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Is being a mascot pokemon an advantage or disadvantage?

Is being a mascot pokemon an advantage or disadvantage?

  • Advantage

    Votes: 4 9.8%

  • Disadvantage

    Votes: 20 48.8%

  • Starters are worse

    Votes: 2 4.9%

  • It truly is up to the writers

    Votes: 15 36.6%
  • Total voters
    41
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Cascada

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Well, you know how it goes. The show's past just proves it.

Pikachu, Togepi, Piplup, Oshawott, and any others I may be missing knows the word mascot a little too well.

To be honest, I personally took a liking to all of them, but I'm aware others didn't.

With that said, as much of initially charming a mascot may be, after a while, you start to realize why it is a mascot, and when you do, you begin not to like it.

However, if one finds a mascot to be a fav of their's, then of course they would have no problem seeing it on television 24/7.

Mascots are never shafted, and always get special treatment, but when that treatment blatantly becomes an eye sore, then it really makes a fan like myself wonder.

Is being a mascot pokemon an advantage or disadvantage.

Piplup was the starter with the most personality, so much that episodes that could have been used to further the Grand Festival and Pokemon League were based on adventures of it and Pikachu(another mascot).

Pikachu is guaranteed to be on every season as long as Ash sticks around, but has to deal with scrutiny if it losses a battle, or if it is even in that battle in the first place.

Togepi was cute as ever, and a rare species to the show, but I am aware some said it was around for so long it started to affect Misty's character(not that I agree though).

So, at the end of that day, is being a mascot, a good or bad thing? They're essentially pokemon celebrities, always in the tabloids, can be notorious or glorious, but too much of them can become sickening, but, when you write down their statistics, they've achieved more than others, so what will it be?
 
Thread approved.

Because there will be some inevitable overlap with this thread, please only discuss mascot Pokemon and the advantages and disadvantages of being one, as iterated in the first post of the thread. Thank you!
 
Mascots tend to annoy people after a while unless their trainers' teams receive adequate screen time. Pikachu stopped entertaining me after a while, but I didn't mind it participating in some battles in DP since the majority of Ash's other Pokémon were battling as much as or more than it. However, in BW, because it's constantly getting used for whatever reason and members of Ash's team are getting shafted, I'm more annoyed by Pikachu now than before.

On the other hand, when the mascot is just there to look cute like Misty's Togepi, I'm annoyed. It lacked training and battles and just sat in Misty's arms the whole time.

Piplup has so far been the only mascot that doesn't for the most part grate on my nerves. Sure, it was overbearing at times, but most of Dawn's team received equal screen time and enough battles.

Oshawott's okay battle-wise since it doesn't partake in them all the time, but what's wrong with it is the writers keep using it in playful episodes when they could be showing off any other member of Ash's team (Purrloin episode and Cubchoo episode to list some examples).

In conclusion, I find being in the role of a mascot a disadvantage more often than not; I suppose it's good for sales and the franchise as a whole, but for entertainment value? And like I said before, it really depends on how they're utilized by the writers (too much or too little screen time, battles, etc.).
 
Im kinda torn between it.On one hand mascot brings benefit of increasing sales being good for pokemon franchise and promotion of games or anime,but on other hand too much exposure can cause negative impact and effect on audience because of getting tired of seeing something being used over the top at cost of neglecting other pokemon.

For example Ash Pikachu i usually dont have any problems understanding how he is main mascot of pokemon franchise and im still enjoying in yellow rodent when entering battles or having some good interacting with other pokemon.He helps with merchandise being worldwide recognized as its main face and all in all im fine with his status.

Oshawott on other hand though is being used over the top.Its not so much about battling screen time like its case with his overuse in various episodes where his presence isnt necessary and could be used for something more productive along with giving other pokemon 5 minutes of glory as well.

Misty Togepi was cute and it served purpose of foreshadowing release of second generation of games being one of mascots which helped promote them being very important during that time,but main problem is that he was barely used in battling or in action at all aside from few metronoms and teleports getting group out of danger and some good relationship with other pokemon(especially Pikachu).Rather wasted potential imo.
Though on positive side it helped Misty to become little more mature allowing for some good development and it introduced concept of pokmon eggs in show being first on owned by main group.

Dawn Piplup was sometimes overused affecting screen time of other Dawn pokemon annoying many fans because of its overexposure instead of that extra focus being used for something more productive.However it was also very popular(especially in Japan)increasing sales and contributing to game promotion so in conclusion it brought more benefit than disadvantage imo.

Another annoyance is because of their cute status,mascots almost never evolve hurting sometimes their development and bringing annoyance among people.Heres hoping that Oshawott might break that trend.

So in end i believe while too much focus and use can be disadvantage at times in longer run pokemon mascots bring more benefit from financial standpoint helping to increase sales,promote games better and attract new kids toward buying new products because of their cute and appealing factor.
 
It all depends on how they are written honestly. If you see them over and over and over again, then you start to get sick of them. In the early Kanto and Johto sagas, Pikachu had every other episode to himself, and that annoyed me greatly. Now with the introduction of a co-mascot, Pikachu isn't in the limelight as much and I have grown to tolerate him. Maybe even like him.

But as for his co-mascots, they are completely hogging up the spotlight. Even Pikachu and Togepi weren't as showcased as Piplup and Oshawott. Pikachu and Togepi SHARED their screentime with the rest of Ash's pokemon and allowed some development. Meanwhile, Piplup pretty much forced Ash's pokemon to develop much faster than normal, and Oshawott doesn't even let Pikachu share the spotlight, let alone the rest of Ash's team! Ash promised EACH of his pokemon that he would help them grow stronger, but because Oshawott is the mascot this time around, NOT pikachu or snivy or anyone else Ash has, Oshawott is the only one who ever gets trained.

So my final answer is: in terms of the anime, being a mascot is a serious disadvantage if you are not written properly. We're getting the mascot shoved down our throats much more this time around than when we had Piplup on the show! And now pretty much everyone hates you because of that.

In terms of merchandise, I think more people recognize Zorua and Zoroark as the mascots than Oshawott. I see far more Zorua/Zoroark merchandise than Oshawott, so he's really underplayed in that aspect.
 
Disadvantage. One of the problems with so much attention being focused on just one or two Pokemon, besides others deserving attention getting shafted, is that since there's little or no meaningful interaction between a cast of several equally developed Pokemon characters, the mascot becomes stale and uninteresting.

Meowth is arguably a mascot, but since he interacts with other important characters and places in meaningful ways, and because he can speak English, he exists also as a developed character.

If subtitles were shown whenever Pokemon speak, the over-the-top actions the 'mascot' Pokemon have to display in order to appear distinct wouldn't be so irritating, and we'd be able to understand more about who characters that have less screentime like Tranquill really are.
 
I don't mind Meowth, I think he has become somewhat of a mascot. Not as powerful a Pikachu (whom I would really love to kill.), but I always loved him. I love seeing him still when I am in a Pokemon mood. I feel a sense of nostalgia.
 
Disadvantage.
Just look at Dawn's piplup, it is clearly one of the most hated pokes in the fandom.
 
Pikachu, Pipulp, Togepi, Maril, Axew, Meowth, and somewhat Oshawott and maybe Bulbasaur are mascots and it might be a disadvantage because they dont want them to evolve.... the only one that had was Togepi and that wasd after Misty had already left
 
More of a disadvantage. If the Pokemon are doing more showing off than battling, then it might be too much.
 
At this point in the anime? I'd say a disadvantage judging from their battle wins and loss ratios. Kind of ironic that the writers love to advertise the starters, but have them continuously lose battle after battle.

Marketing: Hey kids, look at Snivy, Oshawott and Tepig! Aren't they awesome?! 8D
Episode 710: Bianca's Pignite and Ash's Oshawott lose battles.
Episode 711: Snivy is the fall-gal in the gym battle.
Episode 712: Tepig loses a battle.
Kids: ...
Marketing: ......buy their merchandise! 8D
 
It depends on how the writers portray them, but overall I think its more of a disadvantage. Yes, the pokemon will be more known worldwide and maybe even succeed in whatever its purpose is, but after a while fans gets annoyed with it hogging up screentime. Pikachu was (and still is) hated for the longest time because it did this and it was only in DP that it seemed to reach a balance with other pokemon. Togepi let kids know that there were more pokemon out there that they didn't know of, however it never battled and only served to sit there and accomplish nothing. 2 different cases that ended with both pokemon annoying a good portion of the fans.
 
Definite disadvantage. If you're a mascot, you become a scapegoat for the fandom to put their problems on. Sure, we all know that Buneary wasn't shown off that much for reasons more complex than "Piplup stole its focus", but we all like to blame Piplup anyway.

Pikachu is lucky enough that he's been around long enough to become iconic and Ash's trusted Pokémon. Much as we'd like him to be never be used, Ash not having Pikachu wouldn't make him Ash.

But other attempts to bottle Pikachu's success didn't work. Especially Togepi.
 
For advertising purposes, it may be an advantage for the kids, but when it comes to competitive play, depending on which mascot Pokemon you're talking about, it could be a disadvantage. While Piplup and Togepi are well-respected because of their full evolutions doing a decent job in the metagame, Pikachu and Oshawott get the shaft because the latter seems generic for a starter Pokemon and the former gets his butt handed by everyone, even with the light ball, because of its not good enough movepool.
 
Hmm, disadvantage to an extent, but it does slightly depend on how the writers wrote them. I mean, when something's popular, it'll always been hated, as it is shown more often and in different lights- even when it's not, it will be, as some people believe that if it's popular, there must be a reason to hate it. However, I do feel it depends on the writers way of illustrating it, for example, I quite like Meowth, and he's a mascot, but hating Piplup, as he was shown in a very negative light in my opinion. It could be an advantage as, someone said earlier, little kids could idolize that Pokemon- but it does depend on how they are displayed.
 
More than the kids, the ones who have the advantage with mascots are the marketers. You're trying to sell your merch, but your merch contains over 600 choices to buy and most kids aren't privileged enough to buy them all. Some might not even buy at all because they can't decide. So what do? Choose one or two you think appeals most to kids, pimp the hell out of them on your show even if they have nothing to do with the plot whatsoever or put them in the slot of every interchangable role regardless of your reasoning, and suddenly those indecisive kids know which Pokemon toy to buy. The one that gets all the awesome screentime, of course! The target audience for the most part won't care that this Pokemon soaking up all the spotlight is essentially boning the rest of the Pokemon and dooming them to a lifetime of obscurity. Because that Pokemon helped them decide, and the marketing department is rolling in money because of those mascots. So yeah, it's no wonder why this concept is so beloved by the people behind the show and all those impressionable kids.

For the rest of us who care more for the story and seeing ALL the main cast Pokemon (or any of our favorites) have their Crowning Moment of Awesome, this falls to our disadvantage. Meowth is probably the only "mascot" that I'd consider handled well consistently, though Pikachu did get a lot easier to bear in DP because it wasn't hogging the spotlight all the goddamn time (because that was Piplup's job!) and really only came in when needed. Beyond that, though... Togepi was the most boring waste of time and space, May's Squirtle wasn't exactly what I'd call an endearing character, Piplup was a nightmare, and Oshawott seems to be going down a similar path though I don't quite hate it with all my heart and soul yet, whereas by this point in DP I wanted Piplup to go jump off a cliff and die. Doesn't mean that fate won't befall Oshawott eventually, but spotlight-hogging in BW is really made even worse by the fact that Ash is haphazardly catching Pokemon left and right, leaving us with a much bigger team needing spotlight that they will probably never really get outside of their introductory episodes. I guess you might call Axew a mascot, though it hasn't annoyed me too terribly much outside of its total bullshit methods of gaining strength. At the same time, I don't really care that much for Axew, either. I guess being a sidekick's main Pokemon instead of a co-star's mitigates the irritating spotlight-hogging factor a bit, plus there's actually the expectation that Axew won't be a cutesy little mascot forever in the series (something I pretty much accepted would be the case with Piplup about 100 episodes before they confirmed it) that makes it marginably more tolerable.

In any case, like I said in the overexposure/underexposure thread for characters in general, mascot status pretty much guarantees a lot of undeserved screentime that will more often than not stand a good chance of ruining your otherwise good character. Pretty big, tragic disadvantage, it is. A blessing and a curse, if you will.

So all in all, it depends on your perspective. For people like us, though, I'm pretty sure it's a disadvantage.
 
i say its all up to the writers i dont think that being a mascot is a disadvantage or a advantage
i liked pikachu as much as piplup and oshawott
 
It depends on how the characters are handeled in the show, and how much screentime and focus they recieve.
 
I think Pikachu is at the biggest disadvantage being a mascot, because it has been on the show so long, and there's only so much you can do with Pikachu...yet the writer's are pretty much required to show Pikachu at least a little each episode because it is THE mascot of Pokemon. And because of that, it's easy to get tired of Pikachu (like I have), putting it and the viewers in a less-than-great position.

It definitely seems to be a disadvantage overall, though, since I can imagine that a lot of viewers (particularly the older ones) probably get bored with the same schtick that the mascots do all the time (Togepi is just there looking cute and getting into mischief, Piplup was constantly front-and-center as that irritating cheerleader, etc.)
 
I don't know about this. It can be an advantage because of course you get well known but at the same time it takes away the spot light from the other pokemon around the region as well
 
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