Pursuing A Lofty Goal (586)

[Sapphiredragon929]

The guy that James battles...



...is Samurai: !!!

Also, Yuuka's in this!

That prooves it, Pokemon is getting repetitive.

Bring back a Kanto COTD, let the Misty fans consume that up. Unfortunately, she still won't come back, even if the next re-used character is Delia.

I think after Staraptor evolves it's going to pwn.

[mitchman_93]

Mukuhawk! Holy bat dung its huge. I cant wait for this to be uploaded.

[Gliscor_111]

i really love Staraptor. i want this episode to go online soon... there are still many unanswered questions.
so James entered?
was there any Gliscor funny moments?
what did Dawn think of the PokeRinger?
what balloons did each of them use?
what was DP 119's preview like?
did Paul mention anything else important regarding the league or gyms?


that's all i've got for the moment. I'm sure someone will come on here and do a deep summary of the episode, so I'll wait for that as well.

[Cazak]

Alright so we know that James entered. So who beat him? Was it the guy in the above pic, or Ash or Paul?

[ShinyCharyZard]

I believe someone mentioned that James lost to a Skiploom, lol.

[TurtwigFan1]

YES! Staravia evolved and gave us the Staraptor we've all been waiting for. Learning Close Combat was awesome and using it to hit Honchkrow in the face is hilarious.

Any sign of a rivalry starting between our two big birds?

[Gravy]

Well, it had to end eventually.

For almost 2 and a half years, a handful of the animé forums' best (which may or may not be a compliment) have helped me nurture what was once nothing more than a one off jab about a certain pokémon's extremely uncreative name, and let it blossom into the cheesy in-joke we all know and love which has, by all rights, been done to death by this point.
But it was ours. And it was fun. Whether it was 'exaggerating' his unmatched greatness, finding nouns and adjectives to follow the word 'Muku' or building small shrines dedicated to him in the back of our closets, it provided a small ray of light in otherwise dark animé forum times. And hooo boy, could it ever get dark.
I think, in a way, it helped us appreciate Muku.BIRD not only as a pokémon, but as a character too. We've learned to enjoy it's bizarre antics, wacky voice and, when push came to shove, bad arse battlin'. So thanks guys, for helping me find a favourite character and getting a significant amount of smiles and chuckles from my personage.

Now lets whip out some Bippa Rays and blast some Spanish Korobooshi before they leave Blards all over my nice clean floor tiles.

In the end, if you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go. And god damn. He sure went out in class.
Yes sir, it was a brilliant episode all round, despite the casualty of James' only specified pokémon training path being reduced to comic relief fodder. But even that proved to be entertaining enough to warrant a pass. I just can’t say no to some ballistic laughter and a dragonfly getting hit by a gust like it were a ton of bricks.

I’m sure most of you consider the rehashing of plots to be tedious, and admittedly, I was a little apprehensive when I first heard of this episode.
But after watching it, I’m convinced that these seemingly pointless poke ringer competitions have the potential to be used in the future. If anything, this episode proved that it could be just as entertaining as a regular battle, and hey! James might get to do something more than once in a while! That’d be an interesting development, huh?

I was expecting something good from Muku.MID-AIR SONIC vs. Al Ca-crow-ne (groan), and what we were given certainly didn't disappoint. Muku certainly did an admirable job of clamming up the naysayer’s who claimed it weak, with it's admirable show of agility and endurance, taking a pounding from the Don and still managing to out speed it several times throughout the mid-air duel. Watching this made me look back on the battles against Gardenia’s Turtwig and wonder how this could be the same bird that couldn’t lay a hit on Nay-WHOA female edition.

It wasn't too shabby against Skarmory either, although it was rather painful watching it get pounded from a distance by long range attacks throughout the majority of the bout. Wouldn't have hurt Ash to pull off a Whirlwind to either blow the Sand Attack away or force Skarmory to the ground.

I'm sure it's mostly my Muku.INNER FANBOY getting the best of me here, but this entire fight had me on the edge of my seat. With Ash's track record with Shinji and the sudden evolution, this was anyone's game. Even when Muku's former eyeballs were plucked from his dented cranium to be switched out with spaghetti loops, and his curly lock replaced with the blood drenched hairstyle associated with the emotionally challenged, it still didn't feel like a sure thing.
There were moments where I was edging towards Honchkrow winning, just to keep Shinji ahead of Ash once more.
Slapping the ring away from Honchkrow's beak at the last second may have been similar to Swellow's finishing move in the previous pokéringer, but god damn if it weren’t twice as awesome.
You guys probably know by now that I’m all for attacks that rely on good ol’ fashioned melee combat instead of glowing limbs, so Close Combat in particular I was glad to see. Especially that brutal looking kick to Honchkrow’s face mid-descent. Ooh, that’s gotta hoit.

Shinji turning up here was definitely the best idea these guys have had in a long while. This had the potential to be pretty mediocre, but they really went all out to make sure the end result would make for a memorable aerial animation.

In closing, there is nothing more to say except:
Muku.BIRD

[Crystal Clair]

Aw Gravy, you're making me want to cry ;_;

I know I already have it in my sig but when I change my sig...


I'm surprised how many older characters showed up in this episode

btw, are there any places where the episode pictures are? I'm searching everywhere every minute. Any sites?

[firepokemontrainer]

Serebii should have them up later today or tomorrow.

[Bryon]

I gotta say, that's soooo cool that Staraptor learned Close Combat just after he evolved! Should come in handy since it means he has another big attack besides Brave Bird to use in his arsenal. ^_^

Can't wait to see pics!

Bryon

[ShinyCharyZard]

One thing I cannot wait to see is a MegaMuku Brave Bird.

[Avrig]

I can't wait to see Staraptor in a great battle, it looks amazing. I also wait to see more pictures of it :3. But I hope that Staraptor's voice actor in English will be a little less annoying than Staravia's was, haha.

[Almighty Zard]

from looking at the pics Dragonites trainer looked like the best OC of the day, too bad Dragonite got ko'ed by Honchkrow, how the mighty have fallen it seems..and what the heck was the first attack dragonite used, it looked like energy ball but it couldn't have been it.

Dang Staraptor is big..makes me wonder if it'll be sticking around post sinnoh since at that size it can definite carry Ash around if he wanted it too, intresting that it learned close combat in this episode too, and boy kicking someone in the jaw is always nice to watch, here's hoping if Chimchar evolves he gets the move too.

Paul seemed kinda shallow in this episode, i agree with dman dustin, it's like he hardly realised Ash was there until they came to fight each other and he didn't seem to care that he lost to Ash either, where's the competitiveness here?

on a final note, i thought it was rather amusing that both a Noctowl and a Swellow were participants in the contest, not to mention Starpator won the EXACT same way swellow did by knocking the ring the goal post with it's wings, could we be more original Ash? And Mamoswine eating all the food reminded me of Snorlax gulping down the pokefood after the sumo contest, lots of throwbacks, good action, and a decent episode overall compared to the previous weeks.

[shac]

for all those looking for pics, they have been uploaded in filb.de

From the pics, it does seem to be an awesome episode. Staraptor was huge which made me really happy. I think size-wise it's like,

Ranger's one > Ash's one > Reggi's one > Jun's one > Rowan's one

Heck! Rowan's bird is tiny. It was hardly larger than staravia.
I found it amusing too how they decided to showcase both noctowl and swellow. Only if pidgeot was there, that would have made it a complete set.

[CyberCubed]

God, they made us wait so long for Staraptor that I can't believe it finally happened.

Next up is Chimchar...lol.

[ChaosMage]

from looking at the pics Dragonites trainer looked like the best OC of the day, too bad Dragonite got ko'ed by Honchkrow, how the mighty have fallen it seems..and what the heck was the first attack dragonite used, it looked like energy ball but it couldn't have been it.

We've seen Pikachu take down a Dragonite- and Honchkrow's pretty strong!

And I'm liking how Staraptor also has that post-evolution size issue which every pokemon seems to get. Remember Glalie, Kingler, Gliscor, Charizard, Mamoswine and probably numerous others who were massive in their first appearances and smaller when they needed to fit into the group scenes without sticking out too badly?

[JD]

Lets see
Chimchar
Piplup
Are next to evolve On bulbapedia I think chimmy is evolving in the snover episode. And I am pretty sure piplup will evolve I MEAN we never saw snoeunt/glalie in a movie and piplup is a new mascot I think.

[ashds]

there goes Muku *cries* now to find out when Chimmy leaves us.

[uber gon]

The guy that James battles...



...is Samurai: !!!

Also, Yuuka's in this!

Well it's nice to see him travelling, although that samurai armour would've made it even more epic.

Heh Mamoswine sure is a glutton, isn't she/he.

FINALLY Ash beats Paul at something.

[Gravy]

But I hope that Staraptor's voice actor in English will be a little less annoying than Staravia's was, haha.

It's just as bad, if not worse.