Japanese title: Fierce Fight! Pokémon Girls' Festival!
Original airdate: July 9, 1998
US airdate: September 4, 1999
The one where... Misty and Jessie fight over dolls.
Princess Day, a day where the women rule, has arrived. Misty and Jessie celebrate by leading their male companions on a shopping spree. Team Rocket encounters a wild Lickitung, which starts eating their purchases. Jessie sends out Arbok to ward it off, but Lickitung licks it with its long tongue, causing the snake Pokémon to collapse. Outraged, Jessie throws a PokéBall, capturing it. Resolving to deal with it later, Jessie returns to her shopathon.
Soon after, the "Queen of the Princess Festival" contest begins, with the grand prize being a set of Pokémon Princess Dolls. Misty and Jessie both take part in the contest, which turns out to be a Pokémon battle tournament. Recognising the lack of variety in her current lineup, Misty borrows Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Vulpix from Ash and Brock. Meanwhile, Jessie takes Weezing from James, and forces Meowth to battle also. Misty wins her first match easily, thanks to Bulbasaur, as does Jessie (following a false start with Meowth). The pair both win their way to the final round.
In the final match, Pikachu easily beats Arbok, Weezing and Meowth (as usual). Jessie is on the verge of giving up until Meowth reminds her of the Lickitung she caught earlier. Jessie unleashes Lickitung, surprising Misty and the others. Misty tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, but Lickitung shoves its tongue into Pikachu's face, and licks it. Pikachu becomes too dizzy to battle, and Lickitung knocks it away with its tongue. As Team Rocket celebrate Jessie's victory, Misty follows Ash's suggestion to have Bulbasaur use its Vine Whip, but Lickitung grabs the vines with its tongue. Bulbasaur is then licked and tossed aside. Misty sends in Vulpix, but the fox Pokémon meets the same fate as the others.
With only one chance left to win, Misty calls for Staryu, but Psyduck comes out instead. Lickitung licks Psyduck, which surprisingly has no effect. Misty tells Psyduck to attack, but it just stares blankly. Lickitung licks Psyduck again, which gives Psyduck a headache. Knowing what happens when Psyduck gets a headache, Misty has it use Confusion. Psyduck stretches out Lickitung's tongue, then snaps it back, sending Lickitung tumbling into Team Rocket, who blast off again. Misty has the dolls sent back home, so she can rub them in her sisters' faces. Meanwhile, Jessie, distraught over losing the dolls, has to suffer through James and Meowth's attempt to cheer her up - by having them all pose as life-sized dolls.
Tropes
- Acceptable Breaks from Reality:
- In this episode, and this episode only, Bulbasaur's Vine Whip attack works by having the two vines entwine around each other. This of course allows for Lickitung to grab both of them at once, leaving Bulbasaur helpless.
- Both Pikachu and Vulpix leap forward before launching their attacks, which also gives Lickitung an opening to get to them first. Though this example is downplayed, as many Pokemon regularly do the same throughout the series (it just so happens that Pikachu and Vulpix invoke it every time here).
- Achievements in Ignorance:
- In the original Japanese, Brock surmises that Lickitung isn't battling its opponents so much as tasting them.
- Being as vacuous as it is, Psyduck doesn't get nauseous from Lickitung's "tasting", only setting off its usual inadvertent Psychic attack.
- Adaptational Badass: In the games, Lickitung is a fairly mediocre Pokémon, and it took its evolution into Lickilicky in the fourth generation to become a respectable battler. But here, Jessie's Lickitung is practically a pink juggernaut in the way it effortlessly takes down Misty's entire team before Psyduck saves the day.
- Blue with Shock: Arbok, Pikachu and Bulbasaur all gain blue lines and coloring on their faces after Lickitung licks them.
- Captain Obvious: Fiarello Cappucino's entire role aside from being part of the prize is to say the most generic and obvious statements as add-ons to whatever the actual announcer says. This reaches extra comical levels when the announcer is complaining about how Psyduck isn't battling, Fiarello adds "Looks like it has a headache to me."
- Crippling Overspecialisation: Acknowledged in-universe; Misty knows she won't get far in the contest with only Water Pokémon, so she borrows some Pokémon from Ash and Brock.
- Curbstomp Battle:
- Licktung takes down Arbok with a single lick.
- The montage of Misty and Jessie's tournament matches shows many of their wins being this.
- In their own battle, Pikachu takes out three of Jessie's Pokemon with a Thundershock each. Lickitung returns the favour and takes it, Bulbasaur and Vulpix out with a lick each, leaving only Psyduck left, with the expected effects.
- Death Glare: A Brawn Hilda type gives one to Misty and Jessie after they complain about her taking a dress they were arguing over. The two immediately back down, giving her false compliments over how the dress will look great on her.
- Didn't See That Coming: Misty and the others are surprised to learn Team Rocket has acquired another Pokémon.
- Dub-Induced Plot Hole:
- In the original version of the battle against Psyduck, Lickitung refused to obey Jessie's commands because it was hungry, complete with Growling Gut. The English dub left out that sound effect, making it seem like Lickitung was disobeying Jessie for no reason. Some have surmised that it really didn't follow Jessie's order because the attack in question, Tackle, is not one Lickitung can learn.
- Misty prepares to send out Staryu before Psyduck appears instead, despite saying she was going to use Starmie earlier. The original had her say Starmie both times.
- Due to the episodes being dubbed out of order, the pokedex has the voice it gained during the Togepi episode, which obviously hasn't happened yet since Togepi's not here.
- Dub Name Change: In Japan, the holiday featured in this episode is an actual event called Hinamatsuri ("Girl's Day"), with "Princess Festival" being an invention of the dub.
- Duels Decide Everything: The "Queen of the Princess Festival" contest turns out to be a Pokémon battle tournament rather than a run of the mill beauty contest.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Lickitung couldn't even learn Lick until Generation II, when the oversight was corrected and it was set as a default move for Lickitung.
- Epic Fail: Meowth's "battle" against a Primeape. Meowth attempts to sound threatening, but Primeape simply uppercuts him into the air.
- Extreme Omnivore: Subverted. Lickitung puts one of Jessie's newly bought dresses into its mouth... and immediately spits it out.
- Eye Catch: This episode, the Who's that Pokémon is Lickitung... at least in the Japanese version. In America, it's Butterfree (which doesn't actually appear in this episode).
- Freudian Excuse: Both Misty and Jessie have their own reasons for wanting the Pokémon Princess dolls: Misty only ever had her sisters' hand-me-down dolls growing up, while Jessie had none at all.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Ultimately, Lickitung's own tongue is used to beat it.
- Lampshade Hanging: As James points out, he and Meowth have to listen to Jessie all the time, so her being so pleased about the Princes Festival being a day where boys do everything girls say doesn't mean much.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Psyduck, as usual. It jumps into battle before Misty could summon her desired Pokémon, Staryu.
- Lightning Bruiser: While not a "bruiser" per se, Lickitung is fast enough to strike its opponents before they can attack it themselves.
- Loophole Abuse: At the time this episode aired, Lickitung didn't have the move "Lick" in the games. As such, its licking attack here has a different effect from the move Lick (which, as seen in the games and "The Tower of Terror," paralyses the victim), making its victims too dizzy to battle.
- The Load: Meowth is only entered so Jessie has a full team, and loses miserably in both matches he enters.
- Lost in Translation: As mentioned above, the original episode's holiday is based on a real-life Japanese event, "Hinamatsuri" while it's just renamed into a fictional festival in the dub.
- Multi Purpose Tongue: Lickitung. Its tongue is more than twice as long as its body, and can be used to lick, grab, and strike its opponents.
- Near-Villain Victory: Thanks to Lickitung, Jessie almost beats Misty.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The promo commercial
for the episode made it look like Lickitung was going to be an out-of-control Monster of the Week who was consecutively Curb Stomping everything Ash's group and Team Rocket threw at it. In truth, Lickitung was under Jessie's command when it took down Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Vulpix (who were battling for Misty in a tournament) and the defeats Team Rocket's Pokémon suffered weren't Lickitung's doing (except for an initial skirmish with Arbok). - No-Sell: For some reason, Psyduck is immune to the dizzying effects of Lickitung's lick. Though repeated attempts do end up giving it its classic headache.
- Pretty Boy: The celebrity commentator, Fiarello Cappucino. Aside from the Princess Dolls, the winner of the Contest gets to have her picture taken with him (which proves quite an incentive for many).
- Punch Catch: Arbok does this with its mouth, poisoning the Primeape that was attacking it.
- Remembered I Could Fly: When Jessie adds James' Weezing to her team, Meowth increduously states that she'll never win the contest with just two Pokémon. It isn't until Jessie glares at him that he remembers that he's a Pokémon too.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Both Misty and Jessie's appearances in the contest's opening ceremony leave their companions speechless.
- Shopping Montage: For both Misty and Jessie early on. In Jessie's case, charging everything to "the Team Rocket account" probably explains why she and James will end up heavily in debt to Giovanni in later seasons.
- Took a Level in Badass: Using just Arbok and Weezing is enough to carry Jessie through to the final round of the contest.
- Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: This is the first example of Jessie's exemplary luck at catching Pokémon legitimately. Purely out of annoyance for ruining her purchased clothing and handily beating Arbok by licking it, she throws a Poké Ball at Lickitung, and it's caught.
