Ah, I might as well come in here and give my opinion. This seems to be one of the more lively Misty-related debates we?ve had here in a while. So, without further ado, CK?s opinion:
Togepi destroyed Misty. I have no doubt in my mind that it was, as many say, a leech, which rapidly drained the otherwise-lively tomboy into the most generic form of a sweet, obedient girl with no mind to do anything but hone her maternal skills on that egg while being Ash?s peanut gallery, except with even less value to her opinions. I don?t know what the writers? were thinking...maybe they thought that a newer, more vapid Misty would attract the enormous droves of tween girls who could relate to Misty into the pokemon fanbase. It was a poor move, as it attracted no one and ended up repelling many, as Misty increasingly became little more than background female character, a reason to plug Togepi every week, as Ash?s dual purpose is to plug Pikachu, two pokemon that are supposed to be representative of the series and thus sell merchandise. The plot to change Misty?s personality aside, Togepi?s second purpose was a lot like May?s single purpose: to sell games. Togepi plugged GS, May plugged RS. Interesting...when they plug something, it usually seems to affect Misty. It?s quite unfortunate.
I never liked Togepi, personally. I admit that Who Gets to Keep Togepi? was the most exciting pokemon event that had happened when it aired, but the afterglow of having a mysterious, new pokemon soon disappeared, leaving the weekly drudgery of Misty constantly having to attend to the egg. Every little affectionate giggle that came from that most-beloved character made me sick, every sign of affection for Togepi. Her vigor was now nonexistent, her beautifully-tempestuous demeanor replaced with a personality supposedly more becoming of a young teenage girl. She was the Stepford Misty. I can?t remember more than a couple times after that blasted episode where the vile creature hatched that Misty ever put it down, example being the episode on Trovita Island, cited multiple times in preceding posts. She could not let it out of her sight, so unlike the the old her, when she would have fierily and enthusiastically taught Togepi to be a fighter, a survivor. Instead of Misty rubbing off on Togepi, Togepi rubbed off on Misty, and it went on far too long.
This is not to say that it was right for Misty to have been taken out of the show. Any of you who know anything about me should know my opinion on this matter. We Misty fans always had the memory of the past and hope for the future, hope that was sustained even more by Gotta Catch Ya Later, in which Misty was back to her old, emotional, free-thinking self. Combine that with the fact that the wretched egg is gone for good, and this means that if (and hopefully when) Misty comes back, she will be the old Misty that we cared about, fine-tuned even more by the more mature characteristics that have been subtly endowed on the other characters, minus the children of Norman, of course. For the present, we have realized that even though Togepi was the bane of many Misty-lovers, Misty with Togepi was better than no Misty at all. We?ve something much more hideous than Togepi ever was on our hands, sucking the life out of the entire anime instead of just one character. I sincerely hope for restitution for our being made to be without Misty for so long, in the form of a restored Misty traveling with (and antagonizing) Ash again. Togepi had no shred of good in it, though, allow me to reiterate. Making Misty sweeter is never a good thing, and above that it made her have no flavor at all. Seeing a tomboy become motherly is painful, especially when it dilutes the quality of the show as a whole. Can the show recover? Yes. Will it? That remains to be seen.
~CK
