Uploaded Jul 6, 2019
Summary
After Alan leaves to lunch while leaving his DS connected to the computer, Second Coming jumps into the game Pokémon HeatGold Version, and steals a Totodile for himself, and the two immediately bond. However, the game's Anti-Piracy Mode activates, causing the characters to jump out as well to reclaim Totodile. The main character, Ethan, then has his Pokémon reclaim Totodile before telling SC to stay out. Infuriated, SC decides to prove Ethan wrong by jumping into the game and become a Pokémon Master, despite having only an empty Pokéball.Sneaking back into the game, SC soon catches a Pidgey before Totodile ditches Ethan and joins SC's party. And so, SC's adventure began, with a Mareep, Heracross, Slugma, and Oddish joining as well. Eventually, SC and his party reach the Pokémon League. However, he runs into Ethan, who then pushes SC out of the game and into the computer so that they can fight unabated. Despite losing Oddish/Bellossom, SC manages to defeat Ethan's best Pokémon, Ho-oh, and Ethan concedes the fight, allowing SC to enter the league. After winning, Alan finally returns, only to find SC sheepishly waving at him for having beaten the game.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Villainy: In the games, Ethan was more of a heroic mime. This version of Ethan of all people, wasn't too fond of him nor any stick figures entering his game and attempts to kill The Second Coming. It was only until The Second Coming beats him in a Pokemon battle that he eventually became impressed with TSC's skills and learns to respect The Second Coming as a fellow Pokémon trainer.
- Art Shift: The Second Coming gains the chibi-like proportions of the HeartGold characters when he enters the game.
- Big Damn Heroes: Ethan has his Meganium hold back the Second Coming's Feraligatr in the DS while he attempts to deal a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to the Second Coming in the PC. Feraligatr manages to break into the PC just in time to save the Second Coming and the rest of his team from Ethan's Ho-oh.
- Brick Joke: At one point, the fighting stick figures pull up a couch and some popcorn to watch the Second Coming's journey through Johto. After Ethan admits defeat and goes to leave, he stops stunned when he sees the other four still sitting there, having seen the entire fight prior. Green even waves at him.
- Combination Attack: The Second Coming's Feraligatr, Pidgeot, Ampharos, and Magcargo perform one that takes out Ethan's Ho-oh.
- Cool Shades: Blue puts on a pair of Squirtle Squad sunglasses when he sits down to watch the Second Coming's playthrough.
- Defeat Equals Friendship:
- Averted compared to the base franchise; not once does the Second Coming have to fight any of the Pokémon that join him.
- Played straight with Ethan, who calls the Second Coming a fellow trainer after losing to him.
- Defiant to the End: After witnessing the Second Coming's Pokémon take out Ethan's Ho-Oh, his Meganium was ready to attack, and likely would've gone down fighting if its trainer hadn't ordered it to stand down.
- Demoted to Extra: The Fighting Stick Figures take a backseat in this episode, only showing up at the very end of the episode and revealing that they've been watching The Second Coming's adventures as an audience the entire time.
- Dramatic Drop: Once the Animator finally returns with his lunch, he goes to take a bite, only to drop his fork in surprise upon seeing that the Second Coming beat the game in the time he was gone.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Compared to the other "Animation vs. Video Game" videos, this one has a noticable amount of squash and stretch added to the sprite characters while they're in Alan's PC, as well as separating their limbs into individual sprites. Later installments give the characters sprite animations more remnicient of indie games.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Comes into play once the Ethan vs Second Coming battle goes airborne; Second Coming sends out Magcargo, so Ethan sends out Gyarados, so Second Coming sends out Ampharos, and so on.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The Second Coming manages to beat HeartGold in the time it takes for the Animator to make lunch; looking at the PC's system clock at a couple of points reveals that starter to Pokémon League took less than an hour.
- Fantastic Racism:
- Ethan isn't welcoming towards The Second Coming; their first interaction has him tell The Second Coming that he doesn't belong in the game "and never will." When they encounter each other at the Elite Four, Ethan quips that "The world doesn't revolve around stick figures, last time I checked." and attempts to give The Second Coming a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown using his Pokémon. When The Second Coming's other Pokémon pop out to defend him, Ethan immediately assumes that they too were stolen (even though they all joined the SC willingly). Once The Second Coming defeats him, he gets over it.
- The two gym leaders we see dialog from seem to have lighter shades of this; Falkner balks at having been beaten by a stick figure, while Bugsy remarks that the Second Coming is "pretty good for a alien creature."
- Kids Are Cruel: Two children attempt to force Slugma into falling in a lake. Luckily, The Second Coming's Heracross stops this.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After Ethan's Ho-oh is beaten, he concedes defeat and stops his Meganium from attacking
- Last Chance Hit Point: Not immediately obvious in the animation, but according to the AvG Commentary, Heracross used Endure as he left his Pokéball to take a Hyper Beam aimed at the Second Coming.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Unable to gain a decisive advantage against the Second Coming using his regular Pokémon, Ethan brings out his Ho-oh to finish the fight. It nearly works until the Second Coming's Feraligatr joins the fray.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: When Ethan commands his Pokémon to attack the Second Coming during their second confrontation, none of them hesitate. Meganium even readies an attack on its own before Ethan stops it.
- Mythology Gag:
- Green is wearing Ash's hat from the Indigo League, while Blue is wearing the Squirtle Squad leader's sunglasses.
- The team the Second Coming has in his Imagine Spot is Red's team from the same game.
- The Animator chooses Chikorita as Ethan's starter Pokémon, while Second Coming grabs Totodile; this maintains continuity with HeartGold by leaving Cyndaquil to be stolen by Silver (who picks the type advantage against Ethan's starter).
- Sacrificial Lion: The Second Coming's Bellossom is the only one of his Pokémon that doesn't get to do much during the final battle against Ethan, only briefly attacking Ethan's Golem before being knocked out by his Crobat. However, its defeat infuriates the Second Coming, who continues the fight with more resolve and ferocity from that point onward. Downplayed, as unusually for the trope, the Second Coming is able to revive Bellossom with a Max Revive after the battle.
- Taking the Bullet: Heracross jumps out of its Pokéball to intercept an attack from Ethan's Gyarados before it hits the Second Coming, using Endure to ensure it can take the hit without fainting. The Second Coming heals it with a Hyper Potion soon after.
- Wing Ding Eyes: It's easy to miss due to the art style, but when the Second Coming brings Bellossom back out to revive it, it has X-eyes.
