Characters / Pokémon: The Original Series — Main Cast

aka: Pokemon The Original Series Ashs Pokemon

Pokémon anime characters index
Series-wide: Ash Ketchum | Pikachu | Team Rocket Trio | Team Rocket Organization
The Original Series (Misty and Brock, 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

Ash's Companions

Misty (Kasumi)

See here for more about Misty and her Pokémon.

Brock (Takeshi)

See here for more about Brock and his Pokémon.

Orange Islands

Tracey Sketchit (Kenji)

Voiced in Japanese by: Tomokazu Seki

Voiced in English by: Ted Lewis (4Kids, JN 147), Craig Blair (AG 192)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Alfredo Leal (Season 2 and Journeys), Javier Olguín (Season 5), Ricardo Bautista (one episode of Chronicles and another in Season 8), Gerardo García (rest of Chronicles), Christian Strempler (Season 9)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Ricardo Escobar

Voiced in European French by: Bruno Mullenaerts

Voiced in Canadian French by: Joël Legendre (Movies Pokémon 2000 and Pokémon 3)

A friend of Ash's, who he met on his trip to the Orange Islands. Specializes in Pokémon watching; i.e. he draws pictures of Pokémon in their natural habitat with surgical precision. Tracey primarily draws Pokémon, but there are several human subjects scattered around his various sketchbooks. Huge fan of Prof. Oak.

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Tropes involving him and his Pokémon include:

• Ascended Fanboy: Since his debut, he has always been a fan of Professor Oak's work and wishes to one day meet his hero. Oak takes him under his wing at the end of the Orange Islands arc.
• Awesome by Analysis: Tracey's typical battle style. He can predict an opponent's moves based on having seen the set-up motions before and get a counterattack going immediately, which isn't too shabby. In his initial appearance, he was able to discern upbringing problems with a group of trainers' Pokémon, and gauge how strong and well-conditioned Pikachu was with but a mere precursory glance.
• Back for the Finale: After Advanced Generation, he only made silent cameos in later seasons and is absent most of the time whenever Ash returns. JN147 rectifies that by having him meet Ash again, which is also the first time where he's been given dialogue. This also makes him the last travel companion Ash talks to.
• Butt-Monkey: Throughout Pokémon Chronicles, his appearances tend to make him the comic relief. This ranges from getting left behind to clean Cerulean Gym, to clinging to a flying Aerodactyl's tail, to inflating a rubber boat by himself while Misty and Daisy watch.
• Covert Pervert: Downplayed, but if you find anything in his sketchbook that isn't a Pokémon, it's probably a pretty girl he encountered while travelling around with Ash.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has his moments, especially in Chronicles.
  Daisy: This is a disaster! Lost in a cave with only one pair of shoes and no moisturizer!
  Tracey: Oh yeah, doesn't get much worse than that, does it?
• Guest-Star Party Member: He has the dubious honor of being the friend who Ash traveled with the least: he was only part of the group for the Adventures In The Orange Islands,^note Around 30 episodes. and Brock (who he was intended to replace) returned and reclaimed his position in the group just in time for Tracey's departure.
• Inconsistent Spelling: It's "Tracey", not "Tracy".
• Meaningful Name: What do you think does he do in his free time? Take a wild guess.
• Non-Action Guy: He can battle if he has to, but he uses his Pokémon mainly for fieldwork.
• Out of Focus: After the very first episode of Diamond and Pearl, he did not physically appear again until JN118, 736 episodes later. Between his speaking role in the final episode of Advanced Generation and his speaking role in the final episode of Journeys: Aim to be a Pokémon Master, it took 766 to finally speak on-screen again.
• Put on a Bus: Now Prof. Oak's assistant.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Savvy Guy to Daisy's Energetic Girl.
• The Sneaky Guy: Downplayed, but he's good at observing Pokémon without them detecting him. He explains that he does this partly by staying downwind of them and making his breathing rhythms match theirs so it'll be harder for them to smell or hear him.
• Written-In Absence: In JN068, 686 episodes since his last physical appearance, Professor Oak mentions that he's been helping look for Ash's Infernape, who hasn't been seen in days.

Tracey's Pokémon

Venonat-Venomoth (Kongpang-Morphon)

Voiced in Japanese by: Rikako Aikawa

Voiced in English by: Rachael Lillis

The first of Tracey's Pokemon to be introduced. It's often used as a radar by his trainer due to its radar-like vision. It is the only fully evolved Pokémon of Tracey.

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• Back for the Finale: Reappears in the very last episode of Ash's anime, having evolved off-screen.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: It's a giant gnat (later moth), albeit a cute one.
• Green Thumb: Knows Sleep Powder to puts Pokémon to sleep, so that Tracey can observe them easier.
• Non-Action Guy: Compared to its teammates, it doesn't do that much in the way of battling and mostly contributes by doing reconnaissance.
• Out of Focus: It's the least prominent of Tracey's Pokémon, and is rarely seen fighting. The fact that it evolves off-screen is quite a surprise.
• Super-Senses: Vision. Its eyes work like a radar.
• Walking Spoiler: The fact that it has evolved into a Venomoth is this. Between its last appearance as a Venonat and its reappearance as a Venomoth, it's absent for 1007 episodes.

Marill (Maril)

Voiced in Japanese by: Mika Kanai

Voiced in English by: Kayzie Rogers

Tracey's second Pokémon to be introduced. Like Venonat's eyes, Marill's ear are very useful to detect other Pokémon. Marill is used more in battle than Venonat. At Professor Oak's laboratory, Marill gave birth to Misty's Azurill.

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• Action Mom: It has become a parent in Chronicles. It still can kick ass as much as ever.
• Back for the Finale: Marill returns in the final episode of Ash's anime, getting to play with Pikachu a bit.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Marill appears in the second season of the anime before Pokémon Gold and Silver were released.
• Making a Splash: Marill is a Water-type Pokémon, and prior to the introduction of Fairy-types, it was a pure Water-type. Being able to swim well is very handy in the Orange Archipelago. Its only known move is Water Gun.
• Signature Mon: Marill is Tracey's most prominent Pokémon, and it shares this trope with the more battle-orientated Scyther.
• Super-Senses: Hearing. Its ears can function like a radar, similar to Venonat's radar eyes.

Scyther (Strike)

Voiced in Japanese by: Unshō Ishizuka

Voiced in English by: Eric Stuart

This old Scyther used to be a leader of a tribe of Scythers at the Orange Islands, but lost its position to a younger Scyther. Tracey brought it to the Pokémon Center to have it recover its wounds from the battle, but it goes straight back to its tribe to save them from Team Rocket despite still being injured. After saving its former tribe and giving its blessing to its young successor, Scyther allows Tracey to catch it. Despite its old age and lack of stamina, it still retains its warrior's pride and develops a sort of rivalry with Ash's Charizard.

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• Animal Facial Hair: Sports a prominent pair of sideburns, despite being an insect.
• Back for the Finale: It reappears in the final episode of Ash's anime.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: A Bug-Type Pokémon who resembles a giant mantis.
• Changing of the Guard: Rejected from its tribe because it was too old to remain the leader (though it makes amends with its young successor before accepting Tracey as its trainer).
• Cool Old Guy: Scyther is old and out of shape, but still a Scyther no less.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Manages to defeat Arbok, Lickitung, Victreebel, Weezing, and even Meowth in battle by itself. Before the battle between Scyther vs Team Rocket's Pokemon gets underway, Pikachu is quick to rush to Scyther's aid and offer to fight Team Rocket's Pokemon with Scyther, an offer of which Scyther politely declines.
• Dented Iron: Tracey's Scyther appears scruffier and more worn down compared to other Scyther seen in the series, with sideburns, faded scars on its body, and slightly tattered wings. Despite this, it's no less dangerous.
• Doppelgänger Spin: Knows Double Team.
• Feeling Their Age: It's an absolute powerhouse, but its age is definitely catching up to it. Its frequent biggest drawback is its lack of stamina for longer battles due to being rather old for its species. Tracey never pushes it too hard for the same reason.
• Glass Cannon: Even more so than most Scyther. Can absolutely tear apart its opponents, but can only fight for a short while before getting winded.
• Mundane Utility: Uses Swords Dance to blow away Weezing's poisonous gas after Team Rocket attacks.
• No-Sell: It's thanks to Scyther that Ash's group is able to face the Rocket Trio with less effort during the Orange Islands, by blowing away Weezing's Smog or Smoke-Screen with its Swords Dance.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: A proud fighter despite its old age.
• The Rival: Very briefly with Charizard due to some initial aggression. After repelling a Team Rocket attack, they "flex their muscles" a bit before making peace.
• Running Gag: Breaks into a pant after exerting itself. It's lampshaded the first time since it left the Pokémon Center before healing properly.
• Signature Mon: It shares this trope with Marill. Despite being less prominent than Marill, Scyther has the role of Tracey's powerhouse, and is given more characterization than Tracey's other Pokémon.
• Team Dad: To a degree towards the other Pokémon. Definitely towards its tribe, given it leaves the Pokémon Center (still injured) to save them from Team Rocket.
• This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Tracey stops Ash from helping Scyther fight off Team Rocket, saying that Scyther needs to prove to itself that it can defeat them and protect the tribe.

Ash's Pokémon

Original Series as a Whole

• 11th-Hour Ranger: Any of the many Pokémon — owned by Ash — which he uses during his League tournaments which he didn't frequently keep on his team travelling the present region. May overlap with Old Master, etc.
• Back for the Finale:
  • Twice, with Battle Frontier's "Gathering The Gang of Four" (marking the first time Ash's original team ^note minus Butterfree and Pidgeot comes back together) and the second time in "An Old Family Blend", Ash calling upon his reserves back in Oak's lab (a welcome change because of Ash's standards during his previous battle tournament in Hoenn ^note where he limited himself to using only the mons he caught in the region).
  • During JN132, all of Ash's Pokémon, including the released ones and Larvitar, appear in Pikachu's Imagine Spot, all cheering for him during the final battle. JN136 ends with Butterfree returning to Ash alongside his mate.
• Badass Adorable: The majority of his un-evolved Pokémon, and a couple of the evolved ones, like Bayleef and Quilava.
• The Bus Came Back: On a few occasions, some of his Pokémon temporarily return to his current roster.
  • Aim to be a Pokémon Master rotates between all of his Pokémon Ash has caught, usually bringing Pokémon from different generations to his team (in addition to Pikachu, of course). For each member, see each individual entry below.
• The Cameo: All ^note or, at least, all Pokémon at that point in time (during the Battle Frontier arc) of them appearing in Spurt!, most notably the enormous Team Shot at the beginning.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Many of the Pokémon Ash catches initially have no intention of joining him, but come to respect him after he risks his life for them or by facing an adversary together (usually Team Rocket).
• Reset Button: His party reverts to just Pikachu in every season since Hoenn, thanks in no small part to the Merchandise-Driven nature of the series.
• Power Trio: The Kanto Starter Trio and, to a lesser extend, the Johto Starter Trio have their own unique trio dynamics. Pikachu occasionally acts as One Extra Member towards the Kanto Starter Trio, but there are several scenes throughout the long series that focuses on the trio's dynamic specifically and they often share the same reactions. The Johto Starter Trio have a trio dynamic in the early parts of the Johto Saga, but it becomes less prevalent in the later parts of the series, and they notably lack Pikachu as the extra member.

Kanto

Kanto Team In General

• Ambiguous Gender: A few members of the team never had a gender established^note Except for the dub slipping in a "he" at times, though Pikachu, Butterfree, and Charizard are later confirmed male, while Bulbasaur and Squirtle are both heavily implied as such.
• Canon Immigrant: Sort of. In Pokémon Yellow, the methods Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle are obtained are Mythology Gags to how Ash's counterparts were introduced in the anime. Pidgeotto could also be caught in Viridian Forest while Muk is obtainable at the Power Plant, similar to Ash's counterparts, which couldn't be done in previous titles.
• A Day in the Limelight: Ash and co's Pokémon have a whole special centered round them called "Pikachu's Vacation."
• Deus Exit Machina: One way to Handwave Ash's tendency to leave his mons behind, but the first season was the worst about it. Ash wound up releasing three of his Kanto mons, and although they made return appearances, only one permanently rejoined his team. Johto was when Ash sent away the Kanto starters for various reasons (granted, they're all still technically his Pokémon and have returned multiple times for big battles). Charizard actually came back for an extended stint during the Decolore Islands, only to be Put on a Bus again when XY began.
• Game Changer: The Kanto Starters' addition to the team is what finally gave Ash his (much needed) offensive boost.
• Put on a Bus: The first season exemplified this trope. Most of Ash's Pokémon are either training somewhere or housed at Professor Oak's lab while Butterfree, Pidgeot and Lapras were released. It still happens later, but nowhere near as often.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The Kanto starters were bad at this, but especially during the Silver Conference arc. Since this was a good way to tie up Book Ends, though, hardly anyone complains about this.
• True Companions: Ash's Kanto Pokémon could be called this as they been through a lot together, especially the Kanto Starters. Although they would clash sometimes, they still care and respect each other no matter what.

Pikachu

Ash's very first Pokémon, who's traveled with him across every series and become his greatest lifelong partner. See here for more about Ash's Pikachu.

Caterpie-Metapod-Butterfree (Caterpie-Trancell-Butterfree)

Voiced in Japanese by: Rikako Aikawa

Voiced in English by: Rikako Aikawa (Caterpie, Butterfree), Eric Stuart (Metapod)

Caterpie was Ash's first capture during his journey through the Viridian Forest. He's also part of a series of firsts for Ash: his first Pokémon capture, first Pokémon evolutions, first Pokémon trades, and first release. He evolved into Metapod following a battle with Team Rocket, and then evolved into Butterfree in order to protect Ash from a Beedrill. Butterfree stayed on Ash's team during the early portion of the Kanto journey before its release, where it departed to mate with a pink-colored Butterfree.

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• All Webbed Up: Caterpie knows String Shot, which managed to incapacitate Ekans and Koffing.
• Adapted Out: In the games, Butterfree learns Confusion after evolving. Ash's Butterfree lacks this move for some reason.
• Babies Ever After: Implied. He was released for the express purpose of starting a family with the Pink Butterfree, but their offspring have never been shown.
• Back for the Finale: Just like all of Ash's other Pokémon in JN132, Butterfree appears in Pikachu's Imagine Spot. But more notably, Butterfree appears in person and meets Ash again during the end credits of JN136, the final episode before Aim to be a Pokémon Master.
• Broken Pedestal: Played with and then inverted with Metapod. After getting captured by Beedrill, he blames Ash and actually refuses to be rescued by him. However, once Ash shows his trademark Undying Loyalty, he quickly regains its love, and shields him from a Beedrill.
• The Cameo: He and his mate both appear in the Japanese version of the Battle Frontier opening. They DON'T show up in Battle Frontier proper.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: Caterpie put up zero offence when Ash captured him, and as soon as he was let out of his Poké Ball he proved friendly and affectionate to his new comrades (to Misty's horror).
• Dogged Nice Guy:
  • He tries his hardest to woo the pink Butterfree only to be spurned. After he risks his life to save her, she chooses to become his mate.
  • A more platonic case with Misty, who he took a fondness towards despite her phobia making her downright callous towards the bug. She did at least try to get over it after he proved his worth.
• The Heart: The most gentle of the original gang.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Was close with Pikachu, which makes sense, seeing as he and Pikachu were the first Pokémon Ash caught.
• Iconic Item: The yellow scarf given to him by Brock. Given a slight Call-Back when Jessie's Dustox started wearing something similar (yellow ribbons).
• I Just Want to Be Badass: As a Caterpie, he explicitly expresses his desire to evolve pretty soon.
• Long Bus Trip: He hasn't reappeared since Ash released him in Bye Bye Butterfree, over 1000 episodes ago. However, Ash has occasionally had flashbacks about Butterfree since then, and each time has expressed a desire to reunite with him. The end of Journeys finally gave him that chance.
• Misplaced Retribution: Not really, but his blaming of Ash for getting captured by Beedrill even though Ash did everything within his power to save him. (The samurai who started the mess by impeding Ash's attempt to capture the Weedle is more directly at fault here.)
• Nice Guy: The most gentle of Ash's original Pokémon.
• Out of Focus: Once Ash started adding the Kanto starters to the team, Butterfree pretty much disappears until its infamous release episode.
• The Power of Love: What motivates him to soundly defeat Team Rocket in his last appearance.
• Put on a Bus: He was released by Ash early on in the Kanto saga so that he could mate with the Pink Butterfree. Notably, he was the first Pokémon that Ash released back into the wild.
• Rite of Passage: Butterfree served as several for Ash. He was Ash's first capture, his first evolution, his first trade, the first trade he regretted, and the first Pokémon Ash had to say goodbye to. These trials greatly impacted Ash, maturing him into the trainer we know today.
• Shrinking Violet: As a Caterpie, and often as Butterfree, he was adorably shy.
• Status Effects: He often uses Stun Spore and Sleep Powder to cripple/neutralize opponents.
• Stone Wall: As a Metapod; by just using Harden, it enabled him to defeat a Pinsir by breaking its pincers and rendering it unable to use Vice Grip again.
• Taking the Bullet: Metapod, despite usually being immobile, shields Ash from a Beedrill attack. This act of loyalty triggers his final evolution into Butterfree.

Pidgeotto-Pidgeot (Pigeon-Pigeot)

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara

Pidgeotto is Ash's first ever Flying-type, captured by him in Viridian Forest after it tried to eat Caterpie for breakfast. It fought by Ash's side throughout the Kanto journey. Following the Kanto League, Pidgeotto evolves into Pidgeot in order to protect a flock of Pidgey and Pidgeotto from a Fearow that was controlling a flock of Spearow, and is released soon after in order to continue protecting the flock.

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• 11th-Hour Ranger: It returns to Ash's party for the very last episode of Ash's run as main protagonist of the anime.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Evolves into Pidgeot during its last episode as a part of Ash's roster.
• Back for the Finale: Finally returns for the very last episode of Ash's tenure in the anime, in JN147. This is also the first time Team Rocket gets to see it as a Pidgeot, as Meowth points out that the twerp's Pidgeotto has evolved.
• Big Damn Heroes: Pikachu is captured by Team Rocket and Ash forgot to bring other Pokémon with him. Then suddenly, Pidgeot returns just in time to free Pikachu with Wing Attack, allowing Pikachu to send Team Rocket off for the very last time with Thunderbolt. And unlike other released Pokémon, Pidgeot chooses to stay with Ash.
• The Bus Came Back: After two cameos in Journeys, Pidgeot finally makes a physical appearance in JN147, the final episode of Ash's anime. Unlike other released Pokémon, Pidgeot rejoins Ash permanently.
• The Cameo: Made an appearance as a Pidgeotto in Charizard's flashback, with Pidgeot's plumage in the original airing. Also appeared as a Pidgeot in both the Japanese and English versions of the Battle Frontier opening, despite never appearing in Battle Frontier itself.
• Characterization Marches On: Was the first Pokémon Ash had to battle to capture. It outright tried to eat Caterpie beforehand. As such Pidgeotto represented the newly found personality change of a Pokémon when given a trainer in the games, instantly becoming a loyal comrade for Ash and his team. Even to this day, this development is rarely seen in the anime and often hand waved through story (e.g. trainers having to gain a Pokémon's trust before or after they're captured).
• A Day in the Limelight: Only ever got one real Spotlight Episode, and it was the episode when it ended up getting Put on a Bus.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: Similar to Caterpie, Pidgeotto is among few Pokémon that became succinctly loyal to Ash just from capturing him.
• Death or Glory Attack: Learned Double-Edge somewhere along the line. It helped it beat a Rhydon.
• Foil:
  • On the first day of his Pokémon journey, Ash encountered a Jerkass Spearow whose flock attacked him and Pikachu just for being there. Only shortly afterwards, he captured Pidgeotto, who very quickly proved loyal to Ash. It ends up left near Pallet Town to protect its residing Pidgey from the very same flock of Spearow, fittingly becoming the Arch-Enemy of Ash's first Pokémon antagonist.
  • During its final appearance in the original series, Misty claimed Pidgeotto to also be the polar opposite of Charizard, who at this point was unruly and selfish. While Pidgeotto thought nothing of risking its life to help Ash save Pikachu, Charizard only helped through the collateral damage of a tantrum over losing food.
• Giant Flyer: Pidgeot is the biggest bird Pokémon Ash has ever owned, and it's the only bird Pokémon that was capable of carrying Ash on its back while flying. Charizard and Dragonite are the only other flying Pokémon under Ash of comparable size, and both of them are dragons rather than birds.
• The Leader: After Pidgeotto evolved into Pidgeot, Ash told it to take care of the flock of Pidgey and Pidgeotto and protect them from Fearow and its flock of Spearow. It took so much care of it, that the flock has grown bigger in numbers and they are able to take care of themselves without Pidgeot, so that Pidgeot can rejoin Ash without worries.
• Mundane Utility: Not too far into Ash's Pokémon journey, blowing away the smoke and smog from Koffing/Weezing's gas attacks (usually with Whirlwind, but sometimes with Gust) became Pidgeotto's main responsibility. Also popped Team Rocket's hot air balloon on several occasions.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Similar to a large hawk or falcon, with a strong sense of loyalty.
• Out of Focus: Despite being one of the first Pokémon Ash caught, Pidgeotto's role in the series got greatly reduced the moment Ash caught the three Kanto Starters.
• Put on a Bus: After it evolves, Ash releases it to protect the flock of Pidgey and Pidgeotto on Route 1 from any more Spearow and Fearow flocks.
• The Reliable One: About the only of Ash's Kanto Pokémon that never had personality or obedience issues of some form. The only times it defied Ash were to protect him.
• Satellite Character: In the original series, Pidgeotto got phased out as a battler first by Butterfree, and then by the Kanto starters trio. Even once the Indigo League came around, Ash was using Krabby and Muk instead of it.
• Signature Move: Gust. It's often used to blast Team Rocket away, and it became significantly stronger after evolving into Pidgeot.
• Super-Speed: As Pidgeot, living up to its Pokédex entry.
• Undying Loyalty: Brock once stated that Pidgeotto would do anything for Ash, and from what characterization we got to see, it shows. Even its single defiance of Ash was based around its devotion to him. 1,151 episodes after its release, Pidgeot is happy to leave the flock of Pidgey and Pidgeotto behind in order to rejoin Ash. The flock, having grown larger in numbers, are now able to take care of themselves and see Pidgeot off.
• The Worf Effect: From its first episode in fact. Being among the few of Ash's Pokémon that was evolved and lacked many attitude problems, Pidgeotto would often be fainted to force his other Pokémon into action. In fairness, it was at least often for legitimate excuses such as dirty tactics or type disadvantages. When these distractions didn't occur, Pidgeotto usually cleaned house.

Bulbasaur (Fushigidane)

Voiced in Japanese by: Megumi Hayashibara

Voiced in English by: Tara Sands (4Kids), Michele Knotz (current)

Voiced in Latin Spanish by: Eduardo Garza (voice-over in Episode 17)

Bulbasaur was the guardian of the Hidden Village along the path to Vermillion City, and was captured by Ash after a battle with Pikachu at Melanie's discretion. He was mistrustful of the humans at first, but over time, he grew to be one of Ash's longest-lasting and most reliable Pokémon.

Bulbasaur stayed on the team all the way until midway through Johto where he gets sent over to Oak's lab to serve as an ambassador that keeps the other lab Pokémon from fighting with one another. He's since been called upon by Ash several times throughout the series.

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• Big Brother Instinct:
  • The unofficial protector of the "Hidden Village", a haven for abandoned Pokémon.
  • Also, like Pikachu, he has displayed this for other Pokémon. Pikachu's Vacation, for example, he cut an apple down for Togepi, sang a lullaby for it, and became angry when a group of Pokémon caused Togepi to wake up.
  • "Bulbasaur the Ambassador" shows him quelling a conflict between Grass and Water Type Pokémon at Professor Oak's lab.
• Blow You Away: It blows a Stun Spore away at one point, which is incorrectly referred as Whirlwind in the dub.
• Broken Bird: Prior to joining Ash, it was cynical and always temperamental. During "Island of the Giant Pokémon!", he (hesitantly) even thought Ash had abandoned him and the others, but was proven wrong.
• Birds of a Feather: When May catches a Bulbasaur of her own, Ash calls his over to show her the ropes. Bulbasaur quickly gels with his female counterpart as the two worked together to get some stolen Pokémon back from Team Rocket, and May trusts him enough to watch over her Bulbasaur enough to where she leaves it at Oak's for training under him.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Made a reappearance in both the Advanced Generation series (a couple of times) and the Kanto two-parter in Sun & Moon. Also appeared in the occasional Chronicles special and made a cameo at the end of the Best Wishes series.
  • Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN141, alongside Charizard. The two of them and Pikachu reunited with Squirtle in this episode.
• The Cynic: After everything he saw back at the "Hidden Village", Bulbasaur had the notion that humans were just plain bad news. When he and the other Pokémon were separated from Ash, his first thought was that Ash abandoned them. He seems to get better over time.
• Determinator:
  • Bulbasaur is repeatedly shown to be one of the team's more competent fighters, about as good as Charizard in this department.
  • Special mention goes to Ash's battle with Jeanette Fisher where he defeated a Beedrill and a Scyther, who have major type advantages, in a row. Something Ash calls on when battling Brandon's Solrock.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Learns Dig when it gets almost crushed by a giant boulder. Tracey lampshades that Bulbasaur usually don't learn that move, but Professor Oak comments that it was because of that critical moment, it manages to learn it spontaneously to save its life.
• Disney Death: After a boulder falls on him, we see a series of clips showing highlights from Bulbasaur's time with Ash, which appear at first to be a Really Dead Montage. However, Bulbasaur manages to evade the boulder by burrowing underground; the clips are simply Ash's memories of their time together.
• Finishing Move: His Solar Beam is often used in this manner. Expect either a KO or a Double KO.
• Flare Gun: Can use Solar Beam like one to signal Ash's other Pokémon and it has different patterns specifically to call Pokémon caught in certain regions.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Bulbasaur is one of several species of Pokémon who can learn moves faster in their unevolved state. True to the games, he learns Solar Beam^note Which, at the time, could be learned at level 48, though it's now changed to 36 when he explicitly refuses to evolve. Had he evolved into Ivysaur, he would have had to wait until level 54^note 50 now to learn it if he didn't evolve until later, and evolving all the way into Venasaur would have meant waiting until level 65^note 58 now.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Squirtle, with shades of Vitriolic Best Buds.
• Interspecies Romance: He developed a crush on a Gloom in one episode and she seemed to have reciprocated it.
• The Leader: Bulbasaur has a knack for this. He protected and led a group of wild Pokémon before he was caught, was consistently the most responsible member of Ash's party, and continues to take leadership at Professor Oak's lab, where he regularly breaks up squabbles between the many Pokémon living there.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Refused to evolve with the other Bulbasaur during their mass evolutions, likely out of fear of becomming disobedient like Charizard.
• Number Two: Serves as the de-facto "second in command" for Ash's Pokémon, with Pikachu as The Leader due to being Ash's Starter Mon, being the one who keeps the other benched Pokémon in line at Prof. Oak's lab. Notably, Bulbasaur becomes Ash's second oldest Pokémon following Pidgeot's departure, though Pidgeot came Back for the Finale.
• Only Sane Man: Pretty much the embodiment of the Kanto team's common sense.
• Out of Focus: Bulbasaur suffers hard from this trope in the Johto Saga. Despite sticking along with Ash until he got his sixth Johto Badge (Charizard leaves before Ash gets his second Badge, while Squirtle leaves before Ash get his third), Bulbasaur doesn't do much at all during all that time. It does participate in minor competitions, but Bulbasaur is never used in any of the Johto Gym Battles. Since Bulbasaur remains for the party for so long and is the only one of the Kanto Starters not to be replaced by their Johto counterparts, Bulbasaur becomes basically a Satellite Character at that point until it leaves the party for good to take care of Professor Oak's range. The flashbacks Ash gets in the episode when Bulbasaur leaves the team are all from the Kanto Saga, as Bulbasaur has no memorable Johto moments at that given point. However, when it returns a couple of times later on, it gets plenty of focus.
• Protectorate: Of Melanie and the Pokémon of the "Hidden Village", though he gives it up to follow Ash.
• The Reliable One: Notable distinction of traveling with Ash longer than any other Pokémon, besides Pikachu of course, and like the latter, has stuck by him with few behavioral issues besides early on. Also the only member of the original team retired to Professor Oak's lab,^note Prior to Decolora, meaning he's always ready to be transported for battle. Until then, he's quite willing to help Oak and the other residing Pokémon with whatever's going on there.
• Signature Move: Solarbeam is his move of choice. While others on Ash's team have learned it, he's made the most of it. The other one is Vine Whip.
• Team Dad: For the Pokémon at Professor Oak's lab.
• Vine Tentacles: Knows Vine Whip, and often uses this move in battle, as well as to pull someone who has fallen from a height to safety.
• Weak, but Skilled: Typical for unevolved Pokémon and Grass types in particular, but Bulbasaur's experience lets him do this in blink and you'll miss it moments. He matches a Meganium's raw power with with precision and speed. He recovers from Solrock's Confusion without receiving damage. He dodges Dusclops' Will-O-Wisp while charging a Solarbeam. ^note  For those who don't know, Pokémon usually can't move at all when charging a Solarbeam, much less dodge attacks.

Charmander-Charmeleon-Charizard (Hitokage-Lizardo-Lizardon)

Voiced in Japanese by: Shin-ichiro Miki

Voiced in English by: Michael Haigney (Charmander), Eric Stuart (Charmeleon), Tom Wayland (Charmander and Charmeleon, BW Episode 116), Shin-ichiro Miki (Charizard)

Voiced in Latin Spanish by: Mayra Arellano (voice-over in Episode 17)

Charmander was abandoned by his old trainer, Damian, on a rock one day, but after his rescue by Ash and friends during their journey to Vermillion City, Charmander joined them, and proved himself to be a powerhouse for Ash early on. It evolved into Charmeleon after defeating a massive herd of Exeggutor, and then into Charizard shortly after when he was taunted at by an Aerodactyl.

Said evolutions gave him a rebellious streak, but a humbling fight with a Poliwrath during the Orange Islands journey, and a long stay at Johto's Charicific Valley, changed Charizard into becoming one of Ash's most loyal Pokémon. He would be one of Ash's standbys whenever Ash needs a very powerful Pokémon. Charizard also makes a brief return to Ash's team during the closing portions of the Unova journey.

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• The Ace: Even as a Charmander, he was Ash's go-to Pokémon for battling, besides Pikachu. He once took down a Golem when Bulbasaur couldn't. As a Charizard, even when he's not trying to battle, he somehow ends up helping Ash win (the second Orange Islands Gym contest is an example). Once he evolved and started obeying Ash though, he easily became one of Ash's most consistently battle-competent Pokémon, and is generally considered one of his overall strongest Pokémon.
  • He also has this reputation among Ash's Fire-types. Pignite began looking up to him greatly upon meeting him in Unova, and when Infernape decides to get stronger and even challenge a Moltres, he picks a fight with almost every one of Ash's Fire-types at the lab but saves Charizard for last, and once battling Charizard immediately departs for Moltres, showing Infernape feels battling Charizard is the best possible training it could get as a Fire-type.
• Achilles in His Tent: Charizard is especially guilty of this. Prior to Character Development, he'll only fight when he thinks his opponent actually poses a challenge (and even then it's blatantly obvious that he's not doing it on Ash's behalf).
• Adaptational Late Appearance: In the Ash and Pikachu manga, he doesn't appear until Off To the Battle Frontier!, the adaptation of Ash's battle with Noland as the adaptation of the first encounter with Clair (The Dragonite's Imperial Wrath!) has Pikachu and Clair's Dragonair teaming up to stop the rampaging Dragonite and Pikachu replaces Charizard in One Half of a Poké Ball, the adaptation of Ash's battle with Gary Oak in the Silver Conference.
• Advertised Extra: Despite the Episode of N arc hyping up Charizard's return and his battle prowess, Charizard serves very little for the remainder of Best Wishes. He does very little in the battle against Reshiram and Team Plasma, and instead he just takes over Unfezant's role as the flying scout after she gets sent at Professor Oak's Lab.
• All Animals Are Dogs: For some reason, Charizard displayed dog-like traits, at least twice. ^note "Charizard Chills" has him scratching at his neck with his feet, and in their reunion in "Great Bowls of Fire", Charizard licked Ash and Pikachu affectionately.
• Awesome, but Impractical: When training for Articuno he learns Overheat, an incredibly powerful fire attack that's several times stronger than a standard one but decreases in overall power, not just in Overheat but for everything every time it's used. While powerful, and has a useful secondary effect of thawing him out after he gets partially frozen, the power decrease doesn't suit Charizard's typical drawn out, fight to the finish style of battling so it's retired immediating following that episode in favor of Steel Wing in his next appearance.
• Androcles' Lion: Twice over: once as Charmander, and again as Charizard. Ash finds it him wounded and at hiss weakest, and helps him despite his temper. He's repaid in kind.
• Apathetic Pet: Once Charmander becomes Charmeleon, it increasingly ignores Ash's commands. When it becomes Charizard, it almost completely stops following Ash's orders, even costing him a championship match because it refuses to fight the other Pokémon. Eventually, it returns to being loyal to Ash after it regains respect for its trainer.
• Ash Face: Has done this to Ash many times, charring him with Flamethrower in almost every episode it appears as a Charmeleon and Charizard.
• Bash Brothers: With Pikachu, after some initial difficulty. Also with Ash's Pignite later on.
• Berserk Button: As of his Character Development, don't mock The Power of Friendship in front of him.
• The Berserker: If enraged, Charizard would lash out at anything around him, though he later gets a better handle on his temper.
• The Big Guy: After evolving into Charizard he became Ash's powerhouse and the largest Pokémon in his team.
• Blood Knight: After evolving to Charmeleon he was only interested in fighting opponents he considered worthy and was insulted when Ash wanted him to go easy on a timid Paras. This led to him chronically disobeying and even attacking Ash, only fighting on his own terms until he got his comeuppance and learned a lesson in humility and loyalty.
• Bodyguard Crush: The next time he appeared after being Put on a Bus, Charizard has wooed the same female Charizard that oh-so-easily curbstomped him before, and is now her bodyguard; the relationship is even explicitly stated as thus.
• Brawler Lock: When fighting Blaine's Magmar, Charizard dive-bombs it and when the dust clears they've locked claws and are straining against each other. Magmar feints around Charizard, grabs him from behind, and pushes him into the lava.
  • And again against Gary's Blastoise in Can't Beat The Heat after using the steam as a cover, with the close range preventing the large turtle from using it's hydro cannons.
• Break the Haughty:
  • In "Charizard Chills" he regained his loyalty to Ash and learned a lesson in humility after the latter saves his life when he was frozen solid.
  • "Charizard's Burning Ambition" puts him through the wringer again, getting easily beaten by all the other Charizard in the Valley, including Charla.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: As a Charizard prior to his Character Development, he would occasionally fall asleep when a fight wasn't interesting enough. If he was provoked into fighting, he would usually put up a good fight.
• Breakout Character: One of the most popular Pokémon in Ash's team, which is the reason why he keeps getting appearances after the original series.
• Broken Pedestal: Charmander could very well be one of Pokémon's earliest examples of Undying Loyalty...until Ash and friends finally convince him how much of a douche his original trainer really is.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • He rejoined Ash's team for the remainder of Best Wishes, making him the second of Ash's Pokémon after Donphan to rejoin his team for an extended tenure, and after that he stays at Oak's Lab instead of returning to the Charicific Valley.
  • Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN141, alongside Bulbasaur. The two of them and Pikachu reunited with Squirtle in this episode.
• Compressed Vice: In "Charizard's Burning Ambition", he suddenly has trouble carrying Ash and Pikachu on his back, a "problem" that Charizard never had to deal with before.
• Character Development: Goes from being a kind Pokémon with abandonment issues to an arrogant Blood Knight to a loyal and noble warrior.
• Character Tics: In addition to his trademark Running Gag, he tends to let out a Flamethrower pretty much any time he gets excited or emotional, scorching not just Ash but anyone in his general vicinity.
• Commuting on a Bus: From Johto to Unova, he would return for guest appearances, usually to help Ash with especially difficult battles.
• A Day in the Limelight: Ash's last major battles in the Silver Conference (against Gary and Harrison) puts Charizard front and center as the anchor of Ash's teams, and not Pikachu.
• Death Glare: Gave Ash a nasty look as a Charmeleon when asked to hold back against a Paras.
• Determinator: "Charizard Chills" and "Charizard's Burning Ambition" is basically an entire episode of him being this trope.
• Deus Exit Machina: During Johto Journeys he was clearly the most powerful Pokémon on Ash's team, and any fight he got involved in (and tried) would easily result in a Curb-Stomp Battle for the opponent. In "Charizard' Burning Ambition" he was left behind in the Charicific Valley to train, and only returned for the Gym Battle with Clair and Silver Conference.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Has the honor of being the first non-legendary Pokémon to defeat another legendary Pokémon in The Symbol Life when he beats Noland's Articuno, even beating Pikachu to the punch.
• The Ditz: As a Charmander, though the little guy still knew his stuff.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: In the first movie, the first thing he does is attack Mewtwo.
• Enemy Mine: Early on in his time as a Charizard, most of the times he fights on Ash's side amount to this, especially against Mewtwo in the first movie.
• Establishing Character Moment: In the first movie, the first thing he does is try to attack Mewtwo, without even a moment's hesitation.
• Everyone Has Standards: On all his returns, it is implied that he weakens his flamethrower whenever he torches Ash so that it doesn't hurt him.
• Evolving Attack: Seismic Toss starts off with a over-the-shoulder throw, then a traditional Meteor Move, before finally settling for the Spinning Piledriver.
• Fast Tunnelling: He can use his Dragon Tail this way.
• Fatal Flaw: Charizard had two.
  • Loyalty: As a Charmander, his loyalty to Damian lead him to wait even under the rain, not realizing that he was abandoned. This naivety made him ignore his common sense and he nearly died as a result, as the flame on his tail was almost out by the time Ash returned to get him.
  • Arrogance: His post-evolution arrogance causes him to disobey Ash, and he would only obey when said opponent is just as powerful as he is. As before with his loyalty as a Charmander, this comes to a point where during his battle with a Poliwrath, the flame on his tail is nearly doused out by a Water Gun, gets defeated by an Ice Beam and the freezing almost kills him, and this is a reason he starts listening to Ash without question once more.
• Fauxshadowing: Returns to Ash's team during the Decolore Islands arc, after Charizard was already revealed to be receiving a Mega Evolution in X and Y. You could be forgiven for thinking those two facts were related, but he never got either.
• Fight Off the Kryptonite: Charizard's battle with Gary and his Blastoise in the Johto League. Both are seasoned fighters, but Charizard is obviously at a natural disadvantage. In spite of that, he wins.
• Finger Wag: When Pikachu was about to fight Magmar a second time, Charizard put his foot down and wagged a claw at him.
• Finishing Move: Always finishes his fights by using Seismic Toss on his opponents.
• Flight: He evolved to Charizard specifically to fight an Aerodactyl that injured his pride, and takes full advantage of his wings in subsequent battles.
• Former Teen Rebel: Used to be a quite the defiant Charmeleon, which grew worse when he evolved into Charizard.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The disobedience mechanic in the games is designed to keep players from sweeping the games with an over-leveled Pokémon; anyone they add to their team that's over their badge limit, or trade from another player, will not obey their commands unless they get all the Gym Badges. Ash obtained Charmander after he was abandoned by Damian, but started to disobey his new trainer after he evolved.^note Which, if following the game mechanics and the six badges Ash had at the time, meant that he would have to leveled up to 70. Despite Ash getting all eight badges, Charizard still wouldn't listen to him until late into the Orange Islands.
• Genius Bruiser: He knows more attacks than any of Ash's Pokémon and has managed to defeat a lot of Ash's toughest foes.
• Godzilla Threshold: Prior to "Charizard Chills", calling Charizard in is labelled as a last-ditch desperate maneuver. Even post Character Development, this tactic comes in handy during league battles.
• Handshake Substitute: Brofists with Ash when he returns in Black and White.
• Happily Adopted: Charmander is an exceptional case, he outright jumped into Ash's Poké Ball.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: In one filler episode, Ash asks his Pokémon to hide in a mansion's garden to stand guard for thieves. While the others manage to find decent hiding places, Charizard just poses as a statue. He was able to stand still long enough for it to work.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum: After Charmander evolved into Ash's strongest Pokémon, the writers used his disobedience and pride to keep Ash from using Charizard to stomp his opponents, instead reserving him for the toughest foes. Then once he became obedient to Ash again, they semi-retired him by having him stay at the Charicific Valley to train, with Ash only calling him back for special occasions.
• I Was Beaten by a Girl: Averted. When Charizard gets his ass handed to him by Charla at the Charicific Valley, his only concern was that it wasn’t as strong as the other Charizard.
• Incoming Ham: Usually gives off a Mighty Roar to signal his arrival.
• Irony:
  • Damien deemed him weak because he lost to a Poliwag. Charizard would later shake off his poisonous personality (a possible reminder of Damien's influence) and become loyal to Ash again after losing to a Poliwrath.
  • Defeats a Golem and a Blastoise, both Pokémon that have a serious type advantage over Charizard, but then loses to a Pokémon where Charizard should have the type advantage, Blaziken. Although it's mainly because Charizard doesn't have any Flying-type^note "Fly" is treated more as a utility in the anime than an actual attack attacks.
• It Amused Me: Charizard often sports a friendly(?) smile on his face whenever he returns and gives Ash a faceful of fire. This may indicate that the Flamethrower is not just something out of habit.
• It's Personal: The only reason Charmeleon evolves into Charizard is to get even with an Aerodactyl that taunted him, and he clearly doesn't care when Ash gets caught in the crossfire.
• Jerkass: After his evolution, the sweet and loyal Charmander turned into a feisty and ill-tempered Charmeleon that refused to listen to his trainer. When he evolved into Charizard, he got even worse, and would become a rampaging monster every time Ash so much as called him out of his ball. Fortunately, he got a humbling lesson after he almost died again, which made him wise up, and he dropped the jerk part entirely.
• Jerkass Realization: After spending most of its time since evolving as a Wild Card/Berserker, Charizard gets such a realization during the Orange Islands arc when Ash, despite everything, stays up all night to nurse him back to health after he's frozen by an Ice Beam and nearly dies from cold; reminded of everything Ash has done for him, Charizard regains his loyalty to Ash from that point on.
• Kick the Dog: While in his disobedient phase, he would frequently roast Ash with Flamethrower for no other reason than pure spite.
• The Lancer: Overall, to Pikachu. Whereas Pikachu is loyal and takes initiative, Charizard is egotistical and lazy. After his loyalty returns, Charizard functions as a kind of Number Two to Pikachu, being the hard-hitting muscle to compliment Pikachu's speedy precision. In Island of the Giant Pokémon, he (as a Charmander) was Pikachu's sidekick, being the only other one who was actually serious about getting them back to Ash.
• Large Ham: He loves giving a Mighty Roar whenever he shows up, which sends out shockwaves for how loud it is.
• Lazy Dragon: During his rebellious phase.
• The Load: Before he started obeying Ash again, Charizard was shown to be a hinderance to Ash for his disobedience despite his strength, as Ash would rarely use him unless he was desperate or if he was a last resort.
• Look What I Can Do Now!: Charizard's modus operandi whenever it returns to Ash's team. To date, it has learned (offscreen): DragonBreath, Overheat, Steel Wing, Wing Attack, Slash, and Dragon Tail.
• Lost Food Grievance: In "Pallet Party Panic," he initially refused to stop Team Rocket's aerial bombardment of the party and save Pikachu...until Team Rocket made the critical mistake of blowing up a table of food he had his eyes on.
• Megaton Punch: Supposedly knows Mega Punch — Ash called it at one point, but Charizard never used it.
• Mundane Utility:
  • The first thing Charmander does under Ash's care is in "Here Comes the Squirtle Squad", to act as a torch when inside a cave.
  • He also used Dragon Tail to dig.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: After he started consistently obeying Ash, he became one of his trainer's toughest Pokémon, and generally served as his ace in the hole. The visit to Charicific Valley, however, shows him to be a weakling by the standards of the valley (which, to be fair, houses the strongest Charizard in the world). This is subverted later on, however, as he made serious efforts to improve himself, eventually becoming one of the valley's most respectable battlers, even being chosen as Charla's personal bodyguard.
• No-Sell: Iris' Dragonite's attacks didn't even scratch the guy.
• Old Friend: To Pikachu as of their latest meeting — in a team of largely new arrivals typical of a new region, they stand out by being veterans.
• Older and Wiser: In Best Wishes. In Indigo League, he mostly started fights. In BW, he breaks up a fight between Iris and Clair's Dragonites. Well, tried to at least, and despite clearly being angered by this, shows enough restraint not to beat the crap out of both of them.
• One-Man Army: He managed to take down half of Gary Oak's cream-of-the-crop team by himself, reversing the course of the battle from an embarrassing route to a victory.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Just like in the games, he's classified as a Fire-Flying type despite having an overall resemblance to a legendary fire-breathing dragon. That doesn't stop him from learning Dragon-type attacks, though.
• Out of Focus: He didn't appear during Diamond & Pearl or XY, likely due to the strong emphasis those seasons placed on Infernape and Greninja, respectively, as the backbone of Ash's team.
• Papa Wolf: After Character Development. Do NOT mess with Ash, his mother, or the rest of the team around him. He will end you.
• Pet the Dog:
  • A minor, easy-to-miss moment just after his evolution. The Aerodactyl, drowsy from Jigglypuff's lullaby, drops Ash in mid-air, and Charizard swoops in to save him before, er...dropping off to sleep himself.
  • Repeated in "Pallet Party Panic". Everyone thought he was only going after Team Rocket after they ruined his meal, but when they were sent blasting off and Pikachu was falling after escaping their clutches, Charizard saves him. He goes back into Berserk Mode afterward.
  • In "A Way Off Day Off", he puts aside his rivalry with Tracy's Scyther to stop Team Rocket from making off with the gang's other Pokémon. The episode ends with the two establishing a mutual, if grudging, respect ffor one another.
  • He also sheds Manly Tears when Ash died (or...whatever) in Pokémon: The First Movie.
• Power Up Letdown: He learns Overheat and Steel Wing during both appearances in the Battle Frontier, but neither one was able to help give him the victory.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Charizard displays this behavior constantly. Perhaps the only Pokémon who does, anyways.
• Running Gag: In nearly every episode he's in after he evolves into Charmeleon, look for Ash to get his face burned by a Flamethrower attack at least once, whether it's out of spite, by accident, or simply saying "hello" or "good luck".
• Signature Mon: Of Ash's Kanto (and to a lesser extent, Johto) team. Being Ash's most powerful and badass Pokémon aside from Pikachu, Charizard was heavily featured alongside Ash during the original series, used to symbolize Ash's growth as a trainer. His disobedience was the reason why Ash lost the Indigo League, but his Character Development during the Orange Islands and Johto arcs made him into a reliable ace who gave Ash many victories when Pikachu couldn't, namely his matches against Clair, Gary, and Noland. In Black & White, Charizard returns to Ash's team for the remainder of the series for no other reason other than fan nostalgia, as all the major tournaments in the series were over by then.
• Signature Move:
  • SEISMIC TOSS!
  • Flamethrower is his most used move, and set the standard for almost all of Ash's Fire-types with Flamethrower.
  • Deconstructed during Ash's third battle with Brandon: Ash instinctively commands Charizard to use Seismic Toss in hopes of finishing off Brandon's Dusclops, forgetting that Ghost-types are immune to Fighting-type attacks. Dusclops thus takes no damage and is able to defeat the distracted Charizard with a Shadow Punch.
• Smug Super: After evolving into a Charmeleon and up until the Orange Island saga, he became arrogant to the point where he'd only fight enemies who caught his interest.
• Strong and Skilled: Initially Unskilled, but Strong, Charizard becomes this after leaving to train at the Charicific Valley, constantly improving his techniques and moveset. By the time of Ash's trek through the Battle Frontier, he's able to take on an Articuno, one of the legendary Pokémon, and win.
• Tail Slap: One of his signature moves as a Charmeleon. He also knows Dragon Tail.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: After evolving into Charizard, he would, on rare occasions, set aside his animosity towards Ash and follow his lead against tough opponents, such as Blaine's Magmar, at least until he Took a Level in Kindness.
• Threshold Guardians: When Ash finds out his Infernape has been missing recently from Professor Oak's lab, Oak reveals that the last time Infernape was there is battled all of Ash's other Fire-types at the lab (sans Torkoal), with his final opponent being Charizard. While the outcome of their battle isn't known, it's later shown that he working his way up to challenge a Moltres, with Charizard being his final challenge before doing so as the strongest Fire-type there that Infernape could battle. Infernape comes clean about this when he returns and reunites with the other Fire-types.
• Took a Level in Badass: Every time he returns from Charicific Valley, you can bet he's gotten stronger and learned some sweet new moves.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: When he evolves into Charmeleon (and later Charizard), he becomes a stubborn jerk. Maybe finally getting stronger got to his head. And if that wasn't enough, he got even worse after the Indigo League, as he would start throwing Godzilla-level tantrums and rampage wherever he could every time he got summoned.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He was humbled and reverted back to being a loyal friend to Ash after he (once again) saved him from freezing to death.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Or rather, Toxic Trainer Influence. Since Pokémon pick up from their trainer's personality, it's heavily implied that his post-evolution disobedience came about from Damian abandoning him for being weak and only desiring a powerhouse. And so a powerhouse he became, but a stubborn and disobedient one at that.
• Underestimating Badassery: His old trainer thought he was weak and a pushover. He was so wrong.
• Undying Loyalty: He lost this when he first evolved into Charmeleon. Following several episodes he regained it towards Ash in "Charizard Chills".
• Unskilled, but Strong: After evolving and prior to training at the Charific Valley, he was prone to just power through the opposition. See The Berserker.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Ash saved him as a Charmander, but when he evolved he became a total asshole to him. Thankfully it became averted when Ash saved him from a similar fate in "Charizard Chills".
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The kind, loyal Charmander evolved into an arrogant Jerkass of a Charmeleon and then Charizard. A bit sad when you recall what an arrogant Jerkass his first trainer was. Eventually subverted in "Charizard Chills," where he regains his loyalty to Ash and becomes an outright hero.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With both Ash and Pikachu. So much so that, in the Best Wishes series, Pikachu and Charizard reunite with a thumbs up and Ash and Charizard reunite with their usual flamethrower to the face.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: As a Charmander, he hated the water and even swimming in it would make him cringe.
• Wolverine Publicity: Charizard has returned to assist Ash more than any of the other Kanto Pokémon, and each time with some flashy new moves in his arsenal. It helps that Charizard can fly as he pleases, but there's also the fact that Charizard is one of the Pokémon franchise's biggest icons.
• The Worf Barrage:
  • Magmar's Fire Blast, the same attack that caused Ash to forfeit his 1st Gym Match with Blaine lest Pikachu suffer serious injury, barely fazes Charizard in the rematch.
  • If Seismic Toss doesn't finish off his opponent outright (whether the opposition No Sells it, or they find a way to reverse it) it's a hint that Charizard's in deep trouble.
• The Worf Effect:
  • As a Charmeleon, he was beaten by a terrified Paras jabbing him in the belly.
  • The fake Entei in the third movie would have killed Charizard had Molly not stopped it.
  • Thank goodness Charizard is here to help Ash face Brandon. This match should be a piece of cake with his help, right? RIGHT? He loses to Brandon's first Pokémon.
• Worf Had the Flu: Most of Charizard's losses since training in the Valley have been because the opponent was either overpowered (Entei), or Ash simply had little knowledge on the opponent (Blaziken). As for his loss to Brandon's Dusclops, Ash forgetting Seismic Toss doesn't affect Ghost Types didn't do him any favors either, as Charizard was about to finish Dusclops off with it.
• Worst Aid: His idea of helping Pignite when he has something stuck in his snout is to throw him around.
• Worthy Opponent: Charizard's goal in life is to find one, at least before mellowing out. He had a brief clash with Tracey's Scyther, but nothing ever came of it. He may have finally found one in Iris' Dragonite.

Squirtle (Zenigame)

Voiced in Japanese by: Rikako Aikawa

Voiced in English by: Eric Stuart (4Kids), Michele Knotz (current)

Voiced in Latin Spanish by: Carlos Hugo Hidalgo (voice-over in Episode 17)

Squirtle was the leader of a gang called the Squirtle Squad that was causing mischief in a town somewhere along the path to Vermillion City. Admiring Ash's courage and determination in saving Pikachu and Misty from the Squad and Team Rocket, Squirtle volunteered to reform by joining him, rounding out the Starters in Ash's team. He would retire from Ash's team in Johto by helping the Squad, now firefighters, on full time. Though he has been called upon by Ash a few times since then.

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• The Cameo: The Squad briefly shows up in a sidestory: since one of them is wearing the Triangle Shades, it's obvious that one was Ash's. They also made a cameo appearance in Sun and Moon.
• Character Development: Considering his contempt for humans beforehand, he's the most trusting towards Ash after Pikachu by the time the Pokémon get stranded, debunking Bulbasaur's claims he abandoned them on purpose.
• Commuting on a Bus: Unlike most of Ash's other Pokémon, Squirtle is in the care of an Officer Jenny instead of at Professor Oak's lab. And unlike released Pokémon or Primeape, Squirtle does occasionally come back from time to time. Even with his most recent reappearance in episode JN141, Squirtle continues to stay with Officer Jenny and the Squirtle Squad despite missing Ash very much.
• Cool Shades: He wears a pair of spiky sunglasses as a member of the Squirtle Squad.
• Delinquent: Used to be one, serving as a member of the Squirtle Squad, causing mischief for the humans at the nearby town. The squad got later promoted as firefighters after they vanquished a forest fire, although Squirtle left the squad to join Ash.
• Dramatic Unmask: Removing his shades, showing his full face before officially joining the team.
• Finishing Move: Despite Hydro Pump being his most powerful move, he more often finishes the opponents with Skull Bash instead.
• Fire-Breathing Diner: In "Pallet Party Panic", Team Rocket spices up their takoyaki of the twerps and their Pokémon, causing them to suffer in horrible pain. Brock gestures to Squirtle to use Water Gun on his tongue, but Squirtle uses "Flamethrower" instead.
• Flight: Despite not being a Flying-type, he can fly -- or at least hover -- by firing Hydro Pump out of his shell's limb openings and spinning.
• Flipping Helpless: When Team Rocket decides to firebomb them; while Ash, his friends and the rest of the Squad were able to run away, Squirtle finds himself in this position, and Ash had to go back and rescue him. It's also a recurring weakness in his battles. He usually recovers for a comeback, but other times...
• Foil: To Bulbasaur. Squirtle was the ring leader of a gang of delinquents. Bulbasaur was the valiant protector of helpless Pokémon. Squirtle is all jokes, meanwhile Bulbasaur is all seriousness. And yet both are loyal to their trainer, and ultimately are capable leaders in their own right.
• Freudian Excuse: It's implied that he and the other Squirtle turned to crime because they were abandoned by their trainers.
• Heel–Face Turn: Thanks to Ash, it went from a mischievous troublemaker to a legendary firefighter.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: He did calm down after Ash caught him (prior to that threatening to kill Misty in the Japanese version), but in "Island Of The Giant Pokémon", he jokingly suggests his owner and friends might've been eaten by a wild Pokémon, seemingly to lighten the mood, but the others, particularly Bulbasaur, are not amused. He does, however, have the decency to apologize after being chastised.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Bulbasaur, with shades of Vitriolic Best Buds.
• Hot-Blooded: As a member of the Squirtle Squad.
• Iconic Outfit: His signature Triangle Shades.
• Idiot Ball: One thing Squirtle unfortunately picked up from his trainer was his inability to recognize Team Rocket or fall for their tricks. In JN143, Jessie and James hijack the Squad's firefighting tour so they can turn it into a quick little money-making show. When Ash gets wind of the show and decides to bring the old gang to see Squirtle, Team Rocket fears he's come back to add him back to his team and trick Squirtle into thinking Ash didn't care about him anymore. Squirtle, despite the fact that he saw Ash cheering him on in the crowd, falls for it and causes a rift between him and his old trainer until Team Rocket bungles things yet again and starts a fire, leading to all sides reconciling and putting out said fire.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Developed them while firefighting with the Squirtle Squad. He can strike his target through a cloud of thick smoke, or even while in midair, upside down!
• Large Ham: Specifically when wearing his shades.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Again, regarding his use of his Cool Shades.
• Long Bus Trip: After having been absent since Advanced Generation, he (along with the rest of the Squirtle Squad) makes a brief return in Sun & Moon when Ash temporarily returns to Kanto. That's an absence of about 11 years in real life. He would make a proper appearance in Aim To Be a Pokémon Master, nearly 6 years later.
• Noble Demon: During his tenure in the Squirtle Squad. He threatened to kill Misty if Ash didn't comply to his wishes, but when Ash fears he complied too late, he makes clear he was only bluffing. In the dub, it's changed to a more harmless threat of dying her hair purple. Still he doesn't do it.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: The only one of Ash's original team to not have any indication of whether he wanted to evolve or not.
• Out of Focus: Compared to Charizard and Bulbasaur. Charizard returned for BW and then joined Ash's reserves at Oak's and Bulbabaur's been with Oak since he left and always shows up whenever Ash visits. But Squirtle hasn't shown up since the end of Battle Frontier. He's not at Oak's (the only reserve now not to be since Charizard joined them at the end of BW) and thus doesn't appear whenever Ash visits there. He was also the only one of Ash's Pokémon (that haven't been outright released or given away) not to be in the group photo at the end of BW. He makes a cameo appearance in Sun and Moon where it is photographed by Rotom, but unlike Bulbasaur, he never got to actually meet Ash.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: When he uses Skull Bash, watch out!
• Plucky Comic Relief: Though not too much, his occasional antics pretty much paved the way for his Water-type successor, Totodile (a much clearer example of this).
• Put on a Bus: Was left behind after Johto, and has only appeared briefly two times since then: once for Ash's final battle against Pyramid King Brandon, and once during his visit to Kanto from Alola. He had a full third appearance in Aim To Be a Pokémon Master.
• Quick Draw: His Water Gun is fast enough to stop an attack before it's launched.
• Reformed Criminal: Though he started off as a troublemaker who caused grief, Squirtle ultimately becomes a Squirtle Squad firefighter, someone who saves lives.
• Signature Move: Water Gun is his most commonly used move, and Skull Bash serves as his Finishing Move.
• Spectacular Spinning: His signature Hydro Pump+Rapid Spin combination.
• Took a Level in Badass: Was somewhat of a jobber before he rejoined the Squirtle Squad. But when he comes back for the Silver Conference and Battle Frontier, he’s become a much better battler as he beats an Electabuzz and a Ninjask respectively.
• Triangle Shades: He seemingly keeps his signature sunglasses in his shell.
• Uniformity Exception: Of the Squirtle Squad, he's the only one that wears triangular shades while the rest wear circular shades. At the end of his debut episode, he ends up joining Ash's team and the other 4 become firefighters.
• Use Your Head: He knows Skull Bash, which generally serves as his Finishing Move.
• The Worf Effect: Falls victim to this in his two important battles in the Indigo League episodes: Losing against Blaine's Ninetales to demonstrate how powerful Blaine is and losing against Ritchie's Butterfree. Slightly downplayed for the latter as the Indigo Plateau Conference was subject to Early-Installment Weirdness where sleep, disobedience and even switching was grounds for a Pokémon losing a round, something that is removed in later League Conferences. Squirtle easily grows out of this in the Orange Island arc onwards where he begins to win major battles.
• Worthy Opponent: To the leader of Team Wartortle, a rival fire-fighting squad.

Krabby-Kingler (Crab-Kingler)

Voiced by: Rikako Aikawa (Krabby), Unshō Ishizuka (Kingler)

Krabby was caught by Ash near Bill's lab, but was sent directly to Oak's lab due to Ash already having six Pokémon on hand. It remained with Oak all the way until the Indigo League where Krabby evolved into Kingler after managing to defeat an Exeggutor in its first ever battle for Ash, and then single-handedly won Ash's first round. Following the League, Kingler faded into obscurity apart from a few occasional reappearances.

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• 11th-Hour Ranger: The first time Ash ever used it was in the Indigo League, and it absolutely dominated its battle.
• The Ace: Don't let this crab fool you; despite being used very little since its capture, it has a good win rate, it dominated nearly all of its league opponents, and even cracked a Cloyster's shell—heck, in the Whirl Cup, its Crabhammer sent out shockwaves strong enough to part the water and churn the entire battlefield! Its only losses were when it was already exhausted from cracking said Cloyster's shell, and losing to Misty's Psyduck due Ash grabbing the Idiot Ball. It had to be written out of the Johto League to avoid stomping that too!
• Arbitrary Headcount Limit: The auto-transfer that occurred immediately after its capture demonstrates that the anime adheres to the games' 6-Pokémon rule.
• The Bus Came Back Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN143, alongside Heracross, Bayleef, Torterra and Sirfetch'd. Lapras also makes its return this episode. Notably, this is the first time Kingler was a part of Ash's team for something unrelated to a battle or tournament despite debuting in the very early Kanto episodes.
• Characterization Marches On: Its debut as a Krabby had it be a very aggressive Pokemon willing to fight humans too, picking a fight with Ash himself. All subsequent appearances had Krabby and later Kingler act sedate and well-behaved, likely due to Professor Oak's influence as it spent almost all its time there.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: It delivers one on its very first battle, soundly sweeping three Pokémon by itself.
• Demoted to Extra: Its only highlight was in the Indigo League and the Whirl Cup. After that, he's practically a Living Prop (apart from Chronicles). Worse, he hasn't made a physical appearance since Advanced Generation^note He does make an appearance in a photo in the Japanese version of BW142! That said however, Kingler does reappear in Journeys a few times.
• Emergency Food Supply Animal: Ash thought this might have happened to Krabby when calling Professor Oak to check up on it. It doesn't help that Oak was cooking something when Ash called.
• Gentle Giant: Kingler, as long as you don't let it get too friendly.
• Giant Enemy Crab: Pretty much a Nice Guy in the rare case that it's in the spotlight.
• Glass Cannon: Kingler is a very strong powerhouse, but it can't take much damage.
• Hand Cannon: Hyper Beam is fired from its gigantic claw.
• Out of Focus: For such a great fighter, it's baffling that Ash hasn't used it since the Whirl Cup in Johto.
• Signature Move: Crabhammer, which is also much more powerful than Corphish's Crabhammer.
• Spam Attack: Defeats a Cloyster with a flurry of Crabhammers.
• Worf Had the Flu: Ash was going to use it during the Silver Conference, in the 3-on-3 battle against Macey...cue three Voltorb rolling down a nearby hill, and Kingler stopping their momentum leading to it being electrocuted and unable to participate in the match. Thankfully, Squirtle shows up, having taken a break from the Squirtle Squad to temporarily rejoin Ash's team.

Raticate (Ratta)

Voiced in Japanese by: Ikue Otani

Voiced in English by: Jimmy Zoppi

Raticate was obtained by Ash aboard the S.S. Anne through a Pokémon trade with a Gentleman that took a liking to Ash's Butterfree. However, Ash started having second-thoughts about said trade since he came to miss having Butterfree alongside him. As a result, Ash asks for the Gentleman to trade each other's Pokémon back, which the Gentleman agrees to do.

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• One-Shot Character: Appears once, and has never been seen again. Due to Raticate's brief appearance, many don't really count it as one of Ash's Pokémon. However, Raticate did technically go through the trade system, which officially registered it as one of Ash's Pokémon for a brief moment. Just like Haunter and Beedrill, it is never considered one of Ash's True Companions.
• Satellite Character: Raticate's entire existence was to teach Ash that he shouldn't just go about getting rid of things that he's grown attached to without thinking about what comes after.

Primeape (Okorizaru)

As a Mankey before its capture

Voiced in Japanese by: Hiroshi Otake

Voiced in English by: Hiroshi Otake (Mankey, Primeape first voice), Michael Haigney (Primeape, current), Marc Thompson (The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion!)

Primeape was captured by Ash during the journey to Celadon City after he received a scolding from Oak that he will never be a good trainer if he doesn't take the time to catch more Pokémon. The team first met the Pokémon as a Mankey where it took a liking to Ash's hat. However, it evolved into Primeape in a fit of rage after taking a bit of abuse from Team Rocket. Following its capture, Ash had trouble controlling Primeape at first due to its short temper, but managed to win Primeape's trust during the P1 Grand Prix tournament. Ash then decides to leave Primeape with Anthony in order to further train Primeape into a true fighting champion.

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• The Berserker: Upset it in any way and it will punch everything.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: After Ash saves it, its heart melts and he gains Puppy-Dog Eyes, the former having very blatantly earned his respect.
• The Cameo:
  • Spurt! includes Primeape along with Ash's other Pokémon. It and Squirtle are not treated as released Pokémon like Pidgeot, Lapras, Butterfree or Larvitar in the same opening.
  • Yajirushi ni Natte! includes Primeape in the shot of Ash's Pokémon at Oak's lab, used in the first version of the dub’s “It’s Always You and Me” opening. It's unclear whether Primeape is actually at Oak's lab, since it's never been seen there.
  • Also had a very, very brief one in BW116, in a flashback centered around Charizard's past.
  • In JN132 and JN135, Primeape appears in Pikachu's and Ash's respective Imagine Spots.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: As with most of its species; the Pokédex even lampshades it.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Its temper was the instrument of its downfall, when subjected to Charmander's own Rage attack.
• Jerkass: It was a very nasty Pokémon until Ash saved it from a nasty fall.
• Long Bus Trip: Primeape is the only Pokémon in training who has never come back. And while Ash has reunited with every one of his released Pokémon, he never saw Primeape again despite it never being released.
• Satellite Character: Primeape's sole purpose was to provide Ash with some brief character growth (and a quick route to Celadon City), though it did display quite some personality with what little screen-time it was given.
• Unstoppable Rage: Its Thrash attack causes it to throw a flurry of punches and kicks at anyone who crosses it.

Muk (Betbeton)

Voiced in Japanese by: Unshō Ishizuka

Voiced in English by: Michael Haigney (4Kids), Tom Wayland (DuArt), Carter Cathcart (current)

Muk was the leader of a group of Grimer that were clogging up the power generators of Gringey City when Ash and his friends had to travel through the place during their journey to Fuchsia City. The gang helps put a stop to Muk's group, which resulted in Ash managing to capture the leader. Muk was then sent back to Oak's lab due to the horrid smell that it gave off through the Pokéball, and isn't seen again until scoring a victory in its first battle for Ash in the fourth round of the Indigo League. Since then, it's made several reappearances under Ash's command, and has become quite close to Oak during its stay at the lab.

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• 11th-Hour Ranger: He was an unexpected surprise against Ash's fourth Indigo League opponent, winning the match for Ash.
• All-Loving Hero: Yes, whether it's some complete stranger (what Professor Birch was to him at the time), Jessie from Team Rocket, anyone.
• Breath Weapon: It fires Sludge Bomb from its mouth. It is one of Muk's only two moves we get to see.
• Characterization Marches On: In his first appearance, Muk's stench was so strong that it seeped its way out of Muk's Pokéball. Such a trait was never addressed again, although that might be attributed to Muk becoming a friendly sort.
• Cuddle Bug: Really loves to give out hugs.
• Dark Is Not Evil: After his capture, despite its menacing appearance and very powerful battling skills, it's a big, soft pile of sludge who loves to hug.
• A Day in the Limelight: In the fourth round of the Indigo League, Bulbasaur (who defeated her first two Pokémon without too much trouble) and Pikachu both lost to an extremely agile and strong Bellsprout, cue Ash unexpectedly sending in Muk, who effortlessly body slams Bellsprout into submission.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Zig-zagged. On one hand, it can control its poison level, which is why no one could suffer any ill effects from being around it, let alone when Muk glomps them. The weight when Muk bears down on them, on the other hand...
• Early-Bird Cameo: The scene of Muk leading its Grimer underlings is on the Pokérap, potentially before the episode in question is even aired.
• Gentle Giant: Used to be evil but later on, it's known to give out hugs. Professor Oak probably had a hand in reforming it.
• The Glomp: Does this to anyone it likes, most frequently Professor Oak.
• Heel–Face Turn: It was the antagonist of the episode it was caught in, but since then it's proven to be a Gentle Giant and one of Ash's most affectionate Pokémon.
• The Leader: Prior to its capture, Muk was the leader of a group of Grimer that caused trouble in Gringey City.
• Perpetual Smiler: rarely do you see it with a frown (or growl angrily). It must really enjoy all the company.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Always a source of comedy, and after his debut, not a character to be taken seriously.
• Running Gag: He'll always glomp someone whenever he appears, no exceptions.
• Signature Move: Its Body Slam, which is often used as The Glomp.
• Stone Wall: Muk is slow, but it can take a lot due to its sludge body.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: The only time outside of the above battles did Ash call Muk was when looking for Misty deep in a large sewer—Muk's natural habitat.

Tauros (30) (Kentauros)

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi

Tauros is a horde of Pokémon that Ash unintentionally kept catching in the Safari Zone due to them always getting in the way when he tried to capture something else (only two Tauros captures were intentional). They usually reside in Professor Oak's lab, but occasionally, Ash would pick up one of them for important battles. They are infamous for being caught in an episode that was banned for the English Dub. His Tauros are his earliest-obtained mammalian Pokémon other than Pikachu still under his ownership, being based on male cattle, often referred to as bulls.

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• Ambiguous Situation: It's never made clear if the single Tauros that Ash calls upon for some of his battles throughout the series have all been the same one Tauros, or if he's been using a different Tauros each time.
• Ass Shove: In "Second Time's the Charm"; you can thank a swarm of Beedrill for that.
• Call-Back: The "Beginner's Luck" strategy, which won Ash his first match at the Indigo League, was later brought up in his Orange League battle against Drake. Both battles involve, as the name suggests, a Pokémon that he has never even used before (Krabby and Tauros, respectively).
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • For its first battle, Tauros was chosen as Snorlax's replacement (due to Snorlax refusing to wake up) for Ash's final match in the Orange League. There, it manages to defeat Drake's Venusaur all on its own.
  • In EP146, Ash swaps out Heracross for Tauros to take part in a Tauros fighting competition. Ash's Tauros comes out the winner.
  • During the Battle Frontier arc, Ash adds Tauros to the team for the matches against Salon Maiden Anabel. It's able to pull off a tie against Anabel's Metagross in the rematch.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Knows Fissure. It doesn't hit a Gengar who simply jumps away from it (the Levitate ability and abilities in general weren't introduced in the original series).
• The Dividual: Though Ash battles with them one at a time, none of the Tauros are really given much individual character or statistics.
• Doppelgänger Spin: Knows Double Team. Which is amusing since Ash actually owns a horde of Tauros.
• Double Knockout: The Tauros used against Anabel's Metagross ties with it during the rematch.
• Gentle Giant: Stampeding aside, Tauros are very mild-mannered — the Pokédex entry in "The Legend of Dratini" states that they are so gentle, they will only attack if provoked, and Ash's Tauros repeatedly demonstrate(s) this.
• Irony:
  • Ash catches 28 of them by accident while trying to catch other Pokémon. Tauros is one of the rarest Safari Zone encounters in Red and Blue and exclusive to the area, while the other Pokémon he was after are all relatively common and/or found in other locations.
  • One of the Pokémon Ash was trying to catch is a Rhyhorn. He would later turn down an offer to trade one of his Tauros for a Rhyhorn.
• Lightning Bruiser: Even though it had never battled before, the Tauros Ash used in his battle against Drake survived a fight with Drake's Gengar, took down his Venusaur and managed to put up a good fight against his Dragonite before finally going down. He's repeatedly shown himself to be surprisingly fast in addition to hitting like a freight train.
• Mundane Utility: On one occasion, their stampeding were used to wake up Snorlax when the lab was in need of his firepower.
• Remember the New Guy?: Outside of Japan, the episode they are captured in (#35, "The Legend of Miniryu") was never aired. When they show up again 30 episodes later ("Showdown at the Po-ké Corral"), the English dub added a line about how Ash caught them all off-screen at the Safari Zone.
• Running Gag: Whenever Ash comes back from a journey, the horde loves to run over him to show their affection to him.
• Out of Focus:
  • Like Muk and Kingler, the Tauros are among his Kanto Pokémon that are never part of his traveling team and thus have little screentime. Despite this, they are a frequent running gag whenever there's an episode of Ash returning to Prof. Oak's lab. Which means in almost every return, they are more commonly seen than any of Ash's other Pokémon residing at the lab, aside from Bulbasaur.
  • Surprisingly, despite JN114 heavily focusing on Ash's return and his Journeys team bonding with his other Pokémon, his Tauros are barely seen throughout the episode and they don't even run him over this time unlike in JN068 where the running gag does occur. In fact, they are his only Pokémon that don't run towards him at all in that JN114.
• Signature Move: Horn Attack, which is surprisingly powerful.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Averted. A common misconception is that Brock also caught a Tauros, at the same time when Ash caught his first. However, Brock was actually using one Ash's Safari Balls, which means he helped Ash catching the second Tauros.
• The Worf Effect: Tauros was the first Pokémon to fall in the Ash vs. Gary battle, defeated rather quickly by Nidoqueen. This wasn't badly executed, though — his defeat showed just how powerful Gary's team was, and that Ash really needed much more than power-battling in mind if he wanted to defeat his rival.

Mr. Mime/"Mimey" (Barrierd/"Barri-chan")

A Mr. Mime that entered the Ketchum household and was adopted as an honorary family member by Ash's mother Delia. While not necessarily one of Ash's regular Pokémon, it has been suggested that he is in fact it's "official" owner. For more info, see Supporting Cast.

Orange Islands

Lapras (Laplace)

Voiced by: Rikako Aikawa

Lapras was a juvenile that was captured by Ash at the beginning of the Orange League arc after it was separated from the rest of the Lapras swarm near Tangelo Island. It transports Ash and his companions on its back over the ocean of the Orange Archipelago, and helps him complete the Orange League. Lapras returns to its swarm at the end of the arc, but makes a one-off reappearance in Johto where Lapras has noticeably aged up a bit since its departure.

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• All of the Other Reindeer: When Lapras was reunited with its herd, they briefly ostracized it for associating with humans. Things got better.
• Breath Weapon: It fires Ice Beam and Water Gun from its mouth.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • The first Pokémon to make a significant reappearance in the anime after it was officially released into the wild, appearing in OS257.
  • Lapras makes it second return in JN143, almost 21 years later in real time. Aside from seeing Ash, Pikachu, Misty and Brock again, Lapras also meets Kingler, Bayleef, Heracross, Torterra and Sirfetch'd.
• Double Knockout: During the match against the Orange League Champion Drake, Lapras and Drake's Gengar take each other out with their Beam-O-War.
• Gentle Giant: Lapras in general are large, but kind creatures. This Lapras in particular was still a juvenile while in Ash's team. It later grew bigger when it returned for one episode in Johto.
• Get on the Boat: Ash and company's transport through the Orange Archipelago.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Ash never intended Lapras to be a permanent member of his team; he caught it with the intention of helping it find its family. As a result, it was only on Ash's team for the duration of the Orange Islands arc, about 30 episode in total.
• An Ice Person: It's secondary type is Ice, with its Signature Move being Ice Beam, which is often used to freeze bodies of water.
• Long-Lost Relative: At the beginning of the second season, Lapras was separated from its family, but it returns to them after Ash won the Orange League.
• Making a Splash: It's primary type is Water, and with its large body, it carries Ash and his friends over the ocean whenever they travel to another island. It also knows Water Gun.
• Non-Action Protagonist: Ash primarily used it for transportation and to help him with the Orange Islands' non-traditional Gym challenges. Lapras's Ice Beam helped Ash create a sled for his race against Danny, and was Ash's mount during his surfing race against Cissy and her Blastoise. Its one onscreen battle was against Drake's Gengar, which it tied against.
• Passing the Torch: It became The Leader of its herd at the end of OS257.
• Put on a Bus: Ash released it so it could rejoin its herd. It did come back twice—once in Johto, and again in Aim to Be a Pokémon Master.
• Signature Move: Ice Beam, which it learned during the first Gym Match of the Orange Islands and became its most used move.
• Took a Level in Badass: By the end of the Orange Islands saga, it was able to tie with Orange Crew Champion Drake's Gengar — impressive given how it (she?) was easily intimidated by humans at the start and not so strong. Even more when it returns for one episode in Johto, all grown up.

Snorlax (Kabigon)

Voiced in Japanese by: Katsuyuki Konishi

Voiced in English by: Michael Haigney (4Kids, first and third voice), Ted Lewis (4Kids, second voice), Billy Beach (current)

Snorlax was captured by Ash during the Orange Island arc when Ash and his friends helped put a stop to the Pokémon eating all the fruit of the seven Grapefruit Islands. It would then serve as a part of Ash's team during the Orange Archipelago journey, but was eventually traded out for Tauros before the final Orange League match due to Snorlax refusing to wake up. Since then, Snorlax has remained at Oak's lab, but has been called upon by Ash for multiple battles, and manages to prove itself to be one of his strongest Pokémon.

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• Acrofatic: Capable of some impressive running, swimming, and jumping, despite his very heavy build. Put another way, he would win a hundred-meter race as long as there's food at the finish line.
• Badass Normal: Snorlax has been proven to be one of Ash's most impressive and strongest Pokémon despite its lack of Elemental Powers.
• Berserk Button: Just like in the games, it's not a good idea to rudely interrupt his nap, as Harrison's Hypno (see 'Supporting Cast') found out the hard way.
• Big Eater: When it's not snoring, it's snacking. The reason why he was captured was because he was eating a farmer's grapefruit.
• The Big Guy: It's one of Ash's strongest original series Pokémon in terms of raw power, and one of his primary choices when he calls back his reserves for difficult battles. It's scored not just one, but multiple wins in almost every official battle it's participated in, even against Greta, a Frontier Brain who specializes in Fighting-types.
• Breath Weapon: Knows Hyper Beam.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Snorlax sleeps most of the time, and sometimes even enters the battle asleep, but it has proven itself to be one of Ash's strongest Kanto Pokémon that is also surprisingly agile.
• The Bus Came Back: Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN140, alongside Oshawott, Talonflame and Incineroar.
• Carnivore Confusion: In-universe, this guy has actually tried eating other Pokémon on at least one occasion, to the shock of his trainer.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite its lazy demeanor, it's very powerful and has proven itself to be one of Ash's most consistently reliable battlers. Notably it has never left a battle that it's been used in without taking down at least one of his opponents.
• Death Glare: Gave an epic one to Harrison's Hypno when the latter uses Dream Eater on it, waking it up from its pleasant dreams. Cue Oh, Crap! expression from his opponent and a major ass-kicking ensuing.
• Deus Exit Machina: His sleeping habit means that Ash can't rely on him for his Orange League championship match, forcing Ash to use a Tauros for the first time.
• Gentle Giant: In spite of his initial status as an antagonistic Pokémon Snorlax has proven to be a pleasant and kind Pokémon... Unless the situation at hand involves food being taken from it or being disturbed from its sleep.
• Heavy Sleeper: One of the issues Ash had with it earlier, to the point Ash chose not to use it in his Orange League Championship match against Drake, instead opting to use the less powerful but more reliable Tauros.
• Heel–Face Turn: Like Muk, he was introduced as a Monster of the Week, but after being caught he became a loyal member of Ash's team.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Seemingly unstoppable in the battle against Harrison, until the latter's Houndoom used Counter to reflect Snorlax's Hyper Beam back at the giant.
• Implacable Man: Not even the sea can stop his tracks.
• Kevlard: having a certain degree of physical invulnerability is attributed to that huge gut.
• Megaton Punch: Knows Mega Punch and Ice Punch.
• Mighty Glacier: A borderline Stone Wall as well, as he can take quite a beating and still fight back. (see "Wheel of Frontier")
• Plot-Driven Breakdown: "Pokémon Food Fight!" is about Snorlax's Poké Ball getting broken, giving Ash and friends a lot of trouble trying to get Snorlax to the nearest Pokémon Center to get it repaired.
• Signature Move: Hyper Beam and Ice Punch.
• Stout Strength: When he sets his mind to it, he's also one of Ash's strongest Pokémon. Of all Ash's Pokémon during the Silver Conference, Snorlax had the most consistent performance — in both 6-on-6 matches (against Gary and Harrison) he took out two Pokémon each and overall gave the best contribution of all his trainer's participating Pokémon. He's never been in a battle where he doesn't takes down at least one of his opponent's Pokémon before going down himself. This is even better shown in the Battle Arena during the Battle Frontier seasons. Despite having a massive type disadvantage, being a Normal type against a trainer that specialized in Fighting types, AND having to do all the heavy lifting because Ash's other choice, Grovyle got knocked out immediately Snorlax cleaned house and won both fights in a row.

Johto

Johto Team In General

• Ambiguous Gender: Averted with Heracross and Totodile, who are both explicitly male, and Bayleef who is quite obviously female. Played straight with Quilava, Noctowl, and Donphan though.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: While Ash's Johto Pokémon aren't weak, they're clearly not quite on the level of his Kanto ones, who've trained longer and been through more with Ash. It's evident in the Silver Conference, where the Johto team largely takes a backseat to Ash's Kanto Pokémon, especially the Kanto starters.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Inverted: whilst none were copies of the previous spot-holders, much of the team was built up as Ash's old team was Put on a Bus. Both Cyndaquil and Totodile joined soon after Charizard and Squirtle left, while Heracross — a Bug Type — was captured first, and later left the regular party (though he simply stayed at Oak's, as opposed to a permanent departure a la Butterfree). Chikorita, on the other hand, never was a replacement for Bulbasaur, since Bulbasaur actually remained in the party for the large majority of the Johto Saga.
• True Companions: Ash's Johto team are very good friends as they would stick up for each other and enjoy playing together, although they would butt heads sometimes.

Heracross (Heracros)

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi

Heracross was met by Ash and his friends during their journey to Violet City when a territorial dispute between wild Pinsir and other Heracross went down, which was caused by Team Rocket taking away the tree sap from the Pinsir's home. After the gang helps solve the dispute, Heracross decides that it wants to continue traveling with Ash; resulting in its capture. During the Johto journey, Heracross ends up getting sent to Oak's lab, but still gets called upon to battle for Ash on occasion. Heracross also tends to get on Bulbasaur's nerves since it wishes to eat the sap produced by the bulb on Bulbasaur's back.

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• The Ace: He's likely Ash's strongest Johto Pokémon, and always puts in an impressive showing whenever he battles.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Stops whatever he's doing immediately when he senses tree sap.
• Back for the Dead:
  • Heracross was brought back for the match against Frontier Brain Spenser, but he's the only Pokémon not to defeat any of Spenser's three Pokémon.
  • Though it pulled off an amazing effort, it was still the first of Ash's mons to get beaten into the ground by Tobias' Darkrai.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Knew Focus Punch at the start of the Sinnoh Conference, though it got traded out for Hyper-Beam later in the tournament.
• Beware the Silly Ones: This adorkable Nice Guy, and the Running Gag of trying to sample Bulbasaur's bulb sap would make people forget that Heracross has always been a competent battler.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • After being Put on a Bus early on during the Johto journey, Heracross would mostly make sporadic appearances at Prof. Oak's lab. Ash would bring it back to his team for his league match against Gary in episodes OS269 and OS270.
  • In episode AG164, Heracross is brought back to the team for the match against Frontier Brain Spenser. Unfortunately, also a case of Back for the Dead.
  • Heracross is brought back twice for the Sinnoh League Tournament, fighting Nando's Kricketune in DP183, and fighting Tobias's Darkrai in DP189. In both battles, Heracross's newly learned Sleep Talk comes in very handy.
  • Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN143, alongside Kingler, Bayleef, Torterra and Sirfetch'd. Lapras also returns this episode.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: He is a giant beetle.
• Big Eater: Heracross loves his tree-sap.
• The Big Guy: Heracross was always a strong fighter, examples include when he defeated Gary's Magmar,^note scoring Ash's first KO in the match in the process and its one-on-one duel with a Scizor earlier in the season.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Because of his sweet tooth for tree sap, and how he's always trying to suck nectar from Bulbasaur's bulb, he may come across as very silly. But boy can he fight.
• A Day in the Limelight: If any episode left a huge impression on the viewers regarding Ash's Heracross, it was the Heracross vs. Scizor duel from EP140, "Wired for Battle." A lot of people will say that it was one of the more memorable Pokémon battles of the Johto journey, especially for Heracross since he didn't really have any standout moments from then on until beating Gary's Magmar during the Pokémon League.
• Death Glare: Knows Leer.
• Determinator: He beat Gary's Magmar even after he was set on fire.
• Energy Weapon: Knows Hyper Beam.
• Establishing Character Moment: Protecting a lone Butterfree from a swarm of Pinsir but refusing to fight back. And, right afterwards, when he sees Bulbasaur...
• Flight: Heracross is capable of flying.
• The Glomp: On Bulbasaur. Worse still, don't forget that Heracross is larger than Bulbasaur.
• Horn Attack: Knows this attack and Megahorn.
• Lightning Bruiser: He's larger and more speedy than Bulbasaur.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Heracross does not seem to understand that Bulbasaur doesn't like the sap getting sucked out of its bulb.
• Out of Focus: Similar to Pidgeotto's fate in the first season, Heracross ended up getting relegated to the background to make room for the Johto Starters, but got Put on a Bus much earlier during the journey.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Heracross is a very competent battler, but he's not quite on the same level as Ash's powerhouses like Charizard, Pikachu, and Sceptile.
• Power Up Letdown: Hyper Beam does nothing in his battle against Darkrai.
• Put on a Bus: Despite being a new Generation II Pokémon at the time, Heracross stayed at the lab as soon as Ash brought one of his Tauros to his roster. The reason being that Prof. Oak wanted to study Heracross. At that point of time, Ash only had caught three new Pokémon in the Johto region and just won his second Gym Badge, and Squirtle would have left the next episode anyway.
• Running Gag: Don't put him and Bulbasaur in the same scene.
• Signature Move: Megahorn, which is one of the strongest Bug-type moves.
• Sleep Walking: Learns Sleep Talk in time for the Sinnoh League, which proves useful against Kricketune and Darkrai.
• Spam Attack: Knows Fury Attack.
• Sweet Tooth: He loves sweet nectar.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Sweet nectar, particularly Bulbasaur's nectar from his bulb, which has become a Running Gag.
• The Worf Effect:
  • He's taken down, in a single move, by Gary's Blastoise in the Johto League (after handily defeating a Magmar). Justified in that he was facing a well-raised and powerful Starter Pokémon and had just finished defeating a powerful opponent with a type advantage.
  • Also being the first to fall against Tobias' Darkrai, in spite of being the best equipped to fight it type wise. Most of the damage it inflicted was offset by Darkrai's Dream Eater.

Chikorita-Bayleef (Chicorita-Bayleaf)

Voiced by: Mika Kanai

Chikorita is a stubborn Pokémon that Ash and his companions came across during their journey to Violet City. After a battle against Team Rocket, Chikorita, having grown highly affectionate towards Ash, wishes to continue traveling along with him. She eventually evolved into Bayleef during another battle against Team Rocket, and became one of Ash's most loyal battlers. She was the first of Ash's Pokémon to be confirmed female; all those he caught prior to this are either confirmed male or gender unknown.

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• Action Girl: Bayleef is very reliable in battle, having earned Ash a badge and defeated Harrison's Houndoom despite a type disadvantage.
• All Animals Are Dogs: Bayleef behaves in ways that might remind people of their needy cat or dog rather than a dinosaur.
• The Bus Came Back Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN143, alongside Kingler, Heracross, Torterra and Sirfetch'd. Lapras also makes its return this episode.
• Character Development: She grows out of her immense jealousy to Pikachu after evolving, though still retains her huge crush on Ash.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Is extremely jealous of the attention Ash gives Pikachu. She got over it after evolving.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • EP136 and EP200 are episodes centered around her. EP136 deals with Ash having to come to understand Chikorita's stubbornness after she refused to sub out during a battle while EP200 is Ash's struggles at getting used to Bayleef's affection after she had just evolved.
  • She got to star in the gym battle against Chuck by being the one to take down both his Poliwrath and his ace Machoke after Pikachu was defeated by the former to earn Ash the Storm Badge.
  • She was Ash's go to choice for the Extreme Pokémon Race in EP228, beating out Gary's Arcanine to win it.
• Determinator: Notably, standing up to Charizard in her first appearance, and even tying with him! Lampshaded by Brock at the end of her introductory episode.
  Misty: (referring to Chikorita and Ash) They make a perfect team!
  Brock: Yeah, Team Stubborn!
• Does Not Know Her Own Strength: After evolving into a Bayleef, she forgets her larger size and still tries to leap into Ash's arms, but only ends up tackling him.
• Establishing Character Moment: When Ash first met Chikorita, it stood and fought rather than run off like was to be expected, and didn't back down even against Charizard. This showed off its stubbornness and rough attitude.
• The Glomp: Before she can concentrate, she has to work her affection for Ash out of her system. It can throw off the show's pace.
  Ash: I choose you, Chikorita!
  Chikorita: *snuggles Ash*
  Ash: *gently* That's very nice, but let's hug later.
• Green Thumb: Has plant based powers like Vine Whip and Razor Leaf.
• Hopeless Suitor: Has a huge crush on Ash, but his obliviousness, young age, and, well, species means it's never reciprocated.
• In a Single Bound: Can use her Vine Whip to pull off this effect.
• The Lancer: Among the Johto members, she becomes this to Pikachu. Chikorita/Bayleef has built a stronger bond with Ash than his other Johto Pokémon do, and her huge crush on Ash and getting over of her jealousy contrasts Pikachu's growing attachment and loyalty in the early series.
• Running Gag: Bodyslamming Ash in a show of affection whenever she's released.
• Signature Move: Razor Leaf, which is noted to have become much, much sharper upon evolving into Bayleef.
• The Smurfette Principle: The one confirmed female Pokémon on Ash's team during the Original series. It would take until Snivy in the Best Wishes series for another female member to appear.
• Vine Tentacles: Knows Vine Whip and uses it in the same ways as Bulbusaur does.

Cyndaquil-Quilava (Hinoarashi-Magmarashi)

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuji Ueda

Voiced in English by: Kayzie Rogers (Cyndaquil), Bill Rogers (Quilava)

Cyndaquil was met by Ash and company on the way to Azalea Town where Ash managed to capture it before a questionable trainer named Koji. It would then go on to becoming one of the top battlers amongst Ash's Johto team. In one of the longest evolution stalls to date, Cyndaquil finally evolves into Quilava during a battle against Team Rocket when Ash was preparing his Pokémon for the Sinnoh League.

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• The Big Guy: Cyndaquil would become The Reliable One in Gym Battles, as it participates in five out of eight Gyms and wins two badges for Ash.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: At first; when Ash first caught it, it was powerful but usually uninterested in battling, and would sometimes even fall asleep mid-battle. After some training with Ash in Hot Matches, it grew out of this.
• Dark and Troubled Past: A notable Aversion. Quilava is the only one of Ash's Fire-Type starters who doesn't have such a past ^note  Charizard, Infernape, and Pignite were all abandoned by their previous trainers, while Litten's Parental Substitute Stoutland passed away before Litten joined Ash's team . The closest Quilava came to this is being nearly caught by a Jerkass trainer named Koji.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • EP152 served as a training episode for Cyndaquil where Ash trained it to better maintain its flame.
  • Starred in the gym battles against Bugsy and Jasmine. Cyndaquil took down their respective aces, Scyther and Steelix, to earn Ash the Hive and Mineral Badges.
• Gathering Steam: A problem during early episodes, it couldn't use its Fire-type attacks from the get-go, requiring it to build up heat until the flames lit up. It eventually overcomes this issue during Hot Matches.
• Lovable Coward: As a Cyndaquil, it was a bit of a scaredy-cat, best shown in An Old Family Blend when it retreated behind a tree at the sight of a Team Rocket mecha.
• Magma Mon: Knows Eruption after evolving.
• One-Steve Limit: By the time Cyndaquil returns for the Sinnoh League, Dawn has her own Cyndaquil for a while. The moment Dawn meets this Cyndaquil it doesn't take long for it to evolve into Quilava.
• Out of Focus: Out of all three Pokémon used against Nando in the Sinnoh League Conference, most of Quilava's fight against Nando's Armaldo wasn't shown, as Team Rocket literally stole Quilava's screentime during that episode.
• Playing with Fire: Fire-Type, and knows Flamethrower, Eruption and Flame Wheel.
• Signature Move: Like with most of Ash's Fire-type Pokémon, it's Flamethrower. After evolving, it becomes Eruption.
• Smoke Out: Knows Smokescreen.
• Spectacular Spinning: Knows Flame Wheel as Quilava.
• Super-Speed: It knows Agility to move very fast.
• Took a Level in Badass: Always strong, Cyndaquil was basically a child when Ash first caught it and originally couldn't maintain its flame. Through some training with Ash, it became a competent battler, and when it later returned for the Sinnoh League, it evolved during battle mere moments after it arrived.
• The Unexpected: After sticking to his new teams since the Hoenn League, not many people expect Ash to bring back his Johto crew in DP. Even less expected Cyndaquil to evolve.

Totodile (Waninoko)

Voiced in Japanese by: Chinami Nishimura

Voiced in English by: Kayzie Rogers, Lisa Ortiz (current)

Totodile was met by Ash and company on the way to Goldenrod City. Given his need for a water Pokémon, and Misty's appreciation of Water-Types, Totodile's appearance resulted in the two competing against one another for ownership of the Pokémon. The competition resulted in Ash's victory, which Misty accepted given how happy she was that her Poliwag evolved into Poliwhirl. Totodile stayed on Ash's team throughout the Johto journey, and is shown to always be seen happily dancing whenever Ash calls for it.

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• The Bus Came Back: Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN138 alongside Corphish, Leavanny and Rowlet.
• The Cameo: In a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, Totodile and Corphish appear when Ash visits Kanto in the S&M series.
• Characterization Marches On: Some of Totodile's early appearances showed it off as a bit of a womanizer. Particularly in EP153 when it tries to hit on an Azumarill and a Quagsire. This character trait pretty much disappears following said episode.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: His comedic and silly behaviour makes people forget that it can be competent in battle, especially since it is overshadowed by Bayleef and Cyndaquil. His constant dancing does help him sometimes.
• Dance Battler: Dances a bit when it's called out for battle and when it's not battling. Sometimes, it comes in handy and catches its opponent off-guard.
• Death Glare: Knows Leer and Scary Face.
• Interspecies Romance: With an Azumarill and a Quagsire. Justified as it is an example of Gameplay and Story Integration where Totodile, Azumarill and Quagsire all share the same Egg Group in the games and can breed with each other.
• Keet: Is there ever a moment where Totodile is not cheerful?
• Making a Splash: Pure Water-Type, and knows moves to match.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: Averted; his Keet tendencies, generally upbeat demeanor, and the species being playful by default make Totodile a rather nice, fun-loving croc.
• Out of Focus: Totodile ended up getting the least focus and development out of the three Johto Starters and only participated in one Gym Battle.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Replaced Squirtle as this, and due to its energy and cheer, is not always the most attentive, leading to some occasional problems. Like Brock, it's a flirt.
• Shout-Out: In the English dub, he sounds like Donald Duck.
• Signature Move: Like with Squirtle, it's Water Gun.
• Those Two Guys: Reappears alongside Corphish in Diamond and Pearl and Sun and Moon.
• Use Your Head: Knows Headbutt.

Noctowl (Yorunozuku)

Voiced by: Yuji Ueda

Noctowl is a Shiny Pokémon that Ash and his companions came across on the way to Goldenrod City where a doctor named Wiseman was trying to capture it through the use of man-made traps. Ash decides to go about capturing Noctowl through his traditional capturing method not liking the route taken by Wiseman, and manages to get a challenge from the Pokémon after protecting it from Team Rocket; resulting in Noctowl's capture. It stayed on Ash's team for the rest of the Johto journey, and makes a return for the Sinnoh League.

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• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Will typically turn its head in every possible direction, as is usual for its species.
• Animals Not to Scale: Another of Noctowl's famous traits is that it is much smaller than other Noctowl (complete with having several size comparisons in the series).
• Blow You Away: Knows Air Slash.
• Character Check: Carrying On! brings back its intelligence, using Hypnosis to make a Fearow that was attacking a carrier Pidgey see Noctowl as a Charizard and then to get the Pidgey to believe Noctowl is a fellow Pidgey to allow the Owl Pokémon to bring the Pidgey back to Ash and his friends.
• Characterization Marches On: Noctowl was quite mischievous and cunning in its debut where it frequently used Hypnosis on other people. This personality trait was not picked up upon ever again.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • It got to star in the Gym Battle against Morty taking out his Haunter and Gengar ace to earn Ash the Fog Badge.
  • Much later during Diamond & Pearl, Noctowl got to shine again during the Sinnoh League Tournament, where it defeated Conway's Lickilicky.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: So far, the most prominent Shiny Pokémon in the anime and the only one that's owned by a main character. ^note  The Shiny Magearna that Lillie restores in Sun and Moon is not officially caught by her. As with Shiny Pokémon in the games, it sparkles whenever it is called. However, starting with Sinnoh, all Pokémon are surrounded by sparkles when called out of their Poké Balls, so in Working On A Right Move!, Noctowl is surrounded by two rings of yellow sparkles when sent out against Conway.
• Flight: It can fly.
• I Got Bigger: For unexplained reasons, Noctowl has been consistently depicted in its species' original size in Journeys, which implies that it got a massive growth spurt between the final episode of Best Wishes to its return in Journeys.
• Informed Ability: It's supposed to be very smart, even among other Noctowl. Never brought up again after Ash captured it save for Carrying On!.
• Out of Focus: After the Gym Battle against Morty, Noctowl didn't have much of a role in the Johto seasons.
• The Owl-Knowing One: It can see everything from a 360-degree radius and is much smarter than normal Noctowl.
• Psychic Powers: Knows Hypnosis, Confusion and Extrasensory. Foresight arguably also counts, as it made Morty's Ghost Pokémon vulnerable to physical attacks.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Noctowl is much smaller than regular Noctowl, but it is smarter than them.
• Took a Level in Badass: Barely did anything in Johto except for being Ash's main battler against Morty, but when it returned for the Sinnoh League it had learned Sky Attack, Air Slash, and Extrasensory, and soundly defeats Conway's Lickilicky with its new powerful moves.
• Token Minority: Ash's only Shiny Pokémon in his entire tenure as protagonist.

Phanpy-Donphan (Gomazou-Donfan)

Voiced in Japanese by: Megumi Hayashibara (Gomazou), Kenta Miyake (Donfan)

Voiced in English by: Tara Sands (Phanpy, 4Kids first voice), Lindsey Warner (Phanpy, 4Kids second voice), Kayzie Rogers (as Jamie Peacock, Phanpy third voice), Kenta Miyake (Donphan)

Phanpy hatches from a prize egg Ash won with Bayleef in a Pokémon race during the journey to Mahogany Town. Like the rest of Ash's Pokémon, it stays at Oak's lab when he travels to Hoenn, but when Ash comes back to Kanto and challenges the Battle Frontier, Phanpy comes back to his team, eventually evolves into Donphan during a battle with Team Rocket.

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• Back for the Dead: In Working On A Right Move!, Donphan doesn't do anything during the battle with Conway except get beaten up by Shuckle and knocked out by Dusknoir.
• The Bus Came Back: Deposited at Oak's lab after Johto, but rejoins Ash to be a part of his Battle Frontier team. Notably, it and Charizard are the only ones of Ash's Pokémon to be Put on a Bus then rejoin his team for an extended tenure.
  • Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN137 alongside Sceptile, Buizel and Noivern.
• Breath Weapon: Learns Hyper Beam after evolving.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Donphan dwarfs most other mons in size and power, yet is also a softie, and a friend to baby Pokémon. Even in Aim to be a Pokémon Master, Donphan still loves to play with Pikachu.
• A Day in the Limelight: During the Battle Frontier arc, Donphan got to take down Pike Queen Lucy's Seviper all on its own.
• Dishing Out Dirt: It's a Ground-Type Pokémon, and has used the Ground-Type move Earthquake and the Rock-Type move Rollout. It also demonstrated its Electric immunity multiple times.
• Earthquake Machine: Knows Earthquake.
• Elephants Are Scared of Mice: This is how Phanpy, an elephant calf, reacted upon first seeing Pikachu, a mouse.
• Foreshadowing: In AG114, Ash thinks about his Phanpy while helping out a wild Donphan during his journey through Hoenn. 19 episodes later, Phanpy rejoins Ash's traveling team.
• Friend to All Children: As a Phanpy, it had many episodes where they focused on being friends with other Pokémon like a Cleffa and Psyduck. This trait continues as a Donphan.
• Goo-Goo-Godlike: Though it would still lose battles semi-frequently in Johto.
• Manchild: Evolution made it grow physically, but not mentally. A good example is an episode where it found a wicker ball being tossed around by three baby Rhyhorn. It immediately decided to play with them and caused them to run away in terror. It's still a powerhouse either way.
• No-Sell:
  • Since it's a Ground-Type, it's immune to Electric moves. However, when Phanpy hatched, it got shocked by Pikachu's Thunderbolt almost immediately, scaring the little baby Pokémon and made it run away from the group. While the attack didn't harm it physically, it got almost traumatized by it. It would later get over the traumatic event and enjoy playing with Pikachu's little Thunderbolts.
  • Donphan's is able to withstand attacks when using Rollout. There are two most notable examples: When Lucy's Seviper uses Flamethrower on it, Donphan (while in Rollout) is completely fine despite being wholly engulfed in flames, and Ash actually uses that to his advantage by using the flaming Rollout directly at Seviper. Much later, when it returns in JN137, Donphan is able to completely negate a Mirror Coated-Boomburst with just Rollout.
• Rolling Attack: Knows Rollout.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: Again, as Phanpy.
• Signature Move: Like most of its species, Rollout.
• Sixth Ranger: Its addition to the Battle Frontier roster. It and Charizard are the only Pokémon to have been Put on a Bus once, before returning to Ash's team for a second, separate tenure (in contrast to Aipom, who was on two consecutive teams under Ash's ownership).
• Unskilled, but Strong: Phanpy's lack of experience makes up for having incredible strength.
• The Worf Effect: During its return in the Sinnoh League Tournament, Donphan was not able to defeat any of Conway's Pokémon (Noctowl defeat Lickilicky, and Gible defeated Shuckle and Dusknoir), as Donphan became a complete victim to Conway's strategies (Shuckle's Power Trick, and Dusknoir's Trick Room), showcasing that Ash's conventional battle style didn't work here.

Never Technically Owned

Haunter (Ghost)

Voiced in Japanese by: Toshiyuki Morikawa

Voiced in English by: Ted Lewis

Haunter was originally a member of a prankster Ghost-Type trio of its own evolution line in the Lavender Town Tower. When Ash arrives in Lavender Town to seek out a Ghost-Type for his rematch against Sabrina, Haunter ends up bonding with him, and decides to follow Ash back to Saffron City. Rather than battling, Haunter's hilarious antics causes Sabrina and her Kadabra to break out into a huge laughter, making them unable to continue the battle and bringing Ash the victory. Afterwards, Haunter decides to stay with Sabrina.

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• Dark Is Not Evil: It's not nearly as evil as it is funny.
• Eye Pop: Haunter loves making this kind of facial expression.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Ash never actually captured it, and it leaves after fulfilling its main purpose. It is, in fact, never considered a True Companion, unlike Larvitar and Solgaleo.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Haunter and its friends like to physically hurt and scare humans, as well as laughing at their pain. But it genuinely has no ill will and seems to not grasp this brand of humour's consequences. In "Haunter vs. Kadabra", Haunter snaps Sabrina out of her ruthless psychic stance by making her laugh with a joke-bomb.
• The Hyena: Even has a very distinctive laugh to go with it.
• Invisibility: A natural trait, as a ghost and all. Haunter's sudden disappearance just when Ash needed him during the Saffron Gym rematch actually wound up putting the heroes in greater danger than before, even!
• Must Make Her Laugh: In addition to this being the way Haunter saves Sabrina in "Haunter vs. Kadabra", it's also the way Haunter single-handedly foils Team Rocket in the same episode: it makes funny faces at Jessie so that she will laugh and let go of the ledge she is hanging on to, sending her, James and Meowth crashing to the ground.
• Oh, Crap!: Haunter and its friends have one when in trying to distract Ash and Pikachu, the latter didn't notice the Falling Chandelier of Doom.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: It pranks people for fun and loves comedy shows.
• The Prankster: It loves to prank people, which is how Ash beat Sabrina.
• Psychic Powers: Uses Astral Projection on Ash and Pikachu after a chandelier got dropped on them.
• Shout-Out: His True Companions back in Pokémon Tower just screams The Three Stooges.

Larvitar (Yogiras)

Voiced in Japanese by: Miyako Ito

Voiced in English by: Tara Sands, Lisa Ortiz (Partners in Time!)

Larvitar started off as an egg that Professor Elm asked for Ash and company to pick up at the Marine Pokémon Laboratory during their journey towards the Johto League. Ash and company change course deciding to instead go to Mt. Silver first and return the egg to its mother. When Larvitar hatches, it turns out to be a traumatized and fearful baby due to being able to sense what was going on outside its egg when a group of poachers attacked its mother Tyranitar and stole the egg away. Travelling alongside Ash and his friends during the trip to Mt. Silver, Larvitar gradually overcomes its shyness and becomes friendly with the group. They eventually bring the poachers who attacked Tyranitar to justice and leave Larvitar with her.

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• The Cameo: Despite not actually being caught like Haunter, it does appear alongside the other released Pokémon in "Spurt!".
• Dark and Troubled Past: It was traumatized when it was stolen from its mother by three poachers while still being inside its egg.
• Defrosting Ice King: Finally opens up to Brock and Misty late into its story arc.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Half Rock-Type, half Ground-Type.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: For a small-arc Pokémon, Larvitar goes through a lot and needs to grow up quite a bit, but in the end he's finally reunited with its mother.
• Goo Goo God Like: At first, it's cute, but do not make it mad or you'll regret the beating.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Like Haunter, Larvitar was never officially caught by Ash and leaves the group after being reunited with its mother.
• Signature Move: Screech. It gets a second one in form of Hidden Power.
• Super-Scream: Knows Screech, so if Larvitar ever gets scared, cover your ears.
• True Companions: With Ash and his Pokémon. Despite the fact that it was never officially caught, it grew a strong bond with Ash and his friends, to the point that it's grouped together with Ash's Pokémon several times even after it returned to its mother.

Team Rocket Trio's Pokémon

Jessie

Ekans-Arbok (Arbo-Arbok)

Voiced in Japanese by: Koichi Sakaguchi

Voiced in English by: Eric Stuart (Ekans), Koichi Sakaguchi (Arbok)

Voiced in Latin Spanish by: Patricia Hannidez (voice-over in Episode 17)

Received as a birthday gift,^note chūgen in the original Ekans was Jessie's first Pokémon within the series. It lost quite often despite its best efforts, even after evolving into Arbok. It would eventually be released to protect a bunch of Ekans from poachers.

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• Breath Weapon: It fires Poison Sting and Acid from its mouth.
• The Cameo: In JN145, it appears in Jessie's and James's memory of Pokémon that parted their ways with them. Regarding Jessie's Pokémon, it's Arbok, Lickitung, Dustox and Mimikyu.
• Characterization Marches On: Of the two original Rocket Pokémon (excluding Meowth), Ekans/Arbok was more fleshed out in terms of Character Development, though this characterization was only sparingly shown through the original series and its few Hoenn episodes.
• Death Glare: Knows Glare.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Knows Dig.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • In the episode "A Chansey Operation." Arbok was treated by a Chansey from a crash that hurt several Pokémon. When Team Rocket later tried to steal the Pokémon, Arbok refused to obey the commands to attack the Chansey and people who treated its injuries.
  • In "Got Miltank" Arbok is sent to attack and capture a herd of Pokémon in an oasis. When Meowth stands against it however, pointing out the place is a haven that helps fellow Pokémon, it joins the revolt and again refuses to battle.
• Hidden Depths: "Island Of the Giant Pokémon" reveals that it has a philosophic side to it.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: In "Island of the Giant Pokémon" Ekans reveals he only puts up with Meowth because Jessie orders him to and has no qualms with Ash's Pokémon tormenting him. His Arbok form has friendlier moments with Meowth in later episodes, but usually when Jessie is around.
• It Was a Gift: Apparently received by Jessie as a gift prior to the events of Pokémon.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: It is loyal to its trainer, whether she is evil or not.
• Ocular Gushers: When it is forced to leave Jessie, James and Meowth behind.
• Poisonous Person: It's a Poison-Type. Its Poison Sting is basically its Signature Move.
• Punch-Clock Villain: In Island of the Giant Pokémon, it refuses to attack Ash's lost Pokémon because its trainer didn't order it, and the episode has it and Koffing eating with the group, not holding any grudges against each other.
• Put on a Bus: Frees a group of captured Koffing and Ekans from a poacher, leading them to safety and are never seen again.
• Signature Mon: In the original series, it's Jessie's main battler and displays many aspects of her personality such stubbornness and intelligence. Even when Wobbuffet joins the team, Arbok didn't lose its status as Jessie's most iconic Pokémon until it was released to save a group of Ekans in Hoenn region. Even then, Jessie is still heavily associated with Arbok. She's been shown to own a number of Arbok themed merchandise, and she once imagined having a bedroom also themed around the species.
• Signature Move: Poison Sting is its most commonly used move.
• Snakes Are Sinister: Subverted. It's a snake-like Pokémon working for one of the bad guys, but isn't actually evil, only doing bad things out of loyalty to its trainer. When Jessie isn't commanding it to do bad things, it's actually quite pleasant.
• Spike Shooter: Know Poison Sting, which fires a storm of poison-tipped needles.
• Status Quo Is God: For the first few episodes after its evolution, Arbok proved to be a tougher opponent than it was as Ekans. But it didn't take long for it to revert back to its original level of effectiveness.
• Uncatty Resemblance: "Island of the Giant Pokémon" shows that it's as stubborn and intelligent as Jessie.
• Undying Loyalty: Par a couple of Noble Demon moments, it succinctly follows Jessie's every whim.
• Villainous Friendship: Though it seems indifferent towards Meowth, Arbok seems to be close with Weezing. Victreebel has also bit Arbok affectionately at least once.
• You No Take Candle: Downplayed in "Island of the Giant Pokémon", wherein it speaks in rather simple sentences.

Lickitung (Beroringa)

Voiced in Japanese by: Chinami Nishimura

Voiced in English by: Eric Stuart

Jessie caught Lickitung after a combination of eating some food meant for Giovanni and paralyzing Arbok led to a Poké Ball to the head. After a promising debut against Misty in the Princess Festival in the same episode, it faded into obscurity and was eventually traded by accident for Wobbuffet.

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• Achievements in Ignorance: Implied to be the case in the original Japanese version of its debut episode, where Brock suggested that it wasn't battling its opponents so much as tasting them.
• Big Eater: Given that eating anything it can get its tongue on is Lickitung's trait, it of course seizes the opportunity to do just that in the episode "Princess vs Princess" as it uses its long tongue to help itself to some food Team Rocket was planning to give to their boss. Needless to say, this didn't make Jessie very happy and she sent out Arbok to deal with Lickitung.
• The Cameo: In JN145, it appears in Jessie's and James's memory of Pokémon that parted their ways with them. Regarding Jessie's Pokémon, it's Arbok, Lickitung, Dustox and Mimikyu.
• Flat Character: Unlike most other Team Rocket Pokémon, Lickitung didn't get a lot of screentime to demonstrate much of a personality and camaraderie, its only key characteristics usually being its appetite and gag tongue.
• Nerves of Steel: In its debut episode appearance, Lickitung was shown to be quite brave, not once letting Arbok intimidate it.
• Out of Focus: It was in Jessie's team for nearly 100 episodes, and only made appearances in 17 of these.
• Overly-Long Tongue: As typical for its species, its tongue is longer than its body. Of course, its tongue is its main weapon.
• Put on a Bus: Accidentally traded away for Wobbuffet in Johto.
• Secret Weapon: In its first appearance, to the heroes, where it single-handedly took care most of the twerps' Pokémon with Lick. Not so much afterwards (see Out of Focus above).
• Signature Move: Lick, which is a very powerful move in the anime, which incapacitates most targets.
• Super-Scream: Knows Supersonic.
• Token Competent Minion: It gave Ash and co a far tougher battle than most of its fellow Team Rocket Pokémon, especially in its first appearance.
• Villain Decay: In its debut, it easily defeated Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Vulpix, with Psyduck's psychic powers being the only reason it was defeated. It never enjoyed this level of success ever again, often being taken down just as easily as Team Rocket's other Pokémon.

Wobbuffet (Sonans)

Wobbuffet joined Team Rocket when it was accidentally traded with Lickitung. See here for more about Jessie's Wobbuffet.

James

Koffing-Weezing (Dogars-Matadogas)

Voiced in Japanese by: Unshō Ishizuka

Voiced in English by: Michael Haigney (Koffing), Eric Stuart (Weezing)

Voiced in Latin Spanish by: Gerardo Vásquez (voice-over in Episode 17)

Received as a Christmas present,^note  Year-End in the original Koffing was James' first Pokémon in the series. Much like its fellow teammate, Ekans, it was not a very good battler, even after evolving. It would eventually be released to protect a bunch of Koffing from poachers.

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• The Cameo: In JN145, it appears in James's and Jessie's memory of Pokémon that parted their ways with them. Regarding James's Pokémon, it's Weezing, Victreebel, Cacnea, Chimecho and Mareanie.
• Characterization Marches On: Almost borders on a Flat Character, as Koffing/Weezing was even more sparingly characterized than Ekans/Arbok.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • In the episode "A Chansey Operation." Weezing was treated by a Chansey from a crash that hurt several Pokémon. When Team Rocket later tried to steal the Pokémon, Weezing refused to obey the commands to attack the Chansey and people who treated its injuries.
  • In "Got Miltank", Weezing is sent to attack and capture a herd of Pokémon in a oasis. When Meowth stands against it however, pointing out the place is a haven that helps fellow Pokémon, it joins the revolt and again refuses to battle.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: Like Ekans, Koffing makes clear he couldn't care less about Meowth without James ordering him to in "Island of the Giant Pokémon".
• It Was a Gift: Apparently received as a gift prior to the events of Pokémon.
• Multiple Head Case: And like the rest of its species, both are perfectly sentient; both heads are capable of crying.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Tried to cling to James whilst fleeing from the poacher, but ultimately complied.
• Ocular Gushers: When he is forced to leave James, Jessie and Meowth behind.
• Power Floats: Came to a disadvantage when a battle took place underwater ("The Misty Mermaid").
• Punch-Clock Villain: In Island of the Giant Pokémon, it refuses to attack Ash's lost Pokémon because its trainer didn't order it, and the episode has it and Ekans eating with the group, not holding any grudges against each other.
• Put on a Bus: Frees a group of captured Koffing and Ekans from a poacher, leading them to safety and are never seen again.
• Terse Talker: According to "Island of the Giant Pokémon", mostly just repeats whatever it hears and happens to agree with in short, simple sentences.
• Signature Mon: James's main battler in the original series, with a dopey personality befitting to his trainer's more comical and sensitive side. While James would get other powerhouses along the line after Weezing's release, none have truly supplanted Koffing/Weezing as the most iconic, though that is mainly due to the fact that James often gets less Pokémon than Jessie.
• Smoke Out: Knows Smog and Smokescreen. Often used by James to cover Team Rocket's retreats, and unlike everything else they do is usually successful.
• Status Quo Is God: While not to the same extent as Arbok, Weezing also proved to be a tougher opponent than it was as Koffing for a short time after its evolution. But also like Arbok, it didn't take long for it to revert back to its original level of effectiveness.
• Stepford Smiler: It almost always had that stupid grin as Koffing.^note It only frowns in EP017 when separated from James. Inverted with Weezing, who always had a depressed-to-indifferent look on both of its faces.
• Uncatty Resemblance: "Island of the Giant Pokémon" shows it agreeing with pretty much everything Ekans says, implying that it's just as submissive to the snake as James is to Jessie, if not more.
• Undying Loyalty: Like Arbok to Jessie, Weezing is succinctly loyal to James par a couple pangs of conscience.
• Yes-Man: The one time Koffing's speech patterns are translated, most of its dialogue consists of it agreeing with Ekans.

Magikarp-Gyarados (Koiking-Gyarados)

Voiced in Japanese by: Unshō Ishizuka

Voiced in English by: Maddie Blaustein (Magikarp), Unshō Ishizuka (Gyarados)

While on the S.S. Anne, James buys a Magikarp from a dubious salesman for a large sum of money, realizing too late that he got scammed. During the shipwreck crisis, Magikarp proves multiple times to be a very useless Pokémon, prompting James's to kick it out in a fit of rage...leading to it immediately evolving into a Gyarados that calls a school of Gyarados and attack Team Rocket and the twerps with Dragon Rage in the middle of the sea and separating them with most of their Pokémon.

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• The Dog Bites Back: It doesn't take its violent release kindly and goes There Is No Kill Like Overkill on James and everyone nearby him.
• Emergency Food Supply Animal: Subverted. When Team Rocket and twerps are starving in the middle of the ocean, they thought of the idea of eating Magikarp, but it's an inedible Pokémon, which is the last straw for James to release it.
• Magikarp Power: It is the first instance of a Magikarp evolving into a Gyarados in the anime, making it one of the most well-known examples of this trope.
• Making a Splash: It's a Water-type, but as a Magikarp it can't neither swim nor use any other moves besides the Normal-type Splash which does nothing. As Gyarados, it can not only swim, but it's Dragon Rage creates a water tornado.
• Our Dragons Are Different: It is the first Gyarados to appear in the anime. While not being a Dragon-type, it has the appearance and the attitude of a violent sea dragon. It knows Dragon Rage, which it uses alongside four other Gyarados, although that Dragon Rage looks more like Twister than anything else.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Subverted. Being a Water-type, James hopes that it would be useful when Team Rocket are trapped in the shipwreck. Unfortunately, it can't swim. As a Magikarp, anyway.
• Took a Level in Badass: Naturally, as the Magikarp evolution line is famous for its Magikarp Power. It goes from being a completely useless Pokémon that can't swim to a giant menace that can create a natural disaster in the middle of the ocean. Coincidentally, it is the first of Team Rocket's Pokémon to evolve.
• Who's Laughing Now?: Double-subverted. At first, James laughs in joy when he realizes he's the only one with a Water-type Pokémon when they need to escape the sunken St. Anne, getting Jessie and Meowth to praise his decision to buy a ludicrously expensive Magikarp. But then it turns out that Magikarp is a poor swimmer that nearly gets the trio killed, and later it proves to be inedible as a food source when they are stranded in the middle of the sea. But in the end, Magikarp gets the last laugh when it evolves into an angry, powerful Gyarados... right after James kicked it out from his team.

Growlithe/"Growlie" (Gardie/"Gar-chan")

Voiced in Japanese by: Mitsuru Ogata

Voiced in English by: Maddie Blaustein (EP048), Tom Wayland (DP153)

A Growlithe that James owned since his childhood. Unlike James' other Pokémon, Growlie lives with James' parents and doesn't take part in Team Rocket's crimes. It is very loyal to James who considers it as his precious friend which he wouldn't replace with another Pokémon. Their friendship is also the reason why James doesn't want to marry Jessiebelle; Jessiebelle despises Growlie, and would get rid of him if she ever did marry James.

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• Big Fancy House: Growlie has its own mansion next to the mansion of James' family.
• The Bus Came Back: After its debut episode, Growlie reappears in DP153 to visit a vacation house in Sinnoh. Coincidentally, James happens to infiltrate said vacation house.
• Childhood Friends: With James. It mostly appears when James' past is brought up.
• In-Universe Nickname: Its nickname is "Growlie" ("Gar-chan" in the original).
• Out of Focus: Since Growlie never travels with James as an adult, it gets the least focus among all of his Pokémon. Its reappearance in Diamond & Pearl is quite a surprise.
• Playing with Fire: It is a Fire-Type, making it James' only Fire-Type Pokémon.
• Precious Puppies: Growlie has been with James since childhood, and despite the many years that have passed, Growlie looks the same as before. Partially justified, since it cannot evolve without a Fire Stone.
• Remember the New Guy?: Despite being one of James' first Pokémon, if not the first, Growlie was first introduced in the episode where James' heritage was revealed.
• Token Good Teammate: Growlie is the only one of James' Pokémon that is never a member of Team Rocket, (although it's pretty clear that it would love to tag along with James).
• Undying Loyalty: Even though they do not see each other lately, Growlie remains loyal to James, appropriate for a dog-like Pokémon.

Weepinbell-Victreebel (Utsudon-Utsubot)

Voiced by: Rikako Aikawa (Weepinbell, Victreebel episodes 95-261), Yuji Ueda (Victreebel, episode 86-94)

Victreebel was first seen in one of Butch and Cassidy's fake breeding center's cages, having evolved from off-screen from a Weepinbell which James also caught off-screen. After it got out, it served James in battle fairly well despite its odd way of showing affection. It got traded to the Magikarp Salesman for a Weepinbel, who evolved into another Victreebel and was promptly kicked out over the exact same gestures of affection.

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• Ambiguous Gender: The genders of the original Victreebel and the replacement Weepinbell/Victreebel are not explicit (though likely to be opposite). But the voice differences in the two in EP261 suggest that James's original Victreebel was female and its replacement was male.
• Ascended Extra: Zig-Zagged. James used it noticeably more often in Johto than in Kanto. However, it never managed to displace Weezing as his Signature Mon, and it was ultimately written out of the show before Weezing was.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite its painful displays of affection, James had fond memories of his Victreebel and was heartbroken to trade it away. Just as he started growing attached to its replacement, that too was kicked out by an angered Jessie.
• Bite of Affection: Typically when it’s summoned from its Pokéball, it will bite James, usually his head. Like its fellow grass Pokémon on James’s team, Victreebel’s aggressive actions are actually it expressing affection rather than intentionally trying to hurt him.
• The Cameo: In JN145, it appears in James's and Jessie's memory of Pokémon that parted their ways with them. Regarding James's Pokémon, it's Weezing, Victreebel, Cacnea, Chimecho and Mareanie.
• Even Evil Has Standards: It stands with Meowth and the other Rocket Pokémon in "Got Miltank", refusing to help James battle a sanctuary of healing Pokémon.
• Green Thumb: Primary type. It codified the Running Gag that all of James' Grass-Type Pokémon would attack him out of affection whenever he calls them.
• Man-Eating Plant: It's rather ambiguous whether it loves James so much that it's trying to eat him or...simply trying to eat him. At least it never used Stun Spore on James like a different Victreebel did to Meowth after trying to eat him in a Best Wishes episode.
• Out of Focus: Following its introduction, it only made one brief cameo for the rest of the Indigo League episodes. It wasn't until the Orange Islands saga that it started to appear more frequently.
• Poisonous Person: Secondary type.
• Put on a Bus: James trades it away to the Magikarp Salesman in exchange for another (supposedly more obedient) Weepinbell. Unfortunately, Jessie gets sick of the new Weepinbell, which evolves into a Victreebel (without a Leaf Stone) and starts biting her, and ditches it. At the same time, the Magikarp Salesman falls victim to James' original Victreebel's eating habits and also abandons it. The two Victreebel meet, fall in love, and live Happily Ever After. Seriously.
• Remember the New Guy?: James captured it off-screen during the series, not prior (as indicated by his use of Weezing in the flashback showing said capture). It wasn't even introduced as a Weepinbell and the fact that James even owned one came out of nowhere.
• Screaming Warrior: Its distinctive cry sounds like shrill shouting.