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Which of Ash's friends made the least impact on his journey?

Who least impacted Ash's journey?

  • Total voters
    102
Even though May was introduced 2 eps before Max, they were still treated as a set all the way through AG up until May returned in DP without him.

For example, could you imagine May leaving the show but Max staying on? That would be bizarre. And likewise the writers could have dropped Max when Battle Frontier started, but they still kept him around for BF as well.
 
Gliscor'd said:
treated as a set
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No, that's your usual made up craziness
Max was Max, May was May, none of them was an extension of the other (and lol, when the writers couple the group to pairs, it was more Ash/May and Brock/Max...)

could you imagine May leaving the show but Max staying on?
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Actually - yes, I can... if the writers really wanted to do it, they could easily do it... I can totally see Max in the DP group and it could work great... but it was simply too weird for a young kid to go with Ash instead of his sister, so the poor kid was just forced to go back to his parents (well both this reason + the real reason that they probably realized that a main character without Pokémon in a show called Pokémon - probably wasn't the best idea ever)

And likewise the writers could have dropped Max when Battle Frontier started, but they still kept him around for BF as well.
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"BF" is pretty much Hoenn, you know... there was absolutely no reason why Max would randomly disappear
 
The least impact? Probably Tracey. Max was small but he was brilliant. No doubt about it. But when OS and Pokemon 2000 was going on, it was like he wasn't there. Pretty much like in DP with Brock. Only towards the end of the DP series when they were talking about Brock being a doctor was when I had noticed he was still in the group.
 
Gliscor'd said:
Why do people keep asking why are May and Max together? They were introduced in the same arc as siblings and left together.
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Are Max and May conjoined twins? If not, they can and have existed without the other being there.
 
All Misty impacted was this supposed "love" the Pokemon shippers. Sorry but she was written poorly therefore she has the least contribution
 
HardToRead said:
All Misty impacted was this supposed "love" the Pokemon shippers. Sorry but she was written poorly therefore she has the least contribution
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Not really Misty also acted like coach and mentor giving Ash some tips about choice of using pokemon(like vs Blaine,in Kanto league,vs Pryce) served as push to him and motivation to try harder with her criticism invoking in Ash desire to prove himself.Like when she managed to motivate Ash to get over his lost in Kanto league not allowing him to start self pity himself,when she helped him to get back on right track in battle vs Rudy in Oi with Squirtle learning hydro pump etc.
She also kept him on ground giving him reality check when Ash used to act impulsively when being annoyed by Gary or starting to brag how he is better trainer than he really was.
She also acted like rival during some occasions giving him moral support.

I say that along with Brock she helped Ash to grow as trainer in original series the most.

Also i respectively disagree that Misty was "written poorly".Some things in her story werent treated well(which is case with every character) like goal not getting enough focus but as supporting character overall she was treated good contributing to quality character interaction having several notable achievements getting some great development.
 
The motivation stuff is pretty generic. What Misty has contributed is basically what all of the other 5 have done throughout Ash's journey. The only difference is the other 5 has done more. Contests, rivarlies, backgrounds etc etc. Misty is just boring in my opinion. She is definitely the least impactful. She lacked the focus, story, and character due to the writing. Yes character was written poorly. Least developed characher. She iss the sidekick everyone loved except by a few others including me.
 
HardToRead said:
The motivation stuff is pretty generic. What Misty has contributed is basically what all of the other 5 have done throughout Ash's journey. The only difference is the other 5 has done more. Contests, rivarlies, backgrounds etc etc.
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There is difference between how she and others motivated Ash,With Dawn her influence was mostly along the lines of giving moral and friendly support encouraging Ash to go forward in his dreams starting to use some of techniques in battles she used when training pokemon for appeal round.
With Brock it was mostly mentor-student relationship helping him how to prepare strategies and what type of pokemon t use in battles.

With Misty there existed certain doze of rivalry and comedy with Ash with her portrayal of being "better trainer"causing in him anger and motivation wanting to prove he is better than her.We can especially notice that competitive fire between them when they battled to win same thing like in Totodile Duel,for Togepi or in Whirl Cup.Her critics and teasing questioning Ash skills served as catalyst through which he tried harder wanting to show himself as trainer in better light(we can see that on man occasions) at same time making sure to get him out of trouble keeping him on earth when glory used to hit him in head after achieving something not being realistic.

In that aspect no one left much impact on Ash with Misty and Brock being more of coaches than any other traveling companion was.

Misty is just boring in my opinion. She is definitely the least impactful. She lacked the focus, story, and character due to the writing. Yes character was written poorly. Least developed characher. She iss the sidekick everyone loved except by a few others including me.
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Least developed characters were Tracey,Max and Brock.And im interested to hear what kind of impact Tracey or even Max for that matter left on Ash?
It certainly wasnt Misty who received more focus,character development and battling screen time.Misty had personality,her story was to become water pokemon master learning everything she can about type she loves,get over her complex of inferiority which was caused by sisters etc.

Some things about her werent treated well not getting enough focus like her goal for example as i mentioned already but she contributed to dynamic chemistry within main group with her personality bringing humor, saving people lives,giving moral support to her friends teaching people to never give up from their dreams along with having several achievements like(saving whole town from destruction in Kanto,winning Princess festival,Seaking contest,coming top 8 in Whirl Cup etc) doing things.
Over time she started to develop becoming fairly rounded character who showed multiple sides of personality getting over her complex of inferiority,learning how to become more patient not being so aggressive like she used to be,becoming better trainer and collecting some considerable pokemon.

Thats not to say everything was treated well because obviously many things about Misty and story were left underdeveloped and unexplored but to be fair she had some great development with good writing being present. .
 
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Is this question asking who had least impact on Ash's character while he was on his journey?
If yes, then why treat May and Max as a set?
Interactions of Ash/May and Ash/Max isn't even comparable. From what I've noticed so far in this thread, around 90% of those May/Max votes are for Max only.

pokemon fan 132 said:
In nutshell characters which influenced Ash the most would be:Brock,Misty and to some notable extent Dawn.

Characters which influenced Ash character and his battling style the least would be:Max,Tracey and to certain extent May.
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I disagree. May's imapact on Ash's character deserves to be in the league of Brock, Misty and Dawn, not in the league of Max and Tracey.
It is evident from watching Kanto/Johto/OI and Hoenn. A significant shift in Ash's personality was noticed. He wasn't a immatured retarted brat like he used to be in earlier sagas. His silly boastful rants reduced. He had a young rookie trainer to accompany with, besides she did not like pokemon to begin with. This further increased the load of responsibilities on Ash's shoulder. It was totally a situation in which Ash was never exposed to. Later on it was pretty much the same case with Dawn, but let's not forget there was Brock too. Besides, Dawn wasn't afraid of pokemon to begin with.
May had more flaws to begin with than Dawn. Ash assumed the mentor role to May which automatically induced maturity in himself(which ultimately affected his own personality). Of course Ash still had his old willingness to battle, never give up attitude but that was tempered with maturity in AG. Brock was with Ash in previous 2 sagas, Ash and Max hardly interacted, I don't think this shift in Ash's personality has anything much to do with the absence of Misty from AG cast.
So, my conclusion is that it was May who indirectly brought this change in Ash's character during AG which was further noticed in Sinnoh.
 
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Emerald Gary said:
I disagree. May's imapact on Ash's character deserves to be in the league of Brock, Misty and Dawn, not in the league of Max and Tracey.
It is evident from watching Kanto/Johto/OI and Hoenn. A significant shift in Ash's personality was noticed. He wasn't a immatured retarted brat like he used to be in earlier sagas. His silly boastful rants reduced. He had a young rookie trainer to accompany with, besides she did not like pokemon to begin with. This further increased the load of responsibilities on Ash's shoulder. It was totally a situation in which Ash was never exposed to. Later on it was pretty much the same case with Dawn, but let's not forget there was Brock too. Besides, Dawn wasn't afraid of pokemon to begin with.
May had more flaws to begin with than Dawn. Ash assumed the mentor role to May which automatically induced maturity in himself(which ultimately affected his own personality). Of course Ash still had his old willingness to battle, never give up attitude but that was tempered with maturity in AG. Brock was with Ash in previous 2 sagas, Ash and Max hardly interacted, I don't think this shift in Ash's personality has anything much to do with the absence of Misty from AG cast.
So, my conclusion is that it was May who indirectly brought this change in Ash's character during AG which was further noticed in Sinnoh.
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Ash started to mature as character already in Johto before Hoenn even started.You can notice he became more strategic in pokemon battles not using so much reckless approach like he used to in Kanto as well not being so immature and naive compared to his starting days.His change in character already started to happen before Hoenn being influenced by his loses and new things he learned.
All of things which you said about May didnt directly influenced Ash as trainer with help coming more from Ash side.He was taking up mentor role establishing relationship teacher-student which influenced Mays character with her contest battles becoming visibly similar to Ash style of battling in gyms.
Ash influenced May to that point that she came to realization how she doesnt need help of him anymore wanting to find her own style as coordinator which she showed to achieve during her return in Wallace Cup.

Not to say May didnt left any impact on Ash being on one part responsible for his maturity but compared to Brock or Misty she didnt criticized him so much pointing out his flaws, coached and mentored him in learning new things about pokemon battles,didnt prepared strategies like Brock did for him with situation becoming reversed.WE cant deny that May learned more from Ash than Ash did from her at that point,simply because he wasnt anymore immature brat and rookie needing so much help as trainer like he required in starting days.

Same with Dawn aside from mutual friendship and encouragement which Ash received from past traveling companions she didnt influenced him to same extent like past traveling companions did.He used some of her contest combination of attacks for his later battles but on most part he was already capable and mature as character and trainer not having to rely on others like he used to before.
 
pokemon fan 132 said:
All of things which you said about May didnt directly influenced Ash as trainer with help coming more from Ash side.He was taking up mentor role establishing relationship teacher-student which influenced Mays character with her contest battles becoming visibly similar to Ash style of battling in gyms.
Ash influenced May to that point that she came to realization how she doesnt need help of him anymore wanting to find her own style as coordinator which she showed to achieve during her return in Wallace Cup.
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I never said that May directly influenced Ash's character, I said she did it indirectly. If someone assumes the mentor role to somebody for the first time, quite often his/her own personality gets affected from this mentor role.
Yes, Ash started to mature in the middle of Johto. But, still Hoenn Ash is different from mid-johto Ash. He still relied on Brock(mostly) and Misty(to some extent) towards the end of Johto. In hoenn his tendency to rely on others significantly reduced. It directly affected his chemistry with Brock in Hoenn and Sinnoh.

pokemon fan 132 said:
WE cant deny that May learned more from Ash than Ash did from her at that point,simply because he wasnt anymore immature brat and rookie needing so much help as trainer like he required in starting days.
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True
 
Emerald Gary said:
I never said that May directly influenced Ash's character, I said she did it indirectly. If someone assumes the mentor role to somebody for the first time, quite often his/her own personality gets affected from this mentor role.
Yes, Ash started to mature in the middle of Johto. But, still Hoenn Ash is different from mid-johto Ash. He still relied on Brock(mostly) and Misty(to some extent) towards the end of Johto. In hoenn his tendency to rely on others significantly reduced. It directly affected his chemistry with Brock in Hoenn and Sinnoh.
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I guess we can agree on Ash being influenced by May in personality department being responsible on one part for his maturity,with his reliance on others indeed being significantly reduced in Hoenn compared to Kanto,Orange or Johto days.
I suppose we can say how his gradual change as character in Johto started to be influenced by his rivals,friends(because of motivation) and new things he acknowledged with May introduction and take up of role as her mentor expanding more on that change with maturity of Ash character being increased.

Im just saying is that as trainer he was influenced probably the most by Misty and Brock.
 
At the moment it is hard to say, all of Ash's travelling companions have had some impact on Ash in one way or another... with possibly the exception of Tracey... because despite liking the character I can't think of a thing he did to help evolve Ash's character.

But until we see the full impact that Iris and Cilan have on Ash, the only thing we can do is speculate as to which companions have had the most/least impact on his character. Oddly enough I think May & Max get a bad rap in these sort of situations, despite the fact that Max did as much in his time with Ash as his sister did, and they had almost the same impact as Misty, Dawn, or Brock. Brock may have helped Ash's character development in the beginning, but during some of Johto, much of Hoenn, and almost all of Sinnoh he was delegated to background comic relief. Misty had a huge impact on Ash's character, both in visual and subtle ways that are seen best in hindsight. But her impact on Ash dwindled after she left and the episodes in which she returned seemed more for nostalgia. The same thing happened with May, and if Dawn or Brock return for one or two special episodes, the same will be true with them.

Even some of Ash's minor travelling companions, Todd Snap, Ritchie, Barry, Lyra and Khoury had some impact on Ash's character... some even more than Tracey did... Sorry Tracey?

So to paraphrase whate I often say... Wait until you have seen the whole picture, keep an open mind free of preconceptions and jumped conclusions.
 
But Iris is belittling him, how is that not impacting him? Didn't Misty do the same?
 
I'd say Max.

Ash had an impact on Max's journey, but Max had almost no impact.
 
Max, because other than being one of the smarties in the group and being the one to pull Brock away, he wasn't much of a main character, well in my case I believe.
 
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