Thread: S15 EP41 "Iris and the Rogue Dragonite!"

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Ash and friends are caught up in the middle of a blackout, which Officer Jenny believes has been caused by an aggressive Dragonite attacking the local power plant. Iris believes that there must be something more to the story, however...

Not a bad episode, but I was getting tired of Iris constantly spouting "There are no bad Dragon-types".

What proof does she have to such a claim?

Sounds like Dragonite keep it's Japanese VA, of course i haven't seen a Dragonite since EP253 when 4kids was dubbing, so i wouldn't know :/

Originally Posted by Eitarou

What proof does she have to such a claim?

Understanding their hearts with her alien power, and yeah that's all I got. :\

I always like to see Dragonite, glad to see it was able to make a comeback during this here Flashback arc. Boy, this has got to be the longest crossover phase in the history of Pokémon!

We open with Dragonite fighting a Hydreigon in the sky. Well, not really fighting, Dragonite's getting beat up. He's not trying to fight, he's actually trying to protect a flock of Pidove that, IMO, seem to be migratory or something. Because Dragonite didn't fight, Dragonite lost, and sustained a back injury from a blast from Hydreigon. And Dragonite went tumbling down onto the small power station of this tiny rich community, snapping off one of the pylons. Ruh roh...

After the theme song, everyone's gettin' ready for breakfast. Cynthia must be flush with cash if she can just let Ash and crew stay rent free in one of her throwaway mansions and also eat the food there and generally just chill. I guess being the Sinnoh Champion makes for plenty of profitable endorsement opportunities, I dunno, where's the money coming from? Anyway, like girls often do, Iris and Dawn ready themselves in the bathroom together. I'll say it again, this has got to be the closest friendship between Ash's gal pals in the history of Pokémon! But nothin' doin' on that breakfast because the power went out. Nothing electric works.

Officer Jenny shows up, calling on the citizenry to solve this problem. Can't the city solve it? Is that what the police in that area do? Go see if anyone strong will help, regardless of whether they can legally? Is there any protocol against it? Then again Gotham City does this all the time with Batman. Who, like Cynthia, is sloppy rich. So yeah, calling on the powerful billionaire is a valid and accepted move. But Cynthia's busy, so no dice. Jenny tells Ash and crew what happened, and Iris jumps to defend it with the belief that "There are no bad Dragon-types". Really? I dunno, I'm gonna look that one up. Seeing as Team Rocket still isn't done with whatever their next srs biz newer, bolder, less Pikachu enthused no-blast-off Gen 5 Team Rocket super plan is, Ash is gonna help the police and power plant workers rein in this Dragonite. The team heads out.

Seeing the Dragonite in combat, it knows both Ice Beam and Electro Punch. And it learned those two moves in the wild? Are those part of its natural learnset? No way can that Dragonite be wild, knowing those two moves. It holes itself up in a room with Ice Beam and no one can get in. Until Ash and team show up. They're all kids, although IMO, the plant workers and Jenny aren't that much bigger than them. Must've been a tight fit for the Twerps. Jenny says okay, they can go in. But Ash should bring a piece. By which she means, a Pokéball. But Ash says nah, he won't need one. He's going in unarmed. Bad move when you're doing negotiations with hostiles, any cop or spy show/movie will tell you that. All of them go in, except Cilan who, like the grownups, is too big. Even though he's so slender he can pull off an Elesa figure. Hey Cilan! Maybe the reason you can't get in is because you're blocking your entrance with your hand?

As they crawl through the duct, Iris is all "I can reach this guy, I'm a Dragon Master in training." And Dawn is all "How you be Dragon Master?" And Iris talks about the sacrifice necessary to become one. Ash tries to use this opportunity to sell being a Pokémon Master as well, saying that the two are similar, but no one's biting, Ash. We've heard the rhetoric before. Yeah yeah, we all know you're devoted to Pokémon and all that. They pop out of the duct, and try to negotiate with Dragonite, who is quite tsundere. Only this is no act, he's a loose cannon. And negotiations go sour when Dawn says "You don't belong here! Get out!" Guess Ash shoulda brought that Pokéball.

But then suddenly, Meloetta shows up! She left earlier in secret. She starts up with the "Rererere..." and Dragonite calms down. At first I felt like this undercut Iris's role as the person who was gonna turn this Dragonite to the right path. Dang, Meloetta! Stop throwing around cheap tricks and let somebody else drive for a turn! This was supposed to be Iris's time! But Iris would, in time, get her turn at the wheel. Ash and Dawn decide they're gonna go get Officer Jenny's Pokéball. Iris says she's gonna stay with Dragonite. So, they part ways for a while, and then BOOM! Debris slide! Now Iris is trapped in there with Piplup and Oshawott, and the rogue Dragonite of course. Thank goodness that Dragonite is a dude, probably, otherwise they'd probably fight over her.

Ash and Dawn head out to see Officer Jenny. The two of them standing alongside each other, if you were just now tuning in after years of not watching, you maybe might think this was Diamond & Pearl just by looking at the screen. They relay the information, while Iris tends to Dragonite and Piplup and Oshawott try to escape. Oshawott uses his Scalchop, which fails. So he bank shots it around for a while then holsters it like some kind of Scalchop ninja cowboy. Piplup is impressed and will probably try to get a Scalchop or something. Then Ash and Dawn return saying that Officer Jenny decided she would take matters into her own hands anc call some road bandits in to take this Dragonite down. They could not dissuade her. Hearkening back to the Trubbish Squad skirmish from a while ago, only a little more hardcore this time, Iris says she's gonna stanground. She knows that Dragonite is innocent, probably defending some Pidove flock or something. Iris says they should go find proof.

Proof? How would they do that? Prove how a fight went down? What are they supposed to find, witnesses? Even if they could, who would be reliable enough? First the impossible prosecution of finding the Cubchoo napper, now the impossible defense of proving something that no one saw and no physical evidence could really prove? The Twerps get into some jams, don't they? But look! Surveillance cameras! Of course! They probably have Dragonite on tape!

Officer Jenny's freelance landscapers show up with their 5 fully evolved Pokémon. You'd expect no less from needing to take down a rogue Dragonite, of all Pokémon. They fight Dragonite, who deflects ALL FIVE of their attacks at once, and manages to stand! And he lost to one lonely Hydreigon? That Hydreigon must've been hacked or something if this Dragonite can take on Gurdurr, Garbodor, Darmanitan, Magmortar, and... all the rest, but gets grounded after one blast from a Hydreigon. Maybe more stuff happened in the Hydreigon fight prior to when we came in, I dunno. As this fight goes on, Iris stresses again that there are NO bad Dragon-types. But I'm pretty sure a Dragon-type was some kind of antagonist in the past, maybe even a major antagonist. Again, I'm gonna look it up.

But Ash and the gang return with the proof in the 11th hour! Somehow Cilan was able to gank the footage from where ever the cameras save video data, and put it on his computer. But I have a question, why didn't the power plant crew just do that in the first place? No power? Then how did Cilan do it? You'd think that if the power was out, and there was damage to the power plant, and it was possible to get the footage, that the power plant crew would wanna first confirm what was going on, right? I'm guessing they saw the Dragonite and freaked like it was a possum in the walls or something, and forgot about checking to see what happened last night. Anyway, Dragonite is a free Pokémon! But he collapses from exhaustion. He's unable to battle.

They take Dragonite to a Pokémon Center where Nurse Joy and Audino tend to his wings and back. Now that he's all patched up, the team wishes Dragonite well, and sends him off. Dragonite scoffs like a contrarian. He's too good for this stuff. He flies away. But then, he hesitates. Why can't he leave that girl with the big hair? It's not like he likes her or anything. Or maybe, he... he could stand to, maybe, pal around with her, she showed him kindness and compassion. So he returns saying in words unspoken that he would like Iris to catch him. And she does. Huzzah! Now Iris has a Dragonite! Congratulations Iris, a Dragonite AND what may become a Haxorus in due time? Being a Dragon Master is gonna be a cakewalk. That Dragon Buster friend of yours better watch her lines. No one stands a chance against Iris now. Dawn, noticing Iris's excitement, imitates her in an attempt to approximate what it means to be a Dragon Master. She believes it means being loud and boisterous when you're happy. The group laughs at this funny turn of events, then heads to a Pokémon Center or camp for the night.

MEANWHILE...

The Team Rocket TRio is busy at work with their plan some more. Meowth remarks it will be so boss that the Boss will do "the happy dance" upon realization of this plan. Now that I gotta see, right? Maybe we will, next time.

Count me in for calling bullshit on the "there are NO bad Dragon-types!" claim. Actually, I find it unnerving that Iris would use that statement to defend only Dragon-types. :| Sure, maybe it's a situational thing, but I think it would be a more powerful message to say there are no bad Pokemon period; people make them that way. Preferably with Ash and Dawn and Cilan backing up on that so they wouldn't have been so goddamn useless in this episode. Either way, past episodes like the Rotom and Togepi ones from DP (plus the Litwick filler from this series) have taught me that there ARE indeed Pokemon who are assholes... just because. Not because a human mistreated them, not some traumatizing event in their past, but there ARE Pokemon who will wreak havoc for no apparent reason because that's who they are. And that Hydreigon from the beginning seemed pretty damn bad to me; too bad we don't know enough about what caused the scuffle (because maybe Dragonite instigated the fight for all we know). Maybe I wasn't paying attention closely enough, but it looked more like Dragonite was distracted by the giant flock of Pidove rather than actually protecting them, which gave Hydreigon the opening it needed to take it down. Based on what we know of Dragonite in future episodes, that would be a more in-character explanation IMO. From what we'll see later, I find it head-scratching that Dragonite would care that much about a bunch of birds that weren't in immediate danger (I don't recall Hydreigon targeting any of them and they were escaping quickly enough just fine).

Despite being innocent of the power plant incident, it was clearly shown - even after being healed - that Dragonite is a dangerous individual. It's offset easily by any little thing it might see as remotely suspect, whether or not it poses as a real threat to it. It also had zero concern for anyone's wellbeing but its own, willing to attack defenseless people and Pokemon alike, and seeing that the WTJC comes right after this... I really gotta wonder what the HELL Iris was thinking, using Dragonite for every round of that, especially considering what happens in the semis. It just seems highly irresponsible to use a tournament full of people (aka potential victims of Dragonite's rage, however indirectly it might be) as a way to get adjusted to your Pokemon/test it out/whatever, ESPECIALLY when it's made obvious before the tournament that this Dragonite has issues on top of being insanely, dangerously powerful. Hell, it took on like FIVE super-powerful attacks from some pretty powerful Pokemon. The way they hyped this Dragonite up is just ridiculous; this is the shit I expect from bad fanfics, not the canon source!

So yeah, this episode was grating. Ash and Dawn used to always give suspect Pokemon the benefit of the doubt in the past, this incident's really no different from any other time they faced a dangerous, misunderstood Pokemon, and I'm sure Cilan could have had some theories of his own to impart, but he too was made useless for this episode. All so Iris could shine like the special snowflake we already know she is, witness her bullshit psychic abilities to flawlessly read Dragonite's mind and memories (somehow I don't think you can get that much specific detail out of just reading the HEART, the thing we know Iris is SUPPOSED to be reading), and make everyone else out to be either completely useless, moronic, or flat-out cruel. That security camera was an all-too convenient plot device; why the hell is such a thing even installed in the forest?

I'm also not feeling how Iris and Dawn have the tightest friendship out of all previous times female twerps got to meet. Feels pretty damn generic to me, and I don't find much entertainment in relentless brown-nosing. I hate how Dawn has been utterly wasted in this extended cameo of hers. She really came off as an airhead in this episode, too. Shouting at Dragonite that he "doesn't belong here" seemed REALLY out-of-character for her, too. But I guess BW takes no prisoners when they want Iris to look good; everyone has to sacrifice something for her sake.

It WAS nice to have a Dragonite that, for once, looked and acted like a badass rather than appearing the typical way the species does: looking like Barney the Dinosaur's mentally deficient cousin. Its facial expressions were pretty awesome. Sadly, I need a little more than that to make up for the bullshit that this episode is composed of. We sure don't get much of a calm to the storm that is WTJC, do we? Boring Cubchoo filler, this trainwreck of a capture episode, and now we're full speed ahead to the worst tournament of this series.

So, yup. This blew. It not only blows, but its sucky legacy will live on in the bullshit that happens in future episodes after this. I just won't be able to forget about this like a bad dream. Fuck Best Wishes.

Uhh, I still think that this episode was one of the most touching episodes in the series. I personally used to dislike the Dragonite species a lot, but this particular Dragonite's personality and demeanor really made me give a lot of respect to it. I wouldn't say that the Hydreigon was a bad Pokemon. Animals in the wild fight each other for survival, so it doesn't necessarily make them bad. You could call a Pidgey evil for eating a Caterpie with that logic, LOL. Yes! Pidgey are evil! MWUHAHAHAHAHA! It's just natural XD. Now I think it's been canonized in Gold/Silver that Pokemon can only be bad if their trainers wanted them to do evil deeds like stealing. So the Togepi's evil attitude could have been a result of a bad trainer making it so. Dragonite is in no way a bad Pokemon. It's just a hot tempered one.

Haven't gotten the chance to see the episode yet, but I'm really looking forward to it.

At first I disliked the fact that Iris was going to get Dragonite, but I immediately changed my mind with this episode, and all the others ones coming after this. It proved to be a spectacular Pokémon - having a great personality, putting on some hilarious facial expressions and also proving to be an excellent battler. The development between him and Iris was also handled in an excellent way during the WTJC, so I'm definitely looking forward for the tournament to start.

Originally Posted by Eitarou

Not a bad episode, but I was getting tired of Iris constantly spouting "There are no bad Dragon-types".

What proof does she have to such a claim?

Well, last time I checked, Iris was just a 10-year old.

Is it really so surprising? Taking her age and childish personality into consideration?

She's a child. Not a lawyer.

Originally Posted by Shinneth

Count me in for calling bullshit on the "there are NO bad Dragon-types!" claim. Actually, I find it unnerving that Iris would use that statement to defend only Dragon-types. :| Sure, maybe it's a situational thing, but I think it would be a more powerful message to say there are no bad Pokemon period; people make them that way. Preferably with Ash and Dawn and Cilan backing up on that so they wouldn't have been so goddamn useless in this episode. Either way, past episodes like the Rotom and Togepi ones from DP (plus the Litwick filler from this series) have taught me that there ARE indeed Pokemon who are assholes... just because. Not because a human mistreated them, not some traumatizing event in their past, but there ARE Pokemon who will wreak havoc for no apparent reason because that's who they are. And that Hydreigon from the beginning seemed pretty damn bad to me; too bad we don't know enough about what caused the scuffle (because maybe Dragonite instigated the fight for all we know). Maybe I wasn't paying attention closely enough, but it looked more like Dragonite was distracted by the giant flock of Pidove rather than actually protecting them, which gave Hydreigon the opening it needed to take it down. Based on what we know of Dragonite in future episodes, that would be a more in-character explanation IMO. From what we'll see later, I find it head-scratching that Dragonite would care that much about a bunch of birds that weren't in immediate danger (I don't recall Hydreigon targeting any of them and they were escaping quickly enough just fine).

Despite being innocent of the power plant incident, it was clearly shown - even after being healed - that Dragonite is a dangerous individual. It's offset easily by any little thing it might see as remotely suspect, whether or not it poses as a real threat to it. It also had zero concern for anyone's wellbeing but its own, willing to attack defenseless people and Pokemon alike, and seeing that the WTJC comes right after this... I really gotta wonder what the HELL Iris was thinking, using Dragonite for every round of that, especially considering what happens in the semis. It just seems highly irresponsible to use a tournament full of people (aka potential victims of Dragonite's rage, however indirectly it might be) as a way to get adjusted to your Pokemon/test it out/whatever, ESPECIALLY when it's made obvious before the tournament that this Dragonite has issues on top of being insanely, dangerously powerful. Hell, it took on like FIVE super-powerful attacks from some pretty powerful Pokemon. The way they hyped this Dragonite up is just ridiculous; this is the shit I expect from bad fanfics, not the canon source!

So yeah, this episode was grating. Ash and Dawn used to always give suspect Pokemon the benefit of the doubt in the past, this incident's really no different from any other time they faced a dangerous, misunderstood Pokemon, and I'm sure Cilan could have had some theories of his own to impart, but he too was made useless for this episode. All so Iris could shine like the special snowflake we already know she is, witness her bullshit psychic abilities to flawlessly read Dragonite's mind and memories (somehow I don't think you can get that much specific detail out of just reading the HEART, the thing we know Iris is SUPPOSED to be reading), and make everyone else out to be either completely useless, moronic, or flat-out cruel. That security camera was an all-too convenient plot device; why the hell is such a thing even installed in the forest?

I'm also not feeling how Iris and Dawn have the tightest friendship out of all previous times female twerps got to meet. Feels pretty damn generic to me, and I don't find much entertainment in relentless brown-nosing. I hate how Dawn has been utterly wasted in this extended cameo of hers. She really came off as an airhead in this episode, too. Shouting at Dragonite that he "doesn't belong here" seemed REALLY out-of-character for her, too. But I guess BW takes no prisoners when they want Iris to look good; everyone has to sacrifice something for her sake.

It WAS nice to have a Dragonite that, for once, looked and acted like a badass rather than appearing the typical way the species does: looking like Barney the Dinosaur's mentally deficient cousin. Its facial expressions were pretty awesome. Sadly, I need a little more than that to make up for the bullshit that this episode is composed of. We sure don't get much of a calm to the storm that is WTJC, do we? Boring Cubchoo filler, this trainwreck of a capture episode, and now we're full speed ahead to the worst tournament of this series.

So, yup. This blew. It not only blows, but its sucky legacy will live on in the bullshit that happens in future episodes after this. I just won't be able to forget about this like a bad dream. Fuck Best Wishes.

That Rotom wanted friends if IIRC. But I agree Best Wishes needs to end I'm not even interested in the league.

Loved loved loved this episode, but i noticed something "i'm not a 5th gen hater" but seeing the 5th gen pokemon alongside dragonite made dragonite standout more, but they did have to use some of the worst designed pokemon in that episode.

Anyways i thought this episode was brilliant, and leagues ahead of that cilan filler, and for the first time i didn't find iris annoying although shouting all dragon types are good is a false claim, guess she never saw hunter j's salamance.

Alright, I looked it up, apparently there are no Dragon-types that are intentionally bad. Giratina MAYBE. Everyone else was either confused or fighting amongst themselves.

Originally Posted by Shinneth

I'm also not feeling how Iris and Dawn have the tightest friendship out of all previous times female twerps got to meet. Feels pretty damn generic to me, and I don't find much entertainment in relentless brown-nosing.

By "tightest friendship" I mean they're closer than any two girl travelers that went with Ash between Gens, and enjoy each other's company more often. It might be because other Gens didn't offer a lot of time for it, but Dawn and May didn't get on as well as as Dawn and Iris do, or Misty and May. It's been so long, did Misty and May ever meet, even?

Creeping Shadow: I *think* 4Kids tended to leave Dragonite's voice as is, actually.

Kaljinyu: I just checked my D/P pokedex, and yes, Dragonite does indeed have Thunderpunch as a natural move(level one, to be precise). Ice Beam's in its TM movepool, however, though this is hardly the first time we've seen an obstensibly wild pokemon packing such techniques(and is, to be honest, the *least* of this particular Dragonite's problems). Also, Misty and May did meet in AG, with the former doing her level best to dominate the scene while she was there.

Shinneth: I agree on most of that, but it's worth pointing out that prior anime Dragonites *have* put on clinics in the past that put this one's misbehavior to shame. I'm specifically referring to the OI Drake battle (which wound up taking two-thirds of Ash's battle team to bring down in a close fight, if I recall correctly) and to the Blackthorn incident, where a desperately lonely member of the species, after realizing that TR had betrayed its trust, proceeded to single-handledly devastate the entire immediate area in its blind rage and give both Ash---who was still climbing towards his apex as a trainer at that point---and Clair---who is a formidable gym leader in her own right---all that they could handle.

Originally Posted by Gryphon Turboclaw

Creeping Shadow: I *think* 4Kids tended to leave Dragonite's voice as is, actually.

Kaljinyu: I just checked my D/P pokedex, and yes, Dragonite does indeed have Thunderpunch as a natural move(level one, to to be precise). Ice Beam's in its TM movepool, however, though this is hardly the first time we've seen an obstensibly wild pokemon packing such techniques(and is, to be honest, the *least* of this particular Dragonite's problems). Also, Misty and May did meet in AG, with the former doing her level best to dominate the scene while she was there.

Shinneth: I agree on most of that, but it's worth pointing out that prior anime Dragonites *have* put on clinics in the past that put this one's misbevavior to shame. I'm specifically referring to the OI Drake battle (which wound up taking two-thirds of Ash's battle team to bring down in a close fight, if I recall correctly) and to the Blackthorn incident, where a desperately lonely member of the species, after realizing that TR had betrayed its trust, proceeded to single-handledly devastate the entire immediate area in its blind rage and give both Ash---who was still climbing towards his apex as a trainer at that point---and Clair---who is a formidable gym leader in her own right---all that they could handle.

That is all fine except those dragonites didn't just fall in the lap of a MC as a shoddy attempt for development.

Originally Posted by pokemonsquared

That is all fine except those dragonites didn't just fall in the lap of a MC as a shoddy attempt for development.

As I've already said, this particular Dragonite having TM moves is the *least* of the problems one can reasonably have with it,

as the next dozen or so episodes will amply demostrate. I'm not sure what's worse, the laughing off ice attacks like they were Bullet Seeds, the badly done Blood Knight elements(at least Dragonball and Gundam 00 got it right with Son Goku---a rare heroic example, which is *why* I'm mentioning him---and the utterly infamous Ali al-Saachez, respectively), or Iris seemingly getting a superheavyweight prizefighter of a pokemon on her side without much of a cost/investment(Ash, if nothing else, was actually *persistent* in trying to get his Charizard to listen to him). I say 'seemingly' because there's a *remote* chance at best that the writers will get around to some genuine development for her here, but I'm not going to count on it from that crew.

Now that I understand what he is saying, I'm far more positive about Ash's role in this episode - I complained about no one going to actually give it any first aid, but Ash at least thinking and mentioning that is good enough. Though I still don't like how ill-prepared he and the others are for handling injured Pokemon.

Instead of Dawn's hair I wish we'd have seen a bit more of Cilan and Jervis in the kitchen - it's probably the most relevant thing Cilan had done on the show in a while, though I suppose pointing out Dawn has hair is important too. I liked the other scenes Cilan had in this episode too, it's a good distraction from some of the more annoying parts of the episode.

Dawn's random shouting after Dragonite was caught really should have been written so she wasn't saying 5 words in the spot for one. On the flip side I liked Hydreigon's voice. I still can't get used to the Unova Jennys.

Beyond agreeing with Shinneth, I think part of it is that even if you take the logic that Dragonite was protecting the Pidove, there was still a long list of bad things Dragonite had done, a violent Pokemon having done one thing for the right reasons doesn't mean all its intentions are good. You'd assume what's true for people is true for Pokemon, good people do bad things, bad people do good things.

That said, while I generally don't mind the broad cop-out that Pokemon are good by nature (especially with regard to Team Rocket's Pokemon), a suggestion that Dragon types are unique in that way is just strange. How about a personal reflection from Iris about how she's never met one, or had experienced something similar in the past? It would at least have given context to the whole 'I'm a Dragon Master listen to me' part of the episode.

The events of the recent Japanese episode have made me slightly less annoyed at this capture, by it becoming a plot tool to advance Iris' exit from the show. I still think there are other ways that could have been handled though.

As an aside, why is Unova such a step backwards on renewable energy? If you can afford a butler you can afford solar.