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- Dec 13, 2017
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I've stated this before on BF, but I'll say it again in case someone doesn't remember or hasn't read it: Brock should have gotten Charmander.
Don't get me wrong, I like Ash's Charizard as much as the next guy. It's one of the reasons why I love Charizard as a Pokémon so much. So I'm happy that he has it. It's just that when you think about it, Charmander's capture episode clearly set up way more of a bond between Charmander and Brock than it and Ash. Brock is the one who first rises up against Damian upon hearing him having abandoned Charmander, he's the one who's most worried about Charmander's wellbeing, and he's the one who talks to Charmander when Damian tries to fool it into justifying his mistreatment towards it. And yet, after all that, Brock just casually tells that Ash can have Charmander, despite him clearly having been the one to have spent the most time bonding with it throughout the episode. And it actually makes sense why Brock would do that. Recall that he had had to deal with abandonment issues himself, with both of his parents having left home and left all of his numerous siblings for him to take care of. It makes sense that he'd resent someone who deliberately abandoned someone close to them. But no. It wasn't until Hoenn that the anime would finally realize, "Hey, you know what? Maybe we could give starter Pokémon to other main characters besides Ash!" So Charmander had to go to Ash.
I'm feeling kinda conflicted about this. On one hand, they it bothers me that they didn't give Charmander to a person who clearly bonded with it the most prior to its capture, but on the other hand, Charizard has ended up achieving so many great things under Ash's ownership that I'm also glad that things went the way they did.
Don't get me wrong, I like Ash's Charizard as much as the next guy. It's one of the reasons why I love Charizard as a Pokémon so much. So I'm happy that he has it. It's just that when you think about it, Charmander's capture episode clearly set up way more of a bond between Charmander and Brock than it and Ash. Brock is the one who first rises up against Damian upon hearing him having abandoned Charmander, he's the one who's most worried about Charmander's wellbeing, and he's the one who talks to Charmander when Damian tries to fool it into justifying his mistreatment towards it. And yet, after all that, Brock just casually tells that Ash can have Charmander, despite him clearly having been the one to have spent the most time bonding with it throughout the episode. And it actually makes sense why Brock would do that. Recall that he had had to deal with abandonment issues himself, with both of his parents having left home and left all of his numerous siblings for him to take care of. It makes sense that he'd resent someone who deliberately abandoned someone close to them. But no. It wasn't until Hoenn that the anime would finally realize, "Hey, you know what? Maybe we could give starter Pokémon to other main characters besides Ash!" So Charmander had to go to Ash.
I'm feeling kinda conflicted about this. On one hand, they it bothers me that they didn't give Charmander to a person who clearly bonded with it the most prior to its capture, but on the other hand, Charizard has ended up achieving so many great things under Ash's ownership that I'm also glad that things went the way they did.