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Review S14 EP42: Club Battle Finale: A Hero's Outcome!

I know, I know, everyone wants to complain how cheap it is that Iris has won. Give it a rest, people, you did all this discussing when it was aired in Japan. Just be glad the arc's over and done with. XD

You have to admit, though, the battle was pretty close, even with Pikachu's huge disadvantage.
 
While Iris's win may have seem "cheap" to some, I still liked the battle and you have to remember that Pikachu was reset by the writers whether you like it or not. Plus, Iris did train hard with Drilbur/Excadrill before the series AND Ground-types have the advantage over Electric-types.

Also, I wish Iris had some character development to build up to her victory.

Now then, LET THE CONTROVERSY BEGIN!
 
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I know, I know, everyone wants to complain how cheap it is that Iris has won. Give it a rest, people, you did all this discussing when it was aired in Japan. Just be glad the arc's over and done with. XD

You can always put someone on your ignore list if you don't want to read posts containing a topic that you don't like.
Plus people can discuss what they like as long as it is on topic and not breaking any rules :p
 
While Iris's win may have seem "cheap" to some, I still liked the battle and you have to remember that Pikachu was reset by the writers whether you like it or not. Plus, Iris did train hard with Drilbur/Excadrill before the series AND Ground-types have the advantage over Electric-types.

Also, I wish Iris had some character development to build up to her victory.

Pikachu was only reset in the first episode, apart from a few losses, it's done pretty well since then. Ash has trained with Pikachu a lot as well and Ash has found ways over type advantages before, what with his strange ideas up his sleeves. So he could have used some here.

Speaking of Ash's ideas, I liked that spinning Iron Tail technique. Anyway, it was a pretty close battle in my opinion and I'm kind of glad that Iris won.
 
Pikachu was only reset in the first episode, apart from a few losses, it's done pretty well since then. Ash has trained with Pikachu a lot as well and Ash has found ways over type advantages before, what with his strange ideas up his sleeves.

Yeah, but who's to say that Iris didn't do any off-screen training to get to Ash's level.

As for this arc, it's would've been better if the writers took their time and focused on each (main) character, their Pokemon, their opponent and their battle each episode to develop everyone better. No need to cram everything into 4 episodes. Also Three on Three battles would've been good too.
 
Yeah, but who's to say that Iris didn't do any off-screen training to get to Ash's level.

You actually thought Iris was off screen training? I have never seen that before. Atleast in DP they show that they had started training and what the hell they were doing and for what.

For the post above me, there is a way for all kinds of Pokemon to lose, but that wasn't the way.
 
You actually thought Iris was off screen training? I have never seen that before. Atleast in DP they show that they had started training and what the hell they were doing and for what.

For the post above me, there is a way for all kinds of Pokemon to lose, but that wasn't the way.

Its more reasonable for Excadrill to win, it started battling way before Pikachu did and not to mention it had 99 win streak. Plus the type advantage and...Iris.
 
I really enjoyed this episode, even though I was kind of half-asleep while watching.

What delivery service did Iris say she was sending her Wings via to Dragon Village? I thought it was a Pokémon, but now I just can't remember.
 
Even more Misty parallel's:

Iris sending the feathers back home in delivery service reminds me of how Misty sent the princess dolls back to her Gym after she won them in the Princess festival episode.

Wow, the writers really drove the point home, didn't they?
 
I really enjoyed this episode, even though I was kind of half-asleep while watching.

What delivery service did Iris say she was sending her Wings via to Dragon Village? I thought it was a Pokémon, but now I just can't remember.

Pidove.
 
Yeah, I still have no problems with this. I just find it unfortunate that Ash suffers a brainfart once they do get to Nimbasa. Even though this tournament was Iris's vehicle, it also showed that Ash is still plenty capable himself, it's just that the writers can't decide how to portray him.
 
There was very little that can be called unrealistic with the final matchup; that's not the real issue. The real problem is Iris' semi-final matchup, because THAT was, in some ways, even worse than Pikachu vs Regice. Axew had no on-screen training outside of perfecting Dragon Rage -which only makes learning Outrage at the most convenient time right at the spot even less deserving- and yet still comes out on top without Iris even giving the command. Completely left field just like Drilbur's 99-win streak. Axew ALONE won that battle; Iris did nothing to win.

Not to mention Iris didn't deserve to win the tournament. Iris did very little (if anything at all) to make her deserve to win any sort of tournament. The whole "maybe Iris did lots of off-screen training" excuse doesn't fly. The writers have to do their part to SHOW the characters' growth or it doesn't count.

Iris single-handedly ruined what had huge potential to be an epic tournament -despite the overused running gags- with some good battles and great rivals to boot.
 
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Iris single-handedly ruined what had huge potential to be an epic tournament -despite the overused running gags- with some good battles and great rivals to boot.

Hey, blame the writers and not the characters they write.

Plus, there are a lot of factors that drove this arc to the ground other than Iris. Bad gags, rushed battles, time constraints, little character development and overall bad writing. If the arc took it's time and set things up better, we wouldn't have so many problems.

Not to mention that Axew learning Outrage was no different than other Pokemon learning more out of nowhere. Why single this one out?

I don't hate Iris but she could've been so much better. If she was a girl who liked to act tough and brag only to get her comeuppance, I'd be fine. Finer if the writers used this to develop her. At least let her bad traits mellow out over the episodes. It's like the writers just don't care anymore.
 
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*Shrugs*

It's w/e at this point. This victory just came across as forced. They had her beat him to "justify" her catchphrase. I think writers missed their chance to change a bit of the dynamics between the two. A loss here for Iris might have made her grow up a little. But instead they opted to have Ash lose, who has already lost quite a bit prior to this.
 
"Pikachu's about to hit the wall."

*watches as Excadrill's Focus Blast slams Pikachu into the wall*

ASH HAS PREMONITIONS ABOUT THE FUTURE!

Okay, stupid jokes aside, again I thought this a really great ending to a flawed but enjoyable tournament. Ash's battle with Iris was nicely animated and rousing, as was Cilan's ''Battle'' with Burgundy. I liked how Cilan was borrowing a few of Burgundy's french lines to calm her down. Interesting how Georgia spotted Axew's Outrage attack before Iris seemed to. Hope that's touched on in later eps with her.

And people, Ash lost in a completely legitimate and respectful way. Really, lets take a look at how much a ''loser'' Ash has been in this tournament.

1.Starts off using a Poke he's never used before, everyone knows that's for chumps.
2.Got matched up against two pokes who he had a type disadvantage against, one of which has been show multiple times to be extremely powerful.
3.Thought up strategies to get out of tight spots and to hit harder.

Yep, Ash really has sunk down this gen. Quick being such a loser bro.:sweatlol:
 
I just loved Iris' line when she was being interviewed, because of how completely and utterly inaccurate it was.

"I guess this proves I've been training hard", or something to that effect. It was "These are the fruits of my hard training" in the subbed version.

..........WAT
 
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