History Main / MonsAsCharacterization

*** Melli has an ego the size of Mount Coronet and immense disdain for everyone around him. Not only is he a Poison-type specialist (which has plenty of negative connotations on its own), but his ace is a Skuntank, whose stench is so great [[HoistByItsOwnPetard it is sometimes unable to stomach its own prey]]. On support, he has a Drapion, an incredibly aggressive and territorial Poison/Dark-type, and a Golbat who stubbornly refuses to evolve into Crobat throughout his rematches, in sharp contrast to Silver above.
*** Volo uses a team that's almost identical to that of his descendent Cynthia in ''VideoGame/PokemonPlatinum''. However, his SignatureMon is the peaceful Fairy/Flying type Togekiss while Cynthia's is the violent Dragon/Ground type Garchomp, with Fairy-types being a counter to Dragon-types and Flying-types being a counter to Ground-types. One of the Pokémon found on Cynthia's Platinum team, the Water-type Milotic, is not available in the Hisui dex, so Volo has it replaced with a Fire/Rock-type Hisuian Arcanine. [[spoiler:This alludes to how Volo is the BigBad of his game while Cynthia was the BigGood of hers]].

** ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'': Volo uses a team that's almost identical to that of his descendent Cynthia in ''VideoGame/PokemonPlatinum''. However, his SignatureMon is the peaceful Fairy/Flying type Togekiss while Cynthia's is the violent Dragon/Ground type Garchomp, with Fairy-types being a counter to Dragon-types and Flying-types being a counter to Ground-types. One of the Pokémon found on Cynthia's Platinum team, the Water-type Milotic, is not available in the Hisui dex, so Volo has it replaced with a Fire/Rock-type Hisuian Arcanine. [[spoiler:This alludes to how Volo is the BigBad of his game while Cynthia was the BigGood of hers]].

*** History teacher Raifort is a firm believer that OlderIsBetter. As such, her roster is comprised of Pokémon from the first four regions. The sole exception, an Unovan Zoroark, has an ability that changes it into other Pokémon.

*** Larry the {{salaryman}} is an interesting case, as he actually has two teams; a Normal-type team as a Gym Leader, who he associates with because he himself is "as ordinary as you can get", and a Flying-type team [[spoiler:as a member of the Elite Four, which he uses at the Top Champion's insistence]]. Although he doesn't express any connection with the latter team, its worth noting that it doesn't even include his Staraptor or his rematch team's Braviary, despite them both being Normal/Flying-type Pokémon; this characterizes him as unwilling to do things by halves, [[TripleShifter even if it means more work for himself]].

** ''Fanfic/HardEnough'': The protagonist {{Self Insert}}ed into Brock has a Tyranitar as his starter, not only reflecting his chosen type specialty, but also his Dark-type Aura caused by his unresolved parental issues. In addition, a significant chunk of his Pokemon stable are Water-types, reflecting his mother Lola's chosen type and by extension Brock's issues with her.

*** [[TheDragon N]] believes that keeping Pokémon in Pokeballs is abhorrent. As a result, he uses a different team every time he battles you, and his team is made up exclusively of Pokémon found in that area. This implies that he likely caught his entire team minutes beforehand for the sole purpose of battling you, then releases them after you beat him.

*** History teacher Raifort is a firm believer that OlderIsBetter. As such, her roster is comprised of Pokemon from the first four regions. The sole exception, an Unovan Zoroark, has an ability that changes it into other Pokemon.

*** Kieran constantly swaps his roster, benching his earlier ComMons and acquiring rarer ones. This reflects his pursuit of power and the rift it creates between him and his loved ones. Additionally, his ace as the Blueberry Champion is Hydrapple, a Pokémon that evolves from Dipplin (a shy Pokémon that hides in an apple) and has become a five-headed beast that's only sporadically helped by its four additional heads- reflecting how his Elite Four chafes under his regime.

->'''Yusei Fudo:''' Jaden, did you see how he just summoned the Malefic version of that Dragon?
->'''Jaden Yuki:''' Uh-huh. Just by banishing the regular version of Cyber End to the graveyard. That's all it took.
->'''Yami Yugi:''' In other words, by destroying a monster's good version, he can give life to its bad. It seems Paradox truly does see only the dark side of Duel Monsters.

* Franchise/{{Persona}} series:

*** Penny loves Eevee, so not only does she have a huge Eevee backpack, her team consists of only Eeveelutions.

*** Arven, who is a talented cook seeking out cooking ingredients, gradually builds up a Pokémon team based on food products and cooking, such as Garganacl (based on salts) and Scovillain (based around the pepper). He also has a Greedent, which is known for its love of berries and being a BigEater in general. The sole exception is his team's ace, [[spoiler:Mabosstiff. Not only is the latter Arven's SignatureMon, but it is also a family-oriented Pokémon, which is fitting for someone who has been disconnected from his own family for much of his life.]]

*** Arven, who is a talented cook seeking out cooking ingredients, gradually builds up a Pokémon team based on food products and cooking, such as Garganacl (based on salts) and Scovillain (based around the pepper). The two exceptions to this theme are his Greedent and [[spoiler:Mabosstiff. Not only is the latter Arven's SignatureMon, but it is also a family-oriented Pokémon, which is fitting for the individual who has been disconnected from his own family for much of his life.]]
*** Penny loves Eevee, so not only she has a huge Eevee backpack, her team consists of only Eeveelutions.

*** Kieran constantly swaps his roster, losing the ComMons and acquiring rarer ones. This reflects his pursuit of power and the rift it creates between him and his loved ones. Additionally, his ace as the Blueberry Champion is Hydrapple, a Pokémon that evolves from Dipplin (a shy Pokémon that hides in an apple) and has become a five-headed beast that's only sporadically helped by its four additional heads- reflecting how his Elite Four chafes under his regime.

* Kieran constantly swaps his roster, losing the ComMons and acquiring rarer ones. This reflects his pursuit of power and the rift it creates between him and his loved ones. Additionally, his ace as the Blueberry Champion is Hydrapple, a Pokémon that evolves from Dipplin (a shy Pokémon that hides in an apple) and has become a five-headed beast that's only sporadically helped by its four additional heads- reflecting how his Elite Four chafes under his regime.

*** As with the ''Gold and Silver'' Rival, Archie and Maxie both own Crobats; indicating that, despite their roles as {{Big Bad}}s, they have close bonds with their Pokémon and aren't all bad.

* Kieran constantly swaps his roster, losing the ComMons and acquiring rarer ones. This reflects his pursuit for piwer and the rift it crestes with his loved ones. Adittionally, his ace as the [[spoiler: Blueberry Champion]] is Hydrapple, a Pokémon that evolves from Dipplin ( a shy Pokémon that hides in an apple) and hss become a five- headed beast that's only sporadically helped by it's four additional hesds- reflecting how his [[ spoiler: Elite Four]] shafes under his regime.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'': Besides his starter, Hop's early team members are humble ComMons Wooloo and Rookidee, which are also found near his hometown. When Hop begins to struggle with self-doubt, he swaps out ''his entire team'' besides his starter, and [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness leads with something other than Wooloo for the first time.]] The next time you fight, he's changed the entire team again, showing that he's [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife still highly conflicted about who he wants to be]]. He gets his act together before your next encounter, where he brings back his Wooloo and Rookidee (now in their final forms), but keeps the Snorlax he had during his doubting phase, showing that he still took something away from that experience. He sticks with this team for the rest of the game.

*** [[AmericansAreCowboys Clay]] is a ground-type gym leader who also works a second job as the head of a tunnel construction company. His SignatureMon Excadrill is similarly adapted for tunnel formation.

** Spectra’s partner Helios becomes more and more mechanical as he forcibly evolves to become stronger, matching how Spectra threw away his morals to become the best Brawler among his people. [[spoiler:After Spectra has a HeelFaceTurn, Helios likewise evolves into a more organic form naturally.]]

** Emperor Barodius’ partner Dharak resembles a dark mirror of Drago, matching Barodius’s status as an EvilCounterpart to Dan.
** Wiseman doesn’t have a set partner at any time, instead favouring switching out the Nonets. [[spoiler:In his true identity of Coredegon, he doesn’t see the Bakugan as individual beings, but as a single problem preventing him from being free, hence his desire to wipe them all out]].

*** Arven, who is a talented cook who is seeking cooking ingredients, gradually builds up a Pokémon team based on food products and cooking, such as Garganacl (based on salts) and Scovillain (based around the pepper).

*** [[AmericansAreCowboys Clay]] is a ground-type gym leader who also works a second job as the head of a gem mining company. His SignatureMon Excadrill is a giant mole with drills for hands.

*** Jirou has Noibat and Loudred, both being Pokémon that tend to make a lot of noise, which she also does with her Quirk.

*** Todoroki has an Alolan Ninetales, a Kantonian Vulpix, a Galarian Darmanitan, and a Drizzile. The former three represent his dual Quirk, [[AnIcePerson Half-Cold]] [[PlayingWithFire Half-Hot]], and how he both rejects his fire side while instinctively using it when he finds himself in danger.

*** Ochako has Minior and Dottler, who reflect her [[GravityMaster Zero Gravity]] Quirk; Kirlia, who represents her hidden strength; and Pikachu, showing the side that wants to catch up to Izuku.

** ''Fanfic/ToBeAMiraculousMaster'': ''Everyone[='=]s'' teams reflects their personalities and the [[AnimalThemedSuperbeing miraculous transformation]] and/or akumatized form they have in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', since the miraculouses themselves don't appear. For example, Marinette has a Leavanny to reflect her sewing capabilities and to mimic Ladybug's yo-yo, and Lila uses a Ninetales and a Zoroark that pretends to be it with Illusion, like Volpina's illusions. The only nicknamed Pokémon are the ones matching kwamis: Tikki the Ledian, Plagg the Liepard, Wayzz the Torterra (for Fu), Trixx the Delphox, and Pollen the Vespiquen.

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*** The Personas Margaret uses in her BonusBoss fight all resemble attractive young men like Yoshitsune and Oberon, as a hint to her attraction to her Wild Card.