I've heard Tracey was brought on to replace Brock when the creators thought western audiences found him stereotypical, but brought him back when they realized he was popular. Thus, Tracey left the team at just over 30 episodes. In all honesty, when I watched the show leisurely as a kid, it was during the DP era, and I never even found out about Tracey until watching a video of the end credits scene of "I Choose You" where he's included as one of Ash's companions. I wanna say he looked vaguely familiar and perhaps I'd caught an episode or two of him, but he was largely unfamiliar to me.
While there was something to be lost with Brock's big-brother caretaking and wisdom, I wished they could've kept Tracey with them, particularly since I know the next roster shakeup brings the team to four members anyway. I also feel like both Brock and Tracey leaving the team were rather abrupt, as was Brock returning (I fail to understand why he didn't GO HOME instead of hanging out with Ash's mom, but maybe I'll find out later). I'm not watching/rewatching the movies right now since I have 1000+ episodes to watch right now–though I'm following the animefiller guide to cut the fat, so to speak–but I know Tracey never got to star in a movie with the gang (Edit: just found out he DID. Could've sworn I've seen 2000, but maybe I didn't), so that's a shame. I honestly appreciate him, because a lot of the time when shows introduce a new major character who is the first to come in since the main characters are introduced, said character is usually annoying or forced. But Tracey was a neat addition. Bonus points since Scyther is one of my favorite pokemon. I'm curious what his story would've been if he kept traveling with the group, and how he would've affected the narrative. I've heard that as the show goes on–particularly B&W onwards–things kinda feel repetitive/flanderized (not looking forward to that), but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
Plus I just learned his VA is also the voice of Jack Atlas and Ryou Bakura, which makes sense since this was all 4kids at the time, and now I like him even more!
by Crescentbrush