Which of the Pokemon in the anime would you consider as main characters?

[monkeyjb1988]

I was curious as to which of Ash's and his friends' Pokemon you would consider to be main characters. A part of me wants to say any Pokemon in a Pokeball should be considered a main character, but I also feel that a lot of them don't quite have screen time to be considered main characters and are better referred as recurring characters. I feel only Meowth, Togepi, Piplup, and Pikachu (of course) can be considered main characters. Maybe its because they are (were) never in their Pokeball and face much of the challenges as their trainers/costars, while the others just stay in their Pokeballs for a lot of some episodes. Example off the top of my head: Bulbasaur was not in the Orange Island episodes Charizard Chills and Pokemon Water War, while Pikachu, Togepi, and Meowth were there a played a part in those episodes; while they weren't playing big parts, it was more than one could say for Bulbasaur. For Piplup: One Big Happiny Family!. While it was centered around the arrival of Brock's Happiny, Piplup was still there, without Dawn's other Pokemon but with Meowth and Pikachu.

What do you guys think?

 

[Lil Brother]

Yeah, Pikachu, Meowth, Togepi, and recently Piplup are the only ones we can really say are on the same level as the main humans. The others are important, of course- especially the comedic ones and the heavy battlers- but fall a bit short simply because they aren't there all the time.

 

[Amewsment]

Forretress was surely a lead character.

 

[Yash]

I'd consider Croagunk a main Pokemon, too. Otherwise, Pikachu, Meowth, Togepi, and Piplup.

 

[Cybersai]

Ah, Togepi, a Pokemon that remained motionless in Misty's arms for almost 200 episodes.

Why oh why didn't they evolve it back in Johto? The writers could have actually done something with it back then, instead they use AG to clean up an old plotline.

 

[Casual_Furi]

Togepi just became a part of Misty's outfit by Johto. There wasn't much potential for it to begin with. All it did was chirp, wave it's arms, and an occasional metronome.

 

[Adamant]

I don't really agree about Togepi. It might be on camera all the time, but it never DOES anything. Making some bakground noise does not a main character make.

But yeah, I'll agree about Gureggru being a main character. He tends to do more than Masato ever did.

And surely, don't you all forget about the mighty Zubat? I mean, he was ALWAYS there.

 

[Dark_Absol93]

Pikachu, Meowth, Togepi, Piplup and Jigglypuff

 

[Gaiash]

Like with the humans the Pokemon that are main characters changed. From memory this is the way I see it.

Kanto: Pikachu, Meowth, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle and Togepi
Orange Islands: Pikachu, Meowth, Charizard and Togepi
Johto: Pikachu, Meowth, Bulbasaur, Wobbuffet and Togepi
Houen: Pikachu, Meowth, Wobbuffet and Munchlax
Battle Frontier: Pikachu, Meowth, Wobbuffet, Munchlax and Mime Jr
Diamond and Pearl: Pikachu, Meowth, Wobbuffet, Piplup and Croagunk

Togepi just became a part of Misty's outfit by Johto. There wasn't much potential for it to begin with. All it did was chirp, wave it's arms, and an occasional metronome.

And even then, it did more than Misty.