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| Season | Pokémon the Series: XYZ (Season 19) · The Lumiose Conference arc (XY123–XY131) |
| Episode | Season 19, episode 31 · English episode 919 · Japanese episode 924 · Bulbapedia code XY124 |
| English title | A Gaggle of Gadget Greatness! |
| Japanese title | 爆熱の機巧（からくり）フェスティバル！！ Bakunetsu no Karakuri Fesutibaru!! — “The Explosive Heat at the Mechanical Festival!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 16 June 2016 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 17 September 2016 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Yukiyoshi Ōhashi |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | XY&Z – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) · Kirakira, Citron Ver. (Brilliantly) – Citron (Yūki Kaji) |
| English opening | Stand Tall – Ben Dixon and The Sad Truth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Pinsir (US) |
| Previous episode | A Diamond in the Rough! (XY123) |
| Next episode | A League of His Own! (XY125) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeGadget Festival
A Gaggle of Gadget Greatness! is the 31st episode of Pokémon the Series: XYZ, the nineteenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 919th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 924, Bulbapedia code XY124). It first aired in Japan on 16 June 2016 and in the United States on 17 September 2016. It falls within the season’s The Lumiose Conference stretch (EP123–EP131).
Belgium aired it between XY126 and XY127.
Synopsis
Clemont drags his friends to the Gadget Festival, Kalos’s biggest exhibition of inventions, where a playful obstacle-course building separates the group from Pikachu, Chespin and Pancham, and Team Rocket use the confusion to steal visitors’ Poké Balls. On the road to Lumiose City, Clemont spots a sign for the festival and insists that Kalos’s top inventors will make it far more impressive than his friends expect. Inside, a “welcome gadget” turns out to be an elaborate Berry opener, and when Serena simply cracks a Berry open by hand, Clemont argues that playful invention is what drives technology forward. Team Rocket, meanwhile, are putting the finishing touches to their Poké Ball Stealer Mark I and decide to catch Pikachu first. The friends ride automated chairs into the building, but a hidden door splits them up, and Clemont tells Pikachu, Chespin and Pancham to meet up later.
The friends breeze past rolling cylinders, a swinging fairground arm and a kimono-clad tea doll that spills hot tea on Ash, which Clemont explains is part of a gadget’s sense of humour. The three Pokémon face icy floors, gears, hammers and moving blocks, and Chespin and Pancham spend the whole way squabbling and pushing each other into traps while Pikachu keeps breaking up their fights. Following behind, Jessie gives up on the locked door and tries to walk through a wall, then walks into every trap the others avoid, from the icy floor to the swinging arm that flings her back to her teammates, while James happily solves each mechanism and the tea doll soaks Meowth. Frustrated, Jessie says they will never catch Pikachu while stuck inside, so James sets up their machine: visitors are tricked into placing their Poké Balls on it and then dropped through a trapdoor, Poké Balls stolen.
The friends reunite with their Pokémon just as a guard reports the thefts, and they chase Team Rocket through a piano-themed room of rollers and out of the building. Meowth uses a stolen gadget to reach for Pikachu with Fury Swipes but falls just short, and when Jessie says he should have attacked without it, James defends the value of playful gadgetry, to Clemont’s surprised agreement and Bonnie’s amusement. Gourgeist and Inkay attack with Seed Bomb and Psybeam; Pancham’s Dark Pulse misses Gourgeist but hits the machine, Chespin’s Pin Missile damages it further and Pikachu’s Thunderbolt makes it explode, blasting Team Rocket off. The stolen Poké Balls are returned to their owners, and Clemont, inspired, leads the group back to explore the rooms they missed, declaring that gadgets symbolise human ingenuity and will keep celebrating the world’s hopes and dreams.
Major Events
- The Gadget Festival. The group explores an exhibition of inventions while Team Rocket steal visitors’ Poké Balls
- Japanese ending Kirakira (Clemont ver.), with Clemont narrating the ending
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kalos story.
Changes in the English Dub
- The English title card focuses on Ash but is still read by Clemont
- Jessie mixes up “gadget” and “budget”, a joke other dubs rework with rhymes of their own
- Japanese ending Kirakira (Brilliantly), Clemont’s version, sung by Yūki Kaji
- Team Rocket’s Sinnoh and Unova motto music, removed in the dub
Part of our Pokémon the Series: XYZ guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.