The Saffron Con (420)

[Heracross]

OK, just saw the episode finally. Tired as hell though, so I'll make this brief...

-I really wish the writers could figure out something to do with Harley besides the "pretend to be nice" thing all over again. They can only go so far with that. :/
-Harley with Ariados is awesome.
-Lilian > Vivian.
-Musashi using Sabonea for the contest is turning out to be quite humorous.
-I like the music they used right after Zenigame blasts off Kojirou and Nyasu. We haven't heard that piece in quite a while.
-Eefi is cool.
-The receptionist at the Contest Hall is cute.

Yay for my craptacular review! 8D

[Kakashi-Sharingan Warrior]

just like serebii I want to know if the scizor was harley's or Joy's

[Yamato-san]

I'm pretty sure the Hassamu was just an assistant Pokemon at the Center.

That Zenigame knowing Ice Beam really p*sses me off. Sure, Geodude brings up a point on how it depends on the type of Pokemon, considering Satoshi's Coatoise could already use Overheat, but.... and I'm sorry for bringing in game mechanics here.... it can be assumed that techniques are either hereditary, immitatable (as the case with Eneko's Blizzard, Pikachu's Iron Tail, and Kimori's Bullet Seed), or the trainer simply instructs how to use it themselves through tough training. Now, we know Haruka never trained it to use Ice Beam, and it never saw another Pokemon use Ice Beam. It's a starter Pokemon. It was being kept around by Ookido, meant to be given out to a beginning trainer. As a starter Pokemon, it should've been specially bred to not have such moves and prevent any cheapa** trainers from setting out into the world immediately, wouldn't you think? And really, any way you look at it, you gotta be getting sick of all the luck the writers are giving Haruka. Satoshi's Pokemon had to train hard just to effectively use techniques that they learn naturally in the games (Yukiwarashi's Ice Beam, Oosubame's Aerial Ace). Haruka's Pokemon keep getting unnatural techniques, from seemingly nowhere most the time, and mastering them almost immediately.

[Lovely May]

Nice episode. We would like to know what will happen later. Anyway;
- Squirtle is cute. It likes Vivian so much. It is awww.... Squirtle had first little crush lol
- I like Harley. He is awesome.
- May is sooo naive ^_^ She trusts him again. She will never learn... but its funny.
- Espeon - I love it^^ It looks great
- Jessie is sweet when her hair is short
Umm... what else? I think, that's it.

Oh, I'm glad, Drew isn't there. I like Harley much better =P

[CyberCubed]

I'm willing to bet that Jessie's hair will go back to normal after these contest episodes are over.

If Jessie was to really have a new hairstyle, the opening would have reflected it. And even if Jessie apparently likes her hair this time, I'm betting that in the next fighting dojo ep, it'll be long again with no explanation whatsoever.

[V Faction]

Yeah, that's the usual way to go.

[wobbanut]

Wow, you're not kidding, are you? ... I'd love to know how anyone can think Harley's a girl... Even with only screenshots, does the lack of breasts not tip anyone off?

It's not the lack of breasts, it's the long hair, the slim face, the soft features. It wasn't until I kept seeing Harley Harley Harley everywhere in the Contestshipping thread that I finally got the connection that this was a GUY. Even in the newer pictures, he only looks like a guy in a few of the shots (mostly when his mouth is open).

[Alfonso]

...

You know what I always found really interesting? How Pokeshippers (And shipping fans in general.) always say blushing is a huge sign of a crush or attraction.

So then Harley appears, and May bursts out in a huge blush, and shouts 'Haarii-san' just like she did when he made that teasing comment back in the Grand Festival. (Except this time, Shuu wasn't present.)

Not to mention the fact that she's so eager to believe him everytime.

May has a crush on Harley I'd say. :x One-Sided Cookieshipping is adorable. <3

[taitofan]

May has a crush on Harley I'd say. :x One-Sided Cookieshipping is adorable. <3

The thought briefly crossed my mind, but it'd be awfully tragic to have her crushing on a gay guy who hates her guts.... I did wonder why she was blushing when she saw him though. I just dismissed it as her being flustered I suppose.

...Interesting theory though. <3 Could make for some damned interesting fanfiction.

[CyberCubed]

Maybe May likes gay guys? I wonder...

[Geodude]

- Squirtle is cute. It likes Vivian so much. It is awww.... Squirtle had first little crush lol

That's not Vivian, that's her sister Lillian.

And yeah if the Scizor also worked at the Center, it sort of makes it Joy's, so I guess it could be put under Joy's bio, if that's what you're wondering, Joe. Maybe you could add another section on her bio that says "has employed these Pokemon" or something.

[JazzJazz]

I guess it could be put under Joy's bio, if that's what you're wondering, Joe. Maybe you could add another section on her bio that says "has employed these Pokemon" or something.

That's a good idea, could also work for all of the pokemon that we've seen utilised by Officer Jenny.

[Lupin]

As everyone has been saying, I am really mad about May's Squirtle knowing Ice Beam. It seems that the writers don't want May to work like a real trainer and have spend ages trying to teach her Pokemon these moves. They'd rather have her get the Pokemon with the moves already there.

[Lovely May]

The thought briefly crossed my mind, but it'd be awfully tragic to have her crushing on a gay guy who hates her guts.... I did wonder why she was blushing when she saw him though. I just dismissed it as her being flustered I suppose.

...Interesting theory though. <3 Could make for some damned interesting fanfiction.

It would be a good FanFic, but I think, May doesn't have any crush.
She was blushing because she saw her enemy. She was angry. Probably you are all red on face when you see your the worst enemy too and you would like to kick *** ^^ You know...emotions!

[Alfonso]

It would be a good FanFic, but I think, May doesn't have any crush.
She was blushing because she saw her enemy. She was angry. Probably you are all red on face when you see your the worst enemy too and you would like to kick *** ^^ You know...emotions!

May didn't look angry at all.

[Pokemon Fan]

Isn't Squirtle a bit to young for a pokemon contest?
Please tell me this is R1 type or May will lose when it comes to the battling.....

Squirtle is only a lil baby

It was a starter Pokemon that would have been given to a beginnign trainer so its not that young. Besides the starters seem able to grow pretty quickly from weak to fairly strong.

That Zenigame knowing Ice Beam really p*sses me off. Sure, Geodude brings up a point on how it depends on the type of Pokemon, considering Satoshi's Coatoise could already use Overheat, but.... and I'm sorry for bringing in game mechanics here.... it can be assumed that techniques are either hereditary, immitatable (as the case with Eneko's Blizzard, Pikachu's Iron Tail, and Kimori's Bullet Seed), or the trainer simply instructs how to use it themselves through tough training. Now, we know Haruka never trained it to use Ice Beam, and it never saw another Pokemon use Ice Beam. It's a starter Pokemon. It was being kept around by Ookido, meant to be given out to a beginning trainer. As a starter Pokemon, it should've been specially bred to not have such moves and prevent any cheapa** trainers from setting out into the world immediately, wouldn't you think?

Given the moves we've seen Pokemon trained and in the wild know or automatically learn, I hardly think that's how it goes. A lot of factors influence it, the main being what the writers want to happen. ^_^ But there is also the trainer, I think it's reasonable that a starter Pokemon would grow more quickly and learn better attacks more quickly if under the care of a fairly experienced trainer like May rather than under the care of a newbie.

This is why I'm okay with Squirtle learning Ice Beam. In all these weeks May has had it the thing has been in a few battles and done a number of things. However it hasn't learned any new moves. It's perfectly reasonable to me that once it was ready to display a new move it would use all that experience its gained to make it a very good new move like Ice Beam. I also think that it being a Water type may have helped. It already knew how to aim projectile attacks (unlike Ash's Snorunt) thanks to these Water moves, and since ice is only frozen water, Squirtle was a lot more prepared once it used Ice Beam.

And really, any way you look at it, you gotta be getting sick of all the luck the writers are giving Haruka.

I will admit she has had more than her share of good luck (even May admitted this in the recent English contest episode, saying that she wasn't too skilled yet). However, Ash had a lot of lucky breaks early in his training career too.

And luck only has so much to do with it. Since each Pokemon is unique even within a species, each learning attacks and growing in different ways and at different rates, things like May's Squirtle getting Ice Beam should happen sometimes (see above about Squirtle.) The Pokemon's mental state seems to be especially important too, as well as the complexity of the attack it is learning.

May didn't look angry at all.

May's reaction does confuse me, given they didn't exactly part on nice terms previously. Any idea what she said when she first saw him and started blushing?

[Alfonso]

May's reaction does confuse me, given they didn't exactly part on nice terms previously. Any idea what she said when she first saw him and started blushing?

Uh...

"HAARII-SAN!"

[Yamato-san]

Given the moves we've seen Pokemon trained and in the wild know or automatically learn, I hardly think that's how it goes. A lot of factors influence it, the main being what the writers want to happen. ^_^ But there is also the trainer, I think it's reasonable that a starter Pokemon would grow more quickly and learn better attacks more quickly if under the care of a fairly experienced trainer like May rather than under the care of a newbie.

This is why I'm okay with Squirtle learning Ice Beam. In all these weeks May has had it the thing has been in a few battles and done a number of things. However it hasn't learned any new moves. It's perfectly reasonable to me that once it was ready to display a new move it would use all that experience its gained to make it a very good new move like Ice Beam. I also think that it being a Water type may have helped. It already knew how to aim projectile attacks (unlike Ash's Snorunt) thanks to these Water moves, and since ice is only frozen water, Squirtle was a lot more prepared once it used Ice Beam.

Uh huh.... so exactly why did Satoshi, an even more experienced trainer, struggle to get his Pokemon to master Iron Tail, Bullet Seed, Aerial Ace, and Ice Beam? Three out of four of those being attacks the Pokemon at least saw someone else perform before (unlike Haruka's Zenigame). And, if you claim a Water-type would have such an easy time mastering Ice Beam, why wouldn't it work the same, if not better, for.... oh, I don't know.... an Ice-type? I also fail to see your point when you say "In all these weeks May has had it the thing has been in a few battles and done a number of things." Right, it was in like three or four battles. In one of those battles, it got its a** handed to it by Shuu's Flygon, one was a mock battle with Satoshi's Gomazou which was interrupted by Sweet Honey Koduck-chan, and the rest were against Rocket Dan, whom as we know, just seems to be the writer's fodder for making anyone, even a sucky trainer of the day, seem as though they made some big accomplishment. The Zenigame did that little, in all this time that Haruka's had it so far, and you're making it seem as though it deserves to get a new attack. And this logic isn't flawed how?

I will admit she has had more than her share of good luck (even May admitted this in the recent English contest episode, saying that she wasn't too skilled yet). However, Ash had a lot of lucky breaks early in his training career too.

True. After all, he did have a Hitokage evolve into a Lizardon in only a few episodes, and after Lizardon evolved, he rolled onto the egg of an incredibly rare Pokemon, Togepi, which just seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. He had a Crab, which didn't battle before in its life, evolve after beating just one opponent (which it seemed to be at a clear disadvantage against), and sweep through Satoshi's first league battle afterwards. He ran into the Kantou starters, all seemingly rare Pokemon, in three consecutive episodes and got them to join his team. For his starter, he got a Pikachu that's supposedly very strong for its species (I question this one.... looking back on the episodes, I think Rocket Dan only mistakenly made the wronged assumption, when it seemed Pikachu was actually just getting an added charge from Satoshi peddling Kasumi's bike). The writers purposely put him in situations where he could get a gym badge through heroism or dumb luck rather than actually battling and strategizing. Probably some other stuff I can't think of off the top of my head.

However, Haruka's cheapness seems a bit different. Satoshi, after travelling one or two regions, at least stopped seeming like such a cheap-a**, seeming as though he's grown enough that the writers could stop giving him handicaps. Haruka, on the other hand, got through Houen, and the writers are still giving her lucky breaks as evidenced by Zenigame's Ice Beam, as well as getting that damned turtle in the first place. Also, even back in Kantou, Satoshi did have to work a bit for it to pay off. Hitokage was at least in quite a few battles before it evolved into Lizard, and as a drawback, the writers also made Lizard and Lizardon a very troublesome Pokemon for Satoshi to handle until well over halfway into the Orange Islands. Same thing goes for Fushigidane getting Solar Beam and Zenigame getting Hydro Pump, they all worked for it. I also don't recall Satoshi winning things as cheaply and unrealistically to the extreme as, say, an inexperienced Eneko plowing through a Hyper Beam with Blizzard (I like Eneko, but watching the Phantom match, I can see where all the "Super Skitty" comments come from).

[The Big Al]

Pokemon Fan is just pulling stuff out of the blue to try justify the unjustifiable again. Yes, this was cheap. Ash and his Pokemon bust their rears and May's Pokemon just, get lucky. I swear, I'm tired of her lucky streak. Since the Fallarbor tournament in which she actually had to use her brain, she's been cruising on pure luck and I for one am tired of it.

[Porygandrew]

I loved all of the music in this piece!

I didn't notice it until Espeon came out, but while in the Contest Hall, there wasn't any background music at all, then all of a sudden comes this really beautiful piece of music, it was wonderful!

Great intro, I like it.

The music sold me, overall.

As well as the Cacnea/Jessie relationship. She deserves a little something like that for intimidating all of the pokemon she uses in contests.