Web Animation / Pokémon Gold (Fanmade)

Pokémon Gold Fan Made is a web animation series by Pedro Araujo. It is a sequel to his first Pokémon Fan Made series, Pokémon Red (Fanmade).

The story should be familiar to most people by now. A teenager named Gold receives a Pokémon from Professor Elm, and sets off on a journey to become a Pokémon Master. His goal is to beat the Elite Four, after defeating Johto's eight gym leaders. He will travel with a girl named Kris, whose goal is to catch all the Pokémon to complete the Pokédex. On their journey, they will confront several times a delinquant and Pokémon thief called Silver, and they will face the resurrected Team Rocket.

Pokemon Gold Fan Made adapts the original Pokémon Gold and Silver story, with some elements from other entries of the franchise, most notably the Updated Re Release Pokémon Crystal, the Heart Gold and Soul Silver remakes, and the Pokémon Adventures manga. The web animation aims to be a retelling of the events of the Gold and Silver games, but with a stronger more detailed plot.

Can be watched here.

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Pokemon Gold Fan Made contains the following tropes:

• Adaptational Badass: Kurt is able to help stop Team Rocket in Slowpoke Well, despite his back injury. He later comes to help fight off against Team Rocket to liberate the Radio Tower. Something he couldn't do in the original games.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Zigzagged with Whitney. In the original game, she is a Sore Loser, but otherwise isn't particularly rude or mean. In the series, she is a sore winner who indulges in Unsportsmanlike Gloating. She is shown to enjoy defeating her opponents so much she literally drinks the tears of a defeated opponent, and uses a stall team when she's challenged as the eighth gym leader. However, on the other hand, each time Gold or Kris meet her off the clock, she's pretty chill. At one point, she even offers him to watch the city with her on binoculars, and gives him the advice to take part in the bug catching contest. She even helps Gold's Wooper when the latter wants to have a look. It shows that her mean persona is a part she plays when working as a gym leader, like the Heel in wrestling. Ironically, the moment in which she cries and doesn't immediately give Gold the badge, is a case of Adaptational Nice Girl, since it's the moment when she reveals her Freudian Excuse, and she and Gold become a couple.
  • Not only is Eusine a case of Adaptational Villainy when it comes to his role in the plot, but he's also gratuitously unpleasant. From the start, he's antagonistic towards Kris. During their first fight, he mocks her Slowpoke because it has lost its tail, which will prevent it from becoming a Slowbro. He also seems to consider Suicune a mere pet for him to own, as shown by his Imagine Spot in which he uses it as a mount, complete with a muzzle. The reveal he wants Suicune to help Celadon with its polluted water problem, while it slightens his villainy a bit, also highlights how gratuitous his previous jerkassery was. Had he not antagonized Kris and been upfront about his goal, maybe Suicune would have chosen him.
  • Downplayed with Morty. He doesn't Mind Rape his opponents with creepypastas in the games like he does in the series with Gold. However, Episode 18 reveals it's actually a way to test the trainers' will power, as he encourages Gold to conquer his fears before he confronts him again.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Zigzagged with Silver. He's still as antagonistic as in the original games, and is still a Jerkass and a thief. However, the web animation highlights that working for Team Rocket when he was a child has left a big trauma, even eight years later, which explains his behaviour. While he steals Totodile, a scene later shows he's not proud of his action. In the original game, there is no indication Silver has a past trauma related to being conscripted in Team Rocket or is regretful of his theft. He's also shown actively fighting against Team Rocket, even though he refuses to cooperate with Gold and Kris - or even to be seen by them. Later in the story however, he officially joins Team Rocket - though it's more out of desperation because he thinks he can't ask anyone else for help because he's wanted for his thefts.
  • Proton is shown in Episode 16 to have regrets about having cut Slowpoke tails for money when he sees Kris' Slowpoke lament it'll never be able to evolve into a Slowbro, and later he's shown second-guessing Team Rocket's decision to remain active even though Giovanni's last action before he went into hiding was to disband it. In the game, he remains a gleeful Team Rocket member through and through.
• Adaptational Ugliness: Morty looks a lot scruffier here than he does in the games, with deep bags under his eyes and a scraggly goatee.
• Adaptational Villainy: Eusine is associated with Team Rocket in this version. He agreed to share his knowledge of Johto's lore, notably about the legendary Pokémon, in exchange of their technology to strengthen his Pokémon and help him catch Suicune. Though it's later a bit downplayed with the reveal he wants Suicune to solve Celadon's polluted water problem.
• Age Lift: The creator wants the story to be more mature than the original games, and chose to feature a Time Skip of 8 years between Red and Gold, instead of 3 years like in the games. Therefore, all the characters are older in the series. Bugsy in particular is a young adult rather than a Child Prodigy as in the games.
• Aloof Ally: When it comes to Team Rocket, Silver shares the same goal as Gold and Kris: To stop their criminal actions. However, he prefers to stay on his own - though when they're in the same area, such as during the battle of Slowpoke Well, he helps them from the shadows.
• Anything but That!: The response of the unnamed trainer who challenged Whitney for his eighth badge when she starts to spam healing moves with her stall team? YAMERO!
• Ascended Extra: Youngster Joey (memes aside) is a one-note weak trainer of the early game. In the series, he has a small character arc centered around his relationship with Gold. After the latter defeats him a second time during their rematch, Joey starts regarding him as a role model to improve himself as a trainer. The two then keep in touch from time to time. After Gold loses against Morty, and is doubting himself given how he previously had a hard time against Whitney, a talk with Joey manages to lift his spirit, and to motivate him to train to overcome the new challenge. He even manages to evolve his Rattata. Joey is also part of the group who gathers to fight off against Team Rocket on top of the Radio Tower. Pedro Araujo also said in a comment that a flash-forward will show Joey is the equivalent of Heart Gold/Soul Silver's protagonist alongside Lyra.
• Atop a Mountain of Corpses: A G-rated example in episode 16. When Silver comes to after cracking his head in a nasty fall, he discovers Croconaw standing atop a heap of unconscious Koffing which it had fended off while he was unconscious.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Silver treats his Pokémon very harshly. When Kris runs into him at Sprout Tower, he's kicking his own Zubat at another trainer's Hoothoot and has left his battered, unconscious Totodile to lie on the floor instead of returning it to its Poké Ball or tending to its injuries. This callousness shocks Kris and earns Silver a tongue-lashing.
• Beam-O-War:
  • Episode 22 features a slightly unusual example, in that neither of the main involved mons are using actual beams, but true to the Shout-Out the scene entails, Kris's newly-evolved Slowking and Eusine's Gengar get into an attack clash that looks... very familiar. Suicune completes the scene, but does it with an actual beam attack.
  • In episode 28, Lance's Dragonite gets into a beam lock with Lugia. The latter's Aeroblast quickly overpowers the former’s Hyper Beam, and Dragonite barely manages to dodge.
• Benevolent Genie: Despite not being exactly in Silver's wish to revive the Pokémon he killed, Ho-Oh went out of the way to restore the arms of Gold's Quagsire.
• Berserk Button: Team Rocket's criminal actions, especially the maiming of Pokémon, for Silver. He may be an aloof and callous jerk to his own Pokémon, but when a hiker tries to sell him some Slowpoke tails, Silver—who has seen firsthand the horrible way in which these tails are harvested—begins trembling with barely-repressed rage.
• Best Her to Bed Her: Gold's determination and eventual success in defeating Whitney made her fall for him.
• Big Damn Heroes: Bugsy and his Scizor arrives to help Gold and Kris stop Team Rocket in Slowpoke Well.
• Birds of a Feather: Whitney and Gold both are fiercely competitive. In Episode 14, they get together.
• Blood Knight: Whitney is portrayed as a G-rated example. She's shown to be extremely competitive, and is always looking for a challenge - whether it is during a Pokémon battle or a bug-catching contest. When an Ace Trainer with seven badges challenge her, she's ecstatic at the prospect of using her full power. It's implied she's such an Heel during competitions and contests to motivate her challengers to do everything to beat her.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Gold and Kris's Pokémon end up going feral at the Lake of Rage, because of Team Rocket's machinations. The two trainers try to get them to snap out of it, but only succeed with Gold's Quilava. Thankfully, though, Quilava, who evolves into Typhlosion in the chaos caused by it and the attack of the Red Gyarados, destroys Team Rocket's radio towers once he snaps out of it in response.
• Brown Note: Team Rocket's radio signal causes any Pokémon that hears it great pain. Many Pokémon are left clutching their heads in pain after a few seconds’ exposure, while prolonged exposure to the signal makes Pokémon fall sick, as happened to Amphy the Ampharos.
• The Cameo: Dawn, Cynthia and Professors Sada and Turo are noted to watch the broadcast involving the Red Gyarados.
• Captured Super-Entity: In Episode 28, Team Rocket uses their radio waves and control collars to enslave the Legendary Pokémon Suicune, Lugia, and Ho-Oh. The same episode shows that Entei and Raikou are already under their control as well.
• The Cavalry: Despite Archer's attempt to defy this and an attempt from Kurt and Joey to make one ending up in failure, one ultimately still arrives, in the form of May, Dawn, Lucas and Barry. Better yet, one of May's Pokémon and the one that signals her arrival is Rayquaza.
• Continuity Snarl: Cynthia is seen watching Gold and Lance's fight with the Red Gyarados. However, at Red's birthday, she underestimates Gold.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Silver's Totodile starts out as a cheerful Pokémon that just wants to make its trainer proud, despite the abuse. But Silver won't give Totodile the time of day. This neglect hardens the little Pokémon’s heart, and by the time it evolves into Croconaw, it's become as angry and vicious as Silver himself.
• Crash-Into Hello: The first episode references the famous anime scenes featuring a Toast of Tardiness. Late for her meeting with Elm, and while running with a toast in her mouth, Kris bumps into Gold. Silver even lampshades the trope and mocks them for it.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Chapter 8 has Gold battle Silver again. Gold wipes out his team using only Wooper and Flaffy without either one fainting. Silver takes the loss hard.
  • Silver's battle with Whitney is even worse. Her Miltank flattens his entire team in seconds. Croconaw is the only one that remains conscious long enough to even hit back, and even then, it's not clear if it did any damage before getting knocked out.
  • Almost every fight with Whitney has her Miltank flatten her opponents (the only exceptions are the Ace Trainer who lost before the strongest Miltank and when Gold finally defeated Whitney), often literally. The entirety of chapter 10 has Gold take on her again and again and lose badly until he's out of money from all the defeats.
  • Gold’s fight with Morty goes well until the latter's Gengar comes out. It proceeds to defeat Gold's entire team offscreen while subjecting Gold himself to Mind Rape.
  • Gold's fights with Ariana and Archer after he and his friends managed to neutralize all of Team Rocket's Legendary Pokémon are pretty much a Post-Climax Confrontation. He makes short work of each admin's team with one Pokémon.
• Curb-Stomp Cushion: The gym battle against Jasmine is one in Gold's favor. Two of his aces have a type advantage against Jasmine's team, his Flaafy knows a Combat move, and Gold is now an experienced trainer thanks to his battles with Whitney and Morty. Quilava easily defeats the two Magnemite. While her Steelix manages to shrug off Quilava's super-effective move and defeat him in one attack, a swift teamwork between Flaafy who weakens him, and Quagsire who finishes him off, gives Gold a quick victory.
• Cuteness Proximity: When Togepi hatches, Kris is beside herself with joy and cuddles her new Pokémon.
• Darker and Edgier: The previous series had shown some dark moments such as death, kidnapping, and angst, but there was a sense of optimism going on and only got serious whenever Team Rocket was present. Here, this series has more darker moments as it shows the consequences of Team Rocket's actions, such as the Slowpoke Tail fiasco and brainwashing Pokémon, Silver openly abusing his Pokémon, and Gold getting a Mind Rape ala Creepy Pasta during his Gym Battle against Morty. Going into the twenties, we get Silver's Feraligatr mauling other Pokémon to the point of either killing them, or in Quagsire's case, ripping off limbs, Gold and Kris' team going out of control due to the radio waves and attacking them, and Team Rocket using the Legendries to terrorize Johto.
• Darkest Hour: Episode 28 is this. Team Rocket has captured all the Johto Legendries, minus Celebi, and are terrorizing the region by attacking the cities. Gold is gone alone with his Red Gyarados, Kris is attacking the Radio Tower alone, Silver is alone in the Goldenrod Underground brooding, and Lance is confronting Team Rocket alone by the end of the episode. The only positive is that Red's barrier team is keeping Team Rocket from entering Kanto with the Legendries, as seen with Eusine trying to take Suicune with him.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: In episode 13, Gold finally defeats one of Whitney's Miltanks after she steamrolled every other opponent.
• Death Glare: Silver's Totodile uses Leer to scare off a hiker after that hiker pushed Silver's Berserk Button by trying to sell him some Slowpoke tails.
• Detrimental Determination: Gold keeps coming back to rematch Whitney, no matter how many times she beats him. His stubborn refusal to accept defeat achieves nothing: he loses to her again and again, coming no closer to beating her at any point. The repeated losses take a toll on his confidence and ultimately leave him broke.
• Destructo-Nookie: A G-rated variation; due to their competitive nature, both Gold and Whitney try to top the other during their initial make-out session, all but throwing their partner into the wall. It's calamitous enough that Kris can hear it Right Through the Wall.
• Deus ex Machina: So, Team Rocket has the heroes' Pokémon weakened by their radio waves, Meganium ran out of PP to use Synthesis, and Giovanni is in Goldenrod, watching the whole thing... and then Rayquaza appears and destroys the radio wave emmiter.
• Difficulty Spike: In-universe, the Blackthorn City Gym gives Gold a lot more trouble than previous Gyms. The Dragon-type Trainers put up so much of a fight that he's forced to leave the Gym to heal his Pokémon at the Pokémon Center before he's even reached Clair, something he's never had to do before. Clair herself manages to take down most of Gold's team before she even brings out her Kingdra.
• Disability Immunity: In episode 29, Lance's Dragonite deafens itself by puncturing its own ear drums so it won't be affected by Team Rocket's radio signal.
• Do Not Go Gentle: In episode 13 Gold defeats Whitney... But her Miltank single-handedly took down five of Gold's Pokémon, more than once. Gold had ran out of Potions and Revives by the time his Machop was knocked out again by Miltank smashing Milk Drink's bottle on her head, and Wooper's fight with the Milk Cow Pokémon was very close.
• Dragon Ascendant: After Giovanni retired and went missing eight years ago, Archer became the new head of Team Rocket. Though the trope is a little played with, in the sense that one of his goals is to find back Giovanni and to convince him to lead the organization again.
• The Dreaded: When Gold plans to head to the next gym, Bugsy fearfully warns Gold about his next opponent, likening her to a demon. That opponent is Whitney. The next episode shows her wasn't exaggerating. All the trainers of Goldenrod dread fighting her.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Before appearing in Episode 29 to help against Team Rocket, May is mentioned by Jasmine.
  • Dawn can be seen watching the Red Gyarados broadcast, before she, Lucas and Barry arrive to help the Gen 2 cast fight Team Rocket.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Ariana is still an admin of the resurrected Team Rocket, but she's also desperately trying to find her missing children and husband.
• Everyone Has Standards: Silver is an aloof Jerkass who treats his Pokémon harshly, even kicking them, but he hates Team Rocket with a passion for its criminal actions. The Slowpoke tails trafficking particularly revolts him.
• Evilutionary Biologist: Archer's goal is to unlock the secrets of Pokémon evolution, and he'll subject dozens of innocent Pokémon to horrible experiments in pursuit of that goal.
• The First Cut Is the Deepest: It's shown (from Brock) that, after Red ran away, Misty dated multiple guys, but broke up with all of them because she still loved Red.
• Foregone Conclusion: We know the series will end with Gold challenging Red and convincing him to return to Kanto and with Silver and Kris getting together; this series is about how we got there.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Gold's battle against Bugsy is a subtle hint that his initial "blow through everything with Quilava" strategy would not work in the long run as Bugsy's strategy weakened Quilava and dwindle Gold's team to just Flaaffy at the end.
  • During Gold's seventh challenge against Whitney she blows him a kiss and it's treated as if she has successfully used Attract on him, and she starts being flirty from then on. Sure enough, when Gold finally defeats her they get together.
  • As Archer muses about his plan to restore Team Rocket and induce Pokémon evolution through radio waves, a school of Magikarps including a shiny one is shown.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing:
  • Gold's Wooper normally creates arms made of ice when it uses Ice Punch. During the climax of the final battle against Miltank, it grows actual arms. Sure enough, right after the battle is finished, Wooper evolves into Quagsire.
  • In Episode 22, the Pokémon Center nurse that Whitney gives her Pokémon to heal is Bulma. This happened just before Kris's Slowpoke evolves into Slowking in a similar manner to Gohan going Super Saiyan 2 against Cell.
• Freudian Excuse: Silver's rude and brutal personality stems from his past negative experiences as a child, when he was working for Team Rocket because of his parents, and from the emotional burden of being Giovanni's son.
• Fusion Dance: In episode 22, Kris's Shellder combines with her Slowpoke to become a Slowking.
• Gathering Steam:
  • Bugsy's Scyther repeatedly uses Fury Cutter on Gold's Quilava. After Scyther wins, Bugsy explains to Gold how the move's power doubles with every use, going from a measly 10 all the way up to 160.
  • Kris and Gold later use said knowledge to understand how Miltank's Rollout works.
• Gave Up Too Soon: Silver develops a crush on Kris, but when he sees her hanging out with Falkner in a seemingly intimate manner, he gets discouraged and leaves without ever announcing his presence. Had he stuck around a few seconds longer, he would have seen Kris gently turn Falkner down. However, Time Skip scenes in the Pokémon Red animation show Silver and Kris married with a child, so it's a Foregone Conclusion that Silver will try again.
• Gotta Catch Them All: Kris' goal is to capture all Pokémon in order to complete the new Pokédex.
• Grievous Bottley Harm: In episode 13, Whitney's Miltank knocks out Gold's Machop by smashing an empty milk bottle in its face.
• A Handful for an Eye: Falkner's Pokémon blind Gold's Cyndaquil by using Mud Slap to throw mud in its eyes, putting it at a disadvantage during their battle.
• Heel Realization: In episode 16, an incognito Proton overhears Kris's Slowpoke lamenting how the loss of its tail means it can never evolve into a Slowbro. The realization that his tail-harvesting operation caused such anguish chokes Proton up, and he seems to be considering leaving Team Rocket.
• Hold the Line: During Team Rocket's attack, Mew, Mewtwo, Red's Hypno and Gengar were creating a psychic barrier to prevent Team Rocket's radio waves to reach Kanto.
• Hope Spot: Despite the fact Team Rocket has the Tower Duo and all Legendary Beasts under their command, Lance's Pokémon prove to be more than a match for them... but then Lance gets outnumbered by normal Grunts, whose Pokémon exhausts Lance's team.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: After six consecutive losses to Whitney and her Miltank, Gold decides to train up his Pokémon and teach them new moves to level the playing field. He comes back for his seventh attempt, confident that he'll win this time... only to discover that Whitney's Miltank has only been using half its moveset up to now. It starts busting out Attract, leaving his all-male team too enamored to fight back as it flattens them all once again. During the final rematch, in which Gold uses a full team to wear Miltank down, it does it again, and starts to spam Milk Drink to endure the assaults - though this time Gold's team still manages to overpower it.
• Ignored Epiphany: In the Red series, the fight between Red and Giovanni ends with the mob boss seeing the error of his ways, disbanding Team Rocket, and deciding to devote the rest of his life to Pokémon studying. This Heel Realization is witnessed by a good chunk of Team Rocket, including Ariana. Given the fact that Team Rocket is still active after a Time Skip of 8 years, and Ariana is an admin of it, the lesson clearly didn't stick. That said, the team is not as stable as it used to be; Proton is shown to have regrets, and it's implied Ariana is only in it to find her family (though she's Doomed by Canon to be unable to reunite with Silver, what with her absence at Red's birthday).
• It Only Works Once: Archer invokes this on calling for help from the Gym Leaders by using his radio waves to make Pokemon fall sick.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Silver is a Jerkass that treats his Pokémon horribly and refuses to associate himself with Gold and Kris despite them sharing his goal of stopping Team Rocket. However, when his Mêlée à Trois with Kris and Eusine gets interrupted by the temple collapsing, Silver shows no hesitation of using his own body to soften Kris's fall, showing that he does care about her, but is all Tsundere about it.
• Kick the Dog: To cement his Adaptational Villainy, Eusine does it several times. During his first battle with Kris, he mocks her Slowpoke because it lacks a tail, and therefore can't evolve. During their second battle, he crushes her Pokédex under his foot to taunt her.
  • The Dog Bites Back: After Eusine destroys Kris's Pokédex, Kris's Shellder performs a Fusion Dance with Slowpoke, causing him to evolve into Slowking. Afterwards, Kris and Slowking put Eusine on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle. Eusine's Gengar did put somewhat of a fight, but Suicune, having seen enough, sides with Kris.
• Lightning Bruiser: Whitney's Miltank is incredibly durable and strong, but also fast thanks to Rollout.
• Mêlée à Trois: In episode 15, Kris gets into a three-way Pokémon battle with Eusine and Silver.
• Mind Rape: Gold is subjected to this by Morty's Gengar via a nightmare.
• Ms. Fanservice: Lets just say the fact that everyone is older in general was especially kind to Whitney.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Ariana and Archer are returned to their Gold and Silver designs rather than the Heart Gold and Soul Silver ones seen in the previous series, with Proton and Petrel having adopted similar outfits. Their remake's designs are however quickly shown on the pictures on Archer's office board.
  • Bugsy is a young adult, but his game design as a child is featured in a flashback.
  • Episode 8 shows that Brock and Misty are close friends.
  • Kris in a Farm Girl outfit slightly resembles Lyra, the protagonist of the remakes.
  • Jasmine has a photo of herself and May. The Player Character of Ruby and Sapphire was born in Olivine City and is Norman's child, so it's implied May is Norman's daughter in this continuity.
  • Lyra herself has a cameo in Episode 31 as a youngster. Krys' Marill even takes a liking to her. In the remake, Marill is Lyra's signature Pokemon if she is not chosen as the playable character.
• Never Be Hurt Again: Whitney's farm was raided and destroyed by Giovanni, Ariana, and Mewtwo. The aftermath, and seeing Red crushing Giovanni on TV, were the start of her invincible heel persona.
• Nightmare Sequence: Morty's Gengar plunges Gold into a waking nightmare based on the Pokémon Lost Silver creepypasta in episode 17.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Eusine mocks Kris's Slowpoke for not having a tail, meaning it can never evolve into a Slowbro. His words are shown to anger Kris and to have hurt Slowpoke deeply, making the normally cheerful Pokémon cry as it laments its situation.
• Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Gold's Quilava goes wide-eyed in alarm when it realizes that its opening Cut attack did absolutely nothing to Whitney's Miltank.
• Razor-Sharp Hand: When Gold's Quilava uses Cut to cut down trees, it makes a karate chopping motion with its hand instead of using its claws.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning:
  • Eusine's Pokémon have Team Rocket collars on them, bring them in his command and sporting red eyes. By Episode 28, Team Rocket has placed collars on all the Legendries in Johto, minus Celebi, and are using them to terrorize Johto.
  • Episode 26 features Gold and Kris' team have red eyes due to the effects of Team Rocket's radio waves when they go wild. They range from either blood shot veins, or completely red eyes.
• Running Gag:
  • Chapter 5 has Gold constantly trying, and failing, to catch an Onix. With each failure, he gets more and more agitated.
  • Whenever Whitney fights, someone gets hilariously flattened by a Miltank.
  • Every Nurse Joy is a cameo of the heroine of a manga or anime.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Several Pokémon are shown to overcome their type disadvantage during fights, highlighting how powerful they are.
  • Bugsy's Scyther mops the floor with Gold's Quilava despite being at a type disadvantage.
  • Whitney's Pokémon do it many times.
    • When Silver challenges the Goldenrod Gym he leads with a Gastly, that is flat-out immune to Normal type moves. Witney's Miltank, a Normal type, simply uses Rollout (a Rock type move).
    • Whitney later faces an Ace Trainer at his last Gym, and her Clefable annihilates his Machamp with Psychic.
    • When a confident Gold thinks he only needs a Fighting-type move on his Nidoran to beat Miltank, the latter proves him wrong, and curbstomps his team.
  • Thanks to his high Defense stat, Jasmine's Steelix shrugs off Quilava's Flame Wheel in spite of the type disadvantage, then swiftly defeats the Fire Pokémon with one Rock move.
• Sequel Hook:
  • Zigzagged with Jasmine having a photo of herself and May, since the Gen 3 games canonically happen before the Gen 2 games.
  • In Episode 21, which is in the middle of Archer's plan to mass-brainwash Pokémon, a cameraman records the Red Gyarados at the Lake of Rage. The scene then cuts to Sinnoh, where Dawn watches the incident on the news.
• Self-Imposed Challenge: Upon learning that May has a full set of eight badges, Gold imposes on himself the challenge of obtaining sixteen badges. (Of course, he's not going to beat Ash, who has 48 badges.)
• Shadow Discretion Shot: When a hiker tries to sell Silver some Slowpoke tails, Silver has a flashback to a traumatic childhood experience of witnessing how these tails are harvested. The act takes place just offscreen, with the shadow of a Team Rocket grunt ripping the tail off being cast on the wall.
• Shout-Out:
  • In this series, the Pokémon Centers' nurses are all cameos from various manga. The nurse who takes care of Kris's shiny Slowpoke is Nagatoro. Similarly, the nurses manning the Goldenrod City Pokémon Center are Komi, Najimi, and Kitagawa. And the one from the episode where Kris's Slowpoke evolves serves as a Five-Second Foreshadowing: she's none other than Bulma.
  • Miltank's Rollout is sometimes highlighted by the sound effect of Sonic's spindash. Longtime fans of Pedro should know that, aside from Pokémon, Pedro also likes Sonic.
  • In Episode 11, when Gold gloats to Whitney that he's taught Thunder Punch and Ice Punch to his Pokémon, ruining the element of surprise, Kris does Captain Picard's Face Palm.
  • In Episode 12, Gold buys some medicinal herb from Resident Evil 4's Merchant.
  • During their first battle, Morty makes Gold go through Pokémon Lost Silver in a nightmare. The episode is even titled "Lost Silver Creepypasta".
  • Slowpoke evolving into Slowking seems to be inspired from Gohan going Super Sayian 2 when fighting Perfect Cell. Slowking and Suicune's Beam-O-War against Eusine's Gengar is similar to Goku and Gohan's father-son Kamehameha that finished off Cell for good.
  • Jasmine wears a Superman t-shirt in Episode 23, and has a Man of Steel poster in her bedroom. Doubles as a Stealth Pun.
• Shown Their Work: Silver's Feraligatr is shown doing a "death roll" a couple times, something actual crocodiles do to tear their prey apart.
• Signature Mon:
  • Gold's Cyndaquil is both his starter and his main battling Pokémon, to the point that he doesn't even start catching other Pokémon until after he wins his first Gym badge. Contrast that with Kris, who already has a team of four Pokémon by the time they reach Violet City and uses all of them evenly in battle.
  • No matter how many badge her challenger has, Whitney seems to always include a Miltank in her team - a shiny one when she's challenged for an eighth badge. In fact, she only uses one Miltank against challengers looking for their first badge - when usually gym leaders use two Pokémon.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Gold and Whitney develop this dynamic after he defeats her. They spend as much time butting heads (literally at one point) and competing with each other as they do making out. And even when they kiss, each one is trying to be in charge.
• Starter Mon: Cyndaquil for Gold, Chikorita for Kris, and Totodile for Silver.
• Storming the Castle: The end of Episode 26 features Gold and Lance storming Team Rocket's Base to shut down the radio waves for good.
• Story Arc: Like the previous series, there are different episodes that are grouped with different arcs.
  • Episodes 1-4 (Introduction Arc): This arc features the main trio beginning their Pokémon journeys. It also features Gold's Gym Battle against Falkner.
  • Episodes 5-8 (Azalea Arc): This arc features Gold and Kris fighting the reformed Team Rocket at the Slowpoke Well and the former's Gym Battle against Bugsy.
  • Episodes 9-14 (Goldenrod Arc): This arc features Gold fighting Whitney for the Plain Badge. Multiple times.
  • Episodes 15-19 (Ecruteak Arc): This arc features the introduction of the lore of the Johto Legendary Pokémon, and Gold's fight against Morty.
  • Episodes 20-24 (Olivine-Cianwood Arc): This arc features Gold and Kris visiting Olivine City and Cianwood City. The arc also features a major turning point for Silver.
  • Episodes 25-31 (Team Rocket Arc): This arc features Gold and Kris fighting Team Rocket at the Lake of Rage and the Radio Tower, with some help from Lance.
• Tasty Tears: When Gold comes back for his first rematch with Whitney, he sees that she's beaten a bug catcher so badly that the poor kid is reduced to tears. One of her Trainers gathers the kid's tears in a cup and offers them to Whitney, who drinks them with smug satisfaction.
• Tears of Joy: When Gold finally defeats Whitney in episode 13, two members of the audience are crying even as they cheer in celebration of his victory.
• That One Boss: In-Universe, the narration presents Whitney and her Miltanks as a dreaded Beef Gate - no matter how many badges her challenger has. When Gold and Kris arrive in Goldenrod, they see scores of trainers going to the Pokémon Center to have the overworked nurses heal their battered Pokémon, and when Silver tries his hand at the Gym he first sees trainers who had lost so badly even their Poké Balls were damaged, and he himself is curbstomped by the Miltank she kept specifically for trainers at their first Gym in spite of leading with a Gastly. Gold puts up a better fight than Silver, but he still loses to Whitney, who beats him six times in a single episode. Even when fought for an eighth badge, she's a force to be reckoned with, as she uses a team of highly defensive Pokémon who know both healing moves and powerful attacks. A poor challenger finds this out the hard way when his team gets curbstomped twice in the same episode.
• Theme Music Power-Up: An instrumental version of "Pokémon Johto" plays when Gold, Kris, Silver, and Bugsy are stopping Team Rocket in Slowpoke Well.
• Toast of Tardiness: The first episode features a scene of Kris running with a toast in her mouth because she's late to go see Professor Elm. Of course, it ends with her accidentally bumping into someone.
• Tsundere: Silver is an extremely harsh type. He's mean to both people and Pokémon, but he shows no hesitation to cushion Kris' fall, showing that deep down he cares about her. His Pokémon also show Undying Loyalty towards him, fighting a huge load of Koffings while he was unconscious; with the implication beint that they know Silver cares about her deep down, but has huge trouble expressing it. And, to complete the package, he has an utterly heartbreaking reason to be so harsh.
• Undying Loyalty: Team Rocket's remnants are still fiercely loyal to Giovanni. One of their main goals is to find him, and to convince him to take their lead once more. Archer is also attempting to continue his boss' research on radio waves and their effects on Pokémon, at any cost.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Whitney is not polite or graceful to the trainers she defeats, whether laughing at them, literally drinking their tears, or taunting Gold for losing to her so many times that he ran out of money.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Whitney. Gold believed himself invincible before arriving to Goldenrod... Then having his entire team flattened by Miltank six times in a row taught him humility. We're also shown a cocky trainer that got at Goldenrod last and thought it would be a cakewalk, only to be crushed twice by Whitney's strongest team (complete with overpowered Miltank).
• Waxing Lyrical: Silver quotes the first lines of the "Master Quest" theme song. Although, it takes a darker context here since Silver is rejoining Team Rocket.

  No time to question my moves. I stick to the path that I choose.

• Wilfully Weak: Like its prequel, this series shows that Gym Leaders use different teams of Pokémon to challenge Trainers of differing skill level. Falkner uses his Pidgey and Pidgeotto from the games when facing Gold, who has no badges, but brings out a Skarmory against a more experienced Trainer with four badges. Bugsy brings with him his Scizor to fight Team Rocket in the Slowpoke Well. And Whitney deals with a challenger's skill with eight different Miltanks (the strongest being ripped and shiny) and accompanying Pokémon (the one for first challengers goes alone, the one for the third Badge is accompanied by a Clefairy, and the one for the final Badge is part of a stall team with Blissey, Clefable, and Snorlax).
• Wistful Smile: Professor Oak sports one of these after giving Gold and Kris their Pokédexes, seeing in them the same wonder and excitement that Red and Blue had when they were first starting out on their journey.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Villainous examples for Team Rocket: In Episode 28, they capture the Johto Legendaries and use them to terrorize the region. In the next episode, Lance uses Dragonite, Aerodactyl, Gyarados, and Charizard to stomp the Legendaries into the ground. Then, they bring back Giovanni...who as it turns out he hadn't come to retake his place as head of Team Rocket and just wanted to help his son avoid the same errors and once he sees Silver renounce Team Rocket, Giovanni leaves, content with his son's decision.