Strategy With a Smile (547)

[Almighty Zard]

^i think it's more about the fact that may was a two time GF finalist and having done contest's longer in general that people complain about Dawn beating her as apposed to Piplup beating Glaceon, which had just only evolved prior to the contest so it's understandable why it lost.

I was glad Dawn won as well as she needed it big time.

[WaterDragon trainer]

This episode was good. Crawdaun’s Surf technique was cool. Ice Shard was rather interesting to see. I found it a little funny how Harley seemed totally uninterested in the final round, but was standing up and glued to the tv at the end. It was nice to see Dawn win a contest as well as Milotic’s Aqua Ring to send the Aqua Ribbon to Dawn.

[Rebeccag]

The episode was good I enjoyed the battles
I think its because it was Glaceons first battle that maybe May lost but Dawn did good and Im glad she won her 2nd ribbon. I liked Milotic giving her the ribbon as well
I liked the scene at the end as well with May, Zoey and Dawn as well

[CyberCubed]

The Glaceon Vs. Piplup battle is my favorite Contest battle of DP. It was pretty action packed, I love that they kept the original BGM for most of it.

I also really liked Beautifly Vs. Glameow too.

Just be glad we didn't see something like Piplup defeating Blaziken...heh.

[thunderblade12]

Dawn was bigger than may in one scene. that was just creepy...
Glaceon: ice shard, secret power, safe gaurd, shadow ball, fifth move still not fair
FINALLY!! ZOEY IS BEATEN!!

Zoey lost to Nando in the Hearthorne Contest too

WHAT THE FUDGE??!? May should have been an easy winner! Her Glaceon should have owned Piplup! It must have had almost twice as much experience as a coordiantors Pokemon , but it looked like Piplup was just too good. Stupid animators, they made Piplup too strong...Still, the battle was really nice, it's been awhile since I've seen a decent battle.

The animators didn't do anything, that was the writers fault. Anyway, I think its pretty resonable to have Glaceon lose to Piplup. Ash said that this was Glaceon's first contest. Glaceon gained a bunch of new ice attacks as well as mirror coat upon evolving that May probably didn't have much, if any, time to get the hang of before the Wallace Cup. Eevee was also May's newest catch and it is really young, she didn't really have it much longer than Dawn had Piplup. If Glaceon didn't evolve right before the Wallace Cup started and May actually had some time to train it things might have turned out differently. Also, if May used any of her other 6 pokemon she probably would have won.

[trixie08]

The battle was rather tense, but I was still satisfied with Dawn winning. It was obviously very close, but she pulled it off.

It was also about time Dawn won a ribbon!

[uber gon]

Wonder what attacks can be used as variously as Aqua Ring?

[HoennMaster]

I didn't pay attention to this at first, but how could Glaceon run around so much with such little platform room?

^i think it's more about the fact that may was a two time GF finalist and having done contest's longer in general that people complain about Dawn beating her as apposed to Piplup beating Glaceon, which had just only evolved prior to the contest so it's understandable why it lost.

I was glad Dawn won as well as she needed it big time.

True May has been in the Top 8 in two Grand Festival's but the pokémon and the trainer are two different things. However, as you stated, it just evolved which played a part. I just wish people would examine the two pokémon instead of just assuming May wins because she has been in more contests.

I found it a little funny how Harley seemed totally uninterested in the final round, but was standing up and glued to the tv at the end.

He was just looking at the TV with a normal look, he wasn't not showing interest

[Shiny qwilfish of doom]

good episode. Dawn deserved a ribbon.the may vs. dawn battle was intense too.

[Insidious_Dreamer]

it needed to be - it was what dawn needed to help her restart her contest awesomeness

[Mario-Sonic]

I do feel bad for May though since she did mention in a past episode that she has been having trouble whenever she went up against her rivals Drew or Harley. Hopefully with enough determination though, she'll make it to the Johto Grand Festival.

[Brumrha]

First off, I was expecting May to win this hands down; she has plenty of experience in these contests, & that also applies to her Pokemon as well. Then again, Dawn has a completely different way of dodging attacks that's about as innovative as any piece of hi-tech equipment; that was her saving grace that enabled her victory. Still, the fact that she won by just a smidgen came as a huge upset to me.

Also, it's a shame that May can't stay put with the rest of the group...

[Genome]

Ahh I can't help but feel that May has been shorter than Dawn all this time.

It's innocent, perpetuating, why if my eyes don't tear up every time I rub a balloon on my cat, then soil my dress and call me Randy.

What do you call it when you can't think of costumes? Uh a dresser's block?

Dammit Dawn, all that fuss Ash got for overusing Buizel and here I find you and Piplup...youse guys!

What the HECK was that underwater theme?

It's in their eyes, their pokemon, their attacks, the backgrounds!..I'VE GOT BLUE FEVER!

So last-minute Glaceon loses against Dawn's veteran. Believable, right?

Huh. That explains why Wallace has no baggage or pockets what-so-ever. This kind of debunks Pocket Monsters....well, that's why he's a champion.

Now Ash is shorter than Zoey too? This show breaks all the rules!

Well my friends...I have a confession. Don't email me because you're all listed under spam. K, BAI!

8/10 All the girls showed some clever and interesting tricks. The final was the best D/P contest battle. And those good battles really tip over my scale. Even with all that original music I really couldn't care less about the majority of it this time (1. It was lowered 2. Battling pokemon were frowning, 'joyful techno' is irritating) Finally, HOW COULD WALLACE NOT EVEN GET THE HONOR OF BLASTING OFF TR. I hate when they juggle this many characters at once, cameraman James wasn't exploited, and I nearly forgot about Mew 1.5

I didn't pay attention to this at first, but how could Glaceon run around so much with such little platform room?

Indeed. I'm surprised May didn't teach Glaceon a good freezing move. Platforms and ice traps over this PEW PEW and dodge/reverse.

[starliteevee]

Well, I appear to be overpowered by the fact that Gleaceon deserved to lose since Glaceon's first battle was in the Finals. So I'll blame May for no teaching her glaceon better attacks and screwing it's power even though Galaceon's usually have a higher stats then most Piplups. But when I saw the results, I could have sworn it was a tie. I told my sister but she said that Dawn won and she was happy Dawn won! I even went on to Serebii and stared at the picture for five minutes and still couldn't see the difference! I'll get back to my positive side and say that the fight between Glameow and Beautifly was pretty cool, like when Glameow used shock wave through the water.

[omniouswind]

So when I first found out that Dawn won, I was pretty much fuming like "How could failatlife Coordinator Dawn lose to May a pretty much contest veternan by now?!" Maybe it was because I had a tendency to dislike Dawn...
I guess they couldn't have Dawn lose yet another contest or she would probably fling herself over a cliff.
Another factor was probably the fact that it was Glaceon's first contest battle and May didn't have much time to practice with moves and combinations.
It still was a pretty intense battle though, except May probably would've won if she had used a different Pokemon.

And man, I had stuck by my belief that Drew didn't evolve his Roselia. But now I can't, because he did D: Gah whatever. It was still cool to see him, Harley(!), and Solidad again, even if only for a brief moment.

[ash_forever]

Folks, I'm really afraid but I just do have to disagree with those who liked this episode!
The final battle was disappointing and didn't live up to my expectations.
Oh man, even I myself hate having to criticize an episode which I've been looking for for a whole,strenuous week and, believe me, I'm kinda feeling down right now,but...I just can't help mentioning some scenes which really bothered me and kinda destroyed this episode which could have been so awesome:

Dawn vs. Kyle was rushed and therefore quite messed up. I know, I know, some of you might object now that this was just a not so important filler-battle et cetera, but just shortening the battle wasn't an appropriate solution either! Conceivably, just leaving out the whole battle would have been cleverer than messing it up by rushing it

Now today's exeception: The battle between Zoey and May was terrific! The strategy of both female competitors was excellent and Glameow creating a wall of water to block Beautifly's way and using that water to launch a still more powerful Shock Wave was undoubtedly the best and most impressive scene today.

But now, I've reached the aforementioned battle which has kinda left a bitter aftertaste of discontentment:
May's and Dawn's battle unfortunately lacked that grace and ingenuity due to which Zoey's and May's battle stood out. It was definitely an intense battle... but a gym(!) battle, as there was nothing which reminded you of a contest battle.
And what I couldn't get at all was, why Dawn would have been better than May. Admittedly, it was very very close, but if you're honest, you mustn't deny that May/Glaceon launched more attacks which furthermore looked more impressive! Here we have it again: The annoying deus-ex discussion! Frankly, I think that the writers were (perhaps desperately) looking for a way to let Dawn win But in my opinion this battle was a clear tie. It wasn't worthy of the final battle of such a prestigious event like the great Wallace Cup.

Every time an episode ends with an insufficient result, I'm confused and feel depressed, because Pokemon is usually one of my biggest highlights of the weekend.

Well, perhaps you can cheer me up a bit ^^

Let's say 6 out of 10 points

[jolteonjak]

I think it's pretty funny that people expected May to win. This is DP not Advanced. It's Dawn's time to be in the spotlight. Should we get another Wallace Cup in the 5th generation you can bet the main character doing contests will win it over Dawn (and possibly May) as well.

[piplup_777]

even though i knew dawn was going to win it was a good episode

[the1stpkmnfan]

I felt bad for May that she didn't win, so she can make Drew, Harley, and Solidad proud in Johto. But I feel happy for Dawn that she got the Aqua Ribbon. (SPOILER >) She was so happy, she burst into tears. :,)

I hope we see more appearances of May, Max, Misty, Gary, Drew, Harley, and Solidad sometime in the rest of DP.

[Vixtro]

It was pretty obvious from the start that Dawn was going to win, it wouldn't look too good now having May beat her considering her previous Contest losses and that she is now the main female lead. I was thinking they could have had a draw and split the ribbion like Ash and May in that unofficial contest at the end of Battle Frontier but I'm glad they didn't because that's something special just between Ash and May.

It was nice of the writers to have May use Glaceon to lesson the blow of defeat since it had just recently evolved and was May's least experienced Pokémon anyway. Also I think it was just their way of showing that May wanted to be fair to Dawn and put herself on as much an even playing field as she could instead of just using something like Venusaur and totally blitzing Dawn. And even though I don't like Dawn when compared to May and (pre-Johto) Misty, I'm glad she won. Maybe I just felt sorry for her, I dunno but she deserved to win.

The one thing I hate though is how over-powered her Piplup is. I know I shouldn't though cause just look back to how it was the same with Ash's Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander which were his side starter Pokémon, they were all pretty much power houses from the start.

This is an even sillier annoyance but when Piplup throws the whirlpool I just can't help but think "Goku from DBZ throwing the spirit bomb".