AG077

← AG076 : Me, Myself and Time

Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire

AG078 : Cruisin' for a Losin' →

A Fan with a Plan

AG077   EP351 強敵！？ママさんコーディネーター登場！ Formidable Enemy!? Mother Coordinator Enters!

First broadcast Japan May 20, 2004 United States May 7, 2005

English themes Opening This Dream Ending

Japanese themes Opening チャレンジャー!! Ending スマイル ②

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 松井亜弥 Aya Matsui Storyboard 藤本義孝 Yoshitaka Fujimoto Assistant director 渡辺正彦 Masahiko Watanabe Animation director 志村泉 Izumi Shimura Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de Dub review thread on BMGf

A Fan with a Plan (Japanese: 強敵！？ママさんコーディネーター登場！ Formidable Enemy!? Mother Coordinator Enters!) is the 77th episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 351st episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on May 20, 2004, and in the United States on May 7, 2005.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Blurb

May is headed for the Rubello Town Pokémon Contest, where at least one ribbon is needed to enter. She runs into Drew, and both of them are mobbed by the Mothers for Pokémon—a group of women who adore Pokémon Coordinators. One of them, Savannah, is a Coordinator herself, and will be competing in the upcoming contest, but she is really nervous.

Jessie from Team Rocket wants to enter the contest but can't since she has never won a ribbon.

Later, May is practicing outside the Pokémon Center when she spots Drew with his new Masquerain. She tries to show off her Bulbasaur, but it won't listen to her.

The next day, May is helping Savannah practice when they are accosted by Team Rocket, who takes both May's and Savannah's ribbons. The kids take down Team Rocket's balloon, and Jessie returns the stolen ribbons. Savannah's Lairon uses a Water-type move to send the thieves blasting off.

Savannah's daughter Sandra reassures her mother, while May is feeling confident again about the contest.

Plot

The group enters Rubello Town, on their way to Ash's next Gym battle, when Max spots a poster for a Pokémon Contest which is set to begin the next day. May is delighted and quickly decides to enter. Brock, however, notices a mysterious symbol on the poster, "R1," the meaning of which is not known to the group. Fortunately, Nurse Joy explains that in order to enter the Rubello Contest, a Coordinator must have earned at least one Ribbon. In the Pokémon Center, May runs into Drew, who is also entering the Pokémon Contest. After insulting May, she gets angered with him, but before anything can happen, Drew is engulfed by a swarm of rabid female fans. Drew isn't exactly happy to see these fans, as they lean towards the obsessive side, but May becomes jealous nonetheless. The jealousy is forgotten when one of the women recognizes May and the group crowds around her instead. However, the fans seem more interested in Norman than either May or Max. During the discussion, Savannah, the head of the group, explains that they saw May in the Verdanturf Contest. Savannah also reveals that she will be entering the Rubello Contest as well. The group also introduces themselves with a cheer as the Mothers for Pokémon, also known as MFP. They are a group of wives and mothers who love Pokémon. They decide to throw a party for May and Max. One of them tells Ash that he isn't on the list of "promising and handsome young Trainers."

Meanwhile, Team Rocket enters the town very fatigued, but Jessie, upon seeing the Contest poster, decides to enter. James and Meowth groan. When she discovers that she needs a Ribbon to enter, and having none, she decides to steal one and enter the Contest. Back at the reception, Savannah and the MFP compliment May and her father, Norman. Ash mutters angrily to himself, saying he does all the hard work, training and Gym battles, and is jealous of May. Nonetheless, Ash vehemently denies his jealousy when Max asks about his complaining. At the other table, Savannah and May realize that neither of them have picked Pokémon for the Contest. Savannah shows May her Lairon and Flareon. While showing May her Pokémon, Savannah reveals that this R1 competition requires the use of two Pokémon; one for the appeals round and one for the Battle Round. While Savannah only has to decide the order, May faces a more difficult decision; picking two candidates from her four Pokémon lineup. While Brock and Savannah go grocery shopping and meet Savannah's daughter Sandra, May, Ash, and Max talk the Pokémon choice over. Savannah and Sandra invite the company to dinner in the end.

May trains late into the night, testing all four of her Pokémon to see which is the best choice for the upcoming Contest. Bulbasaur stumbles and trips in its attempted combination, but May remains confident and happily remembers the compliments she got from the MFP earlier that day. Her reminiscence is interrupted by Drew's voice, calling out orders to his new Masquerain. Drew notices May watching him and brags that "winning this Contest will be a cinch." Drew also notices May's Pokémon, and inquires about her new Bulbasaur, a rare find in the Hoenn region. Drew insults May's Bulbasaur as undisciplined. His comments provoke May, who decides to use Bulbasaur in the Contest, a decision which startles the rest of the group. Meanwhile, Savannah nears the breaking point from stage fright, but completely forgets her fear at the sight of Bulbasaur, which she says was her first Pokémon long ago. May and Savannah decide to start a practice battle to train, with Bulbasaur having the disadvantage against Savannah's Flareon. However, the battle is cut short by Team Rocket's interruption.

James and Meowth are less than enthusiastic about the Ribbon theft operation, but Jessie sends out her Dustox to combat the Pokémon Savannah and May already have out. However, Ash, Brock, and Max quickly arrive on the scene. Flareon's Flamethrower is deflected by Wobbuffet. Ash's Pikachu and Brock's Lombre and Mudkip are quickly called out to join the battle. Dustox uses Poison Sting while Pikachu uses Thunderbolt to block. Wobbuffet deflects a pair of Water Gun attacks. Jessie orders her Dustox to attack Sandra with Psybeam, but that's the breaking point for Savannah. She becomes angry that Jessie would dare attack her daughter and orders Flareon to launch another Flamethrower attack. Wobbuffet steps forward, but the attack was aimed at the balloon, not Wobbuffet. Team Rocket goes down in flames. Jessie declares that she would rather give up James and Meowth than the Ribbons. This angers James and Meowth, who convince Jessie to surrender the Ribbons to the group, since nobody would believe the Ribbons are hers. Sandra and Savannah launch a Water Pulse, which sends Team Rocket blasting off. In the end, the Coordinators anxiously await the start of the Rubello Town Contest.

Major events

• Ash and his friends arrive in Rubello Town and meet up with Drew again.
• May decides to enter the upcoming R1 Rubello Town Pokémon Contest.
• Drew is revealed to own a Masquerain.
• May's Bulbasaur is revealed to know Tackle.

For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.

Debuts

Humans

• Savannah
• Sandra
• Mothers for Pokémon (MFP) members

Pokémon debuts

• Masquerain
• Lairon

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• May
• Brock
• Max
• Jessie
• James
• Nurse Joy
• Drew
• Norman (photo)
• Savannah
• Sandra
• Mothers for Pokémon (MFP) members

Pokémon

The infamous Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Arbok

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Torchic (May's)
• Beautifly (May's)
• Skitty (May's)
• Bulbasaur (May's)
• Lombre (Brock's)
• Mudkip (Brock's)
• Dustox (Jessie's)
• Masquerain (Drew's; debut)
• Flareon (Savannah's)
• Lairon (Savannah's; debut)
• Igglybuff (Trainer's)
• Umbreon (Trainer's)
• Shroomish (Trainer's)
• Makuhita (Trainer's)
• Roselia (Trainer's)
• Spinda (Trainer's)
• Teddiursa (Trainer's)
• Oddish (Trainer's)
• Plusle (Trainer's)
• Skitty (Trainer's)
• Magnemite (Trainer's)
• Dustox (Trainer's)
• Spheal (Trainer's)
• Misdreavus (Trainer's)
• Wingull (Trainer's)
• Hitmontop (Trainer's)
• Farfetch'd (Trainer's)
• Aron (Trainer's)
• Butterfree (Pink, picture)
• Oddish (picture)

Trivia

• In this episode, Team Rocket uses a variation of their motto.
• The English dub title is a pun on the phrase "a man with a plan".
• The Contest poster featured in the beginning of the episode shows a Bulbasaur among other Pokémon. May chooses to use Bulbasaur this episode.
• Advance Adventure and music from Mewtwo Strikes Back are used.
• Despite having made its main series debut in The Battling Eevee Brothers, 311 episodes ago, this is the first time that Flareon has received a Pokédex entry in the anime.

Errors

• May mentions that she used Skitty in the Fallarbor Contest, but she actually used Beautifly in the Contest in question.
• When May checks Masquerain with her Pokédex, her hand is colored like Ash's.
• When Team Rocket recites their motto, Jessie says the Contest is tonight, but at the end of the episode, May says the Contest is tomorrow.
  • Additionally, James states that Jessie's winning streak would go from zero to two, but with May's two Ribbons and Savannah's Ribbon, her "winning streak" would be three. However, he probably said it so it would rhyme.
• In the English dub,
  • Savannah calls Brock "a men who truly understands".
  • May's Pokédex states that Flareon is the evolved form of Eevee, when it is actually an evolved form of Eevee.
  • The Pokémon Trainer's Choice segment incorrectly claims that Arbok evolves into Seviper. Seviper and the other two choices, Sableye and Suicune, don't evolve at all, and Arbok is the only Pokémon in an evolution chain.

• 

  May's skin tone

• 

  The Trainer's Choice error

Dub edits

• In the English dub, Jessie kept trying to convince herself that she had won a Ribbon. In the original Japanese version, she thought R1 stood for "Rocket Number 1".
• In the English dub, Jessie sticking out her tongue and pulling down her eyelid (known as akanbe in Japan) at the same time were removed.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

• Question: Trainers, Which one of these Pokémon evolves into Seviper?
• Choices: Sableye, Arbok, Suicune
• Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Arbok, you were right!

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		強敵！媽媽協調訓練家登場！
Danish		En fan med en plan
Dutch		De vriendelijke fan
Finnish		Fanihuumaa
European French		Groupie pour la vie
German		MFP-Girls wollen Spaß!
Hebrew		מועדון מעריציםmoadon ma'aritsim
Hindi		R1 पोकेमोन काँटेस्ट R1 Pokemon Contest *
Italian		L'ammiratrice
Korean		봄이의 라이벌! 아줌마 코디네이터 등장
Norwegian		En beundrer med en plan!
Portuguese	Brazil	Uma Fã com um Plano
	Portugal	Uma Fã com um Plano
Russian		Новые поклонники
Spanish	Latin America	¡Un admirador con un plan!
	Spain	Una fan con un plan
Swedish		Savannah och Sandra!

← AG076 : Me, Myself and Time

Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire

AG078 : Cruisin' for a Losin' →

This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.