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Was Ash's Torterra handeled poorly because of Paul's?

KGB13

Man of Mystery
Ash's Torterra's strength has come into question ever since it evolved. With not 1 win under it's belt, it's been viewed by many fans as one of Ash's weakest pokemon.

But was it handled poorly because of Paul's Torterra?

Since it has a long history with Paul, being his starter and everything, and it's showcased it's strength in the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition and in Ash and Pauls' first 6 vs 6 match at Lake Acuity, did the writers purposely make Ash's weaker to not upstage Paul's?

Discuss.
 

Cazak

When Wings Fly High
I seriously don't think Paul's Torterra was the reason why Ash's Torterra became the fall guy this saga. It was just bad luck that it was chosen to be one. In fact, a rivalry with Paul's starter should actually make Torterra even stronger than Inferape if determined. Its sad really that one of Ash's fully evolved poke'mon performed worse than a comparitively newly captured Gible.
 

Ash-kid

Ash-kid
Yes, but Ash's Torterra could've easily stayed a Grotle and then as a Grotle it would've lost all its battles as well. So I'm not so sure about it. Paul's Torterra shouldn't have been Paul's starter, Electivire should.
 

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
Ash's Torterra handled poorly because of Paul's Torterra taking the spotlight? Yes and no in my opinion. Yes, in a way I suppose the writers paid so much more attention to Paul's Torterra when DP started that they ignored Ash's so that we didn't get too many Torterra-centered episodes. But I don't think that was the only factor. I think the writers ran out of time in DP so they couldn't very well focus on Torterra or too many Pokemon other than Infernape since it was more important in the Sinnoh League. I think Paul and the timing issue affected Ash's Torterra's growth and to be honest, both of those factors ruined several other aspects of the anime for me.
 

falchion

Member
I think that when the Isshu league comes around, Torterra will come back and win some battles. That's what they did with Cyndaquil, now a Quilava. Cyndaquil wasn't really the STRONGEST of his pokemon but now Quilava is pretty awesome with a strong move like Eruption.
 

poizonsting

Pokemon master
Ash's Torterra was handled poorly because the writers focused more on his Infernape, that is why!
 

Poke Master 7

Boulder Trainer
Yea I don't think it's quite Paul's Torterra fault as it is Infernape's. Basically when it came down to development of a starter, Infernape was the writer's choice since its connection to both Ash and Paul. The writers normally give one of the starters that Ash has more development than the others. Kanto generation was Charizard, Johto was Cyndaquil, Hoenn was Sceptile and Sinnoh was Infernape. It's an unfortunate thing with the writing, but that seems to be the pattern, when there's more than 1 starter in Ash's team, one of them gets more development. Pretty much Sinnoh had just been more about Infernape rather than Torterra and it can be even seen in the episodes they both evolved it. Notice how Chimchar and Monferno's evolutions were spotlights in the previews, but when it came to Torterra, it becoming Grotle was a spotlight, but it evolving into Torterra just kinda came out of left field in what could have easily been a TR interruption episode.
 

Squaaah

Well-Known Member
I think its a mix of Paul's Torterra and Infernapes fault. Because of Paul's Torterra, the pokemon had been showcased alot more throughout the series, whereas Infernape evolved so close to the end of the series they wanted to showcase it as much as possible. Its a shame they both evolved so late, as it cost Ash's Torterra any possible wins it couldv gotten after evolution.
 

KGB13

Man of Mystery
I don't see how people can blame Infernape, it had nothing to do with Torterra's losing streak.
 

Corzola

Gible´s biggest fan!
First: no, Paul´s Torterra had nothing to do with Ash´Torterras lack of victories.

I don't see how people can blame Infernape, it had nothing to do with Torterra's losing streak.

Infernape in itself had nothing to do with it, but he was de facto the choice at the writing- table when it came to focus on one of Ash Sinnoh- Pokémon.

This question can be answered in two ways, first the writing- table alternative:

They couldn´t create well- fleshed storylines for everyone from first stage (Turtwig in this case) to final evolution (Torterra in this case. I think they gave Torterra a decent life/storyline as a Turtwig and as a Grotle but then focus shifted to Chimchar > Monferno > Infernape. Now we got a couple of storylines with Turtwig and his evo´s, Gligar > Gliscor etc. and the big one with Chimchar > Infernape.

The in- story alternative:

Ash usually trains small, fast Pokémon, or strong but fast ones. A tank as Torterra is not Ash main Pokémon to use. We saw this in the Turtwig evo.> Grotle episode. Ash relies on speed and fast strike power and Torterra, as Ash uses him, are not suitable for this kind of battle. We see him using small but powerful Bulbasur in this way, as a Venosaur Ash would have had much more problems with him.
 

Caseydia

Ace Trainer
It's no one's fault about Torterra. The writers knew that if Ash got Infernape, that the focus would be on it more than the others. But people should really be happy that both Skeptile, Bayleaf and Torterra all have evolved. I think the writers really try to show people that they love Ash's grass pokemon over his water pokemon.
 

randomspot555

Well-Known Member
It's just the sad fact that one starter per region tends to get ignored. Turtwig was pretty important early on, and Grotle had a few good moments, but Torterra sucked.

Remember in Hoenn Brock's Marshtomp never even made it to it's final stage, unlike the other two starters.
 

TheNewGuy

Well-Known Member
Torterra just didn't have the opportunities post-evolution. It probably should have gotten a win vs. Paul (arguably that battle's sole flaw), but it basically has only had three battles since it evolved: vs. Bertha, which shouldn't be considered, vs. Electivire (where Ash was surprised by 'vire's use of Fire and Ice Punch in order to combat it), and vs. Drapion.

Only the Drapion loss is what I would call really "cheap". I think we'll see it shine in the future, maybe at the Isshu league.
 
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