>>32025886Those things aren't relevant to the point. Ash chose to pursue something outside of his main goal before so doing it again for a main series (something that means nothing in-universe) isn't dropping his goal.
Also Ash caught Snorlax and gained Charizard's respect in Orange Islands and his Phanpy evolved evolved in Battle Frontier so calling them filler would be inaccurate. Plus Battle Frontier served an advertising purpose for Emerald and FRLG.
