BW 012 "The Yabukuron Squad and the Secret Base!?" Review Thread

[dman_dustin]

You could do the exact same episode without the egg and nothing's changed about its plot.

That's not really a good argument since that can be applied to ANY example.

We've had examples where it looked like someone was going to catch something but didn't.

Take Snivy's capture for example. While it would've been stupid, the episode could've been easily done with no capture in the end. Just like with that Jigglypuff episode in Battle Frontier, Ash could've realized it wasn't right to keep attacking Snivy, since it obviously didn't want to come with him, apologizes and say goodbye. If that happened it would've just been like your example of without the egg, and then the episode would've been pure filler.

But everything that happened in the Snivy episode directly was the reason Ash caught Snivy. Snivy found a perfect trainer.

It doesn't matter if a certain scene doesn't impact the episode at all. Like Ash saving a Pokemon and then it ultimately decides to go with him. Saving that Pokemon has no impact on an episode's plot, but it would be the reason why said Pokemon decides to go with him. Oh right I almost forgot, for you saving a Pokemon is a bullcrap reason for a Pokemon go to a main character.

It's the same case here, Ash volunteered to help the Yuri keep the kids in order, or at least reason with them. Because Ash did, and helped greatly, the daycare woman rewarded him with the egg.

I mean sure I'll agree that the episode could've been the same without the egg, but because of Ash's action to the episode's plot was the reason he got the egg. He didn't get it because he was good looking, he did it for helping more than Iris or Dento.

I'd compare with the episode where Ash found the Togepi egg.

Not really Ash lucked into the Togepi egg, and that was really tacked on for whatever reason.

In this episode one of the main COTD's was the daycare lady (caretaker), and showed Ash, Dento, and Iris the eggs prior to going to the school. Obviously the caretaker was good friends with Yuri otherwise she wouldn't have been in this episode or most of it anyway.

So someone receiving the egg isn't without possibility.

A better example to your "the end means nothing to the episode" argument is this:

The episode is about Shinpora, Ash helps out Shinpora and there are some nice scenes where Ash and Shinpora bond. Ash then says goodbye to Shinpora and Shinpora happily says goodbye (because it made a new friend, or whatever), then near the end Ash, Iris, and Dento are walking along and then a Bachuru appears out of nowhere and attacks Ash, thus Ash battles it and captures it and the rest of the episode is Ash, Dento and Iris confused as to what just happened, then Ash shrugs his shoulders and says "Alright I got a new Pokemon."

That's a perfect example to your argument. Bachuru just appears out of nowhere, didn't even show up in the episode until the end. That's something I'd be willing to say was filler-ish because it popped out of nowhere and it's capture didn't impact the episode's plot with Shinpora at all.

Unlike this episode where the episode's plot is the reason Ash gets the egg in the first place, just like any normal capture episode.

[Hellion]

stuff

The main narrative of the episode would be the same without the egg and was completely disconnected from the main character's goals and developpement, so WERE IT NOT FOR THE EGG, this episode would have been a filler and a bad one at that. The point is, this episode has all the elements of a bad filler and yet isn't, but that does not mean that because of 30 seconds, everything about this episode that was filler is suddenly of the utmost importance and extremely relevant to future events.

You're just trying to give importance to the filler main plot of the episode (i.e. Ash helping that school teacher, with the kids and the Yabukuron) because in your mind it give weight to your belief that the pokémon inside the egg will belong to Ash because he "earned it". Why don't we be honest and say it like it is? I don't think so. I think the writers just wrote an episode that stood on its own and then shoved the egg in that storyline at the last minute in a less than graceful manner and that therefore, this episode doesn't really hold any indication to the future of the egg.

[Emolga]

Whoa, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Yabukuron is really cute. Glad the children got to keep it in the end. <3 Loved the scene where everyone was ogling over Pikachu; Satoshi even called it cute himself, which isn't something we've heard from him in a long time (I believe).

Looks like Iris really will get the Pokemon inside the egg and Satoshi's gonna catch that Meguruco.

[Reila]

After this episode, I'm so sure that the egg isn't of a Meguroco... If Satoshi will take one, it will be the one with sunglasses.

The egg may be of a Zuruggu... Someone said that Zuruggu's colors didn't match with the egg's colors, but I have to disagree, the color of the circles in the egg are the same of Zuruggu's head and pants, and the shape of the patterns resemble the shape of the head also.

[dman_dustin]

The main narrative of the episode would be the same without the egg

Really? It would've been Ash had he not received the egg, Isn't the episode you're trying to describe, wouldn't all the main characters agree to it. What did Iris and Dento, could they not be bothered at all with this teacher's problem. Kind of rude if you ask me since they are following Ash wherever he wants to go, I'm not saying they have to everything he does, but it seems out of character for them not wanting to help.

Oh wait.....Ash was the only one who volunteered because he was the one who was going to end up with the egg.

and was completely disconnected from the main character's goals and developpement.

So is Snivy's capture episode, the only reason it's relevant to the Main Character's goals and development was because Ash caught it. But Snivy's storyline didn't affect Ash or the group in the slightest. It only happened because he caught it in the end.

Seriously stop using backwards logic here, it doesn't work. You can't pick and choose what's relevant or not to an episode outside what is obvious.

See this is why I get pissed at people arguing shit like this. And would rather main events happen in the beginning of the episode or the middle. Because when everything happens at the end, people will complain that the rest of the episode is irrelevant and non-important.

THINK OF EVERY DAMN EXAMPLE of Ash catching a Pokemon at the end of the episode, how does the episode's plot have anything to do with the character's goal or development?

so WERE IT NOT FOR THE EGG, this episode would have been a filler

As I said I agree with that. HOWEVER the episode's plot becomes relevant because of the end. Just like every capture episode. The plot only becomes relevant when the character catches said Pokemon. I don't know why you keep ignoring that main part of my argument, except for the simple fact that apparently to you everything is tacked on.

and a bad one at that

I wonder if people who actually understood the episode actually say that since it was dialogue heavy.

that does not mean that because of 30 seconds, everything about this episode that was filler is suddenly of the utmost importance

Then every capture episode is filler because of this logic.

You're just trying to give importance to the filler main plot of the episode (i.e. Ash helping that school teacher, with the kids and the Yabukuron) because in your mind it give weight to your belief that the pokémon inside the egg will belong to Ash because he "earned it". Why don't we be honest and say it like it is? I don't think so. I think the writers just wrote an episode that stood on its own and then shoved the egg in that storyline at the last minute in a less than graceful manner and that therefore, this episode doesn't really hold any indication to the future of the egg.

Really? Then why introduce the Pokemon Daycare in this episode at all. Honestly I doubt you'd be so adamant that this was a filler episode if it was Yuri who gave Ash the egg.

The only reason it is for you is because it was another random COTD that gave Ash the egg, despite the fact that Yuri is not the caretaker, and would not be able to without permission. But hey the caretaker has to do something in this episode, so why not let her give Ash the egg since she's the one allowed to.

Or how about this? They had an egg to give to Ash, and they figured instead of an episode revolving around the egg and the daycare which has been done to death (apparently) they would have Ash earn it while debuting another Pokemon.

[Ampharos King]

At this point, the definition of filler is totally scewered. Most fans consent that any episode whose main plotline has no influence on future or past events, but includes something at the end, is a "filler."

However, we are reintroduced to the sunglasses Meguroco (who appeared in the third episode). If Ash was able to remember an otherwise nonexistant pokemon from a "canonical" episode, are we to assume that this does not tie back into the past in any way? Regardless, the Meguroco had a relatively small appearance in the episode, and to be honest, it wasn't really to be needed at all.

Since Ash is the only main character with a long-term goal at this point, we should get a lot more "filler" episodes in the future. It won't be like Diamond and Pearl where the writers balance out and develop two separate storylines at once.

That said, in my opinion, this episode wasn't as forgettable as some of the other fillers from the past. It taught an important lesson in the end about the relationship between people and pokemon, that a person does not need to reach a certain age to love and appreciate a pokemon, that a pokemon has feelings as acute as a human being's.

Overall, a decent episode.

[Shiny Celebi]

I dont want Iris to get Ash's egg. That would be annoying.

[Reila]

I dont want a Meguroco hatching from the egg. That would be annoying.

[Grave-E]

So is Snivy's capture episode, the only reason it's relevant to the Main Character's goals and development was because Ash caught it.

The thing is, that episode was obviously written to build up to the capture. Ash actively made several attempts to battle and catch it, and had to figure out having to get round Attract. And then he catches it. The whole plot of the episode relates to Ash's goal.

The Yabukuron episode is about some kids who want to keep Yabukuron, but their teacher won't let them. Ash helps out because...well, to help out, I guess. Yeah, he's rewarded with the egg, but where was the build up to that? What's an egg got to do with anything else that happened in the episode?

[Hellion]

Isn't the episode you're trying to describe, wouldn't all the main characters agree to it.

Not necessarily. Have you ever watched this show before? Do we have to list the hundreds of filler episodes where Misty and Brock and Tracey and Max and to a lesser extent Dawn and May did nothing but watch Ash?

I'm not saying they have to everything he does, but it seems out of character for them not wanting to help.

Actually, so far, it's very in character for Iris to sit around and do nothing.

THINK OF EVERY DAMN EXAMPLE of Ash catching a Pokemon at the end of the episode

Some of the captures have been quite random, but most of them are introduced at the beginning of the episode and throughout the episode, Ash does stuff that leads to the capture. Therefore, the capture itself is part of the main plot.

Here, Ash does stuff that leads to... the teacher accepting to keep Yabukuron and make the kids happy. The plot is that Ash and friends get attacked by kids, the kids steal Ash's hat (which is why he volunteers), Ash has a heart-to-heart with the kids, Yabukuron saves everybody when the debris comes falling, Yuri has a change of heart. This is a self-contained plot that has no impact on anything outside of it. Ash's actions weren't leading to anything up until the last 30 seconds. Note that in that main plot, nowhere does the word egg or daycare show up.

That main plot part of this is filler. Then you add the part about the egg and the daycare that is not a filler, because the egg will result in Iris or Ash getting a new pokémon.

they would have Ash earn it while debuting another Pokemon.

This is the part I'm arguing. That somehow the entire plot of the episode suddenly has meaning, and means that Ash will automatically get whatever pokémon is in the egg because he supposedly earned it. None of his actions in the episode were made towards getting that egg but rather towards getting his hat back and then, helping the kids.

The thing is, that episode was obviously written to build up to the capture. Ash actively made several attempts to battle and catch it, and had to figure out having to get round Attract. And then he catches it. The whole plot of the episode relates to Ash's goal.

The Yabukuron episode is about some kids who want to keep Yabukuron, but their teacher won't let them. Ash helps out because...well, to help out, I guess. Yeah, he's rewarded with the egg, but where was the build up to that? What's an egg got to do with anything else that happened in the episode?

That is exactly my point!

[Samurott]

So it's a communist witch hunt after all. I was afraid of that.

[Dogasu]

Yuri the teacher or whatever was unlikable up until she allowed Yabukuron to "stay" (well she did save a kid, but otherwise). I seriously don't know what was up with her, even Ash apparently disagreed with her and was willing to fight for the kids.

Yuri knew that Yabukuron loves eating garbage and figured that it would see all the toys the kids leave around and eat them. And then, well, she'd have a bunch of crying five-year-olds on her hands.

I'm actually kind of disappointed that she gave in at the end. I mean, it makes it seem like the moral of this episode is that if an adult says "no" but you start whining enough, she'll eventually come around.

Really J/J/M are starting to be boring. They haven't been doing anything significant since BW006.

I mean, that's another thing in my long list of problems I have with the way the Rocket-Dan is being handled. I'm supposed to "give them a chance" and "not be too quick to judge their new direction," yet it's hard to do any of that when they only appear for like 60 seconds in each episode. They don't have time to really do anything and, as others have said, their appearances feel more like something the writers feel obligated to do rather than something they want to do.

I'm wondering how those kids were able to make that giant trash heap in the first place. How in the world did a bunch of kids, who wouldn't have been older than five or six, make a fort made out of bookcases and other heavy furniture?

They also must be super geniuses for being able to rig a pulley system like that.

Is that really so hard to believe?

Given how they act like typical real world five year olds in every other way? Yeah, it is.

[Grave-E]

Speaking of the kids pulling off odd feats, I thought it was pretty funny that they were able to outrun two adults by riding tricycles. On a dirt road. Uphill. Whilst pulling a pokemon in a cart. I mean, I know it's not something you're supposed to think about while watching it, but sheesh XP

[Dogasu]

And speaking of that scene, I laughed when Iris did that superhuman jump to avoid the kids' mud balls. I can easily see the writers having Satoshi and Dent be abused all throughout the region while Iris walks away without a scratch.

[dman_dustin]

The thing is, that episode was obviously written to build up to the capture. Ash actively made several attempts to battle and catch it, and had to figure out having to get round Attract. And then he catches it. The whole plot of the episode relates to Ash's goal.

The Yabukuron episode is about some kids who want to keep Yabukuron, but their teacher won't let them. Ash helps out because...well, to help out, I guess. Yeah, he's rewarded with the egg, but where was the build up to that? What's an egg got to do with anything else that happened in the episode?

See that would be a very good argument if not for a few things.

1. The Caretaker was there "the whole time", watched Ash volunteer to help out and she deemed Ash deserving of the egg. Had she not been there, and magically gave Ash the egg at the end, then sure, yes good point. But the fact is they stopped at the Daycare before going to the school, apparently it was more important to show the daycare than going after the kids.

2. Attract? Really? The only reason Ash got around attract was because of Mamepato's gender, that's really nothing, it would've been better if it was a male Pokemon. Ash lucked out that Mamepato was a female. And besides I think it was quite obvious that the way to beat attract is with same gender Pokemon, it's not that contributing to the growth.

3. The AG Swablu was geared around May catching it, but apparently the writer's didn't want that so it ended up going back to it's flock. The same good be said about Snivy's capture, as I mentioned earlier Ash could've realized that Snivy just wasn't the right Pokemon for him since she was so adamant about not being caught, Ash could've just left without Snivy. The only real important thing outside of the capture was the genders of the Pokemon, which is probably less important than Ash receiving a Pokemon egg.

Not necessarily. Have you ever watched this show before? Do we have to list the hundreds of filler episodes where Misty and Brock and Tracey and Max and to a lesser extent Dawn and May did nothing but watch Ash?

So they were centered around Ash's character, like this episode?

Actually, so far, it's very in character for Iris to sit around and do nothing.

Well it may be primarily because she doesn't have the right Pokemon, but she was willing to help out Darumakka and Hihidaruma at the clock tower, otherwise she would've just stayed at the Pokemon center.

Ash was the only one willing to deal with kids even after being attacked by them, not once, but twice (though the second time was after deciding to deal with them, and he was still willing to deal with them afterwards). Granted Ash was obviously astute on the situation as he smiled when looking at the kids "defending" Yabukuron.

Some of the captures have been quite random, but most of them are introduced at the beginning of the episode and throughout the episode, Ash does stuff that leads to the capture. Therefore, the capture itself is part of the main plot.

Except before the real main plot of this episode began they stopped by the daycare to look at the eggs, before then deciding to go after the kids.

Note that in that main plot, nowhere does the word egg or daycare show up.

Would it have made sense to? The writer's obviously wanted to kill two birds with one stone. The Daycare and the Kindergarten School. Obviously they've done the daycare storyline before and wanted to do the Kindergarten School, or have it be the majority of the episode. Just because they didn't focus on the daycare or egg, it doesn't make it any less important just because the main plot the actual thing they wanted to focus on was not important by itself.

This is the part I'm arguing. That somehow the entire plot of the episode suddenly has meaning, and means that Ash will automatically get whatever pokémon is in the egg because he supposedly earned it.

Well the Caretaker obviously thought Ash deserved the egg after what he did. Why would it make any sense to give ASH the egg if he didn't do a damn thing in this episode. If they were going for that why not Iris and Dento as well.

None of his actions in the episode were made towards getting that egg but rather towards getting his hat back and then, helping the kids.

As I said in this post because the Daycare and the egg weren't not what the writer's wanted to focus on. I mean honestly how exciting it would be to see Ash, Iris, and Dento take care of the eggs, have some random antagonist show up, Ash is the one that does all the work and earn the egg that way.

The way I see it, the reason why Ash's action were made towards getting the egg was because the Caretaker believed Ash could take care of a newborn Pokemon after dealing with the children. I don't think any daycare caretaker is just going to give eggs to whoever wants them.

The caretaker obviously has to judge who a responsible trainer is and decide if that person deserves the egg or not. Obviously Ash's handling of the children was comparable to how a trainer handles a newborn Pokemon thus he earned the egg because he handled the children.

Yuri knew that Yabukuron loves eating garbage and figured that it would see all the toys the kids leave around and eat them. And then, well, she'd have a bunch of crying five-year-olds on her hands.

That's pretty petty and selfish if you ask me, just kind of makes me like her less. I mean she obviously cares about the children, but it seems like she cares more about her sanity a bit more.

I'm actually kind of disappointed that she gave in at the end. I mean, it makes it seem like the moral of this episode is that if an adult says "no" but you start whining enough, she'll eventually come around.

Well for starters that wouldn't be Pokemon. And her reason was too selfish and petty to be the same thing. Either way you have children crying, might as well take the lesser of two evils in this case.

Like I said earlier if was because of Yabukuron's bad smell, then that would be more reasonable because the fumes could be toxic to humans, but refusing the Pokemon on the basis that Yabukuron MIGHT eat toys is pretty petty and selfish.

I mean what it didn't occur to Yuri to have the Pokemon be outside and have some small miniature dump in a specific location for Yabukuron's food?

Unless the whole point was letting Yabukuron inside of the school.

Given how they act like typical real world five year olds in every other way? Yeah, it is.

I don't know any five year old that would be capable of building a fort around a tree, defending something, and attack anyone who threatens that. They may have been immature about the situation, but they have to be pretty smart to do what they did. And its true I might be underestimating the intelligence of 5 year old (in Japan), but the 5 year olds that I know wouldn't go to great lengths as these kids did.