YMMV / Charmander – The Stray Pokémon

• Catharsis Factor: Try not to cheer when Pikachu and Charmander roast/zap Damian for the deplorable stunt he pulled. Him running away crying for his mother is the icing on the cake.
• Funny Moments: Team Rocket's antics (naturally), most notably when Jessie and James reveal a contraption that... digs a Pit Trap. Cue Meowth's "NOT A ANOTHER HOLE DIGGER! WE TRIED THAT ALREADY!"
  • Damian's defeat, where he runs off sobbing "Boo hoo hoo hoo, Mummy!"
  • Ash and co expect to see a giant Pokémon, which turns out to be a regular Charmander. Then they just faint dramatically.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Eric Stuart fills in for Nicholas James Tate as the voice of the Pokédex in this episode. Eventually with "Who Gets to Keep Togepi?", Eric would become the Pokédex's main voice actor after Nicholas' busy schedule prevented him from being a full-time Pokémon voice actor.
• Love to Hate: Damien is a memorably despicable portrayal of bullying and abuse.
• Moral Event Horizon: Damian already presented himself as a selfish jerk bragging about abandoning his Charmander (simply because he thought he was too weak), but he most definitely crosses the line when he refuses to return for him even when Brock told him the the rain would put out Charmander's tail flame and would kill him. Some Pokémon trainer.
• Narm Charm:
  • Damian's hyper-exaggerated cockney accents and British mannerisms are goofy and make it hard to take him seriously. However, his callous attitude and Charmander's plight preserve the episode's drama and manage to keep him hateable.
  • Compared to Brock's furious sounding performance at Damien in the Japanese version, his English dub sounds much more monotone. This actually works in making it sound like a genuinely intimidating moment of Tranquil Fury for Brock.
• Tear Jerker: It's hard not to cry at the sight of Charmander looking so miserable while waiting for Damian, doubly so when he's desperately fighting to keep his tail flame safe from the rain at night. Poor thing even makes a sad sound when it sees that a storm is coming.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: For all his bluster and being the first real Hate Sink character in the anime, Damien ultimately doesn't even get a proper battle against Ash, instead being chased off by a single Flamethrower by Charmander. Damien could have been a nice, actually threatening rival for Ash in Kanto, especially with how Charmander's disobedience later on could've tied into how Charizard finally warmed up to Ash. Not to mention Ash's attempts to best him and actually push himself giving a legitimate explanation as to why he made it further in the League than Gary. Unfortunately, the Strictly Formula nature of the show dictated that Damien would never show up again outside of flashbacks. Though thankfully, the same basic idea would be recycled in much greater focus with Chimchar and Paul in DP, and then Cross and Chamander in Pokémon: I Choose You!. Tepig and Shamus had a similar dynamic in Best Wishes, but by this time the concept had worn out its welcome with the fans.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Ash gets Charmander at the end of the episode, but given all build up and concern he had for him, you can be forgiven for thinking that it's Brock who was being built up to catch him at the end of the episode. Suede in his (now defunct) Pokémon journey series was even shocked that it was Ash who got Charmander at the end, considering how much emphasis was put upon Brock's concern for Charmander's well being.
• The Woobie: Poor, poor Charmander. The little guy nearly dies waiting for a trainer who cruelly abandoned him, and is so attached to him that he still tries to come back to him after recovering. Thankfully, Ash comes along and his lot in life improves considerably.