Does everyone really think Torterra was weak?

[danh19]

in my opinion I felt that rather than being weak torterra was unfortunate to go up against some highly skilled trainers where he put up some pretty big fights against them the problem was more the writers not really thinking about the fact torterra wouldn't have it's strength shown to the full because of this when really they should have allowed torterra some time to show it's ability

I would love to here what you think

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

No, just slow.

 

[danh19]

but I think that's one of the things that made torterra different to most of ash's other Pokémon and Paul's torterra proved that being slow wasn't a issue for a skilled trainer

 

[Hidden Mew]

I don't think it was weak. It was usually up against really strong Pokemon and defeating something as big as Torterra would make a Pokemon look more intimidating to the characters and the audience. Granted, it was still poorly handled due to almost always losing and the impact of seeing it lose was lost after while, but I think it was just poorly handled rather than actually weak.

 

[ii kanji]

No, I love Dodaitose and it was clearly a tank. I just wish it could have won something :-(

 

[Daren]

It's common for fiction to have a tough guy who loses a lot to show how dangerous the opponent is--often to the point hwere the tough guy never wins and looks like a wuss. Often called "The Worf Effect" for the Star Trek character (in)famous for this. Torterra has a lot of people who know his pain.

 

[Silktree]

Ash had a Torterra?

 

[Gengarzilla]

Well... Infernape needed a good reason to save Ash's face against Volkner and Paul, right? It's sorta like how they treated Noivern and Greninja, one often falls flat despite appearing tough while the other excels and makes up for that lost ground. I think Torterra was around to balance out the Infernape who's only lost once since fully evolving, which is a better record than freaking Goodra.

In a way though, Torterra's three major losses should actually be expected too. An Elite Four member isn't going to fall to a mere type advantage, nor is an apparently undefeated Gym Leader. As for the league battle with Paul, I'm more inclined to blame Ash for his Torterra not knowing a Ground type move when battling that very tough Drapion.

 

[danh19]

I agree it sort makes sense that torrterra lost against tough opentents but logically they could have shown torrterra win some battles even do a story arc about him feeling down about it's loses

 

[Iteru]

Torterra was basically a victim of other Pokémon being focused on at the time, after it had its own story pretty much lined up. The problems with Grotle being slow and comfortable with its new body had already been settled (Paul's Torterra, Rock Climb) and by this point Infernape, Gible and Gliscor were getting the attention on how much stronger/progression they had made. League wise, the previous Pokémon being brought back didn't help the Sinnoh team get chances to shine as much as they could have done.

I will say though, that I think against Volkner hurt the most. We didn't need to see Infernape go out of control again as it pretty much mastered Blaze when it evolved. This was really a time when Torterra and Gible should have been used with some success.

 

[Matleo]

get ready for megavelution and remakes of game personally I feel we will see Ash Torterra at some point with new moves and better strategy.

Maybe a oponent will get mega torterra and its potential will get shown.

The Volkner battle was too short, he could used more pokes.
+ at the league they could Ash let fight someone before Tobias and Darkrai to show the power of other pokemon then Infernape.

Even the battles of Pauls Torterra against Cynthia, Torterra vs Gliscor , Chimchar, Staraptor where to weak to show of Torterra as a pokemon the same goes for Empoleons apperances in the anime that generation.

Hope that changes in future.

 

[Alola]

As the others have said, it was not because Torterra was weak per se-instead, it's that the writers favored Ash's other Pokemon over it. Thus it would lose for the sake of their victory and development. Its character arc so to speak had ended, thus it began to sink into battle obscurity.

It's still upsetting how that was all handled. While Ash's other Sinnoh Pokemon such as Buizel and Staraptor had similar fates, at least they got some victories in the Sinnoh's regions last battle-focused segment.

 

[danh19]

would anyone as want torterra to return to the series and have a redemption story arc to show it's true power

 

[Gengarzilla]

would anyone as want torterra to return to the series and have a redemption story arc to show it's true power

Come on, we don't need to go that far. Torterra still did pretty well for itself as Turtwig and Grotle. It's certainly no Butterfree.

 

[danh19]

in terms of it's abiltity as a torterra it really wasn't shown of at all and they could have done a story arc about that

 

[technickal]

It was still supposed to be strong, it just got the shaft screentime-wise and was subject to power creep when it did appear.

 

[hhhhdmt]

I don't think his style suited Ash. Ash likes agile and fast pokemon like Sceptile, Bulbasaur etc.

Ash's Snorlax is an exception. Snorlax's incredible ability to absord punishment made up for him not being as quick.

I do somewhat agree that Torterra went up against some strong competition and did reasonably well. I still think the writers should have given him a win.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

A losing streak doesn't make one weak but it does mean that improvements should be made.

 

[Alola]

If the Alola League, or any future League for that matter, has Ash call back past Pokemon like he did for the Sinnoh League, I can see Torterra coming back and scoring a decisive victory or two (with new moves of course). That's the closest to "redemption" that I think we would get.

 

[danh19]

I hope so I feel for torterra as a character and is one of the only mistakes made in DP