Media Essays: Ash vs. Cameron: How BAD Was It?

Oh boy...I'm in for a bad time with this one aren't I?

Ash vs. Cameron from the Pokémon Black and White era of the anime is extremely contentious amongst the fans. It is unanimously considered Ash's most embarrassing League loss in the entire series, and even to this day is used as an example of the writers' stubborn refusal to let Ash win a league at its worst. One could argue that Ash losing to Tobias was worse since they literally just farted in a random guy with Legendary Pokémon to stop him, but at least Ash was truly losing to the strongest and the best of the best! This by comparison? Well...

Let's dive into this battle and see why it was so bad for many...

Cameron's Secret Weapon

Despite this battle's reputation, I think we can all agree that Cameron at least made a strong first impression, especially with his first Pokémon he sends out...

Hydreigon?! NICE! If you remember, I put this bad boy as Number 1 on my Top 10 Favourite Dragon-Type Pokémon list, so you better believe I'm happy to see this thing in action. On the other hand, an idiot like Cameron is using it, so Hydreigon ends up getting the humiliating distinction of being used by a dumb trainer. Way to make mah boi Hydreigon look stupid writers. X( And yet, they don't do it dirty by any means as it proves to be quite powerful. But before we cover that, I want to point out how much of an idiot Cameron is. You see, he hypes up Hydreigon as his "secret weapon" and yet he's sending it out right away? Cameron...you do understand the meaning of a secret weapon, right? YOU DON'T USE A SECRET WEAPON RIGHT AWAY! You're supposed to save it for later! Had I written this battle, Cameron would get through all of his team first and then at the end, he reveals he has Hydreigon as his ace-in-the-hole and wins that way. But no, we've got to shill Lucario for the millionth time, so of course that doesn't happen. We'll get to that later...

Ash begins the battle by sending out Boldore, which is already a bad choice on his part since Hydreigon isn't weak to Rock-types and Boldore's pretty slow. Hydreigon shows why that is by getting two hits on it before a minute's gone by with Tri-Attack and Dragon Pulse respectively. Boldore tries to attack with Rock Blast, but Hydreigon dodges, and then Boldore follows up with Rock Smash. It actually manages to hit, and it's a good call on Ash's part since Hydreigon is weak to Fighting-Type moves. However, Hydreigon is a tough pseudo-legendary, so it'll take more than that to defeat it. It follows up with a powerful Dragon Rush and then another Tri-Attack. Boldore tries to hit it with Flash Cannon, but Hydreigon takes it out with one mighty Dragon Pulse. Already, this battle's off to an intense start. Cameron not only has a pseudo-legendary on the field, but Ash is down a Pokémon already! If only Ash evolved that Boldore into a Gigalith, it might've put up a better fight. Next up, Ash sends out Oshawott. To nobody's surprise, Oshawott gets its ass kicked as well. As if an unevolved starter ever had a chance against a Hydreigon. Still, to Oshawott's credit, it did put up a good fight and even managed to land some hits on Hydreigon with Aqua Jet, Razor Shell, Hydro Pump and...groan...Tackle. For crying out loud Ash, you're IN the Unova League! Why the hell do you have an Oshawott that still knows TACKLE?! Why haven't you replaced that weak-ass move with anything else? Oshawott would've done way more damage if it knew something like Fury Cutter or Aqua Tail or...just anything BUT Tackle! Still, this battle's only just begun and Ash is down two Pokémon already. Cameron's on a roll!

At least for Ash's next Pokémon, he sends out Pignite. Why is that a good thing? Because his Pignite knows Fighting-type moves, so Ash has an advantage here and Hydreigon has taken damage from Boldore and Oshawott while Pignite is fighting fresh. As is, it's still not an easy battle for Pignite as Hydreigon is a powerful mon. Both sides land powerful hits on each other throughout the match, but fatigue catches up to Hydreigon and Pignite's able to make a comeback with Brick Break and Flamethrower. Then it one point, it stuns Hydreigon with Fire Pledge and forces it up into the sky. The two then lunge at each other with Brick Break and Double Hit (seriously Cameron? DOUBLE HIT?! You could've taught that Hydreigon anything that's better than that!) and Pignite wins out in the end.

Hydreigon is finally taken down, and after Ash has exhausted half of his team just trying to defeat it. The reputation of this battle aside, this was honestly a decent beginning to Ash vs. Cameron. Cameron already proves to be surprisingly formidable by bringing out a freaking Hydreigon right away and Ash loses two Pokémon very quickly just trying to beat it. The losses do feel a bit quick I'll admit and Hydreigon was honestly taken out way too early. Like I say, Hydreigon should've been Cameron's last resort, hence the "secret weapon" thing and should've been his ticket to victory, not used up so early. Still, the battle starts off decently, but after Hydreigon is defeated, it's all downhill from here...

The Battle Rapidly Goes In Ash's Favour

So now Hydreigon's down, Cameron's next Pokémon is...Ferrothorn. Seriously Cameron? FERROTHORN?! THAT THING HAS A QUADRUPLE WEAKNESS TO FIRE ATTACKS! Why the hell would you ever use that thing against a Pignite?! And worst of all, it has no type-coverage against Pignite, so it isn't even able to cover its Fire weakness. Big shocker, Ash defeats it in a matter of seconds because of how weak it is to Fire-types. It barely even qualifies as a battle because of how quickly Ash defeated it.

At least Cameron makes up for that idiocy by sending out Samurott next. Seriously idiot, why didn't you use that thing first? Ferrothorn got defeated for nothing! Also as Samurott is my favourite fully evolved Unova starter, I'm naturally excited to see him use it. Prior to this battle, we saw Cameron use it in his battle against Bianca, so we've already seen Samurott in action and seen it's pretty formidable, so we know Ash is in for a tough one. Samurott proves it too by effortlessly taking Pignite down in literally two hits while not taking any hits from Pignite. This one's on Ash, because why didn't he swap out for Pikachu or Snivy? They have a type-advantage! Oh wait, I forget, this is B&W Ash, he's too stupid to think compared to the other Ashes...

Anyhow, Ash sends out Pikachu next and surprisingly, Samurott holds its own pretty well against him, even getting the first few hits in. Though I have to cry foul at the writers for ignoring the games once again. You see, Samurott uses Hydro Cannon and then immediately afterwards, Cameron orders it to attack again. That's now how Hydro Cannon works. Similar to Hyper Beam, there's a cooldown period in where the Pokémon can't move for a while after using the attack, so Samurott should've been a sitting Psyduck for Pikachu to get a free hit. Not that it matters anyway since Pikachu makes a comeback and takes it down with a couple of Iron Tails. I find it so funny how Samurott has a type disadvantage and yet Pikachu never once successfully lands a hit on it with his electric attacks, he takes it down with Quick Attack and Iron Tail. I don't know if it makes Ash's win more impressive or Cameron's loss more lame. XD

Cameron's fourth Pokémon is Swanna. Swanna has a double weakness to Electric attacks and Ash still has Pikachu in play. Three guesses how that goes. =P Honestly, how did somebody as dumb as Cameron make it to the League? No idiot ever sends a Swanna up against an Electric-type! At least in Horizons whenever Liko, Roy and Dot are at a disadvantage, it comes down to them not having enough Pokémon to call on. What's Cameron's excuse? He should've used Samurott or Swanna earlier against Pignite and then he would've had that Ferrothorn saved for Pikachu and Ferrothorn would've given Pikachu a tougher battle!

Cameron's next Pokémon is his Riolu...and it's the ONLY Pokémon he has left. Now those of you reading might be curious about that. "Hang on Media Man, Riolu's Cameron's last Pokémon? But he's only used four so far and Riolu's his fifth! He should still have one last Pokémon to use, right?"

WRONG!

You see, Cameron thought full battles use five Pokémon, not six, so he only bought five Pokémon for this battle. There you go ladies and gentlemen, this guy is such a moron that he handicapped himself.

I know his name's not Hammond, but you get the picture. XD

So yeah, this should be an absolute cakewalk for Ash, right? He has half a team left while Cameron only has Riolu left. But remember, this is the Black & White anime. This is the anime where Ash lost his brain and his skills as a trainer, so not only did Cameron handicap himself for this battle, Ash has been handicapped as well, so I guess that makes it even?

Ash swaps Pikachu out for Unfezant, which is a smart idea since Flying-types have an advantage over Fighting-types. But unfortunately, Ash is against a Riolu with Plot Armour, so somehow his Unfezant can't land a hit on the damn thing while Riolu utterly curbstomps it with ease. Yes, I'm serious. As fellow YouTuber Zactoshi once said: "Geez, this is why nobody likes you! YOU USELESS BIRD!" - Zactoshi

If Ash had been using Swellow or Staraptor instead, that Riolu wouldn't have lasted more than five seconds. Ash sends out Snivy next and, believe it or not, Snivy actually puts up a better fight than Unfezant did. While this tussle is better than before, it's ruined by the fact there are moments in the battle Ash is standing there like an idiot and not telling Snivy to do anything. Like...Ash, your Snivy knows Vine Whip. Why aren't you telling the grassy serpent mon to wrap those vines around Riolu and stopping it dead in its tracks before it can use Vacuum Wave? Ah well, Snivy does actually get the drop on Riolu and even knocks it down with a powerful Leaf Storm. But then...

...sigh. It evolves into Lucario. The writers aren't even trying to hide Cameron's Plot Armour in this battle, are they? Also, yay, more Lucario shilling. Haven't had enough of that...

And the first part ends right there with Cameron's evolved Lucario still up against Snivy while Ash still has it and Pikachu left to battle. This episode is just horrendous in terms of its pacing. These battles are just over and done with so damn fast! By the time Samurott comes into the picture, we're ten minutes into the episode and already Ash and Cameron lose two Pokémon each. Then by the end of the episode, Ash has two Pokémon left while Cameron has one, and that's only because Cameron unintentionally handicapped himself! Why was this part so rushed? It's a full six-on-six battle! Go all out and don't rush it like this! In the previous battles I've reviewed, they handled the pacing much better (mostly) and were usually able to give each and every Pokémon a chance to shine. Here? It's all just Hydreigon, Pignite, Pikachu, Samurott and Riolu while all the others get taken down early on or way too quickly. On that subject, the Hydreigon opener was the highlight of the episode for me, and even then it's ruined by the fact Cameron shouldn't have used it straight away! If it's his secret weapon, then why open with Hydreigon instead of saving it for last? I just can't wrap my head around the writing decisions for this episode!

And it only gets worse...

Cameron's Nonsensical Victory

We follow on from the last episode with Snivy and Lucario wrapping their battle up. Despite Snivy managing to hit with Leaf Blade, Lucario quickly shows how it's gotten stronger now it's evolved and takes Snivy down. The most nonsensical moment of the battle is the fact Cameron somehow knows it's learned Aura Sphere. Yeah, he just somehow knows even though Lucario just evolved and hasn't displayed any hints of learning a new move. Granted, Cameron DID check its Pokédex entry, so maybe as he did that, it told him Lucario learned Aura Sphere, but that doesn't make the battle any better. It's still the plot once again bending in Cameron's favour so he can win.

(record scratches)

Wait just a cotton-picking minute! We have a battle...where the plot is bending...in Cameron's favour...and his opponent...has been nerfed by the plot...just so...he...can...win?

(pause)

OHMIGOSH! CAMERON IS ROY'S LONG LOST COUSIN!!!

Seriously, Cameron suffers from the same terrible writing that makes me unable to take Roy from Pokémon Horizons seriously as a trainer! It's the exact same problems I keep having with Roy all over again! Like Roy, Cameron is only able to win in the end because the plot bends ludicrously in his favour and his opponent loses several braincells and competence just so he can win! The only difference is Roy gets away with it slightly more than Cameron does because he's a main character and we've watched him grow over six seasons of worth anime. Cameron? We've only seen him in a handful of episodes, he's routinely shown to be a colossal idiot and going into this battle, he handicapped himself because of his stupidity. Say what you will about Roy, and I've said A LOT, but even his battles are better handled than this is! Oh yeah, I still have a battle to review...

It's now Ash's Pikachu vs. Cameron's Lucario and this should be an utter curbstomp in Pikachu's favour because this Pikachu has taken down a Regice and fought a Latios to a draw, yet somehow this newbie with a Lucario that just evolved is able to hold its own against him. And unlike the atrocity that was Ash's first battle with Trip's Snivy, Pikachu hasn't been handicapped by Zekrom, so there's no excuse here. Still, at least it's an even match with Pikachu and Lucario landing some good hits on each other and Pikachu relying on speed while Lucario relies on strength. We even get some intense clashes with the two throwing Aura Sphere and Electro Ball at each other and one moment where Lucario uses Copycat to copy Pikachu's Iron Tail and they slam each other with them. Both opponents are down, but they're able to get back up again and launch one final assault with Electro Ball going up against Aura Sphere. Against all odds...

...Aura Sphere wins out and Pikachu is defeated. Ash has yet again lost a league and Cameron, the dumbest opponent Ash has ever faced is the winner. Cue the anger of Pokémon fans all over the world as they screamed in rage at this ridiculous outcome.

This was a terrible conclusion to the battle. While yes, Pikachu vs. Lucario was a pretty exciting match and they didn't make it completely one-sided in Cameron's favour, it's still a garbage way for the battle to end because of how the rest of the battle was executed. This isn't Ash losing to a genuinely skilled trainer who was better than him like whenever he lost to Paul or when he lost to Alain. This is Ash getting nerfed by the plot just so he can lose to a trainer who's a bigger dumbass than he is. And I can't understand why it was executed like this! Why was Cameron made into such an idiot? Was it to make him look more impressive when he won? Well guess what writers, IT DIDN'T WORK! Cameron's victory isn't impressive, it's infuriating! This is a kid who's stupid enough to use Pokémon that have double-type weakness against the type they're doubly weak against and also thought full battles feature six Pokémon instead of five! How am I supposed to believe for a single second this moron could ever beat Ash in a battle? This guy shouldn't be able to win a fight against pre-character development Liko, let alone Ash! And that's not getting into the fact the writers didn't even try to make his win look convincing. They gave him a Hydreigon just so he conveniently has a powerful Pokémon to use to tear through Ash's resources with ease and then they had Ash either make stupid decisions or they nerfed his Pokémon just so Cameron could win! Need I bring up Unfezant somehow failing to land a hit on Riolu again? This victory just doesn't feel earned whatsoever and that's what hurts this battle so much.

Oh and just like Part 1, the conclusion was incredibly rushed too. No joke, by the time the battle's over and Pikachu is defeated, we're only ten minutes into the episode. Just...WHY?!?! Why was this battle in such a hurry to get over and done with? At least in previous Leagues, Ash wouldn't lose or win when only ten minutes have passed, his victory or defeat would come at the end of the episode! Just screw this battle, this is such a stain on Ash's legacy and I'll never understand why the writers thought this was how to handle it...

Overall

You can see why this battle is so infamous amongst Pokémon fans, can't you? The worst part is that it didn't have to be. If the pacing wasn't so brisk and the writing decisions weren't so asinine, this could've been an all-time great. Instead? It's one of the most infamous battles in the anime's history and despite Ash's spectacular wins in the Sun & Moon and Journeys eras of the series, this battle is still a black stain on Ash's track record and on the track records of the writers. Of all of Ash's League losses, this is easily his most embarrassing. Imagine getting nerfed by the writers this badly that you lose to a dumbass who brought five Pokémon to a six-on-six battle? I sincerely cannot think of a bigger humiliation for poor Ash. For context, this series came after the Diamond & Pearl series, a series where Ash was at his prime and the writers needed some random guy with a team of legendries to defeat him because "they couldn't think of a realistic way for him to lose". And yet somehow Ash couldn't beat a kid who's so stupid he makes Jessie and James look like Pokémon masters? This battle is a joke and I'll never understand why the writers thought this was a good idea.

Is there anyway to salvage it? Of course there is! Don't make Cameron a colossal dumbass for starters. Don't make it so he handicapped himself out of stupidity. Make this a full six-on-six with even Cameron getting to use six Pokémon as well, don't make Ash lose because of plot, don't have Cameron use Hydreigon right at the start and don't handicap Ash's Pokémon so Cameron can win. I would've done it so Cameron uses his first five Pokémon up first and saves Hydreigon for last. That way it really is his secret weapon and Ash's defeat is way more believable since he'll have an exhausted team going up against a pseudo-legendary. Alternatively, I would've also had it so Ash beats Cameron, but loses to Virgil if he HAD to lose this league. Virgil WAS clearly being set up as the big League rival that Ash would lose against, so the fact Virgil amounted to nothing in the end felt like a colossal waste. For the battle we got, this really was a mess and I can see why fans hate it so much...

And that's it for this essay. I hope you enjoyed reading it much more than I did watching the battle for this! Do feel free to share your thoughts down below. Do you hate this battle? Do you actually think it's underrated? Do tell me.

Next week, I'll be covering a MUCH better battle with Ash vs. Sawyer during the Kalos League Semi-Finals! Aw yeah! See you then media fans!

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