Review S19 EP14: An Explosive Operation!

[Neo Blaze]

XY107 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Please keep future events in spoiler tags. Thanks.

 

[Adil]

I havent watched the dubbed episodes in ages, but the Puni chan song was nicely dubbed.
View: https://twitter.com/JuniorTCG/status/733978947650740224

 

[Sakuraa]

I don't know why I literally just realized that Bonnie's Squishy song previously had no English equivalent. I do have to say though, I'm a bit shocked that Squishy actually stopped calling his friend and just decided to take a nap after Bonnie sang to him.

Anyway, I didn't care much for this episode since it mainly focused on TR. Not to mention the fact that the entire episode just seemed to show off how incompetent TR and Team Flare are. They barely could get a hold of Z2 fast enough before it could transform and proceeded to destroy them. Then Aliana and Mable needed Alain and MegaZardX just to finally incapacitate and capture the thing. Overall it was pretty lame. Z2 and Alain were pretty much the only entertaining parts of this episode. 4/10.

 

[IncineROAR]

I wish Wobbuffet got more screen time than he does. I had a great laugh when he jumped in to deflect that attack from Druddigon. And as stated above, Team Flare and TR are both useless. I'm also over Alain, he's annoying.

 

[GurahkWeavile]

I don't know why I literally just realized that Bonnie's Squishy song previously had no English equivalent. I do have to say though, I'm a bit shocked that Squishy actually stopped calling his friend and just decided to take a nap after Bonnie sang to him.

Anyway, I didn't care much for this episode since it mainly focused on TR. Not to mention the fact that the entire episode just seemed to show off how incompetent TR and Team Flare are. They barely could get a hold of Z2 fast enough before it could transform and proceeded to destroy them. Then Aliana and Mable needed Alain and MegaZardX just to finally incapacitate and capture the thing. Overall it was pretty lame. Z2 and Alain were pretty much the only entertaining parts of this episode. 4/10.

To be fair, it's a Legendary Pokemon. You really think you can catch a Legendary as easy as you can catch, say, a Beedrill for instance?

 

[Max1996]

To be fair, it's a Legendary Pokemon. You really think you can catch a Legendary as easy as you can catch, say, a Beedrill for instance?

While said Legendary is in its weakest form? Yes.

 

[Sakuraa]

To be fair, it's a Legendary Pokemon. You really think you can catch a Legendary as easy as you can catch, say, a Beedrill for instance?

Pretty much what Max1996 said. It was in it's core form. It should have been even easier to catch than a Beedrill.

 

[Aggron989]

Wow, this episode was cool. Didn't focus on Ash and company but rather on Team Rocket, and to be honest, I'm okay with that. It's nice for a change of pace once in a while.

Bonnie's song to Squishy didn't really do it for me, but it was cute. Anyway...

Team Rocket puts on a good showing in this episode, not to mention the longest rhyming chain I think they've ever done... holy cow. But I really like how confused they are when they come across Z2, realize it's not Squishy, and use what they've learned from Ash and everyone else to care for Z2 in the same way.

Team Flare has gotten even more intimidating - those paralyzing guns they have make them even more of a threat than they already were. Mable and Aliana didn't react as hilariously to Team Rocket as Celosia and Bryony did, unfortunately.

Also, Z2's transformations! The first battle between the Zygarde 10% and Team Flare was so cool - props to the animators for that, that was fantastic. And the Dragon Pulse launched by the 50% form... wow. Not gonna lie, though, I have a hard time believing that Alain's Charizard could hold up a Zygarde like that. I get that it's strong and all, but we've already established that Zygarde is essentially the strongest Pokémon in Kalos. I like the exposition about Alain answering only to Lysandre, though.

Squishy's concern for Z2 made for a really good ending to the episode, and its voice wasn't nearly as annoying this time as it was last time. Overall, not the best episode ever, but a solid one. I'll say 6/10.

 

[Poke Trey]

So I saw the episode and it's alright, definitely not the best TR episode to be honest, but Puni-chan's song was just amazing a great highlight for me! BTW Alyson Rosenfeld has a great singing voice, wonder if she can keep at it later down the road.

 

[GurahkWeavile]

I thought it was a good one. Not one of my favs, rewatching it, but good enough.

 

[Gabo2oo]

It's nice that they're dubbing Puni-chan's Song, it's kind of like the early seasons when in-universe songs were used more often.

I'm just curious though... how is the dub handling the music for Team Rocket?
They kept the instrumental of Team Rocket's Team Song a while ago. Then in the next episode, they replaced the vocal version of said song, with a soundalike of the original XY motto music (which is the lowest TPCi could ever get: why didn't they just reuse that track instead of creating their own plagiarized version?).

How about this episode? The vocal version of Team Rocket's Team Song appeared when they fight against Team Flare. What music did they use to replace it?
Also, the motto scene had the original XY motto music playing . Did they keep that one at least? Or did they use their cheap rip-off instead?

 

[Poke Trey]

It's nice that they're dubbing Puni-chan's Song, it's kind of like the early seasons when in-universe songs were used more often.

I'm just curious though... how is the dub handling the music for Team Rocket?
They kept the instrumental of Team Rocket's Team Song a while ago. Then in the next episode, they replaced the vocal version of said song, with a soundalike of the original XY motto music (which is the lowest TPCi could ever get: why didn't they just reuse that track instead of creating their own plagiarized version?).

How about this episode? The vocal version of Team Rocket's Team Song appeared when they fight against Team Flare. What music did they use to replace it?
Also, the motto scene had the original XY motto music playing . Did they keep that one at least? Or did they use their cheap rip-off instead?

I'll admit that music-wise it's been pretty random for TR, not sure if it's due to budget or they had to pull some strings to make it work. BTW Puni-chan's song was pretty nicely handled and hopes they can keep doing that later in the season.

 

[A Wild Luxray]

Nice to see Team Rocket get some spotlight, but this episode only adds to my hatred of Alain.

Also, Z2's transformations! The first battle between the Zygarde 10% and Team Flare was so cool - props to the animators for that, that was fantastic. And the Dragon Pulse launched by the 50% form... wow. Not gonna lie, though, I have a hard time believing that Alain's Charizard could hold up a Zygarde like that. I get that it's strong and all, but we've already established that Zygarde is essentially the strongest Pokémon in Kalos. I like the exposition about Alain answering only to Lysandre, though.

I see exactly where you're coming from. Alain is the most OP character I have seen in the XY series, probably among the most OP characters in the series, along with the likes of Tobias.

 

[kantoskies]

It's nice that they're dubbing Puni-chan's Song, it's kind of like the early seasons when in-universe songs were used more often.

I'm just curious though... how is the dub handling the music for Team Rocket?
They kept the instrumental of Team Rocket's Team Song a while ago. Then in the next episode, they replaced the vocal version of said song, with a soundalike of the original XY motto music (which is the lowest TPCi could ever get: why didn't they just reuse that track instead of creating their own plagiarized version?).

How about this episode? The vocal version of Team Rocket's Team Song appeared when they fight against Team Flare. What music did they use to replace it?
Also, the motto scene had the original XY motto music playing . Did they keep that one at least? Or did they use their cheap rip-off instead?

The weird motto-soundalike music was used during the scene right after their call with Giovanni, which iirc was originally the vocal version of TRTS. The motto used the regular motto music like the Japanese version and during the battle against Team Flare some forgettable instrumental music was used. I guess they only use TRTS if it's the instrumental? I dunno why they don't just replace the vocal version with the instrumental, they're using instrumental music anyways so why not the original?

All this being said I am really, really glad they didn't try and dub Team Rocket's Team Song. 4Kids Team Rocket might have been okay in their own way but TPCi Team Rocket would just be horrendous to listen to.

 

[Gengarzilla]

Aside from the dubbed Puni-chan's song, nothing here really caught my eye. I also share the opinion that Charizard X shouldn't have been able to contend with Zygarde 50% but I guess that's what happens when you're given favoritism and preferential treatment by the writers. *coughNoiverncough*

 

[Necrozma]

Aside from the dubbed Puni-chan's song, nothing here really caught my eye. I also share the opinion that Charizard X shouldn't have been able to contend with Zygarde 50% but I guess that's what happens when you're given favoritism and preferential treatment by the writers. *coughNoiverncough*

But it didn't.....its attacks landed but did nothing to Zygarde and Zygarde completely smashed Charizard, like destroyed it.

I do agree about the preferential treatment of X form in particular since we never get to see Charizard Y in the anime which is a damn shame.

 

[SammyW27]

Though one thing to remember about the battle is that Zygarde would've likely defeated MCX if it hadn't been shot in the back, then front. Or at least that's how it looked to me.

 

[Muur]

That ended up being a super bad ass episode. TR were actually pretty awesome, shame they couldn't end up as BFFs with the other Squishy though. Very good episode. Wonder how far down the path of evil Alain will end up.

Only like, two mins of Ash and co altogether. Good stuff.

The singing was annoying.

 

[Harryghost]

A pretty nice episode. I like the episodes where Team Rocket gets the spotlight.

Of course, Gourgeist was cheerful as ever. Oh! It is so cute; I love that Pumpkin Pokémon. Wish I had one. Also, I have never seen Gourgeist's Leech Seed look so epic as in this episode.

My only complaint with this episode is: Why is Alain's Charizard (okay, Mega Charizard) able to hold off on its own against Zygarde. I mean, it is dealing with a Legendary Pokémon (that too with a severe type disadvantage; Fire/Dragon against Dragon/Ground is not a good match up, Alain) here, and that too, humongous in comparison to Mega Charizard and still it manages to hold Zygarde's Extreme Speed for some time before being knocked back. Of course, Alain's Charizard is a strong Pokémon, but being able to successfully hold off against a Legendary Pokémon like Zygarde did not appeal to me one bit, even though Zygarde did manage to dominate the battle later on.