Do you think Goh's Grookey is the worst starter a main character has ever had in the anime?

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Knowing this series, they'll probably use it as a way to evolve Grookey....Without ever doing anything to deserve it.

I hate to say it but.....probably.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

Knowing this series, they'll probably use it as a way to evolve Grookey....Without ever doing anything to deserve it.

At this point I don't care.

We're in a catch 22 with this monkey.

If he evolves at least he'll fade into the background.

Goh can get something else

The only qualm I have about Grookey evolving is that if he does, then Goh will more than likely get a Legends Arceus Starter to replace it as his shouldermon and I don't want that when Ash and Dawn already have the 3 Legends Arceus Starters that they can use for promotion

 

[R1ke]

Honestly yeah. It showed up so late, hasn't battled or used any moves, no meaningful development, causes problems that everyone else has to deal with, etc. I don't hate that Goh got it, but it suited Ash so well. That being said, he already had a full team by then so I doubt it would've been much better.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

I like Goh's Grookey and think it's cute but it hitting Drakloak on the head was uncalled for (shouldn't Drakloak not be affected by that since it's a ghost type?)

 

[SlyGecko]

I like Goh's Grookey and think it's cute but it hitting Drakloak on the head was uncalled for (shouldn't Drakloak not be affected by that since it's a ghost type?)

It didn't use a normal or fighting type move (or a move in general) so you can basically just say Grookey just hit Drakloak with a typeless attack.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

Here's a question I asked about Grookey a long time ago:


Since we're talking about Grookey, here's a quick question

What does Grookey tell us about Goh?


A common theme in Pokemon is that you can tell a lot about a Trainer's Personality by the kinds of Pokemon they usually have by their side.

For example: Why does Cynthia have Spiritomb and a Female Garchomp?

Cynthia uses Spiritomb based on her studies on Sinnoh's relics and a Female Garchomp to obviously show how Powerful she is but also Female Garchomps don't have the reckless scar on her fin unlike Male Garchomps which symbolizes Cynthia's Strength is also balanced with Calm Maturity

Another example: Why does Kukui have a Lycanroc?

Because Kukui has 2 identities.
Professor Kukui and the Masked Royal!
Lycanroc also has multiple identities in the form of Midday, Midnight, and Dusk.
(I don't think I even need to explain Incineroar)

Why does Leon have a Charizard?
Because Leon’s Charizard is due to his status as the most popular in the Galar region, so he not only uses a pokemon even more popular than any of the Galar pokemon, he uses the BIGGEST Shillmon in the entire Franchise to cement his status as the Undefeated Champion who everybody loves.

Ash having Pikachu needs no explaining:
He's the Main character of the series. It's only natural he gets the Franchise's Mascot as his Starter




BUT let's get back to Goh:

Goh having Cinderace tells us about Goh's Optimism, Fun loving side, occasional cockiness and tendencies to get in a little over his head balanced out by competent Maturity and the fact that he is a literal Ace at his goal of capturing Pokemon

Also Cinderace is the current Generation's Biggest Shillmon.
Goh having Cinderace as his Starter also cements Goh's status as a Protagonist on the same level as Ash (for Journeys anyways)

While people complain about Inteleon's capture, it also tells us a lot about Goh. As a Researcher and a Project Mew enthusiast, a Secret Agent Pokemon being handed assignments makes obvious sense (Also notice how Project Mew was only introduced to us literally right after Sobble evolved? )

Inteleon are also known for being highly intelligent Pokemon. Goh is a highly intelligent trainer. Always shown doing research and actually goes to school

And when it was still a Sobble/Drizzile it represented Goh's tendency to cry a LOT and how he grew out of his timid nature (admittedly rather quickly lol Like Trainer like Pokemon)


So what does Grookey say about Goh?

 

[RetroPokeFan]

I honestly find it sad how Cinderace has just been kicked to the curb in favour of that nothing worthless monkey. Now it only ever pops up every now and then, I thought Cinder was meant to be Goh's partner similar to Pikachu but now they barely interact much.

 

[Soniman]

Lemme just repeat what I said in the worst gagmon thread:

"...Honestly can't believe im asking for this but if they could just rush through Grookey's evolutions and have him banished to off screen land that'd be awesome actually

Damn that's almost word for word what I said on serebii that's a funny coincidence

Say what you want about Piplup, Oshawott and Chespin but they still battled and did things...used moves...like imagine being in a franchise like Pokémon and not having a single move to your name after several months. Unacceptable

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

This is not okay at all. Grookey is basically abusing an innocent pokemon and it's treated like a joke that we're supposed to find funny.

If a CotD owned the Grookey, they’d probably have Ash and Go arrive on the scene, scold the trainer and have Go capture the Dragloak because the CotD was so horrible to it in comparison. But because apparently the main character is doing it it’s fine.

Honestly the biggest problem for Go’s character and Grookey’s antics in general is; we’ve been given no reason to root for them other than “They’re the main characters”.

 

[P_S_B]

We must have someone on staff who thinks undeserved bullying is funny; people complained that Morpeko was doing it so they shunted it away only to replace it with Grookey. If we lose Grookey we're just going to get something else that likes to be mean for no reason with no consequences.

 

[HiroHunter]

Its things like this that make me glad i'm not watching JN. I really want to know what was going though the writers minds when they were writing Grookey that made them think "Yep this is fine nothing wrong with how we wrote this character not one thing".

 

[Gengarzilla]

Here's the thing. Despite everything, Goh's Grookey has still not bothered me as much as Ash's Greninja did. Literally nothing will top that hot garbage as far as I'm concerned.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Here's the thing. Despite everything, Goh's Grookey has still not bothered me as much as Ash's Greninja did. Literally nothing will top that hot garbage as far as I'm concerned.

I can’t even compare them, honestly. At least Greninja didn’t actively cause misery amongst people and Pokémon and force everyone to take blame for itself. Greninja is a victim of overpromotion whereas Grookey just likes being a little s*** that's enabled by its trainer, so I can’t see how a comparison between them is possible.

 

[Enzo]

I'm quoting this thing I said in the Controversial Opinions thread, because it fits here rather well. It's basically my analysis/theory on why Grookey does what it does and is never called out on it: it's cuz Grookey is not a character, it's a plot device.

Grookey's whole deal is precisely because you don't need to write Grookey. It already had it's basic backstory that stabilish it that was laid out in it's capture episode, and, considering the way they like to use Grookey, they don't need anything else. There's no arc for it, it doesn't battles, it's not a Contest/Showcase Pokémon, nothing. It's intended role doesn't requires anything else.

On the contrary: it's most obvious arc, which would be about it calming down and suffering consequences for what did/does and maturing actually steers away from what they want it to do, which is to wreck havoc. Grookey having any resemblance of an arc or character development actually shatters it's function as a plot device, hence why it never learns anything: it's not supposed to.

It's all by design. With Grookey, it causes trouble squarely because it likes to hit stuff with it's stick. No rhyme or reason, no motive or anything. And as quickly and easy as it begins, it ends.

Also, another thing I was thinking about: another probable reason on why neither Goh nor anyone else calls it out on it's misdeeds it's cuz it would admit in the text itself that Goh is incompetent and doesn't knows how to raise Grookey right. By calling Grookey out, you also automatically have to call Goh out on it, since a captured Pokémon and all of it's acts are in responsability of it's trainer.

So, in summary, this would make Goh look bad, and they sure as hell don't want their perfect golden child looking anything less than perfect.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Also, another thing I was thinking about: another probable reason on why neither Goh nor anyone else calls it out on it's misdeeds it's cuz it would admit in the text itself that Goh is incompetent and doesn't knows how to raise Grookey right. By calling Grookey out, you also automatically have to call Goh out on it, since a captured Pokémon and all of it's acts are in responsability of it's trainer.

So, in summary, this would make Goh look bad, and they sure as hell don't want their perfect golden child looking anything less than perfect.

When you put it this way, I think this is another one of the negative side effects of giving Grookey to Goh instead of Ash. If they had to give him to Ash, they would have had to focus on Grookey more as a character rather than a plot device. It would have been a poorly written arc for sure knowing the Journeys writing staff, but they at least would have been required to use Grookey in battle and Ash probably would have had to address Grookey's behavior....if Grookey got to interact with Ash's team and cause disruptions to training, but we know the writers don't like showing that anymore.

 

[Unireon]

So Gou is like Lizardon now....

The anime is not allowed to make any of them look bad, no matter if that hurts other characters in the long run, and they have to be shoved down our throats with unnecessary overexposure.

I do wish that they would tone down that monkey's antics, or better banish it to the PC.

 

[Keith]

Here's the thing. Despite everything, Goh's Grookey has still not bothered me as much as Ash's Greninja did. Literally nothing will top that hot garbage as far as I'm concerned.

…huh? Nothing about this makes sense.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

…huh? Nothing about this makes sense.

I’d like explanation for this.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

…huh? Nothing about this makes sense.

I’d like explanation for this.

Greninja had a Mary Sue exclusive form, stole screentime from it's Teammates, and was overly hyped up and overexposed to near Charizard levels (tho this has died down)

Mary Sue form aside, I didn't find Greninja that bad personally but I can see why it annoys some people

 

[Max1996]

Greninja had a Mary Sue exclusive form, stole screentime from it's Teammates, and was overly hyped up and overexposed to near Charizard levels (tho this has died down)

Mary Sue form aside, I didn't find Greninja that bad personally but I can see why it annoys some people

Ash's Greninja is what elevated the Pokémon to my (shared with Hydreigon) #1 favorite overall. However, I can also see why people might not be happy to see it return, even if I would be.