I just finished rewatching the OS, does anyone else feel like Misty/Brock should of been more active characters/battlers?

[Falaish]

I've made a few posts recently about Johto since I just recently finished doing a full watch of it. Aside from the usual complaints Johto has (like too many fillers, the GS ball being dropped and Ash's Johto pokemon not evolving, etc), I think my other big issue is that both Misty and Brock weren't utilized too well.

For example, Misty wasn't a beginning trainer like most of the other female companions, (like May/Dawn/Serena/Lillie/Koharu, etc), when she's introduced she already co-owns a Gym with her sisters and had 3 pokemon (Staryu, Starmie and Goldeen). But you wouldn't know that from the way she was portrayed. Early rookie Kanto Ash nearly beats her as early as the 7th episode (he was on the verge of winning had TR not bust through the wall), and he only used Butterfree/Pidgeotto and didn't even have the Kanto starters yet. If he had Bulbasaur or Pikachu wanted to battle, he probably would have won easier. And then after that, Misty loses in the Giselle episode to a Graveler, and doesn't really battle much for rest of the season without Psyduck popping out of its ball to get a headache. In the Princess festival episode she borrows Pikachu/Bulbasaur/Vulpix because she admits her water pokemon weren't strong enough to win on their own. In Orange Islands I think her only major trainer battle is the Golduck episode against Marina. Then after that there's not much in Johto till she gets Poliwhirl/Corsola.

Anyone find it weird Misty was treated as inexperienced? Half her team couldn't even battle properly unless under special conditions (Togepi, Psyduck, Goldeen, Horsea), or were underused (Starmie), etc. I know the writers didn't want her to upstage Ash, but they gave her one of the worst battle track records imagineable till the tail-end of her run. They do have her battle a bit more by the Master Quest portion of Johto with Poliwhirl and Corsola, but even then it's not too much more and she still loses to a lot of random trainers (like the kid with Magcargo and the one with Remoraid before the Whirl cup). I actually did a count once and if you don't count TR blast-off's, Misty actually loses 80% of her on-screen battles against regular trainers in the show.

As for Brock, granted he doesn't battle much in any season, but I do feel his team was sorely underused. Crobat evolves twice in Johto to....do absolutely nothing? I don't think it ever got a real battle outside of blasting off TR. Pineco was Brock's only capture in Johto and I feel we barely saw it, even the exploding gag died out fast. Geodude was so completely irrelevant in Johto you'd forget Brock still had it on his roster. And of course Brock returns Vulpix to Suzie here, and Onix doesn't evolve till AG. I think it's a real shame because I liked Brock's team in theory but we never got to see them do anything.

I feel like they could have utilized them much better, not only because this was the end of the OS in general, but also because back then there's a lot of filler eps that could have been cut giving Misty/Brock more screentime. Misty especially since it was her final series as a main character.

 

[Nicolas721]

I think it's a bit unfair to compare them to later series' characters. They were always meant to be satellite characters to Ash and just support him when needed, I think their popularity was what helped the writers team to at least try to do something with them, but even then you can't say that Brock has an arc in AG and also blends into the background often in DP.

Of course, if a reboot were to happen they should definitely be allowed to do more and have more rounded teams, but I think that the first series is always a trial and error that I think they were surprised of how well they were received.