Memes / Pokémon

Everybody lieks mudkipz.

"What!? MEME is evolving!"

Pokémon has been around for a pretty long time by Internet standards, with the first games coming out in 1996, and has since grown to encompass many different types of media. It's also ridiculously popular, especially with nerds.

The spawning of memes was inevitable. Gotta mutate 'em all!

Smogon is something of a Fountain of Memes as far as fansites go. Memes originating from Smogon are listed here. The same applies to Twitch Plays Pokémon: its memes can be found here.

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Please add entries in the following format:

• The meme. [[labelnote: Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme, if necessary.[[/labelnote]] ^ExplanationLike this.
  • Further mutations and successor memes, if any.

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Subpages:

• Pokémon Detective Pikachu
• Pokémon Games
  • Pokémon GO
• Pokémon: The Series

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General

• Pokémon Logic:
  • Charizard/Gyarados isn't a dragon^ExplanationFans have long questioned the logic behind the Dragon typing, with Pokémon like Charizard, Gyarados, Lugia, Therian Forme Thundurus, and Iron Jugulis, all clearly based off different kinds of dragons, to not be Dragon-types. Meanwhile, actual Dragon-types include Altaria (a bird), Vibrava (an adult antlion), Goomy (a slug), Applin (a worm living inside an apple), Alolan Exeggutor (a 35-foot walking palm tree), Duraludon (a dinosaur-shaped building), Zygarde's alternate forms (an Animalistic Abomination Doberman and a Humanoid Abomination resembling a Humongous Mecha), Eternamax Eternatus (a giant alien hand), and Tatsugiri (a fish that disguises itself as a piece of sushi). Some fans have reconciled this oddity by distinguishing between "dragon" and "Dragon-type" as different concepts within Pokémon, which can be backed up both by official comments on Charizard and Gyarados (not so much Lugia) and by how "Dragon" elemental powers are treated in other franchises, as well as a quote from Lance in Pokémon Masters. Even when one of Charizard's Mega Evolutions is revealed to be part-Dragon, this meme still persists in some ways.
    • The Vermillion Bird, the White Tiger, the Black Tortoise, and the Azure... apparently-not-a-dragon.^ExplanationThe Therian Formes of the Forces of Nature are based on The Four Gods, which was made even clearer with the addition of Enamorus in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Thundurus' Therian Forme is based on the Azure Dragon, but retains the Electric/Flying type of its Incarnate Forme. While it makes sense for it to keep its typing, it can't learn any Dragon moves besides Twister (which all the Forces of Nature can learn), despite having big claws and being a perfect candidate for Dragon Claw, making its situation even more egregious than Charizard and Gyarados in some ways.
    • Celebi isn't a fairy^ExplanationFor some Pokémon species both new and old, the Fairy type is in a similar boat to the Dragon type. Like Charizard with dragons, Celebi is one of the most stereotypically fairylike Pokémon ever, but it remained Psychic/Grass-type when the Fairy type was introduced and it was retconned onto some older Pokémon, aside from the type containing some oddballs like Galarian Weezing, Kantonian Mr. Mime, and Granbull. This also applies to Pokémon such as the lake trio that are literally named after types of fairies in all languages, and Galarian Ponyta was in a similar boat before its Psychic/Fairy evolution was revealed.
  • Ah yes, the elusive land octopus and the endangered undersea panda.^ExplanationGrapploct, an octopus that lives in the ocean, is a pure Fighting type, while one of Urshifu's two forms is a Fighting/Water type… for some reason. The irony was not lost on fans.
  • Nidoqueen had menopause^ExplanationCuriously, while Nidoran females can breed, Nidorina and Nidoqueen can't. This spawned jokes about how Nidoking and Nidoqueen can't breed but Skitty and Wailord can, or making pedophilia jokes about how Nidoking can breed with a female Nidoran.
  • BUT KYUREM HAS ARMS MADE OF ICE!^ExplanationKyurem can't learn Ice Punch, despite having arms encased in ice, while Gastly and Wooper can learn Ice Punch despite having no arms at all. It's an especially popular complaint with Black Kyurem, who has big, buff-looking arms but still can't learn Ice Punch.
  • Alomomola not being a Luvdisc evolution, but Octillery evolving from Remoraid. ^ExplanationPeople like to point this out since the former two look similar, but the latter two barely resemble each other.
  • Wailord being less dense than helium.
  • Using Fly with a Pidgey, even though it's too small to carry the trainer. ^note Many people find the notion of a tiny bird like Pidgey carrying a human that is much larger than it absurd, and a lot of images and comics have appeared that show the process in action.
  • Gardevoir being able to breed with Muk.^ExplanationDue to Gardevoir, a human-like Pokémon, being in the Amorphorus Egg Group, it's able to breed with Pokémon such as Muk, Weezing, and Swalot, but (prior to Sword and Shield) isn't able to breed with other human-like Pokémon such as Alakazam or Machamp.
  • "After 23 years they start getting too self-aware?"^ExplanationThe Journeys anime has Goh and Ash wondering why Dratini and Dragonair are blue and serpentine, but Dragonite is orange and bipedal and looks nothing like its pre-evolutions, with Goh even suggesting that Milotic would have made a more logical-looking final evolution. Given that fans have been pondering this question for a very long time, it was instantly joked how they were Leaning on the Fourth Wall addressing Pokémon logic in-universe.
• Name substitutions ^ExplanationIt's very common to use Pokémon names in place of real-world names, especially in phrases known for animals (such as "until the Miltanks come home" or "blind as a Zubat"). Substituting any instance of God with Arceus is also applicable here.
• What's a [insert animal name here]? ^ExplanationPokémon are often described and compared to real life animals by characters and Pokédex entries. However, after Generation I, it became evidently clear that most normal animals do not exist in the Pokémon world. (For example, Diglett is known as the Mole Pokémon, even though there are no normal moles.) Because of this, fans tend to mockingly ask this question whenever a character in the franchise mentions a real animal.
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form of Mewtwo's attack!^ExplanationMewtwo is an Expy of Giygas (he looks like Giygas's original form, as it was seen in EarthBound Beginnings, is an extremely powerful psychic, and he's widely considered to be Pokémon's Ultimate Life Form). The final battle against Giygas is infamous for being the Trope Namer of You Cannot Grasp the True Form. People soon made comparisons of the two, leading to a mutation of Giygas's already-memetic attack quote.
• so I herd u liek mudkipz ^ExplanationUncertain origins; most commonly associated with a NSFW story involving an unfortunate bullying victim and a Mudkip plush. Later diverged from that and became a catchphrase relating to Mudkip, with Mudkip itself becoming something of a memetic Ensemble Dark Horse who regularly gets voted highly in polls, to the point where it's near-impossible to legitimately consider Mudkip your favorite Pokémon without getting some sort of backlash. It's also possible that the Mudkip meme may have originated from an episode of the Advanced Generation series, in which Ash and company find a colony of Mudkip (one of which Brock ends up capturing). The reason this episode is memetic is due to an infamous sequence in which two Mudkip have an exchange of "MUD!" "KIP!", which has been looped into 10-hour versions (and more…) on YouTube.
  • u herd rong
    • U mei liek mudkipz... but mudkipz don't liek u.
  • QWILFISH, BITCH!!
  • so I herd u liek GETTING REKT ^ExplanationMega Swampert (the final form of Mudkip) has become memetic within hours of its reveal, mostly for its overly-huge and bulky build, a sizable Attack boost, and Swift Swim.
  • Do you even lift?^ExplanationLike the above example, this is referring to Mega Swampert's extremely bulky build. The meme itself originated in the bodybuilding community and predates Mega Swampert by a huge margin.
  • Mega Swampert is also grouped with Knuckles (specifically his beefy Sonic Boom design) and Ike (who became beefier in his Radiant Dawn appearance, which carried over into Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and 3DS), as well as the Anchor Arms scene from SpongeBob SquarePants.
  • Mega Swampert skipped leg day.^ExplanationDue to Mega Swampert being an extremely Top-Heavy Guy, fans immediately joked that it skipped leg day to focus on buffing up its arms.
• look at that lil berry he's high as fuck^ExplanationCherubi is #420 in the National Pokédex, with "420" being commonly associated with smoking marijuana. The fandom was quick to make jokes about Cherubi being a Grass-type or poke fun at the smaller second head that constantly has a sleepy, stoned-looking expression.
• FUCK YEAH! SEAKING!^ExplanationA Forced Meme involving Seaking destroying things, or getting involved in natural disasters. It has since been accepted as a meme.
• Rattata, Destroyer of Gods^ExplanationIt is legitimately possible for a Level 1 Rattata to defeat a Level 100 Legendary using an infamous tactic called the F.E.A.R. strategy, involving the use of a Focus Sash to make Rattata survive a powerful hit with 1 HP, use Endeavor to bring the opponent also down to 1 HP to match its own, then knock it out with a Quick Attack, a priority move that comes first. This combo has made the fandom jokingly view Rattata as a Memetic Badass.
• LET ME SHOW YOU MY POKEMANS. ^ExplanationA caption accompanying image macros, usually Lolcats holding Pokémon cards.
• [x]eon ^Explanation In canon, Eevee can evolve into one of eight different 'mons, whose names all end with the suffix "-eon". Because of this, any word or name that just so happens to end with the same suffix will be jokingly suggested as a name for a hypothetical new Eeveelution◊, such as the flying-type Eeveelution being called "Pigeon", Eevee receiving enough monetary donations to evolve into "Patreon", or a French Stone making it evolve into "Napoleon".
  • Brick^ExplanationIt's often been joked that Eevee will evolve into a Ghost-type by throwing a brick at it.
• Doduo used Fly!^ExplanationDoduo and its evolution Dodrio have no wings and are based on flightless birds, yet ironically are considered Flying-types and are able to learn the move Fly. Fans have since joked about how such a feat could be achieved, with a common joke being that Doduo spins its two heads around like a helicopter.
• Marillisan/Mr. Azumarill. ^ExplanationThis internet meme appears on the Pixiv website. It depicts muscular-build Azumarill (mostly anthropomorphic) doing some Hulking Out actions. The Lethal Joke meme first appeared in 2010, but it faded out quickly. It got some resurgence following the introduction of Fairy-type, and became an Ascended Fanon since.
• Slowpoke has lent itself to a number of memes:
  • Slowpoke bases ^ExplanationOn /tg/, it's popular to draw other characters as Slowpokes. One example is the Commissar Slowpoke◊, used to respond to "heresy".
  • Slowpoke can be slipped into all sorts of crazy scenarios, as long as he's slow^note we mean "slow" literally here, and not as a euphemism for "stupid" about it. One classic imageboard example had Slowpoke making post twenty six million and one, asking, "Am I too late for 25M GET?" The VG Cats side comic Super Effective has Slowpoke reporting the "breaking news" of Elvis's death.
    • One particularly notable instance had a poster decide that he didn't have a Slowpoke slow enough to respond to someone, and thus posted two years later◊, much to the confusion of others.
  • Pokémon + The World Ends with You = Zetta Slowpoke. ^ExplanationThe Catchphrase Of A TWEWY Character + "You're So Zetta Slow" and the Pokémon Slowpoke.
  • Slowpoke is also the target of an image macro series, with the top caption reading "Hey guys, did you hear?" or a variation of it, and the bottom caption being something that happened long ago or is considered old news.
  • A picture of Slowpoke, often with a caption of "Slowpoke, slowpoke slowwww..." ^ExplanationSlowpoke is the slowest Pokémon (mentally), so slow that it takes five seconds for it to feel pain. There's a tendency for trolls to bring up old, resolved issues just to start drama.
  • The caption "I see what you did there." with Slowpoke. ^ExplanationA way to respond to Fridge Brilliance.
  • Time Oblivious Slowpoke◊ ^ExplanationAn image of Slowpoke edited to make it look old-timey, with it having a top hat, monocle, and mustache in a sepia tone. It's a lesser used variation compared to other Slowpoke memes, and is sometimes posted with a caption indicating very old news (older news than the normal Slowpoke memes, at least).
• PRAISE BE TO THE LLAMA GOD!^ExplanationArceus, the Olympus Mon often described as the creator of the universe, has often been compared to a llama appearance-wise by fans.
  • The golden ring encircling Arceus has also drawn some jokes suggesting that Arceus got stuck in a fence or a hula hoop.
  • The very idea of capturing basically the creator god itself and making it fight for you has been widely memed, and even more so upon introducing Pokémon-amie, where you can pet and cuddle a literal god and feed it Poké-Puffs.
• IT'S A BLASTOISE. WITH A MONOCLE. ^note An article hyping up a Blastoise with a monocle edited onto it as a godlike and all-powerful being. Most likely an attempt at a Forced Meme, as it doesn't seem to have caught on.
• DELELELELELELE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOP! ^ExplanationKricketune's cry as represented by text. This one ascended in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, where an Alpha Kricketune's cry appears this way in text.
• Poképarents ^ExplanationA series of Image Macros that portray certain Pokémon as parents of various attitudes, including Charizard as a father that's never satisfied, Blastoise as a dad that's always understanding and fun, Ninetales as a mom who occasionally goes after her own, and Gardevoir as an attractive mom (naturally, since it's Gardevoir we're talking about) who is in turn pursued.
• "Entei says: Everything is ok now". ^ExplanationA Brazilian man posted a since viral post about how Entei is the poster's spirit animal, to the point of once showing up in his dream to say "Ta Tudo Bem Agora" ("It's all ok now"). Cue image macros of Entei saving the day in various scenarios, captioned with either the original Portugese or an English translation of the phrase.
• "Magikarp! Use Splash Attack!" ^ExplanationA popular Newgrounds animation where Red and Blue fight with two Magikarps. Since they only know Splash, the battle keeps going on and on and on...
  • Use Hyper Beam!... WTF do you mean you don't know Hyper Beam?!
  • I SWEAR TO GOD WHEN I EVOLVE I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL ^ExplanationMagikarp is widely derided as one of the most pathetic Pokémon ever, with poor stats and an abysmal movepool. However, all of that changes when it evolves into Gyarados; an incredibly powerful, perpetually angry dragon-like Pokémon.
• Ekans backwards. Arbok backwards. Muk backwards. ^ExplanationEkans = Snake, Arbok = Kobra, Muk = Well…
  • Gyarados backwards is "Sodarayg" (pronounced "Soda Rage"). ^ExplanationA joking response to the meme above. Has become a meme itself.
  • GIRAFARIG BACKWARDS IS GIRAFARIG ^ExplanationWell, it is true…
• No one picks Bulbasaur. ^ExplanationJoke at how many players of the Kanto games pick Charmander, therefore making the rival pick Squirtle, leaving Bulbasaur the odd Pokémon out. Bulbasaur's Grass/Poison dual-typing doesn't help either.
  • No one will pick Grookey ^ExplanationSimilar joke that started after the fire and water Gen VIII starters quickly became way more popular than the grass-type.
• BUNEARY HATES YOU WITH THE STRENGTH OF IMPRISONED GODS^ExplanationWhile most Pokémon have a base friendship of 70, Buneary starts out with a base friendship of 0: notably, the only non-legendary with this distinction. As such, the fandom spawned jokes that Buneary's hatred of the player rivals even the divine fury of beings like Mewtwo or Arceus, or joking that Buneary just happens to be very Tsundere.
• [Picture of an obese person] A wild Snorlax appeared! ^ExplanationSnorlax are large, fat Pokémon infamous for their extreme weight and laziness. Thus, the phrase "a wild Snorlax appeared!" has captioned many images of fat people.
  • Use the Heavy Balls! ^ExplanationAnother joke attached to images of fat people, since Heavy Balls are Poké Balls that work better on heavy Pokémon.
    • THE ULTRA BALLS. USE THEM.
  • MAN THE HARPOONS!
• Bidoof, Bidoof, Bidoof is on fire. ^ExplanationA reference to "The Roof is on Fire", using Bidoof instead. Variants have Bidoof and Squirtle singing different song lyrics referencing fire. Referenced in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers, although no one said that line.
  • …I'm dying Squirtle. ^ExplanationThe most famous and quoted line of the original Bidoof is on Fire comic, said by Bidoof in the last panel. In variations, the line is usually unchanged.
  • Bidoof itself has become a major fandom meme over how weak it is (inspiring the Com Mons entry), with people ironically calling it a Memetic Badass. This became an Ascended Meme in 2021 with the official Pokémon YouTube channel posting a Bidoof-themed parody of the infamous "Never Gonna Give You Up" song.
• Vaporeon = Vape^ExplanationLinking Vaporeon to something vaping-related had become an internet meme via fanarts and edits, but this didn't really take off so much until recently.
• Wooper and Poker Face^ExplanationWooper's face, especially the earlier artworks, bears resemblance to Poker Face, a term for The Stoic blank expressions.
• This◊ ^ExplanationAn image of Wooper from Professor Oak's speech in Crystal that was paused at a point so that only the word "This" was visible in the text box. Good to use when something you like happens. Even Pokémon's official Twitter account acknowledged the meme. Another version has been done with Paldean Wooper
  • Not this◊^ExplanationAn edit of the above, so that Wooper is sad instead. Of course, this is used for the inverse of the above.
  • Followed by "So This", in which Wooper is dressed as Sothis.
• The chance of getting this error on Bulbapedia was so common that on April Fool's Day 2010, the forum skin changed to that of the error page.
• Cynthia's pedophilia and awesomeness. Everyone's her bitch. ^ExplanationCynthia has become well-known for how hard it is to fight her (perfect IV's, her Pokémon are generally of tough to fight species, her moves), her general personality, and her behavior. She's commonly seen as a stalker due to how many games she pops up in, and how she always appears where you are. This may be an Ascended Meme if her Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure! version means anything.
• A SPY SAPPIN' MAH SENTRET! ^ExplanationDue to Sentret being based off the word "sentry" and the Gen 2 remakes releasing around the time of Team Fortress 2's popularity, people have mashed up Sentret with the memetic "Spy's sappin' my sentry!" quote.
• "PokéPuns" ^ExplanationThese are puns which incorporate Pokemon names into sentences. They are usually represented by image macros where the image of a Pokemon replaces the part of a sentence that's supposed to be the pun. They gained a status separate from other puns due to the sheer number of them back in the day; below is just a handful of the many that exist.
  • I'm not gonna Raichu◊ a love song...
  • Cause you asked Furret.◊
    • Cause you Nidoran… Uxie.
    • The above three get even better when you realize Sara Bareilles is the same artist who sang a love song titled "I Choose You".
  • I turn on my Charmander pants come right off.
  • That Ho-Oh's me money.
  • I smacked Heracross the face.
  • I Pikachu in the shower.◊
  • So I thought I was playing Spinda bottle with these girls. I figure I'd get to Smoochum up…
  • But first, lemme take Azelf-ie.
  • I must Axew a question.
  • Wake me up before you Gogoat.
  • I made him an offer◊ he couldn't Bulbasaur.
  • Don't drop that Dedenne, eyyy, don't drop that Dedenne~
• FOCUS MISS! ^In-gameIn the games, Focus Blast had a 70% accuracy for a large 120 damage special move. Despite its accuracy, it was still common for players to put on their Pokémon (mainly high Special Attack) as a risky insurance policy. Focus Blast has a very large distribution to many Pokémon that isn't just Fighting-types. Pokémon whose movepools (mainly Same-Type Attack Bonus) won't do much against certain Pokémon types (or combination types) can use this move with chances of doing super-effective damage to 5 types their movepool or typing can't handle, especially with Hidden Power gone from Generation VIII. Unlike the other types that have powerful but inaccurate special moves (i.e. Blizzard and Thunder), there are very few alternatives for special fighting and the ones that exist lack distribution; those who have access to elemental hitters can also use their weaker-yet-strong-and-accurate counterparts (i.e. Ice Beam and Thunderbolt). The only problem is that players took the Focus Blast chance only to miss, thus losing a Pokémon after the opposition retaliated. Example: Alakazam or Gengar vs. Tyranitar. If Alakazam or Gengar hits Tyranitar with a Focus Blast, it has a chance to OHKO Tyranitar. However, if Focus Blast misses or Tyranitar is holding a Focus Sash, Tyranitar OHKOs Alakazam or Gengar with Crunch effortlessly. One can say that using Dazzling Gleam would be better, but Dazzling Gleam has 80 Base Power and Focus Blast has 120; doing 2/3rds of the damage (and not hitting a 4x weakness, thus dealing even less damage) will practically guarantee that Tyranitar will survive a hit and be able to retaliate (which, of course, means that Alakazam or Gengar would get knocked out).
  • If it's not 100% accurate, it's 50% accurate.^Explanation:Pokétuber MandJTV made this quote in his reaction to SmallAnt's Beating Platinum without Taking Damage playthrough. There was a point where Ant had to fight a Drifblim with the ability Aftermath which would cause damage to his Floatzel's priority Aqua Jet, something he was using to win without damage. Ant settled with using Rock Tomb, a move with only 80% accuracy, and missed the first attempt, causing him to reset from the last checkpoint. Thankfully the second attempt landed, but Michael did remark about the bad accuracy, leading to him to say this iconic quote. Fans quickly picked up on that and the quote is a top comment on a Youtube clip of the anime "Focus Miss" scene.
  • Also, STONE MISS.^ExplanationStone Edge is a good-powered physical Rock move popular for Rock coverage. However, it only has 80% accuracy, causing fans to exaggerate how often it misses.
• Smugleaf ^ExplanationA Fan Nickname given to the snake-like Snivy — the Grass starter for Black and White, whose official English name also coincidentally began as a nickname — upon its reveal due to its default facial expression, which sports half-lidded eyes and a smirk that makes it appear endearingly arrogant. (Which doesn't stray too far from the Snivy line's actual description in the Pokedex, meaning they are Smug Snakes in the literal sense.) This led to Snivy, or "Smugleaf", becoming the most popular of Generation 5's three Starters, while earning a reputation as a Memetic Troll that thinks of itself as superior to everyone else and likes to insult others for the hell of it. However, it later became a Discredited Meme due to constant overuse, and referencing "Smugleaf" today will likely get you accused of trying to shoehorn it.
  • Snivy Excalibur ^Explanation Due to its small stature and tear-shaped head, Snivy also drew many comparisons to Excalibur from the Soul Eater series (who is also given a similar characterization, on top of everyone finding him utterly insufferable), inspiring several pieces of fan art which depict Snivy in Excalibur's outfit.
• Gym Leader/Elite Four Memes:
  • Birdkeeper Lance^ExplanationLance is famed in-game as a master Dragon trainer, but since his team—Gyarados (Water/Flying), Aerodactyl (Rock/Flying), 2 Dragonairs (Dragon/Flying), and Dragonite (Dragon)—uses "symbolic/thematic" Dragons to fill out the roster, this means the majority typing is Flying.
  • Flint is Ronald McDonald. ^ExplanationFlint, a member of the Sinnoh Elite Four, has a huge red afro, and his outfit incorporates large amounts of yellow, much like the mascot of McDonald's.
  • Volkner: Fourth Hokage. ^ExplanationVolkner, a Sinnoh gym leader, greatly resembles the 4th hokage from Naruto.
• An Indian Elephant.^ExplanationRaichu's and Gastly's Fire Red Pokédex entries both, for absolutely no reason, mention that they are capable of defeating "an Indian elephant," one of the few mentions of real-world animals anywhere in the game. Given a nod with Raichu's default form's Pokédex entry in Sun saying that it can knock out an Indian elephant when agitated. We got an actual Indian Elephant line in Sword and Shield, named Cufant and Copperajah. And hilariously enough, they're Steel-type, meaning that Gastly can't do anything Poison-related to it, and it holds a type disadvantage to Raichu. Legends: Arceus even changes the entry to reference Copperajah.
• ...Nidorino. ^ExplanationSomeone managed to make an absurd love song using every single one of the 151 Generation I Pokémon, except for a certain Pokémon. That's right, all 5 others of its own family, too. Said song was popular around the early 2010s.
• Watashi wa N desu ^ExplanationComparing N to L of Death Note due to their One-Letter Name.
• Solid Snivy, Tepig Boss, and Revolver Oshawott. ^ExplanationEver since the Unova starters' English names were revealed, the Metal Gear jokes came.
  • Oshawhat ^ExplanationIn contrast to Snivy and Tepig, the origins of Oshawott's name are a little less obvious. Bulbapedia offers some theories.
• A musical meme going to the song Fushigi na Kusuri involves making a trainer feed their Pokémon a Carbos, the Pokémon growing into a muscular freak, exploding from a Metapod and then turning into a Magical Girl. It looks like they are trying to do this for EVERY POKÈMON YET.
• O++O ^ExplanationChandelure's face, and possibly yours after you realize it.
• There's a Foongus Amoongus.◊ ^ExplanationMashing up the names of Foongus and Amoongus to produce a punny spin on the "there's a fungus amongus" phrase.
• GAZE UPON IT AND DESPAIR ^ExplanationWhen talking about Stunfisk, the Pokémon is (very, very sarcastically) treated as majestic, beautiful, amazing in every way, and cool.
• Maractus and Mr. Krabs. ^ExplanationSomeone wrote a fanfic for them. It has since become very popular on 4Chan's /vp/ board.
• Implying owls are birds. ^ExplanationSomeone argued against the Hoothoot line being the Johto regional bird with this, sparking a very popular running joke within the fandom. This is possibly inspired by the line being overshadowed by the Pidgey and Spearow lines in its own region.
  • Owls are not birds, but ghosts. ^ExplanationRowlet's final evolution, Decidueye, ditches the Flying-type for a Ghost-type.
• Meloetta and icing, specifically vanilla icing. ^ExplanationYoshizilla Rhedosaurus wrote an erotic fanfic based on Meloetta pleasuring herself with vanilla icing, which was somewhat inspired by the Merry Melody segment based on Elmer Fudd and his obsession with grilled cheese. It turned Meloetta into a huge hit on 4Chan's /vp/ board.
• Gen V's Pokémon have become rather popular for references to Courage the Cowardly Dog. Cofagrigus has been linked with Ramses, for instance. ^ExplanationThe joke is that Cofagrigus is a sarcophagus and Ramses was a pharaoh (RETURN THE SLAB).
  • Golurk's appearance has been compared to Randy, a Humongous Mecha who sucked at enslaving planets.
  • KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! The mon' in gauze! The mon' in gauze! ^ExplanationThe Pokémon Basculin resembles Eustace from the show, and Cofagrigus properly fills the Ramses role.
    • And "What's yer offer?!".
• When N's full name was announced (Natural Harmonia Gropius, the last sounding similar to Tropius), people took to drawing him as a Tropius, or shopping his head on a Tropius. It doesn't help that Tropius is included in the new Unova Pokédex.
  • Also writing the full name as sign of negation, shock, or disbelief.
• Excadrill lends itself to a lot of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann references.
• Professor House ^ExplanationHouse uses Arceus as a stand-in for God in S08E08 "Perils of Paranoia", something dedicated fans do. Cue the fandom's Squee for being such a subtle, even obscure Shout-Out.
• These new Pokémon look like Digimon. ^ExplanationA common criticism of newer designs is that they don't feel like Pokémon. The complaints started with Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and kicked into overdrive when Pokémon X and Y introduced Mega Evolutions.
• Pokémon Trainer Gray. ^ExplanationA thread on /vp/ featured an edit of the Ace Trainer sprite from Pokéstar Studios to make it look like Light Yagami from Death Note. Someone named the character Gray, and a backstory was made, involving a relation to Professor Juniper and his starter being stolen by Team Plasma. Almost everyone believed it, and someone even went far enough to make him his own battle music.
• I'M ABOUT TO UNLEASH MY RAGE! ^ExplanationA line Hugh says in the English dub of the Black 2 and White 2 animated trailer, and on the Plasma Frigate in the game itself. Even though the exact line has only been said in those instances, it has become heavily associated with him, for better and for worse.
• Welcome to the Salty Spitoon. how tough are you? I went into Mt. Moon. With no repels. ^ExplanationBased on a Spongebob Squarepants episode. Has varying examples of how tough a player is.
• Good/Bad Luck Trainer. ^ExplanationUsed with various examples of good or bad luck in the game, like "finds a shiny. battery dies."
• I want to put my Onix in your Cloyster. ^ExplanationGrew out of what the aforementioned Pokémon resemble. Especially after one NPC pair in HeartGold and SoulSilver send out those Pokémon together. Specifically a pair of Lovers.
  • I want to Squirtle your Jigglypuffs. ^ExplanationAnother dirty joke with Pokémon names that cropped up, especially since Jigglypuff is round, much like a certain body part.
• It will evolve into a Fire-Fighting type. ^ExplanationAfter three straight generations of Fire starters ending up as Fire-Fighting types, fans have become extremely wary of the type combination resurfacing for new starters.
• Virizion Wireless^ExplanationVirizion's name is a few letters off from Verizon. Cue several memes about the phone company with its name subbed in.
• ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOFROAKIE!^ExplanationExtension of the Hypnotoad meme after the reveal of the Gen VI starters.
• PERVERTED MEI/ROSA STRIKES AGAIN! ^ExplanationDue to a particular artist and few followers on the Image Booru sites drawing a series of pictures of Mei/Rosa, the female protagonist of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, being portrayed as a perverted zoophile who goes around molesting Pokémon (so far just the 1st generation). While she doesn't outright harm them, she just can't keep her hands off of them. Obviously, it's played for laughs, though the Pokémon themselves would disagree.
• What the underground part of Diglett looks like. One common meme has Diglett standing up to reveal a huge, muscular body. Others feature Eldritch Abominations. The Cheezburger Pokememes page has one of these each "Diglett Wednesday."
• During one of the US presidential debates in 2012, a Twitter comment said it should be settled with a Pokémon battle. Cue meme of the candidates starting a battle.◊ "Romney would like to debate!"
• Gen V used Baton Pass! ^ExplanationA picture of the Gen V starters passing a baton to the Gen VI starters.
• Jessie/Mewtwo fusion ^ExplanationAfter the reveal of Mega Mewtwo, a Jessie + Mewtwo fusion meme popped up due to the new Mew having a long head-thing resembling Jessie's hair.
• No es fake ^ExplanationErupted during the waiting time of Gen VI. Hiro, one of the two leakers of the Gen V Pokédex and a Latin American. One of his screenshots contains the infamous words, and whenever someone tries to make a fake leak or even if he himself posts, someone is bound to post this quote. To add some silly stereotyping, they usually add a Ludicolo with the post.
• Random Lines Challenge. ^ExplanationA picture on Pokémemes mocking new Pokémon designs and names by saying random lines and blind typing were being used to create them. The community ran with it for a while, and a few of them became pretty popular.
  • Someone has "won" that challenge.
• Crobatman and Robin/Fletchling. ^ExplanationSurfaced after the reveal of the robin Pokémon, Fletchling.
• You know what I don't like about this thing? It's just a fucking dog. That's it. They drew a real life dog and made it cartoony. Seriously, it looks like someone took my mom's dog and put it in the game. Older Pokémon actually had personalities to them. They had quirks that separated them from actual animals. This thing? It's. Just. A. DOG.^Explanation:The first time this was used, it was to complain about Herdier's design. Nowadays, it's used to parody complaints about every Pokémon ever, often substituting "dog" for something else such as calling Toucannon "my mom's toucan". It saw a particular resurgence when Boltund (essentially a cartoonish Laborador Retriever with black markings on its legs and lower body) was leaked.
  • Because of this, Herdier is known in some places as "my mom's dog."
• A wild Nicki Minaj appeared! ^ExplanationJynx has often been compared (negatively) to the pop star, with her garish clothing and makeup, and Pokédex entries stating how her singing is unintelligible to humans.
• Shiny Garchomp. ^ExplanationWhen people bring up shiny colorations of certain Pokémon, expect to see Garchomp brought up. Shiny Garchomp looks nearly identical◊ to standard Garchomp,◊ except for being a slight shade darker. It's often seen as an example of "bad" shiny colors.
  • Also, shiny Gyarados. ^ExplanationIn Gold/Silver, the games that introduced shiny Pokémon, there was a guaranteed encounter with a red Gyarados (its shiny coloration) at one point. Given their rarity, for a lot of players, this was the only shiny Pokémon they'll ever encounter.
  • Shiny male Salandit.^ExplanationSalandit has a gender ratio of seven males per one female, and only the females can evolve into the much stronger Salazzle. This ratio carries over to shinies, which means that some shiny hunters may hunt Salandit for a long, long time until they finally find a shiny… only to find that their shiny Salandit is actually a male. As such, shiny female Salandit are among the most sought-after of rare shinies.
  • Similarly, shiny male Combee. ^ExplanationLike Salandit, Combee has a seven-to-one gender ratio in favor of males, but only females evolve. Therefore, a shiny male Combee is one of the few shinies that nobody wants to encounter.
  • Uncatchable shiny Poochyena^ExplanationYes, the Poochyena in the tutorial sequence of the Gen III games is not shiny-locked and can be encountered shiny, except you can't catch it because this is before you get your first Pokéballs. Many shiny hunters resetting for a shiny starter sometimes run into this unfortunate circumstance, much to their frustration.
  • Also, uncatchable shiny Ralts. ^ExplanationIn Gen III, Wally's Ralts can show up as shiny in the catching tutorial, and of course the player can't catch it. To make matters worse, the rest of Wally's enconters are scripted properly, so his Ralts/Gardevoir will immediately become non-shiny afterwards.
  • Green Shinies^ExplanationFor whatever reason, there are a large amount of green shiny Pokémon, and many of them are disliked by a lot of players for looking ugly, like with Nidoqueen and Dragonite.
• Go Go Mega Rangers!^ExplanationThe music in that trailer as well as the final shot with all five of them Mega Evolving (sans Blaziken) have people say it being similar to Power Rangers, or even being joked as Denji Sentai Megaranger. Blaziken is apparently the Sixth Ranger.
• Pokémon fusion pictures, ever since the Alex's Pokémon Fusion site went up. ^ExplanationThese are pictures that fuse the features of two Pokémon together. Alex's Pokémon Fusion site grew popular for providing an easy way to do this without photo manipulation. Many fanart has been made of the fusions, usually making them more realistic.
• Goomy is love. Goomy is life. ^ExplanationThe fandom exploded into Squee upon seeing Goomy; as such, this quote is often repeated.
  • goomy pls ^ExplanationMutation of the popular Dolan meme quote: "gooby pls"
  • Goomy looks like Haro ^ExplanationDue to striking resemblance, there are several memes comparing this gooey Dragon-type to the cute mechanical mascot of Sunrise, who made the Gundam franchise.
• WHEN YOU WALK AWAY ^ExplanationWhen Klefki, a key ring Pokémon, was first leaked onto the Internet, 4chan got a little carried away with the Kingdom Hearts jokes.
  • Xerneas is Serena's Nobody ^ExplanationXerneas is an anagram of Serena with an X added at the beginning. For the aforementioned persons who were making Kingdom Hearts jokes towards Klefki, having your name be an anagram of someone else's name with an X thrown in it means you're a member of Organization XIII. It helps that Xerneas both alliterates and rhymes with Xemnas, the name of Organization XIII's leader.
• Pokémon Amie has become notorious for the ways in which some Pokémon receive maximum petting happiness may look a bit like inappropriate touching.◊
• Masterball Mega Electrode ^ExplanationA popular fakemon meme since the announcement of Mega Evolution depicts Mega Electrode looking like a Master Ball.
• Espurr's stare ^Explanation When the Psychic-type Espurr was revealed for Generation VI, fans quickly latched onto its most distinctive design trait; a blank, wide-eyed, unblinking expression resembling a Thousand-Yard Stare. This led to the Pokémon earning meme status, with many fans portraying it as a Memetic Psychopath, as well as prompting jokes about Espurr's stare being the result of witnessing eldritch truths and unfathomable evil, or being high off hallucigenic drugs. It also attracted a fair number of comparisons to Kyubey of Puella Magi Madoka Magica fame, who is also a sinister, cat-like Weasel Mascot with a similarly vacant stare.
• Looker is the Tenth Doctor ^ExplanationFans have noticed Looker's resemblance to the Doctor Who character.
• Raichu being ignored or forgotten is a common joke among the fanbase due to how Pikachu is super popular and being given "favors". With Dedenne's existence, some even humored on the idea that Raichu will be retconned as Dedenne's evolution. There was much rejoicing when Pokémon Sun and Moon finally gave Raichu its own Alolan form.
• Still no bottlenose dolphin Pokémon. ^ExplanationRefers to several species not tackled by Game Freak yet, with bottlenose dolphins being one of the most common requests and still not appearing for eight generations despite the overabundance of other aquatic Pokémon. Officially a Discredited Meme as of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, which introduces the bottlenose dolphin Pokémon Finizen and its evolution Palafin.
• Larry. ^spoilersA short while after Zygarde Cell◊ was revealed, since its name wasn't revealed, fans (for whatever reason) have since dubbed it Larry.
• Comparing Zygarde to Cell due to its greenness, percentage, and its final form being "Complete".
  • Complete Zygarde also became subject to fanart depicting it as a Gundam shortly after its reveal due to its appearance.
• /u/(Pokémon)_FUCKER^ExplanationA user called SHINX_FUCKER has become a respected figure in Reddit's /r/Pokemon board, recently even becoming a moderator, despite his rather… "interesting" comments about Shinx. Other accounts about different Pokémon have popped up everywhere.
• SOMBRERO-WEARING PINEAPPLE DUCKS!^ExplanationA very humorous description of Ludicolo, used in this Top 10 video, quickly became popular for its ridiculousness.
• Heard you were talkin shit^ExplanationRowlet's introductory video featured it turning its head around to look back at its trainer before turning it back to face the opposition again. People began adding text to gifs of the animation, with that particular phrase being the most common.
• Grumpy Litten^ExplanationShortly after the reveal of the Alola starters in Sun and Moon, some people compared their first impressions on Fire-type Litten to the memetic Grumpy Cat due to his angry-looking face.
• Litten is lit fam / Get Litten^Explanation"_______ is lit fam" was a common mid-2010s phrase used to denote something that is exciting or worthy of excitement. Given Litten's name, it was only a matter of time before the internet jumped on it, and it didn't take much longer for it to become a common subject of deep fried memes.
• Popplio Defense Squad ^ExplanationUpon the reveal of the starters for Gen 7, the water starter, Popplio, was not widely liked in terms of popularity. Some people took this as a call to arms in order to make sure their "special boy" gets the attention, protection, and love that he deserves. Ironically, people quickly warm up to its final form, Primarina.
• Toothpaste Deer and Bacon Bird ^ExplanationIncreasingly popular names for Shiny Xerneas◊ and Shiny Yveltal◊, respectively, which are colored in such a way that makes it look like they are made out of said substances. Cue Nightmare Fuel for the latter.
• Yungoos and Donald Trump ^ExplanationWithin minutes of Yungoos' reveal, several memes popped up comparing it to Trump because of its head design resembling his comb-over and most of its body being orange — which has been part of Trump's image for a long time.
  • Detective Gumshoos ^ExplainationA common joke amongst Pokémon and Ace Attorney fans is making Gumshoos Detective Gumshoe because of their similar names. The jokes started popping up even more when Rowlet's evolution, Dartrix, was revealed, which bears a strong resemblance to Gumshoe's boss, Miles Edgeworth.
• Pikipek and Pearl ^ExplanationWhile comparing Pearl to birds is normal for the Steven Universe fandom, Pikipek is frequently compared to her because of their similar head shapes.
• Bulbasaur is a Water-type Pokémon.^ExplanationIn an interview on a certain Philippine TV magazine show, a certain Pokémon fan happened to mention that Bulbasaur, a Grass/Poison-type, is a Water-type. Suffice to say, the Internet exploded on this.
  • Grass-types Pidgey and Rattata. ^ExplanationAn even worse error, courtesy of a very well-known newscaster in the Philippines on her own magazine show.
• Alolan Professor Oak. ^ExplanationA Sun/Moon trailer released on September 7th, 2016 revealed Samson Oak, Professor Oak's cousin who looks identical to him save for longer hair and a darker tan, almost like a few Alolan forms being Palette Swaps of their old selves.
• Ultra Beasts don't look like Pokémon! ^ExplanationA particular form of Fandumb centering around Ultra Beasts in S/M is the fact that their designs don't look like conventional Pokémon… even though them not looking like Pokémon is the point of them. Naturally, this phrase is now used by fans to poke fun at the nitpickier parts of the fandom.
• Sun and Moon's Bizarre Adventure. ^ExplantionA lot of fans have pointed out the similarities to the anime, from Z-Move poses to the bizarre-looking Ultra Beasts.
  • Thanks to a certain technique for hatching eggs, jokes about the Steel Ball Run have been cracked. It certainly helps that the protagonist will strike a 「Pose」 if you spin them in place for a little, that one of the potentially strongest Steel-type moves that involves spinning to inflict tremendous damage is called the 「Gyro Ball」, and that you need to perform the 「Egg-Hatching Spin」 on the back of a Tauros, rather like how Johnny's Spin is best done from horseback.
  • The JoJo-mania continues with Lycanroc's exclusive Z-Move "Splintered Stormshards", where it summons hundreds of sharp, pointed stone shards to surround the enemy before sending them all at them. You can practically hear the wolf say "Soshite, toki wo ugokidasu."
  • Hilariously enough, over 6 years later a JoJo part set in Hawaii would be released.
• No sitting = Literally unplayable, pre-order cancelled ^ExplanationIn the S/M demo, it was found out that the ability to sit on chairs introduced in Gen VI had been removed. Despite being such a minor detail, people were rather annoyed by this fact, jokingly saying that it ruined the game.
  • You have to press A to enter a building?! LITERALLY UNPLAYABLE^ExplanationLike the above, this was a new feature discovered in the S/M demo that fans jokingly proclaimed ruined the game.
• Female Popplio ^ExplanationPopplio's evolutions, Brionne and especially Primarina, gained a lot of notability as very feminine and attractive cute monster girls. People are very quick to point out that not only can Primarina be male, they are dominantly male with a 7-to-1 Male/Female ratio. This has caused most fans to deliberately soft reset at the beginning of the game for female Popplio, as well as trading for them on the GTS.
  • Fans also compared the evolution of a male Popplio to the mermaid-like Primarina to the "mer-MAN!" scene from Zoolander.
• Kotori for Rowlet Evolution Confirmed◊ ^ExplanationRowlet has a very similar color scheme to that of Kotori Minami, whose Fan Nickname is Bird. Cue fans of both the Pokémon and Love Live franchises posting fan arts of Rowlet and Kotori together or outright stating that Kotori is Rowlet's final evolution.
  • Pokémon Idol Project◊ ^ExplanationMaki Nishikino and Umi Sonoda, both of whom has similar color schemes to those of Litten and Popplio, respectively, also get the same treatment as Kotori above.
• "Pokémon Of the World! Share Your Energy With Me!" ^explanationPrimarina's exclusive Z-Move Oceanic Operetta summons a gigantic, slow-moving ball of water and drops it on the opponent. It didn't take long for the Dragon Ball Z jokes and references to arise, due to the attack looking just like the Spirit Bomb, and jokingly just as effective, due to it moving so slowly.
  • [x] fucking dies. ^{explanation (SPOILERS)}Come Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, we got Ultra Necrozma, a Legendary with total stats surpassing Arceus, the supposed God of the Pokémon World, has a special Z-Crystal that acts more like a Mega Stone, and will visibly dry the Trainer when performing its exclusive Z-Move Light That Burns The Sky, a Pokémon World equivalent to a thermonuclear bomb powered by stolen light across multiple iterations of the same world. That over-the-top explosion at the end once again makes people question 'how the hell X Pokémon ONLY fainted after that', like the infamous Hyper Beam comic from Brawl in the Family.
• "What's wrong big boy?" ^{Explanation (slightly nsfw)}Comes from an edited image◊ from the blog Ask-Male-Sylveon (original image◊). Numerous◊ parodies◊ soon◊ followed.◊ It particularly gained traction with Tapu Lele due to one of these, and now Lele's commonly associated with "big boys" and indecent proposals towards them.

• Funny Jumpluff eat a Pepsi. ^ExplanationA Tumblr falsely claimed that if one zoomed in on the official art of Lumiose City, a Jumpluff drinking a Pepsi could be seen. Despite (or perhaps because of) the utter ridiculousness of the claim, the soda-drinking Jumpluff quickly ascended to memedom, with the line itself being a variation of the 'funny dog eat a pepsi' meme.
• UB Jenga ^ExplanationWith the reveal of Stakataka (otherwise known as UB Assembly), a Pokémon that resembles a neatly-arranged pile of bricks, it took very little time for the comparisons to Jenga to start.
• Tentaquil^ExplanationA fan-fictional Pokémon created when a 4chan user was asked to draw their fan favourite Pokémon without a reference, and the user replied with "tentaquil" when asked what it was. Became somewhat of an Ascended Meme after the 1997 Pokémon Gold and Silver beta was datamined, and Politoed's beta sprite looked almost exactly like it◊.
• Duraludon's design. ^ExplanationDuraludon is mocked by fans for its skyscraper-inspired design, being compared to an asthma inhaler, a lighter, a fridge, and even a PlayStation 5.
• Red being a Memetic Badass, and Ash being a Memetic Loser. ^ExplanationBased on the widespread misconception that Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak from the anime are the same people as "Red" and "Blue" from the games (though this is not without precedent as adaptations go), many players feel obliged to set the record straight by pointing out that Red won the Indigo League Tournament while Ash lost, and Red is generally portrayed as a much better trainer than Ash ever was. To preserve dramatic tension (and to make the main character more relatable), the anime depicted Ash losing quite a few Pokémon battles, which made sense for a relatively inexperienced child; by contrast, the original game had to end with Red becoming a Champion trainer, since players would have felt cheated otherwise. Though highly popular in the early years, it has slowly became a Discredited Meme as Ash would eventually become known for more grandiose feats as a trainer in later years, especially after he won the Alola League and assembled a powerful team that breaks all conventions in Journeys.
• The fact that dangerous villain team leaders have all lost to mere children.
• "Can you stop sexualizing my franchise FOR FIVE MINUTES?!"◊^ExplanationRule 34 of various Pokémon and characters springs up within hours, if not minutes, of a new generation or game's reveal. The fanbase felt it was starting to get old, however, with the release of Pokémon Sword and Shield and its subsequent lewding of the female player trainer and the starters.
• Observation: This is a GREAT opportunity for slaughter. ^ExplanationRegisteel's Pre Ass Kicking One Liner from a certain video. Caught on quickly and is now associated with the legendary battle theme from Gen 5, as that was the music for the video. Same goes for Registeel's Badass Boast towards Tapu Lele in the same video ("There is nothing you can do to me — do your worst"), and Keldeo's Fun with Subtitles ("You will suffer the pain of a thousand deaths by my sword").

• Hamilton the Charmander ^ExplanationFrom a viral YouTube video featuring a 91-year-old woman guessing the names of Pokémon. When she sees Charmander, she declares "I'll call him Hamilton".
• #ポケモンと生活/Life with Pokémon ^ExplanationSlice of life fanarts and photo's about what a person's life with their favorite Pokémon is like started making rounds in the Japanese fanbase.
• Vaporeon Copypasta◊ ^{Explanation (NSFW)}In December 4 of 2018, an anon on 4chan posted on the Pokémon-dedicated board /vp/ about how Vaporeon is supposedly sexually compatible with humans. Its over-analysis of the Eeveelution's abilities and moves in a sexual context and the sheer absurdity of it has made it a popular copypasta (especially on Reddit). The first part of the infamous copypasta ("Hey guys… did you know that…") is often posted whenever Vaporeon is discussed.
  • Hey guys, did you know that in terms of water based pokemon, Vaporeon is the most cool :) ^ExplanationA Bait-and-Switch of the above copypasta.
  • Now with a continuation... involving Umbreon (also NSFW).
  • Also has a wholesome counterpart about why Flareon is the most huggable Pokémon.
• THE SEX THOUGH^ExplanationAnother /vp/ one. The Pokémon Company had a virtual concert featuring Post Malone in February, where he sang some of his songs… including Circles. The whiplash of an event hosted by a percieved "kiddie brand" having this left some impact. Often associated with the Lugia that was in the background while Post was singing, due to it being Popular with Furries.
• Every Pokémon vs. one billion lions^ExplanationA popular Hypothetical Fight Debate that often boils down to the fantastical abilities of the Pokémon going up against the sheer amount of lions there are. When this is asked, expect to see a lot of arguments over it.
• Gardevoir Rule 34 ^ExplanationWhile many Pokémon have their share of Self-Fanservice, Gardevoir is particularly notorious for being the most sexualized Pokémon in fanart — due in no small part to resembling an elegant Cute Monster Girl in a ball gown. Its sheer "popularity" both within and outside the fandom has since become a◊ meme in itself◊, and fans like to lampshade how absurdly easy it is to find porn of Gardevoir on the Internet just by Googling its name (no, this is not an exaggeration), usually by portraying Gardevoir making that same mistake. By the time Sword and Shield introduced another similar Cute Monster Girl-like Pokémon named Hatterene, it had become common to make jokes about Gardevoir being completely desentizised to seeing itself in so much smutty fanart for so long, often in contrast to the more naive and horrified Hatterene (or any other newly-introduced character who attracts similar attention).
  • Gardevoir used Flash! ^ExplanationIn the games, the HM skill Flash normally involves the user unleashing a flash of bright to lower an opponent's accuracy. Within the fandom, the term is also used to refer to a series of image macros in which Gardevoir flashes someone in the sexual sense, treating its "dress" as an actual removable garment.
  • Gardevoir used Attract! ^ExplanationAnother move from the games, also used as an euphemism for Gardevoir acting lusty towards someone in general.
  • Gardevoir being added to the Humanlike egg group in the 8th generation resulted in memes and jokes about the situation, from "Real evolution in action!" to jokes about how trainers with Gardevoir waifus needed to take care to not end up with eggs.
  • The Pokéwaifu trio ^ExplanationLopunny and Hatterene — two other Cute Monster Girl-like creatures that resemble, respectively, a furry Playboy Bunny with wide hips and a small Grey alien-like creature with long hair forming the shape of a stereotypical "witch hat" and curvaceous body — are the only other 'mons that rival Gardevoir in terms of the sheer amount of attention they attract thanks to their designs, leading to a lot of fanart depicting the three together.
• Pokédex number 591 ^ExplanationThe Pokédex number belongs to Amoongus, whose name is very similar to the very memetic Among Us.
• Presion. ^ExplanationIn Latin America each time there's something involving the word "Presion" aka "Pressure" in Spanish, it would lead to reaction images with Dialga and/or Palkia who have said Ability screaming: "AAAAH lo digiste!" (You said it!).
• HELP ME, SPIRIT POKÉMON! ^ExplanationFrom a series of comics where people call in their "spirit Pokémon" to help them in everyday situations, with the results either being successful or not. It blew up around sites like Tumblr and DeviantArt in the early 2010s, with tons of comics and fanart being created.
• Pokémon According to X ^ExplanationAn image trend where Pokémon are intentionally misnamed. It started with a Funnyjunk post named "Pokémon According to My Mom", which labelled all of the Pokémon in the picture aside from Pikachu (who instead was labelled as "That one yellow mouse thing") as "Pikachu". The image spawned various derivatives that gave humorous, crazy, or strange names to Pokemon, and other versions sprung up for different fandoms, as well.
• Ditto dancing to "Conga" ^ExplanationA dancing Ditto sprite from Crystal became much more popular once it was featured on a website where multiple instances of the sprite danced to "Conga" by Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine, especially due to a video which showcases it.
• Some say Charmander is the best, some say it's Squirtle ^ExplanationAn image template with 3 panels; the first two panels contain these lines and accompanying images of Charmander and Squirtle. The third panel has an image of Bulbasaur and the text "But deep down we all know that", making people believe that the next line will say Bulbasaur is the best Gen 1 starter, only for a completely unrelated sentence to be listed.
• Fire starters evolve into furries^ExplanationPrior to Skeledirge, the final evolution for every single Fire-type starter has been bipedal, and while Charizard and Typhlosion are obviously still animalistic (Typhlosion even has moments where it gets on all fours, like this◊), and Blaziken and Infernape can be excused by birds already being bipedal and monkeys being related to humans, Emboar, Delphox, Incineroar, and Cinderace are undoubtedly anthromorphic versions of animals that are typically quadrupeds. Somewhat of a Discredited Meme due to Skeledirge being a quadruped that evolves from bipeds, although it does rear on its hind legs to perform its Signature Move, Torch Song.
• Some people have noted that Fuecoco seems like an Underground Monkey version of Totodile, leading to this.
  • Similarly, there's the "Croc Club." Along with Fuecoco and Totodile being friends, it also includes Sandile hanging out with them.
• Sprigagito leaking the no fly list/"holy fucking bingle, what?!"^ExplanationIn January 2023, Swiss hacker maia arson crimew gained access to and leaked the TSA's no fly list, with the quoted reaction paired with a picture that featured a Sprigagito plush. As a result, it didn't take long for the phrase and the word "bingle" in particular to become associated with Sprigagito in general.
• Animatronic Pikachu^ExplanationDuring the February 2023 Pokémon Presents presentation, TPCi president Tsunekazu Ishihara was seen accompanied by an animatronic doll of Pikachu that consistently did Idle Animations and occasionally made reactions. Many fans found themselves unnerved by its presence, leading to jokes about Pikachu being a Hostile Animatronic, or even an escaped attraction from Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.
• Metagross is a turtle^ExplanationA joke that originates from a meme where someone talked about how there was at least one turtle Pokémon in every region besides Johto and used Metagross as an example for Hoenn, despite Metagross not looking like a turtle, Toarkoal also being included as a Hoenn turtle Pokémon, and claiming Johto doesn't have a turtle Pokémon despite Shuckle resembling a turtle more than Metagross does. It became a popular joke to call Metagross a turtle.
• Magcargo's body temperature being 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit. ^ExplanationSince this temperature is almost twice as hot as the sun, people can't help but bring up how anyone can be right next to Magcargo when they should be spontaneously combusting because of it.
• You did it! You crazy son of a bitch, you did it! ^Explanation Originates from on oft-repeated story about someone who bred and released lots of Lapras because many of their early Pokédex entries stated the species was on the verge of extinction. This adorable tale became an Ascended Meme in Generation, VII, where some of Lapras' Pokédex entries instead say the species was subject to protective regulations and was so cherished, there are now too many Lapras and they're decimating the populations of fish Pokémon.
• Pokémon Infinite Fusion^Explanation A Pokemon fan game which allows you to fuse any Pokemon with any other Pokemon, resulting in hundreds of thousands of unique Pokemon complete with original sprites. The sheer customizability of your party led to the game recently becoming popular to stream on social media. However, the masses quickly noticed that of the many, many artists who lent their work to the project, some decided to have fun with the designs and forgo originality in favor of pop culture references. Among the more notable ones were "Lopunny + Snorlax = Big Chungus", "Gardevoir + Deoxys = Hatsune Miku", and "Any member Chimchar line + any member of the Breloom line = Luffy"
• Octopath Hunters are Pokemon Trainers^ExplanationH'aanit from Octopath Traveler and Ochette from its sequel, who both are Hunters by default, have the Talent of capturing enemies and use them in battle. Fans quickly pointed out how similar this skill is with the general combat in Pokemon and came with the joke that the two are Pokemon Trainers. Ochette even has to choose a starter!
• Dancing Psyduck toy ^ExplanationA meme that started in China after a dancing Psyduck toy was released at KFC where people like to put speech bubbles on his hands. Some of the popular messages include complaining about overwork.
• Wooper and Whoppers/Wooper Wooper Wooper ^ExplanationFollowing the virality of Burger King's "Whopper Whopper Whopper" ad, many people noticed that the Pokemon Wooper's name is similar to the word "whopper". As a result, many memes using the song, especially the DiamondBrickZ remix, feature Wooper in them.
• Dong Wiglett ^Explanation When Wiglett's plushie was revealed, many fans online had a field day with it due to its rather suggestive looking design.
• Emperor Palpitoad. ^Explanation"Palpitoad" sounding similar to "Palpatine" has led to more than one crossover with Star Wars.
• Obamasnow ^ExplanationA pun crossing over Barack Obama with Abomasnow due to the similarities in names, and is typically accompanied by an image of Abomasnow with Obama's faced edited onto it.
• Regitube^Explanation Originates from a TikTok video posted by a river tubing company depicting one of their employees trying to put as many inflatable tubes on his body as possible, which people noted looked a lot like one of the Regis. Cue people dubbing the result "Regitube" and claiming it's a real Pokémon, even making videos of supposed in-game fights with it.
• Sarcastically referring to the series as Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh!. Monster Rancher, etc.^ExplanationOther series in the Mons genre, often confused with Pokemon by non-fans (like confused parents).
• This Public Service Announcement for the Burger King PokéBall recall has been parodied in many Analog Horror videos.

Let's Plays

• VOLCANO BAKEMEAT ^ExplanationA So Bad, It's Good, Translation Train Wreck Vietnamese bootleg of Crystal was LP'd by DeliciousCinnamon. Looking inside a stove revealed "A ADEPT ARRANGING FOR MOTHER VOLCANO BAKEMEAT".
• SUPER PWNIN' MAGIKARP USED DESTRUCTION RAINS FROM THE HEAVENS!!! ^ExplanationFrom Super Skarmory's Pokémon Platinum Let's Play, which had a bunch of Chrono Trigger references.
• BIG SERVICE! ^ExplanationIn Marriland's Pokémon Emerald Nuzlocke, this was the trendy saying when he reached Dewford Town, and it stuck, especially when he repeated it in a loud and hammy tone multiple times in the episode.
• VOTE GHETSIS 2012! I mean, 2016! ^ExplanationAnother Marriland -Locke spawned joke, having come from his Black Wedlocke, where Ghetsis runs for president.
• "We must have that Sweet Honey! We must use it to attract Pokémon in great numbers!" ^ExplanationFrom another Marriland walkthrough, this time being Pokémon D/P/Pt, based on a line from some Team Galactic members who try to steal honey — an item used to attract Pokémon — from a random NPC.
  • This became somewhat of an Ascended Meme in X and Y now that the player can use honey to attract a horde of Pokémon.
• "It's a Pumbloom!" ^Explanation:A Fan Nickname for Whismur that originated on an episode of Game Grumps. Has since become a running gag (especially on Pokémon's official Facebook page) response for whenever someone asks to guess the name of a certain Pokémon (or even non-Pokémon characters)
  • "Do you remember the episode where Ash caught a Pumbloom?" "Dude-" NOOOOOO!"
• Guzma has been compared frequently to Rick Sanchez, and many playthroughs use Rick's voice for Guzma.
• Chuggaaconroy's hiker theme dance. ^Explanation During Episode 40 of his let's play of Pokémon Black and White, Chuggaaconroy briefly notes how he always used to do a funny dance when ever the hiker's theme from that game would play. Cue a clip of him dancing to the beat of the song while wearing a rainbow squid hat. The clip became extremely popular among the community with edits of him dancing to other songs, as well as people performing the dance. It's since become a regular occurrence during his Let's Play group The Runaway Guys' TRG Colosseum charity events (happening every 10K raised) and even got a sequel in the backpacker dance (which uses the exact same theme) in his LP of the sequels.
• Negative Dildo ^ExplanationFrom the Super Gaming Brothers LP of Pokémon Crystal, in which a slip of the tongue led Elliot to say "Negative Dildo" when he meant to say "Negative Ditto".
• Don't Fuckle With Shuckle ^ExplanationAlso from the SGB LP of Pokémon Crystal, the guys play Shuckle up as the most badass Pokémon in existence.

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