Unpopular Thoughts about the Main Character's Pokemon?

[AgedVeteranofShow]

Ash's Totodile should've evolved, seriously, why was it stuck one-stage for most of Johto and now? At least Cyndaquil eventually evolved in the Sinnoh League, and Ash always had Bayleef, but really now...Totodile drew the short end of the stick?

Ash's Corphish should've evolved, too, and his Gible for all the head biting it did stayed stuck in that state too.

 

[Blob]

Ash's Totodile should've evolved, seriously, why was it stuck one-stage for most of Johto and now? At least Cyndaquil eventually evolved in the Sinnoh League, and Ash always had Bayleef, but really now...Totodile drew the short end of the stick?

Ash's Corphish should've evolved, too, and his Gible for all the head biting it did stayed stuck in that state too.

Don't forget that in the sumo Pokémon episode Ash said that one day Totodile will become a Feraligatr.

 

[Sai]

I think Totodile was the first gag starter pokemon before we even knew what that was. Totodile was only in 1 Gym battle where it lost to Whitney and barely battled at all for the rest of the series. Imagine having a starter in 1 Gym with no win over an entire series, and then it just had some Whirl cup matches and gets overshadowed by Squirtle in the league.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

but even he disappeared into the background for quite some time

That is less a function of them giving other Pokémon focus instead of Lucario and more that everyone disappeared into the background for quite some time, so Lucario ends up with the least insulting fate.

 

[Imtnt]

The fact ash gets all starters is stupid, and tnx god for a break in Jns.. (but at least one in each season should be captured by him in the anime dont get me wrong.)

 

[Hidden Mew]

The fact ash gets all starters is stupid, and tnx god for a break in Jns.. (but at least one in each season should be captured by him in the anime dont get me wrong.)

Ash hasn't caught all of the regional starters since BW. He usually does get at least one starter per series, but Ash getting all of the starters hasn't been an issue for years.

 

[Kurolegacy]

The fact ash gets all starters is stupid, and tnx god for a break in Jns.. (but at least one in each season should be captured by him in the anime dont get me wrong.)

Don’t see why it’s stupid. Starters are Pokémon just as any and are the faces of the generation. Plus Ash has proven to be the most effective way of presenting the starters he’s owned especially compared to when someone other than he or the female PC gets one. Under Go and the other guys who got them, they didn’t really get to do much which is a major disservice imo.

 

[Imtnt]

Ash hasn't caught all of the regional starters since BW. He usually does get at least one starter per series, but Ash getting all of the starters hasn't been an issue for years.

I wouldn't say it's old news... look, if you eliminate JNs there Goh got all 3 (stupidity>):

• Gen 1 (Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander)
• Gen 2 (Chikorita, Cyndaquil & Totodile)
• Gen 3 (Treecko, Torchic & Mudkip)
• Gen 4 (Turtwig, Chimchar & Piplup)
• Gen 5 (Snivy, Tepig & Oshawott)
• Gen 6 (Chespin, Fennekin & Froakie)
• Gen 7 (Rowlet, Litten & Popplio)
• Gen 8 (Grookey, Scorbunny & Sobble)*GOH

So in Gen 3 and 6 his ace was a starter and got a realy good treatment. Maybe some will say Chespin was awful, but realy it was working realy good when they split starters for the main characters.

 

[LovelyChika123]

I hope Ash catches all the regional starters in the next generation to make up for Goh catching all three of them.

 

[Sai]

I doubt he's getting the cat next time if the leaks of its final evolution are real

 

[Kurolegacy]

I hope Ash catches all the regional starters in the next generation to make up for Goh catching all three of them.

They’ll have to work twice as hard to make up for the Galar starters barely getting anything to do plus the stain that is Grookey.

 

[Imtnt]

I doubt he's getting the cat next time if the leaks of its final evolution are real

My thoughts exactly

 

[LovelyChika123]

They’ll have to work twice as hard to make up for the Galar starters barely getting anything to do plus the stain that is Grookey.

In fairness, Goh's Cinderace was the most consistent out of the three and the most interesting to watch. His Interlon, however, didn't have a good storyline to me. I got nothing to say about his Grookey except for the fact that maybe it was better off with Ash so that Ash could have ended up with a Rillaboom.

 

[Hidden Mew]

All things considered, I think that Cinderace was handled fine. It evolved maybe too fast into Raboot, but I liked what they were going for and the resolution between Goh and Raboot is one of my favorite moments in the series. And its evolution into Cinderace felt natural and fitting. I liked some moments with Goh and Sobble, mainly his apology in its capture episode and the rooftop scene with Drizzle. If they had been able to stretch it out a bit more like they arguably did with Cinderace, I think it would have been fine and more people would have been okay with it.

Grookey really should have either gone to Ash or Chloe. I like Grookey's capture episode and it does have some cute moments with Goh, but it doing virtually nothing just seems so weird to me. If the ultimate goal was to make sure Goh always had a cute marketable unevolved starter, then why did they bother evolving either Scorbunny or Sobble in the first place? Why wait so long to debut Grookey if it was just going to do nothing but be cute for the rest of the series? I would have preferred for Ash to get Grookey instead of Dracovish. While Dracovish is more unique as a fossil Pokemon, it also feels like the most expendable Pokemon on Ash's team and giving him a Rillaboom would have been cool. It also would have been nice to have all three starters of a generation fully evolved within the main cast for once.

 

[Kurolegacy]

In fairness, Goh's Cinderace was the most consistent out of the three and the most interesting to watch. His Interlon, however, didn't have a good storyline to me. I got nothing to say about his Grookey except for the fact that maybe it was better off with Ash so that Ash could have ended up with a Rillaboom.

Yea but even then, once Cinderace fully evolved it went from a Pokémon we saw all the time to one who had more and more sporadic appearances. It’s to the point that it‘s actually notable that Go let it out of its ball to watch Ash’s match with Cynthia.

 

[LovelyChika123]

Yea but even then, once Cinderace fully evolved it went from a Pokémon we saw all the time to one who had more and more sporadic appearances. It’s to the point that it‘s actually notable that Go let it out of its ball to watch Ash’s match with Cynthia.

Well maybe Goh’s Cinderace was slowly written out of the spotlight so that Goh’s other Pokémon can get more screen time and development.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Well maybe Goh’s Cinderace was slowly written out of the spotlight so that Goh’s other Pokémon can get more screen time and development.

That's possible, but I think that they could have gone for a better balance if that was the case. Cinderace being pushed to the sideline felt especially weird for how they normally treat a character's first Pokemon. Plus, I'm not sure if Cinderace being moved out of the spotlight helped with giving Sobble or Grookey more screentime and development. If anything, it felt like they rushed through Sobble's evolutions in part because Goh already had Grookey to serve as the cute marketable Pokemon.

 

[LovelyChika123]

That's possible, but I think that they could have gone for a better balance if that was the case. Cinderace being pushed to the sideline felt especially weird for how they normally treat a character's first Pokemon. Plus, I'm not sure if Cinderace being moved out of the spotlight helped with giving Sobble or Grookey more screentime and development. If anything, it felt like they rushed through Sobble's evolutions in part because Goh already had Grookey to serve as the cute marketable Pokemon.

I’m not saying that demoting Cinderace to a supporting Pokémon character was okay (in fact, it’s my favorite out of Goh’s starters).

Even though Journeys is now officially my favorite arc of the Pokémon anime, I really don’t like how Goh’s Sobble nor Grookey were handled.

To me, Drizzile being sad over not immediately evolving into an Interlon didn’t really come off as sympathetic at all. It could have really been fixed by Goh (or Ash) telling it that if it trained harder than it can evolve, but this wasn’t done. Drizzile just kept on brooding over it. Then again, at least Goh was sympathetic towards it (compare this to the beginning of the series when Goh was apathetic towards Scorbunny not knowing any fire type moves…that’s good character development for Goh).

With Grookey, it was only treated like a show-off Pokemon that would sometimes be a nuisance to the Pokémon it interacted with. I would like to think that it stayed a Grookey for strictly marketing reasons.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I’m not saying that demoting Cinderace to a supporting Pokémon character was okay (in fact, it’s my favorite out of Goh’s starters).

Even though Journeys is now officially my favorite arc of the Pokémon anime, I really don’t like how Goh’s Sobble nor Grookey were handled.

To me, Drizzile being sad over not immediately evolving into an Interlon didn’t really come off as sympathetic at all. It could have really been fixed by Goh (or Ash) telling it that if it trained harder than it can evolve, but this wasn’t done. Drizzile just kept on brooding over it. Then again, at least Goh was sympathetic towards it (compare this to the beginning of the series when Goh was apathetic towards Scorbunny not knowing any fire type moves…that’s good character development for Goh).

I thought that Drizzle's depression kind of worked. I think it was so set on becoming an Inteleon right away that realizing it didn't happen was a big blow. The fact that it was tossed around the lab right after that realization didn't help matters either. I'm not sure if Ash or Goh telling Drizzle that it still could become Inteleon through more training would have necessarily fixed it, at least not right away. Being really heartbroken or depressed can be hard to recover from and Goh did try to reassure that they could still work together only for Drizzle to still be hiding in its cave. Admittedly, I might be reading too much into it, or at least connecting the dots that the show maybe left too vague, and Sobble was there when they first explained its evolution line in the lab too, but I think it generally kind of worked. We just needed more episodes between those evolutions, especially to explain how and why Drizzle gained the motivation to train on its own at night, to make it more emotionally effective.

Goh being sympathetic towards Drizzle is one of the reasons why I think having him get Sobble worked. While Ash with Inteleon would have been neat, I liked how Goh's interactions with Sobble showed how he had become a more sympathetic trainer. He's always cared about his Pokemon, but he didn't always understand their feelings. His reaction to Scorbunny wanting to learn a Fire type move is a perfect example of that. But with Sobble, he apologized to it for putting it in a battle right after he caught it without understanding its feelings and sympathized with Drizzle's feelings of sadness when they were on the roof together. While I do wish that they had been able to stretch out Sobble's evolutions more, I liked how their interactions showed off some of Goh's development as a more understanding trainer.

With Grookey, it was only treated like a show-off Pokemon that would sometimes be a nuisance to the Pokémon it interacted with. I would like to think that it stayed a Grookey for strictly marketing reasons.

I'm sure it was done for marketing reasons, especially if they didn't want to give Goh one of the Hisui starters instead. A part of me almost wish that he did get a Cyndaquil to replace Grookey. Even if it did nothing but be cute, seeing Cynadquil get more attention would still make me happy. It's still just so strange to me that they wanted to make sure that Goh had an unevolved starter Pokemon for most of the series. Scorbunny and Sobble's evolutions were far from pointless or unnecessary, but if they always wanted to make sure that Goh had a cute marketable unevolved starter on him, I kind of wish that they only gave him Scorbunny and it didn't evolve. It had the most personality out of the three and I think works with his design the most.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I didn't mind Chloe having Eevee originally, but the whole dilemma about Goh seemingly requiring to have a mandatory cute and marketable mascot to ride on his shoulder at all times, combined with how unsatosfactory the conclusion to Chloe's story arc was, has made me believe that Goh's the one who should've had Eevee instead of Chloe. I mean, the writers are clearly dead-set on not evolving MC Eevees anymore anyway, so why not let Goh have it so that the Galar startes -particularly Grookey- can be freed up to do something else with their screentime? Furthermore, Goh having Eevee would've allowed Yamper to at least remain as Chloe's lapdog and potentially play a much bigger role in her development instead of disappearing into the background.

And of course, I still think that they should've distributed the Galar starters among the main cast. Inteleon's development under Goh may have had some good beats, but it was still too anticlimactic and rushed for me to want it to remain a part of his team, particilarly because I also feel that Goh having all three Galar starters also had the unfortunate side effect of Cinderace becoming less and less relevant as the series went on despite being the best-developed Galar starter otherwise.