In a thread to attempt to chronicle the various screw-ups of the anime, what are some plotlines the writers built up at one point but went absolutely nowhere? Keep in mind some stuff some stuff could still be resolved in the future, which is why Ho-oh's connection to Ash won't be listed here since the writers are still clearly interested in the storyline.
Some stuff off the top of my head, let's get the obvious ones out of the way first:
1) GS ball. Yeah, the storyline started in Orange that was completely abandoned during Johto. Thanks a lot, Johto writers.
2) Casey as a secondary rival. She was built up as a second rival in Johto but then fizzled out toward the end of the saga and faded into obscurity. Looking back now, what the heck was the point of Casey in the first place?
3) Brock's Heavy Ball. Brock got a Heavy Ball from Kurt that was never used.
4) Drew and Robert's rivalry. Apparently, Drew got beaten twice by Robert in the first Contest and Hoenn GF, and he held a grudge against him. This was never resolved.
5) Misty's dream of being a Water Pokemon Master. You could arguably say that being a Water Gym leader brings her closer to her goal, but at the same time, it really didn't seem like what the character wanted to accomplish at the beginning.
6) Jessie's feelings about Hoenn when she first arrived. If you recall, during AG1 Jessie made comments about Hoenn, followed by James asking, "Have you been here before?" Since then, Jessie's history with the Hoenn region was never delved into.
7) Grace. After May beat her, the character apparently fell into a hole and died and was never head of again. She didn't get a montage during the Hoenn GF while all the other past coordinators that May faced did.
8) Ash promising Pidgeot he would see him again when he returned to Kanto after Orange. He came back to Kanto three times after and still never bothered to check on him.
9) Max and Ralts. Max promised Ralts he would come back for it when he became a trainer, will this ever happen?
10) Steven, the Champion of the Hoenn Elite 4 was shown in 1 measly episode during Dewford Island and never heard from again. The group never found out that he was the champion of the Elite 4 either.
11) Team Magma/Aqua never revealed where they got the Blue and Red orbs from. This is because Mt. Pyre was oddly skipped in the anime.
12) Bayleef's crush on Ash has mostly faded since the end of Johto, although at the same time you wonder why the writers abandoned the concept for Aipom.
13) Ash never got a rematch with Richie so he could kick his ass and prove how much better he was than him.
14) Jigglypuff mysteriously disappeared and was never heard from again after appearing in the Trick House episode during Hoenn. Where did Jiggly go since then?
15) Silver, an older man with gray hair appearing in a Hoso with Richie acted "shocked" when the name "Ash" was mentioned to him. Who is this Silver character and why didn't he ever appear again?
16) Hun and Attila (haha, aside from the sex change thanks to 4kids) captured a Rayquaza in the beginning of the Movie 9 montage. What became of this storyline?
17) Marina, apparently a character who wanted to be an Idol trainer, was retconned and turned into another girly coordinator, something the character never was.
18) Despite Mewtwo erasing Giovanni and TR's memories, the organization should still have files on Mewtwo back in their labs. Why didn't TR ever attempt to go after Mewtwo again?
19) Giovanni lost control of the Viridian Gym and Agatha of the Elite 4 took it over. She said she was only there temporarily until a new Gym leader was appointed. Who is the new leader of the Viridian Gym?
20) A certain main character was given an Eevee randomly in the middle of a saga, only for that Eevee to barely get any screentime during its run. What was the point of this Pokemon?
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That's all for now, since I've given 20 of them. Is there anything I missed? Or is there anything here that you think will still be resolved?
Some stuff off the top of my head, let's get the obvious ones out of the way first:
1) GS ball. Yeah, the storyline started in Orange that was completely abandoned during Johto. Thanks a lot, Johto writers.
2) Casey as a secondary rival. She was built up as a second rival in Johto but then fizzled out toward the end of the saga and faded into obscurity. Looking back now, what the heck was the point of Casey in the first place?
3) Brock's Heavy Ball. Brock got a Heavy Ball from Kurt that was never used.
4) Drew and Robert's rivalry. Apparently, Drew got beaten twice by Robert in the first Contest and Hoenn GF, and he held a grudge against him. This was never resolved.
5) Misty's dream of being a Water Pokemon Master. You could arguably say that being a Water Gym leader brings her closer to her goal, but at the same time, it really didn't seem like what the character wanted to accomplish at the beginning.
6) Jessie's feelings about Hoenn when she first arrived. If you recall, during AG1 Jessie made comments about Hoenn, followed by James asking, "Have you been here before?" Since then, Jessie's history with the Hoenn region was never delved into.
7) Grace. After May beat her, the character apparently fell into a hole and died and was never head of again. She didn't get a montage during the Hoenn GF while all the other past coordinators that May faced did.
8) Ash promising Pidgeot he would see him again when he returned to Kanto after Orange. He came back to Kanto three times after and still never bothered to check on him.
9) Max and Ralts. Max promised Ralts he would come back for it when he became a trainer, will this ever happen?
10) Steven, the Champion of the Hoenn Elite 4 was shown in 1 measly episode during Dewford Island and never heard from again. The group never found out that he was the champion of the Elite 4 either.
11) Team Magma/Aqua never revealed where they got the Blue and Red orbs from. This is because Mt. Pyre was oddly skipped in the anime.
12) Bayleef's crush on Ash has mostly faded since the end of Johto, although at the same time you wonder why the writers abandoned the concept for Aipom.
13) Ash never got a rematch with Richie so he could kick his ass and prove how much better he was than him.
14) Jigglypuff mysteriously disappeared and was never heard from again after appearing in the Trick House episode during Hoenn. Where did Jiggly go since then?
15) Silver, an older man with gray hair appearing in a Hoso with Richie acted "shocked" when the name "Ash" was mentioned to him. Who is this Silver character and why didn't he ever appear again?
16) Hun and Attila (haha, aside from the sex change thanks to 4kids) captured a Rayquaza in the beginning of the Movie 9 montage. What became of this storyline?
17) Marina, apparently a character who wanted to be an Idol trainer, was retconned and turned into another girly coordinator, something the character never was.
18) Despite Mewtwo erasing Giovanni and TR's memories, the organization should still have files on Mewtwo back in their labs. Why didn't TR ever attempt to go after Mewtwo again?
19) Giovanni lost control of the Viridian Gym and Agatha of the Elite 4 took it over. She said she was only there temporarily until a new Gym leader was appointed. Who is the new leader of the Viridian Gym?
20) A certain main character was given an Eevee randomly in the middle of a saga, only for that Eevee to barely get any screentime during its run. What was the point of this Pokemon?
---
That's all for now, since I've given 20 of them. Is there anything I missed? Or is there anything here that you think will still be resolved?
