Battling the King of the Mines! (722)

[Charmed]

Has Oshawott always looked this chubby? I wanted to squish it the whole time <3

I know, right? He was absolutely divine.

Anyway, I don't see what's so special about this Gym battle. I read through the first few pages and it seems like a lot of people are calling it the best Gym battle of the BW saga so far. I disagree; I thought it was highly generic and even Roggenrola's evolution seemed boring. I liked that Oshawott won a battle (for the first time in what seems like years), but I'm disappointed that he was pushed around by a Palpitoad once again. But Ash got the Quake Badge and now we will move on to Skyla's Gym. *Shudders*

[BurningSociety12345543210]

But Ash got the Quake Badge and now we will move on to Skyla's Gym. *Shudders*

That probably won't be for a long time.

[RickHoenn]

I know, right? He was absolutely divine.

Anyway, I don't see what's so special about this Gym battle. I read through the first few pages and it seems like a lot of people are calling it the best Gym battle of the BW saga so far. I disagree; I thought it was highly generic and even Roggenrola's evolution seemed boring. I liked that Oshawott won a battle (for the first time in what seems like years), but I'm disappointed that he was pushed around by a Palpitoad once again. But Ash got the Quake Badge and now we will move on to Skyla's Gym. *Shudders*

omg you're so negative about everything regarding Pokemon lately. :O are you disenchanted? lol

[Caseydia]

I know, right? He was absolutely divine.

Anyway, I don't see what's so special about this Gym battle. I read through the first few pages and it seems like a lot of people are calling it the best Gym battle of the BW saga so far. I disagree; I thought it was highly generic and even Roggenrola's evolution seemed boring. I liked that Oshawott won a battle (for the first time in what seems like years), but I'm disappointed that he was pushed around by a Palpitoad once again. But Ash got the Quake Badge and now we will move on to Skyla's Gym. *Shudders*

It is better than the electro gym that's for sure. I don't know about all of them though. The Bug gym was cool. The triplet gym was aweful though and the normal gym was too unrealistic at times. I mean Giga Impact? Come on!

[Pepsi_Plunge]

omg you're so negative about everything regarding Pokemon lately. :O are you disenchanted? lol

She is disenchanted since DP ended lol(dont feel offended Kira you know its true).

This battle is definetly on par with old DP gym battles and had some cool strategies.

[ChaosMage]

Maybe if we hadn't known about Roggenrola evolving this would have been more exciting, but I felt kind of bored through much of it. Maybe because Krokorok, Palpitoad and Excadrill are pokemon we already have on the main cast and it's nothing special seeing them in action, and while Snivy and Oshawott don't always win they certainly battle a lot. It just felt like any old gym battle rather than anything spectacular. Also, I call B.S. on Boldore taking so many hits. My suspension of disbelief was pushed way too far. A good episode, and better than the other Unova gyms so far, but not a great one.

[Demonsead]

Awesome episode. Ash vs. Clay was a good battle, we got an evolution, and a badge all at once.

[Pepsi_Plunge]

Ok finally watched the episode, freaking awesome.

- Loved how Yakon goes with his pike like he is going to smash the door and then click, uses that point part of the stick to click on the button and open the door, that made me laugh right away

- Oshawott vs Krokorok was awesome, them Oshawott really has come a long way, he was pretty resistant here.

- I seriously loved Satoshi Water Gun strategy to clear Oshawott eyes and then the combo, event hough it was a Aqua Jet/Razor Shell combination, the combo was still cool I liked how he basicly smashed him with the sword XD.

- Holy shiet, Yakon Palpitoad is pretty cocky, that thing came out full of confidence.

- Oshawott loses, he still took 3 hits after taking that much damage from Krokorok admirable

- Palpitoad is still cocky as heck, Snivy comes out attracts it and beats its down, Yakon tries to make him attack but he is infatuated and gets cocky, damn that thing was a tank it took 3 of Snivy attacks to go down

- Excadrill comes out and the thing seems to be immune to grass attacks(jkg), I like how he used his steel typing to avoid the grass attacks basicly, Horn Drill Snivy into a ko

- Roggenrola comes out and uses Sandstorm, Excadrill seems confused but Yakon tell his to use dig or Drill run on the floor not sure, Roggenrola seems to be hearing it or something as is able to dodge the frist 3 attacks but then starts to get hit

- Excadrill goes for the final blow with Horn drill but guess what? Roggenrola has sturdy has his ability haha, owned.

- OMG BEST EVOLUTION SEQUENCE EVER, that was ****ing awesome

- Excadrill attacks again, Boldore is able to stop him, send him back and seems to be telling Satoshi something by glowing his gems, seems like he has a new attack and blast Excadrill with Rock Blast and the animation for the attacks looks awesome to me

- Excadrill is stuned, Boldore tells something to Satosh yet again and Satoshi orders him to use Rock Smash, Yakon tells Excadrill to do the same, they colide and Boldore wins the exchange

- Conclusion Boldore is freaking awesome, wow I loved to see him fight.

Really good gym battle, Lucario vs Buizel good imo, definetly up there in my favourite gym battles.

I say this because not only Excadrill vs Boldore was awesome but Oshawott vs Krokorok was pretty cool too.

[Dax]

I loved this battle probably one of my favorites. One of the most beautifully animated battles I've seen and it was intense. Oshawott against Krokorok was the best part. Not only did Oshawott look extremely adorable, I loved how it moved and how in sync it was with Ash.

What I hated was Snivy. As a whole her performance felt so lackluster and I attribute it to the fact that it was all stock footage. We've seen the animation of her doing Leaf Storm, Leaf Blade, Attract and Vine Whip for so long that it was boring. There was almost no original footage plus she had it so easy against Palpitoad then so hard against Excadrill. It lacked tension.

The evolution animation was superb and although it annoys me that Roggenrola had no training and no battles before this, I enjoyed him and his new form.

[thunderblade12]

Best gym battle in Best Wishes easily.


Oshawott vs Krokorok was my favorite part. It felt like Ash was going back to his strategic style that he seemed to have lost after Diamond and Pearl ended. The animation when Oshawott turned the tables and beat Krokorok made it seem like such a bad ***.

I hated how Pikachu kept on butting in the way it did in Elesa's gym. I hope that doesn't mean it will be used in every gym that it doesn't have a straight up disadvantage in the way it was in Kanto, Johto, and most of AG.

Snivy... I'm a bit torn on. While I know people are going to hate on it and say that its weak and can only win against pokemon it has 4X advantages against or if it relies on Attract if it doesn't step it up sometime soon, I can't help but be impressed with its performance in this gym. It seemed pretty untouchable with the help of Attract. I hope we see it beat something it doesn't have an advantage against in a similar way.

Boldore's Rock Blast actually looks pretty cool. Its old animation made it look just like Stone Edge. A lot of attacks seem to have new animation in this episode.

Bite actually makes the teeth glow now and Sandstorm is finally continuous weather condition now rather than a glorified Sand Attack.

[_Taidow_]

I agree with everything thunderblade just said but I do want to say that young Clay looked creepy and unsettling for some reason.

[Joltik-Kid]

Hands down the Best Gym Battle I've seen in a while...this was exactly how Elesa's battle should have been played out.

Bite/Crunch actually got better animation and Sandstorm coloration through us for a loop, but I just hope the continuous part about it wasn't just to make this episode special...cause then I totally want Boldore to keep the move :3

Was it just me or did anyone else find it a little sad to see Roggenrola just stand there taking hits. I don't mean not doing anything, I mean just taking hit's while trying desperately to win for Ash. Had that evolution image not appeared, I actually think Roggenrola was gonna lose that one because of all the hit's Excadrill got on it. Dig is quite the evil move in the anime, though it should be easy to predict that it's gonna come up underneath you or at least within your general area. Gotta say though, I love how Boldore just tanked all those attacks after evolving

[KibaLG8]

Surprised that the Rival Battle music played. I liked it & I can easily say it's my favorite gym battle so far... Oshawott's match against Krokorok seemed the longest, & was hoping Roggenrola/Boldore VS Excadrill was a bit longer but it's all good. Great episode. And heard the ending too

[Kazuki Mirai]

And so I watch this episode after several times of searching. As I expected, I LOVED it. Ash utilized his old trick of washing off the sand in eyes and forcing the Pokemon out of the hole they dug in. Snivy I gotta admit had too much of an easy victory. She could've easily take him out regardless without Attract. I guess the animators were saving the budget for first and third battles. But yes, Clay is no doubt not very happy about Ash taking an easy win with Attract. Can't blame the guy, Attract is arguably the most annoying move in the games.

Ash probably have handled rock types better than Brock did by now. lol But dang, Roggenrola took a lot of Drill Run before evolving. And that pause before the evolution. It add to the suspense, making it seem like it was dead. And god, the evolution animation. We actually see the nice detail of Pokemon physically changing in the sequence. Looks like Excadrill had tired itself after repeatedly attacking Roggenrola and Boldore. And then Rock Smash face off. Just classic. I love it.

I probably I should've organize my sentences better but oh well. That's my cup of joe on this episode. The most entertaining gym battle we ever had in a long while. I actually think it's better than the DP ones.

[G50]

This episode was good. All of the battles were great in this Gym battle. It was great to see Dangoro evolve into Gantoru. Rock Blast looked really awesome. Nice to see Mijumaru get beat by Clay's Gamagaru, definitely a well-deserved and anticipated loss. Ash was very strategic in this gym battle, having Mijumaru use Water Gun on himself to wash away the sand. Clay's Gamagaru's personality was awesome to see. Mijumaru did really well against Waruvile. Clay definitely was acting like a crazy guy in this episode, throwing a fit after his losses during the battle. Doryuzu was definitely a really strong Pokemon. The new evolution sequence looked great. Pikachu definitely became pumped up to go against Waruvile, although wasn't chosen. Clay did look cute as a kid.

70/100

[KibaLG8]

This episode was good. All of the battles were great in this Gym battle. It was great to see Dangoro evolve into Gantoru. Rock Blast looked really awesome. Nice to see Mijumaru get beat by Clay's Gamagaru, definitely a well-deserved and anticipated loss. Ash was very strategic in this gym battle, having Mijumaru use Water Gun on himself to wash away the sand. Clay's Gamagaru's personality was awesome to see. Mijumaru did really well against Waruvile. Clay definitely was acting like a crazy guy in this episode, throwing a fit after his losses during the battle. Doryuzu was definitely a really strong Pokemon. The new evolution sequence looked great. Pikachu definitely became pumped up to go against Waruvile, although wasn't chosen. Clay did look cute as a kid.

70/100

Even though you gave positive feedback why the heck does it get a C?? o_0'

[Durian Seed]

This ranks in the top 2-4 best Gym battles Ash has partook in ever!!!

Every match was written quite excellently, I loved how Mijumaru took so much damage, yet still managed to come out on top, also Yacon's anger at Attract's cheap tactic was hilarious.

Finally, great way to evolve Dangoro, much better than how Swadlooner was handled.

[pokefandt]

I think animator of this episode is a fan of DBZ if that rock smash collision between Boldore and Excadril is any indication.

Who animated this one btw?

[Janovy]

This was a great gym battle, definitely on par to the fourth gym battle against Elesa which really entertained me. Unlike the last gym battle, this one showcased our old DP Ash using his brain and pulling off creative strategies in the first round of the gym battle. (I especially loved Oshawott creating rain by using Water Gun and him using Water Gun to draw Krokorok out of the hole only in order to hit it with an Aqua Jet - it was an amazingly done scene.)

I wasn't too satisfied with the Snivy battle since it was kinda cheap but seeing her cross her arms after winning like a boss redeemed it for me, lol.
Like a boss! : D

The evolution sequence was amazing, detailed and much longer than the usual ones. Also, I can pretty much understand how Boldore managed to survive the initial attacks from Excadrill, not only did the spinning moves not work on him due to him being a rock type, the one-hit-KO move didn't do any damage to him either since its ability basically shields it from the move. What should I say? Great gym battle! =D

I do have to remark that the faces of Iris, Dento didn't look nice, whoever drew those didn't pay too much attention. Though I guess it's understandable due to the focus put into this battle.

One more thing: Clay is f-ing ugly. -.-

[dman_dustin]

Even though you gave positive feedback why the heck does it get a C?? o_0'

I gave up a long time ago trying to figure out G50's rating method.

I've seen "okay" episode getting a 10/100.
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I'm still a little bitter than Roggenrola didn't do anything other than sandstorm, which would've done nothing to Excadrill anyway (except kill the crap out Roggenrola) because of Sand Rush or Sand Force or whatever ability Excadrill has.....oh it can have either one, never mind I thought it could only have one, and had a different ability. So yeah I would've like Roggenrola to at least use a move, and I didn't like how Excadrill hit Roggenrola 50,000 times and Ash apparently stood there letting Roggenrola take it but oh well.

Also I'm not sure I like Rock Blast's animation, I mean it is cool and everything but at the same time Rock Blast isn't a special type move, it's a physical so it doesn't make sense. But maybe I'm just bitter that Boldore apparently no longer knows Stone Edge.
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Also on the subject of Snivy and attract, I really can't see the complaints. If you really thought Snivy was going to lose without attract, you're kidding me because Snivy had the ultimate advantage over Palpitoad.

Besides I think its unfair that people say attract is useless since Trip's Servine, and then when it is successful you all still complain. Make up your mind please.

Also, I can pretty much understand how Boldore managed to survive the initial attacks from Excadrill, not only did the spinning moves not work on him due to him being a rock type

Those spinning moves, are super effective against rock types. It wasn't using rapid spin at that point, it was using dig, and drill run.