Why is Charizard depicted as weak?

Question

This question might seem like Why didn't Ash release Charizard? but it is not.

I know anime logic is very illogical, but for some time I've had a thought about it. Many times in the anime, Charizard has been shown to be Ash's worst Pokémon. Why specifically is Ash's charizard shown to be so weak? Remember I am talking about Charizard, not Charmander or Charmeleon.

Points where he is shown to be strong:

1. He defeated Magmar and Poliwrath.
2. He defeated half of Gary's team

Points where he is shown to be weak:

1. First of all, is it seriously possible that Charizard can't lift Ash? He lifted him in the Aerodactyl episode and in "Charizard Chills", so why not in "Charizard's Burning Ambition"?

2. Why did they make Charizard disobey Ash? They could have evolved Bulbasaur or Squirtle instead and made them disobey?

3. Charizard did not obey Ash and Ash lost in the Indigo League because of it.

4. Charizard was arguably the strongest in Ash's Orange Island team, however the most damage to Dragonite was done by Tauros and Pikachu.

5. In the banned episode "The Mandarin Island Miss Match", because of Charizard releasing flame all around Ash, his reputation in front of Prima decreased (a point taken from the other question).

6. Ash's Charizard wasn't even able to defeat a miniature Chikorita, who had a size disadvantage as well as a weakness to fire, but still didn't lose.

7. You might remember the three episodes in which Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charizard were released (or removed from Ash's party for some time). Bulbasaur was released in "Bulbasaur The Ambassador" where he was shown to be very strong and was able to control all Pokémon - not at first, but as the episode went on. In the episode in which Ash gave Squirtle to Officer Henny, when the Squirtle Squad were with Ash's Squirtle they won the tournament, even defeating their evolved form, the Wartortle Team. For that matter, take any episode in which a Pokémon was released. Butterfree defeated Team Rocket and impressed his female mate in "Bye Bye Butterfree". Pidgeot was released in a episode in which he defeated Fearow. Primeape was removed from Ash's ownership in the episode in which he won the P1 fighting championship. Everyone was considered as a hero in their releasing episode except for Charizard. Charizard was first shown as unable to fly properly, then as unable to lift Ash, then as being smaller than other Charizard, then he even lost against the weakest Charizard, all of which embarrassed him. Why not let Charizard too have a good day in his release episode?

8. In "Ash v Harrison" Charizard was not able to defeat even a single Pokémon and lost against Blaziken, where even unevolved Pokémon like Totodile and Pikachu won.

9. Even though Charizard beat Articuno, this doesn't show he is very strong. As claimed by this answer, Infernape could also have defeated Articuno. Edit: I didn't read quora all answers sorry this should had been a advantage as Charizard can defeat Articuno but Infernape can't defeat Articuno

10. Charizard wasn't even able to defeat one Pokémon in the Battle Frontier whereas the unevolved Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur were able to defeat at least one, showing Charizard is weaker than them.

These points are made by me until the end of season 9. Easily one can say Ash's Charizard is quite weak. So why did the Pokémon creators choose to depict Ash's Charizard in this way? I know some of my points are just ridiculous but many are good enough to prove Charizard is more times proved weak than strong.

Is it due to the reason that in the Porygon episode, they were criticised because of the flashing red lights giving children eye problems, so they are taking revenge on Charizard as he is Red's starter? I know it is a very bad theory but I too would have done the same if I were the developer.

What is the real reason that they don't want Charizard to be depicted as a strong Pokémon? I am asking this question because Charizard is not my most favourite but is in place of my favourite lists.

Answer 1

(Note: this is personal speculation, not an official statement from the anime's creators, and so it may not be what you're looking for.)

This is likely the result of a narrative device that TV Tropes calls "The Worf Effect". Essentially, in order to establish an antagonist as a credible threat, you have them defeat someone the audience knows to be strong. In the case of Pokémon, this ends up being Charizard, who the audience knows should be strong based on his appearance and its depiction in the games.

Of course, like any narrative device, the Worf Effect can be over-used. When the same character gets Worfed too often, it has the opposite effect: it makes them look weak and pathetic. This appears to be what happened with Charizard: the writers used it to demonstrate the power of Ash's opponent on too many occasions, creating the impression that Charizard was weak, and by "Charizard's Burning Ambition" they decided to just go with it and say, "Yes, Ash's Charizard is weak by Charizard standards".

TV Tropes specifically lists three of your examples - the Orange League, the Battle Frontier, and "Charizard's Burning Ambition" - as examples of Charizard being subjected to the Worf Effect.

Answer 2

Satoshi (Ash) did not personally catch Hitokage (Charmander). Another trainer called Daisuke (Damian) did. Thus it counts as a traded Pocket Monster. In the original GameBoy games, traded Pocket Monsters would gain experience points at a much faster rate. I'm not sure if their stats were worse, but I think they were.

Another gameplay mechanic was that earning badges would make it so traded in Pocket Monsters would obey you for certain level caps. So if you didn't have enough badges, but a traded in Pocket Monster that gained experience at a faster pace, it would eventually reach a high enough level to disobey your commands in battle.

The anime was merely being faithful to the game in this regard.

Answer 3

F1Krazy has given a good answer, so I just want to answer by objecting to the premises of this question.

I know anime logic is very illogical

No, anime is not in general illogical. Many shows use different premises for reality, but logic has nothing to do with that; as long as there is no contradiction, it is logical. Maybe you meant the anime, as in Pokémon specifically. In which case, I'd agree.

1. First of all, is it seriously possible that Charizard can't lift Ash? He lifted him in the Aerodactyl episode and in "Charizard Chills", so why not in "Charizard's Burning Ambition"?

This is conflating two different meanings of "strength". Someone may be considered to be strong if they are adept in martial arts or if they can shoot a twelve foot cone of fire out of their mouth, so long as they're able to win fights with this "strength". On the other hand, if we're specifically talking about "physical strength", then ability to lift is all that's important. When we talk about Charizard's "strength" though, it is very clearly the first kind. Hence, while physical strength is a component of that, by making this point about Charizard being unable to lift Ash to prove Charizard is weak, you are misleading by changing the definition being used.

Points 2-5 don't have anything to do with strength. Disobedience does not disprove Charizard's strength. 4 is about how much damage other Pokémon inflicted, which doesn't prove Charizard is weak (at most it proves those others are stronger than it). 5 is again about disobedience and, for some reason, reputation.

6. Ash's Charizard wasn't even able to defeat a miniature Chikorita, who had a size disadvantage as well as a weakness to fire, but still didn't lose.

Yes, this one is actually a good point. It does point to Charizard being weak.

7. ... then as being smaller than other Charizard, then he even lost against the weakest Charizard, all of which embarrassed him. Why not let Charizard too have a good day in his release episode?

This is the only part of 7 that really matters. And yes, it is another very good point. Charizard was shown to be weaker than all the other Charizards in Charicific Valley, which prompted it to want to train there. Though if I recall, after all the training, it was able to beat the strongest Charizard there.

8. Charizard wasn't even able to defeat one Pokémon in the Battle Frontier whereas the unevolved Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur were able to defeat at least one, showing Charizard is weaker than them.

10. Charizard wasn't even able to defeat one Pokémon in the Battle Frontier whereas the unevolved Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur were able to defeat at least one, showing Charizard is weaker than them.

More good points.

9. Even though Charizard beat Articuno, this doesn't show he is very strong. As claimed by this answer, Infernape could also have defeated Articuno.

Firstly, you're basing this on speculation on a forum. However, I will accept the premise that Infernape could defeat Articuno. In which case, this does not lessen Charizard, but merely proves Infernape is also capable of this incredible feat. In the anime, legendaries almost never go down, and the anime also seems to have a vendetta against type advantages (I've got no statistics, but it honestly seems like Pokémon at a type advantage lose more often than they win). Just look at Tobias: with his Darkrai, he was able to sweep every one of his league matches except the one against Ash, and for that one he had a second legendary to take care of the rest (that makes Tobias a giant troll, by the way, especially since the anime shows that catching legendaries is also basically impossible). As such, defeating Articuno is an incredible feat for any Pokémon. In other words, Infernape and Charizard are both strong if they can beat Articuno.

This question might seem like Why didn't Ash release Charizard? but it is not.

Your question hits on all the same points, including some very specific and very strange ones, and ignores every impressive thing Charizard was able to do in the same manner as the other question, so I'm very skeptical. You probably will want to read the answers there.