Who do you think is the most useless pokemon in any of the main cast?

B

BlackKing

New Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2012
Messages
54
Reaction score
1
As the title suggest I pick Ash's Torkoal and Oshawott

Torkoal had a few wins here and there. But the majority of the other battles it become fodder and kept on losing to types that it should win or being One-hit knockout by a move. And Oshawott I don't need to say more it became a joke in the series. So what do you guys think is the most useless pokemon in any of the main casts pokemon?
 
Togepi, obviously. It spent 200 episodes sitting in Misty's arms doing absolutely nothing. It had a handful of episodes where it used Metronome but otherwise it was useless till it evolved.
 
Togepi. Sweet Arceus, Togepi... :dead:

And Axew, who wanders off and fucks up (a lot) more often than being helpful. It's especially annoying since he has some powerful moves :mad:
 
Last edited:
Horsea? Did It do anything Interesting? I can't remember. Togepi obviously. Axew is pretty useless and keeps needing to be rescued or whatever, which got old long ago. Torkoal for Ash. He was one of those pokes who I just never really had any confidence in.
 
I don't think any of Ash's Pokemon should qualify. They all did something at some point, even if some got very little screentime.

I'd add Brock's Zubat to this. I forgot the thing even existed in Kanto.
 
I know Unfezant was horrible but I blame the writers for that. May's torchic was pretty useless until it evolved into combusken.
 
What about Kasumi's Tosakinto. The thing was first seen in episode two, and hung around throughout Kasumi's time on the show (273 episodes) and did nothing. Literally, absolutely nothing. The thing rarely appeared outside of its ball, only battled I think about five or six times and lost every time and had no personality whatsoever (although this criticism could be leveled towards Hitodeman as well, at least that appeared on a regular basis for the most part) to the point that I wonder why it was added to the show in the first place.

Honestly, I would have rather Kasumi dumped the fish at the Gym instead of Tattu.
 
The only Misty Pokemon that actually got good screentime was Psyduck, Staryu, Poliwhirl/Toed and to a lesser extent Corsola. Everything else was rarely used.
 
Axew. I would say Togepi but Axew is no longer a baby so there is no excuse why it's not being used for something more. At least Ash tries to use Oshawott and the others. But for a dragon pokemon, I was expecting more.
 
I'd say Ash's Oshawott and Iris's Axew since both tend to hog up screen time doing nothing of value; only acting as comic reliefs and causing problems for the group. They're also pretty weak as well.
 
Yea, axew was useless even thought it learned strong moves like outrage. At least scraggy was useful but axew got more of the development. Ash's boldore comes to mind it was pretty weak too.
 
I have to agree about Goldeen. At least Togepi actually did something important once in a blue moon, and had episodes based around it for better or worse. Goldeen just had absolutely nothing going for it.
 
The Fighting Misty said:
Togepi, obviously. It spent 200 episodes sitting in Misty's arms doing absolutely nothing. It had a handful of episodes where it used Metronome but otherwise it was useless till it evolved.
Click to expand...

At least Togepi had the excuse of being in an era were baby pokemon actually acted like Babies. Axew has no excuse esepcially with stuff like Cyndaquil runing around.
 
I think it would be a tie between Togepi and Goldeen with Axew coming in close behind them. Goldeen had absolutely nothing going for it personality wise or with its battles. I think that the only time it actually won a battle was against James, which really doesn't say much, and every other time it battled, it would lose pretty quickly. Togepi used Metronome every once in awhile, but it was spending most of its time in Misty's arms doing nothing and until it evolved, it pretty much was useless. Axew is more frustrating in the sense that it learns overpowered moves to give the impression that it has become stronger when it's still a little toddler getting lost and getting into trouble where it needs to be rescued just like with Togepi.
 
The only functional things I recall Goldeen doing were on the sunken SS Anne - it saved Team Rocket from drowning in the lower decks and was later used by Misty to escape the wreckage. With hindsight though, they may as well just have had her Staryu do all that, instead of randomly saddling her with a pokemon that would do absolutely sod all for the duration of her time on the show (and couldn't even fight on land, on account of being a fish). Yes, you can certainly make a strong case for the goldfish.

Brock's Zubat felt like a pretty pointless (and again, totally random) capture throughout Kanto - there, all it did after its debut episode was assist in looking for a kidnapped Ditto (back in Kanto, the writers did seem to have this tendency of having characters catch certain pokemon only to apparently then not know what the smeg to do with them after their debut episode - Jessie's Lickitung, anyone?). Zubat's fortunes did improve somewhat in Johto, however, once Vulpix had been removed from the picture.
 
Last edited:
Looking at Bulbapedia, Kasumi's Tosakinto didn't actually use a move until EP091 so that's almost 90 episodes after its debut. That's kinda sad.
 
Every main character had at least one to two pokemon which barely did anything just lingering on with no real purpose.
So in no particular order here is list of one of most underutilized and shafted pokemon introduced in show:

From May:
-Bulbasaur: Aside from entering one appeal round in contest where she failed, battle against Harley at GF in pair with Beautifly and teaming up with Ash Bulbasaur in Hokey pokeballs that pokemon did very little nor it had much going for it.

-Squirtle: He didn't fared much better either. Only memorable moments came from helping defeat Drew Flygon in GF (although most of work was done there by Combusken) and by defeating Harley Ariados. But aside from that did very little not having endearing personality to make up for luck of focus imo.

From Dawn:
-Togekiss: as late addition to her team added only salt to wound denuding it from chance to be employed to significant degree and get actual growth. Only real highlight came from entering GF when defeating Jessie which isn't saying much and by challenging Zoey in finals where she lost.

From Brock:
-Geodude: I hardly remember him ever battling or doing something of importance. Lack of characterization didn't helped either He sometime helped smother flame and out fire under control, entered that PK 1 tournament and once in blue moon battled Arbok and Weezing from TR. But most of time it stayed in pokeball doing nothing quickly fading in background.

-Crobat: ill be fair after evolution it was quite regularly used in scouting missions , while sometime helping to stop TR,. But prior to that as Zubat and Golbat it did very little to nothing.

From Iris:
-Axew: to be frank most of timer he comes of as drag rather than help to group. His wandering of and tendency to find himself in trouble being like "damsel in distress" waiting for others to save him isn't something to eulogize about. He got almost no growth aside from questionably learned moves which never appear again(like outrage) losing more than winning, along with most of time staying in backplane when others save the day.

From Misty:
-Togepi: before evolution poor thing will always be remembered in negative light by others due to almost never battling(unless you count battle vs Ash Pikachu which wasn't serious), modt of time sitting in Misty armful or at times in backpack doing nothing. He sometimes used metronome or teleport to save others from enraged pokemon like Rhyhorn or Butch and CAssidy DRowzee, but majority iof time he either got lost or ended in trouble caused by TR or wild pokemon needing Ash and co helpm to save him.

However much to my dismay i can partially excuse writers for relatively poor handling due to different policy as far as handling of baby pokemon go being treated like helpless creatures which need lot of care and love. Partially his mishandle can apply to games of Togepi requiring happiness instead of battle experience to evolve with staff deciding to follow such route.

-Goldeen: poor little fish. Almost every battle it entered resulted in loss (aside from defeating James Victreebel which very few in here remember), which isn't saying much given how it entered only 4 battles in total. It was almost never used to help resolve criosis situation with villains, wild pokemon or natural disasters like other pokemon did, didn't had much chance to display its qualities and personality being shafted beyond belief.

From Cilan:
-Stunfisk: from day he caught him floating pokemon was useless unfortunately in most of episodes, which is shame because i always found him interesting. Few battles it entered usually resulted in loss(aside from defeating random cotd in Junior Cup) and only moment of glory which came from it i consider when teaming with Pikachu to fight Tornadus and Thundurus which didn't went that well.

From Ash(this examples may have not been shafted like some others brought above, but still in comparison with rest of team had pretty poor performance):
-pretty much majority of Tauros herd he caught: Seriously most of them are never used just running around on Oak ranch and those few lucky ones he dud used(it could likely be same Tauros) entered only 4 battles which is pretty lame having half success. As result of that it never had chance to develop distinct personality and traits specific for it not being highly memorable in that aspect.

-Muk: i will never understand writers reluctance to use this poison pokemon more often. He was only used in Kanto vs Jeanette to defeat Bellsprout, and in Johto to battle Gary where he didn't scored single win. Way to waste perfectly fine pokemon.

-Palpitoad and to lesser extent Unfeazant: It goes without saying how concept of rotation while having potential to work was predestinate to fail from start in short paced sagas which doesn't leave eiough space to allow for everyone to get fair share of spotlight. AS result this were one of more notable victims unfortunately.

In retrospect Palpitoad only managed to defeat Burgundy Stoutland, Elesa Zebstrika, lost to Roxie and barely tied with one of Stephan pokemon.
Which is pretty indigent performance in comparison with some other Unova pokemon.
Than again i forgot about Boldore which only managed to win against Clay as far as gym goes following with loses in Virbank gym, in Vertress conference to Cameron, in tag battle vs Juniper and Bianca etc.

He had potential, but sadly it ended as wasted material being deprived from chance to make something meaningful from it.

p.s. I didn't included Tracey on purpose because it would be unfair to judge his pokemon and their efficacy, when character itself stayed for very short time in main cast to even allow for himself and pokemon team to shine more and get reasonable development.

WatcherMark said:
What about Kasumi's Tosakinto. The thing was first seen in episode two, and hung around throughout Kasumi's time on the show (273 episodes) and did nothing. Literally, absolutely nothing. The thing rarely appeared outside of its ball, only battled I think about five or six times and lost every time and had no personality whatsoever (although this criticism could be leveled towards Hitodeman as well, at least that appeared on a regular basis for the most part) to the point that I wonder why it was added to the show in the first place.
Click to expand...

To be fair that's not very fair criticism to complain about, at least not in Staryu case,. He was quite often used entering battles or participating in rescue missions, but as far as characterization goes its very hard to portray emotions staunchly from pokemon with non anthropomorphic features lacking face. Surface on which you can consign emotions.

As far as Goldeen goes that thing had potential to be used though, get some growth and participate in important battles. Lack of water based areas wasn't so much issue because Orange Islands screamed water everywhere, and in Johto they often stopped by lakes, rivers or oceans sputtering with water. Especially on side detour they made when going through Whirl Islands,. But for some inexplicable reason writers wasted all those opportunities to do something relevant with poor Goldeen which was intriguing addition to character team as aquatic pokemon. At least to me.

Which got me thinking, perhaps Goldeen or Horsea evolved in meantime becoming more useful members of Misty team? Too bad we will never find out, unless Misty comeback.

Spectrum Achromatic said:
How many times had Misty actually used her Starmie? I can't remember it ever showing up
Click to expand...

Starmie was actually used fairly often in early Kanto. Misty used it in Cerulean gym defeating Ash Butterfree, it was used in pokemon school battling Joe Weepinbell and Gisselle Graveller, it was send out to knock down Odish. It was used in Flameathon pokemon race which Ash won with Rapidash, in helping carry others on surface from sunk st. Anne ship, helped to distinguish flames from Celadon gym and battled TR pokemon on some occasions.

However it was quite soon left with Horsea at Cerulean gym with sisters not staying for long enough to get more focus and chance to be used to full potential.
 
pokemon fan 132 said:
From May:
-Bulbasaur: Aside from entering one appeal round in contest where she failed, battle against Harley at GF in pair with Beautifly and teaming up with Ash Bulbasaur in Hokey pokeballs that pokemon did very little nor it had much going for it.
Click to expand...
Actually, Bulbasaur lost in the battle round; it never entered an appeal round. The loss was understandable since Bulbasaur had just joined May's team, but the problem was that the only thing Bulbasaur had accomplished before the Grand Festival was learning Petal Dance.

-Squirtle: He didn't fared much better either. Only memorable moments came from helping defeat Drew Flygon in GF (although most of work was done there by Combusken) and by defeating Harley Ariados. But aside from that did very little not having endearing personality to make up for luck of focus imo.
Click to expand...
Squirtle also performed an appeal and won the final Kanto Contest against Harley's Banette (used by Jessie). I remember people complaining that it received too much focus over the span of just a year; it definitely accomplished more than Munchlax and Eevee did. Squirtle was basically a pre-cursor to Piplup and Oshawott, although the latter two were given more realistic development since they had a longer run. In my opinion, May should have kept Bulbasaur on her team instead of dumping it for Squirtle, which would have given Bulbasaur, Munchlax and Eevee some much needed development.
 
Last edited:
Each of May's Pokemon still got used at least twice. Her Bulbasaur beat Harley in his debut and was then used in a Grand Festival match. Squirtle was literally used in every single Battle Frontier Contest in either the appeal or battle round except for like one of them.

The only one that didn't do much was Eevee, who hatched when BF was already almost over...but it still got a Contest and a Grand Festival match. And really the only purpose of Eeevee was to set up Glaceon's debut during her cameo.
 
Please note: The thread is from 13 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom