Weedle, Weedle, I'm fairly sure that I said that the writers are gradually moving away from the pattern. Emphasis on gradually. Plus, I'm not sure that they'd just randomly throw in Magmar unless they were desperate.
And Jimz, I don't think of Battle Frontier as a filler arc, mostly because some of the best episodes in the series, IMO, take place during it. In addition, while the writers do recycle many common things, the "abandoned Pokemon" thing is way too distinctive, and it is one of the few things that hasn't translated over to the other generations.
In addition, I think that you're missing my point about Paul, Weedle-boy. [/Pegasus] The point isn't that Paul releases Pokemon that aren't strong enough, it's that once he makes an initial go-over of a Pokemon's strength, he makes a final decision about its fate. Don't forget that he did save it from Team Rocket at least once. And on top of that, if Paul has kept Chimchar even though it tends to lose, doesn't that mean that he has at least some kind of affection for it? He isn't a complete robot, y'know.
On top of that, if he did release Chimchar, it would probably end up with Brock, given the recent "One starter apiece" trend.
You know, come to think of it, I'm wondering why I'm debating this, other then Paul releasing Chimchar just doesn't seem right. Knowing the writers, they might just have that happen, since they've done crazier and more repetitive junk in the past.
