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"They Wasted A Perfectly Good Pokemon" Thread

Leonhart

Imagineer
Ubermuk said:
I dunno if I would count Staryu as wasted potential because Misty used it a lot in fact out of all her Pokemon the only one that was more reliable than Staryu was Psyduck.

I'd argue that Sunnygo was slightly more reliable in battles than her Hitodeman. Starmie was her most powerful Pokemon in Kanto from my viewpoint, but even it felt like wasted potential since it was mainly used against the Rocket-dan.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Staryu and Starmie admittedly still felt underplayed however since they never really developed personalities and bonds with their trainer. I guess given how blank they were expression wise, the writers didn't take much interest in them besides as battle drones to remind us Misty could fight halfway competently (where most of her personality focused mon like Togepi and Psyduck couldn't).
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
DatsRight said:
Staryu and Starmie admittedly still felt underplayed however since they never really developed personalities and bonds with their trainer. I guess given how blank they were expression wise, the writers didn't take much interest in them besides as battle drones to remind us Misty could fight halfway competently (where most of her personality focused mon like Togepi and Psyduck couldn't).

I did feel that those two starfish Pokemon lacking faces was something that held them back from becoming more popular than they ended up being, although I also blame the writers for not having Kasumi battle that often in Kanto to begin with, with a few exceptions like the Girl's Day tournament and a few other rare instances. Her team just never got showcased that well, other than Koduck and Togepy because of its Gen II tie-in factor.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Lol I know this is a joke but I remember when Greninja basically replaced Pikachu during XY&Z.

Speaking of Kalos mons, Serena's Pancham was such a waste - it should've at least evolved into Pangoro.

I didn't mind Pancham but found it weird Eevee got demoted RIGHT after she evolved into Sylveon and became Gen 6 promotable.

Concerning comic relief mon, I found it a shame Sophocles' Togedemaru didn't get more to do, only having two moves by the end of SM and not even getting to learn the Bugium Z Move despite having an attack fit for it. While I liked Vikavolt, it felt like it took up most of Sophocles' development time in the end.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
Yancham evolving would've been odd since it wouldn't have been very appealing for TryPokaron, although I suppose that it still could've evolved after Master Class. Also I did find it odd that Serena's Nymphia became such an underused Pokemon after it evolved from Eievui. All it did was participate in a few TryPokaron competitions and hardly appeared outside of that.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Yancham evolving would've been odd since it wouldn't have been very appealing for TryPokaron, although I suppose that it still could've evolved after Master Class. Also I did find it odd that Serena's Nymphia became such an underused Pokemon after it evolved from Eievui. All it did was participate in a few TryPokaron competitions and hardly appeared outside of that.

Plus I suppose Pancham evolving would have caused the issue of its rivalry with Chespin becoming too one sided unless it evolved too.

Perhaps due to the overly crisp art style, XY tended to be barren about the more detailed evolved Pokemon joining in on the more casual screentime, even mid-ones like Braixen started to peter out a bit by XYZ, and since ALL of Ash's Pokemon besides Pikachu evolved that series, they kinda needed Pancham and Chespin leftover for comic relief in a lot of the last few episodes.

Maybe this is what pushed for the next series streamlining the animation style a bit so more detailed Pokemon were easier to draw.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
DatsRight said:
Plus I suppose Pancham evolving would have caused the issue of its rivalry with Chespin becoming too one sided unless it evolved too.

Perhaps due to the overly crisp art style, XY tended to be barren about the more detailed evolved Pokemon joining in on the more casual screentime, even mid-ones like Braixen started to peter out a bit by XYZ, and since ALL of Ash's Pokemon besides Pikachu evolved that series, they kinda needed Pancham and Chespin leftover for comic relief in a lot of the last few episodes.

Maybe this is what pushed for the next series streamlining the animation style a bit so more detailed Pokemon were easier to draw.

I had forgotten about Yancham's rivalry with Citron's Harimaron, and if it weren't for Harimaron's constant gag scenes stolen right from Mijumaru's autobiography, I would've said that Harimaron was wasted as well yet it still got more screen-time than Citron's Horubee at least. Although I'm sure that many people thought that Harimaron should've evolved at some point: I distinctly remember people thinking that the Hariborg from XY095 was Citron's before we got more information on the plot of the episode.
 

Ubermuk

Sticky & Sweet
Yancham evolving would've been odd since it wouldn't have been very appealing for TryPokaron, although I suppose that it still could've evolved after Master Class. Also I did find it odd that Serena's Nymphia became such an underused Pokemon after it evolved from Eievui. All it did was participate in a few TryPokaron competitions and hardly appeared outside of that.

Sylveon had already appeared in one of those Pikachu shorts and in one of the first XY episodes so Serena's Sylveon slipping into obscurity makes sense. It didn't have anything more to do when we had already seen Sylveons before...
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Sylveon had already appeared in one of those Pikachu shorts and in one of the first XY episodes so Serena's Sylveon slipping into obscurity makes sense. It didn't have anything more to do when we had already seen Sylveons before...

But we'd seen Eevee and Pancham before Serena's and they did them in spades. It felt especially weird since Eevee was emphasised so greatly as a character and then after evolving practically became non-existant besides as a prop. Kinda dumbed down the supposed bond Serena had with it.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
Ubermuk said:
Sylveon had already appeared in one of those Pikachu shorts and in one of the first XY episodes so Serena's Sylveon slipping into obscurity makes sense. It didn't have anything more to do when we had already seen Sylveons before...

I don't think that's the reason considering how popular Nymphia seemed to be in general, which implied that the writers should've showcased it more despite it having been shown many times before Serena got one.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
SerenaRulez said:
Porygon2 deserved to make a movie cameo like the original Porygon. I'm so mad that Porygon got banned for doing nothing bad in the first place since Pikachu was the one who caused the seizures. :(

Porygon2 is one of those Pokemon that I wouldn't have minded seeing in the anime, but only because its pre-evolved form is infamous. In truth, I don't think that the Porygon line is anything special aside from their infamy in the anime.
 

mysticalglacia

Alola Shill
Someone already mentioned Serena’s Pancham, but I’ll say it again. Back when it was first spoiled/revealed (can’t remember which, has it really been 6 years?) I was ecstatic; not just because Serena was finally catching something but also because I really loved Pancham and was so glad a “tougher”- it’s cute and marketable, yes, but also spunky and more a Pokémon I figured they’d give to Ash- catch was going to her. I hoped they’d have it evolve to Pangoro so it could be her Mamoswine/Blaziken/Dragonite equivalent, even though realistically it’d stay small plushie bait. Even if a bigger Pokémon like Pangoro didn’t fit the typical Showcase image, with its personality and its love of performing I thought they could’ve done a really cool arc where he evolved and had to overcome that stereotyping and judgement with Serena’s support. Personally I would’ve loved to have seen a huge Pangoro just haul Serena across the stage, but alas.

Evolution aside, I also felt like Pancham just got the shaft a lot. Braixen and Sylveon get episodes dedicated to their character development, while Pancham’s whole character is just relegated to the obnoxious Chespin rivalry (which had no reason to exist). Battles were also done by the former two mostly. And when it came to relations between Serena and her Pokémon, she seemed to have way more genuine relationships with everyone but Pancham. It honestly felt like he had no reason to exist, which was really disappointing.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
mysticalglacia said:
Evolution aside, I also felt like Pancham just got the shaft a lot. Braixen and Sylveon get episodes dedicated to their character development, while Pancham’s whole character is just relegated to the obnoxious Chespin rivalry (which had no reason to exist). Battles were also done by the former two mostly. And when it came to relations between Serena and her Pokémon, she seemed to have way more genuine relationships with everyone but Pancham. It honestly felt like he had no reason to exist, which was really disappointing.

Serena's Yancham was a complete misfire from my perspective. For starters, I felt that it was captured a bit too late and that one should've been caught during XY011, instead of in XY047. It also missed out on a lot of character development because apparently the writers thought that giving it a rivalry with Harimaron was more important.
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
Serena having an Mega Absol. I know this Serena is supposed to very different from the games but still feels like a missed opportunity since one of Serena's signature Pokemon from the games is Mega Absol and seeing it in action in the Adventures manga as a badass contrast to the more feminine Sylveon is awesome. A Mega Absol for Serena in the anime would've been the perfect addition for both Pokemon battles and Kalos's version of Pokemon Contests, especially showing how the Mega Evolution mechanic can work in contests as shown in ORAS.
 
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