Which Pokemon got the worst treatment by the writers?

Over the years, especially in the Original Series, some Pokemon owned by the main characters were treated quite poorly. By that, I mean that the writers just gave them little screen time, little character development, and/or little success.

So, which Pokemon owned by any of the main characters over the years got the worst treatment by the writers?

 

Ashs Kingler/Muk/Tauros for virtually no development really
Mistys Goldeen as it had so many big gaps in appearances and was hardly used
Brocks Zubat for the lack of appearances
Ashs Torterra for not winning any trainer battles after evolving

There are probably more, but these are the ones that sprint to mind

 

Muk, easily. It got two battles in the entire series, one of which it lost pretty quickly. It's only had a handful of appearances so far, and practically all of them were just him trying to hump Oak. It didn't even get to appear throughout its home region 8\

Kingler and Tauros also rank high on the list of badly treated Pokemon. Tauros had a few notable battles, but it still had zero personality and development. Kingler evolved randomly, and hasn't appeared in like 400 episodes :x Misty and Brock's Kanto Pokemon had pretty dire treatment too, but I'm not going to bother counting them because Misty and Brock as a whole were badly treated. Palpitoad has gone the Kingler route in the sense that it was MIA for like, 30 episodes, but Unova isn't over yet so there's still time for some redemption.

Nobody say Torterra. B|

 

Tauros/Muk and Kingler

Also Torterra.

Noctowl in Johto however he manage to redeem itself in sinnoh

 

Oh, that's why people didn't like Ash's Torterra. But, I will have to say Misty's Starmie. I mean it was her strongest Pokemon, and it only won two battles.
Brock's Zubat, I barely remember any of its battles except against Molly.
And James' Victreebel, the same case as Starmie, fully evolved, treated as a punching bag.

 

It was kinda weird though.Why do they make Starmie weak while Staryu is strong

 

Psyduck, Kingler, Tauros and Muk.
These are the Pokemon that where the worstly treated(my opinion).
Psyduck was hit by Misty like 3/4 of the time when it came out his pokeball and was rejected by TR when they stole Pokemon...
Kingler because he never won a battle, the lack of appearance and all he did was hump Oak (that's all we saw him do).
Tauros... I don't remember much about them. All I remember is that one episode when he caught them... So if I don't remember it much well.. It's a bad thing.
Last but not least Muk. Do I need to say more. I don't remember it getting any development. Or fight any battles.(he probably did) I remember him eating... well... more like sucking people in him.

RAWK ON

 

In every main character roaster there are few potential candidates which could claim to be worst but looking as a whole here is what i think:
With Ash pokemon which got worst treatment are: -Primeape:it got zero development being left at training just one episode after it was caught. That was terrible writing on so many levels.
-Totodile:worst treated starter he ever had, Got used in only one gym battle, lost majority of matches never being used in future regions. To this day i believe he should have went to Misty in that duel, by now at gym he could have actually evolve.
-Torterra:got introduced too lately, personality wasn't as fun like it was case with Turtwig and it never won any major battle for Ash failing to live to its full potential. Waste of time imo.

Misty pokemon:
-Goldeen:battled only 2 to 3 times, got barely used even in rich with water areas having none growth. This pokemon was waste of time in general.
-Togepi:i liked that guy having lot of potential which unfortunately was wasted for most part. It almost never battled and in Johto he should have evolved to Togetic but alas.

Brock pokemon:
-Zubat line:very little screen time, even less battles and basically no development
-Geodude:Brock almost never used it in battle and in those rare occasions he did it almost never won battle being fairly forgettable as pokemon sadly.

May pokemon:
-Squirtle(later Wartortle):It had generally little development, it was used in only 2 contests(not counting GF) and we never get to see much of its growth due to being introduced too late. I guess it redeemed itself abit in Wallace Cup but it was too little and too late.
-Venusaur:as Bulbasaur it had some quality growth, but what we seen from it as Venusaur? Almost nothing aside from brief 2 seconds.

Dawn pokemon:
-Togekiss:it was introduced too late to do much and properly shine, and i wont even comment circumstances under which she got it being poorly written way to give someone another powerhouse right before GF. She was used in basically one contest right before GF being basically part of its debut and once in Grand Festival getting zero development .

Tracey pokemon:
-Aside from semi decent treatment of Scyther which had touching past and got some little development which was far from enough, his Venonat and Marill got terrible treatment having next to none battles or screen time. Though to be fair Tracey was in main cast for so short that we couldn't expected more.

Wont comment on Cilan and Iris yet until we get full picture on their pokemon treatment. Though there are few which come to mind.

I agree how they didn't got enough focus, but if you ask me Misty as character got some pretty good screen time and development becoming more mature, getting over complex of feeling less worthy compared to sisters and more confident with Poliwhirl, Corsola or Staryu having good treatment.
Though there was left lot to be desired.

I also think Brock had some great moments as character over course of series becoming proud of his younger brother Forrest, ready to pass torch to him collecting impressive pokemon team in meantime.

 

Unfezant,Crobat,Misty's pkmn,Noctowl[until it was redeemed],Pidgeotto[poor thing didn't battle in the League],Tauros,Kingler...one appearance is not enough

 

I concur with this. I really wanted to see more from Marill, since it was a new pokemon introduced early. Was really hoping for more than just super hearing, water gun, and water transportation.

 

For Ash, Kingler and Muk.

For Misty, most of her pokes except Psyduck and Poliwhirl.

For May, her Eevee.

For Dawn, Togekiss

For Brock, almost everything other than Croagunk

 

I made a poll, putting together like options. For example, I put Ash's Torkoal and Ash's Torterra together because many complain that they got little victories. I also put Ash's Gible and Dawn's Togekiss together because they got them too late and received little development. It helped to add more options to the poll.

 

Pidgeot. They had Ash making a promise to come back for it and never really solved.

Though, Unfeazant is getting close to it since it barely had screentime despite being of the first pokemon Ash got at Unova.

 

About Totodile, this was around the time where the writers felt that Ash should be given all the starters each region for whatever reason.

 

For me, it's Kingler, Tauros, and Muk for Ash, since he never rotated his team early on due to stubborness really. =/

Yeah, I think Kurama, with Starmie and Victreebel as well as Arbok and Weezing and most fully evolved Pokémon was to make the kids who watch the anime think cute unevolved Pokémon win all the time.

 

I'll have to go with Ash's pikachu. It's pretty obvious if you ask me. Pikachu forgot most of his best moves and is always reseted after a series.

 

Ash:

-Kingler
-Muk
-Pidgeot
-Torterra
-Palpitoad
-Totodile
-Torkoal
-Tauros
-Noctowl
-etc, etc.

Misty:

-Horsea
-Starmie

Brock:

-Geodude
-Crobat
-Sudowoodo
-Chansey (I really wanted to see it more on the main cast before after it evolved.)

Tracey:

-Venonat
-Marill

May:

-Skitty

Dawn:

-Pachirisu

Iris:

-Axew
-Emolga

Cilan:

-Pansage
-Stunfisk

These are just MY OPINIONS. Most of this is going by lack of appearances. Emolga, Horsea, Pansage, Stunfisk, and a lot of other could have and could still use more screen-time.

 

Jessie's Lickitung to be honest. It had so much potential, but the writers decided to add yet another "funny" character (Wobbuffet) to the main cast even though it was unnecessary.

 

Can I go against the grain for a moment?

For having as much screentime as they get I think the mascots / Walking Pokemon are treated pretty poorly. I'm talking about Pikachu, Psyduck, Croagunk, Piplup, Axew, Pansage, and the like. A lot of them have huge potential, but because of alterior motives they can't go as far as other Pokemon. For other Pokemon that can be redeemed, but for them it seems unlikely that they'll ever get the development they deserve.

 

I'll make a list from everyone so that I won't piss anybody(Pokemon fan 132) off.

Ash:

-Kingler back in OS.
-Muk
-Totodile
-Phanpy back in Johto.
-Pidove/Tranquil/Unfrezant as far as I know.
-Don't know the future of the others. Maybe there is a chance.

-Primape which is a mystery since it hasn't been with Ash in ages. Does it even count?

Misty:

-Horse back in OS.
-Psyduck, as far as real training goes.
-Togepi as far as real battling goes.
-Goldeen, probably because it can't really do too much on land.

Brock:

-Mudkip

May:

-Torchic while it was still a Torchic.
-Eevee.

Max:

-???

Tracey:

-All

Cilan:

-Stunfish

Iris:

-Emonga
-Axew, when it come to actual training.

Dawn:

-Togekiss, could use some more battles.