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Why was Jessie's Lickitung so poorly handled?

T

Thriller

Its almost time
"What's that? Jessie had a Lickitung? Pssh yeah right, I'll bet next thing you're going to tell me is that Misty had a Horsea!"

But seriously now, anyone really remember Lickitung doing anything worthwhile during it's run on the show? In the episode it was first captured in, it was built up to be such a strong Pokemon, pwning everything Misty used against it, until we got to Psyduck and it's confusion (iirc, haven't seen the episode in God knows how long).

Get this, according to Bulbapedia, Lickitung was with Jessie for 94 episodes but only appeared in 17 of those. Are you kidding me?

What I want to know is, what was so wrong with using it in place of Arbok during the last part of Kanto? Lickitung (as well as Victreebel) was acquired before Ash even got the Volcano Badge. It was even captured before Togepi hatched from the egg (I didn't see Togepi in that episode, did you?) yet it stayed cramped up in that Pokeball, only getting a quick, throwaway acknowledgement in that Farfetch'd episode until "Pikachu Re-Volts."

Was Lickitung just unpopular among the Japanese audience? Did kids actually write letters to Shogokugan complaining about this capture? Lickitung never even appeared in any of the movies it was around for (not even in Pikachu's Vacation).

Now granted, Wobbufet, the Pokemon it was traded for, has been treated with much popularity and has been with Team Rocket longer than even Arbok and Weezing at this point and nobody seems to miss Lickitung anymore, but did nobody really like Lickitung? I thought it was okay.

So what do you think?
 
PinkPantsMan

PinkPantsMan

Well-Known Member
I liked Licky actually. And my feeling says that it sticked arround pretty long. But my feeling also says that for Butterfree for example.
 
P

PDL

disenchanted
I remember that it got a bit of use prior to it being traded off.

Anyway, There wasn't really a whole lot to Lickitung that could be showcased. It didn't evolve into anything at the time, and didn't really do anything "incredible". It's most amazing feature is it's long tounge, and that's it pretty much, aside from that, no unique powers.
 
Blue Snover

Blue Snover

Cold as ice
I think Lickitung could have been used a little more, the only real battle it ever got was the Princess festival when it went up against, Bulbasaur, Pikachu, Vulpix and Psyduck.

I was never a big fan, but it deserved to be shown a little more than it actually was.
 
C

CyberCubed

Yeah, ok!
I also found it funny that despite Jessie capturing Lickitung before the 7th Gym, we didn't see Jessie use Lickitung again until "Pikachu Re-volts" in Orange Islands.

Can you believe for the entire span of Kanto Jessie just used Arbok and we didn't see Lickitung at all till Orange again?
 
T

Thriller

Its almost time
It did get a quick acknowledgement in that Farfetch'd filler though, like I said.

I'm guessing by that time, the writers decided "Hey guys, you know that Lickitung & Victreebel we gave Team Rocket like 30 episodes ago? And how they haven't used them for diddly squat yet? Let's reverse that."

Shame. The whole Victreebel eating James was even established on its debut episode but the writers didn't care.
 
C

CyberCubed

Yeah, ok!
Thriller said:
Shame. The whole Victreebel eating James was even established on its debut episode but the writers didn't care.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but we saw James use Victreebel during a few Orange Island episodes. But yeah, even Victreebel wasn't used as a battler until Johto.

Unfortunately because of that, Arbok and Weezing became really stale toward the end of Johto because we saw them so much. I like those two and still do, but after seeing them get defeated for 250 episodes, you get kinda tired of seeing them.

Although oddly enough Seviper is now in more episodes than Arbok.
 
Commander L. Halsti

Commander L. Halsti

Toxin Squad Cmdr.
Lickitung could paralyze with Lick, but it was indeed used in very few episodes. Shame, it's a decent Pokemon. Wobbuffet is becoming like it, in terms of battle usage. And both are useful in battle, especially for TR.
 
Z

ZgonDuck

Like A Boss
The simple answer is: It was Kanto, where if you weren't a starter Pokemon, Pikachu or Meowth, you were handled like crap for the most part. And if you a TR Pokemon that wasn't Arbok, Weezing, Victreebel, or the aforementioned Meowth, you get get treated even more like crap. It wasn't until Wobby came along did the cycle sort of break down.
 
Littlemyuu

Littlemyuu

Well-Known Member
I liked lickitung, and i just think he dint get enough screen time
because he's not that populair...if they just kept Licki in TR...
but the blue blob took the place...
but imo they could give Lickitung more screen time
 
S

super riolu31

"KAWAII!!"
DUH!!!! jessie and handled only go togeather with a bad in the middle,, infact, the only pokemon she really cared for the whole time she had it was probably dustox, but he/she is gone
 
T

thunderblade12

Well-Known Member
Jessie cares for all of her pokemon. Compared to Paul's pokemon, hers get star treatment.

A lot of pokemon were shafted back then, no big surprise really.
 
C

CyberCubed

Yeah, ok!
All Jessie had for Kanto-Johto was Arbok, Lickitung and Wobbufett. Licki got little screentime, but Wobbufett was the star of several episodes in Johto and got alot of screentime.

And of course Arbok was used almost every time Jessie battles for like 250 episodes.
 
G

Gravy

Contaminated KFC
PDL said:
I
It didn't evolve into anything at the time, and didn't really do anything "incredible". It's most amazing feature is it's long tounge, and that's it pretty much, aside from that, no unique powers.
Click to expand...

To be entirely fair, that's more than what Arbok had going for it. I mean, lets face it; it was just a big snake.
 
K

kemal07

Well-Known Member
since the writers were kinda crappy back then i think that was the only way they thought they could make lickitungs debut.
I love lickitung i wish it had a bettter role.
But back when those episodes were out and stil as i watch em. I always get the feel that the writers gave Jessie a Lickitung bby accident which is why they didnt show it much as the episode order was wrong aswell. I dont know it seemed asif it was a mistake they had to stick with for a while.
 
V

Visual

Nine one six ~
I like Lickitung. I agree that it needs more screentime. Lickitung can do a lot of things in the show if Jessie used it more. I mean, it has a long tongue! Surely, the writers can come up with a good script for it, right?
 
S

Shiny pokemon lower

Well-Known Member
That you say there is probably the answer.!

The writers did many mistakes before:
Many pokemon appeared seldom.
Some pokemon became released instead of Oaked.
And they stillrelease Team Rockets pokemon intead of storing them in the HQ.

Both Lickitung and Victreebel could have been used more, and we could have more variation. And Wobuffet and an pokemon for James could have been added instead of beeing a replacement.

The most shafted one is Mistys Horsea it has focus in only three episodes! Other than that where when it became trowed out in random situations. That pokemon couldbeen used more. Much more!

Btw. Should't this whole tread been in the Anime Disscussion instead of the Anime Poll?
Then we could also raised our post counts!
 
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