< Pokémon

Pokémon/YMMV


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Main Video Game series

Spinoff games

Manga

Stage production

Fanfic/Other unofficial works

YMMVs that apply to the franchise as a whole:

  • Accidental Innuendo: Basically, anyone who talks about Poké Balls.
    • In fact, in HeartGold and SoulSilver, when the player first meets Kurt, he says, "(Player), eh? You want me to make some balls for you?"
    • Also anyone who talks about breeding Pokémon.
    • Yanmega's Japanese name, Megayanma, made plenty of censor filters jump, along with Cofagrigus.
    • Professor Oak came.
    • Magmar and especially Magby's Japanese names: Boober and Booby, respectively! Of course, it was MEANT to reference birds like the Blue-Footed Booby, but... well...
      • And Magmortar is Booburn. Ouch.
    • The fur in between Reshiram's legs is rather...suspicious and quite an unfortunate design choice.
      • Not just Reshiram. Quite a few Pokémon have a tuft of fur between their legs, like Blaziken and Beartic.
      • White Kyurem gets a few of Reshiram's characteristics... but not that suspicious placing of fur.
    • The move Harden could make a few people with dirty minds giggle
  • Adaptation Displacement: Variation and played straight. Pokémon Special is far more well-known than any other Pokémon manga, even in its native country (where most manga stay), to the point where many consider it to be the official Pokémon manga. Thanks to the late 1990s Pokémon craze, the anime (specifically the first season) is more well known than the games even to this day, despite the games being one of Nintendo and Game Freak's biggest franchises and the second biggest gaming franchise ever, and despite the anime having become less popular than the games.[1]
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: NPC trainers and the player character can easily be twisted into Jerkasses with regards to their interactions:
    • You're wandering down a road miles away from home, your Pokémon are weak, possibly paralyzed or poisoned, several are knocked out, you're out of healing items and are desperately looking for a Pokémon center to heal your Pokémon but don't know your way around the area. As you struggle onward another trainer spots you and immediately challenges you to a battle, giving you no chance to back down and having no regard for the safety and well-being of your 'Mons.
    • But then, the reverse. You see a trainer looking down the road and talk to them to challenge them to a battle. They only have one or two Pokémon five levels lower than yours, and depending on their dialogue said Pokémon may be freshly caught, or the trainer is on a losing streak, or is just out for a stroll. They may also be a young child or an old man or lady. You proceed to crush their Pokémon, take their money as spoils of victory, and leave them alone in the middle of nowhere while you continue on to find another trainer to do the same to. You do this in pursuit of obtaining the Gym Badges and being a Pokémon Champion, something which in-universe, especially in Black and White, is seen as the hollow, pointless goal of pursuing power just for the sake of power. Congratulations, you're a Sociopathic Hero Villain Protagonist!
  • Americans Hate Jynx: Looking like a parody of blackface acting will do that.
    • The series has different Pokémon names for the Japanese, English[2], French, German, Chinese and Korean versions, with all characters and locations having different names in each translation as well. Generally, these localizations are well-liked by each of their target audiences. However, French-speaking Quebecers, who generally grew up with the English games and a Quebec French dub of the anime that used the English names, are prone to have somewhat negative opinions of the French games and TCG (which are imported from France, and use their localizations). Similarly, Latin Americans play the English games, and are critical of Spanish character and location names (used in Spain), with some Latin American users on Pokéteca (the Spanish Bulbapedia) causing an uproar over the use of said Spanish names on the wiki rather than the English ones.
  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: In Generation IV, fan-favorite starter Pokémon Blaziken was outclassed competitively by the less popular starter Infernape. In Generation V, Blaziken's Dream World ability, Speed Boost, not only reversed this, but brought its usefulness to almost Game Breaker levels.
    • Dragonite never gets the spotlight as well, and suffer the same case as Blaziken with Salamence. Come generation 5 giving Dragonite 2 new useful moves and a new ability that practically allows it to survive most attacks thrown at it at full health. It goes from outclassed pseudo-legendary that nearly dropped to UU to a frightening beast that occasionally appear in top five most used pokemon of OU after the metagame has been properly formed and is considered as the hardest threat to handle out of sheer unpredictability. To say that the Dragonite fans are pleased would be an understatement.
    • The Nobunaga's Ambition crossover. To many people, a Koei crossover is a good sign that the Pokémon Company is acknowledging and catering to its older fans (most of which are Otaku).
  • Badass Decay: Persian was a threat in the early years of the franchise, but, after Slash failed to land critical hits 100% of the time, its overall mediocre stats showed.
    • Alakazam (and the Psychic-type in general) has become progressively less threatening with each generation.
      • Charizard too, though at least it got a bit better this generation with Solar Power. Emphasis on the "bit". Not as prevalent as the above though, considering that it has never been OU.
      • Tauros and Snorlax. And HOW. They gone from the King of the metagame they were in, and the latter has been considered as the most dominant and influental pokemon in existence. Both falls rather hard. To put it simply, theres tons of litteral Badass Normal that suffers this trope.
  • Base Breaker:
    • Dragonite is one of the most popular Pokémon ever (by way of being a Badass Adorable dragon and Lance's signature Pokémon), scoring high in popularity polls[3]. However, it has also drawn ire for being a randomly cuddly and orange dragon that evolves from a slender, elegant blue serpent, for standing out from other pseudo-legendaries (which generally follow a theme of "ferocious, Badass, predatory fantastic creatures"), and for its oddly Barney-like appearance.
    • Pignite and Emboar, for being the third Fire/Fighting starter evolutions in a row.
    • Oshawott's design was highly polarizing when it was first revealed, but its evolution, Dewott, showed the emergence of samurai-like qualities and was rather widely well-received. Then their final stage, Samurott, was revealed, whose unexpected incorporation of sea lion qualities into its shogun motif promptly re-broke the base; being an apparent quadruped undermined many fans' expectations of a shell-sword wielding samurai. As it turns out, the shell armor on either its forelegs do contain swords which Samurott uses in combat, somehow still without being bipedal - artwork portrays it as using a sword in one limb while standing on the other three.
    • Zoroark was deliberately designed to be an Ensemble Darkhorse by copying many of Lucario's traits, which works for some and not for others.
    • As a powerful version mascot legendary, Reshiram is quite popular, but some find its design to be rather silly.
      • To a slightly greater extent, Dialga and Palkia. Although all box legendaries are popular overall, the creation duo seems to have fewer devoted fans because they just plain look weird compared to the others.
    • Even Series Mascot Pikachu is not immune. Outside of its intended demographic of young children, it has a huge number of fans who love the thing to death, but also has a legion of haters who criticize its overexposure and saccharine cuteness. An IGN Pokémon popularity poll placed Pikachu in a surprising 48th place out of all creatures in the series (to be fair, IGN's demographic consists mostly of young adult male gamers).
      • It has gotten worse since the introduction of Generation V, with Pikachu getting more screen time and media exposure than any other Mon when it's not even catch-able in the main games of the generation.
    • Conkeldurr. While it's an extremely powerful and useful Pokémon (even competitively), it's generally viewed as (and possibly designed to be) extremely ugly.
      • Its pre-evolution, Gurdurr may even be more widely hated, because it's just as hideous, if not more, than Conkeldurr, and it's a common annoyance in caves when you're looking for a rare Pokemon or have run out of repels.
    • Ash, Ash, ASH. Either he's a lovable kid character and your revered childhood hero, or an immensely annoying Idiot Hero who'll always be ten years old and who doesn't deserve to be the second-biggest (unofficial) icon of the franchise behind Pikachu. Generally, Ash shares both his fandom and hatedom with Pikachu (although it's not uncommon to like Pikachu but hate Ash, mostly because there are other Pikachu besides his)
  • Big "What?": 300 Pokémon in addition to the original 156 Unova Pokémon are now available. If this happens to be true, then it may turn into something awesome.
    • Also reaction to the situation like throwing 20+ Ultra Balls at paralyzed Zapdos that is put to red HP and all fail, and then Poké Ball catches it.
  • Broken Base:
  • Character Tiers: A heavily present feature in the metagame, and kind of necessary, given that for all of Game Freak's tweaks and additions, some Pokémon still clearly have it better than others. Most communities make an effort to organize the tiers thoughtfully, at least.
  • Complete Monster: There are a few examples all over the franchise. The video games have Ghetsis in Pokémon Black and White and it's sequel, Darkrai in the second set of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, Purple Eyes in the third Pokémon Ranger game, and the Cipher masterminds of Pokémon Colosseum and it's sequel XD: Gale of Darkness. The anime has the Iron Mask Marauder from Pokémon 4Ever, Dr. Yung from Pokémon: The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon, Hunter J and Cyrus from the Sinnoh saga, Grings Kodai from Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions, Xerosic from the Kalos saga, and Minister Alva from Pokémon: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel. And the various mangas across the franchise give us the likes of Sird and (again) Ghetsis in Pokémon Special, Charon in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure, Io in Phantom Thief Pokémon 7, and the manga adaptation of Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life 's depiction of Marcus.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: Has its own page.
  • Demonic Spiders:
    • It's difficult (if not impossible) to flee from wild Pokémon with high Speed stats without a special item or ability.
    • During the first generation, trapping moves like Wrap prevented the opponent from taking any action, meaning a fast Pokémon could inflict it regularly with the opponent unable to take any action whatsoever. The same applies to Pokémon who could inflict Sleep.
    • "Selfdestruct" and "Explosion" actually inflict twice their stated attack power in damage (prior to Generation V), making them very likely to KO the opponent. There goes your chance for catching it, and all the experience you would have otherwise earned. Are you in an area populated by wild Voltorb or Geodudes? Hope you brought plenty of Revives!
    • The Rock-type move "Rollout" hits 3-5 turns in a row and doubles in power every time it hits (85% of the time). Rock is one of the best offensive types, inflicting an additional double damage against the (very common) Flying and Bug types, and resisted only by the (less common) Ground, Fighting, and Steel types.
    • Watchog. The entire genus is a walking middle finger to Nuzlockers.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Naturally, the series is full of these.
    • Charizard is one of the most recognized and popular Pokémon in the Western world, having nabbed 1st place in the IGN popularity poll mentioned above (indicating that it could be the most popular Pokémon among the older male fandom).
    • Mewtwo is also extremely popular, especially among said older male demographic. Being the original ultimate Pokémon definitely helps.
    • Mew is popular as well.
    • Pidgey. Still liked by many fans despite its shortcomings.
    • Pikachu, natch. Clefairy was originally meant to be the mascot of the franchise, but Pikachu got a better reception, up to the point of becoming...
      • Base Breaker: Yeah, it reached a point where people cannot stand the yellow rodent.
    • Meowth, probably because of its appearance in the anime. Almost the same case as Pikachu, but toned down quite a bit.
    • Jigglypuff was popular enough to get an appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series 3 times in a row, even returning when Mewtwo was left out and its anime counterpart went to join Chuck Cunningham. It's not so bad, either.
    • Eevee and its many evolutions are very popular.
      • Especially Glaceon. It's like an Ice-type Espeon, except that it's a LITERAL Mighty Glacier.
    • Lugia is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more popular than its counterpart Ho-Oh.
    • Blaziken in Gen III, much like Charizard in Gen I.
      • And the Fandom Rejoiced: In Gen IV, fan-favorite Blaziken was outclassed competitively by newcomer Infernape in both speed and versatility. Come Gen V, Blaziken's Dream World ability, Speed Boost, and a large damage buff to the previously spoony Hi Jump Kick attack, and it's able to easily surpass Infernape in physical offense capabilities.
      • Blaziken's always been stronger than Infernape, but Infernape's way faster. Speed is crucial in the metagame, so Blaziken usually wound up on the sidelines.
    • Mudkip. Everyone liek Mudkipz.
    • Shinx/Luxio/Luxray
    • Lucario. Became the unofficial mascot of Gen IV by way of Popularity Power, in part thanks to the 8th movie and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
    • Ludicolo has been one ever since it was solidified as Miror B's (a darkhorse in his own right) signature Pokémon.
    • Gardevoir is a Rule 34 magnet and would often place high in popularity polls.
    • All of the pseudo-legendaries (Dragonite, Tyranitar, Salamence, Metagross, Garchomp and Hydreigon). Most powerful Pokémon that fall short of being pseudo-legendaries but are still Awesome Yet Practical and have a cool design are often this too, with Gengar, Gyarados, Scizor (below), Skarmory, Excadrill, Haxorus and Chandelure being notable examples.
    • In the first Gen, there were only two useful Bug-types: Ninja raptor mantis Scyther and Pinsir, the former becoming a pretty big darkhorse. Scyther eventually got an evolution, Scizor, which is Awesome Yet Practical and built on Scyther's already-huge popularity.
    • A LOT of fans wish Joltik was the most well-known Electric-type.
    • Golurk is a freaking Humongous Mecha!
    • And Braviary is A TRUE AMERICAN EAGLE.
    • Snivy and his evolutionary family. Also known as "Smugleaf".
    • Zekrom, ever since Black and White were released stateside[4]. Similar to Lugia, White has been reported to sell more copies than Black in North America (and some other places), most likely due to the second cover-art mascot being one of the most Badass Pokémon ever according to many fans.
    • Genesect, prehistoric insect-turned-cyborg weapon of mass destruction.
    • Scrafty is also a very well-liked Pokémon from Generation 5. It looks cool, has an interesting theme, and is uniquely useful in competitive play; it and Scraggy (its previous form) are the only dark/fighting types, which means they're the only fighting type Pokémon immune to psychic attacks, and they get STAB on two very useful types. Scrafty's possible abilities are also very good. Moxie increases its attack every time it defeats an enemy, making it a good sweeper. Shed Skin has a chance of removing a status effect, so it's great for a defensive set.
      • The official Nintendo 2011 Black and White tournament gave out a fairly decent Scrafty as a nod to its popularity as a team fighter.
    • On the anime side of things, Jessie and James definitely qualify. You'd be hard-pressed to find young adults of a certain generation who don't remember their signature motto.
  • Ear Worm: Many of the tunes.
  • Epileptic Trees: It has not only one Wild Mass Guessing page, the long one for the main games and the anime combined, but one for crossovers, one for future main series generations, and pages for the Pokémon Special manga and the Colosseum and Mystery Dungeon spinoff games. In short, there's a really good reason that Sudowoodo is the picture on the Epileptic Trees page.
    • Compare the Venonat and Caterpie lines. Now think about the 1st gen butterflies getting their sprites mixed up.
    • The resemblance between Cloyster's and Gastly's faces has spawned tons of theories about early game concepts that might have been dropped, such as Gastly being a Cloyster's ghost or evolutionary relative. The fact that Gastly comes after Cloyster in the Pokédex only adds fuel to the fire.
    • To this day, there exists a theory that Cubone was originally meant to be the baby in Kangaskhan's pouch. One of The Missingnos in the original games that automatically evolved into Kangaskhan is often thought to be the Dummied Out code.
    • Some fans speculate, due to their shared ability to learn Transform, similar normal and shiny colours, and identical weight, that Ditto is a failed Mew clone whose genetic code collapsed.
    • Victini is the true form of MissingNo.
    • Despite no actual indication in game[6] and having been ripped to shreds on many a forum, a small band of "fans" are still insistent that the Gen I rival's Raticate died. And that you killed it.
      • Above "troper" fails at impartial reporting. Why would it need evidence, it's a theory about why he no longer has a Raticate. Isn't the pokemon disappearing evidence itself?
  • Fan Dumb: Expect lots of this, due to the massively Broken Base.
  • Fan Nickname: Genesect is commonly referred to on 4chan as Dennis.
  • First Generation Wins: Red and Blue started Pokémania, and if you're too young to remember the late '90s, it was huge. The other games are still among the most popular of their respective consoles (Diamond and Pearl has 16 million copies sold as opposed to Red, Green (Japan) and Blue's 20), but when the Pokémon games are mentioned, the originals are what first comes to mind and are the most iconic, Nostalgia Filter or not.
  • Fridge Brilliance: This [dead link] is packed full of it.
    • Poison Sting seems out of place in Sandshrew's learnset, until you realize that shrews have venomous saliva to some degree.
    • Gengar's shape seemed familiar, didn't it? It's Clefable's shadow corrupted, malevolent ghost!
    • At first, Probopass looks silly. However, this is because it's a restored Moai head, complete with dorky red hat and bulging eyes. As for the mustache? It's a magnetic Pokémon, and it's attracted iron filings.
    • Linoone, the evolution of the raccoon Zigzagoon; remember that Japan has a tendency to mix raccoons, badgers, and raccoon-dogs up a bit.
    • Meditite/Medicham: Their attack is doubled because they hit physically and mentally at the same time.
    • The point is raised frequently why the main villains are only ever armed with Pokemon, as opposed to, say, guns. Consider that, in a world where deadly beasts have been domesticated for millennia, firearms may never have actually been developed.
    • Lt. Surge heavily implies that he killed people with his Electric-type Pokemon in (Fire)Red/Blue(Leaf Green) Versions.
    • Doubles as Getting Crap Past the Radar: The female grunt uniforms for most of the main Team Badguys are skimpy as Pokemon gets. The leaders of these teams are healthy older gentlemen who are just a little nutty. The exception? Galactic Leader Cyrus, the emotionless shell of a man, who dresses both his ladies and gentlemen in full uniform, complete with long sleeves and high collars, and heavy-looking leggings for the girls.
      • With the exception of Jupiter, but admins seem to get to choose their own uniform.
      • Considering that Cyrus isn't actually emotionless and is just incredibly repressed, the grunt uniforms can be seen as more of a kink than anything else. Although they're still Fridge Brilliance considering that they look like something out of a 1980s music video, and if you go off the release dates of the games, Cyrus would have been born in either 1979 or 1981.
      • Evice and Greevil are both old men who likely have ground their sex drives into dust (Greevil, having two sons, can actually claim this as an excuse). Cipher Peons are dressed head to toe in Stormtrooper armor, even their faces.
    • The Pokédex seems incredibly inaccurate and generally over-the-top to the point of unrealism. Which would make sense, considering that Professor Oak got a bunch of 11-year-olds to fill the Pokédex for him!
    • Psychic is the power of the mind - yet it's weak to Ghost, Bug, and Dark. That's a rather odd set of weaknesses, right? Probably gameplay... but wait a second. Bugs, Ghosts, and Darkness/Evil are actually common phobias!
    • The Fighting-type is strong against the Dark-type, "lighting up" the dark with their burning hot PASSIOOOOOOOON!!
      • The moves Focus Blast and Focus Punch, known respectively in Japan as Kiaidama ("Fighting Spirit Bullet") and Kiai Panchi ("Fighting Spirit Punch"), seem especially representative of this, with the latter move having the highest base power of all existing Fighting-type moves (150 Power).
    • Why does the move Aura Sphere happen to be Fighting-type? "HADOUKEN!"
  • Game Breaker:
    • It's suggested that you check which Pokémon (usually legendaries) are not allowed in competitive battling circles before entering a battle.
    • Of the Psychic-types that dominated Generation 1, Alakazam was the head (excluding Mewtwo).
    • Long before Garchomp centralized generation 4's metagame, Curselax broke generation 2 in half the same way. Snorlax is still pretty powerful, and is one of 4 Pokémon to have always been considered OU (Along with Gengar, Starmie, and Zapdos, although in the latest Gen it and Zapdos are beginning to get Overshadowed by Awesome).
    • Mewtwo. Chansey or another Mewtwo. Those are the only two first generation Pokémon that had any chance against the most used moveset in the first gen. Even after the nerf, it is still one of three Pokémon that do not have any surefire counter.
      • Mewtwo now learns Psystrike, a special move that does physical damage. Chansey is no longer effective at walling him.
    • Mew. It is in the Uber tier, after all. Though given what else is there, its most common role is taking advantage of its massive movepool to support its teammates with Baton Pass.
    • Latias was allowed in the standard metagame for some time, and was incredibly durable and damaging thanks to Calm Mind. When it eventually got banned, the resulting power vacuum let Salamence become so dominating that it ended up banned, too.
    • Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza. All three of them, and to an unquestionable degree to boot - even at level 1, the former two's ability to automatically induce an endless weather condition alone was enough to make teams built around sun or rain insurmountable to teams that weren't.
    • Deoxys. It was thought that the Speed Forme wouldn't be broken. Its unbanning was what taught people how to use it, and now it is the most used of the four. The other three forms weren't even questioned.
    • Garchomp. One of the very few non-legendary Pokémon to be considered Uber.
    • Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, full stop. For extra fun, combine Palkia with Kyogre and proceed to wash crap away!!!
    • Darkrai. Fast, strong, and can incapacitate with ease things that can take it out fast.
    • Arceus. It's God, what did you expect?
    • In-game, Darumaka is a top tier mon. It learns Belly Drum and Flare Blitz by level-up, shortly before evolving into a 140-Attack behemoth with Sheer Force making its Fire Punch (also learned by Darumaka by level-up) even stronger. In competitive battle, it's not this, but it's still pretty darn good.
    • Reshiram and Zekrom are rapidly shaping up to be this in their own right (Kyurem, however, seems to be held back by its typing.) Reshiram in particular teams up with Groudon in much the same way that Palkia teams up with Kyogre (read: the opposing team gets nuked to oblivion.) Meanwhile, Zekrom takes advantage of its physically-biased stats (and Electric-type STAB) to rip the specially-oriented Ubers metagame a new asshole.
  • Goddamned Bats: Zubat. AND HOW.
    • Weedle can be a much bigger nuisance than Caterpie due to its ability to inflict poison.
    • Tentacool are in every body of water you can surf into, quite fast, and not easy to kill - when they aren't at levels so disproportionately low, you'll consider whether it's even worth the time and PP to beat them.
    • Geodude share a habitat with Zubat. And their tendency to explode in your face is not welcome.
    • Hoothoot are everywhere at night; there are even places where they are the only things present.
    • Wingull are as widespread and are as annoying as real seagulls.
    • Zigzagoon, the Hoenn Rattata.
    • Bibarel. "Bibarel used Super Fang! Bibarel used Superpower!"
      • And now Watchog has somehow managed to top even that. With moves like Super Fang, Crunch, Confuse Ray, and Hypnosis learned very early on, some fans have suspected that they were created with the intent of pissing off Nuzlocke runners(and everyone else).
    • Magnemite and Magneton were this in the first generation, before they became easily-defeated dual-types. However, unlike their common representation in the card game, they've never been able to learn Selfdestruct/Explosion.
      • Until Generation V. That is - they can learn Explosion via TM since Generation V. It's odd to see Generation I Pokémon learn Generation I moves only in Gen V... Like Chansey (and Blissey) and Take Down, though she was always capable of learning Double-Edge, which is a stronger variant of Take Down.
    • For those who train their Pokemon by battling Audinos, Emolga can certainly be this. Not nearly as much Exp to be gained from beating it, and it's high speed can make it a pain to run away from if you don't feel like dealing with it. If you do decided to try and fight it, its Static ability will constantly be afflicting your physical attackers with paralysis, regardless of their typing.
  • Hate Dumb: Commonly overlaps with the Fan Dumb and Broken Base.
  • Hell Is That Noise: The Viridian Forest, Mt. Moon, Lavender Town, and Pokémon Tower themes were potent examples of Nightmare Fuel back in the day. To the relief of many who wanted to enjoy the nostalgia of the positive parts of their childhoods, the former three got prettied- and cutesied-up in Gold/Silver, and the latter didn't show up at all. And outside of those, the series is rife with examples--for example, everyone has some Pokémon cry that would grind on him or her, be it because it belongs to Goddamned Bats, Demonic Spiders, or otherwise.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Vulpix and Ninetales. They're literally Firefox!
  • It's the Same, Now It Sucks: All of the updated rereleases and remakes (and to a lesser extent, the first titles in any given generation) have run into a certain amount of these complaints.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Team Rocket's Giovanni, Team Galactic's Cyrus, Team Plasma's Colress, and the Aether Foundation's Lusamine are fine examples. Lysandre, the boss of Team Flare, has entered this trope in anime and manga adaptations as opposed to the Smug Snake Politically-Incorrect Villain status he held in his game(s).
  • Memetic Molester: Online interpretations of Drowzee/Hypno lean towards either pedophilia or murder. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon doesn't help.
  • Memetic Sex God: Several 'Mons, as well as some of the characters.
  • Memetic Mutation: Gotta a whole page for em now.
  • Misblamed: Despite that a company called Game Freak has had their logo plastered over most (if not all) games with the Pokémon title on it, nobody seems to realize that they are the company that actually develops the games in the first place, especially the "mainstream" ones that sell the best. Any criticisms with the games get attributed to the publisher, Nintendo. Game Freak seems to have gone over a decade without much credit or blame for the series.
  • Most Annoying Sound: The critical HP bleeping alarm. However, in Black and White, it was changed by a new battle theme, with the alarm remixed into the tune, which is slightly more appealing to the ear.
  • Most Wonderful Sound: The sound of a Poké Ball locking shut around a new Pokémon, especially when it's a legendary, as well as the Fanfare/ditty that immediately follows it.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Enough to have its own page.
    • Nightmare Retardant
      • One Pokédex entry estates that Drifloon tries to kidnap children, but that Drifloon are much too light and weak to actually carry the children away.
    • Giratina's cry, as well as the fact that it seems to be based on the antithesis of Arceus.
  • Nintendo Hard: You thought getting that National Diploma in White was hard? WRONG! Achieving feat known commonly as Living Pokédex is much harder. It requires to have all species at once, usually in Boxes and in National order. Now how the hell are you going to get all these 151/251/386/493/649 Poké Balls?
  • Periphery Demographic: Outside its obvious target demographic, it is also quite popular with young adults that were kids in the late 1990s when the series was introduced, as well as with Otaku and JRPG fans in general. It can also be argued that Pokémon has been the greatest influence on Internet culture out of all mega-media-franchises, considering its popularity on Image Boards and the number of memes, videos and fan tributes that the franchise has spawned.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Roost and Brave Bird are two moves that greatly improved the potential of Pidgeot, making it at least able to hurt or last against opponents.
    • Pidgeot also got Tailwind, which gave it brief notability until it was made available for a lot more Flying Pokémon in HeartGold and SoulSilver.
  • Dragonite, in gen 3, its Overshadowed by Awesome by Salamence. In gen 4, it got better, and become a "stronger slower Salamence" since the latter lacks Outrage, until Salamence get Outrage, and even after Salamence ban, it isnt used enough to the extent of Salamence. Then come gen 5, giving it several new moves to play with, better metagame that fit its playstyle, and a new awesome Dream World ability. Nowadays, its considered as the best Dragon Type pokemon in OU, in the same tier where Latios and Latias is allowed.
  • Ruined FOREVER: Oh yes. There's a new main series or spin-off game coming out? Ruined forever. There's new details about that upcoming game? Ruined forever. New Pokémon? Ruined forever. Rumors about the new game? Ruined. FOREVER. Yet despite being ruined FOREVER about a zillion times with each new installment, the series somehow manages to keep going strong. Go figure.
    • Worth noting that there is quite a Silent Majority. Many of them simply just like the franchise as is and don't feel the need to scream about it. Or if they don't like certain spinoffs or anime things, they just don't buy them.
  • The Scrappy: Bidoof/Bibarel. Neither were particularly liked, due their rather generic designs and being both Com Mons and Goddamned Bats.
  • Scrappy Mechanic
    • "The rain continues to fall..." All weather conditions have a lengthy, annoying animation and an annoying message EVERY SINGLE TURN. It gets old fast. Fixed in Generation 5.
    • "Gyarados's Intimidate cuts X's Attack!"
    • "Dialga is exerting its Pressure!"
      • The above two were fixed in Generation 5 (instead a little bar appears that lists the effect for a split second without breaking the pace).
    • "Wild Entei/Raikou/Suicune fled!" Especially bad with those three in particular as, unlike other roaming Legendaries, measures taken by the player to trap them could be rendered moot by them using Roar to end the battle.
    • Double Team increases the user's evasion rate, and can be used repeatedly. There was no way to counter its effect in the first generation (aside from an Always Accurate Attack), and just about every Pokémon can be taught the move from a TM. Even in later generations, skills that reduce evasion or increase accuracy are in short supply. Competitive players actually ban Double Team for this very reason.
    • STEALTH ROCK. Available to many Pokemon due to it being a TM, could only be dispelled by a ludicrously weak normal attack only available on a few specific Pokemon, and providing a cheap source of quick damage whenever the opponent switched Pokemon; for a time, it practically shaped the metagame, rendering most Pokemon with any kind of weakness to Rock more or less worthless, most notably fan favorite Charizard. Mitigated slightly in Generation V when the TM for it was removed, though it seems to remain a staple in competitive battling.
    • The Safari Zone.
      • Removed in Generation V.
    • "Hey, [Trainer's Name], good morning. Are you awake? We just battled and beat a GEODUDE! I raised my Pokémon properly! CLICK!" If you accept the phone numbers of even one trainer, expect moronic calls like this every time you finish a battle.
      • Actually, in HGSS, you don't have to accept it (though it still makes an annoying sound, and if you have to open the Pokégear, you will have to listen to it).
    • Let us not forget Event Pokémon... And a whole lot of other stuff. A good chunk of the Scrappy Mechanic page is dedicated to Pokémon.
      • They thankfully added Wi-Fi Events in Generation IV. Unfortunately, they didn't use it until Platinum...
      • Even with the Wi-Fi events, there's still a scrappiness to it since they only happen for a certain amount of time before being Lost Forever. If you were unable to get the Pokémon/item being given away (maybe due to not having the game at the time), you're out of luck, since they only gave away most things (Secret Key, Member's Card, Oak's Letter) once.
      • Also, not everyone can even access them - for example, if you use WPA (and have no idea how to/are not allowed to change this), you're out of luck, since DS Wi-Fi only accepts WEP. Your only hope is to visit a friend that has it.
    • Poison draining a Pokémon's HP on the field. Nerfed in Generation IV, where it can't actually faint a Pokémon, only leave them at one HP, and removed entirely in Generation V.
  • Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer:
    • The Game Corners.
    • Pokémon Contests and the Pokéathlon have this effect as well. Since both pull different kinds of stats from the Pokémon and have different methods of gameplay than the usual battle, you can easily find yourself partaking in them for hours once you get the hang of it.
  • Squick: The spiral on Poliwag's stomach? That's meant to be Poliwag's innards as seen through the translucent skin on its belly. In fairness, this is true of tadpoles in general.
    • Some Exeggcute have their shells cracked open. In other words, you can see their insides...
      • Despite resembling eggs, they are more characteristic of plant seeds or coconuts, but still.
  • "Stop Having Fun!" Guys: Some competitive players mock people who play with their favorite monsters and insist that the series isn't for kids.
  • Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Each new generation of games adds many new features and otherwise fixes design flaws.
  • That One Attack: Bullet Punch and U-Turn for Scizor.
    • Volt Switch from Rotom-W, which is usualy combined with Scizor's U-Turn.
    • Stealth Rock. A move so good that it defines the entire metagame of fourth generation.
    • Gen IV buffed Dragon-type moves: Outrage was boosted from 90 base power to 120, and from a Special attack to Physical. Draco Meteor, a new addition, was nearly unresistable move that deals massive damage. it drops the attacker's special attack by two stage but it can switch, anyway. It can be learned by every Dragon-type, and is partially the reason why Latios, Latias, and Salamence were claimed broken.
  • That One Boss: The legendary 'mons and several gym leaders.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks: You won't be too hard pressed to find people who stubbornly claim that there are only 151 Pokémon, or that Gold and Silver was the only good sequel. There aren't quite so many people who claim that the third generation was the last good generation, but it might be because they were able to transfer their Mon from one game to the other, something Gold and Silver couldn't do with Ruby and Sapphire.
  • Tier-Induced Scrappy
    • Blissey stops pretty much any special-based attacker from doing its job, and is quite omnipresent.
    • Poor, poor Flareon.
    • Garchomp is scrappy enough to get him banned in two generation in a row, due to its stats, typing, and evasion ability.
    • On low-high tier ends(yes you read it right, low-high tier) theres Electivire and Umbreon back in gen 4. Both are claimed to be too weak in OU yet Noobs used them so much that it become OU where they cant compete. Especialy the former thanks to Hype Backlash(Electivire is a good pokemon on its own right with good stats and coverage, and ability that make it a good partner to Gyarados, much like Jolteon making it seems to be a huge threat. Unfortunately, Super Effective is not same as a KO. And Electivire lacks a powerful STAB move and unlike Gyarados, lacks good stats buffing move as well, combined with fragility means it cant set up anyway). It was so bad that one generation after that, the case is still commonly brought up amongst competitive player.
  • Uncanny Valley: Mr.Mime, Jynx, etc.
  • Unfortunate Implications: Oh boy. You wouldn't believe the amount of controversy Jynx sparked in the U.S. Let's just say that's the reason why she has a purple and not a black face today.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: Although often thought of as male (mostly because of its telepathic voice in the anime and in Super Smash Bros. Melee), Mewtwo is officially "genderless" (which means "doesn't have a sex" in Pokémon terms). This applies to most legendaries as well (even the very female-looking Meloetta).
    • For the most part, this only affects a couple of abilities and attacks (most dealing with infatuation), along with breeding purposes. Perhaps mons like Mewtwo simply aren't impressed by love?
    • Mew. Like Mewtwo. While it doesn't speak, its cute, pink design and the fact that it is referred to as "giving birth" is enough (completely reasonably) to cause a large number of fans to think of it as female. (A small number of fans also think of it as male due to the masculinity of its clone and also due to its voice actor.)
    • Chikorita. The most feminine-looking of the starters, but they have the standard gender ratio of seven males to one female.
    • Like Mewtwo, genderless Darkrai is often referred to as male because of its telepathic voice in the anime, and because its counterpart Cresselia is female. Even the dubbers of the 10th movie were not immune, although Darkrai is clearly labeled as male (along with other legendaries) in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series.
    • Despite the fact that some legendaries have genders (and can be female), Meloetta, the most feminine-looking Legendary of all time, is genderless like most other legendaries.
    • Despite their names, Slowbro, Kingler, Goldeen, Seaking, and Mr. Mime can be of either sex, but since they were introduced before the introduction of gender mechanics, it can't really be helped. Slowking, Kingdra, and Slaking, however, were introduced alongside or after gender mechanics. Though Slaking was saved - at least somewhat so - for those who recognised the pun behind the name.
      • Some of those can be blamed on Dub-Induced Plot Hole, since their original names didn't mention a gender, like Mr. Mime being Barrierd. Not all though, most notably Slowking, who was already Yadoking in Japan despite being introduced on the generation that also introduced genders.
    • Eevee is often referred to as a girl, at least partially due to its name, as is anything it evolves into, despite seven-eighths of them being male. Glaceon is particularly feminine in appearance.
    • Reshiram and Zekrom are genderless, but both of them have masculine voices in the anime, which undoubtedly means they'll be referred to (and thought of) as male. Adding to this confusion, both of them are also thought of as female on occasion; Reshiram has a feminine design according to Word of God, while Zekrom has wide hips and "cleavage" and also represents yin, which is feminine in mythology (although the latter is being mitigated by Game Freak attempting to show that Zekrom is the manliest Pokémon ever).
    • Ash's Pikachu was struck with the biggest case of this, with heated debate over its gender until it was finally confirmed as male 15 years after its debut.
    • Both Gardevoir and Gothitelle wear "dresses" but can be male. In a similar vein, Lopunny looks a lot like a Playboy Bunny, yet 50% of them are male.
      • For more fuel, Gothitelle is the evolution of Gothorita, the evolution of Gothita. As in Elegant Gothic Lolita. And they have a 50% chance of being male.
  • Woolseyism
    • Many Pokémon and NPC names are portmanteaus or puns, and the translators took time to create a portmanteau or pun when translating from one language to another.
    • Renaming the Evil type to Dark type may count this, especially considering the black colour of nearly all the Dark Pokemon.
    • Team Rocket is based off of the Yakuza in the Japanese version. In the other versions, they are based off of the more locally recognizable Italian Mafia stereotype, even down to the boss being named "Giovanni".
  1. ↑ Specifically, the current fandom for the games is bigger than for the anime, but the games haven't even come close to the anime's popularity at its peak. As a result, most mainstream parodies tend to revolve around the anime rather than the games, though there are exceptions.
  2. ↑ with the English names used everywhere outside of Japan, France, Germany, Korea and China
  3. ↑ taking overall results into account, it more or less comes second behind Charizard and maybe a few others
  4. ↑ i.e. this seems to be more of a case of Germans Love David Hasselhoff, although Game Freak has been trying to push Zekrom's popularity in Japan too
  5. ↑ possibly because making Reshiram a "female" would make it harder to sell, especially to young boys
  6. ↑ Seriously, there's no actual evidence to prove it, and many of the copy-pasted items that made it a meme often misquote the game or make up stuff whole cloth
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