Webcomic / Pokémon-X

Pokémon-X is a Sprite Comic made by Recon A. Dye. It is an PG-13-Rated parody of the Generation III Pokémon games, Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, and has been running since June 2003.

The cast includes, but is not limited to:

• Brendan Richards: The main character and hero of our story. Kind of stupid, but he doesn't let that stop him. His starter is Torchic/Combusken.
• May Birch: The Only Sane Woman of the cast. Sometimes drifts into Deadpan Snarker territory, and is kind of a bitch. May or may not be attracted to Brendan. She's also a Yaoi fangirl. Her starter is Mudkip/Marshtomp.
• Monty Ray Zuma: A recurring OC and May's stalker ex-boyfriend, who thinks Brendan wants to steal her from him. Doesn't seem to operate on the same reality as the rest of the world.
• Rocky: Brendan's Talking Poochyena (later Mightyena). Afflicted with not one, but two strains of the Pokérus virus.
• Wally Anderson: The Loopy One. Also a Jerkass. Supposedly sick with some incurable cough. Is fond of the color green to the point of it being a fetish. His starter is Ralts/Kirlia, and later is given a Treecko/Grovyle by May.

For a while seemed to be on the path to being an Orphaned Series, having suffered extreme Schedule Slip in August 2009, causing the comic to fall several months behind. It updated regularly for awhile, but the website posted the date that the comic was originally intended to be added (the October 30th comic was actually added June 25th, and so on). It appears to be updating as of this time^note  April 2023, but with the alternate dates used it's hard to tell how regular the updates are and will be in the future.

Not to be confused with Pokémon X and Y, the 10th anniversary CD album titled Pokémon X: 10 Years of Pokémon, Lugia (which has been referred to as "Pokémon X" in some media), or Pokémon Crystal (which was once known as Pokémon X).

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Pokémon-X provides examples of the following tropes:

• Accidental Pervert: Brendan is in May's house and May's mom says he should go introduce himself to May. Brendan walks to her room just as May is changing clothes.
• Achievements in Ignorance: Brendan tells his Torchic to use Tackle. May points out that Torchic doesn't know tackle. Brendan just says "you just run and crash into something."
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Brendan has naturally white hair in the webcomic as opposed to the games, where it's simply a hat.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: May repeatedly refuses to believe in Brendan's stories about Kanto/Johto-region Pokémon, such as the Onix as well as landmarks from Johto which Brendan describes. She also doesn't believe Team Rocket exists. This despite their world having hundreds of varieties of Pokémon, and her having encountered Team Aqua and Team Magma already.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • Wally doesn't particularly care when May gives him plenty of good reasons why he would want to fight Monty, but he flips out when she says that Monty hates green.
  • Meta-example: on the forums, where one of the users was banned for, according to Recon: "Over spamming, posting pornographic links, constantly posting stupid and mispelled comments, and jaywalking."
• Art Evolution: The author changes up the use of sprites, borders, etc. on everyone once in a while. Most noticeably, midway through he started using Pokémon Mystery Dungeon sprites for the Pokémon. When Rocky was changed, he became smaller than before and it was Handwaved as Rocky grooming himself.
• Author Avatar: The author often does various odd jobs (mover, doctor, notary) for which he probably didn't want to bother using another sprite.
• Author Filibuster: A comment about why a Pokémon egg counts towards your total of six Pokémon turns into a somewhat out-of-character discussion on how the law counting unhatched Pokémon as Pokémon means the world is run by religious fanatics to whom scientific reason does not appeal, which takes up two-thirds of the day's comic.
• Berserk Button:
  • If you don't like green, Wally will find you.
  • As for Rocky, don't try to put him in his PokéBall.
• Big "WHAT?!": Rocky using Metal Claw against a Geodude prompts one, from EVERYBODY.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Only in the holiday specials. However, Recon does appear in the main story on multiple occasions.
• Breast Expansion: As a Christmas wish to Brendan, the author does this to May, leading to what may be the first pixelated case of this.
• Brick Joke: Many.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Professor Birch. Brendan also is usually an idiot, but knows a surprising amount about botany and chemistry.
• Cassandra Truth: No one believes Brendan about the existence of types of Pokémon seen in Johto, such as Murkrow or Onyx.
• Catholic Schoolgirls Rule: Turns out May was one of these prior to the comic. And still has the uniform.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Brendan's text boxes are in red, May's text boxes are in blue, Wally's text boxes are in Green, and Rocky's text boxes are Yellow.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • May makes Brendan agree to some conditions before their rematch that completely favor her, and she still manages to lose by grabbing a hold of the Idiot Ball.
    1. They must use their starter Pokémon: she has type advantage.
    2. No Rocky.
    3. Only two Pokémon and one she knows she has type advantage on.
  • Generally speaking, Brendan wins a great many of his fights using pretty underhanded tactics (mainly Sand Attack spam to lower his opponent's accuracy and make all their moves miss). Several opponents have commented on how sheerly lame it is.
• Comically Missing the Point: Brendan describes May to Professor Birch, saying that she's 5'4", 100 lbs, brown hair, and then mumbles "nice... firm... breasts..." while drooling (it's a long story, okay?). Professor Birch looks shocked. After Brendan leaves, Birch gets excited... because he thinks May is cooking chicken breasts for dinner.
• Confusion Fu: Though almost all characters use attacks and abilities that effect the chance of something happening, Brendan uses this to a even further effect by having Rocky use his Random attack which can be practically any move. It either won him fights or made him look really stupid, depending on his luck.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: May is not pleased to learn that she could have avoided traveling with Brendan and not sent Monty to her father. She still blames it on Brendan.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Wally vs Monty.
  • And then Monty waltzed right over the Pokémon Center and challenged May to another Curb-Stomp Battle.
  • Also, Brendan's first gym battle with Wattson, which is currently the first and only time a Gym leader defeated him.
• Deus ex Machina: Not only was the Random attack sudden, but it is almost always just what is needed for the battle that is happening.
  • Note the "almost". It did once turn out to be Mud Sport... against a Geodude. Who used the exact same move before with the same result.
  • Also, during the battle with Wattson, he ended up using Water Gun on a Magnemite. ^note The 20 base power more than offsets it doing normal damage.
  • It also became Spider Web at one point.
• Did Not Think This Through: Brendan falls victims to this when he decides to use Wingull against Wattson.
• Double Entendre: Many jokes will be made about balls, and occasionally something else will give rise to such a joke.
  • This one gets special mention as part of the "other" category.
  • Beefy, Brendan's "Little Friend".
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Monty, in issue 999, ended up getting killed off in a very similar way to Poochie from The Simpsons. And it is hilarious.
• Dumbass Has a Point: From time to time, Brendan says something intelligent, which even impresses May. For example:
  May: But Torchic doesn't know tackle! It only knows Scratch and Growl!
  Brendan: What? You just run and crash into something.
  May: ... Whatever! Mudkip use Scratch!
  (nothing happens)
  Torchic: Tor Tor Tor.
  Brendan: May. May. May. What did you think was gonna happen? WHAT is Mudkip gonna scratch with huh? WHAT?
  • Another case is in the first gym where he runs into a trainer who had a team of three Pokémon, all of them geududes. Brandon points out that the trainer's team needs a lot more variety.
• Flamboyant Gay: Steven has been rendered as this in this comic, and he speaks with a stereotypical lisp.
• Flanderization: Wally's obsession with green Pokémon may in part be based on the fact that all of his Pokémon in the Pokémon Adventures manga are green (Cacturne, Roselia, Flygon, Grovyle, Kirlia, and Kecleon). Dismissed by Author.
• Foreshadowing: A seemingly innocuous celebration of Pokémon-X's birthday actually foreshadows the next storyline.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • Some of the effects of moves run contrary to what would happen in the game, such as Sand-Attack making Vital Throw (which has no accuracy rating, so it ignores accuracy and evasion checks when attacking) miss. Additionally, critical hits are far more common in the comic than they are in the game.
  • Zubat's Astonish hitting May's Zigzagoon for no reason.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Played straight.
• Groin Attack: "Brendan received a kick in the nuts!"
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: May's case of "Numel toe".
• Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: It had to come up sometime.
• I Let You Win: After Brendan defeats Norman, he and May discuss why Norman didn't have Slaking use Facade while it was poisoned, potentially winning the battle. Brendan dismisses it as Norman simply being dumb. However, Gym Guy's discussion with Norman reveals the latter was deliberately holding back during the battle.
• Imagine Spot: Rocky imagines Brendan commanding him when he is forced to fight Team Magma alone. Later, Brendan creates a plan to rescue Captain Stern, which is rendered in stick figures and is full-on delusional.
• Interspecies Romance: Brendan's mom likes Machoke. Brendan was only able to convince his mother to let him go off on his journey by promising to catch a Machoke for her. When he finally does... it's a girl.
• I Reject Your Reality: Monty, so much. Every time he loses, he instead claims that he has won and crushed his opponent. He also refuses to believe that he and May aren't together anymore.
• Item Get!: Heavily lampshaded in the whole comic. Every time Brendan gets an item, he holds the item up in a "Link from Legend of Zelda" fashion, emitting a blinding light. The funny part is that Brendan himself is completely unaware of that. Also, this has been double lampshaded once.
• Jerkass: Wally, May and Brendan all have their moments. Wally outright insults Brendan, Brendan makes sexist comments and gets angry over Wally and May catching more Pokémon, May set up their Pokenavs so any money the other two got in battle would go to her account
• Kill It with Fire: Stated by Brendan during the Flannery chapter.
• Lampshade Hanging: Looooooots of it. One of the Running Gags of the series is lampshading how the Random Encounters happen whenever anyone says how they need to be getting somewhere quickly.
• Let X Be the Unknown: It has been hinted that the title is a reference to an item or creature.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Parodied when Brendan visits the Petalburg Gym for the first time. It is strongly implied Mailman Joe is his real father, due to the obvious resemblance.
• Mighty Glacier: Brendan's Makit, after it evolves into the giant Hariyama.
• Mistaken for Pregnant: In another of the guest comics, done by Recon's ex-girlfriend BAM. (Not canon)
• My Beloved Smother: Wally's mother is an extreme example, to the point of being mildly psychotic.
• Mythology Gag: Max cameos in a flashback in #994: It's easy to miss, though.
• Naked First Impression: Partial; May is topless when Brendan first meets her. Leads to a slap.
• Noodle Incident:
  • "And that's why I can never go to another Avril Lavigne concert."
  • From an earlier comic: "We're never supposed to speak about that again, remember?
• Only Sane Man: Brendan shifts between an idiot and this at times. He's capable of coming up with great arguments and leaps of logic, but other times he doesn't even know how simple concepts of the Pokémon world work.
• Orphaned Punchline: Repeatedly. One was actually completed years later in a flashback.
• Overused Running Gag: This comic from October 2003.
• Power Glows: Naturally, the double-dose of the Pokérus that gave Rocky "Random Attack" and the ability to talk also turned him gold and shiny.
• Punny Name: The Gym Guy, whose name is... Jim Gui. Whenever anyone calls him "Jim Gui", he says, "Please, call me Gym Guy!" Better, whenever anyone calls him "Gym Guy", he turns right back around and tells them to call him "Jim Gui", thus thoroughly baffling everyone.
• Running Gag: Lots of them. Here be a partial list:
  • Brendan trying to compare Pokémon to those in previous adventures, without anyone believing they exist. One example is when he tries to tell May about an Onix, which she disbelieves.
  • Somebody asking "Who would be stupid enough to...", which the result always being Professor Birch. Lampshaded in-universe by the Professor himself.
  • Wally's overly long flashbacks. At one point, Brendan BREAKS INTO one of his flashbacks to stop it.
  • Everybody hates Monty, but the author hates him more than anyone, and he is glad to remind us in the comments section of every chapter he appears in.
  • Everybody just calls Pokeballs "balls", which created quite a few interesting situations.
    May: What's it with this guy always giving me his balls?
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The April 17, 2009 comic shows that Groudon is one. This may also suggest that Kyogre might be one as well. Rayquaza (The one who was supposed to calm them down) and the Regis (Probably just golems doing whatever they are told to do) are still up for debate. The next comic suggests that Groudon is like this because Love Makes You Evil. Kyogre could be its lover, but that's nothing but wild speculation at this point.
• Self-Serving Memory: Brendan remembers the results of his "Bullet Seed" joke differently than May or Wally.
• Serious Business: Wally with the color green. Wally and Monty get into a Pokémon battle based on the fact that the latter's favorite shade of green is teal.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Replacing most Nurses Joy are "Nurse Wrath", "Nurse Pride", "Nurse Glutton", "Nurse Sloth" and "Nurse Lust".
• Shout-Out:
  • To Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series. Author Recon even puts new episodes of the series in his news posts every time a new episode comes out. It helps that he was good friends with LittleKuriboh, the creator of The Abridged Series, in real life (thus the lampshaded Enforced Plug at the end of one of the episodes).
  • To The Mask, starring Jim Carrey, on the page for 06/27/2003.
  • Kung Pow! Enter the Fist, in the 02/11/2005 one, and it's actually pretty funny.
  • "Push the button, Frank."
  • There also is a Running Gag where Brendan, whenever he obtains a new item, holds it over his head in a beam of light, humming a tune.
  • OH, GOD! THE FOG AMPLIFIES THE LIGHT!
  • Groudon takes a page out of Rita Repulsa's book.
• Sorry, I Left the BGM On: Comic Number 630.
• Stalker with a Crush: Monty.
• Super Serum: Two separate strains of Pokérus.
• Surrounded by Idiots: May appears to be the only intelligent person in all of Hoenn.
  • That being said, she's had her moments of idiocy, such as ordering Mudkip to use scratch (it doesn't have claws), not believing the existence of pretty much anything from the Kanto/Jhoto regions, and frequently missing out on valuable sources of information (such as asking people for directions or reading maps).
• Take Over the World: Wally has stated he plans to do this after getting more green colored Pokémon.
• Take That!: "This is a crappy reality TV show that's obviously scripted?"
• Talking Animal: Rocky
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Recon Dye. How do you react when your fans get annoyed about your overuse of ball-related jokes and puns? Get John St. John to put them in their place. Wow.
• Top Ten List: Memorial Day 2005 saw a list of the top ten moments from the first two years of the comic. Looking at the results, Recon came to the conclusion that his readers enjoy anything that has to do with "naughty parts".
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Brendan and May. Rocky even points it out.
• Villain Ball: Played for Laughs during Brendan's battle with Maxie. After Maxie's Camerupt defeats Brendan's Rocky, Maxie decides to try and have Camerupt kill Brendan directly. However, the attack misses because of the Sand-Attack that hit it prior, and Camerupt faints soon afterwards due to it being poisoned, resulting in a draw. Brendan points out that if Maxie didn't go for theatrics, he would have won.
• Webcomics Long-Runners: Has been going on since 2003.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Brendan has a crippling fear of tall grass. Less so in later comics. Sort of justified by the games themselves; the very first games would not allow you to step into tall grass without a Pokémon to protect you. Tall grass has wild Pokémon that can hurt or kill you. This is less of a problem if you're a Trainer, and considering that the comic happens over a period of several days, he's getting over it remarkably quickly in "real" time.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Brandon initially assumes that Rocky's Random attack is centered around using attacks that start with the letter "M", seeing him use Metal Claw and Mud Sport, but then he later broke the trend.
• A Wizard Did It: stated twice. (Possibly just an homage to the saying.)
• Yaoi Fangirl: In an early 2006 comic.

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