Why did some of Ash's pokemon never evolve?

In the show Ash will catch a pokemon and we will all witness his pokemon like squrtle, cyndaquil and totodile never evolve and i am asking why the writers let others evolve but kept these three in the dark.

xsh4d0wx said:

In the show Ash will catch a pokemon and we will all witness his pokemon like squrtle, cyndaquil and totodile never evolve and i am asking why the writers let others evolve but kept these three in the dark.

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marketing. i guess younger children like to see cute pokemons. children = money in buisnesses such as pokemon in forms of merchandise.
besides, you get a good lul when you see a cutie like pikachu aiming for the horn.

they were going for cuteness unfortunately...imagine ash having a feraligatr. the true fans jump for joy as the six year olds cry at the site of him...therefore losing out on the kids and the way things go at the moment 6-year olds are the market for pokemon. :'(

Because true strength comes from the heart!

I can't believe I just said that. Dx

In a few cases the Pokémon themselves have refused to evolve. Pikachu and Bulbasaur instantly come to mind, and both did so when facing great adversity (the former had just lost to Surge's Raichu and would soon fight again, while the latter was up against many Ivysaur and Venusaur). Squirtle may well remain as a Squirtle in order to stay in the Squirtle Squad and not have to join Team Wartortle.

As a general rule, however, one can imagine that Ash has formed an emotional bond with his Pokémon as they are, especially Pikachu and his earliest captures. In the days of Sinnoh he has become more willing to evolve his Pokémon (indeed, I believe that Gligar's evolution was the first forced evolution performed by Ash on one of his Pokémon - correct me if I'm wrong), but one can understand if Ash has become attached to the physical appearances of some of his Pokémon.

cuteness was a part of it. in the instance of pikachu its because wen ppl thnk of the wrd pokemon pikachu comes to mind. other then that its prlly because he was a lot less experienced back then. if u thnk about it by the time he goes into the battle fronteir the pokemon he has are mostly evolved. and evn now in the sinnoh region quite of few of his are evolved.

bugcatcherjason said:

marketing. i guess younger children like to see cute pokemons. children = money in buisnesses such as pokemon in forms of merchandise.
besides, you get a good lul when you see a cutie like pikachu aiming for the horn.

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azuman said:

they were going for cuteness unfortunately...imagine ash having a feraligatr. the true fans jump for joy as the six year olds cry at the site of him.

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Erebus said:

Because true strength comes from the heart!

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The Ebon Blade said:

cuteness was a part of it.

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All of you are wrong.

It's because Chuck Norris is the Pokemon of change, and he decided not to change cute Pokemon for hopefully obvious reasons.

Or it could be they ate waffles. I don't know, but it was probably Chuck Norris's fault. Pokemon can't get ahold of waffles often these days.

Erebus said:

Because true strength comes from the heart!

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Clearly true strength doesn't win Leagues.


I'd have to say the reason is probably because of plot convenience and popularity. As uninspired as the writing staff is, they're at least remotely intelligent enough to know that Pikachu evolving into Raichu, or Squirtle evolving into Blastoise would be both hard to explain and unpopular with the kids and ninjas.

On a side note, I think it's pretty ironic that Ash didn't forget about the Thunder Stone, yet he forgot about the GS Ball.

Here's some of the theories for each

Cyndaquil: I don't think Ash would be very keen on having another Fire Type evolve that soon after the Charizard incident. Heck, if he couldn't control his Quilava, the thing might very well set is pants on fire repeatedly. While this would've been a wonderful gag, such misfortunes are reserved to happen to Team Rocket, not Ash

Totodile: Totodile was too busy dancing around and chasing love interests that he didn't have time to be focused on evolution.

Squirtle: Squirtle was iconic as a Squirtle. It just wouldn't be the same if he were to become Wartortle or Blastoise.

SBaby said:

Clearly true strength doesn't win Leagues.


I'd have to say the reason is probably because of plot convenience and popularity. As uninspired as the writing staff is, they're at least remotely intelligent enough to know that Pikachu evolving into Raichu, or Squirtle evolving into Blastoise would be both hard to explain and unpopular with the kids and ninjas.

On a side note, I think it's pretty ironic that Ash didn't forget about the Thunder Stone, yet he forgot about the GS Ball.

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Actually it also depended on Ash's abilities as a trainer as well, not only if the pokemon evolved or not...but honestly it was because of the cute factor and the younger children why they never evolved...plus Ash being so young and naive would make him loose control...lol...and get too high in confidence...

Quick_Kid said:

Actually it also depended on Ash's abilities as a trainer as well, not only if the pokemon evolved or not...but honestly it was because of the cute factor and the younger children why they never evolved...plus Ash being so young and naive would make him loose control...lol...and get too high in confidence...

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I agree...and it also has to go with the storyline...

1.cuteness
2.otherwise he would be to powerful story will end
3.he would get to cocky and just make him and idiot
4.who doesn't like pikachu

It's obvious why Squirtle did not evolve. It was part of the Squirtle Squad, Even though he left for a while, he still knew he would return. So he did not evolve.

Ash's Bulbasaur did not want to evolve. Pokémon are all different. Some will want to evolve, while others wont.

Ash's Pokemon Never evolved because they are 'Iconic' to the show.
If Pikachu evolved. It's not right. because it's an icon of Pokemon.

Erebus said:

(indeed, I believe that Gligar's evolution was the first forced evolution performed by Ash on one of his Pokémon - correct me if I'm wrong)

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TECHNICALLY, but he didn't force Gligar to evolve, it wanted to, however, it was more of a "If you don't take the claw and evolve, we'll both fall to our deaths" situation :P

Back on topic: If you want to appeal to the young audiences, why did Chikorita simply evolve once? Meganium is MUCH more appealing to young girls. And why did Phanpy evolve to Donphan? The cuteness factor flew out the window there.

Myzou said:

TECHNICALLY, but he didn't force Gligar to evolve, it wanted to, however, it was more of a "If you don't take the claw and evolve, we'll both fall to our deaths" situation :P

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I meant that it was Ash's first item evolution, actually. ^_^;

RaikaCastillo said:

Here's some of the theories for each

Cyndaquil: I don't think Ash would be very keen on having another Fire Type evolve that soon after the Charizard incident. Heck, if he couldn't control his Quilava, the thing might very well set is pants on fire repeatedly. While this would've been a wonderful gag, such misfortunes are reserved to happen to Team Rocket, not Ash

Totodile: Totodile was too busy dancing around and chasing love interests that he didn't have time to be focused on evolution.

Squirtle: Squirtle was iconic as a Squirtle. It just wouldn't be the same if he were to become Wartortle or Blastoise.

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are you kidding me?! A Blastoise with black sunglasses?! THAT WOULD BE TIGHT :D