Characters / Pokémon: The Original Series

aka: Pokemon The Original Series Cast

Pokémon anime characters index
Series-wide: Ash Ketchum | Pikachu | Team Rocket Trio | Team Rocket Organization
The Original Series (Misty and Brock, Main Cast) | Ruby and Sapphire (Main Cast) | Diamond and Pearl (Main Cast, Paul) | Black & White (Main Cast) | XY (Main Cast) | Sun & Moon (Main Cast) | Journeys (Main Cast)
Others: Movie characters

Main Cast

See here for more information.

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Supporting Cast

Pallet Town

Professor Samuel Oak (Dr. Yukinari Okido)

Voiced in Japanese by: Unshō Ishizuka (EP001 to SM043), Kenyū Horiuchi (SM091 to present)

Voiced in English by: Stuart Zagnit (4Kids), Carter Cathcart (current)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Hugo Navarrete, Arturo Castañeda (as "Sam" in Movie 4)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Roberto Encinas

Voiced in European French by: Jean-Marc Delhausse, Georges Caudron (Movie Pokémon 4Ever)

Professor Oak comes from Pallet Town. He is Gary Oak's grandfather and gave Pikachu to Ash as a last resort after he woke up late to take one of the other three starters. His status as a semi-main character means that he shows up the most out of all the professors in theseries.

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• Absurdly Youthful Mother: Based on his younger self from Pokémon 4Ever the professor is about fifty years old. His grandson Gary is ten. This trope, twice over even, is the only way any of this works out.
• Ascended Extra: In the games, he just gives the Player Character their started Pokémon, the Pokédex, and some Poké Balls to start catching and sends them off. That's all done in the first episode of the anime, then he keeps showing up, either to provide information to Ash or taking care of Bill's function in the games, keeping any Pokémon at his lab that Ash doesn't need at the moment and sending them to him if he gives him a call.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's a bit eccentric and has a child-like sense of wonder when it comes to Pokémon, but he's still a well-respected professor in his field.
• Butt-Monkey: Somewhat. He seems to always get attacked by the Pokémon he looks after. He got attacked by Ash’s (then) Aipom, his Bayleef, his Meltan, and throughout the Japanese version's segments, he is perpetually attacked by his sample Pokémon, even normally tranquil ones like a Sylveon turn vicious when he gets too close. Even Pokémon that do like Oak's affection, he wishes they didn't, particularly Muk.
  • Especially pronounced in the Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Examination post-episode segments, where he's often attacked by the Pokémon being shown.
• Characterization Marches On: In the first episode, he was a bit of a grumpy Deadpan Snarker and he was visibly annoyed with Ash who came too late to get his first Pokémon. Later on, he would become an eccentric Nice Guy with a warm, almost fatherly relationship with Ash.
• Cool Old Guy: He gets very excited whenever he meets new Pokémon and he is a very passionate scientist. He also has some cool Pokémon, such as Dragonite and Rotom.
• A Day in the Limelight: His younger self stars as a principal character in Pokémon 4Ever. However, it is not revealed to the audience that they're the same person until the very end of the movie.
• Depending on the Writer: In the main anime itself, he's beloved and respected by most Pokémon, who show as much succinct loyalty to him as their trainers. In his podcast segments however, not a single one will hesitate to brutally assault him as he tries to inspect them in his lectures. He must borrow a very grouchy sample roster.
• Friend to All Living Things: One way or another, he'll find a way to get on a Pokémon's good side. Except in his end-of-episode segments....
• Gentleman and a Scholar: Besides being one of the leading experts on Pokémon, he's also a world-renowned poet.
• The Hyena: His Rotom laughs at all the Amusing Injuries he suffers in later Pokémon segments.
• Iron Butt Monkey: In the Japanese version, Oak would often have a short segment at the end of an episode demonstrating a certain quality or attack that Pokémon can execute. It usually always ends up being used on him. He's been burned, electrocuted, frozen, punched, bitten, and flung across the room more times than you can count.
• Loose Canon: In the Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon special, he was shown to have a Dragonite. It is unclear, however, if said special—and hence Oak's Dragonite as well— is canon to the main anime.
• Mission Control: Most of Ash's Pokémon are just a phone call away courtesy of him. He also plays a straighter example in Pokémon 3.
• Nice Guy: Oak is friendly to Pokémon and humans, something that becomes a standard characteristic for future professors.
• No Sense of Personal Space: A recurrent gag is him getting too up close and personal inspecting a Pokemon, and getting maimed for agitating them. Even with the ones that don't mind his affection like Growlithe and Raichu, he often forgets that a Pokemon doesn't have to be harmful on purpose.
• Out of Focus: After making semi-frequent appearances in all previous series, he was mostly absent in XY, only appearing via video call in the third and very last episodes. Since Sun & Moon, he's returned to his previous recurring character status.
• The Professor: The most prominent one of the entire franchise and the most famous Pokémon professor of the entire world.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: A rare handful of his Pokemon segments end with nothing bad happening to him. In the Slowpoke segment for example, the Slowpoke doesn't retaliate due to being, well, Slowpoke, while the Squirtle segment ends with Squirtle preventing his lab setting on fire. The Clefable segment is unironically heartwarming, with the Clefable happily sharing riceballs with the professor.
• Ship Tease: With Delia. In Pokémon Live!, Ash asks Professor Oak not to bring his mother home too late. As a result, he's one of the more frequent fan guesses for the identity of Ash's father (next to Giovanni, of course).
• Signature Mon: He caught a Rotom in "To Catch a Rotom!", which his only known Pokémon he has in the present time. During the XY series, Rotom serves as Oak's assistant in the Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster segments in Japan, often laughing at Oak's misfortune when he gets attacked by Pokémon.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: In his Pokemon segments. Even the rare times the Pokemon likes the attention and co-operates with his instructions, they will often still end up injuring him by accident. Pikachu, Raichu, Charmander, and Growlithe's segments for example.

Gary Oak (Shigeru Ookido)

^{Click here to see Gary in Journeys}

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuko Kobayashi

Voiced in English by: Jimmy Zoppi

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Gerardo Del Valle (Original Series and Journeys), Víctor Ugarte (Chronicles), Ricardo Bautista (Advance Generation and two episodes of Diamond & Pearl), Benjamín Rivera (One episode of Diamond & Pearl), Noé Velásquez (One Episode of Diamond & Pearl)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Jesús Pinillos

Voiced in European French by: Lionel Bourguet

Ash's first rival when he started off as a Pokémon trainer, and the grandson of Professor Oak. Gary and Ash were childhood friends whose relationship soured at some point prior to them leaving home. Gary would often take any chance to insult Ash when they met up, rubbing in his face all the ways he was succeeding better than Ash. But after Ash finally defeated Gary, Gary realized that being a trainer wasn't really his calling and decided to follow in his grandpa's footsteps to become a Pokémon professor. Following Gary retiring as a trainer, he and Ash have mended their old friendship, regarding each other mostly positively whenever their paths cross.

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• Aborted Arc: Gary capturing Regidrago was clearly meant to lead into some kind of encounter with Dynamax Regigigas, as indicated by the intro and the ending of JN113, but this event is never followed up on, presumably due to time constraints with the series.
• The Ace:
  • Gary seems to be pretty much be the best at what he does, claiming to be the top trainer out of the four who left Pallet Town in episode 1, and was always at least two steps ahead of Ash. He even had time to go on a vacation because he had obtained two more badges than necessary to enter the League tournament before Ash had reached the minimum quota. That said, it ultimately ends subverted once he and Ash finally get matched up in the Johto League, with Ash proving himself the superior trainer by winning a long, arduous battle.
  • His status returns in Journeys, however, where he dominates his Project Mew competition and collects by far the most tokens of any challenger. Similar to his situation in Kanto, he secures himself a Chaser position by collecting a whopping 12 Project Mew tokens, then collects another 3 with Goh just for the sake of it.
• Adaptational Name Change: Unlike the likes of Misty, Brock, May, Dawn, etc. who are both modelled after Pokémon game characters and share their Canon Names, Gary is based on the rival character from the first generation of Pokémon, but that character's Canon Name in media is Blue (Green in Japan), while Gary himself was given an original name. Ironically, due to Gary being nearly identical to Blue and arguably the more well-known character in comparison, contrasting with Ash who is based on the first playable character, Red, but is easily distinguishable from him, many fans refer to Blue by the name Gary, even though they are not the same character.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Gary has green eyes while his game counterpart, Blue, has brown eyes. Also, Gary has much darker hair than Blue. As of Journeys Gary's eye and hair color have been converted to closer match his game counterpart. Gary does, however, have arrow shaped eyebrows which have always been unique only to him.
• Adaptational Wimp: His game counterpart, Green/Blue, became the Champion of Kanto after he defeated the Elite 4. Here he never quite gets close to either feat and retires from training to be a researcher after the Silver Conference.
• Affectionate Nickname: While it started out far more belittling in nature, Gary referring to Ash as "Ashy-boy" (Satoshi-kun in Japanese) seems to have taken on this status after his relationship with Ash lost its antagonism.
• Age Lift: When Gary's cheerleaders appear in "Beauty and the Beach", they are all substantially taller and curvier than they were in the first episode.
• All-Cheering All the Time: Gary is followed around by an entourage of cheerleaders approximately twice his age. All they ever do is either cheer him on or cry when he loses a Pokemon battle or something. According to Pocket Monsters: The Animation, they were hired by his great-uncle to follow him around.
• All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Gary is not only constantly surrounded by cheerleaders, in the Japanese version of "Beauty and the Beach" he boasts that all six of them are his girlfriends.
• Always Second Best: Ironically, despite all of his advantages, he is always a rank behind Ash in every official tournament or competition they've partaken together.
• Always Someone Better: He was initially this to Ash; being one step ahead of him, catching far more Pokémon, training nearly all of them into elite fighters, smarter strategies, and being more knowledgable of Pokémon in general. This ended when Ash defeated Gary at the Silver Conference; though Gary would occasionally win a friendly battle with Ash post-rivalry whenever he came back from a new region, just to remind Ash to not get too complacent.
• Anime Hair: Although far from being the most extreme example in the series, it's definitely there.
• Armor-Piercing Question: After he congratulates Ash for winning the Coronation Series and becoming the champion, he asks him how much further he is to becoming a Pokémon Master. This leaves Ash in thought and preparing for his next (offscreen) journey to meet all Pokemon.
• Art Evolution:
  • When we see him after the Battle Frontier, his design matches his game counterpart in FireRed/LeafGreen. As of Journeys he's wearing an ensemble identical to his counterpart in HeartGold/SoulSilver.
  • Gary's cheerleaders debut in the first episode as a handful of middle-school Pom Pom Girls in standard cheerleader skirts, but when they reappear alongside him in "Beauty and the Beach", there are no longer merely three but six of them, and they all have brand-new designs to show off. These new designs would remain for the rest of their appearances—the original designs would be almost forgotten if they hadn't been recorded in art from Pocket Monsters: The Animation^note While only three cheerleaders appeared in the first episode, another three have been added to reflect the total of six in later episodes. or if Pokémon Journeys hadn't featured the cheerleaders in their original designs in a flashback.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: His Scizor is a large metallic red mantis.
• Brainy Brunette: Even becomes a Pokémon researcher, just like his grandfather.
  • And even before that, Gary had such a high knowledge of Pokémon, he barely needed to use his Pokédex to get any info on them, in contrast to Ash who uses his every time he sees a Pokémon, even ones he's already seen.
• Brainless Beauty: His fanclub, whose sole existence revolved around fawning attention on him.
• Break the Haughty: Being utterly owned by Mewtwo in Viridian City and then not even making it past the preliminary round of the Kanto-region Pokémon league that he and Ash had spent at least a year training for. He gets better, though.
  • It was somewhat implied Gary had never lost before, which seems to shape him into a more humble person. Break the Haughty indeed.
• Brought Down to Normal: The Chasers' expedition to Faraway Island in the Project Mew finale renders all technology inoperable, including Poké Balls. Gary in particular has no companion Pokémon, and heavily struggles to accomplish much without them, needing to be saved by Quillon several times and unable to defend himself against wild Pokémon.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • After driving off with his cheerleaders following his departure from the Indigo League tournament, Gary vanished from the series for a time. He came back a changed man right as Ash was returning from his trip through the Orange Islands and would go on to be a recurring character for the Johto adventure.
  • After being absent for nearly the entirety of Advanced Generation, he returned in the season finale of Battle Frontier and was a recurring character throughout Diamond & Pearl. He was then put back on the bus after that season ended.
  • After a third absence that lasted 12 years, he finally returns again in Pokemon Journeys. He gets a Promotion to Opening Titles starting from episode 50 and shows up in episode 68, where he helps set up the Project Mew subplot for Goh. He appears again in episode 71, where he continues his Project Mew work.
  • Pokémon-wise, his Arcanine, who was considered Gary's Signature Mon for years until his starter was revealed, makes a return in Pokemon Journeys.
• Carload of Cool Kids: Gary, his cheerleaders, and their convertible of choice during the original Kanto journey.
• Characterization Marches On: Downplayed. Despite his sequential Break the Haughty experiences at the end of his travels in Kanto, Gary was still pretty egotistical and more than willing to drive around with his posse. His return at the end of the Orange Islands arc was a pretty dramatic sidestep into his more solemn characterization with little explanation to show for it. This lasted until the Silver League Conference saw him return to his old school ways, cheerleaders and all.
• Childhood Friends: Being neighbors in Pallet Town, he was this with Ash prior to the incident with the Pokeball. See We Used To Be Friends below.
• Crossdressing Voices: In Japan, Shigeru is voiced by a woman. The English dub averts it by having him be voice by a man.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He suffers overwhelming losses against Mewtwo in Kanto, then much later Articuno and Mew in Journeys. Despite attacking with multiple Pokémon at once in each of these cases, Gary stands absolutely no chance.
• A Day in the Limelight: Got his own episode in Pokémon Chronicles.
• Deadpan Snarker: The "deadpan" part coming in from Johto and onwards.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Gary's been this since the original series ended — he didn't appear at all in Hoenn (only showing up at the end of Advanced Generation), shows up only four times in Diamond and Pearl (in two of which he got his ass handed to him by Team Galactic), and didn't appear in Unova, Kalos, or Alola.
  • Even during the original series, he suffered from this. Despite being Ash's main rival up till the end of Johto, he scarcely appeared after the Kanto saga ended, only having appeared in about 5 episodes between the end of the Indigo League and the start of the Johto League.
  • He contributes very little to the Project Mew finale, in large part due to the fact that he's unable to use any of his Pokémon. He gets the least amount of interaction with the other characters, has to be saved multiple times by Quillon, and the only thing he really accomplishes during the two-parter is distracting Groudon with a bottle of water.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Golem, Nidoking, and Nidoqueen are his Ground-type Pokémon.
• Doppelgänger Spin: Umbreon, who knew Double Team as an Eevee.
• Dub Personality Change: In the original Japanese version, Gary is more of a mildly antagonistic rival to Ash, and is respected by Ash's companions. The dub amplifies his antagonism and obnoxiousness towards Ash and subsequently has less respect from his peers. This makes him more in-line with his game counterpart, Blue (Green).
• Dub Name Change: From Ookido Shingeru to Gary Oak.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference:
  • Downplayed with his cheerleaders, whose costume and hair designs were not actually finalized until "Beauty and the Beach".
  • His eyes were originally shown to be blue but were later changed to green.
• Easily Forgiven: When Gary becomes much nicer to Ash after the former’s loss at the Silver Conference, Ash forgives Gary easily for being such a jerk to him for many episodes.
• Extra-ore-dinary: He has a part Steel-type Scizor, and his Electivire's Iron Tail.
• Energy Weapon: Nidoqueen's Hyper Beam.
• Flat Character: Not Gary himself, but his Pokémon don't really have any standout personality traits beyond their loyalty to him. Even the ones that appear more often, like Blastoise, Umbreon, and Electivire, have never received much fleshing out.
• Floral Theme Naming: His full name is a reference to the Garry oak.
• Friendly Enemy: Has shades of it in the original Japanese version, but it was removed by the English dub until Johto. After losing in the Indigo League and spending some time reflecting on his losses, Gary soon became a full-on friendly rival to Ash, though he still has some of his original snark left to throw.
• Good is Not Nice: Initially. He gets better over time though and becomes nicer to Ash and his friends, even teaming up with Ash, Brock, Misty, and Harrison to stop Team Rocket in one episode of the "Master Quest" series.
• Graceful Loser: When he's eliminated from the Indigo League, and Ash confronts him about his loss, Gary takes it surprisingly well, admitting that he's got some room for improvement that he hadn't realized up until that point. His fangirls, however, are much more distraught over his loss than he is.
• Guest-Star Party Member: After a near total absence during Advanced Generation series, Gary returns in several Diamond and Pearl series episodes as an unofficial companion for Ash's group. In Journeys, he becomes Goh's main partner in several Project Mew episodes, mostly because Ash himself is too busy with the World Coronation Series to aid Goh's missions.
• Handsome Lech: In Kanto, he traveled with a large group of older girls. That is one pimp pre-teen.
• Hero of Another Story: He's clearly done a lot off camera, but most of it goes unseen. Lampshaded by him when he meets up with Ash again in Journeys when he states it'd take a while to recount everything he's done since the last time they saw each other in Sinnoh.
• Horn Attack: His Nidoking uses this attack often in the original series.
• Insufferable Genius: While most of the time he's a Small Name, Big Ego who loses his more important battles, he's still quite a competent trainer and is more than happy to show it off. Him gaining ten badges in Kanto and flaunting them to Ash is one of the most (in)famous examples.
• Jerkass: At the beginning of the series, he is an insufferable jackass who flaunts his superiority over Ash and others. Especially Ash. As if it wasn't enough for him to leave Ash in the dust, Gary would often taunt Ash about him being behind whether it be leaving crude messages on road signs or stealing Ash's opportunity to challenge a Gym despite having more than enough badges to enter the League. He gets better from Johto onwards thanks to a humiliating defeat at the Indigo League, but this can still pop up.
• Jerkass Has a Point: In spite of his initial cold treatment of Goh, he's correctly able to pinpoint the boy's flaws, most notably during the trial mission against Articuno going sideways because of Goh's inability to work with a team. Goh ends up acknowledging that Gary is correct and the two start treating each other more respectfully as a result.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He used to be a cocky and arrogant jerk in the original series. But after his defeat at the hands of Ash in the Johto League Silver Conference, he mellow it out as he evolves into a kinder person as he is from Johto and onwards.
• Jerkass to One: Played with in Journeys where he still treats Ash as a friend and gives a warm greeting to Horace, he still treats Goh the same was he treated Ash in the original series. Something Goh doesn't take too well.
• Large Ham: During his Small Name, Big Ego Kanto days, he never introduced himself with modesty or quietness. He was loud, boastful and would always make sure that you will remember his awesomeness. And he never passed up an opportunity to increase his theatricality;
• Making a Splash: He has a Blastoise and Krabby, with Blastoise being his main powerhouse.
• Megaton Punch: Nidoqueen's Mega Punch.
• Mind Rape: Suffers this at the hands (paws?) of Mewtwo. One wonders if his decision to quit Pokemon training wasn't at least partly influenced by this incident.
• Morality Pet: Umbreon, most likely, seeing as he started to train it at the same time his change of attitude started. (Given the fact that it is an Umbreon might be a factor, seeing as Eevee evolve into Umbreon when treated well by a trainer.)
• Mythology Gag:
  • His eyes are green◊ as either a reference to his game counterparts JPN name (Green), one of the first two games in the series (Red and Green), or both.
  • His decision to become a researcher may or may not be in reference to the cut plot from the 1997 beta of Gold Version. Originally set 1 year later, Blue, having suffered a major blow to his pride, mellowed out and decided to become one of Oak's aides.
  • His two Signature Mons Blastoise and Umbreon are a reference to Pokémon Red and Blue, and Yellow respectively.
• Named After Somebody Famous: He's named after Shigeru Miyamoto in the original Japanese version, in homage to being The Mentor of Satoshi Tajiri.
• No-Sell: His Golem is too heavy for Charizard to lift, so no Seismic Toss for Golem.
• Olympus Mons: He catches a Regidrago in JN113.
• Our Fairies Are Different: In JN113, he's revealed to have a Hatterene. A part Fairy Type that knows Dazzling Gleam.
• Out of Focus: Even during the original series, Gary's rivalry with Ash received surprisingly little focus overall. They only had one battle prior to the Johto League, and many of Gary's appearances were only cameos or in filler episodes that did little to develop or build him up as a rival. It only got worse after Kanto, where Gary made even fewer appearances and contributed even less to Ash's growth.
• Paid Harem: He had a gang of cheerleaders supporting him (and in one case, Ash) in Kanto; after losing at the Indigo League and learning humility, he got rid of them, although they returned for his battle with Ash in the Silver Conference.
• Pet the Dog: In Battle Of The Badge, Gary's the one who tackles Meowth to prevent him from blowing up the rigged platform Ash is standing on during his gym battle against Team Rocket.
• Playing with Fire: Arcanine and Magmar.
• Poisonous Person:Has both Nidoking and Nidoqueen —who are part Poison-Type— in his collection.
• Pom-Pom Girl: For the entirety of the Kanto journey in Pokémon: The Original Series, Gary was attended by half a dozen personal cheerleaders who engaged in All-Cheering All the Time. According to Pocket Monsters: The Animation, his great-uncle (the mayor of Pallet) hired them for him, but since his uncle is not canon to the anime itself, the girls probably lack this justification. They vanished for almost the entire Johto journey, but returned for the long-delayed match between Ash and Gary.
• Punny Name: His English name, funnily enough.
• Quantity vs. Quality: Defied. Gary regularly rotated his team in the Silver Conference which Ash knew was going to happen. Even though Gary has a lot of reserves, each of them are powerful in their own right and prove to be an even match against Ash's Pokémon.
• The Reveal: It wasn't until his second match with Ash that we learned he started with Squirtle. None of his main Pokémon were even shown until episode 63 (when he was shown using Nidoking and Arcanine at the Viridian Gym), though his Krabby made a brief appearance in episode 13, alongside the one Ash had just caught). We did hear at a few points in early episodes that he caught a lot of Pokémon. Over 200, according to Professor Oak, meaning since there were only 151 kinds in the Kanto saga, he's caught quite a few more of the same species, especially since he had only seen 60 at that point.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Ash's red of the "Original Series", being level-headed and logical while Ash is brash and impulsive.
• The Rival:
  • Ash's main rival until the end of the Johto saga. He and Ash are currently providing the page picture for this trope.
  • He becomes the main rival for Goh for Project Mew when he makes his return in Journeys, while ironically acting like best buddies with his old rival Ash.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: In the original series, he's Ash's primary rival. When he returns in Journeys, he's set up as Goh's rival instead as he and Ash have basically buried their old hatchet at the end of Johto.
• Same Character, But Different: Kanto's Gary was a snide braggart who was constantly lording himself and his experiences over Ash while traveling around with a personal cheerleading team in a convertible (while Ash was hoofin' it old-school). Johto's Gary was an aloof and stoic wanderer accompanied by only his Pokémon — Johto's first opening even wrapped him in a distinctive black cloak. This was explained as a result of his surprise loss in the preliminary rounds of the Indigo League, in addition to his previous curbstomp by Mewtwo, which severely wounded his pride and led to him becoming a more serious, less braggy trainer.
• Signature Mon: Despite having many more Pokémon than Ash, Gary rarely has a definitive Pokémon partner since he often changes his partner depending on the seasons in the original series. The three most consistent are Arcanine, Umbreon, and Blastoise, and of the three, Umbreon serves as the cute companion while Blastoise serves as the signature powerhouse.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Really thinks highly of himself in the first season, which only increases the irony over the fact that he loses in the preliminaries of the Indigo League while Ash gets farther. Played for hilarity when, during the swimsuit contest in the originally-banned Beach Episode, he actually believes everyone is watching him.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He becomes considerably nicer to Ash during the Johto Arc, and even moreso during the Sinnoh arc.
• Tuckerization: His Japanese name, Shigeru, is taken from Shigeru Miyamoto, who served as a mentor to Satoshi Tajiri.
• The Unfought: Despite being Ash's rival, the two never battle in the first series, having their first one-on-one battle in the final episode of the Orange Island saga after Ash had returned home. Technically the two don't even a full battle until the tail-end of the Johto Saga at the Silver Conference.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Ash, before a quarrel involving a broken Pokéball of which they each kept half of. They eventually mend their friendship after the Silver Conference and remained friendly ever since.
• The Worf Effect:
  • Despite being a gifted and highly accomplished Trainer, Gary has a tendency to lose badly to Legendary Pokémon in order to show how powerful they are. He was easily defeated by Mewtwo in the Kanto saga, then proceeded to lose battles against Moltres, Articuno, and Mew in Journeys.
  • While Gary was a good trainer back in the day, once he became a Sinnoh researcher he probably didn't train as hard as he used to, leading him to get easily defeated by Saturn and Team Galactic.

Gary’s Pokémon

Squirtle-Wartortle-Blastoise

• Curb Stomp Cushion: His Blastoise gets some good hits in against Moltres in JN068, and overall performs better than Ash's Infernape, but ultimately still loses pretty easily.
• Making a Splash: It is a pure Water-type Pokémon. And knows Water Gun, Hydro Cannon, Water Pulse, and Hydro Pump.
• Man Bites Man: Or rather Mon Bites Mon. It knows the Dark-type move Bite, and uses it when Charizard lifts it off the ground.
• Mythology Gag: Gary's Blastoise is meant to reflect the rival choosing the type advantage over the player's, Blastoise having the advantage over Ash's Charizard who was his ace Pokémon in their match in the Silver Conference.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Notably on the receiving end to showcase how much Ash’s Charizard has taken a level in badass, and the second to showcase how strong Moltres is. Both were Fire-types, which are normally weak to Blastoise. It is on the delivering end, however, when it defeats Ash’s Grass-type Bayleef.
• Signature Mon: After Blastoise is revealed in the Silver Conference, it became Gary's signature powerhouse Pokémon, used to dish heavy fire if Umbreon is not used. Notably, when Gary decides to start off fresh as a Pokémon researcher after the Silver Conference, he left all his Pokémon except Blastoise, which prompts Ash to do the same as well with Pikachu.
• Spectacular Spinning: It knows Rapid Spin.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: Gary's Blastoise was an expert in using Rapid Spin to deflect Ash's attacks, like Muk's Sludge Bomb and Bayleef's Razor Leaf.
• Starter Mon: Was Gary’s first Pokémon. Ironically, his choice happens to be Ash's first choice as well.
• Use Your Head: It knows Skull Bash.

Eevee-Umbreon

• Badass Normal: Was a Normal-type as Eevee, and defeated Ash’s Pikachu using only Normal-type attacks.
• Psychic Powers: Umbreon knowns the move Psychic in its attack set.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Gary's Umbreon debuting as an Eevee references how the rival takes the Eevee meant for the player in Pokémon Yellow who instead gets a Pikachu as a starter, just like Ash did. Justified as Pokémon Yellow is supposed to be a homage to the Pokémon anime.
  • His Umbreon is actually an indirect reference to Red's Espeon in Gold and Silver. As Ash is the anime incarnation of Red, his hypothetical Eevee would have evolved into an Espeon. Thus it stands to reason that his rival would have the opposing Eeveelution (Umbreon) of Gen II.
• Signature Mon: Umbreon (as an Eevee) was Gary's most notable Pokémon early on, being the first one Gary used against Ash and making semi-frequent appearances after. Also, expect Gary's game counterpart Blue to have an Eevee as his partner as well due to the anime, even though Blue only had an Eevee in Pokémon Yellow.
• Soul Power: Umbreon uses the Ghost-Type Shadow Ball.
• Worf Effect: Despite being an Eevee, it's well trained and easily defeats Ash's Pikachu despite the latter recently coming off of his win of defeating the undefeatable Dragonite.

Arcanine

• Curb-Stomp Battle: Gary tries using both Arcanine and Nidoking against Mewtwo. They both lose because Mewtwo is a Legendary Pokémon.
• Playing with Fire: Is Fire-Type, and knows moves like Fire Spin, Fire Blast, Flame Wheel, and Flamethrower.
• Signature Mon: Before Umbreon (as an Eevee) appeared, Gary's Arcanine was considered this in numerous anime-related merchandise and games. This is because his Arcanine was one of Gary's first Pokémon shown to be used for battle.
• Super-Speed: Arcanine is one of his fastest Pokémon on his team and thus it's Gary's chosen racer in the Extreme Pokémon Race. Despite its tremendous speed, it narrowly lost to Ash's Bayleef who came in first place.

Electrivire

• Barrier Warrior: Electivire knows Protect, which is useful to fend off powerful Volt Tackle.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Debuted in the last episode of Battle Frontier arc just before Diamond and Pearl began.
• Elemental Punch: It knows Thunder Punch.
• Good Counterpart: Gary's Electivire is a friendly Gentle Giant, unlike Paul's who's a Blood Knight Psycho Electro.
• Shock and Awe: Electivire is Gary's main Electric-Type Pokémon and fittingly, an upgraded rival to Pikachu as well as a foreshadowment to Paul's Elekid (who would also evolve into Electivire).
• Small Role, Big Impact: Its debut informed Ash of the Sinnoh region.

Delia Ketchum (Hanako)

Voiced in Japanese by: Masami Toyoshima

Voiced in English by: Veronica Taylor (4Kids), Sarah Natochenny (current)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Ana Patricia Anides (Original Series and current), Rebeca Manríquez (Chronicles), Elena Ramírez (Advance Generation and the start of Diamond & Pearl)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Cecilia Santiago (first two episodes), Marisa Marco (Seasons 1-16), Ana Richart (XY Series onwards), Ana Jiménez (Movie Pokemon 2000), Marta García (Movie Pokemon 3)

Voiced in European French by: Catherine Conet (Season 1-12, Movies 2-3), Julie Basecqz (Season 14-16), Fabienne Loriaux (Season 19-current)

Ash's always-loving mother. Not much more needs to be said about her. Just let the tropes do the talking.

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• Action Mom: Ash's skill is apparently genetic, given that she's more than able to scrap when she needs to.
• Adaptational Modesty: Delia wore a pencil-skirt to just above the knees until her stint as a Guest-Star Party Member in Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, when her design was updated to give her a longer, fluffier skirt.
• Alternate Self: She has one regarding the "I Choose You!" Ash of the Alternate Continuity movie trilogy.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: A Running Gag in the 4Kids Entertainment Dub. Delia frequently and loudly reminds Ash to change his you-know-whats. Sometimes his friends are around. Sometimes there's a small crowd. Sometimes it's being filmed on live TV.
• And the Rest: Delia has been known to do this to her own son. This trope is much less common in later series.
  Delia: "Oh, Pikachu! It's so good to see you again, oh you're so cute, I could just hug you all day — oh, hi Ash."
• Beware the Nice Ones: In some Chronicles episodes, she actually displayed some skill as a trainer. This returns when she makes an appearance in Sun and Moon and rather fluently uses Ash's Litten to fend off Team Skull (to everyone, even Litten's surprise).
• Characterization Marches On: Early on she was pretty clueless about Pokémon, but the third film reveals that she was one of Oak's top students.
• Cuteness Proximity:
  • Makes recurring appearances in Sun & Moon, where she has taken a special fondness for Ash's Litten.
  • She also developed a brief Running Gag that whenever Ash would come home she'd make a beeline for Pikachu and belatedly notice Ash was there, too.
• The Ditz: Downplayed, but, early on at least,
  • Delia sometimes comes off as slightly dense in terms of Pokémon-related concepts. May lean into Genius Ditz however, since she can actually battle formidably in spite of it.
  • At the start of the Gold & Silver series, when Brock first returns and the story of how he came to be at Ash's home is told, Delia relates that she found him on a walk home from the market with Mimey—as she was walking, she heard a noise, and wandered back in the direction she'd first come to look for it, heard the noise a second time in the other direction, and turned back only to hear the noise again. She and Mimey wound up walking in a circle, hearing the noise over and over again, and only belatedly realized that the noises were coming from below—because they'd trodden on Brock, who was lying in the dirt, no less than half a dozen times each.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Was an occasional Ms. Fanservice in the first season (though nowhere near as much as Misty, Jessie, the Joys and the Jennies).
• Happily Married: Depending on the medium. In the main series anime she only mentions Ash's father, once, in EP 002, and while her wording and tone about him is positive, little else is shown of their relationship. In side material in its own continuity or Broad Strokes to the anime it is implied she is either no longer in a relationship with him, such as Pokémon Live!, or that while she is still married to him she no longer loves him, as is the case in Pocket Monsters The Animation. In the Alternate Continuity movie trilogy and the Post-Journeys special episode, it's much more explicit that the two are together and still seeing each other since Ash fondly mentions his father's role in shaping his personality and Delia happy meets up with him to see Ash when he's not busy.
• Hidden Depths: She was one of Professor Oak's top students when she was in school. Suddenly having to raise a son all on her own suddenly left no time for schoolwork. Odd episodes she's called into battle display her fluency with Pokémon.
• Idiot Hair: More fitting in the original series when Delia was more frequently The Ditz, before she got Characterization Marches On (i.e. being retconned from fairly ignorant of all things Pokemon into a former student of Professor Oak's and a modestly talented battler). When she isn't displaying her ditz traits, the hair is something of The Artifact.
• Loose Canon: What Delia does when Ash isn't around isn't clear in the anime, though side material like movies and light novels have implied that she studied Pokemon under Professor Oak and runs a restaurant and hotel formerly operated by her mother, Ash's grandmother.
• Motherhood Is Superior: The franchise has spent decades exploring Delia's bond with her son and how much she loves and adores him, especially in later series where the series drops the jokes of Delia focusing on Pikachu before Ash in reunions, while in the main series, Ash's father is left to fleeting references that leave it ambiguous what sort of relationship father and son have.
• The Nicknamer: In Sun & Moon; she nicknames Ash's Rowlet, Rockruff, and Litten "Rowlie", "Rocky" and "Littie".
• "Not So Different" Remark: It's shown in SM024 that Ash and his mother are actually quite similar. In addition to their dorky moments, Ash's classmates point out that they're both kind-hearted people who do everything they can to help others.
• Significant Double Casting: Majority of dubs have her share Ash's voice actress.
• Team Mom: Treats Ash's friends like her own children. When Ash and Misty returned to Kanto after the Orange Islands saga, they found that Delia had found a Heroic BSOD-inflicted Brock and was letting him stay at the Ketchum house while she nursed him back to health.

Major Recurring Characters

Officer Jenny (Junsar)

Voiced in Japanese by: Chinami Nishimura

Voiced in English by: Lee Quick (Original series to Advanced Generation, episode 65), Jamie Davyous Owens (Advanced Generation, episodes 119-142), Kayzie Rogers (The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon), Maya Rosewood (Advanced Generation, episode 155), Emily Williams (Advanced Generation, episode 188 to Diamond and Pearl, episode 166) and Emily Jenness (Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution; Journeys)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Mayra Arellano (Seasons 1-6, 13-16), Erica Edwards (Season 7 and Chronicles), Cristina Hernández (seasons 8-11), Betzabe Jara (Season 12), Claudia Contreras (season 17-current), Ana María Grey (Season 1, only in three episodes)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Valle Acebrón (Seasons 1-5^note until episode 236), Isacha Mengíbar (Seasons 5^note starting from episode 267-13, Pokemon: The Arceus Chronicles), Beatriz Berciano (BW Series), Silvia Sarmentera (XY Series), Unknown voice actress (S&M Series), Beatriz Llaneza Mielgo (Journeys Series)

If there's a town with any semblance of law enforcement, then Officer Jenny will be there. They tend to use Pokémon that help in police work, such as Growlithe, Herdier or other police dog stand-ins.

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The numerous Jennys out there exhibit the following tropes:

• Art Evolution: Officer Jenny got a complete makeover in the Unova region. She went from having shoulder-length hair and a blue uniform to grass-green short cropped hair with a beige uniform in Unova◊. Kalosian Jennys have wavy hair tied in a low ponytail, though the uniforms are back to blue.◊
• Between My Legs: The shot used when a Jenny first appears in Best Wishes episode 38.
• Busman's Holiday: Viridian Officer Jenny pops up in Eterna City on her day off, right around the same time that a major heist has occurred.
• Canine Companion: The most common Pokemon used by them are the regional dog of whatever region they're in, especially Growlithe, who acts like a police dog. The ones in Kalos use Electrike, and the ones in Unova use Herdier, since Growlithe aren't found in those places.
• Canon Immigrant: Officer Jenny appears in Pokémon Yellow in Vermilion City looking for a tough trainer to raise a rowdy Squirtle.
• Combat Pragmatist: The Jenny in "A Poached Ego", where she instantly beats the poacher Rico by quickly stealing the Poké Ball containing his ace, Tyranitar. In fairness, what he had it do to Team Rocket (both Pokémon and trainers) was more than enough to warrant this resort.
• Cowboy Cop: One particular Jenny enjoys taking down criminals with her bowling skills.
• Dub Name Change: Named Mara in the European Spanish dub.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Not only did the Jenny attire change throughout later regions, but their default personalities tend to be rather serious and humorless, compared to early episodes where they tended to be more energetic and hammy.
• Fair Cop: All of them. There's a reason why Brock likes them so much. She certainly is attractive.
• Gender Equals Breed: Ash and Co. once met a Luxray trainer named Marble, a young Jenny. As with Joy, this indicates that men have no impact on genetics in the family.
• Improbable Weapon User: "Stealing the Conversation", where one Jenny stopped criminals with a bowling ball.
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: Former co-Trope Namer. All Jennys look exactly alike, but each Jenny is told apart by the insignia on their hat, representing the town they're from. Brock can tell them apart by other details, such as the length of their skirt.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Prior to the Unova seasons, Officer Jennys wore heels. Not exactly practical (or even comfortable) footwear to have in law enforcement, but they still manage. It's completely averted come XY, where Jennys were re-designed with more practical police attire.
• Phrase Catcher: A Running Gag with new main characters (and Ash in Unova) is that they would always mistake the second Jenny they meet on their journey with the first one. When Serena does it with the Kalos Jenny, Ash remarks, in deadpan, "I knew it..."
• Poor, Predictable Rock: Most Jennys use the same Pokémon in a given region, though there are exceptions like Luxray and Gastly.
• Police Are Useless: Played with, as while the Jennys do try to help Ash and friends, it's usually the latter who play the key part in saving the day.
  • Played completely straight, however, by the Eterna City Jenny from "A Secret Sphere of Influence", who arrests Nando for supposedly stealing the Adamant Orb and flatly refuses to believe that anyone else could have done it. When presented with a photograph of a Sunflora (actually Meowth disgused as one) stealing the Orb, she declares that it's all the proof she needs. Despite everyone else in the room pointing out that Nando probably isn't the only person in the museum who has a Sunflora, she remains convinced that she's right and spends the entire episode interrogating him instead of searching for the stolen Orb and/or other suspects, forcing the main characters to hunt Team Rocket down and get it back.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Most of them, but especially the Jennys in "Pokémon Emergency!" and "Spinarak Attack". In the case of the former, she shows Ash how to use his Pokédex as an ID and gives him a free ride to the Pokémon Center when she sees that Pikachu is badly injured and urgently needs medical care.
• Signature Mon: All Officer Jennys have a Pokémon companion by their side, usually a Canine Companion:
  • In Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, Officer Jennys have Growlith.
  • In Unova, Officer Jennys either have a Herdier or Swanna, though it's not clear which one is more preferred.
  • In Kalos, Officer Jennys have Electrike.
  • In Alola, Officer Jennys have Gumshoos.
• Smelly Skunk: There was one in Sinnoh who used a Stunky.
• The Worf Effect: Prone to being overpowered by the current threat to make Ash's team relevant. They sometimes get to pull a Big Damn Heroes to maintain their competence however.
• Zerg Rush: The Eterna City Jenny uses this technique with a crapload of other officers to corner Nando in "A Secret Sphere of Influence".

Nurse Joy

Voiced in Japanese by: Ayako Shiraishi, Kikuko Inoue, Yuriko Yamaguchi and Kei Shindō

Voiced in English by: Megan Hollingshead (Original series to Advanced Generation, episode 42; returned in Journeys), Erica Schroeder (Advanced Generation, episodes 49 to 144, plus cameo appearance in Black and White, episode 127), Michele Knotz (Advanced Generation, episode 151 to Diamond and Pearl, episode 190) and Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld (Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Mildred Barrera

Voiced in European Spanish by: Isacha Mengíbar (Episodes 002-014), Pilar Martín (OG Series^note From episode 020 onwards-DP Series, Movies 1-13, Movie 20, Movie 22, Pokémon Chronicles, The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon), Sara Heras (BW Series, Movies 15-16), Desirée Álvarez (XY Series^note Until episode 049), Sara Polo (XY Series^note From episode 051 onwards), Yolanda Portillo (S&M Series^note Until episode 102), Elena Palacios (S&M Series EP 068), Laura Barriga (S&M Series EP 103 onwards)

Much like Officer Jenny, Nurse Joy is found anywhere that has a Pokémon center. Their partner Pokémon tend to be ones with healing abilities, like Chansey, Audino and others.

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The numerous Joys found around the world exhibit the following tropes:

• Adaptational Badass: In the novelization, she's a fully licensed nurse.
• Ambiguously Brown: One Joy in the Orange Islands who's known to travel by rowboat to tend to Pokémon in need has a much darker skin tone than the other Joys. It's not clear if her darker skin is genetic or just a tan from her spending so much time outdoors in a tropical archipelago.
• Art Evolution: Along with Jenny above, Nurse Joy also underwent a makeover for the Unova region. The bangs of her hair were parted, giving her an overall much younger appearance.◊ She also no longer wears a white apron. In Kalos, the pigtails are slightly raised.◊ Alolan Joys have a single, large pigtail, and their uniforms are pink and white with a stripe down the center.◊
• Berserk Button: All Nurse Joys don't like it when Trainers use their Pokémon to fight for anything other than official battles or in capturing Pokémon, especially petty fights.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Joys can be quite stern and strict when it comes to the health of both Pokémon and their Trainers, one in Maiden's Peak was quite concerned about Ash and Misty not missing curfew, as children need their sleep, and can give quite a talking to towards trainers she believes are mistreating their Pokémon.
• Brainwashed: One Joy was turned into Mewtwo's servant in Mewtwo Strikes Back, later freed from his control when she was no longer useful.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • Nurse Joy appears in every pokémon center in Pokémon Yellow with a Chansey by her side. In fact, her design had such a dramatic effect on pokémon center nurses for generations to come it would not be inaccurate to say she appears in later games, too.
  • While not referenced by name, the Pokémon Center nurse in Pokémon X and Y is Nurse Joy, sporting her Kalos design. Since the games have only been sprites up until now, adding 3D model characters into the game allows the games to start adapting the anime characters, if for nothing more than their character designs.
• The Colored Cross: Many a Nurse Joy and their occasional Chansey assistants will have a variety of colored crosses or Pokeball symbols in their caps, although in earlier episodes, they would have the standard red crosses.
• Deadly Doctor: One particular Joy near the end of the Battle Frontier arc kicked Ash's ass in a battle with Chansey, then routinely rushed his Corphish to be healed.
• Friend to All Living Things: Well, she is a nurse, so it's her job to take care of them.
• Gender Equals Breed: More recent episodes have shown children Joys named Marnie and Paige, who look exactly the same as their mother. The father looks nothing like the rest of the family. This also implies that Joy is the surname.
• Heroic BSoD: The grief-stricken Joy in "One Big Happiny Family!" is suffering from one because nobody visits the Pokémon Center she works at anymore.
• Hospital Hottie: Makes one go Brock over them.
• Improbable Age: The Takeshi Shudō-authored novelization states her to be less than twenty.
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: The other former Co-Trope Namer. Every Joy in the world is pretty much identical to each other. Any exceptions are usually due to outside circumstances such as spending more time in the sun or getting more exercise, such as one of the Orange Islands Joys. The only way to tell them apart is by the color of the cross on their hats, which will range through every color except red, due to the Red Cross being an internationally protected symbol. Brock can tell them apart without that fact, and in fact can tell when someone is only pretending to be Joy (he doesn't go crazy over them).
  • In Alola, the uniforms are color-coded to the islands. The uniforms that Ash and the gang wear have a yellow clasp (yellow being Melemele's color), but the Nurse Joy who came to their aid had a pink one and is revealed at the end to be the local Nurse Joy's sister who works on Akala Island.
• The Medic: She is more a doctor than a nurse.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: One of the dark-skinned Joys mentioned above also has super-strength. You wouldn't know it by looking at her. She is, however, commented on as being more muscular than the other Joys.
• Phrase Catcher: Similar to Jenny's entry above, they'll always tell newcomers that they're not the same Joy they met prior in the last city they visited.
• Pink Means Feminine: Almost all of them wear pink dresses as part of their uniforms.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: Most Joys have pink hair and most Joys have a kind disposition.
• Signature Mon: All Nurse Joys have a companion Pokémon serving a nurse assistant. The companion Pokémon's species differs depending on the region:
  • In Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, Nurse Joys have Chansey and, on rare occasions, Blissey.
  • In Unova, Nurse Joys have Audino.
  • In Kalos, Nurse Joys have Wigglytuff.
  • In Alola, Nurse Joys have Comfey and Blissey.
  • In Galar, Nurse Joys have Indeedee.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Officer Jenny's Tomboy.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: There’s one Joy during the Johto arc with a fear of Water-type Pokémon.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Joys have the 'gentle inner iron' thing going for them and then there's the voice...

Kanto

Aya

Voiced in Japanese by: Emi Shinohara

Voiced in English by: Lisa Ortiz

Voiced in Latin American Spanish: Ishtar Sáenz (first appearance), Cynthia Alfonzo (second appearance)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Licia Alonso

Aya is a ninja and a Trainer who specializes in Poison-type Pokémon. She's the younger sister of Koga, the Fuchsia Gym Leader.

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• Big Creepy-Crawlies: She has a Venonat.
• The Bus Came Back: She reappeared in EP176, studying at the Pokémon Jujitsu Academy near Ecruteak City.
• Canon Foreigner: She is an anime-exclusive character as Koga isn't known to have a younger sister in the games. However, Koga does have a daughter named Janine in games, whom shares many similar traits to Aya, namely being raised by Koga as a ninja warrior.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: In her first appearance, she wears a bright pink outfit. Lampshaded by Misty, who points out that such a getup is far from stealthy. She also wears mostly red in her second appearance.
• Signature Mon: Venonat is her Pokémon partner, appearing with her in both of her two episodes.

Todd Snap (Toru)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kappei Yamaguchi

Voiced in English by: Jimmy Zoppi

Voiced in Latin American Spanish: Víctor Ugarte

Voiced in European Spanish by: Alicia Sainz de la Maza (first appearance), Amelia Jara (second appearance)

An enthusiastic Pokémon photographer, Todd Snap loves taking photos of Pokémon in their natural habitat and learns from Ash how to properly understand their feelings. In his first appearance, he tries to catch a photo of Pikachu after misunderstanding Team Rocket's request to "catch" Pikachu. He becomes a travelling companion to Ash, Misty and Brock for a short while before departing to explore Kanto's mountain region. He reunites with his friends in Johto, trying to snap Articuno whilst accompanied by Jigglypuff. He is fittingly the star of Pokémon Snap.

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• Awesome Personnel Carrier: Professor Oak gives the Zero One multipurpose vehicle to Todd in Pokémon Snap. The vehicle can go on land via railway tracks, can travel down rivers, and fly using rocket boosters.
• The Bus Came Back: For a second 3-parter during the Johto saga.
• Camera Fiend: As a photographer, he always like to shoot photos.
• Chekhov's Skill: His skills in photography (and camera) proved vital in gathering evidence against Cassidy and Butch, bringing their breeding center scheme crashing down.
• Famed In-Story: Earned a lot of accolades for photographing a live Aerodactyl.
• Guest-Star Party Member: He travels with Ash's group for a couple of episodes.
• Non-Action Guy: He is not a trainer.
• Running Gag: Todd takes photos at the most inappropriate moments.

Jessebelle (Rumika)

Voiced in Japanese by: Megumi Hayashibara

Voiced in English by: Rachael Lillis (4kids), Michele Knotz (TPCI)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Elena Ramírez (Original Series), Diana Pérez (Diamond & Pearl episode 2), Rebeca Gómez (Diamond & Pearl episode 153)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Amparo Valencia

Voiced in European French by: Catherine Conet

James' somewhat abusive fiancee chosen by his parents.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: To James. He initially found her quite attractive, but she became this when he realized how rigid, abusive and psychotic she was. She and James' parents still expects that she'll marry him, but he'd rather be with Jessie.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: Her goal is to marry James by any means necessary.
• The Baroness: Jessebelle is well-trained in the use of a whip, and she uses it in conjunction with her Vileplume's Stun Spore to simultaneously paralyze targets and whip them into submission.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Her latest appearance was DP153, which is 571 episodes between her first appearance in the anime and this one (not counting DP 002 of course).
• Creepy Child: Even in her youth, she tried to control James. It's heavily implied that she already began abusing and manipulating James as a child. His remark after she tried to hit him with a whip and paralyze him is "This is just like last time!".
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Jessebelle is shown as shockingly violent towards James, paralyzing him with her Vileplume and beating him with a whip. James is not happy about it, but mostly complains about how controlling she is, and his parents seems to think it's great. There is a lot of slapstick comedy in Pokemon in general, but they certainly have never portrayed James smacking a woman around like Jessebelle is shown smacking him around. On the other hand, everyone except James' parents and their butler think Jessebelle is horrible.
• Dressed Like a Dominatrix: Played down for the young audience, but after luring James and company down to the family's torture dungeon, Jessebelle appears in the foxhunting costume of Real Life English nobility, plus a whip and thigh-high boots.
• Evil Counterpart: While Jessie isn't a hero, Jessebelle is certainly a more evil version of her. She's Jessie without any standards or redeeming qualities.
• Evil Redhead: She is an arrogant, abusive psycho with red hair who enjoys tormenting her poor fiance.
• Fiery Redhead: Much like Jessie, she's loud and temperamental.
• Gold Digger: Possibly the reason she wants to marry James is for his family's money. Zigzagged since she herself is very wealthy and has access to an army of servants.
• Green Thumb: Owns a Vileplume, her only known Pokémon, which knows Stun Spore and Solar Beam to catch James.
• Hayseed Name: Of the Southern belle variety.
• High-Class Fan: She's sometimes seen hiding her face behind a fan, even when she was a child.
• I Can Change My Beloved: She is determined to marry James and turn him into her idea of a "proper" gentleman.
• Identical Stranger: She looks almost exactly like Jessie, except for the ringlets and slight differences in hair and eye color.
• Like Parent, Like Spouse: Jessebelle, James's fiancée, has similar features to James's mother.
• Meaningful Name: A double-layered and doubly fitting one. Jessebelle is a Southern Belle version of Jessie, but her name is also a clever wordplay on the old-fashioned idiom Jezebel, meaning an evil, scheming woman, taken from the name of the unjust and domineering Queen Jezebel from The Bible.
• Mirror Character: She's very similar to Jessie, essentially a dark(er) reflection of her. Essentially, she shows what Jessie could be if she had no moral restraint.
• Ojou Ringlets: Three very large ones, two on the sides and one in back.
• Rich Bitch: She is a very wealthy and despicable person.
• Shadow Archetype: Jessie of Team Rocket tends to overwhelm James and Meowth with raw force of personality just to get her way, but Jessebelle dials that tendency up to eleven by wanting to completely reshape others to suit her liking.
• Signature Mon: Jessebelle's main Pokémon partner is Vileplume, whom she raised since it was an Oddish. She uses Vileplume to hinder James' attempt to escape, and its Grass/Poison-type is the perfect antithesis to James' Growlie, highlighting the couple's incompatibility.
• Southern Belle: The English dub adds a Southern accent and Hayseed Name to her wealthy background, appearance, style of dress and fixation on proper behavior to cast her as one of these.
• Whip of Dominance: On her debut episode, she uses a whip while trying to forcibly (and violently) make him act like a proper gentleman, further illustrating her ridiculously controlling nature.
• Yandere: Of the non-murderous type, although she is willing to hurt James into obeying her.

Duplica (Imite)

Voiced in Japanese by: Orine Fukushima

Voiced in English by: Megan Hollingshead

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Mayra Arellano

Voiced in European Spanish by: Sandra Jara (EP 037), Cristina Yuste (EP 174)

A girl who manages her own theater, putting on performances for any travelers who happen to stop by.

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• Ascended Extra: Kind of. While she only made two anime appearances, she showed up in the game Pokémon Zany Cards and the manga The Electric Tale of Pikachu.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: At least as far as the Pokémon art style goes, she has more more prominent eyebrows than the females of the show usually do.
• The Bus Came Back: Duplica was upgraded from One-Shot Character to Recurring Character in EP174, where she got a second appearance during the gang's journeys in Johto for another episode featuring Ditto.
• Canon Immigrant: Downplayed with her Ditto. While the episode indicates Ditto's inability to properly disguise its face is a flaw in its transformation ability, the franchise has since adopted the untransformed face as the signature indicator of all transformed Ditto.
• Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: She can swap costumes at the drop of a hat.
• Costume Copycat: She has a gigantic room filled with clothes that add to her impressions.
• Ditto Fighter: She owns two Ditto. One is a regular one, the other is a tiny one named Mini-Dit that can transform into a tiny version of any Pokémon.
• Expy: Duplica is for all intents and purposes a Retool of Copycat from Pokémon Red and Blue. In turn, Duplica may have influenced Copycat, who is a generic NPC in the games but is often depicted with green pigtails.
• Meaningful Name: "Imite" comes from "imitate," and "Duplica" comes from "duplicate".
• Minor Living Alone: Her parents are never seen and she seems to run the theatre where she lives all by herself.
• Morphic Resonance: A problem with her first Ditto was that it couldn't Transform into Pokémon properly due to still having the same Ditto face when it transformed (which ironically Jessie fixed by threatening it). Another Ditto could render a perfect transformation...except for its size, which she demonstrated by having it transform into a tiny Onix.
• Signature Mon: Ditto, of course. More specifically, the Ditto who initially cannot change its default face, which ironically became the defining trait of Ditto in other media, even though Duplicate herself states it's only this Ditto that has this issue. The other Ditto she has, Mini-Dit, is not as iconic even though it has the unique quirk of perfect transformation minus size.
• Voice Changeling: She's able to perfectly imitate the voices of others.

The Magikarp Salesman

Voiced in Japanese by: Unshō Ishizuka

Voiced in English by: Eric Stuart (Original series to Ruby & Sapphire), David Lapkin (Diamond & Pearl), Tom Wayland (Black & White)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Carlos Enrique Bonilla (EP015), Carlos Íñigo (EP146), Hugo Navarrete (EP201), Luis Alfonso Padilla (EP261), Alejandro Mayén (AG079). César Arias (AG084, HS04), Enrique Cervantes (BW116)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Manuel Bellido (first appearance), José Escobosa (Episodes 146-261), Eduardo del Hoyo (AG Series-DP Series, Pokemon Chronicles), César Martín (BW Series)

A salesman who sells Magikarp and other useless Pokémon in an attempt to scam his customers, usually Team Rocket.

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• The Barnum: He shamelessly cons Team Rocket out of their money several times, sometimes with the exact same scam, knowing that they'll fall for his ploy even when they should know better. And when he's not conning Team Rocket, he's out looking for new customers to cheat their money out of. And like P.T. Barnum, he's not above disguising common Pokémon as rare and valuable Pokémon as seen with his schemes in Hoenn.
• Demoted to Extra: Though he made sporadic appearances, the Magikarp Salesman was a prominent character in Team Rocket focused episodes, often serving as the antagonist who swindles money out of them before leaving. After Diamond and Pearl, however, the Magikarp Salesman got demoted as a background character who never again interacted with Team Rocket.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He managed to convince Team Rocket to trade their Victreebel for a Weepinbel (Victreebel's pre-evolved form). He quickly regrets it when Victreebel shows its usual affection...
• Honest John's Dealership: All of his products are worthless, yet he keeps scamming people (usually Team Rocket) out of their money.
• Karma Houdini: He almost always gets away with his schemes, with his biggest loss being Ash’s group and Team Rocket exposing his Feebas scam. But even then, he manages slip their grasp and later reappears in future episodes, conning Team Rocket again out of their money. By the time of Journeys, the Magikarp Salesman's business is still thriving as a market stand in the background.
• Never Needs Sharpening: In the episode "Ya See We Want An Evolution!", he claims to have obtained an evolution-inducing machine prototype kit from a company that went bankrupt not too long ago. He sells it to Team Rocket on the promise that they can evolve any Pokémon they want, but then warns them to wait for a week after they built the machine. It's all but implied that the reason why the alleged company went bankrupt is because the machine didn't work in the first place.
• No Name Given: He is technically an unnamed salesman, with no official name in the anime or even the games. Fans call him the Magikarp Salesman to distinguish him from other salesman con-artists encountered in the series.
• Payment Plan Pitch: He first swindles James with this pitch. He normally charges $100 for just Magikarp, but entices James to pay $300 for the egg-laying set, child care set, and education set bundle. This pisses off Jessie and Meowth because it means that James, who didn't have enough cash on his own, took their hard-earned money to pay for such a ludicrous price.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Oh, he's right about Magikarp being a valuable Pokémon, but not for the reasons he pitched. Magikarp's true value is that it can evolve into Gyarados, one of the most powerful and dangerous Pokémon in the world. And James realizes this too late.
• Signature Mon: All his Pokémon he offers to sell are worthless or frauds, but he is most infamous with Magikarp scams, hence why he's only known as the Magikarp Salesman.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He is a fairly minor character, though has cost Team Rocket two of their Pokemon. He took James' Victreebel in a trade, and accidentally caused the chain of events that got Jessie's Lickitung switched with a certain Wobbuffet.
• Snake Oil Salesman: None of his products are legit, usually disguising Magikarp as rare Pokémon or claiming that Magikarp is actually super strong. He even once gave a faulty mecha to Team Rocket, claiming it was an evolution machine.
• Stupid Crooks: He once made the mistake of trying his Golden Magikarp scam at Professor Oak's lab, without bothering to check who lived there first. He has also tried to play the exact same Magikarp scam on James as the first time they met, lines and all, causing James to remember and turn on him.

Cleavon Schpielbunk (Heat Minamino)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kobuhei Hayashiya

Voiced in English by: Jimmy Zoppi

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Enrique Mederos

Voiced in European Spanish by: Juan Lombardero

An award-winning director with an over-the-top personality. While he dreams of fame and fortune, his actual filmography seems to be hit-or-miss.

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• Large Ham: He's very loud, very excitable, and always seems to find a way to be the center of attention.
• Named After Somebody Famous:
  • His Japanese name is a reference to the Japanese comedian and filmmaker Beat Takeshi, real name Takeshi Kitano.
  • His English name, meanwhile, is an obvious riff on Steven Spielberg

Ritchie (Hiroshi)

Voiced in Japanese by: Minami Takayama

Voiced in English by: Tara Jayne

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Ana Lobo (Original Series), Manuel Díaz (Chronicles)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Chelo Vivares

One of Ash's first rivals in the Indigo League and the first one that Ash would lose to in a league. Ritchie is similar to Ash in appearance but is more grounded and calm by comparison. He later appears in the three-part Lugia arc in Master Quest and would later appear again in Chronicles.

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• Blow You Away: Happy's Whirlwind.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Happy (Butterfree) is a giant butterfly.
• The Cameo: He makes a brief appearance during the World Coronation Series arc of Journeys, where he (along with Sparky) witnesses the match between Lance and Diantha.
• A Day in the Limelight: Had a few episodes to himself in Chronicles.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Cruise, a Rock, and Ground-type Pupitar. It also knows Sandstorm.
• Doppelgänger Spin: Rose's Double Team.
• Fauxshadow: Ritchie is not shown competing in the Silver Conference, despite heavy implications that he would be (not only does he reappear for a few episodes in Johto, but he was pictured alongside Gary and Casey in front of the league stadium in one of the openings).
• Foil: To Ash himself, right down to the similarity of his team. If anything, Ritchie shows himself to be a more positive version of Ash if the latter were less bratty, more grounded, and actually took training seriously. As shown later on in the series with Ash's character through his later journeys, both of them are not that different from each other.
• Friendly Rivalry: With Ash during the Indigo League.
• Guest-Star Party Member: During the three-part Lugia arc in the Whirl Islands.
• Hero of Another Story: Appears in a few episodes of Pokémon Chronicles.
• Humble Hero: Ritchie insists that his Pokemon should get the credit instead of him when thanked for his deeds. He also takes his Indigo League loss much better than Ash does, causing Ash to realize how immature he was being.
• Informed Ability: According to Brock, he was good enough as a trainer to get through the first four rounds without losing a single Pokémon, but none of his matches were shown.
• Lost in Translation: Ritchie's name doesn't carry the Mythology Gag of his original Japanese name Hiroshi.
• Mirror Character: Ritchie is a reflection of who Ash would be if he were a little bit more mature and competent. Their Pokemon rosters are very similar (both using a Pikachu, a member of the Charizard line, a Butterfree, a member of the Taillow line and if counting unofficially owned Pokemon, a member of the Larvitar line), they have similar appearances aside from wearing contrasting colors, and they managed to have a very close championship battle. Ritchie confides in Ash that they both ended up underestimating how difficult and competitive winning a Pokemon League can be and they both resolve to learn from their mistakes in order to become better trainers in the long run.
• Mythology Gag: Hiroshi is the non-color optional name for the rival in the original Japanese release of Pokémon Blue, for Hiroshi Yamauchi, like Shigeru (Gary's Japanese name, after Shigeru Miyamoto).
• Named After Somebody Famous: Like Satoshi (Ash) and Shigeru (Gary), Hiroshi should ring a bell, especially for old-time Nintendo fans since the 1990s.
• Nice Guy: The first of Ash's many Pokemon League rivals. He is the only trainer to help Ash get back the stolen Pokemon. Later when he eventually has to face off against Ash and he doesn't show, he pleads with the referee to wait for Ash when he almost declared him the winner.
• The Nicknamer: Every single one of his Pokémon in his team has a nickname.
• Playing with Fire: Zippo, a Fire-type Charmeleon.
• Rummage Fail: So far the only character to put stickers on his Pokéballs to avert this.
• Shock and Awe: Sparky, an Electric-type Pikachu.
• Signature Mon: Befitting of a Mirror Character to Ash, his main Pokémon partner is a Pikachu named Sparky, whom always sits on Ritchie's shoulder just like Ash's, even though Sparky doesn't have a dislike of being in a Poké Ball.
• Similar Squad: He owns three Pokémon resembling Ash's original team, and he himself is a Mirror Character to Ash. Chronicles reveals he caught a Taillow as well, causing him to lampshade the fact that he and Ash tend to catch many of the same Pokémon. The only Pokémon he has that Ash doesn't is his Pupitar.
• Sixth Ranger: At the end of the Indigo League arc/season, and during the three-part Lugia arc in Johto.
• Time Travel Escape: In one episode of Pokémon Chronicles, he goes back in time with help from Celebi to save Nurse Joy's friend Nick and succeeds in not only saving him but a Pokemon Center that was going to be demolished.

Orange Islands

Professor Philena Ivy (Dr. Uchikido)

Voiced in Japanese by: Keiko Han

Voiced in English by: Kayzie Rogers

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Jacqueline Castañeda (Series), Carola Vásquez (Movie 2)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Mayte Tajadura (Series), Gloria Armesto (Movie 2)

Professor Ivy lives in the Orange Islands. She was introduced for little more reason than to give the GS Ball to Ash. Brock also stays with her at her lab temporarily and returns traumatized by whatever happened between them. Ivy studies regional differences in Pokémon physiology.

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• The Ace: Ivy seems like the complete package—she's gorgeous, she's brilliant, and she's so good with pokémon that her Gyarados is as docile as a kitten (apparently she raised all the pokémon on the island, or at least the ones who live near her lab). It's only later that Ash and the gang learns what a Genius Slob she is.
• Action Girl: She's introduced riding on a Gyarados with only one hand holding on, disembarking with a giant leap and catching her Labcoat of Science and Medicine in midair after having her assistants throw it to her. Later on she's seen charging into action trying to rescue a Raticate from Vileplume pollen.
• Cold Ham: Ivy can act with theatrics (e.g., riding a charging Gyarados and leaping from its head), but she has Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes and emotes like a Mellow Fellow.
• The Dividual: The Trividual. Ivy's three assistants Faith, Hope, and Charity not only look identical, they often have the same thoughts at the same time.
• Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: Despite her theatrics, Philena has perpetually sleepy eyes. Perhaps—in addition to all the other things in her lab that have been neglected—she's neglecting her sleep schedule.
• Establishing Character Moment: Ivy in the bay—Ash and friends find the professor being a Motherly Scientist, but when she learns they've arrived, she rides a charging Gyarados towards them and leaps off. One of her assistants throws her a labcoat, which she catches in midair, and the instant she lands she gives the gang a mellow greeting as if it were perfectly normal.
• Foil: Professor Oak is an man who's too old for most action, Professor Ivy is a young woman who rides around on a Gyarados.
• Fluffy Tamer: Philena's Berserk Sea Serpent Gyarados is as docile as a kitten when Ivy is giving it a check-up in the bay.
• Genius Slob: By the time the heroes first meet her, Philena's lab has fallen into complete disrepair—the place is a huge mess and the roof leaks. Ivy claims this is because she and the her aides are too busy with research and pokémon care to keep things clean, but when Brock cooks them a meal they throw themselves at it like animals. Half the reason Brock stays is because the opportunity to cook and clean for everyone reminds him of home.
• Iconic Outfit: Ivy wearing her Labcoat of Science and Medicine during her Swimsuit Scene.
• Impossibly-Low Neckline: Ivy's swimsuit just barely skirts around this—her neckline appears to be held in place by a pendant on a string fastened to the front of her swimsuit.
• Incoming Ham: When Professor Ivy, swimming around in the bay by her lab while checking up on some of her Water-type pokémon, is told by her assistants that Ash and the gang have arrived to meet her, she doesn't swim over. She instead rides her charging Sea Serpent Gyarados towards them and leaps to shore—one of her assistants throws her her labcoat, she catches it in midair, and she's already wearing it by the time she lands.
• Inconsistent Spelling: For a long time, her Bulbapedia article spelled her first name as "Felina" instead of "Philena."
• Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Ivy's such a Ms. Fanservice that the labcoat is a big visual reminder that she is, in fact, a pokémon professor. A handy side-effect of the labcoat is that it diminishes just how skimpy her actual clothes are.
• Maternally Challenged: Philena is a Motherly Scientist, but she and the girls live in a pigsty, can barely cook, and when she's puzzled over why her Butterfree won't eat the highly nutritious meal she prepared for it, Brock's solution is to make something that Butterfree thinks actually tastes good.
• Mellow Fellow: Professor Ivy has very little emotional range, even when displeased. The only time she's ever really shown excitement is when she got her first eyeful of Brock's cooking.
• Motherly Scientist: Philena is quite gentle with her pokémon, produces highly nutritious food, and appears to be the de facto guardian of her three child assistants Faith, Hope, and Charity, whom she eats dinner with.
• Ms. Fanservice: Ivy's a curvaceous girl who wears a sexy swimsuit when she first appears—the camera lavishes some Male Gaze on her after she's been given her Labcoat of Science and Medicine to diminish how little she's wearing. When she's not in her swimsuit, her typical uniform appears to be a tube top and microskirt.
• Noodle Incident: After returning at the end of the Orange Islands saga, the mere mention of Ivy's name is enough to turn Brock Blue with Shock, make him retreat to a Corner of Woe, and demand that nobody mention her name. Nobody knows why he does this, and he certainly won't tell.
• Odd Name Out: A function of Early-Installment Weirdness—Professor Ivy's name was picked before the tree-based Theme Naming of pokémon professors was established (as it would be by Professor Elm in Pokémon Gold and Silver)—her Japanese name Uchikido also falls a little short, though it's thematically closer to trees ("uchiki" is a reading of 内木, which means "in the wood").
• One-Steve Limit: In the French translation, her name is Dr. Flora—Flora is also the French name for May, the female protagonist of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire.
• Riddle for the Ages: What happened between Brock and Professor Ivy, and why does her name make him go Blue with Shock? (The first time he does it, Misty decides it must be that she dumped him, but the question is never settled to any extent further than that.)
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Ivy's debut Swimsuit Scene features her in a glamorous swimsuit with cut-outs and an Impossibly-Low Neckline, not something worn for its practicality in the water. She's quite content to wear her Labcoat of Science and Medicine unbuttoned to show it off.
• The Stoic: Pokémon 2000 appears to give her mellow demeanor some exaggeration to a near lack of emotion—while she's on the phone with Professor Oak, she's all but numb to the chaos rampaging behind her, and later, when she and Professor Oak are flying in a helicopter trying to reach the center of the storm, Oak seizes his seat to hold on for dear life while Ivy only has a mild frown.
• Theme Naming: With Professor Oak. In Japan, Uchikido is a riff on Ookido—in English, poison oak and poison ivy are plants known for causing harsh skin rashes.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After Brock parts ways with her, she vanishes from the anime, and whether or not she's doing okay goes unmentioned as well.

Johto

Casey (Nanako)

"The one and only!"

Voiced in Japanese by: Nina Kumagaya

Voiced in English by: Kerry Williams

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Rommy Mendoza (Original Series), Gaby Ugarte and Georgina Sánchez (Chronicles)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Isacha Mengíbar (Series), Sandra Jara (Pokemon Chronicles)

Casey is a trainer from Johto and a huge fan of the Electabuzz baseball team. She appeared in three episodes of the Johto saga of the anime, in the opening of Master Quest next to Gary and Ritchie, and also appeared in two episodes of Pokémon Chronicles, one of which as the main character.

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• The Ace: Incredible at baseball, in her debut episode she manages to hit dozens and dozens of baseballs with her baseball bat in less than ten seconds!
• Berserk Button: She is easily angered when someone talks bad about the Electabuzz baseball team. Or when someone wants to get revenge on one of her friends. She thought that Georgio was going to hurt Misty, and was protective of her.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Beedrill is a giant bee. She got it from Ash.
• Bullying a Dragon: Even if Ash did make her angry by insulting her favorite baseball team, it still wasn't smart of Casey to insult his skills as a trainer and challenge him, since she had only been on her journey for a day or two. She gets her ass handed to her instantly by Ash's Charizard going light on her.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Suffers one against Ash, when all three of her Pokémon fall to Charizard without him even trying.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: She loves to sing the Electabuzz baseball theme song... but she's not very good at it. Her friends usually look in embarrassment and on one occasion her singing was so off-key that Misty had to stop her.
• A Day in the Limelight: Is the main character in the Chronicles episode Those Darn Electabuzz.
• The Ditz: She's cute but not too bright.
• Fangirl: To the Electabuzz baseball team, which are expies of the Osaka Hanshin Tigers, a Real Life baseball team which is much loved in Japan. Parts of her debut episode make this very obvious to people familiar with Japanese baseball.
• Fauxshadow: Casey is implied to be a future Silver Conference opponent for Ash, appearing in the league stadium alongside Gary and Ritchie in one of the openings. However, it's revealed a few episodes before the Silver Conference that she only has four badges, and thus is not shown competing.
• Flight: Pidgey and Beedrill can fly around.
• Foil: To Ash. Her personality is a lot like Ash's when he started his journey, and it helps highlight how far he's come since then, as well as show that some of his own faults (such as his own ego getting easily inflated) are still things he needs to work on.
• Gender-Blender Name: In the English dub, she's named Casey which technically a unisex name, but is often associated with boys. Casey is tomboyish and thus the name fits well.
• Genki Girl: Casey is very cheerful and energetic.
• Girlish Pigtails: Casey has long, purple pigtails.
• Green Thumb: Her Meganium is a grass-type and her starter Pokémon.
• Hidden Depths: Those Darn Electabuzz shows that she's actually really good at motivating and cheering up others, as she helps Don and Corey both tackle their self-doubt issues. She even deliberately gets under Corey's skin, riling him up enough to start giving it his all out of pure spite. By the end of the episode, they're back in their prime.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While Casey is at times arrogant and stubborn, her heart is in the right place.
• Lovable Jock: She can get quite angry and brash but she's still a good and loyal kid.
• Meaningful Name: She's a fan of a baseball team, and thus named after the poem "Casey at the Bat".
• Pom-Pom Girl: In Those Darn Electabuzz, she changes into an Electabuzz cheerleading uniform and forces Don, Corey and Benny Demario to cheerlead with her.
• Running Gag: Her appearances to the gang is never complete without her (and her team) singing the Electabuzz theme song.
• Signature Mon: Ironically, despite having both Beedrill and Elekid on her team to match her love of yellow and black-stripes, her main Pokémon partner is Meganium, who has neither and is a Grass-type Pokémon rather than an Electric-type, which yellow is commonly associated with.
• Ship Tease: In A Date With Delcatty, when Georgio fails to take Misty on a date to watch a baseball game, he ends up taking Casey instead as thanks for her help dealing with Cassidy and Butch earlier. At that point it's not explicitly treated as romantic, but the hints are there, and we last see them walking towards the stadium, singing the Electabuzz theme song together.
• Shock and Awe: She has an Elekid, no doubt because she loves its future evolution Electabuzz.
• Took a Level in Badass: Implied. When Casey meets Ash & co again, her Chikorita has fully evolved into a Meganium.
  • In the dub version of Those Darn Electabuzz she comments about having a Magmar and a Rapidash, meaning her team is pretty powerful and well-rounded for someone who started out with a Pidgey and Rattata.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She pushed her Chikorita in her second appearance (during the Bug-Catching Contest) so she could beat Ash. Thankfully she learned her lesson afterwards, her Chikorita evolved into Bayleef and Ash giving her the Beedrill he won the Contest with helped her appreciate the lesson all the more.
  • Subverted in Those Darn Electabuzz - it seems like she's grabbed the Jerkass Ball and is rudely insulting both Corey and Don, but it turns out she was deliberately riling them up to make them do better and didn't mean a word she said.

Madame Muchmoney (Kaneyo)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kazuko Yanaga

Voiced in English by: Carol Jacobanis

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Ángeles Bravo

Voiced in European Spanish by: Isabel Donate

A wealthy woman who owns an 86-room mansion in Palm Hills. Muchmoney owns a Snubbull that keeps trying to run away due to being unhappy with being cooped up in the mansion and constantly smothered by its trainer. The Snubbull eventually runs away to the point of chasing after Team Rocket's Meowth, who in turn is chasing after Ash and the gang during their journey around Johto. This leads to Muchmoney finally heading out to search for Snubbull herself.

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• Acrofatic: What she becomes after going through some strength exercise during her search for her lost Snubbull.
• The Cameo: She makes a brief flashback cameo in EP149 when Ash and the gang realize that they've stumbled upon her Snubbull again near Onix Tunnel.
• Character Development: She eventually learns to let her Snubbull have some outdoor freedom thanks to her encounter with Ash and the gang. Particularly Brock, who was the first to notice Snubbull's unhappiness. She then learns that she actually likes traveling around outside during her own Snubbull search.
• Fatal Flaw: Before meeting Ash and the gang, she wasn't able to see that spoiling her Snubbull to the point of keeping it cooped up in her mansion, and smothering it with her love and affection, was making it unhappy.
• Meaningful Name: Named "Muchmoney" in the English dub. She has a lot of money.
• Rich People: Has the rich look to her, and owns a massive mansion.
• Stout Strength: By the time of her reappearance in EP175, she's put on some muscle.
• Took a Level in Badass: Gains a lot of muscle during her search for her lost Snubbull to the point of being able to tank a shot from her charging newly evolved Granbull.

Jeeves

Voiced in Japanese by: Hidenari Ugaki

Voiced in English by: Dan Green

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Enzo Fortuny and Antonio Gálvez

Voiced in European Spanish by: Eduardo del Hoyo

Muchmoney's primary butler.

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• Butt-Monkey: Having to put up with Madame Muchmoney's antics brings him a lot of misery. When Ash and the gang encounter him again in EP175, his clothes are a wreck, and he's completely exhausted trying to keep up with Muchmoney, who went through a lot of muscle training during her search for her Snubbull.
• The Jeeves: He works as a butler for Madame Muchmoney. If it wasn't already obvious enough, the 4Kids english dub even gives him the name "Jeeves."
• The Leader: Of Madame Muchmoney's 3 butlers.
• Meaningful Name: Named "Jeeves" in the english dub, which tends to be a nickname for butlers.
• No Name Given: He was unnamed in the original Japanese version.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Wears a nice black butler suit. It ends up a mess during Jeeves' reappearance.
• Undying Loyalty: To Madame Muchmoney. He continues to happily serve for her even though some of her antics bring him a lot of problems.

Kurt (Gantetsu)

Voiced in Japanese by: Masashi Hirose

Voiced in English by: Jimmy Zoppi

The Poké Ball smith who resides in Azalea Town. He is the man whom Professor Oak asks Ash to deliver the GS Ball to. After receiving this gift, Kurt asks Ash and friends to harvest Apricorns for him to fashion into custom-made Poké Balls. Through his granddaughter Maizie, he gives Lure Balls to Ash and Misty, and a Heavy Ball to Brock.

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• Aborted Arc: Infamously, the GS Ball story ends with him receiving titular MacGuffin... and pretty much doing nothing with it as far as the series is concerned. Originally, the GS Ball was meant to contain a Celebi who would then become a companion Pokémon for Ash and friends, which got scrapped in favor of Pokémon 4Ever, which also featured Celebi. How much was Kurt was involved in the original story arc remains unknown.
• The Blacksmith: He's an expert Poké Ball smith, able to craft special Poké Balls made from Apricorns.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Unlike the other residents of Azalea Town, Kurt understands that Ash and friends are new to this town, and helps them get past the angry mob after Ash accidentally steps on a Slowpoke's tail.

Sakura

Voiced in Japanese by: Mariko Kouda

Voiced in English by: Kerry Williams

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Ana Lobo (Series), Alondra Hidalgo (Pokemon Chronicles)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Sandra Jara (Series), Carmen Cervantes (Pokemon Chronicles)

A young Kimono Girl who desires to become a Pokémon trainer. While befriending Ash and the gang, she bonds with Misty over their similar backgrounds.

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• Adaptation Name Change: It's implied pretty heavily that Sakura is based on Sayo, a Kimono Girl trainer from the Pokémon Gold and Silver games who uses an Espeon.
• All of the Other Reindeer: The main reason she befriends Misty, which is their shared background of being the youngest of many sisters that the older siblings don't take all that seriously.
• A Day in the Limelight: Sakura gets a Pokémon Chronicles episode centered around her challenging Misty to a gym battle.
• Girlish Pigtails: Has this hair-style.
• Goal in Life: Her dream is to become a Pokémon trainer, which Sakura's eventually allowed by her older Kimono Girl sisters to head off and begin her journey at the end of EP226. She's later shown having won several Johto gym badges in her Pokémon Chronicles appearance.
• Pink Means Feminine: Whether it's her normal attire or her Kimono Girl clothing, Sakura tends to be wearing a lot of pink.
• Took a Level in Badass: By Sakura's second appearance, her Eevee has evolved into Espeon, and by the time of her appearance in Pokémon Chronicles, she's shown taking on the gym challenge.

Harrison (Hazuki)

Voiced in Japanese by: Katsumi Toriumi
Voiced in English by: Wayne Grayson
Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Noé Velásquez
Voiced in European Spanish by: Juan Antonio García Sainz de la Maza
Voiced in European French by: Bruno Mullenaerts

One of the participants of the Silver Conference. Originates from Hoenn and was responsible for defeating Ash.

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• The Ace: His Blaziken is his powerful Pokémon, able to stand on equal footing with Ash's Charizard despite the latter having a type-advantage. Its absence from Harrison's team in the semi-finals ends up being the reason for Harrison's defeat in the Silver Conference.
• Attack Reflector: Houndoom's Counter.
• Canine Companion: He has a Houndoom, a canine-like Pokémon.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Sneasel's Metal Claw.
• Fragile Speedster: Kecleon — swift and agile with unique natural abilities that provide a challenge for Pikachu, but not the highest endurance overall.
• Glass Cannon: Sneasel — powerful striking ability, yet goes down when Totodile gives it a steady beatdown.
• Jack of All Stats: Houndoom — the most even-balanced of the team, with considerable strength and states. Beaten when Bayleef clamps its jaws shut, ending its normal advantage.
• Lightning Bruiser: Blaziken — overall the strongest with great abilities all-around, able to casually defeat Bayleef and fight Charizard to a near-standstill despite the latter's type advantage.
• Man Bites Man: Houndoom's Bite.
• Mighty Glacier: Steelix — the highest defense and raw strength (but not the fastest), taking out the much smaller Noctowl. Snorlax's similar constitution counters it.
• Oh, Crap!: When Hypno realized what a bad idea it was to wake Snorlax using Dream Eater, its face became a case study of this trope.
• Playing with Fire: He has the Fire-type Houndoom and Blaziken
• Psychic Powers: Kecleon's Psybeam.
• Signature Mon: Blaziken is his starter Pokémon and ace, being given to him by Professor Birch as a Torchic. Blaziken not only defeated Ash's Charizard and gave Harrison the win in the one of the closest League Conference matches, but its absence from Harrison's team in the semi-finals (due to being injured from its fight with Charizard) was stated to be the reason why Harrison lost in the Top 4.
• Soul Power: His Sneasel knows Shadow Ball, and his Kecleon knows Lick.
• Squishy Wizard: Hypno — relies on its psychic abilities to provide unexpectedly strong attacks, but not fast and taken down by a single point-blank Hyper Beam.
• Right-Hand Attack Dog: Houndoom, one of his main battlers, who appears occasionally outside its ball with its trainer.
• Use Your Head: Houndoom's Headbutt.
• Worf Had the Flu: After being too injured from fighting Ash's Charizard, Blaziken was unable to participate in Harrison's next battle, costing him the win.

Recurring Pokèmon

Ho-Oh

A Legendary Pokémon Ash saw on his first day as a Pokémon trainer. Seeing it causes Ash to realize just how vast the world is and how many Pokémon there are to meet. It has reappeared before him a few times since.

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• Bookend: It appears in the first and last episode of the main Pokémon series featuring Ash Ketchum as the main protagonist.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • In the second-to-last final episode of the original series, after Ash parted ways with Misty and Brock, Ho-Oh makes another cameo appearance and Ash and Pikachu get to see it again, inspiring the young trainer to set off to Hoenn.
  • In Advance Generation, after a possessed Ash lost to Pyramid King Brandon, Ash, May, Brock and Max see Ho-Oh flying in the sky, which encourages Ash to do it better next time.
  • In Journeys, Ho-Oh finally reappears at the end of "Finding a Legend!", this time only being seen by Jaye.
• Early-Bird Cameo: A very literal example, too. Ho-Oh appeared over two years before Pokémon Gold and Silver were released, and in fact its appearance was the very first hint that the franchise would continue.
• Everything's Better with Rainbows: When it first appears before Ash, it flies past a rainbow. While it's an In-Universe fact Ho-Oh creates rainbows, this was obviously not known at the time it appeared, making it seem like a coincidence as Ho-Oh appeared shortly after a rainstorm.
• Foreshadowing: A Meta-example, but Ho-Oh's appearance was the first implication that the franchise would go beyond the first 151 Pokémon.
• Gold and White Are Divine: In its debut, it was colored completely gold and had white sparkles surrounding it, presumably because its actual color scheme hadn't been thought up yet.
• Irony: Even though Ho-Oh is a Johto legendary, it takes until Journeys for Ho-Oh to finally appear in the region. Instead, Ash usually sees it in the Kanto region.
• Olympus Mons: Discounting the opening, Ho-Oh is the first Legendary Pokémon to appear, long before anything about it was known. Ash didn't know it was a Legendary Pokémon until he arrived at Ecruteak City.
• Playing with Fire: Ho-Oh is part Fire-Type, being based on the Chinese Phoenix. Its sacred flame is also part of the Silver Conference's ceremonial torch.
• Series Continuity Error: Is a mysterious, unidentified creature in its debut, but later episodes depict Ho-Oh as just another commonly known legendary Pokémon.

Jigglypuff (Purin)

Voiced in Japanese by: Mika Kanai

Voiced in English by: Rachael Lillis (4Kids), Michele Knotz (present)

A cute, pink, balloon-like Pokémon who becomes a recurring character up until the Hoenn arc, and later reappeared in the Sun & Moon arc. Desiring to sing its beautiful song, Jigglypuff randomly pops up now and again to attempt its dream. However, its power causes people to fall asleep, and oblivious to this side effect, Jigglypuff assumes its victims are uninterested in it, prompting it to get angry and use its marker pen/microphone to draw on their faces.

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• Ascended Extra: Jigglypuff are of little significance in the core games, yet this one became a recurring gag character. In turn, its popularity led to it featuring in every Super Smash Bros. entry.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Has its face doodled on by Samson Oak's Komala in SM056, although Jigglypuff thought it was Actually Pretty Funny.
• Ambiguous Gender: Though it's stated to be female in the Brazilian Portuguese dub, its gender is not made clear in the English or Japanese versions.
• Angry Cheek Puff: Jigglypuff is a cute, pink, round Pokémon that tends to puff up like a balloon whenever it gets upset (with an audible "honk"), which is usually due to people falling asleep to its singing, as it's an Attention Whore and sees it as an insult, seemingly unaware that its singing causes Forced Sleep.
• Attention Whore: It wants someone to listen to its song, and will go to any lengths to make itself heard. It also doesn't appreciate it when other members of its family or species are praised instead of it.
• Badass Adorable: Proven when it gets its marker taken by the Clefairy. It took out at least six in a row with Pound and Double-Slap.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Misty attacks Jigglypuff in its debut episode, unaware it couldn't defend itself because it couldn't sing. After Misty apologizes and Ash and friends help it regain its voice, it finally sings for them, making it its goal to have them listen to its song without falling asleep.
• Berserk Button:
  • Falling asleep during its song, itself a Running Gag. Expect lots of Face Doodling in reaction. Unfortunately, Jigglypuff seems unaware that its song does this to everyone.
  • A zig-zagged example is taking its marker microphone away. A bunch of Clefairy that did that got curb-stomped by it; however, when a recurring Snubbull does it, Jigglypuff can only watch in distress as that happens.
• Brought Down to Normal: Starts off as this in its debut episode, being unable to perform its main schtick, singing. Ash and co. help it regain its singing voice.
• The Bus Came Back: Reappears for at least one episode in the Sun and Moon series when Ash and his classmates visit Kanto. It then is seen stowing away on the plane back to Alola...
• Character Signature Song: "Jigglypuff! Jigglyyyyypuff!!"...zzzzz...
• Character Tics: Puffing up whenever upset, with an audible "honk".
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Delivered one to a horde of Clefairy for stealing its microphone. With Double-Slap.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Jigglypuff ultimately fails to doodle on Komala's face and ends up being put to sleep by Komala's own Sing. And then Komala doodles Jigglypuff's face, which ends up amusing Jigglypuff enough to befriend the Drowsing Pokémon.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Thus far the only Pokémon (or living being... or much anything) that has managed to neutralize the otherwise unstoppable Bewear stalking Team Rocket.
• Dramatic Irony: It never realizes that its singing lulls people into slumber. Because the first thing it does when finding someone is singing for them, it thus never realizes this or lets people explain it to Jigglypuff, and thus its Berserk Button is constantly pressed.
• The Dreaded: Played for Laughs. After a while, Ash and his pals become terrified when Jigglypuff shows up, because they know exactly what it's about to do to them. Who knew such a Ridiculously Cute Critter could be scary when it realizes people have fallen asleep?
  • In "The Joy of Pokémon", Ash and his companions are looking for the Orange Islands Nurse Joy and Chansey in the ocean, Jigglypuff somehow makes it there too and before it utters a note Ash and his friends immediately paddle their kayaks away.
  • In its one appearance in Hoenn, Ash, Brock, and Pikachu all have "This Is Gonna Suck" reactions when they see it again and keep trying to warn May and Max that its presence is not as fun as it seems.
  • Team Rocket even more so, and they're the victims of Jigglypuff's singing slightly more often than Ash's gang.
  • When Jigglypuff re-appears in Sun and Moon, Ash's classmates from Alola get excited over it, while Ash, Pikachu, Brock, and Misty recognize it and panic. It finally makes peace with Ash and co. in SM056, though, with Ash now being excited to see it again someday.
• Face Doodling: Resorts to doing this to its sleeping victims whenever angered. It ends up on the receiving end of this by Komala in SM056, but it likes the doodles and finally makes peace with Ash and friends.
• Failed a Spot Check: It doesn't seem to realize that people and Pokémon are simply incapable of staying awake when it sings and that they are not trying to insult it. It also frequently sings in situations where putting everyone to sleep would be extremely dangerous, and doesn't seem to realize this.
• Goal in Life: It will stop at nothing to find a human or Pokémon that can listen to the entirety of its song without falling asleep.
• Iconic Item: The marker it stole from Ash. It uses it as a microphone during its song, and to scribble on people's faces when it gets mad.
• Imagine Spot: Early in their run as a recurring character, Jigglypuff would reimagine mundane platforms as professional stages for it to sing on.
• Infinite Supplies: Its beloved marker never seems to run out of ink.
• Long Bus Trip: There was a 13 year gap between its appearance in Hoenn, and its return in Sun and Moon, where it became a recurring character once again.
• Instant Sedation: Its song can put anyone to sleep in a matter of seconds.
• Recurring Character: Was a frequent Running Gag through Kanto to Johto in the original series. Later made one reappearance in Hoenn and had a long absence, though it has returned to making regular appearances in Alola.
• Signature Move: Sing, of course. Jigglypuff uses it as a talent rather than an attack, though.
• Spanner in the Works: Its random interruptions to sing at everyone sometimes come right at the climax of Team Rocket or another antagonists' schemes. One such accidental sabotage was the reason Ash and Misty ended up stranded on the Orange Islands.
• Sustained Misunderstanding: Because of how Jigglypuff uses its Signature Move, it seems not to understand that people and Pokémon falling asleep when it sings is what is supposed to happen. So, in Dramatic Irony, it's constantly angered when they do fall asleep, and reacts by drawing on their faces.
• Worthy Opponent: At first Jigglypuff is angry that Komala is a permanent sleeper, making the Drowsing Pokémon the ultimate mockery of Jigglypuff's singing career. But Jigglypuff is unable to to doodle on Komala's face because while it may be asleep, it is aware of Jigglypuff. Eventually, the Komala learns Sing and the two compete in a singing contest which ultimatly ends with Jigglypuff falling asleep and Komala doodling its face. Jigglypuff ends up parting ways with Komala on good terms because it finally meets its match.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: It never did find someone to stay with who could listen to its song all the way; the Whismur in its last appearance (whose Soundproof ability negated the effects of Sing) fell asleep from exhaustion. Naturally, it got cross and left, and wouldn't be seen again until Sun and Moon where it finally meet its match with Komala.

Mr. Mime/"Mimey" (Barrierd/"Barri-chan")

Mr. Mime/"Mimey" (Barrierd/"Barri-chan")

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuji Ueda

Voiced in English by: Kayzie Rogers (Original series to Sun and Moon, episode 1), Michele Knotz (present)

A wild Mr. Mime that has more or less come into Delia's possession since arriving at her doorstep.

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• All There in the Manual: Japanese supplementary materials actually list Mimey as one of Ash's Pokémon for years, but this was never properly shown until Journeys, where it was used by Ash in a proper Pokémon battle in JN007. For the longest time, it seems to be Delia's Pokémon as it spends most of the time with her helping with the chores.
• Ascended Extra: Has a bigger role in the Pokémon Journeys series, as Delia assigns it to watch over Ash and Goh at the lab.
• Battle Butler: Well, what else can we call Mimey? A powerful Psychic-type that just randomly appeared at her door, and now it's part of the family, helping keep the house. In JN007, it even battles for Ash and manages to defeat a Hariyama.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Acts generally how you’d expect a mime to act, but is shown to be a powerhouse when put into battle.
• Bring It: He does this to Goh's Grookey in its debut episode once it's regained its energy and tries to beat his head like a drum. Being said, he manages to defeat and wear out Grookey.
• Cowardly Lion: Normally, it tends to shy away from Pokemon battles. Though in JN007, Ash does use it in a battle tournament where it defeats a Hariyama. Granted, it does refuse to battle the Mightyena, but it does show Mimey is capable of battles.
• Flanderization: The Journeys series exaggerates his mime-like traits by having do things like mime food and a vacuum cleaner (that actually works, no less).
• Furry Reminder: At least one episode has him sitting on the floor and eating Pokémon food out of a bowl.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Joins Ash’s team in JN007 for a tournament. He has also fought under Delia on occasion.
• Mistaken Identity: Joined the family because Delia mistook him for Ash (who was wearing a Mr. Mime costume at the time). Mimey ended up adoring her so much he helped her stop Team Rocket and has been a part of the family ever since.
• Neat Freak: He once vacuumed Ash's face because he apparently hadn't taken a bath for so long.
• Psychic Powers: Being a Mr. Mime, he battles with Psychic-type attacks.
• Retcon: Fairy-types weren't introduced until Generation VI. In the Sun & Moon anime, Mimey's typing has been officially confirmed to be Psychic/Fairy, specifically in episode SM024.
• Signature Mon: Though technically owned by Ash, it's more associated with Delia to the point that fans for the longest time thought that Delia was Mimey's official trainer until Ash calls out Mimey for one battle in Journeys.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Mimey only makes the odd recurring appearance, but starts off Ash's journey to Alola by winning a free vacation for the family there at the start of the Sun and Moon series.
• Your Mime Makes It Real: Becomes a thing in the Journeys anime; in JN003, it mimes vacuuming in Ash and Goh's dorm room while they're sleeping, and really sucks the sheets off their beds.

Snubbull (Bulu) -> Granbull (Granbulu)

Voiced in Japanese by: Rikako Aikawa (Snubbull and Granbull)

Voiced in English by: Jerry Lobozzo (Snubbull)

A Granbull owned by Madame Muchmoney that likes to bite down on the tails of other Pokémon. Ash and the gang first encounter her as a Snubbull biting down on the tail of a Growlithe, but after returning her to Muchmoney, Snubbull is shown to be unhappy with its cooped up life-style; having tried to run away multiple times beforehand. Muchmoney eventually learns to let her Snubbull enjoy the outside, but she runs away again after taking a liking to the tail of Team Rocket's Meowth, and desires to bite it. The result is Snubbull following around Ash and the gang during her search for Meowth. In her final appearance, Snubbull evolves into Granbull during a battle against Team Rocket, and finally goes home after reuniting with Muchmoney.

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• Arranged Marriage: Snubbull was arranged to marry another wealthy owner's Snubbull named Winthrop Snubbullfeller. It can be assumed that the marriage was called off after Muchmoney realized that her Snubbull desired more freedom.
• Defector from Decadence: She was tired of getting pampered, so she ran away from home to seek adventure...and Meowth's tail.
• Determinator: Biting onto the tails of other Pokémon. So much so that Snubbull truly ran away from home, and chased after Team Rocket's Meowth around Johto just to bite his tail.
• Enhanced Punch: Learns the powerful Dynamic Punch upon evolving into Granbull.
• Expy: The Johto journey's version of the recurring Jigglypuff where they're both little pink Pokémon following around Ash and the gang.
• Iconic Item: The bows tied on both her ears.
• I Just Want to Be Free: The main reason Snubbull keeps running away from Muchmoney is because she's unhappy with being cooped up in her owner's mansion, and being smothered by Muchmoney.
• Recurring Character: Like Jigglypuff before it, Snubbull follows around the journey of Ash and the gang searching around for Team Rocket's Meowth in order to bite his tail.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Muchmoney gave it two red hair bows to show that Snubbull/Granbull's a girl.
• Took a Level in Badass: Evolves into Granbull during its final appearance.
• Tropey, Come Home: As Snubbull is a canine Pokémon, her running away crosses this trope.

Gym Leaders

Kanto

As A Whole

• Early-Installment Weirdness: Kanto Gym Leaders have unique designs and different Pokémon team set ups compared to the games, only appear once or twice before disappearing from the show, and have arbitrary rules that seem to be at the Gym Leader's personal whims. This is a stark contrast to future Gym Leaders who are dead ringers to their game counterparts, have much larger screen time in the series outside of Gym Battle, and have a standardized rules with only one or two gimmicks. This is far more prominent when some of the Kanto Gym Leaders return for Pokémon Journeys: The Series and their designs are changed to better reflect the games.
• Long Bus Trip: The only Gym that was visited during the Battle Frontier saga (which was placed in Kanto instead of Hoenn ^note to advertise FireRed/LeafGreen) was the Pewter Gym. Misty did travel with the group at the beginning of the arc, but she parted ways just outside of Cerulean City. Journeys did bring back Vermilion's Gym (except with Surge's right hand acting in his stead) as well as Erika.
• Leitmotif: Played with. Expectedly, an arrangement of the Red, Blue, and Yellow's gym battle theme is used in the anime, though is more directly linked to Determinator moments. As such though, it is still played during a few gym battles.
• One-Shot Character: Lt. Surge and Koga, not counting any flashbacks in future series.
• Out of Focus: In the anime, compared to several other mediums (most notably Pokémon Adventures, where several were even Team Rocket agents). Even the Johto Gym Leaders (most of them, anyway) didn't get it this bad.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Ash got his first two badges without actually battling for them, and was able to use Pikachu's electricity as a fail safe (he did battle Brock, but surrendered before he got the badge anyway for good sportsmanship). Lt. Surge's Raichu beat them badly, forcing them to improve their technique and truly earn their victories.
• You Don't Look Like You: Unlike other Gym Leaders in future regions, the Kanto Gym Leaders take artistic liberties with the character designs rather than being a dead-ringer of their game counterparts. Lt. Surge has a tan and an open shirt, Sabrina's outfit is more school-like, Erika has blue hair and wears a garden outfit at the Gym rather than a kimono, and Blaine's real look is based on his original design with a hippie aesthetic rather than the bald Mad Scientist from the games. Even Brock and Misty aren't immune to this as their anime outfits are distinctly different from their game counterparts.

Pewter Gym

Forrest (Jiro)

Voiced in Japanese by: Romi Park

Voiced in English by: Andy Rannells (4Kids), Joanna Burns (current).

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Eduardo Garza (Chronicles), Héctor Emmanuel Gómez (Advance Generation)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Blanca Rada (Series), Chelo Molina (Chronicles)

The oldest of Brock's siblings after Brock, Forrest is one of Pewter City's gym leaders, sharing the position with his parents. He finally becomes the sole official Gym Leader after passing a test posited by the PIA.

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• Added Alliterative Appeal: Forrest's name alliterates with Flint's.
• Ascended Extra: When he first appeared, Forrest was just one among many of Brock's young siblings, but since then he's stepped up as Brock's replacement as the Pewter Gym Leader.
• Dishing Out Dirt : As the Pewter Gym Leader, he's a specialist in rock type Pokémon.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Steelix is a Steel-type.
• Eyes Always Shut: Per the rest of his family, he has the distinct squinty eyes.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Takes his role as Gym Leader seriously, much more than his parents and still more than his brother does
• Took a Level in Badass: In his debut, he was a newbie Gym Leader who had to rely on his big brother's veteran Pokémon like Onix/Steelix. In a spin-off episode which first aired during Best Wishes, he gains a Rhyperior which puts up a damn good fight against a Nurse Joy's Latias.

Flint (Muno)

Voiced in Japanese by: Takaya Hashi

Voiced in English by: Ted Lewis, Eric Stuart (4Kids), Rodger Parsons (current)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Martín Soto (Original Series), Alfonso Ramírez (Chronicles), Alfredo Gabriel Basurto (Advance Generation)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Juan Lombardero (OG Series), Eduardo del Hoyo (Advance Generation), Miguel Ángel Montero (Chronicles)

Voiced in European French by: Jean-Marc Delhausse

Brock's father, who helped Ash's Pikachu to become stronger. He kept the Gym running while Brock was traveling until his second son Forrest took over.

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• Adapted Out: Pocket Monsters: The Animation Rewrites Brock's backstory to have it that Brock's siblings are all the result of his mother going through nine individual husbands, none of whom are indicated to be Flint.
• Ambition Is Evil: Deconstructed. While Flint isn't evil nor cruel, he did leave his family to pursue his ambition of becoming a powerful Pokémon Trainer. Unfortunately, Flint isn't able to achieve this due to being well past his prime, and by the time he comes back, Lola already left the family while Brock is forced to take care of his ten younger siblings alone. Unfortunately, Flint was too ashamed to truly reconcile with Brock and lived afar until he gained the courage after Ash came along.
• Brick Joke: His debut has him sitting on the outskirts of Pewter City in a Lotus Position. In the Chronicles episode showing Brock's return to Pewter City, he's back in the same spot again. He even has the same disguise!
• Didn't Think This Through: As Flint learns the hard way in his backstory, having ambitions of becoming a Pokémon Trainer despite being past his prime, never mind fathering 11 children, isn't the best way to do it. Instead, all he gains is the shame of abandoning his children in the first place.
• Dirty Coward: Despite both abandoning his family and returning to Pewter City years before Ash's arrival, he was too scared to approach the family and ask forgiveness, instead adopting a false identity and watching Brock labor in his absence from the sidelines.
• Disappeared Dad: Who came back. While he's certainly proven himself a bit more responsible than his wife, she can still drag him along into irresponsibility. Most notable is when he's pulled along on vacation with her (taking Ludicolo to carry the bags), leaving Brock to clean up their mess.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Rock-Type specialist. His Golem is proof of this.
• Epic Fail: In a battle to decide the fate of the Pewter gym, Flint uses his Golem...on a battlefield that was a pool of water. Obviously, Lola didn't have to put too much effort into winning the battle...
• Eyes Always Shut: Passed this on to all his kids.
• Family Theme Naming: Flint's name shares the same Dishing Out Dirt Elemental Motif as his son Brock's.
• Like Father, Like Son: Apparently, Brock takes his weakness for girls from him, although this was only shown around Lola.
• Lovable Coward: When he reappears in Pokémon Chronicles, he's returned to hiding for the much cuter reason of having been driven out by his overwhelming Kiddie Kid wife.
• Meaningful Name: His Japanese name, Muno, sounds similar to 無能 (munō) meaning inefficiency/incompetence. Not only did he abandon his family to act on his ambition of becoming a powerful Pokémon Trainer, but he failed to achieve it mainly due to being well past his prime. Afterward, he couldn't bring himself to go back to his family due to the shame and guilt of leaving them in the first place.
• My Greatest Failure: Flint left to go on a trainer's journey but came home a failure. The shame of it was so bad he couldn't bring himself to finish going home, instead adopting a disguise and selling rocks on the outskirts of town while watching Brock and his siblings from afar. It takes Ash's arrival and determination to shake him out of it.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted: we also have Flint of the Sinnoh Elite Four.
• Parents as People: A surprisingly good example - when he's not being neglectful or just plain stupid, he can actually be a thoughtful and loving father. For instance, according to Brock he's the one who gifted Brock his Onix on his son's tenth birthday - the two of them sat together on Onix's head to watch the sunrise, and Flint's Happy Birthday message made Brock feel it was the first time he truly had his father's recognition.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: with Lola, to the point that even their own children are creeped out.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Underneath the knit cap and beard, Flint is just Brock with faded hair color and some wrinkles around the mouth. Better still, all of Brock's siblings have inherited their dad's face, too.

Lola (Mizuho)

Voiced in Japanese by: Mako Hyoudou

Voiced in English by: Carol Jacobanis (4Kids), Annie Silver (current)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Patricia Acevedo (Chronicles), Gabriela Gómez (Advance Generation)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Alicia Sainz de la Maza (Series), Gemma Martín (Chronicles)

Brock's mother, who has attempted several times to turn the Gym into a Water-Type Gym.

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• Absurdly Youthful Mother: Despite being the mother of teenage Brock and nine other children, she looks like she could be in her early twenties at best.
• Adaptational Sympathy: In the original Japanese version of Pokémon: The Original Series, both parents abandoned the family to Brock, but in the dub Brock's mother stuck with the family after Flint left and instead died from overwork.
• Comically Missing the Point: Her number-one priority with the Pewter Gym: making it cute.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Lola is an immature and flighty Kiddie Kid, but raises full-grown and fearsome Water-types like Blastoise, Gyarados, and Tentacruel.
• Dub-Induced Plot Hole: The dub claimed she was dead, then she appeared later with nary an explanation or even a Hand Wave.
• Dub Personality Change: The dub claimed that Lola died from heartbreak trying to keep the family together after Flint's absence, whereas the original Japanese version has her leaving the family after being sick of waiting for him. Possibly justified the change of personality was to prevent her from seeming heartless or neglectful and given how early the anime was at the time, the translators believe that she wouldn't make a physical appearance.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In Pocket Monsters: The Animation by Takeshi Shudō, Brock's backstory was almost entirely rewritten, and his siblings were all the result of his mother going through nine husbands trying to find a man to help keep the gym afloat. (Lola as a character did not exist until Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire).
• It's All About Me: She does not take into consideration anyone else when she turns the Pewter Gym into a Water-type gym, against the wishes of her entire family, and Brock has to yell at her several times just to make her even realize he doesn't approve. And when she battles Flint, she declares that if she wins, all her kids have to become Water-type Pokémon users, just because she likes them.
• Kiddie Kid: Despite being an adult woman who mothered ten children, Lola acts like a spoiled and flighty little girl, even wearing lots of pink and using the cute and unevolved Marill for one of her battling pokémon. Unfortunately, Flint being Flint, she gets her way easily and often.
• Making a Splash: She specializes in Water-Types and has attempted several times to turn the Gym into a Water-Type Gym.
• Meaningful Name: Her Japanese name, Mizuho, is written in katakana, but some variants of the name are written in kanji, sometimes including the specific kanji for water.
• Missing Mom: Until she suddenly came back...with every intent of remodeling the Gym, against the wishes of pretty much her entire family.
• Parents as People: She loves her children, but was clearly not fit to ever be a parent, as her mental state is too flighty and immature, causing her to become distracted with other things too easily, and doing things like leaving Brock in charge of his siblings without even considering the strain it would put on him.
• Playful Cat Smile: A more subtle example, as only the corners of her upper lip curl upwards. It gives her more of a childish expression than specifically resembling a cat.
• Punny Name: Her Japanese name, Mizuho—mizu is the most common pronunciation of the Japanese word for water.
• Revision: In the Japanese version of Pokémon: The Original Series, Brock's mother abandoned the family as well, so Lola's belated appearance, years later, in Pokémon Chronicles was not technically in contradiction with previous events.
• Schrödinger's Cast: Lola was far enough out of the picture in Pokémon: The Original Series that the dub pronouncing Brock's mother dead wasn't an issue for years... and then she came roaring back from out of nowhere in Pokémon Chronicles.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: With Flint.
• Signature Mon: She doesn't have much in the way of clear favorites, but it shouldn't go unnoticed that the first pokémon she uses in battle is Marill, a cute and unevolved pokémon that makes a good fit for a Kiddie Kid like Lola.
• Social Services Does Not Exist: Or else she (and even her husband) would have already received a call from them a long time ago.
• Strong Family Resemblance: As a matter of fact, she doesn't look like her children at all, and she alone specializes in the Water-type.
• Trouble Follows You Home: After all their toil and trouble in Pokémon: The Original Series, Brock parts ways with Ash and Misty and returns home, only to find his mother is back, has seized control of the gym, and has remade it in her own image.
• Vanity Is Feminine: Lola is the most feminine and most self-absorbed member of Brock's family.

Cerulean Gym

The Sensational Sisters (ハナダ水姉妹 Hanada Water Sisters)

A trio of Head Turning but Brainless Beauties in charge of Cerulean Gym who are less known for their battling than they are for their ballet—as a matter of fact, they are also Misty's big sisters, with whom she has a strained relationship.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Though Daisy is still recognized as the eldest, it's all but confirmed that the trio are triplets.
• Ascended Extra: Misty's sisters, with their long and wavy hair, short dresses, and vanity, appear to be named examples of the generic Beauty trainer-class of Pokémon Red and Blue, or at least designed after them. Daisy's long blonde hair gives her the greatest resemblance. This may have influenced their appearance as bikini-beauties in Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!.
• Big Sister Bully: Daisy, Violet, and Lily were openly disdainful of Misty in their debut and willing to exploit her for their own convenience in later episodes. According to Misty, they were worse when they were younger.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The Sensational Sisters are blonde, bluenette, and pinkhead.
• Brainless Beauty: The sisters are each a Head-Turning Beauty and The Ditz. The dub leans into this and even gives them a Valley Girl accent. Later appearances tone down the brainless element.
• Canon Immigrant: Daisy, Violet, and Lily became Beauty-class trainers who can be fought at the Cerulean Gym in Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!
• Chromatic Arrangement: Misty's sisters use color schemes that hover near the standard triadic color arrangements.
  • Daisy's blonde hair, Violet's blue, and Lily's pink hovers between a Cyan-Magenta-Yellow and a Red-Yellow-Blue color scheme.
  • Daisy's swimdress is red, Violet's is green, and Lily's is muted yellow (which is a common arrangement of adjacent colors), but Lily's also has a blue bow (which completes the positive color triangle of red-green-blue).
• The Dividual: Misty's sisters were all nearly identical Brainless Beauty Big Sister Bully Flat Characters when they first appeared—at one point in their debut episode all three even burst into synchronous ditzy laughter—but Daisy underwent notable Divergent Character Evolution in return appearances and especially in Pokémon Chronicles.
• Dub Personality Change: The Valley Girl element of their characters is added in the dub.
• Family Theme Naming: In the original Japanese, Misty and her sisters all share Floral Theme Naming, while Misty's Japanese name Kasumi doubles as a highlight of her Making a Splash Elemental Motif. In the English dub, Misty's name loses the floral connotation, but this works out anyway, as it highlights her contrasting characterization.
• It's All About Me: Misty's sisters show a willingness to exploit Misty for their own convenience, such as when they need her to be the mermaid in their water ballet, or when they dump the burden of managing the family gym in her lap so they can travel.
• Ms. Fanservice: A trio of Head Turning Beauties introduced in a collective Walking Swimsuit Scene.
• Professional Slacker: Misty's sisters are all gym leaders, but unlike Misty they have no interest in battle and neglect their duties as gym leaders in favor of water ballet. By the time Ash meets them, they're willing to simply give their gym badge away.
• Proud Beauty: Each of them are a Head-Turning Beauty, and each of them sure damn well knows it.
• Shipper on Deck: Albeit in the most teasing, backhanded way possible. In the Cerulean gym's debut, all three sisters instantly ask Ash if he's Misty's boyfriend.
• Signature Mon: Seel and Dewgong; Dewgong's picture is plastered across the entrance of the Cerulean Gym and the sisters use the gym's Seel as a mascot who gives trainers the Cascade Badge. Having never used it in battle, the sisters were caught off guard when it turned out that it was actually quite powerful and then evolved into Dewgong to protect the Water-type Pokémon from Team Rocket's raid during the Magical Mermaid ballet.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Daisy, Violet, and Lily all have the same basic design elements (e.g., long wavy hair and short dresses) though they differ in some details. The only thing that the three of them and Misty have in common appearance-wise are their similar facial structures.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Misty is the tomboy to all three of her girly girl sisters, who pursue far more feminine things like water ballet and romance.
• Vanity Is Feminine: Misty's sisters are much more feminine than she is and likewise all the more vain. (Misty has a high-opinion of herself as well, but this is driven by the Inferiority Superiority Complex her sisters give her).

Daisy (Sakura)

Voiced in Japanese by: Rei Sakuma

Voiced in English by: Lisa Ortiz

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Jacqueline Castañeda (OG Series, first episodes), Rossy Aguirre (OG Series, EP 275), Circe Luna (OG series, EP 007 redub), Claudia Aline (Chronicles), Mildred Barrera (Advance Generation)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Carmen Cervantes (OG Series, first episodes), Felicidad Barrio (OG Series, EP 275), Olga Velasco (Chronicles), Beatriz Berciano (Advance Generation)

Misty's eldest sister. Got a large role in two of the Chronicles specials, proving surprisingly popular in the process.

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• Adventure Duo: With Tracey.
• An Ice Person: Dewgong is an actual ice type, and her Luvdisc uses Ice Beam.
• Ascended Extra: Pokémon Chronicles gave Daisy some spotlight as a supporting cast member for Misty.
• Bifauxnen: She plays the "handsome prince" in the water show from the first season.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Daisy is introduced as a Brainless Beauty, but in later appearances she's presented as the most competent of the Sensational Sisters and able to keep up with the more experienced Misty in battle and adventure.
• Canon Immigrant: Daisy, Violet, and Lily became Beauty-class trainers who can be fought at the Cerulean Gym in Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!
• Character Development: Started off as a Flat Character like her sisters, but eventually developed her own unique personality.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Sure, as the oldest, she didn't win the battling skills, but throw a pair of Cool Shades on her and suddenly she's an action heroine to be reckoned with, spearheading the mission to chase down Butch and Cassidy with her driving skills. Once the glasses come off, she of course freaks out and needs to team up with Misty in order to battle effectively.
• Dismotivation: Does not wish to do actual work, and is not above bribing gym challengers into completing household chores.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She and Misty tend to swap roles often. But overall, while she can be irresponsible with many Gym Leader duties, she is the most experienced out of the three older sister and thus is the most helpful to Misty in her times of need.
• Head-Turning Beauty: One-third of the Sensational Sisters.
• Imagine Spot: Notable for setting up a blatantly lying episode trailer that sent the shippers into conniption fits.
• The Leader: Of the Sensational Sisters.
• Making a Splash: Water-type gym leader.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Energetic Girl to Tracey's Savvy Guy.
• Smash Sisters: We've only seen her battle once, and she holds her own quite well teamed up with Misty. Maybe it's just lack of effort?
• Took a Level in Badass: With help from Misty, she is able to work with her to take down Butch and Cassidy when they go to save their Luvdisc.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Like all her sisters, Daisy is a Girly Girl to Misty's Tomboy, with a preference for water ballets and romances compared to Misty's fierce appetite for battling with grace, but in later appearances Daisy becomes a Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak, making her a midpoint between Misty and the other two.
• Town Girls: The Neither to Violet's Femme and Lily's Butch.

Violet (Ayame) & Lily (Botan)

Violet

Lily

Voiced in Japanese by: Tomoko Kawakami (Ayame), Yōko Asada (Botan)

Voiced in English by: Rachael Lillis (Violet), Megan Hollingshead (Lily)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Rommy Mendoza (Violet)^*replaced by Nycolle González in the EP 007 redub, Christine Byrd (Lily)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Isabel Fernández Avanthay (Violet, first appearance), Ana Isabel Hernando (Violet, second appearance); Pilar Martín (Lily, first appearance), Isacha Mengíbar (Lily, second appearance)

The middle siblings in Misty's family. Share several tropes with Daisy (above).

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• Ballet: Violet is stated to be taking lessons in preparation for a stint as a model at the start of "A Date with Delcatty".
• Big Sister Bully: Are this when we first meet them, though their bullying is with their words and positions rather than anything physical. Lily in particular, being the second youngest and thus the most eager to assert their superiority.
• Floral Theme Naming: "Violet" and "Lily".
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Lily is the Tomboy to Violet's Girly Girl, if their different approaches to preparing for modeling careers (Lily has taken up weightlifting, while Violet has taken up classical ballet) is anything to go by.
• Town Girls: To Daisy's Neither, with Violet being the Femme and Lily being the Butch.

Lt. Surge (Mathis)

Voiced in Japanese by: Fumihiko Tachiki

Voiced in English by: Maddie Blaustein

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Gerardo Vásquez

Voiced in European Spanish by: Juan Luis Rovira

The Vermilion Gym Leader who specializes in Electric-types. A believer in the overwhelming power of evolution, Surge belittles any challenger who dares go into his Gym with unevolved Pokémon as "babies" and he doesn't hold back to prove it.

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• Adaptational Badass: Raichu is certainly powerful in Red and Blue, but it only knows Thunder Shock, Thunderbolt, and Growl, making it a total pushover if confronted with a Ground-type Pokémon. Here, Raichu knows Normal-type attacks such as Mega Punch, Mega Kick, Body Slam, and Take Down alongside its Electric-type moves. Fittingly, Yellow updated Raichu's moveset to better match the anime as well as making it a pain to defeat even with Ground-types.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In the original games, he was a genuinely patriotic, if somewhat boastful, Flavor 1 Eaglelander. Here, he's just a flat-out bully. Even his Yellow Version counterpart is comparatively more mellow than that.
• Adapted Out: He doesn't have Voltorb or Pikachu like he does in Red and Blue and the remakes. Averted in Yellow where only Raichu is used (and beefed up).
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Pats Ash's head when he announces himself as the next gym challenger.
• The Brute: Surge is practically the largest human in the anime; his fighting style with his Raichu also reflects this.
• The Cameo: In Pokémon Journeys, over twenty years later, Ash visits the gym again for a PWC match. While Surge himself only appears in flashbacks due to being currently away, his subordinates tell Ash their gym battle has left quite the impression on their leader.
• Catchphrase Insult: He loves calling his challengers "babies". When Ash and Pikachu finally defeat him and win a Thunder Badge, he congratulations them by saying, "Congratulations, Ash. You're no baby!"
• Composite Character: In Visquez's flashback in Journeys, Surge has his HGSS look, but has his open vest with no shirt and doesn't have his sunglasses.
• Crossdressing Voices: Retroactively. At the time of the episode's dubbing, Maddie Blaustein had not yet come out as transgender.
• Defeat Means Respect: In Pokémon Journeys, this is apparently how Surge sees Ash nowadays. Surge's disciple and temporary gym leader, Visquez, says Ash's battle against Surge is an example to everyone at the Gym and Ash is considered a respectable opponent.
• Did Not Think This Through: As a gym leader, you'd expect him to have some understanding of the mechanics of stone evolution, namely that once Pikachu evolves into Raichu its moveset is stunted.
• The Dreaded: Ash's first taste of Lt. Surge's power? Seeing several trainers rushing their Pokémon to the Pokémon Center. And the culprit? One powerful Raichu. The only reason why Ash's Pikachu manage to overcome his fear of facing Lt. Surge is because he hears Surge mocking him for not evolving so soon.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Possibly, judging by his attitude towards strength and power.
• Eagleland: Flavor 2. His new-earned respect for Ash (after defeating him) shows some Flavor 1, though - he's a bit of both with emphasis on the 2nd.
• Graceful Loser: All Gym Leaders tend to be this in the anime, but even now Surge's attitude made him the most surprising of the bunch.
• Gratuitous English: In the original Japanese.
• Jerkass: Insults Ash and his Pikachu, calling them weak and worthless.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After Ash defeats him, he gains respect for the former.
• Large and in Charge: Is abnormally tall in the anime. Assuming his Raichu is drawn to scale (it's 2'07" according to the Pokédex), his height would be over eight feet. Some scales go to even being over ten feet tall◊.
• Mighty Glacier: While his Raichu is incredibly strong, Ash and Pikachu also figure out that it evolved too quickly and didn't learn the speed attacks it only could have learned in its previous stage, letting Pikachu run rings around it with Agility.
• Precision F-Strike: Lets off a "Goddamn!" in the Japanese version.
• Shock and Awe: Raichu is Electric-type.
• Signature Mon: Raichu, of course. Not only is Surge proud of its power, but he goes as far as using Raichu as his only Pokémon in Gym Battles, mainly because that's all he needs to send his challengers running their Pokémon back to the Pokémon Center. Many trainers like Visquez use Raichu in honor of his.
• So Proud of You: How he feels about Ash and Pikachu managing to defeat him, out of the many challengers who couldn't.
  Lt. Surge: Congratulations, Ash. You're no baby!
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Wears no shirt under his open vest. The original anime game sprite and official art work had him drawn from an angle where the front of his torso wasn't visible. He keeps this in Journeys in Visquez's flashback even after he's been updated to his HGSS look.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Surge is remembered as the first Gym Leader who makes Ash work for his victory and doesn't just give him a badge for a good deed. The sheer intensity of Raichu's electric attacks demands that Ash strategize to defeat Surge.

Sabrina (Natsume)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kae Araki

Voiced in English by: Lisa Ortiz

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Dulce Guerrero, Mayra Arellano (her doll self)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Adelaida López

The Saffron Gym Leader who specializes in Psychic-types. A perfectionist who discovered her psychic abilities at a very early age, Sabrina unwittingly splits her personality into two distinct beings, a creepy doll that wants to have new people to play and an emotionless Gym Leader who rules Saffron Gym with an iron fist. Defeating her in a Gym Battle is near impossible... unless someone can break her cold demeanor with a little laughter.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: From the games' blue/black hair to dark green.
• Adaptational Skimpiness: She wears a miniskirt with thigh high boots, whereas she wears regular clothes in the game.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the games, Sabrina is not at all malevolent and actually dislikes battling. Here, she has Split Personality issues, nearly trapped the group in her dollhouse for the rest of their lives and at the start of the episode nearly made Ash fall to his death.
• Adapted Out: She doesn't have Mr. Mime or Venomoth from Red and Blue and the remakes, and her only Kadabra has not yet evolved into Alakazam.
• The Baroness: Sabrina's anime incarnation has a forceful, militaristic element in her design that her original self from Pokémon Red and Blue does not and is vastly more cruel and unfeeling. The anime version also has more sex appeal, via her Zettai Ryouiki.
• Creepy Doll: Her younger self looks like a doll, but is really the physical manifestation of the childhood she gave up when she discovered her psychic powers.
• Creepy Monotone: In the English dub she doesn't emote.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: She handily beats Ash's team with just her Kadabra.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Or to explain it in episodes in which Ash faces her in battle: Defeat means being doomed to spend an eternity playing with her Split Personality doll. Defeating Sabrina, on the other hand, ends up redeeming her (though it was done unconventionally - due to her telepathic link with Kadabra, neither of them were able to continue battling after Haunter made her laugh and reignited the flame of her human soul).
• The Dreaded: Sabrina's father makes it clear that trainers are better off not facing Sabrina due to her unstable split personality and psychic powers. Ash and his friends got traumatized by their experience in Saffron Gym that even when they got Haunter as their secret weapon, everyone except Ash wants to back out from a rematch.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite pulling a Heel–Face Turn, she's never punished for any of the evil she committed, likely because most writers and viewers don't think it right to punish someone for something their "evil side" did.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Part of her menacing demeanor.
• Emotionless Girl: Her state of being until Haunter and Ash helped her reconnect with her humanity, causing a Split-Personality Merge.
• Enfant Terrible: When she was a child, after developing psychic powers. She drove away her father, turned her mother into a doll, and became such a cold, emotionless perfectionist that even her childlike side split from her.
• From Bad to Worse: The first time Ash loses to her, she shrinks him, along with Brock and Misty, and toys with them in her dollhouse. The second time, she turns Brock and Misty into dolls and stuffs them back in the dollhouse, just as small, but now unable to move, despite still being self-aware. She intends to do the same to Ash the third time, though Haunter prevents another loss.
• Heel–Face Turn: She's an outright villain in her showcase episodes but when Haunter gives the slapstick comedy of a lifetime, she breaks her stoic behavior and becomes a normal person again, causing her split personality doll to disappear.
• Invincible Villain: She is never actually beaten. She (actually, her dad) gives Ash the Marsh Badge because Haunter made her laugh and gave her back the human side that she lost years ago.
• Knight of Cerebus: No mistake, Sabrina was the first antagonist to appear as a genuinely evil and dangerous threat to Ash and his friends. Telling is how it took three episodes for Ash to get a badge from her and even then it was the typical "gesture of thanks", when Pikachu still struggled to put a dent in Kadabra. Even Blaine - whose Pokémon are meant to be stronger than Sabrina's - was beaten fairly in only two episodes, and was not nearly as malevolent as Sabrina, who made Misty and Brock's souls stakes for Ash losing.
• Obviously Evil: As several tropes listed above indicate. Friendly looking she is not...until she turns good, that is.
• Psychic Powers: Yep. Not just simple spoon-bending, but teleportation and transmutation, as well.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Her split personality, manifested by a Creepy Doll.
• Redemption Earns Life: In more than one way - Ash's determination to beat her not only turned her good, but essentially saved her soul as well.
• Signature Mon: Abra which later evolves into Kadabra. She is psychically-linked to Kabadra, giving her the advantage to anticipate her opponent's attack and plan her counter attack instantaneously. And just like Kadabra, Sabrina is also associated with spoon bending.
• Split Personality: The Creepy Doll she has in the anime is actually what Sabrina was like before she discovered her psychic powers (cheerful, smiling, and always wanting to play).
• Spoon Bending: As a child, she practice her telepathic powers by bending spoons in her parents' house, much to her parents' dismay.

Erika

^{Click here to see Erika in Journeys}

Voiced in Japanese by: Kyoko Hikami

Voiced in English by: Leah Applebaum (4Kids), Nathalie Gorham (Pokémon: I Choose You!), Lauren Landa (Journeys)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Mariana Ortiz

Voiced in European Spanish by: Gloria Núñez (Series), Mayte Mira (Movie 20)

The Celadon Gym Leader who specializes in Grass-type. When she's not battling challengers, she sells perfume at a store made from essence gather from her greenhouse and Grass-type Pokémon. She doesn't take kindly to strangers insulting or stealing her perfume, whom she'll immediately ban from the places she works, including the Celadon Gym. She later returns in Pokémon Journeys: The Series where she hosts a Pokémon Flower Arrangement class with her Leafeon.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the original Japanese version, where Erika almost ends Ash's journey to the Pokémon League by banning him from the gym after he insulted her perfume. When he proves resilient about it, she submits to a battle and, after Ash saves Gloom, proves quite friendly (especially considering he got it in danger in the first place). In the English dub, it's her subordinates being too overzealous, and Erika herself says it's her duty as a Gym Leader to accept all challenges.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: From black hair in the games to blue. Perhaps as a Mythology Gag, her disguise as a store owner does have black hair however. She also has black hair when she returns in Journeys in place of her blue hair.
• Bait-and-Switch: In Journeys, when she overhears Goh wanting to use flower arrangement to make Heracross fall in love with Pinsir, she initially acts like she did to Ash when he insulted her perfume, causing Goh to panic because he thinks he said something wrong. Then it turns out that Erika loves this idea and doesn't ban Goh from her place.
• Berserk Button: Being very sensitive about perfume, talking about it in a negative manner is not only enough to earn her ire and violent dismissal, but also indirectly get banned from her Gym, as Ash had learned the hard way.
• Breaking Lecture: Tries this with Ash during their Gym Battle by criticizing his "lack of compassion" towards his Pokémon, either to demoralise him or to teach him a lesson.
• The Bus Came Back: A truly astounding example in terms of sheer length-of-absence. She makes her return in Pokemon Journeys in JN094, 1,153 episodes, and 25 real-world years since her debut appearance in the Original Series.
• The Cameo: Appears briefly in the 20th movie battling Ash.
• Canon Welding: She has a Leafeon in Journeys which she has only in Pokémon Masters and in her Sygna Suit at that.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Towards Ash. She initially thinks Ash is callous due to hating perfume and his supposedly harsh treatment of his Pokémon. Then he risks his life to save her beloved Gloom.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Apparently thinks that badmouthing her perfume shop is enough reason to ban challengers access to her Gym, or at least her staff do. She does accept Ash's direct challenge (and implies she has to), though, and give him the badge in gratitude for saving her Gloom's life.
• Dub Personality Change: Originally she was the one who ordered Ash to be banned from the gym, in the dub this is changed to her banning him from her store without it ever stating if she had banned him from the gym or if it was just her subordinates.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Although anime Erika is infamous for having blue hair and a gardener's outfit, it only appeared in her debut appearance. In her subsequent appearances decades later, including the alternative movie continuity, she uses her modern game design.
• Formal Characters Use Keigo: Her polite speech patterns in the Japanese version help reflect her status as a Yamato Nadeshiko.
• Green Thumb: She specializes in Grass types.
• Kimono Is Traditional: In her public appearances, she wears a kimono, representing her adherence to traditional beauty perfume and distaste for any youngster who disrespects it. She doesn't wear when she works in the Gym, opting for a simple gardener's outfit instead. In Journeys, Erika wears a kimono full time.
• Long Bus Trip: With 1,153 episodes between her appearance in the Original Series and Pokemon Journeys, Erika now holds the record for longest absence between her first two appearances for human characters.
• Retcanon: Reversed. Her appearances after her initial one in the original series make her more uniform in design to the video games.
• Sensory Overload: Her main Pokémon is Gloom, which invokes this with its horrible smell. This poses a problem Ash, as said smell is bad enough to knock Pokémon out.
• Shamed by a Mob: A bad example. While Ash was certainly rude insulting Erika's perfume, to have not only her, but her employees, Brock, Misty and Pikachu shaming him on it was certainly uncalled for and excessive.
• Shipper on Deck: Upon learning that Goh chose Pinsir as his partner to help it to win Heracross's heart back, she becomes very supportive of them and wants to help them out.
• Signature Mon: Gloom is her most well-known and favorite Pokémon, as Erika describes how Gloom once saved her from a Grimer when she was a child with its awful smell. Ash saving Gloom from the fire is what convinces her to give him the Rainbow Badge. Curiously, Gloom is nowhere to be seen when Erika returns in JN094, only appearing in flashbacks of EP026 with Leafeon serving as Erika's main Pokémon instead.
• Team Rocket Wins: Actually fell victim to a rare instance, as the trio blasted her Gym on fire and stole her perfume (only an essence of it however, namely Gloom's, which they did not appreciate). Since Ash had indirectly helped them trying to get into the Gym, he took this badly.
• Took a Level in Kindness: By the time of her return in JN094, she's become an all-out Nice Girl, giving Ash a warm welcome back and a genuine thank you for saving her gym when it caught on fire during EP026.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Banning Ash from her Gym leads to a chain of events where Team Rocket successfully steals her secret ingredient and burn down her Gym.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: The looks and the outfit are played straight but the rest is played with. Being a Gym Leader, she can't be the subtle, submissive type and instead of arranging flowers, she battles with them.

Koga (Kyou)

Voiced in Japanese by: Hōchū Ōtsuka

Voiced in English by: Stan Hart

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Enrique Cervantes (Original Series), Jorge Badillo (Best Wishes flashback)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Juan Fernández Mejías (OG Series), César Martín (BW Series)

The Fuchsia Gym Leader who specializes in Poison-types. He is also Aya's older brother.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: In a rare contrast to most of the other Kanto gym leaders, he's a lot more reasonable than his Torture Technician game counterpart, if still something of a trickster.
• Adapted Out: An extreme case, as none of his Pokémon in Red and Blue and the remakes match his anime team. Averted/subverted when Yellow is considered, as he has a Venomoth that evolved from Venonat on-screen, and Golbat became a Canon Immigrant when in the Gen II games, his Elite Four team included Crobat.
• Big Brother Mentor: Towards Aya, his younger sister.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Venonat/Venomoth's is a giant gnat/moth.
• The Cameo: Receives a very brief dubbed one in BW 116, during a flashback about Charizard's past.
• Flight: Both Venomoth and Golbat.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Lampshaded by Misty.
  • Actually he called his younger sister Aya out on this. Though Koga's anime attire still wasn't particularly shady.
• Poisonous Person: He specialises in Poison types.
• Signature Mon: Subverted. Koga at first used Venomoth against Ash before their match was interrupted by Team Rocket. When they managed to resume their match outside in a courtyard, Koga inexplicably switched to Golbat despite Venomoth not being defeated yet, and Golbat's defeat was enough for Koga to declare Ash the victor. Yellow would later clarify that Koga's intended Signature Mon was meant to be Venomoth.

Blaine (Katsura)

^{Blaine's "Hippie" disguise}

Voiced in Japanese by: Toshiya Ueda

Voiced in English by: Michael Haigney

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Bardo Miranda

Voiced in European Spanish by: Luis Mas

The Cinnabar Gym Leader who specializes in Fire-types. Sick and tired of tourists coming to Cinnabar Island for vacations instead of battles, Blaine relocates his Gym in a secret location that can only be found through a series of riddles he gives out disguised as a hippie.

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• Adapted Out: One of the most extreme examples of all the Kanto Gym Leaders. None of the Pokémon in Red and Blue and the remakes match his anime team. In Yellow, the only Pokémon he has from the anime is Ninetales. In GSC and the remakes, the only Pokémon he has from the anime is Magmar.
• Aim for the Horn: How Pikachu took down his Rhydon. Its in fact the Trope Namer.
• Bait-and-Switch: When Ash and company helped Blaine save the volcano from exploding due to Team Rocket's freezing it, he offered Ash something special. Ash thought Blaine was going to give him a Volcano Badge, to which Blaine Face Faulted. Instead, Blaine offered to give him a rematch for the Badge.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Has Rhydon, a Ground/Rock type, to go against Ash's Charizard.
• Horn Attack: Rhydon's Horn Drill.
• Mythology Gag: A subtle one with his disguise: take away his wig and balding hair, keep the glasses and paint the fake mustache white. You get videogame Blaine! Justified since his design had reportedly changed several times during the development of the games.
• Only the Worthy May Pass: Blaine got sick of all the second-rate trainers who challenged the Cinnabar Gym when the island became a tourist trap, so he burned it to the ground. He now tests trainers with riddles to see if they're worthy of facing him. If they can solve the riddles, they get to face him.
• Phrase Catcher: "Not another riddle!"
• Playing with Fire: He specializes in Fire types.
• Punny Name: His Japanese name is Katsura, which can also mean wig or hairpiece. He's wearing a hippie wig, and the answer to his final riddle is wig, which is his way of saying he is the Gym Leader Katsura all along. Of course, this pun doesn't work in the English dub where his name was changed to Blaine.
• Signature Mon: Magmar, of course. What other Fire-type Pokémon gets to rise out of the magma for its introduction, nearly sweeps Pikachu off the battlefield, and then becomes a Worthy Opponent to Ash's Charizard in the rematch? What's stranger is that despite the anime making Magmar Blaine's most iconic Pokémon on his team, his real signature Pokémon in the games is Arcanine, which never appears in here.
• Stealth Mentor: Blaine revealed it is not only a gym leader's job to test battle competence, but their judgment as owners of Pokémon, stating gym leaders may indeed disqualify trainers if they push their Pokémon past the limit, such as when he already had Ash beat in their first battle when he had Magmar curbstomp Pikachu in a losing battle, he was waiting for Ash to throw in the towel and commended him for doing so.
• Use Your Head: Magmar's Skull Bash.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Just like Lt. Surge, Blaine was by far the strongest Gym Leader Ash faced to that point. Even before he brought out Magmar, Blaine already had the upper hand as his Ninetales curb-stomped Squirtle and Charizard refused to battle. If Pikachu had somehow defeated Magmar, he likely would have lost to Ninetales.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Blaine's reaction when Ash thinks that Blaine's going to give him a Volcano Badge for stopping the volcano from exploding. Blaine actually gives Ash a rematch for the Badge.

Giovanni (Sakaki)

Voiced in Japanese by: Hirotaka Suzuoki (1st voice), Kenta Miyake (current)

Voiced in English by: Ted Lewis (1st voice, 4Kids; current voice), Craig Blair (2nd voice)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Alejandro Villeli (Season 1-10, current), Humberto Solórzano (only in Season 11)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Ruperto Ares (Seasons 1-3), José Escobosa (Season 5 onwards), Roberto Encinas (AG Episode 002), Rafael Azcárraga (Special Mewtwo Returns)

Voiced in European French by: Patrick Descamps

The Viridian Gym Leader and secretly the crime boss of Team Rocket. He doesn't specializes in any particular types, opting instead to use the Gym as a testing ground for his most powerful Pokémon in his arsenal. Ash doesn't actually get to fight him, instead having to deal with his substitutes, the Team Rocket trio themselves.

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Information about him is found in Pokémon: The Series — Team Rocket Organization.

Orange Islands

Cissy (Atsumi)

Voiced in Japanese by: Miki Nagasawa

Voiced in English by: Tara Jayne

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Laura Torres

Voiced in European Spanish by: Sandra Jara

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• Annoying Younger Sibling: Her little brother is downright obnoxious and she's the only person who can keep him in line.
• Making a Splash: Blastoise and Seadra are Water-Types.
• Samus Is a Girl: "I was expecting a guy trainer".

Danny (Dan)

Voiced in Japanese by: Yasunori Matsumoto

Voiced in English by: Jim Malone

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Yamil Atala

Voiced in European Spanish by: Jesús Maniega

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• Action Bomb: His Electrode knows explosion.
• Actually, I Am Him: he reveals himself as the Navel Island gym leader after accompanying Ash on a climb up a mountain enclosed on the grounds. Misty and Tracey said they figured it out when they took the lift to the top of the mountain and didn't find anybody there.
• An Ice Person: His Nidoqueen knows Ice Beam.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Has a Scyther, a giant mantis.
• Nice Guy: He's very supportive of Ash, giving him pointers on how to pass the trials needed to qualify for his own gym and warning him when he was about to break the rules.

Rudy (Ziggy)

Voiced in Japanese by: Ryō Horikawa

Voiced in English by: Matthew Mitler

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Víctor Ugarte

Voiced in European Spanish by: Pablo Sevilla

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• Betty and Veronica: In the Orange Islands episode where the trio meet Rudy, Misty is Archie, Ash is Betty and Rudy is Veronica when Rudy tries to flirt with Misty and Ash gets jealous.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: His Venomoth is a giant moth.
• Dance Battler: Something he's trained all his team to do.
• Demoted to Extra: Averted in The Electric Tale of Pikachu; he and Drake are the only members of the Orange Crew shown in that adaptation.
• Ditto Fighter (Type 3): All of the Pokémon he uses in battle are intended to match the types of his opponent.^note Of all the types in Gen 1, the only ones he can't directly counter are Ghost, Dragon and Normal. The attacks of said Pokémon need not apply, however...
• Graceful Loser: Rather graceful for losing to Ash in both the battle and for Misty (though Ash doesn't get the second one).^note Rudy dedicated the tie-breaking bout between Starmie and Squirtle to Misty and when she encourages Ash, in her own special way, Rudy surmises his own status as a Romantic False Lead.
• Green Thumb: His Exeggutor (used to fight Bulbasaur) is grass-type.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Part of the reason why he was so adamant about marrying Misty is because his sister wanted her in the family after Misty saved her from drowning.
• Making a Splash: His Water-type Starmie (used to fight Squirtle)
• Playing with Fire: Has a Fire-type Ninetails at the Gym
• Psychic Powers: Has a Psychic-type Alakazam at the Gym.
• Shock and Awe: Electabuzz (used to fight Pikachu). Starmie also uses Thunderbolt.

Luana (Ruriko)

Voiced in Japanese by: Mami Koyama

Voiced in English by: Kayzie Rogers

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Elena Ramírez

Voiced in European Spanish by: Gemma Martín

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• Action Mom: Has a son on his own journey (Who is an Expy of Ash down to a Pikachu and Inexplicably Identical Individuals syndrome), and is a Gym leader.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Has a Marowak, a Ground-type knows that knows the Ground-type move Bonemerang.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Odd gameplay example, she did a double battle with Ash well before the mechanic was introduced in the games.
• Energy Weapon: Alakazam's Hyper Beam.
• Identical Stranger: Mistook Ash for her son Travis.
• Psychic Powers: She has an Alakazam, which knows Psychic-type moves such as Teleport, Reflect, and Psychic.

Drake (Yuji)

Voiced in Japanese by: Koji Yusa

Voiced in English by: Scottie Ray

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Yamil Atala

Voiced in European Spanish by: Alejandro Peyo García

Leader of the Orange Islands Gyms - and he proves it in Ash's longest-at-the-time fight (the first 6-on-6 ever seen in the show, to boot). His Dragonite as well, being the Pokémon that took on four members of Ash's team (including Charizard and Pikachu) and nearly winning.
Dragonite also has 10 moves, which exceeded the limit of anyone at the time before the anime started to enforce the move-limit. This was done on purpose by the writers to make it seem even more undefeatable.

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• The Ace: Besides being Ash's toughest challenge in the Orange League, Drake has a Dragonite that is simply a beast in battle. It uses 10 moves in a single match, breaking the limit of 4, just to show how unstoppable it is, and it's a powerful team-sweeper, wiping out Charizard, Squirtle, and Tauros in a row. The only reason why Dragonite finally lost to Pikachu is due to fatigue and Pikachu's determination.
• Beam-O-War: His Gengar and Ash's Lapras get into one. It ends in a double knock-out, the first one in the series.
• Broken Win/Loss Streak: Drake, the esteemed Leader of the Orange Islands Gyms, has gained a reputation for being unbeatable in battles. It is said that numerous trainers have tried to challenge him, but none have succeeded in defeating him. However, this all changes when a young and determined trainer named Ash appears on the scene. Ash manages to do what no one else has ever done before - defeat Drake in a thrilling and unforgettable battle.
• Dishing Out Dirt: His Onix knows Dig.
• Ditto Fighter: In the first round of six-on-six battling, Drake's Ditto takes on Ash's Pikachu. Pikachu wins because it has more stamina. It is implied that many trainers who faced Drake in the past lost to his Ditto alone from being unable to defeat a copy of their own Pokemon.
  Ash: They can copy Pikachu, but there's nothing like the real thing!
• Energy Weapon: Dragonite's Hyper Beam.
• Expy: Rather obviously based on Lance of the Elite Four.
• Meaningful Name: Drake is another word to describe a dragon, which is appropriate since his signature Pokemon is a Dragonite.
• Shock and Awe: Electabuzz is an Electric-type.
• Signature Mon: Dragonite is Drake's most powerful Pokémon and Pummelo Island makes that crystal clear with stone statues of Dragonite featured across the island. Because of this, Dragonite is only used when Drake's other Pokémon fell, and forces Ash to earn his victory in his first Full Battle match.
• Soul Power: Gengar knows the Ghost-type attack Night Shade.
• Victory Is Boring: When introduced, he's become tired of his own invincibility and that no challenger has ever beaten him since his ascension. So you can imagine that when Ash defeats him, he gracefully praises the young trainer on his victory.
• Worf Had the Flu: Ash's Pikachu was only to defeat Drake insanely powerful Dragonite after it had already battled his Charizard, Squirtle, Tauros in a row and was visibly exhausted.

Johto

Falkner (Hayato)

Voiced in Japanese by: Akira Ishida

Voiced in English by: Matthew Mitler

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Eduardo Garza

Voiced in European Spanish by: Pablo Sevilla

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• Adaptational Badass: As the first gym leader in the games, he was a real pushover (infamously he is the only gym leader who sports a team still in the single digits). Here he boasts an exceptional team that made Ash sweat to win his victory. His Pidgeot was actually winning against Charizard until Ash figured out its attack patterns.
• Big Damn Heroes: He first appears on a hang-glider, rescues Pikachu, and blasts off Team Rocket. Then introductions are made.
• Break the Haughty: Ash's victory is implied to have humbled him somewhat.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: His Dodrio knows Tri Attack, which can either burn, freeze, or paralyze its opponent.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In the final part of his match with Ash, his Pidgeot had Charizard outclassed in terms of speed. It moved too fast for Charizard to be able to counterattack...but it kept using the same attack pattern. That helped Ash figure it out, and when he had Charizard trap Pidgeot with a Fire Spin, it was all over.
• Hypocrite: He states how he hates the consensus that Flying types would always lose to Electric types due to a type disadvantage...and then subsequently patronizes Ash for using Chikorita, for no reason besides her type disadvantage. He backed it up, but it was still an egotistical thing to do, and was followed by Laser-Guided Karma (below).
• In a Single Bound: His Dodrio is a very good jumper.
• Inertia Is a Cruel Mistress: Ash beat him using the old "attack where he's going" shtick.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's boastful of the superiority of his chosen Pokémon type and self-righteous about his methods, but he's good at heart and even went out of his way to save Pikachu with no personal gain involved. He also gracefully accepted his defeat.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After boasting of the strength of his Flying types, his Hoothoot takes out Ash's Chikorita easily; following that, his first two Pokémon are both defeated by Pikachu.
• Multiple Head Case: One of his Pokémon is the three-headed Dodrio.
• Signature Mon: Pidgeot. Not only is Pidgeot a necessary upgrade to Falkner's game team (only consisted of Pidgey and Pidgeotto), but it's also going against Ash's Charizard, who was already making Ash's challenges way too easy. Naturally, Falkner needs an iconic Pokémon on his team that could fight a seasoned Pokémon.

Bugsy (Tsukushi)

Voiced in Japanese by: Hiromi Ishikawa

Voiced in English by: Tara Jayne

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: María Fernanda Morales

Voiced in European Spanish by: Amelia Jara

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• Achilles' Heel: His Scyther can use Swords Dance to create the perfect shield from Fire type attacks, except those coming from directly above, which Ash exploits to defeat him.
• Adapted Out: His Kakuna in the games is replaced by a Spinarak in the anime.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: As Falkner, Bugsy boasts about his Pokémon specialty's superiority.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: He raises Bug type Pokémon, bigger than normal bugs.
• Didn't See That Coming: Bugsy is shocked when Ash exploits the vulnerability resulting from Scyther's use of Swords Dance.
• Signature Mon: Scyther is Bugsy's final and toughest Pokémon, and featured alongside Bugsy in the openings, though this is not a hard feat considering that Bugsy's other Pokémon are Spinarak and Metapod.

Whitney (Akane)

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuko Miyamura

Voiced in English by: Megan Hollingshead

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Liliana Barba

Voiced in European Spanish by: Cristina Yuste

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• The Ace: Not only did Miltank sweep Ash's entire team, but Whitney deems defeating her Miltank in a practice session on her farm to be good enough for Ash to get a Plain Badge, with no need to face her Clefairy or Nidorina. Yeah, her Miltank is that powerful.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the games, Whitney was even more insufferable due to throwing a tantrum and initially refusing to give you a badge when you defeated her. Here, she's a Graceful Loser and willingly gives Ash the Plain Badge.
• Ascended Meme: Rarely was there ever a player who didn't get through her Clefairy on the first try, only to have their entire team clobbered by Miltank. Guess what happened to Ash the first time he battled her?
• Badass Adorable: A cute, ditzy girl who is also one tough gym leader.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: She seems silly and playful, and her Nidorina and Clefairy go down quickly, but she's still the only Johto Gym Leader who Ash ever actually lost against in an official battle (his first battle with Pryce was unofficial and his first bout with Clair was interrupted by Team Rocket's thievery, so it doesn't technically count despite her having the edge).
• Didn't Think This Through: Reuses her "have Miltank spam Rollout" strategy in her rematch, not realizing Ash would come up with a counter strategy.
• It Only Works Once: Her "Miltank uses Rollout over and over again" strategy doesn't work as well in the rematch because Ash, inspired by Team Rocket's barrel-bot battle, comes up with a counter strategy to beat Miltank.
• Lightning Bruiser: Good God, Miltank. She's just as bad in the anime as she is in the games, effortlessly sweeping Ash's entire team without breaking a sweat. Part of the reason why she's so formidable is her unmatched speed combined with raw power of Rollout. The only way for Ash to defeat the Milk Cow Pokémon is having his Pokémon dig a trench to slow down Miltank's Rollout speed so they can have an easy window to attack.
• Nice Girl: She's a bit a ditz, but she's a real sweetheart, and even though her second match with Ash had taken place outside the Gym, Whitney still accepted her defeat as official and awarded Ash the Plain Badge.
• Non-Elemental: Clefairy and Miltank. Clefairy would become a Fairy type later.
• No Sense of Direction: Gets lost in her own home town.
• Poisonous Person: Despite being a Normal-type Gym Leader, Whitney has Nidorina on her team, which is pure Poison-type.
• Signature Mon: Miltank, who else? A notorious team sweeper like Miltank is sure going to make Whitney memorable in the anime, to the point Whitney only uses Miltank in Ash's "unofficial" rematch. Naturally, whenever Whitney is show in Pokémon openings or flashbacks, her Miltank is always there beside her.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: The only Johto Gym Leader to defeat Ash in an official battle.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Whitney's strategy with Miltank boils down to using Rollout again and again. While this does let her beat Ash in the first Gym Battle, in the rematch Ash is able to come up with a strategy to beat Miltank.

Morty (Matsuba)

Voiced in Japanese by: Masaya Matsukaze

Voiced in English by: Andrew Rannells

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Arturo Mercado Jr. (Season 3), Rolando de la Fuente (Season 5)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Juan Antonio García Sainz de la Maza

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• The Bus Came Back: Returned in "For Ho-Oh The Bells Toll".
• Psychic Powers: Gastly's Confusion and Haunter's Hypnosis.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He has little reason to believe that Ash truly saw Ho-Oh (a Pokémon last seen three centuries ago), but he doesn't completely dismiss the notion and later, impressed by Ash's victory and "spirit", he concedes his challenger may indeed have seen Ho-Oh. He's also quite forgiving of their disturbing the Pokémon that live at the Burned Tower.
• Recurring Character: He even gets one guest appearance in the "Master Quest" season.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The calm blue to his friend Eusine's hot-blooded red, especially when it comes to skepticism to Ash's claim that he saw a Ho-Oh.
• Signature Mon: He only has the Gastly line on his team, and thus Gengar is his most powerful and iconic Pokémon of the bunch, serving as the final boss to Ash's Noctowl.
• Soul Power: He uses Ghost type Pokémon.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Though unlike most examples, Morty mastered this through practice rather than inherent talent.
• Squishy Wizard: Ghost Pokemon know plenty of cunning tricks, and Morty uses every one of them in his match with Ash. Unfortunately, like most Ghosts, Morty's Pokemon can't take much punishment. Once Ash figures out how to hit Morty's Pokemon, they go straight down.
• The Stoic: He doesn't show an excess of emotion and mostly expresses himself with controlled smiles or frowns.

Chuck (Shijima)

Voiced in Japanese by: Nobuaki Kakuda (original series), Takahiro Fujiwara (Journeys)

Voiced in English by: Dan Green

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Luis Alfonso Padilla (original series), Víctor Manuel Espinoza (Journeys)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Iñaki Crespo

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• Adapted Out: Chuck's Primeape in the games was replaced by a Machoke in the anime.
• Badass Normal: He can fight and train with his own Pokémon, but he's also...
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Thus, he's let himself go, tiring easily and having put on a little weight.
• Bruiser with a Soft Centre: Chuck and his Machoke not only embody this trope, they're proud of it.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns from a '''LONG''' bus trip and reappears in Journeys Episode #39.
• Catchphrase: He constantly tells his Pokemon to "focus their energy" and not give up when they're weakening.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: He gets teased about his weight and tendency to tire out from his own wife despite being a famous teacher and Gym Leader.
• Hot-Blooded: Likely one of the most hot-blooded Gym Leaders in the entire series.
• Improbable Hairstyle: The way the hair on the back of his head sticks up.
• Long Bus Trip: With 915 episodes between his appearance in the Original Series and Pokemon Journeys, Second to Erika in record for longest absence between appearances for human characters.
• Making a Splash: Poliwrath is a Water-type.
• The Mentor: Has many students, the most notable two we know of being Brawly the Gym Leader of Dewford Town (in Hoenn) and Bea.
• Signature Mon: Poliwrath by virtue of being Chuck's only recurring Pokémon despite Machoke being his last Pokémon used in the Gym Battle against Ash. As well as being Chuck's only Pokémon actually adapted from the games.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: He goes shirtless All the damn time!

Jasmine (Mikan)

Voiced in Japanese by: Yumi Kakazu

Voiced in English by: Tara Jayne (4Kids), Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld (current)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Gaby Ugarte

Voiced in European Spanish by: Conchi López (OG Series, first appearance), Pepa Castro (OG Series, second appearance), María Blanco (DP Series)

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• Adapted Out: Sort of. She only uses one Magnemite in the anime, rather than two as in the games.
• Adaptational Badass: In the games, she's really shy and has trouble speaking. In the episode "Nerves of Steelix" of the anime, she jumps off from a cliff straight onto her Steelix's head, and doesn't even show a scratch. She's also a very aggresive Pokémon trainer, something you would never think of when playing the games. She's still a nice, cute girl outside of battle, though.
• Badass Adorable: She's a cute, gentle girl, but don't let that fool you. She doesn't hesitate to try and wipe out Ash's Pokémon party with her almighty Steelix. And even that of Flint from the Sinnoh Elite Four.
• Big Damn Heroes: For once, Team Rocket succesfully kidnap Ash's Pikachu near Olivine City, and Ash can't do anything about it. Seems like Jessie, James and Meowth are being thrown a bone after all these episodes, right? Wrong! Suddenly, a Steelix appears out of nowhere to stop these guys on their feet. Right after that, Jasmine joins in by making a jump that would destroy any normal person's legs and orders Steelix to send Team Rocket flying with an overpowered Iron Tail attack. Ash gets Pikachu back and thanks Jasmine, who reminds him there's a heated battle awaiting both of them back at the gym.
• The Bus Came Back: Makes a one-episode appearance in the "Diamond and Pearl" series.
• Characterisation Marches On: Was a borderline Shrinking Violet in her first episode. When she reappears, she's clearly taken a level in confidence and is more headstrong than before. Justified in that her Ampharos was terribly sick at first, leaving her concerned for its safety above all else.
• Extra-ore-dinary: She trains Steel types.
• Head-Turning Beauty: It's implied In-Universe that a chunk of the trainer community sees her as a good-looking gym leader, because she's nicknamed as "the fighting beauty" or something along those lines. Apart from the alias, no one ever comments on her beauty, though (besides Brock, that is).
• Hot-Blooded: Depending on the situation. She's calm and polite most of the time, but when it comes to a Pokémon battle, it's like someone put her on flames. She seems a totally different person.
• Made of Iron: She seems unfazed when she jumps on top of her Steelix's hard head from a cliff. But what did you expect? Her specialty is Steel types.
• The Mentor: To Janina and she's confirmed to have other apprentices though they never appear.
• Parrot Pet Position: When she debuts, her Magnemite is perched on her shoulder but is never seen doing this in her later appearances.
• Recurring Character: She appeared multiple times in Johto, and even had a guest appearance in Sinnoh (to correspond with her cameo in the games).
• Shock and Awe: Her Steel-type Magnemite is also an Electric-type.
• Shrinking Violet: Played with. She only acts hesitant and reserved when her Ampharos is sick (that is, in the episode "Fight for the Light"). In the other episodes, she's surprisingly outgoing and even aggresive when it comes to Pokémon battles.
• Signature Headgear: She wears a pair of cute, spiked pigtails pointing upward. Always pointing upward, no matter the pose or situation. She uses orange orbs to set them in place. These orbs being orange is no coincidence: Jasmine's name in Japanese is Mikan, which means "orange".
• Signature Mon: Steelix is her main Pokémon, which she uses in her Gym Battle against Ash and later in a friendly battle against Elite Four Member Flint in Diamond and Pearl.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Puns aside, she's an elegant Girly Girl with the willpower to slaughter any Pokémon trainer she comes across. Even if they're supposed to be stronger than her (Flint from Sinnoh's Elite 4).

Pryce (Yanagi)

Voiced in Japanese by: Motomu Kiyokawa

Voiced in English by: Jimmy Zoppi

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: César Arias

Voiced in European Spanish by: Julio Núñez, Eduardo del Hoyo (as a young man)

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• Adaptational Jerkass: In the games, he's a perfectly pleasant and decent man. Here, he's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Cool Old Guy: Once he mellows out a little.
• Defrosting Ice King: He was a cold trainer due to his Freudian Excuse, but once he reunites with his Piloswine, he mellows out.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Piloswine is a Ground-Type.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He appears briefly in "Rage of Innocence" before having his full introduction in the following episode.
• Freudian Excuse: As a boy, he loved Pokémon dearly and was a skilled trainer. One day, he and Piloswine faced a tough Magmar, and Pryce's attempt to keep his friend from getting hurt only resulted in both of them being badly burned. While he was recovering, Piloswine up and left and never returned, leading Pryce to believe it had abandoned him for losing and subsequently hardening his heart towards Pokémon. Only after meeting Ash was it revealed that Piloswine had actually gone to get special herbs for healing burns, but ended up frozen in ice for years, leading to Pryce's My God, What Have I Done? realisation.
• Human Popsicle: His Piloswine was frozen for decades in a block of ice.
• An Ice Person: He specializes in Ice-Type Pokémon.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Even in his "hating Pokémon" period, his softer side wasn't gone, just...buried, way deep down.
• Signature Mon: Piloswine was his main Pokémon partner until it disappeared years ago, causing Pryce to believe it abandoned him for losing and thus hardening his heart. Once he learns that Piloswine was actually frozen in ice attempt to return home, Pryce realizes his mistake and the two reconcile. Piloswine thus returns as Pryce's final Pokémon in the Gym Battle against Ash, and even forfeits the battle once he notices Piloswine tiring out.
• Tender Tears: When he realizes that he was wrong about Piloswine, and again when Piloswine recognizes him despite his changed appearance.
• Use Your Head: Dewgong's Skull Bash.

Clair (Ibuki)

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuko Mita

Voiced in English by: Megan Hollingshead (4Kids), Eva Christensen (current)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Liliana Barba (Original Series), Maggie Vera (Best Wishes)

Voiced in European Spanish by: María Antonia Rodríguez

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• 10-Minute Retirement: In her first episode, she refused to do anything (including perform the tri-annual ritual required of her) while her Dratini was shedding. It actually turned out to be in the process of evolving.
• The Ace: The best of the best in Johto Gym Leaders, and arguably the most powerful trainer Ash faced up to that point aside from Prima. She's shown to be too strong for Ash's normal team, and he has to call in some of his most powerful 11th-Hour Ranger Pokemon to stand a chance.
  • She also wins decisively in a much later episode where Iris visits Blackthorn City and challenges her to a match.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Her anime personality is far nicer than her game one, complimenting Ash during their battle and congratulating him after he beats her.
• The Bus Came Back: Returns for a guest appearance in BW136, and battles Iris at the end of the Best Wishes! Saga. Interestingly, she is the first Gym Leader guest character to return and have met with all different traveling companions of Ash because Brock is no longer a main companion after the end of Diamond and Pearl.
• A Day in the Limelight: She has a five-episode arc.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In Ash's first match with Clair, he used his regular team. Although Team Rocket interrupted the match, it was clearly heading this way in Clair's favor. When they had a rematch, Ash had to change up his team and bring in some of his best 11th-Hour Ranger Pokemon to have any hope of winning. Even then, he only won through some very creative tactics.
  • She inflicts this on Iris in their match much later in the series, but she commends Iris for the latter's skill and dedication.
• Energy Weapon: Gyarados, Dragonair's and Kindgra's Hyper Beam.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Dragonair's Iron Tail.
• Making a Splash: Kingdra & Gyarados are water-types and Dragonair's Rain Dance causes raining.
• Palette Swap: Her Druddigon is shiny.
• Shock and Awe: Dragonair's Thunder Wave.
• Signature Mon: Her Dratini, which then evolved into Dragonair after Clair protect it from Team Rocket. Dragonair is the last Pokémon Clair sends out in the Gym Battle against Ash, and it proves to be a formidable foe by taking Pikachu out with ease, requiring Charizard to finish the job. Clair is regularly seen with Dragonair by her side in fantasies and Pokémon openings, though strangely absent when Clair returns in Black & White.^note The Dragonite on her team is actually the Dragonite from the Dragon Holy Land rather than Dragonair fully evolved.

Indigo League

Lorelei (Kanna)/Prima

Voiced in Japanese by: Maria Kawamura

Voiced in English by: Jessica Calvello

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Gaby Willert

Voiced in European Spanish by: Olga Cano

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: Lorelei's anime design was used in Pokémon Stadium, but she had sandy-blonde hair and a purple jacket.
• Adaptation Name Change: The English dub of the anime gave her a Dub Name Change to match the Lip Lock.
• Adaptational Curves: In Pokémon Red and Blue, Lorelei's sex appeal was limited wearing a Little Black Dress with a subtle slit to show off her legs. The anime gave her large breasts to go with them.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In Pokémon Red and Blue, Lorelei was a haughty snob of an Ice Queen who took offense to being beaten. In the anime, she's normally a pleasant and calm woman who only becomes an Ice Queen in battle, and even then she's no snob.
• An Ice Person: She has Ice Pokémon.
• Break the Haughty: Ash had been getting a pretty big head about his winning streak, and even tries to goad Lorelei by claiming she is afraid to battle him. Sure, one of the best trainers in the region is intimidated by a random big mouth.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Lorelei's Slowbro makes quick work of Charizard.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Ash's team gets a few hits in, but she still demolishes him.
• Dub Name Change: Was called Prima in the English dub of the series in order to match the mouth movements—"Prima" has the same amount of syllables as "Kanna", her name in the Japanese version.
• Even the Girls Want Her: People often joke that this is how Misty reacted to her in Lorelei's episode in the series.
  • A little hero-worship was definitely involved, given how she gushes over the Water-types which Lorelei has trained.
• Hot Teacher: Ash and company encounter Lorelei on Mandarin Island, where she has come to give a lecture and demonstration on pokémon battling.
• Hotter and Sexier: Lorelei was hardly ugly in the original Pokémon Red and Blue, but the anime upgrades her to a full Ms. Fanservice, and the color contrast of her outfit highlights her Adaptational Curves. Pokémon Puzzle League for the N64 takes it even further by making her personality a little bit flirty.
• Inconsistent Dub: 4Kids opted to call her Prima in order to match the two-syllable Lip Lock the anime gave them to work with. In Pokémon Puzzle League for the N64, her name was restored to Lorelei.
• Making a Splash: She is admired by Misty because of her Water-Type Pokémon.
• Male Gaze: At one point during a conversation with Ash, Lorelei leans over exactly enough to aim her cleavage at the camera.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Lorelei is the name of a famous, legendary siren who bewitched men and lured them to their deaths—which is even more appropriate since the anime made her a Ms. Fanservice.
  • Kanna, her Japanese name, means "Well Blossomed Flower", which has led to some dirty jokes about how "Well Blossomed" she is.
• Ms. Fanservice: The anime gives Lorelei Adaptational Curves and subjects her to Male Gaze.
• Signature Mon: Lorelei uses many Ice-type and Water-type Pokémon, but her Cloyster is her main Pokémon powerhouse, and she uses it to beat Ash's Pikachu to teach Ash a lesson.
• Smug Smiler: Lorelei's cocky Cloyster◊.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Invoked. Outside of battles she's very kind and warm with everyone. In battle, she turns cold and merciless like ice.

Bruno (Shiba)

Voiced in Japanese by: Toshiyuki Morikawa

Voiced in English by: Maddie Blaustein

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Carlos Hugo Hidalgo

Voiced in European Spanish by: Miguel Ángel Montero

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• Badass Normal: Doesn't even use a single Pokémon to stop a giant rampaging Onix...in fact, we only see one of his other Pokémon, Hitmonchan, for about five seconds early into the episode.
• Broken Pedestal: A subversion, after Ash and Brock begged Bruno to take them as students Bruno agreed to it as long as they do what he says. However to Bruno it was a rather transparent plot to get Ash and Brock to do some chores for him in which he inevitably admitted to that. Brock tried to do a sneak attack on Bruno in which Brock almost knocked Bruno out and over the course of the episode Misty suspects that Bruno is a phony. However Bruno definitely proves how powerful he is while giving them a lesson in The Power of Friendship while taming a wild Onix and quickly becomes a Rebuilt Pedestal instead.
• The Cameo: Bruno appears in the very first episode as the trainer of the Nidorino in the match Ash is watching on TV.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: His strength and agility does slightly border on being superhuman.
• Dishing Out Dirt: His Onix is Rock-type.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Is the only Elite Four member mentioned here in this page whom Ash got to meet before he went through the Kanto Pokémon League.
• Gentle Giant: Large as he may be, he is quite gentle and prefers to use friendship to calm a rampaging Onix than doing a straight up battle.
• Humble Hero: Who would have thought one of the Elite Four could be this down-to-Earth?
• Manly Man: A shirtless, badass, muscular martial artist and an Elite Four trainer. Ash and Brock wanted to become his students because of this.
• Signature Mon: He is greatly associated with Onix, despite being an Elite Four that specializes Fighting-types.
• Shock and Awe: His Hitmonchan knows Thunderpunch.
• Wax On, Wax Off: Subverted. Brock thinks he was doing special training by doing Burno's chores but in reality, Bruno really wants his chores done and has no special training in mind.

Lance (Wataru)

Voiced in Japanese by: Susumu Chiba

Voiced in English by: Wayne Grayson

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Enzo Fortuny (Original Series), Héctor Emmanuel Gómez (Advance Generation Episode 98), Víctor Ugarte (Advance Generation Episode 97 and Journeys)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Jorge Saudinós (OG Series), Miguel Ángel Garzón (AG Series), Juan Amador Pulido (Journeys Series)

The Champion of the Kanto and Johto regions.

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• The Ace: Has about the highest number of high-prestige titles attributed to out of any character so far, being the Champion, one of the Elite Four, a member of the Pokémon G-Men, the Pokémon World Tournament winner, and a finalist of the World Coronation Series. He was also called "a great Pokémon Master", a title stated to be above Champion. Even after his loss to Leon, he is still in the Masters Eight as of JN109.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Lance relies on brute force in battles, believing that the best defense is a good offense.
• Blow You Away: Dragonite's Whirlwind.
• The Bus Came Back: Makes a return in the 2019 series to have a match with Leon in Galar, after last appearing over 700 episodes ago.
• Energy Weapon: Dragonite and Gyarados' Hyper Beam.
• Fauxshadow: He's repeatedly hinted throughout Journeys to be one of Ash's future opponents in the Master Class, with his battle against Leon establishing the World Coronation Series and Lance appearing in several fantasy sequences that tease Ash's upcoming opponents. Paul also battles Ash in JN114 with a Gyarados that specifically mirrors Lance's. However, he ultimately ends up losing to Diantha on the opposite end of the bracket, making him the only Champion that Ash has never battled.
• Flanderization: While his battle style from JN012 was power-oriented in nature, he was still tactical in his choice of moves against Leon and willing to go on the defensive when necessary. Come his battle with Diantha in the next season, he's unwilling to engage in any strategy beyond spamming brute force attacks, a mindset that does not fare well against Diantha.
• Forgot About His Powers: In JN012, he was well prepared for Hyper Beam's recharge drawback and had Gyarados use the battlefield to block attacks while immobile. Unfortunately for him, he never thinks to use this strategy against Diantha in the Masters Tournament, which ultimately costs him the battle.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Essentially this during both of his two-parter appearances.
• Graceful Loser: Like in the games, he's not angry at losing to Leon, but instead happy to see the rise of a new champion.
• An Ice Person: His Gyarados is revealed to have learned Ice Fang when he returns in Journeys.
• The Leader: He's both a member of the Elite Four and Champion. Additionally, he's a member of the Pokémon G-Men.
• Making a Splash: He catches and trains the Water-type Red Gyarados.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: A Dragon-trainer who is also a Secret Police agent in the anime.
• Oneshot Character: The only member of the Kanto Elite Four to avert this, appearing in multiple episodes.
• Recurring Character: Unlike the other Elite Four members mentioned here he actually appeared in more than one episode (granted his episodes are far apart, but still).
• Series Continuity Error: His return episode in Journeys only calls him a member of the Elite Four, despite him having been established him as a Champion as early as the original series. When the Masters Eight is revealed in JN109, he's referred to as a Champion again. In JN115, he's referred to as the new Champion of Kanto and Johto.
• Signature Mon: While he still owns a Dragonite, his Red Gyarados gets more attention here, and by Journeys, has become his de facto ace, being featured in his battle Leon, appearing alongside Lance in all promotional material for the Masters Tournament, along with a Gyarados being used in Paul's new team alongside a Metagross and a Garchomp, two other Champions' aces.
• Shock and Awe: Dragonite's Thunder Wave.
• The Unfought: As of the end of Journeys, he's the only champion, and the only member of the Masters Eight, that Ash hasn't fought in any capacity.
• The Worf Effect:
  • He and Gyarados put up an incredible fight against Leon's Charizard at the World Coronation Series, but ultimately lost to Galar's Champion.
  • Implied to happen offscreen between JN012 and JN109. At the end of the previous WCS series, he was ranked 2nd. When the final Masters Eight lineup for the following season is revealed, he's in 4th place, with Cynthia and Steven in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
  • He loses again to Diantha in the first round of the Masters Tournament.

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