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What Pokemon do you think that the Writers Liked and Disliked?

Rainbow-Rain

LEADER OF THE INTELEON DEFENSE SQUAD
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Imo it's no secret that the writers have definitely been guilty of some favoritism involving certain Pokemon and they tend to neglect or just don't care for others.

Which Pokemon do you think that the Writers cared for and didn't care for?

Pokemon I think the Writers liked:

Imo I think the ones that appear in the Anime very often are definitely Writers faves

-Obvious Shillmon (Pikachu, Charizard, Greninja, Gengar, Incineroar, Lucario, Piplup, Eevee, Cinderace, etc are all explanatory)

-Sceptile (Ash's Gen 3 Ace)

-Krookodile (One of Ash's rare non-Starter Aces)

-Lycanroc (Another one of Ash's rare non-Starter Aces)

-Psyduck (Practically Misty's mascot mon)

-Togepi (Misty's other mascot mon)

Pokemon I think the Writers Didn't like:

-Torterra (Or at least Ash's Torterra)

-Swampert (Appears the least of the Hoenn Trio. The only one who's Mega wasn't shown in XY)

-Decidueye (Got defeated by it's Base stage in the most insulting way)

-Typholosion (Didn't even debut in its own Generation)

-Ambipom (Ping Pong)

-Unfeazant (Ash's Worst Bird Pokemon by far)

-Noivern (Ash's Worst Dragon Type)

-Goodra (Ash's 2nd Worst Dragon Type)

-Every Single Galar Pokemon except Cinderace (This one is self-explanatory)
 
The staff seemed to love Swellow during AG (not so much later). Ash's was turned into a complete powerhouse despite having minimal marketing value compared to starters or general favourites like the Eevee line or Lucario. They also turned Winona's Ace from her Altaria into a Shiny Swellow.

Conversely there's poor Pidgeotto, who not only got minimal time but was released for seemingly no narrative gain.
 
I don’t know what does the writing team have against Gengar.., but they just abandoned the poor thing again after it was captured and trusted Ash not to get abandoned again. It just got abandoned in a meta sense now. I know JN isn’t over yet, but some of Go's lab Pokémon probably have more screentime than the poor ghost.
 
I don't think Stunfisk was particularly a writer favorite. Between Cilan's three Pokémon (which you would think would be easier to give screen time to, with a limited number), it never got a focus episode. Its personality was barely developed, Cilan was never shown working with it (both of its subsequent newly learned moves since its capture were revealed mid-battle), and it was a jobber as it only won one on-screen battle that it participated in. They also never confirmed its Ability too, unlike Pansage and Crustle. Overall, I feel like it was just there and barely had a relationship with Cilan.
 
In the Hoenn episodes at least, Ash's Torkoal. It was only in two gym battles (one of which was an informal rematch), losing to two pokemon while only knocking out one. It gets better in Battle Frontier though, being chosen to fight Registeel and putting up a good fight as well as having learned Overheat
 
I'd argue that the writers had something against literally every Regional Bird that Ash owned that wasn't Swellow, Staraptor, or Talonflame. Pidgeotto/Pidgeot is especially notable because it technically was a mainstay in Ash's party throughout Kanto, yet for some reason it never did anything notable besides popping TR balloons, and its first and only focus episode was also its departure. Noctowl and Unfezant also had it incredibly rough, but they both at least got to be major players in one Gym, and Noctowl eventually got some redemption at the Sinnoh league. Poor Unfezant jobbing against a Riolu of all things is especially depressing, though. But then again, Riolu is a highly marketable mon by association (being the pre-evolved form of Lucario and all), so one could argue that what Unfezant actually lost to was Popularity Armor.

I would also like to nominate Zapdos and Misty's Starmie for the "Pokemon the writers have something against" list. The former has been consistently portrayed as the least impressive Legendary in recent years (what with one getting beaten up by Ash's Noivern, who is Ash's weakest Kalos mon by far, and Goh's Raboot putting up a fight against another one despite not being able to touch Moltres as a Cinderace) while the latter was portrayed as weaker than its own pre-evolution.
 
But then again, Riolu is a highly marketable mon by association (being the pre-evolved form of Lucario and all), so one could argue that what Unfezant actually lost to was Popularity Armor.
The status quo is the one thing more powerful than popularity armor, and Riolu had both.

I have no idea what was going on with Misty's Starmie. Poor thing is so good in the games (though I read it has fallen on hard times in recent gens as power creep continues) but in the show I think pretty much every Starmie we see loses.
Misty's, I'll note, was getting crushed by Pidgeotto.
 
The status quo is the one thing more powerful than popularity armor, and Riolu had both.

I have no idea what was going on with Misty's Starmie. Poor thing is so good in the games (though I read it has fallen on hard times in recent gens as power creep continues) but in the show I think pretty much every Starmie we see loses.
Misty's, I'll note, was getting crushed by Pidgeotto.
Misty's Starmie in-game is also notable for being the first "difficult" boss fight in the Kanto games due to having an absurdly high BST for that point in the game, meaning even Bulbasaur players will take a while to KO it, so the fact that it was turned into arguably Misty's weakest Pokemon (besides Goldeen and Horsea, who at least have the excuse that being strictly water-bound creatures makes finding opportunities to train fairly difficult) feels especially vindictive: it's almost like somebody in the writing staff got swept badly by Starmie when they tried playing the games, so they decided to turn the thing into a total wimp in the show as revenge.

The staff seemed to love Swellow during AG (not so much later). Ash's was turned into a complete powerhouse despite having minimal marketing value compared to starters or general favourites like the Eevee line or Lucario. They also turned Winona's Ace from her Altaria into a Shiny Swellow.
And to add to this, Winona's Altaria actually got the worst performance of her Pokemon in that Gym Battle by far, due to being oneshotted by a Leaf Blade, which is a move it should have a quadruple resistance against.
 
And to add to this, Winona's Altaria actually got the worst performance of her Pokemon in that Gym Battle by far, due to being oneshotted by a Leaf Blade, which is a move it should have a quadruple resistance against.
Heh, I recall there was some controversy over that Leaf Blade one-shot. I suspect it stopped being brought up much because the next Gym was Mossdeep, and you can't out-crazy Thunder Armor.
 
I’ll add Raichu to the list outside of the main cast. I don’t even have to explain myself. Honestly... it’s my favourite Pokémon, and the anime honestly resulted in kid!me having fantasies of sweeping Ash with a Raichu as some kind of twisted revenge against the plots the writers keep coming up for it. Writers, repeat it after me: You do not have to demonise Raichu to justify Pikachu's choices.

Granted, they have become better with Raichu representation over the ages, but not gonna lie, it stings when "the iconic moment" of your favourite Pokémon is it getting utterly trounced by its pre-evolution for BS reasons as a plot device to give validation to the protagonist’s choices.
 
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I'd argue that the writers had something against literally every Regional Bird that Ash owned that wasn't Swellow, Staraptor, or Talonflame. Pidgeotto/Pidgeot is especially notable because it technically was a mainstay in Ash's party throughout Kanto, yet for some reason it never did anything notable besides popping TR balloons, and its first and only focus episode was also its departure. Noctowl and Unfezant also had it incredibly rough, but they both at least got to be major players in one Gym, and Noctowl eventually got some redemption at the Sinnoh league. Poor Unfezant jobbing against a Riolu of all things is especially depressing, though. But then again, Riolu is a highly marketable mon by association (being the pre-evolved form of Lucario and all), so one could argue that what Unfezant actually lost to was Popularity Armor.

I would also like to nominate Zapdos and Misty's Starmie for the "Pokemon the writers have something against" list. The former has been consistently portrayed as the least impressive Legendary in recent years (what with one getting beaten up by Ash's Noivern, who is Ash's weakest Kalos mon by far, and Goh's Raboot putting up a fight against another one despite not being able to touch Moltres as a Cinderace) while the latter was portrayed as weaker than its own pre-evolution.

You can also add Articuno to that list, who didn't even get to appear in Kalos (Unlike Zapdos and Moltres and has yet to appear in Journeys).

We can also include Kingler to the list (Kingler hardly gets any love as a major appearance Pokemon). Also Seviper. No major appearances after the Battle Frontier.
 
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LIKED

* (Pikachu, Meowth, Togepi, Wobbuffet, Piplup): Some of the most frequently featured characters in the show and arguably the most shilled as most of them are more recognized for their presence in the anime than anywhere else. Wobbuffet and Piplup are also some of the only Pokemon in the series that didn't start off as Walking Pokemon but became popular enough to permanently stay out of their Pokeballs

* (Greninja, Infernape, Sceptile, etc.): All some of the most well-known powerhouses in the series. They are also recognized for some of the most famous (or infamous) battles in the series, and most took up most of Ash's team screentime in their respective series

* (Eevee, Charizard, Lucario): Not as featured compared to the other ones on the list but are still very often used in the anime. Since BW, at least one of them (or even two) has always been featured on the main cast's teams, and are otherwise used by rivals.

DISLIKED

* (Horsea, Starmie, Pidgeot, Lickitung): For some reason, a lot of the Pokemon on Kanto's cast received very little focus only appearing once in a blue moon, and then eventually got written out of the series, often without much purpose behind it. Starmie is the strangest one here because it eventually got replaced by Staryu

* (Raichu, Persian): Self-explanatory

* (The majority of Dark/Poison types): 9/10 times reduced to either jobbers or made evil for the sake of it. The only ones this doesn't really apply to usually have them as secondary typings
 
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They clearly hated Torterra, since it not only didn't return when Ash met up with his older Pokémon, but Infernape was also the centre of the episode. They really love to rub it in.

Palpitoad was also clearly hated, since it only ever get one victory from what I recall.

I'll never understand why the writers go out of the way to make some evolutions seem worse than their preevolutions. I feel like Noivern, Torterra and Kingler lost so many times to mislead kids into thinking that Noibat, Turtwig and Krabby are better...
 
They clearly hated Torterra, since it not only didn't return when Ash met up with his older Pokémon, but Infernape was also the centre of the episode. They really love to rub it in.

Palpitoad was also clearly hated, since it only ever get one victory from what I recall.

I'll never understand why the writers go out of the way to make some evolutions seem worse than their preevolutions. I feel like Noivern, Torterra and Kingler lost so many times to mislead kids into thinking that Noibat, Turtwig and Krabby are better...
Don't forget Decidueye. Good Lord

I swear it felt like they had some kind of vendetta against the poor Owl.
 
Actually, I'd say Torterra had worse treatment, since it was built us as Turtwig, only to be torn down. Even Grotle got a Gym win.
At least Torterra never lost a battle to it's own Base Stage

Decidueye is the 3RD stage of it's line while Rowlet is the 1st

I could believe Dartrix taking out Decidueye.

But Rowlet? That'd be like Pichu taking out Raichu lol
 
Honestly, trying to figure out which pokemon the writers liked or disliked doesn't really make sense to me. This is more like a "which pokemon weren't presented very well in the anime" rather than the writers having personal vendettas against certain pokemon or putting others on a pedestal because they like them. For one thing, there are multiple writers on the series. For another thing, a lot of the shillmons are mainly there for marketing purposes. Not to mention, this is heavily subjective. Why is nobody mentioning Spearow? What if somebody liked Spearow and didn't like their treatment in the anime? The writers must dislike them, right? I mean, they're heavily vilified in the straight up first episode of the entire anime...

What if one writer actually liked Typhlosion but wasn't allowed to do something with it because of the director? In Journeys, Deko Akao was allowed to write an entire episode solely about her favorite pokemon(Chewtle) so there's no reason the opposite wouldn't apply. And if that same logic happened in other series, Paul's Torterra is enough evidence that the writers don't completely dislike the species. And if it's just Ash's Torterra, then that doesn't make very much sense either, since:
  • Torterra got some exploration as a Grotle
  • The fact that Torterra is a pokemon on the main protagonist's team in the first place, when they could've just had Paul's Torterra or Brock be there for marketing purposes
  • He received a personality that may be considered rather enjoyable to the target audience
Did he get the best treatment? Well, no, but again, that's heavily subjective. But did he get the worst? Also, no, and this is also subjective.

Also, also, what about the whole Snivy fiasco? Why isn't the writer of that episode being accused of disliking Pikachu? Because Pikachu's a shillmon overall, right? But he's only there because Ash is there-a writer can dislike Pikachu by just not writing an episode about him or pulling a stunt like that to set up a rivalry. It's very much plausible. :unsure:

If I recall, Aegislash was a pretty popular pokemon, but it first appeared as a pokemon for a movie villain, then lost to Ash's Pikachu in a league. Some might argue that it didn't go down without a fight, but others might argue that its first appearance in the anime being a loss is a minus, not a plus. Not to mention the fact that Sawyer's Aegislash specifically never won a single battle on-screen, even in its base stages.

What about Palpitoad? Or Beedrill? What about that Sugar episode in DP where a Raichu was literally the one to save the day? Sure, it was last minute, but maybe the writer deliberately planned that because they like Pikachu AND Raichu.

I'm surprised Morpeko isn't being mentioned in regards to JN070. The writer for that episode must have liked Morpeko to not only have James catch him, but appear cute in its other form as well, right?

Really, the possibilities for which pokemon the writers liked or disliked are endless.
 
I'll never understand why the writers go out of the way to make some evolutions seem worse than their preevolutions. I feel like Noivern, Torterra and Kingler lost so many times to mislead kids into thinking that Noibat, Turtwig and Krabby are better...
Of that list I think Torterra is the only one that we can actually decisively say was outright made worse than its own pre-evolution. Ash's Noibat literally never battled while in that stage (the closest he ever got to battling as a Noibat was dealing some minor chip damage to a Flare Admin's Drapion), so it's a huge stretch to say that it was outright worse as a Noivern. Meanwhile, Kingler only battled once as a Krabby, so of course it's gonna get more losses in its Kingler stage, since that one's the one that got to see more action, also keep in mind that the vast majority of Kingler's wins were achieved as a Kingler, so no, I don't agree with the notion that Krabby was made to look better.

Torterra, on the other branch, got its absolute worst battle performances during that stage. Even as a Grotle it already had numerous losses, but at least it still got one win against Candice's Sneasel. So yeah, not only was Torterra made to look far worse than its pre-evolutions, but it was straight up a downward slope: fantastic as a Turtwig, weak but still with a few accomplishments as a Grotle, a complete jobber as a Torterra...
 
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