Review SM115: Emperor of Destruction Guzma!

[Guzma]

He used an electric move on it and it didn't affect it at all.

Which is a stupid thing to say. Guzma isn't the one who called it back.

This guy?

Spoiler

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That's a direct quote from his first scene in the game, by which he means he's gonna beat the player in a Pokemon battle to prove Kukui wrong. Guzma's the kind of guy who talks a tough game, but the worst he'll do is have a Pokemon battle with you, lose, and yell at himself because he can't even succeed at beating a ten-year-old.

He's kind of a failure at everything.

 

[DarkraiKnight]

That's a direct quote from his first scene in the game, by which he means he's gonna beat the player in a Pokemon battle to prove Kukui wrong. Guzma's the kind of guy who talks a tough game, but the worst he'll do is have a Pokemon battle with you, lose, and yell at himself because he can't even succeed at beating a ten-year-old.

He's kind of a failure at everything.

That’s kind of underselling Guzma, isn’t it (which is ironic, because your username is Guzma)? Not only did he create a pseudo-family from a bunch of wayward kids, but he’s also a pretty powerful Trainer to boot. (I almost got my butt handed to me by him in my runs of USUM - partially because I didn’t use the EXP Share, but still).

 

[Guzma]

That’s kind of underselling Guzma, isn’t it (which is ironic, because your username is Guzma)? Not only did he create a pseudo-family from a bunch of wayward kids, but he’s also a pretty powerful Trainer to boot. (I almost got my butt handed to me by him in my runs of USUM - partially because I didn’t use the EXP Share, but still).

You're actually right. But, like, Guzma's motivation in the games is he never accomplished his dreams and sees himself as a failure, so he thinks it's stupid to try to achieve things. It didn't help that his father beat him senseless for the "crime" of never getting a gold trophy. He's got a pretty bad inferiority complex... And to be honest, so do I. It'shalft of the reason I named myself Guzma. The other half is because he really likes Bugs and so do I

 

[Nicolas721]

Isn't that what they are in the games?

Not exactly, they also make the opponent explode and I felt they lacked that feeling of ultimate destruction.

 

[DarkraiKnight]

Not exactly, they also make the opponent explode and I felt they lacked that feeling of ultimate destruction.

Gigavolt Havoc and Inferno Overdrive? Nah; they definitely had the feeling of ultimate destruction.

Sadly, I cannot say the same for many of the recent Z-moves.

 

[Greninjaman]

Not exactly, they also make the opponent explode and I felt they lacked that feeling of ultimate destruction.

But they look like big balls of energy in the games. I saw the first episode and Inferno Overdrive looked like it does in the game.

 

[TheGoldenToon]

I don't have much to say aside from I really enjoyed this episode. Everything Guzma related in it was all good imo.

I'm surprised no one's commented on the part where the Pokemon were yawning during the Alola League announcement.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I'm surprised no one's commented on the part where the Pokemon were yawning during the Alola League announcement.

That was just them putting something small and cute on the screen so that kids wouldn't get bored over the relatively long talk sequence.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

You know I really just have to say;

There’s just something about Ash essentially losing a battle to Guzma that really does not sit well with me. I mean Ash and friends have been mopping the floor with the Team Skull grunts since day one in fact. And yet their boss is that much stronger? Guzma is little more than just the top of the heap of a group of petty, boastful and undisciplined, garden variety thugs, his battle with Ash should have ended with a tie at the very least, at least that’s how I initially see it, otherwise Ash should have been able to handle him.

Bosses have always been stronger than grunts

That's why they're the boss

Ash beating Guzma would've been as unrealistic as Ash winning a league and ruined Guzma as a character

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Had some spare time and decided to watch this episode!
Guzma completely turned around my view of team skull from meh (in the concept) to interesting as hell alone.

I really liked his characterisation and dialogue, which has apparently been adapted from the games?

The battle was great, Golisopod was quite powerful, and it was a bit strange that Emergency Exit triggered without Golisopod looking very hurt. Sinnoh/XY Ash would’ve got the idea of attacking the unprotected area sooner imo.

It really gave the impression that Golisopod had a decent chance at winning if Emergency Exit hadn’t triggered so the rest of the part feels a bit off to me.

8.5/10 for making me aware of the awesomeness of Ya Boi Guzma

That was just them putting something small and cute on the screen so that kids wouldn't get bored over the relatively long talk sequence.

The various cuts to the Pokémon weren’t that great imo, specially the yawning sequence. Shaymin felt quite annoying during the entire thing.