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Pokémon controversy

• 1 Pokémon Shock incident
• 2.1 Animation
• 4.1 Pokémon GO
• 4.2 Pokémon Sword and Shield Pokédex
• 4.3 Pokémon UNITE
• 4.4 Palworld
• 6 Animal cruelty
• 7.1.1 Satanism
• 7.3.1 Animation
• 7.3.2 Koga's Ninja Trick
• 7.3.3 Registeel
• 8.1 Uri Geller
• 8.2 Power Bouncer suffocation incident
• 8.3 Burger King toy suffocation incident
• 8.4 Other lawsuits
• 9.1 Creatures, Inc. Yasukuni Shrine visit
• 9.2 2024 World Championships location announcement
• 10 References

There have been numerous controversies regarding the Pokémon franchise in its various forms and media.

Pokémon Shock incident

An episode of the Pokémon anime broadcast in December 1997 on Japanese television induced photosensitive epileptic seizures in a substantial number of Japanese viewers, many of which required medical assistance. As a result, the episode was not broadcast overseas and never shown in Japan again , and the incident caused the anime to go into a temporary hiatus. Every Pokémon episode that aired until this episode, including the opening , was edited by lighting certain scenes, removing or changing fast-flashing scenes and more. The original version of the episodes have never been shown again, except for when the next episode preview for EP037 was mistakenly retained on Hulu Japan . For this, Pokémon currently holds the Guinness Book World Record for the most photosensitive epileptic seizures caused by a TV show.

Although 4Kids and TAJ allow for some cartoon violence in the anime, the following episodes contain scenes that were deemed to be "too violent", and thus were cut from the English broadcast:

• Pokémon - I Choose You! : Misty slapping Ash after he tells her he's okay, presumably because of his apparent lack of care for Pikachu .
• Ash Catches a Pokémon : Misty slapping Ash again due to his recklessness in sending out Caterpie to battle a Pidgeotto .
• The School of Hard Knocks : Misty smashing Brock with a log because he says "To be continued..." rather than beginning the episode.
• EP035 : Safari Zone Warden Kaiser repeatedly threatening Ash and the group with a revolver , and also firing at Team Rocket when they trespass onto the Safari Zone grounds, leading to the entire episode being banned outside of Asia.
• The Double Trouble Header : Shots of Ash being struck by rapidly launched baseballs.
• Outrageous Fortunes : There are two separate shots of Poliwrath violently slapping Jessie ; in one of those shots, she has red spots on her cheeks from Poliwrath's intense slapping. Both of these shots were deemed "too violent" and cut from the broadcast version and first US home video release and replaced with an impact animation. The version streamed on Pokémon TV and the second US home video release , however, leaves the shots in this episode intact.
• There's No Place Like Hoenn : Two separate scenes showing James 's head and Max on fire due to Torchic 's Ember attack were cut from the dub for being too violent.
• A Corphish Out of Water : A Carvanha hitting Ash in the back of the head.

Scenes like these are common in Japanese animation, and are intended for comic relief purposes. They are similar to scenes in Western animation such as Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry , where characters get hit by extremely heavy objects and are completely fine afterwards.

Over the years, there has been a growing distaste towards gambling and the exposure of it to minors. Due to the unpredictable “risk-it-all” nature of the activity and the high impressionability of youths, more and more people have voiced their opposition towards allowing minors to partake in gambling and/or gambling-esque activities, with simulated gambling in video games falling under particular scrutiny. As a result, the Pan-European Game Information ( PEGI ) organization implemented stricter guidelines that limited simulated gambling first to older-skewing video games, starting in 2009, then eventually to adult-oriented games, starting in 2020, [1] and all games released in Europe featuring simulated gambling mechanics have been rated accordingly. While such restrictions are absent in other territories, many nations (the United States in particular) perceive gambling mechanics in video games as socially unacceptable, leading to the Pokémon games slowly phasing the concept out from Generation III onwards.

English releases of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen renamed the Gambler Trainer class to Gamer and removed gambling references from their dialogue. The English versions of the Generation IV games renamed Gamblers once more but to PI s instead; however, the references to gambling were kept.

In South Korea, the releases of Pokémon Diamond, Pearl , and Platinum replaced the slot machines in the Veilstone Game Corner with non-playable game machines . These changes were later copied to the releases of Pokémon Platinum in Europe as a result of changes in the classification standards at PEGI . [2] This change has been greatly criticized by European players, who felt that it completely defeated the purpose and concept of the Game Corner.

All non-Japanese releases of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver replace the slot machines of the two Game Corners in Goldenrod City and Celadon City with a new game called Voltorb Flip . In this minigame, Coins are not wagered against a win or a loss but instead given out for completing a level. While many people find the game to be entertaining, the change removed the ability to buy coins, making Voltorb Flip the only way to obtain them.

With one exception, all core series games since Pokémon Black and White have not featured a Game Corner, remakes included. In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire , the Mauville Game Corner has been closed down; the owner will instead provide the player with three dolls, originally obtained from an NPC inside the Game Corner. In Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! , the Celadon Game Corner remains, due to its importance as the location of the Team Rocket Hideout , but the slot machines have been replaced with non-playable arcade machines referencing other Pokémon games. In Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl , the Veilstone Game Corner was removed, and is replaced by the Metronome Style Shop, a clothing store that serves as a means for the player character to change outfits and hairstyles; though, a remix of the Veilstone Game Corner’s background music plays in the Style Shop.

In the Virtual Console re-releases of the Generation I and II games, however, the Game Corner was left completely untouched, although the games did receive the higher-than-usual age rating of twelve and up by PEGI (compared to all other contemporary main-series titles, which PEGI gave a rating of seven and up).

There are other gambling methods that exist in later games, such as the Pokémon Lottery Corner , the Cram-o-matic , and the Item Printer . The difference is that these methods do not require any money to try out, and provide the player with items instead of money, the only luck-based factor being the rarity of the obtained item.

In Saudi Arabia , the TCG was blocked for a while because it “promoted gambling and Zionism”. [ citation needed ]

Eggs in Pokémon GO have been accused of being loot boxes , which is a form of gambling. [3]

Media-specific controversies

The sudden enormous popularity of Pokémon GO resulted in many controversies worldwide. Numerous organizations and companies complained about the spawning of Pokémon at places such as Holocaust and 9/11 memorials, [4] [5] train rails, [6] and while driving a car. [7] Several people worldwide have been killed or seriously injured in accidents related to playing the game. [8] [9] [10]

In Russia, a 21-year-old video blogger received a suspended sentence for three and a half years in prison for charges of blasphemy after playing the game in a church. [11] Like the Pokémon mania in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Pokémon GO caused strong reactions in the Islamic world, declaring fatwas against the game as it could lead to "haram" activities such as "gambling". [12] [13] [14] The game was banned in Iran over security concerns. [15] In New York, registered sex offenders on parole were banned from playing Pokémon GO. [16] In a Belgian town with 35 inhabitants, playing the game became forbidden at night because the small town was constantly flooded with players. [17]

Pokémon Sword and Shield Pokédex

During the E3 2019 Nintendo Treehouse live stream on June 11, 2019, [18] Junichi Masuda stated that some species of Pokémon (455 in total across Generations I to VII ) could not be transferred to Pokémon Sword and Shield . After a massive amount of backlash from Pokémon fans (most of which involving the hashtag #BringBackNationalDex), The Pokémon Company International posted a statement from Masuda in response on Pokémon.com in Japanese and English on June 28, 2019. [19] Despite this reiterated statement, the fan backlash on social media continued, with many fans requesting that compatibility for all Pokémon be included in a post-launch patch. When asked about the possibility of a patch, Masuda stated that he had not yet finalized a decision on such a patch. The controversy became somewhat mitigated when the Expansion Pass was announced for the games, which added 221 of the missing Pokémon back in.

This controversy is sometimes known as Dexit , a portmanteau of Pokédex and Brexit , which was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (the basis of Galar , the setting of Sword and Shield) from the European Union .

Pokémon UNITE

When Pokémon UNITE was first announced, it quickly attracted controversy due to it being developed by a subsidiary of Tencent , which was controversial due to its ties to the Chinese government. It also brought up a controversy that had been steadily growing about the use of microtransactions in Pokémon games. As a result of these controversies, the Pokémon UNITE reveal quickly became the most disliked video on The Pokémon Company 's YouTube channel. [20]

On January 19th, 2024, a game known as Palworld , developed by Pocketpair , was released on Xbox Game Pass and Steam to immense sales figures, with the Steam release alone selling over 8 million copies in less than six days, [21] eclipsing the first-week sales of Pokémon Legends: Arceus , [22] a title in the Pokémon series that was frequently compared to Palworld due to the similarity of being an open-ended monster catching game with a focus on action, [23] in addition to being the 2nd highest all-time peak in Steam history at 1.85 million concurrent players. [24]

Upon its release, the game was put under intense scrutiny as members of social media accused the game of plagiarizing Pokémon's aesthetic, particularly regarding Palworld's list of 111 "Pal" creatures at the time of its early access release. [25] [26] This included criticism towards Pocketpair's other releases; such as Craftopia and its similarities to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ; [27] Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse and its similarities to Hollow Knight ; and AI: Art Imposter and its similarities to Among Us and Gartic Phone, which came under increased fire as a result of the game's focus around generative AI artwork, due to the existing controversy surrounding the topic. [28] This led to a response by large influencers that enjoyed Palworld , causing increased debate about the title and its alleged morality regarding the artists behind the Pokémon series. [29]

Several users pointed out similarities between the Pal models found in Palworld and the Pokémon models from games such as Pokémon Sun and Moon , accusing Pocketpair of plagiarism. The Pal "Azurobe" came under particular scrutiny for appearing to be an edit of Serperior and Primarina . [30] One user comparing the models was accused of fabricating evidence due to uniformly scaling the model to make the comparison easier to see within a 3D modelling program, [31] though this accusation was chastised further by industry professionals as uniformly scaling a model does not edit the mesh in any way. [32] Other industry professionals pointed out that Azurobe and Serperior shared certain bone chains that have the same amount, and using a program to move them to match the same positions resulted in a near identical topology. [33]

The release of Palworld stoked further controversy surrounding recent entries in the series such as Pokémon Scarlet and Violet , which was frequently compared to the game, particularly regarding its visuals, [34] with some arguing that Palworld's sudden success could prompt better game design from GAME FREAK themselves by virtue of competition in the monster collection space. [35] [36] [37] Additional criticism against Palworld was rebuked by those claiming that the game was intentionally a parody of Pokémon, [38] [39] [40] though interviews in 2021 from the game's director mention that any comparisons to Pokémon were "lucky" and that they "totally didn't intend it." [41] Criticism against the game was met with memes chastising Pokémon fans for alleged brand loyalty. [42]

Additional scrutiny [43] was levied at game director Takuro Mizobe [44] for use of generative AI during the game's development, [45] as well as posts from the director's past praise of AI generative artwork to create Fakemon in the style of Ken Sugimori 's artwork. [46] This was in addition to further posts by Mizobe about the use of generative AI being used to circumvent copyright law , another concern held by those on social media. [46] Mizobe has also gone on record in an interview with WIRED saying that his approach to game creation is founded on merging ideas together; not dissimilar "to that of a mashup " in musical terms. [47] In an interview with Automaton Media, Mizobe mentioned that Palworld cleared legal reviews prior to its release with no objections [48] and that Palworld was not at all similar to Pokémon. This is contradicted by a different interview with the same publication, where Mizobe noted that the developers directly referenced Pokémon as a "great predecessor", further stating that he was impressed by games like Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. [49]

The controversy was commented on by various professionals from all walks of the video game industry. VGC spoke to two anonymous experienced AAA game artists claiming that the model comparisons done by other users were effectively a smoking gun for a hypothetical legal battle between the companies that own the rights to Pokémon against Pocketpair, with a senior character artist adding that they would "stand in court to testify as an expert on this." [50] Keitai Denjū Telefang and Monster Crown designer Saiko Takaki wrote a thread commenting on the history of Pokémon plagiarism, where she claimed that her work on Telefang was designed to not be similar to Pokémon's, with Palworld's designs "clearly adding or subtracting" from existing ones, though noted that she had no comments to make on the actual gameplay, saying it "seemed fun, which is a shame." [51] The Pokémon Company International 's Ex-Chief Legal Officer Dan McGowan , who was the head of the company's legal team between 2008 to 2020, told GamesRadar that he was "surprised it got this far", and that it "looks like the usual ripoff nonsense that [he] would see a thousand times a year". [52]

On January 22nd, Mizobe claimed that the team behind Palworld were receiving threats of violence and claims of slander, calling for people to stop. [53]

On January 23rd, a user that edited the models of Palworld to include various Pokémon, as well as characters such as Ash , Misty and Brock as part of a paid mod released on their Patreon, [54] claimed that "Nintendo had come for me" less than 24 hours later, with his video of the mod on Twitter being disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner after garnering 11.5 million views. [55]

On the morning of January 25th, The Pokémon Company issued an official statement on their website [56] in both Japanese and English, which read as the following:

Inquiries Regarding Other Companies’ Games

"We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024. We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon. We will continue to cherish and nurture each and every Pokémon and its world, and work to bring the world together through Pokémon in the future."

The Pokémon Company

On February 1st, Japanese tabloid magazine Tokyo Sports received an alleged tip stating that professionals in the Japanese entertainment industry were actively told to not associate with Palworld. [57] An anonymous senior executive told Tokyo Sports that they have told their talent "not to mention Palworld on SNS or in public" out of the concern that it could impact future collaborations with the Pokémon brand.

On February 6th, during Nintendo 's review of the previous fiscal year, company president Shuntaro Furukawa directly mentioned Pocketpair , Palworld, and the game's similarity to the Pokémon series, stating; "We will take appropriate action against those that infringe on our intellectual property rights." [58]

Currently, there have been no legal measures taken against Pocketpair for the release of Palworld , and no action has been taken by the company to make any changes to the game as a result of the controversy. Pals that are currently unobtainable in the game, though are fully functional with completed models, animations and parameters; such as "Boltmane" and "Dark Mutant" appear especially similar to existing Pokémon, such as Luxray and Mega Mewtwo Y. [59] [60]

Following the American airing of Holiday Hi-Jynx in 1999, Carole Boston Weatherford , an African-American cultural critic, claimed that Jynx was a negative racial stereotype of African-Americans, due to the Pokémon's black skin, and oversized facial features, which were typical in minstrel shows. She chiefly compared Jynx to the racist characters in the children's book The Story of Little Black Sambo , as well as calling Jynx "a dead ringer for an obese Drag Queen ", and further compared Jynx to Mr. Popo of the Dragon Ball franchise, another character who is also potentially offensive in his design.

Weatherford's complaint caused many repercussions in the Pokémon franchise. The sprites of Jynx in the Western releases of Pokémon Gold, Silver , and Crystal were edited, and all episodes featuring Jynx's original design were cut from international airings of the anime, including a sequence depicting Jynx in its original design in All Things Bright and Beautifly! .

Jynx's design was officially revised by Game Freak to be purple rather than black, starting with the international releases of Pokémon Gold and Silver and being included in all versions of the games from Generation III -onwards. This change was reflected in later core series games, including in Japan and South Korea, beginning with Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire , and in the anime starting in Mean With Envy . Jynx has also been recolored in VIZ Media 's reissues of Pokémon Adventures . Although the manga is colored in black-and-white, Jynx appearing in the manga are recolored as a dark gray rather than a straight black, suggesting that they are purple instead of black. It is also recolored to purple on the back cover of the reissue of Volume 4 . Jynx's skin was also recolored to purple when Holiday Hi-Jynx finally saw a re-airing in Japan in 2012; nevertheless, the episode is still banned in the US due to the implications of African American-esque characters being subservient to a powerful white figure. The Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga published between 2005 and 2006 in English by Chuang Yi didn't change her color, and thus her original black design appears.

In recent years, some fans of Pokémon have noted that Jynx may be inspired by ganguro , a Japanese fashion where women tan heavily, bleach their hair, and apply large amounts of makeup, instead of a black stereotype. This theory is mainly based on Jynx's long, straight, blonde hair, a common attribute of ganguro fashion. Another theory is that Jynx is based on the Nordic goddess Hel , who was often depicted as having a face half white-half black and who ruled Niflheim , primarily depicted as a land of primordial ice and cold. Some fans say this is supported by Jynx sharing traits with the iconic opera singing " Fat Lady ," who is pop-culturally portrayed dressed as the valkyrie Brünnhilde . It has also been stated that Jynx is based on Yama-uba , the mountain Crone. [61]

The Gym Leader of Nacrene City in Pokémon Black and White , Lenora , also brought up concerns of racism. Lenora's original artwork, as well as her in-game sprites, depict her wearing a large apron. Concerns arose that people outside of Japan would allude Lenora to the Mammy stereotype . Similar to Lenora, the mammy is often depicted as a dark-skinned woman who wears a handkerchief on her head and an apron. Because of the similarity, Lenora's artwork was changed, from her wearing the apron to her having it slung over her shoulder like a cape. Despite this, Lenora's in-game sprites were not altered in the international releases of Pokémon Black and White or Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 .

In the original version of A Night in the Nacrene City Museum! , Lenora was depicted wearing her apron. When the English dub aired, her apron was removed completely.

In Pokémon Adventures , Lenora is depicted with the apron over her shoulder in the first panel she appears in and she is not shown with it after that. In Pocket Monsters BW , she is not depicted with an apron at all.

In Pokémon Masters EX , Lenora is not depicted with an apron.

Animal cruelty

In the past, several animal rights groups have tried to ban Pokémon, claiming that Pokémon battles closely resemble cockfights . This aspect of the controversy was actually touched upon in Pokémon Black and White .

Upon the release of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 , PETA released a mock game named Pokémon Black and Blue . In the game, the player controls the Pokémon to attack the opposing human. PETA claims that the way the Pokémon are "stuffed" into the Poké Ball is similar to how circus elephants are chained inside railroad carts. Nintendo responded to this by simply stating, "Nintendo and The Pokémon Company take the inappropriate use of our products and intellectual property seriously." [62] Around the release of Pokémon X and Y , PETA released another mock game called Pokémon Red, White, and Blue that features Nintendo's claimed association with McDonald's and also makes fun of the frequent release of sister games.

Christianity

Some fundamentalist Christian groups have accused Pokémon as being linked to Satanism . The following is a summarized list of claims:

• Pokémon are like demons. They are captured and must be called upon to perform tasks. [63] [64]
• Magical talismans (presumably a reference to Gym Badges ) are needed to control them. [65]
• Certain Pokémon evolutions require Evolution stones , which are often seen as magical. [63]
• Many Pokémon have extraordinary paranormal powers, notably Psychic-types and Ghost-types . [67] [68] [69]
• Many Pokémon inherently involve East Asian spiritualism or mysticism, due to the franchise originating in Japan. Some Christian groups denounce these as pagan rituals. [70] [71]
• This has been referenced in a 1998 trivia board game.
• Pokémon causes homosexuality; the close relationship between the characters Ash and Brock was "a sign of the cartoon’s gay agenda". [73] [74]

In response to these claims, the Vatican City -based Sat 2000 broadcast public approval of Pokémon in April 2000, stating that the games did not have "any harmful moral side effects" and was based on "ties of intense friendship". [75]

On March 15, 2001, an anonymous user online claiming to be located in Qatif , Saudi Arabia , posted a forum thread on the then big Arabic message-board site Montada , making questionable claims of the Pokémon franchise being tied to Darwinism , Zionism , and Satanism .

The post contained the following fabricated evidence of the character's names having anti-Islamic meanings and Zionist undertones when translated in English:

• Pokémon meaning I am a Jew .
• Pikachu meaning Be a Jew .
• Charmander meaning God is weak .
• Magikarp (misspelled as Magmar ) meaning God is stupid .
• Growlithe meaning God is lazy .

The following months would see those questionable claims get spread around by either word-of-mouth or anonymous printings of those very misleading rumors that originated off of that forum, which spiraled into a perplexing social smear campaign movement that succeeded in convincing a number of Arabic nations to outright ban and limit the presence of the Pokémon franchise, such as in Egypt , where Mufti Nasser Fareed Wasel declared a ban on remotely interacting with any of its content on April 6, 2001.

Some outspoken, fundamentalist Muslims claimed that Pokémon is a Jewish conspiracy intended to get Muslim children to renounce their faith. [76] [77] [78] [79] These same groups claimed that the word "Pokémon" means "I am Jewish", with the claimers and their followers generally unaware of the franchise's Japanese origin. The "Evolution vs. Creationism" conflict was also commonly brought up. [80] [81] [82]

In 2001, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia , who is the highest religious authority in the kingdom, issued a fatwā banning the Pokémon franchise. It claimed that the franchise promoted Zionism by displaying a six-pointed star that resembles the Star of David as well as other religious symbols such as crosses they associated with Christianity and triangles they associated with Freemasonry in the TCG and encouraged gambling in the games due to the inclusion of gambling elements, which is in violation of Muslim doctrine. [83] [84]

High Muslim authorities in Qatar and Egypt then joined the ban. As this happened during the second Intifada , a Jordanian newspaper printed a caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sitting in a tank and laughing at an Arab man chasing a Pokémon. This is meant to convey that Arabs are distracted from their conflict with the Israelis by popular franchises, with Pokémon as an example of such "distractions." [85] [86]

Despite the initial banning, which quickly wiped away Pokémon merchandise , especially the card game, from markets in Saudi Arabia, Pokémon video games quickly returned to be sold normally, but under much less demand from local consumers. Some Pokémon merchandise, such as the Expedition Base Set , reappeared in certain stores a few years later, but newer sets were never brought. Games from Generation III on seem completely unaffected by the ban.

Judaism and perceived Nazi imagery

In All Things Bright and Beautifly! , a Team Rocket fantasy involved Jessie , James , Meowth , and many Team Rocket Grunts raising their hands in a manner somewhat similar to the Hitler salute . It was edited out in the English dub of the anime , with the Grunts no longer raising their hands. Despite this, Meowth 's arm remains unedited in the dub.

Original Japanese version

Dubbed English version

Koga's Ninja Trick

In 1999, the Jewish civil rights group Anti-Defamation League took issue with Nintendo 's use of a manji in the original Japanese print of Koga's Ninja Trick from Challenge from the Darkness, because of the symbol's strong association German Nazi Party insignia in the Western world , which they appropriated from the manji in 1920. [87] This was a sentiment echoed by Jewish parent Myla Specht; "we thought there had to be something we could do because it can be terrible for children." [88]

Original Japanese print

International print

Response to criticism was mixed. Nintendo of America announced that the card featuring the artwork was to be discontinued in all territories [88] even though no English language copies of the cards were printed, as the complaints originated from American children recieving the card in imported packs. They also recognized that there was no ill-intent behind the manji's inclusion from "the card's Japanese creators", [88] though the original illustrator, Sumiyoshi Kizuki , has never publicly commented on the topic.

Kenneth Jacobson, a spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League, recognized Nintendo's sensitivity to the feelings of Jews and others to whom the swastika may offend. Conversely, Steve Weisman, who was upset after hearing that ten-year-old children were finding the cards from imported packs said that Nintendo should do more, saying; "maybe [including] a contribution to a Holocaust group. The whole premise of the game is kids having fun. This reminded people of 6 million deaths." [88] Larry Rosensweig, a Jewish director at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach claimed that opposition to the manji symbol was "misplaced indignation", bringing up the fact that the manji had "been used throughout Asia for thousands of years and has nothing whatsoever to do with the Nazis or anti-Semitism", saying "there are plenty of things out there that people should be offended about." [88]

In the resale market, the original print of Koga's Ninja Trick featuring the manji is often over twenty times more valuable when compared to its reprinted counterpart, even in Japanese markets. [89] Other cards that directly reference Nazism, such as Secret Mission , drawn by Ken Sugimori , which features the real-life map of German occupied Poland during World War II, have not been changed in a similar manner, despite the sensitive subject material. Today, although the manji has continued to be used as a symbol of peace throughout Asia, also continues to be co-opted by fascist Neo Nazi groups, including those also in Japan.

In European releases of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl , the sprite art for Registeel is altered slightly. In the Japanese, Korean, and English releases, Registeel's arm is extended. In non-English European versions an altered sprite is used, depicting it with both of its arms down, presumably due to the original pose's resemblance to the Roman salute , infamously used by (and therefore commonly associated with) the German Nazi Party . In all versions of Pokémon Platinum and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver , the revised sprite is used.

In Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl , if the player shows the Game Director at the Hotel Grand Lake a Pokémon originating from Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum, he gives them the Time Travel Award , featuring the Pokémon's original sprite from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. Prior to v1.1.3, this award would use the original Japanese Pokémon Diamond and Pearl sprite for Registeel, although this award was not obtainable until Pokémon HOME support was added in v1.1.3 anyway; in v1.1.3, Registeel's sprite was replaced with the revised sprite used in Pokémon Platinum. [90]

International DP Registeel

European DP/Worldwide PtHGSS Registeel

Legal issues

Various lawsuits have been filed against Nintendo , The Pokémon Company , and related entities regarding Pokémon or Pokémon characters.

Israeli magician Uri Geller , known for his attribution of his spoon-bending tricks to alleged psychic abilities, sued Nintendo, alleging that Kadabra (known as Yungerer in Japan) was an unauthorized use of his name and likeness. Besides Kadabra's use of bent spoons to enhance its psychic powers, the katakana for its name (ユンゲラー) is visually similar to the transliteration of his own name into Japanese (ユリゲラー). In particular, he took issue with Kadabra cards in the Pokémon Trading Card Game , especially the existence of the card Dark Kadabra (named "Evil Yungerer" in Japanese). Geller, who is Jewish, additionally argued that Kadabra's design is antisemitic due to the five-pointed star on its forehead and the lightning bolts resembling the logo of the Waffen-SS . [91] He is quoted as saying "Nintendo turned me into an evil, occult Pokémon character. Nintendo stole my identity by using my name and my signature image." [91] The symbols themselves are taken from those used on Zener cards , which have been used to conduct research into supposed psychic abilities since the 1930s, and Geller has personally used in some of his magic tricks. [92]

Geller told news outlets that he first became aware of Kadabra and its similarities to him while he was Christmas shopping at a Pokémon Center store in Japan. According to Geller, the store manager "rushed out from his office continuously bowing," followed by "hundreds of children [thrusting] Pokemon cards at him to autograph while chanting what sounded like Uri Geller." [93]

In December 1999, he told news outlets that he was planning to sue Nintendo. Geller retained lawyers in Tokyo and the United States, and told news outlets that he was pursuing legal action in "Europe, America, Latin America and Australasia". In the US, his lawyer said they were planning to sue for US$100 million. When reached for comment, Nintendo in Japan told news outlets they had not yet received the lawsuit. [93] Nintendo told news outlets "None of the Pokémon characters is given a name based on the image of any particular person". [94] When VICE investigated the case in 2018, they were unable to find any evidence of Geller ever filing a lawsuit in Japan, although they were unable to contact the Japanese lawyer who Geller had retained. [95]

In November 2000, it was reported that Geller had begun legal action against Nintendo in Los Angeles federal court, for using his likeness (Kadabra) on Pokémon cards without authorization. It was reported that his lawsuit alleged he should receive substantial damages and that Nintendo cease producing cards containing his likeness. [91] When VICE researched the case in 2018, they were only able to find documents filed from 2001 to 2003. [95]

In 2001, Geller, along with Liechtenstein company Sambracal AG (who own the rights to Geller's name and likeness), sued Nintendo, arguing that the use of his likeness in Kadabra violated his rights under California's privacy laws. However, the judge ruled that as he was not a citizen or resident of the United States (he is a citizen of Israel and the United Kingdom who lived in the United Kingdom at the time), he was not eligible for protection under these privacy laws, so he could only sue under privacy laws in the United Kingdom, but no such laws existed that would protect him in this case; that part of the case was dismissed on August 16, 2001, but Geller continued to sue arguing that the cards violated the trademark rights to his own name. In November 2002, a judge dismissed Geller's trademark claims against Nintendo of America, ruling that there was insufficient evidence that Nintendo of America was involved in the distribution of Japanese language Kadabra cards in the United States (since only the Japanese language cards bore a similarity to Geller's name); since the Japanese language cards were only intended to be distributed in Japan, only Japanese trademark law could be applied, but Geller did not own a trademark on his name in Japan. On March 3, 2003, Geller's lawsuit was dismissed by the judge. [95]

Despite Geller losing his lawsuit, it seemed to have a chilling effect on the usage of Kadabra in official Pokémon media. From 2003 to 2022, there were no new Kadabra cards released in the Pokémon Trading Card Game , with the last Kadabra card to be printed before the drought being in Skyridge in 2003. Kadabra had not appeared in the Pokémon anime since Fear Factor Phony in 2006. In a July 2008 interview with PokéBeach , Masamitsu Hidaka stated that usage of Kadabra on a card is not allowed until an agreement was reached and that the case would not be settled anytime soon. [96]

Abra and Alakazam cards have continued to be printed, despite the lack of Kadabra cards. In matches that prevent the use of older cards, this made it impossible to play Alakazam without using cards that allow Alakazam to be played directly without evolving it from Kadabra, such as Rare Candy . The only Abra card released between Skyridge and 2023, in Mysterious Treasures , has an attack that allows it to evolve directly into Alakazam, skipping the Kadabra stage. Any Alakazam cards printed since were Basic Pokémon that did not need to evolve from anything.

On November 27, 2020, The Gamer published an article about the history of Geller and Kadabra. [97] The following day, after being contacted by a reader of The Gamer's article, [98] Geller reached out to The Gamer, telling them that he had sent a letter to "the chairman of Nintendo giving them permission to relaunch the Uri Geller Kadabra/Yungeller worldwide", which they published in a follow-up article. [99] The next day, Geller tweeted that he was sorry about "what [he] did 20 years ago", and that he was rescinding the ban; the tweet included an image of The Gamer's second article and a link to his personal museum, which at the time was scheduled to open in December 2020 after its opening had been postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic . [100]

In 2021, Kadabra made its first appearance in animation since 2006 in the Pokémon Evolutions episode The Show (debuting December 16, 2021). The first Kadabra card printed since Skyridge is included in the Pokémon Card 151 subset in Japan (released June 16, 2023) and its counterpart 151 expansion in English (released September 22, 2023).

Power Bouncer suffocation incident

In January 1999, a 7-year-old boy suffocated to death after a Pokémon Power Bouncer ball became lodged in his throat while playing with it. After his death, his parents created a website named "Pokémon Kills", criticizing Hasbro and Pokémon for not taking appropriate safety measures in their product design. [101] In November 1999, the boy's parents filed a lawsuit against Hasbro and Toys "R" Us. [102]

Burger King toy suffocation incident

In December 1999, as a promotion for Mewtwo Strikes Back , Burger King released a series of promotional toys in handheld Poké Balls with their Kids' Meals. After a child suffocated because she had covered her mouth and nose with half of the Poké Ball, Burger King recalled the Poké Balls and exchanged them for food for a limited amount of time. [103]

Other lawsuits

A parents' group attempted to sue manufacturers of collectible cards, including Nintendo and Wizards of the Coast, claiming that the cards' collectible nature and the random distribution of the cards in packs constitutes illegal gambling. [104]

Creatures, Inc. Yasukuni Shrine visit

On January 7, 2019, Creatures, Inc. posted a tweet [ dead link ] showing several employees visiting Yasukuni Shrine , a controversial shrine located in Tokyo, Japan. [105] [106] [107] The shrine, said by Shinto practitioners to house the souls of fallen soldiers who fought for Japan, has been the subject of scrutiny over the years for including 1,068 military officials convicted of various war crimes by the 1946 International Military Tribunal for the Far East, including 14 convicted Class A war criminals . Following social media backlash from fans in South Korea and China (two regions Japan colonized before World War II and conducted war crimes in), the tweet was deleted later that day. An apology was posted on January 22, 2019 in Japanese , Korean , and Mandarin on the Creatures website and the official Korean and Chinese Pokémon websites.

2024 World Championships location announcement

At the end of the 2023 World Championships on August 13, 2023, it was announced that next year's Pokémon World Championships will be held in Honolulu , Hawaii ; it will be the fourth World Championships to be held in the US state. As it was announced in the wake of wildfires happening throughout Hawaii beginning early August 2023, this announcement has been met with criticism, with people citing issues with announcing the news during an ongoing tragedy and the over-tourism in Hawaii causing problems to the state as it tries to meet the tourism demand. [108] [109]

The Pokémon Company made a donation of $200,000 to the Hawaii Wildfire Relief Fund via the nonprofit GlobalGiving, which was announced on the Play! Pokémon Twitter account shortly after the 2024 World Championships location announcement. [110]

• ↑ New PEGI rating criteria labels all games that teach or encourage gambling 18+ | Game World Observer
• ↑ European Pokemon Platinum's missing Game Corner explained | GamesRadar ( archived copy )
• ↑ https://screenrant.com/pokemon-go-eggs-loot-boxes-gambling-money-incubator/
• ↑ Holocaust Museum, Auschwitz want Pokémon Go hunts out
• ↑ Holocaust museum pleads: stop playing Pokémon Go here • Eurogamer.net
• ↑ Pokemon Go players told to stay away from Amsterdam hospital and rail tracks
• ↑ Tens of Thousands of People Are Driving While Playing Pokémon GO | Fortune
• ↑ ‘Pokémon Go’ players fall off 90-foot ocean bluff — The San Diego Union-Tribune
• ↑ Pokemon Go player killed in Guatemala and cousin injured while playing game | Daily Mail Online
• ↑ Driver distracted by Pokémon Go kills woman in Japan — The Verge
• ↑ Pokemon Go: Russian blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky convicted
• ↑ Malaysian Islamic leaders say no to 'Pokemon Go' | The Japan Times ( archived copy )
• ↑ Fatwa against Pokemon Go in India | Gadgets Now
• ↑ Fatwa No. 21,758: Saudi clerics ban Pokemon Go
• ↑ Pokemon Go banned by Iranian authorities over 'security' — BBC News
• ↑ New York Bans Registered Sex Offenders From Pokémon Go : All Tech Considered : NPR
• ↑ De Wever verbiedt nachtelijke Pokémon Go in Lillo | Nieuws | HLN
• ↑ Nintendo Treehouse: Live | E3 2019 - Youtube
• ↑ A Message for Pokémon Video Game Fans - Pokémon.com
• ↑ Oloman, Jordan (June 25, 2020). " Pokemon Unite Reveal Becomes The Pokemon Company's Most Disliked Video on YouTube ." IGN .
• ↑ Palworld tweet claiming Palworld has sold over 8 million copies in less than six days.
• ↑ Nintendo of America tweet claiming Pokémon Legends Arceus sold 6.5 million in its first week.
• ↑ Tweets of users comparing Palworld and Pokémon Legends: Arceus. (1) (2)
• ↑ Palworld stating that the game is the 2nd highest all-time peak in Steam history at 1.85 million concurrent players.
• ↑ Thread by Cecilia Fae comparing the list of "Pals" in Palworld to Pokémon designs
• ↑ Post by Acerola_t about Palworld's impact on the larger industry as a whole, referring to it as an "asset flip game".
• ↑ Tweet criticizing the similarities between Craftopia and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
• ↑ A 2023 lawsuit between Sarah Andersen, et al. v. Stability AI regarding the use of AI generative artwork.
• ↑ A thread criticizing Twitch streamer Asmongold for his opinions on AI generated artwork and the artists behind both Palworld and the Pokémon series.
• ↑ Comparison made between Palworld's "Azurobe" and Pokémon such as Serperior and Primarina.
• ↑ A thread incorrectly accusing the fabrication of evidence due to uniformly scaling Azurobe and Serperior's models to be the same size.
• ↑ Post chastising those accusing fabrication by uniform model scaling.
• ↑ Post pointing out the identical amount of bone chains between Serperior and Azurobe.
• ↑ Tweet from company OperaGX comparing the visuals of Palworld and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
• ↑ Post by InfernoOmni arguing that Pokémon fans should want Palworld to be successful in order to force GAME FREAK to improve the quality of their games
• ↑ Post from YourRAGE about the "sickening" response that Pokémon fans have to modern Pokémon releases.
• ↑ Post from The Act Man about hopes for Palworld's success to push GAME FREAK to release games that aren't a "complete embarrassment"
• ↑ Video by InfernoOmni erroneously commenting on how Palworld was a parody, and therefore legally immune.
• ↑ Post from a user claiming that Palworld's designs are an intentional parody of Pokémon's.
• ↑ Post from YouTuber YourMovieSucks about confusion surrounding the plagiarism accusations and that Fair Use would protect the game from any legal trouble, even though the Fair Use doctrine does not exist in Japanese law
• ↑ Interview between Takuro Mizobe and TheGamer in 2021 about how any comparisons to Pokémon were totally unintentional.
• ↑ Tweet from company OperaGX chastising Pokémon fans for seemingly defending a billion-dollar company.
• ↑ Evidence of scrutiny against Mizobe's use of ChatGPT.
• ↑ The Palworld website, which showcases the credits for the game
• ↑ Mizobe posting in 2023 about using ChatGPT to develop Palworld (Japanese: "パルワールドのオープニング デモの仕様、なんかいい感じ に作っておいて下さい!!" "Please make some good specifications for Palworld's opening demo!!")
• ↑ 46.0 46.1 Article summarizing Takuro Mizobe's past tweets about AI generative artwork, including those about using AI to generate Pokémon
• ↑ Interview between Takuro Mizobe and WIRED.
• ↑ Interview between Palworld director Takuro Mizobe and Automaton about the game's legal reviews.
• ↑ Interview between Palworld director Takuro Mizobe and Automaton about the game's relation to Pokémon
• ↑ Interview by VGC talking about Palworld's plagiarism accusations
• ↑ Thread by Telefang and Monster Crown designer Saiko Takaki discussing Palworld .
• ↑ Interview between ex-Pokémon CLO Dan McGowan and GamesRadar.
• ↑ Palworld director Takuro Mizobe's claims that the team were receiving threats of violence and slanderous claims.
• ↑ IGN article on the person that modded Pokémon characters into Palworld.
• ↑ A now-disabled video showcasing Pokémon characters in Palworld.
• ↑ Post on The Pokémon Company website regarding Palworld.
• ↑ Article from Japanese tabloid magazine Tokyo Sports.
• ↑ Article reporting on Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa's statements regarding Pocketpair and Palworld.
• ↑ A page on the Pal "Boltmane", who appears similar to Luxray
• ↑ A post about the pal "Dark Mutant", who appears similar to Mega Mewtwo Y.
• ↑ Game Theory: Pokemon Racism, Jynx Justified
• ↑ Nintendo responds to PETA’s Pokemon attack | canada.com ( archived copy )
• ↑ 63.0 63.1 Straight Talk on Pokemon - StraightTalkonPokemon.pdf
• ↑ ISIS Will Use Pokémon Go to Murder Innocent Christians and Spawn Demons (Says Radio Host Pastor)
• ↑ POKEMON on studytoanswer.net ( archived copy )
• ↑ Sociology of Religion for Generations X and Y - Adam Possamai - Google Books
• ↑ POKÉMON | a game review from Christian Spotlight
• ↑ Pokemon - A Christian Assessment
• ↑ Pokémon, Harry Potter, and the Magic of Story | CBN.com
• ↑ Pokémon and the Great Occult Scare | The Wild Hunt
• ↑ Pokemon - Just Another Fad?
• ↑ The Time They Thought Pokémon Was Satanic on Kotaku
• ↑ Televangelist Creflo Dollar claims Pokemon causes homosexuality
• ↑ GayNZ.com Pokemon 'turned teens gay' - preacher ( archived copy )
• ↑ POKEMON EARNS PAPAL BLESSING | New York Post ( archived copy )
• ↑ 10 Egyptian Conspiracy Theories
• ↑ Arabs See Jewish Conspiracy in Pokemon - latimes
• ↑ ADL denounces claim by Muslim leaders that Pokemon game is “Jewish Conspiracy" - Press Release ( archived copy )
• ↑ Saddam Hussein tried to ban POKEMON in Iraq for an utterly bizarre reason - Mirror Online
• ↑ Saudi Arabia issues fatwa against POKÉMON for being ‘un-Islamic’ and ‘blasphemous' | World | News | Express.co.uk
• ↑ Dubai Family Consultant Dr. Khalifa Al-Makhrazi: Pokemon Go Is Prohibited, Spreads Darwinism | MEMRI
• ↑ Fatwas of the Permanent Committee
• ↑ The Escapist - Archive - Saudi Bans Pokemon ( archived copy )
• ↑ BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Saudi Arabia bans Pokemon ( archived copy )
• ↑ BBC News | Middle East | Qatari religious leader bans Pokemon
• ↑ Peterson, Mark Allen. 'Anthropology & Mass Communication: Media and Myth in the New Millennium'. 2003. Print.
• ↑ Article from the Holocaust Encylopedia about the history of the Swastika.
• ↑ 88.0 88.1 88.2 88.3 88.4 Article quoting the situation with Koga's Ninja Trick in the United States.
• ↑ Tweet showing a 20x price difference between both prints of Koga's Ninja Trick.
• ↑ https://twitter.com/mattyoukhana_/status/1473462097489104902
• ↑ 91.0 91.1 91.2 BBC News | ENTERTAINMENT | Geller sues Nintendo over Pokémon ( archived copy )
• ↑ The Man Who Stopped Game Freak from Using Kadabra - Uri Geller | Save Data | YouTube
• ↑ 93.0 93.1 Nintendo faces £60m writ from Uri Geller | UK News | The Guardian ( archived copy )
• ↑ Uri Geller sues Pokemon | ZDnet
• ↑ 95.0 95.1 95.2 Uri Geller vs. Kadabra: Die bizarre Geschichte hinter der verschwundenen Pokémon-Karte | VICE (in German)
• ↑ Second Interview with Masamitsu Hidaka – Many Interesting Points! (July 4th, 2008) « Website News « PokéBeach ( archived copy )
• ↑ Why There Hasn’t Been A Kadabra Pokemon Card For Almost 20 Years | The Gamer
• ↑ Tweet from the author of The Gamer's first article
• ↑ Uri Geller Gives Nintendo Permission To Print Kadabra On Pokemon Cards Again | The Gamer
• ↑ Uri Geller Museum website (archive)
• ↑ Pokémon Kills
• ↑ Parents of Boy Who Choked to Death on Pokemon Ball File Suit | New York Times ( archive )
• ↑ BBC News | AMERICAS | Burger King in Pokemon recall ( archived copy )
• ↑ Nintendo faces £60m writ from Uri Geller | UK news | The Guardian ( archived copy )
• ↑ Pokémon Studio Criticized After Visiting Controversial Shrine | Kotaku
• ↑ Pokemon Studio Under Fire For Visiting Controversial Shrine | ComicBook.com
• ↑ Pokémon's Creatures, Inc. in Hot Water Over Visit to Controversial Yasukuni Shrine | Anime News Network
• ↑ Nightingale, Ed (August 14, 2023). " The Pokémon Company donates $200k to Hawaii after announcing it as 2024 tournament location ." Eurogamer .
• ↑ Bailey, Kat (August 15, 2023). " Why the Pokémon World Championships Going to Hawaii Is Proving to be a Controversial Choice ." IGN .
• ↑ @playpokemon on Twitter. Posted on August 13, 2023.
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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhite

Characters / Pokémon the Series: Black & White

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Pokémon: The Series characters index Series-wide: Original Trio ( Ash Ketchum , Pikachu ) | Team Rocket Organization ( Team Rocket Trio ) | Supporting Cast Original Series ( Main Cast ) | Ruby and Sapphire ( Main Cast ) | Diamond and Pearl ( Main Cast , Paul ) | Black & White ( Main Cast ) | XY ( Main Cast ) | Sun & Moon ( Main Cast ) | Journeys ( Main Cast ) Others: Movie characters

Characters and their Pokémon that debuted during Pokémon the Series: Black & White , also titled Pocket Monsters: Best Wishes! in Japan.

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See here for more information.

Supporting Cast

• Big Creepy-Crawlies : Karrablast. It is then traded for Bianca's Shelmet, who then evolves into Accelgor.
• Brainy Brunette : She has brown hair and is an intelligent professor.
• Character Tics : Seems to be fond of that weird salute that her game counterpart is also prone to doing.
• Energy Weapon : Accelgor's Hyper Beam.
• Green Thumb : Accelgor's Energy Ball .
• Healing Factor : Accelgor's Recover.
• Straight Man : To Fennel.
• Verbal Tic : In the Japanese version, she often says "Arara" and "Ararara", which can be translated as "My, my, my". It's a pun to her name Araragi.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child : Not to an extreme, but she's definitely a lot less odd than her father, and seems exasperated by some of his behavior.

• Big Ol' Eyebrows : Big bushy eyebrows that give each Don George a serious look, even when he's not.
• Distaff Counterpart : To Jenny and Joy. To the degree that he has dozens of identical brothers.
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals : Like all the Jennys and Joys in the past, every Pokémon Battle Club is run by a Don George... and he happens to look almost identical to the last Don George you met. He also gets bonus points for being the first male set of identical individuals from a long, extended family.
• Manly Tears : Makes you wonder if he's a Gentle Giant if pressed enough...
• No Celebrities Were Harmed : In the dub, he sounds like Randy Savage !
• Small Name, Big Ego : Each one is certainly a nice guy, but they're also often egotistical - entire tournaments with "Don" in the name and giant statues of Don George at the stadium(s), anyone? Downplayed in the dub with the "Club" tournaments .

• All Webbed Up : Larvesta's String Shot.
• In the dub however, it's more of a berserk button due to his tone of voice and how he calls her out on the first one.
• Interestingly, for the latter Bianca deliberately pushed it, and for the purpose of helping him (essentially, convincing him to come closer so he can get a clearer shot of the battle taking place). It works...surprisingly well, despite the inherent risk from being inside the battle zone .
• Beware the Nice Ones : He doesn't look it, but he is actually very effective in battle.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies : Leavanny and Larvesta.
• The Bus Came Back : In the later PokéStar Studios episode, Luke returns to shoot another movie with the gang as a nod to the PokéStar Studios in Black 2 and White 2 .
• Camera Fiend : He is obsessed with filming battles and it gets to the point that he gets mad at Bianca who filmed his Zorua instead of his battle with Iris.
• Casting a Shadow : Zorua.
• Combat Pragmatist : His Zorua.
• Doppelgänger Spin : Golett's Double Team.
• Dishing Out Dirt : Golett.
• Elemental Punch : Golett's Shadow Punch.
• Extra-ore-dinary : Golett's Gyro Ball.
• Green Thumb : Leavanny.
• Guest-Star Party Member : During the Club Battle Tournament arc.
• Master of Disguise : Zorua, but since it's a girl, it prefers doing female roles.
• Meaningful Name : See Shout-Out below.
• Playing with Fire : Larvesta.
• The Prankster : Zorua really has no motive for her tricks other than to have fun at anyone's expense (sometimes even Luke's!).
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl : Savvy Guy to Bianca's Energetic Girl.
• Shapeshifting Trickster : His Zorua, who often turns into Georgia or someone else altogether to have Bianca continue to search for her tirelessly.
• Shout-Out : To George Luc as — he's a bespectacled, brown-haired film director with a fondness for the Cliché Storm elements of classic storytelling, and manages to make them work in a way which appeals to filmgoers and critics . invoked
• Soul Power : Golett, Zorua's Shadow Ball .
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess! : In the dub, Luke almost says this word per word to Bianca when she says that he only told him to film but not who to film.

• Dynamic Entry : In the Unova League opening ceremony, where he made his appearance by parachuting from a helicopter into the stadium.
• Large Ham : At times, such as his exclamation of shock when it was discovered Cameron had unwittingly handicapped himself . It kind of comes with the job, mind you.
• Recurring Character : He always shows up to be the announcer during tournaments.
• Satellite Character : Not much to him in terms of personality, or outside tourneys for that matter.

Professor Aurea Juniper's father, whose footsteps she followed in becoming a researcher. In his case, he studies the origins of legendary Pokémon. When Ash, his friends and his daughter first ran into him, he'd collapsed from exhaustion in Chargestone Cave. After recovering, he agreed to lead the youngsters on a trip through the Black Hero's Ruins, after which they parted ways.

• Anime Hair : Has what looks like a massive cowlick just above his forehead.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer : Just watch some of his bizarre antics in BW064 . The man's a borderline Troll with how much he screws with the party on purpose . It's worse for his co-workers since he does it every second he gets.
• Cue Card Pause : He has a habit of leaving his sentences hanging midway, which leads to mis-communication whenever someone thinks he's done speaking. Even if the subject in question is about trying to convince N not to steal the Light Stone.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child : Not to an extreme, but he's considerably odder than his daughter, who seems exasperated by some of his behavior.

• Actor Allusion : This isn't the first time Megumi Nakajima has lent her voice to a a green-haired singer .
• Ambiguous Gender : Although it's meant to be genderless in the games, it has always had a very feminine appearance; plus it appears to have a crush on Ash, and the very male Oshawott and Piplup have both developed crushes on it, so it's likely meant to be female in the anime.
• Badass in Distress : As powerful as it is, it winds up getting captured as part of Team Rocket's plan to capture the true forms of the Kami Trio.
• Bare-Fisted Monk : Knows Close Combat, which it uses in Pirouette Forme.
• Curtains Match the Window : In Pirouette Forme, its hair and eyes are both red.
• Florence Nightingale Effect : Inverted variant of it — Ash was the one who took care of Meloetta, and as a result it appears to have developed a crush on him, though in the end it's implied this is also because he reminded it of Ridley.
• Freudian Excuse : According to Meloetta and the Undersea Temple , Team Rocket's attempts at kidnapping Meloetta was the reason for its Shrinking Violet behaviour .
• Genki Girl : After opening up more.
• Guest-Star Party Member : After its first episode, it follows Ash and friends around until someone from its village comes by to guide it home again .
• Nice Girl : Despite being a Gender unknown species, Meloetta does have a feminine appearance. Regardless, it is shown to be a consistently friendly Pokemon to Ash and the others, especially Dawn.
• Innocent Blue Eyes : In Aria Forme.
• Invisibility : It possesses this unique superpower to hide itself from anybody it doesn't trust. It's handy around Ash and co., but Team Rocket specifically has a device to let them find it.
• Let's Get Dangerous! : Usually shy and meek, it becomes an effective battler when it takes on its Pirouette Forme.
• MacGuffin Super-Person : Its song is required by Team Rocket to fulfill their latest scheme — "Operation Tempest".
• Magic Music : Its song and voice has the power to soothe the souls and minds of Pokémon listening in. It is also the key to unlocking the Abyssal Ruins and the Reveal Glass, which can be used to control the Kami Trio.
• Make Some Noise : Knows Hyper Voice.
• Shrinking Violet : Starts off this way before opening up.
• Transformation Sequence : From its Aria Forme into Pirouette Forme, whenever it uses Relic Song.
• Villainous Crush : Even Meowth swoons over Meloetta in the Pikachu shorts (though this is not referenced at all in the main anime, where he considers it just another Pokémon to steal).

• Adaptational Heroism : He's never completely evil (no, not even in Pokémon Adventures ), but the anime's version of N is nonetheless the nicest and most moral version of the character seen in any canonical media.
• Adaptational Wimp : Because he never gets crowned King of Team Plasma, he never becomes a trainer and never claims a Legendary Pokémon for himself. As a result, the poor guy gets beat up pretty often.
• Age Lift : To a degree—in the games, N was somewhere in his late teens to early twenties , but in this version, his proportions are closer to a teenager, implying that he's younger here.
• Anti-Hero : This version of N is, when we first meet him, a former Team Plasma member and disillusioned by their actions. However, at this time he's still strongly-spoken about his opposition to Pokémon trainers and battles. He also opted to snatch the Light Stone from Cedric Juniper in order to try and keep it out of Team Plasma's hands.
• Badass Pacifist : He never enters battle, yet proves his Badass credentials early on.
• Defector from Decadence : Left Team Plasma two years prior after Reshiram flipped out and destroyed the castle from where it was first summoned.
• Foil : To Ash, by all indicators. He's even hinted, in their first appearance, to be the Hero of Truth in parallel to Ash being the Hero of Ideals.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision : Twice, involving the same friend (Ash) and the same idol (the Light Stone). In BW120 , when the floor of the White Ruins has collapsed below them, N has a grip on the ledge with his right hand but the Light Stone in the other, while Ash and Pikachu are about to fall; he only hesitates a moment before dropping the container to grab Ash's hand (they both fall afterwards though, and the Light Stone is nearby when they come to). Then in BW121 , Pikachu falls under the control of Colress' controlling-machine again and this time Ash's attempt to get through to him fails , the machine being too powerful now for willpower alone; N surrenders the Light Stone to Team Plasma in exchange for Colress freeing Pikachu from the machine.
• Guest-Star Party Member : He travels with the group from BW114 - BW118 .
• Not so much anymore as of BW114 , where he recieves several injuries over the course of the episode while trying to rescue a Pokémon from Team Plasma. However, he never seems to notice them until somebody points it out.
• Completely subverted when he's hit by Dragonite's Flamethrower and Haxorus' Hyper Beam in BW117 , while trying to talk them both down from their Brainwashed and Crazy states. This would've gotten him killed had Anthea and Concordia not appeared and taken him to get healed.
• Motor Mouth : When N gets worked up about something important to him, he starts to monologue at a breathless pace. Still, it's not as frequent (or his voice as incomprehensibly fast-paced) as in the games.
• Nice Guy : While he obviously likes Pokémon best, this incarnation of N is reasonably good with people and remains polite and friendly towards Ash and co. at all times. Even in spite of his discomfort at learning Ash's dream to be a Pokémon Master, he states he doesn't hate Ash for the worlds they seek being different.
• Pals with Jesus : By the end of the Plasma arc.
• Sixth Ranger : Literally for Episode N , if you count Pikachu and Axew as well as the human protagonists.
• Speaks Fluent Animal : He communicates with them in their unique language, and even considers it superior to the human language. He's actually baffled by Team Rocket's Meowth for this very reason.
• Taking the Bullet : In BW110 , he takes a Shadow Ball meant for Axew and Snivy directly In the Back . It doesn't seem to do much damage, but it's the thought that counts.
• The Unreveal : We are never told of what was Reshiram's response to N's words at the end of the Team Plasma arc, mainly because Ash would rather learn from Reshiram the next time they meet.

• Adaptation Name Change / Named by the Adaptation : It's been revealed that, instead of being called "Goddess of Love" and "Goddess of Peace" (as in the games), the Japanese version of the anime is giving them actual names. Besides avoiding the obvious silliness of addressing them by their long-winded "titles", this was likely done also so that lip-flaps wouldn't cause problems in various dubs.
• A Wizard Did It : Actually subverted by their teleportation ability, but it's All There in the Manual - specifically, the mist is created by Gothitelle's illusory powers, while Gardevoir's ability to warp between space is used to enable them to travel long distances (and into other spatial dimensions, as seen in BW118 ). In tandem, this enables them a degree of strategy (such as getting Team Rocket lost in the woods when they try to follow), but it doesn't defend the girls' Pokémon from Colress' machine one he's pinpointed them.
• They try to do something similar in BW122 when Reshiram is summoned, but their Pokémon are quickly controlled by Colress' machine.
• Composite Character : They keep their core personality traits from the games (what they have, anyway), but have inherited some of N's inherent distrust of humanity.
• Cool Big Sis : To N, bigtime.
• Curtains Match the Window : Both of them.
• The Empath : Like their foster brother, they have the ability to hear the voices of Pokémon.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold : Concordia has demonstrated this trait.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me : Both Gardevoir and Gothitelle know Protect.
• Master of Illusion : Both their Gardevoir and Gothitelle do this to protect themselves and the Pokémon they aid.
• Anthea's name in the Japanese version, "Verbena", comes from the flower genus of the same name; in the language of flowers, it symbolizes "tender love". In the games, Anthea's name is "Goddess of Love ".
• Condordia's name in the Japanese version, "Helena", refers to a species of olive; in the language of flowers, it symbolizes "peace and wisdom". In the games, Concordia's name is "Goddess of Peace ".
• The Medic : Both are skilled in treating Pokémon, albeit without any powers - they simply tend to them and help their recovery. They even have a secret refuge in the woods where they protect injured Pokémon.
• Psychic Powers : Anthea owns a Gothitelle, and Concordia owns a Gardevoir.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl : Expressed somewhat in the way they speak. Anthea speaks much more formally and calmly than Concordia, who is much more direct.

• Inexplicably Identical Individuals : Like all Jennies, Joys, and Don Georges. The changes are noted on their color of their collars and lining of their shoes.
• Mr. Exposition : They are usually nearby to give information on the island that the gang is visiting that episode. Justified in that it is likely part of their job in the first place.

• Always Someone Better : Played straight at first, but ever since he tied with Ash during their third battle his strength was considerably downplayed . He retained an undefeated record against Ash until his last appearance, and was often shown to be ahead of him in Gym badges, but had a rather poor track record against everyone else.
• Anti-Climax : Despite being Ash's main Unova rival, who was established in the very first episode, his final battle with Ash is a 1v1 in the preliminary round of the League. Not only that, but his Serperior was taken out in a single hit after all was said and done, with Trip leaving halfway through the episode as the focus quickly shifted back to the other rivals .
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy : A classic case, what with his obsession with gaining greater strength than other challengers.
• Ascended Fanboy : Wanted to be a trainer after watching the Champion Alder battle. While he promised himself that he would become a trainer so he could face Alder one day, it's to be noted that his overall cheerfulness as a child is gone by the time he starts as a trainer.
• Trip hates being called a "kid" or getting called out for being childish. Iris doing it gets to him twice .
• Getting rejected also doesn't seem to faze well with him, especially when it's by his idol.
• Bookends : Trip's first battle with Ash was a one-on-one against Pikachu using his newly obtained Snivy. His last battle with Ash is another one-on-one against Pikachu using the fully evolved Serperior.
• Book Smart : In contrast to Ash's Book Dumb , Trip is relatively smart for a beginner and has standard knowledge on conventional training and battling techniques. This is somewhat deconstructed as he's not used to dealing against opponents who use out-of-the-box tactics.
• Break the Haughty : Trip is sent through a Humiliation Conga midway through the series that culminates in him losing to Bianca in the first round of the Clubsplosion, forcing him to admit he's a long way from defeating Alder. His ego returns during the Junior Cup, especially after he wins, but is broken again after Alder wipes the floor with him . This time, it finally sticks.
• Camera Fiend : A minor example as it's not to the extreme of Luke's obsession with filming. Trip is always seen with his camera though before he puts it away.
• Canon Immigrant : Though he's been given the Ace Trainer's sprite and class, he and his team are available in a download for the World Tournament (along with the other three anime-origin rivals).
• Catchphrase : Trip seems to be really fond of "the basics of Pokémon training".
• Character Development : Trip finally understands that strength isn't everything after his battle with Alder and finally gets it into his head that he should appreciate his Pokémon and his journey more. He even speaks to Ash on even terms (even if it's short) without throwing any insults at him and actually looks forward to battling Ash at the Unova League. He still keeps his distance though and doesn't join up with Ash and his rivals.
• Cheerful Child : As a really young boy, though it's gone by his current age .
• He effortlessly defeats Ash in their first battle, though this was only because Ash's Pikachu was temporarily rendered unable to use Electric-type attacks thanks to a lightning strike caused by Zekrom.
• He wipes the floor with Ash again in their second battle, and this time, there's no easy excuse. It's a 5v5 match where Trip only even needs 3 of his Pokémon to win, and to top it off, 3 of Ash's own Pokémon are taken out in a single hit.
• Every one of his Junior Cup battles is won with ease, with his Serperior not having taken even a single hit during the entire tournament.
• Minutes after winning the Junior Cup, however, this streak is brought to a end: Alder's Bouffalant easily eats up Serperior's moves and takes him out with a single Head Charge.
• Death Glare : He weaponized this using his Serperior's Leer. By lowering their opponents defense, he could wipe them out with a single solar beam.
• Eagleland : A native of Unova, which is the Pokemon Fantasy Counterpart Culture to the Big Applesauce , and is an arrogant Jerkass who also looks down on Ash for being from Kanto, which he disparangingly refers to as the "boonies", making him a Type 2.
• Fantastic Racism : For some reason, he doesn't think too fondly of the Kanto region or the people from there, referring to them as the "boonies". It's never explained why he has this attitude.
• Both of them are trainers starting out their journeys in Unova, but Ash is a highly experienced trainer who had been reset to lose most of his skills , while Trip is a new trainer with a firm understanding of the basics.
• Ash is a Nice Guy with close traveling companions, while Trip is a Jerkass with an elitist view towards Kanto and a loner with no one but his Pokemon to travel with.
• Both also seek to become the best in their fields, but Ash wants to be a Pokemon Master, while Trip wants to beat Alder and become Unovan Champion. While Ash has only gotten stronger since this series, and is well on his way to facing the most powerful trainers in the world, Trip got knocked out of the preliminary rounds in the Unova League and has yet to return, never accomplishing his dream because Iris became Champion instead of him.
• Glass Cannon : Trip's Serperior seems to be one as it can unleash powerful grass attacks and one-hit KO almost all of its opponents in the Junior Cup, but it goes down in one hit against both Alder's Bouffalant (during their exhibition match) and Ash's Pikachu (during the Vertress Conference).
• Slightly less so to Alder, at first, but after a talk with his old idol, he takes it alright. And when he loses to Ash, he calmly accepts his defeat and they (kind of) start becoming friends.
• Green and Mean :Has green hair and eyes, his starter is the grass type Serperior, and is an arrogant Jerkass for most of the series.
• Green Thumb : His starter, Serperior.
• Hidden Depths : The Sugar-and-Ice Personality rival was actually a Cheerful Child when he was much younger and an Ascended Fanboy of Alder.
• Hoist by His Own Petard : How Trip ends up losing to Bianca. Not only underestimating her, but his Conkeldurr leaves himself wide open for attacks when Bianca's Emboar gets through his Rock Tomb. Bianca basically orders her Emboar to take those pillars that Conkeldurr uses in battle and throw them back in his face.
• His third battle with Ash results in a tie rather than the decisive victory that the first two were. What's more, the one loss he suffered during the battle was to Ash's Oshawott, one of his weakest Unova Pokémon, before he had even mastered Aqua Jet. It was even revealed by Trip himself that the reason Oshawott couldn't aim was because he kept closing his eyes, yet he still managed to defeat his Timburr.
• He's cleanly defeated by Cilan in the first round of the Club Battle, despite his Gurdurr having evolved since its last appearance and having the advantage over Cilan's Dwebble.
• He finally reunites with his idol Alder after their first meeting years ago. Unfortunately for Trip, Alder appears to have grown near-unrecognizably senile and unserious within that timeframe: he spends his time getting distracted by women, shows that he barely bothered to remember Trip himself , misnames him constantly even in the present, contradicts the advice he gave when they first met, and rejects his request for a battle after not even bothering to finish his battle with Ash. By the time Trip leaves, he's left pretty sour at the experience.
• Lastly, he enters the Clubsplosion tournament, only to lose in the first round again. Only this time, it's to Bianca — while she had taken a level in badass for this arc, she remains one of the least serious rivals in the series. It's even more humiliating given that Trip had openly dismissed her prior to the match.
• Hypocritical Humor : He calls Ash immature, but is shown to be much more immature when it comes to certain subjects like getting Alder's attention.
• An Ice Person : His Vanillite
• Irony : He initially looks down on Ash for being a "backwater hillbilly" from Kanto, to which he refers to the region as " the boonies ". Yet, the Kanto region was inspired by the real-life region in Japan and is one of the most highly developed, urbanized, and industrialized parts of it. The Unova region, on the other hand, was explicitly based on the United States of America , specifically, the Big Applesauce .
• It Only Works Once : He was taken aback when his Servine lost to Ash's Snivy, thanks to the grass starter using Attract. He teaches Servine to counter it to avoid getting beaten like that again.
• For what it's worth, he isn't wrong about Ash faltering as a trainer throughout Unova. Several of their battles demonstrate how poorly Ash's Pokemon were trained in this saga.
• He mocks Iris for her fear of Ice-types just because she wants to be a Dragon-type master. While Misty's fear of Bug-types is taken from real life fear of bugs, Iris is scared of Ice-types just because they're super-effective against her favorite type.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold : Downplayed. Much like Gary and Paul before him, he acts smug and condescending to most of the cast for the majority of his appearances. Ash gets it the worst, being the brunt of many rude stereotypes about his home region. He also actually helped Ash realize why his Oshawott couldn't aim its Aqua Jet properly, but not without mocking him for the embarrassing detail that he's afraid to open his eyes underwater . He also took an interest in Iris in the same episode for being from the Village of Dragons, but just as quickly wrote her off for her strange Ice-type phobia and poorly trained team. His attitude does not change until much later when Alder defeats him in the Junior Cup in which he starts to treat others with respect.
• Loners Are Freaks : He's well-noted for his anti-social behavior, as he apparently thinks interaction with others interferes with one's own personal growth.
• Made of Iron : His Vanillite took two direct Flame Charges and an Ember from Ash's Tepig and still managed to get a tie with him.
• Making a Splash : Frillish
• In later episodes he does smirk when he beats Burgundy and actually makes it past the first round but then at the end of the episode, he's glaring daggers.
• Non-Elemental : Tranquill
• Most of his team barely received any screentime or characterization despite his semi-frequent appearances. In fact, to date only Serperior, Tranquill, and Conkeldurr have appeared in more than one episode.
• Oddly enough, Trip himself gets the least amount of focus out of all the rivals introduced despite being Ash's main rival. This is usually contributed by him leaving a tournament whenever he loses and thus feeling more like a background character.
• Playing with Fire : Lampent
• Politically Incorrect Hero : Trip often insulted Ash for being from Kanto, which he refers to as "the boonies" and would occasionally suggest that Ash should return home. Apparently, the reason for this is that the stereotypes people from Kanto as hillbillies from a hick town, with Ash's spastic, reckless nature not helping to dispel these notions. Especially notable for being one of the very few examples of human-on-human racism in Pokémon .
• The Power of the Sun : Serperior's Solarbeam.
• Punny Name : Shooti coming from "photo shoot", and Trip possibly coming from " trip od".
• In the Clubsplosion (the Club Battle's sequel), he doesn't even sit with the others, he just stands in a shady corner and comments on Ash's battle.
• Rebuilt Pedestal : Lost respect for Alder after seeing him act lazy and foolish. Once the two battle and Alder wins, rather easily, Trip regains respect for him. Even after Alder loses to Iris and is dethroned as the Unova champion, he still deeply respects him, and is shown watching Iris's Masters Tournament match alongside him.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni : The blue to Ash's red of the "Black and White" series.
• Reused Character Design : He looks a lot like Paul, just with slightly altered facial features and differently-colored hair.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter : His Vanillite. Ironically, Iris, who is scared of Ice Pokémon, thinks the exact opposite, which seems to disappoint it.
• Shoo Out the New Guy : Most likely due to his unpopularity with fans, Trip is written off in a noticeably less climactic way than any of Ash's other main rivals. Rather than in a full 6-on-6 battle during a later round of the league, Trip is defeated in a 1v1 during the very first round, with Pikachu managing to defeat him with just a single hit (though Pikachu has to work a lot to get that one hit in). To top it off, he isn't really the focus of even his very last episode, as he leaves about halfway through with little fanfare and is never mentioned again. Additionally, Iris becoming Unova Champion in Journeys prevents him from making a proper return, as most of his Character Development was explicitly tied to the previous Champion, Alder. Compared to all of Ash's other main rivals (who all receive significant focus in at least one episode), his only appearance in Journeys involves a cameo of him watching the Masters Tournament along with Bianca, Stephan, Georgia, and Alder.
• Signature Mon : Serperior is his go-to Pokémon for battle. It's especially glaring in the later half of the series — after the Clubsplosion, he becomes the only Pokemon he uses at all , the rest of his team vanishing without a trace.
• Small Name, Big Ego : Incredibly full of himself for a rookie trainer. He considers himself far above the rest of the cast despite his mediocre battle record, dismissing many opponents as a waste of his talents only to lose rather easily. It hits its peak during the Junior Cup, the one tournament he actually won; he fully believed he could defeat Alder, then take down Cynthia for afters.
• Smug Snake : His Serperior is a literal example, with Trip himself following suit. His extreme arrogance serves as his downfall every time he enters a tournament; in all but one of them, he assumes his opponents will be easy pickings, only to be easily caught off guard and eliminated in the first round.
• Soul Power : His Frillish, Lampent, which are both part Ghost-type.
• Taken up a notch (from its usual display) in BW039 , where Ash is trying to get his attention. Trip obviously sees Ash but decides to turn the other way, much to Ash's annoyance.
• The Strategist : Trip makes good use of basic techniques and common sense, devising a One-Hit Kill strategy with his Serperior that lets him sweep through the Junior Cup. However, this is also his Achilles' Heel — he thinks things through so logically and by-the-book that unexpected results and outside-the-box strategies catch him by surprise, which tends to lead to his defeat. This is how Ash and Pikachu defeat him — by powering up Pikachu's Iron Tail with Electro Ball, they not only match but surpass Serperior's Dragon Tail and defeat it.
• Of Cheren , being an aloof rival that aims to dethrone Alder and become the strongest Trainer, but is questioned by the latter on the true meaning of strength and what to do after achieving it . Trip is much more egotistical and haughty than Cheren, however. Later on, the character makes his own debut in the anime , albeit based on his Black 2 and White 2 appearance.
• His early appearances also made him appear to be one of Paul , being a stoic , arrogant Jerkass who criticizes Ash's skills and even has a very similar appearances and original Japanese names. However, their Hidden Depths and backstories are quite a bit different , as well as having very different reasons to dislike Ash (Trip's relationship with Ash is less tense and pettier, making it somewhat closer to Gary in that regard). Not to mention he has about a fraction of Paul's skills.
• Took a Level in Badass : Played straight and subverted. After losing both the Club Battle and Clubsplosion in the very first round, Trip absolutely steamrolls through the Junior Cup, his Serperior dodging every single attack while one-shotting all of its opponents in return. His next battle with Alder quickly flattens his record, though it's partially justified given that Alder is the Champion of the region . By the Unova League, however, he's brought right back to square one, knocked out by Ash in one shot during the first round once again .
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid : What happened to the happy little boy in the flashback that made him the aloof rival now?
• He subjects Ash, a far more experienced and powerful trainer, to this every time they fought, from their first meeting onward . Until the preliminary round of the Unova League, Ash could never beat him (though this could be chalked up to him forgetting much of the skills he had in the previous seasons this time around). Best exemplified in their first meeting, where his freshly-obtained Snivy managed to get the upper hand on Pikachu with a Tackle , due to the fact that an unexpected meeting with Zekrom left the poor electric mouse unable to use Thunderbolt or Volt Tackle.
• On the flipside, poor Conkeldurr — every time it appears, in each stage of its evolutionary line, its purpose is to look tough and imposing so that its opponents come off impressive for defeating it. Not only did it lose to Ash's Oshawott in their third battle, but was responsible for him losing both the Club Battle and Clubsplosion in the first round.
• Another example occurs after Trip wins the Junior Cup. In spite of him winning the tournament without having been touched even once, Alder effortlessly defeats him to prove he has indeed earned the title of Champion.
• And when Trip finally loses to Ash, it's in the preliminaries of the Unova League . Serperior relentlessly pummels Pikachu for minutes on end, yet gets taken out in one shot just to show off Ash and Pikachu's determination.
• To sum it up, despite being the main rival of the Black and White series, he loses the first round in three of the four tournaments to Cilan, Bianca (who Took a Level in Badass ) and Ash respectively. He only wins in the third one because of his strategy, which largely involves one hit KOing his competition.

• Aside Glance : She waves to the audience upon introducing herself.
• Berserk Button : As shown in her battle against Stefan, she does not like her opponents dodging because she says it's cowardly.
• A minor example in BW049 . She looks ready to cry when it seems like she'll have to stop her journey, but she gets better by the end of the episode.
• Her loss in the Unova League does cause her to cry, but she gets over it — to the point of buying Cameron, the very same trainer who defeated her, an ice cream cone.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer : Bianca is a Genki Girl and a Motor Mouth , but she is a well skilled trainer.
• Calling Your Attacks : Regardless of whether the Pokémon belongs to her, or even knows the attack!
• Catchphrase : " Outta the way , outta the way , OUTTA THE WAY! "
• Character Development : Starting with BW049 , she's becoming a much more likeable character (her personality hasn't changed that much, but her attitude about things such as her journey and her Pokémon sure have). She also improves as a Pokémon trainer.
• Color Failure : Minccino in BW025 after his Attract failed to hit Emolga.
• Crash-Into Hello : A running gag with her, with Ash being knocked into water every time .
• Also worth noting is that she won her first two badges using only her starter Pokémon, since she only had Pignite prior to BW013 . To add, she only spammed Flame Charge the entire time.
• Finally, her breakthrough comes in the form of the Clubsplosion, where she defeats both Trip and Georgia with her newly-evolved Emboar. Both opponents were fully evolved, especially the Conkeldurr.
• And by the time BW103 rolled around, she had enough badges to participate in the Unova League (at least eight).
• Cute Clumsy Girl : Enough to end up crashing into Ash everytime she shows up and have a Catchphrase centered around it ("Out of the way!")
• David Versus Goliath : Her Emboar vs. Cameron's Riolu. Riolu turned out to be too fast for Emboar to keep up.
• Demoted to Extra : Her role was already reduced from the games, but things got even worse during Season 2. See Out of Focus below.
• Dumb Blonde : In BW013 , she orders Ash's Pikachu to use Zap Cannon on Minccino. Ash informs her with an annoyed face that Pikachu cannot use that move, much to her dismay and she STILL informs Pikachu to give it a shot. Pikachu then gets an annoyed facial reaction. This would have been averted if this was Generation II (Johto) only, since Pikachu could learn the move. This is no longer the case Generations after.
• Energy Weapon : Her Escavalier can use Hyper Beam, which manifests as a powerful beam of normal-type energy.
• Expy : Of Barry, even moreso than she was in the games.
• Flanderization : Her hyperactivity and ditziness are much more extreme than they were in the original video game.

• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold : Coupled with the innocence, naivity and immaturity that this trope entails, and she's definitely pretty as well.
• Hoist by His Own Petard : How Minccino was caught. When Bianca pulled out a dirty Poké Ball, Minccino (still wild at the time) was so desperate to clean it that he scuttled right up onto her shoulder and started dusting it with his tail...which caused the ball to open and suck him in!
• I'm Taking Her Home with Me! : Especially in her earlier episodes, especially especially in the Club Battle arc. She dials it back in her later appearances after her character development, though.
• Innocently Insensitive : Bianca can be unknowingly inconsiderate.
• Jerkass Ball : During the Club Battle arc, she was asked by Luke to film his battle, but instead focused entirely on his Zorua (who wasn't even in the battle). When Luke called her out on it, she haughtily acted like she hadn't done anything wrong.
• Jobber : The primary reason for poor Bianca's inclusion in the Unova League appears to be to show off how talented Cameron is, in spite of Cameron's... lack of smarts .
• Never Got to Say Goodbye : Downplayed: in the Japanese ending theme Let's Join Hands , she becomes rather upset when Professor Juniper gives her the news that Ash has left Unova and that he didn't tell her beforehand.
• Nice Girl : She is a upbeat and kind girl in general, in spite of her clumsiness.

• And then in the Clubsplosion arc, she can't stop obsessing over (and touching) the various Fighting Pokémon's muscles.
• One-Steve Limit : Averted in the dub. Bianca from Pokémon Heroes has the same name as her.
• Out of Focus : She appeared fairly prominently in Season 14, but after the midway point of Season 15 (the Clubsplosion), she didn't reappear until 30 episodes later in BW103 , in early Season 16. Then she disappeared again. Then she reappeared in one of the ending themes...then got cut out of most of it in favor of live-action footage of the singers. Her fans were not pleased.
• Overly Long Gag : Searching for things (Ash's badge case, a Pokéball) in her bag. It took so long that Ash and Cilan's clothes have already dried up and they were changing into them by the time she found what she's looking for. Even in a meta sense, it lasted 22 seconds .
• Plucky Girl : In her own words when pursuing Emolga, "I'll NEVER give up!"
• Ridiculously Cute Critter : Minccino and Shelmet. She doesn't seem to have any others though (much to her dismay).
• Running Gag : Is usually a part of or facilitator of a different one per arc of appearances, but the one constant recurring gag is knocking Ash into a body of water (plus Cilan the first time it happened). Perhaps you could call it a gag about running ?
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl : Energetic Girl to Luke's Savvy Guy.
• The Smurfette Principle : Ash's very first female rival (sort of...she's more frequently a companion than a rival.)
• The Unova League has her giving ice cream to Virgil and his Eevee, watching fireworks with him, cheering him on during his part of the finals and after he wins, tries to give him a "special present" to him and his team for winning the tournament .
• Stocking Filler : She wears orange tights under her dress.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl : When she's present, she's the Girly Girl to Iris' Tomboy.
• Took a Level in Badass : Her Pignite has evolved into Emboar by the time of the Clubsplosion, and they defeat Trip and Georgia in the respective first and second rounds.
• Took a Level in Kindness : After Ash risked his journey in a battle with her father in BW049 , she's become less clingy and selfish in all subsequent appearances - notably, she's taken to apologizing profusely whenever she knocks him into a body of water these days, and is less obsessive over obtaining "cute" Pokémon than she used to be.
• Volumetric Mouth : She often gets one when she's excited.
• Though not quite victory, in BW063 she and Professor Juniper face Ash and Cilan in a tag battle — using their newly traded and evolved Escavalier and Accelgor - and manage to co-ordinate well enough to defeat Boldore before Crustle seals a victory with Rock Wrecker.
• She finally breaks through in BW072 where she beats Trip and Georgia with her Emboar.
• Played straight as an arrow when she faces Cameron in the Unova League, especially considering her improvement and the circumstances that lead to her ultimate defeat (Emboar can't hit Riolu because he's too small and fast. ).
• Yank the Dog's Chain : She shows major signs of improvement during the Clubsplosion, and even makes it into the Vertress Conference. Right as it looks like she's going to give a repeat performance...she loses (barely) to new rival Cameron in round 2. In the Top 64 . The saddest thing is that the writers didn't at least let her get further before pulling the rug out from under her feet.

• Always Someone Better : In an interesting role reversal (for this series), she's the one on the receiving end, while the main character she's The Rival to is the "Better" in question.
• Arch-Enemy : Sees Cilan as this after he defeated her in a Gym Battle .
• Biting the Handkerchief : Does this while insulting Cilan's Pokémon food for Snivy in front of him. Needless to say Snivy isn't pleased with her comments (see Butt-Monkey below).
• Her Establishing Character Moment has Burgundy deliver her trademark Know-Nothing Know-It-All evaluations to Ash's Pokémon, which results in each of them attacking her as her comments devolve into insults. She continues to demean all of Ash's Pokémon even after they attack her.
• During the Club Battle, Ash's Snivy literally Vine Whips her in the butt for her bratty behavior all throughout the tournament.
• Furthermore, she fails to make any legitimate progress as a battler or a Connoisseuse for the entire series. She doen't win even a single battle onscreen despite her relatively high number of appearances, and never rose out of the C-class Connoisseur ranking before being written off.
• Can't Take Criticism : Anytime someone questions her evaluation skills or abilities as a Trainer (which they're pretty much always correct in doing) , she furiously refuses to listen.
• One could also make the notion she has a second catch phrase in "I HOPE YOU ALL LOSE!!!"
• Character Development : Her's is, like her character, all over the place. Throughout the Club Battle, culminating in actually coming to respectful terms with Cilan. When she returns in the Clubsplosion arc, she's shown to still find his attitude annoying — as a bonafide Tsundere , she's quick to return to antagonism when he asks her if she's advanced her Connosseuse ranking (she's still only C-Rank). Listening to her dialogue indicates that the respect has stuck somewhat, but that she: A) still has a ways to go before being fully civil with the guy; and B) seems unwilling to admit yet that she looks up to him. In the Junior Cup, however, she has a moment where she's almost blatantly crushing on him while wishing for him to beat Trip (though she reverts back to her normal behavior when Trip beats him.)
• Chuunibyou : She believes that her evaluation skills are on the level of an A-rank connoisseur. Her C-class rank indicates otherwise.
• Comically Lop Sided Rivalry : Despite her determination and noticeable Character Development over the series, Cilan easily outclasses her.
• Curtains Match the Window : Purple eyes, purple hair.
• Disproportionate Retribution : She wants to humiliate Cilan in battle because she lost her first gym challenge to him.
• Drama Queen : She cranks up the ham — and the volume — at every possible opportunity.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning : Stoutland's Fire , Ice and Thunder Fang attacks .
• She's also not really French - in the dub, at least, where she gives the impression of trying to put on a French accent to make herself look more impressive and glamourous (explaining away her atrocious accent).
• Gratuitous French : Has more of this in the English dub (presumably because the Japanese voice actress is less skilled at speaking French).
• Hair-Trigger Temper : The littlest things can set her off... sometimes Cilan's existence to her can set her off.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat : Quite literally during the last round of the Club Battle.
• Horrible Judge of Character : She tends to evaluate others' Pokémon based solely on first impressions, rather than looking any deeper.
• Humble Pie : Cilan gives her a rather cruel one when he defeats her Pokémon without taking any damage. To add to the insult, he was toying with her Sawsbuck with his Pansage when all he had to do was one-hit KO it with a Solar Beam . Though, in his defense, he really was trying to teach her a meaningful lesson.
• She calls Cilan "arrogant", despite her own overblown ego.
• Her vendetta against Cilan is based on Cilan supposedly criticizing her harshly. Yet she often criticizes other trainers and their Pokémon harshly.
• During the Clubsplosion, she insulted Cilan for losing in the second round, in spite of the fact that she lost in the first round. In fact, Burgundy has not had one single win in the series (except an off-screen win with Chili).
• During the Junior Cup, she calls Georgia a "pipsqueak", even though Georgia is actually slightly taller than her.
• Imagine Spot : ...Which has Cilan evilly taunting her and her Oshawott, then doing an Evil Laugh while Pansage cackles in the background.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain : Or more like "sympathetic rival." As infuriating as Burgundy can be, sometimes you feel so bad for her for her constant losing streak. Other than the off-screen battle she won against one of Cilan's brothers, she doesn't even get thrown a single bone.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex : It's implied that Burgundy makes critical and harsh assessments of others' battling performances due to her insecurity about her losing streak and her low connoisseur class.
• It's All About Me : When she learned Cilan had left the Striaton Gym, she quickly convinced herself that he knew she was coming for revenge and ran away to avoid it.
• I Warned You : Tells Cilan during the Club Battle that he wouldn't make it past the second round. Needless to say, she's very pleased when this comes true.
• Also, she's getting to be on better terms with Cilan now too, only getting angry at him as a reaction to something he unwittingly says or does, rather than trying to actively antagonize him.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All : Her "evaluations" aren't particularly well thought out (usually revolving around smell, or even taste), yet she acts like they're always one hundred percent accurate.
• Large Ham : Like Cilan, she has her moments of this.
• No Indoor Voice : True to her Drama Queen nature.
• Obfuscating Stupidity : In her battle with Ash, she has Stoutland use Thunder Fang on the ground-type Palpitoad. This turns out to be a ruse to make Ash drop his guard, and she immediately swaps for Ice Fang. She still loses anyway.
• Plucky Girl : Gotta give her one thing; skilled or not, she never gives up.
• Self-Serving Memory : She imagines Cilan cruelly taunting her and saying she would never amount to anything as a Trainer after losing to him in a Gym Battle.
• She believes she's always right when it came to criticizing Ash's Pokémon. Cue them all attacking her and she declaring that they all suck.
• She also believes herself to be a superior connoisseur to Cilan, in spite of the fact that she is just a C-class (who is only qualified to be an assistant to higher-class connoisseurs), and Cilan is an A-class, which is the second-highest rank behind S-class.
• Straw Loser : While she was made to be a rival to Cilan, she also comes off as very pathetic compared to not only Cilan, but to Georgia and Ash and co.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl : With Georgia (she's the girly-girl, albeit a rather crazy one).
• Tsundere : Type A to a ridiculous extreme at first, but mellows out into a Type B, albeit a fiery Type B (Example: In the Clubsplosion, she yells at Cilan to WIN his match against a one-shot character...but when he does win and celebrates it, she gets annoyed by his attitude and says she was wrong, he should have lost !)
• Unknown Rival : Played with in regards to Cilan. He does remember her and has no ill will toward her, but never pays much mind to her threats or vitriolic attitude toward him. In BW042 , however, he accepts her as his rival, which shocks her so much that she begins to actually appreciate him a little more.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid : According to her at least before Cilan defeated her, complete with an innocent white dress in her Imagine Spot .
• Vague Age : Burgundy looks like she could be anywhere in her early teens to early '20s.
• Vitriolic Best Buds : With Georgia at the Clubsplosion and Junior Cup. The two snipe at each other often, yet are constantly hanging out together regardless.
• What Happened to the Mouse? : Burgundy doesn't show up again after the Junior Cup (not counting her appearance in the last Japanese ending), leaving her rivalry with Cilan without any real closure. It's also worth pointing out that she was established in her debut to be on a Gym quest as well, but is inexplicably absent from the Unova League.

• In Japanese, it's Ken yan, not Keniyan or Kaniyan.
• In English, it's Ste phan , not Steph an or Steven.
• Finally starts averting it with the beginning of the Unova League, when everybody starts pronouncing his name right .
• Bare-Fisted Monk : One of the openings imply that Stephan is a martial artist. Fitting given that he's always seen with Sawk now. His attire lends credence to this as well.
• Berserk Button : Whenever someone mispronounces his Japanese name as "Keniyan", which is often to his dismay. Semi-subverted in that he's (usually) more exasperated with it than "berserk" about it.
• Big Eater : Rivals Ash in this regard. They even have an eating contest the night before their League match.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center : His Sawk. Arguably Stephan himself, as he's a big guy with an eagerness for battle who is nonetheless quite kindhearted.
• Canon Immigrant : Though he's been given the Black Belt's sprite and class, he and his team are available in a download for the World Tournament (along with the other three anime-origin rivals).
• Catchphrase : Some variation of "Why won't anyone get my name right?!"
• Casting a Shadow : In his Unova League with Ash, he uses the Dark-type Pokemon Liepard. Its attacks include the Ghost-type Shadow Ball and Shadow Claw.
• Character Development : Through the Clubsplosion and Unova League (lampshaded by Iris in the latter, who says he's really matured.)
• Charles Atlas Superpower : How does he get around the fact that his Sawk (part of an all-male species) would be targeted by moves like Attract? Train him really hard to develop defensive techniques, of course! There's a Hard-Work Montage / Training Montage superimposed over his explanation, too!
• Cool Horse : His first shown Pokémon was Blitzle that would later evolve into Zebstrika.
• Crazy-Prepared : Stephan predicted that Ash would use Palpitoad against Zebstrika, thus he made sure to teach it some Normal-Type moves, including Facade in the case if it suffers from a status condition.
• With the reveal of his Liepard, his name becomes a Meaningful Name (All of his Pokémon are African themed).
• Fiery Redhead : A redheaded guy with a Hot-Blooded personality.
• Foregone Conclusion . Sort of. Stephan won the Wishing Bell Festival and wishes to win the Clubsplosion tournament. He does win ithe tournament, but not without working really hard to fulfill his wish.
• Gentle Giant : He's a big guy, but outside of battle, he's very laid-back.
• Guest-Star Party Member : From BW069-BW073 , travelling with the group just prior to the Clubsplosion.
• Hot-Blooded : He has a fiery, outgoing personality, in keeping with being a Big Eater and implied martial artist. He also gets really worked up in Pokemon matches, often shouting commands to his Pokemon.
• Lightning Bruiser : His Sawk is not only fast and a fierce physical attacker, but it can also take a lot of punishment before it faints.
• Panthera Awesome : When he and Ash face off in the Unova League, his first Pokemon is a Liepard. Ash battles it with Krookodile. Krookodile wins, but Liepard puts up a great fight before going down. When Ash recalls Krookodile for some rest and sends him back out to fight an exhausted Sawk, Krookodile is still visibly battered and nearly loses.
• Playing with Fire : Zebstrika's Flame Charge allows it to tackle its opponent while shrouded in flames.
• Poor, Predictable Rock : Stephan predicted that Ash would use Palpitoad against his Zebstrika, who would be immune against Zebstrika's Electric-Type moves and would resist its Flame Charge. Thus, he replaces Zebstrika's entire moveset with Normal-Type attacks.
• Pronouncing My Name for You : A Running Gag is that nobody can pronounce his name right. He has to clarify that it is pronounced "Stef-AHN", in response to people pronouncing it "Steven" or "STEPH-an."
• The Rival : An unusual subversion in that he had a Rival of his own in Montgomery, who entered his Throh in the Clubsplosion Tournament. Stephan and Sawk quickly developed a mutual loathing with them.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man : When he's present, he's the Manly Man to Cilan's Sensitive Guy.
• Shock and Awe : His first Pokemon shown onscreen is his Blitzle, an Electric-Type Pokémon that can draw lightning from the sky and use it in Electric attacks like Shock Wave and Thunderbolt. It later evolves into a Zebstrika off-screen.
• Signature Mon : Sawk has been Stephan's main Pokémon ever since his debut in the Club Battle. Notably, he's the only rival Pokémon in BW to get its own individual spotlight arc, where he aimed to defeat Montgomery's Throh during the Clubsplosion.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality : His Sawk is this — during the Clubsplosion, after defeating Throh he bows respectfully to his opponent before Throh faints...then he does a one-eighty, and he and his trainer begin hugging the life out of each other in glee.
• Took a Level in Badass : His Sawk. Though it never seemed weak, the only time we saw it in battle before the Clubsplosion was when it lost to Iris' Emolga. Come the Clubsplosion, it takes down a Seismitoad, Cilan's Pansage, Bianca's Emboar and Montgomery's Throh, a Pokémon that was built up throughout the tournament as an enormously powerful opponent. This is lampshaded with a montage showing his and Stephan's intense training regime, as well as regular practice sessions in the Pokémon Center. This is proven even more in the Vertress Conference; despite being immensely weakend by Ash's Leavanny, Sawk still manages to win.
• Wholesome Crossdresser : He had to dress up as Nurse Joy in a contest.
• Worthy Opponent : Considered this by Montgomery after Stephan defeated him in the Clubsplosion finals. He and Ash also view each other as this.

• An Ice Person : Beartic and Vanilluxe, ideal for an anti-Dragon specialist.
• Antagonist in Mourning : Not a death example, but in the Japanese Decolore Adventures ending, Georgia is shown looking up a the sky wistfully after learning that Iris has left Unova to visit Kanto. She clearly misses her rival.
• The Battle Didn't Count : Every time she loses. Georgia claims this if she's beaten with a non-Dragon Pokémon or a Dragon Pokémon that refuses to listen to the trainer; even Iris agrees that Georgia is right about the second point .
• Big Eater : She can wolf down a breakfast for three people and still have some appetite left. Pity it happened to be Ash and co's breakfast .
• Borrowed Catchphrase : She uses Iris' catchphrase against her at times.
• Catchphrase : Georgia likes to say "better not lose" to her rival Iris.
• Character Development : She Took a Level in Kindness during the Clubsplosion, and carried it further in the Ferroseed research facility episode.
• Crippling Overspecialization : She devotes her life to to craft a battle style designed specifically to take down Dragon type Pokémon. Unfortunately, she ends up losing quite a fair bit in battles that aren't against Dragon Pokémon or share similar weaknesses to them (the only exception is a Joltik, which she still struggled). Unlike most cases of this trope, she still manages to put up a very good fight.
• Curbstomp Battle : Received one from Iris' new Dragonite, who took everything Beartic hurled at before utterly demolishing the bear. She was more disappointed, however, by the fact that she hadn't lost to Iris since Dragonite was disobeying her at the time.
• David Versus Goliath : Her Beartic versus Sylvester's four inches high Joltik. "Goliath" wins, crushing "David" under his weight when he collapsed from Thunderbolt.
• Disproportionate Retribution : She once lost to a Dragon trainer and has now made it a goal to go around defeating all Dragon trainers she comes across. One would think that this is just an overreaction, but her reaction to watching Axew using Outrage might indicate the loss was more serious than initially thought.
• The Dragonslayer : Non-lethal variant, she specializes in using Pokèmon that either resist or do super-effective damage against Dragon-types, hence her using the part Steel-type Bisharp and Ice-type Vanilluxe and Beartic.
• Establishing Character Moment : When Georgia is introduced, viewers get to know her Freudian Excuse and how much of a jerk she is to Iris.
• Evil Counterpart : Georgia is this to Iris. They are Mirror Characters to each other. While Iris teases Ash by calling him a kid and can be condescending, she still is a decent person who has good intentions and practices good sportsmanship regarding being an aspiring dragon trainer. Georgia, on the other hand, is unnecessarily rude to almost everyone she encounters, gloats when she wins battles, blames others when she loses, and doesn’t have that many good redeeming qualities.
• Fiery Redhead : She's a arrogant hothead with dark pink hair.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl : Not in the romantic way, obviously. Georgia is one of the shortest trainers, yet her Beartic is an eight feet tall giant.
• Hypocrite : During the Club Tournament, she claims Ash got lucky in defeating her, despite the fact that her first round win was entirely due to luck (as her weakened Beartic accidentally crushed her opponent's Joltik).
• Hypocritical Humor : Her feud with Iris is based around this on both sides. They both think of themselves as far more mature than the other, something they disprove in almost every conversation they have.
• Jerkass Has a Point : When she lost to Iris in the Junior World Cup, she argued that she lost to Dragonite, not Iris. Given that Dragonite was disobeying Iris' orders, she's completely right. Iris acknowledges this at the end of the tournament and promises Georgia that she'll have Dragonite under control by the next time they meet, so that Georgia can have the battle she wants.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold : Started off as a straight-out Jerkass , but started to get better during the Clubsplosion, and her heart of gold status is solidified in the Ferroseed Research Center episode.
• The insult doubles for Cilan who has technically been running a gym that is a restaurant for most of his life, and is very proud of his skills .
• Large Ham : If someone goes around declaring themselves a "Dragon Buster", they're most likely a Ham.
• Man of Kryptonite : the team she's training is tailored to take down Dragon-types in general, hence christening herself with the "Dragon Buster" monicker. She's usually successful too (though there are exceptions).
• Meaningful Name : Her dub name "Georgia" is derived from St. George and the Dragon , a famous English tale of a crusader who...well, slayed a dragon. Her Japanese name refers to Asuka LANGLEY Soryu , another female red-haired Jerkass who is implied to have deep insecurities and an inferiority complex (along with Hidden Depths ).
• Mighty Glacier : Beartic is slower than all his opponents so far, and so relies on big, heavy blows. It caused him some trouble when facing Joltik, the smallest Pokémon there is...and a fast one to boot.
• Miles Gloriosus : Following her accidental victory in the Club Tournament's first round, she gloats excessively about it to Iris, acting like it was some grand example of her skills.
• Mirror Character : From Iris. While Iris is much more of a decent person than Georgia is, they are both immature and resort to petty squabbles, as evidenced by their Club Battle tournament interactions. Georgia even points this out .
• Never My Fault : When Georgia loses, she will do anything to take the blame off of herself.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You : When Burgundy vows revenge against Iris for a loss, Georgia tells her to butt out because Iris is her rival.
• She actually doesn't get angry when she loses to Bianca in the Clubsplosion, and thanks her Bisharp for its effort when recalling it.
• And of course, the Ferroseed research episode, where she shows great care for her Vanilluxe, helps rescue Iris and team up with her to solve the current dilemma, and then compliment her for doing well using her Vanilluxe, saying she'd make a good Ice Master.
• Red Baron : Self proclaimed "Dragon Buster," and she backs it up. She defeats most Dragon-type Pokémon she faces with ridiculous ease.
• Shout-Out : In Japanese, her name is derived from Asuka Langley Soryu , who she shares a number of personality traits with.
• Signature Mon : Beartic is the Pokémon she uses in her first appearance and in all of her battles against Iris specifically.
• Said a tie didn't count since it wasn't a dragon she tied against, and blamed her loss against Ash on the battlefield.
• Says her loss to Bianca in the Clubsplosion doesn't count either as it wasn't against a dragon, but this time she's saying it directly to her Bisharp as a comfort , so she doesn't come across as badly.
• Says that her loss to Iris in the Junior Cup wasn't to Iris, but rather Dragonite...and in this case, Iris ended up agreeing with her.
• Tsundere : Like her buddy Burgundy , she started out Type A, but become more of a Type B once she started reserving her tsun side exclusively for her rival (in this case, Iris.)
• Tomboy and Girly Girl : With Burgundy (she's the tomboy, albeit a rather crazy one.)
• Took a Level in Kindness : In the Clubsplosion tournament. Took it even further in the Ferroseed Research episode.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating : She does this towards Iris when she makes it past the first round in the tournament at Nimbasa Town. Iris just says that she believes that Georgia is more of a little kid that she thought.
• Vitriolic Best Buds : With Burgundy at the Clubsplosion and Junior Cup. The two snipe at each other often, yet are constantly hanging out together regardless.
• What Happened to the Mouse? : Like Burgundy, Georgia doesn't appear again after the Junior Cup outside of the Japanese ending song "Let's Join Hands." This leaves her rivalry with Iris without much closure, as they never get to have that battle that Iris promised her.
• In the Club Battle, she says that she's actually pleased that Iris is getting stronger, since as a Dragon Buster, she'd rather defeat strong Pokémon than weak ones.
• She was also disappointed when Iris used Excadrill in the last stage of the Club Battle, and outright pissed when it continues into the Clubsplosion tournament — since she wants Iris to be a real Dragon Master and a worthy foe for a Dragon Buster such as herself, she expects her to continue strengthening Axew and any other Dragon-types she might obtain.
• Likewise, she's ecstatic when Iris gets a Dragonite, but only gets upset when Iris can't control it properly. And yet even after losing, she's still happy that Iris continues to use Dragonite in the tournament. The implication is that she would've been fine with losing to Dragonite if it was Iris calling the shots in the battle like a proper Dragon Master rival should do.

One of Ash's one-shot rivals and the antagonist of the day.

• Combat Pragmatist : Orders his Heatmor to attack his Emboar to break the latter out of Snivy's Attract, showing he has no love for his Pokémon.
• Expy : Much like Tepig was one of Charmander, Shamus is one of Damian. Both are awful, Jerkass Hate Sinks who abandon a Fire-type starter for being too weak, leaving it to almost die in the wild and laughing about it afterward. After witnessing their old Pokémon's increase in strength, they try to manipulate it back onto their team, only to be violently and rightfully rejected .
• Hate Sink : The point of his character is to be despicable, much like Damian and Koji before him . At least when Paul abandoned his Pokémon (as horrible as that was), he never manipulated them into believing he once cared for them.
• Jerkass : He abandons his Pokemon and even brags about it.
• Jerk Justifications : He defends his releasing of Pokemon by claiming that forcing a weak Pokemon to battle is more cruel than just letting it go.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk : Shamus only wanted Pignite to rejoin him after it was proven to be strong after it evolved, and sarcastically apologized to it. Pignite sees through the bullshit and gives him a well deserved Flamethrower to his face for it.
• Abandoned Tepig and openly admitted it during his tag team battle with Ash.
• After he defeated another Trainer, he tried to force that Trainer to hand over his Pokémon to him. Thankfully, Ash was there to intervene.
• Kids Are Cruel : He appears no older than the main cast and cruel is probably the nicest thing you can call him.
• Lack of Empathy : Shows this by not caring when Tepig begs and pleads for him not to abandon it.
• Laser-Guided Karma : He not only loses to Ash, but he gets a Flamethrower to the face by Pignite after pretending to apologize to it and offer it a spot on his team.
• Manipulative Bastard : He bragged about manipulating Tepig (and other Pokémon he released) into believing he once cared for it.
• Meaningful Name : His name brings the word "shame" to mind, and his behavior is indeed nothing but shameful.
• One-Shot Character : He only physically appears in Evolution by Fire!
• Playing with Fire : Shamus has a thing for powerful Fire-type Pokémon, calling himself and his team the "Fire Warriors." Even his clothes have a red and black color scheme.
• The Rival : He's a one-shot, character of the day rival for Ash.
• Sadist : Not only is he incredibly manipulative, but he outright enjoys being so, his tearful face quickly turning into an evil grin as Tepig cried out for him to return. He later laughs to Tepig's face about how easily he was able to manipulate it (and presumably many others) into thinking he cared.
• The Sociopath : He abandons his Tepig by tying it to a post and pretends to be sad to make sure it won't follow him and then rubs it in its face with sadistic glee and even states that he does this whenever he abandons a pokemon.
• Sore Loser : Played with. Shamus didn’t initially seem to have a problem with losing to Ash & just takes his loss as it is, but it's implied he was putting on another facade to get Pignite to leave Ash for him, angrily swearing revenge when Pignite burns his face in response.
• Stupid Evil : Shamus's motivations seem to be driven entirely by what will make him look even more horrible , even when they're completely contradictory or make no sense whatsoever. He claims to only be interested in the most powerful Pokémon, but still attempts to take Pokémon from those that lose to him, even though he shouldn't have any interest by his own logic. He also openly brags about how he only pretends to care about his former Pokémon, but still inexplicably tries to convince Pignite to come back to him afterward.
• Unseen No More : In Tepig's first episode, he was only seen in flashback and his face was not shown. He makes his first and only in-person appearance in Evolution by Fire!
• While Paul was also a huge jerk who only cared about his Pokémon's strength and would readily abandon them if they weren't up to his standards, he treated the ones that were up to his standards with respect. Shamus's actions, however, border on criminal, attempting to force Trainers who lose to him to give him their Pokémon.
• Also, Paul was at least honest about his harsh nature and would be upfront when he released a Pokémon, while Shamus would be emotionally manipulative to his Pokémon and drop the facade once he had no reason to feign caring for them.
• Furthermore, Paul mostly treated his cruelty with indifference, only acting the way he does out of the desire to become strong . Shamus, on the other hand, is outright sadistic , laughing to Tepig's face about how easily some fake tears can manipulate his Pokemon.
• On a lesser note, Paul occasionally had comedic moments. Shamus had none of the sort.
• Finally, Paul went through a great deal of Character Development across his many appearances, and ultimately buried the hatchet with Ash after being defeated. Shamus is far more in line with Damian: a One-Shot Character and Hate Sink who clearly did not learn his lesson, and most likely never will.
• You Have Failed Me : He abandoned Tepig after it lost a match to a Deerling, tying it to a post after it kept trying to follow him.

• Canon Immigrant : Though he's been given the Youngster's sprite and class, he and his team are available in a download for the World Tournament (along with the other three anime-origin rivals).
• Character Tics : Pulling his headband so it snaps on his forehead seems to give him focus.
• His team — or what we see of it, anyway — is pretty impressive. He's trained a Lucario, Ferrothorn, Samurott, Hydreigon, and Swanna (plus a Watchog, shown in silhouette on the board during his match with Virgil).
• Curbstomp Battle : Not excessively so, but the battlescreen shows that Virgil still defeated him 6-on-3 - meaning Virgil had half his team still active when he won. Not totally invincible after all.
• David Versus Goliath : His somewhat small Riolu vs. Bianca's bulky Emboar. Riolu wins by using its own speed and size to its advantage.
• He also thought the league was going to be in Ecruteak City, which is in an entirely different region . Put bluntly, Ash looks smart when he's placed next to this kid! Even he finds himself frustrated at Cameron's dimness.
• He also thought that the quarter-final match was 5-on-5 rather than 6-on-6 — Ash had to inform him that he'd accidentally handicapped himself, much to his chagrin.
• Cameron also seems to struggle with remembering type matchups; he sent out the Grass/Steel-type Ferrothorn against the Fire/Fighting-type Pignite, as well as the Water/Flying-type Swanna against the Electric-type Pikachu, for no apparent reason. Both of them are quickly defeated as a result.
• It’s telling that his victory over Ash was entirely due to luck- had Lucario not evolved at that moment, he would have undoubtedly lost.
• He and Ash get along so well because they're so similar. Like Morrison from the Hoenn League, he rather resembles a less experienced and more juvenile Ash, albeit with a more evolved team line-up. On the flipside, he's even more of a ditz than Ash is!
• If Ritchie represented all of Ash's positive traits if he took training more seriously, Cameron represents Ash's negative traits as a rookie battler: a pure Invincible Incompetent who relies on brute force and random luck rather than skill. The way Cameron bulldozes through the league mirrors the way Ash himself progressed through the Indigo League.
• Guest-Star Party Member : Joins the group briefly for a trip to Humilau City, where he can challenge Marlon. He leaves afterwards.
• Idiot Houdini : Cameron is very lacking for brains. He gets dates, times, and locations of important events wrong, almost tried to enter the Unova League in Johto and with only seven badges instead of eight, forgets to register even when he does get to the right location, and shows up to his six-on-six match with Ash carrying only five Pokemon! Somehow, though, he manages to avoid direct consequences for any of this; he just barely manages to qualify for the league after Ash begs Nurse Joy for it, and still beats Ash in their match because his Riolu evolves into Lucario in the middle of battle. And ironically, when he finally loses to Virgil in the next round, he actually is following the correct rules.
• Invincible Incompetent : Played straight until the end of the Unova League: no matter how many boneheaded mistakes Cameron made, he won every battle he had onscreen. It's finally subverted when Virgil defeats him decisively in the semifinals.
• Irony : In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, the scoreboard for Cameron and Virgil's battle shows that the latter won with only five Pokémon as well; unlike with Cameron, however, it's assumed that Virgil actually won through skill.
• Also, "Tetsu" means "iron" in Japanese — another reference to Samurott's swords, but also to Lucario and Ferrothorn's Steel -typing — while "ko" can mean either "small" or "child".
• This is also referenced in his English name, Came ron.
• Mighty Glacier : Hydreigon's speed (while not pathetic) pales compared to its phenomenal Attack and Defense.
• Noodle Implements : One has to ponder as to why he had a TV Remote in his bag on a Pokémon Journey.
• One-Steve Limit : Averted. The Pokémon Ranger games also had a Cameron.
• Pintsized Powerhouse : Riolu, until it evolves into Lucario and becomes a full-on Lightning Bruiser .
• Promotion to Opening Titles : After Dawn leaves in his introductory episode ( BW093 ), he and Riolu take her and Piplup's places (respectively) in the Japanese opening credits starting with BW094 .
• Samus Is a Girl : His Samurott succumbs to Bianca's Emboar using Attract, and since Emboar is a guy...yeah, with those whiskers and such, it's unlikely anybody saw that coming.
• Signature Mon : Riolu/Lucario is his main Pokémon, who stays out of its Poké Ball and most closely resembles his personality (in contrast to most Lucario , Cameron's is rather silly and fun-loving). It's also the only one of his Pokémon to have evolved onscreen.
• Straight Man and Wise Guy : With Riolu, who serves as the Straight Man to Cameron's Wise Guy.
• Unskilled, but Strong : He's even dimmer than Indigo League Ash , both in and outside of battle, and regularly handicaps himself through his mistakes. His team, however, is very powerful and well-balanced, which is seemingly what allows him to get away with his incompetence. His Hydreigon took down two of Ash's Pokemon with relative ease, while Lucario took out three.
• Vitriolic Best Buds : Sorta. His Riolu is clearly annoyed at his sheer ditziness, but still considers him his best friend. It's made much more apparent given that, like in the games, Riolu evolves into Lucario because of said bond.

• The Ace : By far and large the best non- E4 /Champion trainer of Unova in Best Wishes , he defeats Cameron who in turn had defeated Ash previously and ends the series undefeated and winning the Unova League Conference .
• The Bus Came Back : Returns for the special episode before the 16th movie.
• Canon Immigrant : Though he's been given the Pokémon Ranger's sprite and class, he and his team are available in a download for the World Tournament (along with the other three anime-origin rivals).
• Curtains Match the Window : Gold hair and gold eyes.
• Generation Xerox : He and his older brother, Davy, are both involved in the Rescue Team business, just like their father Jeff.
• Living Prop : Leafeon — comparatively, the rest of his team has either participated in said episode's conflict and/or were seen battling in the Vertress Conference. It does, however, appear as a silhouette on the display screen showing the teams he used in the 6-on-6 battles, so at least we know he used it. It also appears by his side in the Mewtwo special, and even then, it only uses one attack.
• Merchandise-Driven : His Eevee team exists to advertise a whole bunch of Eevee merch in Japan.
• Red Herring : Played with in that many expected him to be the one to face Ash and beat him, then go on to win the whole league. He never battled Ash, but he did battle and defeat Cameron (who did beat Ash), and Virgil did go on to win the entire league.
• Shout-Out Theme Naming : He and his father share the same name with a famous family of rescue workers .
• Signature Mon : His entire team is made up of Eevee and its evolutions.
• The Smurfette Principle : Eevee's his only female Mon on a team of eight. This is a Justified Trope - only 1/8th of all Eevee are female in the games, so proportionately this is accurate. More importantly, she's the most powerful member of his team to begin with.
• The Unfought : Due to Ash getting knocked out of the tournament by Cameron, Virgil is the only rival Ash never faces, and one of two (the other being Bianca) he doesn't battle in the Unova League .

Gym Leaders

• Elemental Powers : They specialize in a specific Pokémon Type just like most Gym Leaders in the Pokémon World.
• Large Ham : They sure love to emphasize their abilities and strengths.
• Smug Super : They sound and act very show off and arrogant, even when compared to the usual portrait of Gym Leaders, with the exceptions of Marlon and Cheren.

     Striaton Gym 

Voiced in Japanese by: Masakazu Morita (Pod), Makoto Ishii (Corn) Voiced in English by: Lucien Dodge (Chili), Tom Wayland (Cress) Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Carlos Díaz (Chili), Manuel Díaz (Cress) Voiced in Italian by: Renato Novara (Chili), Federico Viola (Cress)

Cilan, Chili and Cress are a trio of Striaton City Gym Leaders, specializing in Grass, Fire and Water-types respectively. In this gym, the trainer has the freedom to choose one of the trio, and as long as they win, they will earn the Trio Badge.

As Cilan was impressed with Ash's improvisation during their gym battle, he accompanied him and left the gym to his other brother. For tropes specific to Cilan, see the Supporting Cast for Black and White .

General Tropes

• Adapted Out : Neither of them have the Lillipup that they have in the games. The same goes for Cilan.
• Alphabetical Theme Naming : Their English names (and Cilan's) all begin with a "C."
• Big Eater : Chili, whose solution for resolving stress is to stuff his face with donuts. His Pansear also has the ability "Gluttony".
• Birds of a Feather : Non-romantic, but Cilan determines that Chili and Pansear are perfect partners due to the many traits they share.
• The Bus Came Back : Chili ends up encountering Ash's group in A Call for Brotherly Love! , after leaving his gym.
• Berserk Button : Chili is really sensitive about people criticizing his battle tactics.
• Can't Catch Up : This is acknowledged in BW058 , when Chili is revealed to be suffering an inferiority complex, percieving himself as the weakest of the brothers due to having suffered a losing streak, expecially when Pansage circumvents his type disadvantage against Pansear with more balanced attacks. The gang helps him out by training Pansear to learn Solarbeam.
• Curtains Match the Windows : They have elemental-colored eyes matching their elemental-colored hair.
• A Day in the Limelight : BW058 focuses on Chili, who recently left Striation Gym to embark on his own journey, having lost confidence as a Gym Leader due to a series of losses.
• Pansear can maneuver through the ground easily with Dig.
• Panpour can use Mud Sport to lessen damage from super-effective Electric attacks.
• Doppelgänger Spin : Cress' Panpour's Double Team.
• Elemental Hair Colors : Their hair are not only colored, but also styled according to the type they specialize in.
• Elemental Powers : This Gym is unique in that it is shared with three different Type-specialists.
• Energy Weapon : Pansear's Solarbeam (taught to it by Pansage ).
• Eyes Always Shut : Cress' Panpour.
• Fiery Redhead : Chili
• The Kirk : Cilan
• The McCoy : Chili
• The Spock : Cress
• Green Thumb : Cilan specializes in Grass-type Pokeémon like Pansage. He's also the one who taught Chili's Pansear Solarbeam to get around Water-types.
• Hot-Blooded : Chili to the extreme. Shared by his Pansear.
• Large Ham : Chili, at times. Ironically, his brother Cilan can sometimes be even hammier.
• Making a Splash : Cress specializes in Water-types like Panpour.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero : Cress' advice to Chili about his battle style, while necessary to help him improve, probably could have been delivered a little more delicately, something Cress guiltily admits to. Thankfully, Cilan manages to deliver the advice better and rectify the situation.
• Playing with Fire : Chili uses Fire-type Pokémon like Pansear.
• Out of Focus : While Chili gets some development and even his own focus episode later on, Cress goes largely underutilized.
• Meanwhile, Cilan himself is blue to Chili, but red to Cress.
• Sharp-Dressed Man : They dress smartly as they serve customers as well as trainers.
• Sibling Team : Along with Cilan (until he elects to travel awhile), the three of them share their duties at the Gym (which also doubles as a restaurant), allowing the challenger to select his or her opponent in a one-on-one Gym Battle.
• The Stoic : Cress.
• Take a Third Option : Ash requests the opportunity to battle all three Gym Leaders. Cress suggests a series of 3 one-on-one matches to determine whether Ash earns a badge (he beats Chili, loses to Cress, and then beats Cilan).
• Third-Person Person : Cress in the original Japanese version - culturally and grammatically, doing so is regarded as a mannerism of femininity.
• Of the triplets, Chili appears to lose the most battles - he was beaten by Trip using a disadvantaged Servine , for goodness sake, not to mention being (incidentally) the only person on record to have been defeated by Burgundy. Deconstructed when he develops an inferiority complex and runs away from the Gym, and it got even worse when Cilan and Pansage defeat his Pansear in BW058 . However, it's subverted at the end of the episode when he finally defeats Ash's Oshawott.
• Usually, Cress isn't shown to have lost a single battle. However, when Chili couldn't beat her, he eventually lost to Morana as well, who beat him using an OHKO attack despite his type advantage.

Voiced in Japanese by: Atsuko Tanaka Voiced in English by: Norma Nongauza Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Laura Torres

• Adventurer Archaeologist : Implied to be one.
• Bare-Fisted Monk : Watchog's Low Kick.
• Barrier Warrior : Herdier's Protect.
• Big Damn Heroes : Shows up just in time to resolve the conflict in BW014
• Confusion Fu : One of the reasons she's so difficult to fight in the anime is because her favorite strategy is to disorient trainers by destroying their strategies with a Roar and Mean Look combo. She is also one of the very few Gym Leaders allowed to substitute Pokémon during battle the same as her challengers are, which, again, allows her to use strategies not seen at other Gyms.
• Meaningful Name : Le nora , as in norma l types.
• Non-Elemental : She specializes in Normal types
• Shock and Awe : Watchog's Thunderbolt.
• Soul Power : Watchog's Confuse Ray, and Lillipup and Herdier's Shadow Ball.
• Stealth Mentor : She takes this approach when battling Ash, treating her battle with him like a test he needs to pass.
• Token Minority : The only "black" Gym Leader, and fits the mammy stereotype pretty well - much of her artwork even features a matronly apron.
• Wake-Up Call Boss : Just like in the games, Lenora is a very difficult fight for Ash. She curbstomps him without breaking a sweat, it takes an episode-long Training Montage just to get up to her level, and even then she's a tough battle.

Voiced in Japanese by: Tōru Furuya Voiced in English by: Billy Bob Thompson Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Daniel Lacy

• All Webbed Up : Leavanny's String Shot.
• Badass Cape : As part of his Dynamic Entry .
• Barrier Warrior : Leavanny and Dwebble's Protect.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies : He specializes in Bug types.
• Dishing Out Dirt : Dwebble's secondary type (Rock).
• Early-Bird Cameo : In BW018 , similar to his in-game first appearance.
• Energy Weapon : Leavanny's Hyper Beam.
• Extra-ore-dinary : Whirlipede's Iron Defense.
• Green Thumb : Leavanny's secondary type.
• Meaningful Name : His English name sounds like bug.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown : His Leavanny is on the recieving end of one, when Pikachu barrages the Nurturing Pokémon with all of his moves and takes down the Bug/Grass-type.
• Poisonous Person : Whirlipede's secondary type.
• Real Men Wear Pink : His signature Pokémon, Leavanny, is from a species reknowned for its sewing ability. Burgh himself is a talented artist.
• Reasonable Authority Figure : He does his best to both stop and help the Venipede in BW022 , and manages to convince the mayor to give him a chance, while even talking Trip into assisting.

Voiced in Japanese by: Yumiko Kobayashi Voiced in English by: Eileen Stevens Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Analiz Sánchez

• Adaptational Personality Change : In the games, Elesa was The Stoic , bordering on Emotionless Girl . As you can tell just from her picture here, the anime went the complete opposite direction and made her a Genki Girl .
• Adapted Out : One of her Emolga is replaced with a Tynamo in the anime.
• Ascended Meme : In the games, her Emolga tripped up players thinking Ground- and Grass-tTypes could beat her entire team. Ash's Palpitoad went down swiftly, causing Ash to freak out after he thought he'd only need it to sweep her team, and Snivy similarly went down.
• Bare-Fisted Monk : Zebtrika's Double Kick.
• Cool Horse : Zebstrika.
• Even the Girls Want Her : Has a gym full of (only) female fans that blush at the sight of her, cosplay as her, and constantly scream her name.
• Genki Girl : Especially during battles. She's also in full Genki mode when she referees the match between Ash and Bianca's Father, shouting every now and then.
• Glass Cannon : Exaggerated with Tynamo. She looks small and harmless, but then not so much once she starts a Tackle at lightning speed . That said, after some careful planning, she goes down after a single Iron Tail.
• Large Ham : Overlaps with Genki Girl ; she can be quite dramatic.
• Let's Get Dangerous! : Once she sees how powerful Pikachu is (taking out her Emolga with a single Quick Attack), the gloves come off.
• Lightning Bruiser - Zebstrika (a test to see whether her opponent can last in the battle).
• Meaningful Name : Ele sa as in ele ctricity.
• Ms. Fanservice : In two occasions — the first is a screenshot that seems like she wasn't wearing stockings underneath, the second is Dawn's description of Elesa wearing very fashionable clothing.
• Nice Girl : Extremely eccentric, but she's all around a sweet and caring young woman who tries to cheer up Bianca after her loss and loves her Pokémon and fans.
• Pintsized Powerhouse : Tynamo.
• Playing with Fire : Zebstrika's Flame Charge.
• Poor, Predictable Rock : Similar like in the games, Elesa's Emolga is part-Flying-Type and thus is immune to Ground-Type attacks, countering both, Ground-Types and Grass-Types with Emolga's typing.
• Shock and Awe : She specializes in Electric types.
• True Beauty Is on the Inside : After Ash beats her, Elesa admits that she'd gotten so caught up in showing off and dazzling with her Pokémon that she forgot about the importance of trainer and Pokémon being in sync with each other's feelings.
• Wind from Beneath My Wings : Emolga's secondary type.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! : Her reaction when Ash only brought just one Pokémon in the battle after defeating Palpitoad, but allowed Ash to call an audible to get another Pokémon to continue.

Voiced in Japanese by: Tsuguo Mogami Voiced in English by: Sean Schemmel Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Humberto Vélez

• Bare-Fisted Monk : Palpitoad and Excadrill's Rock Smash .
• Berserk Button : Goes into a rage when Ash has Snivy use Attract, securing an easy win against Palpitoad.
• Casting a Shadow : Krokorok's secondary type.
• Cynical Mentor : Towards Ash — among other things, he didn't take the usual route of criticising Ash's usage of a type-disadvantaged Pokémon, and was ultimately impressed when Boldore defeated his Excadrill.
• Dishing Out Dirt : He specialises in Ground types.
• Extra-ore-dinary : Excadrill's secondary type.
• Horn Attack : Excadrill's Horn Drill.
• Iconic Item : His treasured pickaxe.
• I Gave My Word : He really did need those Revival Herbs, and so when Ash brought them from Milos Island he kept his word that he'd battle him. This is despite seeming grouchy and not believing Ash would be worth battling.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold : He brushes off Ash's challenge the first time, and the second time he criticizes Ash for not knowing about Revival Herbs. Yet despite his doubts about Ash's worth, he keeps his word to battle him, acts as a Cynical Mentor with good intentions, and encourages him in the end to keep climbing upwards to reach his dream.
• Let's Get Dangerous! : To really test Ash's resolve, he sends out his strongest Pokémon, Excadrill, in the final stage of the match.
• Making a Splash : Palpitoad's primary type.
• Man Bites Man : Krokorok's Bite.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile : Krokorok.
• Not Now, Kiddo : He appears briefly in BW057 and BW059 , twice refusing to battle Ash due to varying circumstances (first time it's work; the second, he doesn't have Revival Herbs, which would guarantee the Pokémon working at his mines stay healthy). He finally accepts Ash's challenge in BW061 .
• One-Hit Kill : Excadrill's Horn Drill. Less than useful against Roggenrola's "Sturdy" ability , however.
• Self-Made Man : Clay reflects that when he was a child, he worked really hard to get where he is, but most contemporary youngsters expect to attain everything with shortcuts and cheap tricks. This is precisely why he considers Ash's Snivy using Attract to be unfair rather than strategic.
• This Is a Drill : Exca drill . It even knows Drill Run and Horn Drill !

Voiced in Japanese by: Kana Ueda Voiced in English by: Sarah Natochenny Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Karla Falcón Voiced in Italian by: Deborah Morese

• Adaptational Badass : Swanna's Aqua Ring functions as a cross between Protect (blocks all damage) and Safeguard (cures status conditions) whereas in the games, it gives Regenerating Health for a few turns.
• Adaptational Jerkass : Downplayed. She's not an outright Jerkass , but she's very... arrogant and self-assured about her way of battling. Contrast the games, which present her as an outright Nice Girl .
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Girl : She's very confident about the accuracy of her Air Battles, and gets very nasty if someone challenges her convictions. Even when Cilan gives her a hard time in battle, she declares she "was bored" and "predicted everything" . Her defeat by the hands of Ash, however, knocks her off her perch.
• Blow You Away : Swoobat's Air Cutter & Gust, Unfezant's Air Slash and Swanna's Hurricane.
• Bubble Gun : Swanna's Bubble Beam.
• Defeat Means Respect : After Ash defeats her, she humbly admits she was wrong and vows to be a proper Gym Leader from then on. Tranquill's evolution in particular helped her realize that her belief in predictable outcomes is skewed.
• Didn't See That Coming : Tranquill's evolution, which turned the tide of the battle (as well as revitalizing her own passion for battle).
• Early-Bird Cameo : A rather unusual one, in that she made her first anime appearance in the English opening of Season 15, the weekend before her first episode even aired in Japan.
• Fiery Redhead : She's more passionate than quick-tempered.
• This may be justified as Ash has a female Unfezant.
• Genki Girl : She's very energetic — just watch her entrance to Ash's battle with her. And the more the battle goes on, the more excited she gets!
• Healing Factor : Swanna's Aqua Ring. It even allows Swanna to take Pikachu's Electric attacks, so it seems to have been upgraded A LOT compared to the games.
• It's All About Me : Gym battles were less important to her than her personal time to fly.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold : BW068 shows that she's not really a bad person, but needed to realize that what was best for her wasn't necessarily best for everyone else. Even before then she's consistently polite and expresses delight at getting to battle another Gym Leader.
• Making a Splash : Swanna's primary type.
• Ms. Fanservice : Wears the very same outfit from the games - short shorts that expose her legs and a midriff-exposing pilot gear.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands : Her Swanna's Aqua Ring is way more powerful than in the games.
• Non-Elemental : Unfezant's primary type.
• Psychic Powers : Swoobat's primary type.
• Smug Super : While not flat-out boastful, she's utterly self-assured.
• Tranquil Fury : Her grandfather, commenting on how she'd stated that she wouldn't allow her Swanna's beautiful wings to be tarnished (when Cilan's Stunfisk was attacking with Mud Shot), informs her that in his view, she's done just that by refusing to do her duty as Gym Leader . A tight frown crosses her face at the words, and it really looks like she's restraining the urge to scream at him (in the Japanese version, in fact, her response truly sounds like she's speaking through gritted teeth ).
• Wind from Beneath My Wings : She specializes in Flying types.

Voiced in Japanese by: Nobuo Tobita Voiced in English by: Benjamin Becker Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Diego Ángeles

• Action Hero : In his movies, but also in "Real Life".
• An Ice Person : He specializes in Ice-types.
• Badass Normal : Shown by his training regiment with Beartic in BW078 .
• Bare-Fisted Monk : Not only was he an Action Hero in movies, he's an accomplished martial artist — the man can shatter boulders with his bare fist , for Heaven's sake!
• Bears Are Bad News : Beartic, his strongest Pokémon, though only in the Gym battle.
• Bruce Lee Clone : Aside from being a martial arts film star, his movie titles are parodies of Bruce Lee 's movies.
• Didn't See That Coming : His face after his Cryogonal is beaten when Pignite strikes Cryogonal's face with Fire Pledge while it's using Rapid Spin just screams this.
• Dynamic Entry : His Establishing Character Moment .
• Establishing Character Moment : He and Beartic leap down from a higher altitude, destroying a pair of boulders endangering Ash and his friends, and land in perfect martial arts poses. Then he simply expresses relief that nobody is hurt, showing his sense of humility.
• Extra-ore-dinary : Vanillish's Mirror Shot.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me : Cryogonal's Reflect.
• Making a Splash : Beartic's Brine.
• Noodle Incident : The accident on the set of his fourth movie, which convinced him to quit making movies and go back to training with his Beartic.
• Psychic Powers : Crygonal's Reflect.
• Poor, Predictable Rock : His Beartic knows Brine, a Water-Type move to counter Fire-Type Pokémon, as well as the Flying-Type move Aerial Ace to counter Fighting-Type Pokémon. Ash's Pignite being a Fire/Fighting-Type, he gets defeated by both of Beartic's moves.
• Soul Power : Vanillish's Astonish.
• Spectacular Spinning : Cryogonal's Rapid Spin.
• Warrior Monk : Dresses the part, and he's also a genuinely tough guy.
• Worthy Opponent : For Krokorok, who was psyched to battle his team.

Voiced in Japanese by: Eri Kitamura Voiced in English by: Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Mireya Mendoza

• The Ace : She's renowned both as an expert musician and one of the toughest Gym Leaders in all of Unova. She more than lives up to her billing, letting her opponents use their entire teams while she only uses three Pokemon. Notably, she took out five of Ash's Pokemon, pushed Pikachu right to the brink and may well have won if Garbodor hadn't been paralyzed by Pikachu's Static.
• Adaptational Badass : She's only the second Gym Leader in the games, whereas in the anime Ash earned his final badge from her (though this is mainly because she was introduced after the other Gym Leaders). In addition, she allows Ash to use six Pokémon against three of hers, and she justifies her confidence by defeating five of his team during the battle.
• Adapted Out : Sort of. She has a Grimer in the games, but only in challenge mode. In the anime, it's replaced with Garbodor.
• Badass Adorable : Apparently, she puts herself on a 6-on-3 disadvantage regularly ...Yikes! Plus, she's pretty cute.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies : Scolipede.
• Blow You Away : Ash starts the match by sending out Boldore and having it use Sandstorm against Roxie's Koffing. The Sandstorm does some damage, but then Koffing blasts it away with Clear Smog.
• Call-Back : Before Ash is headed towards the Gym for his match, a lot of Pokémon were being admitted to the Center in Virbank City specifically because she was kicking their asses. Notably, the scene is similar to the first season, before Ash went to face Lt. Surge and his Raichu in the Vermilion City Gym.
• Combat Pragmatist : She utilizes attacks with a good chance of poisoning the opposition, making up for her lesser numbers in the battle. In fact, a lot of the poisoning attacks are aimed at the face to assure poisoning with the added bonus of throwing them off.
• Dishing Out Dirt : Scolipede's Rock Tomb.
• Early-Bird Cameo : She made her anime debut in a two-part special which aired in Japan the week prior to the release of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (her first game appearance).
• Energy Weapon : Garbodor's Hyper Beam.
• Honor Before Reason : She doesn't take advantage of Pignite's poisoning by Scolipede, giving it a Pecha Berry before sending out her strongest Pokémon, Garbodor. It just shows how she's both a good sport and a tough opponent. It's also justified ; while a Gym Leader, she's also an entertainer as well — she wanted to put on a good show for their audience, who were really into the battle.
• Lead Bassist : In addition to being Gym Leader, she's also the bassist/vocalist of Koffing and the Toxics.
• Mascot Mook : Koffing is an In-Universe one for her band.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands : Koffing's Clear Smog clears away weather conditions, which it can't do in the games.
• Playing with Fire : Koffing's Will-O-Wisp.
• Poisonous Person : She's a Poison-type trainer.
• The Rockstar : She's the singer and lead guitarist for her rock band, Koffing And The Toxics. They rock the house during Roxie's matches, sometimes even cheering for her opponents.
• Spanner in the Works : She very nearly won her battle with Ash, but her Garbodor got paralyzed by Pikachu's Static ability. That slowed Garbodor long enough for Ash and Pikachu to turn the tables.
• Spectacular Spinning : Koffing's Gyro Ball. Backfires when Leavanny grabs it with String Shot.
• Super-Scream : Scolipede's Screech.
• Her Pokemon have this too, especially her Koffing. It takes down two of Ash's Pokemon before he finally defeats it with Leavanny. Her Scolipede takes out Leavanny, and Pignite takes a beating before he finally defeats it. Garbodor flattens Pignite almost immediately, does the same to Palpitaod and pushes Pikachu right to the edge. It turns out that Roxie letting her opponents use their full teams while using three of her own Pokemon only makes the fight fair instead of a complete Curb-Stomp Battle .
• Worthy Opponent : She does see Ash as this while their battle go on. The fact Ash kept shilling her a lot during the battle not only boosts her already big Large Ham tendencies, but makes her took a shining on him.
• Youthful Freckles : Though they're only visible close-up.

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuji Ueda Voiced in English by: Ed Paul Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Víctor Ugarte Voiced in Italian by: Renato Novara

• Adapted Out : He doesn't have a Carracosta like in the games. He does have a Wailord, but he doesn't use it in the battle against Cameron.
• Curb-Stomp Battle : His Mantine pummels Cameron's Ferrothorn with all of its moves and wins easily and then is beaten down easily itself by Samurott.
• Curtains Match the Window : Blue eyes and blue hair, natch.
• Making a Splash : He specializes in Water types.
• One-Shot Character : The first Gym Leader to suffer this fate since Chuck (way back in Johto!)
• The Unfought : Well, for Ash who already has 8 badges. He was Cameron's opponent instead.
• The Worf Effect : Cameron defeats him without much difficulty, despite Marlon being a powerful Gym Leader. This is presumably to display just how powerful Cameron's team (especially Samurott) is.

Voiced in Japanese by: Masaki Terasoma Voiced in English by: Mike Pollock Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: José Luis Orozco

• Bait-and-Switch Boss : Sort of - while nobody was surprised that Iris battled Drayden again, everyone expected Ash to win his 8th Badge at Opelucid Gym rather than at Virbank Gym.
• Bare-Fisted Monk : Haxorus' Rock Smash.
• The Bus Came Back : He returns alongside Iris in JN064 where he meets Ash and Goh at the stadium to prepare Ash for his battle against Iris.
• Dragon Tamer : Specializes in training Dragon-type Pokémon.
• Early-Bird Cameo : Made his first appearance in Iris' flashback during BW034 .
• Extra-ore-dinary : Druddigon's Flash Cannon.
• What's amusing about this is how Ash's Badge Cases (both Sinnoh and Unova) have slots shaped specifically for certain badges - despite the fact that in the anime, there are more than 8 Gyms and therefore no specific selection of badges to be earned for League participation.
• Me's a Crowd : Druddigon's Double Team.
• Token Motivational Nemesis : Non-villainous variant — his presence played an important role in defining who Iris and Excadrill became. He and Iris have a rematch at the Opelucid Gym, and he wins a 2nd time (although this time, Excadrill pulls a tie against the Haxorus which originally defeated it).
• "Unfought" to Ash; to Iris it's a completely different story.
• Wake-Up Call Boss : He handed Iris and Excadrill their first ever defeat, breaking their 99-battle winning streak. In their 2-on-2 rematch in BW101 , he wins again — despite Excadrill tying with Haxorus, Druddigon was still standing despite Dragonite's best efforts.

Voiced in Japanese by: Takuya Eguchi Voiced in English by: Todd Haberkorn Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Arturo Castañeda

• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul : Him and Bianca (along with Hilbert/Hilda) are friends from childhood. Here they don't appear to have met at all.
• Anime Hair : Maintains his ahoge , as in other media.
• Curtains Match the Window : Black hair, black eyes.
• A Day in the Limelight : Which mostly makes up for his lack of a presence beyond the Gym Leader role in the anime.
• Demoted to Extra : Considering his noteworthy role in the games. Also, when Ash meets him, he's already in his Gym Leader position of Black 2/White 2 , rather than a friendly rival in the same capacity as Bianca - as such, when Ash and Cheren battle, it's just a friendly battle rather than a full-fledged Gym Badge battle as Ash had already gotten the Basic Badge (along with the other seven needed to enter the Unova League) from Lenora.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation : Throughout the episode, he's unsure of himself and his worth as a Gym Leader due to being new to the business. Yet his students absolutely adore and look up to him.
• Non-Elemental : Presumed to use Normal-types like Herdier, just like in the games.
• Shock and Awe : Herdier's Thunder Fang.

Unova League

• The Ace : Given the fact that he was the Champion of Unova, this is a given. Don't let the relaxed and easy-going personality fool you. When he gets serious he will thoroughly kick your ass like it's his day job .
• Adaptational Comic Relief : Alder in the games is relatively serious and has a tragic backstory involving his deceased original partner, while Alder in the anime is much more lighthearted. No hint toward his backstory is ever made in his various appearances, and he's notably absent from the more serious arcs of Best Wishes .
• And Then What? : He tells Ash and his friends that once they fulfill all their dreams, they must then find meaning in life beyond them, too.
• Anime Hair : Spiked upwards with a large wolf's tail.
• Brilliant, but Lazy : In his older age, he's less focused — he falls asleep during his battle with Ash! Then comes the Junior World Cup where he shows why he is still the Champion by curbstomping Trip's Serperior with his Bouffalant.
• Broken Pedestal : In Trip's opinion, but then Trip changes his opinion back to his original one once he battles him .
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer : This guy was the Unova Champion in spite of his absentmindedness, lechery, and aimless wandering the region.
• The Cameo : He briefly appears in JN118 , watching Iris's match against Cynthia.
• Charles Atlas Superpower : Stops a rampaging Gigalith with his bare hands.
• Chivalrous Pervert : He's like Brock when it comes to the ladies (or at least with the Jennys, Joys and Cynthia).
• Cool Old Guy : A bit old, yes. But don't underestimate him when he can kick your ass in a battle if he focuses.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome : Iris is the champion of Unvoa come Journeys , with Alder not even getting so much as a mention.
• Expy : Of Jiraiya from Naruto . He's a wandering sage, and a bit of a lech, but truly fearsome in battle.
• Friend to All Living Things : He has a deep understanding of Pokémon — he helped the aforementioned Gigalith by removing the nail in its foot which had caused it pain, and then fed it minerals. This is also a Call-Back to when Bruno of the Kanto Elite Four calmed a rampaging Onix by pulling out a Sandslash firmly lodged between its joints - Pokémon champions require the in-depth foresight, compassion and understanding of life (and living) that must be largely self-taught only with experience.
• The Hedonist : Alder's philosophy is that a person should enjoy life with their friends rather than focusing so much on accomplishments.
• Let's Get Dangerous! : He seems pretty bumbling and clueless, but he becomes extremely competent in a crisis. He not only restrains a Gigalith (a Pokémon that typically weighs 260 kilograms, or 573 pounds) with his bare hands, he pulls out the nail that was stuck in its foot. In his battle with Trip, he perfectly gauges the power of Trip's Serperior, realizes it can't take down his Bouffalant and ends the fight with one Head Smash.
• The Mentor : Tries with Trip, is more successful with Ash's group. He does manage to talk some sense into Trip the next time he gets to talk to him.
• No-Sell : Bouffalant's Sap Sipper ability, much to Trip's surprise.
• Running Gag : Not remembering either Ash or Trip's names — he calls the former "Ashton" ( Santaro ) and the latter "Tristan" ( Shootaro ).
• Signature Mon : In the anime, it's Bouffalant, but only because it's the only Pokémon of his we get to see.
• Vague Age : Even though he's a grandfather in the games, he's shown flirting with young women at many points in the anime, implying he's most likely much younger himself. His official age in the anime is never made clear, though.

• Badass Adorable : Despite being insecure about her skills, she still manages to hold up against Cynthia until the timer runs out. Keep in mind she was fighting Cynthia's Garchomp for ten whole minutes while most other trainers' mons outside of the Elite Four could barely handle the same dragon for more than ten seconds .
• Bare-Fisted Monk : Gothitelle's Brick Break.
• Casting a Shadow : Gothitelle's Flatter.
• Flower Motifs : She makes her entrance onto the battlefield by emerging from the inside of a giant frickin' blooming flower .
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold : In constrast to her counterparts from other media, anime-Caitlin is a gracious, collected individual with a sweetly pleasant demeanour. Complete with Flower Motifs .
• Lady of War : Her battle style is focused on elegance.
• Older and Wiser : According to Cynthia, she's mellowed out and become more mature than when she was younger.
• Proper Lady : She conducts herself with grace and poise and her sportmanship is superb.
• Shock and Awe : Gothitelle's Thunderbolt.
• Took a Level in Badass : If Cynthia's reaction to her fighting ability is any indication, she's gotten stronger with time.
• Worthy Opponent : To Cynthia, despite being only an Elite Four facing a Champion.

Team Plasma

• Adapted Out : The Shadow Triad. The Sages also had their distinct, individualistic appearances and personalities removed. And thanks to their skipped debut, the BW1 team outfits also don't exist in the anime continuity, and along with them any members who sincerely desired to help Pokémon.
• Adaptational Wimp : In the games Team Plasma actually managed to almost take over the Unova region through both subtlety and force (N had even defeated Alder in a fair battle) and even came close to releasing every Pokemon in PC Boxes. Here their plan relies entirely on brainwashing Pokemon to do their bidding, including Reshiram, but go down rather quickly the second Reshiram is freed. To boot, N has left them long before they executed their plans while Ghetsis and Colress have no battle-able Pokemon team to assist their plans.
• Arc Villain : Thanks to the 2011 Japanese disasters causing their planned debut to be skipped, the organization has only been featured as the villains of the Episode N arc in the BW show's final season.
• Casting a Shadow : Multiple members have Liepard, and at least one is shown commanding a Bisharp.
• Cats Are Mean : As indicated above, Liepard seems to be the Mon of choice for most Plasma grunts, with even Aldith having one. At least three or four Zangoose have been separately shown under their command as well, including Weiss'.
• Dark Is Evil : Their uniforms.
• Demoted to Extra : The Seven Sages (sans Ghetsis) were reduced to appearing only in a flashback, and even had their distinctive features from the games completely altered . Most likely done to avoid worrying about their distinct personalities and giving them roles in the story.
• Extra-ore-dinary : Multiple Magnemite (along with Barret's Magnezone), and a Bisharp.
• Poisonous Person : Multiple Golbat and at least one Muk. Not to mention Schwarz's Seviper.
• Shock and Awe : Multiple Magnemite.
• Shout-Out : All the Pokémon they use are from families which Team Plasma uses in the games .

• Adaptational Nice Guy : Heavily downplayed , but Ghetsis's more vile crimes, like his verbal abuse of N and freezing Opelucid City are omitted here.
• Adaptational Wimp : Not that he isn't a threat, but his plan rides solely on taming Reshiram through a device. Contrast with game Ghetsis who manipulates N to control the Legendary dragon and is implied fully capable of defeating it. This Ghetsis doesn't seem to have a team of his own, not even his infamous Hydreigon.
• Archnemesis Dad : BW118 reveals that: a) he is N, Anthea and Concordia's stepfather, like in the games; and b) they all oppose his goals and actions.
• Big Bad : Of the Episode N arc.
• Composite Character : The cool, collected personality of his original B&W persona is combined with the clothing and more open goals of his later, B2W2 counterpart.
• Dark Is Evil : He wears his black outfit from B2W2 .
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu : Two grunts had to stop him from pissing off Reshiram any further after it was freed from the device. Ghetsis still insisted on informing the dragon he can still order it around .
• Faux Affably Evil : Speaks in honorifics in the Japanese version to put in the appearance of being a gentleman. He isn't one.
• The Man Behind the Man : To Colress. In his first episode, he contacts him briefly through a hologram at Colress' current base of operations. Ash's group initially mistakes Colress for Ghetsis on their first meeting (having briefly heard the latter's name from Aldith) before being corrected.
• Orcus on His Throne : Ghetsis hides away in secret while his agents do his dirty work across Unova. BW117 even shows him literally sitting on a throne-like chair. He finally takes the scene in the three-part finale.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning : Both his visible left eye and the red visor covering his right eye, or possible lack of one.
• The Unfought : Like Maxie and Cyrus before him, we never see him battle anyone during his entire run on the show.
• Villainous Breakdown : Starts losing it once the control device is destroyed and Reshiram frees itself .

• Adaptational Karma : In the games, he got no comeuppance for his role in Team Plasma's destructive plan, mainly due to his disdain for Ghetsis and respect for the protagonist causing a Heel–Face Turn . The anime has him remain unrepentant and arrested along with the rest of the team.
• Adaptational Villainy : While his goals and allegiance are unchanged, anime-Colress is more psychotic and openly antagonistic than his game counterpart (who only revealed his allegiance to Team Plasma at the end, and was technically more neutral towards the player). He also reformed in the game, whereas in the anime he's arrested along with Ghetsis and the on-scene grunts, though he is considering changing his approach towards Pokémon...somewhat.
• Affably Evil : He addresses the heroes with laid-back cordiality, and speaks to them pleasantly (in contrast to Aldith and the other grunts' professionalism).
• Badass Labcoat / Badass in a Nice Suit : Both of these, as in the games.
• Combat Pragmatist : Once his machine is advanced enough, he can simply use it to take control of any opposing Pokémon and turn them against his enemies (with alarming swiftness, too). He doesn't need any Pokémon of his own. ..until it backfires when Pikachu fights back , again, and together with Reshiram destroys the machine, leaving him powerless.
• Curtains Match the Window : Yellow eyes that match the tone of his bright-yellow hair.
• Dragon-in-Chief : Colress is actually much more active and responsible for the evil done in Episode N than his boss, and is even a more competent schemer than him.
• Evil Genius : To Ghetsis.
• For Science! : His motive for being in Team Plasma at all. His response whenever one of the heroes called out their mons was essentially "Yay! More test subjects!"
• Large Ham : If his hand gestures, smirks, and talking about his experiments with delight are anything to go by...
• Manipulative Bastard : In BW119 , he convinces Meowth to let him try out his machine on him to increase his strength, all in the purposes of testing its increasing power. Even though Meowth had trained his mind to resist its mind-controlling powers, he fell under Colress' control and had to be snapped out of it by Jessie and James - leaving them with nothing (they'd hoped to convince him to join them), and him with the satisfaction of knowing that his machine is getting more powerful. (Though Jessie and James do manage to plant a tracking device on Colress' machine which they make use of in the following episode.)
• Psychotic Smirk : Whenever good fortune or results occur during his experiments, such as Iris calling out Dragonite and his response is glee at having a new subject.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni : Red to Aldith's Blue - while it's not hyperactive, he shows delight at seeing Pikachu's willpower overwhelm his own technology. Aldith needs to remind him that this is a setback to Team Plasma's plans.
• Taught by Experience : After the initial encounter, he tweaked his EM-wave machine so it would not be blocked by the cubes Looker used, strengthened it so Pikachu couldn't will himself out, and generally made sure the device was either attended to by Plasma or kept safely away.
• This Cannot Be! : Starts freaking out once Pikachu repeatedly keeps resisting his device and helps Reshiram do the same. And it just snowballs from there .
• Villainous BSoD : In BW122 , when his mind-control machine is destroyed. He gets over it in his last scene, though.
• We Can Rule Together : Team Rocket offers him a chance to quit Team Plasma and join them instead. He declines, since he really wants to meet and control Reshiram.

• Ascended Extra : The Episode N opening depicts her, in one shot, as the only colored Team Plasma grunt, making her stand out above the rest. True to that, she so far appears to have a more distinct role than the others.
• Canon Foreigner : Her design already existed in "Black 2 & White 2", but only as that of the generic female grunts. Aldith appears to have her own distinct personality and rank within Team Plasma, similar to the Team Rocket trio.
• Casting a Shadow : Liepard.
• Cats Are Mean : She owns a Liepard.
• The Comically Serious : Frequently, especially when around Colress.
• Mook Lieutenant : Though she wears the same uniform as the rest, she's also the only female Plasma grunt seen and the others seem to defer to her, even Barret.
• Number Two : She's rarely seen away from Colress and seems to be his direct subordinate.
• Only Sane Woman : Whenever she has to remind Colress not to get to into the data of his experiments over the mission and gets annoyed when he is happy about the results in spite of failure.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni : Blue to Colress' Red , being more straight-laced and serious and scolding him when he gets too excited (specifically, when he was pleased at Pikachu's willpower breaking his control over it, as they had no time to study it and needed to focus on perfecting the machine).
• The Smurfette Principle : The only female Team Plasma agent seen in the anime - but as stated, she holds rank over the other Grunts, so it all evens out.

• Ascended Extra : Depicted in the Episode N opening (on the Plasma helicopter with Aldith and her Liepard), he's given a distinct role and persona in the series proper.
• Canon Foreigner : His design already existed in "Black 2 & White 2", but only as that of the generic male grunts. Barret appears to have his own distinct personality and rank within Team Plasma, similar to the Team Rocket trio.
• Extra-ore-dinary : Magnezone's secondary type.
• King Mook : His Magnezone is more powerful than either the Liepard or Muk his underlings in BW118 use - it takes on Pignite and Oshawott, defeats the former (which has a type-advantage), and finally needs to be taken down by Pikachu himself.
• Large Ham : In contrast to Alidth's usual composure.
• Make Me Wanna Shout : Magnezone's Supersonic.
• Mook Lieutenant : Of a lesser rank than Aldith.
• Shock and Awe : Magnezone's primary type.
• Spectacular Spinning : Magnezone's Gyro Ball.

• Casting a Shadow : Seviper's Bite.
• Cats Are Mean : Zangoose, being based off the cat-like mongoose.
• Dual Boss : Ash's Pikachu and Iris' Excadrill faced down Zangoose and Seviper, respectively.
• Extra-ore-dinary : Zangoose's Iron Tail.
• Make Me Wanna Shout : Seviper's Screech.
• Man Bites Man : Seviper's Bite.
• Meaningful Name : Schwarz and Weiss mean, respectively, "black" and "white" in German while their Japanese names have the Italian names for the colors. Their Mons also sort of match them based on color (Schwarz has the dark Seviper, Weiss the mostly-white Zangoose).
• Nominal Importance : Having their names revealed gives them a competence level most grunts don't have, making them fairly capable adversaries - additionally, having trained two Pokémon who are normally mortal enemies into being capable battle-partners (Zangoose and Seviper) indicates some level of distinctive personality and skill.
• Odd Friendship : These are the first Seviper and Zangoose seen in the anime to fight together, let alone so well .
• Poisonous Person : Seviper.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning : Both Zangoose and Seviper.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent : Seviper.

Alternative Title(s): Pokemon Best Wishes , Pokemon Black And White Anime , Pokemon The Series Black And White Cast , Pokemon The Series Black And White Rivals , Pokemon The Series Black And White Gym Leaders , Pokemon The Series Black And White Villains

• Pokémon: The Series — Paul
• Characters/Pokémon: The Series
• Pokémon the Series: Black & White — Main Cast
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Nintendo History

3 Pokemon Redesigned Due to Racial Controversy

Jynx and two more Pokemon whose skin color changed

Written by Dr Lava , February 1 2019 • Updated February 13 2019

On this site, I mostly talk about Lost Pokemon — designs that were scrapped or significantly altered during development. But I also cover Pokemon whose designs changed after development — in this case, two designs that were altered due to racial controversy, or potential controversy. Before going any further, let me just say that no offense was intended in the writing of this article, so I hope none is taken. This website is about Pokemon history, and this particular section of Pokemon history is controversial. So if you’re someone who gets upset seeing discussion or images covering this sort of topic, I suggest maybe reading another article, like this one about how Gen 5 Pokemon were created.

Unlike most of my articles, this one won’t include any developer quotes… because there aren’t any on this particular topic. I usually try to keep speculation to a minimum, but because Game Freak has remained so tight-lipped on this issue, I’ll have to engage in some speculation. In these instances, my thoughts will be clearly labeled as opinion, and you can decide whether or not you agree with my assessments. Okay, with all that said, let’s begin.

Jynx, the Human Shape Pokemon

Let’s start with most famous case — the controversy surrounding Jynx, the “Human Shape Pokemon.” And yes, that is how she’s classified in the Pokedex. It’s worth noting that Gen 1’s Pokedex also says Jynx “seductively wiggles its hips as it walks” and “talks in a strange, incomprehensible language.”

It was inevitable that when Red & Blue launched internationally, many would view Jynx as a racist stereotype. Although it wasn’t the first article criticizing Jynx, certainly the most noteworthy article came from Carole Boston Weatherford, a culture critic writing for Black World Today. Her article was published on January 5, 2000 — just a few weeks after Jynx made her first anime appearance in the United States, in the Christmas episode Holiday Hi-Jynx. Presumably, it was this episode that caught Carole Boston Weatherford’s attention.

Ms. Weatherford begins her article, titled Politically Incorrect Pokémon, by telling her readers that even though Pokemon has “bad animation and a mindless plot,” her 10 and 12 year old children find it “incredibly fun and addictive.” Here’s an excerpt:

“…I saw a character on the Pokémon TV cartoon that not only stripped the phenomenon of its innocence but stopped me cold. The character Jynx, Pokémon #124, has decidedly human features: jet-black skin, huge pink lips, gaping eyes, a straight blonde mane and a full figure, complete with cleavage and wiggly hips. Put another way, Jynx resembles an overweight drag queen incarnation of Little Black Sambo, a racist stereotype from a children’s book long ago purged from libraries.”

“While my 10- and 12-year olds do not find Jynx offensive, their parents and grandparents do. We call a spade a spade. And we have seen enough racist stereotypes to know one when we see it. Jynx clearly denigrates African Americans, particularly black women. At the close of the 20th century, how could Japanese computer animators unleash such a culturally insensitive menace on the global marketplace?”

Ms. Weatherford’s article went viral, and an outpouring of complaints from offended parents soon followed. Anime episodes featuring Jynx were edited in the international market, and at least two episodes were prevented from airing altogether. There are lots more examples of toys not being produced and things like that, but I won’t dwell on matters of merchandising and anime censorship. This website focuses on Pokemon designs — so for our purposes, what’s important is that the backlash resulted in Jynx getting changed from black to purple.

Gold & Silver released in Japan in late 1999, but the games spent almost a full year getting localized for North America. Carole Boston Weatherford’s viral article criticizing Jynx was published during this year-long localization process. So when Gen 2 finally reached US shores, the games used Jynx sprites that had been revised to purple, and she was even made a little bit thinner. Gold & Silver were only capable of displaying each Pokemon sprite using two colors (plus black & white), so changing Jynx’s skin from black to purple forced the developers to remove the yellow from Jynx’s hair.

From then on, Jynx was always depicted as purple, even in Japan. This design alteration was even implemented retroactively whenever possible. For example, when the Gen 1 games were re-released on Virtual Console in 2016, Jynx’s face and hands were made purple. This made Jynx the only Pokemon in Gen 1 whose sprite included three colors — yellow, red, and purple.

It’s also worth mentioning that Smoochum’s original design in Gold & Silver’s 1997 demo possessed black skin. But when Gold & Silver released two years later, the games featured a new Smoochum — a purple one. Game Freak never made an official statement explaining their reasoning, so it’s impossible to know exactly what they were thinking. It’s possible Smoochum’s revision from black to purple had nothing to do with the Jynx controversy… though to be honest, in light of everything else, it’s unlikely to have just been a coincidence.

Game Freak probably started hearing complaints about Jynx as early as 1996, so it’s likely they changed Smoochum and Bellossom’s designs to prevent future controversies. But when Politically Incorrect Pokemon went viral in the US shortly after Gen 2 launched in Japan, Game Freak realized they’d need to take some drastic measures. Which is why they changed Jynx’s sprite from black to purple in English localizations, why they removed and censored anime episodes and toys, etc.

Nipping It In the Bud

Just like Smoochum’s redesign, it appears Game Freak decided to nip the next potential racial controversy in the bud. But since it wasn’t directly connected to Jynx, they noticed the problem much later in development. In Gold & Silver’s 1997 demo, Bellossom originally possessed dark skin. In fact, Gen 2’s officially released artwork still depicts Bellossom as a dark-skinned hula dancer.

Bellossom’s pedal-dress draws inspiration from the traditional clothing worn in Polynesia. Polynesians, or Pacific Islanders, are a people of darker complexion, especially in comparison to the European peoples who colonized many of their islands between the 17th and 20th centuries. So it seems at some point, Game Freak realized they might have a Jynx Controversy 2.0 brewing, and they decided to nip it in the bud.

Bellossom’s dark skin actually made perfect sense, since it matched the designs of Oddish, Gloom, and Vileplume. Even Bellossom’s official artwork released for Gen 2 shows her with dark skin. But since Bellossom’s is a more humanoid design, it was more likely to offend the public. Game Freak must have come to that realization pretty late in development — they published Bellossom’s dark-skinned artwork in the run-up to Gold & Silver’s release. But when Gen 2 hit store shelves in Japan, Bellossom sprites had green skin with a purple dress. So it appears the change was made sometime between promotion and release. After that, all future artwork and sprites depicted Bellossom as green, and dark-skinned Bellossom was never seen again.

Interestingly, Bellossom’s Gen 2 Shiny sprite actually looks a lot like her dark-skinned artwork. Remember, Gen 2 sprites could only use two colors (plus black and white), so blue skin with red flowers and a red dress is about as close to coloration seen in the artwork as a sprite could get. When Game Freak changes a Pokemon’s color mid-development, they sometimes reuse that original color for the Pokemon’s Shiny. It appears that was likely the case with Bellossom.

Closing Comments

In all honestly, I don’t think Game Freak ever meant to offend anyone with any of their Pokemon designs. Japan’s a different culture and they were probably surprised at the Jynx backlash. An official announcement was never made to explain the inspiration behind Jynx’s design, or what exactly they were thinking when they changed the colors of Jynx, Bellossom, and Smoochum. Regardless of the reasons, ultimately all three Pokemon were changed to inoffensive colors.

For more articles about Lost Pokemon designs, developer interview translations, and all kinds of Pokemon History, check out this site’s homepage . And if you like watching videos about Lost Pokemon History, you might also wanna check out my YouTube channel . If you’d like to contact me — or if you just wanna stay updated about future Pokemon projects — the easiest way to reach me is on Twitter, where I’m @DrLavaYT .

Related Articles:

• Controversy Explained: the Gen 1 Beta Sprite Leak

• Ken Sugimori Reveals Origins of Gen 5 Pokemon Designs

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9 Notable Pokémon Controversies

By paul cecchini | oct 14, 2021.

The Pokémon franchise has had an immeasurable impact on popular culture over the past 25 years—and in that time, the series has also attracted its fair share of controversies. Some of them have been completely warranted; others, well, are just downright weird. Here are nine of the most notable.

1. The Banned Episode

Several episodes of Pokémon , mostly in the series’ early days, have been banned in certain countries over depictions of firearms, sexualized content, and other issues. But one stands out far above the rest: “ Electric Soldier Porygon .” This episode from the first season in December 1997 features a scene where Pikachu fires an electric attack that detonates several missiles, causing the screen to flash red and blue in rapid succession. As a result, approximately 700 children in Japan watching the episode on TV were hospitalized with dizziness, headaches, and even seizures. The series itself wouldn't return to Japanese airwaves until April 1998, and when the show eventually made its U.S. debut in 1999, “Electric Soldier Porygon” wasn't a part of it.

2. Jynx's Racist Appearance

Early in the franchise’s existence, writer Carole B. Weatherford published an article for Black World Today taking the character Jynx to task. The focus was on the character's appearance, which drew comparisons to racist depictions of Black people from throughout history.

“The character Jynx, Pokémon #124, has decidedly human features: jet-black skin, huge pink lips, gaping eyes, a straight blonde mane, and a full figure, complete with cleavage and wiggly hips,” Weatherford wrote. “Put another way, Jynx resembles an overweight drag queen incarnation of Little Black Sambo, a racist stereotype from a children's book long ago purged from libraries.”

To rectify this, Jynx’s face was recolored purple for the release of the second games in the series, Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver , and remains that way to this day. In addition, any anime episodes or trading cards featuring the original depiction of the character have been banned.

3. The Satanic Panic

Satanic panics are nothing new—people have argued that the devil has been involved in everything from heavy-metal music to the Smurfs and even Pampers diapers. As Pokémon became increasingly popular, it was only a matter of time before the franchise was targeted. Over the years, several parents and religious groups have claimed that the series is an allegory for Satanism, comparing summoning Pokémon to summoning demons. One Florida-based pastor named Eugene Walton even attempted to describe the mechanics of the game by saying: “You get all these potions and witchcraft, and the idea is to try and control other people.” In 2000, one religious group went so far as to distribute pamphlets that claimed a pentagram could be seen on one Pokémon's forehead. It was, in fact, just a star.

4. Nazi Imagery on a Golbat Pokémon Card

Occasionally, cultural differences bring about unintended controversy. That was the case when a Golbat trading card featured what looked like a swastika and created an uproar among Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League. Japanese culture tends to recognize the swastika not as a Nazi symbol, but as a religious symbol of good fortune; regardless, the appropriate edits were made to avoid further offense.

5. Pokémon's Magician Lawsuit

This one has Satanism, Nazism, and copyright infringement! In 1999 , a “psychic entertainer” named Uri Geller claimed that Kadabra (named Yungerer in Japan), a psychic-type Pokémon best known for carrying around spoons, was based on his likeness . Geller, who was known for his spoon-bending magic trick, also claimed Kadabra featured markings on its head and chest that referenced Nazi imagery. In short, Geller said that Nintendo had turned him “into an evil, occult Pokémon character” and sued the company for millions. In response, the Pokémon Company was leery of using Kadabra in any promotional materials for decades. However, in 2020, Geller had a change of heart , reportedly due to the "tremendous" amount of mail he had received over the years from Pokémon fans who wanted to see Kadabra come back. Geller apologized for all the lawsuits (many of which had already been dismissed) and for causing Nintendo to ban the use of Kadabra for over 20 years.

6. The PETA Problem

After the release of Pokémon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2 in 2012, animal rights group PETA released a statement claiming that the games encouraged animal abuse, even going so far as to make their own parody game called Pokémon Black & Blue to get their point across. “The amount of time that Pokémon spend stuffed in pokéballs is akin to how elephants are chained up in train carts, waiting to be let out to 'perform' in circuses,” the organization wrote in a statement. “But the difference between real life and this fictional world full of organized animal fighting is that Pokémon games paint rosy pictures of things that are actually horrible.”

Years later, when Pokémon Go was released, the organization declared its Los Angeles office a “safe Pokémon zone” where no one was allowed to capture or fight their Pokémon.

7. The Inappropriate Pokémon Go Gyms

It wasn’t long after Pokémon Go —the augmented reality app that lets you see and catch virtual Pokémon in the real world through your phone—debuted in 2016 that a new batch of controversies flared up over the fact that the game could quite literally be played everywhere. Many notable locations around the world like Big Ben and Central Park became PokeStops and gyms, where players could obtain items and battle for rewards. Unfortunately, the virtual Pokémon were also popping up in more solemn locations, including Holocaust museums , Ground Zero in New York City, and Auschwitz . As these stories hit the web, the institutions themselves had to plead with gamers not to try and catch any Pokémon on their premises. Soon after, the game's developers removed all PokeStops, gyms, and the Pokémon themselves from sites like the Hiroshima Peace Park and the U.S. Holocaust Museum.

8. Pokémon's Gambling Issues

The first four mainline Pokémon titles featured a game corner, in which the player character could take part in a variety of games that could possibly, from a certain point of view, be likened to gambling. While no real money was needed to play the games, it still, in theory, taught kids how gambling works. Later games would see fit to remove the game corner for that very reason. In fact, the PEGI ratings board in the UK passed legislation in 2020 that would earn the games an 18+ age rating today if they included the game corner.

9. The 2021 Pokémon Card Shortage

Pokémon’s most recent controversy goes back to the world of the trading card game. In the past few years, card sales have seen a significant spike, rivaling the Pokemania of the late '90s. Naturally, the low stock and empty shelves have led to its share of problems. In early 2021, it was being reported that scalpers were filling shopping carts with boxes of the cards to then sell on the secondary market. On its own, that's not unusual (even if it is dodgy)—but then reports of violence started to come out. In the parking lot of a Wisconsin Target, one customer allegedly drew a gun on a group of four men who assaulted him over some trading cards. As a result of this type of Pokémon-based violence, Target temporarily removed trading cards —including Pokémon cards and sports cards—from their shelves completely over concerns for their staff and customers.

Pokémon Wiki

• View history

It's basic stuff. Trip's catchprase

Trip is a character appearing in Pokémon the Series , who is one of Ash's rivals along his journey.

• 1 Appearance
• 2 Personality
• 3.1 Pokémon the Series: Black & White
• 3.2 Pokémon Journeys: the Series
• 4.1 On hand
• 5.2 Tournaments
• 6 Voice actors
• 9 References

Appearance [ ]

Trip has neck-length dirty blonde hair and icy blue eyes. He wears a violet undershirt, an orange jacket over a dark-gray hooded sweater, a black waist-belt, white pants with black and white trainers and Trip is often seen with his camera, taking pictures of his journey.

Personality [ ]

While traveling to take on the Unova League , Trip takes photographs of Pokémon that he encounters and is also known as a Pokémon Photographer. Unlike Paul ( Ash Ketchum 's previous arch-rival), Trip cares for his Pokémon and does not consider them tools, but he prioritizes becoming a strong trainer, similar to Cheren from the games and he is quite obnoxious, much like Gary Oak . The main reason he took a dislike to Ash is because of his training style and more outgoing personality, whereas Trip tended to mostly keep to himself.

He is not as cocky as Gary or as harsh as Paul, but he had a strong dislike towards Ash. However, before running into Alder , they were shown to have at least something resembling mutual respect.

Unlike Gary, who enjoyed picking on Ash, and Paul, who outright hated his guts, Trip saw Ash as an annoyance but was occasionally willing to help him out, such as when he showed him how Oshawott could not land Aqua Jet because its eyes were closed.

Trip is bound to learn that becoming the champion does not depend on just becoming strong. His goal was to become the next Pokémon Champion of the Unova region, but was defeated by Ash in the first round of the Unova League.

Trip is somewhat xenophobic, as he does not think very highly of the Kanto region — or anyone from there. He thinks of anyone from Kanto as a redneck from "the boonies" who should go back to the basics of Pokémon.

Trip mellowed out considerably after his battle with Alder. Realizing that he was not a high-level trainer as he thought he was, he (mostly) ceased belittling people he saw as beneath him. When he left the Junior Cup, he expressed a genuine interest in battling Ash at the forthcoming Unova League.

After losing to Ash at the league, he dropped any disdain he still had for Ash and they now consider each other friends.

Biography [ ]

Trip promising to battle Alder.

While Trip was a kid, he watched the battle of Alder against a trainer. After Alder won the battle, he advised Trip to grow stronger and take on the League if he wanted to challenge Alder one day. [1]

Pokémon the Series: Black & White [ ]

Trip receives his Pokédex, starting his journey.

Trip was a beginning trainer who went to Nuvema Town to choose his first Pokémon. Ash Ketchum was friendly to him at first, but Trip rejected Ash's attempt to become acquainted as he refuses to be friends with someone from the "boonies". After some thinking, Trip chose Snivy as his starter Pokémon and was given five Poké Balls and a Pokédex as well. Later on, Trip came out and started taking pictures of his journey, including Pikachu , because it was a rare thing to see in Unova. Trip wondered if it was strong and challenged Ash to a battle. Because of Zekrom , Pikachu's power was weakened and it was unable to use Electric-type moves. Pikachu tried to attack with Iron Tail and Quick Attack , but it was defeated by Snivy's Leaf Tornado . Trip taunted Ash, telling him to go back to the basics as he left for Accumula Town . [2]

As he set off on the Unova journey, Ash was reminded he could run into Trip and Snivy, while going to Striaton City . [3]

Trip annoying Ash

As Ash came to the Battle Club, he was startled to see Trip enlisted in. Cilan remembered Trip actually battled Chili in the Striaton City's Gym and won the Trio Badge . Per request, Don George contacted Trip. Trip was displeased at Ash, since he reminded Ash Snivy won against Pikachu. However, Trip was slightly curious and came to the Battle Club, agreeing on a 6-on-6 battle. Ash admitted he only had 5 Pokémon, making Trip annoyed and refused the battle. Iris managed to taunt Trip, claiming he was a little kid, so Trip accepted a 5-on-5 battle. Trip sent Tranquill against Ash's Oshawott , who was immediately defeated by Tranquill's Aerial Ace (due to Tranquill's Super Luck ability). Ash sent Tepig to battle, who was also defeated, by a combination of Work Up and Aerial Ace. Tranquill attempted to defeat Pikachu with the same combo, but Pikachu grabbed Tranquill's leg, threw it away and defeated it with Volt Tackle . Trip sent Servine, who evolved from Snivy. Servine managed to hit Pikachu with Leaf Tornado and defeated him with Cut . Trip chided Ash, doubting he would win, but Ash sent Snivy, who got hit by Servine's attacks. Using Attract , Snivy infatuated Servine and managed to defeat it. For his next Pokémon, Trip sent Frillish, while Ash swapped Snivy for Pidove . Pidove tried to attack, but Frillish defended itself and defeated Pidove with Water Pulse . Ash sent Snivy back, who used Vine Whip , but due to Cursed Body , Snivy couldn't execute the move any more. Frillish dodged Attract and defeated Snivy with a combination of Water Pulse and Hex . Trip then stated that Pikachu and Snivy were improving well, but the rest of his team members were a worthless, pathetic joke, and so was their Trainer. Ash promised to become stronger and battle Trip again. [4]

Trip came to Castelia City and was using his Lampent to get rid of a swarm of Venipede , teaming up with other Fire-Type trainers. After destroying a large amount of the Venipede, Ash tried to stop him. Trip ignored Ash and told Lampent to hit the leader of the Venipede with Shadow Ball . Ash jumped in the way and got injured, then said they should move them out of the way. Trip first refused. He finally agreed, and they cleared out the Venipede with their Tranquill. Trip jokingly said he'd battle Ash again once he was worthy, marking a minor sprout in their friendship. Trip left off, since he couldn't wait too much for the Castelia City's Gym to be opened. [5]

Trip takes a photo of Iris' Axew.

Trip was in the area and attempted to catch a Palpitoad , but Ash interfered and caused Trip, by accident, to hit Ash with the Ball. Trip was furious, but noticing Iris and Axew , he took a picture of Axew, who was from the Village of Dragons . Trip, however, claimed Iris was disrespectful for her fear of Ice-type Pokémon. Ash tried to challenge Trip to a battle, but Trip ignored him, wanting to challenge Iris. Iris, however, claimed she was not in a top-mood, since Trip would only challenge Axew as her only Dragon-type Pokémon. Trip almost left, but was taunted by Iris (who called him a kid again) to battle Ash. Trip decided a 3-on-3 battle and sent Servine against Ash's Snivy. This surprised Trip, claiming Servine was stronger than Snivy. This time, Servine managed to hit Snivy with Leaf Tornado, dodge her Attract attack and defeat her with Cut. As they sent their Pokémon, Trip admitted he wants to become strong enough to defeat the Champion, Alder. Ash sent Oshawott against Trip's Timburr. Oshawott was intimidated, but Ash encouraged Oshawott to battle. Oshawott repeatedly used Aqua Jet , but continuously missed. Trip took some photos and showed to Ash Oshawott's eyes are closed when he uses Aqua Jet. Timburr managed to hit Oshawott with Low Kick , but Oshawott retaliated with Water Gun and defeated Timburr with Razor Shell . To copy Ash's battling style, Trip sent Vanillite, a Pokémon with type disadvantage against Tepig. Tepig managed to hit Vanillite with Flame Charge , but got hit by Ice Beam . Vanillite used Blizzard against Tepig's Flame Charge, causing a double knockout and ending the match in a tie. Trip left, while Ash promised he will defeat Trip one day. [1] Remembering Trip's photos of Oshawott, who closed its eyes while using Aqua Jet, Ash decided to train Oshawott. [6]

Trip decides to leave the Tournament, after his loss.

Trip came to the local Battle Club Tournament in Nimbasa Town and registered for participation, then left off. He later learned he would have to fight Cilan, the Gym Leader. After watching the battle of Georgia vs. Ash, he commented Ash was lucky enough to win the battle. He came to the battlefield and faced Cilan. [7] Cilan sent Dwebble against Trip's Gurdurr. During the clash, Gurdurr managed to hit Dwebble with Rock Smash , leaving a crack in Dwebble's rock. Cilan's Dwebble avoided Dynamic Punch attack, then used Shell Smash and imprisoned Gurdurr with Rock Slide , causing it to be separated from the rail it carried. With X-Scissor , Dwebble defeated Gurdurr. Trip took a picture of Cilan, saying it was to remember his anger and frustration. After healing his Gurdurr, Trip decided to leave. Ash tried to persuade Trip to stay, who believed he wouldn't get stronger by just watching how others battle and went off. [8]

Trip expresses his desire to battle the Champion, Alder.

Trip came to a small town, where he met the heroes (to his displeasure). Ash showed he got four badges, while Trip obtained five. Regardless, Trip admitted he came to find Alder, the Champion, and request for a battle. Trip told Alder was seen nearby; the group encountered Alder on Officer Jenny 's motorcycle, since he flirted with her. Alder fell down, since Jenny refused his charms. Trip came to Alder, who recognized Trip as "Tristan". Trip and Ash challenged Alder to a battle, but Alder claimed he could only battle one at a time. Trip allowed Ash to go first, since Trip could study Alder's battle strategies. Trip watched the battle, surprised Alder did not do anything to counter Pikachu's moves against his Bouffalant . Trip was annoyed to see Alder was actually sleeping and yelled at Alder, who woke up. Alder confessed his loss and claimed he was too hungry to have a battle with Trip. Trip reminded Alder about telling Trip the importance of strength. Alder could not remember he told this to "Tristan", causing Trip even more annoyance and he left. [9]

Trip about to defeat a frustrated Bianca with her Emboar.

Trip came to the Clubsplosion and registered in the event with his Conkeldurr, who evolved from Gurrdurr. Ash was amazed and was reminded many fighting-type Pokémon would participate. Trip chided Ash, who was angered and tried to backtalk to Trip, but was stopped by Trip's Conkeldurr. Trip saw he would face Bianca in the first round, thinking it would be a very easy fight he'd win. [10] Trip managed to take photos of Iris' battle with Burgundy . Trip also told Ash he won his battle against Angus and Simisage by pure luck, considering him "low class", for Scraggy didn't even manage to master his newly learned Focus Blast attack. Regardless, Trip faced Bianca in the battle and sent Conkeldurr against Bianca's Emboar . Conkeldurr managed to block Emboar's attacks and trapped him inside Rock Tomb , then proceeded to defeat Emboar with Stone Edge . [11] Fortunately for Bianca, Emboar managed to collect the stones and use Fling to throw the stones back at Conkeldurr. Conkeldurr deflected the attacks, but Emboar took its concrete pillars and threw them in its face, defeating Conkeldurr and Trip. Trip saw he had much to learn and still planned on defeating Alder. With his Conkeldurr healed, Trip declined Ash's battle challenge and left off. [12]

Trip came to Lacunosa Town to participate in the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup . Trip encountered Alder and was still annoyed by his goofy personality. Regardless, his aim was to battle his way to the top and defeat Alder. In the first round, Trip faced Burgundy and her Darmanitan , where his Servine was revealed to have evolved into Serperior. It frightened Darmanitan with Leer and then finished it off with Solar Beam . This made Burgundy sad and Ash shocked Trip won the battle so easily and quickly. [13] Trip managed to defeat Manning and Heatmor with Serperior and advance to the Semi-Finals. Trip met up with Cynthia , who asked him why wasn't he watching the battles. Trip claimed he already had planned his strategies, but his desire was to defeat Alder and face Cynthia next. His next opponent was Cilan and sent Serperior against his Crustle. Using the same tactics, Serperior used Leer and Solar Beam, but Crustle managed to withstand the attacks. After dodging Rock Slide and X-Scissor, Serperior defeated Crustle with Frenzy Plant . Alder was impressed, thinking Trip will go far - a point Trip wanted to prove by defeating Alder, after winning the final match. [14]

Alder presents Trip with the Junior Cup trophy.

Trip watched the battle against Ash and Iris, and was even worried at Iris' Dragonite 's power. With Iris defeated, Trip faced Ash in the finals, sending Serperior against Ash's Pignite. Pignite and Serperior launched their attacks at each other, but both had missed their targets continuously. In the end, Serperior tried to leer Pignite, who jumped up, but was hit by Solar Beam. Pignite retaliated with Fire Pledge , but missed and was defeated by Serperior's Frenzy Plant. Trip was the winner of the Cup and received the trophy from Alder. As promised, Alder battled Trip by sending Bouffalant against Trip's Serperior. Serperior charged itself with Solar Beam, as the battle started. [15] Bouffalant withstood Solar Beam and Dragon Tail , surprising Trip at Bouffalant's guts. Alder reminded Trip he was battling a Champion and had Bouffalant attack with Head Charge , defeating Serperior with one attack. Alder pointed out it did not matter if one won or lost, for one should always be with their Pokémon through the battles, claiming that is the true strength that comes from the battles. Trip admitted he did like Serperior and promised to have a rematch with Alder one day to prove what he had learned. Later on, Trip bid farewell with the heroes on somewhat less hostile terms, glad to have battled Alder - and have grown stronger. Iris, meanwhile, noticed that Trip had greatly subdued his nasty attitude. [16]

Trip manages to throw Ash off-balance, as his strategy is working.

Trip came to Vertress City to enter the Unova League. He met up with the heroes and asked of Ash not to lose before their battle. This surprised Ash, Iris and Cilan, seeing Trip had changed. Trip saw he was to battle Ash in the first round - a battle Trip was actually looking forward to. Trip used Serperior and Ash used Pikachu, so Cilan commented Trip wanted to take advantage of speed to win the round. Serperior dodged Pikachu's attacks and retaliated with Dragon Tail, hitting Pikachu. Trip smiled, for his strategy was working. [17] Trip's Serperior continued attacking Pikachu and managed to bind it by using Wrap . Pikachu retaliated with Thunderbolt , though Serperior bound his tail to the ground, negating the damage. Pikachu managed to free itself by using Iron Tail on the ground and clashed with Serperior. For a final clash, Pikachu used Iron Tail and Electro Ball at the same time. Serperior withstood the attack, but took too much damage and fainted. After his defeat, Trip bumped into Ash at the Pokémon Center . Trip did not bear any grudge, for he decided to grow stronger and challenge Alder one day. Ash and Trip shook hands, as Trip went off to continue his journey. [18]

Looking at the battlefield of the Unova League one last time, Ash remembered his adventures that led him to this place, including his own rival, Trip. [19]

Trip was seen in Best Wishes! ending theme. Trip continued his journey with Serperior and took some photos.

Pokémon Journeys: the Series [ ]

He, along with Alder, Bianca, Georgia and Stephan , watched Iris' match against Cynthia in the Masters 8. [20]

Pokémon [ ]

On hand [ ].

Achievements [ ]

Trip's first 5 badges

• Trio Badge (Prior to "A Rival Battle for Club Champ!")
• Basic Badge (Prior to "A Rival Battle for Club Champ!")
• Two unidentified Badges (Prior to "Ash and Trip's Third Battle!")
• Unidentified Badge (Prior to "Ash Versus The Champion!")
• Three unknown Badges (Prior to "Curtain Up, Unova League!")

Tournaments [ ]

• Don George Club Battle Tournament - Defeated by Cilan: Top 16
• Donamite Tournament - Defeated by Bianca: Top 16
• Unova League - Defeated by Ash: Top 128
• Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup - Winner (but loses to Alder the Unova Champion).

Voice actors [ ]

• Dutch : Thijs van Aken
• Spanish : Carlos Bautista
• Iberian Spanish : Jaime Alberto Carrillo
• Among all of Ash 's main rivals in the anime, Trip has the least appearances, only appearing in 20 episodes.
• Trip has a Serperior .
• Bianca has an Emboar .
• Cameron has a Samurott .
• Out of Ash Ketchum 's three rivals ( Gary , Paul and Trip himself), Trip is the only one to not battle Ash in a full battle in their league match. Instead, they used their main Pokémon - Serperior and Pikachu respectively - in a single battle. Furthermore, he is the only one to not battle Ash late into the tournament, instead facing him in the qualifier round. Also, in Journeys, unlike Gary and Paul who had at least one focus episode (Gary was Goh's rival since both took part in Project Mew; Paul showed up to prepare Ash for the Masters Eight Tournament), Trip only had a non speaking cameo watching Iris' match against Cynthia.
• Trip is one of only two of Ash’s main regional rivals that had never encountered Team Rocket. The other one is Bea .
• The only exception is the Junior Cup, which Trip won, beating Ash in the finals.
• Trip appears in the Japan-only downloadable Pokémon World Tournament, Unova League event for Pokémon Black 2 & White 2 along with Virgil , Cameron , and Stephan in the Wi-Fi event You Challenge the Unova League Too! , as a minor character. Trip uses the Ace Trainer sprite, but is labeled as a Pokémon Trainer . He has the following Pokémon:

Gallery [ ]

References [ ]

• ^ a b BW033: Ash and Trip's Third Battle!
• ^ BW001: In the Shadow of Zekrom!
• ^ BW002: Enter Iris and Axew!
• ^ BW010: A Rival Battle for Club Champ!
• ^ BW022: A Venipede Stampede!
• ^ BW034: Facing Fear with Eyes Wide Open!
• ^ BW041: Reunion Battles in Nimbasa!
• ^ BW042: Cilan Versus Trip, Ash Versus Georgia!
• ^ BW054: Ash Versus the Champion!
• ^ BW072: The Clubsplosion Begins!
• ^ BW073: Search for the Clubultimate!
• ^ BW074: A Clubsplosion of Excitement!
• ^ BW092: Jostling for the Junior Cup!
• ^ BW093: Battling Authority Once Again!
• ^ BW094: Ash, Iris and Trip: Then There Were Three!
• ^ BW095: Goodbye, Junior Cup—Hello Adventure!
• ^ BW105: Curtain Up, Unova League!
• ^ BW106: Mission: Defeat Your Rival!
• ^ BW110: A Unova League Evolution!
• 1 Legendary Pokémon
• 3 Fossil Pokémon

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Was Trip/Shooti A Good Rival?

• Thread starter 1rkhachatryan
• Start date Sep 5, 2013

Was Trip A Good Rival??

Yes, he was handled well., no, he could of been handled much better..

• Total voters 70

More options

1rkhachatryan

Call me robert guys.

• Sep 5, 2013

So how do you guys feel about Trip and the way he was handled?? Personally I don't feel like he was handled well at all. *He was largely ignored for most of the saga *His Pokemon were ignored for the most part as well, in fact, only Serperior really got any sort of attention. Conkeldurr might have appeared in all three stages as well but he was defeated every time and showed no distinct personality *His whole goal wasn't really developed well and his past with Alder was rushed for the most part What do you guys think, was Trip a good rival or was he largely left untapped??  

• Oct 3, 2013

No, he wasn't a good rival. He was just a carbon copy of Paul.  

It's hero time!

• Oct 4, 2013

He was okay nothing great but nothing too bad. Personally he only seemed worse because of how the writers treated him and how shallow the fandom was towards him. But unlike what haters love to say he was not a Paul clone. -_-  

Unregistered User

I thought his character was good but he didn't do enough really and only one guy towards the end of his saga really made hin underwhelming.  

Satoshi_Pikachu

He wasn't handled well at all, it was awful... He's already a bland character, but the way he barely interacted with Satoshi and that stupid 1 on 1 finale to their rivalry made everything even worse. It's even worse when I remember how awesome Shinji was... And no, I don't think he was like Shinji at all.  

• Oct 19, 2013

He had great potential, but the writers simply didn't give him the attention he needed to become a noteworthy rival. I had high hopes for Trip, but sadly, he didn't meet my expectations.  

Grabbergirl

He's nothing but boring, racist (the way he calls the Kanto people names and stereotypes them as hillbillies), and he's off in his own world, and anti-social (he talks to himself instead of talking to others and not making new friends). Why does he need a camera? Can't they explain why he's illustrating his journey? Is he doing it make himself feel better (stress related)? Is it a project for school? Why? Or is he an autistic?  

We want our money back!

They could have made Trip into a much better character and rival. Instead, they made Trip into this completely broken trainer. He's only starting out, but he's battling as if he had been training Pokemon for years. They might as well have him be some battle prodigy (At least that would explain his brokenness). His attitude was also completely arrogant.  

AwesomeRalph

• Oct 29, 2013

No. He was too boastful and at first I thought he was stronger than Ash, but after the episodes, he was just a rival of Ash's that didn't give enough action.  

Supreme Leader Palpitoad

The toad of honor.

• Nov 4, 2013

In the start he seemed good. He had a strong pokemon, he could make great use of his pokemons moves and abilities and he had three revealed pokemon as of BW10. I have no problems with his Snivy defeating Pikachu when it only was able to use two out of four moves and Ash did not know about Leaf Tornado. And he had an interesting backstory with Alder. He was a promising rival in my opinion. But then it all changed. He became a punching bag in Club Battle and Clubsplosion and the only pokemon he had that got more than one real appearance was Conkeldurr and Serperior(no, Tranquill throwing away Venipedes from Castelia does not count as a real appearance). He had six pokemon and 2 were used. Awful. Ashs main rival was a underused punching bag. Ashs Palpitoad was handled better. And then out of nowhere the writers want to get him to shine again(and finish his Alder plot in a terrible way). So they make him own the shit out of everyone in the worst tournament in the whole anime before losing to the champion and finishing his Alder plot. Worse than bad. The only good thing was that Serperior was proofed to be strong. But we had not seen that thing since like 60 episodes earlier so, it was still bad handled. Then comes the league where Ashs rivalry with Trip is finished in a One on One battle and Trip loses in the first round of the league! In short, he sucked.  

Kailey10129

• Nov 10, 2013

I agree that he did fall short. He should have become more of a challenge to Ash. I don't consider him to be a carbon-copy of Paul (is it the shoulder-length hair lol?). Paul, in my opinion, was the ultimate rival for Ash thus far. It was kind of hard to follow up after Paul. Paul was the complete opposite of Ash in many ways and that just created a nice and interesting contrast. Paul was also skilled, no doubt about it. He presented a challenge.  

• Nov 16, 2013

When Trip first started out, he was portrayed as someone who was starting their journey but also understood a lot about Pokemon prior to his journey. It seemed that he was very knowledgeable on how battles work, abilities, types, etc. and was able to start off using that knowledge to battle strong to start with. Due to that, I think he was okay as a pretty strong rival in the beginning. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of a rivalry as the series went on I felt. Ash and Trip didn't battle each other very much except for a few side battles to strengthen the current rivalry. In the tournaments, they didn't face each other until the final tournament. Due to the lack of battles against each other, I feel that their head-to-head strength comparisons and contrasts is difficult to determine. I did like how his past was shown, and his thoughts about Alder. That allowed more interaction between Ash and Trip, and showed Trip's determination in the tournament to face Alder and battle Ash hard to get there in their rivalry battle. It allowed them to show how much they grew with each of their strongest Unova Pokemon up to that point. The league rivalry battle was between both of their first Pokemon, I felt the rivalry battle would've shown more of their growth if they had a 3-on-3 or 6-on-6 battle later in the league instead with Pokemon they both used in previous rivalry battles. Overall, I feel that Trip as a rival had some good points, but also some bad points and could have used some improvement in those areas.  

Peppermint Phoenix

The one once known as alphaphlare.

• Nov 18, 2013

There was no rivalry. He beat Ash's main pokemon with a untrained starter. His xenophobia wasn't explained. He was kinda boring and he rarely did a non 1 on 1 battle? Other than his team he was completely dis likable  

MattySadler

• Nov 21, 2013

He genuinely started off well and I thought he was going to be great, but in the end he was just kinda crap and unmemorable. Personally, I was screaming for a Boldore/ Gurdurr trade-to-evolve story between him and Ash but it never happened and he just mysteriously turned up with a Conkeldurr, bit of a cop out. His battle at the league was pathetic as well.  

PokémonJesus

• Nov 23, 2013

Well, I didn't have a problem with him really! He wasn't the best rival out there, but he wasn't that bad either, in my opinion. But I do have to admit he could have been written better and his league battle with Ash was definitely BS!  

Formerly known as Tsu

No. 1. He did not care for Ash. 2. He appeared scarcely. 3. His development was rushed and without any build-up 4. He just didn't care. So no, he was not a good rival imho.  

Super Moderator

• Dec 19, 2013

No, I think he was a terrible rival. He was overpowered right from the start just to make Ash the underdog of a rivalry again. He was just far too knowledgeable of abilities, moves and too skilled in battle to be a rookie trainer. Even if they said that he was a prodigy or gifted, it would have still come off as an excuse to explain how ridiculously overpowered he was. Maybe it could have worked if Ash actually got upset that he, a trainer with a ton of experience, lost to a rookie. That could have at least given some reason behind the rivalry besides Ash just wanting to battle Trip just because. That was another major issue with the rivalry too. There just wasn't any driving force behind why Ash wanted to battle Trip to make him stand out from just any trainer Ash wanted to battle. With Paul, they had their conflicting methods and ideals of Pokemon training. With Gary, there was the desire to prove himself against Gary due to how stuck-up he acted. They could have done something to give Ash a more personal reason to battle Trip. The two of them barely interacted with each other, losing to Trip had no significant effect on Ash and Ash didn't have anything to do with Trip's rushed development. It was all because of Alder, which made him look more like Trip's rival than Ash did. Even the writers didn't seem to care that much for this rivalry considering that Trip was eliminated from the Unova League right away, although I still think that's exactly what that so-called rivalry deserved. If there had been any actual effort to his character and the rivalry itself, he might have been able to turn out at least a decent rival. As it is, I think he's the worst rival introduced thus far.  

• Dec 21, 2013

I think Trip had potential but was ruined by constant inconsistencies with his portrayal and the lack of effort. I wouldn't say he's the worst because tbh he isn't but he isn't a good one either. I also feel he gets to much crap thrown at him for his lack of rivalry with Ash when Ash himself gave Trip no reason to give a damn to begin with and is just as much to blame for the lack of rivalry. The guy honestly had no connection to Ash other then the fact Ash always followed after him and kept butting into his business.  

Ben 10 said: I think Trip had potential but was ruined by constant inconsistencies with his portrayal and the lack of effort. I wouldn't say he's the worst because tbh he isn't but he isn't a good one either. I also feel he gets to much crap thrown at him for his lack of rivalry with Ash when Ash himself gave Trip no reason to give a damn to begin with and is just as much to blame for the lack of rivalry. The guy honestly had no connection to Ash other then the fact Ash always followed after him and kept butting into his business. Click to expand...

Hidden Mew said: While I agree that Trip had potential and could have been at least decent with some effort, I would say that he is the worst. I can't really think of any other rival character who I'd consider to be worse than Trip at the moment. I'm not sure if Ash is just as much to blame for the lack of a rivalry, but he isn't blameless either. He didn't react to Trip's insults or his attitude to potentially spark something to create a rivalry, but just because Ash didn't do anything to help create a rivalry doesn't make Trip look any better to me. Click to expand...

• I understand this is an old thread, but want to reply anyway
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Is Pokémon Go racist? How the app may be redlining communities of color

SAN FRANCISCO — While playing the popular  augmented-reality game Pokémon Go  in Long Beach, a city that is nearly 50% white, Aura Bogado made an unsettling discovery — there were far more PokéStops and Gyms, locations where people pick up virtual goods or battle one another, than in her predominantly minority neighborhood in Los Angeles.

So Bogado, who writes for environmental news outlet Grist, created the Twitter hashtag #mypokehood  in July to crowdsource the locations of PokéStops. The results that poured in from across the county, and research from The Urban Institute think tank, bore out her experience.  

Urban Institute researchers found an average of 55 PokéStops in majority white neighborhoods and 19 in majority black neighborhoods. The  Belleville News-Democrat   found that pattern repeated itself in African-American sections of Detroit, Miami and Chicago.

Similarly, New York boroughs Brooklyn and Queens, both of which have high numbers of Hispanic and black residents, had significantly fewer PokéStops than in Manhattan and white and Asian neighborhoods.

"It turns out Niantic, which makes Pokémon Go, relied on a map from a previous augmented reality game called  Ingress , which was crowd-sourced from its  mostly male, tech-savvy players ," she wrote in a blog post . "The result is a high concentration of PokéStops in commercial and downtown areas of some cities, while there are typically fewer PokéStops in non-white or residential areas, if there are any at all."

The Urban Institute says the racial divides in the game amount to redlining  — a term used when a community is cut off from essential services based on its racial or ethnic makeup.

The dearth of PokéStops and Gyms make it tougher for residents of these overlooked communities to participate in the game. They also lose the benefits to gamers that come with a multitude of virtual stops that dispense critical items for free such as Poké Balls, used to catch Pokémon, or egg incubators to grow new monsters.

“We now have a game where it looks like people who are already disadvantaged are playing it, now also are the more likely candidates who have to pay to play it,” Bogado said.

Playing Pokémon Go while black: Fear stifles the fun

‘THIS IS NOT A NEW STORY'

This isn't the first time that structural inequities in the physical world have played out online.

Amazon's same-day delivery service Prime initially overlooked predominantly black and poor areas . Google's high-speed Internet service Fiber got dinged for doing the same .

“This is not a new story in terms of a product having some type of — whether intended or unintended — discriminatory effect,” says Safiya Umoja Noble, professor of information studies and African-American studies at UCLA.

Reinforcing these inequities on the digital plain has implications that go far beyond Pokémon Go, says Jeffrey Vagle, executive director of the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The bad and the ugly of Pokémon Go

“Yes, Pokémon Go is just another silly smartphone game. But through its popularity and usage patterns, we can see the very real boundaries of poverty and racism that continue to be reinforced when we should be using our technologies to dismantle them," he wrote in a  blog post .

The makers of Pokémon Go — which was downloaded more times during its first week than  any other app in App Store history  — didn't deliberately set out to disadvantage certain communities.

Niantic CEO John Hanke told  Rolling Stone  that Pokémon Go uses the same locations for PokéStops as in its previous augmented-reality game, Ingress. In Ingress, players would submit locations based on where they wanted to put “portals,” or battle spots.

The problem: The demographics of Ingress players — mostly white, young and English-speaking, according to informal surveys of the community in 2013 and 2014 — shaped how the game unfurled in the real world.

Niantic spokesperson Chase Colasonno did not comment on the disparity of PokéStops and Gyms in predominantly black or white areas, but said in an email that the game is not yet processing user requests for additional PokéStops. He said Niantic would "readdress this topic after the game is fully launched worldwide."

Overall, Hispanics and African Americans are not well represented in tech. They make up 6% and 3% of the Silicon Valley tech workforce, respectively, according to an analysis by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. At Google — which housed Niantic before the gamemaker struck out on its own — Hispanics make up 3% of the workforce; African Americans, 2%. In non-tech firms in Silicon Valley, Hispanics and African Americans hold 22% and 24% of positions, respectively.

“Technology largely developed by white men is full of assumptions that are just not true or helpful when used in more diverse or complex environments,” Nathan Freitas, a fellow at the Berkman-Klein Center at Harvard University, said in an email.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Technology companies such as Niantic need to hire more software engineers of color, UCLA's Noble says. They also need to hire  people with social science degrees to work alongside programmers and enhance their understanding of how the tech they are building will influence society, she says.

At Google, women and minorities still lag

“People who have critical minds and orientation to looking at social problems could be hugely valuable in technology development,” Noble said.

The subtle inequities in a game such as Pokémon Go can seem minor against the backdrop of larger issues of societal racism, but Bogado says it's critical to combat racism in the digital world, too.

“Inequity is not just in one police shooting, it’s not just in one prison, it’s not just in 100 potholes in one certain area on the black side of town — it’s everywhere,” Bogado said. “It’s built into the fabric of society, and increasingly built into our technology.”