An Elite Coverup! (638)

[CyberCubed]

Bertha's Gliscor seemed like a slap in the face to me. I can only hope that is foreshadowing.

[dman_dustin]

We had the 360 degree perspective of Torterra that was mentioned as required by the Animation Directors (or someone) absolutely ages ago, I guess the story really is planned well in advance.

Yes, I thought that two, if someone can dig up when the animator said he was working on that 360 degree perspective, we can get a better perspective on how these episodes are made in length.

If the animator was just working at it then. Well that implies other things as well.

[Ciccone]

Bertha's Gliscor seemed like a slap in the face to me. I can only hope that is foreshadowing.

Foreshadowing what? May I ask?

I liked Bertha despite my earlier worries that she'd be bland like she appears to be in the games. I liked that, unlike, some of the other Elite Four members featured in Sinnoh, she appeared with more than one Pokemon (although I thought Hippowdon would be the focus of the episode). I didn't much like the battle between Bertha and Ash since it was more of the same though. Bertha displayed the typical overpowering force that it common among those of the Elite Four title. Quite the same as the other Elite Four based episodes but still grand in it's own right. 7/10

[NES]

Bertha seemed like a good E4, i like her car. For a second i thought Ash would finally win, but yeah that wasn't right ¿why is Brock holding himself all of a sudden? ¿what is he trying to say?

[streetlightdsb]

Don't wanna be rude or anything.. But the flying Hippowdon DID brutally ram it's face into the ground where Torterra got stuck until even after the battle had ended.. Torterra was face down stuck in the ground, come on man, how much more crushing defeat can you get in pokemon??? (Besides the infamous Muk vs Bellsprout bout and Snorlax vs that other thing that got squished, Hypno I think...)

I didn't mean literally, just meant it wasn't massively one sided XD

Seriously, If anything Gen V better give Hippowdon some more flying moves in it's moveset.. WHO KNEW! My Hippowdon in Gen V: Earthquake, Stone Edge, Curse and Sky Attack! Or even Drill Peck, I don't care! And maybe just give it Levitate as an ability, Sand Stream sucks anyway..

Bounce!

Good thing about this battle was though that Ash saw what Torterra's inhibitions are, so he can work on those (It's open for attacks from any other side that's not the front.).

Yeah, seems like a good episode for general Torterra development..

Both Hippowdon and Torterra were both pretty speedy really, I was expecting more of a 'exchanging slaps' sort of battle with them both standing in one place. I agree that Torterra does just seem like a slightly bigger Grotle with a tree coming out of it's back

[Ash-kid]

I liked the fact that Ash knew who she (Bertha) was before he fought against her. Otherwise it would've be seen like the battle against Agatha, although maybe not really, because then he was less nervous during the battle. I also didn't understand how Seviper became stronger when he was with the armor, because he hit with Poison Tail but it was basically a normal attack because his tail was not armored.

[Durden]

We had the 360 degree perspective of Torterra that was mentioned as required by the Animation Directors (or someone) absolutely ages ago, I guess the story really is planned well in advance.

Yes, I thought that two, if someone can dig up when the animator said he was working on that 360 degree perspective, we can get a better perspective on how these episodes are made in length.

Found the post:

Art Director Iwane Massaki have posted on his website that he is working on 360-degree shot of Dodaitose/Torterra for future DP Anime episode.

I wonder if this 360-degree shot will be used when Satoshi's Grotle evolves...

Then again, it could be for Shinji's Pokemon instead.



Quick translation:

Right now, there is a scene where it shows the circling view of Dodaitose that I am working on.
Before I read the setting, I knew which area should be colored as Brown and Green; however, from rear side view, I was having a hard time with it (on coloring).
Because of that, I called OLM and they sent me Dodaitose doll for a reference. I am not sure if this doll is plain merchandise or not, but it does help me a lot on understanding it.

Look at the picture and you can see that Iwane posted this in early November. This makes the gap roughly ~6 months.

Anyhow, Iwane sure did a great job. The animation in the battle was made up of sheer awesomeness. A shame though that the writers devoted more screentime to a generic TR plot than to an Elite Four battle.

[Locormus]

Both Hippowdon and Torterra were both pretty speedy really, I was expecting more of a 'exchanging slaps' sort of battle with them both standing in one place. I agree that Torterra does just seem like a slightly bigger Grotle with a tree coming out of it's back

Neh, It looks fine, what I meant was that the way it holds itself.. I was expecting it'd have more of a 'I'll take that attack any time'-kind of expression.. but I didn't get that impression.

Look at the picture and you can see that Iwane posted this in early November. This makes the gap roughly ~6 month.

If the animator was just working at it then. Well that implies other things as well.

That basically tells us that they're already making the first episodes of Gen V, and that they know how and what probably most of the new pokemon look like! :O

[zeno48]

Nice, She has a Gliscor from the Platinum team, it could be a clue. And too bad that Ash lost.

Team Rocket's armor is great, definitely reminds me something from the past.

A clue for what? and it's not surprising at all. He should not be able to defeat any elite 4 member at all right now. As for the episode itself it was funny and i love seeing part of berta's team. She is a very cool woman.

[Blaziryu]

I thought this episode was okay. TR having their PKMN wear armor was pretty cool. The animation during Ash & Bertha's battle was great. Ash should've made Torterra use its Overgrowth ability to have the edge against Bertha's Hippowdon.

[Juputoru]

-Looks like TR's trying Yet Another Breeding Center Scheme. Oh boy.
-And TR takes great interest in a Boo...er, Magby.
-They bring random kid into the center and discuss evolving his Booby Magby into a Boober Magmar. I'm doing my best not to laugh at their Japanese names, I swear! *snicker*
-HOW MANY TIMES ARE THEY GOING TO SAY THIS THING'S NAME. It's only been two minutes and it's already a constant stream of...well, you know its JP name. My immature sense of humor can't take it anymore!
-That kid looks like 10 different filler characters(and a hint of Kengo) rolled into one generic mass of filler flesh.
-Filler McPerson is just stoked about Pikachu.
-And they're starting to talk about...Magby...again.
-Filet o' Filler mentions the breeding center thing he naively gave his...Magby...to, which sends the twerps on high alert(not really, but they've seen this scenario so many times that you'd think their first response to breeding centers would be "TEAM ROCKET!").
-Naturally, when they get to the faux breeding center, everything is gone except for the bare building. Kids, this is why you do a bit of research on businesses before handing them your treasured pets.
-Bertha appears! And she appears to be quite a...forward...type.
-Brock seems to recall Bertha's name from somewhere.
-Bertha realizes that Brock's about to realize something, and drags him off! I don't think this is what Brock normally has in mind when he dreams about running off with a chick.
-Ix-nay on the ite-elay our-fay, eh?
-After running around a bit, going up a tower, and looking through some binoculars, they re-locate the breeding scam center.
-Once again, TR's shoddy construction work gives them away.
-When did Mime Jr start existing again? I'd written it off as being in the same place Buneary, Pachirisu, and Brock have been for the last 500 years.
-I admire Bertha's dedication to running with her hands behind her back. Always behind her back.
-Hm, one of those windmills isn't spinning. How suspicious.
-TEAM ROCKET?! I never would have guessed!
-Things aren't going well, but Bertha has a plan! Find out what it is after a word from our sponsors. Buy Pokemon merchandise. You love this show. You love the franchise. BUY ITS MERCHANDISE.
-What was Bertha's plan? It was to become ACTION HERO GRANNY! and give us a proper action hero car chase scene!
-Bertha has a Gliscor. Ho hum. I have a funny feeling a certain someone will not be pleased by this at all.
-TR conveniently has a Gliscor-shaped weapon for this occassion, but Bertha's Gliscor tears through it with ease. Along with their balloon.
-Blah blah Team Rocket's blasting off again blah.
-Oh wait, not quite yet. But the kid has his...Magby...back, at least.
-Suddenly, TR gives Seviper and Carnivine some sort of robot armor! What monstrosity has science wrought?!
-The robotic armor powers up TR's Pokemon at the expense of pissing off Bertha. You do not want to piss off an Elite Four member.
-As everyone's happy about driving TR off for the 638th time, Brock accidently mentions that Bertha is an E4 member. Goddammit Brock.
-And so, we've finally met every member of the Shinou E4. And it happened seven years faster than meeting every member of the original E4!
-Aw, Bertha's Hippowdon isn't grey like it is in the games.
-Things aren't going Ash's way in the battle, and Bertha starts saying something about power.
-And we get a couple of scenes where Ash looks for where Hippowdon will attack from underground, complete with needlessly CGI rocks.
-Ash loses, as one would expect.
-Action Hero Granny speeds off in her actionmobile as the sun sets(of course!) and the episode ends.

Bertha's Gliscor seemed like a slap in the face to me. I can only hope that is foreshadowing.

Called it.

[GalladeRocks]

Bertha's Gliscor seemed like a slap in the face to me. I can only hope that is foreshadowing.

Glad to see that somethings never change!

While on the topic, am I the only one to notice that one of the shots of Bertha's Gliscor was actually stock footage of Ash's?

[Locormus]

Glad to see that somethings never change!

While on the topic, am I the only one to notice that one of the shots of Bertha's Gliscor was actually stock footage of Ash's?

That's just rude! :O

Lol.. Didn't care for the Booby scam-part of the episode.. Team Rocket: Stealing your Boobys...

[Sand Alchemist]

So then what was the speech Bertha gave to Ash during their battle?

[Locormus]

So then what was the speech Bertha gave to Ash during their battle?

I'm not a translator, but Juputoru said something along the lines that it might be something along the lines of a talk of how to use power.. or at least something involving Torterra's capabilities..

[Aquadon]

Glad to see that somethings never change!

While on the topic, am I the only one to notice that one of the shots of Bertha's Gliscor was actually stock footage of Ash's?

As a matter of fact, the first image of Gliscor was the exact photo they use on Bulbapedia. I laughed. Maybe we'll get to see Gliscor another day: Bertha's Gliscor battling ASH!

In all seriousness though, it's a Gliscor; that's all. No more, no less. The best part of the episode was Bertha attempting to hide her identity. I couldn't stop laughing at her pulling the plug on Brock trying to ID her.

[Ciccone]

I will say this, I'm glad Bertha wasn't like Agatha. Agatha was so much kinder in the anime and I was afraid Bertha would be a Sinnoh-version of Agatha but a granny who drives faster than Cynthia is just amazing. I'm glad the writers did something different with her character instead of just recycling old ideas. Same goes for their decision to add Torterra to this episode just so we'd get a better feel of it's potential in battle.

[shac]

I have to get this out of me....

I like how the writers have remained true to the games when it comes to the Elite4 strength level.
Aaron was clearly the weakest. All his pokemon got caught in a TR net. What a disgrace! He does target practice on dart-boards. It's about pokemon battle...Grow up!

Then comes Bertha. Ash battled her with Terra and was able to land a hit that seemed to have done something.

Next stop Flint. His infernape wiped out Ash's three mons without even breaking a sweat.

Last comes Lucian. He was shown battling the champion, and he gave buisel a OHKO.

So yeah, you get my point.

[HoennMaster]

Oh here we go with the whole Aaron being weak thing again. Seriously, its time to give it a rest.

The battle was great, but I would have liked to see it be a little longer with Torterra landing more hits. I'm tired of the anime acting like Elite 4 members can't be beaten.

[Dax]

The 360 view of Torterra was one of the best scenes I've seen in this anime yet.

Torterra is full of win! I love that fat dino/continent-looking turtle!