Characters / Pokémon GO

Main Character Index > Pokémon Go

Protagonists

The Trainers

Default male and female player characters.

The playable trainer characters in Pokémon GO who set out to explore the real world to catch Pokémon.

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• Ambiguous Gender: Downplayed. On the one hand, the two player characters have a distinctly masculine and distinctly feminine appearance, and can't be customized to look more androgynous. On the other, the choice is clearly designated as choosing an "adventuring style", in contrast to the main series games flat-out asking "Are you a boy or a girl?"; additionally, the player can switch between the two avatars at will, implying that they're a singular representation of the player rather than two separate characters with opposite genders.
• Bifauxnen: The female trainer in the 6th anniversary image in a pure white suit and a bow tie. The Giovanni outfit also has some elements of this, although that may be closer to Lady in a Power Suit.
• Blank Slate: Compared to the Trainers in the main series, which occasionally show bits of personality and can even be fully fleshed out as NPC rivals and opponents, these Trainers merely serve as blank avatars for the player.
• Boobs-and-Butt Pose: The Poké ball flex pose.
• Character Customization: While not to the extent of Pokémon X and Y, their hair, eye and skin colors can be customized, as can their outfits.
• Dynamic Akimbo: The Power pose.
• Gendered Outfit: While there are several unisex outfits for the player to pick, this applies if the character gets an outfit based on a main-series installment. For example, the male trainer can dress up as Lucas or Brendan, while the female trainer can cosplay as Dawn or May.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Downplayed, considering their Blank Slate status, but several special research assignments give them the task of rescuing and purifying Shadow Pokémon. However, the player can choose to keep them as Shadow Pokémon, using their greater strength to aid in in raids, league battles, Gym battles, and notably Team GO Rocket battles (where they are intended to be freeing and restoring such Pokémon).
• Heroic Mime: Even more than many main-series Pokémon protagonists, in that they don't have any dialogue options or any opportunities to show personality. Justified, since due to the game's immersive nature, these Trainers are more of an extension of the player rather than established characters in an imaginary world.
• The Hilarity of Hats: The Water Festival event made a silly-looking Magikarp hat available. Other silly hats include a Bidoof-themed one.
• Mr. Fanservice: The male trainer is quite well-built, likely as a result of getting lots of exercise.
• Ms. Fanservice: Likewise, the female trainer has an athletic figure (again likely due to exercise), tight clothes, a cute face, and a flattering, "cool" hairstyle.
• Never Bareheaded: Averted as of the 2/16/17 update, wherein you can now choose to go without a hat.
• Non-Standard Character Design: While most Pokémon protagonists are kids or teens drawn in a big-eyed manga-like style, these Trainers appear to be even older teens or young adults drawn in a more realistic style.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: The female Trainer has one of these, fitting her athletic lifestyle.

Professor Willow

Voiced by: Nobuyuki Sakemoto (Japanese, The Two Professors), Robbie Daymond (English, The Two Professors)

The Pokémon Professor from Pokémon GO who specializes in the Pokémon that wander the real world.

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• The Bus Came Back: Originally only appeared for the game's intro and a brief appearance after the player reaches level 5. Beyond that, he didn't appear at all until the April 2018 update introduced a quest system, where he gives out the major quests as well as the reward for completing side quests for seven straight days. For players that started at the game's launch, it was a nearly two-year vanishing act.
• Cool Old Guy: A Pokémon professor who wears a cool jogging outfit under his lab coat.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: If you count both him and his three assistants to make four, Willow fits the Phlegmatic personality trait. His compassionate nature, admitted shyness, and relative calmness even around chaos are examples of this.
• Suddenly Voiced: In the The Two Professors short videos, where he discusses with Professor Oak the origins and mechanics of Meltan.
• Theme Naming: Like all Pokémon professors prior to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, he is named after a tree.
• Vocal Dissonance: In the Two Professors videos, he sounds like a young man, despite his old age.

The Teams

Clockwise from top left: Team Valor, Mystic, and Instinct emblems.

Once you hit level 5 in game, you are asked to join one of three teams, each with a different philosophy towards researching Pokémon.
Tropes that apply to all teams:

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• Adventure Guild: More than technically. This overlaps with Anti Poop-Socking that the teams go out to explore and research the Pokémon.
• Animal Motif: All of them are associated with the three Legendary Birds—Instinct with Zapdos, Valor with Moltres and Mystic with Articuno.
• Chromatic Arrangement: They all represent a primary color. Instinct is yellow, Mystic is blue and Valor is red.
• Expy: To Pokémon Mystery Dungeon teams in general, although their approaches are different.
• The Faceless: In early versions of the game, the team leaders were represented by colored silhouettes but were eventually replaced with fully detailed artwork.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Since they're represented by the three Legendary Birds.
• Freudian Trio: Analytical Blanche is the Super-Ego, feisty Spark is the Ego and passionate Candela is the Id.
• Friendly Rivalry: They all have the same goal, they just disagree on how to go about it, though in real life it's either Played Straight, Downplayed or Averted depending on how seriously players take the rivalry. The lead-up to Cliff, Sierra, and Arlo's introduction to the game (in which all three assist Willow with the Rocket Radar, and ends with all three contributing to its construction) has the three team leaders play it straight.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: If you count Willow into the mix, all four characters fit a mold of the positive aspects of the temperaments.
  • Willow shows positive phlegmatic traits: thoughtful, patient, and modest.
  • Blanche shows positive melancholic traits: analytical, organized, and selfless.
  • Spark shows positive sanguine traits: cheerful, comedic, and compassionate.
  • Candela shows positive choleric traits: confident, practical, and passionate.
• The Main Characters Do Everything: The teams apparently don't have a Pokémon-appraising department, so the leaders themselves judge the mons of all their recruits. How they have time to do this millions (maybe billions) of times a day is a bit of a mystery.
• Masculine, Feminine, Androgyne Trio: The leaders. Spark is an energetic young man (masculine), Candela is an approachable and level-headed young woman (feminine), and Blanche is nonbinary and has an androgynous style of dress.
• Meaningful Name: All three team leaders have names that correlate to the primary element of their Legendary Bird mascot:
  • Spark is the most obvious, as sparks are often affiliated with electricity for Zapdos.
  • Blanche means "white" in French, likely synonymous with white snow and the cold for Articuno. It also sounds like a portmanteau of "blizzard" and "avalanche".
  • Candela is a unit of measurement for luminous intensity, such as the light from a fire for Moltres. Her name is also the Latin word for candle (which is an item that's commonly lit).^note For bonus points, the Lavaridge Town gym leader (Flannery, who uses fire-based mons) in the Spanish version of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire is also named Candela.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Team Valor is the Hot-Blooded red to Team Mystic's cold and calculating blue.
• Theme Naming: Based on their preferred style of research and battle.

Team Instinct, led by Spark

Hey! The name's Spark — the leader of Team Instinct. Pokémon are creatures with excellent intuition. I bet the secret to their intuition is related to how they're hatched. Come and join my team! You never lose when you trust your instincts!

Team Instinct believes in following your instincts and trusting in your Pokémon's abilities. Their color is yellow and their mascot is Zapdos.

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• Animal Motif: Associated with Zapdos. Spark himself has design elements reflecting this, including his spiky blond hair and his black and yellow clothing matching Zapdos' plumage.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: In the leadup to the addition of the Rocket Radar, it was revealed that Spark was actually the first of the team leaders to find a piece of the radar... which he then promptly forgot to tell anyone about because he found a Shiny Weedle, and he didn't think to bring it up until after he saw the others' contributions.
• Butt-Monkey: In the promotional artwork for the one year anniversary of Pokémon Go, everyone is walking on a pathway together with some Pokémon, minus Blanche riding a Lapras, and Spark, who appears to be comically falling out of the sky with some eggs, and no context as to why.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Represents yellow.
• A Day in the Limelight: The "An Instinctive Hero" has Spark as the focus character giving you missions in place of Professor Willow or Rhi.
• Elemental Motifs: Thunder and lightning. Spark demonstrates this with his high energy and random nature.
• Elemental Powers:
  • Shock and Awe: His main element. In Great League sessions, he uses Plusle and Electrode. In Ultra League sessions, he uses Jolteon, Luxray and Magnezone. In Master League sessions, he uses Raikou and Zapdos.
  • Blow You Away: In Master League sessions, he uses Zapdos.
  • Casting a Shadow: In Master League sessions, he uses Tyranitar.
  • Extra-ore-dinary: In Ultra League sessions, he uses Magnezone.
  • Making a Splash: In Great League sessions, he uses Rainy Castform.
  • Rock Monster: In Master League sessions, he uses Tyranitar.
• Keet: Spark's character design shows him with a wide, energetic Grin of Audacity and bright colorful clothing, and his dialogue in game is said rather loudly. He's also noted to dance excitedly when he knows his team is doing well.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: His cheerful and impulsive nature make him the epitome of Sanguine. This was further highlighted during Looming in the Shadows when he rushed off to fight Team Rocket and encountered Sierra, only for her to turn him down after she pointed out that he had no Poké Balls on him.
• The Kirk: Team Instinct's trainers rely on their instincts instead of favoring logic or emotions.

Team Mystic, led by Blanche

I am Blanche, leader of Team Mystic. The wisdom of Pokémon is immeasurably deep. I am researching why it is that they evolve. With our calm analysis of every situation, we can't lose!

Team Mystic believes in approaching Pokémon training with calmness and intellect, and using logic to train and battle. Their color is blue and their mascot is Articuno.

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• Ambiguous Gender: While Blanche was initially confirmed to be female^note The French word blanche is feminine; its masculine form is blanc by Niantic at San Diego Comic-Con, when asked about Blanche's gender, the character's official artist stated it was up to interpretation. The "Looming Shadow" reports instead have Willow refer to Blanche with "they" pronouns^note "Blanche became visibly upset, which tends to happen when things don’t go to their carefully curated plans." compared to Candela and Spark, an indication of them possibly being nonbinary.
• Animal Motif: Associated with Articuno. Blanche has design elements reflecting this, namely their hair being tied back to look like Articuno's tail and their long coat that fans out, resembling its wings.
• Bifauxnen: In the German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Brazilian translations of Pokémon GO, at least, in which Blanche is described as a woman. The English text and official social media accounts avoid gendered pronouns for them entirely. Regardless of version, however, they sport a lean figure and androgynous mode of dress, with both masculine and feminine features.
• Blue Is Calm: Team Mystic's Color Motif is blue, and they're associated with calm, analysis, and rationality. Their leader Blanche, who wears blue, is much more aloof and stoic than the peppier Candela (of the red-associated Team Valor) and Spark (of the yellow-associated Team Instinct).
• Book Worm: The promotional artwork for the one year anniversary of Pokémon Go has Blanche sitting by themself on a Lapras, reading what appears to be an informational book on Pokémon while everyone else walks together on a nearby pathway.
• Butt-Monkey: According to the Pokémon Go Twitter, Blanche can be this to Spark.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Represents blue.
• A Day in the Limelight: The "A Mystical Hero" has Blanche as the focus character giving you missions in place of Professor Willow or Rhi.
• Department of Redundancy Department: If your team is Team Mystic and you use a Rocket Radar's scan function only for it to not detect any Leaders or potential Giovanni locations, Blanche will say one of the following:
  Blanche: There are currently no active hideouts in the vicinity. Let’s search a different area. There are no hideouts here, but my reports do confirm that there are more out there. Let’s head to other locations.
  Blanche: No signals... I see. Perhaps their activities have ceased for the day. Let’s try again tomorrow. Let’s wait until morning. I doubt they’ll show themselves again for a while.
• Elemental Motifs: Rain and snow. Blanche is the introvert of the trio, acting emotionally distant to the point of being frigid at times, yet provides guidance for players just like the other leaders which makes them easy to appreciate.
• Elemental Powers:
  • An Ice Person: Their main element. In Great League training sessions, they use Sneasel, Sealeo and Snowy Castform. In Ultra League sessions, they use Glaceon and Mamoswine. In Master League sessions, they use Articuno.
  • Blow You Away: In Master League sessions, they use Articuno.
  • Casting a Shadow: In Great League sessions, they use Sneasel.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: In Ultra League sessions, they use Mamoswine.
  • Extra-ore-dinary: In Ultra League sessions, they use Empoleon. In Master League sessions, they use Metagross.
  • Making a Splash: In Great League sessions, they use Sealeo. In Ultra League sessions, they use Empoleon. In Master League sessions, they use Suicune.
  • Mind over Matter: In Master League sessions, they use Metagross.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Blanche shows traits of Melancholic: Calm, analytical, organized, patient, and incredibly reliant on structure to a fault. Looming in the Shadows highlighted this when Blanche "stood frozen" after being unexpectedly discovered by Cliff while trying to test a malfunctioning tracker.
• Mystical White Hair: Blanche has a nice shade of silver.
• The Spock: Team Mystic's trainers prefer using reason and logic over instincts or emotion.
• Spock Speak: Displayed the most with the appraisal feature, where they tends to speak in a very analytical tone. Blanche will get excited when your Pokémon is far above average in stats, but that's about it.
  Blanche: This ends my analysis. Farewell.

Team Valor, led by Candela

I'm Candela — Team Valor's leader! Pokémon are stronger than humans, and they're warmhearted, too! I'm researching ways to enhance Pokémon's natural power in the pursuit of true strength. There's no doubt that the Pokémon our team have trained at the strongest in battle! Are you ready?

Team Valor believes in fighting with strength and passion, and enhancing Pokémon's natural power. Their color is red and their mascot is Moltres.

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• Animal Motif: Associated with Moltres. Candela herself has design elements that reflect this, namely her short, slightly messy hair resembling the plume of fire on Moltres' head.
• Challenge Seeker: Team Valor are typically shown as this.
• Cool Big Sis: Candela is the eldest of the three leaders.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Represents red.
• Cuteness Proximity: Downplayed, but she's prone to expressing fondness for particularly small Pokémon, stating that they're "rather cute". Might even fall under All Girls Like Ponies, as both the 2019 and 2020 story events involve Ponyta in her portions of the plot.
• A Day in the Limelight: The "A Valorous Hero" has Candala as the focus character giving you missions in place of Professor Willow or Rhi.
• Elemental Motifs: Fire. Candela is the most domineering of the trio and demonstrates her warmth in a big sister fashion.
• Elemental Powers:
  • Playing with Fire: Her main element. In Great League sessions, she uses Combusken, Magcargo and Sunny Castform. In Ultra League sessions, she uses Flareon, Typhlosion and Magmortar. In Master League sessions, she uses Entei and Moltres.
  • Blow You Away: In Master League sessions, she uses Salamence and Moltres.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: In Master League sessions, she uses Salamence.
  • Rock Monster: In Great League sessions, she uses Magcargo.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: In Great League sessions, she uses Combusken.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Candela is stated to be "charismatic, hot-tempered, talks with passion," so she fills the Choleric slot. Looming in the Shadows provided further emphasis on this trait, having shown her become emotionally distant and fidgety while fighting against her drive to bolt off into action until Willow got her to open up and confess her connection to Arlo.
• Impossible Hourglass Figure: If her statue is anything to go by...
• Red Is Heroic: "Valor" means 'courage in danger and battle,' and Candela is depicted as brave with a heroic drive, which fits her and her team's red color scheme.
• The McCoy: Team Valor's trainers primarily rely on their emotions and passion when it comes to fighting.

Rhi

A member of the GO Ultra Recon Squad, who has travelled to this world via an Ultra Wormhole in order to research the wormholes and assist with whatever anomalies it causes.

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• Amazing Technicolor Population: Their skin is so pale it appears to be blue, as a result of their almost-lightless home dimension.
• Human Aliens: Blue skin aside, they appear perfectly human despite being from another dimension.

Mateo

A researcher that loves giving and exchanging gifts with other trainers.

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• Big Fun: He is just as jovial as he is portly.

Antagonists

Team GO Rocket

The latest incarnation of the the original villainous organization, debuting in July 25th, 2019. As always, they misuse Pokémon while also sabotaging numerous PokéStops. They also use Shadow Pokémon, which are similar to those used by Cipher.

While they are still led by Giovanni, this incarnation has three brand new members seemingly filling in for the Team Rocket Executives.

In general

• Ambiguous Situation: The exact in-universe connection (if any) between the original Team Rocket and Team GO Rocket is yet to be explained.
• Boss Battle: The leaders are fairly tough opponents themselves, and you can't even find them until you obtain a Rocket Radar, assembled from beating GO Rocket Grunts. Their defeat yields 1000 Stardust and rare items, including Sinnoh and Unova Stones.
• Custom Uniform: As is typical in the series, the leaders of Team GO Rocket have their own spin on the standard uniform. The modifications are comparatively subtle for Arlo and Cliff, but Sierra goes right into a white, form-fitting Custom Uniform of Sexy.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: While not as consistently, there are favored types for all three leaders as well (Cliff tends to favor Normal and Ground, Sierra prefers Dark and Psychic, and Arlo frequently uses Steel and Dragon), though they have a few possible ways to mix things up. Ironically, each one has at least one possible choice that is weak to the mascot of the team that they oppose (although only one, in Sierra's case) - that said, they also each have one choice strong against the team that they oppose.
• Enemy Mine: When Giovanni and Professor Willow both go missing, the leaders call a truce with trainers to find them.
• Evil Counterpart: Through their dialogue (both in victory and defeat), it becomes clear that each of the GO Rocket leaders is one for the three team leaders, but it's played with in that they're not the evil versions of who they oppose.
• Evil Is Easy: Downplayed. While they have relatively bloated stats as a result of artificial means Team GO Rocket subjected them to, the Shadow Pokémon are having it anything but easy mentally.
• Foil: Cliff, Arlo and Sierra appear to be set up as this to Blanche, Candela and Spark respectively:
  • They have a Two Guys and a Girl dynamic in contrast to the three team leaders' Two Girls and a Guy, as well as opposite black-and-white motifs, not to mention their completely opposing allegiances.
  • Each one has highlights on their custom uniforms of the team they oppose: Cliff has blue bands on several parts of his uniform, Sierra has yellow patches on her shoulders (ones that resemble lightning bolts, no less), and Arlo has red hair highlights in addition to more red than the standard Rocket "R" on his outfit.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Giovanni and the GO Rocket leaders emphasize the negative aspects of the temperaments.
  • Giovanni's phlegmatic traits aren't necessarily negative. He is people-oriented and seems incredibly poker-faced and corporate about the entire GO Rocket affair.
    • This could just be due to the fact he's treating everything more like business as usual.
  • Cliff shows negative melancholic traits: slavishly loyal, moody, self-depricating.
  • Sierra shows negative sanguine traits: egotistical, impulsive, and vain.
  • Arlo is unquestionably choleric: vindictive, sore loser, and a massive control-freak.
• Freudian Trio: Passionate Cliff is the Id, cool-headed Sierra is the Super-Ego and the crafty-yet-petulant Arlo is the Ego.
• Friendly Enemy: Cliff, Sierra and Arlo can be seen casually hanging out with the gym leaders in the 2020 GO Fest promotional art◊.
• Improbable Piloting Skills: They're able to follow the player and pursue them from any distance in the air... from a hot air balloon. Regardless of whatever wind would be pushing them.
• Mook Chivalry: When swapping out Pokémon, the AI every Team Go Rocket member will pause for a moment before actually attacking with them. This pause also happens if the player changes Pokémon, and if either side uses a charged attack; players aren't restricted in the same way, and they can just wail out on Go Rocket Pokémon while they're sitting ducks.
• Mythology Gag: There are a few nods to media related to Generation III.
  • The Shadow Pokémon used by them are an obvious nod to those used by Cipher in Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness.
  • Having three admin-like characters - The Brute, The Smurfette Principle and The Evil Genius - could be a nod to Gorm, Sird and Carr, the Beast Trio who served Giovanni during the FireRed and LeafGreen saga in the Pokémon Adventures manga.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: The three Rocket Leaders share this dynamic.
  • Cliff is the nice thanks to his gentle heart and soul and having the kindest sounding dialogue when first encountered.
  • Arlo is the mean as he's known to hold personal vendetta against Candela and constantly looking down on the player.
  • Sierra is the in-between where much like Arlo, she looks down on others and calls Spark's positive naive. She's more of a Graceful Loser when defeated or responds with playful teasing if she wins and encourages you to get stronger for next time.
• Recurring Boss: Even if you defeat a Leader or Giovanni, they will only flee, ready to fight you again another time.
• Super-Persistent Predator: The entirety of the organization periodically appear in hot air balloons hovering directly above the player, including the Leaders and Giovanni himself if the player has the appropriate radars.
• Sigil Spam: As always, Team Rocket is not shy about putting their red "R" on anything they control - it's on all of their uniforms (even the distinct outfits of the leaders), a PokéStop taken over by any Rocket member gets a large "R" hovering over it once it's taken over, the Rocket Radar naturally has the "R" right in the middle, and then there's their iconic black balloon with a giant "R" on it that they use to sporadically invade your area.
• SNK Boss: They have Pokémon with stats that are double, triple or even quadruple of the species' usual, resulting in even basic Pokémon having 4000 CP or above. They also hit hard enough that a Golbat, a Pokémon only in its middle evolution, can cripple even Mighty Glaciers such as Regice or Suicune in seconds, and the Leaders' Pokémon are strong enough to cripple yours even with resisted attacks.
• Theme Naming: The leaders all have names based on elevated land: Arlo's name means "fortified hill" in Anglo-Saxon, Cliff refers to cliffs, and Sierra is a Spanish term for a mountain range.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Cliff, Arlo and Sierra.

Grunts

• Be Careful What You Wish For: During the Rocket takeover of the 2020 GO Fest event, a grunt may say that they talked about wanting to move up in the organization, but didn't expect that it would mean flying in the air in a hot air balloon.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: Some of them avoid the Poor, Predictable Rock problem all together and will come with stronger and more varied teams. Some of the type-specialist versions can potentially fall into this too; for instance, the Grass, Fire, and Water-type Grunts can sometimes come with fully-evolved Starters, and the Flying-type Grunt has some heavy-hitters like Gyarados and Dragonite in the pool she can pick from.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Most Team GO Rocket members will only use one type during battle, and they'll give a hint as to what that type is in the battle preparation screen. This makes grunts fairly easy to beat. However, some of the Normal-type grunts will occasionally have Zubat in their lineup, which is an aversion.
• Elite Mooks: GO Rocket grunts that reference winning rather than making some kind of pun on their preferred typing indicates that they're one of these. Neither of them have a type-induced Crippling Overspecialization; the male grunts choose from three starter Pokémon with progressively stronger evolutions, while female grunts will use a more random assortment of top level 'Mons and will include at least one incredibly bulky Snorlax.
• Enemy-Detecting Radar: Upon defeat, Grunts drop components from their Rocket Radar, a device that allows them to find their leaders' locations. Once you have six pieces, you can assemble a radar of your own. When equipped, the device shows you all the nearby PokéStops on the map where the leaders are hidden.
• Evil Redhead: Both the male and female grunt have cherry-red hair.
• Poke the Poodle: They infamously keep photobombing the GO Snapshots.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Unlike the original Shadow Pokémon, the ones used by Team GO Rocket are only notably capable of using moves held by their normal counterparts, instead of Shadow Moves.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: The shadow Pokémon they use and leave behind have bright red eyes (and even red eyelids in cases like Wobbuffet) and wear an angry expression, signifiers that they've been corrupted.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Although the Grunts will never use Protect Shields and may have not-fully-evolved Pokémon in their lineup, they still boast teams with artificially raised CP and will not necessarily be pushovers.
• Zero-Effort Boss: There is one kind of grunt in the water lineup who tries to be intimidating, and their team consists of nothing but easy to beat Magikarp.

Cliff

Team GO Rocket saved me. It’s time to return the favor!

A boistrous man that was once saved by Giovanni, he returns the favor by enforcing Team GO Rocket as one of its leaders.

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• Affably Evil: He's said to have a big heart and a kind soul, yet he's still on Team Rocket's side and gets rather upset if you defeat him.
• Badass Boast: "Add me to your list of weaknesses."
• The Brute: The largest by far of any member of Team GO Rocket (towering over everyone else even when he slouches), and the one most prone to talk about using raw strength to win.
• Elemental Powers:
  • An Ice Person: February 2021 gave him a Mamoswine as a third mon option.
  • Blow You Away: Dropped Aerodactyl from February 2021 onwards.
  • Casting a Shadow: The half-Dark type Tyranitar is a common mon in his lineups. He also used from February 2021 onwards a Dusknoir.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Ground-types tend to be a recurring element in his parties. So far, he's used Sandslash, Flygon, Marowak, Swampert, Mamoswine (February 2021), Cubone (April 2022 drop) and Torterra, the latter being the only mon he gets from the beginning.
  • Green Thumb: One of his most common mons is Torterra. He also used Cradily since February 2021. Seedot was an early drop in May 2021. Venusaur was one of his mons in November 2021.
  • Making a Splash: One of his ender mons is the half-Water Swampert. He later started dropping Omanyte and Slowking (February 2021). In April 2022 he had the half-Water Omastar as a mid mon.
  • Mind over Matter: Slowking and Gallade from his February 2021 lineup.
  • Non-Elemental: Two of his earlier drops (Meowth and Stantler) belong to the Normal type. He also used a Snorlax at one point.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Used Flygon at one point.
  • Playing with Fire: He used an Infernape, early on. Charizard was an ender mon in November 2021 and April 2022. Arcanine was an ender mon in November 2021.
  • Poisonous Person: Grimer is an early drop. Crobat was present on his November 2021 lineup.
  • Rock Monster: Also present in his lineups is the Rock type, with Tyranitar being a common mon on his lineups and having used Onix and Cradily at some points. From October 2020 Cliff started dropping Omanyte, and from February 2021 Aerodactyl. In April 2022 he had the half-Rock Omastar as a mid mon.
  • Shock and Awe: One of his later Pokémon is the electric-type Electivire (became mid mon in April 2022). In April 2022, he also used Luxray.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: One of his mid-game mons is Machamp. He also used the half-Fighting type Infernape at one point.
• Evil Counterpart: While he seems to be specifically antagonistic to Blanche, his dialogue about caring about Pokémon and his nurturing nature make him much like Spark. He also uses the electric-type Electivire.
• Goatee of Evil: Has a nice Poké Ball-shaped goatee, and is one of Team GO Rocket's enforcers.
• I Owe You My Life: Villainous version. He says that Team GO Rocket "saved" him in one of his pre-battle quotes. He suggests that his loyalty to GO Rocket stems from this.
• Signature Mon: Tyranitar. It's in all of his lineups, and he has a very high chance to send it as his third Pokémon.
• Sore Loser: While not to the extent of Arlo, a few of his defeat quotes are still rather mean-spirited.
  Cliff: You'll pay for this!
• Token Good Teammate: He's a bit kinder than Arlo and Sierra. When he first encountered Willow and Blanche, his tone of voice was gentle, and some of his pre-battle lines place emphasis on GO Rocket as a community or his loyalty to them, which would sound downright heroic if GO Rocket wasn't a band of thieves that subject Pokémon to cruel experiments.

Arlo

Usually I wouldn’t consider debasing myself by battling a commoner...but I’ll make an exception to humiliate you.

Sly and manipulative. Once a member of Team Valor, he mysteriously left to join Team GO Rocket and now contributes to their Shadow Pokémon program.

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• Aristocrats Are Evil: Is on the side of GO Rocket's nefarious schemes, and his phrasing is generally antiquated or alluding to him having blue blood (like referring to the player as a "commoner" or "riffraff"). His title even calls him "The Vengeful Aristocrat".
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: He's fond of Bug Pokémon such as Scyther and Scizor.
• Chrome Champion: He's used Magnezone, Scizor, Steelix and Mawile.
• Delinquent Hair: A ponytail with red highlights.
• Elemental Powers:
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: Scyther (early drop), Scizor (present in all of his lineups), Pineco (early drop), Armaldo (February 2021), and Venonat (early drop).
  • Blow You Away: Perhaps the most common element of his lineups, having used Scyther (early drop), Gyarados, Crobat, Salamence, Charizard and Dragonite; only the latter two are constant mons on his teams, with Salamence coming in third place. The type began to become downplayed after his initial lineup, though.
  • Extra-ore-dinary: Steel tends to be very present in his lineups, having used Magnezone, Scizor (his most common mon), Mawile (also an early drop), Steelix, Beldum (February 2021 drop) and Aggron.
  • The Fair Folk: The half-Fairy Mawile used to be an early drop and became his second mon in November 2021. In February and November 2021 and April 2022 he also used Gardevoir.
  • Green Thumb: Had the half-Grass Cradily as a mid mon in November 2021. In April 2022, he dropped Exeggcute and used the half-Grass Alolan Exeggutor.
  • Making a Splash: Early on he used a Gyarados, then he switched to Blastoise. Lapras was a mid mon in November 2021.
  • Mind over Matter: The half-Psychic Gardevoir since February 2021.
  • Non-Elemental: Had Snorlax as an ender mon in November 2021.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: A recurrent user of the Dragon type, with Bagon being an early drop and Dragonite and Salamence being common mons in his parties. In April 2022, the half-Dragon Alolan Exeggutor alternated with them.
  • Playing with Fire: Charizard, Growlithe (early drop) and Infernape.
  • Poisonous Person: Used Crobat at one point. Gligar was his November 2021 drop.
  • Rock Monster: The half-Rock types Steelix and Aggron (February 2021).
  • Shock and Awe: He had a Magnezone early on.
• Evil Counterpart: While he has a personal grudge against Candela, his cold and calculating commentary is like an evil version of Blanche. He also uses the water-types Blastoise and Gyarados.
• Evil Genius: While the details aren't exactly clear, it's apparently due to his research that Team GO Rocket has started using Shadow Pokémon and taken over PokéStops.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: The most callous of the GO Rocket leaders by far. And he wears a pair of form-fitting glasses that resemble goggles.
• Hypocrite: He has several quotes chastising the player for being arrogant, ignoring the fact that he himself is an elitist snob.
• It's Personal: The details aren't too clear beyond the fact that Arlo was the loser, but there is some history between him and Candela, and he regularly references his enmity with her, the only member of Team Rocket to reference anyone on the player teams (outside of addressing the player directly) at all.
• Manipulative Bastard: At least, according to his backstory.
• Red Baron: According to official social media, "The Vengeful Aristocrat".
• Revenge: He has it out for Candela for her taking something that was "rightfully" his, though it's unknown just what it was.
• Signature Mon: Scizor is in all of his lineups and he has a very high chance of sending it as his third Pokémon.
• Smug Snake: His dialogue was apparently written with the instruction "just be as smug, condescending and arrogant as humanly possible, then crank it up a notch or two".
  Arlo: Pokémon are my tools, and winning is my birthright. Get in my way, and you'll be crushed, vermin.
• Sore Loser: He takes defeat far less graciously than other Rocket GO members.
• We Used to Be Friends: Before he joined Team GO Rocket, he was in Team Valor, and was close friends with Candela.

Sierra

This won’t be all bad—when you lose, you’ll at least get to hear me say you made a good effort.

Mysterious and alluring. One of Team GO Rocket's Leaders. Growing up under difficult circumstances forced her to be street-smart and to learn martial arts. She’s since climbed the ranks to become one of Giovanni’s most trusted confidants.

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• Affably Evil: Her comments pre-battle are more along the lines of playful taunting, even telling the player that they should learn from their defeat.
• The Baroness: Downplayed in that this is an all-ages game, but she's got a Custom Uniform of Sexy, and her tone when encountered would be downright playful if you didn't factor in that she's a leader in a gang of thieves.
• Cruella to Animals: Sierra's purse has a Slowpoke tail hanging off it, which was made clear when her outfit became available in-store.
• The Cynic: She finds Spark's positivity to be laughable and naive.
• Elemental Powers:
  • An Ice Person: Sneasel was an early drop, and her lineups always featured a Lapras (which also became an early drop). She also used Walrein (February 2021).
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: The half-Poison Beedrill as a mid-mon in November 2021.
  • Casting a Shadow: The Dark type is common on her lineups. In addition to Sneasel, she also used Absol (early drop), Houndoom, Sableye, Cacturne, Shiftry, and Sharpedo. Of these, the most common mon is Houndoom, with Shiftry coming in second place. As for the Ghost type, she used Mismagius (February 2021).
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Hippowdon and Flygon (both of them February 2021). In November 2021, Marowak and the half-Ground Nidoqueen as ender mons.
  • Extra-ore-dinary: The half-Steel type Beldum used to be an early drop.
  • The Fair Folk: The half-Fairy type Gardevoir used to be a late-fight mon.
  • Green Thumb: Exeggutor, Cacturne and Shiftry. In November 2021, Vileplume as a mid mon.
  • Making a Splash: Lapras and Sharpedo are common mons of hers. Carvanha is a February 2021 drop. She also used Walrein (Feb 2021) and the half-Water Slowbro (November 2021).
  • Non-Elemental: Porygon-Z (February 2021).
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Flygon (February 2021).
  • Playing with Fire: In April 2022, the half-Fire Blaziken.
  • Poisonous Person: Her November 2021 drop was Fem!Nidoran. She also had the half-Poison Beedrill and also half-Poison Vileplume as mid-mons and the half-Poison Nidoqueen as ender mon in in November 2021 and April 2022.
  • Psychic Powers: Psychic seems to be another choice of hers, having used Drowzee (as drop) & Hypno, Alakazam, Gardevoir, Exeggutor, Beldum (early drop) and the half-Psychic Slowbro.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: In April 2022, the half-Fighting Blaziken.
• Evil Counterpart: She taunts Spark, but her enthusiastic interest in battle and passion are very similar to Candela's. She also uses the fire-type Houndoom.
• Graceful Loser: She generally doesn't seem to see defeat as anything more than a learning exercise and upon defeat promises to come back stronger.
• Narcissist: One of her taunts is "I envy you - you get to battle me." Not even Arlo is that vain.
• Red Baron: According to official social media, "The Lonely Lioness".
• Secondary Color Nemesis: Her outfit has streaks of purple in contrast to Spark's yellows.
• Signature Mon: Houndoom is in all of her lineups and she has a very high chance to have it on the back of her team.
• The Smurfette Principle: The sole female member in GO Rocket's upper echelons, and the least developed of the named Rocket characters.
• Street Urchin: Implied in her backstory.

Giovanni

Earth is where I shall unleash my evil schemes next!

The leader of Team GO Rocket.

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• Aborted Arc: Each month the player would have the chance to battle Giovanni and snag a Legendary Shadow Pokémon from him. When the coronavirus and the ensuing quarantine regulations inhibited some player's outdoor time, the Giovanni tasks were postponed for several months, right when Giovanni would have surfaced with a shadow Suicune.
• Big Bad: Set up as this for Pokémon GO.
• Call-Back: Giovanni's first two Pokémon are references to earlier fights in the series with him. He always leads with his signature Persian from Pokemon Yellow and the Lets Go games and his second is one of three that were in his team during the Pokémon World Tournament fights in Black 2 and White 2 as well as his gym battle in Red and Blue.
• Elemental Powers:
  • An Ice Person: Articuno was his first ender.
  • Blow You Away: Honchkrow is a mid mon. And of course, the half-Flying legendary birds, as well as the Eon duo.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: As the former gym leader of Viridian City, Giovanni will have at least one Ground-type Pokémon in his arsenal.
  • Making a Splash: Gyarados is a mid mon. Suicune was an ender mon.
  • Non-Elemental: Always starts with Persian.
  • Olympus Mons: Has corrupted Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Latias and Latios.
  • Playing with Fire: Moltres and Entei.
  • Psychic Powers: Latias and Latios.
  • Shock and Awe: Zapdos and Raikou.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: It's heavily implied he's the same Giovanni from the main games, as in Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon he left wondering "what world shall [he] unleash [his] evil schemes on next", and in the reveal trailer for Team GO Rocket, Giovanni uses the exact same wording when he declares Earth will be that world. In other words, through the power of the Ultra Wormholes, Giovanni has managed to get out of the games and invade the real world.
• No Brows: Giovanni never had prominent eyebrows, but when his looks are translated to a more realistic style, he looks appropriately unsettling.
• Not So Above It All: He too occasionally photobombs the GO Snapshots.
• Panthera Awesome: Giovanni has an affinity for catlike Pokémon, Persian in particular.
• Signature Mon: He always starts with Persian, whose moveset includes Fairy-type attacks to protect it from Fighting Pokémon. Since Giovanni's Persian always comes out first, it's likely that he'll use all of his shields to defend it unless you can beat Persian using only fast attacks.
• Ungrateful Bastard: After being saved by the trainers during the 2024 Sinnoh Go Fest, he shows his gratitude by trying to steal the legendaries they have been studying.

Jessie & James

To protect the world from devastation!

To unite all peoples within our nation!

To denounce the evils of truth and love!

To extend our reach to the stars above!

The Dastardly Duo from Pokémon: The Series.

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• Adaptational Badass: Their anime incarnations never had more than two Pokémon apiece. Here, they use Shadow Pokémon with far greater potential than you'd expect, such as Bagon, Scyther (Jessie), Beldum and Pinsir (James). They're still pretty easy to beat, though.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • They greet the player by offering them the chance to join Team Rocket. Of course, the player cannot accept this offer.
  • They take Professor Willow's place as the mission givers during the Secrets of the Jungle mission chain. The ruse fails near the end of the chain, though.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Jessie uses Scyther. To a lesser extent, James has Sneasel.
• Call-Back: Hearkening back to their original anime appearances, their leads when fought are Ekans for Jessie and Koffing for James.
• Dark Is Evil: James uses the Dark-type Sneasel.
• Light Is Not Good: Compared to the dark and dull-looking GO Rocket grunts, Jessie and James wear white uniforms and have all the usual pretty tropes normally associated with anime characters.
• Nonstandard Character Design: They retain their anime character designs, which looks noticeably out of place compared to the realistic character designs used for every other human — including Giovanni, who also had an anime design but got reimagined to suit the game's style better.
• Poisonous Person: While they're not as reliant on the type as they were when they first entered the game, the duo always have at least one Poison-type in their ranks.
• Sequential Boss: You fight Jessie first and then James right after that. You do have the option to heal in between battles and even opting to not fight James if you wish.
• Smug Smiler: Jessie is always sporting an arrogant smirk on her face until you defeat her, which then changes to a pouty frown.

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