Characters / Pokémon Red and Blue - Protagonists and Rivals

aka: Pokemon Protagonists And Rivals Kanto

Main Character Index > Red and Blue > Protagonists and Rivals

General Tropes

• Almighty Janitor:
  • Leaf and Green haven't been given any backstory, so whenever either girl appears, she's just a random trainer with a power level on par with Red and Blue.
  • Leaf appears for the first time in Master's as part of a Pokémon Masters League tournament with an unevolved Pokémon next to Gym Leaders, Elite Four members, and the like. In her Sygna Suit trailer, she appears with Red and Blue and Mega Evolves her Kanto starter right with them as if they've been a team for a while.
  • Green shows up without explanation in Let's Go as one of the toughest Pokémon Trainers around, with a Kanto starter seemingly from Prof. Oak, implying she might be somehow related to Red and Blue. She also appears in Cerulean Cave, which one needs to enter the Hall of Fame to gain permission to enter.
• Always Someone Better: Whatever advantages The Rival may have, the win-loss ratio inevitably leans toward the Player Character over the course of the game—at the end of the game the player character dethrones the rival outright and takes the championship for their own.
• Ambiguous Situation: Is Green the Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! version of Leaf, the Player Character of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen? Both are Canon Immigrant versions of the same Lady Not-Appearing-in-This-Game from Pokémon Red and Blue promotional art and are all but identical save for their clothes. That said, unlike Kris and Lyra, there's been no official statement either way, and "Leaf" is the character who appears in all media not directly tied to Let's Go. Green does appear in Pokémon Unite as an AI player using Blastoise, but she's no more than a Trainer skin like any player-controlled Trainer.
• The Artifact: Inverted; a female protagonist didn't exist in Kanto outside of promotional artwork until Leaf became the female option in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. Because of this, Red's place in the larger timeline is already established, appearing alongside Blue in challenges such as the Pokémon World Tournament and Battle Tree.
• Bash Brothers:
  • In Sun and Moon, Red runs the Post-Game Battle Facility along with Blue.
  • In Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, Chase/Elaine and Trace team up against Team Rocket at Silph Co.
• Best Friend: Red and Blue used to be close friends prior to the events of the Gen I games. After their rivalry across Kanto, and some old grudges held during the Johto games, they seem to be back to this by the time they go to Alola in Sun and Moon and are described as such in Masters. Chase/Elaine and Trace share a similar dynamic, but there's none of the bad blood Red and Blue had.
• Canon Immigrant: Leaf and Green are direct adaptations of the Lady Not-Appearing-in-This-Game from Pokémon Red and Blue promotional art.
• Coming of Age Story: At the end of the main game, Oak states that the protagonist's journey was one, remarking that "s/he has come of age."
• Colorful Theme Naming: The trainers of this generation (except for Chase, Elaine, and Trace) have their Canon Name as primary colors, with version names being the same as these names. This relates to Kanto's Colorful Theme Naming with its towns.
• Curtains Match the Window: Inverted. Both Red and Blue have brown eyes and brown hair, which are both natural in Real Life.
• Cutting Off the Branches: It's Red who appears in HeartGold and SoulSilver, establishing him as the canon player character of FireRed and LeafGreen.
• Decomposite Character: Leaf and Green both stem from a promotional character made purely to round out the starter trio, only featured in early official artwork and Pokémon Adventures. The character was repurposed as Leaf for Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen as the female counterpart to Red, whereas Green would appear in Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! as a rival who competes with you for Mewtwo. Interestingly, Masters gives Leaf presumably the same Eevee from the rooftop of Celadon Mansion, as opposed to any other Pokémon. Meanwhile, Green uses Blastoise as her ace in all her appearances, being weak to not just Red's Venusaur, but also the Partner Pikachu. Partner Eevee can also target both of Blastoise's weaknesses. Thus, Green fills the same role between Red/Leaf/Blue and Chase/Elaine/Trace. However, they have at least one common Pokemon in Clefable, as seen in Pokémon Masters's Trainer Lodge.
• Disappeared Dad: He's mentioned once when you check out the televisions in Celadon Department Store, but he never appears. The Rival's parents aren't mentioned at all, and he lives with his gramps (in Blue's case) and older sister.
• Divergent Character Evolution:
  • Leaf's appearance in Masters reveals that she's more than a Palette Swap of Red. Whereas Red being a stoic Heroic Mime with an almost perpetual frown is his personality, Leaf is revealed to be just as chatty as the rest, is quite cheery, and has momemts of Cuteness Proximity when next to her Eevee.
  • Green and Leaf diverge somewhat from the unnamed female Trainer they're both based on. In Green's case, she's the same character interpreted as a rival, given she competes with you over Mewtwo, while Leaf is the same character as a player character, whom you can play as instead of Red in FireRed and LeafGreen.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: As the series went on, the main characters all have actual, proper sounding names, but the original main characters of Kanto are just named after the versions of their generation. Red, Blue, Green, and Leaf aren't exactly typical names for people.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: The general rule across most continuities is that when all three starters are chosen, Blue has the advantage over Red, Red has the advantage over the female Trainer, and the female Trainer has the advantage on the Rival. As such, Leaf gets Venusaur when Red has Charizard, and Blue has Blastoise. This also usually means that Green has Blastoise, Red has Venusaur, and Blue has Charizard, but Pokémon Evolutions broke this rule by giving Red Charizard and Blue Venusaur, while Green got to keep Blastoise.
• Fanservice Pack: In Sun and Moon, Red and Blue◊ have both grown up into fine looking gentlemen, with Red being slightly more of a hunk and Blue being a bit more of a pretty boy.
• Meaningful Name: Thee Let's Go Trainers all have Japanese names based on movement: Chase/Kakeru (run), Elaine/Ayumi (step), and Trace/Shin (advance). Chase and Trace's English names are obviously related to tracking, and like Leaf before her, Elaine is the Odd Name Out, her name merely sounding like "lane," which doesn't fit in with the boys' hunting theme.
• Mythology Gag:
  • While they've been replaced as the main cast with Chase, Elaine, and Trace, they appear as bonus characters in the Let's Go remakes with designs based on the Gen I appearances, including Green.
  • Their Neo Champion versions recall Pokémon Adventures, when they used the Legendary Birds against the Masked Man, with each Trainer's bird matching their counterpart.
• Older and Wiser: In both Sun and Moon and the Let's Go games, Red and Blue (and Green, in the latter) appear as older, experienced trainers.
  • In Sun and Moon, both Red and Blue appear as the bosses of the region's battle facility, the Battle Tree. They both have the title of Battle Legend, which seems to be even higher than that of an Elite Four or Champion. They also appear much older here, both looking like they're in their 20s.
  • In Let's Go, it's a bit unclear how much older they are than the protagonists, but they are a bit taller and much more accomplished in a bit of Canon Welding between these remakes and their role in the previous continuity:
    • Blue apparently went through a Kanto adventure without a Pokédex, now works directly with Oak, and has been courted by the Pokémon League to take over as Viridian Gym Leader more than once. You encounter a lot of him in the main game but he doesn't directly mention whether he even knows the other two original trainers, if they went on that unseen adventure together, or how recent that adventure was.
    • Red and Green are both high level trainers, and are some of the strongest trainers in the game. They're still out there battling, exploring, and hunting Legendary Pokémon like Mewtwo just like a real Player Character should be, in the post-game.
• Power Trio: Despite Schrödinger's Player Character being in effect for almost two decades, as of the Let's Go games the three Kanto trainers are marketed together, and seen congregating in the lobby together in Masters as if they all know each other well instead of just Red and Blue as a duo.
• Signature Headgear: Starting a trend that basically all of the player characters would have, Red and Leaf both wear hats with a Poké Ball insignia on them.
• Similar Squad: Their teams in Let's Go follow a structure:
  • A Grass, Fire, and Water type, with one of the Kanto starters taking up these slots. Red's starter of choice here is Venusaur, Blue's got Charizard, and Green has Blastoise.
  • A powerful Normal type. Red's got Snorlax, Blue has Tauros, and Green has Kangaskhan.
  • A powerful trade evolution Pokémon. Red has Machamp, Blue has Alakazam, and Green has Gengar.
  • And then one last Pokémon that doesn't really fit in any of the above. Red's got his signature Pikachu, Blue has Aerodactyl, and Green has Clefable.
• Schrödinger's Player Character: In FireRed and LeafGreen, the unchosen player character does not appear to exist. In the series as a whole, Red is treated as the canonical protagonist, with Green not making her proper debut until Let's Go. However, Pokémon Masters would later present Leaf as the female Kanto Trainer.
• Signature Mon:
  • The original trio is near synonymous with the Kanto starters.
  • Red and Pikachu are perhaps the most iconic duo in core series Pokemon. Consequently, Chase is heavily associated with it as Red's replacement in Let's Go.
  • Elaine's association with Eevee carries over into Leaf's appearance in Pokémon Masters. It's also popularly associated with Blue, serving as his starter in Pokémon Yellow.
  • While it remains unclear whether Green and Leaf are meant to be the same character, Clefable is one Pokemon that connects them together. Green uses Clefable in both her incarnations, and Leaf is featured with it in Pokémon Masters via the Trainer Lodge.
• Suddenly Voiced: The protagonist, unlike most future heroes, and ironically enough considering Red's reputation, actually makes the odd internal comment when examining objects (where most future Player Characters merely get descriptions), such as mentioning his/her dad when you check out the televisions in the Celadon Department Store, and remarks that s/he "should get going" when you examine the TV in his/her house and notes that they "better not touch it" when examining various pieces of technology. S/he also talks to Copycat, causing her to state his/her unseen dialogue. This is made even more clear in the Japanese version, where these pieces of text and some others are clearly written as if they are being spoken or thought.
• Tiger Versus Dragon: Every time Red and Blue have appeared as NPC Trainers, one of them uses Charizard (the dragon), and the other uses Arcanine (the tiger-striped canine).
• Time Skip: They're visibly young adults in Pokémon Sun and Moon. Most estimates put them at 21 to 31 years old, depending on the gap between Generation 4 and Generation 5.
• Vague Age: One of the few times in the series this is averted, as Red (and by extension Blue and Leaf) is stated to be 11-years-old (making him around 14 in the Gen II games). However, due to a vaguely defined timeskip between Generations IV and V, his age in Generation VII is unclear. Assuming the Kanto games take place in 1996 (the release year, and referenced on adult Red's shirt) his age could be put at 30, given that Porygon was created 20 years before Sun and Moon, and had once been stated to have been created in 1995. However this would make the events of ''Sun and Moon'' take place in 2015, rather than their release year of 2016.
• White Gloves: The original female Trainer had white gloves, which were later referenced for her Green in Pokémon Adventures counterpart. Unlike her Little Black Dress, these don't appear in Green's Let's Go design, though she does wear a pair of white bracelets designed after Leaf's wristbands.
• Wolverine Publicity: The Kanto trainers are by far the most popular and recognizable human characters in the franchise. Putting them in a game is always a massive draw, and as such Red and Blue have appeared in nearly every generation in some manner.

Pokémon Red and Blue, Pokémon Yellow, and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

Red

Red (レッド reddo)

^{FireRed/LeafGreen}

^Sun/Moon

Voiced by: Brandon Winckler (Pokémon Masters - EN), Shouta Aoi (Pokémon Masters - JP)

The Pokémon Trainer.

This young man is perhaps the most iconic human character of the series. An 11-year-old from Pallet Town who used to be the best of friends with a boy named Blue. At the start of Pokémon Red and Blue, Red and Blue are given a task by Professor Oak, Blue's grandfather and the local expert on Pokémon: to travel around the Kanto region and capture all 150 known Pokémon to complete the Pokédex, a device that records data on Pokémon encountered and captured. To help with this, Oak gives Red and Blue one Pokémon each from Oak's remaining three. (In Pokémon Yellow version, Red's starter Pokémon is a Pikachu that Oak captured on Route 1). With this one Pokémon, Red ventures far from his home town, challenging the various gyms and thwarting the operations of the criminal enterprise Team Rocket in order to become a Pokémon Master.

In Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow, he was the only player character, and is still the only protagonist to appear in later games in person. He's the strongest trainer in Pokémon Gold and Silver and can also be battled in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, Pokémon Sun and Moon (original and Ultra), and Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!. Red appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, in which he commands Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard to battle for him; in these games, he is nameless and is simply labeled as the "Pokémon Trainer", drawing solely from his playable appearances.

Red has appeared in many spin-off media, most prominently Pokémon Adventures. Additionally, the lead character of the main anime series shares his name with one of Red's default names (Ash in English and Satoshi in Japanese).

---

• The Ace:
  • Implied through potential events that can transpire in the games, as well as Red's True Final Boss status in Pokémon Gold and Silver and their remakes. As the final boss, he also had two tenures as the highest-leveled NPC trainer in the entire franchise, between the releases of Gold, Silver, and Crystal and Platinum (where he was surpassed by Barry), and then again between HeartGold and SoulSilver and Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (where he was surpassed by Cynthia in terms of having the highest-leveled team overall), not counting battle facilities that automatically set levels to 100.
  • In Pokémon Sun and Moon as well as Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, which take place years after the adventure in Kanto, he has been specifically requested alongside Blue to help spearhead the Battle Tree as part of the initiative to develop the Alolan Pokémon League. He and Blue share the exclusive trainer title "Battle Legend", and they are both the bosses of a battle facility where Champions, Elite Four Members, and Elite Rivals participate, implying they are beyond even the level of a typical Champion.
  • In Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, Red will only appear at the Indigo Plateau if the player has a full team, and has previously defeated at least 6 Master Trainers. This suggests that each Pokémon on Red's team is trained as well as those belonging to a Master Trainer — but while those trainers specialize in only that species, Red is such a capable trainer that he can match a specialist's level of training with multiple species at a time. His edge over even Master Trainers is indicated when, upon his defeat, the player is awarded the "Battle Master" title. Furthermore, while Blue easily deals with whatever challenge he faces during the story, and is famous region-wide as an incredibly strong trainer, Red's team is of a much higher level. In other words, Red is in most appearances either tied or, or far and away the strongest trainer, even when compared to other trainers that would usually be considered the ace.
  • In Masters, Paulo outright calls him "the strongest trainer in history". Red himself also immediately shows up and defeats half of Giovanni's ENTIRE army of Team Rocket grunts with just his Snorlax, then goes into hiding for three days for Snorlax to recover and then returns to deal with the rest of them, defeating Mewtwo with Blue's help and almost defeating Mega Mewtwo the same way before Giovanni artificially powers it up further. Snorlax also took multiple hits from Mewtwo before and after Mega Evolution and still kept going, and Red also destroyed the entire Team Rocket base just by Gigantamaxing his Snorlax. Lance also notes Red is strong so it's possible he was fine confronting Team Rocket on his own, but to be careful anyway. Cynthia herself has to prepare to fight him and does her own research into him to understand what she's up against. Flint, an Elite Four member is also in utter awe of his Charizard despite Flint being a Fire-type specialist whereas Red has no type specialty, again implying each of Red's Pokémon is stronger than the same species belonging to type specialists. Notably, Red is also the only trainer in the game so far who can Mega Evolve and Gigantamax his Pokemon, and given that in Sun and Moon he also uses Z-Moves, this also makes Red the only trainer in the series' history to be shown using all three types of in-game battle transformations this way. His Snorlax Gigantamaxes, his Venusaur uses Z-Moves, and his starters can all Mega Evolve.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Has black hair in Generations I and II, but this is made into light brown hair from Generation III onward, likely to differentiate him from Ash. He has his black hair once more in Let's Go, Pikachu and Eevee.
• Always Someone Better:
  • By Pokémon Gold and Silver, Red's superiority over Blue has been long established since he dethroned the latter during their championship bout. To his credit, Blue is the strongest of the Kanto Gym Leaders and totally outclasses the bi-regional Elite Four... but he's still just second-best next to Red, the True Final Boss.
  • By the same token, Red can be challenged and defeated by the Player Characters of Pokémon Red and Blue, Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, and Pokémon Sun and Moon.
• Badass Adorable: He's 11-years-old in Red and Blue and their remakes. 14 in Gen II/IV, and he's gotta be at least 16 if not older by Black 2 and White 2, but still uses his HeartGold and SoulSilver kid design. In Sun and Moon, though, he's finally shown growing out of this, given a character redesign in his late teens or early twenties.
• Beyond the Impossible: Throughout the series, the highest rank a trainer can have is "Champion", which both Red and his rival Blue have held at one time or another. As an adult, Red has a new title — Battle Legend — which he shares with Blue as the co-bosses of the Battle Tree, a facility staffed by Champions, Elite Four members, and Frontier Brains. In other words, it is implied that Red is actually such a powerful trainer that he outranks regional Champions.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: As an adult in Sun and Moon, his eyebrows are a lot thicker than they were when he was a kid.
• Boss Corridor: The match with Red in his new Mt. Silver lair at the end of Gold and Silver has a long hallway prior to his platform (this is also in an area with a lot of strong wild Pokémon). In Heartgold and Soulsilver, the long walk to him is on the snowy peak of Mt. Silver instead, with no random encounters or music in the area beyond the sound of the wind.
• Canon Name: He had no canonical name back in Gen I as he was meant to be the player's avatar and thus they could choose whatever name they like. While he was given a name in promotional materials and tie-ins, it often alternated between Red and Ash (Satoshi). Only by Gen II did the name Red became the canonical one.
• Characterization Marches On: Some of the early promotional artwork and comic depict him as spunky and occasionally smiling. He also "talks" through Copycat's dialogue. Starting with Gen 3, the series has put emphasis on Red being a quiet boy with a serious expression, growing into The Stoic as an adult in Sun and Moon and Masters. Essentially, Red went from "Heroic Mime as a stand in for the player" to "Heroic Mime as his actual personality" which the other Suddenly Voiced trainers with divergent personalities give him a ribbing for.
• Chick Magnet: Quite a few girls are drawn to Red, though not necessarily just girls his age. This is something often carried over to his other incarnations.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: His Espeon has not made any appearances ever since it was replaced by Lapras in the HGSS remake.
• Composite Character:
  • His GSC appearance prominently featured a Pikachu on his team, which indicated reference to Yellow, as all the Pokémon on his team could only be obtained through special encounters or as gifts, and Yellow was the only game where there was any Pikachu that could be considered special. Given that Yellow is an adaptation of the anime, Red owes at least part of his character to Ash Ketchum. (From HGSS on, his Pikachu can often be seen using the moves Volt Tackle and Iron Tail, which Ash's Pikachu used quite prominently for years).
  • Red's Sygna Suit in Pokémon Masters meshes his two designs: He keeps his general remake design, but he uses his classic hat and his new vest mixes traits of both his vest and jacket. His hair is also has a darker shade of brown that's a middle ground between his two hair colors.
  • His fightable self in Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! has Red mostly using his HGSS team, favoring Venusaur like he did in Pokémon Adventures. His Charizard and Blastoise are also respectively replaced by Arcanine, a Fire-type "Legendary" Pokemon, and Machamp, which in and of itself combines Hitmonlee/Hitmonchan from the Fighting Dojo without actually settling on either one of them. Also, his Pikachu knows Iron Tail, just like Ash's does.
• Cutting Off the Branches:
  • Averts this as an NPC. Red has always had all three Kanto starters on his team, as well as a Pikachu and other gift or story event Pokémon (Snorlax, Espeon in Gen II, and Lapras in Gen IV and onward) so that his canon starter Pokémon is never apparent. In Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, Red is shown to have chosen Venusaur as his starter, with Blue having Charizard and Green having Blastoise, referencing the pre-release artwork showcasing all of them prior to the debut of Pokémon Red and Blue. However, Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! is an Alternate Universe retelling of Pokémon Red and Blue, meaning his canon starter is still not a given in any other game. Incidentally, in all releases except for Japanese, they all use a starter that would be weak to the type their name represents.
  • Inverted in the Super Smash Bros. series. The playable Pokémon Trainer is solely based on Red's playable appearances in Red/Blue and FireRed/LeafGreen, and therefore goes unnamed and is described in the vaguest of terms, ignoring his appearances and characterization as an NPC in later games and instead depicting the player challenging the Indigo League.
• Continuity Nod: Red's team in Pokémon Gold and Silver and all future appearances reflects the events of Pokémon Red and Blue. He has a Pikachu and the final forms of the three starters from Generation I, the Snorlax that was once blocking a path, and either Espeon in Pokémon Gold and Silver or Lapras in HeartGold and SoulSilver onwards.
• Depending on the Writer: Many different works use the playable version of Red as a basis, and therefore either depict him as the stoic, Heroic Mime legend he was in the Johto games, or give him a personality similar to Ash Ketchum along with full dialogue.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Zigzagged. He has suffered one canon loss to Ethan/Kris/Lyra (depending on who is the player character in the Johto games), but that wasn't an official bout, rather just a personal challenge. As Champion, Red was never actually defeated — he just chose to leave to seek greater heights, entirely of his own accord. When Lance became the new Champion, he didn't actually beat the last one, he just occupied the vacant space because someone had to, and he was just that good. This makes Red one of the only Champions in the series to never be succeeded by way of being surpassed, and technically retaining an undefeated record.
• Dragon Tamer: In Sun and Moon and their Ultra versions he can use the Fire/Dragon Mega Charizard X in the Battle Tree.
• Exposed to the Elements: Wears a vest over a T-shirt^note in Gens 1 & 2 or a short-sleeved jacket^note in the remakes on a perpetually snowing mountain peak. For at least a couple years straight. The only change from his normal outfit is a pair of gloves that don't look particularly warm. One piece of official art◊ depicts him with a winter jacket and yellow scarf, but this is never seen in any game.
• Eye-Obscuring Hat: In his HeartGold and SoulSilver and Black 2 and White 2 animations, his eyes are initially obscured by his hat until he lifts the brim. It doesn't obscure his eyes as much in Sun and Moon, but the effect is still there.
• Famed In-Story: Known as the legend that disbanded Team Rocket and became champion of the Indigo League.
• Friendly Rivalry: With Blue by Masters and Sun and Moon. They're more best friends than rivals and Blue backhandedly compliments Red's strength and prowess in later games.
• Good is Not Nice: In Masters, in the Kanto episode of the Villain Arc, he decides to Gigantamax his Snorlax in the Team Rocket Hideout, which really isn't big enough to house a giant. Everyone else in there, even Giovanni, try to convince him not to do it but they all panic when he does it anyway.
• Hero Protagonist: He's the main protagonist of the Gen I games and the canon protagonist of the remakes in Gen III, and is singlehandedly responsible for taking down Team Rocket's Kanto branch.
• Heroic Mime:
  • All the protagonists are silent when you play as them, however, his encounter with CopyCat strongly implies that he does indeed speak. This is confirmed in Pokémon Masters; he speaks 3 words, much to Flint's shock.
  • Red takes it a step further by remaining silent even when he's an Optional Boss NPC rather than a player-controlled character, he displays Visible Silence. Contrast this with the planned Hilda/Hilbert encounters from Black 2 and White 2 where they would've had dialogue in the World Tournament. In Pokémon Masters, while all the other main series player characters have full dialogue (even Red's own Distaff Counterpart Leaf), Red has almost no dialogue and his voice clips consist of Voice Grunting similar to Link from The Legend of Zelda.
  • Lampshaded by Blue in Sun and Moon, who remarks that Red is "as silent as ever".
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum: His team was composed of level 80s during his training on Mt. Silver, and when fought on first reaching the Battle Tree they're in their sixties (except Pikachu who is level 70). Even still, they are powered down to level 50 during the World Tournament, like any other trainer. This also applies to his introductory battle with the protagonist of Pokémon Sun and Moon, though given that Red and Blue are in charge of running a facility staffed by Champions (among others), and that Blue was fairly casual in recognizing the player as a new Champion, it appears likely that both Red and Blue were holding back. Their confidence is more justified during if they are challenged in the Battle Tree, where each is able to Mega Evolve multiple Pokémon and use Z-Moves. If the Battle Tree itself lacked level normalization, it is quite possible the levels of their teams would once again reach the 80s.
• Hot-Blooded: According to a Generation I comic drawn by Sugimori, and many early pieces of media, in a stark contrast to how he is usually perceived now. He keeps this in some adaptations, like Pokémon Origins and the Super Smash Bros. series.
• Hunk: Not quite, but Sun and Moon shows that an older Red◊ is getting close to being one of these, being somewhat more thickly built than Blue who goes for a more slender Bishōnen look.
• Iconic Item:
  • Both his original and remake: his red baseball cap.
  • In Sun and Moon, his new hat is largely forgotten in favor of his "96" T-shirt.
• It Was a Gift: A subtle example — nearly every version of Red with an established team, from the Gen II remakes onward, is shown to have a Lapras with him, strongly implied to be the same Lapras given to him by a Silph Co. employee as a reward for saving them.
• Legendary in the Sequel: Red is mentioned several times throughout Gold and Silver as the boy who single-handedly stopped Giovanni and disbanded Team Rocket three years prior, and is held in high regard. This carries forward into other generations as well; in the Sun/Moon trailer, he's explicitly referred to as a legend, and in the game itself he and Blue are the only trainers to have the title of "Battle Legend." In Masters, his Sync Move is called "Living Legend Blast Burn."
• Limit Break: Venusaur can carry Grassinum Z, and his Lapras switches off between Normalium Z and Psychium Z. There is also his Sync Move in Masters, Living Legend Blast Burn.
• Merging the Branches: When fought as an NPC trainer, he traditionally has all three Kanto starters in his lineup.
• Mythology Gag: Red's Pikachu in HeartGold and SoulSilver knows all the moves that Ash's Pikachu knew during the Diamond and Pearl series: Volt Tackle, Iron Tail, Quick Attack, and Thunderbolt. His team is incidentally a fully evolved version of what Ash used for most of the Orange Islands arc. The four starters, Snorlax and Lapras.
• Nice Guy: Implied in Red, Blue, and Yellow, as Professor Oak points out that Red is nice to his Pokémon.
• Not So Stoic: His usual ellipses are accented with a "!" after losing so he has some emotional range.
• Olympus Mons: In Masters, he pairs up with Articuno as a Neo Champion.
• Optional Boss: Red serves as this in every game that he appears as an NPC in (with the exception of the Johto games, where he is the proper Final Boss for the Kanto segment of the game).
• Perpetual Frowner: It started with official Generation I art, most of which depicted him with a serious frown. From Generation III onward, he has always been depicted like that in artworks and in-game, being the only protagonist to not be smiling in his official art since then. This even carried forward into his Sun/Moon design, where he's basically an adult. He also appears with a scowl in his default Nendoroid face, and in his 3DS theme alongside Blue. He does smile every now and then in Masters, but it's almost as rare as his speech.
• Previous Player-Character Cameo: He reappears in Gold and Silver and HeartGold and SoulSilver as the Final Boss, and in Black 2 and White 2 and Sun and Moon as an Optional Boss.
• The Quiet One: From his enduring scowl, to his Visible Silence gag as a Previous Player Character Heroic Mime, but later made clear to be a character trait. Described as such in his Masters bio, but previously lampshaded by Blue, sarcastically calling him a "chatty gossip" in Gen III, and more seriously "silent as ever" in Gen VII. Even as far back as the original games, a sailor on the SS Anne described him as "the strong silent type."
• Red Is Heroic: He's the male hero in the Kanto games and dresses in red, is called Red, and out of the three Kanto starters, Charmander is the one his modern incarnation is most commonly associated.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Ironically, Red is the Blue Oni to Blue's Red Oni. Red's usually pretty quiet, often with a serious Game Face on, while his rival Blue is cocky, sarcastic, and usually wears a smug grin. Just look at their 3DS theme together,◊ and one of the earliest examples of their contrast.◊
  • He is also the Blue Oni to his anime counterpart Ash. Whereas Ash is hot blooded, is almost always smiling, chirpy and prone to proud battle cries and speeches, Trainer Red is The Stoic who rarely if ever speaks, and has a neutral to scowling expression on his face most of the time.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Zigzagged. Although Blue acts more like an aggressive, arrogant jackass compared to Red, Blue is actually more emotional and loses his temper easily while Red is usually calm and almost never shows any emotions. This is even emphasized in their new designs in Sun and Moon, where Red has a more well-built, toned appearance, while Blue looks more like a pretty boy.
• Signature Mon:
  • In the games, Pikachu is always the highest leveled Pokémon used by Red as an NPC trainer in each game it appears in, and the highest leveled Pokémon you could face in a trainer battle in the entire franchise overall. Furthermore, it was always the first Pokémon he sent out. Pikachu is often emphasized outside of the core series as well, such as being the basis of Red's second Sygna Suit in Masters.
  • Before any adaptations or sequels, official art most commonly◊ depicted him with◊ the Bulbasaur line,◊ such that Pokémon #001 goes to the first protagonist. While all three of his starters have access to their Ultimate Moves, and Mega Evolution, only his Venusaur is equipped to use Z-Moves in Sun and Moon. Likewise in Let's Go, Pikachu and Eevee Red has a Venusaur on his team to match his original artwork.◊ He also is seen owning a Bulbasaur during the first episode of Generations and it's his manga equivalent's starter in another throwback to the same artwork.◊ And while Charizard may have been Ash's ace, Bulbasaur was his longest tenured Kanto starter, being the first to join and last to leave the party officially.
  • In many other adaptations such as Pokémon Origins, Zensho and Pokémon Evolutions, Charmander is Red's preferred starter instead. Which makes sense, since it fits his overall demeanor and name a lot better. Ash Ketchum, Red's official Anime counterpart, likewise had a Charizard as his powerhouse for the majority of the original series, being his only fully evolved Kanto starter making him both the "Charizard Trainer" when they faced Mewtwo, and setting up that his Gary would have a Blastoise when they finally fought. His Sync Partner in Pokémon Masters is Charizard, and while he uses all three Kanto starters in the Super Smash Bros. series, Charizard is the only one fully evolved, and is slightly more associated with him than the other two while Ivysaur is slightly more associated with Leaf. There's also at least one official Generation I artwork that depicts him with Charmander.◊ He tends to favor Mega Charizard X as his Super Mode.
  • Outside of starter Pokémon is his Snorlax, which has been a mainstay of his team since his first battle in Generation II. It even joins him in Masters as part of his default Sync Pair.
• So Proud of You: In Gen II, his mother remarks that she's worried for Red, but proud of him for doing what he wants to do.
• Stealth Pun: In the Let's Go games, he uses an Arcanine, known in the Pokédex as the Legendary Pokémon. How fitting for a Trainer considered a living legend himself.
• Suddenly Voiced: Red in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Pokémon Origins, as well as the occasional odd internal comment and conversation with Copycat. Played straighter with his appearance in Pokémon Masters, which is actually his main series version. While he does grunt for his voiced lines, there are a few rare occasions where he actually speaks, most notably to tell Flint "Words are unnecessary!" when he asks how Red is able to command his Pokémon without speaking.
• Super Mode: When Red is battled at the Battle Tree in Sun and Moon, all his starters have four different builds, with each of them having one dedicated to Mega Evolution (except Charizard, which has two to accommodate for each different Mega form). Notably, defeating him is the only way to receive the starter Mega Stones in Sun/Moon. His lone starter Pokémon in Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! is also capable of Mega Evolution.
• The Stoic: He is described by a worker on the S.S. Anne as the strong silent type, and Blue sarcastically calls him a chatty gossip in the remakes. This was further emphasized by his perpetual frown in the games (at least from Generation III onward) and official art, and the fact he doesn't utter a single word when facing the player in his appearances as an NPC.
• Technician/Performer Team-Up: Zig-zagged whenever teaming up with Blue, as their personalities do not match the style of their teams. Red is The Stoic (normally a Technician trait) who fields a team of Signature Mon hard-hitters but which lack synergy (more of a Performer trait). Blue is an arrogant, loudmouth jerk (though he got kinder since his introductory games), typically more Performer traits, but fields a far more technically sound, balanced, synergistic team with moves to cover their weaknesses and even strategic moves like Trick Room (which allows slower Pokémon to move first and greatly benefits his team). Combined, they make for an incredibly challenging multi-battle duo.
• Terse Talker: The few times Red speaks in Masters, his dialogue is short and to the point, whether it's telling Scottie/Bettie and Flint that words are unnecessary, or congratulating Scottie/Bettie for defeating him and his team in the PML finals. To date, the only character who seemingly got him speak in longer sentences is Copycat.
• Third-Option Adaptation:
  • He uses all four possible starters from the first game, avoiding giving him a canon starter^note  While all four starters are possible to obtain in Yellow, note that Blue doesn't use his team from that version. He also uses Pokémon that the player character in Red & Blue received as gifts, or was forced to encounter.
  • Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! gives Red a Machamp, rather than give him either Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan as in the games.
• Time Skip: He's anywhere from 21 to 30 in Pokémon Sun and Moon.
• Took a Level in Badass: Zig-zagged in Sun/Moon. During the optional battle with him at the entrance of the Battle Tree, Red's team is actually weaker than it was during the battle on Mount Silver a decade earlier, with lower levels and, with a few Pokémon, lackluster movepools, possibly meaning that the entrance battle was just him testing the waters.
• Took a Shortcut: Getting to Red in HeartGold and SoulSilver requires at least one of your Pokémon knowing the HM move Rock Climb in order to scale the walls of the cave, but none of his Pokémon know the move.
• True Final Boss: The last and strongest NPC to be faced in Gold and Silver and their remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver. After getting all 16 Badges between Johto and Kanto, you're given access to Mt. Silver and can find him at the top.
• The Unintelligible: To almost everyone In-Universe except Blue.
• Visible Silence: As an NPC, his dialogue consists solely of ellipses and an exclamation mark of surprise when defeated.
• Voice Grunting: Red's Visible Silence is voiced for the first time in Pokémon Masters, where he has grunts voiced in a very similar manner to the adult incarnations of Link from The Legend of Zelda.
• The Voiceless: In the games, the most he speaks is Visible Silence (aside from his interactions with Copycat where the girl's imitations of him do get him to finally speak up briefly), which Blue lampshades in Sun and Moon as being "silent as ever", confirming this as a character trait and retroactively making Red the only player character who was doing this on purpose in his main game. This is opposed to having to be a blank self-insert for said main game only to be given a voice and personality later on in future materials, as is the case for other trainers like Lucas and Rosa. In Masters he speaks up more, but only very, very rarely.
• Walking the Earth: In Gold and Silver, Red has retired as Champion and now focuses on training in Mt. Silver to get stronger.
• World's Best Warrior: In the later games in the series, he's flat-out the strongest Pokémon trainer who ever lived. Red also had two tenures as the untied highest-leveled NPC trainer in the entire franchise, between the releases of Gold, Silver, and Crystal and Platinum (where he was surpassed by Barry), and then again between HeartGold and SoulSilver and Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (where he was tied by Cynthia in terms of their highest-leveled Pokémon, but with the rest of Cynthia's team being higher-leveled overall). Even then, he still ends up combining Z-Moves and Mega Evolution on the same team, a feat Cynthia is never seen achieving even though she appears in the same game where Red accomplished this, and Pokémon Masters also shows he can Gigantamax his Snorlax. Aside from his levels and ranking in Sun and Moon as a "Battle Legend", Paulo in Pokémon Masters outright says that Red is "the strongest Pokémon Trainer in history" even though Cynthia and many other Champions are in the game and he's seen them battle. This might suggest that the games actually still don't fully reflect how strong Red really is in-story.

Blue Oak (Green Ōkido)

Blue Oak / Green Ōkido (オーキド・グリーン ookido guriin)

^{HeartGold/SoulSilver}

^Sun/Moon

Voiced by: Erik Kimerer (Pokémon Generations - EN), Jun Fukuyama (Pokémon Generations - JP); Billy Kametz (Pokémon Masters - EN), Henry Mason (Pokémon Masters - EN, since 2.36), Ryōta Ōsaka (Pokémon Masters - JP)

"I'm moving on up and ahead! By checking my Pokédex, I'm starting to see what's strong and how they evolve! I'm going to the Pokémon League to boot out the Elite Four! I'll become the world's most powerful trainer! ...well good luck to you! Don't sweat it! Smell ya!"

The Rival of the Player Character in Red and Blue. He was once the player character's best friend, but as he grew up he changed into a huge Jerkass. Though abrasive and cocky, he has the skills to back up his boasts and has set his sights on nothing less than becoming the Pokémon League Champion. After being defeated, he takes up the position of Viridian City's Gym Leader.

---

• The Ace:
  • He's always one step ahead of the player, and is the only rival in the series to become the Champion until Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, where being a Champion is an awarded rank that can be held by multiple people rather than a position that only one may fill, and Nemona starts the game as one.
  • In Let's Go, it's integrated into the story; as Professor Oak's grandson and a former Champion, he serves as a mentor to the protagonist and Trace in their journey, much like other Champions such as Lance, Steven, Cynthia, and Alder.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the remakes. In the original he had a sneering, downright punchable face◊. The remakes changed it into a cocky grin.
• Adaptational Heroism: While not a villain, Blue in the games exists as an obstacle in Red's journey. Adaptations give him moments where he at least calls the police when Team Rocket is holding Silph Co. hostage rather than doing nothing like his game counterpart. Pokémon Adventures sees him personally help Red battle Team Rocket and become an ally against future villains.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In Pokémon Red and Blue, The Rival was already a jerk, waiting for you to pick your own starter so he could pick the one with a superior type, but in Pokémon Yellow there's only one starter, so he shoves you out of the way and takes it for himself.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Adaptations tend to gloss over his Lack of Empathy (i.e., his complete disregard for the Silph Co. Hostage Situation except as an opportunity to fight and show-off in front of the Player Character). Pokémon Origins blatantly rewrites him to be nervous and anxious about the Hostage Situation.
  • In Let's Go, he actually acts like a mentor to the player and is fairly mature, a far cry from the arrogant brat he was in the original games, though he does keep his catchphrases.
• Adapted Out: In HeartGold and SoulSilver, his Alakazam is replaced by a Machamp when fought at the Viridian Gym.
• Always Someone Better:
  • In Pokémon Red and Blue, he deliberately picks the Pokémon with an advantage in Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors.
  • Over the course of the same game, Blue is often encountered just as he's making his way back from some area the player hasn't even gotten to yet—something he'll taunt you over.
    You're still struggling along back here?
  • Also in the same game, after defeating the Elite Four, Lance drops The Reveal—Blue got there and beat them before the player did, so he's now become the Final Boss.
  • His character art in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen portrays him holding an Ultra Ball rather than the Poké Ball held by the protagonists.
  • However, with the possible exception of the first battle in Oak's lab and the optional battle on Route 22 (which changes Blue's final team in Yellow depending on the win-loss ratio, or in remakes can be lost without having to be replayed in order to progress), progress in the game requires him to be defeated again and again—culminating in him being dethroned from the championship before his grandfather even arrived to congratulate him. By Pokémon Gold and Silver, Blue has become Always Second Best to Red.
• Anime Hair: His hair is spiked up in all of his appearances.
• The Artifact: His name in English is Blue (as a reference to the Gen I games, Red and Blue) but in the Japanese version it is Green (in reference to the original Red and Green, which was never released internationally). There may have been an opportunity to change this and have him be Green worldwide when the Gen I remakes came around, (LeafGreen was released in all territories, instead of say a WaterBlue, and his default name was changed to Green), but his name is still Blue in all later appearances. Despite this in more recent appearances the designers have gone out of their way to give him green clothes and overall motif while still not changing his name back to Green. This artifact even led to necessary change in the dub of Origins^note In the original, Red claims he chooses Charmander because of the name his father gave him, and when Professor Oak asks Green if he is going to choose Bulbasaur for the same reason, he claims that he isn't going to base his choice on such a sentimental matter and picks Squirtle. In the dub, Oak asks Blue if he is going to pick Squirtle for the same reason, and Blue once again claims he isn't going to base his choice on something sentimental, before specifying he picks Squirtle explicitly because of its type advantage over Red's Charmander. and a Dub-Induced Plot Hole in Pokémon Adventures. In promotional materials most (but strangely not all) English versions of his green auras and promo backgrounds have to be changed into blue ones.
• Badass Boast: His final speech before battling him as Champion:
  Blue: While working on my Pokédex, I looked all over for Pokémon. Not only that, I assembled teams that would beat any Pokémon type. And now… I am the Pokémon League Champion! Red! Do you know what that means? I'll tell you. I am the most powerful Trainer in the world!
• Beyond the Impossible: Throughout the series, the highest rank a trainer can have is "Champion", which both Blue and his rival Red have held at one time or another. As an adult, Blue has a new title — Battle Legend — which he shares with Red as the co-bosses of the Battle Tree, a facility staffed by Champions, Elite Four members, and Frontier Brains. In other words, it is implied that Blue is actually such a powerful trainer that he outranks regional Champions.
• Big Brother Mentor: He acts as this to the protagonists of Let's Go, giving them tips along the way and testing their mettle to see if they're strong enough to handle the Silph Co. mission on their own. He's also this in Pokemon Masters where he introduces Scottie/Bettie to Pasio and is seen training them during PML story.
• Bootstrapped Theme: His Champion battle theme plays during the Real Life Pokémon Video Game Championship Finals.
• Break the Haughty: When you beat him and end his short reign as Champion. Professor Oak telling him that he stands no chance of becoming the Champion again in his current state adds salt to the wound.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Smell ya later!", easily his most iconic one despite actually only being used about twice in full in Generation I. Continues into GenVI. While he himself doesn't show up, an NPC says he visited the region. While he's managed to learn how to say "Bonjour", he still makes his exit with "Smell ya later".
  • "Whatever!", come HeartGold and SoulSilver.
  • There's also "Bonjour", which is mentioned again in X and Y.
• Character Development:
  • The first hint at this is him giving you the Fame Checker after you defeat him before Nugget Bridge because he felt guilty always being ahead of you. In the credits, he seems to be thinking about himself and his Pokémon after being told off by his grandfather and being beaten by you. In Gold and Silver, he is fairly less of a Jerkass. He is also much more mature and seems to have learned how to take care of his Pokémon. This is evident when his Pidgeot uses Return, a Normal attack that becomes stronger the more the Pokémon likes its user.
  • His animosity towards Red also simmers down throughout the games, from antagonistic (R/B) to somewhat indifferent (G/S) back to friends (S/M). Even in Masters both Red and Blue's trainer descriptions refer to each other as best friends.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: In FireRed and LeafGreen, Blue is seen with a Heracross in the post-Sevii Island rematches. However, it is nowhere to be seen in his appearances starting with HeartGold and SoulSilver, with Machamp taking its place as his Fighting-type mon of choice.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard:
  • In Red and Blue, if his team includes Gyarados, said Gyarados knows both Dragon Rage and Hydro Pump at level 22 (if the player chose Bulbasaur) or level 23 (Squirtle), the latter of which the Pokémon should not know until level 43. While it is possible for Gyarados to be taught Dragon Rage early via TM (it naturally learns the move at level 25), no such explanation can be made for it knowing Hydro Pump early, implying his Gyarados may be an illegal Pokémon.
  • For an example that doesn't inconvenience the player, in FireRed and LeafGreen, his Pidgeotto is first seen at level 17, one lower level than Pidgey is supposed to evolve at. It's possible he simply caught a different Pidgeotto in the wild, but is heavily implied otherwise.
  • In Yellow, if his Eevee doesn't evolve into Flareon, Blue has a Ninetales that comes packing Confuse Ray and Fire Spin, both of which are moves it can learn naturally...as a Vulpix. Throughout its encounters, it retains the same moveset of Ember, Quick Attack, Tail Whip and Roar from the Pokémon Tower fight, implying that Blue evolved Vulpix almost immediately after that. While Cloyster can be excused for learning Ice Beam due to it existing as a TM, Ninetales can't learn Confuse Ray or Fire Spin through any method except through its pre-evolution.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In Red and Blue, his sprite as the Champion had him wearing a leather jacket, which isn't seen again in Gold and Silver or the first generation remakes. It later returns in his design for HeartGold and SoulSilver and Masters.
  • His team when first battling him in front of the Battle Tree has the same Pokémon from when he competed in the Pokémon World Tournament which was the last time he was seen chronologically. His own selection in the Battle Tree includes all of his possible mons when originally fought as Champion, his Machamp added in HeartGold and SoulSilver, his Aerodactyl from the aforementioned PWT, and Tyranitar which is a common Pokémon in his rematches.
  • He adds Tauros in his Let's Go team, referring to how a scrapped battle with his grandfather in Generation I features one alongside Blue's own mainstays such as Exeggutor, Arcanine, and Gyarados.
  • His new design in Let's Go matches the design used in Generation II; much like in Generation II, he replaces Giovanni as the Viridian City Gym Leader in the post-game. He also shows up several times throughout the game before the protagonist and their rival, often at points where he was encountered in his debut games, and even battles the protagonist in Silph Co. to test their strength.
• Cool Shades: His Sun and Moon Sugimori artwork has him taking off a pair of sunglasses.
• Cutting Off the Branches:
  • Averted, unlike with Red. He has none of the Kanto starters in any of his teams when fought as a Gym Leader or Pokémon World Tournament participant. Played straight in that he has his team from Red, Green and Blue (minus the starter), with none of his Yellow-specific Pokémon.
  • Played straight in Let's Go, where he uses the team that's similar to his final team if Bulbasaur is the selected starter ^note His Pidgeot is swapped for a Tauros, likely because Trace also leads with a Pidgeot, while his Rhydon has been replaced by an Aerodactyl, with his ace being a Charizard that can Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard-Y in the post-game.
• Dark Reprise: The Champion battle theme of Pokémon Red and Blue briefly features a periodic note highly reminiscent of the warning siren for when a player's pokémon is at low health.
• Demoted to Extra: In the second generation, he has settled into the role of Viridian City's Gym Leader. He has also made minor appearances in several later games as a Optional Boss.
• Dub Name Change: To follow with Red and Green becoming Red and Blue in international versions, he goes from Green to Blue. This can cause Dub Induced Plot Holes when Color-Coded Characters is invoked.
• Embarrassing Nickname: In Masters, Blue mentions that people started calling him the Phantom Champion, to which he looks visibly annoyed while recalling it.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first time you meet in Professor Oak's lab, he lets you take first pick among the starter Pokémon and then picks whichever Pokémon is has the type advantage to yours (in Yellow, he instead takes the Eevee meant for you, forcing you to instead take the recently caught Pikachu), then immediately challenges you to a battle. If he loses (which is rather likely), he then blames his Pokémon, complaining that he picked the wrong one. This nicely establishes how he always seems to be one step ahead of you, his tendency to obnoxiously battle you at the worst time, and how he's an overall Jerkass who doesn't give even his Pokémon any love or respect.
• Famed In-Story: As the grandson of Prof. Oak, former Champion of Kanto, Gym Leader of Viridian City, and Battle Legend of the Alolan Battle Tree, Blue has an extensive resume known in his home region and beyond.
• Family Theme Naming: Along both ends of the Dub Name Change. In English, the Blue Oak is a type of tree endemic to North America, fitting with Professor Oak. In Japan, the family name is Ookido, which is how the English word "orchid" is pronounced. The Northern Green Orchid is a type of plant found in Greenland, Iceland, and Akimiski Island in Canada.
• Final Boss: Of the first generation. He becomes the Champion just before Red and, in bookending major Pokémon battles, is the last trainer faced in the first generation's final boss bonanza after being the first battle of the game.
• Following in Relative's Footsteps: He's as much a Pokémon researcher as a Gym Leader in later games. It's mentioned several times that Blue travels all over the world finding and studying new Pokémon for his grandfather, and he tends to go off on tangents about Pokémon evolution and technical skills when you speak with him.
• Friendly Rivalry: Has this with Red by Masters and Sun and Moon. All of the animosity that existed between them in the first game is gone, and it's clear that they're more best friends than rivals nowadays.
• Grandfather Clause: The reason Blue keeps his English name despite all the complications it has caused; Pokemon outside of Japan became known to the world as Red and Blue, so by the time of Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver, international audiences were far more likely to know him by Blue, so renaming him Green would have caused even more confusion than there already was.
• Gratuitous French: "Bonjour!" is one of his catchphrases, at least to some extent, having first appeared before you battle him on the S.S. Anne. Even by the time X and Y rolls around he is mentioned to still use it.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: In Generation I, except for Yellow, he wears a black leather jacket upon becoming the Champion. He wears it full-time in Generations IV and V and Masters.
• Hidden Depths: For all his talk about caring only for strength, Blue never seems keen on getting rid of Pidgeot, the first wild Pokémon he caught, implying a sentimental attachment to it.
• Hijacked by Ganon: The novelty has been lost over the years, but the revelation that Blue is the Champion in Red and Blue was this. Up until that point, the player was led to believe that all they had to do was defeat the Elite Four to be considered the Champion, and the last time you encountered Blue, it was defeating him before traversing through Victory Road.
• Humiliation Conga: After spending the entire game being snide, pompous, and self-centered^note e.g. his behavior at Silph Co. Jerkass, Blue's final defeat is not only a disaster on its own, his grandfather, who came to congratulate him, shows up to applaud not him but his opponent, while Blue himself gets a thorough tongue lashing for his trouble. In FRLG, it's not hard to imagine why he goes running off on his own immediately afterwards.
• I Am Not My Father: Blue bristles when Agatha brings up Professor Oak in Pokémon Generations, showing a rare moment of frustration at being compared to his famous grandather.
  Agatha: Since you're the grandson of that old coot, I thought you'd be completing the Pokédex.
  Blue: Don't you compare me with that old man!
• Informed Flaw: Friendship mechanics and the like did not exist in the original Pokémon Red and Blue, so the Aesop about Blue neglecting to care for his own pokémon relies mostly on Professor Oak's say-so. His self-regard and Lack of Empathy are fairly evident in his dialog.
• It's All About Me: He has this mentality in the original games, usually exhibited in his Lack of Empathy, but other continuities either downplay or do away with this mindset entirely.
  • In his first interaction with his grandfather, he acts like a Spoiled Brat and gripes at the Professor for making him wait.
  • If he should lose the battle in Professor Oak's lab, he'll blame the pokémon for being the wrong choice rather than admit to any flaw in the orders he gave it or a loss to chance.
  • Gary's Lack of Empathy reaches its most dramatic point when he wanders into the middle of the Silph, Co. Hostage Situation for his own selfish goals—he wanted to pick a fight with the player, and that was the best place to pick it since the player was bound to show up.
  • He thinks so much about himself that he forgets to treat his Pokémon with love and respect. For the entire game, he views Pokémon as nothing more than cool, powerful creatures that can do whatever he wants for him and help him become Champion. At Silph Co., despite being deep within the building, next to Giovanni himself, the only thing he really cares about is challenging Red. Afterwards, he just leaves to challenge the Elite Four, not even caring about the fact that actual criminals have taken people hostage.
  • In other continuities or adaptations however, this aspect is downplayed. In Origins, he believes instead that he and Red would be in over their heads dealing with a notorious criminal organization, and this encounter happens outside the building. In Let's Go, this aspect is completely dropped, as he plays more of a mentor role to the protagonist. While he still challenges you, it's at the ground floor of Silph Co., and it's more to test your strength to ensure that you can fight off Team Rocket. Afterwards, he actually seeks help from the authorities, and mentions doing a patrol around the region to take care of any remaining Team Rocket stragglers.
• Jerkass: He likes to get under the player's skin anytime they cross paths, although he gets better as the series goes on.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Before your second battle with him, despite being a prick, he accurately points out that the guard at the entrance to Pokèmon League will not let you through. (Or at least at that point in the game.)
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Thankfully matures into this by Gold and Silver. In Sun and Moon and Let's Go, it's even explicitly stated that not only are Blue and Red now Friendly Rivals, but best friends too.
• Joke Character: His Abra when fought in Cerulean City (it doesn't appear in Yellow) only has Teleport in it's moveset making it incapable of harming your Pokémon whatsoever.
• Lack of Empathy:
  • In Pokémon Red and Blue, he starts to develop this after the fight on the S.S. Anne—he picks a fight with you in Lavender Tower, where respects are paid to the dead^note For comparison, the only other trainers who fight you are either Team Rocket thugs or mediums under Demonic Possession by maddened ghosts.; he walks right into the heart of the Silph Co. Hostage Situation just to get in your way; and his grandfather's final chastisement is to lecture him about not caring for his Pokémon like the Player Character does.
  • Averted in Pokémon Gold and Silver, where he seems to have learned his lesson—he's first encountered on Cinnabar Island, dwelling somberly on the loss of life and the eruption of Cinnabar Volcano.
• Laser-Guided Karma: At the start of Pokémon Red and Blue, he deliberately lies in wait to give himself an unfair advantage over you by picking the superior type; alas, he fails to account for the fact that the Pokémon aren't developed enough for that advantage to matter, and so the Player Character has a real shot at beating him.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: He is the Final Boss and Champion of the Kanto games, a fact once meant to be surprise, but now is just pretty well known information.
• Leitmotif: Whenever he enters the scene, an upbeat jingle follows, which somehow manages to capture his arrogant energy perfectly.
• Meaningful Name:
  • His Japanese surname, Orchid, can refer to a shade of light purple. His wears a purple shirt in his classic outfit and purple pants in FireRed and LeafGreen.
  • Green (as he's called in Japan) takes the starter strong against the one the player picks. Green-Eyed Monster much?
  • And of course, Blue Oak is the name of a species of oak tree.
• Metagame: In game, his Kanto team built around top base stats available barring legendaries, and type-coverage (unlike the vast majority of the NPCs in Gen I, who top out at two or three different types, and field less than six Pokémon). Exeggutor, Arcanine, and Gyarados are three replacement starters because they're the strongest Grass, Fire, and Water types by base stat total. Rhydon has the highest base Attack, and Alakazam has the highest base Special. Pidgeot falls outside of this but is implied to be a sentimental pick as the first Pokémon he caught. By not having a type theme he, like the player, has out gamed the entire region.
  "While working on my Pokédex, I looked all over for powerful Pokémon! Not only that, I assembled teams that would beat any Pokémon type!"
• Never My Fault: As The Rival, if he loses the first battle, he'll blame the Pokémon he picked—which he supposed would win by type-advantage—for being the wrong choice, as if his tactical shortcomings had nothing to do with it.
  WHAT? Unbelievable! I picked the wrong Pokémon!
• Olympus Mons: In Masters, he pairs up with Zapdos as a Neo Champion.
• One-Hour Work Week: Daisy mentions in HeartGold and SoulSilver that her brother goes out of town so often that it causes problems for the trainers. Technically, Blue's traveling the world to find and study new Pokémon for his grandfather, but that's little consolation to trainers who want a Viridian City Gym badge.
• Parental Abandonment: Oak apparently raises him and his sister on his own.
• Pet the Dog: In the Gen I remakes, he gives you the Fame Checker following the Cerulean City encounter just because he feels sorry for you.
• Player Nudge: His other role in the original games. He almost always tells you something you should be doing, or could be doing.
• Pre-Final Boss: In Gold and Silver and their remakes he's the last major battle you have before facing Red atop Mt. Silver during the Kanto portion of the game.
• Privileged Rival: He's the grandson of Prof. Oak, a leading and world renowned researcher, where Red's family is relatively anonymous.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: By Gold and Silver and their remakes, he's become the Viridian City Gym Leader. He's also the strongest one between Kanto and Johto. In Sun and Moon, it's made clear that Blue's second only to Red and acts as one of the two superbosses of the Battle Tree.
• Recurring Boss: Blue is fought multiple times in Gen I, including as both the first trainer fight in the game and the game's Final Boss after conquering all four members of the Elite Four.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Contrary to the trope's colours, Blue is actually the Red Oni to Red's Blue Oni, as Blue is more emotional, cocky, and arrogant, while Red is usually more stoic, composed, and quiet.
• The Rival: The first and the most straightly played. The player and Blue compete to see who can become the better trainer. Blue is always a step ahead of the player no matter, and always arrogantly looking down on them, setting up a rival you want to beat.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Zigzagged. Although Blue acts more like an aggressive, arrogant jackass compared to Red, Blue is actually more emotional and loses his temper easily while Red is usually calm and almost never shows any emotions. This is even emphasized in their new designs in Sun and Moon, where Red has a more well-built, toned appearance, while Blue looks more like a pretty boy.
• Signature Mon: Depending on the game.
  • As a rival and Champion, his starter Pokémon is his highest-leveled Pokémon. This will always be the one with a type advantage over the players, except in Yellow where it is Eevee, which evolves into a certain Eeveelution depending on the outcome of the match at Oak's Lab and the optional match on Route 22 at the start of the game, all of which have different matchups against your starter Pikachu. Unlike Pikachu being a staple on Red's teams, Eevee isn't seen in any of Blue's teams past Yellow.
  • In promotional material and other adaptations, he will have whichever starter has the advantage over Red's. In early promo art for Red and Green, he was always◊ seen◊ with the Charmander line,◊ in contrast to Red's original Bulbasaur.◊ However, as Red has become more associated with Charizard, Blue has become more likely to have Blastoise (as seen in the main anime, Origins, Generations, and Masters). He returns to his original Charizard◊ when he appears in Let's Go. His counterparts favor Mega Charizard Y as their Super Mode.
  • Whenever he has a starter, it usually takes the place of any one of Exeggutor, Arcanine, or Gyarados, but when he appears in games where Red is also a boss (who gets all the starters instead), Blue just has all three of that Grass-Fire-Water trio instead. Those three are among the strongest of their type in their generation, and all three of them tie for his highest-leveled Pokémon in the Gen II games. In Stadium, his Exeggutor also appears the most on his teams, even on ones with Venusaur.
  • In contrast to the powerhouse picks that comprise the rest of his team, Pidgeot often appears as well, being his ace in HGSS and Masters. It may be an indication of his Hidden Depths — he can't leave behind the first Pokémon he caught.
  • Tyranitar, the pseudo-legendary of Johto, appears quite a lot on his post-game teams since Gen III. What makes it interesting is that Tyranitar is the only pseudo-legendary to not be associated with an Elite Four/Champion tier trainer in it's Gen II debut (since Kanto and Johto share a league and Lance with Dragonite was still on top in Gen II). As an alternate champion, opposite Lance and Red whose themes are more limited, Blue's meta versatility allows him to be "The Tyranitar Trainer" by default. He has one for his Champion rematch in FRLG, replacing Rhydon. It also shows up in his Gym rematch in HGSS, tying with the now-evolved Rhyperior for his second highest-leveled Pokémon at Lv 70. While Aerodactyl becomes his Rock-type of choice in B2W2, (Ultra) Sun and Moon, and his Let's Go rematch, Tyranitar still a possible Pokémon he can use in the Battle Tree in the Alola games, and is still notably the only Pokémon he can use there that didn't debut (or in the case of Rhyperior, whose pre-evolutions debuted) in Gen I.
• Signature Move: Trick Room as the Gym Leader in Generation IV. While only his Exeggutor knows it, it helps Exeggutor itself and its equally slow teammates (Machamp and Rhydon as well as Tyranitar in the rematches) to go first instead.
• The Smart Guy: A self described genius, with the skills to back it up. His in game teams focus on strategy more than most trainers, and he goes on to be a researcher like his grandfather while maintaining Champion level battling prowess.
• Smug Smiler: He always has a smug grin on his face to compliment his jerkassery. It's still present in later games where he's matured, however he does tone it down considerably.
• Someone Else's Problem: In Pokémon Red and Blue he appears in the heart of the Silph Co. Hostage Situation—one warp pad away from the president's office and Giovanni himself—just to challenge you. He doesn't even seem to care that the entire city had been taken hostage, only that you were likely going to be there and he'd take that opportunity to get in your way and show off.
• Sore Loser: Even after he loses, he talks as if it's the player who needs to get stronger, not him (he finally begrudgingly accepts his loss after the final battle). Not so much later in the timeline, though.
• Stealth Pun: Lost in Translation; the Kanto Gym Badges are named after colors in the Japanese version, with the Viridian Gym's Earth Badge being called the Green Badge. Blue, named Green in the Japanese version, takes over the Viridian Gym after Giovanni's departure, so Green gives you the Green Badge.
• Super Mode: Blue can potentially have a Mega Pidgeot, Mega Alakazam, Mega Gyarados, Mega Aerodactyl, or Mega Tyranitar when faced in the Battle Tree.
• Technician/Performer Team-Up: Zig-zagged whenever teaming up with Red, as their personalities do not match the style of their teams. Red is The Stoic (normally a Technician trait) who fields a team of Signature Mon hard-hitters but which lack synergy (more of a Performer trait). Blue is an arrogant, loudmouth jerk (though he got kinder since his introductory games), typically more Performer traits, but fields a far more technically sound, balanced, synergistic team with moves to cover their weaknesses and even strategic moves like Trick Room (which allows slower Pokémon to move first and greatly benefits his team). Combined, they make for an incredibly challenging multi-battle duo.
• Third-Option Adaptation: His Gym Leader team is based off of his Red and Blue team... omitting the starter^note Blue will have on his team a Gyarados, an Arcanine, and an Exeggutor, dropping one for his Blastoise, Charizard, or Venusaur respectively; here he has all three of the first. This is to avoid giving a 'canon' choice of his (and therefore Red's) starter. Notably, he does NOT have an Eeveelution, or any other Pokémon exclusively from his team in Yellow.
• This Cannot Be!:
  • In the Italian version, after you beat him in the first battle of Pokémon Red and Blue, in his grandfather's laboratory.
    Blue: Cosa? Non può essere! Era il Pokémon sbagliato!^{Literal English translation}What? This Cannot Be! That was the wrong Pokémon!
  • He also does it when you beat him at the end of the game:
    Blue: NO! That can't be! You beat me at my best! After all that work to become the League champ? My reign is over already? It's not fair!
• Took a Level in Badass: After his stint as Champion, he took over Giovanni's Gym and is the toughest Gym Leader of the 8 Kanto leaders (and the toughest of the 16 in the Indigo League, and possibly toughest of all the Gym leaders in the entire series). He may be second to Red, but that still makes him the second toughest trainer in the game.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He and Red used to be good friends, until he started being a bully for whatever reason right before Red and Blue start. Thankfully, this has largely faded by Sun and Moon, where he's back to being best friends with Red and even kinda friendly with young trainers.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He becomes nicer by Gold and Silver. This continues in Black 2 and White 2, where despite being openly irritated about losing, he still compliments the player for being "the real deal" when defeated and congratulates them if they win the tournament, and by the time of Sun and Moon he doesn't mind losing at all.
• Took a Shortcut: No matter how fast you Speed Run through the game, he's always one step ahead, beating all the gyms and eventually the Elite Four before you do. It's never explained how he gets past obstacles like the sleeping Snorlax without waking it up.
• The Un-Favorite: In the event Blue wins the first battle at Oak's Lab in Fire Red and Leaf Green instead of congratulating him, Professor Oak says "How disappointing". This is compared to him clearly congratulating Red or Leaf should they win. Granted, he's kind of a brat at this point, but Oak could've handled his grandson's boasting better by reminding him to thank his Pokemon instead of just saying "How disappointing" and focusing on Red/Leaf at the moment. Also, when receiving the National Dex Blue even asks why it seems like (to him) Professor Oak favors the player over him:
  Blue: "Hey, I heard that! Gramps, what's with favoring <player> over me all the time? I went and collected more Pokémon and faster, too. You should just let me handle everything."
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The guidebook for Red and Blue explains that he was Red's best friend until shortly before the start of the game, when he became a bully. Despite this, there's still times where he talks to you like an old friend.
• Villainy-Free Villain: His role in the first generation games. While Giovanni and Team Rocket are the main villains, they are irrelevant to the goal of becoming the Pokémon League Champion, with Blue serving as the actual main antagonist despite not being the Big Bad. So to make you really want to beat him, he starts off by picking the Pokémon that your starter has an elemental weakness to, giving himself an advantage in the first fight. From there, he shows himself to be an arrogant Jerkass who constantly mocks you, sees his Pokémon as tools, picks fights with you whenever he can, and is a Sore Loser- so when it all culminates in him becoming the Final Boss, you feel that extra bit of motivation to settle the rivalry and prove you are the better trainer. Later games would have him grow and improve until he lost this aspect entirely. Later Pokémon rivals (barring Silver, who is guilty of actual crimes like theft) would go on to avert this by being genuine friends of the protagonist.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Red have apparently (re)developed into this by the time they appear in Sun and Moon; for his part, Blue has clearly mellowed with age. In Masters any ribbing on his part is playful which Red takes in stride.
• We Used to Be Friends: Apparently, he was once good friends with Red, but by the time of Red and Blue he's turned into a bully. However, after the games' events the two patch things up.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • A very literal example. Blue uses a Rattata against the player during their battle in Cerulean City, which evolves into a Raticate in his next battle. After that, it disappears from his team without mention, though he likely just boxed it since it had no place on his new team.
  • In Yellow, in addition to Rattata (who doesn't even get to evolve into Raticate in this version), he also has a Spearow that he evolves into a Fearow in time for his Pokémon Tower fight. After said fight however, it's permanently swapped out for Kadabra while his Sandshrew, which evolves into Sandslash, takes Fearow's place as the frontliner mon.

Leaf

Leaf (リーフ riifu)

Voiced by: Michelle Marie (Pokémon Masters - EN), Yuka Ootsubo (Pokémon Masters - JP)

Leaf is based on a female trainer illustrated by Ken Sugimori on the cover of Red and Green's strategy guide.

When Pokémon Red and Blue was remade for the GBA, the games went through some drastic changes. One important change that the GBA games brought about was the ability to choose between a male or female protagonist. However unlike all other gender choices until Gen VII onward, the player not chosen didn't appear as an NPC, nor did this character appear with Red and Blue in the Gen IV remakes or on Alola in Gen VII.

Kanto having a trio of trainers would first be acknowledged in game when Let's Go introduced Green alongside Red and Blue as Optional Boss Master Trainers. However other games and merchandise have since featured a trainer by the name Leaf, using her Gen III remake design, based on when she was first made playable, leaving it ambiguous whether or not the two are one and the same.

As the female option for the Player Character, her story is exactly Red's: a child from Pallet Town who was given the task to catch them all for the Pokédex and To Be a Master. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate she appears as the female design for the Pokémon Trainer fighter, opposite of Red as the basis of the male Trainer's design, once again nameless and solely based on her playable appearance.

Her story and identity as an individual when the Kanto trio appears together, and in relation to Green, is still ambiguous.

In Pokémon Masters, Leaf is depicted to have gone adventuring since both Red and Blue chose their Pokémon. As such, most of the tropes below may pertain to her depiction there.

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• Canon Name: Leaf was the closest thing she had to a canon name for a good long while, though it was debatable as it was based on internal data (that called Blue "Terry") plus promotional material (that called Red "Fire.") After an official statuette called her "Leaf", "Green" would appear in Let's Go, only for "Leaf" to be used again in Masters.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Leaf uses an Eevee as a nod to the Eevee the player finds on Celadon Mansion's rooftop, as well as the Partner Eevee in Let's Go, which is heavily associated with its female protagonist Elaine.
• Cuteness Proximity: She thinks her Eevee is just the cutest thing in the world in Masters
• Declaration of Protection: Makes one of these when she uses her Sync Move in Masters. She's also quite protective of her Eevee outside of battle.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Due to the unchanged dialogue, flirty comments meant for Red from female NPCs are still directed towards her.
• Gender-Blender Name: The name Leaf would first be used for a male Pokemon Ranger in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. This only occurs in the English versions of the game.
• Heroic Mime: Never speaks as a protagonist bar some internal dialogue moments and when talking to Copycat. Completely inverted when she appears in Masters, having a Divergent Character Evolution to Red meaning that she actually does speak as much as the other trainers, and is quite chirpy.
• Hero of Another Story: Fully established as one as of Masters. However, she does follow some of Red's story beats — Misty is familiar with her, indicating a prior Gym battle, she knows of Bill's teleporter accident, and she's given Copycat a Poke Doll.
• Little Black Dress: Her original design,◊ complete with white gloves and matching shoes.
• Meaningful Name: There are quite a few different interpretations to be had.
  • Like the other OG Kanto trainers she takes a canon name from a Version name, in this case the remake "Leaf" Green Version.
  • Being paired with Eevee for Masters offers a new take on her name. Much like an autumn leaf can come in multiple colors, there are multiple forms an Eevee can ultimately take. Leaf thinks it best to let Eevee decide its own evolution, therefore not tying it down to a certain color (such as green or blue).
  • Also, if Junichi Masuda's statement on retaining FireRed and LeafGreen internationally holds any weight, then Leaf may be seen internally as a mediator between Red and Blue (known as Green in Japan), potentially being the reason she hadn't been been named Green/Blue in Masters.
• Ms. Exposition: In Masters, she tends to reveal lore of the Kanto games, particularly relating to her own journey and to Red and Blue. Notably, she reveals that she and Red both traveled through the Sevii Islands, and that Red saw a Suicune, referencing the roaming Legendary Beast in Fire Red and Leaf Green.
• Nice Girl: In Masters, where she's described as a "cheerful and friendly trainer", and is characterized as being very protective and motherly toward her Eevee.
• Noodle Incident: She mentions that a Rattata once snuck into her kitchen and ate all her food. However, she makes no mention of whether it was her first Pokémon or whether the incident resulted in her getting a Pokémon of her own.
• Olympus Mons: In Masters, she pairs up with Moltres as a Neo Champion.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: In official art only, she gets the pink Vs. Seeker while Red gets the blue one. Averted in the games, in which the player character's Vs. Seeker is blue regardless of gender.
• Put on a Bus: Though it took Generation I being remade for her to get on the bus, with very few appearances since, her bus trip finally ended when Masters reintroduced her, and arguably even before that with her appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: She plays both ends of the trope in Masters, being a softer, more emotional contrast to Red, yet always the first to shoot down Blue's ego.
• Remember the New Guy?: Masters treats Leaf like she is just another Pallet Town Trainer who is already friends with Red and Blue, glossing over her Schrödinger's Player Character status.
• The Reveal: In Masters, she points out that she had actually fought first the same Snorlax that Red caught after waking it up, but she was unable to beat it.
• Schrödinger's Player Character: In Gen III she and Red can't exist at the same time. In all future games it's understood that the canon story was Red's. Her story after The Bus Came Back in Masters is still totally vague, outside of having a Kanto starter and being in the same tier of power as Red and Blue, and having at least challenged both Brock and Misty as they bring up having faced her. It's worth noting, however, that several generic Trainers use Kanto starters in the first two generations and their remakes, a practice which doesn't happen at all in future games except for the Sinnoh games. Regardless, it's hinted that both went through an adventure, albeit with Red's more likely resembling what happened in Gen I.
• Signature Mon: The starter that rounds out the Kanto trio, based on Red's choice.
  • The nameless female Trainer was most often seen with the Squirtle◊ line◊ in early promo art for Red and Green. "Green" also has Blastoise in Pokémon Adventures and Let's Go as a nod to her original artwork.◊ Leaf echoes this in her Kotobukiya ArtFx J figurine. However, "Leaf" was always most popularly paired Venusaur as Red and Blue became more and more tied to Charizard and Blastoise respectively. This was finally formalized with Sygna Suit Leaf in Pokémon Masters.
  • Also in Pokémon Masters, she forms a sync pair with an Eevee, presumably the one from the rooftop in Celadon City, as well as playing off of Let's Go where Elaine (the female protagonist) is heavily associated with Eevee in contrast to the male Chase and Pikachu. Elaine and Chase are mostly stand ins for Red's adventure in Gen's I and III, without a lot of unique traits to themselves, and many even thought of them as redesigns until it became clear that Red, Blue, and Green all existed as NPCs. Eevee even has a move called Let's Go in this game (or "Everyone, Let's Go!" in Japanese). However, her Sygna Suit variation, along with her appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series instead give her the Bulbasaur line as a signature mon; the three Sygna Suit variants of the Kanto trio all have starters matching their English names.
• You Don't Look Like You: While she's a Canon Immigrant version of the Lady Not-Appearing-in-This-Game from the cover of the Japanese Pokémon Red and Blue guidebook, Leaf's outfit was completely redesigned, abandoning the provocative Little Black Dress and heels for a cuter, brighter outfit—if not for the long brown hair, she'd be unrecognizable.

Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!

Chase (Kakeru)

Chase / Kakeru (カケル kakeru)

Voiced by: Akeno Watanabe (Pokémon Masters - JP)

The main male character of Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!.

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• Boyish Shorts: In contrast to the more mature and better skilled trainers Red and Blue who are wearing long pants, Chase is wearing knee-length shorts.
• Hot-Blooded: In Masters, he's known to often run with his Pikachu, and even takes pride in his running ability.
• Keet: He's very excitable in Masters. Also, when he and Leaf win a battle together, she compliments him by saying he's just like Red, which makes Chase very happy.
• Kid Hero: He is young and presumably eleven.
• Puni Plush: In a contrast to the other protagonists of earlier games starting from Gen III onward, his proportions are more rounded and more child-like, making him appear to be under ten.
• Signature Mon: The Partner Pikachu/Eevee he catches at the start of the game, though Chase is far more associated with Pikachu. Among the Kanto starters, Chase tends to favor the Charizard line.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Chase's hair gives him a resemblance to the male Player Character of Pokémon GO; he has less direct resemblance to the older protagonist, but he wears similar shorts that come in multiple shades of blue like to the older protagonist's hoodie. No relationship between the two is confirmed, but the resemblance is almost certainly intentional, given that Let's Go was created for the ease of players coming in from GO. His position as a black-haired Pokémon protagonist with a Pikachu (optionally) for a starter Pokémon makes him similar to the player character of Pokémon Yellow and Ash Ketchum of Pokémon: The Series by extension.

Elaine (Ayumi)

Elaine / Ayumi (アユミ ayumi)

Voiced by: Satomi Akesaka (Pokémon Masters - JP)

The main female character of Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!.

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• Kid Hero: She is young and presumably eleven.
• Puni Plush: In a contrast to the other protagonists of earlier games starting from Gen III onward, her proportions are more rounded and more child-like, making her appear to be under ten. This is somewhat carried over to Pokémon Masters, where she's shorter in height to Penny, who's the shortest student among her main group.
• Remember the New Guy?: In Pokémon Masters, Blue and Professor Oak greet her like she's known them for a while, despite her not existing in FireRed and LeafGreen. That said, Elaine still starts her journey well after Blue completed his, even in Let's Go, so there's no reason she couldn't have traveled as a Trainer even after Red defeated Team Rocket.
• Signature Mon: The Partner Pikachu/Eevee she catches at the start of the game, though Elaine is far more associated with Eevee, to the point where it becomes her sync pair partner in Pokémon Masters. Among the Kanto starters, Elaine favors Squirtle.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Elaine's hair color, ponytail, side-bangs, and cap make her nearly identical to the female Player Character for Pokémon GO. The two are unconfirmed to be the same person, or even any sort of related, but aside from Let's Go as a whole being inspired by GO, the former looks very much like a child version of the latter. Elaine's hair color and side-bangs also give her a resemblance to Leaf, her predecessor as the female Player Character of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. It doesn't help that Green, Leaf's closest analog in Let's Go, has very similar shorts to Elaine's that come in the same color of teal.

Trace (Shin)

Trace / Shin (シン shin)

The rival for Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!. While he's similar to Blue in role, he's much less confrontational.

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• Ascended Extra: Catches the Cubone that was Marowak's baby in the Generation I games and their remakes.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: Trace is this to Blue, replacing him as the rival of the Let's Go Games, while Blue is more of a confrontational rival who is also a prick to you, Trace is a less confrontational Friendly Rival who is more of a typical friend-o more than anything.
• Friendly Rivalry: In comparison to Blue's mocking and insulting the player, Trace is much kinder. He even outright gives you tips and buys items for you. It's even straight up said "Meet your friendly rival" in one of the trailers regarding him.
• Friend to All Living Things: A pretty easy going and relaxed person, who also befriends and captures a Cubone that Team Rocket kidnapped, eventually evolving it and using it on his team. Following his Champion battle, Professor Oak even speculates that he lost because he loved his Pokémon too much to seriously push them in battle.
• Mythology Gag: His Eevee evolving into Jolteon is a nod to the "hard" result in Yellow, which happens if the player wins their first two Rival battles.
• Rival Final Boss: Is the player's rival and replaces Blue as the final boss for Let's Go.
• Signature Mon: His highest-leveled Pokemon is Jolteon or Raichu, depending on the version. He also Mega Evolves his Pidgeot, and his Marowak is in fact the Cubone whose mother was killed by Team Rocket, thus creating an emotional bond.
• Spiky Hair: Not quite to the extent of Blue, but still present. It's also a more realistic wood brown instead of Blue's orange-brown hair.
• Super Mode: His Pidgeot will Mega Evolve for the Champion battle and following rematches. And unlike all other trainers who use Mega Evolution who save their Mega for last, he sends out Pidgeot first.

Green (Blue)

Green / Blue (ブルー buruu)

Green is based on a female trainer illustrated by Ken Sugimori on the cover of Red and Green's strategy guide.

When Pokémon Red and Blue was remade for the GBA, the games went through some drastic changes. One important change that the GBA games brought about was the ability to choose between a male or female protagonist. However unlike all other gender choices from Gen III onward, the player not chosen didn't appear as an NPC, nor did this character appear with Red and Blue in the Gen IV remakes or on Alola in Gen VII.

A version of the Kanto trio, based directly on Gen I, would finally appear in game when Let's Go reintroduced Green alongside Red and Blue as Optional Boss Master Trainers. Since then, the role of a female trainer associated with Red and Blue has gone to Leaf.

Her story and identity as an individual when the Kanto trio appears together, and in relation to Leaf, is still ambiguous.

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• Adaptation Name Change: If you ascribe to her being an incarnation of Leaf. Interestingly, Green in Pokémon Adventures started out as an adaptation of the same unused female Trainer but became a counterpart to Leaf later on. With Let's Go being an Alternate Universe of the original Red and Blue, the possibility of Leaf and Green being versions of the same character isn't counted out.
• Canon Name: Pokemon Lets Go Pikachuand Lets Go Eevee gives her the name Green, much like in Pokémon Adventures.
• Casting a Shadow: Four Pokémon on her team know Dark-type attacks, a strategy well-suited for doing combat with a Psychic-type like Mewtwo.
• Continuity Nod: Green's outfit, while Truer to the Text of the original character design, shows some influence from from Leaf—Green's neckline is a Palette Swap of Leaf's, and she wears an identical satchel. Also, her white bracelets mimic the design of the Mega Bangle in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, though it's not explicitly called attention to with Let's Go not giving trainers unique Key Stone accessories, while also being a reference to the White Gloves of her promotional design.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Between her palette, her shaded eyes, and her heavy use of Dark-type attacks, Green is at the very least a threatening character, if not an established villain.
• Little Black Dress: She wears a black dress like the Gen I concept art that inspired her, with the addition of a blue collar along with a slit in the side and being even shorter make it resemble an oversized shirt more than a dress.
• Meaningful Name: Like the other OG Kanto trainers she takes a canon name from a Version name, in this case the Japan only "Blue" Version, which becomes "Green" internationally due to the rival's own Dub Name Change. Let's Go plays on this with her jealousy towards the player for catching Mewtwo before her — in other words, making her a Green-Eyed Monster.
• Modesty Shorts: She wears blue shorts underneath her black dress.
• Mons as Characterization: Green has entered Cerulean Cave in order to catch Mewtwo and four of her team members have Dark-type moves, which the Psychic-type Mewtwo is weak against.
• Optional Boss: She challenges the player after they capture Mewtwo, irritated that they caught it first. After being defeated, she reluctantly hands over the Mewtwonite X and Y stones before teasing the player by attempting to capture them by throwing Poké Balls at them. After this she can be rematched once a day in Cerulean City though she'll still throw Poké Balls at the player to "capture" them.
• Palette Swap: The neckline of Green's dress is the same as the neckline of Leaf's shirt but with the black and blue coloring switched.
• Signature Mon: While "Leaf" has been associated with both Squirtle and Bulbasaur, all versions of "Green" have consistently paired her with Squirtle (except the "Pocket Monsters" gag manga, where she takes care of a Charmander, and is based upon her FRLG design, besides). In fact, it's to the point where Pokémon Evolutions gives Blue Venusaur while Red gets Charizard, which goes against every prior incarnation of the Kanto trio, but gives all three Kanto Trainers the starter that matches their Japanese names - Red and Charizard, Green (Professor Oak's grandson) and Venusaur, and Blue (the female Trainer) and Blastoise.
• Surprisingly Creepy Moment: After she loses to the Player Character, she invites them to become one of her Pokémon of all things, and will repeat the offer after every rematch. How serious she is is impossible to tell.
• Theme Naming: This version of the character has a color-based name to fit in with the Chromatic Arrangement of Red and his rival.
• Troll: Teases the player by throwing Poké Balls at them as if they're a Pokémon after they've beaten her, asking if they (and the Mewtwo the player's just caught) will join her Pokémon team, before smiling and running off. She continues to do this whenever you talk to her afterward.
• Truer to the Text: Green's outfit, with its predominant black, is much closer to the Little Black Dress worn by the Lady Not-Appearing-in-This-Game of Pokémon Red and Blue.