Was too out of it to tackle earlier:
And...um...the Rocket trio actually helping Satoshi win his badge here gives me something to bring up the next time someone wants to start complaining about how they have no business being in Gym battle episodes...? The animation and music and voice acting were all pretty decent...? shrugs
Yeah really it's like with the tail end of the Kanto League. They felt Ash/Satoshi didn't really deserve a major win and wanted him to Rank at 16, but there was the usual lack of interest in straight up round battles so really the trio getting in the way was more a side effect.
Would really be nice to get more accounts on how the whole saga would pan out had it ended the series or passed the torch to another character (ala Digimon in the 2000s).
Heck I recall a post last year in another thread suggesting that the Orange Islands might have mutated from plans to be Ash VS The Elite Four and then Champion.
I don't know. Before getting to the point, again, what was the approach planned for our lead? The happy go lucky protagonist who wins cause of his heart even if not so skilled*, protagonist who has to grow into someone who could plausibly become champion despite his start** or as we got, protagonist who got by on luck with some growth only for real life to give him a wake up call for lack of a better description.
You had countless times where say Brock and Misty gave some jabs at him getting lucky.
And while this could be a case of the original having many different writers with a different approach and sensibility, plus dub inconsistencies, there is a bit from Episode 3 that Suede gave imput on.
Namely Misty disagreeing with Ash's "Things will work out if you try hard enough". Suede took it as a suggestion that maybe the anime was taking a shot at how leads usually get by on luck and smiles instead of skill.
But then you have say moments like say:
1. Brock giving Ash the Boulderbadge in the first place thinking he deserved it (Some people even question the being kind to Pokémon) and from an episode which is meant handled by a writer who tends to downplay the ideal tones you might expect.
2. Brock and Misty stating that he earned the Marshbadge and not showing any objection to his "winning" of the Rainbowbadge in a couple episodes later lacks commentary on him lucking into it.
Again might be inconsistencies in the Dub and/or even different writers. That bit with Blaine balking at giving Ash a Badge for saving the day certainly seems like middle finger for Pity Badges approach.
So whether they shouldn't have been used at all (I still think of how Psychic types were broken in Gen 1) or the Thunderbadge being the turning point? Let's look at what I find are the most pointless ones and why I figure they played out as they did.
Neither Misty or Erika struck me as comparable to Brock with his Onix or Sabrina and Kadabra, or Giovanni with Mewtwo.
Providing that recalls on Misty or Erika's side counted as a loss, then Ash could conceivably win against both.
- Cascadebadge: Even if it wasn't done with any shipping intent, Ash and Misty bickering was still a major part of the early portion of the series, even to a degree in Johto.
But if Ash got better much sooner and part of that involved winning the Badge? While Misty's critique would still have validity it would still be easy to read as sour grapes on her part.
Team Rocket could have made a failed attempt at the beginning to capture Pikachu and then have a basic Gym Match.
- Rainbowbadge: Yeah I can't think of how to redo this since TR has more point in the episode. Make it a two partner where Ash performs even worse in battle for one thing.
For one thing Erika's Pokémon while okay is not say up there with Onix or Kadabra. Also Pidgeotto definitely could have worked against Gloom well if not perfectly.
And again she recalled some Pokémon, so it might be a loss against her.
So have the last bit a Team Rocket stuff and next episode has Ash performing on par with his best Kanto moments.
And unless the original version had less of the ribbing with his pity badges (like Satoshi being a but less egotistical or Shigeru being less jerky***), yeah might have played out as it did cause even in the season which is easy to think highly of it sadly we still had some Status Quo is God.
Like even if Ash ultimately got better and Charizard became loyal, Misty never would say be allowed to make progress with Psyduck.****
So yeah Status Quo is God (Giving his friends some ribbing ammunation) and the writers couldn't think of a way to maybe find better battle alternatives to winning a badge (More on that at the end) and being able to convey that Ash isn't skilled enough.
So really if you want to get meta, the Rocket Trio were taking the fall for one with higher authority. The writers and the evil ShoPro:-D.
And if there is no fic in the future playing with the idea, then shame on you internet.
*Now yeah in theory you could find ways to make a Badge win without battle, but really it was clearly just Ash who won in this fashion.
So the reason why it sucked?
Yeah the logic in-universe with the Cascadebadge besides Ash stopping TR is that he would have won for sure if Pikachu battled. Nevermind that the anime and even the game doesn't treat Type Advantage as the end all be all of victory/loss.
But sure let's use the episode's troll logic.
If Charizard was obedient from the start, Ash would fry Richie in Round Five, so let's just declare Ash the winner and Richie can take a hike:-D. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
**Afterall even if Red faired better in Origins, his earliest performance much like Ash was making him so much an amateur that he say tried to capture another trainer's Pokémon.
Another shout out to Suede is that yeah Ash and Red are meant to be audience proxy, but it would be like a person new to Basketball not even understanding that the ball goes into the other team's basket.
***Heck Shigeru called the main character a kid before Iris made it uncool.
****One thing Misty could have used in her advantage is Psyduck being able to learn Heatbutt. If the opponent is weak, then it could be enough for a win. If not then it surely would give him a headache.
