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Who is Ash Ketchum?

Personally, I don't know who the hell he is. He comes off to me as a dumbass who acts like a PKMN ranger than a trainer. There's so many things we don't know about this kid. Like for example:

What event that made him want to be a trainer in the first place?
Why doesn't he have any friends in Pallet Town besides Gary?
Why the hell he hasn't gotten Primeape back?! Ok, the last one was personal, but you get the point.

We have seen more development on a movie character than over ten years of Ash.
 
You know I was watching some Master Quest episodes a couple of days ago and after paying close attention, I think that Ash really lost himself so to speak after Gary announced that he'd like to become a researcher like his grandpa. In the end both were happy for each other you know with it Ash continuing as a trainer and Gary as a researcher.

To me its like a little bit of Ash kind of "died" because most of Ash's Gary encounters in Johto were him wanting to show him up and prove he was a worthy adversary. Kind of interesting that the same forumla applies to Paul and Trip if you really think about it...

I used to think DP Ash was my favorite but after considering the above thoughts I now feel that AG Ash might be the best due to maturity (as much as can be expected of Ash...) the reason being is because AG seemed to be Ash's first step into being his own man in terms of no recurring rivals (Morrison appeared too late in that saga to count, May was the one with the real rivals).

But when DP came it seemed like he feel into the rut of wanting to prove others wrong with his strategy being the best instead of training for himself you know?
 
Gary was probably part of what defines Ash during their rivalry, being best friends when they were younger, teasing and taunting Ash, eventually pushing Ash to get stronger. Sometimes, I wondered if Ash wanted to be Pokemon Master because he wanted to, or because he just wanted to prove himself to Gary Palletshiping anyone?
 
Ash Ketchum was a kid with a dream to explore all the different regions and capture all the Pokémon he could. In the dub, his goal was to catch all the Pokémon he could and become a Pokémon Master. He was a good kid who really cared for his friends and his Pokémon, and although he was never the brightest tool in the shed, he always fought with his heart more than with his head, and that was his distinguishing trait. Unfortunately, he has really lost himself over the years, devolving into a character who is always happy with a smile on his face, regardless of whether something is sad, emotional, or anger-arousing.
 
At first I thought Paul and Ash reflected the Flint/Volkner um "relationship/friendship" but now it seems that title really goes to Ash and Gary.

Gary representing Flint leaving the "rivalry" behind to go into the E4; Gary following in his grandpa's footsteps.
Ash representing Volkner "staying" to fulfill his dream to fight strong opponents but then becoming bored with it...

Also remember Gary was the fuel that got Ash going on many of his journeys. Ash practically followed Gary to Johto and when it came to Hoenn it was Harrison who told Ash about it and if I remember Ho-oh flew in that direction.

Gary's example of only carrying around one Pokemon (his starter Blastoise) after leaving on a new journey (which would eventually take him to Sinnoh) is why Ash only takes Pikachu with him on new journeys.

In the Battle Frontier, the postcard from Sinnoh and then Gary telling Ash the world is a big place makes Ash follow him to Sinnoh the next day.

Its just amazing how Gary had a hand in shaping who Ash is. It seems the rivals Ash finds and begs to battle or prove his strategies/training methods are best are just substitutes for Gary since he no longer has him around in a region to look forward to battling or competing with you think?

This could be why his trip to Unova seemed FORCED since it was only because he and his mom went with Oak on "vacation" rather than him actually having a legit motive to start in a new region.
 
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At first I thought Paul and Ash reflected the Flint/Volkner um "relationship/friendship" but now it seems that title really goes to Ash and Gary.

Gary representing Flint leaving the "rivalry" behind to go into the E4; Gary following in his grandpa's footsteps.
Ash representing Volkner "staying" to fulfill his dream to fight strong opponents but then becoming bored with it...

Also remember Gary was the fuel that got Ash going on many of his journeys. Ash practically followed Gary to Johto and when it came to Hoenn it was Harrison who told Ash about it and if I remember Ho-oh flew in that direction.

Gary's example of only carrying around one Pokemon (his starter Blastoise) after leaving on a new journey (which would eventually take him to Sinnoh) is why Ash only takes Pikachu with him on new journeys.

In the Battle Frontier, the postcard from Sinnoh and then Gary telling Ash the world is a big place makes Ash follow him to Sinnoh the next day.

Its just amazing how Gary had a hand in shaping who Ash is. It seems the rivals Ash finds and begs to battle or prove his strategies/training methods are best are just substitutes for Gary since he no longer has him around in a region to look forward to battling or competing with you think?

This could be why his trip to Unova seemed FORCED since it was only because he and his mom went with Oak on "vacation" rather than him actually having a legit motive to start in a new region.

True. Gary's always seemed as that bigger stepping stone for Ash to defeat over the years to me. His rivalry will Paul goes much deeper in terms of values to me overall, since both have very different approaches to how each reached the level of intensity in their battles and Ash sought to show Paul that his way was the "right" way, but his rivalry with Gary has been since his childhood, and it's a more connected and established rivalry between the two. Ash and Gary really have a close connection with each other in terms of how much Gary stirs Ash to defeat him time and again, and it's pretty amazing to see how much Gary caused Ash to develop over the years. They definitely have the closest bond of any of the rivals to each other, yet their rivalry isn't the deepest to me in terms of how opposite they are one another, because Gary still treated his Pokémon with respect and a lot of what he did was similar to the way Ash treated his own. :)

His trip to Unova was ridiculous by comparison in terms of how unnatural and forced it felt. I really thought the plane boat thing he took was awesome, though. That was really cool to watch. :ksmile:
 
I don't know who he is anymore.

To me, he was this:

tumblr_mopklwrF1Y1s5h198o1_400.gif

Now, he is this:

1364780453692.gif

Yeah...
 
I don't know who he is anymore.

To me, he was this:

View attachment 89793

Now, he is this:

View attachment 89792

Yeah...

Scanning Dogars doesn't mean he isn't aware of what it is; Satoshi clearly scanned Trancell during the Caterpie episode and it was made abundantly clear he knew what that was. Scanning Pokemon with the Pokemon Zukan is probably a force of habit for him. Plus, it's a good way to give the kids watching some extra information as well.
 
I don't know who he is anymore.

To me, he was this:

View attachment 89793

Now, he is this:

View attachment 89792

Yeah...

Scanning Dogars doesn't mean he isn't aware of what it is; Satoshi clearly scanned Trancell during the Caterpie episode and it was made abundantly clear he knew what that was. Scanning Pokemon with the Pokemon Zukan is probably a force of habit for him. Plus, it's a good way to give the kids watching some extra information as well.

Oh I know, I was just joking. He's done that multiple times before Unova/Isshu.
 
I have a theory why Ash had this personality change between DP and BW. In the Sinnoh league, he was showing his superb skills as a Pokemon trainer and used magnificent tactics to beat his rivals. His battle with Paul was one of the best in the entire series. And then it happened... Ash must have had battled the Darkrai dude. His main Pokemon were injured, so he had no choice but to take his storage Pokemon and battle with them instead. And so, without a realistic possibility of beating his rival, he was almost swept. After that, and before heading to Unova, he thought:

"What the heck! I gave my best, I used all my experiences and strategy and still lost to some guy with legendary Pokemon! I don't care anymore, this might happen in the next league as well, so why stress myself? I'm going to have fun from now on!"

And this resulted in the BW Ash, he doesn't really care anymore (even if he says otherwise) and catches Pokemon and battles just for fun.
 
Please note: The thread is from 11 years ago.
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