Ash’s biggest screw-ups in BW Season 1

[Paulisthebest]

Well, it’s been said over and over that his knowledge from previous generations is all but gone. So, I won’t even dwell on that. Season 1 was about 84 episodes and in Unova we’ve seen Ash do some of the dumbest stunts yet. From jumping in front of attacks when his Pokémon could deflect them instead to risking his journey on a single battle for a friend.

My “favorite” one was when he battled Darmanitan with Miju to help Bianca stay on her journey in a match against her dad. Originally, he wasn’t going to use him but it popped out of its ball. The thing that had me scratching my head was even though he had a type advantage, Ash should not have risked his journey as well as Bianca’s on a Pokemon with not that high of a winning streak at that point. Even though her dad had a change of heart, it was way too much to put on the line.

What are some of the screw-ups from Ash that you remember best throughout his journey in Unova so far?

 

[Ishida]

Ash's 5 on 5 battle with Trip.. why not just send out Pikachu first if he started off with Tranquil?

 

[Jukain]

I could only think of two major foibles: The matter that he forgot the basics to begin with, and his poor judgment in the Elesa battle. You got me to realize that a lot of what is wrong with this saga is not entirely with Ash's character, but with other aspects, and even that may be because of executive meddling. The matter that some of his pokes have evoed could just attribute to the matter he is a good trainer. (unfortunately, said training is offscreen and not explained) Even then, they show little improvement other than evolving. I still consider this not a flaw of the character of Ash. I also can't entirely pin the main theme of his battle style this season, and that is using screwy tactics to win. This has long been Ash's trademark, so I am reluctant to really call this a flaw, I guess his maneuvers just don't seem as impressive this time. I did some research to see if I could peg him for having to rely on evolutions to win gyms, and yes, not in any any of the sagas, yes ANY of them, does Ash have to rely on a poke evolving to win a gym. His pokes perhaps evolved between gyms, but never did they evolve DURING the battle itself. This is a matter of opinion, though, since I can see how evolving during a gym can be exciting if the evo was earned. It's debatable whether that is the case here, and as I said before, at least there is a lack of explanation, so it can't be a flaw of Ash's character. Thanks for the different perspective, but it still doesn't save the fact that I think BW is not written well.

 

[Sumomo]

Where has he not screwed up? Seriously, he has the attention span of someone who has been 10 since I was 5, oh wait...

I find that Pikachu should be put to blame, it can take down huge Pokemon one season, next season it gets owned by starter Pokemon that are presumably level 5. If the anime took into account the fact that he's gone through 4 other regions with Pikachu it should be a little easier for him to win a battle once in a while.

 

[Kelleo]

His pokes perhaps evolved between gyms, but never did they evolve DURING the battle itself.

Sewaddle and Roggenrola say hi.

Still, you pretty much summed up the only really stupid things I can think of that Ash has done so far in the BW anime. I don't think him battling Bianca's dad for Bianca herself was stupid, hell no. I thought it was very noble and brave of him. It showed how much Ash truly cares about his friends.

 

[Jukain]

I meant before BW, not during it.

I handwaved Bianca's dad since it's plausible he's just skilled, and yes, Ash would risk everything for a friend. The only fault I saw was that he didn't take it seriously at first, which is out of character for him, but I wouldn't say it makes him stupid.

 

[Kelleo]

Well, you should have said so then. xP

 

[Paulisthebest]

His pokes perhaps evolved between gyms, but never did they evolve DURING the battle itself.

Still, you pretty much summed up the only really stupid things I can think of that Ash has done so far in the BW anime. I don't think him battling Bianca's dad for Bianca himself was stupid, hell no. I thought it was very noble and brave of him. It showed how much Ash truly cares about his friends.

No I mean it wasn't him battling that was dumb, it was potentially putting his entire trainer career (with Bianca's) on the line with a Pokemon that wasn't really strong enough to depend on with an opponent like Darmanitan. I mean, if I said that battle was dumb that would be pointless considering in the show kids disagreeing with adults is pretty much standard like that episode with Trubbish and the daycare kids.

 

[Kelleo]

No I mean it wasn't him battling that was dumb, it was potentially putting his entire trainer career (with Bianca's) on the line with a Pokemon that wasn't really strong enough to depend on with an opponent like Darmanitan. I mean, if I said that battle was dumb that would be pointless considering in the show kids disagreeing with adults is pretty much standard like that episode with Trubbish and the daycare kids.

Oh, I see now. My apologies for misunderstanding.

 

[Ashs Battle Coach]

Throwing pokeballs at mons that he hadn't weakened? I don't care how excited he was, that shit was plain stupid.

 

[Paulisthebest]

No I mean it wasn't him battling that was dumb, it was potentially putting his entire trainer career (with Bianca's) on the line with a Pokemon that wasn't really strong enough to depend on with an opponent like Darmanitan. I mean, if I said that battle was dumb that would be pointless considering in the show kids disagreeing with adults is pretty much standard like that episode with Trubbish and the daycare kids.

Oh, I see now. My apologies for misunderstanding.

Hey, its cool.

 

[AshK]

His first match against Lenora. He has seen roar before and he certainly has seen mean look. He looked like such a rookie in that episode overall. It seemed like it was his second gym battle ever. I also didn't like how he wanted to do a 2 out of 3 thing in the first gym even though he only had to battle the one guy. Too excited I guess.

 

[SammyW27]

One that sticks out with me is how he FINALLY had a Rock-type after all these years, then doesn't use it in a gym that would be perfect for it at the Nimbasa Gym. Hell, the whole battle makes me mad. He did one dumb thing after another and then won by being cheap. And to add insult to injury, Elesa was the one who acted like she learned something!
To add further insult, it once again made you wonder how Bel ever managed to become a trainer in the first place (thank goodness she was treated a little better later)

 

[Ranger Jack Walker]

It seems like a completely different character is the star of the show this saga. I expect this is what we would d get every season if they rotated protagomists.

The excuse that Ash was excited is bullshit. He has been to new regions before and never commited so many basic mistakes. Sure he always made mistakes but never to this degree. Frankly, its insulting.

 

[RWB]

Throwing pokeballs at mons that he hadn't weakened? I don't care how excited he was, that shit was plain stupid.

No. Ash has caught pokemon like this before(Caterpie), and it's not actually a bad idea against certain mons. Pidove is relatively easy to catch on the first throw. If we take game into account, I can, with a bit of luck, catch any single pokemon in the game at full health with a Pokéball. Even Arceus.


So no, it wasn't dumb at all.

One that sticks out with me is how he FINALLY had a Rock-type after all these years, then doesn't use it in a gym that would be perfect for it at the Nimbasa Gym. Hell, the whole battle makes me mad. He did one dumb thing after another and then won by being cheap. And to add insult to injury, Elesa was the one who acted like she learned something!
To add further insult, it once again made you wonder how Bel ever managed to become a trainer in the first place (thank goodness she was treated a little better later)

Rock-Type has no advantage over Electric-Type. He actually did use his advantageous mon in this gim: Palpitoad.

 

[HumanDawn]

Trusting Purrloin after the Pokedex tells him that Purrloin are liars.

 

[Ranger Jack Walker]

Throwing pokeballs at mons that he hadn't weakened? I don't care how excited he was, that shit was plain stupid.

No. Ash has caught pokemon like this before(Caterpie), and it's not actually a bad idea against certain mons. Pidove is relatively easy to catch on the first throw. If we take game into account, I can, with a bit of luck, catch any single pokemon in the game at full health with a Pokéball. Even Arceus.


So no, it wasn't dumb at all.

Just because it's possible doesn't mean it's not dumb. : \

 

[Chiplet]

Throwing pokeballs at mons that he hadn't weakened? I don't care how excited he was, that shit was plain stupid.

No. Ash has caught pokemon like this before(Caterpie), and it's not actually a bad idea against certain mons. Pidove is relatively easy to catch on the first throw. If we take game into account, I can, with a bit of luck, catch any single pokemon in the game at full health with a Pokéball. Even Arceus.


So no, it wasn't dumb at all.

He caught one Pokémon like that before, and that was when he had just started out on his journey, not being fully aware of the basics yet. He even tried the same thing with Pidgeotto, who easily smacked the ball away once it came flying. And after a bit of ''scolding'' from Misty he realized that it wasn't a very good idea, and thus he didn't repeat the same mistake, until those Deerlings then.

So yeah, it was pretty dumb, considering for how long he had been travelling and how much experience he should have. Even Iris pointed out that it was stupid.

That was a screw-up that immediately made me realize that his character had been pretty much ''reset'', and apart from that I also thought that only thinking that Palpitoad would toast Elesa's whole team, who by the way is a gym leader and all, was incredibly stupid.

 

[Robo-Floatzel]

This question is a little tricky to answer, it's better to ask where Ash HASN'T screwed up in BW, as it would be a long list to list where he HAS screwed up. For example, one thing I noticed is that throughout the anime's history, Ash is notorious for putting Pikachu out against Ground Pokemon and using Electric type moves against them, this was actually avoided in the battle with Clay surprisingly, so that's ONE thing he did not screw up.

It seems like a completely different character is the star of the show this saga. I expect this is what we would d get every season if they rotated protagomists.

The excuse that Ash was excited is bullshit. He has been to new regions before and never commited so many basic mistakes. Sure he always made mistakes but never to this degree. Frankly, its insulting.

I agree with you, it would be better if they changed the protagonist every generation instead of using the exact same person every time. The Ash in BW is a joke compared to the Ash in DP, and makes the Ash from the first season look like Bruce Wayne in comparison, I once heard that Ash has been made even DUMBER than he was back in Gen 1. I know it's a common trope in shonen anime to have a somewhat dense male protagonist, but protagonists like Naruto, Monkey D. Luffy, and even Goku, just to name a few examples, have proven to be much smarter than Ash is currently.

To put it more simply, Ash has been flanderized from his original personality, meaning that most, if not all of his character traits but one have been removed, and said character trait has been exaggerated to the point where the character is virtually unrecognizable. Basically, BW Ash is Ash Ketchum "In name only", stripping pretty much years worth of character development

 

[matt0044]

It seems like a completely different character is the star of the show this saga. I expect this is what we would d get every season if they rotated protagomists.

At least then they'd have a good excuse rather than Ash inexplicably getting amnesia for no goddamn reason.