• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

What are Pokemon that you DON'T want Ash to catch (or wish that he hadn't caught) ?

Rainbow-Rain

LEADER OF THE INTELEON DEFENSE SQUAD
Joined
Jun 19, 2020
Messages
2,431
Reaction score
5,403
Everyone talks about how much they want Ash to catch certain Pokemon or how Ash should've caught so and so instead of whoever else already caught it

But what about the Pokemon that you DON'T want Ash to have?

Or alternatively, if Ash has already caught it, which Pokemon of his do you wish he hadn't caught?

What are your reasonings for this?


For example, I know this is probably an unpopular opinion and all but I don't want Ash to catch a Dunsparce.

Mainly because unless Game freak gives it a new evolution, I fail to see how a Dunsparce could really be a necessary capture for Ash. Dunsparce isn't a bad Pokemon but I don't see this one for Ash.

As for the Pokemon that he already has, I don't think Ash should've captured Snivy in retrospect. Mainly because I think it would've been a more fitting capture for either Iris, as they both share similar sassy personality traits, or Cilan, who despite being a Grass Type specialist, had very little actual Grass Types.

I also think that Totodile would have been a better fit for Misty

Who are some Pokemon that you DON'T want Ash to catch or think he shouldn't have caught?

Don't forget to include your reasonings
 
Last edited:
The Hatterene line, due to it's dex entries:
No matter who you are, if you bring strong emotions near this Pokémon, it will silence you violently.
If you're too loud around it, you risk being torn apart by the claws on its tentacle.
I already see that running gag getting overused like crazy.
 
Most of the Unova roster. The only ones I completely wish Ash had kept are Snivy, Oshawott (as much as I despise his character, the species itself is my favorite Unova Starter line, and I also think it's a great fit for Ash, so my ideal version of Oshawott would have been less of a jerk and/or recieved actual development), and Krookodile.

I didn't like how much of an Infernape rehash Pignite was, especially since he came right off the monkey's heels, so I think I would have given him to Cilan instead (albeit he likely would have remained a Tepig) and be used as a cook assistant or something.

Leavanny would have gone to Cilan as well, since I feel he fits Cilan's personality, matches well with the whole Connoisseur thing due to being a happiness-based evolution, and is a Grass-type, so it honestly would have been way better for Cilan than Crustle and Stunfisk.

Palpitoad and Boldore I think should have just stayed COTDs.

Unfezant and Scraggy I'm admittedly on the fence on whether they should have stayed on the team or not: on one hand, Unfezant was pretty terrible in battle, but on the other hand I feel like she would have had more opportunities to shine and become stronger if she was on a less bloated team. Plus, I kinda don't want Ash to lose one of the very few confirmed female Pokemon he has. Scraggy meanwhile was genuinely useful as a sparring partner for Axew and, like Unfezant, likely would have had better growth on a less bloated team. The only real issue I have with it is the type overlap with Krookodile (made all the more weird that Scraggy essentially was treated like a pure Fighting-type), so maybe I would have just had a Mienfoo in its role or something, but I still don't think I really mind Scraggy itself staying.

So... yeah. Basically just trim the excess fat of the Unova team and focus on properly developing and fleshing out the remaining members.
 
Palpitoad and Boldore feel like some of his most unnecessary captures honestly, considering how they didn't contribute much at all story wise and they were generally sidelined. Boldore had one notable battle with Clay, and Palpitoad had a bit of Elesa, but other than that, I can't think of anything else.
 
Palpitoad makes the list for me, with Boldore close behind.

The Vibration Pokémon's capture seemed unnecessary given that Ash literally had a full party when it occurred, already replete with a Water-type - Unova's Starter no less! While it was neat to see how a Poke Ball worked should a Trainer have six Pokémon already, Ash rarely did anything with Palpitoad aside from battle...which it barely got to do when you consider the entire saga. I think it had four notable, or perhaps the only, battles throughout its series; two Gym Battles where it ultimately got jobbed (in which it had type-advantages in both), a double knockout in the League, and its only decisive win against Burgundy. There were no focus episodes, a complete loss of interaction and camaraderie with Cilan's Stunfisk despite the two being buddies before, no bonding with his party mates, no sense of personality, and a drastic lack of screentime compared to its peers; it wasn't even allowed to evolve. If there was ever a Pokémon that appeared as if the writer's had no direction regarding it...it was Palpitoad.

Boldore had similar beats, but it actually had more screentime than its peer, even as a Roggenrola - because of this, I feel that Palpitoad still holds the #1 spot for Pokémon Ash didn't need per se; I also like the fact that Boldore was Ash's first Rock-type at the time, which was quite notable. Honestly, Palpitoad should have stuck to being the big fish in his pond. Mayhap a Trainer who actually would have given him the time he deserved could have come along.
 
I legit think, Palpitoad and Levanny only existed as an excuse to keep Oshawott and Snivy from evolving :unsure:

When it was shown how popular Oshawott and Snivy were in Japan, the writers had to keep them small and cute for marketing purposes.

And Since they were so small, Ash couldn't rely on them for more tougher battles so they gave him Palpitoad and Levanny to compensate
 
I legit think, Palpitoad and Levanny only existed as an excuse to keep Oshawott and Snivy from evolving :unsure:

When it was shown how popular Oshawott and Snivy were in Japan, the writers had to keep them small and cute for marketing purposes.

And Since they were so small, Ash couldn't rely on them for more tougher battles so they gave him Palpitoad and Levanny to compensate
I think Palpitoad at least is a more complicated case, since there's apparently rumors that Krokorok was originally going to be caught during the cancelled Team Plasma two-parter, and with that little hiccup the writers had to slip in a last-minute replacement Ground-type while they scrambled to figure out a plotline for Krokorok to be caught. It would certainly explain Palpitoad's lack of appearances and personality: likely all its battles were originally supposed to be Krokorok's (barring the one against Stephan at the League for obvious reasons, but by then Ash's team was already established).

That said, though, I'm not sure why Snivy and Oshawott couldn't have worked for "tougher" battles, considering Pikachu is used on those all the time as are other unevolved mons. I mean, what, Rowlet is allowed to beat its own final stage, but Snivy and Oshawott are too weak and wimpy to handle any opponent slightly outside their weight class??
 
That said, though, I'm not sure why Snivy and Pshawott couldn't have worked for "tougher" battles, considering Pikachu is used on those all the time as are other unevolved mons. I mean, what, Rowlet is allowed to beat its own final stage, but Snivy and Oshawott are to weak and wimpy to handle any opponent slightly outside their weight class??
Given Snivy and Oshawott's track records in BW it certainly does seem like the writers had that mindset

Especially Snivy, everytime she went up against someone much bigger than her she lost.
 
Given Snivy and Oshawott's track records in BW it certainly does seem like the writers had that mindset

Especially Snivy, everytime she went up against someone much bigger than her she lost.
Yeah, I know, I'm just pointing out the writers' apparent contradictory logic. It doesn't seem fair for Oshawott and Snivy to be considered "too weak" in the face of the many NFEs Ash has that routinely topple titanic opponents.
 
Yeah, I know, I'm just pointing out the writers' apparent contradictory logic. It doesn't seem fair for Oshawott and Snivy to be considered "too weak" in the face of the many NFEs Ash has that routinely topple titanic opponents.
Because BW didn't seem to have any idea of what to do with Ash's Unova Team
 
Because BW didn't seem to have any idea of what to do with Ash's Unova Team
With BW, I think they bit off more than they could chew. They showed they couldn't handle rotating Pokemon well enough and give everyone the proper screentime and development with such a large cast of Pokemon.
 
I will say it: Mimey.

Cuz here's the thing about retcons. I believe that a good retcon has to answer two questions to justify it's existence: 1) Does it still makes sense within the universe and doesn't creates any other plot holes? and 2) What exactly do you gain by altering that piece of the universe?

On the first question, we can already see a problem. So, you're telling me that Ash captured a whole ass Pokémon over 20 years and 936 eps ago and he didn't wanted to battle with it once? And this is the thing, you see: it's not that Mimey is a pacifist who refuses to battle. He battles when Ash asks him to and he's no opposed to it.

And even if you argue that Mimey's primary goal is to help Delia, well, firstly, she's not opposed to him battling, it seems, as even Delia herself is not afraid to battle (as Mimey's debut ep and her ordering Litten in SM proved) and even if Mimey never wanted to stop helping Delia out, Ash could still call him up eventually when he wanted to while still letting Mimey be happy with Delia. So really, why hasn't Ash ever used him in anything?

And the second question, which is also a fail. Because, really, what exactly does Mimey being Ash's mon adds to the story that justifies this retcon? Mimey is still not considered part of Ash's team, it doesn't travels with him nor does it battles in the PWC. Like, Mimey barely even appears. So why was this even accepted into canon if it doesn't adds anything new?

This recton was a disaster and shouldn't have been done.
 
Last edited:
I will say it: Mimey.

Cuz here's the thing about retcons. I believe that a good retcon has to answer two questions to justify it's existence: 1) Does it still makes sense within the universe and doesn't creates any other plot holes? and 2) What exactly do you gain by altering that piece of the universe?

On the first question, we can already see a problem. So, we're telling me that Ash captured a whole ass Pokémon over 20 years and 936 eps ago and he didn't wanted to battle with it once? And this is the thing, you see: it's not that Mimey is a pacifist who refuses to battle. He battles when Ash asks him to and he's no opposed to it.

And even if you argue that Mimey's primary goal is to help Delia, well, firstly, she's not opposed to him battling, it seems, as even Delia herself is not afraid to battle (as Mimey's debut ep and her ordering Litten in SM proved) and even if Mimey never wanted to stop helping Delia out, Ash could still call him up eventually when he wanted to while still letting Mimey be happy with Delia. So really, why hasn't Ash ever used him in anything?

And the second question, which is also a fail. Because, really, what exactly does Mimey being Ash's mon adds to the story that justifies this retcon? Mimey is still not considered part of Ash's team, it doesn't travels with him nor does it battles in the PWC. Like, Mimey barely even appears. So why was this even accepted into canon if it doesn't adds anything new?

This recton was a disaster and shouldn't have been done.
I feel like they only gave him Mimey to Justify why Ash doesn't have a single Fairy or Psychic Type Pokemon

Because every other Fairy would be 'Too Girly" for Ash. Am I right?
 
I honestly keep forgetting that Mr. Mime even exists despite how stupid and pointless that retcon was, which is kind of impressive in a way. It felt more like they made the retcon so that Ash didn't have to rely on one of his reserves so early in the series and they didn't want him to catch a new Pokemon before Dragonite. If they were concerned about Ash not having his own Fairy type and using Mr. Mime for that, you'd think that he'd be using it more often than he does.
 
I feel like they only gave him Mimey to Justify why Ash doesn't have a single Fairy or Psychic Type Pokemon

Because every other Fairy would be 'Too Girly" for Ash. Am I right?
What a lame excuse of a reason to justify a retcon that never should have happened...

I would give him the Ralts and Mibrim lines just to fight that idea.
And he needs more female representation in his teams, especially as the Ace.
During XY I wanted him getting a shiny Nymphia, but that won't work now.

Pokemon that he shouldn't have got: Pokabu, Kenhorou, Gamagaru.....
The former was a rehash that came too soon, and the others were bland and forgettable.
And lately/especially; the Shillmon aka Lucario, being given so much attention and still lacking depths.
 
Please note: The thread is from 1 year ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom