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Where is all this Ash love coming from?

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MidnightMelody

Hopeful for Gen 8
So during the summer of 2010 most people here wanted Ash to be replaced and for us to get a new lead in DP saying he sucks etc. However now when the chance of new lead drops people somehow love Ash and hate the idea of him leaving? Am I missing something or is this one of those cases where people want what they can't get but when they have it they don't want it things?
 

AznKei

Dawn & Chloe by ddangbi
Hmm...I still hate Ash but I would like to see him leave for good in this anime regardless of his League outcomes but it won't happen because he's too important and marketable now. They should have made him retire after Johto though. However I would forgive his stay if the cast, including his companions/classmates, were more balanced than what it is shown.
 

Doppelgänger

Superancient Member
-Social media disproved the oral tradition that Ash was ever a bad trainer.
-Pokemon XY introduced a "badarse" Ash with a superhero frog, during the height of comic book mania
-Pokemon Go and the Kalos League brought back genwunners, so the fanbase was not longer just children + manchildren
 

MidnightMelody

Hopeful for Gen 8
I'm curious how many who praised his win even watched it and realized it was almost a pity win. I mean I accept it as a league win (but I also accept OL and BF so meh)
 

Apslup

Feelin' Fine.
I guess it's beacuse he's finally won a league. This has also spread FAR outside the Pokemon fanbase, with mainstream news outlets running stories on it. I knew that this was a huge deal when my 53 year old Dad who has never played a Pokemon game in his life showed me an article published on the BBC News App about Ash winning the League.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I think Ash is still very divisive within the fanbase, though SM has tried hard to redeem him, giving him a more vibrant personality and actually letting him make some major progressions as a trainer like catching a mythical and winning a league, as mundanely as they were conveyed.

Plus the hinted retools leave some fear that Ash might finally be retired. The term 'you don't know what you've got until it's gone' springs to mind.
 

MidnightMelody

Hopeful for Gen 8
I think Ash is still very divisive within the fanbase, though SM has tried hard to redeem him, giving him a more vibrant personality and actually letting him make some major progressions as a trainer like catching a mythical and winning a league, as mundanely as they were conveyed.

Plus the hinted retools leave some fear that Ash might finally be retired. The term 'you don't know what you've got until it's gone' springs to mind.
For me and I think others SM really ruined Ash. BW I was ok with since it still seemed like Ash but the one in SM feels like a knockoff version. It was as if Ash became a coke addict he was just a really weird version. I'm praying for a reboot in either a new lead or they just erase everything Ash did and give us a more modern Ash who is a bit older since it is clear the fanbase kids and not kids would not be put off with an older version. TBH the fact they felt forced to keep him 10 never felt right to me since growing up I never cared if I was the same age as the person. Actualy I liked seeing people older (13 and up as a kid)
 

Emelie

Bookworm
I think there has always been two sides of the fanbase when a season ends; those who want Satoshi to be replaced by a new fresh face and those who like him too much to let go of the good old times.

What is different this time is that there is an actual reason to believe that he might be replaced. Some (outdated) interviews stated that he would leave if he wins the league and there is also the new anime which may or may not be a reboot since it features all the regions. Before this the desire to see Satoshi be replaced was just wishful thinking.

Then there are the SM movies when they flirted with the idea of replacing the old character and the current version of Satoshi with new characters and an alternate take on Satoshi.

Note how Satoshi is intentionally flawed in the 20th movie when he lashed out on Pikachu. This is not something DP, XY or SM Satoshi would do so even if the design plays it safe (Pikachu and Satoshi still keep their old nostalgic designs) the character isn't exactly the same.
 

mysticalglacia

Alola Shill
Maybe because DP really did feel like the last hurrah for Ash, with him placing the highest he’d ever been in the League and him being at his strongest at the time. People thought that was a fitting end for Ash, and then the BW companion silhouettes came out, and some people thought he really wouldn’t go to Unova. Because of that, the people who hated him came out of the woodworks for him to get replaced, etc. I remember as well that people were scared of him being replaced too, so it wasn’t just Ash vs. the world at the time.

It seems that way now too, and I remember people being so bitter about the Kalos League, Greninja, and the then new SM Ash that everywhere you went you’d practically see a wanted poster with his name on it. The reason it seems a lot more civil and nice now is because Ash finally won something of note, so that combined with the gratifying nostalgia the win brings has people thinking that maybe he isn’t so bad after all.
 

Eternalfalcon

Unova champion
I don't think people hate him and now like him people still for the most part view him in the same way, I think it just comes down to people are sad to see him go(if he does even go)they have been with him on his journey for up to 22 years it's only natural.
 

TheWanderingMist

Paladin of the Snow Queen
Most of it is from people who haven't watched Pokemon in years. And SM didn't ruin Ash for most people, only a select few.
 

MidnightMelody

Hopeful for Gen 8
Most of it is from people who haven't watched Pokemon in years. And SM didn't ruin Ash for most people, only a select few.
Most were turned off due to how ugly the art is and his he’s become a joke not to mention it’s a season fueled off fan service with no real substance
 

Dragalge

"Orange" Magical Girl
Most were turned off due to how ugly the art is and his he’s become a joke not to mention it’s a season fueled off fan service with no real substance
How can you be a joke if you win a Pokemon League!

And please, Charizard’s return in BW had no substance. At least Brock & Misty’s first appearance made sense with the anime’s 20th anniversary and actually followed up on their promise to visit them later on in the series. (I think that’s what they said in the end of that one episode)
 

U.N. Owen

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night ...
Remember, fanbases go through cycles. People do grow out of the fanbase, especially after the PokeCraze died down post Gen 2. The people that grew up and probably didn't watch the anime probably have seen memes of Ash being an immortal loser. When Ash breaks a massive trend like this, the misconceptions and nostalgia come back when they read about it on Twitter from current fans.

Living through characters also plays a factor. A bit of a controversial statement, but there are many fans, old and young, who identify with Ash and impose their own personality on him. It's why some get annoyed when their favorite character is suddenly altered (this is for a different conversation). The superfans of Ash scream the loudest.

"Be careful what you wish for" is also a good reason. People's resistance to change ties right into nostalgic feelings.

There's also the matter of people wanting their investment to pay off and wish Ash would win a real league and discard Alola because "real leagues need to be grand" and other nonsense about what is a real league.
 

Xuxuba

Well-Known Member
I don't have any strong opinion on Ash to be honest. I think he can be either boring or interesting depending on the series.

I wouldn't say he is that unpopular though. Even if there are some users who hate him, every character has it's haters, some of them can be really active and vocal about it, which might give the impression they represent the majority of the fandom.

At the end of the day, there are many kids who just started watching Pokémon and are not tired of him yet. There is also a large part of the fandom who aren't active users on the internet. More often than not they just watch the episodes, see a few comments on social media and then move on with their lives.

These past days have been an exception for some of them because Ash won the League and that is not something that happens that often (or at all), so a lot of people felt the need to express their opinion on the subject.
 
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Mew2

Team Rocket's Enemy
I personally think that a lot of his seeming newfound love is, indeed, due to the fact that he has finally won a game League. While I would still watch the show if he left, a huge monkey has been lifted from his back and the show can go virtually anywhere with him since the ultimate "status quo" of the Pokémon series has been lifted and I am eager to see where they take him, especially now.
 

TheWanderingMist

Paladin of the Snow Queen
Most were turned off due to how ugly the art is and his he’s become a joke not to mention it’s a season fueled off fan service with no real substance
There are far more positive comments than negative ones. And 90% of the negative ones are "Yay, he finally won!!! But the artstyle is bad."

The silent majority has spoken at last, and they have given their full support to Ash.
 
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