History AlternativeCharacterInterpretation / Pokemon

* Burgundy's interpretation of Cilan may not just be her imagination, as we ''see'' him in battle start toying with her needlessly and actually smiling in an sinister fashion.

** But then, the reverse. You see a trainer looking down the road and talk to them to challenge them to a battle. They only have one or two Pokémon five levels lower than yours, and depending on their dialogue said Pokémon may be freshly caught, or the trainer is on a losing streak, or is just out for a stroll. They may also be a young child or an old man or lady. You proceed to crush their Pokémon, take their money as spoils of victory, and leave them alone in the middle of nowhere while you continue on to find another trainer to do the same to. Your main goal in doing this is to obtain the Gym Badges and become Pokémon Champion, something which in-universe, especially in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Black and White]]'', is seen by the in-game characters as the hollow, pointless goal of pursuing power and fame just for the sake of being powerful and famous. Congratulations, you're a SociopathicHero VillainProtagonist! Oh and that trainer you managed to avoid on one of the first few routes? Why not fight his level 5 Bug Pokémon with a team of level 100 legendaries, bonus points if you use Mew and/or Arceus.
** This interpretation would be more convincing if they didn't ''walk up to you and demand fights when you're explicitly avoiding eye contact''.

** But then, the reverse. You see a trainer looking down the road and talk to them to challenge them to a battle. They only have one or two Pokémon five levels lower than yours, and depending on their dialogue said Pokémon may be freshly caught, or the trainer is on a losing streak, or is just out for a stroll. They may also be a young child or an old man or lady. You proceed to crush their Pokémon, take their money as spoils of victory, and leave them alone in the middle of nowhere while you continue on to find another trainer to do the same to. Your main goal in doing this is to obtain the Gym Badges and become Pokémon Champion, something which in-universe, especially in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Black and White]]'', is seen by the in-game characters as the hollow, pointless goal of pursuing power and fame just for the sake of being powerful and famous. Congratulations, you're a SociopathicHero VillainProtagonist! Oh and that trainer you managed to avoid on one of the first few routes? Why not fight his level 5 Bug Pokémon with a team of level 100 legendaries, bonus points if you use Mew and/or Arceus.

* This also applies to [[NiceGuy Cilan]]. His video game counterpart has [[ShrinkingViolet no confidence]] when facing the player character and his anime counterpart is rather [[LargeHam loud]] in comparison. Additionally, his anime counterpart is driven farther with what Burgundy states about him and how in her {{Imagine Spot}}, she suffered a [[HumiliationConga humiliating defeat]] from him and he taunts her. She is already made out to be a liar in the episode but when she challenges him later on in this episode, the audience ''sees'' Cilan enjoying toying with her needlessly when it would only need one hit to KO both of her Pokemon. Somehow, the idea of him being a {{nice guy}} in both continuities is shattered if you put this into perspective. This makes the idea of Cilan secretly being a bad guy and being one of the three members of the Shadow Triad more likely.

** The Pokemon Cubone wears a skull on its head from its dead mother. One popular interpretation is that it's a orphaned baby Kangaskhan that because of the skull evolves into Marowak instead of Kangaskhan, though how seriously this is believed depends on the person.

* Pokémon themselves, and the practice of battling. Are they fully sapient {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s engaging in their version of [=UFC=] with "coaches" who've earned their respect? Or are they little more than powerful animals being made to suffer through a sterilized depiction of cockfighting? Consider the real world equivalent of Pokémon battles, where human trainers force animals to fight for them? Bear-baiting, Cock-fighting and Dog-fighting! Yeah, it's suddenly become a ''lot'' harder to root for our heroes. The alternate to this comes when material for the series tries to characterize the Pokémon themselves beyond doing whatever their trainer tells them to, by saying all the fighting is just as much a game for them as it is for anyone playing the games. This is essentially a world which humanity shares with over eight hundred different species of super-powered {{Blood Knight}}s. Considering how it's considered dangerously unsafe to walk in tall grass without a Pokémon of your own, and even a few generations later Professor Birch gets chased by a wild dog pretty easily. This seems to actually be the case.

** Ash is almost always ObliviousToLove. Is he an ignorant IdiotHero? A somewhat dense 10-year old who simply doesn't get romance yet and isn't interested in it? {{Asexual|ity}}? That's not even discussing the interpretations that he might like one of his companions (typically either Misty or Serena) and either not realize it or not admit it. Or perhaps he does know, but [[ObfuscatingStupidity intentionally plays oblivious]] because [[InsecureLoveInterest he doesn't see himself as good boyfriend material]], or doesn't want to hurt their feelings.

** The internet has minorly gone nuts over an interpretation that Blue's Raticate died and was buried in Pokemon Tower. Most commonly, this was as a result of his battle with Red aboard the S.S. Anne, causing him to blame Red for it and vow to become a Pokemon Master for his dead companion. Interestingly, these interpretations tend not to focus on avenging the Raticate's death by defeating Red, but rather channeling all his sorrow into becoming a better Pokemon trainer, which would make Blue one of the most mature eleven-ish-year-olds ever. It also makes for a [[TragicVillain tragic]] [[ComingOfAgeStory loss of innocence story]], especially when Red then takes his championship (and the love of his grandfather) mere minutes after attaining it.

* 'Pokémon themselves, and the practice of battling. Are they fully sapient {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s engaging in their version of [=UFC=] with "coaches" who've earned their respect? Or are they little more than powerful animals being made to suffer through a sterilized depiction of cockfighting? Consider the real world equivalent of Pokémon battles, where human trainers force animals to fight for them? Bear-baiting, Cock-fighting and Dog-fighting! Yeah, it's suddenly become a ''lot'' harder to root for our heroes. The alternate to this comes when material for the series tries to characterize the Pokémon themselves beyond doing whatever their trainer tells them to, by saying all the fighting is just as much a game for them as it is for anyone playing the games. This is essentially a world which humanity shares with over eight hundred different species of super-powered {{Blood Knight}}s. Considering how it's considered dangerously unsafe to walk in tall grass without a Pokémon of your own, and even a few generations later Professor Birch gets chased by a wild dog pretty easily. This seems to actually be the case.

* Pidgeotto is one of very few Pokémon in the anime to follow the games mechanics of becoming compliant to a trainer just from battling and capturing it (not requiring befriending or earning its trust separately) and is mentioned as being exceptionally loyal to Ash. Being a NobleBirdOfPrey, one could attribute him as a SatelliteCharacter who got his bonding offscreen, a remnant of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, or among the Pokémon that [[DefeatEqualsFriendship feels honour-bound to a trainer that bests him]].
* Was James' Victreebel another over-affectionate Pokémon or genuinely just trying to eat its master? [[EpilepticTrees Is he even the same Pokémon as the Weepinbell James originally possessed?]]

** [=NPC=] trainers and the player character can easily be twisted into {{Jerkass}}es with regards to their interactions:
*** You're wandering down a road miles away from home, your Pokémon are weak, possibly paralyzed or poisoned, several are knocked out, you're out of healing items and are desperately looking for a Pokémon center to heal your Pokémon but don't know your way around the area. As you struggle onward another trainer spots you and immediately challenges you to a battle, giving you no chance to back down and having no regard for the safety and well-being of your '{{Mon}}s.

* 'Pokémon themselves, and the practice of battling. Are they fully sapient {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s engaging in their version of [=UFC=] with "coaches" who've earned their respect? Or are they little more than powerful animals being made to suffer through a sterilized depiction of cockfighting?

* There are some implications that [[spoiler:Guzma]] has physically and emotionally AbusiveParents. This brings his rebellious attitude and distrust of others into a new light. It also explains why he is so dedicated to [[spoiler:Lusamine]]. She's mentioned to be the only adult that respected him.

** Similarly, there's a popular theory that Giovanni from Generation 1 could have been a good guy, in that he wanted to [[WellIntentionedExtremist obtain the Silph Scope and Master Ball to catch a powerful ghost and then stop Mewtwo from destroying the world]]. Admittedly, this runs into problems when one considers the criminal organization he runs that steals, kills, and mistreats Pokemon... but perhaps he was [[TheAtoner trying to make up for his crimes]]?

* Kanto as a whole is filled with such cynical, curt and morally ambiguous figures compared to most other regions that it almost comes off as a CrapSaccharineWorld. Ash spent most of his journey there getting NoSympathy and berated just for making general rookie mistakes, while it's region's criminal organisation Team Rocket is [[PoliceAreUseless still active]], with the TerribleTrio themselves owing their {{Freudian Excuse}}s to being treated like crap in the region throughout their childhood. Is it any wonder Ash takes any and every opportunity to travel to a new region (with the Team Rocket trio following him)? Also note Ash and Misty's CharacterDevelopment into far less frustrated and insecure people during their trips to the relatively more pleasant Orange Islands and Johto.

** Ash is almost always ObliviousToLove. Is he an ignorant IdiotHero? A somewhat dense 10-year old who simply doesn't get romance yet and isn't interested in it? {{Asexual|ity}}? That's not even discussing the interpretations that he might like one of his companions (typically either Misty or Serena) and either not realize it or not admit it. Or perhaps he does know, but [[ObfuscatingStupidity intentionally plays oblivious]] [[InsecureLoveInterest because he doesn't see himself as good boyfriend material]], or doesn't want to hurt their feelings.

*** Some people consider him a "what-not-to-do" avatar for younger Pokémon fans for much of the series, particularly in the original and BW series. Others consider him to be a poor unfortunate soul cursed to wander endlessly without ever realizing it.

* The ''Pokémon'' franchise has a lot of ''canonical'' Alternate Character Interpretation, considering the number of AlternateContinuities that exist. Compare May from [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} the anime]] with Sapphire from ''Manga/PokemonAdventures''. Despite being polar opposites, they are both based on the same character from the [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire original games]].

* Pikachu:
** In the first episode of Pokémon, Ash Ketchum's Pikachu is a complete {{Jerkass}} to Ash until Ash's attempt at a {{Heroic Sacrifice}} [[WellDoneSonGuy earns his respect]]. He later has an instant liking for Ash's new [[YouOweMe unwanted]] travelling companion Misty. The moment Misty receives the bike she's owed and leaves, what does Pikachu do? Destroy [[MsFanservice another girl's]] bike. And after she leaves? [[RunningGag YET ANOTHER]] girl's bike. He has NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in the advances of [[StalkerWithACrush Dawn's Buneary]]... Perhaps Pikachu's interests lie [[InterspeciesRomance elsewhere?]] Especially considering that his jerkass tendencies [[OutOfCharacterMoment never show themselves again]]. (Also, there's a line in the Japanese theme song about looking for Pokémon inside a girl's skirt, and Pikachu happens to run beneath a [[ContinuityCameo Lass's]] skirt in the corresponding shot.)

** Part of the fandom is still holding onto the theory that Pikachu is female. The "reveal" episode has it falling for a female Togepi's attract. Does Pikachu have unknown bisexual interests? Was its interest in Togepi related to it's parental affections toward Togepi? Was it just a case of EvenTheGirlsWantHer? Is it ''{{Transgender}}''? Pikachu is quite masculine at times, and uses "Boku". Maybe that means something?

** Ash is almost always ObliviousToLove. Is he an ignorant IdiotHero? A somewhat dense 10-year old who simply doesn't get romance yet and isn't interested in it? {{Asexual|ity}}? That's not even discussing the interpretations that he might like one of his companions (typically either Misty or Serena) and either not realize it or not admit it.

** Part of the fandom is still holding onto the theory that Pikachu is female. The "reveal" episode has it falling for a female Togepi's attract. Does Pikachu have unknown bisexual interests? Was its interest in Togepi related to it's parental affections toward Togepi? Was it just a case of EvenTheGirlsWantHer? Is it a ''{{Transgender}}''? Pikachu is quite masculine at times, and uses "Boku". Maybe that means something?

* Is Red ObliviousToLove or is he just pretending to be?
* Are Sapphire and Ruby really a {{tomboy}} and CampStraight or are they hiding their true personalites?

* How bad of a parent is the BigBad [[spoiler:Lusamine]] from ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon''? Is her behavior due to [[spoiler:Nihilego's]] toxins or not? Fans differ from her being a perfectly good parent until she became BrainwashedAndCrazy, her being abusive on her own but spiraling even more out of control due to the toxins, or her being in control at all times.

* It's a never ending debate on whether [[TheRival Paul]] is either a DomesticAbuser who tortures Pokemon, never shows any care for them whatsoever, and deserves to have his license as a trainer taken away, or if he's simply a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk and very [[StealthMentor strict trainer]] who's also fair enough to his Pokemon and knows his methods will pay off in the end. If you look at the way Paul is from his first appearances to his last, you'll most certainly see he's made some changes.
* Does Ash ''really'' keep losing league matches, or is he intentionally throwing them so he has an excuse to keep traveling?

* Pokémon:
** The Pokemon Cubone wears a skull on its head from its dead mother. One popular interpretation is that it's a orphaned baby Kangaskhan that because of the skull evolves into Marowak instead of Kangaskhan, though how seriously this is believed depends on the person.
** Another theory is that the Ghost Pokemon Gengar is a dead Clefable because of their similar body shapes.
** Less morbid is the theory that the fossil Pokemon Kabutops is an evolutionary ancestor of Scyther because they both have blade arms.
** Darkrai is often depicted in canon media as dangerous and shady, and [[VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers sometimes]] all the way up to utter monster. A common fandom alternative, though, is that it is not malevolent than any other given Legendary and suffers from BadPowersGoodPeople, requiring withdrawal from people to prevent causing pain and making itself genuinely hated.

** Blue is canonically your rival because you are of similar height, age, etc. Reasons for him going from friendly to a jerk differ, such as his parents recently dying or him being jealous of you.