All Torkoal, No Play! (334)

[Pandemonium]

I am know highly convinced that Torkoal is not a girl. It just cries at random times.

Damn, those Magnamite's and Skarmory must really hate torkoal to beat it like that. It was like they were trying to kill me.

Torkoals voice didn't bother me. I'm not sure why many of you hate it.

I also wondered why they didn't show the other (few) steel types. Where was Aron, Lairon, Aggron, and Mawile? Beldum could've showed up or even Metang and Metagross. I would've put Metagross instead of Steelix since he hasn't been showcased yet. Jirachi wasn't shown for obvious reasons.

Didn't May already see Torkoal use Overheat a few episodes ago? Ash's amnesia is starting to rub of on her.

And yes, sadly there is only six Fire type Pokemon in Houen. Pretty sad.

[slysunshine]

I loved this episode. It was really exciting. Hoenn impresses me more and more every week.

Where do I start? Umm...Torkoal! I didn't like Torkoal's voice last week and thought that surely Ash's would have a different voice. By the end of the episode, though, I was loving Torkoal's voice! I'm used to it now and it really suits Torkoal I think. Torkoal's such a sweetie! So cute! I was pleasantly surprised (though a tiny bit bored with the idea, I must admit) when Ash just asked Torkoal to join him instead of battling it. The episode had enough battling, but for battles, they weren't all that bad.

I'm officially an Advanceshipper now! Ash and May were just too cute. :P I'm glad the only spoiler I knew about this episode was Torkoal, because it really surprised me when that part of the cliff May was standing on broke off. I was like NO! XD Good thing Ash saved May and Torchic, even though they did get shocked.

Speaking of Torchic, Torchic and Skitty were adorable. ^_^ May once again proved that she is a great battler!

9.5/10

[That Scary Clefairy]

It seem that torkoal is crying of of tears of joy instead of crying as a baby like people assume.

[ronster486]

I liked this episode. I have no problem with Torkoal's voice but i expected a deeper voice from it. Torkoal does seem like a crybaby but its a powerful pokemon all the same. This was a episode I was looking forward to. 8/10

[Kijuna]

This episode was teh pwns. 10/9.4 I like the detail put into everything there. Steelix's body turning to kick up the sand, the grand enterance with Dragonbreath, and the actual character(!) of Steelix. Just... wow.

Give Torkoal a break, guys. She had likely gone her whole life being constantly abused by big powerful Pokémon she was powerless against. It's really kind of asinine to expect it to be all happy-go-lucky and independant.

It was Dragonbreath. I'm surprised the episode didn't touch on that.

Bam! Me 1, dub errors 0!

God. No. 4Kids really gave Torkoal the royal shaft in the voice department. Now we have to listen to that every single time Ash uses it in the dozens of episodes to come. Someone once said Torkoal's dub voice sounded like Barney the dinosaur and I would say that's not a bad comparison. Why they couldn't just keep the original voice is beyond me, most of the time all is says is 'ko' anyway. Then they let Typhlosion run around yelling "Baku!". I guess I shouldn't be surprised though, nothing 4Kids does makes sense anymore.

...You're kidding, right? it sounds perfect! Maybe it's an acquired taste. *shrug* Has alot more personality than some of the voices.

The number is probably at a dozen knowing how little we've seen of Torkoal.

Oh god no. Am I doomed to never see Torkoal again?! T_T

But did anyone else catch the Magnemite/Magneton mistake? It goes from two Magnemites to three to two, and one Magneton to two Magnetons.

I'm sure there are more than 3 of each in the whole canyon.

[Cloud Strife]

Okay, I would like to say hi to all my spoiler "Fresh Start" friends. Yeah, you know whats coming.
Lets start with the possitives
-Ash and May scene was not hardly made shippy at all. (Score)
-Finally got to see Sky Attack
-A correct trainer choice

Now for the negatives (pull up a chair, it will be a while)
-Ash caught Torkoal, okay, I knew it was going to happen, but I still don't like it
-Torkoal could not knock out STEEL types, if you really are not bad like people tell me, than why could you not defend yourself against Mags and Skar (I will give it a break on Steelix since it does have a type advantage on him as well). Because it is no good.
-Max went another show doing virtually nothing. It is not that I totally dislike him, it is just he does not do much.
-It was the worst Hoenn episode yet, and on par with some some JLC episodes for lack of anything redeeming.
-It was WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT, the worst capture episode yet.
-My favorite, it actually put me to sleep. I am not kidding, I wanted to watch the Kentucky vs Tennessee football game coming on at 12:30. But I was asleep when it started. I know some of you are thinking that I was on here and did not go to bed till 6:40 this morning, but I did not fall asleep during the the Spinda episode (though I wish I could have)
-No TR when they were sorely needed to give this episode something.
-And last but not least for the negatives---Its rating. .0000000000001. Special meaning to some of you. The exact opposite of how much better I said Charizard was than Torkoal.

God. No. 4Kids really gave Torkoal the royal shaft in the voice department. Now we have to listen to that every single time Ash uses it in the dozens of episodes to come.

I am happy to inform you that it will all be over soon

And yes, sadly there is only six Fire type Pokemon in Houen. Pretty sad.

Worse yet is that one of them is Torkoal, you could have just stayed at 5

Give Torkoal a break, guys. She had likely gone her whole life being constantly abused by big powerful Pokémon she was powerless against. It's really kind of asinine to expect it to be all happy-go-lucky and independant.

Yet more proof of how bad Torkoal truly is, what kind of Pokemon were raping it; steel, what is fire strong against; Grass, Bug, Ice, and say it with me STEEL. This is like saying that Torkoal was getting punked by some Oddish, Bellsprout, Jumpluff, and a Bellosom. Not so good huh?

Anyone who wants to correct grammer and spelling, be my guest.

[Juputoru]

-Torkoal could not knock out STEEL types, if you really are not bad like people tell me, than why could you not defend yourself against Mags and Skar (I will give it a break on Steelix since it does have a type advantage on him as well). Because it is no good.

Yet more proof of how bad Torkoal truly is, what kind of Pokemon were raping it; steel, what is fire strong against; Grass, Bug, Ice, and say it with me STEEL. This is like saying that Torkoal was getting punked by some Oddish, Bellsprout, Jumpluff, and a Bellosom. Not so good huh?

Don't forget that type advantiges aren't as all-powerful in the anime as they are in the games. Seviper's Poison Tail damaged a Steel type, Pikachu has damaged several Ground types with Electric attacks, Taillow stands up to Electric attacks very well, etc. Plus we don't know how strong the Steel types of the valley are. Also, Torkoal was vastly outnumbered(One Torkoal VS quite a few Steel types).

[Indigo]

CS, your bias is showing...~^

Just because you don't like Torkoal, doesn't mean you can bash it all you want. There isn't too much hold-its-own evidence in there...

-It was WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT, the worst capture episode yet.

...but this I have to agree with. Although I didn't see the very last part of the ep(stupid TiVo...*kicks*), I know how it went.

Ash: Torkoal, you wanna be part of the group?
Torkoal: Torkoal tor! *cries. Jumps on Ash.*
*Everyone happy laughs.*

I can't be too far off.

Even Corphish's was better. At least Ash battled the thing and captured it, fair and square(even though the "wanna come with me?" thing was a little...how shall I put this...non-Pokémon). Not only that, but he hungered to catch it even before he really knew how much of a pain it'd be. With Torkoal, he referred to it as his own before he caught it, as if he had every intention and every RIGHT of capturing it. With Treecko, he helped the thing when it was reluctant and wanted to befriend it, not catch it. With Taillow, Brock told him to catch it(which was...kinda stupid, IMO) but this...this was definitely the worst catch epsiode yet. I must agree.

[Space Skitty]

Torkoal was out-numbered, CS. The Magnemite were all shocking the poor turtle at the same time while Skarmory was striking it with Swift. It was out-numbered. Ash even told Max that. Torkoal may not be as strong as Charizard, but it's not weak. It has some great battles to come. Just give it a chance...

[Pokemon Fan]

-Torkoal could not knock out STEEL types, if you really are not bad like people tell me, than why could you not defend yourself against Mags and Skar (I will give it a break on Steelix since it does have a type advantage on him as well). Because it is no good.

Eh? What was it supposed to do? It was ganged up on, and immobilized by being held up in the air with Thunder Wave. Whenever it faught a Steel type one-on-one (like that Magneton) it won. If you want to hate Torkoal fine but at least don't give a strange reason like that.

-It was the worst Hoenn episode yet, and on par with some some JLC episodes for lack of anything redeeming.

Superb animation, incredible battle sequence, Steelix being more than just a random mean Pokemon, Ash having a rather unique bonding experience with his new Pokemon, etc. aren't considered the least bit redeeming? I thought it was things like that that made episodes great.

-It was WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT, the worst capture episode yet.

What makes it so much worse than the Squirtle, Charmander, Lapras capture or any other Pokemon capture episode where Ash didn't battle the Pokemon?

The exact opposite of how much better I said Charizard was than Torkoal.

Charizard is a winged dragon, Torkoal is a tortoise, of course Charizard is better! But that doesn't make Torkoal bad. That's like saying Charizard should be hated because it can't equal Ho-oh as a Fire/Flying type.

Even Corphish's was better. At least Ash battled the thing and captured it, fair and square

And asking it if it wanted to join him is somehow unfair and immoral? It may be less exciting but if anything having a Pokemon choose to be with a trainer through purely volunteering is superior to battling it. The important thing is that the Pokemon gains respect for the trainer. For most being defeated in battle is enough for them to have respect for their trainer, but if a trainer proves it some other way it is just as valid.

Really, the way people are up in arms over this surprises me. Ash refers to the Torkoal as being his one time, it was simply because he already felt a deep bond with it. And what if he had already planned to ask it to join him? Is that somehow wrong? He still gave Torkoal a choice after all.

[Kingler]

I agree Pokemon Fan, this was a great episode. The battle sequences were amazing. The Charmander episode wasn't a catching episode, you gotta at least put up some sort of fight.

[Cloud Strife]

CS, your bias is showing...~^

Really, I did not know. It is not bias though, it is not like I just randomly picked Ash's Torkoal as the worst Pokemon ever. I think he is weak, no good personality, and useless, that is not a bias it is an opinion.

Torkoal was out-numbered, CS. The Magnemite were all shocking the poor turtle at the same time while Skarmory was striking it with Swift. It was out-numbered. Ash even told Max that. Torkoal may not be as strong as Charizard, but it's not weak. It has some great battles to come. Just give it a chance...

You don't come to spoilers very often, do you. It is not like I have all these opinions after one episode, I know of its battles (how you can call ANY of them great is beyond me) to come. I have given plenty of reasons before I think it is weak, one of which is his sparkling record of [SPOILERS] 2 and 2, wow 50%, nice [/SPOILERS] what a great fighter it is.

Superb animation, incredible battle sequence, Steelix being more than just a random mean Pokemon, Ash having a rather unique bonding experience with his new Pokemon, etc. aren't considered the least bit redeeming? I thought it was things like that that made episodes great.

It did look good, but I don't care about animation or graphics, so that is not in the least bit redeeming to me. Why does everyone think this battle was so good? Do people really like Dragon Breath that much, that because of it everyone is saying it was so good. DB, FT that does not hurt, Sandstorm, FT that does not hurt, and Overheat, not that good. Brock telling Ash not to use OH to early was also dumb because 1 Evidently on the Anime it just weakens OH itself, and not Sp At, and 2 Even if it does weaken Sp At on the Anime, FT was doing absolutely nothing anyway, so who cares if it was weakened

What makes it so much worse than the Squirtle, Charmander, Lapras capture or any other Pokemon capture episode where Ash didn't battle the Pokemon?

Clearly no one understood what I was saying here. I don't mean the capture itself, I mean the episode is the worst episode that a capture took place in.

[≈*Virulent Tsunami*≈]

Well, I like Torkoal personally, but I side with you on saying what's so good about the battle? If anything, it was bad. Steelix withstanding Flamethrower? Not possible, unless it had a Focus Band, which it obviously didn't. I can't even express how absurd it is that Steelix can withstand Overheat. Maybe if Torkoal was Lv. 5, and Steelix was level 100, it could be possible, but that was not the case. The animation was no better than usual, as far as I saw. A pretty darn ludicrous battle. The most noteworthy battle is that of May and Grace. This battle............meh, it was better than some, but there are a lot of better ones out there.

SC~ out

[~*Aurora Wish*~]

This was so cool!

Ash caught a Torkoal!

When I saw the part where May and Torchic were hanging, I was thinking, I don't want her to fall down!

9/10

[Bulba the Great!]

When people talk about how weak Torkoal is, because its Flamethrower can't knock out a Steelix, they most likely forget, Steelix is part ground. So, actually, Steelix is neutral to fire attacks. That's why Torkoal wasn't kicking its....err, butt. And, Torkoal isn't well trained yet

[V Faction]

When people talk about how weak Torkoal is, because its Flamethrower can't knock out a Steelix, they most likely forget, Steelix is part ground. So, actually, Steelix is neutral to fire attacks. That's why Torkoal wasn't kicking its....err, butt. And, Torkoal isn't well trained yet

Study up a little more. Ground is not resistant to Fire.

[Heracross]

Yeah, even a lot of pure ground types can be easily defeated by fire types because they generally have terrible special defense. As long as the fire type gets the first hit that is. That's not to say I dislike Torkoal or think she's weak, but Steelix should not have lasted that long against her.

[Cloud Strife]

When people talk about how weak Torkoal is, because its Flamethrower can't knock out a Steelix, they most likely forget, Steelix is part ground. So, actually, Steelix is neutral to fire attacks. That's why Torkoal wasn't kicking its....err, butt. And, Torkoal isn't well trained yet

When people talk about ground being resistant to fire, I am reminded of people thinking Rock is resistant to Electricity. Because that is likely where these same people got their info from. You should know better.

[Goin' Graveler]

I agree with Ground not being resistant to Fire, but I like Torkoal.:P

[Geodude]

What the hell is up with all this Torkoal-bashing anyway? Simple concept here guys, if the defending Pokemon is much stronger than the attacker, obviously the attacker's attacks won't do as much damage as compared to if the battle was a little more even.

And where exactly is the basis for saying that Flamethrower did absolutely nothing against Steelix? -_-

Great ep, lots of action and battles, even a dramatic rescue. No idea how anyone could possibly call it boring.