Solid As A Solrock (376)

[Looper Bone]

H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E.

The fact that he used Pikachu and Swellow to begin with was pretty stupid. And this "golden veil" and "super poweredness" just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It would've better if it were a real battle where he used Corphish and Grovyle or even Torkoal.

This is the worst gym battle of Hoenn so far.

[V Faction]

The golden-type power-up at the end of the battle seemed too deux ex machina-ish for my tastes...

I completely agree. That was WAAAY too convenient and downed the ending. If they were going to pull a win from out their asses like that, they should've at least gone with a new move. This really doesn't sound like it's going to be one of my favorite Gym Battles. Half cookie-cutter, half outrageous.But on the good side, Lunatone and Solrock kicked some tail.

[Chris]

It would've better if it were a real battle where he used Corphish and Grovyle or even Torkoal.

Did you even read the first half? Pikachu and Swellow couldn't even touch the two without resorting to going airborne. Corphish and Torkoal are far too slow to compete against Psychic-types who are notorious for their speed and Grovyle would've gone through the same problem Pikachu did.

Okay, so no Endeavor in this episode, but I was right about Pikachu having something to do with the attack affecting it and Swellow when we all saw the preview.

[PDL]

hmm... the Golden power up thing... it is a bit deux ex Machina-ish, but it could make some sense...

It's only natural that Pikachu could have been powered up in a thunderstorm, but maybe Swellow could have been powered up by it's Guts ability kicking in, we've seen this sort of thing before when Ash caught Taillow...

[Shiny May]

Well I don't like the whole Pikachu and Swellow golden thing. It did look cool. I have to admit that but I dont like that they used that. Pikachu's shock should have weakened Swellow a lot and not giving it a golden color.

[Hales]

Yay! Swellow and Pikachu won! Knew they could do it!

Golden Swellow and Pikachu? cool, a bit out-of-the-blue yes, but cool nevertheless!

I like the idea of Ash trying to hug his victorious Pokemon and still get zapped

Edited to say I saw the Episode pictures and there really cool, especially the pic after Ash gets zapped, the cute picture afterwards where Pikachu and Swellow are looking has me cracking up, cheeky! ;D

[Swellow]

Darn It I was So Hoping for Ash to lose, then rethink And Not Use Pikachu maybe Use Grovyle surfing on Swellow, and an Electric Attack being Super Effective on a Rock attack what Gives right after the Commercial Break

[Serebii]

You guys forget, its not Rock thats resistent to Electric, its Ground

[Swellow]

Not Really I No All Well By Playing Pokemon Yellow, But I didn't think Electric Types could hurt Rock Types As much as it seems they do in Dogasu's Summary of the episode

[JazzJazz]

But I didn't think Electric Types could hurt Rock Types As much as it seems they do in Dogasu's Summary of the episode

Look back at Ash's first gym battle, against Brock... rock-types can surely be hurt by electric attacks, given the right circumstances.

[Chris]

The Pokémon have to be at a certain level of power in order to do any damage to Rock-types with Electric attacks. Pikachu happened to have a good amount of experience and good enough attacks to use to do damage. Ground-types are INVULNERABLE, not Rock-types.

[Gravy]

Gold-plated pokémon eh? Surprising to say the least. Surprising and somewhat disappointing. I'm all for out-of-the-blue manuevors, but the whole concept of this gold power-up thing just seems ridicullous. I know Swellow is supposed to be a tough contender when it comes to being hit with electricity, but getting enhanced strength due to it? Kinda makes me raise an eyebrow and get that 'wtf were they thinking?' feeling.
Of course someone is going to come along and say 'Oh, well, Pikachu channeled its energy into Swellow, so theres your answer'. Well, I say bah to that.
...And I'm still pee'd off at the fact thare was no psychic mind-link between the twins
~end whining~

[MugenKeiji]

Super Swellow/Pikachu...I'm sorry but off all things considered in Pokemon this has got to be one of the biggest copouts I've ever seen. That is of course Diamond/Pearl would do something like that for team battles.

My guess is that Pikachu manipulated the electric current somehow serving as a filter against the electricity making the pulse supercharge itself and Swellow instead of taking pain from the blast.

You know like Magmar's electricproof Air Lens created from heat.

Ah who am I kidding, it's a freaking excuse for Ash to once again use Pikachu and have a use for another unlikely Pokemon to battle. I'm surprised Brock didn't tell him to remember how Rock-types are impervious to Flying-types.

Obviously someone in the creative department's been playing too much Sonic games (I know I could say DBZ, Bomberman, G-Gundam or anything else that uses Gold=Super equation but hey it's my choice)

The Pokémon have to be at a certain level of power in order to do any damage to Rock-types with Electric attacks. Pikachu happened to have a good amount of experience and good enough attacks to use to do damage. Ground-types are INVULNERABLE, not Rock-types.

Rock types on their own take neutral damage from electric attacks unless they're part grass or anything else resistant. That sounds more like fire to me.

[sCiZoR]

I'm not one to bash a Gym match, but this episode absolutely sucked IMO.

TR's plan this time around was brutal and funny. I don't think they've gotten this far in a Gym Leader Pokemon capture plan within AG. They got blown away at Rustboro, Dewford Island, and in Fortree (the others were side-stories). BUT, that whole deal was just so time would be wasted. The actual battle(s) only amounted to 6 or 7 minutes.

The writers seemed to have rushed this battle, hence Pikachu/Swellow going Super-Gold (Masked Rider reference lol) to lay waste...that was cornball. I had thought that Ash was going to have Pikachu shoot its Thunder into the clouds to hit Solrock/Lunatone at a greater power when the back-blast occured, not back at themselves. And, I do agree, at that much power, the electricity should have fainted Swellow, regardless of how much Guts it has. Thumbs down to the writers for this one.

I'm glad that Ash won the Mind Badge and all, but this takes the place of Ash's Mauville Gym match (which I really did enjoy) as the lamest AG Gym battle.

[Murgatroyd]

Those of you who say Oosubame should have been KOed by that blast, I think you're forgetting the episode where Satoshi caught it. Satoshi didn't forget, and so he was able to think of this utterly insane tactic, which is actually a fairly logical extension of what he did 84 episodes ago, in his battle against Tsutsuji. And so, using physical attacks backed by the full power of the Thunder called down by Pikachu, they pulled off a victory.

Edit: On an only slightly related note, is my memory faulty, or was that new music that came with this attack?

[sCiZoR]

On an only slightly related note, is my memory faulty, or was that new music that came with this attack?

Nah, the music's been around for a little while. There was new music at some point in the episode, but I can't pin-point the exact spot though.

[~May~]

well he won It was obvious that he'll win...by the way whAT WERE SWELLOW AND PIKACHU DOING when they become um...shiny or something???what are they using brick brake or somethin'???

[ChaosMage]

LAME!!! Ash has given Swellow plenty of catching up time, let Corphish and Torkoal battle as well. A Grovyle/Corphish combo would have been great, and I am very disappointed with Ash for this choice. This battle sounds too unpokemonlike to make any sense. He could have sent grovyle or Corphish out with swellow. But Ash has to use pikachu all the time in gym battles. Is it me or was Brawley the only one he didn't use pikachu against!

[Mew2]

As had been stated before, speed could have been an issue. SUre Grovyle is fast, but Corphish doesn't have a lot of speed. And it is still only a first level evolution against powerful psychic types. As for not using Grovyle, there's the issue that both pokemon had attacks that could counter Grovyle. Also, Ice Beam seems to freeze the target no matter what it hits, so Ash probably went with fast and strong pokemon with more resistance to Solrock and Lunatone's attacks for the battle.

[pokeplayer984]

As I see this, it was yet another way for the writers to try once again to get through everyone's head that the Anime is not like the game, and never will be.

Pikachu getting Supercharged like that was no big surprise, but when I think about it, I believe I can give a simple explanation as to how Swellow got supercharged as well.

As I have found several times, when two Pokemon battle together in the anime, and are near eachother where they are touching, they can combine their abilities as well. As stated earlier, Ash's Swellow can't be effected by electric attacks, so they do no damage, and when Pikachu got the ability of supercharge, it passed that ability temporarialy to Swellow. Think of it as them being merged together, in its own strange way.

Also remember, Pokemon are mysterious creatures, and we still don't know all the secrets to them yet. They could hold abilities that we don't understand, and this episode proved that.

So just enjoy the show, and find out just how many abilities they could possibly have.

-----------------

Anyways, this sounds like a good ep, IMO. I can't wait to see the dub version of it here in the US. Hopefully they'll do good at it and hardly change a thing. Maybe they can add in a bit of Brock explaining how it works.

I also loved the look of the Supercharged duo. It just looked so cool.

*waits patiently for the dub version of it.*

[Pokemon Fan]

Ah who am I kidding, it's a freaking excuse for Ash to once again use Pikachu and have a use for another unlikely Pokemon to battle. I'm surprised Brock didn't tell him to remember how Rock-types are impervious to Flying-types.

They aren't imperverious, they're resistent. And Swellow has some of the highest attack strength of any Flying type.

Anyway, wow... a bit of an unusual gym battle. It mostly sounds and looks great, but my criticisms include:

I don't particularly like it when Ash gains an advantage in battle because the previous arena was destroyed (i.e he couldn't have gotten Pikachu and Swellow super-charged on the original field). However, given that Fuu and Ran were losing the match in the original field due to lack of cooperation, it evens things up a bit (i.e they would have lost in the first field if they hadn't struggled to get their Pokemon back from TR).

And I kind of wish that the whole Double Team scene had been what led up to the victory instead of the clever but failed attempt that it was. Usually when one of the group's pokemon is shown using a move for the first time it is successful, even if it is shown as one they didn't just now learn (what that true here?)

And actually, in a way it makes sense that Swellow could get powered-up from electricity. It's ability is Guts, which causes its attack power to rise by 50% if it suffers a status ailment. If that lightning strike partially paralyzed it then it would get a power boost. Pikachu of course would get the boost from absorbing a lot of the lightning, probably helping to keep Swellow from being knocked out (though since it learns moves like Endure, Swellow wouldn't have needed it necessarily) since even Ash's Swellow takes damage from electricity, it just is able to resist and push through the effects more than most Flying types.

<><><>

So in conclusion I don't think most people's criticisms here are warranted. They went for a unique approach in this gym battle, using rules that don't exist in the games to showcase just how far Ash has come as a trainer. And I'm sure the scenes will make more sense once we know the dialogue.

V Faction, I don't see how it was "WAYYYY" too convenient. Ash thinks on his feet, and a good trainer in the anime utilizes whatever he or she can on and around the battlefield. If the clouds weren't there than Ash would of thought of something else, but they were there so he took the opportunity.

And you have to admit, Golden Swellow/Pikachu looked AWESOME.

[The Big Al]

That last attack was a ripoff of G Gundum.

Anyway Team Rocket were their typical idiot selves, going way over the top just to see it all blow up in their face.

The Battle was interesting. Liked it when they were crashing into the fake planets.

[~May~]

ah told yas he'll win..he almost always wins...anyway it was cool

[Murgatroyd]

Nah, the music's been around for a little while. There was new music at some point in the episode, but I can't pin-point the exact spot though.

I've listened again, and the music during the attack itself comes from the fifth movie. The music while they're charging, however, doesn't seem familiar at all.

[Bulba the Great!]

Well, I'm dissapointed, I can't help it... I won't waste an entire post complaining, previous posts about the golden Swellow sum up my feelings. I was really hoping Grovyle would be used, along with Corphish. They make such a good team! Ash really should have lost, he hasn't lost since Brawley, which was conveniantly the only time he didn't use Pikachu in AG. I really think he'll lose against Wallace, because he seriously needs another loss under his belt! He's becoming too powerful. And so is Pikachu!