Roll On, Pokémon! (122)

[Blue Snover]

Trust Team Rocket to take the only Donphan that doesn't know how to search for Amberite yet lol.

[Jesse GS the II]

Takeshi may be his usual one-note self in this one, but at least he's funny. I always get a kick out of his mortified faint after Hiiragi mentions that she was more impressed with Satoshi and Kasumi's battling skills. (And for good reason, too - all Takeshi does is send out Iwaku who almost immediately succumbs to Utsubot's Sleep Powder.)

Again, Musashi-tachi make this episode a lot of fun. I can't help but laugh at that shot of the valley after they've dug everywhere the inexperienced Donfan has supposedly led them to, and there are holes in the rock wall in addition to the ground. Musashi screwing up the hidari-uchiwa idiom is another good "they can't do anything right" joke. And probably my biggest laugh came from the beginning of the episode, when the three of them get crushed by that boulder. "YA NA K--"*wham* (The fact that it's in a wide shot and we only see the puff of dust rising up from the trees makes it a hundred times funnier.)

It's a filler, but it's a pretty good one. Yeah, we don't get much in the way of character development, but at least Satoshi's Heracross gets some more experience. That's always a plus, given how briefly it'll be on his roster.

[CyberCubed]

It's a filler, but it's a pretty good one. Yeah, we don't get much in the way of character development, but at least Satoshi's Heracross gets some more experience. That's always a plus, given how briefly it'll be on his roster.

You also have Ash take an interest in Donphan, and he does get his own around 300 episodes later.

[Charmed]

This was one of my favorite Johto episodes since Donphan appeared in the anime. We saw one in movie 1 but that wasn't canon in my opinion. I remember watching this episode like 20 times because Kids WB would show it a lot in the early Johto Journey days. Ash obviously had an interest in Donphan's strength as seen when he met the Donphan and I had wished he would capture one. 9/10 for being pretty straight forward.

[Ash-kid]

Donphan was really strong, it beat Onix in a second.
I loved how Ash tried to capture it, unfortunately he failed.

[Blazing Charmander]

Watching this episode again after 8 or 9 years has really caught me off guard. Here was me thinking that this was one of those renowned Johto fillers that I would never watch again, but here I am almost a decade later and actually enjoying it for the fact that Heracross actually gets some battle time. Who'da thunk?!

That being said, the plot in this episode isn't very compelling and perhaps begins the trend of the Johto saga's one-shot COTD's trying to solve a problem with the help of Ash, Misty and Brock. I found it difficult to watch all the way through, but the saving graces were definitely Heracross and Brock battling. I never remembered Heracross to be such a BEAST in early Johto! Onix went down a little easily to that young Donphan's Rollout though - definitely the beginning of Brock's demise that continues to this day.

Finally, the one thing that depressed me overall from this episode was the fact that Misty and Brock pointed out how Heracross would grow to be a real fighting machine in the future with training under its belt. What compelled the writers to then dump it only a matter of episodes later? Mystery.

EDIT: Then again, after rewatching some more of the Johto episodes up to Azalea Town, it does turn out that Heracross did actually get some decent screentime before it was axed. It's a shame it never got a Gym Battle to show off its battling skills though. However, beating Gary's Magmar in the Silver Conference was still quite a feat to be honest.

[Misty Lover17]

The first time Ash has seen the Donphan I knew he will catch one in the future. It was so obvious.

Their sense of smell really strong. It's not easy to smell things from so far away place. It'd be nice if they've been doing this to find other things.

[RickHoenn]

First filler in Johto, interesting episode, Haha gotta love Brock flirting! <3 Donphan is an amazing Pokemon, one of my faves.

Team Rocket just steal the weakest Donphan... -_-

Heracross is very strong but that 'phan was uber.

9.5/10

[Vern]

I laughed when Brock's actually lost to the baby Donphan. I was all 'Oh why Brock why?' when that happened. I was also relieved when Ash lost the battle today since it showed how much he still needed (and needs) to learn.

[G50]

Didn't really like this filler episode. Odd how Brock lost to the baby Donphan. It was cool seeing Donphan for the 1st time. It's cool that they could smell out the Amberite.

10/100

[TheEpicGoomba]

I don't like filler episode's. It was coo seeing Donphan for the first time though.

4/10

[Angel~]

This episode was interesting with the Amberite, but I wasn't too impressed by it.

[Tyranitar the black mage]

Everyone here immeaditely knew that when ash saw a donphan he was catch one later. And it turned out to be one of his best pokemon ever

[AquaMilotic]

Team Rocket stealing the "useless" Donphan was funny, Brock got a flirting opportunity and Ash got put in his place and lost a battle. A good filler, 9/10.

This wasn't Donphan's debute, Donphan appeared in the first movie...

[Calamity™]

It's Hoothoot!
So, Brock should take the weaker Donphan because he's a breeder, yet his Onix gets OHKOd by a move it resists x4. Bad breeder! Anyway this episode wasn't anything special, even Team Rocket didn't entertain too much.

[Aquarelle]

I saw this episode more recently than most Johto episodes, since I missed it when it first aired, but despite that I didn't find this episode to be that memorable. I did think it was funny when Brock's Onix got owned by Donphan, but other than that, I found this to be a fairly boring episode.

[32er]

This episode was "meh"
I was a bit confused when the baby Donphan beat Brock's Onix. *facepalm*
6.5/10

[7threst]

This is the first episode I saw from Johto and I was quite satisfied with Donphan's introduction. That Pokémon is a beast and I'm happy Ash had one later. For the rest was this filler episode a little standard, but still quite enjoyable to watch.

[Demon Kitsune Yoko Kurama]

Powerhouse vs powerhouse. A good battle. Heracross did a fine job against Donphan.