"They Wasted A Perfectly Good Pokemon" Thread

[Kyloreywalk]

I'll do each series mainly for the companions (Ash's would take too long):

OS: Misty/Brock: Everything expect Psyduck. Maybe to a lesser extent Poliwhirl. Brock's pokemon did nothing in the OS.

AG: May's Eevee, it came when the saga only had 30 episodes left and didn't get much to do. She should have gotten Eevee at the very beginning of BF. And again, all of Brock's Pokemon

DP: Dawn's Ambipom should have stayed. Of course Togekiss came too late but I don't know if I should count it or not. For Brock, at least Croagunk got good focus. Sudoowoodo/Happiny were ok.

BW: Iris' Axew is probably the big one here, it's whole development was wasted.

XY: Surprisingly enough I was ok with Serena/Clemont's pokemon, but Sylveon should have gotten more after it evolved

SM: Well, what can you say? The pokemon were handled decently in the time they were around, mallow's Shaymin should have done more.

 

[Leonhart]

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.

I actually would've preferred if she had caught an Absol instead of getting Eievui and evolving it into Nymphia. Absol being able to Mega Evolve is one of the reasons why I preferred it over Nymphia, and also because Serena had an Absol in the games.

 

[DatsRight]

The thing is Serena didn't battle much competitively to justify a Mega Evolution in the anime, and since Absol was kind of a big mon, I get the feeling it would have been reduced to the same minor role as Sylveon and Luxray anyway.

Concerning Togekiss, it did seem like they TRIED to make up for lost time, giving it some quick moments of training and even the odd interaction with the other Pokemon, even if it was a bit too late to do this effectively. Melmetal was compressed as well, though arguably got a better deal.

It's actually kinda ironic how laid back they used Togekiss considering the big deal they made out of its two pre evolutions when they first appeared.

Lillie's Magearna probably got the worst deal by far, only activating in time for the LAST TWO EPISODES of SM. Hopefully Lillie will get a return appearance.

 

[SerenaRulez]

I'll do each series mainly for the companions (Ash's would take too long):

OS: Misty/Brock: Everything expect Psyduck. Maybe to a lesser extent Poliwhirl. Brock's pokemon did nothing in the OS.

AG: May's Eevee, it came when the saga only had 30 episodes left and didn't get much to do. She should have gotten Eevee at the very beginning of BF. And again, all of Brock's Pokemon

DP: Dawn's Ambipom should have stayed. Of course Togekiss came too late but I don't know if I should count it or not. For Brock, at least Croagunk got good focus. Sudoowoodo/Happiny were ok.

BW: Iris' Axew is probably the big one here, it's whole development was wasted.

XY: Surprisingly enough I was ok with Serena/Clemont's pokemon, but Sylveon should have gotten more after it evolved

SM: Well, what can you say? The pokemon were handled decently in the time they were around, mallow's Shaymin should have done more.

I thought Dawn's Ambipon leaving was a disgrace because it left after showing so much potential in Pokemon Contests and after being traded. It made Ambipom seem like she couldn't settle on any one thing.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Ash’s Palpitoad was pretty undeveloped in terms of personality and usage. Ash had two other Pokémon with one each of Palpitoad’s typing so it had no real place on Ash’s team. Krookodile was the stronger Ground Type with much better moves and Oshawott was used far more often when a Water Type was needed. I even forget that Ash even has a Palpitoad because it’s so forgettable.Krookodile wore sunglasses which up until then we only saw Squirtle being the only Pokémon to do such a thing and it was noted by the characters to be an uncommon trait of a Pokémon to have. And Oshawott was always attempting to get attention and would literally shove others to the side just to get noticed.

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

I thought Dawn's Ambipon leaving was a disgrace because it left after showing so much potential in Pokemon Contests and after being traded. It made Ambipom seem like she couldn't settle on any one thing.

But she couldn't.

At first, she wanted Ash's hat. Then Ash himself. Then other stuffs, then contests. And when she got sick of it all, she went to ping-pong.

Honestly, at the time I felt bitter Ash traded her away but now thinking about it, the writting was really consistent with this trait, wasn't it?

 

[Ignition]

Primeape. Ash’s best OS Pokemon had no chance to bond with him outside of one episode and it just gets left in history.

Corphish not evolving into Crawdaunt as I personally would’ve loved to see it get a more sinister appearance but it’s still a goofy show off.

Gible really didn’t get any development outside of Draco Meteor. Should’ve had an arc with Cynthia’s Garchomp mentoring it idk

All of Ash’s Unova captures. The starters should’ve all evolved and had the Pledge moves be their gimmick (was hoping that was where the Pignite evolution episode was heading). Unfezant could’ve had a proud yet caring like personality. Scraggy should’ve evolved and had a final battle against Iris’s Axew/Fraxure to show their growth. Boldore should’ve been the focus of a trade episode with Trip’s Gurrdurr. Palpitoad lost its personality after joining Ash and I would’ve loved Seismitoad being a big softie who’s protective of its friends. Krookodile lost its rivalry with Pikachu and had few scenes with Ash after evolving. Leavanny was fine but could’ve used more screen time.

Bias but Litten/Torracat/Incineroar should’ve had more to his story outside of its rivalry with Kukui’s and Stoutland (which were great). It just sat out for every trail and waited until Masked Royale popped up to learn a move. I was robbed of seeing Ash and Incineroar interact

 

[Leonhart]

Ash’s Palpitoad was pretty undeveloped in terms of personality and usage. Ash had two other Pokémon with one each of Palpitoad’s typing so it had no real place on Ash’s team.

I do recall thinking that Satoshi catching Gamagaru was completely unnecessary since he had Mijumaru as a Water-type at the time, and he was eventually going to have Waruvail as his Ground-type. Even the writers seemed to feel that Gamagaru was pointless after a while considering that they once went about eight months without showing the poor thing during BW.

 

[shoz999]

A huge missed opportunity I personally think is Brock not getting any fossil Pokemon. In the games, Brock is the very first gym leader to canonically have fossil Pokemon, Kabutops and Omastar. Seeing Brock's Kabutops in the Pokemon Adventures manga is honestly a refreshing break from the norm of heavy and slow rock-types, especially Brock's rock-types throughout every media, as Kabutops is not a heavy and slow rock-type but a fast and agile rock-type.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Noctowl is another Pokémon that had great potential and endless possibilities for story telling but didn’t do much with. It was only used by Ash to trail TRio and pop their balloon and had only one major battle where it was important which was Morty’s Gym. Noctowl was a Shiny which should have given it special attention as Shiny Pokémon back then were considered extremely rare and unusual to the point that people were studying them to see what else was different about them outside of their coloration. One of the later episodes even seemed to have Oak forgetting about Noctowl.

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

Noctowl is another Pokémon that had great potential and endless possibilities for story telling but didn’t do much with. It was only used by Ash to trail TRio and pop their balloon and had only one major battle where it was important which was Morty’s Gym. Noctowl was a Shiny which should have given it special attention as Shiny Pokémon back then were considered extremely rare and unusual to the point that people were studying them to see what else was different about them outside of their coloration. One of the later episodes even seemed to have Oak forgetting about Noctowl.

Plus there was also Noctowl's high intellect when it told the other pokemon how to take down Team Rocket's mecha, or how it was Ash's only pokemon that could use Psychic attacks until Mr. Mime.

 

[Leonhart]

A huge missed opportunity I personally think is Brock not getting any fossil Pokemon. In the games, Brock is the very first gym leader to canonically have fossil Pokemon, Kabutops and Omastar. Seeing Brock's Kabutops in the Pokemon Adventures manga is honestly a refreshing break from the norm of heavy and slow rock-types, especially Brock's rock-types throughout every media, as Kabutops is not a heavy and slow rock-type but a fast and agile rock-type.

I think that back in OS Fossil Pokemon were still considered a rare novelty, so the writers probably thought that having a cast member own a revived extinct Pokemon would seem out of place. I like Omnite though, so I do wish that Takeshi had caught one.

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

A huge missed opportunity I personally think is Brock not getting any fossil Pokemon. In the games, Brock is the very first gym leader to canonically have fossil Pokemon, Kabutops and Omastar. Seeing Brock's Kabutops in the Pokemon Adventures manga is honestly a refreshing break from the norm of heavy and slow rock-types, especially Brock's rock-types throughout every media, as Kabutops is not a heavy and slow rock-type but a fast and agile rock-type.

I think that back in OS Fossil Pokemon were still considered a rare novelty, so the writers probably thought that having a cast member own a revived extinct Pokemon would seem out of place. I like Omnite though, so I do wish that Takeshi had caught one.

Honestly, I think the writers still consider owning a fossil pokemon a rare oddity aside from gym leaders & having them live in research labs, though I still don't understand why they gave Nando an Armaldo for the Sinnoh League.

 

[BabaVanga]

A huge missed opportunity I personally think is Brock not getting any fossil Pokemon. In the games, Brock is the very first gym leader to canonically have fossil Pokemon, Kabutops and Omastar. Seeing Brock's Kabutops in the Pokemon Adventures manga is honestly a refreshing break from the norm of heavy and slow rock-types, especially Brock's rock-types throughout every media, as Kabutops is not a heavy and slow rock-type but a fast and agile rock-type.

He should've caught that Aerodactyl from Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon episode, I'd love to see Charizard/Aerodactyl rivalry

...but we got Togepi instead.

It didn't help they pretty much ignored Brock's type speciality.

 

[SerenaRulez]

I always found it weird how the Togepi egg was found at the fossil Pokemon canyon but that it didn't contain a fossil Pokemon.

But I did think that Brock deserved more rock types and his Geodude could have evolved into Graveler and maybe he could have gotten a Rhyhorn or Rhydon too.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

All 30 Tauros Ash caught were mostly wasted and doomed to be a joke. Ash has only used the one Tauros while the rest are just sitting around Oak’s lab doing literally nothing except stampeding the Professor. Possibly two Tauros but it’s hard to tell. Not to mention that the episode where Ash got them all was banned in the US because of the guns which is really confusing as it seems like Ash magically obtained all these Tauros when the next episode aired in the US and had no indication as to where they came from.

 

[Leonhart]

But I did think that Brock deserved more rock types and his Geodude could have evolved into Graveler and maybe he could have gotten a Rhyhorn or Rhydon too.

I do wonder why they didn't evolve his Isitsubute, although Golone is so remarkably similar that I suppose the writers thought it would be pointless. I remember a lot of people speculating that Takeshi would catch an Alolan Golone when he returned in SM, but I'm glad he got a Cuwawa instead since it was so out-of-the-box and unexpected.

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

OS: Misty/Brock: Everything expect Psyduck. Maybe to a lesser extent Poliwhirl. Brock's pokemon did nothing in the OS.

After seeing Suede's Pokémon Journey review for "Bye Bye Psyduck," I think Psyduck was a wasted opportunity too. They missed a good chance to push Misty's character by having Psyduck evolve but Golduck would treat her the same way she treated it unti it evolved, kind of giving Misty her own equivalent to Ash's Charizard.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Another wasted Pokémon was the Beedrill that Ash caught during the Bug Catching contest in Johto and promptly gave to Casey which was never seen again except in Chronicles but even then it didn’t do anything that special. We literally have no idea about its battling skills or what qualities it had to allow Ash to win the contest. And can you imagine how confusing it must be for Beedrill to be caught by one trainer and know that was its owner and the being let out of its Poké Ball only to find a complete stranger being its owner now?

 

[DuquÊ?]

OS is criminal in that department. Beedrill, gyarados and ursaring were generally used when they needed quick foils (and I swear, about them, I can't remember a single beedrill focused episode in this whole show). The starters' final forms were treated like some sort of elite mons hard to ever find or defeat, bar Ash's charizard, mainly in Kanto. Cubone/marowak was a pokemon line with an interesting lore that I found disappointing that it wasn't explored.

In the protagonists' teams, pidgeotto/pidgeot is probably the only of Ash's regional birds that got the worst treatment possible. Primeape was so wasted that still hurts, one of the few non-starters/non-pikachu by the time that was allowed to have personality (even that for 2 episodes). Every of Brock's pokemon, bar croagunk, sudowoodo and happiny. And then, there's Misty's horsea, that was wasted as hell, even before kingdra becomes a thing (and lost a chance to be called and evolve in Johto).

Ash's Johto team was actually better developed than his Kanto team, but they were too much a "baby team", with only two evolved members and totodile being essentially useless, bar two or three important fights. Phanpy and cyndaquil evolving there instead in Kanto 2 and Sinnoh would help to not make them look so sidelined to Ash's Kanto starters in the league.

Houenn leveling up the game was very welcome, torkoal being the only truly wasted potential. It does have a design I sincerly like and I do lament Ash didn't use it much more. Even freaking glalie was an MVP in the league. Give May both squirtle and eevee was terrible in my opinion, when Ash's squirtle was a thing and eevee was kinda bland. I'd prefer Ash catching aipom only in Sinnoh, having it as a tag along mon, instead waste a slot that could be used to torkoal or a new Houenn pokemon that Ash could get.

Sinnoh is...surprisingly good with how they handled with the most part of the protagonists' teams. Torterra being nerfed, gible not evolving and ambipom being a vain beetch were the downsides.

Unova...sincerly, I do understand give Ash leavanny and palpitoad, so they had an excuse to not evolve snivy and oshawott AND give evolved options available to him. The only downside is that leavanny ended being an option much more interesting than snivy and palpitoad was a waste since oshawott was so annoyingly "in your face" that the frog became redundant (also, let's be fair, it didn't evolve because seismitoad is heinous). Scraggy was a great waste too, since it didn't look like it was getting better, mainly trusting on luck. And boldore...honestly, "hard to animate" isn't a good excuse to not evolve it, gigalith was essentially a stone metagross. Ash's Unova mons had this terrible feeling of being a bloated bunch. Iris whole team sounded contrieved and forced. Cilan's hadn't it so badly, but crustle stopped to have character the moment it evolved.

Kalos did a good job with the teams, but where Unova exaggerated with numbers, Ash's and Serena's teams lacked at least one more mon each. Ash kinda got the short stick this time. Noivern is very criticized, but it actually had a good development as noibat, despite no gyms. Some more battles had would be nice to it, same as Serena's mons. Clemont's team was actually pretty well rounded, I just wished he was shown interacting more with heliolisk.

Alola give me mixed feelings. At the same time, it gives the feel no one was actually wasted (bar poipole, magearna, snowy and maybe turtonator), but they wasn't fully developed too. The fact Ash didn't use incineroar at least in one battle after its evolution isn't worse than the fact litten/torracat barely had battles, despite have a good character. Even meltan worked a lot, despite be the rookie in the team.

The truth is, always will have someone being wasted or not reaching the full potential. I just can hope they try to do better each saga.