The ref was just pissed at Ash for holding up the match for who knows how long so declaring Squirtle out due to sleep and Charizad due to refusal to battle despite NOT being out of HP is his way of sticking it to Ketchum 😂
In an alternate universe Ash- "thats right charizard just let him wear himself out" Charizard- still ignoring ash (and basically everyone else too) Ref internally- seams like a legit strat Sparky- passes out from exhaustion (justice for pidgeotto) Ref- "Richies pikachu is unable to battle"
Yeah, that bothered me as a kid. I mean, he was basically alone against two adults/older people who wanted to steal from him and had no problem if he would've been harmed? It is dangerous? Why didn't he tell anybody?
@@valtinryu8147 with the balloon right there? How can anybody not believe him when Team Rockets balloon is the thing Ash arrives in? Is the Referee blind?
@@valtinryu8147 Well maybe, but considering all the shit Team Rocket has tried to pull during the Pokemon League, I think the ref would've believed him and maybe allowed Ash the night to recover. The fans in the stands would've been pissed but we may have gotten a better match.
Five Stages of Grief: Ash goes through all five in order once he sends out Charizard. *Denial:* Ash preemptively celebrates Charizard finally listening to him when he eliminates Ritchie's Charmander, seemingly ignoring that he didn't actually defeat Zippo (he just forced Ritchie to withdraw him) and that he never actually gave Charizard a command. *Anger:* When Charizard refuses to fight Sparky, Ash berates him for napping in the middle of his most important battle yet. *Bargaining:* Ash then begs Charizard to get up and battle, saying he won't have to listen to him ever again after. *Depression:* When Charizard is disqualified and Ash loses: Ash is upset and though he swallows it for Ritchie's sake, he's moping well into the next episode. *Acceptance* doesn't come until the next episode where Ash realizes his fault in the event begins taking the steps to becoming a better trainer.
I love Charizard, but after being disgraced like that I may have sent him to Oak. At least Charizard redeems himself in the Orange Islands and is an ace Pokemon after that.
Ash's team on hand prior to getting kidnapped by Team Rocket: Pikachu Bulbasaur Squirtle Pidgeotto Charizard Misty and Brock said they should leave for the stadium soon before Ash got taken away. We can assume three of the five on his team were gonna be used against Ritchie. Here's how I think it was planned: Bulbsaur vs. Sparky Pidgeotto or Pikachu vs. Happy Squirtle vs. Zippo However, Pikachu and Pidgeotto were tired (the poor bird EXHAUSTED) before making it to the battlefield so Ash had to use his Pokemon out of order sadly.
Why even have charizard with you though? I mean, not only should he have had Tauros, Muk, or Kingler to fill out that empty 6th spot from the beginning but, if Charizard doesn't obey why not swap him out and add in a second of those three. Especially against an opponent like Ritchie whose pokemon are not exactly scary strong. Reserve Charizard for only the scenario where you run into somebody with a pokemon you don't think you could beat any other way and hope Charizard battles for the challenge like he did with Blaine.
@@matthewdavenport9549 well Ash thought he didn't need the 6th pokemon cause he had the counters but because of the Team Rocket attack it all messed up
@@OrochiFlamez Preach man! I'm still pissed off about that fight! Plus I was kinda hoping Ash's Noctowl had Insomnia as its ability to nullify Darkrai's Sleep status, but NOPE! It apparently had Keen Eye instead. Stupid Anime writers!
Jesus Christ! How wank of an episode was this. We've been building up to this fight and it was horrifically disappointing. *Though then again Ash did learn a lesson: Don't neglect your Charizard just because it evolved stubborn.*
I can see why Jessie has no friends, would you want to be friends with her, i seriously hated that Misty could say anything she wanted about anyone and when someone does that to her, she'd hit you
Admittedly, Misty's probably my least favorite of Ash's companions. I don't know why so many people like her so much. Even as a kid I didn't like her because of how nasty she is most of the time.
Indigo Conference: Top 16 Silver Conference: Top 8 Ever Grande Conference: Top 8 Vertress Conference: Top 8 Lily of the Valley Conference: Top 4 Lumiose Conference: Runner Up Manalo Conference: Winner
OK: clearly the writers needed Ash to lose to keep his sense of adventure going for the next series due to unexpectedly having to continue making more seasons and games, but they also didn't want to make him look like a total loser by having Richie flattening him. *Their solution was borderline mean spirited to fans, especially today.*
@@Eric-py8yy also, he used Muk in the last battle, did he take Muk back to Professor Oak and not retrieve either of his other 2 Pokémon? If so, ash is just dumb
Tbf Water types have been shown to summon water out of nowhere (such as using surf on dry land and a massive wave of water explodes out of the ground) Pokemon have magic capabilities so the infinite water isn't so Farfetch'd
After this episode aired, it started a strong dislike towards Charizard. As the years go by, the clear favoritism towards Charizard hasn't changed that.
@@RodimusMinor1987 seriously, charizard decides to make ash lose such an important battle after he saved his life because he’s disobedient…for no reason.
As a Charizard fan myself, I can totally understand the dislike. But I still love it regardless. Ash's Charizard on the other hand was an was an asshole. NGL. Then again, Ash never bothered rebuilding his bond with his Charizard until much later, but my point stands.
I actually cried when Ash lost the battle back then. But now as an adult, I realized that if Ash had taken the time to train his Charizard at that time, he would have had a better shot of going further in the Indigo League. I blame Team Rocket for bringing their asses in and interfering with his match, but Ash also deserved the blame as well. Also, what the fuck was up with that referee that thought Squirtle was KO'd by Butterfree's SLEEP POWDER?! That's not a damn knock out move, dude. That referee needs to go back to playing the games again.
Yup. He never bothered to at least try to talk to Charizard, keep Pikachu as a safety neck Incase it attacks It really irks me Ash never kept his 6th slot filled with another Poke Kingler wouldve destroyed Zippo (but then get demolished by Sparky) HE shouldve had Tauros on him
Yes, thank you. I 100% agree with you. It's just a shame that Tauros doesn't get any time to shine until the Orange Islands. I guess Ash was just hoping Charizard would realize it's in a big league battle and that it would finally listen to him. A very disastrous move.
Exactly! And here I thought it was due to Ash meandering about for 30ish filler episodes. When in reality it was because 1. Team Rocket interrupted him for the umpteenth time, 2. the Ref making bad calls like Sleep status =KO, and 3. the writers making the battle anticlimactic. Seriously, I've said it once, and I'll say it again: "How is it that a 10 year old kid IRL can beat the games, yet Ash can't bloody win a league?" And NO! Orange Islands was filler, so it doesn't count, and YES! he won Alola eventually, but that's still over 20 years of waiting! Also, what were those theme song lyrics again? OH YEAH! I wanna be the very best like no one ever was, Born to be a winner, and I'm unbeatable. Way to contradict yourselves Pokemon Anime writers! Sorry, I had to rant there.
Words cannot describe how much I hated this empisode as a child, and still hate today, The fact that we got this awsome First Round were Ash clean sweeped his opponend, the questionable second and third round were we at least got a bit of a real battle, the nervwraking fourth Round with the Comback of the year Bellsprout and Ash revealing that he actually held Muk, a Pokemon he never used in the League ot in any battkle at all as his secret weapon. and now the writers apparently didnt care anymore, Instead of showing us maybe 10 minutes of Ash and Ritchie maybe being nervous or even scared of loseing the battle or maybe thier new friend if they win (they´re both 10, it could be possible that they would think this) but after seeing each other on the Battlefield these doubts would fade and the Battle starts. Ash would NOT have been through an fucking kidnapping from Team Plot device (yes in this ep they only served the porpouse of tiering and worning out Ash) so he would be able to focuse on the battle without any remains of stress or angst of loseing. Then we would NOT have got a fucking sleeppowder insta kill. Pikachu would NOT have been already exausted so he probably coud have OSed Zippo because Ritchies Pokémon are all shit. and he would not have been forced to use Mr. Even tho I treat my Trainer who saved my fucking live like shit, he didnt abandoned me or benched me to the old Profs lab. Like srsly, at this point if I were Ash, I would have smashed Charizards Pokeball and tell him to never face me ever again. I BET KINGLER, MUK OR TAUROS WOULD LOVE TO ACOMPANY ASH ON HIS JOURNEY SINCE THEY ACTUALLY CARE AND LIKE YOU. God damn how could this ungrateful orange Meatheat do this to his owner...... And even tho they would have made Ash lose this battle, do to fair means and not this bullcrap. This is lame
Honestly, if I were Richie, I'd demand the Battle be postponed, until Ash's Pokemon were back to full strength. Then the battle would be more fun, and allow me and Ash to fight at our full potential. Or as Leomon once said(Yes, I'm using a Digimon reference) "You should pick on someone your own size. A true warrior battles those who are strong. Only a coward picks on poor defenceless little girls."
@@nine_tails137 I wish Ash, instantly after arriving, told everybody that he got kidnapped by Team Rocket and that's why it took him so long to get here. Everybody would have understood. It would have been even better if referee offered Ash to postpone the match.
I remember how garbage this battle was. If Sparky had attacked Charizard once, Charizard would have fought back. Technically with Sparky choosing not to attack BOTH TEAMS aren’t fighting which means it should result in a draw.
Come to think of it, we've never seen trainers using items on their Pokemon(aside from that one time Brock used a super Potion on a baby Kangaskhan, and Ash using one on Pikachu)
@@RodimusMinor1987 That always bugged me about Ash's Charizard. He shouldn't be acting so smug an arrogant around Ash, since his old trainer Damian, didn't give 2 shits about him as a charmander, yet Ash cared about him! And after evolving, he then decides: "Nah brah, I ain't battling a puny opponent." Thank Arceus he got taken down a peg later on upon being defeated by a Poliwrath.
agreed, the writers seemed less keen on battles in the early days and decided to give us more team rocket instead, i blame team rocket for ash's loss here, we could have had Pikachu or Pidgeotto vs Happy, Zippo against Pikachu or Pidgeotto, Squirtle against Zippo and Squirtle against Sparky and Bulbasaur against Sparky
*It's not a good episode for Ash.* He's late for his battle with Ritchie becuase he's kidnapped by Team Rocket, and even when he makes it he's not able to give his all like he promised because most of his Pokemon are too tired from fending them off. He loses miserably when he's forced to send out Charizard, who's still disobedient.
Honestly, I never realized how bullshit this episode was as a kid. I mean I knew it was dumb, but after Liam breaks it down, it's actually a lot worse than I thought! Especially with the ref's BS knock out calls. And here I always thought it was due to Ash meandering around for 30ish filler episodes, rather than training his Pokemon. Pokemon Anime writers, what were you thinking?!
This is totally a fight writer move. They build Ash up, give him some wins, then give him a rival out of nowhere that beats him to make the rival look strong. It's in every anime. But this just makes me hate Richy. I used to like him and his nicknamed pokemon. Honestly, if it were Gary, this would have been better. Should have been Gary.
They do it ever league arc after this (though I stopped watching after gen 4) Harrison in the Silver Conference That guy and his cowboy Meowth (though he was introduced much earlier) BS Deux ex machina Darkrai in the Shinnoh since Ash wouldve won that league since him and Paul were pretty much the strongest ones there except for the BS trainer I honestly forgot the name of the last two but I couldnt care less about the Darkrai trainer
Mm... there are contenders for that ranking, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. let's just say it's "The most upsetting episode in Pokemon history... so far".
THE MOST UPSETTING EP IN POKEMON HISTORY GOES TO ALAN's MEGA CHARIZAED X BEATING ASH-GRENINJA BY USING BALST BURN LIKE WTF BRO GRENINJA FUCKING RESISTS THAT
@@Airkong423 but the Charizard mega evolved into a dragon fire type Wich means water is a neutral attack against it not to mention the fact that Greninja's moveset was garbage
@@mingustheprotector5192 By game standards yes but in the anime where a Charmander’s Flamethrower is considered on par with a Squirtle’s Water Gun it’s kinda a crapshoot
@@vaporterra fair, But the logic could've changed since then, IDK what part of the anime you're talking about specifically but I'm willing to doubt that was in XYZ or if so wasn't on the same arc
Wow Liam I agree on this episode being somewhat as you say bullocks. But wanting Richie to win on default, now I'm wanting your girlfriend to beat you in the next Siri battle.
This episode... I've ranted about it a lot before, but seeing it again always brings out the fire in me. First of all, Team Rocket was horrendously used here in order to make Ash not just late, but exhausted to the battle with Ritchie. Second, Team Rocket's meddling screwed Ash over in more ways than one. It was likely Ash was contemplating on what Pokemon to bring against his battle with Ritchie when Team Rocket kidnapped him, and he didn't have time to bring his 6th Pokemon with him. Third, even after bringing in Team Rocket's balloon, having clear evidence that Ash had been kidnapped by criminals that were well known to people, and everyone saw how clearly exhausted Ash's Pidgeotto was, nobody thought to maybe they should postpone the match because one of the Trainers was clearly not at his best due to circumstances out of his control. Ritchie didn't even bother to ask if Ash was at top condition before they battled. They just jumped straight into it. Starting to believe that theory of Ritchie wanting to win at any cost, and putting on the mask of a nice guy. Fourth, the Indigo League is just one big mess. The rules are either far too strict, or not very clear. I feel like the writers and animators weren't very passionate about this part at all, and just wanted to hurry and get it over with, so they just made up whatever the heck they wanted to get Ash booted out of the league. If they need to make him lose, fine, but they really should've done a better job than because Team Rocket decided to kidnap him. I felt like Ash losing wasn't even his fault, but the circumstances that lead to it and nobody giving a crap about a child going missing and coming back exhausted in a *well known* criminal balloon.
Attempt 3 at relaying the message to Liam About the whole TM situation, In Gen 5 we see a pansear training with a pansage to learn how it uses solar beam. If TMs were in the anime, the whole training scene would be kind of redundant when the TMs just make it so much easier. Also as people have pointed out, Pikachu learning iron tail, and a skitty learning blizzard
Liam: *Not very often in stuff like this you see a protagonist lose at the end of an arc* Me:😑 *This the pokemon anime, POKEMON anime* Do I really need to say much else?
Not valid because back in the 90s in kids shows you always expected the protagonist to win somehow. At least the stakes here are “become a champion” and not “save the world”
Moves in the anime are learned through practice and hitting targets not discs and turning moves into other moves Iron tail for pikachu is a tm move but it learns it by working out
To think, Ash finally made it so far that he's finally having his first match in the Indigo stadium. But to then lose his first match because Team Rocket kidnapped him and wouldn't give up, tiring some of his Pokémon. Then to have charzard just give up mid battle because it just didn't feel like battling a a small Pikachu. Well this really shows how much the writers care about Ash's character, to not even give him a proper defeat and just make it a joke.
I remember reading the novelization for kids centered around this episode's battle that served as a recap of Ash's possession of Charizard. Over two decades later my opinion on it hasn't changed.
Better idea, just put more pokemon battles in the filler episodes. Have ash fight against random trainsers with interesting teams, instead of constantly going on whacky fantasy adventures.
@@animorph17 This episode is a failure and a misunderstanding. The situation of Ash arriving several hours late could have been easily avoided. Namely, after Ritchie told Misty that he never spoke to them through the phone, she could have put two and two together and realised that Ash was lured away by someone who impersonated Ritchie.
I suppose the sleep condition is considered longer lasting in anime than in games, especially caused by mives. There the opposing mon could easily just beat the other one up and would be knocked out anyway. In double battles that probably wouldn't be the case because many times it has been shown that the trainer can use a move on their own mon and then it would wake up. Had to bring up the move thing because in Alola league Rowlet was sleeping but in that case it fell asleep on its own, when it would probably be easier to wake it up.
I remembered this one. Also even back then thinking : what kind of garbage is this? Charmander was not KO and Squirtle sleeping because of sleep powder is seen as KO?! That is not how the game works. Also I always thought that the writers could have had Ash at least go until the semi finals, better would be the finals and if he loses then, that was not a problem but like this.... This is a garbage way to go out. Plus Charizard was not even KO
Exactly! Status conditions, and ignoring a trainer's orders doesn't count as a KO in the games. It just means the player's turns are skipped, and nothing else. Plus, Charizard still ignoring Ash, even after he got all 8 Gym Badges is BS!(Even if Ash didn't officially win the Earth Badge) Like, How does Charizard know how Ash obtained his other Gym badges, if he never battled during those matches, aside from Blaine?
If you're wandering why Ash didn't use Kingler, Muk or Tauros, Remember that Ash wasn't given any opportunity to assemble his team before the battle, so it's very likely that he left those pokémon back at home, and thanks to team rocket, he wasn't given any chance to go retrieve them. That may also be why he had his charizard on him in the first place.
This was such an anticlimactic battle and it’s just sad this had the potential to be so much better and like Liam said last episode hold it on a but longer for a further round so it has more of a feel to it Great episode tho Liam keep it up I’m loving 2 WTF moments a week
Credit to Kyle Stubbs: Excerpt from Ashes of the Past, Chapter 162, with AG092 character: "You what?" asked Serena, blinking. "They disqualified a Pokémon because it was knocked out by Sleep Powder?" "Yeah," Brock nodded. "It was really kind of strange at the time - especially because another of his Pokémon was clearly exhausted after he'd been kidnapped." "Kidnapped!" Serena repeated. "That alone is grounds for a postponement of the match so it's under fair conditions. Did you get the name of the referee?" "I'm afraid not," Brock demurred. "I mainly wanted to double-check that that really wasn't-" "Brock?" Max called. "Are you coming?" "Sorry, I'll have to go," Brock apologized. "Nice talking to you."
so apparently in the Indigo League: -Sleep Powder is a 1HKO move -battles aren't turn-based (Ash was waiting for his turn against Zippo) -switching counts as being KO'd hopefully this won't be the rule-set in Series 11...
gen 1 anime made sleep = KO which was messed up. But what was even more messed up was that Satoshi couldn't heal his pokemon before the match which really screwed him over big time.
"Rob Schneider was an animal, then...he was a woman. But he's about to become.... A Stapler! And he's about to find out, being a stapler...is harder than it looks. Rob Schneider is....The Stapler! Rated PG-13."
Food for thought: Richie definitely played off that judge, but seeing how prepared he was for team rockets scheme which he easily stopped the other day/episode and how persistent Team Rocket was to stop as this time along with how assured Richie was that Ash would show after being lost for several hours did Richie also pay off team Rocket to kidnap Ash as apart of his master plan. The kid looking sus.
18:26 We dealt with this exact thing back a few episodes ago remember? Ash switched out a pokemon as it wasn't gonna do much and they counted it as unable to battle.
I think the reason Liam is blessing us with so many episodes of WTF is because he finally realized doing one episode a day would take over three years to complete. Or 21 years if he kept it once a week.
Oh, now I realized, the pokemon league accept Misty's sisters, brock's dad, Koga, Sabrina, Blaine and Giovanni as Gym leaders because the pokemon league is a mess
@@Eric-py8yy passing an inspection? But not after getting a gym apperently, refusing to battle after loosing to 3 trainers, almost killing the trainers with shurikens and psychic magic, making your gym inside a volcano and being the leader of team rocket is ok
Yeah this episode to this day is very upsetting. This is why Team Rocket has been disliked by many. They almost got Ash disqualified, and made Ash and his team more tired, making the battle against Richie stupidly harder. And the fact that sleep counted as a knockout made me very upset and confused.
@@tavellclinton9256 Well, just like Liam said in the video, even if Charizard refused to battle, the battle still should have went on until Ash himself forfeits, or Charizard is defeated, so Ash should not have been disqualified in the first place. And this is still Ashs fault for always only having five pokemon with him and not even bringing Kingler or Muk. Like there is no reason for Ash not to have brought them in case something went wrong. Man, this is the worst episode ever, at least in Best Wishes, Ash put up a fight(even if he had better type advantages and that Loucario Trainer (forgot his name lol) only brought five pokemon.
Not telling the ref, that he was kidnapped which caused most of his pokemon to be tired out is one thing, but sleep = KO is BS. So that would mean moves such a rest is self KO. Also, it always annoyed me that Ash thought using Charizard was a good idea when there's Muk or Tauros
I know everyone poops on ash for being a bad trainer but as a person who played competitive fighting games for years I can tell you it’s extremely hard to make to the top 16 let alone and in your first tournament. I’m sure it’s the same in other competitive formats.
@@RobertAngel885 If he had, he might have won That’s what really annoys me A trainer going into the national league, let alone Top 16 and only having 5 Pokemon You are either very confident or very stupid
I actually recently watched this episode but ultimately came to the conclusion that in real life you wouldn’t just be able to have your Pokémon take a beating while it’s asleep
I still like that Ash loses, he’s inexperienced and over confident and it inspires him to get better But this episode’s still lame, waste time on Team Rocket antics and the battle is underwhelming
@@Eric-py8yy Yeah, they did a much better job with Ash's loss against Harrison where we saw that both Charizard and Blaziken were exhausted and did a great job against each other
@@MorganKing95 yeah that’s cool, but that’s not how he should lose here Losing cause charizard won’t fight work’s cause Ash is kind of a shite trainer at this point
@@Jack-sy8mr Ash losing because of Charizard here has less to do with skills and more to do with losing on a technicality. Ash's Charizard could have lost to one Thunderbolt and it would have been a more satisfactory loss than this
So I actually submitted a theory video on protomario's contest explaining how small water types can use moves like hydropump, and basically I concluded that if half of their body weight (about 20 lbs for Squirtle per the Pokedex and wack as that thing is) could be used as storage for, not water, but hydrogen. Water by mass is only about 1:8 hydrogen to oxygen, which means that 10 lbs of hydrogen would yield around 10 gallons of water at 8 lbs per gallon. And while there was way more than 10 gallons of water in the van, it does make this way closer (like 8x) to explaining how this could be done
First Squirtle lost just because it fell asleep. Second Charmander lost just because Richie changed Pokémon. And third Charizard lost because it wouldn’t listen, I know a lot of battles were the Pokémon didn’t listen, but the battle still continued until one of them is K.O. Also I’m sure Charizard would have battled if Sparky used thunder bolt on it.
Honestly why didn't Ash just explain what happened. I'm pretty sure if Ash told them what happened and with a bit of investigation they see that he wasn't lying. They would probably postpone the match so that Ash can rest and his pokemon healed up so that they can have a even match. I don't think Richy would complain.
For 20 years I could never understand from an in universe perspective why Ash wasn't allowed to heal his team before this match. I mean dude had been kidnapped and had to fight off a group of criminals all before going straight into an important match.
I got freaking angry back then as well with that shitty battle and its outcome, damm they could've done a proper battle at least. "Fucking integrity, get that win by any means necessary", that's my hero, always giving realistic advises 8)
It wasn't just that Ash lost that always impressed me it was that he lost so far down. Usually if the protagonist loses its usually at least in the finals. Wasn't even the semi finals it was the top 16. I always respected that decision. It felt so realistic
Properly my most hated episode in pokemon. Everything about this infuriated me as a kid and now. From team rocket not pissing off, sleeping means KO, not telling officer Jenny that you were kidnapped so you can reschedule, you had proof and Ash's order of pokemon. Why not use Pikachu on Happy.
12:40 That is indeed terrible. It means that sleep moves are OHKOs in anime. 14:49 A stupid hacker though. Tackle is 35 Power 95% accuracy, while Scratch, which Charmander starts with, has 40 Power and 100% accuracy. (At least between gens I and IV)
Well he only won two of them (and technically charizard won one of those himself while actively not being obedient) so maybe charizard didnt acknowledge them for that reason
Personally, looking back at ash's adventures leading up to the league, I feel this loss was to be expected, Richie was just the over all example of what Ash was not, Charizard was not even a viable choose and pokemon ash had that could have been a threat way before he reached Fuchsia City, being tauros, Muk and Krabby (who evolved after one match) could have mopped the floor with many challengers he encountered along the way, especially since he had one slot open on his team all this time
he should of used bulbasaur..i always felt charizard was his only choice as a kid so it made sense..i did not remember he could of used a grass type against a fire type but he claimed for the first time ever that it was weak so he could not use it..never stopped him before...also it would have the advantage over sparky so oops....type advantage only mattered when it should not
Still don’t see why he didn’t box charizard and keep his team as pikachu pigeotto squirtle bulbasaur kinglet and muk permenantly charizard is useless as he doesn’t like or listen to ash
Rewatching these battles with Ace Trainer Liam really makes me appreciate modern series battles. They aren't always great, but Arceus knows that they usually are a bit more exciting than this.
The ref was just pissed at Ash for holding up the match for who knows how long so declaring Squirtle out due to sleep and Charizad due to refusal to battle despite NOT being out of HP is his way of sticking it to Ketchum 😂
This league is bad it's tied with the Unova league
The worst part about this theory is that I agree with it. That is such a corrupt move by a ref who just doesnt want to do his job
@@EdsonR13 I wouldn't be surprised if the referee got fired off screen because he wasn't doing his job correctly
Oh man. It's a good thing none of our real life sports suffer from this kind of blatant corruption
@@CryoJnik haha haha ha
i actually spat out my drink at that remark lol
In an alternate universe
Ash- "thats right charizard just let him wear himself out"
Charizard- still ignoring ash (and basically everyone else too)
Ref internally- seams like a legit strat
Sparky- passes out from exhaustion (justice for pidgeotto)
Ref- "Richies pikachu is unable to battle"
I like it lol
yeh if you think that way ash only lost because he said that 17:02
Why didn't ash tell the ref about being capture by team rocket?
Yeah, that bothered me as a kid. I mean, he was basically alone against two adults/older people who wanted to steal from him and had no problem if he would've been harmed? It is dangerous? Why didn't he tell anybody?
I assume if he had tried to tell the ref, the ref might not have believed him or cared.
@@valtinryu8147 with the balloon right there? How can anybody not believe him when Team Rockets balloon is the thing Ash arrives in? Is the Referee blind?
Because anime
@@valtinryu8147 Well maybe, but considering all the shit Team Rocket has tried to pull during the Pokemon League, I think the ref would've believed him and maybe allowed Ash the night to recover. The fans in the stands would've been pissed but we may have gotten a better match.
The punch is just squirtle telling Happy that he better fucking square up
Five Stages of Grief: Ash goes through all five in order once he sends out Charizard.
*Denial:* Ash preemptively celebrates Charizard finally listening to him when he eliminates Ritchie's Charmander, seemingly ignoring that he didn't actually defeat Zippo (he just forced Ritchie to withdraw him) and that he never actually gave Charizard a command.
*Anger:* When Charizard refuses to fight Sparky, Ash berates him for napping in the middle of his most important battle yet.
*Bargaining:* Ash then begs Charizard to get up and battle, saying he won't have to listen to him ever again after.
*Depression:* When Charizard is disqualified and Ash loses: Ash is upset and though he swallows it for Ritchie's sake, he's moping well into the next episode.
*Acceptance* doesn't come until the next episode where Ash realizes his fault in the event begins taking the steps to becoming a better trainer.
I read this very same text on TV Tropes just before watching this video
Don't forget the next step of grief: BLAME TEAM ROCKET SINCE THEY ARE THE REASON ASH LOST THIS MATCH.
I love Charizard, but after being disgraced like that I may have sent him to Oak. At least Charizard redeems himself in the Orange Islands and is an ace Pokemon after that.
Ash's team on hand prior to getting kidnapped by Team Rocket:
Pikachu
Bulbasaur
Squirtle
Pidgeotto
Charizard
Misty and Brock said they should leave for the stadium soon before Ash got taken away. We can assume three of the five on his team were gonna be used against Ritchie. Here's how I think it was planned:
Bulbsaur vs. Sparky
Pidgeotto or Pikachu vs. Happy
Squirtle vs. Zippo
However, Pikachu and Pidgeotto were tired (the poor bird EXHAUSTED) before making it to the battlefield so Ash had to use his Pokemon out of order sadly.
Why even have charizard with you though? I mean, not only should he have had Tauros, Muk, or Kingler to fill out that empty 6th spot from the beginning but, if Charizard doesn't obey why not swap him out and add in a second of those three. Especially against an opponent like Ritchie whose pokemon are not exactly scary strong. Reserve Charizard for only the scenario where you run into somebody with a pokemon you don't think you could beat any other way and hope Charizard battles for the challenge like he did with Blaine.
@@matthewdavenport9549 well Ash thought he didn't need the 6th pokemon cause he had the counters but because of the Team Rocket attack it all messed up
@@Airkong423 So, Ash is just a numpty. Confirmed.
Not for nothing, Ash shouldve still had a 6th pokemon on him from the get go.
Ash is still an idiot
I hate this episode so much.
Ash could've given the bike to Misty to repay her for destroying her old one, just saying.
OH-MY-ARCEUS your right
And resolve that part of the story? Don't be silly.
Mind F-king blown… 🤯
I never liked Friend And Foe Alike and I never will.
Roll credits
One of many examples where Ash gets screwed big time. He may be an idiot sometimes but he gets done real dirty
Exactly! And to think I thought his Indigo League loss was due to him meandering about for 30ish filler episodes.
That reminds me: Fuck Tobias.
@@OrochiFlamez Preach man! I'm still pissed off about that fight! Plus I was kinda hoping Ash's Noctowl had Insomnia as its ability to nullify Darkrai's Sleep status, but NOPE! It apparently had Keen Eye instead. Stupid Anime writers!
Sinnoh lol guy had legendaries
It always bothered me even as a little kid that when the Pokémon fell asleep they lost the battle
That was the only time that happened
@@madnessarcade7447 yes and this is the time I’m referring too
Then rowlett did it but it was fine
Heracross did , but this episode was before sleep talk was a move
Someone could win the league with just Hypno
James is once again, my favorite character with that roast
Same here
Same
Oh! He would be so good at roasts! You know how America has roasts?
Jesus Christ! How wank of an episode was this. We've been building up to this fight and it was horrifically disappointing. *Though then again Ash did learn a lesson: Don't neglect your Charizard just because it evolved stubborn.*
I can see why Jessie has no friends, would you want to be friends with her, i seriously hated that Misty could say anything she wanted about anyone and when someone does that to her, she'd hit you
That's normal, hipocrites are everywhere
@@Eric-py8yy true
Yeah the amount of times she hit Ash over petty reason's
@@RodimusMinor1987 Misty is pretty annoying most of the anime
Admittedly, Misty's probably my least favorite of Ash's companions. I don't know why so many people like her so much. Even as a kid I didn't like her because of how nasty she is most of the time.
Indigo Conference: Top 16
Silver Conference: Top 8
Ever Grande Conference: Top 8
Vertress Conference: Top 8
Lily of the Valley Conference: Top 4
Lumiose Conference: Runner Up
Manalo Conference: Winner
Wasn't it top 4 in Sinnoh too?
@@alejandro_rodriguez_99
Indigo Conference: Kanto
Silver Conference: Johto
Ever Grande Conference: Hoenn
Lily of the Valley Conference: Sinnoh
Vertress Conference: Unova
Lumiose Conference: Kalos
Manalo Conference: Alola
@@benniemorris4872 sorry i thought that they were in order.
@@alejandro_rodriguez_99 I chose to put them in order by his placement.
@@benniemorris4872 I referred to generations, because between the league since Sinnoh is in an exclusive anime site and I don't remember their names.
OK: clearly the writers needed Ash to lose to keep his sense of adventure going for the next series due to unexpectedly having to continue making more seasons and games, but they also didn't want to make him look like a total loser by having Richie flattening him. *Their solution was borderline mean spirited to fans, especially today.*
As long as he did his best
And it would take until Sun/Moon for Ash to FINALLY win a league.
Man, Ash lost because he is dumb as hell, wouldn't cost him taking Kingler or Tauros or Muk, all of them actually did great job on their battles
@@Eric-py8yy also, he used Muk in the last battle, did he take Muk back to Professor Oak and not retrieve either of his other 2 Pokémon? If so, ash is just dumb
@@XGame80 and other thing, "My only option is Charizard" Why ash has Charizard on party? He does nothing to contribute to battles neither team rocket
Tbf Water types have been shown to summon water out of nowhere (such as using surf on dry land and a massive wave of water explodes out of the ground)
Pokemon have magic capabilities so the infinite water isn't so Farfetch'd
I seadra what you did there.
This battle was pretty anticlimactic tbh even as a kid
I don't hate Charizard but I hate this episode.
I saw this aged 8 and I was like wait sleep works like that
I was so pissed at ash for choosing the shittiest arsenal even tho kingler,tauros or muk could easily solo
@@keiwaiou26 Pretty much half the battles in the old anime
Richie has the Honor that makes Klingons cry!
That's why he turned down the easy win!
12:02 Yo I should not be laughing this hard
*“What Move Is This Even Meant To Be?”*
😂😂😂
Might be Ice Punch..
@@sreenaths6829 Feel like in some distant way, it’s related to a Donkey Punch.
mega punch?
So what you're saying is that Misty was right to accuse him of being too good to be true.
I never liked this episode.
After this episode aired, it started a strong dislike towards Charizard. As the years go by, the clear favoritism towards Charizard hasn't changed that.
Ash saved his life ungrateful bastard
I've never liked charizard.
Not because of ashes ungrateful charizard but I've allways disliked charizard. It is an ugly pokemon.
@@RodimusMinor1987 seriously, charizard decides to make ash lose such an important battle after he saved his life because he’s disobedient…for no reason.
As a Charizard fan myself, I can totally understand the dislike.
But I still love it regardless. Ash's Charizard on the other hand was an was an asshole. NGL.
Then again, Ash never bothered rebuilding his bond with his Charizard until much later, but my point stands.
Charizard refused to battle Sparky because he deemed him as unworthy opponent. But it doesn't change the fact that this episode is very unsuccessful.
I actually cried when Ash lost the battle back then. But now as an adult, I realized that if Ash had taken the time to train his Charizard at that time, he would have had a better shot of going further in the Indigo League. I blame Team Rocket for bringing their asses in and interfering with his match, but Ash also deserved the blame as well. Also, what the fuck was up with that referee that thought Squirtle was KO'd by Butterfree's SLEEP POWDER?! That's not a damn knock out move, dude. That referee needs to go back to playing the games again.
Yup.
He never bothered to at least try to talk to Charizard, keep Pikachu as a safety neck Incase it attacks
It really irks me Ash never kept his 6th slot filled with another Poke
Kingler wouldve destroyed Zippo (but then get demolished by Sparky)
HE shouldve had Tauros on him
Yes, thank you. I 100% agree with you. It's just a shame that Tauros doesn't get any time to shine until the Orange Islands. I guess Ash was just hoping Charizard would realize it's in a big league battle and that it would finally listen to him. A very disastrous move.
Exactly! And here I thought it was due to Ash meandering about for 30ish filler episodes.
When in reality it was because 1. Team Rocket interrupted him for the umpteenth time,
2. the Ref making bad calls like Sleep status =KO, and 3. the writers making the battle anticlimactic.
Seriously, I've said it once, and I'll say it again: "How is it that a 10 year old kid IRL can beat the games, yet Ash can't bloody win a league?"
And NO! Orange Islands was filler, so it doesn't count, and YES! he won Alola eventually, but that's still over 20 years of waiting!
Also, what were those theme song lyrics again? OH YEAH!
I wanna be the very best like no one ever was,
Born to be a winner,
and I'm unbeatable.
Way to contradict yourselves Pokemon Anime writers!
Sorry, I had to rant there.
This episode is a complete fail.
A completely big fail. It was like watching a very dull mirror match.
1:57, I think that deserves a hash tag. Who did not cry when butterfree left?
Words cannot describe how much I hated this empisode as a child, and still hate today, The fact that we got this awsome First Round were Ash clean sweeped his opponend, the questionable second and third round were we at least got a bit of a real battle, the nervwraking fourth Round with the Comback of the year Bellsprout and Ash revealing that he actually held Muk, a Pokemon he never used in the League ot in any battkle at all as his secret weapon. and now the writers apparently didnt care anymore, Instead of showing us maybe 10 minutes of Ash and Ritchie maybe being nervous or even scared of loseing the battle or maybe thier new friend if they win (they´re both 10, it could be possible that they would think this) but after seeing each other on the Battlefield these doubts would fade and the Battle starts. Ash would NOT have been through an fucking kidnapping from Team Plot device (yes in this ep they only served the porpouse of tiering and worning out Ash) so he would be able to focuse on the battle without any remains of stress or angst of loseing. Then we would NOT have got a fucking sleeppowder insta kill. Pikachu would NOT have been already exausted so he probably coud have OSed Zippo because Ritchies Pokémon are all shit. and he would not have been forced to use Mr. Even tho I treat my Trainer who saved my fucking live like shit, he didnt abandoned me or benched me to the old Profs lab. Like srsly, at this point if I were Ash, I would have smashed Charizards Pokeball and tell him to never face me ever again. I BET KINGLER, MUK OR TAUROS WOULD LOVE TO ACOMPANY ASH ON HIS JOURNEY SINCE THEY ACTUALLY CARE AND LIKE YOU. God damn how could this ungrateful orange Meatheat do this to his owner...... And even tho they would have made Ash lose this battle, do to fair means and not this bullcrap. This is lame
Honestly, if I were Richie, I'd demand the Battle be postponed, until Ash's Pokemon were back to full strength.
Then the battle would be more fun, and allow me and Ash to fight at our full potential.
Or as Leomon once said(Yes, I'm using a Digimon reference)
"You should pick on someone your own size. A true warrior battles those who are strong. Only a coward picks on poor defenceless little girls."
@@nine_tails137 I wish Ash, instantly after arriving, told everybody that he got kidnapped by Team Rocket and that's why it took him so long to get here. Everybody would have understood. It would have been even better if referee offered Ash to postpone the match.
@@tavellclinton9256 OMG YES!!! That would have made the battle more entertaining, and Ash's League loss more understandable.
I remember how garbage this battle was. If Sparky had attacked Charizard once, Charizard would have fought back. Technically with Sparky choosing not to attack BOTH TEAMS aren’t fighting which means it should result in a draw.
I never thought about it that way, but now I'm angry about this episode all over again lol.
Come to think of it, we've never seen trainers using items on their Pokemon(aside from that one time Brock used a super Potion on a baby Kangaskhan, and Ash using one on Pikachu)
Yeah Richie didn't give sparky any order's and Ash was issuing orders but Charizard wasn't listening
@@RodimusMinor1987 That always bugged me about Ash's Charizard. He shouldn't be acting so smug an arrogant around Ash, since his old trainer Damian, didn't give 2 shits about him as a charmander, yet Ash cared about him! And after evolving, he then decides: "Nah brah, I ain't battling a puny opponent." Thank Arceus he got taken down a peg later on upon being defeated by a Poliwrath.
@@nine_tails137 Especially since Ash had all 8 badges at the time so there was absolutely no reason for Charizard to still be a disobedient bum.
my feeling is that the referee was bored of waiting and was looking for any excuse to end the match early
And did 2 times BS referee with sleeping= K.O, And not obeying= K.O
I can't believe that they screwed up this episode so badly.
agreed, the writers seemed less keen on battles in the early days and decided to give us more team rocket instead, i blame team rocket for ash's loss here, we could have had Pikachu or Pidgeotto vs Happy, Zippo against Pikachu or Pidgeotto, Squirtle against Zippo and Squirtle against Sparky and Bulbasaur against Sparky
Then perhaps he ought to look for a job more suitable to his taste if he can't be impartial.
*It's not a good episode for Ash.* He's late for his battle with Ritchie becuase he's kidnapped by Team Rocket, and even when he makes it he's not able to give his all like he promised because most of his Pokemon are too tired from fending them off. He loses miserably when he's forced to send out Charizard, who's still disobedient.
Honestly, I never realized how bullshit this episode was as a kid. I mean I knew it was dumb, but after Liam breaks it down,
it's actually a lot worse than I thought! Especially with the ref's BS knock out calls.
And here I always thought it was due to Ash meandering around for 30ish filler episodes,
rather than training his Pokemon. Pokemon Anime writers, what were you thinking?!
@@nine_tails137 This episode is full of flaws.
@@nine_tails137 they wanted the ref to be a football/soccer ref I think
@@JacrepidYT Lol!
@@JacrepidYT Well, this is Pokemon, not Football/soccer.
This is totally a fight writer move. They build Ash up, give him some wins, then give him a rival out of nowhere that beats him to make the rival look strong. It's in every anime. But this just makes me hate Richy. I used to like him and his nicknamed pokemon. Honestly, if it were Gary, this would have been better. Should have been Gary.
They do it ever league arc after this (though I stopped watching after gen 4)
Harrison in the Silver Conference
That guy and his cowboy Meowth (though he was introduced much earlier)
BS Deux ex machina Darkrai in the Shinnoh since Ash wouldve won that league since him and Paul were pretty much the strongest ones there except for the BS trainer
I honestly forgot the name of the last two but I couldnt care less about the Darkrai trainer
I gotta admit, having Ash lose his league battle was a pretty ballsy move and i gotta respect the hell out of that.
"A Flame type" Wait, they said that outside of just the "What kind of Pokemon are you?" song?
The most upsetting episode in Pokemon history
Mm... there are contenders for that ranking, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
let's just say it's "The most upsetting episode in Pokemon history... so far".
THE MOST UPSETTING EP IN POKEMON HISTORY GOES TO ALAN's MEGA CHARIZAED X BEATING ASH-GRENINJA BY USING BALST BURN LIKE WTF BRO GRENINJA FUCKING RESISTS THAT
@@Airkong423 but the Charizard mega evolved into a dragon fire type Wich means water is a neutral attack against it not to mention the fact that Greninja's moveset was garbage
@@mingustheprotector5192 By game standards yes but in the anime where a Charmander’s Flamethrower is considered on par with a Squirtle’s Water Gun it’s kinda a crapshoot
@@vaporterra fair,
But the logic could've changed since then, IDK what part of the anime you're talking about specifically but I'm willing to doubt that was in XYZ or if so wasn't on the same arc
Wow Liam I agree on this episode being somewhat as you say bullocks. But wanting Richie to win on default, now I'm wanting your girlfriend to beat you in the next Siri battle.
I don’t wanna be that guy but I’m gonna be that guy
It’s bollocks
Not bullocks
@@nathan9922 Sorry and thanks, I don't know British words.
This episode... I've ranted about it a lot before, but seeing it again always brings out the fire in me. First of all, Team Rocket was horrendously used here in order to make Ash not just late, but exhausted to the battle with Ritchie.
Second, Team Rocket's meddling screwed Ash over in more ways than one. It was likely Ash was contemplating on what Pokemon to bring against his battle with Ritchie when Team Rocket kidnapped him, and he didn't have time to bring his 6th Pokemon with him.
Third, even after bringing in Team Rocket's balloon, having clear evidence that Ash had been kidnapped by criminals that were well known to people, and everyone saw how clearly exhausted Ash's Pidgeotto was, nobody thought to maybe they should postpone the match because one of the Trainers was clearly not at his best due to circumstances out of his control. Ritchie didn't even bother to ask if Ash was at top condition before they battled. They just jumped straight into it. Starting to believe that theory of Ritchie wanting to win at any cost, and putting on the mask of a nice guy.
Fourth, the Indigo League is just one big mess. The rules are either far too strict, or not very clear. I feel like the writers and animators weren't very passionate about this part at all, and just wanted to hurry and get it over with, so they just made up whatever the heck they wanted to get Ash booted out of the league. If they need to make him lose, fine, but they really should've done a better job than because Team Rocket decided to kidnap him. I felt like Ash losing wasn't even his fault, but the circumstances that lead to it and nobody giving a crap about a child going missing and coming back exhausted in a *well known* criminal balloon.
“In a struck of uncharacteristic genius”
I’m dead lmao
Attempt 3 at relaying the message to Liam
About the whole TM situation, In Gen 5 we see a pansear training with a pansage to learn how it uses solar beam. If TMs were in the anime, the whole training scene would be kind of redundant when the TMs just make it so much easier.
Also as people have pointed out, Pikachu learning iron tail, and a skitty learning blizzard
And don't forget pikachu learning volt tackle, that at that moment was an egg move.
Liam: *Not very often in stuff like this you see a protagonist lose at the end of an arc*
Me:😑 *This the pokemon anime, POKEMON anime*
Do I really need to say much else?
This was the first time it did it so it was still out of the box at the time
Not valid because back in the 90s in kids shows you always expected the protagonist to win somehow. At least the stakes here are “become a champion” and not “save the world”
Moves in the anime are learned through practice and hitting targets not discs and turning moves into other moves
Iron tail for pikachu is a tm move but it learns it by working out
So I'd say looking back at the past episodes Richie being one of his best friends isn't too hard to believe I mean look at his other two friends lol
When you have "friends" like Misty and Brock, who needs enemies?
@@glumanteri
Especially in the next episode…
Right are we sure Brock and misty haven't just been playing the long game as undercover team rocket members
And he only knew him from one other episode
To think, Ash finally made it so far that he's finally having his first match in the Indigo stadium. But to then lose his first match because Team Rocket kidnapped him and wouldn't give up, tiring some of his Pokémon. Then to have charzard just give up mid battle because it just didn't feel like battling a a small Pikachu. Well this really shows how much the writers care about Ash's character, to not even give him a proper defeat and just make it a joke.
This episode pissed me off
he needs to stop falling for team rocket's disguises....kid never learns
Don't forget the whole Squritle being put to sleep by Sleep Powder somehow means he's KO'ed and unable to battle bullshit
I remember reading the novelization for kids centered around this episode's battle that served as a recap of Ash's possession of Charizard. Over two decades later my opinion on it hasn't changed.
We could've had more Pokemon battles if the writers hadn't given us so many filler episodes T^T
Better idea, just put more pokemon battles in the filler episodes. Have ash fight against random trainsers with interesting teams, instead of constantly going on whacky fantasy adventures.
@@animorph17 This episode is a failure and a misunderstanding. The situation of Ash arriving several hours late could have been easily avoided. Namely, after Ritchie told Misty that he never spoke to them through the phone, she could have put two and two together and realised that Ash was lured away by someone who impersonated Ritchie.
I suppose the sleep condition is considered longer lasting in anime than in games, especially caused by mives. There the opposing mon could easily just beat the other one up and would be knocked out anyway. In double battles that probably wouldn't be the case because many times it has been shown that the trainer can use a move on their own mon and then it would wake up.
Had to bring up the move thing because in Alola league Rowlet was sleeping but in that case it fell asleep on its own, when it would probably be easier to wake it up.
And what about Tobias?
I remembered this one. Also even back then thinking : what kind of garbage is this? Charmander was not KO and Squirtle sleeping because of sleep powder is seen as KO?! That is not how the game works. Also I always thought that the writers could have had Ash at least go until the semi finals, better would be the finals and if he loses then, that was not a problem but like this.... This is a garbage way to go out. Plus Charizard was not even KO
Exactly! Status conditions, and ignoring a trainer's orders doesn't count as a KO in the games.
It just means the player's turns are skipped, and nothing else.
Plus, Charizard still ignoring Ash, even after he got all 8 Gym Badges is BS!(Even if Ash didn't officially win the Earth Badge)
Like, How does Charizard know how Ash obtained his other Gym badges, if he never battled during those matches, aside from Blaine?
It's simple - the original anime series was badly written.
@@killdozer7792 I think that's something we ALL can agree on?
Anyone else realize how close we are to the Orange Island episodes?
And to Ash abandoning Pigeot for good after hardly using him
@@aceclover758 "Justice for Pidegeotto!" I will miss hearing Ace Trainer Liam say that.
If you're wandering why Ash didn't use Kingler, Muk or Tauros, Remember that Ash wasn't given any opportunity to assemble his team before the battle, so it's very likely that he left those pokémon back at home, and thanks to team rocket, he wasn't given any chance to go retrieve them. That may also be why he had his charizard on him in the first place.
This was such an anticlimactic battle and it’s just sad this had the potential to be so much better and like Liam said last episode hold it on a but longer for a further round so it has more of a feel to it
Great episode tho Liam keep it up I’m loving 2 WTF moments a week
Then in unova they do it again by having ash lose to Cameron. So they apparently didn’t learn from this episode
@@millerkarageanes1562 of course they didn’t
It’s the pokemon writers after all
@@nathan9922 exactly
Yes! Anticlimactic is a perfect description for this episode.
I hope this episode was skipped in some countries. Unfortunately, it wasn't skipped in my country.
Credit to Kyle Stubbs:
Excerpt from Ashes of the Past, Chapter 162, with AG092 character:
"You what?" asked Serena, blinking. "They disqualified a Pokémon because it was knocked out by Sleep Powder?"
"Yeah," Brock nodded. "It was really kind of strange at the time - especially because another of his Pokémon was clearly exhausted after he'd been kidnapped."
"Kidnapped!" Serena repeated. "That alone is grounds for a postponement of the match so it's under fair conditions. Did you get the name of the referee?"
"I'm afraid not," Brock demurred. "I mainly wanted to double-check that that really wasn't-"
"Brock?" Max called. "Are you coming?"
"Sorry, I'll have to go," Brock apologized. "Nice talking to you."
This match against Richie is apparently being moderated by a WWE referee.
WHO WROTE THIS EPISODE?! I WOULD GLADLY TELL THIS PERSON OFF!!!
Misty will never have a bicycle again. She knows Ash now - it's just too risky.
Ah, yes..the episode we all hated as kids
This battle might be bad but nothing will surpass the absurdity of the Tate and Liza battle.
are I have an idea what your talking about still don't understand how Pikachu didn't KO Swallow with his insane plot give lighting armour
@@Payload82 Any time Swellow or Taillow endured an attack, the only reason it survives more than enough due to plot armor.
so apparently in the Indigo League:
-Sleep Powder is a 1HKO move
-battles aren't turn-based (Ash was waiting for his turn against Zippo)
-switching counts as being KO'd
hopefully this won't be the rule-set in Series 11...
gen 1 anime made sleep = KO which was messed up. But what was even more messed up was that Satoshi couldn't heal his pokemon before the match which really screwed him over big time.
"Rob Schneider was an animal, then...he was a woman. But he's about to become.... A Stapler! And he's about to find out, being a stapler...is harder than it looks. Rob Schneider is....The Stapler! Rated PG-13."
Friend And Foe Alike is one big misunderstanding.
@person person This episode's alternate title is "Complete Failure".
Wow G-Fuel is so strong that it restores HP even before drinking
Food for thought: Richie definitely played off that judge, but seeing how prepared he was for team rockets scheme which he easily stopped the other day/episode and how persistent Team Rocket was to stop as this time along with how assured Richie was that Ash would show after being lost for several hours did Richie also pay off team Rocket to kidnap Ash as apart of his master plan. The kid looking sus.
Counting down the days till we get to the episode where Pikachu learns iron tail a TM only move on screen.
I hope that referee got fired.
Status effects and insubordination do not count as knockout.
18:26 We dealt with this exact thing back a few episodes ago remember? Ash switched out a pokemon as it wasn't gonna do much and they counted it as unable to battle.
This episode has only gotten worse the older I get. There's so few times where that occurs, even with the most off the walls episodes.
I think the reason Liam is blessing us with so many episodes of WTF is because he finally realized doing one episode a day would take over three years to complete.
Or 21 years if he kept it once a week.
Oh, now I realized, the pokemon league accept Misty's sisters, brock's dad, Koga, Sabrina, Blaine and Giovanni as Gym leaders because the pokemon league is a mess
Well the only criteria is shown for a gym leader is wanting to be one and pass a inspection soo yeah it's a mess
@@Eric-py8yy passing an inspection? But not after getting a gym apperently, refusing to battle after loosing to 3 trainers, almost killing the trainers with shurikens and psychic magic, making your gym inside a volcano and being the leader of team rocket is ok
What? You mean a murderous psychic who turns losers into dolls and a literal crime boss is not a good fit for being a Pokemon Gym Leader?
@@indumatipngtuber2790 no, I mean that is illegal, just like Koga, Blaine is unsafe and the oters are just stupid
@@arthurpc7492 ok, in anime is said that have a inspection, secondly...i can't disagree you just told truths
Team Rocket being so persistent this episode made me crack up when they appeared again on the bicycles. I'm 22, but my spirit will always remain ten.
Yeah this episode to this day is very upsetting. This is why Team Rocket has been disliked by many. They almost got Ash disqualified, and made Ash and his team more tired, making the battle against Richie stupidly harder. And the fact that sleep counted as a knockout made me very upset and confused.
Actually, Ash didn't lose but got disqualified.
@@tavellclinton9256 Well, just like Liam said in the video, even if Charizard refused to battle, the battle still should have went on until Ash himself forfeits, or Charizard is defeated, so Ash should not have been disqualified in the first place. And this is still Ashs fault for always only having five pokemon with him and not even bringing Kingler or Muk. Like there is no reason for Ash not to have brought them in case something went wrong.
Man, this is the worst episode ever, at least in Best Wishes, Ash put up a fight(even if he had better type advantages and that Loucario Trainer (forgot his name lol) only brought five pokemon.
Not telling the ref, that he was kidnapped which caused most of his pokemon to be tired out is one thing, but sleep = KO is BS. So that would mean moves such a rest is self KO. Also, it always annoyed me that Ash thought using Charizard was a good idea when there's Muk or Tauros
I know everyone poops on ash for being a bad trainer but as a person who played competitive fighting games for years I can tell you it’s extremely hard to make to the top 16 let alone and in your first tournament. I’m sure it’s the same in other competitive formats.
For me, he is a moron and bad trainer because he never bothered to at least keep his 6th slot filled
@@aceclover758 that’s actually a good point lol
@@RobertAngel885 If he had, he might have won
That’s what really annoys me
A trainer going into the national league, let alone Top 16 and only having 5 Pokemon
You are either very confident or very stupid
@@aceclover758 like in the Unova when Ash faced Cameron lol
I actually recently watched this episode but ultimately came to the conclusion that in real life you wouldn’t just be able to have your Pokémon take a beating while it’s asleep
Love your videos dude look forward to them, even better now twice a week
Can't wait until we get to the Hoenn saga and Liam see's Pikachu learn Iron Tail without using a TM
If a Pokemon uses Rest in the anime, do they just forfeit? Ya know, because a sleeping Pokemon = a fainted Pokemon.
Yes
@@cristianordonez7976 well… how ironic. Using something meant to heal you fully actually ends up being a bullet in the foot.
Good to know I was not the only one bothered by Squirtle losing due to Sleep
I still like that Ash loses, he’s inexperienced and over confident and it inspires him to get better
But this episode’s still lame, waste time on Team Rocket antics and the battle is underwhelming
Man, if ash lost actually in a battle makes sense, but THIS?! the writers are desperate for Ash losing
@@Eric-py8yy
Yeah, they did a much better job with Ash's loss against Harrison where we saw that both Charizard and Blaziken were exhausted and did a great job against each other
@@MorganKing95 That's a way to Ash lose! Both are evenly match
@@MorganKing95 yeah that’s cool, but that’s not how he should lose here
Losing cause charizard won’t fight work’s cause Ash is kind of a shite trainer at this point
@@Jack-sy8mr
Ash losing because of Charizard here has less to do with skills and more to do with losing on a technicality. Ash's Charizard could have lost to one Thunderbolt and it would have been a more satisfactory loss than this
If he's pissed about squirtle being sleep and being KO he'll have a field day with the Rowlet match
Keep making more episodes. I hope that you go through Joto as well.
So I actually submitted a theory video on protomario's contest explaining how small water types can use moves like hydropump, and basically I concluded that if half of their body weight (about 20 lbs for Squirtle per the Pokedex and wack as that thing is) could be used as storage for, not water, but hydrogen. Water by mass is only about 1:8 hydrogen to oxygen, which means that 10 lbs of hydrogen would yield around 10 gallons of water at 8 lbs per gallon. And while there was way more than 10 gallons of water in the van, it does make this way closer (like 8x) to explaining how this could be done
We need a compilation of all the "Weeeeellll actually Liam"
Someone will have the time to watch all of these and edit all the weeeell actuallys into one vid surley
This is probably the most FRUSTRATING non filler episode in the entire Pokemon anime tbh
team rocket, wasting people's time at the speed of nothing, thankfully future leagues do improve, somewhat cough Sinnoh, Unova cough
First Squirtle lost just because it fell asleep.
Second Charmander lost just because Richie changed Pokémon.
And third Charizard lost because it wouldn’t listen, I know a lot of battles were the Pokémon didn’t listen, but the battle still continued until one of them is K.O. Also I’m sure Charizard would have battled if Sparky used thunder bolt on it.
Honestly why didn't Ash just explain what happened. I'm pretty sure if Ash told them what happened and with a bit of investigation they see that he wasn't lying. They would probably postpone the match so that Ash can rest and his pokemon healed up so that they can have a even match. I don't think Richy would complain.
The audience would
@@aceclover758 yes your right but I pretty sure legally they probably would have to.
Squirter can fill the van with water because he drank some GFUEL!!!
For 20 years I could never understand from an in universe perspective why Ash wasn't allowed to heal his team before this match. I mean dude had been kidnapped and had to fight off a group of criminals all before going straight into an important match.
Ash didn't try to explain what happened to the Ref. He literally dropped in and said let's go
The entire first season of the enemy got done dirty by itself
I got freaking angry back then as well with that shitty battle and its outcome, damm they could've done a proper battle at least. "Fucking integrity, get that win by any means necessary", that's my hero, always giving realistic advises 8)
It wasn't just that Ash lost that always impressed me it was that he lost so far down. Usually if the protagonist loses its usually at least in the finals. Wasn't even the semi finals it was the top 16. I always respected that decision. It felt so realistic
Are we also going to skate over the fact that ash could have paid back misty by giving one of team rocket bike to her.
1. Liams italy joke got hit with irony since we know how that match ended.
2. I agreed with the idea that the ref was a jerk this entire battle
Properly my most hated episode in pokemon. Everything about this infuriated me as a kid and now. From team rocket not pissing off, sleeping means KO, not telling officer Jenny that you were kidnapped so you can reschedule, you had proof and Ash's order of pokemon. Why not use Pikachu on Happy.
At last until Black and White when Ash lost to a person who did not even bring a full team.
@@jaredhamon3411 I don't know which battle annoyed me more the match with Richie, Elesa or Cameron.
12:40 That is indeed terrible. It means that sleep moves are OHKOs in anime.
14:49 A stupid hacker though. Tackle is 35 Power 95% accuracy, while Scratch, which Charmander starts with, has 40 Power and 100% accuracy. (At least between gens I and IV)
It always bothered me that charizard didn't start listing to Ash once he got the eight badges.
Well he only won two of them (and technically charizard won one of those himself while actively not being obedient) so maybe charizard didnt acknowledge them for that reason
Maybe because half we're pitty
@@EdsonR13
Dude he earned 3 Koga Surge and Blaine plus he earned the earth badge because he beat team rocket
@@RodimusMinor1987 damn I always forget Koga, that episode just doesnt register in my memory
I wish Jessie and James weren’t psychopaths for one minute and ash could have one good battle
I swear I used to think Ash and Ritchie were cousins
It would have been nice if they turned out to be a distant relatives.
I cackled at that football joke oh boy it is never too soon😂😭
Personally, looking back at ash's adventures leading up to the league, I feel this loss was to be expected, Richie was just the over all example of what Ash was not, Charizard was not even a viable choose and pokemon ash had that could have been a threat way before he reached Fuchsia City, being tauros, Muk and Krabby (who evolved after one match) could have mopped the floor with many challengers he encountered along the way, especially since he had one slot open on his team all this time
Excuse me? How is having three Pokemon in total, including two unevolved ones, a good example?
he should of used bulbasaur..i always felt charizard was his only choice as a kid so it made sense..i did not remember he could of used a grass type against a fire type but he claimed for the first time ever that it was weak so he could not use it..never stopped him before...also it would have the advantage over sparky so oops....type advantage only mattered when it should not
Still don’t see why he didn’t box charizard and keep his team as pikachu pigeotto squirtle bulbasaur kinglet and muk permenantly charizard is useless as he doesn’t like or listen to ash
Pretty sure Squirtle thought he could use focus punch 😂
Rewatching these battles with Ace Trainer Liam really makes me appreciate modern series battles. They aren't always great, but Arceus knows that they usually are a bit more exciting than this.
Squirtle use gut punch
Liam: THATS NOT A MOOOOOVVVVVEE
Why ritchie would use a butterfreee and 2 unevolved pokemon in the torunament
Bragging rights? Plenty of people who play the games have swept the league with underleveled Rattata and Aron.
How did make it that far with fucking starters
Because Ritchie is the better trainer! Quality pokemon not quantity
@@richcreamerybutter6640 well the elite four won't take easy on him
Because he *obviously* paid off the refs, so he didn't need anything better! ^.^
I legit choked on my food with the “look at the Italian football team” comment, entertaining as always 👍
"I'm ace trainer liam, keep on trai-"
Editing software fuck up there liam?
They should have rescheduled the match when Ash came flying in on the remains Team Rockets balloon. None of how he entered seemed off for some reason.