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!Games
I came when I heard you beat the Elite Four. Explanation
Accidental Innuendo said by Prof. Oak after the player defeats the Elite Four in R/B/G/Y/FR/LG.
Pant, pant... I finally got through that cave. It was much bigger than I'd expected. I got too tired to explore the whole thing, so I came outside. Explanation
More Accidental Innuendo, this time from a girl on the Azalea Town side of Union Cave in HGSS.
I came through the tunnel, but I still have plenty of energy left. Explanation
Hiker Anthony in GSC, near the Union Cave as well.
Wild [x] appeared! [y] sent out [z]! [z] used [action]! It's Super Effective! Critical Hit! Foe [x] fainted! Explanation
The gameplay from Pokémon in general is a massive snowclone meme, used in any situation imaginable.
so I herd u liek mudkips Explanation
Uncertain origins; most commonly associated with a NSFW story involving an unfortunate bullying victim and a Mudkip plush. Later divulged from that and became a catch phrase relating to Mudkip, with Mudkip himself becoming something of a memetic Ensemble Darkhorse who regularly gets voted highly in polls, to the point where it's near-impossible to legitimately consider Mudkip your favourite Pokémon without getting some sort of backlash.
The endemic use of Limited Move Arsenal (in that each Pokémon can only know four moves at a time, and one of those must be replaced before any new moves can be learned) in all the Pokémon generations is another massive meme.
Slowpoke can be slipped into all sorts of crazy scenarios, as long as he's slow (not to be confused with retarded) about it. (One classic Image Board example had Slowpoke making post twenty six million and one, asking, "Am I too late for 25M GET?").
A series of Image Macros has been going around various boards of 4chan called "the Poképarents" 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, and Ninetales as a Hot Mom who occasionally goes after her own (and Gardevoir as a Hot Mom who is in turn pursued).
A large collection also exists at this blog. This contains some macros from both of the archived threads, plus a whole bunch from later threads and even some original content.
You're training on Route 22 for Brock's Gym, your Pokémon are tired, and who do you see? GARY MOTHERFUCKING OAK.Explanation
The Rival in R/B/Y has one of his battles in a side route near the city with the first gym.
WOOOOOOOO! Explanation
Based on a comic titled "Scyther Cannot Learn Fly" about Red's Scyther being unable to learn Fly while Blue flies off standing on the back of a Spearow.
The Trope Namer for any bizarre, horrifying, or just plain impossible breeding options. Began after someone noticed that the gargantuan Wailord and the miniscule Skitty were in the same Egg Group, meaning they could breed with each other. Even the unofficial Pokémon wiki is in on this
.
"We must have that Sweet Honey! We must use it to attract Pokémon in great numbers!" Explanation
In Pokémon D/P/PT, some Team Galactic Members try to steal honey, an item used to attract Pokémon, from some guy. It became a meme when Marriland started ranting about it during his walkthrough.
a match against an opponent who was defeating him with a...well, a Jellicent that knew Energy Ball. Said moderator went far beyond simply quitting his match, though; he started banning everyone on the server. Energy Ball Jellicent very quickly went from a seldom seen counter to specific threats to a simultaneous threat and Troll itself.]]
Lance, a member of the Elite four in R/B/Y/FR/LG and Champion In G/S/C/HG/SS, has Pokémon with moves they are normally incapable of learning, as well as having evolved too early. The worst offenders include his Dragonite with Barrier in RBY, and his Level 40 Dragonite in HGSS, when it normally doesn't evolve until Level 55.
Lance orders his Dragonite to fire Hyper Beam at human.*
During his assault against Team Rocket's secret hideout in Mahogany Town during GSC, he cries "Dragonite, Hyper Beam!" and the Rocket grunt was knocked back to the wall. However it's implied that it can be a proper Pokemon battle, since that grunt comments his Dragonite is too strong.
The use of the Hello, Insert Name Here trope in the Pokémon games means it is common for players to name their rival something stupid. And since Blue Oak (the rival in the pictures) is a Jerkass...
In HG/SS, the rival forcefully strips the player character of his/her Rocket Grunt disguise. The fanart and fan comics for this scene is honestly staggering.
In Colosseum, while sneaking around the Snagem Base, Peons will drop from the ceiling and battle you at random. It's a lot
more common in XD.]]
Is the Crobat EV'd?
OFFERING SHINY LEGENDARIES, PM ME WITH REQUESTS! Explanation
Trading chat rooms have three types of people. Those who just wanna trade, those who want perfect Pokémon and expect to get them from others (hence Crobat), and people offering super-rare Pokémon so they can get rare ones — these people seldom actually HAVE what they're offering.
[Picture of an obese person] A wild Snorlax appeared! Explanation
Snorlax are large, fat Pokémon.
Use the Heavy Balls! Explanation
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.
... I'm dying Squirtle.
Bidoof itself has become a major fandom meme, inspiring the Com Mons entry.
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 has become well-known for how hard it is to fight her (perfect EV's, her Pokemon 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.
Red. He's the biggest Memetic Badass and Memetic Sex God in the series, though recently Hilda (the female player character from Black And White) has been giving him a run for his money.
As of the reveal of the Generation V starters, the grass starter, Snivy, has risen to memetic popularity in no time, garnering Fan Nicknames such as Smugleaf and Grinleaf.
Explanation:Raichu's and Gastly's Fire Red Pokédex entries both, for absolutely no reason, mention that they are capable of defeating "an Indian elephant," despite this being the only mention of real-world animals anywhere in the game.
Someone managed to make an absurd love song using every single one of the 151 Generation I Pokémon, except for a certain Pokemon. That's right, all 5 others of its own family, too.
Solid Snivy, Tepig Boss, and Revolver Oshawott. Explanation
Ever since the Unova starters' English names were revealed, the Metal Gear Solid jokes came.
Oshawhat
On the story of English names, Let me Axew a question. Explanation
Axew was revealed to be Kibago's English name.
A picture of Slowpoke, often with a caption of "Slowpoke, slowpoke slowwww..." Explanation
Slowpoke is the slowest Pokémon (mentally), so slow that it takes five seconds for it to feel pain. There is a tendency for trolls to bring up old, resolved issues just to start drama.
The caption "I see what you did there." with Slowpoke. Explanation
A musical meme going to the song Fushigi na Kusuri involves making a trainer feed their Pokemon a Carbos, the Pokemon 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 POKEMON YET.
O++O Explanation
Chandelure's face, and possibly yours after you realize it.
Gen V's Pokémon have become rather popular for references to Courage the Cowardly Dog. Cofagrigus has been linked with Ramses, for instance. Explanation
The 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.
The Pokemon Basculin resembles Eustace from the show, and Cofagrigus properly filling the Ramses role
.
And "ˇżWhat's yer offer?!".
"I'm a heartbreaker.... My name.... Charles."EXPLANATION
Catchphrase of Charles, an NPC in the fourth city of Black/White
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.
Also writing the full name as sign of negation, shock or disbelief.
Excadrill lends itself to a LOT of Gurren Lagann references, ESPECIALLY since it's been declared an Uber. It was too GAR for any other tier! It is the Pokemon that will pierce heaven! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK IT IS?!
In Black & White, Nimbasa City's Big Stadium contains a Shout Out to Inazuma Eleven in which one of the soccer players tells you to "Join the training of our Pokemon Eleven!" On the Japanese art community pixiv, there is now a "PokeIre" tag*
The Japanese Portmanteau Series Nicknames for the two series are Pocket Monsters -> Pokemon and Inazuma Eleven -> InaIre, so naturally "Pokemon Eleven" becomes "PokeIre"
for Crossover fanart depicting things like Inazuma Eleven characters training Pokemon.
Merge everything with Kyurem! EXPLANATION
In the recently revealed Pokemon Black and White 2, the version mascots are what look like Kyurem merged with Reshiram/Zekrom. Cue pictures and fanart of Kyurem merged with other Pokemon. In a related note, Polymerization and Synchro Summoning
jokes are popular with Black and White Kyurem as well.]]
to deal damage to the opponent equal to the user's current HP. One of the few mons with access to it is Shedinja, a One-Hit-Point Wonder with a ton of immunities. It is nigh-impossible to talk about the move in seriousness without someone bringing this up.]]
The "Technology is amazing!" guy from EVERY GEN ('cept for Gen II, weirdly).
"Technology is amazing like your mum's shit! I can download porn onto my XP and post money/beauty/mom job spambots on the internet, CUNT!"
Every time the Team Rocket trio gets launched, they say this.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBUFFET! Explanation
Jessie's Wobbuffet has a habit of interrupting everything; a bit of a Lost in Translation moment for Western audiences who don't know the Japanese sitcom actor it references, but it's still downright weird enough to gain infamy in the West.
Ash has a battle against a Blaine's Rhydon, and Pikachu attacks it in a way (shocking it on the horn) that apparently bypasses its ground-type immunity to electric attacks. This is impossible in the games.
A parody/lampshading of the fact that Team Rocket has been stalking Ash for 14+ seasons and the fact that Ash has 24+ Pokémon total (which is the "tripping Balls" part).
The English theme song of the first season of the Pokémon anime.
"Who's that Pokémon?!" Explanation
A line from the Eye Catch of seasons 1-6 and 14 onward, which as a sort of a guessing game involving the silhouette of a Pokémon. Used in any context to question the identity of a shadowy figure, or to parody the original eyecatches.
From season 6-8 of the Pokémon anime, 4Kids created their own "Who's that Pokémon?"-esque eyecatches that usually had wrong or confusing information. Oh, and Arbok does NOT evolve. For that matter, neither does Seviper.
Giovanni achieved status as a Memetic Badass for apparently punching out a Blissey, and because "not even an orgy is enough to satisfy his libido".
Another "Rice Ball to Something Else" edit by 4Kids, this time painting over a rice ball to create a sub-like sandwich. The aforementioned rice ball was rolling down a hill, and the edited sandwich followed that path in a very awkward way.
RING RING RING! RING RING RING! PHONE CALL! PHONE CALL! Explanation
The ringtone of the Ketchum household phone in Episode 2.
A scene from "Classroom Training" where Candice asks Ash what his motto is, and someone puts the audio of someone else's motto (for instance, Team Rocket) over his actual dialogue.
When someone asks a question, especially one meant to be a trick or incredibly hard, someone responds with "It's a Jigglypuff seen from above!" Explanation
In an episode involving a Pokémon exam, one part required the taker to identify silhouetted Pokémon. When a perfectly round circle showed up, Ash, Jessie, and James guessed things such as Voltorb, Electrode, and a Poké Ball. The meme was the correct answer.
A link, if one exists, would be worthy of worship.
There was also a Running Gag that James' boots were magical, because both times he kicked a Pokémon while wearing them, that Pokémon evolved immediately afterward.
PIKACHU RAN THE LASER TO VICTORYExplanation
A combination attack with Pikachu's Volt Tackle and Piplup's Hydro Pump.
Because of Cilan's food gimmick and the fact that his Pokémon look like food (Pansage looks like it has head-broccoli), there are dozens of threads claiming that he plans to eat his Pokémon.
Butch, a member of Team Rocket and rival to the familiar Team Rocket trio, has had his name misremembered by everyone else ever since his second appearance. The rest... is YouTube Poop. More precisely, an Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog meme spawned from YouTube Poops.
Best Wishes episode 14 seems to have spawned a minor meme among Japanese artists. Specifically, where Cilan gets possessed by a Yamask mask. There are a hilarious number of "Dentomasu" pictures floating around.
DP episode 2:Brock just got his heart broken by the girl he was hitchiking with, and he tells her that he's gonna travel with Ash now. The rest is Accidental Innuendo.
There's an episode where a Pokémon circus needs a replacement for their lazy Mr. Mime, and Brock asks Ash to do it, by dressing him up as said Mr. Mime. When he says this line, though, Brock makes what can only be called a rape face. You can guess where this is going.
Before that, there were many jokes about Cilan being secretly evil (such as him stealing Ash's egg and replacing it with a fake, eating his Pokemon). This episode "confirmed" it.
It doesn't help that a common fan theory for the games is that Cilan, Cress, and Chili are the secret identities for the villainous Shadow Triad.
For some reason, this image◊ of Paul drinking orange juice (from DP episode 100, Aiding the Enemy!) has become something of a meme in Japan. Search "Shinji" on any Japanese fanart site and you're bound to find tons of pictures of Paul sippin' OJ. Explanation
Or in reference to ANY of the Trial Triangle, really. Dent's just the one most immediately associated with it. They're young, well-dressed, effeminate males who work at a battle cafe. Do the math.
Thanks to BW010, fans begin to call Trip's Servine a masochist. Explanation
Trip's Servine was hit by Ash's Snivy's (who is female) Attract. While most Pokémon gain hearts in their eyes when they are hit by it, the fact that Ash told his Snivy to use Vine Whip
and the fact that the hearts in Servine's eyes got bigger after the attack... Not to mention he's still smiling when he fainted.]]
Venustoise. Probably the most well known fake Pokémon, due to it actually being in the anime as an illusion.
In Pokémon: The First Movie, Ash delivers this line to Mewtwo, who created a legion of cloned Pokémon from other trainers, easily dismantled their Pokémon (including Ash's) and announced his plans to, essentially, wipe out human civilization. Despite being horribly outgunned against the most powerful Pokémon at the time
It comes from a panel of a Hentai doujinshi, where Ash freaks out about his erection (not understanding what is happening), and Misty silences him with this threat.
"I'll use this frying pan... as a drying pan!"Explanation
