Ash's Biggest Mistake

[AlexOzzyCake]

Arguably Ash has made a lot of mistakes since first becoming a trainer, but which do you think was his biggest? It could be anything from catching a certain Pokémon (Why does a crocodile wear sunglasses...?) to silly battle strategies (Palpitoad to face all of Elesa's Pokémon? Seriously Ash?), releasing a team member (Charizard!) to losing a friend (You love Dawn silly!), or anything else you can think of. And as a follow up question, do you think he learns from these mistakes or does he keep making the same errors time after time? I'll never forget how Pikachu lost to Trip's new Snivy or how Ash tried to catch the Deerling at the start of Unova, so maybe he hasn't learnt much at all!

[Gonbe]

I think one of his biggest mistakes is when in one of the first few episodes, he used his caterpie against that pidgeotto

[Kenshin5]

Some of them I really can attribute to Ash since I feel the writers to and cast an ignorant nature upon him every now and then. In Kanto though I felt one of his biggest mistakes was choosing to use Charizard against Ritchie when Ash did not have grasp of Charizard as Iris has the same situation with Dragonite. I get releasing pokemon is fine, but not going back for one after you promised is just plain dumb to me. Hey Pidgeot could you kind of help against Harrisons Blaziken? Giving Primeape away to Anthony to train I thought was a big mistake as well, I mean just when they get chemistry he lets Primeape go? No I am sorry but that was a dumb move imo.

And I do believe he learns from his mistakes overall, as he adjusts after loses from Paul even if he kept the same team he still made the adjustments so the same thing didn't happen from their previous match.

[Hikari10]

I think one of the biggest mistakes Ash ever did was use an Electric-type attack from Pikachu on an Electivire, not knowing about Motor Drive.

And to mention it happened on two occasions.

[Ash493]

For some reason I feel that the biggest mistake was that he did not get to keep Ranger Riolu. It could have evolved into awesome Lucario and he could have been much better trainer...

[psyanic]

Originally Posted by Kenshin5

And I do believe he learns from his mistakes overall, as he adjusts after loses from Paul even if he kept the same team he still made the adjustments so the same thing didn't happen from their previous match.

Which is why I really wish we stopped following Ash's journey at Sinnoh, but that's another discussion. Although I agree that Ash learns, even though after each region, his progression is obscured. But compare Ash's start in Kanto to the one in Hoenn and I'd say he has improved, so he knows what he's doing, it's just that he doesn't do it. The reset kills him.

I say that not using his other Pokemon in the Hoenn League was one of his biggest mistakes. He, somehow, got rather far in the tournament, but he really could have taken it if he used his other Pokemon as well. I mean, come on. He only used his Hoenn Pokemon, which severely limits his team.

[Bobdapeach]

Originally Posted by AlexOzzyCake

silly battle strategies (Palpitoad to face all of Elesa's Pokémon? Seriously Ash?)

Haven't seen this episode so sorry if i'm wrong.
But Palpitoad is ground, and Elesa has electric Pokemon, so isnt that smart since electric doesn't effect ground?
where's the logic in this?

[motb777]

The most silly thing Ash did was to throw a rock at a spearow (later fearow).
He shouldn't have done it in any way; he could have a very strong fearow.
Also releasing Pidgeot. Wait. Pidgeotto is your strongest pokemon and just evolved into Pidgeot and you just release it?

[zephyr6257]

Dude. The dumbest thing he ever did was that he slept late BEFORE the day when he would get his first Pokémon. No question. Getting a Pikachu, instead of getting any of those epic Kanto starters, would be waaaay better. And that would mean he could use a better electric-type, and Team Rocket would probably be hunting down another trainer, the list goes on, and on... :l

[psyanic]

Originally Posted by zephyr6257

Getting a Pikachu, instead of getting any of those epic Kanto starters, would be waaaay better.

Uh, he got all of the Kanto starters anyway, thank you very much. And he got them relatively early on his journey. Although Team Rocket probably wouldn't be on his case all the time, because he wouldn't have blown up the Pokemon Center in Viridian.

[zephyr6257]

Well he did, but you don't need every single Kanto starter to be an awesome traineeer. :l That means two extra slots for cooler Pokémon.

[Ice Car]

His biggest mistake was not growing a day older in 6 something seasons.

[pinta77]

Oh my gosh... The list of mistakes Ash makes goes on and on.

The biggest in my opinion would have to be the friendhips he throws away as he goes from region to region. I know that his friends make stupid excuses as to why they have to leave, but does he even keep in contact with them? I dont think so. He just replaces people like misty with May, Dawn, and whoever his cronies are in unova. He's not even friends with brock now, is he?

[gimmepie]

Originally Posted by pinta77

Oh my gosh... The list of mistakes Ash makes goes on and on.

The biggest in my opinion would have to be the friendhips he throws away as he goes from region to region. I know that his friends make stupid excuses as to why they have to leave, but does he even keep in contact with them? I dont think so. He just replaces people like misty with May, Dawn, and whoever his cronies are in unova. He's not even friends with brock now, is he?

But he does stay friends with them really, he just goes a different way. They show that he's still friends with them because they make significant appearances in the next generation. Brock even came back after Tracy left.

Since the game works differently to the anime I can't say leaving his Charizard, Primeape, Gliscor etc... was such a bad idea because he can still find them and call on the ones he still technically owns when he needs them.

I think his biggest mistake is not ALWAYS using his head. He's been shown to be ingenious in a lotof significant battles but then any random trainer or rival can beat him easily (even with a random Snivy, lolwhat?). If that dude actually paid attention all the time maybe he could finally manage to win a league.

The runner-up screw-up is not using Charizard in the Sinnoh league. Sceptile, Charizard and Infernape are some of his best pokemon but the only one he used was Infernape. If he had used Charizaed not Torkoal for his fire type against Tobias things may have gone better, after all we have already seen proof that it can go toe-to-toe with a legendary (and win) in the Entei movie (and there was a second time I think but I don't remember).

[Kenshin5]

Originally Posted by pinta77

Oh my gosh... The list of mistakes Ash makes goes on and on.

The biggest in my opinion would have to be the friendhips he throws away as he goes from region to region. I know that his friends make stupid excuses as to why they have to leave, but does he even keep in contact with them? I dont think so. He just replaces people like misty with May, Dawn, and whoever his cronies are in unova. He's not even friends with brock now, is he?

He doesn't throw away friendships. Its not in his character to blatantly disregard a friendship with a human or pokemon.

Before you place it on him Ash is not the one writing people off the show, he is not forcing people out they left on their own will. Why would he have pictures of vice versa Brock have a picture of him and Misty together if they were still not friends?

The writers pretty much force a change due to advertising purposes of the new games. So the mentality is out with the old in with the new for the most part. This is not to say characters will just be left and never revisited. We have seen Misty return, we have seen May return, Dawn recently got a mini arc before and during the Junior Cup.

Originally Posted by gimmepie

But he does stay friends with them really, he just goes a different way. They show that he's still friends with them because they make significant appearances in the next generation. Brock even came back after Tracy left.

Since the game works differently to the anime I can't say leaving his Charizard, Primeape, Gliscor etc... was such a bad idea because he can still find them and call on the ones he still technically owns when he needs them.

I think his biggest mistake is not ALWAYS using his head. He's been shown to be ingenious in a lotof significant battles but then any random trainer or rival can beat him easily (even with a random Snivy, lolwhat?). If that dude actually paid attention all the time maybe he could finally manage to win a league.

The runner-up screw-up is not using Charizard in the Sinnoh league. Sceptile, Charizard and Infernape are some of his best pokemon but the only one he used was Infernape. If he had used Charizaed not Torkoal for his fire type against Tobias things may have gone better, after all we have already seen proof that it can go toe-to-toe with a legendary (and win) in the Entei movie (and there was a second time I think but I don't remember).

I doubt Charizard would have got him the victory. It all depends on how many more legends were on Tobias team as Ash only took out 2 of his pokemon. Second time was with Articuno in Battle Frontier.

[ZetaZaku]

I can't really remember the older seasons that well, but he's been doing good in Best Wishes. Yeah, he did make some "mistakes", but it's not because he's stupid or amateur, it's because he loves to challenge himself as a trainer, and his Pokemon. What's the best way to prove that a Water Pokemon is badass? To beat a Grass or Thunder Pokemon.

Maybe he did made some mistakes, but people sometimes (not talking about this thread) point things out that aren't really mistakes. Like when Pikachu used thundershock on Iris' Excadrill in Don Battles. People call him stupid because of that, yet he clearly said that that's their way to show that they are looking forward to the battle.

[psyanic]

Originally Posted by Kenshin5

I doubt Charizard would have got him the victory. It all depends on how many more legends were on Tobias team as Ash only took out 2 of his pokemon. Second time was with Articuno in Battle Frontier.

He brings up a good point. Charizard would have fared better than Torkoal. Come on, let's face it. Charizard is one of, if not the most, strongest Pokemon Ash has. He's strong and has the same mentality Ash has when it comes to battling. Torkoal did not last long, while Sceptile took down Darkrai and sort of dented Latios. It's safe to assume that Charizard would have at least lasted against Darkrai. I mean, Darkrai took out Torkoal in a single hit. The same with Gible. Maybe Charizard wouldn't have given him the victory, but hell, he would have lasted a lot longer if Ash made some adjustments to his team. (Totally directing this towards Torkoal. I wish Gible was a bit more durable to survive another hit from Darkrai.)

[gimmepie]

Made a slight typo there where I said he only used Infernape since Sceptile took down Darkrai.

My main point there was that knowing that Tobias has Darkrai and possibly more legendaries he went in with a team that didn't stand a chance. Torkoal is good but compare it to the other two awesome fire-types available to Ash it's got nothing. Gible was just far from ready to face off against a legendary. Plus no Snorlax? A pokemon with sleep talk against Darkrai would have come in handy, I will admit that Heracross and Pikachu were good choices though due to Heracross having a type advantage and pikachu being unusually powerful and the only electric type available to Ash.

[AlexOzzyCake]

Originally Posted by Bobdapeach

Haven't seen this episode so sorry if i'm wrong.
But Palpitoad is ground, and Elesa has electric Pokemon, so isnt that smart since electric doesn't effect ground?
where's the logic in this?

The mistake wasn't that he used Palpitoad, it's that he only used Palpitoad. xD He went to the gym expecting Palpitoad to beat her whole team and when Palpitoad was defeated he had to rush out of the gym like a child and hurry to get more Pokémon out. This was a huge mistake since it must have been utterly embarrassing for him, especially considering he's aiming to be world champion, and it's a complete noob mistake to expect an Electric gym leader not to have a strategy to fight Ground types. xD

[OmegaNova]

Not the biggest, but one stupid moment was when Ash challenged Drake in battle. He lost so badly, despite the fact he got so confident.

Don't forget this awkward moment when Ash's Charizard used Seismic Toss on Brandon's Dusclops. How can Ash be THAT stupid, why was he using a Fighting type move against a Ghost type (LOL).

[Mr. X]

Biggest mistake is force-feeding weaksauce to Pikachu after every generation.

His Pikachu can go head to head with LEGENDARIES. New Region, oh dear, he gets taken down by a starter pokemon.

Edit - And eating big bowls of stupid for breakfast, when he returns home after each journey. Drinking nothing but liquid luck during that time does offset this, somewhat, though.

[LilJz1234]

I would say his biggests mistakes are when he battles and he uses a type disadvantage pokemon.
Let's say he's going against Donphan. And he sends out Pikachu against it. He should know that Electric isn't effective at all against ground types. And then at the end, he seems shocked that he lost.

[Wobbachomp]

Using thunderbolt on ground typ- Oh, wait.

[Laugh]

Originally Posted by zephyr6257

Dude. The dumbest thing he ever did was that he slept late BEFORE the day when he would get his first Pokémon.

Absolutely correct. Ash was irresponsible. I'm not saying that the Kanto starters would be much stronger than Pikachu, but if Ash woke up on time, he would've become a much stronger trainer to begin with. Team Rocket wouldn't stand a chance against Ash if he'd chosen a proper starter.

Originally Posted by Ice Car

His biggest mistake was not growing a day older in 6 something seasons.

Also true. I actually think, in every season, he grows younger. Besides that, Ash never learned anything, imo.

[Iceman3317]

Just one I would like to point out is going into Nimbasa Gym with just Palpitoad. Which now I see has been said in the first post. Lol sorry bout that. Another mistake I would point out is he using Pikachu and Tailow in Rustboro Gym. Although he tried to teach Pikachu Iron Tail.