Tactics Theatrics! (430)

[Hitchin_A_Ride]

Tucker! finally apear..he look so masculine in the series that i was shocked i must said...but..pretty cool episode and the best FB so far!

[Yamato-san]

damn.... three Frontier Brains showed up thus far, and for two of them, their seiyuu almost immediately struck me as being familiar (the first being Datsura). All throughout this episode, I was thinking "Heath sounds like Count Elec from Rockman.EXE" (a series I'd been downloading lately). I waited for the credits to see his name, did a quick look-up, and BAM! I was right ^^.

Anyway, I can't friggin believe it. The previous episode has Hakuryuu, my favorite Pokemon, in the title. Obviously, I had high expectations for it, but it ended up absolutely sucking (mainly due to Zenigame glorification and Hakuryuu barely appearing enough to redeem the negative aspects about the episode). Meanwhile, this episode features a Pokemon I rather dispise, but it ends up kicking a**. Yeah, I know, we should just enjoy these episodes for what they are rather than let our preferences in Pokemon cloud our judgement and jump to conclusions before seeing them, but dammit, this anime's main intent is to showcase those creatures. How can we be expected NOT to judge an episode at least somewhat based on our favorite or least favorite Pokemon being featured. Besides, other than Windie appearing, there was also the manga spoiling everything and the fact that it was a Frontier Brain battle being crammed into one episode that lowered our expectations (not to say Kogomi's battle was horrid, but a second episode would've done it some good, and that goes even more towards Haruka's latest contest, which tried too hard to cram in a backstory. Heath's characterization and battle, though, seemed to have been nicely wrapped up within the span of one episode).

So, even though I'm no fan of Windie, this battle was great nontheless. Heigani and Oosubame are loveable as always, and I agree with what was said about the variety in move usage, though the Mud Shot that looked like Bubble Beam bugged the hell out of me. And was that really Water Pulse? I thought I heard "Mizu no Hadou" as well, but that looked an awful lot like it should've been Whirlpool to me (would've been cool if it was, though, because that would nicely demonstrate how moves like that and Surf could possibly be executed on land). These guys have been inconsistent with how moves look before, but this time, it seems to have gotten just plain ridiculous. I did like Protect looking like a forcefield, though. Oh, and Haruka seems to have commented on using Fire Blast for a Contest appeal.... I wonder if this is a sign of things to come for Wakashamo.

It's about time there was mention of Satoshi's participation in all those leagues (also nice to see that the Orange Island tournament and Whirl Cup hadn't been forgotten, even if I utterly detested the latter one and its crappy mini-saga). But it's a shame they didn't take this opportunity to give Haruka and Masato a more surprised reaction. Remember, Masato wasn't familiar with Satoshi prior to his final battle in the Shirogane Tournament. Sure, he and Haruka been with Satoshi for the past... oh, possibly a year in the anime's time.... but we can only wonder if Satoshi told them about these things off-screen (I don't think they knew he had a Kabigon until the Banana Namakero Park episode. Besides, it could be a little hard to believe that Satoshi won the Orange championship, especially when Masato had poked fun at him only coming in 8th place in Shirogane, a very recent event at the time). Ah well, I already got a giant mutt laughing in my face going "you can't have it all".

Finally, I'd like to personally thank Rocket Dan. If they hadn't been so limitedly involved as they were, I can bet you this all wouldn't have been pulled off within a single episode as nicely as it was.

[S.Suikun]

While looking at the pictures at filb.de, I noticed something. In the video before the match profiling Ash to the audience, we see screens of the Indigo League, Whirl Cup, Silver Conference, and Evergrande stadiums. Nice touch.

[Heracross]

It's about time there was mention of Satoshi's participation in all those leagues (also nice to see that the Orange Island tournament and Whirl Cup hadn't been forgotten, even if I utterly detested the latter one and its crappy mini-saga).

Eh? They did forget the Orange league though - it was the only one that wasn't shown. Rather odd considering it was an actual league with gyms and all, unlike the Whirl Islands tournament, which was shown.

[Shiny Rekkuza]

I really though Ash was gonna lose this one ._.

oh well there is always hope Azami will beat the bloody pulp out of him with her Milotic, seviper, or shuckle

The animation was superb, Tucker was great as were the moves that the pokemon used ^^ Great ep overall

[Kakashi-Sharingan Warrior]

I loved seeing all the leagues Ash has been in (but orange islands wasn't there T_T), it seems the Battle Dome is the 'public facility' since it was like a league stadium, full of fans (all there for Tucker, except for May, Max, Brock and Scott), It was an amazing battle, shame the previous battle fronteir matches weren't this great. I did think Ash was going to lose, Swellow and Corphish v Arcanine and Swampert...

9/10

[Rudoku]

I'm a little disappointed that Scott had to show his fat face again. I'm convinced more than ever that he's a pedophilic stalker.

He's a stalker in the games, so it makes sense that he's one in the anime.

[Yamato-san]

Eh? They did forget the Orange league though - it was the only one that wasn't shown. Rather odd considering it was an actual league with gyms and all, unlike the Whirl Islands tournament, which was shown.

I suggest you watch the episode again. I clearly heard them refer to the Orange championship, even if I don't recall a picture of it being shown.

[Heracross]

*Head + desk*

My bad. I [obviously] didn't catch that the first time around. I'll blame it on the fact that it was like 4:30 in the morning when I watched the episode. Yeah, that's it... ^^;;

[ghost master]

Did anyone notice that May's egg disappeared unless the pics skipped over it. Anyway this episode was pretty good. Not any flaws really and it makes me wonder why half of the hoenn league battles were so much worse than this.

[Kakashi-Sharingan Warrior]

Did anyone notice that May's egg disappeared unless the pics skipped over it. Anyway this episode was pretty good. Not any flaws really and it makes me wonder why half of the hoenn league battles were so much worse than this.

yeah, but maybe Scott had it in his marshmellow hair

or maybe it magically dissapeared for this episode

or maybe the animators couldn't be bothered..

[skarmachild]

yeah, but maybe Scott had it in his marshmellow hair

or maybe it magically dissapeared for this episode

or maybe the animators couldn't be bothered..

Or maybe the animators browsed the Serebii forum and checked all the threads which say "OMG wh4AT IZ mAayS EgG g00ng 2 b?!" and decided to remove the egg in-case of future scenarios.

[JazzJazz]

Anyway this episode was pretty good. Not any flaws really and it makes me wonder why half of the hoenn league battles were so much worse than this.

Wonder no more, it can all be explained by a magical little thing call inconsistency... these writers really do seem to have good days and bad.

[skarmachild]

Hopefully Team Rocket only play minor parts in battles like this. Was great overall. Loved the nice CG effects, although how many times was the crowd screaming scene repeated?

Anyway, pretty good episode (this is the first I've actually seen of the BF Saga), future BF episodes should be this good. Scotts really funny, and his super-round face.

9/10 - Good animation, but if they made really smooth animations a perfect 10/10. Nice battle.

[Gravy]

All throughout this episode, I was thinking "Heath sounds like Count Elec from Rockman.EXE" (a series I'd been downloading lately). I waited for the credits to see his name, did a quick look-up, and BAM! I was right ^^.

Gahh! I knew Tucker sounded strangely familliar! If he had been constantly spouting a truck-load of totally random Engrish, I'd have recognised him in an instant! >_<

[Mawile_Eyes]

This Es show me the best battle, Tucker is so kool and his pokemon are so powerful. One thing I don't like: Ash's pokemon seem so strong after they are hit by Fusion Of Water & Fire. I think it's not fair

[jolteonjak]

Or maybe the animators browsed the Serebii forum and checked all the threads which say "OMG wh4AT IZ mAayS EgG g00ng 2 b?!" and decided to remove the egg in-case of future scenarios.

I love seeing people make fun of "leet" speak...

[GreenKirby]

I finnaly got a way to obtain the episode. The battle was of a great quality and was done very well (even if it did lack Charizard/Grovyle). Arcanine and Swampert were very powerful/formidable and Corphish and Swellow were able to stay for pretty long. I liked Tucker's little magic trick at the end and his entrance was cool how he leaped around the dome.

But why was Ash suprised and scared when Scott told him about Tucker?

[Mawile_Eyes]

I don't know Japanese but I guess that Scott told Ash 'bout Tucker's record before. And no ones hasn't defeated him yet.

[Yamato-san]

Gahh! I knew Tucker sounded strangely familliar! If he had been constantly spouting a truck-load of totally random Engrish, I'd have recognised him in an instant! >_<

Didn't it seem like he was speaking enough Engrish? Given, it wasn't as random as what you'd expect from a British stereotype, but he still went on quite a bit about "beauty" and whatnot.