Axew: Why didn't Iris use it more?

[Ashfangirl22]

Wasn't it Iris first Pokemon?

 

[Hidden Mew]

Technically, I think that Excadrill is Iris's first Pokemon. She got it as a Drilbur at least a good couple of years before Axew if her design in the flashbacks are any indication. Axew is her first Dragon type Pokemon and the whole raise it into a Haxorus was the reason why she left the Village of Dragons in the first place. It definitely could have been used more when aside from mastering Dragon Rage, Axew doesn't seem to have any believable accomplishments. Most of its other battles consist of learning over powered moves out of nowhere to make it look like it's grown stronger, despite the fact it spends far more time in Iris' hair than on the battle field.

 

[Team Gaara]

The fact that she barely bothered to train Axew makes me question if she really wants to be a Dragon Master. She's not doing anything to further her goal. To be frank, she talked more about Dragons than actually bothering to raise hers.

She didn't use him very much because Axew is weak. But he's been weak for a long time considering her flashbacks because she, for whatever reason, just refuses to train him. And it really makes me wonder if she wants to be a Dragon Master at all.

 

[Enzap]

Even though raising Axew was her goal from the start, and Axew clearly dreamed of evolving, Iris spent much more time babying it and training her other Pokemon. Even though some Pokemon like Scraggy who were born well after it was treated as a mature Pokemon in a relatively small amount of time, Axew never seemed to grow out of that toddler state, and this is probably looking too far into it, but maybe Iris didn't let it grow up. Most likely not intentionally, but with Pokemon like Excadrill and later Dragonite on her team, it would be easy to forget that Axew has the potential to become big and powerful too.

 

[Ashs Battle Coach]

Probably because the writing wasn't particularly great this series. I really believe it would have turned out better if Axew was her only pokemon from the start. Iris barely trying to train Axew and his tendency to pull powerful moves out of his ass when the plot required it are probably my main reason's for not liking Iris much

 

[Ash Ketchum!]

It did its job to sit there and be cute to sell toys.

 

[Necrozma]

Poor writing.

 

[Supreme Leader Palpitoad]

Axew is a weak pokemon. I do not want to sound like Paul now but it is truth. And in important battles Iris prefer to use Excadrill or Dragonite. You can see that all the time. She relied on Excadrill for the Club Battle final and the whole Clubsplosion. And she used him against Drayden. Dragonite was also used against Drayden and we know that he will be used against Clair. He was also used for the Junior Cup. Axew is not strong and that is why she does not use it. She even relies more on Emolga than she relies on Axew. But she could train him to be stronger! But you know what? She never does. She just sits back and chills while Axew runs around and eats berries and gets lost.

 

[Darth Darkrai]

I Think it was Poor Writing and Axew I Think had Good Potential to Train I felt Like and all we Got were just Training Battles with Scraggy and all Axew did was Get Lost and I feel Like Iris should PUT A STINKING Leash on it and the Moves, Outrage was ONLY Used in the Club Battle and Giga Impact, all we got was when He Learned it from Battiling Cynthia and Her Garchomp, and against a Mienshao that was Controlled by Team Plasma in their Debut and Axew IO still Like but all it doeds is Sit and Go to the Bathroom in Iris's Hait I think. Excadrill and Dragonite were Used More than Him and Should have been Used More than those 2 PowerHouses.

 

[Pikacuh]

Probably because the writing wasn't particularly great this series. I really believe it would have turned out better if Axew was her only pokemon from the start. Iris barely trying to train Axew and his tendency to pull powerful moves out of his ass when the plot required it are probably my main reason's for not liking Iris much

Poor writing.

It did its job to sit there and be cute to sell toys.

No it wasn't poor writing, and i think the BW series writing was great but could of been more better. Axew did seem to grow an whole lot stronger as the BW series went on, but they did decided not to do enough wth it.

 

[97SaturnSL1]

well who else was going to fill the role of TOgepi 2.0? definatly not Dragonite or Excadrill so i guess the choice was a bit obvious

 

[Master Cyrus]

Because it was weak and can only win with DEM out of his undeserving ass.

 

[wolley2xjd]

Pikacuh said it best it wasn't poor writing they didn't do enough with him Axew is a boy by the way.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Pikacuh said it best it wasn't poor writing they didn't do enough with him Axew is a boy by the way.

While I agree that they didn't do enough with Axew, I definitely think it was poor writing. It doesn't have much of any believable accomplishment aside from learning Dragon Rage, it learned overpowered moves to give the impression that it was getting stronger, despite how it rarely battles, and it still acts like a toddler. It hasn't really grown or become a believable strong Pokemon. The fact that Iris depends mostly on Excadril and Dragonite also doesn't help.

 

[Life]

......

The fact that they didn't do enough with Axew is poor writing.

I mean really how do these kind of things get argued?!

 

[Ashs Battle Coach]

......

The fact that they didn't do enough with Axew is poor writing.

I mean really how do these kind of things get argued?!

Bias, I expect. Some people like Axew.

Some people have said that it wasn't poor writing but the writers decided not to do much with him. I mean, to me at least, that doesn't even make sense lol. Axew's development was written poorly, and was very unbelievable. Hidden Mew put it best.

Its a shame really. The writers established Axew and Iris's goal early on of wanting to get stronger and Evolve into a Haxorus. But that goal went nowhere, Iris barely trained Axew, and any development Axew received was through a bunch of bull crap DEM (3 at my count).

 

[Dr. Buni]

The lack of character development for Kibago just shows how badly written Best Wishes was. I was really hoping to see it being trained and eventually evolving, since that was a dream of the Pokémon himself, but it seems that selling toys was way more important than making the Pokémon evolve, has he wished to.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I initially hoped that Axew's progress and evolution would reflect on Iris's character development when they first introduced the evolution goal. Clearly that didn't happen, which was disappointing. I don't think that practically dropping the evolution goal would have bother me so much if they actually gave Axew some decent development and made its progress over the course of the series believable. Instead, they gave it cheap and undeserved powerups to create the illusion that Axew had become stronger, even though it rarely battles, still acts like a toddler and has been shown to be a pretty weak Pokemon.

 

[Life]

The thing I don't get is, when you relate it to the games, Axew has learned Outrage and Giga Impact which means it should be around level 61. So my question is, why the heck hasn't it evolved? I know the anime isn't a cookie cutter of the games and rarely mentions levels, but still...

I'd mention more of my issues with him, but they've been mentioned already so I'll end it here.

 

[Robo-Floatzel]

I'll have to agree with virtually so many other people here on the fact that Axew isn't used that much because of poor writing, but also because he's the "kid appeal" Pokemon that's made to sell toys and merchandise. Now I know you're going to say "aren't Pikachu and Oshawott no different?" Well, yes, but Ash at least USES them in battle, while Axew just eats berries and gets lost all the time, he's nothing more than a one-note character that Iris spends more time babying him around (like Misty's Togepi before it), while Excadrill and dragonite are the ones that get used in battle, and Emolga is... Emolga. So it's a combination of both marketing and bad writing if anything.