O'er the Rampardos We Watched! (486)

[Anyone 4 Buttons?]

I'm actually liking Croagunk's randomness quite a bit actually, although I want him to leave Brock alone so he could at least get one girl sometime...

This gym battle was far better than the first one, due to it being different from the battle that Paul had. My one gripe about it is the overuse of the newly learnt ability to 'dodge' gracefully by spinning, I hope in future episodes that ability is used sparingly.

[GonbeTR]

This gym battle is good. I like that Ash learns something from Dawn. Her spinning dodge methods aren't very interesting but I like that a new co-ordinator can develop some original strategies and an experienced trainer can learn these.
I love Gregguru's (Croagunk's) scenes with Team Rocket.

[09Murphym]

when was the last time that the theme song played during the episode?

[Geodude]

It's happened many times with the various English themes.

[npdargy312]

w00t Ash won

[SpongeBoblover]

I thought Dawn looked nice in her Cheerleading outfit

[Sharks Shouldn't Fly]

I wasn't a big fan of this gym battle. >> Though it wasn't too bad.

But Roark's a cutie. :3

[bhrettzerda053]

It's impossible that Hyouta(Roark)evolved his Cranidos into a Rampardos after battling Team Rocket, that's because in Diamond/Pearl, some of Roark's Pokemon didn't evolve yet because they remained at the same level like the next 7 of the Sinnoh gym leaders.
Back to the episode, (Satoshi)Ash seems to have recalled on his previous battle. He lost to it, right??? In that rematch, he wins that first badge.

[wobbanut]

At least the rematch was an improvement over Ash's first battle, including the spin-and-dodge technique he learned from Dawn and the iron tail attacks. Plus, the part where Croagunk went after Team Rocket and came back without Brock even noticing he was gone was funny.

I also liked that they named this episode appropriately for the 4th of July, even though I didn't see it till a few weeks later.

[Tadashi]

Not to mention the end of the win was one of Pikachu's most HARDCORE. With it standing completely still as Onix crashes to the ground directly behind it like the Men in Black facing a falling spaceship. Mimirol had a right to blush in sheer fangirl joy.

Totally agreed. Pikachu did an awesome job! And so did Turtwig.

All in all, a decent episode.

[Torpoleon]

Yay!Ash got hs first badge!All of his Pokemon did good!

[Blue Snover]

I'm surprised that Ash didn't manage to win the first time, but he got there in the end, Croagunk makes me laugh, because it just stands there and you have no idea what it's thinking, then it strikes.

Poor Team Rocket, they never seem to get a break.

[TurtwigFan1]

Great episode, Gym battle was fabulous and Croagunk was funny with Team Rocket.

[Igottapoo]

Rampardos seemed a little too ridiculously of a strong Pokemon to battle Ash this early. Entertaining, nonetheless.

[Maiev]

Rampardos put up a very good fight I thought. Then again, it's a fairly strong Pokemon in the games too. Croagunk's antics made me laugh, as they quite often do. Glad Ash won in the end. Though it was inevitable that he would.

[(s.i.e)]

roark is one of my favorite gym leaders in the D/P series, sadly he lost but it was for the best since it wouldn't be fun if ash would be stuck there forever.

[ccangelopearl1362]

(humming "The Star-Spangled Banner" for few seconds, then chuckling triumphantly) My soul was thoroughly warmed during this episode, between Dawn's cheerleading routine (for Ash) and the reference to America's national anthem within days of this country's 231st birthday. Perhaps Brock's Croagunk will continue sensing trouble from Team Rocket whenever Ash has a new gym battle to strategize for, scaring those three comical thieves away in the process. It's a good thing that Ash won that Coal Badge in the end, so that he is seven badges away from competing in the Sinnoh League.

[Littlemyuu]

Nice episode, Gym battles are always my favorite..and this is also my fave gymleader

[S.Suikun]

While the previous two matches against Hyouta were both fantastic, the repetition really starts to sink in here. Combined with some rather questionable moments on the whole, Satoshi's victory in Kurogane is a whole lot less thrilling than his loss. For once, we've already seen Hyuota's Pokemon strut their stuff more than once before, and they fail to do anything special here. That even includes Rampard. Admittedly, that is this battle's biggest falling - deja vu. Even with Pikachu's new strategy against Onix, the atmosphere feels really dry in combination with some anticlimatic music and animation. I said it in early 2007, and I'll say it again - "Together" just doesn't set a battle mood like prior openings, and it's easy to see why it was never again used for a big battle.

While the Pikachu and Aipom bouts are rather stale, Naetle's bout against Rampard makes for perhaps the most tilted Sinnoh gym match. Rampard seems to have taken a power nerf from its Zugaidos stage, not only being less aggressive, but going down in a whopping two blows from Naetle. This is made less believable by the fact that no matter how many hits Satoshi previously landed on Zugaidos, the thing took eons to go down. Additionally, Naetle has never been proven strong enough to lift up something as heavy as Rampard with its mouth, nor has it since, even in its Hayashigame stage. No unique strategy is really utilized here, and while it's not the BS victory that has been a select few past gyms, it's definitely the weakest installment of the Kurogane arc.

C

[Shadow XD001]

Too bad Paul didn't watch this match. Man, that spin move rocks! Also, the writers really like to have their titles like the lyrics from the star spangled banner.

[TorterraGuy]

Well this episode definatly proved Turtwig's potential. I was just as surprised as everone else when I saw Turtwig flip Rampardos.

[STICKTOPIA]

I like how they had the Diamond and Pearl theme in this. I hope I hear it in another episode although I doubt it.

[Charmed]

I like how they had the Diamond and Pearl theme in this. I hope I hear it in another episode although I doubt it.

You mean that sorry excuse for a opening theme in the dubbed version? It wasn't very good in my opinion. The Japanese version used the Japanese Opening theme which was much better. I think this Gym battle was a little too difficult for Ash. He was just starting out in Sinnoh and Roark has a strong offensive type like Rampardos. Ash won of course but it was too intense for a first gym battle so I wasn't a fan. 5/10.

[Ash-kid]

Great gym battle, i loved Rampardos.

Turtwig was great, he was quite strong, it defeated twice Rampardos, once as a Cranidos.

And Aipom was fine.

[KGB13]

Wow! Great battle! I'm glad Ash finally won and I'm glad Croagunk prevented TR from interrupting. But Onix being hurt by Pikachu's Thunderbolt was complete crap. Turtwig's acrobatics, speed, and strength are quite impressive. Ash was really using his brain in this battle. Great episode.