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What is your opinion on Ash releasing Pokemon?

What is your opinion on Ash releasing his Pokemon?


  • Total voters
    93
If you guys really feel extremely bad about it, why don't you catch and train a Gliscor in the games? In memory of the character.

They are very good Pokémon.

I did it during Ambipom's tenure and that hasn't dissapointed me.

*Goes of to breed a good Gligar*

Funny you should say all that. I recall, back when Ash got Gligar and the time of his evolution, being compelled to breed and train my own in-game Gliscor for the novelty of it. Ended up being a very likable Pokemon.

As for releases... Can't say I don't get a twinge of anger any time a Pokemon gets released. I say it's because of my 'Collect-aholic' nature. Just imagining Ash or any of the Main Characters with a huge repitore of Pokemon to call upon makes me giddy inside. I consider any 'mon the Stamp Marker of a job well done, an Ode to Training Skills, to see your kickass Pokie mop the floor with Nameless Trainner #84.
 
I just don't understand the purpose of giving a main character a Pokemon just to get rid of it. In Kanto I can understand as the show was intended to be one saga back then, but why is it happening now?

I still can't figure out what the whole point of Aipom was. They gave so many episodes to it. It had two full fillers back in Battle Frontier even before DP started.
 
Primeape, Pidgeot and now you-know-who, had no reason to be released. Dawn releasing Ambipom was a slap in the face.

Ash left Primeape with Anthony to make it a P1 Champion or some shit. I really don't have a problem, Ash gave Primeape to Anthony so he would let Anthony fulfill his dream.

Ash left Pidgeot at Route 1 to protect its flock from a Fearow. I really, really like this reason, would you protect a friend from a gang of bullies? yes right? this is exactly what Pidgeot wanted to do, so Ash left it.

The thing we shall not name was released because the Old Man wanted it to become an Air Master or some shit similar to Primeape. It was Gliscor's decision not Ash's.




Now, on my opinion. I don't mind Ash releasing a Pokémon unless it has a reason to be released, so far, Ash has never released a Pokémon without a valid reason.

Oh might I add, It is in training like Charizard and Squirtle, so is Primeape, so the thing we shall not mane is not technically released, just left to train. Ash has only truly released three Pokémon (Butterfree, Pidgeot and Lapras).
 
Personally, it sucks to see a member of the team go, but what're you gonna do? I ususally get over it fast.
 
I chose the third choice. I'm pretty neutral and don't care for the most part, then again, it's not like I've watched a lot of the show beyond OI anyway. Was sad to see Pidgeot go, but, meh, what are ya goin' to do?

At least one good thing, from what I've noticed, is that Satoshi/Ash usually releases a Pokemon when the Pokemon itself wants to leave for whatever the reason. If one of his Pokemon wants to fufil some dream, he doesn't hold it back. IMO, that shows how good a friend he is. Seems he puts the Pokemon's need before himself. He's a trainer but a friend first and foremost. Due to his character type, I couldn't see him ever keeping a Pokemon against its will.

I'm behind the times, but has he ever released a Pokemon without a legitimate reason?
 
I'm indifferent, but I was pretty unhappy about the fact that Ash let Gliscor go (he pretty much released the comic relief Pokemon of the Sinnoh group).
 
I don't mind releases usually but something doesn't settle well with me on the recent release. I don't know exactly how to explain it though but it just has caused some worries for me about the DP series and how it'll pace itself out.=/
 
What really bugs me is they choose the most memorable, fun Pokémon to boot.

It's obvious they want Ash to stick to the usual team of Pika/bird/grass/fire/water - and I actually like this kind of team, as overused as it is
With Dawn, they wanted to both focus on Mamoswine AND give her Cynda - that's 2 new Poké she'd need to focus on... Piplup is her and the DP series' mascot and Buneary is second-to-Pip... they couldn't focus on all 6 with 2 new Poké stealing spotlight and Pip/Bunny constantly getting it, so they had to throw either Pachi or Ambi and it makes sense to choose the less mascot-like of the two

And in Ambipom's case, did so in such a randomly out-of-character manner.

At first I thought so too and almost became crazy like some of the people here but if you think about it - it's not out of character at all, it's actually very fitting
As I see it, the whole character of Aipom/Ambipom is supposed to symbolise the fact a Pokémon should always be able to do what it wants to do and not what its trainer wants it to do
Aipom wanted to join Ash, so it followed him and let itself get caught
Aipom wanted to participate in a Contest so it made Ash enter one
Aipom wanted to participate in a Contest so it happily joined its trainer's enemy just to participate
Aipom realized just how much it likes Contests and that it'd like to do them more often, so it joined Dawn
Ambipom enjoyed participating in Contests as it wanted to and helped Dawn win two of her ribbons
Ambipom found out about ping pong, which it probably never knew about before and simply fell in love with it - it still clearly likes Contests as proved by the fact it had to think for a while before it chose what it prefers
So it went to train for ping pong like it wanted to do

Why can't Dawn have 6 Pokémon?

As I said, Ambi would get seriously neglected that we might never see it at all outside of random "everyone out" scenes
In such case, I do prefer to see Ambi get two eps dedicated to itself like it got, rather than make it "disappear" without getting any spotlight before

If they want Ash to get a new Pokémon, why not just Oak one, Heracross-style?

An Oak'd Poké almost never appear again, other than a few battles here and there after YEARS
Take Glalie for example, the last time Ash was in Pallet we didn't even see his Oak'd Poké - so Glalie didn't appear at all for 4 years or so
I'd like it much better if Glalie got a great ep like Gliscor/Ambi got and left rather than randomly stay with Oak without being seen at all for years

I'd rather see them rot at Oak's lab like the Johto starters than see them released.

Which is extremely ridiculous as I just explained

I think Ash is getting more similar to Paul

Exactly how? Paul would never give up his Poké for the Poké's sake
Paul doesn't care about what it Poké wants
Paul randomly abandone his Poké if he see them as "weak" or "useless"
Ash leave his Poké for their own good and let them decide themselves what they'd like to do - it's the Poké's decision

I just don't understand the purpose of giving a main character a Pokemon just to get rid of it.

Why not? I enjoyed Gliscor a lot for the almost 100 eps we had it, it went through nice character development and its farewell ep was really fitting for its story of wanting to get stronger
And soon we'll get a new friend which could be just as entertaining
I don't see anything to complain about
Same for Ambi, it was great for the long time it was here, it filled the purpose of showcasing how the trainer should always do what's best for the Poké and now we can enjoy Mamo and Cynda
Not to mention both might return later, so we don't know if this was the last time we see them - and even if they won't return it's NOT THE END OF THE WORLD, calm down

In Kanto I can understand as the show was intended to be one saga back then, but why is it happening now?

How does that has anything to do with anything? stop trying to defend your holy Kanto -_- it was the worst saga in terms of plot and development, seriously
You say I defend the writers' "retarded" decisions, yet the "retarded" things made in Kanto are somehow ok -_-

Why is it happening now? Why NOT?! these are some of the best eps ever, it refresh the cast, these Poké eventually would get neglected for years at Oak's anyway so they better leave with a good ep, etc...
Yeah, I don't see any reason it shouldn't happen, as long as it's one Poké for each character per generation, and if they return later than it doesn't matter at all

I still can't figure out what the whole point of Aipom was.

Already explained that

If Weedle turns this into another Misty thread I'm going to report him.

You're no better than him, you know?

Don't bring this bullshit here about Misty or "human character" replacements. That is not what this thread is about.

Funny, because the human characters are MUCH more important
You laugh at Weedle for "crying" about a main human character that left years ago, yet you're "crying" about TWO Pokémon that left the cast in the last 10 years...
 
Oaking pokemon is much better then giving them away to strangers.
 
I just don't understand the purpose of giving a main character a Pokemon just to get rid of it. In Kanto I can understand as the show was intended to be one saga back then, but why is it happening now?

I still can't figure out what the whole point of Aipom was. They gave so many episodes to it. It had two full fillers back in Battle Frontier even before DP started.

Putting my Doylist Hat here...

I'd say that the writers either have no idea what to do with the character afterwards or executives wanted for Ash to get a new Pokémon to hock their merchandise introduce a new character.

Also, keep in mind that there introduce characters to serve certain purposes, heck, before Aipom was caught, I didn't care much for the species as a whole, but Ash's Aipom managed to change my entire view of the family and now I think of it as a great Pokémon.

Anyway, the purpose of training is not only to acheive the goals of the trainer himself, but to better the lives of their Pokémon as well. It's like raising children.

You eventually have to see them go off and make it on their own.

Exactly how? Paul would never give up his Poké for the Poké's sake
Paul doesn't care about what it Poké wants
Paul randomly abandone his Poké if he see them as "weak" or "useless"
Ash leave his Poké for their own good and let them decide themselves what they'd like to do - it's the Poké's decision

You know what would be interesting? If Paul found out that Ash did give away Gliscor and he gave Ash a hard time about it. Perhaps calling him a hypocrite since Ash gave him a hard time about releasing Chimchar.
 
There's nothing wrong with Ash letting Gliscor go and it should not be a big deal anyways, Gliscor had her time on Ash Sinnoh team and is much better for a Pokemon like Gliscor to be left with a stranger then at Oak's Lab.

Atleast Gible will benefit on Ash's Sinnoh team and make this team look even better compare to Gliscor who never really did anything on the Sinnoh team that much.

Another thing Scott the Johto starters are not rotting at Oak's Lab they were seen when Ash came back from Hoenn and seen again in that Pokemon spinoff episode, so they are not rotting at Oak's Lab they were left their so Ash could get a different team in each regions were he's at, because he can't have the same team forever which was the reason why his Kanto team left.
 
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I kind of learned toward option 4, I know that he had to let his Pokemon go sometimes and I respect that despite how flat and annoying he had become since BF. The biggest two heartpullers for me were Butterfree and Pidgeot because I liked both of them. Lapras was not such a big deal since I knew it had to happen. I don't know if Ash will ever see Gliscor again since he has sent it into training, though it depends on if or not it is a Primape type or a Charizard/Squirtle kind. If it is the latter than you can bet we will see it again for the Sinnoh League and probably after that should Ash need it.

I think it is better sometimes to put Pokemon into training rather than Oaking them since he has brought his in training ones back more times than he has from Oak's lab sheesh.
 
An Oak'd Poké almost never appear again, other than a few battles here and there after YEARS
No they do appear, as you said after Ash see the rest of his Pokemon.

Take Glalie for example, the last time Ash was in Pallet we didn't even see his Oak'd Poké - so Glalie didn't appear at all for 4 years or so
I'd like it much better if Glalie got a great ep like Gliscor/Ambi got and left rather than randomly stay with Oak without being seen at all for years

So you wouldn't want Glalie to ever be seen again? How is that so much better?

I honestly do not understand why releasing is somehow better than Oaking, at least with Oaking you are guaranteed to see said Pokemon again.

Seriously why doesn't Ash just get rid of all his Pokemon? Since he apparently doesn't deserve to have any.
 
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I don't see the point of Ash putting so much effort into training only to let someone else finish the job, especially with the latest release. The only reason the writers did this is so he can get Gible and avoid having two ground types on the same team. Terrible writing, just terrible.

Of course if Gliscor does come back for the League (and Sunyshore as it's an electric gym) ala Charizard and Squirtle then I won't be too bothered. Hell, I'm still hoping he'll remember Primeape eventually and recall it for some kind of fighting competition. I know it's unlikely but still.
 
. Terrible writing, just terrible.

Agreed. The only redeeming aspect of this is Gliscor returns for the league, and becomes part of Ash's team, meaning no returning to the Air Master, but going to Oak's when he's done with it.
 
It really varies on a case-by-case basis. Remember also that most of the released Pokémon come back at some time. Though, "releasing" isn't really the correct term imo, since giving them up for training isn't really releasing per se.

Butterfree: Made sense and kinda reflects what happens to Butterfree and its ilk in the games - it's used for a while early on then goes for something later. Plus it made sense from a plot-based perspective.

Haunter: Don't mind. It wasn't Ash's per se.

Primeape: Stupidest departure so far imo. He became P1 champion... and then went for training so it could be a champion? Eh?

Pidgeot: Didn't like this release very much. Seemed like a way to write Pidgeotto out without resorting to leaving it with Oak.

Lapras: Fair enough. It was stated when it was introduced that once they found its herd, it would be released. Bonus points since it returned in Johto.

Charizard: Fitted Charizard's personality pretty well since it was in order to become a better fighter. Came back a few times since including at Blackthorn Gym, Johto League and two Battle Frontier challenges.

Squirtle: Not too fussed about this one, though it was more because of the implication that the kickass Squirtle Squad were useless without Ash's Squirtle leading them, even under Officer Jenny. Came back for the battle with Brandon.

Beedrill: Don't care about that one since it was only around for like 30 seconds.

Larvitar: See Haunter.

Gliscor: See my point about Charizard, both here and in the epi discussion.
 
Yeah, I never really considered Larvitar and Haunter to be Ash's Pokemon anyway. The group take care of lots of Pokemon they don't capture, like Brock with that Stantler or May with Swablu. I also doubt anyone cares about a Beedrill Ash owned for 1 minute of an episode.

Charizard and Squirtle seemed like releases at first, but the writers rectified that. If that happens with Gliscor all will be forgiven.
 
I also doubt anyone cares about a Beedrill Ash owned for 1 minute of an episode.

I don't but Beedrill still could've been a nice replacement for Butterfree, since Heracross is something all on its own.

But yeah it only being captured to give to someone really makes it kind of hard to care unless they do it to one of your favorite Pokemon.
 
Please note: The thread is from 14 years ago.
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