Why do you think the writers changed their minds about evolution?

[Cybersai]

Back in the early days of the anime it was a rarity to see Ash's Pokemon evolve. In the first season both Pikachu and Bulbasaur established they didn't want to evolve, and for Squirtle we can assume its ties with the Squirtle Squad is the reason it didn't evolve either.

However Ash did have a number of evolutions in Kanto, such as Charizard, Butterfree, Pidgeot, Kingler, and he caught several Pokemon already evolved like Muk and Primeape, or in base stages that don't evolve like Snorlax, Tauros and Lapras. So back in Kanto/Orange, it was balanced out. Bulbasaur and Squirtle also established themselves as strong Pokemon so it didn't matter.

In Johto however we only got 1 evolution the entire saga, Chikorita to Bayleef, and all his other starters and Phanpy didn't evolve.

However there was a massive change in terms of the way Ash handles his Pokemon with AG onward. In Hoenn, Ash had almost all final stage Pokemon, like Sceptile, Swellow, Torkoal, Glalie, and Donphan. Corphish was the only one kept unevolved.

Now in Sinnoh it seems most of his team will be evolving again, the only one we don't know for sure is Buizel, who could go either way. My question is, what prompted this change? Why did the writers go from something like Johto, which had only 1 evolution, to something like AG which was practically an evo-fest? Is it because the writers knew this is what the fans wanted, so they decided to listen to us? Or is it for another reason?

 

[Luxio2k8]

I think it has to do with the poor handling of Johto. Ash's team was not only "anti-evolution" it was "anti-strong" Pokémon, too.

With May as a new character in AG, Ash couldn't be the way he always been so his team had to evolve and be strong. I love Ash's Hoenn team. I never thought they could come up with a good line-up for Ash after the classic Kanto team, but Hoenn prove me wrong.

 

[Nomura]

I think it has to do with the poor handling of Johto. Ash's team was not only "anti-evolution" it was "anti-strong" Pokémon, too.

With May as a new character in AG, Ash couldn't be the way he always been so his team had to evolve and be strong. I love Ash's Hoenn team. I never thought they could come up with a good line-up for Ash after the classic Kanto team, but Hoenn prove me wrong.

I think that's basically the only reason his teams have become much stronger, and evolved. In his travels, he was always the rookie of the group(Misty and Brock were trainers before him). Now he finally has his own rookie, so he has to look like the experienced one. What do you think of when you think of an experienced trainer? Extremely powerful, and usually evolved pokemon.

 

[Piplup]

It's simply that since the moment Ash stopped being the only star, they deicded to throw all the cute littles on the female star and let Ash have more cool and big Poké
They go with the "girls like cute and boys like cool"
Back when Ash was the only starring character I guess they tried to make his Poké appeal more to both genders even though it was aimed mainly at boys at the time
But now they have Ash appeal to boys and May/Dawn to girls

They didn't do it with Misty since she was a sidekick like Brock rarher than star together with Ash like May/Dawn (especially Dawn)
Also Misy's character limited her to mostly water types... but actually thinking about it even Misty had mostly cute or girly Pokémon (Staryu, Starmie, Goldeen, Horsea, Psyduck, Togepi, Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Corsola, Politoed... they're all cute/girly)
But they couldn't give her things like Chikorita or Cyndaquil because the water limit... so Ash had to get them

 

[Brago]

agree with piplup.

Moreover, maybe the writers realised that lots of fans (including me) were angry because of the lack of evolved pokemons. I hated so much bulbasaur fot that (he didn't want to evolve).
Back then, i thought it would have delivered a good message: starting with "weak" and little pokemons, and sparkling in the indigo league with strong and muscled pokemons (although i know that weight doesn't make strengh...etc)

 

[JB88]

It was premature back then to make such a move. Now it makes sense and logical to do it.

 

[MetaRobo]

Funny, you read my mind. I was perplexed at the drastic change in tone from the sometimes annoyingly preachy anti-evolution attitude of Kanto to the evolution-happy Hoenn. There were underlying themes behind both motives, as the early seasons did that to emphasize the whole "friendship is more important than power" idea (or maybe it's just to drill it into people's heads that the mascot will not evolve). By Hoenn, evolution was used to symbolize character development and strength (if Combusken didn't practically spell that out for the audience), but it's not like the bonding theme went away. Personally, I'm glad they shifted away from their evolution paranoia as we actually see Pokemon get stronger now.

 

[Trainer'sInsomnia]

How did Kanto give off with a cute exterior?

Of his 13 original Pokemon, Charmander, Caterpie, Pidgeotto, and Krabby all underwent evolution to their final stages. Primeape, Muk, Haunter (if he counts), and Raticate (he counts, it was an official trade, no matter how short), were all Pokemon that already evolved by the time he gained ownership. Of them, only Haunter had one more obtainable stage, but he gave it away. Then of course, Tauros, Lapras, and Snorlax were already set.

So that leaves, what, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and his Squirtle as his only unevolved Pokemon, and they were all well beyond their first stage in terms of experience and power. And as Scott pointed out, Bulbasaur and Pikachu both protested their own evolution, so there was a known reason behind maintaining their base stages. That leaves Squirtle.
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In Johto he only had 6 individual Pokemon captured from that region at that time (8 if Larvitar and his Bug-Contest Beedrill count). And of those, Chikorita evolved, Noctowl was already evolved (whom Scott forgot), and Heracross was set. That left only Cyndaquil, Totodile, and Phanphy. So out of the 6 at the time, there were 3 that took on the baby appeal, especially Cyndaquil with his "sleepy" flames, and Totodile with his excessive dancing.

So I'm not understanding where the "cute" appeal comes from. I think Johto might've given that illusion at one point because of his team at one point, but really it was well-balanced in terms of the Pokemon he acquired there and their potential.

 

[Rhyperior]

Evolution will make the Pokémon increase in power. With better Pokémon, Ash will be easier to go further in the league and win it eventually. I can't understand why they decide to solve Torchic with evolution but Cyndaquil with training. Although training is good, I expect it to evolve after all the training. Cyndaquil is still not strong enough to achieve anything.

 

[emanuellburnell]

People who saying that the writers are listen to the fans because of ag team evoving fast is full of crap,and this thing about the johto team being poorly handling is a another lie the fan base dug out of they ass,to say that cyndaquil was not strong enough to achieve anything is a lie from retared fans who think they right all the time but they not the johto team was not anti=strong totodile and cyndaquil were strong and to say that they were not strong at all is lying know it all's.and so what if there was one evolution during the entire johto saga there's nothing wrong with that, the fans allways got something to bitch about anyways.

 

[The Outrage]

How did Kanto give off with a cute exterior?

Of his 13 original Pokemon, Charmander, Caterpie, Pidgeotto, and Krabby all underwent evolution to their final stages. Primeape, Muk, Haunter (if he counts), and Raticate (he counts, it was an official trade, no matter how short)

Of those Pokemon, Charizard and Pidgeotto were the only ones to make it onto the main team. Muk was Oaked immediately after, while Haunter and Primape were given away fairly qucikly after capture aswell. Raticate didn`t really make it past one episode before it was traded back for Butterfree, and butterfree itself is a cute Pokemon. When Pidgeotto reached its final evolution, it was released, and Kingler was never a permanent part of the team either.

 

[PDL]

My guess is that they wanted monsters that were marketable and strong. So they made Ash have first form monsters that were able to fight 3rd form or other much stronger monsters.

However, fans complained that this was unrealistic and really hated the idea of Ash's small Pokémon taking on such powerful foes.

Hence why the writers stopped that and decided to graudually build up his monsters. Starting with marketable cute Pokémon and eventually evolving them into realistically strong monsters that the fans really love.

 

[LightningKimba]

My guess is that they wanted monsters that were marketable and strong. So they made Ash have first form monsters that were able to fight 3rd form or other much stronger monsters.

However, fans complained that this was unrealistic and really hated the idea of Ash's small Pokémon taking on such powerful foes.

Hence why the writers stopped that and decided to graudually build up his monsters. Starting with marketable cute Pokémon and eventually evolving them into realistically strong monsters that the fans really love.

Agreed, it worked for Torchic.

 

[Cybersai]

while Haunter and Primape were given away fairly qucikly after capture aswell.

Slightly off-topic, but it bugs me when people say Ash captured Haunter. He never caught it and Haunter just tagged along with him.

The writers didn't put Haunter in the Battle Frontier opening where it shows all of Ash's Pokemon, (and they even show the released ones like Pidgeot and Butterfree) so its proof enough Haunter was never Ash's.

 

[Trainer'sInsomnia]

Of those Pokemon, Charizard and Pidgeotto were the only ones to make it onto the main team. Muk was Oaked immediately after, while Haunter and Primape were given away fairly qucikly after capture aswell. Raticate didn`t really make it past one episode before it was traded back for Butterfree, and butterfree itself is a cute Pokemon. When Pidgeotto reached its final evolution, it was released, and Kingler was never a permanent part of the team either.

Okay, so then he had Charizard, Pidgeotto, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Pikachu, and an interchangable sixth that revolved between Muk, Kingler, etc... His sixth entirely rotated through powerhouses. That's still half that were evolved or set.

And you missed the point. Only four Pokemon total of his entire Kanto set that went unevolved, main team or not. I realize how long Raticate was there, I realize how long Muk lasted. But Muk and Kingler were a tremendous part of Ash's plateau. Are we ignoring that now? Lapras, Tauros, and Snorlax had their matches in the Championships, while Charizard put in major work during OI and times of other regions. Every one of his kept powerhouse or stronger Pokemon got their big use when it counted. Wouldn't that count for something? Isn't that rather realistic? I didn't like it - but look at his team against Gary in the Silver Conference, he didn't even use Pikachu of all Pokemon.

It might give off the illusion that he went cutesy because of who his primaries were, but it wasn't the case. And again, Bulbasaur was shown to at least be as strong as his second stage (and obviously much stronger with his acquisition of Solar Beam, fight with Meganium, etc...) His refusal to evolve was known. Pikachu's as well, who we all know has experienced jammed down his throat.

Additionally, while containing the powerhouses on standby, should he just use them to sweep gyms or work on training the base evolutions like he did?

Besides, the thread topic asked why they changed their mind about evolution. Who he keeps in his team for how long is irrelevant to that matter.
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[Nomura]

So that leaves, what, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and his Squirtle as his only unevolved Pokemon, and they were all well beyond their first stage in terms of experience and power. And as Scott pointed out, Bulbasaur and Pikachu both protested their own evolution, so there was a known reason behind maintaining their base stages. That leaves Squirtle.

Well, if you want to get really technichal, Pikachu is an evolved pokemon. You guys do remember he has pichu has his first stage. Therefore, he is another stage two pokemon in his team, the only thing he didn't do was go to his 3rd and final stage.

 

[Rhyperior]

At that time Pichu doesn't exist!

 

[Weedle Mchairybug]

At that time Pichu doesn't exist!

Hey, Ursaring and Teddiursa didn't exist at that time, either, and that never stopped them from appearing in Ash's flashback of seeing that Pocket Monsters manga movie adaptation.

As for evolutions, well, I won't say they were completely paranoid about them. Look, if they were truly that paranoid, they wouldn't have even allowed Ash to even catch an evolved pokemon (Pidgeotto, Muk, Primeape, Raticate [technically], Beedril...), or evolve the pokemon he has (Butterfree, Charizard, Kingler, Bayleef). I mean, who cares if he didn't spend much time with them. He still got them, which should be important enough. Besides, Evolution doesn't necessarily mean a power boost.

I mean, take Arbok and Weezing, for example. They evolved on screen, and yet they still get beaten around by everyone as much as they were prior to evolution, if not even moreso. Heck, Marshtomp was defeated by an extremely inexperienced Eevee, and that Pokemon was an evolved pokemon. Need I remind you about how Foretress went out easily in the Foretress vs. Cacnea fight despite being evolved and vastly more experienced?

 

[Rhyperior]

I mean they has not yet create Pichu at that time. And please don't bring your opinion against Brock here. Most of the time, evolved Pokémon perform better prior to their evolution. And what you said didn't apply to Ash's Pokémon.Actually, the Pokémon often evolve for their thought to protect someone, what's the point of evolving if they cannot boost their power?

 

[JB88]

Wow, Scott, not only was it off-topic, it came out of nowhere.

There other means to gain power, even if you don't evolve. Just take a look at Bulbasaur and Squirtle.