Why did Axew suddenly forget it wanted to evolve?

[matt0044]

Ash had a dream about riding Zekrom, was he supposed to catch Zekrom then?

Well, that's Writing 101: you establish something and follow up on it. Why was Ash dreaming of Zekrom? Why has Axew not evolved over the course of the whole BW series period when he dreamed of doing so and was not adverse to it like Piplup?

 

[AshxSatoshi]

Axew: *has one dream sequence where it evolves*

Axew: *also doesn't really show any other wishes to evolve throughout the series*

FANDOM: WHY DOESN'T AXEW WANNA EVOLVE ANYMORE? PLOT HOLEEEEEE


Ridiculous. I think the funniest part about all of this is how the fans took ONE dream that Axew had about evolving and took it as Axew's strong desire to evolve, lmao. Despite the fact that Axew never really consciously showed any desire to evolve into Haxorus.

It's yet another case of the fans misinterpreting everything and then complaining because their interpretation is inherently wrong.

Well that and they’ll use anything and everything to hate on Iris. Out of all the things that don’t make sense in the anime people choose to be the most outraged over that.

 

[AznKei]

Well that and they’ll use anything and everything to hate on Iris. Out of all the things that don’t make sense in the anime people choose to be the most outraged over that.

They'll hate everything on everyone, not only on Iris. This is a case where the producers/writers and some fans are having conflicting views. Some fans wanted the characters having powerful teams and final state evolutions are a good way to gauge their powers. They aren't interested about cute and marketable Pokemons.

 

[Yukki]

Well, that's Writing 101: you establish something and follow up on it.

THIS IS THE POKEMON ANIME.

They pull stuff like this all the time.

Why are people always singling out BW?

 

[matt0044]

Why are people always singling out BW?

People are keen to question the GS Ball. It's not just BW here and it's not like this isn't a question worth discussing. Why should we just be "okay" with writing errors?

 

[Navin]

Because the dreams were the whole focus of the episode???
Not every single scene/dream is relevant. Ash had a dream about riding Zekrom, was he supposed to catch Zekrom then? Please.
At the very least people could stop pretending as if Axew *wanted* to evolve when there were zero scenes in the anime that depicted Axew's wish to evolve.

The dream scene is more 'realistic' and because Iris's goal is to become a Dragon-type master, people assumed it was foreshadowing that Axew would evolve across the course of the BW. Ah well, the anime has done plenty of other stuff like this before as you said.

 

[pokedigijedi]

Because the writer's like to sacrifice plot and development for marketing

 

[Xenon Blue]

Axew became too marketable, so instead of developing it all the way to a Haxorus, Iris instead was handed a fully-evolved Dragonite on a silver platter. Would have maybe made more sense for her to catch a Deino early on to do what Axew couldn't.

 

[Leonhart]

Axew became too marketable, so instead of developing it all the way to a Haxorus, Iris instead was handed a fully-evolved Dragonite on a silver platter. Would have maybe made more sense for her to catch a Deino early on to do what Axew couldn't.

I agree, minus the silver platter line. She captured Kairyu and had to work to get Kairyu to obey her, so it's not as if he was handed to her without her putting in some work.

 

[LilligantLewis]

It's possible that Kibago's dream was shown as foreshadowing for a planned evolution that just didn't happen. Best Wishes aired for three years after we saw his dream sequence, so plans could've changed during that time.

Oh yeah plans definitely changed during the course of BW lol, as we most clearly saw when BW2 became a thing.

Yeah it's definitely BS, are we expected to believe Fraxure is just insanely hard to draw and animate or something? Ash and co own plenty of pokemon that look more time consuming to draw and animate than Fraxure ._.

Plus if this was the reason, the writers shouldn't have foreshadowed Axew's evolution in the first place.



Tbh if you're writing a show and going out of your way to foreshadow a future plot point, I think it's reasonable for people to ask why it never ended up happening

To clarify the animation thing, they meant it was hard to animate constantly, not just once. It's an out-of-ball Pokémon meaning it would have to constantly appear all the time throughout every episode.

Also, @Yukki , it's not just that one dream. Iris mentioned to Ash that her goal was to fully evolve Axew up to a Haxorus. As someone said earlier this thread, it would have actually been really good for Axew to pull a Piplup, and to have an arc where Iris has to come to terms with it. Unlike Dawn, it would be a bigger deal for Iris to let go of that since it was her goal.

 

[Yukidoh]

Also, @Yukki , it's not just that one dream. Iris mentioned to Ash that her goal was to fully evolve Axew up to a Haxorus. As someone said earlier this thread, it would have actually been really good for Axew to pull a Piplup, and to have an arc where Iris has to come to terms with it. Unlike Dawn, it would be a bigger deal for Iris to let go of that since it was her goal.

Did Iris ever actually state that? I know that she was given an Axew to raise into Haxorus, but I don't recall Iris or Axew ever showing strong desire for Axew to evolve.

 

[MidnightMelody]

I'd laugh if Iris came back with it fully evolved.

 

[Lord Trollbias]

I still don't see how Axew's lack of evolution meant it has forgotten its desire to evolve. Yeah there are cases in the anime where Pokemon have actively refused or resisted evolution (Ash's Pikachu and Bulbasaur) but Axew has never been put in said situation to begin with.
And evolution in the anime is treated differently from in the games. We've seen Pokemon with tons of battle experience and prowess (Ash's Buizel for example) stay unevolved and we've seen Pokemon that barely do anything evolve. Its more of a situational thing where what triggers evolution can vary from reaction to dangerous situations to just flatout I'm evolving now for...reasons.
So I fail to see how Axew's lack of evolution can be used to reflect back on him or Iris when the conditions for an evolution trigger for its species in the anime are unknown to begin with.
Also out of universe Axew is cute and marketable and Fraxure and Haxorus are a pain to animate

 

[Yukidoh]

It is also amusing since normally it is expected that goals/dreams of characters in this anime never come true within the series they're in, but suddenly it is such a big deal that Axew didn't evolve. How dare they not fulfill that goal/dream?

 

[LilligantLewis]

It is also amusing since normally it is expected that goals/dreams of characters in this anime never come true within the series they're in, but suddenly it is such a big deal that Axew didn't evolve. How dare they not fulfill that goal/dream?

Evolution is a much simpler goal than winning leagues, Grand Festivals, and Master Class Showcases.

A huge number of main characters' party Pokémon have evolved over the years, without stating evolution to even be a goal. It was such a minor thing in the grand scheme of things when all those Pokémon evolved.

This one time, a Pokémon actually has a goal to evolve, which is the simplest goal of all, and one that soo many Pokémon have done before. And then it doesn't? You're acting like this "goal/dream" is as hard as winning one of those competitions, which no main characters have done. This is something that a huge number of Pokémon have done.

 

[Yukidoh]

Evolution is a much simpler goal than winning leagues, Grand Festivals, and Master Class Showcases.

A huge number of main characters' party Pokémon have evolved over the years, without stating evolution to even be a goal. It was such a minor thing in the grand scheme of things when all those Pokémon evolved.

That's cool and all, but Axew is a typical mascot Pokemon so it never had a chance of evolving in the first place.

This one time, a Pokémon actually has a goal to evolve,

See, this is where you're, once again, taking a single random dream Axew had and treating it like this massive ambition Axew supposedly had. If Axew had any ambitions in this anime, it was to master Dragon Rage, for example. A goal it had in mind and consciously worked towards achieving with Iris.

However;

The narrative never implied Axew wanted to evolve. (unless you can point out an episode where it does)
The narrative never implied Iris was eager to evolve Axew. (unless you can point out an episode where she is)

 

[LilligantLewis]

That's cool and all, but Axew is a typical mascot Pokemon so it never had a chance of evolving in the first place.


See, this is where you're, once again, taking a single random dream Axew had and treating it like this massive ambition Axew supposedly had. If Axew had any ambitions in this anime, it was to master Dragon Rage, for example. A goal it had in mind and consciously worked towards achieving with Iris.

However;

The narrative never implied Axew wanted to evolve. (unless you can point out an episode where it does)
The narrative never implied Iris was eager to evolve Axew. (unless you can point out an episode where she is)

I'll have to rewatch the show frankly, but I remember Iris mentioning it to Ash.

 

[SinnohEevee]

I'd laugh if Iris came back with it fully evolved.

He wasn't evolved during Iris' special.

 

[Navin]

That's cool and all, but Axew is a typical mascot Pokemon so it never had a chance of evolving in the first place.


See, this is where you're, once again, taking a single random dream Axew had and treating it like this massive ambition Axew supposedly had. If Axew had any ambitions in this anime, it was to master Dragon Rage, for example. A goal it had in mind and consciously worked towards achieving with Iris.

However;

The narrative never implied Axew wanted to evolve. (unless you can point out an episode where it does)
The narrative never implied Iris was eager to evolve Axew. (unless you can point out an episode where she is)

At the end of the day, I think most people would have preferred that Axew evolved, because it would have been fitting in the grand scheme of her wanting to become a Dragon-type master. It just would have been narratively satisfying if it was her Haxorus drawing/defeating Drayden's.

I also wish Iris' team was just all Dragons, or more towards her in-game team (Archeops instead of Excadrill).

 

[AshxSatoshi]

Except Excadrill made sense considering he’s a Steel type and could defend Iris team against Ice Types (and later Fairy Types). Archeops would of just made her Ice weakness even worse. Also I might be a minority but her Haxorus/Fraxure tieing with Drayden’s wouldn’t of been satisfying since it was already established that the battle with Dradyen’s Haxorus damaged Iris and EXCADRILL’s relationship. It was only right he got to battle Drayden’s Haxorus.