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Which Ash Pokémon do you feel were poorly treated each series?

Sai

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Since Journies only really gives Lucario and Dragonite to extend a lot of screentime, I’ve looked back at past series:

Kanto: Obviously too much to go into detail here, but anything that wasn’t the starters were immediately Oak’d or released. But the show just started so I’ll give them a pass here since they didn’t know how long it would go on.

Johto: Heracross and Phanpy don’t even get a Gym battle. Heracross leaves too early although it gets to some back later. Totodile and Noctowl only get 1 Gym battle. His team doesn’t get to evolve besides Chikorita.

Hoenn: Torkoal only gets 1 Gym and is abandoned after the league besides a Brandon battle. Glalie is permanently Oak’d after the league.

Sinnoh: Once Turtwig started evolving it was all downhill for it. Gible really came too late to make much impact outside the league match. Gliscor gets left behind mid-series.

BW: Again outside the starters everything else was treated like an afterthought with Palpitoad getting the worst treatment overall. The starters don’t get to evolve. Scraggy never amounted to anything.

XY: Goodra leaves mid-series just to get ties in the league. Noviern comes too late in the series and also doesn’t get much more than ties.

SM: Poipole is released and only comes back for Kukui. Meltan is also only really there for the tail end of the series.


Man looking at what I just typed, I’ve come to the realization like 70% of Ash’s Pokémon as a whole have very little screentime or memorable wins in the series. This has been a problem going on through all 20 years of the anime. :D
 
Torterra and Palpitoad. Regarding Torterra you nailed it, once Turtwig started evolving things only got worse. Did even Torterra win a single battle? I feel like they didn't give Torterra the treatment it deserved. Ok, that battle against Hippowdon was a debacle, but Bertha is a E4 member so I'm ok with this. However, Torterra should've beat Volkner's Electivire IMO. I mean, Torterra is a fully evolved pokemon, at this point of the anime Torterra just sent Team Rocket away. Unfortunely they saved Inferneape for the gran finale and it ended up beating Luxray. Maybe they were too foccused on making Inferneape great? If I'm not mistaken Torterra was defeated by Drapion in the Sinnoh League, and Torterra had the type advantage playing against Drapion. That being said, I liked that episode that Paul's Torterra tried to help Grotle, it was one of the cool momments of the D/P series IMO.

Palpitoad was just a random capture.
 
Torterra, Torkoal, Torterra, Glalie, Torterra, everyone on the Kanto and Johto team not named Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Snorlax, and Charizard, Torterra, Goodra, Torterra, Noivern, Torterra, Greninja in the long run, Torterra, Incineroar, JN team that isn’t Pikachu, Lucario, and Dragonite and did I forget to mention Torterra? :(
 
Kanto: Literally anything that wasn't a Starter or Pikachu had it rough, but I'd say that the ones who got the shortest end of the stick were Pidgeot and Primeape. The former basically didn't do anything of importance outside of popping balloons and its only focus episode was also its departure, never actually won any official battles (it almost beat Misty's Starmie before the match was interrupted and dealt some good damage to Jessie's Rhydon, but that's about as close as it ever got to winning anything), and was possibly the blandest of Ash's Pokemon personality-wise. The latter literally only got a couple of episodes before being given away and added nothing of importance. Tauros and Snorlax did get vindication, and Butterfree did at least play an important role in the plot and lore due to exploring reasons why a Trainer might have to release their Pokemon. Lapras played a similar role and was never even meant to be a permanent mainstay anyway. Kingler and Muk also got to participate in a few battles, but that's really it. Muk especially only fought two times over the course of the series and the rest of the time all it does is smother Proffessor Oak.

Johto: Heracross, Noctowl, and Phanpy. Though thankfully all three were eventually vindicated by getting to appear and battle in later sagas. Phanpy even got to join the main cast in BF and evolve.

Hoenn: Torkoal and Glalie. The former was the designated jobber way too often and the latter had minimal development before being Oak'd, though at least it did have a good League performance.

Sinnoh: Torterra. Like, this shouldn't even be debatable. Even the weakest Pokemon Ash has owned at least marginally improved when they evolved, but poor Torterra is literally the only one who actually got worse.

Unova: This team was generally very poorly handled overall aside from Pignite and Krookodile (and Pikachu), but the ones that got the absolute worst treatment are without a doubt Unfezant, Boldore, and Palpitoad. Barely any notable moments, peinfully underfocused, underdeveloped personalities, and they tended to be the designated jobbers in almost every battle. Poor Unfezant especially, since she was Ash's first Unova capture yet the writers treated her horribly, even making her lose to a freaking Riolu of all things.

Kalos: Goodra and Noivern. The former had one of the most rushed evolutions and its return to the team infamously didn't let it nab a signle win while the latter has an atrocious winrate despite all the buildup it got.

Alola: Naganadel. Got stronger and evolved completely offscreen. Nuff said.

Journeys: Literally everyone besides Pikachu. Lucario fares a bit better than the rest thanks to the development it got as a Riolu and the leadup to its Mega Evolution, but even it was shoved into the background for a long time in between its evolution and the resuming of the PWC matches.
 
Kanto: Pidgeotto and Primeape, for reasons already mentioned.

Johto: Heracross, Noctowl, and to an extent, Totodile. Heracross for obvious reasons, Noctowl though getting more than Heracross...wasn't too present after the Ecreuteak Gym Battle (though had a nice episode when the group flew back to Olivine City)...and Totodile, while perhaps not "treated" poorly...did not get near what Cyndaquil and Chikorita got.

Hoenn: Taillow (not Swellow) and Glalie. People will point to Torkoal, but I thought Torkoal, though the infamous "winrate" was treated decently for the most part (that no effect Overheat against Wattson's Manectric aside). Taillow didn't really get much after the 2nd Gym until evolving, and Glalie, while good in battle...we got "cut off" from seeing more of it, which is a shame. Also, Corphish, while not treated poorly at all, should've evolved.

Sinnoh: Torterra. Winrate thing aside, the lesson that he and Ash were to take away post Turtwig evolving was learning to tank hits. Grotle was fairly good at that after a point...but as a Torterra...got worse at that somehow.

Unova: Boldore and Palpitoad. I think there's an argument to be had that these are the worst treated Pokemon of Ash's, primarily due to how many other Pokemon were caught in the region (though Leavanny, while not appearing too much as a Swadloon, was treated decently). Both were fairly cool early on, but unlike Leavanny, didn't really get any moments to "shine," on top of...just not being around often. Oshawott (which is debated) and Scraggy I thought were treated fine, but again, like Corphish, should've evolved.

Kalos: Noivern, though like Torterra (and the Unova Pokemon, to an extent) not because of the "winrate" thing, but...we really didn't get to see much of it post evolving, which is a shame, as Noibat was probably my favorite Kalos Pokemon Ash caught.

Alola: I don't know if they were treated "bad," but I do wish more had been done with Rowlet and Torracat.

PM 2019: Any Pokemon who isn't Dragonite or Riolu (Lucario recently could be included as well, maybe). Farfetch'd got a good arc, but, and this is common with much of the team, we still don't see too much of it, which is a shame, because pre-Farfetch'd, the Pokemon were showing up at a good rate.
 
Kanto: Kingler, Muk, Pidgeot, Butterfree, Primape
Orange Islands: Lapras
Johto: Phanphy, Noctowl and Heracross
Hoenn: Glaile and Torkoal and I guess you could count Aipom as well
Sinnnoh: TORTERRA and Gliscor
Unova: Boldore, PALPITOAD, Snivy
Kalos: Noivern
Alola: Naganadel
Journeys: His entire team except Lucario
 
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