Lives were changed. Ash commanding Chimchar for the very first time still hits different.

They were fighting pseudo legendaries before the 3rd gym my god

My childhood. I grew up with the sinnoh anime. Chimchar— eventually infernape, when he got his own back at Paul, was peak fiction

I really like how Ash says that's right when everyone including chimchar is shocked that Ash told it to use flamethrower

I’m glad Ash tell Chimchar to use a move not only to win, but prevent Chimchar from getting hurt by Paul’s reckless and selfish actions! I’m glad Ash took Chimchar on his team and raised Chimchar who is now an Infernape and helped it get stronger! Ash is truly is the very best!

It was in this moment that many Pokemon fans went from disliking Paul to hating him with every fiber of their being.

That scene shocked me. That was the moment when Paul gave up on Chimchar. I just couldn’t believe a trainer would actually let his own Pokemon get hurt just because he would find it useless and weak. What’s equally shocking was Ash giving Chimchar a command and it does that.

This is when I realized that the Diamond and Pearl portion of the anime was the gonna be the best one

What i love about this arc is not just Ash obtaining chimchar but also unlike most moments in TV where two enemies end up becoming allies as a result NOT HERE these two hate each other more after this arc

Even paul was shocked

When I 1st saw that Paul gave up on chimchar like that from way back then it really grinded my gears mentally. Chimchar really deserved better than this I’m glad Ash was that better trainer for him