The Most Mistreated Ash's Companions

[Ubermuk]

Tracey had potential. In the first episode he appeared in he interrupted someone's battle to tell them how poorly they were taking care of their Pokémon. That's an interesting trait; imagine him trying to do that to Jessie & James or Butch & Cassidy, or a Character-of-the-Day with a bad attitude. It would create conflict, which would lead to drama, & potentially interesting plot points, as long as the writers treated it carefully so it didn't become annoying.

Problem is, they didn't do anything with the character; that attitude, that crazy sort of care which would make him stop a battle & examine the competitor's Pokémon, was rendered a background detail.

They needed to give him a hobby that wasn't so damn boring. Being a Pokemon watcher wasn't good enough especially in a kid's show where action and crazy antics are important...

 

[DatsRight]

Tracey had potential. In the first episode he appeared in he interrupted someone's battle to tell them how poorly they were taking care of their Pokémon. That's an interesting trait; imagine him trying to do that to Jessie & James or Butch & Cassidy, or a Character-of-the-Day with a bad attitude. It would create conflict, which would lead to drama, & potentially interesting plot points, as long as the writers treated it carefully so it didn't become annoying.

Problem is, they didn't do anything with the character; that attitude, that crazy sort of care which would make him stop a battle & examine the competitor's Pokémon, was rendered a background detail.

I remember him being more sort of....chirpy and overexcited in his first episode too, inducting himself into the group and going straight up to Meowth in awe of him talking (cutting off their faceoff because Meowth genuinely liked the attention ), he seemed a guy more liable to agree with Ash than Misty or some other authority figure, which could have been an interesting dynamic for a male companion, given they're usually more grounded characters with the odd comic relief dent or two.

They needed to give him a hobby that wasn't so damn boring. Being a Pokemon watcher wasn't good enough especially in a kid's show where action and crazy antics are important...

This tended to be a key roadblock for many companions, whether their goal helped give them something dynamic to do. The contests at least kept May and Dawn active and focused on something the whole series. A few others had occupations that maybe weren't arc heavy, but still kept some sort of ongoing drive for them in a lot of their limelight. Some were also good at branching them into different scenarios.

Mallow had a similar issue to Tracey in that she had an established occupation but they didn't really infuse it into her role as a trainer in a very entertaining way. Generally Mallow did the least amount of antics of the SM lot and Tsareena and Shaymin didn't really play much into her cooking besides being dressed as waitresses, which is strange since we've seen plenty of creative COTD situations with Pokemon chefs before. Cilan and Lana just sort of had gag goals to play on them being hyper competent at everything, which didn't really give much way for development (Sophocles sort of did too, though since Sophocles was much more of an underdog they found a way to actually play off of it in the end).

Type specialists tend to suffer a lot too, there's only so far you can colour a character wanting to catch only certain Pokemon without adding new stipulations to it. Kiawe was handled a bit better however since a lot of his limelight revolved around him working around his one-note approach because of it and he had rounded Pokemon and stuff like the Z Moves and the league to give more substance to it, though Misty and Iris tended to spend too much time talking exposition about their goal instead of doing much with it (though Misty arguably fared worse because most of her water types weren't even well developed for most of the OS).

 

[Applecorp]

They needed to give him a hobby that wasn't so damn boring. Being a Pokemon watcher wasn't good enough especially in a kid's show where action and crazy antics are important...

Ok maybe there's some truth to that but what else could they've done with Tracey if they hadn't made him a Pokemon Watcher?

 

[Leonhart]

Ok maybe there's some truth to that but what else could they've done with Tracey if they hadn't made him a Pokemon Watcher?

They didn't have many options back in OS since there weren't that many hobbies that had been introduced at that point. I'm at least relieved that they didn't make him a Pokemon Breeder, although they could've made him a Pokemon Doctor in-training at least since that would've been helpful if any of the cast's Pokemon got hurt given that Pokemon Centers were hard to come by in the Orange Archipelago.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

Brock during OS-AG (and even maybe DP), Misty during OS, Tracey (who?), Max, Cilan, Serena in terms of rivalries, Bonnie prior to XY&Z and Mallow

I thought cilan was pretty good, maybe he was too perfect a character but he was good he looked like a leader of his group, i would put clemont in his place

 

[Ubermuk]

Ok maybe there's some truth to that but what else could they've done with Tracey if they hadn't made him a Pokemon Watcher?

Make him seek a goal like they did with Serena when they had her try a bunch of activities until she got her own goal. Tracey trying new things in the Orange islands would've been cool to see and cut down on fillers too maybe.

 

[Shayminslicker]

Tracey has almost nothing to his name. He was Ash's companion during OI (The shortest Pokemon season if I recall correctly) and that's pretty much it. He's has a few appearances in Pokemon Chronicles and a few cameos with the last one being in B/W. The dude didn't even make an appearance in the end of B/W where Ash stood in place with all the Pokemon he caught before. That would've been the perfect opportunity to give Tracey an appearance, but nope.


I think Max makes a good contender for this as well considering that he's only had cameos (Maybe one or two cameos) outside of the Hoenn saga. Why didn't he show up alongside May in the Sinnoh series? I'll never know...

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I think Max makes a good contender for this as well considering that he's only had cameos (Maybe one or two cameos) outside of the Hoenn saga. Why didn't he show up alongside May in the Sinnoh series? I'll never know...

I think there are two different reasons why Max didn’t come to Sinnoh with May. First reason could be that he was enrolled in a trainer school that was preparing him for when he becomes old enough to be a trainer. Something similar to the school in Alola. Or the second and most likely reason is Norman decided to teach Max about being a trainer and he is helping out at the Gym in return as a way to get hands on experience.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Mistreated by the writers? Mallow and Sophocles, because they do literally nothing for the entirety of SM's run

Mistreated by the fans? Serena, because she's got one of the most compelling character arcs in the entirety of Pokemon's lifetime

 

[Serzooka]

Mistreated by the writers? Mallow and Sophocles, because they do literally nothing for the entirety of SM's run

Mistreated by the fans? Serena, because she's got one of the most compelling character arcs in the entirety of Pokemon's lifetime

I personally would say Lillie, than Dawn, then finally May and Serena as a tie for compelling arcs.

 

[Morax]

I personally would say Lillie, than Dawn, then finally May and Serena as tie for compelling arcs.

I personally would say serena, then lillie, then finally dawn and may as tie for compelling arcs.

 

[Epicocity]

Mistreated by the writers? Mallow and Sophocles, because they do literally nothing for the entirety of SM's run

Mistreated by the fans? Serena, because she's got one of the most compelling character arcs in the entirety of Pokemon's lifetime

I disagree on Sophocles. He, to me, was the darkhorse of SM. After a very rocky start, when they figured out he wanted to be an astronaut as a goal, he evened out very nicely. Few development episodes far and between, but they were all consistent and compared to most classmates in the League, I actually felt he earned his place there in terms of knowing he's outclassed but giving his all. Not the deepest character, but certainly not the nothing wallpaper that Mallow was (to the point the girl literally had reverse development in the League...)

Though I still for the life of me cannot comprehend how people think Lillie had a compelling arc when it was resolved 1/3 of the way into the series and it was resolved by her...recognizing a misunderstanding and that somehow erasing 4 years of PTSD...Baffling.

 

[RafaSceptile]

Mistreated by the writers? Mallow and Sophocles, because they do literally nothing for the entirety of SM's run

Mistreated by the fans? Serena, because she's got one of the most compelling character arcs in the entirety of Pokemon's lifetime

Sophocles did more than Brock for virtually all of OS-AG, Brock only started to be relevant until DP. But I agree with Malllow

I personally would say Lillie, than Dawn, then finally May and Serena as a tie for compelling arcs.

I personally would say serena, then lillie, then finally dawn and may as tie for compelling arcs.

I think May > Dawn > Lillie > Serena > Iris > May in terms of compelling arcs:

• May started her journey as a truly amateur and she was learning a lot of things thanks to Ash
• Dawn is a close contender, both Ash and Dawn learned things of each other during DP and she reached to the finals in her grand festival.
• Lillie's arc was rushed, but it was consistent during the first season of SM, then she was relevant again during the third season of SM.
• Serena was May in the sense of a truly amateur but with a lot of things made worse, especially:
  • May had 148 episodes in her journey during Pokémon Contests (AG035-AG182), meanwhile Serena only 54 episodes (XY060-XY113)
  • May had way better development rivals, especially Drew, meanwhile Serena had an almost irrelevant Rival like Nini, a decent rivalry with Xana and an Amourshipping rival with Miette.
• Iris' goal was good, but her progression during BW was very inconsistent
• Misty almost did nothing during OS, she had a better progression in her next appearences.

I disagree on Sophocles. He, to me, was the darkhorse of SM. After a very rocky start, when they figured out he wanted to be an astronaut as a goal, he evened out very nicely. Few development episodes far and between, but they were all consistent and compared to most classmates in the League, I actually felt he earned his place there in terms of knowing he's outclassed but giving his all. Not the deepest character, but certainly not the nothing wallpaper that Mallow was (to the point the girl literally had reverse development in the League...)

Though I still for the life of me cannot comprehend how people think Lillie had a compelling arc when it was resolved 1/3 of the way into the series and it was resolved by her...recognizing a misunderstanding and that somehow erasing 4 years of PTSD...Baffling.

Considering that many real people have trouble overcoming phobias, the "Lillieffort" has a lot of merit. Lillie is far from the most consistent character in terms of importance (almost non-existent during the second season of SM), but she did quite a bit during the first season of SM and was decent during the third season.

 

[Epicocity]

Sophocles did more than Brock for virtually all of OS-AG, Brock only started to be relevant until DP. But I agree with Malllow





I think May > Dawn > Lillie > Serena > Iris > May in terms of compelling arcs:

• May started her journey as a truly amateur and she was learning a lot of things thanks to Ash
• Dawn is a close contender, both Ash and Dawn learned things of each other during DP and she reached to the finals in her grand festival.
• Lillie's arc was rushed, but it was consistent during the first season of SM, then she was relevant again during the third season of SM.
• Serena was May in the sense of a truly amateur but with a lot of things made worse, especially:
  • May had 148 episodes in her journey during Pokémon Contests (AG035-AG182), meanwhile Serena only 54 episodes (XY060-XY113)
  • May had way better development rivals, especially Drew, meanwhile Serena had an almost irrelevant Rival like Nini, a decent rivalry with Xana and an Amourshipping rival with Miette.
• Iris' goal was good, but her progression during BW was very inconsistent
• Misty almost did nothing during OS, she had a better progression in her next appearences.

Considering that many real people have trouble overcoming phobias, the "Lillieffort" has a lot of merit. Lillie is far from the most consistent character in terms of importance (almost non-existent during the second season of SM), but she did quite a bit during the first season of SM and was decent during the third season.

I'm going to address your above misconception on Serena before tackling the Lillie part, which is to say, yes, Serena's goal arc only lasted for those 50 some odd episodes, however, it's insulting to act like that's where her character arc began and ended since her choosing a goal and deciding to stick with it was a huge part of her character arc, and that began from the moment we saw her, and ultimately lasted until she left for Hoenn at the end of the series. People really need to stop conflating goals with the character.

As for Lillie, the issue for me is that...it wasn't Lillie who overcame her phobia. Now, yes, she worked and overcame it with Snowy and Pikachu and Stoutland, and that would be fine if they hadn't made the move of literally erasing all of that progress just to have a cheap dramatic moment. Then she gets it all back because she's...essentially taken hostage and gets her memory back through no effort of her own, somehow permitting her to erase all of that trauma. It's like telling a soldier the bullets were fake and suddenly their PTSD from war disappears. So, no, I don't see the merit it has.

 

[Morax]

Sophocles did more than Brock for virtually all of OS-AG, Brock only started to be relevant until DP. But I agree with Malllow





I think May > Dawn > Lillie > Serena > Iris > May in terms of compelling arcs:

• May started her journey as a truly amateur and she was learning a lot of things thanks to Ash
• Dawn is a close contender, both Ash and Dawn learned things of each other during DP and she reached to the finals in her grand festival.
• Lillie's arc was rushed, but it was consistent during the first season of SM, then she was relevant again during the third season of SM.
• Serena was May in the sense of a truly amateur but with a lot of things made worse, especially:
  • May had 148 episodes in her journey during Pokémon Contests (AG035-AG182), meanwhile Serena only 54 episodes (XY060-XY113)
  • May had way better development rivals, especially Drew, meanwhile Serena had an almost irrelevant Rival like Nini, a decent rivalry with Xana and an Amourshipping rival with Miette.
• Iris' goal was good, but her progression during BW was very inconsistent
• Misty almost did nothing during OS, she had a better progression in her next appearences.

Considering that many real people have trouble overcoming phobias, the "Lillieffort" has a lot of merit. Lillie is far from the most consistent character in terms of importance (almost non-existent during the second season of SM), but she did quite a bit during the first season of SM and was decent during the third season.

Serena's character arc was more about her internal struggle and 'finding your calling' while may and dawn's was about 'chasing your dreams'. Both are fundamentally different narratives and imo should not be compared. Each pokegirl is different and unique, and they should be judged on their own merits

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Cilian had no real character arc or development which made him a bit boring and lackluster. The writers kept using the same gag of him being a connoisseur of random things which was an extremely terrible move in the long run. The joke got old after the third time he said it and it didn’t do anything for his character. If anything, the gag basically turned him into some snob who thought he was better than everyone else because he knew so much about things because he’s a “connoisseur.” Whenever Cilian did this, he talked down to everyone and acted so much more superior just because he knew all about the topic of the day. I mean some random kid would buy a box lunch and Cilian would be like, “You’re buying that? You poor poor pathetic thing! You don’t know anything about boxed lunches unlike me! Let me interfere with your daily life to tell you how little you know and how much better I am when it comes to this! It’s okay. I’m a box lunch connoisseur.”

 

[Mega Ampharos the Dragon]

Cilian had no real character arc or development which made him a bit boring and lackluster. The writers kept using the same gag of him being a connoisseur of random things which was an extremely terrible move in the long run. The joke got old after the third time he said it and it didn’t do anything for his character. If anything, the gag basically turned him into some snob who thought he was better than everyone else because he knew so much about things because he’s a “connoisseur.” Whenever Cilian did this, he talked down to everyone and acted so much more superior just because he knew all about the topic of the day. I mean some random kid would buy a box lunch and Cilian would be like, “You’re buying that? You poor poor pathetic thing! You don’t know anything about boxed lunches unlike me! Let me interfere with your daily life to tell you how little you know and how much better I am when it comes to this! It’s okay. I’m a box lunch connoisseur.”

This makes me think of one fanfic I once read showing that one of the reasons Cilan went to Kalos (as shown in that Japanese only episode when Clemont meet Cilan) is to have a battle with the E4 member, Siebold to get to S rank connoisseur. The fanfic made it that in order to get to S rank connoisseur, you have to have an E4 member to allow you to move up or something like that. The E4 member is of your choice. Which is why he's in Kalos, to see Siebold.

 

[Dragalge]

I guess whoever got punched the most

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I guess whoever got punched the most

So Brock? Misty hit him a few times.

 

[RafaSceptile]

I'm going to address your above misconception on Serena before tackling the Lillie part, which is to say, yes, Serena's goal arc only lasted for those 50 some odd episodes, however, it's insulting to act like that's where her character arc began and ended since her choosing a goal and deciding to stick with it was a huge part of her character arc, and that began from the moment we saw her, and ultimately lasted until she left for Hoenn at the end of the series. People really need to stop conflating goals with the character.

As for Lillie, the issue for me is that...it wasn't Lillie who overcame her phobia. Now, yes, she worked and overcame it with Snowy and Pikachu and Stoutland, and that would be fine if they hadn't made the move of literally erasing all of that progress just to have a cheap dramatic moment. Then she gets it all back because she's...essentially taken hostage and gets her memory back through no effort of her own, somehow permitting her to erase all of that trauma. It's like telling a soldier the bullets were fake and suddenly their PTSD from war disappears. So, no, I don't see the merit it has.

May had the same level of development prior to her debut, she usually disliked Pokémon and she wasn't sure about what she want to do. May also knew Drew 2 episodes before her debut and she lost against him. That was a way better development and introduction of her main rival than what writers did with Serena's development prior to her debut + the start of her journey and rivalries.