< Pokémon

Pokémon/Awesome


Anime

The Pokémon anime tends to do at least one Crowning Moment of Awesome per season, as the entries below show.

Ash

  • In the first movie, he addresses a Legendary Pokémon and its army of genetically enhanced clones (while striding out of smoke with the originals in tow): "You can't do this. I won't let you."
    • It was recognized by Toonami for being as much, too.
  • There's also Ash's attempt to stop said Legendary Pokémon by leaping forward to punch it in the face. When he's knocked to the ground, Ash gets up and does it again. Ineffective though his attacks may have been, the sheer display of guts has to qualify as a CMOA.
  • How about the climax of the movie, where Ash makes a Heroic Sacrifice by running in between the powerful blasts of two legendary Pokémon, turning him into stone until all of the Pokémon, including the clones, cried him back to life in one big Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
  • Ash does not care if a legendary Pokémon gets on his bad side, no matter how powerful it is. Further proof: the third movie. Imaginary!Entei kidnaps Ash's mother under some very flimsy pretenses. His response is to charge after it, ready to beat Entei down with his bare hands, if it came down to it.

"Entei! You took my mother...NOW WHERE IS SHE?!"

  • And then there's his battle in the Johto League Conference, where he beat his old rival, Gary Oak. Gary was so stunned by his loss that it forced a Heel Face Turn out of him, and it made him give up competitive battling.
    • Actually, by the time the Orange Island arc ended, Gary was very humble and even complimented Ash on fighting a good battle, even though Gary defeated him. It was hinted that his loss to Giovanni was what made him realize he's still got a lot to learn.
  • Ash's "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight to Larvitar in late Johto? That's the best way to make things better after the revelation of Larvitar's heart-wrenching past.
  • Selflessly performing a Cooldown Hug when Chimchar goes out of control with Blaze. He also does this with Monferno, as stated above.
  • The moment that Ash strives to prepare to rematch Sabrina after his defeat by her on his first journey. He tries to get the psychic who saved him to tell him how to beat her, but the guy insists that he doesn't have a chance against psychic powers no matter what. To make his point, he keeps telekinetically sending Ash flying back off his feet and crashing into the ground. Each time, the kid gets right back up and keeps marching forward, keeps getting knocked down, and keeps getting back up and trying again, ignoring Brock desperately telling him to give up. Ash shocks the man when he eventually does resist his efforts to psychically push him back and is able to keep going forward. It may not be a battle, but it's such a perfect demonstration of how strong this kid's will and resolve really is, to say it's Awesome is an understatement.
  • Then there's Ash's "Come and get me!" moment against all those Spearow in the first episode. For me, that cemented Ash's status as one of the gutsiest heroes of my life.
  • One of the Battle Frontier episodes has Ash coming to battle Tucker. This is actually the first episode where we see that the world does recognize Ash as a great trainer. As he approaches it, he's spoken to by the press, and all of his accomplishments are announced when he finally makes it in.
    • This is touched on again before Ash's second battle against Pyramid King Brandon. Both he and May are approached by Nurse Joy, who has photo albums detailing both of their respective accomplishments, and who asks for both of their autographs.
  • On his return to Petalburg, Ash gets mobbed by Norman's slavering fans. He wallops the whole town, and nearly curbstomps May as well (the fans are quick to call it her win when Torchic misses and KO's Ash himself, despite Taillow having barely been touched).
  • Temple of the Sea's nothing-short-of-epic climax--particularly the entire run-for-your-life sequence to escape a ruins that's rapidly flooding with water and then going to set things right with the crystals...under SEA water, in a big room deep beneath the ocean, running out of breath at the last second, and then (admittedly with a little help) going on to save the day...and then the movie-winning power-up. ALL WITHOUT HIS TEAM.
  • Ash gets a few in the second movie too. The way to the last island is blocked by fighting birds of doom, icebergs, and a snowstorm? He builds a DOGSLED and has his team pull him over! And when that fails, Team Rocket comes to the rescue with an airboat they cobbled together from a wrecked helicopter and a life raft.
  • Ash's battle with Tucker in Tactics Theatrics. After spending most of it being curb-stomped by Tucker's superior strategy, Ash manages to put a move together where Corphish rides on Swellow's back, then jumps off when they get close. Swellow hits Tucker's Swampert with Aerial Ace while Corphish slams Arcanine right in the face with a Crabhammer, knocking them both out at once.
  • The final battle between Ash and Paul in the Sinnoh League. All three parts of it.
  • Ash turning his hat backwards for the first time since THE INDIGO LEAGUE during the battle with Tobias.
    • That moment is just the warmup for his second piece of awesome in that battle. Complain about Tobias being overpowered if you want, just consider this. Not only was Ash was the only one in the tournament who managed to KO Darkrai, he then followed it up with a KO against a second legendary Pokémon.
    • It's what happens immediately after Ash turns his hat around that makes it his greatest moment: Ash has only one Pokémon left. Tobias has five, one of which is a Latios. Despite all this, Ash loudly declares that he still intends to win the battle. Despite his Character Development throughout Sinnoh making him a bit more level-headed, he's still got balls of steel.
  • If there was ever any doubt Ash was a better trainer than Paul, it right proper evaporated when he won the infamous match in the Tag Tournament. He had a scorched Turtwig under his command. Paul (who abdicated his role in the match) had his brutally wounded Chimchar. The opposition had a Metagross and a Zangoose (the latter of which Chimchar was rightly scared of). Ash turned the entire match around and won despite this handicap.
  • Ash pulling himself together to battle -- and then capture -- the Primeape that stole his beloved hat.

Ash's Pokémon

  • The Cinnabar Gym rematch got a ton of fans onto the Charizard bandwagon...not as if Charizard wasn't already a very popular Pokémon before it rose up out of a pool of lava and delivered an epic Seismic Toss from the sky.
    • He also had one of the most surprising evolutions in the series -- a mere three episodes after becoming Charmeleon.
    • Charizard's role in the Ash vs. Gary battle is another very huge CMoA, if not overkill. Charizard is Ash's last Pokémon standing, and Gary still had three Pokémon left--one of which is Scizor, easily defeated thanks to type advantage, but the last two are Golem and Blastoise, both of which have an advantage over Charizard. It took much effort on Charizard's part, but yes, he did manage to beat them.
    • What about its fight against Harrison's Blaziken in the Silver Conference? That was hands-down one of the most nail-bitingly close fights in the ENTIRE SERIES.
    • Another one: Charizard is the first to fight Legendary Pokémon...twice. Okay, the first one, Entei, was not real, created from the figments of a movie character's imagination, but still very powerful, but the second, Articuno, most certainly was real. Charizard put up a very, very good fight against both; he was only almost defeated by the former, and he managed to defeat the latter. The fandom really made a big deal out of this one...
      • Said Entei was arguably even STRONGER than a NATURAL Entei due to it being an imaginary Pokémon, and thusly not burdened by the limitations of normal Pokémon (as shown by the Pokémon used by Molly's avatars completely and utterly THRASHING EACH AND EVERY SINGLE POKEMON used by Misty and Brock while they were trying to buy Ash enough time to confront Entei in the first place.) It also had a terrain advantage; throughout the battle, there were spikes erupting from the crystal walls to both provide footholds for Entei to keep up with Charizard's aerial ability, and for further unfairness, said spikes also erupted in precisely the right locations to slow Charizard down, when they weren't outright impaling it. This makes it arguably possible that had this been a straight fight, Charizard would have put up an even better performance.
      • Let's face it: Charizard vs. Entei is the best 1-on-1 battle in the anime ever.
      • Don't forget his entrance to the Entei fight. Ash is falling to a bloody death and at the last available second is caught by Charizard, who gives his trainer a quick smile then puts on his game face as he prepares to face the Pokémon that completely curbstomped Ash's entire team.
    • Small moment (but still awesome) in the Johto episode "Fangs for Nothing". Team Rocket has managed to convince a wild (and powerful) Dragonite to help them in their scheme, and the Pokémon proceeds to curb-stomp the heroes. At the end of the episode, try to guess who makes an appropriate return?
    • They don't call him GARizard for nothing!
  • Of course, Pikachu has had its share of awesome moments too -- for those who are new or still wondering why Ash hasn't gotten a Thunderstone, the Vermillion Gym showdown should explain why (besides the fact that it's the most familiar critter...).
    • Then there's the rematch, of sorts, mid-way through D/P...
    • Another good moment for Pikachu: When the twerps found Team Rocket, seemingly drowned, after the St. Anne sank, they all seem genuinely sorry, and do their best to give the trio a proper burial at sea...until they scramble back on the raft, claiming they're not dead. Pikachu snaps its fingers and gives a very clear "Chu!" of disappointment.
    • Topped by the episode that first featured Delibird. After getting blasted by its "presents" so many times, Pikachu lucks out when one of them ends up healing it instead. It turns to Team Rocket with a look on its face that says: "I'm gonna light you up like a Christmas tree!" Then it proceeds to do just that.

Jessie: You just don't know when to give up, do you?
James: I wouldn't be so sure...
Pikachu: Pika... *gives the look with sparks flowing from its cheeks*

Meowth: UH OH! I THINK HE'S MAD!!

    • In "Bye Bye Butterfree", Pikachu jumps onto the windshield of Team Rocket's helicopter that they were using in their plot to snag the Butterfree. Pikachu (complete with an adorable smile and "Ka!") begins to charge up his Thundershock. Cue Team Rocket shouting "IT'S GONNA SHOCK US!" in an high-pitched panicky tone of voice, which gradually gets faster before dissolving into hysterical screaming as Pikachu blows up the helicopter!
    • Then there's the Orange League battle between Ash and Drake. Both are down to the last Pokémon, Drake with his colossal Dragonite, and Ash with Pikachu. Keep in mind that the Dragonite's already beaten Charizard, Squirtle, and Tauros before now. After a fight, throughout which Dragonite is clearly dominant, Pikachu manages to dodge Dragonite's Hyper Beam, perch itself on the giant's head, and call down Thunder to take it down, winning Ash his first championship. The mouse who KOs the dragon.
      • The dude who wrote the episode gave Dragonite eight attacks (ten in the original Japanese) to make it seem unstoppable.
      • The scene is also a CMOA for Dragonite, for the above mentioned reasons.
      • In the manga Surf's Up Pikachu, Pikachu takes it a step further and crawls down into Dragonite's mouth, delivering the attack internally. Even the announcer declares Pikachu to be scary at that point.
    • How about the pilot episode? Pikachu crawls to its feet after being badly injured and rushes - illuminated only by periodic lightning flashes - to the defense of his (suicidal) trainer. After which he annihilates an entire flock of Spearow. With one attack.
      • Aren't you forgetting when Pikachu BLOWS UP A POKEMON CENTER? He might've been empowered by generated electricity (and it was Koffing releasing gas that caused the explosion itself) but it still counts.
    • In his rematch with Roark, Pikachu takes a nasty hit from an Onix and gets buried under a pile of rocks. The Onix proceeds to set up Stealth Rock while it has a second. Pikachu then proceeds to, over the course of about five seconds, blast the rocks off himself, destroy the Stealth Rock, override Onix's immunity to electricity and zap the hell out of it...somehow...and then charge right through its counterattack to Iron Tail it in the throat and land on the other side while it topples behind him. Was it full of gratuitous nonsense? Yes. But it was some Badass nonsense.
    • Managing to tie with Tobias's Latios in the Sinnoh League.
    • The Electabuzz line has served as The Rival for Pikachu throughout the series. He had not beaten any member of its line without teaming up on it. Against Volkner's Electivire, it wins, despite not being able to use any of its Electric moves (due to Motor Drive). It does so by beating Electivire down with Iron Tail.
    • Pikachu in BW050. He's trapped, far from his Trainer, and Axew (who's essentially a kid) is panicking. Pikachu keeps his cool, starts letting out other Pokémon from all three teams, and rallys them like a general to escape. Little guy could probably make a decent trainer in his own right.
    • Also, for anyone who thought Pikachu had suffered Badass Decay in early Best Wishes (thanks to several unfortunate losses), you need only see the Gym Battles against Elesa and Skyla (especially the former) to realise that this isn't the case. At all.
  • Ash's Bulbasaur learning SolarBeam after refusing to evolve.
    • Actually somewhat realistic, considering that Pokémon do learn moves earlier if they don't evolve.
  • Any time Ash's Squirtle whips out his Squirtle Squad shades.
  • Krabby sweeping the first round of the Indigo League in its first battle, evolving into Kingler in the process. The best part is that all of his opponents have some sort of advantage over him (Exeggutor with type, obviously, Seadra with speed, and Golbat's ability to fly).
    • This culminates with Kingler KO'ing a Cloyster -- that has closed its shell - with a tireless barrage of Crabhammer attacks. Brock actually announces this by declaring that Cloyster has run out of Hit Points, in a rare moment of the anime actually using the game's mechanics for once.
      • It's even more amazing when you remember Cloyster has one of the highest Defense stats of all Pokémon and Kingler beat it with attacks Cloyster was practically designed to take.
      • Granted, in the First Gen, Crabhammer was still a Special type move... but it always was and still is a water type move, so it's still pretty impressive.
  • Pidgeotto evolving into Pidgeot and confronting the Spearow from the first episode (now a Fearow) with Ash and Pikachu riding along for the fight.
  • Butterfree breaking a net full of other Butterfree by himself, finally winning the heart of the female pink Butterfree he had his eye on for the entire episode.
  • Buizel vs. Maylene's Lucario. It also gets one before it was even caught, singlehandedly defeating Piplup, Glameow, and Pikachu on the first encounter.
    • Its very first Contest Appeal in the Wallace Cup.
    • Buizel gets another in "Short and To The Punch". In the course of one day, he manages to master Ice Punch and defeat a Mr. Mime that had completely overpowered him previously with one hit. Keep in mind that training to learn new attacks (like when Pikachu was learning Iron Tail) usually took several episodes.
    • It didn't do much in the long run, but freeing himself from the grip of Paul's Drapion by inflating his flotation sac and launching himself into the air with Water Gun. (Too bad he never learned that "hover in the air with his tail" trick used by another Buizel during a contest...)
  • Snorunt jumping in the way of a TR attack on Pikachu...and evolving into Glalie when the smoke clears. The best part: It finally mastered the Ice Beam that it had trouble with using for several episodes.
    • Snorunt evolving was a landmark CMoA in my eyes. Not only was it the last Pokémon I had EVER seen Ash getting (because it looks so evil!), it was the beginning of the new trend of Ash actually evolving his Pokémon more often.
    • Also, Glalie's win against Morrison's Metang and Clark's Charizard in the Hoenn League.
  • Sceptile.
    • Try the episode when the Frontier Brain Spencer is introduced, it's one CMoA after another for Sceptile. Ash and Sceptile (still in his attack-blocking Heroic BSOD) are attempting to survive the night in a forest full of Beedrill. The next day, Team Rocket captures Pikachu and Sceptile, and Ash jumps after them (while TR is on a balloon) and grabs onto the mechanical arm that was holding his Pokémon. The Rockets shake him off and he falls. Sceptile, seeing his trainer in danger, finally snaps out of his Heroic BSOD, cuts Pikachu and himself free from Team Rocket, and uses Extreme Speed to catch Ash before they all fall to the ground, and then uses Bullet Seed to guarantee a safe landing. The injuries Sceptile received from fending off the Beedrill earlier finally took their toll, but Spencer has his Chansey heal him. While being healed, Sceptile reaches into the bushes nearby, and plucks out a new twig to use. Team Rocket doesn't stand a chance NOW...
    • Being the one responsible for the likely first defeat of Tobias's Darkrai.
  • Gliscor winning the Single-Stroke Battle with a Team Rocket mecha after evolving...and glomping Ash as it lands. Same old Gligar!
    • Not to mention its first battle against Barry's Roserade. Close-combat ass kicking FTW.
      • And the fact that it draws doesn't diminish the fact.
    • Also its first gym battle in Canalave, beating Byron's Bastiodon then doing its routine cuteness at the end of the episode.
    • Defeating Paul's Drapion, which had already beaten Buizel, Staraptor, and Torterra earlier.
  • Chimchar finally shaking off its phobia of Zangoose to beat three of them at once!
    • Fire Counter Shield against Fantina, beating not one but two of her three Pokémon.
    • This goes from Heartwarming right into Awesome: At the end of Ash's 6 on 6 full battle with Paul, Chimchar is the last one remaining on Ash's side. After it manages to defeat Ursaring, Ash gives it some encouragement...and to confirm the trust that the two now have in each other, Chimchar evolves. The awesome part comes when Monferno shows off Mach Punch and the shockwave blows right past its old trainer. Hell yeah.
      • Not to mention the WAY it evolves. It poses while evolving to epic music playing in the background.
      • Not to mention two moments during its fight against Paul's Electabuzz. The first, using its Mach Punch to speed up to Electabuzz faster than it can react, then slugging it in the gut and throwing it into a rock. Then another where it uses Dig to get away from Electabuzz, then pops up out of the ground right below it, slamming its fist into Electabuzz's chin in an uppercut so epic that it causes an explosion.
    • Then there's the Snowpoint Gym right before that fight, when it burns the crud out of Abomasnow, who easily wiped out two out of four of Ash's Pokémon...while riding on a slab of ice like it's snowboarding.
      • More Snowpoint: Perfectly sensing Snover in the steam and hitting it square in the gut with fire. Turns to heartwarming when it's implied that it worked simply because of the bond Chimchar and Ash have.
    • Monferno gets a joint CMOA with Dawn's Cyndaquil in "Bagged then Tagged" with their finishing moves against Lyra's Chikorita and Khoury's Croconaw. Firstly, Cyndaquill launches a Flame Wheel which is then propelled by Monferno's Flamethrower against Chikorita, then Monferno smashes Croconaw in the face with a brutal Mach Punch that sends him flying across the arena. Both feature perhaps the best animation seen in the anime outside of the movies.
    • Snapping out of its second Blaze-induced Unstoppable Rage and evolving into Infernape to save Pikachu, Piplup, and Barry's Empoleon (with an impressive Flame Wheel from its new fire crown).
      • He doesn't fully snap out of it immediately, though. Moments before evolving, while in the middle of his rescue attempt, Monferno is controlling Blaze.
    • "The Eighth Wonder Of The Sinnoh World", when Ash battles Volkner. Each is down to their last Pokémon, Infernape and Luxray. Infernape reaches critical status and is lying on the ground. Due to Team Rocket fooling with the system, the lights are out. Ash is calling desperately for Infernape to get up. He does, and Blaze activates, Power Glows, Power Echoes, Glowing Eyes of Doom, Red Eyes, Take Warning, the whole bit. As Brock explains, Blaze has been an unpredictable and dangerous factor since the days of Chimchar. Instead of attacking Luxray, Infernape turns and stomps toward Ash. Seeing this stalking toward you would be enough to freak out anyone. Pikachu moves to defend Ash, even knowing he's probably screwed if this breaks bad, since he was fainted by Luxray a few minutes ago. Ash calls him off and, completely devoid of doubt, just talks to Infernape, who nods his assent. The Crowning Moment of Heartwarming turns quickly into a Crowning Moment of Awesome as Infernape, totally in control of Blaze, takes Luxray to school, handing Ash the win.
    • The end of the tournament battle between Ash and Paul -- it's just Infernape vs Electivire; just as it seems Ash is beaten and Paul is insulting Infernape for losing after getting poisoned and battling other mons while Electivire was mostly fresh, Blaze activates in its most glorious instant yet. The resulting Flamethrower was more a Flarethrower than anything, to say nothing of Flare Blitz. The column of blue fire it created likely covered the arena and blew up Electivire one extra time just for emphasis. All this was set to the wonderful Type:Wild.
    • Chimchar gets one in Losing its Lustrous, though it's more of a Taking the Bullet moment. As Pikachu closes in on Toxicroak with a Volt Tackle, Saturn orders Toxicroak to use Poison Jab. It would have hit Pikachu had Chimchar not shoved it out of the way, causing Toxicroak to unintentionally unload Poison Jab directly into Chimchar's face. It may have been painful, but did Paul ever inspire such loyalty? NO.
  • Staravia's evolution into Staraptor during a battle with Paul in the DP Pokéringer episode. After showing off some very impressive agility and aerial maneuvers, it proceeds to use its newly learned Close Combat right to Paul's Honchkrow's face! Considering the episode this was a callback to (in which Taillow evolved), Swellow is officially now the runner up in terms of "most badass Flying type".
    • Staraptor using Close Combat was awesome enough on its own.
    • It was also (barring Chimchar) the only Pokémon on Ash's team to defeat one of Paul's team in their (in)famous 6-on-6 match (and the first to deal a knock-out blow at all). Even if Paul was testing the water (so to speak) early in the battle, he didn't specifically plan for Weavile's defeat, and by the way Staraptor pulls it off you can say with confidence that he earned that win.
  • Turtwig, immediately after evolving into Grotle (and getting curbstomped, as it can no longer utilize the speed it had in its earlier state), leaving the Pokémon Center in the middle of the night to train. Quickly turns into a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming as Paul's Torterra (the final form of Turtwig) shows up to tutor Grotle (independently of Paul, of course.)
    • And, a few episodes afterwards, by learning Rock Climb he freaking runs through a canyon's wall towards Team Rocket, growling at them menacingly; they just go way above the canyon, and Grotle jumps to the top of the canyon, then proceeds to jump once more god-knows how many feet above the air and goes through the balloon, making a huge explosion as he falls down to the ground without a scratch.
    • While still a Turtwig, it grabs the tail of Roark's Rampardos while in midair, and somehow throws that rock dinosaur many times its size into a wall, which defeats it!
      • Err, not quite... but how he does defeat Rampardos is pretty awesome. First, he runs forward while constantly using Razor Leaf, which Rampardos keeps burning. Then, the leaves produced create a veil which covers him, followed by Ash ordering him to jump and spin. When Roark orders a countering jump, Rampardos does so... and then we see Turtwig spinning sideways and under Rampardos, whose upward momentum leaves its torso completely exposed to a single, high-powered Razor Leaf and it falls to the Gym field's floor with a slam, knocked out. Bad. ASS. ...
  • Thunder Armor, full stop. In the Mossdeep Gym battle, Ash comes up with the idea of making Pikachu ride Swellow and constantly shock it with a Thunderbolt. This somehow makes Swellow invincible and boosts its physical attacks. Considering that Ash had one of his Pokémon perform an electrical attack strong enough to take out anything on his own flying type, this should be insane. Somehow, it works.
    • This is either a Moment of Awesome for Swellow (it's always been known to take electricity well, but this took the cake) or a huge Wall Banger -- most fans think the latter. Thankfully, it gets a proper one later by defeating Tyson's Donphan (stopping its Rollout completely, then tossing it through the air).
    • Swellow's debut as a Taillow. It withstood multiple electric attacks from Pikachu and was barely weakened. Ash was forced to catch it to stop the fight.
    • He singlehandedly takes down one of Team Rocket's largest mechas, a Robo-Slaking, in a possible Shout-Out to King Kong!
  • Ash's entire Sinnoh team gets one in "Uncrushing Defeat". After suffering from a crushing defeat from Paul in a 6-on-6 battle, which left his entire team wiped out and injured, Ash is, quite understandably, depressed. Team Rocket seeks to take advantage of this. However, by the time they put their plan into action, Ash's Pokémon had, despite their injuries, managed to snap him out of his depression. Needless to say, they're very surprised to see both him and his Pokémon standing proudly, their confidence renewed and their bond stronger than ever. Cue his entire team attacking Team Rocket with their best attacks at once.
  • Cyndaquil's shining moment used to be its rematch with Skarmory in "Hot Matches", but right before the Sinnoh League, it evolves into Quilava in a battle with TR. It then runs right under their machine with a roar and learns Eruption to destroy it!
    • Ash's Cyndaquil pwning Pryce's Dewgong. Underwater.
  • Heracross's close combat battles with Shingo's Scizor and Nando's Kricketune.
    • Heracross proved itself a badass for the ages when Ash fought Gary in the Silver Conference. Despite a type disadvantage and being set on fire- it even took some point-blank Fire-type moves!- it defeated Gary's Magmar. Given who Heracross' voice actor is, this shouldn't come as much surprise. Regardless, awesome.
  • Gible finally mastering Draco Meteor and taking down two of Conway's Pokémon with the move!
  • Corphish beating Katie's Golduck in "A Judgment Brawl" by spinning the hell out of it and hitting it with a Crabhammer in the chin. Oh, and it did this WHILE CONFUSED. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny.
  • Ash's Torkoal fighting Brandon's Registeel (a legendary) and almost defeating it! It should be known that this is the same Torkoal that was defeated by a single Scratch from Norman's Vigoroth and was easily defeated in almost every battle it was used in. Took a Level in Badass, indeed!
  • Totodile defeating a Kingdra by biting it in the snout until it swelled up from its own water attacks and went flying like a balloon!
  • Bayleef wrapping its vines around the mouth of Harrison's Houndoom to prevent it from using fire attacks and then defeating it.
  • Muk curbstomping the superpowered Bellsprout that destroyed Bulbasaur and Pikachu!
  • Noctowl's redemption in the Sinnoh League. Firing an Air Slash straight into the face of Conway's Lickilicky, effortlessly dodging its Thunderbolt, and then smashing it into the gound with Extrasensory, all without skipping a beat!
  • Tauros tying with a Metagross, a pseudo legendary!
    • Let's give Tauros more credit: Pikachu may have defeated a pseudo-legendary before him (two, in fact), but only with the help of other Pokémon. Tauros tied with Metagross, yes, but he did it on his own.
    • And then there's Tauros's participating in the fight against Drake. First, he takes down Drake's Venusaur all by himself, despite being a total rookie. When Ash sends him out against Dragonite, he uses the sandy arena floor as a cushion to catch a charging Dragonite in his horns, and then sends the mammoth dragon flying to land flat on its back. Tauros gets KOed by Thunder for his trouble, but along with Charizard and Squirtle he plays a major role in weakening the Dragonite enough for Pikachu to finish it off.
  • Snorlax. If it's in the mood, it'll Hyper Beam/Body Slam/Ice Punch the hell out of almost any opponent, often taking down two Pokémon in the same match.
    • First observed when it defeated Claire's Kingdra, way back in Johto.
  • In "Scraggy -- Hatched to Be Wild!", Scraggy goes to try and defeat a pack of Galvantula in a fit of pique. This isn't going well, and Scraggy is surrounded by hostile, powerful Pokémon. It looks like the newborn is about to be on the receiving end of a tremendous beating; that is, until the rest of Ash's Unova Pokémon arrive on the scene and unleash one of the finest tag team beatdowns yet seen upon the Galvantula, forcing them into a hasty retreat. Scraggy, which up to this point had been a violent, loudmouthed asshole, is shocked into a strangled silence.
  • Donphan taking down Lucy's Seviper while on fire.
  • Scraggy one-shotting a Mandibuzz with his newly learned Hi Jump Kick.
  • Oshawott finally learning to open his eyes underwater, mastering Aqua Jet in time to give Palpitoad a curbstomping.
    • Made even more impressive by Palpitoad's EPIC Oh Crap right before getting hit.
    • His battle against Cilan's Pansage was pretty cool too, once he got his act together. Blocking a Solarbeam attack with his scalchop is no mean feat.
  • Snivy is made of this trope, especially in BW057. After her loss at Elesa's Gym, seeing her calling out the Gothita in this episode for her self-centredness - followed by Pwning her the next day in battle -- was particularly satisfying. How her concern and care drives her to watch out for the younger Pokémon -- also seen when she started her rivalry with Emolga -- is heartwarming as well.
    • In the double battle against Tepig's former trainer, she takes a full Heat Stamp from an Emboar and is still able to keep battling. And later she takes a Fire Spin-powered Flare Blitz meant for Tepig (who was in a Heroic BSOD).
  • Sewaddle (later Swadloon) regarding his effort against Burgh and his Bug types. After Burgh's Dwebble defeats Tepig (who has a type advantage), Sewaddle not only defeats Dwebble, he evolves mid-fight and kicks Whirlipede's ass, too (take note -- this is the first time one of Ash's Pokémon has evolved in a Gym Match, ever.) He did get beaten in the next round, but he was facing his evolved form (who had fricking Hyper Beam!) and still put up a decent fight nonetheless.
  • Roggenrola evolving into Boldore, and then having a Rock Smash to Rock Smash battle to finish off Clay's Excadrill.
    • A moment made even more awesome by the BGM. Excadrill is the last Pokémon Clay has, and Roggenrola is Ash's last Mon standing as well and is, frankly, getting its ass kicked -- only not getting OHKO'd because of its Sturdy ability. Then suddenly, in an awesome sequence, it begins to evolve with the sound of one lone timpani drum as the underscore until it completes it's evolution and the full score kicks in -- which is a full orchestral remix of the Gym Leader's Last Pokémon theme. And you just know that Boldore is about to kick some serious ass.
  • The last stretch of Ash's match with Skyla -- Tranquill evolves into Unfezant and wins an Animation Bumped aerial battle against Swanna.
  • Tepig evolving into Pignite and proceeding to kick the crap out of his jerkass former trainer's two Pokémon by himself. Then when Suwama asked him to come back to his team, Pignite sees through his deception and blasts him with Flamethrower.

Misty and her Pokémon

  • During the Mirage Kingdom two-parter, Misty (mostly) gets over her fear of Bug Pokémon by unleashing her Gyarados on them, one-shotting the villain's strongest Bug-type (Shedinja, a Pokémon notorious for its "Wonder Guard" ability, which negates damage from any move that it isn't weak against) with one Flamethrower attack.
    • In one of the Chronicles episodes, she'd been afraid of Gyarados prior to getting the one we see here. The fact she'd taught it Flamethrower by that mini-arc is still kickass, though.
      • Aside from getting over her fear of Gyarados in the Chronicles episode, she also takes three Poison Sting attacks for it when it is unable to defend itself, finally gaining its respect and trust.
  • She also pushes her Psyduck out of the way of danger in "Just Add Water", getting sucked up by Team Rocket's machine in its place.
  • Misty's original CMOA was the whole 'trapped aboard the St. Anne' debacle. She both planned and implemented their escape, and was the one who told Ash and Brock to shut up and deal with it when they didn't want to work with Team Rocket.

Misty: Call your Pokémon back!
Ash: But Team Rocket will-
Misty: Just do it! We've got bigger problems here!
Ash: Yeah...*recalls Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur while Brock recalls Geodude*
Misty: Team Rocket, call yours back too! What's more important, a Pokémon battle or your life?!
Jessie: She's right. Good point! *recalls Ekans while James recalls Koffing*

    • Also, her ordering Team Rocket to "move it or lose it!" and them (without a trace of irony) automatically replying "yes, Ma'am!"
  • Her Psyduck has a continuing series of them, happening virtually any time his headache gets bad enough to use Confusion. One of his most impressive moments was in "Lights, Camera, Quacktion", freeing about 24 trapped Pokémon from a net attached to a large crane, then hurling said crane over the horizon with one Confusion attack. In series, though, any instance of Psyduck using his powers is treated by the other characters as a CMoA...one can only imagine what it would be capable of if it could be trained, but as we know she's tried... Oh, she's tried.
    • While it wasn't her Psyduck (much to everyone's disappointment), a wild Golduck shows its value during "Bye Bye Psyduck", using Psychic on Team Rocket with a single claw, and then letting off with one hell of a Hyper Beam...

Brock and his Pokémon

  • Battling Team Rocket solo in "Leave It To Brocko". Yes, he gets minimal character development throughout the series, but he's still a Gym Leader.
    • Not only that, the Pokémon he had at the time either had no effective attacks on Team Rocket's or were outright disadvantaged. Also, after Ash shows up to help him out, Brock actually refuses to let Ash steal his show.
    • Earlier in that episode, escaping from Team Rocket by distracting them with his cooking.
  • Not to mention his first episode debut, where he gives Pikachu, who was practically a Deus Ex Machina up until this point, a Curb Stomp Battle with his Onix. It doesn't matter that Onix not only has type advantages (or, by the game's rules, should not even be affected by electricity), it's still awesome to see for those kinda sick of Pikachu being a God Mode Sue.
  • His Dynamic Entry / Big Damn Heroes moment when he joined the others in Advanced Generation.
  • Brock's Onix saving everyone from a sinking ship by simply biting down on a balcony to allow the others to use its body as a staircase. So simple, yet so effective.
    • What about in the fourth movie? Onix smacked a Tyrannitar right into the middle of a lake.
      • Considering than Tyrannitar is a pseudo-Legendary (at the time, only the second ever introduced), and that this one was power-enhanced by the IMM's Dark Balls... yeah, it counts. A lot. No wonder it evolved into a Steelix later down the line (albeit offscreen).
  • Brock's Croagunk is a solitary loner of a Pokémon...until Brock goes gaga over whatever pretty girl comes into his squinty-eyed vision. So now he's the one who has to restrain Brock; how does he do it? By tapping him in the ass with a Poison Jab and hauling him away. It just never gets old.
    • It's also surprisingly powerful, even for a main Pokémon: it protected Ash and co. from a stray fragment of Dialga's Draco Meteor attack with one Brick Break in the tenth movie.
    • It gets yet another CMoA in the Tag Battle Arc, this time by sliding under Paul's Torterra to dodge Ash's Staravia's attack, emerging from behind, and proceeding to use Brick Break to crack its head against the stadium floor! Granted, Torterra quickly beats Croagunk afterwards, but still...
    • It gets another one still at the end of the Team Galactic arc, where it finally settles its rivalry with Saturn's Toxicroak by smacking it in the head with a Brick Break just as Toxicroak comes out of its Poké Ball, one-shotting it.
      • Especially considering that Toxicroak took out Gary's Electivire and Umbreon earlier. With like, what? Two or three hits?
  • Brock's Happiny also gets one in its debut episode after plowing through Team Rocket's Meowth and Carnivine, grabbing Seviper by the tail (which, by the way, is practically a sword), and flinging it at Team Rocket to blast them off and save Brock's life.
    • Want to know just how strong Happiny is? She picks up a FROZEN POND.
      • Pond? Wasn't that Lake Verity?

May and her Pokémon

  • Torchic evolving into Combusken to defend Corphish from a pack of Breloom, doing a complete 180 in personality as it went into a physical battle with the Breloom leader.
    • Said Breloom leader also gets a moment in that episode. After seeing what Combusken can do (being sent into the wall of the canyon they're in by a Peck attack, then being smashed in the face with a Sky Uppercut), it proposes that they settle it hand-to-hand. One of the few instances on the show where an evolution doesn't mean a Curb Stomp Battle. This Breloom is faced with an evolved Pokémon and it doesn't back down or suddenly undergo Badass Decay, it fights and fights well, managing to Cross Counter with Combusken to draw their fight.
    • Topped in the Hoenn Grand Festival. Drew's Flygon blasts it with a Flamethrower in mid-air, but instead of plummeting to the ground like a toasty piece of chicken, it flings itself towards Flygon and proceeds to bash it the face with a Sky Uppercut...while on fire.
      • The Grand Festival battle in Kanto easily surpassed it, with May using Tucker's Fire-Water Fusion and Combusken learning Overheat.
    • Blaziken vs. Sceptile. Great way to end Advanced Generation and send off May.
  • What about the May VS Joyce battle in the Fallabor Town contest? May's Beautifly has to face a Medicham who smashed Drew's Roselia before. Beatifly managed to defeat it using some utterly amazing combos. The best part was when Beautifly got WRAPPED UP WITH STRING SHOT, THEN FROZEN WITH ICE PUNCH (which Beautifly is 2x weak against), and Beautifly breaks out of the ice as if it were paper. AWESOME.

Max

  • Max may not have had any Pokémon, but that didn't stop him from sneaking around behind Team Rocket and busting their cage open a few times during their motto.
  • Also landing a space shuttle. Yes, it's ridiculous, but he landed a damn space shuttle.
  • Do I Hear A Ralts A fan favourite episode even among those who consider him The Scrappy. He finds his future Starter Pokémon and he earns it.

Dawn and her Pokémon

  • The Contest battle between Dawn's Ambipom and Lila's Delcatty. To put it mildly, Thunderbolt + Swift equals small galaxy. It took my breath away the first time I saw it, and made my skin tingle.
  • Piplup's rematch with Buizel, resulting in a hard earned catch for Dawn.
  • The comeback against Ursula -- despite almost suffering public humiliation -- to win her fifth ribbon. This includes finally mastering Cyndaquil and Mamoswine's Flame Ice combination.
  • Togekiss vs. Jessie's Yanmega. Dawn manages to turn the troublesome trait of her new Pokémon to her advantage in this great aerial fight.
  • The Grand Festival Finals. We have Piplup's charged Peck and Togekiss' Sky Attack combine to create a literal God Bird, with Dawn's Image Song playing in the background. Dawn may not have won, but she made it all the way to the finals and gave Zoey as good a battle as Nando did, and she's rightfully proud of that.

Iris and her Pokémon

  • What? no love for Excadrill? You have to admit, taking down a Scolipede, even though it was for its own personal reasons, was pretty awesome.
    • Once Excadrill regains his loyalty to Iris in BW036, the drill mole pierces the heavens and fights Georgia's Beartic to a draw in the rematch.
    • His battle with Pikachu in BW044 was absolutely brimming with epic. Excadrill might have a type advantage, but this is the God Mode Chu we're talking about. Pikachu didn't perform too badly either, despite losing
  • Axew finally mastering Dragon Rage in "The Dragon Master's Path".
    • Learning Outrage during the Club Battle tourney. He proceeds to literally beat up Luke's Golett across the field.
  • Iris is made of this trope, too. As a child, she was fighting Pokémon bare-handed and this -- coupled with saving his life - is how she befriended Excadrill (then a Drilbur). Iris must've been, what? 8 years old? On top of that, the duo won 99 battles in a row after that, with the first person to defeat them being Drayden himself.
  • How Iris defeats Stephan in the Club Battles, during BW043. Emolga has no Flying type attacks (which would be super effective against Sawk), and Sawk knows how to use Close Combat to repel Attract. So when Sawk is affected by Emolga's static, Iris simply uses Emolga's strength's and a genius tactic to win - an Attract barrage until Static paralyses Sawk, and then a powerful Volt Switch which outright faints Sawk (who had also been greatly weakened by the constant use of Close Combat). What makes it better is that Iris and Emolga agreed not to use Volt Switch early because Iris wanted to enjoy the battle rather than have an easy victory - and they still won!

Cilan and his Pokémon

  • The first time the newly infamous Shell Break is seen in the anime, as used by Cilan's (soon-to-be) Dwebble.
    • Defeating Trip's Gurdurr by summoning a Rock Slide. Note that this is the first time one of Ash's traveling companions has defeated one of Ash's main rivals in a battle.
    • In Cilan and Ash's tag battle against Bianca and Prof. Juniper, the girls gain the lead by taking out Boldore. Crustle defeats both Escavalier and Accelgor using his Rock Wrecker attack, proving that despite their excellent teamwork, they were still out-matched.
  • Catching Stunfisk using only a FISHING ROD in "Facing Fear With Eyes Wide Open!".
  • Stunfisk can fly!
  • Pansage fighting Tornadus, a legendary with a type advantage over him, solo. He actually manages to hold it off until Thundurus arrives and the rest of the group returns from their mission.
    • Pansage again, this time from episode 66. Cilan sends Pansage out against a Cofagrigus after it 'abducted' Iris, and it manages to hold out on its own against an evidently stronger Pokémon, enough to get Iris out from the Cofagrigus. It's not a Gym Leader's main Pokémon for nothing.


Team Rocket

For the group as a whole

  • Helping Ash save the world (including an actual Heroic Sacrifice) in the second movie, or throwing themselves (literally, and bare-handed) at a Tyranitar to buy Arbok and Weezing the time to escape from a vicious poacher.
  • The B/W episodes sound like they're going to give one to Team Rocket, who got new uniforms. The reason? THEY GOT PROMOTED.
    • Team Rocket getting promoted was one thing. But in their first BW appearance, Jessie is revealed to have captured a Woobat off-screen. Ash sends out his newly captured Pidove, and Woobat one-shots it with a not-very-effective attack. Ok, that's justified (Pidove was freshly-caught), but when their plan inevitably backfires, Pikachu revs up a Volt Tackle at them...and James throws a smoke bomb, escaping. Pikachu is left just standing there, looking from side to side in obvious shock. Two episodes later, they escape on a glider. Later, they start using jetpacks...are you getting the picture here? Let me just emphasize this: we are past 30 episodes in, and Team Rocket has not blasted off a single time. This, friends, is perhaps the single biggest Took a Level in Badass in history.
    • For a good epitome of how much more dangerous Team Rocket has become, check out the episode with Roggenrola. They spend basically the whole episode piloting a giant mega deathray that looks like it came straight out of Metal Gear. Ash and co. understandably have a really difficult time overcoming it. That Team Rocket could go from how they were to this is nothing short of amazing.

Jessie and her Pokémon

  • Jessie's first Contest win (bonus points for beating Dawn, who didn't even get past the appeal)...too bad that shortly afterwards there was a huge Tear Jerker for her Dustox.
  • The very fact that she manages to get all five Ribbons (though she techincally only won three of them) for the Grand Festival -- let alone place in the top four -- really says something about how far she's come as a coordinator.
  • The "reason" she saves James by blasting the titular Ghost Of Maiden's Peak with A FLAMETHROWER.

Jessie: It's not 'cause of you. Girls like her disgust me. Always waiting around for her man as if she were his faithful pet. She can't stand the thought of losing him. She cries, but I say "See you later!".

  • In "One Trick Phony", Jessie gets the chance to battle using a Charizard. After making a fool of herself ordering a Poison Sting attack which Charizard of course doesn't know, she goes on to order a Dig attack, another move Charizard can't use. Only it uses it anyway. When Misty questions Brock about this, his response amounts to, "Man, I don't even know."
  • Jessie catching Seviper...by beating the crap out of it herself!

James and his Pokémon

  • James directing the landing of the rocket in "Where No Togepi Has Gone Before!". He even throws in an Neon Genesis Evangelion Shout-Out by doing the Gendo pose!
  • It may have been mostly his definitive Crowning Moment of Funny, but the Flaming Moltres ignited a spark in James that you don't see very often.
  • James spent 25 of Best Wishes without any Pokémon, and yet still managed to use other skills to be formidable.
    • He then DOES get a Pokémon, a Yamask. In episode 33, Team Rocket are forced to retreat on jet-packs, but James decides "Heck with this, I'm taking them with us!" and uses Yamask to crash the heroes' flying machine.

Meowth

  • Meowth defending his teammates in "Jumping Rocket Ship" by attacking Ash, and then defeating Barry's Empoleon (a Steel type!) with a Slash. There was a bit of a Moment Killer afterwards, but he made his mark concerning which side he was on.
  • He defeated a Persian for the sake of his love Meowzie in "Go West, Young Meowth". Sure, he didn't get her in the end, but he'd been awesome all episode.
  • "For The Love Of Meowth!": When Meowth falls in love with a Glameow, through his feelings for her, allowed him to take on Ash's Infernape and Jessie's Seviper at the same time, and WIN. Then he faced Ash's Staraptor, Dawn's Togekiss, and Jessie's Yanmega...and took out the trio with one Scratch attack. The background and everything only added to the awesomeness of the scene. Yet again there was a Moment Killer following it, but it was still cool.
  • His defeat of the Dream Thief in Best Wishes.
  • Also from BW, the fact that he was able to trick the gang that he had been fired from TR in order to begin executing the Pokémon-stealing plan at Nimbasa four episodes later.

Group CMOA

  • In "Battle Aboard The St. Anne!" when Team Rocket undergoes a massive operation to steal all of the Pokémon aboard. Ash and the others fighting back instead of just panicking inspires the rest of the trainers, causing them all to bring out their Pokémon and all work together to take down Team Rocket.
  • Two come from "Memories Are Made of Bliss", which is mostly a Tear Jerker. After Team Rocket decides to be a Moment Killer and captures Togekiss, Piplup, and Pikachu, Ash, Dawn, and Brock come on the scene. While Team Rocket are in the middle of taunting them, Ash gives them a Shut UP, Hannibal moment via destroying their balloon with Staraptor's Brave Bird. What follows can only be described as a complete beatdown, as Team Rocket doesn't land a single successful hit. The battle ends with Pikachu using Volt Tackle combined with Piplup's Hydro Pump, sending Team Rocket flying into the air. Then there's the battle on TV between Cynthia and Flint. Flint actually puts up an impressive fight, hitting Cynthia's Garchomp multiple times with Close Combat and Mach Punch.
  • The 3 part final showdown with Team Galactic has several, including J's defeat at the hands of Mesprit and Uxie, Croagunk getting revenge on Saturn's Toxicroak, and the heroes taking advantage of the qualities they share with the Lake Trio to calm Dialga and Palkia.
    • J may have died, considering her ship filled up with water and EXPLODED. Let's repeat that. Cute pixies may have killed a human.
  • In "Movie Time! Zorua in The Legend of the Pokémon Knight!" the main characters are trying to film a movie. Just as they're acting out the climax, Team Rocket interrupts. Cilan immediately ad libs (by "magically" casting off his previous role as an evil pirate and turning into a superhero-like character) and leads everyone else on a climatic showdown with Team Rocket, adding several plot twists and an awesome climax to the originally standard and cliched plot that was first planned for the film. Even with their new competence that in past episodes have made fights with them rather difficult, Team Rocket didn't stand a chance, their only saving grace being that they were able to retreat using their jetpacks before they got thoroughly thrashed.
  • BW050 has several highlights for the stolen Pokémon, especially Pikachu, who was masterminding the breakout and the subsequent disruption of Team Rocket's latest attempt at grand theft Pokémon.
    • Aiming an Electro Ball at Snivy's ball was the start, as it allowed for Snivy to covertly release any Pokémon Pikachu needed to conduct the breakout.
    • Excadrill destroying Pikachu and Axew's cages was next, allowing for full movement.
    • Pikachu remembered that Dwebble's corrosive acid (usually used for molding and repairing its rock shell) could eat through the metal of the train door, and let Dwebble go to town.
    • The captive Pokémon severing the train and shifting their car down a different track, forcing Team Rocket to back up and give chase.
    • Their subsequent staving off of Dr. Zager's crane arm, stalling for time so Ash and co. could board.
    • When the twerps finally board, they use several attacks as a makeshift booster to further throw off Zager's aim. Tepig gets bonus points for upgrading from Ember to Flamethrower in the process.
    • Finally, a Leaf Storm to the chopper blades and an Electro Ball to the crane arm, demolishing the entire plot. The only way the twerps could have scored a more thorough victory was to ground the chopper and force Zager onto the Party Train.

Others

  • What about Gastly? I mean, in ep 20, The Ghost Of Maiden's Peak, it fools everybody with its illusions, spellbinds Brock and James, and in its debut battle, after shrugging off a blast from a bazooka, he owns everyone at the same time -- defeating Pikachu by creating a giant, living, mouse trap, defeating Ekans by creating a giant (real world) mangoose, defeating Koffing by stomping on him, defeating Charmander by turning into a fire extinguisher, and the cherry on top of the cake? Gastly defeated Bulbasaur and Squirtle simultaneously by creating a Blastoise and a Venusaur, and then, just for kicks, combining them together, creating "Venustoise". Epic.
    • Do you know why he did it? Because he wanted to make people remember a 2000 year old legend. Badass all the way.
    • This episode also gave us Jessie's first Moment of Awesome above.
  • Mewtwo. Period. Instead of Mewtwo Strikes Back, it would have been more accurate to name the first movie Mewtwo Beats Up Everyone. A specific example is when Giovanni firmly grasps the Idiot Ball and tells Mewtwo that his sole purpose is to serve humans. Mewtwo's reply is to blow up the entire building.
    • Mewtwo's perfected cloning machine, as shown in the scene with Team Rocket. Explosions? No big deal. A Pokémon less than a year old perfecting a cloning technique to make clones instantaneously, when the scientists who created him from that technique only had one surviving subject out of at least five, and only that due to how tough Mewtwo is as a legendary Pokémon? Crowning moment of brilliance as well as awesome.
    • After Mewtwo released his black Poké Balls, Ash recalled his Squirtle and Bulbasaur to their Poké Balls, only to have Mewtwo's Poké Balls capture them, Poké Ball and all. Not only was this something that had never been seen before, it also demostrated the extent of Mewtwo's planning skills, to the point where he anticipated something like this might happen.
      • This is followed by the Poké Balls chasing Pikachu up a spire, Pikachu shocking them repeatedly, and swarming it until they drive the exhausted Pikachu to the spire's peak. Then they knock Pikachu off and capture it in free-fall.
    • The Brazilian Dub of the movie made Mewtwo considerably more awesome, mostly because his voice actor was Guilherme Briggs, the Norio Wakamoto of Brazilian Voice Acting. Seriously, the next few days I was going "I AM THE WORLD'S STRONGEST POKÉMON! FIGHT ME, MEW!!!" and feeling Badass while doing it.
    • And guess who gets yet another one risking his life to destroy the machines holding him prisoner? You got it, Dan Green Mewtwo.
      • Mewtwo's solution to the problem in Mewtwo Returns should be strongly considered, as well. He teleports an entire lake and its surrounding ecosystem UNDERGROUND, inhabitants included, while simultaneously wiping Team Rocket's memories of the entire experience, and presumably destroying whatever records Team Rocket had generated since last finding him. This is after having been brought back from the dead when thrown into a Healing Spring.
  • Lugia from Pokémon 2000. Complain about the dubbing all you want, but in ANY language, this qualifies as pure undiluted AWESOME.
  • Bug Pokémon everywhere got theirs in Mewtwo Returns when, after our heroes have been captured along with all the other clone Pokémon by Team Rocket, the local Bug Pokémon show up and take down an entire Team Rocket Base. That's right, Bug Pokémon got a CMOA.
  • Saturn's (a member of Team Galactic) Toxicroak got its CMOA in "Losing Its Lustrous". Sending Brock's Croagunk crashing through a glass ceiling straight to the floor is awesome enough...but then (in one of the most spectacularly animated parts of the entire anime), it dives down through the aformentioned ceiling and delivers a forceful and extremely painful-looking Poison Jab straight to Croagunk's gut...awesome. Hell, Croagunk's even out cold for most of the following episode!
  • Entei in the third movie. "I was created from your dreams. As long as you believe in me, there is nothing I cannot do!" Entei is cool personified, and being voiced by Dan Green doesn't hurt either.
  • One that always stood out among the Indigo League was Ash vs. Blaine. Pikachu has just defeated Rhydon with the "Aim for the Horn" nonsense, and Ash is confident Pikachu can beat whatever Blaine sends out. Cue Magmar rising out a pool of lava beneath the gym with some of the most epic music in the entire series playing. Then cue Curb Stomp Battle that nearly ends with Pikachu falling into the same lava pit.
    • I still hum the music from that moment in my head quite often.
  • Shaymin turning into its Sky Forme in the 11th movie and fighting Giratina. It seemed like such a pathetic creature in the beginning, so this was very satisfying!
    • Well, pathetic for those who (somehow) didn't find the Land Forme adorable. Still, there was the revival of Giratina using Aromatherapy...
  • Hey, there's a HUMAN CMOA in "A Chansey Operation". The ER Doc (Dr. Proctor) awakens after being drugged and he proceeds to scold Team Rocket. The CMOA comes when Jesse throws a glass bottle at him and he knocks the bottle aside with a surgical tool without skipping a beat and opens his labcoat to reveal a shitload of other tools, prompting this response...

James: That's quite an arsenal.

  • Rayquaza proves himself to be a badass in the beginning of "Destiny Deoxys", taking on the titular Pokémon in the North Pole (Rayquaza's biggest weakness is Ice), and proceeding to blast off chunks of its body with Hyper Beams. Rayquaza is thrown in the icy waters, and, when Deoxys approaches the spot, it emerges with a fully charged Hyper Beam, that is unleashed at point blank range on Deoxys' (rather terrified) face, and proceeds to blast its body to smitheerens. It got better...
  • In the episode Clefairy Tales, a bunch of Clefairy angered Jigglypuff by stealing its marker microphone. Later, when Jigglypuff caught up with the band of Clefairy, it single-handedly Doubleslapped all of them down with righteous fury.
  • In "The Kangaskhan Kid", when Team Rocket's Kangaskhan mecha (which is now on fire) starts chasing Ash and his friends, the parents of Tommy (the eponymous Kangaskhan Kid) crash their helicopter into the mecha, destroying both vehicles in a big explosion. It seems like they pulled off a Heroic Sacrifice, but his parents survive and join their son.
  • Latios and Latias, in the climax of the fifth movie, destroy the wave that is attempting to destroy Alto Mare with a combined Luster Purge and Mist Ball, and it is ridiculously awesome. For Latios, this is also a Heroic Sacrifice. Latias survives.
  • Gary's Umbreon gets one in its first post-evolution appearance. Ash and friends arrive just in time to watch its battle with an Alakazam - or, rather, said Alakazam gets its ass kicked. Keep in mind that at this point in the anime, Psychic-types were still depicted to be nigh-unstoppable to the point of near-omnipotence -- but then Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors kicks in, making Umbreon completely immune to Psychic.
  • Much of Saikou Everyday counts, especially the parts with the legendary Pokémon.
  • Delia Ketchum gets one in the third movie, Pokémon 3: Spell Of The Unown. When Entei starts tearassing around and manipulating reality and kidnaps Delia (to fulfill Molly's wish for a mommy), she gets right in his face and lets him have it verbally, thoroughly chewing him out for his reprehensible behavior.
  • Darkrai stopping the attacks of Dialga and Palkia, who are more or less gods. It was destroyed by their combined attacks, only to appear at the very end with Glowing Eyes of Doom in the most Badass way.
  • Early in the Sinnoh arc, Ash and Dawn challenge the B-Button League, who refuse to evolve their Joke Character Magikarp and Feebas. The most glorious moment a Magikarp ever experienced.
  • The end of the Zoey vs. Nando match in the Sinnoh Grand Festival. Mismagius' Psywave created HUGE BATTLE WINGS for Leafeon to assist the battle with a winning Aerial Ace. That episode alone defined Zoey and Nando as two of the best Coordinators the anime has ever seen.
    • As far as rivals are concerned, Zoey winning the Grand Festival is an awesome moment, as she's as of now the only major rival to ever win a major competition.
    • Even if Zoey won, it should be noted that this is one of the only battles where it's a CMoA for both Trainers, not just the winner. Even Fantina acknowledged it.
  • At the end of Barry's losing battle with Paul, his Empoleon takes Electivire's Thunder directly and faints standing up.
    • The fact that he was able to actually give Paul a challenge (Curb Stomp Battle or not), and he even gets Paul to compliment him on a good battle. Considering that until then, Paul has had nothing but contempt for people that lost to him, that's BIG.
  • A Bibarel gets one in Bibarel Gnaws Best by breaking free from a cage made out of material shown capable of withstanding the combined attacks of Chimchar, Buizel, Turtwig, and Sudowoodo (a combination that previously broke and carved up rock) with ONLY ITS TEETH. It also attacks a Rhydon, standing up to it as well as a Magmar, Aggron, and Metang all at once. Considering the situation, it didn't do too badly, either. Granted, it still needed Ash and co's Pokémon to help it out of that jam, but that beaver's got guts.
  • Surge's Raichu utterly destroying Pikachu, who up until that point had won nearly every battle it was in. Five words: "Give 'em the big finale!"
  • Let's give Paul's Pokémon some credit. They thoroughly destroyed Ash in their first full battle, with his Ursaring taking out three of his Pokémon single-handedly. Also, despite Paul's brutal training methods, they were visibly upset when he lost to Ash.
  • Club Battle arc character Luke gets one when he uses a Larvesta to handily beat Cilan's Stunfisk.
  • In the early episodes in Kanto, there was a gym leader named Sabrina. Ash fought her, and he was beaten without a thought by a Kadabra who had evolved at the start of the match. Then, Ash and co were shrunken and left at the mercy of said gym leader. So Ash tries getting a Ghost Pokémon, but that didn't keep Sabrina from turning Misty and Brock into dolls, and terrifying Ash and all his Pokémon so horribly that only Pikachu was crazy enough to fight her. And, naturally, not only did Pikachu lose, but literally nothing Ash or Pikachu did left even a small scratch on Kadabra. Ash only won because Sabrina started laughing, and so only bringing Haunter to Saffron City prevented the entire ordeal from being a Shaggy Dog Story (ending the anime itself on a Downer Ending). Say what you will about her, but Sabrina IS a crowning moment of awesome.
  • In "Ash versus The Champion", Alder stops a charging Gigalith, then picks it up and throws it. Keep in mind Gigalith weigh roughly 600 pounds.
  • The Donamite arc has two -- Trip being Hoist by His Own Petard by Bianca of all trainers and Stephan winning the whole tournament by beating Masaomi's Throh with his Sawk.
  • While not part of the main anime continuity (at least, not yet), this is pure CMOA from the music to the animation.


Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure

  • Cyrus's introduction in Celestic Town. To demonstrate the control he plans to have over time, he takes out a pocket watch as he talks. As his speech goes on, we notice the glass start to crack. Finally, as he proclaims that he intends to become a God, he BREAKS THE POCKET WATCH IN HIS BARE FIST.
  • Jun, who up until that point had been ineffective comic relief, blasting out of the exploding Team Galactic base on a Dragonite with Mitsumi (who had been given up for dead a chapter ago) and Hareta in tow.
  • Everyone, including the main characters, the Gym Leaders, and Team Galactic, joining forces to force Dialga and Palkia back to their own dimension.
    • Everyone joins forces again to stop Giratina at the end of the next arc.
  • This one is part Berserk Button, but it still has to be mentioned. Hareta broke out of Charon's rope when Charon said he sells Pokémon. And within a few seconds, after the Jerkass Koya was going to arrest Mars (who Hareta knew had changed for the better), he FLOODS THE ENTIRE CAVERN FOLLOWING IT BY THROWING CHARON 20 FEET ACROSS THE CAVERN!


Video Games

  • Throughout Pokémon Platinum, the International Police agent Looker comes across as somewhat inept, always showing up just a little too late to be of any use against Team Galactic. Then you get to the end of Stark Mountain, and Charon's about to steal the Magma Stone. Suddenly, a Croagunk comes out of nowhere to stop him, and it turns out that Looker was there all along on a stakeout, disguised as a rock. Guess he's not so incompetent, after all.
    • Not to mention that he was staking-out in that heavy rock costume all that time in a freaking volcano. I'm sure even the regularly dressed people were sweating profusely.
  • In HeartGold and SoulSilver, you can let any of your Pokémon out to follow behind you. Any Pokémon. What more needs to be said?
  • Pokémon Colosseum can be said to have the best damn hero ever, with Wes's very introduction being the CMoA where he quits Team Snagem, takes their Pokémon Snag system, and then blows up the base itself as he escapes. Nothing is more badass than that.
    • Except for right after that, when he reveals himself to have 2 different evolutions of a Pokémon that there's just one of in most games. Not only does Eevee evolve into Espeon & Umbreon through Friendship, they start out at Level 26, when most Trainers start out with one Pokémon at Level 5.
    • Of course, on the subject of Colosseum and XD, Cipher has a miniature CMoA of their own, with peons and scientists half-subverting the fallacies typically associated with their position. For one, if one of them hears you coming, they will stop whatever they're doing and attack you regardless of which way they're facing, and they will usually have friends. For two, Cipher peons have a habit of ambushing you by dropping into your path with no prior warning. The whole Phenac City incident would have been a genius ploy if the Hexagon Brothers weren't trying to impersonate the same guy and Snattle and his secretary took a bit longer to pick up the trash. This is how they can take control over a region. Keeping the player character from ripping it apart, on the other hand...
  • The scene in Gold/Silver/Crystal where Lance storms Team Rocket's headquarters with his Dragonite. (Granted, you help him a bit, but really, Lance could have easily taken care of himself in there.)
  • So, you've trained your Pokémon up really far in G/S/C/HG/SS, and you go up Mt. Silver. There's a Trainer at the top. This is how this scene normally pans out:

Player: Ooh, Trainer! He's probably a boss, so I should save. [saves] [goes up to Trainer and presses A]
Red: .............. [battle begins]
Game: PKMN Trainer Red would like to battle!
Player: OH MY GOD!

  • Groudon and Kyogre's epic battle in Pokémon Emerald. And more importantly, Rayquaza, who flies to Sootopolis after you encounter it at the Sky Pillar. Once you arrive there and witness Groudon and Kyogre again, Rayquaza comes out, flies through the clouds, descends with a trail of green light cloaking it, and swoops down to Groudon and Kyogre. With one mighty roar, it sends them both away, and departs, returning the weather to normal. How intense is that?
  • The final battle with N in Pokémon Black and White. If you caught your version legendary, it automatically gets sent out first, against N's opposite version legendary.
    • The battle with Ghetsis afterwards is also great. Not only is the music kick-ass, but the satisfaction you get in pummeling this guy who had just revealed himself to be a Complete Monster of high proportions is very great indeed.
  • If you talk to your walking Pokémon when in the Pokémon League in HG/SS, they'll sometimes give you a slow nod as if to say "we came this far, let's finish this". Every Pokémon does this, but it's a CMOA when your starter, which you've likely used and had follow you through the majority of the game, does this. Even more if it does this a few steps from the Champion.
  • The first time you cross the Skyarrow Bridge into Castelia City. The World Is Just Awesome doesn't begin to describe it.
  • You finally reach the top of Mt. Coronet in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, in a desperate attempt to stop Cyrus of Team Galactic from remaking the universe. Two of his lieutenants intercept you, leaving you out-gunned... which is when your lifelong best friend shows up. He's been your friendly rival for the whole game, and been pretty much Played for Laughs, the king of hyperactive short attention spans. Not anymore. Now you and he join forces, demonstrating The Power of Friendship as you jointly wipe the floor with the Galactic members.
  • For Black and White: So, you're entering the Very Definitely Final Dungeon, when all of a sudden you're ambushed by the Seven Sages! They prepare to fight... When, Just in Time, every Gym Leader you battled through the game (except the first three) appear to take them on for you in a massive Big Damn Heroes moment! Just goes to show that those guys really do do more than just sit around, occasionally battling trainers after all!
  • GRAVELER woke up. GRAVELER snapped out of confusion. GRAVELER used SELF-DESTRUCT.
  • Finding a shiny Pokémon.
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