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Ash's Most Underrated Pokemon!

Ash's Most Underrated Pokemon

  • Bayleef

    Votes: 19 19.6%
  • Tauros

    Votes: 9 9.3%
  • Kingler

    Votes: 18 18.6%
  • Muk

    Votes: 21 21.6%
  • Torterra

    Votes: 25 25.8%
  • Unfezant

    Votes: 6 6.2%
  • Boldore

    Votes: 6 6.2%
  • Palpitoad

    Votes: 7 7.2%
  • Totodile

    Votes: 8 8.2%
  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 16 16.5%

  • Total voters
    97
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Sprinter1988

Well-Known Member
So recently we've had a load of polls asking which ones are Ash's best and worst pokemon overall, or the best of a specific type, so here is an alternative

Which of Ash's Pokemon is the most underrated? Which ones do not get the credit that you feel that he or she deserves?

You can select multiple pokemon if you wish, but please take the time to explain your answers. Remember to be respectful towards others in this.

Also, the polls only allow you 10 options, so I noted 9 who seem to usually be the most underrated, but feel free to choose any one you like!




I'll start things off with two pokemon that I personally find to be very underrated.

First up is Bayleef. As a Chikorita, she helped win the Hive Badge from Bugsy by taking out his Spinarak, which has immobilised Cyndaquil, and later helps ensure that Ash got to keep Totodile by defeating Misty's Staryu, arguably the stongest pokemon she had on hand at the time.

After evolving (in order to protect Ash) Bayleef's power grew.
Notably, Ash's win against Chuck for the Storm Badge in Cianwood City was almost entirely her doing - Pikachu got knocked out easily by Chuck's Poliwrath, leaving Bayleef to pull off a double win, first a vine whip/body slam combo against Poliwrath followed by an intense struggle against Machoke, where she turned its own Submission attack against it.

Despite loosing to Gary's Blastoise in their battle at the Johto League, Bayleef more than made up for this by taking out Harrison's Houndoom in the following battle, doing so by using her vines to clamp its mouth shut and then knocking it out with one Body Slam

Also, Bayleef is pretty fast on her feet, and won Ash the Extreme Pokemon Race, narrowly beating Gary's Arcanine to victory.

Second is Tauros. With its limited appearances and even more limited movepool I get how this one can be seen as lacking, but it is anything but. What moves it does have are used to devastating effect, and it is extremely strong, capable of lifting other, very heavy pokemon into the air from a standing position, using only its neck muscles. Pokemon it has dealt with in this way are Anabel's Metagross (a battle which resulted in a draw between the two pokemon) Fernando's Tauros (which had previously been unbeaten for 10 straight battles in a Tauros-only tournament) and Drake's Venusaur (resulting in a win for Tauros) and Dragonite (which Tauros dealt massive damage, instrumental in Pikachu finally taking it down and winning Ash the Orange League Trophy.)

Anyway, those are my to. Do you agree, or do you have suggestions of your own?
 
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MattySadler

Well-Known Member
Bayleef is a good shout, I think she often gets overlooked due to Ash's Johto team not really being on of his strongest, but she wasn't a bad Pokemon by any stretch.

Tauros isn't underrated as such, it just isn't used enough.

I'd like to nominate Torterra as potentially underrated, though I don't blame people for not thinking too much of Torterra, as it didn't pick up any wins after reaching its final form.

Pignite and Krookodile could both be "underrated Pokemon of the future" due to them being apart of Ash's infamous Unova team. I don't think either of them are bad Pokemon, just mixed in with a bad crowd.
 

Sprinter1988

Well-Known Member
Bayleef is a good shout, I think she often gets overlooked due to Ash's Johto team not really being on of his strongest, but she wasn't a bad Pokemon by any stretch.

Tauros isn't underrated as such, it just isn't used enough.

I'd like to nominate Torterra as potentially underrated, though I don't blame people for not thinking too much of Torterra, as it didn't pick up any wins after reaching its final form.

Pignite and Krookodile could both be "underrated Pokemon of the future" due to them being apart of Ash's infamous Unova team. I don't think either of them are bad Pokemon, just mixed in with a bad crowd.

Its a shame when a bad team drags the few good ones down with them, isn't it?

Strange how Bayleef, despite being one of Ash's better Johto Pokemon, has never been given the chance to be better since the Johto saga ended, and yet Cyndaquil, Phanpy, Noctowl and Heracross all have.

I think that you may be right about Pignite, but Krookodile will hopefully be remembered as a good Pokemon as it carried Ash's team for a long time. Aside from Krookodile and Pignite the only good ones were Palpitoad and Leavanny, and they fell into the same pit of oblivion as Kingler and Muk.

The thing with Tauros is that although it is underused it also isn't rated very highly. Kingler is generally considered better than it, even though Tauros has participated in more battles with higher stakes and proved itself.
 
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MattySadler

Well-Known Member
Its a shame when a bad team drags the few good ones down with them, isn't it?

Strange how Bayleef, despite being one of Ash's better Johto Pokemon, has never been given the chance to be better since the Johto saga ended, and yet Cyndaquil, Phanpy, Noctowl and Heracross all have.

I think that you may be right about Pignite, but Krookodile will hopefully be remembered as a good Pokemon as it carried Ash's team for a long time. Aside from Krookodile and Pignite the only good ones were Palpitoad and Leavanny, and they fell into the same pit of oblivion as Kingler and Muk.

The thing with Tauros is that although it is underused it also isn't rated very highly. Kingler is generally considered better than it, even though Tauros has participated in more battles with higher stakes and proved itself.

Yeah, its a crying shame.

Maybe the writers feel Bayleef has developed as far as it can, and Cyndaquil, Phanpy, Noctowl and Heracross all had more to offer? I don't agree with that myself, I always felt he should've got a Meganium. Similarly with Totodile, I used to love that enthusiastic little guy, but it hasn't progressed or developed at all.

Unfortunately Ash's Unova team is always going to be a case of missed opportunity. For a while, I genuinely believed it was going to be his greatest. Unfezant, Dewott, Emboar, Serperior, Scraggy, Leavanny, Seismitoad, Gigalith and Krookodile would've been amazing for me.

Yes, Tauros and Kingler are two very competent Pokemon, just severe victims of under use.
 

CyberCubed

Yeah, ok!
Although this might be odd to say, I'll probably say Corphish.

Corphish won almost all its battles and was consistently a strong battler in all the Hoenn Gyms, in the Hoenn league, and Battle Frontier. I think it was after Buizel came around that people forgot how good Corphish was at battling.
 

Sprinter1988

Well-Known Member
Yeah, its a crying shame.

Maybe the writers feel Bayleef has developed as far as it can, and Cyndaquil, Phanpy, Noctowl and Heracross all had more to offer? I don't agree with that myself, I always felt he should've got a Meganium. Similarly with Totodile, I used to love that enthusiastic little guy, but it hasn't progressed or developed at all.

Unfortunately Ash's Unova team is always going to be a case of missed opportunity. For a while, I genuinely believed it was going to be his greatest. Unfezant, Dewott, Emboar, Serperior, Scraggy, Leavanny, Seismitoad, Gigalith and Krookodile would've been amazing for me.

Yes, Tauros and Kingler are two very competent Pokemon, just severe victims of under use.

I think that Bayleef could be better now. It's non-appearance during the Battle Frontier made sense as it didn't change much between gens 2 and 3, but now there really could be something more to it. Even if it were a simple change, like giving it Light Screen. They never really used to show these kinds of moves but are happy to do so now. Usually its something to make one of Ash's opponents trickier to beat, so Ash using it himself would make a nice change.

Your analogy of Ash's Unova team is apt, but I feel that it is a sentiment that can be given to the BW series as a whole. There was so much potential, but it was lost. Shame.
 

Vriska Serket

Clemont FTW
I'd say Bayleef and Corphish. I loved their personalities and they did really good in their battles. ^_^
 

phanpycross

God-king
Easily Unfezant, Hated by most everyone, it REALLY wasnt that bad.

It beat both Woobat, and swanna against Skyla, Won the double battle with pansage, Fought Thunderus alongside pikachu, and defeated amonguss and frillish, after pikachu, stunfisk, and emolga had all been knocked out.
 

Teebu

Well-Known Member
Pignite because it's stuck with the stigma from the BW team, it was actually a very useful battler that won more than it's fair share for Ash.

Good call with corphish too, just looking at how long it took them to catch it proves it was tough, always battled well and its one of the funniest pokemon on Ash's team. Almost as funny as Oshawott, though Osh was completely useless lol.
 

MattySadler

Well-Known Member
Although this might be odd to say, I'll probably say Corphish.

Corphish won almost all its battles and was consistently a strong battler in all the Hoenn Gyms, in the Hoenn league, and Battle Frontier. I think it was after Buizel came around that people forgot how good Corphish was at battling.

Not odd at all mate, it is a great shout. Corphish is my second-least favourite out of all of Ash's Pokemon, purely because I just never liked it as a character. As a Pokemon in Ash's team though, it is competent, and I'll admit I probably let my overall dislike for it cloud my judgement.
 

chalkus

Well-Known Member
Bayleaf for me. If Ash was a better trainer and bayleaf didn't have take silly crush he would have been a boss with it.
 

Sprinter1988

Well-Known Member
Bayleaf for me. If Ash was a better trainer and bayleaf didn't have take silly crush he would have been a boss with it.

Half of Bayleef's problem was that for most of the time it was around, Bulbasaur was there too, especially in the first half of Johto. This really cut into Bayleef's value as a grass type and everything it could to as a Chikorita (Vine Whip, Tackle and Razor Leaf) Bulbasaur could also do, and better because it has Solar Beam as well.
 

Red and Blue

Well-Known Member
I'd say his most underrated Pokemon is his Muk. I really wish he would have used it more often.
 

PokeMaster366

Well-Known Member
I would have to say that Torterra is underrated. Torterra, by itself, isn't a bad Pokemon, but there's a mismatch between it and Ash's battling style. Normally, Ash would rush in and use speedy and rapid attacks to keep the opponent off-balance. Torterra requires Ash to take a more patient, calculated approach to battling, which just doesn't work for him. Maybe if it had Stealth Rocks, Torterra could've made an impact, but overall, it was just a bad mismatch.
 
Well, like mentioned before, Bayleef. I've defended her in various threads before, and even saw her being mentioned in a thread for Ash's six worst/weakest Pokemon. As a Chikorita, beating a Spinarak from a Gym Leader is a really nice achievement, as well as Bayleef single-handedly destroying Chuck and beating Harrison's Houndoom. This has been mentioned before in this thread. But what hasn't been mentioned here yet before now is that Bayleef only got defeated twice after evolving (against Gary's Blastoise and against Harrison's Blaziken). I think that's pretty damn incredible.

I'd say Bayleef is closer to being one of Ash's strongest six than one of his worst six.
 

Sprinter1988

Well-Known Member
I'd say his most underrated Pokemon is his Muk. I really wish he would have used it more often.

Muk definitely got the short end of the stick. I sometimes wonder why they gave him it.

I would have to say that Torterra is underrated. Torterra, by itself, isn't a bad Pokemon, but there's a mismatch between it and Ash's battling style. Normally, Ash would rush in and use speedy and rapid attacks to keep the opponent off-balance. Torterra requires Ash to take a more patient, calculated approach to battling, which just doesn't work for him. Maybe if it had Stealth Rocks, Torterra could've made an impact, but overall, it was just a bad mismatch.

This is so true, and perhaps explains why Muk doesn't see much use. I've often thought about what would have happened had Bulbasaur evolved into Ivysaur and then Venusaur, but I think that Torterra gave us the answer.

Well, like mentioned before, Bayleef. I've defended her in various threads before, and even saw her being mentioned in a thread for Ash's six worst/weakest Pokemon. As a Chikorita, beating a Spinarak from a Gym Leader is a really nice achievement, as well as Bayleef single-handedly destroying Chuck and beating Harrison's Houndoom. This has been mentioned before in this thread. But what hasn't been mentioned here yet before now is that Bayleef only got defeated twice after evolving (against Gary's Blastoise and against Harrison's Blaziken). I think that's pretty damn incredible.

I'd say Bayleef is closer to being one of Ash's strongest six than one of his worst six.

Personally, I'd rank Bayleef within the top 12 (not bad out of 40 (or 45, depending on who you count). It was definitely the second-best of Ash's Johto Pokemon until most of the rest got redemption (Heracross was the best, and I think it still holds that rank!)
 

Everlasting

Everything stays.
It'd be Snivy for me. I think she was doing quite well in her battles even though the writers didn't let her show her full potential while she was in Ash's party, which is a shame.
She won her battles with some spirit and attitude. She deserved way more attention than that.
 
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Mew2

Team Rocket's Enemy
I would have to agree that Snivy is Ash's most underrated Pokémon, despite the fact that I still placed her pretty low in the worst Pokémon thread. She had, and still does, have a lot of potential but was hamstrung by not being used all that often, having Ash be stupid when using her, being used against severe type disadvantages, or, in Riolu's case, being used against a Pokémon that evolves mid-match, which I still think in BW destabilized said Pokémon's power to the point that it could be far beyond its normal evolutionary level for the duration of that battle but once the battle was over, the Pokémon's power level stabilized and was more normal. And even with those cases, Snivy still had some pretty good wins.
 
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