Pokemon battle question - Is this fair?

In today's episode, which featured a Battle Factory battle between
Ash's Charizard and the factory leader's Articuno, Charizard did a
seismic toss, which the Articuno survived, but Charizard didn't. The
Articuno was left standing, but Charizard was left collapsed on the
factory floor.

The official was in the middle of declaring Charizard unable to battle
and Articuno the winner, but the factory leader interrupted him and
told him to hold off until the battle is "over beyond a shadow of a
doubt" (or something like that).

Shortly thereafter, Articuno collapsed. Shortly after that, Charizard
opened its eyes and stood up.

The official declared Articuno unable to battle and Charizard the
winner.

To me, this doesn't seem fair at all. Ash would have lost if the
factory leader hadn't interrupted the official's judgment.

Chet Weaver, Live Via Google...

It does strike me a bit contrived, and I think under normal
circumstances the match would've gone to Articuno. However, it was the
Factory Brain's discision to allow Ash extra time to win. No sense
calling foul when your opponent voluntarily surrenders. "Weak," maybe,
but not "foul."

But this brings up an interesting question: How does a referee judge
whether or not a Pokemon is knocked out enough to lose? In boxing and
pro wrestling, the referee starts counting to ten once the fighter hits
the floor and they must get to their feet before he finishes. But on
Pokemon, the referee is expected to make the call on-sight the moment
the dust clears. While this makes for a quicker show, it is rather
lame in terms of fairness.

Adrian Tymes...

Finally got around to seeing the ep. IMO - it wasn't about fairness.
Both sides wanted a spectacular battle more than they cared about
winning or losing.

(Besides, as has been pointed out, it's almost always "fair" to
deliberately give your opponent an advantage: you're not complaining,
and few opponents would complain unless they were trying to lose.)

Sea Wasp...

This is a rather standard anime/HK martial arts event. The two
warriors unleash their super moves, the hero/apparently weaker one
collapses, the opponent seems unharmed. The Wise Old Man watching,
however, has seen something the others have not, and says "Wait."

Then the opponent drops from the terrible injuries done by the
hero, and the hero gets up, having been only momentarily stunned.

In this case, the Factory Leader fills the Wise Old Sensei role;
he saw or sensed what really happened, and just told them to wait to
see the true outcome.

Thoughts?

The Eternal Lost Lurker...

Stop overanalysing Pokemon.

Mark Moore