite get what Hydreigon was doing but I thought TR was genius. I think its safe to assume physical contact was allowed just not actual attacks. I did wonder how Inkay and Pumpkaboo were going to compete with the much faster fliers. For a while they werent visible and not seen at the starting line and I was so confused, wondering if they would just show it crossing the line rather than actually racing. But having it stow away was genius.

And yes its amazing what people can ignore when it comes to obvious fake Pokemon.

Overall a good filler ep 7/10
 
Seriously that's what the dub did, because the only time I remember Ash being worried about Pelipper in the original was asking if there was something wrong with it. But nothing after Meowth was revealed.

not only was Pumpkaboo's little hitchhiking ploy most likely illegal,
If they weren't disqualified until after they were found cheating, it's not illegal or against the rules, let's use common sense, at the worst it's completely immoral.

I mean after all a rocket flaming rear end, wasn't enough to be disqualified why would the lesser offenses count?

And shouldn't Hawlucha have felt that the "Pelliper" was made of steel and not feathers and flesh?
You're assuming three things.

1. That Hawlucha ever came in contact with a Pelipper prior to this moment
2. That Team Rocket didn't at least try to imitate the feel of Pelipper
3. That Hawlucha, if it actually thought something was off, that it would've had any choice or action it could take to do anything about it. I'm pretty sure Hawlucha wasn't going to stop in the middle of the race, pointing at the Pelipper making weird accusation sounds to alert that something is wrong with it, since that would've disrupted the race.

"Pelliper" was clearly made of poorly riveted steel. Any idiot with at least one functional eye could see that. There's no way it's not going to feel like metal.

This sort of thing doesn't make the TRio look clever; it just makes everyone else look stupid.
 
I wasn't very happy with this episode because first, as most of you already mentioned, it had too many flaws, mainly Team Rocket's obvious attempts to cheat without anybody caring about it and second, the storyline felt too forced if you know what I mean. In general, the timimg of the episode wasn't right for me. Ash just got Noibat in the last episode and just one week later it just so happened that there's a competition that helps his new Pokemon with its training? Really?
Then, the rules required trainers to have three flying types and surprise, surprise Ash just so happens to have three of them. And last but not least, our heroes come across that old man who happens to know quite a lot about that competition and willingly teaches Ash all he needs to know? And now the writers want us to believe this was all pure conincidence? No, from my point of view it just didn't feel right...

However, there's one positive aspect I'd like to mention: Just when I thought that, to make things worse, Ash would of course win this (what else would you expect?), Team Orson won. Sure, I don't want to see Ash lose but in this case Orson's win saved the episode for me because it showed that at least not everything in this episode was forced and predictable.

So all in all, a rather disappointing episode with at least a conciliatory end.
 
I wasn't very happy with this episode because first, as most of you already mentioned, it had too many flaws, mainly Team Rocket's obvious attempts to cheat without anybody caring about it and second, the storyline felt too forced if you know what I mean. In general, the timimg of the episode wasn't right for me. Ash just got Noibat in the last episode and just one week later it just so happened that there's a competition that helps his new Pokemon with its training? Really?
Then, the rules required trainers to have three flying types and surprise, surprise Ash just so happens to have three of them. And last but not least, our heroes come across that old man who happens to know quite a lot about that competition and willingly teaches Ash all he needs to know? And now the writers want us to believe this was all pure conincidence? No, from my point of view it just didn't feel right...

However, there's one positive aspect I'd like to mention: Just when I thought that, to make things worse, Ash would of course win this (what else would you expect?), Team Orson won. Sure, I don't want to see Ash lose but in this case Orson's win saved the episode for me because it showed that at least not everything in this episode was forced and predictable.

So all in all, a rather disappointing episode with at least a conciliatory end.

I disagree, Ash and co found a place to help Noibat train, that had lots of wind blowing to help Noibat fly.

Are you saying that in a place where lots of wind exists, there wouldn't be any flying type Pokemon competitions or at least for Pokemon that can float?

The only problem I had was that just because Pumpkaboo and Inkay can float they were eligible to be in the race, that's all I had a problem with this episode.
 
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