<p>The premise of your question is flawed. Ash does not release Pokémon due to their weakness. In fact, in <em>Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl</em>, we can clearly see that Ash is opposed to this practice. His rival in that series, Paul, does follow this practice of releasing Pokémon he deems weak, and Ash vehemently disagrees with him about it. Ash believes in bringing out the strength in his Pokémon. To make a point of this, Ash even takes one of the Pokémon Paul releases, Chimchar, and uses it to help him defeat Paul in the Sinnoh League.</p>
<p>When Ash releases Pokémon, he always has the well-being of his Pokémon in mind, not his own. For instance, he releases Butterfree so that it can find a mate and migrate. He also considers where they are needed: for instance, Squirtle joins a fire-fighting squad and Bulbasaur looks after the Pokémon at Professor Oak's place.</p>
<p>Ash considers his Pokémon his friends, and he won't release them just because they're weak. He will, however, send them to train with Liza in Charicific Valley for an indefinite period of time.</p>
<p>Though I have to say, your premise about Charizard being incredibly weak is also incorrect. A few embarrassing losses do not make a Pokémon incredibly weak in the Pokémon anime. Ash's Pikachu has lost to a starter Pokémon (Snivy) in <em>Black and White</em>. And Charizard has some impressive wins, including against Gary's Blastoise and against an Articuno in the Battle Factory. The anime's battle system is more chaotic and contradictory than the games, so we can't just take one battle and use that exclusively. And Charizard is considered by many to be one of Ash's strongest Pokémon.</p>
<p>I used Bulbapedia on some points, but I do remember some of this stuff:
<a href="https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Ash%27s_Charizard" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Ash%27s_Charizard</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-28T11:11:29.433Z
@Accidental Genius this is exactly my answer (my 2nd point) only with expanded details...
USerNAme
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-28T18:07:07.627Z
@USerNAme I completely agree. Your answer is excellent. I merely wanted to add the point about Paul, and how the show explicitly shows Ash doesn't agree with this. I wouldn't worry too much about the user not accepting your answer. It's probably just that I annoyed him a bit less than you. Your answer comes off as slightly more confrontational. Though I wouldn't say you're rude or anything like that.
Shaymin Gratitude
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-13T19:13:28.857Z
2021-04-13T19:18:31.300Z
2021-04-13T19:18:31.300Z
Shaymin Gratitude
<p>I really don't get 2 things from what you have said:</p>
<ol>
<li>Why do those points make you believe that Ash's Charizard is his worst Pokemon? Ash had lots of downhills and uphills with his Pokemon.  Charizard is one of them.  In fact, you forget that Charizard is the one beating Gary at the Johto League, his Blastoise which has a big advantage on Charizard.  The fact that he lost against Harrison, is simply due the fact that even in the anime Level system exists - there will be always stronger trainers and stronger Pokemon. Some of your points are not even well explained, some make sense, so it makes me hard to understand your conclusion. (especially the last point, we saw Charizard lifting Ash already couple of times along the series).</li>
</ol>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/k1qs6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/k1qs6.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<ol start="2">
<li>Ok, let's say that you right, did you ever saw Ash along the series releasing his Pokemon because they are weak? Let's not say that he should be.  The fact is, he doesn't. Hence, he releases his <strong>strong</strong> Pokemon than his weak Pokemon. To add to the this point, Ash not only won't release Charizard ever but rather than release, he left him in Charicific Valley to train, while 'till this point Ash usually released his Pokemon, he actually wanted Charizard only to train and get him back when needed later on.</li>
</ol>
<p>At any rate, I will answer the question with kinda the obvious reason - Charizard considered in the Pokemon Brand as main mascot figure (yeah even than Blastoise and Vynasaur), even 'till these days he's still considered, this fact led the anime production even returning him in the BW series - one of the reason to give Ash Charizard is because of the fact that Charizard is Mascot and the fact that his character based originally on Red in the first game, which we know by 2nd games generation as he had Charizard. But even if it's not for this reason, fact is that as long Charizard will be recognise as Pokemon Brand mascot, we will see more of him in the anime, and there's no reason for the production to make as release him or what so ever, since we know Charizard and Ash connection, and Ash won't release him because he is weak (as you may claim).</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charizard#Reception" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia - Charizard Reception</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-11T15:38:58.187Z
Well your 2nd point and 3rd paragraph answer my question but not your 1st first. You are saying that Charizard is strong because he beated Blastoise so remember that because of Ash out of box strategy CHarizard was able to defeat Blastoise. Try remembering Charizard  burning ambition. In that Ash admitted that he hasn't ride on Charizard ever and when he rided on Charizard in that episode Charizard was having a lot of problem. In Ash 2nd round of Johto Charizard was defeated by Blaziken even though Blaziken was weak to flying types meaning Charizard is very weak.
Accidental Genius
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-11T15:41:04.877Z
Because of Charizard only Ash lost Indigo League & Johto League. Try to remember who won-Ash Charizard or Ritchie's Pikachu or either Ash Charizard vs Harrison's Blaziken
Accidental Genius
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-11T15:44:17.997Z
Remember Ash Aipom was a pokemon who was not able to earn a single win for Ash but I guess **Ash Aipom would have defeated Ash Charizard**. I would accept your answer when you remove first paragraph and write ash charizard was weak or answer my comment. Remember I am not forcing you
Accidental Genius
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-12T11:55:06.687Z
The anime ignores type advantages so often that "This Pokémon is weak because it lost to a Pokémon that it had a type advantage over" is a poor argument IMHO. [Exhibit A](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP058).
F1Krazy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-12T15:22:35.430Z
This answers the question both in-universe and out of universe: Ash doesn't factor in weakness or strength as a reason to release Pokemon, and Charizard is a popular Pokemon. Whether Charizard is weak or not is simply irrelevant.
Shaymin Gratitude
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-12T15:23:56.583Z
But you can look for win records if you want some objective stats on Ash's Pokemon, like the ones in this forum (I make no claim about whether anything in here are accurate, it's just one of the first things that came up in a search): https://forums.serebii.net/threads/ashs-pok%C3%A9mon-by-win-rate.656358/
Shaymin Gratitude
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-28T10:38:42.807Z
@Accidental Genius you said lots of things, but i will comment on one of the things you said about 1st - ", is simply due the fact that even in the anime Level system exists - **there will be always stronger trainers and stronger Pokemon**." as F1Krazy said, types in the anime not always relevant, and in the game even with my lvl50 blastoise i won venusaur lvl30.
USerNAme
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-11T10:27:59.300Z
2021-04-12T10:12:48.260Z
2021-04-12T10:12:48.260Z
USerNAme
<p>Investment for in the future when Charizard would eventually listen to Ash.</p>
<p>Not really a Pokemon answer, but if you've invested in a stock that happens to be declining in price recently, then do you necessarily sell? Or might you want until the stock goes back up in price? Depends on the stock right?</p>
<p>Ash's decision here is to continue to invest in Charizard. (And well, the investment did pay off. By <a href="https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP118" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ep118</a>, look at how much Charizard listens to Ash.)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-28T12:16:00.333Z
2022-04-28T12:27:54.463Z
2022-04-28T12:27:54.463Z
BCLC
<p>Why doesn't Ash release Charizard even though it is his worst pokemon? You might ask for instances which I prove as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li>Because of Charizard, Ash lost the Indigo League.</li>
<li>Charizard was not able to defeat Dragonite when a small Pokémon like Pikachu did in Indigo League.</li>
<li>Charizard was not able to defeat Tad's Poliwrath.</li>
<li>Because of Charizard again, Ash lost against Harrison in the final round.</li>
<li>In the banned episode <em>The Mandarin Island Miss Match</em>, because of Charizard releasing flame all around Ash, his reputation in front of Prima decreased.</li>
<li>Ash's Charizard wasn't even able to defeat Chikorita even though Chikorita was tired in <em>The Chikorita Rescue</em>.</li>
<li>Charizard, despite being so huge, was not even able to lift Ash.</li>
</ol>
<p>I think these points are enough to conclude that Charizard is one of Ash's worst Pokémon, if not <em>the</em> words. I know Ash is also a bad trainer, but shouldn't Charizard perform well because it is very strong and Ash saved its life as a Charmander?</p>
<p><strong>Why doesn't Ash release Charizard if it is so bad?</strong> Why did he leave him for training instead? Shouldn't he have completely eliminated it from his team?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-13T19:57:56.383Z
Hello new user. I wanted to let you know, I may disagree with you on your disagreement, but I appreciate the manner in which you expressed your disagreement, and I hope you won't be too off-put by the answers you received and will stick around. And if Charizard's weakness/strength is an interesting topic to you, why not try asking "What is the evidence for/against Charizard being weak/strong?" or something to that effect.
Shaymin Gratitude
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-13T20:01:04.420Z
You seem to like gathering such evidence yourself, so I'll note that Stackoverflow encourages answering your own questions and thus sharing your research.
Shaymin Gratitude
<pokemon>
Why didn't Ash release Charizard?
# Why didn't Ash release Charizard?
Posted by: username_0 on 2021-04-11
Why doesn't Ash release Charizard even though it is his worst pokemon? You might ask for instances which I prove as follows:

1. Because of Charizard, Ash lost the Indigo League.
2. Charizard was not able to defeat Dragonite when a small Pokémon like Pikachu did in Indigo League.
3. Charizard was not able to defeat Tad's Poliwrath.
4. Because of Charizard again, Ash lost against Harrison in the final round.
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.
6. Ash's Charizard wasn't even able to defeat Chikorita even though Chikorita was tired in *The Chikorita Rescue*.
7. Charizard, despite being so huge, was not even able to lift Ash.

I think these points are enough to conclude that Charizard is one of Ash's worst Pokémon, if not *the* words. I know Ash is also a bad trainer, but shouldn't Charizard perform well because it is very strong and Ash saved its life as a Charmander?

**Why doesn't Ash release Charizard if it is so bad?** Why did he leave him for training instead? Shouldn't he have completely eliminated it from his team?
**Tags:** pokemon
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Hello new user. I wanted to let you know, I may disagree with you on your disagreement, but I appreciate the manner in which you expressed your disagreement, and I hope you won't be too off-put by the answers you received and will stick around. And if Charizard's weakness/strength is an interesting topic to you, why not try asking "What is the evidence for/against Charizard being weak/strong?" or something to that effect.  
> **username_1**: You seem to like gathering such evidence yourself, so I'll note that Stackoverflow encourages answering your own questions and thus sharing your research.  
---
## 3 answers
### Answer by username_1 on 2021-04-13. Score: 5 | Accepted answer
The premise of your question is flawed. Ash does not release Pokémon due to their weakness. In fact, in *Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl*, we can clearly see that Ash is opposed to this practice. His rival in that series, Paul, does follow this practice of releasing Pokémon he deems weak, and Ash vehemently disagrees with him about it. Ash believes in bringing out the strength in his Pokémon. To make a point of this, Ash even takes one of the Pokémon Paul releases, Chimchar, and uses it to help him defeat Paul in the Sinnoh League.

When Ash releases Pokémon, he always has the well-being of his Pokémon in mind, not his own. For instance, he releases Butterfree so that it can find a mate and migrate. He also considers where they are needed: for instance, Squirtle joins a fire-fighting squad and Bulbasaur looks after the Pokémon at Professor Oak's place.

Ash considers his Pokémon his friends, and he won't release them just because they're weak. He will, however, send them to train with Liza in Charicific Valley for an indefinite period of time.

Though I have to say, your premise about Charizard being incredibly weak is also incorrect. A few embarrassing losses do not make a Pokémon incredibly weak in the Pokémon anime. Ash's Pikachu has lost to a starter Pokémon (Snivy) in *Black and White*. And Charizard has some impressive wins, including against Gary's Blastoise and against an Articuno in the Battle Factory. The anime's battle system is more chaotic and contradictory than the games, so we can't just take one battle and use that exclusively. And Charizard is considered by many to be one of Ash's strongest Pokémon.

I used Bulbapedia on some points, but I do remember some of this stuff:
<https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Ash%27s_Charizard>
> **Comments:**
> **username_2** (2021-04-28): @Accidental Genius this is exactly my answer (my 2nd point) only with expanded details...  
> **username_1** (2021-04-28): @USerNAme I completely agree. Your answer is excellent. I merely wanted to add the point about Paul, and how the show explicitly shows Ash doesn't agree with this. I wouldn't worry too much about the user not accepting your answer. It's probably just that I annoyed him a bit less than you. Your answer comes off as slightly more confrontational. Though I wouldn't say you're rude or anything like that.  
---
### Answer by username_2 on 2021-04-11. Score: 3
I really don't get 2 things from what you have said:

1. Why do those points make you believe that Ash's Charizard is his worst Pokemon? Ash had lots of downhills and uphills with his Pokemon. Charizard is one of them. In fact, you forget that Charizard is the one beating Gary at the Johto League, his Blastoise which has a big advantage on Charizard. The fact that he lost against Harrison, is simply due the fact that even in the anime Level system exists - there will be always stronger trainers and stronger Pokemon. Some of your points are not even well explained, some make sense, so it makes me hard to understand your conclusion. (especially the last point, we saw Charizard lifting Ash already couple of times along the series).

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/k1qs6.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/k1qs6.png)

2. Ok, let's say that you right, did you ever saw Ash along the series releasing his Pokemon because they are weak? Let's not say that he should be. The fact is, he doesn't. Hence, he releases his **strong** Pokemon than his weak Pokemon. To add to the this point, Ash not only won't release Charizard ever but rather than release, he left him in Charicific Valley to train, while 'till this point Ash usually released his Pokemon, he actually wanted Charizard only to train and get him back when needed later on.

At any rate, I will answer the question with kinda the obvious reason - Charizard considered in the Pokemon Brand as main mascot figure (yeah even than Blastoise and Vynasaur), even 'till these days he's still considered, this fact led the anime production even returning him in the BW series - one of the reason to give Ash Charizard is because of the fact that Charizard is Mascot and the fact that his character based originally on Red in the first game, which we know by 2nd games generation as he had Charizard. But even if it's not for this reason, fact is that as long Charizard will be recognise as Pokemon Brand mascot, we will see more of him in the anime, and there's no reason for the production to make as release him or what so ever, since we know Charizard and Ash connection, and Ash won't release him because he is weak (as you may claim).

[Wikipedia - Charizard Reception](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charizard#Reception)
> **Comments:**
> **username_0** (2021-04-11): Well your 2nd point and 3rd paragraph answer my question but not your 1st first. You are saying that Charizard is strong because he beated Blastoise so remember that because of Ash out of box strategy CHarizard was able to defeat Blastoise. Try remembering Charizard  burning ambition. In that Ash admitted that he hasn't ride on Charizard ever and when he rided on Charizard in that episode Charizard was having a lot of problem. In Ash 2nd round of Johto Charizard was defeated by Blaziken even though Blaziken was weak to flying types meaning Charizard is very weak.  
> **username_0** (2021-04-11): Because of Charizard only Ash lost Indigo League & Johto League. Try to remember who won-Ash Charizard or Ritchie's Pikachu or either Ash Charizard vs Harrison's Blaziken  
> **username_0** (2021-04-11): Remember Ash Aipom was a pokemon who was not able to earn a single win for Ash but I guess **Ash Aipom would have defeated Ash Charizard**. I would accept your answer when you remove first paragraph and write ash charizard was weak or answer my comment. Remember I am not forcing you  
> **username_3** (2021-04-12): The anime ignores type advantages so often that "This Pokémon is weak because it lost to a Pokémon that it had a type advantage over" is a poor argument IMHO. [Exhibit A](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP058).  
> **username_1** (2021-04-12): This answers the question both in-universe and out of universe: Ash doesn't factor in weakness or strength as a reason to release Pokemon, and Charizard is a popular Pokemon. Whether Charizard is weak or not is simply irrelevant.  
> **username_1** (2021-04-12): But you can look for win records if you want some objective stats on Ash's Pokemon, like the ones in this forum (I make no claim about whether anything in here are accurate, it's just one of the first things that came up in a search): https://forums.serebii.net/threads/ashs-pok%C3%A9mon-by-win-rate.656358/  
> **username_2** (2021-04-28): @Accidental Genius you said lots of things, but i will comment on one of the things you said about 1st - ", is simply due the fact that even in the anime Level system exists - **there will be always stronger trainers and stronger Pokemon**." as F1Krazy said, types in the anime not always relevant, and in the game even with my lvl50 blastoise i won venusaur lvl30.  
---
### Answer by username_4 on 2022-04-28. Score: -1
Investment for in the future when Charizard would eventually listen to Ash.

Not really a Pokemon answer, but if you've invested in a stock that happens to be declining in price recently, then do you necessarily sell? Or might you want until the stock goes back up in price? Depends on the stock right?

Ash's decision here is to continue to invest in Charizard. (And well, the investment did pay off. By [ep118](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP118), look at how much Charizard listens to Ash.)
---
