Did you like Tracey/Kenji during the Orange League season?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Almonds

Almonds

Lovely
Scorbunny Fan
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
14,622
Reaction score
4,578
According to Bulbapedia, there was an interview done by someone from the Pokemon anime production, and they said that the reason why Brock was replaced with Tracey during the Orange League season was because they thought people might call them racists. However, even after Tracey was in the show, nobody really cared. Rather, lots of viewers missed Brock, so he was back for the Johto saga and beyond.

But while Tracey was in the show, do you think he fulfilled the anime creators' wish? Do you think he was a good enough character?
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

Approved.
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

Strangely, I always like him contrary to most of the fandom.
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

Yes, kinda. I never hated him like most people seemed to. He just wasn't as funny or interesting as Kanto-era Brock though so I didn't care when he left.

If Tracey was introduced later on in the series, after people started getting a bit tired of Brock, I think his character would have been more successfull. He just came at the wrong time....way too early in the series.

Its funny because Tracey is viewed as a "failed replacement" because they went back to the original character, whereas when Misty and Brock got replaced again by May and Cilan, it wound up sticking. I guess we now know why the original trio was reunited the first time it split up, but not the second time.
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

No, I didn't really like him at all. He didn't really have a stand-out personality bar being a bit of a fanboy around Oak, which in itself was kind of weak compared to the reactions Brock and Dent have had to folks they admire or lust for. Other than that, he was pretty much just super calm and there, which didn't provide too many memorable moments.
Pokemon Watcher isn't much of a Raison d'être either. Yeah, drawing and watching animals. It's a cool thing to do in real life, but not so much when it comes to TV entertainment.

I suppose in a sense it allowed for the friendship and interaction between Ash and Misty to develop even further, and since Misty was a crack-up back then, that's a pretty good trade off methinks.

In any case, it's pretty obvious that they were playing it 'safe' and created a character to fill that criteria. And they succeeded, perhaps too well.
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

Grave-E said:
In any case, it's pretty obvious that they were playing it 'safe' and created a character to fill that criteria. And they succeeded, perhaps too well.
Click to expand...

I think the fact that they never forgot him and he continued to appear every season after he left says enough. He even appeared in more of those hoso specials than Misty did, oddly enough. I think he's in like 7 of them.

Tracey's last appearance was AG191....and he continues to get off-screen references to this day. Amazing that such a minor character in retrospect managed to stay around throughout the whole show.
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

I liked him better than Brock but I didn't like his chemistry with Misty back then. Only when the chronicals came on is when Misty really seem to get along better with Tracey.
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

I didn't mind Tracey. He was a likable enough character, but he wasn't great either. There was nothing about his personality that particularly stood out, and he felt like a watered-down version of Brock, only with even less to do, and without Brock's vast knowledge of Pokemon and over-the-top girl craziness. Since he was an entirely original character and had no game counterpart, they could have taken the opportunity to create someone interesting without any restrictions, but they completely failed to deliver.

That said, I'd still take an inoffensive character like him over an annoying one any day of the week.
 
Last edited:
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

I don't remember loving his character, but I don't remember disliking him either. In fact, I barely remember him from when he was with the gang. He was likeable enough, but his lack of real character development and personality, plus the fact that he got very little action, made him overall unmemorable.
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

Tracey was created sadly for wrong reasons serving as test to see if fanbase is bothered by Brock eye design,with writers replacing him due to potential racial issues.When you include character in story with not much thought put into it,its not like you could have expected much from his character in first place.Fact how Tracey character didnt received any growth whatsoever,with nothing being known about his past,motives or in reality anything just further confirms that.Instead of fleshed out and developed storyline we had character which ended up shallow with his staying at prof.Oak being just an afterthought to provide excuse to drop him out.

However as far as character goes i thought Tracey was likable and intriguing character.I liked his obsession over prof.Oak,love he had for sketching and he had some pretty good interactions with Ash and Misty(especially in chronicles with those two having good dynamic).He wasnt showed enough for me to gain valid opinion but from what it has been showed,he was refreshing change in Orange Islands and i found interesting his ambitions when it comes to sketching being pokemon watcher.We can also say how he is the only character so far who accomplished his goal considering his dream was to become prof.Oak assistant,in end becoming one.

Grave-E said:
I suppose in a sense it allowed for the friendship and interaction between Ash and Misty to develop even further, and since Misty was a crack-up back then, that's a pretty good trade off methinks.
Click to expand...

Agreed,you could tell how Tracey played of nicely with Ash and Misty during OI.He served as intermediate and balance between their fights with both characters opening themselves more to each other(softening up looking beyond initial impression they had on themselves) with their friendship being strengthened.Likewise i recall Orange Islands had several hints of romance mixed in there.

Not sure only what you mean by "crack-up",but if its being referred to someone being fun i find Misty was fun character in Johto and Hoenn(both hosos and cameos) as well .
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

I actually did like Tracey. He was a bit dull, but I liked him regardless. He did have personality quirks and had his funny moments during the Orange Islands which I think lots of people forgot about. I do think that if Tracey had remained a main character past Orange Islands it would have been dreadfully boring, since there's only so long you can keep a character like that without them losing whatever little luster they had. But I always thought he was a decent character anyway, and he was good in Chronicles too.
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

Tracey wasn't that bad to me, just mellow. Kinda laid back which ironically fits the theme of the islands a bit when you think about it. Though like people have said he doesn't stand out as a character quite as well as Brock did, so for many he isn't as memorable.

It always makes me wonder though what would have happened if they introduced Tracey around when Hoenn was released, would he have been better received and would the group and the series had been better or not.

Overall hes alright, not terrible not outstanding, just Tracey.
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

I will mostly agree that he's not a bad person, but his entire reason for existing was a folly, and he never accomplished anything other than sort of what he was looking for.
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

Nice guy. Kinda flat, but still better than what Brock would later become.
(Not that I noticed back then.)

I guess he was okay.
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

I liked Tracey. He didn't take over, but he wasn't nonexistent either. He was cute and entertaining at times. A good character.
 
Re: Did you like Tracey during the Orange League season?

Tracy was okay to me. I never really liked him, even back when I first watched the Orange Islands, but I never really hated him either. He was just kind of there, which was part of the problem with his character. Despite how he was the first character in the main cast that didn't have a video game counterpart or wasn't based on an already existing character, he didn't stand out that much at all. He mainly stood on the sidelines during the action, didn't have any memorable moments with Ash and Misty, didn't have much of a personality aside from being a huge fan of Prof. Oak and pretty much didn't have any kind of development. He was likable enough, although I never liked him quite as much as I did Brock, but he didn't stand out that much at all. So, he was one of those boring yet likable enough so I can stand him kind of characters to me. It's kind of nice that they have him appear again and even some brief references even in BW, but I'm glad that he only lasted one journey. I didn't really see much of a point in him sticking with the group past the Orange Islands, especially when he clearly wanted to help out Prof. Oak, and I doubt that it would have led to much of anything for his character, aside from capturing a Smurgle in Johto. Still, he was a decent enough character, but nothing really memorable to me compared to characters like Brock and Cilan.
 
He was meh, didn't think of him much during that saga. Just a lil dull, maybe the fact that he was prototype for the writers was the reason, maybe...
 
Eh, he was white bread to say the least. Not particularly memorable in any way. His occupation was fairly unique, but so much more could have been done with it.
Isn't Tracey is a girl's name?
 
I liked him, sure, but just didn't find anything amazing about him either, other than his unique goal - though now I'm not seeing too much of a difference between a Pokemon Watcher and a Pokemon Connoisseur. But he was an all right guy and I'm sure he would have been better received if he had remained with the main group longer. That's actually part of the reason why I think the OI group had the least amount of chemistry - because they had the least amount of time together.
 
Last edited:
Strangely, i've never had a problem with Tracy and didn't have a problem when he first appeared or whe he left. When he appeared it shook things up among the group, but i've always felt he earned his spot. When he left I never really got the sense that he was gone for good. He kept getting cameos and mentions for years afterwards. A character that apparently so many people hated has managed to stick around for all this time. I believe that if he'd been introduced later when Brock's character started to fail that he would still be a part of the group now and would be far more popular. (The Orange Islands have always been one of my favorite sagas)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom