Question about Ash Ketchum and his perpetual underdog status

[Legacy]

OK, so our hero, Ash Ketchum from P-town, has definitely made strides to be a better trainer over his career.

I mean when he was first with Misty back in Kanto, he barely knew how to even catch a Pokemon.

Now, he has sort of taken two trainers under his wing in May and Dawn, and has shown many times why he is a very good trainer at this point.

But...the show definitely portrays Ash as a trainer who still has a long way to go. For example, Scott the BF guy asked him, "You didn't think you could beat a member of the elite Four did you?" when Ash lost to Agatha...Plus he still loses battles that a real champion would win easily.

My question is...actually I have two questions:


1. How far do you think Ash is from being an elite trainer capable of beating an Elite Four Member or Cynthia without too many lucky gimmicks?

2. Does Ash's underdog role against many of the top trainers contribute to why so many people love Ash? If Ash finally becomes a Master and loses his underdog quality...would you still like Ash?

 

[L-Z]

1. Because Ash still loses battles (which is realistic, of course), I'd still say that he has a somewhat long way to go, but he has shown plenty of skill recently. His habit of capturing new Pokémon in every region might also have something to do about it, but even Pikachu's strength varies a lot. I'm pretty sure that he won't be able to beat Cynthia just yet. Paul, maybe.

2. Possibly. Ash isn't supposed to be perfect trainer, but a sort of everyday person that kids could relate to. And would I still like Ash if he would become a "Pokémon Master"? Well, that depends on what a Pokémon Master does, really. It has been said many times before, but I still think that no one can't be the greatest trainer in the world, and there still will be people who are better than others.

But I guess I wouldn't like Ash that much if he became a Champion all of the sudden, considering that he still has work to do, especially since he seemed to "forget" that Normal-type attacks won't hurt Ghost-types in the battle against Agatha.

 

[Cybersai]

Keep in mind Ash uses new freshly caught Pokemon in each saga, so the guy is essentially handicapping himself when he goes to a new region.

If Ash went marching through each region with Charizard, Snorlax, Sceptile, Swellow...etc...he would be a lot more powerful.

There's no doubt that now Ash is a very experienced trainer with a lot of victories under his belt. He has yet to win a league though, so let's just see him do that before we think about the Elite 4 status.

 

[Legacy]

I guess another question I'd have is...would people even watch the show if they (for some reason) continued to air new episodes after Ash finally became a 'Pokemon Master' or something close to that?

Or would you lose interest after Ash had already secured enough respect to where people expected him to win all the time? Would there be anyway for the writers to make a series focused on Ash as a star/celebrity trainer?

 

[Cybersai]

I guess another question I'd have is...would people even watch the show if they (for some reason) continued to air new episodes after Ash finally became a 'Pokemon Master' or something close to that?

That will probably happen when the show ends, anyway.

After that the writers would likely use an entirely new cast and maybe have Ash make the occasional cameos or whatever.

 

[Legacy]

That will probably happen when the show ends, anyway.

After that the writers would likely use an entirely new cast and maybe have Ash make the occasional cameos or whatever.

I know that's what they'd do in reality, but would you watch a show still focused on Ash if he won a big championship or something?

 

[dman_dustin]

I'm pretty sure that he won't be able to beat Cynthia just yet. Paul, maybe.

That's pretty much saying Paul is better than Ash. But considering Ash's Pokemon seem to do fine against Paul's, I doubt it. If Ash were to use someone like Charizard, Paul would struggle against Ash. Assuming Paul didn't use one of his secret powerhouses.

 

[Trainer'sInsomnia]

Who're these "top trainers" in this scenario?

 

[L-Z]

That's pretty much saying Paul is better than Ash. But considering Ash's Pokemon seem to do fine against Paul's, I doubt it. If Ash were to use someone like Charizard, Paul would struggle against Ash. Assuming Paul didn't use one of his secret powerhouses.

Well as I said, Ash can definetely beat Paul, at least with Charizard. And who knows, if he and Paul face off in the Sinnoh League, I think he could beat Paul by just using his current team.

 

[dman_dustin]

Well as I said, Ash can definetely beat Paul, at least with Charizard. And who knows, if he and Paul face off in the Sinnoh League, I think he could beat Paul by just using his current team.

Oh geez I forgot, if someone leaves it that vague, the person meant Ash could beat Paul not Paul beating Cynthia. I guess I was too tired to realize. I apologize.

 

[Slipstream]

That's pretty much saying Paul is better than Ash. But considering Ash's Pokemon seem to do fine against Paul's, I doubt it. If Ash were to use someone like Charizard, Paul would struggle against Ash. Assuming Paul didn't use one of his secret powerhouses.

It seems he doesn't, otherwise he wouldn't mock Ash now would he? You think that Torterra stands a snowballs chance in hell of beating Charizard?

 

[Charizards Burn]

Keep in mind Ash uses new freshly caught Pokemon in each saga, so the guy is essentially handicapping himself when he goes to a new region.

If Ash went marching through each region with Charizard, Snorlax, Sceptile, Swellow...etc...he would be a lot more powerful.

.

Of course! As you said if he had charizard, snorlax etc in his team he would stand a more of a chance against paul or even maybe some of the E4.

Personally i would like to see charizard used more than just the usual call up for the league. Oh well i went off topic lol