Thread: S15 EP45 "Goodbye, Junior Cup - Hello Adventure!"

BW093 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

The Junior Cup draws to an end with Ash's rival Trip facing off against Alder. Meanwhile, the time has come for Dawn to go her separate ways, so she and Ash decide to engage in a Pokemon battle in order to bid farewell.

Kotetsu is Cameron, fyi.

and holy shit his stupidity already does not endear me to him

For the record, I missed the first 6 minutes of the episode because I had to go grocery shopping, but granted in that short amount of time I tuned in to see everyone saying goodbyes to their rivals, I'm gonna take it on good faith that this oh-so destined Trip/Alder confrontation was NOT worth the slew of shitty battles that railroaded to this. So I'm gonna stand by my view that we could have just had Trip somehow NOT be a little bitch in the episode where he and Ash met Alder, have the battle happen then, and then we could have never had to deal with this shitty Junior Cup.

Or at the very least, it probably would have been a more tolerable iteration.

Seriously, the endless stream of bullshit that transpired across this ENTIRE competition was not worth the end result. And now Trip's bland

Despite it being the dub, I thought they actually had a few hidden gems in the dialogue, such as Georgia's "Burgundy, they really gave you the mold" line in the beginning (or something similar to that; I can't quite remember). XD

Wow, Cameron! I think it fits him nicely! Iris's "Hurricane Cameron" line was great. XD

As for the battles IMO...eh. Weird how Trip was a little over-the-top with his confidence in the beginning, yet by the end he sounded like a helpless puppy dog when he talked to Alder. And the Ash and Dawn battle was decent until it was stupidly interrupted. Don't get me wrong, I love Cynthia, but couldn't she just have waited until after the battle?

I'm going to miss Burgundy and Georgia, though. T_T

Okay, so what the [EFF!] happened to Serperior's speed from the rest of the tourney? It dodged a whole buncha Flame Charges (which raised Pignite's speed, for those who didn't know) but couldn't avoid one Head Charge?

As of now, I am convinced that there are two Alders. He's either got a twin or a split personality, because the wise (if already used ad nauseum) post-battle advice doesn't match the goofball who disillusioned Trip however long ago (though both Alders suck at remembering names). And speaking of split personalities, did it seem to anyone else that Our Gang's rivals were a lot more civil than they have been? Must've been something in the water...

And now we have Cameron, who's even more clueless than Ash. Seriously, he missed the whole [EFF!]ing tourney and the flight to Johto, he thought they'd hold the league in a whole different region, and he thought he only needed seven badges to compete. Kinda makes me wonder why Riolu follows him when the little guy is clearly the brains of the two. Actually, I'm pretty sure this twerp is Barry without the competence and the money fixation.

Watched the original airing of this episode in Japan months ago, so I can’t lie I only watched like the first 10 minutes of this episode. Really disappointed in the dub version of Alder and Trip; never got the translated version of their conversation during and after their battle and based on what I heard this morning I was really letdown.

Sap Sipper was expected and it made sense, the way everyone explains the components and effects of attacks really made me feel like I was in the game or watching a battle from it. However, it is good to see real game mechanics being utilized in the anime (aside from an acrobatic buffalo…oh well in the games it can Surf so why not give it incredible aerial balance it’s a Champ’s Pokemon after all).

I will say that I did admire Trip’s strategy to letdown its opponent’s Defense and guard to land that Dragon Tail powered by Leer’s defensive drop on its opponent. I mean Alder is a Champ, his Buffolant has been training with the man way before Trip ever started training, the green garden hose has been give tons of undeserved/overpowered/hacked victories (this entire tournament arc and against Pikachu…twice) so I’m not mad it lost because it was expected. Seriously, what would happen if Trip DID win? Kind of like what would have happened if Paul won his full battle with Cynthia back in DP, would he be declared Champ? Not really since it wasn’t an official “Title Battle.” However, I’m sure the victor would get props for sure.

Going back to the dialogue, it just really didn’t have that emotion that the original airing did. Along with the background music, today their voices and all didn’t have that dramatic feel I wanted to hear. Even after the match, I didn’t feel anything like “Alright, Trip is going to absorb what he’s hearing and EVENTUALLY change. Everything just felt so generic to me.

Nope, he just turns a 360 about 2 minutes later…

Was wondering why Serperior didn't pull a fast one like it has been all tournament and dodge that Head Charge, I mean that buffalo is strong but I can't imagine it being as fast as Nitro Charge Pignite (after A LOT of Flame Charges) but anything to move the plot along...

Funniest part, when Alder was talking to Trip afterwards the people in the crowd were clearly just “filler drawings.” It was hilarious seeing people having their arms stretched out and standing like a freeze frame haha I mean its not the first time we've seen this but it made me laugh.

I honestly like Georgia a lot, she is one that runs her mouth (at times) BUT speaks the truth unlike the horrible French speaking wannabe rival of Cilan.

Did like seeing Dawn pointing out the differences between Alder and Cynthia's battle styles that was a nice touch.

Can't say I think Kotetsu looks like a Cameron, but I'll grow to like it. Fun fact: according to the internet, Cameron contains "Cam," which can man crooked or bent. I guess that fits him.

Dub fans aren't getting the full story because TPCI didn't bother to dub that DP special from early BW. In Japan Hikari went from Shin'ou to Houen to Isshu to Jouto, but in the U.S. Dawn goes from Sinnoh to Unova to Johto.

Has the dub ever brought up her Hoenn trip at all?

Originally Posted by Dogasu

Has the dub ever brought up her Hoenn trip at all?

Why would it when the original version didn't?

I missed a few of the fillers so I can't say whether or not Dawn ever mentioned Hoenn. Though I was under the impression she didn't mention Hoenn in the Japanese version either; at the very least, either way we got no explanation at all as to what progress Dawn was even making in Hoenn.

In cases like this, I think it was probably for the best that the Dawn special was never dubbed, because that only further complicates Dawn's post-DP story. I think we're all pretty much left in the dark about what the hell Dawn is actually doing. So goes to Hoenn because Wallace is there in the special, she goes to Unova for no reason whatsoever since the Junior Cup doesn't pertain to her quest at all, and at the end she's going to Johto... because Wallace is there? Whaaaaaat?

I'm beginning to think Dawn stopped being a Coordinator and became a Wallace stalker instead.

Originally Posted by Shinneth

I'm beginning to think Dawn stopped being a Coordinator and became a Wallace stalker instead.

And so the hunted becomes the hunter. Maybe Conway can give her a few tips about breaking and entering and what binoculars to use?

Honestly, according to my headcanon, Conway is the one responsible for being a bad influence on her. XD Which would be fantastic imo.

Pretty much everything about Dawn stopped making sense once DP was over. First she wanted to go to Kanto, then she was sidetracked because she got a Pokemon modeling offer - which we never heard how that worked out - and out of the blue Dawn just forgets about her plans for Kanto to go to Hoenn to stalk Wallace. Then she appears in Unova for no goddamn reason whatsoever (maybe Cynthia lured her over somehow?), we get no information on Dawn's progress in Hoenn and she could either have no ribbons at all or won Hoenn's GF for all I know... but personally, I think Dawn went to Hoenn, realized Wallace was in another region by the time she got there, decided to travel halfway across the world to dick around in a tournament and waste time, THEN decide to continue her pursuit of Wallace in Johto.

It's just... really freaking creepy when you try to make sense of it. Either way, I'm glad to see Dawn go, not because I hate her, but because BW's craptastic writing has made her a lot less likable for me. This whole experience makes me not want to see any more past characters in Best Wishes, because pretty much all of them so far have pissed me off one way or another.

So it has been a year since the last Wallace Cup yet ash is still 10.....The writers need to get on the pokeball with this age and time stuff

The thing with Sap Sipper was interesting, I remember it being discussed before the episode aired in Japan but I thought that it didn't actually happen in the episode based on the comments afterwards - though perhaps that's simply because Sap Sipper's animation is so generic that it just looks like every other battle effect. Like some of the comments before the episode, I'd really have expected Sap Sipper to result in Bouffalant just opening its mouth and eating the attack. It seems every attack has to be a coloured ball and every status looks like paralysis - sure it looks a bit nicer animation wise but everything looks so generic in these battles.

You'd think that the lesson Trip should actually have learnt would be that you can't rely all on one Pokemon. I don't think the revelation that the Champion doesn't think winning or losing matters would help make him stronger - if Trip already had a close bond with Serperior then that wasn't the differential that made him lose.

Anyway, I'm glad the Junior Cup is over, if only the league was worth looking forward to. I want one of those Alder keyrings.

Cameron's voice is annoying, though I'll need to hear a bit more of it to decide if that's just the appropriate level of annoying for such an annoying character. I wish we could get his Riolu without him, because it's far more interesting.

I'd've liked a montage of a bunch of other events Cameron was late to (like his first grade maths class), perhaps it would take a little bit of annoyance out of him coming in this late if we knew that he'd arrived late to all the Don Battle tournaments as well.

I would also have liked Ash to also go over to Dawn after their battle finished - for a final high five at least - it's just weird when Ash just stands there while Pikachu runs over with excitement to farewell the other Pokemon. Though I suppose that's still better than being totally ignored like Cilan was at the end.

Bringing Dawn back really didn't achieve anything - couldn't they just have given a COTD a Piplup until they could think of a better storyline where Dawn could actually do something relevant to whatever it is she's currently doing?

Anyway, they really tried to do too much in this episode, trying to totally change Trip's character, introduce a new one and get rid of Dawn meant none of those was done well and made for a bad episode. I'm looking forward to next episode, but really have a low interest in seeing the Meloetta episodes after it.l

Originally Posted by Shinneth

Honestly, according to my headcanon, Conway is the one responsible for being a bad influence on her. XD Which would be fantastic imo.

Pretty much everything about Dawn stopped making sense once DP was over. First she wanted to go to Kanto, then she was sidetracked because she got a Pokemon modeling offer - which we never heard how that worked out - and out of the blue Dawn just forgets about her plans for Kanto to go to Hoenn to stalk Wallace. Then she appears in Unova for no goddamn reason whatsoever (maybe Cynthia lured her over somehow?), we get no information on Dawn's progress in Hoenn and she could either have no ribbons at all or won Hoenn's GF for all I know... but personally, I think Dawn went to Hoenn, realized Wallace was in another region by the time she got there, decided to travel halfway across the world to dick around in a tournament and waste time, THEN decide to continue her pursuit of Wallace in Johto.

It's just... really freaking creepy when you try to make sense of it. Either way, I'm glad to see Dawn go, not because I hate her, but because BW's craptastic writing has made her a lot less likable for me. This whole experience makes me not want to see any more past characters in Best Wishes, because pretty much all of them so far have pissed me off one way or another.

It is really noticeable that the writers showcased May in such a different manner than Dawn. Even what she was doing after she left and her rivals still being there, it all made more sense.

I think it's moreso that the Contests are off the show now so the writers don't want to bring them up much anymore. Whereas when May cameo'd Contests were still a major part of the series at the time.

Meh Camoron's voice fits him at least.